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- 'Rings' Director Wants to Bring 'Hobbit' to Screen (Reuters). Reuters - New Zealand film director Peter Jackson, tipped to win an Oscar for his "The Lord of the Rings" epic, said Monday he would like to make "The Hobbit" prequel to the trilogy and work with some of the same actors again. [Yahoo! News - Entertainment] |
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- So how much snow did they get back east? Here's the scientific data. Or something. Ya, I'm jealous. We got... |
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- Eleven children were injured in a bus crash in Armagh tonight. |
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- misseli writes "From ALA's Public Information Office: Ms. Magazine has selected ALA President Carla Hayden as one of its ten "Women of the Year" for 2003. She was honored today at a luncheon at the National Press Club. Other honorees this year: |
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- Here's a story from suburban Chicago about rising numbers in circulation and patronage at public libraries. And the economy is not the only reason. Turns out that "rather than being taken over by the Internet, as was predicted by some, libraries have been quick to embrace the technology." Increased marketing efforts have also paid off. Read about it at the Daily Herald. |
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- The Wallace Foundation is donating $6 million to New York City's three public library systems, specifically for programs to help libraries serve as learning places for school-age children during non-school hours. Brooklyn Public Library, the New York Public Library, and the Queens Borough Public Library (with 212 branches among them) will each receive $2 million in a three-year grant. Another $897,000 is going to the Urban Libraries Council to help improve coordination among the three library systems. Read more about the gift and the goals of the program in this press release on the Wallace Foundation site. |
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- Boots and Sabers notes this Telegraph report that the Green Party will apparently assume control of San Francisco's government: The Green Party is expected to take control of San Francisco tomorrow and reclaim the city's hippy heritage with a campaign that has relied on mass yoga rallies and poetry readings to overturn 40 years of Democrat rule. Victory in the mayoral election would provide the party with its first senior official in the United States and the result would confirm San Francisco's status as America's most politically radical city. Yes, it probably would. The word on this "different" campaign: |
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- The AP is reporting at this hour that Al Gore will be endorsing Howard Dean tomorrow.... |
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- Excerpt: "Without the government's ability to negotiate drug prices, the average senior on Medicare will pay more out-of-pocket for drugs in 2007 when the benefit is fully implemented, then what they currently pay now without the so-called 'benefit.'" (Consumers Union) |
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- Excerpt: "President Bush signs into law a sweeping Medicare bill that adds coverage of prescription drugs to the program. The presidents says 'each generation has a duty to strengthen Medicare,' but some groups say the coverage could undercut medical coverage and benefits drug companies more than it does many seniors. Hear an NPR News report.' (Dec. |
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- Excerpt: "Large pharmaceutical companies spend an average of $1.7 billion to develop, gain FDA approval and market a new product in the United States, according to a report by consulting firm Bain & Co., the Wall Street Journal reports." (KaiserNetwork. |
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- Excerpt: "This paper develops a framework for evaluating health plan conversions and examines related health policy issues through the lens of a case study of the proposed conversion of the CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield Company. Analyses demonstrate that CareFirst wields substantial market power ... that it is unlikely to realize cost savings through expanded economies of scale, and that quality of care appears to be lower in the plans typically acquiring converting health plans." (Nancy Dean Beaulieu working paper publicized by the National Bureau of Economic Research) |
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- Excerpt: "The drug benefit expands private sector approaches to control spending. It doesn't replicate the past by relying on government bureaucracy that has failed to keep costs in check. This is the first real reform to the historic command and control model of Medicare." (Rep. |
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- Excerpt: "The new Health Savings Accounts (HSA) that take effect on January 1, 2004 will give all 250 million non-elderly Americans access to a Medical Savings Account-- one that is far more attractive than the Archer MSAs enacted in 1996." (The Galen Institute) |
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- Excerpt: "Medicare beneficiaries will not be allowed to buy insurance to cover their share of prescription drug costs under the new Medicare bill to be signed on Monday by President Bush, the legislation says." (New York Times; one-time registration required) |
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- Excerpt: "The average cost of employer health plans rose 10% per employee in 2003, less than the 14% that was predicted heading into 2003 ... [W]ithout raising employees' premium contributions and deductibles and trimming coverage, employers wouldn't have seen costs slow much at all." (Dow Jones Business News via Yahoo! News) |
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- Excerpt: "The pension funds will seek access to Marsh & McLennan's proxy to nominate and elect independent directors, pending approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission of a new rule governing shareholder access to corporate proxies." (AP via Boston.com) |
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- Rising health care costs were listed as the number one concern by 66% of employers, according to research recently released by C&B Consulting. The 2003 Benefit Survey Report found that the average annual cost per employee for medical coverage in New York has risen from $5,669 in 2002 to $6,498 in 2003. The survey collected information from nearly 300 organizations based in the New York metropolitan area. (Spencer Benefits Reports) |
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- Excerpt: "A recent court decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and a new statute enacted by the State of California have created challenges for employers that offer group health plan benefits. Employers should consider the impact that these developments will have on the design and the ongoing administration of their health plans." (McDermott, Will & Emery) |
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- Excerpt: "EFAST already is busy processing filings received on October 16, 2003! This is far earlier than ever before and is evidence that many of the processing difficulties have been overcome. Those of us who mailed filings on October 15 without audit reports should expect to hear from DOL very soon about this deficiency!" (Form5500Help. |
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- 9 pages. Excerpt: "Simplified, tax-free savings accounts will encourage more participation & new savings.... Personal savings is also low due to complexity resulting from restrictive rules on eligibility, contributions amounts, and withdrawals.... Since being elected to office, President Bush has proposed and Congress has enacted a tax cut every year with the intention of strengthening the American economy and incrementally reforming the tax code. |
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- Excerpt: "Under current state law, only transit workers convicted of stealing agency property or on-duty drunkenness can lose their pensions." (AP via Newsday) |
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- IBM says self-assembly molecules could soon be used to make chip components even smaller. |
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- This is a table about Daily Midwest Livestock Summary |
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- This is a table about Ohio Closing Cash Grain Bids |
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- This is a table about Illinois River Barge Terminals Bids |
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- This is a table about Montana Grain Market Report |
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- This is a table about USDA Grain Market Summary for Dec 8 |
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RaymondLutz (Dec 08 2003 21:58 GMT) - Name: Raymond Lutz Email: raylutz@cognisysSTOPSPAM.com Company Name: Cognisys, Inc. |
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- Microsoft expands its trademark dispute with Lindows to Europe, putting pressure on the Linux seller and its PC partners there to stop distributing the company's open-source operating system. |
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- Does this wrap it up for Howard Dean? If Gore does support Dean it points to a continuing split between Gore and the Clintons who allegedly pushed Wesley Clark My Way News |
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- QUOTE (Gimpus @ Dec 8 2003, 04:36 PM) Seriously, most DM drummers use triggers. I don't think it's that big a deal. Like Behemoth's drummer on 'As Above So Below.' Without the speedy triggers, it wouldn't be the same. |
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- Aided by backing from the U.S. Department of Defense, the Segway Human Transporter may well be the first scooter of mass destruction. ¬> |
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- Watched Almost Famous on TV...absolutely loved it. |
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- flug FdN 03 / 04 :Live: ALIEN ACID (compressed!)DJs: SANUK (zoom, psychonautic minlab, ko phangan) ariki SHIMONO (freunde der nacht) DANI + CRAWL (sternentanz) SEBASTIAN KOS (freunde der nacht, ko phangan) PSYLORG (blacklight mushroom research) JAN (freischaffend) |
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- The broadband telephone service provider replaces Cisco Systems with Motorola as its exclusive telephone adapter supplier. |
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- U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona will join National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Administrator Jeffrey W. Runge, M.D. |
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- From Hersh in the New Yorker One step the Pentagon took was to seek active and secret help in the war against the Iraqi insurgency from Israel, America’s closest ally in the Middle East. According to American and Israeli military and intelligence officials, Israeli commandos and intelligence units have been working closely with their American counterparts at the Special Forces training base at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and in Israel to help them prepare for operations in Iraq. Israeli commandos are expected to serve as ad-hoc advisers—again, in secret—when full-field operations begin. (Neither the Pentagon nor Israeli diplomats would comment. “No one wants to talk about this,” an Israeli official told me. |
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- There's a big controversy on the Jewish view of exactly when life begins. In Jewish tradition, the fetus is not considered viable until after it graduates from medical school. |
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- (Review) Amir Taheri writes on the perils of "soft power" in today's New York Post. Soft power, however, is as old as history. The payments of tribute, and exchange of gifts, including hostages and slaves, are forms of soft power... |
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- Santarchy is scheduled for December 13, 2003 this year. New York Details ... |
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- Today all of the Help Desk people that work at the Grocery Ranchš corporate offices got to go on a |
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- Now I am starting to understand what a Google Bomb actually is, and how powerful the Internet, word of mouth and Google can be! A particular article on my blog (about the miserable failure Google Bomb, a simple observation on my part) has received about 300 hundred hits today from Google and the tide seems to be rising. Go to Google and do a search for "miserable failure" and "I feel lucky" and I am on top! Here is the site that explains the idea behind this Bombing. Here is the BBC new article declaring the prank to the world. |
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- Bengali Theater to be Discussed at Forum By Megan Mangano Dec 8, 2003, 11:27:00 In honor of “A Global Celebration of the Arts” 2003-04 season, the UT department of theatre and film will present a special forum on “ |
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- Breaking news on CNN right now...... |
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