Less ‘Mister Rogers’ in PBS’s future

After celebrating 40 years of national broadcasts in February, “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” will be removed from PBS’ weekday program service this fall.

Currently, PBS beams the “Neighborhood” to member stations as part of its children’s programming block Monday through Friday. Individual stations can choose not to air it, but a majority of PBS stations still do, said executives at Oakland-based Family Communications Inc., the company founded by Fred Rogers to produce the series.

PBS estimates that last month the show was carried by 63 percent of its member stations, covering 79 percent of American TV households.

Come fall, PBS stations won’t receive the show daily; one episode per week will be sent.

The move comes five years after Mr. Rogers died in February 2003 of stomach cancer at age 74. Production of the “Neighborhood” had ended in December 2000 and the last original episodes aired in August 2001.

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SUV Taken Out by F-16 in Utah

Last April 9th, at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, two soldiers were driving a rented SUV about five kilometers from the part of the range used for live firing. It was at night, and an F-16 that thought it was firing at something in the live fire area, lit up the SUV instead. Only 70 20mm rounds were fired. Fortunately, the two people in the SUV were only injured (both from flying glass, the passenger got a dislocated shoulder as he rapidly exited the vehicle when it quickly turned off the road and stopped.) The investigation of how this happen has not been completed.

Link (with larger pic)

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Obama launches online campaign against ‘smears’

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama launched a new website Thursday devoted to dousing “smears” against the first African-American with a serious shot at the presidency.

The site at http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/fightthesmearshome/ debunks false rumors doing the rounds of the Internet and right-wing media outlets — including one recent assertion that Obama’s wife Michelle has been caught on tape slurring white people.

Obama’s main campaign website already had a fact-check section to refute rumors such as the Christian candidate is a secret Muslim. But aides said the new site went further in inviting supporters to spread the word.

“We created an interactive tool to allow our supporters to fight back against these smears in the same way that they received them — on the Internet,” campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor said.

“People can upload their address books and easily send fact-based emails to their friends and family,” he said.

“Just knowing the truth isn’t enough — you have to proactively tell people the truth to fight back.”

The new initiative was launched after reports, by conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh among others, that a videotape existed showing Michelle Obama using the derogatory term “whitey” in the couple’s former church.

No such tape has surfaced despite frenzied speculation by right-wing pundits and blogs, and Obama last week decried the mainstream media’s attention to “dirt and lies.”

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Data Backup Question

A couple of years ago I bought an external hard drive to store my pictures, music, docs, and other precious files in the unlikely event that my PC crashed.  Unfortunately, it was the external drive that crashed, so now I’m left paranoid on what to do regarding backing up my files.  I’m not interested in burning a plethora of CD’s, so I decided if there were any online options.  I found two companies that look promising and fairly the same, and was wondering if y’all had any thoughts or experience with them.

  • Carbonite – $49.95 / year – 1 Computer – Free 15 Day Trial and it has a cool name
    Carbonite installs a small application on your computer that works quietly in the background looking for new and changed files that need to be backed up. It looks and feels just like part of your computer, and is integrated with your desktop — there’s no new interface for you to learn.
    When your computer is idle, Carbonite automatically backs up your new and changed files. You don’t have to do anything! When you’re using your computer, Carbonite goes to sleep so it will never slow you down or interfere with your Internet connection.
    f you accidentally delete or otherwise lose files, it takes just a few clicks on your desktop to get them back. If your computer is damaged, stolen or “just dies” and you lose all your files, just visit Carbonite’s website from a new computer. Within minutes you’ll be able to begin restoring all your files.
  • ElephantDrive – $49.95 / year – 1 Computer
    ElephantDrive Home Edition plans provide unlimited online storage for your photos, music, video, documents, and all other valuable files you have!  Pre-made categories and our simple wizard make sure that all your important data gets automatically backed up!
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