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School Libraries Cutting Librarian Jobs
June 24th, 2010
After summer is over, many students across the country may have a hard time to find help at their libraries. Based on a survey this past spring, the American Association of School Administrators project that 19% of all of the nation school districts will have fewer librarians next school year.
As many states face severe budget cuts, the loss of librarian jobs are on the chopping block for some in order to save on costs. Administrators across the country have viewed libraries as luxuries rather than a haven for those to read, learn and research. Since only a few states have any laws to mandate libraries or librarians, layoffs seem as a minor inconvenience to some observers. Those that share this view neglect the importance and significance they are in fundamental learning and technology.
Unlike the overflowing bookshelves of wealthier families, 61 percent of low-income families own no age-appropriate books, according to a 2009 study commissioned by Jumpstart on “America’s Early Childhood Literacy Gap.”
Recently, the FCC promoted and had begun to deliver free broadband to libraries to help. Since early last year, NewsDemon.com Newsgroups began and continues to provide free Usenet access to librarians and libraries as well to help.
Unfortunately, some jobs will be lost and although the total damage seems small, it has been a slow trickling down process that further negatively impacts these great learning centers.
Dedicated newsgroups to libraries and librarians have long been a discussion forum for library enthusiasts who’ve shared concern of the impact this will make. “Information literacy is just so important for kids to be more successful in college,” said Livingston, 66, who worked in the Sammamish High School library for about a decade. “The kids are being hurt.”
Space Newsgroups Report Mysterious Messages From Space
May 13th, 2010
Touring the outer reaches of our galaxy the Voyager 2 spacecraft has begun sending back messages to Earth that even scientists cannot interpret. Some experts online and on newsgroups believe it may be the work of aliens.
Voyager 2 and its twin, Voyager 1, were launched in 1977 to explore Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Three decades on, they are the most distant human-made objects in outer space. Voyager 2 holds various information about the human species, including sound recordings of children singing, waves crashing on the ocean, babies crying and the signatures of the President of the United States and UN Secretary General.
Voyager 1 is currently more than 8.5 billion miles from Earth. It will soon travel beyond the heliosphere – a bubble the sun creates around the solar system – into interstellar space, scientists say.
Both probes were installed with a Golden Record. Simultaneously a greeting card, map and time capsule, these devices contained images and sounds from Planet Earth and voice greetings in more than 50 languages. The records’ content describing our home was selected and assembled by the late USENET subscriber Carl Sagan, just in case someone out there might be listening as the Voyagers passed through.
Space related newsgroups report that while it tries to work out what’s going on, NASA has instructed the spacecraft to only send data on its own status, but says the problem can probably be fixed with a simple software patch. All NASA has said of the glitch is that Voyager 2 suddenly began transmitting data in a completely different format.
Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory are investigating the cause of the change. The probe is 8.6 billion miles from earth and will eventually leave the solar system. NASA equipped the probe with music and multilingual greetings for any intelligent life it encounters.
Many on newsgroups believe it’s just a matter of the fact that after 33 years in the cold dark vacuum of space, the antiquated hardware may simply be malfunctioning. NASA scientists have, not surprisingly, not weighed in on the matter of aliens having hacked our space probe, choosing to keep collective nose to the grindstone in determining cause and solution.
Duke University Usenet Newsgroup Server Decommission Discount
May 5th, 2010
After thirty years of providing Usenet access, Duke University has recently announced they may have to decommission the newsgroup servers on campus. As a special discount to Duke University students, NewsDemon.com Newsgroups is offering a 40% discount on any of our monthly plans.
Dubbed by many as the original “Home of Usenet” since its inception in 1979, The Duke University servers have long provided students and faculty free access to Usenet newsgroups. Bridged between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University, grad students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the oldest and most widely used online communications systems that are still actively used today. Predating the World Wide Web, USENET newsgroups are responsible for creating the architecture in which social networks, forums and blogs are based upon today.
For all Duke University students that are looking to continue their subscription to USENET newsgroups, simply provide your duke issued email address at checkout to automatically discount 40% off your monthly subscription membership on any of our plans.
The cost and resources to continue free USENET newsgroups access has been increasingly difficult for schools to provide on campus. With rising costs and maintenance to be provided for the expanding world of USENET has left many to consider alternatives. As a root to the heart of USENET and the campus, some are questioning the plans on cutting off access at Duke. NewsgroupReviews has provided information to ask the school to reconsider.
We continue here at NewsDemon.com Newsgroups to provide a resource and alternative to Duke and other Colleges and Universities with our Free Usenet Access Program. For more than a year, the charity has and continues to provide Free Usenet newsgroup access to faculty and staff and also provides 25% off discounts to all students on any of our monthly newsgroup subscriptions. Increasing the offer, we now offer a whopping 40% off for students with a duke email address.
NewsDemon.com Newsgroup Members Receive NewsBin Pro Discount
April 25th, 2010
NewsDemon.com Newsgroups is now offering all existing and new customers a $10.00 discount to the popular newsreader program NewsBin.
Any customer or member of NewsDemon.com Newsgroups qualifies for the discount to the registered version of NewsBin Pro. Newsbin Pro is an award winning newsreader with a host of features that are popular with the Usenet community. Newbin Pro Newsreader is compatible with most current windows based operating systems.
Any new customer who registers or those who have recently joined automatically qualify for the discount. To receive the discount, simply download the preconfigured newsreader from the NewsDemon.com Newsgroups members area. The program comes with a 10 day free trial. The full lifetime license will automatically discount $10.00 from the final price for NewsDemon.com Newsgroup members once the trial has expired.
NewsDemon.com Newsgroups is proud to be able to offer additional features and benefits to our users. The NewsBin Pro Lifetime Subscription Newsreader Discount and our continuously growing binary retention which is shadowing 600 days is part of our overall commitment to constantly deliver premium USENET newsgroup features to all of our customers.
NYC Road Runner Customers Get Free Wi-Fi Access To USENET
March 25th, 2010
Time Warner Cable this morning confirmed that it’s launching Wi-Fi hotspots for customers of its NYC RoadRunner broadband service, allowing USENET access on the go. The free Wi-Fi is now available at several Wi-Fi zones in Manhattan and Queens, including several parks and some Long Island Railroad platforms and their respective parking lots in the company’s service area.
The access to Wi-Fi allows those into USENET to login and subscribe to newsgroups at more places than ever. The free Wi-Fi allows anyone with a Road Runner account and a Wi-Fi capable device to access the service in several spots across the city.
Road Runner customers using laptops and WiFi-enabled phones can access the WiFi by entering their Road Runner ID and password when prompted. After that, any newsreader they use can then be used to access and browse USENET newsgroups.
“Road Runner customers can experience a fast, simple and easy connection from their laptops or portable Wi-Fi-enabled devices in Time Warner Cable Wi-Fi zones, meeting their growing need for mobility,” said Howard Szarfarc, executive vice president of Time Warner Cable’s New York City region, in a press release.
Time Warner Cable customers will also have access to thousands of hotspots operated by Cablevision around the area. Customers that are already signed up for Roadrunner with Time Warner Cable in one of the areas will be able to sign into the Wi-Fi hotspot using their RoadRunner screen name and password.
Microsoft Bill Gates Goes Nuclear
March 23rd, 2010
Environmental and MS Newsgroups have posted that former Microsoft CEO turned philanthropist Bill Gates is teaming up with Japanese nuclear technology giant Toshiba Corp. to develop a next-generation nuclear reactor. TerraPower, a U.S. start-up company backed by Microsoft are investigating technology for mini-reactors, which are more cost-efficient than conventional units.
Toshiba and TerraPower have begun exchanging information in a move that would bring together Gates’ ample wealth and the know-how and experience which the Japanese electronics giant has established in the nuclear power business. Mr. Gates is the principal owner of TerraPower, which investigates ways to improve emission-free energy supplies using small nuclear reactors. Under the partnership and agreement, Toshiba would provide TerraPower with the expertise to manufacture nuclear power equipment. Gates is expected to invest his personal wealth on the development of the reactor, which could reach billions, newsgroups have reported. The hope is that the new reactors might be suitable for use in cities or emerging-market countries.
Toshiba expects to get U.S. approval for its ultra compact design this fall and start construction of the first such reactor by 2014. Mini-reactors could last up to 100 years without refueling, unlike today’s units which need replenishing every few years. Power outputs of these units are projected to range from 100-thousand to 1-million kilowatts which is much larger than current commercialized reactors. Current light-water reactors require refueling once every several years. The company is preparing to apply for US approval to start constructing the first such reactor as early as 2014 and put it into practical use by the end of the decade.
The deal was sealed when Gates visited the Japanese maker’s nuclear research center in Yokohama near Tokyo in November. Gates, a newsgroup subscriber who is deeply involved in global health work through his private foundation, has shown a growing interest in nuclear and other energy technologies that could potentially meet the power needs of the world’s poor without contributing to global warming.
Newsgroups: Quake Shifted Axis And Shortened Day
March 2nd, 2010
Feeling behind as if time is working against you? You may be right. Due to the magnitude of the earthquake that hit Chile recently, it may have changed the planet’s rate of rotation and shortened our days. The 8.8 earthquake has been reported by NASA scientists on space related newsgroups that earth’s axis likely shifted by about 3 inches, shortening the day by about 1.26 microseconds.
USENET newsgroups have been covering this story and have been discussing on how moving hundreds of kilometers of rock underground can change the earth’s distribution of mass, and, in turn, change the planet’s rate of rotation. When an earthquake hits with the magnitude of the one in Chile, it moves this lot of rock under the ground which has caused the earth’s axis to slightly shift and shortening the day, as the rate of speed the earth spins is how we calculate how long the day is.
If you remember your physics, changes in rotating bodies affect its rotation. The huge 8.8 earthquake in Chile has affected our rotating Earth in just such a way, making it turn a bit faster and giving us 1.26 microseconds less of time.
Some changes may be more obvious, and islands may have shifted, according to Andreas Rietbrock, a professor of Earth Sciences at the U.K.’s Liverpool University who has studied the area impacted, though not since the latest temblor. She reports that Santa Maria Island off the Chilean coast may have been raised 6 feet because of the earthquake, if past quake patterns hold true.
This is not the first, or only, time an earthquake has had such an impact, USENET newsgroups notes. The magnitude 9.1 earthquake that generated the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami shortened the day by 6.8 microseconds. The consequences of both have also taken the lives of many. More than 700 people died in the Chilean earthquake, which struck on the 27 February. NASA experts have said the Chile predictions will likely change as data on the quake are further refined.
FCC Promotes US Broadband Initiative
February 23rd, 2010
According to the latest study by the Federal Communications Commission, one in three people in the U.S. don’t have broadband connections. In fact, only a small minority of these 93 million Americans even use the Internet at all: some have dial-up connections and some use Web services at work or at public places like libraries, but most just abstain from the Internet entirely, according to USENET newsgroup reports that posted up the new US Commerce Department figures that reinforce what some educators believe is causing some students to fall behind.
The report posted on USENET newsgroups shows that the telephone survey of 5,005 adults last fall included 2,334 adults who said they are not broadband users at home and precedes the FCC’s delivery of a National Broadband Plan to Congress. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said Feb. 16 he wants 100 million U.S. households to have access to ultra high-speed internet connections, with speeds of 100 megabits per second by the year 2020. That would be several times faster than the download speeds many U.S. homes with broadband get now, which range from 3 MBPS to 20 MBPS. One of the first steps towards overhauling the national broadband infrastructure will be the unveiling of a new broadband plan by the FCC on March 17. The FCC began working on the national broadband plan back in April 2009. The FCC is looking at multiple methods of funding a national broadband plan including reallocation of funds collected in the Universal Service Fund.
The Federal Communications Commission’s first-ever survey on Internet usage and attitudes concludes that those who aren’t connected today need to be taught how to navigate the Web, find online information that is valuable to them and avoid hazards such as Internet scams, something that has been a long standing resource that USENET newsgroups has also assisted with. The report found that 78% of adults are Internet users, and 65% of adults are broadband adopters. It then divides users who haven’t got broadband into four groups. The Digitally Distant make up 10% of the general population; this is the group that simply doesn’t want to be online. The Digital Hopefuls make up 8% of the population; they’d like to be online but lack resources to do so; many don’t have a computer and/or don’t know how to use one, and cost of computer and broadband connection is also a big barrier. An exact number of those who routinely use USENET newsgroups while they are online were not specified.
According to the report, nearly half of the respondents said cost was one of the prohibiting factors for not having broadband service at home. What’s more, nearly the same percentage of people said they were uncomfortable using a computer. The National Broadband Plan is expected to target widespread deployment of broadband networks, fueled in part by a revamp of the Universal Service Program that will emphasize broadband rather than voice connectivity, along with a plan to phase-out of traditional phone service, instead using the broadband network to support VOIP.
Happy 32nd Birthday Computerized Bulletin Board System (BBS)
February 17th, 2010
On February 16, 1978, Ward Christensen and Randy Suess launched the first-ever dial-up BBS in Chicago. The idea stemmed during a blizzard that kept them indoors that helped create the first electronic bulletin board and ultimately, one of the first social networks. In modern usage, the term BBS may be used to refer to USENET newsgroups or other online type forums or social network outlets.
The first BBS was visionary as it created a way to circumvent the fundamental, age-old rules of socializing by responding to bulletin board ads found in the foyers of libraries and churches around the world. USENET, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and the entirety of the World Wide Web would later catapult with the same goal in mind.
Online BBSs formed much of the the core “cyberspace” in the 1980s and paved the way for many users to find and use USENET newsgroups. BBS is short for “Bulletin Board System” which is has been a social networking platform that not only predates sites like Myspace and Facebook, but also the World Wide Web. As one of the first online communication methods, users would dial in directly to other users via modem connection and share information. Most BBS networks were not linked in real-time. Instead, each would dial up the next in line, and/or a regional hub, at preset intervals to exchange files. It was the first step of what we know the World Wide Web to be today. A better, simpler system later followed – USENET.
Rather than mirroring the meet-and-greet and services-offered format of real-world bulletin boards, BBSes very quickly became forums. Questions were asked and anonymously answered.
It was several decades before the hardware or the network caught up to Christensen and Suess’ imaginations, but all the basic seeds of today’s online communities were in place when the two launched the first bulletin board, dubbed CBBS for computerized bulletin board system. The two developers announced their creation to the world in the November 1978 issue of Byte magazine.
It’s hard to say where USENET would have been if not for the BBS. As many early adapters, the infant stage of USENET were full of BBS users that formed the most popular newsgroups that exist to this day, thirty years later.
NewsDemon.com Newsgroups Offers Free USENET Access
February 11th, 2010
NewsDemon.com Newsgroups is giving back to the community and offering University faculty and staff, media and website owner’s free access to USENET.
Students, teachers, faculty and/or members of the media are now able to apply for eligibility to free USENET access provided by NewsDemon.com Newsgroups. Webmasters and Bloggers are also welcome to apply.
In an effort to demonstrate the resources that USENET newsgroups provide and by growing the online community, NewsDemon.com Newsgroups has experienced an overwhelmingly positive response since the program inception.
The program, which launched more than a year ago, offers unrestricted access to USENET newsgroups to those who qualify. Benefits include all of the features our members receive which include blazing fast access to over 107,000 newsgroups.
Assisting those that would normally not have access to USENET, the program is being extended and enrollment is open to those interested. In order to apply, visit either our Free USENET for School page for those involved with a school or our Free USENET Access for Media page for all media and online related individuals.
Committed to excellence, NewsDemon.com Newsgroups is proud to be able to give back to the community and offer access to the valuable resources USENET provides.
