Monthly Archives: September 2007

Politics and News

Verizon Rejects Messages from NARAL

Verizon Rejects Messages of Abortion Rights Group – New York Times
Saying it had the right to block “controversial or unsavory” text messages, Verizon Wireless has rejected a request from Naral Pro-Choice America, the abortion rights group, to make Verizon’s mobile network available for a text-message program.
The other leading wireless carriers have accepted the program, which allows people to sign up for text messages from Naral by sending a message to a five-digit number known as a short code.
Update: Verizon recants:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/business/27cnd-verizon.html?_r=1&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
Verizon Reverses Itself on Abortion Messages
By ADAM LIPTAK
Saying it had the right to block “controversial or unsavory” text messages, Verizon Wireless last week rejected a request from Naral Pro-Choice America, the abortion rights group, to make Verizon’s mobile network available for a text-message program.
But the company reversed course this morning, saying it had made a mistake.
“The decision to not allow text messaging on an important, though sensitive, public policy issue was incorrect, and we have fixed the process that led to this isolated incident,” Jeffrey Nelson, a company spokesman, said in a statement.

Continue reading Verizon Rejects Messages from NARAL →

Politics and News

Khruschev then, Ahmadinejad now

Bed-wetter Nation | Campaign for America’s Future
Rick Perlestein at Common sense has an entry entitled “Bed wetter Nation”, contrasting the treatment we gave the Soviet Premier at the height of the Cold War in 1959, and Iran’s President this week in 2007.
Its a saddening indictment of how America has changed. Read it.
On NPR recently, they had a story about the Premier’s visit to Iowa, and how a gift that the Premier had given to the first lady of Iowa was recently brought to light–a set of records of Russian music.
Can you imagine the outcry today if the Iranian President gave Mayor Bloomberg a gift from Iran? Or perhaps can you imagine the outcry if he, instead wished to visit the site of Ground Zero and lay a wreath?
Wait…that already has happened.

F/SF, Football and Other Sports, Games and Recreation

Help me populate a F/SF football league

4 Comments

One of the games I play is the stat based computer game Front Office Football.
Its a lot of fun, even if its mostly numbers. There is no joystick control a la Madden or its rivals. On the other hand the career mode is deep. You can play year after year of a league of your making and i have done so.
It occurred to me today that I could have fun starting a new league, with a draft for imaginary teams. I briefly flirted with world cities without teams, and then a better idea struck me, one that *you* can help me with.
2 Conferences, 16 teams in each conference. With a little creativity, I can change city names and locations and make imaginary places. And since I could start with a draft so that all teams started equal…
Well, I could have 32 teams taken from fantasy and science fiction.
Where you can help me is with suggestions. Site in a world plus a name for the team would be great.
For example:
The Babylon 5 Starfuries
The Amber Royals
The Traken Keepers
I open the floor for suggestions. Help Populate my league!