Skippy's New Year's Day Threads

[skippy]

U.S. to help buy digital converters

JOHN DUNBAR
Associated Press

POSTED AT 5:08 PM Monday, December 31

WASHINGTON — Millions of $40 government coupons are to become available Tuesday to help low-tech television owners buy special converter boxes for older TVs that might not work after the switch to digital broadcasting.

Beginning Feb. 18, 2009, anyone who does not own a digital set and still gets programming via over-the-air antennas will no longer receive a picture.

That's the day the television industry completes its transition from old-style analog broadcasting to digital.

The converter boxes are expected to cost between $50 and $70 and will be available at most major electronics retail stores. Starting Tuesday, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration will begin accepting requests for two $40 coupons per household to be used toward the purchase of the boxes.

Viewers who have satellite or cable service will not need a box.

The U.S. Congress, in ordering the transition to digital broadcasting, set aside $1.5-billion for the coupon program, which will fund 33.5 million coupons and other costs.

The giveaway basically works under the honour system.

The first 22 million coupons will go to all households that request them.

That includes a residence that gets cable service for one television but has a spare TV that still uses an antenna, for example.

The rest of the coupons, however, are meant only for those who do not subscribe to a pay-television service.

The Nielsen Co. estimates that 14.3 million households, or about 13 per cent of the 112.8 million total television households in the United States, rely on over-the-air television broadcasts for programming.

Tony Wilhelm, director of consumer education for NTIA, said the agency expects to have enough coupons to satisfy demand. "We think the high number will be 26 million," he said. "Low end is 10 million."

Members of Congress have criticized both the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Federal Communications Commission for their work on the transition to digital television.

In November, the Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative arm, released a report that concluded there is "no comprehensive plan" for the transition.

Most of the concern rests with public education campaigns. While Congress allocated $1.5-billion for the coupon program, only $5-million was for education. The Association for Public Television Stations reported in September that 51 per cent of participants surveyed were unaware that the transition was taking place.

Since then, the broadcast industry has announced a voluntary public education campaign. The FCC is circulating a plan among commissioners that would make public education efforts by broadcasters mandatory.

Congress ordered the transition to digital broadcasting to make more efficient use of the publicly owned airwaves.

On Jan. 24, the FCC will auction off the spectrum currently used for analogue television. That portion of the airwaves will be sold to wireless providers and is expected to bring in as much as $15-billion. A portion of the spectrum will also be dedicated for use by emergency responders.

[skippy]

NY subway hero marks 1 year in spotlight

By KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press Writer

Tue Jan 1, 4:42 PM ET

NEW YORK - The train was bearing down, and Wesley Autrey Sr. was trying to lift Cameron Hollopeter off the wet, slippery subway tracks where the young man had fallen after suffering an epileptic seizure.

Recalling the heroic act that earned him the nickname "subway superman" one year ago, Autrey described how he "bear-hugged" Hollopeter and told him: "Whatever you do, please don't push me up. I'm going to be the one that's going to get it, and you're going to be OK."

The train passed over both men, grazing Autrey's hat, while Autrey's two young daughters watched in horror.

Dapper in a leather fedora and a sporting a tiny hoop earring, Autrey was patient and soft-spoken as he recounted the events for the hundredth time, or perhaps the thousandth, over cafe con leche Tuesday at his favorite West Harlem restaurant, steps from the subway station where the Jan. 2, 2007, rescue unfolded.

It's been a busy year for Autrey, 51, a laborer and shop steward who works Monday through Friday at an apartment building under construction nearby, takes care of his daughters on the weekends and gives all the speeches and interviews he can squeeze in.

No time for the trip to Disney World he was promised during the rescue's dizzying aftermath, no time for the Playboy mansion, where he was invited by Hugh Hefner because he was wearing a hat with a Playboy insignia the day of the rescue.

But he has been on David Letterman's and Ellen DeGeneres' shows; flown to Germany for Letterman's late-night equivalent there, Johannes Kerner; and been feted at City Hall and at the Super Bowl.

He's been to the White House twice, for the State of the Union address and for a Black History Month commemoration.

There's been controversy, too. Autrey and his lawyer settled lawsuits against each other over a contract they signed to exploit his name and heroism.

"The only thing that I can say is that it was a very costly learning experience for me as far as trusting people," he said.

Autrey said his daughters, Shuqui and Syshe, now 7 and 5, are doing well.

The Writers Guild strike has delayed movie deals, but a children's book and an adult book are in the works.

He spoke with Hollopeter, a film student, and Hollopeter's mother on Thanksgiving.

"They're a very private family," he said. "The mother just thanked me and thanked me and thanked me. He's doing fine."

Hollopeter suffered his first seizure on the platform, and two women joined Autrey in trying to help the 19-year-old, he said.

"When he fell onto the track he went into a second seizure," he said.
Autrey glanced at the women who had helped earlier.

"I didn't even have time to tell them to watch my daughters. I just pointed at them and gave them a look. And when I saw them grab my daughters around the waist and they went and sat on the bench, I knew that they was OK. A voice from somewhere said, 'Go save that life, don't worry about your own, don't worry about your daughters.'"

An artist later showed him a picture he had painted of an angel holding Autrey as Autrey held Hollopeter. "And that's exactly what went down," he said.

On the one-year anniversary Wednesday, Autrey planned to report to work at 7 a.m. as usual. Construction work has its own rewards, he added. "I drive around the city a lot," Autrey said. "I tell my daughters, 'Dad worked on that building.' At the Waldorf back in February there was a dinner in my honor. Ten years ago I was hanging on a scaffold 40 stories in the air outside that building, little knowing that someday I'd be in that building and they'd be recognizing me for what I'd done."

[skippy]

FBI makes new bid to find 1971 skyjacker

25 minutes ago

PORTLAND, Ore. - The FBI is making a new stab at identifying mysterious skyjacker Dan Cooper, who bailed out of an airliner in 1971 and vanished, releasing new details that it hopes will jog someone's memory. The man calling himself Dan Cooper, also known as D.B. Cooper, boarded a Northwest flight in Portland for a flight to Seattle on the night of Nov, 24,

1971, and commandeered the plane, claiming he had dynamite.

In Seattle, he demanded and got $200,000 and four parachutes and demanded to be flown to Mexico.

Somewhere over southwestern Washington, he jumped out the plane's tail exit with two of the chutes.

On Monday, the FBI released drawings that it said probably are close to what Cooper looked like, along with a map of areas where Cooper might have landed.

"Who was Cooper? Did he survive the jump? We're providing new information and pictures and asking for your help in solving the case," the FBI said in a statement.

The FBI said that while Cooper was originally thought to have been an experienced jumper, it has since concluded that was wrong and that he almost certainly didn't survive the jump in the dark and rain. He hadn't specified a route for the plane to fly and had no way of knowing where he was when he went out the exit.

"Diving into the wilderness without a plan, without the right equipment, in such terrible conditions, he probably never even got his chute open," Seattle-based agent Larry Carr said.

He also didn't notice that his reserve chute was intended only for training and had been sewn shut.

Several people have claimed to be Cooper over the years but were dismissed on the basis of physical descriptions, parachuting experience and, later, by DNA evidence recovered in 2001 from the cheap tie the skyjacker left on the plane.

In 1980, a boy walking near the Columbia River found $5,800 of the stolen money, in tattered $20 bills.

"Maybe a hydrologist can use the latest technology to trace the $5,800 in ransom money found in 1980 to where Cooper landed upstream," Carr said. "Or maybe someone just remembers that odd uncle."

[skippy]

Nude couple grapple over dog near shower

Mon Dec 31, 10:27 PM ET

BREMERTON, Wash. - A 25-year-old woman was arrested for investigation of second-degree assault for getting into an argument with her boyfriend over whether his dog should be in the bathroom while the couple were taking a shower together.

A police report said the man, 26, wanted his dog to join them in the bathroom, but the woman objected on Thursday night.

The woman told her boyfriend that if the dog doesn't stay out, she didn't want to be his girlfriend anymore. He replied that maybe his next girlfriend would appreciate the dog more, and called her a name.

The police report said the woman punched him in the face several times and the man dislocated his shoulder after the naked couple grappled. He told police his girlfriend threw a picture frame, which broke and cut him.

The woman was taken to the Kitsap County Jail in Port Orchard. Bail has been set at $50,000.

[dave nz]

Alot of psycho women out there

[E_Wrecked]

Originally Posted by dave nz

Alot of psycho women out there

thats the truth...

[sound]

good use of resources...



dave how's the gov't down in nz? i'm outta here when hillary takes over.

[E_Wrecked]

interesting story, never heard that one before

[E_Wrecked]

Originally Posted by E_Wrecked

interesting story, never heard that one before

this was a response to skippys hijacker thread, this isnt the first time this has happened to me a response has showed up in a different thread. Weird...

I havent drank much lol

[skippy]

Originally Posted by E_Wrecked

this was a response to skippys hijacker thread, this isnt the first time this has happened to me a response has showed up in a different thread. Weird...

I havent drank much lol

Some over zealous asshole has nothing better to do.

Maybe they should buy themselves a bidet to play with.