| HD DVD Bets Big On Super Bowl Ad... Yeah, That'll Do It
In the biggest standards battle most people couldn't care less about, most folks are assuming that Blu-ray has finally won the battle. However, the HD DVD folks aren't totally giving up yet. After hanging their heads and canceling a party and press conference at CES, it appears that Toshiba believes the way to revive interest in the HD DVD standard is... to spend $2.7 million on a Superbowl ad. As if that's going to make a difference. It brings to mind various dot com startups from the last bubble who put their entire marketing budget into a Super Bowl ad. In the meantime, it may be time to start watching HD DVD's other backers. Microsoft still insists it's strongly behind HD DVD but have opened the door to finally giving it up. Meanwhile, Intel has a long history of jumping ship after it realizes it backed the wrong horse in various standards battles.
My View: Preserving Rockport's Main Street streetscape
Preserving Rockport's Main Street streetscape By Barbara Sparks Special to the Times As you pass Rockport's Dock Square and wander up Main Street to the corner of Beach Street, on the water side you pass several decades of commercial buildings hugging the sidewalk, inviting observation in a friendly interaction with the pedestrian. Most were constructed in the 1840s to 1880s, with the more recent Toad Hall Bookstore building inserted in 1926. The Haskins Building at 37 Main, anticipated site of the Rockport Chamber Music Festival's Shalin Liu Performance Center, dates from the 1870s. It's an eclectic collection, and that is its charm. It is the ensemble of architectural styles that gives this historic district its distinctive character. How many people realize that if our beloved collection of storefronts were to adhere to current zoning codes, the buildings would no longer cozy up to their neighbors.
Frist Fence Flakeout?
As the Majority Leader's online communications coordinator, I can assure you that Senator Frist isn't "flaking out" and that he is committed to a cloture vote on the Secure Fence Act this week.
In order to pass this legislation, a 60 vote supermajority in favor of cloture is needed. And, unfortunately, we fear that Democrats may well attempt to obstruct the Secure Fence Act by denying it cloture. If Democrats succeed in denying cloture to the legislation, then an up-or-down vote on the Secure Fence Act will be blocked, which is why Senator Frist said "hopefully what we'll be voting on the floor of the Senate this week."
As to your question "Plus, hasn't the Senate already agreed to cloture on the fence issue?", the answer is no. Your link to Free Republic was for cloture on the motion to proceed to the legislation ...
Brown lays down the law to Wendy: 'I'm in control of debate on ...
The Paisley North MSP, who has endured two months of torment after the Sunday Herald broke the donations story, has tried to recapture the domestic agenda by backing a Constitutional Commission to increase Holyrood's powers. The idea has the backing of Labour, the Tories and the Liberal Democrats in the Scottish parliament, but is being resisted by Scottish Labour MPs at Westminster who believe Alexander is "doing the work" of the SNP. Now the Sunday Herald can reveal the prime minister's scepticism about a plan that Alexander has staked her political future on. A meeting on January 28 - attended by Brown, chancellor Alistair Darling, justice secretary Jack Straw, Scottish secretary Des Browne, and civil servant Jim Gallagher - was held to discuss the union and Scottish devolution.
Garage-kept in Colorado
When I moved West 10 years ago, there was one thing I never dreamed of seeing: a garage in my backyard. A mountain lion, sure, John Elway and a real cowboy. But not a garage. I once had a garage, back East, in college. It was handy for storing junk, my weights set and a trailered boat. But the move to Colorado meant leaving the V-hull behind. "Where would we use a boat in Colorado?" my wife asked years ago. (I couldn't answer through my sobs as my prized fishing vessel rode off hitched to another man's truck.) But my wife's garage pitch was clever: "You can use the garage to hold your new boat." It would be joined by our only car. But I shivered. I saw myself losing open space and gardening room in our modest backyard. I enjoy parking on a Western street. I can commune with nature by scraping ice off the car in winter, or sliding into a 500-degree driver's seat in our ever-longer summers.
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