Slander? This letter appeared in the local paper yesterday (01/29):
To the editor:
Late last semester the manager of the UAF radio station suspended a pair of students from hosting their radio show, and later opted not to renew their contract, simply because they were conservatives.
The station manager could not tolerate any conservative discussion on his station.
... (read the entire letter here.)
Sincerely,
Vaughn Ewig
Fairbanks
I think this is the first time I've been personally attacked in a public forum. It's kind of fun, but that might be because it's unfounded and I know I'm in the "right." What really strikes me about this is that it was in the local city newspaper, not the university paper. At the end of his letter, he mentions the President of the University's stance on free speech, for which he won some kind of award (the President, not this guy).
My response is pretty diplomatic, considering the statements he makes about me and the station:
Dear Editor:
In his letter, printed on January 29, Vaughn Ewig states that two students were suspended from their college radio show "simply because they were conservatives," and that "the station manager could not tolerate any conservative discussion on his station."
Yes, two students were suspended from their show, but it was because they violated federal law by using language on the air that is indecent according to FCC guidelines and they violated station policy with inappropriate comments spoken on-air.
I speak for myself and the staff of KSUA when I say that we welcome discussion from all points along the political spectrum as long as it takes place within the boundaries of federal law and station policy.
If there are any questions about the policies or programs on KSUA, please call the station at 474-7054.
Sincerely,
Curt Merrill
KSUA 91.5FM General Manager
I like my job sometimes.
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Movies. The Bourne Identity is one of the best spy-action movies ever. I was a bit skeptical of Matt Damon's ability to be an action star, but he performed extremely well. The movie was over the top, but not too far over. Jason Bourne, the main character, actually looked at maps and had to figure stuff out, he just didn't know everything like in other action movies. It was good. Also in movies, I saw About Schmidt last night. Very excellent movie. Jack Nicholson, as always, does an excellent job. This movie is humorous, sad and revealing all at the same time. See it.
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Man v. Machine, part 2. Chess great Garry Kasparov is taking on another computer opponent in a six-game series. These articles mention Deep Junior's capabilities. The machine stalled in the first game when Kasparov identified a hole in the computer's database of opening moves. The articles also refer to Kasparov's match against IBM's Deep Blue, in which the Blue team made changes to the program after each game, and Kasparov was not allowed to practice or even look at game logs of the computer. In flesh v. flesh matches both players often have plenty of time to prepare by examining their opponents previous games. Junior's team seems to be playing fair so far, and it will be interesting to see the outcome.
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Final products. The station handbooks came back from the printer today. I must say they look good. I plan on making some changes for the next edition (due in four months), but they are a huge improvement over the last version. It's nice to have a physical representation of the work you do, especially when so much of my job is talking about stuff and although I do accomplish goals, it doesn't always feel like it. With something like this handbook, though, I have the actual physical copy in my hand, which I can see and feel, and it makes me happy.
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Hack the planet. Kevin Mitnick got to access the internet for the first time in years today. The Register has a chapter of his book that didn't make it to print. It's very interesting. It's a bit one-sided, as could be expected, considering his maligning by the media.
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Update. The download link for the Vice City icons is now working. Help yourself.
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Iconified. After trying unsuccessfully to find some Vice City icons for my computer, I spent a bit of time and made some of my own. Click at left to download them (Mac OS X .dmg file).
note: The download link doesn't work yet... I need to upload the file. Enjoy the preview for now.
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Snap. Posted some photos from my trip to Portland. (See, Mike, it didn't take that long.) First week of school is over. Well, it wasn't a full week, since classes only started yesterday, but it's definitely back to the grindstone.
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Check my pulse. I thought I was in a coma for an hour, but it turns out I was in the theater watching Just Married. The movie gets one point because Brittany Murphy is attractive, but subsequently loses about 3.4e9 for being excrutiatingly boring. I'd be happy to tell you how it ends, but I didn't stay that long.
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Brrrrr. Furnace is on the fritz. When the temperature oustide is -10 and only slightly lower than the temperature inside, it's not very pleasant. It's also not pleasant when the power goes out. Actually, that was kind of pleasant, because I looked outside (power was out in the neighborhood, not just our mobile home) there was one of the most amazing Auroral displays I've ever seen. I even saw a shooting star. It was great. However, I would trade that experience for being able to wake up in a warm place.
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I'm back. So much for daily updates. Anyway, I'm back in Fairbanks where there's several inches of snow everywhere and the temperature is hovering in the sigle digits (above and below zero). It's just about 3 p.m. and the sun is falling below the horizon. At least we're gaining daylight. I stopped by the bookstore to preview the amount of books I'll be buying for the semester: Over $200 worth. Not much fun. It's quite a lot considering I have one of the books already and one of my classes doesn't require any. After nine semesters, I should be used to shelling out the dough for books, but it just doesn't seem to get any easier.
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Welcome to the family. The family web site is up and running now. Well, it's up, but running will come a bit later. Now my dad can stop complaining about the default index page, though.
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Episode II. Attack of the Clone. Apparently those wacky Raeliens have done it again. Have I mentioned how much I like Google's news search?
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Consistency. Well, I've got a post for every day of the new year. My Blog is blowin' up in '03 -- I need to keep that habit going. I got some photos back of our New Year's shenanigan, Once I get to a slide scanner, I'll post them on the wiz-ebb.
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Whew. I just spent a multitude of hours fine tuning the CSS of this page. Don't worry, the content will be back soon, I just need to format it on the new page. I felt the need to move to a CSS layout after reading some essays by Jeffrey Zeldman. This new layout will make the site readable in all kinds of browsers, including WAP-enabled phones and the old-school Lynx.
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Considering MacWorld is nearly upon us, now seems like a good idea to visit the ghost of Apple's past -- particularly, the good ol' Newton: The first handheld to support handwriting recognition. Why spend a couple G's on an Xserve when you can perform the same task with a Newton 120, available on eBay from $50.
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When celebrities run out of cash, they do ads in Japan. My favorites: Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamiroquai, Nicolas Cage and Dennis Hopper. Bizarre.
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