“Last year, Veoh, a video-sharing site operated from San Diego, decided to block its service from users in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe, citing the dim prospects of making money and the high cost of delivering video there. ‘I believe in free, open communications,’ Dmitry Shapiro, the company’s chief executive, said. ‘But these people are so hungry for this content. They sit and they watch and watch and watch. The problem is they are eating up bandwidth, and it’s very difficult to derive revenue from it.’”

“The attack on pandemic preparation became so central to the GOP strategies that AP reported in February: ‘Republicans, meanwhile, plan to push for broader and deeper tax cuts, to trim major spending provisions that support Democrats’ longer-term policy goals, and to try to knock out what they consider questionable spending items, such as $870 million to combat the flu and $400 million to slow the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.’”

“The partial closure of Rivercrest Drive, brought about through a 12-year campaign by a small community of wealthy, powerful Houstonians who wanted to shut off their street from cut-through traffic, has kicked up dust all the way from City Council to the Texas Legislature. On one hand are people like Oliveira in Briargrove Park, who cannot understand why the city permitted an action they believe has sent far more cars into their neighborhood, without so much as a public hearing on the matter.” (via)

“Zimerman has had problems in the United States in recent years. He travels with his own Steinway piano, which he has altered himself. But shortly after 9/11, the instrument was confiscated at JFK Airport when he landed in New York to give a recital at Carnegie Hall. Thinking the glue smelled funny, the TSA decided to take no chances and destroyed the instrument. Since then he has shipped his pianos in parts, which he reassembles by hand after he lands.” (via)