Support guy: Thank you for choosing (company name). My name is Sam, how may I help you this evening?

Me: Well, when I go to work for the day, I put my computer on standby. For the past few weeks, when I come back home and log on and then access the Internet, my connection is fine for a few minutes, then it suddenly drops, even though it says it's still connected.

Support guy: And then what do you do?

Me: I restart the computer and modem, log back on, and then I'm fine.

Support guy: And the problem is ...?

For whatever reason, I found that amusing and started snickering. However, Sam ultimately turned out to be helpful. He's getting a new modem shipped out, so hopefully, that will solve that.

Pakistan's security forces have stormed the Red Mosque in Islamabad, leaving its chief cleric dead. Does this mean President Pervez Musharraf is going to change policies with respects to domestic militants, Afghanistan and Kashmir, or is ...   more »

From the BBC:

A new scientific study concludes that changes in the Sun's output cannot be causing modern-day climate change.

It shows that for the last 20 years, the Sun's output has declined, yet temperatures on Earth have risen.

It also shows that modern temperatures are not determined by the Sun's effect on cosmic rays, as has been claimed.

Writing in the Royal Society's journal Proceedings A, the researchers say cosmic rays may have affected climate in the past, but not the present.

"This should settle the debate," said Mike Lockwood from the UK's Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory, who carried out the new analysis together with Claus Froehlich from the World Radiation Center in Switzerland.

Gwynn Morgan, former EnCana CEO turned Globe and Mail columnist, offers some tart words about journalists and how they can erode a company's reputation.

Anthony Westell, who fancies himself as bringing perspective to all things war-and-media related, offers some thoughts on casualties in Afghanistan in a globeandmail.com commentary. I offer perspective on his perspective.

The Globe and Mail's Lawrence Martin offers some thoughts on how the media should handle terrorism and security stories.

From the AP story on CTV.ca:

A cigarette lighter and paper shredder helped make Mika Brzezinski the symbol of television journalism's guilt trip about Paris Hilton.

Brzezinski used both to destroy a script calling for her to read about Hilton's release from jail on MSNBC's "Morning Joe'' program recently. Part serious, part an act, it has become an Internet sensation. More than two million people have watched a clip of the incident, about 10 times the number who watched it live on TV.

Apparently, she is not the only one sick of the socialite.

"Among journalists it touched a nerve because I think we're tired of pretending this is important,'' she said.

"We also know that, deep down inside, our viewers know that we don't believe this is news. They can't.''

"They can't think we're that dumb.''

Note this, given the post below:

CBS's Katie Couric told a Boston audience in May, to applause: "We have a precious amount of time on the 'CBS Evening News' and I don't think we need to ever utter the name Paris Hilton.''

A month later, Couric's broadcast reported on Hilton's jailing and the controversy over her short-lived release.

From the AP story on CTV.ca:

Katie Couric says the move to CBS would have been less appealing if she had known she'd be doing the more traditional CBS Evening News broadcast that she anchors now.

“People are very unforgiving and very resistant to change,” Couric said in an interview with New York magazine. “The biggest mistake we made is we tried new things.”

Couric's move to CBS has been a bust so far. The evening newscast's ratings are deep in third place, and CBS has rolled back some of the changes it made last fall to shake up the format. Couric conducts fewer interviews, an outside opinion segment was scrapped and the anchor admits she's even dressing down a little to give her critics less ammunition.

From the Guardian:

Allies of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have accused the media of trying to depose him in a "creeping coup", raising fears of a fresh clampdown on opposition newspapers and websites.

The accusation, from the president's allies, coincides with disclosures that Mr Ahmadinejad has authorised aides to establish a special team to counter "black propaganda against the government".

There has been criticism from the reformist and liberal press that Mr Ahmadinejad has failed to deliver his electoral promises of prosperity and has instead presided over an ailing economy and soaring inflation.

Mr Ahmadinejad's advisers complain he has been insulted by "rumour-mongers" who represent "economic and political gangs" opposed to his social justice agenda. In interviews, several supporters signalled that the government was preparing to retaliate.

From the NYT:

With his picture splashed across the front pages of British newspapers, Mohammed Asha, a doctor in the National Health Service, over the last few days became the human face of a suspected plot to bomb a London nightclub and an attack at Glasgow Airport.

According to the British police, the photos should never have appeared.

Britain has some of the tightest restrictions on reporting in the Western world, limiting news organizations’ ability to publish pictures or articles about the subjects of criminal investigations. The rules are intended to ensure fair trials by keeping potentially prejudicial information from would-be jurors.

But critics say the restrictions seem increasingly out of step in an era when Britons can turn to the Internet or other sources for unfiltered information on prominent subjects like terrorism. And, based on their coverage of the recent events, news organizations seem unclear about how to apply the rules.

The Toronto Star's David Olive unravels the mystery. Actually, it's not so mysterious.

From the AP story on CTV.ca:

 No longer breaking stories in high heels and skimpy outfits, Lauren Jones has signed off from the KYTX-TV "Eye of East Texas'' news team and returned to modelling swimsuits.

Rival stations in Tyler weren't entertained by the month-long ratings stunt by Jones, the star behind the upcoming Fox reality show "Anchorwoman'' and a former hostess for World Wrestling Entertainment.

She spent June traipsing around the east Texas city in tight tops and a miniskirt, hunting down scoops for the CBS affiliate. Her on-air reports, which included toeing through penguin droppings at the zoo in stiletto heels, are intended to get laughs when "Anchorwoman'' premieres Aug. 21.

"She definitely wasn't your typical, Day 1, trying-to-break-into-the-business newsperson,'' said Bryan Houston, a KYTX anchor who worked alongside the 24-year-old former New York beauty pageant contestant.

Not everyone was smiling. Residents of the rural area 160 kilometres east of Dallas worry that "Anchorwoman'' will portray their city as backwoods.

And news professionals said the show will further blur the line between news and entertainment.

Oscar-winning songwriter Melissa Etheridge, who called Dubya a criminal and said (if I heard correctly) he should be impeached, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of the Waterkeepers Alliance, who went on a major rant.

Here is how The Nation recorded it:

But the true stars of the day -- no offense to Kanye, Kelly, and Jon -- were the likes of Robert Kennedy, Jr., whose rousing call for Live Earthers to take their eco-consciousness to the voting booth was one of the day's more exciting moements (sic); and, of course, Gore himself, who was greeted with wild cheers every time he took the stage. Kennedy wasted no time before laying into "the oil industry and the coal industry and their indentured servants" on Capitol Hill, and reminded the crowd that while the little things done around the house can help, "the most important thing you can do is get involved in the political process and get ride of these corporate toadies." "This is treason," he said with a growl, "and we need to start to treating them like traitors."

A clip turned up on YouTube, but it was ordered taken down ("This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Microsoft Network"). Here's an audio-only version.

And actually, MSN has a shorter video interview clip with RFK Jr., which covers off most of his main points.

Addendum

Here's a transcript of Kennedy's remarks, via BradBlog and truthout:

Now you've heard today a lot of people say that there are many little things that you all can do today to avert climate change on your own. But I will tell you this, it is more important than buying compact flourescent light bulbs or than buying a fuel efficient automobile. The most important thing you can do is to get involved in the political process and get rid of all of these rotten politicians that we have in Washington D.C., who are nothing more than corporate toadies for companies like Exxon and Southern Company, these villainous companies that consistently put their private financial interest ahead of American interest and ahead of the interest of all of humanity. This is treason and we need to start treating them now as traitors.

And they have their slick public relations firms and their phony think tanks in Washington D.C. and their crooked scientists who are lying to the American people day after day after day. And we have a press that has completely let down American Democracy. That's giving us Ana Nicole Smith and Paris Hilton instead of the issues that we need to understand to make rational decisions in a democracy - like global warming.

From the BBC:

Afghan villagers in the eastern province of Kunar say 35 civilians have been killed in separate air attacks by international forces.

The villagers said neighbours in Watapour were burying 10 people killed in a (Thursday) strike when planes attacked again, killing 25 more people (on Friday).

The Nato-led force said it had launched air strikes in the area, but had not had reports of civilian casualties.  ...

Our correspondent says the scene of the military action is remote and casualty figures are hard to verify.

However, in the last few weeks the number of civilian casualties caused by international air strikes and shootings has given rise to major controversy here, he adds.

And why did they do that? Because their target -- Ayman al-Zawahri, al Qaeda's second in command -- was in Pakistan, and the American effort might adversely affect Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf.

This was in my blog inbox when I checked tonight:

Passmydrugtest.com now links to you

No word yet from passmykidneystone.com.