Thursday, July 23 1998

08:32:44 AM

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It Must Be the Water in Montana

Senator Burns (R-Montana) and Congressman Billy Tauzin (R-Louisiana) will be introducing legislation today as an alternative to the FCC's Universal Service E-Rate program. Burns is proposing channeling half of a 3% telecommunications excise tax to schools and libraries. Read the Story.

In a related issue, Burns said in a Senate Floor debate yesterday "...I continue to believe that local communities acting through their school and library boards, rather than software programs that are, at best, questionable, or the federal government, are in the best position to make decisions on this critical issue." The remarks were in response to a last minute maneuver by Senator McCain (R-Arizona) to attach legislation entitled The School Internet Filtering Act (S. 1619), as an amendment to the appropriations bill being debated. McCain's amendment would require a filtering solution be implemented as a requirement to receiving E-Rate or other federal funding.

Blast Off!

Encyclopedia Brittanica introduces a new service online called eBlast. Described by EB as "smart and skeptical, wry and radical", the service aims to bring order to the chaos of the web. One problem. . . the site says coming on July 15th. Maybe they meant 1999.

Pick of the Week

Digital Illusion by Clark Dodsworth

"Digital Illusion" represents entertainment in the age of powerful computers and unlimited imagination. Combining traditional entertainment skills with advanced tools and methods in computer graphics and image processing, the producers of interactive games, multimedia networks, virtual reality environments, and theme park rides are reshaping one of the largest industries in the world. This book details the design and implementation of computer-based entertainment.

Items submitted by:
Kenneth S. Bell - Email
NOLA Regional Library System

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