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Sat-ND,
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What was missing in Sat-ND, 05.05.1998?
"... there was no Rupert Watch !! Do I win a prize?" (Andy Richardson; Michael Such and Kees van den Brink had similar ideas.) No prize, sorry.
"I couldn't find a 'Delay of the Day' in yesterdays or today's sat-nd. Do I win a jar of environmentally unfriendly rocket exhaust fumes?" (David A. Smith.) I'd love to send you one but I'm afraid the answer is incorrect, too.
Okay, here's the final hint: Try not to think of any missing features or sections but of the news' geographic origin. It should be really, really easy now.
The launch was made from Russia's northern cosmodrome Plesetsk. According to the news agency, "Commander of Russian Strategic Missile Troops Vladimir Yakovlev supervised the launch and highly appreciated the activities of the launching team which had prepared and successfully brought the space apparatus to the orbit."
Nilesat 101 is being tracked by a total five ground stations in Egypt, France, South America and Australia. According to the Chairman of the Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU,) Abdel Rahman Hafez, contact between the satellite and the main ground station at October 6 City, about 30 kilometers southeast of Cairo, had been established. Nilesat is jointly owned by the state-run ERTU and private investors.
Transmissions will officially commence on May 31, which was declared "Media Day," when President Hosni Mubarak will give the signal to uplink television and radio programmes to the satellite. Using digital compression up to 50 channels can in theory be watched on Nilesat 101, but not all of them will be broadcast in the clear.
Egypt has already signed contracts with Libya and Oman to lease channels on the satellite. Lebanon is also expected to lease Nilesat capacity. Observers expect a full-scale price war between Nilesat and other operators serving the Middle East, especially Arabsat and Eutelsat.
So far, access to Intelsat and Inmarsat satellites from the U.S. is controlled by Comsat, created by a 1962 act of Congress to sell capacity on the U.S. share of the Intelsat and Inmarsat systems.
Supporters of the bill (H.R. 1872) said more competition could drive down long-distance phone rates, saving U.S. consumers US$1.5 billion over 10 years. An "Alliance for Competitive International Satellite Services," comprising amongst others telephone companies AT&T and MCI Communications Corp., welcomed the House action and urged the Senate to move forward with a similar bill.
James W. Cuminale, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, PanAmSat Corporation, said in a statement that H.R. 1872 was "an important step toward creating a level playing field in the market for international satellite services" and "a victory for open and fair competition, which will enable all international satellite operators to offer more and better services to consumers and satellite users in the United States and abroad."
Comsat in a reaction said the bill amounted to seizing of private property and the potential stranding of its shareholders' investment in satellite assets. Comsat chief executive officer Betty Alewine said the company believed in the legislation's stated goals of privatising Intelsat and Inmarsat but said the punitive measures in the bill were unnecessary.
The bill would also give Inmarsat until Jan. 1, 2001, and Intelsat until Jan. 1, 2002, to privatise. Both are international organisations with 82 and 142 member states, respectively. Failure to do so would end their rights to the U.S. market for such lucrative services as high-speed Internet access. Commented Representative John Dingell, one of the 16 who voted against the bill: "the United States cannot unilaterally impose its will on better than 140 sovereign nations. ... This approach has no chance of success."
"Many of Intelsat's member-nations will be greatly disappointed in the punitive approach taken in H.R. 1872," said said Intelsat Director General and CEO Irving Goldstein. "The bill is detrimental to a process that is moving forward irrespective of action in the House of Representatives. ... Threats of punitive actions as contained in H.R. 1872 are not needed to promote further commercialisation of Intelsat. This bill can only hamper our continuing restructuring efforts," he added.
Speaking to reporters, Daimler-Benz AG chairman Jürgen Schrempp said "There has been much speculation about the non-automotive activities in the new company." He continued: "We are very proud of our aerospace activities, and if there has been any speculation that we might divest, it is wrong."
"We believe that the Internet is the best place to incubate our programming," said AIME president Mark Graff. "We can utilise this venue to brand the network, obtain instant viewer feedback and build audience allegiance. Then, as alternate distribution channels open, we can migrate programming to cable, direct satellite, digital cable and DVD."
The site is currently offering a video stream around the clock, which consists of a continuously repeated one-hour sneak preview. The company will over the next several months webcast ten shows that have been in production since January.
ComedyChannel: http://www.comedynet.com/
As a result, the territory had been without radio and television for three days. Two of the three hostages taken, station director Bernard Joyeux and chief editor Philippe Voisin, could escape on their own. Technical director Alain Delabre was freed Thursday following the intervention of Wallis' tribal King Lavelua.
Joyeux, who had refused to fire the cameraman, will meet King Lavelua next week to seek a guarantee that RFO will be free to transmit in the future. From current reports, it is yet unclear when transmissions will restart.
Today's long one comes from Juma Al-Sumry who sent me some very questionable jokes, but I guess this one is absolutely harmless. Once again: It's all in your head.
Little Johnny was sitting in class doing math problems when his teacher picked him to answer a question.
"Johnny, if there were five birds sitting on a fence and you shot one with your gun, how many would be left?"
"None," replied Johnny, "'cause the rest would fly away."
"Well, the answer is four," said the teacher, "but I like the way you are thinking."
Little Johnny replied: "I have a question for you now. If there were three women eating ice cream cones in a shop, one was licking her cone, the second was biting the cone and the third was sucking the cone, which one is married?"
"Well," said the teacher nervously, "I guess the one sucking the cone?"
"No," said Little Johnny, "the one with the wedding ring on her finger, but I like the way you are thinking."
Today's quickie was supplied by Dirk Tust who attributes it to German comedian Otto Waalkes (or rather his authors:)
"Waiter, the coffee is cold!"
"So what? If you want to drink something warm, you will have to order a beer!"
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