Often from tragedy a few stories emerge of amazing people that have risen above fear and self preservation and displayed amazing acts of heroism. Seventy-six-year-old engineering professor Liviu Librescu, a Holocaust survivor, was such a man and his sacrifice is nothing short of heroic.

With the gunman, 23-year-old Tech senior Seung-hui Cho, trying to force his way into his classroom, Professor Librescu held his body against the door and told his students to escape through the windows. All leapt to safety but, moments after the last student was safe, Cho apparently forced open the door and shot Librescu to death.

What Librescu did was one of the most conspicuous acts of heroism to surface thus far in the bloodiest massacre inflicted on an American campus by a lone gunman. At the cost of his life, Librescu exemplified heroism. Thanks to his selfless act, many students were saved.

It makes me proud to know that such men still exist.  Story  

This is cute. Looks a little like a college assignment, but very well done. Townhall.com’s Mary Katherine Ham takes on the big news issues of the day with the help of the Peep Players…

Sharpton and Pelosi have put us on notice that we’d better watch what we say - certain words can’t be used (by white folks.) Ever. Look for conservative talk show hosts to be targeted next…

                 Image Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

We are in shock over yesterday’s senseless killings at Virginia Tech and our hearts are heavy with grief for the victims and their families and loved ones. We are a peaceful and trusting society unable to comprehend the what and why, yet we want to understand. It is in our nature to make some sense of it. Yet there is no making sense of it.  It is just that; senseless.

So we grieve and we pray. And we try to understand, for without understanding we cannot hope to find closure. But for now we grieve for the families mourning their supreme loss.

Anger will follow and some will try to place blame, another part of our nature. But we must remember that this was a  random, unpredictable act.

I’m stunned about what happened at Virginia Tech. I want to say something profound or moving or helpful, but I just don’t have the words.

I’m still amazed, as I suspect Sharpton and Jackson themselves are, that they were able to so easily pull this off. Getting an old, burned out cowboy fired for using offensive language in what amounted to an edgy comedy bit was quite a coup. But now they’re under pressure to tackle black comedians and rappers who are a hundred times worse. I can’t wait to see all the heads roll… (right.)

Meanwhile, editorial cartoons say it best.

…and we can all sleep easier knowing that Al and Jesse are watching over us. I still think the skewering was wrong, not because I like the old fart but because no one, especially not Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, should be able to control when someone loses their job. Free speech took it in the shorts over a poor taste comedy bit not unlike what we hear daily on the radio and, as a result, we’ve all lost part of our right of free speech. 

Well, not everyone; rappers and black comedians still have theirs.

Kristine Eubanks admits to conspiracy and tax evasion in scheme that defrauded customers of more than $20 million.

According to the Associated Press, the satellite TV show host has pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from an investigation into bogus artwork sold through televised auctions that defrauded customers of more than $20 million. Kristine Eubanks, 49, of La Cañada Flintridge pleaded guilty Monday in a Los Angeles courtroom to one count each of conspiracy and tax evasion. She faces up to 10 years in prison when she is sentenced September 24, prosecutors said.

Eubanks’ husband, Gerald Sullivan, 51, pleaded guilty April 2 to one count each of conspiracy and failing to file tax returns. He faces up to six years in prison at sentencing in September. Authorities said the couple acknowledged duping more than 10,000 customers through their “Fine Art Treasures Gallery” show which aired on DirecTV and Dish Network. The couple also said they rigged auctions by creating false and inflated bids for art and jewelry sold during the live auctions, prosecutors said.

Nearly $4 million and various pieces of artwork were seized when the couple were arrested.

It’s just another example of how important it is to buy art from galleries you know and trust.

I got this from Jack and Joe…

This is good news for those of us that download music and have pined for removal of the dreaded DRM (digital rights management) encoding that restricts our use of the music we buy and, at the same time, degrades sound quality. Steve Jobs has been campaigning for the availability of DRM-free music for some time and it looks like the dream is coming true, albeit at a price.  

EMI Music announced yesterday that it is launching new premium downloads for retail on a global basis, making all of its digital repertoire available at a much higher sound quality than existing downloads and free of DRM restrictions. The new higher quality DRM-free music will complement EMI’s existing range of standard DRM-protected downloads already available. The new DRM-free products will enable full interoperability of digital music across all devices and platforms.

Apple’s iTunes Store (www.itunes.com) is the first online music store to receive EMI’s new premium downloads. Apple has announced that iTunes will make individual AAC format tracks available from EMI artists at twice the sound quality of existing downloads, with their DRM removed, at a price of $1.29 while continuing to offer $0.99 standard sound quality tracks with DRM still applied. Complete albums from EMI Music artists purchased on the iTunes Store will automatically be sold at the higher sound quality and DRM-free, with no change in the price. Consumers who have already purchased standard tracks or albums with DRM will be able to upgrade their digital music for $0.30 per track. All EMI music videos will also be available on the iTunes Store DRM-free with no change in price.

“Apple has been a true pioneer in digital music and we are delighted that they share our vision of an interoperable market that provides consumers with greater choice, quality, convenience and value for money,” said Eric Nicoli, CEO of EMI Group.

Expect higher quality DRM-free downloads from a variety of digital music stores within the coming weeks, with each retailer choosing whether to sell downloads in AAC, WMA, MP3 or other unprotected formats of their choice. Hopefully, other labels will soon follow. Keep your fingers crossed.

Presiding over a company with a market value of $143 billion apparently gives Silicon Valley’s most famous billionaires a good sense of humor - and a case of corporate potty mouth. Senior executives at Google Inc. launched their annual April Fools’ Day prank yesterday, posting a link on the company’s home page to a site offering consumers free high-speed wireless Internet through their home plumbing systems.

Code-named “Dark Porcelain,” Google said its “Toilet Internet Service Provider” (TiSP) works with Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Vista operating system. But sorry - septic tanks are incompatible with the system’s requirements. The gag included a mock press release quoting Google co-founder and President Larry Page, a very detailed installation manual and a scatological selection of  frequently asked questions. On some Google sites, the company’s official logo substituted a commode for the second “g.”

Via The Sacramento Bee

Here are the stragglers, news I didn’t get around to posting this week… I still can’t bring myself to call them “leftovers…”

Circuit City says  it plans to cut 3,400 employees. And it’s also outsourcing its internal IT department to IBM. IBM will provide a range of information technology services, including data center management, help desk operations, network management, desktop support and security administration. The agreement covers more than 600 Circuit City stores and 43,000 U.S. employees. …

Sandisk announced a 4GB version of its microSDHC card, a new High Capacity (HC) version of their microSD. Two Verizon Wireless V Cast handsets, the LG VX9400 and LG VX8700,  are already compatible with the new standard. According to SanDisk, it will hold 4,000 photos or 16 hours of video.  Look for it at Verizon Wireless in May for $129.99…

Apple, Dell and Sony  have been added to a lawsuit filed by nonprofit  Washington Research Foundation according to financial news network Bloomberg. The lawsuit claims they infringed on four patents dealing with wireless data between computers and other devices. Logitech, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Plantronics are also named to the suit. I feel their pain. When it rains, it pours, doesn’t it?…  

According to (unnamed) “people familiar with the matter,” Web advertising company Double Click is talking with several potential suitors, including Microsoft,  about a possible sale. Private-equity firm Hellman & Friedman acquired Double Click in 2005 for ~$1.1 billion and  has since sold off a number of divisions. They are seeking at least $2 billion… 

BMW has prevailed over Infiniti in a court battle over Nissan’s misuse of the letter “M” to describe its cars. BMW has been adding M badges to souped-up versions of its high-performance cars (think M3, the M5, M6 and other variants) since 1978. Infiniti, meanwhile, more recently registered M45 and M35 as trademarks for its middle range sedans and offered an M6 sport package for its lower-priced G35…

Have you ever dreamed of retiring to a sunny beachside shack in some peaceful Central or Latin American fishing village where you’d sip piña coladas and enjoy the fruits of your life’s labor in relative tranquility? I have and so have many of my friends. But now I’m rethinkingthe wisdom of  expatriating to Central America. 

Eric Volz (right in photo) took an assignment in Nicaragua, fell in love with the country and decided to stay. A surfer turned real-estate broker, he saw himself as a bridge between American baby boomers looking for beachside dream homes and local families of fishermen and laborers in the languid Pacific village of Managua. So the 27-year-old published a successful bilingual magazine called El Puente - literally, The Bridge.

But now he’s tumbled deep into Nicaragua’s cultural divide. He’s several weeks into a 30-year sentence for allegedly killing his former girlfriend, a ruling he says is ludicrous and he is appealing. Numerous eyewitnesses said he was in another town at the time, two hours away from the murder scene and in the company of several people who corroborate his whereabouts at the time of the murder. Yet despite a lack of physical evidence linking him to the crime, the sworn testimony of numerous witnesses who were with him that day, and based solely on the testimony of the admitted drug addict originally charged with the crime (and given immunity with charges dropped in exchange for his testimony against  Eric), a local judge declared Eric guilty and sentenced him to 30 years in a Nicaraguan prison.

If you study the case, presented on a well done website by some of Eric’s friends and appropriately titled “Friends of Eric Volz“ , you’ll realize that a grave miscarriage of justice has occurred and that this young American has been railroaded into a Nicaraguan prison for a crime he couldn’t even possibly have committed. Eric is seeking an appeal. You can help by going to the website, learning about his case, perhaps donating some money to help in his legal defense and, of equal importance, by contacting your elected officials and demanding that our government intervene on Eric’s behalf. Here are links to your congressional representatives:  Senators — Congresspersons

We sometimes forget that the legal systems of poorer countries often leave much to be desired. But when their inequities ensnarl an American, we have to get involved. So I urge you to dedicate the time to learn about Eric’s plight, then get involved - and stay involved - until justice is served.

The video above says a lot, but you need to read the well chronicled case history on the website to fully grasp how egregious the judge’s ruling is and how we cannot allow this young American to languish away in Nicaraguan prison, the victim of a biased and/or corrupt legal system. Imagine yourself in Eric’s shoes. Do your part. Help him receive the justice he deserves.

Thanks Lori for bringing this to my attention!

The world’s largest passenger airplane, the Airbus A380, made a near perfect landing at Los Angeles International Airport Monday. Hundreds of spectators lined up to see the plane,  arriving non-stop from France, land and roll out on the northernmost runway of LAX. A second A380 had landed just moments earlier at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport after its non-stop flight from Frankfurt, Germany. 

The landings were part of a PR move on the part of Airbus officials who so far haven’t landed any orders for the behemoth A380 from U.S. carriers.  Perhaps they wanted to prove that the monstrous eight-story double-decker, with a wingspan the length of a football field and described by some as a sperm whale with wings, could actually fly.

But LAX, who in recent years has lost market share to competing terminals,  is spending billions in upgrades, some of which are designed specifically for the A380. For example, the southern-most runway has been closed for an entire year while construction crews completely remove it and build a new one just 55 feet further south. The reason? The A380’s wingspan is 50 feet greater than the 747. It’s a big bet on an airplane that may not be as successful as the competing Boeing product. But if Los Angeles wants to remain competitive, they’ve got to spend money to make money.

As it stands now, there are no orders for the cargo version of the A380, and only 150 or so orders for the passenger version, none from U.S. airlines, presumably due to the A380’s history of wiring problems, weight issues (how very American), and long delays.

But the airplane is certainly impressive; in single class configuration it can carry as many as 853 passengers. Of course, I’m not aware of any airline interested in using that configuration. Launch customer Singapore Airlines settled on a three-class 485-seat configuration and Quantas a 500-seat arrangement. With those numbers, the advantage over the 747 is far lower than it initially appeared.

Still, it’s an impressive airplane, even more so because of the multi-national conglomeration which overcame the inefficiencies of administrative overhead and diverse geography to build the thing in the first place.

Airbus claims the A380 will yield a 35 per cent savings in per passenger operating costs while being faster and quieter than competing aircraft. It remains to be seen whether some of that will translate into lower air fares.

The following are stragglers, the things I didn’t get around to commenting on this week or last. Calling them “leftovers” seems, well, unattractive. So I’ll dub them “bits and pieces…”  It’s all about packaging, right?

Porn - Surprising to many, porn occupies only about one percent of ‘Net sites according to a recently published study based on extensive random sampling. Of course, that’s little consolation to parents - there are an estimated one billion ‘Net sites, so one percent is still ten million. …

Cisco vs. Apple - Apple and Cisco had negotiated for over two years without reaching agreement over the use of the word “iPhone” at the time Apple’s iPhone was introduced, prompting a trademark infringement lawsuit. Well, it looks like the two have reached an accord. Both will continue use of the name with each sticking to their respective current uses - Apple will use it to describe their cell phone devise and Cisco to describe their VOiP device. Seems reasonable. …

Vista - The new Windows OS, hyped for two years, coming for five, isn’t drawing any “you gotta have it reviews.” In fact, two reviewers I read compared it unfavorably to Mac as requiring far too many unnecessary prompts; It needs a big computer; It’s likely to be SLOW on your computer (that ran XP just fine.) Problem: there is no uninstall - You must reformat your hard disk, losing any stored data and apps, to reinstall XP. …

DRM - Steve Jobs’ call to drop DRM (music copy protection) is meeting passionate opposition from those who still hope to make money from new music releases. Don’t expect any breakthrough soon. …

Google - Telecoms are worried. Rumor has it that Google is planning to provide ‘Net phone service. It’s now easy to do well; Vonage is doing it and must be making money to afford all that TV advertising. Google’s clout and funding ability, together with the possibility of a combined phone and ‘Net access service, could cause some real headaches for phone companies. …

And there you have it. Enjoy a wonderful weekend!