News Briefs

Net neutrality given new life

A bill proposed by Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) that would split the Internet into a two tier system has now died due to the end of the 109th Congress. Stevens is best known for calling the Internet a “series of tubes” and not having any grip on technology. His bill would have updated the country’s 1996 Telecommunications Act, which would have given favor to large communications providers such as Verizon and AT&T. Many opponents of the bill are happy with this result, especially SavetheInternet.com, which remarks that it thinks network neutrality is now in the care of “what appears to be a more Web-friendly Congress.” Only time will tell if net neutrality will be protected by law.



And the word of the year is...?

According to the dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster, the word that best summed up 2006 is “Truthiness.” The word was determined by an online survey administered by the publisher. Stephen Colbert of the television show The Colbert Report is credited with creating the word and he defines it as “truth that comes from the gut, not books.” Colbert was very delighted with the announcement according to The Associated Press. Other words that made the top ten were “war,” “corruption,” “insurgent,” and “sectarian.” Colbert’s “truthiness” beat out all the other words by a 5-to-1 margin.



NBA switches it up

Three months ago, the NBA made a controversial decision to switch to using a synthetic composite basketball made by Spalding. On January 1, the NBA will reverse the decision and switch back to using a leather ball. The change is most likely due to the response of many basketball players. Many players didn’t like the way it felt and some even reported getting cuts on their fingertips due to the ball having a “high-friction cover.” Now the NBA is gauging how many remaining leather balls it has in store for players to use. It is attempting to get a playable supply to teams by the end of the year.