Crucial Dolly Parton Endorsement Fails to Swing “White Spaces” Vote
Over the objections of television broadcasters, theater producers and Dolly Parton, the Federal Communications Commission Tuesday approved a plan to open up unused frequencies between television channels–known as “white spaces”–for a national broadband network. This 300MHz to 400MHz range of unused spectrum lies between channels 2 to 51 on analog television sets and is perfect for offering wireless broadband services because it’s able to carry signals long distances and easily penetrate trees and walls. And while critics argue that using them in this way might interfere with TV signals or, heaven forbid, the wireless microphones in Dolly Parton’s Broadway production of “9 to 5,” the FCC felt such concerns to be overblown and ruled the country would be better served if the spectrum were opened up for free public use.
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About John
John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper. Read more »
Ethics Statement
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
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- Godzilla’s Food, Exercise, and Dream Diary
12:58 AM: Breakfast: Two schools of fish from Tokyo Bay. Calories: 782,000. How I was feeling when I ate this: confused, irradiated, hating my size.
11:37 AM: Exercise: “Taxi Stomp” (alternating legs, for 30 blocks). Calories burned: 148,900,183. - Scenes From An Alternate Universe Where The Beatles Accepted Lorne Michaels’ Generous Offer
1983. The Beatles announce their first tour in thirteen years, but likewise announce that Michael Jackson will be going on tour with them as a one gigantic mega-concert event.
- The Golden Age of Video
Best video mashup ever.
- I’m not dead yet
A Facebook Memorial
- Pulp Fiction Audio Mix
Wow.
- A world without the Internet
Worth it for the Rickrolling photo alone.
- Google Wave Cinema: Pulp Fiction
Excellent.
- Dead Fly Art
Flughumor!
- Happy Birthday Monty Python …
… you vacuous, toffee-nosed, malodorous perverts
- ‘You are being shagged by a rare parrot’
Stephen Fry and zoologist Mark Carwardine meet the kakapo — a fat, flightless and very randy rare parrot.




