|  | | | | | |  Speed traps Pollute says EPA
Washington , DC
The Environmental Protection agency today announced that they are cracking down on speed traps in the US . Terry Gilmore, Assistant deputy secretary to the EPA assistant chief said " Those speed traps on US highways in those little towns are producing way too much particulate content from the dust of brake pads and shoes. " The brake dust , According to Gilmore, is causing the fall colors on nearby trees to be less
"vibrant" then it would normally be. The proposed rule would make it unlawful for towns to place speed limit signs of more then 15mph less than the posted speed before the signs and would also require a quarter mile between speed changes on all roads. It is also suggested that "Reduced speed ahead" signs be placed at least 1/4 mile from any speed limit sign. Opponents of the rule say that it will have little
effect on brake dust and a big effect on the local economy. -Staff |
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| | | | | | November 1, 1999 issue | | | | New Windows STOP button
In response to customer demand, the new Win2000 operating system will have a STOP button on the toolbar in addition to the customary START button, Microsoft announced today.Citing pressure from the US Department of Energy, various ecological groups and the
consumer group "Citizens for low electric bills", free service-pack upgrades will soon be available for users of the other versions of Windows giving them a similar STOP button."Electric consumption nationwide has dramatically increased since the release of Windows95" says Clive Fishman, of the Minnesota office of the DOE. He adds that "studies have shown that most people cannot figure out how to shut down their Windows computers and therefore leave them on all the
time, consuming vast amounts of electricity". The Journal of Power Generation, in a recent white paper, concurs with these findings and predicts that without immediate action, the power grid in the US will be overloaded by February of 2000. MS has officially refused to comment on this, but a spokesman did say that they were concerned that power interruptions at their software development facility might be costly and delay release of many of their products.
"It was decidedly cheaper to add the STOP button than to outfit our facilities with emergency power" said the anonymous source. |
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