Strange Morning

What an odd morning for news.
Admiral Stockdale has died. A man who tried to serve his country despite not wanting the spotlight. There's something to be admired there.
New York lost the Olympics (not that I thought they'd get it) and London did. I really thought it'd be Paris. I'm still amused that my brother thought the West Side Stadium for the Jets was a done deal when they firsrt announced it.
Strangest of all, this just in from Bizzaro world: China has released a statement that their purchase of an American oil company is just a trade deal and America shouldn't be politicizing it. When a communist government is complaining that the US is politicizing a financial deal. Chairman Mao is spinning in his grave.

Wireless Networkyness

My mom uses dial-up at home. She has a USB Wireless Network card in her laptop. She was recently in a hotel that said it had free wireless access to the web in every room. She couldn't connect. When she asked the hotel staff what she needed to do, they froze like a deer in headlights then bounced into the air, flopped about on the floor and expired in giant gouts of blood like deer hitting the front of a tractor trailer.
OK, probably not that last part.

The reason I'm posting here is that I was hoping one of you wireless or ultra-geeky people (the two spheres overlap) might know what she needed to do to access the network. She thought she needed a password or a network name. I thought this unlikely as I've known people to hit other networks without meaning to. She said she changed her browser options to use a LAN connection and not dial a connection.

I appreciate your assistance.

Because I feel like pontificating

Daniel Schorr had a commentary on NPR tonight on All Things Considered where he conflated the Plume investigation and Watergate. He's wrong. He also conflated Jayson Blair and Dan Rather. This is also wrong and makes you wonder if Schorr hasn't actually paid attention to more than headlines or is growing senile. I'd hate to think he's just shilling for the Right now. Here's the message I sent NPR.

Daniel Schorr is wrong in his commentary about Judith Miller and the other reporters. He stated that had Nixon been able to subpoena Woodward and Bernstien the public would have been harmed, and they would. However, this is not a case of defending the public and whistleblowers against a corrupt government. This is a case of the government using the press as a tool in its corrupt endangerment of covert CIA operatvies for political gains. It is more akin to a reporter publishing the threats of a serial killer against a specific individual and then refusing to name the killer. By all means, go to jail to protect a whistleblower or other source that is seeking the public good. Do not seek to extend that same protection to politicians that seek to use the press to further their shady political goals and harm the country in the process.