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Howard Dean Keynote – 8/2/07

Google Pushes Tailored Phones
To Win Lucrative Ad Market

By AMOL SHARMA and KEVIN J. DELANEY
August 2, 2007; Page A1

Google Inc. is searching for growth in cellphones.

The company, which has made billions of dollars in Web
advertising on computers, is courting wireless operators to carry
handsets customized to Google products, including its search engine,
email and a new mobile Web browser, say people familiar with the plans.
It wants to capture a big chunk of the fast-growing market for ads on
cellphones.

Google has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in
the cellphone project, say people who have been briefed on it. It has
developed prototype handsets, made overtures to operators such as
T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, and talked over technical
specifications with phone manufacturers. It hopes multiple
manufacturers will make devices based on its specs and multiple
carriers will offer them.

For wireless operators, the plans are a double-edged
sword. Google’s powerful brand and its popular Web services could help
operators sign up more subscribers to data packages, on which they
increasingly rely as voice revenue declines. However, operators have
been wary about losing control over the mobile-ad market.

The long-rumored Google phones are still in the
planning stages, and wouldn’t be available to consumers until next year
at the earliest, say people familiar with the idea. Some details are
likely to shift as the plans develop.

The Mountain View, Calif., company has made clear it
is serious about developing advanced software and services for
cellphones. “What’s interesting about the ads in the mobile phone is
that they are twice as profitable or more than the nonmobile phone ads
because they’re more personal,” said Google Chief Executive Eric
Schmidt at the D: All Things Digital conference in May.

A Google spokesman yesterday declined to comment on a
Google phone project, but noted: “We are partnering with almost all of
the carriers and manufacturers to get Google search and other Google
applications onto their devices and networks.”

The Google phone project goes far beyond Google’s
existing deals to include its search engine or applications such as
Maps on select handsets, say the people familiar with the matter.

The company’s past efforts to get its software on
cellphones have raised some concerns in the industry. Verizon Wireless
Chief Executive Lowell McAdam said the carrier has chosen not to
integrate Google’s Web search engine tightly into its phones because of
Google’s demands to get a large share of search-based ad revenue.

“What this really boils down to is a battle for the
mobile ad dollar,” Mr. McAdam said in a recent interview. “They want a
disproportionate share of the revenue.” Mr. McAdam declined to comment
specifically on any Google phones.

Google has announced that it may bid for
wireless-spectrum licenses at a coming government auction. The Federal
Communications Commission on Tuesday approved rules addressing some of
Google’s concerns about the sale.

If it owned spectrum, Google might turn into a phone
operator itself. However, such a project would take years to come to
fruition and cost billions of dollars. For now, Google has to work with
existing cellphone operators to get its mobile products to consumers.

In recent months Google has rolled out mobile versions
of products such as the YouTube video-sharing site. It has made deals
to include its search engine or applications such as Google Maps and
Gmail on select handsets. But the company has sometimes been frustrated
at the limited distribution it has achieved. In some cases, Google has
managed to get around operators. Its 411 location search service can be
accessed by dialing an 800 number from any handset.

Now it is drafting specifications for phones that can
display all of Google’s mobile applications at their best, and it is
developing new software to run on them. The company is conducting much
of the development work at a facility in Boston, and is working on a
sophisticated new Web browser for cellphones, people familiar with the
plans say.

The prize for Google: the potential to broker ads on
the mobile phones, complementing the huge ad business it has built
online. Google even envisions a phone service one day that is free of
monthly subscription charges and supported entirely through ad revenue,
people familiar with the matter say.

Last year, global spending on mobile-phone
advertising, including placement of ads in text messages, Web pages,
video and all other content, was only $1.5 billion, according to
eMarketer. But that figure is projected to grow to nearly $14 billion
by 2011, the market research firm says.

The proposed Google phone, Apple
Inc.’s iPhone and efforts by other technology companies are aimed at
making Web and computer functions easier for consumers to use on
cellphones. Today, surfing the Web, listening to music and watching
video on cellphones are often clunky experiences.

Unlike Apple, whose cellphone is available exclusively through AT&T,
Google is hoping that multiple operators will offer its phone. And
Google is ready to relinquish some control over design, allowing
manufacturers to create devices based on a common set of specifications.

Google has approached several wireless operators in
the U.S. and Europe in recent months, including AT&T, T-Mobile USA
and Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, people familiar with the situation say. T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom
AG, appears to be the furthest along in considering it, these people
say. Andy Rubin, who helped design T-Mobile’s popular Sidekick phone,
now works at Google and is involved in its handset project.

Google recently struck a deal with Sprint Nextel
Corp. to have a wide array of its services bundled into devices for
that carrier’s high-speed wireless network based on the nascent WiMax
technology. Both companies declined to comment on whether that
relationship would extend to offering Google-customized phones on
Sprint’s existing cellular network.

The specifications Google has laid out for devices
suggest that manufacturers include cameras for photo and video, and
built-in Wi-Fi technology to access the Web at hot spots such as
airports, coffee shops and hotels. It also is recommending that the
phones be designed to work on carriers’ fastest networks, known as 3G,
to ensure that Web pages can be downloaded quickly. Google suggests the
phones could include Global Positioning System technology that
identifies where people are.

People who have seen Google’s prototype devices say they aren’t as revolutionary as the iPhone. One was likened to a slim Nokia
Corp. phone with a keyboard that slides out. Another phone format
presented by Google looked more like a Treo or a BlackBerry. It’s not
clear which manufacturers might build Google wireless devices, though
people familiar with the project say LG Electronics Co. of South Korea
is one company that has held talks with Google. Google has already
lined up a series of hardware component and software partners and
signaled to carriers that it’s open to various degrees of cooperation
on their part, the people say.

Google doesn’t plan to charge a licensing fee to
hardware makers or operators, people familiar with the matter say. The
company has suggested the phones could carry the Google brand alongside
the brand of the operator, or they could be distributed without the
Google name. The Google brand has yet to appear on a significant piece
of consumer hardware.

Some executives at cellphone operators were skeptical about Google’s efforts. They noted the case of Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN, which introduced a sports-centric handset but was forced to shut down the venture last year amid soft demand.

Apple’s iPhone could be a formidable competitor among
consumers — and also present strategic complications. Four of Apple’s
eight directors also serve as directors or advisers to Google. Mr.
Schmidt, the Google CEO, is on Apple’s board. Those with ties to both
companies might find it difficult to avoid conflicts of interest.

Google has generally had better luck in Europe than in
the U.S. in getting its software on cellphones. It has forged a
relationship with the United Kingdom’s Vodafone Group PLC to provide
the search bar on the carrier’s branded Internet homepage, with results
customized for cellphone users. T-Mobile in Europe integrates Google’s
search bar into its welcome screen for users who have a data plan
designed for heavy Web browsing. It’s unclear which carriers in Europe
Google is working with on its handset plans.

–Cassell Bryan-Low, Jane Spencer and Evan Ramstad contributed to this article.

Google Pushes Tailored Phones

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WIRED
Erin Biba
07.24.07

1 Astronaut
Since manned spaceflight began in 1961, 24 US astronauts have died in
astro-action — 10 during launch, six during training flights, and
seven on reentry. In 1971, three Soviet cosmonauts suffocated when a
malfunction caused the oxygen to leak out of their ship. Then there’s
that whole riding-an- explosion-into-space thing. And we haven’t even
found aliens yet.

2 Biosafety Level 4 lab researcher
BSL-4 labs handle the deadliest diseases on Earth. In 2004, a Russian
scientist died after accidentally sticking herself with an Ebola-laced
needle. The death occurred only months after a US scientist at the
Army’s BSL-4 lab at Fort Detrick in Maryland made the same mistake…
and survived.

3 Hurricane hunter
The Air Force’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron crew members are
the daredevils of meteorology. They fly WC-130s into a hurricane’s
eyewall, 10,000 feet up, to locate the storm’s pressure center and
measure its wind speed. Not surprisingly, some get a little turned
around. Even on the ground, they’re not safe — Hurricane Katrina
destroyed the squad’s home base.

4 Doctors Without Borders mobile lab tech
Testing blood for sleeping sickness — an infectious disease
transmitted by flies that causes brain swelling, heart failure,
insomnia, and an uncontrollable urge to sleep — is dangerous
enough. Now just imagine doing it at an outdoor mobile lab in the
middle of the ongoing genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region.

5 Propulsion engineer
Turns out, the people who ground-test rocket engines don’t actually
worry about explosions. When you work with cryogenic oxygen and gases
pressurized up to 300 psi, you’re far too busy worrying about “cold
burns” and other trauma to really give proper consideration to what
might happen should one of the buggers completely ignite.

6 Grad student
Even the most mundane job in science is hazardous if you don’t know
what you’re doing. Grad students in labs around the world are in
constant danger of, well, screwing up. In 2004, a Texas A&M
student, for example, was cleaning up a laboratory when a jar of
chemicals he was handling suddenly exploded, leaving him with severe
lacerations and burns.

7 Volcanologist
Active volcanoes blow enough ash to bury a city the size of, oh,
Pompeii. No wonder many volcanologists don’t come back from their
helicopter visits to hell. In 1991, three were killed by Japan’s Mount
Unzen. In 2001, one died after falling off a 985-foot-high caldera rim,
and in 2005, four Filipino researchers died in a chopper crash while
inspecting landslide areas.

8 Biologist
Animal research can lead to more than an allergic reaction. Being
bitten, scratched, or exposed to “secretions” can be deadly. For
example, at least 70 percent of captive adult macaque monkeys are
infected with herpes B. In 1997, a 22-year-old researcher died after
contracting the virus from some “biologic” monkey material that got in
her eye.

Illustrations by Thomas Fuchs

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He writes:

Davos Newbies » Blog Archive » Way short of “a detailed case”:
NPR usually does a better job than most of reporting accurately and
maintaining the appropriate skepticism about our country’s
leaders but it let me down this morning. While I was shaving, they had
a report on president Bush’s speech yesterday about Iraq as the
front line of the so-called war on terrorism. Mary Louise Kelly said:
“In his speech, the president laid out a detailed case linking
Osama Bin Laden’s terror network to its offshoot in Iraq.”

His case consisted of saying, “Al Qaeda in Iraq is Al Qaeda. In Iraq.”

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A Hipper Crowd of Shushers

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Media Matters – Limbaugh:

Limbaugh: Democrats are “PR spokespeople for Al Qaeda”

On the July 31 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio
show, Rush Limbaugh
claimed that Democrats have “aligned themselves with the enemy” in Iraq and went on to assert: “The enemy
kills more soldiers, their spokesmen here in the U.S. are the Democrats. When we
kill more of the enemy, the Democrats are silent and they say nothing.”
He continued: “But when we have reports of, you know, another IED, or
pictures of a car on fire — then the Democrats assume the role of media PR
spokespeople for Al Qaeda.”

From the July 31
broadcast of Premiere
Radio Networks’ The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: I mean,
there’s almost a mathematical formula to this that I have detected. To
the extent that we make progress, the Democrats’ political hopes are
diminished. Now, what kind of political leaders position themselves that way so
that they only win when their country loses? And what kind of brains do they
have to position themselves in such a way so that when we make progress, their
political aspirations are diminished?

They’re the ones that created
this situation. They have aligned themselves
with the enemy. They continue to align themselves with the enemy. They
won’t admit it, obviously. The enemy kills more soldiers, their spokesmen
here in the U.S.
are the Democrats. When we kill more of the enemy, the Democrats are silent and
they say nothing. But when we have
reports of, you know, another IED, or pictures of a car on fire — then the
Democrats assume the role of media PR spokespeople for Al Qaeda.

—A.J.W.

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In Praise of Tap Water

On the streets of New York or Denver or
San Mateo this summer, it seems the telltale cap of a water bottle is
sticking out of every other satchel. Americans are increasingly thirsty
for what is billed as the healthiest, and often most expensive, water
on the grocery shelf. But this country has some of the best public
water supplies in the world. Instead of consuming four billion gallons
of water a year in individual-sized bottles, we need to start thinking
about what all those bottles are doing to the planet’s health.

Here are the hard, dry facts: Yes, drinking water is a good thing, far
better than buying soft drinks, or liquid candy, as nutritionists like
to call it. And almost all municipal water in America is so good that
nobody needs to import a single bottle from Italy or France or the Fiji
Islands. Meanwhile, if you choose to get your recommended eight glasses
a day from bottled water, you could spend up to $1,400 annually. The
same amount of tap water would cost about 49 cents.

Next,
there’s the environment. Water bottles, like other containers,
are made from natural gas and petroleum. The Earth Policy Institute in
Washington has estimated that it takes about 1.5 million barrels of oil
to make the water bottles Americans use each year. That could fuel
100,000 cars a year instead. And, only about 23 percent of those
bottles are recycled, in part because water bottles are often not
included in local redemption plans that accept beer and soda cans. Add
in the substantial amount of fuel used in transporting water, which is
extremely heavy, and the impact on the environment is anything but
refreshing.

Tap water may now be the equal of bottled water,
but that could change. The more the wealthy opt out of drinking tap
water, the less political support there will be for investing in
maintaining America’s public water supply. That would be a
serious loss. Access to cheap, clean water is basic to the
nation’s health.

Some local governments have begun to
fight back. Earlier this summer, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom
prohibited his city’s departments and agencies from buying
bottled water, noting that San Francisco water is “some of the
most pristine on the planet.” Salt Lake City has issued a similar
decree, and New York City recently began an advertising campaign that
touted its water as “clean,” “zero sugar” and
even “stain free.”

The real change, though, will come
when millions of ordinary consumers realize that they can save money,
and save the planet, by turning in their water bottles and turning on
the tap.

In Praise of Tap Water – New York Times

Senate to Hold Hearing on Security of Voting Machines

In the wake of the California report
released last week showing that Red Team security researchers were able
to hack voting machines from three of the top voting machine companies,
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) announced today that the Senate
Rules and Administration Committee will hold a hearing in September to
examine the report’s findings. From the press release:

“I was very surprised to read how easily these machines could be
hacked into and election results distorted,” Senator Feinstein
said. “This report demonstrates the precarious risk of relying on
electronic voting machines, especially when a verified paper record is
not provided. These findings are yet another reason that states and
counties should consider a move to optical scan machines that provide
an auditable, individual voter-verified paper record without having to
rely on a separate printer.”

One wonders where the senator has been the last four years
that she’s surprised by the findings revealed in the report. Feinstein
introduced a bill earlier this year that would require voting machines
nationwide to produce a paper trail, but the bill has received little
support in the Senate thus far.

Another bill that Congressman Rush Holt (D-New Jersey) introduced in
the House years ago (and reintroduced this year) is making better
progress, though its path has hardly been smooth. As I reported two weeks ago,
the bill almost died due to arguments among interest groups over
sections of the bill dealing with the paper trail mandate and voter
accessibility. A compromise was apparently reached this week (see the draft version
that’s been circulating on the internet), but voting activists are
steaming mad with it since it would allow touch-screen machines with
add-on printers to continue to be used. The machines use thermal paper,
such as the kind used in cash registers.

Voting activist groups fought hard to get those printers in place in 2003 and 2004 and were the impetus
for the original Holt bill back in 2003 which would have mandated that
printers be installed on all touch-screen machines. But the activists
have since changed their minds and now want touch-screen machines
outlawed entirely and replaced with optical-scan machines that use a
durable full-size paper ballot. The revised bill introduced this year
initially seemed to suggest that touch-screen machines would be
outlawed, but that wording in the bill has since changed to permit
counties to use the touch-screen machines with printers.

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ARS TECHNICA

Coffee drinkers rejoice: your liver and skin thank you

By John Timmer
| Published: August 01, 2007 – 05:20PM CT

We tend to view habits that are referred to as addictions as
necessarily bad things. In recent years, however, there has been good
news for those who consider themselves hooked on things like red wine,
green tea and chocolate: these complex substances appear to contain
some chemicals that actually enhance human health. Two recent
publications suggest that we may be able to add coffee to that list.

The first comes from the June issue of Hepatology,
a journal devoted to the study of the liver. Some researchers
(primarily from espresso-mad Italy) performed a meta-analysis of
studies that tracked liver cancer, the third most common cause of
cancer deaths globally, and pulled out data related to coffee
consumption. Overall, this happy addiction appeared to correlate with a
41 percent reduction in the risk for cancer.

The benefit held up well across a variety of studies, including both
case-controlled and cohort designs. It also persisted across geographic
regions, with the frequent drinkers of Southern Europe and the rare
sippers in Japan seeing a protective effect. There was also a dose
effect, with heavy drinkers seeing even more protection, and
consumption even benefitted those with signs of liver damage, which is
often a precursor to cancers of the organ. It was one of the more
convincing data sets I’ve seen in this sort of analysis.

At PNAS, a study
skipped the coffee, and headed straight for putting caffeine in the
drinking water of some mice. Nevertheless, they suggested that the mice
dosed themselves in a manner typical of us humans: “The plasma
concentration of caffeine in mice ingesting caffeine (0.1–0.4
mg/ml drinking water) is similar to that in the plasma of most coffee
drinkers (one to four cups per day).” This caffeine was coupled with
the mouse equivalent of a voluntary exercise program, which involved
placing a running wheel in the cage.

The researchers looked at how the combination of exercise and
caffeine affected a potential path to cancer, the response of cells to
ultraviolet light exposure (something that often accompanies exercise).
Cells exposed to UV have two choices: suffer the damage, or commit an
organized form of cell suicide called apoptosis. It’s thought that the
apoptotic response prevents cancer by killing off anything that may
have picked up DNA damage, and hence a propensity to cancerous growth.

Either the exercise or caffeine alone caused a slight uptick in the
number of cells undergoing apoptosis following UV exposure. Combining
the two, however, caused a far more dramatic increase, over 400 percent
compared to the sedentary, uncaffeinated controls. This was more than
simply adding the two separate effects, suggesting that caffeine and
exercise acted synergistically. As an added benefit, the subdermal fat
layer in the mice shrank dramatically in these animals. These results
suggest that making caffeine part of your exercise program may give it
an extra boost, and help limit the damage caused by any of the exercise
you pursue outdoors.

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Yankee Stadium primer

On the eve of the Yankees’ first home game of the season, NewYorkology
contributor Scott Ross offers up a Bronx Bomber guide to everything you
need to know about buying tickets, how to get there, where to sit and
what to eat. Ross is the East Coast editor of Sploid.

The Stadium
In the decade preceding the arrival of Babe Ruth, the Yankees were a
so-so team. Their performance at the gate reflected their play on the
field, as average attendance at the Polo Grounds was only about 5,000.
With the addition of Ruth the Yankees in 1920 started winning and
immediately their attendance tripled. The influx of cash from gate
receipts allowed team owner Jacob Rupert to put up the money for “The
House That Ruth Built,” as the stadium came to be known.

Yankee Stadium opened on April 18, 1923. That season the Bronx Bombers
captured their first World Series title. Since then, the stadium has
been home to an additional 25 championships, more than any other team
in pro sports.

With the announcement in June 2005 of a new Yankee Stadium slated to
open in April 2009, there are now less than 250 more opportunities (not
including the playoffs) to see a game there. If you haven’t seen this
historic coliseum, get on it.

How to Buy Tickets
Tickets are available online at the Yankees official website or through Ticketmaster. You can print your own tickets off the Internet, so you needn’t fall victim to the capricious ways of the U.S. Postal Service.

You can also visit one of the Yankee Clubhouse Stores
around the city. Don’t bother getting your tickets through the
Clubhouses in an effort to avoid the Ticketmaster surcharge, they still
get you. … Yeah, I don’t get it either.

You can buy tickets at the ballpark, but it’s in your best interest to
get them before you head up there. You’d be wise to call and check
availability before making the trek up there ticketless.

Of course you can always buy tickets from scalpers, but you do so at your own risk.

Where to Sit
Ticket prices range from $12 for the bleachers to $115 for “Field
Championship” seats, what dad used to call “box seats.” All the really
pricey tickets for 2006 are sold out; the most expensive section still
on sale is “Main Box” for $52.

I typically sit in the upper-deck behind home plate (Tier Reserved,
between Sections 7 and 8). The tickets are cheap, $18-$20, usually
available and you can see the whole field. The more expensive the
ticket, the harder it is to come by, so you need to decide what’s important to you.

If your priority is not having your child surrounded by blood-hungry
drunks, let me suggest the bleachers or Tier Reserved sections 13 &
14, where the sale of alcohol is forbidden.

There’s no escaping the thunderously loud P.A., though I find it particularly bad in the upper decks.

How to Get to Yankee Stadium
Subway – Yankee Stadium is easily reached by taking the 4 train if you’re coming from the East Side or the D
train up the West Side. Both trains let you off at the 161st Street
station. (Be advised the 4 train will not be crossing between Brooklyn
and Manhattan on weekends until the fall of 2006.)

Car – If you just have to drive, the Stadium is at exit 4 off of Route 87 (aka, The Major Degan). There are parking lots, but isn’t going to a game expensive enough? And getting out of there after a game can be a nightmare. In “A Pitcher’s Story,”
Roger Angel tells of how the police allow Yankee P.A. announcer Bob
Shepherd to make an illegal left turn that cuts 30 to 45 minutes off
his drive. You are not Bob Shepherd.

Ferry – NY Waterway’s Yankee Clipper
costs $18 roundtrip and makes several Manhattan stops. The trip takes
about an hour and a half and leaves you about a 7-10 minute walk from
the Stadium. Really, what’s more magical than a cruise along the East
River?

Riding the Yankee Clipper from Pier 11 (near South and Wall streets)
takes considerably longer and is more expensive than the train, but
it’s not without its merits. The chief advantages of the ferry are the
full bar and the comfort, with the later truly becoming an issue on the
ride home. Rather than jostling with 50,000 other hot, tired fans on
the dank, sweaty subway platform and trains, you’ve got plenty of fresh
air and seating as you float down the East River. It’s a far more
civilized way to travel.

Where to Meet
Mercifully, we all have cell phones now, so finding one another is far
easier, but you still need a location. Everybody who doesn’t know the
area meets at The Bat. As you get off the subway and walk west along
161st, you’ll see a giant bat, maybe 30 feet high, surrounded by a
couple hundred people looking as lost and confused as you.

Before the Game
Unless you’re sitting in the bleachers, your ticket also allows you to
take a walk through Monument Park in centerfield, where the team pays
tribute to its former greats. The park is located by Section 36 and is
open from two hours before game time to 45 minutes before game time.
It’s pretty cool; check it out if you have time.

If you’d rather grab a beer or a nosh beforehand, there is no shortage
of bars and restaurants in the neighborhood, all of them teeming with
fans.

Getting Into the Stadium
The gates open two hours before first pitch and you’re permitted to
seek autographs until the end of batting practice. Give yourself a
minimum of thirty minutes to get through security, buy a hot dog and
find your seat.

Before you get into the park, you will be subject to a search,
typically a cursory patting down. Be prepared to turn your cell phone
on, take off your hat or open your purse.

Outside food is permitted, though cans and bottles are not. If
you’re carrying anything in an opaque bag, you may be asked to
transfer your belongings into a clear one provided to you by security.

Any bag larger than a purse (this is a purely subjective determination
made by the security guard taking into account your gender, demeanor
and bra size) will not be permitted (diaper bags are OK).

You can check your bag for $5 at many of the bars across River Avenue.
The lines move pretty quickly and I’ve never heard of anybody
losing anything, but there are no guarantees, so if you can avoid it,
don’t bring a bag.

What to Eat
The Stadium has your standard ballpark fare; vendors troll the aisles
with beer, dogs, peanuts, soda, popcorn, Cracker Jack, ice cream. …
If you want pizza, fries, nachos or a sandwich, you have to walk quite
a ways and wait in a long line; you’re looking at a minimum of 30
minutes, more likely 45.

Miscellanea
If you feel compelled to wear your Red Sox hat, be ready for catcalls
and mockery, but don’t take the bait. You can’t win.

There are only four ATMs in the whole ballpark, so you’d be advised to get money in advance.

Listen for the mellifluous sounds of Bob Shepherd on the P.A. I’m
holding onto the hope that someone will have the good sense to record
Shepherd pronouncing every syllable in the world so we can create a
Shepherd see-and-say, and hear him for all eternity. The sound of that
man saying “Shigetoshi Hasegawa” makes my knees weak.

Watch out for Freddie, the crazy old guy with a sign that reads “Freddy Sez …”
The man has been trolling the aisles of the stadium forever, carrying
his sign and offering people the chance to clang his bell with a spoon.
If you get close enough, ring the bell, have your picture taken with
him and be sure to ask for a copy of his newsletter. Bad jokes,
recipes, ads. … It’s incredible. A stapled mess of photocopies,
it may be the original zine.

Listen for the chant at the start of every game that rains down from
the bleachers. In the top of the first inning the fans in the bleachers
chant the name of each player on the field and clap (Der-RICK! Je-TER!
… clap … clap … clap-clap-clap) until the player acknowledges
them with a tip of the cap.

Whether you’re visiting from Smithtown or Boston or Manhattan,
Kansas, the idea of spending the day in the South Bronx can sound
daunting. Do not be afraid. The neighborhood is completely safe.
Don’t think twice about heading up early for a beer or to take
the tour of Monument Park.

Corrected: This entry was modified after a commenter pointed out that
the phrase “(i)n hours leading up to the game and for about an hour
after, the neighborhood is perfectly safe” made it seem the Bronx may
be perpetually burning when not under the soothing spell of a Yankees’
game. Writer Scott Ross concurs with the commenter and the phrase has
been deleted.

Update: Writer Scott Ross took a mid-season trip on the Yankee Clipper
and provided more details on the sail for the entry above. Also, this
new info on security changes: After 9/11, security at Yankee Stadium
was cranked up quite a bit. In the wake of the terror plot uncovered in
London last week (Aug. 10, 2006,) the Yankees have again raised the
bar. As always, the Yankees remain one of the few — if not only —
ballparks that graciously allows outside food and drink, however you
now must take a sip of any liquid before it’ll be permitted. As a
friend noted, this new protocol may keep liquid explosives out of the
stadium, but it won’t keep you from smuggling in booze. Hooray for
freedom!

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