RCNJ

Joe Pilaro '55 wrote, "The Rensselaer Club of New Jersey and the Rensselaer Alumni Chapter of the Delaware Valley have scheduled a 'Sunday Baseball at the Park' event for July 14. The Trenton Thunder, Eastern League Double A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, will host The Erie SeaWolves, affiliate of the Detroit Tigers, at 1:35pm at the Waterfront Stadium in Trenton."

"This is the ninth season for the Thunder, a farm team where Sox stars Tony Clark, Trot Nixon, Shea Hillenbrand, and Nomar Garciaparra launched there careers."

"Come on out to this RPI alumni summer event, bring the family, and enjoy baseball as it ought to be seen. Tickets can be obtained from Joe Pilaro, PO Box 7463, Princeton, NJ 08543-7463. The group cost is $7 per ticket. Please mail your check to me by June 30 and I will return mail tickets to you."

"The Waterfront Stadium in on Rt. 29 in Trenton, easily accessed from the Turnpike (exit 7A), I-195 and I-295. Directions to the stadium are available on the Trenton Thunder website. Garage and lot parking is available at the Stadium for only $1.00."

Posted by Dave Aiello at 1:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sunday's Times Union reported that Rensselaer's Commencement ceremonies took place inside Houston Field House on Saturday due to a snow storm that hit the Capital District. Another article in the same newspaper reports that the snowfall, measured at 2.2 inches at the Albany-Colonie Airport, was the latest measurable snowfall in the Albany area since 1795, when the earliest weather records began.

...the Capital Region's premiere technical school proved its mettle as dozens of RPI employees, working since 4 a.m., managed to transfer the scene of graduation from the Harkness Field to the Houston Field House next door.

...The Rev. Beth Illingworth, who began the ceremony, threw away a prepared prayer and, instead, thanked God for providing a day no one would soon forget.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Henry Scheuer '69 pointed out that John Rigas '50 stepped down today as Chairman and CEO of Adelphia Communications, the sixth largest cable television company in the United States. He will remain on the Adelphia Board of Directors and represent the company in dealings with cable industry associations.

Rigas co-founded the company in 1952 and has led the company for about 50 years. He was forced to step down as Chairman about six weeks after Adelphia disclosed that a series of large off-balance sheet transactions had taken place, including a $2.3 billion loan guarantee from Adelphia to partnerships controlled by Rigas' family.

In addition to his role at Adelphia, John Rigas is majority owner of the Buffalo Sabres, a team in the National Hockey League. He is one of the most powerful business leaders in Western New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania, and his commitment to the communities where he lives and works is well known.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 3:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Henry Scheuer '69 pointed out that Ed Zander '68, President and COO of Sun Microsystems, is retiring on July 1. CNET News.com said, "The news comes as a surprise since Zander, along with {Sun Chairman Scott} McNealy, was among the most visible executives at Sun. Zander worked at the company for more than 15 years." Sun Microsystems also issued a press release entitled Sun Announces Zander to Retire from Full-Time Duties This Summer.

Ed Zander is scheduled to be a panelist at an alumni event tomorrow in Santa Clara, CA called "High Tech Industries: What Lies Ahead". More information about this event is available on the Featured Alumni Events page of Alumserv.

Posted by Dave Aiello at 8:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you take a look at the WRPI Home Page, you will find the following announcement posted:

We Interrupt This Internet Stream...

WRPI will not stream today and will instead, participate in the Day of Silence, a demonstration of the impact that the DMCA will have on Internet Broadcasting.

We encourage all Rensselaer alumni who appreciate the ability to listen to WRPI for any reason to call their Congressman and Senators and ask them to oppose the CARP (Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel) proposal. The U.S. Copyright Office provides complete details on the CARP Webcasting Rate Proposal. For more information on why it would be difficult for WRPI to continue webcasting under the CARP Webcasting Royalties, read the previously posted RCNJ article on WRPI and CARP.

Update: Dave Aiello wrote to the staff of WRPI to inform them of the RCNJ's interest in this issue. Read on for the text of his letter....

Dave Aiello wrote:

Dear Staff of WRPI:

As President of the Rensselaer Club of New Jersey, a regional chapter of the Rensselaer Alumni Association, I have taken the following actions to alert the alumni in our area to the problems you face if the Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel's webcasting royalty proposal goes into affect:

On April 23, I posted an article on our chapter's website that pointed to the article in The Polytechnic about the impact of the CARP proposal on WRPI. That article is located here:

http://www.rcnj.org/on_campus/2002/04/23/0529224.shtml

This morning, I posted an article on WRPI's participating in the Internet Radio Day of Silence. The article reads, in part, "We encourage all Rensselaer alumni who appreciate the ability to listen to WRPI for any reason to call their Congressman and Senators and ask them to oppose the CARP (Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel) proposal." That article is located here:

http://www.rcnj.org/on_campus/2002/05/01/0648251.shtml

Finally, I called the Washington offices of my congressional representatives, Congressman Rush Holt, Senators Jon Corzine and Robert Toricelli, and asked what their positions are on the CARP webcasting royalty proposal. I have not received any response from them yet, but in my messages, I expressed an interest in the impact of the CARP proposal on college radio stations, and indicated that royalty fees and record keeping requirements would place an unfair burden on people like you.

I hope to hear back from my congressional representatives in the next few days. Please let me know if you would like me to relate any conversations I have with their offices to you.

In the meantime, I would appreciate it if you would let me know what else the alumni can do to support WRPI on this issue. I know that a number of alumni in the State of New Jersey regularly listen to WRPI via your webcast, and we would miss it if it became impractical to stream your programming in the future.

Best regards,

Dave Aiello '89

President

Rensselaer Club of New Jersey

http://www.rcnj.org/

609-844-1200 x 101, phone

609-844-1228 fax

Posted by Dave Aiello at 6:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)