Amtrak will boldly go where no bus company has gone before and offer bus service in an underserved area of California.

California Senate Bill 1263, which authorizes Amtrak to offer bus service in beautiful downtown Bakersfield as well as stops in the Los Angeles area was unanimously approved in both houses of the state legislature and is set to be signed into law next week by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Federal law prohibits Amtrak buses from servicing communities that can be serviced by other bus companies like Greyhound. But it allows individual states to pass laws on additional stops if private companies choose not to stop there.

All Empire Commuters should participate in this one! Just remember to avoid "tracks, moving trains, yards, railroad structures (such as bridges, trestles, towers and wires) and the railroad right-of-way." Not to mention cars with leaking plumbing in the restrooms, loose sharp-edged metal fixtures, exposed wiring, leaking air conditioner condensers or mold in the walls. 

WEBWIRE – Wednesday, May 14, 2008"Picture Our Train" Calendar Contest Begins

WASHINGTON - Calling all shutterbugs! Amtrak's fifth annual "Picture Our Train" photo contest is underway. Amtrak employees and rail fans are invited to submit their best photograph of an Amtrak train, with the winning image to be featured on Amtrak's 2009 wall calendar.

Amtrak encourages passengers and train enthusiasts to enter their best shot of Amtrak equipment for the chance to receive a $1,000 travel voucher and a photo credit on the calendar. The four runners-up will receive travel vouchers ranging from $100 to $500.

The calendar contest runs now through July 11. A panel of judges will review each entry and select the best original color photograph featuring a train with the current Amtrak logo and livery visible, or trains displaying Amtrak Acela, Amtrak Cascades, Amtrak California and Amtrak Pacific Surfliner paint scheme. Contestants must submit an 8x10 original photo suitable for enlargement up to 25 inches.

To enter, please mail photograph to: Amtrak Wall Calendar Contest, 60 Massachusetts Ave. NE, Suite 4E-315, Washington, DC, 20002. Digital photos will be considered, provided the resolution permits enlargement to poster size. All entries must be postmarked no later than July 11. For complete contest rules, visit www.amtrak.com/photocontest.

Safety First

Contestants are reminded to stay away from tracks, moving trains, yards, railroad structures (such as bridges, trestles, towers and wires) and the railroad right-of-way. Photographers must not trespass on railroad property or on private property adjacent to the railroad. Stay in public access areas such as stations, sidewalks or parking lots. All participants agree to assume the risk of harm and release Amtrak from all liability for personal injury and loss of property. Photographers are reminded that railroad tracks, trestles, yards and equipment are private property and that trespassers are subject to arrest and fines. Some stations served by Amtrak trains require advance permission for photography. Always obey all local rules and laws.

 

ICANN accepting comments on PIR's implementation of DNSSEC for .ORG

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is opening a comment period on the Public Interest Registry’s (PIR) proposed implementation of DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) in .ORG. The Public Interest Registry (PIR) is a not-for-profit corporation created by the Internet Society (ISOC) and is a major source of funding.The Internet Society of New York is a Chapter of ISOC.

DNSSEC digitally signs DNS records but doesn’t encrypt DNS traffic. DNS responses are validated as legitimate and not hacked or tampered with. This ensures users don’t get sent to phishing sites when requesting a legitimate website. DNS security has increasingly become a concern, with DNS being prone to this type of attack, as well as being vulnerable to distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks such as the one that temporarily crippled two of the Internet's 13 DNS root servers last year.

ICANN has made a preliminary determination that the PIR proposal requires further consideration by ICANN's Registry Services Technical Evaluation Panel (RSTEP) because the new service could raise significant security or stability issues.

Under the terms of the Registry Services Evaluation Policy, the RSTEP shall have 45 calendar days from the referral, until 5 June 2008, to prepare a written report regarding the proposed Registry Service's effect on security and stability. The report (along with a summary of any public comments) will be forwarded to the ICANN Board. The report will set forward the opinions of the RSTEP, including, but not limited to, a detailed statement of the analysis, reasons, and information upon which the panel has relied in reaching their conclusions, along with the response to any specific questions that were included in the referral from ICANN staff.

A copy of the proposed PIR amendment is available at http://www.icann.org/tlds/agreements/org/proposed-org-amendment-23apr08.pdf [PDF, 25K]. The amendment is a change to Section 3.1c(i) of the .ORG Registry Agreement. Comments on the PIR proposal and amendment submitted to pir-dnssec-proposal@icann.org will be considered until 23:59 UTC 24 May 2008. Public comments will be available for consideration by the RSTEP Review Team and the ICANN Board, and may be viewed at http://forum.icann.org/lists/pir-dnssec-proposal/. All documents related to the PIR proposal are available at http://www.icann.org/registries/rsep/#2008004.

ICANN plans to switch to DNSSEC later this year for its .arpa Internet domain servers.

Country domains .swe (Sweden), .br (Brazil), and .bg (Bulgaria ) already run DNSSEC for their domain servers.