We need stricter controls on the health care profession's treatment modalities for each patient. This will serve to reduce if not eliminate biased treatment of our diverse population, and if linked and monitored with medical billing, can reduce or eliminate fraudulent billing practices and save/control health care costs too.

If you're using Windows, you should be able to click here and watch the Government Channel with Media Player. (Here's the City's page with the live stream.) Looks like the stream is ASF, with WMA2 audio and WMV3 video. The resolution is 320x240, half of standard TV broadcast. The audio is 16bit, 22050 Hz, 16kbps. With VLC, I can watch the stream at this address: http://view.liveindexer.com/ASXGenerator.aspx?mediaSKU=gX0%2bQho2Oh4btw%2fhUV%2fdVw%3d%3d VLC translates this to: mms://worcester.ecstreams.com/WorcesterLive/?MSWMExt=.asf This also works: mms://worcester.ecstreams.com/WorcesterLive/ VLC complains about this URL but gets it to work: http://worcester.ecstreams.com/WorcesterLive/

Downloads

Kevin Ksen notes:

I was able to record stream using the freeware program, Orbit Downloader http://www.orbitdownloader.com and this stream mms://worcester.ecstreams.com/WorcesterLive/?MSWMExt=.asf on Windows XP

Much like Barry Marshall dosing himself with ulcer bacteria to prove they were the cause of stomach ulcers, I've installed Microsoft Silverlight on my computer and agreed to install Microsoft Media Pack. I can now view the City Council archive pages. The doggone pages have no video download link! URLs like this will let you stream, but not download easily: http://worcester.ecstreams.com/WorcesterOD/\City Council\2009\20090106.wmv

The Worcester Activist wiki was down for about a month due to a serious technical problem. The problem's solved, and the wiki is back. It's very possible that there are spam pages or defaced pages still on the wiki. If you notice anything, please post a comment here with a link to the messed-up page.

Congratulations to those Worcester activists who've been leading efforts to pressure the CDC into releasing its latest HIV/AIDS statistics. They believed the CDC was staying silent because the stats showed an increase in infections--and they do. CNN:

There are more new cases of Americans infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, than previously believed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Saturday. About 56,000 people became infected with HIV in the past year, which translates to about 40 percent more cases than officials had estimated, said Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention. Previous CDC estimates suggested about 40,000 new people were infected each year. But those estimates used "limited data and less precise methods," said the center, which is now using technology capable of determining when someone was infected.

Full story at Indymedia. Summary: 1. Beaver Brook 9 Mann St 2. Crompton Park 40 Canton St 3. East Park 200 Shrewsbury St 4. Greenwood Park 20 Forsberg St 5. Holmes Field 221 Plantation St 6. Kendrick Field 7 Brooks St 7. South Worcester 53 Camp St 8. Tacoma Pool 485 Tacoma St 9. University Park 955 Main St

I bet this will be super-helpful. Link

by Mike Benedetti, Eileen Botti, Rachel Hamilton, Artur Janc, Cody Rank, Jaclyn Marie Kateri Snow Sargent, Allison Vasallo, and Drew Wilson We challenge every self-proclaimed vegetarian and vegan in the city to hand out one (1) booklet about factory farming to a college student this semester. Last semester, along with our friends, we handed out more than 1,000 booklets about the cruelties of modern animal agriculture to local students. It was time well-spent, both because of the many positive comments we received and because if only 1% of those students make a change in diet, thousands of animals will be spared needless suffering. On one of our last days leafleting in 2007, a local vegan came to join us when we had only a single booklet left. We were surprised at what a positive experience it was to get a new person involved even in such a small way. We'd like to see this positivity repeated hundreds of times in Spring 2008. If you'd like to leaflet with "Team Worcester," or just pick up a free Vegan Outreach booklet to hand out on your own, please contact us: info@vegworcester.com or 305-393-3250. We wish you a happy and cruelty-free Spring!

Clive McFarlane has the story in the T&G.

Well, a $100 fine each for defacing public property and up to a $500 fine and five months in jail for disturbing the peace could have happened had the students taken their case to trial and lost. So they put their youthful idealism aside and copped a plea — a three-month unsupervised, pretrial probation without any admission of wrongdoing. If they pay their $21 per month probation fee and stay out of trouble, the case will go away.

Woah! There's a new vegan Chinese restaurant opening in Worcester! Buddha Hut has great food, a quaint atmosphere, it's inexpensive, and it's in a pretty good location. Definitely worth a visit! Buddha Hut 415 Chandler Street phone: 508-459-0367 Monday-Thursday: 11am - 9pm Friday-Saturday: 11am-10pm Closed Sundays

My Review

With vegetarian mock-meat entrées like kung pao chicken, sesame beef, and heavenly chicken, even the most meat-loving among us will be able find something they like. Add some fried chicken drumsticks, spring rolls or wonton soup as an appetizer and you've got yourself a solid meal. This all-vegetarian restaurant is a nice place to grab a quick lunch or sit down with the family for a nice dinner.

Entrées are reasonably priced at around $7 or $8, but with appetizers and drinks your meal will likely come out closer to $10. If you're really pinching pennies, try their lunch specials. The portions are the same size, but only costs 5 bucks. Each lunch special comes with rice, a spring roll and a fried wonton. Hard to beat for 5 bucks!In addition to the deep-fried goodness of their mock-meat dishes, they also have a good selection of fancy-pants fruit smoothies. I was impressed by the strawberry and coconut milk smoothie. It made for a nice desert.

The people behind Buddha Hut are the same folks who created Quan Yin, one of Central Mass' top veg restaurants. Quan Yin is located at 56 Hamilton St in Worcester and has a similar menu, but slightly cheaper prices and a different atmosphere. Buddha Hut is larger and more geared towards formal dining than Quan Yin. Despite the similarities, the two restaurants don't see each other as competitors. I'm certainly of the opinion that there is room enough for both places here in the heart of Massachusetts. Give it a try! The grand opening is on March 31. You'll get 10% off your order and you'll even get some free pound cake to boot! The place will be open everyday until then, but they're still working out some kinks. When I went on Friday, they were processing credit cards by hand and they're still figuring out how to efficiently accommodate big parties (8+). Anyway, hope to see you at the grand opening! Join the grand opening event on facebook.

Drew Wilson will open a vegan diner in Worcester, MA if we raise $19,900.