This week in nerd news, we learned that the word Wi-Fi doesn’t stand for anything. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, back in 1999, the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance trademarked the term because they needed a name for “IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence,” the technology that uses radio waves instead of cables for internet connectivity. So, nope, Wi-Fi does not stand for wireless fidelity.
• As masked federal agents are overstaying their non-welcome and hitting folks in the head with canisters of tear gas, wouldn’t it be nice if we had a mobile crisis response service again? But Eugene’s recent request for proposals for “Peer Navigation and Alternative Services” asks for a “minimum service level,” which does not appear to include CAHOOTS-like services such as a non-emergency dispatch, crisis response team, 24/7 service or putting the white vans back on the streets. Public comments at the Feb. 9 Eugene City Council meeting had folks asking for those things. The city is looking to Lane County and programs like its Mobile Crisis Service to fill in the gaps.
• In one of the many online extras posted at EugeneWeekly.com (no such thing as a slow news week these days), Editor Camilla Mortensen wrote about local photographer Robert Scherle and activist Carol Scherer being asked for information on protesters by the FBI. Scherle, under Oregon law, is a member of the press and is protected — as are Eugene Weekly reporters — from revealing confidential sources. Federal laws are not as strong. Also this week, read reporter Kat Tabor’s story on the man who showed up as an armed counter-demonstrator at the Jan. 30 Springfield anti-ICE protest saying he was there to show his Second Amendment rights. He was later arrested for brandishing his gun in a road rage incident, and turned out to be prohibited from owning a gun because there is a stalking order against him. Finally, check out all the recent updates from reporter and photographer Eve Weston on just who broke at least one of the windows at the Federal Building during the Jan. 30 “riot” in Eugene. And then there’s the latest on an outside investigation’s findings that Lane County Commissioner David Loveall retaliated against the county administrator and two county employees, which cites an instance in which Loveall told the administrator, “Tell the employees to fuck off, commissioners can do what they want and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.”
• But wait, there’s more! Do you love EW’s letters section? Yup, that, Slant, and Dan Savage, we know how you roll. Check online for our digital extra letters — usually addressing national issues — and this week, a viewpoint from congressional candidate Boris Wiedenfeld-Needham on behalf of 50501 Eugene on protest tactics. You wish we had more in print? Us too! Take out an ad or help pay the printer bill for your fav commie rag and its red boxes at Support.EugeneWeekly.com.
• Do you read Eugene Weekly’s Activist Alert? Somebody does, because one of the weekly postcarding groups tells us they have gotten so much response that they currently don’t need new recruits. Damn kids, way to show up! And we were delighted to add Eugene Inflatables and the SLUG queens to the list of groups exercising their First Amendment rights at the Federal Building — find them there on Sundays.
• What you’re reading: A Journey with Orvis by Mose T. Mosley (Island Earth Press, 2024) is an engaging and very fun travelogue. It has been a wonderful companion on my own travels, helped me find humor in “interesting” situations and makes me want to find my own imaginary travel companion — though I doubt he could compare to Orvis! (Review by Cathy Martini).