Dvorak News Blog

Judge Rules that 4-year-old can be Sued

By John C Dvorak Friday October 29, 2010

She gives up all she owns or goes to jail.

Citing cases dating back as far as 1928, a judge has ruled that a young girl accused of running down an elderly woman while racing a bicycle with training wheels on a Manhattan sidewalk two years ago can be sued for negligence.

The ruling by the judge, Justice Paul Wooten of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, did not find that the girl was liable, but merely permitted a lawsuit brought against her, another boy and their parents to move forward.

Pay To Read Their Website Or They’ll Record Your IP, Track You Down, Sue Your Thieving Ass

By Uncle Dave Friday October 29, 2010

35 Comments

Up until the controversy broke, this was the warning posted on the website/blog:

A subscription is required at North Country Gazette. We allow only one free read per visitor. We are currently gathering IPs and computer info on persistent intruders who refuse to buy subscription and are engaging in a theft of services. We have engaged an attorney who will be doing a bulk subpoena demand on each ISP involved, particularly Verizon Droids, Frontier and Road Runner, and will then pursue individual legal actions.

Mt. Everest Gets Free Wi-Fi!

By McCullough Friday October 29, 2010

22 Comments

TeliaSonera subsidiary Ncell has just completed installation of a 3G base station at 5,200 meters (17,000 feet) that will reach the 8,848-meter peak of Mount Everest. Mind you, we’ve already seen a cellphone call made from the world’s highest peak using a temporary base station in a Motorola publicity stunt. This time, however, it’s permanent and faster allowing climbers to surf the internet or make 3G video calls. Why would Ncell want to build a base station in such a sparsely populated area? Because it is there.

I’ve finally run out of excuses for not climbing Everest. Oh, Wait…

Tesla Opens Factory to Build the Model S

By hhopper Friday October 29, 2010

29 Comments

gizmag

When most of us think of Tesla Motors, we think of the US$100,000 all-electric Roadster. The fact is, though, the first time that most of us ever see a Tesla in real life, it will probably be the less expensive, five door Model S sedan. While the company has sold over 1,300 Roadsters worldwide, the Model S has yet to start production. When it does, however, it will be in the new Tesla Factory, unveiled this Wednesday in Fremont, California. It is the state’s only auto assembly plant and the world’s first facility dedicated exclusively to the mass production of electric vehicles.

“Suspicious” Package Creates Bedlam in USA

By John C Dvorak Friday October 29, 2010

25 Comments

“Is that bums? Or bombs? Speak up!”

United Parcel Service Inc. said the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation inspected possible suspicious packages on three jets arriving from Europe. A toner cartridge on a cargo plane in London was checked for explosives, and none was found, the FBI said.

All three UPS planes landed safely in the U.S., with two in Philadelphia and one in Newark, New Jersey, UPS spokesman Mike Mangeot said today in a telephone interview. The Newark jet was later cleared for another flight, he said.

The earlier reports, especially on CNN, said there were bombs everywhere. Even the Manhattan Bridge was shut down.

Interesting story from NYT 1922, shows never-ending nature of our protective services here in the USA. During this debacle probably a half dozen people were robbed and a few murdered.

Gore Gives Climate Speech in Sweden, Leaves the Limo Idling for an Hour

By McCullough Thursday October 28, 2010

48 Comments

Al Gore — He did it again.

Recently, Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore toured again. Or maybe he does that all the time. This time, he turned up in Gothenburg (Sweden) for the usual alarmist talk. In advance, all distinguished guests were politely advised to – if possible – use any form of public transportation to go to the event, in order to minimize CO2 emissions.

Intriguingly, the Master of World Climate himself arrived in a rental car (with or without driver is unclear), from the airport, and subsequently left the engine running for the entire lecture. That is to say, about one hour. Incidentally, local legislation prohibits – for very good environmental reasons, i e pollution – any car engine running on empty for more than 60 seconds. Fines are severe. As far as I know, he was not fined.

It starts to form a pattern.

After the ceremony in the Norwegian capital Oslo, it is customary that the laureate is invited to the Swedish capital Stockholm, for a cordial visit. The train ride, supposedly the environmental choice according to Mr. Gore, is approximately four hours. However, he opted for the cosier ride with one of the Swedish government aircrafts. As these can, according to the rules, only be used when a cabinet member is on board – and as the Swedish government after a short ceremonial visit – offered to fly him to Frankfurt (Germany) for his flight to the US, you can calculate both the manpower and the fuel used for this grand tour against man’s destruction of the planet.

Either he’s just plain stupid, arrogant or both but he does not seem to be helping his case much. Maybe an intervention is in order for this “self destructive” behavior.

A Brief Review of the ‘Tron Night’ Event

By Gasparrini Thursday October 28, 2010

9 Comments

Today I had the opportunity to take part in the ‘Tron Night‘ event that took place at the Wimbledon IMAX theater in London to help promote the new ‘Tron Legacy’ movie from Disney. Some 20 minutes of footage was shown, giving the opportunity to provide a more paced look at the new, modern world of Tron. The production value seems to be quite high. The design of the world is quite slick while still looking like the Tron world. There were scenes that were shot as to look from the POV of the character that provided a closer view of the world that was at the same time referential to the original movie, but with the updated look. The world presented also had that same ‘creepy’ feel that the world of the original Tron had.
For a movie with the word ‘Tron’ in the title, the actual character has yet to make an appearance. So far he hasn’t been shown at all in the trailers. The title of the movie also sounds ominous for the character Tron. A prequel to the new movie has been released by Marvel comics that hints at what might have been the fate of Tron.
I liked very much what I saw. It brought a sense of nostalgia that made me smile.
This was some very delicious Tron water. I can’t wait to have some more. :)
As a side note, there were some people in the theater that I assume were from Disney. It seemed to me that they had a night vision camera to make sure that nobody was recording the preview. The funny thing is, all the screens at the Wimbledon Odeon have night vision cameras already installed.

No Agenda
In the Morning
Obama Insane?

By John C Dvorak Thursday October 28, 2010

10 Comments

This Episode’s Executive Producer: Sir Charles Jordan
Associate Executive Producer: Sir Robert Alter
Art By: Nick the Rat and Paul T.

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Two Mile Long Runway Opens at Spaceport America

By hhopper Thursday October 28, 2010

26 Comments

gizmag

Virgin Galactic’s first generation of commercial space vehicles now have somewhere to land with the completion of the runway at Spaceport America in New Mexico. The 42-inch thick, almost two mile long “spaceway” was dedicated in a ceremony attended by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, Buzz Aldrin, Sir Richard Branson and around 30 soon-to-be space tourists who have signed up as Virgin Galactic’s first customers.

Your Genes Help Determine Your Liberal/Conservative Bias?

By Uncle Dave Wednesday October 27, 2010

53 Comments

I wonder what an analysis of Jimmy McMillan’s genes would show. BTW, Mr. “The Rent Is Too Damn High Party” now has his own action figure.

Liberals may owe their political outlook partly to their genetic make-up, according to new research from the University of California, San Diego, and Harvard University. Ideology is affected not just by social factors, but also by a dopamine receptor gene called DRD4. The study’s authors say this is the first research to identify a specific gene that predisposes people to certain political views.
[…]
Lead researcher James H. Fowler of UC San Diego and his colleagues hypothesized that people with the novelty-seeking gene variant would be more interested in learning about their friends’ points of view. As a consequence, people with this genetic predisposition who have a greater-than-average number of friends would be exposed to a wider variety of social norms and lifestyles, which might make them more liberal than average. They reported that “it is the crucial interaction of two factors – the genetic predisposition and the environmental condition of having many friends in adolescence – that is associated with being more liberal.” The research team also showed that this held true independent of ethnicity, culture, sex or age.

Sing Along With The “Political Wife”

By Uncle Dave Wednesday October 27, 2010

7 Comments

Playstation Phone Coming

By John C Dvorak Wednesday October 27, 2010

3 Comments

MySpace gives into pressure from Facebook to change!
Google to public: If you are freaky about privacy move to mars!
Limewire dead.
Playstation phone. Doomed to fail I say.
Color Nook looks good.
Where is the white iPhone?
MacBook Air making a ton of money.
Yahoo Mail gives into pressure from Google to change!
Samsung Galaxy is too big sez I.
Another spam King of Russia tracked down.
Firefox 4 delayed. Good!
Yahoo now fully Bingimated.
Apple rethinks the SIM card.

click to listen:

Right click here and select ‘Save Link As…’ to download the mp3 file.

Mexican Police Headquarters Folds after Siege…

By McCullough Wednesday October 27, 2010

30 Comments

The entire police force in a small Mexican town abruptly resigned Tuesday after its new headquarters was viciously attacked by suspected drug cartel gunmen.

All 14 police officers in Los Ramones, a rural town in northern Mexico, fled the force in terror after gunmen fired more than 1,000 bullets and flung six grenades at their headquarters on Monday night.

No one was injured in the attack. Mayor Santos Salinas Garza told local media that the officers resigned because of the incident. The gunmen’s 20-minute shooting spree destroyed six police vehicles and left the white and orange police station pocked with bullet holes, the Financial Times reported.

The station had been inaugurated just three days earlier. Los Ramones is in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, which has been a war zone of turf violence between two of the country’s fiercest drug gangs, the Zetas and the Gulf cartel. Police have blamed members of both cartels for attacks on several police stations throughout the area. Several mayors in the region have been assassinated. About 90% of forces have less than 100 officers, and 61% of cops earn less than $322 a month, according to the Finanical Times.

Mexico’s intelligence chief said this summer that nearly 30,000 people have died in drug related crimes since 2006.

Worldwide Shortage of Lethal Injection Drug? Huh?

By John C Dvorak Wednesday October 27, 2010

41 Comments

Facing a nationwide shortage of a lethal injection drug, Arizona has taken an unusual step that other death penalty states may soon follow: get their supplies from another country.

Such a move, experts say, raises questions about the effectiveness of the drug. But it also may further complicate executions in the 35 states that allow them, as inmates challenge the use of drugs not approved by federal inspectors for use in the U.S.

Arizona said Tuesday that it got its sodium thiopental from Britain, the first time a state has acknowledged obtaining the drug from outside the United States since the shortage began slowing executions in the spring.

“This drug came from a reputable place,” Arizona’s Chief Deputy Attorney General Tim Nelson said. “There’s all sorts of wild speculation that it came from a third-world country, and that’s not accurate.”

Cripes! A shortage of a lethal injection drug? This is nuts. And heaven forbid it come from China. It probably should come from China. They are the experts.

Losing Communications With 50 Nuclear Missiles Might Be A Cause For Concern

By Uncle Dave Wednesday October 27, 2010

15 Comments

At least it wasn’t Russian hackers.

The Air Force swears there was no panic. But for three-quarters of an hour Saturday morning, launch control officers at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming couldn’t reliably communicate or monitor the status of 50 Minuteman III nuclear missiles. Gulp.

Backup security and communications systems, located elsewhere on the base, allowed the intercontinental ballistic missiles to be continually monitored. But the outage is considered serious enough that the very highest rungs on the chain of command — including the President — are being briefed on the incident today.

A single hardware failure appears to have been the root cause of the disruption, which snarled communications on the network that links the five launch control centers and 50 silos of the 319th Missile Squadron. Multiple error codes were reported, including “launch facility down.”

It was a “significant disruption of service,” an Air Force official familiar with the incident tells Danger Room. But not unprecedented: “Something similar happened before at other missile fields.”

Not unprecedented. Huh. That’s comforting.