Dvorak News Blog

The Pain of Living on a Mere $174K/Yr of Taxpayer’s Money

By Uncle Dave Thursday March 31, 2011

No wonder the party wanted the video censored. How embarrassing that Wisconsin allows it’s politicians live with such poverty wages.

First the Republican Party in Polk County, Wisconsin, pulled the tape of Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) fretting about making ends meet on his $174,000 a year salary from its own website. Now they want it gone from the whole Internet. For a couple hours, the local county GOP was successful. But we’ve put an excerpt of the video back up.

A day after TPM posted the video we obtained of Duffy talking about his salary at a Polk County town hall meeting earlier this year, the Polk County GOP contacted the video provider we used to host the video, Blip.tv, and demanded the video be taken down.

The tape caused a stir for Duffy, a first-term conservative best known for his past as a reality TV show star on MTV’s The Real World. Democrats flagged the comments about his taxpayer-funded salary (which is nearly three times the median income in Wisconsin) and criticisms began to flow Duffy’s way.

In the clip, Duffy is asked whether he’d support cutting his own salary. Duffy says he would, but only as part of a plan where all public employees’ salaries would be cut. He then said that the $174,000 in salary (not including benefits) he receives is a squeeze for his family of seven to live on:

Paul Allen’s Book Hits Out at Bill Gates

By KD Martin Wednesday March 30, 2011

18 Comments

Allen’s yacht Octopus courtesy Coughing Dog

“OK but one day I’m out of here”

Bill Gates schemed to take shares in Microsoft Corp. from his co-founder during the early days of the software company following his partner’s treatment for cancer, according to a new memoir by the billionaire co-founder, Paul Allen.

The allegation is part of a critical portrait in the book of Mr. Gates, with whom Mr. Allen formed a friendship in grade school that evolved into one of the iconic partnerships of American business.

The book gives a revisionist take on some details of Microsoft’s history and the relationship between Mr. Gates and his former partner, the two of whom have long been viewed as cordial if not close friends. The book has created a rift between Messrs. Gates and Allen, say people who know both men.

Mr. Allen’s unflattering account of Mr. Gates in the book is already making waves within the tight circle of early Microsoft alumni, with several people who know both men privately expressing confusion about Mr. Allen’s motivations for criticizing his old business partner and questioning the accuracy of Mr. Allen’s interpretation of certain events.

Mr. Allen writes, “I’d thought that our partnership was based on fairness, but now I saw that Bill’s self-interest overrode all other considerations. My partner was out to grab as much of the pie as possible and hold on to it, and that was something I could not accept.”

How to win friends and influence people? Guess he has all the money he needs right now.

Canadian ISPs Utilize ‘Behavior Based Billing’ To Discourage Interwebitube Usage

By Uncle Dave Wednesday March 30, 2011

14 Comments

Too bad we can’t apply this to banks who ‘overuse’ fees to prevent us making use of our money we’re allowing them to hold (and make money off of) for us. Lots of other examples come to mind.

The cable company submission to the CRTC on usage based billing confirms what has been readily apparent to consumers for some time: there is no link between the prices charged by ISPs for usage pricing and the actual costs to ISPs. According to the cable companies:

“In order to be effective as an economic ITMP, the usage based price component needs to be established so as to discourage use above the set limit. The price should incent use in excess of the limit only to the extent that the consumer would gain significant value from that usage. If the price is set substantially below the consumer’s value, it will have little influence on usage. It follows that the price does not necessarily reflect the cost of supplying the network capacity.”

In other words, UBB is behaviour based billing, not usage based billing. Notwithstanding the claims about fairness, paying what you use, or costs to the network, overage pricing is not connected to cost or even value – it is designed to price above the real value to stop Canadians from “overusing” the Internet.

The Wackiest Watch in the World

By Uncle Dave Wednesday March 30, 2011

23 Comments

I have this feeling that despite being kind of cool, at $250K (what a house used to cost), this watch has a slightly higher profit margin than an iPhone or iPad.

An extremely complex case stages the show. The three overlapping cylinders on three levels are configured to deconstruct time. The main circle is the hour’s domain, flanked by two pavilions. One shows the minutes on a jumping disk for the tens and a running disk for the units. The other, slightly lower, displays the regular beat of a big titanium balance-wheel.

Anarchy takes hold of the hours indication beneath the sapphire-crystal dome every 60 minutes. The numeral of the hour, assembled in the center of the circle, explodes into chaos before instantly reassembling as the new hour. It then remains still until the next disintegration. Instead of a hand, 24 placards revolve and rotate on a complicated system of gears mounted on an epicycloidal gear-train.

BTW, how many of you, like your Uncle Dave, still wear watches instead of using the smartphone that’s grafted to your hand?

Study Claims Jet Contrails Harmful to Climate

By KD Martin Wednesday March 30, 2011

21 Comments

Courtesy Jasmic

Study by the DLR German Aerospace Center

Aircraft condensation trails criss-crossing the sky may be warming the planet on a normal day more than the carbon dioxide emitted by all planes since the Wright Brothers’ first flight in 1903, a study said on Tuesday.

The findings may help governments fix penalties on planes’ greenhouse gas emissions in a U.N.-led assault on climate change. Or new engines might be designed to limit Vapor and instead spit out water drops or ice that fall from the sky.

The main climate effect of white lines and related cirrus clouds is to trap heat radiating back from the Earth’s surface. They also have a smaller, counter-effect by slightly dimming sunlight and so slowing warming. Contrails are especially dense over parts of Europe and eastern United States.

The findings might bring changes in air traffic control, for instance diverting planes from regions or altitudes where air moisture was high and favored cirrus formation.

The U.N. panel of climate scientists has estimated that fuel burned at altitude is roughly twice as damaging for the climate as when used at ground level.

Are airline lobbyists more powerful than a U.N.-led assault on climate change?

Mr Bendy

By Uncle Dave Wednesday March 30, 2011

5 Comments

Why Are We at War in Libya?

By KD Martin Wednesday March 30, 2011

40 Comments

Courtesy Daily Mail

Did you watch the speech?

Samantha Power took the podium at Columbia University on Monday night sounding hoarse and looking uncomfortable. In two hours, President Obama would address the nation on Libya and Ms. Power, the fiery human rights crusader who now advises Mr. Obama on foreign policy, did not want to get out in front of the boss.

“I’m not going to talk much about Libya,” she began, though when it came time for questions she could not help herself. “Our best judgment,” she said, defending the decision to establish a no-fly zone to prevent atrocities, was that failure to do so would have been “extremely chilling, deadly and indeed a stain on our collective conscience.”

That the president used almost precisely the same language was hardly a surprise. For nearly 20 years, since her days as a young war correspondent in Bosnia, Ms. Power has championed the idea that nations have a moral obligation to prevent genocide. Now, from her perch on the National Security Council, she is in a position to make that case to the commander in chief — and to watch him translate her ideas into action.

“She is clearly the foremost voice for human rights within the White House,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, “and she has Obama’s ear.”

Are we in Libya because of Gaddafi’s atrocities? Still the world’s policeman? The Arab League? Oil? Power pressed in recent weeks for military intervention in Libya in the face of misgivings voiced by her superiors on the president’s National Security Council.

Student-Designed Solarball Creates Drinkable Water

By hhopper Wednesday March 30, 2011

14 Comments

gizmag

When he set out on a trip to Cambodia in 2008, Industrial Design student Jonathan Liow had no idea it was going to be a life-changing experience. Upon seeing the poverty and poor living conditions in that country, however, he decided that he wanted to build things that could help people. After hearing about the need for cheap and effective water purification in Africa, he proceeded to create the Solarball for his graduate project at Australia’s Monash University. The ball is reportedly capable of producing 3 liters (about 3 quarts) of drinkable water per day, using nothing but polluted water and sunlight.

A very cool device.

Tesla Sues Top Gear

By hhopper Wednesday March 30, 2011

35 Comments

cnet news

At first glance, the idea of Tesla suing Top Gear over a review of the Roadster that occurred three years ago seems pointless, especially throwing in the fact that Top Gear, and host Jeremy Clarkson, have a huge international following. But it is precisely the size of that following, and the longevity of the Top Gear episode featuring the Tesla Roadster, that spurred the action.

Tesla filed suit against Top Gear for libel and malicious falsehood. In the Top Gear episode containing the review, Clarkson claimed that the Roadster, as tested on the track, only had a range of 55 miles. The show also portrayed both Roadster models supplied to the show breaking down and running out of electricity, halting testing.

Facebook Takes Down Palestinian Intifada Page

By hhopper Tuesday March 29, 2011

39 Comments

cnet news

A Facebook page called the Third Palestinian Intifada has been removed from the site following a request from the Israeli government.

Yuli Edelstein, Israel’s minister of public diplomacy and diaspora affairs, sent a letter directly to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on March 23. In the letter, which has been posted on the Web site The Jerusalem Gift Shop, Edelstein asked the company to take down the page calling for a third intifada, translated by some as violent uprising, to begin against Israel on May 15.

Pointing to remarks and movie clips on the page calling for the killing of Israelis and Jews and the liberation of Palestine through violence, Edelstein expressed concern over the “wild incitement” that could be caused by the page, which had collected more than 230,000 friends at the time he wrote the letter.

intafada – An uprising among Palestinian Arabs of the Gaza Strip and West Bank, beginning in late 1987 and continuing sporadically into the early 1990s, in protest against continued Israeli occupation of these territories.

You’re Not Smarter Than This Fifth Grader… Er… College Student

By Uncle Dave Tuesday March 29, 2011

25 Comments

A 12-year-old child prodigy has astounded university professors after grappling with some of the most advanced concepts in mathematics.

Jacob Barnett has an IQ of 170 – higher than Albert Einstein – and is now so far advanced in his Indiana university studies that professors are lining him up for a PHD research role.

The boy wonder, who taught himself calculus, algebra, geometry and trigonometry in a week, is now tutoring fellow college classmates after hours.

X3: Facebook is Not Your Friend

By KD Martin Monday March 28, 2011

13 Comments

X3 with John C. Dvorak
Guests: Andrew Eisner, Retrevo.com and Joseph Engo, Mevio

Time to Raise the $14.3 Trillion Debt Ceiling

By KD Martin Monday March 28, 2011

63 Comments

Viral

More dollars than galaxies in the Universe

As Congress turns its attention to the budget and the country’s fiscal situation, the debt ceiling debate that has been simmering underneath the surface could come to a boil in the near future.

The Treasury Department estimates that the United States will reach its debt limit between April 15 and May 31. Administration officials are ringing alarm bells and warning of dire consequences if the $14.3 trillion ceiling isn’t raised.

“Republicans in the Senate will not be voting to raise the debt ceiling unless we do something significant about the debt,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said earlier this month. “I don’t think he [Obama] has to lay out in public exactly what he’s willing to do, but we need to begin serious discussions, and time’s a wasting.”

Senate Republicans reportedly are working on a Balanced Budget Amendment, a Constitutional amendment that would require a balanced budget every year, as a condition to raising the debt ceiling.

The Tea Party’s influence could make negotiations more challenging, especially if the two parties and Obama cannot find a middle ground on how to cut entitlement programs.

Treas. Sec. Geithner warned that a failure to raise the debt limit would mean the government would not be able to make the payments on the current debt, which stands at $13.96 trillion. “Even a very short-term or limited default would have catastrophic economic consequences that would last for decades.”

Is Religion Set for Extinction?

By Eideard Monday March 28, 2011

40 Comments

A study using census data from nine countries shows that religion there is set for extinction, say researchers.

The study found a steady rise in those claiming no religious affiliation.

The team’s mathematical model attempts to account for the interplay between the number of religious respondents and the social motives behind being one. The result, reported at the American Physical Society meeting in Dallas, US, indicates that religion will all but die out altogether in those countries.

The team took census data stretching back as far as a century from countries in which the census queried religious affiliation: Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland…

They found…that those parameters were similar across all the countries studied, suggesting that similar behaviour drives the mathematics in all of them. And in all the countries, the indications were that religion was headed toward extinction.

Since the study only examined well-educated secular democracies, the United States obviously has little need to fear a change.

Suppose They Made An Angry Birds Movie…

By Uncle Dave Monday March 28, 2011

15 Comments

Angry Birds is one of the most successful games of all time. It’s oddly addictive and the most interesting potential use for it I’ve heard is that we replace elections with Angry Birds competitions. Given some of the people elections have put into office, could that really be worse?

And no, they aren’t actually making an Angry Birds movie. Yet.