Dvorak News Blog

More ‘Arrested for Recording Public Officials’ BS

By Uncle Dave Sunday January 23, 2011

Moore’s reason for taping was really interesting and sounds like she should have a good legal case against this.

Christopher Drew is a 60-year-old artist and teacher who wears a gray ponytail and lives on the North Side. Tiawanda Moore, 20, a former stripper, lives on the South Side and dreams of going back to school and starting a new life.

About the only thing these strangers have in common is the prospect that by spring, they could each be sent to prison for up to 15 years.

“That’s one step below attempted murder,” Mr. Drew said of their potential sentences.

The crime they are accused of is eavesdropping.

The authorities say that Mr. Drew and Ms. Moore audio-recorded their separate nonviolent encounters with Chicago police officers without the officers’ permission, a Class 1 felony in Illinois, which, along with Massachusetts and Oregon, has one of the country’s toughest, if rarely prosecuted, eavesdropping laws.

If your state allows voting on referendums like California, this would be a good use of it to get these laws thrown out.

A Novel Way To Improve Student Test Scores — Teacher Cheating

By Uncle Dave Sunday January 23, 2011

22 Comments

I can’t imagine this happening in this country what with No Child Left Behind and it’s push for higher test scores. We’re too honest for that.

While several School Committee members seem satisfied with the district’s response to testing violations at Goddard School of Science and Technology, others want more information, they said yesterday. Superintendent Melinda J. Boone, however, defended the steps she has laid out.

The state commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education announced Thursday that his department would nullify Goddard’s scores because his department found that school staff “reviewed student work on the assessment, coached students to add to their responses, scribed answers or portions of answers that were not worded by students, and provided scrap paper for students to use during test,” according to a Jan. 19 letter from Commissioner Mitchell D. Chester to Ms. Boone.

When he wrote of teachers who had “scribed answers,” he was referring to teachers who work with students who cannot write and who are supposed to transcribe the students’ answers verbatim, according to Jonathan Palumbo, a state spokesman. The investigation did not find any evidence of testing irregularities in previous years, he said.
[…]
“We live in a country now that unless there’s evidence of a head rolling under a bus somewhere, something hasn’t happened, but I think the consequences for this school were huge, and they were real,” she said.

Students who cannot write. Hmm…

How to Catch a Dumb Crook? Find a Piece of his Body Left Behind at the Scene of the Crime!

By Eideard Sunday January 23, 2011

1 Comment

Coppers still searching for Davis [L] – Ortiz [R] sits in the slammer

Police arrested a suspect in an arsonist-for-hire in Titusville after they said he made a critical mistake — he left the tip of his finger at the scene of the crime…

Police were called to a fire at a home on North Dixie Avenue about 11:15 a.m. Saturday. While they were investigating, police said, they discovered evidence of accelerants, leading them to determine that the fire was likely an arson.

Then, while sifting through evidence, officers got a tip — literally. They found a piece of a latex glove with the tip of a finger inside.

Police said they found their suspect at a local hospital. They matched the tip to 24-year-old Ismael Ortiz, who detectives said quickly confessed. But how did the suspect clip his tip? Detective Jessica Edens explained: Trying to flee after setting the fire, “he slammed his finger in the door,” Edens said, “and it cut the tip of his finger off.”

Police said Ortiz told detectives he was hired by a resident of the home, Samuel “Sammy” Davis. Investigators said Davis hired Ortiz to burn down the house so he could collect on a renters insurance policy…

Edens said Ortiz was arrested and booked into the Brevard County Jail.

I guess you get what you pay for – even when hiring a crook.

Caption This Photo

By hhopper Sunday January 23, 2011

24 Comments

Found by Cinàedh.

Taxes Will Keep Democracy on the March!

By John C Dvorak Saturday January 22, 2011

32 Comments

For your approval.

Patent Troll Lawsuit Of The Day: Twitter Sued For Allowing Famous People To Tweet

By Uncle Dave Saturday January 22, 2011

14 Comments

Twitter owes a lot of its popularity to notable celebrities like Ashton Kutcher, Stephen Fry, P Diddy, Ellen Degeneres, 50 Cent and plenty of others using and promoting the service.

Now, some company called VS Technologies is suing Twitter, alleging that it infringes on a patent of theirs, entitled “Method and system for creating an interactive virtual community of famous people”. For real? For real.

In the complaint, filed earlier this week (and embedded below), VS Technologies alleges that Twitter has purposefully infringed the above-mentioned patent, US patent no. 6,408,309.

Never Argue with a Goat

By hhopper Saturday January 22, 2011

18 Comments

Olbermann Is Gone From MSNBC As Comcast Takes Over NBC

By Uncle Dave Saturday January 22, 2011

81 Comments

Cable host Keith Olbermann and news channel MSNBC abruptly parted ways Friday night, as the network announced that his contract had ended and the last installment of his show would air that evening. The surprise announcement strips MSNBC of its most-watched evening anchor after an increasingly tempestuous relationship, coming less than three months after the network briefly suspended the fiery host.

But why, given his high ratings which equals money to NBC?

We already know that MSNBC president Phil Griffin had been gunning for Olbermann for some time now. MSNBC was reportedly close to firing Olbermann on several occasions. Recall that during the ridiculous flap over Olbermann’s political donations, in which he responded to his suspension with a show of public defiance, Griffin flatly told Olbermann’s representative: “We are at war.”

Personal differences trumps money in a business where news has become profitable reality show entertainment? Really? It couldn’t possibly be for this reason:

“He’s been very problematic,” an NBCU source told Deadline about Comcast’s attitude to Olbermann. Officially, the Comcast takeover is next week. But word has been circulating for months now that the new owners have wanted to “tinker” with MSNBC and had many changes in store, including a right turn for the left-wing cable channel.

Do we really need another Fox News?

How to Spot a Meth Lab

By hhopper Saturday January 22, 2011

9 Comments

Found by Cinàedh.

Is Socialism Better For Business Than Capitalism? Norway Startups Think So.

By Uncle Dave Friday January 21, 2011

87 Comments

A very interesting, if long, article.

Norway is also full of entrepreneurs like Wiggo Dalmo. Rates of start-up creation here are among the highest in the developed world, and Norway has more entrepreneurs per capita than the United States, according to the latest report by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, a Boston-based research consortium. A 2010 study released by the U.S. Small Business Administration reported a similar result: Although America remains near the top of the world in terms of entrepreneurial aspirations — that is, the percentage of people who want to start new things—in terms of actual start-up activity, our country has fallen behind not just Norway but also Canada, Denmark, and Switzerland.

Here’s an interesting point. The government is simply another supplier of services just like private/public companies. And if it can do it better and cheaper than a company…

Whereas most entrepreneurs in Dalmo’s position develop a retching distaste for paying taxes, Dalmo doesn’t mind them much. “The tax system is good—it’s fair,” he tells me. “What we’re doing when we are paying taxes is buying a product. So the question isn’t how you pay for the product; it’s the quality of the product.” Dalmo likes the government’s services, and he believes that he is paying a fair price.

This is particularly surprising, because the prices Dalmo pays for government services are among the highest in the world. He lives and works in the small city of Mo i Rana, which is about 17 miles south of the Arctic Circle in Norway. As a Norwegian, he pays nearly 50 percent of his income to the federal government, along with a substantial additional tax that works out to roughly 1 percent of his total net worth. And that’s just what he pays directly. Payroll taxes in Norway are double those in the U.S. Sales taxes, at 25 percent, are roughly triple.

Admittedly, this wouldn’t work in the US. Corruption and greed are too ingrained to create a fair system. Our religion is Capitalism, damn it, and we’re sticking with it no matter how fast our economy sinks!

Caption This Photo

By hhopper Friday January 21, 2011

30 Comments

Whoa! Going Right at TSA!

By John C Dvorak Friday January 21, 2011

53 Comments

Tired of being screwed with.

SEATTLE — In November 2009, Phil Mocek was scheduled to board a Seattle-bound plane in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Instead, he wound up in a jail cell, headed for a fight that could prove historic.

The Seattle man refused to show TSA officers his ID with his boarding pass, and argued he has a right not to show it.

There is no law requiring that passengers show their ID at checkpoints; however, passengers who refuse to show their ID are subject to additional security screenings. After he refused many times to show his ID, officers asked him to leave. But instead of leaving, Mocek began taking photos and video of TSA officers against their warnings.

“I do not believe that there is a rule that bars me from using a camera in publicly acceptable areas at the airport,” he is heard saying a video clip he shot at the airport on that day. Mocek was placed under arrest and charged with four misdemeanors, including concealing his identity. Some say this is the first time anyone has brought a legal challenge to the TSA’s authority to question and detain travelers.

Kudos to this gentleman.

Found by Aric Mackey

Shortchanged and “Traumatized” Hooker’s Client Sues for $1.8 Million

By Uncle Dave Friday January 21, 2011

18 Comments

Ah… Sorry, that’s the wrong hooker

Perhaps he — ahem — didn’t need anywhere near an hour to finish their transaction. If you know what I mean.

A New York college student who claims a Las Vegas hooker did not spend enough time making him happy has sued her escort service for $1.8 million. Unhappy customer Hubert Blackman said he was traumatized by the “tragic event,” especially when he called cops and they threatened to bust him, the Las Vegas Sun reported Thursday.
[…]
Blackman was staying at the Stratosphere on Dec. 17 when he called Las Vegas Exclusive Personals to hire a stripper. Blackman said the woman performed a lap dance for $155 and a sex act for another $120. Instead of staying for the agreed-upon one hour, she left after just 30 minutes.

The hapless tourist called to demand some of his money back. Then he called cops, who told him he could face arrest because prostitution is illegal in Sin City.

This will look real good on his background check when he goes looking for a job, unless he’s planning on being a lawyer. Or a politician.