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Love Pats

By John C Dvorak Thursday November 18, 2010

9 Comments

This Episode’s Executive Producer: Brendon Matheson
This Episode’s Executive Producer: Snorre Steen
Associate Executive Producers: Michael Tanga, Sir Larry Lee, Guy Boazy, Sir Shane Brady, Arthur Kessler, Roger Harrington
Art By: Jesse Anderson

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Orlando Sanford. First Airport to OPT-OUT of TSA Screening Program!

By John C Dvorak Thursday November 18, 2010

38 Comments

Amid concerns over radiation from scanners, civil lawsuits over pat-downs, and general ineptitude on the part of TSA airport personnel, one Florida airport has thrown in the towel. Orlando Sanford International Airport has announced that it will opt out of the TSA’s screening program.

The TSA program was indeed a pilot program and not mandatory. Orlando is seriously a tourist destination that cannot afford the backlash caused by the TSA. Many Europeans who go to DisneyWorld have said they will not go if it involves having their kids groped. And a lot of kids go through Orlando. This is momentous because now it means other airports are watching and will be under pressure to do the same, especially if it saves money. Disney is behind this, I’m sure of it. Let’s see where it leads.

Note this is not the BIG airport, but Sanford where International Charters and Iceland Air go to.

Walgreens to Host EV Charging Stations

By hhopper Thursday November 18, 2010

18 Comments

cnet news

The Walgreens pharmacy chain will offer rapid-charging EV stations at 18 Houston-area stores next year, through a partnership with power utility NRG Energy.

NRG’s eVgo Network(pronounced ee-vee-go), one of the first commercial electric-vehicle-charging networks to launch in the U.S., will initially consist of over 100 charging stations and cost NRG about $10 million in infrastructure investment.

The eVgo Network will be rolled out in early 2011 throughout Houston and Harris County, Texas, and include two types of facilities, as well as two types of EV charging stations.

The eVgo network will be an integration of both Level 2 chargers, which generally take four hours to recharge an EV to full capacity, and DC rapid chargers, which can charge an EV in about 30 minutes.

NRG’s subscription service, which includes the cost of the home-charging station and its installation, will cost between $49 and $89 per month for a three-year contract, according to NRG.

Sounds a little pricey to me.

Pastor tells married church leaders to quit Facebook – or resign

By Eideard Thursday November 18, 2010

34 Comments

New Jersey’s newest self-ordained censor

Rev. Cedric A. Miller has had it with what he says Facebook is doing to couples coming to him for help and is giving his married church leaders until Sunday to get off the social-network website or resign their posts.

Miller…said a large percentage of his counseling over the past year and a half has been for marital problems, including infidelity, stemming from Facebook…There was no problem when people just met with friends from high school in a platonic way.

But that has changed, he said, and now people are reigniting old passions and connecting with people who should stay in the past. He said a marriage can be going along fine when someone from the past breaks through and trouble begins.

“It’s to the point now that this Sunday, anyone in our church in a leadership position and who is married and is on Facebook has to resign their church position if they do not give up Facebook,” said Miller…

“The average citizen is going to see my action as controlling, not that I care about that,” Miller said. “I’m not concerned with being politically correct. I’m trying to save families and marriages…”

Do you as an individual feel yourself so ignorant and unlearned about decision-making that you need a friendly neighborhood saviour telling you how to behave, how to manage your personal life.

Do you need a church-based “filter” governing what in the world you are allowed to read or see or hear?

Ron Paul Blasts TSA and Introduces Legislation

By John C Dvorak Thursday November 18, 2010

55 Comments

I’d like to see who does not support this Bill. They should be targets to be voted out of office.

The Future of Games: Child Abuse

By John C Dvorak Wednesday November 17, 2010

24 Comments

I’ve been skeptical about this device since day one.

Anti-Matter Captured!

By John C Dvorak Wednesday November 17, 2010

8 Comments

Hulu launches pay services. Did I say $8 a month or $6?
Google doing fashion search for some reason.
Beatles on iTunes finally.
China is ruining the Internet? Maybe.
Anti-matter created and captured at CERN.
Meteor show tonight.
Today is National Unfriend Day. Who cares?
RIM CEO is kind of a dick about apps.
Religious leader worried sick about Facebook.

click ► to listen:

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TSA Checkpoint Ahead Sign

By Uncle Dave Wednesday November 17, 2010

34 Comments

Found on Boing Boing

Britain To Pay Gitmo Prisoners For Being Tortured By US

By Uncle Dave Wednesday November 17, 2010

15 Comments

Several former Guantanamo Bay detainees who sued Britain for alleged complicity in their torture will receive unspecified settlement payments from the government, officials said Tuesday.

The former prisoners accused Britain’s domestic spy agency, MI5, and the country’s overseas intelligence service, MI6, of violating international law by doing nothing to stop the torture the detainees say they suffered at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. British agents were not accused of torturing the detainees.

Although British officials did not specify how many former detainees would receive settlements, 16 former prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and other overseas detention centers were expected to receive payments based on the accusations of at least 12 of them, according to BBC and other reports.

Justice Secretary Ken Clarke said in a statement to Parliament that mediated settlements had been reached. The confidentiality of such agreements is legally binding and therefore details will not be made public, Clarke said.

Oddly, the US isn’t likely to do the same.

Did You Know About The Bill In Congress That Would Allow Governmental Shutdown of Websites?

By Uncle Dave Wednesday November 17, 2010

33 Comments

A bill giving the government the power to shut down Web sites that host materials that infringe copyright is making its way quietly through the lame-duck session of Congress, raising the ire of free-speech groups and prompting a group of academics to lobby against the effort.

The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) was introduced in Congress this fall by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT). It would grant the federal government the power to block access to any Web domain that is found to host copyrighted material without permission.

Critics say the bill is both a giveaway to the movie and recording industries and a step towards widespread and unaccountable censorship of the Internet.

Opponents note that the powers given the government under the bill are very broad. Because the bill targets domain names and not specific materials, an entire Web site can be shut down. So for example, if the US determines that there are copyright-infringing materials on YouTube, it could theoretically block access to all of YouTube, whether or not particular material being accessed infringes copyright.

If this passes (and give me a good reason why it won’t), then you know what’s next — China-style censorship for content the government doesn’t like.

DH Unplugged Episode #90
QE2, Ireland and Bad Charts

By John C Dvorak Wednesday November 17, 2010

3 Comments

Here is the latest conversation I had with money manager Andrew Horowitz…. new insights for anyone who invests in anything. Is the government STILL lying about inflation?

Click here for non-Flash version.

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Dingbat KTLA Beauty Queen Reporter Misleads Public with Bogus Assertion

By John C Dvorak Tuesday November 16, 2010

57 Comments

Parker, Miss USA 1994, KTLA Reporter

Lu Parker of KTLA, who dates the mayor of Los Angeles, and is supposed to be a reporter, claimed on Monday night that the TSA full-body X-ray back-scatter machines emitted the same radiation as a cell phone conversation. Apparently nobody at the entire station knows the difference between ionizing and non-ionizing radiation. And why should she? She’s pretty. Pretty dumb. That’s unless she was deliberately trying to mislead the public.

Or does she believe that cell phones give off X-rays? I assume she’s never taken physics preferring her graduate degree in make-up-ology. Listen to the clip below. Shilling for the TSA and the body scanners, for sure. A disservice to the viewing public for sure and more deliberate misinformation.

click ► to listen:

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Hey Parker — and the rest of the crew at KTLA (PDF) — read this report and then tell us how it’s the same as a cell phone call..

Gladys Ingle of the 13 BLACK CATS Changes Wheel in Mid-Air

By hhopper Tuesday November 16, 2010

16 Comments

Gladys Ingles was a member of a barnstorming troupe in the 1920s. She was a “wing walker.” In this film, she shows her fearlessness in a classic barnstorming fashion to save an airplane that has lost one of its main wheels. Ingles is shown with a replacement wheel being strapped to her back and then off she goes as “Up She Goes,” a duet from the era, provides the soundtrack. In the video, Ingles transfers herself from the rescue plane to the one missing its main gear tire. She then expertly works herself down to the undercarriage, only a few feet from a spinning prop, and replaces the missing gear tire.

A Mortgage Made In Hell

By Uncle Dave Tuesday November 16, 2010

18 Comments

Click pic to embiggen

Dan Edstrom is a guy who is in the right place at the right time. His profession? He performs securitization audits (Reverse Engineering and Failure Analysis) for a company called DTC-Systems.
[…]
The following flow chart reverse engineers the mortgage on the Ekstrom family residence. It took Dan over one year to take it this far and it clearly demonstrates what happens when there are too many lawyers being manufactured. Take a look at this chart and then decide how long you think it will take for Barney Frank and Eric Holder to sort everything out.

How much you wanna bet those in the mortgage biz testifying before the Senate today won’t be 100% sincere in their mea culpas?

The Beatles Come to iTunes at Last

By hhopper Tuesday November 16, 2010

41 Comments

cnet news

At long last, the works of the Beatles are available in iTunes.

The digital content is exclusive to iTunes, a representative of The Beatles’ record company, EMI, told CNET. The exact length of that deal is unknown, but it will expire some time next year.

As of now, the iconic band’s entire catalog can be purchased in Apple’s iTunes Store. Each album comes with iTunes LP, which features additional content including lyrics, photos, and album art. A digital version of the Fab Four’s entire body of work is also available for download for $149, and that comes with exclusive access to a video of the band’s first U.S. concert, “Live at the Washington Coliseum, 1964.” Single albums are priced at $12.99, double albums at $19.99. Songs will cost $1.29 each.

It’s about time.