Dvorak News Blog

United Nations: US Owes Us 1.2 Billion in Dues

By McCullough Friday October 15, 2010

U.N. Undersecretary-General for Management Angela Kane told reporters that only 13 of the United Nations’ 192 member states had paid in full as of Wednesday. The total arrears amounted to some $4.1 billion, up from $2.2 billion at the end of 2009, Kane said.

“It has been a difficult year in many ways for many member states because of the economic recession,” she said.

The administration of President Barack Obama repaid all the money the United States owed the United Nations last year. U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice told reporters on Thursday that Washington pays its U.N. dues “in full and on time.”

She said there was an issue of “contested arrears” — debts that Washington does not agree it owes the United Nations.

“They must be counting contested arrears if it gets to a figure which gets close to anything like that,” she said in reference to the $1.2 billion figure cited by Kane.

As the United Nations’ single biggest contributor, Washington is responsible for roughly one-quarter of the U.N. peacekeeping budget and slightly less than a quarter of the separate U.N. regular budget.

Sorry guys, the line forms at the rear.

Sous-Vide on the Cheap

By John C Dvorak Friday October 15, 2010

22 Comments

This is a kind of cooking I find sketchy, but author Jeff Potter had it working.

Winner of the Bumper Sticker Contest

By John C Dvorak Thursday October 14, 2010

34 Comments

Wow, this is a serious bumper sticker lover. Found in Berkeley, California, where it belongs. (Click to embiggen). The entire car was covered in stickers.

Detroit’s Light Rail to Oblivion versus Bullcrap!

By John C Dvorak Thursday October 14, 2010

50 Comments

Found by Zamir Humud.

Meanwhile the video below is what the idealists are pushing.

Microsoft Frets Over Open Office

By John C Dvorak Thursday October 14, 2010

6 Comments

Showdown between Google and Facebook as MSFT backs Facebook.
Teens average over 3000 texts a month. What? That’s over 100 per day every day. Girls text the most.
Dolby on Netflix streaming.
Back to the Mac event coming?
Sony sees a strong Xmas in Europe. The company expects to sell boatloads of PS3 devices.
Over 2 million machines are in a botnet. This means you!
MSFT freaked out about Open Office.

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No Agenda in the morning
Big Soda!

By John C Dvorak Thursday October 14, 2010

2 Comments

This Episode’s Executive Producers: Michael Zelina, John Weaver, Thomas Nussbaum
Associate Executive Producer: Dennis Laarman
Knighthoods: Sir Ernie Ernst, Sir Fredric Guimont
Art By: Kirk

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Things Turn Ugly on “The View”, And We’re Not Just Talkin’ Bout Bill O’

By McCullough Thursday October 14, 2010

56 Comments

Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg stormed off the set of “The View” during an appearance by “The O’Reilly Factor” host Bill O’Reilly on Thursday morning. Conversation during the morning show segment had turned to the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque.” “Seventy percent of Americans don’t want that mosque down there,” O’Reilly said.

When asked why, O’Reilly explained that the mosque was not supported by the majority of Americans because its location was “inappropriate.” When Goldberg asked why it was inappropriate, citing 70 Muslims who died in the attacks, O’Reilly said: “Because Muslims killed us on 9/11. That’s why.” Goldberg responded, “That is such bulls**t.”

“Muslims didn’t kill us? Is that what you’re saying?” O’Reilly asked.

“Extremists did that!” Goldberg said.

As the conversation became more heated, Behar got up from her seat beside O’Reilly. “I don’t want to sit here right now, I don’t,” Behar said. “I am outraged by that statement.” Goldberg joined her colleague and the two walked off stage.

Why in the world would he appear on that show in the first place? Unless of course he’s hoping to get a date with Whoopie.

Chicago Ballots “Mistakenly” List Candidate’s Name as Rich Whitey

By McCullough Thursday October 14, 2010

9 Comments

Voters in some predominantly African-American Chicago neighborhoods will be faced with the prospect of electing a candidate listed as “Rich Whitey” thanks to a mistake made on electronic voting machines in nearly two dozen voting wards, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Thursday.

The glitch means Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney’s name will be misspelled on voting machines in 23 wards, the report said.

Although the candidate’s name is spelled correctly on the initial ballot, when voters review their selections, the mistake will appear, Jim Allen, spokesman for the Chicago Board of Elections told the paper. Acknowledging a “difficult situation,” Allen assured voters would see the correct name “where it counts.”

“We’ll make the best of it. But the important thing is the name is spelled correctly where it counts, and that’s where people are making the selection,” the paper quoted Allen as saying. He said there is not enough time before the election to reprogram the voting machines. For his part, Whitney expressed concerns about whether or not the mistake was intentional.

“I don’t want to be identified as ‘Whitey,’” the candidate told the Sun-Times. “If this is happening in primarily African-American wards, that’s an even bigger concern.”

Well good luck with that….ha!

iPad Coming to Verizon Stores Later this Month

By hhopper Thursday October 14, 2010

17 Comments

CNet News

Apple’s iPad will be available in more than 2,000 Verizon Wireless stores starting October 28, the companies announced today.

Verizon will offer three bundles with an iPad Wi-Fi model, along with the company’s MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot, a small device that provides access to Verizon’s 3G network. When away from Wi-Fi, iPad owners will need to connect to the MiFi 2200 from the iPad. Verizon said the MiFi’s “cloud” allows it to provide Web access through the company’s 3G network to up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices at the same time.
[…]
Those who plan to buy the iPad bundle featuring Verizon’s MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot will need to pay a monthly fee for access. Verizon said it will charge $20 per month for 1GB of data, with no contract required.

OMG!!!! Justin Beiber Has Come Out With A Line Of Nail Polish!!!!!!!

By Uncle Dave Thursday October 14, 2010

21 Comments

Who cares about wars or politics or ANYTHING else when there’s important, front page (at least on the Interwebitubes) news like this!!!

Teen idol Justin Bieber is launching a line of nail polish inspired by his biggest music hits, nail care company OPI said on Monday.

With shades like One Less Lonely Glitter (lavender), Prized Possession Purple (grape), Give Me the First Dance (silver) and Me + Blue (dark blue), the first six colors in the line for Nicole by OPI will be sold exclusively through Wal-Mart retail stores in December 2010.

The remainder of the “One Less Lonely Girl” collection from the 16 year-old singer will be released in Wal-Mart stores in January 2011 before being distributed more widely in February.

Video – Water Droplet Bouncing On A Superhydrophobic Carbon Nanotube Array

By Gasparrini Thursday October 14, 2010

14 Comments

Amazing!

We’re About To Be Governed By Morans*

By Uncle Dave Thursday October 14, 2010

60 Comments

There’s a lot of vote-the-incumbents-out rhetoric. But what if the replacement would be worse than the incumbent?

Here in Vegas where your Uncle Dave lives, we’re bombarded with the likes of Sharron Angle who is running against Harry Reid. Even some Tea Party leaders have distanced themselves from her idiotic statements and always say no to everything record in the Nevada Assembly. Right now, Reid and Angle are dead even in the polls. What a choice.

What can we say about Wednesday night’s U.S. Senate debate in a Delaware – an event momentous enough to warrant live national coverage on CNN, even though polls show Democrat Chris Coons is almost certain to defeat Republican Christine O’Donnell?

Well, it would be easy to point out the almost comical mismatch between the two candidates on policy grounds. On issue after issue, O’Donnell stuck with hollow platitudes, frequently contradicting herself when pressed for clarity. She called the national debt one of the country’s most pressing challenges, but then insisted that the Bush deficit-inflating tax cuts be extended across the board. Asked to identify specific budget cuts she’d support – and admonished not to cite the old standby of “waste, fraud and abuse” – she devoted more than half of her response to railing against “waste, fraud and abuse.” When Coons called for deporting some illegal immigrants, she claimed this put him at odds with the White House – even though deportations are actually up on under Obama. And on and on.

But O’Donnell is hardly the only Republican running in a closely-watched Senate race this year to be exposed as woefully ill-informed on policy – and many of them are probably on their way to victory anyway. Just look at the race in Wisconsin, where Democrat Russ Feingold schooled Ron Johnson in a debate earlier this week, even as polls show him falling hopelessly behind. We’d like to believe that elections are won and lost on policy, but they aren’t. So O’Donnell’s policy deficiencies didn’t lose her the debate, just as Coons’ effortless policy conversance didn’t win it for him.

* Morans is the correct misspelling of the widely known Internet meme.

Family Ties?

By McCullough Wednesday October 13, 2010

24 Comments

PROVO, Utah, Oct. 13 (UPI) — The family tree for U.S. President Obama shows he’s related — distantly — to two of his harshest critics, Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh, Ancestry.com said.

Obama and Palin — the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2008 — are 10th cousins, related by a common ancestor named John Smith, the family history resource based in Provo, Utah, said on its Web site Wednesday.

Richard Terrell is the common link between Obama and conservative talk show host Limbaugh, who are actually 10th cousins once removed.

In another instance of quirkiness, Ancestry.com researchers said Palin, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and conservative author Ann Coulter are cousins through Englishman John Lathrop, exiled to the United States for becoming a minister of an illegal independent church.

Obama’s family tree also extends to former President George W. Bush, Ancestry.com said. The two are 11th cousins through common ancestor Samuel Hinckley.

Keeping it in the family. I knew it all along. Har.

Apple Market Share Breakthrough

By John C Dvorak Wednesday October 13, 2010

11 Comments

Bing will use Facebook info to make your searches better. Now there is a feature I do not want.
FCC to crack down on cell phone balloon charges.
Apple hits 10-percent market share, finally!
Sony doing a lot of Internet TV stuff on their big screens.
Anti-sexting patent is not what you think.
Broadcom getting into 4G hard and fast.
Love is a drug according to scientists.
New Twitter being pushed hard.
Sams Club selling iPhone and iPad shortly.
New Pew research study says video phone calls growing slowly.
Verizon ready for iPhone.

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100 Million Fake Sunflower Seeds

By hhopper Wednesday October 13, 2010

29 Comments

GIZMODO

The Tate Modern has housed some strange art—huge curving slides, a massive artificial sun, and a giant spider, to name a few. But its new installation is the strangest yet: a mind-boggling carpet of 100 million sunflower seeds.

The seeds, installed by Chinese conceptual artist Ai Weiwei, come as the eleventh commission in the Tate Modern’s Unilever series, which fills the museum’s central Turbine Hall with big, unusual and often interactive art. Weiwei’s seeds—all 100 million of them—are not actual sunflower seeds but porcelain replicas, hand-crafted and individually painted over the course of two years by some 1600 Chinese artisans.