Dvorak News Blog

18 Yr Old’s Career Goals: ‘World’s Most Infamous Sociopath’

By Uncle Dave Wednesday September 1, 2010

An 18-year-old Claire City man arrested and accused of having weapons and the makings for explosives wrote that he wanted to “cause as much chaos, death and destruction as possible and become the world’s most infamous sociopath for the rest of mankind,” according to court documents.

Joseph Thomas Hansen would have been a senior at Sisseton High School in northeastern South Dakota. […] Hansen allegedly told co-workers at a day care in Sisseton that he had enough fireworks to blow up Sisseton, and the first day of school would be a short one, according to the court affidavit. The comments were relayed to Casey Metz, the school resource officer. He said in the affidavit that officers have observed Hansen’s behaviors through the past two years. Last year, a computer teacher notified Metz that Hansen was caught looking up articles on the school computers regarding the Columbine massacre before the anniversary date.
[…]
Also included in Hansen’s writings were notes regarding which law enforcement agencies would respond to a shooter and descriptions of the body armor, weapons and equipment of officers. Hansen noted the areas not covered in body armor.

Other writings talked about killing family members and included a list of people he wished to torture and kill, including 30 females he would kidnap, torture and rape. He wrote he would like to use a bowie knife and “gut them like a pig.”

“When a person is insane, as you clearly are, do you know that you’re insane? Maybe you’re just sitting around, reading “Guns and Ammo”, masturbating in your own feces, do you just stop and go, “Wow! It is amazing how fucking crazy I really am!”? Yeah. Do you guys do that?”
— David Mills (played by Brad Pitt) in the movie, Se7en

Feds Warn US Citizens off Interstate in Arizona, Controlled by Mexican Drug Gangs

By McCullough Wednesday September 1, 2010

60 Comments

The federal government has posted signs along a major interstate highway in Arizona, more than 100 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, warning travelers the area is unsafe because of drug and alien smugglers, and a local sheriff says Mexican drug cartels now control some parts of the state.

The signs were posted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) along a 60-mile stretch of Interstate 8 between Casa Grande and Gila Bend, a major east-west corridor linking Tucson and Phoenix with San Diego. They warn travelers that they are entering an “active drug and human smuggling area” and they may encounter “armed criminals and smuggling vehicles traveling at high rates of speed.” Beginning less than 50 miles south of Phoenix, the signs encourage travelers to “use public lands north of Interstate 8” and to call 911 if they “see suspicious activity.” “Mexican drug cartels literally do control parts of Arizona,” he said. “They literally have scouts on the high points in the mountains and in the hills and they literally control movement. They have radios, they have optics, they have night-vision goggles as good as anything law enforcement has.

“This is going on here in Arizona,” he said. “This is 70 to 80 miles from the border – 30 miles from the fifth-largest city in the United States.”

He said he asked the Obama administration for 3,000 National Guard soldiers to patrol the border, but what he got were 15 signs.

But like the man said…the borders are quite secure.

Apple Apple Apple

By John C Dvorak Wednesday September 1, 2010

13 Comments

Apple shows up in all the news for nothing more than new iPods and re-do of Apple TV.
Apple adds button to iPod Shuffle.
Ferraris catching on fire. Hot stuff.
Memristors back in the news. They will take over the world of semiconductors.
China says no more anonymous burners in China.
T-Mobile jumps into Wi-Max.
MSFT IE business going down the tubes.
Windows 7 sale coming. Family-pak coming back!
Sony brings out new e-reader. Nobody notices.

click to listen:

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

Gourmet Cougars in Berkeley

By John C Dvorak Wednesday September 1, 2010

23 Comments

Police have gunned down a 100-pound mountain lion romping through Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto neighborhood blocks from Alice Waters’ famed Chez Panisse restaurant.

Authorities said a neighborhood resident reported the big cat to Berkeley police and firefighters around 2 a.m. Tuesday. The animal was seen roaming through residential backyards and a church playground before officers caught up with it. Police and state wildlife officials quickly deemed the animal a threat to public safety, and officers were given the OK to shoot it. An officer killed it with a shotgun at about 3:30 a.m.

DU Poll: What Did You Think About Obama’s Speech On Iraq Pullout?

By Uncle Dave Wednesday September 1, 2010

81 Comments

Read the text of the speech here.

President Barack Obama’s speech from the Oval Office Tuesday night was a strange muddle—a televised prime-time address that lacked a bottom line, a consistent theme, a clear road to the future.

He announced the end of combat operations in Iraq, right on schedule. But he equivocated on what comes next in that much-improved but still war-torn land.

On the one hand: “There should be no doubt the Iraqi people will have a strong partner in the United States; our combat mission is ending, but our commitment to Iraq’s future is not.” On the other hand: “Through this remarkable chapter in the history of the United States and Iraq, we have met our responsibility. Now, it is time to turn the page.”
[…]
On the one hand: “No challenge is more essential to our security than our fight against al-Qaida.” On the other hand: “Our most urgent task is to restore our economy and put the millions of Americans who have lost their jobs back to work. … [This] must be our central mission as a people and my central responsibility as president.”

At least there was no “Mission Accomplished” equivalent. Here’s what one ex-Bush defense official thought about it.

Video – Orlando Mosque Caught Raising Funds For Hamas?

By Gasparrini Wednesday September 1, 2010

24 Comments

The monotonous tone of the narrator is a little boring.

Ron Paul Thinks USA Gold Holdings is Bogus. We Have Nothing!

By John C Dvorak Wednesday September 1, 2010

45 Comments

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) said he plans to introduce legislation next year to force an audit of U.S. holdings of gold. Paul, a longtime critic of the Federal Reserve and U.S. monetary policy, said he believes it’s “a possibility” that there might not actually be any gold in the vaults of Fort Knox or the New York Federal Reserve bank.

The libertarian lawmaker told Kitco News, a website tracking news about precious metals, that an audit was necessary to determine how much the U.S. maintains in gold reserves in case the government were to use gold to back the dollar.

“If there was no question about the gold being there, you think they would be anxious to prove gold is there,” he said.

“Our Federal Reserve admits to nothing, and they should prove all the gold is there. There is a reason to be suspicious and even if you are not suspicious why wouldn’t you have an audit?

“I think it is a possibility,” Paul said when asked if there was truth to rumors that there was actually no gold at Ft. Knox or the New York Fed.

Swingsets at School Deemed Too Dangerous for Kids. Banned!

By John C Dvorak Tuesday August 31, 2010

24 Comments

Swing sets on elementary school playgrounds in Cabell County will soon become a thing of the past.

Cabell County Schools officials have decided to remove the traditional playground toys because of increasing safety standards and exposure to insurance claims and lawsuits stemming from swing set injuries.

This is getting more and more pathetic as time goes by. The entire country is now at the mercy of lawyers and the lack or tort reform. Soon walking on a sidewalk will be banned. But next on the list: slides.

Found by JD Adkins.

DH Unplugged #79
Falling Off a Cliff?

By John C Dvorak Tuesday August 31, 2010

5 Comments

Here is the latest conversation I had with money manager Andrew Horowitz…. new insights for anyone who invests in anything. This show helps clue you in on the mess we are in. Listen!

Click here for non-Flash version.

click ► to listen:

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

Contribute to the future of the show here.

Bizarro World Story of the Day: Man Having Sex Change To Look Like Lady Gaga

By Uncle Dave Tuesday August 31, 2010

10 Comments

Uhhh… Well, this is different.

A Bulgarian man is going so gaga for Lady Gaga that he wants to become her.

Penio Daskalov, 24, plans to have a full sex change operation and is enlisting cosmetic surgeons to turn him into a double of Lady Gaga, which he thinks will help him launch a career in music, RadarOnline.com has learned.

“I really admire the way she has created herself, so when I’ve had my operations I won’t be quite a man or quite a woman,” Daskalov said.

“I’ve already contacted her management and told them what I am doing and how I’d like to record a duet with her,” he concluded.

I’m not sure why Lady Gaga wants to look like Lady Gaga, much less this guy.

O.E.D. D.E.A.D.

By John C Dvorak Tuesday August 31, 2010

2 Comments

Apple iPod 4g awaits more publicity.
Gmail supposedly will sort your mail for you by importance. Har!
VMware show ends.
Climate panel trying to reform. Why?
AutoCAD back on the Mac along with a mobile app.
Samsung tablet getting lots of ink and attention.
Has Digg failed? Blame the new guy.
Web OS2.0 for Palm now out.
MSFT and YHOO integrated ad system is up.
Google buys another social gaming company.
Nanocrystals now in play.
Oxford English Dictionary considering going all digital. Aww.

click to listen:

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

Corexit Found in Florida Pool Sickens Family

By McCullough Tuesday August 31, 2010

13 Comments

“Our heads are still swimming,” stated Barbara Schebler of Homosassa, Florida, who received word last Friday that test results on the water from her family’s swimming pool showed 50.3 ppm of 2-butoxyethanol, a marker for the dispersant Corexit 9527A used to break up and sink BP’s oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

The problems began for the Scheblers a few weeks after the April 20 blow-out. “Our first clue were rashes we both got early in May. Both my husband and I couldn’t get rid of the rashes and had to get cream from our doctor,” Schebler noted, “I never had a rash in my life.”Then, on “July [23], my husband Warren mowed the lawn. It was hot so he got in the pool to cool off afterward. That afternoon he had severe diarrhea and very dark urine. This lasted about 2 days,” she revealed. The Scheblers found Robert Naman, a Mobile, Alabama chemist who’s performed multiple tests (1, 2, 3) for WKRG Channel 5, also out of Mobile.“Warren collected a water sample from the pool filter on August 17th… packed the sample according to Mr. Naman’s instructions, and overnighted it to his Mobile, Ala. lab that same day,” she noted.

ObamaCare Scam Targets the Elderly

By McCullough Tuesday August 31, 2010

18 Comments

In this time of uncertainty over health insurance, grifters are targeting the elderly in a recent scam, County of San Bernardino Department of Aging and Adult Services officials warn.

Scammers, under the guise of being government officials, are contacting seniors either by phone, e-mail or in some cases in person and questioning if they have health insurance, according to a release. If the victim answers they do not, the con-artist threatens to put the senior in jail for not complying with alleged health care policies, officials said.

The scammers then offer the victim to sell them “ObamaCare” insurance to keep the elderly person out of jail.

According to government officials, there is no such policy, nor is there “ObamaCare” coverage.

Under the current national health care bill, the requirement to have health insurance doesn’t go into effect until 2014. And even then, those who do not have coverage cannot be jailed, county officials said. Instead, a gradual fine system will kick in.It’s unclear how many victims there may be in San Bernardino County or locally.

It’s getting hard to tell the amateur con men from the professionals anymore, the tactics are so similar.

Psycho Kids Throw Pups in River: Warning

By McCullough Tuesday August 31, 2010

58 Comments

On Monday afternoon, this video was posted to a thread on /b/—the unruly, lawless “Random” board on the popular imageboard site 4chan—along with a characteristically sweet message: “Find this dumb little bitch and throw her into a river.”

The LiveLeak video page to which the /b/ thread linked listed what little information the video’s poster could glean from the short clip:

We can determine from the picture so few things.

One, based on assumption, she probably has a facebook account, no matter what country they’re in.

Two, she is 5ft 6in-5ft 8in, blond, eye color unknown, Caucasian

She has something written upside-down on her red sweater, barely legible, might be of assistance if it’s the product of a local store.

Let’s work together on exposing this sicko! Use the comments.

4channers quickly got to work. If there’s one thing /b/ is really good at (besides calling each other “fags”), it’s finding people—something we all learned the other week, when the board rapidly found a woman who dumped a cat in a garbage bin, and harassed her into confessing and apologizing.

They didn’t disappoint: The 4chan miscreants quickly identified the owner of the YouTube account that had uploaded the video, his hometown, and, possibly, his Facebook account. And not just that: /b/tards picked out two Facebook profiles they thought were most likely the girl in the video, as well as profiles of friends and the camera man.