25 Comments
Over 6 million views of this oddball vid.
Upgrade to a SONG using autotune! Showing exactly where computer technology is taking us.
An Arab man convicted in Israel of rape because he pretended he was a Jew when he had consensual sex with a Jewish woman has called the verdict racist. Sabbar Kashur, 30, was found guilty of “rape by deception” by the Israeli court and sentenced to 18 months in jail.
According to the complaint filed by the woman, the two met in a Jerusalem street in 2008 and had sex that day. When she discovered he was not Jewish, but an Arab, she went to the police.
Kashur was arrested and charged with rape and indecent assault, but the charges were later replaced by a different charge of “rape by deception”…
“If I were Jewish, they wouldn’t have even questioned me,” the Haaretz newspaper quoted him as saying.
“That’s not called rape, I didn’t rape her in the forest and and throw her away naked. She agreed to everything that happened…”
“The court is obliged to protect the public interest from sophisticated, smooth-tongued criminals who can deceive innocent victims at an unbearable price – the sanctity of their bodies and souls,” the court judgement was quoted as reading.
Would your reaction be different if the roles were reversed?
 USS Yorktown sunk by the Japanese 1942 |
Roger Spooner, the farmer who appeared today on news shows backing up Shirley Sherrod’s story, and who was accused by Andrew Breitbart of being a liar and a “plant,” is not just a lifelong friend of Sherrod; he’s also a veteran of the Battle of Midway.
It’s been more than 67 years since Roger Spooner stood on the deck of the U.S.S. Yorktown, watching an air parade of kamikaze pilots dive into the carrier while he loaded 54-pound shells to fire at circling Japanese planes in a frantic attempt to keep the ship from sinking at the Battle of Midway.
While 165 men on the Yorktown died that day, 85 survived. Some of them remember portions of that day in June. Others remember most of what happened.
“I remember all of it,” Spooner said.
Spooner can almost smell the sea water mixed with oil when he talks about the day the Yorktown was sunk. Spooner and many of his mates spent about 10 hours bobbing up and down in the Pacific in nothing more than their skivvies and a life jacket…
That’s a long time to be alone with your thoughts.
“I thought about Iron City,” said Spooner, who joined the Navy in late October, 1941. Two weeks later, Pearl Harbor was bombed and Spooner was thrust straight into the war with no time to go home. “I didn’t think I was ever going to get back.”
I thought this might be the case the first time I saw Roger Spooner and his wife Eloise on TV. Not too many folks get to walk around with that Yorktown hat.
Not too many left.
Actual unedited video.
The NAACP has retracted its original statement condemning comments made by a former Agriculture Department official who resigned after a video clip surfaced of her discussing a white farmer…
“Having reviewed the full tape by Shirley Sherrod, who is the woman who was fired by the Department of Agriculture, and most importantly heard the testimony of the white farmers mentioned in this story, we now believe that the organization that edited the documents did so with the intention of deceiving millions of Americans,” the statement from NAACP President Benjamin Jealous said.
Jealous later posted on his Twitter account that he “Spoke to Ms. Sherrod earlier today and personally apologized. Plan to meet with her face-to-face the next time I’m in Georgia.”
The organization also urged Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to reconsider Sherrod’s resignation from her post as the department’s director of rural development for Georgia.
Breitbart originally posted the video, which was quickly picked up by Fox News…
Sherrod defended herself in a number of interviews Tuesday, saying her controversial comments were taken out of context. She had, she said, used a personal experience from nearly a quarter century ago in which she confronted her own racism and learned to move beyond it…
White House cowardice in the face of loudmouthed blather from right-wing nutballs is not justification for terminating someone fighting on behalf of poor people.
UPDATE: Tom Vilsack has apologized and offered Mrs. Sherrod a job back with the USDA.
A brutal and historical cold snap has so far caused 80 deaths in South America, according to international news agencies. Temperatures have been much below normal for over a week in vast areas of the continent. In Chile, the Aysen region was affected early last week by the worst snowstorm in 30 years. The snow accumulation reached 5 feet in Balmaceda and the Army was called to rescue people trapped by the snow.
In Argentina, the snow in the region of Mendoza, famous for its winery, was described by localimagemeteorologists as the heaviest in a decade. The temperature in the morning of July 16th was the lowest in the city of Buenos Aires since 1991: -1.5C. The cold snap caused a record demand for energy and Argentina had to import electricity from Brazil. Many industries in Argentina were shut down due to gas shortage.
It snowed in nearly all the provinces of Argentina, an extremely rare event. It snowed even in the western part of the province of Buenos Aires and Southern Santa Fe, in cities at sea level.
Now I know why the sudden urgency to say 2010 is the warmest year ever before the year is over. Who needs this data added to the math?
Found by denialist Jason Price.
“I’ll race you to that rock pile!”
This location is only a few miles from where I live.
Although it’s a business idea that may create dozens of jobs in Henderson [Nevada, adjacent to Las Vegas], it’s a business that could also aggravate lots of homeowners.
The project has been envisioned as a heavy equipment theme park where customers can drive bulldozers, backhoes, and dump trucks. For anyone that loves trucks and heavy machinery, this could be quite a playground. But there’s a lot of skepticism surrounding the plan, which could also be very noisy and dusty.
Business owner Ed Mumm […] already operates a similar attraction in Colorado.
“Basically, a big adult sandbox super-sized from their earlier childhood.”
While it may be a giant sandbox for some, those who live nearby have some serious reservations.
[…]
If “Dig This” is approved, it would charge customers hundreds of dollars for hands-on training and a chance to operate what it calls “20 tons of fun.”
Like the mortgage crisis, it’s obvious no one could have predicted this.
Some early numbers are leaking on Rupert Murdoch’s London Times paywall experiment. After a month of forced free registrations and two weeks of a full paywall, Dan Sabbagh at Beehivecity.com says these are the numbers:
* 150,000 registrations (PaidContent says this is 12% of the online reader base)
* 15,000 paid subscriptions
* Another 12,500 paid iPad subscriptionsApparently, the 15,000 paid subscriptions figure is considered “disappointing.”
And it is disappointing — from the perspective of those hoping to save newspapers by erecting paywalls. […] But if we’re charitable and assume that the 15,000 online subs and 12,500 iPad subs grow to include the 150,000 folks who have registered (unlikely), this still would not produce a big revenue base.
[…]
Meanwhile, what has the new paywall done to online traffic? So far, it has dropped by two-thirds. That, apparently, is actually better than expected. One editor feared it would collapse by 90%.
Here is the latest conversation I had with money manager Andrew Horowitz…. new insights for anyone who invests in anything. This week the market continues marching up. Apple tricks market, kills the numbers.
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. |
I get to the airport, boarded my plane and I’m sitting in first class. The flight attendant was right in front of me and was curious if they were going to serve meals onboard. So I asked her, “Are you serving any meals during our flight?”
She looked at me kinda funny and said, “I can’t answer that for security reasons.”
[…]
About three minutes later, two armed Austin police officers boarded the plane, looked at me and said, “Sugarman, follow us.”
[…]
“Why” I asked.“You apparently asked the flight attendant if the Police were onboard,” said the United representative. We’re not taking any chances and the captain asked that you be removed.”
“But I only asked her if a meal was being served,” I said. Only to be told that it was her word against mine and the Captain was not going to take any chances based on what the flight attendant claims I said.
[…]
As I stepped off the ramp into the boarding area still in shock over what happened, the customer service representative was there to book me on the next flight, which was two hours later.
[…]
Question? If I was too dangerous to fly on my original flight why did they book me on the next United flight.
The flight attendant couldn’t ask him to repeat what he said to be sure? Guess it’s time to not say a word to anyone on flights to ensure you aren’t misunderstood.
Lessons learned: I guess my business now goes to American where I am also a million mile flyer. Maybe I’ll get a lot more respect. […] And remember, next time you fly, don’t ask if they are serving a meal on board.
New types of money are popping up across Mid-Michigan and supporters say, it’s not counterfeit, but rather a competing currency. Right now, you can buy a meal or visit a chiropractor without using actual U.S. legal tender.
They sound like real money and look like real money. But you can’t take them to the bank because they’re not made at a government mint. They’re made at private mints. “I sell three or four every single day and then I get one or two back a week,” said Dave Gillie, owner of Gillies Coney Island Restaurant in Genesee Township.
Gillie also accepts silver, gold, copper and other precious metals to pay for food. He says, if he wanted to, he could accept marbles. “Do people have to accept dollars or money? No, they don’t,” Gillie said. “They can accept anything they want or they can refuse to accept anything.”
He’s absolutely right. The U.S. Treasury Department says the Coinage Act of 1965 says “private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash, unless there is a state law which says otherwise.” That allows gas stations to say they don’t accept 50- or $100 bills after a certain time of day in hopes of not getting robbed.
“This establishment accepts any form of silver, gold, chicken, apple pie, if someone works it out with me,” said Jeff Kotchounian of Deerfield Chiropractic. “I’ve taken many things.”
So, basically a barter system, and probably illegal. I am certain the humorless folks at the IRS will have plenty to say about this.
NETWORKWORLD.com
Microsoft has confirmed a new, highly dangerous zero-day vulnerability that has caused multiple researchers to issue warnings. The exploit is a whopper on all levels.
It comes into the enterprise via hidden files on USB sticks or via shared network files. It requires no user interaction to infect the system (simply viewing the icon is enough to trigger it). It propagates itself. It loads as a rootkit infection. It affects all Windows operating systems, even full-patched Windows 7 systems. It seems to target extremely sensitive information — researchers say it seems to have been made for espionage. If all that weren’t scary enough, a researcher has already published proof-of-concept code.
 
|
WIRED.com
Blogging platform Blogetery.com was cut off by its hosting company last week after the authorities said al-Qaida “terrorist material” was found on one of its servers, said a statement from web host BurstNET Technologies Monday.
Blogetery, a platform for some 70,000 blogs, was taken down by BurstNET after the Federal Bureau of Investigation asked BurstNET “to provide information regarding ownership” of the server hosting Blogetery.com,” BurstNET said.
BurstNET shuttered Blogetery at its own discretion, after concluding it was violating its “Acceptable Use Policy.”
“It was revealed that a link to terrorist material, including bomb-making instructions and an al-Qaida ‘hit list,’ had been posted to the site,” BurstNET said.
CNET said the material allegedly discovered by the FBI “is connected to an online magazine called Inspire,” whose mission is to recruit al-Qaida members.
Digital advertising billboards being trialled in Japan are fitted with cameras that read the gender and age group of people looking at them to tailor their commercial messages.
The technology — reminiscent of the personalised advertisements in Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi movie “Minority Report” — forms part of the Digital Signage Promotion Project, which is currently in a test phase. […] “The camera can distinguish a person’s sex and approximate age, even if the person only walks by in front of the display, at least if he or she looks at the screen for a second,” said a spokesman for the project.
If data for different locations is analysed, companies can provide interactive advertisements “which meet the interest of people who use the station at a certain time,” the project said in a statement.
Support the Blog — Buy This Book!
For Kindle and with free ePub version. Only $9.49 Great reading.
Here is what Gary Shapiro CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) said: Dvorak's writing sings with insight and clarity. Whether or not you agree with John's views, he will get you thinking and is never boring. These essays are worth the read!
Put this ad on your blog!
Syndicate
Subscribe to Main Blog feed here:
Subscribe to Comments too (below):
Junk Email Filter
