Dvorak News Blog

We Are All Connected

By McCullough Sunday November 22, 2009

“We Are All Connected” was made from sampling Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, The History Channel’s Universe series, Richard Feynman’s 1983 interviews, Neil deGrasse Tyson’s cosmic sermon, and Bill Nye’s Eyes of Nye Series, plus added visuals from The Elegant Universe (NOVA), Stephen Hawking’s Universe, Cosmos, the Powers of 10, and more. It is a tribute to great minds of science, intended to spread scientific knowledge and philosophy through the medium of music.

Suppose The Earth Had Rings Like Saturn…

By Uncle Dave Sunday November 22, 2009

19 Comments

Britain’s Ridiculous Internet Laws… er… Digital Economy Bill, or Whatever

By McCullough Sunday November 22, 2009

12 Comments

Peter Mandelson
So it’s bad. £50,000 fines if someone in your house is accused of filesharing. A duty on ISPs to spy on all their customers in case they find something that would help the record or film industry sue them (ISPs who refuse to cooperate can be fined £250,000).

The British government has brought down its long-awaited Digital Economy Bill, and it’s perfectly useless and terrible. It consists almost entirely of penalties for people who do things that upset the entertainment industry (including the “three-strikes” rule that allows your entire family to be cut off from the net if anyone who lives in your house is accused of copyright infringement, without proof or evidence or trial), as well as a plan to beat the hell out of the video-game industry with a new, even dumber rating system (why is it acceptable for the government to declare that some forms of artwork have to be mandatorily labelled as to their suitability for kids?

But that’s just for starters. The real meat is in the story we broke yesterday: Peter Mandelson, the unelected Business Secretary, would have to power to make up as many new penalties and enforcement systems as he likes. And he says he’s planning to appoint private militias financed by rightsholder groups who will have the power to kick you off the internet, spy on your use of the network, demand the removal of files or the blocking of websites, and Mandelson will have the power to invent any penalty, including jail time, for any transgression he deems you are guilty of. And of course, Mandelson’s successor in the next government would also have this power.

Again, why do people want to live in the UK?

Tweeny Bopper’s Manager Arrested for Failure to Tweet, Causing Tween Riot

By McCullough Sunday November 22, 2009

14 Comments

“Word”

One minute they were lined up at a Long Island mall to see a teen singing sensation. The next, they were pushing and shoving in what police are calling a near-riot. The cancelation of the event is blamed on “Justin Bieber fever” – and too little security. Now, a member of the singer’s management team is under arrest, and parents are speaking out, reports CBS station WCBS-TV.

Bieber fan Annie Seiderer, 12, is left with her unsigned CD, and unsavory memories of Friday’s madness. As many as 3,000 teens waited for hours at Roosevelt Field Mall to meet the 15-year-old pop star, then the event was suddenly canceled.

“Everyone started freaking out and pushing together, and that’s when it got really scary,” Seiderer, of Wantagh, said. Caryn Mutino, a Wantagh mother, was injured during the melee, suffering cuts on her head when the crowd pushed her to the ground.

“To get hurt over it, that was ridiculous,” Mutino said. “I touch my face – there is blood all over my face. My girls are crying, my daughter’s hysterical crying.” “She was gushing blood and we needed to call an ambulance,” daughter Courtney Mutino said. “Then they took us out and went to the ambulance.”

The only person arrested was 44-year-old James Roppo, a vice president with Bieber’s record company. He is charged with child endangerment and assault. Police say Roppo failed to cooperate when he was asked to send a message on Twitter to help clear the crowd.

Before you get smug, don’t forget when The Beatles first arrived in the US…of course that WAS the Beatles.

Found by Mr. Fusion.

Secret Brit Papers Reveal How And Why They Got Into Iraq War

By Uncle Dave Sunday November 22, 2009

22 Comments

Since the Brits were taking our lead, this sheds more light on the details of the process Bush & Co used to lie to us to get us into war and then incompetently wage it. As if we needed more.

On the eve of the Chilcot inquiry into Britain’s involvement in the 2003 invasion and its aftermath, The Sunday Telegraph has obtained hundreds of pages of secret Government reports on “lessons learnt” which shed new light on “significant shortcomings” at all levels.

They include full transcripts of extraordinarily frank classified interviews in which British Army commanders vent their frustration and anger with ministers and Whitehall officials.

The reports disclose that:

-Tony Blair, the former prime minister, misled MPs and the public throughout 2002 when he claimed that Britain’s objective was “disarmament, not regime change” and that there had been no planning for military action. In fact, British military planning for a full invasion and regime change began in February 2002.

-The need to conceal this from Parliament and all but “very small numbers” of officials “constrained” the planning process. The result was a “rushed”operation “lacking in coherence and resources” which caused “significant risk” to troops and “critical failure” in the post-war period.

Lots more discussed in the full article.

LED Tattoos

By Uncle Dave Saturday November 21, 2009

17 Comments

Who’s first to sell their back for advertising space? This month, McDonald’s. Next month, Monsanto. Who needs a DVD player or computer on a plane when you can watch a movie on your arm? For that matter, when will the implantable iPhone tattoo be available?

What other ideas can you come up with?

The title character of Ray Bradbury’s book The Illustrated Man is covered with moving, shifting tattoos. If you look at them, they will tell you a story.

New LED tattoos from the University of Pennsylvania could make the Illustrated Man real (minus the creepy stories, of course). Researchers there are developing silicon-and-silk implantable devices which sit under the skin like a tattoo. Already implanted into mice, these tattoos could carry LEDs, turning your skin into a screen.

The silk substrate onto which the chips are mounted eventually dissolves away inside the body, leaving just the electronics behind. The silicon chips are around the length of a small grain of rice — about 1 millimeter, and just 250 nanometers thick. The sheet of silk will keep them in place, molding to the shape of the skin when saline solution is added.

These displays could be hooked up to any kind of electronic device, also inside the body. Medical uses are being explored, from blood-sugar sensors that show their readouts on the skin itself to neurodevices that tie into the body’s nervous system — hooking chips to particular nerves to control a prosthetic hand, for example.

More giant snail pie, anyone?

By honeyman Saturday November 21, 2009

18 Comments

Giant Snail Pies to Feed the Malnourished in Africa – Treehugger
Mmmmm yummy.

Ukpong Udofia of the University of Uyo recently completed her research on the nutritional content of the African Giant Snail, a resilient animal that has become a notorious invasive species around the world. The snail is incredibly common in swamps and forests of Africa, and is a popular novelty pet in the US.

But it’s also rich in protein, iron, calcium, zinc, and many essential vitamins. According to Science Daily, Udofia’s study compared the snail meat to a beef steak, and found the snail to be superior in every way. It’s cheaper, more nutritious, and easier to obtain. Which means it could help address malnutrition in many more communities than beef, the typically pursued iron and protein source, ever could. It’s evidently best eaten in a sort of simple-to-make pie.

“Udofia and her research team baked pies of both varieties and asked young mothers and their children to try the tasty meal. Most of them preferred the taste and texture of the pies baked with the snail Archachatina marginata to those made with beef. The kids and their mothers judged the snail pies to have a better appearance, texture, and flavor.”

Glenn Beck starting a “100 Year Plan”… what?!

By Jacob Galt Saturday November 21, 2009

33 Comments

WTF??? It is supposedly a plan to end the two-party system. Of course it’s just a way to guarantee his popularity for a couple more years.

– I have begun meeting with some of the best minds in the country that believe in limited government, maximum freedom and the values of our Founders. I am developing a 100 year plan. I know that the bipartisan corruption in Washington that has brought us to this brink and it will not be defeated easily. It will require unconventional thinking and a radical plan to restore our nation to the maximum freedoms we were supposed to have been protecting, using only the battlefield of ideas.

– All of the above will culminate in The Plan, a book that will provide specific policies, principles and, most importantly, action steps that each of us can take to play a role in this Refounding.

– On August 28, 2010, I ask you, your family and neighbors to join me at the feet of Abraham Lincoln on the National Mall for the unveiling of The Plan and the birthday of a new national movement to restore our great country.

Horrible video!

By John C Dvorak Saturday November 21, 2009

27 Comments

Click on image then click on play

Found by C. Lindhartsen.

MTV Censors Rap Video… Removes ‘Offensive’ Sign

By McCullough Saturday November 21, 2009

13 Comments

A recently released music video for “Popular Demand” by the Clipse featured the awning of the infamous Obama Fried Chicken joint in Brownsville, Brooklyn. But in comparing versions of the video airing on MTV and elsewhere, it looks like the TV channel completely erased the restaurant’s name from the awning in the video’s opening shot.

Brokelyn, the Brooklyn blog that first reported the editing, notes it could be one of three possible reasons: copyright law, MTV advertising policy, or a more political decision that keeps MTV from dealing with the repercussions “from blaring ‘Obama Fried Chicken” across American TV screens.”

Back in April, City Councilman Charles Barron led a protest outside the location with citizens “outraged by [the] racist connection to Barack Obama and fried chicken.”

The restaurant manager fired back and said it was a tribute to the president, noting four out of five customers support the name.
A spokesperson for MTV says, “MTV did not ask for that edit to be made. Someone else other than MTV made the request.” When asked who that may have been, they simply said, “We have no idea.”

Funny, this is about the least offensive thing I have seen in a rap video…or MTV for that matter.

US Postal Service Fires Santa’s Helpers, Thanks to Sex Offender

By McCullough Saturday November 21, 2009

11 Comments

Starry-eyed children writing letters to the jolly man at the North Pole this holiday season likely won’t get a response from Santa Claus or his helpers.

The U.S. Postal Service is dropping a popular national program begun in 1954 in the small Alaska town of North Pole, where volunteers open and respond to thousands of letters addressed to Santa each year. Replies come with North Pole postmarks.

Last year, a postal worker in Maryland recognized an Operation Santa volunteer there as a registered sex offender. The postal worker interceded before the person could answer a child’s letter, but the Postal Service viewed the episode as a big enough scare to tighten rules in such programs nationwide. People in North Pole are incensed by the change, likening the Postal Service to the Grinch trying to steal Christmas. The letter program is a revered holiday tradition in North Pole, where light posts are curved and striped like candy canes and streets have names such as Kris Kringle Drive and Santa Claus Lane. Volunteers in the letter program even sign the response letters as Santa’s elves and helpers.

North Pole Mayor Doug Isaacson agreed caution is necessary to protect children. But he’s outraged North Pole’s program should be affected by a sex offender’s actions on the East Coast – and he thinks it’s wrong that locals just learned of the change.

“It’s Grinch-like that the Postal Service never informed all the little elves before the fact,” he said. “They’ve been working on this for how long?” The agency now prohibits volunteers from having access to children’s family names and addresses, said spokeswoman Sue Brennan.

What’s your position on health insurance legislation?

By Jacob Galt Saturday November 21, 2009

20 Comments

The first Senate vote is tonight at 8PM ET.

Cop Tasers 10 Year Old Girl for Refusing to go to Bed

By McCullough Saturday November 21, 2009

21 Comments

The local police chief in Ozark, Arkansas is standing behind one of his officers who tasered a 10-year-old girl who was refusing to go to bed. The bizarre story is laid out in a police incident report obtained by website The Smoking Gun.

Officer Dustin Bradshaw was called to the home by a woman complaining that her daughter was being unruly and refusing to go to sleep. Bradshaw wrote that when he arrived at the home, he found Kiara Medlock “balled up in (sic) the floor crying and screaming.” After watching her mother attempt to get Kiara into the bathtub with little success, Bradshaw took the girl into the living room and threatened her with jail.

Bradshaw then tried to handcuff Kiara. But he couldn’t manage that either.

To hear Bradshaw tell it, he was now in the midst of a full-on brawl on the living-room floor with Kiara, a Grade 5 student. The 65-pounder was “verbally combative … struck me with her legs and feet in the groin,” Bradshaw wrote. That’s when he reached for his holster and delivered a “very very (sic) brief drive stun to her back with my taser.” Unsurprisingly, Kiara’s struggling stopped immediately. Bradshaw then cuffed her and carried her to his squad car, since she could no longer walk.

The incident hit the news when Kiara’s father, Anthony Medlock, took exception. Medlock does not live with Kiara’s mother.

“I want to know how the heck in God’s green earth can they get away with this … If you can’t pick the kid up and take her to your car, handcuff her, then I don’t think you need to be an officer,” Medlock told local Ozark 40/29 news.

At first, I thought this was from the Onion…but truth can be stranger than fiction.

Mussolini’s brain ‘stolen for sale on eBay’

By John C Dvorak Saturday November 21, 2009

8 Comments

Mussolini’s brain ‘stolen for sale on eBay’ – Telegraph — His brain is intact someplace? Who knew?

Benito Mussolini’s granddaughter demanded a police investigation on Friday after the late Italian dictator’s blood and brain were reportedly offered for sale on eBay, the online auction website.

Burkha Barbie

By Uncle Dave Saturday November 21, 2009

14 Comments

For a toy long associated with anti-feminism (remember when that word was popular?) this is a bit of a change. Also, a bit different from the 12 Weirdest Barbies.

One of the world’s most famous children’s toys, Barbie, has been given a makeover – wearing a burkha.

Wearing the traditional Islamic dress, the iconic doll is going undercover for a charity auction in connection with Sotheby’s for Save The Children.