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CNN seems to be stooging for the vaccine folks. There is no reason for a mandatory Hepatitis B vaccination for children. My doctor even told me NOT to get one.
Found by Alex Cocly.
There’s more bad publicity for Metro after a YouTube video surfaces of a Metro train operator apparently texting while on the job.
Metro officials said the operator was disciplined after video showing him apparently texting while operating a train was posted online. Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said the operator was suspended for a week without pay after officials learned of the June 5 incident. A passenger on the blue line in Alexandria apparently recorded the incident with a cellphone camera, then posted it to YouTube. Farbstein said Metro the operator has already served the suspension.
The incident was posted on YouTube last month and was brought to light Tuesday by local blog Unsuck DC Metro. Farbstein said operators are prohibited from texting or using cell phones while operating the highly automated system. Officials said no evidence has been found that the operator killed in last month’s crash on the Red Line was texting.
Crap, this moron should have been fired…..
Update: Hmmmm…Soon after posting this, You Tube has disabled embedding of this video, including the source. So you can see it here. I guess someone is upset about this.
Today, we’re announcing a new project that’s a natural extension of Google Chrome — the Google Chrome Operating System. It’s our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be.
Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we’re already talking to partners about the project, and we’ll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve.
Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We’re designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don’t have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.
Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips and we are working with multiple OEMs to bring a number of netbooks to market next year. The software architecture is simple — Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. For application developers, the web is the platform. All web-based applications will automatically work and new applications can be written using your favorite web technologies. And of course, these apps will run not only on Google Chrome OS, but on any standards-based browser on Windows, Mac and Linux thereby giving developers the largest user base of any platform.
Quick. Someone send a truckload of Tums over to Redmond.
Thanks, Mr. Justin
Combine this with tech advancements that requires fewer people, better utilization of tech that causes fewer people to be needed and increased knowledge of what tech (which is constantly decreasing in price) can do to reduce the need for people. This will accelerate as the ultra tech-savvy young replace the older tech phobic workers.
Oxford Analytica looks into the possibility of a “jobless recovery” in a new report. “With some — albeit highly disputed — signs of recovery in the global economy, there is growing debate on what form this might take.”
“Both recent experience and economic theory would suggest that a return to growth, at least in the short term, might not be accompanied by an increase in employment.”
In 2001, after the burst of the dot-com bubble, recovery was fairly rapid. However, though mature economies already had seen a return to growth by 2002, employment did not recover in the same way. Rather, it continued to lag behind.
Economic theory offers a possible explanation as to why the effect of downturns on labour demand can be extremely long-lived or, in other words, why recovery, in effect, can be ‘jobless’:
- When there is a downturn in economic activity, employment rates fall (ie jobs are lost) and companies stop investing in new technology.
- However, since the innovation cycle is much longer than most downturns in the business cycle the rate of innovation in the economy is not overly affected, new discoveries continue to be made.
- This means that, when demand starts to recover, surviving companies have the option to buy into the latest technology.
- Those that do so soonest are likely to be the most competitive and hence best able to increase productivity.
- For a time, companies can increase production by investing in new technologies, and thus delay re-hiring people.
The question is whether this pattern is set to recur when the world begins to emerge from the current recession.
I can guess what a script for this might be: a magical View-Master brings to life the images it shows. In 3D.
But after that, what’s next? Will every object end up as a film? How about one about a bar of soap? A guy sleeping? Oops, Warhol already did that. I want to see a film about a box of Kleenex. Or that anti-fart stuff, Beano. Call it, Gone With The Wind. Rats, that’s been done, too. Yeah, like that matters…
View-Master, the Fisher-Price toy with little 3-D picture discs of mountains, rivers and caverns that kids could rotate through a viewfinder, is the latest vintage toy getting a second life on the big screen.
DreamWorks is in negotiations to acquire movie rights to the toy from Mattel (which owns Fisher-Price) and has asked writer-producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci to do some “Transformers”-style magic on it.
Brad Caleb Kane, who worked as a writer-producer on the duo’s Fox series “Fringe,” is on board to write the screenplay. Kurtzman and Orci would produce.
Story specifics are being kept under wraps, though Kane, who during the holiday weekend sent out a message on Twitter announcing his involvement, said, “It’ll be like the old ’80s Amblin movies: ‘Goonies,’ ‘Young Sherlock’ … in that vein.” (That post has since been taken down.)
The Kurtzman-Orci production banner has specialized in Amblin-style movies. Kurtzman and Orci do have experience with toy brands, as well: Their resumes include the two “Transformers” movies, which are based on Hasbro toys.
Learn more about View-Master. And then there’s the artist who works in what he calls VladMaster.
Here is the latest conversation I had with money manager Andrew Horowitz…. new insights for anyone who invests in anything. Ever think about short-selling? Horowitz has been uncanny at predicting the recent market movement. What to do? This chat is presented as-is for anyone who wants to listen in. Among other things, this week we talk about the impact of Cap and Trade.
Right click here and select ‘Save Link As…’ to download the mp3 file.
A new Olympic sport is born! So to speak.
A Russian woman has set a new world record, lifting a 14-kg. glass ball with her vagina muscles. Tatiata Kozhevnikova of Novosibirsk, aged 42, has been exercising her intimate muscles for fifteen years, and has already made her entrance into the Guinness Book of Records as the possessor of the world’s strongest vagina, she proudly told Life.ru.
“After I had a child, my intimate muscles got unbelievably weak. I read books on Dao and learned that ancient women used to deal with this problem using wooden balls,” she said. “I looked around, saw a Murano glass ball and inserted it in my vagina. It took me ages to get it out!”
The embarrassing first experience did not scare Tatiana off. She developed quite a taste for vagina fitness, and now she has her exercising balls custom-made.
“You insert one of the balls in your vagina, and it has a string attached to it with a little hook at the very end. You fix a second ball onto this hook.”
- Gmail finally stops using the beta tag. This is after five years.
- IPhone and iPod of the future will be used as a hearing aid.
- Sony brings out over-priced Netbook.
- FCC looking into phoneco collusion.
- Yahoo begins to talk about Scratch Pad — a new search engine, sort of.
- Jammie wants a new trial!
- Get a Netbook from Sprint for 99-cents.
- Motorola seeking Android developers.
- Who needs Windows 7 Ultimate?
- My commentary on paper thin batteries.
Right click here and select ‘Save Link As…’ to download the mp3 file.
CHARLOTTE (AP) — A religious broadcaster is building a $4 million home in a gated, lakefront community in western South Carolina at the same time that the ministry has cut jobs and reset thermostats to save money in its new headquarters. Inspiration Networks’ CEO David Cerullo is building the 9,000-square-foot home on a lot that overlooks Lake Keowee, The Charlotte Observer reported Monday.
Inspiration Networks has drawn scrutiny for up to $26 million in incentives it won from South Carolina to move from Charlotte to Indian Land, S.C., in Lancaster County. The network’s revenues are expected to approach $100 million, largely donations from people who are told God favors those who donate. Cerullo has said 80 cents of each donated dollar is spent to spread the Gospel.
Life is SWEET!In addition to laying off workers, the newspaper reported, the ministry froze wages and stopped making contributions to 401(k) retirement accounts. The thermostat on the network’s new building was cut to 65 degree during the winter.
A network spokesman did not respond to calls and e-mails requesting comment on the house. Cerullo defended his $1.5 million in compensation in a March interview and said he rejected recommendations that he be paid more.
“If they’ve got these kinds of assets, does the state really need to offer … tax breaks?” asked Don Weaver, president of the S.C. Association of Taxpayers. Employees told the newspaper the ministry began laying off some workers late last year. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, is investigating the finances of six other televangelists and told the newspaper that leaders of religious nonprofits should be careful not to use viewers’ donations to adopt extravagant lifestyles. IRS rules bar nonprofits from paying “unreasonable compensation” to officials.
What was that about a fool and his money……….?
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission
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Patrick Tracy Burris was released from a medium-security prison two months before Cowpens peach farmer Kline Cash was fatally shot, the first of five deaths blamed on the Cherokee County serial killer, according to the North Carolina Department of Corrections.
Burris, 41, was shot to death early Monday in a shootout with Gaston County, N.C., police.
Burris’ death brought to an end the killing spree that began with the June 27 shooting death of Cash, 63. Items taken from Cash’s home were in Burris’ possession.
Authorities said the motive remains a mystery…
Burris was released from Lincoln Correctional Center in Lincolnton, N.C., on April 29, according to prison records. His offenses included being a habitual felon and five counts each of felony breaking and entering and larceny after breaking and entering, records show…
South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Chief Reggie Lloyd said he became angry when he saw that Burris’ rap sheet extended about 25 pages and included crimes from Maryland to Florida.
“At some point the criminal justice system is going to need to explain why this individual was out on the street,” Lloyd said. “We owe that to the victims in this case. We owe that to the citizens who lived in terror for days.”
American jurisprudence at its best.
Discover — It’s not that she says the Earth is 6000 years old — twice, just to make sure — that floors me. It’s the casual way she said it, as if she said “I had a cup of coffee today.” From her manner, it’s clear that not only does she believe this complete and utter nonsense, but this is a simple fact woven into her mind just like the Sun is bright or chocolate is tasty.
To her, the Earth being 6000 years old just is.
Now, to be fair, this video is without context, and so we can’t be absolutely sure she’s a creationist. But it sure as heck sounds that way, and given her voting record it fits right in.
The irony, of course — and there’s always irony when creationism is involved — is that she’s talking about uranium mining, and it’s through the radioactive decay of uranium that we know the Earth is billions of years old. And she also praises technological achievements!
AIIIIiiiiieeee!
I know, nothing new here, but I still get a kick out of hearing them say it!
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John and Adam discuss the news of the day from an international perspective
Queue / cue / Q the closing credits — We hope you enjoy the show!
No Agenda Archive
Running time: approx. 90 mins.
Plano men denied entry to Ireland | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News — They were backpacking. Of course they had no plan to stay. They were backpacking!
immigration officials said they couldn’t enter Ireland because they lacked an address where they planned to stay in Dublin and bank statements to prove they could afford to travel.
“If they want us to go to their country, they shouldn’t do this,” said Colin Zwirko, 21, who sold his Volkswagen to help pay for the trip. “They should step up and apologize or help.”
Found by Tim Yates.
A great advancement. However… Imagine next gen versions of this and the uses beyond the described medical. Inject a few into a prisoner the first day he’s incarcerated. If he starts a fight or tries to escape, paralyze him from within. How about invisible torture? Inject into a subject and let the buggers loose to generate excruciating internal pain. When the fellow is released, the robots dissolve leaving no trace of injury. Drop a cloud of them onto an enemy in the battlefield to be inhaled and let the pain begin.
Oh, the yin and yang of technology.
Scientists from Israel’s Technion University have unveiled a tiny robot, made using Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology, purportedly able to crawl through a person’s veins in order to diagnose and potentially treat artery blockage and cancer.
The little robot – with a diameter of just one millimeter – has neither engine nor onboard controls, instead being propelled forward by a magnetic field wielded on it from outside the patient’s body.
Controlling the tiny bot externally means boffins have been able to shrink it to a previously impossibly tiny scale, allowing it to crawl its way through the typical human body’s veins and arteries using miniscule outstretched arms which grip the vessel walls. Yes, that made us shudder too.
Scientists reckon the mini bot can even withstand massive blood flow and is able to push forward regardless of the magnetic field actuation direction, doing away with any need for exact localisation and direction retrieval.
A controller can move the little crawly creature in increments, with its speed of up to nine millimeters a second regulated by varying external magnetic field frequencies. Outside control also means the robot can be made to work for an unlimited amount of time, rather than suddenly – not to mention inconveniently – keeling over to die of battery failure in the middle of a medical procedure.
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