Dvorak News Blog

Store keeps clerk off shop floor because of prosthetic arm

By Eideard Wednesday June 24, 2009

An exclusive American clothing shop banned a disabled sales assistant from working on the shop floor because her prosthetic arm did not fit with the store’s “look policy”, a tribunal heard today.

Abercrombie & Fitch demonstrated a “blatant display of eugenics” when they “hid” 22-year-old Riam Dean in the stockroom instead of letting her serve customers as per her job description, the central London employment tribunal was told.

Dean, a law student from Greenford, Middlesex, is suing the firm for disability discrimination after she was left “personally diminished [and] humiliated” while working in the American firm’s flagship London store last summer. “I had been bullied out of my job,” she said. “It was the lowest point I had ever been in my life…”

Dean, who was born without her left forearm, claims that when she told A&F about her disability after getting the job the firm agreed she could wear a white cardigan to cover the link between her prosthesis and her upper arm. But shortly after this, she was told she could not work on the shop floor unless she took off the cardigan as she was breaking the firm’s “look policy”. Her job was supposed to entail four roles – two on the shop floor and two in the stockroom.

A&F management “used the ‘look policy’ and the wearing of the cardigan as an excuse to hide me away in the stockroom”, Dean said today in her evidence. “I knew then that I was being treated different and unfairly because of my disability,” she said, before breaking down in tears.

“Conformity” – is one of the most contemptible words in the English language.

Once More With Feeling (Or Lack Of) – A Brief Review of Transformers 2: Revenge Of The Fallen

By Gasparrini Wednesday June 24, 2009

21 Comments

Well, if you don’t want to be spoiled about the movie, I would recommend not reading this review:

The Pentagon presents – Cyber Commandos!

By Eideard Wednesday June 24, 2009

8 Comments

Will Jinx get to design the uniforms?

The Pentagon will create a Cyber Command to oversee the U.S. military’s efforts to protect its computer networks and operate in cyberspace, under an order signed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

The new headquarters, likely to be based at Fort Meade, Maryland, outside Washington, D.C., will be responsible for defending U.S. military systems but not other U.S. government or private networks, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.

Asked if the command would be capable of offensive operations as well as protecting the Department of Defense, Whitman declined to answer directly.

“This command is going to focus on the protection and operation of DoD’s networks,” he said. “This command is going to do what is necessary to be able to do that…”

“The power to disrupt and destroy, once the sole province of nations, now also rests with small groups and individuals, from terrorist groups to organized crime to industrial spies to hacker activists, to teenage hackers,” he said…

The head of the Cyber Command would also be the director of the U.S. National Security Agency, which conducts electronic surveillance and communications interception and is also based at Fort Meade.

Can you imagine the security check to get into this gig?

Think Star Girl’s Tattoos Were Crazy? You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet!

By Uncle Dave Tuesday June 23, 2009

18 Comments

It’s tattoo week here on DU. For a lot more wacky inky, click here and grab your crayons.

The Nerd Bird Flies at Night

By John C Dvorak Tuesday June 23, 2009

13 Comments

Intel in bed with Nokia. Why now?
Steve Jobs seen on Apple Campus.
Stock pickers are liking Motorola because of Android.
Bogus HP PR. The company goes gah-gah over social networking too.
Bing could ruin Microsoft.
IBM in the battery business? Since when?
Microsoft caps downloads for its security software.
3DV bought by Microsoft.
Paul Allen offers a MSFT patch himself!
The Nerd Bird flies again!
Five reasons Blu-ray is hurting.
Show sponsored by Squarespace.com. Use codeword ‘Tech’ for a discount.

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Confrontation

By hhopper Tuesday June 23, 2009

38 Comments

Madoff’s lawyer requests 12-year sentence – “It’s Plenty!”

By John C Dvorak Tuesday June 23, 2009

40 Comments

Madoff’s lawyer requests 12-year sentence – Jun. 23, 2009 The claim is that this is an effective life sentence. NO IT IS NOT. By that logic why not give him 100 years since he’ll die along the way. What is the point? There is an off-chance he gets out in 12 years and can rush to the numbered Swiss Bank Account and get some cash out for the family. That’s what he is up to here. He’ll be 83 when he gets out. It would be an outrage.

The lawyer for Bernard Madoff, the confessed Ponzi scammer who faces a maximum of 150 years in prison, requested a 12-year sentence from the judge set to mete out his sentence on Monday.

Madoff defense attorney Ira Lee Sorkin made the request in a letter to Judge Denny Chin of U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

Sorkin focused on the age of his septuagenarian client, as well as his “non-violent nature” and his “voluntary surrender” to authorities.

“Mr. Madoff is currently 71 years old and has an approximate life expectancy of 13 years,” wrote Sorkin, whose letter was released on Tuesday. “A prison term of 12 years – just short of an effective life sentence – will sufficiently address the goals of deterrence, protecting the public and promoting respect for the law.”

UPDATE to the UPDATE: Star Girl Update — She Lied — Who Could Have Guessed?

By Uncle Dave Tuesday June 23, 2009

45 Comments

McCullough did. He had it right when he added the BS meter to this goofy story last week.

A TEENAGE girl who claimed 56 stars were tattooed on her face while she slept has admitted she lied and was awake the whole time.
[…]
Ms Vlaminck told a Dutch TV crew: “I asked for 56 stars and initially adored them. But when my father saw them, he was furious. So I said I fell asleep and that the tattooist had made a mistake.”

Update: Here’s the tattoo ‘artist’.

A Look At Massachusetts’ ‘Health Care Reform’

By Uncle Dave Tuesday June 23, 2009

186 Comments

In 2006, [Massachusetts] lawmakers seeking to broaden health coverage made it illegal to be uninsured. It works like this: Employers have to offer you a health plan. If you are jobless or don’t like your employer’s plan, you must buy your own. If you don’t get one, you pay a stiff fine. This strategy—known as an employer and individual “mandate”—forms the backbone of the national health reform bills now making their way through Congress.

On paper, the experiment was a resounding success. According to an Urban Institute estimate, the number of uninsured residents quickly fell from 13 percent to 7 percent following the law’s passage.

And yet, something strange happened. Despite having health insurance, roughly one in 10 state residents still failed to fill prescriptions, ended up with unpaid medical bills, or skipped needed medical care for financial reasons. Hundreds of millions of dollars were spent to insure more Massachusetts citizens, but many people still weren’t getting necessary care. What happened?

Assume you’re looking to buy insurance. The state has a handy Web site where you can find the cheapest plan. For a young family of four, that plan costs roughly $9,500 per year, which doesn’t include a minimum annual deductible of $3,500 before many benefits kick in. (The state helps cover some of the premiums for those who make very little money, but many still have to pay the other fees.) And if anyone is hospitalized or needs a lot of specialized care, you also pay 20 percent of that bill. In this relatively cheap plan, the family can be liable for an extra $10,000 per year of medical costs. This sort of “high deductible” health plan is clearly structured to discourage medical care.

The article goes on to detail the effects of the program, parts of which may end up in Obama’s plan. The author’s conclusion?

The expensive Massachusetts plan is not well-designed to systematically improve anyone’s health. Instead, it’s a superficial effort to clear the uninsured from the books and then clumsily limit further costs by discouraging care.

Jobs spotted leaving Apple with Men in Black

By Eideard Tuesday June 23, 2009

17 Comments

Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs showed up for work on Monday and was spotted leaving the main corporate campus in Cupertino, California, a Reuters witness said.

Speculation had mounted in past days that Jobs had returned to the company he co-founded more than 30 years ago, and emerged after a nearly six-month medical leave.

On Monday, he was seen leaving the main Apple building in Cupertino, California and getting into a black car alone that was then driven off by men in black suits with ear-pieces.

We all knew the Truth is Out There – somewhere in Cupertino…

Sarkozy says burqas are ‘not welcome’ in France

By John C Dvorak Monday June 22, 2009

70 Comments

The Associated Press: Sarkozy says burqas are ‘not welcome’ in France — This should be fun to watch. This garb seems more of a political statement than a religious one.

President Nicolas Sarkozy declared Monday that the Islamic burqa is not welcome in France, branding the face-covering, body-length gown as a symbol of subservience that suppresses women’s identities and turns them into “prisoners behind a screen.”

In a high-profile speech to lawmakers in the historic chateau at Versailles, Sarkozy said the head-to-toe Muslim body coverings were in disaccord with French values — some of the strongest language against burqas from a European leader at a time when some Western officials have been seeking to ease tensions with the Muslim world…

“The burqa is not a religious sign, it’s a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement — I want to say it solemnly,” he said. “It will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic.”

Arrested for asking a policeman for his badge number

By John C Dvorak Monday June 22, 2009

34 Comments

Video: Arrested for asking a policeman for his badge number | Environment | guardian.co.uk — This is getting to be very weird.

The Guardian has obtained this police footage of Emily Apple and Val Swain being arrested by surveillance officers after asking for their badge numbers at the Kingsnorth climate camp last year. The two women speak to Paul Lewis about their arrest, imprisonment and official complaint

Found by Keith Ray.

US Military Hardware Turned on US Citizens. Homeland Security drone patrolling NNY

By John C Dvorak Monday June 22, 2009

29 Comments

Homeland Security drone patrolling NNY – Newswatch50.com… We’re Always On! — Deadly Predator drones now being used against the public-at-large. Will the canadians shoot them down or not when they veer over the border? And why are we patrolling Canada?

A Predator B Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) has been temporarily based at Fort Drum since early June in an experiment by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office. The Department of Homeland Security is using the extensive restricted air space over Fort Drum to test whether the drone could be a good fit along this stretch of the northern border. The Predator will operate out of Fort Drum for about three weeks for testing and training, and to evaluate its use to law enforcement.

John Stanton, director of CPB’s Office of Air and Marine, said state, provincial and local law enforcement agencies were quick to take up the offer of added surveillance of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River.

Found by Scott Diaz.

FTC to Attack Bloggers

By John C Dvorak Monday June 22, 2009

8 Comments

Apple promoting it’s current executive over Steve Jobs. This is fishy.
HP’s new printer does not need a PC. Why?
FTC going after the bloggers and Twitterers.
Microsoft poaching people left and right. Never works out.
The Buick is being re-positioned. It is ridiculous.
Apple bans Commodore 64 from iPhone. Why? Who cares?
Microsoft will put 10-percent of its income into search. Why?
Kodachrome is officially dead.
Sony Blu-ray a dud!

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Strip club sues allegedly kidnapped and raped 14 y.o. girl for letting them hire her!

By SN Monday June 22, 2009

31 Comments

Chron.com – June 20, 2009:

A strip club that hired a 14-year-old as an exotic dancer is now suing the girl, saying the seventh-grader swindled them into breaking state law.

The San Antonio teen allegedly exposed her breasts while working at Cheetah Club in Corpus Christi, a violation of state law.

Alan Yaffe, the club’s attorney, said the club didn’t know the girl was a minor.

“She came (into the club) with 6-inch stiletto heels and a miniskirt and looked just like a model from a Miss America’s contest,” Yaffe

“We’re the victims here,” Yaffe said.

The club is the victim? Mmmm…..

Police say Leslie Campbell, 48, kidnapped the teenager in San Antonio in March, took her to Corpus Christi, sexually assaulted her over the course of a week, gave her a false identification card and forced her to strip at the club.

Police say the girl, who has not been identified, escaped from Campbell’s home and has been reunited with her parents in San Antonio.

Campbell was arrested and remains in Nueces County Jail on charges of aggravated sexual assault and aggravated kidnapping.