Dvorak News Blog

Crazed man wanted to make love. Thought he was God!

By John C Dvorak Sunday May 31, 2009

Crazed man wanted to make love | Alberta | Edmonton Sun — It’s in the water, I’m sure of it.

Believing he was God, a crazed city man broke into a stranger’s home, announced he was her husband and said they were going to make love, court heard yesterday.

And after the half-naked victim fought off a nude Yvon Joseph Larocque and ran outside, he tackled her and tried to carry her back inside, Crown prosecutor Susan Kennedy said.

“The victim called out, ‘Help me, he is trying to rape me,'” Kennedy told provincial court Judge Marlene Graham.

Larocque, who defence lawyer Andre Ouellette will argue was legally insane at the time, testified voices in his head told him he was the Almighty.

Abortion Doctor Shot in Church!

By Uncle Dave Sunday May 31, 2009

205 Comments

A typical, hypocritical action by someone who rejects Jesus’ teachings against violence and against the commandment against killing by taking action against what he sees as killing by killing. If we all took his view, shouldn’t we do the same to those who start wars under false pretenses that lead to soldier and civilian deaths? Or don’t those dead deserve the same as the unborn?

Authorities said they had a suspect in custody Sunday afternoon in the shooting death of George Tiller, a Wichita doctor who was one of the few doctors in the nation to perform late-term abortions.

Dr. Tiller, who had long been a lightning rod for controversy over the issue of abortion and had survived a shooting more than a decade ago, was shot inside his church here on Sunday morning, the authorities said. Dr. Tiller, 67, was shot with a handgun inside the lobby of his longtime church, Reformation Lutheran Church on the city’s East Side, just after 10 a.m. (Central Time). The service had started minutes earlier.

Dr. Tiller, who had performed abortions since the 1970s, had long been a lightning rod for controversy over the issue of abortion, particularly in Kansas, where abortion opponents regularly protested outside his clinic and sometimes his home and church.
[…]
“Dr. Tiller was a fearless, passionate defender of women’s reproductive health and rights,” said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, based in New York, which had worked on a legal case related to Dr. Tiller. “It’s time that this nation stop demonizing these doctors, and start honoring them.”

The killer has been caught.

Demo: 300 Baud Acoustic Coupler Modem — Connects to Internet Surfs Wikipedia

By McCullough Sunday May 31, 2009

26 Comments

Circa 1964 Livermore Data Systems “Model A” Acoustic Coupler Modem, live demonstration.

Man accused of burning already dead squirrel in Novato. So?

By John C Dvorak Sunday May 31, 2009

22 Comments

Man accused of burning dead squirrel in Novato – Marin Independent Journal What is with the cops nowadays? Don’t they have real crime to fight?

A 19-year-old man could be facing criminal charges after he was found burning a dead squirrel in Novato, police said. Oscar Josue Arroyo, a Rohnert Park resident, was contacted by Novato police after a witness reported a group of teens behaving suspiciously Monday afternoon on Shady Lane, according to police reports.

Police arrived to find Arroyo holding the smoking carcass at the end of a string or rope, said Novato police Lt. John McCarthy. The squirrel had apparently been struck by a car prior to the burning. “His answer to the officer was, he was just messing around,” McCarthy said. “It was obvious that it had been dead for some time.”

Novato police are sending the case to the district attorney’s office to request a charge of tampering with an animal carcass. Arroyo was not arrested.

Germany, Canada, Russia, U.S. seal the deal to save Opel

By Eideard Sunday May 31, 2009

18 Comments

Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission

Germany has heaved a sigh of relief over a deal with Canadian auto parts group Magna, General Motors and the U.S. government to save carmaker Opel from the imminent bankruptcy of its U.S. parent.

Even A Dog Needs Exercise

By Uncle Dave Sunday May 31, 2009

7 Comments

What Works Better Than Torture? Would You Believe… Cookies?

By McCullough Saturday May 30, 2009

40 Comments

TIME — The most successful interrogation of an Al-Qaeda operative by U.S. officials required no sleep deprivation, no slapping or “walling” and no waterboarding. All it took to soften up Abu Jandal, who had been closer to Osama bin Laden than any other terrorist ever captured, was a handful of sugar-free cookies.

Watch How Chrysler Built A Car In 1939 For Their World’s Fair Exhibit

By Uncle Dave Saturday May 30, 2009

13 Comments

No Smiling Allowed… on Virginia Drivers License Sez DMV

By McCullough Saturday May 30, 2009

36 Comments

“I mean, when you get pulled over, you want a friendly picture for the cop to look at.”
CHRISTOPHER GEORGE

Virginia driver opposed to the state’s new ban on smiling in driver’s license photos

Quirky as it may seem, a new no smile policy will soon be in place at all Virginia DMVs, through it’s already made it to Roanoke. When drivers now go to get their picture taken for their license, they’ll be asked to keep a neutral expression. A dull face, versus a smile, will make it easier for DMV to use face recognition software in the future, if the move is approved by state lawmakers. The software would help crackdown on identity fraud, an ongoing problem in Virginia.

“I think anything to keep people from doing stuff illegal, I’m fine with that,” said Toby Brown. “Well, they do the same thing for the passport. You can’t smile when you get a passport,” said Amy Nichols. Another new change, instead of getting your driver’s license the same day, you’ll get a temporary ID good for 30 days, until the real one is processed at a central location in Danville and mailed to you.

It appears the DMV will be the collection point for the state to capture your pre-crime image. This will inevitably lead to a ban on smiling anywhere there is a use for face recognition cameras, which will of course be everywhere. Do you feel safer yet? We are being governed by idiots.

NYC Mayor Stops Press Conference to Stare Down Disabled Reporter…

By McCullough Saturday May 30, 2009

35 Comments

NEW YORK (CBS) ― Mayor Michael Bloomberg had a run-in with a reporter during a press conference on same-sex marriage on Thursday. The incident shocked many and now the disabled blogger wants an apology. Here, Speaker Christine Quinn tries to explain situation to the mayor. Needless to say, Mayor Michael Bloomberg doesn’t like to be interrupted – regardless of the reason. But that’s precisely what happened during his same-sex marriage press conference on Thursday. “This is a too important to be disrupted,” Bloomberg said. “Maybe we just take everything outside.”

It was a moment of silence anything but respectful. Bloomberg stopped mid-sentence when he heard a tape recorder playing in the audience. Wheelchair-bound reporter Michael Harris, a blogger for Examiner.com, had no idea, but it was him. “We ultimately found that I had an audio recorder in the pocket of my overcoat which was hanging on the chair next to me that had fallen on the floor,” Harris told CBS 2 HD. Someone had accidentally pressed play, and Harris couldn’t reach it. That didn’t stop the mayor from staring him down.

“Having the mayor do this to me, with TV channels carrying this live, not only locally but nationally was incredibly embarrassing, was incredibly degrading and I quite frankly felt humiliated by the whole ordeal,” Harris said. The mayor glared at me and said ‘stop it,’ and I couldn’t figure out what he was talking about.” New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn leaned over to tell Bloomberg that Harris was in a wheelchair, but when asked later, Bloomberg was unrepentant.

So, I wonder what he meant by “Maybe we just take everything outside.”?

Awesome DYI: Guy builds his own CPU!

By SN Saturday May 30, 2009

29 Comments

(Click photo to enlarge.)

Wired – May 28, 2009:

Intel’s fabrication plants can churn out hundreds of thousands of processor chips a day. But what does it take to handcraft a single 8-bit CPU and a computer? Give or take 18 months, about $1,000 and 1,253 pieces of wire.

Steve Chamberlin, a Belmont, California, videogame developer by day, set out on a quest to custom design and build his own 8-bit computer. The homebrew CPU would be called Big Mess of Wires or BMOW. Despite its name, it is a painstakingly created work of art.

The BMOW is closest in design to the MOS Technology 6502 processor used in the Apple II, Commodore 64 and early Atari videogame consoles. Chamberlin designed his CPU to have three 8-bit data registers, a 24-bit address size and 12 addressing modes. It took him about a year and a half from design to finish. Almost all the components come from the 1970s- and 1980s-era technology.

The BMOW isn’t just a CPU. Chamberlin added a keyboard input, an LCD output that shows a strip of text, a USB connection, three-voice audio, and VGA video output to turn it into a functioning computer.

Microsoft cannot be trusted!

By Eideard Saturday May 30, 2009

50 Comments

A routine security update for a Microsoft Windows component installed on tens of millions of computers has quietly installed an extra add-on for an untold number of users surfing the Web with Mozilla’s Firefox Web browser.

Earlier this year, Microsoft shipped a bundle of updates known as a “service pack” for a programming platform called the Microsoft .NET Framework, which Microsoft and plenty of third-party developers use to run a variety of interactive programs on Windows.

The service pack for the .NET Framework, like other updates, was pushed out to users through the Windows Update Web site…I’m here to report a small side effect from installing this service pack that I was not aware of until just a few days ago: Apparently, the .NET update automatically installs its own Firefox add-on that is difficult — if not dangerous — to remove, once installed.

Annoyances.org, which lists various aspects of Windows that are, well, annoying, says “this update adds to Firefox one of the most dangerous vulnerabilities present in all versions of Internet Explorer: the ability for Web sites to easily and quietly install software on your PC.” I’m not sure I’d put things in quite such dire terms, but I’m fairly confident that a decent number of Firefox for Windows users are rabidly anti-Internet Explorer, and would take umbrage at the very notion of Redmond monkeying with the browser in any way.

Big deal, you say? I can just uninstall the add-on via Firefox’s handy Add-ons interface, right? Not so fast. The trouble is, Microsoft has disabled the “uninstall” button on the extension. What’s more, Microsoft tells us that the only way to get rid of this thing is to modify the Windows registry, an exercise that — if done imprecisely — can cause Windows systems to fail to boot up.

Microsoft — this is a great example of how not to convince people to trust your security updates.

How many times has this sort of presumptuous crap rolled out the backdoor of Redmond? I’ve used Microsoft software since 1983. And though there are additional reasons for my disaffection and departure from the realm – I’ve replaced every remaining Microsoft product in my possession with something better in recent years – this sort of quasi-criminal behavior stands alone as reason enough.

Thanks, Cinaedh – who posted this at the Cage Match

HOA Nazi’s to Disabled Vet… Remove the Marine Stickers or We’ll Tow Your Car!

By McCullough Saturday May 30, 2009

25 Comments

DALLAS – Frank Larison is a disabled veteran with more than 14 years of service, including more than a year of combat duty in Vietnam. The 58-year-old former Marine now finds himself under attack by his Dallas homeowners association for displaying seven decals on his vehicle supporting the Marine Corps. “To me, it’s being patriotic, and it shows that I served,” the veteran told FOX 4. The board says the decals are advertisements that violate HOA rules, and must be covered or removed.

Otherwise, the homeowners association for The Woodlands II on The Creek — where Larimore has lived for eight years — says in a letter it will tow the car at Larimore’s expense. The board also threatens to fine him $50 for any future incident. Larimore says the decals, ranging from the Marine emblem to Semper Fi slogans, aren’t advertisements for anything. “You can’t buy freedom,” he reasoned.

Some neighbors are outraged.

“That is his identity,” said neighbor Mary Castagna. “He goes to a lot of the veteran meetings, and it means a lot to him. Everyone else agrees with it; it doesn’t bother anybody.” “He’s in the Marines, and he’s proud of it, and I don’t blame him,” said neighbor Paul Hardy. “If I’d gone through what he’s gone through, I’d be kind of proud of it myself.” The letter from the board states you can’t have any form of advertisement anywhere on your car on your property. FOX 4 cameras spotted bumper stickers for political parties, health causes, and other non-commercial interests on the property as well.

I’m not a fan of the Chinese produced cheap yellow ribbons that it seems everyone has on their vehicle these days. But I think the HOA should, for lack of a better term, go pound sand.

Why The Hell Are Gasoline Prices Going Up When Global Usage Is Down?

By Uncle Dave Saturday May 30, 2009

62 Comments

Aren’t the rising prices going to hurt the economy’s recovery?

Storage tankers across the globe may be brimming with oil that no one is buying because of the global economic downturn, but the traditional laws of supply and demand don’t always apply to oil prices. Drivers have faced rising prices at the gas pump in recent months, as investors and oil-producing countries hoard supplies in anticipation of a global economic recovery later this year.

The 12 member countries of the OPEC cartel voted in Vienna on Thursday to maintain output at current levels rather than increase supplies in order to bring some relief to consumers, particularly in the gas-guzzling West. The OPEC oil ministers, whose countries account for about 40% of the world’s entire crude-oil supply, also renewed their commitment to stick to their agreed quotas, rather than ship extra oil, as they began doing last April when several members ignored their agreed output limits. OPEC leaders, many of whose economies are heavily dependent on oil exports, have struggled to stabilize prices at a level that suits their own economic needs amid falling demand and rising supplies.
[…]
“There is some risk we will run out of storage space in the next four to six weeks,” says Simon Wardell, director of global oil at IHS Global Insight, an energy-forecasting company in London.
[…]
Despite such dangers, investors and oil producers are betting that global demand will roar back, apparently hoping that the recession has already hit bottom. Over the past two months, investors have plowed billions of dollars into oil futures. If the U.S. and other major industrial economies rebound, oil supplies could be depleted because the recession has prompted producer nations to freeze hundreds of projects to open new oil wells or upgrade existing ones.

Ah, isn’t it wonderful how the “free” market operates?

Octovision — Nadya Suleman & Her 8+6 Kids Gets A Reality TV Show

By Uncle Dave Saturday May 30, 2009

24 Comments

Changing diapers, shopping for diapers, writing letters to Angelina, throwing out the trash filled with diapers… It’s hard to imagine how exciting this show will be.

It’s official: Nadya Suleman and her brood of 14 are coming to a TV near you.

After weeks of meetings and negotiations, Suleman’s attorney Jeff Czech confirmed exclusively to Usmagazine.com that Suleman signed a deal Thursday night to star in her own reality series.

“[Nadya and the producers] are hoping to have an arrangement whereby several events in the children’s lives would be filmed in a documentary series,” Czech told Us.

“One of the events in the children’s lives might be their first birthday.”

I can hardly wait.