Dvorak News Blog

Minnesotans want Franken seated

By Eideard Thursday April 16, 2009

Daylife/Getty Images used by permission

Why is this man smiling?

A poll reveals Minnesotans, by and large, want Republican Norm Coleman to concede the state’s U.S. Senate race to Democrat Al Franken.

Public Policy Polling said its survey (.pdf) indicated 63 percent say Coleman should call it a day rather than continue to fight in court, USA Today reported. That percentage includes “almost all of Franken and (independent candidate) Dean Barkley’s supporters, as well as a third of respondents who voted for Coleman last fall,” the polling organization said.

Fifty-nine percent said Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, should certify Franken the winner and he should be seated immediately.

A three-judge panel has voted that Franken won by 312 votes out of nearly 3 million cast.

Like Coleman, maybe Pawlenty will have to get an honest job after the next election cycle?

‘Octomom’ to trademark nickname for reality TV, diapers and more

By Eideard Thursday April 16, 2009

35 Comments

The woman who gave birth to octuplets, Nadya Suleman, is seeking to trademark her media nickname — Octomom — for a TV show and a line of diapers.

Word of Suleman’s federal trademark filings came as her lawyer confirmed he is talking to production companies about a TV show, but said reports of a signed deal are premature.

Suleman, who gave birth to octuplets in January, brought home the last and smallest of the eight babies on Monday, a hospital spokeswoman said. Suleman also has six other children. All 14 were conceived through in-vitro fertilization.

Suleman is not the only one to claim a trademark on the nickname. A Texas company not affiliated with her has filed to trademark an Octomom iPhone game.

“You press on her belly and she has babies,” the company’s CEO said.

American “Reality TV” culture at its very best.

5th-graders who watched “porn” at school may be prosecuted

By Joe C Thursday April 16, 2009

46 Comments

Nanny State!

Two boys using a laptop

Two American Fork fifth-graders could face criminal charges for looking at pornography on a school computer, but some people are wondering how they were able to access the images in the first place.

Police were called last week after two 11-year-old boys at Forbes Elementary School pulled up images of sexual acts on a school computer and then showed the pictures to nine other students, said American Fork Police Sgt. Gregg Ludlow. The incident came to light when one child told a parent and another told the principal.

Ludlow called the images “pretty explicit” but declined to elaborate. He said the boys made multiple attempts on different days to access inappropriate material. Ultimately, they typed the word “lesbian” into a search engine and were able to pull up pictures not blocked by the school’s Internet filter.

The school suspended the boys for two days. They could face charges in juvenile court of dealing in material harmful to a minor or lesser charges for viewing pornography at school, or be referred to the probation department instead of going to court, among other possibilities, said Chris Yannelli, deputy Utah County Attorney. If they are adjudicated in juvenile court, consequences range from community service to serving time in a juvenile detention facility, he said.

Obviously, Only A Criminal Knows How To Use The Linux Command Line!

By Uncle Dave Thursday April 16, 2009

34 Comments

The sheer number of idiotic things going on here is astounding. If ignorance of the law is no excuse in committing a crime, isn’t ignorance of technology in arresting someone for using technology you don’t understand while not committing a crime even worse?

On Friday, EFF and the law firm of Fish and Richardson filed an emergency motion to quash and for the return of seized property on behalf of a Boston College computer science student whose computers, cell phone, and other property were seized as part of an investigation into who sent an e-mail to a school mailing list identifying another student as gay. The problem? Not only is there no indication that any crime was committed, the investigating officer argued that the computer expertise of the student itself supported a finding of probable cause to seize the student’s property.
[…]
Aside from the remarkable overreach by campus and state police in trying to paint a student as suspicious in part because he can navigate a non-Windows computer environment, nothing cited in the warrant application could possibly constitute the cited criminal offenses. There are no assertions that a commercial (i.e. for pay) commercial service was defrauded, a necessary element of any “Obtaining computer services by Fraud or Misrepresentation” allegation. Similarly, the investigating officer doesn’t explain how sending an e-mail to a campus mailing list might constitute “unauthorized access to a computer system.”

On a vaguely related topic, your company’s website will destroy your life and your dog’s life and your Aunt Tilly’s goldfish’s life if you don’t buy this guy’s package, whatever it is. As he says, “Let me show you how dead serious I am.” And he means it!

Both found by Brother Uncle Don who is now too terrified to turn on his computer anymore because he knows how to use command prompts.

Video – Homeless Guy Takes Microsoft’s Challenge To Find PC For Less Than US$1,000

By Gasparrini Thursday April 16, 2009

15 Comments

Warning! Coarse language.

Cranky Geeks Episode #162 — Now on Cage Match

By KD Martin Wednesday April 15, 2009

2 Comments

Click image to see Cranky Geeks.

Today’s Guests:

Sebastian Rupley, Co-Crank, PCMagCast.com
Om Malik, Founder, GigaOmniMedia and GigaOm.com
Jason Cross, Senior Editor, ExtremeTech.com

The Topics:

Is Steve Jobs Still Running Apple?
Consolidation Woes: We Need Better Apps!
A New Charger Joins the Palm Pre Hype
Why Is It So Easy To Take Out Phones in Silicon Valley?
Twitter: The New Police Tool

AT&T Will Track Your Kids

By John C Dvorak Wednesday April 15, 2009

4 Comments

CNNbrk Twitter name sells to CNN. A controversy ensues.
Microsoft doing security hosting for spam filtering. Why?
Amazon is the leading e-tailer.
McKinsey says the cloud is a money loser.
AT&T to sell family tracking services.
Companies begin to pile on Microsoft in EU case.
Here comes the Zune HD.
Google to have faster searches. How?

click ► to listen:

Right click here and select ‘Save Link As…’ to download the mp3 file.

The Middle East Clones A Camel And A Goat

By KD Martin Wednesday April 15, 2009

25 Comments

Hana, Courtesy A/P

England: Sheep. Dubai: Camel. Iran: Goat. What’s next?

Iranian scientists have cloned a goat and plan future experiments they hope will lead to a treatment for stroke patients, the leader of the research said Wednesday. The female goat, named Hana, was born early Wednesday in the city of Isfahan in central Iran, said Dr. Mohammed Hossein Nasr e Isfahani, head of the Royan Research Institute.

The effort is part of Iran’s quest to become a regional powerhouse in advanced science and technology by 2025. In particular, Iran is striving for achievements in medicine and in aerospace and nuclear technology.

Injaz, Courtesy USA Today

Scientists in Dubai say they have created the world’s first cloned camel, according to reports in United Arab Emirates newspapers.

The BBC, quoting UAE papers, says Injaz, a female one-humped camel, was born last week after more than five years of work. Scientists say DNA taken from a cell in the ovary of an adult camel was put into an egg from a surrogate mother.

According to one of the UAE papers, the donor camel was killed for its meat in 2005, but its DNA was preserved.

What’s next, U.S.: T-Rex? Human? What will the faithful Muslims have to say about all this?

Susan Boyle Video. #1

By John C Dvorak Wednesday April 15, 2009

68 Comments

Susan Boyle Stuns Crowd with Epic Singing – Watch more Funny Videos

This video over the past few days has rocked the YouTube numbers. I do not for a minute believe that this whole thing was not a set-up to shock the audience. The woman, who wants to be a singer, is wearing a totally frumpy outfit and has eyebrow makeup on to look goofier than she already looks. The fix is in. Let’s be real here.

Found by Dan McDermott.

New Taxes on Digital Goods

By hhopper Wednesday April 15, 2009

17 Comments

C-Net News

Because of quirks in many state laws, sales taxes may be levied on CDs sold in storefronts but not on iTunes and other digital downloads. It’s a situation that recession-weary, tax-hungry politicians are hoping to change.

A growing number of states are considering laws to tax digital goods, such as iTunes songs, Amazon MP3s, or electronic books. Yet at a time when governments say they want to encourage broadband adoption and the development of a low-carbon economy, opponents say taxing digital goods sends exactly the wrong message.

Mississippi is one of the latest states to write into law a tax on digital products. The measure, which was adopted mid-March and goes into effect July 1, imposes a sale and use tax on specified digital products–including digital audio-visual works such as movies, digital audio works such as ringtones, and digital books.

Republican Gov. Haley Barbour endorsed the legislation via Twitter. “On HB 1461, I support this bill and here’s why: This bill will treat Internet sales like catalog sales making it a level playing field,” he said on March 11.

One way or another, the Internet is going to be taxed.

Wiggins Caxtrokenical Patrosenial

By John C Dvorak Wednesday April 15, 2009

23 Comments

In San Francisco: FYI

Portugal Decriminalizes Drugs —
Gets Positive Results

By hhopper Wednesday April 15, 2009

34 Comments

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

In the face of a growing number of deaths and cases of HIV linked to drug abuse, the Portuguese government in 2001 tried a new tack to get a handle on the problem—it decriminalized the use and possession of heroin, cocaine, marijuana, LSD and other illicit street drugs. The theory: focusing on treatment and prevention instead of jailing users would decrease the number of deaths and infections.

Five years later, the number of deaths from street drug overdoses dropped from around 400 to 290 annually, and the number of new HIV cases caused by using dirty needles to inject heroin, cocaine and other illegal substances plummeted from nearly 1,400 in 2000 to about 400 in 2006, according to a report released recently by the Cato Institute, a Washington, D.C, libertarian think tank.

Hey U.S. Government… check this out.

Found by ECA on Cage Match.

Homeland Security Secretary says Returning Vets are Potential Terrorists

By McCullough Wednesday April 15, 2009

40 Comments

The US Homeland Security Department, under fire for saying US forces returning from the Iraq and Afghan wars were potential right-wing extremist recruits, said Wednesday it honors US veterans.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano sought to douse anger among conservatives and veterans groups like the American Legion over a report from her department warning of a rising threat of right-wing extremism. “We are on the lookout for criminal and terrorist activity but we do not — nor will we ever — monitor ideology or political beliefs,” Napolitano said in a statement amid charges that the department had done just that.

American Legion chief David Rehbein on Tuesday blasted the report as “incomplete, and, I fear, politically-biased” and took special aim at its warning that returning veterans having difficulties reintegrating society could be recruited by right-wing groups for possible terrorist attacks. In a letter to Napolitano, Rehbein underlined the document’s mention of Oklahoma City bombing author Timothy McVeigh’s US Army background and called it “as unfair as using Osama bin Laden as the sole example of Islam.”

The report said that fears of possible new restrictions on firearms, as well as troubled veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, “could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks.” Rehbein said the accusation, leveled in an April 7 document designed for local law enforcement officials, was “without any statistical evidence.”

It’s humorous when a government is afraid of the same people they train to kill. Who was it that said people shouldn’t fear their government, but the government should fear the people?

Fir Tree removed from Man’s lung

By McCullough Wednesday April 15, 2009

15 Comments

The amazing ‘discovery’ was apparently made when they opened up Artyom Sidorkin, 28, to remove what they thought was a serious tumour.

Mr Sidorkin had complained of extreme pain in his chest and had been coughing up blood. Doctors were convinced he had cancer. “We were 100 per cent sure,” said Vladimir Kamashev, a surgeon in Izhevsk in the Urals. “We did X-rays and found what looked exactly like a tumour.

“I had seen hundreds before, so we decided on surgery.”

Before removing part of the man’s lung, the surgeon investigated the tissue. “I thought I was hallucinating,” said Mr Kamashev. “I asked my assistant to have a look: ‘Come and see this – we’ve got a fir tree here’. He nodded in shock. I blinked three times as I was sure I was seeing things.”

Medical staff said that Mr Sidorkin must have inhaled a seed, which later sprouted into a small fir tree inside his lung. The spruce, which was said to be touching the man’s capillaries and causing severe pain, was removed.

“It was very painful. But to be honest I did not feel any foreign object inside me,” said Mr Sidorkin. “I’m so relieved it’s not cancer.”

Obama to name Alan Bersin as Border Czar

By Eideard Wednesday April 15, 2009

60 Comments

Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

The Obama administration is naming a former Justice Department official, Alan Bersin, to tackle drug-related violence and illegal immigration problems plaguing the U.S. border with Mexico.

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano is expected to make the announcement during a visit to El Paso, Texas. Outsiders have dubbed the post a “border czar.”

“Right now our goals are two-fold. No. 1 is to prevent people at the border from entering this country illegally and No. 2 is to play a part in assisting the Mexican government in its crackdown on the drug cartels,” the source said. “That will be the primary function of this new position.”

The announcement is scheduled to take place one day before President Barack Obama is to embark on a trip to Mexico, where issues of drug violence south of the U.S. border are expected to be at the top of the agenda…

Bersin was criticized by some immigrant groups for his role in Operation Gatekeeper, a federal government operation to crack down on illegal immigration along the westernmost portion of the U.S.-Mexico border. The program was a success at reducing uncontrolled immigration through that area, but immigrants and human smugglers shifted to the east. Some blame the program for increases in immigrant deaths in the desert and on highways.

People are responsible for their own self-destructive acts. It has nothing to do with law enforcement.