Dvorak News Blog

The driver who took on a puddle… then discovered it was a 12-foot deep crater

By John C Dvorak Monday March 30, 2009

HUGE POTHOLE — Cripes! Now that is what I call a pot hole.

A Ukranian driver already having a bad day – having taken a wrong turn onto a highway – found it getting a lot worse when he gingerly crept over a water-filled pothole, only to discover it was a 12-foot deep crater.

The formerly shiny hatchback moved over the hole and then, with no time to reverse, found itself plunging deep into an abyss caused by a broken water main.

Found by Heinrich Moltke.

George Soros, sees a global meltdown with the UK at the center

By John C Dvorak Monday March 30, 2009

27 Comments

Ah, the collapse. Sweet!

George Soros, the man who broke the Bank, sees a global meltdown – Times Online — Great story, but it expresses a lot of wishful thinking (of a negative sort). Soros finally admits that he loves it when things are bad.

The financial oracle does not know how long it will last. “That depends on how it’s handled. Allowing Lehman Brothers to fail was the game-changing event. That’s when the financial crisis went over the brink.” We could end up with a depression. “Unless we handle it well then I think we would. The size of the problem is actually bigger than in the 1930s.”

The problem in Britain, he believes, is in many ways worse than in America or Germany. “American memory is seared by the Depression, the German memory is seared by hyperinflation but Britain has a pretty serious problem in many ways worse than America because the financial sector looms bigger and the overvaluation of real estate is bigger than in America.”

Found by John Ligums.

Play video games — See better!

By Eideard Monday March 30, 2009

8 Comments

Here’s some evidence that video games may be good for you after all.

People who played 50 hours of action video games showed significant improvement in contrast sensitivity function, a key aspect of vision, according to a study published online in Nature Neuroscience.

Contrast sensitivity function refers to the ability to detect small differences in shades of gray, and it is one of the most vulnerable elements of vision. Scientists believe it is affected by deterioration of the eye itself.

But a team of researchers from University of Rochester and Tel Aviv University suspected that changes in the brain played a role as well. If so, they reasoned, mental exercise could offer some improvement…Those who played the Sims improved, but not as much as those who played the action games, according to the study. The benefits lasted for months and even years.

“The very act of action video game playing also enhanced contrast sensitivity,” the authors wrote. “More generally, our results establish that time spent in front of a computer screen is not necessarily detrimental to vision.”

Tell your boss to sponsor “eye health” by allowing video game time.

An Interesting Way To Fire Employees

By Uncle Dave Monday March 30, 2009

3 Comments

(Click pic to embiggen.)

I wonder which is better/worse — being let go like this or being ‘fired’ by the President of the United States.

Found by Mr. Neil

Time To Change Or End The Concept Of Tenure For Teachers?

By Uncle Dave Monday March 30, 2009

49 Comments

By the spring of 2007, Roy Sachse’s boss had had it.

In a span of 18 months, a co-worker accused Sachse of cussing her out. A confiscated note suggested he wanted to meet a 14-year-old girl behind a Dumpster. A parent said he threatened to pull another girl’s pants down. Away from work, police arrested Sachse (pronounced SAX-see) on a charge of stealing a $5.95 sandwich — an arrest he was supposed to tell his boss about within 48 hours, but investigators said he did not.
[…]
In many workplaces, Sachse, now 49 and making $50,120 a year, would have been fired. But Sachse isn’t just any worker.

He’s a teacher. Teachers are rarely fired.

In Florida, most teachers have tenure, a status written into state law that gives them special legal protections. Most also have a union willing to wage a legal fight for them. The combination yields a firing process so tedious and time-consuming, districts rarely bother.

When teachers earned workplace protections in the early 20th century, tenure was intended as a shield against overbearing parents and heavy-handed school boards.

Supporters say the need remains. Just imagine, they say, what could happen to tenure-less science teachers in stretches of Florida where evolution is ridiculed.

But critics say tenure’s shield is too often extended to teachers who don’t deserve it.

What was it again the terrorists hate about us?

By Uncle Dave Monday March 30, 2009

47 Comments

Does anyone really think there is such a thing as privacy anymore in this country? And remember those now quaint times when we believed the Constitution and Bill of Rights protected our freedoms? Ah, good times, good times…

No Agenda #84 – Now On Cage Match

By KD Martin Sunday March 29, 2009

2 Comments

Click image to go to No Agenda.

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

Running time: approx. 90 mins.

Did Canada’s Socialized Medicine Kill Natasha Richardson?

By McCullough Sunday March 29, 2009

77 Comments

MONTREAL — Some Montreal doctors added a dose of realism Saturday to the fiery debate south of the border that asked if Canada’s “socialized medicine” killed actress Natasha Richardson after she hit her head skiing on Mont Tremblant March 16.

“Canadacare may have killed Natasha,” screamed a headline in the New York Post. “Was Canada’s healthcare the problem?”asked another in the Chicago Tribune. The implication “is totally unjustified,” said Paul Saba, an emergency room doctor at Lachine Hospital and co-president of the Coalition of Physicians for Social Justice. He flatly rejected the notion that a lack of funding for overall public health care contributes to fatal head injuries like the one that claimed the life of Richardson.

Saba stressed he was not commenting specifically about Richardson, but “any patient’s refusal of treatment is crucial” to the outcome. So is not wearing a ski helmet, he added. Richardson, 45, wasn’t wearing a ski helmet when she fell around noon and was walking and talking afterward. She also refused an ambulance that came for her about 45 minutes later. Another ambulance was called about 3 p.m. and she arrived at the Centre Hospitalier Laurentien in Ste. Agathe, 42 kilometres away, nearly four hours after her fall. Two hours afterward she was transferred by ambulance to the trauma centre at Montreal’s Hepital du Sacre-Coeur, 83 kilometres southeast of Ste. Agathe. An article in U.S. newspapers by Cory Franklin, a physician who lives in Wilmette, Ill., took sharp aim at the lack of CT brain scanners in some Quebec hospitals and the lack of helicopter ambulances.

GM CEO, Wagoner — out the door

By Eideard Sunday March 29, 2009

43 Comments

The chairman and chief executive of General Motors, Rick Wagoner, is resigning, just hours before President Obama was expected to unveil his rescue plans for G.M. and the ailing American auto industry. The unexpected move by Rick Wagoner, who has been at the helm of G.M. for eight years, was not confirmed by the company.

Mr. Wagoner was asked to step down as part of G.M.’s restructuring agreement with the Obama administration, according to an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity because a formal announcement has not been made yet. He then agreed to resign.

The unexpected move by Mr. Wagoner, who has been at the helm of G.M. for eight years, was not confirmed by the company. A statement about Mr. Wagoner’s future will be issued after the president’s comments, which is expected to be Monday morning…

The president’s auto task force is expected to recommend more short-term assistance to the two Detroit companies, but with tight strings attached to the money and a new deadline to get concessions from union workers and creditors.

No word on who is waiting in the wings for the gig.

AIG Commercials — Then and Now

By Uncle Dave Sunday March 29, 2009

2 Comments

The latter was from these guys.

Oops!

By hhopper Sunday March 29, 2009

34 Comments

(Click photo to enlarge.)

George Carlin Lives On

By McCullough Sunday March 29, 2009

48 Comments

Warning: NSFW Audio

Worth hearing again.

Looking for work? Ever thought about being a snitch?

By Uncle Dave Sunday March 29, 2009

7 Comments

An Eagle County employer not only promises to overlook a prospective employee’s crime connections, it prefers you have them.

“Wanted: people who hang out with crooks,” the Vail Daily classified ad says. “Drug use and criminal record OK. Must be willing to work odd hours.”

The classified ad, paid for by Eagle County Sheriff Joe Hoy, is apparently designed to appeal to the sophisticated confidential informant-newspaper subscriber in the posh ski resort town.

“Make some extra cash . . . ,” the classified ad says. “Give us a call and we will work out the details — confidentiality is guaranteed.”

More than a dozen people already have called in hopes of earning between $100 and $1,000 for turning in burglar pals not intimidated by elaborate security systems guarding Vail’s multi million dollar homes.

MySpace declines as Facebook, Twitter and Bebo grab users

By Eideard Sunday March 29, 2009

18 Comments

Daylife/AP Photo

Courtney Holt, head of MySpace Music

The “Place for Friends” is starting to feel lonely. MySpace, the Rupert Murdoch-owned website once synonymous with social networking, is losing popularity and key staff in its biggest troubles since launching five years ago…

MySpace’s loss of status as the cool place to be is an object lesson in the notoriously fickle internet, where today’s cultural icon is tomorrow’s passing fad. From humble origins in 2003, the site led the so-called “Web 2.0″ revolution in which users could create their own profile pages and share content with friends. Murdoch’s purchase of MySpace for $580m was seen as a masterstroke as membership continued to soar, with celebrities and politicians joining the craze.

But then came Facebook, founded by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, which soon snowballed with an older and apparently more affluent demographic to steal MySpace’s crown. Gradually newspaper coverage of social networks switched from references to “MySpace and Facebook” to “Facebook and MySpace”. The rise of Bebo also undermined MySpace’s dominance, while Twitter is among the latest novelties eating into users’ attention spans…

There are clues behind the scenes that all is not well at Murdoch’s Fox Interactive Media, which runs the site.

Amit Kapur, MySpace’s chief operating officer, resigned after little more than a year in the post to set up a new company. He will be joined by Jim Benedetto and Steve Pearman, senior vice-presidents of engineering and product strategy.

And, no, I really don’t care. But, some of you may.

Stems cells can grow “naturally” bigger breasts!

By SN Sunday March 29, 2009

24 Comments

Times Online – March 29, 2009:

A STEM cell therapy offering “natural” breast enlargement is to be made available to British women for the first time.

The treatment could boost cup size while reducing stomach fat. It involves extracting stem cells from spare fat on the stomach or thighs and growing them in a woman’s breasts. An increase of one cup size is likely, with the potential for larger gains as the technique improves.

A trial has already started in Britain to use stem cells to repair the breasts of women who have had cancerous lumps removed. A separate project is understood to be the first in Britain to use the new technique on healthy women seeking breast enlargement.

“This is a very exciting advance in breast surgery,” said Mokbel. “They [breasts treated with stem cells] feel more natural because this tissue has the same softness as the rest of the breast.” He said the treatment offered the potential of considerable improvement on implants: “Implants are a foreign body. They are associated with long-term complications and require replacement. They can also leak and cause scarring.”

Although the stem cell technique will restore volume, it will not provide firmness and uplift.