Dvorak News Blog

British Policewoman Moonlights as Hooker

By McCullough Monday December 8, 2008

In her day job she was a dedicated uniformed public servant in her role as WPC Victoria Thorne. But in her other guise, it is alleged, she offered services of a far more personal nature – as a £100-an-hour, high-class call girl. Yesterday Thorne, 28, appeared in court accused of misconduct in a public office. The petite brunette, who was based at the police station in Houghton-Le-Spring near Sunderland, entertained up to 20 clients a week as part of the Notorious Girls escort agency, it is alleged.

She is said to have appeared on the agency website in a series of provocative poses wearing only underwear and operating under the working name Kelly.

On her profile, she proclaims herself to be ‘very eager to please’ – though she refuses to wear a uniform or serve clients from the Sunderland area.

The Northumbria Police officer, of Washington, Tyne and Wear, was held by colleagues in August then suspended. WPC Thorne was among eight women and six men arrested by officers investigating organised prostitution and corrupt public officials across Northumbria, County Durham, Greater Manchester, Cleveland and the Scottish Borders-The year-long investigation into the escort agency was headed by her own Northumbria Police force.

£100 per hour is considered high-class? I wonder what the street hookers make.

9-11 defendants ask to plead guilty

By Eideard Monday December 8, 2008

11 Comments

Guantanamo sunrise photo approved by U.S. military censors Daylife/Getty Images

The self-styled mastermind of the September 11 attacks and four co-defendants have sent a note to a military judge at Guantanamo saying they wanted to confess and plead guilty.

The judge said he would question the five, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected planner of the September 11 attacks, to ensure that was their wish.

The judge, Army Col. Steven Henley, read from the note, which began: “We all five have reached an agreement to request from the commission an immediate hearing session in order to announce our confessions … with our earnest desire in this regard without being under any kind of pressure, threat, intimidations or promise from any party.”

The note said all five wished to plead guilty and withdraw any pending motions filed by their military-appointed lawyers, whom they do not trust and have tried to fire.

I haven’t any questions about the guilt of these killers. It seems self-evident. That brings nothing to bear on their right to make a public statement – along with their guilty plea..

Video – Hot Dog Factory Tour

By Gasparrini Monday December 8, 2008

29 Comments

Now we know who was hoarding the Wii’s

By Eideard Monday December 8, 2008

21 Comments

Discount retailer Wal-Mart on Monday announced that it has started to sell “tens of thousands” of Nintendo’s Wii gaming console online.

The 2-year-old gadget, consistently sold out and difficult to obtain, emerged as one of Black Friday’s big hits amid a bleak economy.

On Friday night, the Wii was sold out on Wal-Mart’s Web site as well as the Web sites of electronics retailers Best Buy and Circuit City, Reuters reported. This morning, Monday morning, they’re in stock.

Think this pisses off Best Buy, eh?

45,000 Photographs shot to Create Interesting Music Video

By McCullough Monday December 8, 2008

20 Comments

Good video doesn’t always need a great video camera. A still camera, imagination and a lot of hours can also get you there. Cesar Kuriyama, a New York animator and lighting technical director, has directed a visually arresting music video using an interesting technique.

Eschewing a video camera, he took 45,000 photographs with a Nikon D200 DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) camera and stitched them together to create the illusion of video. The music video was created for the band Fat City Reprise and premiered at their homecoming concert in Philadelphia. Kuriyama says he directed the talent in the video to move as best they could in slow-motion while he had his director of photography Tommy Agriodimas shoot JPG bursts with the Nikon D200. The duo were able to get about 60 images per burst at about four pictures per second. “Obviously we did many takes for each shot,” says Kuriyama. “Eventually one good take of them moving in slow motion would look great.”

It’s a slow load but well worth the wait.

Computer Entrepreneur – and fugitive – turns himself in to LA police

By Eideard Monday December 8, 2008

21 Comments

Daylife/AP Photo by Antonio Calanni

The man walked into a Los Angeles police station, wearing an Armani jacket and a Rolex, and admitted he was wanted for an alleged $170-million scam involving his technology firm…

“I am Stein Bagger,” the man said, putting his hands on the counter. “I’m a fugitive from Europe and I’m here to turn myself in…”

Until his flamboyant appearance in downtown Los Angeles, Bagger had last been seen on Nov. 27 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he was vacationing with his wife and daughter.

At the time, he was on top of the world. Bagger, chief executive of Copenhagen-based IT Factory, had recently been named Danish Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young after leading the previously crumbling computer company into what seemed to be an incredible turnaround. The Danish press reported that IT Factory had doubled its revenue and profit for each of its last three fiscal years.

The company was reportedly due to announce a $53.6-million profit. But, within days, it was revealed that more than 90% of the company’s revenue was based on fraud.

The company had allegedly created dummy contracts for computers and software from fake companies, then sold those leasing contracts to banks and other investors. Bagger allegedly forged the signature of the company’s chairman to avoid board scrutiny.

So, who’s doing oversight on the books of the leading lights of World Capitalism? The Three Stooges?

Will Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch kill Nintendo and Sony in the portable gaming market?

By SN Monday December 8, 2008

26 Comments

Tech World News – December 7, 2008:

Did Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Latest News about Apple know what the future held when CEO Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone during his Macworld Expo keynote in January 2007? They probably had some sense of it, but they likely had no idea that games would become such a big part of the platform, especially considering the outsider status of gaming on the Mac. The company is clearly ready to take full advantage of the current situation, however, as evidenced by the recent iPod touch ad that focuses solely on games.

While many games are of a casual nature, however, some developers are pushing the envelope with games that can take a while to play through and offer a high level of replay value. As the iPhone games market matures, comparisons with the Nintendo Latest News about Nintendo DS and Sony (NYSE: SNE) Latest News about Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) handhelds are inevitable.

“I don’t think the iPhone will compete with the DS or PSP, but everyone forgets the iPod touch,” said Morrison. “That’s Apple’s flagship iPod. It’s clear all new iPods are going to be based on the touch in some way. In a few years, the iPod touches will probably outnumber the DS and PSP combined, 10-to-one. That will be the platform to completely dominate the handheld market. This Christmas, parents are not probably buying too many iPhones, but you had better believe they are buying touches.”

Adams, who said the iPhone install base “is going to be huge” and who thinks “the iPhone will rival the PSP and DS,” compared Apple’s handheld to something else: “The iPhone is the Wii Latest News about Wii of handheld gaming devices. It has such unique input systems, and just enough different focus to stand out from the traditional systems. Like how the Wii has turned into the console ‘for the rest of us’ (my mother-in-law plays Wii Bowling when we’re together for the holidays!), the iPhone and iPod touch are the handheld gaming systems for people who wouldn’t consider buying a DS. And any core gamer that does own a DS or PSP is probably going to get an iPhone if they don’t already have one.”

I don’t see the iPod Touch having much impact against the DS among young gamers because of the high price. You can get the DS for only $129 and the PSP for about $169. However, the cheapest iPod Touch I can find is $229. I don’t see a parent handing one of those to anyone under 12 years old. As a parent with 6 and 7 year olds, the DS is cheap enough that if it got lost or destroyed I could easily afford a new one. Not so much with a $229 iPod Touch. Still, maybe Apple has a cheaper 4 gig system waiting to be released.

Fixing Fedora 10 Linux – Root login in GUI

By Marc Perkel Sunday December 7, 2008

43 Comments

http://angryweb.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/linux_body_painting_kl.jpg

Linux Fedora 10 comes in nanny mode. The developers don’t want you to log in as root because your “not supposed to.” But I say real users are root users so here’s how to take the training wheels off. All you have to do is edit the file /etc/pam.d/gdm and remoce this like.

auth required pam_succeed_if.so user != root quiet

Killer App turns your iPod Touch into a VoIP phone

By McCullough Sunday December 7, 2008

4 Comments

Apple may have a new mobile phone to compete with–one that runs on its iPod Touch.

The MP3 player can be transformed into a mobile phone with the help of a free app from Internet telephone company Truphone. The new app allows users with a Wi-Fi connection to make and receive phone calls via voice over IP with other iPod Touch owners, users of the Google Talk’s messaging service, and customers of Truphone’s Internet telephone service. The company said it expects to add the ability to handle landline calls. The app creates a virtual keyboard on second-generation iPod Touchs to dial calls and requires the addition of a headset and microphone.

However, Apple doesn’t appear to be too threatened by Truphone; the application is available for free download at Apple’s App Store. While the app could work with any device with Wi-Fi access, the company said it has decided to focus on devices with connections to an apps store. “We’ve decided to focus on devices that are Wi-Fi-enabled and have an apps store,” Truphone CEO Geraldine Wilson told the BBC. “For the consumer, there has to be an easy way of downloading an application.”

Other planned features include the ability to phone and IM Skype and MSN VoIP users, and to check and set Twitter and Facebook.

Fring offers a similar service, allowing access to Skype users. But Truphone plans to add access to Skype, as well as landlines, which should make Truphone more appealing to many users.

Well, it could be a killer app, if they can fix the bugs. Unfortunately when I tried to download it, I get a message saying this application can only be used on an iPhone…hmmm.

Unreal. The guy calmly steps back, then takes a photo as if nothing had happened. I would have had to change my underwear.

Readers Digest pays man $3000 for truly Bad Joke

By McCullough Sunday December 7, 2008

20 Comments

“I use laughter to lighten up the atmosphere,” he said with a chuckle that turns into a loud laugh. “You know, it’s such a silly joke. I had to talk into a recorder at Reader’s Digest headquarters for their, ‘Tell Us A Joke’ contest. By God, I was one of the five finalists, so I got $2,500. And then I got a phone call and was told I was the grand prize winner, and they were sending me another $500.”

The joke, as told by Mlodzik, goes something like this, though it probably loses something in translation:

“A guy is walking down a dark street, when he hears something behind him. He looks behind him and sees a casket, and it’s going, ‘dum … dum … dum … dum … ’ and it’s followin’ him. So he gets frightened and goes faster, and the casket goes faster — ‘dum, dum, dum, dum, dum … ’ So he starts to trot and runs into his apartment building and the casket crashes through the door and comes at him faster, up the stairs — ‘dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum!’ He slams the door, and it crashes through his apartment door, so he runs into his bathroom and he slams the door and he hears, ‘dum … dum … dum … dum … ’ and he knows it’s going to crash through the door … then it crashes through the door, and he grabs the only thing he can. He grabs a bottle of cough syrup and he throws it at the casket … and it stops the coffin!”

Dumb!

Televangelist denied tax exemption for his private jet

By Eideard Sunday December 7, 2008

48 Comments

God’s chariot

A Kenneth Copeland Ministry jet worth $3.6 million has been denied tax-exempt status by the Tarrant Appraisal District, setting the stage for a battle that could require the minister to reveal his salary if he wants the jet to be tax-free.

Jeffery D. Law, Tarrant chief appraiser, said the jet was denied tax exemption because the ministry failed to disclose salaries of directors as an application requires…

Compensation paid Copeland and other members of his family has been the source of a U.S. senator’s inquiry, but the televangelist has been unwilling to disclose the information publicly.

If the ministry gives the compensation information to the appraisal district, it would be open to public disclosure.

Religion appears to be doing as well as ever. No bail-out needed here.

US schools give up on failure!

By SN Sunday December 7, 2008

22 Comments

UPI – December 6, 2008:

Some schools in the United States have stopped handing out failing grades, or at least are delaying them while students get a chance to improve.

In Grand Rapids, Mich., work that would justify an “F” will get an “H” for “held,” ABC News reported. The school superintendent, Bernard Taylor, said students will have several choices — including retaking a course, doing additional work or agreeing on another plan with teachers — but the grade will become a failing one if nothing is done within 12 weeks.

“I never see anyone doing anything but punishing kids,” Taylor said. “If the choice is between letting kids fail and giving them another opportunity to succeed, I’m going to err on the side of opportunity.”

Taylor and many other teachers and administrators say they believe many children quickly become discouraged and failing them contributes to the country’s high dropout rate. He argues that children need to see a way forward.

Critics say the practice is amounts to coddling children.

“The task is to change the reality, not the labeling of it,” said Alan Kazdin, a child psychiatrist at Yale.