Dvorak News Blog

The Tsunami Bomb

By Uncle Dave Thursday January 3, 2013

Uh, oh. Was Adam right?

During the second world war, it’s claimed, the US and New Zealand tested a ‘tsunami bomb’, designed to create waves that could flood a city.

Rumors of such weapons have surfaced before: indeed, they’re still doing the rounds. Some conspiracy theorists have even suggested that 2011’s tsunami in Japan wwas triggered by the US’ High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) technology, by broadcasting an ultra-low frequency signal designed to set off an earthquake.

In this case, though, official documents reveal that there’s at least some truth in the story.

What’s Next For The Failed Right Wing?

By Uncle Dave Tuesday January 1, 2013

135 Comments

Read the full article for the details of how right has run out of gas. Not that the left is any better. If the fiscal cliff crap is any indication, we, the people are, for want of a better word, fucked.

Nature abhors a vacuum, and as utopianism died out on the left, it found a new home to the right of center. The last generation in the U.S. has seen three forms of demented right-wing utopianism: religious, military and economic.

The religious utopianism was that of the Protestant religious right, which grew in influence in the 1980s and peaked in the 1990s. […] But the project of remaking a modern, diverse, continental nation on the basis of a book was equally insane, whether the holy book was Marx’s Kapital or the Bible. The religious right faded as a force by the early 21st century, largely because of the growing secularization of younger Americans.

The next wave of utopianism was military. [..] When democratic revolutions ultimately did come to the Arab world, they were brought about by citizen revolts, not by American invaders and occupiers.

As the neoconservative utopia faded, it was followed in turn by the libertarian utopia. […] To judge by the elections of 2012, in which more Americans cast votes for Democrats for the gerrymandered House as well as in Senate and presidential elections, the public has turned against free market utopians like Paul Ryan, who want to replace social insurance with vouchers and cut taxes further on the rich.

What will succeed the failed utopias of the religious right, the neoconservative right and the libertarian right?

This Ain’t Your Grandfather’s College

By Uncle Dave Monday December 31, 2012

40 Comments

At one time, going to college/university was about expanding the mind to create an educated, thinking person. That’s why it was called ‘higher learning’. But how many go for that reason today? It’s all about the diploma to get that high paying job or any job that requires that piece of paper. Not that it’s a guarantee of anything, especially in this recession. And with so many online ways these days to get a diploma, is the full away-from-home college/university experience worth the cost? Aside from some more technical fields, is a two-year Associates degree better? Where should ‘expanding the mind’ fit into the push for vocational knowledge?

They’re the places you think of when you think of “college” — leafy campuses, small classes, small towns. Liberal arts colleges are where students ponder life’s big questions, and learn to think en route to successful careers and richer lives, if not always to the best-paying first jobs.

But today’s increasingly career-focused students mostly aren’t buying the idea that a liberal arts education is good value, and many small liberal arts colleges are struggling. The survivors are shedding their liberal arts identity, if not the label.
[…]
But schools like Adrian College, 75 miles southwest of Detroit and back from a recent near-death experience, offer something of a playbook.

First, get students in the door by offering what they do want, namely sports and extracurricular opportunities that might elude them at bigger schools. Offer vocational subjects like business, criminal justice and exercise science that students and parents think — rightly or wrongly — will lead to better jobs.

Exercise science??? Really?

No Agenda Show
Mongolian Hat

By John C Dvorak Monday December 31, 2012

4 Comments

Executive Producers: Sir Doug Ownes, Sir Thomas Ward, Sir Patrick Vaughan, Sir Donald Filipchuck, Sir Scott WIlliam, Sir Tim, Sir Sean McGrath, I J Hirka, Sir Thomas Badrick, Sir Cloudsigma AG, Sir Bernie Attema
Associate Executive Producers: Stephen Sorrell, Caique Severo, Matthew DuB
Art By: Nick the Rat

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DroNation Report: Directing CIA Drones To Targets a Sure Path to Execution

By Uncle Dave Sunday December 30, 2012

25 Comments

“I am a spy and I took part in four attacks,” said Sidinkay, a young tribesman who said he was paid $350 to help direct C.I.A. drones to their targets in Pakistan’s tribal belt.
[…]
For several years now, militant enforcers have scoured the tribal belt in search of informers who help the C.I.A. find and kill the spy agency’s jihadist quarry. The militants’ technique — often more witch hunt than investigation — follows a well-established pattern. Accused tribesmen are abducted from homes and workplaces at gunpoint and tortured. A sham religious court hears their case, usually declaring them guilty. Then they are forced to speak into a video camera.

The taped confessions, which are later distributed on CD, vary in style and content. But their endings are the same: execution by hanging, beheading or firing squad.

Despite the CIA — as seems to happen so often in recent years — not protecting their spies and sources, here’s a comforting statistic:

Strike accuracy seems to be improving: just seven civilian deaths have been confirmed in 2012, down from 68 the previous year.

On the lighter side of drones, we have this to look forward to: Tacocopter.

Married Guys: However You Proposed Didn’t Come Close to What This Guy Did

By Uncle Dave Saturday December 29, 2012

26 Comments

This was just the beginning. Click pic to see what came next.

I hope there is not too much confusion with the photos, to make a long story short: I fell in love with an amazing woman in the fall of 2011.

That next Valentines day I gave her two brass keys that I design and machined in a custom box. I made the keys in anticipation of one day proposing. I didnt know if or when that would happen yet..

As time went on I began to realize how much I wanted to be with this woman. I began designing a jewelry box. The idea was to incorporate the keys I had originally given her as well as an engagement ring. A small ring box was to be “hidden” in a compartment inside the large jewelry box that was to be opened by the “twin keys”. A little confusing, but i think you will understand when you see the pictures.

I have been told I put to much effort in but I think she deserved every hour, every dollar. I couldnt give her anything that was less than my very best.

Video – Make Your Own Bacon

By Gasparrini Saturday December 29, 2012

25 Comments

Italy starts taxing Catholic Church — when will the US?

By Eideard Friday December 28, 2012

97 Comments

Italy’s Catholic Church will be forced to pay taxes starting in 2013 after the EU pressured the country’s government to pass a controversial law stripping the Church of its historic property tax exemption.

No Agenda Show
Mac and Cheese

By John C Dvorak Thursday December 27, 2012

2 Comments

Executive Producers: Sir Felix Cornici, Sir Scott Morgan, David Yeagly
Associate Executive Producers: Dame Sarah Bradley, Daniel Ruden, Sir Gene Naftulyev
Art By: Kreepy Uncle

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2012 Viral Video Wrap-up

By McCullough Thursday December 27, 2012

5 Comments

Because someone had to do it.

New Debate: Arsonists Causes Arson or Fox News Causes Arson

By Uncle Dave Wednesday December 26, 2012

36 Comments

An updated version of the Twinkie Defense?

An Indiana man convicted of setting fire to an Ohio mosque attributed his crime to the influence of Fox News, which he says convinced him that “most Muslims are terrorists.”

Randolph Linn, 52, of St. Joe, Indiana pleaded guilty to arson for burning the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo. His plea will result in a 20-year prison term; prosecutors had sought a 40-year sentence.

Linn told the court that on September 30 he had gotten “riled up” as a result of watching Fox News and drinking beer. Linn claims to have drank 45 beers in seven hours before heading to the mosque and setting a fire in the prayer room. He was also reportedly armed with a revolver at the time.

Dvorak Poll: Does Piers Go or Stay?

By McCullough Wednesday December 26, 2012

79 Comments

On Deporting Piers Morgan: But We Don’t Want Him Back!

The British have responded to a petition calling for the deportation from the United States of CNN host Piers Morgan with one of their own: “Stop Piers Morgan from being deported back to the UK from America.”

The counter-petition, addressed to Theresa May, Home Secretary, is a direct response to the 70,000 Americans who have signed a petition calling for Mr. Morgan to be deported from the United States because of his strong gun-control views. The UK petition, posted on change.org reads as follows: “We got rid of him [Piers Morgan] once and why should we have to suffer again. The Americans wanted him, so they should put up with him. We washed our hands of him a long time ago.”

When it comes to the question of violent crime, the British are fairly smug. Why? Because, well, there’s less of it in Britain than in America. Bunch of cowboys over there, right?

Wrong. Per the Daily Mail:

Britain’s violent crime record is worse than any other country in the European union, it has been revealed. Official crime figures show the UK also has a worse rate for all types of violence than the U.S. and even South Africa – widely considered one of the world’s most dangerous countries. The Tories said Labour had presided over a decade of spiraling violence.

In the decade following the party’s election in 1997, the number of recorded violent attacks soared by 77 per cent to 1.158million – or more than two every minute. According to the Mail, Britons suffer 1,158,957 violent crimes per year, which works out at 2,034 per 100,000 residents. By contrast the number in notoriously violent South Africa is 1,609 per 100,000. The U.S., meanwhile, has a rate of 466 crimes per 100,000 residents, which is lower than France’s, at 504; Finland’s, at 738; Sweden’s, at 1123; and Canada’s at 935.

New York Newspaper Publishes Names, Addresses of All Gun Permit Holders in Area

By McCullough Tuesday December 25, 2012

66 Comments

A newspaper in New York has received a wave of criticism from its readers after publishing the names and addresses of all of the individuals with handgun or pistol permits in its coverage area.

Hundreds of residents in New York’s Westchester and Rockland counties were surprised to find their names and addresses listed on a map posted by The Journal News on Sunday. Users can click any dot on the map to see which of their neighbors has a permit for a gun.

The map sparked more than 500 comments from readers within a day of its appearance on the website, many of them voicing outrage at the paper’s decision to make the information public.

“This is CRAZY!! why in the world would you post every licensed gun owner information?? What do you hope to accomplish by doing this. This is the type of thing you do for sex offenders not law abiding gun owners. What next? should i hang a flag outside my house that says I own a gun? I am canceling my subscription with your paper today!!!” said commenter Curtis Maenza.

“How about a map of the editorial staff and publishers of Gannett and Journal News with names and addresses of their families…,” wrote commenter George Thompson.

Political correctness gone mad. Let the witch hunt begin. See the map here.

Merry Christmas 2012

By John C Dvorak Tuesday December 25, 2012

21 Comments

Best wishes from the DU team past and present, John, Ed, Dave, Sergio, Mark, Bubba, Harrison, Steve, Catherine, Marc, Joe, Jacob, Alix, Lewis, JC and Keith.

Boeing uses potatoes instead of people to test onboard wi-fi

By Eideard Tuesday December 25, 2012

14 Comments

US planemaker Boeing used an unusual substitute for passengers to test its in-flight wi-fi system – potatoes.

Passenger seats on a decommissioned plane were loaded with huge sacks of the tubers for several days as signal strengths were checked.

The company’s researchers say that potatoes “interact” with electronic signals in a similar way to humans…The technique also took advantage of the fact that spuds – unlike humans – never get bored.

Boeing’s engineers did a number of tests to ensure that passengers would get the strongest possible wi-fi signal while in the air, all while meeting safety standards that protect against interference with an aircraft’s electrical systems…

“You want your laptop to work anywhere it’s located on your seat, [but] there can be significant signal changes just due to the location of the laptop,” said Boeing engineer Dennis Lewis.

To test the signal distribution, the firm turned to spuds instead of human test subjects, filling the seats with 20,000lbs (9,000kg) of potatoes in sacks.

According to Boeing, potatoes’ “interactions” with electronic signals mimic those of a human body, making them “the perfect stand-in for people who would otherwise have had to sit motionless for days while the data was gathered”.

Seems perfectly clear to me.