Microsoft spurns appeal in Russian piracy case

1. From News.com:

Gorbachev, former leader of the Soviet Union and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, said Ponosov, a school principal in a village in the Urals, risked imprisonment in a Siberian camp for using unlicensed Windows software that he said was preinstalled on the computers.

“The teacher, who has dedicated his life to the education of children and who receives a modest salary that does not bear comparison with the salaries of even regular staff in your company, is threatened with detention in Siberian prison camps,” Gorbachev wrote to Gates in a letter posted on the Web site of Gorbachev’s charitable foundation.

2. Microsoft’s response?

“Mr. Ponosov’s case is a criminal case and as such was initiated and investigated by the public prosecutor’s office in Russia,” said Microsoft, whose European operations are based in Paris. “We are sure that the Russian courts will make a fair decision.”

“We do respect the Russian government’s position on the importance of protecting intellectual property rights.”

3. To all those at Microsoft who were involved in making that decision — I truly, sincerely, hope you die a long, slow, painful death. But Fake Steve said it best:

And you guys at Microsoft still wonder why the entire world hates you? Man oh man. You’ve got more money than God and yet you’re gonna toss some poor broke-ass Russian in prison? Evil.

Hi, I’m the Boston Civil Service, and I’m retarded

1. From the NYT:

BOSTON, Feb. 1 — Boston temporarily closed parts of bridges, subway stations, an Interstate highway and even part of the Charles River on Wednesday after the authorities found what the police described as suspicious devices at nine places.

But the devices, which included circuit boards, turned out to be part of a marketing campaign by Turner Broadcasting to advertise a cartoon television show, “Aqua Teen Hunger Force.�

“It is outrageous, in a post-9/11 world, that a company would use this type of marketing scheme,� Mr. Menino [Mayor of Boston] said in a statement. “I am prepared to take any and all legal action against Turner Broadcasting and its affiliates for any and all expenses incurred during the response to today’s incidents.�

2. It seems all that’s necessary for them to shit their pants are a bunch of flashing lights, one of whom is a blocky cartoon character flashing them the finger. And it’s amazing how the same flashing lights has been placed in Atlanta, Chicago and New York without any reports or problems. ‘Cause, you know, if I was a terrorist I would totally put big flashing lights on my bombs, just so I can give the finger to passers-by before I blow them to smithereens. Actually, check that, they’d probably have a recording of themselves screaming obscenities in Arabic before they blow you to smithereens. So I suppose Boston Police ain’t so stupid after all.

3. (I especially love the quote “But the devices, which included circuit boards…” ’cause not many other items contain “circuit boards” either…)

Seriously Silly String

1. From MSNBC:

STRATFORD, N.J. – In an age of multimillion-dollar high-tech weapons systems, sometimes it’s the simplest ideas that can save lives. Which is why a New Jersey mother is organizing a drive to send cans of Silly String to Iraq.

American troops use the stuff to detect trip wires around bombs, as Marcelle Shriver learned from her son, a soldier in Iraq.

2. That’s awesome!

Teen Goes Nuclear

From The Detroit Free Press:

In the basement of his parents’ Oakland Township home, tucked away in an area most aren’t privy to see, Thiago is exhausting his love of physics on a project that has taken him more than two years and 1,000 hours to research and build — a large, intricate machine that , on a small scale, creates nuclear fusion.

Pointing to the steel chamber where all the magic happens, Thiago said on Friday that this piece of the puzzle serves as a vacuum. The air is sucked out and into a filter.

Then, deuterium gas — a form of hydrogen — is injected into the vacuum. About 40,000 volts of electricity are charged into the chamber from a piece of equipment taken from an old mammogram machine. As the machine runs, the atoms in the chamber are attracted to the center and soon — ta da — nuclear fusion. Thiago said when that happens, a small intense ball of energy forms.

He first achieved fusion in September and has been perfecting the machine he built in his parents’ garage ever since.

1. Dude.

No Grunting, They Said, and He Was at the Gym

1. From the NYT:

WAPPINGERS FALLS, N.Y., Nov. 13 — Albert Argibay, a bodybuilder and a state correction officer, was at a Planet Fitness gym with 500 pounds of weight on his shoulders one afternoon this month when the club manager walked over and told him it was time to leave. Mr. Argibay, the manager explained, had violated one of the club’s most sacred and strictly enforced rules: He was grunting.

How does one distinguish between a grunt and a very deep breath? Must a grunt be “characteristic of a hog,� as one dictionary defines it? And what if there are no patrons around to take offense? What would happen if Monica Seles and Maria Sharapova, known for their noisy exertion on the tennis court, showed up wanting to work out?

2. Why, why, why is it that this shit seems to happen more in the States than elsewhere?

Outcry at stupid Stefaan’s croc shock

From SMH:

Locals are outraged that a tourist’s stupidity, which led to him being attacked, will mean a popular crocodile called Allan will be moved away by rangers.

The two-metre croc will live out its days in a farm as a breeding crocodile after biting 24-year-old Belgian tourist Stefaan Vanthournout’s leg when he tried to get its attention by wading into a creek and slapping the water with a stick.

Dear Stefaan Vanthournout — you are a fucking idiot.

Malcolm Fraser’s 2006 Law and Justice Foundation Address

Lucid and compassionate comments from a former Prime Minister:

It was recognised that on sensitive matters of race and religion, those in authority had to give a lead and make decisions and that it could be unwise to ask for a popular vote. If the people of Melbourne had been asked if they wanted their city to become the biggest Greek city outside Greece, they would then have voted no in the 1940s. Now that it has happened they would overwhelmingly vote in favour of it and overwhelmingly very proud of it.

Intelligence is nothing if you don’t listen

1. The furore over the incompetence of the US Intelligence services over 9/11 and the misplaced WMDs in Iraq was loud, bloodthirsty, and in the end rang somewhat hollow. While they obviously made some mistakes, it was nothing compared to the ineptitude of those using that information. Take, for example, this CNN report:

War simulation in 1999 pointed out Iraq invasion problems

WASHINGTON (AP) — A series of secret U.S. war games in 1999 showed that an invasion and post-war administration of Iraq would require 400,000 troops, nearly three times the number there now.

And even then, the games showed, the country still had a chance of dissolving into chaos.

2. Whoops.

Gallagher’s mouth vs Socceroos

1. From SMH:

Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher has let rip at the Socceroos, saying Australians should stick to sports they’re better at.

“Stick to the Aussie Rules and the tennis and the cricket and the rugby, you are good at that,” he told AAP from the United Kingdom.

“Football is the game of the intelligentsia and you are shit at it.

2. Harsh words indeed. But he saved the corker for Tim Cahill:

“I don’t know, there is something about him. I would love to kick him right in the bollocks.”

3. Now, who do you think is the smart money — a world class athlete or a drug-fucked spastic that can’t keep his mouth shut?

Will The Next [US] Election Be Hacked?

1. From Rolling Stone magazine:

“It would have been very easy for any one of us to take a contaminated card out of our pocket, put it into the system, and download some malicious code that would then end up in the server, impacting every other vote that went in, before and after,” says Hood. “We had absolute control of the tabulations. We could have fixed the election if we wanted. We had access, and that’s all you need. I can honestly say that every election I saw with Diebold in charge was compromised – if not in the count, at least in the security.”