Archive for the 'What were they thinking?' Category

The Last Fishing

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008

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[Quote:]

The bunch of guys have came for some fishing. They parked their cars and went to the frozen lake to make some holes and enjoy the process. But when they got back it came out that the lake was not so frozen.

(more pictures at the link)

Cramer: Don’t Sell Bear Stearns

Tuesday, March 18th, 2008

[Quote:]

Jim Cramer last Tuesday: “Bear Stearns is not in trouble. If anything, they’re more likely to be taken over. Don’t move your money from Bear.”

Student disciplined after stopping out-of-control school bus

Sunday, March 16th, 2008

[Quote:]

A 15-year-old girl who stopped her out-of-control school bus was hit with a Saturday detention because she was supposed to be in class when the accident happened.

Air Force Public Affairs Officers Who Should Be Fired

Thursday, March 13th, 2008

[Quote:]

The Air Force has just changed their official motto to “Above all“.

Do they teach German history at the Air Force Academy?

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Spitzer Is Linked to Prostitution Ring

Monday, March 10th, 2008

[Quote:]

Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month, according to a person briefed on the federal investigation.

An affidavit in the federal investigation into a prostitution ring said that a wiretap recording captured a man identified as Client 9 on a telephone call confirming plans to have a woman travel from New York to Washington, where he had reserved a hotel room. The person briefed on the case identified Mr. Spitzer as Client 9.

Mr. Spitzer today made a brief public appearance during which he apologized for his behavior, and described it as a “private matter.”

“I have acted in a way that violates my obligation to my family and violates my or any sense of right or wrong,” said Mr. Spitzer, who appeared with his wife Silda at his Manhattan office. “I apologize first and most importantly to my family. I apologize to the public to whom I promised better.”

Kentucky Lawmaker Wants to Make Anonymous Internet Posting Illegal

Monday, March 10th, 2008

[Quote:]

Kentucky Representative Tim Couch filed a bill this week to make anonymous posting online illegal.

The bill would require anyone who contributes to a website to register their real name, address and e-mail address with that site.

Their full name would be used anytime a comment is posted.

[..]

Represntative Couch says enforcing this bill if it became law would be a challenge.

No shit, sherlock!

Steve Jobs Made Me Miss My Flight

Sunday, March 9th, 2008

Because of the MacBook Air.

Feel safer yet?

NSW police to search computer networks

Friday, March 7th, 2008

[Quote:]

The New South Wales Cabinet has approved new powers for police designed to help them track terrorist threats, fraudsters and paedophiles through computer networks.

The proposed laws would allow police to search computers networked to those listed on a search warrant.

Police could also seize computer hard drives and memory sticks for up to seven days.

Police Minister David Campbell says police are currently only able to search computer hardware found on a premises named in a search warrant.

He says with the changes, they will be able to go a step further and search other networked computers, regardless of where they are located.

Perhaps the NSW police could research this new-fangled technology called “Internet”. It apparently connects quite a number of computers together, and not all of them are subject to NSW laws..

Comcast Injects 9/11 Into Broadband Debate. Really.

Thursday, March 6th, 2008

[Quote:]

The Comcast tab so far: Comcast denied throttling and then admitted BitTorrent and other peer-to-peer applications and then got caught. Comcast denied, and then admitted, stuffing the room at the Federal Communications Commission’s Feb. 25 hearing on network management with paid seat-holders who stayed for the hearing while legitimately interested observers were kept out.

And now, there is a new episode in absurdity, albeit on a slightly lesser scale. In March 4 testimony to the Economic Matters Committee of the Maryland House of Delegates whether broadband companies should disclose to consumers where their services are deployed and where they aren’t, Comcast lobbyist Sean M. Looney invoked the Giuliani defense: consumers can’t be given information about broadband in their neighborhoods because of… 9/11.

How Idiots Pull Down Palm Trees

Thursday, March 6th, 2008

[Quote:]

City may ban little baggies

Thursday, March 6th, 2008

[Quote:]

Tiny plastic bags used to sell small quantities of heroin, crack cocaine, marijuana and other drugs would be banned in Chicago, under a crackdown advanced Tuesday by a City Council committee.

Ald. Robert Fioretti (2nd) persuaded the Health Committee to ban possession of “self-sealing plastic bags under two inches in either height or width,” after picking up 15 of the bags on a recent Sunday afternoon stroll through a West Side park.

And next year they’ll ban “self-sealing plastic bags just over two inches in either height or width”, etc….

What happens when you stop calling waterboarding torture?

Sunday, March 2nd, 2008

Companies start using it to increase sales.

Dear ABC, You Don’t Compete With TiVo By Making A Product Worse

Tuesday, February 26th, 2008

[Quote:]

About a year and a half ago, an executive at Disney-owned ABC-TV talked about how the network was experimenting with ways to block people from fast forwarding through commercials. The exec in question even claimed that commercial-skipping wasn’t even a very important feature for most DVR-owners. Despite the widespread criticism of this statement, it appears that ABC is now preparing to test that theory. In association with cable company Cox, it’s testing a new video-on-demand feature that won’t let viewers fast forward through commercials. We’ll be the first to say it: this is dumb. While it may make a few more people watch commercials, it won’t make them happy about it. And, given just how many other options there are these days, the end result might be that people just choose not to watch such ABC programming at all, let alone the commercials.

[..]

Then there’s Ray Cole, who owns some ABC affiliates. He says: “As network and affiliates, we both have an interest in slowing down the explosive growth of DVRs. This is about combating DVRs. As we developed this at every stage, there was an agreement that however we put this together, disabling the fast-forward function was key.” I’m curious as to how Mr. Cole thinks offering a product that does much less and deliberately takes away a key feature will “slow down” the “explosive growth of DVRs.” You don’t compete by offering a worse product.

The Clbuttic Mistake

Monday, February 25th, 2008

[Quote:]

This clbuttic was originally posted by “ezrec”…

Browsing through a web archive of some old computer club conversations, I ran across this sentence:

“Apple made the clbuttic mistake of forcing out their visionary - I mean, look at what NeXT has been up to!”

Hmm. “clbuttic”.

Google “clbuttic” - thousands of hits!

There’s someone who call his car ‘clbuttic’.

There are “Clbuttic Steam Engine” message boards.

Webster’s dictionary - no help.

Hmm. What can this be?

HINT: People who make buttumptions about their regex scripts, will be embarbutted when they repeat this mbuttive mistake.

You sent it where?

Monday, February 25th, 2008

[Quote:]

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Legally, a woman can’t be elected president

Sunday, February 24th, 2008

[Quote:]

Most people believe not only that the 19th Amendment permitted women the right to vote but that since women serve in Congress, the courts and other offices of government, the office of president of the United States has been de-genderized.

Not true. This important legal question exists now and has not been constitutionally addressed. The language and syntax of the 19th Amendment merely removed the barriers that prevented women from voting. It did not identify women to be qualified to become elected president.

The language is clear. The 19th Amendment says: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”

We cannot read into the amendment something that is not there. Now, had the amendment said, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote or hold public office shall not be denied,” it would have accomplished what the feminists think took place.

[..]

Today’s feminists believe the election process is an evolutionary process, legalized by common practice and that someday a woman will be president. They are convinced that since women have run for the office, the male-gendered presidential office has been neutered .

Not so. They will be challenged, and a Supreme Court ruling on the language will be necessary. At the very least a constitutional amendment to change the language will be required.

Well, to be honest, if you read the Constitution:

[Article 2, Section 1:]

The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice-President chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows:

note the “He” I’ve made bold in that text

Perhaps she could just get Bill to be her VP, and step down once it actually gets to the Supreme Court. After all, Amendment XXII says:

[Quote:]

No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President, when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.

It doesn’t say anything about succeeding to the office if not elected.

I’ve never really understood the race issues in the USA, so I’m just getting this from reading the Constitution, but something similar could be said about Obama being black. After all, Amendment XIII doesn’t mention race, just slavery, and Amendment XV, just like the above case, only mentions voting. If somebody seriously considers the fact that Hillary is female to be a disqualifier, then surely another idiot will show up and say the same about race.

[Quote:]

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

But honestly, if the USA really wants to be the laughing stock of the rest of the world, a court case about this would do just fine…

Conservative doctors to unmarried women: If you’re having sex, you *should* die of cervical cancer

Sunday, February 24th, 2008

[Quote:]

I suppose this was inevitable, but the growing movement of doctors and pharmacists who decide that you’re not worthy of medical treatment if you’re female and engaging in sexual behavior they disapprove of has reached the point where some doctors are refusing to perform Pap smears on unmarried women. I guess you probably don’t really need one if you’re a virgin, because they’re looking for cervical cancer, which is linked to HPV, which is sexually transmitted. For the people who think unwanted pregnancy and STDs are just the proper punishment for unmarried, sexually active women, it follows that death from cervical cancer should go on the “punishments for sluts” list.

CIA front companies’ ineffectiveness exposed

Friday, February 22nd, 2008

[Quote:]

The CIA set up a network of front companies in Europe and elsewhere after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as part of a constellation of “black stations” for a new generation of spies, according to current and former agency officials.

But after spending hundreds of millions of dollars setting up as many as 12 of the companies, the agency shut down all but two after concluding they were ill-conceived and poorly positioned for gathering intelligence on the CIA’s principal targets: terrorist groups and unconventional weapons proliferation networks.

The closures were a blow to two of the CIA’s most pressing priorities after Sept. 11 - expanding its overseas presence and changing the way it deploys spies.

[..]

The bogus companies were located far from Muslim enclaves in Europe and other targets. Their size raised concern that one mistake would blow the cover of many agents. And because business travelers don’t ordinarily come into contact with Al-Qaida or other high-priority adversaries, officials said, the cover did not work.

Job title

Friday, February 22nd, 2008

I think they didn’t think this one through…

Source Fource

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

Huh?


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