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February 22, 2011 04:41 PM UTC

Tuesday Open Thread

  • 50 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“He who knows most knows best how little he knows.”

–Thomas Jefferson

Comments

50 thoughts on “Tuesday Open Thread

  1. US Paid Millions For Bogus (Patented) Intelligence Software; Now Trying To Cover It Up Claiming ‘National Security’

    First off, the crux of the story is that a guy named Dennis Montgomery seems to have concocted an elaborate con on the US government that worked for years. He created some software, supposedly originally designed to help colorize movies, but it was later pitched for its capability to (I’m not joking) read coded messages in the “crawl bar” on Al Jazeera which (it was claimed) provided clues to planned terrorist attacks. Various US government agencies basically kept handing over millions and millions of dollars to Mr. Montgomery and partners. Some of those former partners now admit that Montgomery’s technology was a hoax, and his presentations included doctored videos and test results.

    Next up, there’s the news that the CIA figured all of this out way back in 2003 and knew the software was useless, but the government was still paying millions of dollars in new contracts for it and using the software at least until 2009, when it was supposedly used to “detect” Somali terrorist plans during Obama’s inauguration — terrorist plans that later turned out not to exist at all.

    And, it wasn’t just the CIA that had figured this out. The NY Times report notes that the media — including reports from both Bloomberg and (of all places) Playboy — had previously called out “hints of fraud by Mr. Montgomery.” Separately, a Pentagon report notes that the government had paid an astounding $285 billion in just three years to contractors accused of fraud or wrongdoing.

    Feeling safer?

    http://www.techdirt.com/articl…  

    (Beware- link to NYTime leads to annoying login page.)

    Let’s see, $285 Billion dollars or THREE TIMES the budget cuts by The Orange Man and his minions….shall we dive into the cesspool that was the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld crooked contractor spending spress, and get some of MY (read taxpayer) money back?

    1. to commit fraud against the government than to rob a 7-11.

      If you rob a 7-11, you’ll go to jail.  If you defraud the government, you’ll get off easy in return for telling them how you did it.

    2. .

      just keep in mind that a number of Government officials colluded to make that happen.

      and most probably realized personal financial benefits for looking the other way.

      .

      1. …and it’s time we started doing that NOW. It can be a Federal trial for the companies and their legal counsel, and it can be Courts Martial for the military people who let it all happen. No problemo…

        B-X, I’ve been a contractor as well. There’s a dif between some tiny Virginia company overcharging for post-production work, and building showers that electrocute grunts trying to clean off the crud of a patrol.

  2. Democratic Assembly (in their orange shirts)about to do their constituents business.

    Devastating facts on the results of GOP policies on America. Only 5 states do not have collective bargaining for educators and have deemed it illegal.

    Their ranking on ACT/SAT scores:

    South Carolina – 50th

    North Carolina – 49th

    Georgia – 48th

    Texas – 47th

    Virginia – 44th

    Wisconsin is currently ranked #2.

    Is it really a mystery why people are fighting this?

    And isn’t the love that the people show their legislators satisfying?

    1. WI is #2 on ACT/SAT scores.

      Walker wants to be re-elected and run for higher office.

      If WI drops to #12 or even #22, but he gets tagged as a union buster, he gets re-elected or elected to higher office.

  3. …a Polytrauma Vet going to school at DU has been asked about his injuries, but it’s always been posed this way “Wow – were you in a car crash?

    Defense leaders fear military-civilian ‘disconnect’

    Spouses of service members are badly stressed from years of long deployments – so stressed that some have taken their own lives. Children who’ve had a parent away at war for almost their entire conscious lives are leaving home to go off to college. And the troops themselves continue to struggle with substance abuse, post-traumatic stress, and devastating physical and mental wounds.

    Some of Washington’s top national security leaders are worried that Americans don’t know – or worse, don’t care.

    Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/s

    1. I have a buddy in the Army training for his first deployment, and it’s like he’s a universe away already even though he’s just stationed in Kansas. He has been ROTC for many years and has come to look at the Army as his world, and everything else is kind of this foggy outside area that he visits for R&R once in a while if he has the time.

      I’m not qualified to speak from experience here, but based on observation I have to wonder if the training intended to make these young men and women psychologically capable of handling multiple deployments is in fact isolating them from civilian society before and after deployment.  

      1. ..and focus on the fact that so few people have family members deployed. So many people re-enlist, so fewer people go in. Also, no draft, so no students need to worry about ending up in ACUs and on the front lines in AFPAK.

        We’re creating a Praetorian Society – a military, well-armed and decently rewarded, camped outside the city walls and away from the citizens. On occasion, we start the conversation about them in movies or TV, but for the most part they’re invisible.  

  4. I was reading a history of the Bausch and Lomb optical company that was linked from the Classic Telescopes forum on an astronomy web site when I came across this:

    Like other socially conscious employers nationwide, Bausch & Lomb struggled to maintain the highest possible employment levels during the Depression. Temporary measures, including reduced salaries and shorter work weeks and days, were implemented to keep the company (and its workers) afloat. In 1933, as the Depression bottomed out, Bausch & Lomb joined with other major employers in Rochester to establish an unemployment insurance fund for local working people.

    Can you imagine any company doing that in this day and age?

    1. Nor any of the other major Rochester employers of that day in their current guises.

      The philanthropic “code” by which many corporate execs and even robber barons of the day lived is mostly dead, with Bill Gates being the major exception.

      1. Biggest cuts were to the largest salaries and we got through with almost everyone. And my & the CEO’s salary were the last to get moved back up to 100% as we came out. Companies still do this, just not all of them.

  5. Indiana House Democrats have joined their Wisconsin Senate counterparts in exile to prevent a quorum for vote on Indiana’s own union-busting bill.

    Most of them are apparently going to Illinois, but some may be headed to Kentucky, which is closer for some of the state’s House members.

    Oh, and for you conservative types who might want to be writing about the inherent badness of Democrats for doing this…  They’re in good company: Abraham Lincoln apparently jumped out of a window(!) in the state Senate building to prevent a quorum while he was still a state legislator.

      1. A real Republican wouldn’t be caught dead saying the following:

        Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.

  6. No, I’m not kidding.  According to ThinkProgress and others with access to the pro-labor protesters in Wisconsin, Internet access to certain sites and in certain places is being cut off in order to hinder the protesters’ ability to organize.

    Apparently the filter software on the public access WiFi within the Capitol building has been altered to blacklist defendwisconsin.org, the site where protesters are organizing their food distribution and providing updates on the protests.  Also, one room within the Capitol has been set aside for the Teachers Assistants Association (which is coordinating the food and cleanup efforts), and that room has now reportedly and mysteriously lost access to the public WiFi.

    You know you’re getting desperate when…

  7. The Art of Video Games exhibition will explore the 40-year evolution of video games as an artistic medium, with a focus on striking visual effects, the creative use of new technologies, and the most influential artists and designers. We want you to help us select the eighty video games that will be represented in the exhibition. Remember, this is an art exhibition, so be sure to vote for games that you think are visually spectacular or boast innovative design!

    http://www.artofvideogames.org/

    I’m glad Pitfall for the Atari 2600 was included, but mad as hell that Resident Evil was shut out of the later rounds….VOTE NOW!

    1. They’ve got C64 games, but no Apple ][ games or classic Mac games?  Bummer.

      First (and probably most influential) 3D dungeon crawl: Wizardry! (1981),  not listed.

      Ultima II, probably the first serious world exploration game (1982), not listed.

      And let’s not forget another missing category: arcade games.  Dragon’s Lair and the other Laser Disc games were leaps and bounds ahead of their counterparts in video quality (if not necessarily in gameplay).

      1. It’s on the lower right-hand side as a hyperlink. I vented my frustration about the exclusion of both the “Resident Evil” and “Dino Crisis” series…

        I did forget considerations of coin-operated arcade games. Then “Pole Position” and “Tempest” need to be included…

        1. ..get my vote.  But, in my youth we just had pinball, foosball and air hockey–and we liked it.  Even if it was a 5 mile walk up-hill in 2 feet of snow to get to the arcade.  

          1. You fancy-schmancy youngsters and your new-fangled games.

            We had a stick, a lump of coal, a bale of hay, a burlap sack and an onion — and I can tell you, “high score” really meant something in the village.

            1. Having learned from experience, I feel I should warn you that de-fuzzing tennis balls can be brutal on doggie teeth. Wears ’em down early. If she has her puppy teeth still it’s probably nothing to worry about but once she gets her adult teeth if she’s still doing it you might want to get her plain rubber balls instead.

              My pooch has some prematurely worn teeth from that habit 🙁

              1. She’s my first dog so I’m clueless.

                It was a Martha Stewart ball (dumb for so many reasons); I now have doubts about its strength.

                She’s mostly a Kong dog at this point and completely obsessed with getting whatever out. One soft toy left, Duck. Anyway, now she has a plain rubber (tennis) ball. 🙂 She doesn’t think it’s fun to chew on now, but fetches fine.

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