Thoughts 02 Feb 2007 08:25 am
The world is strange
Here’s an interesting article:
google slaps caldwell county around. In a series of stories and forums, it was said the Google was buying realestate in NC but is playing hardball with lawmakers.
This is from the News & Observer:
The company demanded that legislators never speak its name, and had them scolded when word of its interest in North Carolina leaked out, according to records made public this week.
As work proceeded on the bill to remove much of its tax burden, Google threatened to end negotiations because legislative staff didn’t write exactly what it wanted. Commerce Secretary Jim Fain was asked to “prevail upon” the bill writer.
This does make one wonder what they’re up to, besides threatening to take their toys and go home if they don’t get record breaking tax breaks. If Toyota was coming to town, they’ed be holding press conferences.
Of course Google seems to be a major government resource, so maybe they really are a branch of the NSA, this ought to do wonders for the sale of trenchcoats.
Must be nice to be big enough to bully an entire state.
A woman will be sentenced on March 2, for exposing as many as 10 7th graders to porn pop-ups, she could get as much as 40 years.
The story starts here.
The prosecuters say she was surfing for porn while in the classroom, but the defense says that this stuff was already in place.
The school admits that there was no anti-virus or spyware blocker in place, but it couldn’t have been their fault and of course no seventh grader would click on a seemingly harmless pop-up.
When she saw what was going on, the teacher tried to shield the students and eventually turned off the computer.
Cue Monte Python:
She’s a witch, Burn her, Burn her.
She turned me into a newt.
…..I got better.
From the NYT:
A confessed murderer who slipped out of prison with the deputy warden’s wife and hid for more than 10 years before being recaptured was sentenced Thursday to the maximum seven years for escaping.
They left together, but he says he can’t remember if he kidnapped her or if she came willingly.
The escapee Mr. Dial, aged 62, was described as a sculptor, writer and spinner of tales, claims he left when he thought there was a plot to kill him.
The husband, Randy Parker, to whom Ms. Parker returned after she and Mr. Dial were found, dismissed the account as a fabrication. Mr. Parker said he believed his wife’s account that she had been abducted and held against her will in fear of Mr. Dial’s underworld connections.
OK, let’s review:
They were found living in a trailer on a chicken farm in Texas. ..A chicken farm?? He really needs to up his status with the mob.
When he had a heart attack, she called 911 and rode in the ambulance with him. This couldn’t have been because she cared, it must have been to find a way to smother him and make it look like suicide, so Guido “the cluck” would never suspect.
In “Jolly Old,” the government website has a place for e-petitions. Over a million people have signed petitions online, with one petition having 600,000 signers, and not a single item has been enacted or even brought before Parlament.
This steamlines the process and gives the powers that be a way too more effectively ignore the public.
But I think they should seriously consider the petition that says they should ban broccoli as an edible foodstuff and reclassify it as a toxic substance.