I don’t think an apology was necessary for the tweet but she ought to be bending over backwards in apologizing to the cyclist she hit. It sounds like she may just be sorry she got caught.
A young driver at the centre of a storm after she boasted on Twitter about colliding with a cyclist has apologised for what she calls a “stupid tweet”.
via Cycle tweet girl breaks her silence | Anglia – ITV News.
URL: http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2013-05-22/cycle-tweet-girl-breaks-her-silence/
I am as aghast of the antics of the IRS as the next person, may be more so, but I’m also a very adamant defender of one’s right not to incriminate one’s self. If I suspect you are questioning me in order to gain evidence to prosecute me I am shutting up and that appears to be exactly what Lois Lerner did after making a statement that she had done nothing wrong.
However, Darrell Issa seems to think that claiming one’s innocence is a waiver of that right.
But the fact that she reiterated some of the same answers she gave the inspector general during his investigation prompted the panel’s chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) to remark, “At this point, I believe you have not asserted your rights, but have effectively waived your rights.”
via Did Lois Lerner waive her right to invoke the Fifth Amendment?.
Mr. Issa, you are a dumbass and a very un American one at that. She has an absolute right to keep her mouth shut when being asked questions intended to incriminate her and that is exactly what your hearing was set up to do.
All I can say is it is about time this was decided.
URL: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/05/20/supreme-court-prayer-new-york-government-meeting/2151385/
Don’t understand guns and the gun culture? Read this:
The Life Of A Beretta Man: Why Gun Control Measures Misunderstand America – Forbes.
URL: http://www.forbes.com/sites/frankminiter/2013/05/20/the-life-of-a-beretta-man-why-gun-control-measures-misunderstand-america/
My president is really getting beat up on this week. I was feeling sorry for him until he said this:
“I can assure you that I certainly did not know anything about the [inspector general] report before the I.G. report had been leaked”
I still want to feel sorry for him but when you are the chief it is your job to know what you’re underlings are doing, at least to the extent that you won’t be blindsided by a leak to a newspaper.
URL: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57584849/obama-i-didnt-know-about-irs-practices/
The French telephone conglomerate bought Lucent Technologies back in 2006 acquiring a vast portfolio of patents, many originally obtained by the old Bell Labs.
With all of these patents now there’s you would think that they would start showcasing new products. Right?
Nope, they start issuing licenses demands on their patents. However, they made the mistake of sending their licensure demand to Newegg. Newegg viewed this as patent trolling. Newegg doesn’t settle with patent trolls, ever.
The jury found the patents invalid.
The appeals court found the patents invalid.
Newegg Chief Legal Officer, Lee Cheng, talks about Lucent’s corporate representatives testimony:
“Successful defendants have their litigation managed by people who care,” said Cheng. “For me, it’s easy. I believe in Newegg, I care about Newegg. Alcatel Lucent, meanwhile, they drag out some random VP—who happens to be a decorated Navy veteran, who happens to be handsome and has a beautiful wife and kids—but the guy didn’t know what patents were being asserted. What a joke.”
via Newegg nukes “corporate troll” Alcatel in third patent appeal win this year | Ars Technica. via Flutterby
I think I want to put a framed and autographed 8×10 glossy photograph of Mr. Cheng on my desk.
URL: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/05/newegg-nukes-corporate-troll-alcatel-in-third-patent-appeal-win-this-year/
Dan pointed out this small, placebo controlled trial gives hope for sufferers of Crohn’s Disease, an inflammatory disease of the intestines. From what I understand this disease is a real cramp on one’s lifestyle.
….. a short course 8 week of THC-rich cannabis produced significant clinical, steroid-free benefits to 11 patients with active CD, compared to placebo, without side effects.
via Cannabis Induces a Clinical Respo… [Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2013] – PubMed – NCBI.
If for no other reasons being able to conduct clinical trials like this without fear of arrest warrants delisting cannabis from the controlled substances list.
Dan picked this up from Medley who got it from Violet Impudence. I liked it so I’m passing it on as well.
Fan fiction is a way of the culture repairing the damage done in a system where contemporary myths are owned by corporations instead of owned by the folk. –Henry Jenkins
Mr. Jenkins expresses why storytelling in the home is important. Sure, it’s easy to plop the kids down in front of the TV and pop in a DVD with Disney’s latest rehash of the Brother’s Grimm or Mother Goose but we are giving ownership over to the corporations when we do this.
It’s bad enough that we do it with the classics but we are also doing this with modern mythology and stories. Slowly we are losing the art of storytelling. And not just for our kids but for society in general.
I think this summer I may invite some friends over to sit around the fire pit in the backyard on a weekend night, toast some marshmallows, drink some fruity drinks and take turns telling stories that we’ve made up.
Lisa Desjardines Tweets”
DEBT CEILING IMPROVED: By better budget numbers. CBO estimates US will now hit ceiling in the fall, October/November. #tcot #p2 #EasyButton?
via Twitter / LisaDCNN: DEBT CEILING IMPROVED: By better ….
That’s great news! It tells me that the sequester is working.
URL: https://twitter.com/LisaDCNN/status/334384243503415296
The Supreme Court has sided with Monsanto in a patent case that I really wish it hadn’t. A farmer bought commodity seeds from a local co-op for a late season soybean crop. The seeds were contaminated with DNA from Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soybeans which made them herbicide resistant. The farmer noticed this but used seeds from this new crop to plant subsequent late season soybean crops.
The farmer, Vernon Bowman, was a Monsanto customer. His early season soybean crop had been sowed with Monsanto seed he had purchased from Monsanto. He had agreed to Monsanto’s licensing agreement. He knew his late season crop was most likely tainted with Monsanto’s Roundup Ready DNA because it was resistant to Roundup yet he saved seeds from this crop to replant anyway. It’s hard to argue against Monsanto on this regardless of how much I’d like to.
What really troubles me about this is that the Obama Administration chose to get involved and support Monsanto when they could have just kept quiet. This on the heels of the Obama Administration signing into law the Monsanto Protection Act makes me wonder.
The Obama administration had told the Supreme Court in a filing that the justices should not concern themselves with the possibility that such rigid patent protectionism could undermine traditional farming techniques, where parts of one harvest are often used to produce the next. The administration said Congress “is better equipped than this court” to consider those concerns.
via Supreme Court Backs Patents on Seeds Self-Replicating Technology | Threat Level | Wired.com.
I have to admit, though. He’s right. Congress is better equipped to resolve this issue. I’d like to see a law passed making pollen in the wild free from any licensure. This might encourage Monsanto and other biotech seed producers to find ways to contain their pollen and prevent GMOs from contaminating our entire food supply.