The Great Separation

Mail Too Much for Dog so Owners Sue.

The Stupid Lawsuit Category - Two retired people are suing the Safeway supermarket company because they claim that their dachshund was partially paralyzed when it jumped up to get the Safeway advertising leaflets placed in the letterbox on the house.

Now, just so that we all understand:

1. The setting=A private home where the injury takes place.
2. The injured party=a duchshund (dog).
3. The plaintiff=The homeowner/petowner.
4. The defendant=Safeway.

Ananova™ reports the claim:

Mr Musselwhite, whose pet was injured in December 2001, said his claim was for vet's bills and legal expenses. He said on the day of the incident he found Muffin, now seven-and-a-half years old, on the floor of the hallway paralysed from the shoulders downwards.

There were teeth marks on the leaflets protruding through the letterbox, and Muffin later underwent surgery to have a disc removed, he said.

Safeway has answered in a statement:

"We do not consider there to be any liability on the part of Safeway. The leaflet was actually delivered by the National Leaflet Co, but regardless, we feel what has happened to Muffin [the dog] was merely an unfortunate incident for which no party can be held responsible.

"Apart from the liability issue, there is also question of causation - Mr Musselwhite would need to prove that the injury was caused in the manner alleged. In all circumstances, we firmly resisted any payment and advised any legal action against the company will be strenuously defended."

And the frivolous lawsuits continue: Woman Files $10M Suit Vs. Starbucks: Alleges she suffered 'severe burns' from coffee. (Hat tip to Jim Romensko)

'Smart Bomb' for Cancer.

Cool Medical News - Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends weblog has some very cool news on the medical war against the disease of cancer.

Roland writes:

Two weeks ago, I told you about a radical new idea, "Fighting Cancer With Common Cold?".... researchers at the Weizmann Institute, in Israel, came with a similar idea: selectively kill cancer-infested cells while leaving the healthy ones untouched. The chemical they used, the allicin, gives garlic its aroma and flavor. It gives an all-new meaning to garlic as protecting you from the vampires.

Allicin was known for a long time, but until now, it was unstable, and toxic to every kinds of cells.

Swing by for a complete read. He has a diagram showing how it is accomplished.

Electronic Blackmailers Holding Office Workers Captive.

Criminal Evolution - Wired has a Reuters story about a newer form of blackmail in Europe where criminals are sending out eMail to office workers and university folk that claims their computer has been compromised. If the worker doesn't pay up then the criminal claims they will unload a virus that will either wipe their system clean or fill it with child pornography.

The article reports:

"They prey on the nice secretary who wouldn't do anything wrong," a British detective specializing in cyber-crime told Reuters. "When she gets one of these e-mails she thinks 'Oh, my goodness what am I going to do?' So she puts it on her credit card and transfers the funds to the (suspect's online bank) account and hopes it goes away."

The officer advised against cooperating with the fraudsters. "If a person pays up, say it's just 20 euros, then they have identified a soft target. They may come back for more, next time demanding more money."

I wonder how long it will take before this criminal fraud starts hitting home computer mailboxes?

Electronic Voting Software Company Hacked.

Nothing is Fraud-Proof - Paul Festa for CNET News.com is reporting that the FBI is looking into a hack attack against VoteHere, a company in Washington that according to their website,

...provides election verification for electronic voting systems, giving you provable end-to-end election confidence.

Festa writes:

VoteHere has tentatively linked the suspect to a number of advocacy groups critical of electronic voting systems. The company declined to identify the suspect or the groups, again citing the investigation.

The FBI said the case was being handled by a federal and local multi-agency group called the Northwest Cybercrime Task Force. No suspects have been charged yet in the case.

It just doesn't matter what kind of voting system we have. All of them are capable of compromise.

Col. Allen B. West FrontPage Magazine's Man of the Year.

It's Something - Here's a bit of an update on Col. West.

FrontPage Magazine has declared him man of the year stating:

FrontPage Magazine’s Man of the Year has shown true courage, compassion and heroism in the face of battle – and unlike the worthies named above [Bush, Blair, Franks, Schwarzenegger, and Kingston], he has suffered for his good deeds rather than received commendation. He has been on the frontlines of the War on Terror in the heart of the Iraqi resistance. He undertook extraordinary measures to safeguard the lives of his men, to protect Americans under attack by bloodthirsty Islamist gangleaders. Yet instead of reward he has been tested by fire, having been dishonored by the very military he served so effectively for the last 20 years of his life. This irresponsible punishing of someone who should be awarded for his bravery and patriotism endangers the American people. For that reason, we seek to honor Col. Allen B. West.

Running a Marathon Underground.

Watch out for that Stalagmite! - A Belgian teacher can now claim to be the first ever winner of the first ever cave marathon.

That's right, a cave marathon.

Marc Papanikitas ran a little more than twenty-five miles underground with over one-hundred fellow runners in the caves of Valkenburg.

Ananova™ reports that his time was 2:40:39.

Strangely enough, the caverns are normally used for the growing of mushrooms. Which makes me wonder if this is how the mushroom farmers seed the cavern with mushroom spores?

They could just fill a section with spores on the floor and as the runners pass through they pick up spores and carry them throughout the caverns. Kind of puts a new spin on Athletes Foot.

Make the Bible a Text Book for Public Schools.

Is that a Lead Balloon? - Here's a head's up from WorldNetDaily™: California citizens are trying to get a ballot initiative moving that would make the King James Bible a text book in public schools for grades 1 through 12.

WND reports:

The proposal makes the case that the King James Bible of 1611 is "one of the supreme achievements of the English Renaissance, and is rightly regarded as one of the most influential books in the history of English civilization, which has served as a model of writing for generations of English-speaking people, and is an acclaimed literary work of great historic importance."

Well, you really can't deny its importance in history.

The group's website, King James Bible Textbook Initiative, has a full copy of their proposal. Here's another snippet from the initiative:

This statute shall be interpreted and applied consistent with these statements by the United States Supreme Court: "[I]ntegrated into the school curriculum, where the Bible may constitutionally be used in an appropriate study of history, civilization, ethics, comparative religion, or the like." (Stone vs. Graham, 449 U.S. 39 (1980)), and, "It certainly may be said that the Bible is worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities. Nothing we have said here indicates that such study of the Bible or of religion, when presented objectively as part of a secular program of education, may not be effected consistently with the First Amendment." (School District of Abington Township vs. Schempp, 374 U.S. 225 (1963)).

I like it, but I doubt it will make it.

The Great Separation continues.

James Zogby Mouthing Treasonous Words to Saudis?

Where is the Treason line? - WorldNetDaily™ has a surprising article on James Zogby, the American fellow that founded and is current president of the Arab American Institute. You've probably seen him on TV doing commentator junkets on the 24-hour news stations. He's not to be confused with John Zogby of the Zogby Poll.

Anyway, this James Zogby has been over in Saudi Arabia telling the Arab media that the United States Government has been spinning and manipulating and basically ordering all the news that we are hearing, seeing, and reading in regard to Iraq and Afghanistan.

WND reports:

In a piece titled, "How U.S. Manipulates News to Suit Its Interests," Zogby charged the American press has deceived the public into believing Iraq was a threat and linked with international terrorism.

James Zogby has also told the Arab media that the United States citizens, despite this purported spin, still remain divided on the issue.

Of course my question still remains: Doesn't this qualify as treasonous speech? Isn't he attempting to undermine the US war on terrorisism with an attempt to encourage and justify the ideals and fanaticism of some in the Arab world?

Whacko Jacko Gets $1millon for CBS Interview.

How Much Do You Pay for Interviews? - What's the going rate for a good whacko interview today?

OK, ok. I know, like me you are probably sick and tired of Michael Jackson news. So I won't bother with the details.

But everyone should know that CBS payed Jacko one million dollars.

Sharon Waxman for The New York Times reports:

Michael Jackson struck a deal with CBS to be paid in effect an additional $1 million for both an entertainment special to be broadcast on Friday and his interview on "60 Minutes" this past Sunday, part of yearlong negotiations between CBS and Mr. Jackson, a business partner of his said on Tuesday.

The CBS News division is of course denying that they have payed for an interview saying that it was the entertainment division of CBS that payed Jacko and worked out the deal for the interview.

But that's kind of like me saying I didn't pay for the movie ticket to Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, because the money came out of my front pocket instead of my back pocket.

New Scientific Theory for the Ice Age.

Theories Abound...and abound... and abound... - Scientists have discovered yet another theory for global cooling and the disastrous Ice Age that hit life some supposed 440 million years ago; gamma-ray burst, otherwise known as a star exploding in close proximity.

Alea Smith writing for The Lawrence Journal-World reports:

Researchers now believe a cosmic explosion 440 million years ago may have decimated life on Earth.

Kansas University scientists are attracting international attention with their research into the possibility a massive gamma ray explosion caused an ice age that wiped out much of the life on Earth.

The huge doses of gamma rays would have killed much of the life of the earth which is hypothesized to have occupied the oceans. The life most effected by the initial bursts would have been in the shallow waters. It is also theorized that extended exposure to gamma rays would have destroyed much of the ozone layer which would lead to global cooling and dreaded acid rain.

Thankfully, it is also theorized that this only happens every billion years. So we can sleep at night with out worrying too much.