Bizarre

A True Symbiotic Business Relationship

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

snowboarding-blueMost of the time, when one reads phrases such as “maintain a symbiotic business relationship” it usually harks of the tired and boring corporate double-speak germinating out of conference rooms stuffed with marketing and P.R. wonks. But in clicking through some old image archives I rediscovered an old gem.

What follows is a photo that truly embodies symbiosis in business. Whether it was by design, happenstance, or from my point of view serendipity, I remembered still almost laughing when I captured this irony.
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Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Politics, Religion, Society, Supreme Court

County Clerk Who Refuses To Issue Marriage License To Gay Couple Says She Will Remain In Jail, So Be It.

By Darren Smith Weekend Contributor

kim-davis-mugshotAfter the Rowan County Kentucky Clerk, Democrat Kim Davis, defied a court order to issue gay couples marriage licenses, and was subsequently arrested by the U.S. Marshal’s Service and jailed, her husband stated that she chose to remain in jail rather than compromise her religious beliefs by performing her statutory duty. Her contempt of court ruling will stand until she resumes issuing such licenses and thus in jail she shall remain.

And so it should.

The issue is not the content of her religious beliefs that are on trial. It is that of failure to perform her duty and denial of a civil right as mandated by the Supreme Court. For this reason she has two choices: being in contempt indefinitely; or resigning her position. For the near term it is as simple as that. If she continues her defiance, a third party must step up, show some leadership, and make the decision for her by ejecting her from office.
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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Courts, Free Speech

Citizen Cited For Displaying “Cops Ahead” Sign Has His Day In Court

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

From screen shot: KOMO News
From screen shot: KOMO News

Last June we reported a rather upsetting incident involving the Seattle Police Department Motor Traffic Unit. Citizen Daniel Gehlke saw motorcycle officers set up near the intersection of 14th Avenue South and South Washington and begin enforcing stop sign and speed laws. Mr. Gehlke then obtained a Rubbermaid container lid and wrote thereon the words “COPS AHEAD! Stop at sign and light!” He stood nearby the intersection displaying the lid to warn drivers of the traffic unit’s presence and recommend compliance with the law.

Unfortunately for Mr. Gehlke the traffic unit took exception to this and cited him under a Seattle Municipal Ordinance making the display of a sign “bearing any such words as ‘danger,’ ‘stop,’ ‘slow,’” and more… [with] Directions likely to be construed as giving warning to or regulating traffic.” In the view of your author this was a highly suspect and chippy charge, and is only a minimally veiled pretext to retaliate against the citizen holding up the sign and thereby thwarting the number of tickets to be issued.

The Motor Unit officer issued Mr. Gehlke a notice of infraction having a $138.00 penalty. He then altered the sign to remove some of the words and continued his speech.  Now, Gehlke had his day in court.
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Science

G Data Software Reports Huge Increase In Malware From Several Chinese Sourced Android Phones

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

gdata-logoAccording to anti-virus and security provider G Data, over one million malware samples have been detected on several Chinese made mobile devices and smart phones. The company does not believe the malicious software was installed by manufacturers of the phones, but rather middlemen entities who distribute or sell the devices on a wholesale basis.

Part of the reason for this stems from unscrupulous middlemen wanting to earn additional revenue beyond wholesaling. They instead install the Android malware for a fee or they derive revenue from spyware providing individual information on the phones’ usage which can be sold to others wishing to retrieve it for other uses. It can also serve unwanted adware to the user. The potential for data breaches affecting government, corporate, and individual users is worrying
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Bizarre, Politics, Science

Politics 405: Yes, You Can Filibuster With One Sentence

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

titin-3d-structureMany politicians are often a detriment to scientific advancement. Now, politicians can use science to the detriment of advancing legislation…using of course a most titanic word. It shows great promise in the realm of filibusters and gridlock. 

The magic word is Titin.

Titin /ˈtaɪtɪn/, also known as connectin, is a protein that, in humans, is encoded by the TTN gene. Titin is a giant protein, greater than 1 µm in length, that functions as a molecular spring which is responsible for the passive elasticity of muscle. It is composed of 244 individually folded protein domains connected by unstructured peptide sequences. How can this be a useful tool of politicians? It is only a matter of expansion of Titin to its full chemical name that presents the opportunity to quash most debate. A typical manifestation of what can become a powerful English sentence using this word might be concatenated as follows:

“[Full chemical name for titin], [full chemical name for titin], parting is such sorrow, that I shall say [full chemical name for titin] till it be morrow.”

Of course, one could speak it slowly for “easier understanding” and repeating this until collapse.

What is [Full chemical name for titin]? Well for the purpose of brevity the full chemical name of the human canonical form of titin is most easily described as having 189,819 letters: over 2,372 lines of typing.  It is renowned for being the longest scientific word in the English. Expanding the sentence in the above paragraph using the full chemical name would constitute over half a million letters, and well suited for congressional usage. Prepare yourself, the word is quite a doozy.
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Criminal law

Manhunt Continues For Killers Of Illinois Officer While Nanny Is Arrested For False Report

150901-charles-joseph-gliniewicz-mug-529p_887965c3b55a9c546e86ec0fa7dacd28.nbcnews-ux-2880-1000The manhunt continues for the killers of a much loved and respected officer, 30-year-veteran Lt. Joseph Gliniewicz. The officer from Fox Lake was a married father of four boys and nicknamed “G.I. Joe,” for his toughness and professionalism. The police are searching for two white men and one black man who Gliniewicz described shortly before his death. He was found lying in a marshy area, stripped of his weapon and pepper spray. The weapon was later found. In another development, a woman has been charged with giving police a false report that may have cost them precious time and manpower in looking for the murderers of Gliniewicz.

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Criminal law

Suffolk County Police Accused Of Tackling Citizens Videotaping Arrest Scene and Attempting To Delete His Videotape

Screen Shot 2015-09-04 at 8.25.31 AMThere is another disturbing account of police reacting abusively to citizens attempting to videotape them in public in an Associated Press account out of Hauppauge, New York. Thomas Demint began filming police who were arresting two of his friends and allegedly body slammed their mother. Dement says that he was tackled by police who took away his smartphone and erased the video. However, they failed to delete the right one. The actual video is below and shows the eight minute encounter. The videotape itself shows how these situations are highly explosive and came be seen from both the perspectives of the police and the citizens in the use of force, including whether the person videotaping was getting too close. The alleged attempted deletion however is another matter entirely.

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Bizarre, Criminal law

Massachusetts Police Call Off Massive Manhunt After Concluding That Officer Shot Up His Own Cruiser

qQOmNNto_400x400The manhunt is over in Massachusetts for the man who shot up the cruiser of a rookie Millis police officer. It appears, according to police, that it was the officer himself. The police have refused to identified the 27-year-old officer but confirmed that the officer was found to be the one who shot up the car and will likely be fired (I would hope so) and face criminal charges.

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Academia, Bizarre, Criminal law, International, Media, Religion, Society

Israeli Construction Company Irreparably Damaged 1,800 Year Old Sarcophagus In Effort To Hide Discovery Of Antiquities

250px-Ask_SarcopagThe world has stood appalled by the destruction of Muslim extremists in ISIS of ancient Syrian architecture and Christian tombs, including continuing demolitions revealed this week with the destruction of the famed tower tombs. A construction company in Israel however shows that you do not have to be a religious fanatic to show the same ignorance and destruction. In this case it was allegedly a case of blind greed rather than blind hate. The unnamed company was told that it could build in the sensitive area of Ashkelon where antiquities are often found (like this earlier sarcophagus) so long as they proceed carefully and report any findings (and stop work when any findings are made). The company allegedly found the beautiful 1,800 year old sarcophagus but decided to hide it rather than stop work. In the process of yanking it out of the ground with a tractor and hiding it under sheet metal, the invaluable piece was irreparably damaged. (Since the photographer for the Israel Antiquities Authority has copyrighted the photos, a curious claim for a government agency, we cannot post the pictures which can be seen here It is an ironic twist, the IAA is objecting to the damage to a historic piece that belongs to all humanity but then claims copyright to the images to ostensibly require anyone who wants to use the image to get its permission)

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Politics

Former Clinton Aide To Invoke The Fifth Amendment In Refusing To Testify On Email Scandal

170px-Msc2011_dett-clinton_029816-28The former aide that helped set up the private email server used by Hillary Rodham Clinton will, according to the New York Times, invoke his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent to avoid self-incrimination before the congressional committee investigating the matter. Bryan Pagliano worked for Clinton in her failed presidential campaign in 2008. He was then brought into the State Department and helped her create a server separate from the secured State Department system so she could control her own emails. If this news was not bad enough, the Washington Post is reporting that Clinton herself wrote and transmitted classified emails on her unsecured server. If that is not bad enough, Fox News is reporting that Clinton staff members may have changed classified markings on documents to hide their classified status.

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International, Military, Politics, Society, Uncategorized

Taliban Reportedly Holds Huge Meeting To Select New Leader . . . in Pakistan

Flag_of_Taliban.svgFlag_of_PakistanPakistan continues to defy the United States and the Western world in harboring Taliban fighters and lying publicly about the collusion of its intelligence services with the terrorist organization. There is no greater example that a meeting of hundreds of Taliban leaders to select their new leader. That would seem an ideal time for an attack by the United States and Afghanistan, but the meeting is being held in Pakistan and reportedly with the knowledge of the Pakistani government. The “Unity shura” will be brought to the Taliban by the country that we have given billions of dollars to in the war on terror.

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Academia, Bizarre, Media, Military, Politics, Religion, Society

West Point Law Professor Resigns In Wake Of Controversy Over Article On Combatting “Pernicious Pacifism”

635767224944016792-f40d384b-0872-441b-bcf9-4e11d11f8955-bestSizeAvailableThere is a truly bizarre story this week involving a former Indiana University law professor who resigned from West Point Military Academy’s law department as a disturbing article was published where he denounces other scholars who exhibit “pernicious pacifism” as aiding and abetting terrorists. The case raises free speech and academic freedom issues in handling controversial writings of academics. However, it also raises the poor standards for selecting faculty at West Point, a concern that I have had in the past with regard to its legal studies as well as those at other military educational programs. Not only does Bradford have extremist and disturbing views but he has been previously accused of exaggerating his credentials.

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Academia, Science, Society

Italian Study Finds Two-Thirds of People With Gluten Sensitivity Had No Negative Effects From Digesting Gluten

290px-Gluten_SourcesThere has continued to be a great debate over the rising number of people claiming to be gluten sensitive with some experts claiming the trend is based on social rather than scientific sources. Now a study in Italy has found that two-thirds of people claiming gluten sensitivity experiences no adverse side effects when they digested gluten.

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