Science

Why I Went Back To BASICs And Bought A 32 Year Old Computer

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

atari-800I previously wrote how I fired my corporate pharmacy and went back to basics. In my retrospective longings I decided to “go retro” in many aspects of life.

Some buy old muscle cars, others collect stamps, but I decided to throw out this notion of six month obsolescence of smart phones and other must have contemporary social electronics and return to the renaissance of computer geekdom.  I bought a thirty two year old 8 bit, 6502 based computer–an Atari 800.

An elegant computer, for a more civilized age.

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Criminal law, International, Media, Politics, Religion, Society

Our Decapitations Of Nonbelievers Are Nothing Like Their Decapitations of Nonbelievers: Saudi Arabia To Sue Twitter User Over Comparisons To ISIS

125px-Coat_of_arms_of_Saudi_Arabia.svgFlag_of_the_Islamic_State.svgI recently raised concerns on PBS Newshour about a lawsuit by Israelis who are suing in the United States to force Facebook to take down violent, anti-Jewish sites. While I believe Facebook can and should take down the sites, the use of the government to close such sites raise serious free speech questions in where to draw the line on such censorship or regulation of speech. I noted that such lawsuits like the recent successful action against Twitter by Jewish students are part of a comprehensive attack on free speech that uses such civil actions as a form of speech regulation or retaliation. Saudi Arabia has again stepped forward to make this point more powerfully that I could ever hope to. The Saudi justice ministry has announced that it will sue a Twitter user who compared the death sentence handed down on Friday to a Palestinian poet to the punishments meted out by Islamic State. I have drawn the same obvious comparison in the case of Ashraf Fayadh as have readers on this site and other sites. Rather than stop acting like ISIS (which would require a greater recognition of due process and human rights in the Kingdom), Saudi Arabia is seeking to threaten people to stop them from making the analogy. However, the beheadings of nonbelievers will continue. For many, the Saudi Foreign Ministry sounds like it is putting out the word “if you say we are like ISIS again, we will behead you.”

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Bizarre, Criminal law

“He’s Not A Bad Father”: Milwaukee Police Search For “Money G” Who Has Left 17 Children Without Support

armond-curryWe have previously discussed the dilemma of how to deal with men who continue to have children without child support. The latest case in point is Armond Curry, 36, (known as “Money G Allstar Mack”) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin who is being sought by police after failing to support 17 children. Despite the warrant for arrest and worst deadbeat dad status in Wisconsin, one of the mothers insists “He’s not a bad father, he’s a great father.”

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Media

Furay Into Criminal Stardom: Texas Teenager’s Mugshot Goes Viral

1045440-6-20151110102533-happiest-mugshot-in-america-is-of-19-year-old-alleged-drug-kingpinWe have previously discussed people who simply do not know how to take a mugshot . . . and some who appear long prepared for their close up. Sarah Elizabeth Furay, 19, is one of the photo-ready alleged felons. Dubbed the “happiest mugshot” by the Houston Chronicle, Furay seems like she has been selected for a free exotic cruise rather than a slew of drug charges in College Station, Texas. Indeed, this smiling individual has been described by media as an alleged “drug kingpin.” I hardly see the basis for that distinction but the police certainly hit a treasure trove of drugs and evidence.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Politics, Society

Russia Moves To Shoot Down Turkish History: New Legislation Would Make Denial Of Armenian Genocide A Crime

260px-MarcharmeniansThe Russians appear to be moving in the aftermath of Turkey shooting down one of its fighters: it has targeted Turkish history in a new and abusive criminal law. Russian lawmaker Sergei Mironov said that his Just Russia party has proposed a bill that criminalizes the denial that the 1915 killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces was a “genocide.” I previously wrote about a similar law passed in France as not just a denial of free speech but academic freedom. The law was later struck down. The Russians are moving just weeks after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Switzerland also violation freedom of speech for its criminalization of the denial of the killings of Armenians as genocide.

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Society

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. We are in Durham, North Carolina with my in-laws to celebrate my favorite holiday. We will begin the day as the Turleys have for over 40 years with our Turkey bowl football game, though this will be a smaller affair since we will not be in McLean this year. We will then get to watch the Chicago Bears play the Packers! What else could one wish for? Turkey, family, football. The pilgrims never had it so good.

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Academia, Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Media, Politics, Society

Massachusetts Cheerleader Tweets A Criticism Of Illegal Immigration And School Responds By Banning Her From Her Team

2ECD3FC200000578-3333566-image-m-25_1448461305506We have been discussing the rapid erosion of free speech on our campuses. That trend started a long time ago in our high schools where officials have steadily attacked the exercise of free speech by teenagers. Few however have reached the level of censorship and content-based punishment as Revere High School in Massachusetts. Cheerleader Caley Godino has been banned from her team because she tweeted political comments that her teachers did not like about illegal immigration.

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Bizarre, Criminal law

“Silly Piggies Tricks R For U”: New Jersey Woman Arrested For False Assault Report To Avoid DUI Stop

images-1If the allegations are proven, Hayley Oates, 25, have succeeded in combining virtually every bad trait into one dysfunctional personality. Oates allegedly wanted to drive home drunk but was sober enough to worry about a DUI stop. While most people would opt to take a cab or order coffee, Oates decided to call 911 to report an assault in another location to draw officers away from her route home. She then added stupidity to dishonesty and dipsomania by taunting the police on social media with a message “lmao.. 2 mins later the cop peals out.. silly piggies tricks r for u.” No, dear Oates, tricks are for you . . . it appears that police read social media.

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Criminal law, Lawyering

“Harvard-Trained Lawyer” Arrested For Fraud In Boston

David-Corazza
David Corazza, 47, was the very image of the international jet-setting lawyer with postings highlighting his Harvard education, offices in cities around the world, and even photos with Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler. The problem is that this Harvard-trained lawyer was neither a graduate of Harvard or a lawyer. Indeed, he does not even appear to be named Corazza.

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Criminal law, International, Religion, Society

Afghan Woman Reportedly Dies After Public Flogging After She Is (Wrongly) Accused Of Running Away From Home

ghor_lashingWe have another outrage against women in Afghanistan where Shirin Gul, 26, was reportedly flogged to death in the Shahrak district of Ghor after being accused of running away from home. What is fascinating is how the greatest concern is not that a woman can be publicly flogged but whether the flogging proved too excessive under Islamic law. Recently, a 19-year-old woman was stoned to death in Ghor.

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Criminal law

Chicago Police Officer Charged With Murder In 2014 Shooting Of Black Teenager

jasonvandykemug1Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke has been charged with first-degree murder in his shooting of Laquan McDonald, 17, on Oct. 20, 2014. The videotape below challenges a claim that Van Dyke was defending himself or others in shooting McDonald 16 times. While McDonald was armed with a knife, he was walking away from the officers. There are defenses that can be made but the videotape presents a considerable hurdle for defense counsel.

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Academia, Animals, Bizarre, Criminal law, Free Speech, Media, Politics, Society

Former Indian Chief Justice Causes Near Riot At Academic Conference For Noting That 95% of Beef Traders Are Hindi

Screen Shot 2015-11-24 at 7.21.35 PMAs we have discussed, there seems to be a rising level of intolerance in academia and campuses for opposing views. A recent international conference showed this intolerance in the response to former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court Justice Rajinder Sachar in his speech on “Radical Islamism.” In an effort to address stereotypes and intolerance shown Muslims, Sachar noted that 95 per cent of beef traders in India are Hindi. The reaction was an immediate walk out with some academics demanding that Justice Sachar not be allowed to continue and turning off the lights and fans.

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Academia, Bizarre, Free Speech

University of Ottawa Students Pull The Mat On Yoga Classes As “Cultural Appropriation”

Uottawacoa.svgUstrasana_-_Camel_PoseI have been writing a great deal about my concern over the erosion of free speech on our campuses. Part of the problem is that I sometimes have a difficult time even understanding the objection to some forms of speech or association as in the ever-widening range of things deemed “micro aggressions.” The latest such example is out of the University of Ottawa where students have been told that popular yoga classed have been suspending out of concerns that they involve a form of “cultural appropriation.” Jennifer Scharf, who have been leading the free weekly yoga sessions for eight years, is understandably confused but Staff at the Centre for Students with Disabilities believe that “while yoga is a really great idea and accessible and great for students … there are cultural issues of implication involved in the practice.” Just for the record, the two horses on the university seal are not doing the “Lord of the Dance” yoga position.

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Academia, Media, Society

English Student Complains That He Cannot Go To Classes After Questioning Rape Awareness Sessions

2E9B03A200000578-3329659-image-m-3_1448229137028The growing intolerance shown on campuses continues this week with a new controversy at Warwick University in Coventry, England where second-year George Lawlor, 19, has been publicly harassed and denounced for questioning rape awareness sessions. While universities have embraced the ill-defined concept of “microaggressions” and pursued speech deemed insulting or harassing against different groups, there appears to be little protection for those who espouse opposing views. The Warwick case raises an interesting example of legitimate and less legitimate responses to controversial views. I happen to disagree with Lawlor on critical points, but I am disturbed by reports of his being effectively prevented from going to class.

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Bizarre, Criminal law

Trump Retweets Wildly Inaccurate Figures on The Rate of Blacks Killing Whites

495px-Donald_Trump_by_Gage_SkidmoreThere have been an uptick in stories challenging statements made by presidential candidate Donald Trump such as his account of watching thousands of people cheering the destruction of the Twin Towers in New Jersey. One such factual dispute comes from a retweet on Trump’s account that shows dark-skinned man wearing a bandana, a dark shirt and military-style pants and holding a handgun sideways. The image is accompanied by the rather surprising figures based on an unknown source called “Crime Statistics Bureau – San Francisco” on murders committed by blacks versus whites. It is an example of why retweets can be so dangerous.

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