10.04.11
Links Gates and Allen Corruption, $35 Indian Tablet
Reader’s Picks
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IBM worth more than Microsoft.
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) passed Microsoft Corp. to become the world’s second-most valuable technology company, a reflection of industry changes including the shift away from the personal computer. IBM’s market value rose to $214 billion today, while Microsoft’s fell to $213.2 billion, the first time IBM has exceeded its software rival based on closing prices since 1996
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SeattlePI reports gangsterism around Paul Allen’s corporate security firm.
The former security director for Vulcan Inc. and three security officers who resigned in recent weeks have sued the Seattle firm claiming they were pushed out after they saw unethical or illegal activities by company executives, including Paul Allen. … Among those who’ve filed lawsuits against the Microsoft billionaire’s personal firm are Vulcan’s former director of security – a FBI agent for more than two decades – and a SEAL school-trained Navy corpsman who worked as a contractor in Iraq.
They are all gagged by NDAs they had to sign but should probably be taking the evidence to law enforcement too. Being fired for refusing to sign unethical agreements is not a voluntary resignation.
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Science
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Professional Use of GNU/Linux
Today, I read about an engineer’s use of GNU/Linux for his work. [CAD, FEA and meshing tools listed] … So, there you have it, another profession that can use GNU/Linux satisfactorily
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Hardware
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India’s $35 tablet computer arrives.
The device is described as a 7″ screen with 2GB of memory, wifi and a camera.
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Security
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Defence/Police/Aggression
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Environment/Energy/Wildlife
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A US Court awards the people of Equador an $18 billion against Chevron for the company’s pollution there.
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US makes progress towards alternative fuels.
Alternative fuels work; they are less expensive than gasoline and diesel; they are safe and easy to use; and they can all be made domestically by American workers.
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A long delayed report finds TCE, a common degreaser and US water pollutant, more dangerous than imagined.
EPA finds trichloroethylene causes kidney and liver cancer, lymphoma and other health problems … The risk assessment had been subject to more than a decade of delays. … opposed by the Defense Department, the Energy Department and NASA.
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Finance
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Koch hypocrisy about health care.
a shocking degree of cynicism and an unimaginable betrayal of the ideas they sold to the American public and the rest of the world. Charles Koch and his brother, David, have waged a three-decade campaign to dismantle the American social safety net … In private, Koch expresses confidence in Social Security’s ability to care for a clearly worried Hayek. He and his fellow IHS libertarians repeatedly assure Hayek that his government-funded coverage in the United States would be adequate for his medical needs.
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Anti-Trust
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Microsoft ties to Android device makers: patently complicated
“I go back over the reasoning, as to why a company would do that, you know pay licensing fees to one company for another company’s software,” said Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, a Massachusetts-based tech consulting and research firm. “… what seems to matter is the volume of other business they’ve got with Microsoft. If they do a relatively big Microsoft business, then they’re willing to pay something to smooth the relationship out. … we don’t know the terms for the deals, but you can assume that they’re not bleeding these companies dry on the licensing fees.”
Microsoft has bled everyone dry, Yahoo and HP being the latest and largest victims. Microsoft business is a liability.
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PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying
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Privacy
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Cory Doctorow talks about Facebook.
He compares manipulative practices to tobacco and gambling addiction techniques. He suggest we teach kids to jailbreak and avoid surveillance rather than teach them spying and filtering are normal.
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Civil Rights
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Labor Unions join the Wall Street party.
Over 700 hundred Continental and United pilots, joined by additional pilots from other Air Line Pilots Association carriers, demonstrated in front of Wall Street on September 27, 2011 in New York City. … The New York Transit Workers union, 68,000 strong, have voted to join the protesters on October 5th at 4:00 PM.
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Education Watch
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A Seattle School Board Candidates make an Issue of Gates Foundation meddling but are heavily outspent.
See this and this about the growing blowback
Peter Maier along with the other members of the gang of four who have also received money from donors who financially support Teach for America, Inc. all voted again in unison to allow three TFA, Inc. recruits to teach in Seattle schools without certification. … In the past two years Central Administration awarded itself 113 salary increases, ranging from 21% to 108%. During the same period they cut teachers, guidance counselors and instructional assistants to our most vulnerable students. …
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Jail for teachers who send political e-mails
this seems like piling on by Republicans who are using their newly gained majority status to wage war on teachers’ unions. … The Michigan Education Association, the union that represents most Michigan teachers, certainly isn’t shy about its reaction to State House Bill 4052, which carries the threat of jail and a fine of up to $1,000.
We can be sure the rules do not apply to corrupt school administrators conspiring to privatize public education.
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The Lines of Influence in Gates/Broad Funded Education Hijack, with flow chart.
So this is how it’s been working all over the country, there is the NCTQ that comes in first waving their report around which is similar from state to state, then the faux roots organizations identifying themselves as coalitions and alliances spring up, then you get the unwitting buy-in of real organizations and others considered leaders in the community and then the editorials that are obviously scripted.
Fake is easy to spot but the community has to be organized before it starts or the hijackers steam roll through.
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DRM
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Intellectual Monopolies
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Copyrights
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Don’t publish with IEEE!
Before you read this page, you should understand (1) authors putting papers online to benefit readers, (2) commercial publishers using copyright to limit #1, and (3) authors dedicating papers to the public domain as one way to stop #2. I have a separate page discussing these issues. It turns out that, in response to #3, IEEE is overriding its scientific referees and flat-out refusing to accept public-domain papers.
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Princeton Demands Open Access Publishing
Princeton University has banned researchers from giving the copyright of scholarly articles to journal publishers, except in certain cases where a waiver may be granted. The new rule is part of an Open Access policy aimed at broadening the reach of their scholarly work and encouraging publishers to adjust standard contracts that commonly require exclusive copyright as a condition of publication.
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