10 Oct 09 Credit Card Skimming – Mcdonalds the primary target?
As any Perth resident would know, news spreads like wild fire.. Well there has been alot of recent discussion regarding credit card skimming and the increasing frequency of such activities in Perth. It seems that from a few forums and references i have found the main culprit seems to be McDonalds.
Anyway here are some of the forums i found referring to the problem.
Perth Street Bikes – ATM fraud
Tags: card skimming, credit card, Mcdonalds, Mcdonalds card skimming
07 Jul 09 What do you want?
Since there have been several comments, since I last checked the site. What do you the people want? Let us know and we will write what you want to hear or on topics that interest you!
Thanks
Admin
22 May 09 No Agenda for 21 – 24 delayed… the reason?
I am a huge fan of No Agenda, a podcast featuring John C Dvorak and Adam Curry which covers a diverse range of topics from a very interesting perspective.
Unfortunately Adam cancelled No Agenda this week due to some personal difficulties, we can only speculate as to what happened. Adam we wish you the best and hopefully you are able to overcome these difficulties soon. Good Luck.
Although i debated posting this you will find them elsewhere anyway so here are some links which discuss Adams issue:
Gossip magazine talks about Adam’s divorce
Adam’s twitter message RE:Love
No Agenda discussion on Dvorak.org
Dvorak talks briefly about Adam on Tech 5
Dvorak on twitter: talks about the cancellation of No Agenda for this week
No Agenda forums discuss cancelled show
Wiki on Micky Hoogendijk(note the last line)
Tags: adam curry, divorce, john c dvorak, links, micky hoogendijk, no agenda
21 May 09 Fat people are killing the planet!
Al Gore: an environmental hazard.
LONDON (Reuters) – Overweight people eat more than thin people and are more likely to travel by car, making excess body weight doubly bad for the environment, according to a study from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
“When it comes to food consumption, moving about in a heavy body is like driving around in a gas guzzler,” and food production is a major source of greenhouse gases, researchers Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts wrote in their study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
“We need to be doing a lot more to reverse the global trend toward fatness, and recognize it as a key factor in the battle to reduce (carbon) emissions and slow climate change,” the British scientists said.
Tags: al gore, climate change, environment, global warming
19 May 09 Sportzstats: Ugly parenting in the palm of your hand
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txWCPNuJdzs
photo by Latente as shown at http://www.flickr.com/photos/e-coli/2541626690/
I saw an ad for something called “Sportzstats” on TV today. Essentially, Sportzstats are handheld statistics counter that have been produced for a variety of sports so that parents can keep track of their kids’ statistics.
My immediate thought was – why?
All my memories of Tee-Ball as a child involve nothing of my tallies of home runs, batting averages and RBIs, and everything of the mildly-autistic weirdo in my team falling asleep at centre field. Surely something like this entirely misses the point of junior sports? Said sports are nowhere near important enough to record statistics for – have any of you ever seen an under-11’s hockey game? It’s like a cutlass fight between opposing forces of gibbons who’ve been heavily sedated, woken up, injected with noradrenaline, kicked in the testicles and then let loose on a local reserve. The basic tenets of underage sports have always been participation, enjoyment and merciless taunting of the uncoordinated and socially incapable amongst us. This continual erosion of the distincition between childhood and adulthood truly sickens me.
Further to this, the Sportzstats allows parents to extend the “living vicariously through my idiot child” experience by uploading their stats onto the internet for others to see. God knows I’ve been kept in the dark long enough about what Jayden McTaggart’s contested possession count was like in the 2008 Metro-West U/9 grand final. Can you imagine the amount of deadbeat parents who will be clamouring to show everyone at the office just how dominant their lummox son was in the lineouts at the weekend? Or the scores of poor co-workers who will have to make some passable attempt at seeming impressed?
If these pathetic dullards insist on the continued (and unnecessary) exhibition of the minutiae of their childrens lives, they could at least have the sense of fairness to share some of their less desirable traits too. Perhaps a weekly report on the number of times their kid wet the bed? A bi-annual audit of every time their son has been caught applying his mum’s rouge? Repeated updates on every instance of the child screaming “she’s not my mum and I don’t want to stay here on the weekends any more!”?
I think the concept isn’t entirely without merit, however; I’ve refined it somewhat to create a device I like to call “BeatStatz.” Basically, every time the child witnesses an act of spousal abuse, it is tabulated and then forwarded to the local police via an alarm that plays an excerpt of Suzanne Vega’s “Luka.” Moronic parents can then regale their cellmates with tales of how their 8 year-old is going to be the next James Hird (once he gets over the eczema and love of theatre.)
Tags: parents, sport, sportszstats, statistics
19 May 09 Man tried to hire prostitute for his 14 year old son
photo by bixentro as found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bixentro/320504200/
LONDON (Reuters) – A man who tried to hire a prostitute to take his 14-year-old son’s virginity as a present was spared jail by a court on Friday.
The Polish national took the boy out in his car and allowed him to pick out the prostitute, who was standing at the side of the road in the red-light district of Nottingham.
But the 42-year-old father was arrested because the teenager had chosen an undercover police officer, Nottingham Crown Court heard.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was handed a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for a year, after he admitted a charge of trying to solicit a woman to have sex with a child, the Press Association reported.
The court heard that the father, who came to Britain eight years ago, was arrested last July during an undercover operation by the city’s vice squad.
Prosecutor Adrian Harris said the man and his son had approached the undercover officer whose code name was Sarah and beckoned her over .
He asked “Sarah” how much it would cost for her to have sex with his son and they agreed on a 20 pound fee. However, when the car pulled over, the man was arrested by plainclothes police officers.
“The boy said that they had driven past the girl and his dad pointed to her and said ‘will she do?’” Harris said.
“He said ‘yes’ and they had turned round. He said his dad did this because he was still a virgin and he was taking care of that for him.”
Judge Jonathan Teare said he would spare the father jail because of his excellent character and that he believed he did not mean any harm to his son.
“You have a duty of care to your son and that is to look after his moral welfare, not as you might think to break him in to the ways of sex through a prostitute,” he said.
The court was told the boy would continue to live with his father.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Steve Addison)
Tags: arrested, London, Nottingham, police, prostitute, Reuters, sex
19 May 09 Woman beaten up over asparagus prices
photo by goosegrease as shown at http://www.flickr.com/photos/goosegrease/2744261497/
BERLIN (Reuters) – German police are searching for a motorist who beat a 24-year-old woman selling white asparagus because he was upset about her asking price for the coveted springtime vegetable, police said on Monday.
The prices for white asparagus, sometimes called “edible ivory” in Germany, fluctuate wildly during the short springtime season, peaking early in the season at 10 euros per kilo.
The man screamed at the woman that her asparagus was overpriced. He then punched her in the face and threatened to unleash his attack dog at her. She fled and called police.
“The motorist said her prices were totally over the top,” said Dietmar Keck, police spokesman in the Havelland district west of Berlin, without saying how much she was asking.
Prices for asparagus now range from 1 to 5 euros per kilo, he said. Some 55,000 tons valued at 175 million euros are harvested annually.
(Writing by Jacob Comenetz; Editing by Louise Ireland)
19 May 09 House panel to begin debating climate change bill
photo by Jeff Belmonte as shown at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffbelmonte/10765458/
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers were set on Tuesday to begin wrangling over a climate change bill aimed at reducing carbon dioxide and other pollutants with Republicans objecting that the legislation would burden the economy with higher energy costs.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee was digging in for several days of arduous debate over the Democrats’ 932-page bill. Chairman Henry Waxman has predicted his panel will have enough Democratic support for approval this week.
But first, Republicans are expected to try to surgically remove the heart of the proposal — the establishment of a “cap and trade” system that would gradually reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that utilities, steelmakers, oil refineries and other companies could emit.
President Barack Obama has put climate control legislation at the top of his agenda and would like to see significant progress by December, when world leaders meet in Copenhagen to consider coordinated steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“Our economy is suffering, we are squandering billions of dollars to feed our addiction on foreign oil and our environment is overheating,” Waxman said during legislator’s opening statements on the bill on Monday.
With its mandate to reduce emissions 17 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels, Waxman said the bill would shore up the U.S. economy by encouraging new high-tech jobs while avoiding the ecological disasters linked to global warming.
Republicans predicted energy costs would skyrocket under the bill and they have reportedly prepared hundreds of amendments to try to modify the Democratic bill.
Joe Barton, the senior Republican on the committee, warned Waxman: “You are about to embark on an episode of putting the entire American economy, which is the world’s largest, through an absolute economic wringer.”
Even so, with a 36-23 majority in the committee, Democrats are likely to defeat Republicans’ moves to kill cap and trade.
Under cap and trade, an ever-decreasing number of carbon pollution permits would be available and companies that still lack the technology to meet the lower pollution requirements could buy more permits from companies that no longer need their full quotas.
(Editing by Chris Wilson)
Tags: Barack Obama, emissions, Energy, environment, overhearting, Republicans, Reuters, Washinton
19 May 09 A great way to get rid of short dated Tamiflu..
It is almost three years since we faced the hysteria of an avian flu epidemic, when governments bought billions of dollars of Tamiflu – the same anti-viral now being promoted to combat a supposed swine flu pandemic. The shelf life of Tamiflu also happens to be three years.
The World Health Organization has, at the time of writing, increased its threat level to five, which means governments can activate their pandemic plans – and start handing out Tamiflu drugs.
This is extremely convenient for governments that would have very soon have to dispose of billions of dollars of Tamiflu stock, which they bought to counter avian flu, or H5N1. The US government ordered 20 million doses, costing $2bn, in October, 2005, and around that time the UK government ordered 14.6 million doses. Tamiflu’s manufacturer, Roche, has confirmed that the shelf life of its anti-viral is three years.
England’s chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson has said that the UK is “well prepared” to counter swine flu – but only because it was well prepared to counter an avian flu pandemic that never happened.
The other worry is when, or if, medicine comes up with a specific anti-viral for swine flu. The last time they did – when we had the last swine flu scare in 1976 – health officials rushed through a vaccination programme that resulted in 1 out of 100,000 vaccinated Americans developing Guillain-Barre paralysis. The US government paid out $93 million in compensation.
Those of us who quaked in fear from the expected SARS epidemic and shook from the anticipated avian flu pandemic may feel they’ve been here before. Despite the dire warnings, at the time of writing just 2,600 cases of swine flu have been confirmed or suspected around the world , and there have been 160 deaths, and not all of these may turn out to be caused by swine flu. More people die on UK roads every month.
The Origial article can be found here!
Additionally there is any interesting document published by Roche themselves discussing short dated Tamaflu stocks back in August 2008.
Now whilst im not a great believer in conspiracies I do believe that large companies and the government will go to great measures, regardless of the morality of their actions to make a profit. If you still think the government is looking out for your best interests you should check out Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins.
17 May 09 Exam cheaters jailed on state secret charges
photo by ccarlstead as found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/cristic/359572656/
BEIJING (Reuters) – Eight Chinese who used high-tech communications equipment, including mobile phones and wireless earpieces, to help their children cheat at university entrance exams have been jailed on state secret charges, local media said.
The eight, from the wealthy eastern province of Zhejiang, got together in 2007 to plot how to help their children as “they knew their achievements were not ideal,” the official Legal Daily said.
One of the parents hired university students to provide answers which were sent to the children via wireless earphones while they were in the exam room, the report said.
But their ruse was discovered after police detected “abnormal radio signals” near the school, the newspaper said.
The parents were given jail terms ranging from six months to three years after being found guilty of illegally obtaining state secrets, it added, without saying what happened to their children.
China’s college entrance exams, or “gaokao,” are fiercely competitive tests.
Stories of cheating surface every year, despite stiff penalties. Students reportedly pay for leaked exam papers, smuggle in mobile phones and electronic dictionaries, or pay others to take the exam for them.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Sugita Katyal)
Tags: Beijing, cheating, China, college, communications, Reuters, university, Zhejiang
