Ars TechnicaIn a turn of events that isnt terribly surprising, a bill to allow Tesla Motors to sell cars directly to consumers in Texas has failed to make it to the floor, with various state representatives offering excuses about not wanting to "piss off all the auto dealers."
The Lone Star States notoriously anti-Tesla stanceone of the strongest in the nationis in many ways the direct legacy of powerful lawmaker-turned-lobbyist Gene Fondren, who spent much of his life ensuring that the Texas Automobile Dealers Associations wishes were railroaded through the Texas legislature.
That legacy is alive and well, with Texas lawmakers refusing to pass bills in 2013 and again in 2015 to allow Tesla to sell to consumers. Per the states franchise laws, auto manufacturers like Tesla are only allowed to sell cars to independent third-party dealers. These laws were originally intended to protect consumers against the possibility of automakers colluding on pricing; today, though, they function as protectionist shields for the entrenched political interests of car dealers and their powerful state- and nationwide lobbyist organizations.
The anti-Tesla sentiment didnt stop Texas from attempting to snag the contracts for Tesla Motors upcoming "Gigafactory," the multibillion dollar battery factory that Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk eventually chose to build in Reno, Nevada.
Speaking of Elon Muskin a stunning display of total ignorance, Texas state representative Senfronia Thompson (a Democrat representing House District 141) had this to say about the bills failure: "I can appreciate Tesla wanting to sell cars, but I think it would have been wiser if Mr. Tesla had sat down with the car dealers first."
Apparently being even minimally familiar with the matters one legislates isnt a requirement to serve in the Texas legislature. However, Thompson did receive many thousands in campaign contributions from the Texas Automobile Dealers Association, so perhaps shes just doing what shes told.
The irony here is that, stupid lawmakers or not, it's still not particularly difficult for Texas residents to buy a Tesla automobilethe process is roughly the same as buying any other car out-of-state, and Tesla Motors will even deliver the vehicle to the customer's house. The only caveats are that the sale can't be done in a Tesla dealership in Texas (they're called "galleries" to emphasize that they're not stores), and the full amount of sales tax must be paid up front instead of rolled into the car's financing.
Ars TechnicaOn Wednesday, a Canadian 17-year-old pleaded guilty to 23 charges relating to swatting calls and other false police reports, many of which had targeted his online opponents in the video game League of Legends.
According to a lengthy report by Canadian publication Tri-City News, the prosecution's case against the Coquitlam, British Columbia teenager asserted that the teen (whose name wasn't released due to his age) targeted "mostly young, female gamers" who declined or ignored his friend requests on LoL and Twitter.
The most notable example was an University of Arizona in Tucson college student who'd dropped out after she and her family members had been victimized by repeated swatting calls (including this nearly simultaneous attack on both the woman and her parents), financial information theft, "text bombs," false cell phone service orders, and intrusions into her e-mail and Twitter accounts. According to prosecutors, the months of attacks against this woman began on September 16 when the teen called Tucson police as if he were at her address, "claiming he had shot his parents with an AR15 rifle, had bombs, and would kill the police if he saw any marked vehicles," the report stated.
The report also mentioned an incident on December 1 in which the teenager posted an eight-hour video stream of himself making fake bomb and ransom threats to various police stations. Ars was able to locate an archive of this video which included the same Grove City, Ohio police call described in the Tri-City News report. In that call, which he made using Google Voice, he described a hostage situation in which he had bound and gagged a family, was (again) wielding an AR15, had planted "six bombs" around their home, and demanded a $20,000 ransom.
New meaning of the word obnoxious
The user, who identified himself in the video as a member of Lizard Squad and went by the handles "obnoxious" and "internetjesusob," was arrested eight days later in his hometown of Coquitlam. That arrest, according to a Polk County Sheriff's Office press release, came after local authorities were tipped off about two fake bomb threats he'd called into an Orlando-area high school in September and Octoberwhich he'd called in after telling his "juvenile" victim, "I am going to swat your school."
The case against this swatting teen was stacked with even more stories of false reports, including him admitting to having called in a 2013 bomb threat to Disneyland that targeted its Space Mountain ride. The attacks described in the Tri-City News report targeted victims who resided almost exclusively in the United States, including other swatting and financial fraud incidents in Minnesota, California, and Utah.
The report described the teen's apparently remorseless appearance at the Wednesday hearing: "Wearing a sweatsuit, no shoes and shackles on his ankles, the teen smirked but showed little emotion during the proceeding, though often flipped his hair, drummed his fingers on his knees or pumped his leg quickly." He will return to the same Coquitlam court on June 29 for sentencing.
http://www.msnewsnow.com/story/2912...procedures-abused-children?clienttype=genericACKSONVILLE, FL (WJXTCNN) - It's a sound no parent likes to hear: a child screaming out of fear and possibly pain from the dentist's chair.
Going to the dentist is a rite of passage, of sorts, but what's alleged to have happened at the hands of 78-year-old Dr. Howard Schneider was not.
For the past three weeks, there have been daily protests outside his practice. One parent was so angry, she attacked him outside his office.
Schneider said he's done nothing wrong, but, on Friday, he stepped down from practicing dentistry, according to the Associated Press.
The firestorm started after Brandi Motley wrote about the day she took to her 6-year-old daughter, Bri'el, to Schneider to have one tooth pulled.
On the day of surgery in December 2014, Motley said she was not allowed to sit with her daughter.
"The nurse suggested that it's best - that kids act better when parents aren't in the room. So they said we don't like parents back here for the procedures," she said.
Motley said she sat in the waiting room for three hours until the waiting turned to worrying.
"Finally, the nurse came and got me and she said there had been an incident," Brandi Motley said. "(Bri'el) was hyperventilating. She had marks all over her, blood all over her."
Angry and unable to get an clear explanation of what had happened, Motley says she and Bri'el left to rush to an emergency room.
"In the parking lot, she takes her gauze out, and I notice that all of her teeth were gone," Motley said.
She said Schneider pulled seven teeth.
According to her mom, Bri'el said Schneider hit and choked her, so she called police - twice. Although department records indicate officers responded and according to police logs one wrote a report, Jacksonville Sheriff's office told CNN "no report was written on this incident."
Initially, no attorney would take her case.
"That's when I decided to put her pictures on my Facebook and tell everybody what happened," Motley said.
Her story went viral, and soon, other parents posted their children's pictures and claims of unwanted procedures and abuse at the hands of Schneider.
"I kept reading and reading until the name Doctor Howard, and I knew that was the same dentist," Barry said.
Amanda Barry is deaf. Her five-year old son, Dominic, is blind in one eye. Barry says Dominic was referred to Schneider for a crown in March.
The boy is part of a civil suit accusing Schneider of assault and battery.
According to the complaint, "two front teeth were removed for unknown reasons" and that Dominic was "terrified and told stories of the dentist choking (him)."
"I screamed for my mom," Dominic said.
"That's what bothers me the most," Amanda Barry said. "Because I'm deaf, I can't hear anything, and to know that my child was calling for me and my name and I couldn't help him, it makes me feel like lousy. It makes me feel lousy."
Bri'el's family at one point was part of that same lawsuit but has since withdrawn. They are now pursuing a medical malpractice suit, represented by attorney John Phillips.
Phillips says he also represents dozens of Schneider's former patients, most of whom rely on Medicaid for health insurance.
"Medicaid paid him per tooth," attorney Gust Sarris said. "So, can I cap a tooth twice? Yes. Can I then pull it? Yes. Can I then successfully obtain benefits for all three? Absolutely."
Schneider has made a fortune from Medicaid. State records show Schneider has received nearly $4 million in Medicaid reimbursements in just the last five years.
The Florida Attorney General's office has launched a criminal Medicaid fraud investigation, and the claims stretch back decades.
A 1995 malpractice suit was settled out of court. It claimed Schneider unnecessarily placed 16 crowns in the mouth of a 3-year-old. The boy's family was paid $7,500 as part of the settlement agreement.
A second malpractice suit was filed that year. The documents from that case have been destroyed, and the outcome is unclear.
"Somebody who is performing procedures that children don't need, pulling teeth that he knows should still be in the child's mouth. In some cases, we even have where many procedures were done, except what they came in for," Sarris said.
Sarris said he represents Dominic and dozens of Schneider's former patients. This month, he filed the potential class action suit against Schneider on behalf of these children, claiming "patterns of abuse of his child patients" - an accusation that has been made before.
According to a 2013 police report, the mother of a 5-year-old patient was allowed to sit with daughter during a procedure. The mother told police Schneider grabbed her daughter's face" and "slapped her face several times." The officer acknowledged a "small scratch behind the victim's left ear."
Schneider denied touching the girl. He was not arrested. Instead, the officer referred the mother to the state attorney's office. Nurses who were in the room later "denied that anything inappropriate happened."
Prosecutors decided not to file charges because of an "improbability of conviction at trial."
CNN made no fewer than five calls to Schneider's office to arrange an interview. None were returned.
"They're not correct and that's it. I want to be left alone, OK?" Schneider said when asked in his practice's parking lot about the charges.
Despite the calls to police, the malpractice settlements and the fraud investigation, Schneider is still free to practice. His license is clear. According to the Florida Board of Dentistry, he's not been disciplined by the state.
For these parents, that's unacceptable. They want Schneider "to go to jail, to never work on any other kids, to shut his doors so he can never do this again."
Teen pleads guilty to 23 charges of swatting, harassing online game rivals
Lizard Squad member's spree ended days after an eight-hour swatting broadcast.
A slight victory over the Lizard Squad and the juvenile "prank" known as swatting. This kid, apparently unrepentant and petulant, got busted and will hopefully serve as a warning to all those others who think it is fun and games to send trigger-happy police to someone's house because they ignore you or beat you in a video game or think you are smelly. Whatever their malfunction is.
Ars Technica
This one tho
[YT]XPlzLZ6lNbU[/YT]
t what point does the budget for a child’s birthday party become excessive? That’s the question many are asking ever since Australian parents Eric Lembo and Trang Nguyen shared the details of their daughter’s $37K third birthday party with Perth Now.
The parents hosted 220 guests for the third birthday bash featuring a performance by Australian Idol contestant Courtney Murphy. Face painting, a photo booth, roving entertainers and a kiddie-high tea were also among the activities spread throughout an 1830 riverfront estate that’s typically rented out for weddings.
What’s more, guests were tempted by delectable cuisine: tempura scallops, truffle arancini, pork belly, paella, and oysters. Not exactly kid food but there were also wood-fired pizzas.
Here’s a rundown of the party budget:
$14,575 – food and staff
$9,799 – beer, wine, Remy Martin XO and soft drinks
$7,434 – marquee, furniture, trees, flowers, decorations, popcorn and fairy floss station
$2,314 – photographer
$1,234 – singer Courtney Murphy
$771 – photo booth
$594 – magician
$462 – Mickey and Minnie Mouse
speaking of parenting,
"Father spends $37K on daughters third birthday party"
http://blog.sfgate.com/sfmoms/2015/05/27/dad-spends-37k-on-daughters-third-birthday-party/
cept for dem 40G picsWhen older - She won't even be able to recall it at this age
Not the same at all though ya knowcept for dem 40G pics
huh?Not the same at all though ya know
High School plans a Black history month lunch menu. Watermellon, Fried Chicken and cornbread...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/06/black-history-month-school-menu_n_4740723.html