Category: News

What she did is wrong, but I have to admit—I like (and am a little turned on by) Carolyn Paulsen-Riat’s style. When her husband decided to leave her, she got creative with her plot for revenge.

What she did was reverse the wires on his 220-volt table saw—delivering a shock that knocked him to the ground. He didn’t suffer any lasting effects from the shock, but Carolyn was booked for investigation of third-degree assault, domestic violence, and second-degree malicious mischief. She was later released by judge let her go on her own recognizance. [Olympian via Access Atlanta via Fark]

No surprise here, but Baidu shares are up after-hours after Google threatened to leave China if the government doesn’t let it run an uncensored search engine there.

Baidu shares are up 6.99% after hours to $413.52, while Google shares are down 1.13% to $583.80.

Baidu currently dominates the Chinese search market, and stands to gain share if Google leaves. Google’s search share in China is around 15%-20%, much lower than leader Baidu, which is around 75%-80%.

More about Google’s gutsy call here.

Don’t Miss: Did The Chinese Government Hack Google?

Updated 8:55 p.m. ET with latest quotes.

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See Also:

• Google Threatens To Pull Out Of China Over Free Speech
• Surprise! Google Is Actually Fighting Back In China
• An Insider’s View Of The Battle Between Google And Baidu In China

Sometimes it’s hard to listen to the self-serving hacks at the deceptive “Humane Society” of the United States (HSUS) jabber about how pure of heart they are. Despite earmarking less than one-half of one percent of its budget for funding hands-on pet shelters, HSUS often gets a free pass in media reports and in political circles. It’s enough to make us yearn for an impartial charity-rating service to judge just how virtuously the group deploys the donations reaped in its “19 dollars a month” TV ads.

Voilà! In its December 2009 Charity Rating Guide, the American Institute of Philanthropy (AIP) gives HSUS and its Humane Society Legislative Fund (formerly the Fund for Animals) an unimpressive “C-minus” grade. Unlike other ratings services whose judgments are easily manipulated, AIP is a fiercely independent nonprofit charity watchdog.

AIP based its grade largely on the percentage of HSUS’s money that it spends actually running its programs (which can be as little as 53 percent), and the amount of money it spends on fundraising (as much as $40 spent to generate every $100 donation). It also penalized HSUS for paying exorbitant salaries to its top executives (as high as $234,000), and for sitting on enormous cash reserves ($187 million in assets at the end of 2008).

We suspect HSUS’s grade would fall to an “F” if AIP tried to measure the chasm between what HSUS donors believe they’re funding and what the group actually spends its money on. While that’s a hard thing to quantify, the question of “What is a humane society, anyway” is certainly a reasonable one to ask.

Watch this space in the coming weeks as we prepare to make a more regular effort at unmasking one of the phoniest charities in America.

European governments are resorting to an array of punitive “fat taxes” in an ill-conceived bid to stop people from putting on weight. The latest site of this authoritarian binge is Romania. Last week, Romanian Health Minister Attila Cseke (an apt first name) announced that his country will begin imposing a tax on fast food in March. When the scheduled tax goes into effect, Romania will have the dubious distinction of being the first nation to actually implement a fast-food tax. (The Taiwanese parliament plans to enact a similar law this year). And no doubt, American food-cop activists will be inspired to redouble their own efforts to save us from ourselves.

Romanian authorities insist the fast food tax is necessary because 25 percent of the population is considered obese. It’s unclear whether there’s a link between obesity and fast food in Eastern Europe, but there’s certainly none in the United States. We have noted that the prevalence of obesity is due to physical inactivity – and not to indulging in Extra Value Meals. A 2007 study published in the International Journal of Obesity concludes, “The obesity epidemic is often speculatively blamed on fast food, when the actual evidence shows very little, if any, association of fast food with weight gain.”

It’s hardly surprising that Romanian lawmakers believe they can legislative personal behavior. Such antics are par for the course in Europe. Denmark will soon begin taxing chocolates, ice cream and other sweets. These culinary tolls will join that country’s existing tax on soft drinks. Denmark has also passed a law drastically restricting trans fats while Spain is seeking to ban “excessive” trans fats—whatever that means—later this year. Austria introduced a similar law in October. And in Germany, one Green Party leader wants to make it illegal to advertise sweets to children 12 and younger.

American busybodies are not far behind. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is on an anti-salt crusade, even though our bodies naturally regulate our sodium intake. Yesterday he actually compared salt to cancer-causing asbestos, saying that “salt and asbestos, clearly are both bad for you…Modern medicine thinks you shouldn’t be eating salt, or sodium.”

This, of course, is demagogic nonsense. And if “food cops” see flavoring food as a crime against public health, it is only a matter of time before they start demanding to regulate your salt shaker.

In the meantime, New York City chefs are furious with Bloomberg. “You need salt to draw flavor out of food,” chef David Chang told the New York Post. “It’s a skill that you teach cooks. For that to be regulated by the government is just stupid and foolish.”

Racism can be found in many places around the world, often rooted in complex historical circumstances mixed with contemporary issues and conditions. The racism article on this site was getting quite old, so it has been updated with a few more examples and background information. More will be added over time.

Read full article: Racism

Los Angeles: A suspect attempting to elude officers became involved in an altercation with them, resulting in a Law Enforcement Related Injury (LERI). 

On January 9, 2010, at around 10:05 p.m., Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), Metropolitan Division Police Officers were working crime suppression in LAPD’s Newton Area.  Two Officers were driving a marked police vehicle north on Holmes Avenue and were approaching 54th Street in the "Pueblo Del Rio" public housing project.  The Officers saw a suspect, later identified as Lorenzo Leggett, who they believed was engaged in the sales of narcotics.

Both Officers got out of their vehicles to detain Leggett for investigation of a narcotics violation. Legget immediately led the Officers in a foot pursuit. The officers caught up to Leggett near the intersection of Long Beach Avenue and 54th Street.  Leggett began fighting with the officers and two additional Metropolitan Officers arrived for back up.  One of the Officers used a Taser to help subdue the combative Leggett.  Legget was then taken into custody without any further incident. 

Leggett was transported to a local hospital for facial and head contusion and abrasions. He is in stable condition and booked for Assault with Deadly Weapon on Police Officers.  He is being held without bail.

One of the Metropolitan Officers was also transported to a local hospital and treated for head trauma and multiple abrasions. He was treated and released.  No other officers were injured during this incident.

Force Investigation Division is handling the crime against the officers. Calls may be directed to Media Relations Section at 213-486-5910.

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Time: Tuesday, January 12, 2010, 5 p.m. PST
Location: Watch the embedded video player above.

Questions: Submit your question(s) in our Darksiders on this week’s Game Night!

We record Game Night live every Tuesday at 5 p.m. PST, and welcome your thoughts and comments on our Twitter account. A recorded version of the show will go up Wednesday afternoon on GameVideos. For past Game Night episodes check out 1UP’s Game Night hub page.

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Last week, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata seemingly dropped hints about the successor to the Nintendo DS, suggesting that it would contain a motion sensor, among other things. Now Nintendo is saying Iwata didn’t make those comments after all.

“Mr. Iwata did not make any comments regarding the functions of Nintendo’s future hardware systems,” said Nintendo of America senior director of corporate communications Charlie Scibetta (via Kotaku).

“The answer to the reporter’s question was misinterpreted.”

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Not even the recession can slow this supercar. The Revenge Verde is an American-made supercar that its designer believes has great export potential. The car is the result of Revenge’s search for American-made supercar components, assembled in America, built for supercar enthusiasts – not just in America. Sourcing the “best from the best” parts helps keeps the price of this beast within reach of many muscle car owners – around US$200,000. Among the mid-engined Verde’s supercar features are three drive chain and power train options, including the Ford 605hp motor, the GM 638hp motor, or an HP2g V8 engine that runs on E-85 ethanol fuel and yet still impresses with its figures: 400hp, 0-60mph in 3.5 seconds, a top speed of 200mph+ while achieving an amazing 100mpg!..

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Carbon fiber,
Electric,
Electric vehicle,
Ethanol,
green,
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One of the biggest points of contention with Xbox Live’s Games on Demand has always been the arguably steep price of many of the titles on the service. The digital releases of older games have often caught flack for price tags that, in some instances, nearly doubled those of their retail counterparts.

The complaints have apparently not gone unheard; Xbox Live’s Larry Hryb announced on his Major Nelson blog that a number of Games on Demand titles are getting price reductions today. Included among them: Bioshock, Saints Row, Prey, MX vs. ATV Untamed, and Civilization Revolution — all of which are dropping from $29.99 to just $19.99.

Note that as of this writing, the price drop on Civilization Revolution has yet to go into effect. The rest of the bunch are good to go, however.

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Microsoft has released Kodu, a game developed by Microsoft Research that lets users create their own worlds while teaching them the basics of game development, as a public beta for the PC. To get started, you’ll need a Windows Live ID to apply for the beta on Microsoft Connect, where you’ll be asked to fill out a 14-question “Kodu Academic Program Questionnaire.”

Originally designed as a learning tool for youngsters using Xbox 360, Kodu was released a year ago as service with a powerful programming language that quickly became a hit in academic circles. Since its release, Kodu has been downloaded more than 200,000 times and is used in more than 60 educational institutions across the globe, according to Microsoft. Redmond thinks Kodu’s biggest hurdle so far, however, has been that schools needed to purchase Xbox 360s, controllers, and so on to get started. Thus, the software giant has ported the tool to Windows as most educational institutes already have PCs with mice and keyboards.

According to the Microsoft, developers aged from seven to 70 can use Kodu to string together simple cartoon icons that define the rules of their game world, rather than using a complex programming language. Microsoft hopes Kodu will continue to be used to introduce children to programming, help them advance their design, math, and problem-solving skills, as well as encourage students to truly engage with computers, instead of experiencing them passively.

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