educating eric

Just came across the Pioneer Press story Somalis fall victim to tax fraud . So, Ruth and I were trying to figure out... what's the government (via the IRS) going to do to these fraud victims? Take their money? They don't have any! Deport them? Back to the country from which they fled as refugees? Imprison them? All of them? Imprison just the heads of household? So that the rest of the family goes on welfare? Looks like the options are either immoral or fiscally stupid... but, frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if our government can figure out a way to be both immoral and fiscally stupid on this one. Bring on the McCain flat tax, so that people have a fighting chance of understanding their tax returns!

I only caught the tail end of a recent episode the first time around, so I'm glad it popped up again and I was able to PVR it (ooh! a new verb!). The basic deal is that the Trademark Properties team buys a house that's supposedly empty... but the former owners are still living in it. So rather than being nasty (which they could be), they put the owners up in a motel (if memory serves) and plan to fix up the house and sell it back to them. And, from what I recall, they're really not doing it to pull a fast one; they're honestly nice, well-intentioned folks. Yay, Ginger! (And Richard, and Dawn... and the whole gang, really!) Hmmmm... Think Ginger would do a podcast interview? Probably more likely than Kari Byron. :)

Yet another example of the MPAA getting its claws into our senators aznd representatives (who don't understand this kind of technology) and sneaking in insanely broad restrictions on basic technologies. Read Technology News: Legal Issues : MPAA Applauds Digital Content Security Act : "If it makes its way from Capitol Hill to the Oval Office and becomes law, the measure will outlaw the manufacture or sale of electronic devices that convert analog video signals into digital video signals, effective one year from its enactment. PC-based tuners and digital video recorders are listed among the devices."

Thanks to the fine folks over at Slashdot, you can hear from Adam and Jamie as The Mythbusters Answer Your Questions (Sorry, but no discussion of Kari Byron. Just science-related stuff. But still way cool!) UPDATE (June 2006): I've moved all my Mythbusters commentary over to a different site; you're welcome to browse around here... but for anything new, check out the Mythbusters category on att.ention.net .

As we celebrate Christmas Eve with a Property Ladder marathon, now is the time to reflect on years past... like what I revealed in this post about Kirsten Kemp I guess everyone has a few skeletons in their closet from their teenage days... but few of us have them immortalized on videotape. (At least not to the extent that Kirsten does!)

Okay, apparently I didn't pay enough attention to the "I'm Just A Bill" segment on Schoolhouse rock. I read in the article NPR : Congress Creates Lawsuit Shield for Vaccine Makers : "But hours after the conference was officially closed, Frist prevailed on House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) to insert more than 40 pages of legislative language creating the liability shield, in violation of both the House and Senate rules. " So, here's my question: How can someone do something that's truly "in violation of both House and Senate Rules"? I mean, why not say, "Well, I know that we just took a vote and the bill didn't pass... but let's say it did!" But we don't hear of that ever happening, do we? Either NPR's guilty of hyperbole and it's not truly a "violation of rules", or Frist and Hastert are guilty of a crime... or "House and Senate rules" don't mean anything at all. Th...

You know how riled up I get when malicious or stupid cops do malicious and stupid things, thus giving the vast majority of good cops out there a bad name. Here's another story that's flying far, far below the radar... WCCO-TV: I-TEAM: Children Interrogated Without Parents Be sure to watch the video! In case you don't, here's the story in a nutshell: 13-year-old girl gets kidnapped, molested, and dropped off in a parking lot. Surveillance tape clearly proves the suspicious drop-off -- watch it for yourself. Idiot cop, whose VCR at home is probably still blinking 12:00 more than four years later, looks at the wrong part of the tape and doesn't see the drop-off. So he berates the girl for "lying" about the incident. That particular story doesn't mention the name of Mr. I've-Been-A-Cop-For-12-Years, but this earlier one names him as Detective Tim Stevenson. As of 2003, he was still on the force. Don't know if he still is, and for the sake...