Blackhacker

Reuters

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Reuters) - A federal jury on Tuesday found former HealthSouth Corp. Chief Executive Richard Scrushy not guilty of orchestrating the $2.7 billion accounting fraud at the medical rehabilitation chain he founded.

Scrushy, 52, faced 36 charges whittled down from the original 85-count indictment and was found not guilty on all counts, including conspiracy, mail fraud, making false statements and money laundering.

“God is good,” Scrushy told Reuters shortly after the verdict was read.

Scrushy, a local Birmingham celebrity, was among a group of high-profile U.S. corporate executives who have been tried for financial wrongdoing in a string of accounting scandals, and is the first so-far to be found not guilty.

You’re Brave New World!
by Aldous Huxley
With an uncanny ability for predicting the future, you are a true
psychic. You can see how the world will change and illuminate the fears of future
generations. In the world to come, you see the influence of the media, genetic
science, drugs, and class warfare. And while all this might make you happy, you
claim the right to be unhappy. While pregnancy might seem painful, test tube
babies scare you most. You are obsessed with the word "pneumatic".

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

This was a lack luster movie on SciFi channle but looks like it might have been a good book. Maybe I’ll take a look.

Dap: memer

Swissinfo

France to host world’s first nuclear fusion plant

By Guy Faulconbridge

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Science’s quest to find a cheap and inexhaustible way to meet global energy needs took a major step forward on Tuesday when a 30-nation consortium chose France to host the world’s first nuclear fusion reactor.

After months of wrangling, France defeated a bid from Japan and signed a deal to site the 10-billion-euro ($12.18-billion) experimental reactor in Cadarache, near Marseille.

The project will seek to turn seawater into fuel by mimicking the way the sun produces energy. It would be cleaner than current nuclear reactors, would not rely on enriched uranium fuel or produce plutonium.

<rant>Being the largest consumer of energy in the world, and being that so much of our energy comes from foreign sources, WE (US of A) should be doing this.</rant>

SocialTech

Apple Computer this morning said that it has rolled out Podcasting support in the latest revision of its iTunes music download service.

update:
The podcast functionality is BOGUS. It only takes you to podcast that are in the IMS. The podcasts are free but I can’t just add a URL to what ever podcast you like. Use iPodder download you podcasts It will automatically add it to iTunes library. Then you can “do what chu like ..”

AP

Pfizer: Viagra Doesn’t Cause Blindness

NEW YORK - Pfizer Inc. said that a review concluded that Viagra doesn’t increase patients’ risk of blindness but that it is still working with federal regulators to update the drug’s label to reflect rare reports of vision loss.

Caught this from Avery passing it off to Duane and Clarence

Q: What’s the greatest number of physical recorded media that you’ve owned?
Got about 200 CDs and many about 100 Cassettes. by the way anybody know how rip cassettes? There is some good music on the jon I haven’t heard in a minute

Q: What was the last CD or album that you bought?
I really don’t know. It has been that long since I actually bought a physical piece of music. Not that I am gankin’ all my stuff from the Internet. Just that allot of what is out right now just not impressed with. It might have been Amel Larrieux “Infinite Possibilities” (that was a while ago) Anyway I dug her since Groove Theory and I think she is one of the most under rated vocalist out there.

Q: What’s in your player right now?
The car has Wayman Tisdale Power Forward
Dag I need to update my collection a bit


Q: What are the five pieces of music that mean the most to you?
Only five ?

1. Winans - Question Is
2. Marvin Gaye - What’s Going on
3. “I need thee..” “Great is thy Faithfulness” Its a hymn. And the only one that could bring me to tears
4. Layla Hathaway - Smile
   Another vocalist who needs more exposure.
5. Kim Burrell - Prodcial The instrumentation on this song and especially the reprise is A-mazing. I saw her live after she put out her debut CD. A- mazing

This list could change from day-to-day.

Duane , Clarence Its all you !!

According to this guy, Google will launch “Online Video Playback” TODAY !!

This is a HUGE deal.

Dap :/.

The Highest Court in the Land is due to come out with a lot of decision today. I’ll high light the decision as they come out.

• Supreme Court struck down the displays for 2 in Kentucky. Voting went the usually way for such things.

  AP

  WASHINGTON - In a narrowly drawn ruling, the Supreme Court struck down Ten Commandments displays in courthouses Monday, holding that two exhibits in Kentucky crossed the line between separation of church and state because they promoted a religious message.

  An interesting quote …
  

  In a stinging dissent, Justice
  Antonin Scalia worried publicly about “the dictatorship of a shifting Supreme Court majority.”

  I couldn’t find his entire quote but the story is still very new. Anyway I think this is his way of “campaigning for Rehnquist’s job, appealing to the conservatives, i particular the conservative President and Senate. It is widely speculated that Rehnquist will step down from the court today.

• Forbes
  

  NEW YORK - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that cable companies are under no legal obligation to share their lines with smaller Internet service providers, dealing a major blow to independent ISPs, extending the power of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, and opening up the possibility of extensive deregulation in the telecommunications world.

  The Court’s 6-3 ruling in Federal Communications Commission vs. Brand X Internet upheld an earlier FCC decision saying cable operators were exempt from common-carrier regulations that apply to phone companies.

  Because their transmissions are classified as “telecommunications services,” phone companies such as SBC Communications (nyse: SBC - news - people ) and Verizon Communications (nyse: VZ - news - people ) are required by law to provide access to their lines. That means independent ISPs are able to buy access to those networks at wholesale prices and resell high-speed digital subscriber lines (known as DSL) to their customers. But competing broadband services sold by cable operators have been classified as “information services,” which are not subject to line-sharing regulations, so ISPs cannot resell access

  *
  I held out hope for this but ..

• …this is no surprise

  Bloomberg
  

  June 27 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Supreme Court bolstered the entertainment industry’s anti-piracy campaign, saying Grokster Ltd. and other Internet file-sharing networks may bear responsibility when users illegally download music and films.

  The court unanimously said Grokster and StreamCast Networks Inc. set up their systems with the “unmistakable” goal of encouraging copyright infringement.

*Epiphany !!! This is why Verizon will be offering “naked” DSL and is also quietly pushing is vios (fiber to your home) service.

“Today’s Supreme Court decision is a victory for consumers and maintains the momentum to advance broadband in the U.S. Classifying cable modem service as an interstate information service, as the FCC did, keeps this innovative service on the right deregulatory path,” said a statement from the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, the industry’s principal trade association.

It’s also good news for phone companies who want to get their own business deregulated and boot ISPs off their lines. Those companies now know they can approach a friendly FCC for a ruling in their favor, rather than fight to push regulatory changes through Congress, says Legg Mason analyst Blair Levin. “Although I’m sure they’ll go to Congress, too,” he says.

Emphasis mine.

For bloggers, web developers, designers and wannabees …

Mouseover DOM Inspector v2.0.2

Dap: Hacking for Christ

The cats over at Vision Circle have decided to podcast their conversations. This is the first installment, of a conversation about ‘Acting White’, a paper written by Ronald Fryer that has generated considerable controversy in the Blogosphere.

The idea to podcast and the discussion is are good. Check it out.