Daily Archives: February 20, 2010

Weekend Open Thread

Happy weekend everyone! I hope you’re enjoying your relatively snow-free weekend. Are you ready for an open thread? Let’s roll!

Tiger Woods has started his apology tour. One blogger put together a handy flowchart to determine if that apology is intended for you.

My answer was “no.”

Remember the miraculous story of the man who had been misdiagnosed in a vegetative state but thanks to science can now communicate? Not so much:

It seemed to be a medical miracle: the car crash victim assumed for 23 years to be in a coma who was suddenly found to be conscious and able to communicate by tapping on a computer.

The sceptics said it was impossible – and it was. The story of Rom Houben of Belgium, which made headlines worldwide last November when he was shown to be “talking”, was today revealed to have been nothing of the sort.

…

Laureys, leader of the coma science group and department of neurology at Liege University hospital, said a study he had done of three speech therapists working with minimally-conscious patients showed that in two cases, including Houben’s, facilitated communication failed. “From the start, I did not prescribe this technique. But it is important not to make judgments. His family and care givers acted out of love and compassion,” he said.

The turnaround vindicates those doctors who had doubted Houben’s apparent ability. “It’s like using an Ouija board,” said Arthur Caplan, a professor of bio ethics at the University of Pennsylvania. “It was too good to be true, and we shouldn’t have believed it.”

Do you think this retraction will be as widely reported as the supposed breakthrough? I doubt it.

UPDATED: Schools + Student Issued Laptops + Webcams = Spying At School and At Home

UPDATE 02/20/10:

This isn’t looking good for the school district.

District spokesman Doug Young acknowledged yesterday that officials had remotely activated computer webcams 42 times, but only in an attempt to recover missing or stolen laptops, and never to spy on students. He said families had not been notified about the possibility that the cameras on the 2,300 laptops could be activated in their homes without their permission.

So… they did it and they didn’t let families know it could be done.  And the “only in an attempt to recover missing or stolen laptops, and never to spy on students” excuse stinks to high heaven since the reason this was uncovered was due to their disciplining a student for “improper behavior.”

Looks like somebody’s in big trouble.

[Previous post below]

If these charges are true, somebody better end up in jail.

(Major h/t to MJ.  Thanks!)

According to the filings in Blake J Robbins v Lower Merion School District (PA) et al, the laptops issued to high-school students in the well-heeled Philly suburb have webcams that can be covertly activated by the schools’ administrators, who have used this facility to spy on students and even their families. The issue came to light when the Robbins’s child was disciplined for “improper behavior in his home” and the Vice Principal used a photo taken by the webcam as evidence. The suit is a class action, brought on behalf of all students issued with these machines.

Improper behavior in his home?  His home? And the Vice Principal produced evidence?  Bet that evidence ends up being used against the Vice Principal.

If true, these allegations are about as creepy as they come. I don’t know about you, but I often have the laptop in the room while I’m getting dressed, having private discussions with my family, and so on.

So do I, and so do my children.  Again, if true, does this school district now have child pornography on their files?  We already know that certain districts are okay with strip searching, so maybe this isn’t that big of leap.  These allegations make my blood run cold.

Liar Liar Pants On Fire

Mike Castle has been on the defensive lately. He’s become the posterboy for Republican hypocrisy, especially the “trash and grab” strategy of trashing the stimulus while showing up to take credit for projects created by the stimulus. He comes off as quite defensive in this WHYY interview:

Castle also defended himself against accusations that, while voting against the stimulus, he’s shown up at events touting stimulus spending in Delaware.

“I certainly did not vote for it, and I’ve said that at every single appearance I’ve made.” Rep. Castle explained, “Having said that, I’ve said also, once that stimulus bill passed and the money was appropriated, I wasn’t about to let it all go to another state if I could get something for Delaware. I consider that to be the absolute correct way to proceed.”

The Delaware Democratic party dug up this video of Mike Castle at the Fisker event. The Fisker deal was funded with stimulus money, and Mike Castle even thanks Obama and Biden in the speech (about 1:30 in the video).

I didn’t hear anything in that speech about how he opposed the stimulus, did you? Oops! Nice try, Mike Castle but Castling isn’t quite working for you anymore is it?

Ed. note – There is a dispute about how much the Fisker deal was funded by stimulus funds. Most funding came from a 2007 law, but Biden states that stimulus funds were used as well. More info on this topic would be appreciated.

Psst! Your Shallow Bench is Showing

Potential Republican Congressional candidate, Anthony Wedo dropped out of the race Friday.  I believe that this leaves only Fred Cullis, the guy who had a half dozen people (mostly family and volunteers) at his announcement.  They really have no one.

I asked Charlie Copeland if he was running and he was pretty clear that he wasn’t, but who else is there?

I don’t feel sorry for them one bit.