Bits & Pieces (Thursday Night Open Mic)

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Kevin S. Willis

The class divisions of Occupy Wall Street:

“Would you share your iPad with those shiftless hobos down in bumtown?”
“No,” he says, without missing a beat. “But I think everybody should have access to technology.” He then goes on to clarify: “This is a personal possession. I’m against private property. This is personal property.” Ah, I see the difference!

The big decisions about OWS are being made in the atrium of the Deutsche Bank. Irony!

Joe Biden’s Transparency Meeting closed to public and press. Now, that might be hypocrisy.

Ace of Spades continues to Bash Herman Caine, and notes that even Dennis Miller is off the Cain Train.

So, Google finally rolled out Google Music. Control your disappointment. I installed Spotify and immediately started having fun discovering and re-discovering all sorts of cool music for free. I’m not remotely excited by Google Music. I do hope they get better. But if I’m shopping for music, I’m still going to buy it from iTunes. If I want to discover music? Spotify.

More exciting than Solyndra, more likely to pay back it’s investors, too, it’s Shapeways 3D printing. I see a point, in about 15 years, where 3D printing is available to individuals for a reasonable price, and within a decade where actual 3d printing takes the place of manufacturing in many cases, making limited runs or easy customization possible for all sorts of products at low price points.

None of this will help me with my bath tub. There’s a crack in it, it leaks. My wife won’t let me patch it with epoxy (my solution to everything) and put a tub mat over it, but several calls to professional tub repair people results in bitter disappointment. It’s just not possible to patch and refinish cultured marble, at least without much time and expense, and nobody in town does it. I’ve got one option—replace the tub! Or stop taking baths. In a bathroom that I’m betting had the tub installed before the sheetrock was hung. I don’t see, otherwise, how the tub would fit through the door. Yay!

I hope all your days were better. Got a dozen things that need attention as the house falls apart, and it’s giving me migraines. But, all first world problems, so I suspect I shouldn’t complain. Have a great night!

— KW

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For Michigoose: Why Do We Have Brains?

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Kevin S. Willis

Our brains exist to enable motion. At least, that’s what Daniel Wolpert thinks. 

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GPS is "Fair Game"

Posted on November 17, 2011 by novahockey

Here’s an alternative view on the GPS tracking debate.

“The intense debate the case has already elicited among legal scholars, civil rights and libertarian activists, and those particularly concerned with public safety and national security is largely focused on the question: what would the Founding Fathers have said about the case? As I see it, at least equal weight should be accorded to the question: How well are our public authorities doing in their dealings with criminals? Who needs more tools and who should be denied access to cyber-age technologies if we are to keep a balance between our profound and essential commitments to privacy as well as our security?”

The full editorial is on CNN.

As I have nothing nice to say, I’ll remain silent.

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Nevada Goes After the Robo-signers

Posted on November 17, 2011 by lmsinca


Photo above is apropos of nothing, just a pretty pic of our loofah scrubs we make every year.

Here’s the real story. I can’t count the number of times over the past year I’ve been told this was a non-story. A few people on the left said it was peanuts compared to the real criminal behavior and some on the right said it didn’t matter, the people being foreclosed on were behind on their payments and would lose their homes anyway. Of course, I may have been wrong but I always believed that fraud is still fraud, and on this scale it indicates a much larger danger to the rule of law than people were willing to admit. It’s a little frightening when you realize the scope IMO.

The Nevada attorney general Catherine Cortez Masto has just filed a 606 count indictment against two title officers in a single county, Clark County, for supervising the filing of tens of thousands of fraudulent documents in a robo-signing scheme.

On the one hand, this indictment is not as gratifying, say, as busting Angelo Mozilo. On the other hand, if low level supervisors in bank frauds face the risk of serving time, you are going to find a ton fewer people willing to take that job. Those higher up on the food chain might also have to be a lot more careful and pay the people involved more money, which in turn undermines the basic logic of these abuses, which is cost savings.

In addition, as mob prosecutions have shown again and again, you start by going after the foot soldiers in the hope that they roll people higher up on the food chain.

And at a minimum, this action says that the law and due process matter, and violations, particularly large scale, systematic violations, can and will be punished.

From the press release:

“According to the indictment, defendant Gary Trafford, a California resident, is charged with 102 counts of offering false instruments for recording (category C felony); false certification on certain instruments (category D felony); and notarization of the signature of a person not in the presence of a notary public (a gross misdemeanor). The indictment charges defendant Gerri Sheppard, also a California resident, with 100 counts of offering false instruments for recording (category C felony); false certification on certain instruments (category D felony); and notarization of the signature of a person not in the presence of a notary public (a gross misdemeanor)…

The indictment alleges that both defendants directed the fraudulent notarization and filing of documents which were used to initiate foreclosure on local homeowners.

The State alleges that these documents, referred to as Notices of Default, or “NODs”, were prepared locally. The State alleges that the defendants directed employees under their supervision, to forge their names on foreclosure documents, then notarize the signatures they just forged, thereby fraudulently attesting that the defendants actually signed the documents, which was untrue and in violation of State law. The defendants then allegedly directed the employees under their supervision to file the fraudulent documents with the Clark County Recorder’s office, to be used to start foreclosures on homes throughout the County.

The indictment alleges that these crimes were done in secret in order to avoid detection.”

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