ShortFormBlogJanuary 30, 2012

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cause In 2005, Massachusetts dentist Dr. Michael Clair performed a root canal. He used sections of a paper clip during the procedure in order to save money, something he had done on multiple occasions. This was not a good idea — it made the patient’s tooth turn black, and the tooth had to be removed.
effect As a result of this, along with allegations of illegal prescriptions and intimidating witnesses, Clair received a one-year jail sentence Monday. Prosecutors asked for more jail time, but Clair received a shorter sentence due to a lack of criminal record and “certain mental health issues.” source

Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Jan 2012 15:50

Google thinks I’m a senior citizen. Based on the websites you visit and the stuff you search for, Google infers your interests, age and gender, in order to show you more relavent ads (digression: It does this, in part, by having partner websites place a cookie on your computer; more on that here). Anyway, head on over to Google’s Ad Preferences page, and you can see what Google has inferred about you. It’s often less than accurate; for example, Google believes that I am a male above the age of 65. They got the gender right, but overshot my age by roughly 40 years (I guess I have drastically out-of-date tastes). With Google’s recent decision to allow all of its services to share users’ info with one another, it’d be nice if they had some idea of who we actually are. Or perhaps it’s better to remain shrouded in mystery? — Seth @ SFB

Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

Maybe this is just a result of having been born in the 80s, but every time we hear the word “virtual,” regardless of the context, we always think of low-tech virtual reality gaming from the mid-90s (Dactyl Nightmare, anybody?). Here, we’re imagining a poorly-rendered 3D version of Obama, moving awkwardly against a cheap Oval Office background and glitching out every couple of seconds. Anyway, this “fully virtual interview” will focus on the content of the President’s State of the Union address, and will likely constitute the majority of Google+’s lifetime web traffic (don’t get us wrong; we love G+, but sometimes we feel like we’re the only ones). source

Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

the planIndiana Republican Jud McMillin (yes, just one “d”) introduced a bill in the Indiana General Assembly that would have required random drug testing of welfare recipients.
the sabotageDemocratic legislator Ryan Dvorak added an amendment to also require drug testing for elected officials in the state. McMillin withdrew the bill. source

» The nitty-gritty: “If we’re going to impose standards on drug testing,” Dvorak said, “then it should apply to everybody who receives government money.” McMillin claimed that he had to withdraw the bill after Dvorak’s amendment was added, due to a 1997 Supreme Court ruling that it’s unconstitutional to drug test candidates for elected office…but that logic is flawed, as the Dvorak Amendment would have only required testing of officials already in office, not candidates. Surprisingly, McMillin said he plans to introduce a new version of the bill….that requires lawmaker testing as well. “Give me the cup right now and I will be happy to take the test,” McMillin said. (EDIT: corrected spelling error)

Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

» But only if you used Megaupload to store them. Megaupload wasn’t just a place to share pirated movies; it also served as webspace for people to store their personal documents, pictures, hard drive backups, and the like. But Megaupload didn’t actually own the servers on which its data was stored–they outsourced that two other companies. Now that Megaupload’s been shut down, its assets have been frozen, and so it can’t keep paying the storage centers their fee. So, according to a letter from the US Attorney’s Office, the two data centers could start deleting the data as soon as this Thursday. That would be a shame for many, many people (although it should have been clear from the outset that Megaupload wasn’t the wisest place to back up one’s data). An attorney for Megaupload says he’s “cautiously optimistic” that they’ll be able to keep the data from being erased.

Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink