Copywriting Malware?

Symantec is reporting that there is a new virus floating around. What makes it unique is that there is a EULA (end user license agreement) with it that threatens "punishment" if a user violates the terms, such as looking at the source code or resell the product. Quite funny!

Government Not Responsible for What It Says

In an option by the 2nd Circuit, the court found that then EPA chief and former NJ govenor Christine Todd Whitman not liable for giving incorrect reassurances after the 9/11 terror attacks by saying that the air near the former World Trade Centers was breathable. The court said, "But legal remedies are not always available for every instance of arguably deficient governmental performance." So, let me get this straight, we can't sue our government for screwing up anymore?

http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov:8080/isysnative/RDpcT3BpbnNcT1BOXDA2LTExNjYtY3Zfb3BuLnBkZg==/06-1166-cv_opn.pdf#xml=http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov:8080/isysquery/irl4e81/1/hilite

Subpoena Subschena

The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that the state constitution gives greater protection to unreasonable searches and seizures than the US Constitution and ISPs therefore do not have to disclose any information to anyone without a valid subpoena. This case is contrary to the Federal trends that found no right to privacy in internet information.

http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/opinions/supreme/A-105-06%20State%20v%20Shirley%20Reid.pdf

Forbidden Kingdom

I went to The Forbidden Kingdom last night. I have to highly recommend it, especially if you are an afficiandado of martial arts films in that there are many references to other martial art films. For example, the character Swallow is based on Chen Pei Pei's character Golden Swallow in Da Zui Xia (a/k/a Come Drink With Me) and Swallow even says at the end "Come Drink With Me". The Monkey King is a reference to various Chinese legends, but I think Jet Li plays it as a homage to Shen Da. Jackie Chan's character, Lu Yan is not only a famous Taoist scholar, but also plays the character as an earlier reference to his breakout film Jui Kuen.

FCC on Net Neutrality

Net Neutrality is the idea that no traffic should be discriminated against on the internet. Yet companies, like Comcast, do divert some file sharing and uploading traffic, at least to off-peak hours, in the hope that it won't overload their systems, apparantly in violation of Net Neutrality ideas. I certainly hope the FCC realizes the only way the internet will work is with the free market Net Neutrality and not have Big Brother telling what files can do what at what times.

EA / Take-Two Watch

EA extended the deadline for proxies yet again. It looks like only 8% of shareholders have tendered their stock to EA, and the stock is now trading above the tender price.

This market

I don't understand this market at all. I do have to agree with Mike Holland's comments this morning on CNBC that this market is a lot like it was 15 to 20 years ago that when a company announced layoffs, the stock went up proportionate to the number of people fired whereas today companies go up depending on how much debt they write off.

Global Warming, Yet Again

Again Al Gore has another competitor: science. Scientists at MIT this week unveiled another model of hurricane formation that demonstrated how global warming has absolutely no link on hurricane formation. Part of it is from research in 2007 that showed fewer hurricanes that global warming models predicted.