- Where is the line when it comes to intruding into your significant other’s email account? Let’s turn to Leon Walker, a computer technician from Detroit who now faces a jury trial in February for allegedly hacking into his then-wife's e-mail account. "She'd asked me to read her e-mails before," Walker said. "She gave me the password before. She didn't hide it." Whether or not that’s true, authorities clearly felt Walker had crossed the line by snooping into and reading emails from the account of his wife Clara, whom he discovered was having an affair with her previous husband. Well, one of her previous husbands. Clara Walker has been married three times, so that statement needs clarification. Her third husband, the one accused of spying on her email account, shared the documents with his wife's first husband, who then used them to file an emergency motion to obtain custody of his son with Clara Walker. If all of this is confusing to you, just know that you’re not alone. How all three of these husbands know one another and have relationships with each other makes no sense, but Leon Walker claimed that he and the first husband were both concerned because, according to Walker, husband No. 2 had been previously arrested on a domestic violence charge. "He took action with the courts to have himself protected and I took action with the court to have my daughter protected," Walker said. Of course, Clara Walker wondered how her private emails had made their way into open court and when she found out, she complained to police. As a quick aside, are we all beginning to see why this woman has trouble making marriages last? After Clara Walker’s complaint, Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper used a state anti-hacking law to charge Leon Walker with a felony. In a voicemail response to an interview request, Cooper minced no words in describing Leon Walker. “The guy is a hacker," Cooper stated. "It was password protected, he had wonderful skills, and was highly trained. Then he downloaded them and used them in a very contentious way.” The statute under which Walker is charged forbids someone from accessing "a computer program, computer, computer system or computer network" to acquire property "without authorization." All 50 states have such laws on the books, but those laws are typically not applied in this fashion. Leon Walker’s attorney admitted surprise at this specific application of the law. "I find it so hard to believe that our legislature would enact a law and say 'You know what, if husbands and wives are reading each others' e-mail, that's a priority for us and we've got to stop that,'" attorney Leon Weiss said. Walker tried to analogize his hacking his wife’s email account to someone kicking in a door to save someone from a burning house. "Do you kick the door open or do you let it burn?" Walker said. "I did what I felt was absolutely necessary." For the record, and I’m sure it will stun one and all, Leon and Clara Walker’s divorce was finalized in December…………
- While most of us are looking forward and wondering where society is headed, some among us are clearly looking backward and wondering just how much we share with our predecessors on this here Earth. Yes, I’m talking about Neanderthals, who were apparently more like us than originally thought. According to a new study by researchers at George Washington University and The Smithsonian Institute, these early humans cooked and ate vegetables, contradicting an previous theory that early humans were carnivorous. The study found starch granules from plant grains in Neanderthal teeth, leading them to believe the early humans did not have an exclusively meat-based diet. In turn, researchers concluded that theories blaming Neanderthals’ extinction on dietary deficiencies. If in fact they consumed plants and included cooked grains as part of a more sophisticated, diverse diet similar to early modern humans. "Neanderthals are often portrayed as very backwards or primitive," said Amanda Henry, lead researcher and a post-doctoral researcher at the university. "Now we are beginning to understand that they had some quite advanced technologies and behaviors." The plant granules were discovered in dental calculus -- which forms when plaque buildup hardens -- on the fossilized teeth of Neanderthal skeletons excavated from Shanidar Cave in Iraq and Spy Cave in Belgium. "Neanderthals and early humans did not visit the dentist," said Dr. Allison Brooks, another of the researchers on the project. "Therefore, the calculus or tartar remained on their teeth, preserving tiny clues to the previously unknown plant portion of their diets." You can read all about these exciting and largely irrelevant developments in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences report………
- Uh-oh, Iran. Not that you all are developing your nuclear program for anything other than peaceful means, but in case your were thinking, kinda, sorta, about using that program to do something other than create a new energy source, you can't feel great about an Israeli minister alerting the world to the fact that your nuclear program has been hit by technical problems and could be as much as three years away from making a bomb. The statement itself was not stunning because one month ago, Iran alleged that centrifuges used in uranium enrichment had been sabotaged. Outside sources believe that the centrifuges were targeted by the Stuxnet computer worm, but Iran has gone out of its way to deny those rumors. All along the way, dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Co. have maintained that their nuclear program is for peaceful energy use only and every step of the way, the rest of the world has laughed at those claims. Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon made the statement about the technical problems in Iran’s nuclear program and said on an Israeli radio station that the program faced "a number of technological challenges and difficulties.” He spoke as if this was an absolute certainty. "These difficulties have postponed the timetable," he stated. "So we can't talk about a point of no return. Iran does not have the ability to create nuclear weapons by itself at the moment." Of course, there is still the small matter of technology experts claiming that the Stuxnet’s complex coding suggests it was created by a "nation state" in the West, rather than an organized crime group. All in all, I’d say there’s plenty more juicy news to be mined out of this story………
- Color me stunned. You’re telling me that with legions of fans composed of adult wizards/dorks with no social lives outside of playing “Dungeons and Dragons” in their basements, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2" is the most-anticipated movie of 2011 among both men and women? Never mind that the first half of this sci-fi “thriller” is still scoring significant earnings in theaters and will undoubtedly do plenty more damage once it’s released on DVD and Blu-Ray, clearly there are a lot of pale, pasty losers out there who will go see a movie adaptation of anything J.K. Rowling writes. A poll conducted by online movie ticket seller Fandango.com revealed that the second half of the final “Harry Potter” movie, which isn’t due in theaters until July, is the most-anticipated movie for 26 percent of men and 24 percent of women surveyed. The second choice among men was predictably “The Hangover 2,” while the second pick for women was the hunky-teen-vampire-centric "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1." Fandango.com also asked respondents who they felt was the sexiest woman in movies and 10 percent of men chose "Black Swan" star Natalie Portman. One has to wonder how that might change if the survey were done over now that we know that Portman is both engaged and pregnant. Women went with the always-lovely Penelope Cruz as the sexiest lady on screen, giving her 7 percent of the vote. Oddly enough, Angelina Jolie finished a distant second among both sexes. The two sides agreed that "Pirates of the Caribbean" star Johnny Depp is the hottest guy in cinema today, although men most likely answered the question grudgingly through gritted teeth because saying that another dude is good-looking is not something more guys do willingly. How Fandango.com found 1,000 people willing to take an unpaid survey during the Christmas season, I’ll never know, but people do love believing that their opinion matters……….
- We waited all these weeks and this is the best the NFL could come up with? The league is fining Brett Favre a whopping $50,000 not for his actions in an alleged sexting scandal with then-Jets game-day employee Jenn Sterger, but because the embattled Vikings quarterback was not cooperative with its investigation of the matter? Favre is concussed, busted up and unlikely to play again this season or in the future for that matter, so it’s not as if the league could suspend him and have that punishment mean anything. Having said that, commissioner Roger Goodell and his cronies drag their feet for a long time on this one, probably to avoid that very decision on a suspension that actually could have had some teeth. That left them with an easy out in fining Favre, but even in that instance they whiffed. A $50,000 fine for not cooperating? Why not just make the guy write “I will cooperate with NFL investigations” 500 times on the blackboard and sit in the corner for 15 minutes? That would be just as ridiculous. As bad as this decision is, the one thing that could make it worse is Goodell getting out and trying to sell it like it’s a fair and just outcome for the case. Whether Favre plays on Sunday in Minnesota’s season finale against Detroit or not, he got over on this one and we all know it. Someone who definitely knows it is Sterger's attorney, who accused the league of favoritism. "It clearly shows that an NFL star player was given preferential treatment and tells all other players that failure to cooperate may cost you some money but will not result in other punishment," said Joseph Conway. He took umbrage to Goodell announcing that he, the commissioner, "could not conclude" that Favre violated the league's personal conduct policy based on the evidence currently available to him. That gem was included in a statement from the league announcing the fine. The league claimed that it conducted forensic analysis which failed to establish that Favre sent the objectionable photographs to Sterger. Goodell then decided to fine Favre because he was "not candid in several respects during the investigation resulting in a longer review and additional negative public attention for Favre, Sterger and the NFL.” Sheriff Goodell then warned Favre that if he had found a violation of the league's workplace conduct policies, he would have imposed a "substantially higher level of discipline." Oh, okay. I may not side entirely with Sterger and her crew in this situation, but I’m more inclined to believe Conway when he claims there was "ample evidence" the photos were of Favre. I don’t follow Conway when he tries to aggrandize the situation by stating, "Additionally, today's decision is an affront to all females and shows once again that, despite tough talk, the NFL remains the good old boys' league.” I sincerely hope that in the face of a decision that clearly infuriates them, Sterger and her team follow through on their prior threats to unveil all of the damning information and evidence they reportedly have in the case. That could happen if Sterger decides to take legal action against Favre, the Jets or the NFL, which I am now rooting for. I also feel compelled to point out that there is an ironclad way to find out if the pictures were of Favre’s junk and I think we all know what sort of apples-to-apples comparison I’m talking about………..
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