Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Ohio goes secret Big Brother, Mets misery and stealing old Bibles


- No credit for owning your Big Brother antics two months too late and only after being exposed, state of Ohio. The Buckeye State has added a new level of spying on its citizens to the mix, only officials did so without notifying the public. State Attorney General Mike DeWine admitted he should have let Ohioans know that their images from driver's licenses were being used by law enforcement in criminal investigations even though he didn’t offer a great explanation as to why he chose not to do so. "If I had to do it over again, would we have announced it when we did it? Yeah, we would have. And I'll take responsibility for that," DeWine said. The controversial facial recognition technology program will continue, according to DeWine, who also said an advisory board will be created to review the system's usage and to suggest policy changes to avoid misuse of the program. The program gives police the capability to compare a photograph of a suspect or crime victim to an electronic pool of mug shots and driver's license photos in the Ohio database, with comparisons made of facial measurements from one image to the next in search of a match. Ohio is one of dozens of states to use such a program, according to a statement from DeWine, but the only one to lie about it and then say, “Oh, my bad.” Ohio law enforcement agencies began using the facial recognition technology in June and DeWine's concession that he should have let the public know about the program sooner didn’t placate anyone. "The time for press conferences and advisory boards was months ago," Gary Daniels, associate director of the ACLU of Ohio, said in a statement. "This system needs to be shut down until there are meaningful, documented rules in place to keep this information secure, protect the privacy of innocent people, and prevent government abuse of this new tool." States have gradually begun using the technology, which was developed in 2010, and it has already been used 2,677 times by Ohio law enforcement. In addition to identifying suspects, the system also assists law enforcement officials in identifying homicide victims, missing persons who suffer from Alzheimer's, dementia or amnesia, and human trafficking victims……..


- How is life, New York Mets fans? Your team is 13 games below .500, in fourth place in the National League East and the one player who has made this season even remotely tolerable is potentially staring down Tommy John surgery on his elbow. Right-hander Matt Harvey has been diagnosed with a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow, meaning his is unlikely to pitch again this season, general manager Sandy Alderson said. A final decision on surgery will have to wait 2-3 weeks, until swelling subsides and a clearer assessment of the extent of the tear can be determined. Harvey is hopeful that he can avoid surgery by strengthening the area around the ligament tear, although Alderson was less optimistic. "I'm going to do everything I can so I don't have to get surgery,” Harvey said. Should Tommy John surgery be necessary, it typically requires a 12-month recovery time and would cost Harvey most if not all of the 2014 season. This bitter news came down after Harvey was sent Monday morning to the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan after complaining of forearm discomfort following a 102-pitch start Saturday against the Detroit Tigers. Dr. David Altchek did an MRI MRI that revealed the UCL tear. "Doctors will always tell you that if you could avoid surgery you should," Alderson said. "However, we have had situations in the past -- not just here, but across baseball -- where the conservative approach doesn't work, and what you end up with is a loss of time and therefore a delay in recovery. That all has to be taken into account.” Harvey ends his season with a 9-5 record, 2.27 ERA and the hearts of every Mets fan on the verge of shattering into a thousand pieces…..


- A German man who clearly didn’t read the Bible much before he stole a 200-year-old version of the holy book has finally realized the error of his ways. The stolen Bible was pilfered from a British church four decades ago and Simon Scott, treasurer of the Holy Trinity Church, in the coastal resort of Hastings, England, received the large, leather-bound book in the mail earlier this month. An anonymous note accompanied the book and came inside an envelope marked with a German return address. The note explained that the man stole the Bible in 1971. "I've never managed to pluck up the courage to come and hand it back personally. But now that I've retired, I've definitely decided to get on the right side of things,” the note read. It went on to say that the author was from Germany and had gone to the town to take an English language course with his wife but the lecturer seemed to be “very old, and had no teaching skills.” Some of the classes he took were at the church and when he saw some unused Bibles, he somehow reasoned that he would take one “as compensation for the poor course” and to read at home. “In fact,” he said in the letter, “I never got around to doing it,” adding that his wife was “very angry” with him for taking the book. "Whenever I came across the bible I would have this guilty conscience about doing it.” Scott has been a member of the church since 1980 and admitted he wasn’t expecting the Bible to be returned. “I hoped it was something to help fill our coffers,” Scott explained. “But it turned out to be a 200-year-old Bible which was of little monetary value but came with a major story behind it. It wouldn't have been an easy steal. It would have taken a bit of carrying, really.” He sent a reply to the address list on the envelope and said he hoped the thief’s conscience was now clear……..


- Whew. We dodged a bullet on that one, world. After the most predictable man-band reunion ever as ‘N Sync Town Boys Degrees took the stage together Sunday night at the MTV Video Music Awards, the world had to wonder if the reunion tour bug would strike the middle-aged popsters. The man-banders played a 15-minute greatest hits medley with snippets of singles 'Take Back The Night,’ 'SexyBack,’ 'Like I Love You,’ 'My Love,’ 'Cry Me A River,’ 'SeƱiorita' and 'Rock Your Body,’ completing a truly terrible night for music in which frontman Justin Timberlake took home the prize for Video Of The Year award, as well as the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, which he pledged to share with his former bandmates. "Half of the Moonmen I've ever won, I won with those four guys right there," Timberlake said, pointing to his bandmates. "I'm going to share this with them." Them would be former bandmates JC Chasez, Lance Bass, Chris Kirkpatrick and Joey Fatone, all of whom have properly faded back to irrelevance since the group broke up. Chasez confirmed the much-awaited news that the reunion was a one-off gig and nothing more. "It was just about five guys who were great friends, who spent 10 or 15 years together touring, and we wanted to give that back to our fans, but we were there mainly to support Justin," he said. "Literally just a few days ago, Justin gave me a buzz and he pretty much said, 'Hey man, listen, I'm getting this award and they've given me a pile of time to perform, and we started our careers at MTV and I think we should get the band back together.’” With man bands reuniting seemingly every day and touring the United States to torture the world with their crappy music all over again, it’s good to know this is one tour that won’t happen…….

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