Canadian judge okays mind reading lawsuit

“A Canadian man can go ahead with a lawsuit claiming federal police used mind-reading techniques while investigating him, a British Columbia judge ruled.

David Ross, who lives near Hope, British Columbia, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) east of Vancouver, claims two police officers used what he called “neurophone, advanced neurophone and subliminal messaging” while he was under surveillance in 2003, according to court papers. He said that as a result, he suffers from headaches, sleeplessness and loss of normal brain function. A neurophone is an “electronic telepathy machine,” according to the Art of Hacking Web site.”

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Chinese drywall homeowners qualify for tax credit

“Florida homeowners who suffered property damage from drywall imported from China are eligible to receive thousands of dollars on their tax return, according to an announcement by the Internal Revenue Service.”

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Canada doesn’t have higher bankruptcy rate than U.S.

A recent study from the Fraser Institute claims that the notion that medical expenses spikes the U.S. bankruptcy rate is wrong because Canada has a higher bankruptcy rate than the U.S. and Canada has nationalized healthcare.  However, over at Creditslip, they debunk this finding by showing that the study looked at only bankruptcy statistics from 2006-07 after the U.S. had enacted strict new bankruptcy filing rules.  If ten years of bankruptcy filing data is reviewed, Canada has a lower rate for eight of those years including 2008.

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Wells Fargo sues itself

“In this particular case, Wells Fargo holds the first and second mortgages on a condominium, according to Sarasota, Fla., attorney Dan McKillop, who represents the condo owner.

As holder of the first, Wells Fargo is suing all other lien holders, including the holder of the second, which is itself.

“The primary reason is to clear title and ownership interest in a property to prepare it for sale,” Waetke said in an email exchange. “So it really is not Wells Fargo vs. Wells Fargo.”

Yet court documents clearly label “Wells Fargo Bank NA” as the plaintiff and “Wells Fargo Bank NA” as a defendant.

Wells Fargo hired Florida Default Law Group., P.L., of Tampa, Fla., to file the lawsuit against itself.

And then Wells Fargo hired another Tampa law firm — Kass, Shuler, Solomon, Spector, Foyle & Singer P.A. — to defend itself against its own lawsuit, according to court documents.”

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Facebook hit with more lawsuits

“TechCrunch reports that Power.com has now filed a countersuit, claiming Facebook is “unlawfully withholding the data that users own (as stated in Facebook’s own ToS), and is stifling competition by refusing to allow third party services like Power.com to access the data, among other things.”

Facebook also faces legal action from RootZoo, an erstwhile advertiser. After analytics from their Nov 2007-June 2008 campaign varied greatly from Facebook’s reported data, RootZoo requested Facebook’s logs and a refund. Facebook said no to both.”

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Lennar sets aside $40 million for chinese drywall

“Home builder Lennar Corp. has set aside nearly $40 million to deal with homes that it built using defective Chinese drywall, the company said in a regulatory filing on Friday…

The company also said that 41 Florida state court lawsuits and two federal class-action lawsuits have been filed against the builder regarding Chinese drywall. It is trying to abate the state actions under a law that allows builders to repair problems.”

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Friday Freebies: speed up your computer

WinUtilities is an award winning collection of tools to optimize and speedup your system performance. This suite contains utilities to clean registry, temporary files on your disks, erase your application and internet browser history, cache and cookies. It also supports to defragment your disk drives and improve computer performance and stability.

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Taxpayers losing out on TARP

I’m shocked!

“The Treasury Department is at risk of short-changing taxpayers by not collecting enough from banks trying to get out from under the government’s thumb, according to a panel that watches over the federal bailout program.”

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Class Disputes Best Buy’s Computer Claims

“Best Buy grossly overstates the battery power of the laptop computers it sells, according to a class action in St. Louis County Circuit Court. The class claims Best Buy lists a maximum battery life for each laptop that is more than twice its actual battery power.     Best Buy does not explain how it calculates maximum battery life, but lists it for all the brands the chain store sells, named plaintiff F. Damon Barton says in the complaint.
     Barton claims the maximum battery life claims are based on a dim, barely readable screen, a disabled Wi-Fi and an idling computer processor – in direct contrast to Best Buy’s advertisements.”

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Rochester’s Charter cable renewal raises questions

Commenters point out that the notion of a “non-exclusive” franchise mentioned below is a bit Orwellian.  How realistic is it for Charter competitor to enter the Rochester market?

“Rochester’s non-exclusive franchise agreement with Charter Communications to provide cable TV service in the city remains in effect despite the company’s declaration of bankruptcy in March.

The city council voted 7-0 on Monday to continue its arrangement with Charter, which has five years to go under a 15-year franchise agreement with the city.

The company is reorganizing following the bankruptcy declaration. The city’s decision has no implications for local channel offerings, public access or franchise fees, said City Attorney Terry Adkins.

A common misapprehension regarding Rochester’s single cable company is that it is a monopoly with exclusive rights in this market. Not true, Adkins said. Federal law would prohibit that sort of arrangement. Any competitor can offer cable service here.

“As long as they can meet the qualifications by being able to provide the service, we must allow them,” Adkins said.”

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