Sometimes we have to report disturbing news, and this is one of those times. Now I understand that the law is the law, and certain things shouldn’t affect others just because you did something else bad. But, when a former Ameherst Public School Teacher can keep his pension after pleading guilty for possession of child porn, I draw a line.
Under state law, a public employee must forfeit his/her pension if convicted of a criminal offense involving the laws that apply to his or her office or position. So how, on God’s green earth did he win this!!? You’re telling me that having child porn has nothing to do with the fact that he is around minors all day? There is no provision in the school code that prohibits this behavior? What if he were taking pictures of students? Would he still get to keep it? This guy should be locked away in a dungeon and the key thrown away.
When I was a kid we didn’t read about this garbage every day, people weren’t using their computers for this utter filth. To go further here at Computer Geeks, we have a strong anti-child porn stance, where we report any child pornography to the proper authorities if we see it on ANY computer.
Garney, 67, a former longtime ninth-grade science teacher, pleaded guilty in December 2007 to 11 counts of the purchase and possession of child pornography. He had been identified by federal authorities in 2004 as part of an online investigation of international commercial child pornography websites.
A raid by police of Garney?s home turned up 575 images of child pornography on his home computer and a library of 85 videos of child pornography organized by gender, according to court documents. The materials contained images of children, from toddlers to early teenagers, involved in sexual acts.
Garney was sentenced in February 2008 in Hampshire Superior Court to 2? to 3 years in state prison followed by 10 years probation and was required to register as a sex offender.
He received pension benefits totaling $31,119 from the time of his conviction until his benefits stopped in February 2009 after a retirement system hearing on the matter.
A district court decision upheld the teachers? retirement board decision to stop Garney?s benefits, but that was reversed in Worcester Superior Court last year.
My mother always told me once a predator always a predator so more than likely this pervert will get what’s coming to him, I can only hope we get a call to clean his computer one day and I get to make the call myself. And who knows? A Computer Geeks Legal IT client will probably be my first call!
Where you treated at a hospital in the US, particularly a rural US hospital between April and June 2014? Watch your back, because hackers half way around the world know what ails you.
Community Health Systems had over 4.5 million patients’ hospital records hacked. This hacking has hit 29 states. Most of those compromised were in the rural areas in the American South and Midwest, though Pennsylvania was hit pretty hard. They claimed in a report to the US government the culprits were part of a hacking group from China, and it is an ‘Advanced Persistent Threat’. No motive is yet known. Here is where it gets interesting. A security company called Mandiant used a phrase ‘Advanced Persistent Threat’ to describe a Chinese Army unit hacking networks throughout the Western nations. Community Health Systems hired Mandiant to investigate this. As of this blog, it’s unclear Mandiant believes or not the Chinese Army had anything to do with this hacking. I just think it’s ironic how things come in circle like this.
As expected, China denies ever having a part in this. But this hacking dispute between China and the US has become disturbingly common in the past several years. One nation has accused the other of hacking something, whether it be military secrets or hospital records or bank codes. It sounds like this is pretty early in the investigation. It almost sounds like what Community Health Systems said vs. what Mandiant says vs. what the Chinese government says. But the Chinese Army isn’t the only suspect here. What if it’s some cyber crime rink in this country trying to get IDs to sale for $10 a pop? What if it’s a rival medical company whose behind this? What if it’s a disgruntle patient or former employee who was done wrong in some way and considers this revenge?
Best Buy has finally announced the price point for the new Moto 360 Smartwatch. It is now listed for pre-order on their site for $249.99. The Moto 360 is a highly anticipated wearable device that looks like an ordinary wristwatch at first, but when you start to look closer, you realize it is so much more.
Let’s be honest, we were all fans of the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers?growing up. And we all wanted one of Billy’s wrist communicators, and although this watch doesn’t let you teleport to the Command Center to see Zordon and Alpha 5, it does let you do a lot of the functions of your smartphone.?Including sending and receiving messages from a friend, checking the weather, a pedometer and heart rate monitor, for you runners. And of course the whole thing is voice activated!
Moto 360 Device Specifications
As for specs, the Moto 360 will sport a 1.5-inch backlit LCD touchscreen display with 320 x 290 resolution (205 pixel per inch ratio) and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. The device apparently measures 1.8 x 1.8 x 0.4 inches, weighing 2.1oz.
The Moto 360 packs a Texas Instruments processor, 512MB of RAM, Wi-Fi 802.11n support, Bluetooth 4.0, a heart rate sensor and an ambient light sensor. Battery life details for the Moto 360 have not been revealed, other than the fact the wearable device will have a lithium-ion battery pack ready to provide ?long-lasting operation.?
The watch is also water-resistant (up to 3.3 feet for up to 30 minutes), has a stainless steel case, plastic back and leather band.
It is said that Motorola is supposed to unveil their new Moto 360 at a special media event which should be held sometime in the first couple weeks of September, so stay tuned for more!
I for one cannot wait for this device to come out, and I’m going to dig out my Green Ranger costume like the Geek that I am, and try to save the world when I get my hands on one!
You’ve been seeing it for a while now, and I’m sure your Facebook News feed is flooded with the videos. The Ice Bucket Challenge. When I,?Matt Mackey was called out by a fellow teammate last week, I wanted to do the challenge really bad. Being the glutton for punishment that I am, it looked like a lot of fun. The only issue I had was the rules that I had seen on the challenge called for you to do the challenge or donate $100 to help fight ALS through The Pete Frates Fund. I wanted to do both, no strike that, we ALL should be doing both. If you have $3 to go out to the store and buy a bag of ice to dump on your head, then you have $5 to give to a great cause. You don’t have to give the full $100 just whatever you can, because it all helps.
Take 15 minutes out of your day and look up ALS and become more aware of how this disease is affecting people, because AWARENESS is what Pete Frates wants.?The challenge started in Massachusetts with former Boston College baseball player Pete Frates, who was diagnosed with the disease in 2012. ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, leading to muscle weakness, loss of the use of arms and legs and difficulty speaking, breathing and swallowing.
Computer Geeks Donated the $100 asked for the challenge along with taking the Ice Bucket Challenge, right here in front of our office. Watch the video below and see me get cold and wet.
Also I would like to take this time to congratulate My Softball team The Juggernauts?for not only taking the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge themselves, along with making donations, but on their Championship win this past Saturday at The Hub Softball Summer Showdown Tournament! As a team, not only did they help strikeout ALS, but they struck out their opponents too!
To Donate to this great cause go to Petefrates.com and click the donate button. Feel free to take the Ice Bucket Challenge too, as we here at Computer Geeks challenge EVERYONE!!!!
So you’re the CEO of an open-source documented database company. This company is in Silicon Valley. You’re worth around 1.4 billion dollars. And you’re a dedicated husband and father of three children. What do you do?
Max Shireson, CEO of Mongo DB, decided to leave his position to spend more time to his family. He wrote a blog explaining, “Why I’m leaving the best job I ever had”. He talks about how difficult it is to balance the demands of being a CEO of a fast growing corporation and the demands of raising children. Dev Ittycheria, a co-founder of Blade Logic that later merged with BMC Software, will replace Shireson as Mongo DB CEO. He eventually became one of BMC Software’s presidents, overseeing over 4,000 employees.
But let’s go back to Max Shireson leaving the job most of us would kill for. It goes back to the career vs. family dilemma and the question ‘Can we have it all?’. That’s a question usually pondered by women, like Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi. But it’s rare you see men wrestling with this issue. This is why I admire Max Shireson so much. He realizes what’s really important in this life. Not to sound preachy, but money and titles come and go. You only have one shot to be a decent husband and father. It helps having a great supporting cast. Shireson’s wife is a professor at Univ. of California-Berkly. Dev Ittycheria has plenty of experience in the technology world and has good management skills. But I want to ask those who are in high positions and have families at home, regardless of gender: Can you really have it all?
China and Apple seemed to have good business relationship. Could that relationship be in jeopardy?
China banned ten Apple products, including the iPad, iPad Mini, Mac Book Pro and Mac Book Air, from being bought with public money because of security concerns. This mandate is coming from the Chinese government. Apple is just the latest US technology company to be excluded from Chinese government purchases. You can thank tensions between the two nations over hacking and cyber security. One nation is constantly blaming the other. Symantac Corp.’s antivirus protection had been banned, so has Microsoft’s energy-efficient computers.
Guess how much China contributed to Apple’s economy last quarter? China made Apple over $37 billion, about 16 percent of their total revenue for that total. I will admit, there has been hacking stories between China and the US. But whose doing the majority of it? For instance, Apple rejects claims that China’s communist Central Television reports that iPhone software could leak government secrets. I’m not giving Apple any moral awards, but I’m sticking with Apple on this one. And I’m wondering is China using this scare tactic to build their own devices, using American companies’ technology to do so? And now China is virtually pulling the plug on the company that is bringing their economy billions, not to mention jobs? Have they ever heard the phrase, “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you”?
