Computeracalypse, Cheney Has Heart
Monday, October 21, 2013
Vol.2, No. 297
Glitchlock: The NY Times quotes computer experts saying that it could be mid-December before the Obamacare website problems are fixed and that’s after the deadline to buy medical insurance that starts in January. As many as 5 million lines of computer code might need re-writing. To counter the discouraging news, The White House has scheduled an event today in which the President is expected to introduce regular Americans who have successfully enrolled in the healthcare exchanges. But the problem is not that nobody has been able to register, it’s that possibly millions cannot.
National: Newark Mayor Cory Booker opened his city hall at midnight to perform some of the first gay marriages in New Jersey. Midnight marriages were performed in several cities throughout the state. A New Jersey court recently ruled that the state must allow same-sex marriage and the state’s Supreme Court turned down an appeal by Gov. Chris Christie. This morning Christie dropped further appeals. New Jersey is now the 14th state along with the District of Columbia to allow same-sex marriage.
- Florida authorities promise more arrests in the prison escape of two convicted murderers who used forged release documents. Investigators say the escapees had a lot of help and that someone who does not normally handle sentence reductions had signed their documents. Police are investigating information that a set of forged documents could be bought for $8,000.
World: Security camera video from the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi has revealed soldiers carrying away bags of loot from stores in the mall. Shop owners had complained that when they were allowed back inside after the terrorist occupation, their stores had been plundered of watches, jewelry and other valuables. And it wasn’t the terrorists who took them.
Commuter Jam: The Bay Area’s rapid transit strike continues today as hundreds of thousands of commuters struggle to get to work without the commuter rail system, BART. Over the weekend, two rail workers were killed by a train making a maintenance run. BART officials have not blamed the accident on the strike.
Send In The Clowns: Several gunmen dressed as clowns invaded a children’s birthday party Saturday in Mexico and killed Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix, 63, the oldest brother of the drug cartel family. They got him with two quick pops during the party at a luxury resort in Cabo San Lucas. The Arellano Felix brothers were at the height of their power between 1990 and 2000 but now two of seven brothers are dead and several are in prison.
Yes, He Has One: Former Vice President Dick Cheney has published a book called Heart: An American Medical Odyssey. The 72-year-old Cheney has had five heart attacks since he was 37. Every time it was looking fatal, medical science produced a fix, from stents, to bypass surgery, cholesterol-lowering drugs, and finally a heart transplant.
Cheney writes that when he had a defibrillator installed doctors turned off the WiFi function so he could not be assassinated by computer. The AMC series Homeland had a similar plot with a more entertaining outcome.
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