It’s only January, yet we already have 2 strong contenders for Morons of the Year.

Tamra Eason and Linda Falls of Springfield Mo. are facing serious health risks, including the possibility of HIV/AIDS or hepatitis, after getting tattoo’s from a door-to-door salesman using a homemade gun. Linda Falls got so sick afterward she had to be hospitalized. Both women recognized the gun was homemade (and the man obviously not a licensed tattoo artist,) yet got the tattoo’s anyway.

“It was wrapped with black tape, had a pin underneath it, had fishing wire going through it, you could tell it was a homemade gun,” Eason said.

“Beware of deals in parachutes, brain surgery and tattoos,” said Miller Cotton, a tattoo parlor owner.

Truer words were never spoken.

“We just wanted tattoos, and now we’re paying for it,” Eason said.

Ok, those words are pretty true also. Tamra and Linda, we salute you. You’re now the front-runners for Moron(s) of the Year. Good luck!

I guess there’s a reason some people end up working at McDonald’s. Let’s just say the button pusher taking my order today wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. Here’s how the transaction went down:

McDonald’s Employee: “May I help you?”
Me: “Sure, I’ll have a Chicken Caesar Salad.”
McD’s: “Grilled or crispy?”
Me: “Grilled.”
McD’s: “Ok, what kind of dressing do you want?”
Me: (a little taken aback by the question) “…Caesar. It’s a Caesar Salad.”
McD’s: “Yeah, I got that. One Caesar Salad, grilled. But what kind of dressing?”
Me: “Ummmm…It’s called a Caesar Salad because it has Caesar dressing. The dressing is what makes it a Caesar.”
McD’s: (confused…turns to ask a manager) “What comes with teh Caesar Salad again?”
Manager: “The Caesar Salad comes with the salad, dressing, and croutons. Was there something else you wanted?”
Me: “No. That’s all. I just want to pay.”
McD’s: “Are you sure they don’t get a choice of dressing?”
Manager: “Yes, I’m sure. It’s a Caesar Salad.”

The entire event made me a bit sad. Anyway, I’d like to welcome the McDonald’s employee to my website. She earned it.

This one is a real head scratcher. According to a BBC Story, a man walked into a Pretoria (South Africa) police station to report that he’d been robbed and gunpoint and his cell phone was stolen. After giving police the details regarding his phone, the officer taking his story dialed the number. The phone began to ring, in the man’s pocket. He was subsequently arrested for perjury.

Let me begin by saying, like many others before me, that it’s one of life’s great mysteries how Rob Enderle still has a job as a technology consultant, and even more puzzling how reporters for major news organizations continue to use him as a source. Before we get to the latest Enderle boondoggle, here’s what the bio on his blog says about him:

Rob is President and Principal Analyst of the Enderle Group, a forward looking emerging technology advisory firm, and one of the most recognized commentators on tech. Before founding the Enderle Group, Rob held leading positions with Forrester Research and the Giga Information Group.

That’s one of the funniest (in a bad way) bio’s I’ve read in a long time. “Forward looking?” Enderle has been more consistently wrong, by a wide margin, than any other tech commentator on the planet. What he’s “recognized” for is his utter lack of knowledge, inability to fact-check, and ridiculous statements that have earned him a lifetime “Jackass” award. John Gruber over at Daring Fireball (arbiter of the “Jackass of the Week” award) has been following Enderle’s misadventures for many years. You can read through his many articles taking Enderle to task. On to the latest and greatest from The Rob.
(more…)

We’ve known for a long time that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is an organization without a clue, who’s missing the boat on the evolution of the industry into an electronic medium. But their recent lawsuit against a man for ripping his legally purchased CD’s into MP3’s on his computer puts the RIAA into the dumbass hall of fame. RIAA slimeball laywer Ira Schwartz, in a brief filed earlier this month, argued that MP3 files made on a computer from legally bought CDs are “unauthorized copies” of copyrighted recordings.

What’s next? Is the RIAA going to go after everyone who’s ever copied their vinyl LP’s onto cassette tape so they could play them in a walkman or in their car?