The three most memorable TV moments of the last 50 years according to a research poll conducted by TV researcher Nielsen and Sony Electronics:

1. The 9/11 Attacks
2. Hurricane Catrina
3. The O.J. Simpson Verdict

The killing of Osama bin Laden was number 5, after the Challenger space shuttle disaster.

Princess Diana’s funeral, the Columbine HS shootings in Colorado, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the 2010 earthquake and tsunami in Japan also scored in the top 10. The sudden death of Whitney Houston made the cut, but the death of Michael Jackson did not.

Here's the top 20. [More...]

Another Guantanamo detainee released. Ibrahim al Qosi, a former driver for Osama bin Laden, finished his sentence and is repatriated to Sudan. He spent 10 years at Guantanamo.

Who's left? The Miami Herald reports 168, including 46 designated for indefinite detention, without charge or trial.

The new discovery in the George Zimmerman case will be available to the media tomorrow morning. The Orlando Sentinel describes what is likely to be included. It will be the items from the Second Discovery Disclosure not exempted by law and the judge.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

MegaUpload founder Kim DotCom has made an interesting offer to the Justice Department, via his Twitter account. He later told the Guardian he meant it:

On Wednesday morning Dotcom laid down the gauntlet to the US department of justice, offering to travel to the US under his own steam and faces charges – with conditions. "Hey DOJ," Dotcom said on his Twitter account, "we will go to the US. No need for extradition. We want bail, funds unfrozen for lawyers and living expenses."

He told the Guardian that the offer was genuine but he was not holding his breath. "Considering the way the US government has conducted their case and the way I was treated, I never expect to get a fair trial in the United States," he said.

He's not happy that his extradition hearing just got delayed until March, 2013. [More...]

Yesterday was a bad day for Lance Armstrong in federal court in Austin, Texas. The judge dismissed his request for a temporary injunction preventing the USADA from forcing him to choose between participating in arbitration, where he almost certainly will be permanently banned from cycling and stripping him of his titles, or not participating and accepting the sanctions it doles out. (Details below the fold.) But the Judge said he could refile and today he did just that. (Details of the new suit are also below.)

As Armstrong battles on, today the USADA banned three of his associates for life for drug violations. They include former staff members and consultants on the cyclist’s winning Tour de France teams for drug violations.

Luis Garcia del Moral was a team doctor; Michele Ferrari was a consulting doctor; and Jose “Pepe” Marti (team trainer) worked for Armstrong’s U.S. Postal Service and Discovery Channel squads. All had been accused by USADA of participating in a vast doping conspiracy on those teams during part or all of Armstrong’s seven Tour victories from 1999-2005.

More...

BTD - I'll write something worthwhile again soon. I promise.

In the meantime, Open Thread.

Guilt-Monger in Chief Nancy Grace can chalk up another suicide to her disgraceful antics. Toni Medrano, age 29, dubbed "The Vodka Mom" by Grace, set herself on fire in her mother's backyard and died Saturday, weeks after watching Grace demonize her, while donning her typical hyper-ventilating, nostril-flaring faux-persona, and ask her audience why Ms. Medrano wasn't charged with Murder One instead of manslaughter, for falling asleep on her infant while inebriated, suffocating the baby.

Ms. Medrano saw Nancy Grace's show. Grace said on the show she had attempted to contact Medrano at her home (I wonder how many times the producers called -- someone should subpoena her and her staff's land line and cell phone records). According to friends, after the show, she became despondent. [More...]

Busy afternoon, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

President Obama is asking that the Bush Tax Cuts be extended for those making under $250,000 a year for one year.

Republicans want the tax cuts extended for everyone, including the wealthy.

Eric Lichtblau in the New York Times writes about a report from cell phone carriers in response to a Congressional Inquiry about law enforcement requests cell phone tracking warrants, subpoena and informal requests.

The report was received by Co-Chairs of the Congressional Bi-Partisan Privacy Committe., as a response to a letter written In March, 2012 to AT&T asking for information.

The reports notes a huge upswing in use of cell-phone surveillance.Even some members of Congress were suprised. [More...]

Here's one the reasons Mark Geragos argued to the jury in the Scott Peterson death penalty trial that it should return a verdict of life without parole instead of death. The full transcript is here.

Prison is an awful, awful place. Scott Peterson, if you vote to spare his life, will be placed into a cell that is roughly the size of a king size bed. Roughly encompasses you four jurors right here. That's the size of his cell. And he would be in that cell roughly the size of a king size bed for the rest of his life. He will die in that cell.

Scott Peterson in that cell will have a bed to lay on, and he will have a cold metal toilet, and he will share that cell with a friend. That friend will be his cellmate. That may change.

[More...]

Monday the FBI will cease re-routing internet users though a clean DNS server. Or something like that.

Approximately 64,000 Americans could lose Internet access on Monday thanks to a criminal organization that infected millions of computers around the world with malware called DNSChanger. This malware was used to direct unsuspecting users to rogue servers controlled by the cyber thieves, where they manipulated users’ web browsing activity and used it for ad hijacking, allowing them to make millions of dollars in illicit fees.

Your computer may have been one of those affected by DNS-changing malware. To find out, head over to the DNS Changer Working Group. Click on the green button and then a bunch of sites in different parts of the world come up. Click on the one that says dns-ok.us. If it comes up green, you're fine. If it's red, you have problems. Or something like that.

Better safe than sorry. This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Andre Davis, now 50 years old, left a maximum security prison in Illinois today, after serving 32 years for a rape and murder that DNA evidence has proven he didn't commit.

A federal court overturned his conviction when DNA tests not available at the time of his trial came back with a finding that the blood and semen found at the crime scene were not those of Davis.

Prosecutors earlier today said they will not recharge him. Did the DNA tests sway them? Not much.

[Prosecutor] Reitz said that while she didn't doubt the results of the DNA tests, she decided not to retry Davis because of the difficulty in taking a 32-year-old case to trial — not because of those tests.

Davis requested the DNA testing in 2004. Why did it take 8 years to free him?