Remember Dell Australia and the monitor "sale" scam?

$10,000,000AU later....

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has fined Dell AU $10mAU (approx $6.5mUS) after a nasty little sales scheme was uncovered and reported. Dell AU would show a PC for sale, and on the side show a monitor with a price crossed out and a lower price shown as a possible add-on. Except the lower price was actually higher than if you'd navigated elsewhere in the site and added the monitor on yourself.

Pretty damn scummy! But hey, they're a corporation, what do you expect?

In addition to the fine, Dell AU is paying reparations WITH INTEREST! And probably pinky swears not to do it again.

Now, the best thing about the fine amount? I mean, $10mil seems a bit small. THE FINE AMOUNT IS MORE THAN DELL MADE WITH THEIR PRICING SHENANIGANS! So their attempt at scamming the public actually caused them to lose money on the scam! THIS is how government fines should work - if you're found to have done something deliberately abusive to the public, the fine should negate any profit that you made from what you did, AND cost you beyond that!

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/08/dell-fined-6-5m-after-admitting-it-made-overpriced-monitors-look-discounted/

"Vaccines Magnetize People" doctor loses license indefinitely

Former doctor Sherri Tenpenny in Ohio made headlines a couple of years ago when she claimed that vaccines contained metallic components and some more insanely more outrageous claims that some cities were liquefying corpses and pouring them into municipal water supplies. She's become quite famous in the Alex Jones crowd.

Her fame did not impress the Ohio State Medical Board who, after receiving over 350 complaints, suspended her medical license indefinitely. She refused interviews with investigators and requests to come in and speak with the board and explain her points. The Board said they had no choice, not that I blame them in the least. They are bound to investigate complaints, and when they receive so many, the accused doctor had better have a darn good explanation!

One response she sent to a state lawmaker who invited her to testify was "We’re on to something here… and the LOUDER they scream, the more they are trying to hide. I stand by everything I said today. I put out FACTS and HYPOTHESIS (points to ponder)."

Now that the head-shaking has subsided a bit, here's a portion of Wikipedia's entry defining the word Hypothesis: "A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous observations that cannot satisfactorily be explained with the available scientific theories."

A proposed explanation, which would require statements of observation, etc. Not 'points to ponder'. That's nothing more than soundbites.

The final paragraph in the article, and what will probably be the final word in her career as a medical professional: "Tenpenny's license is now suspended, and the board issued her a civil fine of $3,000. To get her license back, she would have to reapply, pay the fine, comply with the investigation, and submit a written statement certifying compliance. If more than two years pass in the meantime, the board may also require her to provide additional evidence of "her fitness to resume practice."

https://arstechnica.com/health/2023/08/ohio-doc-who-said-vaccines-magnetized-people-loses-medical-license/