The Filter

'Sex pest' seal attacks penguin

2008-05-05T18:01:00.000+13:00

Sexual coercion among animals is extremely common

An Antarctic fur seal has been observed trying to have sex with a king penguin.

The South African-based scientists who witnessed the incident say it is the most unusual case of mammal mating behaviour yet known.

The incident, which lasted for 45 minutes and was caught on camera, is reported in the Journal of Ethology.

The bizarre event took place on a beach on Marion Island, a sub-Antarctic island that is home to both fur seals and king penguins.

At first glimpse, we thought the seal was killing the penguin

Nico de Bruyn, University of Pretoria

Why the seal attempted to have sex with the penguin is unclear. But the scientists who photographed the event speculate that it was the behaviour of a frustrated, sexually inexperienced young male seal.

Equally, it might be been an aggressive, predatory act; or even a playful one that turned sexual.

"At first glimpse, we thought the seal was killing the penguin," says Nico de Bruyn, of the Mammal Research Institute at the University of Pretoria, South Africa.

Pinniped behaviour

The brazenness of the seal's behaviour left those who saw it in no doubt as to what was happening.

De Bruyn and a colleague were on Trypot beach at Marion Island to study elephant seals when they noticed a young, adult male Antarctic fur seal, in good condition, attempting to copulate with an adult king penguin of unknown sex.

The 100kg seal first subdued the 15kg penguin by lying on it.

The penguin flapped its flippers and attempted to stand and escape - but to no avail.

The seal may have been frustrated in its attempts to find a partner

The seal then alternated between resting on the penguin, and thrusting its pelvis, trying to insert itself, unsuccessfully.

After 45 minutes the seal gave up, swam into the water and then completely ignored the bird it had just assaulted, the scientists report.

Why a fur seal would indulge in such extreme sexual behaviour is unclear.

Sexual coercion among animals is extremely common: males of many species often harass, coerce or force females of their own kind to mate, while animals are also known occasionally to harass sexually a member of a closely related species.

Harassment is common among pinnipeds, the group of animals that includes seals, fur seals, and sea lions; and occasionally it happens between related species.

Male grey seals have been known to harass and mate with female harbour seals, for example, producing hybrids.

"Sexual harassment is often more commonplace in non-monogamous mating systems, and in species where males are physically much larger than the other sex and thus physically capable of coercion or harassment," says de Bruyn.

But this is thought to be the first recorded example of a mammal trying to have sex with a member of another class of vertebrate, such as a bird, fish, reptile, or amphibian.

'Too young'

Chinstrap penguins occasionally indulge in homosexual behaviour, and adelie penguins sometimes "prostitute" themselves to get stones for nest-building; while one in seven emperor penguins will change partners from one year to the next.

But generally, king penguins lead straightforward sex lives: males and females pair up for years on end.

Marion Island is the only place in the world where Antarctic fur seals are known to hunt king penguins on land, so the idea that the fur seal was trying to eat the object of its attention made sense.

"But then we realised that the seal's intentions were rather more amorous."

The researchers speculate that the male seal was too young to win access to female seals, and in a state of sexual excitement, looked elsewhere.

But the mating season was nearly over when the incident took place, leading the scientists to also wonder whether the seal's natural predatory aggression toward the bird became redirected into sexual arousal.

Equally, the incident may have arisen because the seal was "play-mating".

"It was most certainly a once-off and has never previously or since been recorded anywhere in the world to our knowledge," says de Bruyn.

The penguin did not appear to have been injured by the seal, the scientists report.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7379554.stm

God hates this little boy.

2008-04-01T09:59:00.004+13:00

In Dallas, Texas, while a 7-year-old boy headed to his chemotherapy appointment Tuesday, thieves were at work on his family’s car, making off with his medicine, school homework, and video games. If that wasn’t enough, it all happened on the day before his birthday.

Kyle Springs and his family drove from Oklahoma to Dallas for a monthly chemotherapy treatment for a tumor in his brain. The thieves struck as he and his parents ate breakfast at a Denny’s restaurant.

“It had my homework and my medicine in it, and I couldn’t leave my medicine. I needed to take it,” he said.

Along with the backpack of medicine, homework, a PlayStation Portable (PSP), and video games, his medical records were stolen as well.

According to Kyle’s mother, video games helped him escape the pain.

“They keep his attention off sitting there, getting that medication that he knows is going to make him sick,” Trish Springs said.

When authorities heard about Kyle’s situation, they stepped up. Officers presented Kyle with a new PSP, video games, movies, and money for his medication at the Children’s Medical Center.

In just two and a half hours, officers from the Dallas Police Department raised more than $1,000 for Kyle.

Hackers Assault Epilepsy Patients via Computer

2008-03-30T17:45:00.001+13:00

Internet griefers descended on an epilepsy support message board last weekend and used JavaScript code and flashing computer animation to trigger migraine headaches and seizures in some users.

The nonprofit Epilepsy Foundation, which runs the forum, briefly closed the site Sunday to purge the offending messages and to boost security.

"We are seeing people affected," says Ken Lowenberg, senior director of web and print publishing at the Epilepsy Foundation. "It's fortunately only a handful. It's possible that people are just not reporting yet -- people affected by it may not be coming back to the forum so fast."

The incident, possibly the first computer attack to inflict physical harm on the victims, began Saturday, March 22, when attackers used a script to post hundreds of messages embedded with flashing animated gifs.

The attackers turned to a more effective tactic on Sunday, injecting JavaScript into some posts that redirected users' browsers to a page with a more complex image designed to trigger seizures in both photosensitive and pattern-sensitive epileptics.

RyAnne Fultz, a 33-year-old woman who suffers from pattern-sensitive epilepsy, says she clicked on a forum post with a legitimate-sounding title on Sunday. Her browser window resized to fill her screen, which was then taken over by a pattern of squares rapidly flashing in different colors.

Fultz says she "locked up."

"I don't fall over and convulse, but it hurts," says Fultz, an IT worker in Coeur d'Alene, Ohio. "I was on the phone when it happened, and I couldn't move and couldn't speak."

After about 10 seconds, Fultz's 11-year-old son came over and drew her gaze away from the computer, then killed the browser process, she says.

"Everyone who logged on, it affected to some extent, whether by causing headaches or seizures," says Browen Mead, a 24-year-old epilepsy patient in Maine who says she suffered a daylong migraine after examining several of the offending posts. She'd lingered too long on the pages trying to determine who was responsible.

Circumstantial evidence suggests the attack was the work of members of Anonymous, an informal collective of griefers best known for their recent war on the Church of Scientology. The first flurry of posts on the epilepsy forum referenced the site EBaumsWorld, which is much hated by Anonymous. And forum members claim they found a message board thread -- since deleted -- planning the attack at 7chan.org, a group stronghold.

Fultz says the attack spawned an uncommonly bad seizure. "It was a spike of pain in my head," she says. "And the lockup, that only happens with really bad ones. I don't think I've had a seizure like that in about a year."

But she's satisfied with the Epilepsy Foundation's relatively fast response to the attack, about 12 hours after it began on Easter weekend. "We all really appreciate them for giving us this forum and giving us this place to find each other," she says.

Epilepsy affects an estimated 50 million people worldwide, about 3 percent of whom are photosensitive, meaning flashing lights and colors can trigger seizures.

http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2008/03/epilepsy

FREAKIN' Hilarious, Kinda jealous I didn't think of it

The Hundredth Monkey Effect

2008-03-29T05:48:00.001+12:00

According to Wikipedia, The Hundredth Monkey Effect generally describes the instant, paranormal spreading of an idea or ability to the remainder of a population once a certain portion of that population has heard of the new idea or learned the new ability. However, for those of you that don't know the origin of this phenomenal Effect, you're not only going to get excited you're going to instantly re-realize how freaking similar we are, as today's modern civilization, to this wonderfully wild species.

The year was 1952. The setting was an island somewhere in the south seas. A few anthropologists were studying the behavior of the macaques, a Japanese Monkey native to the islands with a diet consisting primarily of sweet potatoes. By routine, the monkeys would dig up a potato, break it in half and eat only from the center in order to avoid the potato's sandy coat, discarding the rest. After one potato, the monkey would go back to dig another. One insightful afternoon, a pioneering monkey decided to rinse his potato, allowing him to eat it whole, and dig for fewer potatoes. Consequently, he not only began enjoying a cleaner habit, he instantly created more free time to enjoy the things he loved to do. Was he praised immediately? Just the opposite. His family and friends just couldn't understand why he was doing something so different! Despite this, some of the onlooking monkeys became privy to the transition and began washing their potatoes too. Slowly but surely, many more of the surrounding monkeys shared in the innovation. Hundreds of monkeys continued to hold fast to their comfortable method even though they began to notice the abundance the other monkeys were enjoying at the beach. Now, supposedly when the hundredth monkey took the leap of faith, all the rest followed. Most remarkably and due to an evident mass consciousness, the paradigm immediately shifted amongst the monkeys inhabiting the neighboring islands too!

http://blog.bizzflip.com/bizzflipcom/2008/03/the-hundredth-m.html

Google: No kids allowed

2008-03-28T09:58:00.000+12:00

Google's terms of service, while ignored by the vast majority of users, contain a pretty shocking clause: Under 18's are not permitted to use any of Google's Web properties. That's right, kids--no search, YouTube, Gmail, news, or images.

Under 18s wishing to watch YouTube videos of skateboarding dogs, or perform research for a school project will have to go elsewhere--Ask.com or Microsoft's Live.com search, perhaps. The message from Mountain View seems clear: We don't want your (underage) business.

Google's terms of service, thick with legalese, state that:

"You may not use ... Google's products, software, services and web sites ... and may not accept the Terms if ... you are not of legal age to form a binding contract with Google.

The problem with this, of course, is that all 50 states in the United States require that someone be at least 18 years old to form a binding contract. As for what happens when a person under 18 attempts to agree to a click-through contract, the jury is still out on that one.

When contacted about the matter, a Google spokesperson initially told me that "users need to be at least 13 years old to use Gmail."

However, when I pointed out that the language in the company's terms of service contradicted her statement, she clarified her remarks, stating that: "We require users to be able to form a legally binding contract in order to use our services. The actual age required to form a legally binding contract may differ based on jurisdiction."

When I asked what the company would do if it found out that someone under 18 were using search, or Gmail, the spokesperson told me:

"We're not in a position to verify the age or legal status of any user, given the tremendous number of users accessing Google services. That said, when we become aware of a user who is violating our Terms of Service, including not being of proper age to accept the Terms of Service, we take appropriate action, which could include the termination of the user's Google Account."

After first seeing Google's no-kids policy in the company's terms of service, any rational person would assume that it's just standard legalese that all companies are required to include. However, it turns out that Google's dot-com competition is far more kid friendly.

Facebook's terms of service state:

"This Site is intended solely for users who are thirteen years of age or older, and users of the Site under 18 who are currently in high school or college."

What about MySpace?:

"By using the MySpace Services, you represent and warrant that ... you are 14 years of age or older."

As for Microsoft's Live.com search engine and Ask.com, their terms of service don't mention age at all.

To this outside observer, it seems a little bit strange that 13+ year-olds can use social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, where many users post their gender, sexuality, religion, and a large number of potentially embarrassing photos. Yet, those same teenagers are forbidden from conducting a Web search. Surely things should be the other way around.

Conflicting messages
Google is currently running a Doodle 4 Google contest, in which K-12 students take a shot at designing a Google company logo. The winner will receive $10,000 and their art will appear on Google's home page for a day.

When viewed in light of the "no kids here" policy in the terms of service, Google's school outreach seems rather strange. Ironically, the winner of the contest will be forbidden from viewing his or her artwork on the main Google page, unless a parent types in the URL for them.

This is hardly Joe Camel territory, but it is still very strange. Why has the company gone out of its way to write up a terms of service that bans kids, yet at the same time, is engaged in kid-friendly promotions? Why does the site include anti-kid legalese that none of its competitors has opted to include?

The answer, for now, will remain unknown. Google's PR people toe the company line, and its lawyers, well, remain lawyers.

http://www.cnet.com/8301-13739_1-9902548-46.html

Hubert Said Something Today

2008-03-27T16:32:00.000+12:00

Let's dip our nuts in whiskey... and get the girls drunk!

Scrotal Safety Tips

2008-03-11T16:07:00.000+12:00

1)"When hygienically inspecting your scrotum, remember to treat your fleshy sack with kid gloves (or an equivalent glove of soft construction). Keeping your fingernails neatly trimmed will also help cut down on self-inflicted scrotal damage.";

2)"Riding escalators is both fun and convenient. But please remember to wear slacks while you enjoy the mechanical comfort of a moving staircase. And never sit on an escalator tread, even if the escalator is not in service.";

3)"Purchasing a swimsuit with built-in underpants will greatly cut down on excess scrotal-stress during a spirited game of volleyball and the like.";

4)"A lady-friend can quickly become a lady-enemy where your scrotum is concerned. Play it wise and establish a 'safe-word' during rough play. The Scrotal Safety Commission would like to recommend the safe-word: 'Peachy-keen'";

5)"Get a professional to 'size' you for under-shorts. Many scrotal accidents could have been easily avoided by sporting proper fitting under garments.";

6)"Due to the aggressive nature of tiny, uncontrollable legs -- baby-sitting may not be a solid career choice for those of you with 'fragile scrotums'.

Sadly, new fathers may not be able to avoid the willy-nilly, groin-magnets that a baby's feet often are. In a case such as this, heavy padding and a generous application of expanding foam (available at your local hardware supplier) will help protect your region.";

7) "Bicycles are still legal in many states. Those of you that still insist on riding them should purchase a groin-helmet. These devices come in many colors and wind resistant shapes. Shop around to find the perfect groin-helmet for your needs. Plan a fun get-together with friends to decorate your groin-helmet with decals and 'realistic battle damage'.";

8) "Watch out for cancer.";

9) "Enlist one of your friends as a 'Crotch-Buddy'. Have him concern himself with the safety of your scrotum. Remind him publicly that he is your 'Crotch-Buddy'. Remind him in front of girls.";

10) "Check better informed websites for information about your scrotum. This one is not very good and may well be full of extremely bad ideas. Remember: An informed scrotum owner is a safe scrotum owner.";

http://www.scrotalsafetycommission.com/

International Space Station Crew Can Access Gun

2008-02-18T18:12:00.000+12:00

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Astronauts aboard the International Space Station apparently have access to a gun.Russian Cosmonauts carry a gun on their Soyuz space capsule, which is attached to the space station.

Every spacecraft carries survival gear for crash landings, and the Russian Soyuz has a kit that includes the gun.A photo of a space tourist using one version of the weapon is posted on his Web site.But although the gun has been there for as long as the space station has been in orbit, its existence is kept quiet. NASA and Russian officials won't talk publicly about it.Former NASA engineer Jim Oberg, who is an author and journalist, wrote about the gun on his Web site. He said the gun has no place in an environment where people are under such high stress."There have been cases of severe psychological strain on people in space, strain that they have taken out -- that their shipmates worried about the ultimate actions," Oberg said.Experts said the idea of an astronaut losing control was unthinkable until one year ago, when Lisa Nowak shattered the myth.Her own attorney said she was insane when arrested for hunting down another woman, and prosecutors said she was armed.Nowak had flown in space just seven months earlier.Oberg knows an astronaut bent on orbital manslaughter could simply throw any number of switches to do the job, but he said the crews would be safer if the gun was locked up or left on Earth.The gun is located in a survival kit between some seats aboard the Soyuz spacecraft. All the crewmembers know about it, and U.S. astronauts who fly aboard the Soyuz are trained to use it.

John Cleese’s “Letter to America”

2008-02-17T08:19:00.001+12:00

Dear Citizens of America,

In view of your failure to elect a competent President and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.

Her Sovereign Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories (except Kansas, which she does not fancy), as from Monday next.

Your new prime minister, Gordon Brown, will appoint a governor for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

1. You should look up “revocation” in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then look up “aluminium,” and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.

2. The letter ‘U’ will be reinstated in words such as ‘colour’, ‘favour’ and ‘neighbour.’ Likewise, you will learn to spell ‘doughnut’ without skipping half the letters, and the suffix “ize” will be replaced by the suffix “ise.”

3. You will learn that the suffix ‘burgh’ is pronounced ‘burra’; you may elect to spell Pittsburgh as ‘Pittsberg’ if you find you simply can’t cope with correct pronunciation.

4. Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels (look up “vocabulary”). Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as “like” and “you know” is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication.

5. There is no such thing as “US English.” We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter ‘u’ and the elimination of “-ize.”

6. You will relearn your original national anthem, “God Save The Queen”,

but only after fully carrying out Task #1 (see above).

7. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday. November 2nd will

be a new national holiday, but to be celebrated only in England. It will be called “Come-Uppance Day.”

8. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you’re not adult enough to be independent. Guns should only be handled by adults. If you’re not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you’re not grown up enough to handle a gun.

9. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

10. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and this is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.

11. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric immediately and without the benefit of conversion tables… Both roundabouts and metrification will help you understand the British sense of humour.

12. The Former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling “gasoline”) - roughly $8/US per gallon. Get used to it.

13. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call french fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called “crisps.” Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with malt vinegar.

14. Waiters and waitresses will be trained to be more aggressive with customers.

15. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as “beer,” and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as “Lager.” American brands will be referred to as “Near-Frozen Gnat’s Urine,” so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.

16. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors as English characters. Watching Andie MacDowell attempt English dialogue in “Four Weddings and a Funeral” was an experience akin to having one’s ear removed with a cheese grater.

17. You will cease playing American “football.” There is only one kind of proper football; you call it “soccer”. Those of you brave enough, in time, will be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American “football”, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a

bunch of Jessies - English slang for “Big Girls Blouse”).

18. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the “World Series” for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable and forgiven.

19. You must tell us who killed JFK. It’s been driving us mad.

20. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty’s Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due, backdated to 1776.

Thank you for your co-operation.

John Cleese

'China's Spying At Cold War Levels'

2008-02-13T17:27:00.000+12:00

A former Boeing aerospace engineer has been charged with stealing Space Shuttle secrets for China.

In a second case, three people - including a US Defense Department weapons expert - are being held on suspicion of spying for Beijing.

US hit by double spy case

The US Justice Department described it as a "serious breach of national security" and said it showed China's spying efforts "are approaching Cold War levels".

The engineer was arrested at his home in Orange County, California, on allegations he supplied trade secrets from several aerospace programmes, including the Space Shuttle.

Dongfan "Greg" Chung, 72, was employed by Rockwell International from 1973 until its defence and space unit was acquired by Boeing in 1996.

Chung is alleged to have supplied trade secrets relating to the Space Shuttle, the C-17 military transport aircraft, and the Delta IV rocket.

In a second case, two men and a woman - including a US Defense Department official - are alleged to have passed classified US government documents to China.

They were named as Tai Shen Kuo, 58, and Yu Xin Kang, 33, both from New Orleans, Louisiana, and Gregg Bergersen, 51, of Alexandria, Virginia.

The first two have been charged with "conspiracy to disclose national defence information to a foreign government". The maximum penalty is life behind bars.

Space shuttle Atlantis

Bergersen, a US weapons systems policy analyst, is accused of "conspiracy to disclose national defence information to persons not entitled to receive it".

This charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.

US Attorney Chuck Rosenberg said: "Those who compromise classified national security information betray the enormous responsibility and trust placed in them by our government and the American people."

According to court documents, the charges relate to a two-year period between January 2006 and February 2008.

Last November, a US congressional panel report said China presented an array of spy threats to Washington, including "currency manipulation" and computer espionage.

Beijing hit back, calling the claims "insulting" and "misleading".

Retired Teacher Reveals He Was Illiterate Until Age 48

2008-02-13T17:26:00.001+12:00

OCEANSIDE, Calif. -- John Corcoran graduated from college and taught high school for 17 years without being able to read, write or spell.Corcoran's life of secrecy started at a young age. He said his teachers moved him up from grade to grade. Often placed in what he calls the "dumb row," the images of his tribulations in the classroom are still vividly clear."I can remember when I was 8 years old saying my prayers at night saying, 'please, God, tomorrow when it's my turn to read please let me read.' You just pretend that you are invisible and when the teacher says, 'Johnnie read,' you just wait the teacher out because you know the teacher has to go away at some point," said Corcoran.

Corcoran eventually started acting up to hide his illiteracy. From fifth through seventh grade he was expelled, suspended and spent most of his days at the principal's office.The former teacher said he came from a loving family that always supported him."My parents came to school and it no longer was a problem for me reading because this boy Johnnie the -- native alien I call him -- he didn't have a reading problem as far as the teachers were concerned. He had an emotional problem. He had a psychological problem. He had a behavioral problem," said Corcoran.Corcoran later attended Palo Verde High School in Blythe, Calif. He cheated his way through high school, receiving his diploma in June 1956."When I was a child I was just sort of just moved along when I got to high school I wanted to participate in athletics. At that time in high school I went underground. I decided to behave myself and do what it took. I started cheating by turning in other peoples' paper, dated the valedictorian, and ran around with college prep kids," said Corcoran."I couldn't read words but I could read the system and I could read people," adds Corcoran.He stole tests and persuaded friends to complete his assignments. Corcoran earned an athletic scholarship to Texas Western College. He said his cheating intensified, claiming he cheated in every class."I passed a bluebook out the window to a friend I painstakingly copied four essay questions off the board in U.S. government class that was required, and hoped my friend would get it back to me with the right answers," Corcoran said.In 1961, Corcoran graduated with a bachelor's degree in education, while still illiterate he contends. He then went on to become a teacher during a teacher shortage."When I graduated from the university, the school district in El Paso, where I went to school, gave almost all the college education graduates a job," said Corcoran.For 17 years Corcoran taught high school for the Oceanside School District. Relying on teacher's assistants for help and oral lesson plans, he said he did a great job at teaching his students."What I did was I created an oral and visual environment. There wasn't the written word in there. I always had two or three teacher's assistants in each class to do board work or read the bulletin," said Corcoran.In retrospect, Corcoran said, his deceit took him a long time to accept."As a teacher it really made me sick to think that I was a teacher who couldn't read. It is embarrassing for me, and it's embarrassing for this nation and it's embarrassing for schools that we're failing to teach our children how to read, write and spell!"While still teaching, Corcoran dabbled in real estate. He was granted a leave of absence, eventually becoming a successful real estate developer.It wasn't until he was 48 years old that he gave reading and writing another chance. He drove to an inconspicuous office with a sign he couldn't read. He studied and worked with a tutor at the Literacy Center of Carlsbad. Assigned to a 65-year-old volunteer tutor, Eleanor Condit, he was able to read at a sixth-grade level within a year."I'm just an optimistic hopeful person that believes in the impossible and miracles," said Corcoran.Carlsbad City Library literacy coordinator Carrie Scott said people of all walks of life go through the reading program, including teachers.Corcoran is now an education advocate."I believe that illiteracy in America is a form of child neglect and child abuse and the child is blamed and they carry the shame, if we just teach our people how to read we'd give them a fair chance," Corcoran said.He has written two books, "The Teacher Who Couldn't Read" and "Bridge to Literacy." He is also the founder of the John Corcoran Foundation. The foundation is state-approved as a supplemental service provider for literacy in Colorado and California – providing tutoring programs for over 600 students in small group settings, and individually in homes through an online program.Find out more about John Corcoran at his Web site: johncorcoranfoundation.com

http://www.10news.com/news/15274005/detail.html

Duck-Billed Platypus

2008-02-08T11:08:00.001+12:00

(Ornithorhynchus anatinus)

How cute!
God, we don't even know where to begin.

This is an animal so deliriously ridiculous, biologists refused to believe it could possibly be anything but an elaborate hoax when it was first discovered. To put this in perspective, these exact same biologists believed that rotting meat spontaneously generated maggots and saw nothing wrong with pouring liquid heroin down babies' throats. Platypi are that ridiculous.

But seriously, look at it. It's got a thick, furry body with a flat, beaver-like tail and otter-like feet and we're cool with that because he's so damn fuzzy. Then there's the matter of the big, leathery duck bill and it's suddenly more than a little weird, because that's ... that's not really supposed to happen to mammals.

And then there's the further matter of the very high degree of electroreceptivity in that there bill--it helps the platypus find food buried in the silt. Kinda like a hammerhead shark's head, only instead of being terrifying-looking eye protrusions with an awesome name, it's a goofy-looking duck bill. On a mammal. And OK so that's ... pretty weird, but so what? Their babies are called puggles for fuck's sake! Puggles!

Also they lay eggs for some reason.

OH SHIT! RUN!
And, they are poisonous.

Wait, what?

Male platypi have a pair of spurs on their hind legs that they use for defense and dominance duels. They deliver a brutal dose of venom that will put a human being into the emergency room and leave him writhing in muscle-impaired agony for months.

The platypus is mother nature's way of saying, "I made this thing out of spare parts I found on the workshop floor, and it can still fucking cripple you."

http://www.cracked.com/article_15853_6-cutest-animals-that-can-still-destroy-you.html

Third Cable Cut -- Now Iran Has No Internet Access

2008-02-03T16:43:00.000+12:00

Someone probably told you that early Wednesday morning that much of the Middle East and most of India lost Internet access when an undersea cable was cut (it turns out that two cables were cut). Now, a third cable or possibly a fourth has apparently been severed, and the entire nation of IRAN HAS ZERO INTERNET ACCESS. UPDATE 10:52 AM 2/2/2008: Note that Iran is currently online -- the questions, still unresolved, are: 1) Did Iran experience an outage yesterday; 2) were 2, 3 or 4 cables cut; and 3) was it sabotage or accident?

http://www.therawfeed.com/2008/02/third-cable-cut-now-iran-has-no.html

From today, feel free to download another 25 million songs - legally

2008-01-29T08:02:00.000+12:00

After a decade fighting to stop illegal file-sharing, the music industry will give fans today what they have always wanted: an unlimited supply of free and legal songs.

With CD sales in free fall and legal downloads yet to fill the gap, the music industry has reluctantly embraced the file-sharing technology that threatened to destroy it. Qtrax, a digital service announced today, promises a catalogue of more than 25 million songs that users can download to keep, free and with no limit on the number of tracks.

The service has been endorsed by the very same record companies - including EMI, Universal Music and Warner Music – that have chased file-sharers through the courts in a doomed attempt to prevent piracy. The gamble is that fans will put up with a limited amount of advertising around the Qtrax website’s jukebox in return for authorised use of almost every song available.

The service will use the “peer-to-peer” network, which contains not just hit songs but rarities and live tracks from the world’s leading artists.

Nor is a lack of compatibility with the iPod player expected to put fans off. Apple is unlikely to allow tracks downloaded from its rival to be compatible with iPods, but, while the iPod is the most popular music player, it has not succeeded in dominating the market: sales of the iPod account for 50 million out of 130 million total digital player sales. Qtrax has also spoken of an “iPod solution”, to be announced in April.

Qtrax files contain Digital Rights Management software, allowing the company to see how many times a song has been downloaded and played. Artists, record companies and publishers will be paid in proportion to the popularity of their music, while also taking a cut of advertising revenues.

The Qtrax team, which spent five years working on the system, promised a “game-changing” intervention in the declining recorded music market when the service was presented at the Midem music industry convention in Cannes.

The singer James Blunt gave Qtrax a cautious welcome. “I’m amazed that we now accept that people steal music,” he said. “I was taught not to steal sweets from a sweet shop. But I want to learn how this service works, given the condition the music industry is in.”

Qtrax, a subsidiary of Brilliant Technologies Corporation, has raised $30 million (£15 million) to set up the service, which is available in the US and Europe from today. Allan Klepfisz, president of Qtrax, said: “Customers now expect music to be free but they do not want to use illegal sites. We believe this . . . has the support of the music industry and allows artists to get paid.”

Ford, McDonald’s and Microsoft are among the advertisers signed up to support what is thought to be the world’s largest legal music store. The service says that adverts will be nonintrusive and will not appear each time a song is played. As with iTunes, customers will have to download Qtrax software. They will own the songs permanently but will be encouraged to “dock” their player with the store every 30 days so it can gather information on which songs have been played.

Jean-Bernard Levy, chief executive of Vivendi Universal, said the crisis in the music industry had been overstated despite EMI’s radical cost-cutting. He said: “Look at Universal – we have double-digit profit margins. But we would like strong competition from the other major record companies to help the industry grow.” Universal has poached the Rolling Stones from EMI and Mr Levy said that others could follow as thousands of staff and artists are made redundant.

On the appearance of Qtrax, Mr Levy gave warning that the lack of compatibility between competing digital music players was as big a problem as file-sharing. And Paul McGuinness, the manager of U2, said that the sound quality of MP3 downloads was becoming an issue for bands and fans. “There is a growing consumer revolt against online audio quality,” he said.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article3261591.ece

Driver who killed teen sues for damage

2008-01-27T19:49:00.000+12:00

ADRID, Spain—A speeding motorist who killed a teenage cyclist is suing the boy's parents over damage to his luxury car, the government says.

Enaitz Iriondo, 17, died instantly in August 2004 when businessman Tomas Delgado's Audi A8 crashed into him at 100 mph near Haro in northern Spain, an Interior Ministry traffic report said. The speed limit was 55 mph.

Iriondo was not wearing reflective clothing or a helmet, the ministry report said. As the sun had set when he crossed the path of Delgado's car from a side road, a regional court found both parties at fault and closed the case, the report said.

Delgado, whose insurance company paid Iriondo's parents $48,500 in compensation for their son's life, filed a suit in late 2006 to recover $29,400 in damages to his car and car rental costs, the ministry traffic report said.

"It's the only way I have to claim my money back," Delgado was quoted as saying by the newspaper El Pais, which first reported the story on Friday. El Pais said a ruling was expected next week.

Iriondo's parents were shocked.

"It's the final straw, a stab in the back," Iriondo's mother, Rosa Trinidad said, according to El Pais. "Before the lawsuit we thought the poor guy would find it hard to live the rest of his life with the thought of having caused our son's death.

The European Union's statistics office says Spain recorded 113 traffic fatalities per million inhabitants in 2004. The average for the 25-nation bloc was 95. In 2006, 3,016 people died on Spain's roads.

http://www.denverpost.com/watercooler/ci_8077411

RIAA Website Wiped Clean by “Hackers”

2008-01-21T08:14:00.000+12:00

Apparently the RIAA is so busy suing consumers that they forgot to hire a decent programmer. With a simple SQL injection, all their propaganda has been successfully wiped from the site.

It started out on the social news website Reddit, where a link to a really slow SQL query was posted. While the Reddit users were trying to kill the RIAA server, someone allegedly decided to up the ante and wipe the site’s entire database.

The comments on Reddit are only speculation so far. Based on the username, which was apparently “webReadOnly”, it might not have been setup correctly, or someone could have found another way to delete the content form the site.

Another possibility is that the RIAA themselves removed the content temporarily. This would seem unlikely, as a better solution would be to take it entirely offline to fix the bigger problem. While they could fix a small vulnerability like this in a matter of seconds, the chances are it’s not an isolated problem.

As pointed out by Haywire, playing around with the urls a bit can return some funny results. It is pretty easy to make the RIAA link to The Pirate Bay for example.

For now it sure does look like all the content has been wiped from the RIAA homepage. Let’s hope they have backups, or not.

RIAA website without content

RIAA supporting The Pirate Bay

Error?

http://torrentfreak.com/riaa-website-hacked-080120/

The Southwest Airlines Stripper Plane

2008-01-18T06:29:00.000+12:00

Every Friday evening, some time before most people have clocked out of work and begin heading home for the weekend, a plane takes off from LAX.

Like so many other flights at this time, this one is also heading to Las Vegas. It's not full of gamblers, however, but rather a disproportionate amount of silicon that bounces and jiggles through the warm, desert-air turbulence all the way to Vegas where, for the remainder of Friday and Saturday night, it will continue quivering away at $20 a pop.

This, folks, is the Southwest Stripper Plane.

The passengers are LA's greatest temporary export, heading off for a weekend of singles and 20s to help baby pay the rent. They are blessed with the sun-kissed glory of Southern California and enhanced by the world's greatest plastic surgeons, and of course every single one is a struggling teacher, college student, or some other admirable profession that will keep suckers reaching into their wallet time after time to help out their worthy cause, whatever it might be.

No one really knows what time this legendary, perhaps even mythical flight leaves Los Angeles. Seats are reserved months in advance and few mere mortals are able to secure a reservation. A friend of mine claims he once found himself on this flight but can't seem to remember the details, as though some powerful force scrubbed his brain clean, leaving only a trace of glitter on his sweaty forehead.

Others less fortunate can only dream that the planets align one day and that they find themselves sitting on a plane in Los Angeles watching their fellow passengers squeeze their gigantic moneymakers into Southwest's cramped economy seats. If there was ever a time for long delays or a casualty-free crash on a desert island, this would certainly be it.

http://www.gadling.com/2008/01/16/southwest-stripper-plane/

2008 shaping up to be "Year of Filters" at colleges, ISPs

2008-01-17T11:53:00.000+12:00

DRM on music may be dying, but network filtering of copyrighted material is alive and well. In fact, over the next few months, two different filtering initiatives from Big Content could both come to fruition, bringing the magic of Big Brother to colleges and ISPs near you. It's still a contested issue, but the situation has developed to the point where it is at least plausible to imagine ubiquitous network filtering in the US.

College filtering

We've reported before on a Congressional bill that would force US colleges and universities to plan for network filtering and for alternative music and movie download services or face the loss of federal funds. The College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007 passed a House committee back in November and could be coming to a vote in the next couple of months. According to the EFF, it could even come to a vote in February.

Under the bill, schools would need to "develop a plan for offering alternatives to illegal downloading or peer-to-peer distribution of intellectual property as well as a plan to explore technology-based deterrents to prevent such illegal activity."

There's no requirement that schools implement such a plan, but it's not hard to see how the requirement could become law in a future education bill (after all, content owners want more than a "plan," they want action).

For schools that don't want to spend their budget dollars coming up with expensive plans to monitor student traffic, the MPAA stepped in last December like a Christmas angel with an offer of free monitoring software. Called (ambiguously) the "University Toolkit," the software showed that even Big Content has a special place in its Grinchy heart for open-source software... but not so special a place that it knows how to comply with the terms of open-source license agreements.

The software was pulled after an Ubuntu technical board member pointed out that the MPAA was violating the GPL by not making code available. Seth Oster, executive VP and chief communications officer of the MPAA, told Ars at the time that the MPAA was quick to respond because "we take copyright very seriously at the MPAA." The software remains unavailable today.

While the situation was humorous, all it mean is that if the bill passes, universities will need to spend more time and effort evaluating other (paid) solutions in order to comply with the law.

Coming to an ISP near you

Making inroads at colleges and universities would be a big step for groups like the MPAA, but filtering on a truly national level would be far preferable. The MPAA has made no secret of its desire that ISPs take part, and rather amazingly, one of the nation's largest ISPs is interested. In fact, AT&T seems downright enthusiastic about the prospect of sniffing for copyright violations.

While AT&T has yet to reveal how such a filtering regime would function, it has repeatedly confirmed that it is going forward with the technology. Confirmation of those plans at CES made news, and it thrilled people like NBC's Rick Cotton, a lawyer who has led NBC's push for such filtering.

As a sign of just how mainstream the entire debate has become, Cotton and Columbia law professor Tim Wu are squaring off this week in a New York Times blog. In his first post, Cotton argued that technology can actually do a superb job of filtering. Those problems you've heard so much about? Solved. "Digital technology is also capable of great exactitude and flexibility in identifying copyrighted content and targeting infringements with no more intrusiveness than when it screens out viruses and hacker attacks," he wrote.

We may find out if he's right later this year. AT&T has been talking up its plans for some time and sounds ready to pull the trigger soon, though the FCC's new interest in traffic-shaping and monitoring at Comcast might make AT&T proceed with caution.

Filters, filters everywhere

Colleges and consumers are both likely to kick back hard against these sorts of measures, and that could be enough to knock both of them off track. But it won't necessarily do so; both filtering proposals have years of effort behind them, some Congressional support, and the buy-in of major corporations like AT&T. 2008 could be the year that both kinds of filtering become regular features of the Internet landscape in the US.

If a couple of national ISPs and even a minority of universities start filtering this year or the next, the filters could probably examine much of the peer-to-peer traffic passing through the country. If effective, such filters could do much to slow the spread of copyrighted material (for a time), but based on the filtering technology we've seen in the past, we remain skeptical.

Mistakes are bound to occur; as more companies use the Internet and P2P to distribute legitimate content, even a few of these mistakes could lead to charges of anticompetitive behavior and requests for FCC investigations. The blocking of even a few homemade videos sent to friends could run afoul of FCC guidance that suggests all consumers have a right to use their Internet connections for lawful purposes and to run their choice of applications over the network.

The pro-filtering lobby is playing a dangerous game by pushing its way into the ISP space. While sites like YouTube have launched filtering technology of their own, privately-owned sites are generally allowed to run their own operations. Network operators face far more government scrutiny.

2008 might well be the Year of the Filter, but who knows? It might also be the Year of Filtergate. A single major fiasco could even revive the simmering debate over network neutrality regulation and legislation. Stay tuned; it should be quite a spectacle.

Update: A House staffer from the Committee on Education and Labor contacted us to point out that the bill will not jeopardize federal funds for those schools that don't plan for using filtering and for P2P alternatives. The bill says that "each eligible institution participating in any program under this title shall to the extent practicable" do the planning. We're told that despite this requirement, the bill doesn't back it up with any penalties.

"Neither of these two provisions is tied to a school's participation in the federal student aid programs in any way," we're told. "In other words, no school and no student will ever lose funding if a school doesn't make plans to address IP theft, or purchase any programs to do it. And no school will ever lose any federal aid because its students engage in illegal downloading or file-sharing, period."

But schools will face problems with the Department of Education unless they "inform their students about their campus policies on copyright infringement and illegal downloading" and "report their campus policies and procedures for addressing these violations once a year."

So, bottom line: the bill still directs colleges and universities to make plans for playing the filter game, but doesn't penalize them if they don't.

By Nate Anderson

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080115-filtering-could-come-to-isps-colleges-in-2008.html

The Second Coming of Shark Jesus

2008-01-15T07:58:00.000+12:00

Unfortunately for those hotly anticipating the end times, it’s a shark virgin birth.

A seven year old white-tipped reef shark is known to have never come in contact with a male. She has been in a tank without any other sharks since being born in the Nyiregyhaza Centre in 2001. Despite that, she recently gave birth.

Unsurprisingly, the aquarium’s staff was shocked by the event. Atilla Varga, director of the Nyiregyhaza Centre, said: “When I saw the baby shark lying on the bottom of the tank I thought it was a joke. I was amazed when I realised it was a real shark. The mother is very protective of her pup, but as soon as we can, marine biologists want to get a DNA sample from both.”

Managers are thrilled with the new visitors flocking to the aquarium, but are worried about the size of the tank housing the sharks. The tank is not large enough for two, and they do not want to send the baby elsewhere. Varga said: “We are planning to build her a bigger tank, find her a male and then hopefully next time round she can have a baby properly.”

Virgin birth is known as parthenogenesis in the scientific community. It’s been commonly observed in lower animals, such as several types of insects, but wasn’t thought to occur in more complex animals such as sharks.

New research and events are suggesting that it may be more common than originally thought. In fact, this is the second time in a year an aquarium has reported a case of shark parthenogenesis (hence the “second coming”).

Last year, a US zoo reported the virgin birth of a hammerhead shark pup. In that case however, the pup was killed by a stingray before it could be removed from the tank.

Written by Robert · Filed Under Offbeat News

Hubert Said Something Today

2008-01-06T13:23:00.000+12:00

If you not being HATED ON, then you aint DOIN' SHIT

SKoreans clone cats that glow in the dark: officials

2007-12-14T06:26:00.000+12:00

This handout photo released in Seoul by the Ministry of Science and Technology shows a combo of cloned cats that have a fluorescence protein gene and glowing under ultraviolet beams. The technology could help develop treatments for human genetic diseases, the developers said.

South Korean scientists have cloned cats by manipulating a fluorescent protein gene, a procedure which could help develop treatments for human genetic diseases, officials said Wednesday.

In a side-effect, the cloned cats glow in the dark when exposed to ultraviolet beams.

A team of scientists led by Kong Il-keun, a cloning expert at Gyeongsang National University, produced three cats possessing altered fluorescence protein (RFP) genes, the Ministry of Science and Technology said.

"It marked the first time in the world that cats with RFP genes have been cloned," the ministry said in a statement.

"The ability to produce cloned cats with the manipulated genes is significant as it could be used for developing treatments for genetic diseases and for reproducing model (cloned) animals suffering from the same diseases as humans," it added.

The cats were born in January and February. One was stillborn while two others grew to become adult Turkish Angoras, weighing 3.0 kilogrammes (6.6 pounds) and 3.5 kilogrammes.

"This technology can be applied to clone animals suffering from the same diseases as humans," the leading scientist, Kong, told AFP.

"It will also help develop stemcell treatments," he said, noting that cats have some 250 kinds of genetic diseases that affect humans, too.

The technology can also help clone endangered animals like tigers, leopards and wildcats, Kong said.

South Korea's bio-engineering industry suffered a setback after a much-touted achievement by cloning expert Hwang Woo-Suk turned out to have been faked.

The government banned Hwang from research using human eggs after his claims that he created the first human stem cells through cloning were ruled last year to be bogus.

Hwang is standing trial on charges of fraud and embezzlement.

http://www.physorg.com/news116662903.html

Vegansexuality

2007-12-11T19:05:00.000+12:00

Forget homo-, bi- or even metro-: the latest prefix in sexuality is vegan-, as in “vegansexual.” In a study released in May, Annie Potts, a researcher at the University of Canterbury and a director of the New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies, surveyed 157 vegans and vegetarians (120 of them women) on the topic of cruelty-free living. The questions ranged from attitudes about eating meat to keeping pets to wearing possum fur to, yes, “cruelty-free sex” — that is, “rejecting meat eaters as intimate partners.”

Some of the survey respondents volunteered their reluctance to kiss meat eaters. “I couldn’t think of kissing lips that allow dead animal pieces to pass between them,” a 49-year-old vegan woman from Auckland said. For some, the resistance is the squeamishness factor. “Nonvegetarian bodies smell different to me,” a 41-year-old Christchurch vegan woman said. “They are, after all, literally sustained through carcasses — the murdered flesh of others.” For some, it is a question of finding a like-minded life partner. An Auckland ovo-vegetarian had tried a relationship with a carnivore, but reported that despite the sexual attraction, the gulf in “shared values and moral codes” was just too wide.

Potts, who coined the term vegansexuality, says the “negative response of omnivores” to her study has surprised her. Even some fellow animal lovers question the wisdom of vegansexuality. A blog for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals noted that sleeping with only fellow vegans means forgoing the opportunity to turn carnivores into vegans by the most powerful recruiting tool available — sex.

PETA’s founder and president, Ingrid Newkirk, agrees that vegans smell fresher. (“There’s science to prove it,” she says.) But Newkirk is all about the recruiting, even if it means one convert at a time. “When my staff members come to me and say: ‘Guess what? My boyfriend, now he’s a vegan,’ I say, half-jokingly: ‘Well, it is time to ditch him and get another. You’ve done your work; move on.’ ”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/magazine/09vegansexuality.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&oref=slogin

The God Effect

2007-12-11T19:02:00.000+12:00

Some anthropologists argue that the idea of God first arose in larger societies, for the purpose of curbing selfishness and promoting cooperation. Outside a tightly knit group, the reasoning goes, nobody can keep an eye on everyone’s behavior, so these cultures invented a supernatural agent who could. But does thinking of an omniscient God actually promote altruism? The University of British Columbia psychologist Ara Norenzayan wanted to find out.

In a pair of studies published in Psychological Science, Norenzayan and his student Azim F. Shariff had participants play the so-called “dictator game,” a common way of measuring generosity toward strangers. The game is simple: you’re offered 10 $1 coins and told to take as many as you want and leave the rest for the player in the other room (who is, unbeknown to you, a research confederate). The fair split, of course, is 50-50, but most anonymous “dictators” play selfishly, leaving little or nothing for the other player.

In the control group of Norenzayan’s study, the vast majority of participants kept everything or nearly everything — whether or not they said they were religious. “Religious leaders always complain that people don’t internalize religion, and they’re right,” Norenzayan observes.

But is there a way to induce generosity? In the experimental condition, the researchers prompted thoughts of God using a well-established “priming” technique: participants, who again included both theists and atheists, first had to unscramble sentences containing words such as God, divine and sacred. That way, going into the dictator game, players had God on their minds without being consciously aware of it. Sure enough, the “God prime” worked like a charm, leading to fairer splits. Without the God prime, only 12 percent of the participants split the money evenly, but when primed with the religious words, 52 percent did.

When news of these findings made headlines, some atheists were appalled by the implication that altruism depends heavily on religion. Apparently, they hadn’t heard the whole story. In a second study, the researchers had participants unscramble sentences containing words like civic, contract and police — meant to evoke secular moral institutions. This prime also increased generosity. And unlike the religious prime, it did so consistently for both believers and nonbelievers. Until he conducts further research, Norenzayan can only speculate about the significance: “We need that common denominator that works for everyone.

By MARINA KRAKOVSKY

Hubert Said Something Today

2007-12-08T08:58:00.000+12:00

There's one hole in every revolution, large or small. And it's one word long— PEOPLE. No matter how big the idea they all stand under, people are small and weak and cheap and frightened. It's people that kill every revolution.

Things to know in 2 clicks

2007-12-07T13:12:00.000+12:00

Mother strikes a blow against epilepsy risk of computer games.

A campaign by the mother of a ten-year-old boy who suffered an epileptic fit triggered by a computer game has persuaded a leading manufacturer to change how it vets its products. “Parents should know that every time they buy their child a game, there is the potential for an epileptic fit unless we make safety-testing law.”

Lighter side is that : In June a short animated film introducing the 2012 Olympics logo was inadvertently broadcast on television without being tested and was said to have caused dozens of epileptic fits.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3006941.ece

17 year old works on NASA spaceship

Hassany Alejandre of Menlo Park, Calif., spent last summer working with Stanford University graduate students testing the insulation capacity of a National Aeronautics and Space Administration spaceship that will serve as the first space-based gravitational wave observatory.

Alejandre is scheduled to present his findings Dec. 13 during the AGU fall meeting in San Francisco -- a meeting to be attended by more than 14,000 of the nation's top scientists.

"It's a little intimidating when I stop to think about it," Alejandre said. "Some of the greatest minds in the world will be attending the conference and I'm presenting my poster as a high school student. It's very exciting."

Alejandre is enrolled at Canada College in Redwood City, Calif., where he's finishing his high school courses and simultaneously taking college courses in calculus and biology.

His AGU presentation will focus on LISA -- the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna -- that will be launched by NASA in 2015. LISA will use an advanced system of laser interferometry for detecting and measuring gravitational waves.

http://www.physorg.com/news116186985.html

US says it has right to kidnap British citizens

2007-12-07T13:09:00.000+12:00

AMERICA has told Britain that it can “kidnap” British citizens if they are wanted for crimes in the United States.

A senior lawyer for the American government has told the Court of Appeal in London that kidnapping foreign citizens is permissible under American law because the US Supreme Court has sanctioned it.

The admission will alarm the British business community after the case of the so-called NatWest Three, bankers who were extradited to America on fraud charges. More than a dozen other British executives, including senior managers at British Airways and BAE Systems, are under investigation by the US authorities and could face criminal charges in America.

Until now it was commonly assumed that US law permitted kidnapping only in the “extraordinary rendition” of terrorist suspects.

The American government has for the first time made it clear in a British court that the law applies to anyone, British or otherwise, suspected of a crime by Washington.

Legal experts confirmed this weekend that America viewed extradition as just one way of getting foreign suspects back to face trial. Rendition, or kidnapping, dates back to 19th-century bounty hunting and Washington believes it is still legitimate.

The US government’s view emerged during a hearing involving Stanley Tollman, a former director of Chelsea football club and a friend of Baroness Thatcher, and his wife Beatrice.

The Tollmans, who control the Red Carnation hotel group and are resident in London, are wanted in America for bank fraud and tax evasion. They have been fighting extradition through the British courts.

During a hearing last month Lord Justice Moses, one of the Court of Appeal judges, asked Alun Jones QC, representing the US government, about its treatment of Gavin, Tollman’s nephew. Gavin Tollman was the subject of an attempted abduction during a visit to Canada in 2005.

Jones replied that it was acceptable under American law to kidnap people if they were wanted for offences in America. “The United States does have a view about procuring people to its own shores which is not shared,” he said.

He said that if a person was kidnapped by the US authorities in another country and was brought back to face charges in America, no US court could rule that the abduction was illegal and free him: “If you kidnap a person outside the United States and you bring him there, the court has no jurisdiction to refuse — it goes back to bounty hunting days in the 1860s.”

Mr Justice Ouseley, a second judge, challenged Jones to be “honest about [his] position”.

Jones replied: “That is United States law.”

He cited the case of Humberto Alvarez Machain, a suspect who was abducted by the US government at his medical office in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 1990. He was flown by Drug Enforcement Administration agents to Texas for criminal prosecution.

Although there was an extradition treaty in place between America and Mexico at the time — as there currently is between the United States and Britain — the Supreme Court ruled in 1992 that the Mexican had no legal remedy because of his abduction.

In 2005, Gavin Tollman, the head of Trafalgar Tours, a holiday company, had arrived in Toronto by plane when he was arrested by Canadian immigration authorities.

An American prosecutor, who had tried and failed to extradite him from Britain, persuaded Canadian officials to detain him. He wanted the Canadians to drive Tollman to the border to be handed over. Tollman was escorted in handcuffs from the aircraft in Toronto, taken to prison and held for 10 days.

A Canadian judge ordered his release, ruling that the US Justice Department had set a “sinister trap” and wrongly bypassed extradition rules. Tollman returned to Britain.

Legal sources said that under traditional American justice, rendition meant capturing wanted people abroad and bringing them to the United States. The term “extraordinary rendition” was coined in the 1990s for the kidnapping of terror suspects from one foreign country to another for interrogation.

There was concern this weekend from Patrick Mercer, the Tory MP, who said: “The very idea of kidnapping is repugnant to us and we must handle these cases with extreme caution and a thorough understanding of the implications in American law.”

Shami Chakrabarti, director of the human rights group Liberty, said: “This law may date back to bounty hunting days, but they should sort it out if they claim to be a civilised nation.”

The US Justice Department declined to comment.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article2982640.ece

MPAA's University wiretapping product taken down for violating copyright

2007-12-05T04:36:00.000+12:00

The MPAA's "University Toolkit" (a piece of monitoring software that universities are being asked to install on their networks to spy on students' communications) has been taken down, due to copyright violations. The Toolkit is based on the GPL-licensed Xubuntu operating system (a flavor of Linux). The GPL requires anyone who makes a program based on GPL'ed code has to release the source code for their program and license it under the GPL. The MPAA refused multiple requests to provide the sources for their spyware, so an Ubuntu developer sent a DMCA notice to the MPAA's ISP and demanded that the material be taken down as infringing.Link

How to Track Down Anyone Online

2007-12-04T15:40:00.000+12:00

When you're trying to find someone online, Google's not the only game in town. In the last two years, a handful of new people search engines have come onto the scene that offer better ways to pinpoint people info by name, handle, location, or place of employment. While there's still no killer, one-stop people search, there are more ways than ever to track down a long-lost friend, stalk an ex, or screen a potential date or employee. The next time you wonder, "What ever happened to so-and-so?" you've got a few power people search tools to turn to.

Note: Stalking is serious business. When we say 'stalk,' we're exaggerating, not recommending.

Find Phone Numbers and Addresses with ZabaSearch
Look up anyone's home address(es) and phone numbers at ZabaSearch, a creepily-comprehensive people search engine that will freak you out when you search on your own name but save your ass when you desperately need a former coworker's phone number. ZabaSearch's index includes listed and unlisted numbers and addresses (though the founders say all the info is public record.)
Search the "Deep Web" with Pipl

My favorite new search engine of the bunch, Pipl digs up information about a person Google often misses, supposedly by searching the "deep web" (or "invisible web.") Pipl returns an impressive number of results for most people who use their "real" names online, including personal web pages, press mentions, MySpace pages, and Amazon wishlists. You can also narrow your search for common names by entering city, state and country, too.

Search Several Social Sites at Once with Wink

So the person you're looking for likely has a Friendster, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, or Xanga account? Instead of searching each service individually, enter their full name or screen name, plus other identifying information like interests and location at Wink to do a one-hit comprehensive search of all those services at once.
Get Employment Results at ZoomInfo

Job-centric search engine ZoomInfo aggregates people and company information in one place to help candidates find the right job, but its people search tool also turns up information about corporate types especially well. ZoomInfo's information listings on people, culled from the web, include people's employment history and current job title, whether or not they're looking for a job. Search by a person's full name at ZoomInfo, and when you get too many results, filter them by geography (U.S. and Canada only.)

Find More than College Students at Facebook
Incessant notifications, Beacon, and zombies aside, one of Facebook's greatest utilities is finding people online, and it's not just for students anymore. Chances are your grandmother set up a Facebook account this year, so all those annoying emails might be worth tracking down your best friend when you were 9 years old who moved to Florida on Facebook.

Practice Your Google-fu for Better People Results

Okay, fine, you can't talk finding people online without mentioning the big G. For internet superstars you'll get great results by just typing his/her name into Google's search box, but for civilians, common names or names with double meanings, a few advanced Google techniques can help narrow down the field of results.

* Enclose the first and last name of the person you're searching for in quotes when you enter it into the search box (like "John Smith").
* Include other relevant words, like the person's profession, employer, location, or screen name, too (like banker or Austin, Texas.)
* If the person you're searching for is likely to appear on a particular web site--like a school--search only that site using the site:URL operator (like site:ucla.edu "John Smith").
* To look up people by face, search for them on Google Images to get a quick visual--especially useful for people with common names, or to determine the gender of a name you never heard before.

Get Context-Menu Access to People Search Engines with the Who Is This Person? Firefox extension

Finally, if you run across folks online you want to know more about often, search a ton of engines for someone's name with the Who Is This Person? Firefox extension. Simply highlight the name on any web page and look 'em up on Wink, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, Facebook, Google News, Technorati, Yahoo Person Search, Spock, WikiYou, ZoomInfo, IMDB, MySpace and other engines from the Who Is This Person? context menu item.

For more online sleuthing resources, check out Wendy's great tutorial on searching public records online. To make yourself more findable? Have a say in what Google says about you. Also, many of these services let you "claim" your name and add information to your results. Do a search for your own name and click the link that says, in effect, "Is this you?"

Does the current crop of people search engines make you want to change your name, fail you entirely, or help you get in touch?

Forever Dawn: The World Isn't Getting Any Brighter

2007-11-30T13:46:00.000+12:00

AIKEN, S.C. - A bank teller in Clearwater had a million reasons not to open an account for an Augusta, Ga., man Monday, authorities said. Alexander D. Smith, 31, was charged with disorderly conduct and two counts of forgery after he walked into the bank and tried to open an account by depositing a fake $1 million bill, said Aiken County Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Michael Frank.

The employee refused to open the account and called police while the man started to curse at bank workers, Frank said.

The second forgery charge came after investigators learned Smith bought several cartons of cigarettes from a nearby grocery store with a stolen check, Frank said.

The federal government has never printed a million-dollar bill, Frank said.

News.com talk: 'The Future of the Internet--and How to Stop It'

2007-11-30T13:39:00.000+12:00

SAN FRANCISCO--Restrictive tools and rash approaches to security challenges are endangering the health of the online ecosystem, an Oxford University researcher warned Wednesday.

Jonathan Zittrain, who has written a book due out in April called The Future of the Internet--And How to Stop It, gave a public talk on the issue Wednesday night at CNET's offices here. News.com hosted the talk--a first for our newsroom. The event, which drew 120 people, was sponsored by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

You can call Zittrain's theme the AOL-ization of technology. Instead of personal computers being able to run any program from any source without approval from a third party--which many of us were used to in the 1980s and 1990s--Zittrain fears we're entering a world where centralized approval becomes necessary.

Examples are numerous: Apple's lockdown of the iPhone. Some Google applications that say developers can't "disparage" the company. Facebook.com's copyright policy for developers that says if the application permits file-sharing, they must "register an agent for notices of copyright infringements with the U.S. Copyright Office." Some terms of service agreements that require disclosure of source code. Applications on the Symbian OS that require signatures to work (I don't think Zittrain mentioned this one, but it fits the theme).

"Can you imagine if Microsoft said that for every application that runs on Windows, we get a copy of the source code?" Zittrain asked. Google and Facebook can turn your application "into a brick at any time." Employees from Facebook and Google were sitting in the audience, by the way, but didn't engage him during the Q&A period.

Another way to think about Zittrain's point is to rephrase it this way: Who controls the technology you use? If you think you do, are you sure? There's the case of the FBI almost managing to persuade the courts to let it eavesdrop on an unspecified OnStar-like remote assistance product installed in a luxury car. There's also the lesser-known one of a federal judge ordering Echostar to send software updates to its digital video subscribers that would cripple their devices.

And Zittrain's solution? There's no simple one. Publicity, in the form of persuading people to think about these sorts of trade-offs, is one. Another is distributed control. Zittrain invoked Wikipedia as a model, pointing to project co-founder Jimmy Wales (who was sitting in the front row) and suggesting that in 2001, nobody would have thought a user-edited encyclopedia would work. And they would have been wrong.

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9825477-7.html?part=rss

Preemptive Karma

2007-11-29T05:51:00.000+12:00

What is "preemptive karma"? Well first you have to know what karma is. The Coles Notes version of it is, the idea that if you do something bad, something bad will happen back at you, possibly the same thing for something good. Oddly enough many people experience that when they do something good, something bad happens to them. A way to counter that is with preemptive karma. The idea that if something bad happens to you, its because of something you will do, and hence afterwards the aforementioned will not have bad karma, because would have already happened. Heck you don't have to do anything good, if something bad happened to you unexpectedly and you didn't deserve it, you can DOUBLE JEOPARDY it. Confused? Let's simplify it. Suppose ... you're just sitting around picking at your balls, and the police come and arrest you for killing someone who isn't dead. After you serve your time, you can walk up to him in a public area and execute his punk ass, and not serve a term in jail. Its true I saw it in a movie with Ashley Judd. Sexy, you should watch it.
Word to your mother. OUT.

Hubert Said Something Today

2007-11-29T05:49:00.000+12:00

B*tches call me 'The Brainiac' cuz I'm addicted to getting head.

Jenkem

2007-11-22T09:25:00.000+12:00

At the Lusaka sewage ponds, two teenage boys plunge their hands into the dark brown sludge, gathering up fistfuls and stuffing it into small plastic bottles. They tap the bottles on the ground, taking care to leave enough room for methane to form at the top. A sour smell rises in the hot sun, but the boys seem oblivious to the stench and the foul nature of their task.

They are manufacturing "Jenkem", a disgusting, noxious mixture made from fermented sewage. It is cheap, potent and very popular among the thousands of street-children in Lusaka. When they cannot afford glue or are too scared to steal petrol, these youngsters turn to Jenkem as a way of getting high.

"It lasts about an hour", says one user, 16-year-old Luke Mpande, who prefers Jenkem to other substances.

"With glue, I just hear voices in my head. But with Jenkem, I see visions. I see my mother who is dead and I forget about the problems in my life."
Sniffing sewage is a symptom of the desperate plight of Zambia's street-children. There are thought to be some 75,000 in the country as a whole - a number that has doubled in the past eight years.

Substance-abuse offers a temporary respite in an otherwise harsh world.

Nobody knows exactly where the idea for making Jenkem came from, but it has been used by street-children in Lusaka for at least two years. Nason Banda of the Drug Enforcement Agency is not proud when he says that it is unique to Zambia. He shudders when he sees the boys at the sewage ponds, scavenging for faecal matter to make Jenkem.
"It's unimaginable" he says. "It hits right at the heart to see a human being coming down a level, to be able to dip his hand into a sewage pond, picking out the material and not caring about anything but the feeling of getting high."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/406067.stm

A clean joke

2007-11-20T08:02:00.000+12:00

There were two guys working for the city. One would dig a hole, he would dig, dig, dig, the other would come behind him and fill the hole, fill, fill, fill. These two men worked furiously. One digging a hole, the other filling it up again.

A man was watching from the sidewalk and couldn't believe how hard these men were working, but couldn't understand what they were doing. Finally he had to ask them.

He said to the hole digger, "I appreciate how hard you work, but what are you doing? You dig a hole and your partner comes behind you and fills it up again!"

The hole digger replied, "Oh yeah, must look funny, but the guy who plants the trees is sick today."

Bike sex man placed on probation

2007-11-17T16:44:00.000+12:00

A man caught trying to have sex with his bicycle has been sentenced to three years on probation.

Robert Stewart, 51, admitted a sexually aggravated breach of the peace by conducting himself in a disorderly manner and simulating sex.

Sheriff Colin Miller also placed Stewart on the Sex Offenders Register for three years.

Mr Stewart was caught in the act with his bicycle by cleaners in his bedroom at the Aberley House Hostel in Ayr.

Gail Davidson, prosecuting, told Ayr Sheriff Court: "They knocked on the door several times and there was no reply.

"They used a master key to unlock the door and they then observed the accused wearing only a white t-shirt, naked from the waist down.

"The accused was holding the bike and moving his hips back and forth as if to simulate sex."

Both cleaners, who were "extremely shocked", told the hostel manager who called police.

Sheriff Colin Miller told Stewart: "In almost four decades in the law I thought I had come across every perversion known to mankind, but this is a new one on me. I have never heard of a 'cycle-sexualist'."

Stewart had denied the offence, claiming it was caused by a misunderstanding after he had too much to drink.

The bachelor had been living in the hostel since October 2006 after moving from his council house in Girvan.

He now lives in Ayr.

Hubert Said Something Today

2007-11-17T11:25:00.000+12:00

No one ever appreciates a shovel until they have to dig a ditch with a spoon

5 yo boy dressed as Spiderman saves baby from blaze

2007-11-15T17:43:00.000+12:00

A five-year-old boy dressed in a Spider-Man suit became a real superhero in Brazil when he saved a baby girl from her burning home.

While playing in his back garden with a friend, Riquelme Maciel spotted smoke coming out of the wooden house’s windows and ran to tell the baby’s mother, Lucilene dos Santos.

But Ms Santos was too afraid to enter the blaze, so it was down to young Maciel to step in and save the day - he rushed into the burning house and grabbed baby Andrieli from her cradle.

The Fire Department Chief Jose de Macedo praised the boy’s bravery, and much like his hero Spider-Man, Maciel became the talk of the town.

His face made it to the cover of all the local newspapers and he no longer needs the red and blue costume to be recognised.

Maciel said he is now dreaming of becoming a fire-fighter so he can save more lives.

90 suicides a day spur Japan into action

2007-11-13T16:37:00.000+12:00

The Japanese Government is calling for a complete national rethink about attitudes to suicide in an effort to unravel centuries of social pressure and tradition.

The practice, which claims more than 90 lives each day, should no longer be seen as “the honourable way out” but as an act of desperation and – perhaps – preventable misery.

The Government has published a “counter-suicide White Paper”, which sets out a nine-step plan to transform the way in which suicide is regarded and treated. Measures include training more counsellors and expanding Samaritans-style telephone helplines.

The White Paper exposes the traditional approach in Japan of ignoring the issue altogether and presses for the kind of basic research into causes that is standard in most developed nations. It says that Japanese should know more about the causes of suicide and be better equipped to spot the signs of an impending attempt. There should be help for those who have survived an attempt. The paper notes that Monday is by far the most likely day of the week on which a co-worker or loved one may try to end it all.

Government sources told The Times that the document could be seen as evidence that, after decades of inaction, Japan had finally grown embarrassed by its extraordinarily high suicide rate, which stands at ninth in the world but is far ahead of any other developed nation. Japan is hoping to reduce its current rate – of about 32,000 suicides a year – by 20 per cent within the next decade.

Suicide rates used to rise when unemployment was higher and fall during more prosperous spells. The Government’s sudden alarm, though, arises from the apparent breaking of that cycle: Japan’s economy has recently experienced its longest run of expansion since the Second World War but the suicide rate has continued to rise during that time.

The White Paper comes as Japan is approaching its tenth successive year in which more than 30,000 people have taken their own lives. The statistic gives Japan a higher per-capita rate than nations blighted by civil war, desperate poverty or long periods of the year without sunlight.

The timing of the White Paper is also strongly linked to emerging trends in Japanese suicide that threaten to worsen the problem before it gets better. Phenomena such as “web suicides”, in which several strangers – usually in their twenties – meet on the internet and arrange to die together, have received plenty of media attention but, experts say, are only a tiny fraction of the problem.

Work-related causes for suicide have long dominated men’s suicide rates and experts believe that women between the ages of 25 and 45 may become increasingly vulnerable as they enter the workforce in greater numbers and rise to positions of greater seniority and stress. Studies are also likely to be made of the “March problem”, the traditional spike in suicides in March that coincides with university entrance examinations and the main job-hunting season.

Leo Lewis in Tokyo

Hubert Said Something Today

2007-11-13T16:31:00.000+12:00

If you not being HATED ON, then you ain't DOIN' SHIT.

CCTV systems have become ubiquitous

2007-11-08T17:44:00.000+12:00

It seems that some of the gloomy fantasy of Orwell’s “1984″ has become a reality. According to some "unconfirmed" market research reports there may be now as many as 6 million CCTV cameras in UK: one for every ten people, and a person can be captured on over 400 cameras each day. CCTV cameras have become commodities sold in supermarkets. Big Brother is indeed watching. This is nothing new, but a little reminder is needed every now and again to keep whipper snappers in line. So be good.

Canadian Study: Piracy Boosts CD Sales

2007-11-05T05:38:00.000+12:00

A recent study on the impact of filesharing on CD sales shows that the more music people download on P2P-networks, the more CDs they buy.

University of London researchers, Birgitte Andersen and Marion Frenz surveyed a large group of Canadians to find out what the effect of piracy is on music sales. The results are surprising, at least, for the music industry.

The researchers conclude that that people who download more music actually buy more CDs. They report: “We estimate that the effect of one additional P2P download per month is to increase music purchasing by 0.44 CDs per year.”

This basically means that if someone downloads 270 songs a year via BitTorrent, he or she will buy 9 CDs more than someone who only downloads 27 songs. So, in a way illegal downloads actually convert into more CD sales.

Overall the researchers found no difference between pirates and other people in the number of CDs they buy. They did not find a positive or a negative relationship between filesharing and CD sales. So, at worst, filesharing isn’t the cause for a drop in CD sales. It might even be a boon to it.

This study once again confirms that piracy is not as bad as the recording industry content “owners” want us to believe. Filesharing gives people the opportunity to discover new music for free. It makes it easier to try new music before you buy. Right now, downloading songs off P2P networks is pretty much the only way to listen to complete tracks before deciding to buy them.

It is worth mentioning that there are legal alternatives, like Soundpedia and Lala.com’s upcoming service, which will let you stream entire songs for free. However, most people will still prefer pirated music because the quality is much better and they can transfer it to their MP3 player.

Hubert Said Something Today:

2007-11-03T08:14:00.001+12:00

I remember that Bill "Chimpfucker" Wayman was a good man who only did one thing wrong in his life.

TF2: Meet the Soldier

2007-11-03T08:06:00.000+12:00

If fighting is sure to result in victory then you must fight. Sun tzu said that, and I'd say he knows a little more about fighting than you do pal; because he invented it, and then he perfected it so that no living man could best him in the ring of honour. Then he used his fight money to buy two of every animal on earth, and then he hereded him onto a boat, and then he beat the crap out of every single one. And that from that time forward anytime that a bunch of animals are together in one place it is called a zoo... unless its a farm.

Slowly burning

2007-10-31T03:43:00.000+12:00

Professor James Lovelock, inventor of the Gaia theory which suggests the planet acts something like a single organism, said in a recent speech that reducing greenhouse gases and moving to sustainable development will not prevent the most disastrous of global warming’s effects.

In fact, Lovelock believes that a rapid reduction in greenhouse gases would actually increase the speed of global warming. He states that global warming is currently partially offset by global dimming, a cooling of 2-3 ̊C caused by atmospheric industrial pollution.

Prof. Lovelock says: “Any economic downturn or planned cutback in fossil fuel use, which lessened aerosol density, would intensify the heating. If there were a 100 per cent cut in fossil fuel combustion it might get hotter not cooler. We live in a fool’s climate. We are damned if we continue to burn fuel and damned if we stop too suddenly.”

Lovelock is skeptical of the IPCC’s most recent report, which he calls “properly cautious.” He believes it gives the false impression that global warming is reversible with immediate action. Lovelock’s own view is somewhat apocalyptic. He suggests that 6 to 8 billion people will face crises over food and water supplies while battling an intolerable climate.

Lovelock does have some suggestions on how to improve the situation. He suggests cutting greenhouse gas emissions anyway, as they may slow the pace of global warming. He also advocates saving natural forests. He still believes, however, that humans will have to adapt to the inevitable changes global warming will bring.

Source: Telegraph and Guardian

Tracking Transience

2007-10-29T16:58:00.000+12:00

Have you ever wonder how easy it is to be tracked through your cellphone with goverment spy satellites 24/7? Heck you can do it yourself if you so wanted to. Some guy actually did it.

http://www.trackingtransience.net/

Remember when you go out on a clear day to look at the skies, and smile for the camera.

Hubert Said Something Today:

2007-10-29T16:34:00.000+12:00

"I always remember an epitaph in the cemetery at Tombstone, AZ. It says: "Here lies Jack Williams. He done his damnedest." I think that is the greatest epitaph a man can have - when he gives everything that is in him to the job he has before him. That is all you can ask of him and that is what I have tried to do."