Articles 2.0

[thinnerair]

THE INTIMATE WORLD OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN By C. A. Tripp.

aka LINCOLN WAS GAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!

Edited by Lewis Gannett.
343 pp. Free Press. $27.

THIS book is already getting noticed. In ''The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln,'' C. A. Tripp contends that Lincoln had erotic attractions and attachments to men throughout his life, from his youth to his presidency. He further argues that Lincoln's relationships with women were either invented by biographers (his love of Ann Rutledge) or were desolate botches (his courtship of Mary Owens and his marriage to Mary Todd). Tripp is not the first to argue that Lincoln was homosexual -- earlier writers have parsed his friendship with Joshua Speed, the young store owner he lived with after moving to Springfield, Ill. -- but he assembles a mass of evidence and tries to make sense of it.

Tripp died in May 2003, after finishing the manuscript of this book, which means he never had a chance to fix its flaws. The prose is both jumpy and lifeless, like a body receiving electric shocks. Tripp alternates shrewd guesses and modest judgments with bluster and fantasy. He drags in references to Alfred Kinsey (with whom he once worked) to give his arguments a (spurious) scientific sheen. And he has an ax to grind. He is, most famously, the author of ''The Homosexual Matrix.'' Published in 1975, it was a document of gay liberation. Since the other president sometimes thought to have been gay is the wretched James Buchanan, what gay activist wouldn't want to trade up to Lincoln? Still, obsession can discover things that have been overlooked by less fevered minds.

Tripp surveys seven of Lincoln's relationships, four with men and three with women, as well as two episodes from his early life. The discussion of Lincoln's youth is worthless. Relying on Lincoln's law partner and earliest biographer, William Herndon, Tripp decides that Lincoln reached puberty when he was 9 years old. Since Kinsey concluded that early maturing boys tended to become witty masturbators with lots of homosexual experience, Tripp concludes the same of Lincoln. He claims even more for Lincoln's adolescence, including a source for his religious heterodoxy. ''Since Lincoln had already arrived on his own at the powerful pleasures of orgasm . . . one can be sure that like most precocious youngsters he was in no mood to give it all up for bookish or Bible reasons.'' One can be sure, if one is as credulous as Tripp.

Lincoln's story becomes interesting when Tripp discusses real people. In 1831, when he was 22, Lincoln moved to New Salem, an Illinois frontier town, where he met Billy Greene. Greene coached Lincoln in grammar and shared a narrow bed with him. ''When one turned over the other had to do likewise,'' Greene told Herndon. Bed-sharing was common enough in raw settlements, but Greene also had vivid memories of Lincoln's physique: ''His thighs were as perfect as a human being could be.'' Everyone saw that Lincoln was tall and strong, but this seems rather gushing.

Six years later, Lincoln moved to Springfield, where he met Joshua Speed, who became a close friend; John G. Nicolay and John Hay, two early biographers, called him ''the only -- as he was certainly the last -- intimate friend that Lincoln ever had.'' Lincoln and Speed shared a double bed in Speed's store for four years (for two of those years, two other young men shared the room, though not the bed). More important than the sleeping arrangements was the tone of their friendship. Lincoln's letters to Speed before and after Speed's wedding in 1842 are as fretful as those of a general before a dubious engagement. Several of them are signed ''Yours forever.''

By contrast, Lincoln's relations with women are either problematic or distant. Ann Rutledge was the daughter of a New Salem tavernkeeper with whom Lincoln boarded in 1832. Three years later she died of malaria and typhoid. Lincoln biographers have been feuding for decades over whether Lincoln loved her. Tripp, naturally, sides with the skeptics. He concedes that Lincoln was devastated by her death, but argues that it was death itself that distressed him.

In 1836 Lincoln courted Mary Owens. Tripp correctly characterizes his diffident suit as ''reaching forward while sharply leaning back.'' In 1837 Owens broke the relationship off. Lincoln then wrote a jeering letter to a friend, explaining that he had lost interest because Owens was so fat. ''I knew she was oversize, but now she appeared a fair match for Falstaff.'' The nervous hostility of this letter, disguised as humor, is cringe-making. (Tripp finds it hilarious.)

The longest relationship of Lincoln's life was with his wife, Mary Todd, whom he married in 1842; they had four children, on whom Lincoln doted. Mary Lincoln's character is also dark and bloody ground for biographers. Tripp unhelpfully suggests that she had a psychopathic personality, like ''various outlaw types, from Hitler down to myriad petty criminals.'' Explosive, imperious, profligate, she may well have been mad. But in fairness to her, Lincoln was maddening -- remote and unavailable, when he was not physically absent.

Tripp highlights two relations with men from Lincoln's presidency. Col. Elmer Ellsworth was a flashy young drillmaster, ''the greatest little man I ever met,'' as Lincoln put it. Lincoln recruited him to his Springfield law office, made him part of his presidential campaign and gave him a high military post as war loomed. A few weeks after the fall of Fort Sumter, Ellsworth was killed hauling a rebel flag down from a hotel in Alexandria, Va. Lincoln was shattered.

For nearly eight months in 1862-3, Capt. David Derickson led the brigade that guarded Lincoln at the Soldiers' Home in the District of Columbia, the Camp David of the day. Derickson, in the words of his regiment's history, published three decades later, ''advanced so far in the president's confidence and esteem that in Mrs. Lincoln's absence he frequently spent the night at his cottage, sleeping in the same bed with him, and -- it is said -- making use of his Excellency's night shirt!''

Tripp can lay out a case, but his discussion of its implications is so erratic that the reader is often left on his own. One wonders: What does it mean to be homosexual? Not all of the men Lincoln admired were. Ellsworth seems straight as a ruler: he was engaged to a woman he passionately loved when he died. Even Derickson married twice and fathered 10 children (one son was serving in his unit while he was sleeping with Lincoln). Tripp argues that a cultural innocence -- the word ''homosexual'' had not yet been coined -- allowed acts of physical closeness between men that had no deeper meaning, as well as acts that did but could escape scrutiny. We know more than our ancestors, and our reward is that, in some ways, we may do less. In any case, on the evidence before us, Lincoln loved men, at least some of whom loved him back. Their words tell us more than their sleeping arrangements.

What does Lincoln's erotic life tell us about Lincoln? For a gregarious, popular man, he had few intimates (Tripp's very title is a misnomer). Like many secretive types -- Benjamin Franklin comes to mind -- he kept the world at bay with a screen of banter. Yet behind the laughs lay an almost bottomless sadness, and sympathy for those he saw as fellow sufferers. There were many Lincolns: the joker, the pol, the logician, the skeptical theologian. But the man of sorrows may be the most important. ''The president has a curious vein of sentiment running through his thought which is his most valuable mental attribute,'' as his secretary of state, William Seward, said. Desiring what he could not consistently have did not make him grieve -- what Virgil called the tears of things did that -- but it may have deepened his grief.

Towering above these Lincolns is the man who saw liberty and equality as facets of the same thing, and who maintained his (he called it his and the founders') vision in the face of Northern confusion and Southern fury. This is the Lincoln that matters. The rest is biography.

[J~$$$]

DURRRRrrr.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The world's biggest music companies, including Warner Music Group Corp and Sony BMG, denied that they have agreed to license songs for a free download service that was launched by Qtrax on Monday.

Qtrax told Reuters and other media outlets last week that it had deals with the major labels representing about 75 percent of all music sales, to let users download songs for free in a new service to be supported by advertising revenue.

But by Monday, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner had publicly denied that they had agreed to back the new Qtrax service.

A source close to Universal Music, the largest of the group, said it also had not signed a deal for the new Qtrax service and is still in discussions.

And a source close to EMI Group said that while its song publishing unit has an agreement with Qtrax, its recorded music arm, EMI Music, does not.

"Sony BMG can confirm it has not signed a deal with Qtrax for the ad-supported service," said a spokesman for Sony BMG, a joint venture between Sony Corp and Bertelsmann AG.

EMI Music, Sony BMG and Warner all previously had agreements with Qtrax, which was testing a paid music download service. Sources say those agreements expired in the last year and did not cover the new free, ad-supported model now being promoted by Qtrax.

The first denial came from Warner late on Sunday and appeared to force the start-up to backtrack on its earlier claims of having deals with all majors.

Qtrax said late on Sunday, "We are in discussions with Warner Music Group to ensure that the service is licensed and we hope to reach an agreement shortly."

Qtrax did not immediately respond to further queries about its agreements with other companies.

Qtrax is not the first start-up company proposing a new business model for marketing music to run into licensing difficulties with major labels.

Social music network Imeem was initially sued by Warner Music before agreeing on terms with all majors late last year. A free ad-supported download service from SpiralFrog has struggled to sign any other major record company since launching last September with music from Universal Music.

[TomAz]

a neat look at what kind of web presence mega-corps had in 1996. Those were the days!

My first web browsing experience was using netscape 2.0, on a Mac IIcx with a 12in 4-bit greyscale monitor, 8mb of ram, and a 40mb HD using a 14.4 modem....


http://www.msu.edu/~karjalae/internet96.htm?hoho

http://gizmodo.com/photogallery/gizwayback/1000579947

Old Websites Sure Are Funny

Digging through websites cached from the 90s is akin to seeing a celebrity's high school yearbook pictures—during the early, awkward years of the web, brave companies made a stab at winning consumer hearts through 15" CRTs and 14.4k dial up modems. Inspired by this MSU page, we decided to take a gander through the Internet Archive's Wayback machine (a service that started saving pages in 1996). Needless to say, we found some funny stuff.

26 year olds don't have much perspective, do they?

[J~$$$]

^Wizard on Bicycle, Wizard on Bicycle,
Wizard on Bicycle, Wizard on Bicycle, Wizard on Bicycle.

This made me laugh though.

I really want a lego wizard on a bike.

[theburiedlife]

Winehouse denied visa for Grammys

Amy Winehouse at court on 18 January
Amy Winehouse went into rehab last month for drug addiction
Amy Winehouse will not perform at this year's Grammy awards ceremony because her US visa application has been rejected by the embassy in London.

The singer was arrested for marijuana possession in Norway last year.

A spokesman for the troubled star said she was "disappointed", but had "accepted the ruling and will be concentrating on her recovery".

Winehouse has been nominated for six Grammy awards ahead of the ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7234002.stm

[prettydirtything]

trolls have rights too... (http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/08/02/08/0243242.shtml)

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080207-appeals-court-first-amendment-protects-forum-trolls-too.html

Your Rights Online: First Amendment Ruling Protects Internet Trolls
Posted by Soulskill on Friday February 08, @02:26AM
from the reinforced-bridges dept.

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes

"A recent ruling by the Court of Appeal of the State of California (PDF) in Krinsky v. Doe H030767 overturned a lower court ruling and decided that the First Amendment right to anonymous speech protects internet trolls, too. Specifically, the ruling said that 'this juvenile name-calling cannot reasonably be read as stating actual facts.' And, even though some of the statements were crudely sexual and accused Ms. Krinsky of being among 'boobs, liars and crooks,' the statements were held to 'fall into the category of crude, satirical hyperbole which, while reflecting the immaturity of the speaker, constitute protected opinion under the First Amendment.'"

[+] court, suddenoutbreakofcommonsense, gnaa, dork, geek (tagging beta)

[prettydirtything]

since the obama- hillary kerfuffle will not be sorted out until the convention, some thoughts (http://weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/723azckf.asp) on what comes post convention:



The Weekly Standard

The Inconvenient Truths of 2008
Four things the party loyalists won't want to hear.
by William J. Stuntz
02/18/2008, Volume 013, Issue 22

Each party's base has two inconvenient truths it doesn't want to hear. For Republicans, those truths concern immigration and the culture war. Most of today's illegal immigrant population is here to stay (along with their descendants) and will pay no significant price for getting here outside the legal channels. No presidential candidate can change those facts. On the issue that matters most to conservative Christians--abortion--the political phase of the culture war is over. The right lost --a pro-life initiative failed in South Dakota in 2006: If it can't win there, it can't win anywhere. Well, maybe Utah.

For Democrats, the relevant subjects are Iraq and federal spending. Discussions of the Iraq war in Democratic primaries have a bizarre quality: Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama speak as though the war is a lost cause. It isn't--unless one of them wins the election and pulls the plug, a scenario that Iran's proxies no doubt await eagerly. As for spending, the federal budget (and federal tax revenues) will leave no room for large, expensive, New Deal-style health and education programs. For the foreseeable future, domestic policymaking will have more to do with arranging incentives than with dispensing largesse: Think welfare reform, not Aid to Families with Dependent Children.

If Republicans fail to understand their unpleasant truths, they will lose in November, and lose badly. Democrats might win even if their heads remain in the sand: It's a Democratic year, as a comparison between the two parties' fundraising, turnout, and vote totals in the primaries to date suggests. But they will lose the chance to have the kind of public debate that shapes government policy--meaning, the kind that is based on truth, convenient and otherwise.

......... the rest is at:

http://weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/723azckf.asp

[thelastgreatman]

ALBANY, New York (CNN) -- Nick, 16, says ecstasy is rampant in his high school, with kids often mixing the drug with meth and other substances.

"You just have to know the right person. It's about as easy as any other drug. You just gotta ask for it," says Nick, who asked that his last name not be used. "It's easy to get."

Law enforcement officials say stories like these highlight a disturbing trend they're seeing across the country. Most alarming, they say, is not only is ecstasy back after years of decline, but most of the time it's laced with meth.

More than 55 percent of the ecstasy samples seized in the United States last year contained meth, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, compared with 44.5 percent the previous year. And the drugs are coming in at rapid pace from Canada. Watch ecstasy's pipeline into U.S. »

Almost 5.5 million pills of ecstasy were seized in the states bordering Canada in 2006 (the most recent year for which full statistics are available) -- an almost tenfold increase since 2003, top drug enforcement officials say.

"They drive them in. They bring them in by boat. They bring them in by plane. They bring them across by people just carrying them across their back much like the southwest border," says Ed Duffy, an assistant special agent in charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration's northern region.

Because meth is less expensive than ecstasy, mixing the two saves producers money, but it also makes it more dangerous, officials say.

Ecstasy can cause sharp increases in body temperature and can result in liver, kidney or heart damage. When laced with meth, officials say, the combination can cause more severe harm because meth can damage brain functions, as well as lead to an increase in breathing, irregular heartbeats and increased blood pressure. The National Institute on Drug Abuse says meth -- or methamphetamine -- is a "very addictive stimulant drug."

Law enforcement officials say European countries cracked down on ecstasy production in the early 2000s and manufacturing moved to Canada. And now, Asian gangs in Canada have been smuggling the chemicals needed to make ecstasy from China and India, officials with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police tell CNN.

Finished pills are then pushed in vast quantities into the United States, a flow that's difficult to stop because of the vast, largely unpoliced border, officials say.

Those on the front lines in Canada and the United States say they are working closely and sharing intelligence to try to stem the flow. Canadian officials also say they have a good relationship with Chinese law enforcement.

The Mounties have created teams across Canada focused on identifying the criminal organizations producing ecstasy and meth and say they have shut down 17 labs in the past year.

"The labs that we're finding now are what you refer to in the United States as super labs. We call them economic-based labs," says Raf Souccar, assistant commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Each lab produces more than 10 pounds of ecstasy in one batch, he says. "It's not your mom and pop operation. It tells me that it is criminal organizations that are, yes, more sophisticated and producing it for profit as opposed to producing it to fuel their habit."

It's then finding its way into schools, like Nick's in Albany, New York.

"I have been seeing an increase in pill use among the teens in general," says Greg Reid, a counselor at Equinox Community Services Agency, which sponsors drug counseling and other activities for youth in Albany.

"They do something called 'pharming' where they throw a bunch of pills into a bowl and kind of choose or take out the pills they want."

Ecstasy pills are often among the drugs of choice in the bowl.

"I have seen that increase in the past two years," Reid says. "Ecstasy ... can be very dangerous, especially if you don't know what it is getting mixed with."


http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/02/20/meth.ecstasy/index.html#cnnSTCText.ecstasy%2Findex.html&partnerID=211911



My thoughts:

Yay for more ecstasy in production! Boo for it being laced with meth. The thing about that "55 percent of the pills being laced with methamphetamine" that interests me though is... are they taking into account that true ecstasy, MDMA, contains methamphetamine? That that's what the MA stands for? Cause either way, that statistic sucks. If they do know, and they're only counting pills that tested for meth in addition to their MDMA content then goddamn the speedy crowd for continuing to ruin ecstasy. And if that statistic does know that MDMA contains meth and they're just being intentionally misleading, then that means that 45 percent of all these pills don't contain any real MDMA. Even shittier, perhaps.

[amyzzz]

I need some drug contacts in the high schools, apparently. And yeah, that 55% stat sucks. I wish they'd just legalize drugs already. argh.

[Blinken]

http://www.slate.com/id/2184475/

I guess fat people aren't as bad as some assholes make them out to be.

[amyzzz]

"Obese people have shorter life spans. Since the elderly are by far the costliest patients, it's possible that early deaths save taxpayers money in the long run."
Interesting. The obese have their own version of Logan's Run apparently.

[Blinken]

What is really interesting is that it is negative image that causes health problems, not just being fat. It makes since somewhat because stress is a major factor in your health and most people are stressed out about being fat, so if they stop caring then they would be healthier.

[amyzzz]

Yeah. That makes me want to eat more chocolate.

[thelastgreatman]

Most people who are stressed out about being fat need to fix it by losing some fucking weight, not by learning to stop being stressed. People don't get obese just because they like food--like all addictions, it's escapism. Adding more escapism is not a good idea.

[amyzzz]

I still want more chocolate.

[thelastgreatman]

Shut up fatty, have this meth-heavy ecstasy instead and run your ass to the discotheque.

[amyzzz]

I'm only as fat as I feel. (and I'm still underweight in any case)

[fatbastard]

http://www.slate.com/id/2184475/

I guess fat people aren't as bad as some assholes make them out to be.

I could have told you that.

[tessalasset]

I'm too sexy for my flight. (http://www.tampabays10.com/video/16x9/?aid=56457&sid=74549)

[fatbastard]

Singer denies false imprisonment charge Thu Feb 28, 7:57 AM ET

LONDON - Boy George has denied imprisoning a 28-year-old Norwegian man at his London home last year.

The former Culture Club singer pleaded not guilty to the charge of false imprisonment during a court hearing in London on Thursday.

Audun Carlsen claims Boy George handcuffed him to a wall after he went to the singer's apartment as a photo model. The alleged incident took place last April.

Boy George appeared in court under his real name, George O'Dowd. The 46-year-old singer is free on bail and is due to stand trial in November.

[Courtney]

Basically this means no more discounted Coachella presales through Ducat King ever. (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i9c08e2d703b6c6d8fc713fc650f1a95a)

AEG Live acquisition in the works
By Ray Waddell, Billboard

Feb 29, 2008

NASHVILLE -- Multiple sources have confirmed that a deal is imminent for a partnership of Ticketmaster and Madison Square Garden Entertainment owner Cablevision to acquire about 49% of AEG Live, the live entertainment arm of Anschutz Entertainment Group.

[...]

[kingsblend420]

YOU GOT SWATTED!

At 4 in the morning of May 1, 2005, deputies from the El Paso County Sheriff's Office converged on the suburban Colorado Springs home of Richard Gasper, a TSA screener at the local Colorado Springs Municipal Airport. They were expecting to find a desperate, suicidal gunman holding Gasper and his daughter hostage.

"I will shoot," the gravely voice had warned, in a phone call to police minutes earlier. "I'm not afraid. I will shoot, and then I will kill myself, because I don't care."

But instead of a gunman, it was Gasper himself who stepped into the glare of police floodlights. Deputies ordered Gasper's hands up and held him for 90 minutes while searching the house. They found no armed intruder, no hostages bound in duct tape. Just Gasper's 18-year-old daughter and his baffled parents.

A federal Joint Terrorism Task Force would later conclude that Gasper had been the victim of a new type of nasty hoax, called "swatting," that was spreading across the United States. Pranksters were phoning police with fake murders and hostage crises, spoofing their caller IDs so the calls appear to be coming from inside the target's home. The result: police SWAT teams rolling to the scene, sometimes bursting into homes, guns drawn.


http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2008/02/blind_hacker

[Hannahrain]

http://music.yahoo.com/read/news/57964454


BBC: Hell's Angels sought to kill Jagger

03/02/2008 6:03 PM, AP


Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger escaped an assassination plot hatched in 1969 by the Hells Angels, a new British Broadcasting Corp. documentary has claimed.

A program to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Monday says the rock star was the target of the plot following a purported dispute with the motorcycle gang over concert security.

Jagger had vowed not to use Hells Angel members as bouncers following the death in December 1969 of an 18-year-old fan at a notorious free performance at Altamont Speedway in Northern California.

In return, gang members hatched a plan to kill Jagger at his holiday home in Long Island, New York, the BBC claimed.

"The Hells Angels were so angered by Jagger's treatment of them that they decided to kill him," Tom Mangold, the presenter of the program, was quoted as telling Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

He said the plan was disclosed during an interview with Mark Young, a former FBI officer, for the BBC's "The FBI at 100" documentary.

Mangold said the men tried to reach Jagger by sea. "The boat was hit by a storm and all of the men were thrown overboard," he was quoted as saying. They all survived but made no other attempt on his life, Mangold said.

It was not clear whether Jagger was ever informed of the alleged plot against him.

LD Communications, Jagger's publicists in Britain, did not immediately return calls requesting comment.

The Hells Angels have always denied any connection with the Altamont Speedway killing.

[TomAz]

Article on Scrabulous. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/business/02game.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=scrabulous&st=nyt&oref=slogin)

[Hannahrain]

So uh, take a close look at the cat in this story. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080308/ap_on_fe_st/odd_rescued_kitten)

[amyzzz]

This story freaks me the fuck out:

Ex-Model Waris Dirie Found in Belgium
Sunday, March 09, 2008 1:39:30 AM
By PAUL AMES

Police on Friday found Waris Dirie, three days after the Somali-born model who launched a worldwide campaign against female genital mutilation had vanished.

Dirie, 43, appeared to be in good health and was being questioned by police about the disappearance, said Estelle Arpigny, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office.

She declined to give further details, saying it was unclear what had happened since Dirie vanished early Wednesday. Belgian media reports said police found her Friday afternoon walking the Brussels' Grand Place square.

Hours earlier, police had announced they were launching a nationwide search for the former
Other Entertainment Photos
Ex-Model Waris Dirie Found in Belgium
154
model, who had last been seen getting into a cab after a mix-up over a hotel.

Dirie gained international fame as a model posing in Chanel ads and acting in the 1987 James Bond movie "The Living Daylights" before launching her campaign against female genital mutilation in 1996.

She shocked the world with a best-selling book "Desert Flower" that described how her genitals were sliced off with a dirty razor blade without anesthesia, and then stitched together.

Now a U.N. goodwill ambassador, she was due to speak on genital mutilation in Brussels at two conferences on women's rights organized by the European Union, including one on Thursday attended by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

News of Dirie's disappearance came a week after French police said they had found the body of another former model of African origin who had campaigned against female genital mutilation. Guinean-born Katoucha Niane was discovered floating in the River Seine in Paris.

The French police said an autopsy showed no signs of foul play, raising the possibility that she may have fallen accidentally into the river. However, Katoucha's family members say they suspect homicide.

Dirie's manager, Walter Lutschinger, said she had been involved in an altercation in a hotel reception area after a taxi driver took her to the wrong branch of the Sofitel hotel chain. The police were called and drove Dirie around Brussels looking for the correct hotel because she had apparently forgotten where she was staying.

At one hotel, while staff and police were checking for her name on a computer, Meilleur said Dirie stepped out saying she planned to buy cigarettes from an all-night kiosk, but instead climbed into a taxi and drove away.

An Austrian citizen, Dirie was attacked in her Vienna apartment in 2004 by a Portuguese handyman who had stalked her. The man was given a five-month suspended sentence by an Austrian court.

------

Associated Press writers Constant Brand and Aoife White in Brussels and George Jahn in Vienna contributed to this report.

[bballarl]

I can't believe this is real.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/277263.stm

World: Europe

Women in jeans 'cannot be raped'



Italy's highest court has ruled that a woman wearing jeans cannot be raped.
The Supreme Court of Appeal in Rome on Wednesday overturned a rape conviction, saying that the supposed victim must have agreed to sex because her jeans could not have been removed without her consent.
A court in the southern town of Potenza had convicted a driving instructor of raping his 18-year-old pupil.

The instructor, aged 45 and identified only as Carmine, had been sentenced to 34 months' jail.

His defence had argued that the young woman - identified as Rosa - had consented to sex, a version of events which the woman strongly denied.

The Supreme Court ruled that it was impossible to remove a pair of jeans "without the collaboration of the person wearing them", and that the young woman must therefore have consented to sex.

In a judgement likely to anger women's rights organisations, the rape conviction was reversed.

Driving instructors in Italy have a reputation, deserved or undeserved, for molesting young female pupils, and the case appeared at first to be a familiar story of sexual assault on a lonely country road.

[Hannahrain]

That article: Infuriating reasonable people since February 1999. Just sayin'. But yeah.

[Hannahrain]

One in four American teenage girls has at least one common STD. (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080312084645.htm)

Anyone sleeping with a teenage girl around here might want to get tested.

[Young blood]

your poo and you.

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/03/12/poo/

"My hemorrhoids feel so bad that it's like grapes hanging out of my rear," she confesses. "Sometimes they hurt so bad, I can't get out of bed for two days."

[TomAz]

Sheriff: Woman sat on boyfriend's toilet for 2 years (http://www.kansas.com/news/updates/story/339011.html)
By ROXANA HEGEMAN
Associated Press Writer
A 35-year-old woman who apparently spent two years in her boyfriend's bathroom in Ness City had become stuck to the toilet seat, authorities said Wednesday.

"She was not glued. She was not tied. She was just physically stuck by her body. It is hard to imagine. ... I still have a hard time imagining it myself," Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple said in a telephone interview, adding that it appeared her body fat had grown attached to the seat.

Authorities planned to present their report to the county attorney later Wednesday to see if any charges should be filed against her 36-year-old boyfriend, Whipple said.

The boyfriend called police on Feb. 27 to report that "there was something wrong with his girlfriend," Whipple said, adding he never explained why it took him two years to call.

He said the boyfriend had brought the woman food and water during the two years and told investigators he asked her daily to come out of the bathroom.

"And her reply would be, 'Maybe tomorrow,'" Whipple said. "According to him, she did not want to leave the bathroom."

The house had another bathroom he could use.

Police found the clothed woman sitting on the toilet, her sweat pants down to her mid-thigh as if she was using the toilet. Her legs looked like they had atrophied, he said.

"She was sitting on the toilet and was somewhat disoriented," Whipple said. "She said that she didn't need any help, that she was OK and did not want to leave."

She refused emergency medical services but was finally convinced by responders and her boyfriend that she needed to be checked out. She was taken to Via Christi Regional Medical Center-St. Francis Campus in Wichita, where she is listed in fair condition. Whipple said she has refused to cooperate with medical providers or law enforcement investigators.

"We pried the toilet seat off with a prybar and the seat went with her to the hospital," Whipple said. "The hospital removed it."

Authorities said they did not know if she was developmentally disabled.

Police have declined to release the couple's names, but the house where authorities say the incident happened is listed in public records as the residence of Kory McFarren. No one answered his home phone number.

A neighbor, James Ellis, told The Associated Press that he had known the woman since she was a child but said he had not seen her for at least six years.

He said she had a tough childhood after her mother died at a young age and apparently was usually kept inside the house as she grew up.

"It really doesn't surprise me," Ellis said of the bathroom incident. "What surprises me is somebody wasn't called in a bit earlier.

At one time the woman worked for a long-term care facility, he said, but he did not know what kind of work she did there.

The case has been the buzz of this western Kansas town.

"I don't think anybody can make any sense out of it," Ellis said.

[bballarl]

That article: Infuriating reasonable people since February 1999. Just sayin'. But yeah.

I know it was old. But my friend and I, who exchange Onion articles on a daily basis, couldn't believe that it was an actual news story.

[amyzzz]

Tom, that's agoraphobia for you.

[Young blood]

David Cross And Bob Odenkirk To Reunite For ‘Mr. Show’-esque ‘Situation’
0 Comments | Published by Larry Carroll on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 at 4:10 pm.

David CrossWhile it might have been a TV program, the influence of “Mr. Show” on the ensuing decade of both movies and television has been a substantial one. Now, David Cross and Bob Odenkirk are putting together a project that will once again team the warped comic masterminds.

“Bob and I are going to shoot something for HBO, a pilot, which was something we wrote,” Cross told us recently in Shreveport, Louisiana during a break from shooting the Jack Black-Michael Cera flick “Year One.” “It’s based on Bob’s idea, but we both co-wrote it and I’ll act in it.”

Although the duo’s return to Home Box Office will be like “Mr. Show” in some ways, Cross insisted that it will also play with the clichés of situation comedies. “It’s a sitcom,” the “Arrested Development” funnyman explained. “It will follow a traditional sitcom feeling, but will also feel like a big sketch, even though the characters will remain the same each week.”

“Hopefully, we’ll shoot it this April,” he continued. “The working title is ‘David’s Situation,’ but that could change.”

Also, since Bob and David will once again be existing in the realm of pay-TV, they hope to employ a “Grindhouse”-like gimmick that will exploit our collective hatred of ad breaks. “Because it’s HBO, we are going to write and shoot our own commercials that will probably have nothing to do with the show, and have two commercial breaks and have an epilogue and all that stuff,” Cross grinned, adding: “And if it comes naturally to swear, or have something a little more than you wouldn’t have on network TV, we’ll definitely do that.”

As for Odenkirk’s off-the-wall plot idea, Cross explained it thusly: “I’m playing me. I’ve left Hollywood, I’ve had it with Hollywood. I now write for in-flight magazines, and I’ve moved to a gated community in an unknown suburb; you don’t know where it is or what part of the country. I have two roommates - one is extreme right wing, a cranky conservative pro-America guy. The other is this left wing, hippie, liberal-activist guy. And I’m right in the middle.”

“They are both ridiculous, and crazy stuff happens, but in the reality of this world it’s not that crazy,” added Cross, saying that he and Odenkirk expect their “David’s Situation” pilot to get picked up and hopefully last a few seasons. “We would only do ten or twelve episodes for a season… personally, I would be happy to do six,” he grinned. “I don’t wanna spend that much time in L.A.”

[STALINZZZ]

I dont know what I think of this. Really the only plus I can think of is the elimination of fear of being sued by the RIAA and for $5 a month I would be content with that.

Music Industry Proposes a Piracy Surcharge on ISPs (http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/news/2008/03/music_levy?currentPage=1)

Having failed to stop piracy by suing internet users, the music industry is for the first time seriously considering a file sharing surcharge that internet service providers would collect from users.

In recent months, some of the major labels have warmed to a pitch by Jim Griffin, one of the idea's chief proponents, to seek an extra fee on broadband connections and to use the money to compensate rights holders for music that's shared online. Griffin, who consults on digital strategy for three of the four majors, will argue his case at what promises to be a heated discussion Friday at South by Southwest.

"It's monetizing the anarchy," says Peter Jenner, head of the International Music Manager's Forum, who plans to join Griffin on the panel.

Griffin's idea is to collect a fee from internet service providers -- something like $5 per user per month -- and put it into a pool that would be used to compensate songwriters, performers, publishers and music labels. A collecting agency would divvy up the money according to artists' popularity on P2P sites, just as ASCAP and BMI pay songwriters for broadcasts and live performances of their work.

The idea is controversial but -- as Griffin and Jenner point out -- hardly without precedent. The concept of collecting a fee for unauthorized use of music was developed in France in 1851 as a way of reimbursing composers whose work was being performed without their permission in cafes and the like.

The practice spread to the United States in 1914 and currently applies to radio airplay and webcasts in addition to live performances. In a 2004 white paper, the Electronic Frontier Foundation called for it to be applied to file sharing, but the Recording Industry Association of America immediately dismissed the proposal.

Things are different now. "The labels are beginning to like the idea of an access-to-music charge," says Jenner, who once managed Pink Floyd and the Clash, "because they're increasingly aware that their current model is broken." U.S. music sales, which peaked in 1999 at nearly $15 billion, dropped to $11.5 billion in 2006. Last year's figures are still being tallied, but with CD sales cratering and online sales overwhelmingly dominated by singles, the only question is how far they'll fall.

Meanwhile, the industry's antipiracy efforts appear more and more futile. Digital rights management, long touted as a solution, has been all but abandoned. And though the RIAA is said to have threatened or taken action against some 20,000 suspected file sharers, the market-research firm NPD Group reports that nearly 20 percent of U.S. internet users downloaded music illegally last year. The score to date: 0.02 million alleged P2P users down, 40.98 million to go.

At the music industry trade show MIDEM last year, John Kennedy, the head of IFPI -- the RIAA's international affiliate organization -- offered modest support for the kind of licensing fee Griffin and Jenner propose. "It's a model worth looking at," he said at a press conference. "If the ISPs want to come to us and look for a blanket license for an amount per month, let's engage in that discussion."

The tone at the January 2008 MIDEM in Cannes, France, was more combative. Longtime U2 manager Paul McGuinness said in a widely reported speech that it was time to hold ISPs responsible for the file sharing deluge. McGuinness wants network operators to cut off those the industry deems offenders -- an approach France's Sarkozy government is already pushing in that country. "If ISPs do not cooperate voluntarily," McGuinness declared, "there will need to be legislation to force them to cooperate," McGuinness said.

Behind closed doors, however, MIDEM attendees discussed the prospect of collecting money from ISPs instead. An invitation-only meeting on the subject drew about 50 people, including representatives of IFPI, Sony BMG, T-Mobile, the giant European ISP and mobile-carrier Orange, and performing-rights organizations like BMI. The response, according to Jenner, "ranged from 'What do we do now?' to 'It sounds good, but can it possibly work?' A lot of people are like rabbits in the headlights: They're terrified they're going to lose their jobs. No one dares to feel that this might be the solution."

Even so, notes Shira Perlmutter, IFPI’s head of legal policy, “none of our members are ruling anything out. These companies are all very open to creative new ideas that would allow customers to do things they want -- including using file sharing technologies.”

Not everyone sees the two approaches as an either-or situation. "I love Paul McGuinness' idea," says another scheduled SXSW panelist, Dina LaPolt, a Los Angeles attorney who represents Mötley Crüe and the estate of Tupac Shakur. "And I love the idea of trying to make ISPs pay artists and make up for all the free crap that's going on. I support both, so long as artists are getting paid for their work."

Whether ISPs will be willing to ante up remains far from clear, especially since many users can be expected to protest the extra charge. One option would be to introduce different service tiers and impose the surcharge only on customers who buy enough bandwidth to make file sharing feasible. But for ISPs, other music-industry demands could be far more onerous.

In the weeks since MIDEM, antipiracy zealots have been using McGuinness's speech as a rallying cry. Last month the British media reported that a government white paper was about to call for legislation to force ISPs to move against suspected file sharers. As it turned out, the white paper merely included a vague call for "voluntary, preferably commercial solutions" by April 2009.

Just Monday, the four majors sued the largest ISP in Ireland in an attempt to force it to block illicit downloads. Attorneys for Eircom retorted that it was not legally obligated to monitor its network traffic.

AT&T has been looking into content-sniffing technology that could turn it into a spy agency for music labels and film studios, but most ISPs seem distinctly unenthusiastic about the idea. They have good reason to be.

Technology experts say it would be impossible to reliably inspect trillions of packets for pirated material, especially if file sharing networks resort to encryption mechanisms. Legal experts point out that any attempt by an ISP to monitor its traffic in this way would jeopardize its status as a common carrier. It could also leave the ISP open to lawsuits from subscribers who get cut off without good reason. And financial experts say it would cost a bundle to implement.

But the bottom line is, it simply won’t work. “Ultimately there is no real hope of eradicating copyright-infringing technology,” says another SXSW panelist, Eric Garland, CEO of BigChampagne, which tracks the popularity of music online. “You can push piracy around, discourage people from doing it in this or that venue, but I don’t think in even the most Orwellian scenario you could reduce massive infringement in a comprehensive way.”

So, which will it be: A last-gasp assault on piracy, or a truce that would bring in money and benefit everyone except the lawyers?

At this point, the music industry seems too dazed to decide -- and several nights in Austin probably won't help. Though Jenner and McGuinness are on opposite sides of the debate, their good cop-bad cop routine could ultimately prove synergistic. Pay up, the music people are telling internet providers, or we'll sic Washington on you -- and London and Paris and anybody else we can find.

[Young blood]

I should read the thread first.

[TomAz]

Sudan man forced to marry goat (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4748292.stm)

[Hannahrain]

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/15/japanese-isps-to-ban-file-sharers/

[fatbastard]

It's official!!

Mexico now the 2nd fattest country, after U.S. By Franco Ordonez, McClatchy Newspapers
Mon Mar 24, 6:00 AM ET



MEXICO CITY — Fueled by the rising popularity of soft drinks and fast-food restaurants, Mexico has become the second fattest nation in the world. Mexican health officials say it could surpass the U.S. as the most obese country within 10 years if trends continue.

More than 71 percent of Mexican women and 66 percent of Mexican men are overweight, according to the latest national surveys.

With diabetes now Mexico's leading cause of death, activists and leaders hope to renew efforts to crack down on junk food and other fatty-food consumption and encourage citizens to exercise more. But it will be a tough battle, as industry groups are expected to put up a fight.

No one knows better the country's affection for fattening foods than Lidia Garcia Garduno , who's run a fruit stand in central Mexico City for the past 10 years.

"People don't eat right anymore," said Garcia Garduno , mixing a drink of strawberries and pineapple. "Instead of coming here and purchasing a fruit drink, they prefer to walk across the street and buy fried pork chips. That's why so many Mexicans are obese."

In 1989, fewer than 10 percent of Mexican adults were overweight. No one in the country even talked about obesity back then, said Barry Popkin , a University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill professor who studies global weight gain. Experts were too concerned with poverty and hunger.

"It certainly snuck up on them," said Popkin, who's working with the Mexican health ministry to develop strategies to address obesity throughout the country. " Mexico has probably had the most rapid increase of obesity in the last 15 years."

Mexican Health Secretary Jose Cordova , who launched a new health campaign Feb. 25 , agrees: "We have to put the brakes on this obesity problem."

Some Mexicans say there's less space on an already crowded Mexico City subway because riders are getting larger. At a flea market in the south of the city, vendors hawk clothes brought from the United States made for overweight individuals.

Francisco Princegali knew he was eating too much junk food when he bent down last week and heard a tear.

"I ripped my pants because of the fat," said Princegali, who's 20, crumbling up a wrapper of sweetened bread he'd purchased from a vendor. "I think I'm addicted to junk food."

Princegali, sucking in his stomach, said that many of his pants were too tight these days. Some people are addicted to alcohol and smoking, he said: "My problem is I love fried chicken— Kentucky Fried Chicken ."

As in the U.S., Mexicans are living more sedentary lives. Studies show that they're eating more fat and processed foods, and fewer whole grains and vegetables. Foods— healthy and unhealthy— that once were unavailable now can be purchased at new modern supermarkets. In some areas of the country, it's easier to get a soft drink than a clean glass of water. The vast majority of Mexico City's public schools, and many private schools, lack drinkable water, Popkin said.

The national study also found that a quarter of Mexican children ages 5 to 11 are too heavy, a 40 percent increase since 2000.

According to the government's National Institute of Public Health , the consumption of soft drinks increased 60 percent in Mexico over the last 14 years.

Last week, children lined up to purchase soft drinks and potato chips outside their school in the center of Mexico City .

Virginia Soriano , 35, said it was difficult teaching her children good eating habits when they were flooded with advertising for fatty foods. Naomi, her daughter, says her favorite things to eat are McDonald's Chicken McNuggets and Coca-Cola. The 6-year-old sometimes pushes away her dinner plate if it has too many vegetables, Soriano said.

"She'll say, 'This has no taste,' " Soriano said. "She wants McDonald's or Kentucky Fried Chicken ."

Legislators have considered putting warning labels on junk food and taxing whole milk to encourage consumption of skim milk. Past efforts, however, have foundered, and some lawmakers have reported difficulty fighting powerful industry groups. In 2006, legislators voted down a proposed tax on soft drinks, arguing that it discriminated against the poor. Leaders hope that the growing concern over diabetes will lead to greater public acceptance of such efforts.

PepsiCo joined the education ministry last year in launching a new health program, "Living Healthily," that encourages more daily exercise and better eating habits. But consumer group El Poder del Consumidor, "Power of the Consumer," has accused the company of surreptitiously marketing its products to children.

Monica Bauer , a spokeswoman for PepsiCo International , said that the program, which includes a video game that teaches healthy eating habits, didn't include any advertising.

"We understand there is an obesity problem," she said. "We're trying to be part of the solution."

The health consequences of obesity include increased rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. The Mexican Diabetes Federation estimates that 6.5 million to 10 million Mexicans have diabetes.

More than 70,000 Mexicans die each year from diabetes-related conditions, Cordova said. He said that the diabetes burden was draining Mexico's already strained health services and that if trends continued, the country's health-care system would be bankrupt within a decade.

"If we don't stop this, we're going to run out of money to treat the sick," Cordova said.

(Ordonez reports for The Charlotte Observer .)

[TomAz]

This is where articles go. Not in threads of their own. They go here. capeche?


Nevada wildlife chief proposed antelope barbecue for officials

Associated Press
March 25, 2008

Print Email

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nevada's top wildlife chief suggested barbecuing antelope accidentally killed during an aerial round-up in January and serving the meat to legislators and department staff at a "wildlife appreciation day" event, a newspaper reported.

In a departure from usual practices, Wildlife Director Ken Mayer suggested serving meat from animals accidentally killed in the Elko County capture at the event in June, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Tuesday.

"Some of these legislators have no clue what wild game tastes like," Mayer said, adding that he "didn't give a direct order" to use the meat for a barbecue but biologists thought it would be a reasonable thing to do.

Chief state Game Warden Rob Buonamici characterized the actions as "questionable," but told the Review-Journal he was not sure any illegal act had been committed.

"For Joe Blow citizen, if one of them would have done that, I would have knocked on their door because it's property of the people of the state it belonged to. I would have just said, 'Hey, turn it over. We're going to dispose of it,'" Buonamici said.

Eleven out of 300 antelope accidentally died in an aerial net-gunning capture by Nevada biologists in Elko County this year, officials said.

Mayer said he participated in the capture in an area ravaged by wildfires, where biologists culled herds to keep antelope from starving. Captured antelope were transported about a four-hour drive south and east of Elko, and released.

Mayer said that on the second day, a metal weight for a net that had been fired from a special rifle aboard a helicopter struck an antelope and killed it. Most of the other 10 animals were unfit for human consumption, including some that died in the release area.

The usual practice has been to turn over big game killed in state-sponsored trapping operations to people who rehabilitate wild animals, or to leave the carcasses in remote areas for wildlife.

Mayer said he asked whether arrangements had been made with a local American Indian tribe to give it to them, adding that when he found that wasn't the case, "Since we didn't have a tribe or rehabilitator lined up, I said we'll have a wildlife appreciation day."

Buonamici said Mayer has since asked him to draw up a proposed regulation to cover disposal of meat or carcasses of big game animals "in a fashion deemed appropriate by a director."

Gerry Lent, president of the Nevada Hunters Association, said he thought Mayer appeared to be trying to find a good use for the meat.

"You can't waste meat," Lent said. "Hunters can't waste meat. Give it to the Salvation Army or feed the poor."

[fatbastard]

Man wakes up inside a garbage truck Fri Mar 28, 6:58 PM ET



A man nearly crushed inside a garbage truck told police he can't recall how he ended up inside a trash bin — and then the truck — after a night of drinking with friends.

William M. Bowen, 27, awoke about 6:30 a.m. Thursday to find that he was inside a commercial trash-collection truck filled with waste.

A Rumpke garbage truck driver had emptied a bin behind the Muncie Eye Center into his truck and was about to activate its trash compressor when he heard someone screaming.

"He looked up and this gentleman was standing out the top of our truck," said Larry Green, market safety supervisor for Rumpke.

Green said the only thing Bowen said to the driver who found him was that he was cold.

"This gentleman was extremely intoxicated," he said.

Bowen told police the last thing he remembers before waking up in the truck was drinking with buddies about 3 a.m. Thursday at a Muncie bar.

Bowen, who wouldn't tell police who his drinking pals were, was treated and released with minor injuries from Ball Memorial Hospital.

Green said Bowen was lucky that wasn't seriously injured or killed in the trash compressor.

"I'm just glad it turned out the way it did," Green said. "We didn't have a body that was dead. We had a body that was talking."

There was no telephone listing for Bowen in the Muncie area.

___

[fatbastard]

http://a.abcnews.com/images/International/ap_uruguay_bbq_080414_mn.jpg

MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) - More than a thousand barbecue fanatics in Uruguay grilled up 12 metric tonnes (26,400 lbs) of beef on Sunday, setting a new Guinness world record while promoting the country's succulent top export.

Army personnel set up a grill nearly 1 mile long and firefighters lit six tonnes of charcoal to kick off the gargantuan cookout.

Some 1,250 people grilled the beef and about 20,000 spectators cried with joy when a Guinness judge confirmed the barbecue record had been broken.

"I'm very proud to be Uruguayan. We have the best beef and now we have the world's biggest barbecue," said one of the volunteer cooks, sporting an apron and chef's hat.

[Hannahrain]

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0416081akon1.html?link=rssfeed

[TomAz]

only one felony. what a pussy.

[Young blood]

5ZmGMSokPi4

[TomAz]

http://www.ahiphiwire.org/News/Default.aspx?doc_id=162636


People in Their 80s Are Happiest
Associated Press Online
April 18, 2008


Newsflash for rock stars and teenagers: It turns out everything doesn't go downhill as we age -- the golden years really are golden.

That's according to eye-opening research that found the happiest Americans are the oldest, and older adults are more socially active than the stereotype of the lonely senior suggests.

The two go hand-in-hand -- being social can help keep away the blues.

"The good news is that with age comes happiness," said study author Yang Yang, a University of Chicago sociologist. "Life gets better in one's perception as one ages."

A certain amount of distress in old age is inevitable, including aches, pains and deaths of loved ones and friends. But older people generally have learned to be more content with what they have than younger adults, Yang said.

This is partly because older people have learned to lower their expectations and accept their achievements, said Duke University aging expert Linda George. An older person may realize "it's fine that I was a schoolteacher and not a Nobel prize winner."

George, who was not involved in the new study, believes the research is important because the general public continues to think that "late life is far from the best stage of life and they don't look forward to it."

Yang's findings are based on periodic face-to-face interviews with a nationally representative sample of Americans from 1972 to 2004. About 28,000 people aged 18 to 88 took part.

There were ups and downs in overall happiness levels during the study, generally corresponding with good and bad economic times. But at every stage, older Americans were the happiest.

While younger blacks and poor people tended to be less happy than whites and wealthier people, those differences faded as people aged.

In general, the odds of being happy increased 5 percent with every 10 years of age.

Overall, about 33 percent of Americans reported being very happy at age 88, versus about 24 percent of those age 18 to their early 20s. And throughout the study years, most Americans reported being very happy or pretty happy; less than 20 percent said they were not too happy.

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[amyzzz]

I wanna get this:

Wii Fit coming to U.S. in May
Tue Apr 15, 2008 3:25PM EDT
See Comments (41)

Buzz up!on Yahoo!First announced way, way back in July of last year, the nifty, wireless balance board accessory for the Wii finally has a North American release date: May 19. Get ready to engage those abs.

The Wii Fit bundle (available in Japan since last December) will sell for $89.99, according to Crave—not exactly cheap, but at least it'll come bundled with a battery of exercises—involving yoga, aerobics, strength training, and balance—that’ll get you off the couch and, with any luck, make you break a sweat.

IGN (via Yahoo! Games) has a thorough preview of Wii Fit, but I’ll tick off some of the main points: You get the wireless, plastic balance board (which, apparently, supports a whopping 660 pounds, although it stops measuring over 330 pounds) plus the battery of 40 mini-games and exercises.

Among them: strength-training exercises, including a push-up/yoga combo (which sounds devilishly difficult), single-leg extensions, arm/leg lifts, a variety of squats and lunges, and side planks (ouch). There’s also plenty of aerobic action, including steps, runs, and rhythm boxing. Then there’s the yoga, complete with your standard deep breathing, half moons, a potpourri of poses, you name it. This ain't no button-mashing on the couch.

What makes Wii Fit more fun than your standard exercise DVD is the on-screen trainer (either male or female, as IGN notes) who critiques your form and doles out encouragement, as needed.

Of course, the coolest element of Wii Fit is the wireless balance board, which incorporates two plastic pads—one for each foot—that precisely measure you weight and balance.

From the demos I’ve seen, the board does an uncanny job of detecting your overall stance and posture; indeed, based on your weight and balance, it’ll compute your body mass index (BMI) and tell you if you’re overweight, underweight, or just right. The Wii Fit software will also track your BMI daily and tell you your progress over time.

Early reviews have been generally positive; for example, Chris Kohler at Wired News tried Wii Fit for about a month and came away pretty happy, calling it a "convenient and helpful way for me to get back in shape." Keep in mind, however, that Kohler didn't so much lose weight as build muscle (not such a bad thing, considering that you're playing a video game).

I haven't had a chance to try Wii Fit myself, but the demo during last year's E3 gaming conference looked pretty impressive; I especially liked the soccer ball head-butting game, which lets you (natch) head-butt a torrent of virtual soccer balls, all from the comfort of the balance board—nice. (Hmmmm...how about a surfing game? Or skateboarding?)

So, who out there's looking forward to Wii Fit? Anyone else tried it? What about the price tag?

Related:
'Wii Fit' craze set to launch May 19 [Crave]
Wii Fit preview [IGN, via Yahoo! Games]

[chairmenmeow47]

i cannot WAIT for the wii fit. i usually play wii tennis with both my left and right hand for some arm excercise before my walks.

[amyzzz]

We don't have a Wii yet, but we're thinking about getting one for our kids...and for us. The Wii is the only game system I'm actually excited about.

[bleep]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/545000/images/_548106_richard_quest150.jpg
any fans of the news reporter Richard Quest? been watching this dude off and on since his BBC days, i must say that this explains his flamboyant nature quite a bit...

---------------------------------------------
CNN reporter faces drug charge after arrest in Central Park

18 hours ago

NEW YORK (AP) — A CNN reporter was arrested Friday in Central Park with a small amount of methamphetamine in his pocket, but he avoided jail time by agreeing to undergo drug counseling and therapy.

Richard Quest, 46, was arrested around 3:40 a.m. on a count of possession of a controlled substance — a misdemeanor that usually refers to a personal use amount of a drug. He was also charged with loitering; the park officially closes at 1 a.m.

When police saw and detained Quest, he told them, "I've got some meth in my pocket," according to the complaint filed in court. The complaint said he had a plastic sandwich bag containing methamphetamine in a jacket pocket.

Quest, who is British, is a correspondent for CNN International and is known for his reports on business travel. He hosts "CNN Business Traveler" and "Quest."

At his arraignment in Manhattan's Criminal Court, Judge Anthony Ferrara told Quest that if he attends the counseling and therapy designated by prosecutors for the next six months, his case will dismissed.

The judge allowed Quest to leave court without posting bail. He warned that if Quest failed to comply with the counseling schedule, he could be back in court and on his way to jail.

Quest's lawyer, Alan M. Abramson, said his client "did not realize the park had a curfew. He was returning to his hotel with friends."

CNN had no immediate comment on Quest's arrest.

[picks up chair]

liquor strikes back...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/north_west/7360871.stm


Drunk Darth Vader's Jedi assault

A man posing as Darth Vader attacked a Star Wars fan, who had founded a Jedi Church, a court has heard.

Arwel Wynne Hughes, 27, from Holyhead, Anglesey, admitted assaulting Barney Jones and cousin Michael with a metal crutch. They suffered minor injuries.

Hughes, who was drunk and dressed in a black bin bag, shouted "Darth Vader!"

Earlier, when Hughes failed to arrive on time, District Judge Andrew Shaw issued an arrest warrant, adding: "I hope the force will soon be with him."

In the event, Hughes turned up and the case at Holyhead magistrates court resumed.

The court heard he had jumped over a garden wall wearing the bin bag before the attack.

Outlining the case againt Hughes, prosectutor Nia Lloyd said Barney Jones had recently started the Jedi church in Holyhead - in honour of the Star Wars' good knights.

It had about 30 members locally and "thousands worldwide".

The cousins had been filming themselves playing with light sabres in the garden before the attack.

Hughes admitted two charges of common assault.

The court heard he has a "chronic alcohol problem" and had drunk the best part of a 10 litre box of wine.

Mrs Lloyd said: "He was wearing a black bin bag and a cape and had a metal crutch in his hand."

Mrs Lloyd said he was shouting "Darth Vader".

She added that Hughes hit Barney Jones over the head with the crutch, leaving him with a headache.

He then laughed and hit Michael Jones in the thigh, causing bruising.

Both men were left upset by the incident and they believed it was pre-planned.

She added that the pair believe "very strongly in the church and their religion".

Hughes could not remember the incident and only realised what had happened when he read about it in local newspapers, the court told.

Defending, Frances Jones said alcohol was "ruining his life" and he had no idea where he got the crutch from.

The court head Hughes had previous convictions, including affray, assault and disorderly behaviour.

The judge warned Hughes that jail remained a possibility before adjourning for pre-sentence reports until 13 May.

[TomAz]

the NY Times has had some cool Coachella articles the last couple of days.


Tuesday article on Coachella. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/29/arts/music/29coac.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&sq=coachella&st=nyt&scp=2) In the print edition yesterday, in the Arts section, there was this article + a huge (>half the page tall) picture of the Big Rig Jig.

Monday article mostly about Prince (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/28/arts/music/28coac.html)


also, audio interviews with Coachella performers (http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/04/28/arts/20080428_COACH_FEATURE.html#)

[Hannahrain]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080504/ap_on_re_as/myanmar_cyclone

[fatbastard]

So much for artistic integrity. New Young Pony Club can go to hell!


Forbes.com

Singing the Dollar Blues
David K. Randall 05.05.08

The Bush Administration may be blasé about the weak dollar, but some constituents most definitely are not—to wit, rock musicians. Exchange rates have finally caught up with the live music industry. “I tell every one of our artists who are American to get the hell out of here,” says Marc Geiger, a senior vice president in the contemporary music division at the William Morris Agency.

Singer Lionel Richie, for instance, played 75 arenas overseas last year but only a handful of U.S. ones. A threenight May stint in Manchester, U.K. grossed him $3.3 million, $400,000 more than he would have reaped at the exchange rate prevailing three years ago. For 2009 Richie plans to do at least 100 concerts in Europe, Australia and Asia, says Steven Bartels, president of Island Def Jam Music Group, which represents Richie. Geiger says the financial kick from a depressed dollar is high enough to offset the increased travel costs of international tours.

American impresarios, meanwhile, are feeling the downbeat of the depressed dollar. Paul Tollett, who heads the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival near Palm Springs, Calif., one of the country’s largest festivals, says three European bands dropped out of the festival this year because they didn’t like the exchange rate. “When you offered a band $100,000, it used to be that was £75,000, and now it’s like £45,000,” he says.

[orbit]

how do you know NYPC was one of those bands?

what about Madness, The Streets, Turbonegro, The Bees, The Horrors, Jamie T?

[kreutz2112]

LOL (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=564510&in_page_id=1766&ito=1490)

X-ray of the python who swallowed a pussy

This amazing X-ray picture shows the skeleton of a kitten inside a python's stomach after being devoured in one gulp by the predator.

Eight-week-old tabby Kohl was seized by the slithering assassin while in the garden of her owner's home in Australia's tropical Northern Territory.

The snake was found with a "bulging belly" by 14-year-old Taara McLaren after she ventured out to feed her pets at 7am yesterday.

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/05_02/snakeeatscatICON_468x599.jpg

Despite Kohl having a skull three times the size of the 5ft-long python, the reptile was able to dislocate its jaw to swallow the kitten after wrapping itself around and strangling its prey.

Three other kittens from the same litter and five adult cats were unable to stop the savage attack in Darwin suburb of Tiwi.

Cat owner Asha McLaren told The Australian newspaper: "It wasn't a very nice feeling to think that this happened in our back yard.

"My daughter went out to feed the cats and they normally all come running at the sound of the dish, but Kohl was missing.

"She then looked around and saw the snake. She called out to me, saying there was a big snake and that she thought it had eaten Kohl.

"When I went out I couldn't believe it. It had a bulging belly and when we couldn't find Kohl anywhere it was obvious he'd been eaten.

"It was very sad as he was my favourite. He was just gorgeous."

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/05_02/snakeeatscatICON_468x733.jpg

Ms McLaren said they quickly put their other cats in the house and snake catcher Gordon Canning was called out to collect the python.

He said it was unusual for a python to target a cat, but the kitten did not have a chance against the reptile.

He said pythons usually strike at their prey and squeeze it to death before devouring it whole.

"The cat would have been suffocated within minutes," he explained.

"The snake did well - usually it is the other way around with snakes falling victim to cats."

Mr Canning said the snake would be kept at the Ark Animal Hospital in Yarrawonga until it digested its feed.

"At the moment it cannot move very quickly so it could easily be targeted by predators," Mr Canning said.

"Once it has finished digesting the cat, which will probably take about a week, we will release it back into the wild."

Mr Canning urged people to be cautious in their back yards as snakes were on the move as the breeding season nears.

He has been called out to catch more than 100 snakes since becoming Darwin's first 24-hour snake catcher three weeks ago.

[roberto73]

Doctor says French must dare to fart

A French doctor is urging his countrymen to take a more relaxed view of bodily functions for the good of their health.

Frédéric Saldmann says they should give free rein to farting, burping and sweating to reduce the risk of cancer, reports the Daily Telegraph.

In his book, Le Grand Ménage, Dr Saldmann invites them to embrace the stereotypical British view of the French.

The French, he says, should "dare to fart". Getting rid of the two litres of gas produced each day is a "natural process" and retaining it can be harmful to the intestines.

Similarly, he says his countrymen should feel free to belch at will and certainly after each meal.

This, he says, is the best way to reduce the risk of getting a hiatal hernia, an ailment which affects almost a third of French people.

Keeping air in the stomach leads to more heartburn, which increases the risk of cancer of the oesophagus. The rise of this disease in France, he says, is due to "the burp that we no longer do".

Dr Saldmann also recommends throwing out anti-perspirants.

"To block sweat not only stops the elimination of toxins," he writes, "but also a certain number of messages that are potentially very attractive to the opposite sex."

Dr Saldmann also recommends cutting down on chewing gum, never eating while walking and reducing the intake of fizzy drinks.

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2837827.html

[thelastgreatman]

Hughes, who was drunk and dressed in a black bin bag, shouted "Darth Vader!"

Fucking funny.

[amyzzz]

This is freaking awesome and potentially coachella-related (in the future anyway):

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080624/tc_nm/britain_phone_dc;_ylt=AtAVPdytWgc47hpmMfLdOXJT.3QA

Mobile phone battery dead? Try dancing Tue Jun 24, 8:38 AM ET



LONDON (Reuters) - What do you do if you're stuck in a field at a pop festival but there's trouble ahead because your mobile phone's battery is about to run out?

Thanks to a new gizmo, you now just need to face the music and dance.

Mobile phone operator Orange said on Tuesday it had teamed up with GotWind, a firm specializing in renewable energy, to produce a recharger powered by dance energy alone.

The portable kinetic energy chargers will be given a test run at this year's Glastonbury Festival, the world's biggest greenfield music and arts celebration that begins on a farm in Somerset, southwest England on Friday.

Orange said the prototype chargers weigh the same as a phone and are about the size of a pack of cards.

Attached to the user's arm, they employ a system of weights and magnets which provide an electric current to top up charge in a storage battery. This can then later be used to recharge the phone.

"We wanted to create a fun, engaging and interactive product which would encourage users to have a laugh while charging their mobile phone and at the same time test out a new energy-efficient prototype," said Hattie Magee, Head of Partnerships at Orange UK.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Matthew Jones)

[Young blood]

Woman found after 42 years
Article from: The Daily Telegraph



May 16, 2008 12:00am

POLICE broke into a flat to check who lived there 42 years after its owner was reported missing - and found the mummified remains of the woman sitting in front of her TV.

Croatian police say Hedviga Golik, who was born in 1924, had apparently made herself a cuppa and sat down to watch her black-and-white television before she died.

Officers believe that would have been in 1966, when she was last seen by neighbours. They said one day she seemed to have just disappeared and they thought she had moved to the capital Zagreb.

But they found her remains in the tiny 13sq m flat after breaking in with bailiffs.

A police spokesman said: "So far we have no idea how it is possible that someone officially reported missing so long ago was not found before in the same apartment she used to live in."

[Young blood]

mmmmmm.....


Study shows "Spiritual" effects of mushrooms last a year
Tue Jul 1, 2008 8:18pm BST

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The "spiritual" effects of psilocybin from so-called sacred mushrooms last for more than a year and may offer a way to help patients with fatal diseases or addictions, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.

The researchers also said their findings show there are safe ways to test psychoactive drugs on willing volunteers, if guidelines are followed.

In 2006, Roland Griffiths of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and colleagues gave psilocybin to 36 volunteers and asked them how it felt. Most reported having a "mystical" or "spiritual" experience and rated it positively.

More than a year later, most still said the experience increased their sense of well-being or life satisfaction, Griffiths and colleagues report in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.

"This is a truly remarkable finding," Griffiths said in a statement. "Rarely in psychological research do we see such persistently positive reports from a single event in the laboratory."

The findings may offer a way to help treat extremely anxious and depressed patients, or people with addictions, said Griffiths, whose work was funded by the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse.

"This gives credence to the claims that the mystical-type experiences some people have during hallucinogen sessions may help patients suffering from cancer-related anxiety or depression and may serve as a potential treatment for drug dependence," Griffiths said.

WIDELY OUTLAWED

While psilocybin is widely outlawed, many U.S. states and some countries overlook its use by indigenous people in religious ceremonies.

Supervision of its use is key, the researchers noted.

"While some of our subjects reported strong fear or anxiety for a portion of their day-long psilocybin sessions, none reported any lingering harmful effects, and we didn't observe any clinical evidence of harm," Griffiths said.

Hallucinogens should not be given to people at risk for psychosis or certain other serious mental disorders, the researchers said.

But Griffiths stressed that even those who reported fear said a year later they had no permanent negative effects.

Of the volunteers who took the one-day test of psilocybin, 22 of the 36 had a "complete" mystical experience, based on a detailed questionnaire.

Griffiths said 21 continued to rate highly on this standardized scale 14 months later.

"Even at the 14-month follow-up, 58 percent of 36 volunteers rated the experience on the psilocybin session as among the five most personally meaningful experiences of their lives and 67 percent rated it among the five most spiritually significant experiences of their lives," the researchers said.

The report included some comments from the volunteers.

"Surrender is intensely powerful. To 'let go' and become enveloped in the beauty of -- in this case music -- was enormously spiritual," one volunteer said.

[amyzzz]

How do I sign up to be a research volunteer?

[Young blood]

4 reals I was also wondering where was I during the enrollment phase.

camping+fireworks+golden caps= what the 4th of july is all about. I become one with America.

[shakermaker113]

they needed to do a study to laern these things?

[Young blood]

Yes. because people look at you like you are out of your mind when you try to explain what went on during a trip. Monkeys believe other monkeys in lab coats.

[amyzzz]

*sigh*

[Young blood]

keep your head up z, the kids will be gone in a few and you will have 2 weeks of mind altering freedom.

[Courtney]

Goldenvoice is taking over the world. (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/02/DD78118RBL.DTL)

[TomAz]

what a terribly written article.

[fatbastard]

No Fatbastard Jr.?


Watch your waistline: Fat men have bad sperm By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer
Wed Jul 9, 12:14 PM ET

Too many fatty foods are dangerous not only to men's waistlines, but to their sperm production.

In research presented Wednesday at a meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, scientists found that obese men have worse sperm than normal-weight men.

"There is a very long list of health hazards from being overweight," said Ghiyath Shayeb, the study's lead researcher at the University of Aberdeen. "Now we can add poor semen quality to the list."

But experts aren't sure if that necessarily means obese men face major difficulties having children.

"If you have a man who isn't fantastically fertile with a normal partner who is fertile, her fertility will compensate," said Dr. William Ledger, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Britain's University of Sheffield, who was unconnected to the study.

But if both partners are heavy, Ledger said that could be a problem, since obesity is known to decrease women's fertility.

Shayeb and colleagues analyzed the sperm samples of more than 5,000 men in Scotland, and divided the men into groups according to their Body Mass Index. Men who had an optimal BMI (20 to 25) had higher levels of normal sperm than those who were overweight or obese.

Fat men had a 60 percent higher chance of having a low volume of semen, according to Shayeb's research. They also had a 40 percent higher chance of having some sperm abnormalities.

Shayeb and colleagues found that underweight men were just as likely to have the same problems as obese men. "But there were not many underweight men in Scotland," he noted.

The researchers adjusted their analysis to account for other factors that could have affected men's sperm count, like smoking, alcohol intake, history of drug abuse, and age.

"Male fitness and health are clearly linked to a man's fertility," said Neil McClure, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Queen's University in Belfast.

The study supported results of an earlier sperm study done by doctors at hospitals and universities in Denmark.

There are several theories about why obese men might have bad sperm. Because fat tissue influences the metabolism of sex hormones, scientists think it might also disrupt sperm production.

It could also be a temperature problem. Sperm is best produced at a temperature two degrees cooler than normal body temperature. But because obese men have more fat, Shayeb said their bodies might be overheated.

Another study presented at the conference concluded that diabetes in men damages their sperm and is linked to male infertility.

Con Mallidis and colleagues at Queen's University in Belfast examined semen samples from nearly 40 men who were being treated for diabetes, but were not overweight. They found significant DNA damage linked to the excess sugar in the body from diabetes.

They found that diabetic men had twice the rate of DNA damage in their sperm as men without diabetes.

[amyzzz]

"If you have a man who isn't fantastically fertile with a normal partner who is fertile, her fertility will compensate," said Dr. William Ledger, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Britain's University of Sheffield, who was unconnected to the study.

My husband weighed twice as much as I did, and we were "fantastically fertile." Maybe I was compensating.

[TomAz]

160 lbs is not considered overweight for most men.

[amyzzz]

I haven't weighed 80 lbs since I was in jr high, Tom. Those were the days.

edit: I am actually NOT underweight anymore. This is a serious milestone.

[menikmati]

I'm 30 pounds under 160. Maybe I need to eat more hearty meals, and start lifting weights.

[amyzzz]

ICE CREAM.

[menikmati]

I had rocky road today.

[amyzzz]

You're on your way! If you wait 10 or 15 years, I'm sure you'll gain the weight, Erik.

[Mr. Dylanja]

I'm not sure if there's a particular way to post a link, but I thought this was relevant to the board....

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25675477/?GT1=43001

[menikmati]

The owner of a Moscow laser rental company told Reuters the accidental blindings were due to "illiteracy on the part of technicians."

That's comforting.

[TomAz]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/TomAz/CNNpeppers.jpg

[chairmenmeow47]

for all the golden girls fans out there (http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/22/arts/Obit-Getty.php)

[stinkbutt]

for all the golden girls fans out there (http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/22/arts/Obit-Getty.php)

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g15/lawrence79/nooooo.jpg

[Hopeless Semantic]

Fatality!!!

Don't piss off a Canuck when riding across Canada in a bus...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7535840.stm

[tessalasset]

I was showing that article to my boss just now. So gnarly.

[Hopeless Semantic]

I was showing that article to my boss just now. So gnarly.

It must've been some kind of crazy for the passengers to witness. I don't know if I would've intervened, but damn it must've suck to have been there. At least they kept the guy at bay for the mounties to apprehend.

[zenidogx]

i know what the next Coen brothers movie is going to be.

[Mr.Nipples]

Fatality!!!

Don't piss off a Canuck when riding across Canada in a bus...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7535840.stm

hahaha
l5zFsy9VIdM&hl=en&fs=1

[tessalasset]

You know what's really funny. I realized I fucking hate that song, and the reason is the first time I ever heard that song was in Beethoven with the old woman singing the song at her piano while she was babysitting the kids. I always hated it in the movie and it has transferred over to the real song as well.

[fatbastard]

Fla. man dials 911, complains his sub had no sauce Mon Aug 4, 9:06 PM ET



The sauce for a spicy Italian sandwich was apparently a must have for one Florida man. The man, Reginald Peterson, called 911 twice after a sandwich shop left off the sauce.

Peterson initially called the emergency number Thursday so that officers could have his subs made correctly, according to a police report. The second call was to complain that police officers weren't arriving fast enough.

Subway workers told police that Peterson, 42, became belligerent and yelled when they were fixing his order. They locked him out of the store when he left to call police.

When officers arrived, they tried to calm Peterson and explain the proper use of 911. Those efforts failed, and he was arrested on a charge of making false 911 calls.

Peterson did not have a listed phone number.

[sbessiso]

Gotta :pulse FL!

[zenidogx]

update on greyhound bus tragedy.
suspect ate some of the victim's flesh.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25966835/

disturbing story. so movie-like, i read with disgust and curiosity.

[chairmenmeow47]

NO HO ZONE (http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/08/05/no_ho_zone_sign.html?imw=Y)

Wandering prostitutes prompt 'No Ho Zone' sign


By DANA DeFEVER
Newhouse News Service

Published on: 08/05/08

FLINT, Mich. — Sometimes, Sherrie Lynn Palmer can't even walk her dogs down her street without vehicles beeping at her, mistaking her for a prostitute. So she decided to act.

After watching drug dealers and prostitutes doing business on the street and finding hypodermic needles and condoms left in their yard, she and Russ Palmer have posted a sign outside their home: "No Ho Zone."

"We don't want it here," said Sherrie Lynn Palmer, a 48-year-old budding artist who made the sign featuring drawings of eyes watching the street and a dog chasing a prostitute.

"There's a lot of really good people around here. I don't want to sit here and let the crime fester. ... It all starts with the prostitutes. It brings everything else."

Russ Palmer, 57, got the idea for the slogan after seeing a report on the ozone level.

The couple have lived in the house for four years. When they first moved in, they opened an antique shop, but the illegal activities on the street deterred customers. They closed the business after also having health problems.

The criminals and prostitutes don't live in the area anymore but they still choose to do their business there, sometimes throughout the day, Sherrie Lynn Palmer said.

"It would be a relief if it was only at night," she said.

There are hopes of cleaning up the streets and the neighborhood. Since the sign went up in May, there has been less activity on the streets, the Palmers said.

"The area's coming up to what we want. We're just waiting it out," she said. "I think it's a sign of hope."

[marooko]

i want one of those signs.

[chairmenmeow47]

this isn't really an article, but the animated .gif on the right is EFFING HILARIOUS!

cyber (SFW) (http://www.scsd2.k12.in.us/cyber/)

[marooko]

404 error.

[allyjoy]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/chris_ayres/article4460654.ece?openComment=true

For a few days I thought I was going deaf. Then I concluded that it must be a problem with my mobile phone. Why else would I keep getting so many missed-call messages? Why else would frustrated callers keep leaving me voicemails and apologise for having missed me again?

Then I realised what was happening: I was the victim of the latest trend in Los Angeles: “antisocial networking”. In other words: people wanting to give the illusion of staying in touch - while going to great lengths to eliminate the risk of any actual interaction taking place.

It's a symptom, I like to think, of a maxed-out population. After MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and a zillion other ways of remaining interminably connected with everyone you've ever met since birth, people just can't take it any more. They want peace. They want isolation. They want time alone to break wind and feel depressed about the economy. And so the very same software engineers who once brought us closer are now working on new ways to keep us apart.

Hence all those missed-call messages. Turns out they're made possible by a service called Slydial, launched a week ago and already proving to be hugely popular. To make it work, you call a freephone number (it only works in the US), listen to an advertisement, then enter the digits of the person you don't want to reach. It puts you straight through to their voicemail while delivering a missed-call message to their phone, thus creating the illusion that you at least made the effort to have a conversation. As ingenious as this is, however, I can see problems. For example: I used the service on Sunday to return a call from a friend I didn't much feel like talking to. Five minutes later, I received a text message. “Hey, did you just Slydial me?” it said.

[chairmenmeow47]

^^^that right there is effing retarded. just don't log into myspace for several months when you want to avoid people, that's what i do :p

and holy hell check out this bit of crazy (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24144138-2703,00.html)

Pit bull's cloner outed as Mormon's kidnapper
August 08, 2008

LONDON: The former US beauty queen who drew headlines after mortgaging her home to have her dead dog cloned was outed by a British newspaper yesterday as the same woman who, 30 years ago, fled England after being charged in a bizarre sex crime case.

Bernann McKinney, 57, became the first paying customer of the commercial cloning industry this week when she had her beloved pitbull Booger cloned in South Korea. She appeared in media reports around the globe with her five cloned puppies.

But Britain's Daily Mail newspaper reported yesterday that the woman shared a striking resemblance, a similar history and the same last name as the pit bull-loving former US beauty queen Joyce McKinney.

That Ms McKinney thrilled British tabloid readers in 1978 when she faced charges over kidnapping a 110kg male Mormon missionary, Kirk Anderson, whom she chained to a bed with mink handcuffs and forced to have sex. She famously said of her victim: "I loved him so much that I would ski naked down Mt Everest with a carnation up my nose if he asked me to."

The pair had a brief affair when they were both studying drama in the US. A few years later, Ms McKinney, then 28, tracked Mr Anderson, 21, to Ewell in Surrey, where he had been posted as a missionary, and kidnapped him.

After failing to persuade him to marry her and father her children, she donned see-through lingerie and forced him to have sex with her, reportedly resolutely overcoming his Mormon chastity belt. He finally escaped and Ms McKinney was arrested.

Mr Anderson told a court: "I couldn't move. She grabbed the top of my pyjamas and tore them from my body until I was naked. I didn't wish it to happen. I was extremely depressed and upset after being forced to have sex."

Ms McKinney's counsel said of Mr Anderson: "Methinks the Mormon doth protest too much ... you have seen the size of Mr Anderson and you have seen the size of my client."

The Times reported yesterday that after three months on remand, Ms McKinney was released on bail because of failing mental health. She fled the country using a false passport.

She was eventually tracked down and appeared topless in magazines before the authorities caught up with her, but Britain never attempted to extradite her.

The Daily Mail reported yesterday that Joyce McKinney resurfaced in 1984, when she was arrested near Salt Lake City Airport, where Kirk Anderson was working. In her car, police found rope and handcuffs.

By the late 1990s, Joyce McKinney was back in her home state of North Carolina, dogged by ill health and often in a wheelchair, living on benefits in a remote holding with three ponies and a fiercely devoted pit bull called Hamburger for company.

"I love those pit bulls," she explained. "They're such sympathetic animals."

When Bernann McKinney was contacted by the Daily Mail this week and asked if she was Joyce McKinney, she snapped: "Are you going to ask me about my dogs, or not? Because that's all I'm prepared to talk to you about." As the paper reported, "Not exactly a flat-out denial."

A Joyce Bernann McKinney is registered as living in Avery County, North Carolina - birthplace of the Mormon sex slave kidnapper, it reported.

But when contacted by The Times yesterday, Bernann McKinney denied she was the same woman. "That's garbage, that's rot," she said. "If that is what you want to talk about, then I don't want to talk to you."

guess that explains her insane attachment to a dog... christ.

[rage patton]

That is hilarious.

[chairmenmeow47]

on fark people have posted links to her porn too, lol.

[Hopeless Semantic]

Ain't nothing but a Bollywood thang...You don't love me, you love my Tandoori style!!

Snoop goes Bollywood!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7549301.stm

[thestripe]

lower the drinking age? (http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/08/18/college.drinking.age.ap/index.html)

[picks up chair]

Horton hearts heroin bananas

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7597835.stm


Elephant cured of drug addiction


An Asian elephant that became addicted to heroin after being fed bananas spiked with the drug is to return home after undergoing a detox programme.

The four-year-old animal, called Xiguang, received methadone injections for a year at five times the human dosage, state media said.

It was illegally captured by traders in 2005 in south-west China.

When police arrested the traders and freed the elephant, it was found to be suffering from withdrawal symptoms.

The elephant's eyes kept streaming and he made continuous trumpeting noises, the Beijing News newspaper's website reported.

It is thought that the traders fed the elephant bananas laced with heroin to capture and control it.

Xiguang was sent to a wild animal protection centre on Hainan island in south-west China for rehab, the official Xinhua new agency said

He is expected to arrive at a wildlife park in Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, on Saturday.

The Asian elephant is an endangered species, with only 25,600-32,750 left in the wild, according to the WWF conservation group.

[amyzzz]

DreamWorks Animation CEO touts brave new 3-D world

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080915/tc_nm/dc;_ylt=AuCT08.JJpqdzzXiH6cKqmtT.3QA

Interesting article.
"They're at a point where they are about to introduce a transition lens that where you go outside its your sunglasses, and when you go into the movie theater it transitions into 3-D glasses," he said. "People are going to own their own glasses. I think from a fashion standpoint and a coolness standpoint people will want to have their own glasses. I think that will be among the many changes that will come along."

[fatbastard]

Why doesn't he just open a club called The Public Toilet and do everything in there?

George Michael apologises for latest drugs bustapologizes

British pop star George Michael apologized to fans on Sunday and promised to "sort himself out" after his arrest and caution by police for possession of drugs.

Michael, 45, was arrested in a public toilet in the north London suburb of Hampstead on Friday afternoon after he was found in possession of crack cocaine and cannabis, according to the Sunday People newspaper.

The Metropolitan Police has confirmed the arrest of a 45-year-old man in north London and his caution for possession of class A and class C drugs.

"I want to apologize to my fans for screwing up again, and to promise them I'll sort myself out," said Michael in a statement issued through his publicist. "And to say sorry to everybody else, just for boring them."

The multi-millionaire singer has had several brushes with the law over his recreational drug use.

In 2006 he was found slumped over the wheel of his car in London and later admitted driving while unfit due to drugs. He was banned from driving for two years and sentenced to 100 hours of community service.

In an interview on BBC radio last year, Michael discussed his drug problems, saying he was aware that he smoked too much marijuana and was trying to reduce his consumption.

"In a strange way I've spent the last 15 to 20 years trying to derail my own career, but it never seems to suffer," he said.

"I suffer like crazy. I've suffered bereavements and public humiliations, but my career always seems to right itself like a plastic duck in the bath."

Michael has sold nearly 100 million records, winning a global fan base with hits such as "Careless Whisper" and "Faith." He is estimated to be worth as much as $200 million.

Earlier this year he signed up for a no-holds-barred autobiography which he intends to write entirely by himself.

Michael ended a nearly two-year world tour in August this year with two performances in London's Earls Court. He has hinted that he may not tour again.

The former lead singer with 1980s band Wham! ended years of speculation about his sexuality by announcing he was gay after he was arrested in 1998 for engaging in a "lewd act" in a Los Angeles public toilet.

(Reporting by Luke Baker and John Joseph; Editing by Keith Weir)

[fatbastard]

World's heaviest man marries in Mexico
By MARK WALSH, Associated Press Writer Mark Walsh, Associated Press Writer Sun Oct 26, 11:53 pm ET
MONTERREY, Mexico – The world's heaviest man has tied the knot.

Manuel Uribe, who hasn't left his bed in six years, married his longtime girlfriend Claudia Solis Sunday in northern Mexico.

Wearing a white silk shirt with a sheet wrapped around his legs, Uribe smiled as Solis, 38, walked down a flight of stairs wearing a strapless ivory dress, a tiara and hot-pink lipstick.

He later broke into tears as a notary declared the couple husband and wife in a civil ceremony attended by more than 400 guests. For the traditional first dance as newlyweds, Uribe and Solis held hands and swayed to a romantic ballad.

A popular local norteno band played accordion-heavy tunes at the reception, which featured a banquet of meat and buttered vegetables.

Uribe's mother, Orquedia Garza, said the groom steered clear of the five-tier wedding cake.

"He didn't break his diet," she told The Associated Press. "His doctors are here and they are watching him very closely."

The wedding, which was closed to most media, will be featured in an upcoming Discovery Channel documentary on Uribe, the 43-year-old former mechanic said.

"I have a wife and will form a new family and live a happy life," Uribe told hordes of reporters earlier as they followed him through the streets of Monterrey.

A flatbed truck was brought in to tow his custom-made bed decorated with a canopy, flowers and gold-trimmed bows to the wedding at a local event hall. Two police patrol cars escorted him ahead of a long line of traffic.

Uribe tipped the scales in 2006 at 1,230 pounds (560 kilograms), earning him the Guinness World Record as the world's heaviest man.

He has since shed about 550 pounds (250 kilograms) with the help of Solis, whom he met four years ago.

Uribe said he's gunning for a new title: world's greatest weight loser.

[shakermaker113]

1,230 pounds. how the FUCK does that happen?

[psychic friend]

http://mashable.com/2008/11/20/19-year-old-lifecaster-commits-suicide-on-justintv-smcb/

19-Year-Old Lifecaster Commits Suicide on Justin.TV [smcb]

[vinylmartyr]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27811359/

How a camera can 'steal' your keys
Algorithm creates a physical key based solely on a picture of one
Discovery.com
Tech Puts JFK Conspiracy Theories to Rest
VIDEO: Personal Navigation System Pinpoints People
PHOTOS: Top 10 Strangest Things in the Universe
GAME: Deadliest Catch Classic
HowStuffWorks: Why do songs get stuck in my head?
By Eric Bland
updated 4:15 p.m. PT, Wed., Nov. 19, 2008

Hide those keys. A quick camera phone picture could unlock your doors.

Scientists in California have developed a software algorithm that automatically creates a physical key based solely on a picture of one, regardless of angle or distance. The project, called Sneakey, was meant to warn people about the dangers of haphazardly placing keys in the open or posting images of them online.

"People will post pictures with their credit cards but with the name and number greyed out," said Stefan Savage, a professor at the University of California, San Diego who helped develop the software. "They should have the same sensitivity with their keys."
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When Savage and his students searched online photo sharing Web sites, like Flickr, they easily found thousands of photos of keys with enough definition to replicate. A more social person could simply use their cell phone camera to snap a quick picture of stray keys on a table top.

For a more dramatic demonstration, the researchers set up a camera with a zoom lens 200 feet away. Using those photos, they created a working key 80 percent on their first try. Within three attempts they opened every lock.

Three attempts could take less than five minutes. The replication process is very easy. Once the researchers have the image it takes the software roughly 30 seconds to decode the ridges and grooves on the key. If the angle is off or the lighting is tricky it takes the computer take a little longer.

The longest part of the process, about one whole minute, is cutting the key.

"I think that this work would be really easy for someone else to reproduce," said Savage of his work. "Someone familiar with signal processing, mat lab, and image transformation could do it in two days if they are good."

Keys, as the researchers demonstrated, are actually fairly easy to decode. A majority of keys marketed to consumers are basically just four to six different numbers. Each number corresponds to a ridge or valley in the key. When inserted into a lock, the ridges and valleys lines up a series of small pins that lets the lock turn.

"The premise is that a key holds some kind of secret that lets you unlock something," said Savage. "But it's a very funny secret, its a secret that can easily be seen."

Creating a new key is easy enough that some locksmiths and security experts do it by sight alone. The locks the UCSD team broke were some of the most common in the country.

Marc Weber Tobias, an attorney and security expert who has been picking locks since he was a boy, says the UCSD project does a good job of underscoring the insecurity of conventional cylinder locks. But the idea of someone standing up to a mile away with high resolution camera and stealing keys with a shutter is small compared to the next generation of video cameras being installed.

"The real issue is the new digital video cameras shooting at 30 frames a second," said Tobias. "There are millions and millions of these cameras everywhere." If someone got their hands on sensitive parts of the video they could easily duplicate key sets.

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Locksmiths, and the UCSD scientists won't use their talents or technology for ill-gotten gains. But not everyone is so ethical, and experts urge people to take physical security more seriously.

"This isn't the biggest security threat that you might face," said Savage. "But you should only take your keys out when you are going to use them."

[shakermaker113]

from a recent report on the somalian pirates: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gmYNFvFW8TNQ8D9Fv5JQ1JKDmM7w

first, their pirate ship is apparently a SPEED BOAT:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/media/ALeqM5hr8aC9tQkNfyJOMvRR97_1gmd1fg?size=s

second, this is one of the most retarded things I've seen in print lately:

The top US military official for Africa said Tuesday there was no evidence of ties between Al-Qaeda and the pirates.

the suspicion is that al-qaeda are linked to everything bad in the world. iraq. pirates. cancer. hurricanes.

[TomAz]

al qaeda sponsored the last jack johnson tour

al qaeda has season tickets to the dallas cowboys, ny yankees, and LA lakers

al qaeda owns ticketmaster

[frozen pilgrim]

al qaeda sponsored the last jack johnson tour

al qaeda owns ticketmaster

+10.


I needed that laugh :)

[shakermaker113]

al qaeda owns ticketmaster

I knew it!

[allyjoy]

This is some shit:
Gunmen have opened fire at a number of sites in the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay), killing at least 78 people and injuring about 200 more.

Police said shooting was continuing and that the incidents were co-ordinated terrorist attacks. Gunmen have taken hostages at two luxury hotels.

At least seven sites have been targeted across India's financial capital.

A fire is sweeping through the Taj Palace, Mumbai's most famous hotel which is now surrounded by troops.

The BBC's Andrew Whitehead says a claim of responsibility by a little-known group, Deccan Mujhaideen, may harden suspicions that Islamic radicals are involved.

...

In the latest developments:


Commandos have surrounded two hotels, the Taj Mahal and the Oberoi, where gunmen are reported to be holding dozens of hostages, including foreigners
A fire appears to be spreading through the Taj Mahal hotel
A witness told local television that the gunmen were looking for people with British or US passports
The head of Mumbai's anti-terrorism unit is among those killed, according to local TV
At least two blasts, suspected to be grenade attacks, have been reported
The US and the UK have both condemned the attacks
On Wednesday, gunmen opened fire at about 2300 local time at sites in southern Mumbai including a train station, two five-star hotels, a hospital and a restaurant popular with tourists.

Police said the gunmen had fired indiscriminately.
BBC news (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7751160.stm)

[TomAz]

I've stayed in that Oberoi and had lunch in that Taj.

[vinylmartyr]

http://blogs.citypages.com/gimmenoise/2008/11/bush_grants_cle.php


Ever a day late, always a dollar short, and perpetually available for a chuckle, the custodian of our highest office pardoned gangsta rapper John Forte yesterday, who was nabbed with $1.4 million in liquid cocaine in 2000.

Perhaps the commander in chief sees some of himself in Forte-- like Bush's presidency itself, Forte's innocence is nigh indefensible. Notwithstanding, the case sent the best and brightest stars of the music world to his aid. Carly Simon, for example. Despite the inestimable heft of Simon's celebrity, her efforts to have Forte's case reopened proved futile.

But when it comes to lost causes, Bush is something of a patron saint, championing any cause in vain, no matter how Avant-garde. With Forte soon to be a free man, the only thing left to do is await his first post-prison single. Will it back Bush in a hip-hop first? It seems the only neighborly thing to do.

*
*
*

Posted by David Hansen at November 25, 2008 4:03 PM

[Anonymous]

http://ccinsider.comedycentral.com/cc_insider/2008/12/kanye-west-not-humble-yet.html

[Courtney]

Virgin: the world's best passenger complaint letter? (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/4344890/Virgin-the-worlds-best-passenger-complaint-letter.html)

[boarderwoozel3]

Virgin: the world's best passenger complaint letter? (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/4344890/Virgin-the-worlds-best-passenger-complaint-letter.html)

The stuff of legends.

[chairmenmeow47]

after 3 shootings, it's time to close the church (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090218/ap_on_re_us/crystal_cathedral_shooting)

Man kills himself in Schuller's Crystal Cathedral
By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer Gillian Flaccus, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 17 mins ago

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. – A man shot and killed himself in front of a cross inside televangelist Robert H. Schuller's Crystal Cathedral on Wednesday, police and church officials said. The man handed a note and his driver's license to two ushers, walked to the cross and then shot himself in the head as he appeared to be praying, Senior Pastor Juan Carlos Ortiz said.

The man's identity was not released, but police Lt. Dennis Ellsworth said the man was in his 40s. Church spokesman Mike Nason said there was no record of the man at the cathedral.

Betty Spicer, a volunteer usher at the famous sanctuary, said she greeted the man when he entered. She said he handed her a folded note with two cards inside as the man told her: "You may want this."

Spicer said he then walked to the foot of the cross. She and another volunteer said they thought the man was praying when she heard a pop.

A tourist, one in a group of seven or eight visitors from Canada, told her the man had shot himself.

"I didn't realize it. I thought he was praying," Spicer said.

The volunteer said one of the man's cards was a driver's license, and that the note mentioned a pickup truck in the parking lot.

Cathedral spokesman John Charles said none of the tourists was injured.

The glass-walled 10,000-member megachurch in Orange County is home to the "Hour of Power" broadcast, an evangelism staple aired internationally for more than three decades. Thousands visit the cathedral to see where the broadcast is filmed before a live congregation.

There have been two other shootings at the church in recent years.

In December 2004, Crystal Cathedral Orchestra conductor Johnnie Carl, 57, killed himself at the complex after a standoff that began when he opened fire in offices before a Christmas pageant. He had been hospitalized for severe depression.

Also that year, a man was wounded by a plainclothes police officer in the cathedral parking lot. Authorities said the man was meeting his mother, but the officer didn't know they were related and intervened in what he thought was an argument.

[fatbastard]

http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20090126/i/r2937643803.jpg?x=400&y=258&q=85&sig=bAWImK4o6kTGlRkbwTGrLg--

He was known as El Pozolero — The Stew Maker — but his ingredients were less than savoury.

The job of Santiago Meza López was to dispose of the enemies of a notorious drug baron by dissolving them in tubs of acid. Over several years he claims to have “disappeared” 300 enemies of Teodoro García Semental, a former henchman for one of the largest cartels in Mexico and now in a bloody struggle for supremacy over the trade.

Meza, 45, told police that, once their remains had been in the acid baths for 24 hours, he would bury them. In a twisted act of chivalry, he said he only dissolved men, refusing to make women vanish this way. He said that he was paid $600 (£440) a week by García.

His horrific career came to an end on Thursday when he was ambushed by elite Mexican troops, acting on a tip-off, who caught him and two other drugs henchmen as they headed to a party with a prostitute in Tijuana.

The Mexican authorities paraded The Stew Maker in front of a nondescript shack where he admitted that he had disposed of the bodies over a period of ten years. Two grave-sized holes had been dug near the walls.

The nickname comes from pozole, a stew local to the Tijuana region where he worked. Its ingredients are normally corn, meat and chilli. Meza told police that his busiest time was in December 2007, when he claimed to have disposed of 32 bodies.

Relatives of 100 missing people came forward over the weekend saying that they wanted to show photos of their loved ones to Meza in the hope he could reveal their fate.

Cristina Palacios, president of Citizens United Against Impunity, which represents missing people in Tijuana, said: “We are here because this arrest gives us a ray of hope.”

Rommel Moreno, the state's Attorney-General, said that Meza would be shown the photos to see if he recognised any among his victims. He said that the authorities were considering allowing the victims' families to meet him. Meza apologised to all the relatives of his victims, authorities said.

Police were searching the shack for human remains and will ask US authorities for DNA-testing equipment.

Fernando Ocegueda, whose son disappeared in February 2007, said that eastern Tijuana was a stronghold of the drug lord García. The Mexican Government denies that parts of the country have become lawless, but Meza's arrest is a rare success story in the increasingly savage drugs war.

Since the start of this year 346 people have died or disappeared in drugs-related violence, and Tijuana is one of the worst-affected areas.

The latest revelations are a gruesome chapter in a battle that stands out for tales of torture, brutal killings and mutilated corpses. One cause of rising violence is a split between García and his former bosses, the Arellano Félix brothers, which ignited a war between two cartels to dominate the drugs trade. The two split in April, after a Tijuana shootout between their followers left at least 14 people dead, Mexican and US officials say.

The level of violence has heightened concerns in the Government about the damage it is doing to the country's image abroad. Patricia Espinosa, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, last week asked foreign correspondents not to file negative reports about Mexico.

Mrs Espinosa was not helped by events. Last Friday 22 people were murdered in Chihuahua province. Six others died elsewhere in the country in drug violence.

Trading in violence

5,400 Drug-related killings in Mexico last year, more than double the toll in 2007

3 main groups are fighting over the lucrative trade: the Tijuana cartel, led by the Arellano Félix family, the Gulf cartel, and the Sinaloa cartel

7 million cocaine users in North America

45% of the world cocaine trade goes to North America

2006 In December of that year President Calderón called in the army to tackle cartels, leading to a rise in violence

90% of all cocaine entering North America is brought through Mexico

[Young blood]

im fucked.....


U.S. Sues UBS Seeking Swiss Account Customer Names (Update3)
Email | Print | A A A

By David Voreacos and Carlyn Kolker

Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government sued UBS AG, Switzerland’s largest bank, to try to force disclosure of the identities of as many as 52,000 American customers who allegedly hid their secret Swiss accounts from U.S. tax authorities.

U.S. customers had 32,940 secret accounts containing cash and 20,877 accounts holding securities, according to the Justice Department lawsuit filed today in federal court in Miami. U.S. customers failed to report and pay U.S. taxes on income earned in those accounts, which held about $14.8 billion in assets during the middle of this decade, according to the court filing.

“At a time when millions of Americans are losing their jobs, their homes and their health care, it is appalling that more than 50,000 of the wealthiest among us have actively sought to evade their civic and legal duty to pay taxes,” John A. DiCicco, acting assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s tax division, said in a statement.

The lawsuit came a day after UBS agreed to pay $780 million and disclose the names of about 250 account holders to avoid U.S. prosecution on a charge that it helped thousands of wealthy Americans evade taxes. The U.S. and Zurich-based UBS disagreed over how many account holders the bank must disclose to the Internal Revenue Service, agreeing to resolve it in court.

Summons Enforcement

With today’s lawsuit, the U.S. asked a federal judge to enforce its so-called John Doe summonses. On July 1, a federal judge in Miami approved an IRS summons seeking information on thousands of UBS accounts owned or controlled by U.S. citizens. Negotiations between the U.S., Switzerland and UBS have been at a standstill since then, according to a Justice Department filing.

UBS said in a statement that it expected today’s filing.

“UBS believes it has substantial defenses” to the U.S. attempt to enforce the summonses and will “vigorously contest” the case, the bank said in the statement. The bank’s objections are based on U.S. laws, Swiss financial privacy laws, and a 2001 agreement between UBS and the IRRS, according to the statement.

The Justice Department accused UBS of conspiring to defraud the U.S. by helping 17,000 Americans hide accounts from the Internal Revenue Service. The U.S. will drop the charge in 18 months if the bank reforms its practices, helps prosecutors and makes payments.

The case is U.S. v. UBS AG, 09-20423, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida (Miami).

To contact the reporters on this story: David Voreacos in Newark, New Jersey, at dvoreacos@bloomberg.net; Carlyn Kolker in New York at ckolker@bloomberg.net.

[marooko]

WTF denver?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090226/ap_on_fe_st/odd_good_samaritan_ticketed

[Young blood]

crosswalks. use them.

The Colorado State Patrol issued the citation. Trooper Ryan Sullivan said that despite Moffett's intentions, jaywalking contributed to the accident.

Moffett had been driving his bus when the two women got off. In the interest of safety, he got out and, together with another passenger, helped the ladies cross.

[Young blood]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03122009/news/nationalnews/moment_of_tooth_159201.htm

These amazing pictures show an epic, two-hour battle between spear fisherman Craig Clasen and a 12-foot tiger shark in the Gulf of Mexico.

The life-and-death struggle took place off New Orleans when Clasen, filmmaker Ryan McInnis and two friends were hunting tuna.

PHOTOS: MAN VS. SHARK

Suddenly McInnis found himself cut off and the shark began circling.

"I positioned myself between Ryan and the shark and I tried to watch it for a second, hoping it would pass," said Clasen, 32, who was wearing a snorkel. "The shark made a roll and looked like it was going to charge us.

"Down in my core I really felt the shark was there to feed. I didn't want it to come to that."

During the underwater struggle, Clasen speared the shark seven times and even attempted to drown it before finishing it off with a long-blade knife. It wasn't clear how often Clasen had to resurface to breathe. "Once I shot it in the gills I felt a moral obligation to finish the job," he said. "In the end we put a knife in its skull."

Clasen took no pleasure in his victory last June. "This was one of the most remorseful moments I have ever had in all of my years in hunting and fishing," he said.

[fatbastard]

Pour me a double mommy.



Mom accused of daring young teens to chug vodka
Wed Apr 1, 10:36 am ET
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A mother is accused of providing alcohol to young teens at a party in Missouri and offering $10 to whomever could chug a glass of vodka the fastest.

Two girls were hospitalized.

Authorities in Kansas City say 43-year-old Karen Christine Downs and 25-year-old Kelsee Guest face felony child-endangerment charges alleging they provided liquor and beer to six 13- and 14-year-olds at a February birthday party for Downs' daughter.

The Platte County prosecutor's office said neither woman had a lawyer to speak for them as of Tuesday.

Authorities say girls at the party told officers Downs offered them shots and told them not to tell their parents.

While Downs allegedly offered money to the faster drinker, Guest is accused of pouring vodka shots.

[SoulDischarge]

There was a similar article in the local paper. I'm going to hang myself if "sexting" becomes a widely used phrase.

Mom Fighting to End Cyber Abuse

(May 15) - Jessica Logan, an 18-year-old Ohio teen, had it all -- brains, beauty and a loving boyfriend.

But it all spiraled out of control after she began "sexting" -- sending nude photos of herself -- to that boyfriend.

After they broke up, he forwarded the pictures to hundreds of other high school girls, many of whom allegedly harassed Logan at school, calling her a "slut" and "whore."

Then, last July, Logan killed herself in her closet. She hanged herself; Jessica’s cell phone, her mother said in a broadcast interview, was on the floor.

Cynthia claims the reason for the suicide was that the harassment -- also known as "cyberbullying" -- became unbearable.

And Jessica’s story isn’t isolated.

Twenty percent of teens responding to a recent survey by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy said they’ve sent or posted nude pictures of themselves.

But now, Cynthia is fighting back with tech safety groups on Capitol Hill to avoid cases like her daughter’s. She’s advocating The School and Family Education About the Internet (SAFE Internet) Act, which would support existing and new Internet safety education programs for children, parents and educators.

"I’m following in her (Jessica's) footsteps," Cynthia testified Wednesday. "I think she would have wanted me to do this. That’s the only thing that keeps me going."
Cynthia appeared on The Early Show Thursday to talk about her daughter’s case and her efforts to end abusive "sexting" and "cyberbullying" with Parry Aftab, executive director of "Wired Safety." Aftab said such abuses can amount to using the images as weapons.

She told co-anchor Julie Chen she blames several parties for her daughter’s death, including Jessica’s school.
"I think the school should have come to the aid of my child, should have guided her, alerted the teachers that a photo of her was being disseminated..." Cynthia said. "...They should have done something."

Cynthia and her husband, Albert, recently sued Jessica's school in the Cincinnati suburb of Montgomery, Ohio, as well as Montgomery itself and some of the students allegedly involved in the taunting. The lawsuit claims the school did nothing to stop the harassment and police failed to charge those distributing the photos. The suit seeks unspecified money damages for Jessica's estate.

But Cynthia also told Chen the punishment should fit the crime in today’s changing world of tech crime.

Children, she said, are being convicted as pedophiles and being forced to register as sex offenders, possibly for the rest of their lives.

"The laws are either too hot or too cold," Aftab added. "Too hot, kids are sending naked pictures of themselves voluntarily to each other are now being charged as registered sex offenders and felons, and harassment laws need to be beefed up. ... We need harassment laws that have some real teeth."

[chairmenmeow47]

how do we feel about this?

http://new.music.yahoo.com/u2/news/complaint-says-top-musician-dissed-over-royalties--61989814

Complaint says top musician dissed over royalties
AP, Jun 10, 2009 8:17 am PDT

Which top-selling artist purportedly had his new single yanked from some radio stations playlists in retaliation for supporting royalties for musicians?

No one involved will name the recording artist, but his no-play treatment by several radio stations is alleged in a complaint filed with the Federal Communications Commission and obtained by The Associated Press. It claims recording artists are being threatened and intimidated.

In the filing, the musicFIRST Coalition says the top-selling artist — there are hints it could be U2 frontman Bono — recently released a new album and spoke during April in support of an effort to require radio stations to pay musicians royalties similar to those paid to songwriters.

Soon after, it said, "several stations within a major radio broadcast group notified the artist's label that they would no longer play his single on the air."

Representatives for musicFIRST refused to identify the artist.

U2's album, "No Line on the Horizon," was released in March with its leadoff single, "Get on Your Boots."

In April, Bono issued a statement on behalf of pay for musicians, saying, "It's only fair that when radio makes money by playing a recording artist's music ... the recording artist should be compensated just as songwriters are already."

Calls and e-mails to a spokeswoman for Bono were not immediately returned.

Other artists involved with musicFIRST include Don Henley, Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera and Wyclef Jean.

The filing also alleges unfair treatment of other artists by radio stations in Florida, Delaware and Texas. It does not identify any of the stations but accuses the stations of unlawfully putting their own financial interests above their obligation to serve the public. The group asks the FCC, which regulates the public airwaves, to investigate.

The controversy centers on legislation in Congress that would require radio stations to pay musicians royalties. Satellite radio, Internet radio and cable TV music channels already pay fees to performers and musicians, along with songwriter royalties. AM and FM radio stations just pay songwriters, not performers.

The National Association of Broadcasters opposes the bill, called the Performance Rights Act. The NAB says it amounts to a tax on U.S. radio stations and threatens thousands of jobs.

The filing by musicFIRST, made late Tuesday, also said:

_A Delaware radio station boycotted all artists affiliated with musicFIRST for an entire month.

_Before an interview, an artist was pressured by a Texas radio station to state on the air that the Performance Rights Act would cripple radio stations.

___
On the Net:
musicFIRST Coalition: http://www.musicfirstcoalition.org
National Association of Broadcasters: http://www.nab.org


i just don't understand where they think the money is going to come from to support this business model. people are already turning off the radio as it is.

[Young blood]

This is the funniest shit I have read in a long time.

Slim Jim plant explodes in N.C., 2 dead
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/ny-usslim0611,0,831338.story

http://images.uulyrics.com/cover/r/randy-macho-man-savage/album-be-a-man.jpg

[chairmenmeow47]

i just hope the slim jims are ok!

[Young blood]

Its like they packed in too much snap.

Authorities could not say where in the plant the blast happened or what caused it, but some of the more 300 workers on duty said it chaos and panic followed.

"I was getting ready to pick up a piece of meat off the line and I felt it — the percussion. And you could feel it in my chest and my ears popped," said worker Chris Woods. "One of the guys I was working with got blown back — his hat flew backwards."