`Want to buy a head? On the American body-part market, the going price is between $500 and $900, plus another $50 if you’d like the brain, too. A torso will set you back as much as $3,000, while a single foot could cost $650.
At these prices, there’s plenty of temptation for people to take advantage of the dead. But as a disturbing new book reveals, the burgeoning trade in human remains is largely unmonitored. Universities, mortuaries and medical companies routinely buy and sell arms, legs and elbows with virtually no oversight.
The inevitable result? Crooked deals, stolen corpses and lots of looking the other way.’
`The human rights scandal now known as “Abu Ghraib” began its journey toward exposure on Jan. 13, 2004, when Spc. Joseph Darby handed over horrific images of detainee abuse to the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command (CID). The next day, the Army launched a criminal investigation. Three and a half months later, CBS News and the New Yorker published photos and stories that introduced the world to devastating scenes of torture and suffering inside the decrepit prison in Iraq.
Today Salon presents an archive of 279 photos and 19 videos of Abu Ghraib abuse first gathered by the CID, along with information drawn from the CID’s own timeline of the events depicted. As we reported Feb. 16, Salon’s Mark Benjamin recently acquired extensive documentation of the CID investigation — including this photo archive and timeline — from a military source who spent time at Abu Ghraib and who is familiar with the Army probe.’
`Three computer science researchers are warning that viruses embedded in radio tags used to identify and track goods are right around the corner, a danger that so far has been overlooked by the industry’s high interest in the technology.
No viruses targeting radio frequency identification (RFID) technology have been released live yet, according to the researchers at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands. But RFID tags have several characteristics that could be engineered to exploit vulnerabilities in middleware and back-end databases, they wrote in a paper presented today at a conference in Pisa, Italy.
“RFID malware is a Pandora’s box that has been gathering dust in the corner of our ‘smart’ warehouses and home,” the paper stated.’
`A 20-year-old man who awoke after a party to find himself covered in syrup and dry oatmeal is facing a criminal charge after authorities say he turned a gun on the man who pulled the prank.
Witnesses told police they were just trying to ”get even” with Travis Maassen of La Crosse for pranks he had pulled in the past few days, according to a criminal complaint.
But Maassen ”freaked out,” emerging from a bedroom Friday with a .22 caliber bolt-action rifle, the complaint said. One man tackled Maassen after having the gun pointed at his head, the complaint said.’
`When a dump truck backed into Curtis Gokey’s car, he decided to sue the city for damages. Only thing is, he was the one driving the dump truck.
But that minor detail didn’t stop Gokey, a Lodi city employee, from filing a $3,600 claim for the December accident, even after admitting the crash was his fault.
After the city denied that claim because Gokey was, in essence, suing himself, he and his wife, Rhonda, decided to file a new claim under her name.’
`Detective Danny Johnson was on patrol outside Tampa, Florida, when a report came through of a possible shooting in a junkyard three blocks away. Arriving on the scene, he found an elderly man sitting on a tractor, with a large hole in his leg that was bleeding profusely.
Realising it would be some time before the ambulance arrived, Johnson opened a packet of sand-like material and poured it into the wound. Within seconds the bleeding had practically stopped, and the man survived. “The medic told me that had I not put the substance in there, the guy would probably have bled out and died,” he says.
The material, called QuikClot, which is issued routinely to police officers in Hillsborough county, Florida, was developed for the US military to cut down the number of soldiers who bleed to death on the battlefield. [..]’
`A Scotrun man, who police say was masturbating in the nude on a sidewalk before leading officers on a high-speed chase Nov. 29 in Pocono and Stroud townships, will head to Monroe County Court.
Eric Wayne, 57, said he “tends to get a little weird” when he and his partner haven’t been intimate, according to an affidavit signed by Pocono Township Police Officer Robert Furino.’
`Sweden recorded its first case of the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain on Wednesday, saying European laboratory tests confirm two wild birds found dead in the southeast were infected with the virus. Afghan authorities, meanwhile, said preliminary test results from a U.N. lab left them “99 percent certain” that the country’s first bird flu outbreak was the deadly H5N1 strain.
Danish authorities said they too had found a wild bird infected with an aggressive strain of bird flu, but it was not immediately whether it was the deadly H5N1 strain. If confirmed as H5N1, it would be the first case of the virus in Denmark.
Also Wednesday, Myanmar announced it had culled 5,000 poultry to prevent the spread of bird flu, as authorities in western India prepared to slaughter tens of thousands of chickens.’
`When users take the specifications of an MP3 player into consideration, one very important factor most take into account is the rated battery life. However, as many are aware, the battery life stated is generally the runtime from a full charge in ideal conditions, such as when the player is left playing without any sound enhancements (EQ, bass-boost, etc.), volume set to a moderate level, all music is 128kbps MP3, backlit display goes out within a few seconds and so on. However, according to tests conducted by CNET, they found that while many players met or exceeded their claims, one feature that has a drastic affect on battery life is the infamous DRM.’
`The United Nations General Assembly created a new UN human rights body by an overwhelming majority today, ignoring objections from the United States.
Ambassadors broke out in sustained applause when the vote was announced: 170-4 with 3 abstentions. Joining the United States in a “no” vote were Israel, Marshall Islands and Palau – but not American allies in Europe or Australia and Canada.
Belarus, Iran and Venezuela abstained.’
`Police said a man robbed a Georgia convenience store last weekend with a milk crate on his head, and the whole incident was caught on surveillance tape.
Police in Pelham, Ga., said the man beneath the mask was Marty Simpson, 46.
Simpson allegedly robbed the clerk at gunpoint and then ditched the milk crate in the parking lot, giving everyone outside a good look at his face.’
with picture.
`NASA astronauts are going back to the moon and when they get there they may need quake-proof housing.
That’s the surprising conclusion of Clive R. Neal, associate professor of civil engineering and geological sciences at the University of Notre Dame after he and a team of 15 other planetary scientists reexamined Apollo data from the 1970s. “The moon is seismically active,” he told a gathering of scientists at NASA’s Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG) meeting in League City, Texas, last October.’
`The counterfeit money looked good, but there was one flaw. There’s no such thing as a one billion dollar bill. U.S. Customs agents in California said on Tuesday they had found 250 bogus billion dollar bills while investigating a man charged with currency smuggling.’
`Drinkers are being forced to hand over their names and addresses before even entering a pub.
The draconian hotel security measures have arrived in New South Wales in the form of a device that scans patrons’ licences and stores their details.
The New Brighton Hotel, in the Sydney northern beach tourist drawcard of Manly, has become the first pub to install the device, has made it compulsory for patrons to have their licences scanned before entering the premises.
Anyone refusing to have their licence scanned is denied entry.’
`The UK has warned America that it will cancel its £12bn order for the Joint Strike Fighter if the US does not hand over full access to the computer software code that controls the jets.
Lord Drayson, minister for defence procurement, told the The Daily Telegraph that the planes were useless without control of the software as they could effectively be “switched off” by the Americans without warning.’
`Two men remain critically ill and four others are in a serious condition after suffering a violent reaction while taking part in a clinical drugs trial. [..]
As there was no antidote and doctors did not know what had happened, they were having to treat the patients on a “symptomatic basis”, [a lawyer] said. [..]
Ms Marshall, 35, whose boyfriend is critically ill, said the normally healthy 28-year-old’s face was so puffed, he “looks like the Elephant Man”.’
`A man accused of repeatedly robbing fast-food restaurants and markets became so familiar that employees at a Taco Bell would open the cash register when they saw him coming, police said.
Eugene Rutledge, 31, of Oakland was charged Monday in connection with 16 robberies since November, including four at the Taco Bell. [..]
After his arrest Wednesday, police said he admitted to the robberies and said he needed the money for drugs and to help a sick girlfriend.’
`The zig-zagging car gave them away.
When Italian police pulled over the vehicle, they found a completely naked 70-year-old woman who had been trying to have sex with the driver – 11 years her junior.
After demanding the joy-riding couple get dressed, the police tested the semi-nude male motorist for drink driving.
“He was three times over the legal (blood-alcohol) limit,” said police commander Angelo D’Anardo in the city of Cologno al Serio, northeast of Milan.’
`Women involved in prostitution in Daytona Beach, Fla., have reportedly armed themselves and are searching for a serial killer behind the slayings of three residents, according to a Local 6 News report. [..]
“We will get him first,” streetwalker Tonya Richardson said. “Yeah, we are going to get him first. When we find him, he is going to be sorry. It is as simple as that.”
Richardson said she and other women are carrying weapons on the streets after Laquetta Gunther, Julie Green and Iwana Patton were found dead in the city.
“I carry a switch blade with me now,” Richardson said. “Everyone else does now too.”‘
`Now for the first time ever you can have a real celebrity make a live phone call to someone you know for just $19.95. You can also purchase an email video greeting card with a message from your favorite star for just $5. Whether it’s for a special occasion or just for the fun of it, there’s no better way to impress a client, sweetheart or a friend.
THESE ARE NOT PRE-RECORDED MESSAGES OR VOICE IMPERSONATORS. ALL CALLS ARE MADE LIVE BY THE ACTUAL CELEBRITY.’
`Mexican President Vicente Fox has announced the discovery of a new deep-water oil field, which is believed to contain 10bn barrels of crude.
The field is in the Gulf of Mexico, and Mexico says it could be bigger than its largest oil field, Cantarell.
Production there is said to have declined sharply in recent years.’
`Protesters twice interrupted a speech by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today after anti-war activists clashed with police outside a Sydney venue.
Five protesters were charged when about 40 anti-war demonstrators rallied outside Sydney’s Conservatorium of Music, which was patrolled by police on horseback and members of the dog squad. [..]
The Stop the War Coalition says Dr Rice is a “war criminal” and is not welcome in Australia.’
`An international team of physicists has converted three normal atoms into a special new state of matter whose existence was proposed by Russian scientist Vitaly Efimov in 1970.
In this new state of matter, any two of the three atoms–in this case cesium atoms– repel one another in close proximity. “But when you put three of them together, it turns out that they attract and form a new state,” said Cheng Chin, an Assistant Professor in Physics at the University of Chicago.
Chin, along with 10 scientists led by Rudolf Grimm at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, report this development in the March 16 issue of the journal Nature. The paper describes the experiment in Grimm’s laboratory where for the first time physicists were able to observe the Efimov state in a vacuum chamber at the ultracold temperature of a billionth of a degree above absolute zero (minus 459.6 degrees Fahrenheit).’
`The camera focuses on two gay men kissing in a park. Later, a topless woman emerges from the sea and walks onto a crowded beach. For would-be immigrants to the Netherlands, this film is a test of their readiness to participate in the liberal Dutch culture.
If they can’t stomach it, no need to apply.
Despite whether they find the film offensive, applicants must buy a copy and watch it if they hope to pass the Netherlands’ new entrance examination.’
Borderline work safety factor.
`Claude Archambault says his client threw out the cup and should get the “Roll up the Rim” prize that is being fought over by two Montreal families.
Last week, a 10-year-old girl found the unrolled cup in a garbage can in her school. She enlisted the help of a 12-year-old friend to roll up the cup’s rim. They discovered the cup was the winner of a $28,700 Toyota RAV 4.
Since then, their families have been bickering over who should get the prize.
The Quebec government agency that regulates contests said the whole thing seems to be spinning out of control.’
`Regardless of who deserves the most credit in its invention, before the incandescent bulb began to proliferate in the early twentieth century, human sleep schedules were largely governed by the Earth’s day and night cycle. But once humans possessed the technology to ward off an appreciable chunk of nighttime, we soon extended our usable waking hours by an average of 13%. Some researchers believe that this modern convenience, credited with bringing the human race in from the dark, may also be responsible for numerous ills. [..]
Once humans began to use artificial light to vary the length of the day, the average night’s sleep decreased from about nine hours to about seven, and the amount of sleep began to vary considerably from one night to the next. This irregularity prevents one’s circadian rhythm from settling into a pattern, and creates a state of perpetual semi-jet-lag. Our bodies’ rhythms attempt to appropriately adjust our alertness, blood pressure, and such for particular times of day; but we often do things contrary to this cycle, and therein lies the problem.’
`The Pakistan foreign office had paid tens of thousands of dollars to lobbyists in the US to get anti-Pakistan references dropped from the 9/11 inquiry commission report, The Friday Times has claimed.
The Pakistani weekly said its story is based on disclosures made by foreign service officials to the Public Accounts Committee at a secret meeting in Islamabad on Tuesday.
It claimed that some of the commission members were also bribed to prevent them from including damaging information about Pakistan.’
`So the Memory Hole has posted a list of movies made or used by the CIA. Some have titles you’d expect: “Ear Wiretapping — Bugging Devices,” “Investigation of US Bacteriological Warfare.” Others seem out of place, like “Animal Farm,” the animated version of the Orwell classic.
animal_farm_cover.jpgBut, as Nick reminded me the other day, no one should be surprised to find “Animal Farm” on the list. After all, the Agency bought the movie rights to the book, a long time back.’
