‘Media Rights Technologies and its digital radio subsidiary BlueBeat.com said in a press release Thursday that it had issued cease and desist letters to the high-tech titans. It argues that the companies have manufactured billions of copies of Windows Vista, Adobe Flash Player, Real Player and Apple’s iTunes and iPod “without regard for the DMCA or the rights of American intellectual property owners.” [..]
MRT, based in Santa Cruz, Calif., argues that its X1 SeCure Recording Control technology has been “proven effective” as such a protective measure by plugging the “digital hole” that allows even copy-protected music streams, when played back, to be captured and potentially copied. The company says that because the companies are avoiding use of its purportedly effective product, they are violating the DMCA.
“We’ve given these four companies 10 days to talk to us and work out a solution, or we will go into federal court and file action and seek an injunction to remove the infringing products from the marketplace,” CEO Hank Risan said in a phone interview Friday. [..]’
‘South Korea’s LG Philips LCD has developed the world’s first A4-sized colour electronic-paper – a paper-thin and bendable viewing panel.
The e-paper – which measures 35.9cm across its diagonal and is just 300 micrometres (0.3 millimetres) thin – can display up to 4096 colours, the world’s second largest liquid crystal display maker said in a statement.
It is designed to be energy-efficient, only using power when the image changes on the display, it said.’
zATYy Dlcm wCS s aEd‘This guy was sick of his roommate slamming the door every morning at 6am so he buttered the tile floor and set up a camera to teach him a lesson. And if that wasnt enough, he got him again later that day.’
(3.0meg Windows media)
see it here »
‘A student told yesterday how he lost his mobile phone after being “mugged” by an angry flock of geese.
Sam Rozati, 23, was attacked by four birds as he walked past their nest.
They pecked so hard he dropped his phone.
Then one bird grabbed the mobile and disappeared into the undergrowth in Colchester, Essex.
Final-year law student Sam said: “They flew over and started biting my hand until I dropped the phone. I had to move away for my safety.”
His attempts to find his phone have failed — as it is set on silent.’
‘Four of the five people arrested after a Mother’s Day brawl that shut down a crowded buffet-style restaurant yesterday afternoon entered not guilty pleas to assault and rioting charges in Toledo Municipal Court today. [..]
Authorities said Christine Lewandowski, 56, repeatedly asked Ms. Harris to quiet her 1-year-old child, who was sitting in a high chair screaming. When the infant continued to scream, Ms. Lewandowski shouted at the baby to “shut up,” police said. Ms. Harris responded by punching the woman, igniting the brawl that involved as many as 15 people in the restaurant, police said.
About 10 Toledo Police units responded to the melee with an estimated 15 people involved inside the restaurant. Five people were arrested and six people were hurt, including four who were taken to hospitals for minor injuries.’
‘Passengers on a United Airlines Boeing 747 endured a horrendous 27-hour journey from San Francisco to Sydney yesterday, when their flight was left stranded on the tarmac at Brisbane Airport – without a crew.
Fog in Sydney forced the diversion of two United flights to Brisbane early yesterday. But passengers on both aircraft were left to fend for themselves when their United crews clocked off, having exceeded their legal flying hours.
Nor were the passengers allowed to leave the aircraft, because customs at Brisbane was unable to clear them. “Due to [Department of Transport] regulations, passengers were kept on board for safety and security reasons,” an airline spokeswoman said in an email to the Herald.’
‘A company that took its time, did everything right, and migrated to Vista recounted the full horror of the experience. According to their account, company employees found Vista to be slow, Explorer to be problematic, and other quirks that left them less than satisfied.
The Transit company took the optimal path. They waited for the typical new release bugs to be worked out. They purchased a new PC from a major vendor, Lenovo, that had Vista pre-installed in order to avoid upgrade nightmares. Finally, they kept the installed software on the computer at a minimum to avoid complications.
The verdict? “…we’ve found nothing that works better than in Windows XP, dozens of things that are annoyingly different without being a functional improvement, and several things that work at best intermittently and at worst not at all. On the whole, we wish we’d never moved,” Angus Kidman said in a Blog report carried by ITWire.’
‘Wildlife officials in Florida are expected to announce Monday that they want to make it illegal for developers to entomb tortoises.
Recently, Local 6 reported how it is legal to bury tortoises alive as long as construction crews have the proper permit. [..]
“For a price tag of a quarter million dollars, the Expressway Authority legally began to pave over the only openings to the tortoises’ burrows — essentially burying them alive,” Diaz said.
“They are immobilized and can’t get out of their burrow,” a wildlife official said. “It can take up to a year to die one biologist has told us. It can take that long before they die of suffocation, dehydration or starvation.” [..]
“Just because you can bury alive gopher tortoises, doesn’t necessarily mean you should,” a commissioner told Local 6 News.’
‘Police say traffic is returning to normal after a truck load of peanut butter spilled across a busy intersection in Melbourne’s north this morning.
Traffic had been disrupted by slippery conditions after the truck lost its load at the corner of Settlement Road and Dalton Road, Thomastown shortly before 6am.
Workers from the local council were called in with equipment to absorb the oil from the peanut butter.
Police spokesman Senior Constable Leigh Wadeson told ABC radio he did not know whether the peanut butter was crunchy or smooth.’
‘A police officer will avoid criminal charges despite admitting he took marijuana from criminal suspects and, with his wife, baked it into brownies.
The police department’s decision not to pursue a case against former Cpl. Edward Sanchez left a bad taste in the mouth of at least one city official, who vowed to investigate. [..]
The department’s investigation began with a 911 call from Sanchez’s home on April 21, 2006. On a 5-minute tape of the call, obtained by the Free Press, Sanchez told an emergency dispatcher he thought he and his wife were overdosing on marijuana.
“I think we’re dying,” he said. “We made brownies and I think we’re dead, I really do.”‘
Also, there’s a recording of the 911 call. :)
(13.2meg Windows media)
see it here »
‘Willie Tarpley Jr. knew this much about his ex-wife’s new boyfriend: The man was a convicted sex offender and Tarpley didn’t want his children anywhere near him.
So Saturday night at about 8, Tarpley, 46, drove to his old house, grabbed one of his samurai swords, a katana, out of the garage and threatened to use the 42-inch blade to cut off the boyfriend’s head.
The boyfriend, Lee Alexander, 25, of Indian Lakes Estates near Lake Wales, tried to flee, but hit Tarpley’s Corvette in the driveway. That’s when Tarpley reached into the open car window and plunged his sword into Alexander’s body, Hillsborough County sheriff’s spokeswoman Debbie Carter said.’
It gets stranger.
‘Japanese police arrested a 17-year-old boy today on suspicion of murdering his mother after he turned up at a police station carrying a severed human head in a bag.
Police in Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima prefecture, 200km north of Tokyo, said they arrested the teenager, a student at a local high school, after officers found a beheaded body in the apartment where he lived.
The boy told police he killed his mother last night while she was asleep, Kyodo news agency said.’
‘Guns are deeply rooted within Swiss culture – but the gun crime rate is so low that statistics are not even kept.
The country has a population of six million, but there are estimated to be at least two million publicly-owned firearms, including about 600,000 automatic rifles and 500,000 pistols.
This is in a very large part due to Switzerland’s unique system of national defence, developed over the centuries.
Instead of a standing, full-time army, the country requires every man to undergo some form of military training for a few days or weeks a year throughout most of their lives.’
They might need to repaint the bottom of the plane. :)
(1.6meg Windows media)
see it here »
‘I’ll try to sum up a funny story that happened a few years ago:
I got a vasectomy.
I met a girl soon afterwards. She was nice and attractive but with a selfish streak that raised a big red flag. She was 32 at the time and I could practically HEAR her biological clock ticking. Regardless, she was a good lay, easy on the eyes, and reasonably good company.
I did NOT tell her about my vasectomy and I always used a condom with her to protect against STDs. She assumed, obviously, that the condom was only used for birth control. Silly girl.
We date for a few months. I never made any move towards commitment but she brought it up ocassionally. For me, this was a casual but pleasant relationship. For her – as I was to find out – it was part of life-changing series of events that she was planning very carefully.
Four months into dating, I get the “I’m pregnant” talk. She’s going on and on about how the condom must have broke and now we really need to think about getting married “for the baby”. She’s positively giddy. She has a baby in her and she thinks she’s gonna have a good meal ticket (me) to go along with her new 7lb annuity.’
Historians agree..
Also, more of the ugly truth.
eXsQa W bk ‘Police in Verona Beach, N.Y., say a six-year-old died while reaching for scissors on top of a refrigerator when she fell from a chair and the blades stabbed her in the neck.
The girl apparently wanted the scissors to cut off gum that was stuck in her hair.
Police said she was standing on a wheeled, office-style chair when it moved and she lost her balance Friday night. She was pronounced dead at a hospital.’
‘WENN is reporting that Mr. T, Dick Benedict, and Dwight Schultz will appear on British export ‘Most Haunted’ in a ghost-chasing attempt to contact the soul of George Peppard. Honestly, Mr. T., are you that desperate to get back on the air? This grizzly train-wreck makes ‘Celebrity Boxing’ seem classy.
Possibly the funniest/saddest portion of this pathetic cash grab is the extremely documented and extremely tumultuous relationship between George Peppard and Mr. T. Peppard, a surly and cantankerous old man, hated Mr. T. with the passion and vigor known only to Satan and Pastor Fred Phelps. I wonder how he feels about his over-the-hill arch nemesis using his soul for monetary reward.’
‘Women in Myanmar not only have to watch out for pickpockets when they’re commuting, shopping or walking down the street, but also hair thieves, a weekly journal reported Sunday.
Long-haired women in crowded areas have fallen victim to surreptitious hair snippers who steal their hair to sell, the Burmese-language 24/7 news journal reported. [..]
Many women in Myanmar have waist- or knee-length hair which they wear in a ponytail, making it easy for thieves to snip off the hair and sell it as extensions. [..]
The report said the price of hair has increased as demand for hair as an export or raw material rises. A viss (1.6 kilograms; 3.5 pounds) of hair is worth between 400,000 kyats ($320) and 500,000 kyats ($400), it said.’
a UavVBe ‘If you hadn’t heard, TechCrunch20, the conference which alleges to put a sense of merit back into startup conferences, has declared MC Hammer a Web2.0 “expert” and put him on the panel of judges. These judges will select amongst the bajillions of entries the rarified few who will present their wares to VC’s and industries insiders over a two day period.
Who are the other judges?
* Mark Andreeson, founder of Netscape.
* Chris Anderson, Editor-In-Chief of Wired.
* Dave Winer, grandfather of RSS, and author of one of the first blogs ever.’
Also, stop! It’s hammer time..
(10meg Flash video)
see it here »
‘Until recently, I had never heard of cluster headaches, and neither had my friend Bob, which isn’t his name for reasons that will soon be evident.
Bob was in his late 40s with no medical problems.
Out of nowhere he began having headaches. These were not the two-aspirin kind, or even migraines. They were monsters. I realized this one night at his house. For an hour he lay on the floor, screaming. We’re not talking moaning and grousing. Screaming.
Clueless, he went to the Web and discovered cluster headaches. They are hideous. His symptoms were par for the course. [..]
From Neurology, the magazine of the American Academy of Neurology: “The authors interviewed 53 cluster headache patients who had used psilocybin or lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) to treat their condition.
“Twenty-two of 26 psilocybin users reported that psilocybin aborted attacks; 25 of 48 psilocybin users and seven of eight LSD users reported cluster period termination …”‘
There’s a video of what a cluster headache does to a person here. Doesn’t look fun at all.
(7.6meg Windows media)
‘The internet giant Google has plans to compile psychological profiles of millions of web users by covertly monitoring the way they play online games.
The company thinks it can glean information about an individual’s preferences and personality type by tracking his or her online behaviour, which could then be sold to advertisers.
Details such as whether a person is more likely to be aggressive, hostile or dishonest could be stored for future use, it says.’
Anyone who thinks wrestling is fake should watch this clip to see just how wrong you are. :)
(3.5meg Flash video)
see it here »
‘*Anony-X has joined #mac*
sometimes when im masturbating i look at pictures of dogs. not dogs having sex or anything, just dogs. like chasing frisbees and shit. just the way they move and their bark gets me so hot. i can fit 3 more fingers in my pussy when theres a dog around.
mac users, i swear to god…
*Anony-X has left #mac*’
‘He has flippers instead of feet — and certainly no sneakers or hiking boots. But that didn’t stop a sea lion from joining schoolchildren on a walk-a-thon.
The marine mammal apparently noticed children doing laps Friday morning around a course they had set up at the Marin Country Day School next to the shores of the San Francisco Bay. The 185-pound Steller sea lion waddled ashore, shocking students and teachers.
“He did a whole lap,” said Kelly Watson, director of constituent relations and web communications at the private school.’
cH yhyUvU‘Staff members of an elementary school staged a fictitious gun attack on students during a class trip, telling them it was not a drill as the children cried and hid under tables.
The mock attack Thursday night was intended as a learning experience and lasted five minutes during the weeklong trip to a state park, said Scales Elementary School Assistant Principal Don Bartch, who led the trip.
“We got together and discussed what we would have done in a real situation,” he said.
Story continues below ↓advertisement
But parents of the sixth-grade students were outraged.’
‘Two months ago at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, surgeons removed a transplanted heart from a patient who had died and re-transplanted it in another recipient.
“To my knowledge, this is the first time this has been done with a transplanted heart,” Dr. Lawrence S. C. Czer, medical director of the center’s heart transplant program, told Reuters. “Even with other organs, repeat transplantation is very rare.”
The second patient was a 45-year-old man with noncompaction syndrome, a rare cardiac condition in which the heart assumes a sponge-like appearance. The disease is progressive, and the man’s heart became more and more disabled despite the best medical therapy.’
‘Culture is a huge factor in determining whether we look someone in the eye or the kisser to interpret facial expressions, according to a new study.
For instance, in Japan, people tend to look to the eyes for emotional cues, whereas Americans tend to look to the mouth, says researcher Masaki Yuki, a behavioral scientist at Hokkaido University in Japan. [..]
So when Yuki entered graduate school and began communicating with American scholars over e-mail, he was often confused by their use of emoticons such as smiley faces :) and sad faces, or :(.
“It took some time before I finally understood that they were faces,” he wrote in an e-mail. In Japan, emoticons tend to emphasize the eyes, such as the happy face (^_^) and the sad face (;_;). “After seeing the difference between American and Japanese emoticons, it dawned on me that the faces looked exactly like typical American and Japanese smiles,” he said.’
‘A Mexican physician helped drug dealers avoid detection by replacing their fingerprints with skin from the bottom of their feet, a federal prosecutor said Friday.
The doctor, Jose L. Covarrubias, was arrested Wednesday in Arizona as he attempted to cross the U.S.-Mexico border a few hours after a grand jury in Harrisburg indicted him in connection with a marijuana dealing ring.
The indictment says Covarrubias, 49, of Nogales, Ariz., and Nogales, Mexico, surgically removed the fingerprints of co-defendant Marc George, 42, of Jamaica.
“We heard those stories, but we didn’t believe them when we heard them during the course of the investigation,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney William Behe in Harrisburg. “We caught Marc George and we all became believers.”’
