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Head Ache

. . 400 Pinball Machines and Counting at the Texas Pinball Festival (Video)

Yes, folks. Step right up. It’s the 2013 Texas Pinball Festival, except… Whoops! You missed it. But don’t despair, because Tim Lord was there with his camcorder to interview organizer Paul McKinney and to point his lens lovingly at pinball machines new and old, complete with whistles and bells, oh my! It was a riotous time, with players of all ages. Pinball machines were played, bought, and sold. There were plenty of exhibitors, including some with shiny-new machines. The most interesting of these may have been Multimorphic, which is making “the world’s first modular, multi-game, pinball platform.” In other words, one machine that can become many games, sort of like a video game console.

Riding the Rails . American Experience

At the height of the Great Depression, more than a quarter million teenagers were living on the road in America, many criss-crossing the country by illegally hopping freight trains. This film tells the story of ten of these teenage hobos — from the reasons they left home to what they experienced — all within the context of depression-era America.

. . Deadly New Bird Flu Virus in China Possibly Linked to Dead Pigs

“Once influenza adapts to pig cells, it is often possible for the virus to take human-transmissible form. That’s precisely what happened in 2009 with the H1N1 swine flu, which spread around the world in a massive, but thankfully not terribly virulent, pandemic.” “As far as any scientists know, the H7N9 forms of flu have never previously managed to infect human beings, or any mammals–it is a class of the virus found exclusively in birds. It is therefore extremely worrying to find two people killed and one barely surviving due to H7N9 infection.”

. . Non-Invasive Mind Control Lets Humans Wag a Rat’s Tail

Let me tell you a mind-bending story about mind control. This is a sci-fi idea that’s quickly becoming a reality as scientists better understand that grey matter between our ears, and this year has been one for breakthroughs. The latest comes from Boston where a Harvard Medical School research team has whipped up a way for a human brain to control a rat’s brain. This so-called brain-to-brain interface enables a human subject to move a rat’s tail without getting wires plugged into her head. That doesn’t mean it’s a simple process. The process starts with a strobe light, of all things. The strobe stimulates the human subject’s brain which then puts out brainwave signals that are picked up by an EEG. The EEG data is then translated into an ultrasonic frequency that’s blasted into the rat’s head. Equipment aside, it’s akin to a kind of telepathy, as it’s fairly non-invasive.

. . Is An Alien Message Embedded In Our Genetic Code?

The answer to whether or not we are alone in the universe could be right under our nose, or, more literally, inside every cell in our body. Could our genes have an intelligently designed “manufacturer’s stamp” inside them, written eons ago elsewhere in our galaxy? Such a “designer label” would be an indelible stamp of a master extraterrestrial civilization that preceded us by many millions or billions of years. As their ultimate legacy, they recast the Milky Way in their own biological image. Vladimir I. shCherbak of al-Farabi Kazakh National University of Kazakhstan, and Maxim A. Makukov of the Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute, hypothesize that an intelligent signal embedded in our genetic code would be a mathematical and semantic message that cannot be accounted for by Darwinian evolution. They call it “biological SETI.” What’s more, they argue that the scheme has much greater longevity and chance of detecting E.T. than a transient extraterrestrial radio transmission.

. . ‘Racist Cake’ Cutting Sparks Outrage

Swedish minister of culture is under fire for her participation in the event.

. . Instagram anti-police pic sharing tied to Montreal arrest

The image, which she photographed about a week ago after spotting it on a brick wall in Montreal’s Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighbourhood, shows the police commander with a bullet hole in his forehead. His name is also written beside the image. The graffiti has since been removed. Lafrenière is the head of the service’s communications division and frequently appeared in the media during the student protests. Pawluck said she finds the whole situation a bit ridiculous. “I think the person behind the artwork should be in my place … all I did was take a photo,” she said.

. . Tot, 3, ate mother’s LSD sugar

The girl, from Coombabah on the Gold Coast, was rushed to hospital suffering hallucinations, anxiety and convulsions in November, 2011. She initially told her mother she was feeling “big and small” but later at the hospital police overheard the girl begging for help to stop the burning sensation and save her from dying. Court documents revealed the child was heard saying “Mummy, I’m hot. I’m on fire. Help me, mummy” and “I’m going to die”.

. . Videos show Orleans jail inmates with a loaded gun and taking drugs, and one roaming Bourbon Street

Inmates at the now-shuttered House of Detention in Orleans Parish didn’t have to forgo all of their vices, according to videotapes aired during a federal court hearing Tuesday over a proposed consent decree to govern jail reforms in the parish. One inmate is seen shooting up heroin, while others freely snort drugs behind bars and chat on cell phones. Another inmate releases bullets from a long-barreled handgun onto the ground inside the jail, behind bars. In another video, an Orleans Parish jail inmate went out on the town in the French Quarter, chatting up cops and cruising down Bourbon Street. How he got there remains uncertain.

. . Poll: Majority now say pot smoking should be legal

A majority of Americans now support legalizing marijuana use — the first time public support has crossed the 50 percent threshold, according to new polling from the Pew Research Center. Pew found that 52 percent of Americans said marijuana use should be legal, compared to just 45 percent who said it should be illegal. The level of support has jumped 11 percentage points in the last three years. Support is even higher among younger American adults, with nearly two-thirds of Millennials — those born since 1980 — supporting legalization. The findings cheered marijuana advocates, who said politicians need to follow voters’ lead. “Not too long ago, it was widely accepted in political circles that elected officials who wanted to get re-elected needed to act ‘tough’ on drugs and go out of their way to support the continued criminalization of marijuana. The opposite is quickly becoming true,” said Tom Angell, chairman of Marijuana Majority.

. . City Recruits Minority Lifeguards Even if They Can’t Swim

In a staggering case of affirmative action gone wild, officials in a major U.S. city are actually recruiting minorities to be lifeguards at public pools even if they’re not good swimmers. It’s all in the name of diversity. You can’t make this stuff up. It’s a real-life story out of Phoenix, the capitol of Arizona and the nation’s sixth-largest city. It has more than 1.4 million residents and, among its official mottos is “value and respect” of diversity. This means “more than gender and race,” according to the city’s official website. It also encompasses “uniqueness and individuality” and embracing differences. “We put this belief into action to provide effective services to our diverse community.”

. . Bears In Russia Are Addicted To Jet Fuel, Sniff It To Get High And Pass Out

The containers were left in the Kronotsky Nature Reserve and the nearby creatures picked on their strong smell of kerosene and gasoline. The animals love this smell so much that they have begun deeply inhaling the fumes for minutes at a time before digging shallow holes for themselves to lie in once they’ve achieved their desired state.

. . Cat Marnell: Glimpse from the $550,000 book proposal of drug-addict beauty editor

Excerpts from Cat Marnell’s $500,000 book deal have been revealed, and the tell-all memoir, How to Murder Your Life, seems to be an in-depth confessional of her life as a drug addict. The former xoJane.com beauty editor has been in and out of rehab for her addiction to prescription drugs, and was fired from the web site in September last year – telling the New York Post she’d rather ‘smoke angel dust with her friends’ than hold down a full-time job. Now, the 29-year-old, who was also a former beauty editor at Lucky magazine, has released the no holds barred re-cap of her drug-fueled and ‘glamorous’ life in New York.

File under Culture, Graffiti, SeMeN SPeRmS BLArRrG, SeMeN SPeRmS Links 'o Death

Conjured by o~ SeMeN SPeRmS ~o on April 9, 2013

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Coca Cola Abortion

. . County Will Pay $15.5 Million To Man Who Spent 22 Months In Solitary Confinement

When he was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and other charges in 2005, Stephen Slevin had no way of knowing that an opinion about his mental state would put him on a path to spend more than 22 months of solitary confinement in a New Mexico county jail, despite never having his day in court. This week, he reached a $15.5 million settlement with Dona Ana County.

Bronx Zoo Jumper’s Mom Blames Adderall Addiction For Tiger Den Leap

If you reach back into the dark crevices of your memory to last September, you may recall that a man was mauled by a tiger after he jumped out of the Bronx Zoo’s Wild Asia Monorail and into a tiger den. David Villalobos, 25, told police at the time that he jumped because he wanted “to be one with the tiger,” not because of any suicidal impulses. But his mother begs to differ: she claims her son’s mind was warped because of Adderall addiction. And she thinks the tiger incident may have saved his life: “He was always interested in animals, and we brought him up as a Christian, but Adderall changed his way of thinking,” his mom, Fernanda, told Lawyers and Settlements.

. . Mother Seen in YouTube Video Letting Her Toddler Take a Bong Hit Says It Was a Joke ‘That Wasn’t Really Funny’

Police arrested a young mother from Centralia, Washington, last week after footage surfaced on YouTube showing her allowing her 22-month-old son to inhale marijuana smoke from a bong. 24-year-old Rachelle Braaten was charged with delivery of a controlled substance to a minor as well as manufacture of marijuana after officers found as many as 40 marijuana plants inside her home. Several weapons were also found.

. . ‘Sippin’ on Syrup’ Rapper — Justin Bieber’s Gotta Learn … SIZZURP KILLS

Three 6 Mafia rapper DJ Paul — famous for his song “Sippin’ on Some Syrup” — has some words of advice for Justin Bieber … stay away from sizzurp, or you could die. Paul was out in Vegas this week when we asked him about the photos circulating of Justin Bieber — showing the singer surrounded by double cups and codeine — and the rapper tells us, Bieber’s playing with fire. Paul says, “I can’t say don’t do [sizzurp] because I did my rounds with it. But I stay away from it these days because I had a lot of friends that passed away from it. It’s dangerous if you do too much of it.”

. . LSD death would be state first, officials say

A Roane County woman who died after taking two doses of LSD could be the first reported acid-related fatality in the state and one of the few documented globally. Prosecutors are still awaiting toxicology results to make that distinction. An autopsy hasn’t been completed on Renee Honaker, 30, of Left Hand, who died last week. Lab results for the acid strips she allegedly took aren’t back yet either, Roane County Prosecuting Attorney Josh Downey said on Saturday. Police charged Renee’s husband, Todd Anthony Honaker, 34, with first-degree murder after the couple apparently each took two hits of LSD on March 1. Renee later fell to the floor, began convulsing and died. Police also charged Chad M. Renzelman, 32, of Kennewick, Wash., the chemist they said manufactured the drug, with first-degree murder. He is being held in jail awaiting extradition to West Virginia.

. . When a drug costs 30 times what it once did

Diane Shattuck filled a prescription in December for a generic antibiotic called doxycycline. With insurance, she paid $4.30 for 60 pills at a CVS store in Orange. She returned at the end of February to refill her prescription. This time, she was told her cost for the drug would be about $165. “It was bizarre,” Shattuck, 73, told me. “And no one at CVS could explain why the price was so high.” Unfortunately, I won’t be able to offer a clear-cut answer, either. But my effort to untangle Shattuck’s situation cast a harsh light on the shadowy world of drug pricing. It revealed that different manufacturers can charge wildly different prices for what is essentially the same generic medicine, and that drugstores can rake in unconscionable profits by passing along marked-up meds to customers without the slightest explanation. “It’s a very murky world,” said Jeffrey McCombs, a professor of pharmaceutical economics and policy at USC.

. . Naked man declares he loves cocaine and needs more

A 21-year-old man who told officers he loved cocaine and needed more cocaine was arrested after he was caught running naked through an apartment complex. On Feb. 24 the Crestview Police Department received numerous reports from Bel-Aire Apartments about a man running naked and yelling through the complex. At one point he tried to get into a car of a woman and her young child. When lawmen arrived the man, now wearing pajama pants, leaped onto the hood of the patrol car and wouldn’t get down until ordered. He lay down on the grass nearby, where he made several comments about loving cocaine and needing more cocaine.

. . After 100 LSD-Fueled Sex Encounters, Man with No Penis to Build New one Out of Arm Skin

At 21 Andrew got a job at Butlins in Minehead, Somerset, and during that time he experimented with drugs such as ecstasy and LSD as a way of dealing with the psychological effects of being born without his manhood. He said: “By taking drugs I gave myself the perfect cover. “I’d bed girls but said things could only go so far because the drugs meant I couldn’t rise to the occasion. “I’ve been to bed with over 100 women. Some were one-night stands, some long-term relationships. I’ve told 20 per cent of them the truth. “The fact I didn’t just want to get my leg over made me more attractive to women. I had charm and patter because it wasn’t all about sex.”

. . Heroin addicts bored by not having to score drugs

Heroin addicts in Denmark, who are given state-sponsored fixes, say they are bored now that they don’t have to chase drugs, a non-profit group says. Once drug addicts end up admitted into a heroin clinic they receive twice-daily prescription doses of state-funded heroin, the Fyens Stiftstidende reported. Mette Guul, head of Reden Odense, a YWCA center for abused women and prostitutes in Aarhus, said many don’t know how to handle their newly found free time, the Fyens Stiftstidende said. “The women say they are lonely, bored and do not know what to do now that they do not have to chase the drugs anymore,” Guul told the newspaper.

. . “The Bible” producers dismiss Obama-Satan connection

The producers of History Channel’s “The Bible” miniseries say Internet chatter that their Satan character resembles President Barack Obama is “utter nonsense.”

. . Ever wonder what your children do during spring break? Shocking pictures reveal the outrageous antics of college students gone wild

A teenage boy opened a can of Bud Lite then drank it off a girl’s breasts. When the story was later recounted to another partygoer who was wearing a cap with the word ‘t*****s’ on it, he said: ‘Awesome!’ During an aborted attempt to drink out of a beer bong, a girl ended up covered in Budweiser. He male friend said, pointing to her t-shirt: ‘You got it wet, take it off!’ He added, pointing to his large bottle of Miller Lite: ‘Whatever he says is the rules.’ Soon after the casualties began to appear. A portly woman who could no longer stand was hauled out of the crowd by two male companions where she became abusive towards them. A teenage girl collapsed behind the toilets with saucer like eyes and vacant look to her face.

. . Home Abortion Needs Just One 12 oz Bottle Coca Cola

Thought of as a soft drink. Strong enough to kill. Yes. One 12 oz oca Cola is all it takes to end a human life. Many women when late try to end their pregnancy, in poor countries, and over a period of time, they’ve worked out the best way to do it. All they need is a 12 oz bottle of Coca Cola. This they boil for fifteen minutes. Then they leave it out in the midday sun from morning til afternoon. This must do something to alter the chemical composition, because that alone, when drunk, can be fully effective to cause an abortion. They only add headache pills to beef up the solution, and whack, the pregnancy’s over. It works in about half of cases, my partner assures me. Her friends have used it successfully.

. . O.J. Simpson murder attempt fails thanks to ‘The Girls’ in prison

“The guards sounded the sirens from the prison towers and rushed in with tear gas guns and other firepower. At first, O.J. was watching all this from a distance and didn’t even notice that two inmates were approaching him. “Then, one of ‘The Girls’ spotted a flash of metal. It was sunlight reflecting from the blade of a knife wielded by a skinhead rushing at O.J. At the same time, another one of ‘The Girls’ saw an attacker coming from the other side. “The two skinheads charged toward O.J. They lunged at him and slashed at his face, coming close to cutting him. Luckily, they were blocked by his girly-man buddies. They may act like chicks but, believe me, they’re darn tough.”

. . DUI charges filed against cop in deadly, wrong-way LSD crash

Terrell Garrett faces two counts of aggravated driving under the influence and two counts of reckless homicide, according to Sally Daly, spokeswoman at the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. Charges were filed on Saturday afternoon. Garrett allegedly drove the wrong way on Lake Shore Drive, striking two cars head on in the southbound lane near LaSalle around 4 a.m. Friday morning. Two people — Fabian Torres, 27, and Joaquin Garcia, 25– were killed. A third person was treated at the hospital and released.

. . How Cells from an Aborted Fetus are Used to Create Novel Flavor Enhancers For Pepsi

“So what exactly is this magic ingredient that will be appearing in a new version of Pepsi, and how is it made? Unfortunately, those questions are hard to answer. Senomyx… refers to them only as ‘enhancers’ or ‘ingredients’… The products work by triggering receptors on the tongue and tricking your taste buds into sensing sweetness — or saltiness or coolness, in the case of the company’s other programs… So are Senomyx’s covert ingredients safe? That, too, is anyone’s guess… many of its enhancers have ‘been granted’ GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) status, but all that means is that the company did its own assessment and then concluded everything was fine. We don’t know whether Senomyx did any testing since the company isn’t required to submit anything to the FDA.14 There’s no reason to think that Senomyx’s products will cause harm, but until or unless Pepsi decides to share details about how exactly it’s achieving a 60 percent reduction in sugar while keeping the taste …

. . Facebook finally admits to tracking non-users

Facebook officials are now acknowledging that the social media giant has been able to create a running log of the web pages that each of its 800 million or so members has visited during the previous 90 days. Facebook also keeps close track of where millions more non-members of the social network go on the Web, after they visit a Facebook web page for any reason. Allegations from Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner that Facebook was creating “shadow profiles” of non-users were initially refuted by Facebook’s spokesman Andrew Noyes, who said categorically that “The allegations are false.” But Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt, engineering director Arturo Bejar, engineering manager Gregg Stefancik, corporate spokeswoman Jaime Schopflin, and Noyes have now revealed the extent of the company’s tracking. As previously thought, Facebook are using cookies to track anyone who visits a Facebook.com page.

. . WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO: change the national anthem to R. Kelly’s 2003 hit “Ignition (Remix).”

We, the undersigned, would like the Obama administration to recognize the need for a new national anthem, one that even a decade after its creation, is still hot and fresh out the kitchen. America has changed since Francis Scott Key penned our current anthem in 1814. Since then, we have realized that after the show, it’s the afterparty, and that after the party, it’s the hotel lobby, and–perhaps most importantly–that ’round about four, you’ve got to clear the lobby, at which point it’s strongly recommended that you take it to the room and freak somebody. President Obama: we ask you to recognize the evolution of this beautiful country and give us an anthem that better suits the glorious nation we have become.

. . The End of the Hangup

In the context of such gravity, the hangup had a clear and forceful meaning. It offered a way of ending a conversation prematurely, sternly, aggressively. Without saying anything, the hangup said something: we’re done, go away. My father took great pride in hanging up our model 554 phone violently when something went awry. An inbound wrong number dialed twice in a row, or an unwelcome solicitor. Clang! The handset’s solid mass crashed down on the hook, the bell assembly whimpering from the impact. The mechanical nature of telephones made hangups a material affair as much as a social one. A hangup is something your interlocutor could feel physically as much as emotionally, and something you couldn’t downplay either. Like slamming a door or yelling at a child, hanging up a phone couldn’t be subdued or hidden.

. . Top DHS Checkpoint Refusals [Video]

Checkpoints (some would say illegal checkpoints) have been popping up quite frequently in the USA. As you see in this video, you DO NOT have to comply with their question’s or demands. Don’t forget, you have rights.

. . What are my rights at various “checkpoints”?

There are four general types of checkpoints you might encounter: DUI checkpoints, US border checkpoints, drug checkpoints, and TSA checkpoints. In a legal sense, they are not all created equal. So depending on which one you encounter, you’ll want to be prepared to flex your rights appropriately.

. . Stop The Cyborgs

Google has the marketing power to make acting like ‘Creepy Cameraman’ socially acceptable. Would you have even considered wearing a hidden spy camera or recording conversations a few years ago? Well soon everyone will be doing it and finding you odd for objecting. There is no way to know if you are being recorded by someone wearing Google Glass or a similar device. This is in contrast to a smart phone where the user must visibly hold the camera up to take a picture or record video. We must therefore assume that we are being recorded at all times(and possibly publicly broadcast) from a low angle where ones face is clearly visible. Even if the user is not recording video, audio for their own use it may still be being collected and processed in the cloud in order to display contextual information using image, object, face, voice identification and speech recognition. (so called augmented reality) for example. Display the G+ or Facebook profile of the person you are looking at.

. . Google Glass: The opposition grows

The opposition will congregate in dark corners. They will whisper with their mouths, while their eyes will scan the room for spies wearing strange spectacles. The spies will likely be men. How many women would really like to waft down the street wearing Google Glass? It won’t be easy. Once you’ve been cybernated, there’s no turning back. Which is why the refuseniks are already meeting in shaded corners of the Web. One site is called “Stop The Cyborgs.” It claims to be “fighting the algorithmic future one bit at a time.” A sticker being offered on the “Stop The Cyborgs” Web site. It’s going to take a lot of bitty fighting, but the people behind this site — they’re naturally anonymous, in an attempt to stop Google spying on them — say they’re fighting Google Glass in particular. They say that it will herald a world in which “privacy is impossible and corporate control total.”

. . The Internet is a surveillance state

So, we’re done. Welcome to a world where Google knows exactly what sort of porn you all like, and more about your interests than your spouse does. Welcome to a world where your cell phone company knows exactly where you are all the time. Welcome to the end of private conversations, because increasingly your conversations are conducted by e-mail, text, or social networking sites. And welcome to a world where all of this, and everything else that you do or is done on a computer, is saved, correlated, studied, passed around from company to company without your knowledge or consent; and where the government accesses it at will without a warrant. Welcome to an Internet without privacy, and we’ve ended up here with hardly a fight.

. . Crown casino hi-tech scam nets $32 million

The Herald Sun understands remote access to the venue’s security system was given to an unauthorised person. Images relayed from cameras were then used to spy on a top-level gaming area where the high roller was playing. Signals were given to him on how he should bet based on the advice of someone viewing the camera feeds. Sources said the total stolen was $32 million. The cameras at Crown are state-of-the-art, high-resolution technology. They are capable of transmitting the most intricate detail of goings-on inside the building.

. . Police win Oakland ‘criminal triathlon’

An alleged auto thief tried to escape capture by car, foot and boat Wednesday but was caught in Oakland with the help of several law-enforcement agencies that surrounded him by air, land and sea, authorities said. Terry Rizzo was caught after he ditched a stolen car, fled on foot and dove into the Oakland Estuary before trying to escape in a sailboat, said Alameda County sheriff’s Sgt. J.D. Nelson. Rizzo, surrounded by officers on the ground and others in a helicopter and a boat, eventually gave up and was booked into a downtown Oakland jail on warrants for theft and auto theft. “I’ve seen a lot of people try to avoid being arrested, but they don’t usually go through a criminal triathlon to get away,” said Nelson, who added that Rizzo had a small amount of methamphetamine in his possession when arrested.

. . This Homemade ‘Flying Car’ Can’t Exactly Fly, But It Still Turns Heads

When Bruce Tomb realized that flying cars weren’t on the imminent horizon, he decided to make his own. The outcome might not be what you’d expect. With the help of some friends, Tomb created “Maria del Camino.” She’s an excavator topped with a 1959 El Camino, mounted on a hydraulic array that lifts it high off the ground. Her body is adorned with thousands of drilled-out holes, and her hood sports a portrait of the robot woman from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, which shines when the light hits it. In simple terms, it’s nothing but sheer magnificence. Maria is currently being worked on at the DIY space Nimby in Oakland California. We stopped by to ask Tomb how — and why — he built his “flying” car, and he took us for a beer run, stopping traffic along the way. As for future modifications, Tomb has a big one in mind. “Been working on removing the manual controls,” he says. “I’ve heard driverless cars are all the rage!”

. . Does Poland Spring Water Actually Come From Poland Spring?

Following Rubio’s “Watergate” incident, Peter Gleick, the president of the Pacific Institute and author of the book Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water, took to Twitter to ask Nestlé, owner of the brand, just how much Poland Spring bottled water is actually from the iconic source in Maine. He’d been trying, he says, for years to get an answer to that question. This time, he got one: about a third.

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Conjured by o~ SeMeN SPeRmS ~o on March 19, 2013

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Surreal Killaz

. . Iranians and Their Clunky Propaganda!: Last night on the CBS Evening News (2/25/13), viewers saw this brief report from anchor Scott Pelley: Iran’s culture minister today called the Oscar-winning film Argo about the Iranian hostage crisis “distorted history.” He said this on the same day that Iran’s Fars news agency gave a lesson in how to distort history. Have a look. This is Michelle Obama presenting Argo with the Best Picture Oscar last night and this is how she looked today in the Iranian press after some Photoshop alterations to cover her chest and shoulders in the conservative Islamic country. You can see the photo, apparently from Iranian media, to the right. This is a useful lesson in propaganda–though not the one CBS intended. I suppose we might ignore that the first lady of a country appeared at an awards show, flanked by members of the military, to present a prize to a film about the heroism of U.S. intelligence against an official enemy state. No, the real problem is Iran’s Photoshopping.; .; .
Here’s what an actual “six strikes” copyright alert looks like: Earlier this week, the Copyright Alert System (CAS)—better known as “six strikes”—finally debuted. Both Verizon and Comcast activated the service on Wednesday. The new system is funded by a group known as the Center for Copyright Information (CCI), which is made up of five major American ISPs, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It’s been in the works for years and may provide a significant change to the copyright infringement policing regime in the United States. At the end of a series of six alerts, accused infringing customers could have their home Internet connection significantly slowed down. Those accused of infringing can file an appeal for $35. (Here’s the CCI’s new video explaining the process, as well as its new promo video.)
. . “Shit, Just Ship It”: Felony Prosecution for Salmonella-Peanut Executives: If you care about food safety, this is an important case to watch. First, because the existence of the case is so unusual; second, because (according to the indictment), the behavior that prompted it was so egregious. As presented by the feds, this was not accidental contamination, or sales of a product in which contamination could not have been controlled. It was, in their 52-page telling, deliberate and repeated, and apparently indifferent to the harm it might cause. If behavior such as they describe can’t be called to account, it would be worth asking why we have food-safety laws at all.
. . Titanium Escape Ring: The Titanium Escape Ring adds another tool to the operator’s E&E options for escaping captivity. It’s a simple but elegant-looking ring made of titanium, cut from solid barstock and polished to a mirror finish. But unlike all other rings, this one contains a saw and handcuff shim pick combination tool which is completely hidden from view when worn.
. . Capita list: North Korea approves 28 model socialist hairstyles: It’s not just nuclear weapons proliferating on the Korean peninsula these days. In a move that for once is not considered a threat to regional and global security, the North Korean government has recommended a relatively generous range of 28 hairstyles for its citizens, claiming that they are “the most comfortable” styles and capable of warding off the corrupting effects of capitalism, according to ifeng.com, a news website run by Hong Kong’s Phoenix TV network.
. . The Banks Show No Mercy: 10 Foreclosure Horror Stories That Will Blow Your Mind: During the last housing crash, the big banks begged the federal government for help and they received it, but when average Americans ask the big banks for help most of the time the banks show no mercy whatsoever. If you fall behind on your mortgage payments, the big banks have shown that they are willing to be absolutely ruthless. They will change locks in the middle of the night, they will toss disabled veterans and families with children out into the street in the middle of winter, and sometimes once the foreclosure process has begun they will not even allow someone to come forward and offer to pay off the loan if they think that they can make more money by selling the home. The big banks will often string homeowners along for months or even years with loan modification promises, only to drop the hammer on them at the most inopportune time. Over the past several years there has been case after case where mortgage documents have “disappeared”, where big banks have “manufactured…
. . Chinese Government Official Misses Flight, Smashes Departure Gate: Recently, the internet exposed a Yunnan province Shizong county Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) member smashing a departure gate after missing his plane. Today, the Shizong county CPPCC office responded, confirming that the person seen in the video is CPPCC Shizong county 8th committee member Yan Linkun, and that Yan’s act of vandalism was the act of an individual. With regards to this, the Shizong county CPPCC supports the airport security’s lawful investigation and handling of Yan’s behavior.
. . New Document Sheds Light on Government’s Ability to Search iPhones: Last fall, officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seized an iPhone from the bedroom of a suspect in a drug investigation. In a single data extraction session, ICE collected a huge array of personal data from the phone. Among other information, ICE obtained: call activity phone book directory information stored voicemails and text messages photos and videos apps eight different passwords 659 geolocation points, including 227 cell towers and 403 WiFi networks with which the cell phone had previously connected. Before the age of smartphones, it was impossible for police to gather this much private information about a person’s communications, historical movements, and private life during an arrest. Our pockets and bags simply aren’t big enough to carry paper records revealing that much data. We would have never carried around several years’ worth of correspondence, for example—but today, five-year-old emails are just a few clicks away us…
. . Pig Rescues Goat, and the Video Is Really Cute, but Totally Faked: Within hours the video had been posted around the Web; it had been shared with the Twitter followers of Time magazine and Ellen DeGeneres; and it had been broadcast on NBC’s “Today” show and its “Nightly News” program, ABC’s “Good Morning America” and Fox News, where the “Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade said of it, “You couldn’t do this at Warner Brothers as a cartoon and make it seem more realistic.” But the video was thoroughly staged. It was created for a new Comedy Central series, “Nathan for You,” with the help of some 20 crew members, including animal trainers, scuba divers and humane officers, and required the fabrication of a plastic track to guide the pig to the goat (which was never in jeopardy).
. . Pat Robertson: Worth Praying Over Clothes to Rebuke Demons: Today on the 700 Club, televangelist Pat Robertson said that demons can attach themselves to material goods and therefore it’s not a bad idea to rebuke them before bringing them into your home. After a viewer, Carrie, asked whether to follow her mom’s recommendation to pray away demonic spirits over her secondhand sweaters, Robertson recounted a story about “a witch who had prayed over a particular ring and asked for a spirit to come into it, and this Philippine girl was so attached to this ring, she had to buy it and all hell broke loose because she finally recognized what it was.” “Can demonic spirits attach themselves to inanimate objects, the answer is yes,” Robertson said.
. . Rick Ross — Police Guard Rapper at Swanky NYC Hotel: the rapper who has allegedly been targeted by a dangerous gang — is being protected by NYC cops round-the-clock because of recent threats … law enforcement sources tell TMZ. We’ve learned cops have been guarding Ross at The London Hotel for the last few days. Sources tell us, recent threats have been specifically aimed at the rapper … and he’s not taking them lightly. You’ll recall Ross’ Rolls-Royce was shot up in Ft. Lauderdale last month after the rapper’s birthday party while Ross was making his way home. Ross and his passenger were not injured in the attack — clearly, the shots were intended as a warning.
. . Narcotic Superhighways: The Top 5 Routes for Drug Trafficking
. . Two Latest GE-Related Health Threats: ‘Monster Salmon,’ and Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria from GE Experiments Found in Chinese Waterways: in recent years, mounting evidence shows that initial suspicions that GE foods might have unforeseen consequences were indeed correct — from alteration of soil composition, to contaminating waterways with antibiotic resistant bacteria linked to GE crops,3 to serious health consequences for animals and humans who consume GE products. The first-ever study to address GE crop-related pollution of waterways discovered that Chinese rivers are contaminated with antibiotic-resistant genes from genetic engineering experiments, which (again) may have unforeseen repercussions for human health.
. . There’s a naturally pink lake in Australia. (Lake Hillier): Strawberry Quik lake
. . The Hollywood Freeway Chickens: The Hollywood Freeway chickens are a colony of feral chickens that live under the Vineland Avenue off-ramp of the Hollywood Freeway in Los Angeles, California. It is still not definitively known how they came to be there. Chickens underneath the Vineland off-ramp became local celebrities upon their arrival sometime around 1970. By 1976, the flock included about 50 chickens, which became known as “Minnie’s chickens”, named after Minnie Blumfield, an elderly retiree who fed them regularly.
. . Lima billboard is tapped for drinking water: A billboard in Lima, Peru, created by ad agency Mayo DraftCFB in collaboration with the University of Engineering and Technology (UTEC), captures the air’s humidity and turns it into potable water for Lima residents. Lima is referred to as a “desert megacity” where many residents cope with inadequate access to clean drinking water. The agency and university formed a team to produce what they refer to as the first billboard that produces drinking-water out of air.
. . North Brother Island: Abandoned Island in the Middle of NYC: Located in between Queens and the Bronx, in 1885 the island was used to build a hospital complex to quarantine and treat people suffering from smallpox and typhoid fever. In the 1950′s it was turned into a rehab center. The entire island has been abandoned since 1963.
. . Loophole for All – Became a pirate, hijack an offshore company!: Paolo Cirio, contemporary artist and pirate, hacked the governmental servers of the Cayman Islands and stole a list of all the companies incorporated in the country. Now on Loophole4All.com, he is selling the identities of those companies at a low cost to democratize the privileges of offshore businesses. Paolo hijacks the identities by moving their addresses to his Caymans mailbox and issuing counterfeited certificates of incorporation from the Caymans company registry. This massive corporate identity theft benefits from the anonymous nature of those companies since the real owners’ secrecy allows anybody to impersonate them. Through Loophole4All.com, anyone can hijack a Caymans company, from 99¢ for a certificate of incorporation for a real company to $49 for a mailbox in the offshore country with mail rerouting.
. . Accused Killers Confessed to Having Sex on the Bodies: Joshua Miner remembered his teenage girlfriend confiding “years back that she wanted to have sex with a dead guy,” states a police report documenting last month’s double murder on Hickory Street. That’s why Miner got the idea to ask girlfriend Alisa Massaro to have sex with him on the corpses of two men he’s accused of helping to kill, police said. Massaro “made a smirk on her face” and said she didn’t want to, according to the reports, but when being questioned by police, she “later acknowledged she and Josh did have sexual intercourse on top of the bodies.”
. . WHITE MODEL ONDRIA HARDIN POSES FOR NUMERO MAGAZINE AS “AFRICAN QUEEN” – WHERE ARE ALL THE BLACK MODELS?: I am really not pleased with Fashion Magazine Numero’s March issue shoot titled ‘African Queen’ with Ondria Hardin bronzed out to darken her skin tone to portray herself as an ethnic lady . What happened to all the beautiful black models currently available? The same modelling agencies that represents Ondria Hardin also has a number beautiful black models such as the one here, is she not good enough? The scarcity with black models in mainstream fashion industry is absurd and simply unacceptable.
. . Guess What? The Debt Everyone Is Freaking Out About Does Not Exist: So the debt that’s got everyone worried is the part we haven’t yet incurred. And that debt, by definition, does not exist. It’s not a certainty, it’s merely a projection by the Congressional Budget Office. And trying to model how the federal budget, not to mention the entire American economy, will behave years or even decades in the future is a devilishly treacherous business. For instance: one of Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) favorite talking points in 2011 was that the computer simulations CBO uses to model the economy crash when they attempt to account for the debt load in 2037. Imagine trying to model the 2011 economy in 1985. Things you’d never see coming include (among other things) the Internet, fracking, massive advances in computing power, the renewable energy boom, three wars, a massive recession, and Harry Potter. And predictions can be hard even over shorter time frames. In 1995, CBO predicted the deficit in 2000 would be well over $200 billion. We ran a surplus of $236 billion.
. . The Copyright Propaganda Machine Gets a New Agent: Your ISP: For example, on the process for targeting subscribers, the site explains that: “Before each Alert is sent, a rigorous process ensures the content identified is definitely protected by copyright and that the notice is forwarded to the right Subscriber.” Just because content is copyrighted doesn’t mean sharing it is illegal. It would be better to have a rigorous process that ensures the use identified is actually infringing. It would be even better to have a process that was vetted by a truly independent entity, and public review of the full results. And then there are these nuggets: “While CCI encourages all consumers to secure their home networks, it is especially important for consumers who have received a Copyright Alert.” In other words, if you’ve received a notice, you’ve better lock down your network, and fast. As we’ve explained, this seems designed to undermine the open Wi-Fi movement, even though open wireless is widely recognized to be tremendously beneficial to…
. . Gag Order: Sex Workers Allege Mistreatment at Kink.com: However, even as Kink flourishes — it’s nearly doubled the number of sites it operates since moving into the Armory — doubts about its ethical standards linger. The company attracted unwanted attention last summer when it abruptly switched its cam girls’ pay rate and sparked a debate about its commitment to models’ rights. Now, two former models allege they were denied workers’ compensation when injured on Kink sets, one of whom further states she was coerced into a performance that left her with long-lasting injuries and was offered money in exchange for keeping quiet about those injuries. Other workers claim to have been terminated or chose to resign when they questioned Kink’s business practices, including the use of an erectile dysfunction drug called Trimix. These allegations threaten the company’s conscientious reputation, and conflict with the stories offered by current directors and models who say their experiences inside the Armory have always been ethical and enjoyable.
. . ‘A furtive pick of the nose, and a quick text after…’: The terrifying pictures which show the bacteria lurking on your mobile: These pictures show the hidden life on your phone – the bacteria that lurk on your mobile. Long after we’ve swiped and tapped our smart phones, or sent and received texts, our devices retain a biological history of our actions. Students studying bacteriology at the University of Surrey imprinted their mobile phones on to Petri dishes to see what they might carry.
. . Muslim Zombies Will Eat Any Non-Muslim [VIDEOS - ADVISORY: Graphic Content]: “In the future, the Egyptian Islamists will not only be conducting systematic violence, but cannibalism against Christians and moderates,” concludes Arabic-language researchers Walid and Theodore Shoebat in a report on their website. In a television interview cited in the report, an Egyptian Islamic scholar told the interviewer, “Listen also to what they teach to kids.” The curriculum says, according to the scholar: “We allowed the eating of the flesh of dead humans … under necessary conditions. It (human flesh) must not be cooked or grilled to avoid Haram (evil) … and he can kill a murtadd (apostate) and eat him.” The scholar complained “this stuff is being taught to kids at al-Azhar.” “This is what is being taught to kids right now,” he said. “When they teach them this kind of stuff, their minds cannot accept civilization any more.” The Shoebats say the university finds its support for cannibalism in Islamic authority.

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. . Fake Walnuts Filled with Concrete in China: There’s a set of photos making the rounds on the Internet these days, but even though they recently went viral, they were actually released a year ago. They show a bunch of normal-looking walnuts that when cracked open reveal a very hard filling – concrete pebbles. According to Ministry of Tofu, these fake walnuts were bought by a certain Mr. Li, last February, from a street vendor in Zhengzou, Henan province. When he got home and started cracking them, he noticed that instead of a meaty seed, many were actually filled with concrete pebbles wrapped in tissue. But Li’s case is not an isolated one. Apparently, many Chinese walnut vendors try to maximize their profits by carefully cracking open the hard shell, taking out the nutmeat, replacing it with concrete and tissue so it doesn’t make a strange noise, and gluing it shut. This way they can sell the nuts and the seeds separately.; .; .
Here’s How You Buy Your Way Onto The New York Times Bestsellers List – Forbes: So it would’ve cost more than $211,000, and that’s before ResultSource’s fee, which is typically more than $20,000. Kaplan settled for making the Journal’s list, reaching the pre-sale figure of 3,000 by securing commitments from corporate clients, who agreed to buy copies as part of his speaking fees, and by buying copies for himself to resell at public appearances. Kaplan expresses significant reservations about taking part in what is essentially a laundering operation aimed at deceiving the book-buying public into believing a title is more in-demand than it is. “It’s no wonder few people in the industry want to talk about bestseller campaigns,” he writes “Put bluntly, they allow people with enough money, contacts, and know-how to buy their way onto bestseller lists.”
. . Napster: the day the music was set free: I was 17, and the owner of an irregular music collection that numbered about 20 albums, most of them a real shame (OMC’s How Bizarre, the Grease 2 soundtrack). One day I had unsupervised access to the family PC and, for reasons forgotten, an urge to hear the campy orchestral number from the film Austin Powers. I was a model Napster user: internet-equipped, impatient and mostly ignorant of the ethical and legal particulars of peer-to-peer file-sharing. I installed the software, searched Napster’s vast list of MP3 files, and soon had Soul Bossa Nova plinking kilobyte by kilobyte on to my hard drive. “It’s difficult to describe to people… how much material was suddenly available,” the technology guru John Perry Barlow tells Alex Winter, the director of Downloaded, in his new documentary. Speaking to me on the phone from the US, Winter added: “There was no ramp up. There was no transition. It was like that famous shot from 2001: A Space Odyssey, when the prehistoric monkey throws a b…
. . Emoticon-based “Moby Dick” gets its day in the sun: In the US Library of Congress: The US Library of Congress welcomed Moby Dick onto its vaunted shelves this week but it wasn’t the famous Herman Melville-penned whale tale version oh no, it was the version told exclusively in emoticon – you know those little signs like J, . Emoji are the emoticons typically used in Japanese texting though they obviously are used world-wide to annoy or entertain everyone depending on your opinion of them. Called “Emoji Dick,” the emoticon book project was undertaken back in 2009 by data engineer Fred Benenson. According to the Library of Congress’ blog, in 2009 Benenson started a campaign to fund the “Emoji Dick” project and within a month raised enough money to put it together – $3,500.
. . NASCAR Crash Daytona 500 2013 [Video]: Fans sprayed with debris. Someone got mashed by a tire. NASCAR tried to take this down.
. . Kurt Cobain had the worst jeans.
. . Kara Vandereyk – Jailed After Having Sex With Pit Bull In Front Yard: According to Las Vegas Metro Police, an officer was patrolling the 300 block of N. 16th st. Tuesday when he came across a naked woman who appeared to be engaged in sexual relations with a dog. Officers arrived on the scene to find the woman, who was still undressed, laying on the ground. When the woman saw officers approaching, she said “Hi” to them and then began fondling the dog in a sexual manner.
. . Drivers stoned on marijuana test their driving skills: CNN may have just posted their best piece of investigative journalism in years. In the following video, three drivers of varying ages got incredibly high on marijuana and test-drove cars around a course. A driving-ed instructor accompanied them to avert any chance of an accident, and police watched from the sidelines to spot any visible ‘signs’ of inebriation in their movements.
. . An ‘alternative universe’ will eventually destroy ours, says Higgs researcher: Remember that Higgs-like particle that scientists finally managed to pin down last year at the Large Hadron Collider? Well, it’s proving to be a harbinger of bad news. According to Joseph Lykken, a theoretical physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the mass of the Higgs boson indicates that “the universe we live in is inherently unstable, and at some point billions of years from now it’s all going to get wiped out.”
. . Gallon Smashing: The Video Sensation Out To Destroy Harlem Shake: I love this. I know that the comments are going to be filled with people decrying the destructive aspects of ‘Gallon Smashing,’ and they’re not wrong, but there’s so much that’s great about this concept. There’s a level of straight up slapstick comedy that is incredible. This kid (is it the same kid every time? I think it might be) has the moves of a silent comedy star. I like that the prank isn’t necessarily about getting other people wet or anything (although that happens, as is the unpredictable nature of smashing gallons of milk). And I like that this guy seems to be in his teens – exactly the right age to be doing stupid, destructive, anti-social prank behavior. When frat boys start doing this it won’t be funny.
. . College women told to urinate or vomit to deter a rapist: The list of 10 tips by the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs was billed as “last resort” options to deter a sexual assault. “Tell your attacker that you have a disease or are menstruating,” read one tip. “Vomiting or urinating may also convince the attacker to leave you alone,” read another.; Thanks Jasmine
. . Scorecard: How Many Rights Have Americans REALLY Lost?: For example, the following actions may get an American citizen living on U.S. soil labeled as a “suspected terrorist” today: Being young (if you live near a battle zone, you are fair game; and see this) Using social media Reporting or doing journalism Speaking out against government policies Protesting anything (such as participating in the “Occupy” movement) Questioning war (even though war reduces our national security; and see this) Criticizing the government’s targeting of innocent civilians with drones (although killing innocent civilians with drones is one of the main things which increases terrorism. And see this) Asking questions about pollution (even at a public Congressional hearing?) Paying cash at an Internet cafe Asking questions about Wall Street shenanigans Holding gold Creating alternative currencies Stocking up on more than 7 days of food (even though all Mormons are taught to stockpile food, and most …
. . How a “revenge porn” site got built: Fake identities to trade photos: Earlier this month, “revenge porn” entrepreneur Craig Brittain sat for an on-camera interview with CBS4-Denver, where he explained how his website IsAnybodyDown is nothing more than “entertainment.” Brittain’s site shows nude pictures of people, mostly women, without their consent, along with their personal contact info. The website advertises links to a service called “Takedown Hammer” which promises to get victims off the site if they pay $250. Many assume the “Hammer” is Brittain, since its e-mails come from the same IP address; Brittain denies it. In any case, to many of the victims, Brittain’s site looks like a simple extortion scheme.
. . USA vs China: Who Is Hacking Who? Part 2 – Eastern Europe: Facebook, Twitter, The New York Times. The United States of America. All seemingly hacked by the Chinese. China. Seemingly hacked by the US. Big time. But is there another option? “At least 40 companies including Apple Inc., Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. were targeted in malware attacks linked to an Eastern European gang of hackers that is trying steal company secrets, two people familiar with the matter said.” Bloomberg Chinese-hackers According to Tom Kellerman of Trend Micro there could well be – “We’ve all been watching China, but they’re not the most advanced cybercriminals. The most advanced are from the Eastern Bloc and Russia.” Tom Kellerman via CNN
. . Dairy farmers spray milk at the European Parliament in Brussels: A protest staged by dairy farmers in Brussels has entered its second day. Farmers sprayed thousands of litres of fresh milk at the European Parliament in Brussels on Monday in protest at what they say are excessive milk quotas and prices below the cost of production.
. . Airport diamond heist: It is shockingly easy to breach perimeter security at most airports.: The testimony at the hearing made it very clear that airport security is only as strong as its weakest link. This seems self-evident. Yet, despite all the money and manpower wasted on airport security theater in this country and around the world, perimeter security remains so lax that a guy with a costume and some bolt cutters can make a hole large enough to drive a van through. This is great news for heist fans, to be sure. But it’s pretty alarming for everyone else.
. . Power and the Internet: All disruptive technologies upset traditional power balances, and the Internet is no exception. The standard story is that it empowers the powerless, but that’s only half the story. The Internet empowers everyone. Powerful institutions might be slow to make use of that new power, but since they are powerful, they can use it more effectively. Governments and corporations have woken up to the fact that not only can they use the Internet, they can control it for their interests. Unless we start deliberately debating the future we want to live in, and the role of information technology in enabling that world, we will end up with an Internet that benefits existing power structures and not society in general.
. . ‘I’ve been cleared to have sex!’ Porn legend Ron Jeremy gets back to business after near-fatal aneurysm: Porn legend Ron Jeremy, 59, has been released from hospital after a near-death experience and he’s already planning on getting back to business. Doctors have told the prolific star that he’s cleared to have sex after he left Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles around week ago.
. . Large Labia Project Tumblr
. . Earlie Johnson’s vintage porn collection stolen: “I had a sinking felling because my porn collection is valuable, man,” Johnson told WZZM 13. Johnson collects rare performances by black adult film stars that were difficult for him to find and impossible to replace. He says the stolen pornography collection is worth $7,500, much more than the televisions that were taken. “I had a collection that had every African American that’s ever been in porn, from the 70s up until now,” explained Johnson. “My collection was the best in Michigan– a guy in Connecticut told me that,” said Johnson. He believes the thieves realized the value when they stumbled on the porn. “They came upon it and looked at the titles and realized what they had ran across… and realized people will pay cash money for them DVDs.” Johnson says his rare footage can’t be found on the internet. “I trade and I collect and I look at them too. I ain’t got no problem with that,” said Johnson.
. . Chinese Eugenics: The BGI Cognitive Genomics Project is currently doing whole-genome sequencing of 1,000 very-high-IQ people around the world, hunting for sets of sets of IQ-predicting alleles. I know because I recently contributed my DNA to the project, not fully understanding the implications. These IQ gene-sets will be found eventually—but will probably be used mostly in China, for China. Potentially, the results would allow all Chinese couples to maximize the intelligence of their offspring by selecting among their own fertilized eggs for the one or two that include the highest likelihood of the highest intelligence. Given the Mendelian genetic lottery, the kids produced by any one couple typically differ by 5 to 15 IQ points. So this method of “preimplantation embryo selection” might allow IQ within every Chinese family to increase by 5 to 15 IQ points per generation. After a couple of generations, it would be game over for Western global competitiveness.
. . New anti-piracy system will hit U.S. Internet users next week: Starting next week, most U.S. Internet users will be subject to a new copyright enforcement system that could slow the Internet to a crawl and force violators to take educational courses. A source with direct knowledge of the Copyright Alert System (CAS), who asked not to be named, has told the Daily Dot that the five participating Internet service providers (ISPs) will start the controversial program Monday. The ISPs—industry giants AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner, and Verizon—will launch their versions of the CAS on different days throughout the week. Comcast is expected to be the first, on Monday.
. . Boy meets girl. Girl strips on webcam. Tells boy to do the same. Girl blackmails boy: Now, people are being warned about another risk of finding love in the online world – webcam extortion. Webcam extortion. Image from ShutterstockBut it’s not the familiar headline of perverted hackers blackmailing young women into stripping in front of the camera. This time the tables have turned, and it’s *men* who are being victimised by *women*, in a peculiar twist on traditional webcam extortion. Singapore’s Police Force has warned of femme fatales befriending potential victims on sites such as Facebook and Tagged.com. The women enter steamy webcam conversations with their prey, where they strip and encourage their male victim to do the same. What the man doesn’t realise, as he feverishly rips his clothes off and agrees to engage in various sexual acts in front of the camera, is that his female love interest is secretly recording everything that’s going on. The male victim is then blackmailed for money by the woman who threatens to circulate the compromising photographs
. . As Secretive “Stingray” Surveillance Tool Becomes More Pervasive, Questions Over Its Illegality Increase: Of course, we’ve seen this pattern over and over and over. The government uses “terrorism” as a catalyst to gain some powerful new surveillance tool or ability, and then turns around and uses it on ordinary citizens, severely infringing on their civil liberties in the process. Stingrays are particularly odious given they give police dangerous “general warrant” powers, which the founding fathers specifically drafted the Fourth Amendment to prevent. In pre-revolutionary America, British soldiers used “general warrants” as authority to go house-to-house in a particular neighborhood, looking for whatever they please, without specifying an individual or place to be searched. The Stingray is the digital equivalent of the pre-revolutionary British soldier. It allows police to point a cell phone signal into all the houses in a particular neighborhood, searching for one target while sucking up everyone else’s location along with it. With one search the police could potentially invade count…
. . Banksy Work, Taken From London Wall, Turns Up in Miami, for Auction: “Slave Labor (Bunting Boy),” a 2012 work by the mysterious British graffiti artist Banksy, has vanished from a wall outside a discount store in London, and turned up at an auction house in Miami. And the town council in Haringey, the north London borough where the Banksy work appeared last May and disappeared last week, say that they want the piece returned. The stenciled piece, which shows a young boy at an old fashioned sewing machine creating a string of Union Jacks – the flags are in bright red, white and blue; the rest of the picture is in black, white, grey and sepia – appeared last year during the celebrations commemorating Queen Elizabeth’s 60 years on the throne. It was taken as an acerbic social comment, as most of Banksy’s works are, and has been regarded as a cultural attraction in the Turnpike Lane neighborhood where it stood.
. . More on Chinese Cyberattacks: Wow, is this a crazy media frenzy. We should know better. These attacks happen all the time, and just because the media is reporting about them with greater frequency doesn’t mean that they’re happening with greater frequency. Hype aside, the Mandiant report on the hackers is very good, especially the part where the Chinese hackers outted themselves through poor opsec: they logged into Facebook from their work computers. But this is not cyberwar. This is not war of any kind. This is espionage, and the difference is important. Calling it war just feeds our fears and fuels the cyberwar arms race.
. . JStylo-Anonymouth – Writing Style Anonymization: JSAN is a writing style anonymization framework. It consists of two parts: JStylo and Anonymouth. JStylo is a standalone platform for authorship attribution. It is used as an underlying feature extraction and authorship attribution engine. Anonymouth is the writing style anonymization platform. It uses the extracted stylometric features and classification results obtained through JStylo and suggests users changes to anonymize their writing style.
. . Science of Stylometry a Weapon Against Hackers, Trolls, Malware: It’s been used to question or confirm the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays, Homer’s Illiad and Odyssey and St Paul’s letters for hundreds of years. Now the science of stylometry could be used in the fight against hackers, trolls and malware writers that wreak havoc on the web. At the same time, stylometry – the analysis of a person’s unique writing style – could also be used by employers to identify whistleblowers or whingers among their staff. What you say online could be traced back to you using stylometry. “Your writing style can give you away and on the internet anonymity is difficult to achieve,” say the US researchers who have developed online tools to analyse writing. Advertisement The researchers, from Drexel University in Philadelphia, studied the leaked conversations and contributions of hundreds of anonymous users in underground online forums. They were able to identify 80 per cent of users using stylometric analysis to match writing styles to authors.
. . Barnacle sex, superlong penises and spermcasting: Barnacles are known for having very long penises. National Geographic reported in 2008: To cope with changing tides and a sedentary lifestyle, the gnarly crustaceans have evolved penises that are eight times the length of their bodies—the longest relative to body size of any animal. My sedentary lifestyle has had no such effect. I feel cheated. That article also noted that barnacles have the ability to change the size and shape of their penises to suit their living conditions. Barnacles living in gentle waters have long, thin penises best equipped for maximum reach, the study found. But those animals living in rough waters have shorter, stouter penises that are better able to withstand strong waves. [...] The researchers also transplanted barnacles living in gentle waters to rough waters and vice versa, to make sure the penis variations they observed were a result of the environment and not due to genetic differences. The results showed that barnacles coul…
. . Facebook Hacked! Facebook OAuth flaw allows gaining full control over any Facebook account – Hacking News: Facebook OAuth is used to communicate between Applications & Facebook users, to grant additional permissions to your favorite apps. To make this possible, users have to ‘allow or accept’ the application request so that app can access your account information with required permissions. As a normal Facebook user we always think that it is better than entering your Facebook credentials, we can just allow specific permissions to an app in order to make it work with your account.
. . Circumcision: The History of Metzitzah BʼPeh Disease Transmission: More than 200 years of disease and death transmitted through metzitzah b’peh, the direct mouth-to-genital suction done by mohels to the bleeding just-circumcised-penises of baby boys.
. . Revealed: al-Qaeda’s 22 tips for dodging drones: The document includes advice such as “hide under thick trees” (believed to be bin Laden’s contribution), and instructions for setting up a “fake gathering” using dolls to “mislead the enemy”. Found by the Associated Press in a building in Timbuktu, the ancient city occupied by Islamists last year, the document is believed to have been abandoned as extremists fled a French military intervention last month. It is a Xeroxed copy of a tipsheet authored by a Yemeni extremist that has been published on some jihadi forums, but that has made little appearance in English. The list reflects how al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghbreb anticipated a military intervention that would make use of drones, as the war on terror shifts from the ground to the air.