Breaking Windows

You may notice in the sidebar a widget showing my 12seconds.tv updates. Thanks to Anthony for sending me an alpha invite. I have stated "12 second review" of games. The posts regarding Blogcritics are tagged, and everything is at my channel. Incidentally I have come to the conclusion that the true meaning behind 12seconds.tv is to see time-laps recordings of my beard growth.

See that post below this one? Sure ya do. Watch it? Good. Notice anything familiar about this video here? Yeah, that same seven year old kid has made the news again, this time for taking cheap shots at grandma in a Wal-Mart because she wouldn't buy him some chicken. Seriously. I'd post some personal thoughts on the topic, but someone will just pop in for a one time comment about what an ass I am. Then again, most people already know that.

When a 7-year old kid, obviously being well monitored, goes on a driving spree and smacks four cars (and more) that's actually pretty impressive. I mean, he couldn't even see over the dash and manages to keep going after four accidents? Kids got some skillz.

That said, the interview in the video is unbelievable. "It's fun to do bad things" and he wanted to let his friend smoke are his reasons. His punishment according to him? Take away the video games for a weekend. One weekend. The car is almost totaled. I'm thinking he's a little more screwed than that. I'm sure someone will hear video game and driving spree in the same sentence and run with it.

Yes, third graders. That's what, eight years old?

And not just one of them. Nine of the kids in the class plotted to kill their teacher. It wasn't just a basic let's stab her and run thing either. No, these little bastards had a plan. One was going to tie her up, another planned on blocking out the windows, another was a lookout, etc. They planned this better than some adult criminals plan their own crimes.

I'm not sure whether these kids are evil hell spawns or should be members of Mensa. These are some smart third graders. I felt bad when I heard of kids putting tacks on the chair in third grade. Now these little suckers are skipping the tack phase and going straight for assault with a deadly weapon. Times change.

This is yet another reason why I hate most Facebook apps, they can be easily hacked. Nice programming guys, really. YouTube video via The Consumerist.

Why else do I hate Facebook apps? They have poor user interfaces, they clutter an otherwise clean site, they are just plain stupid and serve no purpose, they don't work correctly/ are half baked,.. I think I will stop there. 

From Ars and WSJ, via Daring Fireball.

While Gruber's comment is pretty funny, this brings an entirely new meaning to "Photoshop Friday" and yet another black eye to photo journalists everywhere.

This is obviously not the first time this has happened, but this is rather high-profile. It won a major award for the photo photo illustration.

It is not as bad as it sounds, but it is NSFW. The Reg has the full details. The Reg has had some funny stuff in the past, but this one is pretty good.

Fascinating look at a freakish cult that pickets military funerals. Just seeing them in action as the words come out of their mouth is unbelievable. Especially tragic is when the kid has no clue what they're doing holding a sign at a picket and another is blasted by a cup from a passing car. It's an hour long, but well worth the time. Disgusting people, but impossible to stop watching.

Per Ken's request, I am spending my time outside of YouTube and finding articles on another one of my favorite topics to post about from here on out: public urination.

Rather disgusting story though about a guy who pissed all over a dying woman, covered her in shaving cream, and yelling out loud "This is YouTube material" as he filmed it.

Oh crap, I guess this is a YouTube post after all. Oops. Still, the guy should probably burn at the stake, though that still wouldn't be enough punishment.

Two new restauraunts opened up recently locally. One is Johnny's Lunch, who claims their burgers are "hot and juicy but never greasy." Bullshit. The burgers we had were drowning in so much grease that when we pulled them off the tray, they left a puddle behind through the wrapper. Trying to remove them from the wrapper was nearly impossible. The bottom bread was stuck completely to the paper. That will be the last time we eat there, as the burgers were flat and nasty on top of the other issues.

So I get a new cell phone from Verizon. I browse the V-Cast ring tones (my only option), find some I like, and head to download them until I see the price of $2.99. Yes, $2.99 for a brief clip of a song. That's absurd.

Looking at my other options, I can download the entire song in MP3 format right to my cell for $1.99, and I can't use it as a ring tone. If anyone can logically explain why three minutes of a song is worth $2, and why a brief clip is worth $3, I'd love to hear it.

That said, Song ID is kinda cool. You activate the feature, put it anywhere near a speaker playing a song, and the service identifies it. I'm not paying $3 for any song it finds, but it's fun to play with.

We need an "idiot" category here on BW. The PTC would fit right in.

The headline? "Court OK's F-word in Front of Kids."

The complaint? The lack of a fine in 2002 and 2003 for the airing of two words during the Billboard Music Awards. Seriously, it was five years ago. How many kids were adversely affected by this exactly? Well, they don't have that stat. If it happened again, how many kids could potentially be warped for life? Well, they don't have that stat either. However, they do believe this is against the beliefs of the overwhelming majority of American people*.

*They have one million members. That's a little shy of the majority.

Want to see another story on what's wrong with this country? Here you go. Guy took pants to dry cleaner, they lost the pants, guy wants $67 million in compensation for the pants, travel, and mental distress because he couldn't wear them the first day on the job. The worst part? The guy suing is a judge.

If I was the parents of this kid, I'd sue the school for suspending my kid.

The short of the story: A middle school student (no age available) was dared to put some ham on the table of Muslim students. Pork is against the religion. The Muslim students were offended, and the kid who did the deed was suspended... they called it a HATE CRIME. The police were called. Seriously. You can't make this stuff up.

More of the incident and a piece on another parody article that Fox News ran as a real story can be found here. If he's in middle school the kid is, what, 12 at the most? Unbelievable.

This is rich, a must read.

One of those classic "it's a picture of the item" auctions, and the seller gets ripped a new one by the only entertaining judge on TV. I could almost side with the seller if she had listed it properly, but Judge Judy caught her on the weight of the item, and from that point on, all the taunting is fair game.

This isn't what I had in mind.

Imagine you're expecting some parts to a table, and you get some parts from a dead guy (including the head) instead. Ouch.

Yes, that school program you remember from when you were an 80s child has been denounced by stupid people who believe it's responsible for making kids fat. In case you missed it, Book-It is a program in which kids read books and earn free pizza at Pizza Hut when they've read X number of them.

Critics say it's bad to reward kids with food and it's nothing but marketing. These people have high-end college level degrees. See what those shiny pieces of paper do for some people? They let you get paid for being stupid.

Do you think kids will suddenly not want Pizza Hut if Book-It was called off? No. Want to know why? THEY SERVE PIZZA. Book-It or not, these kids are READING. You know, the thing they say kids should be doing instead of playing video games? Now they're bitching because because they're reading too? There's only one very obvious statement left, which if you know me, you probably know what that is and it will save you from clicking on the break.

Truly bizzare story about a man who sat dead for over a year in his home in front of his TV, which was still on. They have no idea why he still had power, and I have far more questions than that. No one noticed this? The mail wasn't piling up? No phone calls unanswered?

If this does happen (by the end of the year?), what would this do to the Cablesystem's service?

It has 85 items. That does say 85. Never again will you be without a mineral crystal magnifier when you need one. Talk about awkward situations...

A while back, I reviewed a book called Parents are Being Played Like a Video Game. I figured I knew what to expect as I've read pretty much every book on the subject, both positive and negative. This was by far the most baffling I've read, filled with innacuracies, wild accusations, and conflicting opinions. As such, I shredded the book in the review.

Well, the author took exception to that, posted a comment, I replied, he replied, and he continues to do so. Each time, it becomes more bizzare than the last. Half the time, I have NO idea where he's coming up with this stuff. Oddly enough, without debunking anything me and Ken have wrote, he still insists he's completely in the right. Click on the book title and scroll down to see the path of destruction.

Dear god. Hell is on Earth, and it's coming in the form of stupid people.

A sure sign of the world coming to an apocalypse, Free Hugs. was a simple idea. It's one of those "feel good" videos, so you've been warned. The problem here is someone wanted it stopped. Apparently, giving people hugs is a problem. 10,000 signatures later, things were back to normal apparently. Neat video!

And yes, that's a YouTube link. Again. The fifth time this week. I should be writing a Lego Star Wars II review, but the inevitable link to the site kept me there for over an hour at this point.

If the PS3 wasn't going to cause enough parking lot muggings, we also have the tenth anniversary edition of Tickle Me Elmo, known as TMX. We had 40 in on day one and they were gone in an hour. They're hitting $100 on eBay already and we're not even close to Christmas yet (retail is $40). A current auction has a Buy it Now of $300. There's a YouTube video showing what these hideous little things do, though they don't show what happens when you open the box (it laughs too).

... but this is something else entirely. I know this is a serious issue and some kind of breakthrough, but seriously?

If you're not brave enough to click on it, a guy recieved the first ever penis transplant. Yes, it was replaced... and later his wife wanted it removed because she had, uh, "emotional issues" with it.

This story raises what has to be a record number of questions, thoughts, and general jokes that are horribly insensitive. The "part" was taken from a 22-year old brain dead man. What if he wakes up tomorrow?

BRISBANE, Australia -- Steve Irwin, the hugely popular Australian television personality and environmentalist known as the "Crocodile Hunter," was killed Monday by a stingray during a diving expedition. He was 44.

Oddly, he will be most remembered for dangling his month old child in front of a 13-foot crocodile. He cheated fate so many times, and seemingly provoked the wild animals on his shows. It's a wonder he lived as long as he did. Sad statement I know, but it is true.

The HD format wars are over folks. It was porn that helped VHS win the fight, it will be porn that slams the doors shut on Blu-Ray. Do you find it funny or ironic that Betamax was also from Sony? From Gizmodo:

Format war over, HD-DVD wins by way of pornography appearing on it first. Over in Japan GLAY'z, known for its "Brand-new-century-visual-super-exprotion-entertainment," just released the world's first adult film on HD-DVD entitled (if machine translation isn't too unreliable) "Slave Room." Public fornication aside, it's pretty significant since everybody and their mom knows that whatever format the adult industry supports is automatically the winner, or at least that's how the story goes.

The first Blu-ray (BD) disc drive for desktop PCs is here, but be warned -- it won't play commercial BD movies.

Sony officially announced its BWU-100A product at its "Experience More 2006" event in Sydney yesterday, all the while acknowledging that there's significant room for improvement before the product is viable for integration into media centre PCs.

Lets here it for HDCP, (High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection) Sony is really making strides in the fight of the HD format wars.

Okay, we all know the facts by now. Adnan Hajj, ex-photojournalist for Reuters, manipulated at least some of his photographs before submitting them to the wire service. Hajj has been fired, and all of his photos have been removed from the Reuters archive pending an investigation.

(The “investigation,” in this case, may involve Reuters dumping 920 photographs with Hajj’s name on them into a deep hole, paving over the top and getting on with their lives.)

A Reuters employee was suspended after using the company's internet access to issue a threat saying "I look forward to the day when you pigs get your throats cut."

The e-mail was sent to Charles Johnson, who maintains the of Little Green Footballs blog.

Reuters really hates bloggers. First they foil a photoshop job, and now they are writing about Israel and jihadist terrorist activities (OMG!).

How stupid was it to send an email from within the company network? I would have at least used an anonymous proxy.

Two black eyes for Reuters, back-to-back no less. Nice job fellas.

Reuters withdraws photograph of Beirut after Air Force attack after US blogs, photographers point out 'blatant evidence of manipulation.' Reuters' head of PR says in response, 'Reuters has suspended photographer until investigations are completed into changes made to photograph.' Photographer who sent altered image is same Reuters photographer behind many of images from Qana, which have also been subject of suspicions for being staged

You could also read this news from Reuters, but do you really want to? Oh and the photog in question is Lebanese.

Ynetnews has both photos for comparison, there is nothing subtle about it. The photo was published on news Web sites for about a day, before Reuters issued a retraction, plus the unaltered photo.

Journalistic ethics have really gone out the window. It is really shocking that any photog, even a freelancer, would do this. After this incident, it is doubtful this guy has a career in journalism.

Creekstone Farms, a Kansas beef producer, wants to reassure customers that its cattle are safe to eat by testing them all for mad cow disease. Sounds like a smart business move, but there's one problem: The federal government won't let the company do it.

Wait a minute. Read that again?

Just months ago, NBC Universal was demanding that clips of its shows be removed from YouTube. In the time since, YouTube has emerged as an Internet tour de force, and now NBC has changed its tune.

Holy Toledo! Did YouTube just get a business model?

My dad mentioned this to me, so I had to go check it out.

"On Aug. 1, Intel issued a bulletin warning of three flaws in the software that lets its Wi-Fi radios communicate with the Windows operating system. Although the company said that it knew of no active exploitation of the flaws, one of them was especially dangerous because it could allow an attacker to take remote control of a computer over the air. Then the next day, on Aug. 2, two researchers demonstrated just such an attack at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas," Wildstrom reports.

Of course they used a MacBook Pro to demonstrated the attack. The bottom line is that this effects all Wi-Fi radios -- not just the ones in Apple or Intel notebooks. I also like the MacDailyNews Take:

If there is "nothing Mac-specific in the attack," then why use a MacBook? For the headlines, of course. Apple currently has 12% of the portable market share in the U.S. Surely, using a non-Apple laptop from any of makers included the other 88% of the market would have been more representative, but then, who'd be surprised or pick up the story about yet another security breach on a Windows system?

Brian Krebs and The Washington Post should be ashamed of their initial headline, "Hijacking a Macbook in 60 Seconds or Less."

MTVU, an MTV Networks-owned channel geared toward college students, has purchased Youth Media & Marketing Networks (Y2M). Y2M owns College Publisher, which provides Web-based publishing and content management software geared toward online student newspapers. It counts approximately 450 colleges among its clients

BGSU is one of those clients. As you might know by reading this blog, I have been involved with bgnews.com since it launched in 1997. We have never really switched service providers. They always get bought out by someone else.

Rob alerted me to this. It seems that Iconfactory is rebuilding their site. The animations they have are pretty funny, and must have taken some time to produce!

Adobe will take its GoLive Web site authoring software in a new direction when it releases version 9 as part of Creative Suite 3 next year, insiders have tipped off Think Secret. Having acquired Macromedia and its Dreamweaver application, which Adobe will continue to develop and target at professional Web designers, GoLive's focus will shift towards providing traditional graphic designers with a means to easily deliver their creations on the Web.

Take it that this is Think Secret, but this "news" would be music to my ears. Because I don't want to see Dreamweaver destroyed.

Slow news day or not, this one is a wild one. This guys snake managed to take down an entire blanket with his dinner!

Yeah, I could sit here and post crap from YouTube all day, but Chad Vader is special. What if Darth was a day manager at a grocery store?

"It's Randy!"

The question of the day: Is it Michael Jordan's fault that this guy looks like him? Apparently so and Allen Heckard thinks it's worth $832 million in damages for Jordan to pay because (hold for laughs):

"... is suing Jordan for defamation and permanent injury and emotional pain and suffering."

And Nike founder for:

"... defamation and permanent injury for promoting Jordan and making him one of the most recognized men in the world."

Permanent injury? This is must be a reality check to make sure we all know we're still in America.

I can truly say I HATE the Parents Television Council. It's things like this from their review of the CGI animal-based family comedy Over the Hedge that make me sick:

"Finally, the acts of vandalism committed by the animals when they take food from humans are illegal."

Seriously? Yeah, seriously. Yes, animals knocking over trash cans is apparently illegal. Wonder how the cops enforce that in the PTC's own little fantasy world?

That's only one of the many questions I have after reading this story. To make you want to click it, a guy got a light bulb stuck up his ass in prison. Really.

Look, it sucks to feed snakes live food. Sometmes, it'sjust something you have to do. When your heart gets into it, things like this happen.

Controversy in the press surrounding "Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown, just beginning to fade, will likely revive later this week when the July issue of Vanity Fair hits the stands. According to an advance copy, the magazine's contributing editor Seth Mnookin alleges -- in a massive article titled "DaVinci Clone?" -- two new instances of possible plagiarism in Brown's past. Two textual analysis experts also tell him they believe Brown borrowed the plot for his book from Lewis Perdue's "Daughter of God."

Huh? Do we have the next James Fray? Did Opera interview Dan Brown too?

5. On September 1, 2006 the changes to the Russian copyright legislation will come into force. Since January 2006 the site has been making direct agreements with rightholders and authors at the same time increasing the price of the music compositions and transferring the royalties directly to the artists and record companies. The aim of AllofMP3.com is to agree with all rightholders on the prices and royalties amounts by September 1, 2006.

What does this mean? Do all your Allofmp3.com shopping before September 1? There are five other bullet points, and a recap of the events leading up to this at the link.

MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- A Russian Web site that lets visitors download albums for less than $1 is a smash hit with music fans -- but not with U.S. trade and music industry officials.

If this was Slashdot, this would be filed under the no-shit-sherlock department.

Pakistan on Saturday banned the controversial film The Da Vinci Code days after protests by the minority Christian community.

Of course we ban Catcher in the Rye and Of Mice and Men here in the U.S.

The little blue pill that was supposed to breathe new life into seniors has caused a boom in STDs at one Florida retirement community... It seems old folks can be just as dumb and slutty as their grandkids.

You know, when I think "blue pill" I think The Matrix. Of course I am not 80 years old. This is sad when you think about the fact that they don't know any better, and are spreading STD's like BGSU students.

Her 34-year-old mother, who gave birth to her youngest child eight months ago, said she was 'proud' of her daughter... She told the Sun: "I didn't think I'd get pregnant because it was my first time. But I'm really excited and looking forward to being a mum.

Sal sent me this sad, sad link today. It is even worse that the parent is "proud" of her daughter. What is even worse than that is that this young girl beat the record by one month! That, and this girl smokes and drinks (which is how she got pregnant).

So let that be a lesson kids infants, you can get pregnant the first time you have sex. So for crying out loud buy a condom -- or in this case, get one from your mother!

All joking aside, this is a serious matter. And you should read the entirety of this article, this bizarre article. It is a real shame this girl will not experience a "normal" childhood. It is also unfortunate that the girl's parents are as irresponsible as she is.

It is a good thing the mother and daughter are dealing with the new kid on the way. But man, that is a) going to be expensive with two babies in the house and b) a really messed up family. Counseling may be required years down the road.

Jordan just sent me this Snoops article of the youngest mother on record being a five-year-old Peruvian girl. See that, the Brits lose again!

Oh and don't stop reading at the end of that article at Daily Mail, because some of the comments are just priceless.

This story was just too rich to pass up. From Kotaku:

Note that the first question the police asked him was what his favorite video game was. He replied, GTA. Guess, the cops learned that line of questioning at the Academy, right after the class “Blame Gaming 101.”

I am sure Jack Thompson will be take this case. You know, since he is no longer part of that Alabama one. (Yes I know the boy is not going to be charged, it was a joke.)

I would also like to know who lets their eight-year-old play a M (17+) rated game anyways. From the mother's quote, she clearly knows about GTA. Maybe she should be charged, or fined, or something. Clearly this could have ended in serious tragedy, and gladly it did not.

I am sorry Matt, but that tops the 76-year old door-to-door breast doctor for the day's example of human stupidity.

Three new examples of human stupidity for everyone today.

First is the 76-year guy who posed as a doctor going door-to-door offering free breast exams. How stupid can you be to think this is actually going to work?

Amazingly it did... twice. Two woman were actually dumb enough to believe doctors still do house calls, esepcially for free, and give breast exams.

They got what they deserved, and I almost have to applaud Mr. I'm Not a Real Doctor for making this work. That had to take some convincing, though I guess if they were dumb enough to let him in the first place, maybe it didn't take much.

People suck. They're also cruel, heartless, and damned picky. Then again, maybe I should watch what I'm saying because I may offend someone like the people who came up with this list of offensive words.

Rob sent me this today, with the warning "don't watch this before or while you are eating."

Otherwise, enjoy? this YouTube video.

What is a four-letter word that starts with an S that should not be uttered during a live broadcast? While any normal person might think "shit" would be that word, it turns out that "spaz" is just as bad, if not worse, for Tiger Woods.

And apparently Woods is "stupid," which is how Paralympian Dame Tanni Grey Thompson puts it, twice. Not that "stupid" would be construed as being offensive or anything. According to Tanni, "handicapped" is also offensive.

This is an article, not a pipe bomb.

When Ohio University Police found a bicycle with a sticker reading "This Bike is a Pipe Bomb" on March 2, officers shut down four buildings and called in a bomb squad from Columbus.

This is right up there with the Ravenna Mario boxes prank. Oh and this got syndicated by The New York Times Web site, though I cannot find it right now. Lisa showed it to me in the newsroom though.

Oh, and aren't those article pages on the new bgnews.com looking better and better?

So, not only is this guy dumb enough to keep live ammo on his desk IN A SCHOOL, he's also dumb enough to try and smash a bug with it. The results are explosively funny.

At least one Blogcritic seem to think so. Maybe EPIC and the Google Grid are not far off!

Perhaps there was a bit of confusion at the Oscars -- particularly among the older voters -- about how to cast their butterfly ballots. This image is making its way around the Internet, and could explain everything. Forget about homophobia and racism and campaign tactics and the merits or flaws of the candidates themselves -- and remember it was an election!

This is just too funny. I think someone is a little sore that Brokeback Mountain did not win. And a nice jab at Florida too!

This is funny:

Only one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment... but more than half can name at least two members of the cartoon family.

That's not the best part though:

About one in five people thought the right to own a pet was protected.

Here are the results, and yes, I can't do all five off the top of my head either. However, I know the Simpsons and American Idol judges. Sue me.

The short story:

Taco Bell held a contest for people to put funny slogans on their hot sauce packets. One of them happened to be "Not a flotation device," or other wording close to it.

Mildly amusing given all the warnings on other products these days, but apparently, this woman decided it was offensive. How? It's an insult to Mexicans who struggle to bring their families to freedom.

While I have zero belief in astrology, this is pretty fun. Pop in your birthday to find a bunch of stats and other stuff about yourself.

Couple odd bits of news I just heard about on the radio; I thought they were worth posting because I couldn't decide how to react, whether I should laugh or cringe or what.

Isabella, the 38 year-old French woman who received a lip and nose transplant in November, is taking up smoking again to the consternation of her doctors. And the couple who sued Columbus-based Wendy's restaurants over a severed finger in their chilli, but who it was later revealed had planted the pointer, have received a combined 21 years in prison for the stunt.

Tis the season for deals on electronics fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.

On the 30th I was at Wal*Mart and Jim got a Toshiba M45-S2692 for $996.00. They have the same deal online as well. It is a 15.4" widescreen laptop with 1.73 GHz Intel Centrino processor. What a deal!

Today at Best Buy I found a Toshiba M55-S3293 for $999.99 that has a slightly faster processor, double the RAM but a smaller (not wide) screen as the M45-S2692.

Both have great specs for a $1000 notebook.

Yes, they're against violence, which of course includes video games. However, this little section is the one that really sets me off. They not only tell their members to sticker store merchandise with absurd little stickers (and potentially ruining it when someone tries to take them off), but actually tell them to buy merchandise, come back in, yell at the clerk (who has a 99.9% chance of not caring in the least) for carrying it, and get a refund.

Look ladies, fight against the real war. Leave the GI Joe merchandise alone. You have no right to tell me what I can and cannot buy, whether it's for myself or the kids I don't have.

I've read this twice, and I'm still not exactly sure what this woman is trying to say he did. Even more amazing the judge allowed the claims. Only in America folks!

This animation is simply breathtaking. The emotion and level of facial animation is incredible.

These renderings are also rather impressive. I must say this is some of the most stunning 3D modeling, texturing, and animation I have seen.

The women in "photo-shoot" are top notch. The texture work is amazing. The only thing that looks off is the hair, which is one of the hardest things to pull of in 3D modeling.

This is also the guy who did the Maxim cyber babe last year.

This news is over a month old by now but I just saw it on the CBC for the first time yesterday, and it raises just all sorts of questions (and more than a little bile).

US troops in Iraq have been trading 'trophy photos' of dead Iraqis, really gruesome stuff, for access to the porn site nowthatsfuckedup.com.

Mandatory driving tests every year after age 70... now.

Violence continued to erupt in a North Toledo neighborhood this afternoon where a Nazi march had been planned earlier in the day.

Protesters who had gathered for the rally, which was canceled because of disturbances, looted a gas station and liquor store and then set the liquor store on fire. Assaults also were being reported.

Mayor Jack Ford, Fire Chief Mike Bell, and community leaders all tried unsuccesfully to quell the uprising. Mayor Ford has declared a state of emergency and an 8 p.m. curfew.

I know Matt was so looking forward to this :) I really have no idea why they would actually schedule a Nazi march, then think it would go off without a hitch. This has disrupted so many events in the North Toledo area.

And a large portion of 12-year olds now know that. To quote from the article:

"I didn't set out to offend. I'm a priest and I'm very careful about not offending people."

Riiight... Can't imagine what he thinks of video games.

This was all over the news when I got here at the end of August, two male models (porn stars some say) who got lost under mysterious circumstances somewhere on the tiny mountain in the middle of the island. I bring it up now because their mother is suing.

LIMA, Peru (AP) -- A chartered jet carrying 289 Gambian soccer fans pretended it needed to make an emergency landing so they could watch their team compete in the FIFA Under 17 World Championships, officials said Wednesday.

The plane, claiming to be low on fuel, landed Tuesday near the stadium in Peru's northern coast city of Piura.

Now those are soccer fans!

Suresh Joachim broke the Guinness world record for the longest time spent watching TV. He finished Friday with 69 hours and 48 minutes.

After passing the previous record of 50 hours and 7 minutes Thursday, Joachim continued until shortly after 7 a.m. Friday morning (EDT).

I wonder what the record for playing video games is? Probably would not want anyone in South Korea to try for that record, those people seem to be dropping dead left and right from playing video games non stop.

Half of this is sad, but I guess mostly it's good news.

Then again, we really have to balance our short-term interests with what's best in the long-term. Those gold chains will be missed.

It would probably make more sense to give $20 directly to the Red Cross, but this little Halo shirt is a pretty nice piece, and $15 makes it to the victims.

There's no point in writing something on this disaster. So many already have, not to mention it's almost impossible to find the words. Head over to BC for a master post to each piece and donation links. It's impossible to even turn on the TV without seeing something on this, and it gets even more brutal by the day. When people begin SHOOTING at the help coming in helicopters, it really does make you lose hope for humanity, but it's impossible not to feel sorry for the millions upon millions who have nothing right now.

Speechless.

What a generous corporate donor. These fine folks at the English-challenged T-Mobile have given residents in Hurricane Katrina's level 5 path free Wi-Fi service in hotspots. Maybe they should drop off laptops to the people stranded on their roofs.Or better yet, donate money for the clean up efforts. Or maybe they could figure out a way to provide service under the water, since the states are under it. Surely those people who are now out of house and home will gladly take a dive into the water to find their laptops and then head to a local Starbucks, right?

If we have any readers in New Orleans, good luck with this incredible hurricane. When you hear the mayor refer to the Superdome as the "refuge of last resort," you can almost see this as a disaster movie. The resemblance is uncanny. The NOAA released this freakish statement:

Yes, because if you're stupid enough not to know they're bad for you, please eat more. Seriously, who honestly believes this is high quality food? It doesn't matter what they cause. They suck as far as nutrition is concerned, and who is actually going to read the label?

This kid found out the hard way, and had to go through nearly a dozen surgeries to get his life back to normal.

Even though that web page says it many times, the photos are not for the faint of heart.

Thanks Dan for the link.

It's because of stupid fu...

*calm down Matt...*

It's because of stupid shi...

*keep going*

It's because of stupid idiots like this.

A University freshman was arrested for allegedly assaulting her roommate early Tuesday morning after the victim was found beaten and covered with blood on the second floor of Harshman-Anderson.

I meant to talk to Holly today about this, didn't get the chance. This is just horrible.

For when you have nothing better to do.

Just broke in with a special report on ABC News, complete with video montage. Lung Cancer was the cause.

BOWLING GREEN, Virginia (AP) -- Succeeding on his third try to visit them, President Bush comforted thousands of Boy Scouts on Sunday at a national jamboree marred by the electrocutions of four leaders and stifling heat that sickened 300.

The Boy Scouts have had some freak accidents lately. Not only did these Scouts get electrocuted at this year's National Jamboree, but some Scouts were killed by lightning in California this weekend as well.

My heart goes out to their families. I never had anything like that happen at a Jamboree or a camping trip.

If you ever felt like you were sick of seeing the Boy Scouts of America being used for a punching bag by the American Civil LIberties Union and other activists, take heart.

Reinforcements are here.

You can count me in to the crowd that is "sick of seeing the Boy Scouts of America being used for a punching bag." I just ordered the book Get Off My Honor: The Assault on the Boy Scouts of America. I will let you know what I think when I am done with it.

LONDON (Reuters) - The word "fail" should be banned from use in British classrooms and replaced with the phrase "deferred success" to avoid demoralizing pupils, a group of teachers has proposed.

Members of the Professional Association of Teachers (PAT) argue that telling pupils they have failed can put them off learning for life.

I nabbed this one from Stehpany's blog too, I am sure she won't mind.

So this has been my problem all along, I knew it! I have been told that I have been failing, when in fact I have actually been deferring success for all these years. Yea. Bull pucky.

LONDON (Reuters) - The music industry has a new scapegoat for its revenue problems: album cover art.

A big barcode splashed on the cover of an '80s compilation CD is being mistakenly scanned by retailers instead of the real barcode, giving Tears for Fears and Duran Duran fans a fat discount

I found this over at Stephany's blog and I just had to post, the story is just too funny.

This is murderauction, a place to buy and sell items related to, yes, murderers. Disturbing that someone believes there's money to be made here and obviously, there is.

This would actually make a nifty DS game if it were fleshed out a little more. Make sure you can throw something by level four though.

The average American Internet user doesn’t know the meaning of some of the hottest new online terms, according to a study released this month by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

This is a short article, you have to read it. People get paid real money to come to conclusions like this? This gets the award for being the most obvious study on planet Earth.

I mean, are you serious? "... People who go online frequently are more familiar with these terms than users who spend less time surfing the Web" Wow, amazing.

Hell, I am just glad I can say URL without explaining myself these days. Now it seems all I do it explain what RSS is.

Live news is the best, especially when it involves angry drunk old men. WMV direct link.

Ever need to see how many systems a game came out for? Want to know the value of the game you passed up on at a garage sale? Need to know about all the 32X games ever released? You can do that with the DP database, and now it's easier with this Firefox plug-in (direct link to file). It works great, just like the Amazon and Google drop downs that come standard.

Viagra and two other popular impotence drugs may cause sudden blindness in one eye in rare cases, the Food and Drug Administration said in a formal alert yesterday...

The FDA said recently that it had received 43 reports of NAION in men who had recently taken Viagra, Cialis or Levitra. The vision loss is generally not reversible.

This brings new meaning to the saying "you'll go blind," doesn't it.

What a freakin' nutjob. Apparently, running tests that could possibly save humanity in the future is less important than your horoscope. I can't wait to see her try and convince a judge that her horoscope is worth $300 million.

According to the IMDB on the new Herbie Fully Loaded:

"At test screenings, some parents felt that Lindsay Lohan's character was too busty and revealingly dressed for a children's film. Disney technicians went back and digitally raised necklines on her shirts and reduced the appearance of her breasts by two cup sizes."

Seriously, no kid young enough to actually be interested in this flick is going to notice her boob size. Parents, good job monitoring what your kids are watching, but grow up, really.

After seeing the first issue, I subscribed. It's made by one of the former Game Fan guys. Fantastic layout, especially for a first issue. You can get a free sub here by filling out a quick survey, but if you sign up and pay for a sub, you'll get an extra issue free. They're worth paying for.

Holy crap. This is a sick one. Karma came back to nail him though. Check out the last paragraph. Darwin award candidate maybe?

*Note: Really graphic description in article.

I'm 69%. There were a few I was borderline on, so it's probably worse. Oh well.

"Video games are a big portion of your life, maybe too big of a portion. They are not a means of social interaction, despite what you might think. Go outside."

BOUNTIFUL, Utah (CNN) -- The 11-year-old Utah boy rescued after being lost for four days in rugged terrain summed up his condition in one word Wednesday: "Good."

It is always nice to hear a good ending to a missing persons story. It unfortunately does not usually happen like this. The BSA now have a great feel good story (to exploit). I was so happy to read that he was found. Of course I am more sensitive because I am a Boy Scout and was a Cub Scout.

This is some big news for online auction sellers:

06/06/05 Changes to Yahoo! Auctions: Yahoo! Auctions has changed its pricing to create a model that is free for all consumers listing items on our Auctions platform. We have eliminated all fees associated with Auctions listings, including listing fees and final value fees.

There can't be stupid people there, right? What? There are no people? Even better.

These parents complained that a team in their league was "too good." You know what? Deal with it. Teach your kids about being a good loser, teach your kids about sportsmanship. Teach your kids, for gods sake, that it's SUPPOSED TO BE FUN. *Sigh*

Use a spam e-mail address. They require you to check the box to recieve promotional material.

Here's the gist of this story in case you're too lazy to click on it. Basically, this family owned two pit bulls, a male and a female. The male was agitated and in heat. The woman was scared that the pit bull might harm her son while she went to perform errands. What's this genius do? She locks the 12-year old in the basement, also putting a shovel on the door to keep him in there. So, the kid gets out and pit bull mauls and kills him.

I posted about this back in February.

Lexmark had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review its DMCA claim after being rebuffed by lower courts, but the high court rejected the claim without comment because it was filed late, according to Lexmark. The decision means the high court will now not hear the case anytime soon.

It serves them right. The way they make their printers, as well as the Dell branded printers, all but impossible to replace the ink on unless you buy Lexmark ink/buy a new printer is just absurd. That and the DMCA needs to die. Companies like Lexmark try to use it as a crutch.

I can't stand Lexmark printers. None I have had the displeasure to use have printed anything worthwhile.

Not exactly A Tale of Two Cities, but close. How close are we to this? If so, scary stuff. A very slick SWF.

Only this time it's not a kid and it's funnier. That's a WMV file.

Yet she has her own Geocities website. Genius at work folks, pure genius.

Your marketing department needs to learn when enough is enough. Your advertising is way over the line. If a NBA fan watches one game of their favorite team, there's no possible way for them NOT to know about the Closer or Into the West. That's fine for the first round or maybe even one game. Now into the second round, for a die-hard NBA fan, it is well beyond the point of ridiculous.

Why do you feel the need to annoy your viewers with this? Do you honestly believe we missed the ad seven times in the first quarter? Isn't it obvious that once Charles Barkley begins sarcastically guessing which ad is coming up next that you've went to far?

STOP with these ads. WE KNOW. This is not good marketing. It's unneccesary and if anything, it makes it easier to turn the channels each break just to get away from it.

Seems like he's screaming for attention, but still a funny story.

You could reload this one for hours and still get something new. Some will end up being the funniest things you've ever read:

Vin Diesel created both Mac and PC. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are just hand puppets he uses. The whole thing is just to entertain him as he wistfully wishes for a much simpler time of pirate dinosaurs and flying pyramids manned by busty Nympho Amazonians.

Comical. Here are two idiots who claim to have found $50,000 worth of old bills in their backyard when they actually found it during a roofing job. They fail completely to make up a coherent story between them (obviously the first step when you're pulling off a fraud), then have the absolute stupidity to go on national TV to show their new found wealth. Genius at work... pure genius.

He's got nothing on this guy.

These things are incredible. Considering how they're made, that price isn't too bad either. I'm sold on the Jurassic Park box.

But it's not, and this now stands as both the biggest waste of money and technology I've ever seen.

... well, more Legos. Lots of stuff to share, some of which you might have seen before.

First, Spiderman 2... in Lego! Large Quicktime file, but even if you're on a slow connection, trust me that it's worth every minute you wait.

Next, Godzilla... in Lego! Just basic .jpgs like the rest from here on out, but mighty impressive.

How about the Beatles... in Lego! This one is really impressive.

Of course, you have to have the Bible... in Lego!

To take on Spiderman 2, we of course have to have Star Wars... in Lego! Most of the pics are down, but he built the WHOLE FREAKIN' DEATH STAR! Look at those thumbnails!

So, how long before they blame the "stress" on a video game somehow?

Seriously, this is exactly what's wrong with this country. Sound absurd? It's not. Parents sit around all day not caring that their kids are blowing heads off in "Grand Theft Auto," but when they get a red "F," they take notice and blame it on the color of the ink. I mean, we all know that a purple "F" is so much more appealing. Parents, you have far more important things to worry about. Get over it. If your kid is flunking math, then he or she has far more issues than the color of the ink used to grade him. Idiots.

Adobe today announced Creative Suite 2 (CS2) and MacCentral has a lot of coverage. People are all up in arms about activation in CS2, with a bunch of posts in the forums about it. Macromedia is doing this now. Its just a fact of life people. Get over it.

There are first looks on Photoshop CS2, InDesign CS2, Illustrator CS2, GoLive CS2, and the new File Browser replacement Bridge.

Of all the applications, Photoshop CS2 and this new Bridge look to be the major reasons to upgrade to CS2. The upgrade price is nice too. It will cost me $349 to upgrade CS Standard to CS2 Standard. This is better then past Adobe "suite" upgrades which have gone for $499 to upgrade. I will upgrade to CS2, which ships in May.

I don't see us upgrading our 20 seat license at Student Publications though. I do not think the new features warrant that upgrade.

Now. what in the world is wrong with calling it Photoshop 9? It is fine if you want to call it CS2, because it is a suite, but just say it includes Photoshop 9, because it does.

On a related note: If you purchased Adobe CS Standard or Premium within the last three or so months I would call Adobe today and ask for a free upgrade. I bought the Adobe Design Suite just before CS hit. I got a free upgrade from it to CS Standard.

One of those somewhat cheesy internet things, it's still kind of neat. Put your birthday in the little pop-up window and see stats about what happened in your life at certain ages. There's a movie one too if you look at the bottom of the screen. I was 1 when "E.T." came out. Yeah, I'm that old.

Yes, I feel bad for those that died. Yes, this is a tragedy.

But, they're going to blame it on "Doom,""The Matrix," or "Grand Theft Auto." The question is why? Why can't people realize it's all because some idiot parent decided not to watch their kid, didn't realize he was going off the deep end, and didn't do anything to stop him. Everyone will start asking "Oh my, how did this happen? I don't understand!" I'll tell you... Parents in America have become lazy idiots. It has nothing to do with games, nothing to do with some theological downfall of society, and it surely has nothing to do with him taking prescription drugs. Everything, absolutely every little piece of the puzzle, leads to the parents. There's not a single argument you can bring to the table to deny that either. Call me heartless, but this stuff has to stop and it all begins at home.

I cannot flipping believe this bull! This pisses me off. I take this very personally.

I am a very proud Eagle Scout. I fear that in 1995 when I got my Eagle award, the Boy Scouts of America was a very different place that it is now.

This makes me sick to my stomach! It is another tarnish to the BSA name and makes me feel ashamed to be associated with a group that discriminates against developmentally disabled children.

Halloween week has crept up upon us on little black cat's feet once again. We went crazy-go-nuts with the Halloween stories and decorations last year (over 70 posts - check it out, IF YOU DARE!), but this year we are haunted by the Ghost of Election Present and All Hallow's Eve has been shunted aside a bit.

But with that caveat stated, we are still ghoulishly gathering together stories, reviews, news and the all-important whatnot to get you in the frightful right spirit. BOO!

Not only that, by Matt Paprocki has a bunch of horror/comedy movie reviews for your enjoyment. Look for these soon.

Move follows reports of sensitive documents on Internet

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission removed its massive public reading room from the Internet Monday after nuclear safety activists and media organizations found several documents on it containing sensitive information they said could help terrorists.

The information included floor plans for nuclear laboratories at several universities, specifying the types and locations of nuclear materials they use...

And how long has that been online? Critics say this action came too late, three weeks after the problem was publicized. Lets be honest here. It takes a long time to take a large web site down :P

(CNN) -- Three years after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, people across the United States and the world paused to remember the 2,973 people who were killed that day...

Source: CNN

PENSACOLA, Florida (AP) -- Nice shootin', Rex!

A man who tried to shoot seven puppies was shot himself when one of the dogs put its paw on the revolver's trigger...

Source: CNN

Now that is something I have never heard of. Thanks for the link Brandon.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) - A Vietnamese man who hasn't been to a barber in 31 years is vying to get in the Guinness Book of Records for having the longest hair, the state-controlled news media reported Monday.

Tran Van Hay's hair is 6.2 metres long, the newspaper Thanh Nien (Young People) reports.

Source: Yahoo! News

Thanks to Matt for the link. You have gotta see the photo of this guy, that is insane. How you could go that long without washing your hair is beyond me. That is just sick!

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Internet infrastructure company VeriSign Inc.sued a domain-name oversight body Thursday, saying it had overstepped its authority when it prevented VeriSign from introducing new services.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has no authority to prevent VeriSign from rolling out a search engine for users who mistype Interent addressses, VeriSign said, as well another feature that allows users to sign up for a waiting list for desirable domain names

"This brazen attempt by ICANN to assume 'regulatory power' over VeriSign's business is a serious abuse of ICANN's technical coordination function," said VeriSign in the suit, which was filed in U.S. court in Los Angeles.

Source: Forbes

The balls that Verisign has! I wish they would die. DIE I SAY. I hate Verisign. First their marketing tactics pissed me off. Do you remember the sneeky, misleading mass mailings, trying to get people to move their domains to THEM even though your domain wasn't even close to expiring. I remember, I got one letter for each domain I owned at the time. Verisign did not make many people happy with those mailings, as a matter of fact they got a lot of flak about it.

ICANN, as far as I know, is a regulating body, and can kick Verisign's ass in the court room. And I hope they do. The best thing that VeriSign has done recently is sell Network Solutions (for which it should have never bought) and got out of the registrar business.

SiteFinder can go to hell (I have said that a lot) I have written a lot about this actually. I am adamant about my loathing for this SiteFinder feature.

• VeriSign Reconsiders Site Finder
• Tell ICANN what you think of VeriSign
• Suit filed over VeriSign domain redirect
• ICANN asks VeriSign to pull redirect service
• VeriSign Sued; BIND Patched

• When I type a URL incorrectly, I really like the "feature" that lets me correct my mistake in the URL field. With SiteFinder I am forced to retype the entire URL. Does nonone read about usability these days?
• I do not like to be force fed search engine "results" that has sponsored, as in payed for, links. When I want a search engine I type in Google, and when I mistyle that one, I still get there because Google is smart.
• I do not want to be asked if I want to buy a domain name that I obviously mistyped. Hello people! Does that make sense?
• Resolving everything, what SiteFinder does, breaks reverse lookups that anti-spam software uses. Why, oh why, would you want to break something that helps prevent spam.

The creator of the Lingerie Bowl assures sponsor Dodge that the pay-per-view program will be more than a paltry panty party. The idea of a bra-and-panty fest ``concerned Dodge executives, as it should, because that's not what they were sold,'' said Mitch Mortaza, creator and executive producer of Lingerie Bowl 2004, which will take place during the Super Bowl on Feb. 1. The contest will feature 14 models playing a real game of tackle football dressed in low-riding, lace-lined "boy shorts" and sports bras and some protective equipment. Former professional players Eric Dickerson and Lawrence Taylor will coach the teams.

The Supreme Court refused Monday to intervene in a lawsuit over the hit song "Rosa Parks" by the Grammy-winning musical group OutKast. The action, taken without comment from the justices, means the 90-year-old civil rights figure can go ahead with her lawsuit against the band. The 1998 song is about the entertainment industry and its lyrics do not refer to Parks by name. The chorus of the song goes, "Ah-ha, hush that fuss. Everybody move to the back of the bus."

A Texas woman was sentenced to 10 years in jail Thursday for running over the manager of a McDonald’s with her car because she wanted mayonnaise on her cheeseburger. THE WOMAN, Waynetta Nolan, 37, showed no emotion as the sentence was read in court after a trial in which the McDonald’s manager, Sherry Jenkins, said that even though she gave Nolan the mayonnaise she requested, the woman flew into a rage anyway.

America Online is offering a PC, monitor and color printer for $299 to subscribers who sign up for its Internet service for one year, the latest effort by the Internet service provider to prop up its subscriber base.

More than 1 million songs - not all of them good, mind you - uploaded to the Web site MP3.com over the years by various musicians went away Tuesday as the new owners of the Web site took it offline, with a promise to launch a similar service next year. Garage bands and solo musicians from dozens of musical genres were notified last week to make back-up copies of their song files or risk losing them to the fleeting business world of the Internet.

Reports have surfaced of a steamy sex video, featuring 22-year-old Hilton, which could soon be available on the Internet la Tommy and Pamela's infamous romp. Shot about three years ago, the tape features the then-barely legal celebutante getting X-rated with Shannen Doherty's on-again, off-again husband Rick Solomon, 33.

I take as a given that Ms. Hilton's recent escapade, as noted at Fleshbot (not work safe) and elsewhere, does not represent any fundamental new ground for the young lady. When you devote your life to being watched: to being observed, the step that you take when finally allowing that observation to extend to your most intimate --- or at least, most explicit --- moments is not a particularly bold one. When put in the context of her past behavior, the act is different only in degree, not in kind. But observing Ms. Hilton (no, not observing her do that, but more generally) makes me wonder about a personality so in need of attention from others. She yearns for the spotlight; for the eyes of the world to focus on her for a moment, and, if possible, longer. She seeks notice wherever she can find it; basking in the radiance of strangers' gazes and thoughts. Where once, we can assume, she sought such attention a source of approval, a validation of her own worth, now, the notice itself has become the end. Positive or negative; embarrassing or flattering, whatever keeps her in the spotlight is by definition good.

A federal judge on Tuesday refused to dismiss the two most serious criminal charges against Martha Stewart, the lifestyle trendsetter due to face a federal trial early next year.

He was a symbol of American pluck in his screen debut, "Steamboat Willie," on November 18, 1928. The film at New York's Colony Theatre showed an irreverent rodent who takes Captain Pete's steamboat on a joyride and woos Minnie Mouse by making music on the bodies of various farm animals.

They make computers so you have to buy a new one whenever there's a full moon. If my Underwood (typewriter) had been a computer, I'd have had to buy a new one every time I needed a new ribbon because Bill Gates would have designed new ribbons so they didn't fit last year's typewriter.

Administrators of e-mail systems based on Microsoft's Exchange might have spammers using their servers to send unsolicited bulk e-mail under their noses, a consultant warned this week. Aaron Greenspan, a Harvard University junior and president ofconsulting company Think Computer, published a white paper Thursday detailing the problem, discovered when a client's server was found to be sending spam. Greenspan's research concluded that Exchange 5.5 and 2000 can be used by spammers to send anonymous e-mail. He says even though software Microsoft provides on its site certifies that the server is secure, it's not. "If the guest account is enabled (on Exchange 5.5 and 2000), even if your login fails, you can send mail, because the guest account is there as a catchall," he said. "Even if you think you've done everything (to secure the server), you are still open to spammers."

Posting an email address in a public place is not an invitation for companies to send unsolicited advertisements. Hosting a public Web forum or Usenet server does not give companies permission or the moral right to advertise on it. And soliciting comments from the public on a weblog entry or other Web page does not mean that companies or individuals are invited to use it for their advertising purposes. Usenet news succumbed to spam long ago. Email was next. Now spammers have turned their attention to weblogs and comment forms. In order to increase search engine rankings you are posting advertisements to our Web pages. What you failed to understand is that bloggers are smarter, better connected, and more technologically savvy than the average email user. We control the medium that you are now attempting to exploit. You’ve picked a fight with us and it’s a fight you cannot win.

What you can do Sign the manifesto by linking to it, leaving a comment or sending a TrackBack ping. Get the word out and let spammers know that their days are numbered. Write tutorials on how to track down spammers and shut down their operations. I wrote about how to get spammer’s affiliate accounts terminated. Perhaps someone else could write up how to trace a domain back to their hosting company. Or how to use tools like dig to find someone’s ISP based on their IP address. Start a posse. People particularly good at tracking down spammers could volunteer to help others. If a blogger is spammed, the volunteers could track down the culprit and shut him down. Stopping comment spam in one corner of the web will be good for everyone.

Microsoft plans to add pop-up blocking features to Internet Explorer next year as part of its Service Pack 2 update for Windows XP, a move that would go far toward stamping out the Web advertisements.

Mobile phone giant Nokia is investigating whether hackers managed to disable security that protects its N-Gage cell phone games. If various Web reports are true, someone has discovered a way for the games to be played on any cell phone that, like the N-Gage portable video game machine, uses the Symbian operating system. Symbian is an overwhelming favorite among handset makers that develop next-generation cell phones.

Consumers can move their home or office phone number to a wireless service starting on Nov. 24, the Federal Communications Commission ordered Monday. Wireline-to-cell-phone number portability will take effect in the nation's largest 100 markets the same day wireless-to-wireless portability kicks in, the FCC ruled.

"Leave it to (Hustler publisher) Larry Flynt to do something like this," said Paul Bogaards of Alfred Knopf, publisher of "I Am A Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story," which was released Tuesday.

Wasn't the Internet, this weightless kingdom of bits and bytes, supposed to make distribution costs just vanish? Apparently not.

Apple Computer Inc. said in a statement given to MacCentral on Friday that the company would be fixing security flaws uncovered in Mac OS X Jaguar by Cambridge, MA-based security research firm @Stake earlier this week. Some have speculated that Apple would not update the older Jaguar operating system since the release of Mac OS X Panther on October 24, 2003, but Apple has put that speculation to rest.

Microsoft execs at last have admitted publicly, at last, that Longhorn will not ship in 2005. Does it matter?

"VeriSign's redirection of .com and .net traffic not only is earning, or is intended to earn, profits for VeriSign, but it subverts the basic infrastructure of the Internet, to the detriment of numerous entities," the suit says. "VeriSign's actions have exceeded and continue to exceed the scope of its authorized monopoly status--its establishment of SiteFinder redirection service was not acting in compliance with any clearly articulated government program, and it was not acting at the direction or with the consent of any federal agency." Other suits have been filed against the domain name company on behalf of private companies or individuals, but Friday's was the first to seek class-action status.

The agency that oversees Internet domain names has asked VeriSign to voluntarily suspend a new service that redirects Web surfers to its own site when they seek to access unassigned Web addresses, rather than return an error message.

An Internet search company on Thursday filed a $100 million antitrust lawsuit against VeriSign, accusing the Web address provider of hijacking misspelled and unassigned Web addresses with a service it launched this week.

he Internet Software Consortium (ISC), the nonprofit group that publishes BIND (Berkeley Internet Name Domain) software, which runs 80 percent of domain name servers, has released a patch that will block VeriSign Inc.'s new Site Finder service... "We're talking about mail servers and electronic mail and other types of protocol besides Web protocol," he said. "The lack of a reliable indication of nonexistence meant that a lot of people were carrying traffic that they shouldn't, or they were not able to detect spam based on forged sources because there's no longer any such thing as a nonexistent domain -- they all exist now. It rubbed a lot of people the wrong way."

Between the Blaster worm and the Sobig virus, it's been a long two weeks for Windows users. But nobody with a Mac or a Linux PC has had to lose a moment of sleep over these outbreaks -- just like in earlier "malware" epidemics. This is not a coincidence.... Even if that changed, Windows would still be an easier target. In its default setup, Windows XP on the Internet amounts to a car parked in a bad part of town, with the doors unlocked, the key in the ignition and a Post-It note on the dashboard saying, "Please don't steal this."

As the latest Microsoft Windows infection spread across the Internet last week, knocking out thousands of PCs in homes and businesses, Macintosh users did what they usually do during a computer virus outbreak -- they continued working.

But more than two years after its introduction, not a single Mac OS X-specific virus has yet appeared.

While Windows also has a built-in firewall, by default it has been turned off. In the wake of the Blaster worm, Microsoft said last week that new versions of Windows XP will ship with the firewall active by default.

Take the Blaster worm, for example. Microsoft, based in Redmond, Wash., learned of the hole on June 27 and issued a patch to fix it on July 17. Millions of Windows systems were vulnerable on Aug. 12 only because their owners failed to download and install the patch. Though Microsoft frequently is berated for releasing vulnerable software, the reality is that 95 percent of malware attacks take place after a corrective patch becomes available.

Rob Enderle, president of the Enderle Group, a Silicon Valley technology research firm, said the new Mac OS -- based on Unix -- is tougher for malicious hackers to get into because the code is not as generic as the Windows code. And it's probably not worth the hacker's time and energy, given the smaller number of computer users who use a Mac.

"It's probably not worth signing up. You can get plenty of spam for free," said Howard Beales, head of the Federal Trade Commission's consumer-protection division.

A radical new theory of time and motion has some of the world's physicists doubting the claim while others laud the 27-year-old college dropout who came up with it, an unknown big thinker named Peter Lynds.

More than intended time spent online Other responsibilities neglected Unsuccessful attempts to cut down Significant relationship discord because of use Excessive thoughts or anxiety when not online.

It's some pretty fuzzy math, the idea that a single song would cost $250 at retail, but that's what we elect these guys to do: ignore common decency for the greater benefit of the cartels that own them.

FEMALE INTERVIEWER: So, General Reinwald, what things are you going to teach these young boys when they visit your base? GENERAL REINWALD: We're going to teach them climbing, canoeing, archery, and shooting. FEMALE INTERVIEWER: Shooting! That's a bit irresponsible, isn't it? GENERAL REINWALD: I don't see why,they'll be properly supervised on the rifle range. FEMALE INTERVIEWER: Don't you admit that this is a terribly dangerous activity to be teaching children? GENERAL REINWALD: I don't see how. We will be teaching them proper rifle discipline before they even touch a firearm. FEMALE INTERVIEWER: But you're equipping them to become violent killers. GENERAL REINWALD: Well, you're equipped to be a prostitute, but you're not one, are you?

"Nobody's ever had this kind of first-day volume in a game like this," he said.

"We knew it would be popular," said David Torok, Do Not Call project manager for the FTC. "But we've had overwhelming demand on the site. We were logging in 1,000 transactions per second, and by noon 370,000 users had registered."

Even those fortunate enough to get through to the site and register Friday had trouble. For some--ironically--the desire to block unwanted marketing calls was tripped up by the blocking of unwanted marketing e-mail: Internet service providers either routed the Do Not Call registration confirmation e-mails to users' junk-mail folders, or prevented the messages from reaching in-boxes, due to the way users set up their spam-blocking filters.

The average transmission rate was 925 megabits per second, compared with 266 megabits for ordinary TCP. "By ganging 10 Fast TCP systems together, the researchers have achieved transmission speeds of over 8.6 gigabits per second, which is more than 6,000 times the capacity of ordinary broadband links," said New Scientist.

Handwriting experts fear that the wild popularity of e-mail and IM, particularly among kids, could erase cursive within a few decades. With 90 percent of Americans between the ages of 5 and 17 using computers, it's not uncommon for kids to type 20-30 WPM by the time they leave elementary school. Keyboards, joysticks and cell-phone touch pads have ruined kids' ability to hold a pencil properly, let alone write legibly, says the former president of the International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers and Teachers of Handwriting.

"The truth is, boys and girls, even if you write a lot of e-mail on the computer, you will always need to write things down on paper at some point in your life," Boell says. "The letters you write to people are beautiful, and they'll cherish them forever. Have any of you ever received an e-mail that you cherished?"

Recently several bogus mp3 files meant to resemble the file attributes of songs from Madonna's new album "American Life" were flooded onto Peer2Peer networks for music pirates to download. When Madonna's fans went to listen to her new songs instead of enjoying her music they heard the message "What the f*ck do you think you are doing?".

This was an attempt by Madonna's managment to slow down the spread of her album online, forcing fans to either buy it, or do without listening to her music, hoping to increase sales on the album.

Unfortunately for Madonna and her managment, thanks to an unknown hacker, Madonna fans could visit her website to download her full album and remixes and no longer needed to worry about downloading bogus mp3 files. While visiting the site fans could see the hackers message to Madonna that stated: "This is what the f*ck I think I'm doing..."

Check out the thread about this and the screen shot of the defaced madonna.com web site.

So what does this mean? Music pirates will get their music!

Ahmed Kadoim, a FIFA-recognized referee who fled Iraq in December, tells a similar tale of torture at Uday's hands after he refused to fix a soccer game last May. "I was the referee of a match between Al-Shorta and the club of the air force," Kadoim says. "I was told that Shorta should win, but I refused to fix the match. It ended at 2-2. I was taken by Uday's men to Al-Radwaniya prison, where they used hoses and a cane to beat me three times a day. My punishment was 10 beatings each time. When I was bleeding, they forced me into a pool of sewage. The guards laughed and said, 'You should have let them win.' I still am in pain nearly a year later."

Here is another quite.

"You should not discount the fact that when we invaded Iraq in 1991 that Uday's presence, and the possibility at that time that he might be the next ruler of Iraq, played a role in our decision to leave Saddam in place. There was a lot of unease, and there was no plan for what would come after Saddam. The possibility that it could have been one of his sons was unacceptable."

This guy is worse than his father.

Benjamin Curtis, the Dell Dude got arrested for marijuana charges. Now doesn't that just paint a pretty picture for Dell. the funny sayings i have heard are "Dude, you're getting a record" and "Dude, You're getting a cell"

well i must say i am impressed. i am impressed with the price point more so than the dual 1.42 Ghz system. it seems like Apple is starting to hear people bitch about the price point of the G4. i am a little disapointed to hear that its still a 167 Mhz system bus, but i guess a faster bus will have to wait. the inclusion of the ATI 9700 Pro (available soon it sais) as a BTO option is nice. it sounds to me like they put the DVD-A05 in the G4 now too. the "ultimate" option is $4,107.00 with the AppleCare protection plan and a set of apple speakers ($4,806.00 with the 17" flat panel).

so am i miffed i did not wait to get a new G4 tower? nope not at all, and not at $4,806.00. would i have bought this G4 tower had it been out in December when i bought my PC? well i didnt have $4,806.00 then, and i would not have had $4,806.00 if i had waited till now.