Some pro-Israeli websites lately been promoting a tool called "Patriot" under "Help Israel Win" slogan. According to them once you installed on your computer it will be used to attack pro-palestinian websites and etc. This raises a question how do you know that it's not a virus or a keylogger that steals your accounts and passwords?
Why would anybody trust that website's word that its being used to support Israel, not vise a versa ?
How do you know that its not being supported by palestinian thieves?
I deiced to run it sandboxed just in case if my antivirus does not catch it. The file itself is 232KB in size and once installed it shows a small Israeli flag in the tray bar. See screenshots.
Once sandboxed i run the process explorer and on TCP[...]
A robbery suspect was shot and killed by his intended victim outside an East Atlanta Village bar late Wednesday, Atlanta police said Thursday. Atlanta police identified the slain man as Jamarcus Usher, 29, of the Decatur area.
Police do not believe the shooting has any connection to the recent high-profile killing at a bar on Memorial Drive. The suspected robber carried a Colt .40-caliber handgun, while the gun that killed bar worker John Henderson was a 9mm, Atlanta police Detective Michael Willis said.
The killing Wednesday comes a week after Henderson's murder in another popular hangout about two miles away, Standard Food & Spirits, sparked an outpouring of community support and galvanized grassroots efforts to improve public safety by some who say the city is becoming more dangerous.
Willis declined to name the man and woman police said were the intended robbery victims. The man who opened fire in self defense is a 28-year-old who works in the airline industry and lives in a northern suburb of Atlanta, possibly Cobb County, Willis said. The woman he was with -- they have been dating for a couple of months -- is around 40 years old and lives in the Marietta area, Willis said.
Wednesday night, the couple made their way to the popular East Atlanta Village, known for its trendy bars and eateries, because they have been taking swing-dancing lessons, Willis said. Their dancing instructor told them that one of the East Atlanta bars, Graveyard Tavern, had "big band nights," Willis said.
"So they came down here to dance," Willis said.
When they left the bar around 11:15 p.m., the man gave his date the keys to his Ford Ranger pickup truck so she could drive. They walked to the truck, parked in an Ace Hardware lot across a side street on the same side of Glenwood Avenue.
Inside the vehicle, the woman was adjusting the driver's seat and mirrors when the man looked over his shoulder and saw Usher standing at his passenger window, Willis said.
Believing the man was going to beg for money, the passenger rolled down his window a few inches, Willis said. But he had a strange feeling about the man, so he grabbed his gun from the glove box and put it on his lap, Willis said.
He asked the stranger what he wanted, and noticed the man was reaching for his waistband or pockets, the detective said. Instinctively, the passenger shoved open his door, knocking the suspected robber back a few feet, Willis said. The woman started screaming.
The man got out of the truck and the suspected robber raised a weapon at him, Willis said. "When he saw that, he just started shooting," the detective said. The man shot the suspected robber five or six times, in the stomach and chest, Willis said. The robber did not fire any shots.
"He just got the jump on him," Willis said of the victim. "He told me he fired until the guy was no longer a threat to him."
Willis said the man's accuracy was impressive. In an interview later, the man told Willis that his brother used to shoot firearms competitively and taught him to shoot.
As one could expect, the shooting left the man and his companion visibly shaken. "He actually said, 'I'm surprised I haven't thrown up yet,' " Willis said. "He was that upset."
Willis said he did not know much about the suspected robber. A criminal background check did not reveal any recent arrests by Atlanta police, but he might have a criminal history in DeKalb County.
SHAH ALAM (Malaysia) - TWO police officers accused of killing a young Mongolian woman began their legal defence on Thursday in a trial that has captured national attention because of opposition efforts to link the case to Malaysia's prime minister-in-waiting, who has denied any involvement.
Ms Altantuya Shaariibuu, a 28-year-old Mongolian translator who was having an affair with a close friend of Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, was shot on Oct 19, 2006. Her body was then blown up in a forest outside Kuala Lumpur, and only fragments were found, prosecutors have said.
Prosecutors had alleged that Abdul Razak Baginda, Mr Najib's friend, ordered Ms Shaariibuu killed after she started pestering him for money.
He has confessed to the affair, but he was acquitted last October of abetting the slaying.
Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri, who is charged with the woman's murder, testified in court on Thursday that he went to Mr Abdul Razak's home with two police colleagues the night the woman was killed because Mr Abdul Razak complained that she was causing a disturbance there.
That was the last time Ms Shaariibuu was seen in public. Azilah told the High Court Thursday that Mr Abdul Razak asked him to 'advise the girl and send her back to her hotel so she would not cause any trouble in front of his house'. Azilah said Ms Shaariibuu got into a car with the police officers but did not elaborate before a break in testimony. He was scheduled to take the stand again on Friday.
Another police officer, Constable Sirul Azhar Umar, is also facing a murder charge in the case.
Opposition leaders have repeatedly tried to link Mr Najib to Mr Shaariibuu's death. They claim his close association with Mr Abdul Razak makes him suspect.
Mr Najib, who is scheduled to take over as prime minister by April, has insisted he never knew Ms Shaariibuu.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2009 00:00 ||
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An amazing man. And no one, no one, writes an obit like the Brits.
Colonel David Smiley, who died on January 9 aged 92, was one of the most celebrated cloak-and-dagger agents of the Second World War, serving behind enemy lines in Albania, Greece, Abyssinia and Japanese-controlled eastern Thailand.
After the war he organised secret operations against the Russians and their allies in Albania and Poland, among other places. Later, as Britain's era of domination in the Arabian peninsula drew to a close, he commanded the Sultan of Oman's armed forces in a highly successful counter-insurgency.
After his assignment in Oman, he organised -- with the British intelligence service, MI6 -- royalist guerrilla resistance against a Soviet-backed Nasserite regime in Yemen. Smiley's efforts helped force the eventual withdrawal of the Egyptians and their Soviet mentors, paved the way for the emergence of a less anti-Western Yemeni government, and confirmed his reputation as one of Britain's leading post-war military Arabists.
In more conventional style, while commanding the Royal Horse Guards (the Blues), Smiley rode alongside the Queen as commander of her escort at the Coronation in 1953.
During the Second World War he was parachuted four times behind enemy lines. On one occasion he was obliged to escape from Albania in a rowing boat. On another mission, in Japanese-controlled eastern Thailand, he was stretchered for three days through the jungle with severe burns after a booby-trap meant for a senior Japanese officer exploded prematurely.
Though a regular soldier, Smiley was frequently seconded to MI6. As an assistant military attaché in Poland after the war, when the Soviet-controlled Communists were tightening their grip, he was beaten up and expelled as a spy, after an operation he was running had incriminated a member of the politburo.
After that he headed the British side of a secret Anglo-American venture to subvert the newly-installed Communist regime in Albania led by the ruthless Enver Hoxha. But Kim Philby, who was secretly working for the Russians, was the liaison between the British and Americans; almost all the 100 or so agents dropped by parachute or landed by boat were betrayed, and nearly all were tortured and shot. This failure haunted Smiley for the rest of his life.
#1
The British have a habit of producing colorful characters, don't they ? This gentleman seems to have been almost absurdly ubiquitous. One year its Cold War Eastern Europe, another year its the Bridge on the River Kwai, yet another he's invading Persia. If this guys career were made into a work of fiction it would be criticized as being excessively contrived.
Posted by: Jack is Back ||
01/16/2009 10:55 Comments ||
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#5
In the "tinkler, tyalor soldier, spy" novel by John Le Carré" where Smiley has to discover the identity of a very high-ranking MI-5 official (one of the 5 higher), there is charactaer of an action-type guy, called Prideaux, who before the action in the novel, is infiltrated in Czechoslovakia to discover the identity of the traitor only to discover he has walked into a trap and Czechoslovakians are arrested. It looks like it was inspired by Colonel Smiley. At the end of the novel, the traitor in unmasked and arrested. He doesn't feel guilty at all and confidently await for a prisoner exchange with the Soviets. But Prideaux infiltrates the facility where is being guarded and kills him.
Exactly why the state of New Jersey removed 3-year-old Adolf Hitler Campbell and his two younger sisters from their parents' home last week remains a mystery. A state official was adamant Friday that a child would never be removed from his parents based solely on his name. But a First Amendment expert said that the boy's name might have had something to do with it.
Young Adolf Hitler was removed one week ago -- along with his sisters JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, 23 months, and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell, 9 months -- by the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services. A family court hearing for the children's parents, Heath and Deborah Campbell, was postponed Thursday.
Although privacy laws prevent authorities from discussing specifics of the case, DYFS spokeswoman Kate Bernyk reiterated Friday that the agency "would never remove a child simply based on that child's name."
But a name like Adolf Hitler could have contributed to their removal, said Rod Smolla, dean of the Washington and Lee Law School. "I doubt that the name alone would be enough to trump the First Amendment interests that the parents have, but if it were coupled with other things, it could be a factor that tells us that society has a legitimate reason to intervene with regard to the children," Smolla said.
Bernyk, speaking generally, told FOXNews.com Friday that the agency removes children from their parents only when "there's an imminent danger to the child's safety or well-being."
The children were taken on Jan. 9 without incident from the family's home, Sgt. John Harris of the Holland Township Police Department told FOXNews.com on Wednesday.
"I've dealt with the family for years and as far as the children are concerned, I have never had any reports of any abuse with the children," Harris said. Speaking of the children's father, he said, "As far as I know, he's always been very good with the children."
He said the DYFS did not tell police why the children were taken from their parents. "They're very confidential when it comes to their dealings because people make accusations and they have to follow up on them and, God forbid, an accusation's not true," Harris said Wednesday. "You don't need to parade people through the media and stuff."
Like now, you mean ...
The police department referred all inquiries about the case to the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office, which did not return phone calls Friday.
Smolla said the First Amendment protects parents' rights to make decisions regarding their children. "There are actually cases from early in the last century, like in the 1920s, about the rights of parents to teach their children a foreign language, like German, and to make other decisions like that for their own children, and the decision to name the child is clearly a very personal decision," Smolla said.
He said, though, that even some names can go too far. "The burden would be on the government to say that to name your child after Adolf Hitler places such a stigma on the child and would be so damaging to the child's future in society that the government would have a right to intervene and prevent that name from being used," Smolla said. "I've never heard of such a case, but I could see the argument."
The most terrifying moment came when Vallie Collins was caught in the back galley of the plane water seeping in from exits that would open only a crack, and dozens of passengers bearing down on her, frantic to get out. "I need to send off one last text before I die!"
"Trying as hard as we could to push both of those doors," Collins said, recounting the moments after Flight 1549 touched down on the Hudson River on Thursday. "And the flight attendant said: `We probably only have two minutes.'" "... before your phones are shorted out!"
Just seconds before, Collins had been convinced she would die on impact. Now, with the frigid river water swirling around her waist and seat cushions floating between the passengers, she believed she was going to drown. Pulled down by the weight of her phone.
But there was daylight ahead, toward the front of the plane, and Collins, a 37-year-old mother of three from Maryville, Tenn., drew on her memories of being a high school cheerleader. It was the combined light from the displays of all the phones as their owners were madly texting home.
"I put my hands up and said: "You can't get out this way. ... Go to the wings! Keep moving, people! We're going to make it. Stay calm." "We'll get you to a place with some connectivity on the wing!"
It was only when she was safe aboard a rescue ferry that she felt her panic and gratitude. "We were just very fortunate. Very blessed," Collins said. Plenty of bars for everybody!
That sentiment was echoed by a number of passengers on the US Airways flight, amazed to be alive after the jet ditched in the water following an apparent collision with a flock of birds. Birds must have been texting, too, and not looking where they were going.
"You've got to give it to the pilot," said Jeff Kolodjay of Norwalk, Conn. "He made a hell of a landing." He kept the plane in sight of the cell tower the whole way down!
Soon after the plane took off from LaGuardia Airport for Charlotte, N.C., Collins seated in the last row, in 26D heard a boom and started smelling smoke. When the captain came over the loudspeaker and said "brace for impact," she immediately reached for her phone. Unfortunately, there was no rope with which she could tie herself to it for safety should a large wave wash through the plane.
"I thought, `OK, I'm not going to see my husband and three children again.' And I just want them to know at this point, they were the No. 1 thought in my mind," she said hours after the ordeal. Obviously. There was not even enough room for the thought to give them a call!
She sent them a text message: "My plane is crashing." There was no time for the final three words she wanted to include: "I love you." Next time just say ILU.
Dave Sanderson, 47, of Charlotte, who works for Oracle Corp., was headed home after a business trip. The married father of four was in seat 15A, on the left side of the plane. Doesn't matter what side you're on. As long as your texting arm is away from the aisle, you'll be OK.
"I heard an explosion, and I saw flames coming from the left wing and I thought, `This isn't good,'" he said. "Then it was just controlled chaos. People started running up the aisle. People were getting shoved out of the way." Stop jostling me! Can't you see I'm trying to text here?
Kolodjay, 31, who had been headed to a golfing trip in Myrtle Beach, S.C., said he noticed a jolt and felt the plane drop. He looked out the left side of the jet and saw one of the engines on fire. Damn! I shoulda sprung for the model with the QWERTY keyboard!
"Then the captain said, `Brace for impact because we're going down,'" Kolodjay said. "It was intense." He said some passengers started praying. He said a few Hail Marys. Some even texted them, hoping they would land in God's in box before their moment came.
"It was bad, man," Kolodjay said. But he and others spoke of a sense of calm and purpose that quickly descended on the passengers and crew as the plane started filling with water and rescue boats swarmed to the scene. They decided women and children would be evacuated first. They're shorter, and needed to get to higher ground so they could continue to text. Very logical.
"Then the rest of us got out," he said. Just in time, too. Even with our arms stretched over our heads our phones were barely above the water!
One woman had two small children who couldn't swim. She held on to the infant, and Collins, aboard an emergency raft, grabbed hold of the older girl, who was not yet 3. That's OK, neither could spell yet, so they didn't have phones.
"She was so scared. She had a little blue blanket, and she just was hunkered in my lap," Collins said. "She just kept biting on my left arm she never said a word." The group was pulled aboard a rescue vessel. I was done texting, so I gave the phone to her for comfort. She instinctively calmed down immediately.
Emergency medical service worker Helen Rodriguez was one of the first rescuers on the scene. She saw stunned, soaking passengers, saying "I can't believe I'm alive." The worst injury she saw was a woman with two broken legs. Have you seen my phone? I gotta go back and get my phone!
Paramedics treated at least 78 patients, many for hypothermia, bruises and other minor injuries, fire officials said. Patients and phones are doing fine now.
Police scuba divers arrived at the scene to see a woman in her late 30s or early 40s in the water, hanging onto the side of a ferry boat. With one arm, and her phone with the other.
She was "frightened out of her mind," suffering from hypothermia and unable to climb out of the water, said Detective Robert Rodriguez of the New York Police Department. At least she had the sense to hold onto her phone. It's that mother's instinct that saved it.
The detectives swam with her to another ferry and hoisted her aboard. As they were wrapping that up, another woman, who was on a rescue raft, fell off. So they put her on a Coast Guard boat. Don't keep us in suspense, how's her phone? Did they hoist that up first, I hope?
About 70 passengers were taken to the New Jersey side of the river. And their phones were taken to ATT for refurbishment.
Some looked "smiling and happy to be alive." Others were "a little stunned," said Jeff Welz, director of public safety for the city of Weehawken. "I'm looking at them and saying, `I don't know if I'd look good if I went through what they went through.'" Everybody's happy to be alive and are looking forward to being reunited with their phones.
Boy George was today sentenced to 15 months in jail for falsely imprisoning a male escort by handcuffing him to a wall and beating him with a metal chain.
The judge told the 47-year-old former Culture Club front man, whose real name is George O'Dowd, he had left the escort "shocked, degraded and traumatised" by the ordeal.
O'Dowd was found guilty last month of attacking the Norwegian model Audun Carlsen, 29, after he visited the singer's flat in London in April 2007.
Continued on Page 49
Sorry, I'm having homonym troubles. :-)
As Capt. Brittany Catanzaro eased her commuter ferry, the Thomas Kean, into the Hudson River, she saw an eye-popping sight: a US Airways jet, bobbing on the tide.
"I couldn't believe it," said the 20-year-old, a captain for just five months. "But we train for man-overboard situations. Twice a month. And I knew what we had to do."
The ferries that ply the waters between New York and New Jersey were among the first rescue craft on the scene Thursday when Flight 1549 splashed down after engine failure. The fast actions of their crews, combined with the heroic efforts of emergency responders, produced an amazing result: All 155 people on board were pulled to safety.
From the initial cry of "man overboard!" it took only a few minutes for the first boat to arrive at the jet's side. Captains said they approached cautiously to avoid swamping the jet and sending the frightened passengers standing on its wing into the freezing water.
Some passengers let out cheers when the Thomas Jefferson ferry pulled up, the first of 14 vessels to render aid.
"We had to pull an elderly woman out of a raft in a sling. She was crying. ... People were panicking. They said, 'Hurry up, hurry up,'" Capt. Vincent Lombardi said. "We gave them the jackets off our backs."
Lombardi's crew plucked 56 passengers from the jet's wing and life rafts. Wide-eyed ferry passengers, their evening commute disrupted, helped out, tossing life jackets and ropes to the crash victims below.
Catanzaro's boat picked up 24 people.
The fire department in New York got the first emergency call at 3:31 p.m. and was on the scene in less than five minutes. Across the river, Weehawken, N.J., police, firefighters and emergency medical crews boarded ferries awaiting rush hour and headed to the plane, minutes after the pilot guided the jet into the water.
New York City police detectives John McKenna and James Coll, of the department's Emergency Services Unit, commandeered a sightseeing ferry at 42nd Street.
As they arrived at the sinking fuselage, Sgt. Michael McGuinness and Detective Sean Mulcahy tied ropes around themselves that were also tied to their colleagues. They stayed on board as McKenna and Coll entered the plane to rescue four other passengers still inside.
High above, divers Michael Delaney and Robert Rodriguez of the New York Police Department dropped from a helicopter into the water. From the air, Delaney said, "it all looked very orderly. The plane's crew appeared to do a great job."
Both divers spotted a woman in the water, hanging onto the side of a ferry boat and "frightened out of her mind," Rodriguez said. "She's very lethargic."
"I see panic out of this woman," Rodriguez said. "She's very cold, so she's unable to climb up."
The two pulled another female passenger from the water as other passengers sat calmly on the plane's flotation devices, waiting to board the ferries clustered nearby.
Both divers climbed onto the wing and entered the plane, and confirmed everyone was off.
One victim suffered two broken legs, a paramedic said, but there were no other reports of serious injuries. Fire officials said at least half the people on board were evaluated for hypothermia, bruises and other minor injuries.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. David Paterson heaped praise on the rescue effort.
"They train for these kinds of emergencies, and you saw it in action," Bloomberg said. "Because of their fast brave work, we think that contributed to the fact that it looks like everybody is safe."
Paterson said it was a miracle.
"I think that in simplicity, this is really a potential tragedy that may have become one of the most spectacular days in the history of New York City's agencies," he said.
#1
The GBG (Goosicide Bombers of Gooslam, an Al-Floq militant wing) spokesbird claimed responsibility, reciting passages from The Holy Acorn (The Gaggle 4:11-4:122).
However, some questions remain. Passengers claim to have heard an explosion of one of the engines. Was it a controlled explosion? Who knew? Where was Bushitler when it happened? Why was he reading "The Fowl Or The Egg" at the time?
This and more will be addressed on a new website called "Goose Change".
#4
Too bad PEBO was in DC preparing for his coronation. The "One" could have merely walked out to the "Bobbing Boeing" and saved them all single-handedly, miraculously providing them all blankets despite having only brought one....
#6
We're long overdue for some good news. Too bad it appears to have overshadowed the President's farewell speech. Badly needed MSM and Fox Noise leading up to the coronation I suppose.
#7
Capt. Brittany Catanzaro, a 20-year-old, a captain for just five months:
"I knew what we had to do"
What makes me love America are people like this.
Your national character is seen in the ordinary citizens, not your politicians.
The innate response was not a European "be passive, orderly and follow the rules" and thus wait for the proper authorities to arrive to tell them what to do.
No, the reaction was to IMMEDIATELY steer their boats directly to the trouble in a dangerous situation, and render aid of complete strangers. They did this despite there was risk to themselves the crew, and also the passengers on the ferries ran to help. Also laudable they were effective, not in the way!
As long as Americans retain this nature, all is not lost.
God Bless America and Captain Catanzaro. You've given me something to smile about for the weekend.
#8
Paterson was right. This was a miracle. A miracle that pilot/co-pilot got this big bird down smoothly with no power. A miracle that these various boats, agencies got there so quick. A miracle that the thing didn't sink like a brick. A miracle that people, other than the two mentioned, weren't in the water. Within 3-4 minutes in that cold water you become immobilized. New Yorkers come thru again. I wouldn't live there, but there are some good people who do. New Yawkers, take a bow.
#9
Plane's Captain lives over the hill from me. The town of Danville CA is trying to put together so sort of Honor for him. I didn't know him before this but would love to shake his hand.
In my flying career I can't remember a bird of that size making a dead stick landing on water and all hands walking away. I'd love to see how he put those two big turbofans in the water without starting a big cartwheel motion. I would assume one or both engines sheared off. The trick was getting whatever happened to the engines to happen simultaneously.
If there is a video available much can be learned.
Previous dead stick water landing caught on film. Aircraft broke up with many killed and injured.
#11
GBUSMC, the aircraft in that picture hit a reef with the left engine causing the plane to break up.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/16/2009 12:54 Comments ||
Top||
#12
Be that as it may, reef or no reef hitting the water at 175MPH is like hitting a brick wall engine wise. They extend down like two big anchors and leave little possibility of simulating a skipping stone. If you'll notice in the picture, the flaps are not extended. He was probably going a lot faster than 175.
LONDON It wasn't until Jude met Jenny that the 3-year-old autistic boy understood what happy people look like. Jenny, a green trolley car with a human face, had a furrowed brow when her wheel buckled and she got stuck on a track. But after being rescued by friends, she smiled broadly and that's when something clicked for little Jude Baines.
"It was revelatory," his mother, Caron Freeborn told AP Television News in Cambridge, England. Before watching the video, Jude didn't understand what emotions were and never noticed the expressions on people's faces, even those of his parents or younger brother.
Jenny's adventures are part of a DVD for autistic children released this week in the United States called The Transporters.
The DVD teaches autistic children how to recognize emotions like happiness, anger and sadness through the exploits of vehicles including a train, a ferry, and a cable car.
It is the brainchild of Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University. He also happens to be a cousin of Sacha Baron-Cohen, the comedian behind the characters Ali G, the aspiring rapper, and Borat, the crass Kazakh reporter. Whoa! I thought that first name sounded kind of familiar!
Baron-Cohen first became interested in autism in the 1980s while teaching autistic children. "Why should social interaction be so difficult for a child who has very good skills in other areas like memory or an attention to detail?" he wondered.
About a decade ago, Baron-Cohen suggested that autism which is much less likely to afflict girls might be an extreme version of the typical male brain. Men tend to understand the world via patterns and structure, whereas women are more inclined to understand emotions and sympathize with others.
Autism, Baron-Cohen believes, is a condition where people perceive systems and patterns while remaining almost oblivious to other people and their feelings.
To help autistic children understand emotions, Baron-Cohen and his team use eight track-based vehicles in their DVD. The vehicles have human faces grafted onto them, making focusing on human features unavoidable. The video was financed by the British government.
"To teach autistic children something they find difficult, we needed an autism-friendly format," Baron-Cohen said. Autistic children are particularly drawn to predictable vehicles that move on tracks like trains and trams. For years, parents of autistic children have noted their children's attachment to Thomas the Tank Engine.
"Autistic children are often puzzled by faces, so this video helps focus on them in a way that makes it very appealing and soothing," said Uta Frith, an emeritus professor of cognitive development at University College London, who was not involved in developing the video.
Frith said the DVD was a way for autistic children to learn social skills the way other children might learn math or a foreign language.
In a small study of 20 autistic children between ages 4 and 7, Baron-Cohen and colleagues found that autistic children who watched the video for at least 15 minutes a day for one month had caught up with normal children in their ability to identify emotions.
But Baron-Cohen cautioned that while autistic children might be able to recognize emotions better after watching the DVD, that would not necessarily change their behavior at home or on the playground.
"This is not some kind of miracle cure," he said. "It just shows that if you have the opportunity to practice these social skills, you can improve."
Other experts said the video was not a replacement for working and playing with real people.
"You can't just park your child in front of this for hours and go to the other room," said Catherine Lord, director of the Autism and Communication Disorders Center at the University of Michigan. "This will hopefully start interactions or play sequences that kids can then play with real people."
When the DVD was released in Britain in 2007, Baron-Cohen and colleagues distributed 40,000 copies free to families with an autistic child or to doctors working with them.
The DVD sells for $57.50 and includes interactive quizzes and a booklet for parents and teachers. It is available online at http://www.thetransporters.com. Half of the profits go to autism charities and research, and the other half goes to Changing Media Development, the company Baron-Cohen launched with colleagues.
Similar videos have been produced, but Lord said those have struggled to capture children's attention. In Baron-Cohen's study, some parents reported that their children watched the DVD hundreds of times within a month.
Freeborn said The Transporters DVD has made a "massive difference" for Jude and their family.
"(Jude) now understands what disgusted is, which is quite important if you have a younger brother," she said.
"Thomas the Train" is a huge hit with my autistic kid. I put him in front of the computer on youtube and typed in "thomas the train" and he basically took it from there! He learned how to spell and read and type/write due in large part to his intense desire to get directly to his favorite episodes! Thomas has a face that he can easily read, and he translated it to emotions. He has long since graduated to other stuff on youtube that interests him. The trick is to make sure someone is there to guide him and help him spell and find the other things he is looking for. You have to strike while the iron is hot. You can't just turn him loose on the computer and let him run rampant or it won't work. The computer is not a babysitter, it's a learning tool - and only in the right hands. It's amazing to watch him. We also got him to learn to tell time by using the parental software to restrict his access to the computer to half-hour periods every even hour. After a year or so he has it down cold. He doesn't bother me when it's not his time, and he knows d@mned well when it is his time! The cool thing is, he couldn't blame the fact that his time was up on us, and therefore no intense meltdown! But I did have had to buy a new monitor once . . . . :-)
#2
Trailing daughter #1, who was diagnosed mild Asperger's Syndrome a year ago, finds it easier to read the emotions in emoticons than on people's faces. Granted, she is at university now instead of the target age group, but I'll forward this article to her anyway. Thanks so much for posting it, gorb!
Sounds pretty cool. One good practical use for this might be cloaking aircraft carries during wartime operations. Or fighters during air raids on Syrian nuclear facilities. Or sneaking into the women's restroom. The problem is that if they can't see you because light waves are bending around you, then you can't see them. Sound is not subject to this phenomenon, however. As the Romulan women in the restroom who heard the expletives will attest to.
They can't match Harry Potter yet, but scientists are moving closer to creating a real cloak of invisibility. Researchers at Duke University, who developed a material that can "cloak" an item from detection by microwaves, report that they have expanded the number of wavelengths they can block.
Last August the team reported they had developed so-called metamaterials that could deflect microwaves around a three-dimensional object, essentially making it invisible to the waves.
The system works like a mirage, where heat causes the bending of light rays and cloaks the road ahead behind an image of the sky.
The researchers report in Thursday's edition of the journal Science that they have developed a series of mathematical commands to guide the development of more types of metamaterials to cloak objects from an increasing range of electromagnetic waves.
"The new device can cloak a much wider spectrum of waves--nearly limitless--and will scale far more easily to infrared and visible light. The approach we used should help us expand and improve our abilities to cloak different types of waves," senior researcher David R. Smith said in a statement.
The new cloak is made up of more than 10,000 individual pieces of fiberglass arranged in parallel rows. The mathematical formulas are used to determine the shape and placement of each piece to deflect the electromagnetic waves.
The research was supported by Raytheon Missile Systems, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, InnovateHan Technology, the National Science Foundation of China, the National Basic Research Program of China and National Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China.
#2
The research was supported by Raytheon Missile Systems, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, InnovateHan Technology, the National Science Foundation of China, the National Basic Research Program of China and National Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China.
Don't the Clinton's have to be in power before we give away all our secrets to China or is there an Office of the Espionage Elect?
Posted by: ed ||
01/16/2009 8:36 Comments ||
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#4
In deference to the sensibilities of Rantburg's very own Sea, Trailing Wife and Barbara, I will pass on the Wonder Woman, Invisible Man and Superman joke that is begging to be told here.
HAMMOND, Ind. In a scene straight out of the movie "A Christmas Story," a 10-year-old Hammond boy got his tongue stuck to a metal light pole.
Police say the unidentified fourth-grader was able to tell them that a friend dared him to lick the pole Wednesday night. Temperatures in Hammond were around 10 degrees at the time.
By the time an ambulance arrived, the boy was able to yank his tongue off the frozen pole.
Police say ambulance personnel explained to the boy's mother how to care for his bleeding tongue.
The 1983 movie is set in a fictional city based on Hammond, the hometown of author Jean Shepherd.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/16/2009 6:42 Comments ||
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#4
When I was a kid growing up in Central Wisconsin, this was an annual ritual, usually reserved for the "new kid" from a Western / Southern state. Our teachers, however, knew that a little warm water would release the initiates.
#6
You understand now that a 'triple dog dare' will be formally classified as bullying and anyone caught will be hauled out of the principal's office in handcuffs and booked at the local station with media and DA statements to follow. /unfortunately, sarcasm is not off
DELAND DeLand police are investigating a bizarre shooting at a cemetery that involved bullets used in a military funeral service but no gun.
Howard Sheppard, 30, of Deltona, was shot in the left biceps and went to Florida Hospital DeLand for treatment, Officer Jacob Hudson wrote in a report.
Sheppard, who works at DeLand Memorial Gardens, told a nurse he picked up six rounds of ammunition and one of them discharged and struck him in the arm, Hudson said. When Sheppard said the other five rounds were in his shirt pocket, a security guard took the shirt and called police.
Sheppard initially said the ammunition was on a shelf and one of the bullets may have discharged because he threw a hammer and a string trimmer on the shelf, police said. After being pressed, he told Hudson that he secured the sixth bullet in a vise clamp, placed a metal punch into the cartridge primer and hit the punch with a hammer.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
01/16/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
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#1
Darwin Award wanna-be. Better luck next time, idiot.
"Too stupid to live" really should be a valid diagnosis.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/16/2009 0:32 Comments ||
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#2
OK, experiment succeeded!
I don't know what else he really expected from his engineering expedition. He even used a metal punch, instead of the screwdriver or coathanger that I would have probably used.
#3
Reminds me of the Filipino scavenger who decided to mark a find on a disused firing range by pounding a stake into the ground with another recent find: A "dud" mortar shell.
#6
After being pressed, he told Hudson that he secured the sixth bullet in a vise clamp, placed a metal punch into the cartridge primer and hit the punch with a hammer.
#7
...Some years ago at the old Myrtle Beach AFB in SC, a couple of USAF Ammo types who were SUPPOSED to be prepping some 30mm A10 training ammo for disposal decided that the rounds would look much better on their 'I Love Me' walls. They pulled the projectile out, poured the propellant on the ground, and then decided to pop the primer (electrically initiated so it doesn't have a contact point on the base of the casing) by putting it in a vise and putting a propane torch to it. They figure the primer will go bang and they will have a safe, cool-looking trophy.
Not quite.
What happened was that when the primer cup fired, it became a white-hot fragment that shot upwards through the open mouth of the brass case, ricocheted off a wall and a tool box, and penetrated the thin wall of the propane torch. The resulting explosion, though while not enough to do any damage on its own, set fire to a huge pile of packing material that was sitting next to the workbench (in violation of tech orders). The fire almost destroyed the work bay, and these two geniuses ended up civilians.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/16/2009 15:25 Comments ||
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#8
and these two geniuses ended up civilians
To the enormous relief of a lot of active duty people.
#3
Um, why isn't it just an odd-looking example of Aurora Borealis?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/16/2009 16:59 Comments ||
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#4
Viewing the pic seems to show that the beams may begin from the light sources on the ground and thence project upward. Ima thinkin' that this may be a function of characteristics of the bulbs being used in conjunction with misting conditions. Or Global Warming......
#6
"The lights were said to be a reflection caused by the light from streetlamps on the ground hitting ice crystals suspended in the cold air"
My first thought when looking at the first picture in the article. The 2 most prominent "lights" in the sky were directly over 2 streetlights - in the exact same colors as the "sky lights" above them.
My B.S. says I'm a scientist, but I'm not baffled. Guess I'm not really a scientist. :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/16/2009 17:42 Comments ||
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#7
And no mention of the weird looking guys at the base of the light columns, one of which yelled "Kamehameha" just before a big explosion.
Guess who, Pappy! :-)
I turned in my papers and like you said they made me a three-star armchair admiral. I'm to report to duty as soon as I finish my beer and figure out how to get the footrest folded back down.
Piracy off the coast of Somalia can't be stopped until there is some authority to bring pirates to justice, according to the commander of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain. A five-inch gun isn't enough authority?
Because there is no working government in Somalia and no country is willing to take captured pirates, bring them to trial and detain them, there is no deterrent for pirates to stop attacking ships, Vice Admiral William Gortney said at a Pentagon briefing Thursday. Sounds like an excuse. Somalia is a failed state. There is nothing there to call a state. Maybe some years ago. But not today. Time to take the reigns from the dead driver.
"The problem is there's not a way to -- until we have a mechanism [to hold them] accountable and try them for their actions, there's no way to -- to finish the problem," Gortney said. Sooo it sounds like we're going to wait for the dead driver to miraculously spring back to life. Maybe in another 100 years after the West gets tired of Islam.
The United States is making a deal with a country in the eastern Africa region to hold and try pirates captured by the U.S.-led Combined Task Force 151, a new maritime anti-piracy mission started earlier this month. Don't tell me. Some countries in the region are holding out for cash before they OK this?
He said an official announcement would be made after the deal with the country is official.
In the past three months, piracy attacks have averaged about 12 to 14 a month off the east coast of Africa. As of mid-January, the attack numbers are already at the average of the past three months, according to Gortney.
"That [number] should tell you that we're not -- we're not being 100 percent successful on the deterrence of the attempt. And that's where we have to go after," Gortney said. The Indians dealt with one. The Russians dealt with one. And ship captains who saw them coming and hit the gas dealt with the rest. Hmm. Far from 100% if you ask me.
The United States is expecting other nations to join the anti-piracy task force, but at the moment, the United States is the only country in the task force with just three ships off of the waters of Somalia.
There are ships from some European and Asian countries patrolling the waters independently as well, primarily guarding cargo ships from their own countries.
Pirates attacked nearly 100 vessels and hijacked as many as 40 in the waters off the coast of Somalia in 2008, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
Pirating off of Somalia has increased during the past four to five years as fishermen from Somalia realize that pirating is more lucrative than fishing. Additionally, pirates are able to get away with the crimes because of the lack of government and overall lawlessness in the country. What country? In name only. Doesn't count. It would be nice to have a new law, but I don't really think anyone is going to complain.
Gortney said statistically the chances of ships being pirated off of Somalia less than one percent, but it won't be stopped until piracy is "disincentivized." One percent? That's quite a bit in my opinion. Imagine whether or not you'd let your kids drive if those were the odds of getting into an accident.
But for all my bravado, I realize it's tough when you follow the rules. But sometimes, the situation defies the rules. There should be rules in place for situations like this, even if they are on the a$$-end of the world. It's happened before, and until someone puts a bit of effort into coming up with some kind of rules to deal with it, it will continue to happen over and over until someone does. It's like the entire NYPD can't take down some 10-year old bully because they can't find the bully's mom. Somalia is a failed state. There is no authority there whatsoever. The rules do not fit the situation. There is nobody there to give a $hit, let alone take care of lawbreakers. Suppose some kid's mom doesn't discipline their kid and they get out of hand. There are legal means to deal with it and keep others "disincentivezed" from copying the kid's behavior. This is the same thing, just on a bigger scale. And even if the kid's mom gets mad and jumps up and down in the police station and threatens to sue the police because she's too proud to admit she's lost control, why should the police care any more than governments who are trying to put down pirates? It's all just hot air and we all know it. The fact is, until the mom and the Somalian government get it back together, everyone has to step in for them and maintain order. And this principle should apply everywhere else in the world, too. Unless the failed state has nukes, of course.
#2
The Indians dealt with one. The Russians dealt with one. And
Both are not infested with lawyers. There needs to be a cap on the ratio of lawyers to non-lawyers in any geographical and sovereign territory. If the cap is exceeded then like deer population out of control you issue 'permits' to get it back down under the limit. It won't be a perfect world, but then it's never been perfect but certainly has been more rational without so many of them.
#3
You know, there's a word that hardly ever gets mentioned when talking about Somalia. And its ITALY.
Since Somalia was a colony of Italy, and since it now has no working govt, you'd think Italy would be getting dragged into this mess. But they seem to have no liability there at all. Look at how GB and France, even Belgium get raked over the coals concerning their former colonies, but for some reason, not Italy. Its just curious to me that they seem to be the only exception to the rule.
#4
One of the advantages of 'losing' the first half of the last great war, you get to turn your extended colonies over to other colonial powers. It's no longer yours, particularly when the victors tell you to give it up.
#8
You do it the Chinese way. If these junk boats just disappear as you approach, nothing more need be said or done. If they keep disappearing fast enough, suddenly the problem just goes away. Everyone is happy.
Pappy's point before (and one I agree with) is that it's all well and good to talk about killing pirates, and another thing to make it happen. The folks who've served in the Navy seem to understand this.
It's a mighty big patch of water. You have frigates and helos because no one is putting a carrier on duty for this. There's a LOT of ship traffic, with all sorts of different routes, and the ship owners are not interested in 1) escorts 2) armed guards and 3) convoys. Piracy is an expense to them, not a life or death matter.
And let's be clear, international law is different than 300 years ago. Back then you killed pirates because you didn't want to spend four months with them on your small ship while you dragged them back to Portsmouth. Today communications are instantaneous and one can dump a load of pirates on a controlling authority within a day or two. Said controlling authority has issues to work out: how to hold the pirates. How to try them. What to do with them after you try them.
And no, sorry, we can't do an ARCLIGHT on the Somali shore. And napalm is right out.
Finally, the pirates aren't exactly stupid. They understand the sea, ships, small boats, communications, handling money, and small weapons, and they learn from experience.
So go ahead and boast about how you'd turn them all into chum. The professionals know better.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/16/2009 17:10 Comments ||
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#13
not turn them all to chum...
but a few... come on.. you saying we cant even try to do that?
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/16/2009 17:20 Comments ||
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#14
"Said controlling authority has issues to work out: how to hold the pirates. How to try them. What to do with them after you try them"
Who's the "controlling authority," Steve?
As for the others, it's probably unrealistic, what with all the liberal whiners about, but I still think the rest of the stuff (holding, trying, etc.) could be taken care of with a long walk on a short plank.
How the hell did the world get to the point where we coddle pirates? They discarded their rights when they attacked another person's ship.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/16/2009 17:48 Comments ||
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#15
To reiterate about the Indians and Russians, it's evolving to a similar pattern of how we handled hot prisoners - returning them to another country to do the dirty work to extract information. Technically we're clean, but the job gets done with little real complaining on methods by our side. Our guys will continue to play defense, but the other players will get more action [and deference] from the pirates.
#16
So, here's a strategy: the US captures a boatload of pirates; we call the nearest Indian or Russian ship; we put the pirates back in their boat, with one or more key engine parts missing; we clear the area. After that we can play Sgt Schulz - "I saw nuttink"
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/16/2009 19:09 Comments ||
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#17
Barbara, the controlling authority is the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and other international law. Check this if you want to know more or having difficulty sleeping. Bottom line, the lawyers are in charge so expect it to take a long time.
That also makes me suspicious of relying on India and Russia in the longer term. I suspect India especially will be subject to lawfare.
#2
the police knew from the experience of pursuing prosecution of anyone who would stand up to a thug that they were better off running than trying to have a day in court. besides, it might have been a hate crime if they HAD defended themselves
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/16/2009 19:41 Comments ||
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Centuries ago, the French made head-lopping an art form and sometimes picked up the head and slapped it to make sure. So some political suck-up may stoop to seize Dead Meat's bouffant scalp and slap the face to the amusement of the howling mob and the righteous Illinois politicians who judge him. I remember reading once that one of the French severed heads winced after such a slap, in days of yore, when men wore tights and curly toed boots.
But these are modern times, so this is what I figure will happen. The second Blago's head falls with a thunk to the floor, they'll install clueless Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn as governor. House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Lisa's Dad) will push through a whopping state income tax increase, with the liberal Quinn as the frontman. If I've said it once, I've said it hundreds of times: The money quote:
Every time a tax is raised, a liberal gets his wings.
Then they'll dump Quinn and elect Madigan's daughter, Lisa, as the next governor, and she'll have money to spend and secure herself as a power.
And the voters?
Illinois politicians treat voters neither as humans nor dancers. To them, we're dairy cows. We chew the grass. They milk us dry. We moo every election cycle.
A dozen anti-government 'Red Shirt' protesters performed a cursing ritual by roasting chilli and salt to greet Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva at the headquarters of the Teachers Council Friday morning.
The apparent spin-off group of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) protesters, calling themselves the Sanam Luang Democracy Group, roasted the chilis and salt just outside the Teachers Council headquarters and succeeded only in irritating a group of teachers, some with bouquets in their hands, with the strongly unpleasant smell and acrid smoke. The teachers, who were waiting to receive Mr Abhisit metres away from the roasting scene, looked frustrated and shouted words of support for the visiting premier. Mr. Abhisit was quickly ushered into the auditorium to deliver his speech marking Teachers Day and was closely flanked by security guards to leave in a van for Government House nearby.
The anti-Abhisit protesters said they were no longer using eggs to hurl at the premier or any other Democrats who may show up in public anywhere for fear of raising food prices. They said they will turn to such traditional cursing rituals which call for the roasting of chilis and salt instead.
#2
He doesn't say we're all screwed. That's more Taleb's specialty. Basically all that these guys are saying is that things could get worse. Well, yeah, they could, but that isn't the same as saying they will.
#3
They have a point that there's less "slop" in the global supply chain than there used to be but I think they've misidentified the cause. Rather than the hyper-efficiency they see as the culprit I tend to believe that it's a natural evolution of the regulatory state which imposes costs on businesses such that small business must necessarily give way to larger businesses (cf the ones that can absorb the imposed costs without going under).
#4
Mandelbroit is a plagiarist and a publicity hound. He has this large hammer he goes around with, banging on things. It's true that the markets are fractal, but he's hardly the first to notice it, just the first to tie it to his theories. I have his book on the subject, and it's fairly useless.
Mandelbrot doesn't believe that the markets trend. Any successful trader will tell you that they do. Take a look at $SPX hourly candlesticks for the last month if you need convincing.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The most terrifying moment came when Vallie Collins was caught in the back galley of the plane water seeping in from exits that would open only a crack, and dozens of passengers bearing down on her, frantic to get out.
LONDON It wasn't until Jude met Jenny that the 3-year-old autistic boy understood what happy people look like. Jenny, a green trolley car with a human face, had a furrowed brow when her wheel buckled and she got stuck on a track. But after being rescued by friends, she smiled broadly and that's when something clicked for little Jude Baines.
HAMMOND, Ind. In a scene straight out of the movie "A Christmas Story," a 10-year-old Hammond boy got his tongue stuck to a metal light pole.
A dozen anti-government 'Red Shirt' protesters performed a cursing ritual by roasting chilli and salt to greet Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva at the headquarters of the Teachers Council Friday morning. 
