A Whinger in France

When No Means No!

2013-05-25T07:00:00.000+02:00

Clerk stops robber after saying 'no'

A man tried to rob a Florida pizzeria but ended up leaving after a worker simply told him "No".

The female attendant assumed the man, who was brandishing a knife, was joking and laughed when he asked for the money.

She then said "No" twice and he left the shop, removing the ski-mask he was wearing and getting into a car.

A passing motorist saw the 'robber' remove his mask and followed him home, alerting police to his address.

When questioned, the car's owner revealed that his friend had borrowed the vehicle for a 'booze run', reports Sun Sentinel.

The would-be criminal, Phillip Joseph Steinberg, was arrested just 12 minutes after his botched robbery attempt.

Spoilt? Yes!

2013-05-24T07:00:00.000+02:00

A truly scrumptious birthday present

A three-year-old girl has been given the birthday present of her dreams - a miniature Chitty Chitty Bang Bang built by her grandparents.

Nick Pointing spent hundreds of hours creating the magical car, which includes fold-out wings, with the help of wife Carolyn for little Indiva Tasker.
It's based on the world-famous vehicle driven by Dick Van Dyke in the blockbuster movie of 1968.
Mr and Mrs Pointing built a full-sized Chitty - using an old Land Rover chassis - which they drove to Australia, raising over £10,000 for various charities, in 2007.
Mr Pointing said: "Indiya loves the film and thinks we have the real movie car in our garage!
"So I decided the best birthday present we could give her would be a scaled-down version, that she could safely drive herself."
The mini-Chitty took two years to build at the Pointing's home on the Isle of Wight.
Mr Pointing added: "The car is 11ft long and built on a ride-on lawn mower chassis, with wings fitted where the cutting blades used to be.
"The boat-shaped rear is made from hardwood boat-building timber, with the bonnet cut from sheet aluminium."
"Brass and red leather came from an auto jumble and other parts were adapted from anything I could find as in the spirit of the film."

A Pheasant Plucker??

2013-05-23T07:00:00.000+02:00

Family 'living in fear' after 'Hitchcock pheasant' begins terror campaign

A family in Shropshire said they are "living in fear" after a pheasant began terrorising their home in attacks reminiscent of the creatures in Alfred Hitchcock's horror classic The Birds.

Sally-Ann Hudson, 44, said she is unable to step outside her property without being pecked at by the vicious bird which lies in wait every day.
The cock pheasant has launched several unprovoked attacks on Ms Hudson and her elderly parents Ann, 77, and Ben, 79, and even chases their car down the street.
The 2ft-tall bird – nicknamed Phil – lurks around from morning until night and swoops at the family as they come and go from their detached country home in Wentnor, Shrops.
Phil can regularly be seen headbutting the windows to the family's living room and pecking at the windscreen of Ms Hudson's Ford Ka as it drives down the street.
The attacks have become so bad that she is scared of leaving home without gloves and a badminton racquet to fend off the pheasant.
She has been stalked by the bird for the past four months – but is baffled as to why he is only targeting her family in the entire village.
Ms Hudson said Phil reminds her of something from Alfred Hitchock's horror classic "The Birds".
Ms Hudson, a medical secretary, said: "At first we didn't really notice him, but then we began to realise he was not like other pheasants. He would stare at us through the windows. Whichever window we looked out of, there he was.
"Sometimes he would jump up on the windowsill for a better view.
"Sometimes I go from one room into another, and he will run round the outside of the house following my movements.
"He even tries to get into the house – it's like something from a Hitchock film.
"He wakes me up every morning angrily headbutting the French windows downstairs.
"Often when we get in the car, he will appear from nowhere and either jump on the car or start pecking it.
"He runs alongside as we drive away, pecking and headbutting the wheels.
"One day this week he chased my car as usual, running alongside for a good 100 yards.
"I then sped up to try and outrun him, but he kept pace, finally taking to the air and flying behind the car in pursuit.
"He gave up as we left the village. We thought we had lost him, but no, by the time I returned home he was back outside the house cackling again."
Mrs Hudson said she has recently started giving Phil food in an effort to get on his good side.
She added: "There are no hen pheasants here, not much food, in fact nothing to keep him here. Yet he never strays far away.
"A couple of times in the last two weeks I have tried to befriend him, feeding him crumbs of corn bread, which he loves.
"But he has no gratitude though, and is always ready to attack.
"I have never encountered a pheasant like him and am quite sure this is not normal pheasant behaviour.
"They are normally just rather dopey birds – but this one is a complete nutter."
Paul North, from the World Pheasant Association said the bird was displaying territorial behaviour during mating season.
He said: "He obviously sees her as a rival male – pheasant's are very territorial."

Banned Sites…..No!

2013-05-22T07:00:00.000+02:00

Guide on Accessing Banned File-Sharing Sites in UK

Within the past few years the United Kingdom has been doing everything it could to tackle piracy. Finally, the country’s High Court forced ISPs to block access to the most popular torrent index in the world, The Pirate Bay, and a few other file-sharing services, including Kat.Ph, H33t, and Fenopy. Although ExtraTorrent remains accessible, the situation may change, and this guide will help you in case of need. The UK residents willing to keep accessing their favourite file-sharing sites can use a number of alternatives to do so.
1. The Onion Router (TOR)

TOR is a complex system allowing you to hide your true IP address via various online layers of anonymity, and this is why it is called Onion. As far as security is concerned, you don’t need to worry, because your data will be encrypted and re-encrypted many times, plus it will be sent via a succession of TOR relays. If you want to install and try TOR, visit https://www.torproject.org/ and download the app, which works on almost any OS – Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX. Extract the archive and open the extracted folder to start browsing by double-clicking the “Start Tor Browser” executable. After you do so, you’ll see another window (the Vidalia Control Panel), together with an Internet browser demonstrating which IP address you’re currently using. In addition, the Vidalia Control Panel offers you a lot of features, like establishing your connection through TOR and appearance. You can also install the Torbutton for easier access.

2. Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)

In short words, VPN service is a private network which enables virtual encrypted connections that are hidden from prying eyes. It works by routing all of your Internet traffic via remote servers from all over the world. Basically, it’s a proxy service, but with more hip.

3. MAFIAAFire

MAFIAAFire is a plugin for Firefox and Google Chrome, which allows users to access portals that are either blocked or seized. Basically, it is an Internet browser redirector – in case a domain name of the website is seized, the plugin will search for similar domains and redirect you to a working one.
4. TorrentProxies
This is the easiest way of circumventing the blockage – just visit http://torrentproxies.com/ and choose any of the proxies listed there.

5. Direct IP

There are two ways to access a website: you either type in your browser’s address bar the usual address, like extratorrent.com, or the domain’s IP address. But first you have to find out which is it by either looking on the Internet for such a service, or finding it yourself by going to the Command Prompt in Windows and pinging the desired address (example: ping extratorrent.com, and you will see the number between the brackets as the website’s IP address).

Mint Sauce Anyone?

2013-05-21T07:00:00.000+02:00

Rescued lamb at 'the centre of legal dispute'

A lamb rescued from an Aberdeenshire river earlier this month is now at the centre of a legal dispute.

The lamb, called River, was retrieved by a schoolgirl and handed into the Willows Animal Sanctuary near New Pitsligo, and has been looked after by the sanctuary since, BBC News reports.

However, a local farmer has claimed ownership of the "pedigree" lamb and has asked for its return.

Kate Robinson, who works at Willows, explained that staff and visitors have become attached to the lamb. Vulnerable people who attend the animal-assisted therapy programme at the centre are said to be "deeply distressed" by the potential loss of River.

Robinson told the BBC Scotland news website: "We are appealing to the farmer's better nature. Everyone here is so attached to River now.

"A schoolgirl pulled the lamb from the river and looked after it as it was so weak. We were then contacted and agreed to take him in good faith."

The sanctuary have sought advice from their solicitors, describing the dispute as a "legal process" now.

John McIrvine, the farmer claiming ownership of the lamb, explained that he has offered to pay for the return of River and suggested he donate an alternative lamb.

He said: "He's an incredible tup lamb and he's got so much breeding potential for me as a ram that his value could be quite high.

"If he was only worth £50 I would donate him to Willows Animal Sanctuary, but in this particular lamb there's something special.

"I've offered to give them another lamb or pay for him to get him back but no, they will not play ball.

"They're keeping the lamb and that's it - they've put it in the hands of their solicitors."

McIrvine added that the lamb's mother has been left distressed at losing one of her young.

It’s A Gay Day!

2013-05-20T07:00:00.000+02:00

Boy Scouts of America to Allow Gay Members

For many years the Boy Scouts of America has been struggling with the issue of gay members. For many years the organization has been openly opposed to gay rights and following multiple court cases in the past 10 years it was confirmed that the organization was legally allowed to ban homosexual members. Fortunately today the organization announced that they have decided to change their policy, following a major out crying of support from members.

The proposed rule changes will allow any and all youth members to join regardless of their sexual preference. This is an absolutely huge win for the gay rights community and the entire movement. Earlier this month the Supreme Court began hearing two of the largest gay rights cases in history and while a ruling has not been reached, activists are hopeful that things will go well. This is another major win for the movement.
The rule changes have not officially been approved at this point, but they are being supported by the organization itself. The council will officially vote on the rules in the next month or two and following that the official change will take place. At that time the Boy Scouts of America will finally push past years of discrimination and bigotry.

Life’s Ups & Downs!!

2013-05-19T07:00:00.000+02:00

Man survives after getting stuck in lift for four days

A man who was stuck in a lift for four days without food or water has said he only managed to survive because he had received military training.
Thomas Fleetwood became trapped in the deserted Hotel Eden in Austria when he was travelling to the ground floor in the one man lift.
As well as there being no-one else in the building, the 58-year-old had also forgotten his mobile phone, which meant he could not call for help.
He said: ‘The lift has never broken down before, I just hadn’t expected anything to happen.
‘I broke a small glass panel at the front door of the lift and that gave me some fresh air, and tried to take off the roof of the lift to climb out, but that didn’t help either.’
Mr Fleetwood, from Sweden, only got out of his predicament when a friend noticed a bunch of piled up letters outside the hotel and then let himself in with a spare key to see if anything was wrong.
He contacted the fire service when he realised the hotel boss was trapped.
Mr Fleetwood added: ‘It was foolish to have gone in the lift in an empty hotel without a mobile telephone, but I am proud of myself that I didn’t panic and used my military training to get through.
‘I would talk to myself and was making my plans for the future while I was stuck there.’

Anything For The Weekend Sir??

2013-05-18T07:00:00.000+02:00

Topless barber shop popular in Australia

A topless barber shop has become a hit in Australia, offering customers to have their haircut done by a barely-clothed female hairdresser.

'Barber Babes', based in Brisbane, sees employees wearing just hot pants or underwear, according to The Courier-Mail. In addition to haircuts, they offer head massages, eyebrow waxing, blow-dries and shaves.

Jasmine Robson, owner of the business, explained that the idea stemmed from her belief that most men find going to a barber inconvenient, and she wanted to provide them an extra incentive to get their hair cut.

She added: "We found that a lot of exotic dancers are qualified hairdressers and don't do what they love as the wages are quite abysmal.

"Some of the barbers are available for lap dances but not whilst you are getting your Barber Babes service. They are serious about their art and don't take it lightly."

While the service has proved popular, Collective Shout - a movement against the objectification of women - has made clear their disapproval.

Melinda Liszewski stated: "What we're seeing is the crossover of the sex industry into other more mainstream areas.

"It's reinforcing the idea that women exist for men's sexual arousal and titillation."

Where Am I??

2013-05-17T07:00:00.000+02:00

Sat nav fail coach driver takes Welsh schoolchildren to wrong town

Typing one incorrect letter into his sat nav caused a coach driver to take children 123km (77 miles) the wrong way.
The vehicle, returning the 37-pupil party from Paris, arrived in Towyn, north Wales, rather than Tywyn, in the west.
However, no one realised the driver’s mistake until it was too late – because all the pupils, aged between 11 and 14, and teachers from Ysgol Uwchradd Tywyn school fell asleep before the major detour at the end of the 13-hour journey.
The school’s headmistress Helen Lewis said: ‘The driver, when he was told “Tywyn”, had made the incorrect assumption it was “Towyn”.
‘It is something that happens a lot here, although it is the first time we had a group of pupils end up in the wrong place.’
Parents waited for up to two more hours for their children to be ferried home.
A spokesman for coach company Llew Jones International said: ‘We have spoken to the driver of the coach and he was clearly instructed to go to Tywyn in Meirionnydd.
‘He then inputted the wrong destination into his sat nav and took the passengers to Towyn. He is not from the area.
‘We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.’

That Sinking Feeling!!

2013-05-16T07:00:00.000+02:00

Driver rescued from sinking Porsche

A driver was dramatically rescued from his Porsche 911 by two quick-thinking eye-witnesses as his car sank in a river.

The stunned man, who has not been named, was dragged out of the sports car after he ended up in the water in Coltishall, Norfolk.
The freak accident happened at about 1.30pm on Tuesday when the motorist reversed into a moored-up boat off the River Bure and fell into the water.
Two men working on a nearby boat from engineering firm Ignition Marine leapt into action as the Porsche began to go down.
Mark Platten, 34, of Brampton, jumped in to get the driver out of his fast-sinking car as his mate Sam Hall, 24, of Coltishall, helped haul the man out of the water.
The Porsche was left with just its roof above water after plunging to the bottom of the 4ft deep river.

He said: "I heard a big revving of an engine and a bang where it had hit the side of a boat and the Porsche was suddenly sitting on the water.
"We were trying to explain to the driver to get out.
"I do not know whether he was in shock or whether the door was stuck and he could not get out."
The rescuers used the boat that the car had crashed into as a platform to reach the driver.
"The car was going down slowly and we thought he was not going to get out - so Mark jumped in and it took a bit of an effort do get the door open.
"When the door opened it went down quickly and we pulled him out just in time before his head went under," said Sam.
"He was in shock and I guess his foot must have slipped on the accelerator.
"It was something like out of a James Bond film and it all happened pretty quickly."
The shocked driver went back to the scene to thank his two Good Samaritan rescuers later that after drying off and recovering.
The tied-up boat suffered a smashed window in the bizarre crash.

To Swear Or Not To Swear?

2013-05-15T07:00:00.000+02:00

Swearing ban for Middlesbrough man

A Middlesbrough pensioner has been banned from swearing within earshot of anyone in his home district of Coulby Newham, including in his own flat.
Patrick Gilmore's landlord, Erimus Housing, took out an injunction against him for verbally abusing staff and neighbours.
The housing association said it had warned its 74-year-old tenant in advance of the possible injunction.
He will now have to pay his landlord's legal costs of £4,000.
Stewart Tagg, head of neighbourhoods for Erimus Housing, said: "Mr Gilmore had been warned on numerous occasions regarding his attitude towards staff and neighbours.
"Taking out an injunction against a customer in a situation like this is not common and is always a last resort."

Popular Program?

2013-05-14T07:00:00.000+02:00

Game of Thrones Broke Record in File-Sharing

Game of Thrones, created by Home Box Office, first aired two years ago and since then quickly gathered an incredible number of fans across the globe. Recently it turned out the HBO’s TV series broke another record: the third season premier collected 6.7 million viewers on BitTorrent.
Indeed, it took just a few hours for the first episode of season 3 to leak online, with people going completely berserk about it – this was quite an expected reaction, as Game of Thrones claimed the “most pirated show” title back in 2012.

It seems that the wait was too intense, with the first episode being downloaded 1 million times and accounting for an absolutely impressive number of seeders – 163,088. This makes it a new record on BitTorrent’s networks. If you take a look over the location of those seeds, you’ll see that Game of Thrones is particularly popular in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Such numbers would scare any Hollywood studio to hell, but HBO’s staff isn’t worried. HBO programming president sees it as a compliment of sorts – it shows the demand, and certainly doesn’t negatively impact the DVD sales. In the meanwhile, an Australian pay-per-view TV company Foxtel has recently announced that it will soon air episodes of 40 popular TV series, including Game of Thrones and Mad Men, within mere hours of their premieres in the United States. The company believes that the strategy is quite simple – you deliver the best TV to the audience once it becomes available. This is why closing the window between American or British premiere dates and Australian ones is Foxtel’s priority.

So, Game of Thrones will also be aired just 2 hours after the United States, while Mad Men is expected to have a 4 hour delay. Another popular series, True Blood, is going to be aired in the same day as the United States. The hope is that the strategy will make people choose a legal way of watching their favourite TV shows. Actually, this strategy proved to be quite successful – for instance, this season of The Walking Dead aired only 33 hours after US transmission and has attracted larger audiences to Foxtel.

George R. R. Martin, the author of the books “Game of Thrones”, said that it is the most pirated TV show throughout the globe, and a lot of it is coming from Australia. The reason is that the show delayed for six months there – of course, people won’t wait for that long when they can download it illegally and enjoy right now.

Oh Shit!

2013-05-13T07:00:00.000+02:00

Beer made from elephant dung 'sells out in minutes'

A Japanese brewery has created a beer made from elephant dung.

The unusual beverage, which uses coffee beans that have passed through an elephant, went on sale on April Fools' Day and sold out within minutes.

There are no plans for the brewery Sankt Gallen to create another run of the drink, which was described as a coffee stout.

Tasting the drink, Mr. Sato told RocketNews24: "After taking my first sip there was an initial bitterness that got washed over by a wave of sweetness. Following that, a mellow body rolled in and spread out through my mouth.

"The combination of bitter and sweet stayed fresh and lingered in my head. It was a familiar aroma that accompanied me through the entire beer."

The creation follows on from elephant dung coffee, which sold for $1,100 per kilogram.

Oh Look….Snow?

2013-05-12T07:00:00.000+02:00

Tourist drives hire car onto Germany ski piste

A Kuwaiti tourist who wanted to show his children snow for the first time slipped up when he drove his luxury hire car straight onto a ski piste in Bavaria, southern Germany.
Baffled skiers found the stranded top-of-the-range BMW 7 series abandoned in the middle of the slope at Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Police eventually tracked it down to a wealthy family of five from the desert kingdom of Kuwait. They were visiting the resort on a day trip from Munich.
A fire crew and towing equipment was needed to remove the vehicle.
‘The father wanted to show his children snow, which they had never seen before,’ said a police spokesman.
‘Unfortunately he drove as far as he could up a forest footpath and then lost control and slid sideways on to the piste.
It is a miracle that no damage was done. If it had entered the piste just a few minutes earlier the car would have slipped right down the slope as it was much steeper.
‘The car would have lost grip and slid out of control and the consequences would have been much worse.’
The spokesman said the family ’were very lucky that they managed to escape without injury’.
‘It was a very thoughtless thing to do,’ he added. ‘The driver’s actions put his family’s lives at risk and endangered other skiers.’
Officials say the family will be charged the full cost of the £3,000 rescue by firefighters.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen is one of the top ski resorts in Germany and was a partner in the city of Munich’s bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics. But the IOC awarded the Games to Pyeongchang in South Korea.

Eat This…..Copper!

2013-05-11T07:00:00.000+02:00

Woman guilty of assaulting police officer with a quiche

An Australian woman has been found guilty of assaulting a police officer with a quiche.
Franklin Jane Bugmy was found guilty of the offence after authorities said she struck constable James Wheatley with the quiche.
She allegedly also hit him with her pram at first.
The 41-year-old was reportedly angry about being given the wrong documents after she had been approached by police last year for an Apprehended Violence Order.
However the mother denied the charge and insisted she was just trying to protect her child.
Outside the court Ms Bugmy said: "They're saying I had room to move.
"I had no room to move. The quiche was thrown down to save my baby from tipping out of the pram."
But magistrate Geoffrey Dunlevy disagreed and said a police photograph showed she didn't have to hit the officer and the quiche had been thrown at him with a lot of power.
Bugmy will hear what her punishment is to be in three weeks' time.

But I Want a Chinese!

2013-05-10T07:00:00.000+02:00

Boy, 6, stole car to get Chinese meal

A six-year-old boy is in trouble in the US after he took the family car for a 6am drive - because he wanted a Chinese takeaway.
The unnamed youngster, who could hardly see over the dash, was stopped by police three miles from his home near Detroit, Michigan.
He told officers he wanted more of the food he'd eaten the previous night - but when he got to the restaurant he found it was shut.
Driving off, he hit a traffic sign and decided to make his way to the repair shop.
But other drivers, who spotted his Ford Taurus swerving down the highway, dialed 911 before boxing him in to halt his progress.
By the time police arrived, another motorist had pulled the keys out of the ignition, The Detroit Free Press reports.
"I don't know how he was able to operate everything and see at the same time," said Lapeer County sheriff's deputy Karl Sapp.
Deputy Sapp said the boy's father had no idea his son had taken the car until he was woken up by police.

Baggy Trousers?…Not Here!

2013-05-09T07:00:00.000+02:00

Wearing baggy trousers could cost you £65

If you get caught wearing your trousers low in public in one town you face a fine and community service after a council voted to make the style choice an offence.
The US state of Louisiana’s Terrebonne Parish has made it illegal to wear baggy trousers and will force those doing so to pay penalties in the future.
Anyone caught for the first time will have to pay a $50 (£33) fine, do it again and it’s $100 (£65) and a third offence will cost you $100 plus 16 hours of community service.
Any contraventions after that then you are at the mercy of a judge.
A local NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) chief was in favour of the ban.
‘There is nothing positive about people wearing saggy pants,’ Jerome Boykin said.
‘This is not a black issue, this is not a white issue, this is a people issue… Young men who were in prison who wanted to have sex with other men would send a signal to another man with his pants below his waist.’
But not everyone was a fan of the new rules, with one local resident fearing it could be a ‘slippery slope’ if government started to control ‘social differences’.

Windows Leak!

2013-05-08T07:00:00.000+02:00

Windows Blue Leaked Online

Within the last years, the software giant has been from time to time openly bothered by the numerous leaks of its products. Sometimes, Microsoft itself has been suspected at using leaks to promote its software, and today the new “release” concerns the new OS, Windows Blue, which since last week can be found on file-sharing portals.

It seems that the 2.63GB ISO file is believed to have been released by one of the company’s French service partners. That’s what this leaked version reveals: nowadays users of Windows 8 are able to access the File Recovery feature, though it takes a little digging to find it. The option can be found in the Control Panel under “All Control Panel Items” and lets users to back up their files to an external drive. This feature is expected to be removed from the next release.

Another novation is said to be Microsoft pushing most of the PC settings controls from the desktop to the new Modern UI overlay, including settings for SkyDrive, Network, Time & Language, Apps, Accounts, Update and Recovery. As you can see, the desktop is being eased out going forward.

In addition, the leaked update also showed a handful of new application, such as Alarms, Movie Moments, Calculator, and Sound Recorder. Moreover, you can also find a new updated Snap mode which allows opening two apps side by side, each taking half the screen, while currently each takes up 75% of the screen. Snap mode may even accommodate up to 4 apps at a time.

The leak revealed the ability of Windows to manipulate the size and arrangement of tiles, and to name Start Screen groups without having to switch to semantic zoom mode. This build even offers users the ability to customize the desktop’s background and color schemes right from the blocky Modern UI. Finally, the OS carries a functional copy of Internet Explorer included in the leaked ISO, but at the moment there’s no information about the updates to the browser. Hopefully, the Internet browser will be improved.

Microsoft is expected to make Windows Blue available in a few months as a preview. The official release is scheduled for the end of 2013.

Suicide is Dangerous?

2013-05-07T07:00:00.000+02:00

Russia Will Block Suicide Portals

The government of the Russian Federation has started enforcing a new legislation which gives it the power to block online material deemed unauthorized or harmful to kids. According to press reports, thus far, the Russian regulators have already asked such online giants as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to remove material from their networks deemed objectionable by party officials. However, YouTube resisted the effort, after the government officials asked it to remove a video supposedly promoting suicide.

In the meanwhile, supporters of the legislation in question insist that it’s focused on controlling kids pornography and sensitive material – for example, portals promoting drug use, suicide and things like that. It seems that the Russian authorities believe nobody in Putin’s utopia may have a reason to take their own life or the urge to take drugs.

Nevertheless, opposition leaders decided to raise a number of questions about the new legislation, because the latter seemed to be quite vague and leaving the door open to broader censorship. The opposition expressed fears that this law might be employed to fight social networks if they are used to organize protests against Putin. In addition, they claimed that the taken measures could also negatively reflect on the country’s image abroad.

Thus far, Facebook already agreed to remove a group called Club Suicide, and Twitter also removed tweets related to unauthorized drug deals. In addition, Twitter had to take down a few posts promoting “suicidal thoughts”, which for some reason seem to be quite a common thing in Putin’s paradise. Well, Russia is fighting against censorship and these guys are wise – hopefully, they will find a way out.

Burn Your Bras…..Again!!

2013-05-06T07:00:00.000+02:00

Women better off without bras: French study

Women should forget everything they've been told about bras. According to a new French study, published on Wednesday, wearing a bra does nothing to reduce back pain, and the chest supports actually cause increased breast sagging.
The results of a mammoth 15-year study led by professor Jean-Denis Rouillon, from the University of Besançon in eastern France, are finally in and it looks like conventional wisdom about bras and back pain has been way off the mark.
According to Rouillon, a sports science expert, the lesson to be learned from the preliminary results of his marathon experiment is that “bras are a false necessity”.
“Medically, physiologically, anatomically – breasts gain no benefit from being denied gravity. On the contrary, they get saggier with a bra,” Professor Rouillon told France Info radio on Wednesday.
Using a slide rule and caliper, Rouillon spent years carefully measuring changes in the orientation of breasts belonging to 130 women, at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire (University Hospital) in Besançon.
Capucine, a 28-year-old woman who participated in the professor's in-depth study, hasn’t worn a bra for two years, and swears by the results.
“There are multiple benefits: I breathe more easily, I carry myself better, and I have less back pain,” Capucine told France Info.

U.S. Wants Total Web Control!!

2013-05-05T07:00:00.000+02:00

Streaming Services Can Be Prosecuted

After the US Congress failed to monopolize the worldwide web with absurd laws like SOPA, it didn’t give up. The politicians were recently presented with the option of making streaming of copyrighted material a full pledged felony.
Of course, the music industry has never been the only one interested in destroying BitTorrent – movie and TV studios have the same goal, having been fighting against P2P for almost a decade. Although crackdowns happen and thousands of users find themselves plunged into copyright lawsuits, illegal file-sharing still keeps on thriving.

So, the American government finds itself in a difficult position, particularly after the web turned out to be a living organism having its own will and no tolerance for manipulation and censorship. In order to tackle the problem, the “six-strikes” legislation was enforced – a program intended to “educate” American citizens about copyright and its violation.

However, people are only being taught that downloading and uploading of copyrighted material online is against the law, but nothing is said about streaming. In the meantime, the number of streaming services increases every day, which becomes a huge problem. The U.S. Register of Copyrights believes that there must be a way to tackle this problem. Since law enforcement can go after the distribution of copyright content, they can also pursue them in a meaningful way as they are felonies rather than misdemeanors. Thus, streaming, no matter of what content, is a misdemeanor. If there is unauthorized streaming happening, particularly in a profit-driven kind of way, how does one get at that activity if the best that they can do is pursue them for a misdemeanor? That’s what the U.S. Register of Copyrights is asking about.

The representatives of a Swedish anti-piracy outfit which tried to banish The Pirate Bay out of Sweden also admitted that streaming is a growing problem for the industry. The creators believe that it is largely irrelevant what kind of technology is used as long as they lose sales, so legislators have to solve this problem. Despite the fact that streaming services have nothing to worry about at the moment, some of the experts warn that a storm might be coming soon.

Be Very Careful?

2013-05-04T07:00:00.000+02:00

Cryptographers Warned against Logging in

One of the best American cryptographers has recently warned that one’s broadband connection might be grassing them up to anyone having access to a database.

According to Bruce Schneier, the author of the book “Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World”, the rapid development of the security industry allows anyone to work out what you are doing without having to directly tap your phone.

Bruce Schneier, when writing for CNN, has cited the cases where advanced computer users could be identified because the FBI managed to correlate data from various sources and make conclusions.

The case was that of Paula Broadwell, who appeared embroiled in an affair scandal with the former CIA director David Petraeus. Paula was cautious enough to never log in to her anonymous e-mail service from her home network, but it didn’t save her. Although she only used public networks like that in hotels and cafes when she e-mailed him, the FBI managed to correlate hotel registration information from various hotels and found the common name.

Bruce Schneier explains that everything we do now involves online data which is saved and can easily be correlated. In fact, there are huge data companies out there, making money by building up intimate profiles of citizens’ lives from many different places. In other words, the worldwide web turned into a surveillance tool which is hard to avoid. According to experts, no measures used to prevent this, including searching from mobiles rather than computers or using an alias on Facebook, can bring any results. The matter is that there are just too many ways to be tracked on the Internet to be able to effectively cover your tracks.

Well….What A Surprise!!

2013-05-03T07:00:00.000+02:00

EU Study Confirmed Piracy Never Hurt Music Sales

Unauthorized music downloads have very insignificant impact on online music sales. This is the conclusion of a new study carried out by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre.

The resolution of the study says that the vast majority of music consumed against the law wouldn’t have been legally purchased if unauthorized downloading services didn’t exist.
The Joint Research Centre has investigated the browsing habits of 16,000 European citizens and found out that not only does Internet piracy not hurt digital music sales – it may even have a positive effect on legal music consumption, because “pirates” are purchasing more music on the Internet than others.

The researchers compared people’s visits to illegal downloading services and legal music portals by following their clickstreams. It turned out that a 10% increase in clicks on unauthorized downloading portals resulted in a 0.2% increase in clicks on legitimate sites, regardless of interest in music. In a causal interpretation, this means that clicks on legal music portals would have been 2% if unauthorized downloading sites didn’t exist. Moreover, the effect of legitimate streaming services like Spotify on visits to music purchase sites is even greater – the Joint Research Centre estimated it at 7%.

Although the study in question didn’t include any policy recommendations, the researchers still came to conclusion that the music industry should not be overly concerned about Internet piracy. In the meantime, one should take into account that this research didn’t examine the impact of unauthorized downloads on physical music sales like CDs.

Gates….Never Satisfied??

2013-05-02T07:00:00.000+02:00

Microsoft against Second Hand Video Games

The software giant is ready to declare war on the used games industry – recent leak confirmed that Microsoft’s new Xbox won’t allow them to run. Actually, the rumors of an anti used game system for the company’s next-generation “Durango” Xbox console leaked a few months ago. However, there’s evidence that Microsoft is pressing ahead with the moves.

The source of the leak has a very good deepthroat in the software giant and came up with accurate specifications for Durango earlier. Now it has published screenshots of an Xbox Development Kit for the company’s next-generation console, which confirm previous rumors that each next console will feature a hard drive of enough capacity to hold numerous games. It is claimed that all games are installable to the drive, while play from the optical drive won’t be allowed. This sounds bad for backwards compatibility.

In other words, gamers will have to install Durango game, while now Xbox 360 games can be installed to HDD, but they require the disk to run. Then, Durango titles can’t directly access information on discs after they are installed, which means that the next-generation console may not need the disk to play games after installation. So, Microsoft is developing an anti-used games system which will require activation codes for 50GB-capacity Blu-ray discs. The references are made to an “always on, always connected” console, so the machine might have to phone home and make sure the software is legitimate and not second-hand. Unfortunately, this is exactly the same sort of DRM that made SimCity unplayable and cost the EA Games CEO his job a few days ago.

According to the leak, there will also be a new high-fidelity Kinect sensor lacking a tilt motor, being sold with each console. The software giant recently demonstrated a next-generation Kinect sensor without tilt motors, so the new device is believed to be much smaller and compact. In the meantime, the new Xbox is scheduled to be released in time for the Christmas rush.

Windows 9…Yeh Right!

2013-05-01T07:00:00.000+02:00

Windows 9 Might Arrive in 2014

The rumors are that Microsoft is going to release another version of Windows as soon as in 2014. The speculations are that next Windows OS can hit the streets a year from November next.

However, the rumors don’t explain why users should feel the need to upgrade to Windows 9 before Windows 8 takes off. In fact, at the moment lots of users are in the same boat, believing that Windows 7 is good enough. As for me, I personally think that a line should be drawn at Windows XP, which has never let me down, and I am not alone.

The rumors come from Win8China, which has provided a number of good Windows leaks before. Win8China reveals that Microsoft is developing Windows 9 for a tentative November 2014 product launch, with a beta expected to be out to try as early as next January.

Actually, the announced dates are around the time of year that we would be expecting a Windows yearly OS update. Taking all this into account, this does make it possible that new Windows OS could have a November 2014 release. In addition, there’s a chance that Microsoft has finally understood that making people pay for regular short term upgrades, like Apple, is a better business model than making users pay for a bigger one every few years.