Brandon's World

The Pirate Bay is back online

2006-06-03T00:48:00.000-07:00

The Pirate Bay is back, sporting a new, more appropriate logo. Search feature will be online later. Searching for now gives the message "no hits due to politics", and is at least temporarily headed "The Police Bay." Yarrrrr

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ThePirateBay.org Raided - Servers Seized

2006-05-31T22:34:00.000-07:00

“…The police right now are taking all of our servers, to check if there is a crime there or not (they are actually not sure),” ThePirateBay.org spokesperson “brokep” told Slyck.com.

The seizure of ThePirateBay.org’s entire server farm will guarantee this BitTorrent tracker will remain offline until the police complete their investigation. The uncertainty on the part of the police may stem from the fact ThePirateBay.org's servers only host .torrent files, not actual copyrighted material. As a tracker, ThePirateBay.org's function is to index .torrent files and to direct BitTorrent traffic and maintain the swarm (uploads and downloads.) The downloaded .torrent file contains all the necessary information to locate and download the queried file. The legality of indirectly linking to copyrighted material has yet to be tested by Swedish courts.

Whether this will keep ThePirateBay.org offline indefinitely is another matter.

“We are not sure when it will return, but we are moving it to another country if necessary,” brokep said.

ThePirageBay.org, a longtime fixture of the BitTorrent community, is currently under investigation. Apparently, their servers were seized and shut down earlier today - their headquarters were raided by 50 officers, placing 2 members of the piratebay personnel under arrest. The one thing that surprises me the most - they raided the servers without even being sure if pirate bay is "technically" illegal, as it does not actually host the copyrighted material.

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Prehistoric Ecosystem Found Untouched!

2006-05-31T16:21:00.000-07:00

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli scientists said on Wednesday they had discovered a prehistoric ecosystem dating back millions of years.

The discovery was made in a cave near the central Israeli city of Ramle during rock drilling at a quarry. Scientists were called in and soon found eight previously unknown species of crustaceans and invertebrates similar to scorpions.

"Until now eight species of animals were found in the cave, all of them unknown to science," said Dr Hanan Dimantman, a biologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

He said the cave's ecosystem probably dates back around five million years when the Mediterranean Sea covered parts of
Israel.

The cave was completely sealed off from the world, including from water and nutrients seeping through rock crevices above. Scientists who discovered the cave believe it has been intact for millions of years.

"Every species we examined had no eyes which means they lost their sight due to evolution," said Dimantman.

Samples of the animals discovered in the cave were sent for DNA tests which found they were unique, he said. The cave has been closed off as scientists conduct a more detailed survey.

"This is a cave of fantastic biodiversity," Dimantman said.

Middle School Student Suspended for Sharing Caffeine Gum

2006-05-28T13:36:00.000-07:00

LOWER BURRELL, Pa. (AP) - A middle school student was suspended for three days for sharing chewing gum because it contained caffeine, school officials said.

The girl, whose name and age were not released, gave another Huston Middle School student Jolt gum. The gum is "a stimulant that has no other redeeming quality," said Amy Palermo, schools superintendent.

Products acting as a stimulant are prohibited and possessing them is grounds for disciplinary action, and the suspension was mainly based on the girl's decision to share the gum, she said.

"What if the gum had been given to a student with a heart condition?" Palermo said Thursday.

The school has soda machines, but they aren't turned on during school hours and drinks containing caffeine aren't sold in the lunchroom.

Jolt is manufactured by GumRunners LLC of Hackensack, N.J., and is marketed as a caffeine-energy gum.

I'm sure if the other kid had a heart condition, which is the possibility in this, being in middle school he should know what could KILL HIM. The Jolt webpage says "2 pieces of Jolt Gum = 1 cup of coffee and one piece = a regular cola." the school sells soda and im sure it allows coffee on campus as most high schools do. School officials are just acting stupid these days, they should make up their minds. The only real explanation that I can think of for this nonsense is that Amy Palermo got what she wanted, her name in the news... Now she can look like she's being "tough on substance abuse" when she runs for superintendent again next term.

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Firefox 2.0 Alpha 3 Released

2006-05-27T16:15:00.000-07:00

New features this time include:
* Built in Anti-Phishing protection.
* Search suggestions now appear with search history in the search box for Google and Yahoo!
* Support for client-side session and persistent storage.

Ant Farm

2006-05-25T22:00:00.000-07:00

There is a bug stuck inside my Cinema Display. I never realized that the image of what’s displayed on an LCD is actually projected up onto the top glass surface. The bug can crawl deeper into the picture, looking translucent and barely visible, or right up to the surface where it’s so noticeable that I still fight the urge to swat it off the screen. I have no idea how to get him out, so for now I just have to hope that when he dies, he’ll die off-screen, Leo McGarry-style.

I have taken one of these apart (and all the mac users gasp) - it was my friend's cousin's - he basically smashed it on accident, and i can understand how a bug could get caught in there... but c'mon, this is both hilarious and crappy at the same time. This is definately something you dont see every day.

Trojan Nuclear Plant Implosion

2006-05-23T15:46:00.000-07:00

The Trojan Nuclear Power Plant in Rainier, Oregon was imploded by engineers from Controlled Demolition, Inc. I joined several friends on a bluff across the mighty Columbia River in Washington State.

They blew up this nuclear power plant near the washington - oregon border, TONS of youtube videos of this, here are some, i'm sure theres more

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6Zg10aUenI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_EHR5_i_Ek
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5w5URIPEFE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImzanXzAU2o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Irh6wJ_i4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuzzYGvMktc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVkhQsJNcI0

FedEx aircraft getting into Memphis

2006-05-21T11:04:00.000-07:00

A FAA Radar track sequence of a bank of FedEx aircraft getting into Memphis as thunderstorms pass over the airport.

Goes to show you how many fedex airplanes are goin around - i just couldnt pass up posting this, too funny. The music sounds like austin powers :)

New Layout

2006-05-21T10:41:00.000-07:00

Workin on an all-new layout, should have it up by next weekend - should be much better than this one, as i ALWAYS need to customize EVERYTHNG - iPod, computer, blog, even my Planner as much of you know... plus im really busy/lazy so it will be up next week rather than tomorrow as I said before

And In The Beginning...

2006-05-17T21:32:00.000-07:00

"Hmmm, my first blog". How boring is that phrase?? I dont know about you, but i hate just seeing "My first Blog" as everyone's first post. Basically im going to put something interesting here. I just have to figure out what.. Aha, ill just talk about the new Windows Media Player 11 Beta.

It was released earlier today for all of us not using Vista, and to be honest it is much, much cooler. Almost the entire interface is redesigned, probably to grab the attention back from the other players out there - specifically iTunes. The biggest difference that I noticed was the new sync option, which allows you to sync your mp3 player to your computer much more easily. It is designed exclusively for the iriver clix decvice. As far as i have heard it works with most mp3 players, I know it works with my nano and the m:robe, and i would expect it will work with all the popular mp3 players. It also comes bundled with URGE, a fairly popular music supplier owned by viacom.