Dun dun dun dunnnn....
http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2008.html
Some people are too stupid to live...
03 January, 2009
02 January, 2009
This is for our favorite Half Chinese Geologist. Signs of the End Times Vol. 3: Volcanic DEATH!
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1869313,00.html?cnn=yes
01 January, 2009
YO HO! YO HO! The pirate's life for me!!!!
How do you pay a pirate's ransom? | ||||||||
 Pirates in Somalia are making a fortune by hijacking ships and demanding ransoms to set them and their crews free - one official estimates the total this year to be around $150m. There are conflicting reports about how much they want for the Saudi oil tanker they seized last month, the Sirius Star, and its cargo of two million barrels of oil, but how do you negotiate and deliver a pirate ransom in the 21st Century?
From what can be gleaned - how the negotiations run their course and how the ransoms are paid - what goes on would be worthy of a Hollywood action movie script. "No matter what process is taken, they always go through a middleman," advises BBC Somali service analyst Said Musa. "And trust is at the heart of everything." Fahid Hassan, who has experience of the negotiations, says that after boarding the ship, the first step for the pirates is to make contact with its owners. "All the important documents are there on the ship, so the pirates can know easily all the information they need," he says. "The talks are by telephone, mostly satellite phone but sometimes even SMS/text messages are sent. The pirates do not negotiate themselves. They hire someone and often this person is a relative; someone they can trust."
"For the Sirius Star, there are two negotiators. Sometimes they are on the ship, sometimes they are in town. The negotiator must work and work and work to get the money which is a very difficult job. It is very difficult to please the owner and please the pirates," he adds. "But once the money is delivered the negotiator gets a share, the same as a pirate. Everyone on the ship gets an equal share." Mr Hassan says that in the past, the ransom was delivered by money transfer, but that now owners hire a third party to hand over the money directly. "They come onto the ship or the pirates get onto their boat for the handover of the bags of cash," he says. "The men who bring the money then go; they leave the ship to let the pirates count and check. Some of the pirates have counting machines and also machines to detect fake notes." Security firms Roger Middleton, a Horn of Africa specialist at the Chatham House, says the ship-owners hire professionals, from specialist negotiators to private security firms, to transfer the ransoms.
"They are mostly ex-SAS and British or Australian. A lot are also South African," he says. Not much more is known for certain, however, as it is an unwritten rule among members of such firms that there are no kiss-and-tell stories. Understandably, those involved are also aware of the needs of their clients and the strict demand for secrecy with people's lives being at stake. However, Mr Middleton says that such operations cost about $1m, not including the ransom. "The professional negotiators, acting on behalf of the ship owners, get about $100,000 for their services and the lawyers receive a fee of about $300,000 for ensuring that the shipping companies are not putting themselves in any dubious positions," he explains. Regarding what goes on behind closed doors, be it the negotiations and the legal and insurance matters as a result of these hijackings, Mr Middleton says it would be fair to say that, "most of it happens in London," he adds.  The EU's first ever naval mission will patrol the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden Gavin Simmonds, head of international affairs at the British Chamber of Shipping, agrees this assumption is "highly likely" as London is the centre of the global maritime industry. "It seems perfectly plausible that the actual facilitation of ransom money is being done by London-based insurers," he says. However, Mr Simmonds says he has also heard rumours that some exchanges have taken place in Dubai. Bags of cash The pirates ask that the ransom is all in used dollar bills - normally $50 or $100 notes - according to those with experience of such negotiations. Kenyan sailor Athman Said Mangore, who was held captive for more than 120 days by Somali pirates, says they are known to make many demands and put in place a number of restrictions.
"They sometimes say they want $208,000 exactly in $100 bills only," he says. "I don't know why they make those demands. They usually also don't like dollar bills that were printed in 2000 or the years before. If it was printed in 1999, they say: 'This is not fit to be used in our shop'," he adds. Once the ship's owners have sourced cash, a private security firm takes over. They then hire a tug boat, often from the Kenyan port of Mombasa, which they take further north up the coast towards Somali waters. The security personnel then board the boat with the bags of cash and enough weaponry to keep it safe. When the ransom has been paid, the pirates are left to count the money and are allowed to leave the vessel freely. "The navies in the Somali waters of course must have a pretty good idea of what goes on, as they have spy drones and they are watching the hijacked vessels," Mr Middleton says. "Whether there's any coordination between the ransom payers and the navies is unknown." The BBC's Joseph Odhiambo in Mombasa says that on at least two prior occasions the ransom money was delivered to the hijacked vessels via air-drops. He also says that other payments were flown from Wilson Airport in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, into Somalia on cargo planes transporting the stimulant, khat. No-one knows how long it will be until the Sirius Star is set free, but it is fair to say the ransom negotiations will be both complicated and delicate, with its cargo believed to be worth $100m. And the families of its 25 crew members, who are being held hostage, will be hoping that the pirates stay true to their word that they have no intention of harming them. | ||||||||
The owner hires people to take the money... for the handover of the big bags of cash. Same like the movies. 
Enlarge Image
I guess the only thing blowing in Italy in the begining of 09 in Italy was on faces instead of in the air.
Naples sex strike over fireworks | ||||
New Year's Eve could prove to be something of a damp squib for some men in the Italian city of Naples. Hundreds of Neapolitan women have pledged to go without sex unless their men promise to refrain from setting off dangerous illegal fireworks. Local authorities are backing the women and have sent out text messages urging the men to "make love, not explosions". The women say it is the only way to persuade their partners that they are serious about their concerns. "Setting off illegal fireworks isn't celebrating, it's dangerous," Carolina Staiano, a founder of the campaign, told La Stampa newspaper.
''If a sex strike is what it takes in order to get the attention of our men, husbands, partners and sons, then we're ready for it," Mrs Staiano, 44, told Italy's Ansa news agency. 'Sensitive issue' Mrs Staiano, who has the support of local churches, speaks from personal experience when warning of the dangers of fireworks. She has spent her life caring for her father, who was left partially paralysed and with epilepsy after a firework exploded next to him at a New Year's Eve party before she was born.
''I'm receiving phone calls all the time from people who want to join. To be honest, I really wasn't expecting this level of interest,' said Mrs Staiano. The move was inspired by the ancient Greek play Lysistrata, in which the women of Athens refuse to have sex unless their men folk forge a truce with their rivals from Sparta. Doctor and local councillor Vincenzo Sorrentino, who has long campaigned against the illegal fireworks, said a sex ban was "an issue that men are particularly sensitive to''. ''The idea of no sex is not exactly popular and polls among local men have suggested they plan to make much greater efforts this year to prevent illegal fireworks being let off," he said. Previous attempts to prevent the New Year's Eve mayhem had proved unsuccessful, said Mr Sorrentino, but he hoped the women's threat would do the job. "They are more convincing and they always achieve their goals," he said. The BBC's Duncan Kennedy in Rome says if the men of Naples fail to get the women's message, an awful lot of them could be waking up on sofas on New Year's Day. | ||||
Signs of the End Times Vol: 2 Middle East Crisis
Fucking jews and haji just need to figure out how to get along...
Hamas leader killed in air strike | |||
A senior Hamas leader has been killed by an Israeli air strike on his home in the Gaza Strip, Hamas officials say. Nizar Rayyan, the most senior Hamas figure to be killed since 2004, had urged suicide attacks against Israel. News of the strike came on the sixth day of Israeli strikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian medical sources say 402 people have been killed. Israel says it is trying to prevent militants from firing rockets into southern Israel. Mr Rayyan is the most senior Hamas leader to be killed since the death of Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi in April 2004. Long reach of Israel Since its bombing campaign began last Saturday, Israel has attacked Hamas fighters and commanders. Sites linked to Hamas have also been hit, including smuggling tunnels under the border to Egypt, government buildings and security compounds.
Hamas considered Mr Rayyan to be a political leader, but he often wore a military uniform and was close to the group's armed wing. Until now, political leaders have not been killed. The BBC's Mike Sergeant, in Jerusalem, says this may further strengthen the determination of Hamas to resist the Israeli air assault. But it will also be seen as an indication that the Israeli military can target key members of the Hamas leadership - the people Israel says are responsible for the rockets being fired towards Israeli towns, our correspondent adds. Four Israelis have been killed by Palestinian rockets fired into Israel since Saturday. Humanitarian warning On Wednesday, Mr Rayyan had promised that Hamas would hit Israel "even deeper" than it has so far. On the Hamas-run al-Aqsa television channel, he said Hamas militants were preparing for any Israeli ground incursion, saying "we will kill the enemy and take hostages". At least nine other people, some said to be members of Mr Rayyan's family, were also killed in the air raid on his home in the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north of the Gaza Strip. The deaths come as the main UN agency operating in Gaza, Unwra, has resumed food deliveries, but warned of a dire humanitarian situation in the territory. The UN says 25% of the 402 Palestinians killed were civilians; Palestinian medical officials say more than 2,000 people have been injured. Israel is refusing entry to Gaza for international journalists and has declared the area around it a "closed military zone", leading to speculation a ground offensive into the tiny coastal strip could be imminent. Israeli President Shimon Peres said it was not his country's aim to return to the Gaza Strip but did not rule out a ground attack. "The aim is to stop terror. Our aim, if you ask me, is a positive one - to make peace," he told the BBC. He said the Israeli operation would continue until Palestinian militants stopped firing rockets into Israel. "It depends upon them," he said. "If they really care about their people, stop it." Ceasefire calls ignored Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Israel wanted to weaken Hamas in the Gaza Strip. "At the end of the day, Hamas is a problem not only for Israel but to the entire Palestinian people... They are the problem to all the Arab states that understand - that have their own radical elements back home," she said after talks in Paris with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Tzipi Livni says Hamas is a problem for all Palestinians Mr Sarkozy is travelling to the Middle East next week in an attempt to bring an end to the crisis. Both Israel and Hamas have ignored international calls for a ceasefire. A draft UN resolution put forward by Egypt and Libya failed after the US and UK complained that it called on Israel to ends its air assaults but made no mention of Hamas rocket attacks against Israel, which they say started the latest hostilities. For the current violence to end, Israel needs to show that it has stopped the rocket fire, says the BBC's Middle East Editor, Jeremy Bowen. But if Hamas can still resist, its leaders will feel they can claim victory. Hamas believes that its fighters who are launching rockets into Israel are taking part in legitimate resistance against an occupier, he adds. | |||
GitS anyone?
Scientists extract images directly from brain
12 Dec 2008
Researchers from Japan’s ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories have developed new brain analysis technology that can reconstruct the images inside a person’s mind and display them on a computer monitor, it was announced on December 11. According to the researchers, further development of the technology may soon make it possible to view other people’s dreams while they sleep.
The scientists were able to reconstruct various images viewed by a person by analyzing changes in their cerebral blood flow. Using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine, the researchers first mapped the blood flow changes that occurred in the cerebral visual cortex as subjects viewed various images held in front of their eyes. Subjects were shown 400 random 10 x 10 pixel black-and-white images for a period of 12 seconds each. While the fMRI machine monitored the changes in brain activity, a computer crunched the data and learned to associate the various changes in brain activity with the different image designs.
Then, when the test subjects were shown a completely new set of images, such as the letters N-E-U-R-O-N, the system was able to reconstruct and display what the test subjects were viewing based solely on their brain activity.
For now, the system is only able to reproduce simple black-and-white images. But Dr. Kang Cheng, a researcher from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute, suggests that improving the measurement accuracy will make it possible to reproduce images in color.
“These results are a breakthrough in terms of understanding brain activity,” says Dr. Cheng. “In as little as 10 years, advances in this field of research may make it possible to read a person’s thoughts with some degree of accuracy.”
The researchers suggest a future version of this technology could be applied in the fields of art and design — particularly if it becomes possible to quickly and accurately access images existing inside an artist’s head. The technology might also lead to new treatments for conditions such as psychiatric disorders involving hallucinations, by providing doctors a direct window into the mind of the patient.
ATR chief researcher Yukiyasu Kamitani says, “This technology can also be applied to senses other than vision. In the future, it may also become possible to read feelings and complicated emotional states.”
The research results appear in the December 11 issue of US science journal Neuron.
[Source: Chunichi]
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