News: The Pirate Bay Sold To Software Company, Goes Legal
Posted: Dr. Zoidberg @ Tue Jun 30, 2009 11:39 pm
According to gaming company Global Gaming Factory X, it is in the the process of acquiring The Pirate Bay for $7.8m (SEK 60 million). The acquisition is scheduled to be completed by August and will see the site launch new business models to compensate content providers and copyright owners.
Software company Global Gaming Factory X (GGF) says it is in the process of acquiring The Pirate Bay and file-sharing technology company Peerialism. GGF claims to have the biggest network of internet cafés and gaming centers in the world.
The changeover of ownership is scheduled for August 2009, whereby GGF will take over the operation of the site.
The company says that after it has completed the acquisition it will launch new business models so that copyright owners get paid, which is clearly a huge diversion from TPB’s previous modus operandi.
“We would like to introduce models which entail that content providers and copyright owners get paid for content that is downloaded via the site,” said Hans Pandeya, CEO GGF.
“The Pirate Bay is a site that is among the top 100 most visited Internet sites in the world. However, in order to live on, The Pirate Bay requires a new business model, which satisfies the requirements and needs of all parties, content providers, broadband operators, end users, and the judiciary,” said Pandeya.
“Content creators and providers need to control their content and get paid for it. File sharers’ need faster downloads and better quality,” he added.
GGF will acquire the site’s domain names and sites for SEK 60,000,000 ($7.8 million) - SEK 30,000,000 in cash and the rest in newly issue shares.
File-sharing technology company Peerialism will also be acquired by GGF for a total of SEK 100 million, of which at least SEK 50 million will be in cash.
According to GGF, Peerialism has developed a new P2P distribution technology which will be used on The Pirate Bay. The technology is said to be backwards-compatible with BitTorrent although details are scarce at the moment.
At the time of writing, shares in GGF are up 155% - this will quickly become outdated, so check here for latest stats.
This is breaking news and this article will be updated constantly - please keep checking back.
TAMPA, Fla. – Tampa police say Billy Mays, the television pitchman known for his boisterous hawking of products such as Orange Glo and OxiClean, has died. He was 50.
Authorities say Mays was pronounced dead Sunday morning after being found by his wife at home. There were no signs of a break-in, and investigators do not suspect foul play. The coroner's office expects to have an autopsy done by Monday afternoon.
Mays' wife, Deborah Mays, says the family doesn't expect to make any public statements and asked for privacy.
Mays was also featured on the reality TV show "Pitchmen" on the Discovery Channel, which followed Mays and Anthony Sullivan in their marketing jobs.
Entertainer Michael Jackson has died after being taken to a hospital on Thursday after suffering cardiac arrest, according to multiple reports including the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press. CNN has not confirmed his death.
Michael Jackson was taken to UCLA Medical Center after paramedics revived him at his home.
A Los Angeles fire official told CNN that paramedics arrived at Michael Jackson's home after a 911 call.
Jackson, 50, had been in a coma at the hospital, sources told CNN.
Brian Oxman, a Jackson family attorney, said he was told by brother Randy Jackson that Michael Jackson collapsed at his home in west Los Angeles Thursday morning.
Family members were told of the situation and were either at the hospital or en route, Oxman said.
Fire Capt. Steve Ruda told CNN a 911 call came in from a west Los Angeles residence at 12:21 p.m.
Ruda said Jackson was treated and transferred to the UCLA Medical Center.
Asked specifics of the patient's condition, he said he could not discuss them because of federal privacy laws.
The music icon from Gary, Indiana, is known as the "King of Pop."
Jackson is the seventh of nine children in a well-known musical family.
At the medical center, every entrance to the emergency room was blocked by security guards. Even hospital staffers were not permitted to enter. A few people stood inside the waiting area, some of them crying.
Good news everybody! An inside source has revealed exclusively to Collider that “Futurama” has been given a 13 episode order by Comedy Central. Though still technically a rumor at this point, word is that “Futurama” production offices have already opened and that casting is about to move forward.
This should be a welcome surprise to fans of the show who have already gone through the series’ cancellation and resurrection as direct-to-DVD movies.
Look for official word in the very near future. Though animation has a big lead time, I would guess on some kind of “Futurama” presence at Comic Con next month.
News: ABC suspends Chaser over dying-children skit
Posted: Dr. Zoidberg @ Fri Jun 05, 2009 10:13 pm
The ABC took a stick to top-rating comedy troupe The Chaser tonight, ordering their TV show off the air over a skit about dying children.
ABC Managing Director Mark Scott said The Chaser's War on Everything would not screen for two weeks after Wednesday night's sketch, "Make A Realistic Wish", caused uproar among viewers.
The segment, sending up the real-life Make-a-Wish Foundation, featured Chaser comics offering sickly looking child actors a stick and a pencil case instead of a trip to Disneyland and a meeting with teenage heart-throb Zac Efron.
The sketch ended with cast member Chris Taylor saying there was no point in making "extravagant" and "selfish" wishes come true as the children were "only going to die anyway".
Online forums and talkback radio sizzled with debate over whether the segment "crossed the line" between black comedy and bad taste. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd led the outrage, saying The Chaser team should "hang their heads in shame".
"The Chaser taking the mickey out of me or any other politician at any time or any place, that's fine, that's fair game ... but having a go at kids with a terminal illness is really beyond the pale,'' he said.
Mr Scott apologised for the sketch, admitting it went too far.
Tonight he said the decision to suspend the show, made with ABC Director of Television Kim Dalton, followed discussions with The Chaser team.
"We have decided that this is the most appropriate course of action," Mr Scott said.
"It gives the ABC an opportunity to complete a review of editorial approval processes. It also gives The Chaser a chance to regroup and review their material.
"In making the wrong judgement call we have let down our audience and the wider community. We need to fully review the ABC's approval processes for programs that deliberately challenge public attitudes."
"While unintended, it has caused considerable concern and distress, particularly to parents of seriously ill children," he said.
The Chaser's War on Everything will resume on June 24.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says The Chaser team should hang their heads in shame over a sketch about terminally ill children.
The ABC today apologised after viewer criticism for the skit on The Chaser's War On Everything, saying it will edit the segment out of repeat and online screenings.
The program outraged viewers last night with a segment featuring a fictional 'Make-a-Realistic-Wish Foundation' which ended with cast member Chris Taylor saying there was no point in making "extravagant" and "selfish" wishes come true as the children were "only going to die anyway".
Child actors wrapped in bandages and with sickly looking make-up were given a stick and a pencil case instead of their wishes to go to Disneyland or meet teenage heart-throb Zac Efron.
Mr Rudd said today the show had gone too far.
"I actually don't mind The Chaser taking the mickey out of me or any other politician at any time or any place, that's fine, that's fair game,'' he said.
"But having a go at kids with a terminal illness is really beyond the pale, absolutely beyond the pale. These guys collectively should get up and hang their heads in shame, it's just wrong."
The Chaser's Julian Morrow and ABC TV director Kim Dalton this morning apologised for the skit, which they said was "satirical and black comedy".
"The ABC and The Chaser did not intend to hurt those who have been affected by the terminal illness of a child," the pair said in a statement to the media.
"We acknowledge the distress this segment has caused and we apologise to anyone we have upset."
The skit will be censored from tonight's repeat episode and from ABC websites.
Make-a-Wish Foundation spokeswoman Janita Friend said Taylor had rung the charity, to offer an explanation for the sketch.
"All he wanted to do was say to us he wasn't specifically poking fun at Make-A-Wish,'' she said.
Ms Friend said Taylor's apology had been accepted by the foundation's chief executive officer.
ABC viewers vented their anger on the broadcaster's website this morning, with one describing the skit as the most appalling thing to be aired on television.
A father of a terminally ill seven-year-old boy said he had always been a fan of The Chaser but was shocked it would make light of the foundation, with which his family had been involved.
"I will now have to go and accompany my wife who is presently consoling our son in his bedroom about his pending fate and agonising death which this show did nothing but exacerbate the issue,'' he wrote after the show aired.
He said he would try to have the taxpayer-funded show cancelled.
"I couldn't believe it when the `make a realistic wish' skit came on the show tonight, and particularly the closing line of `they're going to die anyway'," he wrote.
"What on Earth were the people involved with the show thinking? Not only the morons that came up with the idea of the skit but also all the people down the production line who approved it."
Another enraged viewer said the skit - which this morning appeared as a highlight from the show on The Chaser's website - should never have been aired.
"My God. It's utterly unfathomable that these arseholes could be that callous and unfeeling in the search for a cheap laugh," the post read.
Another post said the ABC should immediately end The Chaser team's contract.
"The 'make a realistic wish' skit was the most appalling thing I have ever seen on TV," it read.
"Are these idiots so insensitive that they would send up children in such a sad situation."
One post simply said it was a "chase too far".
"Preying on sick kids and their families for a laugh? Utterly, utterly, utterly repulsive," another read.
Other viewers who said the rest of the episode was funny still voiced concerns about the controversial skit.
"Yes, I found it so funny that I had to remove myself from the room to breathe as I was laughing so hard,'' one viewer wrote.
"However, I think they shot themselves in the foot with the make a wish (skit). Death can be funny ... but this wasn't funny, it was way too raw."
Health workers have also hit out at what its union has branded an insulting sketch that made fun of dying children.
Australian Workers' Union Queensland president Garry Ryan said carers of children with a terminal illness were disgusted by the show.
"Our members know the heartache of the families who have child with a terminal illness," he said.
"Our members share this pain. Nothing can be said about these tragedies that is funny. There is no humour in the illness, pain and death of a child.
"We have many members, not just working in healthcare, who have suffered through the tragedy of losing a child t...
News: Susan Boyle's dream collapses as she loses talent show
Posted: Dr. Zoidberg @ Sun May 31, 2009 9:47 am
LONDON (AFP) - Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle was dealt an unexpected blow Saturday when she lost out to a group of young street dancers in the final of the British talent show that made her a global star.
The 48-year-old looked surprised when the result was announced but graciously accepted the runners-up place saying the "best people won" and wishing the group "all the best."
Boyle enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame over the past two months after video footage of her audition piece for the show, "I Dreamed A Dream" from the musical "Les Miserables," was posted on video-sharing website YouTube.
It has had around 100 million hits, brought her celebrity fans including actress Demi Moore and rock star Jon Bon Jovi and seen her feted in the media from the US to China, Japan and Australia.
The bookmakers made her the favourite to win, although after an unconvincing performance in the semi-final there were fears that the pressure for the church volunteer, who lives alone with her cat outside Edinburgh, was becoming too much.
But in a live performance in the "Britain's Got Talent" final on Saturday, Boyle proved the critics wrong and repeated her audition piece with gusto.
Judge Piers Morgan said it was the "greatest performance I've seen on the history of Britain's Got Talent -- you should win the competition, I loved it."
Boyle was up against nine other acts to win the competition, which brings with it a cheque for 100,000 pounds (115,000 euros, 160,000 dollars) and the chance to perform for Queen Elizabeth II.
All the acts performed before a public vote, in which millions of people called in to cast their ballots. Boyle lost out to the group of ten dancers, named Diversity, while saxophonist Julian Smith came in third place.
After singing earlier in the evening, Boyle, wearing a grey-blue, long sequinned dress, thanked all her fans.
"I want to thank people for all the support they've given me," she said.
Asked if it was worth all the media pressure, she replied emphatically: "Well worth it!... I really feel at home on stage, I'm among friends."
Boyle put in a shaky performance of "Memory" in the show's semi-finals last weekend, singing occasionally out of tune and out of time, and some fans on YouTube had questioned whether she could handle the weight of expectations on her.
The British media had also reported some erratic behaviour over the past week, including how she had lost her temper in the foyer of the London hotel where she was staying prompting police to intervene.
Morgan said that such was the pressure that she even considered quitting, describing her in his blog as a "frightened rabbit in headlights."
But his fellow judge Amanda Holden said after Saturday's performance: "I have never heard such powerful confident vocals."
In a Daily Mail interview Saturday, Boyle said she had used singing as a way of "boosting my confidence" and insisted she was still enjoying the experience.
"I've found the whole thing quite amazing and overwhelming. The attention's odd and it takes some getting used to, but it's nice," she said.
Hoards of fans had gathered in her hometown of Blackburn near Edinburgh to watch the final and support Boyle, on what she described in a television interview as "the most important night of my life."
After the result was announced, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond praised the singer, saying that despite her defeat she had given some "outstanding performances" and could "hold her head up high."
News: Dan Aykroyd says Ghostbusters 3 may start filming in winter
Posted: Dr. Zoidberg @ Wed May 20, 2009 10:38 pm
I just visited with Dan Aykroyd over at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip for an interview for an upcoming feature in the Los Angeles Times (you'll be able to find it here on the Hero Complex as well). We talked about a wide range of topics, but I didn't want to wait on this update about the third "Ghostbusters" film, which is moving forward after so many years.
Aykroyd said Sigourney Weaver is on board now, as are the original squad of ectoplasmic specialists -- Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson. Murray's presence was the pivot point in making a third film happen. He holds a one-fifth controlling interest in the property rights and has been seen as the most reluctant to return to the paranormal comedy. Aykroyd said that is true but that it's more nuanced than the public portrayal of the situation.
"I don't put not making the third movie on Billy. We can't do that. I've been very busy. Harold's been busy, Ivan's been busy. And a third script really didn't coalesce properly. And Billy, you can't blame an artist for not wanting to do the same thing again. He did two of them, for God's sake. Although I'm the biggest cheerleader as the originator of the concept but I've never begrudged Billy not doing a third movie. I never said he held it up or that he refused. Hey, listen, he's an artist. You can't force somebody into it. I'm sorry he never read my third draft because I thought it was pretty good but, look, now we're at a point that there's a story that he can accept and that's going to work, and I think we're going to be in production fairly soon. We could be in production by winter."
The script is by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, the writing team behind the upcoming Jack Black/Michael Cera movie "Year One" (directed by Ramis), and Aykroyd is enthused about its premise of a new generation of Ghostbusters taking over the duties of the aging team. Aykroyd said he wishes Ivan Reitman would return to direct the third film in the series but that he's "too busy as a mega-producer" to take it on; his second choice is Ramis, who, of course, co-wrote the first two "Ghostbusters" films with Aykroyd and has numerous directing credits, most notably "Groundhog Day" and "Analyze This." "He has a lot of things going on, but it would be wonderful to see him do it."
Aykroyd says he believes the movie will move forward but that he has also learned that "at any second everything could blow up." The details of story are still in play, but Aykroyd said he's hoping for a five-member "new generation" team with several female members. "I'd like it to be a passing-of-the-torch movie. Let's revisit the old characters briefly and happily and have them there as family but let's pass it on to a new generation."
Who does Aykroyd think would be good in the jumpsuits? Aykroyd mentioned two names, Alyssa Milano (who is a voice in the upcoming "Ghostbusters" video game) and Eliza Dushku. "I think they're amazing," he said. "And I'm excited about the whole idea of getting this done."
Think The Conduit is the biggest Sega first-person-shooter news this year? .. You're right. But it's not the only Sega-related FPS being published on an unexpected platform. A team of homebrewers is working on a game called Hypertension for Windows, Linux ... and Dreamcast. Great news for all of you who just bought the system!
Hypertension is a reimagining of Blood, made in the Doom-based EDGE engine. The use of fairly antiquated technology, and source material, seem appropriate for a game being released on a console that came out in 1999 After the break, you can see some footage of the current alpha version of Hypertension, which is looking very Doomy. TDGMods has yet to specify a release date for the game, but it's not like there's a rush at this point. The Dreamcast will still be old.
China is building what is billed as its first sex theme park, aimed at improving both the sex education and the sex life of its visitors.
Due to open in Chongqing in October, Love Land will include displays of giant genitalia, naked bodies and an exhibition on the history of sex.
The park will also offer sex technique workshops and safe-sex methods.
Among the attractions is a giant rotating statue of the lower part of a nearly naked woman.
"Sex is a taboo subject in China but people really need to have more access to information about it," the park's manager, Lu Xiaoqing told the China Daily state newspaper.
"We are building the park for the good of the public. I have found that the majority of people support my idea, but I have to pay attention and not make the park look vulgar and nasty."
He was inspired to build the park after a visit to South Korea's popular sex theme park in Jeju.
Critics say Love Land is a vulgar concept, and that the Chinese people are not ready to talk publicly about sex.
"These things are too exposed," Liu Daiwei, a Chongqing policewoman, was quoted as saying by the China Daily.
"I will feel uncomfortable to look at them when other people are around." BBC news
One in five people admitted to peeing in a swimming pool, in a recent poll of Americans.
In fact, the survey conducted by the Water Quality and Health Council found that almost half (47 percent) of the subjects admitted to one or more behaviors that contribute to an unhealthy pool.
Here are some of the survey's other findings:
* About one-third (35 percent) say they don't shower before entering the pool.
* 63 percent were unaware of illnesses associated with swallowing, breathing or having contact with contaminated pool water.
* Less than one quarter consider the frequency of pool cleaning and chemical treatment (23 percent) and even less (16 percent) think about chlorine levels to maintain clean pool water.
"Swimming is a fun and healthy activity for old and young alike. Proper water chlorination helps protect swimmers from germs that can make swimmers sick," said Michele Hlavsa, an epidemiologist in the Division of Parasitic Diseases for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "But swimmers also have role to play in maintaining a clean and healthy pool. Unhygienic behavior brings germs into the pool and makes it harder for chlorine to do its job.”
The survey was conducted online between April 30 to May 3, 2009, among a national sample of 1,000 U.S. adults, using the field services of TNS Omnibus. Results were weighted to reflect the adult population based on U.S. Census figures, including age, gender, geographic region, household income and household size. The margin of error for the study was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
The Water Quality & Health Council is a body of independent scientific experts, health professionals and consumer advocates who serve as advisors to the Chlorine Chemistry Division of the American Chemistry Council, an industry trade association.
The CDC urges pool users to follow these six tips for healthy swimming:
* Don’t swim when you have diarrhea.
* Don’t swallow pool water.
* Practice good hygiene. Shower with soap before swimming and wash your hands after using the toilet or changing diapers.
* Take your kids on bathroom breaks or check diapers often.
* Change diapers in a bathroom or a diaper-changing area and not at poolside.
* Wash your children thoroughly (especially the rear end) with soap and water before they go swimming.
Unclean water can lead to recreational water illnesses (RWI’s) — diarrhea, respiratory illness, and ear and skin infections. Children, pregnant women and people with compromised immune systems can suffer from more severe illness if infected. According to the CDC, these illnesses are on the rise. Between 2005 and 2006, 78 outbreaks were reported in 31 states — the largest number of outbreaks ever in a two-year period. Close to 4,500 people were affected.
To check that your public pool is properly chlorinated, the Water Quality and Health Council recommends the use of portable pool and spa testing strips, easily purchased at pool supply stores and discount retailers, in addition to trusting your basic senses.
"A smelly pool is a dirty pool," said National Consumers League President Emeritus and Water Quality and Health Council Vice-Chair Linda Golodner. "Look for water that's clean, clear and blue. Check for tiles that feel smooth and clean. Make sure there are no strong odors. Listen for pool cleaning equipment. Using your senses help you recognize the difference between a healthy pool and one that needs cleaning and treatment."
News: Man With 25cm Penis Implant Begs for Reduction
Posted: Dr. Zoidberg @ Wed May 06, 2009 9:53 pm
Just one month after undergoing a penis enlargement surgery, a patient of a Moscow plastic surgery clinic has asked the doctors to restore the original size of his penis.
In February the 40-years-old man, identified as Konstantin F., came to the clinic complaining he was too small, Life.ru website reports Monday.
The man wanted to add an extra two-thirds to his penis and get 25 cm (9.8 inches) instead of his 15 cm (5.9 inches).
The doctors tried to persuade the patient that his penis was ideally sized, warned that he may be unhappy with the results of the surgery, and even showed him a life-sized replica of a 25-cm male organ. But the man stood his ground and demanded the operation.
The surgery was completed in two sessions, and happy Konstantin returned home almost twice as large as he used to be. But in just one month he was back at the clinic again, this time asking to undo the enlargement.
“He said no woman wants to be with him anymore,” Life.ru quoted one of the doctors as saying.
“He came here several times, begged us for new surgery, swore he would never be so stupid again.”
However it will take six to eight months before a second surgery can be performed.
“If there was a surgery to enlarge brains, we would offer him a free trial,” the doctor said.
Earlier this year, I blogged about Justice Scalia's remarks about privacy at the Institute of American and Talmudic Law. According to media accounts:
"Every single datum about my life is private? That's silly," Scalia [said]. . . .
Scalia said he was largely untroubled by such Internet tracking. "I don't find that particularly offensive," he said. "I don't find it a secret what I buy, unless it's shameful."
He added there's some information that's private, "but it doesn't include what groceries I buy." . . . .
Considering every fact about someone's life private is "extraordinary," he said, noting that data such as addresses have long been discernible, even if technology has made them easier to find.
At a recent conference at Fordham University sponsored in part by the Center on Law and Information Policy, Professor Joel Reidenberg discussed an assignment he gave to his class this past semester -- find any public information about Justice Scalia and compile it into a dossier. As Kashmir Hill reports at Above the Law:
"Justice Scalia said he doesn't care what people find out about him on the Internet," said Reidenberg during his presentation on the transparency of personal information. "So I challenged my class to compile a dossier on him."
Now four months later, at the end of the semester, the dossier (available online somewhere, but password protected) is 15 pages long. Among its contents are Nino's home address, his home phone number, the movies he likes, his food preferences, his wife's personal e-mail address, and "photos of his lovely grandchildren."
"When the discrete bits of personal information were assembled at the end of the semester, the extent of the overall dossier and some of the particular items of readily available information on the web concerning his family and family life were astonishing to the class," Reidenberg wrote to us.
Before the news of the dossier was reported by Above the Law, Reidenberg had sent a letter informing Justice Scalia about the dossier and offering to allow him to see it if he desired. The dossier was not made public.
Justice Scalia recently responded to the Above the Law post about Joel Reidenberg's experiment:
I stand by my remark at the Institute of American and Talmudic Law conference that it is silly to think that every single datum about my life is private. I was referring, of course, to whether every single datum about my life deserves privacy protection in law.
It is not a rare phenomenon that what is legal may also be quite irresponsible. That appears in the First Amendment context all the time. What can be said often should not be said. Prof. Reidenberg's exercise is an example of perfectly legal, abominably poor judgment. Since he was not teaching a course in judgment, I presume he felt no responsibility to display any.
Scalia's characterization of his remarks above seems to be a bit of a retrenchment. If he was only saying that not every single piece of information about his life is private, then this is just too obvious to be worth saying. My interpretation of his remarks (caveat: I haven't been able to locate his entire speech) is that he believes that certain kinds of information are not private -- Internet tracking, most items of consumption (unless embarrassing), addresses, and so on. He partly seems to endorse the view that there's no privacy violation if there's "nothing to hide."
In my blog post, quoting from my book, Understanding Privacy (2008), I argued that the compilation of dossiers can rise to a privacy violation:
[P]rivacy may be implicated if one combines a variety of relatively innocuous bits of information. Businesses and government often aggregate a wide array of information fragments, including pieces of information we would not view as private in isolation. Yet when combined, they paint a rather detailed portrait of our personalities and behavior, a problem I call "aggregation." (p. 70)
One of the issues discussed at the conference (informally rather than at the public portion of the event) were the ethics of compiling the dossier and whether to inform Justice Scalia about it. In our informal discussion of the issue during the conference, we had a lively debate with a variety of views. Some thought that it was poetic justice for Scalia, taking him up on his challenge that he wouldn't be bothered by such information compiling. If he didn't see it as a privacy problem, then there was no harm in doing it. Others thought it since they viewed it as a privacy violation, it shouldn't matter what Scalia thought about it -- it was creepy nonetheless. Some thought that Reidenberg should inform Scalia about it; others thought that this might make Scalia uncomfortable. In the end, no consensus was reached.
News: A Living Example of a Hobbit Found in Qatar?
Posted: Dr. Zoidberg @ Sat Apr 25, 2009 2:21 am
A woman in Qatar snapped a photo of a creature in a parking lot whom many witnesses also claim to have seen. Could it be a living relative of the Hobbit fossils found recently?
The report [from an Arab-language newspaper] is based on the statement of an Arab expatriate lady who said she had seen the strange figure near the Oryx statue while walking in the area.
Quoting the woman, the daily said she took a picture of it in spite of being terribly frightened.
"She was very soon surrounded by a large number of people who also attested to the fact of what she had seen . But it suddenly disappeared out of their sight when they tried to go near it," the report added.
Honestly, I can't decide which is weirder: This creature, or the Oryx statue, which you can see via Cryptomundo.
Chris of Australia suggests, at least, an open-minded look at the aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis), the world’s largest nocturnal primate and a native to Madagascar.
Lawyers for four men jailed for running The Pirate Bay file-sharing website are calling for a retrial, saying the judge could have had a conflict of interest.
Judge Tomas Norstrom is a member of the Swedish Copyright Association and sits on the board of Swedish Association for the Protection of Industrial Property.
But the judge has told Swedish Radio: "These activities do not constitute a conflict of interest."
Sweden's Court of Appeal would rule on a possible retrial, the lawyers said.
Frederik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Carl Lundstrom and Peter Sunde were found guilty of breaking copyright law on 17 April 2009 and sentenced to a year in jail.
The four were also ordered to pay $4.5m (£3m) in damages to a number of entertainment companies, including Warner Bros, Sony Music Entertainment.
Peter Althin, who represents The Pirate Bay (TPB) spokesman Peter Sunde, said it was for the appeal courts to decide if there was to be a retrial, as it emerged the judge and lawyers for the entertainment industry were members of the copyright association.
"In the autumn I received information that a lay judge could have similar connections. I sent these to the court and the judge was excluded in order to prevent a conflict of interest. It would have been reasonable to then review this situation as well," Althin told Sveriges Radio.
Speaking to the BBC, Sven-Erik Alhem - a former senior attorney in Sweden - said the judge had made an error of judgement, but a retrial was unlikely.
"The judge should have told the parties of his other engagements. Had he done that then they could make a decision on whether they wanted him as a judge in their case.
Peter Sunde
Peter Sunde said he could not and would not pay his fine
"I'm not sure the superior court could say that this was unfair, but had he been open then it wouldn't have been an issue," he said.
Rick Falkvinge, leader of the Swedish Pirate Party, told the BBC the judge had made an "unforgiveable" decision.
"This is corruption and judicial decay at an unforgiveable level.
"The judge in one of Sweden's most high profile case ever is also a member of an interest organisation for one side and associates with the prosecution trial lawyers in his free time? That is inexcusable corruption," said Mr Falkvinge.
The Pirate Bay file-sharing website was set up in 2003 by anti-copyright organisation Piratbyran, but for the past five years it has been run by individuals.
Millions of files are exchanged using the service every day.
No copyright content is hosted on The Pirate Bay's web servers. The site hosts BitTorrent links to TV, film and music files held on its users' computers. BBC news
A hairdresser from the small Russian town of Meshchovsk has subdued a man who tried to rob her shop, and then raped him for three days in the utility room, Life.ru reports.
The incident occurred on Saturday, March 14. The working day was coming to an end at a small hairdressers, when a man armed with a gun rushed in and demanded the day’s earnings.
The frightened employees and customers agreed to fulfill his demand, but when the shop’s owner, 28-year-old Olga, was handing the money to the robber, she suddenly knocked him down on the floor and then tied him up with a hairdryer cord. The 32-year-old Viktor couldn’t have known that the woman was a yellow belt in karate.
Olga locked the unlucky robber in the utility room and told her colleagues that she was going to call the police – but didn’t do so. When everybody left home, she approached the man and ordered him to ‘take of his underpants’ threatening to hand him over to the police if he refuses to cooperate.
After that Olga raped her hostage for three long days. She chained Viktor to the radiator with pink furry handcuffs and fed him Viagra.
She eventually let the man go on Monday, March 16, saying: “Get out of my sight!”
Viktor went straight to hospital as his genitals were injured, and then to the police.
Olga was resentful when she was taken by the police.
“What a bastard,” the woman said about Viktor. “Yes, we had sex a couple of times. But I’ve bought him new jeans, gave him food and even gave him 1.000 roubles (around $ 30) when he left.”
After that she wrote a notice to the police claiming the man tried to rob her shop.
Both Olga and Viktor may now face prison terms. The woman could be convicted of rape, while the man of robbery.
News: Woody Harrelson claims he mistook photographer for zombie
Posted: Dr. Zoidberg @ Sun Apr 12, 2009 2:57 am
Woody Harrelson defended his clash with a photographer at a New York airport Wednesday night as a case of mistaken identity -- he says he mistook the cameraman for a zombie.
The TMZ photographer filed a complaint with police claiming the actor damaged his camera and pushed him in the face at La Guardia Airport, according to an airport spokesman.
"We're looking into this allegation and if it's warranted, we'll turn it over to the proper authorities," said Port Authority of New York and New Jersey spokesman Ron Marsico.
The photographer, who was not identified, captured the encounter on a small camera after his larger one was broken.
Harrelson, who is being sued by another TMZ photographer for an alleged assault in 2006, did not deny his involvement.
"I wrapped a movie called 'Zombieland,' in which I was constantly under assault by zombies, then flew to New York, still very much in character," Harrelson said in a statement issued Friday by his publicist.
"With my daughter at the airport I was startled by a paparazzo, who I quite understandably mistook for a zombie," he said.
TMZ.com posted two videos of the incident, including one recorded by the larger camera before it was damaged.
The first video shows the photographer following Harrelson and his daughter down an escalator and out of the terminal. It ends with Harrelson apparently reaching for the lens.
The second video begins with the photographer accusing Harrelson of breaking his camera.
After Harrelson returns the camera to him, a scuffle appears to ensue.
"Woody, this is assault. Woody, this is assault," the photographer is heard saying. "Woody, chill out. Would you please chill out?"
The photographer continues to follow Harrelson for another four minutes as the actor and his daughter walk to the airport parking lot. At one point, Harrelson again turns toward the cameraman.
"I'm being chased by Woody Harrelson while I'm talking to you," the photographer says as he talks to an unidentified person on a cell phone.
"He hit me in my face, he broke my friggin' camera, he broke the camera in pieces," he said.
Harrelson, his daughter and a driver get inside an SUV and the encounter ends.
In the movie "Zombieland," Harrelson plays "the most frightened person on Earth" looking for refuge from zombies, according to the Internet Movie Database
Filming on the movie wrapped in Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday, according to director Ruben Fleischer's Web site.
TMZ photographer Josh Levine filed a lawsuit against Harrelson last year for an alleged attack outside a Hollywood nightclub in 2006.
Video of that incident, which is also posted on TMZ.com, also appeared to show Harrelson grabbing a camera and clashing with the photographer.
Los Angeles prosecutors declined to press charges against the actor, but Levine filed a suit last summer asking for $2.5 million in damages.
"Woody Harrelson has a history of anger management issues with people and we intend to put a stop to this," Cyrus Nownejad, Levine's lawyer, said Friday.
TMZ is partly owned by AOL, part of CNN's parent company, Time Warner.
No, this is not an April Fool joke - even I thought so for about two minutes until I saw proof.
Early Tuesday US time a near DVD-quality workprint of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" found its way onto the peer-to-peer torrenting networks - a full month before the film's release.
A film leaking online is nothing new, poor quality camcorded versions and/or only marginally better Telecine/Telesync transfers of most films usually hit the torrent networks within days of their US general release.
Proper DVD rips and screeners for festival titles and/or Oscar contenders have also been leaking with more and more vigor of late.
Yet outright workprint leaks are rare as they take place before public release of a film and so are often much easier to trace the source. Ang Lee's 2003 effort "Hulk", Eli Roth's "Hostel Part II" and Rob Zombie's "Halloween" reboot notably saw working prints of their films leaked a week or two before their theatrical releases.
The leak of "Wolverine" though, a full month before its cinematic release, has understandably sent shockwaves around Hollywood and the online community.
Even worse for the studio is the good quality of the transfer - what's shown is essentially complete and in near-DVD quality with only a few unfinished effects shots pointing to its 'work copy' status according to comments left by those who've seen it.
This print also has a 106 minute runtime, making it apparently about fifteen minutes shorter than the final cut which means it likely lacks some or all of the reshoot footage shot in January in Canada. The film is still not finished and receiving final post-production touches according to anonymous sources here in Sydney.
Fox legal is understandably scrambling to shut copies down, a practice that studios have become surprisingly adept at. Yet while the studio may be able to stem much of the flow, once something like this is out there it never entirely goes away.
With no real time codes or identifying traits, the big questions have arisen - who is responsible and how can something like this happen?
The hunt has begun and with something this large there won't just be lawsuits and prosecutions, but major changes and security crackdowns on the post-production process where the source of the leak seems to have come from.
The other question of course is will the leak have any effect on the box-office? That's a more murky question. Fox's biggest earner this year, the thriller "Taken", had DVD rips from the international release leak online months before the US release - yet it obviously had no impact.
Fox's next film, "Dragonball Evolution" opening next Friday, was already released in select Asian countries last month and incomplete poor-quality camcorded versions started appearing on the torrenting sites the other week.
The studio itself has earned a rather bleak reputation of interfering with filmmakers and often ignoring screenings for critics over the past two years, a behavior reflected in weak box-office returns last year, which might be a motive for such a leak.
Then again even the most adamant basher of Tom Rothman's regime couldn't condone such an act. It's an act that cruelly robs thousands of people of not just months of hard effort, but their potential livelihood as well.
As a friend of mine just said to me when we discussed this, people can be real sh*ts sometimes.
BTW, as of the time of this story's publication, it's certain that most leaks will be have been shut down by now while others will be under surveillance by various legal authorities. So if you've been reading this and getting an idea about looking for it, I'd advise against it.
A Washington man tried to pay a more than $200 traffic ticket by sending a plastic bag filled with coins and urine to a county billing office, deputies said.
"That's something I can't wrap my mind around," said Sgt. Phil Anderchuk, of the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office. "The thought process of acting consciously -- consummating the act of urinating in a box full of coins that someone is going to receive."
The man didn't break any postal laws by mailing the combination of urine and change to the Multnomah County court, reported television station KPTV in Portland. Postal officials said it is legal to mail urine or other bodily fluids as long as they are packaged properly in a way that doesn't leak or smell. County employees said the package was wrapped tightly until it reached the courthouse mailroom and didn't smell until it was opened.
Because of a policy of only accepting up to $20 in change, court workers returned his money -- postage due.
"It would be better if the gentlemen had done something that defused the situation and maybe mitigated it, rather than adding fuel to the fire," said Jason Posner, who was visiting the courthouse Wednesday.
The county doesn't intend to pursue the matter, as long as the man pays the $271 in charges that now include late fees.
News: Parent group files FCC complaint against 'Family Guy'
Posted: Dr. Zoidberg @ Fri Mar 13, 2009 12:57 am
1f The Parents Television Council is filing an indecency complaint with the Federal Communications Commission against Fox's "Family Guy" for a March 8 episode that included -- and this is from the press release -- "bestiality, orgies and babies eating sperm."
Since there's nothing hotter than PTC president Tim Winter talking about graphic TV content, let's get right to his quote:
"Fox treated viewers to everything from an ‘eleven-way’ gay orgy to baby Stewie eating a bowl of cereal with horse sperm instead of milk ... if that isn’t enough, the show’s leading character is also shown fanaticizing about his wife and moaning while a horse licks his bare behind. Clearly, the explicit content was not isolated to one instance in one segment of the show; it permeated the entire program."
I know. I can't believe I missed "Family Guy" last week either.
And presumably Winter meant "fantasizing" not "fanaticizing," the latter meaning "to cause to become fanatic."
The PTC is urging its purported 1.3 million members to file FCC complaints against "Family Guy" as well. The organization has a history of taking issue with the show's content and series creator Seth MacFarlane was asked about the PTC last year:
"Oh, yeah. That’s like getting hate mail from Hitler. They’re literally terrible human beings. I’ve read their newsletter, I’ve visited their website, and they’re just rotten to the core. For an organization that prides itself on Christian values — I mean, I’m an atheist, so what do I know? — they spend their entire day hating people. They can all suck my d**k as far as I’m concerned."
The organization has targeted other shows over the years with various degrees of success. The PTC has gone after notorious content offenders such as "Nip/Tuck" ... "Las Vegas" ... the Golden Globe Awards ... "That 70s Show" ... "Father of the Pride" ... "Big Brother" ... "Without a Trace" ... "Friends" ... the Billboard Music Awards ... "The Simpsons" ... "Dexter" ... the Live 8 concert ... "Today" ... "Survivor" ... "Two and a Half Men" ... Carl's Jr.'s "Spicy BBQ Six Dollar Burger" commercial ... and "Gilmore Girls." Clearly, only the worst of the worst.
News: Star Wars Live-Action TV Series Casting Underway
Posted: Dr. Zoidberg @ Tue Mar 10, 2009 9:15 pm
A live-action TV series set in the “Star Wars” cosmos has been an elusive, tantalizing prospect for years. News of the potential production first surfaced in 2005 while George Lucas was promoting “Revenge of the Sith.” Work on the “Clones Wars” animated feature film and Cartoon Network series, though, took creative precedence. In late 2007, Lucas revealed that he and his team were about to begin writing scripts for the live-action show. Now MTV News has learned that casting for the series is currently underway.
During the junket for the Nicolas Cage thriller “Knowing,” star Rose Byrne let slip that Team Lucas is casting a wide net for actors to join the show. “A lot of my friends have been auditioning for it,” she said.
According to Lucas, the show will focus on minor characters from the saga and be set in the time period between “Revenge of the Sith” (Episode III) and the original “Star Wars” (Episode IV). The action will follow the Rebel Alliance as it slowly gains strength against the Empire. There will be Stormtroopers, but no Jedi or Darth Vader will appear on screen. As he did with the “Clone Wars” series, Lucas will write and shoot an entire year’s worth of episodes before looking for a cable channel on which to air the series.
Thus, with casting just now moving forward, it looks to be quite some time before fans will be able to catch some live-action “Star Wars” on the small screen.
Bryne couldn’t have been more pleased about her time working with Lucas on 2002’s “Attack of the Clones.” “My experience was wonderful,” she said. “George is a great guy. I was just there for a week, standing behind Natalie [Portman] looking very demure and supportive. 95% of the fan mail I get is from ‘Star Wars’ and I’ve never seen them.”
As much as she enjoyed the “Star Wars” experience, Byrne, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for her work on FX’s “Damages,” will not be auditioning for the live-action series. “I’m on a show,” she said. “I don’t know if I look that good in space.”
Who would you like to see cast in a live-action “Star Wars” TV show? Which cable channel would be the best outlet for the series?
You could call it a new version of "the road less traveled."
Filer emergency crews retrieved an unidentified Ada County man from a rest area toilet Thursday afternoon, after he climbed into a waste tank and became stuck.
The man was found just before noon by another driver that stopped at the U.S. Highway 30 rest area west of town, according to Filer Police Chief Cliff Johnson. Filer police responded to a 911 call, along with the Filer Fire Department, Filer Quick Response and a paramedic from St. Luke's Magic Valley Medical Center.
Johnson said the man, who asked police not to be identified, was unable to find his car keys after using the lavatory. Thinking his keys had fallen in the tank, the man removed a round plastic cover at the base of the toilet and climbed in to find them. Once inside he was unable to pull himself out, and waited until someone else arrived.
"He hadn't been there too long, only 10 or 15 minutes," Johnson said.
At least 10 emergency response personnel responded to the 911 call, according to Johnson and a dispatch supervisor at Southern Idaho Regional Communication Center.
Eventually the man was retrieved through an access hole used to pump the waste out of the tank.
"It took some lifting to get him out, and he had cut himself pretty good trying to get himself out," Johnson said.
The man was allowed to wash off with the fire truck hose at the scene, where he made another painful discovery.
"That's when he discovered the keys were still in his back pocket," Johnson said.
Both the SIRCOMM supervisor and Johnson said crews didn't ask the man for his name, which wasn't required since no charges or citation were issued.
"He didn't want to give it to us, and that was fine with us," said Taylor Hunsaker, a dispatch supervisor at SIRCOMM. "We didn't want to embarrass him any more than that."
"It was recommended that he seek some medical treatment and get himself cleaned up," Johnson said.
News: Daft Punk to provide original music score for Tron 2
Posted: Dr. Zoidberg @ Thu Mar 05, 2009 8:53 pm
HARDER, BETTER, FASTER, TRON-ER
I liked the plot details (assuming they're correct) we recently saw from Tron 2.0, but this news makes me far more interested in the film: Upcoming Film Scores reports that Daft Punk has been signed to provide the original score.
While there are plenty of great composers who could do wonders with the project, this makes a lot of sense. Daft Punk has courted the Tron image for years, and the original film's score definitely informs the French duo's work. At the Grammys last year, during their appearance with Kanye West, the two sported definitively Tron-inspired costumes. All of which boils down to your basic fanboy justification: hey, they like Tron a lot, so they're perfect!
But more to the point, they're wholly versed in and amazingly versatile with creating both moods and specific themes through what sounds like a limited electronic palette. The group has already worked in film via their own projects (Electroma, which they didn't score, and the anime Interstella 5555, which visualizes the album Discovery) and half of the band, Thomas Bangalter, has twice worked with Gaspar Noe, on Irreversible and the upcoming Enter the Void. The Irreversible score is fantastic; that alone gives me a lot of hope for this deal.
Charter boat captain Erik Rue, 42, photographed the animal, which is actually an albino, when he began studying it after the mammal first surfaced in Lake Calcasieu, an inland saltwater estuary, north of the Gulf of Mexico in southwestern USA.
Capt Rue originally saw the dolphin, which also has reddish eyes, swimming with a pod of four other dolphins, with one appearing to be its mother which never left its side.
He said: "I just happened to see a little pod of dolphins, and I noticed one that was a little lighter.
"It was absolutely stunningly pink.
"I had never seen anything like it. It's the same color throughout the whole body and it looks like it just came out of a paint booth.
"The dolphin appears to be healthy and normal other than its coloration, which is quite beautiful and stunningly pink.
"The mammal is entirely pink from tip to tail and has reddish eyes indicating it's albinism. The skin appears smooth, glossy pink and without flaws.
"I have personally spotted the pink dolphin 40 to 50 times in the time since the original sighting as it has apparently taken up residence with its family in the Calcasieu ship channel.
"As time has passed the young mammal has grown and sometimes ventures away from its mother to feed and play but always remains in the vicinity of the pod.
"Surprisingly, it does not appear to be drastically affected by the environment or sunlight as might be expected considering its condition, although it tends to remain below the surface a little more than the others in the pod."
Regina Asmutis-Silvia, senior biologist with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, said: "I have never seen a dolphin coloured in this way in all my career.
"It is a truly beautiful dolphin but people should be careful, as with any dolphins, to respect it - observe from a distance, limit their time watching, don't chase or harass it
"While this animal looks pink, it is an albino which you can notice in the pink eyes.
"Albinism is a genetic trait and it unclear as to the type of albinism this animal inherited."
A close relation of dolphins, the Amazon River Botos, called pink dolphins, live in South America in the Amazon.
News: Apatow Productions Officially In Charge Of Ghostbusters 3
Posted: Dr. Zoidberg @ Mon Mar 02, 2009 8:56 pm
Judd Apatow's name has been attached the rumors about Ghostbusters 3 since they first began, with all reports saying he would be the producer for the film written by The Office writers Lee Eisenberg and Greg Stupnitsky. Now the production has gotten so close to actually happening that Production Weekly is listing it-- and wouldn't you know, Apatow Productions is right there in charge.
Sure, it's not huge news-- we could probably have assumed from the first rumor that Apatow would be involved, given that he's the reigning demi-god of comedy. But the inclusion in Production Weekly means the whole thing is actually happening, beyond just Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray getting asked awkward questions about the project's status. No actor names are attached to the Production Weekly piece, but at this point, it seems like only a matter of time before the gentlemen prepare to suit up a third time.
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