BitTorrent maker sets up search

BitTorrent maker sets up search: "The man behind the popular BitTorrent file-sharing program has set up a way of searching for torrent files.

The search tool on Bram Cohen's website makes it easier to find links which can then be used to download large files.

It was launched as US authorities shut down a prominent BitTorrent site, Elite Torrents, which had links to download the new Star Wars movie.

BitTorrent has become linked to online piracy due its widespread use to distribute copyrighted material.

more from the beeb

The irony is too much. lol! This is the quote from the footer on the BitTorrent website: BitTorrent, its logo and its web site are all copyright © 2001-2005 BitTorrent, Inc.

Is it just me or is that biting satire?

Man gets parole after 35 years - for stealing b&w TV

A man sentenced for stealing a black and white TV nearly three decades ago walked out of prison Friday as a free man.

Lucky for him it wasn't a color TV!

US probes Viagra 'blindness risk'

US health officials are examining reports of varying degrees of blindness among a small number of men using the anti-impotence drug Viagra.

Bloody hell! All those tales about masturbation making you go blind might be true after all!

Public worried by online ID theft

Concerns about identity theft are beginning to put people off shopping and banking online.

In a survey commissioned by software firm Intervoice, 17% of people said they had stopped banking online while 13% had abandoned web shopping."

more of the story

Protecting your Identity - Q&A

Russian Lake Disappears

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian village was left baffled Thursday after its lake disappeared overnight.

NTV television showed pictures of a giant muddy hole bathed in summer sun, while fishermen from the village of Bolotnikovo looked on disconsolately.

'It is very dangerous. If a person had been in this disaster, he would have had almost no chance of survival. The trees flew downwards, under the ground,' said Dmitry Zaitsev, a local Emergencies Ministry official interviewed by the channel.

Officials in Nizhegorodskaya region, on the Volga river east of Moscow, said water in the lake might have been sucked down into an underground water-course or cave system, but some villagers had more sinister explanations.

'I am thinking, well, America has finally got to us,' said one old woman, as she sat on the ground outside her house."

Ominous! Apparently, the lake only appeared during the reign of Ivan the Terrible
Pictures and more info available from the beeb

Google Mapping Out Trouble

Google maps could be heading for big trouble methinks! I was reading one of my favourite blogs (My Neighbours Are Hoors) and caught these in the comments:

Search term on Google Maps: prostitutes, aberdeen
Result:

• Drugs Action Aberdeen (Helpline)


• Aberdeen Women's Centre


• Cults Hotel

with the search term, brothel, aberdeen returning a place called, Lighthouse.

out of order in more ways than one!

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Netscape offers 'hybrid' browser

Veteran net firm Netscape has released a new version of its browser.

Its focus is on security, with features to protect consumers from malicious software and online scams.

Netscape 8.0 is described as a 'hybrid' browser, allowing users to click between both Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) and rival open source web browser Firefox.

The dominant browser in the early nineties, Netscape has since lost out almost entirely to Microsoft."

the browser wars are heating up again ...

Ape hunters pick up new viruses

Two new viruses from the same family as HIV have been discovered in central Africans who hunt nonhuman primates.

Researchers say their work proves it is not unusual for potentially dangerous viruses to jump from primates to man.

They say it is important to monitor disease in bush meat hunters closely, as any virus they contract from animals may spread to the community at large.

more ...

get the video camera out and train it on your bushmeat hunting neighbours

Piano Man 'Link to Sussex'

A suggestion that a mystery man who stunned carers by giving a virtuoso piano performance may be from the Sussex area is being investigated, his social worker said today.

The man has not uttered a word since police picked him up wandering aimlessly near the beach in Minster on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, in the early hours of April 7, dressed in a dripping wet suit and tie.

All efforts to communicate with the shy and agitated man, aged in his 20s or early 30s, have failed, leaving experts baffled as to his identity and where he is from.

Staff at the Medway Maritime Hospital, Gillingham, gave the mystery man a pen and paper in the hope he would write his name or draw his country’s flag.

Instead the patient, dubbed the “Piano Man”, drew highly detailed pictures of a grand piano, showing not only the keys but also the intricate inner workings of the instrument.

His social worker, Michael Camp, showed him a piano in the hospital chapel and to his amazement the man delivered a stunning, two-hour performance of classical playing. Since then, he has written music, but remains mute.

more ...

the man is probably a savant

Hundreds of children 'vanishing'

Hundreds of African boys have disappeared from London schools, police investigating the murder of a boy whose torso was left in the Thames have said.

Scotland Yard asked London education authorities how many black boys aged four to seven had vanished from school.

Between July and September 2001, 300 children had disappeared and police fear thousands may go missing annually.

Child welfare experts say the figures show the scale of child trafficking, sometimes for labour or benefit fraud.

A previous investigation by BBC Radio Four found that some African children were being held by their parents' creditors ...

rest here

Spam blacklist targets Telewest

Almost one million net addresses owned by UK cable firm Telewest have been blacklisted by an anti-spam group.

The Spam Prevention Early Warning System blacklisted the addresses because many of the machines using them have been hijacked by spammers.

The army of remotely-controllable machines have probably been recruited by viruses and worms.

Telewest said it knew about the problem and was working with customers to regain control of their home computers.

more ...

Europe-wide events to mark VE Day

Europe-wide events to mark VE Day

"Commemorations are taking place around Europe to mark the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany."


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How To Make Certain No-one Talks

"Pakistani officials say they are 'deeply dismayed' over reports that the Koran was desecrated at the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay.

The latest edition of the American Newsweek magazine said such tactics were used to rattle suspects.

It says that US personnel on one occasion flushed a copy of Islam's most holy book 'down the toilet'."

Getting 'Suspects' With Deeply Held Religious Beliefs to Talk
Lesson 1: Do not attack their faith - you will only deepen it
Lesson 2: See Lesson 1

Silicon Art Gallery

Silicon Art Gallery : "Integrated Circuits (ICs) are constructed from multiple layers of material, typically silicon, silicon dioxide (glass) and aluminum. The composition and thickness of these layers give them their distinctive color and appearance. These elements created an irresistible palette for IC design and layout engineers.

The creative process involved in the design of these chips, a strong sense of pride in their work, and an artistic temperament combined compels people to want to mark their work as their own. It is very common to find initials, or groups of sets of initials on chips. This is the design engineers way of 'signing' his/her work.

Often this creative artist's instinct extends to the inclusion of small pictures or icons. These may be images of significance to the designers, comments related to the chip's function, inside jokes, or even satirical references to their corporate masters in the cartoonists tradition (e.g. the mythical 'bill sux' comment on a Pentium chip)."

You can also find more of this micro-artwork mini masterpieces at Silicon Zoo

US school battle over evolution

The Kansas state school board has begun four days of hearings into how children in state schools are taught about the origins of life.

Religious conservatives are pressing for a change to state guidelines that would play down Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

They argue that the teaching of evolution shows a bias against religion.

... Many of the witnesses support "intelligent design", the belief that scientific evidence cannot account for the complexity of the Universe and that it must be the result of some higher power.

intelligent design ...? Clearly not in Kansas, I fear

Stunning News about Search Engine Marketing and Press Releases!

SEO Firm Raise My Rank Announces New Client and Search Marketing Experiments
From the blog of Dan Thies, well known Search Engine Marketeer and writing at SitePoint blog; this gem from Bob Gladstein at 'Raise My Rank' in response to the ongoing discussions about Press releases being used to basically spam links for the search engines:

SEO Firm Raise My Rank Announces New Client and Search Marketing Experiments

Raise My Rank SEO Services of Somerville Massachusetts announces the acquisition of a new client and discusses search engine optimization experiments.

Somerville, MA (PRWEB) May 2, 2005 -- Raise My Rank Search Engine Optimization Services , a leading firm in the online marketing space, announced today that they contracted to work with one new client this week, had discussions with two prospective clients, and continued to work on ongoing projects.

"It was a pretty good week," said Bob Gladstein, principal of the company. "I got a new gig completely out of the blue, without even having to write a proposal, and one of my other clients came back from vacation, so the lull that had given me the week before is now over."

Experiments for the week included an attempt to determine the efficacy of the use of search engine submission forms and a study of the attention spans of editors working for online press release services.

In other news, Gonga and Maya continue to enjoy their birthday gifts, and this has significantly decreased the amount of work getting accomplished in the office.

# # #

priceless!

Secret World Domination Plans Exposed!

This New World Map shows future plans for global domination. Zoom out to see the whole scary picture!

Employees Can’t Be Fired for Surfing Porn on the Job

"Employees can’t be fired for surfing porn on the job. That’s the judgement of a court which has ruled that an employer who fired two employees caught surfing the web for porn on company time must not only reinstate them, but must pay each of them an award of $40,000 for unfair dismissal.

Ok, go that? The employees are viewing online pornography on the job, presumably to the exclusion of their other duties, and the employer can’t fire them. In fact if the employer does fire them, it would be unfair dismissal and grounds for legal action."

rest of the story at Aunty Spam's Net Patrol

Ah! But can they be fired for pilfering tissues? Hmmm?

Liar, liar, pants on fire

I would be neglecting my blogatorial duties if I didn't include this liar Googlebomb

The problem with British politics is that most of the voters are choosing the least worst, not the best. The first party to credibly promise protection from the state will win a landslide. Of course, it may not be true and we could wind up in a dictatorship ... ah, too late, I forgot.