Twitchers Have Feathers Ruffled

Farmer's pink paint fooled twitchers

Birdwatchers who hoped they had found a new species of hawk were shot down - when a farmer turned out to have been painting them pink for fun.
The strangely coloured hawks caused great excitement in the twitching community when they were first spotted in New Zealand three years ago.
But suspicions set in when one of the birds was hit by a car - and closer investigation revealed that it had been spray-painted a pinkish-red colour.
Animal protection officers began investigating and local farmer Grant Teahan was uncovered as the culprit, reports the Manawatu Standard.
He was first suspected when his nephew uploaded a video onto YouTube which showed a home-made bird trap covered in the same colour paint.
Computers seized at his farm, in Dannevirke, had files, photographs and films relating to red hawks deleted. Another file showed a cow spray-painted with "Merry Christmas".
Teahan was this week found guilty in Dannevirke District Court of two charges of ill-treating animals. He's due to be sentenced on 30 January.
Local SPCA manager Danny Auger said it was the most bizarre case he had ever worked on.
"Various people got involved, like experts who thought maybe it was a new strain or a new type of bird or whatever, but then feathers were being found and it was obvious somebody was actually painting these hawks," he said.

Viagra A Day?

Gardener says Viagra perks up plants

A TV gardener has shared his tip for keeping flowers perky - feeding them a tiny dose of Viagra.
David Domoney says one milligram of the blue pill gives drooping blooms a lift and extends their life.
"Drop in a standard Viagra tablet... it stiffens up your blooms a treat," he advised on his website.
The flowers need just one milligram of a standard 50 milligram tablet to regain their vigor, the gardener said.
Viagra contains nitric oxide, a hormone released by humans that enables blood vessels to relax and increases blood flow to the penis. Plants also give off nitric oxide to turn on their immune system.
Australian scientists first discovered Viagra's potential in the plant industry and their research was published in the British Medical Journal.

Phone….Home?

Holidaymaker hit with 1.2k phone bill

A Scottish holidaymaker has been hit with a £1,200 phone bill, despite not making a phone call or sending a text when he was away.
Jeff Craw didn't make a phone call or send a text when he was away in Thailand for 10 days but his phone was blocked after he ran up such a large bill.
The 41-year-old man was charged for receiving emails and Facebook updates during his break - but the thought of paying off the hefty sum has led to some sleepless nights.
Jeff told the Daily Record newspaper: "I've not been able to sleep because of this. The phone bill is almost as much as my holiday. It's sickening."
T-Mobile kindly reduced his bill by £297, but when they sent Jeff a text to inform him it looked like they had cut the bill to that amount.
The network have since apologised for the "error in balance" when they first offered the discount.

Underpants Are Go??

Plastic underwear row sends competitive skiing downhill

The world of competitive downhill skiing has been rocked by a row over plastic underwear.

The undergarments of Tina Maze, a Slovakian skier who came second at a major event in Austria, were subject to intense scrutiny last week after she was accused of wearing a banned design.
The plastic one-piece was rigorously inspected by officials who ruled that the clothing broke no rules, despite accusations that the fabric had given her an aerodynamic edge over her rivals.
“My underwear is obviously too sexy for the Swiss,” Ms Maze said in retaliation to the jibes.
Following the incident, a complaint was lodged by the Swiss Skiing Federation to the International Skiing Federation (FIS), its parent organisation.
Air permeability of the fabric appears to be at the centre of the row, and although Maze’s undergarments were deemed admissible, the FIS concluded that part of the membrane was banned under the rules.
“It is recommended that the one-piece undergarment not be used by any athletes in competition,” was the final verdict, based on evidence that the fabric was bad for the skin.
Earlier this season, Gunter Hujara, the men’s race director for FIS, swung a piece of blue plastic underwear in the air, made from a banned hybrid neoprene sheath, as a warning that anyone caught wearing them would be disqualified

Aussie File Sharing?

Australian File-Sharer Recommends  Surrender

An Australian file-sharer who faced a similar extradition process to the UK student Richard O'Dwyer recommends him to give up and go to the United States voluntarily to face the entertainment industry.
Hew Griffiths, the Australian, explained that he was watching O'Dwyer’s case with a sense of foreboding. The matter is that exactly the same thing happened to him a few years ago. A British judge has decided that the 23-year-old UK student, who created an online website for sharing not illegal content itself, but only the links to TV programs hosted elsewhere, should be extradited to America to face trial and up to ten years in prison.

Although this is regarded as the first time that the bizarre, favor the rich and corporate US justice system has applied to some developed democratic country, this has apparently been already seen in the colonies. Hew Griffiths was bundled on a plane to the United States four years ago in a pointless show of America’s corporate power which did little to stem Internet piracy.

Griffiths explained that if he had been charged in Australia he would have got a 6-month suspended sentence along with a $1000 fine as maximum penalty. However, the United States gave him a 6-month prison time after 3 years in Sydney’s Silverwater jail trying to fight extradition. Although he didn’t earn money from helping distribute illegal software, under American law the entertainment industry demanded his hide, and the industry’s cronies in the government were quick to throw the book at Griffiths. After facing with a 10-year jail term, Hew Griffiths struck a plea bargain as there was actually no choice.

Indeed, there was no way he could have proved his case in Virginia, because it was like juries there just listened to the case and declared him guilty before the jury door swings shut. Griffiths recommended that O'Dwyer was better off giving up and going there voluntarily. Of course, he won’t win the case, but in case of delay the prosecutors will also throw the book at him. Griffiths believes that if O'Dwyer offers a deal there would be no problem, because the politicians don’t really want to tie up their prisons.

American authorities understand that the prosecutions are pointless, but they still want to be seen to be acting for corporations like Adobe and Microsoft, though there’s still more piracy in the United States than ever.

Remember The war??

Retired Beefeater 'ejected from pub for speaking German'

A former Beefeater at the Tower of London has reportedly been thrown out of his local pub for talking German to his daughter.

Tom Sharp, 71, said he was talking to his half-German daughter in the Packhorse pub in the Peterborough village of Northborough when their conversation slipped into German.
Mr Sharp, who also served with the Royal Signals for 26 years during which he met his wife Anni in Germany, said the pub's landlady flew into a rage when she heard the language being used on Wednesday evening.
He claims she told him: "We are white, you are English so you speak English in my pub otherwise get out."
Other drinkers who witnessed the row and spoke up for Mr Sharp and his 49-year-old daughter Nichole Falconer were also ejected, he said.
"I honestly couldn't believe she was telling us we couldn't speak German. Now and again the odd German phrase slips up – it is my daughter's mother tongue. It is natural," he said.
"It's not as if we were always speaking German and being rude. I could understand if it was all the time and looking at her as if we were plotting, but we weren't.
"You just can't tell people they can't speak their mother tongue. Would she do that to the Polish community in Peterborough?
"I think it is a sad reflection of her attitude to life that she can be upset about speaking a language she can't understand. It's outrageous. She was just like a mad woman completely possessed."
The incident has been reported to police as a hate crime.
A witness said: "It's disgraceful. Everyone in the pub was horrified. We all left and I don't think many people will be going back."
Mr Sharp, who was widowed two years ago, said it was the worst racism his daughter, an employment lawyer, had faced.
"I would hate to think what my wife's family would think of this. But it's even more mind boggling to suggest that I am not patriotic if that what her problem was," he added.
"I served in the army for 26 years before joining the beefeaters for 20 years. I guarded the Tower of London.
"Should a father not speak to his daughter in her mother tongue?"
Mr Sharp became a Yeoman Warder in 1984 and carried out the daily Ceremony of the Keys to lock the gates of the Tower.
His daughter, who moved to the village to be closer to her father at the end of last year, said: "It's just not acceptable.
"I have no idea of motivation but I found it very offensive and it caused me a great deal of distress."
The landlady of the pub, which is owned by Scottish and Newcastle but managed by LT Pub Management, declined to comment.
A police spokesman said: "We were called to reports of an alleged prejudice incident at the Packhorse Pub Northborough at 7.20pm.
"Officers attended and spoke to both parties."

A Change Of View?

Politicians Turned Away from Entertainment Industry

Online protests against entertainment industry taking over the American Justice system seem to have got the message to the US politicians that the world is hacked off with them. Press reports show that those politicians who stood for the entertainment industry are now switching sides. The reason is that they finally realized that their careers will be that much tougher when they are treated negatively by their voters.
Apparently, the entertainment industry is realizing that its Washington campaign is faltering. For example, the Motion Picture Association of America described the opposition as an “abuse of power”. In other words, the MPAA really doesn’t know what to do. Recently, Wikipedia, the global free online encyclopedia, went offline for 24 hours. Google and others also used the black censorship bars in attempts to draw attention to what had earlier been a legislative proposal to curb access to foreign websites engaged into infringing the copyright.

Websites that participated in the blackout asked their visitors to reach their legislators on the question, and perhaps they did exactly that. After that, such sponsors of the bill as Senators Roy Blunt, Chuck Grassley, Marco Rubio, and many more announced that they were withdrawing their support. Meanwhile, the others began to attack Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for rushing the Senate version of the legislation. However, it can’t be Reid’s fault, because he was just doing what he was told. In addition, with political apathy in America about such issues he could think it was good to get campaign contributions from the entertainment industry for the coming elections.

In switching sides, some of the earlier bill supporters called it “deeply flawed”, while the others cited “unintended consequences” able to stem from the proposed legislation. All of them claimed that they supported taking action against Internet piracy. The others specified that they supported changes to the law.

Creative America – a studio- and union-supported outfit fighting online piracy, started a TV advertising campaign to air in the areas of key legislators. For example, in Times Square, it turned on a digital pro-SOPA and PIPA billboard in space offered by News Corp that owns Fox Studios. Meanwhile, Rupert Murdoch is again known as a support of SOPA and PIPA and has dubbed Google a pirate.

Don’t Dress Down For The Horses!

Ascot's orange spot of shame

Ascot has apologised after stewards stuck orange dots on racegoers who failed to comply with a new dress code.

It was meant as a way to smarten up dress standards and give racegoers a polite warning if they were not quite up to scratch.
But last night Ascot Racecourse was forced to apologise for a new policy of sticking orange dots on to people who failed to comply with its new, stricter dress code.
Under the new rules, introduced yesterday, men in the premier enclosure are asked to wear a jacket and tie while women should dress smartly.
Those who broke the guidelines were still admitted, but had the stickers applied to their entrance badge.
Ascot said the stickers were designed to act as a warning and to let stewards know that a racegoer had already been spoken to about their outfit, to avoid the embarrassment of repeated verbal warnings.
But those issued with the mark said they felt humiliated, and launched angry complaints at race course chiefs.
Organisers later apologised, saying the tactic was “heavy-handed”.
Nick Smith, head of public relations at Ascot, said: “We are trying to bring in a new dress code but didn’t want on day one to turn anyone away and genuinely thought we were treading quite softly.
“Everything behind the thinking appeared to make a lot of sense, but it’s clear that targeting people like this gave out the wrong message.
“The intention wasn’t to be heavy-handed so we apologise. It was clearly the wrong thing to do and there will not be orange tags next time.”
The dress code for premier admission, set out on the Ascot Racecourse website, states: “A day at Ascot Racecourse is very special. Most racegoers dress up for the occasion and this is an important part of the Ascot Raceday experience.
“Gentlemen should wear a jacket and tie, smart trousers or smart jeans, no trainers. There will be an announcement on the day allowing jackets to be removed, should the weather be hot. Ladies should dress for a smart occasion; hats are encouraged but not compulsory. Children should be dressed smartly.”
There is no formal dress code in the course’s cheaper grandstand enclosure, although the rules state “bare chests are not permitted at any time”.
Last week the racecourse also announced that fascinators and short skirts would be banned for women attending the annual Royal Ascot meeting.

Don’t Mess With Moose!!

Taking The Piss??

Shop display’s toilet humour gets owner in trouble

A SHOP owner has been told to remove a urinating mannequin from his window after police were called.
The owner of menswear shop Philip Browne in Norwich had posed a wooden mannequin urinating on a wall and spelling out the word “sale” in the store’s window.
The mannequin was surrounded by empty Champagne bottles, party poppers and discarded clothes to depict the aftermath of a night out. But police were called by a member of the public who took exception to the display.
Officers warned shop owner Philip Browne that he could be violating the 1986 Public Order Act.

Sue Everyone???

Symantec Sued for Scaring Clients into Buying

An individual from Washington is currently suing insecurity firm Symantec, complaining that he had been terrified into purchasing its products.
A man named James Gross claims that Symantec seeks to persuade people to purchase its products by scaring them with misleading data about the health of their PCs. He is currently suing the firm in San Jose and provided a copy of the complaint to the press. James Gross claims that Symantec distributes trial versions of its digital products scanning a potential client’s system and consequently invariably reporting of harmful errors, privacy risks and plenty of other existing problems of the computer.

Indeed, the insecurity company uses the scanning software to market such products as Norton Utilities, PC Tools Registry Mechanic and PC Tools Performance Toolkit software. The claimant says that this scanning software is falsely informing the computer owner of the errors having high priority. Moreover, it also falsely informs users that their overall system health and privacy health is very poor.

James Gross claims that both Norton Utilities and PC Tools represent a so-called “scareware”, which is specifically designed software causing pop-up messages appearing on the digital deices that tell consumers they are infected with malware. However, according to Gross, the scareware doesn’t really perform any meaningful evaluation of the people’s computer systems. According to the court documents, James Gross insists that the scareware does not, and, at the first place, cannot actually perform the valuable tasks represented by the insecurity company through its official sites, advertising, and in-software display screens.

“The”…Word Press Plug-In!

WordPress Gets BitTorrent Plugin

Today, thanks to the plugin called WP-Trader, everyone having a domain associated with WordPress is able to benefit from this useful application which turns their site into a small operational BitTorrent tracker. Andrew Walker, the author of the plugin, explained that he acknowledged the need for an easy torrent script and decided to develop it. He points out that all of the existing torrent tracker source codes are unique and good in different ways, but he noticed a lack for simple install and setup for torrent trackers. Indeed, few sources offer this function, and people keep coming into the forums for advice with problems in installing of their websites.

Although the plugin developer believes that if a user has no idea how to install or adjust their own torrent website they shouldn’t be running it, software like WP-Trader is still able to benefit artists having no knowledge about these things. The application was introduced last month, and since its first version both the developer and his helper have been working hard, updating the plugin on a weekly basis.

Today WP-Trader is still in beta and lacks many features, but you can see new things being added every week. The software was built around Torrent Trader V2.07, so the users can notice some things from Torrent Trader. However, the developers are trying to use many built-in functions of WordPress.

At the moment, the new release offers a lot of options from which a user can choose. For example, an Internet user can either choose to set up an open tracker or a private one featuring ratio requirements or wait times. The plugin also comes with a number of widgets like displaying the latest uploads and most popular torrents. Of course, there is still a lot of work to be done, and developers do realize this. They plan on fully integrating the application as closely as possible with WordPress, since the latter has plenty of features or plugins to tackle some things considered to be useful or not to the plugin. As usual, everyone is able to find more information on how to install and setup the application online and is encouraged to give the developers some feedback.

They Are At it Again!!!

More ISPs Forced to Block BitTorrent Tracker

At the very start of this year two Internet service providers in the Netherlands have already been ordered to block the largest BitTorrent tracker website in the world: now The Pirate Bay can’t be accessed by Dutch web users after a lawsuit filed by anti-piracy outfit BREIN.
Two Internet service providers in question appeared to be Ziggo, which is considered the leading broadband provider in the Netherlands, and XS4ALL. The decision to block The Pirate Bay was handed down last week by the Hague district court. According to the court decision, The Pirate Bay is being used by 30% of Ziggo subscribers and 4.5% of XS4ALL for unauthorized file-sharing activities, which causes copyright infringement.

After acknowledging the court ruling, XS4ALL immediately claimed that it would appeal the decision. The ISPs have also got support from the digital hacktivist group known worldwide as Anonymous, which took the web by storm a couple years ago and scared plenty of media outfits in 2011 by starting DDoS attacks against their sites. Anonymous claimed that they would respond to BREIN’s action with a spamming campaign against their outfit. The hackers have issued a statement that can be read on the text hosting website Pastebin, usually used by the group to announce things. Anonymous promised they won’t sit idle while Dutch anti-piracy outfit removes parts of their interwebz. While the group undocks its battle ships, industry experts guess that BREIN should have expected such turn of events and has something to say in response. However, as for now, both Ziggo and XS4ALL are demanded to block access to The Pirate Bay within ten days, or risk to face penalties of up to 10,000 euros per day.

What A Nerve!

Entertainment Industry Will Sue Ireland

Ireland might become the first country to be brought down by the music industry for failing to do what it is told regarding to file-sharing. According to the reports, entertainment industry is currently going to sue the cash-strapped Irish government for failing to bring in a copyright legislation that blocks sites.
The entertainment industry wants websites it mentions to be blocked without having to go to trial. So, if the Ireland doesn’t do what it is told, it will be claimed a pirate and must be brought down. It seems that the background to this case is hidden in the October 2010 judgment in EMI vs UPC case, where the judge decided that Irish legislation didn’t permit to make an order against an Internet service provider demanding blocking of online services.

The entertainment industry replied that considering the fact that the country hadn’t enacted the proper legislation, it can be held liable for all the file-sharing committed in Ireland. This is going to be worth several trillion to the industry, with the attorneys adding lots of zeros, which means that the Irish government can become the first nation state to be sued into insolvency.

Actually, Ireland has already said that they will develop some “statutory” tool to let the blocking of sites be implemented in accordance to European legislation in the next week. However, it doesn’t look like the industry wants exactly the ability to block a site. Recently, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner has already decided against Eircom's “three-strikes” regime, and if any “statutory” tool allows for blocking online services, it won’t allow a SOPA legislation where the music industry orders a broadband provider to take offline a website without any evidence.

It seems that the music industry is going to use the European law principle, first used in Italy, where the damages are now possible against the government for failure to implement an EU directive. However, it might appear tricky to get a conviction: the music industry would have to prove that filtering online services prevents piracy and demonstrate that Ireland didn't bring in a legislation in question fast enough.

Thus far, the experts believe that in the unlikely event that the industry wins with the damages being on a common file-sharing level and the country remaining as broke as it is, the industry would be in a very interesting situation of owning a country.

The French!!!!!!!

Google's Autocomplete Feature Defamed Organization

A French court has ruled against Google's autocomplete service, which might have accidentally defamed one of the French insurance companies.
The latest court case appeared to be both funny and worrying for the international search giant. When the users tapped in the name of the French insurance company Lyonnaise de Garantie, they get the word “escroc”, which is translated from French as “crook”, appearing. As you can understand, if the users did that too often, they would begin associating the world “crook” with the company Lyonnaise de Garantie, and that is something that business wouldn’t want.

After the insurance company took the search giant to court, the press revealed that the judge took the side of Lyonnaise de Garantie and ruled against the search engine’s autocomplete feature. As a result, the company was fined $65,000, but this amount of money is, of course, roughly nothing to the international giant. In response, Google had argued that it wasn’t really responsible for what happened, because the word was added under Google Suggest, which was obviously the result of some automatic algorithm and therefore couldn’t come from human thought.

Nevertheless, the Judge pointed out that that the search engine was asked a few times to tackle the issue but it did nothing in this regard. That’s why aside from the imposed fine, the service is also demanded to delete the term from the search results associated with Lyonnaise de Garantie. This court decision can cause some trouble for the search giant in Europe. The matter is that there are quite a few individuals and organizations out there that may also have suggestions for their names that could be considered defamatory

The Spanish Kneel Before The Mighty USA

US Demanded Spain to Adopt SOPA Policy

The United States of America told Spain that if it doesn’t introduce legislation similar to SOPA, it will face a trade blacklist. Currently the SOPA bill is being pushed through in the United States by a number of lawmakers depending on campaign donations from different members of the entertainment industry.
American authorities have been demanding other states to introduce similar police-state style acts. According to the media reports, some leaked letter sent to Spain’s outgoing President by the American ambassador to the country contained a warning that unless passing SOPA-style censorship legislation, the country risked being put on a US trade blacklist. And it looks like the warning worked, because the new Spanish government is currently working with the United States to hand over its legal system to the entertainment industry so they are able to lock up who and when they like. It was a kind of days of Franco, but in this case there was no civil war to remove human rights in Spain first.

A Wikileaks cable has recently revealed the America’s heavy handed treatment of an EU member. That’s where a controversial draft of a new Spanish copyright law was proved to have been written by the United States. One more diplomatic leak has shown how the United States was furious that Spanish President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapaterowas wasn’t planning to pass the America-drafted Sinde (website filtering) legislation before leaving office.

The letter was signed by the ambassador of the United States Alan D. Solomont and addressed to the Spanish Prime Minister's office. It has shown that the United States was expressing deep concern over the failure to introduce the SOPA-style filtering legislation. There, Solomont claimed that the authorities failed to finish this work for some political reasons and to the detriment of the reputation and economy of the country. Actually, it wasn’t Solomont’s fault in the last days of the office, as he tried.

Meanwhile, the incoming Partido Popular (translated as People’s Party) was instantly pressured by the United States to introduce the law and bring it in within ten days of taking office. As a result, Spain is broke easily succumbed to the threat of trade retaliation from the United States.

People Will Buy Anything?

Old Shreddies from the 1970s found in shop fetch £160 on eBay

Boxes of Shreddies dating back to the early 1970s have been discovered in a village shop – and are now selling for about £160 a time on eBay.

The packs were found by 59-year-old Norma Fears behind shelves at her post office in Whitwell, Hertfordshire, and were initially rejected as feed by a customer’s chickens.
The customer returned to the store to give back the Shreddies, but fellow shopper Dave King suggested to the woman and Ms Fears that she place the items on ebay.
Some packs still contain a free gift – stickers from the 1970 Disney film The AristoCats - making them popular bidding items online.
'When we saw the first bid at £36, we thought "that’s quite good" but then they sold for £158.98,' explained Ms Fears. 'I couldn’t believe they went for that.
'We’re not sure why they have gone for so much, but we think it’s one of three things - either the stickers, the packaging or that they aren’t opened.
'It’s a weird little story that has definitely amused the shop.'
Norma Fears and Mr King aim to share the money gained from selling the items , between Keech Hospice Care and Mencap.

Side-Lined?

Man gets £70 fine after double yellow lines painted under his parked car

Frustrated driver Patrick McCrystal was given a £70 ticket after double yellow lines were painted underneath his parked Ford Fiesta.

Mr McCrystal, from Derby, was further angered when he spotted flecks of yellow paint on his front bumper.
The 49-year-old petrol station worker - who regularly parked between the gap in the lines - said yesterday: 'I couldn’t believe my eyes. They had extended the existing set of lines underneath my car, then a warden had slapped a ticket on it.
'When I parked there were double yellows in front of my car, double yellows behind my car, but nothing in between.
'It has been my regular spot for two years and there was nothing to indicate I couldn’t park there.'
Although fine has since been rescinded, Derby City Council admitted the ticket was issued in error.
David Gartside, the council’s head of traffic and transport, said: 'It appears that there was a communication breakdown between our contractors undertaking the lining work and our enforcement officers.
'We apologise for any inconvenience.'

Mr Incredible?

Man robs New York bank while wearing Incredible Hulk mask

A man in New York made the incredible decision to wear a Hulk mask while robbing a bank.

CCTV footage shows the gun-wielding robber demanding cash from the teller at the Northwest Savings branch at McKinley Parkway.
The bold criminal walked into the bank at around 3:10pm (local time) disguised with the face of the famous green comic book character.
According to the Hamburg police department, after receiving the cash the man put the money in a cloth bag.
The robber then made his getaway with the undisclosed amount of cash and was last spotted sprinting towards a car park.
Other than wearing a Hulk mask, the suspect is described as being a white male in his 20s, and wearing a brown jacket with a fake fur collar, faded blue jeans and a long silver or gold necklace.
There has been no word yet on whether the Hulk impersonator said: 'you wouldn't like me when I'm angry' while carrying out the robbery...

Don’t Mess With The Dutch!!

Dutch use F-16s to pursue criminal suspect
The Dutch air force says two of its F-16 jet fighters tried to help police chase a criminal suspect.
Spokesman Olav Spanjer says the jets were about to leave Volkel airbase on a training mission Thursday evening when they heard local police had requested a military jeep to chase a suspect over soggy terrain.
The pilots volunteered to help search using their infrared cameras.
Spanjer conceded Friday, "It was kind of a long-shot."
The suspect was in a car with stolen license plates that sped away when police tried to pull it over. After an exchange of gunfire, the car crashed into a canal and the man ran away across a field.
In the end, a tip from a suspicious neighbor, and not a high-tech jet, led police to the suspect.

It’s A Lot Of For A Withdrawal!

Thieves dig 100ft tunnel to reach cash machine

Thieves spent "months" digging an 100 foot long tunnel beneath a car park and video shop in an elaborate robbery on a cash machine but got away with just a few thousand pounds.

Detectives believe the gang may have spent up to six months digging the passageway, which extended from a railway embankment, under a car park and beneath a shop where the cash machine was located.
The tunnel, which was around 100 feet in length and 4 feet tall, had been fitted with lighting and roof supports.
In a heist similar to that seen in films such as the Bank Job, where thieves tunnel beneath a bank to get to a vault, the gang had to cut through more than 15 inches of concrete to reach the cash machine.
Police believe the theft occurred some time between 5.30pm on Monday January 2 and Tuesday January 3 at the Blockbuster in Fallowfield shopping precinct in Levenshulme, Manchester.
They refused to reveal how much money had been taken, but said the gang only got away with "limited funds". The cash machine can hold up to £20,000 but it is believed the gang got away with just £6,000.
It comes four years after an identical lot was foiled at the same location after workmen discovered a 40ft tunnel running from the railway embankment towards the Blockbuster shop.
The original tunnel was filled in with concrete to prevent it being used again.
Detective Sergeant Ian Shore, from Longsight CID, said: ''In all my years of service, I have never seen anything quite as elaborate as this.
''These people had obviously spent a long time plotting this crime and I doubt they would have been able to keep their plans secret for all that time, without telling others about their scheme.
''They must also have spent a lot of time in the area over the past few months, which people may have noticed.
''The financial detriment to the victim could have been a lot worse, and the offenders did not get away with as much money as I believe they may have originally hoped. The machine had limited funds available.''
The tunnel was dug directly underneath the cash machine, where the offenders then used machinery to cut through the concrete above to steal money from the ATM.
The thieves then made their getaway back down the tunnel.
DS Shore added: "I would ask that anyone who may have noticed anything unusual around this Blockbuster store, or who may have seen or heard anything they think might help us with our investigation, to get in touch."

It’s A Bottom Deal!!

Woman auctions tattoo space on her bum

A woman has auctioned tattoo space on her bum and bids of NZ$10,000 have already been placed.
Tina Beznec has taken the drastic measure after being made redundant twice over the past year and the auction has been viewed by more than 111,000 people and attracted by bids NZ$10,000 (US$7,900).
She told Stuff.co.nz: "To be quite honest I am so happy with it as it is right now.
"The bidders at the moment all appear to be businesses or advertising agencies and I feel very confident that they aren't going to do anything racist, I don't care if it's a swear word or something like that."
She posted on trademe.co.nz: "You might think I am crazy for doing this! But yes, the winner of the auction gets ANYTHING they like tattooed on my bum!"

Sorry…..I Just Forgot It?

The things that people leave behind...

A list of the most bizarre items left behind by guests at Travelodge hotels includes a hamster named Fredrick and an 18-month-old baby.

Also among the quirkier items left behind were a life-size Mr Blobby costume, a case full of 100 Duchess of Cambridge masks, and the ashes of a guest's late wife.
One careless visitor left a box contained £50,000 worth of watches and a newlywed bride nearly lost her Vera Wang wedding gown when her husband forgot to pack it.
Staff at Nuneaton Travelodge were even treated to a Christmas surprise when a couple left an entire Santa's grotto is their room.
They appear to have held their own early celebrations, and left a whole Christmas tree with decorations, lights, a model reindeer, a Father Christmas outfit and a turkey dinner behind.
The 18-month-old boy was accidentally left behind in a Winchester Travelodge, after his busy parents each thought the other had placed him in his car seat.
They drove away to attend a wedding, before realising their toddler son was not in the back of their car moments later.
An energetic Roborovski hamster was found in his cage in Knutsford, after his forgetful owner drove back to Bristol without him.
In Liverpool, female guests lived up to their reputation, leaving behind a case full of spray tan, hair extensions and false eye lashes.

A One Sided Law In The “Yanks” Favour!!

American Police Refused to Hand Over Hackers to France

While the American government requires that UK citizens are dragged into one of their courts to face sixty-year sentences, it looks like it is not even reluctant to hand over one of its own hackers over to a more sensible French court.
The US cyclist Floyd Landis had a go at cracking the PCs of the anti-doping lab that found him cheating during Tour de France 6 years ago. He was charged by the court in Paris, which heard how he and his former coach refused to show up in court. In addition, they both were helped by the government of the United States that refused to co-operate against the US hackers.

It turned out that Landis was similar to a UK hacker looking for UFOs or an Australian who published secret tapes of the US helicopter pilots who laughed as they gun down Reuters journalists. Anyway, the authorities seem to be reluctant to hand over American sporting heroes when they do the same sort of thing.

In fact, the French did have enough evidence to convict both Landis and Baker after a Trojan horse spy program was used 6 years ago to poke into the lab's servers to extract data about Landis' file, several months after he tested positive. After this, Landis admitted that he took drugs in his career. Meanwhile, the police explained that they couldn’t turn up who exactly ordered the hacking, thanks to the American authorities sitting on their hands. The data received during the hack was later used in an unsuccessful appeal to sports authorities. It was supposed to prove that Landis was clean and that the lab work was actually faulty. The court decided that Landis' role was limited to the knowledge that he had about the fraudulent origin of the laboratory data used by him and his defense team.The court also ruled that Landis knew that these lab results were really accurate, because he would admit 4 years later that he had taken drugs since 2002.

While Landis didn’t comment the trial, Baker insisted that the charges weren’t true. He said that he had nothing to do with any hacking and as far as he knew, the lab papers he received while serving as an expert consultant to the legal team were received in a legal way. He believes that everything is part of a plot to protect the laboratory, which appears to be a national French institution. As a result, they were both given a year's suspended sentences, which means that there’s probably nothing to worry about unless they ever commit another crime in this country again.

No Parties At Microsoft?

Microsoft vs Drunk Events

It seems that Microsoft employees didn’t get great Christmas parties as they hoped – software giant, Vole, appeared to be too worried that its image has been tarnished by the heavy drinking antics of its sales people. As a result, he just ordered its staff back off the wagon.
In 2011, the company was too embarrassed after a number of court cases showed that some of its sales meetings looked more as drunk events, just as if the company made a career in drinking. It all started after the Microsoft Global Exchange conference that took place in Atlanta, with the vodka and Jagermeister flowing like water. Indeed, a number of senior executives are alleged to have got "ridiculously drunk", as well as to have made some unwelcome sexual advances toward female colleagues.

Meanwhile, Microsoft declines the fact that the company has a culture of heavy drinking. As for the industry experts, they joke that attempts to sell Vista would have driven any sane person to the bottle. As a result, Vole has decided to update its code of "ethics and compliance", which now includes the requirement for both event organizers and participants to exercise common sense and good judgment when alcohol is served at social events. In other words, vodka and Jagermeister are supposed to be off the menu, replaced by a few top quality and unassuming reds.

Although Vole allowed the food to be served along with alcoholic beverages, he added that participants should manage their level of alcohol consumption. Moreover, event sponsors are required to ensure that some alternative forms of transportation are available, just as legs. The requirement reads that any participant becoming inebriated is supposed to be prevented from consuming alcoholic beverages along with operating a vehicle.

Unblock Those Blocked Sites!!!

WordPress Will Unblock Censored Websites

A number of European countries see online censorship implemented, including Italy, the Netherlands, Finland and some others. The Internet service providers in those countries are required to block access to several websites like The Pirate Bay. However, WordPress came with a simple solution to the problem – they have released a plugin that allows users to set up a proxy site and be able to access blacklisted domains.
The plugin in question is called RePress. It has been written by the hosting outfit Greenhost and lets everyone having a WordPress blog to launch a proxy for websites included into the ISPs’ blacklist, such as Wikileaks and The Pirate Bay.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/repress/

After you add this plugin to your WordPress blog, it will begin working as a proxy and unblock any censored site you want. Anyone having a WordPress site and the ability to install new plugins can do that. Afterwards, you will be able to maintain a list of sites you would like to keep open freely available on the Internet. This should be interesting for US citizens as well, as they now face the possibility to see SOPA or PIPA enforced one day. The developers hope that Internet users outside the Netherlands would use the plugin to unblock The Pirate Bay, because this site is currently in danger of being censored after a court-ruling. In the Netherlands, residents could then unblock sites for people from such oppressive regimes as Iran, Syria or even the United States after SOPA is enforced.

New copyright bills SOPA and PIPA are meant to defend the interests of the entertainment industry, but the observers agree that in reality they would only cause grave and undeniable damage to the open Internet and all netizens, starting from the end-consumer to the cutting edge developers and inventors. The aim of RePress creators is to make this impossible.

This plugin has already been praised by a number of political figures, including European Parliament member Marietje Schaake, who claimed that was a fantastic opportunity for human rights activists and a great way out for Internet users who faced technological censorship and repression. As usual, the plugin is absolutely free and it won’t be a problem for you to find it online and install if you know what WordPress is and how plugins work.

Warning…MegaUpload Files In Danger!!!

User Files Will be Deleted from MegaUpload

Once MegaUpload was closed down by the authorities, millions of people found out they lost access to their legitimate files stored on the file-sharing website – from personal information to work-related content. So it is of no surprise that currently people are not happy about the situation and want their files back as soon as possible.
But the hopes of the users to get their content back dropped down with the announcement of the US attorney that MegaUpload’s database may be destroyed by the end of this week. Ira Rothken, MegaUpload attorney, admitted that the company had got a letter last week from the US Attorney. The latter declared that an imminent destruction of the cyberlocker’s user data files could happen this week. The website assured its users that it was doing whatever possible to protect the users’ interests, but there wasn’t much to do without help from the government. In fact, the imminent information loss will be presented as a result of some unpaid bills at hosting companies where some of the cyberlocker’s servers were leased.

Still, the users are hoping that the United States and MegaUpload would unite in attempt to avoid such a consumer protection calamity where innocent Internet users would permanently lose acces

The Oldest Profession?

Brothel token discovered in Britain

In what could be the earliest evidence of British porn, an amateur archaeologist has discovered a coin that depicts a man and a woman having sex. Experts believe it was a token for use in Roman brothels. "The day I made the find it was a very low, early tide and raining heavily. At first I thought it was a Roman coin, because of the thickness and diameter," Regis Cursan, 37, who found the coin along the River Thames near the Putney Bridge in West London, told the Daily Mail newspaper. "When I rubbed the sand off the artefact, the first thing I saw was the number on one side and what I thought was a goddess on the other. Little did I know at the time it was actually a rare Roman brothel token. To find something like that is a truly exciting find." On one side is the Roman numeral XIIII, which experts believe means the coin costs 14 Roman coins, called asses. That's about the equivalent of one day's pay for a labourer in the first century AD. Historians speculate that a person could take the token to a brothel and exchange it for the act depicted on the other side of the coin — in this case, sexual intercourse. Similar coins have been found elsewhere in the former Roman Empire, but this is the first one found in Britain. "When we realised it was a saucy picture, we had a bit of a giggle, but there's also a sad story behind it because these prostitutes were slaves," Caroline McDonald, curator at the Museum of London, where the coin is now housed, told the Daily Mail. "This is the perfect archaeological object. It's sexy and provocative in the best sense of the word. The lot of a Roman sex slave was not a happy one and objects like this can help the Museum of London provoke debates about issues that are relevant to the modern city and its visitors. Museums should engage with these more grown-up and sometimes less comfortable topics," McDonald added in a museum press release. Jonathan Jones, a Guardian art blogger, said the coin has artistic as well as historical value. "Yet this is not just a hint of life in Roman Britain. It is also a glimpse of a hidden art history. These Roman tokens, with their detailed depictions of sex acts, had a dramatic influence on the birth of modern pornography," he wrote.

Oh Bugger!!!

Naked man in La Redoute clothing advert: Fashion faux pas much?

Fashion label La Redoute has faced embarrassment after a picture of a naked man walking into shot behind four children was published on its website.

The unknown nudist was seen wading into the sea in the background of a picture to advertise children’s clothing designed by the label.
The French company apologised and removed the image but not before internet users took screenshots and uploaded them online.
A flurry of discussion both in France and beyond on Twitter and La Redoute’s Facebook page ensued.
One woman expressed her concern at the error, writing: ‘As a mother, I am not happy to see this photograph.’
London-based retail analyst Isabel Cavill tweeted: ‘Not surprised French shoppers are up in arms about this picture from La Redoute. Amazing!!’
Others made light of the picture. One tweeted: ‘The most shocking thing in this photo is the clothes.’
It was described by many on Twitter as a ‘massive PR fail’ but some voiced a more cynical view.
One wrote: ‘Excellent publicity stunt?! I’m putting one on my site.’
A spokeswoman for La Redoute said: ‘We are looking at how this mistake has occurred internally. La Redoute are working on it to get an explanation.
‘Again, La Redoute presents its apologies to customers and internet users.’