A Dead Loss??

Van Stolen with 12 Coffins, 12 Bodies Inside

The van was stolen when the driver went inside for a few minutes to wash his hands

German thieves picked up more than they bargained for in a heist just outside Berlin Sunday night when they stole three vans — one of which was loaded with 12 coffins, complete with corpses.

The cargo, en route to a crematorium in Meissen, Saxony, disappeared from an industrial parking lot while the van's driver was inside washing his hands, reported the German news website The Local.

"The driver did everything right," a company spokesman told German newspaper Die Welt, adding that he had even locked the van before walking away.

"We have not found the bodies yet," police spokesman Peter Salender told NBC News.

He added that one of the other vans had been recovered in Poland. A spokesman for the Frankfurt am Oder state prosecutor's office said the case fit the profile of a string of recent van thefts and that the vehicles were probably destined for eastern Europe, reported the French newspaper Le Figaro (link in French).

"The perpetrators were probably not intending to steal 12 bodies," another spokesman for the prosecutor's office said.

Naked….Cover-Up!!

Austrian museum forced to cover up naked posters

A museum in Austria has been forced to cover up hundreds of male genitalia on posters advertising an exhibition after complaints from outraged Viennese.

Residents of the Austrian capital took exception to the large full-frontal photograph of three French football players used to advertise an exhibition on the naked male form at the city's Wiener Leopold Museum.
The three players, wearing nothing but socks and boots, and with a football between their feet, had appeared on 250 billboards across the city.
Complaints flooded in, with some describing the posters as "pathetic" and "pornographic", and one angry local lady even threatening to paint over the offending parts unless action was taken. The museum reported that most of the complaints came from women.
"We don't want to disturb either children or adults, and if it's clearly something people don't want to see then we have to respect that," a museum spokesman told the newspaper Wiener Zeitung.
"But the men are clearly not sexually aroused so we thought it would not cause offence.
"Our aim wasn't to be provocative, and we regret causing any offence," he added.
Featuring French footballers of three different ethnic backgrounds, the picture had originally been used to champion multicultural France, but the Wiener Leopold Museum thought it would make an appropriate advertisement for its exhibition on naked men.
But the posters will soon sport a waste-high oblong of paint to cover the sources of Viennese discontent while any advertisements near schools will be removed.
Despite the furore surrounding the posters the museum said it would retain a massive sculpture of a reclining male nude entitled "Mr Big", which lies outside the museum. A spokesman for the Wiener Leopold said that so far Mr Big had attracted no complaints and instead "was being used much like a children's playground".

Take Your Time!

Man receives university diploma 40 years after enrolling

A German man has received his university diploma after spending nearly 40 years studying.

Werner Kahmann, from North Rhine-Westphalia, began his degree at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences in 1973 and graduated earlier this year. During his time at the institution, he took a total of 68 exams and had the potential to complete 63 semesters of tuition, reports local paper the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Kahmann said that it took so long for him to complete his engineering diploma because he "de-matriculated and re-matriculated three times between then and now".

"If I had moved to Cologne I would have just got my studying done," said the 61-year-old, who instead decided to commute in from the nearby town of Siegburg, where his girlfriend, football club and bowling team were all based.

Kahmann first decided to put completing his diploma on hold after breaking his leg playing football. He suspended his studies for a second time in 1984 after the birth of his daughter and took time out to help raise her.

"Then in 2004 when student fees were introduced, I de-matriculated again," he explained.

In 2011, the German fee system changed and Kahmann returned to university once more. He completed his remaining units and earned his diploma a year later, even though the university no longer ran the course he had enrolled in.

"There are downsides to being a graduate though," he said, mentioning "paying for public transport and not getting reduced tickets for the zoo" among his biggest complaints.

Despite taking so long to graduate, Kahmann has managed to find work as a freelance engineer and draughtsman since 1978.

"My daughter told me recently that she, aged 27 and with a brilliant job, wants to go and study," he said. "I just told her that she should see it through to the end."

Hot Stuff??

Man cooking a squirrel starts apartment block fire?

Authorities in the US have said a blaze that spread through an apartment complex may have started due to a resident trying to cook a squirrel with a propane torch.

Fire Chief Jim Kohsel told Mlive.com that the resident, who has not been named, planned to eat the animal and was burning off its fur at the building in Ottawa Country when a fire broke out.

The fire was so severe that it spread to the roof of the Michigan complex, causing many people to lose their homes.

Fire Chief Kohsel said that eight apartments were destroyed and many others damaged.

No residents were hurt, but a firefighter broke his toe while trying to put out the blaze.

The American Red Cross has arranged temporary shelter and clothing for affected residents.

A Tight Squeeze?

Teacher had 19 kids in a Renault Clio

A nursery school teacher was pulled over by police in South Africa - with 19 children packed into her Renault Clio.

Melanie Minnie was taking the children, aged four to six, back to Rietfontein Nursery School in Pretoria after visiting a burger bar.
Six children were found in the car's boot, three were on the front seat and the remaining 10 piled into the back.
It was unclear whether any of them were wearing seat-belts, reports The Mirror.
The toddlers were eventually removed from the car, all unharmed.
Ms Minnie told police she was in the process of ferrying a second car-load of youngsters back to the nursery.
Apparently, another 12 children had already been bundled into the Clio.
After she was fined just over £100, Ms Minnie said: "It was the first time we went on an outing, and the last. I'll never do it again."

Dickheads Phone Home?

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Whoops…My Mistake!!

Pilot rapped for landing at wrong airport

A foreign pilot has been suspended from flying after landing an Indonesian passenger jet at the wrong airport in a "serious" breach of safety, a transport ministry spokesman said on Monday.
The Sriwijaya Air plane, carrying 96 passengers and six crew, was meant to land at Minangkabau International airport in the city of Padang, but instead descended to the Tabing air force base some 12 kilometres (seven miles) away.
"This incident was very serious and very dangerous for passenger safety as (the plane) landed at a wrong airport," ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan said, adding that a probe by the aviation safety watchdog is underway.
The foreign pilot of the jet, which left Medan in North Sumatra province for the short flight to Padang on Saturday, has been suspended from duty, he added, without revealing the pilot's nationality.
"For the time being we won't allow him to fly and he is expected to give an explanation to the aviation safety department today," he said.
Air traffic officials at Minangkabau airport are also under investigation for their role in the blunder, he added.
Indonesia has a chequered aviation safety record, with several deadly crashes over recent years across the massive archipelago where air travel is essential to reach outlying areas.

Tits-Up??

Firm sells booze poured over the breasts of naked models

German drinks firm has launched a range of spirits which has been poured over the breasts of a naked model prior to bottling. Really!

G-Spirits sells bottles of rum, whisky and vodka which has been poured over the boobs of voluptuous models before being collected in a special glass basin.

It's claimed the odd process adds to the flavour of the drinks, though the firm are keen to stress they conform to food and hygiene requirements. Medical personnel are also present to verify everything is in order.

A spokesperson for G-Spirits said: "To create the perfect taste we let every single drop of our spirits run over the breasts of a special woman, one whose characteristics we saw reflected in the liquor.

Now That’s A Change!

Portugal Court Ruled File-Sharing Legitimate

When it comes to file-sharing issues in courts, the community is always ready for the worst. However, the Portugal case makes an exception. Last year, ACAPOR (one of the local advocacy groups) has sent the IP addresses of two thousand alleged copyright infringers to the Attorney General. The outfit hoped that they the pirates would be prosecuted, but the result surprised everyone…
Surprisingly enough, a Portuguese prosecutor decided not to follow on the people behind the IP addresses. Instead, a statement was made that it was absolutely legal to share file on non-commercial basis. In addition, IP addresses can’t be enough to launch a lawsuit against the suspected pirates.

A year ago, ACAPOR provided the Attorney General with 2,000 IP-addresses of suspected pirates while wearing T-shirts saying “Piracy is illegal”. The outfit claimed it was doing its best to alert the authorities to the very serious situation in the content industry. It believed that a thousand complaints per month should be enough to embarrass the judiciary system. But their hopes appeared in vain after the Department of Investigation and Penal Action investigated complaints and took a decision not to charge individuals involved in the case.

It said that from a legal point of view, taking into consideration the fact that alleged users were both uploaders and downloaders, this conduct was seen absolutely legitimate, even if the users continue file-sharing after the download is finished. Moreover, one’s rights for online education, freedom of expression and culture should be respected if no commercial copyright violation is involved in the case.

In addition, the statement of many experts was supported, saying that an IP address does not necessarily indicate the infringer, because there may be another individual behind it, not the one in whose name the service is registered, regardless of whether the real owner of IP address using it or not.

Of course, ACAPOR wasn’t happy with this decision, claiming that the prosecutors simply found a way to adapt the legislation to their interest. They might be right, because it is in no-one’s interest to have to send thousands of letters, hear thousands of people and investigate thousands of PCs.

Industry observers hope that this ruling will set a precedent and an example to other countries that tend to take side of the content industry in such lawsuits.

Thanks to TorrentFreak for the source of the article

Eye….Eye?

Mystery eyeball washes up on Florida beach

A mysterious eyeball has washed up on a beach in the US, leaving scientists baffled as to where it came from.

The big blue eyeball was found by a man named Gino Covacci on Pompano Beach, Florida.

Covacci told Florida's Sun Sentinel newspaper that he kicked the stange object along the beach when he first saw it, until he realised what it was.

"It was very, very fresh, it was still bleeding when I put it in the plastic bag," he recalled.

Covacci notified a police officer, who then gave him the phone number for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

No-one there has been able to say where the eyeball may have come from.

Charles Messing, a professor at Nova Southeastern University's Oceanographic Centre, said that he thinks the most likely candidate is a swordfish.

The wildlife commission has said that identification could take some time, although scientists are starting to narrow it down.

It’s Good To Talk??

French Woman Gets $15 Quadrillion Phone Bill

The French woman said that it took several days for the company to fix the mistake.

A French woman “nearly had a heart attack” after she opened her latest phone bill and found that she was being charged the equivalent of 15 quadrillion U.S. dollars, French newspaper Sud Ouest reported.

Solenne San Jose, from the Bordeaux suburb of Pessac, wanted to suspend her phone account because she had recently lost her job as a nanny. When her bill arrived, it showed she owed €11,721,000,000,000,000. According to the French newspaper, this is 5,872 times the GDP of France in 2011.

“There were so many zeros, I couldn’t even work out how much it was,” San Jose told Sud Ouest.

When she reached out to phone company Bouygues Telecom – owned by Martin Buyogues,  billionaire and friend of Nicolas Sarkozy–  customer service reps said that there was nothing they could do. One employee even said that “it’s calculated automatically,” according to Sud Ouest. 

San Jose said that it took several days for the company to fix the mistake and make the correction. The woman only owed €117.21 ($152), Sud Ouest reported.

It’s Raining….Chickens??

Teenager hit by raw chicken fallen from the sky

A teenager was lucky not to be injured after being hit by raw piece of chicken that fell from the sky

Cassie Bernand was enjoying a horse riding lesson with his instructor on a clear, cloudless day when a number of poultry pieces rained down around them, with one striking him clean on the bonce.

'Three objects fell out of the sky in front of us, two larger and one quite small,' explained instructor Jennifer Cording with nobody any clearer as to how the incident happened.

Officials from a nearby Tyson Foods Inc. processing plant denied that the chicken emanated from there, while local land protection manager, Milton Johnston, said it was likely that the parts came from improperly composted dead chickens on a nearby farm.

'We can't have pieces of chicken falling out of the sky,' he remarked.
Avian expert Bryan D Watts has suggested that high-flying gulls carrying chicken in their mouths are probably to blame.
Ms Cording called a premature end to the lesson after the incident and said it will be discussed for a long time to come.

It’s Only Porn!!

Anger as 18th century Napoleonic fort used for porn film

A pornographic movie was filmed at an historic 18th century fort just weeks after a £50,000 Lottery grant helped pay for it to re-open.

A pornographic movie was filmed at an historic 18th century fort just weeks after a £50,000 Lottery grant helped pay for it to re-open.
Playboy TV filmed a movie called 'Tight Rider' - a spoof of 80s hit series Knight Rider - starring 'Michael Tight' and Slovakian porn star Natali D'Angelo.
During the movie, Michael Tight is tied up on a leather chair by 'thugs' and forced to have sex with the blonde star, who has starred in more than 100 porno movies.
Filmakers paid more than £1,000 to hire the venue and the film was shown this week on the pay-per-view Adult Channel - attracting an audience of several thousand people.
But trustees at Fort Amherst in Chatham, Kent - Britain's best surviving Napoleonic fortress - are furious that the filming was allowed to go ahead.
The film was shot in just 10 hours amongst the many tunnels at the historic fort - which only re-opened fully in May this year after a £50,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The fort is also part of Medway Council's bid to get the area listed as a World Heritage Site.
Speaking this week, trustees of the Fort Amehurst Heritage Trust - a charitable trust - said the filming should never have taken place - and it is the chairman of the Trust at the time, Martin Rogers, has now left his post.
Trustee Matthew Hill said this week: "I think it absolutely appalling - there must be better ways of raising funds through filming rights."
He said he was demanding to know why filming was allowed and said he was urging the new chairman Edmund Gulvin to conduct a full investigation.
He told the Medway Messenger newspaper: "I think if you want to film a porn film do it in a warehouse or wherever they do it."
One volunteer at the fort, who did not want to be named, said this week: "It is disgusting that the fort has been used for the backdrop of a pornographic movie.
"How it ever happened it a mystery to me, but it certainly made me feel a bit seedy when I went back to work."
Trust chairman Edmund Gulvin said: "Fort Amherst confirms that a professional film company in the adult entertainment industry filmed scenes at Fort Amherst during May this year.
"The contract was handled by a third party location company employed by us and was a private hiring of the fort.
"The filming was conducted under a closed set policy and there was no public access to the set at any time during the filming."
The fort was built in 1755 to protect Chatham Dockyard from a Napoleonic invasion, but is now a tourist attraction described by English Heritage as 'the most complete Napoleonic fortification in Britain'.
It is regularly used by paranormal investigators, who hire it for between £350-£500 a night to conduct investigations and it is also widely used by battle re-enactment societies.
The fort - which has 14 acres of batteries, bastions and tunnels -.was also used in the in the 1986 film The Mission starring Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons.

Drink Up!!

Mixologist creates world's most expensive cocktail

Mixologist Salvatore Calabrese claims to have set a new record for creating the most expensive cocktail in the world.

The cocktail connoisseur mixed the luxury £5,500 concoction using 240-year-old ingredients dating back to before the French Revolution.
He put a 1778 cognac, a 1770 liqueur, an 1860 Curaçao and bitters from 1900 into the drink at London’s Playboy Club.
A bar spokesman said: 'Earlier on today legendary mixologist Salvatore Calabrese, also known as The Maestro, broke the Guinness World Record for the world's most expensive cocktail.
'He created Salvatore's Legacy, a classic blend of vintage ingredients, costing £5,500 a glass.'
Guinness officials are investigating to see if beats the current record, a cocktail costing £3,766.52 currently on sale in Dubai.
'GWR can confirm that we have received an official claim for the most expensive cocktail record attempt, taking place in London tonight,' said a spokesman.
'We will only be able to confirm if the attempt has been successful or not three working days after we have received the evidence.'
The record attempt was delayed for nearly three months after a bottle of one of the ingredients was smashed.
A delighted Me Calabrese added: 'I was devastated when my bottle smashed and thought my dream of breaking the world record was over, but thankfully it has all worked out and nothing will stop me now.'

Pass The Whisky..Not The Milk!!

Toddler served tot of whisky

A two-year-old boy had to be taken to hospital after accidentally being served whisky at a Frankie & Benny's restaurant.

Sonny Rees was given a glass of 40% proof whisky rather than fruit juice during a meal to celebrate his second birthday.
His mother Nina only realised the mistake after the toddler had nearly finished the drink.
Sonny had to be taken to hospital in Swansea where he was kept under observation by doctors.
Ms Rees says she ordered Sonny a lime juice and water and encouraged him to drink it all.
It wasn't until the youngster had finished most of the drink that she noticed he was pulling a face as he drank.
When she herself took a sip she was shocked to discover it was actually whisky and water.
She complained to the manager who reportedly didn't believe her until she took a sip herself.
After calling NHS Direct, Ms Rees took Charlie to hospital where his vital signs were monitored before he was allowed home.
Frankie & Benny's has now launched an investigation into how the mix up took place.

The UK’s Worse!

Most Complained about ISPs in UK

TalkTalk was labeled the most complained ISP in the country, according to recent Ofcom survey. The information, collected by Ofcom, includes phone, broadband and pay TV complaints on a quarterly basis. As for the fixed broadband services, the biggest number of complains were those for TalkTalk: 0.042% of all its services about line faults or other service troubles.
Despite the fact that the number of TalkTalk complaints reduced from the previous quarter (0.056%), the figure still doubles the national average. The second most complained about ISP is BT Retail (0.031%). As for the best broadband provider, it turned out to be Sky Broadband, which only has 0.01% complaining subscribers.

TalkTalk was not only the worst ISP, it also doubled the average number of complaints for its phone services (0.053%), while BT was the second worst with its 0.019%. It wasn’t the first time that the Internet service provider was shown up by Ofcom: for instance, 2011 results were even worse, and TalkTalk also faced a hefty fine for misleading its subscribers. Of course, the company promised to work hard and make sure its service improves, first of all paying attention to the number of complaints. This quarter, for example, the ISP received its lowest ever number of complaints: 35% less than during the same period last year. However, the company understands there’s still a lot of work and keeps to push through improvements.

TalkTalk explained that technical faults are usually fixed faster, with offering more support when subscribers move house. In addition, the company’s online support system, which is currently responsible for 70% of customer contacts, is being constantly improved as well. TalkTalk promised to continue offering great value to its 5,000,000 customers.

Head Banger??

Pedestrian gets head trapped in rubbish bin

A hapless pedestrian had to be rescued by the emergency services after getting his head trapped in a rubbish bin.

A 52-year-old became wedged as he put his head into a garbage can to try and retrieve an object, thought to be a cigarette, from inside.
Police, fire crews and an ambulance rushed to the scene in Aberdeen, Scotland, where crowds had gathered to watch the bizarre rescue unfold.
Fire crews spent 15 minutes cutting the top off the 4ft high bin with a high-powered saw normally used for cutting people out of vehicles.
He was then taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, where he was treated for cuts to his face before being discharged.
Ian Anderson, a bar worker at nearby Archibald Simpson's pub, said the rescue had amused locals and visitors to the city.
He said: "I thought it must have been a fire that had been put out by the time I walked past, because there was no smoke or flames.
"When I got to the pub and people told me the real story, I could not believe it. Everyone was talking about it, and having a laugh about the commotion it caused."
A spokesman for Grampian Police said: "We are unsure what he was looking for or what he had lost, and whether he found it.
"We can also confirm that there were no criminal charges resulting from the incident."

Eat Up?

Pair banned from all-you-can-eat restaurant for eating too much

Two men have been banned from an all-you-can-eat restaurant after their appetites left the manager fearing for the future of his business.

George Dalmon, a former rugby player, and his friend Andy Miles were banned from all-you-can-eat restaurant, Gobi, In Brighton, after the manager branded "a couple of pigs".
The men would each eat five bowls of stir-fry during their regular meals at the Mongolian barbecue, which invites guests to create their own dishes from the buffet.
Diners are told they can request meals "as many times as you wish" for £12.
The manager, who did not want to be named, said the two friends were eating him out of business. He said: "Basically they just come in and pig out. We have put up with them for two years but I've had enough.
"They are in such a hurry to beat everyone to the food they spoil everything. We are supposed to be a buffet but they eat everything out of the bowls before people can get there. We just can't keep doing this."
He said diners drank only water and never paid the optional service charge. He added: "We are not a charity, we're a business. It's our restaurant and we can tell people not to come back if we don't want them to."
But Mr Dalmon, 26, said the restaurant should honour its promotion. He said: "They've only got small bowls and you can't get enough in there so we always go back for more.
"We've been eating there for a couple of years then suddenly the owner came to our table in front of all the customers and went absolutely mental. He said we were a couple of pigs and we were banned for life. I couldn't believe it."

Filesharers…Time To Celebrate??

MegaUpload was taken down back in January but the founder Kim Dotcom has not given up, the new MEGA empire is about to roll out very soon.

After a long roller coaster ride for Mega Empire, after it was taken down by the US in January.The lawyers have still been on the  battle field to bring out its future, not only the future of the enterprise but also the activists campaign to save the data of users, Brining in more light the cyber world has been entertained by the very sharp antics of Kim Dotcom. Not only limiting it to that , That’s all about to change, though, as Mega prepares to make its big comeback.

Dotcom has always tried to stay ahead of time.

You’d think that Dotcom would at least wait for his legal battles to die down before thinking about relaunching his Mega, but since that could take a while, he’s going ahead with his plans to bring in the next version of their  service. “Quick update on the new Mega: Code 90% done. Servers on the way. Lawyers, Partners & Investors ready. Be patient. It's coming,” he tweeted over the weekend. And this time it’s unstoppable.Dotcom has claimed that 90% of the coding job has already been done and the preparations of the launch are in full swing.

So, what should we expect?

Right now,the details are still limited, but Kim Dotcom has conveyed that the new Megaupload will be a ‘massive global network,’ completely safe from outside interference thanks to its totally decentralized nature. Getting us to think about the Pirate Bay concept. “All non-US hosters,” he says, “will be able to connect servers and bandwidth.”

So, When does the Mega Enterprise is expected to be back? Maybe not too long. As said by Dotcom, the servers are being deployed and the code almost finished, we could be basking in file-sharing empire in a matter of weeks. We can’t wait to see how this one turns out. One things for sure: Dotcom is determined to get things up and running again. “They abused the wrong guy,” he says. “I am going to turn this world upside down. Power to the people. Bye bye Echelon. Hello Freedom.” We’ll do our best to keep you posted on any new developments.

Hacked Off!!

French Hacker Released after Court Hearing

An individual who admitted that he managed to find his way into a bank server was released at the court building, because judges ruled he did nothing wrong.
A Breton citizen was recently acquitted by the criminal court of Rennes, with the judges claiming that there was no mens rea in the case in question, which in this country means that the defendant can walk free.

Media reports say that the individual’s brief Sipa Laudic-Hélène Baron revealed that four years ago an unemployed individual was trying to avoid premium rate numbers through Skype. He entered a random number and then dialed the code 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Finally, he arrived at the debt service of the Bank of France. However, he had no idea where he was, as no message showed him.

In the meantime, the Bank of France detected his “hack” and called the police who fell on the individual with the full weight of the lure. Actually, it wasn’t that difficult to find the hacker, because he had logged his name and address on Skype. However, it took the police almost 2 years to tail the individual to Paris and arrest him.

Apparently, the police were furious, because they admitted to book some of the best computer hacking minds in the country in order to examine the individual’s server and find everything about his elaborate hacking scheme. However, when they saw his ancient and cheap PC, they couldn’t believe this was the gear the hacker would use to break the security of one of top banks in the country. Even after the individual explained everything and showed how he did that, they were still insisting on charging him with hacking. Finally, the case is solved in hacker’s favour.

Egg On Your Face?

A person's way of eating eggs 'can predict personality type'

A person's favourite way of eating eggs can predict their personality type, their job and even their sex drive, researchers have discovered.

Using sophisticated maths and a process known as data mining, scientists have uncovered a statistical relationship between a person's character, lifestyle and social class and whether they like their eggs boiled, fried, scrambled or as an omelette.
In the new study, the research team found that poached egg eaters are outgoing, listen to upbeat music and are happier, boiled egg consumers are disorganised, fried egg fans have a high sex drive, scrambled egg aficionados are guarded and omelette eaters are self-disciplined.
Readers of The Daily Telegraph were shown to be most likely to prefer poached eggs. The results were released to mark British Egg week, which starts on Monday.
Researchers questioned 1,010 adults across Britain who answered queries about key aspects of their personality, as well as details about their lifestyles, family, and the way they prefer to eat their eggs.
The study was commissioned by the British Egg Industry Council and carried out by Mindlab International.
It was discovered that the average poached egg-eater is likely to have two children and no more than one sibling and is more likely to be a woman than a man.
Boiled egg-eaters had a tendency to be careless and impulsive.
Fried egg-eaters are most likely to be younger and male and most frequently found among the skilled working classes.
Scrambled egg-eaters are more likely than other types to be in managerial or senior-level jobs and also to own their own home, and omelette eaters are likely to have a tidy home.

Sat - Navs Blindness??

Sat navs can 'blind' drivers to the road

Driving with a sat nav can make you blind to pedestrians because trying to hold an image of the screen in your mind makes you ignore what is in front of your eyes, according to a new study.

Focusing on the detail of something we have just seen diverts our attention away from things happening around us and results in an effect known as "inattentional blindness".
While our eyes continue to see things in their path, the visual messages seem not to reach the brain when we are concentrating on something else because its ability to process information is limited, researchers said.
The most famous example of the phenomenon is the famous "invisible gorilla" experiment, where people watching a group of players passing a basketball around do not notice a man in a gorilla suit walking across the screen.
The new study shows that even without the distraction of several moving objects in front of us, we can still become "blinded" simply by trying to remember an image.
Researchers from University College London showed a group of volunteers images containing different coloured squares and asked them to hold them in their mind, and told to expect a flash of light.
The study, published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, showed that they were less likely to detect the flash when they were concerned with trying to remember the image than when their mind was unoccupied.
Scans of the participants' brains as they carried out the task revealed a lower level activity in the brain region which processes incoming visual information while the patients were trying to recall the image.
Prof Nilli Lavie, who led the study, said: "An example of where this is relevant in the real world is when people are following directions on a sat nav whilst driving.
"Our research would suggest that focusing on remembering the directions we’ve just seen on the screen means that we’re more likely to fail to observe other hazards around us on the road, for example an approaching motorbike or a pedestrian on a crossing, even though we may be ‘looking’ at where we’re going,”

Star-Struck?

Buddhist statue discovered by Nazis is made of meteorite

A 1,000-year-old Buddhist statue discovered in Tibet by Nazis searching for the origins of the Aryan race was hewn from meteorite, scientists have found.

The "Iron Man" statue, which bears a swastika on its chest, was brought back to Germany in 1938 after being found in Tibet by a team of SS members led by zoologist Ernst Schäfer.
The expedition was backed by Heinrich Himmler, the SS chief, who believed that the secret origin of the entire Aryan race could be uncovered in Tibet.
Now the first scientific study of the statue's origins by experts from Stuttgart University has found that it is made of ataxite, a rare type of iron meteorite with a high nickel content.
Experts concluded it had been chiselled from a remnant of the Chinga meteorite which fell to Earth near the border of Mongolia and Siberia 15,000 years ago.
Meteorites were worshipped by a host of ancient cultures including the Inuits of Greenland and Australia's aborigines.
The 10kg Iron Man statue, believed have originated from the 11th century Bon culture, depicts the god Vaisravana, the Buddhist King of the North, who is also known in Tibet as Jambhala.
After being brought to Munich in 1938 it was included in a private collection and was only made available for scientists to analyse after it was auctioned in 2007.
Dr Elmar Buchner, who led the study published in the Meteoritics and Planetary Science journal, said: "While the first debris was officially discovered in 1913 by gold prospectors, we believe that this individual meteorite fragment was collected many centuries before.
“The Iron Man statue is the only known illustration of a human figure to be carved into a meteorite, which means we have nothing to compare it to when assessing value.
"Its origins alone may value it at $20,000 (£12,500); however, if our estimation of its age is correct and it is nearly a thousand years old it could be invaluable.”

PSY - GANGNAM STYLE

I Need The Sun Sir….Honest!!

Solicitor's curfew relaxed so that he can go sunbathing in France

A solicitor who narrowly escaped jail has had a strict curfew relaxed by a court so he can go sunbathing in the south of France.

Michael Passmore of Colchester, Essex claimed he needed the sunshine break on the French Riviera in order to boost his body's vitamin D.
A crown court has now agreed to give Passmore the green-light for his getaway.
Passmore originally found himself in hot water when he was stopped by police after sinking five drinks at a pub before trying to get behind the wheel of his car.
The 58-year-old was four times over the drink-drive limit.
He then fled the country to Sri Lanka before his court appearance and was arrested six months later upon his return where he was handed a 12-week suspended sentence of drink-driving along with a four-week suspended term for failing to attend court.
In August this year magistrates placed the former solicitor on a strict curfew which keeps him at home every night.
A recorder at Chelmsford Crown Court has now agreed to overturn the restrictions of the curfew.
Nneka Akuddlu, representing Passmore, said her client had skin condition which would benefit from him spending time in the sunshine.
She said: "Although doctors have told him they can prescribe creams, he has been told the best source of treatment would be vitamin D.
"He would like to visit a good friend in the south of France so that the climate there can assist with his condition."
Miss Akuddlu told the court the condition was known as lichen planus which causes itchy rashes on the skin.
Recorder Neil Graham QC, who heard the appeal at Chelmsford Crown Court, agreed to relax the curfew so that Passmore could head abroad.
However, he restricted the relaxation of the curfew to seven days.
The court heard that Passmore also wanted to visit his sister, who is suffering from cancer, in Easbourne.
Miss Akuddlu said her client had imposed a driving ban upon himself since fleeing the country.

A Bit Of A Cock-Up??

Parents' shock as children's pool party coincides with naturist outing

Parents have complained after a public swimming pool hosted a children’s birthday party at the same time as a nudist swimming session.

The children were celebrating a boy’s seventh birthday at Radcliffe Pool and Fitness Centre. The young group had enjoyed a swimming party before going to the upstairs canteen for a birthday meal overlooking the pool.
Whilst they were eating members of a naturist group, consisting of about 20 male swimmers, were swimming in the pool below. Staff at the fitness centre had placed paper and bin bags over the canteen window in an attempt to block the view.
Parents who attended the party say that they had to stand in-between cracks in the bin bags and at the doors of a balcony in order to ensure that the nudist group were not visible to the children.
The mother who had booked the party said: “It was wrong and just never should have happened. The management should have told me that it was going on and I would not have booked the party.”
The mother, from Radcliffe, paid £54 to hire the pool and £12 to hire the canteen. She added: “A man at reception said the he had to let me know that there was a naturist party going on and it overlaps with our party. I did not believe him at first.
Would you really book that at the same time as a seven-year old’s party? If we had not been vigilant that the children would have seen everything and that would have been a disaster.” Another mother added: “It certainly should never have been on at the same time.”
A spokesperson from Radcliffe Pool and Fitness Centre said: “This naturist swim was a private booking from 6.30-8pm, at a time when it was assumed that no one else would be in the building. On this occasion, it would appear that we overlooked the fact that children, who were booked in the pool from 5pm-6pm, would then go into the canteen space on the first floor for their party.
"If further bookings are taken again they will be at a time when no other groups will be using the pool area.”
Bury Council said they have not received any official complaint relating to the incident.

A New Tactic For Amazon Perhaps??

Online Shoppers’ Nightmare Sent to Prison

An online retailer engaged into dealing with customer complaints by threatening to hurt them has been sentenced to 4 years in prison. 35-year-old Vitaly Borker was selling specs on the Internet, but for some reason decided to push up his Google page ranking by receiving bad reviews.
The local media confirms that Vitaly did this by employing an interesting business model, which involved deliberately harassing and scaring the life out of the clients in a “terror campaign”, as the US District Judge Richard Sullivan called it.

Vitaly was operating DecorMyEyes.com and found out that negative reviews and comments on the Internet really pushed up the website’s page ranking on Google. Borker was so proud of his way of running the business that he bragged about it 2 years ago in an article by the New York Times.

The judge ruled that he was terrifying customers, putting them in fear of their lives. Vitaly pleaded guilty in 2011 to making threats and fraud charges and the prosecutors admitted that over 200 complaints against him had been filed with the Federal Trade Commission within 3 years he had been running a website.

The defendant said he was very sorry for the awful threats he had made and swore he had never intended on carrying out the threats. In fact, he just had a big mouth he failed to control, which finally ruined his life.
For instance, one customer from Chicago told the court that Vitaly harassed her for around 50 days after she tried to use the site’s money-back guarantee. She received a voicemail message from Borker, who said: “I hope you die. I want to slice your legs off”. Some Louisiana customer also told the court that the site admin threatened to kill all her family unless she stopped trying to use the site’s money-back guarantee.

In the meantime, the defendant’s lawyer, Dominic Amorosa, claimed that most of his customers were satisfied with his products, as there were $18 million in revenue received from the sales of 100,000 glasses over four year when the site was on and running. Only less than $3 million was refunded, which is still an impressive percentage.

According to US Attorney Preet Bharara, Vitaly Borker could only be referred to as "an online shopper's worst nightmare”. That would be right, because you most likely wouldn’t be able to sleep well too if someone was promising to kill you because of the glasses.

Dogged Gone!!

Dog shoots owner in France

A French man has been shot by his dog during a hunt in his local region of the Dordogne

The Blue Gascony Basset hound dog caught the trigger of his gun after leaping up while the huntsman was taking part in a deer shoot.
The bullet shattered a part of the huntsman's right hand which has since been amputated.
The victim said he only had himself to blame for not applying the safety catch and did not hold the incident against his dog "at all".
"It wasn't the dog's fault - and he's adorable!" he told France Bleu radio.
The 55-year-old victim, who has given his name as Rene, was flown to hospital in Bordeaux by air ambulance.
The victim explained that the dog, who was the youngest of three out on the hunt and new to the sport, had stayed by his master while the other two dogs chased a deer.
Rene explained how the pet had "jumped on me to give me a cuddle, I think."
"As he jumped, he put a paw on the gun," Rene added.

Is It You?

20 Uploaders Responsible for 90% Fake Torrents

One of the most important issues that BitTorrent users have to cope with on a regular basis is fake torrents which are uploaded to popular trackers like The Pirate Bay by malicious users in order to distribute malware or use other users in other ways. The latest research claims that 90% of fake torrents are uploaded by only 20 users. The researchers have analyzed a sample set of 30,000 torrents uploaded to TPB within two weeks in 2011. The surprising part was that over 1/3 of all torrents were associated with fake content, which makes an increase of 5% compared to a previous year.
The developers decided not to rely on user accounts in the attempt to identify fake publishers, because it’s a flawed method thanks to the possibility to create as many user accounts as you want on the website. Instead, the developers took a look at the IP addresses that were used to distribute the fake files. That’s how they identified 20 publishers that were responsible for 90% of the fake torrent uploads on The Pirate Bay tracker.

Over 99% of all fake torrents found by the researchers were either used to distribute viruses directly or to take advantage of the users by getting them to visit scam sites or other forms of scams. The rest 1% of the fake torrents were associated with anti-piracy companies and outfits.

The research mentions some interesting products, including a service called TorrentGuard. The latter is available both as an Internet service and a plugin for the Vuze BitTorrent application. Everyone can visit the TorrentGuard official website in order to verify a torrent either by uploading it to the service, or pasting its info hash or magnet link into a special form on the portal.

TorrentGuard basically checks the torrent in a database in order to verify whether it’s legit (which is likely) or fake. However, the industry experts point out that they had some issues to get the Internet service in their attempts to verify the torrents they tried to check through it. 35% seems a very high index for the number of fake torrents. Some of the experts explain it with the small sample size and period. The intentions of the people who distribute them are clear, so it is recommended to be always alert when downloading torrents.

Phew…Now There’s A Statue?

Damien Hirst’s giant, naked pregnant mother to stand tall over seaside town

A 66ft sculpture of a naked, pregnant woman by the artist Damien Hirst will be erected in the seaside town of Ilfracombe, Devon, next month.

Hirst’s offer to loan the bronze work for 20 years has been accepted by North Devon Council, despite plans to place the statue at the town’s harbour attracting more than 100 complaints.
Councillors hope that the sculpture, called Verity, will attract more tourism to the town where Hirst also owns a restaurant.
But others have expressed anger that the sculpture, which will be 10 inches taller than the Angel of the North, will tower over the town.
Julie Hunt, a local councillor, said: “I think it is immoral, disrespectful and tasteless. Would this be allowed if it was a naked man baring his packed lunch for all to see?”
The planning application for the statue of the woman holding aloft a sword and standing on a base of legal books, said it was a “modern allegory of truth and justice”. It is expected to be unveiled at the site in mid-October.
Ilfracombe has embraced modern art and design since its Landmark Theatre was developed in 2007, with a white, conical design which was later nicknamed “Madonna’s Bra”.

A Short Back & Sides Sir??

Man shows off world's tallest mohawk

A Japanese designer has been crowned by the Guinness Book of World Records for having the tallest mohawk haircut in the world.

The tip of Kazuhiro Watanabe's spiked mohawk stands 3 ft 8.6 inches proud of his skull and earned him a place in the 2013 edition of the book, which is released on Thursday.
Watanabe unveiled his hair-do at a press event in New York on Wednesday to mark the launch of the new book.
"It was a lot of work ... but I am happy to have achieved the world's No 1," 40-year-old Watanabe told reporters, adding that it had taken him 15 years to grow the mohawk to its present size.
To get it into shape takes three stylists, three cannisters of hair spray and a bottle of hair gel, Watanabe said.
Without gel and hairspray, the hair reaches his knees.
"It is too expensive to do the mohawk every day, so I only do it for occasions like this and parties," he said.
Watanabe said he began his quest to get into the Guinness Book of World Records when he was 20, although he did not initially mind which record he held. One attempt that he considered before taking on the mohawk challenge was to drink the most tabasco sauce.
The previous holder of the record for the biggest mohawk was Stefan Srocka, of Germany, with a hair-do that stood 31.5 inches tall.
Watanabe said his 10-year-old daughter has already decided that she intends to beat his record one day.