Pirate Bay On The Move!!

The Pirate Bay Moved to the Cloud

The largest BitTorrent tracker has been operating for almost a decade now. Within these years, The Pirate Bay faced endless line of problems and copyright owners were doing their best to make it disappear. However, the tracker managed to not just surpass them, but also to thrive. Now The Pirate Bay has moved from physical servers to the cloud.
Earlier in October, Swedish authorities have raided PRQ – a company that used to host the servers of The Pirate Bay – and seized a few of them. Although it is still unclear who exactly had suffered after this move, it is known that the TPB wasn’t amongst them. However, the portal wasn’t so lucky 6 years ago, when Swedish authorities seized some of its servers and kept the site offline for 3 days. From now on, it won’t happen any more. This move came as no surprise, taking into account that earlier this year the portal started a project based on flying drones. Industry observers made a conclusion that the file-sharing service was planning to go into the air soon.

The representatives of the tracker explain that their information now flows around in many clouds, encrypted and ready to be used any time. So, any efforts to attack the tracker will now be “an attack on everything and nothing”. From now on, The Pirate Bay’s new infrastructure will be hosted by a few cloud-based providers that don’t even know who their client is. So, if one of the providers cuts the website off, the TPB can just use new virtual servers from another one. All they will have to do is upload the VM-images and reconfigure the load-balancer in order to resurrect the portal.

The tracker also ensured that the location of its cloud providers is secure and all traffic is encrypted. The operators of The Pirate Bay are completely confident with their decision. In the meantime, the news about the tracker moving to the cloud led to various debates, both optimistic and less positive. The positive ones approve of the decision, because using several cloud hosting firms is very beneficial. But some believe that taking the tracker offline is still possible, since the load balancer will be hosted with a major Internet service provider, who can usually be easily dealt with for the government. Anyway, all experts agree that moving to the cloud makes The Pirate Bay more reliable than ever.

Thanks to TorrentFreak for the source of the article

One Step Ahead??

The British couple who live in the future

A British couple live their lives one hour ahead of the rest of the country because they claim it's good for their health.

For the past six years Janys and John Warren have lived by British Summertime all year round.
The retired couple from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, who are members of St George's parish council began the experiment to see if it would have any effect on Mr Warren's cluster headaches.
The painful condition is thought to be triggered by a change in the clocks.
Six years on, the couple claim they both feel healthier.
Mrs Warren, 68, said: "We tried this because my husband's cluster headaches had moved from being episodic to chronic but still seemed to be triggered by the clock change.
"We heard that someone who suffered from them went to Australia and did not change his clocks and did not have an episode. It's worked for us too."
Living in a time warp has not made them psychic but it has saved the pair money on heating and lighting bills.
"We have lower fuel bills and far more usable daylight hours with evenings not seeming endless," added Mrs Warren.
"Even if the UK stayed on British Summertime we would be closer to European Time which has got to be an improvement for trade and tourism.
"The couple, who get up at 9.30am-10am, which for the rest of the world is an hour earlier, say the winter doesn't seem so long living in another time.
"We don't put the heating on until we get up and by then it is warmer anyway," said Mrs Warren.
"We've saved about one third of our heating and lighting bills. The winter doesn't seem so long and I don't feel so tired in the evening. It's nice to be wide awake later.
"Our children have grown up so there are not so many things that we do that need to fit in with the rest of the world.
"It takes them a couple of weeks each year to get used to the fact that it's a different time for us- but it's not inconvenient.
"People who come to the house sometimes look at the clock and say, 'Goodness, it's time to go,' and we explain.
"Of course one of the things it makes a difference is parish council meetings. They don't start for us until 8.30pm, but it means they can sometimes go on until 10.30pm or 11pm."
The couple are usually fast asleep when New Year comes in - but are woken up by fireworks at what for them is 1 am.

Phew…That’s A Load Off!!

Weighty memento: war veteran's secret revealed after his death

The family of a war hero only discovered the full weight of his bravery after his death when his cremation left behind a huge pile of shrapnel.

Ronald Brown stepped on a land mine while on a mission in France in August 1944.
The blast peppered his left leg with red-hot fragments and he was forced to crawl two miles to safety.
But because of medical conditions of the day it was thought safer to leave shrapnel in his body.
He survived the war but only ever told his family the basic story and said the accident had left him with a 'bad knee'.
Mr Brown told loved ones he still had a 'bullet' in his leg and asked his grandchildren not to sit on his knee because of the pain it caused.
But when he died last week aged 94 his family had him cremated and were stunned when staff handed them back a big bag of shrapnel.
The bag contained a whopping 6oz of bomb shrapnel that he had been carrying around for 60 years.
Daughter Jane Madden, 55, of Exeter, Devon said her father told her there was a bullet in his knee from the war, never mentioning the pile of fragments.
She said: "I don't think he ever realised all that was in his leg - it weighed about six ounces.
"He'd said there was a bullet in his leg but I was imagining one romantic piece of metal.
"But when we went to scatter his ashes we asked whether the bullet had been found and they gave us this bag full of metal.
"It's just macabre really and amazing because he never used to complain about the pain. It just shows how brave he was."
Mr Brown, of Exeter, joined the East Yorkshire Regiment at the age of 21 and was a quartermaster when he suffered his injury.
He stepped on the booby trap while on manoeuvres in August 1944, two months after D Day.
Following his death of a chest infection last week workers at Exeter and Devon Crematorium carefully sifted through his ashes and found the metal pieces.
His granddaughter, Holly, 22, said her grandfather "never spoke much about the war".
She said: "When we were very young he used to tell us not to sit on his knee because of the wound.
"He would travel overseas to Australia and America and he was always setting off scanners as he walked through.
"We always thought it was a bullet in the knee but when the funeral directors gave us this bag of shrapnel they had taken out we were shocked at how much there was.
"We are all very proud of him and what he did for all of us. The bits of metal in him just show how horrible the war was.
"I suppose it's a bitter-sweet memory for us because it symbolises everything he did and how he suffered."
After the war grandfather-of-five Ronald became a tax inspector. His wife Gwendoline died 24 years ago.

Dog Gone It….

French dog poisoned and buried alive survives

A Jack Russell terrier has survived after being poisoned and buried alive — and he can thank the man who saw the ground wiggle.

Ethan came back to life on his third birthday after someone tried to kill him. He had a whole chain of saviors: the man who dug him up, the firefighters who rushed him off and a veterinarian who nursed him back to life.

Sabrina Zamora, president of an animal association in Charleville-Mezieres, 200 kilometers (125 miles) northeast of Paris, said Friday the little white dog with a black ear was "flat as a pancake" when he was dug up from his grave Tuesday near a lakeside pedestrian path.

"It's extraordinary. We only see this in TV movies," said veterinarian Philippe Michon. "He came back to life and without a scratch. It's rather miraculous."

The vet said when firemen brought the dirt-covered terrier to his office "he was completely cold, he was barely breathing."

Michon used hot water bottles to warm up Ethan's seemingly lifeless body. The dog was so cold his veins had collapsed and it was hard to find one to hydrate him but within 24 hours the dog was back on his feet.

According to the veterinarian and Zamora, a man walking by just happened to see the ground moving — an apparent result of convulsions from the dog's poisoning. The man then got a shovel and dug the dog up.

Ethan was identified through a microchip that showed all this happened on his third birthday.

His owner says he had given the dog away but police are investigating, Zamora said.

"(Ethan) had an unbelievable chain of luck," Michon said. "If the ground hadn't trembled, no one would have taken a shovel to it."

Foxy??

Urban fox spotted trying to break into upstairs window

A homeowner was stunned when he spotted this urban fox trying to break into his neighbour's house - through an upstairs window.

A wily urban fox was spotted trying to break into a house in south London.
The crafty animal was spotted clawing at the frame of a bathroom window at a terraced house in East Sheen.
Local resident Paul Aynsley snapped the fox as it stood on the roof of his neighbour's extension.
Retired Mr Aynsley, 61, said: "We have a lot of foxes round here, but I was surprised to see one on the roof - I didn't know foxes climbed.
"It was like it was trying to break in or stare through the bathroom window."
The fox was snapped around 9am on Thursday morning close to opera superstar Katherine Jenkins' £6m home.
Paul added: "The fox went round the corner and then disappeared. I don't know how the hell it got up there in the first place.
"It really is strange."
Complaints of urban foxes invading gardens have been growing as they lose their fear of humans, pest controllers have warned.
New fortnightly bin collections, leaving rubbish bags piling near houses, are being blamed for helping bring the once-shy creatures closer to people's homes in search of food.
Pest control companies warned that call-outs from members of the public to deal with foxes had surged in recent years.
In 2012 feral foxes attacked two twin baby girls who were mauled in their cot at their home in Hackney, east London.
Britain’s urban fox population is widely estimated to be about 30,000 but some experts believe it could be as high as 50,000.
At present local authorities have no legal requirement to control urban foxes even when residents complain.

An Intelligent Geordie??

Sunderland is UK's 'brainiest city'

A survey of intelligence has found that Sunderland is the UK's 'brainiest city'.

Quizfactor.com, the UK's largest quiz site, undertook the research by asking residents of each city 30 questions from a variety of categories. They included: Sport, Art & Literature and History & Politics.

Questions included 'How many points are scored for a converted try in Rugby Union?', 'What is the smallest planet in the solar system?' and 'What is the collective noun for a group of emus?'.

The results found that the cleverest city was Sunderland, who got 71% of answers correct. Exeter and Preston secured second and third place respectively with 68% and 65%.

However, residents of Norwich only scored 35%, meaning they came at the bottom of the table. Peterborough and Edinburgh completed the bottom three with 43% each.

Rick Eastman, marketing director of Quizfactor.com, said: "This was the definitive general intelligence test for the UK; Sunderland did very well to come out on top."

The survey also proved that hair colour has no reflection on intelligence. Blonde, black and red-haired people all scored 54% whilst brunette and grey-haired scored 53%.

Over 5,000 UK residents from 30 cities took part in the survey.

Caveman On The Loose!

'Naked caveman' accused of terrorising Texan mountain walkers

A 'naked caveman' has been accused of terrorising a small Texan community amid reports he chased a group of hikers away from his mountainside home in the nude.

Residents living near McKelligon Canyon in El Paso say they live in fear of the mysterious man who claims to have been lodging in a remote cave on the mountain for the past three years.
One local told KVIA they 'didn't feel safe' around the bearded occupant, while another claims to have regularly seen him bathing in the laundry room of an apartment complex at the foot of the canyon.
Last week, a group of mountain walkers who stumbled across the shelter claim a naked man sprang from the cave and chased them down the mountainside.
The man has denied the accusations however, claiming 'busy bodies' made up the stories about him running around naked.
'If that's true, where's the pictures?' he told KVIA. 'If that's true, what tattoos does he have? What is he built like? It's stupidity.'
He claims he is not the only resident on the mountain, saying: 'People come out here to barbecue; people come up here to sleep and camp out.'
The cave dweller supports himself by donating blood plasma and through gifts from the public.
Local authorities have said they would investigate the claims to see if his mountainside home is legal.

All In A Name??

Man named Thomas Cook gets free holiday

A man who shares the same name with travel agency Thomas Cook has received a free holiday to France.

However, it wasn't Thomas Cook who provided the trip to Paris but a competitor.

Cook initially posted on Thomas Cook's Facebook, saying: "Seeing as I share the exact same name as your huge company, and because of this I have been ridiculed for as long as I can remember, I think it's only fair that you help compensate for this by giving me one of your lovely holidays.

"A weekend to Paris would do just fine."

The Thomas Cook agency - despite being encouraged by other Facebook users - declined.

Instead, competitors lowcostholidays.com emailed Cook and offered him the holiday.

They told Cook: "Here at lowcostholidays.com, we completely sympathise with your suffering and if your name was 'lowcostholidays.com', we would certainly have accepted your request to be sent away on a weekend in Paris.

"So how about we send you on that weekend in Paris?"

Cook accepted the offer.

Unlucky For Some??

David and Joanne are the unluckiest names

Research has found that David and Joanne are the unluckiest names in the UK and that people with those monikers are most likely to suffer personal injury.
So according to case data released by a UK-based firm of personal injury solicitors anyone named David or Joanne should take extra care when leaving the house in the morning.

The data, released by the team at Edwards Hoyle, aimed to discover trends amongst personal injury claims, and looked into the most common names, ages and occupations of personal injury claimants they’ve dealt with over the past two years.

A spokesperson for Edwards Hoyle said: "We thought we’d take a look at who is most likely to claim based on names and years of birth. David and Joanne topped our charts as the most likely names to suffer some form of personal injury."

And it's extra bad news if you are a Fishermen called David … that's the unluckiest profession.

The most common names of male victims of personal injury:
1) David
2) James
3) Stephen
4) Andrew
5) Chris

The most common names of female victims of personal injury:
1) Joanne
2) Emma
3) Clare
4) Karen
5) Lisa

The top 5 most risky professions
1) Fishermen
2) Farming
3) Oil/ Gas Workers
4) Construction
5) Lorry Driver