GemMan
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Posts posted by GemMan
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Octavio Frias de Oliveira Bridge, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Stari Most, or Old Bridge, Mostar, Bosnia.
Kintai Bridge, Iwakuni, Japan.
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Erasmus Bridge, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Millennium Bridge, Newcastle, England.
Banpo Bridge, Seoul.
Magdeburg Water Bridge, Magdeburg, Germany.
Pont du Gard, Gard, France.
Chapel Bridge, Lucerne, Switzerland.
Nanpu Bridge, Shanghai, China.
Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, Charleston, South Carolina.
Charles Bridge, Prague, Czech Republic.
Juscelino Kubitschek Bridge, Brasilia, Brazil.
Langkawi Sky Bridge, Malaysia
Rialto Bridge, Venice, Italy.
Pont Alexandre III, Paris, France.
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Henderson Wave Bridge, Singapore.
The U Bein Bridge, Amarapura, Myanmar.
Brooklyn Bridge, New York.
Si-o-Se Pol Bridge, translated to "33 Arches Bridge," Isfahan, Iran.
Helix Bridge, Singapore.
Ha'Penny Bridge, Dublin, Ireland.
Millau Viaduct, Millau, France.
Chengyang Bridge or Wind and Rain Bridge, Sanjiang County, China.
Sydney Harbor Bridge, Sydney.
Ponte Vecchio, Florence, Italy.
Tower Bridge, London.
Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco.
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Samsung dropped a nuclear patent on Apple
June 6, 2013 -- Updated 1243 GMT (2043 HKT)
Apple's older iPhone models ran afoul of Samsung patents, according to the U.S International Trade Commission.STORY HIGHLIGHTS- U.S. government agency gave Samsung a victory over Apple in patent dispute
- Florian Mueller: President Obama can veto the ruling, but he shouldn't get mired in it
- He says what's really at state are standard-essential patents
- Mueller: Congress can abate mobile patents wars by disallowing bans over SEPs
(CNN) -- This week, the U.S. International Trade Commission made a decision that sent shock waves around the world.
The governmental agency banned the importation of Apple's older iPhones (before the 4S) and cellular iPads (before the third-generation iPad 4G) into the U.S. market. These devices were found to violate a Samsung patent necessary to connect with AT&T's cellular network. Simply put, if you're an AT&T customer, your phone is not a phone without a technology that Samsung owns.
Customs officers will hold any Apple shipments coming from China in 60 days if they contain those older products unless an appeals court sides with Apple or President Barack Obama vetoes the order.
The president has delegated this decision-making power to the U.S. trade representative, but obviously, he can still do what no U.S. president has done in decades.
However, he shouldn't get mired in this particular battle.
A veto would be consistent with a set of patent reform proposals the White House unveiled a few hours before the ITC's decision, which would make it harder to obtain such bans. But it would mean depriving Samsung of its most significant victory in a bitter legal spat with Apple and interfere in the intense two-horse race going on in the smartphone market.
A veto would also snub a major U.S. trading partner and geopolitical ally: South Korea, where Samsung accounts for about a fifth of the national economy. The South Koreans would certainly cry foul over "protectionism."
The good news for Apple is that most of the affected products are no longer on sale. The ones that are still being sold are Apple's lowest-priced entry-level offerings. As soon as Apple launches the iPhone 5S , the iPhone 5 will replace the 4S as the mid-priced product. The iPhone 4S, which is also safe, will then become the low-end iPhone.
Samsung takes aim at Apple
Until this happens, we're talking about 1% of Apple's sales -- less, actually, because AT&T can buy as many iPhone 4 and iPad 2 units over the next 60 days as it wants and sell them afterward. And customers still have different models from which to choose.
But there's a bigger reason for concern.
What Samsung dropped on those older Apple products is the patent equivalent of a nuclear bomb, and a U.S. government agency with court-like powers said: "Yes, Samsung, you're in your right to use this lethal weapon, and we don't care that Apple claims it's been universally outlawed."
Next time someone -- not necessarily Samsung, which could even find itself on the receiving end -- will use patents of this kind, called standard-essential patents, to nuke products that jobs depend on and that customers will sorely miss. And next time could be a matter of months because various other ITC cases over standard-essential patents are pending and will come to judgment soon. That's the real concern. Not the iPhone 4.
Why are standard-essential patents the equivalent of a nuclear weapon?
Because there are industry standards that establish the use of certain techniques. Unless your phone and mine use the same standard, we can't give each other a call or send each other a photo because the devices we use won't understand each other. This is called interoperability -- working together. When companies get together and define a standard, they have to promise to use these patents only as parking meters, not as guns.
Conventional patents, such as the ones Apple is suing Samsung over, don't raise the same issues.
For example, Apple is suing Samsung over a feature called "rubber-banding." It's the iconic bounce-back effect when you scroll a list (such as your phone's address book) and reach the end. I like it, but if you have rubber-banding and I don't, we can still keep in touch. No nuclear threat there.
Congress should work with the president and denuclearize the mobile patents wars by disallowing import bans over standard-essential patents. Now.
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Woman Training for Marathon Has Surprise BabyJun 6, 2013 1:01pmTrish Staine thought the aches and pains of a two-hour run were just one hazard of training to run a half-marathon. But Staine’s soreness was instead a sign that she was in labor.
A day after completing a two-hour run along a hilly road, Staine was admitted Monday to the Essentia Health-St. Mary’s Medical Center in Duluth, Minn., with severe pain in her back. Emergency room doctors told Staine and her husband that she wasn’t injured, she was about to have a baby.
“They found a fetal heartbeat and I was like, ‘No, that’s not possible,’” Staine told ABCNews.com affiliate WDIO-TV. “They rushed me upstairs and within five minutes of getting into my room, she was born.”
Staine’s baby girl, named Mira, short for Miracle, according to The Associated Press, was born five weeks early at a healthy weight of 6 pounds and 6 ounces. Staine and her husband were completely surprised by the birth because she had not gained significant weight or missed periods.
“I’ve always been skeptical about all these TV shows and whatnot with people saying, ‘Oh, I didn’t know I was pregnant,’” Staine told WDIO-TV. “I’m like that’s impossible. … As soon as I had her, I was like, ‘I’m a believer.’”
(Image Credit: WDIO-TV)
Although it is rare to a have pregnancy undetected until birth, Dr. Shilpi Mehta-Lee, assistant professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the NYU Langone Medical Center in Manhattan, said that according to studies, about 1 in 2,500 births are not detected until the baby is delivered.
Mehta-Lee, who did not treat Staine, said that some women have difficulty psychologically accepting they are pregnant, which can result in a medical condition called “‘denial of pregnancy.” She cautions, however, that some women do not realize they’re pregnant simply because they display no traditional symptoms of pregnancy.
“This [story] is a great opportunity to step back and say I haven’t gotten my period or my period is irregular,” Mehta-Lee told ABCNews.com of other women who might be missing the signs of pregnancy. ”It’s never too late. Better to initiate [prenatal] care 20 or 30 weeks [into a pregnancy] than never initiating care.”
In addition to baby Mira, Staine and husband John have two biological children of their own, plus John’s two sons from a previous marriage and two foster children. Trish Staine said there was one member of the family who was particularly excited about the new baby: her older daughter, 7.
“My daughter is really happy, she finally has a little sister,” Staine told WDIO-TV. ”She’s the only girl. Now we have two girls and whole team of boys.”
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Arizona Teen Breaks Feet Jumping to Pool From House Roof
Jun 5, 2013 6:51pmAn Arizona mom has been chastised after posting a video of her teenage daughter jumping from the house roof onto cement, missing the swimming pool a few inches away.
Carrie Yunker said she had hoped to raise funds for daughter Nicole after the injury.
“The website wants to take down the page because it has been reported as fraud,” Yunker of Show Low, Ariz., told ABC News.
In early May, Nicole and her roommates jumped from the roof of their house into the pool. Nicole appeared hesitant to jump, but took the leap anyway. She landed short of the pool and directly onto the cement. She broke both of her feet and might need multiple surgeries.
That’s when Carrie Yunker created the webpage – June 3 – on gofundme.com after concerns that her teenage daughter wouldn’t be able to work. She had hoped to raise up to $4,200.
“A lot of people say I’m begging for money, but that was never what I tried to do,” the mother said. “I set up a webpage for family and friends to help her out, but they took down the video from the site.”
Yunker has been criticized for asking for money for her daughter’s poor judgment. People have flooded Yunker with negative messages since the video caught on.
So far, Yunker has only received $400 in donations since posting the video. While Nicole had a full-time job, she had no health insurance and has since been added to her dad’s health insurance plan.
“I was personally attacked for my past and I even got a death threat,” Carrie Yunker said.
Nicole was expected to go into surgery today, and her recovery time could be anywhere from six months to a year.
“Nicole realizes she made a mistake and she is in a lot of pain,” Yunker said. “I will take pictures of her at the hospital to show that this is not fraud.”
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Michael Jackson's daughter hospitalized
June 6, 2013 -- Updated 1317 GMT (2117 HKT)
Paris Jackson's 'cry for help'STORY HIGHLIGHTS- NEW: AEG Live asked Paris Jackson "intimate details about her father in a deposition," lawyer says
- NEW: "A grilling of a child regarding the loss of her father is going to create a lot of pressure," lawyer says
- Paris called a suicide hotline, prompting a counselor to call 911, a source says
- "Being a sensitive 15-year-old is difficult no matter who you are," a Jackson lawyer says
Los Angeles (CNN) -- Paris Jackson, the 15-year-old daughter of Michael Jackson, was rushed to a hospital after cutting one of her wrists early Wednesday morning, sources close to the Jackson family told CNN.
Paris called a suicide counseling hotline early Wednesday, which lead to a counselor calling 911 to the Jackson home in Calabasas, California, those sources said.
"Being a sensitive 15-year-old is difficult no matter who you are," attorney Perry Sanders said Wednesday morning. "It is especially difficult when you lose the person closest to you. Paris is physically fine and is getting appropriate medical attention. Please respect her privacy and the family's privacy."
Other Jackson sources stopped short of calling the incident a suicide attempt, although one suggested it might be "a cry for help" from the teenager.
Paris posted messages to her million-plus Twitter followers late Tuesday evening:
Michael Jackson's daughter hospitalized
Paris Jackson's 'cry for help'
"i wonder why tears are salty?"
"yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away
"now it looks as though they're here to stay"
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said its deputies "responded to a medical situation" at an address that matches the Jacksons' Calabasas home at 1:27 a.m. Wednesday. A patient was taken to a hospital, it said.
Paris, along with her grandmother, Katherine Jackson, and her brothers, Prince and Blanket, are suing AEG Live for liability in Michael Jackson's 2009 drug overdose death.
Paris and Prince are listed as witness in the Los Angeles trial and have been expected to testify in the wrongful death trial later this month.
Jackson trial lawyer Kevin Boyle spoke to reporters outside of court Wednesday afternoon, saying Paris can decide if she will testify during their part of the case, but AEG Live has subpoenaed her, calling her a key witness.
"The Jackson family and the Jackson lawyers are putting no pressure on Paris regarding this case at all," Boyle said. "It is AEG who is putting this case at Paris' back door."
Paris and Prince were questioned separately over two days by AEG lawyers just before the trial began in April.
"A grilling of a child regarding the loss of her father is going to create a lot of pressure," Boyle said. "Paris Jackson was asked intimate details about her father and her father's death; it was a very intense situation."
AEG Live lawyer Marvin Putnam denied his team was tough on Paris Jackson in her deposition. "I don't think anybody in the world could call it a grilling."
He declined to say he would not call her as a witness if she does not testify during the Jacksons' case.
"We have to know what they're putting on as a case before we decide what our defense will be," Putnam said. "I have no idea who we're going to call."
Paris made millions cry four years ago when she spoke up at the end of the public memorial service for her father.
"Ever since I was born, daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine," she said, fighting back tears as relatives consoled her. "And I just want to say that I love him so much," she said as she burst into tears and sought refuge in the embrace of family members.
Paris was recently reunited with her mother, who bowed out of her life when she was an infant. She has been spending time with Debbie Rowe on her horse farm.
Rowe issued a statement through her lawyer Wednesday morning: "We appreciate everyone's thoughts for Paris at this time and their respect for the family's privacy."
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102-Year-Old Woman Tandem BASE-Jumps for BirthdayJun 5, 2013 6:45pmAt 102 years old, Dorothy Custer spends most days on her porch in Twin Falls, Idaho, sewing and playing the harmonica. But her birthday celebration Sunday called for something a bit more dramatic: tandem BASE-jumping.
“I wish I could’ve floated around a little bit longer,” Dorothy Custer told ABC News. “I thought if I did break a leg, it doesn’t matter one way or another. I wasn’t scared at anytime. I thought it was just a wonderful experience.”
Courtesy Dorothy Custer and Sean Chuma
Tandem BASE-jumping, which stands for Buildings, Antennas, Spans and Earth, is an extreme sport where a person, with an instructor attached, jumps off a platform and glides to the ground via a parachute.
But Custer is no stranger to extreme sports. She celebrated her 101st birthday last year with a zipline adventure over the Snake River Canyon in southern Idaho. This year her grandson decided to up the ante by bringing up the idea of tandem-BASE jumping.
“I was thinking of doing that, but I wouldn’t jump by myself. I wouldn’t do it unless I was with somebody,” Custer said.
That’s when her grandson approached Sean Chuma, an experienced tandem-BASE jumper in the Twin Falls area.
“[Her grandson] asked, ‘Would you be interested in taking a 102-year-old lady on a tandem base jump?’” Chuma told ABC News.
Chuma met Custer at her home to assess whether she’d be fit for the jump, asking questions regarding her heart and feelings about extreme sports. Chuma, with more than 2,000 jumps under his belt, concluded it was safe and offered to take Custer tandem-BASE jumping, for free.
“She told me, ‘If I break a leg, it’s OK, I want to do this,’” Chuma said. “Who was I to tell her she couldn’t do it? I was more nervous than she was.”
Three days later, he was assisting the petite woman climb over a four-foot handrail to reach the platform. With a “full body of armor” of dirt bike pads, helmet, harness and Chuma strapped in behind her, Custer stood overlooking the Snake River Canyon ready to take her leap of faith.
“We just counted down 3, 2, 1, see ya! And we jumped,” Chuma said. “It had to be the softest landing ever.”
Custer said it was the experience of a lifetime, and one she had never even considered before.
“I wasn’t afraid,” she said. “You sometimes have butterflies in my stomach but, no, I never felt anything. I thought it was just a wonderful experience. Something to do. Something I never thought of doing.”
As for the daredevil’s next adventure, Custer said she has no set plans but some ideas.
“You think I’ll be around for another birthday?” Custer said, chuckling. “I don’t know. There are only two things I might like to do. One is maybe float around in a hot air balloon.”
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Heather McGill, Wife of Alabama Sen. Shadrack McGill, Warns on Facebook to Keep Off Her ManBy ABC News
Jun 5, 2013 9:37amAn Alabama politician’s wife who took to Facebook to warn women to stay away from her husband said a “righteous anger” pushed her to write a post that has now gone viral.
“I know that I can’t bring about change in other people’s lifestyles but I can protect my household, my husband and my children,” Heather McGill, the wife of Alabama state Sen. Shadrack McGill, told ABC News.
Heather McGill logged on to her husband’s Facebook page Monday night to write a post targeted at the women she claims are soliciting her husband, a Republican who has served in the Senate since 2010, for sex.
“Multiple times since being in office he has gotten emails from women (who may not even be real) inviting him to explore, also sending pictures of themselves. NO MORE!!!,” McGill wrote. “We have children that look at our face books from time to time! Shame on you!”
Sen. McGill told ABC News that, during his 2010 campaign, strippers arrived at his family’s home in the middle of the night and that, since being elected, he has received numerous photos on Facebook of scantily clad women.
Heather McGill said it was the latest photo, one posted just last Sunday, that drove her to write the post in which she warned the women, “Next time everyone will know who you are!! For I will publicly share your name before we ‘unfriend’ you.”
“I had looked on my husband’s Facebook page yesterday and again there was another picture and another email,” she told ABC News. “Being that we have daughters, I guess a righteous anger rose up in me to protect my family.”
The McGills have been married for 14 years and have six children together. They are also foster parents.
Heather McGill called the type of unwanted attention her husband has received, “the ‘behind-the-scenes’ garbage that political life brings.”
Despite the attention and strain placed on his family, Sen. McGill said he was prepared for the next campaign season.
“I was a novice the first time but this time I’ve got my feet under me,” he said.
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Woman Pulled From Philadelphia Building Collapse as Death Toll Rises to 6
Philadelphia Building Collapse, People TrappedJune 6, 2013A 14th survivor was pulled from the rubble of a collapsed a four-story building in central Philadelphia minutes after officials said six people were killed and at least 13 people were injured.
Rescue workers used buckets and their bare hands to move bricks and rubble to free a 61-year-old woman late Wednesday night identified as Myra Plekam of Kensington, Pa., Philadelphia Public Safety Director Michael Resnick confirmed to ABC News. Plekam was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and listed in critical condition. Plekam's rescue came more than 12 hours after the building collapsed
Minutes before the woman was pulled from the rubble, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said one man and five women were among the dead, but did not release their names at a late-night news conference.
At least 13 other people have been transported to hospitals with minor injuries, according to authorities. "This has been a tough day here in the city of Philadelphia but we're a pretty tough city and we're quite resilient," Nutter said.
Fire officials said that 40 percent of the collapsed building still needs to be checked. Officials declined to say how much longer they will remain at the site to search for potential survivors, but Nutter insisted that the search will continue through the night.
WPVI/ABC NewsFirefighters are at the scene of a building... View Full Size
Bridge Collapse: Moments of Terror Watch Video
June 29, 1995: S. Korea Building Collapse Watch Video
Workers Survive Roof Collapse Caused by Snow Watch Video"We did not know and we still do not know how many people were actually in the store or possibly on the sidewalk or some other area adjacent to the Salvation Army thrift store," he said.
The building was in the process of being demolished when an exterior wall that it shared with an adjoining building fell outward Wednesday morning, collapsing into the adjoining two-story building that housed a Salvation Army Thrift Store. The thrift store was damaged but is still standing.
Officials at the University of Pennsylvania hospital, which treated five victims, said that they saw mostly cuts and bruises on victims taken there. At least one victim has already been released, and others were expected to be discharged sometime Wednesday.
"They were a bit stunned, they were saying they heard a loud noise and then the ceiling began falling," Dr. Elizabeth Datner said at a news conference Wednesday. "We saw one individual who had been trapped, but they are all talking and all in stable conditions."
Datner said that most of the victims were in the thrift store at the time of the collapse.
The vacant mixed-use commercial building was in the process of being demolished when it collapsed, according to city inspector Carlton Williams. Authorities are unsure how many construction workers were at the site when the building collapsed.
"We want to be sure to keep the focus on the firefighters that are actively engaged in search and rescue," Nutter said earlier today. "We had a significant number of people on the scene, and we will continue this operation until we are certain that anyone who was in the building has been taken out of building and is recovered."
Firefighters were first dispatched to the building at 10:43 a.m. and arrived at 10:45 a.m. to begin working, Fire commissioner Lloyd Ayers said.
A 10-block stretch of Market Street, which runs through the city, was shut down for the rescue effort.
Williams said that both the building's owners and the contractors had all of their permits and paperwork in order and up to date, and the building had no prior code violations.
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Funny cartoon Generation Gap
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Former Bangladesh captain Ashraful admits match-fixing, apologisesFormer Bangladesh cricket captain Mohammad Ashraful on Tuesday admitted match-fixing and apologised for the latest damaging scandal to hit the sport.June 04, 2013DhakaAFP"I should have not done this injustice to the nation. I feel guilty," he told the Independent TV channel in a televised interview.
"I would only say 'Please all forgive me, my conduct was improper'," he added.
His apology came shortly after the Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hassan announced the right-handed batsman had been suspended pending the full report of an investigation by the International Cricket Council.
Mohammad Ashraful. Pic/AFPThe ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) has been probing allegations of match-fixing during the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), a Twenty20 competition.
"I felt that I have done an injustice, so I have told them (the ACSU team) the truth at the first chance. I tried to help the ICC as much as I could for the welfare of our cricket," Ashraful said.
"You all know me, I have been playing international cricket for 12 years. I did not tell them a single lie," he added.
Ashraful became the country's youngest Test centurion in 2001 at the age of 17 and captained Bangladesh between 2007 and 2009.
The alleged fixing involves a match between the Dhaka Gladiators and the Chittagong Kings teams during the second edition of the BPL.
Local media have reported that 28-year-old Gladiators star Ashraful was allegedly paid about one million taka ($12,800) to lose the February 2 match.
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How Bitcoin Could Destroy America
Bitcoin represents a significant threat to the currency domination of the USA, which is the only thing propping up the nation's status as a worldwide superpower. Following the USA's defaulting on all its international loans on August 15, 1971, the US trade balance has been maintained using a combination of military threats and telling people to buy US dollars just to fund the ongoing consumption of the USA. Where other world currencies have failed to challenge the USD, and therefore this mechanism of maintaining US economic dominance, bitcoin may succeed.
To understand this scenario, we need to understand just how bankrupt the United States of America is. For some reason, most spotlights at the moment are pointed at the failing Euro; this is probably in part due to the fact that the US Dollar failed long ago, and is being kept alive by blowing up a bubble harder by the day. An ELI5 version can be found here (ELI5 meaning "explain it like I'm five"), but in a nutshell, the USA defaulted on its international loans following the Vietnam War, and has been borrowing more money to fund its extravagant consumption ever since. Since long ago, more money is now borrowed just to pay interest on the previous loans.
Last year, the United States' budget deficit was an astonishing 50% of the budget - for every US Dollar in revenue, two were spent. Remarkably, this isn't discussed a lot - I imagine if it were, the US' ability to pay back its loans would be called into question, something that would bring down the house of cards like a ton of bricks dumped on top, so nobody is really interested in rocking the boat too much. After all, everybody is sitting on USD reserves that would become worthless overnight if that were to happen.
The United States started its money printing presses on August 15, 1971, and has kept them going ever since. Just in 2011, 16 trillion dollars - that's trillion with a T - were printed to prop up the US economy. How much is that in perspective? It's slightly more than the US gross production combined. For every dollar produced of value, one more was printed out of thin air, in the hope that somebody would buy it. And people do. That's the thing - there is a key mechanism here that forces people to keep buying US dollars.
The United States is kept alive as a nation by the fact that if anybody wants to purchase goods from another nation, like China, they first have to buy US Dollars from the USA, then exchange those USD for the goods they want in China. That, and the fact that this results in all countries buying tons of USD to put in their currency reserves.
The fact that people must keep buying USD to get what they want from anybody else in the world is the mechanism that props up the entire US economy, and more importantly, fuels its military which in turn enforces this mechanism (see Iraq, Libya, Iran, etc). It's a cycle of violence-enforced economic dominance that leads to extravagant spending, and an enabled such spending, by the United States - mostly on military power to maintain that very dominance.
(As a side note, it's questionable how much the middle class in the United States benefits from this any longer. A decade ago, this feedback loop made the normal standard of living in the US noticeably higher than in other parts of the Western world; today, the US comes pretty much last in every category of standard of living.)
As "end of the world" articles are typically discarded as tinfoilhattery, I wanted to start this article with establishing economic facts on the table. The USA is bankrupt, and the only thing keeping it from collapsing are its military and the fact that everybody else is so heavily invested in the USA that nobody wants it to go bankrupt on their watch. Thus, the borrowing and overspending continues for another day... until it doesn't.
What would happen if the US were one day unable to continue its overspending? We would see a mighty crash of the global economy, but more importantly, the US would come down in a Soviet-style collapse, only much worse due to structural differences. (To understand these differences, consider the fact that public transport kept running through the Soviet collapse, and that most families were well-prepared for food shortages. In the US, you would instead have people stranded in suburbs with no fuel, food, or medicine - only lots of weapons and ammo. See Orlov's collapse gap for more on this structural difference.)
Enter bitcoin, which can break the cycle of borrowing and overspending.
As we observed, the key reason that people are forced to buy US Dollars today is that it's the international mechanism of exchange of value. If you want a gadgetoid from China or India, you need to first buy US dollars, and then exchange the US Dollars for the gadgetoid. But as we have seen, bitcoin far outshines the US Dollar in every aspect as a value token for international trade. Using bitcoin is cheaper, easier, and much much faster than today's international systems for transfer of value.
Pretty much everybody I've spoken to who is involved in international trade would switch to a bitcoin-like system in a heartbeat if they were able to, venting years of built-up frustration with the legacy banking system (which uses the USD). If that happens, the US won't be able to find buyers for its newly-printed money that keeps its economy propped up (and its military funded).
If the cycle of dollar lock-in breaks, the United States of America comes crashing down. Hard. It would seem inevitable at this point, and bitcoin may be the one mechanism that breaks the cycle.
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Smugglers drive Thailand's grim trade in dog meat
By Peter Shadbolt, for CNNJune 3, 2013 -- Updated 1036 GMT (1836 HKT)
Dogs slaughtered for meat in VietnamSTORY HIGHLIGHTS- Dog smuggling is booming in Thailand around the Mekong border region with Laos
- Thai authorities say the trade has been growing thanks to a strong market in Vietnam
- Animal welfare groups say operators often pick up strays off the street including pets
- A dog in Thailand can fetch up to $10 but sells for $60 in restaurants in Vietnam
(CNN) -- Packed tight into wire baskets -- sometimes 20 or more to a cage -- animal rights activists say as many as 200,000 live dogs every year are smuggled from northeast Thailand across the Mekong River destined for restaurants in Vietnam.
Dehydrated, stressed, some even dying of suffocation on the trip, the dogs are often stacked 1,000 to a truck on a journey that lasts for days.
"Obviously when you've got dogs stacked on top of each other they start biting each other because they are so uncomfortable, any kind of movement then the dog next to the one that's being crushed is going to bite back," said Tuan Bendixsen, director of Animals Asia Foundation Vietnam, a Hanoi-based animal welfare group.
When they arrive in Vietnam, the suffering doesn't end there. A common belief is that stress and fear releases hormones that improve the taste of the meat, so the dogs are placed in stress cages that restrict their movement.
Eventually, the dogs are either bludgeoned to death or have their throats cut in front of other dogs who are awaiting the same fate. In some cases, they've been known to be skinned alive.
"Dogs are highly intelligent animals so if you kill a dog and you have a whole cage of dogs next to the one that's being killed, those dogs that are going to be killed next know what's going on," Bendixsen said.
According to animal rights groups, dog smugglers round up everything from family pets to Thailand's ubiquitous strays -- known as soi dogs -- to sell the animals in Vietnam, or even as far away as China where a pedigree dog can fetch a premium price.
John Dalley of the Phuket-based Soi Dog Foundation estimates 98% of the dogs are domesticated and that some are even still wearing collars and have been trained and respond to commands.
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Earthquake kills 1 in Taiwan
From Yuling Chang, for CNNJune 3, 2013 -- Updated 0040 GMT (0840 HKT)
Strong earthquake jolts TaiwanSTORY HIGHLIGHTS- The quake rattles buildings in central Taipei
- Panicked residents run to the streets
- Its epicenter was near Jenai town in Nantou county
Taipei (CNN) -- A 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck Taiwan on Sunday, killing at least one and sending panicked residents dashing to the streets.
The quake rattled buildings in central Taipei. Its epicenter was near Jenai town in Nantou county.
Local hospital officials reported one death.
Measuring the magnitude of earthquakes
The quake was 20 km deep (12.4 miles), and hit 728 km (452 miles) east northeast of Hong Kong.
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Family of girl desperate for transplant says she can't wait for policy to change
June 3, 2013 -- Updated 0657 GMT (1457 HKT)
Transplant hopeful's mom slams systemSTORY HIGHLIGHTS- "I'm praying that somebody sees this ... and is in a position to save my baby," mom says
- Federal agency says policy aims to be fair in difficult situations
- Officials will take several years to review lung transplant policy
- Sarah Murnaghan has been waiting for a transplant for 18 months
(CNN) -- The parents of a 10-year-old Pennsylvania girl who's been waiting more than a year for a lung transplant says the girl has essentially been "left to die."
Sarah Murnaghan, who has had cystic fibrosis since birth, could die within weeks without a transplant. She has been waiting 18 months for another pair of lungs as her ability to breathe has rapidly deteriorated.
She is at the top of the list for any pediatric lungs that may become available for transplant in her six-state region. Doctors say modified adult lungs could help save her, and adult lungs become available much more often.
But children under age 12 aren't prioritized for adult organs, under federal rules. So Sarah could only get available adult lungs if everyone else waiting for lungs in her region -- no matter how sick they are -- turns them down.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has called on officials to review the nation's lung transplant policy for children, but any change could take up to two years.
Organ donation by the numbers
A statement from Fran and Janet Murnaghan welcomed the policy review as a "positive step."
Waiting for transplant, a fight for life
The race for Sarah's life
10-year-old hopes for new lung
"However, Sarah, and other children like her who need a transplant now, do not have the luxury of time to wait for a lengthy bureaucratic change," the parents said. "Essentially, Sarah has been left to die."
The department said Sunday it is sympathetic to the many parents facing similar circumstances.
"Our heart goes out to any family that is dealing with a loved one who is on a waiting list for an organ transplant," the statement said. "Given the significant disparity in the number of transplantable organs to the number of people in need of an organ, (the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network) has regulations and policies to ensure that decisions are based on the best medical science and the most equitable process in a very difficult situation."
The Murnaghans asked that other parents consider naming Sarah as a transplant recipient should they or one of their children face death in the coming weeks.
"If you want to directly donate your loved one's lungs to Sarah, the law cannot change that. And Sarah will use that and create a positive and wonderful life and legacy for your loved one," Janet Murnaghan told CNN.
"I'm praying that somebody sees this story and is in a position to save my baby."
Sarah had a setback Sunday night, suffering from a fever and increased carbon dioxide levels, according to a post on Janet Murnaghan's Facebook page.
"I am feeling anxious and praying," she wrote.
The United Network for Organ Sharing, a nonprofit that manages the nation's transplant system under federal contract, agreed to the review Friday, the same day Sebelius sent an urgent request for it to look at its policy, UNOS spokeswoman Anne Paschke said.
But because the review process involves research and public comment, which take time, and because there are not enough organ donations for children, the nation's transplant system may not be able to save Sarah's life.
Her family wants Sebelius to step in.
"We are going to let a kid die over red tape. Somebody needs to stand up that this isn't right, this is a human issue. This isn't politics, this is a human issue," Janet Murnaghan said.
Paschke urged more Americans to look at an organ donation website.
Sebelius' request to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network called on officials to look at the age categories used in lung transplant cases.
Sarah's struggle has ignited a fight for new rules governing organ donations. She's been in a Philadelphia hospital for months due to her cystic fibrosis.
Tens of thousands of people have signed a petition on Change.org, and a congressman has called on the Obama administration to take quick action.
Sarah's mother told CNN she was "shocked" when she learned the rules a couple of weeks ago.
Sebelius asked for the policy review in a letter to Dr. John Roberts, board president of OPTN.
Sebelius cited the significant disparity between the number of transplantable organs and the number of people in need of an organ, especially among children. She also directed HHS's Health Resources and Services Administration Division of Transplantation to consider new approaches for promoting pediatric and adolescent organ donation.
"With 1,819 pediatric patients on organ transplant waitlists and only 852 pediatric organ transplant donors each year, it is especially clear that we can and should, if possible, do more to encourage the public to become registered organ donors," Sebelius wrote.
OPTN issued a statement last week noting that there is a separate policy for children because the "biological needs and circumstances of candidates younger than age 12 are different from either adolescent or adult candidates. One key difference is the size and lung capacity of donors and patients among these age ranges."
Children younger than age 12 are prioritized for donations from other children of similar age and size within a 1,000-mile radius.
Policies allow "status adjustments for specifically defined groups of candidates with unique medical circumstances not addressed by the overall policy," the statement said.
The network routinely reviews policies and considers "public input as well as medical data and experience," the statement said.
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Africanized bee swarm kills Texas man
Jun 03, 2013
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62-year-old Larry Goodwin died from a swarm of Africanized bees on Sunday. Goodwin was consolidating a brush pile on a neighbor's property when he upset a killer bee hive living in an old chicken coop.
CNN News Wire
Larry Goodwin, 62, was pushing over a chicken coop when the swarm attacked
MOODY, Tex. — A Texas man died after a swarm of Africanized bees disturbed by his tractor attacked, stinging him more than 1,000 times Saturday.
The bees were living inside an old chicken coop that Larry Goodwin, 62, was pushing over to clear off his Moody, Texas, property, neighbor John Puckett told CNN affiliate KCEN-TV.
“He lifted the whole hive and disturbed them all and they just came swarming out of there and trapped him on his tractor,” Puckett said.
His daughter and neighbors rushed to help, but they said there was nothing they could do to save Goodwin.
“When we got to him, he was purple, he had thousands and thousands of bee stings on his face and arms,” Tanya Goodwin said.
Puckett said his wife and daughter were stung 100 times. “I came pretty close to losing my family,” Puckett said.
Allen Miller, whose company Bees Be Gone removed the hive after the attack, said he’s seen more Africanized bee hives in the past few weeks than he normally sees in a year.
“If anybody has any brush or anything on their lands, please clear it, because they don’t want to go through this,” Tanya Goodwin said. “Nobody needs to go through this.”
Africanized honey bees, known colloquially as “killer bees,” are believed to have entered Texas in 1990 and have since spread to at least 10 other states, from California to Florida.
Africanized honey bees, which are hybrids of African and European bees, can be highly defensive around their nests and swarm more frequently than other honey bees, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The venom carried by honey bees has similar potency.
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Surveying the Damage From Deadly Oklahoma Twister
9 killed and 100 hurt as wrecked cars litter I-40
Saturday, June 1, 2013-
AP Photo/The Omaha World-Herald
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Emergency officials set out Saturday to assess damage from a series of violent storms and tornadoes that killed nine people as it swept through Oklahoma City and its suburbs with tornadoes, large hail and heavy rain. More than 100 people were injured.
Muddy floodwaters stood several feet deep in the countryside surrounding the metro area. Torrential downpours followed for hours after the twisters moved east, and water damage was reported at the city's airport.
The storms battered a state still reeling after a monstrous storm known as an EF5 - ranking at the top of the scale measuring tornado strength - ripped through suburban Moore on May 20, killing 24 people and decimating neighborhoods.
Water surged up to the hoods of cars on many streets, snarling traffic at the worst possible time: Friday's evening commute. Even though several businesses closed early so employees could beat the storm home, highways were still clogged with motorists worried about a repeat of the chaos in Moore.
Bart Kuester, 50, a truck driver from Wisconsin, said he was driving along Interstate 35 past Moore when he realized a dangerous storm was approaching. He said the interstate was flooded and jammed with people trying to outrun the storm.
"Everyone was leaving. ... Just because that one that hit Moore was so fresh in their memory," he said.
Though it was in the tornado warning zone, Moore was spared major damage by the storms, but still experienced heavy rain and high wind. A convention center where the town held its graduation in the days after the storm suffered minor flooding damage, officials said.
The Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office said a man was missing from a vehicle near Harrah, east of Oklahoma City, and a pair of sinkholes were reported on each side of the metro area.
When the storm passed between El Reno and Yukon, it barreled right down Interstate 40 for more than two miles (three kilometers), ripping billboards down to twisted metal frames. Debris was tangled in the median's crossover barriers, including huge pieces of sheet metal, tree limbs, metal pipes, a giant oil drum and a stretch of chain-link fence.
Violent weather also moved through the St. Louis area. Early aerial images of the storm's damage showed groups of homes with porches ripped away, roofs torn off and piles of splintered wood scattered across the ground for blocks. Officials in St. Charles County also reported that local schools suffered some damage.
Among the nine dead in Oklahoma were a mother and a baby found in a vehicle. Amy Elliott, a spokeswoman for the state medical examiner, said Saturday the death toll was up to seven adults and two children. The Oklahoma State Department of Health reported Saturday afternoon that 104 people were hurt.
Meteorologists had warned about particularly nasty weather Friday but said the storm's fury didn't match that of the tornado that struck Moore. The Friday storm, however, brought with it much more severe flooding. It dumped around 8 inches (20 centimeters) of rain on Oklahoma City in the span of a few hours and made the tornado difficult to spot for motorists trying to beat it home.
Emergency officials reported that numerous injuries occurred in the area along I-40, and said the storm's victims were mostly in cars. Standing water was several feet deep, and in some places it looked more like a hurricane had passed through than a tornado. More than 86,000 utility customers were without power.
Among the injured was Weather Channel meteorologist Mike Bettes, who suffered minor injuries when his "tornado hunt" SUV that he and two photographers were riding in was thrown 200 yards (180 meters). The Weather Channel said all of the people in the vehicle were able to walk away, and that it was the first time a personality at the cable television network was injured in a storm.
Will Rogers World Airport was slowly reopening Saturday and some flights were resuming. But the airport reported significant damage to the roof of the terminal, and flooding damage to walls, counters and floors.
In Missouri, the combination of high water and fallen power lines closed dozen of roads, snarling traffic on highways and side streets in the St. Louis area. At the Hollywood Casino in the St. Louis suburb of Maryland Heights, gamblers rushed from the floor as a storm blew through, causing minor damage to the building.
The U.S. averages more than 1,200 tornadoes a year and most are relatively small. Of the 60 EF5 tornadoes to hit since 1950, Oklahoma and Alabama have been hit the most - seven times each.
National Weather Service meteorologists said Saturday that it's unclear how many tornadoes touched down as part of the Friday evening storm system. Dozens of tornado warnings were issued for central Oklahoma and parts of Missouri, especially near St. Louis, they said, but crews must assess the damage before determining whether it was caused by tornadoes or severe thunderstorms.
But one thing is certain: The chances for severe weather are on the decline as a cold front moves through the region, said weather service meteorologist Gene Hatch in Springfield, Missouri.
This spring's tornado season got a late start, with unusually cool weather keeping funnel clouds at bay until mid-May. The season usually starts in March and then ramps up for the next couple of months.
PHOTOS
- AP Photo/The Oklahoman, Jim Beckel
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AP Photo/The Oklahoman, Nate Billings -
AP Photo/Tulsa World, Tom Gilbert - The storms rolled across the region overnight, and more bad weather was poised to strike Friday, with tornadoes and baseball-sized hail forecast from Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. Flooding also is a concern in parts of Missouri, Iowa and Illinois through Sunday.
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- AP Photo/The Oklahoman, Jim Beckel
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AP Photo/The Omaha World-Herald
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AP Photo/Nick Oxford 
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AP Photo/The Omaha World-Herald, Chris Machian
An overturned semitrailer rests on its side on the eastbound lanes of Interstate 40, just east of El Reno, Okla., after a tornado touched down, Friday, May 31. 
- thestormreport/Twitter
- "This hailstone fell this evening from the Oklahoma City Area.
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stormchaser4850/Twitter -
BuzzFeedNews/Twitter
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FriskyFatFeline/Twitter
"This hailstone fell this evening from the Oklahoma City Area. -
NewsGunner/Twitter
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ThePigskinArch/Twitter 
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JanetShamlian/Twitter
Janet Shamlian wrote, "Underground @fly_okc with at least 1,200 people waiting for severe weather to pass. #Oklahoma
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kailanikm/Twitter
Kailani K-M wrote, "Here's the Oklahoma sky where the tornado was forming
All photos supplied through:
http://weather.aol.com/2013/05/31/stunning-photos-from-the-2013-tornado-season/ -
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Mars Water? Curiosity Rover Finds Pebbles On Red Planet's Surface Likely Shaped By Ancient River
1 June 2013
The Curiosity rover investigated an area on Mars named Hottah, which appears to be part of an ancient riverbed.
SPACE.com
Smooth, round pebbles found by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity provide more evidence that water once flowed on the Red Planet, according to a new study.The Curiosity rover snapped pictures of several areas with densely packed pebbles, and by closely analyzing the rock images, researchers discovered that the shapes and sizes of the individual pebbles indicate that they traveled long distances in water, likely as part of an ancient riverbed.
The rocks were found near Curiosity's landing site, between the north rim of Gale Crater and the base of Mount Sharp, a peak that rises 3 miles (5 kilometers) above the crater floor. [Photos: The Search for Water on Mars]
Round and smooth
Scientists divided a photo mosaic of an area called Hottah into smaller frames to study the small rocks, which were cemented together and ranged in size from 0.08 inches (2 millimeters) to 1.6 inches (41 mm) across. In total, the researchers examined 515 stones and noticed that their surfaces were round and smooth.
Rocks worn by wind are typically rough and angular, whereas stones in water tend to become smooth over time, as the rocks get churned around with coarse grains of sand.
"We could see that almost all of the 515 pebbles we analyzed were worn flat, smooth and round," study co-author Asmus Koefoed, a research assistant at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, said in a statement.
The cemented sections of rock were likely formed by a combination of fine sand, mud, gravel and pebbles, the researchers said. This mixture clumped together and hardened, creating the solid formations seen by the Curiosity rover. Over time, as sand particles were blown across the surface of Mars, the tops of these cemented rocks became worn and flat, the researchers added.
Gale Crater
"The main reason we chose Gale Crater as a landing site was to look at the layered rocks at the base of Mount Sharp, about five miles away," study co-author Dawn Sumner, a geologist at the University of California, Davis, said in a statement. "We knew there was an alluvial fan in the landing area, a cone-shaped deposit of sediment that requires flowing water to form. These sorts of pebbles are likely because of that environment. So while we didn't choose Gale Crater for this purpose, we were hoping to find something like this."
The Martian pebbles offer tantalizing clues about Mars' aqueous past, said Morten Bo Madsen, head of the Mars research group at the Niels Bohr Institute.
"In order to have moved and formed these rounded pebbles, there must have been flowing water with a depth of between 10 centimeters (4 inches) and 1 meter (3.3 feet) and a flow rate of about 1 meter per second — or 3.6 km/h (2.2 mph) — slightly faster than a typical natural Danish stream," Madsen said in a statement.
Scientists have long been interested in the search for water on Mars in order to determine if conditions on the planet were ever hospitable for microbial life.
Although modern-day Mars is an arid place, there is substantial evidence that water likely flowed on the planet's surface several billion years ago. NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers, which both touched down on Mars in 2004, found signs of the planet's watery past.
In 2008, the agency's Phoenix Mars Lander confirmed the existence of current water-ice on Mars, after it scraped away clumps of dirt on the surface of the Red Planet.
The results of the new study show that Curiosity, which was launched in August 2012, has already achieved one of its main objectives: to investigate whether areas of Mars could have been habitable for ancient microbial life. The answer, apparently, is yes.......
McLaughlin Crater on Mars (3D View)
Credit: High Resolution Stereo Camera
(HRSC)/Mars Express/Freie Universität Berlin
This color image draped onto digital topography shows McLaughlin Crater in a 3D perspective, looking toward the east. Light-toned deposits on the crater floor contain alteration minerals that are overlayed by debris flows from Keren Crater, present on the south rim. McLaughin Crater once contained a lake that was likely fed by groundwater.
Signs of Possible Water on Mars at Newton Crater
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
Oblique View of Newton Crater
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona]
These slopes on Mars, as photographed by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRise) on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, may have been carved by saltwater that could run down the Martian surface each spring.
Impact Crater in Mars' Newton Basin
Credit: Science/AAAS
An impact crater in Mars' Newton basin shows lines that appear to have been carved by salt water. Four side panels show these lines in the late summer on Mars (B), then faded by the next very early spring ©, then gradually darkening and reforming in the spring (D) and summer (E).
Gully Gazing: Scientists Search for Flowing Water on Mars
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Crater edge in Terra Sirenum has been imaged by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Gully watching thanks to repeat sweeps over the same landscape by orbiting spacecraft could catch gullies in action, if they are active today.
Mars Once Shuffled Its Icy Poles
Credit: ESA
Pockets of water ice on the southern pole of Mars, such as these, have been stopped from their once-routine migration by a cap of dry ice, or frozen carbon dioxide. Planetary scientists think the migrations was fueled by an eccentric wobble in Mars'tilt.
Hidden Glaciers Are Common on Mars
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI/University of Rome/Southwest Research Institute
The Shallow Radar instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has detected widespread deposits of glacial ice in the mid-latitudes of Mars. This map of a region known as Deuteronilus Mensae, in the northern hemisphere, shows locations of the detected ice deposits in blue.
McLaughlin Crater on Mars (Annotated)
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
An annotated look at the huge McLaughlin Crater on Mars, showing locations of minerals and clays created by water in the ancient past. The region may have once been a groundwater lake billions of years ago. Image released Jan. 20, 2013.
NASA Gives Frozen Mars Lander Last Chance to Phone Home
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Stages in the seasonal disappearance of surface ice from the ground around the Phoenix Mars Lander are visible in these images taken on Feb. 8, 2010, (left) and Feb. 25, 2010, during springtime on northern Mars, by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Giant Pool of Water Ice at Mars' South Pole
Credit: NASA/JPL/ASI/ESA/University of Rome/MOLA Science Team/USGS
This radar map shows the thickness of the south polar layered deposits of Mars (purple represents the thinnest areas and red the thickest). The dark circle is the area poleward of 87 degrees south latitude, where MARSIS can’t collect radar data.
Rivers Might Have Flowed Recently on Mars
Credit: NASA/JPL/GSFC/Malin Space Science Systems
In this perspective view looking at the inside rim of Lyot Crater on Mars, a broad lobate debris apron (left) (thought to be a debris-covered glacier) is found amongst water-carved channels. The authors argue that these ice-rich units underwent melting in the relatively high-pressure environment provided by Lyot Crater, the deepest point in the northern hemisphere of Mars.
Flashback: Water on Mars Announced 10 Years Ago
Credit: Science
The floor and banks of a Mars gully on the northwest wall of a crater in Terra Sirenium changed between December 2001 and April 2005 due to a distinct light-toned material that flowed down the slope and formed a deposit (top). The same change occurred in a crater in the Centauri Montes region (bottom).
Water Flowed on Mars More Recently Than Thought
Credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS
Melting glaciers spawned rivers on Mars as recently as several hundred million years ago. This image shows a river that sprang from a past glacier from an unnamed crater in Mars’ middle latitudes.
Young Mars Crater Contains Water Ice, Photo Shows
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
At the center of this view of an area of mid-latitude northern Mars, a fresh crater about 6 meters (20 feet) in diameter holds an exposure of bright material, blue in this false-color image.
Study Suggests It Rained on Ancient Mars
Credit: ESA/DLR (E. Hauber)
The picture shows a topographic map of a crater in the Xanthe highlands, which held a lake 3.8 to 4 billion years ago. Sediments were deposited in the lake, forming a distinctly shaped delta. The lake was fed by a river that flowed through the Nanedi valley and into the crater from the south.
Study: Mars Had Drizzle and Dew
Credit: NASA
Cracks caused by the contraction of sulfate are evident in this image of the surface of Mars' Meridiani Planum site by NASA's Opportunity Rover.
Signs of Underground Plumbing Seen on Mars
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
Dense clusters of crack-like structures called deformation bands form the linear ridges in this Mars image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Oceans of Ancient Mars May Have Sprung From Slow Leaks
Credit: G. Di Achille
The ancient oceans or seas thought to have covered ancient Mars 3 billion years ago, as shown in this artist's rendition based on actual topography of Mars from NASA Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter, may have sprung up through surface cracks.
Mystery Solved: Mars Had Large Oceans
Credit: Taylor Perron/UC Berkeley
A view of Mars as it might have appeared more than 2 billion years ago, with an ocean filling the lowland basin that now occupies the north polar region.
New Map Bolsters Case for Ancient Ocean on Mars
Credit: Wei Luo, Northern Illinois University
This is a global map depicting the dissection density of valley networks on Mars, in relation to the hypothesized northern ocean. Two candidate sea levels are shown: contact 1 with mean elevation at -1,680 meters and contact 2 with mean elevation of -3,760 meters -
Filehost Rapidgator Wins in Court-ISP UnblockedRapidgator Not Responsible for Pirating Users, Court Lifts ISP Blockade
31 May 2013
In April the Public Prosecutor of Rome targeted a total of 27 file-sharing related sites, including the popular cyberlockers Rapidgator, Uploaded and BitShare.
The sites all had their domains blocked at the ISP level and were rendered inaccessible in Italy. In addition, the prosecutor indicated that he wants to progress the case internationally in pursuit of full-blown domain seizures.
Of the affected sites, Rapidgator was the only one to fight back.
As one of the most visited file-sharing sites on the Internet, Rapidgator has been branded a rogue site before, not least by the U.S. Government. However, the site’s owner believes that he is not breaking any laws.
This week at the Court of Appeal, Rapidgator’s lawyer Fulvio Sarzana contested the prosecutor’s argument that the cyberlocker is responsible for the material its users upload, and the Court agreed.
The Court decided that Rapidgator should be unblocked as the operator(s) can’t be held accountable for files that he doesn’t know exist. Rapidgator’s notice and takedown procedure give the site’s management safe harbor protection.
“The Court gave the example of the lockers in a swimming pool, where the manager of the pool is responsible for what is stored inside the lockers,” Rapidgator lawyer Fulvio Sarzana told TorrentFreak.
The lawyer believes that the decision could have a major impact on the future of website blockades in Italy. “I think it’s an important precedent,” Sarzana says.
“The Court ruled that before ordering a website blockade by Internet providers, the prosecution first has to check whether the rightsholder has done everything possible to removal content from the site.”
The above means that many of the other sites that are currently blocked, including the popular KickassTorrents site, could also take their case to the Court of Appeal. Until then these sites will remain unavailable in Italy.
Rapidgator definitely has something to celebrate, but the legal trouble isn’t over just yet. While the cyberlocker may soon be accessible in Italy, the criminal investigation into the operator(s) of the site continues.
Rare Siberian tigers caught on camera
in Photography
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Endangered Siberian tigers have been filmed by a BBC documentary crew. The team travelled to the Russian Far East to record the efforts of scientists working to preserve the subspecies, also known as Amur tigers.
Estimates suggest there are only around 350 of the big cats remaining in the wild and 90% of them live around the Sikhote Alin mountain region, west of the Sea of Japan and east of the River Amur.
The Siberian Tiger Project is primarily concerned with monitoring and maintaining the health of the tigers. This includes releasing rehabilitated animals, such as Zoluschka pictured, back into the wild with the hope of boosting the population.
The research team are also on hand to directly help tigers in danger. This cub was rescued after it was found attacking a dog in a nearby town. Videos from the reserve showed the cub had two siblings and researchers launched an operation to find them.
The experts reasoned that the starving cubs had lost their mother to poaching. "Between February 2012 and February 2013 we were able to document 33 tigers that were killed or removed from the wild in Russia either directly or indirectly due to poaching," says Dr Miquelle.
Siberian tigers are the largest of the big cats and can reach over 3 metres long, from nose to tail. They have adapted to life in frozen landscapes, thousands of miles away from their cousins in India, China and Indonesia.