SPACE BALLS

Progress cargo spaceship reportedly falls in eastern Russia

The Russian cargo spaceship Progress M-12M has reportedly crashed to Earth in eastern Russia after it failed to reach its target orbit after a launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. It was the first such failure of a Russian cargo rocket in the last 30 years. The Progress vessel was to deliver 3.5 tonnes of cargo to the International Space Station (ISS), including water, food, oxygen, fuel.
On August 18 the “Express” satellite was lost after it had been launched aboard a Russian Proton-M carrier rocket from Baikonur.

HARDWORK AND HONESTY

TITLE: HARDWORK AND HONESTY          

Sub: Corruption, Bribery, Cheating and Shirking

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The person who earns money by means of bribery, corruption, cheating , fraud and shirking is an unfortunate person who does wrong to his own parents, brothers, sisters, children and friends by earning Wages of Sin.

The law of nature says that ill-gotten money becomes a poison. The conscience of every individual dies who is fed in any way with such a cursed  money. He becomes a shameless person, various evils and diseases take hold of him, he turns into an axis of evil, his ability to do good comes to an end and thus the doors to heaven are also closed for him.

Advice:  Please spend over your loved ones, the lawful money earned only through HARDWORK and HONESTY.

Thank you,

S.A.Rehman
Peace Activist
PAKISTAN

BOOB TUBE

TV shortens life by 22 minutes per hour
Australian researchers have found that spending an hour in front of the TV shortens your life expectancy by 22 minutes (added to the 60 minutes you already wasted).

TOTALLY FUK'D

No end in sight for Fukushima disaster as bureaucrats battle the laws of physics

The physicist Dr. Michio Kaku said,

“The situation at Fukushima is relatively stable now… in the same way that you are stable if you hang by your fingernails off a cliff, and your fingernails begin to break one by one.”

(http://bigthink.com/ideas/37705).

BLUE BALL

Loch Ness search for mysterious balloon-like object

 

Emergency services undertook a night-time search of Loch Ness after reports a balloon-like object was seen falling from the sky.

The police, coastguard, lifeboat and an RAF search and rescue helicopter scoured the area but found nothing after members of the public said they saw a blue object fall on the south of the Loch, near Dores.

Police thought it might have been a hang glider or microlight. However, following a three-hour search the emergency services could find "nothing untoward".

"We believe the reports were based on sightings causing genuine concern and we commend the actions of the members of the public that contacted the emergency services."

 

COPY THAT

Stars step up war on music leaks

Storing music on fingerprint-protected hard drives that were kept in locked suitcases, wi-fi on computers disabled during recording, pop-up studios in hotel rooms around the world, draft versions of songs were not sent by email but collaborators had to visit the temporary studios to record their contributions in person.

Jay-Z and Kanye West employed tight security and extreme tactics to ensure their album Watch The Throne did not fall victim to the curse that hits almost every other big release - the online leak.

NO BRAINER

Cigarette makers sue over graphic warning labels
Five tobacco companies say graphic health warnings on packs would make consumers "depressed, discouraged and afraid" to buy their products.

MEDIA MATTERS

Hacked to death

EVIDENCE BULLDOZED

Israeli military withheld evidence over Corrie’s

The family of Rachel Corrie, the US activist killed in Gaza while protesting against house demolitions in 2003, yesterday claimed the Israeli military authorities withheld video evidence during the Corries’ civil lawsuit and misled US officials on crucial details.
Craig Corrie, Rachel’s father, told a press conference in Jerusalem that the footage from a surveillance camera near the scene of his daughter’s death submitted to the court was incomplete. Additional video material obtained by the family showed Rachel’s body in a different spot to the place identified by some military commanders, he said.
He also alleged that the Israeli military had misled US officials on the position of Rachel’s body when she was killed.
Rachel, from Olympia, Washington state, was killed while attempting to protect the home of a Palestinian family in the Rafah area of Gaza from being demolished by Israeli troops in March 2003. Her family and other activists who witnessed the incident say she was crushed by an Israeli army bulldozer.

FLASHBACK

DEFINE: AMERICA

From where does the name "America" originate?

It is an irony of history that the name "America" did not come from Christopher Columbus. That distinction belongs to a German geographer. In fact America was named after Amerigo Vespucci, a 15th century Florentine merchant who owned a business in Seville, Spain, furnishing supplies for ships, preparing them for mercantile expeditions.

EARLY NERDS

BOMB SQUAD

Moldovan police seize enriched uranium

Authorities in Moldova detained six men and seized a quantity of Russian-enriched uranium valued at nearly $29 million.

The six men are accused of trying to sell at least a kilo to a Muslim national from an unnamed African country.

The container, 20cm long and 40cm in diameter, contained uranium-235, which can be used in nuclear weapons.

[The uranium is therefore worth about $1.5million per litre.]

ITS ELEMENTARY

Two new elements added to periodic table

Two new elements are being added to the periodic table after they were discovered through a collaboration between U.S. and Russian scientists, a top U.S. chemistry expert said.

The elements are the first to be added since copernicium in 2009. They have not yet been named, but are known for now as 114 and 116.

HACKING ... COUGH!

RSA offers to replace all SecurID tokens after hack attack

"We recognize that the increasing frequency and sophistication of cyber attacks generally, and the recent announcements by Lockheed Martin, may reduce some customers' overall risk tolerance," RSA wrote in a letter posted on its website.

A 'very serious' attack: SecurID tokens use a "two-factor" authentication method, meaning they require two separate, unique bits of secret data for a successful login. In addition to their username, users must enter a password or PIN number that they have memorized, plus the six-digit number currently displayed on their SecurID. The tokens display a new number every 60 seconds.

"This is a very serious hack," said Josh Daymont, principal at Securisea. "It's not known exactly what was compromised, but SecurIDs control a significant portion of access [for corporate America]. It's not just Lockheed that should be concerned."

INDIGO CHILD

Jacob Barnett, 12, is working on his ''expanded version of Einstein's theory of relativity'.

Boy with higher IQ than Einstein develops his own theory of relativity


A 12-year-old child prodigy has astounded university professors after grappling with some of the most advanced concepts in mathematics.
Jacob Barnett has an IQ of 170 - higher than Albert Einstein - and is now so far advanced in his Indiana university studies that professors are lining him up for a PHD research role.

The boy wonder, who taught himself calculus, algebra, geometry and trigonometry in a week, is now tutoring fellow college classmates after hours.

COGITO ERGO SUM

"...if we conceive the world in that vast extension you give it, it is impossible that man conserve himself therein in this honorable rank, on the contrary, he shall consider himself along with the entire earth he inhabits as in but a small, tiny and in no proportion to the enormous size of the rest. He will very likely judge that these stars have inhabitants, or even that the earths surrounding them are all filled with creatures more intelligent and better than he, certainly, he will lose the opinion that this infinite extent of the world is made for him or can serve him in any way."

(Åckerman, 30. Kristina to Descartes)

Kristina Wasa, Queen of Sweden (1626-1689) 

NU CLEAR DAYS

Fukushima: Mark 1 Nuclear Reactor Design Caused GE Scientist To Quit In Protest


Thirty-five years ago, Dale G. Bridenbaugh and two of his colleagues at General Electric resigned from their jobs after becoming increasingly convinced that the nuclear reactor design they were reviewing -- the Mark 1 -- was so flawed it could lead to a devastating accident.

Questions persisted for decades about the ability of the Mark 1 to handle the immense pressures that would result if the reactor lost cooling power, and today that design is being put to the ultimate test in Japan. Five of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which has been wracked since Friday's earthquake with explosions and radiation leaks, are Mark 1s.

CASHLESSNESS

Gold-coloured carbon transistors on the surface of a $5 dollar note.

Radio tags to track cash


Bootleggers could be left out in the cold as authentic goods and cash are tagged with tiny radio frequency identity (RFID) chips. Unless, that is, the criminals find a way to fake the tags as well.

HEADLINE NEWS

Surviving decapitation


You’ve daubed some graffiti on Robespierre’s door or burnt down the Reichstag. You are quickly sentenced and out you walk ‘one fine morning’ to the place of justice. But what happens when the guillotine blade or the Prussian axe comes down on your neck? Does consciousness cease immediately? When the executioner picks up your head to show it to the crowd do you actually see the rabble jeering?


Your thoughts?

THE DARKNESS

Bill Zeller was a talented programmer. He took his own life on Sunday and left an explanation. Zeller was a victim of sexual and psychological abuse. It's clear from his writing that the abuse left him unable to interface with the world in any way that didn't leave him feeling he was too sullied to have the same experiences that he thought others had. He had a self-described "darkness", which despite his prostration it's clear he handled more ably than perhaps he ever realized. Programming was a solace, but only temporarily. Zeller never felt he could escape the things that had happened to him because he carried his torment with him everywhere.





The Agonizing Last Words of Programmer Bill Zeller

Bill Zeller

I have the urge to declare my sanity and justify my actions, but I assume I'll never be able to convince anyone that this was the right decision. Maybe it's true that anyone who does this is insane by definition, but I can at least explain my reasoning. I considered not writing any of this because of how personal it is, but I like tying up loose ends and don't want people to wonder why I did this. Since I've never spoken to anyone about what happened to me, people would likely draw the wrong conclusions.
My first memories as a child are of being raped, repeatedly. This has affected every aspect of my life. This darkness, which is the only way I can describe it, has followed me like a fog, but at times intensified and overwhelmed me, usually triggered by a distinct situation.