100 Best Websites for Chocolate Fanatics

Are you one of those people that is crazy about chocolate? From education to finding specialty chocolate to recipes to blogs to videos, the following resources are sure to delight any chocolate fanatic.

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Hackers barrage bank accounts

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/b...

New and nasty banking trojans are on the rise on the Internet and attacking online bank accounts.
The new trojan programs — which wait on your hard drive for an opportunity to crack your online banking account — are different from traditional "phishing" e-mail scams that try to trick you into typing your login information at fake bank websites.

They're invisible, can steal data multiple ways and require no action by the victim to be launched.

"Phishing doesn't work as well as it used to," says Patrik Runald, security specialist at F-Secure, the Internet security firm. "Banking trojans provide a very effective and direct means for the bad guys to get their hands on the money."

Banking trojans can be gotten by clicking on a viral link to a greeting card or video that arrives in e-mail spam. Or, they can be picked up by clicking to a Web page that's been corrupted by hackers.

F-Secure tallied 59,177 unique banking trojans circulating on the Internet in 2008, up from 15,969 in 2007. The escalation partly underscores how intensively criminal hackers churn out new variants to escape detection by antivirus programs.

Banking trojans "are more advanced and evolving faster than antivirus solutions," says Gunter Ollmann at IBM Internet Security Systems.

The American Bankers Association acknowledges the rise. Doug Johnson, vice president of risk management policy, notes that most U.S. banks try to make certain that online customers log in from their usual computer.

Losses caused from unauthorized transactions aren't known. Banks generally don't disclose them.

A typical banking trojan remains dormant until the customer logs on to a banking website. It then steals usernames and passwords by capturing keystrokes or copying the log-on page after the victim has filled it out.

So-called man-in-the-middle trojans go further. One type makes illicit cash transfers while the victim is legitimately logged on. Another can reproduce a copy of the Web page showing account balances — except with the balances altered to show the numbers the victim expects to see. This buys time for the thief to drain the account and hide his trail, Ollmann says.

Despite the trojans, Johnson of the bankers' association insists "online banking, on balance, is safe."

READ MORE - Hackers barrage bank accounts

Schwarzenegger asks fellow governors to give aid package if they don’t need it

New York, Feb 23 : California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in a message to fellow Republican governors, who have refused President Barack Obama’s stimulus package to gain political mileage, has asked them to give the economic aid to him.

Schwarzenegger praised the economic stimulus package and ridiculed Republican governors like Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Mark Sanford of South Carolina, breaking with his party.

“Governor Sanford says that he does not want to take the money. I want to say to him: I’ll take it,” Schwarzenegger said on ABC’s “This Week”.

“I’m more than happy to take his money or any other governor in this country that doesn’t want to take this money,” the Daily News quoted him, as saying.

Schwarzenegger, who faces a crushing 40 billion dollar budget shortfall and stands to reap 64 billion dollar from the stimulus, called it a “terrific package,” and praised Obama for a great job on the legislation.

The 787 billion dollar Recovery Act passed last week without a single Republican congressman’s support and just three Republican senators. United opposition to the legislation has become a point of pride for the GOP.
Republican Governor Charlie Crist of Florida, who said that politics should be put aside in hard times, joined Schwarzenegger in supporting the legislation.

Governors Sandford and Jindal, along with Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, say they don’t support the spending in the bill and won’t take all the money offered for their states.

The amount they are rejecting is a tiny percentage of the total their states will get - meaning they are largely grandstanding to make a political point.

READ MORE - Schwarzenegger asks fellow governors to give aid package if they don’t need it

Heather Mills to represent herself in suit filed by ex-nanny

London, Feb 23 : Sir Paul McCartney’s ex-wife Heather Mills has opted not to use lawyers to fight a case brought by ex-nanny Sara Trumble.

Instead, the 40-year-old plans to represent herself - as she did in her high-profile divorce, in which she won 24.3 million pounds, reports the Daily Express.
Sara, who resigned in September, is claiming constructive dismissal and sexual discrimination.
She says she was expected work as late as midnight, blow-dry Heather’s hair, give her naked spraytans while employed as a carer for Beatrice - Mills’ daughter with McCartney.

READ MORE - Heather Mills to represent herself in suit filed by ex-nanny

I never thought music of 'Slumdog' would go so far: Rahman

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Mumbai, Feb 23 : Overwhelmed after winning two Oscars for his score in 'Slumdog Millionaire', music maestro A R Rahman today said that one has to work without expectations and he had never thought that the music would go so far.

"When you have strings attached, you only want to please certain people...I feel it is a corruption in the mind. I believe that you have to work without any expectations. I feel that you have to be true to the film and its emotions," said Rahman through an audio conferencing from Los Angeles.

On the Oscar-winning song 'Jai Ho', penned by veteran lyricist Gulzar, Rahman said, "Words have the power. Words formed action and intention of life. I often argue with lyricists not to use words that have a negative impact." The idea of 'Jai Ho' came from Subhash Ghai when he was working on the music of his last film 'Yuvraaj', the music director said.

"I am very excited and grateful to the good wishes, prayers and love of Indian people and Americans who voted for me," he added. MORE

READ MORE - I never thought music of 'Slumdog' would go so far: Rahman

Ovum: Let OS-makers run app stores

Leave the running of mobile application stores to the OS-makers, Ovum advised in its latest statement.
Following a string of recent app store-related announcements, the analyst firm released a report commenting on the recent trend of mobile operators setting up online application marketplaces.
For most operators, running a mobile app store is a "bad idea", Ovum said.
"Deploying an application store is about creating a whole ecosystem to support, develop and provision applications both online and at the device level, including discovery." Except for a few operators, most do not have the vertical integration to achieve success in this aspect, said the report.
Ovum singled out China Mobile and Orange as the two operators that stand a chance. China Mobile aims to launch its app store this year, and Orange intends to extend its existing store to support more operating systems.
"China Mobile controls the value chain in its home market... [Orange] has a well-established mobile developer community and online portal strategy, of which the application store is a natural extension," explained Ovum.
Nonetheless, other operators "need to embrace" this trend in order to capitalize on benefits including "increased data traffic, revenues from premium applications and possibly a share of the revenues from ad-funded free applications", according to the report.
It recommended a combination of alternative methods, including partnerships or outsourcing.
For example, T-Mobile recently revamped its app store, but included search elements from Medio Systems and Yahoo.
T-Mobile also recently announced a partnership with device-maker, Nokia, to allow customers to download widgets from both T-Mobile and Nokia's marketplaces.
Outsourcing to third-party platforms is also another option, said Ovum.
On the OS-maker end, Microsoft recently announced plans for an upcoming Windows Mobile application marketplace. Google is doing the same for its Android OS, as is Research in Motion for its BlackBerrys. Palm plans to do the same for its Pre device.
However, a device-maker jumping on the bandwagon recently was Samsung. It announced earlier this month a store for apps based on Windows Mobile and Nokia's S60 platform, a move Mobile Crunch said could lead to the segmentation of an "already messy market".
In line with Ovum's advice on achieving vertical integration, the report recommended app stores achieve unity through alliances. "One store, one common interface, one thing to pitch to consumers as the place to go," it said.
One device achieving such integration is Apple's iPhone, also the first to set up a central marketplace providing access to apps from within the device.

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Facebook can cause cancer

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-...

The article states that abusing the use of social networking sites such as Facebook & Myspace may raise your risk of some serious health risks such as "cancer, strokes, heart disease and dementia, Dr Sigman says in Biologist, the journal of the Institute of Biology", by reducing levels of real human contact.

"Increased isolation could alter the way genes work and upset immune responses, hormone levels and the function of arteries. It could also impair mental performance."

READ MORE - Facebook can cause cancer

Al-Qaeda founder launches fierce attack on Osama bin Laden

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/...

One of al-Qaeda's founding leaders, Dr Fadl, has begun an ideological revolt against Osama bin Laden, blaming him for "every drop" of blood spilt in Afghanistan and Iraq.

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'The Wrestler' rules the Spirit Awards

The sports comeback tale "The Wrestler" was picked as best picture Saturday at the Spirit Awards honoring independent film and won two other prizes, including best actor for Mickey Rourke.

A tuneup for the Academy Awards on Sunday, the Spirit Awards featured several winners also up for Oscars, including three of the four acting choices — Rourke, best-actress recipient Melissa Leo for "Frozen River" and supporting-actress pick Penelope Cruz for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona."

Rourke gave a prolonged, hilarious, expletive-laden acceptance speech, dedicating the award to Loki, his beloved Chihuahua that died six days earlier, and thanking everyone from his director, Darren Aronofsky, to the wrestling community. He mentioned that he had just talked with the Santa Monica police department, which "gave me a bed to sleep in 10 years ago," when Rourke was in the midst of the bad-boy behavior that made him a Hollywood has-been until his comeback in recent years with films such as "Sin City" and "The Wrestler."


The film stars Rourke as a washed-up former star with a last shot at glory in the ring. It also took the cinematography award for Maryse Alberti. The crowd gave Rourke a standing ovation and he received hugs and backslaps from audience members as he headed to the stage.

"I didn't realize how many closet Mickey Rourke fans there were," Aronofsky said backstage. "That's been the biggest surprise of the whole trip."

Momentarily forgetting co-star Marisa Tomei's name, Rourke later complimented her for her role as a stripper in "The Wrestler," which earned her a supporting-actress Oscar nomination.

"Not many girls can climb the pole," Rourke said. "She climbed the pole, and she did it well."

Right after Rourke's speech, Tom McCarthy won the best-director award for the immigrant drama "The Visitor."

"I feel like we should just stop the show after Mickey, because who could follow that, really?" McCarthy said.

Leo gave a whoop as she took the stage to collect her prize for "Frozen River," which got its start a year ago at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the top dramatic honor. She stars as a destitute mother who stumbles into the immigrant-smuggling business with a Mohawk Indian woman along the U.S.-Canada border.

"You are my people. You know you are my people," Leo told the independent-cinema crowd at the awards luncheon in a tent along the Santa Monica beach. "`Frozen River' is a truly independent film."

The supporting honors went to Cruz as a combustible artist in a three-way relationship with her ex-husband and an American woman in Woody Allen's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" and James Franco as a lover of slain gay-rights pioneer Harvey Milk in Gus Van Sant's "Milk."

Allen won the screenplay honor for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," his romance that follows the affairs of two American women in Spain.

Cruz thanked Allen "just for letting me be around him. ... He's really the symbol of independence in our industry."

True to his neurotic nature, Allen abruptly departed the set on a pivotal day, when Cruz was to shoot a steamy kissing scene with Scarlett Johansson, Cruz said. Allen had found a freckle on his hand and wanted a dermatologist to examine it, she said.

"He just left, and I love him for that," Cruz said.

Franco said he was a longtime fan of Van Sant's films and signed on because of the talent involved with "Milk."

"When I heard this thing was happening with probably my favorite actor, Sean Penn, and it was such an important story, that was enough for me," said Franco, who added thanks to "everyone that was part of Harvey's life."

"Milk" also received the award for best first screenplay for Dustin Lance Black. The best first feature prize went to "Synecdoche, New York," the directing debut of Charlie Kaufman, who won a screenwriting Oscar for "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."

READ MORE - 'The Wrestler' rules the Spirit Awards

OSCARS CRISIS! Hollywood Frustrations And Fears Over Sunday's Awards; Stars And Advertisers Give Show Cold Shoulder

The people who put on the Academy Awards are in a flopsweat panic as the hours tick away before this year's big broadcast, which is having its major rehearsal and technical run-through today. For weeks now, they've been begging me and the other journalists who cover the Oscars not to trash the planning and performances for this year's telecast like we have in years past. Because their frustration and fear is that, if Sunday's top-to-bottom reworked show can't bring back viewers after 2008's sunk to its lowest ratings ever, then nothing will. And the worst part is that not even Hollywood wants to participate in the Oscars anymore.
I can report that this year's producers are privately complaining that the biggest movie stars in the world like Jack Nicholson, Nicole Kidman, Angelina Jolie, George Clooney, and Kate Winslet gave them reasons galore -- some serious, some trivial -- for why they didn't want to present awards, once considered a huge honor. (For instance, Kidman said she appear onstage without the "right" hairdresser. George Clooney wouldn't reschedule his current visit to Darfur refugee camps in Africa. And Winslet, the Best Actress shoo-in, claimed she was too "nervous" to take it on.) One of the few bigtime actresses who didn't balk was Reese Witherspoon. These behind-the-scenes embarrassments are one reason why the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences took the unprecedented step this year of failing to make public the list of Oscar presenters. There's even talk now of bringing back those official $100,000+ Oscar baskets of expensive freebies that used to be given to the show's presenters and performers (before Uncle Sam decided to tax the giveaways) as a way to bribe Hollywood into lending its star power.
And the lack of major celebrities is one reason why the producers may finally be able to keep the show's running time to their goal of 3 hours and 15 minutes instead of the usual dragfest that has driven away TV audiences with every passing year. But, in the process, the producers lost Peter Gabriel who refused to sing his Best Original Song from Wall-E, "Down To Earth", in what he claimed was the insulting allotted time of only 65 seconds for each of the 3 tunes in a medley. The producers also have dissed last year's actor winners by deciding that France's Marion Cotillard (Best Actress for La Vie En Rose) and Spain's Javier Bardem (Best Supporting Actor for No Country For Old Men), Scotland's Tilda Swinton (Best Supporting Actress for Michael Clayton) and even England's Daniel Day-Lewis (Best Actor for There Will Be Blood) weren't big enough names to carry on the time-honored tradition of announcing this year's winners by themselves. So, I've learned, the unusual step will be taken to bring onstage in a 5-person group other past Best Actor or Best Supporting Actress winners from past eras in order to add more glitz and glamor to the presentations. (Not to mention that Australia's Heath Ledger won't be picking up his Best Supporting Actor award this year.) Oh, but don't worry: last year's winners will still get to open the envelope and announce who won.
So much for this year's Academy Awards shaping up as the most international ever: AMPAS is truly concerned that Americans don't care about Bollywood's Slumdog Millionaire, the shoo-in for Best Picture, its director Danny Boyle for Best Director and other 2009 honors. Even the choice of host this year, Australia's Hugh Jackman, was intended to pump up the overseas interest in the Oscars. But on Friday, people close to the X-Men and upcoming Wolverine star still felt the need to release a viral video on YouTube of a very buff Jackman, his biceps bulging, making fun of the jokes from previous Oscar hosts as he rehearsed a song-and-dance number with a Top Hat and cane. (Oh, that'll bring the under-24 demo back in front of their TVs.)
And the fact that so many Oscar categories have been locked in since December, and therefore marquee nominees like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie locked out for months, have only added to the anxiety among organizers. They even tried, and failed, to convince celebrity publicists to bring clients around to a side entrance at the Kodak Theatre instead of onto the Red Carpet Sunday in order to keep secret what the stars would be wearing so it could be a surprise for the telecast. Like, duh, the arrivals' fashion show (this year with commentary by Project Runway's Tim Gunn) are considered by many to be the broadcast's best part.
One new idea thought up by the producers that will be seen Sunday? Trophy boys. The result is that very handsome young men will now join very beautiful young women on stage carrying out the Oscar statuettes. If that's not an acknowledgement that viewership for the Academy Awards these days is limited to only females and gays, I don't know what is.
Meanwhile, a group of online bloggers has led an audience boycott of the Oscars among the predominantly male fans of The Dark Knight because of the Academy voters' snub of the $1 billion-in-worldwide-grosses comic book caper for a Best Picture nomination and its Chris Nolan for Best Director. And that's yet another problem that hurts viewership: this year, too, the most popular movies aren't in contention for the major category Academy Awards. That drives away younger viewers. So it's little wonder that ABC in this economic freefall scrambled to drop prices for 30-second ads and replace two of the key sponsors for its Sunday broadcast, General Motors and L'Oreal. Not even the prospect of 30+ million U.S. viewers could lure advertisers who've cut their TV budgets to the bone. Prices for Oscars spots averaged $1.7 million last year, but now are going for as cheap as $1.4 million. The result is that, in a departure from tradition, parent company Walt Disney had to let its rival movie studios buy time on the telecast.

READ MORE - OSCARS CRISIS! Hollywood Frustrations And Fears Over Sunday's Awards; Stars And Advertisers Give Show Cold Shoulder

My love for Corrie star saved me from the grips of depression, says David Walliams

First love: David Walliams said his university girlfriend Katy Carmichael rescued him from dark thoughts

He may be the picture of comedy success, with an enviable stack of Bafta and Emmy awards.
But David Walliams has sensationally confessed he has a  pathological fear of loneliness and credited his love for Coronation Street star Katy Carmichael with saving him from the grips of depression.

In a revealing interview for today's Desert Island Discs, he says his relationship with the actress, who he fell for while they studied at Bristol University, gave him a new-found confidence.
He said: 'We were in love for about four years. That really brought me out of myself. I had never gone out all night, I had never stayed up till dawn. She brought all of that out of me.'
He added: 'She saved me from misery, she breathed life into me. It was a really, really magical time.'
Walliams, who said he is often ridden by self-doubt and loathing, claimed that his creativity has been a tool that helps keep the dark thoughts at bay.
The comedian and actor said he would choose a gun as his luxury item on an island in case the loneliness became too much.
'I can't stand being on my own,' he revealed. 'I hate it. I have a pathological fear of being on my own.
'When I am with my own thoughts I start to unravel myself and to think really dark thoughts, self-destructive thoughts.

Fear of being alone: David Walliams enjoys a night out with model girlfriend Lauren Budd

But David, who created the hit comedy Little Britain with Matt Lucas, says he finds ways to manage.

'I have learned to make plans,' he said. 'I have to see people and do things because I don't want to get myself in that state.

'I can keep it at bay by being creative.'
He said he battled depression as a child and would find solace by shutting himself away in the bathroom where he rehearsed comedy routines.
The comedian, whose sexuality has been the focus of speculation since he played a series of female characters in Little Britain, denied he is gay.
He admits he is 'camp' and 'effeminate' but insists that he prefers 'intoxicating' women.

He said: 'Sometimes I think it'd be simpler if I was [gay] because everyone thinks I am. I'm quite camp.
'But, no, I don't think I am. If I was gay, I'd get on with it.
'But, definitely, I love women, I find them intoxicating, and I've never had that feeling with a man.'
He also reveals school friends nicknamed him 'Daphne' because he is 'naturally effeminate and drawn to lots of feminine things'.

Walliams has been linked to scores of women over the past five years, including model Lauren Budd, 18.
The pair are believed to have gone on holiday to Miami and Barbados earlier this year.

Laydee's man: Walliams with model Lauren Budd last month

READ MORE - My love for Corrie star saved me from the grips of depression, says David Walliams

Is this girl the brainiest contestant in the history of University Challenge?

Gail Trimble operates the buzzer on University Challenge like the sniper's trigger on a high-precision rifle.
In an 'intellectual blitzkrieg' the student captain of Corpus Christi, Oxford, has wiped the floor with wave after wave of rival colleges.
Before reaching the grand final to be screened tomorrow, her team trounced Exeter University 350 - 15, a victory described by host Jeremy Paxman as 'less like a general knowledge quiz and more like a cull.'

Gail Trimble, seen with team-mates Sam Kay, left, and James Marsden outside Corpus Christi College. She has scored more points on University Challenge than her three team-mates combined

But rather than celebrating Miss Trimble's success she has been on the receiving end of a vicious backlash of abuse, which some critics say shows a sinister disregard for brainpower in our celebrity-obsessed age.
While fans praise the 26-year-old's as being 'very sexy with a gorgeous smile' and a 'lovely heart-throb', others brand her 'a hateful know-it-all' and an 'annoying bitch', who is 'smug, patronising and cocky'.
They have taken particular exception to her saying 'Oh, well done', 'Of course' and 'Quite' to her teammates.

One wrote scathingly: 'We have been watching this horse-toothed snob for the last number of weeks.

'She ruins University Challenge every time she is on it with her "better than thou" attitude.'
Another branded Trimble 'so brain-rupturingly irritating and smug that you actively will science to invent a screen that you can reach through and punch those inside'.
'My normally placid girlfriend ended half-poetically seething "Not a friend did she own at school" before physically turning her back on the screen so she didn't have to bear this odious little smug-specimen.
'When you're dealing with a Trimble, you just know that they've sneered at thick people... and by "thick", I mean people who don't know as much as her, which is virtually everyone, her own team included.
'She could easily win University Challenge on her own, but I get the feeling she may well celebrate alone as well.'

Corpus Christi, Oxford, beat Exeter University in the quarter-finals by 350 points to just 15. They will compete in the final against Manchester University

Other bloggers, however, have leapt to her defence. One wrote: 'So she has a few mannerisms that don't look too good on camera - I suspect she has career intentions other than TV presenting, so who cares?
'I can only suppose that all the bile comes from a feeling of total inadequacy in the the face of obvious excellence.'
Another fan said: 'She is impressive. I am on the side of those who find it rather attractive and a welcome change to the bimbo culture that the reality TV curse has spawned!'
In person, speaking in a room at Corpus Christi college - around the corner from Logic Lane in Oxford - the Daily Mail asked Miss Trimble the effect this abuse has on her.
The student said: 'They are a little bit hurtful. It's not nice reading unpleasant stuff about yourself. But they don't really know me, they have only seen a very specific thing on TV.

'I'm surprised people care so much. The viewing figures are around two to three million, which is an awful lot of people who have never met me.'
And far from being arrogant, she downplays the idea that she is 'hyper intelligent.'

'Impressed': University Challenge host Jeremy Paxman

She said: 'University Challenge doesn't really test intelligence, just a lot of random facts. If  you grow up interested in things, read a bit and are aware of what's going on in the world you pick up a lot of general knowledge.
She added: 'A lot of it is about good guessing.'
Miss Trimble, who carries her mobile phone in a pink and white furry 'Bagpuss' case, achieved 11 GCSEs - including 10 A*s and one A at Lady Eleanor Holles school in Hampton, Middlesex.
She then took four grade As in Latin, Greek, English Literature and Maths at A Level, followed by a first in Latin at Corpus Christi in 2004.
In the semi-final against St John's College, Cambridge, last week, she put the other seven players to shame as she was first in with correct answers to a dozen crucial 'starter for 10' questions in matter-of-fact, clipped tones.
Her knowledge spanned everything from English and Greek literature to physics, the New Testament, ducks, turnips and Kazakhstan banknotes.
Studying a doctorate in Latin literature, she naturally made short work of Latin expressions coined by Roman poet Horace such as carpe diem - seize the day – interdum dormitat bonus Homerus – everyone makes mistakes – and  non licet omnibus adire Corinthum – not everyone can get where they want.
Even when questions were open to all four of her team, she seemingly knew all the answers and was usually first to voice them.
On the few occasions she came unstuck, she once offered 'ungulates' as a class of animals when the answer was birds.
Corpus Christi won by 260-150 with Trimble's personal haul a massive 185. In the 1,235 points scored by the Corpus Christi team on the way to the final, she has scored 825 of them.
An admiring Paxman described it as 'another convincing win' and said he looked forward to their performance in the quiz's grand final.
Miss Trimble, who shares a house with her brother Hugh, 24, likes reading old children's classics, The Railway Children was a recent selection, 'random TV' and playing the cello. She is also a member of the college choir.
And far from being a lonely bluestocking, Miss Trimble will be watching the final - which has already been filmed - in a pub in Oxford with her college friends. She also has a boyfriend, Tom West, a trainee solicitor who she hopes to marry one day.

Her parents Michael and Mary Trimble spoke of their enormous pride at their daughter's quizshow supremacy today at the family's home in Walton-on-Thames.
The couple said their daughter first began to read at the age of three and attended a state junior school. Mrs Trimble said: ‘At the age of five, she was mad keen on the Secret Seven.’
Mrs Trimble, a magistrate said: ‘It’s been absolutely wonderful for her. It’s always been an ambition of hers to go on University Challenge. We’re pleased she’d done so well and had the opportunity to do it.'
Her father, Michael Trimble, a manager, added: ‘But she has got a very strong team as well. She’s getting all the attention because she’s the captain but people forget everything is channelled through the captain on University Challenge who has to give the answers. We’re both very proud of her.’
Asked about her hurtful comments that their daughters appear smug, Mr Trimble said: ‘We wouldn’t like to comment on that.’

In the semi-finals Corpus Christi College, Oxford, beat St John's College, Cambridge by 260 to 155. Miss Trimble won 185 of those points. Here are some of the 'starter for ten' questions she answered correctly:

Corpus Christi: 20
St John's College: 0
The common name of the tree Betula pendula, a wingless scaly insect commonly found in kitchens, an adjective meaning 'eloquent', and an archaic name for...
GT: (interrupts) Silver

Corpus Christi: 80
St John's College: 15
The originator of the smoked salmon pizza and the American geneticist who pioneered the laboratory use of human cell colonies share what name - also that a figure of English folklore who's the eponymous character of a book of 1906 by Rudyard Kipling?
GT: Puck

Corpus Christi: 105
St John's College: 10
In the cautionary poem by Hilaire Belloc, what was the 'trick that everyone abhors', practised by Rebecca...
GT (interrupts): Slamming doors

Corpus Christi: 140
St John's College: 85
Described as a Greek soldier by Homer and as a slave by Shakespeare in Troilus and Cressida, Thersites gives his name...
GT (interrupts): Rudeness

Corpus Christi: 205
St John's College: 125
Three of the ten digits have names in French, German and English that begin in each case with the same letter of the alphabet. Name one of them.
GT: Six

READ MORE - Is this girl the brainiest contestant in the history of University Challenge?

20 great hot springs

Spas aren't just the preserve of posh hotels. All these springs are open to the public and though some are simple pools in fields, others architectural marvels, all offer water heated by nature alone

• Sarah Turner

Peter Zumtor's Therme Vals in Switzerland is Europe's trendiest natural hot spring Photograph: Christof Sonderegger/PR

1 Landmannalaugar, Iceland

The milky waters of the Blue Lagoon are an iconic image of Iceland, but for something less crowded and more natural, make for Landmannalaugar (landmannalaugar.info) in the centre of the island. It's inaccessible in winter, but by summer the road is clear and hikers arrive to soothe their muscles with a quick dip in the geothermal waters that feed into local brooks. Hire cars are forbidden to drive here, but there are regular buses from Reykjavik from mid-June to mid-September.
Stay: Landmannalaugar Hut sleeps 110 (bring your own sleeping bag) and costs around 2,200 krona (£13.50) per night or there is a campsite nearby (00 354 854 1192, July to September only)

2 Hveravellir, Iceland

Another slice of unadulterated nature in Iceland. Hveravellir (00 354 452 4200; hveravellir.is), means "hot spring plains" and is a nature reserve bracketed by two glaciers. It's popular with hikers and riders. There's a hot pool near one of the huts but the geothermal water also feeds into nearby streams for more temperate bathing.
Stay: Hveravellir Lodge (00 354 894 1293; hveravellir.is), dormitory beds from 3,500 krona (£21.60), double rooms from 10,000 krona per person (£61.70)

3 Matlock, Bath, Derbyshire

More pleasingly warm than piping hot, the 18th-century indoor swimming pool at the New Bath Hotel (01629 583454; brook-hotels.co.uk) in Matlock Bath is filled by thermal waters. There's also an outdoor swimming pool fed by the spring, which is open from May to October. A day pass for both pools costs £5 for adults and £2.50 for children.
Stay: Hurdlow Grange (07866 778847; hurdlow.co.uk) has three-night breaks in a cottage sleeping six from £456

4 Bath

Once a holiday camp for Roman soldiers resting after the rigours of patrolling Hadrian's Wall, Bath (0844 888 0844; thermaebathspa.com) regained its crown as Britain's number one hot spring destination in 2006, with the opening of a new £45m public spa. Fed by springs below the city which pump out a million litres of water a day at 45C, the spa was designed by Nicholas Grimshaw and features a steaming, open-air rooftop pool with mesmerising views across the honey-coloured Georgian city. A two-hour session costs £22.

READ MORE - 20 great hot springs

What a slice! Stray golf ball discovered buried inside felled tree

Of all the flukes seen on a golf course, greenkeeper Richard Mitchell can claim one of the strangest.
As he took his chainsaw to a leylandii tree, he hit the exact spot where a ball was embedded in the wood and sliced through it.

The ball apparently lodged in a fork of the tree many years ago when a golfer hooked a drive on the first tee. The conifer grew around the ball and it remained hidden in the screen of 15 trees.

A golf ball was found embedded inside this preserved tree trunk

Trimmed, sanded and varnished, it is to become a rather unusual trophy board at Eaton Golf Club in Norwich.

Mr Mitchell discovered the ball last month after he felled the 40ft trees, planted 37 years ago, and began cutting the timber into 4ft lengths for firewood.

The piece of wood with the half ball visible is being preserved and varnished by former club captain Jim Cook who is a skilled woodworker.


It will then be kept behind the bar and used to record the names of everyone who gets a hole-in-one on the 198-yard ninth hole.

Eaton member Jim Cook is pictured on the ninth hole close to where the unique tree was felled

Peter Johns, the manager of the £675-a-year club, said: 'It is just an incredible find.

'We think it came off the first tee. It must have lodged in a fork or embedded itself in the trunk and the tree grew round it.

'If Richard had cut the trunk an inch or two either way we'd never have known it was there.'

READ MORE - What a slice! Stray golf ball discovered buried inside felled tree

Why telcos love social networks

BARCELONA: Everybody at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona wanted to be the new best friend of the social networks. From the world's biggest phone maker, Nokia, to tiny Irish semiconductor start-up Movidia, delegates to the wireless industry's biggest annual gathering couldn't stop talking about Facebook, MySpace and Bebo.

The majority of visits to such online communities are still made by people sitting at a computer telling their friends where they are and how they are feeling, exchanging opinions on their favourite movies and music or uploading videos. But the spontaneous and personal nature of much of that communication lends itself perfectly to the mobile phone.

The top executive at MySpace, owned by News Corp, said members reaching the network from mobile phones had quadrupled in the last year to 20 million, out of 135 million unique visitors in total, and Facebook has seen a similar leap. "This is really just the start of where we're going with this," MySpace Chief Executive Chris DeWolfe said.

MySpace announced deals at the fair with Nokia and Palm, who will adapt some of their phones to make uploading pictures or video to the social network a matter of a single push of a button. The company is confident that most smartphone makers will feature MySpace in the coming year. The so-called Facebook phone or Social Mobile made by INQ, a spin-off of Hutchison Whampoa's 3, won handset of the year award from the show's hosts, the GSM Association -- and everyone involved was eager to claim a share of the credit.

"Qualcomm's integrated chipset technology and BREW software have enabled INQ... to realise the potential in mobile social networking," gushed Enrico Salvatori, the head of chipmaker Qualcomm's operations in Europe.

Behind the buzz is a telecoms industry that has finally brought together the network speed and capacity and the gadgets to make capturing and sharing pictures or video on the run a fun thing to do rather than a tedious and frustrating experience.

Apple's iPhone, first announced two years ago and updated in mid-2008, gave the industry a jolt and still sets a benchmark, although imitators
and challengers abound. Korea's LG Electronics has also struck out with bold designs and models made for capturing and sharing media, and has been marketing features like a single button for publishing video to Google's YouTube for over a year.

Sony Ericsson made headlines at the mobile fair with plans to bring a 12 megapixel camera to market in the second half of this year, and Samsung unveiled a phone with built-in high-definition camcorder. Components suppliers and carriers are also playing their part -- and everyone hopes to profit from the trend. Texas Instruments is making what it calls "material" shifts in investments to give higher priority to chip products that make possible the richer multi-media content crucial to drive more mobile social networking.

Movidia, armed with $14 million of venture capital funding, has built a processor that allows users to do sophisticated video post-production on their phones, which it will soon release to phone makers for testing. Chief Executive Sean Mitchell said in an interview the company had attracted much interest from Japanese and Korean phone makers at the show, and handsets containing such processors could be out in time for Christmas next year.

Mobile carrier Orange, the main brand of France Telecom, is tempting customers with special pricing that offers unlimited access to sites such as Facebook and MySpace -- but meters all other data use. And of course MySpace itself -- created to sell advertising, not just for fun -- is confident of profiting from new opportunities to sell ads based on features unique to mobile, like knowing where members are, if they choose to opt in.

"That will take you into a whole new realm," DeWolfe said. "We are focused on creating a large, profitable business."

READ MORE - Why telcos love social networks

6 Brit books with the 'strangest' titles ever shortlisted for Diagram award

London, Feb 21 : The bookseller magazine has picked up six British books with 'strangest' titles, which will be awarded this year.

The book with the 'strongest' title will be given the Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year.

The Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title was devised in 1978 by Bruce Robertson from The Diagram Group, when he got bored at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

"In this, the 31st year of the prestigious award, never have I found it so problematic to pick a shortlist of just 6.

At a time when the economic climate is forbidding and cost-cutting companies are ten-a-penny, I'm proud to report that the British publishing industry has remained as stubborn in the face of change as ever," the Telegraph quoted Horace Bent, from the Bookseller magazine, as saying.


"Given the economic gloom, I would not have blamed publishers if they'd decided to slash their lists. But it gives me great pleasure to report that diversity lives!" he added.


The books with the 'Strangest' titles shortlisted this year arte as follows:.Baboon Metaphysics by Dorothy Dorothy L Cheney and Robert M Seyfarth (University of Chicago Press)


2.Curbside Consultation of the Colon by Brooks D Cash (SLACK Incorporated)


3.The Large Sieve and its Applications by Emmanuel Kowalski (Cambridge University Press)


4.Strips and Knit with Style by Mark Hordyszynski (C and T)


5.Techniques for Corrosion Monitoring by Lietai Yang (Woodhead)


6.The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-milligram Containers of Fromage Frais by Professor Phi. (ANI)

READ MORE - 6 Brit books with the 'strangest' titles ever shortlisted for Diagram award

Best Picture

Here's the list of 81st annual Academy Award nominations. The awards will be announced on February 22. Best Picture: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Frost/Nixon Milk The Reader Slumdog Millionaire

READ MORE - Best Picture

Slumdog Millionaire bags Top Costume gong

London, Feb 19 : ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ scooped another award after film’s designer Suttirat Larlarb took home a top honour at the Costume Designers Guild Awards.

The annual prizegiving dinner was hosted by ‘Will and Grace’ star Debra Messing in Beverly Hills, reports the Daily Express.

The period film award went to Michael O’Connor for the 18th-century designs in ‘The Duchess,’ while the fantasy film award went to Lindy Hemming for the comics-derived duds of ‘The Dark Knight.’

ABC’s ‘Ugly Betty,’ which won in the contemporary TV series category for the past two years, picked up award No. 3, with the honors going to Edwardo Castro and Patricia Field.

TV drama ‘Mad Men’ bagged its first Costume Designers Guild prize, with designer Katherine Jane Bryant taking home gold in the period/fantasy TV series category.

READ MORE - Slumdog Millionaire bags Top Costume gong

Bristol Palin: Media Maven with a Message

In a stroke of media mastery, Bristol Palin harnessed the Palin-family-doting Fox News last night to announce a powerful (and decidedly non-Fox News) message for policy makers: abstinence only is "not realistic." The new teen mom also told Great Van Susteren that she would "love to be an advocate to prevent teen pregnancy." Making this announcement on one of the most watched, and most conservative, news stations in the nation is already a pretty good display of her ability to reach a large swath of Americans (particularly the most difficult to reach on this issue.)


As we all remember, Bristol and her unplanned pregnancy dominated the national news for a month during the Presidential campaign. Yet this is really the first time we've heard from Bristol herself. It appears she is striking out on her own. In fact, she told her mother about the interview, and her plans to discuss teen pregnancy prevention during it, just the day before. Some have spun this story as Bristol attacking her mother's abstinence-only policies. She clearly is not, but she is finding her own voice. (Anyway, it appears Governor Palin is reconsidering her position. She makes an appearance during the interview and admits that the abstinence-only approach is, as she puts it, "naive" which, in itself, is big news the main stream media has yet to pick up on.)


What the interview reveals is that Bristol is lovely, humble, honest, no doubt still a teenager and refreshingly free of any political agenda--except to use her experience to steer teens away from the same fate. In startling candidness, Bristol expresses the conflicting emotions that come packaged with teen parenthood; her love for her child and of motherhood and her belief that waiting ten years before becoming a parent would have been a better path.

She explained,

"I like being a mom, I love it. Just seeing him smile and stuff, it's awesome...It is very challenging but it's so rewarding...Of course, I wish it would happen in ten years so I could have a job and an education and be, like, prepared and have my own house and stuff... I just hope that people learn from my story and, I don't know, prevent teen pregnancy I guess... It's not just the baby part of it that's hard, it's that I'm not living for myself anymore I'm living for another human being...I'd like to be an advocate to prevent teen pregnancy because its not a situation you strive for I guess...Kids should just wait--it's not glamorous at all."

In many ways, Bristol appears on the national stage just in the nick of time. Teen birth rates are suddenly spiking nationally after fifteen years of steady decline and Congress is about to consider re-funding the failed abstinence-only policies that likely led to this trend. An organization like The National Campaign for the Prevention of Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy could use a spokesperson like Palin right about now. Together, armed with real data, they can educate teens about the real life consequences of sex and lobby for the policies that help delay teen sexual activity and prevent unintended pregnancy. Palin has already won fans in the organization. One is Bill Albert, Chief Program Officer. He described Palin as 'brave.'
"There has to be some real passion, great inner fortitude to come forward to talk about these issues," Albert explained, "she said something very powerful--'I wish I had waited, I wish this beautiful event could have happened in ten years.' She said it in her own words and it was not an anti-child message, not an anti-family message--it was about timing and what order you want to take life's most important events. If she could turn back the big hands on the clock of time she would have waited. That is a message on target with all the teen parents we talk to. Teen mothers and fathers are the most powerful messengers of all. She already is an advocate."
This post originally appeared on RH Reality Check--Information, commentary and community for Reproductive Health and Justice.

READ MORE - Bristol Palin: Media Maven with a Message

Online Tutoring: The Untapped Fields

The general perception is that online tutoring is all about teaching subjects that are taught in the schools and colleges, to the children and the college going adults. However, the online tutoring may find application in those areas that have not been thought of yet.

READ MORE - Online Tutoring: The Untapped Fields

Who’s the dad? Teenage parents await DNA test results

London, Feb 18  The grandmother of a baby girl born last week to a 15-year-old mum and - reportedly - a dad who is only 13, says she can’t wait for a DNA test to settle the paternity.

“Social services agreed to do it for the sake of the children,” Penny, mother of 15-year-old Chantelle Steadman said after claims her daughter slept with boys other than Alfie Patten, who at 13 has been reported as the second youngest dad in Britain.

“The sooner it’s done the sooner Chantelle and Alfie can get on with being parents,” she said insisting the test would prove the babyfaced schoolboy is the father of one-week-old Maisie Roxanne.

The local East Sussex council is giving the case priority after huge media interest in the two teenagers.

Penny, a 38-year-old mother of six, said that until the DNA results came through she and Chantelle would remain with Maisie at a hideaway where they have fled.

“We don’t want to go back until Chantelle feels she can take the baby out in its pram without people shouting things at her,” she told The Sun.

She and Chantelle’s father Steve asked for help after two boys aged 16 and 14, who also live on the same housing estate in the town of Eastbourne, claimed paternity.

Up to six others have made similar claims, The Sun said.

Social services had previously rejected the 300 pound test.

READ MORE - Who’s the dad? Teenage parents await DNA test results

Obama returns Churchill’s bust back to Britain with ‘thanks but no thanks’ message

Washington, Feb 18 : A bronze bust of the former prime minister Sir Winston Churchill, which British Government loaned to George W Bush in the wake of the 9/11 attacks as a symbol of the strong transatlantic relationship, has now been handed back.

The Telegraph quoted a British Embassy spokesman, as saying: “It was lent for the first term of office of President Bush. When the President was elected for his second and final term, the loan was extended until January 2009. The new President has decided not to continue this loan and the bust has now been returned. It is on display at the Ambassador’s Residence.”

The bronze bust is a Sir Jacob Epstein creation worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.
When British officials offered to let Obama continue hanging it in the White House, his reply was ‘Thanks, but no thanks.’

Obama openly cited the words and works of his hero Abraham Lincoln and now since taking over the presidency, a bust of Lincoln sits in the Oval Office.

The rejection of the bust has made some British officials nervous over how much influence the UK can wield with the new regime in Washington, and may force Gordon Brown to think about offering an alternative symbol of Anglo-American camaraderie when he visits Washington to meet Obama for the first time since he became President.

READ MORE - Obama returns Churchill’s bust back to Britain with ‘thanks but no thanks’ message

Special movie screening for children suffering from cancer

New Delhi, Feb 16 : A Noida based non-governmental organization (NGO), Cankids…Kidscan on Sunday hosted a special movie screening for children suffering from cancer on the occasion of 8th International Childhood Cancer Day.

The objective of this screening was to spread cancer awareness among cancer suffering victims and their families, and inform them that cancer was curable if diagnosed at the right stage.

“I want to tell the society through media that people who have this myth that if their child is suffering from cancer, the child won’t survive. We want to tell people that childhood cancer is curable. Childhood cancer has a 70 per cent cure rate. If you get your child treated on time, there is no reason why your child won’t survive,” said Sonal Sharma, Director, CanKids…KidsCan.

The cancer-affected children appreciaed NGO’s move for providing them a memorable and rejoicing time.

“Preeti and Hema madam on behalf of CanKids…KidsCan have invited us, me and two of my friends. CanKids also showed us a movie,” said Mahesh Rajat, a young cancer patient.

According to WHO reports, more than 11 million people are diagnosed with cancer every year, with 800,000 cases being reported in India alone.

Cancer causes seven million deaths every year- or 12.5 percent of deaths worldwide.

It is estimated that by 2020, there will be 16 million new cases every year.

READ MORE - Special movie screening for children suffering from cancer

13yr-old father Alfie finds priest’s support

London, February 16 : Schoolboy Alfie Patten, 13, who is believed to have fathered a child at this tender age with his girlfriend Chantelle Steadman, 15, have found the support of a priest who says that it would be wrong to “point the finger at anyone”.

Father Seamus Hester said that Alfie and his 15-year-old girlfriend Chantelle Steadman should be supported, rather than blamed, after becoming parents to baby girl Maisie.

The priest presides over St Gregory’s Roman Catholic Church, close to Chantelle’s home in Eastbourne, East Sussex.

His support for the young couple has come at a time when their case has sparked a fierce political debate over the high rate of teenage pregnancies in the UK and the sexualisation of children.

He said that he commended the family for going through with the pregnancy.

“My immediate reaction is that we mustn’t point the finger at anyone. They didn’t go off to have an abortion to do away with the child, so obviously they have got respect for human life. Whatever their ages, I say well done for bringing the child into the world,” the Daily Star quoted him as saying.

Father Seamus even expressed hopes that those around the teen pair would support them.

“I expect social services will help and I would hope that they have got family and friends to help both of them. That is the most important thing in this situation,” he said.

READ MORE - 13yr-old father Alfie finds priest’s support

Meet the Brit mistress who has dated 50 married men

London, Feb 16 : When it comes to dating, Karen Marley would any day go for a married man and not look for any commitments from him.


Marley, a photographer from north Yorkshire, has already dated 50 husbands of other women in the last five years, and claims that a ring doesn’t mean a thing for her.

And all of her men have been accountants, doctors, and high-powered businessmen.

Karen dates some of them for weeks, others are long-term affairs, and at times she sees several at once.
‘The majority are aged between 34 and 55, with successful lifestyles, but they need something extra. They love the excitement of an affair,’ the News of the World quoted her as saying.

However, Karen doesn’t have any guilt because she feels that in a set-up like this wives are to be blamed.
She argued that wives of straying men are so wrapped up in raising children and running a home that they take their husbands for granted.

She said: ‘These are men who are usually looking for an affair – if they weren’t with me, they’d be having one elsewhere. I believe all guys have the capability to cheat, and with so many wonderful married men looking for someone like me, I know another will cross my path soon.’

Also, she claimed that married men make better lovers than single guys.

‘They want to please you in bed, and they make you feel special. I’ve been wined and dined, flown across the country for dinner and chauffeured around in a limo,” she said.

She meets all of her men for dinner every few weeks and stay in hotels, and mostly, the men are unaware she’s seeing other people too.

‘It’s kinder to make them feel like they’re the only one,’ she said.

However, Karen wasn’t always this way and turned to married man after going through a series of heartbreaks.

READ MORE - Meet the Brit mistress who has dated 50 married men

Most UK church leaders believe Christians are facing discrimination in workplace

London, Feb 16 : Almost two thirds of the Church of England General Synod believe Christians are the victims of discrimination in the workplace.

According to The Telegraph, a survey of members of the Church’s parliament found that 63 per cent of them felt that Christians faced discrimination at work. The majority also considers that freedom of belief has been eroded under the Labour government.

While 59 per cent agreed that they have seen a decline in religious liberty over the last decade; 38 per cent of members disagreed.

The findings follow a series of high profile legal battles fought by Christians who claim to have suffered as a result of their beliefs.

Church leaders have made impassioned pleas to Christians to stand up for their beliefs.

The cry from the Right Reverrend Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, for Christians to ‘reclaim’ their ‘place in the public square’ was echoed by the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, who urged them to ‘wake up’ and defend their faith.

However, Synod members were divided on whether Christianity should be exempt from equality legislation.

During a debate at last week’s Synod, which was held in London, other members called for the Government to do more to protect the Christian faith.

The Sunday Telegraph survey interviewed 80 of the Synod’s 484 members, including bishops, clergy and laity.

READ MORE - Most UK church leaders believe Christians are facing discrimination in workplace

MIT students get juiced while driving

Energy reclaimed from shock absorbers, shocker

A group of MIT undergraduates has come up with another way to recover lost energy from a very unlikely source: vehicle shock absorbers.

The team constructed a new type of shock absorber they call “GenShock”. Their design uses hydraulics hooked up to a turbine and a generator. When the vehicle goes over bumps in the road, fluid is forced through the turbine and generates energy, which is used to recharge a battery. The hydraulics are also actively monitored to ensure optimal dampening. This creates a smoother ride than normal shock absorbers, while still producing energy.

The students started their project looking for ways to reclaim unused energy. They were familiar with regenerative braking which is a standard approach with most hybrid vehicles sold in the US. During braking, the vehicles feed the generated electricity back into the battery. Regenerative braking utilizes the fact that an electric motor can also act as a generator.

While the students were riding around they figured out that the up-and-down motion of the vehicle's suspension could be reclaimed by converting the motion to electricity. The students rented various sized vehicles and checked the suspension travel with sensors. The results showed that most vehicles, especially heavy trucks, wasted significant amounts of energy.

During testing of a 6-shock truck, they found each shock absorber is able to generate up to an average of 1 kW on a road, which is enough power to completely displace the large alternator load in heavy trucks and military vehicles.

If for some reason the embedded computer's electronics on the shocks fail, a fail-safe feature will have the shocks act like a normal shock absorber.

A patent is pending for the GenShock design. The students formed a company, Levant Power, so they can develop and commercialize their product. They plan to perfect the technology on a converted Humvee in an effort to secure a lucrative government contract for a new US Army vehicle that is currently in development.

Wal-Mart is a company that committed to the goal of increasing total vehicle fleet efficiency by 100 per cent from 2005 to 2015. Chris Sultemeier, Wal-Mart’s senior vice president of transportation, said that they have already exceeded their 2008 interim goal of a 25 per cent increase. The students calculated that Wal-Mart could save $13 million a year in fuel costs by converting its fleet of trucks to their shock absorbers. In turn, Wal-Mart would simply downsize their vehicles' existing alternators thus reducing the fuel needed to power them.

The students received help from MIT's Venture Mentoring Service. They have also been advised by Yet-Ming Chiang, the Kyocera Professor of Ceramics in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and founder of A123 Systems , a supplier of high-power lithium-ion batteries.

In January, A123 Systems submitted an application to Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive Program to qualify for $1.84 billion in direct loans to support the construction of new world-class lithium ion battery manufacturing facilities in the US, with the first construction location in southeast Michigan.

We may soon be seeing vehicles with computer controlled shock absorbers that produce electricity.

READ MORE - MIT students get juiced while driving

Facebook claim

Zuckerberg

London, Feb. 13: A law firm has let slip that Facebook paid $65m to settle a lawsuit claiming that founder Mark Zuckerberg stole the idea for the website from former college room-mates.

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges boasted in a January advertising brochure about outcomes of an array of cases it handled last year, including the multi-million-dollar settlement from Facebook.

The Recorder, a California legal publication, yesterday published a story about the leak. Quinn Emanuel lawyers represented ConnectU in a lawsuit that ended in a settlement endorsed by a federal judge in the Silicon Valley city of San Jose in June of last year.

The financial terms of the settlement were edited from court documents and not disclosed by Facebook.

READ MORE - Facebook claim

You Might as Well Face It: You're Addicted to Success

Forced to take a buyout from the Kansas City Star last summer, Paul Wenske lost his sense of identity. "I'd been an investigative reporter all my life, and then boom," says Mr. Wenske, an award-winning journalist of 30 years. "Suddenly you're not the same person you used to be. You look in the mirror. Who are you?"

Matt Collins

The deepening recession is exacting punishment for a psychological vice that masquerades as virtue for many working people: the unmitigated identification of self with occupation, accomplishment and professional status. This tendency can induce outright panic as more and more people fear loss of employment.

"It's like having your entire investment in one stock, and that stock is your job," says Robert Leahy, director of the American Institute for Cognitive Therapy in New York. "You're going to be extremely anxious about losing that job, and depressed if you do."

Over-identification with work is one of many culprits in the epidemic of recession-related anxiety and depression that mental-health providers are reporting. Fear of losing one's house or failing to find another job are likely bigger contributors. But unlike those problems, the identity dilemma is within the individual's power to address, requiring no lender mercy or stroke of job-hunting fortune. One approach can require mental exercises, lifestyle alterations and a new set of acquaintances. But the science behind cognitive behavioral therapy, a psychotherapeutic approach that aims to change self-destructive thinking and behavior, suggests that that work can bring long-lasting rewards.

Like a drug, professional success can induce a feeling of ecstasy that quickly feels essential. Recapturing that feeling can require greater and greater feats, a phenomenon that -- more than simple greed -- explains the drive for ever-larger bonuses and conquests. "With riches, success and fame ... you find that greater and greater doses of your 'upper' are needed to become 'high,' " David Burns, a Stanford University psychiatrist and pioneer of cognitive behavioral therapy, writes in his 1980 book "Feeling Good."

One recommended exercise for people caught in that trap is to evoke memories of earlier times that were free of things deemed essential today. "I've published a lot of books, but when I look back, I'm no happier than in graduate school sleeping on a mattress on the floor," says Dr. Leahy.

Often reinforcing the achievement cycle are colleagues who share the view that large bonuses, medical breakthroughs or great works of journalism are the only important measures of worth. One solution -- simpler in theory than execution -- is to broaden one's circle of friends and colleagues.

One of the biggest fears for holders of respected positions is the potential loss of public esteem. Therapists say the high achiever often holds self-defeating double standards, feeling sympathetic toward the unemployed while assuming that unemployment would bring him only shame.

For Michael Precker, that loss of status wasn't as grim as the fear of it. A veteran foreign correspondent and editor for the Dallas Morning News, Mr. Precker took a buyout in 2006 and now manages a high-end strip club. "I really wondered how it would feel to sever that link -- Michael Precker of the Dallas Morning News," he says. "But it has been easier than I thought. I feel lucky." Likewise, Mr. Wenske is working happily as a senior community-affairs adviser for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

To disassociate identity from professional status, therapists recommend taking pride in characteristics that can't be stripped away -- virtue, integrity, honesty, generosity. They also recommend investing more time and pride in relationships with family, friends and community. Of course, obsessive attention to work can breed success. But therapists say that adding some balance tends to help rather than hurt performance, in part by reducing pressure.

For 18 years, Steve Roman was the public-relations director of the largest bank in Arizona; his forced buyout in 2000 made news in the local papers. "That separation was unsettling. Everybody knew me as Steven Roman of Bank One," he says.

His new career at a Phoenix communications firm is less visible, but gratifying because he is a founder and owner. More gratifying yet, he says, is the status his two children have granted him. "I love saying, 'I'm Kyle Roman's dad. I'm Katie Roman's dad.' "

READ MORE - You Might as Well Face It: You're Addicted to Success

Laid-Off Foreigners Flee as Dubai Spirals Down

Bryan Denton for The New York Times

A prospective bidder examined a car on Wednesday at a Dubai auction. Debt-ridden foreigners are selling or abandoning cars.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Sofia, a 34-year-old Frenchwoman, moved here a year ago to take a job in advertising, so confident about Dubai’s fast-growing economy that she bought an apartment for almost $300,000 with a 15-year mortgage.

Bryan Denton for The New York Times

An abandoned car in a parking garage in Dubai. One report said 3,000 cars were sitting abandoned at the Dubai Airport.

Now, like many of the foreign workers who make up 90 percent of the population here, she has been laid off and faces the prospect of being forced to leave this Persian Gulf city — or worse.

“I’m really scared of what could happen, because I bought property here,” said Sofia, who asked that her last name be withheld because she is still hunting for a new job. “If I can’t pay it off, I was told I could end up in debtors’ prison.”

With Dubai’s economy in free fall, newspapers have reported that more than 3,000 cars sit abandoned in the parking lot at the Dubai Airport, left by fleeing, debt-ridden foreigners (who could in fact be imprisoned if they failed to pay their bills). Some are said to have maxed-out credit cards inside and notes of apology taped to the windshield.

The government says the real number is much lower. But the stories contain at least a grain of truth: jobless people here lose their work visas and then must leave the country within a month. That in turn reduces spending, creates housing vacancies and lowers real estate prices, in a downward spiral that has left parts of Dubai — once hailed as the economic superpower of the Middle East — looking like a ghost town.

No one knows how bad things have become, though it is clear that tens of thousands have left, real estate prices have crashed and scores of Dubai’s major construction projects have been suspended or canceled. But with the government unwilling to provide data, rumors are bound to flourish, damaging confidence and further undermining the economy.

Instead of moving toward greater transparency, the emirates seem to be moving in the other direction. A new draft media law would make it a crime to damage the country’s reputation or economy, punishable by fines of up to 1 million dirhams (about $272,000). Some say it is already having a chilling effect on reporting about the crisis.

Last month, local newspapers reported that Dubai was canceling 1,500 work visas every day, citing unnamed government officials. Asked about the number, Humaid bin Dimas, a spokesman for Dubai’s Labor Ministry, said he would not confirm or deny it and refused to comment further. Some say the true figure is much higher.
“At the moment there is a readiness to believe the worst,” said Simon Williams, HSBC bank’s chief economist in Dubai. “And the limits on data make it difficult to counter the rumors.”

Some things are clear: real estate prices, which rose dramatically during Dubai’s six-year boom, have dropped 30 percent or more over the past two or three months in some parts of the city. Last week, Moody’s Investor’s Service announced that it might downgrade its ratings on six of Dubai’s most prominent state-owned companies, citing a deterioration in the economic outlook. So many used luxury cars are for sale , they are sometimes sold for 40 percent less than the asking price two months ago, car dealers say. Dubai’s roads, usually thick with traffic at this time of year, are now mostly clear.

Some analysts say the crisis is likely to have long-lasting effects on the seven-member emirates federation, where Dubai has long played rebellious younger brother to oil-rich and more conservative Abu Dhabi. Dubai officials, swallowing their pride, have made clear that they would be open to a bailout, but so far Abu Dhabi has offered assistance only to its own banks.

“Why is Abu Dhabi allowing its neighbor to have its international reputation trashed, when it could bail out Dubai’s banks and restore confidence?” said Christopher M. Davidson, who predicted the current crisis in “Dubai: The Vulnerability of Success,” a book published last year. “Perhaps the plan is to centralize the U.A.E.” under Abu Dhabi’s control, he mused, in a move that would sharply curtail Dubai’s independence and perhaps change its signature freewheeling style.

READ MORE - Laid-Off Foreigners Flee as Dubai Spirals Down

Blackbird 0.5 is now available for download

Blackbird 0.5 is out of beta and is now available. Help spread the word and let your BlackBerry-owning friends know about it!
What’s new in this release?

• Tweet detail view now shows the user’s avatar.
• @usernames are now active links to the Twitter user’s URL.
• Timeline data is now cached in persistent storage.

Here are a few features I’m going to try to implement for 0.6:

• Cache avatars in persistent storage to speed up the UI and reduce bandwidth usage.
• Add key accelerators “t” and “b” to jump to the top and bottom of the message list, and “n” and “p” to go to the next and previous messages, respectively.
• Add an option to automatically refresh data in the background or continue to manually refresh data from the Twitter API.

Are there any specific features you’d like to see implemented in 0.6? Have any bugs to report? Let me know about them in the comment for this entry.

READ MORE - Blackbird 0.5 is now available for download

Need help managing your Twitter Karma?

So, I finally let the cat out of the bag a few minutes ago and announced Twitter Karma publically.

So, what is it? The other day, @StephAgresta said, “Twitter desperately needs page navigation on followers / following list. Also sort functionality by type (reciprocated or not) is a must.” I suggested a simple mashup that implements this and started hacking on it. Three days later, it has enough functionality that Stephanie said she thinks I should release it publically.

Basically, it’s a Flash application that fetches your friends and followers from Twitter when you click the “Whack!” button, then displays them for you, letting you quickly paginate through them. By default, the list contains all your friends and followers and is sorted by last update, showing those who most recently updated first. You can sort the list alphabetically either ascending or descending by Twitter ID. You can filter the list in several ways: only friends or only followers, all friends or all followers, and mutual friends.

It’s not meant to be a full Twitter client–there’s plenty of those already and that’s not a particularly interesting or challenging problem to solve, anyway. I’ll be adding a few more features to Twitter Karma soon, though. If you think you have a must-have feature idea, go ahead and let me know about it in the comments.

READ MORE - Need help managing your Twitter Karma?

He is the daddy - to 80 children

Family ... dad and his children
Channel 4

A MAN called “DAAD”’ is believed to have fathered the biggest family in the world with more than 80 kids.

Daad Mohammed has had 84 children with 17 different wives.

And incredibly the 60-year-old Muslim father from the United Emirates said he still wants more children.

The pensioner claims he romps with his wives everyday.

And boasts that he has sex TWICE in morning and SEVEN times in the evening.

He said: “I don’t remember all the names of the kids actually but whenever I see the kid I do my best to remember the name.”

Ruthless Daad even divorces his wives when they are no longer fertile.

He said: “I like having babies so I’m getting married as the Prophet Mohammed says.”

Daad is allowed four wives at any one time under the UAE’s polygamy rules but he says that is not enough.

He said: “Four is not even enough. If there is a way to have more than four then I’ll go for it.”

Daad will feature on Channel 4 documentary The World’s Biggest Family and Me.

READ MORE - He is the daddy - to 80 children

The Vatican accepts Darwin's Theory of Evolution

Vatican officials have admitted to Darwin's theory after almost 150 years of arguments!!
Please read the link!!

After everything bush did to fight to have creationism taught, the vatican finally states Darwin was right. anything to put bush into a bigger hole will make me happy!

READ MORE - The Vatican accepts Darwin's Theory of Evolution

“Buy American”—or Bye-Bye America

http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/index.ph...

For the stimulus bills of both Houses have a “Buy American” provision mandating that in “public works” only U.S. iron, steel and manufactures be used. The provision came out of the appropriations committee of the House on a 55-to-0 vote.

The Senate watered it down by declaring the Buy American provision must be consistent with all U.S. trade commitments. But Congress is sending a message: The rebuilding of America is to be a project of, by and for Americans, not outsourced. Sen. McCain’s free-trade amendment, to strip all Buy American provisions from the bill, was routed 65 to 31.

The reaction of Barack Obama, a NAFTA skeptic in 2008 with bumper stickers that read, “Buy American, Vote Obama,” was to genuflect to the gods of globalism and recant his economic patriotism.

“I think it would be a mistake … at a time when worldwide trade is declining, for the United States to start sending a message that somehow we’re just looking out after ourselves,” he told Fox News. We don’t want to “trigger a trade war,” he told ABC.

Apparently, Obama was unnerved by rumbles from Europe, which is threatening to drag us before a World Trade Organization tribunal and have “Buy American” banished forever.

Read and Discuss...

READ MORE - “Buy American”—or Bye-Bye America

The terrifying spread of the Walmart plague

http://i.gizmodo.com/5125187/the-terrifyin...

This is probably one of the scariest videos I've seen: The spread of Walmart. It may just be the slimy green, but it looks like an outbreak movie where everyone dies.

The first Wal-Mart, called Wal-Mart Discount City, opened in Rogers, Arkansas, in July 2, 1962. Five years later, the company already had 24 stores in Arkansas alone. By May 1971, Wal-Mart had already propagated to five states. From there, the growth was just explosive, eating the country from its heart. In 1975 they took Texas, upping the number of stors to 125.

A decade later in 1987, boom, 1,198 stores were spewing out everything from clothes to electronics to movies to music to toys all through the US. Soon, the epidemic ran into the rest of the world and in 2005, they already had 3,800 stores in the US and 2,800 all across the world, with 1.6 million employees and mainframe systems as big as the Death Star, permanently cross-tabulating and linking providers, stores, and customers' data to optimize their sales and distribution flows.

READ MORE - The terrifying spread of the Walmart plague

'Brazil Cannibals Murder Student'

Five members of a tribe in the Brazilian Amazon are on the run after allegedly killing and eating a student last week.

The Amazonian rainforest where tribe members are accused of killing the student

The suspects apparently boasted to relatives about eating the liver and heart of 21-year-old Ocelio Alves de Carvalho.

A police official in the remote village of Envira said a tribesman, who claimed to have witnessed the murder told him: "The victim was decapitated and cut in half.

"After this, his internal organs, his heart, and parts of his thigh were cut away and eaten."

The victim's remains were retrieved by relatives after police were unable to gain permission to enter the reservation.

Under Brazilian law the military and civil police are not allowed to enter tribal lands.

Detectives were only granted access to question the Kulina tribe's leaders five days after the killing.

The village police chief, Jose Carlos Correia da Silva, said: "At times there is violence between the Indians and people in town but we've never seen a case this cruel.

"The case is so strange ... at first nobody could believe it."

According to Brazil's National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), the Kulina are classified as an "isolated" tribe but some have contact with the non-Indian population.

There are nearly one million Native Indians in Brazil and their land makes up 12% of the country's vast territory.

The country's National Trust said cannibalism is unheard of among Amazonian Indian tribes.

READ MORE - 'Brazil Cannibals Murder Student'

Octuplets' mom seeks online donations

Nadya Suleman, the single mother of newborn octuplets, is using the Internet to help support her family of 14 children. She's started a Web site seeking donations.

Nadya Suleman, a single mother of 14 children, has set up a Web site asking for donations.

The Web site features pictures of a rainbow, child's blocks and all eight of Suleman's newborns. Also prominently displayed on the Web site is a prompt for visitors to make a donation, noting that the "proud mother of 14" accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and PayPal.

Suleman, 33, had the octuplets through fertility treatments, despite already having six young children and no clear source of income.

In recent television interviews, Suleman has rejected suggestions that she might not be able to care adequately for all 14 of her children.

"I'm providing myself to my children," Nadya Suleman told NBC in her first interview. "I'm loving them unconditionally, accepting them unconditionally, everything I do. I'll stop my life for them and be present with them and hold them and be with them. And how many parents do that?" Watch Suleman discuss caring for her children »

Suleman said she plans to go back to college to pursue a degree in counseling, NBC reported. She also said all 14 children have the same biological father, a sperm donor whom she described as a friend.

Joann Killeen, a spokeswoman for Suleman, has told CNN that she is being deluged with media offers, but disputed any suggestions that Suleman may have had a monetary incentive for having so many children.

Killeen, told CNN's "Larry King Live" that Suleman "has no plans on being a welfare mom and really wants to look at every opportunity that she can to make sure she can provide financially for the 14 children she's responsible for now."

Suleman's publicist did say that Suleman gets $490 every month in food stamps

READ MORE - Octuplets' mom seeks online donations