May 2001 Archive

31 May 2001

As the nearly all-white counties of the Great Plains empty out, American Indians are coming home. In publicly owned prairie land, the native grasses and wildflowers have returned, and species like prairie dogs, black-footed ferrets, burrowing owls and bison have made comebacks.

The fast food chain McDonald's is at the centre of a food-labelling storm today as it admitted that its 'vegetarian' chips in America were not completely free of meat products.

Physical assaults on more than 50 nurses so far this year have prompted the NSW government to run self-defence courses for them. The courses will include instructions on how to knock out violent patients with chemicals.

30 May 2001

Branding the Girl Guides may well be about overhauling the image of that bastion of girlie goodness, but the headline instead prompted my thoughts in the direction of uniformed girls in cattle runs be prodded with branding irons A woman whose wrist was broken when she was beaten to the ground and battered by a swan in the Phoenix Park has failed in a £30,000 personal injuries action against the State — people just never seem to learn that swans are contrary beasts who are not to be messed with Enslave your girls and women, harbour anti US terrorists and destroy every vestige of civilisation in your homeland, and the Bush administration will embrace you. All that matters is that you line up as an ally in the drug war, the only international cause that the United States still takes seriously

29 May 2001

Telstra is assessing the implementation of a backup system that could have prevented yesterday's full day nation-wide BigPond outage — nothing like shutting the gate after the horse has bolted.

China has agreed to let the United States take apart its stranded spy plane and take it home — in pieces.

Weighing 142gm and closely resembling the ubiquitous black pocket pager, it might be overlooked on the overstuffed gun belts of police officers on foot patrol. But the device, a $3500 minicomputer, will let the officers check whether a car has been stolen or someone they stop on the street is trying to conceal an arrest record.

28 May 2001

Some serious tweaking of code has resulted in XHTML changes for parts of my site. I ripped out the table formatting and used DIVs and CSS positioning instead, surprisingly enough, the damn thing is actually valid code too. I've even added a printer friendly format. Unless you're a geek you probably won't care, but the change will affect readers with older, non-compliant browsers — you'll still see the updated pages, but not in all their XHTML and CSS glory.

With his unauthorised exorcisms and faith healings, Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo has long rankled the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church. But his action yesterday at a New York hotel may represent his final break with the Vatican: he was married in a group wedding presided over by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon.

27 May 2001

Matt Wolf, a 32 year old former game producer in Los Angeles, hopes to claw back market share, with video games for cats. CyberPounce is a collection of online toys and games intended to amuse felines and their owners.

A congressional committee has yanked the teeth out of The Unsolicited Commercial Electronic Mail Act of 2001, a bill designed to curb spam, leaving it with few consumer protection provisions. Instead of allowing consumers and ISPs sue spammers and apply fines, it only requires that spammers use a legitimate return e-mail address — easy to see the big money pushing those changes through.

26 May 2001

Microsoft ends its piracy snitch program. The plan was widely seen as an attempt to single out customers who wanted to install Linux on their PCs and not pay for a Microsoft operating system they would not use. Despite early indications that the information collected would be shared with law enforcement agencies, no such sharing ever took place.

'Socialites', 'babes' and 'bad hair days' are some of the words and phrases that have been declared off limits by the various magazines, in an effort to steer writers away from language that is hackneyed, imprecise or slangy.

25 May 2001

If you're poor, black, live in South Carolina and are unfortunate enough to suffer a stillbirth, the state's draconian laws could see you serving time for murder.

A draft proposal was released this week for an interplanetary Internet. The proposal to the Internet Engineering Task Force — the group that sets standards for the Net — calls for terrestrial testing of interplanetary Internet protocols later this year, with a live test onboard the NASA Mars mission in 2003.

24 May 2001

The Email Disclaimer Awards 2001 were set up to honour disclaimer messages usually included at the foot of corporate e-mail messages. The winner of the longest disclaimer was awarded to global financial services firm UBS Warburg for its 1081 word spiel.

Apparently a logo is a must for a wedding these days. If your intended is obsessing over the width of flower petals and the colour of the stitching on the wedding press kits — get out now.

The US's much-vaunted National Infrastructure Protection Centre, the key anti-cybercrime outfit, was so short of staff it couldn't alert the public to computer viruses until the damage was already done. The watchdog General Accounting Office said most warnings were about attacks already under way.

23 May 2001

At the recent E3 Expo in Los Angeles, Microsoft's X-Box demonstration crashed, revealing the infamous blue screen of death — a sight familiar to all users of Microsoft's dodgy operating systems Rumours are circulating throughout India that Hindus in Afghanistan will soon have to wear tags identifying them as non-Muslims, a report denied by Afghanistan's ruling Taliban IBM has announced that it is using just a few atoms of pixie dust to push back the data storage industry's most formidable barrier When the retarded monkey boy returned to his old stomping ground of Yale recently, he had advice for the less academic students: And to the C students, I say, you, too, can be president of the United States

22 May 2001

Australia's fairy penguins are all set for winter and any oil spills after 1000 tiny woolly jerseys were specially knitted and sent from as far away as Japan to the Australian island state of Tasmania — if you want to help, the Tasmanian Conservation Trust has a Penguin Jumper pattern available.

UK Police are to get a new weapon in the fight against the menace of mobile phone thieves: bombardment by text. They will send stolen mobile phones a text message every hour reminding the new owners of the error of their ways — but following the Dutch scheme of messaging stolen phones every 10 minutes might be more appropriate.

21 May 2001

An oddly astute Queensland Labor MP, Linda Lavarch, has accused the producers of the appalling pseudo-reality television program Big Brother of making millions of dollars from viewers voting off cast members. She suggested that people give their money to charity instead.

Ronald Mallett, professor of theoretical physics at Connecticut University, has worked out how to build a time machine, using slowly circulating beams of light which distort time and space. And he says the technology is in our grasp now.

20 May 2001

Researchers found that darkness boosts the body's immune system and aids in the body's production of melatonin.

According to George F Colony, CEO and chairman of Forrester, The problem with today's Internet is that it's dumb, boring, and isolated. But he claims the new wave of innovation — which Forrester defines as the X Internet — will eclipse the Web: an executable Net that greatly improves the online experience, and an extended Net that connects the real world.

19 May 2001

McDonald's would like to come into Toronto schools with a presentation about self esteem — Ronald and crew host a 40 minute interactive live talk show. And just when you thought it couldn't get any more disturbing, it's billed as a non-commercial presentation endorsed by Children's Psychologists and leading educators in the US and Canada.

18 May 2001

'It's going to be a futuristic, state-of-the-art motel with every modern convenience from water beds to 8-tracks. The entire dining area will be covered in deep-pile pink and purple carpet. But wait — here's the best part. It will look like an abstract sculpture of a giant turkey. We'll bill it as a romantic getaway — and call it The Gobbler!' Take some time out of your day to visit the shrine to The Gobbler, you too will wonder at the abundance of mind-altering substances available to architects and interior designers of the 60s.

And speaking of drugs; meet the monkeyman. The bizarre figure is vividly described as anything from a tiny man dressed as a monkey to a 2m beast with illuminated green eyes.

I have a birthday coming up and I'm putting in my request for a Gekkomat — who hasn't always wanted a suction device that lets you climb walls.

17 May 2001

Astronaut Bill Shepherd was stunned — and frustrated — when he moved into the international space station last fall and discovered the kitchen table would not be arriving any time soon. Shepherd did what any self-respecting home mechanic would do. He built his own table, out of space station scraps.

A runaway freight train that barrelled through 100km of north-western Ohio with no one aboard was halted safely Tuesday by a railroad worker who jumped onto the moving train and pulled its brake.

If you're the kind of person who is always fiddling around with your computer then you're probably sick of crawling behind it to reach the rear ports. FrontX Multimedia Ports are designed to relocate the user's choice of computer ports from the rear to the front of the machine.

16 May 2001

By odd coincidence, on the day writer Douglas Adams died, the Minor Planet Centre, a branch of the International Astronomical Union, named an asteroid Arthurdent, from a character from his best-known work, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

The United Nation's World Intellectual Property Organisation has ruled the City of Brisbane in Queensland does not have rights to BrisbaneCity.com, currently held by a private individual.

American soldiers have been accused of shooting up Australian wildlife while on military manoeuvres in Queensland.

15 May 2001

The US Supreme Court recently ruled unanimously against distributors of medical marijuana — William Randolph Hearst's legacy of protecting his personal business interests lives on long after his death.

He was a trusted citizen of Hyde, a family doctor who cared for its townspeople with a dedication that won him widespread adoration. But he was also a man who hid a horrible secret: Dr Harold Frederick Shipman, 55, was England's — and perhaps the world's — most prolific serial killer. How could so prolific a killer live among them for so long, in plain sight, and go undetected? The answer lies partly with the confidentiality allowed by British law and tradition. Professionals — in government, law, and medicine — are granted a degree of trust that often keeps their work beyond rigorous public review. Dr Shipman took advantage of this, covering his crimes by lying on death certificates and other official documents.

14 May 2001

A very brave, or possibly stupid, French Vietnamese man decided to strip naked and take a stroll through bustling Changi airport on Friday — just the sort of activity the Singaporean authorities frown upon.

13 May 2001

'Evil' is not a word most psychiatrists like, but some are trying to find a way to measure it. During a symposium Thursday at the American Psychiatric Association convention, Dr Michael Welner, a forensic psychiatrist, asked more than 120 psychiatrists to help create a depravity scale which could be used by the courts to judge criminals.

Two New Zealand pensioners inadvertently attended their first and last hard rock concert after winning tickets to see Pantera in a newspaper competition.

12 May 2001

Author Douglas Adams, who wrote The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, has died suddenly aged 49. Mr Adams died on Friday morning in Santa Barbara, California, following a heart attack.

Boffins at Oxford University are about to turn on a 'tabletop pulsar' which, if the controversial theory behind it is right, will produce faster than light messages.

11 May 2001

An upstate New York turkey hunter is receiving rabies shots after he was attacked by coyotes. A wildlife expert says the coyotes may have mistaken the hunter for a turkey — if you look like a turkey and sound like a turkey, don't be surprised if you're mistaken for a turkey.

Neighbours had long assumed the lonely old man moved from his Chicago home years ago. Mail piled up. Utilities were shut off. Grass grew. Paint peeled. The house was sold at a tax auction on Tuesday, and the new owners found him when they entered. He was sitting in a rocking chair, dead. Apparently, he had died in the chair and remained there for at least four years.

10 May 2001

I don't know if it's the pneumatic 'swoosh' and 'thunk' sounds they make or the wonderful shininess, but, damn, I want one. While I was delighted to see capsule pipeline systems make a return to local supermarkets, plastic just isn't the same as great networks of shiny brass tubing.

Influential Republicans and Democrats in the House have threatened to hold back $244 million in dues to the United Nations if the United States does not recover a seat on the Human Rights Commission next year — it's not like the bastards ever paid up in the past, nothing like throwing a childish tantrum on a global scale.

09 May 2001

Naomi Klein's No Logo won the National Business Book Award, netting her $10,000 from the likes of PriceWaterhouse and the Bank of Montreal. A decision which greatly upset University of Toronto Dean of Graduate Studies juror, Michael Marrus, who took the highly unusual step of resigning from the jury.

A Norwegian swan attacked an elderly woman, biting her bottom, dragging her into a lake and dunking her twice before letting go — sure, they look nice and placid, but swans have serious territorial issues.

08 May 2001

Australian companies will face penalties if they send spam e-mail under laws that may come into affect later this year. But Australian companies that try to send e-mails to without consent will be forced to make restitution — which could be simply removing the name from the list, but could involve monetary compensation if a breach was serious enough. This includes companies with any commercial links in Australia.

Australia's first legal heroin injecting room opened for business Sunday night with a handful of drug users using the facility. The medically supervised injecting room can handle up to 200 injecting episodes a day in two four-hour sessions. Sixteen people can use the facility at any one time. A private security firm has been retained to protect users entering and leaving the facility.

07 May 2001

Unless you've been walking around with your eyes shut for the past 30 years, you'll know that Sanrio is one of Japan's biggest merchandise chains. And, much like Crusty The Clown from The Simpsons, they seem to have no qualms about what they'll whack their logo on. The Sanrio Files celebrates some of the more bizarre items in the collection.

06 May 2001

A 'tractor beam' that can reach out, trap and move objects has been developed by British scientists. But while fictional tractor beams of the kind depicted in Star Trek can ensnare a giant spaceship, this real version works only at the microscopic level.

05 May 2001

The United States lost its seat on the top UN human rights body it helped found in 1947, losing support from some of its allies as well as its foes.

The Computer Emergency Response Team warned companies this week of security problems caused by a fundamental flaw in the way PCs and servers talk to each other across the Internet.

04 May 2001

'Great Train Robbery' fugitive, Ronnie Biggs, says he is ready to return to Britain and face justice after three decades of exile in Brazil.

A weapon built out of parts from any electronics store can deliver radio frequency radiation that can burn out electronic circuits within seconds, which could make the electromagnetic spectrum the terrorist weapon of choice.

03 May 2001

A British drug company is a step closer to launching cannabis-based medicine for patients suffering multiple sclerosis and other forms of severe pain.

Three blind Briard puppies, had their right eyes treated late last year with a single injection of thousands of copies of the corrective gene. Their left eyes were untreated as a control. The scientists planned to formally test eye function three months later, when the dogs were 6 months old. But well before those tests, the dogs were already reacting to light.

02 May 2001

A cull of Fraser Island's 200 dingoes is expected to start next month, in the wake of Monday's fatal attack on a young boy — so thanks to moronic tourists, who refuse to obey signs warning them to leave the dingoes alone, a large group of animals is about to be needlessly murdered.

01 May 2001

Thousands of demonstrators are expected to converge on the Australian Stock Exchange Building in Melbourne from 7am to protest against capitalism and globalisation. The protests have been organised by the M1 alliance, an offshoot of the S11 group behind the demonstrations that disrupted the World Economic Forum in Melbourne last September. The alliance comprises human rights and environmental activists, unionists, students and christians who plan to highlight the negative effects of global capitalism.

The aim is spectacular — to close stock exchanges around the country, suspending 'corporate tyranny', for a moment. The how of it is, quite simply, through anarchy. That's not to say it isn't organised, though. Melbourne legal activist Damien Lawson, who placed volunteer legal observers on Melbourne streets for the S11 protest, is doing this job again for the Melbourne stock exchange blockade. He says 50 law students, and solicitors from community legal centres and private practice will observe police behaviour at today's protest. These legal observers, backed by the video tapes of alternative media group indymedia, are responsible for the Victorian Ombudsman holding an inquiry into police brutality in Melbourne.

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