Mikey's Joint

Current Conditions

[2010.01.03@15:57:11PST]

Albuquerque News

[2010.01.03@15:57:14PST]

• Bullet Goes Through Ceiling, Narrowly Missing Man
• State To Investigate 3 Roswell-Area Dairies
• Girl Marks San Juan County's First Birth Of 2010
• Richardson Backs Temporary Tax Hike
• Car Plows Into Albuquerque Home
• Albuquerque Elderly Couple Discovered Dead
• Share The Holidays With U Local!
• Police Investigate Fatal Stabbing Death

San Jose News

[2010.01.03@16:30:04PST]

• Volunteers will help replant Palo Alto's California Avenue
• Woman killed, six injured after stolen car slams into vehicle
• 80-year-old wrong-way driver dies on Highway 17 early New Year's Day
• One dead in crash on Highway 101 in San Jose
• San Jose man and 24-year-old woman found dead in 7-Eleven bathroom in Santa Cruz
• First Santa Clara County babies of the year
• Saratoga farmer's daughter recovering from brutal attack
• First Festival celebrates Silicon Valley achievements
• Man who waved knife on Caltrain released from jail
• In Hindsight: Apple, Google and other 'could be' hopes for the '10s

World News

[2010.01.03@16:30:03PST]

• US, UK close Yemen embassies over al-Qaida threats (AP)

  AP - Western embassies in Yemen locked up Sunday after fresh threats from al-Qaida, and the White House expressed alarm at the terror group's expanded reach in the poor Arab nation where an offshoot apparently ordered the Christmas Day plot against a U.S. airliner.

  
  
• Obama adviser: No smoking gun in airline bomb plot (AP)

  AP - U.S. intelligence agencies did not miss a "smoking gun" that could have prevented an alleged attempt to blow up a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day, President Barack Obama's top counterterrorism adviser said Sunday.

  
  
• Passengers on US-bound flights face more screening (AP)

  AP - Passengers flying into the United States from Nigeria, Yemen and other "countries of interest" will be subject to enhanced screening techniques, such as body scans and pat-downs, the Transportation Security Administration said Sunday.

  
  
• Roadside bombs kill 6 in Pakistan's northwest (AP)

  AP - Roadside bombs struck two vehicles in Pakistan's volatile northwest Sunday, killing a former irrigation minister and three others in one attack and two anti-Taliban tribal elders in the other.

  
  
• TV show led to arrest in 4 Thanksgiving killings (AP)

  AP - A secretive motel guest in the Florida Keys checked in under a fake name, paid in cash, stockpiled canned food and insisted on cleaning his own room. He even covered his car — all an attempt, authorities said, to elude police after he was accused of gunning down four relatives at Thanksgiving dinner.

  
  
• Cablevision, Scripps butt heads over fee increase (AP) AP - The spat over a fee increase between Cablevision Systems Corp. and Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. heated up Sunday with cable TV viewers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut still caught in the crossfire.
• Networks blur policy of not paying for interviews (AP)

  AP - Policies forbidding payment for news interviews increasingly seem like the network television equivalent of the 55 mph speed limit: a rule often winked at unless you're heading into a speed trap.

  
  
• `Avatar' rules with $68.3M, tops $1B worldwide (AP)

  AP - James Cameron's science-fiction epic "Avatar" had another stellar weekend with $68.3 million domestically, shooting past $1 billion worldwide, only the fifth movie ever to hit that mark.

  
  
• Snowboarder remains in critical condition in Utah (AP)

  AP - American snowboarder Kevin Pearce remains hospitalized in critical condition in Utah after sustaining a severe brain injury in a training accident.

  
  
• Texans beat Patriots 34-27 to stay alive (AP)

  AP - The Houston Texans did their part. Now they wait.

  
  
• U.S., British embassies in Yemen close on Qaeda threat (Reuters)

  Reuters - The United States and Britain closed their embassies in Yemen on Sunday over security concerns about possible militant attacks after the failed bombing of a U.S.-bound plane on Christmas Day.

  
  
• Roadside bomb kills former Pakistan minister (Reuters)

  Reuters - A bomb attack in northwest Pakistan killed a former minister on Sunday, officials said, keeping up pressure on a government struggling to contain a raging Taliban insurgency and stabilize the country.

  
  
• Give Homeland Security role in U.S. visas: Senator (Reuters)

  Reuters - The Homeland Security Department rather than the State Department should handle U.S. visas overseas to meet security threats, the chairman of the Senate homeland security committee said on Sunday.

  
  
• New U.S. screening for air travelers from 7 nations: report (Reuters) Reuters - All travelers from Nigeria, Yemen, Pakistan, Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria flying into the United States will be patted down and have carry-on luggage searched under new security procedures starting January 4, Politico reported on Sunday.
• Iraq to support Blackwater lawsuit in U.S. courts (Reuters)

  Reuters - Iraq will help victims of the 2007 shooting of civilians in Baghdad to file a U.S. lawsuit against employees of security firm Blackwater, an incident that turned a spotlight on the United States' use of private contractors in war zones.

  
  
• Dubai's "superscraper" makes history in hard times (Reuters)

  Reuters - Started at the height of the economic boom and built by some 12,000 laborers, the world's tallest building will open on Monday in Dubai as the glitzy emirate seeks to rekindle optimism after its financial crisis.

  
  
• Britain, U.S. agree to fund Yemen police unit (Reuters) Reuters - The United States and Britain have agreed to fund a counter-terrorism police unit in Yemen as part of stepped-up efforts to fight terrorism, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office said on Sunday.
• BAA to introduce full-body scanners at UK's Heathrow (Reuters)

  Reuters - British airport operator BAA said on Sunday it would move quickly to install full-body scanners at London's Heathrow airport after the failed Christmas Day attack on a U.S.-bound plane.

  
  
• Qaeda threat forces US, Britain to shut Yemen missions (AFP)

  AFP - The United States and Britain promptly closed their embassies in Yemen on Sunday after learning an Al-Qaeda offshoot linked to a botched US airliner bombing is planning attacks on Western targets.

  
  
• US toughens screening for US-bound flights (AFP)

  AFP - US officials Sunday toughened security measures for all US-bound airline passengers, and warned those traveling from 14 targeted nations would have to undergo mandatory tight screening.

  
  

Cyberage Radio

[2010.01.03@15:57:12PST]

Slashdot

[2010.01.03@15:57:15PST]

• The Amiga, Circa 2010 — Dead and Loving ItOrion Blastar writes "While many Amiga users have moved on to Linux, Mac OS X, and even, gasp shock, Microsoft Windows, some of us don't want to give up so easily. There are two open source projects that are keeping the Amiga legacy alive even if Amiga Inc. seems to be deader than a doornail and not really doing much but selling old Classic Amiga games for new platforms. Like WINE, there was a project to run AmigaOS 3.1 software for Linux and other platforms, but it evolved instead into an open source operating system named Amiga Research OS, or AROS. AROS is best run inside an emulator, and while it is not a modern OS like Linux, it can be downloaded and run inside of Linux (and the downloads section has more). While it is not ready for prime time yet, it is a promising OS that is being ported to many platforms and uses the user friendly Amiga GUI we Amiga users grew up with." Read on for more.

  Read more of this story at Slashdot.

  
  

• New Zealand Cyber Spies Win New Powerscaeos writes "New cyber-monitoring measures have been quietly introduced in New Zealand giving police and Security Intelligence Service officers the power to monitor all aspects of someone's online life. The measures are the largest expansion of police and SIS surveillance capabilities for decades, and mean that all mobile calls and texts, email, internet surfing and online shopping, chatting and social networking can be monitored anywhere in New Zealand. The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS or SIS) is an intelligence agency of the New Zealand government."

  Read more of this story at Slashdot.

  
  

• Google Nexus One Hands-On, Video, and Impressionswkurzius writes "Engadget has gotten their hands on a Nexus One and have put their first impressions up for the world to see, including whether or not they think it's the 'be-all-end-all Android phone / iPhone eviscerator.' Their opinion? 'Not really.'"

  Read more of this story at Slashdot.

  
  

• Google Sets Censorship Precedent In Indiaeldavojohn writes "Censorship varies from country to country but India, home to a sixth of the world's population, appears to be shaping up much like China. Not far behind everyone else, Google has increasingly censored websites with an incident where a very popular politician died and Google forcibly deleted and dissolved a group on Orkut where offensive comments about the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh were posted. An official from India's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology said, 'If you are doing business here, you should follow the local law, the sentiments of the people, the culture of the country. If somebody starts abusing Lord Rama on a Web site, that could start riots.' The lengthy opinion piece calls attention to the beginnings of a definitive lack of free speech online for Indian citizens. A spokeswoman for the 'Do No Evil' company explained, 'India does value free speech and political speech. But they are weighing the harm of free speech against violence in their streets.'"

  Read more of this story at Slashdot.

  
  

• Scambaiting Gets Comical; Internet Scammers All Dressed UpNurse Nasty writes "Scambaiting is a fun and relaxing full-contact email sport. It's all about baiting Internet and email scammers into exposing themselves and sharing that humiliation with the entire world. Recently I baited four different groups of Internet scammers into being comic book action super-heroes, and then giving them their own 10-page graphic novel. It's a bit of fun and eduction through entertainment." (Warning: The comic contains a bit of naughty language.)

  Read more of this story at Slashdot.

  
  

• DC Sues AT&T For Unclaimed Phone MinutesSuki I submits news that Washington, D.C.'s attorney general has filed suit (District of Columbia vs. AT&T Corp, Superior Court of the District of Columbia), claiming the city has the right, through laws applying to unclaimed property, to unused calling-card balances held in the name of D.C. residents. "The suit claims that AT&T should turn over unused balances on the calling cards of consumers whose last known address was in Washington, D.C. and have not used the calling card for three years. 'AT&T's prepaid calling cards must be treated as unclaimed property under district law,' the attorney general's office said in a statement. ... [That sum] represents some 5 to 20 percent of the total balances purchased by consumers who use the calling cards. States and municipalities have often similarly used unclaimed property laws, known as escheat laws, to claim ownership of unused retail gift card balances." Suki I links also to Reason Magazine's coverage.

  Read more of this story at Slashdot.

  
  

• 2016 Bug Hits Text Messages, Payment ProcessingAn anonymous reader writes "It seems some systems are suffering from a Y2K16 bug. When 2009 ticked over to 2010, some Australian EFTPOS machines skipped to the year 2016. Coincidentally, some Windows Mobile users are also having issues with their new year SMSes coming from 2016. What function could cause this kind of error?"

  Read more of this story at Slashdot.

  
  

• VC Defends Farmville, Touts Virtual Tractor Salestheodp writes "In a blog post, venture capitalist Fred Wilson gives his thoughts on ripe areas for tech investment in 2010 — mobile, gaming, new forms of commerce/currency, Cloud platforms/APIs, education and energy/environment. Asked to comment on scams and social gaming (he is an investor in Zynga), Wilson defended Zynga's Farmville: 'Zynga makes almost all of its revenue on virtual goods. I said in my etsy/san telmo post the other day that more tractors are sold every day in Farmville than are sold in the US every year. That's where the money is in social gaming. The "scammy ads" thing is total red herring that everyone got excited about but is almost entirely irrelevant.'"

  Read more of this story at Slashdot.

  
  

• Scientists Measure How Quickly Plant Genes Mutateeldavojohn writes "A recent study puts observed numbers on genome mutations in plants. This kind of research is becoming more popular in understanding evolution. The research 'followed all genetic changes in five lines of the mustard relative Arabidopsis thaliana that occurred during 30 generations. In the genome of the final generation they then searched for differences to the genome of the original ancestor.' A single generation has about a one in 140 million chance of mutating any letter of the genome (which has about 120 million base pairs). Sound like bad odds? From the article, 'if one starts to consider that they occur in the genomes of every member of a species, it becomes clear how fluid the genome is: In a collection of only 60 million Arabidopsis plants, each letter in the genome is changed, on average, once. For an organism that produces thousands of seeds in each generation, 60 million is not such a big number at all.' The academic paper is available in Science, though seeing more than the abstract requires a subscription."

  Read more of this story at Slashdot.

  
  

• Do IT Pros Abuse Their Power?An anonymous reader writes "I have noticed that many airports and hospitals I've visited have some kind of internet usage policy in place. Some use software similar to Websense, which effectively blocks sites based on blacklisting them by category. A commonly used blacklist prevents users from accessing 'forums or discussion boards,' yet I find that often these networks allow users to access sites like Fark, Slashdot, Digg and other message boards that appeal to the technical culture one might find in the IT world. In your experience, do IT administrators abuse their supervisory powers? Has there ever been a backlash from users or management for doing so?"

  Read more of this story at Slashdot.

  
  

Fark

[2010.06.21@04:00:02PDT]

• Cops shoot a drug suspect who led them on a high speed chase after purchasing drugs. Naturally, he's suing the police for 1.5 millions dollars [Stupid]
• If you wish to exterminate rats from your house, pumping exhaust fumes from your car into your house is generally not recommended [Sad]
• Just like Goldilocks this burglar ate a bit, drank a bit, and then fell asleep in a bed [Dumbass]
• Photoshop this top hat and binoculars [Photoshop]
• Suck it Martha Stewart [Cool]
• Crack is now officially cheaper than cigarettes [Asinine]
• Not News: Woman books Thursday Continental flight from Houston to Manchester, NH. Fark: So far she's been flown to three different cities on three different carriers and still isn't in Manchester [Asinine]
• Dogs too unclean to be kept as pets, according to Iranian cleric who has never cleaned a cat's litter box [Stupid]
• One thing we can all agree on, Anne Frank's diary didn't have nearly enough sex scenes [Asinine]
• Doctors now believe it is possible to communicate with patients who are in a vegetative state, vote for Nader [Interesting]
• If you're a veteran and are reluctant to seek help for PTSD, some guys with brass balls wrapped in blue ribbons have something to say [PSA]
• Record a MD cop brutalizing you? That's up to 16 years in prison. Bonus: your video is inadmissable in court [Asinine]
• Don't have every single business receipt for the past 3 years? That's a $330,000 penalty [Asinine]
• Empathy? What's that? California man selling "Please don't feed our homeless" bumper stickers, feels homeless population is "out of control" [Asinine]
• Photoshop this rain refuge [Photoshop]
• What's the destination of an officer "using red lights, speeding, swerving . . . all while on cell phone"? I think you can guess this one. Bonus: Writing a city councilman a $165 ticket for taking pictures [Amusing]
• Headline: "Cornhole Tournament to benefit wounded veterans." Don't ask me, don't tell me, just support our vets [Spiffy]
• This Old House brings us a list of crazy laws that all of you are guilty of breaking. Bonus: In Iowa, a man can bar his mother-in-law from his home without explanation [Amusing]
• The latest threat raising tensions between North and South Korea...Kindergarteners with balloons [Amusing]
• The Pope grew up eating stuffed pigeon with butter, cream and sherry, soup with liver and onion dumplings, and 'exquisite butter and jam biscuits.' "This is a triumph of animal fats, sugar and cholesterol" [Spiffy]