French UFO fever crashes website

France’s national space agency has opened its UFO files to the public by launching a website which documents reported sightings over five decades.

So many people have already tried to look at the files that it has become impossible to access the site.

France is the first country to open up fully its UFO files to the public.

Although other countries including the UK collect data on UFOs, files can be requested only on a case-by-case basis under the Freedom of Information Act.

Now, thanks to a small team of space agency researchers who call themselves the Office for the Study of Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena, the French will be able to access some 10,000 documents about UFOs, including photographs, police reports and videos sent in by witnesses.

The team offers explanations for some of the sightings – for example when 1,000 people reported seeing flashing lights in the sky one November night 17 years ago, the researchers were able to prove it had been a rocket fragment falling back into the earth’s atmosphere.
UFO

24 March 2007

Judge Trashes Online Porn Law
A US Federal Court yesterday ruled that a 1998 law designed to block children from viewing pornography Web sites violates free speech rights.

Judge Lowell Reed of the Philadelphia US District Court ruled that while he sympathizes with the aim of restricting minors from viewing pornography, other less restrictive means such as software filters are available to block such content.

The good judge wrote that despite his personal regret at having to set aside yet another attempt to protect children from harmful material, he is blocking the law out of concern that perhaps they might be doing harm to the minors of USA by chipping away at First Amendment protections in the name of protection.

He further wrote that he would be turning a blind eye to the law by upholding a flawed statute, especially when a more effective and less restrictive alternative is readily available to protect America’s youth.

This – when all along during the four-week trial, government lawyers argued that Internet filters are ineffective tools as most parents do not actively use them.

Actually the ruling sides with a challenge brought by the American Civil Liberties Union that said the provisions of the 1998 Child Online Protection Act are too restrictive and violate the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects free speech.

No surprise then – that Civil Libertarians are lauding Judge Reed’s decision as a victory for free speech and Internet creativity.
Internet Porn and Free Speech

Ant Fraud Yields Death Sentence
The company’s name in Chinese — at 20 characters — was unusually long in a language known for brevity, and it purported to show that the company was involved in plastics, machine tools, electrical machinery, fisheries, wine, soft drinks, silk and even chicken breeding. On the surface, at least, the company thrived, with 10 subsidiaries and 800 employees.

Wang’s picture was often snapped as he stood next to government officials. His company was known for its philanthropy and was the subject of a propaganda piece in the local newspapers.

Su Changhong, deputy leader of the economic investigations unit for the Liaoning police, said Wang, who was married with three children, was known for giving gifts of large sums of cash to friends and relatives. “It was a way to show off his identity as a really rich guy,” Su said.

But law enforcement officials say there was a dark side to the happy family man. He kept two mistresses, they said, and more importantly, his company was a facade, built on a pyramid scheme.

The company’s advertisements called out to investors with an enticing offer: Invest the equivalent of about $1,300. Get two boxes of “rare” ants. Raise them for the company, and 10 times a year get $52 for your work. In one year, a participant would make about $520, a whopping 40 percent return.

People did get paid, at first, but it turned out that those high returns were being financed not by profits from real economic activity but by money flowing in from subsequent investors. The term doesn’t exist in China, but in the United States, that would be called a Ponzi scheme, after Charles Ponzi, a Boston scammer who briefly became a millionaire in 1920 by using such a fraud.
china

The British are coming. Again

GREENWICH VILLAGE. New York used to be a British city, and now they want a slice of it back.

In an effort to join the city’s pantheon of ethnic neighbourhoods such as Chinatown and Little Brazil, the Campaign for Little Britain — a coalition of Virgin Airways and local businesses such as Tea and Sympathy and A Salt and Battery — announced its plans yesterday to officially rename the area between West 13th Street and Greenwich Avenue “Little Britain” to honour one of America’s closest and politest allies.

“Officially recognising cultural communities throughout the borough has been a constant throughout the decades,” said Sean Kavanagh-Dowsett, who with his wife Nicky Perry, owner of Tea and Sympathy, created the campaign more than a year ago. “But despite the number of British residents in New York City, and the large number of travellers between here and the U.K., there is no Little Britain.

“We just gave the queen an Oscar, isn’t it time she got a neighbourhood?” he asked.

English soul-singer Joss Stone said the Brits deserved their enclave.

“It’s brilliant, oh my God, I love the idea, why not?” Stone said. “I would definitely stay in Little Britain when I’m here. I feel like New York is my second home anyway.”

With slogans such as “Sir Michael Bloomberg. Know What We Mean, Bloomie?” and “What’s One More Queen in the Village?” the campaign will rely on a very British sense of humour to make its argument heard.

The initial stages of the plan include an online petition and viral advertising campaign. Then, it’s off to Community Board 2 and, if approved, City Hall.

NBC and News Corp unite to challenge YouTube

 

 

 

 

Two of America’s leading film and TV companies, NBC Universal and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, have joined forces to create an online video venture to challenge the might of YouTube.

 

The as yet-unnamed service, which will start in the summer, gives the companies’ TV properties, including NBC and Fox, the chance to reap new revenues. Research firm eMarketer reckons $410m (£210m) was spent on online video advertising last year, a figure expected to almost double.

 

The services will also offer users a viable alternative to illegal file sharing websites and pirated material posted on other video sites. Last week Viacom, which owns MTV, sued YouTube owner Google for more than $1bn alleging “massive intentional copyright infringement” for allowing its material to be posted on the site.

 

The NBC/News Corp service will let users watch clips and whole episodes of shows including Heroes and My Name is Earl, from NBC, and 24, House and The Simpsons, from Fox. It will offer a selection of films, including Fox productions such as Little Miss Sunshine, The Devil Wears Prada and Borat as well as Universal hits such as The Bourne Supremacy.

youtube

Pill to stop an ill wind

German scientists have developed a pill that stops cattle breaking wind.

Methane emissions from cattle are responsible for 4% of harmful greenhouse gas emissions, and any reduction would be a major contribution to reducing global warming.

Scientists at the University of Hohenheim in Germany say they have now tested a pill which in combination with a special diet and strict feeding times should make cattle less harmful to the climate.

The pill, which is still being tested, breaks down the methane in the cows’ stomachs, and also has health benefits for the cattle.

Winfried Drocher, head of the faculty for animal nutrition at the university, said: “It will make this energy available for the cows’ metabolism. The cattle can use the methane to produce glucose instead of just passing it out and it will enable them to produce more milk.”

The only problem at the moment is that the pill is about the size of a fist, which is hard to persuade the cows to swallow.

“It needs to be this big as it dissolves slowly, releasing active ingredients over several months. Our aim is to increase the well-being of the cows and to reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses,” said Drocher.