Latest Fresh News

Millions in damages wanted in baby mix up case | Latest News

2008-05-27T13:42:00.000-07:00

"The first right of any child is the right to their own personal and family identity," said the lawyer of twins separated at birth through a hospital error. "In this case, that right has been violated."

According to Spanish news agencies twins who were separated at birth, then reunited as adults, are suing for millions in damages. Also a third woman who grew up thinking, she was one of the twins has joined the lawsuit against the Canary Islands government.

The real twins met in 2001 and the case has been working its way through the courts since 2004.

Sebastian Socorro Perdomo, a lawyer for one of the twins said that a decision is expected soon on whether they deserve damages. He refused to release the names of any of the women.
In an interview for the local news agency Socorro Perdomo said that his client is seeking $4.7 million from the government of the Canary Islands, where the error occurred back in 1973 in the city of Las Palmas.
"It does not take a lot of effort to put yourself in the position of any of these people in order to understand the damage that has been done," Socorro Perdomo said, explaining how his client was taken out of her crib as her twin sister lay in one right next to her, mistakenly replaced by another baby girl.
His client who was taken away from her twin sister and real family - is the most devastated of the three women: "Since this discovery, her world has turned a bit upside down," he said.
The mistake was discovered by accident at a clothing store in the very same city it all began all those years ago. The sales assistant tried to greet a women with a kiss thinking that she was her friend, but the customer refused.
"The surprised sales assistant then called her friend who assured her that she had not been in to the shop." - said Socorro. When she came by the store a second time, the clerk figured out what was happening and arranged for the women to meet.
Later the DNA tests proved they were identical twins reports The Associated Press.

A donkey is doing time in Mexico

2008-05-20T11:30:00.000-07:00

According to local news a donkey is doing time for assault and battery in Chiapas, South Mexico.
Police spokesperson announced that "the animal was locked up at a local jail that normally holds people for public drunkenness and other disturbances after it bit and kicked two men near a ranch in Chiapas state."
News reports say that the donkey will stay in jail until it's owner agrees to pay medical bills of the men his donkey attacked.
"Around here, if someone commits a crime they are jailed," officer Sinar Gomez said to a local news agency, "no matter who they are".
Mauro Gutierrez, the owner said that he will try to reach a friendly arrangement to pay the bills, estimated at $420.
According to the victims the donkey bit Genaro Vazquez, 63, in the chest and kicked 52-year-old Andres Hernandez and fractured his ankle as he tried to help.
"All of a sudden, the animal was on top of us like it was rabid," Hernandez said.
Police report says it took a half-dozen men to control the enraged donkey.
News archives say that this isn't the first time an animal is thrown in jail in Chiapas. A bull that devoured corn crops and destroyed two wooden vending stands ended up in jail in March, and back in 2006, a dog was locked up for 12 days after biting someone. His owners were fined $18.

DVD's with Child Pornography seized in Sidney | Latest News

2008-05-19T09:37:00.001-07:00

After seizing about 3000 DVD's with allegedly illegal copies of featured films, popular TV series and child pornography, police have arrested a 36 year old man from Lakemba.

According to the news reports the operation was based on an anonymous tip-off to Crime Stoppers and was conducted by the Campsie Proactive Crime Team and Detectives with the assistance of the AFACT (Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft).

Police raided 4 stalls at the weekend market at Beamish Street, in south-west Sydney and arrested the 36-year-old Lakemba man after finding DVD's containing child pornography.

He was taken to Burwood Police Station for questioning. After the arrest police officer searched two houses at Lakemba and Campsie. At Lakemba House they've found more illegal DVD's and child pornography, along with cash and equipment for DVD production.

At court hearing today he was charged with three counts each of disseminate child pornography and posses child pornography, police spokesperson told the local news agencies.

He was refused bail to face Burwood Local Court today, and all DVD's seized by police will be classified by AFACT.

According to local news agencies the investigation is ongoing and more charges are expected.

Estimated number of children involved in child pornography worldwide range from thousands to hundreds of thousands. Back in 2003 around 20% of all pornography traded over the Internet was child pornography.

At the moment there are 100 thousand websites offering illegal child pornography with annual income of $3 billion.

New Jellyfish Species | Latest News

2008-05-18T12:40:00.001-07:00

Latest News

The latest discovery in marine science field is the size of a grain of rice and it looks like living snot National Nine News reported. It's flat body makes it look like a piece of transparent film that glides along the sea grass and it's already described as an evolutionary "dead end."
A new jellyfish has been discovered inside the seahorse exhibit tank at the Reef HQ aquarium in Townsville/North Queensland. "The discovery was accidental" Dr Lisa Gershwin said in her interview with National Nine News.
The expert in marine stingers said she was delighted at the find, because "it was unlike anything she had ever seen."
According to the news reports it is said that the new jellyfish belongs to the family Coeloplana, that it has its mouth on its underside and its anus wrapped around its tiny brain.
"It's lost the ability to sting, it's lost the ability to swim, it's not a very good jellyfish, as far as jellyfish go," Dr. Gershwin told to Australian Associated Press.
"If you saw him in the wild, you'd think he was flatworm. It’s found on algae and sea grass and it’s just a real thin film, real mucusy like a flatworm but it’s got these two tentacles sticking out and it’s actually genetically a jellyfish that looks like a flatworm."
At the moment it is believed to eat microscopic crustaceans, catching them in its tentacles.
The jellyfish, will be studied further by Dr Lisa Gershwin before it is formally described and submitted to a peer reviewed journal. Also It hasn't been officially named yet, But according to news reports the 159th species discovery of Dr Lisa Gershwin will be named after Dr Russell Reichelt, chief executive of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
"This particular one, I think is really, really special," she said.
Stephen Menzies, the aquarium curator is excited to have a new species show up inside one of the exhibits: "I suppose we're getting a bit of a reputation for rare things happening inside the aquarium," he said.
Dr Gershwin said that this discovery is a reminder that there is plenty out there still to be found: "People think we've discovered everything there is to discover. This is a classic incident that proves they shouldn't be so sure," she said.

Latest News

Discrimination | Latest News

2008-05-15T13:02:00.001-07:00

Latest News

Willie Campbell of Dallas, Texas was sentenced to 35 years in prison this Wednesday for spitting at the police officer in 2006. Local news say a jury found that HIV positive Campbell used his saliva as a deadly weapon.

According to prior news reports Campbell was arrested in May 2006 for public intoxication. He began resisting and kicking inside the patrol car, Dallas police office Dan Waller testified. AT one point he spat into the eye and mouth of a Dallas police officer.

42-year-old Campbell will have to serve half of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole.

One thing I don't understand though. Unless he spat blood instead of saliva there is no chance of infection. Human saliva is to acidic for HIV virus, and it actually contains antibodies and not viral particles (taken from Journal of Oral Pathology & Medicine)

And since he was drunk there is no point of claiming than he meant to infect the officer. He simply spat at him in anger.

According to the Center For Disease Control there has never been a case of HIV infection from saliva. HIV is an anaerobic virus meaning that it cannot survive outside of the body for very long

I can understand the fear but Dallas court convicted him of harassment of a public servant, which according to Texas penal code, chapter 22, section 11 is a third degree felony with maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

So unless he said that he wanted to infect the police officer, and he had open sores in his mouth at the time, we have a clear case of discrimination of HIV positive person, and the decision based on the stigma and not on the facts.

Latest News

Video gets man years in jail

2008-05-15T09:14:00.000-07:00

31 year old Miami gang leader was sentenced to over six years in prison for posting an Internet video in which he threatened police with firearms yelling "come get some whenever you're ready."
According to the news reports he denied that he was a co-founder of the "Bird Road Boys" on his trial. He stated that he was only kidding around with friends when the video was made late last year.
"I've never been involved in any violent gang attacks," he said. "It's not been my thing."
The video in which he threatened police with guns and taunted them to arrest him was posted on You Tube in January (January 3rd). The video immediately got the attention of Miami police. It was taken down less that two hours after Local 10 reported it on it's noon Newscast but the police took Villanueva up on his offer.
Local news reports say that police officers found five weapons at the apartment where the video was recorded, around with two 30-round clips and 780 rounds of ammunition.
In February this year Villanueva pleaded guilty to possession of firearms. The AK-47 and shotgun from the video belong to 22-year-old Anthony Logan. Logan pleaded guilty to giving Villanueva the guns and was sentenced to just over a year in prison.
"We's out here, we fighting a cold war," Villanueva said on the video. "Metro Dade Gang Unit, here I am baby."
Takin' it to the next level, dog," says Villanueva. "Come get some whenever you're ready. Come get some. Yeah, baby!"
In his testimony Villanueva said it was all a misunderstanding and that he never sought to threaten the police or anyone else repeating that "he and his friends were only kidding around."
U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke, said that "a defense of kidding around isn't enough, especially with Villanueva's arrest history and conviction for battery."
Stating that "Villanueva is old enough to know what he's doing" and that "it's time to pay the price" she sentenced him to over six years

Bite-Mark database to help fight against crime | Latest News

2008-05-14T13:45:00.000-07:00

Breaking News

For a decade, attorneys and forensic experts have ridiculed the use of bite marks to identify criminals. But according to the latest news scientists are developing a news software that will help to narrow down a list of suspects.

Forensic dentistry was built around the assumption that every person's teeth are unique. The team leader Dr. L. Thomas Johnson, a forensic dentist who helped identify victims of the cannibalistic Milwaukee serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. "It's a valid science if it's done properly." This science has used bite impressions to identify criminals for 40 years.

According to associated press latest news reports researchers at Marquette University have developed a computer program that can measure bite characteristics, speculating that their work could lead to a full database of them. This database could narrow down suspects and lend more scientific weight to bite-mark testimony.
Determined to prove that bite analysis can be done scientifically, Dr. Johnson and his team won about $110,000 in grants and collected 419 bite impressions from Wisconsin soldier volunteers, but they are hoping to collect more impressions from dental schools across the country.

They have built a computer program to catalog characteristics, like tooth width, missing teeth and spaces between them.
News reports say the program calculates how frequently each of this characteristic appears, and according to Dr. Johnson, with enough samples, the software could help forensic dentists in court and actually show us how rarely certain dental characteristic appears in the American population.

"That would help exclude or include defendants as perpetrators," Johnson said.
He said that he is aware that his "software will probably never turn bite-mark analysis into a surefire identifier like DNA and that he would need tens of thousands of samples before his work would stand up in court."
But "this is the first step toward actually providing science for this type of pattern analysis," Johnson said.

But critics as Dr. Bowers who often testifies for the defense in criminal cases, say human skin changes and distorts the imprints of teeth until they are nearly unrecognizable, stating that Johnson should study how skin changes can distort bite marks.

According to the Innocence Project at least 7 people convinced on bite mark identification were freed since 2000. Ray Krone of Arizona was found guilty in 1992 in a murder of Phoenix bartender based on the fact that his teeth matched bites on the victim. After sentencing him to death the court granted him a new trial and sentenced him to life in prison. In 2002 he was freed (the DNA testing proved that he wasn't a killer) and won a spot on the ABC reality show "Extreme Makeover" to remake his teeth.

Mississippi, forensic odontologist Dr. Michael West testified in two child rape-murders in the 1990s and said that bite marks positively identify killer in both cases. Kennedy Brewer was sentenced to death, and Levon Brooks got life in prison in the other case. Later the DNA testing connected another man to one of the rapes and he confessed to both murders. Both Brewer and Brooks were exonerated earlier this year.

Dr. David Sweet, a forensic dentist at the University of British Columbia, has been working on a similar database and has offered Johnson casts and reproductions of the hundreds of bite impressions he is making.

Dr. Robert Barsley, a Louisiana State University dental professor and vice president of the American Academy of Forensic Science, said that Johnson's work "probably wouldn't solve the problem but it would be the step in the tight direction," adding that he too, would send Johnson hundreds of bite impressions.

Even though there are many negative examples like the cases named here, this could be a good idea. At least it's a step in the right direction as Dr. Barsley stated in his interview.

Latest News

Does eBay really sell porn? | Latest Fresh News

2008-05-10T11:33:00.000-07:00

Breaking News

Apparently yes. Latest news report on ninemsn.com.au shows how easy it really is to get porn through eBay thanks to loopholes sellers use to sell their products over the Internet.
According to news reports sellers list lingerie or underwear with suggestive comments or photos and after the buyers contact the seller they are offered pornographic material.
A journalist from ninemsn asked a seller about a pair of men's designer boxer briefs he had listed for $8.50. He was then offered a DVD containing explicit gay sex videos.
According to the report the seller claimed he has a library of homemade videos.
Ninemsn reports that a 17-year-old boy was willing to sell them a selection of images for $18.
eBay Australia, spokesperson said that the web site relies on filters and the online community to block the sale of porn on its web site.
"We do have filters, which get 95 per cent of it," eBay spokesman Daniel Feiler stated in his interview with Australian Associated Press. "We also rely on the community to report these things to us."
He also stated that most pornographic purchases, were outside eBay's jurisdiction since the sellers are offering porn off eBay once they get the email from the person interested in their listed offer.
"There is little we can do about that when people are partaking in those transactions off eBay."
He admitted that with thousands of new listings added each day some do slip through their filtering process: "Occasionally there have been things that get through, but they typically tend to get found out," he said. "The reality is that eBay is not a hiding place for criminals. People who use eBay tend to leave footprints and fingerprints behind. We track a lot of that information and where people are doing the wrong thing we're more than willing to pass on that information to police."
Who knows maybe that perfect lingerie you are interested in doesn't really exist, except in a video that will be offered to you soon enough.

Latest News

Australian speeding ticket for British man annulled

2008-03-27T15:47:00.000-07:00

Speeding tickets are never pleasant. But actually receiving one for speeding in a country you've never been to, that's really something.

Australian Associated Press reports that a ticket was sent by South Australian police half way around the world to 65-year-old David Smart in Scunthorpe, Northern England.

News agency said that the $196 fine stated he was caught speeding at 68km/hr in a 60km/hr zone on Adelaide Rd, Littlehampton, at 9am on December 14, 2007.

According to news archives and police reports the registered owner of the speeding vehicle Kathryn Julia Fluin signed a statutory declaration in wich she claims that Mr Smart was behind the wheel.

"The owner of this vehicle, Fluin, Kathryn Julia, has affirmed in a statutory declaration that you were the driver of the vehicle at the time of the alleged offence," the fine says.

"I've never been to Australia, which is a wonderful country I'm sure, and I would love to go there one day," Mr Smart said. "And I've never had a ticket in my life, I'm pleased to say. The woman is obviously mistaken and where she got my name and address from I have no idea."

Local police in his home town of Scunthorpe, advised Mr Smart not to pay the fine, which he originally recieved last December. However he received a few reminders since than, ordering him to pay up or even heavier fine will be issued.

"I went to my local police station and they advised me against payment because I haven't been there," he said.

"I think if I get caught for speeding I'll have to give them Kathryn Fluin's name. And if the Australian police need a description of me, I look like (Neighbors character) Harold Bishop with a little moustache."

In the mean time the fine was withdrawn after it was determined that mr.Smart has never been in Australia. AAP said that Ms Fluin, couldn't be contacted and that she will probably be charged with offence of 'making a false statutory declaration.' The penalty for making a false statement in a statutory declaration is 4 years imprisonment.

How did Ms. Fluin knew Mr. Smart's name and address? I guess it's something that will remain a mystery, at least until we hear about Ms.Fluin's trial that is.

Crucified again

2008-03-21T16:25:00.000-07:00

For Christian pilgrims around the world, Good Friday is the important day. Many devoted Roman Catholics in Philippines are prepared to put themselves through the agonizing ordeal of being nailed to a cross to thank God for answering their prayers.

Philippine newspapers have published warnings issued by health officials as well as their recommendation: a tetanus shots for all participators in this bizarre ritual that shocks outsiders and tourists who gather every year in this humble farming community.

47-year-old Ruben Enaje is one of 19 men in Cutud, San Fernando Pampanga, in Northern Philippines who will undergo the crucifixion ritual. He is taking part in the ritual for the 22nd time. In his interview with AFP news agency Enaje said he skipped the ritual eight years ago, because he had a stomach ulcers and his wife was taken ill.

''It is painful and difficult. But I will continue doing this for as long as I can. This is my pledge to God,'' Enaje told AFP.

The crucifixions are organized by the village council, with help from the Philippine department of tourism, said village official Leonard David. Other areas in Central Luzon where crucifixion reenactments are also held include Angeles City and Sto. Tomas, both in Pampanga, and in Bulacan province.

In an interview with ABS-CBN News, Enaje explained why he has made crucifixion his annual ritual: “It’s not only to atone the sins of my friends and my neighbors, but also my family. This sacrifice started when I met an accident at my work place in Tarlac, which I survived,” he added.

Three wooden crosses have already been placed on top of the barren hill where Enaje will be crucified along with 18 others. Metal nails will be driven into their palms as the cross they are nailed to is raised briefly and then taken down again for the nails to be pulled out.

“As long as my body can bear the pain of the six-inch nails pierced through my palms and feet, I will do it,” he said.

''The church does not recommend it because the church is against self-flagellation,'' said Father Norman Vitug, about these extreme Christian rituals. ''Of course when we express our faith to the Lord the Church does not want us to hurt ourselves for us to experience the Love of God. But we cannot question somebody's faith. It's just an expression of their faith. We do not lead their lives so we do not know what happens to them while experiencing that, so we might as well respect it,'' the priest added.

Elephant in a bubble

2008-03-14T17:09:00.000-07:00

Elephant named Tai is a center of attention once again. After string of appearances in movies and commercials and 2006 art exhibit in Los Angeles, the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana wants to put Tai in a bubble.

Bubble artist Fan Yang who have already done such stunts with humans before hopes to set a record for the largest living land mammal in a bubble. He will use a customized wand to create a bubble large enough to enclose 7-foot, 6-inch Tai.

The center hopes that the publicity would draw people so they could teach about elephants, endangered species and the science behind the bubbles. Yang’s show, and interactive exhibits, teach people about “air pressure, elasticity and molecular properties,” says Julie Smith, one of the centers spokespersons.

When asked about comments how enclosing an elephant into a bubble is demeaning to an animal Yang said: "I don’t think exposing bubbles to animals is demeaning at all. If we humans enjoy to play with bubbles and admire its beauty I do believe that some animal can enjoy the same way like we do. I would like to know if any one out there can provide a proof that animal was hurt by the bubble. I respect animals and I specially like Elephants. I was last year in India to visit Elephants in the Jungle and ride on them I think they are just incredible animal and there is no way that bubbles can harm them in any way."

The stunt is part of the museum's "Bubblefest" exhibit, and They have maintained that placing the elephant in a bubble does not amount to abuse, but after a thousands of e-mail's and numerous calls from animal advocates for protest they've started reconsidering the event.

"Right now it's probably 50-50 whether we'll go ahead and do it or cancel," Perovich said. The science center's staff is meeting today and announce its decision by mid-afternoon.

One of the main concerns that will affect the decision is safety. Even though the elephant is calm and will be under constant supervision of two trainers, it will not be separated from the crowd in any way. So the science center is concerned about what might happen if the exhibit is visited by protesters.

"First and foremost we want our guests to be safe," Perovich said. "We wouldn't want to have unruly protesters in Celebrity Oops Gallery."

"This event will send a very wrong message to children by trivializing a member of an endangered species and representing her as nothing more than a stage prop," read a letter sent to the science center this week by 11 current and former zoo curators, veterinarians and other professionals.

As much as I am against animal cruelty I can't say that I actually see any of it in this. For some reason I keep on thinking about Goofy bathing Dolores, which made me think about the letter that said how this will trivialize an endangered specie. I really don't see it that way. Somehow this does sound like a good idea to draw people and teach them about elephants.

Besides how can 10-15 seconds inside of a soap bubble harm anyone?

Forgive me, Father, For I Have Sinned 2.0

2008-03-13T12:55:00.001-07:00

"If you can pay for your bills online, why not pay for your sins?" This line really got me thinking. Has it really come to that? Online confessions and forgiveness forms?

According to statistics tens of thousands are visiting sites like ivescrewedup.com, mysecret.tv and dailyconfessions.com and unburdening themselves daily, and priests have stated that there is a steady decline in sinners showing up to confess in person.

Admissions on Christian church-operated sites range from trivial things to major thefts. The majority of confessions, signed with initials and young ages, are descriptions of shame and guilt associated with sex.

Professor Sherry Turkle has researched cyber relationships and interviewed people who post confessions online. She is is calling it "a new genre of confession."
"They have said to me, 'This is where hope is for me.' They think they can find on these sites some kind of goodness that eludes them in real life, but what these sites say to me is what are we are increasingly missing in our lives, a sense of community and real, tangible connection with other people," Turkle said.

LifeChurch members say they are monitoring messages and deleting those that are, in their view, too graphic or fabricated.

Pastor Troy Gramling of South Florida's Flamingo Road Church, which launched ivescrewedup.com last year said: "We don't want to track IP addresses, because that would compromise the authenticity of a site that says it's anonymous." stating that the churches phone numbers are on the site. "We're hoping that if they want to reach out and give their name, or talk to someone, they will," said Gruenewald.

I'm thinking, not. Remember how in movies the perfect criminals and uncaughtable serial killers always want one thing, and one thing only? Publicity! Maybe it's just me, but isn't that exactly what sites like these are giving them. If someone posts a confession of a criminal nature there is nothing anyone can do about it because, in the name of anonymity, IP's are not tracked by Celebrity Oops exposed.

Pastor Gramling said online confession is not meant to replace traditional confession. "Just because confessions don't go directly to God through a priest or a church doesn't mean they aren't sincere," he said. "And there's something healing about just going on the site and reading it, seeing all these other confessions. Some people might realize, 'Maybe I'm not alone.'

I agree that it can be therapeutical to one point, but maybe people should consider group therapy or a chat with their best friend rather than baring their soul online through one of these sites.
What's the point of confession, something that should be private and between you and God only, if anyone can see it once they enter the website? According to statistics when the Mysecret.tv was featured on AOL's homepage, more than 1.3 million people clicked on it in a single day.
Will God really see the "ask for forgiveness" form you filled on forgivenet.com? Does anyone actually belive in forgiveness gained through this or is it just another way for people to avoid their responsibilities? Most of all is anonymity a substitute for privacy and the intimacy experienced by talking to a priest?

A new way to create ethanol

2008-03-12T16:15:00.000-07:00

Their site says: "An entirely new approach to cellulosic ethanol." I have to say I certainly haven't heard of it before. The team of specialists from ZeaChem, Inc. says you have to make vinegar if you want to make ethanol.
According to them by 2010 they should be able to produce ethanol for 80 cents per gallon at wholesale. Apparently their new way of making cellulosic ethanol is much more successfully than any of the competing processes. They are able to make about 40 percent more fuel per ton of wood chips than any other company.
So, what is it that makes their way, "the way to do it?"
Most producers convert cellulose to ethanol by separating wood into three principle ingredients (cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin) followed by fermentation of cellulose and hemicellulose into alcohol. The fermented alcohol is then concentrated by distillation. Traditional fermentation brings to a loss of carbon through carbon dioxide.
ZeaChem on the other hand after separating the cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, uses a microbe to convert cellulose and hemicellulose into acetic acid, the signature ingredient of vinegar. This conversion does not give off carbon dioxide, which leaves more carbon in the fuel. Meanwhile, they cook the lignin to extract hydrogen which is subsequently combined with the acetic acid to produce ethanol.
"Two-thirds of the energy in the ethanol comes from the acetic acid, while one-third comes from the added hydrogen," said Imbler, "which is similar to the ratio of initial molecules from the wood. In a sense, the company is blowing apart wood and reforming it as an alcohol."
"By using this method ZeaChem's makes 160 gallons of liquid per ton of dry raw material," says Imbler. Of course ZeaChem hasn't proven its method on a large scale yet. They have shown lab results and, at the moment they are mapping out plans for 100 million-gallon-a-year processing facilities. Also ZeaChem is cutting deals with poplar tree farmers to buy trees because, as they said, they don't want to rely on garbage or waste products for feedstocks in Celebrity Oops.
The company employs one species of microbe to perform the conversion. It's a fairly common species that required no genetic modification and can be found in manure, the guts of termites, and many other places.
"Anything that falls on the ground it will eat," said co-founder Dan Verser.
Verser further added that similar microbes can be used to produce different types of fuel: "If the ethanol market doesn't take off, ZeaChem can switch to butanol or some other fuel just like you might change an ingredient in salad dressing."

Posted on Propeler

The trip of the next generation

2008-03-11T06:40:00.000-07:00

Native to Oaxaca, Mexico, Salvia divinorum is generally smoked but can also be chewed or made into a tea. It's legal in most countries and, in the majority of states in US, but, some have called for its prohibition.
"Time is running out! ... stock up while you still can." is the slogan you can see on the web sites promoting the powers of salvia divinorum. Originally used to enhance a meditative state during religious rituals, Salvia is known to give it's users an out-of-body sense of traveling through time and space or merging with inanimate objects
No known deaths have been attributed to it's use, but it was listed as a factor in Delaware teen's suicide two years ago. According to reports, the autopsy found no traces of salvia in his system, but the medical examiner listed it as a contributing cause. The boy's parents are blaming their son's death on this plant as well.
You can find an ounce of salvia leaves for around $30 on the Internet. A liquid extract from the plant, salvinorin A ( chemical formula C23H28O8 ), is also sold. It can be found in various flavors and strengths labeled "5x" through "60x." for about $12 and $65 per gram.
The owner of Wish Bone Gifts, Rod Crossland, whose store is selling the product since 2003, said, he smoked the drug for the hallucinogenic feeling, but stated that salvia is not for parties.
"The hallucinogenic feeling of Salvia divinorum lasts between five and 10 minutes. It's an introspective psychedelic drug," Crossland said. "I really don't see it becoming a party drug in Celebrity Oops Gossip."
Lawmakers are concerned that this inexpensive and easily found plant could become the next marijuana. According to professor Jonathan Appel, who has studied the emergence of the substance, Salvia is much more powerful than marijuana. Some studies have shown that Salvinorin A works in the same place in the brain as morphine and related pain reducers known as opioids.
According to DEA's Web site, the drug usually causes incoordination, dizziness and slurred speech as part of the short-term physical effects. But still neither the DEA nor Sagewisdom.org cited any long-term harmful effects on the body from salvinorin A.
Aurelia Aurora Catarino, 56, one of Huautla's leading curanderas, or shamans said: "Foreigners come here without thinking, looking for a cure from reality. The purpose of these sacraments is to purify, and to open the road. When it opens, it's as clear as the blue sky, and the stars at night are as bright as suns."
"But in the wrong hands, it can be a disaster," she said. "It can send people to hell."

Posted on Propeller

Where do abandoned pets go?

2008-03-09T12:05:00.001-07:00

"Nearly $12 million in capital funds for the shelters is sitting in the city budget." said Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Queens). But, according to animal advocates the city Health Department fails to fund services for stray animals properly. As a result of that broken promise many homeless dogs and cats are dying.

The law from 2000 mandates that each borough have its own full-service animal shelter by 2002. The deadline was extended to 2006, but no new sites have been purchased or renovated since.

Animal Care & Control of New York City is the largest pet organization in the North East. With an estimated number of 44,000 animals rescued each year, they have been responsible for shelter system in NYC, rescuing, caring, and finding homes for homeless and abandoned animals. They are also the only organization in the city required to take in all stray and unwanted animals. At the moment thay have shelters in Brooklyn, Staten Island and Manhattan, but Queens and the Bronx are not that lucky. In these boroughs AC&C has a small part-time receiving centers with not enough space, food and equipment.

"We welcome suggestions for appropriate space as we recognize the need for spay/neuter facilities in these communities, particularly in the Bronx," the Health Department said in a statement.

According to reports shelters took in more than 39,000 unwanted dogs and cats, and euthanized more than 15,000 of them, last year only. Many of them were killed because of lack of space and food and because not enough people were coming forward to give them new homes, officials said.

I read something on AC&C website that really caught my attention. "Homeless pets are a huge problem" Maybe it's just me but once they are homeless they are not pets anymore, are they? As said as it is, that is the truth. And if you really think about it the problem goes beyond space and food for these animals. People leaving them in the street after a year or two are much bigger problem. I cant say that I see the solution except bigger and better shelter facilities, but still, it makes me wonder what can we do to stop people from abandoning their once wanted pets?

A new hope in cancer therapy

2008-03-08T11:36:00.000-08:00

It's already well known that aspirin can protect you against heart disease, but according to the research this popular painkiller can lower risk of developing or dying from cancer.

The team from Washington University of St. Louis said experiments in mice showed that combination of aspirin and an experimental anti-clotting drug called APT102 slowed the growth and spread of breast and melanoma tumors.

Platelets are irregularly-shaped, colorless bodies that are present in blood. Their sticky surface lets them, along with other substances, form clots to stop bleeding. The are also known to shelter and feed tumor cells in the bloodstream, making it easier for cancer to spread, or metastasize, so inactivation of platelets may help slow or prevent this spread.

"Past research has shown that tumor cells activate platelets and that mice with defective platelets have significantly fewer metastases," Dr. Katherine Weilbaecher, who helped lead the study, said.

"We also know that platelets have several traits that can aid tumor cells, and we are working to break up that potentially lethal partnership."

Neither aspirin nor APT102 lessened the amount and size of bone tumors in the mice by themselves, possibly because cancer cells can activate platelets in several different ways: "Aspirin prevents platelets from making thromboxane, a substance that facilitates clotting," Weilbaecher says. "APT102 is an especially interesting drug because it gets rid of a compound called ADP-ribosylation, which tumor cells release and which stimulates platelets to clump. So APT102 prevents platelet activation in response to tumor cells."

The researchers noted that the drug combination would likely be well tolerated because it did not cause excessive bleeding in the mice, as might be expected from platelet inhibitors. They said that they will continue to study the process of metastasis and the role played by platelets.

It's suggested that taking aspirin or ibuprofen along with chemotherapy may make it more effective. And, according to some research an aspirin a day will slow the progression or even prevent dementia.

But we should know that aspirin is not harmless, and that thousands of people die each year ( in US only ) from complications related to taking aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

While it's a potential life saver and doctors want to encourage its use, many people don't realize that the risks of bleeding may greatly outweigh the health benefits. So the benifits of an "aspirin a day"need to be carefully weighed against the complications that may occur by a medical professional.

8 year old Genius

2008-03-07T10:04:00.000-08:00

Remember those boring college admission tests? Can you even imagine someone taking that test for fun? Well, an 8 year old boy from Brazil did. And he passed after just one week of preparation.

Joao Victor Portelinha de Oliveira's achievement astonished people around the world, shocking the Ministry of Education and Brazil's legal profession.

"My dream is to be a federal judge," the boy said. "So I decided to take the test to see how I would do ... It was easy. I studied a week before the test."

The "Universidade Paulista," where de Oliveira took the test is a multicampus private university in Sao Paolo. They initially enrolled the boy, but after he appeared at school with his father they turned him away. School officials stated, he has to graduate from high school before enrolling into college, and that the fees will be returned to him.

"I think they should have been more considerate," said the boy's mother. "At least they should've allowed him to visit the college's facilities."

The Brazilian Bar Association took the matter very seriously and said that the boys achievement should be taken as a warning about the low standards of some of the nation's law schools, adding that the boy has shown "the low quality and the commercialization of law studies" in this South American country.

Joao Victor is still in year 5 ( two levels ahead of normal for his age ) but his mother says he's just a normal boy and not a genius.

"He is a regular boy," she said, "he is very dedicated, likes to read and study, but he has fun and makes friends. It's just that he was stimulated, he participated in our discussions and he took interest in current affairs and interacted a lot with adults."

I guess, if you want your dreams to come true, you better start early.

Psychic computers, reality or science fiction?

2008-03-06T11:26:00.000-08:00

By definition a psychic is someone capable of extraordinary mental processes, such as extrasensory perception and mental telepathy. But what do you call a computer that has such abilities? It might sound like science fiction but US scientists claim it's a real deal.

Apparently researchers have been able to decode signals in a key part of the brain to identify images seen by a volunteer. They used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a non-invasive scanner that detects minute flows of blood within the brain and built a computational model based on blood-flow patterns in three key areas of the visual cortex - a frontal part of the brain that reconstitutes images.

Approximately 1/3 to 1/2 of the human brain is devoted to vision, so the signatures were derived from 1,750 images of horses, trees, buildings and flowers.

The programme scanned a set of 120 brand new pictures to predict what kind of fMRI patterns these would make in the visual cortex of volunteers, who then look at the pictures themselves while being scanned. The computer matched the measured brain activity against the predicted one, and tried to pick an image that it believed was the closest match.

After a 92% success rate with one volunteer, and 72% with the other ( the probability of this happening on the basis of chance is only 0.8 percent ), they've decided to take the experiment even further by expanding the set of images from 120 to 1000. The accuracy of course declined, but only by 10%.

"Our estimates suggest that even with a set of one billion images, which is roughly the number of images indexed by Google on the Internet, the decoder would correctly identify the image about 20 percent of the time," said lead author professor Jack Gallant.

At the moment the device identifies an image that was taken from a known set, but, the potential is enormous.

While this discovery could have positive uses, like aiding communication for paralyzed or disabled, there is always a negative side. Whether it will be used for brain-reading or not, there is a cloud of controversy around it, and the researchers said that even though the device cannot "read people's minds," the work's ethical implications should be examined now, while the field is still young.

Frog therapy

2008-03-05T12:27:00.000-08:00

Type 2 Diabetes is a metabolic disorder that is primarily characterized by insulin resistance, relative insulin deficiency and hyperglycemia. Because of it's nature it is also known as non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). Researchers at the University of Ulster and United Arab Emirates University belive that a tiny South American frog is the answer for type 2 diabetes.
While studying the properties of South American paradoxical frog's skin researchers have found a substance that can stimulate the release of insulin.
A South American striped frog (Pseudis paradoxa), remarkable for having a tadpole larger than the adult, and hence called paradoxical frog can be found in permanent ponds with vegetation in South America and Trinidad and Celebrity Oops Hairstyles.
In type 2 diabetes, the body either does not produce enough insulin or the cells ignore it. Laboratory tests have shown that the paradoxical frog’s peptide, known as pseudin-2, increased release of insulin in cultured cells by 50 per cent. However, there's more work to be done before the therapy is ready to be tested on humans.
Dr Yasser Abdel-Wahab, senior lecturer in biomedical sciences at the University of Ulster, said: "We are at an exciting stage with this research. More research is needed, but there is a growing body of work around natural anti-diabetic drug discovery that, as you can see, is already yielding fascinating results."
"We have tested a more potent synthetic version of the Pseudin-2 peptide and have found that it has the potential for development into a compound for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes. Now we need to take this a step further and put our work into practice to try and help people with Type 2 diabetes."
The skin secretions of frogs and other amphibians are being investigated as a source of biological agents for new drugs for some time. You can already find a diabetes drug based on the saliva of Gila monster, but apparently the frog secretions could be even more effective.

Posted on Propeller

Bandsaw Intro

The good blades in your Bandsaw will give a pretty better cuts and make the job much much easier and safer.

More teeths per inch will make a cleaner cuts but the blades will cut slower, a blade with fewer TPI will cuts quick and leave a rougher finish.

For purpose of resawing, you will be needed an aggressive peace of blade, one with very few tooths per inch, and as wide as the saw will accommodate.

The major and general rule is - at least 3 teeths in the materials at all times and run as wide a blades as possible for the particular set of job.

A wider blades give you more stability and a straigh cuts, while narrower blades gives you tighter radius. In principle, the wider the bandsaw blade, the higher its beam strength and the better it can maintain straightness.

Bandsaw Intro

drill press vise intro

A drill press vise is an basic tool for drill holes or diging to exact depth.
For woodwork, you should select a woodworking table with through slot so item can be easily clamped to the tables.

Sutable table tilt left or right for angled drill and it suppose to have some slot that will allow you to clamp workpieces to the tables. This will allow you to drill an offset holes when necessary. The tables on most of the drills presses can be raised and lowered along the entire length of the column. It can also swivel 360° around the column. Better crafted benches will drill presses have large, tilting table with fence.

While the most of the floor models have better capacity, most home maded shops will find a benchtop press totally adequate and plus it's compact so it can be moved out of the your way when that is necessary.

drill press vise intro

A new generation of green cars

2008-03-04T17:39:00.001-08:00

Lithium-ion batteries are already widely used in laptops, cellphones and other small personal technological items. According to global chief engineer of GM's hybrid systems, Stephen Poulos, from 2010 this battery will be used to power new Chevrolet Volt.
The announcement was made at Geneva Motor Show and apparently the combination of battery and small-displacement turbocharged gasoline engine, enables the automakers to use the hybrid system on vehicles of any size .
New lithium-ion battery will be about the size of a case of soda, whic is about a quarter the size of the current nickel-metal hydride batteries used in most hybrids.
"We need a battery that is very compact and is very light," says Stephen Poulos,"Lithium ion is a great enabler for that."
LiIon battery brings GM one step closer to developing the battery needed for its Chevrolet Volt concept car who's mass production will begin in 2010.
Volt can be configured to run on electricity, gasoline, E85 or biodiesel thanks to E-Flex Propulsion System. It's Lithium Ion battery has a peak output of 136 kW, a total capacity of 16 kWh. and can be charged by plugging in to any standard 110 V outlet. It's fully charged in about 6.5 hours which gives you 40 miles (on batteries alone). With a 12 gallon tank filled to it's capacity Volt has a range of 640 miles.
Despite the short circuit problems with LiIon batteries both GM and Honda say they are confident using them because their applications don't impose a severe duty cycle.
According to Denise Gray, director of hybrid energy storage systems, there are several safeguards in batteries designed for new Volt to prevent a short-circuit in one module from overheating it and causing a chain-reaction in other battery modules. Also the battery has a special high-temperature separator membranes between the electrodes which minimizes the chances of the thermal runway that causes overheating batteries to catch on fire
At the moment Honda is using lithium-ion batteries in FCX Clarity, Daimler announced last week that it, too, will use lithium-ion batteries on hybrid version of Mercedes S-class sedans next year. Toyota said in December that it was preparing to start mass-producing lithium-ion batteries for its low-emissions cars.
Automakers and battery companies across the world have been racing to develop lithium-ion technology. All I can say is that it doesn’t matter who does it first as long as the job is done.

A Gift of Life

2008-03-01T12:04:00.000-08:00

Finding childhood friends on sites like Facebook is not a rare thing these days. I know, I've found a couple of people I was wondering about for a long long time. But when Ricardo Manier received a friend request from his long lost friend Karl Celestin, he never even imagined that this newly rebuilt friendship will bring him a new healthy life.
Two of them met in the fourth grade at the Holy Family School and according to Sister Matthew Mary “They were practically inseparable.”
After some time, and a lot of talk Celestin found out that his friend suffers from focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, a kidney-scarring disease that often causes chronic kidney failure, and offered him one of his kidneys.
Manier has been repeatedly hospitalized since he was 5, but hard work got him to premed school at California college.He was hospitalized in June last year when his kidneys just stopped working, and according to his doctors he was just days from death. During his six-week hospitalization he received a friend request from Celestin.
After a lot of tests and despite very long odds, it turned out that they are a match, and Celestin returned to New York for the surgery. When asked about his "donation" he said "I put myself in his shoes." explaining how it pained him to see his old friend's similar ambitions delayed by his condition, which led to dialysis three times a week.
City Councilmen James Gennaro quoted Walt Whitman, who said “when I give, I give of myself,” as he presented Celestin with a certificate from the council, adding, “You give that idea new meaning."
"He's giving me something not too many people would give," Manier, said of his friend. "It's almost like I've been given a second chance," he added, talking about how his friend selfless act will enable them to become classmates once again.
On Tuesday, February 26, surgeons successfully transplanted the organ in surgeries which lasted about nine hours.
Manier says his lifesaving reunion with Celestin was a case of serendipity. His mother, Gail, thinks it was fate that they were grade school classmates.
I guess everything really happens for a reason. Fate or just pure coincidence Karl's gift of life is something we should all be proud of.

A goodbye to poisonous toys

2008-02-29T11:24:00.000-08:00

After many cases of lead and phthalates poisoning, toy industry has developed a new safety plan to eliminate these toxic substances from our children toys.
The U.S. Toy Industry Association board unanimously approved a plan for a new testing system after the recall of tens of millions of Chinese-made toys last year.
According to Joan Lawrence, Toy Industry Association Vice President of Safety Standards, new safety program includes, stricter and more consistent testing as well as checking of factories to make sure they have proper controls in place where toys are being made.
The European Union has a complete ban, and Mexico has blocked imports and sales of products for children. Thirteen additional countries have taken steps to ban or restrict their use.
The full dangers remain unknown, but we already know that Phthalates ( substance used to increase flexibility of plastic ) interfere with the functioning of the hormone system, and can cause reproductive abnormalities. Minor exposures to lead can cause nervous system disorders, lowered IQ’s, impaired memory and reaction times, and shortened attention spans.
A 2006 Chicago lab study of phthalate levels in 16 children's toys had an alarming results. Phthalates levels in toys were 5 -13 times greater than trace levels (5 times in teething ring, 13 in rubber duck).
Joan Lawrence said that US toy industry is working with Chinese manufacturers: "China is very keen on fixing this situation, and they are being very cooperative."
According to Lawrence, toy stores will put the imported toys through additional testing in independent labs.
New safety standards are also being put into place for toys with magnets to prevent them from being swallowed by children. Nickel cadmium batteries are being pulled out from use in toy industry.
"The industry takes the issue of the recalls in '07 very seriously," Lawrence said. "We have created a very aggressive program to fix the lapse we saw in the safety assurance process."

Hopefully this will eliminate the toxins from toys once and for all, and keep the children safe, healthy and happy.

How safe internet really is?

2008-02-28T14:57:00.000-08:00

Most people feel safe when visiting their favorite websites. None of us really feel like we need protection. But with increasing number of online predators, social-networking sites are a trying to find a solution to protect their users. From now on leading Internet scholars will explore how children can avoid unwanted contact and content when using MySpace and other popular online hangouts.
Internet Safety Technical Task Force is part of an agreement that MySpace, reached with all US attorneys general except Texas' in January. It's main task is to keep children safe - not only from sexual predators but also from online bullies and adult content.
My Space created the task force, named it's member's and chose Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society to run it but according to Berkman's executive director the group will operate independently.
Besides MySpace and Berkman, task force members include social-networking sites Facebook and Bebo; Google Inc. (GOOG), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) and Time Warner Inc. (TWX)'s AOL; Internet service providers Comcast, AT&T Inc. (ATT) and Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and child-safety groups such as the missing children's center, WiredSafety.org and Enough is Enough.
"This task force is virtually a who's who of the Internet, a powerfully impressive list of players who can achieve real progress in social-networking safety," Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said in a statement.
Many experts argue about wether the age-verification technology is going to work or not, because kids lack driver's licenses and appear in few databases that are used to check birthdays. Still, law-enforcement officials have been calling for its use.

Killer robots

2008-02-28T12:59:00.000-08:00

Every time someone start's talking about robots I remember Robin Williams in "Bicentennial Man." But according to military experts and scientists a new generation of robots is far from those we saw in this movie.
Chris Elliot, of Britain's Royal Society of Engineering, warned about autonomous robots, that can move around, scout - and even kill - without direct human oversight: "How do we make sure they comply with the rules of engagement? If an autonomous robot attacked a civilian target, who would be held responsible? The manufacturer? The programmer? The operator?
"Can a robot commit a war crime?" he said, adding that: "even though moral concerns might keep lethal autonomous robots out of Western arsenals, other nations or armed groups might not be so scrupulous."
"Sooner or later we're going to see a Cessna programmed to fly into a building. They are cheap. They don't need as much motor power or fuel, and they're difficult to detect - about as difficult to detect as a blackbird." Rear admiral Chris Parry of Ministry of Defense said.
Military experts agree that terrorists could use small pilot less aircraft in aerial attacks. Knowing that instructions and materials for these lethal, improvised robots are easily available this is something just waiting to happen.
Scientist Richard Starkey backed up Parry's claims: "It is very easy to go to the Internet ... or go down to the scrap yard and put a robot together. You don't need (it) to last long if you want to explode it among a civilian population."
According to Noel Sharkey, a professor of artificial intelligence and robotics at the University of Sheffield a basic killbot could be built for £250.
A strategy document put out by the U.S. Department of Defense has set a goal of having one-third of ground combat vehicles unmanned by 2015. Over 4,000 robots are serving in Iraq at present, others in Afghanistan. And now they are armed.
"The deployment of the first armed battlefield robots in Iraq is the latest step on a dangerous path - we are sleepwalking into a brave new world where robots decide who, where and when to kill." said Sharkey
I can't help but ask: How will a robot make a difference between a bus full of children and an enemy vehicle, or a child with a toy and an armed robber?
Are we really prepared to trust them with our lives?

Kids bringing drugs to school

2008-02-27T12:12:00.000-08:00

What do you do when a 10 year old appears in your office with a bag of crack cocainet? Parker Elementary School's principal found out the hard way.
A 7-year-old boy found a bag in his pocket, and his 10-year-old sister, recognized it as cocaine. She turned the drugs over to the principal, and that's where it all began.
During a search of their home this Monday, police found 22 grams of crack, four plastic bags of marijuana, four scales and $3,255 in cash.
The children's 26-year-old mother, 27-year-old father and two uncles, age 19 and 20, were arrested. They were initially charged with child endangerment, but after the search multiple felony of drug possession and distribution charges have been added to the list.
"The unfortunate situation that took place at Parker School falls into the realm of things that children should not have to endure," Superintendent of Schools Rodney Lofton said in a statement. "I would hope that the adults in the lives of children would be more responsible, reliable and protective of the precious lives in their charge."
According to Lofton a letter was being sent home with Parker students "explaining the incident and advising parents of the availability and substance abuse."
Authorities did not release the names of the suspects to protect the identities of the two children, who are now in the custody of the DYFS.
Drug abuse is one thing, but not noticing that your seven year old took 70 grams of crack cocaine to school is a whole new kind of stupid. I guess some "parents" don't know what being responsible means.
One thing is for sure: Children should NOT be exposed to drugs, let alone have them in their possession.