Susan Boyle's increasingly strange behaviour is a result of the enormous pressure she's facing after becoming an international sensation, says psychologist.
While writing in The Mirror, behavioural psychologist Jo Hemmings said that Boyle has been living her life in an absolutely different world than she's used to, making it difficult for her to cope.
And it's worse for someone like Boyle who has psychological problems, he adds.
She's freaking out because she doesn't know how to act in situation.
Hemmings claims that 'Britain's Got Talent' will have a lasting impact on Boyle.
The recent outburst when judge Piers Morgan said Shaheen Jafargholi was in with a chance of winning was the outcome of the feeling of betrayal, because Piers was such a great fan of hers.
She's trying to act how she thinks she should act in that scenario. It looks awkward and uncomfortable and doesn't come naturally to her.
Hemmings said that winning will be the best option but her outbursts will affect her chances because we're looking at her with less affection now.
He said she never expected to win when she first entered but has an artificial selfbelief that has been put on her by other people.
She's now convinced she'll win - and that's part of her problem, Hemmings added.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Teen movies have fewer swear words now
WASHINGTON - Movies targeting teenagers were often full of violence but a welcome development is that they no longer bristle with as many swear words as they did 25 years ago, a new study says.
Communications professors of the Brigham Young University analysed 90 top-grossing movies from 1980 to 2006 for swear words and bad language, including those with sexual and excretory overtones. They found that current movies have only half the profane language.
“We were quite surprised at the findings,” study co-author Mark Callister said.
“When you consider that profanity is increasing on television, especially during the 9 to 10 p.m. hour, and in music lyrics, you often expect to find similar trends in other media,” he added.
They selected this genre of movies, based on whether the story line centred on teens and the film featured performers aged between 12 and 17 years and teens in major and minor roles. Only G-, PG- and PG-13-rated films were included because teens aren’t supposed to see R-rated movies without a parent or guardian.
The three researchers found 2,311 instances of swearing in the 90 films they surveyed.
The eighties movies, including “Back to the Future”, “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” and “Karate Kid” averaged 35 instances of profanity per film, while that figure dropped to 25 profanities in the 1990s in movies like “Clueless”, “The Brady Bunch Movie” and “Little Big League”, and dropped again to 16 instances per show in the 2000s in movies including “Spider Man”, “Harry Potter” and “Remember the Titans”.
Commonly swear words are classified as mild words, including “damn” and “hell”, and they constitute 57 percent of the bad words, said a university release.
Researchers were concerned over how young minds are impressionable and how Hollywood movies deeply impact American culture.
“Teens have access to movies like never before through TV, DVDs, the Internet and pay-per-view,” the study said.
Communications professors of the Brigham Young University analysed 90 top-grossing movies from 1980 to 2006 for swear words and bad language, including those with sexual and excretory overtones. They found that current movies have only half the profane language.
“We were quite surprised at the findings,” study co-author Mark Callister said.
“When you consider that profanity is increasing on television, especially during the 9 to 10 p.m. hour, and in music lyrics, you often expect to find similar trends in other media,” he added.
They selected this genre of movies, based on whether the story line centred on teens and the film featured performers aged between 12 and 17 years and teens in major and minor roles. Only G-, PG- and PG-13-rated films were included because teens aren’t supposed to see R-rated movies without a parent or guardian.
The three researchers found 2,311 instances of swearing in the 90 films they surveyed.
The eighties movies, including “Back to the Future”, “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” and “Karate Kid” averaged 35 instances of profanity per film, while that figure dropped to 25 profanities in the 1990s in movies like “Clueless”, “The Brady Bunch Movie” and “Little Big League”, and dropped again to 16 instances per show in the 2000s in movies including “Spider Man”, “Harry Potter” and “Remember the Titans”.
Commonly swear words are classified as mild words, including “damn” and “hell”, and they constitute 57 percent of the bad words, said a university release.
Researchers were concerned over how young minds are impressionable and how Hollywood movies deeply impact American culture.
“Teens have access to movies like never before through TV, DVDs, the Internet and pay-per-view,” the study said.
13 things we already know about GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony
Damn, Rockstar is full of surprises. Who could have guessed that the developer’s franchise - built on gritty crime, bloody violence, hardened characters and grossly exaggerated stereotypes - would debut an entry with words like “ballad” and “gay” right in the title? When the first downloadable content starred leather-clad biker gangs listening to classic rock, who could foresee a second expansion’s logo with rainbow lettering and disco ball sparkles?
Actually… everyone. If you were paying close enough attention during the events of GTA IV and The Lost and Damned, as a matter of fact, you could predict a huge portion of The Ballad of Gay Tony, including everything from heroes and villains to locations and specific missions.
Skeptical? Here are 13 things we already know.
Click on to get your mid blown away.
*Note: I went into this skeptical. When I came out, I was thunderstruck!*
Actually… everyone. If you were paying close enough attention during the events of GTA IV and The Lost and Damned, as a matter of fact, you could predict a huge portion of The Ballad of Gay Tony, including everything from heroes and villains to locations and specific missions.
Skeptical? Here are 13 things we already know.
Click on to get your mid blown away.
*Note: I went into this skeptical. When I came out, I was thunderstruck!*
France to ban Scientology?
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8...
A celebrity favorite, with 8 million members, this pyramid scheme posing as a religion, created by the science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, is within one court decision of being banned from practice in France. The charges are fraud, and if convicted, the "religion" would join Satanism is France's second banned "religion"
What do you think? A good use of state power? Or would this take things too far? Should people be allowed to be use their money however they please (in this case to "practice" a religion?
What do you think? A good use of state power? Or would this take things too far? Should people be allowed to be use their money however they please (in this case to "practice" a religion?
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Seven things to mull when choosing data deduplication tools
Deduplication technology is just what is needed as IT budgets are tightened while mission critical data continues to grow. Find out how you can pick the right solution.
When the investment banking system in the United States experienced a financial crisis, it caused a ripple effect beyond North America and spread to Europe and Asia.
Companies in all industries are experiencing lower revenues and are deploying strict expense controls. Every IT department in the world is feeling the pressure of our current economy.
The mandate now and for the foreseeable future is to reduce capital expenditures, lower operating costs and save energy. This is not just about being green anymore; it's about fiscal commonsense in a slow economy.
Out of the box and investigative technologies are being evaluated that can affect greater efficiency and return on investment (ROI). The adoption of technologies like deduplication have accelerated this year showing that what was once a good idea for IT, is now a matter of survival.
Deduplication is recognized as the next evolutionary step in backup technology being both tangible and sensible. It eliminates duplicate data in secondary storage archives, which can slash media costs, streamlines management tasks and minimizes the bandwidth required to replicate data. In short, deduplication improves efficiency and saves money--just what is needed as IT budgets are tightened while mission-critical data continues to grow.
So what caused the proliferation of duplicated data in the first place?
Ironically, current industry standard backup practices are the number one cause of data duplication. In the interest of data protection, the traditional backup paradigm copies data to a safe secondary-storage repository over and over again, creating a monstrous overkill of backed-up information. Under this scenario, every backup exacerbates the problem.
Because secondary storage volumes are growing exponentially, companies need a way to dramatically reduce these data volumes. Regulatory requirements magnify the challenge, forcing businesses to change the way they look at data protection. By eliminating duplicate data and ensuring that data archives are as compact as possible, companies can keep more data online longer--at significantly lower costs.
Data deduplication can also minimize the bandwidth needed to transfer backup data to offsite archives. With the hazards of physically transporting tapes being well-established (damage, theft, loss, etc.), electronic transfer is fast becoming the offsite storage modality of choice for companies concerned about minimizing risks and protecting essential resources.
With so many deduplication solutions available, how do you choose? Each vendor claims their approach is best, leaving customers to sift through the hype and determine what will benefit their business the most. With that in mind, here are seven important criteria to consider when evaluating data deduplication solutions:
1. Integration with current environment--An effective data deduplication solution should be as non-disruptive as possible so an increased number of companies use virtual tape libraries (VTLs) to improve the quality of their backup without disruptive changes to policies, procedures or software.
This makes VTL-based data deduplication the least disruptive way to implement this technology. It also focuses on the largest pool of duplicated data: backups. Others are deploying a disk-to-disk backup paradigm, which requires a deduplication solution to present a network interface to the backup application. Introducing deduplication into this process simplifies and enhances disk-to-disk backups, performing deduplication without disruption to ongoing operations.
2. VTL capability--If data deduplication technology is implemented around a VTL, the capabilities of the VTL must be considered as part of the evaluation process. It is unlikely that the savings from data deduplication will override the difficulties caused by using a sub-standard VTL. Consider the functionality, performance, stability and support of the VTL as well as its deduplication extension.
3. Impact of deduplication on backup performance--It is important to consider where and when data deduplication takes place in relation to the backup process. Although some solutions attempt deduplication while data is being backed up, this inline method processes the backup stream as it comes into the deduplication appliance, making performance dependant on the single node's strength. Such an approach can slow down backups, jeopardize backup windows and degrade VTL performance over time.
For maximum manageability, the solution should allow for granular (tape- or group-level) policy-based deduplication based on a variety of factors: resource utilization, production schedules, time since creation and so on. In this way, storage efficiencies can be achieved while optimizing the use of system resources.
4. Scalability--Because the solution is being chosen for longer-term data storage, scalability, in terms of both capacity and performance, is an important consideration. Consider how much data you will want to keep on disk for fast access over the next five years. How will the data index system scale to your requirements?
A deduplication solution should provide an architecture that allows economic "right-sizing" for both the initial implementation and the long-term growth of the system. Clustering allows organizations to scale to meet growing capacity requirements--even for environments with many petabytes of data--without compromising deduplication efficiency or system performance. Clustering also inherently provides a high-availability environment, protecting the backup repository interface (VTL or file interface) and deduplication nodes by offering failover support.
5. Distributed topology support--Data deduplication delivers benefits throughout a distributed enterprise, not just in a single data center. A solution that includes replication and multiple levels of deduplication can achieve maximum benefits from the technology.
The solution should only require minimal bandwidth for the central site to determine whether the remote data is contained in the central repository. Only unique data across all sites should be replicated to the central site and subsequently to the disaster recovery (DR) site, to avoid excessive bandwidth requirements.
6. Highly available deduplication repository--It is extremely important to create a highly available deduplication repository. Since a very large amount of data has been consolidated in one location, risk tolerance for data loss is very low. Access to the deduplicated data repository is critical and should not be vulnerable to a single point of failure. The solution should have failover capability in the event of a node failure. Even if multiple nodes in a cluster fail, the company must be able to continue to recover its data and respond to the business.
7. Efficiency and effectiveness--File-based deduplication approaches do not reduce storage capacity requirements as much as those that analyze data at a sub-file or block level. Consider, for example, changing a single line in a 4-megabyte presentation. In a file-based solution, the entire file must be stored, doubling the storage required. If the presentation is sent to multiple people, as presentations often are, the negative effects multiply.
Most sub-file deduplication processes use some sort of "chunking" method to break up a large amount of data, such as a virtual tape cartridge, into smaller-sized pieces to search for duplicate data. Larger chunks of data can be processed at a faster rate, but less duplication is detected.
It's easier to detect more duplication in smaller chunks, but the overhead to scan the data is much higher.
If the "chunking" begins at the beginning of a tape (or data stream in other implementations), the deduplication process can be fooled by the metadata created by the backup software, even if the file is unchanged. However, if the solution can segregate the metadata and look for duplication in chunks within actual data files, the duplication detection will be much higher.
Some solutions even adjust chunk size based on information gleaned from the data formats. The combination of these techniques can lead to a 30 percent to 40 percent increase in the amount of duplicate data detected. This can have a major impact on the cost-effectiveness of the solution.
When the investment banking system in the United States experienced a financial crisis, it caused a ripple effect beyond North America and spread to Europe and Asia.
Companies in all industries are experiencing lower revenues and are deploying strict expense controls. Every IT department in the world is feeling the pressure of our current economy.
The mandate now and for the foreseeable future is to reduce capital expenditures, lower operating costs and save energy. This is not just about being green anymore; it's about fiscal commonsense in a slow economy.
Out of the box and investigative technologies are being evaluated that can affect greater efficiency and return on investment (ROI). The adoption of technologies like deduplication have accelerated this year showing that what was once a good idea for IT, is now a matter of survival.
Deduplication is recognized as the next evolutionary step in backup technology being both tangible and sensible. It eliminates duplicate data in secondary storage archives, which can slash media costs, streamlines management tasks and minimizes the bandwidth required to replicate data. In short, deduplication improves efficiency and saves money--just what is needed as IT budgets are tightened while mission-critical data continues to grow.
So what caused the proliferation of duplicated data in the first place?
Ironically, current industry standard backup practices are the number one cause of data duplication. In the interest of data protection, the traditional backup paradigm copies data to a safe secondary-storage repository over and over again, creating a monstrous overkill of backed-up information. Under this scenario, every backup exacerbates the problem.
Because secondary storage volumes are growing exponentially, companies need a way to dramatically reduce these data volumes. Regulatory requirements magnify the challenge, forcing businesses to change the way they look at data protection. By eliminating duplicate data and ensuring that data archives are as compact as possible, companies can keep more data online longer--at significantly lower costs.
Data deduplication can also minimize the bandwidth needed to transfer backup data to offsite archives. With the hazards of physically transporting tapes being well-established (damage, theft, loss, etc.), electronic transfer is fast becoming the offsite storage modality of choice for companies concerned about minimizing risks and protecting essential resources.
With so many deduplication solutions available, how do you choose? Each vendor claims their approach is best, leaving customers to sift through the hype and determine what will benefit their business the most. With that in mind, here are seven important criteria to consider when evaluating data deduplication solutions:
1. Integration with current environment--An effective data deduplication solution should be as non-disruptive as possible so an increased number of companies use virtual tape libraries (VTLs) to improve the quality of their backup without disruptive changes to policies, procedures or software.
This makes VTL-based data deduplication the least disruptive way to implement this technology. It also focuses on the largest pool of duplicated data: backups. Others are deploying a disk-to-disk backup paradigm, which requires a deduplication solution to present a network interface to the backup application. Introducing deduplication into this process simplifies and enhances disk-to-disk backups, performing deduplication without disruption to ongoing operations.
2. VTL capability--If data deduplication technology is implemented around a VTL, the capabilities of the VTL must be considered as part of the evaluation process. It is unlikely that the savings from data deduplication will override the difficulties caused by using a sub-standard VTL. Consider the functionality, performance, stability and support of the VTL as well as its deduplication extension.
3. Impact of deduplication on backup performance--It is important to consider where and when data deduplication takes place in relation to the backup process. Although some solutions attempt deduplication while data is being backed up, this inline method processes the backup stream as it comes into the deduplication appliance, making performance dependant on the single node's strength. Such an approach can slow down backups, jeopardize backup windows and degrade VTL performance over time.
For maximum manageability, the solution should allow for granular (tape- or group-level) policy-based deduplication based on a variety of factors: resource utilization, production schedules, time since creation and so on. In this way, storage efficiencies can be achieved while optimizing the use of system resources.
4. Scalability--Because the solution is being chosen for longer-term data storage, scalability, in terms of both capacity and performance, is an important consideration. Consider how much data you will want to keep on disk for fast access over the next five years. How will the data index system scale to your requirements?
A deduplication solution should provide an architecture that allows economic "right-sizing" for both the initial implementation and the long-term growth of the system. Clustering allows organizations to scale to meet growing capacity requirements--even for environments with many petabytes of data--without compromising deduplication efficiency or system performance. Clustering also inherently provides a high-availability environment, protecting the backup repository interface (VTL or file interface) and deduplication nodes by offering failover support.
5. Distributed topology support--Data deduplication delivers benefits throughout a distributed enterprise, not just in a single data center. A solution that includes replication and multiple levels of deduplication can achieve maximum benefits from the technology.
The solution should only require minimal bandwidth for the central site to determine whether the remote data is contained in the central repository. Only unique data across all sites should be replicated to the central site and subsequently to the disaster recovery (DR) site, to avoid excessive bandwidth requirements.
6. Highly available deduplication repository--It is extremely important to create a highly available deduplication repository. Since a very large amount of data has been consolidated in one location, risk tolerance for data loss is very low. Access to the deduplicated data repository is critical and should not be vulnerable to a single point of failure. The solution should have failover capability in the event of a node failure. Even if multiple nodes in a cluster fail, the company must be able to continue to recover its data and respond to the business.
7. Efficiency and effectiveness--File-based deduplication approaches do not reduce storage capacity requirements as much as those that analyze data at a sub-file or block level. Consider, for example, changing a single line in a 4-megabyte presentation. In a file-based solution, the entire file must be stored, doubling the storage required. If the presentation is sent to multiple people, as presentations often are, the negative effects multiply.
Most sub-file deduplication processes use some sort of "chunking" method to break up a large amount of data, such as a virtual tape cartridge, into smaller-sized pieces to search for duplicate data. Larger chunks of data can be processed at a faster rate, but less duplication is detected.
It's easier to detect more duplication in smaller chunks, but the overhead to scan the data is much higher.
If the "chunking" begins at the beginning of a tape (or data stream in other implementations), the deduplication process can be fooled by the metadata created by the backup software, even if the file is unchanged. However, if the solution can segregate the metadata and look for duplication in chunks within actual data files, the duplication detection will be much higher.
Some solutions even adjust chunk size based on information gleaned from the data formats. The combination of these techniques can lead to a 30 percent to 40 percent increase in the amount of duplicate data detected. This can have a major impact on the cost-effectiveness of the solution.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Vendors: Ample tests to nip tainted goods
Although some have blamed virus-infected products on shoddy manufacturing, hardware vendors insist there are adequate testing measures in place to sift out malware before equipment is shipped.
Reports of products shipped with malware have sprung up in the last two years, even as the pace of cybercrime escalates. In 2007, TomTom admitted it had shipped viruses on some of its satellite navigation devices. At that time, the company said it would take the "appropriate actions" to prevent similar incidents in future.
In the United States, there have also been instances of digital photo frames, hard drives and iPods infected with malware. The U.S. Department of Defense last year even temporarily banned the use of removable storage devices including thumb drives and CDs.
Businesses that discover their purchases are tainted with malware, may be able to seek legal reprieve, a legal expert said.
Under such circumstances, the customers can claim that the products purchased were defective or failed to meet the expected "merchantability standards", Bryan Tan, director of Keystone Law, said in an e-mail interview.
Contract terms, however, may state that products have been tested for viruses but not guarantee that they are virus-free.
Even when enterprises are found to suffer losses, the terms and conditions usually limit the loss to product exchange, "so businesses may be able to get replacements but if other losses are incurred, then such losses may not be covered", he added.
But hardware vendors ZDNet Asia contacted, said there are sufficient processes in place to ensure equipment shipped are free of viruses.
For hard drive maker Seagate, the products are subjected to "rigorous and thorough" testing before being packaged for shipment, a spokesperson said in an e-mail interview.
"Seagate does test for viruses and malware in our manufacturing and testing processes--running virus checks on all of our test equipment to ensure viruses are not introduced," the Singapore-based spokesperson said. "We also run a 'clean up' at the last step in the process as a final [step of] protection."
There are also "additional measures in place to ensure product quality, including security procedures at our manufacturing facilities to prevent electronics of any kind from being brought into the manufacturing area which may introduce viruses or malware", she added.
A Dell spokesperson based in Singapore said there are "multiple fail-safe measures" built into its processes to minimize malicious threats.
Industry-certified software and applications selected by customers have already been pre-tested on its hardware before installation, he explained. The testing includes checks to ensure there are no compatibility issues or malware.
Dell also has procedures to test non-mainstream software or applications specifically requested for by customers, the spokesperson added.
At press time, Lenovo and Nokia had not responded to queries. Samsung declined to comment for this story.
Reports of products shipped with malware have sprung up in the last two years, even as the pace of cybercrime escalates. In 2007, TomTom admitted it had shipped viruses on some of its satellite navigation devices. At that time, the company said it would take the "appropriate actions" to prevent similar incidents in future.
In the United States, there have also been instances of digital photo frames, hard drives and iPods infected with malware. The U.S. Department of Defense last year even temporarily banned the use of removable storage devices including thumb drives and CDs.
Legal reprieve for businesses
Businesses that discover their purchases are tainted with malware, may be able to seek legal reprieve, a legal expert said.
Under such circumstances, the customers can claim that the products purchased were defective or failed to meet the expected "merchantability standards", Bryan Tan, director of Keystone Law, said in an e-mail interview.
Contract terms, however, may state that products have been tested for viruses but not guarantee that they are virus-free.
Even when enterprises are found to suffer losses, the terms and conditions usually limit the loss to product exchange, "so businesses may be able to get replacements but if other losses are incurred, then such losses may not be covered", he added.
For hard drive maker Seagate, the products are subjected to "rigorous and thorough" testing before being packaged for shipment, a spokesperson said in an e-mail interview.
"Seagate does test for viruses and malware in our manufacturing and testing processes--running virus checks on all of our test equipment to ensure viruses are not introduced," the Singapore-based spokesperson said. "We also run a 'clean up' at the last step in the process as a final [step of] protection."
There are also "additional measures in place to ensure product quality, including security procedures at our manufacturing facilities to prevent electronics of any kind from being brought into the manufacturing area which may introduce viruses or malware", she added.
A Dell spokesperson based in Singapore said there are "multiple fail-safe measures" built into its processes to minimize malicious threats.
Industry-certified software and applications selected by customers have already been pre-tested on its hardware before installation, he explained. The testing includes checks to ensure there are no compatibility issues or malware.
Dell also has procedures to test non-mainstream software or applications specifically requested for by customers, the spokesperson added.
At press time, Lenovo and Nokia had not responded to queries. Samsung declined to comment for this story.
Monday, May 25, 2009
The Unfeeling and Lifeless Doll: Women Anti-Abuse ad
Counseling Services for Abused Women. The advertiser shows exactly its full understanding of the plight of abused women all over the world. The campaign’s copy of “Help Her Feel Human Again” is the truest description of what happens to women under abuse: the demise of their mental, psychological, and emotional health. They die before their time, if the abuse, indeed, even stops. For some, abuse has literally killed them.
Abuse is a universal
phenomenon. It cuts across all economic levels, cultures, and geographies. It can occur in a tribal society, as well as in a metropolitan setting. Both rich and poor women fall into this predicament. Abuse knows no religion, although some abusive practices that are borne of religious belief may not be construed by the female victims of abuse as such. This is, perhaps, the highest form of abuse next to being killed. Some victims do not even know that they are victims.
One out of three women in the world is a victim of abuse. Abuse is a top killer of women. It can come in various forms, aside from physical death, such as domestic violence or physical battery and sexual abuse such as rape. Abuse is, ultimately, not about abuse. It is about power. Abuse is what happens when gender that has been dictated by the norms of society, rears its ugly head. Abuse is a byproduct when the female sector of society is value-judged by the laws
of gender, as perpetrated by the male sector of society that basks in the glory of a patriarchal mindset.
Brawl in Sikh Temple Leaves Preacher Dead
By VERONIKA OLEKSYN
VIENNA May 25 :
A policeman stands in front of a house in Vienna's Rudolfsheim district, housing an Indian temple, following a shooting Sunday May 24, 2009, inside the building. Police in Austria say up to 30 people have been wounded, nine severely, in a shooting at the Indian temple. Police spokesman Michael Takacs told Austria Press Agency five men entered a place of worship for an Indian religious community early afternoon Sunday and started firing at those present. Police arrested all five suspects, Takacs said.
A Sikh preacher died Monday after being wounded in an attack on his temple by a group of fundamentalist Sikhs armed with knives and a handgun, police said. India's prime minister appealed for calm as riots protesting the deadly shooting spread to several northern Indian cities.
Witnesses said the Vienna temple attended by lower-caste Sikhs had been attacked by Sikhs from a higher caste who accused one or both of the preachers of being disrespectful of the religion's Holy Book.
The attack set off a brawl that wounded 16. It was not clear whether some of the weapons used were kirpans — ceremonial daggers that may legally be worn by Sikhs in Austria.
Two preachers — identified by Indian diplomats as Niranjan Das and Sant Rama Nand — underwent operations for gunshot wounds, but Nand died early Monday, according to a police official who declined to identify himself on the telephone, in line with Austrian custom.
Hundreds in India defied a curfew and army patrols, attacking police stations and torching the car of a senior officer and several trains. In two places police opened fire on mobs, wounding at least four people, said senior police officer Khubi Ram.
The violence in Indian centered on the north Indian town of city of Jalandhar, a stronghold of the Dera Sach Khand, a Sikh sect comprised of mainly "untouchables," or Dalits.
Worshipper Mohnder Ram, 72, who has lived in Vienna for decades, said the temple that was attacked had been attended by followers of Shri Guru Ravidas, the 14th-century founder of the sect. Witnesses said the group of bearded and turbaned men raided the temple as the preachers led several hundred worshippers in prayer. Followers moved to defend their leaders.
"I heard four to five shots" in the temple, said Ram. "People started screaming, children were crying as they ran out. It was like war. There was lots of blood everywhere."
Six suspects are in custody, including four wounded and in serious condition, police spokesman Michael Takacs said, adding that more may be detained. The wounded were all of Indian origin and aged between 30 and 50, said Bernhard Segall of Vienna medical services. The most serious wounds were caused by gunshots to the abdomen and head.
The temple is housed in a residential building of the working-class neighborhood of Vienna-Rudolfsheim.
Ram said about 400 people were at the service when the fight broke out; police put the number at between 150 and 300.
The scene was "like a battlefield," Takacs said.
Nearby resident Bimla Lalka said she saw seven or eight men with long beards and dark blue and orange turbans fleeing the building.
Sikhs make up less than 2 percent of India's nearly 1.2 billion people.
Caste discrimination has been outlawed in India for more than a half century, and a quota system was established with the aim of giving Dalits a fair share of government jobs and places in schools. But their plight remains dire, living in poverty and kept down by ancient prejudice and caste-based politics.
Associated Press writers Muneeza Naqvi in New Delhi and Eric Willemsen in Vienna contributed to this report.
(This version CORRECTS that witness said worshippers, not attackers, were lower-case Sikhs)
Komodo Dragon Attacks Terrorize Indonesian Villages
The stories spread quickly across this smattering of tropical islands in southeastern Indonesia, the only place the endangered reptiles can still be found in the wild: Two people were killed since 2007 — a young boy and a fisherman — and others were badly wounded after being charged unprovoked.
Komodo dragon attacks are still rare, experts note. But fear is swirling through the fishing villages, along with questions on how best to live with the dragons in the future.
Main, a 46-year-old park ranger, who like many Indonesians goes by a single name, was doing paperwork when a dragon slithered up the stairs of his wooden hut in Komodo National Park and went for his ankles dangling beneath the desk. When the ranger tried to pry open the beast's powerful jaws, it locked its teeth into his hand.
"I thought I wouldn't survive... I've spent half my life working with Komodos and have never seen anything like it," said Main, pointing to his jagged gashes, sewn up with 55 stitches and still swollen three months later. "Luckily, my friends heard my screams and got me to hospital in time."
Komodos, which are popular at zoos in the United States to Europe, grow to be 10 feet long and 150 pounds. All of the estimated 2,500 left in the wild can be found within the 700-square-mile Komodo National Park, mostly on its two largest islands, Komodo and Rinca. The lizards on neighboring Padar were wiped out in the 1980s when hunters killed their main prey, deer.
Though poaching is illegal, the sheer size of the park — and a shortage of rangers — makes it almost impossible to patrol, said Heru Rudiharto, a biologist and reptile expert. Villagers say the dragons are hungry and more aggressive toward humans because their food is being poached, though park officials are quick to disagree.
The giant lizards have always been dangerous, said Rudiharto. However tame they may appear, lounging beneath trees and gazing at the sea from white-sand beaches, they are fast, strong and deadly.
The animals are believed to have descended from a larger lizard on Indonesia's main island Java or Australia around 30,000 years ago. They can reach speeds of up to 18 miles (nearly 30 kilometers) per hour, their legs winding around their low, square shoulders like egg beaters.
When they catch their prey, they carry out a frenzied biting spree that releases venom, according to a new study this month in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The authors, who used surgically excised glands from a terminally ill dragon at the Singapore Zoo, dismissed the theory that prey die from blood poisoning caused by toxic bacteria in the lizard's mouth.
"The long, jaded teeth are the primary weapons. They deliver these deep, deep wounds," said Bryan Fry of the University of Melbourne. "But the venom keeps it bleeding and further lowers the blood pressure, thus bringing the animal closer to unconsciousness."
Four people have been killed in the last 35 years (2009, 2007, 2000 and 1974) and at least eight injured in just over a decade. But park officials say these numbers aren't overly alarming given the steady stream of tourists and the 4,000 people who live in their midst.
"Any time there's an attack, it gets a lot of attention," Rudiharto said. "But that's just because this lizard is exotic, archaic, and can't be found anywhere but here."
Still, the recent attacks couldn't have come at a worse time.
The government is campaigning hard to get the park onto a new list of the Seven Wonders of Nature — a long shot, but an attempt to at least raise awareness. The park's rugged hills and savannahs are home to orange-footed scrub fowl, wild boar and small wild horses, and the surrounding coral reefs and bays harbor more than a dozen whale species, dolphins and sea turtles.
Claudio Ciofi, who works at the Department of Animal Biology and Genetics at the University of Florence in Italy, said if komodos are hungry, they may be attracted to villages by the smell of drying fish and cooking, and "encounters can become more frequent."
Villagers wish they knew the answer.
They say they've always lived peacefully with Komodos. A popular traditional legend tells of a man who once married a dragon "princess." Their twins, a human boy, Gerong, and a lizard girl, Orah, were separated at birth.
When Gerong grew up, the story goes, he met a fierce-looking beast in the forest. But just as he was about to spear it, his mother appeared, revealing to him that the two were brother and sister.
"How could the dragons get so aggressive?" Hajj Amin, 51, taking long slow drags off his clove cigarettes, as other village elders gathering beneath a wooden house on stilts nodded. Several dragons lingered nearby, drawn by the rancid smell of fish drying on bamboo mats beneath the blazing sun. Also strolling by were dozens of goats and chickens.
"They never used to attack us when we walked alone in the forest, or attack our children," Amin said. "We're all really worried about this."
The dragons eat 80 percent of their weight and then go without food for several weeks. Amin and others say the dragons are hungry partly because of a 1994 policy that prohibits villagers from feeding them.
"We used to give them the bones and skin of deer," said the fisherman.
Villagers recently sought permission to feed wild boar to the Komodos several times a year, but park officials say that won't happen.
"If we let people feed them, they will just get lazy and lose their ability to hunt," said Jeri Imansyah, another reptile expert. "One day, that will kill them. "
The attack that first put villagers on alert occurred two years ago, when 8-year-old Mansyur was mauled to death while defecating in the bushes behind his wooden hut.
People have since asked for a 6-foot-high concrete wall to be built around their villages, but that idea, too, has been rejected. The head of the park, Tamen Sitorus, said: "It's a strange request. You can't build a fence like that inside a national park!"
Residents have made a makeshift barrier out of trees and broken branches, but they complain it's too easy for the animals to break through.
"We're so afraid now," said 11-year-old Riswan, recalling how just a few weeks ago students screamed when they spotted one of the giant lizards in a dusty field behind their school. "We thought it was going to get into our classroom. Eventually we were able to chase it up a hill by throwing rocks and yelling 'Hoohh Hoohh."'
Then, just two months ago, 31-year-old fisherman Muhamad Anwar was killed when he stepped on a lizard in the grass as he was heading to a field to pick fruit from a sugar tree.
Even park rangers are nervous.
Gone are the days of goofing around with the lizards, poking their tails, hugging their backs and running in front of them, pretending they're being chased, said Muhamad Saleh, who has worked with the animals since 1987.
"Not any more," he says, carrying a 6-foot-long stick wherever he goes for protection. Then, repeating a famous line by Indonesia's most renowned poet, he adds: "I want to live for another thousand of years."
Obama at Risk? Secret Service Disputes Own Tech Worries
Documents Say IT Woes Threaten USSS Mission; a Spokesman Says Otherwise
By JUSTIN ROOD
A U.S. Secret Service agent keeps a watchful eye as Marine One lifts off from the South Lawn of the White House with President Barack Obama on board March 27, 2009 in Washington, DC. Obama departed the White House to spend the weekend with his family at Camp David. Collapse
(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
First, the document – a 2010 budget request: Without upgrades costing an estimated $33 million, it says, the Secret Service faces the threat of a "near-term mission failure."
In particular, the document claims, Secret Service communications systems aren't compatible with the White House's own, leaving a "dangerous gap" that, (it states in dire but carefully-worded bureaucratese) could ultimately "prevent the attainment of the performance target of 100 percent protection."
Moreover, the request – delivered to Congress earlier this month -- says Secret Service servers, networking technology and software are in "a degraded state" and are "adversely impacting critical operational missions." The service's IT systems "cannot sustain the tempo of current operations," it claims. Without the millions in upgrades, the Secret Service could be unable to communicate during a crisis, or hacked by foreign intruders.
"USSS' protective and investigative missions will be functionally unable to respond to the increasing volume of threats without additional investment," the service says in its budget request.
Now, the spokesman.
"Despite the challenges we are currently facing with an aging IT infrastructure, this will not interfere with our ability to carry out our protective and investigative missions at this time," Secret Service spokesman Darren Blackford told ABC News, reading from a prepared statement. "We are currently working with the Department of Homeland Security to resolve our deficiencies."
Asked about the apparent discrepancies between his statement and the more alarmist language in the Secret Service budget request, Blackford demurred. "I'm just going to leave it at that statement," he said, "that it's our opinion it's not affecting our protective or investigative missions at this time."
"The Government Is Broken"
Scott Lilly, a former congressional appropriations aide, said the situation looked to him like evidence that "the government is more broken, generally, than has been appreciated."
The Secret Service may have technology problems, Lilly allowed -- but if they were so dire, it would be unusual for the service to detail them in an unclassified document.
"In my experience with the Secret Service," said Lilly, now at the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, "if they had problems like that they tended to communicate it verbally, rather than make a big deal in a public document about it. I don't know why they'd do that."
Lilly noted that before such requests go to Congress, they're vetted and approved by aides reporting to the head of the Secret Service, the Department of Homeland Security, and the head of Obama's Office of Management and Budget. "It's gone all the way up the chain."
The Burning Plane
Click to view large
The time tripping movie has Theron dealing with events in the past and how they effect her present. Beautifully acted by all concerned this is possibly the best ensemble cast I've seen in a long while with everyone concerned disappearing into their roles. The problem is that as compelling as the performances and the sequences are I kind of stopped caring as to what was going on about a half an hour in, don't get me wrong its not that there is anything wrong with it, there's not, its just that the film, like the films I mentioned earlier that were written by the writer/director, is needlessly obtuse.
I have no problem working with a film, but I was a good way in before I started to piece who was who and what was when, yes there are clues, cars for example, but at the same time not enough. Yes its great to have an adult film, but at it seems to be trying a bit too hard. My reservations aside, the film is worth a look if you want to see some great acting this is a must see.
Friday, May 15, 2009
The right punishment for Jessie Dotson
Jessie Dotson the person held responsible for the Lester Street killings, where he was accused of killing half a dozen people that included his own brother and two of his nephews appeared before the court and pleaded not guilty after nine months.
Apart from the Lester Street murders, Jessie Dotson is also charged with three counts of attempted first degree murder.
After being held responsible and charged for such atrocious crimes, one cannot help wondering on the kind of defense that Dotson’s attorneys will put up to bail him out. They could build a defense that rests on the grounds of the defendant suffering from momentary insanity. But whichever way they choose, getting Dotson out of this deep hole of a spot seems impossible.
Moreover, the whole nation also saw and heard his confession which was aired in “The First 48″. During the Lester massacre, Dotson was identified by one of his nephews Dotson as the attacker. With so much evidence against him, there is no way that he will go unpunished.
There is no way that Jessie Dotson will be acquitted for what he has done and one feels that when it comes to his sentencing, he will not be dealt with leniently. One often hears saying that the guilty should be rightly punished or that the guilty should not go unpunished, but it makes one think that what kind of punishment will justify for the crimes that he has committed? What sort of punishment will be able to shed a comforting balm to the hearts of bereaved?
Apart from the Lester Street murders, Jessie Dotson is also charged with three counts of attempted first degree murder.
After being held responsible and charged for such atrocious crimes, one cannot help wondering on the kind of defense that Dotson’s attorneys will put up to bail him out. They could build a defense that rests on the grounds of the defendant suffering from momentary insanity. But whichever way they choose, getting Dotson out of this deep hole of a spot seems impossible.
Moreover, the whole nation also saw and heard his confession which was aired in “The First 48″. During the Lester massacre, Dotson was identified by one of his nephews Dotson as the attacker. With so much evidence against him, there is no way that he will go unpunished.
There is no way that Jessie Dotson will be acquitted for what he has done and one feels that when it comes to his sentencing, he will not be dealt with leniently. One often hears saying that the guilty should be rightly punished or that the guilty should not go unpunished, but it makes one think that what kind of punishment will justify for the crimes that he has committed? What sort of punishment will be able to shed a comforting balm to the hearts of bereaved?
Danny Veltri is the winner of “Hell’s Kitchen”
In a minor upset, Chef Gordon Ramsay announced that the winner of the fifth season of Fox’s “Hell’s Kitchen” is not the expected Paula DaSilva but Danny Veltri from Florida who will know be in charge of things at a restaurant in the Atlantic City resort.
On stage at Borgata’s Music Box Danny put on a white baseball cap worn backwards instead of his usual camouflage cap and also a chef’s coat and said, “It’s such a great blessing to have such a great opportunity. It’s the best thing that has ever happened to me, ” in a voice dripping with emotion.
After making a disaster on his very first dish, Danny grew to be a strong contestant on the show. He was always seen more calm and confident at the kitchen than his co-contenders and seemed at ease at all the different counters. Ramsay admitted Danny was impressive in both team challenges as well as individual work. In the finale episode Danny and Paula were contesting with one final dinner service on two different sides of the kitchen, whipping up delectable food. They were assisted by the contestants who had been eliminated on other episodes and some of them continued to be unimpressive, and often trouble-making.
Danny continued to be efficient in the kitchen and seemed to remember that both quality and speed were of great importance in the episode. No one criticized anyone else or swore, spitting and name calling were also kept low and Ramsay agreed that it was the best kitchen service on both sides that he has ever seen on the show before. At the end of the show Ramsay named Danny the winner and gave him the $250,000 contract to work under Stephen Kalt at the yet-to-open Italian food restaurant Fornellati in Atlantic City at New Jersey.
On stage at Borgata’s Music Box Danny put on a white baseball cap worn backwards instead of his usual camouflage cap and also a chef’s coat and said, “It’s such a great blessing to have such a great opportunity. It’s the best thing that has ever happened to me, ” in a voice dripping with emotion.
After making a disaster on his very first dish, Danny grew to be a strong contestant on the show. He was always seen more calm and confident at the kitchen than his co-contenders and seemed at ease at all the different counters. Ramsay admitted Danny was impressive in both team challenges as well as individual work. In the finale episode Danny and Paula were contesting with one final dinner service on two different sides of the kitchen, whipping up delectable food. They were assisted by the contestants who had been eliminated on other episodes and some of them continued to be unimpressive, and often trouble-making.
Danny continued to be efficient in the kitchen and seemed to remember that both quality and speed were of great importance in the episode. No one criticized anyone else or swore, spitting and name calling were also kept low and Ramsay agreed that it was the best kitchen service on both sides that he has ever seen on the show before. At the end of the show Ramsay named Danny the winner and gave him the $250,000 contract to work under Stephen Kalt at the yet-to-open Italian food restaurant Fornellati in Atlantic City at New Jersey.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Sex consensual: Johns
The Christchurch woman at the centre of the Cronulla Sharks sex scandal identified Australian rugby league star Matthew Johns at the time.
Johns went public on Australian television this week over his involvement in the 2002 incident.
The Press broke the story of alleged serious sexual misconduct by members of the Sharks team during their pre-season stay in Christchurch.
The woman, then 19 and a staff member of the Racecourse Hotel in Riccarton, claimed she had been sexually violated by a number of players on the night of Friday, February 15. The players were staying at the hotel.
After an investigation on both sides of the Tasman, Christchurch police said they would not lay charges against any Sharks player.
The Press interviewed the woman after that announcement.
Of the players with whom she had sex, the woman said: "It was with two of them. I wasn't friends with them, but I was friendly with them the night before."
Were they quite well-known? "Yup. Matthew Johns is quite well-known." Was he one of the two players? "Yes."
On legal advice, The Press did not publish any of the interview at the time. The woman attempted to get a copy of her witness statement from the police but she said she was refused when she revealed that it was to be given to The Press.
The paper understands she also talked to police about Johns' involvement.
Johns broke his silence this week after being approached by ABC television. A Four Corners programme, to be aired in Australia on Monday night, will explore the issue of footballers behaving badly after the sexual-assault charge against Manly league star Brett Stewart.
Four Corners interviewed the Christchurch woman recently, with her identity blacked out and her voice altered.
She says she has suffered psychologically as a result of the incident, which she described as degrading.
"There were lots of guys watching and two or three doing stuff to me," she says on the programme.
"I only remember one player definitely; it was Matthew Johns. He laughed and he joked and was very loud and boisterous."
The programme contacted Johns for his response on Monday morning, the night after he had been celebrating the Logie award triumph of The Footy Show.
Johns, who is employed by Channel Nine as a rugby league expert and is the frontman for the NRL's membership drive, revealed his involvement on Thursday night.
"I am very sorry for all the trauma and embarrassment this has caused for everyone, but particularly for my family," he said.
Johns said he had consensual sex with the woman and he was upset, particularly for his children, that the woman was making the claims again.
"It took us a long time to get through it and it pains me that they have to go through it again," he said.
"Police investigated the situation, the allegations, and there were no charges laid. This has been a cause of major embarrassment for a lot of people."
In her interview with The Press, the woman said she talked to some of the players when she was a waitress-kitchen hand at the Racecourse Hotel.
She bumped into the players at the Holy Grail in central Christchurch on the Thursday night (the night before the incident) and had drinks with them. They wanted her to go back to the hotel with her that night, "but I didn't because I've got a boyfriend and I'm not dirty".
On the Friday two players waited for her to finish work.
"I kind of wanted to leave, but they said come back to our room for a talk or whatever. I walked behind them because I kind of didn't want to go back. But I didn't think anything bad would happen," she said.
"They, like, left the sliding door unlocked or open, with the curtain pulled and the bathroom window open and stuff, so the whole team came back and knew about it. They knew what was happening.
"They sidled in and crawled along the floor where I couldn't see them and all came in, and climbed in through the windows and stuff, and next thing I knew everyone was in there.
"They are saying, `We didn't let it happen and it wasn't planned'. It was so planned."
The woman said the incident lasted a couple of hours and there were other girls in other rooms, but she believed them to be prostitutes.
"I'm quite young [19]. When I went in there I was wearing a blue T-shirt and black three-quarter pants. I wasn't all slutted up in, like, tights or whatever," she said.
"Matthew's married. They were the players, they started it off and they did lots of the main stuff, but then there were four other guys, five other guys ... who did heaps of gross other stuff and they're just as bad as those two.
"Other people were just standing around with no clothes on; so many people were just standing there with their pants off, with no clothes on, just watching like it was a show. Just getting off on the other guys.
"I was just stunned and shocked. I didn't help them do anything."
The woman said she had been told by police that the Sharks players were arguing it was consensual.
"If it was consented, they did nothing wrong. It was morally wrong, but not criminally wrong if I consented.
"It's all of them saying it was consented, against me," she said.
Detective Senior Sergeant Dave Long said there was no reason to reopen the file.
"A very thorough investigation was done at the time.
"All witnesses and people involved in the matter were spoken to and there is no evidence established in relation to the complaints that would support the matter being put before the court," he said.
"For whatever reason, there is some media interest now in Australia and there was at the time but nothing has changed at all and there is no reason to reinvestigate anything because it was all dealt with in 2002."
Johns went public on Australian television this week over his involvement in the 2002 incident.
The Press broke the story of alleged serious sexual misconduct by members of the Sharks team during their pre-season stay in Christchurch.
The woman, then 19 and a staff member of the Racecourse Hotel in Riccarton, claimed she had been sexually violated by a number of players on the night of Friday, February 15. The players were staying at the hotel.
After an investigation on both sides of the Tasman, Christchurch police said they would not lay charges against any Sharks player.
The Press interviewed the woman after that announcement.
Of the players with whom she had sex, the woman said: "It was with two of them. I wasn't friends with them, but I was friendly with them the night before."
Were they quite well-known? "Yup. Matthew Johns is quite well-known." Was he one of the two players? "Yes."
On legal advice, The Press did not publish any of the interview at the time. The woman attempted to get a copy of her witness statement from the police but she said she was refused when she revealed that it was to be given to The Press.
The paper understands she also talked to police about Johns' involvement.
Johns broke his silence this week after being approached by ABC television. A Four Corners programme, to be aired in Australia on Monday night, will explore the issue of footballers behaving badly after the sexual-assault charge against Manly league star Brett Stewart.
Four Corners interviewed the Christchurch woman recently, with her identity blacked out and her voice altered.
She says she has suffered psychologically as a result of the incident, which she described as degrading.
"There were lots of guys watching and two or three doing stuff to me," she says on the programme.
"I only remember one player definitely; it was Matthew Johns. He laughed and he joked and was very loud and boisterous."
The programme contacted Johns for his response on Monday morning, the night after he had been celebrating the Logie award triumph of The Footy Show.
Johns, who is employed by Channel Nine as a rugby league expert and is the frontman for the NRL's membership drive, revealed his involvement on Thursday night.
"I am very sorry for all the trauma and embarrassment this has caused for everyone, but particularly for my family," he said.
Johns said he had consensual sex with the woman and he was upset, particularly for his children, that the woman was making the claims again.
"It took us a long time to get through it and it pains me that they have to go through it again," he said.
"Police investigated the situation, the allegations, and there were no charges laid. This has been a cause of major embarrassment for a lot of people."
In her interview with The Press, the woman said she talked to some of the players when she was a waitress-kitchen hand at the Racecourse Hotel.
She bumped into the players at the Holy Grail in central Christchurch on the Thursday night (the night before the incident) and had drinks with them. They wanted her to go back to the hotel with her that night, "but I didn't because I've got a boyfriend and I'm not dirty".
On the Friday two players waited for her to finish work.
"I kind of wanted to leave, but they said come back to our room for a talk or whatever. I walked behind them because I kind of didn't want to go back. But I didn't think anything bad would happen," she said.
"They, like, left the sliding door unlocked or open, with the curtain pulled and the bathroom window open and stuff, so the whole team came back and knew about it. They knew what was happening.
"They sidled in and crawled along the floor where I couldn't see them and all came in, and climbed in through the windows and stuff, and next thing I knew everyone was in there.
"They are saying, `We didn't let it happen and it wasn't planned'. It was so planned."
The woman said the incident lasted a couple of hours and there were other girls in other rooms, but she believed them to be prostitutes.
"I'm quite young [19]. When I went in there I was wearing a blue T-shirt and black three-quarter pants. I wasn't all slutted up in, like, tights or whatever," she said.
"Matthew's married. They were the players, they started it off and they did lots of the main stuff, but then there were four other guys, five other guys ... who did heaps of gross other stuff and they're just as bad as those two.
"Other people were just standing around with no clothes on; so many people were just standing there with their pants off, with no clothes on, just watching like it was a show. Just getting off on the other guys.
"I was just stunned and shocked. I didn't help them do anything."
The woman said she had been told by police that the Sharks players were arguing it was consensual.
"If it was consented, they did nothing wrong. It was morally wrong, but not criminally wrong if I consented.
"It's all of them saying it was consented, against me," she said.
Detective Senior Sergeant Dave Long said there was no reason to reopen the file.
"A very thorough investigation was done at the time.
"All witnesses and people involved in the matter were spoken to and there is no evidence established in relation to the complaints that would support the matter being put before the court," he said.
"For whatever reason, there is some media interest now in Australia and there was at the time but nothing has changed at all and there is no reason to reinvestigate anything because it was all dealt with in 2002."
Tributes pour in for 'Sneezo'
Napier Mail
FLORAL TRIBUTES: An officer lays flowers at a memorial for slain Napier policeman Len Snee, who was shot dead on Thursday.
Napier Mail
DECEASED: Senior Constable Len Snee.
Relevant offers
Snee, 53, a policeman of 33 years, was committed to three things in life; his family, his rugby and his job.
His wife of more than 25 years, Vicki, and sons Sam, 24, and Joe, 22, issued a short statement yesterday through family friend Stan Tristram.
"He gave it 100 per cent and was totally dedicated to everything he did.
"He was a private person and a man of few words. He was proud to be a policeman and proud to be an armed offenders squad officer."
Friends from Napier Technical Old Boys Rugby Club who have known him for more than 20 years described the Taradale police officer as a laid-back guy not a big drinker, "although he did like a bourbon occasionally" said rugby mate Phil Turner.
"He was always immaculate; that's why, you know, it's so hard to believe he was just lying in the street like that.
"Obviously, sure, there's nothing they can do, but it's just not him."
Former colleague, rugby coach and Napier City Councillor Keith Price remembers his mate's dogged dedication.
"He was the kind of guy who would never take leave ... you'd tell him to take three weeks and he'd be back the next day, saying `oh I've just got to do this, I've just got to do that'."
"He's left an irreplaceable hole. He was a little bit of a loner, he'd head off by himself and gnaw away at things, but get a result."
Calm and level-headed, Snee was not the type to put himself or his team in unnecessary danger.
"I wouldn't picture him running up and kicking the front door in, he'd snoop around a little bit. He was very cautious, not a gung-ho sort of a guy.
"He didn't upset a lot of people obviously when something like this happens, everyone will say he's a good person, but I say it genuinely."
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Matrix director Larry Wachowski now walks as a woman in L.A
Matrix co-director Larry Wachowski has often told of his affection towards his female characteristics, and wanting to be one as well. It is now that Larry Wachowski, brother of Andy Wachowski is showing his inner female as he has been photographed throughout Los Angeles dressed from head to toe as a woman.
The Wachowski Bros. are notorious for the privacy and their reluctance to the press, so its a big step with this half of The Matrix and Speed Racer duo to show his true colors. No word as to how far the talented director will take the change, if to include gender transformation, but it does show an added confidence the man has now.
The Wachowski Bros. currently have Ninja Assassin as their latest production. “Assassin” is being directed by V for Vendetta director James McTeigue. The directors have no films lined up as of yet for their follow up to Speed Racer.
The Wachowski Bros. are notorious for the privacy and their reluctance to the press, so its a big step with this half of The Matrix and Speed Racer duo to show his true colors. No word as to how far the talented director will take the change, if to include gender transformation, but it does show an added confidence the man has now.
The Wachowski Bros. currently have Ninja Assassin as their latest production. “Assassin” is being directed by V for Vendetta director James McTeigue. The directors have no films lined up as of yet for their follow up to Speed Racer.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Carrie Prejean says Photos are Anti Christian
Carrie Prejean says photos taken of her as a teenager had been released "surreptitiously to a tabloid Web site that openly mocks me for my Christian faith."
In a statement, Prejean also says the attacks on her and others who "speak in defense of traditional marriage" are intolerant and offensive.
A photo of Prejean wearing only pink panties with her back turned to the camera appeared Monday on a gossip blog.
The 21-year-old Prejean was named first runner-up to Miss North Carolina in the Miss USA pageant April 19. Her response to a question about legalizing same-sex marriage may have cost her the title.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)