This item was included in the audio release of Wikinews for 7/2.
Thursday, June 2, 2005
Britain’s National Gallery revealed on Friday that by X-raying one of Leonardo Da Vinci’s paintings, “Virgin of the Rocks”, they have found a drawing beneath the surface of the painting. The drawing is of a woman who is raising her arm and looking downcast. The drawing had been previously dismissed as a mere copy of a similar drawing that is hanging in Paris’ Louvre museum.
Friday, May 19, 2006
This interview intends to provide some insight into OpenSync, an upcoming free unified data synchronization solution for free software desktops such as KDE, commonly used as part of the GNU/Linux operating system.
Hi Cornelius, Armin and Tobias. As you are now getting close to version 1.0 of OpenSync, which is expected to become the new synchronisation framework for KDE and other free desktops, we are quite interested in the merits it can provide for KDE users and for developers, as well as for the Open Source Community as a whole. So there’s one key-question before I move deeper into the details of OpenSync:
What does OpenSync accomplish, that no one did before?
Cornelius:
How do the end-users profit from using synching solutions that interface with OpenSync as framework?
Cornelius:
How does OpenSync help developers with coding?
Cornelius:
Tobias:
Why should producers of portable devices get involved with your team?
Cornelius:
Do you also plan to support applications of OpenSync in proprietary systems like OSX and Windows?
Cornelius:
What does your synchronisation framework do for KDE and for KitchenSync in particular?
Cornelius:
What was your personal reason for getting involved with OpenSync?
Cornelius:
Armin:
Tobias:
Can you tell us a bit about your further plans and ideas?
Cornelius:
Armin:
Tobias:
What was the most dire problem you had to face when creating OpenSync and how did you face it?
Cornelius:
Armin:
What was the greatest moment for you?
Cornelius:
Armin:
Tobias:
As we now know the worst problem you faced and your greatest moment, the only one missing is: What was your weirdest experience while working on OpenSync?
Cornelius:
Tobias:
Now I’d like to move on to some more specific questions about current and planned abilities of OpenSync. As first, I’ve got a personal one:
I have an old iPod sitting around here. Can I or will I be able to use a program utilizing OpenSync to synchronize my calendars, contacts and music to it?
Cornelius:
Armin:
Which other devices do you already support?
Cornelius:
Which programs already implement OpenSync and where can we check back to find new additions?
Cornelius:
Armin:
It is time to give the developers something to devour, too. I’ll keep this as a short twice-fold technical dive before coming to the takeoff question, even though I’m sure there’s information for a double-volume book on technical subleties.
As first dive: How did you integrate OpenSync in KitchenSync, viewed from the coding side?
Cornelius:
And for the second, deeper dive:
Can you give us a quick outline of those inner workings of OpenSync, from the developers view, which make OpenSync especially viable for application in several different desktop environments?
Cornelius:
Armin:
To add some more spice for those of our readers, whose interest you just managed to spawn (or to skyrocket), please tell us where they can get more information on the OpenSync Framework, how they can best meet and help you and how they can help improving sync-support for KDE by helping OpenSync.
Cornelius:
Armin:
Many thanks for your time!
Cornelius:
Armin:
Tobias:
Further Information on OpenSync can be found on the OpenSync Website: www.opensync.org
This Interview was done by Arne Babenhauserheide in April 2006 via e-mail and KOffice on behalf of himself, the OpenSource Community, SpreadKDE.org and the Dot (dot.kde.org).It was first published on the Dot and is licensed under the cc-attribution-sharealike-license.A pdf-version with pictures can be found at opensync-interview.pdf (OpenDocument version: opensync-interview.odt)
Thursday, June 15, 2006
One hundred and twenty detainees at an immigration removal centre in Oxford, UK, are on hunger strike. The protest started when some detainees refused breakfast on Wednesday 14th June 2006. A letter from the hunger strikers explaining why they are seeking to draw attention to their plight in this way has been reproduced in full below.
Those detained at the centre are mostly men who have sought asylum in the UK and whose asylum applications have been rejected. These people are then held without knowing how long they will be detained for – some end up being held for many years while awaiting deportation.
The removal centre, known as Campsfield, or Campsfield House is approximately 5 miles north of Oxford and has been in operation since 1993. It was managed on behalf of the UK Government by Global Solutions Limited, until may 2006 when it was taken on by GEO UK, the centre has a capacity of 198. Only males are detained at Campsfield.
According to the campaign group Barbed Wire Britain Over 2,600 individuals, mostly asylum seekers, are detained indefinitely in the UK without trial and with no automatic right to bail.
There have been reports in the UK press of the state taking people to detention centres without notice, in the early hours of the morning using excessively heavy handed tactics, taking children out of schools and separating families.
Many UK people and politicians express their disgust at the way detainees are treated, yet it continues. Perhaps this action by the detainees themselves will further highlight their plight and result in more UK electors writing to their MPs and demanding improvements to the way in which rejected asylum seekers are treated.
“We are detainees at Campsfield removal centre in Oxford. Most of us have been here for a long while now. There are people who have been detained for up to two years and down to three months. We are cramped in here like animals. We are treated like animals and moved around different detention centres like animals. The immigration service have taken husbands from their families and taken people who ran away from persecution in their various countries, and dumped everyone in here.
Once you are put in here the immigration service forget you. There are detainees who have applied to go back to their own countries that are still being held here for months without any news about their cases, just so that the private security companies get more money.
Detainees are asked to seek asylum and then refused. The immigration service also ask detainees to apply for bail. When you get a bail hearing date all of a sudden they serve you with removal papers that are not valid. There are many of these situations. In most cases the immigration service don’t take you to your court hearings. And then they tell the judges you refused to turn up, just so the hearing goes ahead in your absence. Many detainees have been served with removal papers and travel documents but nothing happens on the removal day.
Campsfield has become a slave house. We detainees are treated like slaves, to do odd jobs for officers. Detainees are handcuffed to see doctors or dentists in hospitals or clinic appointments. We have some racist security officers who make racist comments to detainees and go out of their way to make you feel like committing suicide. Detainees have to be at the point of death before they get to see the doctors.
The food is not worth eating. Even dogs would refuse to eat what we eat. But we don’t have a choice; every single day we eat the same food (the food we eat is rice, chicken, sandwiches, and left-over eggs)”.
Sunday, February 13, 2005
New York –”Buy cheap Viagra through us – no prescription required!” Anyone with an active email account will recognize lines like this one. According to some reports, unsolicited advertisements (spam) for Viagra and similar drugs account for one in four spam messages.
BACKGROUND
Spamming remains one of the biggest problems facing email users today. While users and systems administrators have improved their defenses against unsolicited email, many spammers now insert random words or characters into their letters in order to bypass filters. The Wikipedia article Stopping email abuse provides an overview of the various strategies employed by companies, Internet users and systems administrators to deal with the issue.
Ever since pharmaceutical giant Pfizer promised to cure erectile dysfunction once and for all with its blue pills containing the drug sildenafil citrate, spammers have tried to tap into male anxiety by offering prescription-free sales of unapproved “generic” Viagra and clones such as Cialis soft tabs. Legislation like the U.S. CAN-SPAM act has done little to stem the tide of email advertising the products.
Now Pfizer has entered a pledge with Microsoft Corporation, the world’s largest software company, to address the problem. The joint effort will focus on lawsuits against spammers as well as the companies they advertise. “Pfizer is joining with Microsoft on these actions as part of our shared pledge to reduce the sale of these products and to fight the senders of unsolicited e-mail that overwhelms people’s inboxes,” said Jeff Kindler, executive vice president at Pfizer.
Microsoft has filed civil actions against spammers advertising the websites CanadianPharmacy and E-Pharmacy Direct. Pfizer has filed lawsuits against the two companies, and has taken actions against websites which use the word “Viagra” in their domain names. Sales of controlled drugs from Canadian pharmacies to the United States are illegal, but most drugs sold in Canada have nevertheless undergone testing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This is not the case for many of the Viagra clones sold by Internet companies and manufactured in countries like China and India. While it was not clear that CanadianPharmacy was actually shipping drugs from Canada, Pfizer’s general counsel, Beth Levine, claimed that the company filled orders using a call center in Montreal, reported the Toronto Star.
For Microsoft’s part, they allege that the joint effort with Pfizer is part of their “multi-pronged attack on the barrage of spam.” As the creator of the popular email program Outlook, Microsoft has been criticized in the past for the product’s spam filtering process. Recently, Microsoft added anti-spam measures to its popular Exchange server. Exchange 2003 now includes support for accessing so-called real-time block lists, or RTBLs. An RTBL is a list of the IP addresses maintained by a third party; the addresses on the list are those of mailservers thought to have sent spam recently. Exchange 2003 can query the list for each message it receives.
Submitted by: Penny Lane
Do you often have trouble transporting heavy objects by yourself? Do you ever find yourself having difficulty maneuvering through a busy and crowded airport with your luggage in tow? Everyone could use a little extra help from time to time and a hand cart can be just the object to make your life a little bit easier. Hand carts are available in a range of sizes, styles, and weights and are designed to help people transport the heavy or bulky items that they need to move around-including suitcases!
The great thing about portable models is that they can be used for a variety of reasons. Because they are so easily transportable, you can even take them in the airport with you and store them in the overhead compartment, making them perfect for quickly moving your heavy carry-on bag through busy terminals. While most people might envision using a hand cart for furniture or large items, they actually have a lot of uses.
Folding ones are becoming increasingly popular for those who often need help mobilizing objects but do not have the storage space for a large hand cart. These folding types or telescoping hand carts are lightweight and portable and can be stored under a seat, in a closet, in an overhead compartment, or in the trunk of your car without any difficulty.
A folding type can fold flat to give you more space for storage but can still push or pull loads up to large weights, making it convenient all the way around. They are not flimsy just because they can be easily stored. Rather, you get the benefit of both worlds: a convenient design and a lightweight model.
You can also find them with locking wheels and handles, elastic straps, and even guards in front of the wheels in order to protect soft cases. Of course, you might prefer one that boasts a click-n-go attachment and you can find these as well when you purchase a unit that comes with optional upgrades.
Certain models have a single motion squeeze which offers extra convenience, especially if you are in a hurry. You would not have to worry about trying to get your hand cart closed by using a lot of pressure and effort. Instead, you can simply press a release and watch it fold up on its own!
When picking out one, you just need to consider your needs and take a look at the amount of weight that the hand cart in question is able to transport. Not everyone needs one that is able to transport hundreds of pounds, although there are models out there that can mobilize that much weight if necessary.
Sometimes, everyone needs a little extra help now and then and the right one can help you do the heavy work with little to no effort on your part. With so many varieties and types of hand carts available, you should not have any difficulty finding one that works for you and suits your needs.
About the Author: Penny Lane recently purchased a
hand cart
on the internet to help her aging mother transport her groceries. She ordered a couple of
hand carts
for her family to use to transport their luggage.
Source:
isnare.com
Permanent Link:
isnare.com/?aid=894313&ca=Business
Saturday, June 10, 2006
On Thursday, Congress turned down the “Net Neutrality Amendment” to the Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act (COPE Act) 269-152.
The COPE Act is designed to make it easier for telecommunications companies to offer cable TV service and strengthen competition. Proponents hope it would lower the price of high-speed Internet for consumer by enabling Internet service providers to bundle phone, data, video and mobile phone services. The act is the first major telecommunications bill to come before Congress in over a decade, and it passed by 321-101 vote on Thursday.
Portions of the “Net Neutrality” amendment to the COPE Act sought to assure that communication companies who provide Internet services treated all data delivery passing through their connections equally. It specified that each broadband provider has the duty “not to block, impair, degrade, discriminate against, or interfere with the ability of any person to use a broadband connection to access, use, send, receive, or offer lawful content, applications, or services over the Internet.” The amendment’s passage would have prevented AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and other broadband providers from charging content providers like Google, Yahoo, Amazon or eBay for priority access to their networks. Democrats were largely in favour of the legislation with 140 Ayes and 58 Noes, whereas only 11 Republicans voted for the measure, with 211 against.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi argued that “The imposition of additional fees for Internet content providers would unduly burden Web-based small businesses and start-ups,” and that “They would also hamper communications by noncommercial users, those using religious speech, promoting civic involvement and exercising First Amendment freedoms.”
The phone companies and their Congressional allies argued that the restrictions in the amendment would discourage investment in upgrading networks. Chief technology officer for BellSouth William L. Smith told the Washington Post that telephone companies should be able to charge companies for having their content load faster than that of competitors. “If I go to the airport, I can buy a coach standby ticket or a first-class ticket,” Smith said. “In the shipping business, I can get two-day air or six-day ground.”
The legislation has been subject to intense lobbying by telecommunication companies on one side, and content providers on the other. The bill is due to be discussed next in the Senate, where lobbying efforts from both sides are expected to intensify. The White House said that it supports the current bill.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
In the Hall 1 of 2008 Taipei International Book Exhibition, the public often think this hall as a collective from general books. But this year, United Daily News Group (????) not only participated in this show with major brands on Economic Daily News (????), Linking Publishing (?????), and United Daily News Online (????), but also announced two interactive e-books with Old Master Q and Wan-Wan (??) on Saturday (Feb. 16). With two major announcements, the General Book Hall conjoined with a fashion of comic.
Announcement of “Old Master Q – E-book Edition”: A dialogue between “True Master” Shih-ping Tsai (left) and “Old Master” Joseph Chak Wong (right, not Alfonso Wong, who ever used “Wong Chak” as Alfonso’s pen-name).Image: Rico Shen.
Wan-Wan, a famous blogger and comic drawer from Taiwan.Image: Rico Shen.
Microsoft Taiwan ever showcased a special painting console drew by Wan-Wan in the 2008 Taipei Game Show.Image: Rico Shen.
The “Old Master Q” became a fashion in not only Taiwan but also Chinese-language world because readers in Chinese-language world wanted to collect whole series and recommended its series as “Must Buy Series”, its humor style attracted readers to read. After several arrangements with music and flash movies, the “Old Master Q” series will be more interactive than a simple comic book.
Joseph Chak Wong (??) ever replied a question to local media about its characteristic and said:
| The characteristic from main and sub characters can be varied, even though it (the series) is filled with male characters more than females, but I will try to neutralize the story structure and characteristic with character designs. |
In the afternoon, a Taiwanese famous blogger drawer “Wan-Wan” Chia-wei Hu participated the E-book launch of “Can’t I go to work? A drawing diary by Wan-Wan.”. The original author, Wan-Wan said to media and fans:
| Since my published works were famous and steadily, I will do a optimization from my past drawing and try to create a significant brand to market my works into the world. |
After her words, the possibility of brand establishment on Wan-Wan’s work may be increased in the future for the global marketing in comic world.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Japanese multinational company Fujitsu launched a website for a dog pedometer which allows customers to monitor their dog’s health online. The device measures data while attached to the dog’s collar. Customers are also able to add more data to the website manually, then it displays the complete set of data graphically. Fujitsu launched the website today (Tuesday) and plans to start the sales in Japan tomorrow (Wednesday).
The pedometer is called “Wandant”, from Japanese “Wan” equivalent to “woof”, and the “dant” of “pendant”. The latter refers to the pedometer, because it is attached to a dog collar. The users can transfer data to an Android phone using a touch-card to make it available online.
Fujitsu said Wandant would be the first cloud-based dog health-care service.
The data include walking, temperature, and shaking motion statistics. The users can manually enter additional data such as food quantities, weight, custom notes, and photos.
Fujitsu said, “The data are presented graphically on a custom website that makes trends in the dog’s activities easy to understand at a glance. This helps owners get a stronger sense of their dog’s health, while enabling communication with the dog.”
Friday, April 2, 2010
Jack Diesing Sr., former chairman of the College World Series has died at the age of 92. His son announced the cause of death as complications from Parkinson’s disease. Diesing was chairman of the series from 1963 until 2002.
Diesing helped the tournament become one of the most successful college events in the United States. He became chairman in 1963 after his boss at Brandies department store died and passed on his duties to Diesing, one of which was the chairman role.
Before taking the role the series had only made a profit in five of its fourteen years. Under Diesing’s leadership the series never made a loss. During his time as chairman he also negotiated a long term contract with the NCAA and lengthened the series from 5 to 10 games.
Diesing’s son, Jack Diesing Jr., released a statement on his fathers death saying “My dad will be missed by a lot of people, but he won’t be forgotten”. He continued to say that his goals were to make “Omaha a better community” and to secure the “CWS to mantain its legacy”.
At the time of his death Diesing was still chairman emeritus of College World Series of Omaha Inc., a non-profit organization that helped with the coordination of the series.
Thursday, March 24, 2005
San Jose, California — A woman eating a bowl of chili at a Wendy’s restaurant bit into a chewy bit that turned out to be a human finger. She immediately spat it out, warned other patrons to stop eating, and upon recognizing the object as a finger, vomited.
“I’m more of a Carl’s Jr. person,” the 39-year-old Las Vegas woman, Anna Ayala, told Knight Ridder. She said this incident was her first visit to a Wendy’s restaurant. Ayala described how she found the finger, “Suddenly something crunchy was in my mouth,” she continued, “and I spit it out.”
According to Devina Cordero, 20, after Ayala found the finger, she ran up to her and Cordero’s boyfriend and said, “Don’t eat it! Look, there’s a human finger in our chili.”
“We went up to the counter and they told us it was a vegetable,” Cordero continued. “The people from Wendy’s were poking it with a spoon.”
The restaurant is located at 1405 Monterey Highway, just south of downtown San Jose.
Wikinews reporter David Vasquez drove his car up to the drive-thru menu and found that chili was still on the menu, at a price of US$1.19 for a small serving. He also witnessed workers unloading supplies from a semi-trailer truck in the restaurant’s parking lot, and carting them into the back door of the establishment.
According to Ben Gale, director of environmental health for Santa Clara County, the finger did not come from any of the employees at the restaurant. “We asked everybody to show us they have 10 fingers and everything is OK there,” he said. The found portion of the finger likely belonged to a woman because of its long and manicured fingernail, also found in the food.
Officials seized the food supply at the restaurant and are tracing it back to the manufacturer, where they believe the finger may have gotten mixed in with the raw ingredients used to prepare the chili. The restaurant’s operators were later permitted to re-open after preparing new chili prepared from fresh ingredients.
As this story was filed, there was no mention of the incident on the Wendy’s corporate web site. Wendy’s issued a statement through a spokesman.
“Food safety is of utmost importance to us,” said Wendy’s spokesman Joe Desmond. He referred to the incident as an “unsubstantiated claim.”
“We are cooperating fully with the local police and health departments with their investigation. It’s important not to jump to conclusions. Here at Wendy’s we plan to do right by our customers,” Desmond said.
According to county health officials, the unfortunate woman who bit into the finger is doing fine, despite her initial reaction. Officials also noted that the finger would have been cooked at a high enough temperature to destroy any viruses.
The Santa Clara county medical examiner reported that the finger had a solid fingerprint, although investigators did not say if a search of fingerprint databases would be performed to find the owner of the finger.
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