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| Koko | Posted
on 16-Dec-02 12:04 PM
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 12 -- Brightmail, the leader in anti-spam technology, announced today the Top 10 Spam messages from 2002, as measured by Brightmail's patented Probe Network(TM), which has a statistical reach of over 200 million mailboxes. Based on volume of messages as a percentage of all spam, the following Subject lines top the list in 2002: 1. "Protect Your Computer Against Viruses for $9.95" Anti-virus software spam was the most common this year 2. "Verification Department" Credit card scam spam has been especially in recent months 3. "Refinancing? Get a FREE quote on any mortgage loan program" Mortgage spam holds its ground this year as a classic 4. "Printer Cartridges - Save up to 80% - Free Shipping Offer" Printer cartridge spam, also a classic, is still one of the top spams 5. "Miniature Remote Control Car. Great Gift!" A newer spam, an email about toy cars for the holidays has hit email accounts at full throttle in recent months 6. "$100 F R E E, Please Play Now!" Casino spam continued to stake out email inboxes worldwide 7. "Online Auction Marketing Secrets!" Online auction marketing scams bid heavily on email users this year 8. "Important news Kuira" Septic system spam seeped rapidly through the Internet for quite some time in early 2002 9. "URGENT & CONFIDENTIAL." Nigerian scam spam asked millions of email users to help free-up usurped royal coffers this year 10. "GET A FREE PASS TO THOUSANDS OF XXX SITES!" Pornographic email slithered into inboxes, including those of children |
| Koko | Posted
on 16-Dec-02 12:05 PM
Published Dec. 16, 2002 ARR17 FERGUS FALLS, Minn. -- Authorities say a woman was driving erratically as she tried to put on her makeup - and it led to her arrest on a felony warrant. Amy Wery, 32, of Bismarck, N.D., who's also known as Amy Howe, was wanted in Bismarck for failing to appear in court in response to a subpoena in the murder trial of her former boyfriend. The Minnesota State Patrol said she was trying to apply her makeup while driving on Interstate 94 in the Fergus Falls area Sunday afternoon. The Patrol said three other drivers called authorities to complain about her erratic driving. State troopers stopped her and found out she was wanted in North Dakota. ``Wery was taken into custody and transported to the Otter Tail County Jail, where she could safely finish applying her makeup without endangering others,'' the Patrol said. Wery is the mother of a 15-month-old girl who died of head and spinal cord injuries in October. Her boyfriend, Michael McClary, is due to stand trial in March. Authorities said Wery is also charged with a felony for using a forged prescription to obtain a controlled substance. |
| Koko | Posted
on 16-Dec-02 12:07 PM
You all suck even more than France. That is one American's opinion of Canada. Another, from Salem, Mass., holds the view that, "Americans are superior to Canadians because we don't play or watch curling." And from Kansas City comes the comment, "Canada is the bookish, nerdy sister of the prom queen that is America." Many, from all over, remark on how Canada — "hiding behind Big Mama's skirts" — depends on the U.S. for its defence. But then a Texan chimes in with, "I'm a right-wing American who loves being part of the biggest, baddest, nation on the block. Yet that voice from the distant, frigid north is oddly reassuring, sort of like having a more even-keeled young brother." And a "Jon" recalled that the Roman emperors had a servant whisper in their ear, "Remember, Caesar, you are mortal" — a practice that could usefully be recreated in Ottawa — and then opined: "The U.S. needs to be challenged for its own good the same way ... (a role) Canadians are particularly well-suited to." What Canadians think does matter to Americans. In certain circumstances at certain times. My evidence for saying this is that I've culled those quotes from the some 1,400 e-mails sent to me as a result of my column of last Sunday titled, "It's not our fault that we're morally superior to Americans." What promoted the column was some hand-wringing by Deputy Prime Minister John Manley that any Canadian sentiments of superiority were actually a sign of a sense of inferiority, and should be silenced so as not to annoy Americans. My rebuttal was that Canadian sentiments of superiority were actually a sign of a sense of superiority, and why on Earth not say so out loud, since Americans are certain they are superior to everyone in the world and can hardly be shocked to be challenged. I expected some shots back, from both sides of the border. I got the verbal equivalent of a salvo of cruise missiles. As a journalist, I've never experienced its equal. The Drudge Report on the Web picked up the column, and, in a tribute to its power, triggered well over 1,000 of those e-mails. American radio and TV stations called for interviews. Best of all, I got by accident, a fascinating insight into American opinions about Canada but also about their own country. First, a sample of the antis: "We Americans don't give a rat's ass what you think about us." "You do nothing and carp about others. You're like a nation populated entirely by university professors and newspaper columnists." "You people can be as superior as you like while you surrender your firearms, pay for your socialist health care, and freeze your collective asses off." "Canadians are sort of a nation of Homer Simpsons." Then the pros: "One of the reasons Canadians are such good neighbours is that they are not afraid to disagree with us. Our differences are not violent, fearful or antagonistic, and that means they must be constructive." "I remember the first time being around Canadian people and as a black man that was the first time in my 44 years I was treated like a real person. I wish I were a Canadian." "Overall you guys are great. If in fact you are superior in some areas, I see that as a challenge. You know how we hate to come in second." The level of knowledge about Canada was far higher than is generally assumed. To my comment that Canadians have more of a sense of being a collectivity, many respondents replied: "What about Quebec?" On the differences in health-care systems, one of many defending the U.S. practice observed shrewdly, "Canadians do have a two-tier system. It's just that your first-tier is in places like Minneapolis and Syracuse and Boston where you can get an MRI on three day's notice." The level of humour was high as well. "I'm impressed that Canada's firearms registration program has ballooned from $2 million to one billion. I thought only the U.S. Congress was that inept." Most interesting, perhaps, is that dealing with a Canadian's comments about the U.S. triggered perceptive comments by Americans about themselves: "Please be patient with us as we search for a way to respond to what we feel is a critically dangerous time in history. We can have big mouths, but we also have big hearts." "Americans do have a bit of a superiority complex. But not in the way you understand. We want to be the best at everything we do. Our attitudes demand victory, victory, victory." "It seems we NEED an enemy to feel good about ourselves. The fall of the Soviet Union was the worst thing that could have happened to us. No one to beat at the Olympics. No one to talk tough to." The only way to end is to balance evenly, in a properly Canadian way, the praise and the blame: "Just as Canadians are better at viewing themselves as a collective, they are also better at viewing themselves not just as members of a nation but as citizens of the world." And to confirm that it's curling that really distinguishes the two nations of North America, "Go back to sliding things across the ice and calling it a sport." |
| Koko | Posted
on 16-Dec-02 12:09 PM
In Foreign Parts: GI Janes flaunt their sports bras as body search arrives in cultural minefield of Afghan frontier By Jan McGirk in Peshawar 14 December 2002 I idly mention to my translator in Peshawar how a war photo published in all the Pakistani dailies has outraged everyone who has seen it. Janula Hashim Khan is usually rather bored by my attempts to make polite conversation, but he suddenly comes to life, eyes ablaze. "Yes, I know the photo. It's a disgrace to see our sisters and mothers mauled like that," he says. To my amazement, he pulls a carefully folded newspaper clipping out of his wallet. "Is this the one you mean?" The picture shows an Afghan woman being subjected to a body search by an American soldier. The photo had provoked weeks of venomous letters to the editor condemning this practice. The same shot had been blown up and used for the Yank-bashing election campaign that swept the clerics into unprecedented power in the provinces closest to the Afghan border. To most Pakistanis and Afghans, this photo is hyper-offensive, showing a demure Islamic beauty disrespected by an American brute. The latent feminist in me cannot be stifled. There is some potent propaganda to be countered. "Look a little closer," I said. "That is a woman soldier who is patting the Afghan lady down." "Impossible," all the Muslim men in the room say in unison. The masculine ambience of this frontier city near the Khyber Pass is so pervasive that, at least in a warlord's antechamber, a female soldier is utterly inconceivable, even if you have a picture of her in front of you. "Look again," I insist. "Under the helmet, her hair is bunched at the neck. The US army has plenty of women soldiers, just like this one." In fact, I later learnt that the original caption, never used in Pakistan, identified her as Sergeant Nicola Hall. The bearded men are unconvinced. "Well, then look at her childbearing hips," I continue. "Broad. Like mine." Khan blanches and hesitates before he translates my words. The men scowl. Again, the photo is passed around. Culturally, this is a minefield. In the Northwest Frontier provinces no one is prepared to check out a person's bum in public, certainly not in mixed company, not even in a photo. Men and women customarily cover their backsides with long tunics. Could they not know what to look for? "Most men are narrower in the loins ..." I am stating the obvious and stop abruptly. They shrug, unable to sex the fighter in the photo and unwilling to admit they might be mistaken. But one young lieutenant persists. "That is not a female. That is a soldier manhandling an Afghan woman," he declares with finality. A Western military attaché told me how grenades and rockets were often retrieved from beneath the odd burqa. Women must be checked during routine arms inspections and this presents a quandary: how to be culturally sensitive conquerors and not offend the folks you liberated last year and now want to disarm. Some etiquette is evolving. Now American female soldiers start gun raids in Afghanistan by bounding out of helicopters and stripping down to their sports bras. Only then do they take village women aside to be searched. It is a quick way to prove their femininity to Afghan elders unaccustomed to seeing women in trousers. I reckon it must leave quite a few of the old boys slack-jawed and goggle-eyed. |
| Koko | Posted
on 16-Dec-02 02:17 PM
http://www.palaisdetokyo.com/fr/tokyogames/game1/opniyama.html |
| Koko | Posted
on 16-Dec-02 02:19 PM
LA Club Raid Signals Taliban-Style US Music Ban Over 100 officers from America’s Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) stormed leading Los Angeles nightclub Circus Disco last weekend in the latest federal assault on electronic music and nightlife. The Saturday night raid was apparently prompted by the club’s provision of non-alcoholic energy drinks and a ‘chill-out area’, which proved the Hollywood venue was used for ‘raves’, said a press release issued by the State Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) following the operation. DEA cops arrested 5 people for drugs offences and seized $200,000 worth of drugs their official statement claimed. However, venue owner Gene La Pietre, who’d recently been involved in a controversial political campaign for Hollywood to secede from California, claimed the operation was motivated by ulterior motives pointing out that he’d always co-operated closely with police on anti-drug measures. "There is something terribly wrong with that (ABC) press release. It is simply not true,” said Mr La Pietra this week. "They did not confiscate $200,000 worth of drugs or yours truly would be behind bars right now.” (ABC local news) With the federal government’s incredibly draconian R.A.V.E Bill likely to be passed early in the New Year, America’s entire nightlife industry could face closure. |
| Koko | Posted
on 16-Dec-02 02:22 PM
Magic Frog Thieves Hunted By Cops Dutch police are reported to be hunting thieves who this week stole three giant toads from a local pet shop. The brown ‘bufo marinus’ cane toads secrete an LSD type psychedelic toxin when scared or sexually aroused, which could cause serious health problems for anyone attempting to get high by licking the potential princes, the police warned. “If you lick them you may get a hallucination,” police spokesperson Harry Oenema told Reuters, adding that potential adverse effects could include temporary muscle paralysis and even death. The toads themselves are also likely to be in mortal danger, pet shop owner Richard Mastenbroek warned in the Independent. "I really fear for the toads' welfare; the addicts who have taken them to lick their backs for a high would have no idea of how to care for them,” he said. "The toads are non-aggressive and will be terrified at being handled this way. Furthermore, the very cold weather in Holland at the moment will mean certain death.” |