Man Punches Shark to Save his Dog.
Greg LeNoir took his 14-pound rat terrier Jake for a daily swim. When the dog was swimming off the Florida Keys, a 5-foot shark attacked the dog and pulled him under the water. Jake’s owner dove in and hit the shark in the back and the creature finally let go of the dog.
NASA’s Spy satellite will identify people from the shadow
NASA is developing a system which will give spy satellites ability to identify people from their shadow. A technique called gait analysis is behind the technology which identifies their owners from the way they walk. The technique is still at the earliest stages of development, and it could be many years before it is used by military, police and intelligence services. The technology could be used to monitor known criminals and suspected terrorists using satellites or spy planes.
US Congress rejects bailout plan
The US House of Representatives, in a stunning turnabout, has defeated a $US700 billion bail out plan. In total, 140 Democrats and 65 Republicans voted for the legislation, while 95 Democrats and 133 Republicans voted against. The legislation the administration promoted would have allowed the government to buy bad mortgages and other rotten assets held by troubled banks and financial institutions.
Group Boycotts Facebook Opposing New Design
The group which opposes Facebook’s new design has gathered nearly 2.7 million supporters. The group, “1,000,000 against the new Facebook layout,” is organizing a two day boycott of the site. Among Facebook’s goals with the new design were to reduce the clutter of members’ profile pages and restore the social network’s clean and organized layout.
Nintendo To Launch New DS with Camera.
Nintendo plans to launch a new version of its popular DS portable gaming device with a camera and music player function. There were 77.5 million DS units sold as of the end of June this year,since the first DS went to sale in 2004. In Japan alone 23 million units have been sold. The Nintendo code named DS as Nitro. The console’s name officially refers to “Developers’ System”, in reference to the new game design the system was meant to inspire, and “Dual Screen”, the system’s most obvious and distinct feature.
VISA develops Payment Software For Google Phone.
Visa Inc. announced it’s developing mobile payment software for the new wireless phone powered by Google Inc.’s Android system. The software will allow Android users to receive near real-time alerts about purchases via their mobile phones and the software use location-based mapping technology to find ATM machines and nearby stores where users can redeem special Visa offers. The software will be broadly available to U.S. consumers by the end of the year. Visa also announced an agreement with U.S. Bank, lead bank of US Bancorp, to launch a mobile money transfer pilot program.
Twitter Launches Election Site.
Microblogging site Twitter launched election twitter page which displays all of the tweets discussing about the presidential candidates, in real time. Users can also filter the main time line of posts by candidate name. The feed can be paused by scrolling the mouse over the tweets.
“We’re filtering hundreds of Twitter updates per minute to create a new source for gathering public opinion about the presidential election and a new way for you to share your thoughts.”, Twitter said about their new service.
Update : According to one of our reader Simon Owens , C-SPAN has launched a Debate Hub that provides this function as well. It also allows users to mashup and edit videos from each debate, even while the debate is still going on. You can find the hub over here: http://debatehub.c-span.org/
Redewin : New Online Ecostore.
Redewin, a new online eco-store that sells unique vintage and reconstructed clothing,launched recently. Redewin says their philosophy is “Re-define your connection with earth by recycling clothing. Re-dew your thinking about wasteful consumption.” All of the items on Redewin are created from used garments—they take button-ups, t-shirts, dresses, doilies, sweaters, jeans, etc, and stitch them together to create innovative, intriguing new fashion blends.
Viking Expansion Triggered by Shortage of Wives?
Viking Age is the term denoting the years from about 700 to 1066 in European history. During this period, Scandinavians sailed the whole of the North Atlantic and discovered Iceland and Greenland, and settled parts of England, Scotland, Ireland and Normandy. The reasons for this extraordinary outpouring of peoples from Scandinavia have been debated ever since the Viking Age. Researcher James Barrett, deputy director of Cambridge University’s McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, comes with an answer for the century old question. According to his new research, the young warriors were driven to seek their fortunes to better their chances of finding wives. He argues that selective killing of female newborns in the Scandinavian society led to a shortage of women in the first place, resulting later in intense competition over eligible women.
Send Your Name Around The Earth
Members of the public can send their names around Earth on NASA’s Glory satellite. NASA setup a website “Send Your Name Around the Earth” which enables everyone to take part in the science mission and place their names in orbit for years to come. Participant’s name will be ecorded on a microchip that will become part of the spacecraft, they will also receive a printable certificate from NASA. Glory is scheduled for launch in June 2009 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Wide Disparities in Health Care by Race and Region
Most of us would agree race could be a determining factor in the quality of service a person gets. But a new study shows place of residence could play a role in quality of the medical treatment a patient receives. According to a new study in United States that women in Mississippi are far less likely to have mammograms than those in Maine. The study also revealed that blacks with diabetes or vascular disease are nearly five times more likely than whites to have a leg amputated. “In U.S. health care, it’s not only who you are that matters; it’s also where you live,” wrote the study’s authors, led by Dr. Elliott S. Fisher.
Image Credit : http://www.flickr.com/photos/lgyarmati/2457079681/
Film Exposing sexual exploitation of children Pulled from Thai Film Fest
Children of the Dark, a Japanese film about the trafficking and exploitation of children in Thailand has been pulled from the Bangkok Film Festival. Film Director Junji Sakamoto said in a statement that “This film must be shown (to) all of the world, especially in Thailand for the children’s future. To stop this film is the same as shutting children’s futures, also shutting the future in the country.” The feature film, shot in Thailand, follows foreigners who go to Thailand to have sex with children and the consequences for the children involved.
