GPS Privacy Issues

SAN FRANCISCO – Yasir Afifi, a 20-year-old community college student., took his car for an oil change and his mechanic spotted an odd wire hanging from the undercarriage.
The wire was attached to a strange magnetic device that puzzled Afifi and the mechanic. They freed it from the car and posted images of it online, asking for help in identifying it.Two days later, FBI agents arrived at Afifi's apartment and demanded the return of their property. A GPS tracking device now at the center of a raging legal debate over privacy rights.
"By holding that this kind of surveillance doesn't impair an individual's reasonable expectation of privacy, the panel hands the government the power to track the movements of every one of us, every day of our lives," wrote Alex Kozinski, the chief judge of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A three-judge panel from his court ruled that search warrants weren't necessary for GPS Tracking.

Law enforcement advocates for the devices say GPS can eliminate time-consuming stakeouts with unmarked police cars.

Facebook for Rainbows

Facebook has been conflicting over hatrid  groups and posts since the beginning of social networking. Here on focused on the case of anti-gay groups on facebook. Incredibly enough, it appears to be that this so called cyber-bullying has been a cause for suicide between teens. Facebook has started action by prohibiting hateful content and also implies systems in place to take down such posts as soon as possible. But the company also said it wants its users to be able to express unpopular opinions and as such must strike a careful balance between removing harmful content and letting people speak freely.
"Facebook has taken an important first step in making social media a place where anti-gay violence is not allowed," said Jarrett Barrios, president of GLAAD

choo choo train!

Swiss inch toward world's longest traintunnel .           

– Wed Oct 6, 5:27 pm ET

Like to hold your breath while going through tunnels? I won't recommend you try it in the Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland.
The tunnel has been under construction since 1993, and upon its scheduled completion at the end of 2017, it will span 35 miles -- the longest rail tunnel on the planet.
The current title belongs to Seiken Tunnel in Japan. Completed in 1988, it stretches 33.49 miles, a large portion of which is underwater. The world-famous Channel Tunnel (aka “the Chunnel”) measures 31.4  miles. While those two tunnels go underwater, the Swiss tunnel will zoom through the Alps, traveling between Zurich and Milan in about two and a half hours.

Private Moment made Public, and a Fatal Jump

I read that in Rutger's University the two roomates of Tyler Clementi were playing a prank on him. They set up a webcam to video tape their roomate (tyler) in his "private moment". They posted it up on the internet. What ame out to be as a prank ended up into Tyler Clementis suicide. He jumped off a bridge into the river in New York City. The roomates Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei both gor charged with invasion of privacy meaning five years in jail.

Shortage on Lethal injection.

There are 35 states that use the lethal injection, sodium thiopental, which is a drug that makes the prisoner go unconscious before they die. Lately the states Kentucky and Oklahoma have had to delay the signing of death warrants due to the decreasing amounts of the substance. Arizona has had to look for the substance beforehand in order to go through with the sentence. Washington and Ohio use big amounts of the drugs to carry out the procedure. Due to the lack of the drug, there is a total of 17 executions that are scheduled before the end of Janurary. The company that produces the drug is named Hospira, which is in Illinois. They blame the drug shortage on their supplierof raw materials. They say "We are working to get it back onto the market for our customers as soon as possible." However the earliest they can is Janurary. Using other drugs would not be an option due to lengthy court preecidings.

egway scooters= Death

Today i reaad that the owner of a segway scooter company in Washington actualy died yesterday from an accident on his gateway scooter. He plunged forward and ate it aginst the floor inside the company grounds he recieved a blow to the face and head he ende up in the hospital, with severe head trauma.he eventualy died so maybee he should add a health waranty to his segway scooters. Doctors in the e.r. stated that it is more comon to see an aciiden that involves face planting on a segway scooter than a pedestrian being struck to a car. so make sure that your next purchase is not a segway schooter just roll with a wheel chair or normal old people chairs or you will pay the ultimate price.

Legendary QB Hall of Famer Dies

George Blanda, a Hall of Fame quarterback in the NFL died Monday at the age of 83. It was reported that he died of a brief illness.

In his career he played for 10 seasons with the Bears, part of one with the Baltimore Colts, 7 with the Houston Oilers and his final 9 with the Raiders before finally retiring before the 1976 season. He held the pro scoring record when he retired, with 2,002 points. He kicked 335 field goals and 943 extra points, running for 9 touchdowns and throwing for 236 more. He also threw for 26,920 yards in his career.

He won the AFL Player of the Year in 1961, the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year in 1970, and led the Oilers to there first 2 AFL titles. These were just a few of his many accomplishments in the NFL during his 26 year career.

Before reading this article I had no clue who this man was. I'm glad I know now, he held many records and accomplished so many things. He did this all for the love of the game and with none of the performance enhancers that tarnish the names of many great athletes today. How do you think sports enhancers have affected sports??

No More Counting Sheep!

According to recent studies, people suffering from insomnia, a condition that prevents a person from sleeping, are cured by just one hour of exercise! Scientists don't know why exercise helps people go to sleep or keep from waking up in the middle of the night, but they find it quite effective. More exercise actually helps a person get as much sleep as they need. Experts ran a series of tests on women the ages 55 and older who had trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep. They had each woman preform the same daily exercise and the results showed that their insomnia was cured. Scientists also had the women go to museums, take cooking classes, and take part in a Tai Chi class, however, the results seemed to be less dramatic as aerobic exercises. It was also proven that an hour of exercise is better than an extra hour of sleep! So next time you are laying in bed counting sheep, try taking a quick jog around the block instead.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39379780/?gt1=43001

It's a sailboat! It's a Ship! It's a......Whale Surfer???

Thats right ladies and gentlemen. Some genius in Australia decided to ride a whale the other day and someone caught it on camera! However amazing this might be, the officials down under are in uproar! Why? I ask myself the same question, but the copperoos make a good point. The whales that like chilling in Australia can reach a length of 18 meters and a weight of 80 tons. So, if you get slapped by the tail because you're messing with their groove, you are most likely going to die a fool who got killed by a high five from a whale. The whale that this daring person rode was about 20 meters, or 66 feet long. The genius that caught it on camera however, was not able to get his brilliant photography out there because this is apparently going to become an investigation. Whales are actually very sensitive and gentle creatures. People are fined almost $10,000 if they get closer than 100 feet of the whales, mostly because the whales are sensitive and may be distressed, but also because it is dangerous for the Einstein that decides to ride it.

I personally am a big fan of animals, especially our whale friends, and these actions may frighten or alarm the whale, but these police are just a tad exaggerated. I'm sure a simple warning to others not to do the same should suffice, but an investigation? As Ms. Hatfield would say, really? Well, its not like they have anything better to do, besides chasing kangaroos. Any opinions my fellow classmates?

Legendary QB George Blanda dies at 83

George Blanda played longer than anyone in pro football history and ranked the most points in a career spanned for decades. He played with the Chicago Bears and the Oklahoma Raider. Blanda entered the NFL out of Kentucky as a 12th round pick of the Chicago Bears in 1949. His playing time as a quarterback quickly diminished and he retired at the age of 49.Unfortunately this great man passed away this Monday at the age of 83 where his career finally came to an end for good. With his amazing performances Blanda inspired millions of fans over a 26-year career. He will be truly missed.

Longer School Hours???

Barely into the new school year, President Barack Obama issued a tough-love message to students and teachers on Monday: Their year in the classroom should be longer, and poorly performing teachers should get out.

American students are falling behind some of their foreign counterparts, especially in math and science, and that's got to change, Obama said. Seeking to revive a sense of urgency that education reform may have lost amid the recession's focus on the economy, Obama declared that the future of the country is at stake.

"Whether jobs are created here, high-end jobs that support families and support the future of the American people, is going to depend on whether or not we can do something about these schools," the president said in an interview on NBC's "Today" show.

I agree that students maybe falling behind and we should do something about it but I'm not sure if I agree with longer school hours.

As I browsered the web, I came across a very intresting headline called "Yes, these 911 calls are real". Right away I knew these calls would be bizarre. I clicked it and watched the news video with the recording. The first one seemed to be about a man who seemed to be disturbing locals, until he decided to call the cops for help himself. He explained to the 911 operator that he seemed to be stuck in the hot tub for at least ten hours because there were no towels around. When asked if he needed any medical assistance he replied, " No all i need is a hug, and a cup of hot chocolate with some marshmellows in it". No this man was not drunk, but he turned out to be a homeless man who trespassed into a hot tube. He was arrested for trespassing and improper use of 911. :)

Enemy of The State

This fall will be an important season for the video game industry. It will be the first time the Industry will go as the defendant at the biggest court in the land. The U.S. Supreme court will take on video game legislation restricting any sales of video games to minors. The California bill demands that any violent video games be marked with two inch square label on the front of the box and that minors purchasing them would face up to a $1000 fine. The law eschews the ESRB rating system which already marks its violent video games with a rating of M for mature audiences only and demands a description of what is exactly possible in the game. In accordance with the bill " a game falls under this law if a reasonable person, considering the game as a whole, would find it appeals to a deviant or morbid interest to minors and it is partially offensive to prevailing standards in the community as to what is suitable for minors or it cause the game, as a whole to lack serious literary, artistic, or scientific value for minors."

In other words a law is basically telling us it is illegal to sell a violent video game to a minor(16 and under) or in any way blocks creativity, reading, politics, or science to a minor. Ahem, since when every video game have to be math blaster or Dora The Explorer? to me, as a gamer, this law sounds redundant, The ESRB is already doing its job. It would also complicate any relationships between publishers, retailers and customers. no retailer wants to be scared to sell a game because he's afraid of ending up behind bars. This law a;ready breaks the rights guaranteed by the first amendment, and above all its going to piss a lot of people off. Any one out their in accordance with the defendant?

Shooting Yesterday

Three men, one of them a policeman, were murdered and 12 more people were injured in a shooting yesterday.

Two of the injured are in grave condition at hospitals in Nogales, Son and in Arizona. This incident initiated during an attempt to escape from the Centro de Readaptacion Social Nogales 2, made by three . They used rifles and knives and managed to overpower the guards.

The fugitives were identified as Jose Inez Vazques Olivas, Arturo Daniel Duarte, and Franciso Javier Nogales Teran, who were promised AK-47 if they fired at the police.

During these events, four guards were injured.

Then, four people were injured by shooters at the outside of a bar in the El Greco sector. These people were identified as Luis Acosta Galindo, 34 years old, Cristian Acosta Galindo, 19 years old, both residents of Rio Rico, Arizona. Victor Acosta Galindo, 26 years old, and Manuel Mendez Cantu, 25 years old.

At another bar on Becerril street an agent of the Municipal Police commissioned a PGR ( I don't know what that means), Betsabe Jesus Damian Pacheco, 32 years old was murdered. Another was gravely injured. A couple of hours later, ianother person was shot and killed.

At the habitation unit Pima Uno, another person was killed. There, they detained five supposed sicarios identified as Luis Carlos Escobosa Preciado, 39, Jose Arturo Mota Cantu, 24, Mario Aguilar Corral, 35, Isaac 17 and Fausto Garcia Cazares, 24. The latter of these came from Culiacan, Sinaloa. At night, at around the 20:00 hours a young man identified as Jose Luis Gomez Valle of 20 years old, was tortured and killed by various sicarios on Hermosillo Street of La Granja neighborhood.

Hey guys :) I.. translated this so if it sounds a little bit funny, I'm sorry. Haha. Don't cross homecoming weekend. Just drink at a party here and RUN if the cops show up :)

Shortage of Drugs delays Executions in the U.S.

In thirty five states in the U.S. that rely on lethal injection for executions their is a shortage of a drug called sodium thiopental which is used to put the inmate unconsious. 33 states use it in a three drug combination and mainly rely on this drug for the execution and two states such as Ohio and Washington use this drug to deliver one large dose to the inmate. The company that produces this drug which is called Hospira Inc. says that the reason they can't supply the drug is because their are raw material supplier issues and they can not recieve the drug from outside the U.S. because their aren't any FDA approved manufactures's over seas.Since the drug is currently unavailable it has delayed an execution in Oklahoma, has made a governor in one state postpone to sign two death warrants for inmates and will also probably delay an execution in Arizona which is scheduled in late October. Hospira Inc. said that the drug will probably not be available until January 2011. Between now and that point their are a total of 17 executions which are scheduled to happen in 9 states. This I believe is a matter in which the company should produce the drug as soon as possible and available to the states so that the executions are on schedule and dont have to move the time and date until later on and this is all done quick.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39385026/ns/health-more_health_news/?gt1=43001

American HIV Problem!

I bet when you think of the amount of people receiving sexually transmitted diseases increasing, you think of how all these raging men and women need to calm down. However would you have guessed that Americas gay population is increasing these numbers, the worst part is that 44% of these people don't even know they have STD's. Data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) inform us that 1 in 5 sexually active gay or bisexual man is HIV positive. Also surprisingly, men from 30 to 39 are the ones with the highest number of infections.

Whether it is gay people or not, CDC estimates that over 1 million people are HIV positive, while only 21% of these people know it. Hopefully we can find a way to help people become more aware of STD's and how to prevent them because the numbers are only getting higher.

Florida Man Murders Wife, Stepchildren, Self; Spares Own Kids

In RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. A man shot and killed his wife and four of his stepchildren and then killed himself, but he spared his two biological children. There were 7 children in the house when Patrick Dell his wife and her four children. A 15 year old is recovering in the hospital and two of his biological kids were with relatives. He had a restraining order against his wife and was getting a divorce. He had already tried to kill his wife before but failed to do so. There was a police officer checking the neighborhood when he heard some gun shots and he then saw Dell come out of his house and shot himself. Dells two biological children were lucky to have been with relatives because if they would have been there they would probably be dead.

Never Lose Hope

21 years ago Kimberly Norwood went missing. At the time she was 12 years old and would to this day be 34 years old. No one knows where or how she went missing. For years, her parents were puzzled, they weren't exactly wealthy, and they desperatly awaited a ransom call that never came. Since their daughter has dissppeared they have still overcome some major hardships. For example; Janice, the mother had breast cancer AND a heart attack, her father had a heart attack as well a stroke, AND underwent quadruple bypass. As you can see, their life hasn't been a nice stroll in the park. But through it all, they never lose hope, they still insist that Kimberly WILL be turning 34, implying that they believe that she's still alive and out there somewhere. This story has made top news many times throughout the past 21 years and I'm sure they're never going to lose hope. I got this from CNN, the website url: http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/9/27/grace.coldcases/index.html?npt=NP1.

'Titanic' Star Gloria Stuart dies at 100

If you have watched the movie titanic staring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslit you will know who Gloria Stuart is. If you don't remember she is the elderly women who plays Rose when she is on the submarine telling the story on how she survived the Titanic.Those of you who haven't watched the movie, well you have to watch it because you have not lived until you do. Anyways, Gloria Stuart was born in 1910 and became an actor in the 1930's. She later gave up acting for 30 years. Later on she became the oldest Academy Award nominee for The movie Titanic. She was 87 years old when Titanic was filmed. She had been diagnosed with lung cancer five years ago and had survived breast cancer about 20 years ago. She celebrated her 100th bithday in july. Gloria Stuart died of respitory faillure this Sunday night October 26th 2010.

I find it absolutly amazing that she lived a long and happy life, she didnt believe in sickness so she didn't let having cancer bug her. Now i see that any thing is possible abd if she can recieve an academy award nomination at 87 years old well, that just gives me the modivation to follow my own dreams. I guess you are never to old to accomplish what you always dream about. What do you think?

http://msbc.msn.com/id/39384140/ns/today-entertainment/

Man killed over dispute

On Sunday in Valrico, Florida a man was shot over a skateboard dispute. A male neighbor who lives close to a park came outside to complain about skateboarders in the area. The victim David James defended the skateboarders and began an argument with the other man. As David walked away the other man pull out a gun. David James trying to protect everyone tried to take the gun from the other man. As the men grappled over the gun, it went off, killing James, according to investigators. David James 8 year old daughter was with him and called her mother for help. The older man stayed at the scene and when the police came he was taken for questioning. The shooter was released Sunday night based on the primary investigation. No charges will be filed until detectives finish their review of the evidence.

http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/region_east_hillsborough/valrico/valrico-man-killed-after-argument