Breaking News Thread Version 2.0

[Krandall]

Game Informer: Xbox 360 at 54.2 percent failure rate
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/08/17/game-informer-xbox-360-at-54-2-percent-failure-rate/

The latest issue of Game Informer contains a surprising statistic for anyone who's ever loved and lost their Microsoft-branded home console – according to their survey, in which over 5,000 console owners participated, the Xbox 360's current failure rate due to the Red Ring of Death, E74 or other hardware failure is 54.2 percent. They also calculated the relative death toll for PS3s due to the Yellow Light of Death (10.3 percent) and Wiis, due to ... well, we're not actually sure what color the Wii's light turns to upon its demise (6.8 percent).

Unfortunately, for having the highest failure rate, survey participants also pinned Microsoft for having the least helpful customer service representatives. Not that it matters – later in the survey, only 3.8 percent of participants said they'd never buy another Xbox 360 due to its high failure rate.

Speaking of which, we're not sure what future techno-utopia this poll was conducted in, but a 54.2 percent Xbox 360 failure rate sounds awfully low. Had the survey's participants been comprised entirely of Joystiq staffers, it would have been a bone-chilling 100 percent.

[Krandall]

gawd...... 
Source: Favre to sign with Vikings
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4406963

A source close to Brett Favre said the quarterback, pending a physical, will sign a contract with the Minnesota Vikings for between $10 million to $12 million, according to ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen.


Favre, 39, arrived in Minnesota on Tuesday to meet with the Vikings, getting off a team plane at a small St. Paul airport and getting into an SUV after shaking hands with the ground crew.

Coach Brad Childress confirmed the planned meeting in an e-mail to The Associated Press. Asked if the plan was to sign Favre, Childress replied: "In a perfect world."


The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Chris Mortensen tells Colin Cowherd that Brett Favre is headed to Minnesota today and will sign with the Vikings pending a physical.

More Podcasts »


Favre is expected to take a physical later Tuesday.

Favre's mother, Bonita, told the Biloxi Sun Herald that her son would be working out with the Vikings on Wednesday. ESPN analyst Cris Carter reported Tuesday that Childress already has told the Vikings that Favre will be starting in Friday night's preseason game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

"I have mixed emotions, but I have always loved to watch him play," she told the Sun Herald. "This time, however, I thought he would stay retired and stay home. I guess he could not do it.

"They [Minnesota] seem to have a good team in place, and he liked that. I guess I need to get a Vikings jersey now."


Favre, a longtime star in Green Bay, came out of retirement last season to play for the New York Jets. He retired again, only to then entertain the idea of joining the Vikings. Three weeks ago, Childress said the quarterback would stay retired.

The pronouncement now appears to be premature.

Two television stations first reported that Favre was seen boarding a plane Tuesday morning that was headed to Minneapolis.

Sources told Hattiesburg television station WDAM, which initially broke the story, that Favre had said: "We may know something by dinner."




Fantasy: What to expect
Brett Favre's addition to the Vikings should be a boon to the cast around him, ESPN.com Fantasy analyst Matthew Berry believes.

While Favre is just a borderline top-20 fantasy quarterback (he was 16th in points among QBs in 2008), Adrian Peterson and Bernard Berrian should see boosts in production.


The presence of Favre makes Adrian Peterson the consensus No. 1 pick. Berry previously had Peterson ranked No. 2 behind Michael Turner.

Also, Berrian is now a top-20 fantasy receiver. He is currently ranked No. 26 in ESPN.com average draft position.

ESPN.com projections:

• Favre: 3,294 passing yards; 21 TDs; 19 INTs
• Berrian: 73 receptions; 1,150 yards; 7 TDs
• Peterson: 1,701 rushing yards; 11 rushing TDs; 22 receptions; 184 receiving yards; 3 receiving TDs

• 2009 Draft Kit | Blog

A high-level source first told Minneapolis TV station WCCO that Favre was expected to sign a deal with the Vikings on Tuesday.


ESPN's Ed Werder reported that according to a source, Favre told close friends and family members before boarding the plane Tuesday: "I'm going to play football.''

The decision to do so comes even though Favre has informed the team that Dr. James Andrews detected a slight tear in his right rotator cuff in May while performing arthroscopic surgery on the quarterback's passing shoulder in May, according to a source.

It was concern about that injury, and the pain in both of his ankles and left knee, that discouraged Favre from signing with the Vikings before training camp.


Favre, who holds almost all of the NFL's career passing records, has never been much of a fan of offseason practices, though. Last summer, he ended his retirement with the Packers and forced a trade to the Jets, where he faded down the stretch amid problems with his throwing arm.


But Favre remained in regular communication with the Vikings' coaching staff the past three weeks, and a source said that owner Zygi Wilf had to do very little convincing when the two met this week near Favre's home in Hattiesburg.

"He had a lot of aches and pains and they basically needed a commitment from him before he felt he was ready to play,'' a source told Werder. "He wants to be able to do the best he can do and doesn't want to disappoint them.''


The Vikings are aware of the small tear in Favre's rotator cuff.

"The tear is still there and there's always a possibility something could happen with it later on,'' a source told Werder. "He wanted to give it the best chance he could before he made a commitment. But the last three weeks, it hasn't gotten any worse and he's been working hard. Hell, who knows? It could flare up again if they make him throw 50 or 60 balls a day.

"Three weeks ago, he wasn't ready to go play and didn't feel physically he could do what they needed him to do. But three more weeks of working out and now he's feeling that he's able to throw the football and he's going to give it a try.''

Favre has been working out regularly with Oak Grove High school players in Hattiesburg, according to WDAM-TV, and has not missed a practice even after telling the Vikings he would remain retired.

The Vikings finished training camp last week and beat Indianapolis 13-3 in their preseason opener Friday. They got a strong performance from quarterback Sage Rosenfels, who has been competing with Tarvaris Jackson for the starting job since Favre jilted the team July 28.

The Vikings are expected to challenge for the NFC North title this season, with whomever is behind center.

Rosenfels and Jackson have had some rough moments during practice. Jackson hurt his knee, missed a few workouts and then returned, but he was out of sync last week against the Colts.

Rosenfels did well, but preseason games are tough to evaluate and Indianapolis held out all four starting defensive backs.

On Monday, Jackson, responding to the day's scuttlebutt that Favre was predicted to play in Minnesota this season, said he was not paying attention to any of the talk.


"I pretty much have said [Favre] probably will follow me even when I retire. I'll probably have to hear about it. I'm just trying to take care of my business, and I can't worry about that stuff," Jackson said, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "If I let that stuff get to me, ain't no telling where I'd be right now. I just let it roll off my shoulder and just keep going. Just keep trying to get better."

[Peelz]

Yeah, saw that. Old bastard.

[Colorado700R]

All PS3s got a $100 price cut today, they are now availble for $299.00 

[Krandall]

Slim-design as well.

[Krandall]

Australian oil well to gush for nearly two months
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE57K1RM20090823?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=11611



SYDNEY (Reuters) - A leaking Australian oil well is likely to pour oil into the Timor Sea for nearly two months before it can be stopped, the operator said on Sunday, as environmentalists expressed grave fears for rare wildlife.

Rig operator PTTEP Australasia said it planned to drill a relief well and pour mud to stop the leak, which began on Friday with a blow-out more than three kilometers (two miles) deep.

It would take 20 days to bring a new offshore drilling rig by barge from Singapore, plus four weeks to drill, the company said in a statement.

Asked if this meant the well would flow for nearly two months, a company spokesman told Reuters: "That is pretty much the estimation."

Environmentalists have expressed concern about the giant slick, saying the entire area is ecologically significant and part of an "ocean super highway" for migrating animals between the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Many breathe air and could surface in the oil, an official of WWF Australia said.

Earlier on Sunday the Australian Maritime Safety Authority used C-130 Hercules aircraft to spray dispersant chemicals on the slick, which was in excess of 8 nautical miles in length.

Spokeswoman Tracey Jiggins said the results were encouraging but the agency was prepared for a long operation.

PTTEP Australasia, a unit of Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production PCL, said a team of international experts recommended drilling a relief well, to intersect the existing well and stop its flow.

Company spokesman Ian Williams gave no estimate of the amount of oil that would be released, but said the company believed it would be possible to prevent the slick spreading.

"There is a blow-out of some kind. It is very deep," Williams told Reuters, putting the depth at around 3,500 meters.

An air exclusion zone had been set up and ships advised to stay more than 20 nautical miles away from the rig, considered too dangerous to board.

WWF Australia called for changes to ensure better preparations for such disasters, noting it took three days for the first dispersant to be sprayed.

"From a global scale this is one of the most important places on the planet for ocean wildlife," Gilly Llewelyn, WWF Australia's director of conservation, told Reuters.

Among the animals affected were three endangered species of turtles, plus sea snakes, she said. Even a pygmy blue whale has been monitored there.

"It seems to be one of these critical migration routes -- an oceanic super highway," she said

[Krandall]

Great work peelz!!!! 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090824/ap_on_re_us/us_meth_s_new_method
AP IMPACT: New meth formula avoids anti-drug laws




TULSA, Okla. – This is the new formula for methamphetamine: a two-liter soda bottle, a few handfuls of cold pills and some noxious chemicals. Shake the bottle and the volatile reaction produces one of the world's most addictive drugs.

Only a few years ago, making meth required an elaborate lab — with filthy containers simmering over open flames, cans of flammable liquids and hundreds of pills. The process gave off foul odors, sometimes sparked explosions and was so hard to conceal that dealers often "cooked" their drugs in rural areas.

But now drug users are making their own meth in small batches using a faster, cheaper and much simpler method with ingredients that can be carried in a knapsack and mixed on the run. The "shake-and-bake" approach has become popular because it requires a relatively small number of pills of the decongestant pseudoephedrine — an amount easily obtained under even the toughest anti-meth laws that have been adopted across the nation to restrict large purchases of some cold medication.

"Somebody somewhere said 'Wait this requires a lot less pseudoephedrine, and I can fly under the radar,'" said Mark Woodward, spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control.

An Associated Press review of lab seizures and interviews with state and federal law enforcement agents found that the new method is rapidly spreading across the nation's midsection and is contributing to a spike in the number of meth cases after years of declining arrests.

The new formula does away with the clutter of typical meth labs, and it can turn the back seat of a car or a bathroom stall into a makeshift drug factory. Some addicts have even made the drug while driving.

The pills are crushed, combined with some common household chemicals and then shaken in the soda bottle. No flame is required.

Using the new formula, batches of meth are much smaller but just as dangerous as the old system, which sometimes produces powerful explosions, touches off intense fires and releases drug ingredients that must be handled as toxic waste.

"If there is any oxygen at all in the bottle, it has a propensity to make a giant fireball," said Sgt. Jason Clark of the Missouri State Highway Patrol's Division of Drug and Crime Control. "You're not dealing with rocket scientists here anyway. If they get unlucky at all, it can have a very devastating reaction."

One little mistake, such as unscrewing the bottle cap too fast, can result in a huge blast, and police in Alabama, Oklahoma and other states have linked dozens of flash fires this year — some of them fatal — to meth manufacturing.

"Every meth recipe is dangerous, but in this one, if you don't shake it just right, you can build up too much pressure, and the container can pop," Woodward said.

When fire broke out in older labs, "it was usually on a stove in a back room or garage and people would just run, but when these things pop, you see more extreme burns because they are holding it. There are more fires and more burns because of the close proximity, whether it's on a couch or driving down the road."

After the chemical reaction, what's left is a crystalline powder that users smoke, snort or inject. They often discard the bottle, which now contains a poisonous brown and white sludge. Dozens of reports describe toxic bottles strewn along highways and rural roads in states with the worst meth problems.

The do-it-yourself method creates just enough meth for a few hits, allowing users to make their own doses instead of buying mass-produced drugs from a dealer.

"It simplified the process so much that everybody's making their own dope," said Kevin Williams, sheriff of Marion County, Ala., about 80 miles west of Birmingham. "It can be your next-door neighbor doing it. It can be one of your family members living downstairs in the basement."

A typical meth lab would normally take days to generate a full-size batch of meth, which would require a heat source and dozens, maybe hundreds, of boxes of cold pills.

But because the new method uses far less pseudoephedrine, small-time users are able to make the drug in spite of a federal law that bars customers from buying more than 9 grams — roughly 300 pills — a month.

The federal government and dozens of states adopted restrictions on pseudoephedrine in 2005, and the number of lab busts fell dramatically.

The total number of clandestine meth lab incidents reported to the Drug Enforcement Administration fell from almost 17,400 in 2003 to just 7,347 in 2006.

But the number of busts has begun to climb again, and some authorities blame the shake-and-bake method for renewing meth activity.

The AP review of 14 states found:

• At least 10 states reported increases in meth lab seizures or meth-related arrests from 2007 to 2008.

• The Mississippi State Crime Lab participated in 457 meth incidents through May 31, up from 122 for the same period a year ago — a nearly 275 percent increase.

• Several states, such as Oklahoma and Tennessee, are on pace this year to double the number of labs busted in 2008. The director of Tennessee's meth task force said the pace of lab busts in his state is projected to be about 1,300 for 2009, compared with 815 for all of 2008.

Some states lack a central database to monitor cold medicine sales, so meth cooks circumvent state laws by pill shopping in multiple cities and states — a practice known as "smurfing" that allows them to stay under restrictions placed on sales.

Traci Fruit, a special agent with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, said law enforcement officials are becoming increasingly frustrated because there's no way to tell who is buying what "unless we go from store to store ourselves and pull up the records."

Historically, rural states like Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas have been hotbeds for meth use because an important ingredient in the traditional method, anhydrous ammonia, was easily available from tanks on farms where it's used as a fertilizer. But the new formula does not need anhydrous ammonia and instead uses ammonium nitrate, a compound easily found in instant cold packs that can be purchased at any drug store.

Data from the Justice Department and the DEA data suggest the method could only be in its early stages, and "shake-and-bake" labs have recently been discovered as far north as Indiana and as far east as West Virginia.

States surveyed by the AP also included: Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee, Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

While many law enforcement agencies are just learning how to spot the new labs, other states are rushing to close loopholes in laws limiting the sale of meth ingredients.

Mississippi Sen. Sid Albritton, said that state's law — modeled after Oklahoma's — forces buyers to show identification and makes stores keep a log of cold medicine sales. But the problem in Mississippi is lack of technology to instantly log purchases in a central database.

"You have to understand going in that drugs are an evolutionary process," said Albritton, a former police detective and narcotics officer. "The day after we pass a law, they are going to look for ways to circumvent that."

[Krandall]

Only in Minnesota..... 
Oh, there's a 'Favre' goat in my trunk...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090824/ap_on_fe_st/us_odd_goat_in_trunk;_ylt=AicCkQ96zOg9SPzvC_SVPe3tiBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTJsbDQzaG4wBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwODI0L3VzX29kZF9nb2F0X2luX3RydW5rBGNwb3MDMQRwb3MDMQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3J5BHNsawNvaHRoZXJlc2FmYXY-

WINONA, Minn. – A woman on her way to St. Paul really got the goat of auto repairman James Prusci. She went to Tires Plus in Winona Friday, wanting a belt replaced on her Chevy Malibu. While he was doing paperwork, she said she had a goat in her trunk. "A what?" he asked. She told him she planned to butcher it.

It was painted Minnesota Viking colors — purple and gold — with Brett Favre's No. 4 shaved on its side. Favre made his Vikings debut Friday in a preseason game.

Prusci called animal control, which took the goat to a local vet. He was renamed Brett and placed in foster care.

Animal control officer Wendy Peterson said Monday the city attorney was reviewing the case for possible citations.

[Krandall]

a VERY interesting read about a kid who turned into a phone hacker. To long to post.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/29787673/the_boy_who_heard_too_much/print

[Peelz]

Only in Minnesota..... 
Oh, there's a 'Favre' goat in my trunk...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090824/ap_on_fe_st/us_odd_goat_in_trunk;_ylt=AicCkQ96zOg9SPzvC_SVPe3tiBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTJsbDQzaG4wBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwODI0L3VzX29kZF9nb2F0X2luX3RydW5rBGNwb3MDMQRwb3MDMQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3J5BHNsawNvaHRoZXJlc2FmYXY-

WINONA, Minn. – A woman on her way to St. Paul really got the goat of auto repairman James Prusci. She went to Tires Plus in Winona Friday, wanting a belt replaced on her Chevy Malibu. While he was doing paperwork, she said she had a goat in her trunk. "A what?" he asked. She told him she planned to butcher it.

It was painted Minnesota Viking colors — purple and gold — with Brett Favre's No. 4 shaved on its side. Favre made his Vikings debut Friday in a preseason game.

Prusci called animal control, which took the goat to a local vet. He was renamed Brett and placed in foster care.

Animal control officer Wendy Peterson said Monday the city attorney was reviewing the case for possible citations.

Histerical

Saw that on CNN this morning.

[Krandall]

Tiger Killed, Skinned Inside Indonesian Zoo
http://ecoworldly.com/2009/08/24/tiger-killed-skinned-inside-indonesian-zoo/


According to the Jakarta Globe, authorities suspect the poachers went through a gutter into the zoo and made their way to Sheila's enclosure, where they threw in poisoned bait to kill her.

Didy Wurdjanto, the head of the Jambi Natural Resources Conservation Center, is confident that the killing of the tiger was done by professionals who were well aware of the tiger's value in the illegal wildlife trade.

There is no doubt that the killers were professionals because they did their job very cleanly, taking off the skin in the enclosure rather than dragging the 100-kilogram animal out, which could have attracted attention ... I just can't bear the thought that this could be a new trend in the illegal wildlife trade, [that poachers] are now going after tame tigers in zoos rather than in forests. The demand for tigers is increasing and the price is getting higher because there are so few left.

The head of Taman Rimbo Zoo "refused to speculate on whether zoo staff could have been involved in the crime."

Increasing demand for tiger parts

Tiger (and rhino) conservation is under serious threat by China's economic boom: The growing affluence in China and other Asian countries is driving an unprecedented demand for tiger (and rhino) parts for supposed "medicinal" purposes - and as a result, forcing tigers and rhino closer to extinction in the wild.

China has even lobbied to get the ban on their horrific "tiger farms" lifted: See "Breeding Tigers for Commercial Trade in Body Parts."

Now it appears these murderers will stop at nothing to get what they want.

[socalrappy700]

He may not be everyone's favorite politician but I try to respect all that have served this country, especially in death.

Senator Edward Kennedy dies at age 77

BOSTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, a towering figure in the Democratic Party who took the helm of one of America's most fabled political families after two older brothers were assassinated, died at age 77, his family said.

"Edward M. Kennedy, the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply, died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port (Massachusetts)," the Kennedy family said in a statement early on Wednesday.

One of the most influential and longest-serving senators in U.S. history -- a liberal standard-bearer who was also known as a consummate congressional dealmaker -- Kennedy had been battling brain cancer, which was diagnosed in May 2008.

His death marked the twilight of a political dynasty and dealt a blow to Democrats as they seek to answer President Barack Obama's call for an overhaul of the healthcare system.

Kennedy was a longtime advocate of healthcare reform, a signature issue of Obama's presidency. Obama said on Wednesday he was heartbroken to hear of the death of Kennedy, a crucial supporter of his presidential candidacy.

"I valued his wise counsel in the Senate, where, regardless of the swirl of events, he always had time for a new colleague. I cherished his confidence and momentous support in my race for the Presidency. And even as he waged a valiant struggle with a mortal illness, I've profited as President from his encouragement and wisdom," said Obama, who was elected last November and took office in January.

Kennedy had recently urged Massachusetts lawmakers to change state law so the governor, if necessary, could quickly fill a Senate vacancy as the chamber debates the contentious healthcare issue.

Known as "Teddy," he was the brother of President John Kennedy, assassinated in 1963, Senator Robert Kennedy, fatally shot while campaigning for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination, and Joe Kennedy, a pilot killed in World War Two.

When he first took the Senate seat previously held by John Kennedy in 1962, he was seen as something of a political lightweight who owed his ascent to his famous name.

Yet during his nearly half century in the chamber, Kennedy became known as one of Washington's most effective senators, crafting legislation by working with lawmakers and presidents of both parties, and finding unlikely allies.

At the same time, he held fast to liberal causes deemed anachronistic by the centrist "New Democrats," and was a lightning rod for conservative ire.

He helped enact measures to protect civil and labor rights, expand healthcare, upgrade schools, increase student aid and contain the spread of nuclear weapons.

"There's a lot to do," Kennedy told Reuters in 2006. "I think most of all it's the injustice that I continue to see and the opportunity to have some impact on it."

After Robert Kennedy's death, Edward was expected to waste little time in vying for the presidency. But in 1969, a young woman drowned after a car Kennedy was driving plunged off a bridge on the Massachusetts resort island of Chappaquiddick after a night of partying.

Kennedy's image took a major hit after it emerged he had failed to report the accident to authorities. He pleaded guilty to leaving the scene and received a suspended sentence.

Kennedy eventually ran for his party's presidential nomination in 1980 but lost to then-President Jimmy Carter.

His presidential ambitions thwarted, Kennedy devoted himself to his Senate career.

A 2009 survey by The Hill, a Capitol Hill publication, found that Senate Republicans believed Kennedy was the chamber's easiest Democrat to work with and most bipartisan.

Republican Senator John McCain called Kennedy "the single most effective member of the Senate if you want to get results."

In January 2008, Kennedy endorsed Obama, who was serving his first term as a senator, for the Democratic presidential nomination. Many saw the endorsement as the passing of the political torch to a new generation. A year to the day before his death, Kennedy made an electrifying speech to the Democratic convention that nominated Obama for president.

'LION' BATTLED ON

Kennedy had been largely sidelined in Congress since becoming ill. The "Lion of the Senate" began to use a cane and often looked tired and drained as he mixed work with treatment.

Yet colleagues and staff said he remained determined to fulfill what he called "the cause of my life," providing health insurance to all Americans. He helped draft legislation to overhaul the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare system.

Kennedy's interest in healthcare dated from his son's bout with cancer in the 1970s. More recently, he cited his own illness as he made a case for reform.

"I've benefited from the best of medicine, but I've also witnessed the frustration and outrage of patients and doctors alike as they face the challenges of a system that shortchanges millions of Americans," he wrote in a May 28, 2009, issue of the Boston Globe.

His charisma as "the last of the Kennedy brothers" was such that draft-Teddy drives were a feature of U.S. presidential election years from 1968 through the 1980s.

But he never fully escaped the cloud of the Chappaquiddick accident. A decades-long argument arose about whether he tried to cover up his involvement by leaving the scene while Mary Jo Kopechne's body remained submerged and whether police helped sweep such questions under the rug. All involved denied any cover-up.

Later crises involving younger Kennedys, notably the 1991 Palm Beach rape trial of his nephew, William Kennedy Smith, caught a bloated and weary-looking Uncle Ted in a media glare. Reports of heavy drinking and womanizing led to a public apology for "the faults in the conduct of my private life."

Kennedy was remarried soon after that to Victoria Reggie, a 38-year-old lawyer with two young children from her first marriage. He poured renewed energy into the Senate, where he would become the third-longest serving senator in history.

Even his Republican foes recognized Kennedy's dedication as he worked to protect civil rights, give federal help to the poor, contain the spread of nuclear weapons, raise the minimum wage, expand health coverage and improve America's schools.

FAMILY STANDARDS

Born on February 22, 1932, Edward Moore Kennedy was the last of four sons and five daughters born to millionaire businessman Joseph Kennedy, who would later be ambassador to Britain, and his wife, Rose.

The Boston Irish family combined the competitive spirit of nouveau riche immigrants with acquired polish and natural charm. The sons were expected to mature into presidential timber and were groomed for that starting with the oldest, Joseph Jr., a bomber pilot who died in World War Two.

"I think about my brothers every day," Kennedy told Reuters. "They set high standards. Sometimes you measure up, sometimes you don't."

Like his brothers, Kennedy was known for his oratory, delivered in a booming voice at rallies, congressional hearings and in the Senate.

He drew praise from liberals, labor and civil rights groups and scorn from conservatives, big business and anti-abortion and pro-gun activists. His image was often used by Republicans in ads as a money-raising tool.

Tragedies dogged Kennedy throughout his life. They included a 1964 plane crash that damaged his spine and left him with persistent pain; bone cancer that cost son Teddy a leg; first wife Joan's battles with alcoholism that contributed to their divorce, and drug problems involving nephews, one of whom died of an overdose. His nephew, John Kennedy Jr., died in July 1999 when his small plane crashed into the ocean near Cape Cod.

In May 2008, Edward Kennedy collapsed at his Cape Cod home and was flown to hospital in Boston, where he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Brain cancer kills half its victims within a year.

Kennedy's illness kept him from attending the funeral of his sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, a leading advocate of the mentally disabled, who died on August 11 at the age of 88.

[Peelz]

yeah, sad news. 

[Krandall]

Get Ready for Gruesome Cigarette Warnings
http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20090827/hl_hsn/getreadyforgruesomecigarettewarnings


THURSDAY, Aug. 27 (HealthDay News) -- Would a gruesome picture of a cancer-ravaged mouth with rotting teeth make you think twice about buying a pack of cigarettes?


That's the goal of new federal regulations expected to go into effect within three years. The rules will require tobacco companies to cover at least half of the front and back of packages with graphic -- and possibly gruesome -- images illustrating the dangers of smoking.


If U.S. regulations are modeled after those already in place in Canada and other countries, the warnings will be shocking: blackened lungs, gangrenous feet, bleeding brains and people breathing through tracheotomies.


Though hard to look at, the more graphic the image, the more effective in discouraging smoking, said Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and director of the university's Center for Tobacco Control, Research and Education.


"The graphic warnings really work," Glantz said. "They substantially increase the likelihood someone will quit smoking. They substantially decrease the chances a kid will smoke. And they really screw up the ability of the tobacco industry to use the packaging as a marketing tool."


Over the last decade, countries as varied as Canada, Australia, Chile, Brazil, Iran and Singapore, among others, have adopted graphic warnings on tobacco products. Some are downright disturbing: in Brazil, cigarette packages come with pictures of dead babies and a gangrened foot with blackened toes.


In the United States, the authority to force packaging changes was granted on June 22, when President Barack Obama, who has struggled with cigarette addiction since he was a teen, signed into law the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. The landmark legislation gives the U.S. Food and Drug Administration broad new authority to regulate the marketing of tobacco products.


Under the law, the FDA has two years to issue specifics about the new graphic warnings tobacco products will be required to carry. Tobacco companies then have 18 months to get them onto packages.


Currently, the United States has some of the weakest requirements for cigarette package warnings in the world, said David Hammond, an assistant professor in the department of health studies at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. The text-only warnings on packages have changed little since 1984.


"Consumers in many Third World countries are getting more and better information about the risks of cigarettes off their packs," Hammond said.


With much at stake for tobacco companies, there will be much wrangling over the details, Glantz said.


Yet research shows the FDA shouldn't compromise, Glantz said. The more frightening the image, the greater the anti-smoking effect, he said.


Despite some research that has suggested images that are too stomach-turning may backfire because people eventually ignore them, new research is showing the most graphic images pack the most punch, said Jeremy Kees, an assistant professor of marketing at Villanova University.


In a yet-to-be published study, Kees had 541 adult smokers in the United States and Canada view a mild image of a smoker's mouth with yellowed teeth; a moderately graphic image of a diseased mouth; and a third photo of a grotesque, disfigured mouth.


The most disturbing photo evoked the most fear, prompting more smokers to say they intended to quit, Kees said.


While the new regulations may also include no-nonsense, text warnings such as "Smoking Makes You Impotent" and "Smoking Kills," the images will have the broadest reach, Hammond said.


Non-English speakers can understand the picture of a diseased mouth, as can people who are illiterate. Smokers tend to have lower literacy levels, Hammond noted.


And kids will get the message too, potentially stopping them from ever lighting up. "You have 4-year-olds and 5-year-olds who can understand that picture," Hammond said.

Elsewhere, graphic warnings seem to be helping to drive down smoking rates. In Canada, about 13 percent of the population smokes daily, a 5 percent drop since the graphic warnings were adopted in 2000, Hammond said.

About 21 percent of the U.S. population smokes daily, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While powerful, the gruesome warnings won't get everyone to quit.

"Nicotine is highly addictive," Hammond said. "Health warnings are not a magic bullet, but they help move people closer to quitting and provide a constant reminder of why many people want to change."

[Krandall]

Sad

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/08/game-over-pirate-bay-sold/

Shareholders Approve Pirate Bay Purchase
By David Kravets  August 27, 2009  |  11:47 am  |  Categories: Yo Ho Ho
As expected, The Pirate Bay moved a step closer Thursday to being sold to a Swedish-based software concern that hopes to turn the world's notorious BitTorrent tracker into a legitimate, pay-to-play site.

Global Gaming Factory shareholders approved the $8.5 million transaction Thursday, four months after The Pirate Bay's four co-founders were found guilty of facilitating copyright infringement. Within weeks, the site is expected to become a subscription-based service, although no major content providers have agreed to license their wares.

The sale, which is expected to be largely funded via Hans Pandeya, Global Gaming's chief executive, is one of two major blows to the illicit file sharing scene. On Wednesday, Dutch-based Mininova, which many believed would become one of the main alternatives to a legitimate Pirate Bay, was ordered by a European court to remove all its copyrighted material or face millions in fines.

Still, concerns remain over Global Gaming's ability to remain solvent or perhaps even complete the deal. The AktieTorget, the Swedish-based exchange where the company is listed, is examining whether to delist the company amid allegations of insider trading ahead of the deal's initial announcement weeks ago.

Pandeya and other board members are the main shareholders, and Pandeya promised to sell some of his holdings to help shore up the deal.

The Pirate Bay, as of 9:30 a.m. PDT, appeared operational for file sharers to hijack movies, games, software and music for free — despite a court order demanding it be shuttered. The Pirate Bay's four co-founders each face a year in prison, but remain free pending appeal. The Pirate Bay's domain still remains under the control of Fredrik Neij, one of the 5-year-old site's founders.