Notorious creepy uncle troll unmasked

One of the world’s most notorious internet trolls, who created an online forum to share sexualised images of underage girls, has been exposed as a middle-aged Texan grandfather who loves cats.

When confronted about his secret double life, Michael Brutsch pleaded with the New York-based blog Gawker not to expose his identity, saying he had a disabled wife and could lose his job.

I just like riling people up in my spare time, he said.

But the 49-year-old, who used the Reddit name Violentacrez (pronounced Violent-Acres) to post vile messages across the internet, said he did not regret any of his online activities, which include creating or moderating Reddit forums called Chokeabitch, Niggerjailbait, Rapebait, Hitler, Jewmerica, Misogyny, Incest.
Advertisement

He also led Jailbait, where Reddit users submitted images of scantily-clad tween and teenage girls, often in bikinis or skirts. The images were taken from social media sites, and photos of girls older than 16 were usually deleted — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Why using your real name will not mean better behaviour online

It is fallacy that anonymity breeds terrible behaviour — poor community management and poorly designed reputation systems do that.

Being made to use your real name online does not hold most accountable. If that were the case hundreds of facebook/social media managers around the world would be out of work while people behaved politely online and with civility towards fellow humankind.

Persistent identity — because real can’t be regulated (yet anyway) — does not stop people from behaving badly, if anything it stifles their ability to say what they really think. Which as a society, is something we should all hold in high regard. And defend.

Most people I meet who are anti-anonymity have never inhabited an online forum because almost everyone who ever has, has a completely different understanding of the issue. (Quite possibly Randy Zuckerberg also falls into this category, and no doubt her anti-anonymity views of indicative of what gets said in the halls of facebook) — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Red Pandas / Whipsnade Zoo

The Zoological Society of London’s Whipsnade Zoo is getting a glimpse of their Red Panda twins for the first time since they were born in June. The girls, named Yin and Yang, have stayed close to first-time mum, Tashi, for the last few months, and are only now beginning to take tentative steps to explore their surroundings — via ZooBorns

Tuna worker accidentally cooked to death

A worker at a Bumble Bee Foods factory in Santa Fe Springs, California, died in industrial oven accident this week, NBC News reported.

Safety officials said Jose Melena, 62, was accidentally cooked in a steamer machine at the seafood canning company’s plant, NBC News reported. Police pronounced him dead at the scene at 7.00am Thursday.

California Division of Occupational Safety and Health spokeswoman Erika Monterroza said it was unclear how Melena ended up inside the oven, the Contra Costa Times reported. Cal-OSHA has launched an investigation into the accident which it plans to complete in six months, she added.

If it turns out that the factory did violate state health and safety regulations, Bumble Bee Foods will face civil penalties, Monterroza said, according to the Contra Costa Times. In addition, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office could decide to indict the company on criminal charges — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Snooper’s Charter: 19,000 Emails Against, 0 In Favour

Back in August, I urged people to respond to the consultation on the truly dreadful Draft Communications Bill, aka Snooper’s Charter. Obviously, I wasn’t alone in doing that: many organisations concerned about the impact on civil liberties in this country have done the same. For example, both 38 Degrees and Open Rights Group (ORG) provided suggested texts and asked people to contact the Joint Parliamentary Committee that has been considering the Bill – and doing rather a good job of it, I must say.

Out of 19,000 emails received by the Committee on the subject of the proposed Draft Communications Bill, not a single one was in favour of it, or even agreed with its premise. Has there ever been a bill so universally rejected by the public in a consultation? Clearly, it must be thrown out completely — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Mysterious elk-shaped structure discovered in Russia

A huge geoglyph in the shape of an elk or deer discovered in Russia may predate Peru’s famous Nazca Lines by thousands of years.

The animal-shaped stone structure, located near Lake Zjuratkul in the Ural Mountains, north of Kazakhstan, has an elongated muzzle, four legs and two antlers. A historical Google Earth satellite image from 2007 shows what may be a tail, but this is less clear in more recent imagery.

Excluding the possible tail, the animal stretches for about 900 feet (275 meters) at its farthest points (northwest to southeast), the researchers estimate, equivalent to two American football fields. The figure faces north and would have been visible from a nearby ridge — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Gerhard Richter painting sells for record £21m

An oil painting by the German artist Gerhard Richter has sold for £21m ($34m) — an auction record for a work by a living artist.

Abstraktes Bild, painted in 1994 , which was owned by rock star Eric Clapton, has been described as a masterpiece of calculated chaos.

The artwork, expected to fetch £9-12m, was sold to an anonymous bidder at Sotheby’s in London on Friday.

A round of applause broke out as the painting went under the hammer.

Gerhard Richter, 80, who lives in Cologne, is considered by some to be the world’s greatest living painter — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Scientists uncover mystery of ball lightning

A team of Australian scientists believe they have uncovered the cause of one of nature’s most bizarre phenomenon — ball lightning.

Ball lightning is typically the size of a grapefruit and lasts up to 20 seconds.

Ball lightning has been reported by hundreds of people, for hundreds of years and it has been a mystery, said CSIRO scientist John Lowke, lead author of a new study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres — via redwolf.newsvine.com

DeLorean DNA / Romain Jerome

Fittingly the DeLorean DNA watch case is made of brushed stainless steel, while the bezel of the watch is made using metal from an original DeLorean DMC-12. A total of 23 jewels have been used for the watch which houses a Swiss mechanical automatic calibre RJ001-CH movement. The watch is water resistant up to 30 metres with a power reserve of 48 hours.

Romain Jerome wanted DeLorean DNA to remain true to the car’s aesthetic appeal and, as with all watches in the DNA series, certain elements have been melted together with the steel of the bezel. The dial is engraved with cross-strut traverses picking up the iconic X-shaped design that has become a Romain Jerome brand signature — via Watchuseek

Weight Watcher / Santiago Chopper

This classic-looking Guzzi cafe racer is based on a 1996 V1100 Daytona — an altogether more powerful bike, with 102 bhp from its 1064cc motor. It’s the latest build from Alain Bernard ofSantiago Chopper, and Bernard has nicknamed the machine Weight Watcher because he’s stripped all the fat from the stock bike — both visually and literally — via Bike EXIF

Branco / Obris Morgan

The Branco from Hong Kong outfit Obris Morgan looks like amazing value for money: you get a titanium case, AR sapphire, 200m of water resistance, and not one, but three decent quality straps, all packaged in a Pelican-style case for $230 ($240 for PVD) including shipping — via HODINKEE

Abbots Way / AR Design Studio

Abbots Way, the latest creation by AR Design Studio, is a stunning five bedroom house. Bordered by mature trees and a small lake, this spectacular house creates feelings of ultimate relaxation and privacy, whilst its contemporary design juxtaposes superbly with its beautifully rural location, on the south coast of England — via ArchDaily

Abbott guilty of sexism: Milne

Greens leader Christine Milne has accused Opposition Leader Tony Abbott of being a hyper-masculine perpetrator of sexism in Parliament, even though she says he doesn’t realise it half the time.

Senator Milne told The National Times that all female parliamentarians experience sexism, including Prime Minister Julia Gillard and herself: That’s the reality.

She said Mr Abbott specifically was part of the problem, along with people such as shock-jocks, but that his comments were deliberate only some of the time.

Half the time I don’t think he even realises it, she said.

Senator Milne said: He [Mr Abbott] very much epitomises the hyper-masculine style of male politician … and he trades on that.

His attitude to women is very much of the male dominated, male protection, the father looking after the women as very much the secondary players … and no amount of bringing his wife into the public arena is going to change people’s perception of the kinds of remarks he makes — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Police slam Catholic Church

Victoria Police has launched a scathing attack on the Catholic Church, accusing it of deliberately impeding its investigations into child abuse.

In a submission to the parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child abuse by churches, signed by Chief Commissioner Ken Lay, police recommend that some of the church’s actions to hinder investigations be criminalised.

The submission lists a number of ways in which the church has hindered the criminal justice process, including dissuading victims of sexual crimes from reporting them to police, failing to engage with police and alerting suspects of allegations against them, which may have resulted in loss of evidence — via redwolf.newsvine.com