Andrew Nikolic and The New Examiner

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8 May 2012
3 min read
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In Politics
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Then there’s Andrew Nikolic. The endorsed Liberal candidate for the northern seat of Bass has wasted no time getting into election mode, despite the fact he’s likely to be waiting another 18 months before voters have their say. With the Liberals having no policies to speak of, Nikolic has a free rein: writing letters to newspapers, issuing media releases, kissing babies in public.  In short, he’s acting like the next Federal election was scheduled for June 2012 rather than November 2013.

Nikolic has embraced social media.  His Facebook site (authorised by former Liberal candidate Sam McQuestin) boasts 680 followers, although he’s quick to despatch anybody brave enough to offer a viewpoint contrary to his.  (There’s actually a Facebook page dedicated specifically for Facebook users blocked by Andrew Nikolic.)

He’s also aligned himself with some of the more unpleasant social media outlets.  Not only is he the pin-up boy for more extreme elements of the logging industry, but he’s an unashamed supporter of Code Red, a one-man vendetta against Greens, homosexuals, the Labor Party and anybody who questions Forestry Tasmania.

Nikolic isn’t a politician. Yet. Generally, the New Examiner respects the rights of individuals.  Politicians, however, are fair game, particularly when their antics, statements and actions aren’t effectively reported in mainstream media.  So when Nikolic chose to abuse a handful of elderly protestors in the Launceston mall (TT here) because they didn’t agree with his far-right brand of politics, we added him to the list of targets.

Although he’s retired from the army, Nikolic’s biggest sales pitch to the voters is his military background.  He’s even gone so far as to promote Andrew’s Army on Facebook — a collection of individuals preparing to fight the good fight against the evil Labor/Green Government — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Scientists ‘switch off’ brain cell death

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7 May 2012
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In Health, Science
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Scientists have figured out how to stop brain cell death in mice with brain disease which could provide a deeper understanding of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

British researchers writing in the journal Nature say they have found a major pathway leading to brain cell death in mice with prion disease, the mouse equivalent of Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease (CJD).

They then worked out how to block it, and were able to prevent brain cells from dying, helping the mice live longer.

The finding, described by one expert as a major breakthrough in understanding what kills neurons, points to a common mechanism by which brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and CJD damage the nerve cells — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Magnetic bacteria may be building future bio-computers

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7 May 2012
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In Science, Technology
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Magnet-making bacteria may be building biological computers of the future, researchers have said.

A team from the UK’s University of Leeds and Japan’s Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology have used microbes that eat iron.

As they ingest the iron, the microbes create tiny magnets inside themselves, similar to those in PC hard drives.

The research may lead to the creation of much faster hard drives, the team of scientists say.

As technology progresses and computer components get smaller and smaller, it becomes harder to produce electronics on a nano-scale.

So researchers are now turning to nature — and get microbes involved — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Mill Hill House / Hal Higgins

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7 May 2012
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In Design
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If you want a distinctive property, they don’t come much more distinctive than this 1960s Professor Hal Higgins-designed five-bedroom modernist property in Mill Hill, London NW7. But be warned, it’s certainly not cheap.

Harold Cassius Higgins, aka Professor Hal Higgins, sadly died earlier this year, But he leaves behind a wealth of interesting architecture, building both public and private housing from the ’50s to the ’70s. We suspect this is one of his late ’60s designs, although the agent doesn’t confirm this.

If you want it, that’s very simple. The seller is looking for offers around £2,500,000 — via WowHaus

The frequent fliers who flew too much

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7 May 2012
2 min read
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In Business
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There are frequent fliers, and then there are people like Steven Rothstein and Jacques Vroom.

Both men bought tickets that gave them unlimited first-class travel for life on American Airlines. It was almost like owning a fleet of private jets.

Passes in hand, Rothstein and Vroom flew for business. They flew for pleasure. They flew just because they liked being on planes. They bypassed long lines, booked backup itineraries in case the weather turned, and never worried about cancellation fees. Flight crews memorized their names and favorite meals.

Each had paid American more than $350,000 for an unlimited AAirpass and a companion ticket that allowed them to take someone along on their adventures. Both agree it was the best purchase they ever made, one that completely redefined their lives.

But all the miles they and 64 other unlimited AAirpass holders racked up went far beyond what American had expected. As its finances began deteriorating a few years ago, the carrier took a hard look at the AAirpass program.

Heavy users, including Vroom and Rothstein, were costing it millions of dollars in revenue, the airline concluded.

The AAirpass system had rules. A special “revenue integrity unit” was assigned to find out whether any of these rules had been broken, and whether the passes that were now such a drag on profits could be revoked.

Rothstein, Vroom and other AAirpass holders had long been treated like royalty. Now they were targets of an investigation — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Unblocking The Pirate Bay The Hard Way Is Fun For Geeks

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7 May 2012
56 second read
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In Politics, Rights, Technology
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Now that The Pirate Bay is being blocked by ISPs in the UK, millions of people have a new interest in accessing the site, even if they didn’t before. The reasons for this are simple. Not only do people hate being told what they can and can’t do, people — especially geeks — love solving problems and puzzles. Unlocking The Pirate Bay with a straightforward proxy is just too boring, so just for fun let’s go the hard way round — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Tests confirm sighting of endangered tiger quoll

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7 May 2012
1 min read
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In Science, Wildlife
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A critically-endangered marsupial has been seen in the Otway Ranges for the first time in a decade.

Scientists have spent the last decade trying to confirm whether or not they are still alive in the wild in south-western Victoria.

Last month, Matthew Morton spotted what he thought was a tiger quoll outside his property in the eastern Otways.

“There was a ginger and white-spotted animal that sort of looked like an oversized possum,” he said.

The animal’s faeces were collected and DNA testing has confirmed it was a tiger quoll — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Rare bacteria kills lab researcher in San Francisco

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6 May 2012
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In Health, Science
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A researcher at an infectious disease lab died over the weekend after being exposed to a rare bacteria strain that he was working with, said health officials

Richard Din, 25, worked at San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, reported the San Jose Mercury News.

California health authorities said that the victim had worked with the rare Neisseria meningitis bacterial strain for months before his death.

The Contra Costa Times reported that the recent UC-Berkeley biology grad left the lab last Friday and became ill during the evening with fever, chills and a headache.

By Saturday morning his symptoms had grown worse and he developed a body rash.

He called his friends to drive him to the hospital but died shortly after — via redwolf.newsvine.com

US archive thief foiled by collector David Goldin

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6 May 2012
58 second read
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In History
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A US recording enthusiast unmasked a thief after finding a one-of-a-kind Babe Ruth recording on eBay — that he had donated to the National Archives.

J David Goldin, 69, bought another record from the seller and tracked the return address to a Maryland home.

The thief turned out to be the employee he handed the recording of the baseball legend to 30 years earlier.

Leslie Charles Waffen has admitted stealing thousands of sound recordings from the Archives.

He was sentenced on Thursday to 18 months in prison — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Catching paedophiles using image-processing technology

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6 May 2012
1 min read
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In Technology
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Lists of hashes help the sorting process but their usefulness is limited by the changes regularly made to images.

An image-processing tool that can ignore those tiny changes and work out what other images it resembles has been developed by Microsoft researchers.

Instead of a hash, this creates what its creators call a signature for each image. Unlike a hash this signature does not change when an image is altered or manipulated.

No matter how much it’s changed, the underlying properties of the image’s signature remain the same, said Stuart Aston, chief security officer at Microsoft UK.

Called PhotoDNA, the tool was developed to keep an eye on images uploaded to other Microsoft services and Facebook and now, with the help of Swedish firm NetClean, is being given to police forces to help them categorise images — via redwolf.newsvine.com

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