If you believe in fairies, stay the fuck away from children

By
9 August 2011
1 min read
Leave a comment
In Politics, Rights
677 views

Like the river that bears his name, Fred Nile is ancient, salty, shallow, full of sediment, has dubious sources, causes conflicts between every country he passes through, and takes a very long time to reach a conclusion.

He also terminates in a large estuarine delta, was used as a means of transport by ancient kings, and is implicated in the drowning deaths of many thousands of Egyptians. But what he does in his downtime is none of our concern.

What he does in Australian schools definitely is.

And what he’s doing in New South Welsh schools — attempting to banish alternatives to Christian theological classes — is just one part of a deeply worrying trend of hardline Christian activists getting access to young children, and doing so on the government dollar — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Concerns swirl over safety of uncontacted Amazonian tribe

By
9 August 2011
1 min read
Leave a comment
In World
635 views

The whereabouts of a remote Amazonian tribe who appeared in remarkable footage earlier this year aiming bows and arrows at a plane flying over their jungle homes was unknown Monday after government officials sent to protect them were forced to abandon their post and flee from armed drug traffickers.

Traffickers crossed the border from Peru and threatened officials from the National Indigenous Foundation (Funai), the government body charged with protecting Brazil’s isolated Indians, a foundation spokesman said, underlining new threats for isolated Indians as traffickers seek new territory and routes.

This is extremely distressing news, says Stephen Corry, director of Survival International, an indigenous rights group based in the UK. There is no knowing how many tribal peoples the drugs trade has wiped out in the past, but all possible measures should be taken to stop it happening again — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Our brains aren’t built to understand altitude

By
9 August 2011
1 min read
Leave a comment
In Science, Wildlife
625 views

Animal brains, ours included, have evolved to be powerfully aware of where we are at any given moment. But it turns out that our brains are surprisingly, frustratingly two-dimensional, and that we’re only dimly aware of changes in altitude.

That’s the finding of new research from University College London. The team studied specific brain cells as rats moved through space: grid cells, which are used to measure distance, and place cells, which are used to understand location. When the rats moved upwards in altitude on little spiral staircases and climbing walls, the researchers found that the grid cells didn’t respond at all, and the place cells only barely registered. This indicates that animal brains simply do not have the complexity to handle full three-dimensional awareness, and so we shortchange our knowledge of height in order to better navigate horizontally — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Chinese Smugglers Winch 1000’s of iPads From Hong Kong To Shenzhen with Crossbow

By
9 August 2011
1 min read
Leave a comment
In Weird
734 views

Smugglers, trying to make a profit from the tax differences between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland, have been caught after their pulley and zip-line was discovered by customs officers.

The creative smugglers attached one end of a strong fishing line to the 21st storey of a Shenzhen high-rise and shot the other end across the Sha Tau Kok river to a small rural house in Hong Kong with a crossbow!.

iPhone 4’s and iPad 2’s were then hoisted along the line in black nylon bags via a make shift pulley in the early hours of the morning — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Real Names Policies Are an Abuse of Power

By
9 August 2011
1 min read
Leave a comment
In Rights, Technology
722 views

Over and over again, people keep pointing to Facebook as an example where real names policies work. This makes me laugh hysterically. One of the things that became patently clear to me in my fieldwork is that countless teens who signed up to Facebook late into the game chose to use pseudonyms or nicknames. What’s even more noticeable in my data is that an extremely high percentage of people of colour used pseudonyms as compared to the white teens that I interviewed. Of course, this would make sense…

The people who most heavily rely on pseudonyms in online spaces are those who are most marginalised by systems of power. Real names policies aren’t empowering; they’re an authoritarian assertion of power over vulnerable people

Confectioners’ Sugar Lollipop Moulds / King Arthur Flour

By
9 August 2011
42 second read
Leave a comment
In Food
876 views

This confectioners’ sugar lollipop mould tutorial from King Arthur Flour is one of those great ideas that totally stopped me in my tracks. Instead of getting hard candy stuck in moulds, why not just use confectioners’ sugar to make your own? Plus, depending on what object you use to make the indentations, you can get really creative with shapes and colour layering — via CRAFT

Greyfriars Bobby tale is wrong claims Cardiff historian

By
8 August 2011
42 second read
Leave a comment
In History, Wildlife
626 views

For around a 150 years, tourists to Edinburgh have taken time out of their trip to visit the bronze statue of Greyfriars Bobby, the Skye Terrier reputed to have kept a 14 year vigil at his master’s graveside.

But now a historian at Cardiff University believes he has uncovered evidence that the legend is nothing but a shaggy dog tale — via redwolf.newsvine.com

The British Schindler who saved Austrian Jews

By
8 August 2011
48 second read
Leave a comment
In History
626 views

In March 1938, a Church of England vicar set out to save the lives of hundreds of desperate Austrian Jews facing persecution by the Nazis by baptising them as Christians, to help them flee the country.

The controversial work of the Reverend Hugh Grimes — which began the day after Nazi Germany annexed Austria — is little recognised yet it led to what could be called Britain’s own Schindler’s list — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Milton Police Find Shark In Woods

By
8 August 2011
1 min read
Leave a comment
In Weird, Wildlife
645 views

The shark was found discarded here on some private property just off of Rural Tenerriffe Road, not far from busy Route 125 and the Spaulding Turnpike.

I can only think that either someone didn’t have a license, because you have to have a license to fish the ocean, and was going to bring it home and someone said, ‘Hey dude, you need a license or something like that.’ Panicking, they probably said, ‘Well, I guess we’ve got to get rid of the evidence,’ said Ellis.

There is a local pond in Milton, NH, but the nearest salt water is nearly an hour away, and local residents are surprised — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Obituary: Nancy Wake

By
8 August 2011
57 second read
Leave a comment
In History
648 views

Nancy Wake, the French Resistance fighter who became Australia’s most decorated World War II heroine, has died in a London hospital at the age of 98.

Born in New Zealand and raised in Sydney, Ms Wake was nicknamed The White Mouse by the Gestapo because she was so hard to capture.

She is regarded as a heroine in France, which decorated her with its highest honour, the Legion d’Honneur, as well as three Croix de Guerre and a French Resistance Medal — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Shady RAT Hacking Claims Overblown, Security Firms Say

By
8 August 2011
1 min read
Leave a comment
In Technology
553 views

Two security companies are questioning claims that a cyber espionage campaign uncovered by a rival firm was sophisticated or even extraordinary.

Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab on Thursday begged to differ, saying that McAfee has simply not provided enough information to justify the claims being bandied about.

The report contains nothing on what particular data has been stolen or how many computers in each organization were hit by the attacks, said Alex Gostev, Kaspersky’s chief security expert, in an emailed statement. Until the information in the McAfee report is backed up by evidence, to talk about the biggest cyber attack in history is premature — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Airport body scanners useless: German police

By
8 August 2011
1 min read
Leave a comment
In Technology
558 views

Body scanners being tested at Germany’s Hamburg airport have had a thumbs down from the police, who say they trigger an alarm unnecessarily in seven out of 10 cases, a newspaper said Saturday.

The weekly Welt am Sonntag, quoting a police report, said 35 percent of the 730,000 passengers checked by the scanners set off the alarm more than once despite being innocent.

The report said the machines were confused by several layers of clothing, boots, zip fasteners and even pleats, while in 10 percent of cases the passenger’s posture set them off — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Defcon Lockpickers Open Card-And-Code Government Locks In Seconds

By
8 August 2011
1 min read
Leave a comment
In Technology
601 views

To open a door fitted with the latest US government-certified lock from high-end Swiss lock manufacturer Kaba, an employee must both enter a code up to eight digits long, then swipe a unique identity card coded to comply with a new standard that requires an extra layer of security, one designed to track individual staffers and make covert intrusion harder than ever.

Or, as lockpicking expert Marc Weber Tobias will show a crowd of hackers Friday, you can stick a wire in the tiny display light above the keypad and instantly render all of that security irrelevant — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Moto Guzzi V8

By
6 August 2011
1 min read
Leave a comment
In Design
810 views

The Moto Guzzi V8 Otto Cilindri is widely regarded as one of the ten greatest motorcycle designs of all time. Yet it only won three Grands Prix. So what makes it so great? Mostly the engine, which gave the bike incredible performance. In the mid 50s at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, the Otto Cilindri was clocked at 275 kph—a smidge over 170 mph. Its power-to-weight ratio was unparalleled, with around 78 hp pushing just 148 kg (330 lbs) dry. The engine was a technological miracolo: a 499 cc water-cooled four-stroke, blessed with twin overhead cams and no less than eight Dell’Orto carburetors — via Bike EXIF

Nazi philosophy behind ethics classes: Nile

By
5 August 2011
58 second read
Leave a comment
In Politics, Rights, Weird
623 views

The New South Wales Upper House has begun debating the future of school ethics classes, with Christian Democrats MP Fred Nile comparing them to Nazi philosophy.

Reverend Nile introduced a private member’s bill in May to repeal the legislation that allows ethics classes to be offered as an alternative to scripture lessons.

The State Government used its numbers to bring the bill forward for a second reading this morning, but Premier Barry O’Farrell insists it will not be supported by Coalition MPs — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Previous 401 402 403404 405 Next