Rolex USA awarded damages against counterfeiter

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11 May 2012
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Rolex USA is starting to crackdown on counterfeiters blatantly imitating and selling its products for huge profits on the internet. It has won nearly $160,000 in court after taking the owner of two websites selling fake Rolex watches to court in New York.

Gabriel Alvarez had been running deviousdesires.net and deviousdesires.com that sold fake Rolex watches for about $100 as well as other counterfeit goods masquerading as products from brands including Breitling, Armani, Bulgari and Chanel. The site openly advertised that the goods it sold were fakes — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Mayan art and calendar at Xultun stun archaeologists

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11 May 2012
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Archaeologists working at the Xultun ruins of the Maya civilisation have reported striking finds, including the oldest-known Mayan astronomical tables.

The site, in Guatemala, includes the first known instance of Maya art painted on the walls of a dwelling.

A report in Science says it dates from the early 9th Century, pre-dating other Maya calendars by centuries. — via BBC News

Unknown language found stamped in ancient clay tablet

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11 May 2012
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In deciphering the tablet seen above, John MacGinnis of the University of Cambridge found that many of the names on the list are not from any currently known ancient language. One or two are actually Assyrian and a few more may belong to other known languages of the period, such as Luwian or Hurrian, he says, but the great majority belong to a previously unidentified language.

MacGinnis thinks that the names are from a language that originated in modern-day western Iran and was transported to Tušhan, now in south-east Turkey, with the people who were deported there to work in agriculture or construction — via New Scientist

Stellalpina / Roberto Rossi

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10 May 2012
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In Design
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Roberto Rossi is one of Italy’s best-known Harley-Davidson concessionarias. He’s also got petrol coursing through his veins. His dealership includes a museum: a showcase for a personal collection of classic motorcycles bolstered by an authentic Mille Miglia Alfa Romeo 1750 GS Zagato (once owned by Tazio Nuvolari) and vintage tractors.

Rossi often turns his hand to custom motorcycles, and this is his latest. He describes it as An unconventional Sportster modified for mountain joyrides, — hence the name Stellalpina (Alpine star) — via Bike EXIF

Court knocks out ‘illusory’ $1000 home sale in Wirraway, Braybrook

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10 May 2012
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The Sheriff’s sale of a repossessed house in Melbourne’s west for $1000 — that was worth an estimated $630,000 — has today been overturned by the Victorian Supreme Court.

The five-bedroom, two-storey brick house in Wirraway Avenue, Braybrook, built in 2006 by owner Zhiping Zhou, was repossessed by the Sheriff in late 2009 after Zhou failed to re-pay a $100,000 debt.

He also had an outstanding mortgage of just under $460,000 and was in arrears by almost $8000 to Maribyrnong Council for his municipal rates.

A warrant of seizure and sale was obtained in November 2009 and the Sheriff auctioned off the property on December 16 the following year — without a reserve price.

Justice Peter Vickery today labelled such a sale in his judgement as a remarkable event — via redwolf.newsvine.com

South African police seize $7 million in assets from suspected rhino poachers

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10 May 2012
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Police in South Africa have confiscated nearly $7 million in assets from three suspected rhino poachers, two of whom are veterinarians.

The assets were seized from Dawie Groenewald, owner of a safari business, and veterinary surgeons Karel Toet and Manie Du Plessis. The men were in 2010 charged with 1,872 counts of racketeering in what police described as one of South Africa’s biggest wildlife crime cases.

South Africa, which is home to most of the world’s 21,000 rhinos, is facing a massive poaching crisis.

The country has seen a dramatic rise in poaching since 2008, with 448 of the endangered animals killed last year. The brutal killing of rhinos is fuelled by the soaring demand for their horns in China and particularly Vietnam — via redwolf.newsvine.com

LED light bulb to last more than 20 years

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9 May 2012
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Light bulbs that are said to last for more than two decades while consuming very little energy may go on sale later this year.

US firm General Electric, Dutch company Philips and UK-based Sylvania all showcased their products at the Light Fair industry conference in Las Vegas.

Using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) instead of filaments, the bulbs are meant to produce as much light as a 100-watt incandescent alternative.

However, LEDs are not usually cheap — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Rackspace promises Aussie datacentre

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9 May 2012
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If you talk to US-based companies about hosting providers, they’re likely to rabbit on and on about the unholy dominant duo of the US market: Amazon and Rackspace. Amazon. Rackspace. Rackspace. Amazon. It gets to be a bit repetitive at times. If you’re not with one, you’re with the other. Or both. And now both are (reportedly) expanding into Australia. Like Amazon, Rackspace recently opened an Australian office and starting hiring local staff. Like Amazon, Rackspace has already notched up some Australian customers. And also like its eternal rival, Rackspace’s appeal to Australian customers has been somewhat limited by the fact that it doesn’t have any Australian infrastructure. But as iTNews reports today, all that may be about to change, as Rackspace follows Amazon in yet another way: Australian infrastructure — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Triton / Freddie Cooper

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8 May 2012
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The definition of a cafe racer gets looser as the years go by. But this Triton, which will go on sale at the Wheels & Waves event in France in June, is as authentic as they come. Built in 1960, it’s a truly original English cafe racer—and one with a particularly interesting history. It’s the work of motorcycle racer Freddie Cooper, the first man to exceed 200 mph on English soil — via Bike EXIF

The Lengthening Arm of Uncle Sam’s ‘Pirate’ Justice

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8 May 2012
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File-sharing was firmly on the agenda when the head of the US Department of Homeland Security touched down in the Australian capital last week. The four new agreements — promptly signed before Secretary Janet Napolitano flew back out of Canberra — were less about sharing season two of Game of Thrones and more about sharing the private, government held information of Australian citizens with US authorities — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Andrew Nikolic and The New Examiner

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8 May 2012
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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

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