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British ISPs restrict access to Wikipedia amid child pornography allegations

Category : Uncategorized

Sunday, December 7, 2008

This article mentions the Wikimedia Foundation, one of its projects, or people related to it. Wikinews is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation.

Wikinews has learned at least six of the United Kingdom’s main Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have implemented monitoring and filtering mechanisms that are causing major problems for UK contributors on websites operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, in addition to 1,200 other websites. The filters appear to be applied because Wikimedia sites are hosting a Scorpions album cover which some call child pornography. Scorpions are a German hard rock band who have used several controversial album covers and are perhaps best known for the song Rock You Like a Hurricane.

The measures applied redirect traffic for a significant portion of the UK’s Internet population through six servers which can log and filter the content available to the end user. A serious side-effect of this is the inability of administrators on Wikimedia sites to block vandals, and other troublemakers, without potentially impacting hundreds of thousands of innocent UK contributors who work on WMF sites in good faith.

The filtering is in response to the Internet Watch Foundation‘s list of websites that host content reported to contain inappropriate images of naked children. The IWF considers those images child pornography. However, in the United States, where the websites of the Wikimedia Foundation are hosted, it is not considered obscene under the criteria of the Miller test, which requires that an obscene work lack “serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value” – as album art is used to “brand” the album, it is considered to be artistic.

Contributors or individuals attempting to view an affected image or file, depending on their ISP, may get a warning saying, “we have blocked this page because, according to the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), it contains indecent images of children or pointers to them; you could be breaking UK law if you viewed the page.” Other ISPs provide blank pages, 404 errors, or other means of blocking the content. Due to a configuration mistake at one Internet service provider, some users have reported being totally unable to access Wikimedia sites to the Wikipedia technical help desk.

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“The Protection of Children Act 1978 as amended in the Sexual Offences Act 2003, makes it an offence to take, make, permit to be taken, distribute, show, possess with intent to distribute, and advertise indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children under the age of eighteen. The ‘making’ of such images includes downloading, that is, making a copy of a child sexual abuse image on a computer, so, in the UK, accessing such content online is a serious criminal offence,” says the IWF on their website in an article updated on November 28. The IWF say there are at least 800 to 1,200 websites on the list of those who host or contain offensive material. The list is not public and the IWF never notified Wikimedia Foundation about the blocking of Wikipedia content. The affected page does not display any message informing the user about blocked content on most ISPs, instead, a technical error message is shown.

However, Demon Internet redirects users to a block message on the IWF’s site explaining that the page was blocked as the organization suspects child porn or links to it to be present. The IWF states that, “we do not notify site owners that their websites are on our list.”

The concern for Wikimedia is for some images like an album cover from a 1976 record of the Scorpions titled Virgin Killer. It displays an underage girl, posing nude, with a lens crack crossing over her genitals, but nothing blocking out her breasts. The girl appears to be around ten years old. In the U.S., the band later replaced the image with one of the group. The cover was uploaded to Wikipedia in 2006, but Wikinews learned that on May 9, 2008 at (21:17 UTC), despite a result of strong consensus to ‘keep’ in a deletion request, the image was deleted, however for a different reason. It was deleted due to a claim by an administrator that it violated Wikipedia’s policy for dealing with copyrighted images, which require that any images used under the doctrine of fair use must alongside other criteria, “significantly increase readers’ understanding of the topic, and its omission would be detrimental to that understanding”, with the administrator claiming that the article “lacked meaningful discussion” of the album art. This result was overturned using the deletion review process. Earlier, on December 6, the image was put back up for a deletion request, but it was later closed as Wikimedia “does not censor”.

Another image that is questionable could be a screenshot from the 1938 film Child Bride. Its goal was to bring to light the attempts at banning child marriages. In the article on Wikipedia, a screenshot appears of then 12-year-old Shirley Mills partially naked after skinny dipping. In the photo, at least one of her breasts can be seen.

Other albums featuring nudity below the age of sixteen have previously caused controversy; Blind Faith attracted criticism as did Houses of the Holy, and Nirvana’s Nevermind.

Multiple companies have gone public stating that they implement the recommendations of the Internet Watch Foundation. Not all of these are known to have implemented measures against Wikimedia sites; the major UK ISPs thought to have affected Wikimedia sites are Telefonica O2/Be Unlimited, Virgin Media, Easynet, Plusnet, Demon, and Opal Telecommunications (TalkTalk).

Wikinews has contacted Wikimedia’s legal counsel, Mike Godwin and the IWF for a statement, but neither have replied as of this time.

 This story has updates See Wikimedia, IWF respond to block of Wikipedia over child pornography allegations 

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Things To Think About When Looking For Wedding Florists In Charlotte, Nc

Category : Strata Management

byAlma Abell

A wedding is a big event to plan. Many women have planned their weddings out from childhood, only to realize that their plans were too outlandish and expensive to become reality. Some women still push for the perfect wedding of their dreams whereas others change their plans into something that is a little more realistic. Regardless, every woman wants to have a beautiful wedding, and one of the most important parts of a beautiful wedding is the flowers. Many people fail to realize that the type of flowers chosen can greatly impact the tone of both the wedding and the reception. The choice of flowers can make it a more formal, serious event or give it a more light and fun vibe. The choice of flowers is very important in a wedding. One must remember to consider three things when looking at Florists Charlotte NC.

The first thing that one must consider is the price of the flowers. Flowers can be expensive, and it is important to make sure that the flowers purchased are not wilted; however, no one wants to pay too much for flowers either. Elizabeth House Flowers, Inc. offers great prices on all of their flowers.

The second thing to consider is the quality of the flowers. Quality flowers that will look great in photographs and in person are very important for weddings. The flowers need to add to the beautiful ambiance of the wedding rather than detract from it. The beauty of the flowers is of prime importance.

The third thing to consider is how much consultation and decision making Florists Charlotte NC will do. Some florists consider it their job to help guide the customer into the purchase of the flowers that she will like the most while other florists want the customer to have figured out exactly what they want when they come in. It is important to receive some guidance so that the flowers look their best and match the theme of the wedding well.

If these things are carefully considered, then it will make wedding planning significantly easier. Flowers are an integral part of a wedding, and it is important that they look beautiful and do not cost a fortune.


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Negotiations for hijacked Saudi oil tanker begin

Category : Uncategorized

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Vela International Marine, the Saudi Arabian company that owns the MV Sirius Star oil tanker which was captured by pirates on November 15, has begun negotiations with the Somali pirates.

The Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al Faisal said that talks had begun, but he did not say whether a ransom would be paid. Vela International Marine, which is owned by state-owned Saudi Aramco, would only say it is “working toward [the crew’s] safe and speedy return.”

“We do not like to negotiate with pirates, terrorists or hijackers,” said Saud al Faisal in Rome, after speaking with Franco Frattini, the Foreign Minister of Italy.

Dubai-based television network Al Jazeera broadcast an audiotape of a man who said he was with the pirates. He identified himself as Farah Abd Jameh.

“Negotiators are located on board the ship and on land. Once they have agreed on the ransom, it will be taken in cash to the oil tanker. We assure the safety of the ship that carries the ransom. We will mechanically count the money and we have machines that can detect fake money,” the man said. He did not mention any specific amounts for the ransom.

We do not like to negotiate with pirates, terrorists or hijackers.

The British Foreign Office released a statement Wednesday which identified two of the crew as chief engineer Peter French and second officer James Grady. The rest of the 25-man crew are from Croatia (1), Poland (2), Philippines (19) and Saudi Arabia (1). They are all reported to be safe.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said that the Royal Navy was coordinating a European response.

Dominique Montecer, the director of operations at GEOS Group, a corporate risk management firm, cast doubt on a military response.

“Everything is possible but it would take extraordinary means and organization, and the risk of an ecological disaster is very high. They are sitting on a bomb,” Montecer said.

“It’s certainly a very complex environment to work in — a Liberian-flagged vessel, owned by a Saudi company, in Somali waters, with so many different nationalities on board,” said Lt. Nate Christensen of the United States Navy when asked about the possibility of taking back the Sirius Star by force.

“Shipping companies are already making decisions not to go through the Gulf of Aden, and making the decision to take the much longer route around the south of Africa,” said Peter Hinchcliffe, marine director of the International Chamber of Shipping. “And with the increase in intensity of attacks, that is something that is going to be much more frequent. It’s adding let’s say an average of two weeks to the passage time.”

Since the capture of the Sirius Star, pirates in the Gulf of Aden have taken at least three other ships. These include a Chinese ship carrying wheat, a Greek bulk carrier, and a Thai fishing vessel.

The International Maritime Bureau reports that Somali pirates currently hold 14 ships along with an estimated 250 crew members. Since January, there have been over 30 hijackings in the area, while another 60 ships have been attacked.

Among the ships still held is the Ukrainian cargo ship MV Faina, which has a cargo of 33 Russian T-72 battle tanks, as well as other weapons. The Faina was hijacked on September 25.

Meanwhile, the Indian Navy has reported that it encountered and destroyed what it called a pirate “mother ship” on Tuesday. India dispatched frigate INS Tabar last month to protect its merchant shipping in the Gulf of Aden. The pirate vessel reportedly threatened the Indian frigate after it was hailed.

Several NATO members, as well as Russia, India and Malaysia have all sent warships to the region to protect merchant shipping in the area. The Combined Task Force 150, formed as a multinational coalition in the War on Terrorism, was restructured in 2006 to aid in anti-piracy efforts.


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At least 75 dead following suicide bombing in Pakistan; scores more wounded

Category : Uncategorized

Saturday, January 2, 2010

A suicide bomber at a volleyball game in northwestern Pakistan detonated a vehicle full of explosives Friday, killing at least 75 people and injuring scores more. Some reports placed the number of dead as high as 88.

The explosion occurred in the town of Lakki Marwat in the North West Frontier Province, located nearby to the South and North Waziristan provinces, an area where Pakistani Taliban members are known to be active.

Reportedly, the attacker drove his car onto a volleyball field, where a game, being watched by many people, was being played.

“The locality has been a hub of militants. Locals set up a militia and expelled the militants from this area. This attack seems to be reaction to their expulsion,” said, Ayub Khan, a local police chief, to media. According to him, the attacker’s vehicle contained 250 kilograms of highly intensive explosive material.

Buildings in the vicinity of the field, including a mosque were collapsed or damaged by the force of the blast. “[W]e fear that some ten or so people might have been trapped in the rubble”, Khan said.

Another security official, Khabib Khan, said that there were around three hundred people attending at the volleyball competition when the explosion happened. “We had security there. We had it for the meeting, and for the tournament,” he said to the Associated Press news agency over the telephone.

Malik Naveed, the provincial police chief, said to Voice of America that the attack may have been a retaliatory move against the residents of the town. According to him, the village where the attack occurred was once considered a hub of Taliban fighters; however, he says, locals, with the help of authorities set up a militia force and either killed or expelled them from their area.

“These insurgents, they were not very happy about it and they were cut off because the people had risen against them. So this was one way of taking revenge from these people,” Naveed said.

This incident is the deadliest attack in Pakistan since October 28 of last year, when 112 people were killed by a car bomb in the city of Peshawar.


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Looted, possibly contaminated body parts transplanted into USA, Canadian patients

Category : Uncategorized

Monday, March 20, 2006

Fears of contaminated bone and skin grafts are being felt by unsuspecting patients following the revelation that funeral homes may have been looting corpses.

Janet Evans of Marion Ohio was told by her surgeon, “The bone grafts you got might have been contaminated”. She reacted with shock, “I was flabbergasted because I didn’t even know what he was talking about. I didn’t know I got a bone graft until I got this call. I just thought they put in screws and rods.”

The body of Alistair Cooke, the former host of “Masterpiece Theatre,” was supposedly looted along with more than 1,000 others, according to two law enforcement officials close to the case. The tissue taken was typically skin, bone and tendon, which was then sold for use in procedures such as dental implants and hip replacements. According to authorities, millions of dollars were made by selling the body parts to companies for use in operations done at hospitals and clinics in the United States and Canada.

A New Jersey company, Biomedical Tissue Services, has reportedly been taking body parts from funeral homes across Brooklyn, New York. According to ABC News, they set up rooms like a “surgical suite.” After they took the bones, they replaced them with PVC pipe. This was purportedly done by stealth, without approval of the deceased person or the next of kin. 1,077 bodies were involved, say prosecuters.

Investagators say a former dentist, Michael Mastromarino, is behind the operation. Biomedical was considered one of the “hottest procurement companies in the country,” raking in close to $5 million. Eventually, people became worried: “Can the donors be trusted?” A tissue processing company called LifeCell answered no, and issued a recall on all their tissue.

Cooke’s daughter, Susan Cooke Kittredge, said, “To know his bones were sold was one thing, but to see him standing truncated before me is another entirely.” Now thousands of people around the country are receiving letters warning that they should be tested for infectious diseases like HIV or hepatitis. On February 23, the Brooklyn District Attorney indicted Mastromarino and three others. They are charged with 122 felony counts, including forgery and bodysnatching.


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Scentsy Review What Does It Take To Put Money In Your Pockets?}

Category : Retail

Scentsy Review – What Does It take to Put Money In Your Pockets?

by

Dave Strout

If your looking to make money in Scentsy it would be wise to be clear on a few things to start with.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u50ce_-USg[/youtube]

There’s nothing wrong with these points, but it’s good to examine them. After I list them I’ll expound on them on by one.1. Scentsy distributes it’s products by way of direct sales.2. You must sell a lot of product to make a lot of money.3. All of Scentsy’s wax, warmers and other products are to be paid with the order.4. Bonus structures are all based on minimum sales volume.5. The recognized way of marketing Scentsy is by holding parties.Direct sales simply means the way to eliminate the wholesale process. The products go straight from the manufacturer to the retail consumer by means of your efforts.Scentsy’s products are not high priced, but then neither are McDonald’s burgers. money. The same will be true with Scentsy and their products. I mention this only to let you know that you’ll be busy if your making good money.It is really hard to come across an mlm company that will not require that they receive their money prior to you being paid by your customer. Avon is one mlm company I know of that lets you pay them after your customer pays you. But just like the large percentage of mlm companies, money for you products accompanies your order.Receiving a bonus is just like it sounds. Bonuses are paid because a person is rewarded when that person meets specific sales goals.When examining the way a pay plan is put together it is easy to think of a bonus as an actually part of the pay plan. It is healthy for the consultant and the company alike because each need goals to move forward. In any business having a series of goals just ahead and you make the decision to get it? Something inside us helps to order our activities to reach it.Scentsy’s consultants are trained in the “Party Plan” means of marketing. I want to give you some examples of the product costs and your commissions.Your commission is 20% but when you have $1000 in sales then it goes to 25%.One warmer…$30 12 wax cubes…$50 = $80 commission would be $16.To make $500 it would take a little over 31 sales. To make $1000 it would be some where around 60+ sales.I just want you to know that any home based business is going to require some planing and a lot of work. It just so happens that Scentsy will allow you to supplement your party plan sales by making sales online. The company does not allow sales to be made on auction sites like eBay but letting people make purchases from your website is O.K. the way I see it. If you plan on using the Internet it would only make sense if you learnedto get new potential recruits from the web. The Internet has propelled many an mlm’er well past those who market strictly off line. By becoming a leader online it is possible to bring in moneyfrom people that don’t want to join your opportunity, but say yes to wanting to learn how to market online.In this fashion you make money from “No’s” and Yes’s.”

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Scentsy Review – What Does It take to Put Money In Your Pockets?}


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Economist reports Saudi oil production can continue unabated

Category : Uncategorized

Monday, August 14, 2006

In its August 10 edition, The Economist magazine asserts that Saudi Arabia can continue producing oil at its current production levels for 70 years, without having to look for another drop. Further, the magazine claims that the nation could find “plenty more if they look”, calling for privatisation of national oil companies to help increase oil production.

The language is provocative – the world has plenty of oil, and only requires sufficient investment and exploration to find it. This is a line that The Economist has held for some time, certainly since before its now infamous March 1999 issue proclaiming that we were “drowning in oil” and featuring a prediction of US$5 per barrel. That issue was followed by an embarrassing retraction in December of that year, as oil started its steady climb. It now sits above US$70 per barrel.

However, petroleum geologists and energy investment specialists maintain a different view of oil reserves. They say that there is a limit to what is in the ground, and further to that, a limit to how much of it we can retrieve even with advancing technology. Just how much is down there can’t be said with any certainty, for a variety of reasons. A big one is the suspicious reserves figures given by producers in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia. Since OPEC starting using a quota system based on reserves, the estimated reserves for member nations has magically risen, and even continued rising in the face of increased extraction from those reserves.

Amongst those who deal with the physical realities of oil fields, forecasts of a peak in production vary between 30 years, as the USA’s Energy Information Administration suggest, and now, as suggested by the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas and other more pessimistic forecasters. A peak in production would then be followed by decline. Certainly, in the petroleum world, there is no serious suggestion of sustaining the current level of oil production for 70 years.


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Western Australian economy at crisis point say builders

Category : Uncategorized

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Western Australian Master Builders Association (MBA) yesterday demanded the Carpenter Government call an emergency cabinet meeting to avoid a “state of emergency” over the energy crisis gripping WA. A MBA spokesperson said that hundreds of workers have already been stood down, many without pay, and that the cost of building material is soaring.

The Minister for Energy, Fran Logan has admitted that the gas shortage caused by Tuesday’s fire is damaging the economy as mining, manufacturing and construction industries wind back operations. Western Australia’s two major brick producing companies have shut operations and Wesbeam’s $A100 million Neerabup pine production facility has been closed, their 130 employees have been stood down.

Wesbeam chief executive James Malone said, “It’s an industrial tsunami in my view. It’s a little ripple that has very quickly had a huge multiplying effect on the whole community”.

Michael McLean, Master Building Association director said “It’s a worst-nightmare scenario, and not one we could have imagined in our wildest dreams,” building supplies are expected to start running out by the middle of next week.

Premier Carpenter has announced a meeting of ministers and industry representatives to take place on Sunday to discuss solutions to the growing crisis. Tim Wall, managing director of Apache Corporation has said Apache is conducting a worldwide search for the parts need to repair the pipeline.

Major mining companies and Apache partners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto have already reported they are suffering with the loss of gas supply; the Chamber of Minerals and Energy has talked down the effect saying that they don’t expect the crisis to take the heat off the booming mining industry.

Opposition leader Troy Buswell has describe the performance of Fran Logan as “absolutely dismal” noting that Mr Logan had experienced a similar incident in January this year, when a fire at Woodsides Karratha operations had a similar effect.


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Karlheinz Stockhausen, composer, dies aged 79

Category : Uncategorized

Friday, December 7, 2007

The German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, a pioneer of electronic music among major contemporary musicians, died on December 5. The German foundation, named in his honor, announced today, Stockhausen passed away in his Kürten home in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

A prolific composer, he wrote more than 300 works during his career, establishing himself as a pioneer of electronic music, as well as a representative of serialism. Studie I, dated 1953, is considered one of the first electronic music works ever produced.

Born in Mödrath, Germany, in 1927, he was the son of a mother from a wealthy family and a father who was a teacher. He grew up in Altenberg, where he started taking piano lessons. He studied piano and music pedagogy at the Musikhochschule in Cologne. It was at University of Cologne, he later studied musicology, philosophy and Germanics.

He was influenced by musicians such as Oliver Messiaen, Edgard Varèse, and Anton Webern, but also by painters such as Piet Mondrian and Paul Klee. Stockhausen’s works often departed from usual music styles.

During his life as a musician, Stockhausen explored most of the genres and styles. Starting in punctualism and concrete music early in his career, during the 1950s, he proceeded to research the electronic music area, which at the time was in an embryonic state. In the 1960s, he composed works of choral music, putting side-by-side the chorus and the use of electronic facilities. In the 1970s, he dedicated himself to serialism. Between 1977 and 2003, he committed himself to one of his most ambitious projects: a cycle of thematic works named Licht: Die sieben Tage der Woche (Light: the Seven Days of the Week).

Various artists have stated that they were influenced by Stokhausen, including artists as varied as Frank Zappa, Björk, Miles Davis, as well as Roger Waters and Rick Wright—two of the Pink Floyd members. The Beatles included a portrait of Stockhausen among the people pictured on the cover of their album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Italian singer/songwriter Franco Battiato dedicated Sulle corde di Aries to the composer.

While being a controversial artist, Stockhausen became a focus of polemics after he stated that the September 11, 2001 attacks were “works of art”. He later explained the meaning of his statements, and said that they had been, according to him, out-of-context and misquoted.


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Google to discontinue social networking application Google Wave

Category : Uncategorized

Thursday, August 5, 2010

File:Google Wave.jpg

Google has decided to retire the Google Wave social-networking service after one year, citing lack of user adoption.

Urs Hölzle, Google senior vice president for operations, said in a blog post that “Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked. We don’t plan to continue developing Wave as a stand-alone product.” Hölzle also said that as a “web app for real time communication and collaboration, it set a high bar for what was possible in a Web browser. We weren’t quite sure how users would respond to this radically different kind of communication.” Google says that it will continue the service until the end of the year.

In May 2009, Google launched Wave as a private beta. A year later, it became open to the public. Wave is an email service that integrates social media features and capabilities into emailing. It integrates IM-like features into its service. The company released components of Google Wave as open source for those to create a similar service. “The central parts of the code, as well as the protocols that have driven many of Wave’s innovations, like drag-and-drop and character-by-character live typing, are already available as open source, so customers and partners can continue the innovation we began. In addition, we will work on tools so that users easily “liberate” their content from Wave,” Google said.