Aug 29, 2009

The Megawoosh: One of the web's great fakes?

Kennedy On Gay Rights

Just two months before he was diagnosed with the brain cancer to which he succumbed late Tuesday night, Sen. Ted Kennedy spoke at the Human Rights Campaign's Equality Convention in March 2008.

He gave a lively speech about equality and his struggles to pass legislation like the Ryan White CARE Act -- and even started off with a jab at the late homophobic senator Jesse Helms.

Kennedy sponsored a number of LGBT and human rights bills over his 46-year career, including, most recently, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, the Senate's first bill to include transgender rights. –Advocate

Senator Ted Kennedy died peacefully at his home on Tuesday August 25, 2009. He was truly the voice of the people and his voice will be sadly missed.

Sen. Ted Kennedy speaking at 2008 HRC Equality Convention Video

'Most Dangerous' Celebs To Search For Online

Be cautious if you plan to Bing Jessica Biel or Google Brad Pitt. A new report says you might get a virus. The Hollywood actors are among the top 10 celebrity searches online that can lead to computer problems, according to a report released Tuesday by the computer security company McAfee.

The company named Biel the "most dangerous celebrity in cyberspace." One in five Internet searches for terms related to "Jessica Biel" leads to a Web page, photo, video or piece of spam that contains a cyber-security threat, the report said.

The former "7th Heaven" star and girlfriend of singer Justin Timberlake is followed on the "most dangerous" list by singer Beyonce, actress Jennifer Aniston and football hunk Tom Brady. Singer and reality TV star Jessica Simpson rounds out the top five.

Pitt, who topped last year's list, moved down to 10th.

The report shows that hackers use pop culture trends to spread viruses and malicious software, said Shane Keats, a research analyst at McAfee.

Biel is "very, very popular right now, so it says to me that the cyber criminals really do know who's hot and who's not," Keats said. "They really are smart. They can spot a trend as well as anyone else can -- as well as Paris Hilton can."

Risks associated with the searches range from "annoying to devastating," he said. But they don't mean people should be afraid of using the Internet.

Keats' advice? Surf Web sites you know and trust.

"You really can't go wrong if you stick to the really well-lighted parts of the Internet," he said. "As soon as you go off the big boulevards, you go off map and you have the potential to land in a dark alley."

Those "dark alleys" are where fake photos and harmful downloads are most likely to damage a person's computer, he said.

Keats acknowledged that computer viruses can come from many places and many types of searches. He said McAfee chose to highlight celebrity searches because they are popular and because they're a good teaching tool -- a way to make cyber security resonate with everyone.

McAfee makes anti-virus software that can be used to combat cyber attacks. Reports from computer security companies are often criticized as somewhat promotional.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has information on anti-virus software and tips on how to stay safe online.

The company said it surveyed 900 Web sites and 150 ring tones for its analysis.

It ranked celebrities based on the percentage of search results that were found to be damaging and on how harmful those sites turned out to be.

Biel's publicist did not respond to a CNN request for comment.

A news release from McAfee said the company was surprised to find President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama relatively low on the list. They ranked 34th and 39th, respectively.

Young Hollywood stars were popular on the list. Miley Cyrus and Lindsay Lohan both were in McAfee's top 15.

Only two men -- Brady and Pitt -- made the top 10. –CNN

Aug 22, 2009

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Strep Throat May Have Killed Mozart

The death of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at the age of 35 may have been caused by complications stemming from strep throat, according to a Dutch study published on Monday. Since the composer's death in 1791, there have been various theories about the cause of his untimely end, from intentional poisoning, to rheumatic fever, to trichinosis, a parasitic disease caused by eating raw or undercooked pork.

On his death certificate it was officially recorded that the cause of death was hitziges Frieselfieber, or "heated miliary fever," referring to a rash that looks like millet seeds.

But researchers from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands said studies on his death have generally been based on less-than-reliable evidence, like accounts from people who witnessed Mozart's final days, written decades after his death.

Their new study, reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine, was based on information from official death registers for Vienna in the winter of 1791 that places Mozart's death in a wider context. He died in Vienna.

"Our findings suggest that Mozart fell victim to an epidemic of strep throat infection that was contracted by many Viennese people in Mozart's month of death, and that Mozart was one of several persons in that epidemic that developed a deadly kidney complication," researcher Richard Zegers, of the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, told Reuters Health.

Zegers and his colleagues said this "minor epidemic" of step throat, or streptococcal pharyngitis, may have begun in the city's military hospital.

According to witness accounts, Mozart fell ill with an "inflammatory fever," which is consistent with strep throat, Zegers and his colleagues wrote in their report.

The composer, who wrote more than 600 works during his life, eventually developed severe swelling, "malaise," back pain and a rash, consistent with a strep infection leading to kidney inflammation known as glomerulonephritis.

Zegers said it was also possible that Mozart had scarlet fever, which, like strep throat, can be caused by infection with streptococcal bacteria, but this was less likely because witnesses said Mozart developed a rash near the end of his illness and with scarlet fever, the rash appears early on. - Yahoo News

Aug 15, 2009


Sand Animation (Україна має талант/Ukraine's Got Talent)

By Kseniya Simonova

Aug 8, 2009

Online Dating -- Also Watch
Craigslist Missed Connections and Threesomes.

How To Play A Violin

Heart Attack Grill

For anyone who does not worry about
cholesterol and transfats, there is a
"special restaurant" in Chandler, Arizona
called Heart Attack Grill.

"Cruisin'"
By Gwyneth Paltrow and Huey Lewis

Music Pieces Probably Composed By Young Mozart

The music isn't new, but the discovery that a young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart "almost certainly" composed it is a stunning revelation.

The two compositions -- a concerto in G and a prelude in G -- have long been in the files at the International Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg, Austria, as anonymous works and were even published in the book "New Mozart Edition" in 1982.

Now Ulrich Leisinger, director of the foundation's research department, believes the works actually were composed by Mozart before he was old enough to write music, and that Mozart's father, Leopold, transcribed them.

The foundation said in a statement that Leisinger analyzed the handwriting and other "stylistic criteria" to determine the music was "almost certainly unknown compositions by" the young Mozart.

The compositions were found in a book, compiled by Mozart's father, that was used for practice and the musical education of both Mozart and his sister, according to the statement.

Leisinger's analyses "support the claim that they were actually composed by the young Mozart, who was not yet versed in musical notation, and transcribed by his father as the boy played the works at the keyboard," the statement said.

Jeffrey Kimpton, president of the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan, called the works "a remarkable historical find." -CNN for rest of the story.

Aug 1, 2009


Mon, Jul 27, 2009
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HAARM.org - Message Strategy Session

Washington Post Reporters Make Inappropriate
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Cyril Takayama - Lacoste

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