Robert J Turner

Associated Press
Published: Tuesday, December 27, 2005

PORTLAND, Ore. — A surfer who fended off a great white shark by punching it in the nose said he learned the tactic by watching television shows such as the Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week.”

Brian Anderson, 36, remained hospitalized Monday but was expected to make a full recovery from lacerations on his ankle and calf.

“It’s like your worst nightmare,” Anderson said by phone from his Portland hospital bed, though he also called the attack “an adventure which has made life that much more precious and interesting.”

Anderson was at a popular surfing spot near Tillamook Head, south of the community of Seaside, on Saturday when something grabbed his leg. Realizing it was a shark, he slugged the predator repeatedly in the nose to get it to loosen its grip.

He said he learned from television shows, including the Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week,” that a shark’s nose is its most sensitive area.

When the shark finally let go, Anderson swam back to shore, dragging his badly wounded leg behind him. Other surfers called 911 after he pulled himself onto the rocks near his home in Seaside, about 80 miles northwest of Portland.

“It felt like getting clamped in a bear trap,” he said. “It was a piercing pain and then it went numb.”

Anderson was hospitalized Saturday, then released Christmas Day in time to open presents with his wife and 10-year-old son. When he returned for a checkup that evening, doctors in Seaside became troubled by the depth of the wound and the possibility of bone damage, as well as infection, and instructed him to check himself into a hospital in Portland.

Anderson’s wife, who is also a surfer, believes her husband will soon be back in the water, but she is less thrilled at the thought of their son taking to the waves.

“We all went through some real trauma,” said Lynnet Anderson, 42. “Brian, he’s always going to be the one far out there waiting for that perfect set to come in. But I’m not sure I’ll ever let my 10-year-old back in the water.”
© Associated Press 2005

By Nate Mook, BetaNews
December 13, 2005, 6:14 PM

The December release of Microsoft’s Malicious Software Removal Tool attempts to clean up the mess left behind by Sony BMG’s XCP copy protection software, which entered the spotlight in November after the discovery that it installs a rootkit.

Microsoft previously labeled XCP as malware within Windows AntiSpyware, but the MSRT should reach more customers as it’s delivered through Windows Update. The tool removes the cloaking and a potentially dangerous ActiveX control, but not Sony’s DRM.

“Once again Microsoft has done right by providing a tool for removing the Sony rootkit, but wrong by not removing the entire Sony software package,” Jupiter Research senior analyst Joe Wilcox commented to BetaNews.

“Considering the number of security holes associated with this software, Microsoft would do better for its customers by removing all the Sony rootkit DRM software.”

Sony has come under intense fire for the XCP DRM utilized on 52 CDs and also SunnComm MediaMax DRM that shipped on another 27 albums. Both copy-protection packages have been found insecure in a number of different ways, and a recent patch to close a security hole in MediaMax also contained a vulnerability.

Although Sony recalled all CDs containing XCP, they can still be found on store shelves, prompting lawsuits from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

But is simply replacing discs and fixing the security holes enough? Wilcox doesn’t think so, and fellow Jupiter Research analyst Ian Fogg questioned what problems use of such DRM may bring in the future.

“The useful life of a CD is much longer than the Windows XP operating system that this DRM software tightly binds itself into,” noted Fogg. “This DRM software must avoid crashing future versions of Windows, which is impossible to guarantee for such unfinished operating systems (especially as it has failed to deliver sufficient reliability for the known quantity that is the current version of Windows).”

Microsoft has remained mum on the larger issue of DRM affecting Windows, but says it will continue to protect its customers as necessary. For now, Microsoft recommends that users “do not install software from CDs that are known to include the rootkit.”

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews
December 14, 2005, 11:47 AM

British tycoon Richard Branson’s dream of a space tourism airline came one step closer to reality on Tuesday. Virgin Galactic, the company created for the project, announced it had struck an agreement with the state of New Mexico to build a $200 million “spaceport.”

Virgin Galactic has agreed to locate both its headquarters and Mission Control within the state, which would be built on a 27 square-mile area of state-owned lands in southern New Mexico.

“New Mexico has worked hard to bring us to their exciting new spaceport facility,” stated Will Whitehorn, President of Virgin Galactic. “The State has several factors that make it an ideal operations base: climate, free airspace, low population density, high altitude, and stunning scenery.”

According to the company, nearly 38,000 people from 126 countries worldwide have anted up the $20,000 necessary to secure a seat on one of space airliner’s flights. 100 have paid the full $200,000 ticket price upfront, which the company calls its “founders.”

Virgin Galactic hopes to begin service in late 2008 or early 2009. Construction of the spaceport could begin in 2007 pending various approvals, New Mexico authorities said.

Plans for the spaceport show that most of it would be underground, with just the runways and supporting structures above ground.

Opening of the spaceport would occur in late 2009 or early 2010, and until then Virgin Galactic would operate its initial flights from a Mojave Desert location.

Five planes will be built by Burt Rutan, the same man who designed the SpaceShipOne craft that won the $10 million Ansari X Prize earlier this year.

New Mexico is also hoping that the signing of Virgin Galactic will entice other space companies to base themselves in the state, creating thousands of new jobs for the state’s residents and spurring a whole new industry.

Branson will join New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson to publicly announce the deal on Wednesday.

SpamAware is a plugin for MS-Outlook. It uses SpamAssassin to score new incomming mails and decides based on the settings made in options what to do with the mail. It supports Black- and Whitelist filtering and is able to automatically add all your Outlook contacts and add recipients of mails you write to the Whitelist.

Ghost show cleared of deception

The Living TV show is hosted by Yvette Fielding and Derek Acorah
Ghost show Most Haunted has been cleared of fraud by TV watchdog Ofcom, following complaints of deception. Viewers complained that the Living TV show, featuring “psychic” Derek Acorah, deceived the public by claiming to find evidence of paranormal activity.

But Ofcom ruled that Most Haunted was an entertainment show, not a legitimate investigation into the paranormal, and should not be taken seriously.

Most Haunted, presented by Yvette Fielding, is now in its sixth series.

Spin-off show Most Haunted Live was also investigated, following the complaints.

yakkosworld.wmv

OSLO, Norway (AP) — A Web camera in a Norwegian artist’s living room in California allowed her sons in Norway and the Philippines to see that she had collapsed and call for help, one of the sons said Friday.

Karin Jordal, 69, collapsed Thursday in her living room in Pinon Hills, California, and was motionless on a couch when her son Tore in the Philippines checked in through the Internet.

“He tried to call her, and got no answer,” Tore’s brother, Ole Jordal, said by telephone from the western Norway city of Bergen. “He had also tried to call the police and ambulances (in California) but couldn’t get through.”

Ole Jordal said his brother then called him in Norway, as he and his wife, Tammy, originally from Long Island, New York, were having breakfast.

“My wife is American and she knew exactly whom to call for help,” he said. “It took five or 10 minutes for the ambulance personnel to arrive.”

He said the family was on the verge of tears when they watched on the Web camera as ambulance personnel assisted their diabetic mother, who is recovering in the Desert Valley Hospital in California.

“I thank that camera and my sons for my life,” Karin Jordal told the Norwegian newspaper Bergens Tidende by telephone from her hospital bed. She has lived in the U.S. and Spain on and off for the past 15 years.

Ole Jordal said low blood sugar caused his mother’s collapse, and that she would be allowed to go home after a few days in the hospital. He said the family set up Web cameras in their homes because of the high cost of staying in touch by telephone when they live so far apart.

“But now I see the Internet as a way to save lives. It’s also a wonderful tool for people who live alone in some remote area, and might need help,” he said.

The mother had been unconscious for about two hours before her sons checked in, so there was also an element of luck, since they only use the camera a few times a week.