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Poles Who Rescued Jews Honored in Warsaw

 Posted By: WebLady on 07-25-2008

VANESSA GERA
Updated: 7/20/2008

WARSAW, Poland

Wanda Bulik was only 18 when a conductor approached her on a train during the height of World War II and asked her to take care of an abandoned 3-year-old Jewish boy found traveling alone.


Without hesitation, the young Catholic Pole gave up her English studies, convinced a young police officer who was in love with her to pose with her as the boy's parents and devoted the next four years to sheltering him from the Nazi Holocaust.


On Sunday, Bulik and more than 60 other Christian Poles who saved Jews were honored at a luncheon in Warsaw by the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, a New York-based group devoted to helping such former rescuers in their old age.


Some 6,000 Poles have been honored by Israel's Yad Vashem memorial as Righteous Among the Nations — more than from any other country — and the foundation has been supporting them since 1986 with monthly stipends to pad their meager state pensions.


In recent years, it has also organized events like Sunday's to celebrate their heroism and remind them that they haven't been forgotten, despite the years of neglect during Poland's decades under communist rule.


Bulik is a vibrant 85-year-old, but many others shuffled on canes or clung tightly to their children as they entered a hotel ballroom where they were honored by representatives from the Polish state, the Jewish community and the U.S. and Israeli Embassies.


The foundation called the meeting ''historical,'' saying it might be the last of its kind because of the former rescuers' advanced age.


Poland's chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, said it was important to give them the moral recognition they deserve and help them live out their days in material comfort.


''I could stand here all day, every day, all week, even my whole life, but it still wouldn't be enough to thank you for what you did in saving the lives of Jews, and the soul of Europe,'' he said.


Ewa Junczyk-Ziomecka, a representative for Polish President Lech Kaczynski, also acknowledged that ''you were forgotten,'' but that ''the free republic of Poland is trying to make up for this negligence.''


After the ceremony, Bulik recalled the love that she felt for Tolek, the little boy thrust on her by the train conductor who singled her out because she was wearing a Red Cross badge.


''He was gorgeous. He had such hair, such beautiful eyes, such eyelashes,'' she said, pulling out a picture of him as a dark-haired 7-year-old. On the back was a dedication he wrote her in 1946 that read ''dla mamusi'' — or ''for mommy.''


But after the war, he was adopted by a Jewish family, and Bulik was left brokenhearted. They lost contact for about 50 years, but reconnected in the late 1990s.


Since then, Tolek — who went on to become a colonel in the Israeli army and who goes by the name Matti Greenberg — has visited her several times with his family.


Though she expressed satisfaction at being honored by Sunday's event, she said that what gave her the most happiness was the full life that Greenberg went on to live.


''It was my greatest joy that he got married, he finished university, he has two daughters,'' she said.

[Comments: 0]

N.M. Cavers Chart Unique "Snowy" River of Crystals

 Posted By: WebLady on 07-25-2008

SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN
Updated: 7/24/2008

FORT STANTON CAVE, N.M.

Hundreds of feet beneath Earth's surface, a few seasoned cave explorers venture where no human has set foot. Their headlamps illuminate mud-covered walls, gypsum crystals and mineral deposits.


The real attraction, though, is under their shoes.


A massive formation that resembles a white river spans the cave's floor. A closer examination reveals that the odd formation is an intricate crust of tiny calcite crystals.


The explorers have reached Snowy River — thought to be the longest continuous cave formation in the world.


''I think Snowy River is one of the primo places underground in the world and there's still so much left that we haven't discovered. ... We don't even know how big it is,'' said Jim Goodbar, a cave specialist with the federal Bureau of Land Management.


The survey expedition by members of the Fort Stanton Cave Study Project in early July added several thousand feet to the measurement of the spectacular formation, which is at least four miles long. The explorers who have been following the passage under the rolling hills of southeastern New Mexico say there's still more of Snowy River to be discovered.


The few who have walked on the formation say they've seen nothing else like it. Early studies point to its uniqueness: Already, some three dozen species of microbes previously unknown to science have been uncovered.


New Mexico's two U.S. senators are pushing for Congress to designate Fort Stanton Cave and Snowy River as a national conservation area. The designation would protect the area from such activities as mining that threaten the water flows that created the cave. It also might generate funding for scientific research.


''It's certainly a national treasure and very well worth protecting in its own right, even without Snowy River. With Snowy River, it puts it in the class of world-class caves,'' said John McLean, a retired hydrologist and member of the cave study group.


''It's a beautiful anomaly,'' added Penny Boston, a New Mexico Tech professor and associate director of the National Cave and Karst Research Institute.


Boston says extreme environments such as Snowy River provide scientists an opportunity to explore life on the fringes.


''The idea is that we're practicing to go to Mars, we're practicing to go to Europa (a moon of Jupiter) and all of these other places,'' she said. ''It's very difficult to even prove some of the things we've studied here on this planet are alive. Imagine how much harder that is when you translate that to a robotic mission millions of miles from Earth.''


Boston has collected microorganisms that she believes are responsible for the manganese crust that covers much of the walls in the Snowy River passage. Once thought to be ancient and inactive, the microbes are busy in her lab, breaking down materials and producing mineral compounds.


Boston and other scientists plan to take core samples of Snowy River to look for microbes that have been entombed in the calcite layer and for fossil evidence of past microscopic life.


Some scientists are looking to the cave to learn more about the region's geology and how water makes its way through the arid environment.


Last summer, explorers were surprised to arrive at Snowy River and find it flowing with water. It had been dry when first discovered in 2001 and during trips in 2003 and 2005.


It took several months for Snowy River to dry out, leaving scientists with another set of questions about where the water came from and where it went. Some scientists believe innumerable floods formed Snowy River, dropping a thin layer of calcite each time.


Areas of Fort Stanton Cave are open to those who get permits from the BLM, but Snowy River — deep in the cave behind locked metal gates — is off-limits. It's unlikely Snowy River ever will be open to anything but research because of the fragility of the tiny calcite crystals and microbes on the cave walls.

[Comments: 0]

Scientists Recover Complete Dinosaur Skeleton

 Posted By: WebLady on 07-25-2008

MARI YAMAGUCHI
Updated: 7/24/2008

TOKYO

Japanese and Mongolian scientists have successfully recovered the complete skeleton of a 70-million-year-old young dinosaur, a nature museum announced Thursday.


The scientists uncovered a Tarbosaurus — related to the giant carnivorous Tyrannosaurus — from a chunk of sandstone they dug up in August, 2006 in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, said Takuji Yokoyama, a spokesman for the Hayashibara Museum of Natural Sciences, a co-organizer of the joint research project.


''We were so lucky to have found remains that turned out to be a complete set of all the important parts,'' he said.


After two years of careful preparatory work, scientists found that the fossilized skeleton only lacked neck bones and the tip of the tail.


Young dinosaur skeletons are hard to find in good condition because they often are destroyed by weather decay or because they were torn apart by predators. The latest find would be a major step toward discovering the growth and development of dinosaurs, Yokoyama said.


The fossil, believed to have died at age 5, measured about 6.6 feet long, he said. Adult dinosaurs of the species are believed to have grown up to 40 feet.


The dinosaur, whose gender was unknown, came from a geological layer created about 70 million years ago in the late Cretaceous period.


The Japanese scientists and colleagues from the Center of Paleontology under the Mongolian Academy of Sciences have been jointly conducting dinosaur excavations in the Gobi Desert since 1993.


The Japanese museum is run by Hayashibara Co., a biotechnology firm based in Okayama, western Japan.

[Comments: 0]

NEWS BRIEFS: Entropic and EchoStar

 Posted By: woofy on 07-24-2008

Entropic Communications, a provider of silicon solutions that enable connected home entertainment, said it is working with EchoStar Technologies to develop additional solutions leveraging its Band Translation Switch (BTS) technology. The BTS technology is capable of supporting two tuners over a single cable for cost-effective and efficient delivery of satellite services, Entropic said.

Verimatrix on Wednesday announced a Series C round of new funding led by Goldman Sachs. The capital will fund the company's business expansion and accelerate deployment of the Verimatrix 3-Dimensional Content Security solution aimed at hybrid cable and satellite markets around the world.

[Comments: 0]

DIRECTV Backs MPAA Proposal on Video Connections

 Posted By: woofy on 07-23-2008

DIRECTV is backing a proposal from the Motion Picture Association of America pertaining to consumer access to content via in-home devices before it hits the rental and store shelves.

Specifically, the MPAA has asked the Federal Communications Commission to drop rules that prohibit the use of selectable output controls for set-top boxes employed by pay-TV services. The Hollywood lobbying groups wants a waiver on that restriction to allow for pay-TV access to high-def movies prior to their release on DVD.

In comments sent to the FCC, DIRECTV said the MPAA proposal would allow film producers to make digital high-def feature films available for in-home viewing prior to their pre-recorded (or DVD) media release dates.

"The requested waiver would not deprive any consumer of services he/she currently has access to, and applies only for the limited period necessary to safeguard this valuable content during a more accelerated release window," DIRECTV said in its comments. Also, the request "presents the commission with an opportunity to further its ongoing efforts to ensure meaningful competition in the MVPD (multichannel video programming distributor) market and expedite the digital television transition," the company said.

Consumer groups, however, see the MPAAs waiver request in a different light.

Led by the organization Public Knowledge, the groups told the FCC that "through selective output control, the waiver will give the largest motion picture production companies veto power over the connections, which are used to connect set-top boxes, receivers, high-def televisions, home theater systems, digital video recorders and other consumer electronics devices."

[Comments: 0]

O's Health Rx: Cover Illegals

 Posted By: djchillsnyc on 07-21-2008

O'S HEALTH RX: COVER ILLEGALS
By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MC GANN

bam plan may cuase rioting


DEMOCRATS' single most important domes tic proposal - universal health insurance - may blow up in Barack Obama's face when voters are exposed to the deadly details.
Obama has said, proudly and often, "I am going to give health insurance to 47 million Americans who are now without coverage." But are they "Americans?"
That 47 million statistic includes illegal immigrants - who virtually all lack insurance. In fact, about one in four of those lacking insurance is here illegally. And they are, by far, the group most in need of health insurance.
About 15 million of the remaining uninsured are eligible for Medicaid but haven't signed up - mainly because they haven't gotten sick. When they do, they enroll in Medicaid and we pick up the full tab for their health care relatively cheaply. (About 80 percent of each Medicaid dollar goes to nursing-home care for the elderly, only about 20 percent for the medical needs of the poor.)
The rest of the uninsured pool? Virtually all the children are eligible for the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Some aren't enrolled because the parents haven't bothered, but most are eligible. That leaves about 20 million uninsured adults who are US citizens or legal immigrants. There are far better ways to handle their needs than to turn our entire health-care system upside down.
Care for illegals is the biggest unmet medical need in our nation, and Obama's program targets it squarely. But do we really want to give them federally paid coverage equal to what US senators get, as Obama proposes?
Covering illegals adds dramatically to the cost of any program - and would encourage more folks to enter America illicitly.
Obama's plan will likely have a horrific effect on some local health-care systems.
Illegals now get free emergency-room treatment for life-threatening conditions - as any other American who's entered an ER in an area with lots of illegals recently well knows. (Three-quarters of the illegal-immigrant population is concentrated in five states: California, New York, Florida, Texas and Illinois.)
But now they'd be eligible for the entire range of medical services, all free of charge. That would trigger severe rationing: bureaucrats deciding who gets to see an oncologist, who can have an MRI - and even who can have bypass surgery and who'd die for lack of it.
These decisions would be made not on the basis of legal status but on the brutal facts of triage: Treat the 37-year-old illegal with his whole life to live before you spend scarce resources on an overweight, diabetic, 80-year-old citizen with high blood pressure who smokes.
John McCain hasn't raised this issue, perhaps for fear of offending the Latino vote. But polling suggests the case against rationing of health care would be as persuasive to Hispanic-American citizens as it is to the rest of us. Nobody wants to die waiting in line - especially not behind someone who snuck in ahead of us.
McCain needs to hit the Obama plan for treating illegal immigrants to free, federally subsidized health insurance - and hit it hard

[Comments: 52]

"Inreresting" News at best! Slightly "illegal" at worst!!

 Posted By: joer on 07-21-2008

C/P:Source:hxxp://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-9994305-83.html?tag=cd.blog
" July 18, 2008 10:28 AM PDT
Team debuts electronic-hacking how-to videos at HOPE conference
Posted by Elinor Mills 1 comment

Phillip Torrone and Limor Fried have launched a series of videos that show people how to hack electronics.
(Credit: Citizen Engineer)

NEW YORK--Want to know how to build your own cell phone charger? How about putting an old-fashioned pay phone in your home to make voice over Internet calls?

A team of do-it-yourself technology gurus are creating a video series that will show you how to hack everyday gadgets to get more--and novel--uses out of them.

Limor Fried, who owns the Adafruit Industries electronics building business, and Phillip Torrone, senior editor at Make Magazine, are calling their series "Citizen Engineer." They debuted it at the Last HOPE conference here on Friday.

The video series demonstrates how to create the devices, from showing exactly what parts you need to how to solder them and build the final electronic item. The production is well done and the videography is creative, with shots from under a glass table and other interesting angles.

In the Citizen Engineer video series, Limor Fried explains exactly how to hack things like cell phone SIM cards and traditional pay telephones. She details exactly what parts are needed, how to solder, and all of the steps involved in creating and modifying the electronics.
(Credit: Citizen Engineer)

The first two chapters in the series show how to create a SIM card reader and how to hack a pay phone. Like most everything this team does, the videos are open source and will be available online for free.

Exploring the technology you use everyday can increase and improve its uses as well as save millions of electronics from piling up in landfills, Torrone said in an interview with CNET News before the session.

"Once you understand your technology, you are more likely to repair it and do something useful with it, so there's a recycling aspect to this," he said.

Upcoming subjects being considered include a GPS music player that plays songs based on your location, a GPS jammer or tracker, and wearable accessories or clothes that block security cameras by shining a special light at them, they said.

Fried offers kits for hacking all sorts of things. For instance, she has kits for creating what she calls a "Minty Boost" MP3 and cell phone charger that fits in an Altoids mint tin, as well as a cell phone jammer that fits in a cigarette pack that blocks Wi-Fi or cell phone transmissions.

She also built a SIM card reader kit that lets you see what is on a SIM card, such as deleted SMS messages and phone book entries, and other information that can be used to clone the card.

Limor Fried in front of a projection of a SIM card in the new Citizen Engineer how-to hacking video series.
(Credit: Citizen Engineer)

She also figured out how to hack a pay phone, connecting it to a computer so it can be used with Skype, modifying it so it requires quarters, or even making it so it requires a red box to simulate the sound of quarters dropping in.

The two also have a laser etching business, where they typically create designs on laptops, but can also etch sushi instructions on nori. They also have worked on the TV-B-Gone device, which shuts off televisions in the area and created a stir at CES, expanding the remote reach up to 200 feet.

Here are videos showing off some of the various hacks and tricks Torrone and Fried have worked up:

Phillip Torrone talks about how to hack a traditional pay phone, connecting it to a computer so it can be used with Skype, modifying it so it requires quarters, or even making it so it requires a red box to simulate the sound of quarters dropping in.

(Credit: Elinor Mills/CNET News)

Limor Fried shows off a homemade, open-source charger for iPods, cameras, and GPS devices.

(Credit: Elinor Mills/CNET News)

Limor Fried shows off a cell phone jammer that is designed to block Wi-Fi or cell phone transmissions and is small enough to be hidden inside a cigarette pack.

(Credit: Elinor Mills/CNET News)"
END C/P

Happy Testing!!

Back to lurk mode,
jr

[Comments: 7]

Guilty Plea For Illegal Sale Of Satellite TV Decoding Devices

 Posted By: Big Dismal on 07-21-2008

http://www.technologynewsdaily.com/node/10085

Garr Thickens, 56, has pleaded guilty to one count of the illegal manufacture, distribution and possession of unlawful wire, oral or electronic communication devices. Thickens, a Canadian citizen, was arrested by Secret Service agents in January 2008 and has remained in the U.S. while on bond pending his sentencing.

Commercial satellite television programs are broadcast by the satellite television service providers in an encrypted format only allowing a customer to view the programming if they have a signal decoder box and the proper un-encryption codes installed. Legitimate satellite television customers must open an account with a satellite television provider in order to obtain satellite television decoder boxes. Customers must also pay a monthly subscription fee to the satellite television provider for their satellite television programming as well as pay separately for each “pay-per-view” television event, such a movies, concerts and sporting events.

Thickens, a Canadian citizen who spent the winter months of the last several years in a trailer park in Port Aransas, Texas, was apprehended following a two-year Secret Service investigation. Thickens was a major North American distributor of a particular type of satellite decoder device called Dreamboxes. These Dreamboxes contained un-encryption codes that allowed persons who bought the decoder devices to illegally obtain satellite television programs, including pay-per-view events, from providers such as Direct TV and Dish Network without having a satellite television account or paying any fees for the programming.

Undercover Secret Service agents purchased at least three of the satellite decoder devices from websites operated by Thickens who then provided the agents with the un-encryption codes for the devices. This allowed the agents to obtain satellite television programming and pay-per-view events without having a satellite television account or paying for the programming.

Satellite television service providers change their encryption codes periodically for security reasons. Thickens provided the new un-encryption codes to all his customers, including the undercover Secret Service agents, who were also his customers. Thickens also sold the undercover Secret Service agent a newer and more electronically sophisticated satellite television decoder box that would automatically download and install its own un-encryption codes directly from surreptitious sites on the internet. A federal search warrant was executed on Thickens trailer home in Port Aransas in January 2008 and found that Thickens had his own satellite television decoder box installed in his home along with the un-encryption codes that allowed him to watch satellite television programming without paying for it. Thickens also sold and set up another satellite decoder box system for a fellow resident of the trailer park, which was also recovered from that person. As additional supply of unsold decoder boxes was found in Thickens’ trailer, Thickens was arrested on these charges following completion of the search.

Evidence presented to the court during the guilty plea hearing revealed Thickens sold more than 4,000 satellite television decoder boxes along with un-encryption codes over the last few years, at prices from $289 to $699 each.

Thickens will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore on Nov. 11, 2008 and faces a maximum term of imprisonment of up to five years imprisonment, plus a fine of up to $250,000 and a maximum term of three years of post-imprisonment supervised release.

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