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Friday, February 3, 2006

Computer security experts warn that a malicious computer worm, dubbed “Kama Sutra,” is set to wreak havoc this Friday, February 3rd on Microsoft Windows computers worldwide. Kama Sutra is designed to destroy files that end in .doc, .zip and .pdf.

The Kama Sutra worm has been spreading through cyberspace since January 16, packaged in emails with subject headings such as: “give me a kiss” and “crazy illegal sex.”

When users click an email attachment, their PCs become infected with destructive, self-replicating software. The worm affects Microsoft Windows operating systems and is programmed to go to work on the third of every month, overwriting or corrupting Microsoft files and others such as Portable Document Format (PDF) files.

“This one can damage your office files, your Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and your PowerPoint presentations,” Tino Klironomos, a computer retailer, said. “(The files will be) all gone, history.”

Computer security company LURHQ reports that there may be hundreds of thousands of machines already infected with the worm, which also goes by the monikers “BlackWorm,” “CME-24,” “Blackmal,” “Mywife.E” and “Nyxem.”

To prevent the worm, Windows users should arm themselves with anti-virus software. People can also protect their PC with up-to-date anti-virus gear and firewall protection. Free anti-virus tools are available from many anti-virus organisations. These tools can detect and remove the Kama Sutra worm from an infected machine.

Experts say: “Make sure your virus definitions are up to date. Besides being careful about opening email messages and attachments, users should back up their most valuable computer files on an external device such as a CD, zip drive or DVD.”

Steve Bass at PC World says: “Stop worrying. If you update your virus program signatures regularly, and do a weekly AV scan, I don’t think you have much to worry about…”

Other advice is not to open any messages with the subject headers “crazy, illegal sex”, “give me a kiss” and “hot movie.”

The worm will not affect machines running on non-Windows operating systems such as Mac OS X or GNU/Linux.

Many security systems reported a very small amount of vandalism, even though the threats were very high.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism issued a statement Friday praising comments made Wednesday by Malaysian politician Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan on conversion to Islam. Malaysian Consultative Council president Datuk A. Vaithilingam said that Ong’s views are shared by Malaysians from all religious faiths in the country.

“Conversion to Islam should not be abused as a means to evade one’s legal obligations to one’s family. A person’s conversion to another religion should not cause pain and suffering for other members of the family,” said Vaithilingam. He asked state and federal government authorities to take necessary steps to fix loopholes in the law, so that Malaysians could freely practice religion in the country.

Ong is the current Minister of Housing and Local Government in the Malaysian cabinet, and also serves as the secretary-general of the {{w|Malaysian Chinese Association]] (MCA) and Perak MCA chairman. In his Wednesday statement, he said that individuals who convert to Islam through the marriage process should be permitted to renounce the religion if they leave the marriage. Ong also stated that the religion of a minor child with one Muslim parent should be determined by both parents, or remain the same until the child turns 18.

Ong said that issues involving divorce, custody of children and inheritance in matters of constitutional rights of non-Muslims had increased dramatically in the last three years. Ong emphasized the importance of civil law as related to non-Muslims in the country, as opposed to that of Syariah (Sharia), Islamic religious law.

“Non-Muslims are not to be subjected to any form of Syariah laws and for any disputes or overlapping areas involving the jurisdiction of civil and Syariah courts, civil laws must prevail. […] We urge the Government to be transparent in this process,” said Ong.

Ong’s comments were made as part of an 11-page motion of thanks on the royal address. His motion was seconded by Bintulu Minister of Parliament Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing. Ong also spoke about the corruption, education, crime and security and the economy in his two-hour speech.

Of the 27 million people in Malaysia, 60 percent are Muslim Malaysian Malays, 25 percent are Chinese and mainly Buddhists or Christians, and 7.8 percent are ethnic Indians and mainly Hindus.

Sunday, September 11, 2005

Workers are scouring New Orleans for any remaining survivors of Hurricane Katrina, and are vigorously searching for dead bodies. 25,000 body bags have been prepared in advance, in the event that the death toll from Katrina is that high. Temporary warehouses are being set up around the city to deal with corpse storage.

In the last twenty-four to thirty-six hours, however, officials have revised downward, at least three times, the estimated death toll; 35,000, 10,000, and now less than 10,000. After the first sweep of the city devoted to recovery of bodies, officials retrieved approximately 800 bodies.

Floodwaters are receding, but leaving a great deal of mud and contaminated water in their wake, filled with high levels of bacteria and viruses.

All survivors are urged to leave the city. Dr. Julie Gerberding, head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said “If you haven’t left the city yet, you must do so,” and stated that anyone who comes in contact with the toxic water must immediately wash themselves with clean water. If necessary, force will be used to remove all remaining citizens from New Orleans.

While Dr. Gerberding’s statement about mandatory evacuation seems clear, other officials have not been as emphatic. When asked about mandatory evacuations, New Orleans Police Superintendent Eddie Compass, while reaffirming the official word, qualified his statement stating that every reasonable means would be used to logically convince a person that it is in his best interest to evacuate. The superintendent would not comment on whether force would be used if reason failed. Furthermore, utility workers are in the process of re-establishing power to the Central Business District of the city prompting residents in those areas to reconsider the evacuation option.

Animal rights campaigners are protesting against evidence that law enforcement officers are killing animals as a form of control. According to HelpingAnimals.com, pets left behind by evacuees are being shot.

Residents of Jefferson Parish, and the upper portions of Saint Bernard Parish will be allowed to return permanently to their homes starting on Monday. Conditions in those areas — re-establishment of power, clearing of roads, and abatement of water — have improved to the point of making permanent return possible. Parish President Arron Broussard and Councilor Jennifer Sneed stated that residents should be allowed to return as soon as possible so repairs and rebuilding may begin.

Companies are working with the US Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide money and support to the victims of Katrina, in order to ease them into a new life. In addition, a contract for approximately thirty-three million dollars to repair the I-10 span crossing the eastern portion of Lake Pontchartrain has been awarded. Many of the bridge sections, especially on the eastern-facing span, were knocked off their pilings as hurricane Katrina passed close to the city. The contractor expects one span to be repaired and opened for traffic within forty-five days.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

During a NASA competition, a group of researchers managed to create a robot, powered by a ground based laser, to climb a cable 1 kilometer high dangling from a helicopter.

The contest winners will receive US$2 million for inventing a functioning robot which climbs to the set height in a reasonable amount of time.

The competition took place in the Mojave desert at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base, and teams from Missouri, Alaska, and Seattle competed for the prize. It was held to further the research on technology capable of making the 22,000 mile journey into outer space.

The laws of physics are playing against the researchers. The cost of implementing a project where these laws could be handled and orbit achieved is very high: an estimated $22 Billion. Although a working space elevator is a futuristic idea, the projects used in the research today could potentially create such an elevator.

A team from Seattle was announced as the second place winner, winning $990,000 in prize money. They did not earn the full $2 million because they were unable to achieve the required speeds. Despite their research, none of the teams were able to get their robots to the top.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

John Ogilvie is running for the Green Party of Ontario in the Ontario provincial election, in the Carleton—Mississippi Mills riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed him regarding his values, his experience, and his campaign.

Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.

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Monday, March 6, 2006

The 78th Academy Awards were hosted by Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show.

Crash won the Best Picture award, a surprise for many predictors. Co-producer Cathy Schulman commented “[thank you for] embracing our film, about love and about tolerance, about truth. Thank you to the people all around the world who have been touched by this message. And we are humbled by the other nominees in this category. You have made this year one of the most breathtaking, and stunning, maverick years in American cinema, thank you.”

Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco also won best original screenplay for Crash.

Directed and co-produced by Canadian Paul Haggis, film distribution rights were purchased for just USD$3 million by Lions Gate Films. Noted film critic Roger Ebert called it his favourite picture of 2005, and the picture made many North American “10 best” lists.

Backstage, Best Director winner Ang Lee commented to the press on how Brokeback Mountain refreshed his will to direct. “Before I get into making this movie, I was very tired from two very ambitious work, The Hulk and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I almost wanted to retire. I felt I had enough, I hit the bottom, sort of like my mid life crisis or something, and this movie teach me how to look at myself, how to manage myself in movie making again, enjoying making them, and the movie was shot very simple, nothing special, but most important, it taught me again, it’s about human emotions, drama and acting.”

Foreign Language Film winner Gavin Hood (Tsotsi) commented that he felt the Oscar win would “change the way South Africans view their moviemaking… hopefully it means that people will keep investing in our local stories, because this gives investors a little more confidence and what we want more than anything else is that people and human emotion is universal and we’re more alike than we think we are around the world… we’re actually so similar as human beings inside.”

Tsotsi was the People’s Choice Award winner at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival, while Crash debuted at the fest in 2004. Capote and Brokeback Mountain both played at the festival days after debuting at the Telluride Film Festival. TIFF’s winners often go on to win Best Picture or Best Foreign Language Film; Wo hu cang long (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), American Beauty, and Whale Rider are such examples.

Stewart’s humor fell short of expectation for most North American film and television critics who commented on the broadcast.

At one point, Stewart jokingly chastised Hollywood for being “out of touch” with mainstream American values. Actor George Clooney later responded to this notion, saying, “We are a little bit out of touch in Hollywood. It’s probably a good thing. We’re the ones that talked about AIDS when it was just being whispered. And we talked about civil rights when it wasn’t really popular. We bring up subjects. This group of people gave Hattie McDaniel an Oscar in 1939 when blacks were still sitting in the backs of theaters. I’m proud of this Academy, of this community. I’m proud to be out of touch.”