News

A code hidden by a judge in his written judgement in the failed Da Vinci Code plagiarism case has been broken. Mr Justice Peter Smith has explained how to crack the code in his 71-page ruling after two newspapers claimed to have solved it.

The message read: "Smithy Code Jackie Fisher who are you Dreadnought."

The judge admires Admiral Jackie Fisher, who developed battleship HMS Dreadnought, which launched in February 1906, 100 years before the case began.

In a statement, Mr Justice Smith said: "The message reveals a significant, but now overlooked event that occurred virtually 100 years to the day of the start of the trial."

"I hate crosswords and do not do Sudoku as I do not have the patience," he said.

He added that the preparation of the code took 40 minutes, with its insertion in the text taking the same length of time.

Mr Justice Smith said a typographical error had been added deliberately to "create further confusion".

Ancient sequence

The Da Vinci Code, which has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide, features a number of codes the heroes of the book must crack to solve the mystery.

Mr Justice Smith had earlier said he intended it as "a matter of fun".

His entry in Who's Who lists him as a fan of Fisher, who is credited with modernising the British navy.

The judge had told The Guardian and The Times that the code was based on the ancient Fibonacci number sequence, which is used by the heroes in Brown's novel.

In March, Mr Justice Smith presided over a High Court case brought by authors Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, who claimed Dan Brown plagiarised their own historical book, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail.

But Mr Justice Smith ruled Mr Brown did not substantially copy Mr Baigent and Mr Leigh's work, saying it did not have a central theme in the way its authors suggested.

A film version of the novel, starring Tom Hanks as historian Robert Langdon, is released on 19 May.

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/enter...nt/4953948.stm

A new breed of "brat bullies" from middle class homes is terrorising the playground because of parents' refusal to say "no", MPs have been warned. Children are going to school believing themselves "little gods", the Commons education select committee heard.

Michele Elliott of Kidscape said the bullies were not thugs but "little Miss Sunshine or little Mr Wonderful".

When confronted by schools many parents also refused to believe their "perfect child" was bullying, she said.

"In addition to children coming from homes where bullying is basically fostered, we found a whole other group of bullies who come from homes where they are so indulged that they go to school and they are little gods," Dr Elliott told the hearing.

"They think that everything just revolves around them. We call them the 'brat bullies'."

Speaking after the committee hearing, psychologist Dr Elliott said this behaviour was often more of a problem among girls than boys.

"They are spoilt by their parents and feel that the world basically owes them, and that the other children should be as in awe of them as their families," she said.

"They expect all the teachers and other kids to kow-tow to them. If they don't, they start to bully the other children.

"The parents of these children are pretty difficult to deal with because they do not see the children in that situation."

Ostracised

David Moore, a senior inspector at Ofsted, said girls tended to be more open about their feelings and gave bullies more ammunition.

He told the committee that girls used "non-verbal communication" to bully each other.

A group of girls would walk up to one of their classmates and deliberately turn away without speaking to her in order to isolate her.

"Nothing is said but that actually diminishes the youngster in their self-esteem and confidence," he said. "It stops them from learning."

He also called for accurate figures on how widespread the problem of bullying was in English schools and for more long-term research into the issue.

Mr Moore also suggested that one way of tackling the problem in schools would be for teachers to warn older bullies that they could face criminal prosecution for intimidating and threatening behaviour.

The Department for Education and Skills said: "Children must know what is right and what is wrong, and that there will be consequences for crossing the line."

Schools had to have anti-bullying policies, and had expert advice as well as "hard-hitting measures" including parenting orders and permanent exclusion.

¿Measures in the Education Bill, including a new legal right to discipline, weekend detentions and fines for parents will send a strong message to pupils and their parents that bullying and failure to take responsibility for tackling it will not be tolerated," he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4758717.stm

A Birmingham shopping centre has beaten off competition from Edinburgh Castle and Tower Bridge to be named one of the UK's favourite landmarks. London landmarks took the top two places, with Big Ben and the London Eye taking first and second place.

The Bullring came third in a survey of which landmark people most wanted to snap, putting Edinburgh Castle fourth.

Entries from Portsmouth, Peterborough, Liverpool and York joined two other London attractions in the top ten.

Top 10 landmarks to photograph

1. The London Eye (completed 1999)
2. Big Ben (1858)
3. Bullring, Birmingham (2003)
4. Edinburgh Castle (1574)
5. 30, St Mary Axe (The Gherkin), London (2004)
6. Peterborough Cathedral (c.1118)
7. Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth (2005)
8. Tower Bridge, London (1893)
9. Royal Liver Building, Liverpool (1911)
10. York Minster (1408)

Birmingham's Bullring has won worldwide acclaim for its distinctive Selfridge's store, which is bespeckled with aluminium discs.

The top ten also features Portsmouth's Spinnaker Tower that opened last year, contrasting with Peterborough's 12th century cathedral.

Darren Peake, marketing manager at Fujifilm, which commissioned the survey, said: "The UK's top ten landmarks highlight the fantastic diversity of architecture and design that is on offer.

"While London is home to a number of modern and historic gems, the top ten features buildings from up and down the country, with fine historic examples of our heritage sitting alongside modern examples of UK innovation."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/w...ds/4762807.stm

Probably the most disturbing medical news I've seen recently.. :cold:

From MySA.com:

Quote:

---

"If diseases like AIDS and bird flu scare you, wait until you hear what's next. Doctors are trying to find out what is causing a bizarre and mysterious infection that's surfaced in South Texas.

Morgellons disease is not yet known to kill, but if you were to get it, you might wish you were dead, as the symptoms are horrible.

"These people will have like beads of sweat but it's black, black and tarry," said Ginger Savely, a nurse practioner in Austin who treats a majority of these patients.

Patients get lesions that never heal.

"Sometimes little black specks that come out of the lesions and sometimes little fibers," said Stephanie Bailey, Morgellons patient."

---

see also: http://www.morgellons.org/index.html

That's funny--sounds like a sadistic version of the Plague.

Or aliens taking over Homo sapiens :goof:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Logos

Probably the most disturbing medical news I've seen recently.. :cold:

From MySA.com:



see also: http://www.morgellons.org/index.html

---

Morgellons disease, actually, seems nothing of recent news, having existed for nearly 400 years. Recently, however, it has had a bit of an outbreak, but nothing as severe as malaria, AIDS/HIV, Avian ('bird') flu (which actually has no proof of spreading from human-to-human, but only bird-to-human), West Nile Virus (from which very few people had severe cases, and only in areas of little medical assistance), and SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrom now on the down-low for years).
Morgellons disease itself has had much relation to, in a way, 'chronic' Lyme disease, spread by specific kinds of ticks and other parasites, most commonly found, indeed, in the American midwest. The media will merely exaggerate anything to get coverage, specifically on 'new,' 'amazing,' 'baffling says Dr. X' medical diseases.

The National Geographic Society has been part of an international effort, in collaboration with the Maecenas Foundation for Ancient Art and the Waitt Institute for Historical Discovery, to authenticate, conserve, and translate a 66-page codex, which contains a text called James (also known as First Apocalypse of James), the Letter of Peter to Philip, a fragment of a text that scholars are provisionally calling Book of Allogenes, and the only known surviving copy of the Gospel of Judas.

The Gospel of Judas gives a different view of the relationship between Jesus and Judas, offering new insights into the disciple who betrayed Jesus. Unlike the accounts in the canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, in which Judas is portrayed as a reviled traitor, this newly discovered Gospel portrays Judas as acting at Jesus' request when he hands Jesus over to the authorities.

related NG site

"This article is from the (RED) edition of The Independent, guest-edited for 16 May 2006 by Bono. Half the revenue from the edition will be donated to the Global Fund to Fight Aids."

Bono, Guest Editor: I am a witness. What can I do?

"May I say without guile, I am as sick of messianic rock stars as the next man, woman and child. I am also tired of average work being given extra weight because it's attached to something with real gravitas, like the Aids emergency. So I truly try to tread carefully as I walk over the dreams of dignity under my feet in our work for the terrible beauty that is the continent of Africa. I'm used to the custard pies. I've even learnt to like the taste of them. But before you are tempted to let fly with your understandable invective, allow me to contextualise. Not for the sake of my vanity, but for the sake of people who are depending on you - the reader - to respond to the precariousness of their lives."

http://comment.independent.co.uk/com...icle484978.ece

Bears Eat Monkey in Dutch Zoo
Monday, May 15, 2006

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — Bears killed and ate a monkey in a Dutch zoo in front of horrified visitors, witnesses and the zoo said Monday.

In the incident Sunday at the Beekse Bergen Safari Park, several Sloth bears chased the Barbary macaque into an electric fence, where it was stunned. It recovered and fled onto a wooden structure, where one bear pursued and mauled it to death.

The park confirmed the killing in a statement, saying: "In an area where Sloth bears, great apes and Barbary macaques have coexisted peacefully for a long time, the harmony was temporarily disturbed during opening hours on Sunday.

"Of course the habitats here in the safari park are arranged in such a way that one animal almost never kills another, but they are and remain wild animals," it said.

Witness Marco Berelds posted a detailed report on the incident, including photos, on a Dutch Web site. He said one Sloth bear tried unsuccessfully to shake the monkey loose after it took refuge on the structure, built of crossing horizontal and vertical poles.

Ignoring attempts by keepers to distract it, the bear climbed onto a horizontal pole, and, standing stretched on two legs, "used its sharp canines to pull the macaque, which was shrieking and resisting, from its perch."

The bear then brought the animal to a concrete den, where three bears ate it.

The zoo said it "usually wasn't possible" for keepers to intervene when an animal killed another.

The park plans now to move the Barbary macaques — which are large monkeys but often inaccurately called "Barbary Apes" — to another part of the park, it said.

(source: Fox News

The monkey's have since been moved to another area.

The US military is putting soldiers who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan into its video game in an attempt to put a human face on its operations overseas.

The soldiers' stories are part of a new version of America's Army, a game which is part of its recruitment strategy.

The US military denies that the project is a way of selling an unpopular war to the American public.

Instead the free game is designed to inspire young people by relating the real-life experiences of the troops.

"The majority of the public is not touched by the war," said Major Jason Amerine, who served in Afghanistan and is one of the nine soldiers appearing in the game.

"It is dangerous to have an army overseas fighting and for a public to become so disconnected that they don't realise that we are not automatons over there. We're real people," he told the BBC News website.

'Real heroes'

America's Army was first released in July 2002 and has gone on to become one of the top online games, with seven million registered players.

It taps into the popularity of military and war simulation titles among predominantly young men.


It shows we are not robots, that we're not trained killing machines. We're just people
Matt Zedwick, National Guardsman
It was developed by the Army to simulate combat and life in the military and reach young people for whom video games are a part of everyday life.

In the latest version of the game, called America's Army: Special Forces (Overmatch), the military is adding the experiences of nine soldiers who served in Afghanistan or Iraq.

The title has a so-called real heroes section when players can learn about the real-life troops.

In a virtual recruiting room, gamers can click on a soldier to hear them tell their story. They can also compare their achievements in the game to those of the GIs.

"It gets our stories out there about what the army is doing," said Sergeant Matt Zedwick, who served and was wounded during a tour of duty in Iraq in 2004.

"It is a good communications device to introduce people to what is really going on, rather than what you see on the news."

"It shows we are not robots, that we're not trained killing machines. We're just people," said the 25-year-old who is now studying graphic design at a college in Oregon.

Reaching the public

The US military sees America's Army as an information, rather than as a recruitment, tool.

America's Army screenshot
The game is designed to be as realistic as possible
The latest version was showcased at last week's E3 games expo in Los Angeles and is due to be released in the summer.

It comes at a time of growing unease in the US about the war in Iraq.

And last year, an official US government study warned that the military was falling behind in its effort to recruit troops for combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But the people involved in the title say there is no connection between the new game and America's troubles over its combat operations.

"We're not talking about the war, we're talking about people in the war," insisted Major Amerine, who served in Afghanistan in 2001 during the initial invasion.

"We are not attempting in any way to sell a war to the people, that has nothing to do with our agenda.

"We're trying to create awareness about the people doing the fighting, and that is a very apolitical agenda," said the major who now teaches at West Point.

Toy soldiers

America's Army figures
The figures are intended to be collector's items
As part of "real heroes" campaign, figures of the soldiers featured in the game are to go on sale.

The Army says these are not designed to be toys for children but items for collectors who wish to express their support for the troops.

Seeing themselves as little plastic soldiers is a strange experience for the troops involved.

"It is kinda funny and a little creepy. Unbelievable in a way," said Sergeant Zedwick.

"It is kind of funny to think there are going to be millions of people buying little dolls of you in the stores."


link

Modern teenagers are better behaved than their counterparts of 20 years ago, research suggests. Boys and girls had "less problematic behaviour" involving sex, drugs and drink than teenagers surveyed in 1985.

However, girls in 2005 were likely to smoke and binge drink more than boys and start having sex earlier.

The researchers, Bournemouth University's Professor Colin Pritchard and Richard Williams, surveyed 10 schools along England's south coast.

In 2005 they repeated a 1985 survey of Year 10 and 11 secondary students and compared the results, published in the book Breaking the Cycle of Educational Alienation.

A 30-question survey was answered by pupils aged 14 and 15 and covered truancy, vandalism, theft, fighting, drinking and drugs, the same areas as the 1985 study.

Questions about sex, which were not permitted in 1985, were also included and compared with other research.

In 1985, about 824 pupils responded, with 854 answering it in 2005.

"The good news and, perhaps, unexpected is that the 2005 youngsters have less problematic behaviour than the 1985 cohort and even with the problematic behaviour, drugs, drink and sex, this is still a minority activity," said Prof Pritchard.

"The bad news, however, is that 20 years ago boys drugged, drank, smoked, truanted, stole, vandalised and fought more than girls.

"Today it is very different."

He said the girls smoked and drunk "significantly" more than boys.

Personal relationships

"They truant, steal and fight at similar rates to boys but have started under-aged sex earlier than boys - with 17% of lads in Year 11 having their first sexual intercourse (FSI) whereas 31% of Year 11 girls have had their FSI, indicating they are going with older boys," Prof Pritchard said.

Children of parents who smoke were four times more likely to start smoking themselves and twice as likely to steal, get into fights and become sexually active at an early age, the research showed.

Figures indicated they are also more than twice as likely to take drugs and/or binge drink.

"It is not that smoking causes the student's behaviour, but it reflects something of their personal, family and social relationships," said Prof Pritchard.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4994538.stm

Heavy metal monsters Lordi have been hailed as heroes in their home country after scoring Finland's first ever Eurovision Song Contest victory. President Tarja Halonen congratulated the band in a telegram after their song Hard Rock Hallelujah won in Athens.

Hundreds of people celebrated in the streets of Helsinki, honking car horns, waving flags and singing Lordi's song.

Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat proclaimed: "It's official: Hell has frozen over. Finland has won."

The band won the Eurovision public vote after singing their heavy rock anthem dressed in horror costumes and accompanied by pyrotechnics.

Many people in Finland had feared Lordi would flop and damage the country's reputation.

But they have now become national icons and Culture Minister Tanja Karpela said Lordi's victory proved Finnish music could be successful abroad.

One fan, Erkki Turunen, said Finland won "because it put on a genuine show".

"This wasn't some sort of rubbish. This was really cool," he said.

Another person on the Helsinki streets, Nina Laisi, said: "I don't claim to be a rock fan, and it's not my favourite music, but I admire these guys."

'Humiliation'

Helsingin Sanomat wrote: "Years of humiliation, frustration, and 'zero points' were wiped away as the Finnish entry blew everyone off the stage in Athens.

"When the United Kingdom voters gave Finland 12 points, one knew somehow that nothing would ever be quite the same again."

The Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) said Lordi returned from Athens on Sunday and would meet the press on Monday.

But TV cameras will not be admitted because the band do not allow themselves to be filmed without their monster outfits.

They will stage a public celebration in Helsinki on Friday.

Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said the government would hep finance the contest when it comes to Finland next year.

"There are quite a few of us listeners of heavy and rock music, and for once there was the possibility to vote for a piece that differed from the general Eurovision line," he said.

UK disappointment

Lordi amassed 292 points in the public vote - 44 ahead of Russia's Dima Bilan.

But UK rapper Daz Sampson could only manage to come 19th out of 24 countries with his song Teenage Life.

"There were some very good songs in it this year," he said. "I thought mine was one of them - obviously Europe didn't agree."

The contest attracted an average of 8.2 million viewers in the UK on BBC One on Saturday, according to unofficial overnight figures.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5002798.stm

I wonder if this had anything to do with their victory :D

Personally, I like to think it was a fair victory! :)

I thought Daz was rubbish, absaloute rubbish not worth even 12th place. Now my personal fav was the lot that tried to brain wash the voters Lithuania I think.