Somewhere William Gibson is having a real good laugh
Virtual theft' leads to a real arrest
According to the BBC, a Dutch teenager has been arrested for allegedly stealing virtual furniture from "rooms" in Habbo Hotel, a 3D social networking website.
The 17-year-old is accused of stealing 4,000 euros (£2,840) worth of virtual furniture, bought with real money.
Five 15-year-olds have also been questioned by police, who were contacted by the website's owners.
The six teenagers are suspected of moving the stolen furniture into their own Habbo rooms.
A spokesman for Sulake, the company that operates Habbo Hotel, said: "The accused lured victims into handing over their Habbo passwords by creating fake Habbo websites.
"In Habbo, as in many other virtual worlds, scamming for other people's personal information such as user names has been problematic for quite a while.
It is a theft because the furniture is paid for with real money
Sulake spokesman
"We have had much of this scamming going on in many countries but this is the first case where the police have taken legal action."
“Let’s see, a threat of doing real time for a virtual theft, the value of which is based on real money. This calls for the unique talents of that legal scholar, Algonquin J. Calhoun.”
Headline of the day
Cows flee after seeing McDonald's (AP)
Great, now all we need is a script and a co-pay schedule
'Dragon's Blood' Quenches Stomach Ulcer Bacteria
ScienceDaily (Nov. 13, 2007) — "Dragon's blood" may sound like an exotic ingredient in a witch's brew or magic potion. But researchers in China are reporting that the material -- which is actually a bright red plant sap used for thousands of years in traditional Chinese medicine -- contains chemicals that were effective in laboratory experiments in fighting bacteria that cause millions of cases of gastrointestinal disease each year.
In the new study, Weimin Zhao and colleagues indicate that "dragon's blood" has been used for years in China and other countries as a folk remedy for stomach ulcers, blood clots, and other conditions. Researchers, however, have never identified the active ingredients in dragon's blood responsible for its beneficial health effects on peptic ulcer and preventing blood clots.
The researchers isolated 22 different compounds from the powdered stems of Dracaena cochinchinensis, a common source of dragon's blood. The scientists tested the compounds' effects on Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), the bacteria known to cause most cases of stomach ulcers and gastritis.
“Dragon’s Blood? It’s on the shelf over there next to the eye of Newt Gingrich.”
You don’t live for ever on a low-carb diet, it just seems like it.
A Low-carb Diet May Stunt Prostate Tumor Growth
ScienceDaily (Nov. 14, 2007) — A diet low in carbohydrates may help stunt the growth of prostate tumors, according to a new study led by Duke Prostate Center researchers. The study, in mice, suggests that a reduction in insulin production possibly caused by fewer carbohydrates may stall tumor growth.
"This study showed that cutting carbohydrates may slow tumor growth, at least in mice," said Stephen Freedland, M.D., a urologist at Duke University Medical Center and lead researcher on the study. "If this is ultimately confirmed in human clinical trials, it has huge implications for prostate cancer therapy through something that all of us can control, our diets."
Freedland conducted most of the research for this study while doing a fellowship in urology at Johns Hopkins' Brady Urological Institute under the tutelage of William Isaacs, Ph.D., a molecular geneticist there.
Yeah, you stay there and let us know how that works out. How about a conga line? Running serpentine?
Suicide Bomber? Running For Exit May Be The Worst Thing To Do
ScienceDaily (Nov. 14, 2007) — Recent research by Zeeshan-ul-hassan Usmani, a Florida Institute of Technology doctoral student and Fulbright Scholar, indicates that various crowd formations exacerbate or minimize injuries and fatalities in the event of a pedestrian suicide bomb attack.
His work was conducted through virtual simulation. It showed that the crowd formation experiencing the worst effects is a circular one, with a 51 percent death rate and 42 percent injury rate, thus reaching 93 percent effectiveness. A person that is in line-of-sight with the attacker, rushing toward the exit or in a stampede was found to be in the least safe position.
The safest way to stand or sit in a crowd, Usmani found, was in vertical rows.
Finally, something Canadians can point to with pride. Who else would stand in vertical rows during a terrorist attack?
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