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Banned film ‘The Profit’ appears on Web
January 26th, 2022 | Uncategorized |
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Copies of The Profit, a 2001 film blocked from distribution in the United States due to a court injunction won by the Church of Scientology, appeared on the Internet Friday on peer-to-peer file-sharing websites and on the video sharing site YouTube.
Directed by former film executive Peter N. Alexander, the movie has been characterized by critics as a parody of Scientology and of its founder L. Ron Hubbard. Alexander was a Scientologist for twenty years, and left the organization in 1997. The film was funded by Bob Minton, a former critic of Scientology who later signed an agreement with the Church of Scientology and has attempted to stop distribution of the film. Alexander has stated that the movie is based on his research into cults, and when asked by the St. Petersburg Times about parallels to Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard said: “I’ll let you draw that conclusion … I say it’s entirely fictional.”
The film was released in August 2001, and was shown at a movie theatre in Clearwater, Florida and at a premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in France. A Scientology spokesman gave a statement at the time saying “the movie is fiction and has nothing to do with Scientology”. The Church of Scientology later took legal action in an attempt to stop further distribution of the film. The Church of Scientology claimed that the film was intended to influence the jury pool in the wrongful death case of Scientologist Lisa McPherson, who died under Scientology care in Clearwater, Florida.
In April 2002, a Pinellas County, Florida judge issued a court order enjoining The Profit from worldwide distribution for an indefinite period. According to the original court injunction received by Wikinews, the movie was originally banned because the court found that it could be seen as a parody of Scientology. In his April 20, 2002 ruling on the injunction, Judge Robert E. Beach of the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court in Pinellas County, Florida wrote: “…an average person viewing the film entitled The Profit could perceive that it is a parody of the Church of Scientology”.
“To the extent that any person considered as a potential juror in evaluating any issues involving the Church of Scientology, the process of voir dire provides a fair and complete remedy to eliminate any potential juror that may possibly have been influenced to be less than fair and impartial,” added Beach.
Luke Lirot, the attorney for the film’s production company, announced on the film’s website on April 7, 2007 that “We have absolutely no exposure for any repercussions from the court order,” but that the film was still blocked from distribution due to an ongoing legal battle. Lirot wrote: “all that’s stopping the release of the movie is the legal battle with the partner who was compromised by Scientology (Robert Minton) and is currently using his power as partner to stop the release of the film.”
In an October 2007 article, The Times described the film as “banned in the US because of a lawsuit taken out against it by The Church of Scientology,” and Russ Kick’s The Disinformation Book of Lists included the film in his “List of 16 Movies Banned in the U.S.”. An 8-minute teaser segment from The Profit appeared on the film’s website and on the video sharing site YouTube in February 2008, and an attorney representing Bob Minton sent a letter to Luke Lirot requesting that the film clip be taken down. In a response letter, Lirot wrote that “Rather than damage any asset of the LLC, the short clip merely keeps the film in the public eye, and in a positive way.”
On Friday, copies of the film began to circulate on peer-to-peer file-sharing websites and on YouTube. A link related to the film’s appearance on the Internet on the community-based link aggregator website Digg.com had 3,638 “Diggs” – and hit the front page of the site’s Entertainment section on Saturday.
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I had nothing to do with this release at all. But I’m happy it’s out there. |
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On Saturday, Scientology critic and Emmy award-winning journalist Mark Bunker put a streaming version of the film on his website, www.xenutv.com, and encouraged others to watch and discuss the film on a real-time chat channel. In a video posting to YouTube Saturday, Bunker said “I did not do it. I had nothing to do with it … I had nothing to do with this release at all. But I’m happy it’s out there … people are finally having a chance to see it. A lot of people have been curious over the years and there’s been a lot of interest in seeing the film, so finally you can.”
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We have all wanted to see this movie that scientology kept hidden away from us. We have all wondered just how damning could this story be that we were banned from watching it. |
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On the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology, a poster by the username “Alexia Death” commented on the film’s appearance on the Internet in the context of censorship: “It is out! And so it is a WIN if many people review it even if they say it SUCKS! … Being bad is no cause to allow censorship … And being censored is no cause to assume its good”. A post to the blog Blogsreel commented: “We have all wanted to see this movie that scientology kept hidden away from us. We have all wondered just how damning could this story be that we were banned from watching it.”
In a post on Sunday to the message board attached to the official website for the film, attorney Luke Lirot asked that individuals stop distributing copies of The Profit over the Internet. Lirot wrote: “It has been brought to my attention that several unauthorized transmissions and downloads of this protected work have taken place over the last 72 hours. Such actions are copyright violations and are unlawful. I request that any further distribution and/or dissemination of this important work cease immediately and any copies of the work that have been downloaded please be deleted.” In his statement, Lirot recognized the rights of individuals under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, but also said that unauthorized distribution of the film “will only serve to harm the goal of vast distribution”.
Blog postings have attributed the film’s appearance on the Internet as part of the anti-Scientology movement Project Chanology organized by the Internet-based group Anonymous, but this has not been confirmed. Wikinews previously reported on international protests against Scientology which took place as part of Project Chanology on February 10 and March 15. A third international protest by Anonymous is scheduled for April 12. Titled “Operation Reconnect”, the third international protest will focus on highlighting Scientology’s practice of disconnection.
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Woman finds human finger in bowl of chili at Wendy’s restaurant
January 25th, 2022 | Uncategorized |
Story sources
- Maria Alicia Gaura and Dave Murphy. “Wendy’s diner finds human finger in her chili” — San Francisco Chronicle, March 24, 2005
- Chuck Carroll and Sandra Gonzales. “Exposure to `finger’ in chili would pose little risk, official says” — San Jose Mercury News, March 23, 2005
- Dan Reed, Knight Ridder Newspapers. “Woman finds human finger in Wendy’s chili” — Kansas City Star, March 23, 2005
- “Woman Eating Chili Bites Into Human Finger” — Associated Press, March 23, 2005
- “Diner finds human finger in bowl of chili” — MSNBC, March 24, 2005
Thursday, March 24, 2005
San Jose, California — A woman eating a bowl of chili at a Wendy’s restaurant bit into a chewy bit that turned out to be a human finger. She immediately spat it out, warned other patrons to stop eating, and upon recognizing the object as a finger, vomited.
“I’m more of a Carl’s Jr. person,” the 39-year-old Las Vegas woman, Anna Ayala, told Knight Ridder. She said this incident was her first visit to a Wendy’s restaurant. Ayala described how she found the finger, “Suddenly something crunchy was in my mouth,” she continued, “and I spit it out.”
According to Devina Cordero, 20, after Ayala found the finger, she ran up to her and Cordero’s boyfriend and said, “Don’t eat it! Look, there’s a human finger in our chili.”
“We went up to the counter and they told us it was a vegetable,” Cordero continued. “The people from Wendy’s were poking it with a spoon.”
The restaurant is located at 1405 Monterey Highway, just south of downtown San Jose.
Wikinews reporter David Vasquez drove his car up to the drive-thru menu and found that chili was still on the menu, at a price of US$1.19 for a small serving. He also witnessed workers unloading supplies from a semi-trailer truck in the restaurant’s parking lot, and carting them into the back door of the establishment.
According to Ben Gale, director of environmental health for Santa Clara County, the finger did not come from any of the employees at the restaurant. “We asked everybody to show us they have 10 fingers and everything is OK there,” he said. The found portion of the finger likely belonged to a woman because of its long and manicured fingernail, also found in the food.
Officials seized the food supply at the restaurant and are tracing it back to the manufacturer, where they believe the finger may have gotten mixed in with the raw ingredients used to prepare the chili. The restaurant’s operators were later permitted to re-open after preparing new chili prepared from fresh ingredients.
As this story was filed, there was no mention of the incident on the Wendy’s corporate web site. Wendy’s issued a statement through a spokesman.
“Food safety is of utmost importance to us,” said Wendy’s spokesman Joe Desmond. He referred to the incident as an “unsubstantiated claim.”
“We are cooperating fully with the local police and health departments with their investigation. It’s important not to jump to conclusions. Here at Wendy’s we plan to do right by our customers,” Desmond said.
According to county health officials, the unfortunate woman who bit into the finger is doing fine, despite her initial reaction. Officials also noted that the finger would have been cooked at a high enough temperature to destroy any viruses.
The Santa Clara county medical examiner reported that the finger had a solid fingerprint, although investigators did not say if a search of fingerprint databases would be performed to find the owner of the finger.
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This article features first-hand journalism by Wikinews members. See the collaboration page for more details. |
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This article features first-hand journalism by Wikinews members. See the collaboration page for more details. |
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This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
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| |
This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.
Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age. |
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">Cleveland, Ohio clinic performs US’s first face transplant
January 25th, 2022 | Uncategorized |
Thursday, December 18, 2008
A team of eight transplant surgeons in Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, USA, led by reconstructive surgeon Dr. Maria Siemionow, age 58, have successfully performed the first almost total face transplant in the US, and the fourth globally, on a woman so horribly disfigured due to trauma, that cost her an eye. Two weeks ago Dr. Siemionow, in a 23-hour marathon surgery, replaced 80 percent of her face, by transplanting or grafting bone, nerve, blood vessels, muscles and skin harvested from a female donor’s cadaver.
The Clinic surgeons, in Wednesday’s news conference, described the details of the transplant but upon request, the team did not publish her name, age and cause of injury nor the donor’s identity. The patient’s family desired the reason for her transplant to remain confidential. The Los Angeles Times reported that the patient “had no upper jaw, nose, cheeks or lower eyelids and was unable to eat, talk, smile, smell or breathe on her own.” The clinic’s dermatology and plastic surgery chair, Francis Papay, described the nine hours phase of the procedure: “We transferred the skin, all the facial muscles in the upper face and mid-face, the upper lip, all of the nose, most of the sinuses around the nose, the upper jaw including the teeth, the facial nerve.” Thereafter, another team spent three hours sewing the woman’s blood vessels to that of the donor’s face to restore blood circulation, making the graft a success.
The New York Times reported that “three partial face transplants have been performed since 2005, two in France and one in China, all using facial tissue from a dead donor with permission from their families.” “Only the forehead, upper eyelids, lower lip, lower teeth and jaw are hers, the rest of her face comes from a cadaver; she could not eat on her own or breathe without a hole in her windpipe. About 77 square inches of tissue were transplanted from the donor,” it further described the details of the medical marvel. The patient, however, must take lifetime immunosuppressive drugs, also called antirejection drugs, which do not guarantee success. The transplant team said that in case of failure, it would replace the part with a skin graft taken from her own body.
Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, a Brigham and Women’s Hospital surgeon praised the recent medical development. “There are patients who can benefit tremendously from this. It’s great that it happened,” he said.
Leading bioethicist Arthur Caplan of the University of Pennsylvania withheld judgment on the Cleveland transplant amid grave concerns on the post-operation results. “The biggest ethical problem is dealing with failure — if your face rejects. It would be a living hell. If your face is falling off and you can’t eat and you can’t breathe and you’re suffering in a terrible manner that can’t be reversed, you need to put on the table assistance in dying. There are patients who can benefit tremendously from this. It’s great that it happened,” he said.
Dr Alex Clarke, of the Royal Free Hospital had praised the Clinic for its contribution to medicine. “It is a real step forward for people who have severe disfigurement and this operation has been done by a team who have really prepared and worked towards this for a number of years. These transplants have proven that the technical difficulties can be overcome and psychologically the patients are doing well. They have all have reacted positively and have begun to do things they were not able to before. All the things people thought were barriers to this kind of operations have been overcome,” she said.
The first partial face transplant surgery on a living human was performed on Isabelle Dinoire on November 27 2005, when she was 38, by Professor Bernard Devauchelle, assisted by Professor Jean-Michel Dubernard in Amiens, France. Her Labrador dog mauled her in May 2005. A triangle of face tissue including the nose and mouth was taken from a brain-dead female donor and grafted onto the patient. Scientists elsewhere have performed scalp and ear transplants. However, the claim is the first for a mouth and nose transplant. Experts say the mouth and nose are the most difficult parts of the face to transplant.
In 2004, the same Cleveland Clinic, became the first institution to approve this surgery and test it on cadavers. In October 2006, surgeon Peter Butler at London‘s Royal Free Hospital in the UK was given permission by the NHS ethics board to carry out a full face transplant. His team will select four adult patients (children cannot be selected due to concerns over consent), with operations being carried out at six month intervals. In March 2008, the treatment of 30-year-old neurofibromatosis victim Pascal Coler of France ended after having received what his doctors call the worlds first successful full face transplant.
Ethical concerns, psychological impact, problems relating to immunosuppression and consequences of technical failure have prevented teams from performing face transplant operations in the past, even though it has been technically possible to carry out such procedures for years.
Mr Iain Hutchison, of Barts and the London Hospital, warned of several problems with face transplants, such as blood vessels in the donated tissue clotting and immunosuppressants failing or increasing the patient’s risk of cancer. He also pointed out ethical issues with the fact that the procedure requires a “beating heart donor”. The transplant is carried out while the donor is brain dead, but still alive by use of a ventilator.
According to Stephen Wigmore, chair of British Transplantation Society’s ethics committee, it is unknown to what extent facial expressions will function in the long term. He said that it is not certain whether a patient could be left worse off in the case of a face transplant failing.
Mr Michael Earley, a member of the Royal College of Surgeon‘s facial transplantation working party, commented that if successful, the transplant would be “a major breakthrough in facial reconstruction” and “a major step forward for the facially disfigured.”
In Wednesday’s conference, Siemionow said “we know that there are so many patients there in their homes where they are hiding from society because they are afraid to walk to the grocery stores, they are afraid to go the the street.” “Our patient was called names and was humiliated. We very much hope that for this very special group of patients there is a hope that someday they will be able to go comfortably from their houses and enjoy the things we take for granted,” she added.
In response to the medical breakthrough, a British medical group led by Royal Free Hospital’s lead surgeon Dr Peter Butler, said they will finish the world’s first full face transplant within a year. “We hope to make an announcement about a full-face operation in the next 12 months. This latest operation shows how facial transplantation can help a particular group of the most severely facially injured people. These are people who would otherwise live a terrible twilight life, shut away from public gaze,” he said.
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Submitted by: Colin Yao
The use of fiber optic systems is expanding at a amazing rate. Only in the past 10 years, fiber optic communications systems have replaced almost all coaxial and twisted pair cables especially in network backbones. This is especially true in any long distance communication links.
Why? This can be explained simply. Fiber optic cables are easier to install, are lighter than traditional copper cables, are much smaller than their electronic counterparts, and most importantly, they have much more bandwidth!
Because fiber optic cables are lighter, they are easier to pull through existing ducts and cable raceways. Other big advantages of fiber cables including their immunity to electromagnetic interference, longer repeater distances, lower power requirements, and higher flexibility.
All the above pros make fiber optic cables very attractive and most important of all, very cost effective.
The unstoppable trend for fiber optic applications are the move from the long haul (long distance) to our desk, our house, and our office. The terms include FTTC ( fiber to the curb), FTTD (fiber to the desk), FTTH (fiber to the home) and FTTB( fiber to the building).
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfBxlg74tvM[/youtube]
Fiber optic cables enable our dream of integrating all our phone, Internet and TV services. Fiber’s wide bandwidth makes this possible. It provides more than enough capacity to meet all our voice, data and video requirements.
The transformation from copper to fiber is greatly accelerated by the invention of optical fiber amplifiers. Optical fiber amplifiers enable optical signal transmission over very long distances without the expensive process of conversion to electronic signals, electronic amplification and the conversion back to optical signal again as in traditional regenerators.
Today most of the network traffic switching are still performed by electronic switches such as those from Cisco. But tremendous interest and effort of using all-optical devices for all network switching are accumulating in the industry. The most important characteristic of all-optical switching lies in its almost unlimited transmission capacity.
However, it is still in the prototype stage for controlling light with light, so optical switch circuits are still controlled by electronic circuits at this moment. The switching matrix may be optical circuits but the control are still done by electronic circuits.
Optical fiber is almost the ideal medium for signal transmission available today and in the foreseeable future. The excellent characteristic of optical fiber is its immunity to electromagnetic interference. Optical circuits can be crossed in a common space without cross interference among them.
But there are problems which are impeding the speed of all-optical system development. The most obvious and basic reason is the compatibility requirements with legacy fiber optic systems.
Another big advantage of optical fiber lies in the ability to multiplex its capacity via WDM (wavelength division multiplexer). WDM modulates each of several data streams into a different part of the light spectrum. WDM is the optical equivalent of FDM (frequency division multiplexer). The use of WDM can increase the capacity of a single channel fiber optic communication system by hundreds of times.
In additional to communication systems, fiber optic technologies are also widely used in medicine, illumination, sensing, endoscopy, industry control and more.
About the Author: Colin Yao is an expert on fiber optic communication technologies and products. Learn more about
Corning cable
,
Corning fiber cable
,
Corning fiber optic cable
.
Source:
isnare.com
Permanent Link:
isnare.com/?aid=260921&ca=Computers+and+Technology
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January 24th, 2022 | Uncategorized |
Monday, January 16, 2006
Israeli media is reporting that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon opened his eyes for the first time since he suffered a major stroke on January 4, 2006.
However, hospital officials said the reports were generated by the Sharon family’s “impression of eyelid movement, whose medical significance is unclear.”
“He was listening to a tape of his grandson and you could see tears in his eyes for a matter of seconds before he closed them again,” a doctor treating Sharon told AFP news agency on condition of anonymity.
Army Radio, citing unidentified close associates of Sharon, say the Prime Minister could “recognize people around him.”
However, hospital officials state that it is “too early to tell whether the development represented a significant improvement or was just a temporary reflex.”
Sharon had undergone a tracheotomy on Sunday to help with his breathing and to help prevent infection from his respirator tube.
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January 21st, 2022 |
Gates |
WLAN Security, Customers and POS
by
Mary Bush
The widespread acceptance of Wireless Local Area Networks is a money maker for the e-commerce market. Not only has the Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) been a welcomed market for the manufacturers of wireless devices ( Cisco/Linksys), the acceptance of wireless networking is saving millions of dollars to these markets. Organizations are reaping profits in the region of billions of dollars in cost and productivity savings. The customer base is generally unquestioning and accepting or at times even unaware of the presence of these technologies. One only has to venture into a Target, BestBuy, or Macys to be exposed to the transparent use of Wi-Fi.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4SUvzdNrhM[/youtube]
Marketing is a remarkable skill. With the recent stampeding of a store attendant in a New York store, I’m in awe of the magnificence of marketers. Only an earthshaking advertising campaign could possibly entice a shopper to fall in line thousands deep to purchase a new toy. This, in a winter chill that is almost anti-human. Oh the brilliance of marketing. The everyday shopper follow the routine of choosing the item and forking over the plastic. Very few are aware of WLAN compliance requirements for wireless networks. Not many question the secure handling of their confidential information. Analysts from organizations like the Gartner group, Frost & Sullivan Research have posted numerous articles that are meant to educate the customer. I salute them for their in depth work. The question though remains, “How many shopper would read a technical article?” Should one expect the everyday shopper to understand PCI, Sarbenes Oxley or WLAN security best practices. I hear your answer. A resounding NO! Neither should one anticipate a memo from the large retail outlets identifying their due care or due diligence in protecting your confidential information.
Some may ask, “What does that have do with me?” The answer is everything. In our advanced shopping society, technology, though unnoticed, is at the forefront. We have become used to technology that is pushed on us without any great introduction. Most of us are leaving our data safety in the hands of organizations who at times do not take the necessary precautions to create a safe shopping environment. Questions are rarely asked. Who would have thought that a certain franchise’s wireless network was so open that we were safer leaving our credit cards in the shopping cart than presenting it to the cashier. Does the customer need to know that despite all the brouhaha wireless networks are not as secure as wired networks? The government mandates legislation for organizations using wireless networks.
I beg to include here excerpts of an article I read that brings to the forefront the dismal task of providing security to the customer.
When thieves stole the PIN pads at a cash register in one of his company’s stores, Daniel Marcotte was amazed. Not that they’d done it — such thefts can happen once a week during the holiday season. But watching it on videotape later, “I couldn’t tell they had it with them when they left” the store, says Marcotte, director of systems and data security at La Senza, a Montreal retailer now owned by The Limited.
A couple of hours later, the thieves were back. They’d doctored the PIN pads to let them get customer card data. They got them back onto the point-of-sale system quickly, too. But here’s where La Senza’s security precautions kicked in: Its PIN pads in effect have their own Media Access Control address, and once they’re disconnected, that address is no longer available. So the thieves were foiled — this time. What you are reading here is an attack on a Point of Sale system. These systems normally comprise the cash register, the bar code scanner, wi-fi access, the in-store voice or IP network and the store inventory management system. The everyday customer is vigilant of the thief who physically walks in to the outlet. Very few are aware of the tech savvy culprit. These are the invisible, bitheads who have compromised these systems for monetary gains. The targets are the uninformed, non-questioning shoppers with no knowledge of wi-fi vulnerabilities. According to one Mr. Keith Aubele, the former loss prevention executive at Wal-Mart and Home Depot, these systems are “incredibly easy to bypass.”
Holiday cashiering is noticeably a seasonal job. A problem exists with this phenomena. It is called under-ringing or sweet-hearting. In this scheme the unscrupulous cashier does not scan all the items presented. This, however, affects the retail outlet. Their loss. Now we address the customer. Point-of-sale technology was not designed to capture customer data. These technologies were designed for tracking purposes, but retailers now use them to capture customer data. Alert! huge management/security issue! The customer is now left at the mercy of the mitigation steps taken by the retailer. Some organizations are managing numerous locations. Most outlets are using known vulnerable systems with a hope and pray approach. In Europe where E-commerce has caught on quicker that other world regions, they use a technology known as chip-and PIN for credit cards. The cost factor to upgrading to this technology is not feasible from the view of the outlet. These point of sale terminals are mostly not understood by the retailers who use them, most are not aware of the information collected by their systems.
Some of these outlets are presently using WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) as the encryption of choice. To the knowledgeable attacker this is an invitation. Now back to the customer. What guarantee do we have that our data is protected? Card companies like Visa and Mastercard are trying to pressure retailers to be compliant to PCI ( Payment Card Industry) security standards. We all know that this will be avoided if it costs too much to implement. There has been a promise from Visa to implement fines against non-compliant retailers. I read a disturbing report that the forecast of POS is dismal. The highly respected Gartner Group predicts that by 2009, most attacks against retailers would be through the POS. They further stated that merely 30% of POS software will be compliant.Technology And Life
Know About The role of collaboration technologies
Article Source:
WLAN Security, Customers and POS}
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January 21st, 2022 | Uncategorized |
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Copies of The Profit, a 2001 film blocked from distribution in the United States due to a court injunction won by the Church of Scientology, appeared on the Internet Friday on peer-to-peer file-sharing websites and on the video sharing site YouTube.
Directed by former film executive Peter N. Alexander, the movie has been characterized by critics as a parody of Scientology and of its founder L. Ron Hubbard. Alexander was a Scientologist for twenty years, and left the organization in 1997. The film was funded by Bob Minton, a former critic of Scientology who later signed an agreement with the Church of Scientology and has attempted to stop distribution of the film. Alexander has stated that the movie is based on his research into cults, and when asked by the St. Petersburg Times about parallels to Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard said: “I’ll let you draw that conclusion … I say it’s entirely fictional.”
The film was released in August 2001, and was shown at a movie theatre in Clearwater, Florida and at a premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in France. A Scientology spokesman gave a statement at the time saying “the movie is fiction and has nothing to do with Scientology”. The Church of Scientology later took legal action in an attempt to stop further distribution of the film. The Church of Scientology claimed that the film was intended to influence the jury pool in the wrongful death case of Scientologist Lisa McPherson, who died under Scientology care in Clearwater, Florida.
In April 2002, a Pinellas County, Florida judge issued a court order enjoining The Profit from worldwide distribution for an indefinite period. According to the original court injunction received by Wikinews, the movie was originally banned because the court found that it could be seen as a parody of Scientology. In his April 20, 2002 ruling on the injunction, Judge Robert E. Beach of the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court in Pinellas County, Florida wrote: “…an average person viewing the film entitled The Profit could perceive that it is a parody of the Church of Scientology”.
“To the extent that any person considered as a potential juror in evaluating any issues involving the Church of Scientology, the process of voir dire provides a fair and complete remedy to eliminate any potential juror that may possibly have been influenced to be less than fair and impartial,” added Beach.
Luke Lirot, the attorney for the film’s production company, announced on the film’s website on April 7, 2007 that “We have absolutely no exposure for any repercussions from the court order,” but that the film was still blocked from distribution due to an ongoing legal battle. Lirot wrote: “all that’s stopping the release of the movie is the legal battle with the partner who was compromised by Scientology (Robert Minton) and is currently using his power as partner to stop the release of the film.”
In an October 2007 article, The Times described the film as “banned in the US because of a lawsuit taken out against it by The Church of Scientology,” and Russ Kick’s The Disinformation Book of Lists included the film in his “List of 16 Movies Banned in the U.S.”. An 8-minute teaser segment from The Profit appeared on the film’s website and on the video sharing site YouTube in February 2008, and an attorney representing Bob Minton sent a letter to Luke Lirot requesting that the film clip be taken down. In a response letter, Lirot wrote that “Rather than damage any asset of the LLC, the short clip merely keeps the film in the public eye, and in a positive way.”
On Friday, copies of the film began to circulate on peer-to-peer file-sharing websites and on YouTube. A link related to the film’s appearance on the Internet on the community-based link aggregator website Digg.com had 3,638 “Diggs” – and hit the front page of the site’s Entertainment section on Saturday.
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I had nothing to do with this release at all. But I’m happy it’s out there. |
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On Saturday, Scientology critic and Emmy award-winning journalist Mark Bunker put a streaming version of the film on his website, www.xenutv.com, and encouraged others to watch and discuss the film on a real-time chat channel. In a video posting to YouTube Saturday, Bunker said “I did not do it. I had nothing to do with it … I had nothing to do with this release at all. But I’m happy it’s out there … people are finally having a chance to see it. A lot of people have been curious over the years and there’s been a lot of interest in seeing the film, so finally you can.”
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We have all wanted to see this movie that scientology kept hidden away from us. We have all wondered just how damning could this story be that we were banned from watching it. |
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On the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology, a poster by the username “Alexia Death” commented on the film’s appearance on the Internet in the context of censorship: “It is out! And so it is a WIN if many people review it even if they say it SUCKS! … Being bad is no cause to allow censorship … And being censored is no cause to assume its good”. A post to the blog Blogsreel commented: “We have all wanted to see this movie that scientology kept hidden away from us. We have all wondered just how damning could this story be that we were banned from watching it.”
In a post on Sunday to the message board attached to the official website for the film, attorney Luke Lirot asked that individuals stop distributing copies of The Profit over the Internet. Lirot wrote: “It has been brought to my attention that several unauthorized transmissions and downloads of this protected work have taken place over the last 72 hours. Such actions are copyright violations and are unlawful. I request that any further distribution and/or dissemination of this important work cease immediately and any copies of the work that have been downloaded please be deleted.” In his statement, Lirot recognized the rights of individuals under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, but also said that unauthorized distribution of the film “will only serve to harm the goal of vast distribution”.
Blog postings have attributed the film’s appearance on the Internet as part of the anti-Scientology movement Project Chanology organized by the Internet-based group Anonymous, but this has not been confirmed. Wikinews previously reported on international protests against Scientology which took place as part of Project Chanology on February 10 and March 15. A third international protest by Anonymous is scheduled for April 12. Titled “Operation Reconnect”, the third international protest will focus on highlighting Scientology’s practice of disconnection.
No Comments
January 20th, 2022 | Uncategorized |
Monday, July 3, 2006
New Jersey —Numerous non-essential state services have ceased operation indefinitely from July 1. These include road work, the New Jersey Lottery, and the Motor Vehicle Commission, with Atlantic City casinos and racetracks (which require state monitoring) and public beaches and parks closing from July 5.
As a result of Article VIII, Section II, paragraph 2 of the New Jersey State Constitution, the state is required to determine all debts for “as far as can be ascertained or reasonably foreseen” and provide for them in a single budget act. As the 2005-2006 Fiscal Year for the state ended with June 31 and the 2006-2007 budget has not passed the state is blocked from expending any money, also by VIII, II, 2. The current ascertainment shows the state ending up in the red by 4.5 billion USD.
The main cause of the problem is a furious deadlock between the Democratic majority is the New Jersey General Assembly, the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature, which is given the power of starting the budget, and the Democratic Governor of New Jersey Jon Corzine. The main concern is Corzine’s plan to raise taxes, such as the sales tax. The Assembly majority dislikes this and some in the New Jersey Senate, which has the power to block the budget, also disagree with his measure.
Originally the racetracks were to close with the state lottery, however a court order has kept them running past the 4th. The casinos attempted to get a similar exemption, but that was definitively rejected by the New Jersey Supreme Court. “Critical” services like the New Jersey State Police, the state’s prisons, and hospitals will continue to operate without funding. All non-essential employees of the state were given leave from July 1 on.
All 12 casinos in Atlantic City locked their doors for the first time in the 28-year history of legalized gambling in New Jersey. Casino inspectors, who are state employees, are no longer working. While the casino floor is shut down, many casinos have remained open for hotel, restaurant, and entertainment business.
Members of both houses of the Legislature have been kept in the capital, Trenton, to help a speedy passage.
A similar situation occurred in Minnesota exactly one year ago as the Legislature failed to pass the budget before they were forced to adjourn by a hard-wired date in the state constitution.
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January 19th, 2022 | Uncategorized |
Saturday, July 16, 2005
A General in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and dean at the National Defense University in China commented to visiting Hong Kong reporters on Friday that the PLA might use nuclear weapons against the U.S., in a conflict over the Taiwan Strait. “If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition onto the target zone on China’s territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons,” Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu said to the reporters of the Asian Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. “We Chinese will prepare ourselves for the destruction of all of the cities east of Xian [in central China]. Of course the Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds … of cities will be destroyed by the Chinese.”
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack called the remarks “highly irresponsible” and “unfortunate”, and expressed the hope that they did not reflect the views of the Chinese government.
Echoing the official Xinhua News Agency, the People’s Republic of China’s Foreign Ministry officials said that Zhu was expressing personal views, and had warned the reporters accordingly, but stated that China would never tolerate “Taiwan independence”. Reportedly, Maj. Gen. Zhu is not directly involved in the formulation of Chinese military strategy.
The U.S. may defend Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act and is currently Taiwan’s largest arms supplier.
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Submitted by: Carl Marker
The aim of Ux design services is to improve communication. However, there is no widely accepted definition of Ux designs, but its importance is accepted wholeheartedly.
The idea behind Ux design is to make websites attractive and the whole experience delightful. The practice to create rich and interactive experience is known as Ux design, which will always be important because it defines how customers will perceive your products. But before you get overwhelmed about the tech conversations with your web designer read this article to find out whats the best way to get good Ux for your products.
What does Ux design actually do?
The easy to use Ux design actually gives value to a website. Designers and developers spare no effort to make the users answer yes to each product; this is why Ux design is considered to be the most advanced human computer intervention. To understand what it actually does, take a look at the below-mentioned examples:
For a food ordering website, a good Ux design depicts how a pizza looks, feels, smells or tastes like.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu09_HrYywM[/youtube]
For a lifestyle store, a product with a good Ux would generate positive emotions among users who eventually order it for their birthday, anniversary or any other occasion.
A good Ux design makes sure that the checkout process is easy and pleasant for new users.
When designers and developers delve deep into the product, the website layout and its navigation become the essential elements of Ux. With the Ux approach to take user in the account, this method helps in leaving the user pleased and adding more value to the website.
How is it different from UI design?
Ux stands for user experience design, and UI refers to user interface design. Both are user-oriented approaches and should be implemented in a close relation to each other. However, both have their different roles in the website design.
UI is all about graphics and beauty; Ux is more about technicality. Both are essential for success; you cant ignore either one of them.
Why is it important for startups and small businesses?
These days progressively complex website designs are widely favored. Thereby, to adapt the next generation technology and methodologies whilst keeping things simple for users, give importance to Ux designs. Hiring an Online Brand Reputation Management expert wont do the trick to grow faster if you havent done anything to make your users feel delighted and contended. To ensure that your users are happy, keep monitoring your brand reputation and at the same time apply Ux approach to achieve the goal quickly.
1. Ux design methods compel the analysis and optimization of customers experience. Thus a business gets to know what do they want from the products?
2. Ux designers target the enhanced performance of digital products. Thus they are involved in competitor analysis which is again useful for small businesses or startup firms.
3. On the basis of the research and analysis, a product strategy is being made to delight the customers. Thus, the multifaceted approach helps to achieve beneficial conversions.
The aim of Ux Design Services is to bridge the gap between the needs and expectations of a user and the goals of business. The complex series of prototyping, planning, testing and implementation ensures that there is a quality interaction between the business and the customer.
Ux design can be implemented for a website, a web application or desktop software. In short, the Ux design makes sure that we feel good when we interface with any kind of digital system.
About the Author: Bindu Mishra Dubey is working with a leading digital marketing agency in Mumbai. The writer has flair for writing and she keeps on writing various articles and blogs related to the industry. She wrote this article to educate her readers about “Ux Design Services are the Best Bet to Enhance User Satisfaction”. If you want to know more about a Digital Agency in Mumbai, feel free to click on link:
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