Tag Archives: Irony

‘The U.S. effect’: Researchers encouraged to report exaggerated or eye-catching results

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“Scientists who study human behaviour are more likely than average to report exaggerated or eye-catching results if they are based in the United States, according to an analysis of more than 1,000 research papers in psychiatry and genetics. This bias could be due to the research culture in the US, authors of the analysis said, which tends to preferentially reward scientists for the novelty and immediate impact of a piece of work over the quality or its long-term contribution to the field.  One of the authors said that there was intense competition in the US for research funds and, subsequently, pressure to report novel findings in prestigious, high-impact scientific journals.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/26/the-u-s-effect-researchers-encouraged-to-report-exaggerated-or-eye-catching-results/

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Guantanamo Bay Authorities Ban Solzhenitsyn’s ‘The Gulag Archipelago’

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“The legal team for Shaker Aamer, a British resident who has been detained in Guantanamo without charge or trial for 11 years, attempted to deliver a copy of The Gulag Archipelago by Alexander Solzhenitsyn during a recent visit.  Of course, this isn’t the first time that ‘The Gulag Archipelago’ has had problems with the authorities: when it was completed in 1968, it had to be smuggled out of the Soviet Union on microfilm so that it could be published in the West.”

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130822/09182124281/guantanamo-bay-authorities-ban-solzhenitsyns-gulag-archipelago.shtml

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300-pound fake corrections officer gets 10 years for sneaking into jails

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“Jail fetishist Matthew Matagrano, 36, was sentenced to 10 years in prison today for posing as a correction officer and sneaking into the Manhattan Detention Complex earlier this year. The 300-pound convicted sex offender waddled into Manhattan Supreme Court in a bright orange jumpsuit looking sullen as Judge Ronald Zweibel handed down his punishment for the bizarre July 27th crime. The former counselor for at-risk-youth spent seven hours gleefully strolling through the White Street facility where he strip searched an inmate, stole a $2,500 walkie talkie and handed out cigarettes. It wasn’t a first for the Yonkers prison enthusiast – he’s been accused of sneaking into jails in four boroughs.”

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/pound_detention_offender_complex_aHBgz29D9RL5t8yOyREFvL

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Invasive starfish species threatens Philippines coral reef

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“A coral-killing starfish has begun infesting a channel of water in the Philippines famed for having some of the most diverse marine life in the world. The appearance of the crown-of-thorns starfish in the Verde Island Passage could cause great damage to the area’s biodiversity, Jacob Meimban, head of the wildlife bureau’s coastal marine management office, told AFP. ‘The crown-of-thorns starfish really kills the corals. It eats the polyps of the corals, leaving the bleached, white bodies. Then it moves elsewhere… until it leaves the reef dead,’ Meimban said.  Environmentalists have warned for years that the passage, a popular dive location, is under grave threat from pollution and overfishing.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/31/invasive-starfish-species-threatens-philippines-coral-reef-considered-center-of-biodiversity/

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More than 200 manatees killed in Florida by ‘red tide’ algae

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“Wildlife officials in Florida are facing an especially stiff challenge this year in saving the state’s manatee population from a poisonous brand of algae that has spread around the coast.  CBS News reported on Friday that 207 manatees have died this year after being infected by toxins released by ‘red tide’ algae. The poisonous materials found in the algae attach themselves to the manatees’ food, and can paralyze manatees after digestion, causing them to drown. ‘When you do find them it’s almost too late,’ said Virginia Edmonds, director of a manatee critical care facility at Lowery Park Zoo in Tampa. ‘They’re out there struggling. They’re going to end up drowning.'”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/29/more-than-200-manatees-killed-in-florida-by-red-tide-algae/

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Security-Enhanced Android: NSA Edition

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“Through its open-source Android project, Google has agreed to incorporate code, first developed by the agency in 2011, into future versions of its mobile operating system, which according to market researcher IDC runs on three-quarters of the smartphones shipped globally in the first quarter. NSA officials say their code, known as Security Enhancements for Android, isolates apps to prevent hackers and marketers from gaining access to personal or corporate data stored on a device. Eventually all new phones, tablets, televisions, cars, and other devices that rely on Android will include NSA code, agency spokeswoman Vanee’ Vines said.”

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-07-03/security-enhanced-android-nsa-edition

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Unemployed Spaniards rush to play slaves in Ridley Scott’s ‘Exodus’ film

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“Thousands of Spaniards in the depressed southern region of Andalusia are queueing up to play the role of slaves in film-maker Ridley Scott’s Biblical epic ‘Exodus’, hoping for a way out of unemployment. In a region with unemployment at 35 percent, the prospect of work as an extra with a daily wage of 80 euros ($107) has sparked a rush in Almeria where casting is being held for the story of Moses and the Jewish exodus to the promised land.  Some 10,000 people turned up at a casting call in the city of Almeria, and another 5,000 in the nearby town of Pechina, one of the casting organisers said.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/16/unemployed-spaniards-rush-to-play-slaves-in-ridley-scotts-exodus-film/

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Homeland Security tracks down 400-page diary of Nazi leader and Hitler aide

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“The FBI opened a criminal investigation into the missing documents. No charges were filed in the case. But the Holocaust museum has gone on to recover more than 150,000 documents, including a trove held by Kempner’s former secretary, who by then had moved into the New York state home of an academic named Herbert Richardson.  The Rosenberg diary, however, remained missing.  Early this year, the Holocaust museum and an agent from Homeland Security Investigation tried to locate the missing diary pages. They tracked the diary to Richardson, who was living near Buffalo.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/09/u-s-finds-400-page-diary-of-nazi-leader-and-former-hitler-aide-alfred-rosenberg/

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‘Nut-free’ school zone decision upheld by Michigan Court of Appeals

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“Michigan Court of Appeals panel upheld a decision Tuesday dismissing a lawsuit over a Romeo-area elementary school’s policy creating a nut-free school. The unpublished opinion addresses a lawsuit filed by the parent of a student at Hevel Elementary School challenging the decision of Romeo Community Schools to make the elementary school a nut-free zone because of a student with life-threatening nut allergies. The ban prohibited all peanuts and tree nuts from the building, and school officials periodically searched lunch boxes and backpacks, according to the opinion.”

http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/07/nut-free_elementary_school_dec.html

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Kafka’s America: Secret Courts, Secret Laws, and Total Surveillance

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“A mechanism to protect the American people from unwarranted government surveillance became instead a bureaucratic mechanism to rubber stamp government applications for surveillance.  The Court is structured such that applications for surveillance are rarely ever denied. If a judge were to reject an application, that judge would have to immediately write a report detailing every reason for the rejection, then transmit the report to a 3-person court of review. If that court finds that the application was properly denied, it must also write a report, which is then subject to a writ of certiorari by the Supreme Court. No reviews are necessary if an application is granted.”

https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/kafkas_america_secret_courts_secret_laws_and_total_surveillance

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