Text | SilverScorpio.Com

1,300-year-old Maya text indicates ‘end date’ of world

July 2, 2012 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, June 29 (ANI): Archaeologists have discovered a 1,300-year-old Maya text that provides only the second known reference to the so-called “end date” of the Maya calendar, December 21, 2012.

The discovery made while working at the site o

f La Corona in Guatemala is one of the most significant hieroglyphic finds in decades and it was announced at the National Palace in Guatemala.

“This text talks about ancient political history rather than prophecy,” said Marcello A. Canuto, director of Tulane’s Middle American Research Institute and co-director of the excavations at La Corona.

Since 2008, Canuto and Tomas Barrientos of the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala have directed excavations at La Corona, a site previously ravaged by looters.

“Last year, we realized that looters of a particular building had discarded some carved stones because they were too eroded to sell on the antiquities black market, so we knew they found something important, but we also thought they might have missed something,” said Barrientos.

What Canuto and Barrientos found was the longest text ever discovered in Guatemala. Carved on staircase steps, it records 200 years of La Corona history, according to David Stuart, director of the Mesoamerica Center at The University of Texas at Austin, who was part of a 1997 expedition that first explored the site.

While deciphering these new finds in May, Stuart recognized the 2012 reference on a stairway block bearing 56 delicately carved hieroglyphs. It commemorated a royal visit to La Corona in AD 696 by the most powerful Maya ruler of that time, Yuknoom Yich’aak K’ahk’ of Calakmul, only a few months after his defeat by long-standing rival Tikal in AD 695.

Thought by scholars to have been killed in this battle, this ruler was visiting allies and allaying their fears after his defeat.

“This was a time of great political turmoil in the Maya region and this king felt compelled to allude to a larger cycle of time that happens to end in 2012,” said Stuart.

So, rather than prophesy, the 2012 reference places this king’s troubled reign and accomplishments into a larger cosmological framework.

“In times of crisis, the ancient Maya used their calendar to promote continuity and stability rather than predict apocalypse,” said Canuto. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: December 21 2012, defeat, history, maya region, site, text, tomas barrientos, universidad del valle de guatemala

Tibetans-in-exile at Leh react strongly to Chinese incursion

September 15, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Leh, Sep 15 (ANI): Members of the exiled Tibetan community at Leh reacted strongly to the recent Chinese trespass into India’s border areas in Ladakh region.

Such concern was expressed by functionaries of Tibetan fora based at Leh on Monday.

Warning India of Chinese designs, Kunzang Dechen, President of Regional Tibetan Youth Congress, Leh, termed China as the biggest threat to India.

“China these days is a great threat to India. I have seen through channels…that the Chinese are entering to the border but when Tibet is an independent nation, when Tibet is in between them, China has nothing to bother even. From Indian point of view, this must be settled through Tibet and not through China,” Deche added.

Sonam Gyatso, President of Tibetan Market Welfare Association, Leh, said that if the recent developments in Ladakh are ignored by the government of India, then Ladakh would also meet the same fate as Tibet.

“The one and half kilometres incursion by the Chinese troops in Ladakh…. written at the border area in Chinese ‘Republic of China’, all these will have a bad impact on Ladakh. In Pangong Lake, first they said 45 kilometres is under China and 45 kilometres is under India, which they (Chinese) have extended to 50 kilometres and if Ladakhi government and the authorities ignore this issue then whatever happened in Tibet, the same would happen in Ladakh also since Ladakh is a very isolated region,” Gyatso added.

Officials sources have said that Chinese troops entered nearly 1.5 kilometres into the Indian territory near Mount Gya, which is recognised as the international border by India and China, and painted the word ‘China’ in Cantonese on the boulders and rocks there with red spray paint. The incursions were reported from the area generally referred in the Chumar sector in east of Leh.

The 22,420 ft Mount Gya, also known as “fair princess of snow” by the Army is located at the tri-junction of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir, Spiti in Himachal Pradesh, and Tibet. Its boundary was marked during the British era and is regarded as International border by the two countries.

The border patrol discovered the red paint markings on various rocks and boulders along the Zulung La (pass) on July 31 and the Chinese had entered into the area and written “China” all over the place, the sources said.

Indian soldiers later erased the text, writing ‘India’ instead.

This is not the first such reported intrusion. On June 21 Chinese helicopters had violated the Indian air space along the Line of Actual Control in Chumar region. The Chinese troops also reportedly dropped expired tinned food packets in the area. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: air, ANI, area, army, association, border, border area, border areas, boundary, Cantonese, China, Chinese, Chinese Designs, Chinese Republic, chinese troops, Chumar, community, concern, Congress, control, Deche, Dechen, era, fate, food, fora, Government, government of india, gya, Gyatso, half, himachal, impact, incursion, Independent Nation, India, india china, indian territory, international, international border, intrusion, issue, jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, July, June, Kashmir, Kunzang, ladakh, Ladakhi, lake, Leh, line, market, Monday, Mount Gya, nation, nothing, paint, Pangong, Pangong Lake, Patrol, place, point, pradesh, president, princess, region, regional, republic, republic of china, sector, Sep, snow, Sonam, space, Spiti, spray, spray paint, territory, text, threat, tibet, Tibetan, tibetan community, Tibetan Market, tibetan youth congress, Tibetans-in-exile, trespass, view, warning, welfare, welfare association, word, youth, Zulung

Cabinet approves recognition of ancient Sowa-Rigpa medical system

September 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Sep 10 (ANI): The Union Cabinet today approved the Indian Medicine Central Council (Amendment) Bill, 2009 for amending the Indian Medicine Central Council Act, 1970.

“Sowa-Rigpa” commonly known as ‘Amchi’ is one of the oldest surviving system of medicine in the world, popular in the Himalayan region of India. In India this system is practiced in Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Darjeeling (West Bengal), Lahoul and Spiti (Himachal Pradesh) and Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir.

The theory and practices of “Sowa-Rigpa” are similar to Ayurveda, and also include few principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The fundamental text book rgyud-bzi of “Sowa-Rigpa” is believed to have been taught by Buddha himself and is closely linked with Buddhist philosophy. he Government of India has received representations from various quarters to grant recognition to the System of “Sowa-Rigpa” to enable it get a legal status.

To confer legal status to “Sowa-Rigpa” amendments to section 2,3,8,9 and 17 of the Indian Medicine Central Council Act 1970, need to be carried out.

The proposed amendments shall give effect to the inclusion of “Sowa-Rigpa” under sections 2,3,8,9 and 17 of the Indian Medicine Central Council Act, 1970 thereby recognizing this system legally.

It is expected that the legal recognition of “Sowa-Rigpa” will lead to the protection and preservation of this ancient system of medicine and will help in its propagation and development. This will also open new vistas leading to collaborative research and scientific validation of the “Sowa-Rigpa” system, besides conservation and protection of the medicinal plants/minerals used in the system.

The recognition of “Sowa-Rigpa” will also lead to the setting up of a mechanism to regulate the education and practice of “Sowa-Rigpa”. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: act, Amchi, Amendment, ANI, arunachal, arunachal pradesh, ayurveda, bill, book, buddha, buddhist, Buddhist Philosophy, Bzi, cabinet, central, Chinese, chinese medicine, conservation, Council, darjeeling, Development, Education, Education And Practice, effect, Fundamental Text, Government, government of india, himachal, Himachal Pradesh, Himalayan, himalayan region, inclusion, India, Indian, Indian Medicine, jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, Kashmir, ladakh, Lahoul, Lahoul And Spiti, mechanism, Medicinal, medicinal plants, medicine, New Delhi, New Vistas, philosophy, practice, pradesh, preservation, Principles Of Traditional Chinese Medicine, propagation, proposed amendments, protection, recognition, region, Research, Rigpa, section, Sep, Sikkim, Sowa, Spiti, status, system, text, theory, today, traditional, Traditional Chinese Medicine, union, union cabinet, validation, west bengal, world

Mobiles, computers making UK teens ‘dumb’

September 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, September 10 (ANI): Teenagers’ obsession with mobile phones and computers is taking a toll on their education, suggests a new research.

Andrew Kakabadse, professor of international management development, Cranfield School of Management, found that almost 60 per cent of teenagers were submitting coursework downloaded from the web without reading, rewriting, or understanding it.

The survey also found that the students’ addiction to text messaging was also affecting the standard of English, reports Times Online.

Three in ten respondents used text-message abbreviations, such as l8 (late) or RU (are you) in their coursework, with more than half of the 260 pupils saying they were either quite or very addicted to their mobile phone.

Kakabadse said the study “showed that technology obsession hinders spelling skills, implicitly encourages plagiarism and disrupts classroom learning”.

He added: “Despite school policies restricting mobile phone usage, students use the phone frequently with the majority making calls from the toilets.” (ANI)

Filed Under: Entertainment News Tagged With: addiction, Andrew Kakabadse, ANI, cent, classroom, coursework, Cranfield, Cranfield School Of Management, Development, Education, english, half, International Management, London, majority, management, Management Development, mobile phone usage, Mobile Phones, Mobiles, obsession, Online, Phone, plagiarism, professor, pupils, reading, Research, respondents, school, school of management, School Policies, September, Spelling Skills, standard, study, survey, survey also found that, Technology, teenagers, text, Text Message Abbreviations, text messaging, times, toilets, toll, U.K, uk teens, understanding, usage, web

Pak Telecom authority denies planning to snoop on all phone calls, e-mails, sms’

September 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Islamabad, Sep.9 (ANI): The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has rejected reports regarding it forming a regulation committee to monitor telecom traffic including phones calls, e-mails and text messages, The Daily Times reports.

Commenting on the reports regarding the PTA’s plans of having a monitoring cell to keep tab of all telecommunication traffic, a PTA spokesperson said monitoring cyber and telecom traffic does not come under the authority’s mandate.

The spokesperson, however, said the PTA has installed latest filters to check illegal telecommunication traffic coming into the country.

Earlier, it was reported that the PTA has drafted a plan to monitor all telecommunication traffic, including landlines, mobile services and emails.

It was also reported that the PTA has already prepared a code of conduct for monitoring. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: ANI, authority, cell, code, code of conduct, committee, conduct, country, cyber, daily, Islamabad, mandate, mobile services, monitoring, Pak, Pakistan, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, Phone, Phone Calls, plan, planning, PTA, regulation, Regulation Committee, Sep, sms, Snoop, spokesperson, tab, telecom, Telecom Authority, Telecom Traffic, telecommunication, text, text messages, times, traffic

Ancient Indus Valley script communicated language, determines computer modeling

September 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 2 (ANI): A team of mathematicians and scientists has rejected claims that the Indus Valley people were functionally illiterate, by employing computer modeling to prove that the Harappan script communicated language.

In 2004, perhaps out of befuddlement and frustration, a group of scholars declared that the ancient Indus Valley script marked only rudimentary pictograms and that the people during the Harappan period were functionally illiterate.

According to a report in the TIME, that hypothesis, which caused a minor uproar in the world of Indus Valley researchers, was recently rejected by a team of mathematicians and computer scientists assembled from institutions in the US and India.

They employed computer modeling to prove that the Harappan script communicated language, and has reinvigorated attempts to crack what is one of the lingering puzzles of ancient history.

The group examined hundreds of Harappan texts and tested their structure against other known languages using a computer program.

Every language, the scientists suggest, possesses what is known as “conditional entropy”: the degree of randomness in a given sequence.

In English, for example, the letter t can be found preceding a large variety of other letters, but instances of tx and tz are far more infrequent than th and ta.

“A written language comes about through this mix of built-in rules and flexible variables,” said Mayank Vahia, an astrophysicist at the Tata Institute for Fundamental Research in Mumbai who worked on the study.

Quantifying this principle through computer probability tests, the scientists determined that the Harappan script had a similar measure of conditional entropy to other writing systems, including English, Sanskrit and Sumerian.

If it mathematically looked and acted like writing, they concluded, then surely it is writing.

But this is just a first step. Vahia and his colleagues hope to piece together a solid grammar from the sea of impenetrable Indus signs.

Their August research paper charted the likelihood of certain characters appearing in parts of a text – for example, a fish sign appeared most frequently in the middle of a sequence and a U-shaped jar sign toward the end.

Bit by bit, the structure of the script is coming into view.

“We want to find the bedrock against which all further interpretation of the language should be checked,” said Vahia.

Down the road, he imagines he could write in “flawless Harappan” – even though he may have no idea what the assembled sequences would mean. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: ancient, ancient history, Ancient Indus Valley, ANI, astrophysicist, August, bedrock, befuddlement, bit, Computer, Computer Modeling, computer program, computer scientists, conditional entropy, degree, end, english, entropy, example, fish, frustration, fundamental, fundamental research, grammar, group, Harappan, harappan period, harappan script, history, idea, India, indus valley, Indus Valley Script, institute, interpretation, jar, language, letter, likelihood, Mathematicians, mayank, measure, middle, mix, modeling, Mumbai, paper, period, pictograms, principle, probability, program, Quantifying, randomness, report, Research, road, sanskrit, script, sea, September, sequence, sign, step, structure, study, Sumerian, TATA, tata institute, team, text, time, uproar, US, Vahia, variety, view, Washington, world, writing, writing systems

Chennai artist writes 550 letters on a single rice grain

September 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Chennai, Sep 1 (ANI): Unlike other artists who use big canvases to portray their work of art, Mani, a Chennai based uses a single rice grain and a mustard seed to write as many as 550 miniature alphabets.

He claims to have written 550 miniature letters on a single rice grain, three chapters of a Tamil poem named ‘Thirukkural’ on a mustard seed.

“I have written 550 letters on a single rice grain and three chapters of ‘Thirukkural’ on a mustard seed till now. I want to write 350 letters on a single strand of hair of one inch. Yet I would like to write all the 133 chapters of ‘Thirukkural’ on an inch of hair and one ‘Thirukkural’ chapter on each mustard, which will be completed in a year’s time. I have planned to enter into the Guinness book of world records by writing about the life history of former president A P J Abdul Kalam,” he said.

Mani believes that one has to struggle in life to be successful and admits that it took lot of time for him to write 550 letters on a rice grain and lines from the ‘Thirukkural’ on one mustard seed.

In future, Mani wishes to write national songs of hundred countries and the text of the Bhagwat Gita, the Quran and the Holy Bible on a strand of hair. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: A P J Abdul, abdul kalam, ANI, art, artist, bhagwat, Bhagwat Gita, Bible, book, book of world records, canvases, chapter, Chapters, Chennai, former president, Gita, grain, Guinness, guinness book of world, guinness book of world records, hair, history, holy, holy bible, inch, kalam, life, Life History, lot, Mani, mustard, mustard seed, National Songs, poem, president, Quran, Rice, Rice Grain, seed, Sep, strand, tamil, Tamil Poem, text, the, Thirukkural, time, work, work of art, world, year

‘Twittering’, ‘hmm’, and ‘heh’ make it to Collins English Dictionary

September 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Aug 31 (ANI): ‘Twittering’, ‘hmm’, and ‘heh’ are among the 267 words that have been added to this year’s Collins English Dictionary, all thanks to teenagers who use such words on social networking websites.

With teenagers increasingly using these grunts and sighs in words on Twitter and other such websites, the need to find spellings for sounds that were traditionally used only in speech has also spawned “meh” (an expression of dissatisfaction) and “mwah” (the sound of a noisy kiss).

Users of social networking sites may also be responsible for the resurgence of “heigh-ho” or “hey-ho” – an exclamation of weariness, disappointment, surprise or happiness – that went out of fashion in the early 20th century.

In fact, Twitter-the microblogging site that allows people to communicate in messages of 140 characters or less-has also been accepted as a verb by the dictionary to describe the act of using Twitter.

Other internet-derived terms include “noob” (short for newbie, a term for someone unfamiliar with web etiquette) and “woot” (an expression of joy conveying a sense of achievement).

New abbreviations used for convenience in text messages such as “OMG” (short for “oh, my God”) “soz” (short for sorry) and wtf (short for “what the f***?”) are also included in the dictionary.

Some new words in the dictionary could make many traditionalists cringe in their seats-new portmanteau words purporting to describe a new trend include “staycation” (a combination of stay and vacation, meaning to take a holiday without going abroad) and “glamping” (glamorous camping).

“Buzzkillers” (someone who stops other people from enjoying themselves), and “beer o’clock” (a time considered appropriate to start drinking) may also take many traditionalists by surprise.

“English is very good at absorbing new words. [But] in three or four years a lot of these words may have fallen out of use and might well come out of the dictionary,” Times Online quoted Elaine Higgleton, the Editorial Director for Collins, as saying. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: achievement, act, ANI, are, Aug, beer, Buzzkillers, century, Collins, Collins Dictionary, collins english dictionary, combination, convenience, cringe, dictionary, Dictionary Online, Dictionary Words, director, disappointment, dissatisfaction, drinking, editorial, Elaine Higgleton, english, etiquette, exclamation, expression, Expression Of Joy, fact, fashion, god, Grunts, happiness, Heh, Hmm, holiday, joy, London, lot, make, meh, mwah, need, networking, New, new trend, newbie, noisy, noob, o clock, OMG, Online, portmanteau, Portmanteau Words, resurgence, S Collins, sense, site, social networking sites, social networking websites, someone, sound, soz, speech, Spellings, stay, staycation, surprise, term, text, text messages, time, times, Traditionalists, trend, twitter, Twitter-the, Twittering, use, vacation, verb, weariness, web, Web Etiquette, Woot, wtf, year

Ancient Indus Valley script might soon be decoded by computer program

August 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Sydney, August 29 (ANI): A recent research has determined that an ancient, indecipherable text from the Indus Valley civilization is being decoded with the help of a computer program.

According to a report by ABC News, though it has yet to decrypt this mysterious language, the program may help to decipher other ancient texts whose meanings have been long since forgotten.

“The computer program operates on sequences of symbols, so it can be used to learn a statistical model of any set of unknown or known texts,” said Rajesh Rao, University of Washington professor of computer science and co-author of the research paper.

“In fact, such statistical models have been used to analyze a wide variety of sequences ranging from DNA and speech to economic data,” he added.

Roughly 5,000 seals, tablets and amulets, filled with about 500 different symbols, were created somewhere between 2600 and 1900 B.C. by a people living in the Indus River Valley.

Despite numerous attempts to decipher the symbols, a full translation has long eluded scientists.

In fact, one recent paper even cast doubt on whether the Indus Valley script was even a written text at all, but rather political or religious symbols.

To start the search for what meaning the text might hold, American and Indian scientists input the symbols into a computer program and ran a statistical analysis of the symbols and where they appear in the texts.

With that information, the program can do many things including creating new, hypothetical Indus Valley texts, fill in missing symbols in existing texts, and tell the scientist if a particular text has been generated by their computer model.

“We used the latter to show that the Indus texts that have been discovered in West Asia are statistically very different from the texts found in the Indus Valley, suggesting that the Indus people used their script to represent different content or language when living in a foreign land,” said Rao.

For now, however, the Indus Valley script, along with many other ancient texts, remains indecipherable, but scientists are hopeful that computers will eventually decode the symbols on them.

“I am however optimistic that given a few more years, we may be able to at least narrow down the language family of the script by using computer analysis to gain an in-depth understanding of the underlying grammar,” said Rao. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: abc, Abc News, American, amulets, Analysis, ancient, Ancient Indus Valley, ancient texts, ANI, August, bc, cast, civilization, co-author, Computer, computer model, computer program, content, decipher, decode, decrypt, dna, doubt, Economic Data, fact, family, grammar, help, Indecipherable Text, Indian Scientists, indus civilization, indus river, Indus River Valley, indus valley, indus valley civilization, Indus Valley Script, information, input, land, language, latter, model, Mysterious Language, NEWS, paper, professor, program, rajesh, rao, religious symbols, report, Research, Science, scientist, script, search, set, speech, statistical model, statistical models, sydney, text, Translation, understanding, University, variety, Washington, washington professor, west asia

Dr A Q Khan clarifies

August 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Islamabad, Aug.28 (ANI): Pakistan’s former chief nuclear scientist A Q Khan has given a clarification to the recent spate of reactions to his article on the importance of computer technology.

The News quotes him as saying: “The acknowledgement as to the source was put at the end of Part II because it was originally written as one long article. Had Mr Dogar, who initiated this controversy, waited for the second part (Part I clearly said “To be continued”), all this would have been avoided.”

“However, I would like to point out that a newspaper article is not the same as a research paper in a reputed magazine, which does, indeed, require full referencing. Since I had been receiving numerous requests from students to write on this topic I used notes I had made about seven years ago from various well-known university syllabuses, not even remembering which notes were from which university.”

“I did not go online to any source. Obviously the syllabuses have not changed much in all these years! I purposely left the text in the same simple-to-understand original language because it was meant for students and laymen, not professionals. A university brochure is neither someone’s personal intellectual property, nor does it require referencing,” Khan says further.

“My friend and former colleague, Engineer Nasim Khan, provided information on various related American websites with comments-what is wrong with that? Those who insinuated negatively about his professional capabilities are ignorant and disparate,” he concludes. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: acknowledgement, American Websites, ANI, Article, Aug, brochure, clarification, colleague, Computer, controversy, Dogar, Dr. A Q Khan, end, engineer, friend, ignorant, importance, Importance Of Computer, Importance Of Computer Technology, information, Islamabad, language, laymen, magazine, Mr Dogar, Nasim, NEWS, newspaper, Newspaper Article, nuclear scientist, Online, Pakistan, paper, part, Professional Capabilities, property, Q Khan, Research, research paper, scientist, seven years, someone, source, spate, Technology, text, topic, University, University Brochure

SMS text messages can be used as evidence for divorce in France

August 25, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Aug. 25 (ANI): In a new legal development in France, SMS text messages revealing adultery can be used as evidence for divorce.

The Supreme Court of the country has ruled the decision claiming that it will make the divorce procedure smoother.

The step out rules a 2007 declaration by a lower court that using phone exchanges in court was a breach of privacy, reports the Telegraph.

To date, the time taken for legal separation of couples is generally long in France.

People had to wait for years to get out of a marriage if they could not prove that their partner was misbehaving or mistreating them.

Also, the law says that if the spouses fail to agree to separate by mutual consent, those seeking a divorce have to prove that the spouse is cheating or abusing or mistreating him or her.

And in case the judge is not convinced, a divorce will be pronounced only after two years of living separately.

In fact until 2004, French law required couples to wait six years for decision. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: adultery, ANI, Aug, breach, case, consent, country, couples, Court, date, decision, declaration, Development, divorce, Divorce Court, Divorce In France, Divorce Procedure, evidence, fact, France, France People, French Law, judge, law, legal separation, London, marriage, mutual consent, New France, partner, Phone, Phone Exchanges, privacy, procedure, separation, six years, sms, Sms Messages, Sms Text Messages, spouse, step, supreme, Supreme Court, Telegraph, text, time

Three-quarters of Brits surf Internet in the loo

August 25, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Aug 24 (ANI): A survey has revealed that Brits are so much into surfing the Internet that three-quarters of them even do it while they are sitting in the loo.

While newspapers and magazines are traditionally associated with an extended toilet session, modern-day trips to empty bowels appear to have taken on a digital nature, reports the Scotsman.

More than a third (34 per cent) of those polled said that they had sent a text message while on the loo.

The research also revealed that some respondents pass their time in bathroom visits thinking about their next meal (14 per cent) or even eating or drinking (6 per cent).

Even though 18 percent of them admitted that they suffered from cramps or pins and needles, nearly two-thirds were unaware that sitting on the loo for too long could cause haemorrhoids.

The survey of more than 2,000 Britons was carried out by Yakult to mark the launch of Gut Week, which aims to raise awareness of digestive disorders. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: ANI, Aug, awareness, bathroom, bathroom visits, bowels, britons, brits, cent, cramps, Day Trips, Digestive Disorders, Digital Nature, gut, Gut Week, internet, launch, London, loo, magazines, meal, message, Nature, newspapers, percent, Pins And Needles, Research, respondents, scotsman, session, surf, Surf Internet, survey, text, text message, three quarters, time, toilet, two thirds, week, Yakult

Web tool to ensure “free and fair” elections in Afghanistan

August 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, August 20 (ANI): Thanks to a web tool, citizens of Afghanistan would be able to record incidents of rigging in the country’s electoral process by recording the episodes via text messages.

The second democratic presidential election in Afghanistan under the present constitution of the country is scheduled to be held today.

According to a report by BBC News, Afghanistan’s denizens can report disturbances, defamation and vote tampering, or incidents where everything went reportedly well, through the ‘Alive in Afghanistan’ project, which plots the SMS reports on an online map.

Their reports feature alongside those of full-time Afghan journalists to ensure the election and reporting of it is as “free and fair” as possible.

“We hope to enable people to report on what is going on in the country,” explained Brian Conley, who helped set up the project.

“In the rural areas, there are not going to be monitors, and it is questionable how much international media coverage there will be in these areas,” he said.

“Additional text and video reports will be added by a network of 80 reporters from the Afghan Pajhwok news agency,” he added.

Conley said that he hoped the results would be used by national and international media along with members of the international community.

In addition, they may also be sent to the Electoral Commission if there are reports of tampering or rigging, he said.

The system relies on two established open-source technologies to gather the election reports.

The text messages are collected via a free-platform known as FrontlineSMS, developed by UK programmer Ken Banks.

The system was originally developed for conservationists to keep in touch with communities in national parks in South Africa and allows users to send messages to a central hub.

It has previously been used to monitor elections in Nigeria, and has now been combined with a “crowd-sourced, crisis-mapping” tool known as Ushahidi, which plots the reports on a freely accessible map.

The system was developed in Kenya when violence erupted following the disputed presidential elections between Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga.

Since then, the platform has also been used to document anti-emigrant violence in South Africa and problems in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Conley hopes “hundreds of thousands of people” will use the system, which has been promoted by distributing “thousands of leaflets” and radio reports.

“I am confident that because of Pajhwok’s support we will see a good amount of content coming in,” he said. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: addition, afghan, Afghanistan, agency, alive, amount, ANI, August, bbc, BBC News, Brian Conley, Central Hub, commission, community, Congo, conservationists, constitution, content, country, coverage, defamation, Democratic Presidential Election, Democratic Republic, denizens, Election, Election In Afghanistan, elections in afghanistan, Elections In Nigeria, electoral, Electoral Process, everything, Free Platform, FrontlineSMS, hub, International Media Coverage, Ken Banks, kenya, kibaki, London, map, Mapping Tool, Mwai, network, NEWS, Nigeria, odinga, Online, Online Map, Open Source Technologies, Pajhwok, Pajhwok News, platform, process, Programmer, project, radio, Raila, report, reporting, sms, Sms Reports, South Africa, support, system, text, the, today, tool, touch, U.K, Ushahidi, video, Violence, vote, Vote Tampering, web, Web Tool

Oz ‘Fanatics’ claim responsibility for fire prank on English team

August 9, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Leeds (UK), Aug.9 (ANI): Australian cricket fans have claimed responsibility for a hotel fire alarm that roused the England team from their beds the morning of their batting collapse on the first day of the fourth Ashes Test at Headingley.

The Fanatics – Australian supporters who follow the Test team around the world – claim they set off the fire alarm at the Radisson Hotel in Leeds about 4.30 a.m. on Friday.

England’s Test team was evacuated with other guests and staff while two fire engines from West Yorkshire Fire Service searched the premises for the source of the alarm.

Players were left standing in the street in their pyjamas for more than 20 minutes until the all clear was given for them to return to their beds.

Warren Livingston, head of the Fanatics, told The Sunday Mail one of the 100-strong group had managed to set the alarm off with the intention of disrupting the English team’s sleep, saying it was “good old fashioned Aussie high jinks”.

“Yes it was one of our guys who did it as a bit of a prank. I got a text message after it happened. At first, I thought, ‘good onya’, we’re just doing our bit for Australia,” news.com.au quoted Livingston, as saying.

“But I can’t condone this sort of thing. I don’t want any trouble. We’ve all had a big laugh and it might have made a difference to the way they batted,” he added.

If the claim is found to be true, English cricket fans and authorities will not view the situation with any humor.

Earlier, British media reports said the alarm may have been set off by a guest who had rinsed her underwear in a bathroom sink and then left it close to a light bulb to dry.

When the underwear started to smoulder, the woman was reported to have thrown it back in the sink, but not before the room had filled with smoke and the fire alarm went off.

England’s wicket-keeper Matt Prior blamed the incident for his team’s batting collapse in the first innings of the Test. (ANI)

Filed Under: Sports News Tagged With: alarm, ANI, ashes, Aug, aussie, Australia, Australia news, Australian cricket, Australian Supporters, bathroom, Bathroom Sink, batting, bit, bulb, claim, collapse, com, Cricket, cricket fans, day, difference, Doing Our Bit, England, england team, english, english cricket, fanatics, fire, fire alarm, fire engines, fourth ashes test, Friday, group, guest, head, headingley, High Jinks, hotel, Hotel Fire, humor, incident, innings, intention, laugh, Leeds, leeds uk, mail, matt, message, morning, NEWS, news com au, onya, Oz, prank, pyjamas, Radisson, responsibility, room, service, sink, situation, sleep, smoke, smoulder, sort, source, staff, street, sunday, sunday mail, team, test, test team, text, thing, trouble, U.K, underwear, Warren Livingston, way, west, West Yorkshire Fire Service, wicket keeper, woman, world, yorkshire

Now, a ‘smart house’ that texts you if you’ve left the front door open

July 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, July 14 (ANI): Think about a “smart house” that automatically turns the lights and cooling systems off and on as per our needs, and even texts us if we have left the front door open.

Well, this could soon be a reality, thanks to University of Hertfordshire researchers’ latest innovation- InterHome.

The researchers have designed a doll’s house on similar lines to test and demonstrate how much greener and secure our homes could be if they incorporated intelligent technologies that adapt to our daily routine.

The house is fitted with a network of infrared sensors connected to a central computer.

Johann Siau, the project’s coordinator, says that the software algorithms work out which rooms we tend to occupy at different times, and, accordingly, learn when we need the lights, heating or air conditioning systems turned on and when we don’t.

His tests have indicated that such technology could cut carbon emissions, and slash energy bills by an estimated 300 pounds per year, on average.

In fact, InterHome could also boost home security-by connecting door and window lock sensors to the computer, it can send a text message to the homeowner if they have forgotten to lock the front door, for instance.

Texting back will lock any doors or windows in question.

The “smart house” was unveiled in Cairo last week at the finals of the Microsoft Imagine Cup – a competition for technologies designed to solve global problems. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: air, Air Conditioning Systems, ANI, average, Cairo, carbon, carbon emissions, central computer, competition, Computer, conditioning, Cooling Systems, coordinator, cup, Daily Routine, different times, doll, door, doors, energy, energy bills, fact, global problems, heating, hertfordshire, home, Home Security, homeowner, house, infrared sensors, innovation, instance, Intelligent Technologies, InterHome, Johann Siau, July, July 14, lock, London, message, microsoft, network, project, question, reality, Reality Thanks, routine, Siau, software, Technology, text, text message, texting, texts, University, week, window, year

Pak Govt. launches crackdown against text, email propaganda

July 13, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Islamabad, July 13 (ANI): The Pakistan Government has launched a crackdown against those involved in spreading “propaganda” against senior government officials through emails and text messages.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Sunday announced that the new government campaign aims at limiting the growing number of emails and text messages questioning the government, the Daily Times reports.

According to an interior ministry press release, a similar crackdown has been initiated against a banned organisation, which is spreading malicious propaganda against the Pak Army.

The crackdown requires the director general of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to keep a check on propaganda material, and take necessary action. Under the Cyber Crimes Act, violators can be imprisoned for up to 14 years.

The government has also requested Interpol to identify the owners of any email addresses and websites registered abroad that spread such messages. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: act, action, agency, ANI, army, campaign, check, crackdown, crimes, crimes act, cyber, Cyber Crimes, daily, director, email, email addresses, emails, federal, federal investigation, FIA, general, Government, government campaign, government officials, govt, interior, interior minister, Interior Ministry, Interpol, investigation, investigation agency, Islamabad, July, malik, material, Minister Rehman, ministry, number, organisation, Pak, pak army, pak govt, Pakistan, Pakistan government, press, press release, propaganda, propaganda material, rehman malik, release, spread, sunday, text, text messages, times, Violators

Tweed ‘charmed model into bed’ just weeks after burying Goody

July 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, July 12 (ANI): Jack Tweed charmed a glamour model into bed, apparently just weeks after burying his wife Jade Goody.

And he went on to try his luck with the girl’s Page 3 flatmate.

Lisa O’Connor revealed how Tweed, kept sending her text messages, such as “U WANT RUMP?” and “R U GOING 2 DO IT?” while pursuing her for weeks.

“I didn’t want to sleep with him so soon and told him, but he was really persistent. One thing led to another and he started pulling my clothes off. We got caught up in the heat of the moment and he pushed me onto the bed,” News of the World quoted Lisa as saying.

“For 25 minutes as we had sex Jade didn’t seem to be much in Jack’s thoughts. He never mentioned her ever. He only had one thing on his mind,” she added.

The 21-year-old said just minutes after she gave in, the widower pinched her best friend’s Stevie-Louise Ritchie’s bottom while she was not looking.

Lisa said: “Stevie was stunned. And when I heard about it later I was livid and told him so by message.”

Lisa, who has decided never to go out with Tweed again, added: “That was it. I thought he was a total sleazebag. I regretted ever laying eyes on him. But we all make mistakes.”

Tweed, who lost Goody to cervical cancer in March, said in a recent interview that he was “not interested” in looking for a relationship.e told OK! magazine: “Jade said she’d want me to find someone, but it’s not something that’s crossed my mind. I don’t want a relationship, I haven’t thought about it.”

He joked: “You can sort manly needs out on your own.” (ANI)

Filed Under: Entertainment News Tagged With: ANI, bed, best friend, bottom, cancer, cervical cancer, charmed, clothes, flatmate, friend, Girl, glamour, glamour model, goody, heat, Heat Of The Moment, Interview, jack, Jack Tweed, jade, Jade Goody, July, lisa, Lisa O'Connor, London, Louise Ritchie, luck, magazine, March, message, mind, model, moment, NEWS, news of the world, o connor, ok magazine, one thing, page, R U GOING, relationship, rump, Sex, sleazebag, sleep, someone, something, stevie, text, text messages, thing, U WANT, widower, wife, world

Mitchell Johnson’s mum declares war on his ‘bitchy’ WAG!

July 8, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Melbourne, Jul 8 (ANI): Aussie cricketer Mitchell Johnson’s mum Vikki Harber has lashed out at Cricket Australia for turning its back on parents in favour of flying over “bitchy” girlfriends to the games.

Harber, 45, also said that her once close relationship with her son has deteriorated ever since he started going out with his karate champ girlfriend Jessica Bratich.

“I get a text on Mother’s Day and a text on my birthday,” the Herald Sun quoted her as saying.

“The last time I actually spoke to him was when the beach cricket was here (and) Dennis Lillee told him he had to ring his mother, so Mitchell rang me that day.

“It has been like this since Jess came on the scene.

“Up until he met Jessica we were very close . . . but he hasn’t spent a night under my roof since he met Jessica,” she said.

Harber said that Cricket Australia had never offered her any opportunity to see her son play outside Brisbane.

“For the wives and the children I think it is great that they support them and send them over there, but who are these girlfriends? They are just girlfriends,” she said from Coolangatta.

“Mitch met Jess and since then she has flown off to South Africa, to England and the Bahamas. She gets all these trips, she gets flown there, accommodation, food and all of that,” she stated.

Johnson’s manager Sam Halvosen said that the bowler was aware of his mother’s comments, but did not want to discuss them.

And Kevin Johnson as backed his son, saying that partners on tour were “a good thing”.

“Like Jess said, they’re away for six months of the year so it’s a bit hard for them to be away from each other that whole time,” he added.

Cricket sources said that it was for the players to decide whom to invite on tour. (ANI)

Filed Under: Sports News Tagged With: accommodation, ANI, aussie, Australia, bahamas, beach, birthday, bit, bowler, brisbane, champ, Coolangatta, Cricket, cricketer, day, Dennis Lillee, England, favour, food, girlfriend, Halvosen, Harber, herald, jess, jessica, jessica bratich, johnson, Jul, Karate, Kevin Johnson, manager, Melbourne, mitch, mitchell, Mitchell Johnson, mother, night, opportunity, play, relationship, roof, sam, scene, son, South Africa, Sun, text, thing, time, tour, Vikki, wag, war, year

Mitchell Johnson’s mum’s rant on cricketers favouring ‘bitchy’ girlfriends