| American Idol Buzz
She eventually got her act together to sing Olivia Newton John one more time, with the other gals surrounding her. Despite or because of her emotional state, she did much better than Wednesday. Go figure. Kady Malloy and Amanda Overmyer were threatened but both had enough personality (and in Amanda's case, a good first week) to survive. Among the guys, the first to go was Jason Yeager, who was again one of the pre-top 24 ignored ones. He simply didn't do anything special. We won't remember him in about three hours. And shocking no one, the ex-Britney boyfriend/former boy band/fake rocker dude Robbie Carrico was cut, too. He was simply overshadowed by David Cook, who seems more legit in that arena. Now if only Robbie had pulled off those alleged extensions live on air! That would have made him truly memorable! So I got three out of four right.
Domain Frontrunning: A Ghost In The Machine
ICANN can't find evidence the practice really exists, and the one entity who says he has proof won't provide that proof. It's not like enacting policies against ghosts, exactly. You don't need proof of the existence of frontrunning to enact a policy against it. But in this case, proof might have helped Network Solutions not look so bad. Last month, NetSol came under fire for automatically registering domains that customers had searched for on their site and then jacking up the price of the domains for a four-day period. NetSol defended the practice as protection against frontrunning, which is the practice of registering a domain someone is searching for and then jacking up the price. At least NetSol's protection fee was a set price, $34.99 for four days worth of protection, just until they could return the domain within ICANN's grace period.
Our view: Minnesota's smoking ban needs to be reviewed
Matt Benjamin, the Cambridge lawyer and nonsmoker credited with finding a dramatic loophole in the state's smoking ban. OK, Benjamin probably should get a Tony, not an Oscar. After all, his dramatic loophole is just that; it allows smoking in bars by having the bars hold a feigned "theatrical production." As one of the exceptions in the Freedom to Breathe Act implemented in October, smoking is allowed in public places as long as it's part of a theatrical production. Thus Benjamin suggested earlier this month that bars offer "theater nights" in which all patrons are given a script and considered actors in the production. Several bars statewide have taken his suggestion; some reportedly because they are experiencing hard times in the wake of the ban. We applaud Benjamin's creativity.
Black Smokers: Extraterrestrial Life on Earth!
At the bottom of the oceans, the lowest level of the ocean waters, submarine volcanoes are found. They erupt periodically, but also phenomena similar to others that accompany terrestrial volcanoes, such as submarine geysers, can be found and are called hydrothermal vents (hot vents) or black smokers. The submarine vents, linked to the submarine volcanic activity, trigger an unusual life abundance on the bottom of the ocean, at depths of 800-3,500 m (2,660-10,366 ft) in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, but also in the Red Sea. In these areas, animal communities emerge, formed of gigantic species, if we compare them to their counterparts at the surface. These animals are usually de-pigmented, white (but not necessarily) and blind, even if some worms and bivalves can be bright red due to the respiratory pigment hemoglobin.
McAfee, Inc. Catches More Spam, Malware and Malicious Web Sites Than ...
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- McAfee, Inc. (NYSE: MFE) today announced that its McAfee(R) Secure Internet Gateway appliance outperformed Barracuda Networks' products in several tests. Head-to-head testing conducted by Network Testing Labs shows that McAfee's single-appliance Secure Internet Gateway is eight times more effective at blocking malicious Web sites, six times more effective at blocking spam and more than four times more effective at blocking malware than the combination of Barracuda Spam Firewall and Web Filter Appliances. "These results confirm what our customers tell us -- McAfee's product is much more effective than competitive alternatives," said Jack Marsal, director of product marketing for McAfee. "Our goal with Secure Internet Gateway is to provide unrivaled protection against Web and e-mail threats all in a single appliance that is simple to install and manage-saving our customers time, money, and hassle." Network Testing Labs looked for the ability to identify and block malware (such as viruses, spam, phishing attempts, keystroke loggers, browser hijackers, adware, rootkits, dialers, data miners, and Trojans).
|
