Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Big Block jeep....

Ferrari vs Jeep Cj-7 0-156mph...




Drifting Cj-7 ZZ572


Hillclimb Cj-7 ZZ572

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Jeff and Marci Beagley Gave Sick Son Prayer Instead of Medicine, Jury Gives Them Guilty Verdict


Oregon couple Jeff and Marci Beagley testified they did everything they could for their 16-year-old son before he died, but a jury decided that anointing oils and prayer were not enough.

The couple, who practices faith healing, was convicted of criminally negligent homicide on Tuesday after prosecutors argued they failed in their duty to get medical help for their son, Neil, in June 2008.

Neil Beagley died of complications from a congenital urinary tract blockage. Doctors testified the he could have been treated up until the day he died.

His death came just months after the death of their granddaughter, Ava Worthington, who died under similar circumstances.

The 15-month-old passed away March 2008 of pneumonia and a blood infection. Like Neil, she was given oils and prayer instead of medicine.

The toddler's parents, Raylene and Carl Worthington, were acquitted of manslaughter last year. The trial tested a change in Oregon law in 1999 resulting from a public outcry over a series of child deaths among members of the Followers of Christ Church.

Members of the church, including the Beagleys, are known to avoid doctors in favor of faith healing.

The Beagleys could face 16 to 18 months in prison under state sentencing guidelines, although defense attorneys plan to ask for probation. They remain free pending their sentencing on Feb. 18.

Source


AKA... Darwinism.

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Study: 73% use bank password everywhere

For years computer security experts have been preaching that users should never share the same password across their connected lives -- at online banking sites, at Amazon, on their Web mail services, even on their cell phones.

Apparently, most people ignore that advice.

A new study by security firm Trusteer found that 73 percent of Web users take their online banking password and use it at other Web sites. And about half of all consumers utilize the same password and user name at online banking sites and other sites.

"I must say I was very surprised,” said Amit Klein, chief technology officer of Trusteer. “It is surprisingly sad that such a large portion of users use their banking credentials at other sites. ... It exposes those users to attacks that would otherwise be impossible. I thought that people would take banking credentials more seriously, but it turns out that in this digital age, this is not the reality."

When consumers use the same password across multiple sites, hacking becomes trivially easy. If a criminal breaks into a smaller Web site -- say a site created by a local grocery store -- and grabs a cache of passwords, their next step is always the major banking Web sites. When you consider that 40 percent of U.S. consumers' checking accounts are tied up in the four largest banks, odds are good that the stolen credentials will work for in one of them.

Password overlap also creates an easy end run around sophisticated banking security technology, which is only as strong as the weakest site where the password is used. Banks might enforce strong password creation requirements, for example. But if a consumer uses a bank password it at a poorly defended small site, a hacker can break into the small site, steal the log-in information and essentially crack the bank's high-tech system.

"This is something that should be of huge concern both to banks and to users," said Klein.

Trusteer unearthed the data through use of its Rapport security software, which is designed to warn users when they are about to enter a critical banking password into a site where it doesn't belong -- a phishing site, for example. The tool was used to examine the behavior of 4 million computer users during a 12-month period. During that span, the firm found that 73 percent used their online banking password on at least one non-financial Web site.

And it didn’t help much when the banks enforced strict password controls. When a bank allowed consumers to pick a user ID, 65 percent used it on other sites. When a bank assigned a customer ID, 42 percent used it at other sites and 42 percent used both the ID and the password on at least one other site.

'They don't think it's worth the trade off'
Last year, analyst firm Gartner released a survey that reported similar results. It said two-thirds of consumers use the same one or two passwords across all Web sites they access.

But Avivah Litan, who directed the Gartner survey, said that choice might not be as unreasonable -- or as unsafe -- as it seems.

"They are making a choice for convenience over security," she said. "They are using a cost-benefit equation ... and they don't want to try to remember 10 different passwords for everything they do. They don't think the trade-off is worth it, honestly."

While password sharing isn't a safe practice, Litan said, complicating your life with multiple passwords isn't exactly a cure-all.

"The truth is criminals steal your passwords lots of ways, such as recording keystrokes, and if they do that, it doesn't matter whether your password is 15 characters and unique or 7 characters and the same for every site. People have figured this out," she said.

Using multiple passwords is a good idea, but Litan said it is important that consumers understand the risks that remain even if strong passwords are used.

"It is another lock on the door but a lock that is easily picked," she said. "Still, it's always better to put as many blocks in the road you can."

Large banks don't rely on simple user/password combinations to identify users anymore, she added. Numerous technologies are used to prevent fraud through a strategy called "layered security." Device fingerprinting of PCs is a key tool, she said. Web sites tag computer hardware by monitoring unique characteristics, such as exact processor speed or time and date settings. Sites that use device fingerprinting see fraud rates drop 15 to 20 percent, she said.

Banks also look for suspicious behavior, such as attempted transfers to unusual accounts. Another hacker giveaway: clicks through Web sites that occur at high speed, showing an automated PC -- and not a person -- is attempting a transaction. Humans take, on average, about 10 seconds before they click "confirm payment." Computers controlled by hackers racing through stolen login accounts barely wait at all.

"That's best-of-breed security," Litan said. "If you as a bank are relying on passwords for security then you have a poor security system."



It should be comforting to know that your user ID and password are not all that stands between a hacker and your money. Still, that's no reason to let your guard down. Your banking passwords should be handled with great care, and shouldn't be shared with other Web sites.

And remember, many Web firms that store your critical personal information do not use best-of-breed security on their back end -- meaning you are still at risk. A criminal who stole your Facebook credentials could easily wreak havoc with your life, so protect those accounts, too.

Klein concedes that the vast majority of computer users will never create unique user/password combinations for all their sites. As a more practical goal, he recommends maintaining three "families" of passwords -- one for critical financial sites, a second for sites that store your personal information, and a third for generic log-ins.

"And you don’t want to mix those passwords," he said.

Source

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A Message From Transport Canada (1;13)



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Man killed by dogs after saving them from death



A Slovenian who saved his three dogs from being put down for attacking humans was himself mauled to death by them, police said on Wednesday.

“Three dogs bit their 52-year-old owner to death in Ljubljana yesterday,” police spokeswoman Maja Adlesic said.

Four years ago, the three bullmastiffs attacked and seriously injured a passer-by outside their owner’s house. They spent years in custody pending legal hearings, but when one of them attacked a dog handler, authorities ordered them to be put down.

Their owner, a doctor, succeeded last June in his legal appeals to get the dogs back, sparking a national controversy. After his death, an opposition party said the agriculture minister should resign for failing to stop the dogs being released.

The dogs attacked the man in his garden on Tuesday, killing him before the police arrived. All three dogs were put down following the attack.

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Chimpanzee Memory Test (2;53)

What really sets us apart from our cousins? Our wonderful memory?

No, not that, either.

This video illustrates that our ape cousins far exceed us in short term memory recall skills. A chimp is shown memorizing numbers with remarkable accuracy at lightning speed.

An amazing bit of footage from the National Geographic documentary "Human Ape".





Damn dirty apes!!!

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Pretty cool photos about Hawaii's voclanic life....










































































Source

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The Simpsons intro Estonian version (1;21)



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Saturday, February 20, 2010


Ride of the Year Entry - Brian Conley in Mainland Mexico - 1:00




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Storax Sedan was a shallow underground nuclear test conducted in Area 10 of Yucca Flat at the Nevada Test Site on 6 July 1962 as part of Operation Plowshare, a program to investigate the use of nuclear weapons for mining, cratering, and other civilian purposes.

The radioactive fallout from the test contaminated more US residents than any other nuclear test, and the Sedan Crater is the largest man-made crater in the United States, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.





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Downhill suspension scooter/backpack?



The Bergmönch

Bergmönch - Hiking uphill Wheeling downhill from Thomas Kaiser on Vimeo.

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Best Panhandler - 3.15...



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Ben Potter describes and show how he makes custom blades....

Each piece begins as an idea, which is then transferred to paper as a rough sketch.
Next I order the materials, taking care when selecting the individual pieces of wood,
bone, horn etc. to ensure that the color, texture and grain will contribute to the overall
lines and feel of the piece.

The first step in forging is to make the billet, either mono-steel, one solid piece of one
type of steel, or composite construction, welded up out of several different types of steel.
Once the billet is finished I begin forging to shape by drawing it out to the proper length
and thickness to begin the tang. Next I draw the tang out and forge the bevel or bevels on
the blade,then straighten the blade and normalize (heating to non-magnetic heat and letting
it air cool). Once the blade is cool, I file the edge profile.

After forging I file the profile, faces of the blade, bevels, and tang to shape. Then polish
the the blade to 150gt. Heat treating requires the blade to be heated up to the critical point
and rapidly cooled by quenching it in oil. Then thermo cycling it three times to reduce stress
and complete martensite conversion. Then test the blade by cutting and or chopping, and
polish it.

The hilt components are make by forging and fileing the guards and pommel to shape
engraving, inlaying, and carving any decoration in to them and inleting the tang. Grips are
inlet for the tang by hand, shaped, and carved. I peen all my through tangs for greater
strength and athenticity. For two piece upperguard-pommels I use the Norse method
of riveting.





Source


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Five of the "ten best" 2009 space photos....








Source

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Titled... Extreme Sports....

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Ferrofluid on the track of a Meatgrinder



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Nimbus Motorcycle Trip in Japan

"I wrote this story as a regular weblog – in Danish - while touring the western part of Japan in October and November of 2006. Unlike the Danish weblog, the version you see below is set up so you read it like a regular homepage, starting from above. Please ignore the date at the very top of each section, about when the pictures and bits of text were posted. It is the weekdays and dates from September, October and November that count.

English is not my first language, so there’s bound to be a lot of misspellings, grammatical errors and occasionally downright incomprehensible sentences. Inevitably there will also be a number of factual errors, because I had great difficulty communicating with most of the Japanese I met, even if all of them were most helpful when I tried to tell them something, or have them tell me something. So please bear with me, I’m really doing my best.."



The blog

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Solving the age-old question....

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Lodger - I love Death



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Carpenter Racing, the industry’s leader in motorcycle horsepower enhancement and high-performance component design and development have set their sight on a new project: the Triumph Rocket III.




The Triumph R3 is a heavyweight muscle-touring bike. Think England’s cross between a V-Max and a Valkarie. It has a massive, 2300cc inline 3-clyinder engine producing 120 horsepower and over 130 foot-pounds of torque.

“We saw the big engine and said ‘This monster needs to wake up!’” stated Bob Carpenter.

And wake up it did

The team at Carpenter took the head and applied their signature CNC porting. They then mated it with a custom-ground, aggressive cam, titanium retainers, shim-under tappets and specialized springs. Custom-designed forged aluminum pistons keep the same weight as stock units to retain proper balance but raise the compression to 11.4:1. New clutch springs and a higher volume fuel pump round out the package.

The results are impressive. With stock valves the bike produces an incredible 230+ horsepower to the rear wheel.

“This thing is so strong, at 700 pounds you don’t need 1st gear,” said Carpenter of the prototype machine. “All we basically did was put more fuel in it and let it rev up. The limiter comes in at 5,800 rpm. We had ours up to 9,000.”

“Nobody is beating our Hayabusa's and 1000’s,” he continued. “And nobody is going to beat this bike. We think the Triumph, even with all its mass, will be a contender. We think this bike will give the Hayabusa a run for its money.”

And that is only the beginning. Carpenter already has his eye on the next version.

"At over 700cc a hole this thing is hungry for a big valve,” he said. “When we get serious with this next version I am sure we are going to hit 280 horsepower without making it any bigger.”

For now the 230 package is available. Choose the “Drive-in, Drive-out” and leave Carpenter Racing with a turnkey, tuned motorcycle. For the mail order package send us your head and cams and we will ship it back ready to bolt on along with the other components.



The Site


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Belgian coma 'writer' Rom Houben can't communicate

A Belgian man who stunned the world last year by apparently communicating after 23 years in a coma cannot in fact do so, researchers say.

The doctor who believed that Rom Houben was communicating through a facilitator now says the method does not work.

Dr Steven Laureys told the BBC: "The story of Rom is about the diagnosis of consciousness, not communication."

His conclusions follow a study to test the validity of so-called facilitated communication.

Claims that Mr Houben - who was seriously injured in a car crash in 1983 - could communicate, swept around the world last November.

After more than two decades in a coma, he was filmed apparently tapping out messages on a special touchpad keyboard with the help of his speech therapist.

Method 'not valid'

By holding Mr Houben's forearm and finger, the therapist was said to feel sufficient pressure to direct her to the correct keys on the keyboard.

Dr Laureys, a neurologist at Liege University Hospital in Belgium, had earlier established that Mr Houben, was more conscious than doctors had previously thought - and that is still thought to be the case.

But he also believed that his interaction with the speech therapist was genuine. Following further study, however, Dr Laureys says the method does not work.

He told the BBC that a series of tests on a group of coma patients, including Mr Houben, had concluded that the method was after all false. The results of the study were presented in London on Friday.

Objects and words were shown to the patients in the absence of the facilitator who was then called back into the room. The patient was then asked to say what they had seen or heard.

"It's easy to watch the video and say this method is not valid, but to prove that it is not true is actually very difficult," Dr Laureys said.

Houben was 'writing a book'

Doubts were expressed about the method by other experts at the time and repeated this week.

"It's like using an Ouija board," Arthur Caplan, a professor of bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, told Associated Press on Friday. "It was too good to be true and we shouldn't have believed it."

Last November Mr Houben's mother, Fina Houben, told the BBC that she always believed her son could communicate.

"He is not depressed, he is an optimist," she said. "He wants to get out of life what he can."

Last year, Mrs Houben claimed her son was writing a book. "Just imagine," Mr Houben ostensibly typed out via his speech therapist. "You hear, see, feel and think but no one can see that."

Experts say the question of whether people like Houben who have a traumatic brain injury are conscious and alert remains unanswered.

"I hope Rom and his family will stay as an example" of how hard it is to pick up the signs of consciousness, Dr Laureys told the Associated Press.

"Even when we know that patients are conscious, we don't know if there is pain or suffering or what they are feeling."



Source

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