crosswalk hacks... cool

A shadowy group of pedestrian hackers called Cross Anytime announced their discovery of several back doors or "cheats" using crosswalk buttons at many intersections. The 3658-item list has been released on their website www.crosswalkbuttonhacks.com.

While some of the codes have been obtained through intelligence gathering and analysis of illegally obtained push-button systems, most were uncovered through the brute-force approach. "It's wasn't as easy as it sounds," Walker said. "Contrary to what the kiddies may think, going crazy with clicks doesn't help much. You need to understand the inner workings of the systems - not to mention differences in the push-intervals. For instance, the McKenzie mkI model is based on dual 1.2 second cycles (meaning that long clicks and pauses last 1.2 seconds) while the mkII model uses a 1.5 second cycle (pauses are 1.5 seconds long). And the models look almost identical to the casual pedestrian!"

The most popular hack, which works on most models, is the "Instant Walk." Three short clicks, followed by two long, one short, two long, and three short; turn any crosswalk signal from "don't walk" to "walk" with a matching change in the traffic signals.

rw-, a co-editor here claims this hack has been out for years. The FBI closed down the website for the usual DCMA/TERRORIST BS reasons fearing that terrorists might be able to cross the streets of America at will. What they forgot was that the page is mirrored over most of the internet, in places they can't control.

You can't deny that cool shit comes out of big corporations

At first glance, contact lenses that produce what some call “devil eyes” will get noticed merely by their appearance. But when picking up the rotation of a baseball traveling at 90 mph or noticing the slightest contrast on a putting green is key to your professional success, it is definitely an eye-opening experience.

And that’s just what elite athletes are having with the new Nike MaxSight’s sport-tinted lenses. All over the world, Nike’s latest vision innovation is being sampled and adopted for competition in daytime. Brian Roberts, the American League’s leading hitter for most of the season, wears them. Record-setting distance runner Paula Radcliffe tried them this month. And the world’s No. 1 tennis player, Roger Federer, even contributed to the terminology.

“He was talking about tossing his serve in the air and sometimes the ball can get in the sun and you lose it,” said Rob Barnette, Business Director for Nike MaxSight. “But when he tried these, he coined the phrase ‘recovery time’ and how the lenses helped. Most athletes just say, ‘I can see how these would give me an advantage.’”

Nike MaxSight’s most notable performance feature is that it filters out specific wavelengths of light in the visual spectrum to enhance key visual elements. In other words, users can see a ball pop out more clearly from its background or might notice the line of a putt more clearly.

In addition, the lenses help reduce glare, provide UV and blue light protection and, with the lens resting directly on the eye, eliminate image distortion that can occur in standard sunglasses.

The product of eight years of research with Dr. Alan Reichow of Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon, and three years of collaboration with Bausch & Lomb, Nike MaxSight lenses will be available in two lens tints. Amber is for seeing a fast-moving object more clearly, such as a baseball or tennis ball; grey-green is for enhanced contrast in changing light environments such a golf course or on a run.

Nike MaxSight – available in prescription and non-prescription lenses -- launches in August. For now, the product has been limited to the more than 600 athletes who have tested it, including more than 100 of Nike’s best. In fact, the fitting process has produced a performance benefit of its own: with eye exams required, several athletes have learned they need corrective lenses.

Even that “devil eye” has its advantages, at least in the eyes of some.

“It makes the eye look distinct,” Dr. Reichow said. “It looks competitive.”

For more information: http://www.nike.com/nikevision/main.html
or

http://www.bausch.com/us/resource/visioncare/soft/nike_maxsight_resfaq.jsp
or

http://www.sportingnews.com/experts/stan-mcneal/20050421.html

Could They be ANY MORE Ridiculous?

Pop Star Britney Spears was left completely abashed when she invited the Disney bosses to her hotel room and found husband Kevin Federline watching porn.

Both Britney and Kevin had been invited to celebrate the resort's 50th anniversary.

23-year-old Britney, who is expecting her first child soon, did not know where to look after Kevin had left the video running but quickly recovered her wits thereafter.

"Boys will be boys", Femalefirst quoted her as saying.

"Honey, you didn't tell me you'd brought along Sleeping Booty!", she added.

Let it go already...

Baltimore, MD (AP) A man has been hospitalized after rescuers pulled him from Liberty Reservoir three times shortly before noon today. Baltimore County police say the heavyset man was found in the water after officers stopped to investigate a car nearby that had been reported missing. The man was pulled from the water and put in an ambulance. But he started fighting with paramedics as the ambulance headed to the hospital, forcing the driver to pull over. The man jumped out of the vehicle and onto the edge of the bridge spanning the reservoir. Police officers tried to talk the man off the edge of the bridge, but he fell in. The officers then enlisted the aid of a man nearby who had a small boat. But the boat sank when the man was pulled aboard. The 300-pound man, two officers, a state trooper and the boat owner all were rescued by a Carroll County water rescue unit that arrived on the scene.

The Scandal 

Rub up!

TORONTO - A statue commemorating a hero of Toronto's gay community is raising hackles both for the actions of the man it depicts and for the somewhat graphic description of the 19th century sex scandal that made him famous.

But denizens of Toronto's centrally located and often irreverent gay neighborhood — the home of the city's hugely popular annual gay pride celebrations — say the sculpture is not offensive and fits with the spirit of the community.

The 13-1/2 foot (4.1 meter) bronze and granite monument depicts Alexander Wood, famous for both owning the land on which the community now sits and for being run out of town under a cloud of sexual scandal in the early 1800s.

It shows a dapper young man wearing a long coat and holding a top hat and cane.

"It's nice to have the statue in the community, but I don't think it's well done," said one area resident, referring to a plaque at the statue's base that outlines the scandal.

"I think it's misleading. The sensationalistic side of homosexuality is not the norm."

Wood emigrated from Scotland in the 1790s, becoming a merchant, militiaman and a well-respected magistrate, before running into trouble in 1810.

A woman reported a rape, noting she had scratched the attacker on his genitals. Wood took matters into his own hands, lining up the suspects and demanding that they drop their pants so he could "inspect" them.

After word of the incident got around, Wood was widely branded a "molly," a derogatory term for homosexuals, and he agreed to leave town in exchange for not being prosecuted for abusing his position.

The incident is commemorated on the statue's granite base, with a bronze plaque depicting a man's rear end with his pants around his knees, and Wood's outstretched hand in mid-examination.

Hero or pervert?
"Let's get something straight: Alexander Wood wasn't a hero, he was a pervert," columnist Rachel Marsden wrote in the conservative National Post newspaper, noting that the bronze plaque was "something that could pass for a scene out of the Michael Jackson trial."

"This, in the middle of the city's supposedly family-friendly tourist district," she wrote.

However, backers of the monument say Wood is an important link to the area's colorful history and the plaque is unlikely to offend many in an area where public displays of affection between same-sex partners are commonplace.


Kyle Rae, a city councilor for the area, says Wood's significance in the community is not due to his actions or his sexual orientation — it is not certain whether he was actually gay — but because of the persecution he suffered.

Rae said a quick glance at the text on the statue will explain the context to passersby.

"That's the problem with people who don't read," he said.

"I think it's always good for a person to have to explain things ... and not look the other way."

The statue cost C$200,000 (US$160,000), split between public funds and a local business development group. It sits just at the south end of the main gay village on Church Street, a street lined with coffee shops, bars and emblematic rainbow flags.

"It adds a bit of distinction to the corner," said Mike Calnan, who lives in the neighborhood.

"It has become a sort of equal to the Blarney Stone," he added, referring to the prominent buttocks on the bronze illustration.

"People have been rubbing it for luck."

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8219892/

Mr. Hanky

Human Turd Banned From Meetings

News Edition: 05/13/2005

OHHHH CAN-A-DAAAA -- A man dressed up as a giant piece of faeces has been refused entry to a government meeting in Canada.
James Skwarok arrived as 'Mr Floatie' to represent POOP, People Opposed to Outfall Pollution, reports Canada.com.

But the cross-party meeting in Victoria-Beacon Hill refused him entry.

Skwarok said he wanted to protest against the daily dumping of 120 million litres of raw sewage into the Pacific ocean.

He said he was "a little bummed out" by the politicians' refusal to meet him and that British Columbia province should look good for the 2010 Olympics if it didn't want to get a "brown medal".

Four athletes who have had their medals seized by the ISOC.
 

War of the Hugs

WASHINGTON, DC—Three months after the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, the International Special Olympics Committee has begun to investigate charges that athletes used performance-enhancing hugs in their training and directly before competing in key events.

"These people have no shame," ISOC chairman Bill Evans said Monday. "Right before a big game or race, many of them will take a dose of affection, sometimes from a coach, other times from a family member. Competing players have even been known to exchange hugs during the competition itself."
Although insiders have long attested to widespread hug use among special athletes, the full scope of the problem was not understood until November 2004, when Carnegie Mellon's medical school published a study on hug use in the Clinical Journal Of Sport Medicine. According to the study, researchers found double-digit spikes in self-valuation, warm fuzziness, and smiles following even a single hug.
Evans said he "took one look at the numbers" and agreed to an internal investigation and an across-the-board review of hug-use policies.
"Hug users have an unfair advantage over the hug-free, as they are pumped up with confidence," Evans said. "In competitions relying on endurance, hugs serve to artificially heighten an athlete's stamina. For example, hug users may be as much as 65 percent more likely to excel at no-contact floor hockey than those who say no to hugs. Put simply, it's unethical."
Alpine skiing bronze medalist Lee Young-Suk, who has Down syndrome, appeared on a special edition of ABC's Primetime Live Tuesday and admitted to frequent use of performance-enhancing hugs.

"When my mommy [Jun Young-Suk] hugs me, it makes me feel like I'm the best and she loves me and I can win," Suk told Diane Sawyer. "I'm a winner!"
The emotions Suk described—euphoria, omnipotence, overall well-being—have been found to last for as little as five minutes or as long as several hours, depending upon the number and type of embraces administered.
Due to the short-burst effect of performance-enhancing hugs, testing for their presence is difficult.
"Currently, eyewitness sightings are the only reliable indicators of hug use," said ISOC regulator Peter Warner. "Unfortunately, hug use can occur anywhere—from the group home to the bleachers. We can't be in every team's van at all times."
In the search for hug abusers, regulators have screened hundreds of hours of Special Olympics videotape, hoping to catch huggers in the act. They are also relying on testimony from hug users such as Suk.
"Lee Young-Suk really stood his ground at first, saying he did not want to tattle on his friends," Warner said of the hug user. "We couldn't get him to give us any names until we promised him a trip to Dairy Queen."
Still, as Evans pointed out, hug use does not necessarily translate into better athletic performance. Over time, it may even serve as a hindrance.
"Ironically, many of the worst special athletes are the ones getting the most hugs," Evans said. "Once they get hooked, even if it isn't helping their game, these Olympians continue to crave the affection, accepting it as almost a consolation prize for their effort. Sometimes you see special athletes seeking hugs outside the realm of competition, just for the sake of hugging. This is where we get into really dangerous territory."

And you thougt the maggots were gross....

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan Jun 3, 2005 — Taiwanese restaurateur Eric Wang has given new meaning to the traditional revelers' cry of bottoms up. His eatery in the southern city of Kaohsiung delivers its food not on conventional plates and dishes, but in miniaturized Western and Asian style toilets, both the flush and non-flush variety.

For anyone missing the point, diners are encouraged to stir up mushy, earth-colored offerings like curry chicken rice and chocolate ice cream to conjure up well, the real thing.

Located in a downtown area with a variety of competing eateries, Marton the name means toilet in Chinese attracts its customers through its dazzling bathroom decor.
Walking in through an arched door, diners are greeted with a giant toilet bowl sitting between two urinals. White ceramic toilet seats comfortably accommodate their bottoms, and urinals grace the walls.

Giggling helplessly, high school student Chen Yi-lin gulps down a chocolate ice-cream sundae served in a miniature Asian-style squat toilet, and admits that she is smitten.

"This is fun," she says.

Wang, 26, opened the Marton last year after a roadside prototype a stand offering toilet-shaped ice cream cones achieved runaway success.

Now, he says, he has moved decisively upmarket.

"Diners come and walk away with the special experience," he said. "Many try to create more fun, stirring up curry and rice so it looks exactly like when you forget to flush the toilet. Then they gulp it down."

For all its scatological excess, the Marton is following in the noblest tradition of Taiwanese novelty restaurants.

Other successful ventures have purposely confined scores of contented diners to coffins or jail cells, or exposed them to full-scale pictures of Chinese dictator Mao Zedong, Taiwan's political nemesis until his death in 1976.

Yummy!

DAS GERMANY!-- A German restaurant claims to be fully booked for weeks after adding maggots to the menu.
Dishes at the Espitas restaurant in Dresden include maggot ice cream, maggot salads and maggot cocktails.

The restaurant is importing the "nutritious and extremely tasty" maggots from Mexico.
Espitas owner Alexander Wolf said: "We are the first in the world as far as I know to start importing them.

"What started out as a bit of a joke has exceeded all expectations. We started serving them about a month ago, and now we have guests spreading the word to their friends, and we are now fully booked for weeks ahead.

"Most are disgusted but try them out of curiosity or for a dare, and are actually amazed at how good they taste. Many people come back again, and usually bring more friends with them.
"We serve maggot salads, fried maggots with cactus and corn, maggot desserts such as maggots in ice cream or chocolate sauce, and of course maggot cocktails.

"The maggots have proved to be such a success, that I now preparing my next project: a delicious traditional Mexican dish of ant eggs and grasshoppers in several variations."
Teenager Sarah Azubi, 17, said: I had them deep fried, they were crunchy like chips and tasted a bit like nuts, with a soft juicy bit in the middle around a crunchy shell."

posted on bangedup.com

The Wiener Agreed

WAUPACA, Wis. (AP) — A rural woman was charged with substantial battery for allegedly cutting her husband's penis with scissors — an injury that required 15 stitches to repair.
A criminal complaint said the husband let his wife, Theresa L. Hedtke, bind his hands with duct tape. Hedtke then used the scissors in an effort to get him to confess to having an affair, according to the complaint.
Hedtke, 42, allegedly told police she didn't intend to cut her husband. He was treated at New London Family Medical Center.
Hedtke appeared Monday in Waupaca County Circuit Court, where Judge Raymond Huber released her on a $5,000 signature bond.
The substantial battery charge carries maximum three and a-half years in prison upon conviction.

courttv.com

Word of the Day

From this LA Times news article, we have President Bush's comments on the recent Amnesty International report (which calls Guantanamo Bay "the gulag of our time")

It seemed like to me they based some of their decisions on the word of — and the allegations by — people who were held in detention, people who hate America, people that had been trained in some instances to disassemble — that means not tell the truth. And so it was an absurd report.

B+ for effort, but it looks like someone needs to pay closer attention to the Word of the Day.

weishaupt @ May 31st, 2005, 02:47 pm penismightier.com