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Man Dies After Playing Diablo III for 40 Hours

Christine Caruana
CVG Australia
Wed, 18 Jul 2012 13:10 UTC
Diablo
© CVG Australia
An 18 year old Taiwanese man has died after playing Diablo III for 40 uninterrupted hours, Blizzard has claimed.

A man known only as Chuang has reportedly died after playing Diablo III for 40 hours without taking a single break. According to reports, he booked himself into a private room in an internet cafe at lunchtime on Friday and settled himself in for nearly two days of non-stop gaming with no food or sleep.

Chuang was left alone in that time, with an employee of the cafe only coming in on the Sunday morning to check on him, where she found him resting on the table. Chuang then woke up, took a few steps and collapsed. He was taken to hospital, but died shortly after his arrival.

Blizzard released a statement following Chuang's death:

"We're saddened to hear this news, and our thoughts are with his family and friends during this difficult time. We don't feel it would be appropriate for us to comment further without knowing all of the circumstances involved.
      Read More...
Light Saber

Judge grants Tennessee mosque's petition to open

Travis Loller
Associated Press
Thu, 19 Jul 2012 03:28 UTC
mosque being built in Murfreesboro, Tenn
© AP Photo/Erik Schelzig, File
FILE - In a Thursday, June 21, 2012 file photo, a worker walks out of the construction site of a mosque being built in Murfreesboro, Tenn. The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro and its religious leader, Imam Ossama Bahloul, sued Rutherford County on Wednesday, July 18, 2012 and asked the federal court for an emergency order to let worshippers into the building before the holy month of Ramadan starts at sundown on Thursday. In May, a Rutherford County judge overturned the county's approval of the mosque construction and this month he ordered the county not to issue an occupancy permit for the 12,000-square-foot building.
Nashville - Muslims in a Tennessee congregation prepared Thursday for the holy month of Ramadan a day after a federal judge ruled they have a right to occupy their newly built mosque, overruling a county judge's order that was keeping them out.

The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro sued Rutherford County on Wednesday and asked U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell for an emergency order to let worshippers into the building before the holy month of Ramadan starts at sundown Thursday.

Federal prosecutors also filed a similar lawsuit.

The future of the mosque had been in question since May, when a local judge overturned the county's approval of the mosque construction. This month, he ordered the county not to issue an occupancy permit for the 12,000-square-foot building.
      Read More...
Stormtrooper

Handcuffed Man Shot Twice by San Francisco Police - Witness Reports


RT
Wed, 18 Jul 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© video still from youtube user sf99er
Officers with the San Francisco Police Department in Northern California shot a man believed to have a knife this morning, but preliminary reports suggest that the victim was in handcuffs while the authorities opened fire.

Police officers with the SFPD allegedly opened fire on a man armed with a knife at around 10:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday after responding to reports that someone had been stabbed near the city's Pier 17.

The Bay City News Service reported minutes later that there was an "officer-involved" shooting but did provide any other details. The San Francisco Chronicle reported at 11:30 a.m. local time that the man was shot by police after he refused to drop a knife that they believe was used in a stabbing earlier that morning. Fire Department Capt. Jeanne Seyler confirms to the paper that the victim was being transported for life threatening wounds, but did not provide any more details.

A video uploaded to YouTube less than 30 minutes after that report includes a testimony from an eyewitness who alleges that the police shot the suspect after placing him in handcuffs.
      Read More...
People

Hundreds of Florida Teenagers Storm Walmart in Criminal Flash Mob


RT
Wed, 18 Jul 2012 00:00 UTC

A Jacksonville, Florida party went a bit too wild this week after hundreds of teenagers relocated their shindig to a local Walmart store and went on a rampage, all the while videotaping their outrageous escapades.

Police investigating the Saturday night stampeding of the north Florida store say that around 300 youths were involved in the melee, which miraculously didn't directly spawn any serious injuries. Moments before storming the store, however, one 20-year-old party-goer reported being shot in the leg while leaving the original get-together.

The entire incident began at what a neighbor tells the Florida Times-Union was a "massive crowd party" in a subdivision in Jacksonville that attracted noise complaints from neighbors. When the police responded to the scene, attendees regrouped around two miles down the road to Walmart.
      Read More...
Pirates

Sound of Irony: Copyright Firm Fined after Stealing Music for Anti-Piracy Ad


RT
Wed, 18 Jul 2012 00:00 UTC
pirate/piracy
© Reuters/Tobias Schwarz
A music royalty collection agency in the Netherlands got trapped by the very copyright rules it was intended to protect. The company has been fined for stealing music from its client, using it without his permission and failing to pay royalties.

­Music royalty collection agency Buma/Stemra now owes at least 164,974 euro to the Dutch musician Melchior Rietveldt, a sum calculated by the recording artist himself.

Back in 2006, Buma/Stemra approached Melchior Rietveldt with a request to create a composition that would be used in an anti-piracy advertisement. At that time the group claimed it would be shown exclusively at a local film festival.

But to the composer's amusement, one year later he purchased a Harry Potter DVD only to find that his piece was being used in the anti-piracy ad without his permission.

In fact, it had been used on dozens of DVDs both in the Netherlands and overseas.
      Read More...
Info

Kim Dotcom Judge Quits After Calling US 'the Enemy'


RT
Wed, 18 Jul 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© Agence France-Presse/Michael Bradley(R) Flickr/Andrew McMillan (L)
Kim Dotcom (L) and Judge David Harvey (R)
New Zealand Judge David Harvey has stepped down from the Kim Dotcom trial after making remarks that could cast doubt on his impartiality. Harvey was to oversee the extradition case against the internet entrepreneur, who is wanted by the US.

­Last week, Judge Harvey, who is also an internet law expert, was a featured speaker at a conference discussing the TPP treaty - a multilateral treaty between the US and ten other countries, whose copyright provisions have been described as stricter than ACTA, the copyright law recently rejected by Europe.

Harvey noted that under the terms of the treaty, those who change regions on region-restricted DVDs would be classed as criminals.

"We have met the enemy, and he is US," summed up Harvey.

The expression is a pun on the earlier phrase "We have met the enemy, and he is us" adopted by environmentalists from a 1970 cartoon.

But few were in the mood for wordplay.
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Pistol

Florida Customer Shoots Suspects During Internet Cafe Robbery


Fox News
Wed, 18 Jul 2012 00:00 UTC

Authorities in central Florida say two men were trying to rob an Internet cafe when a 71-year-old patron began shooting his own gun, wounding the suspects.

Surveillance video shows two masked men entering the Palms Internet Cafe around 10 p.m. Friday. The Ocala Star-Banner reports one pointed a gun at customers while the other swung a baseball bat.

The video shows patron Samuel Williams pulling a handgun and shooting. He continues firing while the suspects fall over each other as they run out the door.
      Read More...
Attention

San Bernardino Declares Fiscal Emergency Ahead of Bankruptcy Filing

Phil Willon
Los Angeles Times
Thu, 19 Jul 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times
Roxanne Williams asks the San Bernardino City Council, which on Wednesday declared a fiscal emergency and voted to file for bankruptcy, to do what it can to save the city. The Inland Empire city faces a $45.8-million budget shortfall.
San Bernardino leaders' decision means the city could avoid months of state-mandated mediation as it seeks bankruptcy protection.

US, California - The San Bernardino City Council on Wednesday declared a fiscal emergency, an acknowledgment that the city is nearly broke and a legal maneuver that will allow leaders to file for bankruptcy protection without going through months of state-mandated mediation.

The action comes a week after the council voted 4 to 2 to seek Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection, prompted by warnings from interim City Manager Andrea Travis-Miller that the city faced a $45.8-million budget shortfall and might not have enough money to make the August payroll.

San Bernardino becomes the third California city to declare insolvency in the past month, joining the Central Valley city of Stockton and Mammoth Lakes, in the eastern Sierra Nevada. Compton in L.A. County also appears to be on the brink of financial collapse, according to city officials.

"The proposed action has torn the city apart, turned friends into enemies,'' said San Bernardino Councilwoman Wendy J. McCammack. "The action that's taken tonight will affect everyone ... but the city will survive.''

Along with declaring a fiscal emergency, the council voted to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection, both approved by a 5-2 margin. The council next week will begin the difficult process of crafting a survival budget, until its attorneys can file with the federal Bankruptcy Court.
      Read More...
Card - MC

Consumer Watchdog Fines Capital One for Deceptive Credit Card Practices

Ben Protess and Jessica Silver-Greenberg
The New York Times - Deal Book
Wed, 18 Jul 2012 08:19 UTC
Capital One
© unknown
Capital One — which is known for its catchy television ads with Alec Baldwin — received a regulatory rebuke for misleading customers.
Capital One, one of the nation's biggest banks, will reimburse $150 million to more than two million customers for selling them credit card products they could not use or did not want, as the nation's new consumer watchdog leveled its first enforcement action against the financial industry.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Wednesday hit Capital One with findings that a vendor working for the bank had pressured and deceived card holders into buying products presented as a way to protect them from identity theft and hardships like unemployment or disability.

The regulatory actions, totaling $210 million including fines to authorities, take aim at one of the financial industry's growing profit centers and increasingly controversial practices. Several other banks, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and HSBC, were sued in June by the Hawaii attorney general, accused of improperly selling similar so-called add-on products, which consumer advocates typically regard as costly and ineffective.
      Read More...
Light Saber

John Brennan, Man Who Stripped In Front Of TSA, Found Not Guilty

Nigel Duara
Huffington Post
Wed, 18 Jul 2012 07:11 UTC
Image
© The Associated Press
Portland, Oregon - An Oregon man who stripped nude at Portland's airport security to protest what he saw as invasive measures was found not guilty of indecent exposure.

Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge David Rees ruled Wednesday that John Brennan's act was one of protest and therefore, protected speech.

Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Joel Petersen argued that Brennan's strip-down was an act of indecent exposure.

"I was aware of the irony of removing my clothes to protect my privacy," Brennan said from the witness stand on Wednesday.

On April 17, Brennan arrived at the airport intending to take a business trip to San Jose, Calif. He works with groups in Silicon Valley and flies out of Portland International Airport about once a month.

When he reached the gate, he declined to go through the airport's body scanners, instead choosing the alternative metal detector and body pat-down. After the pat-down, Transportation Security Administration officer Steven Van Gordon detected nitrates on the gloves he used to check Brennan.

"For me, time slowed down," Brennan said. "I thought about nitrates and I thought about the Oklahoma City bombing."

Brennan said before his trial that after months of angst every time he went through security, the nitrate detection was the final straw for him, a wordless accusation that he was a terrorist.

So he took off all his clothes.
      Read More...
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