Society's ChildS


Light Saber

University of California Pays $1M to UC Davis Students in Pepper Spray Settlement

Image
© ABC News
The University of California regents will pay about $1 million to 21 UC Davis current and former students who were pepper-sprayed during a peaceful campus protest last November.

A video of the incident that went viral shows an officer casually walking up to and aiming a thick stream of the spray directly into the faces of seated students at close range during an Occupy rally. The incident triggered outrage and an investigation by the university.

In the settlement, each student who filed suit will each receive $30,000 and a handwritten apology from UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi.

Student Ian Lee was a freshman when he was pepper sprayed.

"The reason we were protesting was that the university has proposed unfair and unreasonable tuition hikes," Lee said.

In addition, the university system has agreed to $250,000 for the students' legal fees.

Lee said he plans to use all of the money to pay future tuition.

"I know that's what a lot of my friends are doing. Some others are donating it, and some others are using the money to get a good start post-college in this difficult economic time," he said.

Laptop

Police Warn About Gangs Recruiting Prostitutes via Facebook

Image
Girls as young as 12 are being recruited into lives of crime via the social networks
US, Texas - Facebook is a great way to connect with long-lost friends, and an even better way to connect with new ones. But not everyone who uses the world's most popular social network has good intentions: Police in Texas today are warning that girls are being lured into prostitution by gang members trolling their social media profiles.

According to San Antonio Police Detective George Segura, gangs look for girls on Facebook who are showing off a bit too much skin, and are possibly seeking attention. Gang members then approach the girls on Facebook, befriend them, and convince them to meet up in person. No one is too young to be exploited - police say girls as young as 12 are being recruited.

The sex trade is big business for gangs. According to a Bexar County probation officer, gang members "can easily make hundred of thousands of dollars per girl, per year."

While this news is admittedly alarmist, it provides a strong reminder to revisit your child's Facebook privacy settings. You should also discuss ways for your son or daughter to be smart, safe digital citizens, so they'll be better equipped to avoid such dangers. And, of course, it's important to know when your child is too young to handle tech on their own. "Not every child needs access and such freedom to chat with strangers that could do them harm," says Segura.

Source: Tecca

Sheriff

Nova Scotia Police Seek 2 Men After Teenage Boy Allegedly Chained, Sexually Assaulted

Image
© Craig Paisley/CBC NewsPolice received a tip about the alleged confinement of a boy at this house Monday night.
Canada, Nova Scotia - A manhunt is underway in rural Nova Scotia for two men charged by RCMP with unlawful confinement involving a 16-year-old boy.

David James Leblanc, 47, and Wayne Alan Cunningham, 31, are facing forcible confinement and sexual assault charges.

"The nature of the charges speaks for themselves. They are serious charges, indeed," said RCMP Sgt. Alain LeBlanc.

Investigators said they believe the accused men could be in Lunenburg County southwest of Halifax or in Halifax County .

Alice Arnold, 79, said she heard panicked knocking at her back door Monday night.

"I went to the door," she said."I didn't open the storm door. There was a young man, probably about 14, I'd say, standing there saying, 'I want to come in, I want to come in. I've got to come in.' His appearance was unusual; he had chains on his wrists and chains on his feet."

She said the chains were double-wrapped around his wrists and ankles.

Arnold then called 911, but didn't let the teen into her home.

Dollar

Norway Oksnes Family Celebrates Third Lottery Win

Lottery Tickets
© Getty Images
A Norwegian family has won the country's national lottery three times in six years, taking home a total of more than 3m euros ($3.9m; £2.4m).

Last week, 19-year-old Tord became the latest member of the Oksnes family to hit the jackpot, following his sister Hege Jeanette and father Leif.

The lucky numbers were drawn every time Hege was pregnant or had just given birth.

Two of the wins took place within hours of her giving birth.

Tord scooped the most at 12m kroner (1.6m euros), followed by his sister with 8.2m kroner and Leif with 4.1m.

Hege Jeanette told AFP news agency that her other three brothers who have yet to win the lottery are urging her to "have at least 10 children".

"Having children is always nice, but it doesn't happen on command," she said.

According to the Associated Press, the Norsk Tipping AS lottery company says it has seen cases where one person has won the lottery twice, but never three members of the same family winning separately.

Stop

Hospitals Harvesting Organs From Patients That Doctors Were Pressured to Declare Brain Dead: Lawsuit

Organ Harvest
© Medical Daily
New York hospitals are routinely "harvesting" body parts from patients before they're even dead, a lawsuit is claiming.

The suit accuses the transplant non-profit, The New York Organ Donor Network, of bullying hospital staffers to declare patients brain dead when they are still alive in order to take their organs.

Plaintiff Patrick McMahon, 50, an Air Force combat veteran, is a former transplant coordinator who claims he was fired just four months into the job for protesting about the practice and estimates that one in five patients is still showing signs of brain activity when surgeons declare them dead and start ripping out their body parts.

"They're playing God," McMahon told New York Post. The lawsuits, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court Tuesday, cited four examples of improper organ harvesting.

One of the examples cited details of a 19-year-old man injured in a car crash who was still struggling to breath and showed signs of brain activity when doctors at Nassau University Medical Center declared him brain dead under pressure from the donor-network officials, including Director Michael Goldstein, who allegedly said during a conference call: "This kid is dead, you got that?" the suit claims.

Attention

Belgian 'Psychic' Gets Your Private Info From Internet


The volunteers are brought into a white tent. Inside sits a wise-looking, long-haired man in late middle age who calls himself Dave. He says he's a psychic.

You tell Dave your name. He hugs you and lays his hands on you. Then you and he sit down and he starts telling you things no stranger should know : your address, your romantic situation, your children's names, your medical history, how much you're selling your house for, your shopping habits, your bank balance.

You're amazed. You can't believe this guy knows so much about you. You can't understand how he does it.

Then Dave reveals his trick. A curtain comes down, and there's a room full of researchers on computers looking for your personal details online, feeding everything they find to Dave through a hidden earpiece.

As you sit there in shock, a TV screen displays the words: "Your entire life is online. And it might be used against you. Be vigilant."

This entire scenario actually took place recently in Brussels, Belgium, as part of "Safe Internet Banking," a campaign for online-safety awareness carried out by the trade association Febelfin (the Belgian Financial Sector Federation). The volunteers were passers-by, and Dave was an actor.

Phoenix

Battle in Athens: Protesters Throw Firebombs; Police Shoot Tear Gas


A rally in the Greek capital turned violent when protesters in Syntagma Square lobbed Molotov cocktails at police, who retaliated by firing tear gas at the demonstrators.

Security forces also reportedly used flashbang grenades and pepper spray to push protesters back from the parliament building. According to Greek newspaper Kathimerin, the police had been ordered to refrain from using chemicals against protesters.

Around 70,000 people, as estimated by Reuters, gathered in front of the parliament for the country's biggest anti-austerity protest since the new government came to power.

"EU, IMF out!" shouted the angry crowd.

"For the past two-to-three years we've been living an incredible social catastrophe," one of the protesters told Agence France Presse. "My salary has been cut by 50 percent. I have two children and tomorrow I don't know if I'll have a job."

Clashes erupted in different parts of Athens Syntagma Square, with demonstrators throwing fire bombs at police.

Athens riots
© Reuters / Yorgos KarahalisA riot police officer prepares to throw a teargas cannister to protestors during clashes near Syntagma square during a 24-hour labour strike in Athens.

Stormtrooper

Best of the Web: Coming to a city near you soon: Madrid police fire rubber bullets as thousands surround Spain's parliament


Madrid riot police have cleared Plaza de Neptune of protesters, with about 200 officers securing the surrounding blocks. At least 60 people have been injured and 26 arrested as police used batons and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.

­Local emergency services have confirmed that at least 60 people, including eight policemen, were injured in clashes between police and protesters, El Pais reports. One of the wounded is believed to be in critical condition, while one of the injured policemen suffered a severe concussion.

Laptop

Second Bitcoin Hack Highlights Challenges, Resilience of Anarchic E-Currency

Image
© Zach Copley
Hack occurred due to exchange operator leaving his keys unencrypted

Originally conceived of by science fiction writers -- most notably Neal ­Stephenson's cult science-fiction novel Snow Crash -- peer-to-peer cryptocurrency has been all over the headlines, following its leap to the real world, in the form of the Bitcoin. Created by a shadowy individual known as "Satoshi Nakamoto", bitcoins are an inherently anarchic construct looking to free a key piece of the global economy -- specifically, currency -- from the grip of any one nation. They're also difficult to trace, making them a popular mode of purchasing quasi-legal items.

But over the year the flowers and sunshine surrounding Bitcoin has been slightly diminished. Last June, there was a massive devaluation, letting off inflationary steam and costing late adopters large amounts of real-world dollar value. Later that same month Mt. Gox, the single largest Bitcoin exchange (which trades Bitcoins for real world dollars and vice versa) was hacked. Since then we've learned about Bitcoin-stealing malware and Bitcoin Ponzi schemes.

Dollar

Best of the Web: Is America The Most Materialistic Society In The History Of The World?

Image
When it comes to materialism, has any nation ever surpassed what we are seeing in the United States right now? We define our lives by how much stuff we have, to a large degree our personal and business relationships are defined by how much money we make, and even most of the important dates on our calendar are all about materialism. Just think about it. We throw outrageous birthday parties for our kids and we shower them with gifts. Most of our "holidays" have become highly materialistic, and the biggest holiday of all in our society, Christmas, is an absolute orgy of materialism. We make lists of the "wealthiest Americans" and we glorify their achievements. We spend most of our time either making money or spending it. Even the phrase "the American Dream" reveals how materialistic we are. When most people are asked what "the American Dream" is, they start talking about a house, a car, vacations, retirement, sending your kids to college, etc. The American Dream has become all about money and stuff. Sadly, no matter how big our homes are and no matter how many shiny new toys we accumulate, we never seem to be happy. We always want more, and we always seem to be willing to go into more debt to get it. We are the most materialistic society in the history of the world, and our endless greed is going to end up swallowing us alive.

When it comes to materialism in America, there are outrageous examples all around us, but one of my favorite examples is the "Rich Kids of Instagram". It is a Tumblr blog of photos from Instagram of young Americans showing off how they are enjoying the vast wealth of their parents. The following is how the Washington Post describes the blog....