ALERT: Many Sites Blackout for January 18th: SOPA

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Major sites participating, is it the right move? 


Over the weekend, the Stop Online Piracy Act was dealt a major blow as the legislation was delayed until "outstanding concerns" have been addressed. SOPA will not move forward in the House as the official vote was been cancelled and the bill has been yanked from the floor. Representative and SOPA opponent Darrell Issa cheered this as a win for the internet community - but he warned that SOPA's Senate cousin PIPA is still a major concern. 


He's right, and SOPA is still a concern as well. While it has been delayed, SOPA is not dead. It is entirely possible that SOPA could resurrect once a "consensus is reached." SOPA must be destroyed while vulnerable. 


And presumably, that's why many sites will still participate in a scheduled blackout on Wednesday, January 18th to protest the legislation. 


Do you support sites like Wikipedia going dark in protest of SOPA and PIPA? Or do you feel that it's the wrong move? Let us know in the comments. 


Here are some of the bigger sites that will officially go dark on the 18th:

• reddit
• Wikipedia
• Mozilla
• Failblog, rest of the Cheezburger Network
• Boing Boing

Smaller sites can get in on the protest as well. A site,sopastrike.com, has been set up by the Fight for the Future non-profit. It allows anyone with a website to join the strike. The site's list of all registered blackout participants contains hundreds of small websites. 


If you want to participate in the blackout, you can use theSimple Stop SOPA Wordpress plugin. It will blackout your site and show the following message in white:

This site has been blocked in protest of the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) two bills which will allow the government to censor the internet. Find out more atamericancensorship.org or the video below. This website will return at 8pm.

It will also show this video about SOPA and PIPA. If you haven't already seen it, it's a nice video that explains the dangers of the legislation: 


 


If you want a little more control on your blackout, you can try this other Wordpress plugin. 


Googler Pierre Far made a timely Google+ post Monday evening, coyly referencing the fact that sometimes webmasters feel the need to take their site offline for a day because of "server maintenance or as political protest." He mentions this action as the most important one to take if you plan on having your site go dark for a day:

1. The most important point: Webmasters should return a 503 HTTP header for all the URLs participating in the blackout (parts of a site or the whole site). This helps in two ways:

a. It tells us it's not the "real" content on the site and won't be indexed.

b. Because of (a), even if we see the same content (e.g. the "site offline" message) on all the URLs, it won't cause duplicate content issues.

2. Googlebot's crawling rate will drop when it sees a spike in 503 headers. This is unavoidable but as long as the blackout is only a transient event, it shouldn't cause any long-term problems and the crawl rate will recover fairly quickly to the pre-blackout rate. How fast depends on the site and it should be on the order of a few days.

You can see the entire list of tips here. 


If you don't own a site and want to spread the word of the blackout via social media, you can use the hashtag #sopastrike or #stopsopa all day. BlackoutSopa.org also allows for you to change your Twitter pic to one of three images - either a smaller "Stop SOPA" banner under your pic, a total "STOP SOPA" image or a simple blackout. 


There is still a day until the SOPA blackout, which means the window is closing for other big-name sites to join in. Having Reddit and Wikipedia down is going to be a huge deal, and it would only get bigger if other social sites joined the blackout party. 


But it appears that not everybody is joining the party. In response to Radar correspondent Alex Howard asking him if he had the "cojones" to join Jimmy Wales and Wikipedia in the blackout, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo had this to say: 


 

Snowmobile Trail Conditions Report

January 16, 2012 Update Trails are starting to open up. Early season conditions. As always use caution. Download the new 2012 NH Snowmobile Map  (4MB) Pittsburg - 6-10" new snow on a snow covered icy base. Trails are 95% open Grooming is ongoing, and conditions range from moderate to good. Caution should be used everywhere! Please pay attention to all signage! Water bars, washouts, etc. and there could still be some problem areas and some areas are still closed and are posted as such. There are still logging operations going on. Some of these areas are still off limits; some shared roads and are posted 10 mph. Lakes are still considered to be unsafe! For more details go to www.pittsburgridgerunners.org Diamond Pond/Coleman State Park - 8" of new snow on a 4-6" base. Trails are 100% open. Trails are groomed and conditions are good to great. Watch for water bars. Several logging operations going on. Lake ice is marginal. Due to furnace issues, the bath house at Coleman is temporarily closed. Warming hut open Saturday and Sunday. Gas pumps open 24/7. For more details go to www.swiftdiamondriders.com Errol - 80% open 2" new snow on a 0-3" base. Trails are groomed and riding is moderate to good. Use Caution. Gorham area - 50% open. 0-2" base. Trails are groomed and riding is fair. Berlin - 95% open 2-6" base. Some trails are not groomed and riding is fair to good. Milan - 100% open 2" base. Trails are groomed and riding is fair to good. Nash Stream - 75% open 2-6" base. Trails are groomed and riding is moderate to good. 5 South is temporarily closed due to lack of snow. Bear Notch - 100 % open 1" new snow on a 3-8" base. Trails are packed and groomed. Riding is moderate. Caution icy spots and RR are not groomed stay off. Watch for mushers and skiers. N. Conway - 100% open ½" new snow on a 2-4" base. Trails are not groomed and riding is marginal. Top of Black Cap is icy. One way trail down from Hurricane to Mason Brook. RR tracks do not have enough snow. Use Caution. E. Conway - 100% open. ½" new snow. Trails are not groomed and riding is marginal. W. Ossipee - 100% open ½" new snow on 1-3" base. Trails are not groomed and riding is marginal. Icy Base.  Limited riding. Watch for others. Moultonboro - 2" new 25% open. Gates are not open and riding is marginal. Sandwich - 100% open 2" new snow on a 1-2" base. Trails are not groomed and riding is limited and marginal. Caution icy base and watch for other users. Milton - 100% open. ½" new snow on a 1-3" base. Trails are not groomed and riding is limited. Poor to marginal. Belmont - 90% open 1" new snow no a 1-3" base. Trails are not groomed and riding is marginal. Pickerel Pond trail towards Meredith temporarily closed. Limited Riding. Rail Lines: Presidential Rail Trail: Gates are open Northern: Boscawen to Lebanon Gates are open 4" new snow not groomed Shugah River: Newport to Claremont Gates are open riding is marginal Additional Resources and Information Please be safe and ride with caution. Respect our landowners. Watch speeds and stay to the right. For more information contact brenda.drouin@dred.state.nh.us. Newly Added: 2012 NH Snowmobile Corridor Map  (For a printed map contact NHSA or the Bureau of Trails) Snowmobile Trail Conditions Reports Snowmobile Club Information Snowmobile User Information Snow Depth Map NH Weather Radar

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N.H. court upholds Bigfoot’s free speech rights

January 14, 2012|By Lynne Tuohy
CONCORD, N.H. - The New Hampshire Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Bigfoot’s right to romp around Mount Monadnock - and against a state regulation governing special events at parks.

The court ruled unanimously yesterday that the language of the regulation is so broad it would apply to six people holding a private prayer service, three people carrying campaign signs at a mountain’s peak, or even a lone protester.

Jonathan Doyle filmed a friend in costume on Mount Monadnock in September… (photos by NYCreator.com)

Keene entrepreneur Jonathan Doyle and the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union Foundation appealed after state park officials barred Doyle, an amateur filmmaker, from wearing his monkey costume and interviewing other hikers about a Bigfoot sighting at Mount Monadnock in September 2009.  

Park officials said Doyle had failed to pay $100 for a special-use permit 30 days in advance and secure a $2 million bond, as required by the regulation. The permit regulation applies to all properties operated by the state Department of Resources and Economic Development.

The court said the regulation violates constitutional free speech rights by requiring someone to get a permit 30 days in advance for any “organized or special events which go beyond routine recreational activities.’’

The justices called the regulation “panoptic’’- including in one view everything in sight.

The regulation, the court said, “is unconstitutional in a substantial number of its applications and is thereby overbroad.’’

Barbara Keshen, director of the NHCLU, called the ruling a “strong affirmation of people’s First Amendment rights to express themselves politically and artistically.’’

Assistant Attorney General Matthew Mavrogeorge, who argued to uphold the regulation, did not return calls seeking comment.

Doyle said he was uncertain how the court would rule and had doubts along the way about taking on the state.

“I’m very happy and pleased,’’ Doyle said yesterday. He said he will return to Monadnock in costume the first chance he gets.

Doyle first wore his Bigfoot costume on the top of Monadnock on Sept. 6, 2009, and interviewed hikers about what they saw. Those interviewed went along with the skit - some feigning fear and awe - and Doyle posted his video on YouTube.

He planned to make a movie, “The Capture of Bigfoot,’’ which The Keene Sentinel newspaper wrote about. Park manager Patrick Hummel saw the report and e-mailed a supervisor under the subject line, “Bigfoot problem on Monadnock . . . not kidding,’’ according to court documents. In another e-mail, Hummel wrote, “Why does this mountain attract these time wasters?’’

CREDIT: boston.com

Deadly parasite turns Bay Area honeybees into zombie slaves

By Lisa M. Krieger

lkrieger@mercurynews.com

San Francisco biologists have made a macabre discovery that might help explain the mysterious crash of honeybee populations: parasites that turn bees into zombies.

Infected bees go mad, abandoning their hive in a suicidal rush toward bright lights, according to a new study by San Francisco State researchers.

"It's the flight of the living dead," said lead investigator and biology professor John Hafernik, also president of the California Academy of Sciences.

The parasite, a tiny fly, has been found in bees from three-quarters of the 31 surveyed hives in the Bay Area -- essentially, everywhere except Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.

In a plotline similar to a George Romero horror film, the fly deposits its eggs into the bee's abdomen, then takes over. The hapless bees walk around in circles, with no apparent sense of direction. Some are unable to even stand on their legs.

"They kept stretching them out and then falling over," Hafernik said. "It really painted a picture of something like a zombie."

The bees' demise may contribute to what's known as Colony Collapse Disorder, the phenomenon of failing honeybee hives around the United States -- and a great concern in the agricultural community, which depends on these pollinators.

Despite six years of intense research, scientists have been unable to find a single reason for colony collapse. Increasingly, they suspect that several factors, including viruses and fungus, may be to blame.

"This is one more piece in the puzzle," said researcher and San Francisco State graduate student Jonathan Ivers. "But no one has come up with a coherent picture of what the puzzle even looks like."

The stakes are high, because honeybees are the primary pollinator of most nuts, vegetables and fruits. California's $1 billion-a-year almond business, for instance, is entirely dependent on the honeybees.

"The agricultural economy of California would be devastated if honeybees disappeared," Ivers said.

This creepy parasitic parable started in an unlikely place: a desk at San Francisco State. Three years ago, Hafernik returned from a field trip with a hungry praying mantis, so he scrounged for insects for it to eat. He found some bees under the light fixtures outside his classroom at Hensill Hall, and stuck them in a vial.

"But being an absent-minded professor," he joked, "I left them in a vial on my desk and forgot about them."

When he looked at the vial again -- a week or so later -- there was a startling sight: the dead bees were surrounded by small brown fly pupae.

"I knew that was unusual," he said. "I knew that a parasitic fly was feeding on them."

The fly's identity -- Apocephalus borealis -- was revealed through a DNA test. The same fly is known to infect wasps and bumblebees.

Ivers and fellow grad student Andrew Core gained permission from Bay Area beekeepers to set up traps at the hives, then caught 20 to 50 so-called worker bees en route to find food.

Infected bees were found in San Francisco, Oakland, Orinda, Walnut Creek, Concord, El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Benicia, San Rafael, Mill Valley and Larkspur. They were not found in hives in Los Gatos, Saratoga, San Jose or Mount Hamilton.

The parasitic flies even engage in mind control. Somehow they're able to hijack the bee's normal daytime behavior, turning it into a nocturnal creature. Seven days after death, little larvae emerge from the bee.

The casualties are hard on a hive in two different ways. Not only does it lose important workers -- but when these foragers are gone, younger bees inside the hive are forced to take their place. The entire labor structure of the hive goes awry.

"As you lose more and more workers, there's a tipping point, which could lead to collapse," he said.

Bees from the infected hives are often infected with a virus and a fungus -- suggesting the fly might be a vector for these pathogens.

There are other gruesome examples in the insect world of exploitation.

An Asian wasp stings a cockroach in the brain and injects venom that controls where the roach walks. Then it lays its egg on the roach, and its larvae eat it alive.

And there's an Amazonian nematode that, once inside an ant, turns the insect's abdomen the same bright hue as a tasty berry. The ant is eaten by birds, who spread baby nematodes through their droppings.

While San Francisco State researchers are far from discovering a treatment for bees, the next step is to expand their geographic search for infected hives.

Already, Hafernik has noticed a colony in the walls of his San Francisco house. "At night, they bounce against the windows while my wife and I are at the dinner table," he said brightly.

And they'll deploy a range of identification tools to better understand the freeloading fly. Next spring, they will glue tiny radio-frequency devices -- smaller than the head of a pin -- to the backs of bees, then track their travels. Once sick, do they re-enter the hive, infecting others?

"We don't know how big a player this is" in collapsing colonies, he said. "It could be a really important one."

honeybees


Source Credit: http://www.mercurynews.com/

Overdue Maryland hikers OK | New Hampshire NEWS07

Overdue Maryland hikers OK | New Hampshire NEWS07

Published Jan 16, 2012 at 12:28 pm (Updated Jan 16, 2012)

CRAWFORD NOTCH - Two experienced Maryland hikers were in great condition when they walked out of Shoestring Gully on Mount Webster early Monday morning, long overdue after a more arduous hike down the mountain than they expected.


New Hampshire Fish and Game Conservation Officer Alex Lopashanski said the wife of Greg Kozloski, 33, of Darlington, Md. reported him and his hiking partner, Richard Brown, 30, of Bel Air, Md., overdue about 10 p.m. Sunday night.


State Police Troop F located their car on Route 302 across from the gully.


Kozloski and Brown, both experienced climbers, had planned to hike 2,500 feet up to the ridge of Mount Webster, the last 600 feet of which involves “technical climbing,” according to Lopashanski.


Lopashanski arrived at the scene about 1:20 a.m. Monday to see two headlamps coming out of the trail. The men had made it to the ridge but, instead of coming down the trail, they descended through the woods which took them much longer than they anticipated, Lopashanski explained.


Both were well-prepared for the hike and in fine shape, he said.


They left an itinerary with Lopashanski’s wife which, had either man been in trouble, would have made it quicker and easier for Fish & Game to locate them.


“They did a lot of things right,” Lopashanski said.