:: The Freewheelin' Reader ::

:: 28.6.05 ::

I can't believe I read this entire three page article on Tom Cruise

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A Pakistani woman who was gang-raped on the orders of a village council launched an appeal Monday before Pakistan's Supreme Court against a ruling that acquitted five of her alleged attackers, her lawyer said.
In good news: Since her assault, Ms. Mai has become a prominent women's rights activist. Although she grew up illiterate herself, Ms. Mai has helped set up a school for girls in her village, mainly with donations from supporters, many of them in the United States.

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A dashboard finger scanner could prevent thousands of car injuries each year by fine-tuning crash restraint systems to a passenger's bone density.

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What are the anatomical prerequisites for a naturally pleasant singing voice?

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New hack cracks 'secure' Bluetooth devices
Cryptographers have discovered a way to hack Bluetooth-enableddevices even when security features are switched on. The trick,demonstrated in real gadgets, works by spoofing a device’s identityand pretending to have forgotten a cryptographic key. The techniquemay allow hackers to eavesdrop on conversations or steal callingtime.

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Lenny Bruce earned $108,000 (US) in 1960. In 1964, he made only $6,000. He was bankrupt by 1965, and by 1966 he was dead. The police found him lying on the bathroom floor of his Los Angeles home on August 3, 1966, with a needle in his arm. He had overdosed on either morphine or heroin. It was a tawdry end, but the police felt compelled to add their own personal touches. They moved his body to a more dramatic position, found a package of syringes and placed them under the sink near Bruce's body. Then they called the press and brought photographers in, two by two, to capture the death tableau on film.

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Children are being trafficked into the UK from Africa and used for human sacrifices, a confidential report for the Metropolitan Police suggests.

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Genes blamed for fickle female orgasm
A woman’s ability to achieve orgasm depends largely on her genessuggests a new study – and it appears that evolution has dealt manywomen a duff hand

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Michael Douglas' movie, The Game is now a reality.
Oh, and it's really creepy.

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YAY!
Global spending on arms tops $1 trillion

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I love everything about Maxim's Hometown Hotties Contest.

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How the hell does anybody run 100m in 9.77 seconds?

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In his new book, 'Breaking Rank,' former Seattle police chief Norm Stamper opens up about the dark side of American policing, from institutionalized racism to misogyny and homophobia. And how America is losing its fightagainst drugs -- and why we should considerdecriminalization.

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In his new book, 'Breaking Rank,' former Seattle police chief Norm Stamper opens up about the dark side of American policing, from institutionalized racism to misogyny and homophobia.

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Wha?
CANOLA HEISTS PLAGUE MANITOBA FARMERS
Thieves have stolen canola worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in aseries of robberies in southern Manitoba, even using one farmer's ownequipment to siphon truckloads of seed in the middle of the night.

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Scratching a Living
A million children are working in mines across the world

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Undercover - Exposing Cambodian capital's child prostitute trade

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The Christian right has launched a series of boycotts and pressure campaigns aimed at corporate America -- and at its sponsorship of entertainment, programs and activities they don't like.

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June 5th, World Environment Day, Governor Geraldo Alckmin and the mayor, José Serra, announced that both the state and the city would try to buy wood only from accredited sources. This came in response to a recent report that deforestation of Brazil's Amazon rainforest had increased by 6% from 2003 to 2004—the second-biggest rise in history. In the year to August 2004, an area larger than the American state of New Jersey was destroyed.
It is a noble goal, but the problem is not a lack of laws. Brazil already has impressively tough restrictions on paper, which impose stiff penalties for illegal logging. But the destruction continues to accelerate. Last month, several government-agency officials were accused of involvement in a huge illegal-logging operation in Mato Grosso, the state with the biggest deforestation problem. Most of the timber from the Amazon forests is sold to domestic buyers, with São Paulo state consuming about 15% of the total. To Folha de São Paulo, a local newspaper, the announcement from the governor and mayor smacks of political opportunism: Mr Alckmin is jockeying for position to become president in 2006, and Mr Serra comes from the same opposition party.
See article: The economy booms, the trees vanish, May 19th

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Okay, so The Prince of Pop has been found not guilty on all charges. He's had his day in court. I'd say leave him alone except for the irony of his wanting to perform at Live8. Live8 has all kinds of controversy surrounding it due to the lack of black performers. This being a concert for Africa and all it kind of makes sense to have some African performers.
Queery: Does Micheal Jackson count?

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Okay, so The Prince of Pop has been found not guilty on all charges. He's had his day in court. I'd say leave him alone except for the irony of his wanting to perform at Live8. Live8 has all kinds of controversy surrounding it due to the lack of black performers. This being a concert for Africa and all it kind of makes sense to have some African performers.
Queery: Does Micheal Jackson count?

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The US Senate has apologised for spending decades blocking efforts to make lynchings and mob violence against black Americans a federal crime.
Okay, I'm all for the Senate apologizing. And don't get me wrong, I don't want to see anybody hung. But why do we need a seperate law for black people here? Shouldn't lynching be outlawed for everybody? Yes, I know blacks suffered disproportinanetly from this form of punishment, but are seperate laws really necessary? I think one law, making it illegal to lynch anyone would be sufficient.

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Being overweight and a smoker makes a person biologically older than slim non-smokers of the same birth age, UK and US researchers have found.
Maybe some people, but not me! I'm getting younger every day.

I can't believe this sort of trype is allowed on the BBC. Why, according to the Chinese government smoking saves lives!

Rubbish.

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This is what Hamilton needs to divert people away from the grime and poverty - a law suit agianst some university students.
Actually, I'm not saying what these eco-warriors did was right, but com'on DiIanni give it up.

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Let Africa Use Its Own Wealth
Africa is a rich continent made poor by rapacious western corporations.
by Naomi Klein

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If I cared that much about this site any more then this article may prove to be very interesting, if not vital:
From 13 June 2005 openDemocracy will be publishing the majority of its articles under Creative Commons licences. It's part of our contribution to global democracy. The rest is up to you. Click here to read more.

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Globally, there are 2.2 billion children. Close to 50 percent of them live in poverty, reports UNICEF. Many have to confront abuse, violence and exploitation in their daily lives. This week's research focuses on the lives of street children, orphans and child labourers and highlights the importance of recognising children's voices.

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The landscape of global security is a muddled and complicated one, encompassing issues of water, weapons, disease, oil, population, climate change, unemployment...the list goes on and on. The Worldwatch Institute helps to straighten it all out with a set of articles and discussion questions on the key issues that are re-defining our times.

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Common has a new one too.
Yay Common!

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Diddi-diddi bop Funky funky - yeah yeah - diddi-diddi bop ....
Us3 has a new album out.

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look at treatments that promise to help you ditch your glasses.

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