New clickjacking affects all browsers; cause remains unknown

Clickjacking isn’t a new attack vector, but according to Grossman and Hansen, it’s one that is “severely underappreciated and largely undefended.” What makes the attack noteworthy, in this case, is that it appears to be completely browser-agnostic, and affects both Firefox 2 and 3, all versions of IE (including 8), and presumably all versions of Opera, Konquerer, Safari, and whatever other extremely marginalized and/or FailCat type of browser one might use to surf the web. The only browsers currently immune to whatever it is the two men discovered are text-based products, such as Lynx. … Turning Javascript off is apparently useless—the attack doesn’t use it. Instead, it takes advantage of what the two call a “fundamental flaw” inherent to all modern browsers, and an issue that cannot be fixed with a quick patch. Using a frame buster script will protect a person from assaults that utilize cross-domain scripting, but will not prevent the attack from operating normally if it’s on a page the user is visiting. – atech

Al Jazeera journalist’s six years in Guantanamo

You paid good tax dollars for what was done to this guy, who was told repeatedly by intelligence agents they knew he was innocent of any crime; doesn’t it make you feel proud?!?!? – wrh

Presidential Debate 2008: Obama v McCain in Oxford, Mississippi

A transcript will be available here one hour after the debate.  The debates can be viewed live on CNN, here.

World CO2 emission levels at record, up 400%. China is #1.

Prepare for some wild weather.

CO2 emissions accelerate 400% as world turns to dirtier fuels

With emissions growth accelerating 400 percent this decade, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels rose at a record clip in 2007, reports the Global Carbon Project’s annual overview of the greenhouse gas.

Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations climbed 2.2 parts-per-million (ppm) in 2007 to 383 ppm. Since 2000 CO2 levels have risen 2 ppm annually, compared with 1.5 ppm during the 1990s, 1.6 ppm in the 1980s, and 1.3 ppm in the 1970s. Rising CO2 levels are the direct result of human activities, including fossil fuel combustion, cement production, and deforestation. The Global Carbon Project’s (GCP) report shows that emissions from fossil fuels and cement have increased 3.5 percent per year since 2000, after increasing at a rate of 0.9 percent during the 1990s. The rate of emissions growth exceeds the highest estimates put forth by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). China is the largest industrial emitter of carbon dioxide (i.e. excluding emissions from deforestation), followed by the United States, E.U. countries, Russia, and India. … – mon

despite years of effort, carbon dioxide emissions are increasing at an alarming rate of 3.5% a year– faster than the 2.7% predicted by the IPCC in their worst case scenario, and miles ahead of the 0.9% annual rise in the 1990s. Worst still, current measures have been based on a middle-ground IPCC scenario. Pep Candell from the Global Carbon Budget told me that this was “astonishing”. For the first time, we have hit 10 billion tonnes of carbon emitted annually. The other thing to note is that China and India are galumphing their way up the table of biggest carbon dioxide emitters. Ten years ago the top four were: USA, China, Russia, Japan. Today that list reads: China, USA, Russia, India – and I am assured by Candell that next year India will have jumped into third place. – nature.com

Swiss man flies over Channel on jet wing

He had nothing above him but four tanks of kerosene and nothing below him but the cold waters of the English Channel. But Yves Rossy leapt from a plane and into the record books on Friday, crossing the channel on a homemade jet-propelled wing.

Rossy jumped from the plane about 8,200 feet over Calais, France, blasting across the narrow body of water and deploying his parachute over the South Foreland lighthouse, delighting onlookers who dotted Dover’s famous white cliffs, cheering and waving as Rossy came into view.

Backed by a gentle breeze, Rossy crossed the Channel in 13 minutes, averaging 125 miles per hour. In a final flourish, he did a figure eight as he came over England, although the wind blew him away from his planned landing spot next to the lighthouse.

“It was perfect. Blue sky, sunny, no clouds, perfect conditions,” the Swiss pilot said after touching down in an adjacent field. He said he wanted to show, “it is possible to fly, a little bit, like a bird.”

Onlookers scooped up their children, picnics and dogs to race to the landing site as Rossy posed for photographs. His ground crew doused him with champagne, and the pilot swigged greedily from the bottle as he waved to the band of onlookers gathered to cheer him and take pictures with cell phone cameras.

A small airplane zipped across the sky with a banner that read: “Well done Jet Man.”

Rossy said he had watched passenger ferries cutting a path between the Britain and France as he tore through the air.

“I was happy to be faster than them,” he said. The 49 year old said the Channel crossing was the realization of a dream. … – ap

A face from ears: Palin is carved into cornfield

This undated photo released by Duke Wheeler shows a corn maze rendering of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin at Wheeler Farms in Whitehouse near Toledo, Ohio. The 16-acre cornfield has been carved up in the likeness of the candidate. (AP Photo/Duke Wheeler, HO)

An Ohio farmer would like to invite you to get lost inside the head of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

A 16-acre corn maze near the town of Whitehouse has been carved in Palin’s likeness, complete with her familiar updo hairstyle and eyeglasses. Farmer Duke Wheeler says that Palin created a lot of excitement in the campaign and that he was hoping to generate some for this year’s maze. Wheeler says it took an artist from Idaho at least eight hours to mow down stalks for the maze. – boston

A Town in Texas Ponders Mystery of 1897 Spaceman