“Get Motivated” Seminar fall out: A $200,000 lawsuit and someone demanding my personal information

UPDATE July 4, 2011: Today I went back and read more of the comments (there are over 100) under my original blog entry about this seminar. I thought I removed all defamatory comments  but some were still there, so I removed them. I have no staff. I do this in my spare time as a hobby. There is a lot to read and I missed some.

This oversight on my part, not having time to review all comments made by anonymous people on my blog, and not realizing this was MY responsibility (is it?) to do so, is why I am named in this $200,000 defamation lawsuit.

I attended a “Get Motivated” seminar a few years ago and wrote a blog entry about it.

Someone I do not know posted potentially defamatory statements under several different names in the comments section under my post.

The case of James Smith et al. v. Elizabeth Arden et al has resulted in the owners of WordPress.com getting a demand that they produce my personal information:

“The addresses, emails, IP addresses, telephone numbers, facsimile numbers and names of individuals who own, operate, manage, edit or facilitate the websites known as Xeno, Xenophilius or Xenophioius.wordpress.com; written or digital communications between Automattic and Xeno, Xenophilius or Xenophilius.wordpress.com and concerning commentators, or comments, that are the subject of this lawsuit or relevant thereto; any and all documents, including electronically stored documents, that contain evidence about the name and contact information of the person(s) who made the comments, including names, aliases, addresses, emails, phone numbers, login ids, passwords, IP addresses, etc.”

I (thought I) removed the offending comments many months ago, but I refused to turn over the IP addresses of the people making comments because I wanted to protect freedom of speech. I’ve learned that if you make a potentially defamatory statement, you give up the right to remain anonymous.

I do have the IP addresses of the person making the potentially defamatory comments. Despite my love of freedom of expression, privacy and free speech, I will be legally obligated to release the information I have.

I’ve limited the release to the specific IP addresses which made potentially defamatory allegations, and I hope the WordPress people will be able to do the same, to protect people’s identities who made other comments about the seminar.

This hassle is one of the down sides of running a blog that gets somewhat popular. If you type it “Get Motivated Seminar” in a Google search, the phrase “Get Motivated Seminar Compaints” comes up as one of the most frequent search phrases, and if you click that, my web site is one of the top search results. I did not know that until very recently.

The post about the seminar is one of over 10,000 I have done over the years on my blog. I do get an email every time someone makes a comment, but when I’m busy and if they are lengthy, there are times that I don’t read them.  The whole system of people posting comments is automated. I don’t have to do anything and anyone in the world who can reach my blog can make comments.

See my past post about this lawsuit.

German Lab Generates the Strongest Magnetic Field Ever Created

Call it another victory for German design. Researchers in Dresden have set a new world record for the strongest magnetic field ever manufactured at the High Magnetic Field Laboratory Dresden (HZDR). Using a two-layer, 440-pound copper coil the size of a water bucket, they managed to coax 91.4 teslas from their creation for just a few milliseconds, surpassing the previous record of 89 teslas.

That’s a lot of teslas. Your standard high-power copper coil would be torn apart at something like 25 teslas, the researchers say. That’s because the magnetic field and the electric current that creates it work at cross purposes at higher energies. The current running through the coil generates the magnetic field, but the magnetic field pushes back against the electrons flowing through the coil. The stronger the current, the more the magnetic field pushes back, and once the current crosses a certain threshold the magnet will quite literally tear itself apart.

But we need bigger, badder magnets. The higher and more precise magnetic fields we can produce in the lab, the better we can test and characterize the properties of the materials we create, things like superconductors that shuttle electrons around with zero resistance. In order to make their magnet withstand the pressures of 90-plus teslas, the HZDR team wrapped the coil in a specially fabricated corset made of high-tensile fibers usually used in body armor.

via German Lab Generates the Strongest Magnetic Field Ever Created | Popular Science.

Lightning kills at least 18 school children in northern Uganda

Eighteen primary school children died instantly and 51 others suffered severe burns when lightning struck a primary school in northern Uganda Tuesday evening, according to a newspaper report Wednesday.

The thunderbolt hit Runyanya primary school in Kiryandongo district, about 250 kilometres from Kampala, as the children were waiting for the heavy downpour to subside before leaving for home, according to the government-owned paper The New Vision.

Members of the police force and other volunteers rushed the injured to hospital, but the death toll could go up, the newspaper quoted the district education officer, Edward Kirya as saying.

“The situation at the hospital was chaotic, with the police struggling to keep away the parents who were trying to force themselves into the hospital,” he said.

Deaths and injuries from lightning have been on the rise of late in Uganda.

Tuesday’s incident comes three days after lightning struck Bweyale Public primary school in the same area, injuring five students. An additional 37 children in Zombo district further north were injured when lightning struck their school earlier on Monday, according to The New Vision.

via Lightning kills at least 18 school children in northern Uganda.

Dark matter may solve ‘radio filaments’ mystery

image: The filaments can be seen as radio emission radiating away from the galactic centre

Unexplained “filaments” of radio-wave emission close to our galaxy’s centre may hold proof of the existence of dark matter, researchers have said.

Dark matter is believed to make up most of the mass of our Universe, but it has yet to be definitively spotted.

A report now suggests the filaments’ emission arises from dark matter particles crashing into each other.

However, the work, posted to the Arxiv repository, requires extensive further experiments to support or refute it.

The filaments have been something of a mystery to astronomers since they were first discovered in the 1980s.

They are known to be regions of high magnetic fields, and they emit radio waves of high frequency – some of them with striking intensity.

“There’s a long literature about these objects, and there have been some ideas as to what might generate their emission – but frankly no one really knows,” said Dan Hooper, an astrophysicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in the US and co-author of the paper, which is still under review by academics.

One explanation for this emission would be what is called synchrotron radiation, which arises when charged particles are accelerated in a magnetic field. There are several ideas that could account for the emission which do not invoke dark matter – so called “astrophysical” mechanisms. …

via BBC News – Dark matter may solve ‘radio filaments’ mystery.

Ancient scientific equipment unearthed in university dig

Eighteenth-century scientific equipment has been uncovered at an archaeological dig at a university.

A dig is being carried out at the Old College at the University of Edinburgh ahead of a £1m landscaping project.

Archaeologists had already found the remnants of old buildings near the place where Mary Queen of Scots’ second husband Lord Darnley was murdered.

Now they have unearthed laboratory apparatus and chemicals that belonged to Joseph Black. The scientist was a professor of chemistry at the university in the 1700s and discovered carbon dioxide gas.

Samples of mercury, arsenic and cobalt were found in the haul along with glass tubes, bottle stoppers and thermometers and storage jars. Ceramic distillation apparatus made by Josiah Wedgwood was also uncovered.

The landscaping project is being funded by a private donor and will see the grey gravel surface replaced with honey-coloured sandstone paving slabs and a new lawn area.

Black was a student at the university and went on to become the professor of chemistry in 1766. When he retired, his equipment was stored in the cellar of the 17th-century library which was demolished in 1820.

Dr Robert Anderson, an expert on Black, said: “The age and style of the items and the location in which they were discovered all point towards their having belonged to Joseph Black himself. The discovery is wonderful new evidence of Black’s working practices, and includes material which was probably used in his brilliant lecture demonstrations to hundreds of students every year.” …

via Ancient scientific equipment unearthed in university dig | Edinburgh News | STV Local.

How humpback whales catch prey with bubble nets

Marine biologist David Wiley of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA and others report in the latest issue of Behaviour how humpback whales in the Gulf of Maine catch prey with advanced water technology.

Humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae are large baleen whales up to 14 m long that feed on a small prey in dense concentrations, such as krill or herrings. Humpbacks whales have large flukes relative to their size providing greater thrust for quick maneuvers. While other baleen whales feed by swimming rapidly forward, humpbacks are adapted for fine-scale movement to create bubble nets.Behaviorally, humpback whales capture prey by engaging in complex feeding maneuvers that are often accompanied by the apparently directed use of air bubble clouds the production of single or multiple bursts of seltzer-sized bubbles to corral or herd fish. These whales create bubble nets to corral and contain planktonic prey into a small area so that they can more efficiently scoop them up in their large filter-feeding mouths. Based on surface observations, these bubble-feeding behaviors appear to vary in nature among both individuals and regions.

To learn more about how these whales use bubble nets in feeding, David Wiley and colleagues attached digital suction cup tags to whales that recorded depth and orientation in 3-D, allowing the scientists to recreate three dimensional images of whale swimming behavior and bubble release. The data revealed the release of bubbles while swimming in upward spirals and during a novel behavior called “double-loops” not previously known. Double-loops consist of one upward spiral to corral the prey, a smack of the fluke on the ocean surface known as a “lobtail” then a second upward lunge to capture the corralled prey. This sequence of tools and targeting of prey seems as complex as the tool use of apes in the forest.

The study also reports that humpback whales work in teams of at least two individuals and are not beyond robbing the prey from the bubble nets set up by others.

via How humpback whales catch prey with bubble nets.

I think this counts as advanced tool use.

David Duchovny And Tea Leoni Separate For Second Time In 3 Years

Author: Mack Rawden -

Tea Leoni and David Duchovny have separated for a second time. Their nearly fifteen year marriage famously suffered quite a setback in 2008 when the former X-Files star checked himself into sex rehab, but since he returned, there’s been surprisingly few tabloid headlines or embarrassing public spats. You never know what’s going on behind closed doors though.

According to TMZ, a source close to the couple broke the news but said the pair have not officially thrown in the towel. They’re going to take some time apart and then reevaluate to decide whether to divorce or give it another go. I really hope they give it another go.

There are three types of celebrity couples: the stable ones, the unstable ones and the trainwrecks. Obviously, as an outsider, it’s difficult to tell with one hundred percent certainty who falls where, but from watching people interact and knowing their back stories, you can usually get a rough idea. Duchovny and Leoni are definitely an unstable couple, but they’re still likeable enough together that I’m genuinely saddened by today’s news. …

via David Duchovny And Tea Leoni Separate For Second Time In 3 Years.

Good luck to them. Love is stubbly rubble road with potholes and the sudden toad.

Microsoft scores patent for web-based spying technology

Microsoft has been granted a patent for a technology that could create wiretaps for several kinds of Internet communications, including video and voice calls over Skype, which Microsoft acquired in May.

Federal law enforcement agencies have had difficulties tracking and recording criminal and terrorist conversations online. Back in September, it was reported that law enforcement officials wanted to expand the government’s powers to wiretap Internet services. Microsoft’s new technology could help make this a reality.

The spying technology, called “Legal Intercept,” allows currently existing products to be modified to “cause the communication to be established via a path that includes a recording agent,” according to the filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Once a connection is established, the agent is able to “silently record” a conversation.

The filing specifically calls out the ability to record any kind of voice-over-Internet-protocol (VoIP) communications. “VoIP may include audio messages transmitted via gaming systems, instant messaging protocols that transmit audio, Skype and Skype-like applications, meeting software, video conferencing software, and the like,” Microsoft said in the filing.

Microsoft filed for the patent in Dec. 2009, long before it acquired Skype. It’s possible Microsoft simply had this on the books so it could profit from licensing the technology to law enforcement agencies. Alternately, Skype’s purchase could have been a strategic buy to help test and deploy this new technology.

The Federal Trade Commission approved Microsoft’s $8.5 billion Skype purchase earlier this month, which inches it closer to completing the acquisition. Microsoft said it expects to close the deal by the end of the year. …

via Microsoft scores patent for web-based spying technology | VentureBeat.

Spying without reasonable cause to believe a crime is being committed is not permitted by the US constitution.

United States Constitution
Fourth Amendment

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. (emphasis added)

It is clear that the spying which will result from this patent will be a violation of persons, houses and effects against unreasonable searches without probable cause.

The photo I added above an example of the “terrorists” on Skype that the government will be watching and recording.  If Google’s slogan is “Don’t be evil.” what is Microsoft’s? Actually, it is this: “Be What’s Next.”  Great. Let’s all jump three steps ahead to totalitarianism.  That’s really cool technology, Microcreeper.

Space station has a near miss

One of the hundreds of thousands of pieces of space-age litter orbiting Earth zipped uncomfortably close to the International Space Station on Tuesday morning.

The six crew members of the Space Station took refuge in their “lifeboats” — two Soyuz space capsules they would use to escape a crippled station — as the unidentified object hurtled past them at a speed of 29,000 mph, missing the space station by only 1,100 feet. The episode took place at 8:08 a.m. Eastern time.

“We believe the probability that it would hit the station was about 1 in 360,” said Lark Howorth, who leads the team at NASA that tracks the space station’s trajectory.

NASA rules call for precautions when the risk of impact is greater than 1 in 10,000.

To prepare for a rapid departure, the clamps holding the Soyuz capsules to the station were released. “They would be one command away from releasing the hooks and undocking,” said Edward Van Cise, NASA’s lead flight director.

Mission controllers gave the all-clear signal four minutes later, and the crew members returned to work. There was no sign of damage or impact to the station.

It was only the second time in the 10-year history of people living on the space station that the crew needed to take such precautions; on March 12, 2009, a piece of an old satellite motor went zipping by.

If the station had been hit, the crew could have quickly undocked and returned to Earth.

Usually, when NASA gets a warning, several days in advance, that something that might come too close to the station, it moves the station by firing thrusters or use a space shuttle’s engines. That has happened 12 times.

This time, however, the warning came Monday evening, less than 15 hours in advance, too little time to plan a maneuver.

via Space station has a near miss – Times Union.

 

Poland’s Mysterious Crooked Forest

In a tiny corner of western Poland a forest of about 400 pine trees grow with a 90 degree bend at the base of their trunks – all bent northward. Surrounded by a larger forest of straight growing pine trees this collection of curved trees, or “Crooked Forest,” is a mystery. Planted around 1930, the trees managed to grow for seven to 10 years before getting held down, in what is understood to have been human mechanical intervention. Though why exactly the original tree farmers wanted so many crooked trees is unknown.

via Poland’s Mysterious Crooked Forest : Big Pic : Discovery News.

Theories?