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On Tuesday, British Oil Company BP said that its own investigation team has been discussing the results of investigations regarding the cause, or causes, of the Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico.  According to their preliminary analysis, the fire and subsequent oil spill on the horizon were caused by the failure of several different processes, systems, and equipment.

Although there were a number of control mechanisms, which included both procedures and equipment, that should have stopped the accident from occurring, (to put it bluntly) they did not.  Among these control mechanisms which are under investigation by BP include: cement intended to seal the reservoir from the well, pressure tests to insure that the well is sealed, an Emergency Disconnect System (EDS) which is activated by pushing one of many buttons located on the rig, and the execution of procedures meant to detect, and also control, hydrocarbons in the well.

BP’s self-investigation has been underway since April 21st, and is being carried out by the company’s Head of Group Safety and Operations.  The oil company’s current financial situation stands as such: on Monday, shares closed at 493 pence, which values the company at GBP92.63 billion.

Related posts:

1. Congress Investigates Johnson & Johnson
2. Workers On Oil Rig In The Gulf Injured From Blast
3. Oil rig explosion wounded leaves Deepwater Horizon

Content: Call of Duty 4
Price: Check pricing for your region
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions except Japan and United Kingdom
Dash Text: (Online Interactions Not Rated by the ESRB) This game supports English. Download the manual for this game by locating the game on http://marketplace.xbox.com and selecting “See Game Manual". The new action thriller from the award-winning team at Infinity Ward Inc., Call of Duty® 4: Modern Warfare™ delivers the most intense and cinematic action experience ever. The epic title also features the added depth of multiplayer action for an all-new community of persistent, addictive, and customizable gameplay. There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts.

 

Purchase Call of Duty 4 and add it do your Xbox 360 download queue

 

Content: Battlestations: Midway
Price: Check pricing for your region
Availability: All regions except India and Japan
Dash Text: (Online Interactions Not Rated by the ESRB) This game supports English, French, German, and Italian. Download the manual for this game by locating the game on http://marketplace.xbox.com and selecting “See Game Manual". An immense action game that drops players into the biggest air, sea and undersea battles of the Pacific War. There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts.

 

Purchase Battlestations: Midway and add it do your Xbox 360 download queue

 

Content: Battlefield 2: MC
Price: Check pricing for your region
Availability: Now available in Australia, Europe and New Zealand
Dash Text: Download the manual for this game by locating the game on http://marketplace.xbox.com and selecting “See Game Manual". Battlefield 2: Modern Combat explodes onto Xbox 360, bringing the field of battle to life like never before. Bullets whiz by and score the environments around you, spent minigun shells rain down from hovering helicopters, and explosions shatter your field of vision. Delivering the over-the-top action of the award-winning Battlefield™ franchise, Battlefield 2: Modern Combat lets you wage modern war your way. Battlefield 2: Modern Combat delivers the Battlefield franchise’s trademark multiplayer action on Xbox Live, delivering ferocious 24 player online battles. Fighting for one of 4 sides – the US, the European Union, the Chinese, or the newly formed Middle East Coalition – and armed with the latest modern weaponry, you are given full control over the 30+ vehicles in the game. Battlefield 2: Modern Combat also features an adrenaline-soaked single player campaign where

 

Purchase Battlefield 2: MC and add it do your Xbox 360 download queue

I (MrGeekTonic) started out being a little underwhelmed by GoogleTV’s announcement at first – much like my friend Dave Zatz, but I’ve been trying to keep an open mind about it and listening to those who are closer to the Google action to see what they think.  The following is a guest post by Sean Stuckless, someone who I respect a great deal because of his coding abilities (think SageTV Phoenix – stuff you may not realize yet but soon will) and also for his HTPC insight.  Read on for a look at GoogleTV from an attendee of the Google IO conference.

NOTE:  This is a guest post by Sean, a HTPC guru and developer.  Sean attended the GogleIO conference so I asked him to contribute his thoughts on GoogleTV.  Definitely a must-read for those interested in the future of TV – in particular GoogleTV’s vision.

This past week I had the pleasure of being one of the five thousand people to attend this year’s Google IO conference in San Francisco.  There were many highlights, such as releasing the VP8 codec and announcing Android 2.2, but something especially interesting to me was GoogleTV.  I had heard rumors about GoogleTV before, and the presentation on GoogleTV was not exactly impressive.   This was partly because of technical issues and the fact that this is a still a "concept" rather than a full featured product.  But the concept is intriguing.

GoogleTV – Android-Powered

If you are like me, then you have played with many different HTPC platforms over the years.  You routinely hear people asking to surf the net from their TV, and while Google decided to show off that feature, it wasn’t the ability to actually surf the net the got my attention.  It was the fact that GoogleTV is built on Android.  Android has a marketplace with 1000s of Applications, many of which will just run on the TV.  Android is a platform with a fast HTML5 capable browser.   Now, at the click of button, you have access to 1000s of applications and rich web applications from your TV, with a way to build a custom TV experience.
Applications can take over the viewing experience, such as a media library manager that will playback HD content from your HTPC server.  Or it may simply sit on top of your current show in some non-obtrusive way.  Consider as case where a twitter feed is displayed down the right hand side of the TV as you are watching American Idol.  You can now engaging your TV shows in way that you could never do before.  Or you are seeing real time content related to your shows as you watch them.

“I think the real potential here is the custom applications that you can access from your TV”

Being able to browse the web from your TV is fine, but I think the real potential here is the custom applications that you can access from your TV.  Install them, remove them; Applications for Media Management, News Feeds, Pod Casts, etc, all from your couch.  And, because it’s built on Android, it inherits the capabilities of the Android and Google Cloud platforms.  Consider a case where where you are sitting with your tablet in the living room, and you find a cool YouTube video.  Everyone could simply gather around the tablet and watch the video, or, you can send a message from the tablet to the TV and the TV will begin playing the YouTube video that you have selected in the Tablet.  This isn’t simply displaying your content of the tablet on the TV, or firing up a remote application on the Tablet, this is real device communication where one device, such as a Tablet, phone or pc, can send intelligent messages directly to your TV, and your TV will understand what to do with them.   Consider the flip side of this.  What if you were watching a youtube video on your TV, and you had to leave.  You can have your TV send a message from the TV to your Android phone where the phone would automatically start playing the current video from the TV at the current location in the video, but now on your phone, as you leave the house.  This is one the exciting features in the new Android 2.2 release, and it something that will make it’s way into GoogleTV. 

“Allowing your TV to become an extension of your existing devices”

GoogleTV is a much more innovative concept than simply watching the web on your TV, or searching for content from your TV, although that’s part of it.  GoogleTV is making your TV interactive in way that has never been done before, and allowing your TV to become an extension of your existing devices. 

 

 

About the author:  Sean got his first taste of computers at young age of 7, entering byte code from magazines on his VIC20.  Since that time he’s owned a Commodore64, a CoCo3, and numerous x86 machines (he currently have 7 active PCs in his home).   When he’s not working diligently for a large software corporation architecting software, he spends his spare time tinkering with his SageTV setup and writing code for various SageTV projects, include Sage Remote APIs, Batch Metadata Tools, and the ever so secret Phoenix Initiative (not to be confused with the Dharma Initiative).  Sean currently lives in a small city in Southwestern Ontario, and he’s really looking forward to Golf season to start.  At which time, his indoor hobbies take a backseat to great outdoors.

Found under: SPB, Software, Mobile Shell, Symbian, S60 5th,

Ever wanted to chose what to appear in your home screen Or to have a dynamic and easy access to your applications and utilities Want to personalize your Symbian touchscreen mobile phoneYou can have all this nowAnd even more…SPB Mobile Shell 3.5 for Symbian S60 5th edition released by SPB Software todayIt is a mobile shell that transforms completely your home screensNow you chose what to put on your home screen and what to leave for the other screens. The appl

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Read more in mobile format

South Korea’s President Lee Myoung-Bak has given support to officially reassuming the title of “main enemy” for their northern neighbors, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) according to reports. This comes after evidence has pointed towards North Korea as the culprit behind the sinking of the Cheosan, a South Korean naval ship.

President Lee, during a meeting with his senior staff, stated that South Korea has focused on exterior forces as opposed to threats closer to home: “Our military failed to clarify the notion of the main enemy for the past decade. We’ve been only focused on potential threats outside the Korean peninsula,” he stated.

This comes amidst other efforts to recognize the potential threats that may be posed by the North, including anti-submarine exercises with the US, a ban on DPRK access to South Korean waters, as well as stopping all bilateral trade between the two nations. The latter will prove to be the most decisive, considering the lack of trade partners for the North.

President Lee has attacked Pyongyang for their violations of UN sanctions as well as disregarding Korean War Armistice Agreement, and has warned that the South will not tolerate further violence.

President Lee also intends to increase the South’s self defence capabilities in case of further attacks by the DPRK and has threatened retaliations. In a nationally televised speech, the President expressed his strength as well as a stern warning to Pyongyang: “North Korea (DPRK) will pay a price corresponding to its provocative acts. I will continue to take stern measures to hold the North accountable.”

The term “main enemy” had been used officially since 1995, but was discarded in 2004 by Lee’s predecessor Roh Moo-Hyn. It was replaced with “direct military threat” amidst reconciliation efforts on both sides.

Related posts:

1. South Korea Accused North Korea for Firing Torpedo that Killed 46
2. South Korea Blames North Korea for Sinking Cheonan
3. South Korean-, North Korean situation from the point of view of the U.S.

Blogger Monkeyfister has been watching the BP Live Cam all week and commenting on strange disruptions and gas explosions.

His account suggests the situation is worse than BP is letting on, and it’s deteriorating: 

I’ve been watching the live Spillcam, and discussing it with folks, here all day long. About 5pm last night, we all started taking note of gas bubbling out of the seabed floor. It started earlier than that, actually– see pic a few posts down. About 1am this morning, the eruptions began to increase in spew volume.

At about 8am, CDT, as I watched, things started changing rapidly. Where the water around the two major gush points used to be very clear, it is now super turbid, and detritus is flying everywhere in a chaotic manner. seabed venting is obvious to see when ROV cameras pan around.

Yet-to-be-confirmed rumors are that the casing wall has finally worn through, about 300 feet below seabed, at an annulus (coupling), and the gas and oil are now finding a new way out to the seabed.

Not good news, as it will make the Top-Kill/Junk Shot nearly ineffectual… At the least, it means that more pressure and mud/cement is going to be required.

See Monkeyfister’s dramatic account  here –>

Can you really tell what’s going on in the grainy live cam image? Since the disruptions noted by Monkeyfister, BP has delayed Operation Top Kill and reduced estimates of the siphon collection rate.

Don’t Miss: Pictures Of A Louisiana Town Covered In Oil

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtGCaKyd_co

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TZe8dElMGU

PocketNow.com performed a series of mobile web browser speed tests between Android 2.2 (Froyo) on Nexus One, Safari on iPhone 3Gs and Opera 10 on HTC HD2 and showed overall Google’s claim that Froyo’s browser is the “fastest mobile web browser” may be true most of the time if you have Flash turned off.

Flash 10.1 beta for Android does give you more of a desktop experience however at the expense of slower page load, as the browser continues to load Flash content, as well as scrolling becomes choppy. Hopefully Adobe improves this and not give Apple more justification and ammunition in their spats.

[Via PocketNow]

Dos sentencias muy importantes en los últimos días para los que llevamos tiempo preocupados por los problemas legales derivados por comentarios en nuestros foros y blogs con la LSSICE. Hoy se ha conocido la de la Audiencia Provincial de Madrid, que da la razón Rankia por la denuncia que hizo Ausbanc, hace unos días otra del Tribunal Supremo en el caso QuejasOnline. En ambas sentencias se refleja que los prestadores de servicios de alojamiento no son responsables de los comentarios aportados por terceros y que por tanto no deben erigirse en jueces de los mismos.

Un respiro para muchos de los responsables de webs con participación de usuarios (blogs, foros, comunidades) y que vienen sufriendo una suerte de “matonismo judicial”: amenazas de meterte en litigios si no se borra todo lo que la marca aludido considere gravoso.

I didn’t have it when I put my piece to bed last night, but here it is. It’s short and straightforward. Repeal only takes effect after the Pentagon working group on implementing a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal delivers its recommendations in December and the president, the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff give their assent to how that internal Pentagon process will proceed.

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) will introduce this language into the Senate Armed Services Committee’s mark-up of the fiscal 2011 Defense Authorization Act on Wednesday. He has the support of chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.); Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Penn.) for a complementary measure in the House version of the bill during this week’s floor debate; and, finally, the White House.

But while the press today might be writing that the White House deal means the fight is effectively over, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal activists are just gearing up for a grueling week. As I wrote in my piece, the Human Rights Campaign is putting millions of dollars and tons of locally based effort around the country into urging wavering senators on the committee to vote for Lieberman’s text and for the House amendment. Michael Cole of the Human Rights Campaign noted to me yesterday that “even though we have some outstanding congressional leaders, our issues are continually ones that require education and making sure members understand these issues and why it’s important to protect the community.”

Here’s the text of the Lieberman amendment:

Committee Amendment Proposed by Mr. Lieberman
At the appropriate place in title V, insert the following:

SEC. [ARM10802]. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE POLICY CONCERNING HOMOSEXUALITY IN THE ARMED FORCES.

(a) COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A REPEAL OF 10 U.S.C. § 654.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—On March 2, 2010, the Secretary of Defense issued a memorandum directing the Comprehensive Review on the Implementation of a Repeal of 10 U.S.C. § 654 (section 654 of title 10, United States Code).
(2) OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE OF REVIEW.—The Terms of Reference accompanying the Secretary’s memorandum established the following objectives and scope of the ordered review:
(A) Determine any impacts to military readiness, military effectiveness and unit cohesion, recruiting/retention, and family readiness that may result from repeal of the law and recommend any actions that should be taken in light of such impacts.
(B) Determine leadership, guidance, and training on standards of conduct and new policies.
(C) Determine appropriate changes to existing policies and regulations, including but not limited to issues regarding personnel management, leadership and training, facilities, investigations, and benefits.
(D) Recommend appropriate changes (if any) to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
(E) Monitor and evaluate existing legislative proposals to repeal 10 U.S.C. § 654 and proposals that may be introduced in the Congress during the period of the review.
(F) Assure appropriate ways to monitor the workforce climate and military effectiveness that support successful follow-through on implementation.
(G) Evaluate the issues raised in ongoing litigation involving 10 U.S.C. § 654.

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by subsection (f) shall take effect only on the date on which
the last of the following occurs:
(1) The Secretary of Defense has received the
report required by the memorandum of the Secretary referred to in subsection (a).
(2) The President transmits to the congressional defense committees a written certification, signed by the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stating each of the following:
(A) That the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have considered the recommendations contained in the report and the report’s proposed plan of action.
(B) That the Department of Defense has prepared the necessary policies and regulations to exercise the discretion provided by the amendments made by subsection (f).
(C) That the implementation of necessary policies and regulations pursuant to the discretion provided by the amendments made by subsection (f) is consistent with the standards of military readiness, military effectiveness, unit cohesion, and recruiting and retention of the Armed Forces.

(c) NO IMMEDIATE EFFECT ON CURRENT POLICY.— Section 654 of title 10, United States Code, shall remain in effect until such time that all of the requirements and certifications required by subsection (b) are met. If these requirements and certifications are not met, section 654 of title 10, United States Code, shall remain in effect.

(d) BENEFITS.—Nothing in this section, or the amendments made by this section, shall be construed to
require the furnishing of benefits in violation of section 9 7 of title 1, United States Code (relating to the definitions of “marriage” and “spouse” and referred to as the “Defense of Marriage Act”).

(e) NO PRIVATE CAUSE OF ACTION.—Nothing in this section, or the amendments made by this section, shall be construed to create a private cause of action.

(f) TREATMENT OF 1993 POLICY.—
(1) TITLE10.—Upon the effective date established by subsection (b), chapter 37 of title 10, 18 United States Code, is amended—
(A) by striking section 654; and (B) in the table of sections at the beginning of such chapter, by striking the item relating to section 654.
(2) CONFORMINGAMENDMENT.—Upon the effective date established by subsection (b), section ARM10802 S.L.C. 571 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 (10 U.S.C. 654 note) is amended by striking subsections (b), (c), and (d).

Myths that home prices rise forever and interest rates stay low forever are alive and well in Australia. Please consider this amazing story of corporate insanity as described in the Sunday Telegraph – Revealed: The home loan that could save you a fortune.

ING Direct, Australia’s fifth largest lender, is preparing to sell loans that have no fixed term and no requirement to repay any capital along the way.

At current rates, the interest-only loans would cut repayments on a $300,000 mortgage by $5000 a year.

“People are needlessly being denied the chance to buy a property while prices spiral rapidly out of their reach” ING Direct CEO Don Koch said. “There is an urgent need to provide more affordable options and borrowers should be able to choose whether they want to repay the capital, or not.”

Mr Koch wants to position the bank as a “mortgage partner for life”, with borrowers carrying the same interest-only loan from property to property for as long as they wish, accumulating equity from rising house prices as they go.

Then, as they near retirement, they could sell their property for a big enough profit to pay off the original loan and buy a smaller place outright, leaving them mortgage-free. Or, they could keep the mortgage going and repay the original capital from their estate, after death.

Banks already offer interest-only loans, but borrowers often are allowed to keep them only for five to 10 years. Then they must start paying the capital.

But ING says this preoccupation with paying off the loan is unnecessary.

“There is no economic reason for banks to insist on regular capital repayment,” Mr Koch said. “It just makes the loan more expensive for the borrower.

Financial comparison website InfoChoice CEO Shaun Cornelius said the move was a welcome innovation: “Depending on the size of the loan, it could add hundreds of thousands of dollars to a borrower’s cash flow over their lifetime.”

Economic Idiocy

Koch’s proposal, seconded by CEO Shaun Cornelius of InfoChoice, is economic idiocy at its finest. No one “saves” anything by not paying down mortgages, the money is simply spent (most likely wasted) elsewhere. Moreover, home prices do not perpetually go up.

The US housing market has without a doubt proven both statements.

Ask any homeowner in the US who is headed for retirement and severely underwater on their home what they think of Koch’s hypothesis.

With so many underwater mortgages, only a complete fool think estates would be in a position to repay the original capital from their estate, after death, especially in countries where the bubble has not yet popped, such as Australia, Canada, and China.

Of all the proposals to keep the housing bubble alive in Australia, especially in light of what has happened in the US, this idea from ING needs to go straight to the top of the idiotic ideas list.

ING Direct CEO Don Koch is testament to the idea “there is always the greater idiot who never learns a thing from history, who instead proposes to do something that the market has recently proven preposterous.”

Simple Questions

By the way Mr. Koch, I have a few simple questions for you:

Are you aware of what interest rates were in the 1970’s and 1980’s?

“What happens when interest rates rise, perhaps even double, and your borrowers struggle to make even the interest payments?”

Alternatively, “Are you dumb enough to offer low rates forever?”

Either way. Mr. Koch, you and your banks are screwed, and it should not take a genius to figure that out.

This guest post previously appeared at the author’s blog, Global Economic Analysis >

Join the conversation about this story »

Might this be the last stand for the BOLT browser for BlackBerry? RIM figures to debut OS 6.0 next month when AT&T releases the Bold 9800 slider, which brings along with it a Webkit browser. From what we’ve seen so far, it looks like a pretty significant improvement over the current default browser, and might make life tougher for third party browser developers. BOLT has created a quality BlackBerry browsing experience, and has continually pumped out new and improved versions. Their latest, version 2.1, continues on those improvements. I just wonder if it will hold up once RIM has a better native browser.

(more…)

Yet another EV in the automotive market with a clean and green act, the Nido EV is here, by Pininfarina. This is the first baby to roll out of the Nido Development Program by the Pininfarina Style and Engineering Centre of Cambiano in Turin. The car is a prototype, and uses a 30 kW, 125 N·m (92 lb-ft) synchronous permanent magnet motor. To power this up, the Nido EV uses a 21.2 kWh, 278V Zebra Z5 Ni-NaCl battery. With a charge time of just 8 hours, the car has a drivable range of 140 km (87 miles). The needle goes all the way up to 120 km/h (75 mph) with just 6.7 seconds required to accelerate from zero to 60kmph.

The Nido uses a tubular steel frame and a structure adaptable to four different vehicles, a 2-seater, a 2+2, a pickup and a light van. Two more versions, a bit larger than the prototype will crop up too, one with a front engine and rear motor and the second with an electric front motor. The Nido EV is yet another green car for a greener drive.

[GreenCarCongress]

Economists fear that, due to market pressures, some heavily indebted European nations may adopt excessive austerity measures on the back of aid packages intended to help the countries recover from the global recession.  Olivier Blanchard, the chief economist for the International Monetary Fund, said “there is indeed a risk that, under market pressure, some countries overdo austerity,” and furthermore that, “That would be a mistake.”

The austerity measures adopted by Greece on the back of the joint Euro-IMF bailout, due to the severity of Greece’s debt problems, have been purported to be quite severe; however, Blanchard believes that other indebted European nations, such as Italy and Spain, should not need to impose such severe measures.

“Markets tend to lump a series of countries in the same basket. In fact, other European countries don’t need to take the same draconian measures as Greece to reduce their budget deficits,” said Blanchard.  “They are more credible to start with, with less debt, and they can afford a more gradual adjustment to limit the negative impact of consolidation on short-term growth.”  One interesting question could be asked on the back of this: was it not the IMF that imposed such severe austerity measures on Greece in the first place?

Related posts:

1. Greeks Riots Could Damage Tourism
2. Renewed Fears Over Greek Economy, Asian Shares Drop
3. Euro Bounces Back, But Investors Still Cautious

LG’s 47 and 55-inch 3DTVs haven’t even gone on sale yet, but already they’re taunting us with an 84-inch ultra high-definition 3D screen with massive 3,840 x 2,160 resolution. More »










Television – Arts and Entertainment – Backlight – Sony – Arts

Miley may not be interested in all the merriment that comes along with being on a college campus, but Jamie Lynn Spears is defying the teen mom odds and pursuing her dream of a higher education. Word on the Curb is Jamie Lynn’s mom, Lynn, met with Real Housewives star Jill Zarin — whose daughter Ally is college-bound this fall — for advice on the application process.

Jamie Lynn, 18, is the mom of daughter Maddie — who is almost two.

Last week was a big one for Google fans in higher education. Google Wave opened its doors, and Google Voice now lets students get calls forwarded from their old numbers to their new phones.

Google made one more announcement last week—about a new course-scheduling system, CloudCourse—that could potentially have implications for higher education.  CloudCourse is integrated with Google Calendar and allows users to schedule classes, look up user profiles, and sync the service’s data with internal university systems. CloudCourse was built entirely on Google’s App Engine, which allows users to build and host Web apps. Google hopes that CloudCourse can serve as an example of how to use the App Engine.

via Google Launches New Course-Scheduling System – Wired Campus – The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Google went with an unprecedented move on Friday by celebrating the Pac-Man’s 30th birthday with a fully functional game on the Google homepage. The move proved a huge success, prompting the company to continue to offer the Pac-Man custom homepage at a permanent location. It was such a huge success, apparently, that people forgot about their work a… (read more)

by Kenneth Anderson

In the extensive and sometimes heated arguments over universal jurisdiction, Judge Baltasar Garzon, and national courts such as those of Spain, often missing is much scholarly information on the actual evolution and state of Spanish domestic law on universal jurisdiction, certainly in English and accessible to English language scholars.  Ignacio de la Rasilla del Moral, a Spanish academic (apparently currently in the US), has put up on SSRN a discussion of the evolution – rise and fall – of universal jurisdiction law in Spain, up to mid-2009 and proposed revisions to the Spanish law.  The Swan Song of Universal Jurisdiction in Spain, 9 International Criminal Law Review (2009) 777-808.  I have various disagreements with the way that the article treats international law aspects of crimes subject to universal jurisdiction, but overall it is a very helpful addition to the scholarship for English language scholars seeking to understand what it means inside domestic Spanish law.  The abstract is below the fold.

On 29 April 2009 the Spanish National Court opened a cause against the “perpetrators, the instigators, the necessary collaborators and accomplices” of alleged tortures at the Guantanamo camp and other overseas detention facilities. Before examining how these and other causes currently opened in Spain under the principle of universal jurisdiction enshrined by Art. 23.4 of the Organic Law of the Judicial Branch (LOPJ) are likely to be affected by the legislative reform of that very provision approved by the Spanish Congress of Deputies on 25 June 2009, we will first examine the sinuous – and now dramatically indicative in retrospect – jurisprudential evolution of the treatment of the principle of universal justice by Spanish Courts since the Constitutional Court enshrined a doctrine of unconditional universal jurisdiction in its widely celebrated Guatemala Genocide case in June 2005. Th is is complemented by an overview of the cases that, jurisdictionally based on the principle of universal justice enshrined by Article 23 of the LOPJ, are still currently open (from e.g., Tibet to Rwanda or Gaza) before Spanish Courts.

In addition, set against the background provided by the release of the four so-called “torture memos” by the Obama Administration in April 2009, there is a brief examination of the possibilities of jurisdictional prosecution of both the perpetrators and those who formulated the legal guidance authorizing the “enhanced interrogators techniques” in both the U.S. domestic law system and international legal jurisdictional settings, including at the ICJ level. Eventually, an examination of the hasty procedure through which the new relevant Spanish provision in this area has been adopted and the legal effects, with reference to cases currently opened before the Spanish courts, of the newly reformed article give place to a brief reflection on the prospects of international law in the age of an emerging new international judiciary in view of thestructural deficit of mechanisms of participatory democracy on the domestic plane with relevance in the international realm as dramatically epitomized at this juncture by the Spanish legal system.

Classifieds are important especially for people who intend to buy and sell stuff. Classifieds can sometimes act as advertisements for individual who intends to sell stuff so that the prospective and interested buyer can view the details of the products and the potential of transactions might occur because of this classified. There are different types of classifieds that are currently available and some of the most common one is the newspaper classifieds and the online classifieds.

Some classifieds are charged but there are some newspapers or websites are offering free classifieds for the registered user or subscribers to post the classifieds. The most common types of free classifieds that can be usually viewed are the car classifieds where registered users of websites or magazines’ subscribers can advertise the car for sale at zero cost. One reason why free car classifieds are preferred because usually the seller is selling his car for another one. So it will not make sense for people to pay for a service which might cost more than the selling price.

Another free classifieds that we always see is the real estate classifieds. People also preferred using free real estate classifieds service because real estate is expensive and it might takes quite a while before there is any potential transaction.

Finally, there are also job classifieds where companies who have intention to hire new staff can advertised the posts available in these companies and interested potential employee can read about the jobs requirement and then apply for the post.

Tags: World, Free, classifieds, ads, advertising, buy, sell, second hand, cars, real estate, personals, pets, animals

Alright, so it’s one thing to leave your highly confidential unreleased phone in a bar after a night of drinking because its your birthday and you want to forget your woes, but leaving it in a Gym?  What, you worked out so hard you became euphoric and it slipped your mind?  That’s what Gizmodo is saying happened with the latest yet-to-be-released device they’ve uncovered.  The device in question is what we’ve been referring to as the Motorola DROID Shadow.  It has also been known as the Nexus Two in the past and is said to have the following specs:

• 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen
• 8MP Camera with autofocus
• microSD up to 32GB
• Android 2.2 
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
• Bluetooth 2.1

According to the story, the gym employee who (was snooping around) found the device confirmed that it comes with 16GB of internal storage, a Snapdragon processor, HDMI port, 8MP camera and 4.3 inch touchscreen.  So far it’s looking like the information above is lining right up.  As you might expect the device mysteriously became locked not long after the gym employee found it, but he managed to scope out a text message that somehow confirmed it was an unreleased device before that happened.

I’m not really sure what to think of all these people “leaving behind” their secretive devices, so why don’t you just tell me what to think in the comments!

Via Gizmodo