Triangle-Shaped Flapjacks Banned, Starting At One School So Far

Recently a school in the UK has banned the cafeteria from serving their students triangle-shaped flapjacks. For those who don't know, flapjacks in the UK are baked "granola bars." The reason they are being banned is quite ridiculous but so is the proposal. One student got poked in the eye during a food fight. To go in further detail, the boy had a triangular shaped flapjack "hurled" at his face by another student. The boy had to be treated by the school nurse for having a "sore eye". The school then decided to take action and ban any triangle shaped foods from being made and fed to the students. Now only rectangular and square-shaped flapjacks can be made, however some critics say that square flapjacks have even more potential to be dangerous, with more pointed sides.

In my opinion maybe the school should focus on preventing food fights instead of the shape of foods. Everyone would benefit more...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/mar/25/essex-school-bans-triangular-flapjacks

Explosives, Weapons, Suicide?

The University of Central Florida recently reported and man in one of the dorms having a gun. When the police entered the premises of the dorm the man was reportedly living in, they found him dead, although unclear where exactly they found his body. From what they investigated the police believe it was a "self-inflicted gunshot wound". Not only did they find his body, but they also found explosives and firearms. However there was no written plan or manifesto that could have led up to the event of the man's death, or any plans for the weapons he was holding. The dorm was then evacuated for further investigation.
Authorities have interviewed witnesses that knew of the man and they confirmed that he was a student. Further reports have stated in more detail that the police found a handgun, an assault weapon, and explosive devices. Counseling is being provided for the dorm residents.


http://gawker.com/5991052/police-find-explosives-assault-weapon-in-dorm-room-of-student-who-committed-suicide

Sharper Mental Skills. Be a Soccer Player

New research has proven that "experienced soccer players have impressive brain functioning and executive-level cognitive skills." Researches at a London university are currently trying to find what makes one soccer player better than another. They started by placing 39 players of different skill and experience in an FMRI scanner. (functional magnetic resonance imaging) The machines had video monitors embedded in them to show video clips of a soccer player dribbling a ball at the person whose brain was being scanned at the time.
The study revealed  that soccer players with more experience and skill were more accurate at predicting the on-screen player's move. Noting that: "the better players showed more activity in the areas of the brain associated with high-level executive functioning and eye-muscle coordination than did the brains of less-experienced players."
Pro athletes process complex visual scenes faster than amateurs.
Daniel Bishop, author of the study done predicts: "we believe this greater level or neural activity is something that can be developed through high-quality training, so the next step will be to look at how the brain can be trained over time to anticipate the moves of opponents."

http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/stories/pro-soccer-players-have-sharper-mental-skills-than-most

Government Is Allowing Work On Deadly Pathogens

US scientists are allowed to proceed with research "on creating deadly mutant strains of Avian Flu and other dangerous pathogens."  Before they receive funding, the scientists must outline possible dangers of their research however on the bad side, they can now "freely publish their results and findings to the entire world."
These studies first began a year ago when a Dutch researcher had announced that he had created one of the most dangerous viruses in the world. A group of scientists at the University of Wisconsin had planned to perform a similar research intending to publish what they would find on "the deadliest pathogens".

The National Institute of Health has helped in making matters worse, allowing scientists to:
-Increase pathogenicity in mammals
-Disrupt the induction of a host's innate immunity
-Interfere with the effectiveness of an available vaccine
and -facilitate a viruses ability to evade detection methodologies

Michael Osterholm is an infectious disease researcher at the University of Minnesota and also a member of the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Bio-security disagreed with the government's decision to allow any of the research work to be published world-wide, which would allow any lab in the world to copy the same work. Supposedly "This kind of research is done to protect humanity against terrorist groups, groups which may or may not have the skills or resources to create these deadly, unstoppable diseases."

http://www.allvoices.com/news/14108312-us-government-allows-work-on-insanely-deadly-pathogens-to-proceed

Racist Airplane Passenger Slaps a Two-Year Old

On February 8th a man named Joe Rickey Hundley supposedly slapped a crying two-year-old toddler during a flight from Minneapolis to Atlanta. Something is wrong with this man... maybe a little mentally messed up!
BEFORE he assaulted the child, he "reportedly called the boy a nigger." The kid's mother told police her son was crying right before landing and Hundley was sitting next to her and then proceeded to slap the boy in his face, leaving a scratch under one of his eyes. Hundley had said to the woman "shut that (n-word) baby up". Afterwards the child was crying even more, well obviously because a random stranger just hit him in the face.  Other spectators on the plane claimed Joe reeked of alcohol and was stumbling around wasted.
If charged guilty of assault the man could face up to a year in prison.

He also lost his job at AGC Aerospace and Defense company, as the CEO and president released a statement that he is no longer employed with the company because his behavior is  "offensive and disturbing".

http://gawker.com/5984944/racist-airplane-passenger-who-allegedly-slapped-a-two+year+old-toddler-is-now-out-of-a-job

Software That Helps Governments Spy On You

"Riot" software was developed by the Massachusetts- based security firm. It's meaning: Rapid Information Overlay Technology. It was designed to "quickly mine various social networks for an individual user's data". It uses previous posts to predict future behavior/ or your location at any given time. This software is capable of many things, one of many being its capabilities to find the top 10 places a person visits most often.
Geotagged photos can be laid out on a map, making it extremely easy for people to track you and see where  you've been.
This spy software has not yet been sold to federal authorities or any law enforcement agencies. If it eventually is, will that be a violation of privacy? Will social security numbers or private financial data be in jeopardy?

"Riot is a big data analytics system design we are working on with industry, national labs and commercial partners to help turn massive amounts of data into usable information to help meet our nation's rapidly changing security needs,"

http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/11/3975904/riot-software-could-help-governments-spy-on-you-with-social-networks

Gaza; War On Twitter and The Freedom Of Information Online, Yes or No?

The year of 2012 was considered to be the first war waged through social media networks for the Arabs.
The Gaza war gave way to a glance at how Twitter has become the battle grounds of the region's first "hashtag war."  #PillarOfDefense (hashtag used by Israeli Army) against #GazaUnderSiege (hashtag used by Islamic Jihad expressing worries of the resistance in Gaza).
Tension rose quickly both politically and militarily. This "Twitter War" tracked military progress step by step.

My point: Social media is always hit hard and blamed for "provoking" problems. For example YouTube took a powerful blow to their credibility when a video "The Innocence of Muslims" was uploaded and viewed by the public. Some claimed YouTube was violating its own conditions for content exhibiting bigotry, incitement, and for being offensive and derogatory. "Google (owns YouTube) has fallen prey to the paradox of freedom with the Anti-Islam Movie"

What do you think about freedom of information online?


http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/culture/2012/11/media-war-in-gaza-conflict.html