YouTube - Patrick Stewart interview - Parkinson - BBC

YouTube - Patrick Stewart interview - Parkinson - BBC: "Patrick Stewart interview - Parkinson - BBC"


... on baldness.

A smile that will light up the night sky - National - smh.com.au

A smile that will light up the night sky - National - smh.com.au: "THE world may be facing its worst economic turmoil in decades, but the heavens are about to smile on Australia.

A rare cosmic alignment on Monday will produce a smiling face - or an emoticon, depending on your generation - high over the country.

From soon after 8pm until just before 11pm the planets Venus and Jupiter will stare down from the western sky like two brilliant eyes. Directly below, the crescent moon will form a happy mouth."

BBC NEWS | Special Reports | Audio slideshow: Inspired by Yiddish

BBC NEWS | Special Reports | Audio slideshow: Inspired by Yiddish

Alien-like Squid With "Elbows" Filmed at Drilling Site

Alien-like Squid With "Elbows" Filmed at Drilling Site: "A mile and a half (two and a half kilometers) underwater, a remote control submersible's camera has captured an eerie surprise: an alien-like, long-armed, and—strangest of all—'elbowed' Magnapinna squid."

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | 'Bad sex' book prize for Johnson

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | 'Bad sex' book prize for Johnson: "Author Rachel Johnson has been named as the winner of this year's Bad Sex In Fiction Award for a passage in her novel Shire Hell.

The winning section by Johnson, the sister of London Mayor Boris Johnson, includes the phrase 'and a strange animal noise escapes me'."

BBC - Newsbeat - Technology - Mafia 'mobile phone gun' seized

BBC - Newsbeat - Technology - Mafia 'mobile phone gun' seized: "A gun disguised as a mobile phone has been discovered by police in Italy.

The .22 calibre weapon was found during an early morning raid on a property near Naples.

...

Fully loaded, the gun's capable of firing four shots in quick succession through the antenna using buttons on the keypad as the trigger."

Big Bailouts, Bigger Bucks | The Big Picture

Big Bailouts, Bigger Bucks | The Big Picture: "The $4.6165 trillion dollars committed so far is about a trillion dollars ($979 billion dollars) greater than the entire cost of World War II borne by the United States: $3.6 trillion, adjusted for inflation (original cost was $288 billion).

Go figure: WWII was a relative bargain."

BBC NEWS | Technology | Compulsive gamers 'not addicts'

BBC NEWS | Technology | Compulsive gamers 'not addicts': "Ninety per cent of the young people who seek treatment for compulsive computer gaming are not addicted.

So says Keith Bakker the founder and head of Europe's first and only clinic to treat gaming addicts.

The Smith & Jones Centre in Amsterdam has treated hundreds of young gamers since the clinic opened in 2006.

But the clinic is changing its treatment as it realises that compulsive gaming is a social rather than a psychological problem.

Using traditional abstinence-based treatment models the clinic has had very high success rates treating people who also show other addictive behaviours such as drug taking and excessive drinking.

But Mr Bakker believes that this kind of cross-addiction affects only 10% of gamers. For the other 90% who may spend four hours a day or more playing games such as World of Warcraft, he no longer thinks addiction counselling is the way to treat these people."

BBC NEWS | Americas | Fake penis drug test pair guilty

BBC NEWS | Americas | Fake penis drug test pair guilty: "The makers of a prosthetic penis to help men cheat on drugs tests have pleaded guilty to two charges of conspiracy in a US federal court.

The two men, George Wills and Robert Catalano, had been selling the device - known as the Whizzinator - over the internet for three years.

The device was sold with a heating element and fake urine to help people test negative for illegal substances."

BBC NEWS | Africa | Audio slideshow: Body art behind bars

BBC NEWS | Africa | Audio slideshow: Body art behind bars: "The BBC's Mohammed Allie talks to photographer Araminta de Clermont and the subjects of her recent exhibition - former South African prisoners, whose tattoo-covered bodies reveal the story of life inside and its gang culture."

BBC NEWS | Europe | Spain city sets up solar cemetery

BBC NEWS | Europe | Spain city sets up solar cemetery: "A Spanish city has found an unusual place to generate renewable energy - the local cemetery.

Santa Coloma de Gramanet, near Barcelona, has placed 462 solar panels over its multi-storey mausoleums.

Officials say the scheme was initially greeted with derision, but families who use the cemetery eventually supported the idea following a public campaign.

There are now plans to erect more panels at the cemetery and triple the amount of electricity generated.

The cemetery was chosen for the project because it is one of only a few open, sunny places in the crowded city, which has a population of 124,000 crammed into 4 sq km (1.5 sq miles)."

BBC NEWS | Europe | European online library crashes

BBC NEWS | Europe | European online library crashes: "A new digital library launched by the European Union has crashed within hours of opening - forcing its closure.

The Europeana website was attracting more than 10 million hits an hour - more than double the number which had been anticipated.

The site includes paintings, photos, films, books, maps and manuscripts from 1,000 museums, national libraries and archives across Europe.

It is expected to reopen in December after technological improvements."

It's a great site. You should visit it when it gets back up and running... see also the Google Life archive. That's fabulous. http://images.google.com/hosted/life

BBC NEWS | Europe | Vatican 'forgives' John Lennon

BBC NEWS | Europe | Vatican 'forgives' John Lennon: "A Vatican newspaper has forgiven the late English singer John Lennon for saying four decades ago that The Beatles were more popular than Jesus.

In an article praising The Beatles, L'Osservatore Romano said Lennon had just been showing off."

Billions Of Particles Of Anti-matter Created In Laboratory

Billions Of Particles Of Anti-matter Created In Laboratory

e=mc2: 103 years later, Einstein's proven right - Yahoo! News

e=mc2: 103 years later, Einstein's proven right - Yahoo! News: "It's taken more than a century, but Einstein's celebrated formula e=mc2 has finally been corroborated, thanks to a heroic computational effort by French, German and Hungarian physicists."

newsobserver.com | Fishing party rescues dog a mile from land

newsobserver.com | Fishing party rescues dog a mile from land

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | IBM to build brain-like computers

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | IBM to build brain-like computers: "IBM has announced it will lead a US government-funded collaboration to make electronic circuits that mimic brains.

Part of a field called 'cognitive computing', the research will bring together neurobiologists, computer and materials scientists and psychologists."

BBC NEWS | UK | Northern Ireland | Shipwreck to escape sibling's shadow

BBC NEWS | UK | Northern Ireland | Shipwreck to escape sibling's shadow: "Forgotten by many and unheard of by most. Yet the sister-ship of the Titanic is starting to escape from the shadow of the iconic shipwreck.

HMHS Britannic was completed at Belfast's Harland and Wolff shipyard two years after Titanic was lost in 1912. But she in turn went to the bottom, the victim of enemy action in the First World War."

BBC NEWS | Technology | Online time 'is good for teens'

BBC NEWS | Technology | Online time 'is good for teens': "Surfing the internet, playing games and hanging out on social networks are important for teen development, a large study of online use has revealed.

The report counters the stereotypical view held by many parents and teachers that such activity is a waste of time."

BBC NEWS | Europe | Polish tests 'confirm Copernicus'

BBC NEWS | Europe | Polish tests 'confirm Copernicus': "Researchers in Poland say they have solved a centuries-old mystery and identified the remains of astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.

A comparison of DNA from a skeleton in Poland and strands of the astronomer's hair found in a book in Sweden almost certainly confirm it is his skeleton."

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Mammoth's genome pieced together

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Mammoth's genome pieced together: "A US-Russian team of researchers has pieced together most of the genome of a woolly mammoth, Nature journal reports.

The experts extracted DNA from samples of mammoth hair to reconstruct the genetic sequence of this Ice Age beast.

Though some stretches are missing, the researchers estimate that the genome is roughly 80% complete."

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Who doesn't have a belly button?

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Who doesn't have a belly button?: "The newspapers call it the 'riddle of the £2.5m beauty'. The beauty in question is Czech supermodel Karolina Kurkova. The riddle is her non-existent belly button.

Its absence was noticed this week when the 24-year-old graced a US catwalk for lingerie giant Victoria Secret. While most of us have an 'outie' or an 'innie', Ms Kurkova has a smooth indentation (although sometimes a tummy button is airbrushed onto her photos in post-production).

...

Ms Kurkova has not spoken publicly about how she came to have a smooth navel, and all her agent will say is 'she's not an alien'.

Some have no belly button as a result of the surgery needed to correct abdominal problems at birth, often either an umbilical hernia, or a condition known as gastroschisis - born with the stomach and intestines poking through a hole in the abdominal wall.

This is what happened to Rob Swainson, 26, of Bournemouth, who spent his very first hours in surgery to rectify this unfortunate mistake of anatomy. As a result, he has a cross-shaped scar in the middle of his tummy instead of a belly button.

"I thought about having one constructed when I was getting interested in girls, but not for long," he says, adding that people are more surprised by his scar than his lack of a navel. "You only have to look at Michael Jackson to realise it's probably best to live with what you've got."

"

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Four philosophical questions to make your brain hurt

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Four philosophical questions to make your brain hurt: "It's World Philosophy Day - an opportunity to contemplate one's very existence and whether computer monitors really exist"

BBC NEWS | Health | Windpipe transplant breakthrough

BBC NEWS | Health | Windpipe transplant breakthrough: "Surgeons in Spain have carried out the world's first tissue-engineered whole organ transplant - using a windpipe made with the patient's own stem cells.

The groundbreaking technology also means for the first time tissue transplants can be carried out without the need for anti-rejection drugs.

Five months on the patient, 30-year-old mother-of-two Claudia Castillo, is in perfect health, The Lancet reports.

She needed the transplant to save a lung after contracting tuberculosis."

BBC NEWS | Health | Windpipe transplant breakthrough

BBC NEWS | Health | Windpipe transplant breakthrough: "Surgeons in Spain have carried out the world's first tissue-engineered whole organ transplant - using a windpipe made with the patient's own stem cells.

The groundbreaking technology also means for the first time tissue transplants can be carried out without the need for anti-rejection drugs.

Five months on the patient, 30-year-old mother-of-two Claudia Castillo, is in perfect health, The Lancet reports.

She needed the transplant to save a lung after contracting tuberculosis."

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Doctor Who (before the Tardis)

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Doctor Who (before the Tardis): "Newly released documents, which reveal the 1960s conception of Doctor Who, show how nervous the BBC was about producing a sci-fi show, writes Tom Geoghegan.

The Doctor without his time-travelling police box is difficult to imagine, but its creators initially proposed he journey through space in an invisible machine covered in light-resistant paint."

BBC NEWS | UK | Wales | Kayakers' 300ft dam drop attacked

BBC NEWS | UK | Wales | Kayakers' 300ft dam drop attacked: "Extreme kayakers have been condemned for canoeing down a dam in west Wales.

A photographer captured the latest incident as one canoeist slid 300ft down the spillway at Llyn Brianne reservoir in Carmarthenshire, near the borders of Ceredigion and Powys.

Welsh Water said the practice was dangerous and such activities were banned at the reservoir."

BBC NEWS | Europe | Inmate escapes German jail in box

BBC NEWS | Europe | Inmate escapes German jail in box: "A manhunt is under way in western Germany for a convicted drug dealer who escaped by mailing himself out of jail.

The 42-year-old Turkish citizen - who was serving a seven-year sentence - had been making stationery with other prisoners destined for the shops.

At the end of his shift, the inmate climbed into a cardboard box and was taken out of prison by express courier. His whereabouts are still unknown."

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Hampshire | Mary Rose 'sunk by French cannon'

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Hampshire | Mary Rose 'sunk by French cannon': "Henry VIII's flagship Mary Rose was sunk by a French cannonball and this was covered up by political spin, according to a new academic study.

Until now it was believed a combination of wind and tide pressed Mary Rose over, causing her gun ports to flood in a 16th Century battle in the Solent.

But University of Portsmouth geographer Dominic Fontana said the truth was withheld to maintain the Navy's image.

Mary Rose sank with the loss of more than 400 lives on 19 July 1545.

By claiming the ship was toppled by wind and an incompetent crew, the Navy's supremacy was maintained, Henry VIII's pride remained intact and the French were unable to claim victory, said Dr Fontana."

BBC NEWS | Africa | Albino girl killed for body parts

BBC NEWS | Africa | Albino girl killed for body parts: "A six-year-old albino girl in Burundi has been found dead with her head and limbs removed, in the latest killing linked to ritual medicine.

Albinos in the region have been targeted because of a belief peddled by witchdoctors that their body parts can be used for magic potions.

The girl, who was attacked on Sunday, was the sixth person with albinism to be killed in Burundi since September."

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Shark-cam captures ocean motion

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Shark-cam captures ocean motion: "It is as thick as your arm, gungy and smells disgusting - and it has just been caught on camera for what is thought to be the first time.

A crew has managed to record a whale shark - the world's biggest fish - expelling food waste, which was then scooped up for research"

BBC NEWS | Americas | US Elections 2008 | Obama 'could stop using e-mail'

BBC NEWS | Americas | US Elections 2008 | Obama 'could stop using e-mail': "Experts say there is always a risk of digital communication being hacked into.

There is also the possibility that the location of a presidential mobile telephone could be tracked.

Benjamin Nugent, author of the book American Nerd, says the president-elect is a techie, who will have difficulty parting with his BlackBerry.

'It'll be interesting if we could see the torment on his face,' he told AP."

BBC NEWS | Europe | Russian church 'taken by thieves'

BBC NEWS | Europe | Russian church 'taken by thieves': "A 200-year-old church building has disappeared from a village in central Russia, officials from the Russian Orthodox Church say.

The building had stood near the village of Komarovo since 1809.

It was intact in July but some time in early October thieves made off with it brick by brick, they said."

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Exoplanets finally come into view

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Exoplanets finally come into view: "The first pictures of planets outside our Solar System have been taken, two groups report in the journal Science.

Visible and infrared images have been snapped of a planet orbiting a star 25 light-years away.

The planet is believed to be the coolest, lowest-mass object ever seen outside our own solar neighbourhood.

In a separate study, an exoplanetary system, comprising three planets, has been directly imaged, circling a star in the constellation Pegasus.

While several claims have been made to such direct detection before, they have later been proven wrong or await confirmation."

BBC NEWS | Health | Hair colour loss 'reversal hope'

BBC NEWS | Health | Hair colour loss 'reversal hope': "People whose hair has turned white because of illness or extreme stress are being offered hope that scientists may be able to reverse the process.

Researchers from Manchester University and Lubeck University, in Germany, used a molecule to stimulate the pigment responsible for hair colour.

But they said the technique still had to be tested on humans and would not reverse the natural greying process."

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Cairo bemused by German art stunt

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Cairo bemused by German art stunt: "A man apparently stuck to a wall with his bare hand sparked a brief emergency in central Cairo, before rescuers found out it was part of a German art show.

Installation artist Johan Lorbeer had harnessed himself to a fake hand secured high off the ground to the wall of the Goethe Cultural Centre.

He had already got down, leaving some clothing and the hand in place, when the emergency services arrived."

Ancient gags show nothing's changed | World News | News.com.au

Ancient gags show nothing's changed | World News | News.com.au: "A DIRECT ancestor of Monty Python's renowned 'Dead Parrot' sketch has been found in a book of jokes dating back to Greece in the fourth century AD.
A new English translation of Philogelos: The Laugh Addict contains a joke in which a man complains that a slave he has just bought has died.

'By the gods,' answers the slave's seller, 'when he was with me, he never did any such thing.'

In the Python sketch, written 16 centuries later, the shopkeeper claims the parrot, a 'Norwegian Blue,' is not dead, but just 'pining for the fjords.'

Other jokes in the book show that sex, nagging wives and passing wind have formed the basis of humour for centuries.

One example is: "A misogynist is attending to the burial of his wife, who has just died. When someone asks, 'Who is it who rests in peace here?', he answers, 'Me, now that I'm rid of her!'.""

BBC NEWS | Technology | Hordes greet Warcraft expansion

BBC NEWS | Technology | Hordes greet Warcraft expansion: "The second expansion pack for the fantasy role-playing online game the World of Warcraft has gone on sale.

More than 2,000 people waited outside an Oxford Street store in central London, in advance of a special midnight opening.

Similar launch events are being held in North America, Taiwan, and South Korea."

BBC NEWS | Technology | Google Earth revives ancient Rome

BBC NEWS | Technology | Google Earth revives ancient Rome: "Google has added a new twist to its popular 3D map tool, Google Earth, offering millions of users the chance to visit a virtual ancient Rome.

Google has reconstructed the sprawling city - inhabited by more than one million people as long ago as AD320.

Users can zoom around the map to visit the Forum of Julius Caesar, stand in the centre of the Colosseum or swoop over the Basilica."

8,000 Beduin stake their claim as the lost tribe of Barack Obama - Times Online

8,000 Beduin stake their claim as the lost tribe of Barack Obama - Times Online: "He has a host of relatives in exotic locations from Hawaii to Kenya, and during his run for the American presidency he discovered that he had an aunt living in Boston.

Now Barack Obama is being claimed by not one but as many as 8,000 Beduin tribesmen in northern Israel.

Although the spokesman for the lost tribe of Obama has yet to reveal the documentary evidence that he says he possesses to support his claim, people are flocking from across the region to pay their respects to the “Beduin Obama”, whose social standing has gone through the roof."

Sinfest

Sinfest: "Your Corporate Masters"

BBC NEWS | In Pictures | Day in pictures

BBC NEWS | In Pictures | Day in pictures: "German cyclists Robert Bartko (R) and his teammate Iljo Keisse enjoy a victory beer in Munich after winning a six-day tournament."

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | First Trek film footage unveiled

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | First Trek film footage unveiled: "Lost creator JJ Abrams has unveiled footage from his Star Trek prequel at a press event in London.

The clips featured US actor Chris Pine as the young Captain Kirk, Heroes star Zachary Quinto as Mr Spock and Simon Pegg as Enterprise engineer Scotty.

The audience also saw Leonard Nimoy reprise his role as the older Mr Spock in one of four excerpts from the film."

BBC NEWS | Europe | Mystery of lost US nuclear bomb

BBC NEWS | Europe | Mystery of lost US nuclear bomb: "The United States abandoned a nuclear weapon beneath the ice in northern Greenland following a crash in 1968, a BBC investigation has found."

Keith Olbermann's Prop 8 Special Comment: It's "About The Human Heart" (VIDEO)

Keith Olbermann's Prop 8 Special Comment: It's "About The Human Heart" (VIDEO)

watch the video...

Schwarzenegger: Since GOP Lost, I'm Allowed "Back Into The Bedroom"

Schwarzenegger: Since GOP Lost, I'm Allowed "Back Into The Bedroom": "Asked about who had bragging rights in the Schwarzenegger household, he also added that his wife has been 'gloating now for these last few days' and running around the house with a 'life-size cutout of Obama' saying, 'We won.'"

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Bristol/Somerset | Thief sent 'sorry' letter to shop

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Bristol/Somerset | Thief sent 'sorry' letter to shop: "The owner of an Indian food store in Bristol has received an apology letter and £100 from a former drug addict who stole cigarettes from the shop in 2001.

Imran Ahmed, 27, who runs Raja Foods in St Marks Road, Easton, said he was stunned to open the remorseful letter.

It begins: 'Dear Sirs, I am writing this letter to make amends to you for something I have done in the past.'

Mr Ahmed said the thief's change of heart was 'really good' and he intends to give the money to a drugs' charity."

BBC NEWS | Technology | Study shows how spammers cash in

BBC NEWS | Technology | Study shows how spammers cash in: "Spammers are turning a profit despite only getting one response for every 12.5m e-mails they send, finds a study."

Japanese researchers make brain tissues from stem cells

Japanese researchers make brain tissues from stem cells: "A handout released from Japan's natural science research center Riken shows a functional human brain tissue made from stem cells at their laboratory in Kobe. Japanese researchers said they had created functioning human brain tissues from stem cells, a world first that has raised new hopes for the treatment of disease."

Pilot blinded in mid-air guided to safety by RAF jet - Telegraph

Pilot blinded in mid-air guided to safety by RAF jet - Telegraph: "A man who had a stroke and went blind while flying a plane was guided safely to the ground by an RAF jet scrambled to come to his rescue."

Newburgh firefighter uses saw for delicate operation - RecordOnline.com - The Times Herald Record

Newburgh firefighter uses saw for delicate operation - RecordOnline.com - The Times Herald Record: "CITY OF NEWBURGH — A Newburgh firefighter became an ad hoc surgeon Friday, called upon to use a pneumatic saw to cut a piece of steel pipe off a 73-year-old man's penis."

BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Highlands and Islands | Smallest drive-in cinema attempt

BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Highlands and Islands | Smallest drive-in cinema attempt: "Organisers of a film festival plan to stage what they believe will be the world's smallest drive-in cinema - on a tiny car ferry.

The 1950s film, The Maggie, is to be shown on the ferry which runs between Cromarty and Nigg in the Highlands.

Tickets for only four passengers will be sold for the screening.

Dave Newman, of the Cromarty Film Festival, and ferry owner John Henderson have teamed up for the one-off event on 18 November.

The Maggie tells the story of the Scottish owner of a puffer boat.

Don Coutts, a film director who helps run the festival, said: "We wanted a sea-themed film, but decided against Titanic or The Poseidon Adventure. No need to frighten the audience." "

BBC NEWS | Africa | 'Can I find the words? Yes I can'

BBC NEWS | Africa | 'Can I find the words? Yes I can': "The word is 'woooooooooooooooooow'!"

Geek Trivia: The Altered States of America | Geekend | TechRepublic.com

Geek Trivia: The Altered States of America | Geekend | TechRepublic.com: "What three U.S. presidential elections would have placed an alternate candidate in the White House if less than 600 votes had been cast differently in each election?"

Brain Study Shows Fibromyalgia May Be All In The Head | Scientific Blogging

Brain Study Shows Fibromyalgia May Be All In The Head | Scientific Blogging: "Using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), researchers in France were able to detect functional abnormalities in certain regions in the brains of patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia, reinforcing the idea that symptoms of the disorder are related to a dysfunction in those parts of the brain where pain is processed."

M&Ms prove Darwin was right

:: rogerebert.com :: Opinion: "There can be only one."

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Saddam's luxury yacht up for sale

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Saddam's luxury yacht up for sale: "The Iraqi government is to sell a luxury yacht which was previously owned by the late leader, Saddam Hussein.

The 82m (270ft) Ocean Breeze is equipped with swimming pools, an operating theatre, a helipad and an escape tunnel leading to a submarine.

...

Brokers have suggested that in the current financial climate, it could be difficult to sell a vessel which is luxurious but not up to the standards of more modern yachts - it does not, for example, have a gym and boasts only one helipad.

However, offers are expected in the region of $35m (£18m), and one broker suggested the yacht's history could be "a good selling point"."

BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Dig finds camp of 'real Crusoe'

BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Dig finds camp of 'real Crusoe': "Archaeologists have unearthed evidence of the campsite of a marooned sailor who is said to have inspired the fictional castaway Robinson Crusoe.

The findings, carried in the journal Post-Medieval Archaeology, follow digs on a Pacific island west of Chile.

Daniel Defoe is believed to have based Crusoe on Alexander Selkirk, a Scotsman rescued from the island in 1709.

Evidence suggests the sailor built two shelters near a stream, with a look-out point to watch for approaching ships."

BBC NEWS | UK | Wales | E-mail error ends up on road sign

BBC NEWS | UK | Wales | E-mail error ends up on road sign: "When officials asked for the Welsh translation of a road sign, they thought the reply was what they needed.

Unfortunately, the e-mail response to Swansea council said in Welsh: 'I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated'.

So that was what went up under the English version which barred lorries from a road near a supermarket."

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | 'Grotesque' NZ pizza ads dropped

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | 'Grotesque' NZ pizza ads dropped: "A New Zealand pizza chain has withdrawn a Halloween promotion that showed skeleton animations of three deceased celebrities dancing on graves.

Hell Pizza's advert showed animations of Sir Edmund Hillary, actor Heath Ledger and the Queen Mother dancing to Michael Jackson's song Thriller.

The family of Mount Everest conqueror Sir Edmund, who died in January, said the ad was in 'extremely poor taste'.

Hell's Pizza apologised and said it did not mean to cause offence.

"Clearly he's revered in New Zealand and we all love him," spokesman Glenn Corbett said.

"The idea of Sir Ed being there was intended to be a light-hearted remembrance."

The firm is no stranger to controversy. Last year, it showed Hitler in a Nazi salute with a pizza in his hand. Previously, it has distributed condoms alongside its "Lust" pizza.

"

Keys Can be Copied From Afar, Jacobs School Computer Scientists Show [Jacobs School of Engineering: News & Events]

Keys Can be Copied From Afar, Jacobs School Computer Scientists Show [Jacobs School of Engineering: News & Events]: "UC San Diego computer scientists have built a software program that can perform key duplication without having the key. Instead, the computer scientists only need a photograph of the key."