In the name of God I Loot
A priest, Michael Jude Fay spent church money on limousines, stays at top hotels, jewelry, Italian clothing and a Florida condominium shared with the other man, auditors hired by the diocese found. About half the money he spent was kept in a secret bank account.
The report, which was limited to the past six years, calculated the “potential financial loss” at $1.4 million. The review also identified an additional $350,000 deposited in Fay’s personal account, but could not determine the source of the money. Fay also charged $500 when he gave lectures.
Read more @ CNN
In the name of God I Loot
A priest, Michael Jude Fay spent church money on limousines, stays at top hotels, jewelry, Italian clothing and a Florida condominium shared with the other man, auditors hired by the diocese found. About half the money he spent was kept in a secret bank account.
The report, which was limited to the past six years, calculated the “potential financial loss” at $1.4 million. The review also identified an additional $350,000 deposited in Fay’s personal account, but could not determine the source of the money. Fay also charged $500 when he gave lectures.
Read more @ CNN
Emotional Artwork
British and American computer scientists have developed artwork that interacts with the viewer’s emotions and changes according to how they feel. As the viewer’s expression changes from a scowl to a smile, the computer generated painting changes from a dark, somber image to a brightly-colored one.
“The programme analyses the image of eight facial expressions, such as the position and shape of the mouth, the openness of the eyes, and the angle of the brows, to work out the emotional state of the viewer,” said Dr John Collomosse of the University of Bath in southwest England.
Read Complete story @ AlJazeera
Google Open-Source hosting
Google has started an Open-source code hosting service. The largest Code/Open source software hosting firm is SourceForge.net and Google is aiming to reach such heights with its own Code.Google.com
Currently the site hosts APIs of all Google Tools, like AJAX search, maps etc. for easier implementation in your own softwares and websites. So, even if you are not aiming to host your software there yet!, you can still go here and get some code for yourself to implement cool Google gadgets in your app or website.
Visit Google Code @ Code.Google.com
Cancer fighting Game
Re-Mission is a 3D Third Person Shooter (like Advent Rising and the Grand Theft Auto series) in which the player controls Roxi – the aforementioned nanobot – in 20 missions to assist childhood cancer patients with their treatment. Designed by HopeLab, a PaloAlto CA “non-profit organization that combines rigorous research with innovative solutions to improve the health and quality of life of young people with chronic illness,”. The game is distributed free of cost to young cancer patients.
Re-Mission incorporates many of the weapons, items, missions to give them awareness of how to take care of themselves and importance of following doctors order and taking medicine and food at proper times. In other words, the game encouraged its players to be better patients, raising their odds of recovery, survival, and, well, remission.
Complete event coverage @ NewsVine
11 things men don’t tell their wives.
This MSN Lifestyle article has a humorous collection of “secrets” that men keep from their wives. And I think it is supposed to be kept that way till Armageddon hits (or it will hit earlier). The list contains items like:
- Yes, we fall in lust 10 times a day — but it doesn’t mean we want to leave you
- We actually do play golf to get away from you
- Earning money makes us feel important
- We don’t really understand what you’re talking about
- We are terrified when you drive
and the list goes on. Hehe! Really very interesting. And if you are a husband yourself why not read what secrets your wife keep from you? And do checkout the video of what happens after marriage.
11 “Dont-Tell-The-Wife” Secrets, all men keep @ MSN Lifestyles
11 “Dont-Tell-The-Husband” Secrets, all women keep @ MSN Lifestyles
After Marriage video @ Google Videos
Why guys prefer female characters in games
This Reuters article takes a look at why male players of MMOs (Massive Multiplayer Online Games) frequently decide to play as female characters:
In an About.com poll taken last summer, nearly two-thirds of the 920 respondents said they play characters of the opposite sex in online role-playing games. Kathryn Wright, WomenGamers.com’s consulting psychologist, earlier this decade found that 60 percent of male players who don female avatars, or on-screen personas, do it to gain an advantage in game play. An enthusiast with the online handle Jackpot649 nailed the Zeitgeist in his response to the About.com query: “I’m a guy, but if I gotta look at an avatar all day, I’d sooner look at a female avatar. Plus, people give you more free stuff.”
Well I don’t play MMORPGs, but when I play offline RPGs, I use female avatar… cause yup! a female avatar is easier on the eyes 
or even when I play Unreal Tournament I use female avatars for simple fact that they have slimmer body type making it harder for others to aim at. So, there you have it.. two reasons why Guy gamers use Female avatars even in offline mode
Read the complete article @ Reuters
Simulating Human Brain
Steve Furber of the University of Manchester is the head honcho of the Spinnaker (short for spiking neural network architecture) project, which seeks to better understand the complex interactions of brain cells in hopes of creating more “fault-tolerant computers.” Furber states that although we lose one neuron per second during our adult life (just think, you’ve already lost a couple dozen reading this post), yet our brains don’t suffer any catastrophic meltdowns or periods of underperformance because of it. Rather, the brain has an impeccable ability to disregard malfunctions and find alternate ways to function without throwing a theoretical BSOD. The Spinnaker computer consists of silicon chips containing 20 microprocessors, 19 of which will behave as neurons while the remaining processor records the activities. Each chip will replicate about 20,000 human neurons. The Spinnaker project is hoping to reach a functioning system containing 50 chips and a thousand processors within two years.
Read original story @ Engadget
Fire-fighting RoboSnake
A snakebot, named “Anna Konda” built by the Foundation for Industrial and Scientific Research in Norway (SINTEF) aims to do the dirt work for the fire fighters. The bot was assembled using 20 hydraulic motors powered by a regular fire hose, whose 100 bars of pressure give it enough strength to break through walls and even lift a car right up off the ground. Anna consists of ten segments containing angle sensors, two valves, and two motors each — rotating around orthogonal axes and wrapped in a tough steel exoskeleton — that are controlled by a computer to help her maneuver over numerous types of terrain. Besides providing support in dangerous situations like tunnel fires, SINTEF envisions future versions of Anna being used to locate and provide oxygen to earthquake victims or perform maintenance on underwater oil rigs. Pretty cool!
More @ Technology Trends
