Singer at Jays game botches both anthems

A pair of bungled anthem renditions had Jeff Fuller looking for the quickest way off the infield at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium on Wednesday.

When he made it off the field, the disconsolate singer found Blue Jays manager John Gibbons waiting with a handshake.

"Poor guy, [he had] nowhere to hide" Gibbons said later. "I admire him for sticking [it] out there and doing it."

After a pause during his botched first attempt, Fuller tried to restart O Canada but the crowd continued singing without him. The U.S. anthem also had its problems.

Several Toronto players laughed, including third baseman Brett Lawrie, who is from Langley, B.C.

Tweeted Lawrie: "Ahah how bout the guy singing the national anthems today ?? Ahah woee boyy."

Things didn't get much better for the Jays, who lost 10-1 to Houston.

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Kim Jong-un, Dennis Rodman bond over basketball

Ex-NBA star Dennis Rodman met North Korea's Kim Jong Un on Thursday on the third day of his improbable journey to Pyongyang, telling the leader "You have a friend for life," a delegation spokesman said.

Rodman and Kim sat side by side at an exhibition game in Pyongyang on Thursday, chatting as they watched players from North Korea and the U.S. play in mixed teams, Alex Detrick, a spokesman for the New York-based VICE media company, said.

Rodman later addressed Kim before a crowd of thousands, telling him, "You have a friend for life," a delegation spokesman said.

The encounter makes Rodman the most high-profile American to meet with the young North Korean leader, said to be an avid basketball fan, and comes at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Pyongyang.

North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test two weeks ago, making clear the provocative act was aimed at sending a warning to the United States.

Rodman, three players from the professional Harlem Globetrotters exhibition team, and a VICE television crew are in Pyongyang to shoot a documentary about North Korea for HBO.

Thursday's game in a packed gymnasium ended in a 110-110 draw, with two Americans playing on each team alongside North Koreans, Detrick said.

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'Jesus Jeans' spark legal battle over Christ's name

Should the word "Jesus" be protected from trademark on the grounds of religion, or are all words fair game when it comes to business? (Shaun Lowe / iStock)An Italian denim brand called "Jesus Jeans" won't turn the other cheek when it comes to its competition using the Lord's name.

After years of fighting to trademark the word "Jesus," the company was granted exclusive rights to it by the US Patent and Trademark Office in 2007.

Now, its taking legal action against anyone in the United States who attempts to start an apparel line with "Jesus" in the title, claiming it a matter of brand integrity.

Virginia entrepreneur Michael Julius Anton recently found this out the hard way when he tried to trademark his Christian t-shirt and surf accessory line "Jesus Surfed."

According to the Wall Street Journal, Anton received an email from Jesus Jeans' parent company BasicNet SpA asking him to abandon his application in November.

"If you do not agree, then Jesus Jeans reserves its right to an accounting/damages and all other appropriate relief with respect to your trademark and trademark application," it read.

Anton plans to hire a lawyer and fight the infringement claim, but if history is a good indicator, it won't be an easy case to win.

Since 2007, BasicSpa has successfully taken on and companies named "Jesus First," "Sweet Jesus," and "Jesus Couture," among others. All abandoned their trademark efforts after being warned that they could be sued for damages.

"If somebody--small church or even a big church--wants to use 'Jesus' for printing a few T-shirts, we don't care," said Domenico Sindico, an attorney working for BasicNet said to the Wall Street Journal.

The commercialization of such apparel, however, "that's a concern," he said, likening the company's claim over 'Jesus' to Nike's use of the goddess of victory in its name.

While BasicNet doesn't have the physical likeness of Jesus trademarked, their trademark on the word Jesus itself covers clothing and sportswear, including jackets, vests, shirts, pants and belts within the U.S.

Attempts to trademark Jesus in numerous other countries around the globe such as Germany, Ireland, Turkey, China, Switzerland, Norway, Cuba and Australia have proven unsuccessful, but Jesus Jeans is registered through the European Union as a "Community Trademark," making it valid across the EU.

In 2003, Britain's patent office rejected their application as "morally offensive to the public."

The Canadian Trade-marks Database shows no that no application has ever been submitted to trademark Jesus Jeans in Canada.

What are your thoughts? Should the word "Jesus" be protected from trademark on the grounds of religion, or are all words fair game when it comes to business?

Should a company be able to trademark the word 'Jesus?'

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Hamilton teen's video of a lucky basketball shot goes viral

video

Josh can't dunk but he's got game

CBC News

Posted: Feb 27, 2013 9:16 AM ET

Last Updated: Feb 27, 2013 10:32 AM ET

 

Josh Allinott didn't think he was good enough to try out for his high school's basketball team this year, but a lucky shot captured on camera show's he's got game.

The 17-year-old grade 11 student at Ancaster's Bishop Tannos Catholic Secondary School posted a now-viral video on YouTube. Josh won't be in the NBA slam dunk competition any time soon. He tried three times to dunk and failed.

You'll have to watch to see what happens when he gives up and walks towards his camera to stop documenting his failed attempts.

"I was with some friends playing pick up and dunked during the game," Allinott told CBC Hamilton. "They left and I tried to see if I could dunk again."

Alone in the school gym, Allinott placed his iPhone on the bleachers and hit record, trying to capture proof that he could in fact dunk a basketball.

The result may have been better.

"A lot of people have seen it at school," he said. "They think it's really funny... a cool shot."

Allinott posted the video in November and the last time he checked, it only had 1200 views. But his gym teacher recently alerted him to its popularity - it's gained over 100,000 views in the past week.

"I was freaking out when I found out," Allinott said.

Next year, he might even try out for the basketball team again.

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Cape Breton amateur weather man is a viral video star

A Cape Breton man, who has become an internet weather-broadcasting sensation, has received tens of thousands of hits on his YouTube videos.

At a young age, 28-year-old Frankie MacDonald fell in love with the weather. He said he has always wanted to be a weather man.

"I like it, I like when people say, 'Frankie you are doing a great job, doing the weather.'"

Frankie MacDonald is an amateur weather-man with big numbers on YouTube.

Frankie is not only popular in his hometown of Sydney but his amateur weather broadcast has become something of a sensation on the internet.

His YouTube videos have tens of thousands of hits and he has more than 4,600 followers on Twitter. One of his videos has been viewed more than 86,000 times.

Frankie's Blogspot site, which he designed himself, has also received thousands of hits.

Frankie tweets and produces a weather forecast that's uploaded to YouTube daily. He said he likes to keep people informed.

"I look it up on dozens of other websites — and watching TV and made me interested in weather," he said.

"When there's a big storm coming or heat wave, all the other stuff, you have to be prepared. During heat waves — bottled water, sun screen, wearing hats and sun glasses — drink lots of bottled water."

Frankie has autism and some YouTube commenters don't appreciate his unique take on the weather.

Darlene MacDonald, his aunt, said Frankie loves everyone and she can't understand why some people post rude comments and poke fun at Frankie's expense.

"Anybody who has autistic children would know how hurtful some people can be. Just give them a little reminder like I did when I saw two girls picking on him, I said, 'How would you feel if that was your [brother]?' Let people think on that before they're mean to somebody else," said MacDonald.

"It's very, very hurtful. They wouldn't speak like that if it was their relative or their son, basically they don't know what autism is and they don't realize [those with autism] have feelings too."

MacDonald said when it comes to technology, Frankie is gifted.

"To him, that's his life. He lives for it. I don't think, if he didn't have the weather to do, I wouldn't know what he would do with himself. He be bored basically," she said.

MacDonald said, what she finds challenging on a computer, Frankie does with very little effort.

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Dennis Rodman worms his way into North Korea

Former NBA star Dennis Rodman brought his basketball skills Tuesday and flamboyant style — tattoos, nose studs and all — to a country with possibly the world's strictest dress code: North Korea.

Landing in Pyongyang with VICE television, the American athlete and showman known as "The Worm" became an unlikely ambassador for sports diplomacy at a time of heightened tensions between the U.S. and North Korea.

Rodman is joining three members of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team and a VICE correspondent for a news show on North Korea that will air on HBO later this year, VICE told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Tuesday before they landed.

Rodman and VICE said the Americans hope to engage in a little "basketball diplomacy" by running a basketball camp for children and playing with North Korea's top basketball stars — and, they hope, drawing leader Kim Jong-un to a game. Kim is said to be a huge basketball fan.

'He looks like a monster!'—North Korean citizen, on Rodman

"Is sending the Harlem Globetrotters and Dennis Rodman to the DPRK strange? In a word, yes," said Shane Smith, the VICE founder who is host of the upcoming series, referring to North Korea by the initials of its formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "But finding common ground on the basketball court is a beautiful thing."

Rodman might seem an odd fit for North Korea, where men's fashion rarely ventures beyond military khaki and where growing facial hair is forbidden. Though there's a burgeoning fashion sense among the women of Pyongyang, the men in this conservative society still tend to dress austerely: khaki work suits, military uniforms, dark blue Mao-style suits or Western-style suit jackets.

In contrast, Rodman was a poster boy for flashy excess during his heyday in the 1990s. He called his 1996 autobiography Bad as I Wanna Be — and showed up wearing a wedding dress to promote it.

Shown a photo of a snarling Rodman, piercings dangling from his lower lip and two massive tattoos emblazoned on his chest, one North Korean in Pyongyang recoiled and said: "He looks like a monster!"

But Rodman is also a Hall of Fame basketball player and one of the best defenders and rebounders to ever play the game. During a storied, often controversial career, he won five NBA championships.

Rodman well-behaved

On Tuesday, Rodman, now 51, was low-key and soft-spoken in cobalt blue sweatpants and a Polo Ralph Lauren cap. There was a bit of flash: white-rimmed sunglasses and studs in his nose and lower lip. But he told AP he was there to teach basketball and talk to people, not to stir up trouble.

Showier were three Harlem Globetrotters dressed in fire-engine red. Rookie Moose Weekes flashed the crowd a huge smile as he made his way off the Air Koryo plane.

"We use the basketball as a tool to build cultural ties, build bridges among countries," said Buckets Blakes, a Globetrotters veteran. "We're all about happiness and joy and making people smile."

Darren Prince, Rodman's agent, said Rodman "knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have a fun shoot around playing basketball and would give him the chance to speak directly to Kim [Jong-un] that the only way to go is with peace not war."

It's the second high-profile American visit this year to North Korea, a country that remains in a state of war with the U.S. It also comes two weeks after North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test in defiance of UN bans against atomic and missile activity.

Google's executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, made a surprise four-day trip to Pyongyang, where he met with officials and toured computer labs in January, just weeks after North Korea launched a satellite into space on the back of a long-range rocket.

Washington, Tokyo, Seoul and others consider both the rocket launch and the nuclear test provocative acts that threaten regional security.

North Korea characterizes the satellite launch as a peaceful bid to explore space, but says the nuclear test was meant as a deliberate warning to Washington. Pyongyang says it needs to build nuclear weapons to defend itself against the U.S., and is believed to be trying to build an atomic bomb small enough to mount on a missile capable of reaching the mainland U.S.

Irreverent journalism

VICE, known for its sometimes irreverent journalism, has made two previous visits to North Korea, coming out with the VICE Guide to North Korea. The HBO series, which will air weekly starting April 5, features documentary-style news reports from around the world.

The U.S. State Department hasn't been contacted about travel to North Korea by this group, a senior administration official said, requesting anonymity to comment before any trip had been made public. The official said the department does not vet U.S. citizens' private travel to North Korea.

Promoting technology and sports are two major policy priorities of Kim Jong-un, who took power in December 2011 following the death of his father, Kim Jong-il.

Along with soccer, basketball is enormously popular in North Korea, where it's not uncommon to see basketball hoops set up in hotel parking lots or in schoolyards. It's a game that doesn't require much equipment or upkeep.

The U.S. remains Enemy No. 1 in North Korea, and North Koreans have limited exposure to American pop culture. But they know Michael Jordan, a former teammate of Rodman's when they both played for the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s.

Dennis Rodman, shown at Pyongyang's airport, said he has no special antics up his sleeve. (Kim Kwang-hyon/Associated Press)

During a historic visit to North Korea in 2000, then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright presented Kim Jong-il, famously an NBA fan, with a basketball signed by Jordan that later went on display in the huge cave at Mount Myohyang that holds gifts to the leaders.

North Korea even had its own Jordan wannabe: Ri Myong Hun, a 7-foot-9 star player who is said to have renamed himself "Michael" after his favourite player and moved to Canada for a few years in the 1990s in hopes of making it into the NBA.

Even today, Jordan remains well-loved here. At the Mansudae Art Studio, which produces the country's top art, a portrait of Jordan spotted last week, complete with a replica of his signature and "NBA" painted in one corner, seemed an odd inclusion among the propaganda posters and celadon vases on display.

An informal poll of North Koreans revealed that "The Worm" isn't quite as much a household name in Pyongyang.

But Kim Jong-un, also said to be a basketball fanatic, would have been an adolescent when Rodman, now 51, was with the Bulls, and when the Harlem Globetrotters, an exhibition basketball team, kept up a frenetic travel schedule worldwide.

In a memoir about his decade serving as Kim Jong-il's personal sushi chef, a man who goes by the pen name Kenji Fujimoto recalled that basketball was the young Kim Jong-un's biggest passion, and that the Chicago Bulls were his favourite.

The notoriously unpredictable and irrepressible Rodman said he has no special antics up his sleeve for making his mark on one of the world's most regimented and militarized societies, a place where order and conformity are enforced with Stalinist fervour.

But he said he isn't leaving any of his piercings behind. "They shouldn't be scared of a few piercings."

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Winnipeg pub's bill calls couple 'last weirdos'

A Winnipeg man has accepted an apology from a local pub after a bill identified him and his girlfriend as the "last weirdos."

Bryan Douglas said he and his girlfriend were out with 40 friends on Thursday night at The Wood Tavern and Grill.

"We were just a group of people sitting around, talking, listening to the music," Douglas told CBC News.

Douglas said he was taken aback when he noticed the derogatory remark.

A spokesperson for the restaurant told CBC News they are embarrassed by the incident and that the employee in question has been appropriately disciplined.

They've offered an apology to Douglas, and he's accepted.

Still, he said, the experience has taught him a lot.

"It has opened my eyes to what people can say and what does get said when you're not paying attention," he said.

However, Roger Le Bleu, the owner of Lovey's BBQ in Winnipeg, says a restaurant shouldn't be judged by the actions of an individual employee.

"You can't be there every minute of the day to censor what they're saying, what they're doing or how they act," he said.

Customer Brent Harris said the apology was warranted: "You're just out to have a good time with your family and you get insulted?"

In December, a similar case made global headlines when an employee at a restaurant in California labelled three women as "fat girls."

With files from the CBC's Kiran Dhillon

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Razzies put bite on Twilight as worst picture

The Twilight team finally has earned some love — or loathing — from Team Razzies.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2 was picked as last year's worst picture Saturday by the Razzies, an Academy Awards spoof that hands out prizes for Hollywood's lousiest movies on the eve of the Oscars.

The finale to the blockbuster supernatural romance dominated the Razzies with seven awards, including worst actress for Kristen Stewart, supporting actor for Taylor Lautner, director for Bill Condon and worst screen couple for Lautner and child co-star Mackenzie Foy.

Adam Sandler was named worst actor for the raunchy comedy That's My Boy, his second-straight win after 2011's Jack and Jill, which swept all 10 Razzie categories a year ago. Pop singer Rihanna won worst supporting actress for the action dud Battleship.

Twilight movies had been well represented in Razzie nominations over the years but had not won any key awards there. Razzie voters joke that as with The Lord of the Rings finale winning best picture at the Academy Awards, they were waiting for the last Twilight flick on which to heap their scorn.

"I have a pet theory, which is that the box office on Twilight films is very impressive, but my theory is that instead of 40 million individual girls going to see it, it's 8 million girls going to see it five times each. People who love those movies just adore them," said Razzies founder John Wilson.

"I believe the attitude of people who really love Twilight movies toward this subject is very similar to the pomposity with which the Academy Awards addresses the whole rest of the world. Our whole existence is all about making fun of pompous, so Twilight really is right up our alley."

The Twilight finale also won for worst screen ensemble and worst remake, rip-off or sequel. For worst picture, it beat out Battleship, That's My Boy, the family flick The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure and Eddie Murphy's comedy flop A Thousand Words.

Stewart's worst-actress prize came for both Twilight and her fairy-tale update Snow White and the Huntsman.

In the five Twilight movies, Stewart stars as sullen teen Bella Swan, who falls for ageless vampire hunk Edward Cullen (worst-actor nominee Robert Pattinson) and finds herself at the centre of a love triangle with him and her childhood pal, werewolf stud Jacob Black (Lautner).

Stewart set a consistent standard of emotional stoniness throughout the Twilight movies, Wilson said.

"Acting should involve having an expression on your face, and she is blank, other than the morose kind of half-Goth thing her character does," Wilson said. "I didn't realize Snow White and Bella were soul sisters, because of the very limited range of what she can do. I think it was Dorothy Parker who said about Katharine Hepburn that she runs the 'gamut of emotions from A to B.' Kristen Stewart is so expressionless she might as well be a brick wall."

Sandler's That's My Boy, which also won the worst-screenplay Razzie, flopped at the box office and continues a gradual decline in receipts for the comic actor's movies.

"He's an enormous star who is on what I call the 'down-alator' of his career," Wilson said. "He's about to step off the same cliff Eddie Murphy stepped off about 10 years ago. Eddie Murphy has never come back, and Murphy is more talented."

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Winnipeg pub's bill calls couple 'last weirdos'

A Winnipeg man has accepted an apology from a local pub after a bill identified him and his girlfriend as the "last weirdos."

Bryan Douglas said he and his girlfriend were out with 40 friends on Thursday night at The Wood Tavern and Grill.

"We were just a group of people sitting around, talking, listening to the music," Douglas told CBC News.

Douglas said he was taken aback when he noticed the derogatory remark.

A spokesperson for the restaurant told CBC News they are embarrassed by the incident and that the employee in question has been appropriately disciplined.

They've offered an apology to Douglas, and he's accepted.

Still, he said, the experience has taught him a lot.

"It has opened my eyes to what people can say and what does get said when you're not paying attention," he said.

However, Roger Le Bleu, the owner of Lovey's BBQ in Winnipeg, says a restaurant shouldn't be judged by the actions of an individual employee.

"You can't be there every minute of the day to censor what they're saying, what they're doing or how they act," he said.

Customer Brent Harris said the apology was warranted: "You're just out to have a good time with your family and you get insulted?"

In December, a similar case made global headlines when an employee at a restaurant in California labelled three women as "fat girls."

With files from the CBC's Kiran Dhillon

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Razzies put bite on 'Twilight' as worst picture

The Twilight team finally has earned some love — or loathing — from Team Razzies.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2 was picked as last year's worst picture Saturday by the Razzies, an Academy Awards spoof that hands out prizes for Hollywood's lousiest movies on the eve of the Oscars.

The finale to the blockbuster supernatural romance dominated the Razzies with seven awards, including worst actress for Kristen Stewart, supporting actor for Taylor Lautner, director for Bill Condon and worst screen couple for Lautner and child co-star Mackenzie Foy.

Adam Sandler was named worst actor for the raunchy comedy That's My Boy, his second-straight win after 2011's Jack and Jill, which swept all 10 Razzie categories a year ago. Pop singer Rihanna won worst supporting actress for the action dud Battleship.

Twilight movies had been well represented in Razzie nominations over the years but had not won any key awards there. Razzie voters joke that as with The Lord of the Rings finale winning best picture at the Academy Awards, they were waiting for the last Twilight flick on which to heap their scorn.

"I have a pet theory, which is that the box office on Twilight films is very impressive, but my theory is that instead of 40 million individual girls going to see it, it's 8 million girls going to see it five times each. People who love those movies just adore them," said Razzies founder John Wilson.

"I believe the attitude of people who really love Twilight movies toward this subject is very similar to the pomposity with which the Academy Awards addresses the whole rest of the world. Our whole existence is all about making fun of pompous, so Twilight really is right up our alley."

The Twilight finale also won for worst screen ensemble and worst remake, rip-off or sequel. For worst picture, it beat out Battleship, That's My Boy, the family flick The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure and Eddie Murphy's comedy flop A Thousand Words.

Stewart's worst-actress prize came for both Twilight and her fairy-tale update Snow White and the Huntsman.

In the five Twilight movies, Stewart stars as sullen teen Bella Swan, who falls for ageless vampire hunk Edward Cullen (worst-actor nominee Robert Pattinson) and finds herself at the centre of a love triangle with him and her childhood pal, werewolf stud Jacob Black (Lautner).

Stewart set a consistent standard of emotional stoniness throughout the Twilight movies, Wilson said.

"Acting should involve having an expression on your face, and she is blank, other than the morose kind of half-Goth thing her character does," Wilson said. "I didn't realize Snow White and Bella were soul sisters, because of the very limited range of what she can do. I think it was Dorothy Parker who said about Katharine Hepburn that she runs the 'gamut of emotions from A to B.' Kristen Stewart is so expressionless she might as well be a brick wall."

Sandler's That's My Boy, which also won the worst-screenplay Razzie, flopped at the box office and continues a gradual decline in receipts for the comic actor's movies.

"He's an enormous star who is on what I call the 'down-alator' of his career," Wilson said. "He's about to step off the same cliff Eddie Murphy stepped off about 10 years ago. Eddie Murphy has never come back, and Murphy is more talented."

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World's 'worst tattoo' fixed for free

CBC News Community team, from left to right: Andrew Yates, Lauren O'Neil, Andrea Bellamare, John Bowman (Not shown: Andrea Lee-Greenberg, on leave)

If you're part of the CBC News community, you're likely to meet one of us: we're the folks working to produce and promote your stories. Read more about us.

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Winnipeg pub's bill calls couple 'last weirdos'

A Winnipeg man has accepted an apology from a local pub after a bill identified him and his girlfriend as the "last weirdos."

Bryan Douglas said he and his girlfriend were out with 40 friends on Thursday night at The Wood Tavern and Grill.

"We were just a group of people sitting around, talking, listening to the music," Douglas told CBC News.

Douglas said he was taken aback when he noticed the derogatory remark.

A spokesperson for the restaurant told CBC News they are embarrassed by the incident and that the employee in question has been appropriately disciplined.

They've offered an apology to Douglas, and he's accepted.

Still, he said, the experience has taught him a lot.

"It has opened my eyes to what people can say and what does get said when you're not paying attention," he said.

However, Roger Le Bleu, the owner of Lovey's BBQ in Winnipeg, says a restaurant shouldn't be judged by the actions of an individual employee.

"You can't be there every minute of the day to censor what they're saying, what they're doing or how they act," he said.

Customer Brent Harris said the apology was warranted: "You're just out to have a good time with your family and you get insulted?"

In December, a similar case made global headlines when an employee at a restaurant in California labelled three women as "fat girls."

With files from the CBC's Kiran Dhillon

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William Shatner leads effort to name Pluto's moon Vulcan

CBC News Community team, from left to right: Andrew Yates, Lauren O'Neil, Andrea Bellamare, John Bowman (Not shown: Andrea Lee-Greenberg, on leave)

If you're part of the CBC News community, you're likely to meet one of us: we're the folks working to produce and promote your stories. Read more about us.

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Fingerprint purchasing technology ensures buyer has a pulse

Futurists have long proclaimed the coming of a cashless society, where dollar bills and plastic cards are replaced by fingerprint and retina scanners smart enough to distinguish a living, breathing account holder from an identity thief.

What they probably didn't see coming was that one such technology would make its debut not in Silicon Valley or MIT but at a small state college in remote western South Dakota, 40 kilometres from Mount Rushmore.

Two shops on the School of Mines and Technology campus are performing one of the world's first experiments in Biocryptology — a mix of biometrics (using physical traits for identification) and cryptology (the study of encoding private information). Students at the Rapid City school can buy a bag of potato chips with a machine that non-intrusively detects their hemoglobin to make sure the transaction is legitimate.

Researchers figure their technology would provide a critical safeguard against a morbid scenario sometimes found in spy movies in which a thief removes someone else's finger to fool the scanner.

On a recent Friday, mechanical engineering major Bernard Keeler handed a Red Bull to a cashier in the Miner's Shack campus shop, typed his birthdate into a pay pad and swiped his finger. Within seconds, the machine had identified his print and checked that blood was pulsing beneath it, allowing him to make the buy. Afterward, Keeler proudly showed off the receipt he was sent via email on his smartphone.

Tests for a pulse

Fingerprint technology isn't new, nor is the general concept of using biometrics as a way to pay for goods. But it's the extra layer of protection — that deeper check to ensure the finger has a pulse — that researchers say sets this technology apart from already-existing digital fingerprint scans, which are used mostly for criminal background checks.

Al Maas, president of Nexus USA — a subsidiary of Spanish-based Hanscan Indentity Management, which patented the technology — acknowledged South Dakota might seem an unlikely locale to test it, but to him, it was a perfect fit.

"I said, if it flies here in the conservative Midwest, it's going to go anywhere," Maas said.

Maas grew up near Madison, S.D., and wanted his home state to be the technology's guinea pig. He convinced Hanscan owner Klaas Zwart that the 2,400-student Mines campus should be used as the starter location.

The students all major in mechanical engineering or hard sciences, which means they're naturally technologically inclined, said Joseph Wright, the school's associate vice president for research-economic development.

"South Dakota is a place where people take risks. We're very entrepreneurial," Wright said.

After Maas and Zwart introduced the idea to students this winter, about 50 stepped forward to take part in the pilot.

"I really wanted to be part of what's new and see if I could help improve what they already have," said Phillip Clemen, 19, a mechanical engineering student.

'Any security measure can be defeated; it's a question of making it harder.'—Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst

Robert Siciliano, a security expert with McAfee, Inc., minimized potential privacy concerns.

"We are hell bent on privacy issues here in the U.S. We get all up in arms when someone talks about scanning us or recording our information, but then we'll throw up everything about us on Facebook and give up all of our personal information for 10 per cent off at a shoe store for instant credit," he said.

Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union, said fingerprint technology on its own raises security issues, but he called "liveness detection" a step in the right direction.

"Any security measure can be defeated; it's a question of making it harder," he said.

The key to keeping biometric identification from becoming Big Brother-like is to make it voluntary and ensure that the information scanned is used exactly as promised, Stanley said.

Brian Wiles, a Miles mechanical engineering major, said it's exciting to be beta testing technology that could soon be worldwide.

"There was some hesitation, but the fact that it's the first in the world — that's the whole point of this school," said Wiles, 22. "We're innovators."

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Cattle lead Edmonton police on merry chase

Cattle that were on the lam in north Edmonton were back in captivity Wednesday evening after an effort that tied up police and wildlife officials for hours.

The first animal, believed to be a steer, was captured within a couple of hours but it took until nearly 6 p.m. until a bull that was released to lead the first animal back to captivity was finally tranquilized and loaded into a trailer.

The day-long saga began just after 7 a.m. when police were called an area near the Belvedere LRT station after reports that a cow escaped from Edmonton Custom Packers.

The niche packer slaughters animals according to Islamic tradition, said employee Mohammed Jomha.

The animal escaped through an open gate, said Jomha, who laughed at the attention garnered by the incident.

"In Lebanon, if a beef ran away on the street, nobody cares," he said.

Officers play rodeo clowns as they try capturing an escaped steer in north Edmonton Wednesday. (Tim Adams/CBC News)

"What I saw here — all policemen, helicopters, everybody saying, 'Stay here, stay here.' It's unbelievable. It's a very, very good country."

The testy bovine charged a police car, damaging the cruiser while climbing over it.

It rammed the vehicle several times before officers could chase it into a fenced-off field in an industrial area, said spokesperson Clair Seyler.

At one point during the roundup, the bull was set loose in an attempt to lure and control the steer. It failed, and the bull was loose for hours in a field near the LRT station.

Over the noon hour, another plan was hatched — release more cows, with the understanding that it's easier to manoeuvre cattle in a group.

The animals would then be rounded up using snowmobiles.

The original rogue animal was eventually coaxed into a cattle truck after a couple of hours but the bull was still on the loose.

A trail of hay was laid to an open trailer in hopes that bull would wander back into captivity. A passerby volunteered to help rope the animal but that didn't work either. Sirens and horns were used to get the bull to move without success.

Then late in the afternoon, two cows were brought in to help attract the bull — though this time they were tied up.

Eventually, veterinarian Rick Faintuck used a tranquilizer gun to subdue the animal.

The bull was then scooped up in a front-end loader, put into a trailer and driven away.

Faintuck wasn't surprised that the bull was resistant to all attempts to bring it under control.

"If you have a bull, a herd animal, alone, they're jazzed up anyway. Then when you put him in unfamiliar surroundings, he's more jazzed up," he said. "In his circumstance, he may have felt aggressive."

Faintuck says the bull may have earned itself a temporary reprieve from the slaughterhouse as it will take about six months for the drugs to get through its system.

[View the story "Cow and bull on the loose in Edmonton" on Storify]

With files from the CBC's Janice Johnston and The Canadian Press

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Seals offer glimpse into human sleep

Scientists are learning more about how sleep works by studying seals.

Researchers from the University of Toronto and the University of California say that fur seals sleep with half their brain at a time. "The left side of their brain can sleep while the right side stays awake," said Professor John Peever, in a news release from the University of Toronto.

"Seals sleep this way while they're in water, but they sleep like humans while on land. Our research may explain how this unique biological phenomenon happens."

The researchers are studying the chemicals active in seals' brains to help solve the mystery of how and why humans sleep.

Their study, published in this month's Journal of Neuroscience identified chemical cues that allow the seal brain to remain half awake and asleep. The findings may explain the biological mechanisms that enable the brain to remain alert during waking hours and go off-line during sleep.

The study's first author, University of Toronto PhD student Jennifer Lapierre found that acetylcholine – an important brain chemical – was at low levels on the sleeping side of the brain but at high levels on the waking side. But the study also showed that another important brain chemical – serotonin – was present at the equal levels on both sides of the brain whether the seals were awake or asleep.

It is estimated that about 40 per cent of North Americans suffer from sleep problems and understanding brain chemicals "could help solve the mystery of how and why we sleep" said Jerome Siegel of UCLA's Brain Research Institute.

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Nudes check out nudes at Austrian museum

These museum goers didn't just leave their coats at the coat check. They handed over their shirts, trousers and underwear.

Everything, in fact, except their shoes and socks. After all, the stone floor can get chilly when you're touring an art exhibit in the nude, which was what more than 60 art lovers did in a special after-hours showing at Vienna's prestigious Leopold museum.

For many, the tour of Nude Men from 1800 to Today — an exhibit of 300 paintings, photographs, drawings and sculptures focused on the bare male — was a goose-bump-raising instance of life imitating art.

"I can't say I'm sweating," said office worker Herbert Korvas as he stood waiting in the atrium with other young men, wearing only socks, sneakers and a smile. Despite the cold, he said he was drawn to the idea of naked museum viewing "because it was something different."

'We got requests from all over the world from people who were inspired by the exhibition ... who asked us, "Can we visit the exhibition naked?"'—Museum spokesman Klaus Pokorny

But after a while it really wasn't. With no other viewers around, nude quickly became the new normal as the visitors quickly gathered around a — dressed — exhibition guide and moved slowly from one art work to the next, listening intently to their history.

And they weren't the first visitors to get naked either, despite the hoopla around the event that drew dozens of reporters and camera teams from Austria and elsewhere.

A man had already stripped at the exhibition of pictures and sculptures in November, calmly sauntering through the exhibition and dressing again only after a security guard asked him to do so. That act made news — and sparked demand for Monday's all-nude showing, said museum spokesman Klaus Pokorny.

"We got requests from all over the world from people who were inspired by the exhibition ... who asked us, 'Can we visit the exhibition naked?"' he said.

Mostly male museum goers

On Monday, interest was definitely skewed along gender lines. Irina Wolf smiled as she looked around at the mostly male crowd lining up for tickets.

The posters advertising the Leopold exhibit, which began in October, sparked some complaints. The museum added red tape to cover the sensitive parts of the nude men depicted in the promotional posters. (Ronald Zak/Associated Press)

"I'm at a big advantage here," she said. "Only men around."

While Wolf said she is not someone who regularly strips in public places, the 40-something computer engineer and occasional theater critic, said "I want to see how I relate to such a group."

For others, Monday's event fulfilled a long-cherished wish — even though they had a hard time explaining why.

Florian Kahlenberg from Munich said he found it "interesting to stroll through a museum naked," adding. "I've always wanted to do that."

Few visitors, naked or dressed, have complained about the show, despite some explicit material showing sexual acts. Described as among the most successful ever staged by the Leopold, it has drawn well over 100,000 people.

That fits with Vienna's relaxed attitude. Its turn-of-the-century decadence allowed Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt to flourish, and the Leopold itself has a world-class collection of those and other artists known for their explicit depiction of the flesh.

But the Austrian capital's acceptance of nudity goes beyond museum exhibits. Thousands of men, women and children skinny dip daily in the Danube along stretches reserved for them during the summer, while racy lingerie ads dot huge billboards across the city all year round and a mass-circulation daily regularly prints photos of half-naked women.

Still, there are limits to Viennese tolerance. The Leopold was forced into cover-up mode last year after complaints over promotional posters plastered city-wide that showed three young and athletic men of different races wearing nothing but blue, white and red socks and soccer boots.

Swaths of red tape were subsequently placed over their sensitive parts.

22.55 | 0 komentar | Read More

Hélène Campbell dances with Ellen DeGeneres

Ottawa's Hélène Campbell and Ellen DeGeneres shared their long-awaited on-screen dance on Tuesday.

The double-lung transplant recipient was finally able to take up the talk show host and comedian's offer to visit her Los Angeles set, just about a year after she first spoke to DeGeneres on the show.

The Barrhaven native, 21, danced her way onto the set, got a big hug from the host and talked about the effect that Ellen has had on her life.

"I can't believe I'm here," Campbell said on Tuesday's episode. "The first time I talked to you . . . I had to get my oxygen turned up because you took my breath away."

Auctioning Bieber's underwear

Campbell received her new lungs in April and had been invited to come for the season-opening show in the fall, but she was still unable to travel.

She shot to fame early last year for her successful campaign to get Justin Bieber to tweet in support of organ donation awareness, around the same time she moved to Toronto to await a transplant.

Her original plan was to get DeGeneres to do the same, but the show's producers one-upped that goal by surprising her on air over Skype.

On Tuesday, DeGeneres said Justin Bieber had signed a pair of underwear that she'd be auctioning off to help support organ donation.

Two blog posts with organ donation information were also posted to the show's website, including one on Campbell's "Give 2 Live" campaign for the Toronto General Hospital.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper took note on his Twitter feed, posting the message: "Great to see @alungstory recovering and enjoying her time on @TheEllenShow. She is an inspiration."

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Harlem Shake meme obscuring dance's history, critics argue

Students at the University of British Columbia are among the many groups who have uploaded their own version of the Harlem Shake dance craze. (Hollis Mason/YouTube)

The wildly popular Harlem Shake meme has wiggled its way into the mainstream, as thousands work to one-up each other in the now distinct internet dance craze.

But critics worry that the style and history of the original Harlem Shake have been lost in the shuffle.

A search for "Harlem Shake" on YouTube now yields over 8,000,000 results - and counting - as versions of the meme and "best of" compilations continue to flood the web.

The formula is now familiar to millions: a lone dancer is seen gyrating to an upbeat electronic track by DJ and music producer Baauer. When the song speeds up and the beat drops, the dancer is suddenly surrounded by a euphoric crowd - many carrying props or wearing outlandish outfits. Most of the videos are only 30 seconds long.

More than 25,000 Harlem Shake videos have been posted since early February, according to YouTube, and now everyone from seniors and swim teams to newscasters and policy wonks have uploaded their interpretations of the trend.

Compilations like the one embedded below, provide a quick overview.
 

Original Harlem Shake buried

Those searching for "original Harlem Shake" online are likely to discover the 2013 video by comedian and vlogger Filthy Frank, who uploaded the first Baauer-fuelled video at the tail end of January - and not the shoulder-popping dance with roots in Harlem from the early '80s.

Hayes Brown, a reporter and blogger with ThinkProgress.org, worries that older references to the dance have been pushed out of search engine results at a time when most people get their information from simple Google searches.

The meme first caught his eye when the Norwegian army's Harlem Shake video went viral.

Brown, who expected to see the "smooth choreography" he witnessed in his high school days in Flint, Mich., said he felt disappointed to see the soldiers "flailing" to an electronic song he'd never heard before.

"My problem was with the dancing itself. No unity, no precision, no sense that anything was going on other than pure chaos hiding under the label of a dance that's existed for years," he wrote in his reflection The Obscuring of Black Culture, Or Why I Hate The Fake 'Harlem Shake' Meme. 

'No unity, no precision, no sense that anything was going on other than pure chaos hiding under the label of a dance that's existed for years.'

-- Hayes Brown

Brown hesitated to be a "buzz kill" but concluded that the point needed to be made. He pointed to other outlets writing from an African-American perspective, such as The Root, which also take issue with the latest manifestation of the dance.

"Popular culture is infamous for borrowing -- and sometimes outright stealing -- elements from a subculture and transforming them into something completely stripped of its origins," wrote The Root's Tamara Palmer.

"But it is still surprising to see how the current viral video craze called the Harlem Shake has managed to almost completely supplant a vibrant form of African-American dance that was born and bloomed in Harlem."

Palmer goes on to say hip-hop fans watching the online phenomena unfold consider the roughly 30-year-old dance unrecognizable, noting that the original dance is often traced back to a man named Al B who used to dance in Harlem's Rucker Park beginning in 1981.

There's also some evidence that the moves were inspired by an Ethiopian dance called Eskita.

Now that some are arguing the meme has hit a plateau and can only lose cultural cache from this point forward, Palmer hopes a conversation can take place about the older dance and its origins.

"If this wave starts to wind down, the original Harlem Shake may be able to be re-established in its proper light, and the originality displayed in so-called shake cyphers can get its due."

Although YouTube wasn't even a concept when the dance was in its heyday, there are videos available online that prominently feature the dance. Special Delivery, released in1998, provides several glimpses.
 

An instructional video uploaded last year also walks viewers through the basic shoulder, hip and arm moves that characterize the dance.

It has reemerged in YouTube search results as some attempt to learn the steps.
 

Have you participated in the Harlem Shake dance craze or watched any of the countless versions? Were you aware of the roots of the dance?

Would you attempt to learn the older version of the Harlem Shake?

Related:

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Nudes check out nudes at Austrian museum

These museum goers didn't just leave their coats at the coat check. They handed over their shirts, trousers and underwear.

Everything, in fact, except their shoes and socks. After all, the stone floor can get chilly when you're touring an art exhibit in the nude, which was what more than 60 art lovers did in a special after-hours showing at Vienna's prestigious Leopold museum.

For many, the tour of Nude Men from 1800 to Today — an exhibit of 300 paintings, photographs, drawings and sculptures focused on the bare male — was a goose-bump-raising instance of life imitating art.

"I can't say I'm sweating," said office worker Herbert Korvas as he stood waiting in the atrium with other young men, wearing only socks, sneakers and a smile. Despite the cold, he said he was drawn to the idea of naked museum viewing "because it was something different."

'We got requests from all over the world from people who were inspired by the exhibition ... who asked us, "Can we visit the exhibition naked?"'—Museum spokesman Klaus Pokorny

But after a while it really wasn't. With no other viewers around, nude quickly became the new normal as the visitors quickly gathered around a — dressed — exhibition guide and moved slowly from one art work to the next, listening intently to their history.

And they weren't the first visitors to get naked either, despite the hoopla around the event that drew dozens of reporters and camera teams from Austria and elsewhere.

A man had already stripped at the exhibition of pictures and sculptures in November, calmly sauntering through the exhibition and dressing again only after a security guard asked him to do so. That act made news — and sparked demand for Monday's all-nude showing, said museum spokesman Klaus Pokorny.

"We got requests from all over the world from people who were inspired by the exhibition ... who asked us, 'Can we visit the exhibition naked?"' he said.

Mostly male museum goers

On Monday, interest was definitely skewed along gender lines. Irina Wolf smiled as she looked around at the mostly male crowd lining up for tickets.

The posters advertising the Leopold exhibit, which began in October, sparked some complaints. The museum added red tape to cover the sensitive parts of the nude men depicted in the promotional posters. (Ronald Zak/Associated Press)

"I'm at a big advantage here," she said. "Only men around."

While Wolf said she is not someone who regularly strips in public places, the 40-something computer engineer and occasional theater critic, said "I want to see how I relate to such a group."

For others, Monday's event fulfilled a long-cherished wish — even though they had a hard time explaining why.

Florian Kahlenberg from Munich said he found it "interesting to stroll through a museum naked," adding. "I've always wanted to do that."

Few visitors, naked or dressed, have complained about the show, despite some explicit material showing sexual acts. Described as among the most successful ever staged by the Leopold, it has drawn well over 100,000 people.

That fits with Vienna's relaxed attitude. Its turn-of-the-century decadence allowed Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt to flourish, and the Leopold itself has a world-class collection of those and other artists known for their explicit depiction of the flesh.

But the Austrian capital's acceptance of nudity goes beyond museum exhibits. Thousands of men, women and children skinny dip daily in the Danube along stretches reserved for them during the summer, while racy lingerie ads dot huge billboards across the city all year round and a mass-circulation daily regularly prints photos of half-naked women.

Still, there are limits to Viennese tolerance. The Leopold was forced into cover-up mode last year after complaints over promotional posters plastered city-wide that showed three young and athletic men of different races wearing nothing but blue, white and red socks and soccer boots.

Swaths of red tape were subsequently placed over their sensitive parts.

22.55 | 0 komentar | Read More

5 movies where space rocks threaten Earth

The meteor that shot through the Siberian sky at hypersonic speed Friday created images that seemed like something out of a high-tech special effects department.

The damage Friday from the meteor was, of course, very real. More than 1,000 people were injured as the sonic blasts shattered glass, and the psyches of Russians were understandably unsettled by the shocking glow overhead.

Still, the video from Russia seems movie-like in its depiction of what happened when a meteor the size of a bus made its way into the Earth's atmosphere.

Here's a look at some of the films that have put large pieces of space rock and the threat of global annihilation front and centre.

Deep Impact (1998)

Deep Impact hit the big screen in 1998, giving seekers of disaster cinema what New York Times reviewer Janet Maslin called a "costly comet thriller."

In the film, Earth seemed doomed by a large hunk of space rock heading straight for it, and some big-name actors were on hand to try to save the day, including Robert Duvall, Vanessa Redgrave and Morgan Freeman in the role of U.S. president.

Filmgoers looking for a lot of bang and boom might not have found everything they were seeking. "The special effects are elaborate but relatively brief, featuring gaseous comet close-ups and an impressive tidal wave," Maslin noted in her review.

The movie found favour at the box office, however, grossing more than $349 million US, according to movie revenue website Box Office Mojo.

Armageddon (1998)

Two and a half months after Deep Impact hit theatres, Armageddon brought more asteroid paranoia to the big screen, with even greater box-office success.

With Armageddon, the mortal threat was ratcheted up several notches. Now, Earth seemed doomed by an asteroid "the size of Texas."

Critics were less than enamoured of the Bruce Willis vehicle, which became the biggest-grossing picture of 1998 (ahead of Steven Spielberg's acclaimed Saving Private Ryan and the Oscar-winning Shakespeare in Love).

Roger Ebert gave one star to Armageddon, a film he said was "an assault on the eyes, the ears, the brain, common sense and the human desire to be entertained."

Scientists were also somewhat lukewarm to the film — they thought Deep Impact had, relatively speaking, more astronomical cred.

Asteroid (1997)

A year before Deep Impact and Armageddon hit movie screens, a U.S. made-for-TV movie filled the small screen with similar deep-space doom.

Asteroid had nothing close to the marketing budget of Armageddon, but it trod similar ground and was apocalyptic in its promotion: "The end of the world is just beginning," its poster promised. There was also a Texan twist, though: the presumed target for the incoming asteroid was Dallas.

Meteor (1979)

Sean Connery and Natalie Wood starred in this 1979 disaster flick, which was something of a disaster itself. The movie poster promised doom from outer space, warning that a meteor five miles wide was "coming at 30,000 m.p.h. … and there's no place on Earth to hide."

A movie very much of its time, the plot brought the Cold War enemies of the United States and the U.S.S.R. together to try to fight the threat posed by a chunk of rock with the rather imposing name of Orpheus. Henry Fonda was on hand as the U.S. president.

The musical score is suitably soaring, and the less-than-award-winning special effects are full of bangs, booms and big balls of exploding light. The movie is one of several disaster films with scenes that would now be viewed quite differenty from when they came out. In this case, the streaking asteroid targets New York City, striking the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, which fell 22 years later in the Sept. 11 attacks.

The Day the Sky Exploded (1958)

While North American cinema has seen its fair share of asteroid-inspired fare in recent decades, such films haven't been restricted to screens here.

A 1958 Italian film, The Day the Sky Exploded, focused on scientists who find out Earth lies in the path of meteors.

The U.S. poster promoting the flick was not subtle: "TERROR FROM THE SKY," it screamed, before noting "Earth Attacked From Outer Space."

22.55 | 0 komentar | Read More

DAY 6: Will the Harlem Shake viral meme ever stop?

Move over Gangnam Style, you've been usurped by The Harlem Shake. It's the latest YouTube meme to explode. The videos feature Baauer's song, "Harlem Shake", accompanied by all manner of regular people doing irregular things. YouTube says more than 25,000 videos have been posted since the start of February, drawing over 120 million views. YouTube trend manager Kevin Allocca tries to explain the phenomenon. Click through to see some examples, but start with this one, produced by our friends at CBC Music. Take a look at some "Harlem shake" examples, and then why not make your own version? Tweet it to us @CBCDay6, put it on our Facebook page, or email it to us at DaySix@CBC.CA.

A Tour Through Harlem Shakes

The one that started it all, by comedian and vlogger Filthy Frank who uploaded his video on January 30th.
 

A group of teenagers known as The Sunny Coast Skate from Queensland Australia, were the first to respond and the rest, as they say, is history.

The 125.St Harlem Subway Shake. By the way, this one is slightly not safe for work.

The University of Georgia Men's Swim and Dive Team made waves with their underwater version.

More than 10.5 million views suggests that Maker Studios is clearly the funnest workplace EVER!

CNN's Anderson Cooper is baffled by his staff's Harlem Shake.

Even the Swiss Army got the shakes.

Matt and Kim manage to fill a football stadium full of Harlem Shakers.

While some just want it to stop.

22.55 | 0 komentar | Read More

5 movies where space rocks threaten Earth

The meteor that shot through the Siberian sky at hypersonic speed Friday created images that seemed like something out of a high-tech special effects department.

The damage Friday from the meteor was, of course, very real. More than 1,000 people were injured as the sonic blasts shattered glass, and the psyches of Russians were understandably unsettled by the shocking glow overhead.

Still, the video from Russia seems movie-like in its depiction of what happened when a meteor the size of a bus made its way into the Earth's atmosphere.

Here's a look at some of the films that have put large pieces of space rock and the threat of global annihilation front and centre.

Deep Impact (1998)

Deep Impact hit the big screen in 1998, giving seekers of disaster cinema what New York Times reviewer Janet Maslin called a "costly comet thriller."

In the film, Earth seemed doomed by a large hunk of space rock heading straight for it, and some big-name actors were on hand to try to save the day, including Robert Duvall, Vanessa Redgrave and Morgan Freeman in the role of U.S. president.

Filmgoers looking for a lot of bang and boom might not have found everything they were seeking. "The special effects are elaborate but relatively brief, featuring gaseous comet close-ups and an impressive tidal wave," Maslin noted in her review.

The movie found favour at the box office, however, grossing more than $349 million US, according to movie revenue website Box Office Mojo.

Armageddon (1998)

Two and a half months after Deep Impact hit theatres, Armageddon brought more asteroid paranoia to the big screen, with even greater box-office success.

With Armageddon, the mortal threat was ratcheted up several notches. Now, Earth seemed doomed by an asteroid "the size of Texas."

Critics were less than enamoured of the Bruce Willis vehicle, which became the biggest-grossing picture of 1998 (ahead of Steven Spielberg's acclaimed Saving Private Ryan and the Oscar-winning Shakespeare in Love).

Roger Ebert gave one star to Armageddon, a film he said was "an assault on the eyes, the ears, the brain, common sense and the human desire to be entertained."

Scientists were also somewhat lukewarm to the film — they thought Deep Impact had, relatively speaking, more astronomical cred.

Asteroid (1997)

A year before Deep Impact and Armageddon hit movie screens, a U.S. made-for-TV movie filled the small screen with similar deep-space doom.

Asteroid had nothing close to the marketing budget of Armageddon, but it trod similar ground and was apocalyptic in its promotion: "The end of the world is just beginning," its poster promised. There was also a Texan twist, though: the presumed target for the incoming asteroid was Dallas.

Meteor (1979)

Sean Connery and Natalie Wood starred in this 1979 disaster flick, which was something of a disaster itself. The movie poster promised doom from outer space, warning that a meteor five miles wide was "coming at 30,000 m.p.h. … and there's no place on Earth to hide."

A movie very much of its time, the plot brought the Cold War enemies of the United States and the U.S.S.R. together to try to fight the threat posed by a chunk of rock with the rather imposing name of Orpheus. Henry Fonda was on hand as the U.S. president.

The musical score is suitably soaring, and the less-than-award-winning special effects are full of bangs, booms and big balls of exploding light. The movie is one of several disaster films with scenes that would now be viewed quite differenty from when they came out. In this case, the streaking asteroid targets New York City, striking the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, which fell 22 years later in the Sept. 11 attacks.

The Day the Sky Exploded (1958)

While North American cinema has seen its fair share of asteroid-inspired fare in recent decades, such films haven't been restricted to screens here.

A 1958 Italian film, The Day the Sky Exploded, focused on scientists who find out Earth lies in the path of meteors.

The U.S. poster promoting the flick was not subtle: "TERROR FROM THE SKY," it screamed, before noting "Earth Attacked From Outer Space."

22.55 | 0 komentar | Read More

DAY 6: Will the Harlem Shake viral meme ever stop?

Move over Gangnam Style, you've been usurped by The Harlem Shake. It's the latest YouTube meme to explode. The videos feature Baauer's song, "Harlem Shake", accompanied by all manner of regular people doing irregular things. YouTube says more than 25,000 videos have been posted since the start of February, drawing over 120 million views. YouTube trend manager Kevin Allocca tries to explain the phenomenon. Click through to see some examples, but start with this one, produced by our friends at CBC Music. Take a look at some "Harlem shake" examples, and then why not make your own version? Tweet it to us @CBCDay6, put it on our Facebook page, or email it to us at DaySix@CBC.CA.

A Tour Through Harlem Shakes

The one that started it all, by comedian and vlogger Filthy Frank who uploaded his video on January 30th.
 

A group of teenagers known as The Sunny Coast Skate from Queensland Australia, were the first to respond and the rest, as they say, is history.

The 125.St Harlem Subway Shake. By the way, this one is slightly not safe for work.

The University of Georgia Men's Swim and Dive Team made waves with their underwater version.

More than 10.5 million views suggests that Maker Studios is clearly the funnest workplace EVER!

CNN's Anderson Cooper is baffled by his staff's Harlem Shake.

Even the Swiss Army got the shakes.

Matt and Kim manage to fill a football stadium full of Harlem Shakers.

While some just want it to stop.

22.55 | 0 komentar | Read More

5 movies where space rocks threaten Earth

The meteor that shot through the Siberian sky at hypersonic speed Friday created images that seemed like something out of a high-tech special effects department.

The damage Friday from the meteor was, of course, very real. More than 1,000 people were injured as the sonic blasts shattered glass, and the psyches of Russians were understandably unsettled by the shocking glow overhead.

Still, the video from Russia seems movie-like in its depiction of what happened when a meteor the size of a bus and weighing about 6,350 tonnes made its way into the Earth's atmosphere.

Here's a look at some of the films that have put large pieces of space rock and the threat of global annihilation front and centre.

Deep Impact (1998)

Deep Impact hit the big screen in 1998, giving seekers of disaster cinema what New York Times reviewer Janet Maslin called a "costly comet thriller."

In the film, Earth seemed doomed by a large hunk of space rock heading straight for it, and some big-name actors were on hand to try to save the day, including Robert Duvall, Vanessa Redgrave and Morgan Freeman in the role of U.S. president.

Filmgoers looking for a lot of bang and boom might not have found everything they were seeking. "The special effects are elaborate but relatively brief, featuring gaseous comet close-ups and an impressive tidal wave," Maslin noted in her review.

The movie found favour at the box office, however, grossing more than $349 million US, according to movie revenue website Box Office Mojo.

Armageddon (1998)

Two and a half months after Deep Impact hit theatres, Armageddon brought more asteroid paranoia to the big screen, with even greater box-office success.

With Armageddon, the mortal threat was ratcheted up several notches. Now, Earth seemed doomed by an asteroid "the size of Texas."

Critics were less than enamoured of the Bruce Willis vehicle, which became the biggest-grossing picture of 1998 (ahead of Steven Spielberg's acclaimed Saving Private Ryan and the Oscar-winning Shakespeare in Love).

Roger Ebert gave one star to Armageddon, a film he said was "an assault on the eyes, the ears, the brain, common sense and the human desire to be entertained."

Scientists were also somewhat lukewarm to the film — they thought Deep Impact had, relatively speaking, more astronomical cred.

Asteroid (1997)

A year before Deep Impact and Armageddon hit movie screens, a U.S. made-for-TV movie filled the small screen with similar deep-space doom.

Asteroid had nothing close to the marketing budget of Armageddon, but it trod similar ground and was apocalyptic in its promotion: "The end of the world is just beginning," its poster promised. There was also a Texan twist, though: the presumed target for the incoming asteroid was Dallas.

Meteor (1979)

Sean Connery and Natalie Wood starred in this 1979 disaster flick, which was something of a disaster itself. The movie poster promised doom from outer space, warning that a meteor five miles wide was "coming at 30,000 m.p.h. … and there's no place on Earth to hide."

A movie very much of its time, the plot brought the Cold War enemies of the United States and the U.S.S.R. together to try to fight the threat posed by a chunk of rock with the rather imposing name of Orpheus. Henry Fonda was on hand as the U.S. president.

The musical score is suitably soaring, and the less-than-award-winning special effects are full of bangs, booms and big balls of exploding light. The movie is one of several disaster films with scenes that would now be viewed quite differenty from when they came out. In this case, the streaking asteroid targets New York City, striking the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, which fell 22 years later in the Sept. 11 attacks.

The Day the Sky Exploded (1958)

While North American cinema has seen its fair share of asteroid-inspired fare in recent decades, such films haven't been restricted to screens here.

A 1958 Italian film, The Day the Sky Exploded, focused on scientists who find out Earth lies in the path of meteors.

The U.S. poster promoting the flick was not subtle: "TERROR FROM THE SKY," it screamed, before noting "Earth Attacked From Outer Space."

22.55 | 0 komentar | Read More

Tamagotchi app thrills nostalgic twenty-somethings

[View the story "Tamagotchi app targets nostalgic twenty-somethings" on Storify]

Storified by CBC News Community· Fri, Feb 15 2013 13:54:07

Komonews

 To those who grew up in the 1990s, a Tamagotchi is morethan a toy - it's a cultural icon, a symbol of childhood, and one of the firstpersonal mobile electronic devices ever owned.

I thought I had lost it forever but it's still here #lol #tamagotchi #games #90sjessicacipo

das waren noch die wahren Spielzeuge #GameBoy #TamagotchiDownload

Found my old tamagotchis....excuse me while I revert to a seven year old. #tamagotchi #childhood #sopumpedSarah Oldfield

It's fitting, then, that 16 years after itsheyday in North America, Tamagotchi is surging back into the pockets of thosewho once loved it most - this time, as a smartphone app.

Designtaxi

Taking its inspiration directly from BandaiCo's original toy, Tamagotch L.i.f.e -- Love Is Fun Everyone -- recreates the experience of growing andcaring for your own virtual pet. 

The app's "Toy Mode" features a to-scale representation ofthe egg-shaped plastic case found in so many backpacks circa 1996 while the"app mode" brings the pet's environment fullscreen.

#tamagotchi #note2 #childhood #hatersgonnahate #instadailychris_tke

Both modes task the user with feeding,disciplining and playing with their tiny pocket creature. Much like theoriginal toy, the way a user interacts with a Tamagotchi shapes how it grows,evolves and / or dies.

I just killed my tamagotchi. #1hourold #badparenting #tamagotchiCamilo

Sync Beatz Entertainment, which licensed Tamagotchi from Japan's Bandai Co., told the Associated Press that the app's target audience is 22- to 29-year-olds who carried the original Tamagotchi toys to school in the late '90s.

"It's like comfort food," said the company's chief communications officer Barry Stagg. "I think Tamagotchi brings back good memories."

The feedback online so far proves that he's right.

There is a Tamagotchi app. Excuse while I go spend endless hours on my phone. #90sgirl #childhoodStephanie Caminero

That fantastic moment when you find out that Tamagotchi is now an app. My life is made.Drew Ricci

Almost 23 years old and I've spent most of today yelling at my tamagotchi. I'M AN ADULT.Melissa

Had to put a crappy instagram filter on this because I am so excited. Yay! And It's freeeeeee! One of my favorite parts of my childhood. #TamagotchiHaley Collentro

The company promises that Tamagotchi L.i.f.e will be available to iPhone users soon, but as for now the app is exclusive to Android devices.

YOU FINALLY RELEASED A TAMAGOTCHI APP BUT ITS ONLY AVAILABLE ON ANDROID?!?!?! GOD WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?!?!Philip DeFranco

Fortunately for manufacturers of Android smartphones, The pull of this particular app is so strong it's got some people reconsidering their choice of operating system.

Tamagotchi is back! This might be the only reason for me to want an Android phone. mid-to-late 90's rule.Alvin Louis

Almost makes me want to make the switch to Android.... RT @mashable Tamagotchi Comes Back to Your Pocket -- on Android http://ow.ly/hJ61hMelissa Joaquin

I'm all ready for a new iPhone tomorrow, but then I see this is only on android? Maybe it's worth the wait....http://bit.ly/YkycnjMJ Slaby

The only reason I would want an android atm is because of the new tamagotchi app :)Erika Punsalan

Others are rejecting the newfangled digital version of their childhood pocket pet altogether.

the #tamagotchi #app is for posers. I'm old school tamagotchi. get on my level! #me #tattoos #og #android #originalAnthony Pena

But those who've downloaded the app are taking full advantage of the technological advances since 1996, screenshotting photos of their pets' projects and Tweeting what they once might have shouted on an elementary school playground.

Waiting for my #Tamagotchi to hatch (:Kat Thongsamouth

why has my tamagotchi not gotten hungry even a little evermom

My tamagotchi is mad at me http://twitpic.com/c404jlGeekyLyndsay

Took less than a day for my tamagotchi to die. Rest in peace broDuncan Tennant

MY TAMAGOTCHI DIED BECAUSE I TURNED OFF NOTIFICATIONS ;_; #depressed #FirstWorldProblems #TamagotchilifeJake Andreøli

So... my tamagotchi is underweight and Jon's is severely obese at 99oz... http://pic.twitter.com/hUus1CgkPrincessAnbaa

So, how do I discipline my tamagotchi?Sparky

Atleast my tamagotchi loves me..allie

Got my tamagotchi but I should sleep now. Night people. I love you Yanin! http://pic.twitter.com/JTrTFr5Imikhailclair

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Quebec cancels zombie apocalypse training scenario

There will be no zombie apocalypse in Quebec next week.

The provincial government has stepped in to cancel plans for a zombie-themed emergency training exercise.

Participants at an annual symposium on civil security had been planning to use a hypothetical zombie attack to test emergency preparedness.

Such a theme has been used elsewhere. The logic behind it is to use something that can never actually occur, as opposed to a flood or an ice storm, because that way emergency-preparedness officials might think of new problems and solutions.

'Canada would never be a safe haven for zombies.'—Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird

News of the plan had elicited many guffaws this week, along with some complaints about wasteful government spending.

So now the provincial cabinet has stepped in. Public Security Minister Stéphane Bergeron announced in a press release Thursday that he has ordered a change of plans.

The new scenario will simulate a flood.

"I thought … the theme of the workshop had taken on a greater importance than its goal and that it was better to change it," Bergeron said in a statement.

He said he took the decision "so as not to undermine the real purpose of the activity, which is and remains a very important exercise for civil security."

Bergeron said he decided to make the change after discussing it with others in the department.

The idea of a zombie apocalypse even made its way to the House of Commons on Wednesday, where the NDP asked the Conservatives about the country's level of zombie preparedness.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird assured that "Canada would never be a safe haven for zombies."

A civil servant with Quebec's civil security department had told The Canadian Press earlier this week that the zombie exercise, used in the United States and elsewhere in Canada in recent years, is designed to get officials to think outside the box.

Quebec's three-day symposium, into its 13th year, brings together several hundred first responders, civil-security experts, fire-fighters and municipal officials.

Each day deals with three different phases: the emergency itself, the aftermath, and the recovery. The decisions taken one day will fold into the next.

But now, instead of of zombies, officials will pretend to be dealing with floods frequently created by the annual spring thaw.

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Asteroid DA14's close flyby with Earth today: How bad would an impact be?

A nine-tonne meteor streaked across the sky above Russia's Ural Mountains Friday morning, causing sharp explosions and injuring hundreds of people. An even bigger chunk of space rock about the size of a jet plane is set to zip between the Earth and our weather satellites on Friday afternoon, and while NASA says we're not in any danger of a catastrophic collision, it's hard not to wonder what would happen if we were.

Meteors typically cause sizeable sonic booms when they enter the atmosphere because they are traveling much faster than the speed of sound. Injuries on the scale reported Friday in Russia, however, are extraordinarily rare.

The contrail of a meteorite is seen over the village of Bolshoe Sidelnikovo on Friday morning. The resulting shockwave injured hundreds on the ground in Russia, many of them hurt by broken glass. (Nadezhda Luchinina, E1.ru/AP)

Asteroid 2012 DA14, due to make its closest approach to Earth around 2:24 p.m. ET today, won't enter the planet's atmosphere. But it's predicted that the 45-metre diameter, 130,000-tonne asteroid will pass closer to Earth than any object its size has come in decades.

At its closest point it will be 27,700 kilometres from the planet's surface — a mere tenth of the distance between the Earth and the moon.

At that time, it will be zooming by at about 28,100 kilometres per hour or 7.82 kilometres per second relative to Earth.

"It's a record close approach," said Robert Cockcroft, manager of McMaster's WJ McCallion Planetarium. "An object of this size gets this close only once every 40 years or so."

DA14 was discovered in February of 2012 and has been tracked since then. The asteroid's orbit is so well known that "there's no chance of a collision," said Donald Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near Earth Object Office.

Nor is it likely to hit any satellites. It's too close to Earth to collide with the geosynchronous satellites, but a lot further out than the bulk of Earth's orbiting satellites, including the International Space Station, which is located 386 kilometres above the surface.

NASA estimates that asteroids this size fly this close to the Earth about once every 40 years and hit the planet roughly once every 1,200 years. The last time it happened was on June 30, 1908, when a meteorite crashed in Tunguska, Russia.

North Americans won't be able to see asteroid DA14, Cockroft says, as it's set to sail over the Indonesian region. Even there it won't be possible to see it with the naked eye, but amateur astronomers do have a shot at spotting the asteroid with a telescope — though the object's rapid speed could make that a difficult task, Cockcroft said.

The worst case scenario

But what if an asteroid this size was to someday strike a built-up area, such as Hamilton in Southern Ontario's Golden Horseshoe region?

Cockcroft says the impact would be something like the event in Tunguska, Russia, back in 1908. It leveled trees over a 2,124-square-kilometre territory.

However, estimates put the Tunguska meteor at around 100 metres, which is more than double the size of 2012 DA14.

But as Cockroft points out, that asteroid struck an uninhabited stretch of Siberia — so the collateral damage was largely confined to trees and land masses. If DA14 were to hit downtown Hamilton, the results would be catastrophic.

"It would create a very large impact crater and flatten everything in the downtown region," Cockcroft said.

Shockwaves would emanate through the ground and be felt for kilometres. A "compression wave" of force would also push through the air, toppling buildings and blowing out windows, he added.

"You would have to evacuate the entire city of Hamilton and surrounding areas — maybe even much of southern Ontario," he said, in order to avoid massive casualties.

Heat derived from the rock's entry into the Earth's atmosphere and the kinetic impact with the planet would likely cause fires throughout the city, too.

"With oxygen and fuels everywhere, things could spontaneously start igniting," he said.

Hamilton wouldn't fare much better if the asteroid struck Lake Ontario.

"Then we'd have to worry about a giant tsunami created on the lake," Cockcroft said. "It would be like a solid mass of water coming towards you."

A drifting orbit

While DA14 has been coming relatively close to Earth about twice a year, that's about to change, NASA's Yeomans said at the press conference Thursday. As it flies by, the Earth's gravity will actually perturb the asteroid's orbit, shaving a couple of months off its usual 12-month travel time around the sun.

"It won't come back in the Earth's neighbourhood anywhere near as frequently as it has in the past," he said. "The Earth is going to put this one into an orbit that is considerably safer than the orbit it has been in."

Cockcroft says NASA is monitoring "millions of pieces of debris right now" that are less than 100 metres in diameter. "It's a laborious process, but in the end it could save us all," he said.

He also lamented that asteroids are only viewed for their destructive capacity, when they also have the ability to help give rise to life.

"They were the things that brought the things to Earth that were needed to form life, like water and carbon," he said.

"There is no denying their destructive side. But they also helped create life on Earth."

–Courtesy STK animation courtesy of Analytical Graphics, Inc

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Bar bans displays of affection on Valentine's Day

A bar in Windsor, Ont., plans to strictly prohibit public displays of affection on Valentine's Day.

Kilt and Fiddle co-owner Nicole Demers said it's part of the pub's anti-Valentine's Day party.

Demers said her bar plans to cater to the single crowd, not couples. She said the idea for the theme came from her customers.

"They were tired of having to celebrate love and being part of a couple, and we wanted them to have a place to go, have a destination, and being able to celebrate being single," Demers said.

She said couples are welcome to attend, but "public displays of affection are strictly prohibited."

"I'm happy that single people aren't left out; they actually have somewhere to go where they're not surrounded by Valentine's Day menus, and Valentine's Day songs," she said. "There's something else for them to do in Windsor that night."

According to Statistics Canada:

• There were 11,784,855 people not living in a couple, including never-married, divorced, separated or widowed, and aged 15 and over in Canada in 2011.
• The total number of people living in a couple, including married spouses and common-law partners, and aged 15 and over in Canada in 2011 was 16,084,490.
• $3.2 billion - The value of jewellery and watches sold at retailers in Canada in 2011.
• $2.4 billion - The value of cosmetics and fragrances sold at retailers in Canada in 2011.
• $1.6 billion - The value of women's lingerie, sleepwear and intimates sold at retailers in Canada in 2011.
• $634.6 million - The value of men's underwear, sleepwear and hosiery sold at retailers in Canada in 2011.
• 10.5 million - The number of stems of roses produced in Canada in 2011.

Is Valentine's Day more about love or money?

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New Antarctic penguin colony found from space, with help of poo clues

A new colony of 9,000 penguins has been discovered in eastern Antarctica after their massive trail of poo was viewed from space.

Alain Hubert, who led the expedition that found the colony, said the penguins had never seen humans before and weren't scared at all when he and two of his colleagues made initial contact in December.

"They just start to come around us, surrounding us, just looking at us," he told As It Happens Tuesday. "I was not sure I was still on Earth."

Hubert, founder of the International Polar Foundation, a group that communicates research about Antarctica, decided to hunt for the birds after satellite images from the British Antarctic Survey suggested there was a colony in the little-explored part of Antarctica close to Princess Elisabeth Station, which was built just four years ago.

After three hours of searching among the crevasses and ice shelves, the explorers spotted the birds in the distance. After two more hours of walking, they arrived, under the midnight sun of an Antarctic summer.

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Gold-mining bacterium discovered by McMaster researchers

By Kaleigh Rogers, CBC News

Posted: Feb 13, 2013 7:25 AM ET

Last Updated: Feb 13, 2013 10:39 AM ET

 

Research out of McMaster University has discovered a species of bacteria that can turn water-soluble gold into the precious metal's solid form.

A paper published online this month in Nature Chemical Biology showed that the microorganisms, called Delftia acidovorans, convert the gold to protect themselves from the metal's soluble form, which is toxic.

The bacteria had been recently observed on the surface of tiny pieces of solid gold, so the researchers wanted to investigate what the connection was.

"Soluble gold is toxic to life and so it was thought that the bacteria was part of the process to turn the soluble gold into solid gold," Nathan Magarvey, one of the researchers from McMaster, explained.

As they discovered, they were right.

"Basically, this little, unseen bug is using a small amount of chemical, which reacts with the gold ions and subsequently the gold becomes [solid]."

It's not uncommon for bacteria to affect or change their environment in this way, according to Magarvey, but this is the first organism discovered to have this effect on gold.

He said while the idea of a tiny organism essentially creating gold is exciting for many, for the researchers involved, the big interest was in being able to discover a new chemical and clearly define how it works.

"For us, that's the satisfaction," he said, adding that they are looking at the potential to produce this chemical on a larger scale. This could allow miners to retain more gold from the soluble form.

But Magarvey stressed it's a little too early to proclaim they've discovered the Midas touch.

"There are some big dreamers out there, but we're practical here," he said.

"It may capture the imagination and people might think that we're making blocks of gold on campus. But, we're not."

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Stephen Colbert says world not ready for Canadian pope

Is the world ready for a Canadian pope? Stephen Colbert says no.

Colbert devoted most of his satirical news show The Colbert Report to coverage of Pope Benedict's surprise resignation on Monday, handicapping the possible contenders to lead the world's Catholics.

While the late-night funnyman acknowledged Quebec native Marc Cardinal Ouellet is in the running, he just couldn't see him in the Church's top job.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet, shown here in Rome in 2005, is in the running to replace Pope Benedict. (Lefteris Pitarakis/Associated Press)

Ouellet, the funnyman says, has one major weakness: he's a Canadian.

"The Pope cannot be polite," said Colbert, standing in front of his "Papal Speculatron 7500."

"I'm sorry but 'I think God might not want you to use a condom, eh' won't work."

He also said nobody wants a Pope who might replace the traditional golden staff, while a doctored photo showed Ouellet in papal robes holding a Team Canada hockey stick.

The satirical newsman frequently needles America's northern neighbour on his show.

Ouellet, named a cardinal in 2003 by Pope John Paul II, was tabbed by Pope Benedict in 2010 to head the powerful Congregation for Bishops, which vets nominations for bishops worldwide. Foreign bookmakers have ranked him as one of the most likely candidates to take over from Pope Benedict.

Colbert also mentioned Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan, and Peter Cardinal Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, as contenders.

But they didn't get the Colbert Bump, which is his highest endorsement.

That went to Timothy Cardinal Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York, someone Colbert described as "a BFF -- Bishop Friend Forever."

"After all, God's an American," Colbert explained. "That's why the Bible is in English."

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Apple iWatch rumours get Dick Tracy fans excited

[View the story "Apple iWatch rumours put Dick Tracy fans on alert" on Storify]

Storified by CBC News Community· Mon, Feb 11 2013 18:26:29

Mshcdn

Rumours of an Apple wristwatch capable ofeverything from taking calls to paying for coffee has tech reporters in a tizzytoday after years of quiet speculation that such a device could actually be inthe works.

An article published in the New York Times Sunday stated that "people familiar with the company's explorations" had confirmed Apple is working on a wristwatch-like device at its Cupertino, Calif.headquarters.

No specs for the device were revealed by the twosources, but they did say the watch would be made of curved glass andoperate on Apple's iOS platform.

Turner

As the Times' Nick Bilton pointed out, a numberof Apple execs including Timothy Cook (seen above wearing a Nike FuelBand) and Bob Mansfield have a recognizedinterest in wearable technology - an emerging field some say will eventuallyovertake the smartphone market.

They've also got the technology to make a curved-glasswristwatch possible through a company called Corning, which makes theincredibly strong "Gorilla Glass" used in some of Apple's current product offerings.

Netdna-cdn

Corning announced last June that, after a decade indevelopment, it had created a type of extremely thin and flexible glass called Willow Glass.

"You can certainly make it wrap around a cylindricalobject and that could be someone's wrist," Pete Bocko, Corning's chieftechnology officer told the Times. "Right now, if I tried to makesomething that looked like a watch, that could be done using this flexibleglass."

Cumaini

According to CNET, Willow glass will bemass-produced by mid 2013. As for the iWatch? Don't hold your breath, says Macworld's Christopher Breen.

"Like the Apple TV before it, evidence of that watch's someday existence relies on hazy rumors from overseas manufacturing plants, the idea that watches are the thing because smart watch projects are appearing on Kickstarter, and because enough noise has been made about the thing that those running the Wall Street Journal and New York Times feel they'll look less like stodgy-old-poops-representing-a-dying-media if they weigh in on the thing," he writes, referencing the popular Pebble smart watch that made headlines for raising $10 million on Kickstarter last year.

On the Apple Watch watch | MacworldIf, in your world, Apple's actions are as intriguing as those of characters in a critically-acclaimed premium cable series, you're well a...

TechCrunch's Darrell Etherington agreed.

"Here's the thing: Apple builds stuff all the time. Literally all the time they're working on things, including the fabled Apple television set that has made Gene Munster's predictions one of the longest current running jokes in the tech industry today," he wrote. "There are still some major hurdles standing in the way of a shipping iWatch, and these are barriers that aren't likely to be overcome in, say, the next few years."

Apple Can Certainly Play Watchmaker, But Don't Expect Devices To Hit Your Wrist Any Time SoonApple iWatch rumors have hit the mainstream thanks to reports from both The New York Times' Nick Bilton and The Wall Street Journal's Jes...

Yet others, like Wired's Christina Bonnington remain optimistic, writing on the Gadget Lab blog that "It isn't a matter of 'if' Apple creates asmartwatch, but rather 'when' and 'why."

For fans of Dick Tracy, James Bond and Penny from Inspector Gadget, the prospect of a wristwatch that can perform a myriad of communicative tasks is a fictional fantasy come to life.

I had a MS Dick Tracy watch. Can't wait for Apple's iWatch. http://pic.twitter.com/Lv1iYltmguspinto

Dick Tracy had the right idea back in the 40s, no? Apple developing wristwatch device, reports say. http://trib.in/YlWHiPColonelTribune

Amused that, because of the rumored Apple watch, people are talking about Dick Tracy for the first time since the movie came out.A. Mike

Apple needs to make sure they design their new watch to be as good as Inspector Gadget's. http://pic.twitter.com/HB3OrkVnScott L

Apple is working on the Inspector Gadget watch?!?!?!?!!! Word??? Def getting one .... W/o a doubt !!! LolEric

Just read an article about Apple possibly making a James Bond - esque "smart watch." http://pic.twitter.com/W8YiwZetßreezy

Some Apple fans have already come up with conceptmodels for an iWatch. Designer Yvring Torrealba's was published on his ownwebsite more than a year ago.

Mshcdn

Federico Ciccarese created his "iSiri" concept in November.

Ciccaresedesign

Anders Kjelberg's iWatch hit the web in July of 2012. Without a curved glass band, it more closely resembles the iPod Nano wrist-straps some people already use to make their own "iWatches," but it's impressive nonetheless.

Dogday-design

As with almost any rumoured Apple product release, fake prototypes are being pushed into social networks for fun.

EXCLUSIVE photo of new Apple iWatch prototype http://pic.twitter.com/cLfhkKgTjoshgreenman

. @levie found a leaked prototype of the iWatch. Headphones not included. http://pic.twitter.com/zMntl3VyTheo

Apple $AAPL testing futuristic style wrist watch: Prototype image, as seen on the #Jetsons -> http://cdn2.chipchick.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Jetsons8.png http://pic.twitter.com/RHSjGYqpGeenaMidtown

What are your thoughts on the Apple iWatch? Is another iDevice simply overkill, or would you want one if it had the right features?

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Oddsmakers have Canadian as leading pope candidate

Irish bookmakers today put Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet as the leading contender to succeed Pope Benedict XVI.

At 5-2 odds early Monday, someone betting two euros ($2.68 Cdn) on Ouellet replacing Benedict would win five euros ($6.70) if the Quebecer were elected at the papal conclave, Bloomberg News reported after Pope Benedict announced Monday he is resigning end of February for health reasons.

Later in the day, the Canadian's odds stretched to 3-1, paying six euros ($8.10) on a two-euro bet.

The Dublin-based bookmaker Paddy Power's odds suggest that the next most likely contenders are African Cardinals Francis Arinze of Nigeria at 4-1 and Peter Turkson of Ghana at 7-2.

Betting on elections and other outcomes has a long history in Ireland and the U.K., where wagering has gone far beyond sporting events.

The longest shot on Paddy Power's papal-successor list Monday was rock star activist Bono.

Bono: a long shot for pope. (J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press)

He was followed by Rev. Dougal McGuire, a fictional simpleton in the British TV series Father Ted who has only a vague understanding of Roman Catholicism.

Both were given 1,000-1 odds of becoming pope.

Ouellet, Canadian head of the Vatican's office for bishops, has experience in Latin America and holds a senior position with the Congregation for Bishops in Rome, which oversees the selection of some bishops.

While candidates do not campaign for the papal job, and Ouellet expressed outright reluctance in 2011, he is, at age 68, among the younger potential candidates.

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