At Home: Torrent Site Shut Down
When people think of computer piracy and BitTorrent files often the first site to come to mind is Pirate Bay, the well- publicized and often legally attacked site that lists thousands of torrent files shared among computer users.
In Canada, however, there is a lesser known site called isoHunt that does much the same thing. Or rather, did. Made by Vancouver resident Gary Fung, isoHunt.com has been shut down as part of a settlement that includes Fung agreeing to a $110-million fine from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). The site, which ranked as the 423rd most visited site in the world for global traffic, stated that it linked over 13 million active files shared between 51 million users.
The MPAA says that the settlement was “a major step forward in realizing the enormous potential of the internet as a platform for legitimate commerce and innovation.” It’s not often that someone declares shutting new technology down will help innovation, so perhaps there’s some humor to be found there.
Around the World: Halloween UK Style
Recently, a man living in Stevenage, north of London, was contacted by police and informed that his front lawn Halloween diorama was simply too gory for public display. The man, James Creighton, puts up a display annually to raise money for the Cancer Research UK charity in honour of his mother. This year, however, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre-inspired display brought in a complaint from a parent whose children cried when they saw it. Police informed him of the complaint and suggested that he use some sort of tarpaulin along the bottom of his fence to hide the exhibit from young children.
However, in London itself, a costume company is running a promotion where you can potentially have a “fright mob” descend on an unwary friend to give them a scare, simply by sending a tweet. Jason Oliver of London found this out firsthand when nominated by his friend, Stephen Lawton, for deciding to go to the gym instead of a planned night out.
If you want a more realistic monster, and can’t wait for science to recreate the dinosaurs like Sandra Livingston’s article describes, perhaps you should look at the upcoming event in Billingshurst, West Sussex on November 27th, when a complete fossilized skeleton of the dinosaur Diplodocus will be auctioned off. Extremely rare, the complete skeleton is expected to fetch at least £600,000 with expected bidders to include Hollywood celebrities and museums in the Far East. However, this isn’t something to purchase on a whim because at 17 meters (55 feet) long, displaying the skeleton will probably require?at the very least?moving some furniture around.
