English Community for students

EBook piracy sites to be blocked by UK net providers

FoxyT — Fri, 05 Jun 2015 05:45:31 GMT

Seven websites that help users find unauthorised copies of eBooks are to be blocked in the UK by the country's leading broadband providers.
The Publishers Association has obtained a High Court order that requires the internet service providers (ISPs) to act by 9 June.

The offending sites are based overseas.
The movie, music and luxury goods industries have previously employed similar tactics to cause more than 100 other sites to be blocked.

The Publishers Association said that more than 80% of the material it had found on the ad-supported platforms involved, had infringed copyright.

"A third of publisher revenues now come from digital sales but unfortunately this rise in the digital market has brought with it a growth in online infringement," said the body's chief executive Richard Mollet.

"Our members need to be able to protect their authors' works from such illegal activity. Writers need to be paid and publishers need to be able to continue to innovate and invest in new talent and material."

The sites affected are:
AvaxHome
Bookfi
Bookre
Ebookee
Freebookspot
Freshwrap
LibGen

The administrator of Freebookspot - which provides links to others' uploads but does not host eBooks itself - has posted a message to the site claiming to have deleted more than 10,000 titles following the ruling, in an apparent attempt to avoid the ban.
However, its search tool still points users to download links for other copyright-protected eBooks.

The strongest whale in the world

Valerka — Sun, 31 May 2015 18:51:58 GMT

Some animals just look strong. Male gorillas parade their ripped muscular bodies, while elephants are capable of great displays of power, such as tipping over trees. But the strongest animals in the world live somewhere else – in the ocean.
Whales, being the largest animals alive, also have the largest muscles.
Now a new study has determined which is the strongest whale of all.
And crucially, it has revealed that despite being massively powerful, whales are impotent when entangled by fishing gear, as they are just not strong enough to break free.The study, published in the journal Marine Mammal Science, was conducted by a team of US-based researchers led by Logan Arthur of the University Of North Carolina in Wilmington. The team investigated which is the strongest of all cetaceans, the group that includes whales and dolphins.
It has established that blue whales are the strongest, in terms of the absolute amount of force they can generate. They are stronger than other large whales, including the massive sperm whale, the largest toothed cetacean, although they are not the strongest relative to their body size.
But despite their massive strength, whales are not powerful enough to break free from fishing gear, the research reveals. Whales often become entangled in fishing lines or nets that have been set or discarded in the ocean. Yet even a blue whale would struggle to break a single strand of a fish net, the scientists have discovered.
I am fascinated by the sheer size of cetaceans,” Mr Logan told BBC Earth.
“As mammals, cetaceans have the same body systems as we do, however they are massive animals that thrive in a completely different habitat than humans. I wanted to understand how they were able to do it.”
Prior to the study, scientists had only measured the amount of force and thrust that bottlenose dolphins can produce.
Dolphins and whales power themselves using large fluked tails that move up and down, with each movement generating a similar force that propels their bodies forward.
“This motion is primarily powered by two muscles groups called the epaxial muscles, which power the up stroke, and the hypaxial muscles, which power the down stroke,” says Mr Logan.
His team related the amount of force produced by the dolphin to a cross-section of its epaxial tail muscles.
That reveals a ratio of force per unit area of muscle, commonly referred to as “muscle stress”.
By measuring the cross-section of muscles in larger cetaceans, they could then use this ratio to scale up and estimate the force output from a bottlenose dolphin to a blue whale.
Blue whales are the strongest and it is due to their massive size,” says Mr Logan.
The blue whale measured in the study had an estimated body mass of 70,800 kg. It produced a maximum force of 60 kN. Given that blue whales can reach twice this weight, others are likely to be even more powerful.
“Blue whales are capable of generating really large forces, the largest we calculated for any swimming cetacean.”
However the study also reveals that smaller cetaceans are relatively stronger. “When compared to smaller cetaceans [blue whales] produce less force relative to their body size.”
So when body size is taken into account, large whales are actually weaker than dolphins.
The strength of each species may relate to its lifestyle.
Blue whales have the most slender body shape. That generates less drag, allowing blue whales to cruise at high speed. So while they are the absolute strongest, they might require less power relative to their size to overcome drag than smaller, less slender species.
The sperm whale was, perhaps surprisingly, not that powerful compared to other large whales. It is not clear why. But sperm whales have much larger heads than other whales, perhaps leaving less of their body to be devoted to muscle.
Overall, though having greater absolute strength, large whales aren’t that strong relative to their size when compared to some land animals.

Mozart hair at Sotheby's auction up for £10,000

FoxyT — Wed, 27 May 2015 14:51:41 GMT

A lock of hair belonging to master composer Mozart is expected to fetch £10,000 when it goes up for auction.

Sotheby's has valued Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's hair, dating back to 1791, at £10,000 ahead of Thursday's sale.

A small lock of Ludwig van Beethoven's hair and a printed invitation to the German's 1827 funeral are also being sold. They have been estimated to reach £2,000.
The lots will be on public display in central London until Wednesday.
Locks of hair were frequently taken as keepsakes from the bodies of recently deceased composers,

Mozart's has been kept in a gilt locket and was passed from his widow Contanze to the German conductor Karl Anschutz before being given to English composer Arthur Sommervell.
The Austrian died after composing operas such as the Magic Flute and The Marriage of Figaro.
In 2002, a lock of Mozart's hair was sold for £38,240 at auction - double the pre-sale estimate.

Scott Fitzgerald's Gatsby home for sale

FoxyT — Thu, 21 May 2015 15:56:08 GMT

The suburban home where F Scott Fitzgerald is believed to have written The Great Gatsby has gone on sale.

The seven-bedroom house is situated in Long Island, where Fitzgerald set much of his 1925 novel.
Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda, lived in the home - in the New York hinterlands - from 1922 until 1924.
The author is understood to have completed The Great Gatsby after moving to France, where he set his subsequent novel Tender is the Night.

A spokeswoman for the estate agency said the asking price for the Mediterranean-style home, in the village of Great Neck Estates, is in excess of $3.8m (£2.4m). She declined to identify the current owner.

Fitzgerald was inspired to write The Great Gatsby, his seminal portrait of the Jazz Age, while living among the socialites of Long Island's "Gold Coast" region.

The book focuses on a mysterious millionaire, Jay Gatsby, owner of a lavish home in the fictional town of West Egg - a stand-in for Great Neck - on prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922.

Several mansions in the area are believed to have served as inspiration for Gatsby's mansion, such as Oheka Castle and the now-demolished Beacon Towers, but not Fitzgerald's own home.

The Simpsons actor Harry Shearer to leave the show

FoxyT — Fri, 15 May 2015 08:27:16 GMT

Harry Shearer, who voices Ned Flanders and Mr Burns in The Simpsons, is to leave the show after more than 25 years following a dispute with producers.

Executive producer Al Jean said in a statement to the New York Times that Shearer had turned down a new pay deal.
The show "will go on" and the actor's characters will be recast, Jean added.

Shearer took to Twitter to say the decision "wasn't about money" and that signing up to a new series would have stopped him from doing other work.
The 71-year-old provided the voice for addled school principal Seymour Skinner as well as rapacious millionaire Montgomery Burns and Ned Flanders, Homer Simpson's chipper neighbour.

Shearer signalled his exit on Twitter by claiming that a lawyer for executive producer James L Brooks said: "Show will go on, Harry will not be part of it, wish him the best."
In a follow-up tweet, Shearer added: "This because I wanted what we've always had: The freedom to do other work. Of course, I wish him the very best."
In response, Al Jean wrote: "Harry Shearer was offered the same deal the rest of the cast accepted, and passed.
"The show will go on and we wish him well. Maggie took it hard.
"We do not plan to kill off characters like Burns and Flanders but will recast with the finest voiceover talent available."

Last week, the Fox network confirmed it had commissioned two more series of the long-running animated sitcom.
According to reports at the time, Shearer had yet to sign a new contract.
On Thursday, the actor stressed that he had no plans to retire, adding: "On to new stuff..."
His other roles have included bass player Derek Smalls in rock "mockumentary" This is Spinal Tap.
The Simpsons has been on air since 1989, and the new series will take the total number of episodes to 625.

The rehearsal of the Victory Parade took almost five hours

Pashkaa — Thu, 07 May 2015 19:35:51 GMT

The rehearsal of the Victory parade took place on Wednesday, the 6th of May. Movement in the centre of the city was blocked from nine o'clock p.m. It started at the same time both on Pobeda square and Lenin square. Military, policemen, cadets of military schools and pupils of cadet classes took part in the parade. After laying flowers and the anthem the column headed toward Lenin square where there was the rehearsal of the concert. Dancers and artistic gymnasts trained in this area. Some props for performances, for example, the layout of the Earth tall as a man, were carried at the rehearsal.
Hundreds of ryazan people watched it. Most of them gathered on Pobeda Square to watch the procession of the column.
The rehearsal ended about two o'clock a.m.

Pirate Capt Kidd's 'treasure' found in Madagascar

Pashkaa — Thu, 07 May 2015 19:06:20 GMT

Underwater explorers in Madagascar say they have discovered treasure belonging to the notorious 17th-Century Scottish pirate William Kidd.
A 50kg (7st 9lb) silver bar was brought to shore on Thursday on the island of Sainte Marie, from what is thought to be the wreck of the Adventure Galley.
The bar was presented to Madagascar's president at a special ceremony.
US explorer Barry Clifford says he believes there are many more such bars still in the wreck.

Who was Captain Kidd?
He is thought to have been born in Scotland's Greenock or the Dundee area in about 1645.
He was appointed by the Crown to tackle piracy and capture enemy French ships, but turned to piracy himself.
In 1698, he looted the Armenian ship the Quedagh Merchant, which was apparently sailing under a French pass.
The Quedagh Merchant had been carrying satins, muslins, gold and silver.
Unfortunately for Kidd, the captain of the ship was an Englishman, and it is thought that a large amount of the cargo belonged to the British East India Company.
Capt Kidd was captured and brought back to London. He was found guilt of piracy and the murder of one of his crewmen during a row in 1697, and sentenced to death.
During his execution in Wapping in 1701, the first rope put around his neck broke, so he was strung up a second time. That rope also snapped, but the third one held.
Afterwards, his body was dipped in tar and hung by chains along the River Thames to serve as a warning to would-be pirates.
Legend had it that Capt Kidd hid much of his loot, which has prompted numerous treasure hunts around the world and inspired author Robert Louis Stevenson when writing Treasure Island.

Japan: Zoo sorry for naming monkey after new princess

FoxyT — Thu, 07 May 2015 06:16:59 GMT

A Japanese zoo has apologised after naming a baby monkey Charlotte in honour of the newborn British princess, it's reported.

The Takasakiyama Zoo, in southern Japan, was inundated with complaints after announcing the female macaque monkey's name on Wednesday, the Kyodo news agency reports. The zoo says the name was chosen after a public vote, a tradition for their first newborn macaque monkey each year. Charlotte received the most votes, although it wasn't exactly a runaway winner, with 59 out of 853 people choosing it.

But other members of the public felt that it was disrespectful to the British royal family to name a monkey after a princess. The zoo faced a "barrage" of complaints from people wanting them to re-name the macaque, with some noting that the Japanese people might not be best pleased if a British monkey were named after one of their own royal family, Kyodo reports. The zoo has apologised in a statement on its website. It says it takes people's concerns seriously and is discussing a potential name change for the newborn animal.

Nasa unveils shape-changing bird-like plane wing

FoxyT — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 07:39:28 GMT

Nasa has jointly developed a plane wing that can change shape during flight.

The US space agency says the new wing will "save millions of dollars annually in fuel costs, reduce airframe weight and decrease aircraft noise during take-offs and landings."
The wing features a seamless flexible edge that can move up or down more subtly than traditional hinged flaps.

The joint project involved Nasa, Air Force Research Laboratory and private tech firm FlexSys.
During six months of testing, an aircraft featuring the experimental control surfaces was flown at fixed flap angles ranging from -2 degrees to 30 degrees for data collection purposes, Nasa said.

But the flexible Adaptive Compliant Trailing Edge (ACTE) wing is designed to go through the full range of positions during a flight, making the operation of the wing much more like that of a bird.

Making the wing seamless allows for smoother airflow, which reduces friction and so cuts fuel costs.
FlexSys says its smart materials technology, which can be retrofitted to existing planes, can increase fuel efficiency by between 5% and 12%, and reduce noise on take-off and landing by up to 40%.
The conventional jet wing contains ailerons, flaps, slats and air brakes, all requiring mechanical mechanisms that add weight and drag.

Prof Jeff Jupp, a former technical director for aircraft manufacturer Airbus and fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, believes this kind of flexible wing would have only "a very minor effect on improving fuel burn" for large passenger jets.
"Mechanical trailing edge flaps are only likely to be totally replaced on smaller aircraft such as business jets," he told the BBC.
As it is, the flexible wing is unlikely to replace the traditional wing any time soon as any new aviation technology has to go through rigorous safety testing that can take years.

Ebola drug cures monkeys infected with West African virus strain

FoxyT — Thu, 23 Apr 2015 11:17:49 GMT

An experimental drug has cured monkeys infected with the Ebola virus, US-based scientists have said.
The treatment, known as TKM-Ebola-Guinea, targets the Makona strain of the virus, which caused the current deadly outbreak in West Africa.

All three monkeys receiving the treatment were healthy when the trial ended after 28 days; three untreated monkeys died within nine days.
Scientists cautioned that the drug's efficacy has not been proven in humans.
At present, there are no treatments or vaccines for Ebola that have been proven to work in humans.
University of Texas scientist Thomas Geisbert, who was the senior author of the study published in the journal Nature, said: "This is the first study to show post-exposure protection... against the new Makona outbreak strain of Ebola-Zaire virus."
Results from human trials with the drug are expected in the second half of this year.

Gene blocking
Mr Geisbert said the drug, produced by Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, could be adapted to target any strain of Ebola and could be manufactured in as little as eight weeks.
It works by blocking particular genes, which stops the virus replicating.
The two-month production time compares with the several months needed to make ZMapp - another experimental drug, which cured monkeys with a different strain of Ebola than the one in the current outbreak.
Since March 2014, more than 10,602 people have been reported as having died from the disease in six countries - Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, the US and Mali.
The total number of reported cases is more than 25,556.
It has been the deadliest occurrence of Ebola since its discovery in 1976.