"Web site" baffles Internet terrorism trial judge

From Reuters:

LONDON (Reuters) - A British judge admitted on Wednesday he was struggling to cope with basic terms like "Web site" in the trial of three men accused of inciting terrorism via the Internet.

Judge Peter Openshaw broke into the questioning of a witness about a Web forum used by alleged Islamist radicals.

"The trouble is I don't understand the language. I don't really understand what a Web site is," he told a London court during the trial of three men charged under anti-terrorism laws.

Prosecutor Mark Ellison briefly set aside his questioning to explain the terms "Web site" and "forum." An exchange followed in which the 59-year-old judge acknowledged: "I haven't quite grasped the concepts."

Violent Islamist material posted on the Internet, including beheadings of Western hostages, is central to the case.

Concluding Wednesday's session and looking ahead to testimony Thursday by a computer expert, the judge told Ellison: "Will you ask him to keep it simple, we've got to start from basics."

Oh my God! How is this man qualified to judge this case?? Why doesn't he do the right thing and excuse himself from this trial?

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Militant 'Mickey Mouse' pulled off air

From Yahoo News:

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Hamas militants have suspended a TV program that featured a Mickey Mouse lookalike urging Palestinian children to fight Israel and work for global Islamic domination, the Palestinian information minister said Wednesday.

nformation Minister Mustafa Barghouti said the character — a giant black-and-white rodent with a high-pitched voice — represented a "mistaken approach" to the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation.

He said that the program was pulled from Hamas-affiliated Al Aqsa TV at his ministry's request and "placed under review."

The character, named "Farfour," or "butterfly," but unmistakably a copy of the Disney character, preached against the U.S. and Israel each Friday on the show called "Tomorrow's Pioneers."

Nuts!

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Diego "Chico" Corrales Dies in Motorcycle Accident

From Excite.com:

LAS VEGAS (AP) -Diego Corrales, who won titles in two weight classes and was involved in one of the most exciting fights in recent years, died in a motorcycle accident a few miles from the Las Vegas Strip. He was 29.

His promoter, Gary Shaw, said Corrales was driving his motorcycle at a high rate of speed when he ran into the back of a car Monday night. Shaw said Corrales, whose career had faltered the past two years, recently bought a racing motorcycle and apparently was riding it the time he was killed.

"He fought recklessly and he lived recklessly," Shaw said. "That was his style."

Las Vegas police spokesman Jose Montoya said the victim in the accident was wearing a helmet, and police were investigating if drugs or alcohol was involved.

Corrales, who fought most of his career at 130 pounds, was a big puncher best known for getting up after two 10th-round knockdowns to stop Jose Luis Castillo on May 7, 2005, in what the Boxing Writers Association of America and numerous boxing publications called the fight of the year.

Wow, I remember this guy. He was pretty good, up until he lost his first fight to Floyd Mayweather. That was a very memorable fight. Corrales looked like a favorite coming into that fight. He was taller, had a reach advantage and just looked bigger. But Mayweather kicked his ass to the point that Corrales' stepfather, who was working his corner literally threw in the towel to stop the ass-whipping. Corrales burst into tears and cursed at him, but his stepfather shook his head, hugged him and said he didn't want him to get hurt. I've never forgotten that fight.

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He's Baaaaaack!

Newly signed New York Yankees starting pitcher Roger Clemens speaks at a news conference at Yankee Stadium in New York May 6, 2007. The New York Yankees have signed seven-times Cy Young Award winner Clemens to a minor-league contract, the American League club announced on Sunday. (Jeff Zelevansky/Reuters)

Golden Fraud

I'm so glad I didn't pay to see this fight!

They almost had me. On Saturday I watched a marathon of the reality TV series / pay-per-view promo De La Hoya / Mayweather 24/7, and, hey, it was pretty damn good. I think we can be sure of seeing similar promo "documentaries" whenever another fight comes up that needs the ducats.

The one thing that bothered me is that Mayweather agreed to make himself look bad to promote the fight. The whole series made Oscar look like a saint.

Uh, he has three out of wedlock kids and he had to pay off a girl who accused him of raping her at his condo when she was 15. Big family man.

His carefully crafted image makes me sick, which is why I'm always happy when his ass gets beat. He has a tendency to lose the high-profile fights, too. Trinidad, Hopkins, Moseley. And now Mayweather.

I hope none of you bet on this one...

(Almost) Perfect

New York Yankees’ Chien-Ming Wang delivers against the Seattle Mariners during the first inning in Major League Baseball action Saturday, May 5, 2007 at Yankee Stadium in New York. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Chien-Ming Wang!

Man, he threw down. Remember back in the day when Andy was the stopper and had this incredible winning percentage after a Yankees loss? We’ll that’s Chien-Ming Wang’s role now. Not only was he pitching a shutout, only was he throwing a no-hitter, he had a perfect game going with 5 outs to go!

Again, like with Hughes, it was not to be. At least he didn’t get hurt, except for his feelings, perhaps. The perfect game, no-hitter and shutout were broken up with one swing of the bat by Ben Broussard. It was a hell of a game, nonetheless.

Is a healthy Chien-Ming Wang, a healthy Mussina and a healthy Pettitte enough to win a World Series? My mind says no, but…

Oh, yeah, the final score was 8-1.

From the people who brought you NaNoWriMo...

From the people who brought you NaNoWriMo, comes Script Frenzy:

Script Frenzy is an international writing event in which participants attempt the creatively daring feat of writing an original, full-length screenplay—or stage play—in a single month. Spurred by a wild deadline and buoyed by a community of countless other writers, Script Frenzy participants can't be bothered with self-doubt—or editing. They're too busy writing by the seat of their pants, typing out beautiful, flawed stories that no one else could have dreamt up.

As part of a donation-funded nonprofit, Script Frenzy charges no fee to participate; there are also no valuable prizes awarded or "best" scripts singled out. Every writer who completes the goal of 20,000 words is victorious and awe-inspiring and will get a Script Frenzy Winner's Certificate and web icon proclaiming this fact. Even those who fall short of the word goal will be applauded for making a heroic attempt. Really, you have nothing to lose—except that nagging feeling that there's a script inside you that may never get out.

The 5 Basic Rules of Script Frenzy

1. To be crowned an official Script Frenzy winner, you must write a script of at least 20,000 words and verify this word count on ScriptFrenzy.org.
2. You may write individually or in teams of two. Writer teams will have a 20,000 total word goal for their single co-written script.
3. Script writing may begin no earlier than 12:00:01 AM on June 1 and must cease no later than 11:59:59 PM on June 30, local time.
4. You may write either a screenplay or a stage play.
5. You must, at some point, have ridiculous amounts of fun.

Are you tempted?

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Number 13

There was an interesting rundown of A-Rod's April stats on ESPN on Sunday. It's still hard to warm up to this guy after he's let the team down in the post season every year, however, these numbers were impressive:

1 Grand Slam
2 Walk-off home runs
3 Multi-home run games
4 [His spot in the order]
5 Home runs when the Yankees were trailing
6 Go-ahead home runs
7 Home runs at home (and 7 on the road)
8 Two-run home runs
9 Home runs with 2 outs
10 Home runs to left field
11 Home runs with runners on
12 Home runs vs. right-handed pitchers
13 [His number]
14 Home runs in April, tying Albert Pujols' record set in 2006.


Hey, Alex -- **PLEASE** repeat this performance in October, okay?

Phil Hughes is Throwing a No-Hitter

Can it happen?? Hughes is no-hitting the Rangers through 5 and two thirds innings.

UPDATE 1: No hitter through six!

UPDATE 2: Noooooo! Hughes has been pulled after one out in the seventh. He pulled his hamstring pitching to Mark Texiera!! Shit! What more can happen to this staff?

I knew it...

I had a hunch that the person in Sylar's painting from last week was really Sylar, not Nathan. It was too demonic a depiction. Nathan has some sleazy ways, but he tends more towards weak morals than outright evil.

BTW, Mohinder really is a brick, isn't he? He was working for Sylar who was masquerading as Nathan for five years and didn't catch on?

I wasn't too impressed with last night's episode of Heroes. I could do without the blatant rip-offs of all too familiar X-Men plots. Hopefully we'll get back on track next week.