Monthly archives: May, 2019

Emaar Properties claims Burj Dubai as world’s tallest building

Sunday, July 22, 2007 United Arab Emirates (UAE) developer Emaar Properties has claimed that their Burj Dubai commercial and residential tower, currently under construction, has become the world’s tallest building, reaching a height of 512.1 metres (or 1,680 feet) and 141 storeys. The current official record holder, Taipei 101 of Taiwan, has a height of …

ACLU, EFF challenging US ‘secret’ court orders seeking Twitter data

Thursday, April 7, 2011 Late last month, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed objections to the United States Government’s ‘secret’ attempts to obtain Twitter account information relating to WikiLeaks. The ACLU and EFF cite First and Fourth amendment issues as overriding reasons to overturn government attempts to keep their …

IBM Releases 500 patents to open source community

Saturday, January 15, 2005 United States –”IBM hereby commits not to assert any of the 500 U.S. patents listed below, as well as all counterparts of these patents issued in other countries, against the development, use or distribution of Open Source Software.” [1] So begins the pledge IBM has made to “any individual, community, or …

Dozens die in Iraq bombing, al-Sadr blames occupation forces

Friday, April 7, 2006 At least seventy civilians were killed, with many more injured in an apparent suicide attack at the popular Buratha mosque in northern Baghdad soon after the Friday prayers. Police have said that two of the bombers were dressed as women. The attack comes a day after the Iraqi interior ministry issued …

British company designs Paris Hilton protest panties

Sunday, June 3, 2007 With photographers and media gathering for an appearance by Paris Hilton, who is sentenced to serve jail time, the fashion industry has joined the ‘free or jail Paris Hilton debate.’ British company Mio Destino designed a line of prison-striped lingerie embroidered with the words ‘Free Paris’ in support of Hilton. A …

Russian mathematician declines Fields Medal

Tuesday, August 22, 2006 A Russian mathematician, Grigori (“Grisha”) Perelman, who is credited proving the Poincaré conjecture declined to accept the Fields Medal, regarded as the highest honor in the field of mathematics. The Fields Medal, often referred to as the “Nobel Prize of mathematics”, was awarded this year to Andrei Okounkov (Russia/US), Terence Tao …

US Senate Majority leader Harry Reid criticized over “Negro” comments

Monday, January 11, 2010 Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat who is US Senate Majority leader, is under a lot of criticism over comments he made during the 2008 United States presidential election, toward US President Barack Obama. The highlighted comment made by Reid was calling Obama a “light-skinned” black man “with no Negro dialect unless …

Broadway Market Café occupied against gentrification

Monday, January 2, 2006 For several weeks, a group of local residents has kept Francesca’s Café on 34 Broadway Market, Hackney, East London occupied day and night to prevent its demolition and conversion into luxury flats by property developer Dr Roger Wratten. The occupation was evicted on 21st December by police and bailiffs, and workmen …

Chili Finger Incident

Friday, May 6, 2005 On Thursday the 22nd of March, 2005, Anna Ayala, a woman from Las Vegas, claimed to have found a human finger in her bowl of chili at a Wendy’s restaurant located at 1405 Monterey Highway, just south of downtown San Jose, California, owned by Fresno-based Jern Management.. The finger, which probably …