- For anyone who has attended college for even one semester, the absurdity of some course offerings on a school’s class list is a well-known commodity. Whether it’s studying passing cultural phenomena or movies from the 1950s, plenty of courses offer a chance to waste time, acquire credit hours and yet provide no actual progress toward being successful after graduation. The University of North Carolina Charlotte (UNCC) understands this truth and is attempting to rectify the problem, one small (criminal) step at a time. About 200 UNCC students are enrolled in a specialized computer class teaching them all about hacking and protecting computer systems. The program, called HoneyNet, is a global effort that includes students from around the world and UNCC has a chapter of it. Students who complete the program typically go on to work for private companies and security agencies, although the basic concept of the class does lead one to wonder if some might choose to put their newly learned skills to, um, different use. Sure, knowing how to hack can theoretically teach a person how to defend against hackers and might land at job at, say, the Department of Homeland Security. And yes, someone who aspires to be a hacker probably isn't going to go the more official, educational route to get there. Still, program director Dr. Bill Chu and his charges just might be hatching future members of hacker super group Anonymous. For the program, students use a separate computer system from UNCC's system so the system is not compromised. They log in and wait for a hacking attempt. "Make it look like tempting targets for the bad guy to hit," Chu said. "And then your objective is to understand what your adversaries obtain." That experience teaches students what needs to be done to better protect companies’ computer systems, or how to hack them and get away with it…………
- The tradition continues for the Cincinnati Bengals. Long the reigning felony champions of the National Football League, the Bengals have seen their criminal activity wane a bit in the past few seasons but never die out entirely. In all fairness, maintaining their degree of felonious proficiency of a few years back would be impossible for any team. Linebacker Rey Maualuga is doing his best to keep the Bengals’ criminal continuity going and he has only been in Cincinnati for three seasons. With one strike already on his record during his time with the Bengals after pleading guilty to drunken driving after police in northern Kentucky said he hit a parking meter and two parked cars in January 2010, Maualuga (allegedly) added to his legacy on Feb. 5 when he (allegedly) punched an employee at a downtown Cincinnati bar in the face. The employee reported the incident to police and Maualuga was charged with misdemeanor assault. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge and his attorney filed a written plea Friday in Hamilton County Municipal Court. Neither Maualuga nor the Bengals have commented on the charge, which could result in a fine or suspension from the NFL. After he was suspended for two games for violating its conduct policy with his first offense. A second conviction would make him a repeat offender and allow commissioner Roger Goodell to hammer him with a lengthier suspension that would keep him out for the first few weeks of next season. Yes, punching bouncers or bartenders in the face is pretty sophomoric and some more sophisticated criminal activity would be nice, but keep the tradition alive is what really matters………….
- Bob Mugabe sounds paranoid. The Zimbabwean dictator has plenty of reasons to be paranoid, of course, given that most of his country wants him ousted from power. His focus at the moment is on political rivals he has accused of plotting a rather unusual coup to kick him out of office. Rather than go with the standard military coup, according to Mugabe his rivals are attempting to use constitutional reforms to get rid of him. However, Mugabe dismissively insisted his ZANU-PF party would reject any changes threatening its future. For a guy who turns 88 on Tuesday, he’s extremely spry and feisty, perhaps because he is hell-bent on remaining in power until he dies – assuming he allows death to make a decision on his future. His paranoia and egomania have been at new heights since he was forced into a coalition government following disputed elections in 2008. Staying in power for 32 years isn't easy and definitely requires trampling the rights and wishes of a lot of people and Mugabe is something of an expert in the practice. For his next power ploy, he is seeking to extend his rule in an early poll that he wants held this year, a year ahead of schedule. Oddly enough, not everyone is down with the idea. In fact, Mugabe alleged in an interview with the state-owned newspaper that lawyers hired to draft a new national charter and rivals from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had "erred" by including issues not included in a public survey. Certain clauses in the first draft of the charter could prevent him from running for another term and Bob Mugabe won’t stand for that, nor for any charter that includes granting rights to gays and lesbians. "The issue is that what is not the view of the people and not in the present constitution or has not been discussed, we will reject," he said. "Such a constitution would be thrown out by ZANU-PF. We would not accept that. They erred if it is like that." The “errors” Mugabe referred to are limits on presidential powers and terms in office, which would be restricted to 10 years. Even for the math-challenged, it would not be difficult to see that Mugabe would be barred from running under such a rule. In a shocking development, he has already been nominated as his ZANU-PF party's candidate and intends to run in an election he wants held in 2012. Whenever they are held, the elections will be preceded by the writing of a new constitution. Every last part of the process should be an all-out brawl with Mugabe involved…………
- An über-competitive field of returning films battled it out at the box office and the weekend victor was Denzel Washington and his new spy flick “Safe House,” which swapped spots with defending champion “The Vow” for a win in the second weekend of release for both movies. “Safe House” notched the win with $24 million, raising its two-week haul to $78.3 million and counting. “The Vow” was close behind at $23.6 million and has earned $85.6 million in its first two weeks. The top new film was “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance,” which rode to an opening weekend of $22 million to place third. It was a solid, if unspectacular performance for the latest installment of Nicolas Cage’s demonic motorcycle-centric franchise. “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” dropped one spot to fourth in its second weekend, keeping its status as the “top family film” (how “Ghost Rider” doesn’t qualify as a family film is a true mystery) with an $20 million effort and $54 million through two weeks. With all its promotional hype and Reese Witherspoon’s hotness, “This Means War” could do no better than fifth in its debut. With $17.6 million, “War,” opened in relatively quiet fashion. “Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (in 3D)” finished sixth for the weekend on the strength of $7.9 million in earnings and has bilked $33.7 million from pasty, basement-dwelling dorks in its two weeks in theaters. “Chronicle” was next on the list with $7.5 million for seventh place, followed by “The Woman in Black” in eighth with $7.5 million. That was enough to outdo newcomer “The Secret World of Arrietty” as the animated film opened with $6.4 million. Liam Neeson’s ass-kicking ways led “The Grey” to the final spot in the top 10 with $3 million. Films falling out of the top 10 from last weekend were “The Descendants” (No. 11), “The Artist” (No. 12) and “Big Miracle” (No. 13)…………
- Goats: They’re not just the slow, crabby, disagreeable barnyard dwellers they are so often painted as. In fact, they may possess a trait previously believed to belong to humans, elephants, whales, bats and dolphins. According to researchers at Queen Mary University in London, goats also pick up accents as they get older and join social groups. Yes, goats have social groups and joining them apparently impacts the animals’ voices. Scientists previously believed only a select group of mammals had the ability to modify vocal sounds according to their surroundings, and that other species' "voices" were determined solely by genetics. To measure goats’ ability to adjust their voices, Dr. Elodie Briefer and her team recorded the bleats of four groups of pygmy goats at one week old, when goats from the same litter remain with one another, and again at five weeks old, when they form social groups with other goats of the same age. Even at the five-week mark, the study found genetically related kids produced similar calls. However, the vocal calls of goats raised in the same social groups also became more similar as the animals grew older. "This suggests that goat kids modify their calls according to their social surroundings, developing similar ‘accents,’” Briefer said. She admitted she did not know if the findings were applicable to other animals but suggested that if goats' calls can be affected by their environment maybe all mammals' calls could be too. So yes, the dream of hearing a goat with a Baa-ston accent lives……….
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