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- Paul the 'psychic' octopus dies
- Filesharing software distributor LimeWire ordered to close by Court
- Over 100 dead and hundreds missing in Indonesia after tsunami destroys island villages
| Paul the 'psychic' octopus dies Posted: Wednesday, October 27, 2010 Paul the Octopus, the octopus who became famous for correctly predicting the winner of Germany's seven matches at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, as well as the final, has died of natural causes. During the football tournament in South Africa earlier this year, Paul, who lived in an aquarium in Oberhausen, Germany, chose between two glass boxes placed in his tank, which would have a German flag and the flag of the country which the country would be playing against. Both boxes would contain food, and the box which Paul chose to eat out of would be the winners. The octopus correctly predicted the result of all of Germany's games, and hypothesised that Spain would beat the Netherlands in the final—which they duly did. Paul became internationally famous for his correct predictions, and was dubbed by some as the "oracle octopus". All his predictions were filmed and broadcast across the world, and he became a hit on the video sharing website YouTube. During the World Cup, Rupert Adams of William Hill, one of Britain's largest bookmakers, said that the octopus's success rate was remarkable. "If you had had ten pounds on each and every prediction then re-invested your winnings you would currently have over 1,450 pounds," he said. "It's an astonishing feat to get six predictions in a row. I am told people are walking into our shops and saying 'I will have what the Octopus predicted.'" After the World Cup this year, it was announced Paul would retire. "He won't give any more oracle predictions—either in football, nor in politics, lifestyle or economy," a spokesperson for the aquarium said at the time. "Paul will get back to his former job, namely making children laugh." Paul's life was not without controversy. During the tournament Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that the media storm was a sign of decay in Western culture. "Those who believe in this type of thing cannot be the leaders of the global nations that aspire, like Iran, to human perfection, basing themselves in the love of all sacred values," he said. More...   |
| Filesharing software distributor LimeWire ordered to close by Court Posted: Wednesday, October 27, 2010 One of the world's largest distributors of Filesharing software, LimeWire, has been placed under permanent injunction by the US District Court in the Southern District of New York, to cease distributing and supporting its software. The injunction, requested by multiple parties including Bertlesmann Music Group, Motown, Capitol Records and Sony Entertainment, was filed and approved 26th October and was issued under Title 17 U.S.C §502, covering infringement of copyright. The injunction states that LimeWire "intentionally encouraged direct infringement" and "...failed to implement any meaningful technological barriers or design choices aimed at diminishing infringement." Since the order was approved, LimeWire has closed its website, posting a notice on the front page explaining the situation, with a link to a copy of the injunction. More... |
| Over 100 dead and hundreds missing in Indonesia after tsunami destroys island villages Posted: Tuesday, October 26, 2010 At least 113 people are now dead and hundreds more are missing after a 10 foot (3 m) tsunami destroyed several villages in a series of remote islands in western Indonesia. The tsunami was caused by a magnitude 7.7 earthquake which struck on Monday at 9:42 p.m. local time (14:42 UTC). The epicenter of the earthquake was 78 kilometers (48 mi) west of South Pagai, one of the Mentawai Islands off the west coast of Sumatra. More... |
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