thoughts on Chris Benoit
Chris Benoit, the pro wrestler found murdered in his Fayetteville, Georgia home last night, was one of the reasons why professional wrestling, despite its ridiculous pretenses and bewilderingly predictable storylines, remains popular, profitable and culturally relevant. 
I grew up a fan of wrestling and still admit to checking a pro-wrestling website from time to time. Not really sure why I enjoy watching it; I can come up with a string of theories as to why the WWE and its various competitors attract millions of fans: escapism, primal-rage satisfaction, morality-play substitution, soap operas for guys, homoerotic frustrations, cultural traditions, the will to violence. Maybe it’s the athleticism — a unique combination of genuine athletic skill, agility, grace, and acting. Consider: Ultimate Fighting Champsionship — which is really real — is a bit more bloody and not nearly as fun to watch. The wrestlers mostly spend their time locking one another in painful holds, rolling around on the mat, and trying to put those painful holds on the other guy.
Maybe it’s the possibility, however faint, that we’ll see something “real” — someone get hurt, someone start to close his punches — the NASCAR crash phenomenon.
A really good wrestler like Benoit can make even the most jaded fan suspend disbelief for just a few seconds. Benoit was characterized as a “scientific wrestler,” which really meant that his performance skills blended a mix of Olympic (ironically, “amateur”-style) grappling with an unmatched ability to sell his interaction with other wrestlers. He was built like a pit-bull, and even he looked a little like one: he had a small, pug face that looked as if it were smushed into his neck. Speaking of necks, he was fond of breaking them — he was probably the only active wrestler whose career survived these accidental injuries he inflicted upon others.
A horrible irony: the script for Monday night’s World Wrestling Entertainment broadcast was supposed to feature a three-hour “commemoration” of the WWE’s chairman, Vince McMahon, who was “killed” by a car bomb two weeks ago. McMahon, of course, was very much alive. At the beginning of tonight’s Raw, a red-eyed, haggard-looking McMahon informed fans that Benoit had died, and that the night’s broadcast would feature a real, tribute to Benoit.
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Chris Benoit
AP
Chris Benoit
FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — Details of the deaths of pro wrestler Chris Benoit, his wife and their 7-year-old son may seem “a little bizarre” when released to the public, a prosecutor said.
Authorities were investigating the deaths at a secluded Fayette County home as a murder-suicide and were not seeking any suspects outside the home.
Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “The details, when they come out, are going to prove a little bizarre.”
Those details may emerge after the completion of autopsies scheduled for Tuesday.
• Click here to view video report from MyFoxAtlanta.com.
Investigators believe Benoit, killed his wife and son over the weekend and then himself sometime Monday. The bodies were found Monday afternoon in three different rooms of the house on Green Meadow Lane, in a subdivision off a gravel road about two miles from Whitewater Country Club.
The autopsies were scheduled to be done at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab in DeKalb County.
Ballard told The Associated Press a gun was not used in any of the deaths. But he declined to say how the three died.
“We’re pretty sure we know, but we want to confirm it with the crime lab,” Ballard said early Tuesday.
Fayette County Coroner C.J. Mowell did not immediately return phone calls. The answering service for his funeral home said he was out of town.
World Wrestling Entertainment said on its Web site that it asked authorities to check on Benoit and his family after being alerted by friends who received “several curious text messages sent by Benoit early Sunday morning.”
• Click here for full coverage on the WWE Web site.
Pope said the three were found about 2:30 p.m., but he would release no other details about the deaths.
Stamford, Conn.-based WWE also said on its Web site it had further information on the deaths of Benoit, 40; his wife, Nancy, 43; and son, Daniel, but had been asked by authorities not to release it.
Benoit, a native of Canada, was born in Montreal. He was a former world heavyweight champion, Intercontinental champion and held several tag-team titles over his career. He was known by several names including “The Canadian Crippler.”
“WWE extends its sincerest thoughts and prayers to the Benoit family’s relatives and loved ones in this time of tragedy,” the federation said in a statement on its Web site.
Benoit was scheduled to perform at the “Vengeance” pay-per-view event Sunday night in Houston, but was replaced at the last minute because of what announcer Jim Ross called “personal reasons.”
Benoit maintained a home in metro Atlanta from the time he wrestled for the defunct World Championship Wrestling.
The WWE canceled its live “Monday Night RAW” card in Corpus Christi, Texas, and USA Network aired a three-hour tribute to Benoit in place of the scheduled wrestling telecast.
Benoit’s wife managed several wrestlers and went by the stage name, “Woman,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
They met when her then-husband drew up a script that had them involved in a relationship as part of an ongoing story line on World Championship Wrestling, the newspaper said.
Benoit has two other children from a prior relationship.
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Is the game up at Decipher? Lawsuits are mounting and fans restless Warren L. Holland Rick Eddleman
Will the empire strike back and undo the brilliance behind a privately held company that has a shrinking presence on Granby Street? Sounds like the perfect plot for a new card game.
Unfortunately, the future is murky for Decipher Inc., a Norfolk-based game card company. It found huge success with its Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, Star Wars and How to Host a Murder games, but it has been plagued by personal and professional lawsuits during its tenure.
Even a group of disgruntled tournament winners, formerly loyal fans, is threatening to bring the house down.
Decipher, owned by Warren L. Holland Jr., has had three rounds of layoffs this year totaling at least 50 people, according to several former employees. They said the company’s health insurance has been canceled, too.
Holland sold his 10,000-square-foot building at 253 Granby St. about two weeks ago and is leasing office space next door. Dr. Sture Sigfred, a radiologist who owns about a half-dozen other buildings downtown, said he purchased the building.
There are pending cases brought by Decipher against its former chief financial officer, Rick Eddleman, that begin proceedings in January 2006, and a Kathy Eddleman, with a scheduled hearing for Aug. 26. Several other cases are listed in court records as well, including one in April that required Holland to pay Sentara Hospitals almost $2,700.
Despite repeated attempts, INSIDE BUSINESS was not able to reach Holland or any representatives of his company. The phone was not answered. One employee who was contacted changed her voice mail message one week later to say she no longer works for Decipher. Calls were referred to another employee, Becky Higgerson, who also did not return a phone call.
Randy Muir owns Wild Things, a Salem, Ore., store that sells Decipher’s card games. He said he has done some of the same conventions with Decipher for a decade.
“I have no real problems with them,” said Muir, even though Decipher owes him a reimbursement for products that he ordered and never received. “The product will not arrive. I will be reimbursed with a future product.”
Overall, he said the company isn’t as prompt or professional as it used to be.
“It’s not unexpected, given the layoffs,” Muir said. “A lot of this stuff is like writing on the wall. Other businesses like this have already gone down.”
Meanwhile, the fans are getting restless. John Hawkins, also from Salem, won $2,500 at a Las Vegas tournament in March, the Decipher Vegas Open, and has yet to be paid. The winnings of three other friends bring the amount to over $4,000.
“They are very evasive and don’t answer our phone calls,” Hawkins said. “They’ve treated us well in the past and poorly in the past. They seem to put profits ahead of customer concerns.”
Hawkins has assembled an even larger group, 16 players who are owed tournament money, to take legal action against Decipher. He said he has heard from friends and retailers who order Decipher’s products that the company has closed down two of its three Norfolk warehouses.
“They are shrinking their business to try to get down to a size that is manageable,” Hawkins said.
Chris DeNoma, also of Salem, said he and Hawkins have been playing Decipher games since they were teens.
“We’ve been playing card games since 1994,” DeNoma said. “It’s like a more complex game of chess.”
“We spent money flying down there and on hotel rooms,” he said, referring to the Las Vegas tournament. “It’s just odd that it’s being handled the way it is.”
Some of Decipher’s message boards are rife with fan complaints about unfulfilled orders and speculations on the company’s future. Players want to know if others are experiencing problems with fan dollars, which are credits awarded for purchases.
According to the Decipher Web site, it costs 99 cents a month to belong to the fan club. Others log on to the message boards with no complaints and simply to trade cards.
Decipher has also delayed the sell dates for some highly anticipated products, including Star Trek and Lord of the Rings games. A message posted on its Web site July 29 by “Dan Bojanowski, brand manager,” attributes the problems to production delays.
By Janet Dunphy
Inside Business - Hampton Roads
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14 year old Kissing Girls Kicked Off Bus
A transit agency chief apologized Wednesday to two teenage girls who were kicked off a city bus for kissing each other.
The girls, both 14, said the driver called them “sickos” after a female passenger complained about their kiss. The driver then stopped the bus along the street and forced them off.
“Removing the girls from the bus was not consistent with our policy,” said TriMet General Manager Fred Hansen. “I want to reiterate that we welcome all riders on our system.”
The 64-year-old driver also violated company policy that requires operators to call for assistance before removing any minors, TriMet said in a statement.
The driver, an 11-veteran who was not identified, will be disciplined, TriMet officials said, though no details were released.
“TriMet sincerely apologizes to the girls and their families for this incident,” Hansen said in the statement.
The mother of one of the girls, Ronnda Zezula, welcomed the apology.
“The only thing I had a problem with is they didn’t really address why the driver broke those policies,” Zezula said. “He knew it was wrong. He’s been a driver for 11 years.”
She also said she wished the agency had made the extent of the disciplinary action public to show it will not “be just a slap on the wrist.”
Zezula said the family has been encouraged to consider a lawsuit, but they will “have to mull it over.”
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Israeli Bikini Beauty Gal Gadot: Campaign Not ‘Pornographic’
Gal Gadot was Miss Israel 2004
The Israeli bikini babe whose racy picture has set tongues wagging from Tel Aviv to New York’s Turtle Bay insisted Tuesday that she was just using her assets to improve Israel’s war-torn image and didn’t intend to offend anyone.
The stunning former Miss Israel and model, Gal Gadot, said she is proud of her sexy photograph — part of a new tourism campaign touted by the Israeli Consulate that showcases a host of scantily clad Hebrew hotties.
“Obviously, I don’t think it’s pornographic, or I wouldn’t have done it,” said Gadot, 22, who’s starting law school in the fall.
She added, “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Israel is a democracy and that’s what it’s all about.”
Her picture appeared on an official invitation sent out by the consulate in New York. It touched off an uproar in Israel, where several female politicians denounced it as the wrong way to promote the Jewish state.
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S.C. Cops: Naked Couple Falls 50 Feet From Rooftop to Their Deaths
Police on Wednesday were investigating how a naked couple fell 50 feet from the roof of a downtown office building to their deaths.
The bodies were found on the road by a passing cabdriver around 5 a.m. Wednesday.
Clothing was discovered on the roof, leading authorities to suspect the man and woman, in their early 20s, may have been having sex. Their identities were not released.
“It’s too early to rule out anything,” Columbia police Sgt. Florence McCants said, but McCants said a preliminary investigation didn’t show any sign of foul play.
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Harry Potter “Hack” Claims to Give Spoiler Details of the Ending
Harry Potter “Hack” Claims to Give Spoiler Details of the Ending
You’ve probably never heard of Fyodor, or insecure.org. I expect you will over the next few days as the mainstream media begins to pick up on a Harry Potter story. Fyodor is a very gifted programmer who created an extremely valuable security analysis program called nmap over 10 years ago, and has been maintaining and improving it ever since. nmap is one of the most widely-used vulnerability scanners, and was even featured in the second Matrix movie (pictures are at the bottom of the insecure.org home page. Geek trivia: the versions of nmap, the target computer system, and the actual vulnerability are historically accurate.)
What does this have to do with Harry Potter? Well, Fyodor also hosts a number of extremely useful computer security discussion lists on his site. And on one of those, a day ago, someone posting as “Gabriel” posted a message entitled “Harry Potter 0day”. (”0day” is jargon for “zero day”, and is used to denote a file — originally software, but more commonly now films or music — that is released onto the underground scene on the day of its public release. This kind of piracy gives bragging rights to the crackers.) In the post, Gabriel claims to give spoilers as to the ending of the upcoming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Interestingly, the post claims a religious motive (which fits with the poster’s choice of name):
We did it by following the precious words of the great Pope Benedict XVI when he still was Cardinal Josepth Ratzinger.
He explained why Harry Potter bring the youngs of our earth to Neo Paganism faith.
So we make this spoiler to make reading of the upcoming book useless and boring.
More worryingly, the poster claims to have gotten the information through a malicious email sent to an employee of Bloomsbury Press:
The attack strategy was the easiest one.
The usual milw0rm downloaded exploit delivered by email/click-on-the-link/open-browser/click-on-this-animated-icon/back-connect to some employee of Bloomsbury Publishing, the company that’s behind the Harry crap.
It’s amazing to see how much people inside the company have copies and drafts of this book.
Curiosity killed the cat.
Even if this particular incident is not true, this illustrates the dangers that poor computer security can pose to a business, as well as an individual, because this kind of thing can indeed happen. When software is in a state where a single click on an email can allow a cracker access to the files stored locally on the computer (or on accessible network shares) you have a clear chance of this kind of thing happening. It only takes one foolish click, or error (or — the most dangerous — an exploit that triggers without this kind of action). Software security is boring, but the consequences of poor security can be devastating. Its marketing hyperbole aside, Apple does have a valid claim to significant superiority here, owing to Mac OS X’s Unix underpinnings.
If this incident is true, I don’t see it particularly hurting sales. Kids (and adults) will still want to buy the book, and this kind of information will be all over the web 1 minute after the books go on sale. It would however suggest the importance of quarantining critical information on a “need-to-know” basis, and storing it on a system not accessible to the public.
In any event, I don’t recommend reading Gabriel’s post. If true, it will ruin enjoyment of the book. If false, it will still do so, and you won’t fully realise until you get to the end. Either way, you are giving the poster publicity and credibility. If you really, really must, I will say that the post appears on the “Full Disclosure” discussion list, but that’s it.
LawFont
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Stalking 2.0: The Websites that Track Your Every Move (Voluntarily!)
Stalking 2.0: The Websites that Track Your Every Move (Voluntarily!)
So, you don’t mind being followed and tracked? You don’t care if your friends can see what websites you’ve been to lately, what software you’ve been running, or even what music you’ve been listening to? Then you’ll love the web’s trend towards extreme openness: sharing everything you do on your computer. Sometimes referred to as sharing your ‘attention’ data, this is a growing market. Below, we round up 12 services that want to track your every move - voluntarily.
Wakoopa is an excellent service which tracks what software you have been running. It keeps tabs of what software is running in the background, what software you have installed, and what software you actively use. Every so often the software uploads this data to the Wakoopa site where it then lists all programs you have been running. The interesting thing here is that you can add friends to track individually or join a team and combine the data. Thanks to Wakoopa, I have found several useful programs that I now use regularly.
Last.fm has been making news with the site being acquired by CBS for nearly $300 million. If you’re a tech-savvy music fan, you probably already use it. With Last.fm you download a small program which gathers information on the current song you are playing through your favorite mp3 software application. Through a process called “scrobbling,” the software determines what song you are listening to and then uploads this song’s data to the server and then keeps track of it. On the website itself there are many ways of viewing the data which is fun to play around with. To be honest though, I think the greatest part is learning exactly how much horrible music you listen to and what songs your friends listen to in comparison. (Our Last.fm review.)
Cluztr takes it to the web by tracking every site you visit online through your browser. Not only that, it also keeps a history log or “clickstream” of all those sites. One word of advice, avoid visiting sites that your mother would not think much of, as it’s all out there for your friends to view. Cluztr installs a plug-in to your FireFox or Flock browser (sorry IE and Safari users, Cluztr is hopeful for a mid to late 2007 release) where it then captures your entire web surfing history and compiles it into your “clickstream” which you are free to share or publish on the web for all your friends to see. There are also social functions built into the sidebar which allow for posting of messages for that specific site which other users can see when visiting that same site. (Our Cluztr review.)
AttentionTrust offers services similar to Cluztr. AttentionTrust installs as a browser plug-in and tracks the sites you visit. You can then take this data and share it with other applications or development projects that could make use of this data, or simply store it on your desktop. AttentionTrust’s idea is to let you share this data with in interested parties for a fee - in other words, a form of lead generation.
Atten.TV is another site that allows you to follow what you or your friends are clicking on around the web. You have the option to share this data or keep it private. It is completely up to you. Since you are reading this article, I think it is safe to assume you are leaning towards the former option. The downloadable application is only for Mac OS currently. (Our Atten.tv review.)
Me.dium can be considered a competitor to Cluztr. Me.dium takes the same basic approach, but doesn’t act as a personal log: instead, it lets you see which sites your friends are on, and join them there. It is simply personal preference on your decision to use Cluztr, Me.dium, Atten.TV or AttentionTrust. (Our Me.dium review.)
Plazes is a service that tracks where you are no matter where you are in the world. So now if you not only want your pals to know where you are online, you can have them know where you are in person. Just be sure not to get in to trouble with this service.
iStalkr doesn’t keep tabs on you directly, but rather, indirectly by utilizing RSS and ATOM feeds that most social web 2.0 sites are utilizing now. If you sign up for an iStalkr account and enter some social sites you are a member of, like Del.icio.us and Twitter, iStalkr will then grab the RSS/ATOM feed for that service and will be able to get your updates from the site. To put it simply, think of iStalkr like as a central hub for your social website information and updates. (Our iStalkr review.)
SlifeShare is an application built for the Mac OS primarily. If you are running Firefox you can install the extension regardless of what OS you run. SlifeShare is similar to iStalkr in that the application tracks data from multiple sources and acts as a central hub, but SlifeShare takes it a step further and collects this data directly. Music, videos, photos, websites, applications, and more are tracked and then the data is displayed on the SlifeShare website which you can share with friends. You are only allowed five friends, after which you must either become a premium user or just stick with the five friend limit. (Our SlifeShare review.)
YouTube Active Share simply allows you to share videos that you watch on YouTube with all your friends. Your profile will show what videos you have recently watched and when you are currently watching a video while others are viewing the same video, they will see your name appear on a list of people currently watching that video.
Particls is a downloadable application which doesn’t necessarily track what you do, but instead tracks what you are most interested in receiving information about. The concept is that you allow the Particls software to search your documents for keywords that will allow the program to determine what information you want to be fed to your computer via RSS and ATOM feeds. For example, if you type in Web 2.0, it’s almost a guarantee you will receive site updates from the Mashable website directly to the Particls software. Minor problems with the application is that it can be a resource hog at times, but it is very powerful, and Particls will have an ad supported version and a pay version in the future.
Google History has drawn much controversy over privacy issues. Google search history is another controversial tool Google released that tracks every search term you enter into Google’s various search tools. This feature is mainly for your benefit only.
Got any more sites that track you around the web? Add them in the comments.
by James Mowery
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Thoof Invitations
We have 25 Thoof invitations to give out. Since we’ve received so many requests for them, we will have a contest. To win a Thoof invitation, register with EzineBlog.org, then write an original submission. These submissions will be then voted on, the top 25 authors will receive each one Thoof invite. As always, registered members will never receive any spam from us, nor will we ever divulge your registration information to anyone else.
Rules:
All submitted content must be original, no plagiarism.
Submitted entries can be your own musings or ramblings or write-ups of any issue.
Each registered user may submit as many entries as they like.
Only register ONCE. If you submit multiple registrations, and we find out, you will be disqualified and will not win a .
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Oscar De La Hoya to Be a Father a Fourth Time
You win some, you lose some. An hour after boxing champ Oscar De La Hoya
lost a major match-up Saturday in Las Vegas against “Pretty Boy” Floyd
Mayweather, his wife, Millie Corretjer, revealed he was going to be a father
for the fourth time. 
“I think tonight is a good night to tell him,” she told the Los Angeles
Times before she gave her husband the news. “He has a lot to look forward to
now.”
This will be De La Hoya’s fourth child and his wife’s second. The couple
welcomed a son, Oscar Gabriel, on Dec. 29, 2005.
De La Hoya, 34, and Corretjer, a 33-year-old Puerto Rican pop singer, were
married Oct. 5, 2001. The couple met in 2000, when both were signed to the
same record label. (De La Hoya’s debut CD that year earned a Grammy nod.)
The boxer has two other children: Jacob, 9, and Atiana, 8, from previous
relationships. Atiana’s mother is former Dancing with the Stars contestant
Shanna Moakler.
Corretjer said this wouldn’t be the only big news in the fighter’s life -
retirement may be in the cards. “I have a feeling this may be it for him,”
she told the L.A. Times. “I know this because he just told me.”
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