RTFA: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7169543.stm

The man behind the record rise in oil prices to 100 a barrel was a lone trader, seeking bragging rights and a minute of fame, market watchers say.

A single trader bid up the price by buying a modest lot and then sold it immediately at a loss, they claim.

The New York Mercantile Exchange said that US crude oil futures traded just once in triple figures on Wednesday.

Some analysts questioned the validity of the trade, though their concerns faded as oil set a record on Thursday.

New York light sweet crude climbed to a new high of 100.05 a barrel on Thursday.

Vanity trade

On Wednesday, one floor trader bought 1,000 barrels, the smallest amount permitted, and sold it immediately for 99.40 at a 600 loss

RTFA: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/344868_airport…

Travelers at Sea-Tac and dozens of other major airports across America are being scrutinized by teams of TSA behavior-detection officers specially trained to discern the subtlest suspicious behaviors.
TSA officials will not reveal specific behaviors identified by the program — called SPOT (Screening Passengers by Observation Technique) — that are considered indicators of possible terrorist intent.
But a central task is to recognize microfacial expressions — a flash of feelings that in a fraction of a second reflects emotions such as fear, anger, surprise or contempt, said Carl Maccario, who helped start the program for TSA.
“In the SPOT program, we have a conversation with (passengers) and we ask them about their trip,” said Maccario from his office in Boston. “When someone lies or tries to be deceptive, … there are behavior cues that show it. … A brief flash of fear.”
Such people are referred for secondary screening, which can include a pat-down search and an X-ray exam. The microfacial expressions, he said, are the same across many cultures.
Since January 2006, behavior-detection officers have referred about 70,000 people for secondary screening, Maccario said. Of those, about 600 to 700 were arrested on a variety of charges, including possession of drugs, weapons violations and outstanding warrants.

It’s when they pull treachery DIRECTLY from Orwell’s 1984 that YOU must ask yourself if this is justified by ANY law, or by ANY shred of evidence that the program works. I submit, as evidence from the article above, that the program has a 1% effectiveness rate.

I will do the math for you: that is 99% false positives. Folks, this is dangerously scary!

RTFA: http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/foreign/display.va…

US special forces snatch squads are on standby to seize or disable Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal in the event of a collapse of government authority or the outbreak of civil war following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

The troops, augmented by volunteer scientists from America’s Nuclear Emergency Search Team organisation, are under orders to take control of an estimated 60 warheads dispersed around six to 10 high-security Pakistani military bases.

Military sources say contingency plans have been reviewed over the past three days to prevent any of Pakistan’s atomic weapons falling into the hands of Islamic extremists if the administration of President Pervez Musharraf appears threatened by civil unrest.

RTFA: http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/Story?id=4022717&page…

Robin Garrison, an off-duty 42-year-old firefighter, was walking in Berliner Park in Columbus, Ohio, in May when he saw a woman sunbathing topless under a tree.

He approached her and they started talking and getting comfortable, the woman smiling and resting her foot on his shoulder at one point.

Eventually, she asked to see Garrison’s penis; he unzipped his pants and complied.

Seconds later, undercover police officers pulled up in a van and arrested Garrison; he was later charged with public indecency, a misdemeanor, based on video footage taken by cops who were targeting men having sex or masturbating in the park. While topless sunbathing is legal in the city’s parks, exposing more than that is against the law.

The sunbathing woman is not affiliated with the police department and she was not asked to take part in the sting operation, according to a spokesperson for the department.

WTF?! So this woman was not a part of the ’sting’ operation yet the police had video footage pointed directly at her and were there within seconds? Sounds like the cops are being indecent.

RTFA: http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/01/facebook-ad…

Have you used Facebook to give a shout-out to businesses you like? Best make sure your profile picture catches your best side, because you might be an unwitting star in those businesses’ next Facebook ad campaigns.

In November 2007, the Palo Alto, California-based social network announced a highly targeted advertising platform, called Facebook Ads, at a splashy media event in New York. Since the platform’s release, most of the focus has been on a feature called Beacon, which informs people in your Facebook network about what you’re doing on affiliated third-party sites. For example, if you buy tickets to a new flick on Fandango, your buddies will find out which movie you saw through a line in their Facebook news feed. Privacy advocates, lead by political organization MoveOn.org, cried foul, leading Facebook to curtail its Beacon program and add the ability to opt out of the service.

Almost overlooked in the Beacon hubbub were the new display advertisements dubbed “Social Ads.” These ads, bought by participating businesses, insert your name and profile picture directly into their pitches. Based on anecdotal evidence, the ads started to roll out right before the holidays.

According to Facebook, a user has to take a “social action” in order to trigger the appearance of their name and picture in an advertisement. According to Facebook spokesperson Brandee Barker, that could be almost any activity that the user does on Facebook, “such as the download of an application and the acceptance of a friend request.” It could also include becoming a “fan” of a business by clicking a link on that company’s Facebook page.