European Hackers Hold Domino's Pizza Customer Data Hostage
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http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/securit...izza-customer-data-europe-seek-ransom-n132591
Now I could see expecting a ransom if you had all the credit card numbers but why would anyone care if you tell the whole world what kind of pizza they like to order? I really doubt anyone is quaking in fear that some weird pizza topping combo they like is going to get out and somehow damage their career![]()
After a hard night of partying, the metabolized chemical remnants of whatever you snorted, smoked, sucked, or injected are expelled through your urine. While authorities have long been able to detect these metabolites through direct urine tests, monitoring drug use in any given geographic region has been far less preciseuntil now, that is.
In the past, figuring out the prevalence of specific drug use among a region's population involved a fair amount of guesswork based on incomplete information sources such as surveys, crime reports, and narcotics seizures. However, a new technique known as sewage epidemiology, could offer law enforcement a much clearer view of what the populace is on, in real-time.
According to a recently published study conducted by Bikram Subedi and Kurunthachalam Kannan of the New York State Department of Health, researchers were able to accurately measure the amount of metabolites of six common narcotics at the wastewater treatment facilities of two small communities located just outside of Albany, NY. There they found morphine (a metabolite of heroin) in a staggering 100 percent of the untreated wastewater samples they obtained and cocaine metabolites in 93 percent of it, as well as high levels of MDMA excretions. They were even able to monitor changes in the relative levels of these metabolites throughout a week-long study.
Similar studies in Europe found that amphetamine use explodes during finals week around college campuses, cocaine and MDMA use drastically increases every weekend but methadone levels remain constantguess who's not hitting the clubs every Saturday night. Yes, smackheads, that's right. And the highest levels in all of Europe, surprisingly, were found in Antwerp, Belgium. Cocaine, cannabis, speed, MDMA, and heroin all were found in significantly higher levels than in any other tested city.
Now granted, right now this monitoring method isn't precise enough to pinpoint individual households as culprits, merely provide another generalized source of information. But what's to prevent a future where law enforcement installs monitoring stations between every home's sewer pipe and the underground main? It's a slippery slope that could see the fears of 1984 realized every time we flush.
YouTube gaming star made £2.4m last year
Swedish YouTuber Felix Kjellberg, better known as "PewDiePie" has revealed that he earns the equivalent of £2.4 million in ad sales every year.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Kjellberg said that his videos -- which are uploaded twice daily and feature the 24-year-old playing different video games while chatting -- are astonishingly lucrative.
"I play video games and try to entertain to the best of my abilities," he said. "It's kind of amazing that I can play video games for a living. When I realised that for the first time, I almost got teary-eyed."
Since beginning his YouTube career while studying in Gothenburg in 2010, Kjellberg has amassed 27 million subscribers, but didn't sign an advertising deal until December 2012. His ads are now managed by Maker Studios, which takes a cut of his revenue and sold itself to Walt Disney Co. in early 2014.
CNNIn an empty, dusty house, a boy stumbled upon a classic horror movie scenario this week: A mummified corpse hanging by the neck from a rope.
And officials say it had been there for five years.
Until the boy made his way inside the ramshackle house in Dayton, Ohio, on Sunday, neighbors didn't think anyone lived there, said spokesman Ken Betz from the Montgomery County Coroner's office.
They thought the house was abandoned, and it looked that way.
The front door was papered with citations for the overgrown yard, and no one came and went from the address. The home was unfurnished.
Inside, however, was the body of Edward Brunton, hanging from a rope in the closet.
Betz estimated that Brunton had been hanging there since the fall of 2009, when he would have been in his late 40s, and while it appears to have been a suicide, he said the official cause and manner of his death has not yet been determined.
The closet shielded his body from rapid decomposition, animals and insects, resulting in the mummy-like condition the boy found it in.
"Because of the location where he was found, it was relatively protected, sunlight-protected, temperature-protected and low humidity," coroner Kent Harshbarger told CNN affiliate WDTN.
Brunton died before he could have much contact with his neighbors. He was also estranged from his family and friends, thus no one ever reported him missing, Betz said.
The boy's mother, Michelle McGrath, went into the house to investigate. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until she entered the room that housed the closet.
"When I crossed the threshold of the room, is when I smelled it," she said.
She called the police.
Authorities found identification documents on Brunton's body. His estranged brother, who still recognized him, confirmed it was him.
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, unless thy neighbor is a titty bar. At least, that's what the Lord has told the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo in Chicago, who are suing the strip club that moved in next door to them.
The nuns allege that Club Allure is a common law nuisance and broke state law by setting up shop so close to a place of worship. Of course, the sisters also just don't like the idea of a strip club in general. Sister Maria Noemia Silva tells NBC 5, "It goes against what we believe as religious women. We're fighting for a safe, healthy environment here, and for the club to close."
According to the suit, the sisters have witnessed "public violence, drunkenness, and litter, including empty whiskey and beer bottles, discarded contraceptive packages and products and even used condoms." Sister Maria says she and her sisters can hear loud music at night while they're trying to pray. Club Allure denies that its operations have caused a nuisance.
Club manager Robert Itzkow told NBC 5, "[Our dancers] aren't monsters. They're daughters; they're mothers, and some of them are Catholics too." The sisters are no doubt praying for them.
has anyone seen the vid of the guy signing over a stan lee signature? i think that's weird
Participants in the Chinese festival for the summer solstice in Yulin decided to schedule their annual events a week early after taking heat from activists about the ritual of eating dogs. It is not illegal to eat dogs in China, but with changing times and more Chinese citizens owning pets, the centuries-old tradition has received pushback.
In order to avoid protests and uproar, the festival, during which thousands of dogs are slaughtered, was held in part last weekend in the southern city, a week earlier than this Saturday's summer solstice.
Via the AP:
Photos on state media showed groups of Yulin city residents tucking into plates of meat and vegetables around dining tables strewn with lychees. Other photos, which circulated widely on Chinese microblogs, were of skinned, cooked dogs hanging from hooks at street stalls or piled on tables.
The festival's other staples are lychee and alcohol. Drinking liquor and eating dog meat with lychee during the solstice is supposed to make people stay healthy during the winter.
Deng Yidan, an activist for Animals China, said in a statement that "negative coverage is growing." She continues:
"Dog theft, criminal activities, food hygiene issues, and rabies fears - not to mention the division in society between those for and against the festival - together these have brought significantly more negative publicity to Yulin than economic benefits."
The government of Yulin says that it does not officially endorse dog-eating.
Warm up the Reddit bus: ESPN reports the Beef O'Brady's Bowl now has a somehow even lamer corporate namesake, courtesy of the most exciting cyber-currency around. Football and Bitcoin, the two most volatile American activities, together at last.
It's unclear how exactly Bitpay, which paid for the three-year sponsorship, will explain the meaning of "Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl" to a large crowd of football fans on December 26th. On the other hand, who caresadvertising is advertising, and it will likely distract potential customers from Bitpay CEO Tony Gallipi's shady past. Bitcoin, Bitcoin. Drink a Bitcoin Lite. Bitcoin Burgers for the kids. Call the football a "Bitcoin" instead? These are just some ideas, Bitpay can use them if they would like.
Now we just need to guess whether Bitcoin will destabilize itself into oblivion before it can lock down an NFL stadium name.
The FBI cares what you have to say on Twitter. It cares so much that it created an 83-page document about "Twitter Shorthand." The guide includes 2,800 entries that basically amount to every acronym known to manalong with quite a few that I didn't even know existed.
Here's one: WYLABOCTGWTR. That string of characters evidently means, "Would you like a bowl of cream to go with that remark?" Well, that's a weird phrase I've never heard before. But it must exist if it's in the FBI's guide to Twitter slang!
I'm getting ahead of myself, though. There is a purpose to this guide and it's printed at the top of every page. "With the advent of Twitter and other social media on the Internet, the use of shorthand and acronyms has exploded," reads the introduction. "This list has about 2,800 entries you should find useful in your work or for keeping up with your children and/or grandchildren." Or, presumably, catching criminals.
The guide is easy to use: It's just a list of acronyms or slang terms and their definitions posted somewhere on the FBI's secure intranet. The transparency-loving website MuckRock managed to get ahold of it thanks to a FOIA request and some patience. The FBI describes the list as "extensivebut far from exhaustive" and says it applies to "Twitter as well as other social media venues such as instant messages, Facebook and Myspace." Yes, Myspace.
Now, about those 2,800 entries. Old people will appreciate the clarity of some otherwise perplexing acronyms. But all people will be perplexed by a few of the acronyms. Let's take a look.
BTW - by the way
This is a good one! Kids use it gracefully, and they use it often. It's definitely a must for fighting crime.
BTWITIAILWU or BTWITIAILWY - by the way, I think I'm in love with you
Huh? First of all, that's a lot of letters for an acronym. At a certain point, they just blur together and make your brain bleed. Second, who the heck confesses their love for someone with an obscure acronym on social media? Come to think of it, a surprising number of people probably do.
BTDTGTTSAWIO - been there, done that, got the T-shirt and wore it out
We haven't even gotten out of the B's yet.
C - see
Is it art?
GAMMD - go ahead, make my day
Ahhh, now we're getting into the criminal talk. Maybe that's why some of these acronyms are obscure. Would be felons want to act tough but avoid red flags. At first glance, GAMMD looks less like a threat and more like a nickname for your grandmother.
ILYAAM - I love you as a mate
This is confusing. Does it mean mate, like someone who you produce offspring with? Or mate, like what British people call their friends? If so, why is the FBI going after British people? Also, why does the guide have 23 different ways of saying "I love you?" These must be some very affectionate criminals they're chasing.
N1 - nice one
I've never seen this one before, but I'm definitely going to start using it. N1, FBI!
PMYMHMMFSWGAD - pardon me, you must have mistaken me for someone who gives a damn
This is getting ridiculous.
ROFLMAOPMP or ROFLMAOWPIMP - rolling on the floor laughing my a** off (while) peeing (in) my pants
Like, really ridiculous.
RTD - ready to drink
After trying to figure out this guide, I am too!
S4S - support for support (mutual support of Myspace pages)
The whole document is more fun if you drink every time you see a Myspace mention.
STA - surveillance and target acquisition
Last time I checked, this was a convenient and helpful travel agency for students. We are talking about the FBI here, though, so I guess some tactical knowledge is required.
TWEETUP - an in-person meeting of Twitter members
Hey it's a slang word! You'd never know it by the use of all-caps, but whatever. Also, the inclusion of this word makes me wonder whether a tweetup is a good place to meet a serial killer.
W4W - w**** for w**** (mutual support of Myspace pages)
Drink!
YOLO - you only live once
Now that the FBI has conquered Twitter, its analysts can move onto new challenges like explaining Tumblr and GIFs. Here's a suggestion for its first entry:
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A focus on dense, walkable development allows cities to pack more economic punch per square foot, according to a new study. In Washington DC, deemed the most walkable U.S. city, the most walkable areas in the city take up less than one percent of the total acreage, but represent almost half of the most wealth-generating square footage for the whole city.
The study was authored by the Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis at George Washington University School of Business in conjunction with LOCUS: Responsible Real Estate Developers and Investors. It's an initiative of Smart Growth America, which also co-authored a great study on pedestrian safety earlier this year. They've taken a different path to determine a metropolitan area's walkability, which helps to illustrate how, exactly, a more walkable place is more financially lucrative for a city.
Instead of isolating city vs. suburb, as many studies tend to do, this study acknowledges that there can be drivable communities in urban centers and walkable communities in exurbs, but that places with good walkability share common qualities: high density, a mix of real estate uses, multiple transportation options, and the ability to serve the daily needs of residents largely on foot.
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To find the most walkable places in the country, rather than looking simply at a city's center, the study looked at places where walkability intersects with regional significance, meaning these are places where economy-driving development is creating wealth for these areas. They've used data from several sources including real estate values, transit information, WalkScore rankings, and census studies to locate 558 "WalkUPs," or walkable urban places, across the country, and 30 metropolitan areas are ranked by measuring the total number of office and retail square footagethe capacity for generating wealthin those WalkUPs.
Washington DC ranks firstyes, over New York Citybecause of its many walkable centers which are easily connected with transit. Boston, San Francisco and Chicago round out the top five. The cool thing about examining walkability within the context of real estate is that the study can also examine the potential for walkability, so the study has also forecast which cities will be more walkable in the future. (Spoiler: Boston supplants DC as the top city.)
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But the most interesting part is seeing how those WalkUP figures correlate with GDP and education level. In almost every case, a higher walkability index means more income per capita and higher educational attainment. The top ranking metropolitan areas have an average of 38 percent higher GDP per capita as compared to the low ranking metros, and 74 percent higher real estate values.
Urbanists have long tried to highlight the correlation between walkability and economic success as a way to encourage cities to incentivize denser, more transit-accessible development. Here it's clear that walkable urbanism is a key component to building the places that people want to live, shop and workboth making and spending their money.
25-year-old One Direction fan Anna Todd just landed a six-figure advance when Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, bought the rights to her One Direction fan fiction. Excuse me, her erotic One Direction fan fiction.
Todd posted the story, titled After, on the fan fiction self-publishing site Wattpadd in 300 daily installments, spread out across three volumes. The story took off instantly, gaining more than 800 million reads, and leading to fan-generated art and playlists on Twitter and Instagram. Billboard reports that Todd's writing even led to an increase in popularity for other pieces of fiction:
When Todd mentioned "Pride and Prejudice" or "Wuthering Heights" in "After," Wattpad had spikes in the reads (how the company counts clicks) on those novels on its site.
Hmm. Never heard of them! In an interview with Sugarscape, Todd explained how she began writing 1D fan fiction:
It really started when I was on instagram one day, and I saw these little mini stories people were writing about Harry Styles, which was crazy to me. Then one of the girls I had followed on instagram put her story on Wattpad. I had no idea what that was, but I followed the link and it was this whole world of 1D fan fiction. I started reading all kinds of it, and then decided that I wanted to give it a go myself. I didn't think anything would come of it though - it was just for fun!
And here is Wattpad's description of the work:
Tessa Young is an 18 year old college student with a simple life, excellent grades, and a sweet boyfriend. She always has things planned out ahead of time, until she meets a rude boy named Harry, with too many tattoos and piercings who shatters her plans.
MTV reports thatin case you were worriedAfter is also being shopped around to movie studios.

Today, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed a bill that legalizes Charlotte's Web, a strain of cannabis that doesn't get you high, for treating conditions like cancer and epilepsy.
The low-THC strain was developed in 2011 to treat patients who want weed's medical benefits without nasty side effects like feeling awesome or laughing a lot. It's particularly promising for children with chronic conditions whose parents, understandably, might be interested in easing their symptoms without getting them stoned.
Scott said in a statement:
As a father and grandfather, you never want to see kids suffer. The approval of Charlotte's Web will ensure that children in Florida who suffer from seizures and other debilitating illnesses will have the medication needed to improve their quality of life.
Patients will be allowed to vaporize Charlotte's Web but not smoke it. Amendment 2, an initiative slated to appear on Florida ballots in November, could legalize medical marijuana more broadly.
Incidentally, the same day that Scott legalized weed that doesn't get you high, he also banned a few substances that do: methylenedioxymethcathinone, methylenedioxypyrovalerone, and methylmethcathinone otherwise known as the stuff found in bath salts.
Alaska will soon become the second state to give away free pregnancy tests in bars. The program, organized by Healthy Brains For Children, is intended to reduce fetal alcohol syndrome in Alaska, which has the highest rate of the condition in the country.
"This isn't targeting chronic alcoholics," Jody Allen Crowe, founder of Healthy Brains For Children, told ABC News. "Right now 50 percent of pregnancies across the nation are unexpected. This is really focusing on women who are casual drinkers, people who would never drink if they knew they were pregnant."
The experiment will also study the women's reactions to posters of children with fetal alcohol syndrome. The program in Minnesota, where tests are available in youth centers, convenience stores, restaurants, and bars, is already a success, according to Crowe.
Employees of locations where the pregnancy dispensers are installed say customers are pleased to see the free tests.
"We hear positive anecdotes from people," Crowe said. "We're seeing evidence that the message, 'Think before you drink,' is working."
There's no need to go to the dark web to search for illegal products, YouTube has it covered. A 13 page report from a group called the Digital Citizens Alliance shows YouTube is lax when it comes to removing videos showing how to acquire illegal content including stolen credit cards, prescription drugs, fake passports, and how to find underage prostitutes from its service, with some of the videos having been up for years.
What's worseif there is something worse than having what boils down to an illegal bazaar in one of the world's most trafficked websitesis YouTube is making money from it. Ads are tied to these videos, producing revenue which Google splits with the poster. There aren't just a couple of videos, either. Searches for "fake passports for sale" returns over 5,900 results. "how to hack an ATM without a card" shows over 5,700 results.
This isn't the first time this issue has arisen on YouTube. Digital Citizens Alliance did a 16 page report on the same issue last year. After the report, YouTube removed the noted videos, but the problem still persists.
A YouTube spokesman told us:
"Our Guidelines prohibit any content encouraging illegal activities, including videos promoting the sale of illegal goods. YouTube's review teams respond to videos flagged for our attention around the clock, removing millions of videos each year that violate our policies. We also have stringent advertising guidelines, and work to prevent ads appearing against any video, channel or page once we determine that the content is not appropriate for our advertising partners."
While YouTube may be working to remove and avoid earning revenue from videos promoting illegal content, there are cracks, and money is still being made. I found a video from 2013 offering to sell bank hacking tools including ATM skimmers and information including bank logins and credit card information. That video has links to Google Play, iTunes, AmazonMP3, and eMusic selling the song featured in the videothe theme song to the game Splinter Cell: Conviction by Michael Nielsen and Kaveh Cohensales of which Google gets a cut of. Another video offering to sell an ATM skimmer, pinpad, and bluetooth hacking tools had links next to the description to purchase the song "100 Million" by Birdman.
It remains to be seen if YouTube will remove these videos permanently, or if this will be another case of removing them until the backlash dies down, as is noted in the latest report from the Digital Citizens Alliance. For a website like YouTube that serves over 1 billion visitors each month to allow users to peddle illegal products and services (some of which could be scams, but either way should be removed) while profiting on it through ads won't be something it can overlook once advertisers start feeling the heat. With ads from Target popping up in the search query "find underage prostitute," the pressure may finally force YouTube to shut down its version of The Silk Road.
The folks behind Uniqlo are unveiling a new concept in Tokyo: Customers can try on clothes and then leave the store to see how they look in public.
Casual wear chain GU, which is run by the company behind Uniqlo, is opening a new shop in Tokyo's Shibuya today. Until the end of the month, the store is testing a new service called "GU Fitting." Apparently, it's the first of its kind.
Here's how it works: You pick out clothes that you like. You then go to the GU Fitting counter and put in a request to test drive the clothes. Then, you leave the store! You must return to the shop sometime during that same day, and you can decide to purchase the clothes or not. GU Fitting is restricted to thirty people per day and three items per shopper.
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As with Uniqlo, GU clothes are not pricey: the most expensive item in the store is the equivalent of around twenty bucks, with many items costing under ten dollars. That's perhaps why GU isn't too worried about people making off with clothing.
What's more, the store will allow customers to wear the clothes to, for example, go eat or visit other shops, or whatever. As Nippon TV reports, those using the GU Fitting service need to only give their name and phone number. Photo i.d. is not necessary, as GU is putting trust in its shoppers.
Currently, Fast Retailing, the company that runs Uniqlo and GU, is waiting to see how this service does and is thinking about expanding it.
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I'm not entirely convinced this would work outside of Japan and am curious to see how it does here. Because for some customers, it might not be a matter of deciding to buy or not to buy, but to ever return to the store.
An 89-year-old man was arrested at his house in North Philadelphia this week on charges of aiding and abetting Nazi atrocities while working as a guard at the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps during World War II.
The investigation on Johann "Hans" Breyer has been ongoing for years. Born in Czechoslovakia but an American resident since 1952, the U.S. Justice Department had tried for years to strip Breyer of his citizenship and to deport him, to no avail.
The German government launched its own investigation into his alleged war crimes in 2012. From the Associated Press in September 2012:
The special German office that investigates Nazi war crimes has recommended that prosecutors charge him with accessory to murder and extradite him to Germany for trial on suspicion of involvement in the killing of at least 344,000 Jews at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in occupied Poland.
When Breyer appeared in court this afternoon, his health reportedly seemed waning. From the New York Times:
Appearing pale and thin, he was stooped over and walked with difficulty with a cane. He looked around frequently and waved to his wife, Shirley, who was also in the courtroom.
He seemed puzzled at times, and his lawyer told Magistrate Judge Timothy R. Rice that he suffered from a number of health issues, including mild dementia.
In the event of Breyer's extradition to Germany, he will be charged with 158 counts of aiding and abetting Nazi atrocities. For his part, Breyer has insisted that his time at Auschwitz was involuntary.
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