Trick or Beef? UK Declares Death to Meat Eaters!

Perhaps Lord Stern would like a meat bust of himself instead, or should we put him out to pasture to graze?

Climate chief Lord Stern: give up meat to save the planet UK Times

People will need to consider turning vegetarian if the world is to conquer climate change, according to a leading authority on global warming.

In an interview with The Times, Lord Stern of Brentford said: “Meat is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of greenhouse gases. It puts enormous pressure on the world’s resources. A vegetarian diet is better.”

Corn-based meat and ethanol: burning the planet to a crisp Grist Magazine

As for meat, get this: two researchers associated with the World Bank claim in a new World Watch report (PDF) that meat production is responsible for more than half of global greenhouse gas emissions. Previously, the most widely cited estimate came from the FAO, which reckoned meat contributes an already-stunning 18 percent.

I'm a PC and Windows 7 is Vista Reloaded

You can change her wrapper, but the kernel still looks the same. Maybe the question to ask is what the difference between a tweaked Vista and Windows 7?

Windows 7 Called Slower than Vista PC World

According to iolo's tests, Windows 7 starts up 42% slower than Vista -- one minute, 34 seconds versus one minute, six seconds -- on a brand new machine when the time trials are run to the point where the machine is usable, at least by iolo's standards.

Does Windows 7 Boost Performance? PCQuest

Win 7 Vs Win Vista
We came across in our test an unexpected fight between the two, while we figured out that the performance of Windows 7 and Windows Vista is actually at par. Windows Vista rather outshone Windows 7 by a couple of percentage points. This is pretty obvious as both Windows 7 and Vista use the same kernel. Microsoft didn't develop a new kernel for Windows 7, rather they have refined the Windows Vista kernel to use in Win 7. However, Windows 7 took less than half the time when compared with Windows vista.

Happy 50th Birthday "Weird Al" Yankovic! Freaking News

E-IPS: New Budget LCD Monitor Tech for Photo Enthusiasts

In case your wondering what to get the Photoshop enthusiast for Christmas or Hanukkah, then you might want to take a look at the new e-IPS panels. This new LCD technology claims the same excellent 8-bit sRGB true color output and wide 178° viewing angles as the s-IPS panels, but at a fraction of the cost.

DELL UltraSharp 2209WA 22" LCD Monitor
Priced around $300

ViewSonic VP2365wb 23" LCD Monitor
Priced around $300

NEC MultiSync EA231WMi 23” LCD Monitor
Priced around $350

Further reading:
TFT LCD Wikipedia
LCD Panel Technology Explained PCHardwareHelp

Aliens Have Pollution

So what else are they hatching? You'd think they'd of discovered advanced recycling.

How to Find Aliens? Look for Pollution on Other Planets Discover Magazine

Scientists have proposed what seems like an obvious solution to finding life on other planets—look for pollution similar to that found on Earth. Light or air pollution would be a dead giveaway to life on another planet, according to a study to appear in the journal Astrobiology.

Freakingnews.com is now King of Photoshop Contest Sites!

Thanks to all you kind folks for helping put us on the top!

How Freakingnews.com is ranked around the world:
#1,286 Australia
#5,328 Canada
#5,737 India
#5,902 United States
#7,610 United Kingdom
#9,206 Netherlands
#10,066 Italy



Recently Freaking News broke its highest Alexa traffic rank ever and the daily reach is up 100% in the last 3 months. They are now the undisputed KING of all photoshop contest sites, were even the giant image hosting sites pale to get this kind of free exposure for their new and old members. You can even win a daily prize and then actually get paid for a huge global internet presence.

www.freakingnews.com

Windows 7 is Big Brother Watching Your Every Move

Windows 7 with geo-tracking features offer will allow Microsoft and others to track your every move. Now stalking will be easier than ever.

Windows 7 Will Let Microsoft Track Your Every Move WebMonkey

So the short story is Windows 7 has geo-tracking features, but aside from turning them on and off, you have basically no control.

That strikes us as a recipe for disaster and something that will eventually blow up in Microsoft’s face (whether justified or not) because geo-tracking is a very sensitive issue and this implementation seems entirely ham-fisted and ill-conceived. Of course it’s a little better than past attempts by the company, which don’t even offer an on/off switch.

Photosketch and Patchmatch Will Make Anyone a Digital Artist

Draw a simple sketch, and your computer converts it into a realistic photo.

This Is A Photoshop And It Blew My Mind Gizmodo

PhotoSketch’s blending algorithm analyses each of these images, compares them with each other, and decides which are better for the blending process. It automatically traces and places them into a single photograph, matching the scene, and adding shadows. Of course, the results are less than perfect, but they are good enough:

● PhotoSketch: A sketch based image query and compositing system
● A descriptor for large scale image retrieval based on sketched feature lines
*white papers available in pdf.

...Or draw a container box and modify any image.



PatchMatch: A Randomized Correspondence Algorithm for Structural Image Editing Princeton

Patchmatch is coming to Photoshop CS5, which ships in April 2010.

Who made you?

CDC: The Dark Ages of US Nutrition

Maybe the lack of an adequate diet would explain the fascination with medical shows and health care, as an apple a day seems to be lost knowledge.

State Indicator Report on Fruits and Vegetables, 2009 CDC

Less than 10 percent of U.S. high school students are eating the combined recommended daily amount of fruits and vegetables.

CDC survey of adults: About 27 percent got at least three servings of vegetables a day, and 33 percent got two servings of fruit.

Or is everyone waiting for the combo package?

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. - Ben Franklin

Global Zero: World without Nuclear Weapons

I wonder how many people actually believe that out of 23,000 nuclear weapons produced and readied, that none will actually be used?

Join the global campaign for Global Zero - globalzero.org

Osama bin Dead, so Let's Market Him

I see in the news there is yet another message from Osama bin Dead, which is laughable at best without a current video. Kind of like this beer product and perhaps that's why his kidneys gave out.

Zardari claims Osama bin Laden is dead - Times of India

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden is dead, but has sought more international aid to expand military operations against Taliban, in areas where Americans believe he may be hiding.

Will Obama Blow His Top Over Iran?

With Iran's secret nuclear plant revealed in a media blitz of conflicting propaganda and Afghanistan troop level escalation, Obama seems to be fomenting support for war with Iran.

President Obama Warns Iran: 'Our Patience Is Not Unlimited' - ABC

“Our patience is not unlimited,” the president said, alluding to tougher economic sanctions if Iran does not take the necessary steps. “The United States will not continue to negotiate indefinitely, and we are prepared to move towards increased pressure.”

Iran 'has secret nuclear arms plan' - Financial Times

Britain’s intelligence services say that Iran has been secretly designing a nuclear warhead “since late 2004 or early 2005”, an assessment that suggests Tehran has embarked on the final steps towards acquiring nuclear weapons capability.

As world powers prepare to confront Iran on Thursday on its nuclear ambitions, the Financial Times has learnt that the UK now judges that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, ordered the resumption of the country’s weapons programme four years ago.

The Lying Game: Drum-beating for War against Iran
How we are prepared for another war of aggression

The official jargon for this kind of propaganda is “psy-ops”, the military term for psychological operations. In the Pentagon and Whitehall, it has become a critical component of a diplomatic and military campaign to blockade, isolate and weaken Iran by hyping its “nuclear threat”: a phrase now used incessantly by Barack Obama and Gordon Brown, and parroted by the BBC and other broadcasters as objective news. And it is fake.

Obama’s “showdown” with Iran has another agenda. On both sides of the Atlantic the media have been tasked with preparing the public for endless war. The US/Nato commander General Stanley McChrystal says 500,000 troops will be required in Afghanistan over five years, according to America’s NBC. The goal is control of the “strategic prize” of the gas and oilfields of the Caspian Sea, central Asia, the Gulf and Iran – in other words, Eurasia. But the war is opposed by 69 per cent of the British public, 57 per cent of the US public and almost every other human being. Convincing “us” that Iran is the new demon will not be easy. McChrystal’s spurious claim that Iran “is reportedly training fighters for certain Taliban groups” is as desperate as Brown’s pathetic echo of “a line in the sand”.

Obama don't like it, rock the casbah...