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XBox (Games)

Kidnap Victim Visible Via Xbox Community Site 119

Posted by Zonk
from the people-are-strange dept.
Via Joystiq comes the confusing tale of Shawn Hornbeck. Shawn was kidnapped more than four years ago, and his absence has made his parents worry and left a hole in his friends' lives. He's been returned safely home, so there's a happy ending to this tale. Strangely, though, he has been publicly visible for over a year now - via Xbox Live. From the Joystiq post: "The GamerTagPics profile for Xbox Live user 'DevilDevlin' shows the kidnapped Hornbeck outside what appear to be [alleged kidnapper Michael] Devlin's apartment. The profile was created Sept. 4, 2005 but hasn't been accessed since early 2006. DevilDevlin's Gamertag reveals that someone played Saints Row on the account as recently as Friday. It seems likely that Hornbeck used the account -- a Washington Post story reveals Devlin's neighbors 'often spotted Shawn out and about, visiting friends on his bicycle or playing video games with the apartment door open.'"
The Media

Sealand bought by a Kazakh writer?

Submitted by
rm
rm writes "According to Russian-language news site CentrAsia (translation), a Kazakh writer Daniyar Ashimbaev, with support from unnamed Kazakh company, on 10-th January, had purchased Principality of Sealand. He plans to move to live there, despite that only 3 of 16 living rooms of Sealand's only platform are left intact after recent fire. Daniyar says his sponsors helped him to buy Sealand as an advertisement venture, and soon their trademark signs will be placed on billboards on top of Sealand's platform. The writer also said that he hopes to make Sealand a forepost of Kazakh culture on the west, and make Kazakh and Russian the official state languages of Sealand."
Enlightenment

Global Warming Exposes New Islands in the Arctic

Submitted by
circletimessquare
circletimessquare writes "The New York Times has a sobering article about the rapidly accelerating pace of glacial melting across the arctic, focusing on the discovery of new islands and the fact that this is occuring far faster than climate scientist's models predict. What were called Nunataks or "lonely mountains" in Inuit, trapped in the ice, only a few years ago, are now in the open ocean by kilometers. Off of Greenland, what was known previously as penninsulas have been revealed to be islands as the ice retreats. Dennis Schmitt, a modern day explorer and discoverer of one of these new islands and fluent in Inuit, has named it Uunartoq Qeqertoq: the warming island."
Space

Lost Moon landing tapes discovered

Submitted by de_smudger
de_smudger writes "For years 'lost' tapes recording data from the Apollo 11 Moon landing have been stored underneath the seats of Australian physics students. A recent search has uncovered them.

Recorded on telemetry tapes, they are said to be the best quality images of the landing (unconverted slow scan TV) yet to be seen by a public still fascinated by the early space race. These tapes were mislaid in the early 1980s on their way to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland."
The Almighty Buck

Pirate Bay and Sealand negotiating

Submitted by
Kawahee
Kawahee writes "Coming off previous /. coverage of The Pirate Bay's intentions to purchase Sealand following it being put up for sale, The Pirate Bay has revealed on it's website www.buysealand.com that it has entered into negotiations with Sealand. From the post:
The Government of Sealand has initiated negotiation. Tomorrow, the ACFI and Government of Sealand will sit down in the SMTP chambers of the Internets to discuss the future of the micronation.
— We welcome the request and hopefully we can settle on a price. But knowing how hard non-kopimistic people can be to negotiate with, we will go with Plan B if they're not willing to meet our demands, press officer of ACFI says.
BuySealand.com is also now sporting a donation meter, and as of the 15th of January it stands at USD $13,714."

We will have solar energy as soon as the utility companies solve one technical problem -- how to run a sunbeam through a meter.

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