Other interesting things today [20080414]

Other things we found interesting today:

18 interesting things found (so far - 1 update)

• More write-offs from Banks - this time from Citi (again and let’s see what this Friday will bring), Merrill Lynch (again) and Deutsche Bank (finally - some numbers closer to reality): on The Times Online (Deutsche Bank CEO is preaching transparency since weeks. Now in a first step they “write-off” EUR 35Billion (USD 55Billion) - we were waiting for numbers that high or even higher (guess that will happen later this year) after news last year that they’ve been basically owning whole counties / half of towns in the US.)
• Some cities (at least one) in the US are now fighting back against the banks foreclosure politics and the resulting abandoned homes: on The ABC News (Buffalo filed lawsuits against 36 lenders including JP Morgan, Countrywide, Deutsche Bank)
• Interesting info on the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”: on The Independent (still remember the story on the 100,000s of plastic ducks that got lost on the ocean and then drifted all around the planet?)
• Who stole Iraq’s pricelesss treasures? on The Times Online (looting of history)
• Can cellphones help to end Global Poverty? on N.Y. Times (have you heard the story that due to hyper-inflation in Zimbabwe they have problems to bill for cell phones)

• A first ever HD topographic map of the Moon created by Japanese lunar explorer Kaguya shows various mineral compositions including Uranium sites: on Gizmodo (Outland coming soon to a moon near you)
• VOIP java applet allows web-based phone calls from inside your browser: on c2call.com (still a public beta but interesting - is using SIP)
• Based on exit polls Berlusconi ahead: on BBC News (in with the old - out with the new. We are waiting what Beppe Grillo will have to say about it.)
• Hackers attack pro-Tibet web sites: on The Register (another SQL Injection attack)
• Russians want to rocket monkeys onto Mars to test radiation: on BBC News (cruel mission that definitely will not create a planet of the apes)

• MS might be barred from EU public procurement: on Ars Technica (haven’t we just seen something similar with IBM in the US - hmmmmm)
• Trevor Immelmann wins Masters: on Golf channel (congratulations - outstanding performance)
• World biggest barbecue sizzled in Montevideo: on Yahoo News (12,000 kilograms of beef - 6 tons of charcoal - 1,250 “grill meisters”)
• Users fight to save Windows XP: on AP News (and in other news admins are skipping Vista - waiting for Windows 7)
• Delta and Northwest might announce merger tomorrow: on Bloomberg News (this will be the worlds largest carrier)

• Italian woman hitch-hiking to the Middle East to promote peace was murdered in Turkey: on BBC News (Turkish police detains a thief as suspect)
• A story on Philip Parker, professor at INSEAD, who - with 200,000 books published generated considers himself the most published person ever: on N.Y. Times (riding the long tail a bit too literally - and of course he got himself a patent on scraping other peoples work, calls it automated authoring, well, well, well )

(we spared you Obama lapses links - its all over the press)