K-2 Update: Third Climber Survives Unaided Return to Base Camp

The third survivor of the K2 avalanche, Marco Confortola of Italy, was able to make his way down the rest of the mountain and to the relative safety of base camp. Marco, who was injured and severely frostbitten, accomplished the rest of his decent with neither staggered down help nor oxygen. Once he was down, a Pakistani military rescue helicopter was able to transport him to a hospital for treatment.


For the original story... http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/05/asia/k2.php

Harassed Mom Apprehends Assailant

Boulder, CO

23 year-old Danika Bueno was out for a bycicle ride with her 10 month-old baby when she was assaulted by a man who rode up behind her, grabbed her chest, and rode away. Where many might freeze with shock or call for help, Ms. Bueno took off after the pervert, chasing him on her bike for over a mile while she called 911. "I'm pretty comfortable on a bike," she says, "but I was nervous about getting too close to him." Nevertheless, with her help, police were able to arrest the assailant. He is now being charged with unlawful sexual contact and, because Ms. Bueno's child was with her on the bike, child abuse.

Way to go, Danika! Hopefully word will spread amongst potential sexual predators: Beware, women fight back!

Two Dutch Climbers Rescued after K-2 Avalanche

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan

A helicopter pilot braved the dangergously thin airspace surrounding the K-2 mountain in Pakistan, and was able to successfully save the lives of two climbers presumed lost after an avalanche Monday. The two frostbitten Dutch climbers were attempting to descend the world’s second-highest mountain along with several other climbers, when the avalanche occurred.
Having spotted Wilco Van Rooijen and Cas Van de Gevel, the helicopter pilot rescued the two climbers and brought them first to K-2’s base camp and then to a military hospital in Skardu, the nearest town. The avalanche struck over 26,250 feet up the mountain, but choppers generally don't fly above 19,700 feet. This risky manueuver was well rewarded with three people safely down from K-2. The search continues for 11 other climbers who were on agruably the world's most dangerous mountain that day.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25995028/

Surfing Now an Unrestricted Olympic Event

Internet access will be completely unrestricted for reporters during the this summers Olympics in Beijing. While the Communist government of China will continue to tightly regulate and block websites for its citizens, they are in the process of de-blocking all websites for reporter's access. BOCOG is the organizational body responsible for directly running the Beijing Games under the oversight of the IOC, which sets general policy. As the world prepares for the opening ceremony on the 8th of August, officials with the International Olympic Committee and the Chinese organizers BOCOG had been arguing over the Internet restrictions for media, with the latter saying blocked sites would remain so.

"The issue has been solved," vice-president Gunilla Lindberg said. "The IOC Coordination Commission and BOCOG met last night and agreed. Internet use will be just like in any Olympics."


http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=14934355

First Double Arm Transplant A Success

The team of doctors and surgeons (of which there were over forty) from the Munich University clinic, as well as a German farmer who had lost both his arms, had great reason to celebrate yesterday. Operating over the course of fifteen hours, the surgeons successfully grafted two new limbs to the man whose arms had been severed just below the shoulder in a farming accident. The doctors are still closely monitoring the patient, but say that his immune system has taken to the transplants 'optimally' and that the entire surgery went 'according to script'. Not only is it very commonplace for the body to reject grafts (which the man's has not), but for the first surgery of its kind to go off without a hitch is particularly laudatory. The team from Munich says that with a nerve rate growth of about a millimeter per day, they hope the patient will be using his new arms on his own in about a year or two.

The original link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/02/germany

Untangling a Knot in the Series of Tubes: A Flaw Internet Security gets Fixed

Is Dan Kaminski the modern-day Paul Revere? Some think so, after the 29 year old computer security specialist stumbled upon a potentially dangerous flaw in the basic way the internet is set up and called a secret meeting to alert mega programmers before going public. Afraid that hackers might take advantage of the flaw first, Kaminski rode "and spread the alarm, through every Middlesex village and farm." Which, given such modern day amenities as the internet, television, and newspapers, made his trip far faster than Revere's 1775 jaunt.

What Dan discovered was that it would be extremely easy for someone with ill intentions to divert internet users to fake websites that resembled sites they were familiar with, such as their bank's online services. Once surfers were on the fake sites, they would enter their private information where it could be accessed by the wrong hands. By annoucing the flaw, Dan has given the good guys a chance to fix the problem before their clients were taken advantage of. Already a large percentage of domains have been fixed, and others are on their way. With more personal business being conducted over the internet and identity theft a real concern, the fact that this hole can be patched ahead of time and not in the face of a large-scale problem is great news!

"In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere."

http://iht.com/articles/2008/07/30/technology/30flaw.php

Golden Retriever Adopts Tiger Cubs

Caney, KS

"Some mothers just don't get it," says Tom Harvey, Director of Safari Zoological Park in Caney, Kansas. He's describing a mother tiger who gave birth to three adorable cubs on Sunday. Not long afterwards, she began neglecting them, virtually orphaning the day-old cubs.

Though the Zoo has bottle-fed tiger cubs in the past, natural food is by far the preferred nutrition for the "bottomless pits" of hunger. Fortunately for the cubs, Isabella, a local golden retriever, came to the rescue. Harvey reports that she treats the cubs as if they are her own litter, feeding, cleaning, and protecting them. Having just weened her own puppies, Isabella was in the perfect place, biologically speaking, to adopt the baby tigers.

To read more and to see pictures of this special family of animals, visit http://www.kansas.com/news/story/479300.html