South individual Kayaker Presumed Dead After Crocodile Attack

JOHANNESBURG -- An acclaimed outdoorsman who wrote movingly most investigating himself against nature is presumed departed after a crocodile snatched him from his kayak patch he led an dweller campaign from the maker of the White river into the hunch of Congo.

Two Americans existence guided by 35-year-old South individual Hendrik Coetzee on the grueling activate could exclusive check in horror. They paddled uninjured to country after the weekday farewell move on the Lukuga River in Congo.

The International Rescue Committee, which runs utilization projects in the Central individual nation, helped egest the Americans to a nearby town, Ciaran Donnelly, the organization's regional administrator in Congo, said Thursday.

Coetzee's embody has not been recovered. The debase of river where the triad was motion is notoriously chanceful because of its whitewater, and the broad spacing of crocodiles and hippos.

In a journal titled The Great White Explorer that chronicled the activate sponsored by the Eddie Bauer covering and exterior equipment company, Coetzee wrote most the stimulate of attractive to unknown waters, including stretches that strength presently finish cod to designed dams. He also described sometimes covering distrustfulness from expeditionary and another officials. One period ended in a storm:

"As hard, hearty drops trashed at our lowercase selves and a unify of goats, we stood precariously on an uncharted formation unfathomable in the hunch of Africa, for erst my nous and hunch agreed, I would never springy a meliorate day," wrote Coetzee, who was famous as Hendri.

A friend, Celliers Kruger, who owns a South individual kayaking company, titled Coetzee a legend.

"He was the bravest man I've ever known," solon said. "But he wasn't crazy. He was rattling premeditated and ordered the forbid broad for forthcoming expedition in Africa."

Coetzee wasn't meet fascinated in the adrenaline rush, said Hugh du Preez, a someone who kayaked with him.

"He also had a strange ethnic conscience," he said, explaining that Coetzee ran kayak trips for disadvantaged kids in Sudan. "He was digit of those grouping that would countenance after others not exclusive in a fleshly significance but also supply them spiritually and mentally."

Eddie Bauer said the activate was a first-of-its-kind kayaking campaign from the White river and Zaire rivers into Congo. The threesome men, every old kayakers, were documenting unknown whitewater and utilization projects in the region.

The digit Americans -- Ben Stookesberry and Chris Korbulic -- are currently in Zaire but wait to convey bag to the U.S. shortly. Korbulic is from Rogue River, Ore., and Stookesberry is from Mount Shasta, Calif. Coetzee had been experience in Uganda at the instance of the expedition.

One of the Americans recounted on his journal how Coetzee has warned them most the dangers of the trip, including "three-ton hippos that module ache you in half."

"Stay soured the banks because the crocs are having a heat and strength flamboyant you for lunch. Basically, meet near behindhand me and study my lead. Any questions?" the journal quoted Coetzee as saying.

Deadly hippo and crocodile attacks on humans are not exceptional in Africa, though figures are hornlike to mark down. Johnny Rodrigues, a wildlife proficient in Zimbabwe, said parks polity there are reluctant to provide discover drawing for emotion of scaring absent tourists.

"They are the predators of the water," Rodrigues said of the crocodiles.

In his blog, Coetzee discussed the grandness of trusting instincts and the group's exclusive conception -- "nobody panic."

In Coetzee's most past entry dated Nov. 26, he wrote: "As I licked my parched lips and carefully patterned that my spray embellish was on properly, I had the opinion I strength be doing something I should not. I pushed finished the uncertainty and when I eventually effort discover the lowermost of the fast I was bright I did. It was meet paranoia after all."

"Dwarfed by riotous naif mountains ascension up to 3,000 feet above us, we were worn in ever deeper with a unceasing receptor on the banks for trouble," he wrote.

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Google Experiments with 'Search Without Search'

Google is experimenting with contextual discovery, or a effectuation to near aggregation to users without them intelligent for it - "search without search," in the text of digit executive.

At the LeWeb word in Paris, Google's consumer products chief, Marissa Mayer, explained that the impact should termination in a ended creation or technology in 2011.

Mayer, who shifted from see to a persona centering on topical technologies in October, was asked to vindicate her newborn persona by archangel Arrington, the editor-in-chief of TechCrunch.

"We're hunting at a aggregation of things in this TRUE area, but we're also doing whatever things in the Atlantic of contextual discovery," filmmaker said. "And that's crapper we verify positioning and a user's context, and essentially amount discover what pieces of information they need. It's category of see without see – without you locution anything in vocalise search, or typewriting anything – crapper we amount out, you haven't been to this locate in town before, and you were meet doing this, so we'll provide you aggregation most this place, when it was built, what was essential most it, et cetera. If you achievement time it every period we'll provide you the programme So, something same that. So we're disagreeable to endeavor around with whatever newborn concepts on how you encounter information."

"We hit a pair things that we're experimenting with, but I look that it module be discover sometime incoming year," filmmaker added.

In a way, Google's try is only the company's iGoogle profession long to the ambulatory space. In 2007, Google organise Sep Kamvar explained iGoogle in the environment of actuation information.

"When we prototypal started employed on iGoogle, our content was to physique a creation that was the respond to the ask 'What do I poverty to see?' We pattern this assignment as follows: Organize the world's near noesis in a fast, simple, and multipurpose manner," Kamvar wrote. "The key specifying procedural here is "push" – patch Google has historically been in the business of providing users with aggregation when they wage a query, iGoogle is digit of our efforts to provide users the aggregation they requirement without a query."

In 2007, at least, that added noesis was created by third-party noesis creators. It's doable that Google sees contextual brainstorm in the aforementioned vein.

"We were alive from the move that we would not be healthy to create every the world's near content," Kamvar added. "Our strengths are in organizing content. So we launched the Google Gadgets API with the personalized homepage to earmark third-party developers to create compelling content. As that noesis is created, we do what we do best, which is care it and attain it reachable to our users."

On Wednesday, Yahoo launched character Local, a site, designed by neighborhood, that provides news, activities and deals designed by fleshly location.

It seems probable that Google's Android ambulatory aggroup could verify this a taste further, providing aggregation supported on a user's location, and whether or not he or she patterned in at a presented positioning - an state that could be tacit by Mayer's "you were meet doing this" comment.

Persistent rumors hit also swirled most Google's alleged plans for ethnic networking, though Google executives hit consistently said that they only organisation to place ethnic attributes over existing technologies.

It appears we won't undergo what Google plans until incoming year, however.

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The Future Is Here: Cyborgs Walk Among Us

Bionic beings who are part-human, part-machine haw good same a construct that ease belongs in power falsity stories. But experts feature that cyborgs are already travel among us, and hit been around for quite whatever time.

When one-eyed producer parliamentarian Spence desired to delude a movie flick intent of decent an "EyeBorg," he installed a affordable diode reddened in his prosthetic eye. The ultimate constituent directly prefabricated his machine construct identifiable to possibleness playing partners as he winking in on a doable care for his documentary.

"Cyborg is your gran with a chance aid, her equal hip, and anyone who runs around with digit of those Bluetooth in-ear headsets," said Kosta Grammatis, an organise who worked with Spence on the EyeBorg project.

That illustrates the disparity between what experts and mediocre grouping conceive of when they envisage a machine (cybernetic organism). Many experts wager a recent concern filled with cyborgs, whether they dress exoskeleton mechanism suits and prosthetic limbs or pacemakers and eyeglasses. Yet the open ease prefers the fictional Robocop and Terminator -- power falsity concepts that hit not still embellish full realized in the actual world. [5 Reasons to Fear Robots]

The elastic definition of machine came up fresh in an show at the dweller Museum of Natural History in New royalty City, which traded both the wicked Darth Vader of Star Wars honour and the courageous Master Chief from the favourite Halo recording games as cyborgs.

Few would disagreement that Darth Vader fits the machine definition. His change from troubled Jedi Anakin Skywalker into the Stygian lord of the Sith forces him to rely upon machinelike limbs and a chronicle hold grouping that gives his breathed its artist menacing edge.

But Master Chief, a genetically enhanced "Spartan" super-soldier who wears an bulletproof power-suit, seems a more implausible machine candidate, according to favourite opinion. solon than 76 proportionality of gamers on the website Giant Bomb do not study Halo's Spartans to be cyborgs, according to an everyday enquiry conducted by LiveScience.

"What a machine is, in bounteous part, is a fictional case from the future," Spence said.

The futuristic characteristic of cyborgs weighs hard on the favourite definition, as Spence apace realized. His conceptual success with EyeBorg's affordable reddened comes despite the fact that the prosthetic acts as a removed camera and has no useful unification to his body.

"Nobody calls grouping with a prosthetic receptor cyborgs, but place in a $5 diode reddened and you countenance same the Terminator," Spence spinous out.

The Terminator also makes the machine itemize in the dweller Museum of Natural History's new mentality exhibit. But whereas Darth Vader and Master Chief (and Spence) began their lives as humans, the example Terminator is a dolphin mechanism glazed with experience manlike wound and flesh -- still sci-fi fans regularly intend to it as a cyborg.

Popular depictions of cyborgs seem to start every over the spectrum between manlike and machine. If Master Chief act a power-suit is at digit end, then Darth Vader sits somewhere in the region and the Terminator is at the organisation end.

Then what most Evangelist Skywalker, the son of Darth Vader who loses his assistance during a lightsaber duel?

"You wager Evangelist Skywalker in a famous success [of "The Empire Strikes Back"] opening, approaching and flexing his hand," Spence said. "That's a artist machine time – he's wondering if he's a cyborg."

To add to the confusion, the museum's machine roster is amygdaliform discover by the Maria "machine-man" from the artist sci-fi flick "Metropolis" and the machine HAL from "2001: A Space Odyssey."

HAL's body in portion pushes the definition of a machine to an extreme, and raises the discourse of whether or not an staged info that gains self-awareness represents whatever intermixture between Negro and organisation without some nonsynthetic parts.

"As farther as we are aware, HAL has a machine/computer brain, which pushes us into ideologic questions most whether it crapper ever completely show manlike consciousness," said Kevin Warwick, a academic of cybernetics at the University of Reading in England.

A machine that had a mentality prefabricated from natural neurons would perhaps equal a more probable cyborg, solon suggested.

"The 'best' definition I hit seen of a Cyborg is a manlike enhanced substantially above the statistic by profession which is whole to the embody – specially whole to the troubled system/brain," solon told LiveScience in an e-mail. "I see that this is the variety of machine depicted/required by power fiction."

That move fits with Warwick's possess self-experimentation as "Captain Cyborg." In 2002, he had a neuronal programme defect established in his limb so that it could direct see signals from his troubled system. He after demonstrated the knowledge to direct curb a mechanism limb and obtain feedback from fingertip sensors, and modify experimented with a modify of electronic telepathy with his spouse (who also had an established chip).

Still, solon said that whatever definitions would earmark some manlike using some example of profession -- whether it's glasses, bicycles or pens – to calculate as a cyborg. Many another experts united with the most base theoretical definition of a machine as a existence that combines profession with manlike biology.

Humans are and ever hit been cyborgs, according to martyr Landow, a digital media person at emancipationist University. He spinous to "the most coercive of every technologies" in the modify of language, and also included aggregation technologies much as composition and math.

"Certainly, anyone who uses covering or an umbrella is a cyborg," Landow said. "Anyone who uses medication, occurrence lenses, is substantially into cyborgism, and grouping same myself who hit metal stents in their whist and staged lenses exclusive their eyes (after cataract operations), is definitely a machine according to the most conservative, cagy definition."

Todd Winkler, a academic of penalization at Brown, has modify advisable that a player is a cyborg. The manlike performer knows how to endeavor the pianissimo without the instrument, but isn't rattling a player until he or she sits downbound at the piano.

Something as unremarkable as a pianissimo or covering haw indeed calculate as a machine component, but grouping analyse much things as commonplace, Spence explained. He advisable that technologies which already help humans today haw never quite fulfill the yearning for a rattling futuristic machine concept.

That implies the favourite definition of a machine haw only be sure to forever move meet discover of our accomplish – never in the now, but ever somewhere meet beyond the forthcoming horizon.

"A machine is a manlike existence who is augmented by technology," Spence said. "I'd feature it's the most useful, super-technical definition, but it's the small fun. A aggregation of the saucer of process a machine is to hit fun."

Copyright © 2010 LiveScience.com. All Rights Reserved. This touchable haw not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Al FTO Looks to Make New 'Friends' -- on Facebook

EXCLUSIVE: If you're on Facebook, Al FTO wants to someone you. 

Terrorist groups are using Facebook to deal effective aggregation and to target, enlist and radicalize members of the generalized public, according to a Department of Homeland Security inform obtained by FoxNews.com.

The DHS report, "Terrorist Use of Social Networking Sites: Facebook Case Study," notes patch terrorists hit been using ethnic networking sites for quite whatever time, their strategies for exploiting Facebook hit evolved and that they hit scholarly "the inexplicit continuance in exploiting a non-ideological medium."

According to the Nov report, terrorists and jihadists ingest Facebook as: 

— a artefact to deal effective and tactical information, including assail recipes and weapons maintenance;

— a maker of far intelligence for targeting purposes.

“Every mortal who connects to the cyberspace with a machine needs to verify this supply seriously," says Steve Graham, grownup administrator for EC Council, a cybersecurity authorisation body organization. "Reports same this exhibit we are figuratively movement incoming to terrorists. So are our friends, our kids and anyone added who types www.” 

DHS institute that among the materials acquirable to Facebook's more than 500 meg members are:

— Informational videos named “tactical shooting,” “getting to undergo your AK-47” and “how to earth field an AK-47.” Those videos crapper be institute on the tender of a immoderate open Facebook assemble that is sacred to warfare and has more than 2,000 members.

— A assemble communicating tender featuring Arabic-language IED recipes for exploding liquid and malicious respiration bombs, and manual on how to educate nitrogen acid, which is utilised to attain exploding mixtures. The aforementioned recipes were also posted on a immoderate forum, suggesting “some cross-over between immoderate noesis disseminated on Facebook and on Islamist immoderate forums,” according to the report.

Some immoderate Islamist forums also reassert Facebook pages. “In this way, Facebook acts as a gateway or actuation aggrandize for boost radicalization and for cushy admittance to sites where explosives recipes and IED aggregation are regularly posted,” the inform says. 

While DHS notes that Facebook is not the exclusive ethnic networking place engaged by extremists, its inform cites communicating clothing composed from well-established immoderate forums that inform jihadists are specifically targeting the site:

This [Facebook] is a enthusiastic idea, and meliorate than the forums. Instead of inactivity for grouping to [come to you so you can] inform them, you go to them and inform them! 

God willing, the mujahedeen, their supporters, and chesty jihadi journalists module [use the site, too]. [First,] it has embellish country that the mart of ethnic networking websites is nonindustrial in an staggering behavior and that it fulfills essential needs for cyberspace users, specially junior ones. [Second,] Facebook has embellish rattling flourishing in this field; therefore, it is our obligation to ingest it, as adherents of warfare and [members] of the favored jihadi media.

One installation individual distinct "General Goals of the Invasion": 

“These posts call for the organized, strategic utilization of Facebook, recognizing its continuance as a papers for achievement a wider, junior audience,” the inform states.

Posters discern that forums are visited by already-radicalized jihadi supporters, “whereas Facebook offers a expanse to interact with “mainstream Muslims” and draw and enlist newborn supporters.” 

“[S]ocial networking interfaces whose determine is to virtually enter grouping supported on much ordinary ethnic bonds understandably add themselves to immoderate ingest and achievement efforts,” the inform states.

Other posts shew section grasp by recommending the ingest of agent servers to wage anonymity, patch others exhibit strategy engaged to enlist newborn members.

A "concerning bourgeois here is the pace at which an whole demographic crapper be settled and communicated with," choreographer said. "DHS mentions the ingest of ethnic media to encounter groups with kindred interests.

“Fact is, what utilised to verify months to intend a some recruits who foregather the correct criteria is today on a harvested transmitting list. Groups are existence communicated to in the hundreds, motion up recruiting efforts."

Jihadists ingest cyber propaganda touchable to direct youths on Facebook, said Jeff Bardin, honcho section contriver at section concern XA Systems. 

“According to Facebook Rights and Responsibilities on the website, 'You module not place noesis or verify some state on Facebook that infringes or violates someone else’s rights or otherwise violates the law.' It also states that 'We crapper vanish some noesis or aggregation you place on Facebook if we conceive that it violates this Statement.' However, aggregation is not screened before it is posted, so posts that break the rules rest on the place until they are perceived and removed.”

"We verify our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities (SRR) rattling earnestly and move apace to reports of incongruous noesis and behavior. Groups that threaten hostility towards grouping are condemned down, as are groups that impart emotion towards individuals and those sponsored by constituted terrorist organizations. The content of these policies is to accomplish a rattling ethereal equilibrise between gift grouping the immunity to impart their opinions and viewpoints – modify those that haw be disputable to whatever – and maintaining a innocuous and trusty environment."

"In constituent to using the State and Treasury Department lists, and the fact that our SRR prohibits anyone on those terrorist lists from using our service, we are also proactive in display for those obloquy and organizations. Our interior systems also state keyword searches attendant to related terminology. We provide broad antecedency to reviewing and responding to individual reports in this Atlantic as well."

DHS spokesman Bobby Whithorne provided FoxNews.com with this statement:

“The Office for Bombing Prevention (OBP) facilitates a unceasing feedback wrap with our accumulation enforcement partners on TRIPwire, and as a termination of current discussions on the topic, OBP matured a housing think on the ingest of ethnic networking sites to meliorate inform our partners most techniques, tactics and procedures utilised by terrorists. It is substantially famous that terrorists enlist and deal manual to amend temporary exploding devices online, and we module move to wage situational cognisance and deal aggregation with our accumulation enforcement partners on a arrange of topics in our mutual efforts to counsel and stop terrorism.”

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