CELEBRITY GOSSIP

Live To Dance Vs. American Idol

Looks like Paula Abdul's new dancing competition show for CBS, Live to Dance, will be going head-to-head with Abdul's ex-competition show, American Idol. And yes, they'll almost definitely air during the same time slot. Awkward for Paula! Dance will premiere on Tuesday, January 4, but then will mov... (more...)

From Perez Hilton

POLL: Who Should Win Project Runway?

Tell us if Gretchen, Mondo or Andy deserves to win the design competition... (more...)

From People.com

Audrina Patridge's Mom Apologizes for Wine-y Rant

Audrina Patridge's mother is having second thoughts about calling Lauren Conrad's latest reality-TV venture "pissy ass little fashion s--t." She already admitted—on... (more...)

From E! Online Gossip- The Hum

And The Porn Star’s a Hooker After All

Just as I finished posting porn star Capri Anderson’s attempt to get Charlie Sheen thrown in jail for allegedly locking her in the bathroom of a New York hotel, RadarOnline has discovered, surprise! She was working as a hooker to the tune of $12,000 which Charlie never paid and she negle... (more...)

From The Superficial

Travie McCoy Arrested In Berlin!

Not to worry, though. He's already free and clear. While in Germany for a concert, Travie McCoy thought it would be a good idea to visit the Berlin wall. Then he thought it would be a good idea to write his name in graffiti on the Berlin Wall. Then, he thought it would a good idea to tweet a pictu... (more...)

From Perez Hilton

Leann Rimes - Shape Editor Apologises To Readers For Rimes Cover

The editor-in-chief of fitness magazine Shape has apologised to readers for putting singer LEANN RIMES on the October (10) cover of the publication.Valerie Latona has... (more...)

From Contact Music

Oprah Being Sued For Plagiarism!

Uh-oh. Not the kind publicity you want in your final season! Oprah Winfrey is being sued by Charles Harris, the author of How America Elects Her Presidents. Charles claims that Oprah plagiarized some of his material in his book while endorsing Barack Obama back in 2008. According to the suit filed... (more...)

From Perez Hilton

PHOTO: Ellen DeGeneres's Snooki Halloween Costume

The TV host gets in touch with her inner Jersey gal in a full-body hair suit... (more...)

From People.com

Rihanna Worried She Wouldn't Have Phone Service at Katy Perry's India Wedding

The singer says she had to skip her best pal's nuptials because of work commitments as she readies a new album... (more...)

From People.com

Chris Evans Shirtless Captain America Photo [Just Because]

Damn it. I guess I’m going to have to see Captain America now. (via iFanboy)Read More ... (more...)

From Socialite Life

Brain Size, Not Lack of Willpower, May Fuel Obese Bad Eating

A brain region in charge of controlling impulsively is smaller in obese teens than in lean ones, according to a new study.
The results suggest the bad eating habits that lead to obesity aren't simply due to a lack of self-restraint, researchers said. Rather, the smaller size of this impulse-control region in the brain might predispose certain children to gain weight. Or the obesity itself may even influence brain size, which in turn fuels uninhibited eating.
"It's not as simple as kids who have weight problems simply don't have enough willpower to actually lose weight," said study researcher Dr. Antonio Convit, of the New York University School of Medicine and the Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research in NY.
"It could be that their brains are either wired differently, or damaged in a particular way that leads them to gain weight from overeating," he said.
Convit and his colleagues administered questionnaires on eating behaviors to 91 adolescents. The teens were on average 17 years old; 37 were normal weight and 54 were obese. The obese teens had an average body mass index, or BMI, of 39, and weighed 300 pounds on average.
The researchers scanned the teens' brains using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and the teens completed several cognitive tests designed to see how well a particular brain region, known as the frontal lobe, was working. The frontal lobe is essential for planning, self-monitoring and modifying behavior. People who have damage to this area are less likely to have good impulse control, Convit said.
As expected, the obese teens were more impulsive in their eating behaviors. They also had a smaller orbitofrontal cortex, part of the frontal lobe, and performed worse on the cognitive tests than lean adolescents did. In addition, the adolescents with a smaller orbitofrontal cortex were more likely to eat impulsively, known in psychology as "disinhibited" eating.
Because the children came from families with the similar income levels , it's unlikely that their socioeconomic class played a role in their performance on the cognitive tests. And the results held even after the researchers took into account the participants' blood pressure, which may influence frontal lobe function, Convit said.
The researchers noted the study only shows an association, and not a cause-effect link. And they don't know whether it's obesity that may lead to a smaller frontal lobe, or the small frontal lobe that may contribute to obesity.
But there is a plausible explanation for how obesity changes the brain.
Obesity is known to cause changes to the immune system, boosting inflammation in the body. This increased inflammation may impact the brain and "lead to a vicious cycle, where the obesity leads to inflammation, which damages certain parts of the brain, which in turn leads to more disinhibited eating and more obesity," Convit told MyHealthNewsDaily.
And while the obese adolescents were not diabetic, they had elevated fasting insulin levels, which may also harm the brain. Insulin is a hormone that allows cells to take up sugar, or glucose, from the blood. Obese individuals, because they have insulin resistance, often need to produce more of it to keep their blood sugar levels normal.
The study was presented today (Oct. 28) at the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Meeting in New York City.

Facebook and Twitter say social is the new normal

BOSTON (Reuters) – The social networking phenomenon has nowhere to go but up as computer use becomes more mobile, according to leading figures in the development of the popular sites Facebook and Twitter.
"Two to five years from now, the whole question of what other social networks you use will be moot, because it will all be social," Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook, said in Boston on Thursday.
"Social is becoming the frame, the filter to a lot of information," Hughes, 27, said during a panel discussion at the Charles Schwab "Impact 2010" investment conference.
Facebook has over 500 million active users, including more than 150 million who access the site through their mobile devices. The number of registered Twitter users is estimated at more than 165 million.
Both companies are privately held, and investors are on constant alert for any sign either will go public.
Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, said the expansion of social networking would closely track a rise in personal mobility as devices such as smart phones replace traditional computers.
"I would like to see a lot less people hunched over computers in their offices in five years," said Stone, 36.
Hughes said applications such as Facebook Connect would increasingly be knitted into the social networking fabric.
For example, Facebook Connect users going to The New York Times' website can now see which articles their friends are reading and recommending.
"With a few clicks you're having a social experience," Hughes said, adding that the functionality can be a way to cut through information overload that many struggle with.
"There is no better filter than people that you know and trust," he said.
Stone has 1.6 million followers for his tweets. He said he likes to follow to follow the Twitter feed of Sockington the Cat, a Waltham, Massachusetts, feline with a knack for clever repartee.
Twitter, said Stone, "is not going to be a triumph of technology -- it's going to be a triumph of humanity ... the growth potential is there from a positive change perspective, not just a business perspective."

Texting, Facebook no worse than TV, expert says

Parents fret over more hours of screen time, but if the homework's done, so what?

Texting, Facebook and video games are not inherently bad or worse than watching TV, says child psychologist Douglas Gentile. But they do pose different risks.

NEW YORK — Let's face it: Teenagers spend hours texting, socializing on Facebook and playing video games. And it's driving their parents nuts.

Sure, there are real dangers associated with all this screen time — everything from cyberbullying to couch-potato obesity. Not to mention driving while texting, shortened attention spans and Internet porn.
But many of today's parents spent hours as kids sitting in front of screens too — only they were TV screens.

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Which raises an interesting question: Is Facebook really worse for teenagers' brains than the mindless reruns of "Gilligan's Island" and "The Brady Bunch" that their parents consumed growing up?
Douglas Gentile, a child psychologist and associate professor at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, who studies the effects of media on children, says texting, Facebook and video games are not inherently bad. Nor are they inherently better or worse than watching TV, although they do pose different risks, such as cyberbullying.
Missing the shared experience But research has shown that the more time kids spend in front of screens — whether it's TV or instant-messaging — the worse their school performance. "That doesn't mean it's true for every kid, but it makes sense, that for every hour a kid is playing video games, it's an hour that they're not doing homework or reading or exploring or creating," he said.
Gentile calls this the "displacement hypothesis. If screen time is displacing doing their homework, that's bad. But if their homework is done, well, so what?"
Story: Preschoolers watching WAY too much TV
Gentile, who admits that his own teenager crossed the "9,000 texts in one month barrier" last summer, acknowledged that parents are struggling to adjust to a world in which kids would rather look at words on a cell phone screen than have a conversation.
"The older generation, it's not their culture," he said. "There is a resistance to it."
Watching TV as a family, as mindless as that experience can be, is now regarded with nostalgia by parents. If your kid is sitting in the living room watching "American Idol," you can plop on the sofa with them, and "it's a shared experience," Gentile said. But if they're texting or video-chatting with a friend from school, "it's a private experience. It's like they're whispering secrets. And we find it rude."
Patti Rowlson, a mother of two in Everson, Wash., says this "has been a topic of discussion in our house for years now." She and her husband started out limiting TV time when their kids were little, but "then technology crept in. Cell phones, laptop computers, iPods with Wi-Fi. We, as parents, were no longer in control of screen time because we could not even tell when they were using it."
Recounting a struggle that will sound familiar to many parents, Rowlson said that at first, she and her husband imposed limits on tech use.
Story: Too much screen time can pscyhologically harm kids
"There were battles and even groundings," along with the confiscation of iPods, she said. "We were constantly policing and the kids were constantly getting in trouble. We were trying to fight for the old ways, and it was causing a lot of stress and tension in the family. It was ridiculous. So we loosened up. And it's made everybody happier. We were fighting something that you can't hold back. It's how they communicate with their peers."
What's been the result? Two good kids, she said. "In the end I'm not sure if having boundaries early on helped them or made no difference at all."
Ron Neal, who lives in West L.A., has a teenage daughter who is "tech-driven and passionate about it. ... I don't know how it's going to play out, but I don't have this fear and dread about it."
Neal, who admits to watching a lot of "Gilligan's Island" growing up, added: "We had our minds numbed by TV, and maybe they're looking at useless things on the Internet or YouTube, but I also think they're developing a lot of skills through this technology that we could never comprehend. For my daughter, when she is home, she does have everything going — the TV, the computer, communicating with friends, and doing the homework at the same time."
'Multitasking is not really good for anyone' He admits, though, that there are some frightening aspects to the dependence today's teenagers have on technology. "They are so emotionally connected to being tied in with their friends 24 hours a day, if they get a text, they feel obligated to respond in seconds," he said. He recalled a group of girls showing up for a birthday party at a restaurant, and "everyone of them had their head down, texting."

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The explosion in teen screen time is well-documented. A recent Associated Press-mtvU poll found that one-third of college students use computers, cell phones or gaming consoles for six or more hours daily. A Kaiser Family Foundation study published in January found that total media use among 8- to 18-year-olds, including TV, music, computers, video games, print and movies has increased from six hours, 21 minutes daily in 2004 to seven hours, 38 minutes in 2009.
"Try waking a teenager in the morning and the odds are good that you'll find a cell phone tucked under their pillow," the Kaiser report said.
The Kaiser study also found that the more time kids spend with media, the lower their grades and levels of personal contentment are.
Story: YouTube: Everything you'd probably rather not know
Gentile said the impact of screen time on school work can be mitigated by what he calls "protective factors." Those might include good teachers and a high-performing school, love of reading, coming from a family where education is valued, and exposure to experiences that are culturally and intellectually enriching. "If you had all these protective factors," said Gentile, "then that one little risk factor (screen time), who cares?"
He added that surprisingly, the amount of time kids spend watching TV has not declined precipitously with the popularity of computers and gaming, but "they don't pay nearly the attention (to TV) that they used to." The TV might be on, but "they're also instant-messaging, they're on Facebook, they're texting."
One thing parents should worry about, Gentile said, is the way electronic devices encourage multitasking.
"Multitasking is not really good for anyone," he said. "Your reflexes speed up, you're quicker to look over your shoulder and notice little noises or lights. This is not what they need when they get to the classroom and you're supposed to ignore the kid next to you. Scanning to see when the next message comes, this may not be good for kids. The more distractions you have, the worse your performance is." Getting kids to turn off their phones, iPods, and computers in order to concentrate on homework and reading, he said, "I think that's a fight worth having."

Bottom line: Never mind that your kid is spending two hours on Facebook each night. As long as they do their homework without texting in between math problems, it's probably no better or worse than the hours you spent watching "Star Trek."

Yahoo Mail gets first major revamp in five years

Yahoo wants to catch up rivals such as Microsoft and Google

Yahoo Mail is getting its biggest redesign since 2005 to make it a message hub for its 279 million users.

At the centre of the revamp is a plan to make the communications system much more compatible with social media.
This means users can post updates to Facebook and Twitter without ever leaving Yahoo Mail.
Texting and sending instant messages has been updated. Yahoo said the service will be twice as fast as Google's Gmail and Microsoft's Hotmail.
Users will also be able to view photos and videos from Flickr, Picasa and YouTube inside their e-mail inbox.
Priority email

Priority Inbox was rolled out to Gmail users in September

"People spend more than 30 billion minutes a month on Yahoo Mail," Dave McDowell, Yahoo Mail senior product director told BBC News.
"It is a critically important product to our users and this represents [the] most significant upgrade to Yahoo mail in five years."
Other upgrades to Yahoo's service include improved spam filtering, and tools to search through mail that will help better sort and prioritise messages.
By revamping its mail system, Yahoo is mirroring refreshes already pushed through by rivals.
Google introduced its priority inbox feature at the end of the summer to help users grade e-mail into four categories.
Meanwhile Microsoft updated its Hotmail e-mail system in a similar fashion to help people organise messages better.
Cool factor The Yahoo Mail refresh had been touted back in September as part of an overall product strategy to show the company remains relevant amid increased competition from Google, Microsoft and Facebook.
Last week the early internet pioneer posted mixed financial results, increasing pressure on executives to turn the company around.
Industry analyst Greg Sterling, of Sterling Market Intelligence, said the upgrades to Yahoo mail are important in showing the firm still has products that can compete.
"Yahoo Mail is a critical product for the company with an enormous user base," he said. "The challenge for them is to make having a Yahoo Mail address cool."
"It has lost some of its chic or cachet to GMail among early adopters or the tech savvy so there is a brand issue there," he added.
"In the past I would have said people don't want all these functions in their e-mail box but with people now having so many sites to visit this makes sense," said Mr Sterling.
"I think if Yahoo Mail performs well, they will win people over," he said.

Arsenal demolish New Castle

Newcastle 0 - 4 Arsenal

Highlights - Newcastle 0-4 Arsenal

By Mandeep Sanghera

A comedy goal and a controversial effort helped Arsenal into the Carling Cup last eight at Newcastle's expense.

An attempted nodded clearance from Ryan Taylor hit his own keeper Tim Krul before going into the Magpies net to give Arsenal the lead.
Theo Walcott raced through and dinked in a second after Nicklas Bendtner appeared to block a Magpies defender as he came back from an offside position.
Bendtner then curled in a shot and Walcott slotted in Arsenal's fourth.
A weakened Newcastle showed plenty of commitment and valiantly tried to get back into the game at 2-0 down but the visitors punished them with some ruthless counter-attacking play.

Click to play

Speculation unhelpful - Hughton

Ultimately, it was a convincing win for Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger's side, which had an unusually strong look to it compared to the line-ups the Frenchman has chosen to field in previous Carling Cup campaigns.
And, while a five-year trophy absence might have had something to do with Wenger taking the competition more seriously, the need for some of his more renowned stars to get some first-team football also played a part.
Walcott, Bendtner, Tomas Rosicky, Denilson and Laurent Koscielny have all recently returned from injury and they helped the visitors make a blistering start against a Newcastle line-up chosen with Sunday's Tyne-Wear derby against Sunderland in mind.
Magpies centre-back Mike Williamson was robbed of the ball by Rosicky in the opening minute and the Arsenal playmaker slid a pass through to Carlos Vela, whose strike was saved by the out-stretched leg of Krul.
From the resultant corner, Williamson had to twice block Bendtner shots at the far post before Krul smartly saved the Dane's third attempt.

606: DEBATE

Typical Arsenal, on the ball a lot and winning games with the pace they are blessed with

Mr toontastic

Youngster Haris Vuckic sent an angled shot into the side-netting at the other end before the visitors resumed their assault on the home goal, with Walcott's pace and movement causing Newcastle all sorts of problems.
Bendtner dragged an angled strike wide before the Tyneside outfit almost punished Wenger's side for not making more of their chances.
Danny Guthrie played a ball over the top of the Gunners defence to release Nile Ranger and, after he stumbled past the challenge of onrushing keeper Wojciech Szczesny, his shot was blocked by Koscielny.
Almost immediately, Alan Smith launched a thunderous 30-yard strike which was brilliantly tipped on to the crossbar by Szczesny.
Newcastle started to contain their rivals as they worked their way into the game before they went behind on the stroke of half-time.
Krul was distracted by Craig Eastmond, who might have got a faint touch, as he flapped at a Bendtner header and, when Taylor tried to nod clear off the goal-line, all he managed to do was hit the ball against his keeper as it came off him and went into the home goal.

James Perch could have levelled matters had he not put a free header over from 10 yards prior to the main moment of controversy in the game.
Bendtner was trotting back from an offside position when Walcott was released on goal by Johan Djourou's clearing header, but the Dane ended up colliding with Williamson as the centre-back tried to intercept the ball, leaving Walcott to dink over Krul to add to Arsenal's lead.
Newcastle then threw on Andy Carroll and Jonas Gutierrez to try to help engineer a comeback and, while they carried a danger and gave Arsenal a couple of scares, they failed to convert their threat into goals.
The ability to play on the counter-attack played into Arsenal's hands and substitute Cesc Fabregas passed for Bendtner to cut inside and find the top corner with a precise strike before Walcott again raced clear and sidefooted past Krul for his sixth goal of the season.
Arsenal join Aston Villa, Birmingham, Ipswich, Manchester United, West Brom, West Ham and Wigan in the draw for the quarter-finals on Saturday.

Is Putting a Cell Phone in Your Pocket a Health Risk?

A man looks at his phone as he walks past a Verizon wireless store in New York

We are a nation grown numb to the seemingly endless fine print that accompanies our purchases. But every now and then a product is sold with a warning that should command attention. Consider the little-noticed bit of legalese that comes in the safety manual for Apple's iPhone 4: "When using iPhone near your body for voice calls or for wireless data transmission over a cellular network, keep iPhone at least 15 mm (5/8 inch) away from the body, and only use carrying cases, belt clips, or holders that do not have metal parts and that maintain at least 15 mm (5/8 inch) separation between iPhone and the body," the warning reads.
Similar warnings against carrying cellular and smart phones in a closely sewn pocket show up throughout the industry. The safety manual for Research in Motion's BlackBerry 9000 phone tells users that they may violate Federal Communications Commission (FCC) guidelines for radio-frequency energy exposure by carrying the phone outside a holster and within 0.98 inches (2.5 cm) of their body. The safety manual of the Motorola W180 phone tells users to always keep the active device one full inch away from their body, if not using a company-approved "clip, holder, holster, case or body harness." (See the top 10 iPhone applications of 2009.)
Skeptics of the safety of cellular phones have seized upon these warnings as evidence that the ubiquitous devices may be exposing Americans to far more radiation than regulators measure. "Nobody is watching," says Devra Davis, the author of a new book called Disconnect: The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation, What the Industry Has Done to Hide It, and How to Protect Your Family. "Is the law broken if something is so complicated that nobody notices?" (See the all-time top 100 gadgets.)
The answer, like the fine-print warnings themselves, is complicated, and likely has as much to do with corporate concerns over legal compliance as it does with health, given the current body of scientific knowledge. "The companies want to legally protect themselves," says Robert Cleveland Jr., a former FCC official who worked on setting the current cellular-phone radio-frequency standard. (See a cell-phone radiation report card for several major phones.)
The warnings stem from an odd quirk in federal testing procedures designed to ensure the safety of cellular phones. In 2001, the FCC released a set of guidelines for manufacturers that required all cell phones sold in the U.S. to emit a specific absorption rate (SAR) of not more than 1.6 watts of radio-frequency energy per kilogram of body tissue, a standard deemed safe given the state of scientific knowledge about thermal harm from radio-frequency waves. The standard was considered a so-called worst-case scenario, accounting for the energy emitted when the phone was transmitting at full power all of its various signals - such as Bluetooth, wi-fi and cellular.
But the FCC testing regulations notably chose not to simulate a situation in which the phone was broadcasting at full power while inside a shirt or pants pocket flush against the body, an odd oversight given the known habits of many cellular-phone users. As a matter of physics, radio-frequency energy generally increases sharply as distance is reduced. "The exposure is definitely related to distance," says Cleveland. (Comment on this story.)
According to the 2001 FCC guidelines, testing of the device in a "body-worn" configuration should be done with the device in a belt clip or holster. If a belt clip or holster was not supplied with the phone, the FCC told testers to assume a separation distance of between 0.59 inches and 0.98 inches (1.5 cm to 2.5 cm) from the body during a test.
"Clearly if it's tested in a holster, it's only guaranteed to be compliant if it's used with a holster," says one current FCC official familiar with these issues, who asked not to be identified by name. "Clearly a lot of people weren't aware of this, and it probably does need to be addressed." Some phones come with a holster included, while others, including Apple's iPhone 4, are not sold with holsters.
Read "How Safe Is Your Cell Phone?
See a photographic history of the cell phone.

A spokeswoman for Apple, Natalie Harrison, provided a statement in response to questions about the iPhone warning. "iPhone's radio-frequency energy is well within the limits set by the Federal Communications Commission of the U.S., Industry Canada of Canada and other countries," she said. Representatives for Motorola and Research in Motion did not respond to requests for comment.
John Walls, a spokesman for CTIA, a trade group representing the wireless industry, confirmed that the warnings arose from the FCC testing guidance. "Because they test at the waist in the holster, any reference to use guidelines or advice incorporates the buffer the holster provides," Wall wrote in an e-mail to TIME. (See cell phones and other products in TIME's 20 back-to-school gadgets.)
So should you be worried about putting your phone in your pocket? The answer depends largely on how much faith you put in the current state of scientific research about radio-frequency energy.
Both U.S. and international regulatory bodies like the World Health Organization have found that available scientific evidence does not demonstrate an increased health risk due to the radiation that is emitted by cellular phones. But these statements, which are based on large studies looking for increases in conditions like brain cancer, do not rule out the possibility that future studies might reach a different conclusion, as more data is collected over longer periods of time and the general use of cellular phones increases. (See photos from inside an X-ray studio.)
The FCC notes on its websites that studies linking radio-frequency exposure and cancer "have been inconclusive." The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has primary responsibility for monitoring the health science of cellular phones, has stated that it cannot rule out the possibility of a health risk from phones, but if such a risk exists, "it is probably small." One recent study found that people who used their phones most often and for the longest period of time - 30 minutes a day or more on average for at least 10 years - had a substantially higher risk of developing some form of brain cancer, but the study also found that those who rarely used cellular phones had a lower risk than those who used only corded phones. (Read about one study's muddled findings on cell phones and cancer.)
The FDA recommends that those concerned about these health risks can either reduce the amount of time spent using a cell phone or "use speaker mode or a headset to place more distance between your head and the cell phone." If using a hands-free headset, the FDA recommends keeping a distance between your phone and your body, either by holding the phone in your hand, where it is likely to be less of a hazard, or in an approved body-worn accessory like a holster.
Given the current testing guidelines, it is impossible to know if any phone currently sold in the U.S. would exceed 1.6 watts per kilogram if worn in a pocket flush with the skin, or by how much. But the fine-print warnings suggest manufacturers are aware of the possibility. The BlackBerry 9000 warning, for instance, states that users should "use only accessories equipped with an integrated belt clip that are supplied or approved by Research In Motion" to "maintain compliance" with FCC guidelines. (Comment on this story.)
In a recent update to its online advisory on cell-phone radiation, the FCC noted, "Many people mistakenly assume that using a cell phone with a lower reported SAR value necessarily decreases a user's exposure to RF emissions, or is somehow 'safer' than using a cell phone with a high SAR value."
The posting went on to explain that any given phone could have several different emissions levels in various configurations, and that FCC testing is only designed to ensure that the phone does not exceed 1.6 watts per kilogram of exposure in a "most severe, worst case (and highest power) operating conditions." The Web posting, however, did not explain why FCC testing fails to account for the worst-case (and quite common) scenario of a cell-phone user who wears a phone against the skin inside a pocket.

WC psychic Paul the Octopus is dead - or is it all a cover-up?

http://www.thelocal.de/articleImages/29303.jpg

Paul the Octopus, who made it big during the World Cup this year, is dead but many believe that he has been for a long time.
Not everyone, it seems, is prepared to accept the news that the "psychic" octopus passed away on Monday in the German aquarium where he lived.
Jiang Xiao, the director of soon to come thriller 'Who Killed Paul the Octopus?' said that she was "60 to 70percent sure" Paul had died in July and been secretly replaced by his keepers, reports The Guardian.
Xiao said she thought it was "kind of strange" that news of Paul's death had broken not long after the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre in western Germany had contacted her team to say they were keen to co-operate on the international distribution of her film.
"We have been keeping in touch with the German aquarium ever since the beginning [of production] but it seemed to me that they were afraid," she said.
"The movie is about unveiling the inside story behind the octopus miracle, so they felt nervous. For the movie, we had done quite a lot of investigation and I am 60percent to 70percent sure that Paul died on 9 July [two days before the World Cup final] and the Germans have been covering up his death and fooling us for a long time," Xiao said.
However, a spokesperson for the aquarium dismissed the speculations as rubbish.
"We can absolutely assure you that he died last night. He was about two and a half, which is the average age for an octopus. He died a simple and straightforward death," she said.

Reggae Legend Gregory Isaacs Passes Away At 59

By Paul Cantor
On Monday (October 25), reggae legend Gregory Isaacs passed away at the age of 59 after battling lung cancer. The man who many credit with creating a style of reggae called lover's rock died at his home in London surrounded by his family, according to the BBC.
For many, Mos Def's lyrics in "Ms. Fat Booty" was their first introduction to the reggae legend. “She touched on my eyelids, the room fell silent/ She walked away smilin singing Gregory Issacs/ Like 'if I don't, if I don't, if I don't',” rapped Mos Def on his 1999 hit.
Mr. Isaacs was born in Kingston, Jamaica on July 15th, 1951. He cut his teeth performing at talent shows around the island in the 60s, and made his grand entrance in the record business in 1968 with “Another Heartbreak,” a duet with Winston Sinclair. He later joined the Concords, a vocal trio, but split just two years later and went solo in 1970.
By 1973 he’d formed his own record label, African Museum. Through the label, he scored his first hit “My Only Lover,” which is largely credited as the first lover’s rock song ever made. He continued his string of hits throughout the 70s, and recorded for some of Jamaica’s top producers, chief among them Lee “Scratch” Perry.
In 1978 he signed to Virgin Records' subsidiary Front Line Records, but despite touring almost as much as Bob Marley, international fame never found him. That changed in the early 80s, when he signed to Chris Blackwell’s powerhouse Island Records and released “Night Nurse” from the album of the same name in 1982. Unfortunately for Mr. Isaacs, he wasn’t able to bask in the success that “Night Nurse” afforded him.
Not long after gaining his first taste of recognition, he served a six month prison sentence for possession of an unlicensed handgun. At the time it was his 27th arrest, which complimented a reoccurring cocaine addiction that would plague him the rest of his career. Still, Isaacs earned another hit in 1988 with “Rumours,” and continued to release music well into the 90s. In 2008, he released a new record, Brand New Me, which was praised by music critics.
"Gregory was well-loved by everyone, his fans and his family,” his wife Linda told reporters. “And he worked really hard to make sure he delivered the music they loved and enjoyed.”

Hijack Alert: Firesheep Exposes Facebook and Twitter Dangers

Firesheep. That's the name of a new Firefox add-on that lets bad guys scan a Wi-Fi network and hijack access to Facebook, Twitter and other web services. Eric Butler, a freelance developer in Seattle, created the add-on and released it at the ToorCon security conference in San Diego over the weekend.
"It's extremely common for web sites to protect your password by encrypting the initial log-in, but surprisingly uncommon for web sites to encrypt everything else. This leaves the cookie -- and the user -- vulnerable," Butler noted.
"Facebook is constantly rolling out new 'privacy' features in an endless attempt to quell the screams of unhappy users, but what's the point when someone can just take over an account entirely?" he asked. "Twitter forced all third-party developers to use OAuth, then immediately released (and promoted) a new version of their insecure web site. When it comes to user privacy, SSL is the elephant in the room."
Grey-Hat Tactics
Butler released Firesheep to demonstrate how serious the problem is, but some security researchers don't agree with his tactics. In fact, Beth Jones, a senior threat researcher at Sophos, called it a grey-hat approach.
"I understand that researchers are trying to prove the point that these social-media sites need to secure their users a little more, but at the same time they've made it that much easier for people who are hackers -- or for people who even want to dabble in hacking -- to do so," Jones said. "There are better and more ethical ways to approach this than just fanning the flames."
Jones does agree that Twitter, Facebook and other web sites could do more to keep users secure. She pointed to Google's efforts to roll out SSL over Gmail. The SSL encrypts cookies, so even if malicious hackers can see the cookie, they can't see what's in it. When Google took this security measure, she said, Gmail still worked well and the precaution came at little expense to Google.
Should Facebook, Twitter Do More?
Twitter has had its fair share of breaches. In September, the onMouseOver incident left Twitter flooded with posts that tapped into a flaw in the site's programming and dispatched pornography and spread worms to innocent tweeters.
In February, cybercriminals relentlessly attacked Twitter. Many Twitter users received a direct message or saw tweets with phrases like "This you???" or "LOL is this you" followed by a link. They were warned not to click through because the destination is a phishing site designed to steal personal information.
Facebook has seen numerous attacks as well. In March, cybercriminals ran scams that targeted Facebook users, college basketball fans, and celebrity gossip watchers. One widespread attack was a common ploy security researchers call the Facebook Password Reset Scam. The cybercriminals send an e-mail addressed to "user of Facebook" that reads, "Because of the measures taken to provide safety to our clients, your password has been changed. You can find your new password in the attached document."
"I think Facebook and Twitter could be doing more and better, but I also understand it takes time," Jones said. "There are certain protocols they have to go through to get everything rolled out, but I think it's going to happen eventually. I am also very cognizant of the fact that, as a whole, people don't necessarily care."