The MMA Beat on Bellator's busy week, Machida, UFC 169, WSOF's anniversary, more

On this week's episode of "The MMA Beat," the panel discusses Bellator's decision to change its pay-per-view to a free show on Spike TV, whether Tito Ortiz's injury was a blessing in disguise, whether Ortiz should fight again, the promotion for this show, Rampage Jackson's new fight, who should be next for Lyoto Machida, UFC 169's co-main events, World Series of Fighting's one-year anniversary, and more.

Subscribe to the show on iTunes: audio | video.

Music courtesy of APM Music.

Photo credits: Bellator, Esther Lin, MMA Fighting, USA Today, Mike Chiappetta, MMA Fighting, Getty Images

Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2013/11/1/5051816/the-mma-beat-on-bellators-busy-week-machida-ufc-169-wsofs-anniversary
Category: eddie aikau   Brant Daugherty   diana nyad   Into the Wild   egypt  

What's So 'Chinese' About A Chinese Fire Drill?

Enter the phrase "Chinese fire drill" into YouTube and you'll find page upon page of videos of a classic car prank that's been popular since the 1960s.

For the uninitiated, a "Chinese fire drill" can be described as a form of vehicular musical chairs. Here's how it works: A car full of people, usually teenagers, stops at a red light. Everyone then gets out and runs around the car until just before the light changes back to green, with all participants jumping inside the closest door. Anyone who fails to get back into the car is left behind as the rest zoom off. One of the most famous pop culture references to the game appears in the opening of the early seasons of the classic 1970s sitcom Happy Days, in which Richie Cunningham and friends can be seen racing around his car, holding up traffic in the process.

As car culture reached its height in the 1950s and 1960s, the expression "Chinese fire drill" developed two meanings. The first was the aforementioned prank. The second was a reference to a traffic accident that a December 1962 issue of American Speech described as "an accident scene of great confusion, such as a school-bus or cattle-truck upset."

But the question remains: What exactly is "Chinese" about either of these definitions? While a 1996 post on the Random House Word of the Day blog states that "Chinese here is not necessarily a racial sentiment," its hard to see how that's true. Starting around World War I, the descriptor "Chinese" began to be frequently added to phrases to describe situations that were confusing, incomprehensible and messy.

These included a "Chinese ace," which referred to an incompetent pilot; "Chinese national anthem," to describe an explosion; and "Chinese landing," which was used by pilots to refer to bumpy, dangerous touchdowns because the aircraft had "one wing low" (a cringeworthy joke about what Asian languages sound like that should sound a bit familiar). Interestingly, Chinese landing and the one wing low pun were both so entrenched in military lingo that they were included in the 1944 edition of The Official Guide To The Army Air Forces.

Note how all of the above phrases refer to things that are negative and inferior in some way. It's also important to remember that anti-Asian sentiments had existed in the United States for decades before World War I and that the United States government did everything it could to keep Chinese and other Asian immigrants off American shores. In fact, the Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional Usage traces the first pejorative use of "Chinese" to around 1880.

The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act prohibited Chinese laborers like the ones who built the Transcontinental Railroad from immigrating to the United States for 10 years, and several other laws that followed were aimed at preventing Chinese people from entering the country. By 1924, these laws had extended to all Asians (a rule that was upheld until the passage of the 1965 Immigration Act).

After the two world wars, "Chinese" continued to be used as a descriptor to indicate things that were hasty, cheap or amateur. The late New York Times columnist William Safire noted in his book I Stand Corrected that in the 1940s and '50s "Chinese home runs" referred to home runs that were either high pop-ups or ones that exited the park just along the foul line. And schoolchildren used to play "Chinese whispers" instead of the game Telephone because the messages would quickly become garbled and lost along the way.

The phrase "Chinese fire drill" became popular once again with the military during the Vietnam War. In fact, several books written by former soldiers after the war used the phrase in their titles or descriptions of combat. In his 1967 book The New Legions, which was sharply critical of the war, Donald Duncan quotes a fellow soldier as saying, "It must have looked like a Chinese Fire Drill back on the river as the shooting started." A veteran quoted in Craig Howes' Voices of the Vietnam POWs also used the phrase while describing a particularly chaotic battle in August 1964. And the mystery writer Michael Wolfe titled his 1986 thriller about Vietnam-era POWs The Chinese Fire Drill.

Aside from the occasional reference to the car prank, the phrase "Chinese fire drill" has mostly faded from everyday use today. Perhaps it is time to rename the 1960s-era prank? Suggestions are welcome in the comments.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/10/31/228876599/what-s-so-chinese-about-a-chinese-fire-drill?ft=1&f=1001
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Amanda Beard’s Blog: Meet My Family!

In her first blog, the seven-time Olympic medalist introduces us to her family of four.Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/fSLOxR3HOuU/
Category: chris brown   Lane Kiffin   oakland raiders   What Is Labor Day   Hannah Davis  

Email goes 'Dark' -- encrypted, that is

In the light of a seemingly endless series of revelations about the NSA's multi-faceted infiltrations of just about every network there is, including the private fiber used by Google and Yahoo, more and more folks are stepping up to offer possible solutions.

But because both the Internet and encryption aren't as singular or straightforward as they could be, it isn't likely to be something that can be delivered as a single product anytime soon.

The most common analogy used about email security is that it's no better than a postcard written in pencil and sent via conventional mail. To do something about it, two big names in security, Lavabit and Silent Circle, are joining forces to create a project they call the Dark Mail Alliance.

Silent Circle, a provider of both encrypted email and phone solutions, and Lavabit, a secure email provider, both made headlines earlier this year when they voluntarily shut down their email services in the wake of Edward Snowden's leaks about NSA actions against ISPs, rather than be a party to such spying. Their plan is to help create a new email system that is as resistant as technologically possible to spying.

The idea isn't to offer a product per se, but rather to create an open standard that could be freely implemented by themselves or by third parties. "1,000 Lavabits all around the world," was how Jon Callas, CTO and founder of Silent Circle, described it in a discussion with Infoworld.

This decentralized plan is both the best and worst thing about the project: Best in the sense that no one person has explicit control over it, but worst in the sense that it's also not possible to guarantee how consistently it can be delivered if it's an open project.

The technical details of Dark Mail involve taking existing email clients -- Outlook and Exchange were cited as possible targets -- and outfitting them with add-ons that would use the XMPP Web messaging protocol in conjunction with another encryption protocol developed by Silent Circle, named, appropriately enough, SCIMP, or Silent Circle Instant Message Protocol. Encryption keys are held on the end user's system and not managed by the email providers themselves, so a court order against the ISP will yield nothing. Both the message's contents and metadata (e.g., to/from headers) are encrypted.

The thing is, the technical details of encrypted email aren't themselves the real obstacle. The difficulties tend to be social -- that is, getting people to use the existing standards and projects in the first place. Many existing packages, such as Enigmail, already allow you to equip email clients with encryption without too much difficulty. But few non-technical users bother with them, in big part because in order to send someone else an encrypted message, they have to be running the same software. The lack of a common implementation, as common as a web browser, is a big stumbling block, but end user indifference is ultimately the biggest reason why most email isn't encrypted.

The other issue is something Silent Circle and Lavabit are at least attempting to tackle: Participation from common email providers. If Gmail supported the Dark Mail standard, for instance, that would provide a great many existing email users with a near-seamless way to make use of it, but so far, no third-party mail providers have piped up. That might well be a defensive measure: If they announced early on they were working on such a thing, it would give attackers all the more time to try and plan a way to subvert it.

The Snowden papers have also showed how even those who do take the pains to encrypt can have their privacy subverted by attackers who simply perform an end-run around the encryption and intercept information either before or after it's ever encrypted. Unfortunately, the only way to prevent such a thing is via such extreme measures as an air-gapped system.

So what can we expect from Dark Mail? If it's ever implemented as its creators intend, it ought to serve two functions: Give end users a way to casually encrypt email without going through a whole hassle, and make them that much more conscious of how, on the current Internet, there may not be any safe places at all.

This story, "Email goes 'Dark' -- encrypted, that is," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really means with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog. For the latest developments in business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.

Source: http://www.infoworld.com/t/encryption/email-goes-dark-encrypted-229947?source=rss_infoworld_blogs
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10 Things to Know for Friday

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Michael Huerta announces that government safety rules are changing to let airline passengers use most electronic devices from gate-to-gate during a news conference, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013, at Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport. The change will let passengers read, work, play games, watch movies and listen to music _ but not make cellphone calls. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Michael Huerta announces that government safety rules are changing to let airline passengers use most electronic devices from gate-to-gate during a news conference, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013, at Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport. The change will let passengers read, work, play games, watch movies and listen to music _ but not make cellphone calls. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

In this Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013 photo, volunteers and officials dig graves to inter the bodies of migrants who died of thirst after their the truck they were traveling in, seen rear, broke down while attempting to cross the Sahara Desert north of Arlit, Niger. Nearly 100 African migrants hoping to escape crushing poverty met a grisly end in the desert, officials said Thursday, dying of thirst under the baking sun after their truck broke down in Niger not far from the Algerian border. It took weeks for authorities to learn of the tragedy and for recovery teams to reach the distant site, where they found a gruesome scene including the remains of 52 children and 33 women.(AP Photo/Almoustapha Alhacen)

Mayor Rob Ford walks past Halloween decorations on his way to talk to media at City Hall in Toronto on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013. Ford says he has no reason to step down despite police confirmation that they have seized a video that appears to show him smoking a crack pipe. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn)

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Friday:

1. GOOD NEWS FOR TRAVELERS WHO DISLIKE BEING DISCONNECTED

The FAA is easing restrictions on the use of electronic gadgets on airplanes — though chatting on cellphones will still be prohibited.

2. ISRAELIS TARGET WEAPONS SHIPMENT IN SYRIA

Warplanes attack a store of Russian missiles in the port city of Latakia, an official says. It's an apparent continuation of Israel's campaign to keep arms from proliferating in the Mideast.

3. STOP-AND-FRISK GETS A REPRIEVE

A federal appeals court blocks a judge's ruling that the NYPD's controversial tactic discriminates against minorities.

4. DEATH IN THE DESERT

Nearly 100 African migrants hoping to travel to Algeria die of thirst after their two trucks break down in the middle of the Sahara.

5. FOUR DAYS, FOUR MASS KILLINGS

Experts say violence that left 14 adults and seven children dead is nothing more than random chance, not a sign of growing violence in America.

6. HOW WALL STREET AVOIDED OCTOBER JINX

Rather than being rattled by the U.S. government shutdown, investors kept their focus on what probably matters more: the Federal Reserve.

7. DRIVER TICKETED WHILE WEARING GOOGLE GLASS

The California woman plans to challenge what may be a first-of-its-kind citation, saying the Internet-connected eyewear makes navigation easier.

8. WHAT MAY PROVE DAMAGING TO TORONTO MAYOR

Police say they have a video that appears to show Mayor Rob Ford smoking a crack pipe.

9. IN GEOPOLITICS, IT'S SPY VS. SPY

Even close allies keep things from one another — and work every angle to find out what's being held back.

10. WHO'S CONDUCTING A WORLDWIDE POLL

The Vatican wants to know how Catholic parishes around the globe handle sensitive issues like contraception, divorce and gay couples.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-10-31-10%20Things%20to%20Know-Friday/id-c99f2c7193c54be99bdcac83fd5a0ed5
Category: Time Change 2013   Jenna Jameson   Rashad Johnson   Seaside Heights   9/11 Pictures  

Apple promoting their own apps and services in App Store search results

Apple seems to be promoting its built-in software within iOS App Store search results. Search terms such as "browser", "SMS", or "messages" will yield a card showing one of Apple's built-in apps as the first result, with a link at the bottom of the card that will take you to Apple's web page about the feature. Frederico Viticci of MacStories:

This morning, I noticed a tweet by Lukas Burgstaller with a screenshot of Apple’s Safari browser showing up in App Store search results for the “browser” search query. I did some tests, and I’ve discovered other search results advertising built-in iOS system apps and features with banners and links to open an app or read more information about it. I’m not sure when Apple started displaying their own built-in apps in the App Store search results, but it’s an interesting (and, I believe, good) idea worth discussing.

Viticci does note, however, that this could push developers and third party apps further down the search chain, and if Apple starts taking over too much of the results, could cause them problems. Check out his article for the full story and let me know what you think.

Source: MacStories

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/OcWyh6i2csg/story01.htm
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Rogério Nogueira off UFC London

UFC light heavyweight Antonio Rogerio Nogueira has been forced off the UFC’s return to London due to a lingering back injury. “Lil’ Nog” bows out of the March 8 bout with Alexander Gustafsson a mere five days after it was announced. MMAFighting first reported the news earlier this evening.

Minotouro has now pulled out of five fights due to injury since signing with the UFC in 2009. “Lil’ Nog” has gone 4-2 in the Octagon, last defeating Rashad Evans at UFC 156, but has never been able to advance much due to the 37-year-old’s health issues.

The UFC is set to return to London, England’s O2 Arena on March 8. Gustafsson is expected to headline the card, though it is unclear who he will face after Nogueira’s injury.

Front-Page Photo Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Source: http://mmafrenzy.com/95614/rogerio-nogueira-off-ufc-london/
Category: Halloween witch   tesla   The Crazy Ones   Romain Dauriac   Jason Dufner