Friday, November 13, 2009

Wikinews interviewed author Marc Headley about his new book Blown for Good, and asked him about life inside the international headquarters of Scientology known as “Gold Base“, located in Gilman Hot Springs near Hemet, California. Headley joined the organization at age seven when his mother became a member, and worked at Scientology’s international management headquarters for several years before leaving in 2005.

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Macomb, New York Councilman Steve Burke took some time to speak with Wikinews about his campaign for the U.S. Democratic Party’s 2016 presidential nomination.

Burke, an insurance adjuster and farmer, was elected councilman in Brookhaven, New York in 1979. He left the town after being accused and found not guilty of bribery in the 1980s. Since 1987 he has served as Macomb councilman off-and-on and currently holds the post. From 1993 to 1996 and 1999 to 2002 he worked as chairman of the Democratic Party of St. Lawrence County, New York. Among his many political campaigns, Burke unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 1992 and recently attempted to run for U.S. Congress in 2014 but too many of his ballot petition signatures were found invalid. Burke filed with the Federal Election Commission to run for president in the 2016 election on September 18, 2015 and has qualified for the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire Primary.

With Wikinews reporter William S. Saturn?, Burke discusses his political background, his 2016 presidential campaign, and his policy proposals.

Wednesday, March 8, 2006

A small, single-engine plane crashed in the median of Interstate 75 near Holly, Michigan Tuesday afternoon. The crash site is located about 100 feet from the East Holly Road overpass, near Exit 98, with approximate geographical coordinates of 42.784283° N 83.535847° W.

The Piper model PA-28-180 aircraft crashed in the median during mid-afternoon local time, and slowed traffic when police and rescue teams were en route to the scene. According to local television station WEYI-TV, two passengers were aboard the plane, and did not sustain any large injuries.

According to the FAA database, the plane was manufactured in 1968, and was issued a license in 1970. The most recent owner according to the database is a flying school in Coldwater, Ohio.

Friday, October 12, 2007

At the 4th day of 2007 The 1st Taiwan International RFID Applications Show (TaiwanRFID 2007), in conjunction with TAITRONICS 2007, the organizer TAITRA held an international seminar with RFID solutions at the entrance of the seminar. This seminar is mainly focused on some topics (RFID applications and solutions world-wide) continued from the exhibition at TWTC Hall 3.

According to a survey by Institute for Information Industry (III), the top 3 productive value of RFID industry in Taiwan are sensor tags (39%), readers (31% approximately), and services (21%). This market trend can be observed at this exhibition with the industry nature of participated exhibitors such as chips producer, antennas, tags, and readers. Some of prominent manufacturers like IBM, Cheng Loong Co., Ltd., and ChungHua Telecom were participated at this exhibition.

Not only the performance of RFID applications, some of companies simulated the process of RFID smart tags in the factory to buyers. NXP semiconductor and National Instruments (NI) also provided RFID solutions to ensure the quality of RFID tags such as RFID test system by NI.

This RFID exhibition and TAITRONICS will open to 3 p.m. tomorrow.

Monday, November 26, 2007

In the 18 months since Andrea Muizelaar was crowned winner of the reality TV series Canada’s Next Top Model, her life has been a complete whirlwind. From working in a dollar store in her hometown of Whitby, Ontario, to modeling haute couture in Toronto, she had reached her dream of becoming a true Top Model.

But at what cost? Unknown to casual television viewers, Muizelaar had been enveloped in the eating disorder anorexia nervosa, which inevitably became too much for her to bear. She gave up modeling and moved back to Whitby, where she sought treatment for her disorder, re-entered college, and now works at a bank. Where is she now? Happy and healthy, she says.

Recently Andrea Muizelaar sat down with Wikinews reporter Mike Halterman in a candid interview that stretched to nearly two hours, as she told all about her hopes and aspirations, her battle with anorexia, and just what really happened on Canada’s Next Top Model.

Monday, October 20, 2008

A teenager, belonging to the anti-scientology group Anonymous, has admitted that he launched a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on the official website of the Church of Scientology, scientology.org.

Dmitriy Guzner, aged 18, will admit to the charges related to carrying out the DDoS attack. He now faces a maximum sentence of ten years imprisonment.

In response to incidents such as these, Scientology have called Anonymous “cyber-terrorists.”

A DDoS attack occurs when multiple computers are used to attack a certain website with so much traffic that it is not accessible. The hackers attack the servers taking up all the available space, preventing the legitimate user from accessing.

United States Attorney’s Office released a statement on this issue. “A New Jersey man was charged today for his role in an attack on Church of Scientology websites in January 2008 that rendered the websites unavailable,” they said. “Dmitriy Guzner, 18, of Verona, New Jersey, has agreed to plead guilty to computer hacking for his role in the distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack against the Scientology websites. “

Sunday, October 5, 2008

It has recently been made public that on September 27, seventeen year old Shaun Dykes jumped off a multistory building following encouragement from the crowd. According to the BBC’s Today programme, a variety of different people, including youths and middle aged citizens, were telling the teenager to jump.

Alasdair Kay, director of the Derby City Mission, saw the incident unfold. He expressed his shock and disgust at the incident. “People were filming… we could hear people shouting ‘[J]ump, you,'” she said. “They weren’t all just young people, some were middle-aged. To be honest with you I was sickened.”

Derbyshire’s Chief Constable Mick Creedon, also yesterday commented on the indent. “The tragic death of Shaun Dykes at Derby on 27th September has attracted much comment and media speculation,” he started. “The pain that Shaun’s family and friends are suffering must be unimaginable and they have my deepest sympathy.”

“The primary responsibility of the police is the protection of life, and the Derbyshire Constabulary will always have this responsibility at the forefront of our response to such tragic events as Shaun’s death last Saturday,” he continued. “We have very well trained and experienced staff, well practiced in dealing with such incidents and I have no doubt that the officers involved in talking to Shaun on Saturday did their best with the situation they were presented with.”

“The fact that they were unsuccessful in negotiating Shaun to safety will have been very painful for them, particularly for the two officers who spent two hours talking directly to him. They have my sincere thanks for their efforts as, I’m sure, they have the thanks of the vast majority of those reading this.”

Shaun Dykes, had been raised in a single parent family in a village near Derbyshire and he recently returned from a business course to study to become an accountant or a pilot.

Before his death, he was working part time in a local pub. Craig Doxey, his best friend, described Dykes. “He was always smiling and laughing about stuff. I think if it wasn’t for the crowd, Shaun would have got down and got some help from all his mates, work colleagues and the police.”

He went to Heanor Gate Science College, and he was openly gay. According to one of his friends from that school, Rebkha Minkley, “he always came in, in the morning with a smile on his face.”

According to the Today program, Dykes is believed to have left a suicide note before jumping off the building.