Hello everyone

Jon has developed post-op complications and he is not doing very well right now. We hope his situation will improve in the next couple of days. I will keep you posted.

For the moment, if any of you have interesting links or any other RELEVANT information you think fellow readers might like to know about, please post them under this story as comments.

I will be checking Jon’s regular email for now if you wish to contact us through that.

It would really help Jon to know p2pnet readers have rallied behind him to carry on and to keep this site functioning in a polite and productive manner.

Thank you all

Liz and Emma

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No internet after all, which is a definite downer. So I’ll have to make do with this. It’s a hospital netwok I’m not supposed to be able to access. For some reason it blocks my laptop but lets my cellphone in without a password.

They’ll probably get around to blocking this too but for now …

When I get out of hospital I want to make p2pnet open posting, but keep the trolls out. Ideas will be welcomed.

Stay tuned.

Cheers!
Jon

But not to worry.

Instead, “Telekinesis will be commonplace, with appliances controlled by brain scanners”.

Britain’s The Economist has a review on Michio Kaku’s Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100.

And that’s how he sees things.

Microscopic sensors will “continuously monitor cells for signs of danger, extending human life span” and “internet-enabled contact lenses will tag anything and anyone in sight, enabling omniscience on demand”, he says.

A Google dream come true.

In short, Kaku reckons, “by the dawn of the 22nd century man shall, in the eyes of his early 21st-century forebears, wield godlike powers.”

Not only but also, “cars will drive themselves using GPS, and if room-temperature superconductors are discovered, vehicles will effortlessly fly on a cushion of air, coasting on powerful magnetic fields and ushering in the age of magnetism”, says another review in Physics Bookshop, going on >>>

Using molecular medicine, scientists will be able to grow almost every organ of the body and cure genetic diseases. Millions of tiny DNA sensors and nanoparticles patrolling our blood cells will silently scan our bodies for the first sign of illness, while rapid advances in genetic research will enable us to slow down or maybe even reverse the aging process, allowing human life spans to increase dramatically.

In space, radically new ships—needle-sized vessels using laser propulsion—could replace the expensive chemical rockets of today and perhaps visit nearby stars. Advances in nanotechnology may lead to the fabled space elevator, which would propel humans hundreds of miles above the earth’s atmosphere at the push of a button.

But these astonishing revelations are only the tip of the iceberg. Kaku also discusses emotional robots, antimatter rockets, X-ray vision, and the ability to create new life-forms, and he considers the development of the world economy. He addresses the key questions: Who are the winner and losers of the future? Who will have jobs, and which nations will prosper?

That’s if our IgNoble Leaders haven’t killed us all off by then.

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The Economist – Suspension of disbelief, March 10, 2011
Physics Bookshop – Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100, Suspension of disbelief, March 10, 2011

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan

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He couldn’t resist.

So he crept up to them and caught them napping.

Literally.

It all happened on a stretch of Highway 40 northeast of Montreal, says CTV News.

The cops’ response?

They woke up just as Maxime started shooting, asked him for his license —-

—- and nailed him for $156 for parking in an emergency zone, says the story, adding:

“The man who shot the video is fighting the ticket.

“The Surete du Quebec says it’s looking into the matter.”

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CTV News – Man gets parking fine after filming officers dozing, February 24, 2011

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan

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That’s the US of A.

“U.S. President Barack Obama wants to charge Canadians entering the U.S. by air or sea a $5.50 inspection fee, although private vehicles would be exempt”, says the Toronto Star.

“They’re running deficits down there well over a trillion dollars a year”, the story has Canadian leader George W. Harper stating.

“Some 40 per cent plus of the American spending is financed by borrowing. These are enormously challenging figures.”

Actually, 100% of everything is financed by borrowing, and the only ones challenged are ordinary people who pay all the interest fees.

Anyhow, with this pay-to-enter-the-US thing, do you reckon there’d be vehicles zooming past border posts with drivers tossing money into toll booth-style buckets?

It’d speed things up.

No need to stay tuned.

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Toronto Star – Harper unimpressed with Obama’s proposal to charge Canadians, February 17, 2011

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan

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“At least I won’t risk getting blown up like I would if it featured Muhammed (what’s the correct spelling of his name anyhow?) .”

The last two or three were ‘Go away Jesus’ and maybe that’s what offended religionists, I thought.

So instead, this is a ‘Shut up Jesus’.

Stay tuned for more.

Jon

(Cheers, Em ; )

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February, 2011

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan

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But then, they’re perfectly well aware of their ‘mistake’. They deliberately confuse the two in their BS releases knowing the lamescream media will faithfully parrot whatever they pump out without any effort at checking for accuracy/ veracity.

And the Swiss watch industry is up to the same trick.

Over in Oz, p2pnet regular Filip is fascinated by fake watches, and he’s been known to buy one or two just because they are what they are.

“On one of the forums, I frequent, somebody came across this”, he says in an email. “The Swiss Watch Industry has created a fake replica watch site, to shame & scare people wanting to avoid paying for their overpriced & over hyped watches.

“Here is the fake website, clicking anywhere brings you to a scare page – http://www.fhs.ch/prevention/.”

Scare page? Yep. And one of the scares is a graphic picture of someone’s wrist (top right). And next to it is this >>>

Counterfeiters don’t care about safety standards, product materials or your family’s health and safety. Their only interest lies in making money. Most of the time, Counterfeited watches are produced by using less solid material, and even sometimes material which may be harmful (allergen, toxic, etc.).

That’s a nasty looking rash on the person’s wrist and the implication is: it’s the result of someone wearing a ‘pirated’ watch.

So is the pic underneath what it looked like before s/he strapped it on?

Nope. The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry isn’t itself beyond piracy.

The second photo, of Anthony Karam’s unblemished wrist, was nicked from a Wikipedia post on the human anatomy with the special effect ‘injury’ added by a Swiss watch arteest.

No need to stay tuned.

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Open - Piracy/Counterfeit Bait and Switch, February 7, 2011

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan

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The JV will be 51% Lenovo and NEC, 49%, says ChinaTechNews.

A report published by Lenovo says “the company will set up the joint venture via its wholly-owned subsidiary Lenovo BV”, according to the post, which goes on:

“Lenovo and NEC will integrate their respective PC businesses in Japan into this new joint venture; at the same time, Lenovo will issue USD175 million shares to NEC.”

The deal is expected to close by June 30, says the story, adding:

“In addition, Lenovo and NEC have also agreed to discuss further cooperation in other areas, including selling PCs and providing global support to Japanese companies operating outside Japan; developing, producing, and selling devices such as tablet computers; and selling additional IT platform products such as servers.”

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ChinaTechNews – Lenovo, NEC Create PC JV, February 9, 2011

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan

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“It was specifically written to attack Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems used to control and monitor industrial processes. Stuxnet includes the capability to reprogram the PLCs and hide its changes.

“The worm’s probable target is said to have been high value infrastructures in Iran using Siemens control systems … ”

[snip ... ] “The Dimona complex in the Negev desert is famous as the heavily guarded heart of Israel’s never-acknowledged nuclear arms program, where neat rows of factories make atomic fuel for the arsenal”, says the New York Times.

“Over the past two years, according to intelligence and military experts familiar with its operations, Dimona has taken on a new, equally secret role — as a critical testing ground in a joint American and Israeli effort to undermine Iran’s efforts to make a bomb of its own.

“Behind Dimona’s barbed wire, the experts say, Israel has spun nuclear centrifuges virtually identical to Iran’s at Natanz, where Iranian scientists are struggling to enrich uranium. They say Dimona tested the effectiveness of the Stuxnet computer worm, a destructive program that appears to have wiped out roughly a fifth of Iran’s nuclear centrifuges and helped delay, though not destroy, Tehran’s ability to make its first nuclear arms.”

[snip ... ] “In early 2008 the German company Siemens cooperated with one of the United States’ premier national laboratories, in Idaho, to identify the vulnerabilities of computer controllers that the company sells to operate industrial machinery around the world — and that American intelligence agencies have identified as key equipment in Iran’s enrichment facilities,

“Seimens says that program was part of routine efforts to secure its products against cyberattacks. Nonetheless, it gave the Idaho National Laboratory — which is part of the Energy Department, responsible for America’s nuclear arms — the chance to identify well-hidden holes in the Siemens systems that were exploited the next year by Stuxnet.

“The worm itself now appears to have included two major components. One was designed to send Iran’s nuclear centrifuges spinning wildly out of control. Another seems right out of the movies: The computer program also secretly recorded what normal operations at the nuclear plant looked like, then played those readings back to plant operators, like a pre-recorded security tape in a bank heist, so that it would appear that everything was operating normally while the centrifuges were actually tearing themselves apart.

“The attacks were not fully successful: Some parts of Iran’s operations ground to a halt, while others survived, according to the reports of international nuclear inspectors. Nor is it clear the attacks are over: Some experts who have examined the code believe it contains the seeds for yet more versions and assaults.”

[snip ...] “The project’s political origins can be found in the last months of the Bush administration. In January 2009, The New York Times reported that Mr. Bush authorized a covert program to undermine the electrical and computer systems around Natanz, Iran’s major enrichment center. President Obama, first briefed on the program even before taking office, sped it up, according to officials familiar with the administration’s Iran strategy. So did the Israelis, other officials said. Israel has long been seeking a way to cripple Iran’s capability without triggering the opprobrium, or the war, that might follow an overt military strike of the kind they conducted against nuclear facilities in Iraq in 1981 and Syria in 2007.”

(Cheers, Michael)

[NOTE: Stuxnet clip borrowed from http://hewreck.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/how-the-Stuxnet-worm-works.jpg]

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New York Times – Israeli Test on Worm Called Crucial in Iran Nuclear Delay, January 15, 2011

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan

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With around 150,000 registered prostitutes and another 250,000 “estimated to work off the books”, sex work is “slowly becoming more similar to other professions”, Stephanie Klee, spokeswoman for the BSD sex worker advocacy group, says in the post, which goes on >>>

Red light district jobs are becoming as specialised as those in other fields, she said.

While some prostitution has become concentrated in large high-end “wellness” brothels such as Berlin’s Charlottenburg district Artemis — which boasts a pool, sauna and buffet — other establishments are focusing on the controversial practice of “flat-rate” prices.

Still other prostitutes, such as Klee herself, focus on providing sex for seniors in retirement homes or for the disabled – an area the BSD spokeswoman said she expects to grow swiftly as Germany’s population ages.

One director of a Berlin retirement home told the paper she would like to create a “room for intimate encounters,” but is still in discussions with the religious organisation behind the operation.

While such companionship “isn’t covered by public health insurers”, the terminology, Sexualassistenz, or “sexual assistance,” is “already well-known in bureaucratic ‘insurance German’,” says Der Tagesspiegel in The Local.

Now you know.

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The Local – Booming sex trade begins to diversify, January 11, 2011

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Attorneys representing Corporate America agree. But not on any humanitarian grounds.

A ruling to open the files, “would leave no judicial protection of trade secrets and make companies afraid to do business in Oregon”, they say.

Multnomah County judge John Wittmayer “abused his discretion” when he said the documents should be opened, the lawyer for the scouts, Robert Aldisert, told the Oregon Supreme Court yesterday, says the Associated Press.

“The files keep track of suspected pedophiles and others who violate the Boy Scouts of America’s rules in an effort to keep them from volunteering again”, says the story.

Introduced as evidence in a recent Multnomah County lawsuit, the files were “put together by the national leadership of the Boy Scouts between 1965 and 1985″, says OPB News.

“They contain information about accusations of molestation; actual abuse; the names of victims; and steps the Boy Scouts did and didn’t take to prevent abuse”, it says.

Crime-victim advocates and abuse survivors networks “argued in a brief that the release of the files will help society recognize and prevent abuse, but it argued against the media companies’ request to include the names of the alleged victims”, states the Associated Press.

But a “trade association that represents major multinationals including Microsoft Corp. and Boeing Co. has argued in a brief that the court should rule for the Boy Scouts”. A ruling against them, “would leave no judicial protection of trade secrets and make companies afraid to do business in Oregon”.

Meanwhile, the Boy Scouts of America appealed and the files have remained sealed pending the legal review.

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Associated Press – Boy Scouts argue perversion files should be secret, January 11, 2011
OPB News – Supreme Court Hears Arguments In Boy Scouts Case, January 12, 2011

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Things may soon be worse — far worse — for people in Afghanistan.

A new US Air Force robot spy plane colourfully dubbed the Gorgon Stare “can see everything”, says the Washington Post.

“This winter, the Air Force is set to deploy to Afghanistan what it says is a revolutionary airborne surveillance system called Gorgon Stare, which will be able to transmit live video images of physical movement across an entire town”, says the story, going on:

“The system, made up of nine video cameras mounted on a remotely piloted aircraft, can transmit live images to soldiers on the ground or to analysts tracking enemy movements. It can send up to 65 different images to different users; by contrast, Air Force drones today shoot video from a single camera over a ’soda straw’ area the size of a building or two.

“Gorgon Stare will be looking at a whole city, so there will be no way for the adversary to know what we’re looking at, and we can see everything”, major general James O. Poss, the USAF’s assistant deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, is quoted as saying.

But there could be a problem, says the Washington Post, adding, “Officials also acknowledge that Gorgon Stare is of limited value unless they can match it with improved human intelligence – eyewitness reports of who is doing what on the ground.”

First Afghanistan, and then …

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Washington Post – With Air Force’s new drone, ‘we can see everything’, January 2, 2011

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan

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The corporations which make them what they are treat their ‘consumers’ like shit, but still expect them to buy ‘product’.

And they’re both run by people who should be in jail instead of living fat and happy.

The main difference between the two is — the Big 4 labels only ruin lives. Big Tobacco takes them.

This Christmas, the 18-year-old daughter of friends of ours revealed she’s started smoking. She admits it was a dumb thing to do and says she plans to stop. Soon.

She’s not alone. All the time, we see kids walking home from school, smoking cigarettes.

But no worries in Canada. Health minister Leona Aglukkaq is to unveil new, larger anti-smoking ads on cigarette packs.

That’ll do it.

Aglukkaq “has been under fire since September when she abruptly postponed the introduction of the updated warnings about the dangers of smoking”, says the Toronto Star, going on:

“Critics accused her of backing down in the face of stiff opposition by cigarette manufacturers.

“Aglukkaq has denied shelving the new labels, insisting she wanted time to review the government’s broader communications strategy on tobacco before making a final decision on how to proceed.

“That review now appears to be concluded.”

Says an official statement from the Harper government:

• New, larger graphic health warnings that will feature new diseases and, for the first time, testimonials from individuals affected by tobacco use. The warnings will cover 75% of the front and back of cigarette and little cigar packages, up from the current 50%.
• A pan-Canadian quitline and web URL. Provisional on provincial and territorial agreement, Health Canada intends to include on packages a pan-Canadian quitline number and web URL that would seamlessly connect smokers to provincial and territorial phone cessation support services.
• Improved health information messages and toxic emission statements. The addition of colour and graphics to health information messages will make them more noticeable, while new toxic emission statements will be easier to understand.
• In addition to the labelling changes, Health Canada is developing a social marketing campaign targeting smokers, including young adults. Multimedia, including social networks across the Web, will be used to reach teenagers and young adults.

Nothing new there. It hasn’t worked before, and it won’t work now and until governments everywhere start treating tobacco executives like the criminals they are, nothing will change.

As long as cigarettes are around, kids will smoke them, becoming the new Big Tobacco addicted consumers.

Meanwhile, over in China and in third world countries, it’s bidniz as usual.

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Toronto Star – More graphic labels for cigarette packages to be unveiled, December 29, 2010

World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan

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Thus tweeteth DOM supreme, 84-year-old Playboy boss Hugh Hefner on Twitter.

Then “Hefner tweeted early Sunday that he had gotten engaged to Playmate Crystal Harris, 23″, says US Today, adding:

“It will be the third marriage for Hef, who divorced Playmate Kimberly Conrad last year.

“By the way, what did Hef give his sons Marston, 20, and Cooper, 19, for Christmas? He tweeted the answer: ‘I gave Marston & Cooper every issue of Playboy (1953-2010) on a searchable external hard drive for Christmas. A really cool gift’.”

Well, they say Palyboy is great for improving hand-eye coordination.

(Cheers Jazz — I think)

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US Today – Hugh Hefner has ‘perfect Christmas weekend’, December 27, 2010

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

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In 1999, when he jumped off the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, it was the tallest graven image of its kind in the world.

But now there’s another one.

“Pomnik Chrystusa Króla – Ogólny rzut na temat pa?dziernik 2010.” That’s the title to the YouTube flick below. It shows workers assembling the edifice which, when it was finished, was erected in in Swiebodzin, western Poland, yesterday, says Reuters.

“About 15,000 Christian pilgrims and tourists streamed into the western Polish town on Sunday for the unveiling of what has been billed as the world’s tallest statue of Jesus, police said”, accordimg to the story, which adds:

“The statue stands at 36 metres (118 feet), three metres taller than Brazil’s statue of Christ the Redeemer.”

Rumours that a 37 metre statue of Muhammed is being contemplated for Dubai should probably be discounted.

Or maybe not.

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tallest graven image – Freefall jump record attempt cancelled, October 13, 2010
Reuters – Poland unveils world’s tallest Jesus statue, November 21, 2010

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

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It’s a diamond London jewelry dealer Laurence Graff bought for —-

—- $45.6 million !!!

That’s forty-five-point-six million dollars!

Obscene.

He’s named his new bit of bling, which he won at a Geneva auction, the Graff Pink.

“Graff previously paid 16.4 million pounds ($24.3 million) for the 35.56-carat grayish-blue ‘Wittelsbach Diamond’ at Christie’s International in London in December 2008, then the highest for a gem at auction”, adds Bloomberg News.

Unphkingbelievable.

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Bloomberg News – Rare Pink Diamond Bought by Graff for Record $46 Million at Geneva Auction, November, 2010

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The bloody mess on the right is a clip from a Chinese video showing a living racoon that’s just been skinned alive for its fur.

Because ‘coon skin coats are cool.

That’s why eBay has pages of them for sale (right).

Or maybe you’d prefer something from Amazon?

Something from NextTag perhaps?

Or PurpleShoshana?

They’re just four random examples of the many online retailers selling ‘coon-skin coats.

“Jon, you must see this”, emails a p2pnet reader from Hong Kong.

“You will not rest tonight.”

The email links to a post on ChinaSmack.

The headline is >>>

Raccoon Skinned Alive, Raises Head To Look At Own Body

It doesn’t say where the slaughter and torture take place.

“An old video”, says the caption, “but like many videos of this kind, it will regularly be posted and spread again by netizens who see it for the first time.”

Yes. I know. There are plenty of other atrocities centering on the fur trade, and in all honesty, I’ve never thought of them before.

But I’ll think of them now.

Jon

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ChinaSmack – Raccoon Skinned Alive, Raises Head To Look At Own Body, November 12, 2010

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

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“The request came in by e-mail around 2 in the afternoon”, it said, going on >>>

It was from a previous customer, and she had urgent business. I quote her message here verbatim (if I had to put up with it, so should you): “You did me business ethics propsal for me I need propsal got approved pls can you will write me paper?”

I’ve gotten pretty good at interpreting this kind of correspondence. The client had attached a document from her professor with details about the paper. She needed the first section in a week. Seventy-five pages.

I told her no problem.

It truly was no problem. In the past year, I’ve written roughly 5,000 pages of scholarly literature, most on very tight deadlines. But you won’t find my name on a single paper.

I’ve written toward a master’s degree in cognitive psychology, a Ph.D. in sociology, and a handful of postgraduate credits in international diplomacy. I’ve worked on bachelor’s degrees in hospitality, business administration, and accounting. I’ve written for courses in history, cinema, labor relations, pharmacology, theology, sports management, maritime security, airline services, sustainability, municipal budgeting, marketing, philosophy, ethics, Eastern religion, postmodern architecture, anthropology, literature, and public administration. I’ve attended three dozen online universities. I’ve completed 12 graduate theses of 50 pages or more. All for someone else.

You’ve never heard of me, but there’s a good chance that you’ve read some of my work. I’m a hired gun, a doctor of everything, an academic mercenary. My customers are your students. I promise you that. Somebody in your classroom uses a service that you can’t detect, that you can’t defend against, that you may not even know exists.

I work at an online company that generates tens of thousands of dollars a month by creating original essays based on specific instructions provided by cheating students. I’ve worked there full time since 2004. On any day of the academic year, I am working on upward of 20 assignments.

In the midst of this great recession, business is booming. At busy times, during midterms and finals, my company’s staff of roughly 50 writers is not large enough to satisfy the demands of students who will pay for our work and claim it as their own.

“I will make roughly $66,000 this year. Not a king’s ransom, but higher than what many actual educators are paid”, says the Shadow Scholar, adding:

“The 75-page paper on business ethics ultimately expanded into a 160-page graduate thesis, every word of which was written by me. I can’t remember the name of my client, but it’s her name on my work. We collaborated for months. As with so many other topics I tackle, the connection between unethical business practices and trade liberalization became a subtext to my everyday life. So, of course, you can imagine my excitement when I received the good news:

” ‘thanx so much for uhelp ican going to graduate to now’.”

Say no more.

Really. Say no more.

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Chronicle of Higher Education – The Shadow Scholar, November 12, 2010

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

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It quotes Rewarding Progress, Reducing Debt: Early Results From Ohio’s Performance-Based Scholarship Demonstration for Low-Income Parents” from MDRC, a “nonprofit research organization based in New York”.

The story headline is: Want Students to Perform Well? Perhaps Give Them Money for Doing Just That.

Or could it be students from poorer families try as hard, or harder, than their more privileged counterparts when they’re given the means?

The program “offered the low-income parents up to $1,800 for one academic year if they earned at least a ‘C’ in 12 or more credits, or $900 for making that grade in six to 11 credits”, says the story going on:

“The program is part of MDRC’s Performance-Based Scholarship Demonstration, which is trying to determine whether this kind of financial aid improves persistence among low-income students. In addition to its work in Ohio, the group is evaluating variations on performance-based scholarships in three other states: New Mexico, New York, and California.

Ohio’s State Legislature was “intrigued by a performance-based scholarship program for low-income parents created by Louisiana earlier this decade”. The program was funded from “a surplus in Louisiana’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, commonly known as welfare, and an MDRC study showed it led to positive outcomes”, says the Chronicle, adding:

“When Ohio had a surplus in its welfare funds, it developed a similar scholarship program, designed to be one time for the 2006-7 academic year.”

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Chronicle of Higher Education – Want Students to Perform Well? Perhaps Give Them Money for Doing Just That, November 5, 2010

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

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He was able to accurately forecast the results of no fewer than eight FIFA matches, including the final when Spain defeated the Netherlands, 1-0.

Born in Weymouth, England, Paul died peacefully at the age of two in his aquarium in Germany.

“Following his correct prediction that Germany would defeat England, he was slammed by the British press”, says Deutsche Welle, going on:

“Then, when he said Germany would fall to Spain, he was the subject of death threats by sushi-hungry Germans.

“The episode prompted Spanish leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to call for Paul to be given bodyguards, while the country’s industry minister offered him free passage to Spain to ‘ensure his protection’.”

However,  he may yet “continue to dazzle the world with predictions from beyond the grave”, says Reuters, adding:

“A Russian newspaper said in July it had got Paul to predict who would be Russia’s next president – but that the results would be kept secret until the election year of 2012.”

So stay tuned.

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predict the future – Paul the octopus foretells FIFA results, July 7, 2010
Deutsche Welle – Plucky Paul the octopus meets his maker, October 26, 2010
Reuters – World Cup soccer’s psychic octopus dies in Germany, October 26, 2010

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

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