World News
Top News
House set to open healthcare debate WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With a close vote looming, the U.S. House of Representatives was expected to open debate on Saturday on a sweeping reform bill that would spark the biggest healthcare changes in four decades.
| Motive probed in Fort Hood shooting rampage KILLEEN, Texas (Reuters) - Investigators searched on Friday for the motive behind a mass shooting at a sprawling U.S. Army base in Texas, in which an Army psychiatrist trained to treat war wounded is suspected of killing 13 people.
| Iran says over 100 people detained at anti-U.S. rally TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian police detained more than 100 people for "disturbing public order" during a rally this week to mark the anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. embassy, the official IRNA news agency reported on Saturday.
| UK urges divided G20 to reach climate finance deal ST ANDREWS, Scotland (Reuters) - British finance minister Alistair Darling urged his G20 counterparts on Saturday to work toward a $100 billion deal on tackling climate change as developing nations held firm they did not want to talk about it.
| Laid-off Orlando engineer kills one, wounds five ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - An ex-employee of an engineering consulting firm who was laid off in 2007 opened fire at his former workplace in Orlando, Florida, on Friday, killing one person and wounding five others, police said.
| Bin Laden videotape not new, monitoring site says WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A videotape of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden released on Friday is the Pashto-language version of a tape released several months ago, said IntelCenter, a U.S.-based terrorism monitoring firm.
| U.S. OKs two more import probes versus China WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. trade panel on Friday approved two new investigations into charges of unfair trade practices by China, but rejected another one week ahead of President Barack Obama's trip to Asia.
| At least 25 hurt in U.S. troop search in Afghanistan HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - More than 25 NATO and Afghan troops were wounded during a search Friday for two missing U.S. paratroopers in western Afghanistan, the NATO-led force said.
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Technology
"Call of Duty" game shoots to make history SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Forget the buzz over the next "Twilight" film or James Cameron's "Avatar." The biggest entertainment hit of the holiday season may come on Tuesday, when "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" hits stores.
| Internet censorship seen liable to WTO challenge GENEVA (Reuters) - Censorship of the Internet is open to challenge at the World Trade Organization as it can restrict trade in services delivered online, a forthcoming study says.
| Court orders Beatles songs to be taken off website LONDON (Reuters) - London-based record label EMI has won an injunction against music website BlueBeat.com which it said was selling Beatles songs without its permission.
| Louvre plays home to Apple's first French store PARIS (Reuters) - Computer giant Apple Inc will open its first French store beneath the Louvre museum on Saturday just two weeks after Microsoft opened a theme cafe to promote its Windows 7 software.
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Tech toys
Inside the Nobel Prize: How a CCD Works This year?s Nobel Prize for Physics has been awarded, with the inventors of the CCD getting recognition for the invention which enabled modern digital photography. It has taken a while: Whilst the invention took just one hour, the prize took 40 years to arrive.



| Kindle Goes International — With a Little Help From AT&T The Kindle goes global on October 19, when Amazon begins shipping a new version of the e-reader that can be used to purchase and download books in over 100 countries.



| Fetish: Key-Plus-Ring (Why Didn't We Think of That?) Scott Amron makes a living turning far-out concepts into workable prototypes. His combination key-plus-ring — or keybrid — is pure Hudsucker-ish inspiration.



| Burning Question: Does Internet Speed Vary by Season?
We started asking around, and everyone gave us the same answer: "I don't have any data for that," said Amanda Sabia, principal analyst for Internet demand at Gartner Group. "Good question," said Comcast's Mary Nell Westbrook. "We're giving it a look." She got back to us the next day: "We just don't have anything." Apparently it's not something companies study.
Some engineers at Cisco surmised that temperature would affect the conductivity of the copper—and thus the average download velocity of a YouTube video. After all, the Wiedemann-Franz law states that the electrical conductivity of a metal falls as the temperature rises. Since the vast majority of the world's cable is in the northern hemisphere, the warm summertime months above the equator should see a drop in Internet speeds.
"No way," said Doug Webster, a senior director at Cisco. "The infrastructure is engineered to counter those effects." Oh, snap.
Fortunately, his company had the data to end this feud. The networking juggernaut regularly surveys 15 to 20 of the world's largest ISPs. And though Cisco had never crunched the numbers to account for seasonal variation until we asked, its data shows that the bits move most swiftly in June, July, and August.
How could the Internet thumb its binary nose at the laws of physics? Webster has a theory: The Internet runs faster in the summer because people are outside enjoying the nice weather. It turns out that he's right. Traffic has a far greater effect on speed than the weather does. Download- friendly July has the least Web traffic. In 2008, 56 percent fewer bits moved through the Intertubes in July than in September.
Using Webster's logic, you'd think that January and February—when everyone's inside ducking the cold—would have the slowest data-transfer rates. But again, the numbers beg to differ. The Net is most sluggish in September.
Webster didn't have an explanation for this. Sure, schools are in session, but the same goes for February. So we called Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron, who pointed out that this spike corresponds with a well-known phenomenon: "Economic productivity is highest in the autumn."
It makes sense, according to Joe Robinson, who coaches massive corporations like IBM on work-life balance. "I can cite eight studies indicating that performance and productivity go up after vacation," he said. When you return from a long stint at the beach, you're not just recharged, you're more efficient. Even reaction times go up by 30 to 40 percent. It's not surprising then that Internet speeds lag when we're all back from vacay, hustling online, grabbing at that brass ring.



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Science
Space
Space Image of the Day
Test Stand A-2 Peering Out from the Fog At Stennis Space Center, three large engine test stands were built the early 1960s to test the first and second stages of the Apollo Saturn V rocket that carried Americans to the moon. Since 1975, the test stands have supported testing of the Space Shuttle main engines. The last planned test was conducted in July of 2009. In this photo, the A-2 Test Stand peered out from a thick blanket of fog during the early morning hours of Oct. 28, 2009. This photo was taken from the top of the B Test Stand. The A-1 and A-2 test stands are transitioning to support J-2X engine testing for the Constellation Program, while the B-1/B-2 test stand will support stage testing. For the first time since the 1960s, a new test stand, called A-3, is under construction with a scheduled completion date of 2011. The A-3 test stand will be 300 feet tall and will enable engineers to conduct simulated high-altitude testing up to 100,000 feet. Photo Credit: NASA/SSC/Allen Forsman, Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne
Business
Stocks eye retailers as jobless ranks swell NEW YORK (Reuters) - As unemployment in the United States edges above 10 percent, anxious investors will look to earnings reports from major retailers for signs of life in the beaten-up consumer.
| Freddie Mac posts $5 billion loss NEW YORK (Reuters) - Freddie Mac, the second largest provider of U.S. residential mortgage funding, on Friday posted a loss of $5 billion in the third quarter and predicted it would need more government support amid a "prolonged deterioration" in housing.
| Berkshire Hathaway's net income triples NEW YORK (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc on Friday said quarterly earnings tripled, as rising stock markets boosted its investment holdings and a quiet hurricane season contributed to higher insurance profit.
| U.S. regulators close Gateway Bank, Prosperan Bank WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bank regulators closed Gateway Bank of St. Louis, in St. Louis, Missouri, and Prosperan Bank, of Oakdale, Minnesota, on Friday, the 118th and 119th U.S. bank to fail this year.
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Health
Sport
Entertainment
Police: LA celebrity burglaries led by 19-year-old LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Investigators cracked a youthful burglary ring that preyed on Hollywood's rich and famous, often brazenly walking into their unlocked homes to make off with cash, jewels and family heirlooms, authorities said....
| Pakistan's fashionistas defy Taliban KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) -- Some women strode the catwalk in vicious spiked bracelets and body armor. Others had their heads covered, burqa-style, but with her shoulders - and tattoos - exposed. Male models wore long, Islamic robes as well as shorts and sequined T-shirts....
| Joe Jackson seeks stipend from Michael's estate LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Michael Jackson's father is seeking an allowance from his son's estate to help cover expenses that exceed $15,000 a month, according to court documents filed Friday. The request seeking an unspecified amount for Joe Jackson was filed by lawyer Brian Oxman, who said there was no apparent reason for the administrators of the estate to not seek an allowance for the Jackson family patriarch....
| Honolulu Symphony cancels remaining 2009 concerts HONOLULU (AP) -- The Honolulu Symphony said Friday it's canceling concerts for the rest of the year and filing for bankruptcy, citing a big drop in donations....
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Urban Legends
Free Meals for Veterans Restaurant chains are offering free meals to U.S. military personnel in conjunction with Veterans Day.
| 20/20 Revision Was ABC News' 20/20 co-anchor John Stossel fired for trying to air a piece critical of health care reform?
| Foxumentary What happened to the FOX News documentary on Barack Obama?
| Noah Biorkman Noah Biorkman, a 5-year-old boy battling cancer, wants to receive Christmas cards.
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Jokes
Do You Have An HMO?
Q. What does HMO stand for?
A. This is actually a variation of the phrase, "HEY MOE.
" Its roots go back to a concept pioneered by Moe of
the Three Stooges, who discovered that a patient could
be made to forget about the pain in his foot if he was
poked hard enough in the eyes.
---
Q. I just
| Signs You've had too much of the 21st Century, Part I
1. You try to enter your password on the microwave.
2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.
3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach
your family of 4.
4. You e-mail your colleague at the desk next to you to ask
if they're ready to go to lunch.
5. You chat on-line
| Signs You've had too much of the 21st Century, Part II
15. Your daughter just bought a CD of all the records
your College roommate used to play.
16. You check the ingredients on a can of chicken
noodle soup to see if it contains Echinacea.
17. You checked your blow-dryer to see if it was Y2K
compliant.
18. Your grandmother clogs up your e-mail in
| Police Quotes
"The handcuffs are tight because they're new. They'll
stretch out after you wear them awhile."
"If you run, you'll only go to jail tired."
"So, you don't know how fast you were going. I guess that
means I can write anything I want on the ticket, huh?"
"Yes sir, you can talk to the shift superv
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Kids
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