It's News to Me

Today, in crazy stuff you find on the Internet, we present ... "Blackle." No, it's not some reference to race, it's an energy-saving counterpart of Google that features an entirely black background.

Why, you ask? Because, like not using a computer at all (gasp!), it saves energy. According to the Blackle site, a January 2007 blog post titled "Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year" proposed the theory that a black version of the Google search engine would save a lot of energy given the popularity of the search engine. So, naturally, someone with entirely too much time on their hands and a "go green" tendency had to try it. Thus, Google's odd little cousin was born with the intent to decrease energy use by using a dark screen that costs less energy to "light."

To further this goal, Blackle has a feature on its eerily dark search page that shows just how much energy the site saves. As I write this blog, it claims to have saved 231,577.867 Watt hours. Strange as the idea is, those numbers are impressive.

Blackle also encourages users to set the site as their home page, suggesting that every time you open your Web browser, you'll be reminded to be nice to the planet. Somewhere, Al Gore is being tickled pink.

Our managing editor of design here at the Collegian, deadspin master that he is, calmly suggested upon hearing about Blackle that perhaps they should introduce a dark version of Google's popular e-mail site, Gmail. This, he said, might be called "Blackmail."

It is very possible that my next blog will describe in detail how I stabbed said editor 93 times and then pushed his lifeless body off a cliff in his flaming Mini Cooper. See, I'd use an icicle -- the perfect weapon, because it melts. If only it weren't so damn hot in State College.
Anyway, I digress. Blackle is clearly the hottest thing to come along since global warming. I'd use it, but my iGoogle page, complete with photos of the day and College Humor updates, is just way too cool. In the meantime, perhaps I'll petition my apartment building to let me recycle.

You're welcome, Al, you're welcome.

Repeated blows, the forced inhalation of ammonia capsules and wrist restraints. No, this isn't yet another case of the CIA or other counter-terrorism task forces trying to coax information out of a stubborn combatant.

These are the practices used in a Florida boot camp for juveniles when an individual won't continue with prescribed activities. In this case, the 14-year-old refused to continue his exercise, so his guards and a nurse participated in his ritualistic abuse.

Why do we know about it? Because the boy later died.

During the course of this "by-the-book" procedure, Martin Lee Anderson reportedly went limp and stopped answering the guards' questions after complaining that he couldn't breathe.

However, all the camp employees involved have either reported or testified that nothing seemed to be wrong with Anderson before he was taken to the hospital. They contend the teenager died from a pre-existing blood condition.

Whatever caused the death blow to this unfortunate youth, it was a wake-up call to the state of Florida, which closed down all similar boot camps. And thank goodness.

Did anyone consider that this isn't the way to treat already damaged and violent offenders? That maybe institutionalized violence really shouldn't be going on in a country that President Bush insists "does not torture"?

If we're going to do unspeakable things to our youth or kill our elderly when a hurricane like Katrina hits, it's no wonder that people like Lebanese-descended Khalid el-Masri get no legal compensation after being dragged off a plane, tortured and detained in Afghanistan in a case of mistaken identity.

I mean, heck, if we can do this to our own citizens, why not random Germans that we think look like a terrorists?

Clean up your act, United States. Or your endless banter about "freedom" will mean just as little as "mission accomplished."

Calverton National Cemetery has a grave situation on their hands -- literally.

Identity theft was taken to a whole new level recently when the U.S. military was faced with the papers to bury Willie Hayes, a Vietnam veteran, two weeks ago.

Hayes had valiantly served his country, won several medals and earned himself a plot at a veterans cemetery upon his death.

The problem: Hayes had been laid to rest in the cemetery almost four years ago.

The answer: Apparently a homeless man going by the name of Willie Hayes with the same Social Security number, military records and date of birth of the veteran was buried in a plot in 2003.

The impostor was buried on Christmas Eve, and now his body will probably be exhumed and placed in a pauper's gave in New York.

American Legion spokeswoman Ramona Joyce said if it can be determined that the Hayes buried in 2003 was not a veteran, his remains should be removed: "That cemetery space is earned by our veterans. It is hallowed ground."

Although we're all used to scandals surrounding identity theft -- thanks in part to awesomely hilarious credit card commercials -- I must admit I muttered a shocked "ohhh snap" after reading about poor Willie Hayes.

With the abundance of military frauds running around you would think the brain trust at one of our national cemeteries would better monitor whether the person they are burying actually served. It seems to me that someone in the Department of Veterans Affairs made a rather large mistake (imagine! The VA messing up!). But with the way the military runs today, I think we can only be thankful the consequences weren't more disastrous.

Even Penn State had its own brush with military identity theft this past summer, an embarrassment only lessened by the fact that this place is a ghost town that time of year. Good thing the Collegian still publishes.

As we reported, the personal information, including names and Social Security numbers, of 8,400 Marines was inadvertently posted on June 7 and left up for 12 days on Penn State's Web site, exposing the Marines to potential identity theft. The whole incident happened when a researcher seeking to compare live weapon firing to simulated firing received the data as part of a larger file. To make matters worse, Penn State officials only found out when a Marine was searching online and found his information and name had been cached by Google and was circulating on the Web. The affected Marines were then notified July 6, nearly a month after the post first went up. Talk about responsibility.

In an age where we are asking more and more from our all-volunteer military, it hardly seems like a lot to ask to treat the people who serve our country with the utmost respect. The least we can do is protect their identities and livelihood, even if we'll never be able to pay them back for what they have given us.

As women who don't get out of work until after midnight and have to then walk home alone, us copy deskers know a little about the uneasiness accompanying that solo venture.

But while we're comforted by the cool plastic of a pepper spray case, Japanese women can now ease their anxiety with their actual clothing, The New York Times reported Monday.

Aya Tsukioka, a Japanese fashion designer, has come up with the "novel" idea of how to ease women's fears of becoming a victim of crime on the dangerous streets of Tokyo.

Tsukioka has created a skirt that lifts up into a sheet with a full size picture of a vending machine on it -- yes, a vending machine. If a lone woman walking down the street senses she's in danger, she can step to the side, lift her skirt and become a vending machine.

Forms of urban camouflage, such as the vending machine skirt, are cropping up around Japan to ease the anxiety of the city dwellers.

One other notable item is the "manhole bag" -- a purse that unfolds to look like a sewer cover to cover valuables from a would-be thief.

And these new "technologies" aren't just for adults -- a line of "stab-proof" high school uniforms has also been created using the same material of Kevlar vests. Oh, how we long for the days we could stab our fellow students in peace.

Although the ideas may seem silly to us crime-hardened Americans (and even more so to us cynical journalists) the creators argue that they demonstrate a main difference between our two cultures.

While I know us girls on copy desk would scream bloody murder and then possibly (hopefully) knee any potential perp wherever it hurts, Tsukioka said her design capitalizes on the fact that the Japanese would prefer to avoid a scene. In fact, her idea stemmed from the practice of ninjas cloaking themselves in all black.

That's all well and good, but we have to ask: Do the people owning these ridiculous things actually think they're going to fool an attacker? It reminds us of when a rabbit freezes up in the face of a predator, thinking not moving will prevent it from being seen. No matter how convincing a skirt-turned-vending-machine is made to look, it's a safe bet someone chasing you will notice when it appears out of nowhere.

The kids' version, a backpack that turns into a Japanese-style fire hydrant, is even less practical. It only covers the top half of the body, a genius plan that may tip off an attacker when he or she stops to consider why a fire hydrant is being supported by legs.

Japanese culture is pretty cool, but seriously; first anime and now this. I will, however, admit that they could find a sweet niche market in the rest of the world for these products -- as Halloween costumes. Screw the French maid; I'm going to be Coke machine. Exact change only, please.

When you hear the name 'Oprah,' you most likely think of free cars, lots of money and the potential for sainthood. I'm surprised someone hasn't given her the key to the universe yet. She is arguably the most successful black person in history, and is a woman no less.

She has said her greatest triumph was the opening last year of The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls. The school offered free education to underprivileged girls in South Africa. The grand opening included celebrities from all over the world and plenty of publicity.

However, in an odd turn of events, Oprah's pet project has been stained by controversy this past week when allegations of abuse surfaced about the school the tycoon takes such pride in.

Several girls have allegedly reported being grabbed around the neck, slammed into walls and verbally abused and at least one girl was said to have left the school because of the serious situation. Oprah has flown into Africa twice to deal with the situation, suspended two matrons and the school's principal and offered a tearful apology.

Winfrey gave the students her personal telephone number and e-mail and mailing addresses when the school opened so they could contact her, South Africa's News24.com said.

"I've disappointed you. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," Winfrey told parents at a meeting Sunday, according to News24.com.

It is a shame that an act of charity and philanthropy has been tarnished by such negative allegations. Oprah may get some slack for spending hundreds of dollars on eyelashes, but she is one of the few celebrities who has taken an active role in promoting the good treatment of other human beings.

To have three people ruin the good work she has been trying to do in a place that so desperately needs it shows the fine balance that needs to be maintained. The poor choices of some can sometimes overshadow the work of many others. It would be nothing short of a tragedy for the allegations to lead to the closure of the school, the abandonment of the girls and the discontinuation of additional educational movements in South Africa. Let us hope that future projects are not scraped because the people running the show say, "Well hey. Even Oprah couldn't do it."