NEWS OF THE WORLD - Current Events (May Be Disturbing, No Politics Please)

[Monsters For Sale]

Man steals $33 million from Australian casino in 'Ocean's Eleven'-esque heist

An unknown man stole $33 million from an Australian casino by hacking into its surveillance footage and having the information relayed to him via earpiece.


While many felt "Ocean's  Eleven," the movie starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney about a massive and intricately planned casino heist, was exciting and well thought out, not many believed a caper like the one depicted in the film could actually succeed.

There were too many variables, too much pizazz, and casino security in the movie was made to look like a doltish snail.

Sometimes, however, life does imitate art, at least in Australia.

This month, the Crown Casino, Australia's largest, alerted police that a foreigner had hacked into its security surveillance system and scammed the casino for $33 million, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.

Security experts believe the Crown's own methods of surveillance and protection were used against it. According to ABC, Crown has high-resolution cameras that pan, tilt and zoom in on gaming tables, which the unknown thief, who was playing at high stakes VIP tables, gained access to, allowing him to have the content phoned into him via an earpiece he was wearing.

Crown officials have yet to comment on how the scam was carried out. They said the thief has been identified in their surveillance footage and banned from their casinos. They also said a member of the casino's VIP staff who was assigned to look after the gambler has been dismissed, but they did not say if the staff member was involved in the heist, CNBC reports.

Linda Hancock, who's written a book about the Crown Casino, says the haul did not immediately draw attention because it's perfectly common for Crown to not only attract "big whales," but also let them bet incredible amounts of money.

"The Crown Casino has about six or seven Learjets," Hancock told ABC. "It flies these VIPs in so how it all works is that these people have a minder. The person had his family with him — that's not uncommon either. They come in, they look after the family while the high roller gambles."

According to Las Vegas-based casino consultant Barron Stringfellow, pulling off this type of heist takes far fewer resources than an "Ocean's Eleven"-type sting. Instead, most of the equipment can purchased at any local electronics store.

"Intercepting them [the surveillance signals] is simple as going down to a local Radio Shack," he told ABC.

He described the operation as this: The player wears an earpiece that is fed information from an accomplice sitting somewhere in the casino or outside of it. This person would have access to the casino's surveillance feed and would be watching the action on the table. They would then relay the best plays and bets to the player.

According to Stringfellow, these schemes are more common than the public thinks, and only go unreported because casinos are loathe to disclose them, fearing the repercussions of bad PR.

Crown Casino has pledged to recover the money, but Stringfellow says that outcome is close to impossible if the thief was able to leave the property with the windfall.

"Chances are zero," he said.

[Paladin]

   Wow   

[zombiehorror]

The story itself is nothing remarkable but who the hell thought of the headline?!  Gotta love a good Uranus story!!!

"Uranus takes a pounding more frequently than thought" and the opening sentence,    "Uranus isn't just gassy, it's also tilted completely sideways,..."

"Needless to say, this sort of behavior is a bit strange for Uranus,..."

"But with Uranus, one collision big enough...."

"....would also have screwed up Uranus'.."

"....punching into Uranus.........."

"It's always been assumed that way out around Uranus.........things were pretty chill, with the gas giants slowly forming..........."


http://www.dvice.com/archives/2011/10/we-now-know-why.php

Uranus the butt of all solar system jokes!!

[Monsters For Sale]

Finger Leakin' Good  - or-  Mr. Hoffa, Is that YOU?


http://now.msn.com/human-dna-likely-to-be-found-in-meat-products

[Monsters For Sale]

Sometimes even politics can be good.  I hope this catches on:

BE PREPARED: APRIL 4 IS INTERNATIONAL TOPLESS JIHAD DAY

An international campaign with the eye-catching name of "Titslamism Free Amina" has rallied in support of Tunisian feminist activist Amina, who stirred up controversy last week after posting topless protest photos of herself on Facebook.  International feminist activist group Femen said Amina told them she was being isolated in a family house and wasn't allowed to leave. Women from all over the world have been posting topless pictures of themselves in protest, and Femen is calling for an international protest in front of Tunisian embassies on April 4, calling it International Topless Jihad Day. No telling if the inclusion of "topless" will soften the whole "jihad" thing in the eyes of authorities.

[The Batman]

Batman gets pulled over by the police.
FULL video and audio version

'Pulled over for having a cool Batman license plate.

Batman gets pulled over by Police [FULL VIDEO] with Audio, in Montgomery County MD.

But of course...having NO plates at all can get a Bat pulled over as well...

[Monsters For Sale]

Plane Crash Video

This plane crashed shortly after take-off, with a full load of fuel:

http://news.msn.com/world/video?videoid=94c70d6d-cf98-26bc-d515-8952c71022c7&ap=true\

[Paladin]

Plane Crash Video

This plane crashed shortly after take-off, with a full load of fuel:

http://news.msn.com/world/video?videoid=94c70d6d-cf98-26bc-d515-8952c71022c7&ap=true\

There's something about this tape (of the crash) that isn't quite right...
I've seen something similar happen with a helicopter once but thankfully no one was killed.

[Monsters For Sale]

There's something about this tape (of the crash) that isn't quite right...
I've seen something similar happen with a helicopter once but thankfully no one was killed.

It looks too clear or something, doesn't it?

The only lucky thing about it is that it was a cargo plane that had only 7 people on board - not a passenger jet with 300 people.

It must be legit.  Here is another view from a different angle:

Bagram airfield crash 29 apr 2013

[BijouBob8mm]

I just posted about the passing of Ray Harryhausen over in the general discussions, but thought it might be good to share the link here


http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=103886

[Paladin]

I

It looks too clear or something, doesn't it?

The only lucky thing about it is that it was a cargo plane that had only 7 people on board - not a passenger jet with 300 people.

It must be legit.  Here is another view from a different angle:

Bagram airfield crash 29 apr 2013

The guy who took this particular shot sounds very Army- or military.

The pilot goes throttle up, never gains a respected altitude and begins to list to the starboard side- he realizes this but it's to late and the plane goes belly down.
The pilot may not have accounted for the weight of the craft, but the reason for this could be anything. It could very well be a maintenance issue or that his starboard engine just locked- up. Either case it definitely looks like he just didn't gain any altitude at all and couldn't compensate for the problem.