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Obama urges Europeans, Americans to defeat terror (AP) 7/24/2008 11:25 PM

People wait for Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama to deliver his speech at the victory column (Siegessaeule) in Berlin July 24, 2008. (Michael Dalder/Reuters)AP - Cheered by an enormous international crowd, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama on Thursday summoned Europeans and Americans together to "defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it" as surely as they conquered communism a generation ago.


Rice: Pakistan should do more to end violence (AP) 7/24/2008 11:39 PM

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice centre, pictured at dinner held in her honor at the University Club in Perth, Australia, Thursday, July 24, 2008. Rice is on a two day visit to Australia. (AP Photo/Astrid Volzke,Pool)AP - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Pakistan needs to do more to prevent Taliban militants from launching attacks into Afghanistan from its territory.


Air Force nuclear missile launch crew fell asleep (AP) 7/24/2008 11:25 PM

In this Thursday, June 5, 2008 file photo, Defense Secretary Robert Gates pauses during a news conference at the Pentagon. Three ballistic missile crew members in North Dakota fell asleep while holding classified launch code devices this month, triggering an investigation by military and National Security Agency experts, the Air Force said Thursday, July 24, 2008  (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)AP - Three ballistic missile crew members in North Dakota fell asleep while holding classified launch code devices this month, triggering an investigation by military and National Security Agency experts, the Air Force said Thursday.


AP Exclusive: Secret Service wants more money (AP) 7/24/2008 11:31 PM

A Secret Service agent watches as US Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) addresses a National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) conference in Washington, June 28, 2008. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES) US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION (USA)AP - The Secret Service has asked for an extra $9.5 million to cover unexpected costs of protecting the presidential candidates during what has turned into an historic year for the agency's campaign security job.


2002 Justice memo OKs CIA interrogation tactics (AP) 7/24/2008 11:32 PM

In this image reviewed by the U.S. Military, a detainee is pictured at the medium security Camp 4 detention center, at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, in Cuba, Wednesday, July 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Randall Mikkelsen, Pool)AP - The Justice Department in 2002 told the CIA that its interrogators would be safe from prosecution for violations of anti-torture laws if they believed "in good faith" that harsh techniques used to break prisoners' will would not cause "prolonged mental harm."


Arrest made in Phoenix community college shooting (AP) 7/24/2008 11:20 PM

Jay Taylor, 23, tells of his brother being shot at South Mountain Community College Thursday, July 24, 2008 at the college in Phoenix. Officials say three people were shot Thursday afternoon at South Mountain Community College in Phoenix, and two of them were critically injured. (AP Photo/Matt York)AP - A former student shot three people Thursday in a computer room at a Phoenix community college, injuring one of them critically, authorities said. The gunman fled but a suspect was arrested nearby.


911 calls released in case of missing Orlando girl (AP) 7/24/2008 11:33 PM

Casey Anthony wipes tears from her eyes at a bond hearing at the Orange County courthouse in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, July 22, 2008. The 22-year-old mother reported her daughter missing last week, more than a month after the little girl allegedly disappeared. Anthony faces charges of child endangerment, making false officials statements and obstructing a criminal investigation.(AP Photo/Red Huber, pool)AP - The grandmother of a missing 2-year-old Orlando girl told an emergency dispatcher that a car driven by the girl's mother smelled like there had been a dead body inside, according to recordings of 911 calls released Thursday.


Scientists expose mystery behind northern lights (AP) 7/24/2008 11:34 PM

In this Sept. 3, 2006 file photo, a spectator watches the aurora borealis rise above the Alaska Range, in Denali National Park, Alaska. On Thursday, July 24, 2008, NASA released findings that indicate magnetic explosions about one-third of the way to the moon cause the northern lights, or aurora borealis, to burst in spectacular shapes and colors, and dance across the sky.  (AP Photo/M. Scott Moon, File)AP - Scientists have exposed some of the mystery behind the northern lights. On Thursday, NASA released findings that indicate magnetic explosions about one-third of the way to the moon cause the northern lights, or aurora borealis, to burst in spectacular shapes and colors, and dance across the sky.


'Twilight' fans camp out for a peek (and a scream) (AP) 7/24/2008 11:34 PM

In this Friday, Nov. 18, 2005 file photo, actor Robert Pattinson appears in Tokyo during a press conference for the film 'Twilight'. If you haven't heard of 'Twilight,' ask a teenager. The best-selling young-adult book isn't bound for the big screen until December, but fan frenzy for the film practically took over Comic-Con on Thursday, July 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)AP - If you haven't heard of "Twilight," ask a teenager. The best-selling young-adult book isn't bound for the big screen until December, but fan frenzy for the film practically took over Comic-Con on Thursday.


Colts' Manning hopes for quick return from surgery (AP) 7/24/2008 11:37 PM

Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy answers questions from the media after arriving for the NFL football team's training camp in Terre Haute, Ind., Thursday, July 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)AP - Peyton Manning's voice resonated through the Colts training camp Thursday — from 90 miles away. The NFL's two-time MVP spent reporting day at home in Indianapolis, his valuable left knee immobilized after having surgery to remove an infected bursa sac.




Yahoo! News: Top Stories
Obama urges Europeans, Americans to defeat terror (AP)    7/24/2008 11:25 PM

People wait for Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama to deliver his speech at the victory column (Siegessaeule) in Berlin July 24, 2008. (Michael Dalder/Reuters)AP - Cheered by an enormous international crowd, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama on Thursday summoned Europeans and Americans together to "defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it" as surely as they conquered communism a generation ago.


Rice: Pakistan should do more to end violence (AP)    7/24/2008 11:39 PM

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice centre, pictured at dinner held in her honor at the University Club in Perth, Australia, Thursday, July 24, 2008. Rice is on a two day visit to Australia. (AP Photo/Astrid Volzke,Pool)AP - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Pakistan needs to do more to prevent Taliban militants from launching attacks into Afghanistan from its territory.


Air Force nuclear missile launch crew fell asleep (AP)    7/24/2008 11:25 PM

In this Thursday, June 5, 2008 file photo, Defense Secretary Robert Gates pauses during a news conference at the Pentagon. Three ballistic missile crew members in North Dakota fell asleep while holding classified launch code devices this month, triggering an investigation by military and National Security Agency experts, the Air Force said Thursday, July 24, 2008  (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)AP - Three ballistic missile crew members in North Dakota fell asleep while holding classified launch code devices this month, triggering an investigation by military and National Security Agency experts, the Air Force said Thursday.


AP Exclusive: Secret Service wants more money (AP)    7/24/2008 11:31 PM

A Secret Service agent watches as US Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) addresses a National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) conference in Washington, June 28, 2008. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES) US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION (USA)AP - The Secret Service has asked for an extra $9.5 million to cover unexpected costs of protecting the presidential candidates during what has turned into an historic year for the agency's campaign security job.


2002 Justice memo OKs CIA interrogation tactics (AP)    7/24/2008 11:32 PM

In this image reviewed by the U.S. Military, a detainee is pictured at the medium security Camp 4 detention center, at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, in Cuba, Wednesday, July 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Randall Mikkelsen, Pool)AP - The Justice Department in 2002 told the CIA that its interrogators would be safe from prosecution for violations of anti-torture laws if they believed "in good faith" that harsh techniques used to break prisoners' will would not cause "prolonged mental harm."


Arrest made in Phoenix community college shooting (AP)    7/24/2008 11:20 PM

Jay Taylor, 23, tells of his brother being shot at South Mountain Community College Thursday, July 24, 2008 at the college in Phoenix. Officials say three people were shot Thursday afternoon at South Mountain Community College in Phoenix, and two of them were critically injured. (AP Photo/Matt York)AP - A former student shot three people Thursday in a computer room at a Phoenix community college, injuring one of them critically, authorities said. The gunman fled but a suspect was arrested nearby.


911 calls released in case of missing Orlando girl (AP)    7/24/2008 11:33 PM

Casey Anthony wipes tears from her eyes at a bond hearing at the Orange County courthouse in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, July 22, 2008. The 22-year-old mother reported her daughter missing last week, more than a month after the little girl allegedly disappeared. Anthony faces charges of child endangerment, making false officials statements and obstructing a criminal investigation.(AP Photo/Red Huber, pool)AP - The grandmother of a missing 2-year-old Orlando girl told an emergency dispatcher that a car driven by the girl's mother smelled like there had been a dead body inside, according to recordings of 911 calls released Thursday.


Scientists expose mystery behind northern lights (AP)    7/24/2008 11:34 PM

In this Sept. 3, 2006 file photo, a spectator watches the aurora borealis rise above the Alaska Range, in Denali National Park, Alaska. On Thursday, July 24, 2008, NASA released findings that indicate magnetic explosions about one-third of the way to the moon cause the northern lights, or aurora borealis, to burst in spectacular shapes and colors, and dance across the sky.  (AP Photo/M. Scott Moon, File)AP - Scientists have exposed some of the mystery behind the northern lights. On Thursday, NASA released findings that indicate magnetic explosions about one-third of the way to the moon cause the northern lights, or aurora borealis, to burst in spectacular shapes and colors, and dance across the sky.


'Twilight' fans camp out for a peek (and a scream) (AP)    7/24/2008 11:34 PM

In this Friday, Nov. 18, 2005 file photo, actor Robert Pattinson appears in Tokyo during a press conference for the film 'Twilight'. If you haven't heard of 'Twilight,' ask a teenager. The best-selling young-adult book isn't bound for the big screen until December, but fan frenzy for the film practically took over Comic-Con on Thursday, July 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)AP - If you haven't heard of "Twilight," ask a teenager. The best-selling young-adult book isn't bound for the big screen until December, but fan frenzy for the film practically took over Comic-Con on Thursday.


Colts' Manning hopes for quick return from surgery (AP)    7/24/2008 11:37 PM

Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy answers questions from the media after arriving for the NFL football team's training camp in Terre Haute, Ind., Thursday, July 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)AP - Peyton Manning's voice resonated through the Colts training camp Thursday — from 90 miles away. The NFL's two-time MVP spent reporting day at home in Indianapolis, his valuable left knee immobilized after having surgery to remove an infected bursa sac.


Obama presses Europe on Afghanistan in Berlin (Reuters)    7/24/2008 2:15 PM

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama poses with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the chancellery in Berlin, in front of Reichstag building, July 24, 2008. (Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters)Reuters - U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama urged Europe to stand by the United States in stabilizing Afghanistan in a speech to over 200,000 in Berlin that stressed the need for unity in the face of new threats.


Senate on course to vote Saturday on housing bill (Reuters)    7/24/2008 6:42 PM

Greg Ohme works on framing a house in North Aurora, Illinois during the worst housing slump in decades July 24, 2008. (Jeff Haynes/Reuters)Reuters - The Senate was on course for a Saturday vote to approve a major housing market rescue bill with a lifeline for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and bond market action on Thursday indicated investors in the two mortgage finance giants were encouraged.


Election loss deals crushing blow to UK's Brown (Reuters)    7/24/2008 9:45 PM

Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown waits to meet his Kenyan counterpart Raila Odinga on the step of 10 Downing Street in London July 23, 2008. (Luke MacGregor/Reuters)Reuters - Britain's ruling Labour Party lost a parliamentary seat in one of its traditional strongholds, a stinging electoral setback for Prime Minister Gordon Brown, results showed on Friday.


U.S.- Mexico border bracing for Dolly flooding (Reuters)    7/24/2008 4:17 PM

A man and his son look out over the womens section at a shelter for hurricane evacuees in Matamoros July 23, 2008. (Tomas Bravo/Reuters)Reuters - Hurricane Dolly, which lashed the U.S.-Mexico coastline, weakened to a tropical depression on Thursday over South Texas, but concern remained over flooding along the populous Rio Grande Valley.


Pentagon agency faulted for jeopardizing ID data (Reuters)    7/24/2008 5:25 PM

An aerial view of the Pentagon building in Washington, June 15, 2005. (Jason Reed/Reuters)Reuters - Personal data collected on military, civilian and contractor employees seeking federal security clearances between 1997 and 2005 could be at risk due to inaccurate record-keeping by the Pentagon agency that did the investigations, an audit showed on Thursday.


House bid to sell oil from reserve fails (Reuters)    7/24/2008 3:35 PM

Private security contractors patrol the Department of Energy's Stategic Petroleum Reserve in Bryan Mound, Texas May 20, 2008. (Donna W. Carson/Reuters)Reuters - The House of Representatives on Thursday failed to pass legislation intended to cool off gasoline prices by requiring the government to sell 70 million barrels of light sweet crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the national stockpile.


Bin Laden driver was not read rights, court told (Reuters)    7/24/2008 5:16 PM

In this photograph of a sketch by courtroom artist Janet Hamlin, reviewed by the U.S. Military, defendant Salim Hamdan (R) watches a video of himself under interrogation, shown as part of his trial, inside the courthouse at Camp Justice, the legal complex of the U.S. Military Commissions, at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba July 23, 2008. Hamdan, Osama bin Laden's driver, knew the target of the fourth hijacked jetliner in the Sept. 11 attacks, a prosecutor said on Tuesday in an attempt to draw a link between him and the al Qaeda leadership in the first Guantanamo war crimes trial. (Janet Hamlin/Pool/Reuters)Reuters - A driver for Osama bin Laden was not told of any rights against self-incrimination under years of interrogation, FBI agents told the Guantanamo war crimes court on Thursday.


Accounting change not meant to shock: SEC's Cox (Reuters)    7/24/2008 2:23 PM

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox testifies at the U.S. House Financial Services Committee about financial market regulatory restructuring in Washington July 24, 2008. (Larry Downing/Reuters)Reuters - An accounting change that could force banks to bring trillions of dollars of off-balance sheet transactions back on their books will be implemented in a way that will not create unnecessary shocks, the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday.


Obama heads for France after major Berlin rally (AFP/DDP)    7/24/2008 11:44 PM

US Democratic presidential hopeful, Barack Obama, waves as he arrives to make a speech in front of the Victory Column in Berlin. Obama Thursday challenged a new generation of Americans and Europeans to tear down walls between estranged allies, races, and faiths in a soaring call for global unity at an unprecedented mass campaign rally in Berlin.(AFP/DDP/Michael Kappeler)AFP/DDP - US presidential hopeful Barack Obama was due in Paris on Friday a day after telling a vast crowd of 200,000 people in Berlin that Americans and Europeans must tear down walls between estranged allies, races and faiths, in a soaring challenge to a new political generation.


Qantas jumbo makes emergency landing after mid-air drama (AFP)    7/25/2008 12:54 AM

A Qantas Boeing 747 takes off from Melbourne. Another Qantas Boeing 747 passenger plane flying to Melbourne made an emergency landing in Manila on Friday after technical problems, the airport manager told AFP(AFP/Torsten Blackwood)AFP - A Qantas Boeing 747 flying to Melbourne made an emergency landing in Manila on Friday after a dramatic mid-air rupture that left a "gaping hole" in its fuselage, officials and passengers said.



Yahoo! News


Yahoo! News: Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone
Hot Zone Doc., Ch. 15: Coming Home (Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone) 4/3/2008 11:25 AM




Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone - Chapter 15: Coming HomeIn this final chapter of "A World of Conflict," Kevin Sites returns home to the U.S., only to confirm what he suspected -- that in the year that he was gone little had changed.


Hot Zone Doc., Ch. 14: Israel-Hezbollah War (Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone) 2/26/2008 12:15 PM




Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone - Chapter 14: Israel-Hezbollah WarThe war between Israel and Hezbollah shook the landscape in the Middle East.


Hot Zone Doc., Ch. 13: Sri Lanka (Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone) 2/14/2008 9:26 PM




Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone - Chapter 13: Sri LankaKevin Sites covered Sri Lanka as violence erupted between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels, pushing a nation with so much to lose back to the brink of all-out war. In rebel-held territory Sites interviewed Tiger fighters about their tactics and reported on the many effects of war still seen in the region.


Hot Zone Doc., Ch. 12: Nepal and Kashmir (Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone) 2/6/2008 3:48 PM




Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone - Chapter 12: Nepal and KashmirKevin Sites covered Nepal during a time of sweeping political change that followed mass nationwide protests, forcing the autocratic King to cede power.


Hot Zone Documentary, Ch. 11: Child Bride (Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone) 1/16/2008 11:31 AM




Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone - Chapter 11: Child BrideIn Afghanistan, Kevin Sites met a 12-year-old girl named Gulsoma, whose incredible story of resilience resonated with millions of people worldwide. She was only six years old when she was sold to a neighbor family in Kandahar as a child bride.


Hot Zone Documentary, Ch. 10: Afghanistan (Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone) 12/17/2007 3:50 PM




Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone - Chapter 10: AfghanistanReporting from Afghanistan in spring 2006, more than four years after the U.S.-led coalition ousted the Taliban, Kevin Sites found that war is not over in the country.


Hot Zone Documentary, Chapter Nine: Chechnya (Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone) 12/3/2007 1:53 PM




Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone - Chapter Nine: ChechnyaIn Chechnya during the winter of 2005-2006, Kevin Sites reported on a region still reeling from lingering conflict between Russia and Islamic separatists. The conflict engulfed Chechnya in the 1990s, and even now, half of the population is yet to return. Those that have eke out a living amid the rubble.


Hot Zone Documentary, Chapter Eight: Iran (Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone) 11/19/2007 4:56 PM




Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone - Chapter Eight: Iran


Documentary: 'Open Eye - Open I' (Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone) 11/13/2007 12:50 AM
Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone - In her internationally-screened documentary, "Open Eye - Open I," Shirley Barenholz navigates the emotions stirred by tragedy -- she captures how her subjects cope, grieve, and make peace with their trials. Play this Video  
Hot Zone Documentary, Chapter Seven: Israel (Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone) 11/12/2007 10:05 PM




Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone - Chapter Seven: IsraelIn Israel, Kevin Sites interviewed Kinneret Boosany, a victim of a suicide bombing at a Tel Aviv cafe in 2002.


Hot Zone Documentary, Chapter Six: Lebanon (Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone) 11/5/2007 3:33 PM




Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone - Chapter Six: Lebanon and Gaza


Hot Zone Documentary, Chapter Five: Iraq (Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone) 10/29/2007 7:13 PM




Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone - Chapter Five: IraqA year after the Nov. 2004 Battle of Fallujah, Kevin Sites returned to Iraq to gauge progress on a different fight in the turbulent city: rebuilding and improving security.


Hot Zone Documentary, Chapter Four: Uganda (Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone) 10/22/2007 9:21 PM




Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone - Chapter Four: UgandaWinston Churchill once dubbed Uganda the "Pearl of Africa." But this pearl has had its blemishes in the 43 years since its independence, as Kevin Sites discovered in northern Uganda.


Hot Zone Documentary, Chapter Three: Congo (Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone) 10/15/2007 4:56 PM




Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone - Chapter Three - Democratic Republic of the CongoKevin Sites visits a nation that was once considered the battleground of Africa's "First World War." Along the way he interviews former child soldiers as well as the victims of the Congo's brutal rape epidemic, where civilian women have become the target of the many armies and militias operating in the eastern part of the nation.


Hot Zone Documentary, Chapter Two: Somalia (Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone) 10/3/2007 7:37 PM




Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone - "A World of Conflict" is the documentary about the "Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone" project, in which veteran war correspondent Kevin Sites reported from every major global conflict in one year, in an effort to understand the costs of a world perpetually at war.


Hot Zone Documentary, Chapter One: Introduction (Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone) 10/2/2007 11:40 AM




Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone - "A World of Conflict" is the documentary about the "Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone" project, in which veteran war correspondent Kevin Sites reported from every major global conflict in one year, in an effort to understand the costs of a world perpetually at war.


Hot Zone Update: Afghanistan (Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone) 9/21/2007 11:08 AM




Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone - Global conflicts continue to rage around the world; though we can't cover all of them at the same time, we're committed to keeping you informed by bringing you timely updates from sources we trust, including journalistic colleagues and freelancers.


Hot Zone Update: Iraq (Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone) 9/17/2007 8:24 PM




Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone - Global conflicts continue to rage around the world; though we can't cover all of them at the same time, we're committed to keeping you informed by bringing you timely updates from sources we trust, including journalistic colleagues and freelancers.


From Jarhead to Talking Head (Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone) 8/1/2007 5:40 PM




Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone - When the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, Marine Captain Josh Rushing was sent into the action, but not actual combat. He was posted at the U.S. media center in Doha, Qatar, to take on the world's press corps. Strangely, as a relatively junior officer, he was made point person for arguably the Middle East's most influential Arab news channel: Al Jazeera.


'Kill Them All' (Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone) 7/18/2007 5:07 PM




Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone - In June, the Hot Zone reported the details of a recent massacre reportedly committed by Rwandan Hutu militia in eastern Congo in which 18 civilians, including six children, were killed.



Top News Stories


Wired Top Stories
July 25: Four Women Who Made a Difference7/24/2008 10:00 PM

July 25: In science and technology, spheres of society where women are woefully underrepresented, this day in history offers a bountiful exception. Here are the milestones:

In 1865, "James Barry," the first woman physician in modern times, compelled to disguise herself as a man in order to practice her profession, dies.

In 1920, Rosalind Franklin, the unheralded co-discoverer of DNA, is born.

In 1978, Louise Joy Brown, the world's first test-tube baby, is born.

In 1984, cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to walk in space.

James Barry

Barry, whose actual identity remains unknown, was born somewhere around 1795. After finishing medical school (at the age of 13, and already in disguise), "James Barry" waited a few years before joining the British army in 1813, where "he" served with distinction in a number of colonial postings, including India, South Africa and Canada.

While in South Africa, Barry became the first doctor-surgeon in the British Empire to perform a Caesarean section in which both the mother and child survived. Prior to that, C-sections were generally performed only when the mother was dead or dying.

Barry rose to the rank of inspector general in the army, but also worked with the Royal Navy, while stationed in Malta and Corfu, to improve the harsh conditions for sailors at sea.

It wasn't until Barry died in 1865 that it was discovered at the autopsy that "he" was really a "she." Somehow, Barry had managed to conceal her actual sex (and to give birth to a child herself) for more than 40 years. She was also the first woman to receive a medical degree, although the dons had no idea they were handing their sheepskin to a woman.

The first woman to earn a medical degree when her sex was known was Elizabeth Blackwell, who received her diploma barely two months after Barry died.

Rosalind Franklin

In April 1962, three men -- James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins -- shared the Nobel Prize for their discovery a decade earlier of the structure of DNA. Rosalind Franklin, a chemist whose X-ray diffusion photographs of DNA molecules showed their essential structure and paved the way for the trio's work, received nothing.

The extent to which Franklin was dismissed by her peers varies in the telling, although it was real enough: In his memoir, Watson wrote unflatteringly of her and downplayed her role in the discovery. Wilkins, a colleague of Franklin's who disliked her feminist attitudes, was equally critical. He'd also provided Watson, without Franklin's knowledge, with her key photograph, which showed -- for the first time -- the double-helix shape that underlies the structure of DNA. The photograph caused Watson to remark later: "The instant I saw the picture, my mouth fell open and my pulse began to race."

Crick was far more gracious, crediting Franklin with having done "the key experimental work." He also said that Franklin's early critique of their theoretical work caused them to rethink things, helping to set them on the right path.

The most recent scholarship, a 2002 biography (Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA, by Brenda Maddox), paints Franklin neither as a feminist hero nor a spurned woman. Her role in helping to solve the mystery of DNA is unquestioned, and her place in science history is secure.

Unhappily, Franklin died of cancer in 1958, only 37 years old. This has been cited as the reason she was not included with the others: The Nobel Prize is not awarded posthumously.

Louise Joy Brown

Today is Brown's 30th birthday. Brown, a British postal worker, is married and the mother of a 19-month-old boy. She is also the first person ever to be conceived by in vitro fertilization: the world's first test-tube baby.

Louise is the daughter of John and Lesley Brown, who had tried for nine years to conceive, before an infertility expert referred them to Patrick Steptoe, a gynecologist. Steptoe, working with physiologist Robert Edwards, had also been trying -- and failing -- to conceive a child since 1966. The difference, of course, is that Messrs. Steptoe and Edwards were hoping to conceive theirs in a laboratory petri dish. ("Test-tube baby" was a media invention, but as long as it's in glass, it's in vitro.)

They did succeed, however, in developing the method for fertilizing an egg outside a woman's body, which gave them hope.

Enter Lesley Brown, whose fallopian tubes were blocked, a condition that makes it impossible to become pregnant through sexual intercourse. Steptoe surgically removed an egg from one of her ovaries on Nov. 10, 1977, fertilized it in his laboratory and returned two nights later (after a dinner party for his wife's birthday) to find that the egg had evolved into an eight-cell embryo.

Steptoe implanted the embryo into Lesley Brown's uterus and hoped for the best. For nearly four years, every attempt at in vitro fertilization had failed, a fact the physicians didn't bother mentioning to the Browns during their interview. But in December, they were able to confirm that their patient was pregnant.

The most difficult part of Lesley Brown's pregnancy was dealing with the British tabloid press, which hounded the prospective mother and father unmercifully until the Browns wised up and sold the exclusive rights to their story to one of the jackals.

Louise Joy Brown was delivered by Caesarean section at 11:47 p.m. July 25. She weighed 5 pounds, 12 ounces: small, but not exceptionally so. As Steptoe described it: "I laid her down, all pink and furious, and saw at once that she was externally perfect and beautiful."

Steptoe died when Louise was 10, but Edwards attended her wedding. She told the Daily Mail earlier this month, "It's nice to have a close relationship. He's like a granddad to me."

Svetlana Savitskaya

Cosmonaut Savitskaya carried on the socialist egalitarian tradition by becoming the first woman to walk in space. She accomplished this while serving as flight engineer aboard the Soyuz T-12 mission to the Salyut 7 space station. Her EVA, or extravehicular activity, came 19 years after cosmonaut Alexei Leonov became the first person to leave an orbiting spacecraft, and she beat American astronaut Kathryn Sullivan out the door by three months.

Comrade Savitskaya was, simply, born to be a cosmonaut. Her father was a fighter pilot during World War II, later becoming deputy commander of the Soviet Air Defense, and was twice named a Hero of the Soviet Union. Without her father's knowledge, Savitskaya, who took an avid interest in flying from childhood, learned to parachute. She made 450 jumps by her 17th birthday.

She applied to pilot school at age 16, but was rejected because of her age. At 17, after jumping from 46,750 feet and free-falling more than eight miles before deploying her chute -- a record at the time -- Savitskaya began training as a pilot. By the time she was 24, Savitskaya was licensed to fly 20 different types of aircraft, including the MiG-21, which she piloted to a speed of 1,667 mph.

Savitskaya became a cosmonaut in 1980 and was the second woman to go into space, preceded only by fellow cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.

Savitskaya was accompanied in her 1984 EVA by cosmonaut Vladimir Dzhanibekov. The pair performed external experiments on the Salyut station and remained outside their Soyuz capsule for more than three-and-a-half hours.

Following her return, Savitskaya was selected to command an all-female Soyuz crew for a visit to Salyut 7, in observance of National Women's Day. The mission had to be scrubbed, however, because of problems aboard the space station.

Source: Various


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How to Make Friends With Celebrities7/24/2008 10:00 PM
With most stars you want to befriend, all it takes is simply buying yourself a basketball franchise and offering the VIP courtside seats.
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How to Look Good on TV7/24/2008 10:00 PM
The Daily Show's Samantha Bee explains that in order to look good on television, it's okay to come across as a douche -- if you're funny.
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Gallery: Scenes From Comic-Con 20087/24/2008 10:00 PM
: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Get ready for the wild incongruity of elaborate costumes and vacuous, sterile hallways that is Comic-Con. At this yearly sci-fi fanfest, convention-goers must use every ounce of their mental stamina as their imaginations are simultaneously piqued and suffocated by their surroundings. In addition to the mental trials, simply attending the convention is a geek triathlon of not sitting comfortably, Mountain Dew-chugging contests and enthusiastic reenactments of nerdy movie scenes. Luckily, Wired.com is bringing all the action to the safety of your computer screen

Click through the gallery for the first scenes from this barbaric event.

Left: Matthew Kuhlman waits for the elevator at the Los Angeles Convention Center with his parents, Tennille, left, and Thomas during the first day of Comic-Con. His parents are better known to the Comic-Con community as Xyon and Zarah Koreen.

: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Obi-Wan Kenobi, aka Mike Lewer, 20, of Encinitas, California, wheels through the hallways of the Los Angeles Convention Center on his way to the next panel.

: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Jacquelyn Crinnion, 19, of San Ramon, California, dressed as Sailor Mars from Sailor Moon and Samantha Scharlach, 19, also of San Ramon, dressed as Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas, take a lunch break.

: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Taylor Long, 16, of San Diego, right, gets some help from his father/bodyguard Byron Long (not pictured) during a break in the action. "He's roasting," said Byron Long. Comic-Con volunteer Daniel Scott, left, 21, of Camp Pendleton in California checks out who is behind the mask.

: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

RJ Moskop has devised a clever strategy for taking in all the Comic-Con sights as he attends the Stan Lee panel.

: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Jeri Ann Boyd, of Beverly Hills, California, leaps into action to capture the lazy loitering of a few Star Wars characters.

: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Cecelia Bryant, 19, of Chula Vista, California, dressed as Holly Quinn, rides the escalator with Tommy Metropoulos, of Jamul, California, who wonders whether everyone else can see her, too.

: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Jibran Iqbal, 9, of San Diego, and his brother Ameer, 6, attend their first Comic-Con and slowly realize that they are the coolest people there.

: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

With Wookies in short supply at this year's convention, this stormtrooper apprehended the next best thing.


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Gallery: Comic-Con's Costumed Crusaders7/24/2008 10:00 PM
: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

SAN DIEGO -- Maybe they should call it Comic-Con Intergalactic.

An astonishing number of people dress up like space aliens, superheroes and videogame characters when they attend Comic-Con International, the annual pop-culture convention that draws comics and sci-fi fans from around the globe.

The elaborate costumes, many of them handmade, transform the fanboys and fangirls into their favorite pop-culture icons, at least for the day. This year's Comic-Con sold out in advance, with organizers expecting 125,000 people to cram into the San Diego Convention Center through Sunday.

Here are some of the more eye-catching costumes spotted at Comic-Con on Thursday.

Name: Demir Oral

Age: 23

Hometown: San Diego

Times at Comic-Con: Nine

Geekiest hobby: Making costumes

What are you most excited about seeing at Comic-Con?
Seeing all the imagination that goes into everything.

Day job: Web designer

Dream job: Inventor

Describe your costume and how you made it:
It's something that I just made up throwing various items together.

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Name: Cathy Clark

Age: 28

Hometown: Anaheim, California

Times at Comic-Con: Seven

Geekiest hobby: Attending Comic-Con!

What are you most excited about seeing at Comic-Con?
I just saw The Freakazoid panel, and I'm excited to see Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Day job: Designer

Dream job: Artist

Describe your costume and how you made it:
It's Steampunk, based on an illustration that I did. I had my friend sew it for me.

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Name: Amanda Raymond

Age: 29

Hometown: Santa Clarita, California

Times at Comic-Con: Four

Geekiest hobby: Costuming and watching Darkwing Duck.

What are you most excited about seeing at Comic-Con?
The Disney panels.

Day job: Production secretary

Dream job: Producer

Describe your costume and how you made it:
I'm Mrs. Incredible, and she can stretch! I commissioned a seamstress to make it.

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Name: Zachary Lytle

Age: 21

Hometown: Chico, California

Times at Comic-Con: One

Geekiest hobby: I build combat robots. I'm actually the three-time world champion of RoboGames.

What are you most excited about seeing at Comic-Con?
The Transformers display.

Day job: Machinist

Dream job: Robotics engineer

Describe your costume and how you made it:
I'm Link from Zelda. All my equipment is real metal -- 80 pounds of steel, bows, arrows and a 12-pound sword.

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Name: Diana Tarlson

Age: 23

Hometown: Chico, California

Times at Comic-Con: One

Geekiest hobby: Collecting Disney movies. My favorite is Sleeping Beauty.

What are you most excited about seeing at Comic-Con?
Tiny Toon Adventures and Freakazoid -- it's the most-anticipated new cartoon.

Day job: I work at Jo-Ann Fabrics.

Dream job: To work in a machine shop.

Describe your costume and how you made it:
I'm Kid Icarus. The two daggers that click together are what he's most known for. I sowed feather boas, cut felt and pinned up the tunic myself. I crafted the entire thing by hand.

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Names: Nick Evans, Jason Sunday and Kyle Sunday (clockwise from top left)

Ages: 20, 21 and 19, respectively.

Hometowns: Orange, California; Portland, Oregon; and Ashland, Oregon

Times at Comic-Con: One

Geekiest hobby: We love Star Wars. It's at the top, but nothing is off-limits -- Jason

What are you most excited about seeing at Comic-Con?
The Watchmen movie, I'm a big fan of the book -- Nick

Day job: Students

Dream jobs: Lawyer (Nick), computer technology (Jason) and chef (Kyle)

Describe your costumes and how you made them:
Cyclops, Gambit and Professor X based on the '90s classic X-Men. We just bought different pieces and put them together. I had to get my glasses on the internet. -- Nick

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Name: Tom Paige

Age: 38

Hometown: Los Angeles

Times at Comic-Con: Two

Geekiest hobby: Music, especially hard-core heavy-metal comedy.

What are you most excited about seeing at Comic-Con?
Seeing hot chicks in spandex.

Day job: I'm a facilities manager in the motion-picture industry.

Dream job: Musician

Describe your costume and how you made it:
I'm wearing a really gay, royal blue, spandex rocker costume that is a combo of wrestling and music. I pieced it together from dance clothing.

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Name: Christian Benavides

Age: 14

Hometown: Houston

Times at Comic-Con: One

Geekiest hobby: Dressing up as the Joker and making costumes.

What are you most excited about seeing at Comic-Con?
I want to meet Stan Lee, maybe meet someone from the Watchmen and see the Punisher panel.

Day job: Student

Dream job: Movie director

Describe your costume and how you made it:
I'm Joker dressed as a nurse from the new Batman movie. I stitched it together myself.

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Name: Raymundo Benavides

Age: 25

Hometown: Houston

Times at Comic-Con: One

Geekiest hobby: Watching movie trailers.

What are you most excited about seeing at Comic-Con?
I want to see Stan Lee and probably Kevin Smith. He's speaking at the Scream Like a Girl contest.

Day job: Cable guy

Dream job: Movie director

Describe your costume and how you made it: I'm Tommy, the Green Ranger from the original Power Rangers. I bought the majority of it, and my girlfriend made the rest.

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Name: Jonathan Corpuz

Age: 26

Hometown: San Diego

Times at Comic-Con: 15

Geekiest hobby: I'm a videogame nut. Action, RPGs, everything. I was raised on videogames.

What are you most excited about seeing at Comic-Con?
I'm a big Lost fan. Basically I want to see the entire Saturday TV slate.

Day job: Photographer

Dream job: Videogame designer

Describe your costume and how you made it:
I'm the original 8-bit Super Mario. I'm even carrying around a plunger. This is a Halloween costume from last year, and I made the star myself.


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Are You Internet Famous? Get Your Score7/24/2008 10:00 PM
Using a nifty, Wired-created widget, find out just how much of a positive web presence you have. Compare your scores with those of your favorite celebs.
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Internet Endangers Big-City Tradition: The Bike Messenger7/24/2008 7:00 PM

SAN FRANCISCO -- Here along Market Street, heavily tattooed bicyclists with too many piercings in too many places weave through traffic, ducking subway steam vents, trolleys, motorists and a sea of jaywalkers. They're bike messengers -- a fixture in most large cities -- slinging satchels stuffed with legal documents, blueprints, executives' lunches and eviction notices.

But the internet is gaining on these roadsters faster than they can pedal their fixed-gear, brakeless bikes. In a world where documents travel by e-mail and the web, and electronic signatures are legally binding, the business of moving physical wood pulp from point A to point B is struggling.

Anecdotes from the Big Apple to San Francisco and parts in between suggest the click of a Send button is undermining the bike-messaging trade.

In the last two years, three messaging companies in San Francisco have folded. Courier service Bucky's of Seattle trashed its bike fleet last year. And there are nearly 1,000 fewer bike messengers in New York than a decade ago.

"There is really not much left. It's dying," says Matt Flores, co-owner of Wheels of Justice, a San Francisco courier service. Flores recently halved his full-time bikers -- "document clerks," as he calls them -- from eight to four. His top runner earns $50,000 a year, he says.

By far the biggest broomstick through the spokes of the bike messenger comes from the nation's court systems and their embrace of electronic filing. The millions of pages of paperwork generated by trial lawyers were once the bread and butter of bike messaging. Now about half of the U.S. state courts have some form of electronic filing. And under guidelines adopted by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, an electronic filing system is now available in about 99 percent of the nation's federal courts.

Federal bankruptcy courts went electronic beginning in 2001, followed a year later by the district courts. Federal appellate courts started following suit in 2005. The last holdout was the nation's largest federal appeals court, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which began testing an electronic filing system in January.

While many district court judges still demand paper "courtesy copies" of some filings, which are usually hauled by bike messenger, many state court systems are moving online completely, according to the National Center for State Courts. In California, home to one of the world's largest judicial systems, electronic filing is expected to be mandatory statewide by the end of the decade.

"We've seen about a 30 percent decline in our use of bike messenger services, due largely to electronic filing," says Kevin Livingston, a spokesman for Thelen Reid, a nationwide law firm.

Years ago, phone books in the nation's largest cities were shot through with page after page of courier-service listings. Now the phone book itself is obsolete.

"The total pie of courier services has been shrinking," says Christine Chan, a co-owner of Urban Express in New York, which contracts with hundreds of bike messengers. "Obviously, the need for couriers to carry items is declining."

But bike messenger Lon Cook of San Francisco, like many others in the business, is philosophical. He says there will always be a need for bike messengers in big cities, even if their backpacks aren't as full as they once were.

"First we had the fax machine and now e-mails," says Cook. "There's always something new. A bike messenger is part of the scenery in the road."

Fergus Tanaka, a five-year veteran now riding in San Francisco, shares Cook's optimism.

"What is really necessary for the industry is adaptation. Clearly, if we branch out to other realms and other parts of the economy that need transportation, bike messengers can stick around for another 50 years," the 28-year-old says.

It's a lifestyle, he adds, like no other.

There's a reason, he says, that messengers' bodies are often pierced and inked -- that their hairstyles are often improved with helmet hair.

"There's a freedom associated with bike messaging," the tattooed Tanaka says. "Nobody requires me to wear a suit and tie to work. They just want to make sure you can ride a bike and know where you are going."

The dangers of the job are obvious. And then there are the lesser-known perils.

"We used to have this one run. I called it the piss run. You went around to different homes where elderly people lived, to collect their samples," he recalls. "I went to this one lady's house, threw it in my bag and, when I got back, I reached in my bag and my hands were all wet. There was piss all over my bag."

The internet, he says, can't do what he does.


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Senate Introduces IP-Reform Bill Bolstering Enforcement7/24/2008 6:00 PM
Legislation bolstering intellectual property enforcement by increasing penalties, expanding the power of the attorney general and creating a new FBI piracy unit was proposed Thursday in the Senate. Intellectual-property-rights groups applauded the measure while online-rights groups said it went too far.
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