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Friday, January 25, 2008

B2B Trade Area of Taipei Game Show, criticized by trade buyers last year, but accompanied with 2008 Taiwan Digital Content Forum, moved to the second floor at Taipei World Trade Center for world-wide participants with a better exchange atmosphere this year.

Not only local OBMs (Softstar Entertainment, Soft-World International Corp., International Games System Corp., …, etc.) but also companies from New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea showcased different specialists with multiple styles. Especially on South Korea, participated members from G? Trade Show (Game Show & Trade, All-Round, aka Gstar) showcased gaming industry of South Korea and the G? upcoming at this November with brochures.

In the 2-days Digital Content Forum, world-class experts not only shared industry experiences, members from Taiwan Gaming Industry Association also discussed and forecasted marketing models for gaming industry. With participations from governmental, industrial, and academical executives world-wide, this forum helps them gained precious experiences of digital content industry from several countries.

According to the Taipei Computer Association, the show and forum organizer, the digital content industry in Taiwan was apparently grown up recent years as Minister of Economic Affairs of the Republic of China Steve Ruey-long Chen said at Opening Ceremony yesterday. Without R&Ds from cyber-gaming, and basic conceptions from policies and copyright issues, this (digital content) industry will be fallen down in Taiwan. If this industry wanted to be grown up in sustainability, gaming OBMs in Taiwan should independently produce different and unique games and change market style to market brands and games to the world.

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Wikinews extended invitations by e-mail on March 23 to multiple candidates running in the Texas’ 6th congressional district special election of May 1 to fill a vacancy left upon the death of Republican congressman Ron Wright. Of them, the office of Democrat Daryl Eddings, Sr. agreed to answer some questions by phone March 30 about their campaigns and policies. The following is the interview with Ms Chatham on behalf of Mr Eddings, Sr.

Eddings is a federal law enforcement officer and senior non-commissioned officer in the US military. His experience as operations officer of an aviation unit in the California National Guard includes working in Los Angeles to control riots sparked by the O. J. Simpson murder case and the police handling of Rodney King, working with drug interdiction teams in Panama and Central America and fighting in the Middle East. He is the founder of Operation Battle Buddy, which has under his leadership kept in touch with over 20 thousand veterans and their families. He was born in California, but moved to Midlothian, Texas. He endeavours to bring “good government, not no government”. Campaign manager Faith Chatham spoke to Wikinews on matters ranging from healthcare to housing.

An Inside Elections poll published on March 18 shows Republican candidate Susan Wright, the widow of Ron Wright, is ahead by 21% followed by Democrat Jana Sanchez with 17% and Republican Jake Ellzey with 8% with a 4.6% margin of error among 450 likely voters. The district is considered “lean Republican” by Inside Elections and voted 51% in favour of Donald Trump in last year’s US presidential election. This is down from 54% for Trump in 2016’s presidential election, the same poll stated.

Friday, January 5, 2007

An ethical controversy has surged in the United States and elsewhere around nine-year-old Ashley X (her family name has not been released). The disabled girl was operated upon at the request of her parents, to prevent her from growing, menstruating and developing breasts. The parents, who wish to remain anonymous, explain their situation on a blog entitled The “Ashley Treatment”. There have been over 1000 reactions on the blog so far.

Ashley suffers a condition termed static encephalopathy with marked global developmental deficits of unknown etiology, which means brain damage of unknown cause leading to a kind of static condition. She can make sounds, move her arms and kick her legs, but she cannot change her position, eat, walk, talk etc. Many of these children are in poor health and die young, but Ashley is in good health. For all of these functions she depends on her caregivers. Most of the day she passes watching her surrounding, lying on a pillow. Her parents call her their “Pillow Angel”, “since she is so sweet and stays right where we place her—usually on a pillow.”

Ashley’s parents want to keep her at home and care for her themselves, and they want to guarantee their daughter’s quality of life. To this end, they say, Ashley underwent several surgical procedures and medical treatments during a period of three years. To attenuate her growth, Ashley was given high doses of the hormone estrogen. Ashley now measures 4ft 5 (1m 35cm) and weighs around 75 lbs (34 kg), which is below her expected length and weight. Her low body weight and size would improve her comfort, and at the same time facilitate the work of her caregivers.

Surgery to remove her uterus (a procedure called a hysterectomy) and breast buds were performed, so Ashley does not menstruate and will not develop breasts, both of which parents think only would cause her discomfort. Since high estrogen levels can cause menstrual bleeding and breast development, the surgery was also meant to limit these effects. She also underwent surgery to remove her appendix, because it would be difficult to diagnose appendicitis given Ashley’s low communication possibilities.

Saturday, April 23, 2005

A three-judge Texas Court of Appeals ruling will allow men who were overcharged at nudie clubs to sue for refunds and damages.

The two plaintiffs, Paul Brian Meekey and Michael Fulmer, had their cases heard because they were charged more than a regular lap dance fee when they used a credit card, typically $25 for a $20 dance.

“Texas law is pretty clear that you cannot charge someone extra for using a credit card,” said Sandra Krider, an attorney for the patrons. “The fact that they are strip clubs shouldn’t mean they get away with it.”

A lawyer for the businesses, Rick’s Cabaret and the Men’s Club, argued a case based on the type of employment the ladies agreed to perform.

“Since the dancers are independent contractors and not employees of the club, the clubs are not the ones selling the dances,” said attorney Albert Van Huff.

But the men’s attorneys said the win could potentially become a class-action suit with many hundreds of men claiming their day in court. That could present a problem for other patrons who may not want their name and their use of a credit card at a nudie bar released in court transcripts.

“They are going to want the (strip) clubs’ credit card companies to give them the names of all the different people who have charged dances there,” said Van Huff.

The 14th Court of Appeals, a Texas court with headquarters in Houston, had reversed a ruling of a lower trial judge that this case should be heard before the state Finance Commission instead of in a judicial proceeding. The case was sent back to be tried again.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

A huge power outage occurred in Moscow today. The failure in the accumulative power supply system in Mosenergo which occurred at 11:15 a.m. local time on Wednesday, led to a power outage in all areas of the city.

Power for lights failed in apartment buildings. Some lines of the Moscow underground stopped for four hours. Trams and trolley buses, electric trains of the Moscow railway also stopped. Hundreds of people were trapped in apartment building lifts. In addition to lighting problems, the homeowners have also lost their water supply, as pumping stations in Mosvodokanal also lost power because of the failure.

15 big cities and five areas of Moscow suburbs, some areas of the Tula and Kaluga areas were left without electricity.

At 12:00 noon, food shops in the affected areas started closing. In shops where sellers continued trading, huge queues accumulated.

To avoid panic at train stations, workers with megaphones informed passengers of train movements. At train stations, reserve power supplies are being used. According to eyewitnesses, there was no electric lighting at many stations and in transitions between them. Escalators also did not work.

Thursday, May 26, 2005

Thursday morning trolley buses and trams still do not work in southern areas of Moscow. Despite repair work conducted during the night, it was impossible to power all trolleybus and tram lines.In total 8 tram and 25 trolleybus routes do not work. Buses will take over those routes. Besides this, in the south of Moscow there are still many disconnected apartment houses.

All stations of the Moscow underground are working normally. All trains are running on schedule.

The entrance to Moscow for supersize automobiles will be limited up to 14 o’clock in the afternoon. The limitation was put in place yesterday because of difficult road conditions in the city after the power failure.

Thursday, March 24, 2005

San Jose, California — A woman eating a bowl of chili at a Wendy’s restaurant bit into a chewy bit that turned out to be a human finger. She immediately spat it out, warned other patrons to stop eating, and upon recognizing the object as a finger, vomited.

“I’m more of a Carl’s Jr. person,” the 39-year-old Las Vegas woman, Anna Ayala, told Knight Ridder. She said this incident was her first visit to a Wendy’s restaurant. Ayala described how she found the finger, “Suddenly something crunchy was in my mouth,” she continued, “and I spit it out.”

According to Devina Cordero, 20, after Ayala found the finger, she ran up to her and Cordero’s boyfriend and said, “Don’t eat it! Look, there’s a human finger in our chili.”

“We went up to the counter and they told us it was a vegetable,” Cordero continued. “The people from Wendy’s were poking it with a spoon.”

The restaurant is located at 1405 Monterey Highway, just south of downtown San Jose.

Wikinews reporter David Vasquez drove his car up to the drive-thru menu and found that chili was still on the menu, at a price of US$1.19 for a small serving. He also witnessed workers unloading supplies from a semi-trailer truck in the restaurant’s parking lot, and carting them into the back door of the establishment.

According to Ben Gale, director of environmental health for Santa Clara County, the finger did not come from any of the employees at the restaurant. “We asked everybody to show us they have 10 fingers and everything is OK there,” he said. The found portion of the finger likely belonged to a woman because of its long and manicured fingernail, also found in the food.

Officials seized the food supply at the restaurant and are tracing it back to the manufacturer, where they believe the finger may have gotten mixed in with the raw ingredients used to prepare the chili. The restaurant’s operators were later permitted to re-open after preparing new chili prepared from fresh ingredients.

As this story was filed, there was no mention of the incident on the Wendy’s corporate web site. Wendy’s issued a statement through a spokesman.

“Food safety is of utmost importance to us,” said Wendy’s spokesman Joe Desmond. He referred to the incident as an “unsubstantiated claim.”

“We are cooperating fully with the local police and health departments with their investigation. It’s important not to jump to conclusions. Here at Wendy’s we plan to do right by our customers,” Desmond said.

According to county health officials, the unfortunate woman who bit into the finger is doing fine, despite her initial reaction. Officials also noted that the finger would have been cooked at a high enough temperature to destroy any viruses.

The Santa Clara county medical examiner reported that the finger had a solid fingerprint, although investigators did not say if a search of fingerprint databases would be performed to find the owner of the finger.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Over 800 National Health Service staff in Scotland are earning more than £140,000 each year—more than First Minister Alex Salmond. New figures also reveal that 3,000 NHS workers are earning over £100,000. One NHS board alone, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, employs 893 staff earning more than £100,000, and 181 being paid over £140,000.

Jackie Baillie, health spokeswoman for the Labour Party, which uncovered the figures, said they were “astonishing”, and urged health boards to examine if savings can be made by reducing salaries of top earners. “This is a far better option than cutting frontline staff like nurses and midwives. In tough financial times we need to make sure that our focus is on patient care and every penny is spent in the most efficient way.” She further said: “In the current economic climate, it is impossible to justify huge salaries for consultants and senior executives when health boards are planning 4000 job losses this year, including 1500 nurses and midwives.”

Britain’s largest health service industrial union, Unison, questioned the amount of money the NHS was paying. A spokesperson said: “Unison doesn’t begrudge anybody the rate of pay for the job but obviously our membership will be concerned that while they are to face a pay freeze and people delivering frontline services are losing their jobs, there is a cohort of folk who appear to earn more than the most senior politician in the land.”