BlackBerry blackout enters day three
Millions of BlackBerry users have entered their third day of an internet blackout, with no word on when services might be restored. RIM, the Canadian company behind the BlackBerry brand, released limited details of the source of the ongoing problems last night."The messaging and browsing delays being experienced by BlackBerry users in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, Brazil, Chile and Argentina were caused by a core switch failure within RIM’s infrastructure," it said in a statement at 10PM."Although the system is designed to failover to a back-up switch, the failover did not function as previously tested. As a result, a large backlog of data was generated and we are now working to clear that backlog and restore normal service as quickly as possible."We apologize for any inconvenience and we will continue to keep you informed." It was not immediately clear however if the broken switch - which in the context of internet infrastructure refers to an expensive and specialised piece of equipment that routes traffic in a data centre - was the original cause of the blackout on Monday or a secondary problem.blackberry blackout blackberry problems
10,000 Free Round-Trip Tickets to Japan
In a desperate attempt to lure tourists back to a country plagued by radiation fears and constant earthquakes, the Japan Tourism Agency‘s proposed an unprecedented campaign – 10,000 free roundtrip tickets.The number of foreign visitors to Japan has dropped drastically, since a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami triggered a nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Power plant in March. Nearly 20,000 people have been confirmed dead, while more than 80,000 remain displaced because of radiation concerns. In the first three months following the triple disasters, the number of foreign visitors to Japan was cut in half, compared with the same time in 2010. The strong Japanese currency has made matters worse.The tourism agency says it plans to open a website to solicit applicants interested in the free tickets. Would- be visitors will have to detail in writing their travel plans in Japan, and explain what they hope to get out of the trip. Successful applicants would pay for their own accommodation and meals. They would also be required to write a review their travel experiences, and post it online.“We are hoping to get highly influential blogger-types, and others who can spread the word that Japan is a safe place to visit,” said Kazuyoshi Sato, with the agency.The agency has requested more than a billion yen to pay for the tourism blitz. If lawmakers approve the funding, Sato says visitors could begin signing up as early as next April.Japan trips Japan free trip
Ex-Model Denies Cooking, Eating Husband; Says She's Not a Monster
Parole has been denied for a former model convicted of killing her husband, then cooking and eating his remains 20 years ago. Omaima Aree Nelson went before the parole board Wednesday seeking early release from her 27-years-to-life sentence in the murder of William E. Nelson, 56, over Thanksgiving weekend in 1991.She told the board: "I am not a monster."She insisted that her husband, William, was trying to strangle her when she hit him with a lamp, stabbed him with scissors and killed him."If I didn't defend my life, I would have been dead. I'm sorry it happened, but I'm glad I lived." "I'm sorry I dismembered him."She denied eating her husband, despite testimony by her psychiatrist at her trial. "I swear to God I did not eat any part of him. I am not a monster," she said. Her first bid at parole was also rejected in 2006.The prosecutor who helped send Nelson to prison wrote a letter to the board saying Nelson would be a threat to public safety if released.He says he'll never forget the horror of visiting the couple's home."There were suitcases and plastic bags soaked with dark liquid from his body parts. In the fry cooker there sat Mr. Nelson's hands and when we opened the refrigerator, there was Mr. Nelson's head with stab wounds," Palowski recalls."She had his entrails in his Corvette and she was trying to get an ex-boyfriend to yank out the dentures from the head so she could dump it in the Back Bay."Nelson, who worked as a part-time model and nanny in Egypt, immigrated to the U.S. in 1986. She was in her 20's when she killed her husband and then dismembered and cooked parts of his body in their Costa Mesa apartment. The couple had been married for about a month.After the murder, Nelson boiled her husband's head on the stove in an attempt to remove his teeth, skinned his torso and fried his hands in oil, Pawloski told the Daily Pilot.Nelson told a psychiatrists that she carved up part of her husband's back and dipped it in barbecue sauce, something she now denies. Nelson then drove garbage bags filled with the body parts to various ex-boyfriends, asking them to help dispose of the evidence and offering $75,000 for help, Pawloski said.Neighbors at the time said the garbage disposal was on for "a long time" and "constant chopping sounds" were coming from the home, according to the newspaper.In court, a psychiatrist testified that Nelson put on red shoes, a red hat and red lipstick before spending hours chopping up her husband's body.According to Pawloski, Nelson was the first defendant to used the "battered wife" defense in Orange County, claiming her husband raped her the night before she killed him.She also told psychiatrists and her attorney that she had been the victim of sexual abuse as a child in Egypt where she was molested, beaten and forced to undergo female circumcision, a mutilation of the female genitalia. Woman kills husband Omaima Aree Nelson
