LOOS LOU'S LOST in a Blog: May 31, 2010

Norwegian Boy saves Sister from Moose Attack using World of Warcraft Skills

Norwegian Boy saves Sister from Moose Attack using World of Warcraft Skills: "

Hans Jørgen Olsen, a 12-year-old Norwegian boy, saved himself and his sister from a moose attack using skills he picked up playing the online role playing game World of Warcraft.

Hans and his sister got into trouble after they had trespassed the territory of the moose during a walk in the forest near their home. When the moose attacked them, Hans knew the first thing he had to do was ‘taunt’ and provoke the animal so that it would leave his sister alone and she could run to safety. ‘Taunting’ is a move one uses in World of Warcraft to get monsters off of the less-well-armored team members.

Once Hans was a target, he remembered another skill he had picked up at level 30 in ‘World of Warcraft’ – he feigned death. The moose lost interest in the inanimate boy and wandered off into the woods. When he was safely alone Hans ran back home to share his tale of video game-inspired survival.

Via Nettavisen.no.

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IRS Wants a Cut of Sales On eBay and Craigslist

via Slashdot by Soulskill on 5/30/10

Ponca City, We love you writes "In 2009, $60 billion worth of items were sold on eBay, meaning 'extra' money for many sellers, whose activities may provide them with taxable income. Now the Washington Post reports that beginning next year, a new law will require 'the gross amount of payment card and third-party network transactions to be reported annually to participating merchants and the IRS.' Also, for 2011 tax returns, 'taxpayers who annually sell more than $20,000 worth of goods and have more than 200 electronic transactions' will receive a new IRS form, known as 1099-K, for reporting the proceeds. The new tax issues shouldn't be a concern for people who sell just a few small items online for less than they paid for them, because as the IRS points out, income from auctions that resemble a garage or yard sale 'generally' isn't required to be reported. But if an online garage sale turns into a business with recurring sales and purchases of items for resale, it may be considered an online auction business. 'Generally, transactions resulting in a gain are reportable, regardless of whether the taxpayer is conducting a business,' says Gil Charney, principal tax researcher at The Tax Institute at H&R Block. The real reason behind the law is simple: Research shows taxpayers do a much better job of reporting taxable income when they know the IRS is receiving information about their transactions."

Fish pedicures come to Paris

via Reuters Oddly Enough: And Finally Video Podcast by Reuters on 4/9/10

Apr. 9 - A new beauty trend in Paris sees schools of fish eating away at dead skin on customers' feet as an alternative to traditional pedicures.

Clickjacking Worm Exploits Facebook "Like" Feature

via Slashdot by StoneLion on 5/31/10

An anonymous reader writes "For the last 24 hours, a series of attacks have exploited Facebook's 'Like' feature through a clickjacking vulnerability. Using subjects such as 'This Girl Has An Interesting Way Of Eating A Banana, Check It Out!' hackers have spread an attack that links to web pages that use invisible iFrames to trick users into saying they like the content. Users are presented with a innocent-seeming web page that says 'Click here to continue,' but clicking at any point on the page publishes the same message to their own Facebook page. Security blogger Graham Cluley says that hundreds of thousands of Facebook users have been hit, and offers advice on how to clean up affected Facebook profiles.

Latest Top 500 Supercomputer List Released

via Slashdot by StoneLion on 5/31/10

chrb writes "BBC News is reporting on the release of the June 2010 Top 500 Supercomputer list. Notable changes include a second Chinese supercomputer in the top ten. A graphical display enables viewing of the supercomputer list by speed, operating system, application, country, processor, and manufacturer."