Bolivian TV channel PAT has been left looking a bit daft after broadcasting extraordinary images of the last moments of Air France flight 447, lost over the Atlantic on 1 June. According to the report, the snaps were retrieved from a recovered Casio Z750, which was subsequently traced via the serial number to its owner – “Paulo G. Muller, an actor from a well-known children’s theatre on the outskirts of Porto Alegre”.

In fact, the camera can be traced to ABC Studios and sharp-eyed readers will notice that the photographs feature well-known actress Evangeline Lilly, aka Kate Austen from TV series Lost.

PAT has fallen hook, line and sinker for a hoax email, and to add to its embarrassment, has failed to appreciate that while the flight 447 disaster occurred at night, the images represent the daytime fictional break-up of Oceanic Flight 815.

Even if they had this footage, shame on them for airing it. The fake images are here if you haven’t already seen the TV Program. Sheesh.

FTC Plans to Regulate Blogger Freebies — Meanwhile, financial scams and sketchy phoneco practices go unnoticed. Hm. There is something fishy about this.

According to a report by the Associated Press, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is considering to monitor blogs for undisclosed sponsored blog posts. According to the FTC, bloggers who don’t disclose that they received freebies once these new rules go into effect could become the target on an FTC investigation. These new guidelines, possibly with modifications, will most likely go into effect later this summer, and would mark the first time that the FTC tries to patrol the blogosphere.

As Andy Beal rightly points out, “the only bloggers that need to be wary of any new FTC guidelines are the ones that have brought this on us all.” The FTC isn’t likely to care about the blogger who used a coupon to get the free hamburger he/she blogged about. But there is a whole subculture of bloggers who make a living of undisclosed freebies and “sponsored conversations.” According to CNet’s Caroline McCarthy, however, these rules could even extend to undisclosed affiliate links. Under the new guidelines, bloggers would have to disclose if they are being compensated and, if they don’t, the FTC could order them to pay restitution to their readers.

Pay restitution to their readers? Huh?

Found by Aric Mackey.

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The technology exists to clone Stephen Hawking. Although no one has had the nerve to do it, the same technology that was used to clone other animals would work on humans. Various governments and religions have taken a stand declaring cloning humans to be immoral. But I’ve never heard a reason why cloning should be banned.

So I say let’s clone Hawking. Yes, I understand that the clone will not start out with the knowledge or skills of Stephen Hawking. It’s like having an identical twin separated at birth by both space and time. But – is there something genetic about Hawking that would make his clone have the same abilities as Stephen himself? What if the clone were raised in an ideal environment where he was trained by the world’s leading physicists. Would the clone pick up where Hawking left off?

Whether it worked or not we would at a minimum learn a great deal about cloning. The possibility that his skills might live on in the clone would be a gift to the human race.

So – I’d like to open up a discussion as to why we shouldn’t do this. Thoughts?

Daily Mail Online – June 19, 2009:

A teenage girl survived a terrifying lightning strike after she was saved by the wire of her iPod.

Schoolgirl Sophie Frost and her boyfriend Mason Billington, both 14, stopped to shelter under a tree when a storm struck as they were walking near their homes.

Doctors believe Sophie survived the 300,000-volt surge only because it travelled through the gadget’s wire, diverting it away from her vital organs.

Both are expected to make a full recovery and Sophie may not even have a permanent scar.

She will be thankful she was wearing her iPod, which she had been given four days earlier as a gift from her grandmother.

This was the top story on AP at 3:50pm PST. Since AP will sue your ass for posting or linking to their stories, I present the story from one of the other 342 sources Google has links to about this Earth shattering development. I’m sure glad nothing else is happening in the world to push this story from the headlines.

On the eve of Father’s Day, the First Father showed how it’s done, taking his daughters Malia and Sasha for some frozen treats at The Daily Godmother, a boutique custard parlor in Alexandria.

President Obama and his girls motorcaded over to Alexandria from the White House this afternoon. Malia had a waffle cone of vanilla custard and Sasha had her vanilla custard in a cup. The president enjoyed a cup of vanilla custard with hot fudge and toasted almonds, a pool reporter was told by the shopkeeper. The three were in the shop for about 15 minutes, where they sat at a table to enjoy their snacks.

As they left, the trio received applause from the staff and customers inside and a small crowd outside. Carrying a bag of frozen “puppy pops” for the First Dog, Bo, Obama waved to the crowd before stepping into his SUV for the short jaunt back to the White House.

Austrian Times – 17. 06. 09:

A teenage girl was electrocuted after dropping her laptop into the bath as she twittered in the tub.

Police said they believed Maria Barbu, 17, had tried to plug in her laptop with wet hands after the battery died during a long session on social networking site Twitter as she took a soak at her home in Brasov, central Romania.

She was found dead by her parents with the laptop lying next to her.