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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

The Supreme Court in Lausanne, Switzerland has ruled that Texas hold ’em poker is a game of luck, rather than a game of skill. As a result, only casinos can host poker tournaments in Switzerland. Private games with friends, even where money is at stake, are still permitted under the ruling.

Poker tournaments had been growing in popularity in the country, with many events held in hotels and bars. Such venues do not have to pay the 50% tax on profits levied on licensed casinos, nor comply with regulations combating money laundering and gambling addiction. Poker is now categorised alongside roulette and slot machines, which as games of luck can only be played inside casinos. Mathematics, strategy, and bluffing were less important in determining the result than chance, said the judges, overturning a lower court ruling to the opposite effect, and disagreeing with the stance of the country’s Federal Gaming Commission.

Before the ruling, it had been estimated by the Swiss Federation of Casinos that there were about 100 unlicensed poker tournaments every weekend. A Swiss poker website, SwissPokerTour.ch, has described the result as “a black day for all amateur poker players in Switzerland.”

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Fourteen peace activists from pressure group Trident Ploughshares, dressed mainly in Santa hats, with the occasional nuclear weapons inspector or reindeer, descended upon the low-key London based UK Headquarters of American arms giant Lockheed Martin on Thursday.

Activists, campaigning for nuclear disarmament and against the government’s plans to replace the trident nuclear missile system, leafleted passersby; informing them of Lockheed’s low key presence in the area and of the government’s plans to expand the Trident system, involving investments of as much as £75 billion (US$121.8 billion).

Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest arms manufacturer, create the warheads and delivery mechanisms of Britain and America’s nuclear capabilities. They lead the UK-based consortium to develop a replacement to the UK Trident nuclear missile system. Many believe that the UK plans to replace the Trident system go against international obligations in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NNPT).

The NNPT calls for countries without nuclear weapons not to develop them, and countries with them to negotiate the elimination of their weapons. Negotiations since the treaty’s inception have concentrated on reducing stockpiles, not the elimination of nuclear weapons. In 1996, the International Court of Justice said that, “there is an obligation to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control”.

Trident’s proposed replacement is currently under preliminary work and will be developed at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) near Aldermaston. The AWE is currently privately owned, publicly funded, and two-thirds owned by American interests. The UK-based share is held by Serco Group.

Several members of the public stopped and signed a Christmas card for Lockheed Martin. The protesters’ festive greeting called for Lockheed Martin to invest their skills and finances in people and peace, as opposed to into weaponry. Many also signed petitions against the government’s proposed Trident replacement system, calling for the £75 billion to be invested elsewhere. Surveys on the British YouGov site indicate 65% of UK citizens would prefer the funds be spent elsewhere.

While protesters were leafleting on the street, Lockheed alerted police to the demonstration. According to police on the scene, Lockheed staff were alarmed by the sight of a bike helmet clipped to our reporter’s camera bag; citing this as evidence of intent to breach the peace. Police reassured Lockheed that no breach of the peace was likely to take place and left.

After leafleting for over an hour, activists moved to Carlisle Place, where Lockheed’s office is located, to present the Christmas card and sing. The building on Carlisle Place is an offices complex shared by several firms, previously owned by the Catholic Church. Lockheed Martin refused to allow a delegation of one activist and our reporter into the building to present the card to their reception. Nor was anyone prepared to accept it at the door. The card was accepted by the building manager, otherwise unaffiliated with Lockheed, on the assurance that it would be presented to the firm’s reception.

The building security guard and premises manager stayed at the entrance after accepting the card, to listen to the campaigner’s renditions of suitably modified festive songs and ensure free passage of visitors and staff in and out of the building. The activists started with a song to the tune of Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer, the alternative lyrics being, “Lockheed the big bomb maker Does some very nasty work Building new nuclear weapons Carlisle Place is where they lurk”.

While singing, one of the activists; dressed as a nuclear weapons inspector with a Santa mask, lay down on the pavement in front of the building, with flowers resting atop his black body bag. Singing continued for over fifteen minutes before activists said their final goodbyes to building staff and security cameras and retired to the nearby Stop the War Coalition offices for hot refreshments.

According to the Premises Manager, Lockheed Martin’s lease on their Carlisle Place offices expires in less than two years time. Lockheed will likely not renew the lease, instead relocating due to the location becoming public knowledge, and a target for further demonstrations.

More photographs of this action are available on Flickr.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

North America’s largest outdoor dog festival came back to Toronto last weekend for its fifth year. It ran from the 9th of June to the 10th of June at Toronto’s historical St. Lawrence Market. A Wikinews reporter was there on Sunday to report on some of the events that happened on the last day.

The “Woofstock” dog festival attracted as many as 140,000 people with their dogs. The festival had tons of accessories, sold under tents, to buy for dogs; food, toys, designer clothes, and more. About 400 vendors and exhibitors were there to promote their products, which also gave private dog companies or groups a chance to show their new products. The local SPCA and some animal rescues were under tents answering questions from visitors. While walking, all visitors could see the CN Tower and other very tall buildings.

One of the local TV stations, Citytv, was there. They hosted a live event at the show which was broadcast on TV. People came up on the stage and asked questions regarding their dogs and the host and co-host answered them.

A man, who called himself the “Chalk Master”, drew two pictures on pavement with chalk. He did it for free but donations were welcome. One was a picture of a girl’s head beside a dog’s head, and another with a wolf.

“Hello Humans. I’ve been invited here to provide your eyeball(s), with some pretty colours. I don’t get paid as I work this weekend strictly for tips… so, if you like what you see please make a DONATION. If you don’t like it simply reach into the pocket of the person next to you and give me their money. CHALK MASTER.”

A contest called “Canada’s top dog” had its own tent with a professional photographer taking pictures of dogs behind a white screen; the winning photo is to be published on the cover of “Puppy and dog basics” magazine.

Large “Gourmet” dog bones were also served from a cart and table.

Next year’s festival is expected to be bigger and better with even more attractions.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

A former vice president of the Bartlett Park District in Illinois, United States was sentenced to 30 months of probation and 200 hours of community service for possession of child pornography. Charles Rowe, a 61-year-old commissioner of the park district since 2001, was also fined US$1,000 and must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

The investigation against Mr. Rowe began in September 2007 when PayPal tipped law enforcement authorities of the illegal purchase. On July 22, 2008, Bartlett police officers and federal agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement executed a search warrant on his home and seized his computers. He was later arrested on December 10 and was charged with two Class 3 felony counts of possession of child pornography. He posted the minimum 10% of his US$100,000 bond and was released from the DuPage County jail the next day, when he effectively resigned from his post on the park district board. He pleaded guilty to one of the two counts on November 30, 2009.

The crime apparently did not use park district computers. Mr. Rowe was first elected to the board in 2001 and was reelected to a second six-year term in 2007. A background check done on him after his election revealed no previous criminal record.

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Macomb, New York Councilman Steve Burke took some time to speak with Wikinews about his campaign for the U.S. Democratic Party’s 2016 presidential nomination.

Burke, an insurance adjuster and farmer, was elected councilman in Brookhaven, New York in 1979. He left the town after being accused and found not guilty of bribery in the 1980s. Since 1987 he has served as Macomb councilman off-and-on and currently holds the post. From 1993 to 1996 and 1999 to 2002 he worked as chairman of the Democratic Party of St. Lawrence County, New York. Among his many political campaigns, Burke unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 1992 and recently attempted to run for U.S. Congress in 2014 but too many of his ballot petition signatures were found invalid. Burke filed with the Federal Election Commission to run for president in the 2016 election on September 18, 2015 and has qualified for the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire Primary.

With Wikinews reporter William S. Saturn?, Burke discusses his political background, his 2016 presidential campaign, and his policy proposals.

Monday, November 5, 2007

In the 1980’s and the 1990’s there were multiple allegations of sexual abuse of children or non-consenting adults in the context of Satanic rituals that has come to be known as The Satanic Panic. In the United States, the Kern County child abuse cases, McMartin preschool trial and the West Memphis 3 cases garnered worldwide media coverage. One case took place in Jordan, Minnesota, when children made allegations of manufacturing child pornography, ritualistic animal sacrifice, coprophagia, urophagia and infanticide, at which point the Federal Bureau of Investigation was alerted. Twenty-four adults were arrested and charged with acts of sexual abuse, child pornography and other crimes related to satanic ritual abuse; only three went to trial with two acquittals and one conviction. Supreme Court Justice Scalia noted in a discussion of the case, “[t]here is no doubt that some sexual abuse took place in Jordan; but there is no reason to believe it was as widespread as charged,” and cited the repeated, coercive techniques used by the investigators as damaging to the investigation.

One of the most visible Satanic organizations—though one that was never a suspect or charged in any of the Satanic Panic cases—is the Church of Satan, founded by Anton LaVey. Members of the Church, such as Peter H. Gilmore, Peggy Nadramia, Boyd Rice, Adam Parfrey, Diabolos Rex, and musician King Diamond, were active in media appearances to refute allegations of criminal activity and the FBI would later issue an official report debunking the criminal conspiracy theories of this time.

Gilmore feels Satanists are often misunderstood or misrepresented. LaVey’s teachings are based on individualism, self-indulgence, and “eye for an eye” morality, with influence from Friedrich Nietzsche and Ayn Rand; while its rituals and magic draw heavily from occultists such as Aleister Crowley. They do not worship—nor believe in—the Devil or a Christian notion of Satan. The word “Satan” comes from the Hebrew word for “adversary” and originated from the Abrahamic faiths, being traditionally applied to an angel. Church of Satan adherents see themselves as truth-seekers, adversaries and skeptics of the religious world around them.

On a windy October day in Central Park, Wikinews reporter David Shankbone sat down with the High Priest of the Church, Peter H. Gilmore, who has led LaVey’s congregation of Satanists since his passing in 1997 (he became the High Priest in 2001). They discussed the beliefs of the Church, current events, LaVey’s children and how Satanism applies to life and the world.

Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Recently, Finnish open-source video game developer Perttu Ahola discussed Minetest, his “longest ever project”, with Wikinews.

Started in October 2010, Minetest was an attempt by Ahola to create a sandbox game similar to Minecraft. Minecraft is a multi-platform commercial game, which was in alpha version when Ahola challenged himself to create something similar to it from scratch, he told Wikinews.

Minetest is an open-source game, which is free for anyone to download and play. It is written in the C++ programming language, and the source code is available on code-hosting site GitHub. According to Ahola, Minetest attempts to run on older hardware, with limited graphics, but to be accessible to more people: those who have outdated technology, and making it available for no cost. Minecraft, on the other hand, is a paid game, currently costing USD 26.95 for its computer version. Minecraft is currently owned by Microsoft, and performs poorly on older hardware.

A correspondent from French Wikinews contacted Perttu Ahola via Internet Relay Chat a few weeks ago, discussing Minecraft. This interview is built on top of the previous interview, as we take a deeper dive into knowing more about this free game which is about to turn ten years old in a few months.