News of the Weird - this just in!

[PeteC]

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Confused Xerox copiers rewrite documents, expert finds

Photocopiers made by Xerox are changing numbers on documents, a German computer scientist has discovered.

David Kriesel found that copies he made of construction plans had altered room dimensions.

Other users have replicated the problem, which has been blamed on faults with compression software used by several Xerox models.

The company has not yet issued a fix for the problem, but it told the BBC it was preparing a statement.

Mr Kriesel said he worried that numbers could be altered on invoices and other important documents.

He questioned whether incorrect figures could leave a company liable to legal action.

Niri Shan, a partner at London-based law firm Taylor Wessing, told the BBC it could raise interesting legal implications.

"The person who provided the figures would be liable [for any issues]. Then the question would be, could they turn round to the photocopying company and say, 'Hold on a minute, this is your fault'?

"Often in commercial contracts, the manufacturer may have limitations of liability on consequential loss."

In his tests, Mr Kriesel found that often the number "6" would be turned into an "8", and vice versa, with other numbers being affected too.

One room on his copied plans had its dimensions shrunk from 21.11m to 14.13m.
Substitute figures

He said the anomaly is caused by Jbig2, an image compression standard.

Image compression is typically used in scanners and copiers to make file sizes of scans smaller.

Jbig2 would substitute figures it thought were the same, meaning similar numbers were being wrongly swapped.

Mr Kriesel said the two models affected were the Xerox Workcentre 7535 and 7556.

However, since posting details of the fault online, several other users have come forward with problems on other machines.

[Big Boy]

Did you do anything special to copy it?

[dtaai-maai]

Mr Kriesel said the two models affected were the Xerox Workcentre 7535 and 7556.

However, depending on the copier used, that might be 7636, 7585, 7886, 7558 or any combination thereof...

[Bristolian]

Photocopiers are dumb. It is impossible for an imaging system to change anything. Only the quality of the imaged document can change.

The machine in question must be more, it must be a printer using software for variable data. Xerox are notorious for hiding the way that they compile the data to be printed in " docu-blobs" excess the spelling.

The rest of the industry spends fortunes on breaking their codes and software to make it comparable with suppliers and partners that they do not recognise.

[ridgeydidge.au]

wow, the implications for say engineering a bridge, or a building a nuclear reactor for eg are gob smacking if these changes go unnoticed. I only wish they someone used the same machine for recording my sat scores and I would have ended up in a less responsible career!

[PeteC]

Did you do anything special to copy it?

Nope, just select, copy, paste, and delete the junk text.

Sometimes I have problems when a right click on the mouse will not display the copy option. I then need to go to EDIT at the top and select copy from there. This didn't happen in this case but thinking it may be the problem you had. Pete

[Big Boy]

Problem is similar, but my problem comes when I can't always do the paste part.

[PeteC]

You'll never guess what this is about. At least I didn't initially. Pete

_69799001_69798630.jpg (24.99 KiB) Viewed 694 times

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-24058118

[STEVE G]

The UK's oddest days out
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24080506

Learn about the Isle of Arran nudist beach, the National Lawnmower museum and other delights.

[Nereus]

The Man with the Biggest Testicles

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/entert ... testicles/

JACQUI BAHR, The West Australian
Updated September 25, 2013, 1:50 pm tweet0EmailPrintThe Man with the Biggest Testicles


TODAY, 9.30PM, SEVEN/GWN7

Finish your dinner and prepare yourself for the opening shot about 30 seconds in, when the starring scrotum is introduced sans covering in all its wrinkled glory.

Las Vegan Warren Wesley Jnr's scrotum has swollen to an incapacitating 60kg mass. His penis has been buried (think of an obese person's belly-button) and it's hard to walk.

In public he covers them with an upside-down hoody. Once you get over the initial shock and comedy, you will feel incredibly sorry for Warren.

His story highlights the failings of the American healthcare system as he drags himself around trying to find a doctor who'll operate.

When he does, the resulting surgery is quite interesting, if you can stomach it.

[Nereus]

Woman killed having sex on railway tracks

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wo ... ay-tracks/

A moment of passion between a Ukrainian man and woman has ended in tragedy after the woman was killed and the man's legs torn off by a train as they made love on a railway track, police say.

The middle-aged woman was killed instantly, while her partner lost both legs and was hospitalised after the pair were hit by a switcher locomotive, the country's Interior Ministry said on it's website.

The 41-year-old man reportedly told police in the town of Zaporozhye that he and his girlfriend could not contain their desire for one another.

"Returning from our friends', my girlfriend and I could not overcome our passionate nature and wanted to feel a sense of thrill near a railway track," he said.

According to a police spokesperson it is believed the pair were drunk at the time of the accident.

The ministry has not released the names of the victims.

[Nereus]

Transsexual euthanised after sex-change operation

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wo ... operation/

A Belgian transsexual has died by lethal injection administered by a doctor after a sex-change operation left him "disgusted" with himself.

Nathan Verhelst, 44, died after choosing euthanasia on the grounds of "unbearable psychological suffering", Britain's Daily Mail reports.

Mr Verhelst's lethal injection was administered by a doctor who last year also ended the lives of congenitally deaf twins who were also going blind.

Mr Verhelst was born a girl, Nancy, but began hormone therapy in 2009 to become a man.

The hormone therapy was followed by surgery, to remove his breasts and construct a penis.

But he said he was "disgusted" by the outcome.

The Daily Mail reports that he told Belgium's Het Laatse Nieuws: "I was ready to celebrate my new birth. But when I looked in the mirror, I was disgusted with myself.

"My new breasts did not match my expectations and my new penis had symptoms of rejection. I do not want to be... a monster."

His family only learned of his death when they received a farewell letter.

There is fierce debate in Belgium about euthanasia. The number of deaths by euthanasia increased 25 per cent last year, from 1,133 in 2011 to 1,432 in 2012.

Euthanasia is legal in Belgium if people can makes their wishes clear and they are suffering unbearable pain, according to a doctor.

[STEVE G]

Living Ohio man Donald Miller ruled 'legally dead'


A US man declared dead after he disappeared nearly three decades ago cannot now be declared officially alive, though he has returned home and is in good health, a judge has ruled.

Donald Miller of Ohio left behind a wife, two children and significant debt when he fled his home in 1986.

He was declared legally dead in 1994, then re-emerged in 2005 and attempted to apply for a driving licence.

A judge this week found death rulings cannot be overturned after three years.

Judge Allan Davis handed down the ruling in Hancock County, Ohio, probate court on Monday, calling it a "strange, strange situation", according to media reports.

"We've got the obvious here. A man sitting in the courtroom, he appears to be in good health,'' he said, finding that he was prevented by state law from declaring Mr Miller legally alive.

"I don't know where that leaves you, but you're still deceased as far as the law is concerned."

Mr Miller, 61, testified that he fled his home in 1986 after he lost his job, leaving behind his wife, Robin, and two children.

By 1994, Mr Miller's back child support payments amounted to more than $25,000 (£15,646) and the family had heard no word from him.

With Mr Miller declared dead, his "widow" was entitled to Social Security death benefits to support their children.

As Mr Miller remains legally deceased, Ms Miller does not have to return those funds to the government.

It remains unclear if she would have been able to collect back child support had he been declared living.

Ms Miller's lawyer said his client was "satisfied" with the ruling on Thursday, and did not harbour ill will toward her ex-husband.

Mr Miller's "death" came as a surprise to him when he re-emerged in 2005. He was later told of the matter by his parents.

"It kind of went further than I ever expected it to," Mr Miller told the media. "I just kind of took off, ended up in different places."

Mr Miller has 30 days to appeal against the Ohio court's ruling, and may be able to challenge the US Social Security Administration in federal court, according to media reports.

[sandman67]

Meet the new Fukishima Industries mascot - Fukuppy

fuku.jpg (41.74 KiB) Viewed 539 times

No.... I aint making this up

TOKYO —

Meet the newest mascot at Fukushima Industries. This cute, winged egg is the perfect face for a company that manufactures the kind of industrial refrigerators, blast chillers, freezers and refrigerated showcases that you might find in a restaurant or a supermarket.

The name they chose for this little egghead, though, probably needed a bit more work…

The image below reads: “Hi! Nice to meet you! I’m–” Now wait just one second, can we really post this on such a family-friendly website??

That’s right, the new face of Fukushima Industries is named “Fukuppy,”

http://www.japantoday.com/category/arts ... unate-name

But hey.... disaster is a little less bitter with some hilarity thrown in, and at least it aint Hitler Chicken like it probably would be in Thailand

[PeteC]

Rare eggs in undies smuggler nobbled I had to really think about this title for a few minutes!

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/3 ... r-arrested