Users have to simply enter their username into the program called ‘TweetGenie’ for it to give the personal information. The program analyzes data from the contents of the user’s last 200 tweets. Then, using its database with lists of words and sequences gathered from almost 3,000 Twitter users, compares the contents corresponding with different ages and specific genders, said Dong Nguyen, a doctoral student at the Twente University in the Netherlands.”The distinction between men and women is actually very stereotypical,” said Nguyen, “Men talk about football and women about their nails,” she said as quoted by AFP.Nguyen notes that younger people use a lot of emoticons, or the so-called ‘smiley faces’ to express their emotions and talk more about themselves. While older users use ‘longer words and sentences,’ including links and hashtags in their tweets.However the program is not exactly precise in its calculations, as it has a margin error of four years, which dips for younger users and increases when users are older.”We note that users use more uniform language from about 35 years and older. There are larger differences between users aged 15 and 20 then there are between users aged 45 and 55,” Nguyen said.According to the developers, ‘TweetGenie’ can correctly guess a tweeter’s sex in 85 per cent of cases.Currently the program can only be used by Dutch users. However, researchers at Twente, in collaboration with the Meertens Dutch Language and Culture Institute, are planning to update it for other languages and adapt it for social networks, such as Facebook.This newly-developed program may also have potential applications in various areas of marketing. … Read More
Air Force brochure on sexual assault advises victims to submit rather than resist attackers
The US Air Force – and the military in general – has a massive problem with sexual assault and they apparently think one of the solutions is telling potential victims to submit rather than resist their attackers. … Read More
Vote on US Internet sales tax bill nears: Marketplace Fairness Act
The U.S. Senate is poised to vote on the Marketplace Fairness Act — an innocuously named piece of legislation which is actually an initiative to implement a nation-wide sales tax. Essentially, the MFA doesn't create a federal sales tax, but provides states with a uniform framework, better allowing states governments… … Read More
Judge orders prosecution to prove that Bradley Manning intended to ‘aid the enemy’
The official tribunal against the 25-year-old private first class is not slated to start until June, but during pretrial hearings on Wednesday morning, Col. Denise Lind ruled that the government has a burden to prove that the soldier aimed to inflect harm on the United States when he sent materials to the whistleblower site.Reporting from the media center at Ft. Meade, Maryland, independent journalist Alexa O’Brien writes that the United States government must now prove that Pfc. Manning acted “with reason to believe such info could be used to the injury of the US or to advantage of any foreign nation.” By doing so, Lind is making it much harder for the government to convict Manning on the most serious of the charges: aiding the enemy. If convicted on this count, Manning could theoretically be sentenced to die. Prosecutors, however, have said they would settle for life in prison.Although Manning admitted his role and pleaded guilty to a number of the specifications presented by the military this year, Army prosecutors were not satisfied with his plea. During that February hearing, the military said they would continue to go after Manning in hopes of prosecuting him under the Espionage Act of 1917 and UCMJ 104 — the Uniform Code of Military Justice statute of “aiding the enemy.”With Wednesday’s decision, the prosecution will now be tasked with convincing Lind that Manning went to WikiLeaks with the intent of causing harm. The Army has already requested that a US NAVY Seal present during the execution of Osama bin Laden take the stand during the court-martial in order to attest that the slain al-Qaeda leader had WikiLeaks documents attributed to Manning in his possession at the time of his death.Manning has been held in pre-trial confinement since May 2010 when he was apprehended in Iraq on suspicion of providing WikiLeaks with a trove of government documents. Only this February, though, did the soldier admit to leaking more than 250,000 State Department diplomatic cables, activity reports pertaining to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and video footage of a US helicopter firing at civilians and journalists in Baghdad.The documents, Manning said, were of “enormous value to the American public” and contained “two of the most significant documents of our time” — namely the Iraq and Afghan diaries, field reports written during battle that soldier said would lift the “fog of war.” … Read More
Air Force officer’s sex assault sentence thrown out by commander despite jury’s decision
Lt. Col. James Wilkerson, a pilot who was also the inspectorgeneral of the 31stFighter Wing at Aviano Air Base inItaly, was found guilty of aggravated sexual assault and sentencedto one year in military prison in November. His charges included“abusive sexual contact, aggravated sexual assault and threeinstances of conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman,”the Air Force Times reported.But last month, Lt. Gen. Craig A. Franklin, commander of theThird Air Force base, dismissed the sexual assault conviction –even though there was plenty of evidence of the defendant’s guilt.On Feb. 26, the case was dismissed and Franklin even recommendedWilkerson for a promotion, the New York Times reported.The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) allows commanders tooverturn military convictions – a law that has been a source ofoutrage, especially among victims of sexual assault. The victim inthe Wilkerson case, a civilian physician’s assistant, was so upsetwhen she heard about the dismissal that she reached out to anadvocacy group.“She was devastated,” Nancy Parrish, president of ProtectOur Defenders, told the Huffington Post. “Franklin hadn’tbothered to speak with her as a part of his decision and he hasn’treached out to her since… Just when she felt like she was gettingher life back, this happened.”In response the overturn of the conviction, which has sparkedanger even among lawmakers, a group of senators are preparing toannounce legislation that would amend the code.”What this case has done is it has opened a window into whatI think are some very weird provisions of the UCMJ, and they arethe kind of provisions that are offensive to most Americans,”Sen. Claire McCaskill, who will announce the legislation, told TheHuffington Post. “The notion that this convening authority canoverturn a jury decision for any or no reason at all.”Angered by the case that allowed Wilkerson to get away withsexual assault, senators of the Armed Services Committee haveorganized the Senate’s first hearing on military sexual assault innearly 10 years, where military officials will face toughquestioning about the case.Amid widespread criticism from senators about Franklin’sdecision to overturn the sexual assault conviction, DefenseSecretary Chuck Hagel this week announced that he would review theUCMJ provisions – but that he lacks the authority to overrule theAir Force general’s decision.”Under the [UCMJ], the convening authority’s action is afinal decision,” Hagel wrote in response to a letter from Sens.Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H). “Thedecision of the convening authority cannot be changed.”But although Hagel said the decision cannot be reversed, headmitted that it would be worth examining the law that permitted itin the first place.”I believe this case does raise a significant questionwhether it is necessary or appropriate to place the conveningauthority in the position of having the responsibility to reviewthe findings and sentence of a court-martial,” Hagel wrote.With Wednesday’s hearing about sexual assaults in the military,the Senate Armed Services subcommittee will bring further review toa case that has already garnered national attention and promptedlawmakers to take action.The issue sheds light not only on the UCMJ provision, but alsoon the US military culture that makes sexual assault cases sorecurrent. There were 3,191 reported cases of sexual assault in themilitary in 2011, but according to Secretary of Defense Leon E.Panetta, the actual number could be as high as 19,000. Documentsconnected to the Wilkerson case describe testimonies by women whosay that the culture among Air Force fighter pilots encouragesmisogynistic behavior. And with the ability for lieutenant colonelsto dismiss any and all charges, military personnel are able to getaway with their crimes.“For women who have been sexually assaulted, it means thattheir bosses decide whether charges are brought against theirassailants, and that information about their assaults is shared intheir workplaces,” writes James Risen for the New YorkTimes.And for the victim in the Wilkerson case, going back to workafter being assaulted by one of the military’s top leaders isintimidating and disheartening.“The defense did everything they could to drag my name andcharacter through the mud. I still went to work and did myjob,” she wrote in a statement for the Senate hearing. “Whatreally scares me is that (the perpetrator) will remain in aposition of military leadership. Really? Leadership?” … Read More
US military officer angrily reacts to Afghan incident
http://www.youtube.com/v/iqp8OyTbVbA?version=3&f=videos&app=youtube_gdata See the article here: US military officer angrily reacts to Afghan incident
Chavez returns home in cloud of mystery
CARACAS, Venezuela — It’s been two days since President Hugo Chavez’s return to Venezuela from cancer treatment in Havana and the crowds have dispersed from the capital’s military hospital.
In this rough neighborhood, vendors sell freshly-squeezed orange juice and empanadas to passersby just like every other day, while visible security at the medical complex is only slightly tighter.
After more than two months of silence from Chavez since his operation and resulting complications, this is not the triumphant homecoming Venezuelans are used to from their histrionic leader.
In July 2011, on returning after a similar three-week absence for cancer treatment, Chavez stood at the balcony of his Miraflores presidential palace, clad in his olive green army uniform and red beret, and silently lapped up the applause for a full five minutes.
“It’s a miracle I am here,” he said to the crowd below, who screamed his name in a passion usually reserved for rock stars. “We have started to beat the evil incubated inside my body.”
