Baarle-Nassau is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands.

It is closely linked, with complicated borders, to the Belgian exclaves of Baarle-Hertog. Baarle-Hertog consists of 26 separate pieces of land. Apart from the main piece (called Zondereigen) located north of the Belgian town of Merksplas, there are 22 Belgian exclaves in the Netherlands and three other pieces on the Dutch-Belgian border. There are also six Dutch exclaves located within the largest Belgian exclave, one within the second-largest, and an eighth within Zondereigen. The smallest Belgian parcel, H22, measures 2,632 square metres.

The border's complexity results from a number of equally complex medieval treaties, agreements, land-swaps and sales between the Lords of Breda and the Dukes of Brabant. Generally speaking, predominantly agricultural or built environments became constituents of Brabant, other parts devolved to Breda. These distributions were ratified and clarified as a part of the borderline settlements arrived at during the Treaty of Maastricht in 1843.

credited to wikipedia

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A ghoulish image of the Northern Lights - the natural phenomenon also known as Aurora Borealis - has been taken in Norway.

Photographer Niels Giroud took the snaps in Mo i Rana, just south of the Arctic Circle.

He said: "The northern light activity here has been very low for a long period, but we finally had both auroras and a clear sky.

"The show lasted only for a couple of minutes but was beyond expectations, with fast moving curtains of green and red auroras filling the whole sky."

The name Aurora Borealis comes from the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for north wind, Boreas.

The shimmering waves and swirls, caused by charged particles colliding in the earth's atmosphere, most often occurs from September to October and from March to April and is visible in the northern hemisphere.

Its southern counterpart, the Aurora Australis – Latin for South – is visible from Antarctica, South America and Australasia.

Recently astronauts travelling on the International Space Station and during missions on board space shuttles have shown that nature's light show is clearly visible miles outside the Earth's atmosphere.

Both are caused by an interaction between the Earth's magnetic field and solar wind. Charged particles from the magnetosphere, mostly electrons, collide with atoms and molecules from the upper atmosphere at altitudes of 50 miles, causing the eerie light.

Collisions in the atmosphere cause the electrons to take quantum leaps, converting their energy into a visible light.

The luminous waves are usually red or green, created from atomic oxygen, but nitrogen can cause pink or blue auroras and helium gives off a purple glow. Neon is responsible for the rare orange flares.

The auroras' ghostly glow has proved the inspiration for literature and film, including Philip Pullman's novel, Northern Lights.

credited to telegraph.co.uk

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It might just be for the for the hobbyists, but Apple announced on Thursday that version 3.0 of its Apple TV software is now available for download.

According to Apple, the free software features a redesigned menu that the company hopes will make it easier to find the content users are looking for.

Perhaps the biggest news from the update is the addition of Apple's recently announced iTunes Extras and iTunes LP. The former gives users the opportunity to access special features like deleted scenes and cast interviews in various movies in the iTunes Store. iTunes LP allows users to view content related to specific songs, including interactive lyrics, performance videos, and other offerings.

Apple also announced that users can finally listen to Internet radio stations on the Apple TV. They can listen to several stations, including WCBS, K-Rock, and others. The company also added Genius Mixes, which lets users "listen to up to 12 endless mixes of songs that go great together, automatically generated from their iTunes library." iPhoto users will now have access to iPhoto Events. Apple also threw in its facial-recognition feature iPhoto Faces.

Overall, the update seems rather iterative. As an Apple TV owner, I was hoping for something ground-breaking. Instead, Apple has added a few extras and Internet radio. They're nice to have. But they certainly pale in comparison to my hopes for bigger and better things from this product. For now, it seems that the Apple TV is still just "a hobby."

Apple TV owners can download the free software now.

credited to CNET

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From the briny depths of the South Pacific has come a massive ... something, which has parked itself on the stony shoreline of a Temuka beach.

Rose Fraser was walking along Browns Beach yesterday morning when she spotted the lump of stuff.

"I first saw it from a distance and I thought: 'That's a big white rock on the shore line ... that wasn't there four days ago'." As she got closer to the thing she thought it could be a piece of driftwood – a really big bit of driftwood – but upon reaching it, Miss Fraser's thoughts turned from sea to sky.

"I must admit, I thought: 'Heck, this is an alien'. It looks like it's got big ribs coming out of it, but it looks like they could be tentacles, so I don't know."

Cautiously, and ready to run should the thing suddenly leap into life, Miss Fraser lobbed a rock at it, then prodded it with a stick. Whatever it was, it sat there, not moving. All it did was emit a slight odour.

After Miss Fraser rang The Timaru Herald, a photo of the woolly, stringy object was sent to the Department of Conservation in Wellington, who sent it to Niwa and Te Papa. It was also sent to Otago University's whale experts.

After a flurry of emails a consensus was reached.

It was the top – essentially the stuffing – of a sperm whale's head.

As the blob was soft tissue, compartmentalised and big, it was likely to be the large spermaceti organ and "junk" of a sperm whale, probably male.

Those structures deal with sound beam focusing in sperm whales and related whales and dolphins and were also filled with a straw-coloured oily wax called spermaceti or case oil.

It is not yet known what will happen to the blob of whale.

credited to stuff.co.nz

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In a recent US Military run competition, yet another iPhone 'app' was developed.

Just when you thought you'd seen every iPhone application possible, an amazing automotive app raises its head.

German university researchers have released a clip showing a vehicle being driven remotely using one of the clever phones. We're not talking a model vehicle but a full-sized passenger van.

While the iPhone controlled car has been under development for some time (it was created in part to contest a US military driverless car challenge) researchers have just recently published images of it in action on YouTube.

The clip shows an iPhone screen featuring a steering wheel and brake and accelerator buttons.

To move the car forward, the user presses the accelerator button. To stop the car, the operator pushes the brake button. To move and steer the car, the operator tilts the iPhone.

See the iPhone remote controlled car in action.

credited to stuff.co.nz and youtube user Appirion

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Think you know all there is to know about these goliaths of the ancient world? Heritage Key picks out ten key facts about pyramids.

1. There are actually 118 pyramids in Egypt. Sure, you might have heard of Khufu's, or Khafre's – or even Djoser's incredible Step Pyramid at Saqqara, the first known pyramid ever built. But what about the ones which don't grab the headlines: Amenemhat III's Black Pyramid of Dashur looks more like Ayer's Rock than an Egyptian tomb, and Sahure's fine mausoleum in Abusir once stood 47m high.

2. The 118th pyramid was unearthed by Egypt's most famous archaeologist Zahi Hawass, as he and his team uncovered the 4,300-year-old tomb of the 6th Dynasty queen Sesheshet in November last year. The team had been searching for the impressive Old Kingdom pyramid for over two years, and it's the third known 'subsidiary' tomb of Sesheshet's husband, Pharaoh Teti.

3. Millions of people know about the Giza necropolis, but have you ever heard of the Pyramid of Djedefre? This largely ruined pyramid Egypt's northernmost, and was commissioned by the son of Khufu, the pharaoh who constructed the largest pyramid in the world. Some have speculated that it was once as tall as Menkaure's pyramid, the third largest of the great triumvirate at Giza.

4. Khufu's Great Pyramid may be, well, great - but it's also the only surviving ancient wonder of the world, and the oldest at around 4,600 years old. Other staggering numbers for the monument are that it includes 2.3 million limestone blocks and weighs 5.9 million tonnes. Oh, and it held the title of tallest man-made structure for around 4,000 years at 146m, until Lincoln Cathedral (160m) surpassed it in 1311.

5. Staying on Khufu's masterpiece, up to 100,000 labourers built the behemoth according to Greek historian Herodotus. This is more than the entire population of the world's biggest cities at the time, and many think Herodotus may have been a bit overexcited - he was going on the words of friends; and lived almost 2,000 years after the pyramid was built. Modern experts place the number nearer 20,000 – still a large enough number of builders in one place.

6. Even the builders had tombs: When an American tourist was thrown from her horse in Giza in 1990, a stone the horse stumbled on turned out to be the tip of an enormous builders' necropolis. Zahi Hawass' team would subsequently unearth over 600 tombs. One of them, the 'egg dome' tomb, is now an attraction in its own right.

7. One of King Sneferu's three pyramids, at the royal necropolis of Dashur, is significantly bent from around halfway up at a shallower angle. It creates a unique shape for the empire, and experts think it may have been done simply because the existing angle began to weaken the building. Other think it may have been hurried, as Sneferu's death was approaching. Its name today? The Bent Pyramid, of course.

8. Pyramid building spread southwards in the later years of Egypt's cultural zenith: just look at the Nile-based Kushite capital of Meroe, located some hundred miles north-east of Khartoum, Sudan. Its own beautiful network of small, steep pyramids was created between the 4th century BC and 3rd century AD. Kushite kings ruled Egypt throughout its 25th Dynasty.

9. Pyramids don't stop at the Sahara. The step pyramids of the Mayas in Central America are some of the world's most recognisable and breath-taking mad-made monuments, and recent years have seen the alleged 'discovery' of an alternative Valley of the Pyramids in Bosnia. If deemed to be a pyramid, the Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun would become the largest such structure of the ancient world, eclipsing Khufu's opus by some way.

10. The excavation of pyramids doesn't stop with dusty shirts and beaten trowels – robots are making some of the biggest strides in Egypt today. A Japanese model has been searching inside the Osiris shaft below Khafre's pyramid, whereas a University of Leeds-developed 'RoboScarab' (copyright Ann) is making its way through the mysterious shafts of Khufu's Great Pyramid.

credited to heritage-key.com

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The fossilised skull of a giant sea monster has been found off England's southern coast.

The fossil came from a pliosaur, a ferocious predator that lived in the oceans 150 million years ago.

The skull was discovered in Dorset by a collector and measures 2.4m in length. The discovery was announced on Tuesday.

Scientists believe the creature would have been about 16 metres long.

David Martill, a paleontologist from the University of Portsmouth, says pliosaurs had short necks and huge, crocodile-like heads with powerful jaws and a set of razor-sharp teeth.

He said they used paddle-like limbs to propel their bodies through the water and were generally carnivores.

The skull will be put on display in a Dorset museum.

credited to stuff.co.nz

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Verizon Wireless customers will soon be able to get their hands on the much anticipated Google Android phone called The Droid.

The companies officially unveiled the device at an event here. Like most smartphones of its class, the phone will cost $199 with a two-year contract. And it will be available to consumers starting November 6. Customers can pre-order the device now.

The device offers voice-activated search that allows users to speak a query and the Google-powered search engine will deliver Web results or results from the device such as contacts and music and photos. The voice search also works with the new turn-by-turn directions with Google Maps. It allows users to view geographic information, such as My Maps, Wikipedia entries, and transit lines on the map.

John Stratton, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless, said he had used the navigation service just yesterday on a trip to Arkansas. He said he simply spoke "gas station" into the phone and it quickly found nearby gas stations. When he clicked on one of them, it activated the turn-by-turn directions and he was given spoken directions right from the phone.

While the new Droid is loaded with lots of cool Android apps and has access to the more than 10,000 applications available in the Android Market, it does not have many of Verizon's branded services. For example, Verizon's VCast music service is missing in this version. But Stratton said that will be added eventually. And the phone does not have Verizon's VZ Navigator, since it comes bundled with the Google Android navigation.

The good news is that some of the services, such as navigation that Verizon charges for on devices running VZNavigator, will be free to users of the Droid.

In terms of the specifications, they are exactly what had been expected thanks to multiple leaks about the product. It has a Android 2.0, 5-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. It has aWebkit HTML 5 browser, and it's powered by a 550MHz processor and a 1,400mAh lithium ion battery offering 6.4 hours of continuous talk time and up to 11 days of standby time.

And as expected, the device is 6.6 inches tall by 2.4 inches wide by 0.5 inch thick and weighs 6 ounces. And it has a 3.7-inch, 16:9 touch screen with 480x854-pixel resolution. It also has a 5.5mm headphone jack, a Micro-USB port, and comes with a 16GB microSD card.

It's clear that the Droid is targeted at people looking for an alternative to the iPhone. And Verizon is planning the biggest media campaign it has ever launched for the device. But Stratton said that company is not going to specifically target the iPhone in its marketing. As a sort of pre-Droid ad campaign, Verizon spoofed iPhone advertising.

"We had some fun here with the iPhone stuff," he said. "The teaser was to wake up the market. And I've got to give Apple credit. They revolutionized the industry as a new player and that's extraordinary. But we have to show that iPhone is not untouchable."

Instead, Stratton said that Verizon will focus its advertising more on what the Droid can do rather than what other devices can't do.

Current Analysis analyst Avi Greengart said he is impressed with the new device, and he expects it to shake up the market.

Specifically, he said it's important that the device matches the iPhone in terms of on-board storage. And even though it doesn't come with Verizon's VCast music service, it does work with Amazon's music and media service. And users can also manually sync their unprotected iTunes music or other MP3 music to the device. But at least for now, there is no media synchronization. Stratton said that is coming, but right now the iPhone trumps the Droid in terms of ease of use in getting music and media on the device.

But the other key aspect of the device and services offered is the fact that the navigation service is bundled into the device and data service for free. Sprint Nextel has bundled its navigation service into its data services for a while, but so far it hasn't become a competitive advantage. And phone maker Nokia has spent billions acquiring companies and developing its mapping services, and it doesn't offer its navigation service for free. But the Android 2.0 operating system could change that.

Motorola and Verizon are also offering an accessory that mounts the phone in the car. When the phone is in this mount, it recognizes it is in the car and it provides an car friendly user interface.

"This is going to be disruptive to other smartphones and personal navigation devices," Greengart said.

But the big question is whether or not consumers will flock to the Droid. Several new smartphones are launching right before the holiday season, including additional new Android devices and Research In Motion's new Blackberry Storm 2, which is also exclusively on Verizon's network.

credited to news.cnet.com

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Lego’s Christmas toy plans were kept so secret that their British inventor says it was like working for the CIA.

The Danish company behind the ubiquitous brightly coloured building block toys released their latest product, the rebuildable Lego board games, in July.

They were invented by Cephas Howard, a British games designer. But his innovative plans were kept secret for three years, known only to six designers who worked in a high-security basement office in the Lego HQ in Billund, Denmark.

Mr Howard says that the move to Lego was like joining a secretive Government agency.

He told The Mirror: “I’d just landed my dream job working for Lego but I had to swear not to tell a living soul.

“I couldn’t even tell my wife when I got home. I think she wondered if my Lego story was a front and I was actually working for the CIA.”

The bunker-like Concept Lab where Mr Howard works is run by director Flemming Ostergard. He says the security is necessary.

He said: “News travels fast in the toy industry.

“The fear wasn’t that our competitors would create a better game, but that they’d create a worse one, so when we brought out our games kids would have been put off and wouldn’t buy ours either.”

The team originally came up with 300 different Lego board game concepts, but whittled it down to just 10. Since their release they have become one of the UK’s best-selling games and are on track to be this Christmas’s must-have toys.

credited to telegraph.co.uk

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Microsoft Windows 7, being introduced today in New York, appears to be the operating system that businesses have been waiting for. Some 76 percent of those surveyed plan to deploy the new OS, with 30 percent deploying before mid-2010.

The study, conducted by Information Technology Intelligence Corp. and Sunbelt Software, suggests an adoption rate not matched since the introduction of Windows 2000, the acceptance of which was driven by Y2K fears.

The survey results, released this week, also found that 78 percent of those who tested a beta copy of Windows 7 had a good or excellent experience with it. This strongly suggests that Microsoft has finally found the "sweet spot" that Windows Vista so widely missed.

These results are wonderful news for Microsoft, whose "less-is-more" response to the Windows Vista mess appears to have impressed business customers. Today's formal introduction, however, is a bit of an anticlimax as everyone, besides home users, who wanted to see Windows 7 have had their chance already.

The Windows 7 open beta process seems to have generated good buzz for the new operating system and perhaps a little boredom at this point. There does not seem to be too much left for Microsoft to say about the new OS, though Steve Ballmer's announcement remarks may still contain a surprise or two.

For those who don't plan to deploy Windows 7, its biggest competitor is Windows XP, because of its satisfied customers, and companies who cannot afford the investment at this time. There is, after all, still a global recession going on, which makes the survey's high adoption rate even more surprising. It will be interesting to see how many companies are actually able to follow through on their Windows 7 intentions.

Reading between the lines, the survey results seem to bode well for hardware manufacturers, who have suffered as customers held on to Windows XP machines rather than upgrade to Windows Vista.

My take: This is just a single survey, but analyst Rob Enderle believes it to be credible and I agree, if only because it's not Microsoft-sponsored. The results are better for Windows 7 than I would have guessed, but seem to reflect a tremendous amount of pent-up demand after the XP-era lasted many more years than expected.

I am not ready, based on this survey or others that I have seen, to declare Windows 7 to be an incredible success. That will come when business customers begin writing large checks, but it does appear that Window 7 has finally put the ghost of Windows Vista to rest.

credited to pcworld.com

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When scientists announced in May the discovery of a fossil which showed an evolutionary “missing link” between humans and apes, experts were skeptical the fossil was even a close human relative.

A new analysis reported in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature further supports these doubts, finding instead that the fossil, dubbed Ida, is about as far removed from the monkey-ape-human ancestry as a primate could be.

Ida is the skeleton of a 47 million-year-old creature discovered in Germany, and is the subject of a book entitled "The Link: Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor." The fossil represents a previously unknown primate species called Darwinius.

Although the scientists who announced Ida’s discovery said they didn’t claim Darwinius was a direct ancestor of monkeys, apes and humans, they did maintain that it belongs in the same evolutionary grouping and that the fossil showed what an ancestor of that era might have looked like.

In the latest analysis, Erik Seiffert of Stony Brook University in New York and his colleagues compared 360 anatomical features of 117 living and extinct primate species, and then constructed a family tree.

They concluded that Darwinius does not belong in the same primate category as monkeys, apes and humans, and falls instead into the other major grouping, which includes lemurs.

Other experts agreed with Seiffert’s analysis.

"This is a rigorous analysis based on many features," Yale anthropology professor Eric Sargis told the Associated Press, adding that he’d found the original argument of the Darwinius researchers unpersuasive.

Seiffert’s analysis did not come as a surprise, he said.

In fact, it confirms what most scientists already believed, AP quoted David Begun, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Toronto, as saying.

Jorn Hurum of the Natural History Museum in Oslo, Norway, one of the authors of the original Ida report, said he embraced the latest analysis.

Darwinius is an example of a group of primates known as adapoids, and "we are happy to start the scientific discussion" about what Ida means regarding adapoids’ position in the primate family tree, Hurum told the AP.

credited to redorbit.com

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Google will soon launch a music initiative, which the company at this point is calling a One Box for music, to offer song previews, artist bios, graphics, and video. The search engine, however, will not be selling downloads or offering subscriptions.

TechCrunch reported on Tuesday night that Google is entering the music business but said the search engine would launch a music service. That's not really what the One Box for music is, said sources familiar with the deal.

The music initiative, which is expected to be announced sometime next week, will offer people a means to buy songs by featuring links to music sites Lala and iLike, according to the sources. All four of the top record companies are on board, the sources said.

The initiative is coming out of Google Search and is designed to organize everything a music fan may need when searching online for a favorite artist, the sources said.

The way One Box will work is that a person who keys in the names U2 or Coldplay, for example, will find a thumbnail photo of the artists, background information, as well as a listing of the music that they can preview, according to the sources.

Stephen Shankland, my colleague at CNET News, tells me that One Box is the term Google uses to describe a "gussied up search engine result." The company "packages stuff up into a nice little container that's got more than a line of blue hyperlinked text," he said.

There are One Box results for video, financial information, and the weather. The kind of results for this version of a One Box for music would appear to a fuller offering.

A Google representative said Wednesday: "We don't comment on rumor or speculation."

Regardless, the idea sounds like an important step into music for Google and should certainly boost the prospects of Lala and iLike, which was recently acquired by MySpace.

Google has an opportunity to grab music fans who may be looking for information on artists before they land on any of the top music services. It gives the search engine an opportunity to harness some of this traffic as well as steer it in the direction of Google's choice.

credited to news.cnet.com

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10. The Coliseum

The Coliseum was probably built, as many great Roman buildings were, in celebration of a military triumph. It is estimated that the Coliseum held between 50,000 and 80,000 spectators, putting it on par with many modern sports stadiums, but it was an engineering marvel. Over 157-feet tall and 620-feet long, the Coliseum was an enormous undertaking, even for the Romans and their advanced engineering abilities. They introduced arches and vaults to give the building extra strength, and below the arena was a complex system of tunnels, elevators and even hydraulic mechanisms. The Roman Empire embarked upon this longest construction project to create a physical symbol of the glory of Rome.

AD 70 - AD 80 Total time: 10 Years

9. Parthenon

The Parthenon was built in the 5th century B.C. and sits on the Acropolis hill above Athens. This longest construction project was built as a temple to the Goddess Athena. Greek architecture was hugely influential in Roman building and the neoclassical architecture of later centuries. Some studies have suggested that the Parthenon was built to mirror the Golden Ratio, a mathematical constant which is believed to be the ideal of aesthetic beauty. This level of sophistication was unparalleled in the architecture of this era. It was regarded as the finest Doric temple in ancient Greece, and belongs on our list of top 10 longest construction projects because it was built with such detail and accuracy at a time when some societies still lived in caves.

447 BC - 430 BC Total time: 17 years

8. The Great Pyramid of Giza

These ancient Egyptian monuments are among the most famous buildings in the world. The largest on this site was built for the Pharaoh Khufu around 2,550 B.C., taking approximately 20 years to complete, and was the tallest man-made structure in the world until the building of the Eiffel Tower. The Great Pyramid represented the apogee of Egyptian building prowess, and were the culmination of many previous pyramid designs. An astonishing feat of geometric accuracy, this longest construction project aligns perfectly with the stars, and they are accurate to within millimeters. Debate still rages over how they were built, as the Egyptians lacked tools such as pulleys to help move the immense 2.5-ton stones.

2580 BC - 2560 BC Total time: 20 years

7. Sacsayhuamán

Built overlooking the capitol of the Incan Empire in Cuzco, Peru, Sacsayhuamán is a glorious example of the imagination of South American civilizations. The walled complex was designed to represent the head of a puma, with the rest of the city designed as its body. It is all the more remarkable because they used a mortarless construction method, where the stones were carved to interlock so tightly that it was impossible to fit even a piece of paper between them. How the stones were hewed, moved and placed is still uncertain, but some believe there was a workforce of some 30,000 men working to build this longest construction project.

AD 1445 - AD 1508 Total time: 63 years

6. York Minster Cathedral

There are many medieval cathedrals that compete for a place on our list, but York Minster is a worthy addition to the top 10 longest construction projects. Started by the Archbishop Walter de Gray in 1220, construction of this massive project was not completed until 1472. It contains the largest example of medieval stained glass in the world, and is some 520-feet long. Its three towers are each almost 200-feet tall. York Minster was built using purely medieval techniques and equipment, and still took over two centuries of continuous construction to complete. It is a wonderful example of the grand designs and technical skill of medieval craftsmen.

AD 1220 - AD 1472 Total time: 252 years

5. Chichen Itza

Located on the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, Chichen Itza is one of the most well known Mayan settlements. Probably started around A.D. 600, the complex covers an area of six square miles. Chichen Itza’s Great Pyramid was designed to enhance the sound of a speaker at the top, and the vernal equinox casts a shadow of a writhing serpent down the steps, making it a breathtaking example of mathematical precision and artistic imagination. South American civilizations lacked the domesticated livestock that European and Asian societies used to haul heavy stones, and they never used the wheel for industrial purposes, making such a sophisticated construction project even more remarkable.

AD 600 - AD 1.000 Total time: 400 years

4. Angkor Wat

Built in the mid-12th century by the ruler of the Khmer Empire in Cambodia, the central temple was part of a much larger community of buildings that together made up one of the largest preindustrial cities in the world. The 2.2 mile-long outer wall encloses a space of 203 acres, including a moat. The temple itself is part of a series of more than 100 and is built on three rectangular galleries, each one higher than the previous, and is a tribute to the Hindu God Vishnu. Despite being lost to the jungle for many years, this longest construction project remains the finest example of Khmer architecture in the world.

AD 802 - AD 1220 Total time: 418 years

3. Petra

Few construction projects have the dramatic appearance of Petra, a citadel in the middle of the desert in Jordan, carved straight into the rock. The famous façade is nearly 100-feet wide and 141-feet tall, built by the Nabataeans in the A.D. 1 who had first settled there around 600 B.C. At its peak, Petra may have been home to some 20,000 people, and was a key center of the trade routes of the Near East. Lacking modern tools to cut and shape the rock meant this longest construction project was a far more challenging undertaking, especially given that the Nabataeans were originally a nomadic society.

600 BC - AD 250 Total time: 850 years

2. Stonehenge

Despite being about 5,000 years old, no one is certain why Stonehenge was built. Clearly, it is one of the most incredible construction projects ever conceived. Each stone weighs over four tons and was dragged over 240 miles from southern Wales to its final resting place in Wiltshire, England. It is believed to have taken over 1,500 years to be completed, and to have required around 30 million man hours. Apart from the sheer effort needed to complete this longest construction project, it was built with remarkable precision, aligned perfectly with solar and lunar movements with particular emphasis on the summer and winter solstices. It is a truly remarkable feat for a Neolithic society.

3100 BC - 1500 BC Total time: 1600 years

1. The Great Wall

Started over 2,000 years ago, and still being constructed during the 16th century A.D., the Great Wall was actually a series of walls constructed by different dynasties over the centuries. Stretching over 4,160 miles at its peak, the wall was guarded by over one million men, protecting the northern border of China against fearsome nomadic raiders. It is estimated that between two and three million men died during its construction. The Great Wall was as much a symbol of imperial power as it was an effective military tool, and is unrivaled to this day as the world’s longest construction project.

400 BC - 1600 AD Total time: 2000 years

credited to askmen.com and flickr users: teobius, marettay, medhatiblu, harald_kirr, jkslouth, freech, archer10, meunierd, dreaming_aloud, g_heyde

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An Australian man faces jail for armed robbery after police used blood from a leech to make a DNA match from a 2001 crime scene, a court spokeswoman said on Monday.

Peter Alec Cannon, 54, pleaded guilty to aggravated armed robbery in the Supreme Court in Launceston on the island state of Tasmania on Monday.

Crown prosecutor John Ransom told the court that a policeman had picked up a leech from near a safe at the scene of the crime from which forensic scientists extracted blood and a DNA sample, according to a report in local newspaper The Mercury.

Seven years later, when Cannon was arrested and charged with a drugs crime, police took a DNA sample from him and it matched the sample from the robbery.

The court heard that Cannon and another man had robbed and assaulted a 71-year-old woman at her bushland home, stealing $500 from her.

The court spokeswoman said Cannon was remanded in custody for sentencing on Friday this week.

credited to reuters.com

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Haunting ballad, penned by Ne-Yo, seems to refer to an abusive relationship.

Yes, the wait was ova on Tuesday (October 20) at 11:23 a.m. when Rihanna released her first single from her forthcoming album, "Russian Roulette." The song was written and produced by Ne-Yo, who's worked on several of Rihanna's hits, including "Hate That I Love You" and "Take a Bow." Their previous efforts together have always been about the ups and downs of love, but fans won't be able to listen to this single without thinking about her former relationship with Chris Brown.

The nearly four-minute-long song, which is available to stream on her site, opens with a searing guitar solo that transitions into a pulsing beat, which stays constant during the eerie, haunting ballad. Without saying anything literal about Brown assaulting Rihanna in February, "Russian Roulette" seems to be about an abusive relationship.

The track opens with Rihanna softly singing: "Take a breath/ Take it deep/ Calm yourself/ He says to me/ If you play/ You play for keeps/ Take the gun/ And count to three."

The Russian roulette metaphor continues in the chorus, in which she sings, "And you can see my heart beating/ You can see it through my chest/ I said I'm terrified, but I'm not leaving/ I know that I must pass this test/ So just pull the trigger."

In the next verse, the song's character seems scared that the man speaking to her will always have power over her: "Say a prayer to yourself/ He says close your eyes/ Sometimes it helps/ And then I get a scary thought/ That he's here means he's never lost."

Before the song ends with a gun being cocked and fired, Rihanna sings, "As my life flashes before my eyes/ I'm wondering, will I ever see another sunrise?/ So many won't get the chance to say goodbye/ But it's too late to pick up the value of my life." Her voice soars into the chorus one last time.

In artwork for the single, Rihanna wears a blond, slicked-back Mohawk, an eye patch and a corset. She's topless and tied up in barbed wire, but she looks defiantly at the camera, mouth slightly open, as she holds a chain hanging from the ceiling.

On Tuesday, Rihanna also announced that her forthcoming album, out on November 23, will be called Rated R. Def Jam also announced that the song's video, shot by "Take a Bow" director, Anthony Mandler, will premiere soon on ABC.

"The best and safest way I can say this is that Rihanna has some stuff to say and she's going to say it," Ne-Yo told MTV News before the song was released. "And she ain't going to make no apologies for it. ... I've heard a good majority of the album ... world, get ready. That's all I'm going to say: World, get ready."

credited to mtv.com

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A gardener from Essex has carved out famous faces including that of Barack Obama, Michael Jackson, Wayne Rooney, Amy Winehouse and Cheryl Cole on Halloween pumpkins.

Rather than carving out the traditional sinister smiles on his prized fruit for Halloween, gardener David Finkle is busy carving out the faces of his favourite stars for decorative 'jack-o'-lanterns.'

David, 30, has carved out the faces of X Factor judge Simon Cowell, glamour model Jordan and Prime Mininister Gordon Brown on the fruits of his labours which grow on his small holding in Chelmsford, Essex.

Other celebity pumpkins he has completed include singer Amy Winehouse, footballer Wayne Rooney, Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Cole, Michael Jackson and US president Barak Obama.

Newly married David who wed wife Kirsty last month said: ''Pumpkins are obviously a tradition of Halloween but they don't always have to feature sinister looking faces and skulls on them.

''I think having carvings of celebrity faces on them are just as appropriate for Halloween given what some of them get up to. Unfortunately I won't be selling any of these particular pumpkins because they won't last,.

''When you do a carving on a pumpkin after a few days they twist and contort. I don't think the celebs would be very happy if they saw them like that.

David came up with his idea after a pub competition last year near his home over who could carve the best design into a pumpkin. He intially started with ghosts last year but this year plumped for celebrities, each of which takes him about three hours to do.

''I sit in the kitchen with the dog next to me munching on pumpkin seeds. When you are carving and studying some ones face so closely you think about what is behind them, as daft as it sounds."

''I enjoyed doing Obama the most he has very interesting features and he is just interesting himself. Simon Cowell would probably say I'd put too many wrinkles on his pumpkin - but he's got that many so I put them in anyway.

''The one of Amy Winehouse was easy with her strong features. Once you have the beehive hair, hoop earrings, and make-up around the eyes, its clear who it is. That alone can determine her character.

"You can see their lumps and bumps and make out who it is. Cheryl Cole was so hard because she is so proportionate and balanced. There are no features to pick up on - her face is that perfect.

"Gordon Brown was a very different story, he was like Mr Wrinkle head. It took me so long, well over three hours and I was just as tired as he looked when I finished it."

credited to telegraph.co.uk

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A Russian armoured-car builder is boasting that its latest vehicle has seats covered with “whale-penis leather”.

The €1 million (NZ$2 million) Dartz Prombron Monaco Red Diamond Edition armoured car has been developed by the same company, RussoBaltique, that built armoured vehicles for Tsar Nicholas, Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky.

On its official website, the company says the whale-penis leather is the same as that used by Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis on the yacht Christina O.

Onassis is rumoured to have had some of the barstools on the yacht, the world’s most expensive at the time, covered in the controversial leather.

The leather is not the only tacky accessory on the Prombron, which Dartz claims is the world’s most expensive SUV.

The bulletproof windows are gold-plated, the exhaust is made of tungsten, the gauges are encrusted with diamonds and rubies and the exterior has a Kevlar coating.

The car also comes with three bottles of the world’s most expensive Vodka, RussoBaltique, although the website does warn prospective buyers not to drink and drive.

The vehicle is being specially prepared for the ultra-exclusive Top Marques luxury motor show in Monaco next year.

Dartz’s armoured vehicles weigh roughly 4 tonnes, are powered by V8s putting out between 300kW and 400kW and are “rocket grenade-proof” according to the website.

For those wondering just how may whales may need to be harvested to outfit the special edition, the answer is not many. The penis of the Blue Whale, for example, can grow up to 2.4 metres.

credited to stuff.co.nz

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Apple has apparently bent its own rules to rescind a ban on an iPhone app that allows users to stream TV over a 3G connection.

Elgato's EyeTV app allows Jesus Phone users to watch live TV and recordings received and stored by their Macs.

On Friday it was noticed that an unadvertised feature allows video streaming via a 3G network, which Apple's iPhone developer rules forbid.

Hours later on Saturday, EyeTV was pulled from the app store.

Elgato issued this statement: "Some test code that enabled live TV streaming over the cellular network was accidentally left in the the EyeTV App. Apple requested that we remove the code since their agreement with AT&T does not allow redirecting TV signals over the cellular network."

But today, the £2.99 EyeTV app has been restored, complete with 3G streaming capability. Previously downloaded copies haven't been remotely killed by Apple either.

When EyeTV was removed, Elgato said it expected Apple to approve a new version that would only allow streaming over Wi-Fi. It's unclear why Apple apparently decided to give the original version some leeway in the meantime, which would seem rather out of character.

credited to theregister.co.uk

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Google revealed its intention to launch an online bookstore dubbed Google Editions sometime in early 2010. Google plans to open for business with about 500,000 available titles from a variety of publishers. The new service will provide ebooks in a browser-centric, eReader-agnostic manner that will muddy the eReader water even more than it is today.

Google Editions is entirely separate from Google Book Search, Google's project to scan all of the books of the world and make them available online. A proposed settlement in the ongoing legal wrangling over Google Book Search was scuttled amid mounting opposition and both sides have gone back to the drawing board to come up with a workable solution.

This is a whole new offering from Google that will create an online bookstore to go head-to-head with Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble's online presence. Preliminary details on Google Editions suggest that Google plans to share the revenue from online book sales with the publishers. Books sold directly through Google Editions would pay out 63 percent to the publisher, with Google keeping the other 37 percent.

Somehow, Google also plans to work with and through competing sites like Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. Sales generated through competing online sites would net only 45 percent for the publisher, with 55 percent going to the competing online retailer minus a small cut for Google.

As with just about everything Google does, Google Editions takes a browser-centric, web-based approach to the issue of ebooks. The eReader market has been picking up steam this year as the Amazon Kindle has gained in popularity, and new players including Sony, Asus, and Barnes & Noble have entered the fray. Google Editions would circumvent the eReader battle by delivering books to any web browser, while also further confusing customers who are leery of investing in eReader technology while the jury is still out on a standardized eBook format.

Both Amazon, with the Kindle, and Barnes & Noble, with its device which may or may not be called Athena, have a potential advantage over competing eReaders in that they also have their own book distribution networks. While Google Editions is described as eReader-agnostic, the potential exists for some sort of alliance between Google and Sony or Asus to provide a tandem to compete with the Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Ironically, the concept of foregoing dedicated eReader devices in favor of the more universal web-based eBook access aligns Google with its nemesis, Microsoft. Just last week Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stated that Microsoft has no intention of joining the eReader device market, adding "We have a device for reading. It's the most popular device in the world. It's the PC."

I am sure Google isn't trying to directly partner with or support Microsoft. The two are mortal enemies. Google would much prefer that users rely on Android-based mobile devices, and Chrome OS-based computers, using the Google Chrome web browser to read titles purchased through Google Editions.

Like it or not though, Google and Microsoft appear to be on the same page for this topic and the Google Editions online book store plays into Microsoft's hand and throws a potential monkey wrench into the eReader device wars.

credited to pcworld.com

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Mega Millions boasts world largest lottery prize won on the 6th of March 2007. A ticket holder from New Jersey shared $390,000,000 with another one from Georgia.

The largest lottery winner record, however, belongs to the Powerball lottery history. Eight co-workers from Nebraska meat processing plant jointly bought a single ticket that earned them $365,000,000 during the draw held on the 18th of February 2006.

Do you enjoy pubs and hanging out with your mates on Fridays? So do 10 fellows from one of the Milan bars who jointly purchased one ticket for Italian SuperEnalotto. World best ideas are born in the pubs aren’t they? During the draw held on the 4th of May 2005 the lucky ticket earned them €71,800,000, Italian largest lottery winning received so far.

Two tickets bought by two couples, Larry and Nancy Ross (Michigan) and Joe and Sue Kainz (Illinois), for The Big Game, now named Mega Millions, won the jackpot of the draw held on the 9th of May 2000 making them $363,000,000 richer.

Europe's largest jackpot was hit on the 3rd of February 2006. Two players from France and one from Portugal shared €180,000,000.

Ireland native Dolores McNamara, became Europe's biggest lotto winner. On the 31st of July 2005 her quick-pick ticket for the EuroMillions lottery matched the game's five winning numbers and two "lucky stars," winning Dolores a nine-week rollover jackpot of over €115,000,000 and making her Ireland's 72nd richest person. McNamara, who had purchased the ticket at Garryowen Stores, a small convenience store half a mile from her home, claimed her record-breaking prize five days later at the Irish lottery headquarters in Dublin and received world's largest lottery payout given to a single player.

€37,600,000 jackpot, the biggest lottery winning in the history of German National Lottery, was hit on the 7th of October 2006 by a nurse from North Rhine Westphalia while Paul and Helen Cunningham won on the 28th of July 2007 the biggest Irish jackpot winning worth €16,200,000.

Largest UK prize was hit on the 6th of January 1996. Three National Lottery ticket holders shared £42,000,000.

credited to lotteryuniverse.com

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He formed part of the Nazi axis that nearly brought Britain to its knees in World War Two, but historical papers have revealed that Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was once on the payroll of British intelligence.

During World War One, the then socialist journalist was running popular newspaper Il Popolo d'Italia in Milan and Italy was allied with Britain and France in the fight against Germany.

British secret services desperately needed Mussolini to print pro-war propaganda to keep Italy on board, said Cambridge historian Peter Martland, who uncovered details of weekly payments of 100 pounds by MI5 to Mussolini in 1917.

"British intelligence is subsidizing his newspaper and it's cheap. But it's a part of this broader campaign to get a lid on things to keep Italy in the war," Martland told Reuters.

Martland said payments were authorized by Sir Samuel Hoare, an MP who headed a 100-strong British intelligence team based in Italy covertly working to keep the country on the side of the allies.

Although 100 pounds a week was a lot of money 92 years ago, it was a drop in the ocean compared to what Britain was spending on the war effort.

"It's a lot of money, but this war is costing 4 million pounds a day, nearly 13 million pounds a week, so 100 pounds a week is not even petty cash," said Martland.

Mussolini recruited thugs to beat up poverty-stricken peace protesters, downtrodden by the war, to prevent them from agitating against it -- a precursor to his fascist Blackshirts, Martland believes.

"He's a nasty piece of work and he's using violence on the streets. He's a street fighter and he's mobilizing veterans. One of the definers of fascism is that violence is a legitimate political tool, so this is the beginnings of seeing the Mussolini of the Blackshirts era," said Martland.

While Martland said it was a "shrewd" move for MI5 to recruit Mussolini, he doubts very much whether "Il Duce" actually spent much of his British earnings on the war campaign.

"Part of the money went to subsidize his newspaper, but we know Mussolini and we know he is a womanizer. He thinks he is Mr Super Stud, so it's not unreasonable to speculate that a lot of that money went on his mistresses," he said.

credited to reuters.com

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T-Mobile's Sidekick data loss isn't just a messy public relations problem. The debacle also could leave the company with some big legal bills.

This week, T-Mobile was hit with two separate class-action lawsuits alleging that the company misled consumers into believing that their data was more secure than was the case. "One of the major selling points of Sidekicks was that users always had access to their personal data, and that such data would and could be properly entrusted to defendants to maintain and retain, safely, securely and always available," Sidekick user Maureen Thompson alleges in a lawsuit filed in federal district court in San Jose, Calif.

T-Mobile said Saturday that photos, contacts and other data that wasn't currently on Sidekick devices had most likely been lost due to a server failure at Microsoft subsidiary Danger, which powers data services on the Sidekick.

Since then, however, the company has said that some users' data might still be recoverable. T-Mobile also reportedly said it would issue $100 credits to some users who suffered data losses.

Thompson, a resident of Snellville, Georgia, alleges in her lawsuit that she "suffered a complete and catastrophic loss of all data" including appointments and contacts. She also alleges that her daughter, an aspiring model and singer-songwriter, lost photos and lyrics she wrote that she had stored on the device.

Thompson's lawyer, Michael Aschenbrener of KamberEdelson, says that Thompson and her daughter chose the Sidekick specifically because of its promised backup capabilities. "They used the Sidekick to avoid the very scenario that occurred," he said.

The other lawsuit was filed in Washington state court by Sidekick user Oren Rosenthal. "T-Mobile's advertising did not disclose that T-Mobile had no backup or other service or device to ensure that the customer's stored data could be retrieved if there was a failure," Rosenthal alleged in court papers.

Both complaints also allege that T-Mobile was negligent for not preserving Sidekick data.

Aschenbrener said that the company's offer of $100 is "a step in the right direction" but that T-Mobile should do more to compensate consumers.

"Users should certainly be provided with an easy means to get a replacement device," Aschenbrener said. He added that T-Mobile, Microsoft and Danger should "commit legally to the steps they will take to protect Sidekick users' data in the future."

Rosenthal's lawyer, David Breskin of Breskin Johnson Townsend, said he anticipated that monetary damages for Sidekick users could range "anywhere from several hundred dollars to thousands of dollars."

T-Mobile declined to comment on the litigation. "We are focused on helping our Sidekick customers recover from this recent service disruption and are continuing to support Microsoft's ongoing efforts to address and resolve the Danger platform issues," the company said in a statement.

credited to mediapost.com

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Californian Dan Seddiqui went from being homeless and unemployed to getting 50 different jobs in 50 different US states in just 50 weeks.

The former financial analyst found himself with a $150,000 (£94,000) debt from completing a degree in economics.

Unable to get a job and without a roof over his head a Mr Seddiqui was even sent to therapy by his parents to help him get a job.

But one day Dan decided he would prove that there were jobs out there and he was going to try as many as possible in just one year.

In just 50 weeks Dan tried everything from being a lobster catcher, a jazz conductor, a TV weatherman and even a Las Vegas wedding planner.

Now he is set to write a book about his amazing journey which has had publishers clamouring for the rights.

"I couldn't even afford to buy food sometimes, and I just thought enough was enough," Mr Seddiqui said.

In choosing the jobs that he wanted to try in each state, Mr Seddiqui decided that he would try a career that each state was most famous for.

For example, he became a wedding co-ordinator in Vegas, conducting two weddings, and was a musician co-ordinator in jazz-obsessed New Orleans.

He said: "Initially when I approached companies with my idea they voiced a lot of concerns about training and safety issues, but I eventually wore everybody down.

"And now everyone seems really pleased that I went on this trip and tried so many different jobs, even my parents."

The vast array of jobs made him realise both what he wanted to do - and what he could never do again.

"My favourite job was probably as a bartender in Louisiana in the middle of Mardi Gras. I got to meet so many great people.

"My least favourite was trying to be a lobster-man. I learned that I got very seasick, and that lobsters do a lot of pinching.

He hopes that Living the Map will be on general sale by the end of the year, and would like others to take inspiration from his story.

He's planning on becoming a dietician, a job that he did for a week whilst in Mississippi - a state that suffers from widespread obesity.

credited to telegraph.co.uk

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A 2,000-year-old Roman vase has been hailed as the most important of its kind in existence with experts from auctioneer's Bonhams describing it as "virtually priceless".

It has been called "magnificent" by historians as it is the only complete cameo vase in existence and has distinct design properties that set it aside from any other vessel.

The vase dates from between late 1st century BC to early 1st Century AD and stands 13 inches high.

Only 15 other Roman cameo glass vases and plaques are known to exist today, but this is said to be the finest example.

The vessels were highly artistic, luxury items, produced by the Roman Empire's most skilled craftsmen.

Julian Roup, a Bonhams expert, said: "There are three reasons that the vase is virtually priceless.

"The first is that there are only 15 other Roman vessels of this kind on the planet. The second is that there are 30 figures on it - the previous yardstick was the Portland vase with seven figures.

"This one too is complete, which is amazing considering how old it is and how fragile. The third is the incredible detail and craftsmanship of the figures... the musculature is so clear. The artist would have been enormously talented.

"It's owned by a private European collector who brought it to our attention. It's not for sale at the moment. It's being passed round various museums for experts to study...and they are astonished by it."

This type of vase is formed from two layers of cobalt blue glass with a layer of white on top which is cut down after cooling to create the cameo-style decoration.

A spokesman added: "Items of this kind were produced, it is thought, within a period of only two generations. Until now, the most famous example has been the Portland vase, held by the British Museum.

"This is smaller, standing at only 9ins (24cm) high. It is also missing its base and has been restored three times."

The recently identified vase is also said to be more complex than others of its kind Bonhams experts believe that this magnificent artefact could rewrite the history books on cameo vases.

Unlike the Portland vase, it still has its base and lower register and will therefore add significantly to the archaeological understanding of these vessels.

Mr Roup added: "Eventually it will be on display at Bonhams and maybe in the future for sale."

credited to telegraph.co.uk

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A 63-year-old homeless Russian man has gone from street life to stock market trader after collecting thousands of empty booze bottles for cash, a popular Russian tabloid reported on Tuesday.

Pictured in a majestic purple suit and matching violet jewelry, Leonid Konovalov told the Tvoi Den paper he collected around 2,000 bottles a day over the past year since the economic downturn hit Russia last autumn.

"Russians are drinking a little bit more due to the crisis, and this helped me get out of the rubbish dump," said Konovalov, an ex-engineer from the industrial city of Kemerovo in eastern Siberia who has spent the last 20 years living in a tip.

Russia's many homeless are often seen rooting through rubbish for bottles and tins, which they can trade for money. A glass bottle can fetch about 2 rubles ($0.06).

The bearded former tramp said he was encouraged by his two grandchildren to take risks on the stock market and said his first transaction was a 50,000 euro ($74,120) share-purchase.

credited to reuters

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Microsoft released a record patch for its Patch Tuesday release, fixing 34 vulnerabilities in 13 updates, including two zero-day flaws in its Server Message Block protocol and FTP Service, which opens the door for hackers to launch malicious attacks on users' PCs.

Altogether, eight of the 13 patches repaired critical errors in every version of Windows and Internet Explorer, including critical bugs in the SMB and one deemed "important" in the Microsoft FTP Service, which allows hackers to attack vulnerable systems remotely with malicious code, typically to steal information.

The patches address a total of 34 vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer, Office, SQL Server, Microsoft Forefront, Silverlight and Microsoft Developer Tools, as well as third-party ActiveX components, among others.

One of the most significant patches repaired a total of three critical vulnerabilities -- including a zero-day flaw -- in the SMB version 2 implementation. SMB is the Microsoft file-sharing protocol, affecting Windows 7, Vista and Server 2008, as well as XP, 2000 and Server 2003.

Microsoft released a security advisory for the SMB flaw in September after researchers published exploit code, prior to notifying Microsoft about the vulnerability, Redmond said. So far, Microsoft has maintained that it has yet to see active attacks in the wild exploiting the SMB glitch. Should hackers get their hands on the exploit code, users could be vulnerable to remote code execution designed to steal data from their PCs.

In addition, the October update shores up an error ranked "important" in the FTP Service in numerous versions of the Microsoft Internet Information Services. Microsoft released a security advisory in September warning users of "limited attacks" exploiting the flaw.

Despite its "important" ranking, the vulnerability could allow attackers to launch malicious code to infiltrate a company's FTP server running on IIS 5.0 or launch DoS attacks on systems running the FTP Service on IIS 5.0, 5.1, 6.0 or 7.0. However, security experts contend the FTP vulnerability is mitigated by the fact that the majority of FTP Servers are open-source versions and not Microsoft's FTP Service.

Security experts said that one of Microsoft's most far-reaching and serious patches is a cumulative fix for IE, plugging four security holes that could pave the way for hackers to launch attacks by luring victims to a maliciously crafted Web site, typically through some kind of social engineering scheme delivered via e-mail or social networking site.

Security experts maintain that the IE patch is the one users should install first to prevent attack.

"It's all versions of IE. Everything is vulnerable," said Wolfgang Kandek, chief technology officer for Qualys. "It's very widely used. We also think it should be easily patchable."

Kandek said that another critical patch with wide reach is the update repairing vulnerabilities in GDI+, a protocol that enables applications to use graphics and formatted text on video screens and printed mediums. Like IE, the GDI flaw affects a slew of applications, including all versions of Windows, IE, Microsoft Office, SQL Server, Developer Tools and Microsoft Forefront. A hacker could easily infect victims by enticing them to download a malicious image file or by tricking them into viewing a maliciously crafted image on an infected Web site.

Unlike IE, the GDI flaw might be more challenging to patch, due to the fact that it affects almost every system and application ubiquitously used in the enterprise, experts said.

In addition, Microsoft issued a cumulative update for an actively exploited ActiveX vulnerability common to an array of ActiveX controls. The flaw, occurring in the Active Template library, could leave users susceptible to remote code execution if they view a malicious Web page on IE running the affected ActiveX control.

Included in Microsoft's security bulletin were two patches -- one in Windows Media Runtime and the other in Windows Media Player -- repairing several critical media-streaming vulnerabilities. Users who run Media Runtime could unknowingly download information-stealing malware if they stream a maliciously crafted media file or receive malicious streaming content from a Web site or media streaming application. Meanwhile, users could also become infected if they open a malicious ASF file while running Windows Media Player 6.4.

The 13-patch update is a record for Redmond. Thus far, Microsoft's record has been 12 patches in one month, which was set in both February 2007 and late October 2008. And security experts speculate that the significant patch load is due to the fact that Microsoft is likely playing catch-up following the barrage of vulnerabilities that were disclosed at hacker conferences such as BlackHat and DefCon over the summer.

"It could be due to the conferences. Security researchers work extra hard and it may have caused a bit of a traffic jam," Kandek said.

Microsoft also included five updates for glitches designated with the slightly less severe ranking of "important," plugging holes in FTP Service, Windows CryptoAPI, Indexing Service, Windows Kernel and Local Security Authority Subsystem Service.

credited to crn.com

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