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Hackers are trying to lure people to a malicious Web site using cell phone text messages, a security company has warned. The blended attack uses social engineering techniques in its attempt to trick people to the site, security vendor Websense said in an advisory. An SMS text message is sent to the targets' cell phones, thanking them for subscribing to a fictitious dating service. The message states that they will be automatically charged a fee of $2.00 per day via their phone bill, unless their subscription is cancelled online. The same message has also been sent multiple times to the...

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal appeals court reinstated a California man's death sentence, ruling Thursday that jurors did not invalidate their deliberations by considering biblical arguments in favor of vengeance. The Los Angeles jurors in the 1979 case of Stevie Lamar Fields unanimously agreed that death was the appropriate punishment after their foreman circulated biblical and other religious passages - "an eye for an eye," for example - that seemed to require it. Biblical references supporting mercy and forgiveness were not circulated in the jury room, according to a lower court's ruling. A federal trial judge in Los Angeles reversed...

Jihad is the ‘evil ideology’ that is driving terrorism. Muslims should take the lead in rooting out this barbarism. Early reports indicate that there were no fatalities from four coordinated explosions that again targeted Londons’ transit system yesterday, July 21, 2005, exactly two weeks after the Islamikaze carnage of July 7, 2005 that killed over 50 persons. Perhaps we will also be spared the surreal drama that is enacted each time there is a major Islamikaze terrorist attack: politicians and various other “experts”—non-Muslim and Muslim alike—start praising Islam. They tell us that Islam is a noble religion that stands for...

What is meant by "superior" text and "inferior" text, when it comes to the Bible?

Until modern times, there existed no form of legitimacy in the Middle East outside of Islam. Rulers ruled in the name of God; assassins struck them down in the name of God. The assassinations of the early caliphs and the struggle between the Sunni rulers and the Assassins in the Middle Ages took precisely this form: each side claimed to act in accord with divine will, revealed in divine texts. Religion played a crucial role in the rationale of assassination, but it also played a crucial role in the rationale of government, law, and warfare—indeed, of everything. This invocation of...

<p>I am a parent of an 11-year-old sixth-grader going into her fourth quarter at Jacobson Elementary School in Chandler. Without trying, my daughter is an average student with talents outside what is learned in school.</p> <p>Recently, I attended the student-led parent teacher conference. Now, I have been through many of these and they have their values. My problem was that the teacher told me my daughter was having difficulty with math concepts; her solution was outside the school tutoring. My question was how were the concepts taught in school? The answer was, "Well, to tell you the truth, we don't have any math books to give to the students."</p>

Religions Books : Lost Christianities The Battle for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew Scholarly and fascinating Many Christians would be surprised to find that the early Christian church was not one with a common theology with only very minor differences between them. In fact there were many major differences between the early churches. Some believed that Christ was entirely human and not divine at all. Others believed he was entirely divine and not human at all. And, of course, there were a wide variety of beliefs between those extremes. This is just one of the examples of how...

The Atlantis between Spain and Morocco Revealing discoveries  Expedition: "The Ibero-Marroqui Atlantis '"   By Maria Fdez-Valmayor  A Scientific Expedition has started off at the end of this summer for the area of the Straits of Gibraltar in search of possible ruins of the well-known civilization like Atlantis by Plato. According to the project? Atlantis Ibero-Moroccan, between the coasts of southwest of the Iberian Peninsula and the northwest of Africa evidences of cities or submerged coastal villages of the Age of the Bronze would have to be, that could belong to the Island or Peninsula of Atlantis. The expedition...

A friend was inquiring about the quality of Harcourt textbooks that are used in the public schools. If you have any comments, please let me know. Thanks.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Textbook purchases will be one of the first victims in anticipated education cutbacks due to widespread state budget woes, insiders say, leaving the $9 billion textbook industry prospects weak in the coming years. Moreover, the selection method used by more than half the states to choose books is a high-stakes, winner-take-all process in which publishers invest millions of dollars developing products they're not sure will sell, adding unpredictable demand to an already bleak market outlook. Nationwide, states are slashing budgets in the face of some of the deepest shortfalls in 40 years. Thirty-seven states have...

After the copyright smackdown: What next?Don't despair at the Supreme Court's gift to Disney, says one expert. The fight has really only just begun. When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that Congress was within its constitutional bounds to extend the duration of all copyrights by 20 years -- up to 70 years beyond the life of the author and potentially infinitely -- many saw the ruling as a knockout blow to the movement to reform copyright. Some on the public interest side are tempted to lament what could be called the "Dred Scott case for culture," unjustifiably locking up...

WASHINGTON (Variety) - Handing the entertainment business an enormous win Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) upheld a 1998 law giving Hollywood nearly a century before having to release copyrighted pictures into the public domain and lose exclusive rights to sell coveted classics. In a 7-2 ruling worth billions to showbiz, the justices said Capitol Hill was perfectly within its rights when it extended the life of copyrighted works by two decades, from 75 to 95 years. Industryites say the ruling provides an important investment incentive, both for future projects and for hundreds of existing works. With...

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld longstanding copyrights designed to protect the profits of songs, books and cartoon characters, a huge victory for Disney and other companies. The 7-2 ruling, while not unexpected, was a blow to Internet publishers and others who wanted to make old books available online and use the likenesses of a Mickey Mouse cartoon and other old creations without paying high royalties. Hundreds of thousands of books, movies and songs were close to being released into the public domain when Congress extended the copyright by 20 years in 1998. Justices said the copyright extension,...