Eideard

- but still my favorite.

At the end of October, DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) launched its Shredder Challenge contest. The objective: create a system for reconstructing shredded papers, then demonstrate it by piecing together five documents, the shredded remains of which were posted on the contest’s website.

Although the contest had a December 4th deadline, the “All Your Shreds Are Belong to U.S.” team correctly reassembled all five documents with two days to spare.

The San Francisco-based team, which beat out approximately 9,000 competitors, used “custom-coded, computer-vision algorithms to suggest fragment pairings to human assemblers for verification.” Members of the team spent approximately 600 man-hours developing algorithms and otherwise working on the challenge, completing everything within 33 days. Because it was able to reconstruct all five documents posted in the contest, the team was able to claim the complete prize of $50,000.

DARPA hosted the contest both to develop methods of reading shredded documents left behind by enemies in war zones, and to identify ways in which U.S. shredded documents could be read by other parties, so that countermeasures could be developed.

They still run the risk of Congress reducing funding for an agency that makes it possible to reassemble bits and pieces of evidence like this.

Members of the US army’s 502nd Regiment fire a mortar during 2010′s Operation Hamkari in Kandahar, Afghanistan. This image is part of a winning portfolio for the army photographic competition 2011.

Bravo.

It seems to be a national obsession in India: measuring the country’s economic development against China’s yardstick.

At a recent panel discussion to commemorate the 20th anniversary of India’s dismantling parts of its socialist economy, a government minister told business leaders to keep their eye on the big prize: growing faster than China. “That’s not impossible,” said the minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, who oversees national security and previously was finance minister. “People are beginning to talk about outpacing China.”

Indians, in fact, seem to talk endlessly about all things China, a neighbor with whom they have long had a prickly relationship, but which is also one of the few other economies that has had 8 percent or more annual growth in recent years…

“Indians are obsessed with China, but the Chinese are paying too little attention to India,” said Minxin Pei, an economist who was born in China and who writes a monthly column for The Indian Express, a national daily newspaper…

It might be only natural that the Chinese would look up the development ladder to the United States, now that it is the only nation in the world with a larger economy, rather than over their shoulders at India, which ranks ninth. And while China is India’s largest trading partner, the greatest portion of China’s exports go to the United States. China’s largest trading partner is the EU – even if it doesn’t fit the NYT editorial template.…

Evidence of the Indo-Sino interest disparity can be seen in the two countries’ leading newspapers. The People’s Daily, the Chinese Communist Party’s house organ, had only 24 articles mentioning India on its English-language Web site in the first seven months of this year, according to the Factiva database. By contrast, The Times of India, the country’s largest circulation English-language newspaper, had 57 articles mentioning China — in July alone.

There are other big gaps. Indian cities, large and small, are filled with Chinese restaurants that serve a distinctly ultraspicy, Indian version of that cuisine. But there are few Indian restaurants in Beijing or Shanghai, let alone in smaller Chinese cities.

RTFA. It rolls on through a chunk of anecdotal information. Useful as far as it goes. And it only goes as far as the NY TIMES habit of continuing the Cold War with China – even though it finally seems to have relented a little over Russia.

Frankly, the significant historic difference lies in handicaps which India retains. Much of the caste system is unrelenting regardless of lip service and law. China’s bureaucratic corruption siphons off a lot less opportunity and value. India’s cachet of wealth and power held by historically “important” families is closer to Japan’s Zaibatsu than anything in China. Ongoing commitments to religion in India – whether as a cultural anchor or dedicated political parties – hinders the growth of the economy as much as you would expect from theocratic ideologues in government.

Five Indian police constables died of heart attacks during a ten kilometre run as part of a selection test for promotion. A further 100 officers fainted during the trial in which they had to run 10 kilometres in less than ninety minutes in high monsoon temperatures.

Some of those who collapsed said senior officers had shown no sympathy and had shouted abuse at them as they laid on the ground.

Police recruitment managers said the deaths and the high number of men who collapsed highlighted poor fitness levels in the force. The image of the pot-bellied khaki policeman is a well-known and much-derided stereotype in India.

Most of those competing in the race were in their mid-40s and were described as “middle aged and unfit”. They died last week in three separate races in Kanpur, Meerut and Azamgarh, in Uttar Pradesh.

Vikram Chandra Goel, chairman of the state’s Police Recruitment and Promotion Board said the constables who died had been suffering from heart complaints and high blood pressure but either “did not inform the department of their ailments or they were not themselves aware of the disease”…

Promotion aspirants will now have to undergo medical tests before taking place in promotion marathon races.

What a sum of collaborative stupidity. So, no one thought to have a general physical exam for a group of mostly 40′s employees scheduled to set off on a 10K run in monsoon season. That’s DUMB 101.

It’s easy to malign the coppers who were out of shape; but, still joined the competition. They were running to make a little more income. The constabulary in India ain’t exactly the most overpaid in the world.

A”bee-attracting” competition in China’s Hunan province pitted two fearless bee keepers, Lu Kongjiang (above) and Wang Dalin against one another.

Rival wine sellers targeting overworked mothers are fighting over use of the word “Mommy” on their wine labels, according to a lawsuit filed in San Francisco federal court.

In the suit, filed on Monday, California-based winery Clos Lachance Wines asked the court to declare that its “Mommyjuice” does not violate the trademark of “Mommy’s Time Out,” which is marketed by a New Jersey distributor.

“Mommy is a generic word that they don’t have a monopoly on,” said KC Branch, an attorney who represents Clos Lachance.

The owner of “Mommy’s Time Out” declined to comment on the lawsuit.

To succeed in a trademark violation case, a brand owner must show it is likely that a rival’s mark will create confusion in the minds of consumers.

The front label of Mommyjuice features a drawing of a woman juggling a house, teddy bear and computer. The back label advises moms to “tuck your kids into bed, sit down and have a glass of Mommyjuice. Because you deserve it.” The wine is available in a white Chardonnay and a red mixed blend.

The front label of “Mommy’s Time Out,” an Italian wine sold in red and white, shows an empty chair facing a corner. A wine bottle and glass sit on a table next to the chair…

Mendelson also noted that wines with “fanciful” names have proliferated as marketers try to reach new categories of customers. In recent years, vintners have launched wines like “Fat bastard,” “Cleavage Creek” and a red wine featuring a rooster called “Big Red Pecker.”

Within the confines of market battles, one business competing in dead earnest against another – restricting yourself to the ground rules of lawyers and other idiots is a game for automatons, pedants and mutant religions.

A Scrabble fan who only began playing five years ago after discovering it online was yesterday crowned as the game’s British national champion after beating a four-time winner.

Mikki Nicholson, 32, won a nail-biting contest against Mark Nyman, who has claimed more than 20 major tournaments including the World Championship, with the 86-point word “obeisant” (respect), in the cliffhanger fifth game.

Nicholson said she caught the Scrabble bug after discovering the word game on the internet, but admitted ahe still went for days without laying a single tile.

“It was a big challenge but I wouldn’t have entered if I didn’t think I had a chance of winning,” said the transsexual from Cumbria, who was wearing a pink wig, matching plastic pvc dress and lipstick during the final, held in London…

Nicholson, who will now spend the £1,500 prize money on a trip to Malaysia to compete in December’s Causeway Scrabble Challenge, said the game required someone intuitive and good with numbers.

“People think Scrabble is just about words but it’s the numbers that win the game, so a sound mathematical brain is an advantage,” she added.

I wonder if she’ll be allowed into Malaysia to compete. After all, that nation practices theocratic bigotry as national policy. Like many others.

A Scot has reclaimed the title of the world’s best porridge maker after it was won by an American last year.

Neal Robertson, 53, from Auchtermuchty in Fife, used a spon – a special double backed spoon he invented – instead of a traditional rod-shaped spurtle to prepare the dish.

He said that the spon and water from the hills above Auchtermuchty were the secret to making the perfect porridge.

Mr Robertson, who runs the Tannochbrae Tearoom in the Fife village, faced competition from last year’s winner Matthew Cox, from Portland in the US, who returned to Scotland to defend his title…

The Golden Spurtle World Porridge Making Championship was held in Carrbridge in the Scottish Highlands, with the main prize of the Golden Spurtle Trophy awarded to the porridge-maker deemed to have made the best traditional porridge using oatmeal, salt and water.

Professional chefs and porridge-making enthusiasts from across the UK took part, along with international competitors from Canada, the US and Sweden. The event was sponsored by oatmeal producers Hamlyns of Scotland.

The competition took place on the same day as the second World Porridge Day, aimed at raising money for hungry children in some of the world’s poorest countries.

You must understand the importance of this contest inside many Celtic families. In our household, even the dogs enjoy porridge for breakfast.

Their politics are still decent, as well

The world’s top karaoke singers have flown into Russia to battle it out for the world title in the emerging “sport” and the unusual top prize of one million Siberian dumplings.

Contestants from 28 countries, including the UK, have already started to belt out hit songs from the likes of Abba and Queen giving impassioned performances they hope will win the 2010 Karaoke World Championships…

However, this year’s top prize of one million Siberian dumplings or “pelmeni” has raised eyebrows.

Natalia Pilyutina, a Russian estate agent who won the top female prize last year, suggested the winner donate the dumplings to poorer countries taking part in the contest.

They are terrific dumplings, especially when made with potato flour and served with butter and onion gravy.

Yum!

UPDATE: There is a winner!