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Showing posts with label Lifestyle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lifestyle. Show all posts
U.S. to 'rain mice' on tree snakes
Labels: LifestyleiPhone, iPad and Mac are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc.Obama signs order activating 'dumb' spending cuts
Labels: LifestyleSTORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Obama signs order that is required by law
- "We will get through this," President Obama says of the forced spending cuts
- Obama, congressional leaders fail to bridge gaps on cuts, letting them take effect
- Speaker Boehner says the House will take up a government funding measure
Washington (CNN) -- Politics trumped progress on Friday as President Barack Obama and Republican leaders traded blame for $85 billion in forced spending cuts after they failed to come up with a compromise to avert the harshest impacts.
The president signed an order required by law that set in motion the automatic, government-wide cuts.
Obama and congressional leaders from both parties met for about 45 minutes at the White House, but no agreement emerged to avert the cuts that both sides oppose.
After weeks of campaign-style events intended to inspire public outrage over the cuts, Obama sought to temper his description of their impact while making clear he thinks Republican intransigence prevented a deal to avoid the economic harm they'll cause.
"We will get through this," he told reporters. "This is not going to be an apocalypse as some people have said. It's just dumb and it's going to hurt."
Full text of Obama order
Still, a White House budget office report sent to Congress and released with Obama's order said the cuts would be "deeply destructive to national security, domestic investments, and core government functions."
The action was described in the report as "a blunt and indiscriminate instrument" that was "never intended to be implemented and does not represent a responsible way" for the country to realize deficit reduction.
OMB report to Congress
In a sign of the potential impact, the Department of Justice sent furlough notices to employees that warned they may be forced to take days off without pay in coming months.
Similar furloughs, as well as reduced services, were expected at other agencies if the cuts don't get replaced or eliminated. Military leaders have warned of impaired readiness of U.S. forces.
Shame and blame: Why Washington needs couples therapy
However, the full impact of the cuts weren't expected until April at the earliest.
The cuts amount to roughly 9% for a broad range of non-defense programs and 13% for the Pentagon over the rest of the current fiscal year, which ends on September 30.
They were included in a 2011 deal to raise the federal borrowing limit as an unacceptable outcome if Congress failed to agree on a comprehensive deficit reduction plan.
Obama's press conference on spending cuts
However, election-year politics stymied progress on such a deal, leading to the situation Friday in which both sides acknowledged being unable to prevent something neither wanted.
"There are smarter ways to cut spending," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, after the meeting with Obama.
Boehner repeated his past assertion that the GOP-led House has offered proposals to replace the forced spending cuts while the Democratic-led Senate has not, as well as his party's opposition to any increased tax revenue to offset the forced spending cuts.
Others who also took part in the White House gathering were Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
In the White House briefing room, Obama told reporters that Republicans in Congress "allowed these cuts to happen because they refuse to budge on closing a single wasteful (tax) loophole to help reduce the deficit."
"As recently as yesterday, they decided to protect special interest tax breaks for the well off and the well connected and they think that that's apparently more important than protecting our military or middle class families from the pain of these cuts," Obama said.
He was referring to a procedural vote on Thursday in which Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic proposal that called for eliminating some tax loopholes as part of a package with spending cuts.
Boehner and Republicans say the president and Democrats have yet to propose a serious plan to reduce spending, including costly entitlement programs, on a scale necessary to bring chronic federal deficits and debt under control.
Both Obama and Boehner foreshadowed the next major spending showdown - a March 27 deadline for Congress to authorize funding to keep the government running for the rest of the fiscal year.
4 myths about the spending cuts
Boehner told reporters that the House will take up a measure next week to authorize federal funding beyond that deadline.
"The president and leaders agreed legislation should be enacted this month to prevent a government shutdown while we continue to work on a solution to replace the" forced spending cuts, said a statement by Boehner's office.
Although the funding measure is unconnected to the spending cuts, Obama indicated he was open to a broader agreement that would resolve both issues.
"I do know that there are Republicans in Congress who privately, at least, say that they would rather close tax loopholes then let these cuts go through," said Obama in response to questions from reporters.
"... In the coming days and the coming weeks, I'm going to keeping on reaching out to them -- both individually and as groups of senators or members of the House -- and say to them, 'Let's fix this, not just for a month or two, but for years to come,' because the greatest nation on Earth does not conduct its business in month-to-month increments or by careening from crisis to crisis," Obama said.
Spending cuts: When they'll really bite
CNN's Dana Bash, Deirdre Walsh, Ted Barrett and Terry Frieden contributed to this report.
Racy mag cover features Kim, Kanye
Labels: Lifestyleon your computer or on the CNN Apps for iPhone® and iPad®.
iPhone, iPad and Mac are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc.Woman: I was fired for having sex
Labels: Lifestyleon your computer or on the CNN Apps for iPhone® and iPad®.
iPhone, iPad and Mac are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc.Doomed balloon riders nearly landed, then shot upward
Labels: LifestyleSTORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Conflicting reports emerge over company's safety record
- A British passenger and the pilot are hospitalized
- The balloon carried tourists from the UK, Hong Kong, Japan, France and Hungary
- A gas explosion caused the balloon to fall about 300 meters (almost 1,000 feet)
Were you there? Have you taken such a trip before in Egypt? Send us your experiences.
(CNN) -- The view from above southern Egypt is stunning, a contrast of beige desert valley giving way to green farmland, including fields of sugar cane. Tourists soak in the sight by hiring hot air balloons that have large baskets to carry passengers hundreds of feet above the countryside.
Tuesday morning, as one of the balloons prepared to land, an explosion pierced the air, followed by a spreading billow of smoke.
"My first thought was that it was sugar cane that was burning," said Christopher Michel, a photographer who was a passenger in another balloon at the time.
Smoke from the burning sugar cane painted the ancient city of Luxor below with an eerie haziness.
But the concern shown by the balloon pilot and the blaring sirens from emergency vehicles told Michel that something was wrong. He could not imagine the extent: One of the balloons had exploded, and its 21 passengers and operators plummeted about 1,000 feet (300 meters) to the ground.
By Tuesday afternoon, the number of dead had climbed to 19, making it the world's deadliest hot air balloon accident in at least 20 years.
"This juxtaposition of this great beauty and this wonderful country and this horrible tragedy is just really shocking," Michel told CNN. "We all feel terrible."
It was an early, dark morning, Michel said, and uneventful for 45 minutes until they started to descend. He was overlooking mud-brick buildings and fields, with the Valley of the Kings in the distance, when the explosion shattered the quiet of the morning.
It was a gas explosion, state-run EgyNews reported.
Fatal hot air balloon crash
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Passengers in the balloon included 19 foreign tourists: nine from Hong Kong, four from Japan, three from Britain, two from France and one from Hungary, officials said.
An Egyptian pilot and another Egyptian also were on board, Luxor province spokesman Badawi al-Masri said.
Two people -- a Briton and the pilot -- are hospitalized.
Balloon rides offering panoramic aerial views of the Nile River and the ancient temples of Karnak and Hatshepsut are a popular tourist attraction in Luxor, about a nine-hour drive southeast of Cairo.
"You can see Valley of the Kings in the background bordered by farmland," Pauline Liang of Vancouver, Canada, told CNN's iReport last year. "Below were banana farms, and behind us was the city of Luxor. There was a great contrast between desert landscape, lush farmland and urban development."
Tuesday's crash prompted Gov. Izzat Saad of Luxor province to ban all hot air balloon flights until further notice.
Conflicting reports emerged about the company that operated the doomed balloon, Sky Cruise.
The head of the country's civil aviation authority said the company was licensed and working legally, EgyNews reported.
The agency has begun an investigation of the incident, Mohammed Ibrahim Sharif said.
According to Sharif, a fire broke out in the balloon while the workers were trying to land it, just feet from the ground. The balloon then shot upwards again, he said.
The balloon's basket was divided into four parts, he said, each holding five passengers.
Meanwhile, Luxor's chamber of tourism said the company had previous violations, EgyNews reported.
Several balloon companies had terminated contracts with the local meteorological service after the Egyptian revolution, Tharwat Agami, chairman of the chamber of tourism, said.
Sky Cruise and other companies were known to violate safety and security instructions by flying out of East Luxor, instead of the recommended West Luxor, he said.
Comparing it to a previous hot air balloon experience in another country, Michel noted that there was no safety briefing before the Luxor balloons lifted off the ground, but added that he felt safe during the trip.
From what he could tell, the doomed balloon was not overloaded, he said on his Twitter account.
Luxor is among Egypt's top tourist draws. Visitors go to see ancient temples and tombs, and travel sites often recommend the hot air balloon trips.
The last hot air balloon accident in Luxor occurred in 2009, when 16 foreign tourists were injured after a balloon struck a cell phone transmission tower.
Until Tuesday's incident, the deadliest accident in recent memory took place in 1989, when 13 people were killed as two hot air balloons collided in Australia.
Egyptian government spokesman Alaa Hadidi announced that the Cabinet will form a committee from the Ministry of Civil Aviation to investigate Tuesday's accident, EgyNews said.
CNN's Housam Ahmed and Hamdi Alkhshali, along with journalist Adam Makary in Cairo, contributed to this report.
Senate Republican: Pentagon overstating forced cuts
Labels: LifestyleSen. John Cornyn of Texas said the overall amount of defense spending will actually still rise despite the cuts.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Texas senator believes cuts may not be as bad for defense as the Pentagon says
- John Cornyn could face criticism from fellow Republicans with GOP strong on defense
- Pentagon would absorb half of the automatic, government-wide spending cuts
- Cuts due to take effect on Friday absent congressional action to avert them
Washington (CNN) -- Anticipating possible political backlash if forced federal spending cuts kick in as expected later this week, the Senate's No. 2 Republican said Monday that he is preparing a message he plans to hit hard: The cuts are not going to have as negative an impact as the Pentagon and others in the Obama administration are saying.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said he plans to make the case to other Republicans and the public that despite warnings from the Pentagon that the mandated cuts will be devastating, the overall amount of defense spending will actually still rise.
Cornyn conceded that until now he had been parroting what Defense Secretary Leon Panetta continuously warns -- that automatic, government-wide cuts could jeopardize national security.
But the veteran senator said he looked into it and will now argue that even if the cuts go through on March 1, the Pentagon will still see its budget go up.
Cornyn's preview of what he hopes will be a Senate GOP argument is significant since defense cuts are usually something Republicans adamantly oppose. He will surely run up against some in his party who strongly disagree.
To be sure, Cornyn called himself a defense "hawk" and did say the role of the federal government should be first and foremost to protect American citizens.
But he also believes that the deficit should be paramount since the United States has ended its fighting in Iraq and is winding down the war in Afghanistan.
He added that if "God forbid" another 9/11 happens, Congress would act.
Still, Senate Republicans are considering a proposal this week that could alleviate some impacts of the cuts by giving the president flexibility to decide where they would occur.
However, GOP sources tell CNN that Republicans have not yet worked out among themselves whether their measure would give the president that flexibility on all domestic agencies and programs or just on defense.
GOP sources say they are likely to work that out when Senate Republicans huddle for their regular lunch on Tuesday.
The $85 billion in forced spending cuts were written into law intentionally to be indiscriminate.
The law does not allow, for example, the Pentagon to keep funding going for a ship building program by shifting money being spent on a military golf course. And it does not allow the Health and Human Services Department to keep children in Head Start programs by cutting deeper in another agency.
Part of the reason Senate GOP leaders have not decided yet how broad that flexibility should be -- whether it should apply just to the defense cuts, as many Republicans want, or to domestic cuts as well — is due to differences in opinion among Republicans over how much power to give the president.
But it is a key decision, since granting the president flexibility in cuts across the board could make it hard for conservative Democrats, such as those from defense industry-rich Virginia, to oppose.
That's because such an approach could soften the political burden for those Democrats who would be able to argue to their constituents they did everything possible -- including providing flexibility to the White House -- if economic damage ripples through their states.
But one influential Republican senator told CNN on Sunday that he opposes giving the president so much flexibility because it undermines the decision-making authority of Congress.
"I say to my Republican friends, if you want to give the president flexibility as to how to exact these cuts in defense spending, then why don't we go home and just give him the money? I am totally opposed to that," Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said on CNN's "State of the Union." "We spent too long on defense authorization and finding out what this country needs to secure this country without saying, 'Hey, well we'll just let the president have the, quote, flexibility.'"
A competing Senate Democratic proposal would replace the automatic spending cuts with a mix of tax increases on wealthier Americans and more targeted spending reductions than those currently required. Democratic leaders believe it will get more than 50 votes -- so they will be able to claim it won a majority in the chamber -- but will fall short of the 60 it would need to win Senate approval.
In the meantime, both sides are preparing for no change -- and for forced spending cuts to take effect Friday.
Democratic leadership sources admit that whether or not they can ultimately do anything to change the way across-the-board cuts are enacted will depend on the level of public outcry -- and media coverage.
Democrats admit the impact may not be felt for at least a month, maybe more.
Assuming no legislation is passed to alter the cuts this week, sources in both parties say they are already looking ahead to the next big deadline on March 27, when the funding for the government runs out.
A Democratic congressional source tells CNN that at this point, Democrats do not believe the White House wants to use that debate to revisit forced spending cuts, but the source said that could change depending on public reaction to the cuts.
South Korea swears in first woman president
Labels: LifestyleSTORY HIGHLIGHTS
- The inauguration of Park Geun-hye is held in Seoul, South Korea
- Park becomes the East Asian nation's first female president
- Her father was Park Chung-hee, who ruled South Korea from 1961 to 1979
- She's vowed a softer approach to North Korea, hoping to build a "zone of trust"
(CNN) -- Park Geun-hye made history Monday by becoming South Korea's first female president, pledging to secure South Korea against the threat of an increasingly hostile North Korea at the same time as mending bridges with Pyongyang.
"North Korea's recent nuclear test is a challenge to the survival and future of the Korean people, and there should be no mistake that the biggest victim will be none other than North Korea itself," she said. "I urge North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions without delay and embark on the path to peace and shared development."
Reiterating her policy of 'trustpolitik' - a policy based on deterrence combined with cautious approaches to North Korea - she said she intended to "lay the groundwork for an era of harmonious unification where all Koreans can lead more prosperous and freer lives and where their dreams can come true."
"I will move forward step-by-step on the basis of credible deterrence to build trust between the South and the North."
She said South Koreans stood at a new juncture, confronting the difficulties of the global financial crisis as well as the threat from the North.
"I will usher in a new era of hope whereby the happiness of each citizen becomes the bedrock of our nation's strength which in turn is shared by and benefits all Koreans," she said.
When she was elected last December, Park broke barriers in the patriarchal East Asian nation, though she is deeply connected to its past. Her father, Park Chung-hee, was one of the founders of modern Korea who took power after a coup d'etat and ruled heavy-handedly for 18 years before being shot dead by his intelligence chief in 1979.
Read more: Park faces tough challenges
His memory still divides South Korea -- some regard him as the cornerstone of South Korea's present prosperity, others see him as a dictator who ignored human rights and crushed dissent.
Although she has apologized for human rights violations during his rule, Park has been criticized for not doing enough to distance herself from his legacy.
Still, any concerns about her family's past weren't enough to prevent 52% of voters from elevating her to the presidency.
Park, 61, and her opponent, the Democratic United Party's Moon Jae-in, offered similarly moderate plans during the campaign, addressing income inequality, reining in the power of family-owned conglomerates and improving relations with North Korea.
On North Korea, Park distinguished herself from former President Lee Myung-bak, who demanded an end to Pyongyang's nuclear arms program as a condition of economic aid, by offering a softer, carrot-and-stick approach.
I will move forward step-by-step on the basis of credible deterrence to build trust between the South and the North
Park Geun-hye
She visited the North Korean capital in 2002 and met with its late leader Kim Jong Il. Since then, his son Kim Jong Un has taken over in Pyongyang, continuing a policy of defiant work on the country's budding nuclear program, including a test earlier this month that drew widespread international condemnation.
"Precisely because trust is at a low point these days, South Korea has a chance to rebuild it," Park told Foreign Affairs magazine before she won the election. "In order to transform the Korean Peninsula from a zone of conflict into a zone of trust, South Korea has to adopt a policy of 'trustpolitik,' establishing mutually binding expectations based on global norms."
Domestically, Park campaigned as a fiscal conservative, advocating tax cuts for business to boost investment and jobs and vowing to restructure welfare programs. At the same time, she promised soon after winning election "to take care of our people one by one."
In a speech at the headquarters of her Saenuri political party Thursday morning, she invoked a phrase coined by her father, who also served as president in an era when he was encouraging people to pull South Korea out of poverty.
"I would like to re-create the miracle of 'let's live well' so people can worry less about their livelihood and young people can happily go to work," Park said.
CNN's Greg Botelho and Peter Shadbolt contributed to this report.
Police identify Las Vegas shooting suspect
Labels: LifestyleBy Greg Botelho, CNN
updated 10:29 PM EST, Sat February 23, 2013
Ammar Asim Faruq Harris, 26, suspected in a shooting on the Las Vegas Strip on Thursday, is still at large, police said.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- The suspect fired from his Range Rover at a Maserati in Las Vegas, police say
- 26-year-old Ammar Harris is at large, though his car has been impounded, they add
- The Maserati's driver was shot, then hit a taxi spurring an explosion that left 2 dead
- The father of the Maserati's driver, an aspiring rapper, says he was "a good boy"
Follow the story here and at CNN affiliates KVVU, KLAS, KTNV and KSNV.
Las Vegas (CNN) -- Police have identified a suspect in a fatal shooting and crash on the Las Vegas Strip that left three people dead.
The suspect is 26-year-old Ammar Asim Faruq Harris, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said Saturday in a press release. He is at large, though a black Range Rover police said he was driving early Thursday morning has been impounded.
Kenneth Cherry, an aspiring rapper known as Kenny Clutch, was driving his Maserati around 4:20 a.m. Thursday when someone in a Range Rover shot at his car as it headed north on Las Vegas Boulevard.
The Maserati continued into the intersection of the boulevard and Flamingo Road and collided with a taxi, which caught fire, killing cab driver Michael Boldon, CNN affiliate KVVU said.
A passenger in that taxi -- identified by the Clark County coroner's office as Sandra Sutton-Wasmund, 48, of Maple Valley, Washington -- also died. Her death and the deaths of Boldon and Cherry have been ruled homicides, according to the coroner's office.
See an iReporter's video of the fire
The fire closed a block and a half of the Strip near some of its biggest draws: Caesars Palace, the Bellagio, Bally's and the Flamingo. Police collected surveillance video from the casinos.
The shooting took place two blocks from where rapper Tupac Shakur was killed in 1996.
The 27-year-old Cherry leaves behind three children, the oldest being 2 years old and the youngest just 2 months, his father said. He died after being shot in the chest and arm.
Kenneth Cherry Sr. blasted news reports and social media messages about his son, claiming some had falsely characterized him as a person "involved in the rap life." He also disputed accounts that his son exchanged gunfire with the Range Rover's driver, saying he wasn't even armed at the time.
"I don't like the way that some of the media stations are portraying my son, because he was black, (like) he's a criminal," the elder Cherry told reporters. "My son was a good boy."
While the police department statement named Harris as the suspect, it did not indicate any charges have been filed so far.
CNN's Elwyn Lopez, Traci Tamura and Miguel Marquez contributed to this report.
Water tank body still mystery
Labels: LifestyleSTORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Cause of death deferred, pending further examination
- Tests show hotel water is free of harmful bacteria, health department says
- Canadian university says woman not registered in classes this year
- Water "had a very funny, sweety, disgusting taste," one guest says
Los Angeles (CNN) -- Two days after the grisly discovery, the case of the Los Angeles hotel water tank corpse is a mystery with many unanswered questions.
The decomposing body of Elisa Lam floated inside a water tank on the roof of the Cecil Hotel while guests brushed their teeth, bathed and drank with water from it for as long as 19 days.
A maintenance worker, checking on complaints about the hotel's water, found the 21-year-old Canadian tourist inside one of four water cisterns Tuesday morning, Los Angeles Police Sgt. Rudy Lopez said.
How and where did Elisa Lam die?
Body found in hotel water tank
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Los Angeles robbery-homicide detectives are treating this as a suspicious death for obvious reasons, Lopez said. Falling into a covered water tank behind a locked door on top of a roof would be an unusual accident.
An autopsy was completed, but the cause of death is deferred pending further examination, assistant chief coroner Ed Winter said Thursday. That may take six to eight weeks.
It will be several weeks before investigators have the toxicology lab report which would show whether Lam had any drugs in her system.
Any marks, injuries or wounds may suggest Lam died elsewhere and was dumped into the tank by her killer.
Water in Lam's lungs could be a sign that she drowned, but it might not tell why she was inside the small tank.
One clue comes from security camera video of Lam inside a hotel elevator the last day she was seen.
She is seen walking into the elevator, pushing the buttons for four floors and then peering out of the opened elevator door as if she is hiding or looking for someone. Clad in a red hoodie, Lam at one point walks out of the elevator before returning to it, pushing the buttons again. She then stands outside the open elevator doorway, motioning with her hands, before apparently walking away.
Lam checked into the Cecil Hotel five days earlier, January 26, on her way to Santa Cruz, California, according to police in her hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia.
Why did it it take so long to find Lam?
Lam's parents reported the University of British Columbia student missing in early February. Her daily calls home stopped on January 31, police told reporters on February 6 at a Los Angeles news conference.
Because it was an international case -- and her parents and sister flew to California to find answers -- the case may have gotten more attention than most of the several thousand missing person reports made in Los Angeles each year.
A search of the hotel then found no sign of Lam, including a trip to the roof with a police search dog, Lopez said.
Strange things began happening with the hotel's water supply later in the month, according to Sabina and Michael Baugh, a British couple who spent eight days there until checking out Wednesday. The water pressure dropped to a trickle at times.
"The shower was awful," Sabina Baugh said. "When you turned the tap on, the water was coming black first for two seconds and then it was going back to normal."
The tap water "tasted horrible," Baugh said. "It had a very funny, sweety, disgusting taste. It's a very strange taste. I can barely describe it."
But for a week, they never complained. "We never thought anything of it," she said. "We thought it was just the way it was here."
Knowing now what they didn't know then about the water is sickening, Michael Baugh said. "It makes you feel literally physically sick, but more than that you feel it psychologically. You think about it and it's not good."
Eventually, the hotel maintenance department investigated the water problem, sending a worker to look into the tank, police said. He saw Lam's lifeless body at the bottom.
A hard-working family
Randy Schmidt, a spokesman for the University of British Columbia, said Lam was registered in a class in August, but was not registered in any classes this year, according to records.
"Unfortunately, we do not have much more to say, other than to extend our deepest sympathies to the family," said Schmidt.
According to Los Angeles police, Lam tended to use public transportation.
Teika Steins, manager of a hostel in Toronto, Canada, said Lam stayed a week there in early December. Steins called the young woman friendly and outgoing.
Flowers and signs were left Thursday outside the temporarily-closed Lam family restaurant in Burnaby, British Columbia.
Tanya Grohmann, who works nearby, said she was saddened by the loss and the fact the family did not know what happened to the young woman.
"They are a hard-working family. They immigrated here," she told CNN affiliate CTV. "They've been in the neighborhood for nine years working. ... They're honest people."
Why did hotel stay open after discovery?
New guests continued to check into the Cecil in the hours after firefighters removed Lam's body from the water tank. But each guest was asked to sign a waiver releasing the hotel from liability if they become ill. "You do so at your own risk and peril," the hotel's release said. Guests who already paid for their rooms would not get refunds if they move out, it said.
CNN's repeated calls to the hotel for comment were unreturned Wednesday and Thursday.
The Los Angeles Public Health Department immediately tested the water supply, but told the manager they could stay open as long as they provided bottle water and warned guests not to drink the tap water.
The results of the testing showed no harmful bacteria in the tank or the pipes, according to Angelo Bellomo, director of environmental health for the department. Chlorine in the city's water may be the reason it is safe, he said.
All of the tanks and pipes in the building still must be drained, flushed and sanitized, Bellomo said. The water will be retested after that process, which should take several days, he said.
Several guests interviewed by CNN on Wednesday indicated the hotel management did not tell them about the body in the water supply they had been drinking and bathing in.
Qui Nguyen learned about it from a CNN reporter Wednesday morning. He decided not to sign the waiver and instead find a new hotel.
Many of its guests are tourists from other countries drawn by the hotel's billing as a "European-style" hotel that is the perfect accommodation for "spend-thrifty travelers."
But if they take Kim Cooper's tour bus ride through the neighborhood, they would hear about the Cecil being the former temporary home to at least two convicted murderers, including "Night Stalker" serial killer Richard Ramirez. Ramirez paid $14 a day to stay on the 14th floor during his 1980s killing spree, Cooper said.
The Cecil Hotel is "in the heart of the action, allowing our guest to embrace the city and the surrounding areas that make Los Angeles famous," according to the description you'll hear when you call there and are placed on hold.
In fact, the hotel is just a few blocks away from the infamous Skid Row district in downtown Los Angeles, but 16 miles from the beaches of Santa Monica, eight miles from Hollywood's Walk of Fame and 12 miles from glamorous streets of Beverly Hills that are prominently featured on the Cecil's website.
If you want a reservation at the Cecil you will have to wait until next month. The website said the hotel is "sold out" until March 1. After then, you can book a room for $65.
Hotel with corpse in water tank has notorious past
CNN's Kyung Lah, Chandler Friedman and Chuck Conder contributed to this report.
Rapper among dead in Las Vegas shooting, crash
Labels: LifestyleSTORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Kenneth Cherry Jr., a rapper known as Kenny Clutch, was killed, his lawyer says
- Gunfire and a fiery crash kill 3 in the heart of Las Vegas Strip
- Casino visitor describes seeing "fireball" from Caesars Palace
- Police are looking for a black Range Rover Sport with large black rims
Las Vegas (CNN) -- A shooting and a fiery crash left three people dead in the neon heart of the Las Vegas Strip on Thursday, and police scrambled to find out who triggered the carnage.
The bloodshed closed the Strip for about a block and a half around some of its biggest draws, leaving tourists gaping at a wrecked Maserati, a burned-out taxi and four other vehicles.
"First time in Vegas, and then, like, the whole thing, what you know from movies only -- I was shocked," Christine Gerstenberger, who was visiting the desert gambling mecca from Germany, said Thursday afternoon. She and her brothers debated going back to the hotel "because I'm totally scared," but "We're too curious," she said.
See iReporter's video of fire
One of those killed was Kenneth Cherry Jr. -- a rapper also known as Kenny Clutch -- his attorney Vicki Greco said. According to his Facebook page, Cherry is from Oakland, California, and lived in Las Vegas.
Cherry's death was shocking, Greco said.
"Out of everyone I know in the rapping industry there is no way I would have ever, ever expected to find that he was shot on the Las Vegas strip in such an aggressive manner," said Greco, who said Cherry had two kids. "He didn't have a (criminal) record or a history. He was just a good kid trying to make it and be a good father."
Four of the Nevada city's biggest casinos -- Caesars Palace, the Bellagio, Bally's and the Flamingo -- are nearby, and police collected surveillance-camera video from them to help the probe.
Also killed in the incident was a cab driver named Michael Boldon, CNN affiliate KVVU reported.
His family is devastated by the death of the 62-year-old cab driver, his brother Tehran Boldon told the affiliate.
"It is gut-wrenching," a tearful Tehran Boldon told KVVU. "My life mission would be to see them punished and brought to justice for the senseless thing they did."
It started around 4:20 a.m. with a dispute in the valet lot of the Aria Hotel, about a block away, Sheriff Douglas Gillespie said. Investigators haven't confirmed the cause of the altercation, but he said it spilled onto the street as someone in a black Range Rover Sport fired several shots at the Maserati as it headed north on Las Vegas Boulevard.
When the driver was hit, the Maserati continued into the intersection of the boulevard and Flamingo Road and collided with a taxi, which caught fire. The sports car's driver, the cab driver and a passenger in the taxi all died; a passenger in the Maserati and three other people in the resulting pileup were hurt, Gillespie said.
The Maserati's passenger and other witnesses are helping detectives piece together what happened, he said. And the "top priority" for police is to find the Range Rover, which sped away from the intersection, and those inside it when the shooting happened.
"This act is totally unacceptable, and we are going to make a very clear message to these individuals in regards to that," Gillespie said.
Police in neighboring states have been asked to look for the sport-utility vehicle, and Gillespie warned the occupants should be considered armed and dangerous.
"Clearly, the suspects have no regard for the lives and safety of others," he said.
The Range Rover had an out-of-state dealer plate, tinted windows and large, black rims, Las Vegas Police Sgt. John Sheahan said.
The block around the crash remained closed off into Thursday afternoon. John Lamb, who was inside Caesars Palace, told CNN affiliate KLAS he heard the commotion and saw the taxi on fire from a window.
"There was a loud bang, and I hear two other booms. I looked out my window at Caesars Palace ... and could see the fireball," he told KLAS.
Man kills 3, himself in Southern California shooting
CNN's Cristy Lenz, Matt Smith, Tom Watkins, Jason Hanna and Deanna Hackney contributed to this report.
Pistorius case investigator accused of attempted murder
Labels: LifestyleSTORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: A decision in the bail hearing could come as soon as Thursday
- Charges against investigator stem from 2009 incident, spokesman says
- Botha and other officers fired at a minibus they were pursuing, he says
- The officers were allegedly drunk at the time, spokesman says
(CNN) -- The sensational case of Oscar Pistorius took a new turn Thursday when police said the lead investigator is facing seven counts of attempted murder stemming from an incident four years ago.
That investigator, Hilton Botha, and several other police officers apparently fired at a minibus they were chasing in late 2009, spokesman Neville Malila told CNN affiliate eNCA.
The officers were allegedly drunk at the time, the spokesman said.
They were arrested on seven counts of attempted murder -- for the number of occupants in the minibus, the spokesman said.
They were also charged with using firearms under the influence of alcohol, and all of them appeared in court.
The charges were provisionally withdrawn, but the Director of Public Prosecution reinstated them Wednesday and plans to move ahead on the charges later this year, the spokesman said.
The revelation comes as final arguments are set to begin in the bail hearing of the Olympian charged with premeditated murder in the killing of his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp, in the early hours of Valentine's Day. A ruling in the hearing could come as soon as Thursday.
Pistorius has said he thought he was shooting at an intruder.
But Botha told the court Wednesday that Pistorius, 26, wasn't acting in self-defense when he shot through the door of a toilet room in the bathroom of his home and killed Steenkamp.
Botha said he believes Pistorius knew Steenkamp was on the other side of the door. He didn't explain why investigators think that but suggested Pistorius was specifically aiming to hit the toilet where Steenkamp had gone.
But he also said investigators have found no evidence that is inconsistent with Pistorius' story.
Bail hearing
Prosecutors spent much of the hearing Wednesday focused on the bathroom of Pistorius' Pretoria home, where authorities say the track star shot Steenkamp three times, in the hip, elbow and ear.
Bullet trajectories show that Pistorius had to turn left and fire at an angle to aim at the toilet, Botha testified. Had he fired head-on into the door, he would have missed her, Botha said.
Defense attorney Barry Roux disputed that, saying the evidence does not show there was an effort to aim at the toilet.
Prosecutors are trying to prove Pistorius intentionally fired on Steenkamp, 29, in a premeditated attempt to kill her. Pistorius and his lawyers argue he mistook her for an intruder and killed her accidentally.
Pistorius said in a statement read Tuesday by his lawyer that he believes Steenkamp slipped into the bathroom when he got up to close the balcony door in his bedroom in the early hours of February 14.
Hearing noises and gripped with fear that someone had broken into his home, Pistorius said he grabbed his gun, yelled for the intruder to leave and shot through the toilet-room door before realizing the person inside might have been Steenkamp.
Roux said Wednesday that the defense team believes Steenkamp locked the door when she heard Pistorius yelling for the intruder to leave. He also said Steenkamp's bladder was empty, suggesting she had gone to the bathroom as Pistorius claimed.
Botha also said police believe a blood-stained cricket bat found in the bathroom was used to break down the locked door to the toilet.
Pistorius said in his statement that he used the bat to break down the door in an effort to get to Steenkamp to help her.
Botha agreed with the defense contention that, other than the bullet wounds, her body showed no sign of an assault or efforts to defend herself.
But prosecutors and Pistorius' defense battled over allegations that testosterone and needles were found at the home, as well as the quality of the police investigation.
Did investigators make errors?
Amid speculation by outsiders to the case that steroids or other drugs could have somehow played a role in the shooting, Botha testified that investigators found two boxes of testosterone and needles at Pistorius' home.
Under questioning by Roux, however, Botha said he hadn't read the full name of the substance -- which Roux said was an herbal remedy called testoconpasupium coenzyme -- when investigators took the materials into evidence. A quick Internet search on the name of the substance yielded no results.
Roux also said the defense forensics team found a bullet in the toilet that police had missed and noted police had failed to find out who owned ammunition found at the home or photograph it.
Investigators also went into Pistorius' home without wearing protective foot covers to prevent contamination of the crime scene, Roux said. Botha conceded that was true and said it was because police didn't have any more of the covers left.
Roux questioned police arguments that a witness heard sounds of an argument before the shooting. The witness, Roux said, lives 600 meters (more than a third of a mile) from Pistorius' home. Prosecutor Gerrie Nel countered that the witness lives 300 meters away.
Would he run?
Botha told Magistrate Desmond Nair that investigators believe Pistorius is violent and might flee if released from jail.
He described two police encounters with Pistorius, one in which Botha said the track star asked someone else to take the blame when a gun went off at a Johannesburg restaurant.
Police said the second incident took place at a racetrack, where Pistorius allegedly threatened to assault someone.
Authorities have also said they have responded to previous domestic incidents at Pistorius' home, but have not elaborated.
In his statement Tuesday, Pistorius said he and Steenkamp were deeply in love and said he was "mortified" over her death.
High hurdle
Defense attorneys are trying to overcome South African law, which makes it difficult for defendants accused of premeditated murder to get out on bail. The law requires evidence of "exceptional circumstances" to justify release.
Nair upgraded the charge against Pistorius to premeditated murder Tuesday, saying he could not rule out the possibility that the track star planned Steenkamp's death. But Nair said he would consider downgrading the charge later.
In his statement Tuesday, Pistorius said he would not try to flee or influence any witnesses if he is allowed out on bail, and he said his release wouldn't be a danger to public order.
Pistorius due back in court; bail ruling expected
Labels: LifestyleSTORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Prosecutors are asking that bail be denied
- Oscar Pistorius paints a detailed picture of his version of his girlfriend's death
- "I had no intention to kill my girlfriend," he says in his statement
- Prosecutors dispute Pistorius' version, say he meant to kill her
Pretoria, South Africa (CNN) -- Olympian Oscar Pistorius returns to court on Wednesday to find out if he can be freed on bail after being charged with premeditated murder in the shooting death of his girlfriend.
The charge of premeditation makes it more difficult for Pistorius' attorneys to argue he should be released pending trial. To win bail, the defense must argue that "exceptional circumstances" exist that would justify Pistorius' release.
Prosecutors have said they would ask for bail to be denied in the Valentine's Day death of Reeva Steenkamp.
Tuesday's court session ended with no decision on bail for Pistorius, 26. Prosecutors said they needed time to study the affidavits read in court before deciding how to proceed.
In a statement read by his lawyer, Pistorius said he would not try to flee or influence any witnesses if he is allowed out on bail, and he argued his release wouldn't be a danger to public order.
During Tuesday's hearing, Magistrate Desmond Nair upgraded the charge against Pistorius to premeditated murder, saying he could not rule out the possibility that the track star planned Steenkamp's death. But Nair said he will consider downgrading the charge later.
Pistorius' affidavit in alleged murder of girlfriend
A tragic mistake?
While prosecutors and defense lawyers agree Pistorius shot Steenkamp, the track star denied intentionally killing her.
"I fail to understand how I could be charged with murder, let alone premeditated murder because I had no intention to kill my girlfriend," Pistorius said in his statement.
"We were deeply in love and couldn't be happier," he said. "I loved her and I know she felt the same way."
Pistorius' girlfriend dies on Valentine's Day
HIDE CAPTION
In his statement, Pistorius said Steenkamp came to his home February 13 for a quiet dinner. They wrapped up the night with a bit of television in bed for him, some yoga for her. She had brought him a Valentine's Day present to open the next day.
After the couple had gone to bed, he said he got up in the early hours of February 14 to close the balcony door in his bedroom when he heard a sound in the bathroom.
Pistorius said he'd been a victim of violence and burglary in the past, and realized with terror that contractors who worked at the house had left ladders outside.
Fearing someone had entered the home through the open bathroom window, Pistorius grabbed his 9mm pistol from under the bed, moved in the dark on the stumps of his amputated legs and yelled at what he thought was the intruder to get out.
"I fired shots at the toilet door and shouted to Reeva to phone the police. She did not respond and I moved backwards out of the bathroom, keeping my eye on the bathroom entrance," Pistorius said in his statement.
"Everything was pitch-dark in the bedroom and I was still too scared to switch on a light."
"When I reached the bed, I realized that Reeva was not in bed. That is when it dawned on me that it could have been Reeva who was in the toilet. I returned to the bathroom calling her name," he said.
He said he threw open the balcony door and screamed for help, put on his prosthetic legs and tried to kick in the door to the separate room inside the bathroom containing the toilet. Then, he said, he picked up a cricket bat, smashing panels out of the door before finding a key and unlocking it.
"Reeva was slumped over but alive," he said.
Pistorius said he called for help and was told to take her to the hospital himself.
He carried her downstairs and tried to help her, but she died.
A premeditated murder?
Prosecutors, however, painted a different picture.
They rejected Pistorius' claim that he mistook her for a burglar, saying it would make no sense for an intruder to hide behind a locked bathroom door.
Instead, they say Pistorius armed himself, attached his prosthetic legs and walked 7 meters (23 feet) to shoot Steenkamp through a bathroom door after a heated argument.
Defense attorney Barry Roux questioned the state's argument, asking how prosecutors would know Pistorius had put on his prosthetic legs and walked to the bathroom before shooting his girlfriend.
Police were alerted to the shooting by neighbors, and residents had "heard things earlier," police spokeswoman Denise Beukes said.
Authorities said there had been "previous incidents" at the home, including "allegations of a domestic nature," but did not provide details.
Detectives are investigating the blood-stained cricket bat found in the home, Johannesburg's City Press newspaper reported. They are trying to determine whether it was used to attack Steenkamp, if she used the bat in self-defense, or if Pistorius used it to try to break down the bathroom door, the newspaper said.
Case rivets fans
The case of the global sports hero known as the "Blade Runner" has riveted stunned fans around the world.
As he walked into court in a blue shirt, gray suit and tie, frenzied photographers snapped away, prompting the judge to demand they stop.
The scene was a far cry from the packed stadiums that erupted in applause whenever the double-amputee competed against men with legs.
On social media, sentiment appeared to be mixed. "Oscar Pistorius is telling us rubbish," one Twitter user posted.
But others were more supportive after hearing Pistorius' story. "I for some reason believe Pistorius after reading his affidavit!!" another person tweeted.
Robyn Curnow and Kim Norgaard reported from South Africa; Ed Payne reported and wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Nkepile Mabuse also contributed to this report.
Pistorius heads to court as slain girlfriend is laid to rest
Labels: LifestyleBy Holly Yan and Robyn Curnow, CNN
updated 1:56 AM EST, Tue February 19, 2013
Oscar Pistorius is pictured with Reeva Steenkamp in Johannesburg, South Africa, in January.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Prosecutors have said they intend to upgrade the charge to premeditated murder
- The funeral for his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp, will take place Tuesday
- Official: Steenkamp was shot four times through a bathroom door in Pistorius' home
- Pistorius has rejected the murder allegation "in the strongest terms," his agent said
Pretoria, South Africa (CNN) -- Oscar Pistorius, the global sports hero known as the "Blade Runner," will appear in court Tuesday seeking bail as authorities accuse him of murdering his girlfriend.
South African prosecutors have said they intend to upgrade the charge to premeditated murder, but have not released further details.
The last time the world saw images of Pistorius, the track star was sobbing during a court hearing Friday, crumbling as he heard that heavy, hideous word: murder.
It's a far cry from the packed stadiums that erupted in applause for the double-amputee who dared to compete against men with legs.
Authorities have released little about a possible motive in the Valentine's Day shooting, while local media have reported that Pistorius had mistaken his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, for an intruder.
South African authorities have stressed that the scenario did not come from them, and said there was no evidence of forced entry at the home.
Steenkamp was shot four times through a bathroom door in Pistorius' upscale Pretoria home, a South African official familiar with a case said Monday.
The 29-year-old model was alive after she was shot and Pistorius carried her downstairs, said the official, who was not authorized to release details to the media.
Detectives are investigating a blood-stained cricket bat in the home, Johannesburg's City Press newspaper reported, and are trying to determine whether it was used to attack Steenkamp, if she used the bat in self-defense, or if Pistorius used it to try to break down the bathroom door.
Pistorius, 26, has rejected the murder allegation "in the strongest terms," his agent said in a statement.
Meanwhile, friends and family will mourn Steenkamp at a private funeral service in her hometown of Port Elizabeth.
On Sunday, South Africans heard Steenkamp's voice one last time after her death, when the national broadcaster aired a pre-recorded reality TV show featuring the model discussing her exit from "Tropika Island of Treasure," on which local celebrities compete for prize money.
"I'm going to miss you all so much and I love you very, very much," she said, blowing a kiss to the camera.
CNN's Robyn Curnow reported from South Africa; Holly Yan reported and wrote from Atlanta.
Part of complete coverage on
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Pope delivers one of his final messages
Labels: LifestyleBy Hada Messia and Josh Levs, CNN
updated 7:21 PM EST, Sun February 17, 2013
Pope Benedict XVI waves as he arrives to lead the Angelus prayer at the Vatican on Sunday.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- It's the pope's second-to-last Angelus prayer as pontiff
- Pope Benedict XVI thanks his flock for prayers and support
- He discusses "decisive moments of our lives"
- Cardinals may meet before March 15
(CNN) -- Pope Benedict XVI led tens of thousands in a prayer for strength Sunday and thanked followers for their support during his second-to-last Angelus prayer as pontiff.
"Today we contemplate Christ in the desert, fasting, praying, and being tempted," the pope said to an unusually large crowd at St. Peter's Square in Vatican City.
"As we begin our Lenten journey, we join him and we ask him to give us strength to fight our weaknesses. Let me also thank you for the prayers and support you have shown me in these days. May God bless all of you!"
Benedict, 85, shocked millions across the world last week when he announced his intention to stand down at the end of the month, citing the frailty of old age.
The decision makes him the first pope to step down in nearly 600 years.
Referring Sunday to a Bible passage, the pope said, "During the decisive moments of our lives, and in fact at every moment, we are in front of a crossroads: Do we want to follow the I or God? The individual interest or the true good, that which really is the good?"
The crowd appeared to have about 100,000 people
He also tweeted a message to followers worldwide, calling on them to "rediscover faith" as a foundation.
Cardinals may meet before March 15 to choose the next pope if they are all in Rome, a Vatican spokesman said Saturday. The conclave will bring together the 117 cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church.
Part of complete coverage on
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Internet rules: More cats. LESS CAPS
Labels: LifestyleSTORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Yes, there ARE some rules to the Internet, though, for now they're mainly an inside joke
- Some rules based on pop culture, some have become Web memes
- Other rules ominously quote Anonymous
- Is there a need for rules on the vast and wild Web? Depends on where you stand
Editor's note: In the gallery above, we've selected a handful of our favorite Internet rules, or truths. (You might recognize a few.) What are some of yours? Tell us in the comments. We'll feature some of the best on CNN.
(CNN) -- Hello!
Welcome to the Internet. It's a big place, so let me show you around.
You're approaching Oversharing Pass, where residents routinely post too much information. The Facebook Gorge and Twitter Triangle are particularly nefarious time-sucks. Restraint is advised.
Up ahead is Hyperbole Junction, which is the Worst. Spot. Ever. We recommend that you maintain an even keel and stay to the center; the extreme left and right can be dangerous.
And over there is the infamous Lair of Sociopaths, the home of trolls and loners who mercilessly mock everyone who enters their territory. Watch your step: They may trip you up and you'll fall into the Chasm of Lulz.
Our world isn't all dangerous, of course. You may visit Squee City, where images of cute cats and laughing babies fill the landscape. You'll also meet countless kind strangers, hilarious raconteurs and hard-working fact-checkers. They make it all worthwhile.
Hmm. Maybe it would be easier if you had a guide -- you know, some rules to help you find your way.
What, you didn't know there are rules of the Internet?
Of course there are rules. How do you think we maintain order around here?
A parody of rules
That's a joke.
But there really are some rules of the Internet -- even if they, too, began as kind of a joke.
According to the site KnowYourMeme.com, the Rules began around 2006 as a guide for the Internet collective Anonymous and emerged on the old Encyclopedia Dramatica, a bawdy meme catalog. Soon a version emerged on 4chan, an online bulletin board where most users post anonymously, says Jamie Cohen, director of web/digital media at Hofstra University's School of Communication.
"Chris Poole (4chan's founder) kind of designed it, kind of like a Netiquette rules," he says, describing the unspoken code of conduct that lubricates Internet discourse. (Poole has attributed the rules to Gaia Online, a role-playing community.)
But the rules of the Internet deliberately mocked many of those conventions. The self-reflexive parody fit perfectly with its community's attitude, points out Anthony Rotolo, a professor at Syracuse University's School of Information Studies.
"These jokes are meant to comment on something happening in the world," he says. "Later they get accepted as truisms or become a meme."
The absurdity has been reflected even in the supposed number of rules. Though the best-known first version claimed there were 50 rules, only 18 were listed. Number 1 was initially "Do not talk about Rules 2-33"; no Rules 2-33 were on the list.
The sarcastic attitude was reinforced by the kicker found on Encyclopedia Dramatica. It was a parody of Wikipedia's stub language: "This article is crap. You can help by completely re-writing it."
'Fight Club' and Monty Python
Very quickly, the lists started multiplying and expanding, liberally borrowing from comedy, Web culture and math-science tropes. On one list, a few were designated by complex numbers and mathematical symbols. Some were observations; others were directives.
Some have traced the Internet rules to Chris Poole, the founder of 4chan.
Two rules were taken from "Fight Club": "You do not talk about 4chan (or "/b/," 4chan's random, free-wheeling bulletin board) and "You DO NOT talk about 4chan." One version of Rule 6 stated "There is no Rule 6," which is from a Monty Python sketch. Rule 42, "Always bring a towel," was drawn from Douglas Adams' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series. (If you have to ask, read the books.) "Profit," Rule 49, came from "South Park."
Other rules went the reverse direction and became part of mainstream culture. Rule 34 -- "If it exists, there is porn of it" -- is likely the most famous. But there's also "Pics or it didn't happen" (Rule 30), "For every given male character, there is a female version of that character; conversely for every given female character, there is a male version of that character" (Rule 63) and, of course, the corollary to Rule 34 -- "If no porn of it exists at the moment, it will be made" (Rule 35).
Most retained a sense of humor, riffing off established rules and occasionally ending with a giggly "No exceptions."
But a handful were, and remain, as serious as a judge -- notably the three directly about Anonymous (commonly Rules 3-5):
- We are Anonymous.
- We are legion.
- We do not forgive, we do not forget.
The overall Internet rules may have started as a joke, but such ominous language from Anonymous speaks to some of the paradoxes of the Web:
Rules? Why do we need some stinkin' rules?
After all, rules can be helpful -- or divisive. They can create community -- or subvert it.
Even Anonymous, the activist group itself, cuts both ways, says Rotolo. When it hacked the extremist Westboro Baptist Church, many people cheered. But when it goes after less unpopular targets, some cry vigilantism.
Cohen says that the rules themselves try to have it both ways. They're funny until someone gets hurt.
They "play more of a game type of role. They can be bent or broken or cheated or moved around, as you would in any game that has no physical reaction," he says. "That doesn't take into account ever the result of real people being affected by this -- such as teenagers, children, anybody who's seeing things that they shouldn't."
He adds, "There's a lot of rules in there that work for (the creators) more than anyone else. Until they become victims of their own thing, they don't know how powerful the rules are."
Evolving from the Wild West
Of course, the Internet isn't that old, and we're still in its Wild West era in many ways. As the technology evolves from a handful of hackers on Usenet bulletin boards to billions of users on officially sponsored sites, the customs -- the rules -- of the Web will evolve with it.
But we're not talking about the kinds of changes that your family makes to the rules of Monopoly (no, Free Parking is NOT for the pool of money acquired via Chance and Community Chest). We're talking something more expansive: All the established customs of our carbon-based life forms, making way for the instantaneous and virtual modes of silicon-based electronics.
Who knows what new rules may be written?
"When you're in the midst of social change, it's impossible to determine where it's going," says Peter S. Vogel, a former programmer who's now a Dallas-based attorney. "And I think we are in the greatest social change in the history of humans, because there are no boundaries of geography or time."
We haven't even sorted out what happens when the differences in local culture meet global technology. Bruce Umbaugh, a philosophy professor at Webster University in St. Louis who teaches a course on philosophy and technology, argues that not all parts of the world are as tolerant or open-minded as Western democracies.
There's a lot of rules in there that work for (the creators) more than anyone else.
Jamie Cohen, Hofstra University
"There are a lot of other places in the world that are actively using the technology of the Internet to control the free communication among citizens, and to identify critics of the government and hurt them," he says. "We need to be mindful in what we advocate from our perspective that the tools that are implemented on the Net are tools for the global Net."
In other words, citizens of other countries already face actual, enforceable rules -- unlike the folkways established by Web users in the West. Witness the frictions of the Arab Spring, or the restrictions of societies such as North Korea.
It's the kind of perspective that provides a different context for the issues raised by a libertarian, anything-goes Internet. It's hard enough to stop "Star Wars" comment boards from devolving into flamebaiting, meme-generating files of NSFW Yodas.
So for now, we're still making our way through the Series of Tubes, and nobody knows where the boundaries lie. We joke, we grimace and we marvel at the creativity of the hive mind. The Internet is a big place, and countless cultures have set up residence. Eventually, what is now humor may lose its zing; what are now customs may become laws.
Will the rules ever become The Rules? Maybe some future generation will figure out the true guideposts of Internet life, and the singularity will be upon us.
Nah. It'll never happen.
What did we miss? Share your rules for the internet below in the comments. We'll feature some of the best on CNN.
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