Can you see that ripple in the space-time continuum? Yup, that's a Skoda Felicia right there using a Romulan cloaking device. Nah, just kidding. But that is the art of 22-year-old artist Sara Watson (seen in the picture) whom has painted a vehicle that was donated to her so that from a certain angle, it is nearly completely invisible to the naked eye. It took Sara three weeks to complete and really, it's quite good. The car was donated by Recycling Lives which provides homeless with homes, education/training and jobs as well as promoting waste management. In the words of Autoblog author John Neff, "because there's no better way to demonstrate recycling than to spray paint something invisible and watch people bang into it."

[Source: Autoblog]

After an 8 year old girl married a man more than 40 years older than her in Saudi Arabia, much of the world wasappalledand criticized Saudi Arabia, heavily embarrassing the kingdom. This has sparked the consideration of a marriage ban for girls under 18.

Responding to a question about the Ministry of Justice's plan to deal with marriage of young girls, Minister Mohammed al-Eissa said "Among the options that are available and excluding the issue of puberty, is to ban marriage for (people) under 18." His reasoning being that young girls are often unable to take family responsibilities after having quickly given birth. While that is true, there is something to be said to the fact that its simply barbaric! When young girls marry, they have almost no life experience; they know almost nothing of life. Life experience makes individuals more able to take care of themselves and be more self-confident. Instituting a marriage ban will ultimately bolster women's strength in that society, which will eventually lead to greater rights. All in all, here's hoping this ban passes.

In the mean time, 50-year-old who married the 8 year-old-girl, has said he will in fact divorce his bride. This appears to be good news, though this situation may have ruined the young girl's life. When divorced, woman in these cultures tend to be treated as damaged goods. We however hope that by the time she grows up, that will change and the human rights situation will improve. Either that or that some kinder and more honorable man will make an exception for her (which is a horrible thing to even think). 

[Source: Reuters]

Got a case of the Mondays? Well here's a nice way to start the day. By the time you come out of work, it might be dark, the streets might be vacant and you yourself could be open to surprise attacks from people with knives or guns! Here's the quintessential "how to" video on defending yourself. It's worth it. Watch it. Now.

See? Wasn't that worth your time?! How cute is that little girl? Seemingly so oblivious to what her father (presumably) is having her take part in. Now head to the water cooler and tell people about this! We give you the raWpodcasts.net Guarantee you'll be credited with the talk of the office today!

raWpodcasts.net: Adding marginal value to your ineffectual personality, today!

[Source: YouTube]

If you've been following the story, you'll know that the gloriously defiant Swedish owners of The Pirate Bay BitTorrent tracker (we admire their resolve, not their actions), have lost 9-day their trial. Not surprising was their fine of $3.6 million USD, which they have no way of, and do not intend on paying. More surprising however, was the 1-year jail sentences they all received because piracy and facilitating piracy are not the same thing. They are appealing the judgement, but they might have an ace up their sleeves.

As the title suggests, the Stockholm district court judge, Tomas Norström, the man who made the judgement, is a member of Pro-copyright groups which may constitute a conflict of interest (though he argues differently). He sits on the board of the Swedish Association for the Protection of Industrial Property and the Internet Infrastructure Foundation. Moreover, one of the people whom argued against The Pirate Bay, representing the entertainment industry, is part of one of those groups. As a result, Peter Althin, lawyer for The Pirate Bay, plans to demand a retrial. It's up in the air as to what will happen, but we say they at least get their appeal given this latest development.

What they do can't be condoned. However, getting jail time is pretty serious for facilitating the theft of, what is in the end, bits of data. Here's hoping they at least get rid of that. Also on the other side, the entertainment industry is just way too copyright crazy. What's needed is balanced copyright. If you want to learn more, you can learn a lot from watching one of Lawrence Lessig's keynote speeches. In the meantime, it's worth noting that thepiratebay.org is still up.

[Source: Wired]