North Korea Builds Its Own Tablet, Fails to Include the Internet

By Maia Brown-Jackson

North Korea has come out with what’s basically its own version of an iPad: The Samjiyon. Unlike the iPad, which is used to access the Internet to get movies, books, and music in addition to communications and basic web-browsing, the Samjiyon does not get Wi-Fi, and is instead basically a touchscreen tablet devoted to delivering government propaganda and also slingshot games, because North Korea.

Even though the Samjiyon can’t access the Internet, you can still use it to enjoy the media that comes built in to the tablet. Predictably, this media centers around praising Kim Jong Un as a great general and teaching children such important skills as how to properly line up, draw a red flag, or offer unquestioning support of their Glorious Leader.

Fake iPad or food storage? Tough call.

There are a few games as well: Slingshot, the requisite Angry Birds ripoff; several combat-themed games, most of which revolve around shooting tanks; and a sports game, in which you flick basketballs towards a hoop. No word on whether or not Kim Jong Un’s BFF Dennis Rodman makes an appearance in that last one — personally, we’d rather see him shooting tanks, as we all know that the real official sport of North Korea is “fake warfare.”

Not sure the lack of anything resembling fun will take people’s minds off the fact they live in North Korea.

While Kim Jong Un remains a walking joke and occasional meme subject whose threats of warfare are laughed off in the West, he does still manage to make life pretty terrible for people actually living in North Korea. While we can’t do anything about that, we are glad to hear that there’s at least one project siphoning resources away from the regime’s uglier military aspirations.

In fact, this sort of tech arms race could be just the thing to keep Kim Jong Un and company busy not building nuclear weapons. What are the odds we can convince the UN to drop a Nokia NGage off near North Korea in a box marked TOP SECRET?

(via NKNews and NorthKoreaTech, image via Zennie Abraham, European Commission DG ECHO, Joseph Ferris)

A Different Kind Of Drug Company

Illegal online drug bazaar begins massive advertising push

By Adrianne Jeffries

In the world of illicit virtual marketplaces, there is one clear leader: Silk Road, which has been in business since February of 2011. However, a few competitors have recently sprung up.

The most visible is Atlantis, which has completely discarded the paranoia and caution that usually accompanies the online drug-dealing industry. Today, the site announced it is planning a "big social media campaign," which kicked off with a video ad done in the style of a cutesy Silicon Valley startup.

The video opens with a cheery tune and a cartoon man in stunner shades and a tie. "Meet Charlie," reads the narration. "He's a stoner, and recently his job made him move cities, and he can't find any dank buds." The movie ends with Charlie getting "high as a kite" after using Atlantis, which the video is sure to note offers "no fees for purchases" and "next day delivery."

Atlantis has also been pitching journalists and offering discounts to top Silk Road sellers.

Isn't it a bit indiscreet for Atlantis to advertise its illegal service so brazenly (and flout YouTube's user guidelines in the process)? Silk Road, by contrast, does not even advertise its address; it must be shared person-to-person or found by following links from deep-web sites such as The Hidden Wiki or other guides to the digital underground.

It's very difficult for the police to crack down on either the operators or users of virtual marketplaces, however, so operating in the open may be the same as operating in the shadows. Owners can station themselves anywhere in the world, taking precautions to protect their identities. Atlantis and sites like it also operate completely under the table using virtual currencies such as Bitcoin and Litecoin. These "cryptocurrencies" also offer users ways to protect their identities. Atlantis and sites like it are only accessible through Tor, the distributed network that anonymizes traffic by bouncing it between nodes around the world.

Isn't it a bit indiscreet for Atlantis to advertise so brazenly?

"We want to bring attention to the site and bring our vendors more buyers," a user purporting to be the CEO of Atlantis said on Reddit. "Law enforcement is going to be aware of us (and probably already is) regardless of the way we choose to put our product out there."

Atlantis says it has processed more than half a million dollars in sales since it opened in March, so the aggressive advertising strategy may be working. The company is also hiring an online marketer — to be paid in Bitcoin, of course.

The Tapir Is The Animal With The Most Terrifying Penis

PROBABLY NSFW 

In this not-exactly-safe-for-work video, two tapirs (a jungle-dwelling mammal, related to the rhinoceros) go at it with verve, while a nice family watches and makes what I assume to be amusing commentary.

As Matthew Cobb at Why Evolution is True discovered, this is only one entry in a whole genre of tapir sex videos and tapir penis photos.

iOS 7 includes the ability to control your iPhone or iPad using head movements

Discovered by an anonymous tipster, iOS 7′s “Accessibility” section now includes a feature that allows you to control your iPhone or iPad with left or right head movements. We’ve tested this ourselves and found it to be quite accurate, but it’s quite tedious to control your device this way since it cycles through all of the options on the screen and you move your head when it is bordering around the option you want.

You can also make the left or right head movement act as a home button, start Siri, open Notification Center, open the App Switcher, decrease volume, increase volume, or simply tap.

While this feature is meant as an option for accessibility users, it is definitely a unique foray into Apple’s usage of additional sensors/cameras for controlling your device.

Centre Directs Mizoram to cull virus-affected pigs

New Delhi, Jun 26 : The Centre has directed the Mizoram government to cull all pigs that were affected but have survived the Porcine Reproductive Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS). The state government records say there are 5,620 such pigs.

Two government labs had detected an exotic virus that causes PRRS in 57 of the 64 samples taken from dead pigs. Since March, 3,806 pigs have died of the epidemic in the state.

The Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries has directed the state to stop distribution of pigs and piglets. It has also told the state to test all healthy pigs to check for infection. It also advised that any pigs brought into the state should test negative for the virus.

The centre also called for a halt in the inter-state movement of pigs from affected to non-affected areas. The epidemic has been detected in six of eight districts in the Mizoram.

The Centre's directive has been marked to all animal husbandry departments of northeast states. The Krishi Bhavan will also inform the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health.

The virus is believed to have entered Mizoram from neighbouring Myanmar since PRRS has been detected all along highways that lead west-ward from the international border in Champhai district. Only two western districts have not been affected by the virus.

A senior official said a date for mass-culling will soon be decided, but worried the action may lead to heavy economic losses. The state's animal husbandry secretary and director had both been summoned to Delhi for a meeting at Krishi Bhavan on Tuesday to discuss how to contain and eliminate the virus.

Pig Virus: Centre to Meet Mizoram Official

By Adam Halliday

Aizawl, Jun 25 : Detection of an exotic virus from among more than 3,800 pigs killed by swine fever in pig farms of Mizoram since March has led the Centre to summon state officials to New Delhi for an emergency meeting on Tuesday.

Dr Amarjit Singh Nanda, Animal Husbandry Commissioner in Department of Animal Husbandry Dairying & Fisheries at Krishi Bhavan in Delhi will chair the meeting to chart out a strategy to contain and eliminate the exotic virus found across the border in Myanmar.

The virus causes Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS), also known as blue-ear pig disease. It leads to failed pregnancies and respiratory illnesses in younger pigs. The illness was first reported in the US in the 1980s and led to a mass epidemic in China about five years ago.

"This kind of virus has never been detected in India before and the central government has summoned us to New Delhi for an emergency meeting to discuss how to tackle it after the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal confirmed it as PRRS," Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Director Dr L B Sailo said from Delhi, where he arrived Monday.

"This virus is found across the border in Myanmar but has never been reported in India. Though it is neither a very deadly disease nor a very fast spreading disease, it causes huge economic loss with failed pregnancies and respiratory illnesses," said a senior DADF officer at Delhi.

When the illness surfaced about three months back, vets first thought it was swine flu and vaccinated hundreds of pigs. About half of them survived, but the detection of PRRS has alarmed vets. The virus does not die and remains active in cured pigs, creating a risk of more pigs getting infected.

The government has imposed an indefinite ban on pig imports from Myanmar. Pork is one of the most common meat consumed in Mizoram and more than 164 piggery-based cooperative societies spread across the state currently coordinate pig farming under a government program started in 1989.

Mizo Officials Visit Bru Camp in Tripura

Aizawl, Jun 25 : The government of Mizoram has informed the Bru Refugees lodging in six camps in Tripura to prepare for repatriation to Mizoram.

Joint Secretary of Mizoram Home Department, Lalbiak-zama and Vikash Singh, SDO of Kanchanpur, had visited all the refugee camps in Tripura on Thursday and Friday last week during which they had conveyed the information to the Bru leaders in the refugee camps regarding the repatriation.

The officials of Mizoram and Tripura governments also informed the refugees that they are to initiate self repatriation as early as possible, and that the Government will pay Rehabilitation Grant to the tune of Rs.80, 000 for each family besides free ration for one year in addition to reimbursement of their transportation charges.

The officials also informed that as done in the earlier process of repatriation, facilitation centres-cum-transit camps will be set up at Kanhmun and Zomuantlang where identity verification shall be done, adding that only genuine residents of Mizoram will be repatriated to their respective villages.

During the joint visit to the refugee camps, Joint Secretary Lalbiakzama was accompanied by the OSD in the Home Department, David Lalthangliana and SDC of Mamit, Abraham, who, together, also met the Deputy Commissioner of North Tripura District and the District SP at the IB in Kanchanpur.

Meanwhile, the president of Mizoram Bru Displaced People Forum, A.Sawibunga had reportedly said that the message conveyed to the Bru refugee leaders will be discussed at a convenient time by arranging public meetings for all the six refugee camps and the decision taken in the meeting thereby will be conveyed to the governments of Tripura and Mizoram. A.Sawibunga has conveyed the opinion of the Bru refugees to the officials that the Rehabilitation Grant of Rs.80,000 and free ration for a year are insufficient in view of escalating prices and the present off season for jhuming.

He further said that many refugees will need land for their settlement as their villages and lands have been owned and occupied by some other persons.

The process of repatriation was temporarily stalled by officials of Tripura Government following tension in the border area in the aftermath of the death of Siberamriang. But now, the situation has improved with reopening of Langkaih Bridge which connects Mizoram and Tripura.

On May 7, in the wake of the move to resume the repatriation of the Bru refugees, Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP),the largest students’ body of Mizoram had asked the state government of Mizoram not to resume the repatriation process of Bru refugees from Tripura camp to Mizoram unless the refugees inform the government in writing that they were willing to come back to Mizoram.

The MZP leaders had said that the Bru people did not want to return to Mizoram when they were given chances five times by the Centre and the government of Mizoram as they left Mizoram for Tripura on their own volition.

The MZP also expressed concern over the increasing law and order problem in the border area including kidnapping of Mizos by the Brus for ransom.

It is pertinent to note that hundreds of Brus left Mizoram in 1997 and 2009. The first case was triggered when Bru militants murdered two Mizos who were forest guards on October 21, 1997. The second case happened after a 17-year-old Mizo boy was killed by the Brus near Bungthuam village on November 13, 2009. When the Bru left Mizoram they had driven out some Mizos in villages of Sakhan Hill Range in Tripura like Sakhan Serhmun, Sakhan Tlangsang, Sakhan Tualsen and Upper Dosda which had kicked up much ruckus in Mizoram then.

Meanwhile, a couple of years ago, head count conducted by the MBDPF found that there had been 31,703 Brus in the relief camps belonging to 5,448 families who were bona fide residents of Mizoram.

The repatriation of the 1997 batch of Bru refugees was underway until it stalled by the November 13 killing.

In the year 2011, conglomeration of major NGOs in Mizoram had submitted a joint memorandum to the then Union Home minister P Chidambaram to rehabilitate displaced

Mizos in Tripura and stall the ongoing repatriation of Brus from Tripura to Mizoram. The memorandum was signed by representatives of four large NGOs in the state--the Young Mizo Association (YMA), the MZP, the Mizoram Upa Pawl (MUP) or elders association and the Mizo Hmeichhe Insuihkhawm Pawl (MHIP) or the women's federation and four political parties.

The memorandum had mentioned that more than 80 Mizo families displaced from Tripura's Sakhan Hill range in 1998 after being threatened by Bru militants should be adequately rehabilitated by the Centre, otherwise, the repatriation of Bru refugees from Tripura relief camps should not be allowed.

Gambling With Bows And Arrows in Meghalaya

Indian bookies complete bets placed through-out the city at an archery club in the north-eastern city of Shillong, February 2, 2013. The origins of the game, known simply as Siat Khnam or Shoot Arrow and played by men belonging to northeast India's Khasi tribe, are unclear.

An Indian archer counts his bills in Shillong, India on February 2, 2013. After the Shoot Arrow game was legalised in October 1982, allowing bookies to buy licences to gamble, its popularity returned. The game is played twice a day, every afternoon except on Sundays and public holidays.

Shillong, Jun 25 : Every weekday afternoon in the picturesque Indian city of Shillong, dozens of men meet to play with bows and arrows, place bets and gamble, keeping a centuries-old tradition alive.

The origins of the game, known simply as Siat Khnam or Shoot Arrow and played by men belonging to northeast India's Khasi tribe, are unclear.

Today, participants choose a two-digit number and place a bet on that number. The sum of their haul, if they win, depends on the amount they pay to participate in the game.

Everyone draws their bows and arrows and begins shooting. Arrows fly through the air, as each archer tries to strike the target, located about 50 metres (150 feet) from them.

Only the arrows that stick to the target -- a bamboo barrel-like structure -- are counted, not the ones that fall off.

The arrows are counted and the last two digits of the number make up the winning bet, so if 285 arrows hit the target then whoever chose 85 wins.

If no one gets lucky, the money is added to the pool for the next game.

The game hit a rough patch during the 1950s and 1960s when local governments outlawed the practice.

But officials eventually overturned the ban since the game was deemed much too popular and an important source of income for the archers involved.

After it was legalised in October 1982, allowing bookies to buy licences to gamble, its popularity returned. The game is played twice a day, every afternoon except on Sundays and public holidays.
India boasts a strong record of sporting success in archery and the country's Hindu epics are packed with tales of princes famed for their prowess with a bow and and arrow.

In this remote corner of the country however, although some archers play in league tournaments organised by local clubs, most simply turn up for a good time, part of a sizeable herd devoted to carrying on an old tradition.