A Sampling of Clips for July 15^th, 2009

* UCSD faculty and staff may obtain a copy of an article by e-mailing the University Communications Office

Survey Finds One in
Six Consumers Act on Spam
New York Times, July 14 -- About one in six consumers have at some time acted on a spam message, affirming the economic incentive for spammers to keep churning out millions of obnoxious pitches per day, according to a new survey. Due to be released Wednesday, the survey was sponsored by the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG), an industrywide security think tank composed of service providers and network operators dedicated to fighting spam and malicious software. (Mentions UCSD) More

Blackboard Buys
iPhone-Application Company
Inside Higher Ed, July 15 -- Continuing its expansion moves, Blackboard announced on Tuesday that it has purchased a student-run company that produces iPhone applications. Blackboard bought TerriblyClever Design for $4 million. Officials announced the purchase here at the Blackboard annual conference. (Mentions UCSD) More

Is Compulsion to Amputate
Healthy Limbs Mind or Matter?
Wired, July 15 -- The action was intentional and the man, Robert Vickers, described the feeling of waking up in the hospital without his leg as “absolute ecstasy.” He’s one of a small number of people who have what psychiatrists have come to call body integrity identity disorder in which patients report the desire to have one or more of their limbs amputated because the extremities don’t feel like they “belong” to their bodies. (Mentions UCSD) More

ExxonMobil Investment Lifts
San Diego’s Algae Biofuel Industry
SDNN, July 14 -- It’s boomtime for San Diego’s algae biofuel industry. ExxonMobil’s huge partnership with San Diego biotech company Synthetic Genomics Inc. catapults the city to the top the world’s algae biofuel centers, said experts. (Quotes Steve Kay, dean of the Division of Biological Sciences who serves as director of the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology, a consortium of UCSD scientists, investment and industry leaders). More

Similar stories in:
San Diego Union-Tribune
Boston Herald
North County Times

Freaky Robot is a Real Einstein
Tehran Times, July 15 -- Albert Einstein is practically alive and smiling in the guise of a new robot that looks eerily like the great scientist and generates facial expressions that take robotics to a new level.  “As far as we know, no other research group has used machine learning to teach a robot to make realistic facial expressions,” said Tingfan Wu, a computer science graduate student from UCSD. More

Study Says Men Have Risky
Sex With Tijuana Sex Workers
KBPS, July 14 -- A new study finds a large percentage of men who have sex with Tijuana sex workers do not use condoms. As KPBS reporter Amy Isackson explains, the study by University of California San Diego researchers suggests these men's risky behavior can spread AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases in Tijuana and San Diego.
UCSD and Mexican researchers interviewed 400 men for the study who are clients of Tijuana sex workers. More

Local UC Workers to
Protest Sweeping Furlough Plan
KFMB, July 15 -- Workers at UCSD are planning to protest a proposal to furlough thousands of employees who work for the University of California. The UC governing board is set to vote Wednesday on a plan to furlough about 80 percent of the university system's workforce. More

Aquarium Goes Deep with Shark Week
La Jolla Light, July 14 -- Shark Week at the Birch Aquarium at Scripps aims to raise awareness about sharks and the serious threats they face from overfishing.
The coastal waters off San Diego County are home to a variety of sharks, from the leopard sharks hanging out in La Jolla Cove to the large mako sharks in deep water beyond the continental shelf. More

San Diego Jobs in Tech Writing Abound
SDNN, July 14 -- Technical writing is a great career path for people who want to combine writing skills, some understanding of a technology, product or process and the opportunity to be around people working on interesting projects. San Diego, with its vibrant defense, software, computer game, biotech and life science industries, ranks high on the list of cities where tech writers are in demand. (Quotes Steve Margolin, who teaches technical writing at UC San Diego Extension). More

Using Potter's Magic for Good
XETV, July 15 -- Harry Potter, Ron, Hermoine were all in attendance. Hedwig made an appearance. Even Lord Voldermort was there. No, we're not talking about the actors. But there was a costume contest in a sold out Del Mar theatre. (Mentions UCSD) More

Rave Wrecked
San Diego Reader, July 15 -- DJ/promoter James Reynolds thought he had found the perfect place to throw a rave. According to the drum-and-bass DJ who goes by the name DJ Rabid, his May 16 party called Shipwrecked “…was the most underground event that San Diego had had in a long time.… We found a beach a mile and a half south of Black’s.… [A] sign…said the beach is the property of UCSD, which uses it for research. More

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