Zodiac tips just keep rolling in

Another day, another set of Zodiac-killer tips -- this time hailing from as far away as Montana.

Two file drawers at The Chronicle are stuffed with such tips, but few as voluminous as the one mailed this week from John Cameron, a retired homicide detective from Great Falls, Mont. He sent a 207-page report, accompanied by several hundred exhibits and discussions of the bewildering messages Zodiac sent to police and the media during his unsolved murder spree in the Bay Area four decades ago.

Chronicle photo files

The gist of it all, Cameron said, is that the Zodiac is 77-year-old Edward Wayne Edwards -- who is alive and unwell in prison in Ohio, where he is serving two life terms in prison for a 1977 double murder. Cameron said he concluded, after a summer-long investigation, that Edwards murdered as the Zodiac "to show to the world that Portland, Ore., authorities arrested the wrong people" for his 1960 slaying of a couple parked on a lovers lane.

A wanted poster of the Zodiac killer, issued in 1969 by San Francisco police.

Edwards, Cameron said, went all over the country killing people over the past half-century, and was stopped only a year ago when he was arrested for the Ohio murders.

"This guy will turn out to be the most prolific serial killer that ever was," Cameron told The Chronicle. "He was a master at creating alibis and false birth certificates, and he killed everywhere, from one end of the country to the other."

The Zodiac killed at least five people in 1968 and 1969 in the Bay Area, and he taunted the press -- including The Chronicle -- and investigators with cryptic, boasting letters. He is the most infamous uncaught killer in American crime annals.

Cameron, who is an analyst for the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole, said he sent his Zodiac package to a dozen law enforcement agencies that have connections with the Zodiac or Edwards cases, including the San Francisco Police Department and the FBI.

"We haven't received anything yet, but we check out any new leads," said San Francisco police Lt. Lyn Tomioka.

Also dispatched urgently -- and they are always urgent, when it comes to the Zodiac case -- to The Chronicle this week was a set of Zodiac cipher decryptions that purport to prove that the killer was spelling out "Screw You" in the shape of male and female private parts, to taunt police. The tipster asked to remain anonymous.

These new leads join a giant pile of others of late, including those supposedly proving the killer is a composite of several police officers, is a prominent local poet, is a neighbor (lots of those, from coast to coast) or is the Unabomber (a persistent theory for years).

And there is last year's claim from Orange County real estate agent Deborah Perez that her father, Guy Ward Hendrickson, was the Zodiac. This ignited angry denials from Perez's stepsister, Janice Hendrickson of the Bay Area -- and a still-raging debate online from the hundreds of amateur Zodiac sleuths who stake out allegiances to one sister or another, not to mention the other hundreds of would-be Zodiac suspects.

Tomioka said her department hasn't closed the book on the Hendrickson lead. But that doesn't mean he's the bad guy.

"She (Perez) did provide us with some items that we followed up on, and we're still investigating," Tomioka said.

READ MORE - Zodiac tips just keep rolling in

Karen Owen List- Sex Scandal Goes Viral

The Karen Owen List is the result of a senior thesis joke, named ” An education beyond the classroom: excelling in the realm of horizontal academics”. The “thesis’ described in detail all the Duke University athletes she had slept with. It was posted online and spread like wildfire everywhere.

As a result, Karen Owen took down all her social network profiles, as she has become one of the most hated women in America this week.

The thesis is a power point presentation listing 13 Duke University athletes, along with detailed descriptions and 1 to 10 ratings. Owen’s list is pages long and contains names, dates and private physical attributes.

“There’s no going back now, but maybe Owen should have written out her thesis with pen on real paper, or printed out just one copy that she shared with her friends in person. By putting it in an electronic format and sending it out by email, she practically invited it to go viral”, said Forbes.

Karen Owen issued an apology for the list to “Jezebel” :”The people that are named are the kinds of people that everyone wants to be or be with. I regret it with all my heart. I would never intentionally hurt the people that are mentioned on that.”

READ MORE - Karen Owen List- Sex Scandal Goes Viral

SHAWLS BY HODA

HODA Shawl, in covered bridge red, was featured on the TODAY Show. Some of the proceeds go to breast cancer research.


The hand-knit shawl has three large buttons that let you create a different look every time you wear it!
 

Scroll down and move your mouse over images to view a selection of yarn and buttons colors. 

READ MORE - SHAWLS BY HODA

ACORN Foe James O'Keefe Tried to Embarrass CNN's Abbie Boudreau on Porn-Strewn "Palace of Pleasure" Boat

It's hard to even know where to start with this one: James O'Keefe, the conservative filmmaker whose undercover videos essentially destroyed community organizing group ACORN, apparently attempted to lure CNN Correspondent Abbie Boudreau onto a boat potentially strewn with dildos and pornography, where he planned to faux-seduce her as hidden cameras filmed the whole thing.
Yes, you read that right.

CNN lays out the story here, and Boudreau herself explains what happened in the video below. Here's what happened: CNN had been working on a documentary about young conservative activists, O'Keefe among them; On August 10th, O'Keefe requested a private meeting with Boudreau, suggesting that he just wanted to talk because he was uncomfortable "about letting people into my sort of inner sanctum."

O'Keefe recorded the call without telling Boudreau, and emailed it to friends and colleagues. (It ultimately ended up in CNN's hands.) In the email, he said he was "getting closer" to getting to Boudreau and asked one colleague if "you think I could get her on the boat." Boudreau said later she had understood that she would be meeting with O'Keefe in his office.

When Boudreau showed up for the meeting in Maryland a week later, she was met by Izzy Santa, the executive director of O'Keefe's group, Project Veritas. A visibly nervous Santa asked to speak to Boudreau in the CNN correspondent's rented car, where Santa revealed that O'Keefe was attempting to set her up.

And what a setup it was. "Izzy told me that James was going to be dressed up and have strawberries and champagne on the boat, and he was going to hit on me the whole time," Boudreau recounts.
O'Keefe eventually emerged, and Boudreau had a brief discussion with him in which she said he did not have permission to film her; she declined to get on the boat, and soon left.

That was a good choice: According to a 13-page document titled "CNN Caper" about the plan obtained by the network, the "equipment needed" for the prank included "condom jar," "dildos," Alicia Keys music (though not Marvin Gaye because it is "too chiche)," lube, a ceiling mirror, posters and paintings of naked women, copies of Playboy and other pornographic magazines, Viagra pills, fuzzy handcuffs and a blindfold.

Also listed among the needed equipment are "hidden cams on the boat" and a "tripod and overt recorder near the bed, an obvious sex tape machine."

In an email expressing doubts about the operation, Santa wrote that O'Keefe "has staged the boat to be a palace of pleasure with all sorts of props, wants to have a bizarre sexual conversation with her."

The "CNN Caper" document laid out a message that O'Keefe would record in advance of the prank in which he would complain that CNN was planning "to portray me and my friends as crazies, as non-journalists, as unprofessional and likely as homophobes, racists or bigots of some sort."

For that reason, the script continued, O'Keefe would say, "I'm going to punk CNN. Abbie has been trying to seduce me to use me, in order to spin a lie about me. So, I'm going to seduce her, on camera, to use her for a video. This bubble-headed-bleach-blonde who comes on at five will get a taste of her own medicine, she'll get seduced on camera and you'll get to see the awkwardness and the aftermath."
The script was not written by O'Keefe, who emailed CNN to say he found "certain elements highly objectionable and inappropriate, and did not consider them for one minute following it." It was reportedly the work of Ben Wetmore, one of the young conservative activists tied to O'Keefe, who was among those charged earlier this year in an attempt to tamper with the office telephone system of Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana.

The "CNN Caper" document also said the group wanted to expose, in a different operation, the "big lie" under which CNN operates, including their bias against conservatives and "their own internal racism against whites" as well as minorities.

The section of the "Caper" document that addresses the Boudreau plan includes a mock script in which O'Keefe tries to seduce Boudreau and explains, "the joke is that the tables have turned on CNN."

"Using hot blondes to seduce interviewees to get screwed on television, you are faux seducing her in order to screw her on television." (Boudreau has a long and impressive resume.)

If there is fallout, the document says, "make sure to emphasize Abbie's name and overall status to help burden her career with this video, incident and her bad judgment in pursuing you so aggressively."

It continues that "if they go on the attack, you should point out the hypocrisy in CNN using the inherent sexuality of these women to sell viewers and for ratings, passing up more esteemed and respectable journalists who aren't bubble-headed bleach blondes and keep the focus on CNN."

Santa - the Project Veritas executive director who warned Boudreau about the operation - reportedly remains in the group's payroll, though she has had her responsibilities taken away from her.

READ MORE - ACORN Foe James O'Keefe Tried to Embarrass CNN's Abbie Boudreau on Porn-Strewn "Palace of Pleasure" Boat

Blackberry Playbook Tablet Announced

RMI announced their new tablet, the Blackberry Playbook, which ironically doesn't run the Blackberry operating system. Going up against the iPad is going to be tough enough. Can they do it with an entirely new operating system that will need developers to support it?


Given there was no hardware to show, this looks like a preemptive move by RIM to hopefully give current Blackberry owners pause before buying an iPad. They have indicated it will be available in "early 2011."

Powering the Playbook is QNX, an OS developed by QNX Software Systems. QNX is in the Unix family of operating systems. That may be a smart play on RIM's part as opposed to trying to do this with Blackberry 6.0. The Blackberry OS is getting old and it may be time for a rewrite to compete head to head with the likes of more modern platforms like iOS and Android. Both Palm and Microsoft started over for the same reasons. It will be interesting to see if Blackberry 7 or 8 has its roots in the QNX operating system lightened up a bit for the smartphone form factor.

To compete with the iPad the Playbook will need a rich library of apps and content. Music is not a big deal as many users already have their own collection of MP3 files. Books are another matter and helping out is Amazon, which has announced support of the Playbook with a Kindle app. As far as apps go, we'll have to wait and see how enthusiastically the developer community embraces the device. One thing the Playbook will be able to do that the iPad can't though is Flash.

READ MORE - Blackberry Playbook Tablet Announced

Segway Owner Dies in Segway Crash

Reuters
Jimi Heselden, who owned Segway, Inc.
 until his death on Sunday.

Call it irony, fate, or simply an accident: in Britain, the owner of Segway died over the weekend when he apparently drove one of the devices off a cliff near his home.

In West Yorkshire, police reported that James W. Heselden, 62, who took over control of the company earlier this year, accidentally steered the Segway off a 30-foot cliff and into a river while riding on his estate, about 140 miles from London. The exact cause of death is not yet established, the police said.

The Segway Human Transporter came to market in 2002 as the invention of Dean Kamen, an entrepreneur from New Hampshire who made his fortune after he created the first insulin pump for treatment of diabetes. At the time, Mr. Kamen said that the Segway would have an impact on society similar to that of the personal computer.

A Segway

The person-mover, priced at about $5,000, uses sophisticated gyroscopic technology as well as electronics and some software controls.

The rider essentially steers one by leaning fore and aft, and aiming to the left or right by pulling the handlebars; the company calls this “LeanSteer” technology. The Segway’s top speed is about 12 miles per hour, the company says.

In Britain, the Segway cannot be piloted on public roads or paths but only on private property. But they are legal in several European countries. In the United States, Segways are approved for limited use in many states, The Telegraph reports.

Celebrities, including Jackie Chan, adopted the Segway as an alternative transportation device for a time, although the Segway image took a hit in 2003 when President George W. Bush fell off of one.

READ MORE - Segway Owner Dies in Segway Crash

Peter Jackson threatens Hobbit shutdown

Peter Jackson said the film was "a big fat juicy target"

The Lord of the Rings director, who is the films' executive producer, said it faced being shut down or moved from its location in his native New Zealand.

In an open letter, Jackson said shifting the entire project to eastern Europe "could so easily happen".

Unions have urged actors not to work on the films due to the dispute.

'Movie drought'

A number of organisations based in the UK, Canada, Australia and the US have said the The Hobbit's producers have refused to negotiate a deal with them.

The International Federation of Actors said it was time for performers on The Hobbit to seek union contracts, adding that actors in New Zealand have "struggled on non-union contracts for some time".

Jackson said the wrangle was a "grab for power" and "an attempt by the "Australian bully-boy" to exert influence over New Zealand's film industry.

"It feels as if we have a large Aussie cousin kicking sand in our eyes... or to put it another way, opportunists exploiting our film for their own political gain."

Andy Serkis (left) and Sir Ian McKellen starred
 in The Lord of the Rings movies

Jackson said that he is not anti-union and "has always attempted to treat my actors and crew with fairness and respect".

He pointed out that Hobbit actors with no union representation are part of a profit-sharing pool.

The director made all three of the Lord of the Rings films and his screen adaptation of The Lovely Bones using New Zealand locations.

Jackson is expected to become the films' director after the departure of Guillermo del Toro due to concerns over delays - although a formal announcement has yet to be made.

But the two-movie project has not been given the financial go-ahead by Hollywood studios New Line and MGM.

Work was expected to start earlier this year but is now scheduled for a 2011 start.

READ MORE - Peter Jackson threatens Hobbit shutdown