Who's afraid of the digital Reaper?

By Barry Neild for CNN January 14, 2011 -- Updated 0742 GMT (1542 HKT) | Filed under: Web

Experts say Internet users are reluctant to face up to their own mortality.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Post-death digital asset management services are not yet attracting millions of subscribers
• Researcher Wendy Moncur says relatively young Internet users are reluctant to deal with concept of death
• Digital afterlife innovators say customers will eventually make "mental leap" to embrace their services

(CNN) -- When Jeremy Toeman set up Legacy Locker, an online service to handle people's digital assets when they die, his concept was widely hailed as a brilliant innovation that would become an overnight success story.

He wasn't the only one with the idea. Other tech innovators launched their own businesses to serve a potentially vast market of Internet users who might want to bequeath their email accounts, social network identities, blogs, and other websites when they die.

The new businesses quickly generated a media buzz over the concept of the "digital afterlife," highlighting cases where post-death legal battles had broken out over access to online material left behind.

But far from dealing with a tidal wave of customers, the uptake on these services has been slower than expected, with afterlife websites signing up thousands rather than millions of customers.

"As much as I'm told I'm a genius for doing this, you'd think that if I was we should have millions and millions of customers by now, but we don't," he said, stressing that business was still very good.

If you were to wholesale pass on online effects to the deceased's nearest and dearest it could expose things that were perhaps best left unexposed
--Wendy Moncur, technologly and human behavior researcher

At Entrustet, another website that allows customers to appoint a digital executor to oversee the transfer and deletion of the deceased's web accounts, business is also growing at a healthy but modest rate.

Founders Nathan Lustig and Jesse Davis say things are going well, with about 3,000 users (none have died yet) having signed up to their service since it launched last April.

With no over-arching rules governing what happens to our online presence when we pass away, it would seem prudent and logical to sign up to a digital afterlife service.

Failure to implement an online post-death plan could mean things like valuable web addresses, treasured photos and even access to online bank accounts may all be lost for good, experts say.

So why are people being so slow to sign up?

Age is one factor, says Wendy Moncur, a computer technology and human behavior expert at the University of Aberdeen who has been researching the digital afterlife concept.

Moncur says most web-literate people are still some way from death's door, statistically speaking, so are not thinking about their online legacy. But there is also a psychological factor.

"Nobody likes to face up to their death at the best of times," she says.

The founders of Entrustet and Legacy Locker agree their potential customers need to overcome a mental barrier before they take the plunge.

"I'm very happy with our progress, but if I've learned anything about human psychology, it's people don't actually want to face or make decisions about death in any way that they don't have to," said Toeman.

Like Toeman, Lustig is confident that there will be a shift in attitude that will manifest itself in the healthy profits (he jokes that his company's unofficial motto is: "Everybody uses the Internet and everybody dies.")

"People need to make the mental leap from considering online accounts as just the main activities that they do all day online to actually real digital assets," he said.

"I do not know the speed or how long it's going to take for that shift to take place but we'll all see it happen before our eyes."

Moncur also believes that the uncertainties of a nascent market place may be off-putting to some, with regulation needed to eliminate bogus operators, stop companies going bust before their customers die and ultimately govern what can be claimed from the deceased's assets.

"Everyone has something they don't want people to know," she said. "When it was on paper they could hide it away somewhere but online it's a lot more difficult and if you were to wholesale pass on online effects to the deceased's nearest and dearest it could expose things that were perhaps best left unexposed.

"These are not straightforward issues which is why research needs to be done."

Toeman agrees with the idea of regulation, saying it could also help eliminate current problems caused by online operators who insist that all digital assets become their property when the Grim Reaper comes calling.

"We believe strongly that it's not okay to offer a service and have hundreds of millions of people use it and decide that the terms of that service expires at death because the content that is created has value beyond death," he said.

"I think companies are going to do the right thing when it comes down to it, I just think they've even thought about it yet."

Japanese teens not interested in sex

Little wonder the country's birth rate is plummeting -- though apparently it remains exciting when a cute shop clerk's hand accidentally touches yours while giving you change

By Robert Michael Poole 14 January, 2011

"How was your date last night?" "Yaaaawwn."

A survey conducted by O-net revealed further evidence of the growing prevalence of Japanese herbivorous men -- or soushokukei-danshi -- who are not only shy when it comes to seducing women, but have little or no interest in them.

According to the survey of 800 people who turned 20 years old this year, 83.7 percent of Japanese males said they were not dating anyone, while 49.3 percent said they had never had any girlfriends.

More surprising was the news that in a separate survey by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare published by the Japan Family Planning Association that 36.1 percent of Japanese males, aged 16 to 19, had no interest in sex whatsoever -- up from a 2008 record of 17.5 percent.

“A comparison of the 2008 and 2010 findings show that men indeed have become ‘herbivores,'" said Kunio Kitamura, head of the Japan Family Planning Association, on NHK. "The findings seem to reflect the increasing shallowness of human relations in today’s busy society.”

So what's the difference between the guys who do have girlfriends and those who don’t?

Here are the best answers from lifestyle site POUCH, which listed the kinds of behaviors that don't rate on the seduction scale.

15 behavior traits of young Japanese men that turn off women:

1. Cutting in conversations to talk about himself.
2. Dressing up only in black clothes.
3. Letting his fingernails get dirty.
4. Trash talking women on blogs and social networks (indicating his misogynistic tendency).
5. Lacking confidence.
6. Letting his parents overprotect him.
7. Not knowing when to step forward and pass a couple flirting ahead of him on the street (indicating his inability to be decisive).
8. Hesitating to open a door if he sees his neighbor do the same (easily chickening out).
9. Going outside in his sweats (lacking fashion sense).
10. Being lackadaisical about anything except some weird stuff he’s really into.
11. Trying to caress a girl's head when he gets drunk.
12. Getting ecstatic when his hands are in contact with the hand of a cute shopping assistant who is just giving him change.
13. Thinking of himself as too handsome to be satisfied with his potential girlfriends.
14. Taking an extremely long trip by bicycle rather than using public transport.
15. Thinking of accidental eye contact with a girl as her romantic interest in him.

Chernobyl: Environmental dead zone or eco-haven?

By Matthew Knight, for CNN

January 14, 2011 -- Updated 1120 GMT (1920 HKT)

CNN's global series i-List takes you to a different country each month. In January, we visit Ukraine and look at changes shaping the country's economy, culture and social fabric.

(CNN) -- The abandoned ruins of the town of Pripyat near the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster, at Chernobyl in northern Ukraine, have been crumbling away for almost a quarter of a century.

The absence of humans has seen nature seemingly flourish in the town's deserted streets, squares and buildings, apparently defying the radiation that leaked out when reactor number four exploded on April 26 1986.

But how true is this picture?

New research is showing that some plant species appear to be able to adapt, despite high levels of toxicity.

Scientists studying the seeds harvested from soybean and flax plants grown inside (five kilometers from the power plant) the exclusion zone found them to be relatively unaffected by radiation.

Martin Hajduch from the Institute of Plant Genetics and Biotechnology at the Slovak Academy of Sciences said: "We detected very low radioactivity in the seeds. In the stem or leaves there is radioactivity, but it is somehow blocked and doesn't come to the seeds."

In the stem or leaves there is radioactivity, but it is somehow blocked and doesn't come to the seeds
--Martin Hajduch, Slovak Academy of Sciences

RELATED TOPICS

• Chernobyl
• Nature and the Environment
• Nuclear Energy
• Science and Technology
• Ukraine

Hajduch and his colleagues in Ukraine conducted a proteomic study (examining the structure and function of proteins) of the plants and found that the seeds harvested inside the exclusion zone compared favorably with ones grown in non-contaminated soil outside.

"I cannot recommend eating something from Chernobyl, but I think it will be possible at some stage," Hajduch said.

He's encouraged by the recovery plants are making at Chernobyl -- an area he describes as "full of life."

The Chernobyl Forum -- a collection of eight U.N. agencies, including the International Atomic Energy Agency -- published a report in 2005 examining, among other things, the environmental legacy of the disaster.

Plant and animal populations had grown since the disaster, they said, and the exclusion zone had "paradoxically become a unique sanctuary for biodiversity."

But some scientists disagree with the U.N.'s assessment.

Biologist Anders Moller from the University of Paris Sud in France has been examining the effects of radiation on animals around Chernobyl for two decades.

"Areas with higher radiation have fewer animals, survival and reproduction is reduced, sperm are abnormal and have reduced swimming ability. Abnormalities are commonplace and mutations rates are much elevated," Moller said.

Recent studies of bird life in the area by Moller and Tim Mousseau from the University of South Carolina revealed abnormality rates running as high as one in 10. A rate Moller says is "astonishing."

Last year, Moller and Mousseau published the results of the largest census of animal life in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. It revealed, contrary to the Chernobyl Forum's 2005 report, that biodiversity in insects, birds and mammals is declining.

Not all species are affected by radiation in the same way according to Moller. Some birds -- including migrant species and long distance dispersers -- are more vulnerable to radiation than others, he said.

Hajduch said animal numbers in the exclusion zone are probably higher now than before the accident. But that's because there are no humans there hunting or fishing.

"But if you look at how many species of animals are in the area, I think it would be less," Hajduch said.

According to Chernobyl.Info, run by the U.N.'s Development Program, over 40 different types of radioactivity were released after the accident.

Cesium remains the most widely dispersed isotope while concerns remain over long-term contamination from strontium and plutonium.

Cesium and strontium have a half-life of around 30 years. Plutonium, however, has a half-life of 29,000 years.

The recent decision by Ukraine's government to sanction official tours to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, coupled with the upcoming landmark anniversary, will mean that more tourists will probably visit than ever before.

Chernobyl tourist Ruben Solaz, who took the stunning gallery images above on a summer trip to the site in 2008, described his visit as a "very touching, hair-raising" experience.

Few who enter Chernobyl's "zone of alienation" would disagree.

Balancing home and homeland: Second-generation Egyptians in London

Nadine el-Hadi

Fri, 14/01/2011 - 11:18

Photographed by AFP

Archived

• 1

London--Like many second-generation Egyptians raised in London, 25-year-old Hatim Morsy spent his childhood summers in the homeland of his parents, growing up with a strong connection to his roots. This was strengthened by his education, as he attended a Saudi school until the age of 16, gaining a foundation in Arabic and Islam before finishing school and university in the British system.

Morsy’s experience is typical, and representative of the melting pot that is England’s capital city. A closer look at this multiplicity reveals the intricacies of identity perceptions and construction among Arabs and Egyptians.

London is famed for its cosmopolitan nature, and it is by far the most diverse part of the UK. According to statistics from the London mayor’s office, 32 percent of the city’s residents were born outside the UK. The average for the rest of the country is 7 percent.

The population of London is close to 8 million, of which 113,000 residents were born in the Middle East and 9,120 in Egypt, according to the mayor’s office. There is fairly detailed information on those born in Egypt who are now residing in London, such as 40 percent live as a couple, 14 percent rent privately, and 71 percent are in “good health.”

These statistics point to a large community of second-generation Egyptians, but data on those born to Egyptian parents is patchy and difficult to find.

The last census of England and Wales was carried out in 2001, and for British Egyptians, the only category that fits their ethnicity is either “mixed-other” or “other”, depending on whether both their parents are Middle Eastern. Four percent of the “mixed-other” category recorded “Arab” as part of their heritage, while among the “other” category, 11 percent recorded “Arab”, 6 percent “Middle Eastern” and 4 percent “North African.” From these statistics alone, it is difficult to piece together a clear picture of second-generation Egyptians.

Another clue into the lives of children of immigrants can be found in the languages spoken in schools, which gives an idea of the languages spoken at home. Some, like Arabic, are difficult to pin down to a specific geographic area as they are spoken across broad regions and so more detailed information on dialects is needed.

However, language has limited ability to help track down second-generation immigrants, especially those who are of mixed parentage and may not speak their parents’ languages.

Born to an Irish mother and Egyptian father, Tamer Ismail grew up in England. He is an undergraduate student at SOAS in London, studying Arabic as an adult as he did not learn it as a child.

“When I was 16 I really had this urge to draw nearer to my Egyptian-Arab heritage and really regretted having not been taught the language,” he says.

Sami Zubayda, a politics and sociology professor at Birkbeck, University of London, says “second and third generation members of Muslim groups in Europe have largely acculturated to the host societies. Many have grown away from the cultural milieu, motifs and social controls of their parents…some, probably a majority, have adopted the ways of the host society.”

It is hard to measure the extent to which this paradigm is true for the children of Egyptian immigrants, but integration in London seems to be made easier by its diversity, which allows people to be British without losing their heritage.

Rammy al-Saadany is a prime example--now in his late 20s, he was educated in the mainstream English system but went to Arabic school on the weekends to ensure that he retained his parents’ language.

“Linguistic expression and use are the main carriers of my identity, and just as certain jokes don't make sense in one language, then a certain identity doesn't make sense in another,” al-Saadany says. “But thankfully having been brought up in London, this multiple layered identity is not a problem since it’s very common to see 'non British' people, so I've not felt stigmatized because I have these multiple identities to wear.”

Perceptions of mixed Arab identities in the West differed following the 11 September 2001 attacks that shook the US and the world. With global media associating terrorism with the Muslim world, many felt more conspicuous and found themselves thinking hard about their origins.

Al-Saadany explains that it brought about a “process of introspection which has allowed me to be more knowledgeable about what my faith actually says and what it actually doesn't… so if I'm going to look at the positives, being able to actually read and think and reflect on my identity has helped me separate the fact from the fiction.”

For him and others, the post-11 September era became a more identity conscious one, in which he feels the urge to balance the overlapping and at times contradictory elements of his life to carve out a space that can accommodate both his British and Egyptian self.

Train shooting eyewitness says he wrestled gun from suspect

Sami Abdel Radi

Mostafa ElMarsfawy

Fri, 14/01/2011 - 11:52

Photographed by المصري اليوم

Archived

• 1

For Mahmoud Abdul Bassit Hamid, seeing the carnage of the recent train shooting in Samalout was like watching a movie. Back at home after the incident, Hamid tells how he grabbed the shooter’s gun and jacket, which helped police identify and arrest an off-duty policeman.

The shooting on the Cairo-bound train killed one Coptic Christian man and injured five other passengers.

“I was sitting in the first seat next to the car door,” Hamid told Al-Masry Al-Youm. “When the train stopped in the Samalout station, the suspect suddenly entered and looked at all the passengers. In one minute, the suspect started shooting randomly at the passengers. I did not know the number of casualties or the number of shots fired, but I was surprised when he pointed his weapon at me.”

Hamid said he grabbed the shooter, leading him to fire a bullet into the window of the ninth car of the train.

After the incident, Hamid spent his first day back with his family at home. He told Al-Masry Al-Youm that he was on the train heading back to Cairo from a visit with a relative in Assiut.

During interrogations he explained to detectives that he grabbed the suspect’s hand and was able to get hold of his weapon. Hamid then hit the shooter on the head with the gun.

When the shooter ran, Hamid said, “I ran after him and asked those present to catch him. But no one listened to me. A few minutes later the police arrived; they initially thought that I was the suspect, but after collecting a number of witness accounts, they realized that I was a witness and asked me to provide a statement.”

According to Hamid, police interrogated the suspect for six hours after they arrested him based on the identification found in his jacket.

“I did not believe myself when I saw the crime being committed and the passengers screaming and hiding under the seats,” he said. “It was like I was watching a movie. Suddenly, I realized that I was being shot at, and in a matter of seconds, I decided to grab a hold of the suspect.”

Hamid said newspapers reports that the suspect repeated phrases such as “Allah is great” were untrue. According to him, the suspect was silent and fired haphazardly during the shooting, which Hamid said lasted less than three minutes

“I thank God for returning me to my family and I am saddened by the death of a man who was sitting quietly by his wife,” he said. “I am also saddened by the injuries of Marianne and Magi. One of them was on her way to buy an engagement present with her fiancé and her family. I will not be able to forget what happened, and I thank God for being able to catch the suspect before he could fire on me or any other passengers.”

Tunisia sees protest march, strikes after riots

AP

Fri, 14/01/2011 - 13:07

Photographed by AFP

Archived

• 1

Tunis--Hundreds of people are marching through Tunisia's capital, a day after the nation's president read out a list of promises and concessions try to stop deadly riots.

The protesters are carrying a poster reading "We won't forget," a reference to the deaths. The peaceful march came as Tunisia's only legal trade union went ahead Friday with a symbolic two-hour strike in the region of the capital.

Nearly a month of riots over unemployment and other social ills have killed at least 23 people. The opposition says the figure is dozens more than that.

On Thursday autocratic President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali ordered prices on food staples slashed. He also made pledges for political and media freedom and said he will leave the presidency when his term ends in 2014.

Industrial polluters pushed out of Helwan

Jano Charbel

Fri, 14/01/2011 - 13:26

Photographed by other

• 1

In a massive relocation project, Helwan Governorate is getting rid of its cement factories and other industries that create heavy pollution. In coordination with the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs, Ministry of Trade and Industry, and the Industrial Development Authority, 93 such industries and 250 brick factories will be relocated over eight years.

Estimated to cost tens of billions of pounds, this clean-up project in the industrial and residential district of Helwan-- in the Southeast corner of Greater Cairo--is scheduled to take place in two phases from 2011 to 2015, and from 2015 until 2018.

It is unclear where the factories will be relocated, although some media sources have indicated that a likely site is Kuraymat, a town in the Upper Egyptian governorate Beni Suef. The Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs has decreed that these industries be moved beyond the densely populated metropolises of Greater Cairo and Alexandria and has also excluded the popular tourist destinations Aswan, Luxor and the Red Sea area.

Amr Assal, president of the Industrial Development Authority, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that they are still studying where the factories may be relocated, but said it is likely to be a site in Upper Egypt. Assal declined to comment on whether the new location would be Kuraymat or elsewhere in the Beni Suef Governorate.

According to Assal, the first phase of the project involves only the relocation of three cement factories.

"The first phase will involve relocating 25 percent of the cement factories' production power, this is estimated to cost LE12 billion." He said a relocation agreement has been reached with Italicementi, which operates the privatized Helwan and Tourah Cement plants, but deliberations are ongoing with state-owned Egyptian Cement Company over a schedule.

"There is some resistance from (cement) producers, but they must abide by the established environmental standards," Assal said, adding that the clean-up project "will be entirely self-funded by companies and producers."

He cast doubt upon news reports that the two phases of relocation would cost a total of LE40 billion. He did not specify a different figure, but said his calculations indicated that it may cost well over LE40 billion.

“We are beginning with the cement companies, because they are the most environmentally polluting and hazardous industries in Helwan," he said.

The second phase will relocate 75 percent of the cement companies’ production facilities, along with large iron and steel companies and smaller-scale industries.

Smaller industries include coal, ceramic and brick factories, starch and amylum processing plants and yeast-fermentation industries.

The Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs could not be reached for questions regarding relocation plans. However, according to environmental management consultant Ahmed Dorghamy, all of these industries release significant amounts of pollutants into the air, water and soil of Helwan.

Beyond their environmental impact, the operations of cement factories in particular have serious detrimental effects on the health and well-being of local residents, he said.