When Help How To results in Help How Not To

I love this one!

I remember years ago when my instructor in assembly language pointed out that one article on how to detect and combat computer viruses produced a contrary result: it instead taught how to create viruses - the very thing that it attempted to destroy.

However, this one thing that is freely available in the web - I kinda endorse sites like this: a would-be suicidal person looks for 'how-to' on carrying out the suicide, but finds help instead. Now that's something!

Read on...
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'Suicide' Internet search turns up 'how to' advice: study

PARIS - People searching the Internet for information about suicide methods are more likely to find sites encouraging suicide than those offering help or support, according to a study released Friday.

Researchers from the Universities of Bristol, Oxford and Manchester found that nearly half of websites showing up in queries of the four top search engines gave "how to" advice on taking one's own life.

Only 13 percent, by contrast, focused on suicide prevention or offered support, while another 12 percent actively discouraged suicide.

Previous studies have shown that media reporting of suicide and its portrayal on television influence suicidal behaviour, particularly the choice of method used, but little is known about the impact of the Internet.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal, replicated a typical search that might be undertaken by a person looking for instructions and information about methods of suicide.

The same set of search terms were fed into Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask.

The researchers then analysed the first ten sites from each search, giving a total of 480 hits.

Just under half of the sites provided some information about methods of suicide, while almost a fifth were for dedicated suicide sites, half of them actively encouraging, promoting, or facilitating the taking of one's life.

Overall, Google and Yahoo retrieved the highest number of dedicated suicide sites, whereas MSN had the highest number of prevention or support sites and academic or policy sites.

In addition, the three most frequently occurring sites were all pro-suicide, while the information site Wikipedia was fourth.

"How to" sites are not illegal in most countries, and are not often caught by search engine filters. - AFP/fa


From ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:'Suicide' Internet search turns up 'how to' advice: study
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'FEROCIOUS ATTACK' LEAVES M'SIAN CONSULAR WORKER DEAD

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SYDNEY - A Malaysian consular employee was stabbed to death in a "ferocious attack" outside his Sydney home in a suspected road rage incident, officials said yesterday.

The 43-year-old man, who worked as a driver for the Malaysian consul-general, was beaten and stabbed in inner-city Leichhardt by two men late on Sunday despite an attempted intervention by a female passer-by.

"It was a ferocious attack, there's no doubt about that," said Detective Inspector Shane Woolbank.

The authorities said they were examining whether the attack stemmed from a road rage incident moments earlier involving a dark-coloured sedan, the police said.

Malaysian Consul-General Mohd Nasir Abu Hassan said the victim, a Malaysian who had recently become an Australian citizen, had worked as a driver for the consulate for three years.

"This is a very stressful time for all of us at the consulate," he told reporters.

"We got on very well with him and we were shocked when we heard this tragic news." AFP

From TODAY, Tuesday, 23-Feb-2010

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DIGGING IN THE MUD FOR THE MISSING

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FUNCHAL (Madeira) - Portugal was expected to announce three days of mourning after flash flooding on the island of Madeira killed at least 42 people.

Troops and other rescue workers on Sunday continued to dig through mud-filled houses to find those missing. "It is very probable that we will find more bodies," said Mayor Miguel Albuquerque.

A shopping centre in Funchal was also completely destroyed and firefighters feared there were people trapped in an underground parking lot which was still under water. The government rushed medical and rescue teams including divers and sniffer dogs and relief supplies to the Atlantic island.

A special Cabinet meeting was to be held yesterday to discuss the period for mourning as well as financial aid to rebuild Madeira's destroyed roads and bridges. The regional government says it has no estimate yet of its financial needs.

Madeira's social issues affairs secretary Francisco Ramos told reporters the disruption to phone lines had made it difficult to establish how many people needed to be rescued because many of them just could not be contacted.

A morgue has been set up at the airport, where local official said they had not yet been able to identify all the bodies.

Football star Cristiano Ronaldo, Madeira's most famous native, expressed shock and promised help for relief efforts. "It is a huge catastrophe," said the world's most expensive footballer, who was born in a poor district of Funchal.

Britain said a British national was among those who died on Saturday when torrents of muddy water swamped buildings and streets on the island. It was the first confirmed death of a foreign national in the disaster. AFP

From TODAY, Tuesday, 23-Feb-2010

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Dog walker trampled to death by cows

Updated 3 hours, 11 minutes ago

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• 49-year-old woman dies after being trampled by cows while walking her two dogs
• Police believe dogs may have made cows feel their calves were threatened
• Experts say it's very unusual for people to be killed by cows
• Police advise dog walkers to let pets off leash if they feel threatened by cows

Experts say cows can become aggressive if they feel their calves are being threatened.

LONDON, England (CNN) -- A woman was trampled to death by cows while walking her dogs in northern England, police said Monday.

The 49-year-old died at the scene, said a press officer for North Yorkshire police, where the incident took place on Sunday just after noon local time (7 a.m. ET).

"She had two dogs with her," said the spokeswoman, who declined to be named in line with police policy. They were not on a leash, she added.

"We believe the cows may have gotten protective of their calves," she said.

The woman was alone when she was killed in Gayle, near Hawes in Wensleydale, she said.

Police and the National Farmers' Union both said it was very unusual for people to be killed by cows in Britain.

"There are perhaps a few incidents every year where people are injured by cattle," said Mike Thomas, a spokesman for the union. "People being killed by cattle is quite a rare occurrence."

But he said cows could become aggressive if they felt their calves were being threatened.

"If the dog is getting close to the animal, it's going to react in some kind of aggressive manner," he said.

People who feel threatened by cows while walking dogs should let their animals off the leash in order to put distance between themselves and their pets -- because cows are more likely to see dogs than people as a threat -- and move to the edge of the field, he said.

The average cow weighs about 1,760 pounds (800kg), he said.

From CNN.com; see the source article here.

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