Lewis Hamilton In SA This Week

Lewis Hamilton Raced Kyalami This Week! WTF? – To launch its new fibre-optic business connection, Vodacom brought the youngest Formula One world champion, Lewis Hamilton, to race around the Kyalami racetrack while 5.4GB of data was sent from Midrand to Sandton on Vodacom’s Metro ethernet service. I find these things weird. Why 5.4Gb? Who chooses the size of data? What if I decided it was Hamilton vs. 5,000 Gigs? Then what? Yawn. [mail&guardian]

New Space Telescope Delivers First Mind-Blowing Video of the Sun – Seriously, you need to see this – it’s amazing. “These initial images show a dynamic sun that I had never seen in more than 40 years of solar research,” said Richard Fisher, director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA, in a release. “SDO will change our understanding of the sun and its processes, which affect our lives and society. Put on factor nine billion before you watch this. [wired]

Employee At Plettenberg Bay’s “Lookout Deck” Shot Dead – A 46-YEAR-old staff member at the Lookout Restaurant in Plettenberg Bay was shot dead outside the establishment Wednesday night (April 21). Police found the woman’s body about three metres from the restaurant doorway soon after the shooting at about 10.30pm. Police suspected the motive for killing might have been attempted robbery. [weekendpost]

Polanski Loses Appeal to Be Sentenced in Absentia – Roman Polanski lost his appeal of a Californian judge’s ruling that he must come to the U.S. to be sentenced for the 1977 case in which he pleaded guilty to raping and sodomising a 13-year-old girl. The film director “failed to demonstrate that the trial court lacked the discretion” to refuse to allow him to be sentenced without being present, a state appeals court in Los Angeles said in a decision posted today on its Web site. [businessweek]

Will Murdoch Lose Britain? – Whether you’ve been following the British battle for power or not and whether you follow the tales of Murdoch or not, THIS is the article to get some much-needed insight into what is going on. Trust me when I tell you that watching Rupert Murdoch at this very point in time is something that you should be doing. Because you’re more informed than everyone else. That’s why you’re here. Read it.  [newser]

Tiger And Elin Are Definitely Getting A Divorce (Apparently) – Sweden is lovely this time of year – too bad Tiger Woods isn’t there with his Swedish wife Elin and their daughter Sam, 2, and son Charlie, 14 months. While the golfer stays behind in the U.S., “Elin and the kids are out there visiting with [Elin’s] family in Stockholm. It’s 100% happening,” an insider says, “Elin and her mom met with a lawyer before they went to Sweden.” [usmagazine]

Other Major Banks Did Deals Similar to Goldman’s – As you may have heard, Goldman Sachs is being sued for fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly misleading investors about a deal that Goldman helped structure and sell. In the civil suit, the SEC specifically faulted Goldman for failing to disclose that a hedge fund was helping create the investment while betting big the deal would fail. But guess what? They weren’t the only ones.. [propublica]

The Pill Turns 50 – It’s a big deal. I mean, it is THE pill! This year marks the 50th anniversary of the birth control pill, a development that ushered in the sexual revolution of the 1960s and gave women unprecedented freedom to explore their sexuality without having to worry about pregnancy. Because of its convenience, the pill remains the most popular method of birth control in the world. [huffers]

Letterman’s “Top 10 Excuses of the Guy Who Lost the iPhone Prototype” [VIDEO] – The tech world was already buzzing up a storm about the infamous purloined next-gen iPhone, and now it’s earned that coveted spot in the annals of cultural relevance: Last night, David Letterman unveiled his “Top Ten Excuses of the Guy Who Lost the iPhone Prototype.” [mashable]

BMW Revives Its Aviation History With Luxury Passenger Cabins – Before BMW could rise to the current fame and reputation of the greatest automobile manufacturer, it once specialized in airplane engines during World War II. However, the firm’s historic role in aviation is being revived as BMW designs luxurious passenger cabins of Phenom 100 and 300 aircrafts for Embraer. I must say, I do like it! [bornrich]

Roots Of Islamic Fundamentalism Lie In Nazi Propaganda For Arab World, Book Claims – “Your only hope for rescue is the destruction of the Jews before they destroy you!” Hitler said in a 1942 message, one of thousands broadcast across the Middle East in an attempt to woo the Arab world. In a broadcast aimed at provoking an anti-Semitic uprising in Egypt, he said: “A large number of Jews who live in Egypt, along with Poles, Greeks, Armenians and Frenchmen, have guns and ammunition. [telegraph]

Apple iPhone Misplacer Offered Free Trip to Germany – It’s been a rough week for Gray Powell, the Apple engineer who left his iPhone prototype in an ersatz German beer garden only to see it turn up on Gizmodo. So Lufthansa’s offering to fly Powell to real Germany, gratis.The airline forwarded us the letter below, in which Powell is offered a free business-class ticket to Munich to indulge his “passion for German beer and culture.” [gawker]

Town Sells For $260,000 On Ebay – I can’t recall what I paid for Cape Town, but this sounds like a good deal. This town has a gas pump, a restaurant, a small store, a four-bedroom house and its own ZIP code, 98859. And in a few weeks, after being listed for sale and sold on eBay it’ll have new owners. It’s a story of the travails of selling property on the site, the winning bidder backing out and finally a couple stepping up who had previously fallen in love with the town. [bendbulletin]

OMG! It Was Earth Day Yesterday! – In case you haven’t been to Google yet, now is a good time to mention that yesterday was Earth Day. Not into recycling or picking up trash? You could have celebrated with some Animal Planet. Or Cute Overload. Animals are so big right now. [jezebel]

[thanks kate]