Saturday 31 December 2011

Stephen Hawking seeks help to make voice heard

Can you help make Stephen Hawking's voice heard?

The famed British physicist is seeking an assistant to help develop and maintain the electronic speech system that allows him to communicate his vision of the universe. An informal job ad posted to Hawking's website said the assistant should be computer literate, ready to travel, and able to repair electronic devices "with no instruction manual or technical support."

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    4. Stephen Hawking seeks help to make voice heard

Hawking has long struggled against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a disease which left him almost completely paralyzed.

He lost his real voice in a tracheotomy in 1985, but a wheelchair-mounted computer helps synthesize speech by interpreting the twitches of his face. The synthesizer's robotic monotone has become nearly as famous as Hawking himself, but the computer ? powered by batteries fastened to the back of Hawking's wheelchair ? isn't just for speaking.

It can connect to the Internet over cell phone networks and a universal infrared remote enables the physicist to switch on the lights, watch television, or open doors either at home or at the office.

It's a complicated, tailor-made system, as the ad makes clear. A photograph of the back of Hawking's wheelchair, loaded with coiled wires and electronic equipment, is pictured under the words: "Could you maintain this?"

"If your answer is 'yes,' we'd like to hear from you!" the website says.

Hawking's website says that the job's salary is expected to be about 25,000 pounds ($38,500) a year.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45816470/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Former Israel president convicted of rape


THIS DAY AT LAW
Today in legal history...

Friday, December 30, 2011

Former Israel president convicted of rape

On December 30, 2010, former Israeli President Moshe Katsav was convicted of two rape charges in Tel Aviv after he rejected an earlier plea bargain. He was found guilty of assaulting a female employee while serving as head of the Tourism Ministry, and two women at his residence during his time as President. Katsav resigned as President in 2007 because of the sexual assault allegations. The Tel Aviv court believed Katsav's defense was "riddled with lies," including edited tapes of the women's testimony and falsely prepared datebooks. Katsav appealed his conviction in May 2011. Although his incarceration was delayed in May 2011, he began serving his 7-year prison sentence on December 7, 2011.


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Learn more about Moshe Katsav and Israel from the JURIST news archive.


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