FT Chronicle

Actor Andrew Koenig –  known for his role as Kirk Cameron’s pal Boner on the ’80s sitcom Growing Pains — was found dead Thursday in Vancouver, B.C.

After visiting pals in Vancouver on Feb. 11, he never boarded his flight back to Los Angeles.

The 41-year-old actor had been missing since Feb. 16.

At a press conference attended by Koenig’s family Thursday evening, police said the actor’s body was discovered “in a densely wood area … unseen from the path” by “family and friends who initiated their own private search.” (His father, Star Trek actor Walter Koenig, was among the people who joined in on the search.)

“My son took his own life,” his father Walter told reporters, adding that his son had been battling depression.

His parents phoned police after receiving a disturbing letter from their son.

In an interview with UsMagazine.com earlier this week, his father Walter refused to discuss details on the note. But he revealed that his son was not taking medication for depression.

Burlesque artist Jenny Magenta — the last person to see Koenig alive – told he “looked healthy” when he arrived in Vancouver to visit her. “We were talking about old times and friends.” But she told he soon began acting “out of character,” insisting on paying her for allowing him to stay at her apartment.

Philippines’ top leaders from different sectors will have a leadership conference with former US Vice-President Al Gore as keynote speaker and other global leaders.

The lecture will have Gore present an Asian version of An Inconvenient Truth, a multimedia presentation on the threat of climate change and solutions to global warming and the subject of the movie of the same title that has won critical and box-office acclaim.

A Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Gore has just published his latest book, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, which proposes measures to help solve the climate crisis.

It is made possible by SM Prime Holdings and is to be held at the SMX Convention Center at the SM Mall of Asia Complex on April 30.

Soy is nutritious and contains lots of good things. Unfortunately, when you eat or drink a lot of soy stuff, you’re also getting substantial quantities of estrogens.

Estrogens are female hormones. If you’re a woman, you’re flooding your system with a substance it can’t handle in surplus. If you’re a man, you’re suppressing your masculinity and stimulating your “female side,” physically and mentally.

In fetal development, the default is being female. All humans (even in old age) tend toward femininity. The main thing that keeps men from diverging into the female pattern is testosterone, and testosterone is suppressed by an excess of estrogen.

If you’re a grownup, you’re already developed, and you’re able to fight off some of the damaging effects of soy. Babies aren’t so fortunate. Research is now showing that when you feed your baby soy formula, you’re giving him or her the equivalent of five birth control pills a day. A baby’s endocrine system just can’t cope with that kind of massive assault, so some damage is inevitable. At the extreme, the damage can be fatal.

Soy is feminizing, and commonly leads to a decrease in the size of the penis, sexual confusion and homosexuality. That’s why most of the medical (not socio-spiritual) blame for today’s rise in homosexuality must fall upon the rise in soy formula and other soy products. (Most babies are bottle-fed during some part of their infancy, and one-fourth of them are getting soy milk!) Homosexuals often argue that their homosexuality is inborn because “I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t homosexual.” No, homosexuality is always deviant. But now many of them can truthfully say that they can’t remember a time when excess estrogen wasn’t influencing them.

Doctors used to hope soy would reduce hot flashes, prevent cancer and heart disease, and save millions in the Third World from starvation. That was before they knew much about long-term soy use. Now we know it’s a classic example of a cure that’s worse than the disease. For example, if your baby gets colic from cow’s milk, do you switch him to soy milk? Don’t even think about it. His phytoestrogen level will jump to 20 times normal. If he is a she, brace yourself for watching her reach menarche as young as seven, robbing her of years of childhood. If he is a boy, it’s far worse: He may not reach puberty till much later than normal.

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PHILADELPHIA – Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson has left the team and is out indefinitely to spend time with his ill daughter.

Iverson will miss at least the remaining three games of Philadelphia’s road trip. Iverson missed five games and the All-Star game to be with his family when the health issue surfaced earlier this month.

Iverson has not disclosed what is ailing his 4-year-old daughter, Messiah.

Sixers president Ed Stefanski says it was in the best interest of the team and Iverson to allow him time with his family to deal with a “very serious issue.” - AP

A 1938 edition of Action Comics No. 1, widely considered the Holy Grail of comic books, was sold from a private seller to a private buyer, neither of whom released their names. The issue features Superman lifting a car on its cover and originally cost 10 cents.

The transaction was conducted by the auction site ComicConnect.com. Stephen Fishler, co-owner of the site and its sister dealership, Metropolis Collectibles, orchestrated the sale.

Fishler said it transpired minutes after the issue was put on sale at around 10:30 a.m. Eastern time (1530 GMT). He said that the seller was a “well known individual” in New York with a pedigree collection, and that the buyer was a known customer who previously bought an Action Comics No. 1 of lesser grade.

“It’s considered by most people as the most important book,” said John Dolmayan, a comic book enthusiast and dealer best known as the drummer for System of a Down. “It kind of ushered in the age of the superheroes.”

There are only about 100 copies of Action Comics No. 1 believed to be in existence, and only a handful have been rated so highly. It’s rarer still for those copies to be made available for sale.

Albader Parad, one of the Philippines’s most wanted Abu Sayyaf leaders, has been confirmed killed in fighting with the military in the country’s south.

A local official has confirmed that Parad was among six Abu Sayyaf fighters killed on Sunday in an encounter with a unit of Philippine marines in Maimbung town on Jolo island, 1,000km south of Manila.

Abu Sayyaf commander Albader Parad was wanted for the abduction of three Red Cross workers on the island last year.

Gen Benjamin Dolorfino said his death was a “big blow” to the group.

Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for bombings, beheadings and kidnappings of Filipinos and foreigners. It has been accused of links with al-Qaeda.

One marine was killed and three were wounded during the assault.

Abu Sayyaf is the smallest and most radical of the Islamic separatist groups in the southern Philippines.

MEKNES, Morocco – At least 41 people have been killed and 80 more injured after a minaret collapsed at a mosque in northern Morocco.

The Lalla Khenata mosque minaret in the Bab el Bardiyine neighbourhood of Meknes collapsed during Friday’s prayers, burying most of the 300 worshippers gathered there.

Moroccan King Mohammed VI on Saturday ordered experts to check the safety of the country’s historic mosques after the accident.

Interior ministry officials blamed the incident on heavy rain that had weakened the minaret.

This wild new motorcycle, invented by 19-year-old Ben J. Poss Gulak, is among the latest inventions to capture attention.

Debuting at the National Motorcycle Show in Toronto, the “Uno” uses gyro technology for balance and acceleration.

It is a battery charged machine that accelerates by leaning forward and slowing down by leaning backwards. It weighs approximately 129 pounds (58 kg.) and has a top speed of 25 mph (40 klms).

One of the most exciting products from CES 2010 last month was Notion Ink’s Adam tablet, the Android-based slate using the latest-gen NVIDIA Tegra chipset and Pixel Qi’s innovative low-power display.

The company had brought along a prototype they could exclusively show, and now they’ve sent over renders of what’s likely to be the final Adam design complete with some mockups of a SlashGear digital magazine.

The Notion Ink Tablet will feature the Pixel Qi transflective display, and it will have a 10.1 inch screen with a resolution of 1024 x 600, and it measures 6.3 inches by 9.8 inches by 0.6 inches thick and weighs in at 1.7lbs.

It has HDMI-out and 3 USB ports, and can output video at 1080p resolution. There’s a 3-megapixel autofocusing camera and Notion Ink reckons it’ll squeeze 16 hours of juice out of its battery. In direct sunlight, with the backlight off, it should shoot up to 160 hours. There’s Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth, a pile of sensors and accelerometers, GPS and an SD Card slot.

UK company Pendle Products has introduced a new Laptop Stand, said to be the first of many product releases. This stand lets users raise their laptop up whilst using a full size external mouse and keyboard and is said to be ideal for use alongside an external monitor, thereby increasing your workspace when you are at your desk.

With what’s said to be a unique laser cut design, the stand boasts super thin legs meaning that you can free up the space underneath for accessories such as external hard drives while slim rubber feet protect your desk surface. Plastic stops hold the laptop in place and the stand has holes cut into the sides for cables.

The Pendle range of laptop stands come in a choice of sizes, regular and large, and colours, black or white and can be used with or without an external monitor.

The Pendle regular laptop stand is suitable for 13-inch and 15-inch MacBooks, while the large is best suited for the 17-inch MacBook Pro.

According to the makers, the stands have been designed to be as solid and stable as possible. Wide legs promises great strength and stiffness and create a space for storing accessories such as external drives and mice. Large holes cut into the sides enable you to pass cables through to help keep your desk tidy.

Rubber feet prevent scratching of your desk, while plastic spheres prevent slippage when your MacBook is in use.

Manufactured in the UK from quality materials using precise laser cutting processes, the regular Pendle stand costs £42, the large is £48.