Bill Gates has reportedly set up a new technology and science "thinktank" company called bgC3.
The Microsoft chairman left his full-time post at the company back in July so that he could devote more time to the charity foundation established by him and his wife.
However, it seems the renowned workaholic has a new sideline, having reportedly set up an office in Washington shortly after leaving Microsoft.
The new company is "not a commercial venture but rather a vehicle to coordinate the software mogul's work on his business and philanthropic endeavours," according to source close to Gates quoted on Techflash.com
http://www.techflash.com/microsoft/Bill_Gates_mysterious_new_company.html
, which broke the story.
However, ideas or business ventures generated by bgC3 could be passed to his charity foundation or even Microsoft itself, the report claims.
Just to prove Gates hasn't entirely distanced himself from the company he founded, his new office reportedly boasts a Surface table PC in reception, with a virtual guestbook for visitors.
The bgC3 website
http://www.bgc3.com/
is currently nothing more than a holding page, leaving no traces as to who's behind the site.
Source
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/232497/gates-sets-up-new-company.html
Friday, October 31, 2008
The History of the Universe in 200 Words or Less
Quantum fluctuation. Inflation. Expansion. Strong nuclear interaction. Particle-antiparticle annihilation. Deuterium and helium production. Density perturbations. Recombination. Blackbody radiation. Local contraction. Cluster formation. Reionization? Violent relaxation. Virialization. Biased galaxy formation? Turbulent fragmentation. Contraction. Ionization. Compression. Opaque hydrogen. Massive star formation. Deuterium ignition. Hydrogen fusion. Hydrogen depletion. Core contraction. Envelope expansion. Helium fusion. Carbon, oxygen, and silicon fusion. Iron production. Implosion. Supernova explosion. Metals injection. Star formation. Supernova explosions. Star formation. Condensation. Planetesimal accretion. Planetary differentiation. Crust solidification. Volatile gas expulsion. Water condensation. Water dissociation. Ozone production. Ultraviolet absorption. Photosynthetic unicellular organisms. Oxidation. Mutation. Natural selection and evolution. Respiration. Cell differentiation. Sexual reproduction. Fossilization. Land exploration. Dinosaur extinction. Mammal expansion. Glaciation. Homo sapiens manifestation. Animal domestication. Food surplus production. Civilization! Innovation. Exploration. Religion. Warring nations. Empire creation and destruction. Exploration. Colonization. Taxation without representation. Revolution. Constitution. Election. Expansion. Industrialization. Rebellion. Emancipation Proclamation. Invention. Mass production. Urbanization. Immigration. World conflagration. League of Nations. Suffrage extension. Depression. World conflagration. Fission explosions. United Nations. Space exploration. Assassinations. Lunar excursions. Resignation. Computerization. World Trade Organization. Terrorism. Internet expansion. Reunification. Dissolution. World-Wide Web creation. Composition. Extrapolation?
MTV smacks YouTube, posts almost every music video ever
Do you sometimes find yourself wishing that there was a place you could go to just watch music videos? Back in the 80s, MTV served that purpose. These days, MTV and its sibling MTV2 are hardly channels anyone would watch in order to get a music video fix. MTV is looking to redeem itself in the music video department, however, by launching a new site Tuesday called MTV Music that opens up the company's massive video archive and puts it on the web for free.
MTV Music expands upon the music video offerings already posted to MTV.com by offering an entire back catalogue of videos that go all the way to when music videos were born. The library includes more than 16,000 videos, sprinkled with "exclusive" MTV concert footage and MTV "Unplugged" performances that used to be all the rage. And that's just the beginning. According to a blog post on MTV's Splash Page, more videos are being added by the day, so even if your favorite Paula Abdul selections haven't been posted yet, they probably will make it up eventually.
In addition to the consumer-facing side of MTV Music, the company has also launched an API that allows developers to build applications that make use of MTV Networks Content. The examples provided include creating a video gallery, a MySpace or Facebook app to send music video dedications to friends, the "music application of your dreams" made up of your favorite videos, or a blog plug-in to pull in various videos.
MTV Music may not seem like a big deal to some, but it's pretty major when you consider what's going on behind the scenes. YouTube originally stated in 2006 that its goal was to host "every single music video ever created"—an ambitious goal that the company hoped to accomplish within 6 to 18 months. That obviously hasn't happened, quite yet, and now MTV Music is way ahead of YouTube in the music video department. Ice burn.
Why hasn't YouTube caught up, even with a two-plus year head start? MTV is owned by Viacom, the company that filed a $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube for "brazen" copyright infringement in 2007 (the suit is still pending). Among other things, Viacom wanted to have full control over any of its content that gets posted—something that YouTube could not provide.
MTV Music is also differentiating itself from YouTube by being light on the ads. All 16,000+ videos lack any form of advertising except for banner ads at the top of the page, while Google is currently testing video ads on some of its videos in order to monetize the massive (and otherwise un-monetizable) amount of content on the site.
Like YouTube, MTV Music allows users to not only watch videos on the site, but to also leave comment, give ratings, and embed the videos on their blogs or personal websites. Here's a favorite of Ars Editor in Chief Ken Fisher... enjoy!
MTV Music expands upon the music video offerings already posted to MTV.com by offering an entire back catalogue of videos that go all the way to when music videos were born. The library includes more than 16,000 videos, sprinkled with "exclusive" MTV concert footage and MTV "Unplugged" performances that used to be all the rage. And that's just the beginning. According to a blog post on MTV's Splash Page, more videos are being added by the day, so even if your favorite Paula Abdul selections haven't been posted yet, they probably will make it up eventually.
In addition to the consumer-facing side of MTV Music, the company has also launched an API that allows developers to build applications that make use of MTV Networks Content. The examples provided include creating a video gallery, a MySpace or Facebook app to send music video dedications to friends, the "music application of your dreams" made up of your favorite videos, or a blog plug-in to pull in various videos.
MTV Music may not seem like a big deal to some, but it's pretty major when you consider what's going on behind the scenes. YouTube originally stated in 2006 that its goal was to host "every single music video ever created"—an ambitious goal that the company hoped to accomplish within 6 to 18 months. That obviously hasn't happened, quite yet, and now MTV Music is way ahead of YouTube in the music video department. Ice burn.
Why hasn't YouTube caught up, even with a two-plus year head start? MTV is owned by Viacom, the company that filed a $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube for "brazen" copyright infringement in 2007 (the suit is still pending). Among other things, Viacom wanted to have full control over any of its content that gets posted—something that YouTube could not provide.
MTV Music is also differentiating itself from YouTube by being light on the ads. All 16,000+ videos lack any form of advertising except for banner ads at the top of the page, while Google is currently testing video ads on some of its videos in order to monetize the massive (and otherwise un-monetizable) amount of content on the site.
Like YouTube, MTV Music allows users to not only watch videos on the site, but to also leave comment, give ratings, and embed the videos on their blogs or personal websites. Here's a favorite of Ars Editor in Chief Ken Fisher... enjoy!
Young robber gets more than he asked for
A teenager who allegedly held a broken bottle to a Tahunanui store-owner's face on Saturday got more than he asked for when Terrance Sharpe threw his cash register at him.
Mr Sharpe told the Nelson Mail on Monday morning about his dramatic response to a would-be thief's demands for cash and cigarettes, and how he simply decided "enough was enough".
The event left Mr Sharpe and his wife, who moved to Nelson from Wellington three weeks ago, shaken and upset.
"I was upset. I've never been confronted by anyone before."
The couple are the new owners of the Suburban Store on Tahunanui Drive, where police allege the robbery took place at 7.45pm on Saturday.
Mr Sharpe said he went over to say hello to a person standing with his back towards the counter, without thinking anything was wrong.
Mr Sharpe said that when the youth turned around, wearing a hoodie and sunglasses, he held a broken bottle to his face and demanded money, which Mr Sharpe gave to him.
The youth then allegedly demanded cigarettes, which was when Mr Sharpe decided he was not going to give in.
"Enough was enough. So I threw my till at him."
Mr Sharpe said he barely had time to think about what he was doing, and with the youth seeming quite nervous, he made up his mind to act.
His wife came into the store at the moment that Mr Sharpe threw the till at the youth, and while the till did hit him, he was able to run away. Police arrested him within 10 minutes.
Mr Sharpe said they had been inundated by people coming in to check over the weekend that they were okay, and the event had not put them off their new business. "By yesterday afternoon, we had put it behind us."
Sergeant Tod Kirker, of Nelson police, said a 15-year-old had been charged with aggravated robbery and was to appear in the Youth Court.
Mr Sharpe told the Nelson Mail on Monday morning about his dramatic response to a would-be thief's demands for cash and cigarettes, and how he simply decided "enough was enough".
The event left Mr Sharpe and his wife, who moved to Nelson from Wellington three weeks ago, shaken and upset.
"I was upset. I've never been confronted by anyone before."
The couple are the new owners of the Suburban Store on Tahunanui Drive, where police allege the robbery took place at 7.45pm on Saturday.
Mr Sharpe said he went over to say hello to a person standing with his back towards the counter, without thinking anything was wrong.
Mr Sharpe said that when the youth turned around, wearing a hoodie and sunglasses, he held a broken bottle to his face and demanded money, which Mr Sharpe gave to him.
The youth then allegedly demanded cigarettes, which was when Mr Sharpe decided he was not going to give in.
"Enough was enough. So I threw my till at him."
Mr Sharpe said he barely had time to think about what he was doing, and with the youth seeming quite nervous, he made up his mind to act.
His wife came into the store at the moment that Mr Sharpe threw the till at the youth, and while the till did hit him, he was able to run away. Police arrested him within 10 minutes.
Mr Sharpe said they had been inundated by people coming in to check over the weekend that they were okay, and the event had not put them off their new business. "By yesterday afternoon, we had put it behind us."
Sergeant Tod Kirker, of Nelson police, said a 15-year-old had been charged with aggravated robbery and was to appear in the Youth Court.
Losing all your friends
Man comes home and finds his wife with his friend in bed.
He shoots his friend and kills him.
Wife says 'If you behave like this, you will lose ALL your friends.'
He shoots his friend and kills him.
Wife says 'If you behave like this, you will lose ALL your friends.'
119 Things you learn from anime
1.
War sucks.
2.
You CAN have too many women.
3.
Smart people wear glasses.
4.
Music foreshadows plot.
5.
The less you care about sex, the more opportunities you'll get.
6.
(Inversely, the harder you try, the less you'll get.)
7.
When you die, make a long speech, and don't finish the last sentence.
8.
Snow means love.
9.
The best teams come in fives.
10.
In space, you can hear everything.
11.
There's always room for flashbacks!
12.
When in China, listen to your tour guide.
13.
The good guy always has the BLUE glow.
14.
Speak quietly, pilot a big mech.
15.
Believe in goddesses.
16.
Teachers have excellent aim with small objects.
17.
Vengeance with a mallet is the sweetest revenge of all.
18.
Honor is sexy; villainy is irresistible.
19.
Women are attracted to losers; men are attracted to ANYTHING.
20.
The coolest weapon is still the sword.
21.
The hero is never really mad until they hurt his girlfriend.
22.
Female androids are sexy; male androids are....male androids.
23.
The green-haired alien girl will always betray her people for the man she loves.
24.
School uniforms are cool only when the collar is open.
25.
A show without sexual tension isn't worth watching.
26.
Love knows no race, species, or logic.
27.
If it's homemade but tastes bad, grin and bury it (discreetly).
28.
Never trust a huge corporation.
29.
Romance never comes simpler than in a triangle.
30.
Never fall for the girl who names her mech with a French name.
31.
Never fall in love with a psychic.
32.
You can never have too much hair.
33.
Sweating is a sure sign of stress.
34.
Daydreaming leads to accidents.
35.
Everyone wants to conquer Japan.
36.
The cute, fuzzy creature isn't what it seems.
37.
Cherry blossoms mean nostalgia.
38.
Always take gravity into account.
39.
Settings and faces are self-generating.
40.
Losing your temper can be therapeutic.
41.
There's nothing sexier than high heels on a mech.
42.
You can never have too many subplots.
43.
If she sings, she's doomed.
44.
You always remember the sad endings.
45.
Double suicide is romantic.
46.
Outrageous vehicles only make the hero cooler.
47.
Nothing delays romance like unruly neighbors.
48.
Fancy ice cream is for girls only.
49.
The most virtuous character will die.
50.
Hot water has innumerable benefits.
51.
No matter how much blood is lost, no one can die by a nosebleed.
52.
(The same theory above applies to vomiting.)
53.
The girl with the curly hair is always the seductress.
54.
If a sister falls in love with her brother, somewhere down the line you will discover that they're not blood related.
55.
The guy in the baseball cap is always more powerful than he seems.
56.
All demons/monsters have enormous genitalia.
57.
All young children can pilot mecha, you just need to give them a few days.
58.
It is possible to incorporate martial arts into any aspect of life.
59.
All high school kids in Japan have parents that are away on extended business trips.
60.
The oldest sister is the nice one, the youngest sister is the brash one.
61.
You can do anything to the human body as long as you hit the right pressure point.
62.
Consuming enormous amounts of alcohol daily will never have ill effects.
63.
All major villains either want to take over the world or blow it up.
64.
When someone paints up their face, they mean business.
65.
Everyone in Japan has excellent singing voices.
66.
No matter how many times you rebuild, Tokyo keeps getting destroyed in a massive fireball.
67.
The martial arts expert is always defenseless against a slap from the girl who loves him.
68.
TAKAHASHI'S LAW 1: Food is a powerful motivator.
69.
When women are sent out to fight the bad guys, there's always a hunk busily watching over them, often in secret.
70.
The longer it takes to say what your punch is called, the less effective it is.
71.
"Baka" does not mean a student going for his baccalaureate degree.
72.
The more possessive a woman gets, the less likely she will end up with the man of her dreams.
73.
TAKAHASHI'S LAW 2: The two-foot-tall old geezer is someone to be feared.
74.
No matter how big the mech/labor/mobile suit is, if it runs around the corner, the guy chasing it loses the trail.
75.
Extraterrestrial, demons, time travelers, etc. all want to alter the course of history by letting Oda Nobunaga win.
76.
The fate of the planet rests in the hands of the seemingly normal high school student.
77.
The heroine must shred her clothes while transforming into something to fight the bad guys.
78.
True evil can never be destroyed, only banished to some nether realm where it awakes after a few hundred years.
79.
TAKAHASHI'S LAW 3: When being hit on the head, it's the most natural thing in the world to tuck your third and fourth fingers in while keeping the others extended.
80.
Even the bravest souls can be made weak and helpless by the sight of a cute little puppy or kitten.
81.
Never love a Gundam pilot : you're just destined for disappointment (or a funeral).
82.
All persons under the age of 50 can do a ten foot vertical jump from a standing position.
83.
Never trust a guy with shiny teeth
84.
ESP causes more trouble than it solves
85.
The vampire isn't _always_ the bad guy
86.
Nice things can come out of video stores that appear from nowhere
87.
Idiot captains win battles against impossible odds
88.
Order takeout at every opportunity--you might get lucky with a wrong number.
89.
The police are never anywhere there is a large amount of property damage.
90.
All high school principals in Japan are clinically insane.
91.
All people with esper powers give off multicolored auras.
92.
Just about any outer space villain has his sights set on destroying the Earth.
93.
(in conjunction with #92) No other planet in the universe will be able to stop said villain except the Earth.
94.
Any character can make a leap of 300 ft or more if given a good running start.
95.
A samurai sword can cut through anything.
96.
All characters over the age of 60 shrink in height in direct proportion to their age.
97.
When uncovering a fabulous treasure, the thing will be large enough to completely destroy any surrounding structures.
98.
TAKAHASHI'S LAW #4: An anti-climax is a good climax.
99.
Anime villians have the best deaths.
100.
Any love interest will always be possesed by a demon.
101.
Mallets can be stored anywhere on anybody.
102.
If the anime has the word "idol" in the title, then you know that it has to be good.
103.
Takada Yumi really does sing that bad, and people still buy her CDs.
104.
If you make enough porno movies, eventually you can get famous enough to star in commercials. "Iijima Ai desu! 'Manga manga no mori mori!!'"
105.
There is no such thing as a public anime showing without heckling.
106.
You can spot how popular a show is by looking at the number of H doujinshi it has.
107.
The smartest people on r.a.a. never post, which is why the conference's overall IQ is so low.
108.
If the lyrics to the OP song are printed on the screen, then you're watching a show that's not for your age group.
109.
The sexiest girls are drawn by artists whose last names start with "U".
110.
The English words in Jpop songs are put there only because they sound good, since they don't make any sense with the rest of the lyrics.
111.
If you post on the MLs more than Hitoshi does, then you probably post too much.
112.
The hero always loses the first fight with a new enemy.
113.
The guys with two earrings are from the Negaverse.
114.
Don't trust the guys with two earrings.
115.
Any truly evil person who changes sides for the woman he loves will die in that episode.
116.
You CAN do it, but only when it's funny or REALLY important.
117.
You can never have too many carrots.
118.
Hair comes in every shade of the rainbow - and we do mean pink, purple, blue, green....
119.
The song "Cry Me a River" takes on a whole new meaning.
War sucks.
2.
You CAN have too many women.
3.
Smart people wear glasses.
4.
Music foreshadows plot.
5.
The less you care about sex, the more opportunities you'll get.
6.
(Inversely, the harder you try, the less you'll get.)
7.
When you die, make a long speech, and don't finish the last sentence.
8.
Snow means love.
9.
The best teams come in fives.
10.
In space, you can hear everything.
11.
There's always room for flashbacks!
12.
When in China, listen to your tour guide.
13.
The good guy always has the BLUE glow.
14.
Speak quietly, pilot a big mech.
15.
Believe in goddesses.
16.
Teachers have excellent aim with small objects.
17.
Vengeance with a mallet is the sweetest revenge of all.
18.
Honor is sexy; villainy is irresistible.
19.
Women are attracted to losers; men are attracted to ANYTHING.
20.
The coolest weapon is still the sword.
21.
The hero is never really mad until they hurt his girlfriend.
22.
Female androids are sexy; male androids are....male androids.
23.
The green-haired alien girl will always betray her people for the man she loves.
24.
School uniforms are cool only when the collar is open.
25.
A show without sexual tension isn't worth watching.
26.
Love knows no race, species, or logic.
27.
If it's homemade but tastes bad, grin and bury it (discreetly).
28.
Never trust a huge corporation.
29.
Romance never comes simpler than in a triangle.
30.
Never fall for the girl who names her mech with a French name.
31.
Never fall in love with a psychic.
32.
You can never have too much hair.
33.
Sweating is a sure sign of stress.
34.
Daydreaming leads to accidents.
35.
Everyone wants to conquer Japan.
36.
The cute, fuzzy creature isn't what it seems.
37.
Cherry blossoms mean nostalgia.
38.
Always take gravity into account.
39.
Settings and faces are self-generating.
40.
Losing your temper can be therapeutic.
41.
There's nothing sexier than high heels on a mech.
42.
You can never have too many subplots.
43.
If she sings, she's doomed.
44.
You always remember the sad endings.
45.
Double suicide is romantic.
46.
Outrageous vehicles only make the hero cooler.
47.
Nothing delays romance like unruly neighbors.
48.
Fancy ice cream is for girls only.
49.
The most virtuous character will die.
50.
Hot water has innumerable benefits.
51.
No matter how much blood is lost, no one can die by a nosebleed.
52.
(The same theory above applies to vomiting.)
53.
The girl with the curly hair is always the seductress.
54.
If a sister falls in love with her brother, somewhere down the line you will discover that they're not blood related.
55.
The guy in the baseball cap is always more powerful than he seems.
56.
All demons/monsters have enormous genitalia.
57.
All young children can pilot mecha, you just need to give them a few days.
58.
It is possible to incorporate martial arts into any aspect of life.
59.
All high school kids in Japan have parents that are away on extended business trips.
60.
The oldest sister is the nice one, the youngest sister is the brash one.
61.
You can do anything to the human body as long as you hit the right pressure point.
62.
Consuming enormous amounts of alcohol daily will never have ill effects.
63.
All major villains either want to take over the world or blow it up.
64.
When someone paints up their face, they mean business.
65.
Everyone in Japan has excellent singing voices.
66.
No matter how many times you rebuild, Tokyo keeps getting destroyed in a massive fireball.
67.
The martial arts expert is always defenseless against a slap from the girl who loves him.
68.
TAKAHASHI'S LAW 1: Food is a powerful motivator.
69.
When women are sent out to fight the bad guys, there's always a hunk busily watching over them, often in secret.
70.
The longer it takes to say what your punch is called, the less effective it is.
71.
"Baka" does not mean a student going for his baccalaureate degree.
72.
The more possessive a woman gets, the less likely she will end up with the man of her dreams.
73.
TAKAHASHI'S LAW 2: The two-foot-tall old geezer is someone to be feared.
74.
No matter how big the mech/labor/mobile suit is, if it runs around the corner, the guy chasing it loses the trail.
75.
Extraterrestrial, demons, time travelers, etc. all want to alter the course of history by letting Oda Nobunaga win.
76.
The fate of the planet rests in the hands of the seemingly normal high school student.
77.
The heroine must shred her clothes while transforming into something to fight the bad guys.
78.
True evil can never be destroyed, only banished to some nether realm where it awakes after a few hundred years.
79.
TAKAHASHI'S LAW 3: When being hit on the head, it's the most natural thing in the world to tuck your third and fourth fingers in while keeping the others extended.
80.
Even the bravest souls can be made weak and helpless by the sight of a cute little puppy or kitten.
81.
Never love a Gundam pilot : you're just destined for disappointment (or a funeral).
82.
All persons under the age of 50 can do a ten foot vertical jump from a standing position.
83.
Never trust a guy with shiny teeth
84.
ESP causes more trouble than it solves
85.
The vampire isn't _always_ the bad guy
86.
Nice things can come out of video stores that appear from nowhere
87.
Idiot captains win battles against impossible odds
88.
Order takeout at every opportunity--you might get lucky with a wrong number.
89.
The police are never anywhere there is a large amount of property damage.
90.
All high school principals in Japan are clinically insane.
91.
All people with esper powers give off multicolored auras.
92.
Just about any outer space villain has his sights set on destroying the Earth.
93.
(in conjunction with #92) No other planet in the universe will be able to stop said villain except the Earth.
94.
Any character can make a leap of 300 ft or more if given a good running start.
95.
A samurai sword can cut through anything.
96.
All characters over the age of 60 shrink in height in direct proportion to their age.
97.
When uncovering a fabulous treasure, the thing will be large enough to completely destroy any surrounding structures.
98.
TAKAHASHI'S LAW #4: An anti-climax is a good climax.
99.
Anime villians have the best deaths.
100.
Any love interest will always be possesed by a demon.
101.
Mallets can be stored anywhere on anybody.
102.
If the anime has the word "idol" in the title, then you know that it has to be good.
103.
Takada Yumi really does sing that bad, and people still buy her CDs.
104.
If you make enough porno movies, eventually you can get famous enough to star in commercials. "Iijima Ai desu! 'Manga manga no mori mori!!'"
105.
There is no such thing as a public anime showing without heckling.
106.
You can spot how popular a show is by looking at the number of H doujinshi it has.
107.
The smartest people on r.a.a. never post, which is why the conference's overall IQ is so low.
108.
If the lyrics to the OP song are printed on the screen, then you're watching a show that's not for your age group.
109.
The sexiest girls are drawn by artists whose last names start with "U".
110.
The English words in Jpop songs are put there only because they sound good, since they don't make any sense with the rest of the lyrics.
111.
If you post on the MLs more than Hitoshi does, then you probably post too much.
112.
The hero always loses the first fight with a new enemy.
113.
The guys with two earrings are from the Negaverse.
114.
Don't trust the guys with two earrings.
115.
Any truly evil person who changes sides for the woman he loves will die in that episode.
116.
You CAN do it, but only when it's funny or REALLY important.
117.
You can never have too many carrots.
118.
Hair comes in every shade of the rainbow - and we do mean pink, purple, blue, green....
119.
The song "Cry Me a River" takes on a whole new meaning.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Scientists may soon be able to erase fear and trauma from your mind
Scientists are a step closer to being able to wipe the mind clean of painful memories, a deveolpment that will offer hope to those with a fear of spiders or who are trying to bury traumatic experiences.
Neurobiologists believe they will soon be able to target and then chemically remove painful memories and phobias from the mind without causing any harm to the brain.
Kate Winslett and Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which deals with memory erasure
The researchers think that the new technique could help war veterans get over the horrors of conflict and cure people with debilitating phobias.
It could even eventually be applied to ease the pain of a failed relationship or a bereavement.
"While memories are great teachers and obviously crucial for survival and adaptation, selectively removing incapacitating memories, such as traumatic war memories or an unwanted fear, could help many people live better lives," said Dr Joe Tsien, a neurobiologist at the Brain and Behaviour Discovery Institute at the Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine.
"Our work reveals a molecular mechanism of how that can be done quickly and without doing damage to brain cells."
The team, who published their work in Neuron and worked with scientists at East China Normal University in Shanghai, has isolated a "memory molecule" in a mouse and used it to remove its painful memories.
In a number of experiments they instilled a trauma in the mouse by applying electric shocks - but then removed the memory with a calcium enzyme called CamKII.
Just as a war veteran remembers a fateful patrol when he was fired upon, mice can establish a very long-lasting emotional memory about a place if, for example, they receive a mild shock to the paws.
But fears both new and old alike were wiped clean or over-written by over dosing the mouse's brain with CamKII.
A similar approach was taken with object recognition memory, giving mice a couple of toys to play with then erasing their memory of one of them. Each time the mice acted like it had a new toy.
Eventually the research could lead to a pill or injection being administered to a person at the same time as they are asked to recall the painful memory or fear.
Despite the exciting breakthrough Dr Tsien said it would still be years before a similar trick could be carried on a human because their brains were much more complicated.
He also cautioned against the use to erase failed romances.
"If one got a bad relationship with another person, hoping to have a pill to erase the memory of that person or relationship is not the solution," he said.
Neurobiologists believe they will soon be able to target and then chemically remove painful memories and phobias from the mind without causing any harm to the brain.
Kate Winslett and Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which deals with memory erasure
The researchers think that the new technique could help war veterans get over the horrors of conflict and cure people with debilitating phobias.
It could even eventually be applied to ease the pain of a failed relationship or a bereavement.
"While memories are great teachers and obviously crucial for survival and adaptation, selectively removing incapacitating memories, such as traumatic war memories or an unwanted fear, could help many people live better lives," said Dr Joe Tsien, a neurobiologist at the Brain and Behaviour Discovery Institute at the Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine.
"Our work reveals a molecular mechanism of how that can be done quickly and without doing damage to brain cells."
The team, who published their work in Neuron and worked with scientists at East China Normal University in Shanghai, has isolated a "memory molecule" in a mouse and used it to remove its painful memories.
In a number of experiments they instilled a trauma in the mouse by applying electric shocks - but then removed the memory with a calcium enzyme called CamKII.
Just as a war veteran remembers a fateful patrol when he was fired upon, mice can establish a very long-lasting emotional memory about a place if, for example, they receive a mild shock to the paws.
But fears both new and old alike were wiped clean or over-written by over dosing the mouse's brain with CamKII.
A similar approach was taken with object recognition memory, giving mice a couple of toys to play with then erasing their memory of one of them. Each time the mice acted like it had a new toy.
Eventually the research could lead to a pill or injection being administered to a person at the same time as they are asked to recall the painful memory or fear.
Despite the exciting breakthrough Dr Tsien said it would still be years before a similar trick could be carried on a human because their brains were much more complicated.
He also cautioned against the use to erase failed romances.
"If one got a bad relationship with another person, hoping to have a pill to erase the memory of that person or relationship is not the solution," he said.
Dutch towns 'swamped by drug tourists'
TWO Dutch towns are planning to close their cannabis smoking coffee shops after admitting that an influx of up to 25,000 French and Belgian "drug tourists" each week had become too much.
Local authorities in southwestern Roosendaal and Bergen-op-Doom announced they could no longer cope with the "drug tourists" whose presence they blamed for traffic congestion, crime and unlicenced dealing.
"Soft drug tourism is the motor of criminality linked to (harder) drugs," they said in a joint statement. "It has an overwhelming negative effect on public order."
All eight coffee shops in the two towns will shut, with closures beginning in February 2009.
"The mayor of Roosendaal thinks we could close them all within two years," town hall spokeswoman Marjolein Koppens said.
Until then, all local coffee shops will be forced to limit the sale of cannabis to two grams per customer per day instead of the current five grams.
Another border town, Terneuzen, announced yesterday it would toughen its local by-laws on the sale of cannabis from May next year. Opening hours would be restricted and the amount each customer could buy would also be reduced.
Local authorities in southwestern Roosendaal and Bergen-op-Doom announced they could no longer cope with the "drug tourists" whose presence they blamed for traffic congestion, crime and unlicenced dealing.
"Soft drug tourism is the motor of criminality linked to (harder) drugs," they said in a joint statement. "It has an overwhelming negative effect on public order."
All eight coffee shops in the two towns will shut, with closures beginning in February 2009.
"The mayor of Roosendaal thinks we could close them all within two years," town hall spokeswoman Marjolein Koppens said.
Until then, all local coffee shops will be forced to limit the sale of cannabis to two grams per customer per day instead of the current five grams.
Another border town, Terneuzen, announced yesterday it would toughen its local by-laws on the sale of cannabis from May next year. Opening hours would be restricted and the amount each customer could buy would also be reduced.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Invisibility cloak will be ready in 5-years
Researchers from Purdue University, Indiana are using 'nanotechnology' and 'metamaterials' along with Einstein’s theory of general relativity.
It works by bending light around itself like the flow of water around a stone, which would make both the electromagnetic cloak and the object inside hidden.
'The whole idea behind metamaterials is to create materials designed and engineered out of artificial atoms, meta-atoms, which are smaller than the wavelengths of light itself,' Professor Vladminr Shalaev said.
In his study reported in the journal Science, Shalaev used an array of tiny needles radiating outward from a central spoke, like a round hairbrush, that would bend light around the object being cloaked inside.
These tiny needles decrease the refraction or distortion of the light to almost zero, rendering it invisible.
'Whereas relativity demonstrates the curved nature of space and time, we are able to curve space for light, and we can design and engineer tiny devices to do this,' he said.
He added that as well as bending light they could do the opposite - concentrating light in one area.
The new technique could be used to create optical microscopes so powerful they would make DNA visible to the naked eye and superfast computer microchips.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1078397/Disappearing-act-The-invisibility-cloak-ready-years.html
It works by bending light around itself like the flow of water around a stone, which would make both the electromagnetic cloak and the object inside hidden.
'The whole idea behind metamaterials is to create materials designed and engineered out of artificial atoms, meta-atoms, which are smaller than the wavelengths of light itself,' Professor Vladminr Shalaev said.
In his study reported in the journal Science, Shalaev used an array of tiny needles radiating outward from a central spoke, like a round hairbrush, that would bend light around the object being cloaked inside.
These tiny needles decrease the refraction or distortion of the light to almost zero, rendering it invisible.
'Whereas relativity demonstrates the curved nature of space and time, we are able to curve space for light, and we can design and engineer tiny devices to do this,' he said.
He added that as well as bending light they could do the opposite - concentrating light in one area.
The new technique could be used to create optical microscopes so powerful they would make DNA visible to the naked eye and superfast computer microchips.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1078397/Disappearing-act-The-invisibility-cloak-ready-years.html
A question regarding the "illusion"
I guess most of us would assume we are human beings. We are separated from each other. We live on earth, which is a planet in the solar system, of a presumably infinite and mystical universe. The earth has physical laws, like gravity, and whatever else there is. We also have our beliefs, our thoughts, our self-image - produced by a "something", our brain perhaps. Our lives play out in a linear time, and our world has a history. We are born from our parents, who again are born from their parents, etc.
Now, hypothetically, lets imagine that nothing that you believe is exists, exists, except the illusion of it. What is the illusion you might ask? Ill get to that.
To put it in a different perspective: If you look around you. What do you see? Objects perhaps. What can you say about them? You can see them. You can feel them if you touch them. And maybe you can even smell or taste them. Now think for a second. What else, other than what you see, can you say you know that exists? But there is the world outside my window... isnt it?
But what defies existing? If, we say, that what defies existing, is what you know to exist - ie, what you can see. That is essentially all that would exist for a person who could have no beliefs and no assumptions.
So if you take away your beliefs and assumptions, all that would exist to you, is what you see. Taste would only exist as taste, but taste itself couldnt tell you that something tastes. There would simply be just taste. But then you would also realize, that sight wouldnt exist as sight, as in something sees (the eye for example) it would exist as object(s?) that are being perceived. Since there could be no sight. The assumption that it is your eyes that see, would also be part of the illusion. Now, if we take away the theory of seeing, then how can we perceive if nothing sees? A new realization would arise - you simply are it. What other options are there? There is no perceiving, there is only being. You are what you "see".
You also have your thoughts, they are there, because you think them.
So what would the illusion be? The illusion is what you believe and assume exists, outside of what is being perceived. If you have no assumptions or beliefs, there would never be a world outside of what is being perceived.
Now, thats the illusion. But this illusion has to arise from somewhere, right? What creates what you are? But mustnt that be you, too? Who else?
So... here comes the million dollar question (my question). If you perceive all that you are in manifest form, how could other beings exist, other than what you are perceiving (being)? If other people than you exist, how come you do not perceive what they perceive? How come you do not think what they think? Are you separated from yourself in other humans and animals, or do they really not exist at all, other than in the mysterious form of You?
... are "others" also just an illusion? Are you truely just alone, in your own complex illusion, essentially manufacturing your own beliefs and assumptions, composed as your mind, to make your own self-image believe that the world is real? You are WHACK! That is what you are, arent you?
Thoughts?
Now, hypothetically, lets imagine that nothing that you believe is exists, exists, except the illusion of it. What is the illusion you might ask? Ill get to that.
To put it in a different perspective: If you look around you. What do you see? Objects perhaps. What can you say about them? You can see them. You can feel them if you touch them. And maybe you can even smell or taste them. Now think for a second. What else, other than what you see, can you say you know that exists? But there is the world outside my window... isnt it?
But what defies existing? If, we say, that what defies existing, is what you know to exist - ie, what you can see. That is essentially all that would exist for a person who could have no beliefs and no assumptions.
So if you take away your beliefs and assumptions, all that would exist to you, is what you see. Taste would only exist as taste, but taste itself couldnt tell you that something tastes. There would simply be just taste. But then you would also realize, that sight wouldnt exist as sight, as in something sees (the eye for example) it would exist as object(s?) that are being perceived. Since there could be no sight. The assumption that it is your eyes that see, would also be part of the illusion. Now, if we take away the theory of seeing, then how can we perceive if nothing sees? A new realization would arise - you simply are it. What other options are there? There is no perceiving, there is only being. You are what you "see".
You also have your thoughts, they are there, because you think them.
So what would the illusion be? The illusion is what you believe and assume exists, outside of what is being perceived. If you have no assumptions or beliefs, there would never be a world outside of what is being perceived.
Now, thats the illusion. But this illusion has to arise from somewhere, right? What creates what you are? But mustnt that be you, too? Who else?
So... here comes the million dollar question (my question). If you perceive all that you are in manifest form, how could other beings exist, other than what you are perceiving (being)? If other people than you exist, how come you do not perceive what they perceive? How come you do not think what they think? Are you separated from yourself in other humans and animals, or do they really not exist at all, other than in the mysterious form of You?
... are "others" also just an illusion? Are you truely just alone, in your own complex illusion, essentially manufacturing your own beliefs and assumptions, composed as your mind, to make your own self-image believe that the world is real? You are WHACK! That is what you are, arent you?
Thoughts?
Palin Clothes Spending Has Dems Salivating, Republicans Disgusted
Since her selection as John McCain's running mate, the Republican National Committee spent more than $150,000 on clothing and make-up for Gov. Sarah Palin, her husband, and even her infant son, it was reported on Tuesday evening.
That entertaining scoop -- which came by way of Politico -- sent almost immediate reverberations through the presidential race. A statement from McCain headquarters released hours after the article bemoaned the triviality of the whole affair.
"With all of the important issues facing the country right now, it's remarkable that we're spending time talking about pantsuits and blouses," said spokesperson Tracey Schmitt. "It was always the intent that the clothing go to a charitable purpose after the campaign."
But even the most timid of Democrats are unlikely to heed this call for civility. For starters, the story has the potential to dampen enthusiasm among GOP activists and donors at a critical point in the presidential race. It also creates a huge PR headache for the McCain ticket as it seeks to make inroads among voters worried about the current economic crisis.
Mainly, however, Democrats (in this scenario) are not prone to forgiveness. After all, it was during this same campaign cycle that Republicans belittled the $400 haircut that former Sen. John Edwards had paid for with his own campaign money (the funds were later reimbursed). And yet, the comparison to that once-dominant news story is hardly close: if Edwards had gotten one of his legendary haircuts every singe week, it would still take him 7.2 years to spend what Palin has spent. Palin has received the equivalent of $2,500 in clothes per day from places such as Saks Fifth Avenue (where RNC expenditures totaled nearly $50,000) and Neiman Marcus (where the governor had a $75,000 spree).
Beyond the political tit-for-tat, however, the revelation of the clothing expenditures offers what some Democrats see as a chance not just to win several news cycles during the campaign's waning days but to severely damage Palin's image as a small-town, 'Joe Six-Pack' American.
"It shows that Palin ain't like the rest of us," Tom Matzzie, a Democratic strategist told the Huffington Post, when asked how the party would or could use the issue. "It can help deflate her cultural populism with the Republican base. The plumber's wife doesn't go to Nieman's or Saks."
Indeed, the story could not come at a more inopportune time for the McCain campaign. During a week in which the Republican ticket is trying to highlight its connection to the working class -- and, by extension, promoting its newest campaign tool, Joe the Plumber -- it was revealed that Palin's fashion budget for several weeks was more than four times the median salary of an American plumber ($37,514). To put it another way: Palin received more valuable clothes in one month than the average American household spends on clothes in 80 years. A Democrat put it in even blunter terms: her clothes were the cost of health care for 15 or so people.
There are, in these cases, legal questions surrounding campaign expenditures. Though, on this front, Palin and the RNC seem to be in the clear.
"I don't think it's taxed," said David Donnelly of Campaign Money Watch. "I don't think she can keep it. It's owned by the RNC. They had to use coordinated funds to pay for the clothes."
And certainly the possibility exists that this issue can be effectively swept under the rug. Palin is not known for taking impromptu questions from the press. Moreover, the media, at this juncture, has other major story lines (see: upcoming election) to grapple with, thus denying the piece the relative vacuum that accompanied the Edwards story. Finally, there is little desire among conservative writers or pundits to litigate the matter, even if they were more than happy to jump on board when a Democrat was in the spotlight.
Several hours after Politico posted its findings, the topic remained nearly untouched by the major right-wing outlets. Though as Marc Ambinder at the Atlantic opined:
"Republicans, RNC donors and at least one RNC staff member have e-mailed me tonight to share their utter (and not-for-attribution) disgust at the expenditures. ... The heat for this story will come from Republicans who cannot understand how their party would do something this stupid ... particularly (and, it must be said, viewed retroactively) during the collapse of the financial system and the probable beginning of a recession."
That entertaining scoop -- which came by way of Politico -- sent almost immediate reverberations through the presidential race. A statement from McCain headquarters released hours after the article bemoaned the triviality of the whole affair.
"With all of the important issues facing the country right now, it's remarkable that we're spending time talking about pantsuits and blouses," said spokesperson Tracey Schmitt. "It was always the intent that the clothing go to a charitable purpose after the campaign."
But even the most timid of Democrats are unlikely to heed this call for civility. For starters, the story has the potential to dampen enthusiasm among GOP activists and donors at a critical point in the presidential race. It also creates a huge PR headache for the McCain ticket as it seeks to make inroads among voters worried about the current economic crisis.
Mainly, however, Democrats (in this scenario) are not prone to forgiveness. After all, it was during this same campaign cycle that Republicans belittled the $400 haircut that former Sen. John Edwards had paid for with his own campaign money (the funds were later reimbursed). And yet, the comparison to that once-dominant news story is hardly close: if Edwards had gotten one of his legendary haircuts every singe week, it would still take him 7.2 years to spend what Palin has spent. Palin has received the equivalent of $2,500 in clothes per day from places such as Saks Fifth Avenue (where RNC expenditures totaled nearly $50,000) and Neiman Marcus (where the governor had a $75,000 spree).
Beyond the political tit-for-tat, however, the revelation of the clothing expenditures offers what some Democrats see as a chance not just to win several news cycles during the campaign's waning days but to severely damage Palin's image as a small-town, 'Joe Six-Pack' American.
"It shows that Palin ain't like the rest of us," Tom Matzzie, a Democratic strategist told the Huffington Post, when asked how the party would or could use the issue. "It can help deflate her cultural populism with the Republican base. The plumber's wife doesn't go to Nieman's or Saks."
Indeed, the story could not come at a more inopportune time for the McCain campaign. During a week in which the Republican ticket is trying to highlight its connection to the working class -- and, by extension, promoting its newest campaign tool, Joe the Plumber -- it was revealed that Palin's fashion budget for several weeks was more than four times the median salary of an American plumber ($37,514). To put it another way: Palin received more valuable clothes in one month than the average American household spends on clothes in 80 years. A Democrat put it in even blunter terms: her clothes were the cost of health care for 15 or so people.
There are, in these cases, legal questions surrounding campaign expenditures. Though, on this front, Palin and the RNC seem to be in the clear.
"I don't think it's taxed," said David Donnelly of Campaign Money Watch. "I don't think she can keep it. It's owned by the RNC. They had to use coordinated funds to pay for the clothes."
And certainly the possibility exists that this issue can be effectively swept under the rug. Palin is not known for taking impromptu questions from the press. Moreover, the media, at this juncture, has other major story lines (see: upcoming election) to grapple with, thus denying the piece the relative vacuum that accompanied the Edwards story. Finally, there is little desire among conservative writers or pundits to litigate the matter, even if they were more than happy to jump on board when a Democrat was in the spotlight.
Several hours after Politico posted its findings, the topic remained nearly untouched by the major right-wing outlets. Though as Marc Ambinder at the Atlantic opined:
"Republicans, RNC donors and at least one RNC staff member have e-mailed me tonight to share their utter (and not-for-attribution) disgust at the expenditures. ... The heat for this story will come from Republicans who cannot understand how their party would do something this stupid ... particularly (and, it must be said, viewed retroactively) during the collapse of the financial system and the probable beginning of a recession."
Planets Thought Dead Might Be Habitable
Astronomers have long talked about a "habitable zone" around a star as being a confined and predictable region where temperatures were not to cold, not to hot, so that a planet could retain liquid water and therefore support life as we know it.
The zone may not be so fixed, it turns out. Some extrasolar planets that one might assume are too cold to host life could in fact be made habitable by a squishing effect from their stars, a new study found.
A planet's midsection gets stretched out by its star's gravity so that its shape is slightly more like a cigar than a sphere. Some planets travel non-circular, or elongated paths around their stars. As such a world moves closer to the star, it stretches more, and when it moves farther away, the stretching decreases.
When a planet's orbit is particularly oblong, the stretching changes are so great that its interior warms up in a process called tidal heating.
"It's basically the same effect as when you bend a paper clip, and it gets hot inside," said researcher Brian Jackson of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.
Jackson and colleagues created a computer model to simulate this effect on exoplanets, and found that the process could shift the range and distance of the "habitable zone" around a star in which planets would have the right temperatures needed to harbor life.
"It could be that planets close to the edge of the habitable zone get way too much tidal heating, and they'd be too hot," Jackson told SPACE.com. It also could be that planets just beyond the outer edge, which according to previous models would be too cold, might undergo enough heating that their surfaces would be warm enough for life and water, Jackson said.
Tidal heating could in fact affect many planets in the galaxy, because the oblong orbits that cause the phenomenon are quite common.
"Most of the extrasolar planets we've found so far are in pretty elongated orbits, which is surprising because most of the planets in our solar system have orbits that are roughly circular," Jackson said.
Scientists aren't sure why our solar system is unique in this way, but the difference could significantly affect the hunt for life beyond Earth.
In some cases it would suggest that it's going to be little bit harder, Jackson said, because worlds that looked habitable may experience too much tidal heating. On the other hand, some planets that were thought to be too cold might in fact be warmed up enough for life, and that might improve our odds.
Tidal heating could further boost some planets' habitability by warming them enough to spur volcanism, which in turn drives plate tectonics, the process that recycles rock through a planet's surface layers.
Plate tectonics is a definite boon for life, because stirring up the surface layers helps to regulate the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, since rock absorbs CO2 from the air. And having the perfect balance of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere helps a planet maintain that "just right" temperature range.
The zone may not be so fixed, it turns out. Some extrasolar planets that one might assume are too cold to host life could in fact be made habitable by a squishing effect from their stars, a new study found.
A planet's midsection gets stretched out by its star's gravity so that its shape is slightly more like a cigar than a sphere. Some planets travel non-circular, or elongated paths around their stars. As such a world moves closer to the star, it stretches more, and when it moves farther away, the stretching decreases.
When a planet's orbit is particularly oblong, the stretching changes are so great that its interior warms up in a process called tidal heating.
"It's basically the same effect as when you bend a paper clip, and it gets hot inside," said researcher Brian Jackson of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.
Jackson and colleagues created a computer model to simulate this effect on exoplanets, and found that the process could shift the range and distance of the "habitable zone" around a star in which planets would have the right temperatures needed to harbor life.
"It could be that planets close to the edge of the habitable zone get way too much tidal heating, and they'd be too hot," Jackson told SPACE.com. It also could be that planets just beyond the outer edge, which according to previous models would be too cold, might undergo enough heating that their surfaces would be warm enough for life and water, Jackson said.
Tidal heating could in fact affect many planets in the galaxy, because the oblong orbits that cause the phenomenon are quite common.
"Most of the extrasolar planets we've found so far are in pretty elongated orbits, which is surprising because most of the planets in our solar system have orbits that are roughly circular," Jackson said.
Scientists aren't sure why our solar system is unique in this way, but the difference could significantly affect the hunt for life beyond Earth.
In some cases it would suggest that it's going to be little bit harder, Jackson said, because worlds that looked habitable may experience too much tidal heating. On the other hand, some planets that were thought to be too cold might in fact be warmed up enough for life, and that might improve our odds.
Tidal heating could further boost some planets' habitability by warming them enough to spur volcanism, which in turn drives plate tectonics, the process that recycles rock through a planet's surface layers.
Plate tectonics is a definite boon for life, because stirring up the surface layers helps to regulate the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, since rock absorbs CO2 from the air. And having the perfect balance of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere helps a planet maintain that "just right" temperature range.
Study: Da Vinci Codex old but not moldy (Update)
Professor Gianfranco Tarsitani meets the media at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2008. Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Atlanticus, the largest collection of drawings and writings by the Renaissance master, has not been infiltrated by mold as some scholars had previously suggested, officials said Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2008. The Biblioteca Ambrosiana, where the neraly 1,120-page Codex is housed, said a microbiological analysis of the document excludes "a biological onslaught." The Biblioteca Ambrosiana emphasized that the Codex Atlanticus is kept in an air-conditioned chamber to preserve its condition at a constant temperature and relative humidity.
Some scholars warned last year that the Codex, which contains drawings and writings from 1478-1519 on topics ranging from flying machines to weapons, mathematics and botany, had been infiltrated by mold.
But studies showed that black stains that appeared to be mold were in fact caused by mercury salts added as a disinfectant to protect the Codex from just such a "biological and microbiological onslaught," the library said in a statement.
And the black stains were detected not on the Codex itself, but on outer paper added as support in 1970-73.
The tests were carried out by the central institute for the conservation and restoration of book heritage.
The Biblioteca Ambrosiana emphasized that the Codex Atlanticus is kept in an air-conditioned chamber to preserve its condition at a constant temperature and relative humidity.
The Codex was last on public exhibition in 1998 at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana and will next be on display for celebrations marking the 400th anniversary of the library on Dec. 8, 2009 and for the Milan Expo in 2015.
Some scholars warned last year that the Codex, which contains drawings and writings from 1478-1519 on topics ranging from flying machines to weapons, mathematics and botany, had been infiltrated by mold.
But studies showed that black stains that appeared to be mold were in fact caused by mercury salts added as a disinfectant to protect the Codex from just such a "biological and microbiological onslaught," the library said in a statement.
And the black stains were detected not on the Codex itself, but on outer paper added as support in 1970-73.
The tests were carried out by the central institute for the conservation and restoration of book heritage.
The Biblioteca Ambrosiana emphasized that the Codex Atlanticus is kept in an air-conditioned chamber to preserve its condition at a constant temperature and relative humidity.
The Codex was last on public exhibition in 1998 at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana and will next be on display for celebrations marking the 400th anniversary of the library on Dec. 8, 2009 and for the Milan Expo in 2015.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Airliner had near miss with UFO
A passenger jet bound for Heathrow Airport had a near miss with a UFO, Ministry of Defence files reveal.
The captain of the Alitalia airliner shouted "Look out" to his co-pilot at the sight of a brown missile-shaped object shooting past them overhead.
Civil Aviation Authority and military investigations could not explain the 1991 incident near Lydd in Kent.
The unsolved close encounter features in UFO-related military documents made available by the National Archives.
After ruling out the object flying past the Alitalia jet being a missile, weather balloon or space rocket, the MoD closed the inquiry.
Nineteen files covering sightings between 1986 and 1992 are being made available online.
Almost 200 such files will be made available by the MoD over the next four years.
The current batch also include a US Air Force pilot's account of being ordered to shoot down a UFO that appeared on his radar while he flew over East Anglia.
There is also an MoD request that army and navy helicopters not take photographs of crop circles, because of concerns about undermining the official line that the military did not investigate unexplained phenomena.
And the files also contain a letter from a woman claiming to be from the Sirius system who said her spacecraft - also containing two "Spectrans" with "Mr Spock ears" - crashed in Britain during World War II.
UFO expert and journalism lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, Dr David Clarke, said the documents would shed new light on relatively little-known sightings.
He said some conspiracy theorists would already have decided that the release of the papers was a "whitewash".
He added: "Because the subject is bedevilled by charlatans and lunatics, it is career suicide to have your name associated with UFOs, which is a real pity.
"The National Archives are doing a fantastic job here. Everyone brings their own interpretation.
"Now you can look at the actual primary material - the stuff coming into the MoD every day - and make your own mind up."
The captain of the Alitalia airliner shouted "Look out" to his co-pilot at the sight of a brown missile-shaped object shooting past them overhead.
Civil Aviation Authority and military investigations could not explain the 1991 incident near Lydd in Kent.
The unsolved close encounter features in UFO-related military documents made available by the National Archives.
After ruling out the object flying past the Alitalia jet being a missile, weather balloon or space rocket, the MoD closed the inquiry.
Nineteen files covering sightings between 1986 and 1992 are being made available online.
Almost 200 such files will be made available by the MoD over the next four years.
The current batch also include a US Air Force pilot's account of being ordered to shoot down a UFO that appeared on his radar while he flew over East Anglia.
There is also an MoD request that army and navy helicopters not take photographs of crop circles, because of concerns about undermining the official line that the military did not investigate unexplained phenomena.
And the files also contain a letter from a woman claiming to be from the Sirius system who said her spacecraft - also containing two "Spectrans" with "Mr Spock ears" - crashed in Britain during World War II.
UFO expert and journalism lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, Dr David Clarke, said the documents would shed new light on relatively little-known sightings.
He said some conspiracy theorists would already have decided that the release of the papers was a "whitewash".
He added: "Because the subject is bedevilled by charlatans and lunatics, it is career suicide to have your name associated with UFOs, which is a real pity.
"The National Archives are doing a fantastic job here. Everyone brings their own interpretation.
"Now you can look at the actual primary material - the stuff coming into the MoD every day - and make your own mind up."
Scientist develops programme to understand alien languages
A computer programme which could help identify and even translate messages from aliens in outer space has been developed by a British scientist.
Even if there are extra terrestrials are one day discovered, scientists fear their alien tongue may make it impossible to understand them.
Alien life form: the new programme would compare alien language sounds with those of 60 human languages
But John Elliott of Leeds Metropolitan University believes he has come up with software which at least will decipher the structure of their language - and be the first step in understanding what they are saying.
Dr Elliott's programme would compare an alien language to a database of 60 different languages in the world to search see if it has a similar structure.
He believes that even an alien language far removed from any on Earth is likely to have recognisable patterns that could help reveal how intelligent the life forms are.
"Language has to be structured in a certain way otherwise it will be inefficient and unwieldy," he told New Scientist magazine.
Previous research had shown that it is possible to determine whether a signal carries a language rather than an image or music.
Dr Elliott, from Leeds Metropolitan University, has gone a step further by devising a way to pick out what might be words and sentences.
All human languages have "functional terms" that bracket phrases - words like "if" and "but" in English.
According to Dr Elliott, such terms in any language, are separated by up to nine words or characters.
This limit on phrase length seems to correspond to the level of human cognition - how much information we are able to process at once.
In an alien language, analysing these phrases might make it possible to gauge how clever the authors of the message are.
If they are much smarter than us, there would a lot of words packed into the phrases.
The programme should also be able to break a language up into crucial words such as nouns and verbs, even though their meaning is unknown.
It can, for instance, locate adjectives from the fact that they are almost always next to nouns.
Because languages have different word orders, Dr Elliott is amassing a library of the syntaxes of 60 human tongues.
If a message is received from outer space, it could be compared against this database. Scientists would then be able to see if it resembled anything human, or a mix of Earthly languages.
Dr Elliott admits that in order to translate what the aliens are actually saying it may still be necessary to have a "code book" of some sort.
But US linguist Dr Sheri Wells-Jensen, from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, points out that "you have to start somewhere".
She added: "My money is on being able to understand aliens."
Even if there are extra terrestrials are one day discovered, scientists fear their alien tongue may make it impossible to understand them.
Alien life form: the new programme would compare alien language sounds with those of 60 human languages
But John Elliott of Leeds Metropolitan University believes he has come up with software which at least will decipher the structure of their language - and be the first step in understanding what they are saying.
Dr Elliott's programme would compare an alien language to a database of 60 different languages in the world to search see if it has a similar structure.
He believes that even an alien language far removed from any on Earth is likely to have recognisable patterns that could help reveal how intelligent the life forms are.
"Language has to be structured in a certain way otherwise it will be inefficient and unwieldy," he told New Scientist magazine.
Previous research had shown that it is possible to determine whether a signal carries a language rather than an image or music.
Dr Elliott, from Leeds Metropolitan University, has gone a step further by devising a way to pick out what might be words and sentences.
All human languages have "functional terms" that bracket phrases - words like "if" and "but" in English.
According to Dr Elliott, such terms in any language, are separated by up to nine words or characters.
This limit on phrase length seems to correspond to the level of human cognition - how much information we are able to process at once.
In an alien language, analysing these phrases might make it possible to gauge how clever the authors of the message are.
If they are much smarter than us, there would a lot of words packed into the phrases.
The programme should also be able to break a language up into crucial words such as nouns and verbs, even though their meaning is unknown.
It can, for instance, locate adjectives from the fact that they are almost always next to nouns.
Because languages have different word orders, Dr Elliott is amassing a library of the syntaxes of 60 human tongues.
If a message is received from outer space, it could be compared against this database. Scientists would then be able to see if it resembled anything human, or a mix of Earthly languages.
Dr Elliott admits that in order to translate what the aliens are actually saying it may still be necessary to have a "code book" of some sort.
But US linguist Dr Sheri Wells-Jensen, from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, points out that "you have to start somewhere".
She added: "My money is on being able to understand aliens."
Bondtastic... The bizarre secrets of the 007 movies
From advertising pork faggots to a 'Swingometer' star's dreams of glory... Here the author of a new book about how James Bond conquered the cinema screen reveals a host of surprising facts about the franchise.
Swiss actress Ursula Andress had to have her voice dubbed by Monica Van Der Zyl for her iconic role as Honey Ryder in Dr No because producer Albert R. Broccoli thought Andress sounded like 'a Dutch comedian'.
Before New York actor Joseph Wiseman was cast as Dr No, screenwriters thought the character a little antiquated and Fu Manchu-like, so they briefly considered making the evil scientist a monkey instead.
Gert Frobe's performance as Goldfinger was made all the more memorable because this highly respected German actor spoke very little English and did not understand a word of the script. Before shooting the classic golf match scene, neither Frobe nor Connery had ever played the game before.
Goldeneye actress Izabella Scorupco demanded that she be called a 'Bond Woman' because she thought the term 'Bond Girl' was demeaning. But seven years later, in 2002, the Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry, above, said that she was delighted to be described as 'a Bond babe' when she starred in Die Another Day.
Harold Sakata, who portrayed Oddjob in Goldfinger, later reprised the role in a US television advertisement for cough mixture in which he inadvertently karate-chopped someone's house to the ground.
President John F. Kennedy was a huge fan of From Russia With Love. So was his assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.
Bond's CIA friend Felix Leiter has been portrayed by seven actors, more than 007 himself. Perhaps the best known is Hawaii Five-O's Jack Lord who appeared in Dr No.
Actors put forward for the Bond role in the late Sixties included Michael Jayston (who now stars in ITV's Emmerdale), and the young Timothy Dalton, who was just 22 in 1968. In the Seventies, United Artists executives suggested Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds for the role.
Just before he got the Bond role, male model George Lazenby was due to star in an advertising campaign for roll-on deodorant. The Bond producers bought up the adverts to protect the 007 image.
Spartacus star John Gavin was signed up for the role of 007 after George Lazenby quit, but he was paid off when Sean Connery decided to return one more time for Diamonds Are Forever.
Connery told an interviewer in the Seventies that he never missed a Carry On film. He also confided that he had read only two of Ian Fleming's Bond novels and that he considered Fleming 'a snob, but terrific company'.
Throughout the Seventies and Eighties, the Bond crew would always take lunch together at the Pinewood studios canteen; but alcohol was banned after two second-string actors became the worse for wear and held up an afternoon shoot.
Among those who have composed Bond songs that were never used are Pulp (with Tomorrow Never Dies) and Alice Cooper (who made his own idiosyncratic version of The Man With The Golden Gun). Pulp also recorded a breathy cover version of All Time High, the opening song from Octopussy.
Boxer Muhammad Ali visited the Pinewood set of The Man With The Golden Gun and was so excited that he promised to dedicate his next fight to the film's villain, actor Christopher Lee. Ali duly did.
In the original Dr No novel, Honey is threatened with being eaten alive by crabs. This was also going to happen in the film, but the idea was abandoned because the live crabs that had been flown over for the scene had been put in a freezing cargo hold and could barely summon the energy to move.
Julie Christie was originally considered for the part of Domino in Thunderball but producer Harry Saltzman turned her down because he thought her bust was not ample enough.
Producer Harry Saltzman was often taken aback by the Bond songs. Paul McCartney's Live And Let Die was initially considered outlandish; eight years previously, Dionne Warwick's Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was vetoed as the opening song for Thunderball; and Shirley Bassey's raunchy rendition of Diamonds Are Forever prompted Saltzman to shout that the song was obscene.
The influence of the Bond films is so great that Nasa was thrilled to let 007 give the world its first view of the Space Shuttle in Moonraker - two years before the launch of the real thing.
Among the surprisingly literary screenwriters of Bond movies have been Roald Dahl, who wrote the script for You Only Live Twice, and George MacDonald Fraser, who wrote the screenplay for Octopussy. The author of A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess, wrote a putative script for The Spy Who Loved Me, but the only element retained from his version was the submarine-gobbling supertanker.
At the Royal premiere of Moonraker, the scene where Drax sets his dogs on doomed PA Corinne made Prince Philip leap from his seat and cry: 'Don't go into the woods, you stupid girl!'
For the double-decker bus chase in Live And Let Die, new 007 Roger Moore was trained at Chiswick bus depot in West London. Staff there told him that if Bond didn't work out, he was more than welcome to a job.
For her role in A View To A Kill, American star Tanya Roberts insisted on having a crate of shampoo and beauty products shipped over from California.
In The Living Daylights, Dalton makes his romantic pounce on Kara (Maryam D'Abo) in the same Viennese ferris wheel from which Harry Lime looked down in the classic thriller The Third Man.
Composer John Barry provided the most iconic scores for Bond, racking up the music for 11 films. Younger pop acts idolised him, though he described A-ha, who performed The Living Daylights title song, as 'a pain in the a***'.
Many were puzzled by the title Die Another Day. The phrase came from the poem cycle A Shropshire Lad, by A. E. Housman: 'But he who fights and runs away/lives to die another day... '
Many of the spectacular St Petersburg scenes in GoldenEye were filmed by the side of a canal near Watford.
Jane Seymour was cast in the role of tarot priestess Solitaire in Live And Let Die after producers saw her in the BBC shipping saga The Onedin Line. Roger Moore kept his socks on during his love scenes with Seymour.
For The World Is Not Enough, the production team were initially denied permission to film a boat chase on the Thames in front of the real MI6 building. Shrewdly, they contacted the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. Then they got the go-ahead from no less than Foreign Secretary Robin Cook.
According to Press reports in 1968, Diana Rigg was paid twice as much as co-star George Lazenby for On Her Majesty's Secret Service. There were also rumours that they were at war and that she deliberately ate garlic before their love scenes. Rigg said this story began when, during lunch, she joked: 'George, I'm having garlic, so I hope you are too.'
Though the Soviets loathed Bond - they invented a Bulgarian literary equivalent in the Sixties who defeated 007 in a straight battle - they greatly admired producer Albert R. Broccoli. In the Seventies, he was invited to Moscow for talks on producing a blockbuster there but it never materialised.
In 1968, among the many candidates who auditioned to succeed Sean Connery was Peter Snow, the gangling BBC TV presenter famous for his General Election swingometer. One reason he did not get the job was, apparently, that he was too tall. Snow has said that, in any case, he might have been better cast as Q.
Following Quantum Of Solace, only two more original Fleming titles are left, both from 007 short stories: Risico and The Hildebrand Rarity. Try getting a song out of that.
Casino Royale was the first Bond film in which dancing women did not feature in the opening title sequence.
The director of Casino Royale, Martin Campbell, directed episodes of the comedy Minder in the Eighties.
In GoldenEye, Bond and Natalya hunt down villainous Trevelyan in the Caribbean and end up in a pretty little resort called Guantanamo.
There was some embarrassment at For Your Eyes Only's Royal premiere, which was used as a fundraising event for the Year of the Disabled. The film featured as its opening scene a villain in a wheelchair being picked up by Bond's helicopter strut and then being dropped down an industrial chimney.
Swiss actress Ursula Andress had to have her voice dubbed by Monica Van Der Zyl for her iconic role as Honey Ryder in Dr No because producer Albert R. Broccoli thought Andress sounded like 'a Dutch comedian'.
Before New York actor Joseph Wiseman was cast as Dr No, screenwriters thought the character a little antiquated and Fu Manchu-like, so they briefly considered making the evil scientist a monkey instead.
Gert Frobe's performance as Goldfinger was made all the more memorable because this highly respected German actor spoke very little English and did not understand a word of the script. Before shooting the classic golf match scene, neither Frobe nor Connery had ever played the game before.
Goldeneye actress Izabella Scorupco demanded that she be called a 'Bond Woman' because she thought the term 'Bond Girl' was demeaning. But seven years later, in 2002, the Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry, above, said that she was delighted to be described as 'a Bond babe' when she starred in Die Another Day.
Harold Sakata, who portrayed Oddjob in Goldfinger, later reprised the role in a US television advertisement for cough mixture in which he inadvertently karate-chopped someone's house to the ground.
President John F. Kennedy was a huge fan of From Russia With Love. So was his assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.
Bond's CIA friend Felix Leiter has been portrayed by seven actors, more than 007 himself. Perhaps the best known is Hawaii Five-O's Jack Lord who appeared in Dr No.
Actors put forward for the Bond role in the late Sixties included Michael Jayston (who now stars in ITV's Emmerdale), and the young Timothy Dalton, who was just 22 in 1968. In the Seventies, United Artists executives suggested Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds for the role.
Just before he got the Bond role, male model George Lazenby was due to star in an advertising campaign for roll-on deodorant. The Bond producers bought up the adverts to protect the 007 image.
Spartacus star John Gavin was signed up for the role of 007 after George Lazenby quit, but he was paid off when Sean Connery decided to return one more time for Diamonds Are Forever.
Connery told an interviewer in the Seventies that he never missed a Carry On film. He also confided that he had read only two of Ian Fleming's Bond novels and that he considered Fleming 'a snob, but terrific company'.
Throughout the Seventies and Eighties, the Bond crew would always take lunch together at the Pinewood studios canteen; but alcohol was banned after two second-string actors became the worse for wear and held up an afternoon shoot.
Among those who have composed Bond songs that were never used are Pulp (with Tomorrow Never Dies) and Alice Cooper (who made his own idiosyncratic version of The Man With The Golden Gun). Pulp also recorded a breathy cover version of All Time High, the opening song from Octopussy.
Boxer Muhammad Ali visited the Pinewood set of The Man With The Golden Gun and was so excited that he promised to dedicate his next fight to the film's villain, actor Christopher Lee. Ali duly did.
In the original Dr No novel, Honey is threatened with being eaten alive by crabs. This was also going to happen in the film, but the idea was abandoned because the live crabs that had been flown over for the scene had been put in a freezing cargo hold and could barely summon the energy to move.
Julie Christie was originally considered for the part of Domino in Thunderball but producer Harry Saltzman turned her down because he thought her bust was not ample enough.
Producer Harry Saltzman was often taken aback by the Bond songs. Paul McCartney's Live And Let Die was initially considered outlandish; eight years previously, Dionne Warwick's Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was vetoed as the opening song for Thunderball; and Shirley Bassey's raunchy rendition of Diamonds Are Forever prompted Saltzman to shout that the song was obscene.
The influence of the Bond films is so great that Nasa was thrilled to let 007 give the world its first view of the Space Shuttle in Moonraker - two years before the launch of the real thing.
Among the surprisingly literary screenwriters of Bond movies have been Roald Dahl, who wrote the script for You Only Live Twice, and George MacDonald Fraser, who wrote the screenplay for Octopussy. The author of A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess, wrote a putative script for The Spy Who Loved Me, but the only element retained from his version was the submarine-gobbling supertanker.
At the Royal premiere of Moonraker, the scene where Drax sets his dogs on doomed PA Corinne made Prince Philip leap from his seat and cry: 'Don't go into the woods, you stupid girl!'
For the double-decker bus chase in Live And Let Die, new 007 Roger Moore was trained at Chiswick bus depot in West London. Staff there told him that if Bond didn't work out, he was more than welcome to a job.
For her role in A View To A Kill, American star Tanya Roberts insisted on having a crate of shampoo and beauty products shipped over from California.
In The Living Daylights, Dalton makes his romantic pounce on Kara (Maryam D'Abo) in the same Viennese ferris wheel from which Harry Lime looked down in the classic thriller The Third Man.
Composer John Barry provided the most iconic scores for Bond, racking up the music for 11 films. Younger pop acts idolised him, though he described A-ha, who performed The Living Daylights title song, as 'a pain in the a***'.
Many were puzzled by the title Die Another Day. The phrase came from the poem cycle A Shropshire Lad, by A. E. Housman: 'But he who fights and runs away/lives to die another day... '
Many of the spectacular St Petersburg scenes in GoldenEye were filmed by the side of a canal near Watford.
Jane Seymour was cast in the role of tarot priestess Solitaire in Live And Let Die after producers saw her in the BBC shipping saga The Onedin Line. Roger Moore kept his socks on during his love scenes with Seymour.
For The World Is Not Enough, the production team were initially denied permission to film a boat chase on the Thames in front of the real MI6 building. Shrewdly, they contacted the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. Then they got the go-ahead from no less than Foreign Secretary Robin Cook.
According to Press reports in 1968, Diana Rigg was paid twice as much as co-star George Lazenby for On Her Majesty's Secret Service. There were also rumours that they were at war and that she deliberately ate garlic before their love scenes. Rigg said this story began when, during lunch, she joked: 'George, I'm having garlic, so I hope you are too.'
Though the Soviets loathed Bond - they invented a Bulgarian literary equivalent in the Sixties who defeated 007 in a straight battle - they greatly admired producer Albert R. Broccoli. In the Seventies, he was invited to Moscow for talks on producing a blockbuster there but it never materialised.
In 1968, among the many candidates who auditioned to succeed Sean Connery was Peter Snow, the gangling BBC TV presenter famous for his General Election swingometer. One reason he did not get the job was, apparently, that he was too tall. Snow has said that, in any case, he might have been better cast as Q.
Following Quantum Of Solace, only two more original Fleming titles are left, both from 007 short stories: Risico and The Hildebrand Rarity. Try getting a song out of that.
Casino Royale was the first Bond film in which dancing women did not feature in the opening title sequence.
The director of Casino Royale, Martin Campbell, directed episodes of the comedy Minder in the Eighties.
In GoldenEye, Bond and Natalya hunt down villainous Trevelyan in the Caribbean and end up in a pretty little resort called Guantanamo.
There was some embarrassment at For Your Eyes Only's Royal premiere, which was used as a fundraising event for the Year of the Disabled. The film featured as its opening scene a villain in a wheelchair being picked up by Bond's helicopter strut and then being dropped down an industrial chimney.
Wall Street banks in $70bn staff payout
Financial workers at Wall Street's top banks are to receive pay deals worth more than $70bn (£40bn), a substantial proportion of which is expected to be paid in discretionary bonuses, for their work so far this year - despite plunging the global financial system into its worst crisis since the 1929 stock market crash, the Guardian has learned.
Staff at six banks including Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are in line to pick up the payouts despite being the beneficiaries of a $700bn bail-out from the US government that has already prompted criticism. The government's cash has been poured in on the condition that excessive executive pay would be curbed.
Pay plans for bankers have been disclosed in recent corporate statements. Pressure on the US firms to review preparations for annual bonuses increased yesterday when Germany's Deutsche Bank said many of its leading traders would join Josef Ackermann, its chief executive, in waiving millions of euros in annual payouts.
The sums that continue to be spent by Wall Street firms on payroll, payoffs and, most controversially, bonuses appear to bear no relation to the losses incurred by investors in the banks. Shares in Citigroup and Goldman Sachs have declined by more than 45% since the start of the year. Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley have fallen by more than 60%. JP MorganChase fell 6.4% and Lehman Brothers has collapsed.
At one point last week the Morgan Stanley $10.7bn pay pot for the year to date was greater than the entire stock market value of the business. In effect, staff, on receiving their remuneration, could club together and buy the bank.
In the first nine months of the year Citigroup, which employs thousands of staff in the UK, accrued $25.9bn for salaries and bonuses, an increase on the previous year of 4%. Earlier this week the bank accepted a $25bn investment by the US government as part of its bail-out plan.
At Goldman Sachs the figure was $11.4bn, Morgan Stanley $10.73bn, JP Morgan $6.53bn and Merrill Lynch $11.7bn. At Merrill, which was on the point of going bust last month before being taken over by Bank of America, the total accrued in the last quarter grew 76% to $3.49bn. At Morgan Stanley, the amount put aside for staff compensation also grew in the last quarter to the end of August by 3% to $3.7bn.
Days before it collapsed into bankruptcy protection a month ago Lehman Brothers revealed $6.12bn of staff pay plans in its corporate filings. These payouts, the bank insisted, were justified despite net revenue collapsing from $14.9bn to a net outgoing of $64m.
None of the banks the Guardian contacted wished to comment on the record about their pay plans. But behind the scenes, one source said: "For a normal person the salaries are very high and the bonuses seem even higher. But in this world you get a top bonus for top performance, a medium bonus for mediocre performance and a much smaller bonus if you don't do so well."
Many critics of investment banks have questioned why firms continue to siphon off billions of dollars of bank earnings into bonus pools rather than using the funds to shore up the capital position of the crisis-stricken institutions. One source said: "That's a fair question - and it may well be that by the end of the year the banks start review the situation."
Much of the anger about investment banking bonuses has focused on boardroom executives such as former Lehman boss Dick Fuld, who was paid $485m in salary, bonuses and options between 2000 and 2007.
Last year Merrill Lynch's chairman Stan O'Neal retired after announcing losses of $8bn, taking a final pay deal worth $161m. Citigroup boss Chuck Prince left last year with a $38m in bonuses, shares and options after multibillion-dollar write-downs. In Britain, Bob Diamond, Barclays president, is one of the few investment bankers whose pay is public. Last year he received a salary of £250,000, but his total pay, including bonuses, reached £36m.
Staff at six banks including Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are in line to pick up the payouts despite being the beneficiaries of a $700bn bail-out from the US government that has already prompted criticism. The government's cash has been poured in on the condition that excessive executive pay would be curbed.
Pay plans for bankers have been disclosed in recent corporate statements. Pressure on the US firms to review preparations for annual bonuses increased yesterday when Germany's Deutsche Bank said many of its leading traders would join Josef Ackermann, its chief executive, in waiving millions of euros in annual payouts.
The sums that continue to be spent by Wall Street firms on payroll, payoffs and, most controversially, bonuses appear to bear no relation to the losses incurred by investors in the banks. Shares in Citigroup and Goldman Sachs have declined by more than 45% since the start of the year. Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley have fallen by more than 60%. JP MorganChase fell 6.4% and Lehman Brothers has collapsed.
At one point last week the Morgan Stanley $10.7bn pay pot for the year to date was greater than the entire stock market value of the business. In effect, staff, on receiving their remuneration, could club together and buy the bank.
In the first nine months of the year Citigroup, which employs thousands of staff in the UK, accrued $25.9bn for salaries and bonuses, an increase on the previous year of 4%. Earlier this week the bank accepted a $25bn investment by the US government as part of its bail-out plan.
At Goldman Sachs the figure was $11.4bn, Morgan Stanley $10.73bn, JP Morgan $6.53bn and Merrill Lynch $11.7bn. At Merrill, which was on the point of going bust last month before being taken over by Bank of America, the total accrued in the last quarter grew 76% to $3.49bn. At Morgan Stanley, the amount put aside for staff compensation also grew in the last quarter to the end of August by 3% to $3.7bn.
Days before it collapsed into bankruptcy protection a month ago Lehman Brothers revealed $6.12bn of staff pay plans in its corporate filings. These payouts, the bank insisted, were justified despite net revenue collapsing from $14.9bn to a net outgoing of $64m.
None of the banks the Guardian contacted wished to comment on the record about their pay plans. But behind the scenes, one source said: "For a normal person the salaries are very high and the bonuses seem even higher. But in this world you get a top bonus for top performance, a medium bonus for mediocre performance and a much smaller bonus if you don't do so well."
Many critics of investment banks have questioned why firms continue to siphon off billions of dollars of bank earnings into bonus pools rather than using the funds to shore up the capital position of the crisis-stricken institutions. One source said: "That's a fair question - and it may well be that by the end of the year the banks start review the situation."
Much of the anger about investment banking bonuses has focused on boardroom executives such as former Lehman boss Dick Fuld, who was paid $485m in salary, bonuses and options between 2000 and 2007.
Last year Merrill Lynch's chairman Stan O'Neal retired after announcing losses of $8bn, taking a final pay deal worth $161m. Citigroup boss Chuck Prince left last year with a $38m in bonuses, shares and options after multibillion-dollar write-downs. In Britain, Bob Diamond, Barclays president, is one of the few investment bankers whose pay is public. Last year he received a salary of £250,000, but his total pay, including bonuses, reached £36m.
CUPPA COFFEE GIVES GIRLS A SMALLER CUP
Coffee can shrink the size of women’s boobs, shock research revealed yesterday.
The caffeine-fuelled drink is well-known for keeping people alert and sobering up drunks.
But Swedish scientists have caused a stir by suggesting women who drink more than three cups a day could see their bra size drop.
Tests by cancer researchers found half of all women have a gene linking breast size to coffee intake.
Nearly 300 women were quizzed but Helena Jernstroem, of Lund University, said women should not worry too much.
She explained: “Coffee-drinking women do not have to worry their breasts will shrink to nothing overnight. They will get smaller, but the breasts aren’t just going to disappear.
“Anyone who thinks they can tell which women are coffee drinkers just from their bra measurements will be disappointed. There are two measurements for a bra – the cup size and the girth, so you wouldn’t be able to tell.”
While caffeine may shrink women’s breasts, the reaction is the reverse for coffee-slurping blokes – it can make their “moobs” swell.
On the plus side, the study showed regular hits of caffeine reduce the risk of women
developing breast cancer.
The caffeine-fuelled drink is well-known for keeping people alert and sobering up drunks.
But Swedish scientists have caused a stir by suggesting women who drink more than three cups a day could see their bra size drop.
Tests by cancer researchers found half of all women have a gene linking breast size to coffee intake.
Nearly 300 women were quizzed but Helena Jernstroem, of Lund University, said women should not worry too much.
She explained: “Coffee-drinking women do not have to worry their breasts will shrink to nothing overnight. They will get smaller, but the breasts aren’t just going to disappear.
“Anyone who thinks they can tell which women are coffee drinkers just from their bra measurements will be disappointed. There are two measurements for a bra – the cup size and the girth, so you wouldn’t be able to tell.”
While caffeine may shrink women’s breasts, the reaction is the reverse for coffee-slurping blokes – it can make their “moobs” swell.
On the plus side, the study showed regular hits of caffeine reduce the risk of women
developing breast cancer.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
some facts about sex
-Male and female rats may have sex twenty times a day.
-22% of American women aged 20 gave birth while in their teens. In Switzerland and Japan, only 2% did so.
-Sex is the safest tranquilizer in the world. It is 10 times more effective than valium!
-For every 'normal' webpage, there are five porn pages.
-Sex is biochemically no different from eating large quantities of chocolate.
-A man's beard grows fastest when he anticipates sex.
-When swans go on a date, they'll put their heads together. Then they stick together for life.
-The word "gymnasium" comes from the Greek word gymnazein which means "to exercise naked."
-There are men in Guam whose job is to travel the countryside and deflower young virgins, who pay them for the privilege of having sex for the 1st time
-Sex burns 360 calories per hour
-Women who read romance novels have sex twice as often as those who don't.
-The average person spends 2 weeks of its life kissing.
-The Ramses brand condom is named after the great phaoroh Ramses II who fathered over 160 children.
-Males, on average, think about sex every 7 seconds.
-The greatest recorded number of children one mother had was 69 children. Do the math!
-25% of women think money makes a man sexier.
-Some lions mate over 50 times a day.
-Humans, bonobo monkeys, and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure.
-The penalty for masturbation in Indonesia is decapitation.
-Turkeys can reproduce without having sex. It's called parthenogenesis.
-Each day, there are over 120 million sexual intercourse taking place all over the world.
-Snakes have two sex organs.
-A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.
-85% of men who die of heartattacks during intercourse, are found to have been cheating on their wives
-22% of American women aged 20 gave birth while in their teens. In Switzerland and Japan, only 2% did so.
-Sex is the safest tranquilizer in the world. It is 10 times more effective than valium!
-For every 'normal' webpage, there are five porn pages.
-Sex is biochemically no different from eating large quantities of chocolate.
-A man's beard grows fastest when he anticipates sex.
-When swans go on a date, they'll put their heads together. Then they stick together for life.
-The word "gymnasium" comes from the Greek word gymnazein which means "to exercise naked."
-There are men in Guam whose job is to travel the countryside and deflower young virgins, who pay them for the privilege of having sex for the 1st time
-Sex burns 360 calories per hour
-Women who read romance novels have sex twice as often as those who don't.
-The average person spends 2 weeks of its life kissing.
-The Ramses brand condom is named after the great phaoroh Ramses II who fathered over 160 children.
-Males, on average, think about sex every 7 seconds.
-The greatest recorded number of children one mother had was 69 children. Do the math!
-25% of women think money makes a man sexier.
-Some lions mate over 50 times a day.
-Humans, bonobo monkeys, and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure.
-The penalty for masturbation in Indonesia is decapitation.
-Turkeys can reproduce without having sex. It's called parthenogenesis.
-Each day, there are over 120 million sexual intercourse taking place all over the world.
-Snakes have two sex organs.
-A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.
-85% of men who die of heartattacks during intercourse, are found to have been cheating on their wives
Friday, October 17, 2008
Yahoo to cut 3,500 jobs -- party on!
A tipster tells us that Yahoo plans to cut 3,500 jobs, chiefly in sales and finance, on December 10 — while keeping plans for a multimillion-dollar holiday party days before the cuts:
I work in the finance org at Yahoo and have learned that the layoff date is Dec. 10. Finance will be cutting 50% of the workforce, engineering 10%, and sales and the rest of G&A [general & administrative] 25%. The company sent an invitation today for the annual holiday party on December 6 (four days before the biggest downsizing in the company's history ~3,500 jobs). The holiday party is held at the San Mateo Convention center with a Las Vegas gambling theme. [It will] cost millions of dollars. Where is the fiscal responsibility?
Our source also confirms that the company is slashing severance packages, a move CFO Blake Jorgensen has argued for:
I guess Jerry Yang feels that maybe he would have better luck betting the whole company on a Las Vegas table than he has at running it. As you reported, our CFO is cutting the severance packages (I guess so he can fund the multimillion dollar holiday party). Employees are outraged and are planning to boycott the party. Maybe they should have surveyed the employees to see if they wanted to attend one party or get better benefits in their layoff packages. My finance peers should get their resumes updated as 50% of us will be leaving.
The departures are already happening, from what we hear. Rojeh Avanesian, the head of finance for Yahoo's Santa Monica-based media group, the operation led by Scott Moore. Avanesian sent this peppy goodbye note to colleagues earlier this week:
To my friends and family at Yahoo,
I never thought I'd type these words, but after 7.5 years, tomorrow is my last day at Yahoo. I am extremely fortunate to have worked with such a great group of people. Keep fighting the good fight and take care of each other. I’ll cheer for you, I’ll miss you, and I hope to see you succeed. Good luck to all of you. I can always be reached at [redacted]@yahoo.com.
A wise man once said: “Yahoo! is not just a company… it’s an idea. Yahoo! is what is possible, what is right, and what is worth doing. It’s what others aspire to.“
I work in the finance org at Yahoo and have learned that the layoff date is Dec. 10. Finance will be cutting 50% of the workforce, engineering 10%, and sales and the rest of G&A [general & administrative] 25%. The company sent an invitation today for the annual holiday party on December 6 (four days before the biggest downsizing in the company's history ~3,500 jobs). The holiday party is held at the San Mateo Convention center with a Las Vegas gambling theme. [It will] cost millions of dollars. Where is the fiscal responsibility?
Our source also confirms that the company is slashing severance packages, a move CFO Blake Jorgensen has argued for:
I guess Jerry Yang feels that maybe he would have better luck betting the whole company on a Las Vegas table than he has at running it. As you reported, our CFO is cutting the severance packages (I guess so he can fund the multimillion dollar holiday party). Employees are outraged and are planning to boycott the party. Maybe they should have surveyed the employees to see if they wanted to attend one party or get better benefits in their layoff packages. My finance peers should get their resumes updated as 50% of us will be leaving.
The departures are already happening, from what we hear. Rojeh Avanesian, the head of finance for Yahoo's Santa Monica-based media group, the operation led by Scott Moore. Avanesian sent this peppy goodbye note to colleagues earlier this week:
To my friends and family at Yahoo,
I never thought I'd type these words, but after 7.5 years, tomorrow is my last day at Yahoo. I am extremely fortunate to have worked with such a great group of people. Keep fighting the good fight and take care of each other. I’ll cheer for you, I’ll miss you, and I hope to see you succeed. Good luck to all of you. I can always be reached at [redacted]@yahoo.com.
A wise man once said: “Yahoo! is not just a company… it’s an idea. Yahoo! is what is possible, what is right, and what is worth doing. It’s what others aspire to.“
THE (EX) BIGGEST HEROIN DEALER IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD
Vice: Tell me a fond memory of your drug-dealing days.
Suleyman Ergun: There’s nothing like the feeling you get when you’ve got 100 kilos of heroin in the trunk of your car. Just to be near it, to smell it. Driving along at 120 mph in France somewhere and thinking: “I know what I’ve got in the car.” Police stopping beside you. A gun under my seat. Wouldn’t think twice about shooting them. Taking the risk. At the end of the day that’s why I became a drug dealer. Not the money or the power, but the buzz.
Did you serve an underworld apprenticeship?
At 15 I was an errand boy working in the Turkish rag trade in North London. I was earning £70 a week. At 17, I started selling coke, E, and pot, and I was earning £1,000 a week. Then I muled a couple of kilos of coke direct from Colombia and sold it in the clubs, along with tablets. Someone tried to rob me in the toilets of the Camden Palace once—I shot him in the leg.
How does one go from selling coke in a bathroom in Camden to being the king of all heroin in Europe?
Me, my former brother-in-law Yilmaz Kaya, and an Istanbul babas [godfather] named the Vulcan founded the Turkish Connection—that’s a network that smuggles heroin from Afghanistan across Turkey into Europe. Up until the early 90s, Turks had been bringing it in piecemeal. An immigrant would bring in ten keys, sell it, buy a shop in Green Lane and pack it in. We were the first to start bringing it in 100-kilo loads. Stack ’em high, sell ’em cheap….
It’s that simple, eh?
No, that’s only the supply. On the demand side, we bypassed all the usual gangsters and crime families in London. We fucked the Adams family off when they asked us to serve up to them. Instead, we sent it all to one distributor in Liverpool who sold the lot.
What was your role?
I was hands-on. The gear was driven from Istanbul to Paris in, say, a coach load of Turkish folk dancers. I coordinated the handover to the Scousers in France.
Then I’d drive up to Liverpool a few days later and come back with black bin bags full of cash—£140,000 one week, £100,000 the next, £68,000 the next, £150,000 the next, and so on. Then I’d count it, stack it, and box it in cereal packets and send it back to Turkey using a former Turkish Army colonel disguised as a bone-china collector as a courier.
After a while, we rolled out the same system across Europe—Spain, Italy, Holland, and Germany. We dealt with the Mafia, all of that. At one point we could afford to buy our own oil tanker.
Where did it all go wrong?
One of our workers was having an affair with a woman who was a police informant. He got nicked. Customs put us under surveillance for a year, and then bingo. The whole thing got walloped in July ’93.
What was the upshot?
Fourteen years, nine months. The gang got 123 years between them.
Did that teach you a lesson?
Did it fuck. I started dealing in prison within two days, trading heroin and coke for phone cards, food, tobacco. In September 1995 I used heroin for the first time, out of boredom and curiosity. It felt lovely and warm, like somebody putting an electric blanket over you. But the best thing about it, and this is why the jails are full of heroin, is that it makes time go by very quick. Twenty hours on heroin is like two hours normal. I got out ten years later and I didn’t know I done the bird [prison time].
How did you get your heroin in jail?
Before I got nicked, I had five kilos of pure heroin straight from Turkey buried along with two Berettas, an Uzi, and four shotguns at St. Pancras graveyard in North London. Every week I’d phone a girl up and use the word “brandy,” which was code for brown—heroin—and she would go and get it. She dug up the stash and shaved off some, and then it was given to a second girl who had a boyfriend in my prison. It was wrapped in a condom and nylon sheeting, shaped up proper like a dildo. She stuck it up her cunt. On the visit, they’d snuggle up close, and her boyfriend would put his hand slyly down her knickers, get it, and then stick it up his arse. Back in my cell, he’d get 60 grams and I’d get 60 grams.
Didn’t the prison wardens ever find out?
I had the DST—Dedicated Search Team—permanently on my case. They even used to take apart my batteries in the radio. But they never found gear in my cell because I used to hide it in my vegetable plot. I hollowed out an onion and put the gear inside and buried it. When the stalk wilted, I just taped a fresh one on. Take three grams out a day. Sell half a gram for my phone cards and that, and smoke the rest. Sometimes I would put it up my arse wrapped in tape so if the screws made me squat during a search, it wouldn’t fall out.
Couldn’t anyone smell you smoking it?
As long as you’re not causing trouble, cutting people over deals, and fighting, then the screws turn a blind eye. They know you’re on it because your pupils are like tiny pinholes and you start scratching and go red and raw. But the authorities let it go because if you stop the heroin it causes murders and they can’t handle that. Withdrawal symptoms. Kicking doors. Drugs will never be stamped out in jail.
How many bent screws did you know?
About six all over. They approached me because I was rich. I never ate prison food. They brought me in Marks and Spencer salads. In one prison the screw brought me in four ounces of weed, half a carrier bag full of phone cards, half a bag of tobacco, a TV, a phone, and two bottles of brandy, every week, for £500 a week, plus the bill for the food. He’d wink and say: “Your box is under your bed.” Then I’d pay another inmate to look after it. If you don’t have money, you have nothing.
I suppose when you got out of prison in 2003 you gave up drugs?
No, it got much worse. I discovered crack cocaine. The world had changed so much. I couldn’t cross the road—it was too fast. I used to see people talking to themselves on their hands-free and think they were off their heads.
What’s crack like?
It’s great. It blew my fucking head off. Over the next four years I blew half a million pounds on it. Sold my flat. My jewelry. Spent the few hundred grand I had stashed away.
What was the lowest point?
My mate robbed a rock off my table. I dragged him into the kitchen and chopped his little finger off with a knife on a chopping board. Then I flushed it down the toilet.
Some people would say that it was natural justice—that you were being punished for selling heroin by becoming a drug addict.
An eye for an eye. I’d created thousands and thousands of addicts. My past had caught up with me. I got depressed and then I took more crack and heroin to stop thinking.
How did you finally get off drugs?
I went for treatment in Turkey twice. A detox where they put you to sleep through withdrawal. It cost £20,000. My family paid. But when I got back onto the streets here in London, I kept slipping. Finally, I fell in love. It’s as simple as that. I haven’t touched a stone since.
Would you ever go back to being a heroin baron?
Not in a million fucking years. I’ve been offered a million pounds in cash to start up again. I could fly to Turkey now and get 100 keys and be away. £100,000 in cash by tomorrow. Mine. I get approached every week by someone or other, some of the country’s biggest gangsters, to go into business. But I can’t do it.
Why? Are you scared?
Fuck off. D’you want a smack?
The "Joe the Plumber" Story Hits an Amazing New Low
Just when you didn't think things could get worse for John McCain -- they go in the toilet.
Literally.
So, you remember Joe the Plumber, who John McCain kept relentlessly bringing up. And up. The apparently undecided plumber who had complained to Barack Obama that he couldn't buy his own plumbing company because he'd have to pay 3% more in taxes. The plumber who John McCain lauded as an Everyman while oddly proclaiming "Congratulations! You're rich!" in the midst of a disastrous recession. The fellow who said that Barack Obama "tap dances better than Sammy Davis Jr."
That guy.
Well, it turns out he's the one gliding around the dance floor so much, you should expect to see him soon on "Dancing with the Stars."
You see, Joe Wurzelbacher is apparently related to Robert Wurzelbacher. Who is the son-in-law of (are you ready...?) Charles Keating!
Yes, that Charles Keating. The Charles Keating of the Keating 5 Scandal. For which John McCain was reprimanded by the United States Senate, for his involvement in attempting to illegally influence government regulators. The Charles Keating who John McCain has been trying to avoid have mentioned. So, he basically mentioned it 24 times.
(By the way, lost in all the attention paid to John McCain not getting the same career-ending censure by the Senate, as did the other four defendants - the reason for that is because he'd been in the House of Representatives at the time of his transgression. The Senate decided that they didn't have jurisdiction over him to give the same penalty. So, his career was saved.)
Anyway, back to Robert Wurzelbacher, Joe the Plumber's father. You see, Robert Wurzelbacher was an executive of American Continental Corporation, the parent company of Charles Keating's Lincoln Savings. That's the bank which caused citizens to lose their life savings and cost U.S. taxpayers $3.4 billion. As part of that scandal, Robert Wurzelbacher pleaded guilty to three counts of misapplying $14 million and served 40 months in prison.
And now, Lincoln Savings, Robert Wurzelbacher and Joe the Plumber are back with John McCain.
"Congratulations! You're rich!," indeed.
Never mind that Joe the Plumber has state tax liens files against him. As the court representative says, Joe the Plumber might not even be aware of the lien.
Never mind that Joe the Plumber says he wasn't convinced by Sen. Obama's argument. Given his background, why should he be?
Never mind that Joe the Plumber is concerned about a tax increase if his business makes over $250,000. After all, since any business has an estimated value of five times its annual profit - that means Joe's hoped-for business is valued at $1.25 million. So, either he has that in the bank or can get a loan for its value. (Assuming he can get a loan today, of course...). Though, now you see why John McCain gave Joe the Plumber a shout out, "Congratulations! You're rich!"
But then, maybe John McCain gave Joe the Plumber a shout-out because he wanted to give a boost to a friend's relative. Nice touch.
So, apparently these are the people who John McCain seems to keep palling around with.
Mind you, I thought it odd when John McCain first brought up Joe Wurzelbacher's but then never referred to his last name again. I thought perhaps he'd forgotten it. Or it was too hard to pronounce. Apparently though there was a better reason for him to quit saying the name "Wurzelbacher" 24 times. If only Sen. McCain (R-AZ) had remembered the pesky Tivo, where you can rewind.
Now, in fairness, John McCain might not have known than Joe Wurzelbacher was from that same Wurzelbacher family. He might have thought it was just some regular Wurzelbacher. And who knows, maybe they're not even related?
But never mind all of that. This is an election, and what matters is the votes. And in the end, if John McCain wants the vote of Joe the Plumber, then he'll likely get it. That was his point all night, after all. Of course, he might not getting the votes of many other plumbers.
The United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters has endorsed Barack Obama.
"Obama will help us keep existing jobs and work to develop new, higher paying jobs here in America, reform our health care system, fix our ailing schools and make sure that the pensions of our retirees are safe," the UAPP said.
By the way, as long as we're on the matter of John McCain forgetting the name of Joe Wurzelbacher and who he's related to. There's one other name he forgot at the debate.
Barack Obama.
At the end of the evening, Mr. Obama began his final statement by thanking Sen. McCain and "Bob for moderating." When it was John McCain's time, he too thanked Bob Schieffer by name, then turned to Sen. Obama, looked at him, hesitated briefly, and then sayd, "And you."
At least he didn't say "Joe Wurzelbacher."
For the 25th time.
Literally.
So, you remember Joe the Plumber, who John McCain kept relentlessly bringing up. And up. The apparently undecided plumber who had complained to Barack Obama that he couldn't buy his own plumbing company because he'd have to pay 3% more in taxes. The plumber who John McCain lauded as an Everyman while oddly proclaiming "Congratulations! You're rich!" in the midst of a disastrous recession. The fellow who said that Barack Obama "tap dances better than Sammy Davis Jr."
That guy.
Well, it turns out he's the one gliding around the dance floor so much, you should expect to see him soon on "Dancing with the Stars."
You see, Joe Wurzelbacher is apparently related to Robert Wurzelbacher. Who is the son-in-law of (are you ready...?) Charles Keating!
Yes, that Charles Keating. The Charles Keating of the Keating 5 Scandal. For which John McCain was reprimanded by the United States Senate, for his involvement in attempting to illegally influence government regulators. The Charles Keating who John McCain has been trying to avoid have mentioned. So, he basically mentioned it 24 times.
(By the way, lost in all the attention paid to John McCain not getting the same career-ending censure by the Senate, as did the other four defendants - the reason for that is because he'd been in the House of Representatives at the time of his transgression. The Senate decided that they didn't have jurisdiction over him to give the same penalty. So, his career was saved.)
Anyway, back to Robert Wurzelbacher, Joe the Plumber's father. You see, Robert Wurzelbacher was an executive of American Continental Corporation, the parent company of Charles Keating's Lincoln Savings. That's the bank which caused citizens to lose their life savings and cost U.S. taxpayers $3.4 billion. As part of that scandal, Robert Wurzelbacher pleaded guilty to three counts of misapplying $14 million and served 40 months in prison.
And now, Lincoln Savings, Robert Wurzelbacher and Joe the Plumber are back with John McCain.
"Congratulations! You're rich!," indeed.
Never mind that Joe the Plumber has state tax liens files against him. As the court representative says, Joe the Plumber might not even be aware of the lien.
Never mind that Joe the Plumber says he wasn't convinced by Sen. Obama's argument. Given his background, why should he be?
Never mind that Joe the Plumber is concerned about a tax increase if his business makes over $250,000. After all, since any business has an estimated value of five times its annual profit - that means Joe's hoped-for business is valued at $1.25 million. So, either he has that in the bank or can get a loan for its value. (Assuming he can get a loan today, of course...). Though, now you see why John McCain gave Joe the Plumber a shout out, "Congratulations! You're rich!"
But then, maybe John McCain gave Joe the Plumber a shout-out because he wanted to give a boost to a friend's relative. Nice touch.
So, apparently these are the people who John McCain seems to keep palling around with.
Mind you, I thought it odd when John McCain first brought up Joe Wurzelbacher's but then never referred to his last name again. I thought perhaps he'd forgotten it. Or it was too hard to pronounce. Apparently though there was a better reason for him to quit saying the name "Wurzelbacher" 24 times. If only Sen. McCain (R-AZ) had remembered the pesky Tivo, where you can rewind.
Now, in fairness, John McCain might not have known than Joe Wurzelbacher was from that same Wurzelbacher family. He might have thought it was just some regular Wurzelbacher. And who knows, maybe they're not even related?
But never mind all of that. This is an election, and what matters is the votes. And in the end, if John McCain wants the vote of Joe the Plumber, then he'll likely get it. That was his point all night, after all. Of course, he might not getting the votes of many other plumbers.
The United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters has endorsed Barack Obama.
"Obama will help us keep existing jobs and work to develop new, higher paying jobs here in America, reform our health care system, fix our ailing schools and make sure that the pensions of our retirees are safe," the UAPP said.
By the way, as long as we're on the matter of John McCain forgetting the name of Joe Wurzelbacher and who he's related to. There's one other name he forgot at the debate.
Barack Obama.
At the end of the evening, Mr. Obama began his final statement by thanking Sen. McCain and "Bob for moderating." When it was John McCain's time, he too thanked Bob Schieffer by name, then turned to Sen. Obama, looked at him, hesitated briefly, and then sayd, "And you."
At least he didn't say "Joe Wurzelbacher."
For the 25th time.
Three Years Later, Buying MySpace Looks Like One Of Murdoch’s Smartest Bets
Three years ago today, Rupert Murdoch bought MySpace and its parent company Intermix for $580 million. That turned out to be money well spent. The last time we ran the numbers, we figured that MySpace alone is worth between $3 billion and $20 billion, depending on how much you value each user. Fox Interactive Media (which is mostly MySpace) accounted for about $850 million in revenues last fiscal year (which ended in June), and is projected to hit $1 billion next year.
It was supposed to hit $1 billion this year, but never mind. Unlike other social networks, MySpace is actually making a profit. The company now employs 1,600 people worldwide, compared to 150 in October, 2005—more than a tenfold increase.
The social network has grown as well. MySpace now has 73 million unique visitors a month in the U.S., according to comScore, compared to 24 million three years ago. (Facebook has 41 million). That means MySpace reaches about 40 percent of the online population, compared to 14 percent three years ago. Those visitors, on average, spend 263 minutes a month each on the site, versus 83 minutes in 2005.
MySpace has definitely evolved since 2005. Just this year it has made major strides in opening up its platform to developers, launching MySpace Music, and pushing new forms of social advertising.
The question is whether rival Facebook can catch up to MySpace in the U.S. (it has already surpassed it worldwide), or whether the two will co-exist and diverge, with MySpace being more music- and media-oreinted and Facebook continuing on its path towards becoming the platform for social software. Of course, MySpace would also like to play that role.
Three years from now, which one will be worth more? And will Rupert Murdoch still be smiling?
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Scramble
Whoever compiled this must have too much free time or must be extremely good at Scrabble....
PRINCESS DIANA
When you rearrange the letters:
END IS A CAR SPIN
MONICA LEWINSKY
When you rearrange the letters:
NICE SILKY WOMAN
DORMITORY:
When you rearrange the letters:
DIRTY ROOM
ASTRONOMER:
When you rearrange the letters:
MOON STARER
DESPERATION
When you rearrange the letters:
A ROPE ENDS IT
THE EYES:
When you rearrange the letters:
THEY SEE
A DECIMAL POINT:
When you rearrange the letters:
IM A DOT IN PLACE
AND FOR THE GRAND FINALE:
MOTHER-IN-LAW:
When you rearrange the letters:
WOMAN HITLER
PRINCESS DIANA
When you rearrange the letters:
END IS A CAR SPIN
MONICA LEWINSKY
When you rearrange the letters:
NICE SILKY WOMAN
DORMITORY:
When you rearrange the letters:
DIRTY ROOM
ASTRONOMER:
When you rearrange the letters:
MOON STARER
DESPERATION
When you rearrange the letters:
A ROPE ENDS IT
THE EYES:
When you rearrange the letters:
THEY SEE
A DECIMAL POINT:
When you rearrange the letters:
IM A DOT IN PLACE
AND FOR THE GRAND FINALE:
MOTHER-IN-LAW:
When you rearrange the letters:
WOMAN HITLER
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Public at Last: Guantanamo SERE Standard Operating Procedures
One of the most important documents of the U.S. torture program has just become publicly available for the first time. This is the JTF GTMO "SERE" Interrogation Standard Operating Procedure, now posted on the website of the new documentary, Torturing Democracy. This document clearly specifies that the abusive interrogation techniques to be used at Guantamo [JTF GTMO] are based upon the military's Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape [SERE] program. The document is notable for its documentation of the extent to which abuse was bureaucratically standardized for routine use.
Both Katherine Eban and Jane Mayer referred to and described the SERE SOP back in the summer of 2007. A bit of it was included in documents released by the Senate Armed Services Committee June 17, 2008. But the bulk of the text remained classified and unavailable until today. An FBI commentary on the SERE SOP has been available since February 2006 at least, in heavily redacted form which obscured the content, but not the existence of the SOP.
Here is the document. It is also available in pdf. [As this was a draft, the formatting was inconsistent. I have corrected some formatting. I have not corrected any typos. Thus, presumably, the word "NOT" is missing after "DO" from the sentence "IT IS CRITICAL THAT INTERROGATORS DO 'CROSS THE LINE' WHEN UTILIZING THE TACTICS DESCRIBED BELOW." Obviously, despite my best efforts at accuracy, this text should be checked against the pdf before citing.]
"FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY"
JTF GTMO SERE SOP
10 DECEMBER 2002
JTF GTMO "SERE" INTERROGATION STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE
Subj: GUIDELINES FOR EMPLOYING "SERE" TECHNIQUES DIRING DETAINEE INTERROGATIONS
Ref: (a) FASO DETACHMENT BRUNSWICK INSTRUCTION 3305.3D
1. Purpose. This SOP document promulgates procedures to be followed by I I P-GTMO personnel engaged in interrogation operations on detained persons. The premise behind this is that the interrogation tactics used at U.S. military SERE schools are appropriate for use in real-world interrogations. These tactics and techniques are used at SERE school to "break" SERE detainees. The same tactics and techniques can be used to break real detainees during interrogation operations.
The basis for this document is the SOP used at the U.S. Navy SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) school in Brunswick, Maine and is defined by reference (a).
Note that all tactics are strictly non-lethal.
STRICT COMPLIANCE WITH THE GUIDELINES
LAID OUT IN THIS DOCUMENT IS MADATORY!
2. Training. All interrogators will undergo training by certified SERE instructors prior to being approved for use of any of the techniques described in this document.
3. Scope. Applicable to military and civilian interrogators assigned to JTF-GTMO, Cuba.
TED K. MOSS
LtCol, USAF
INTERROGATION TACTICS
1. GENERAL STATEMENT
a. This document describes in detail the interrogation tactics authorized for use in detainee interrogation operations at JTF_GTMO and the safety precautions that must be used to prevent injuries. The tactics are the same as those used in U.S. military SERE schools.
b. ANY PHYSICAL CONTACT NOT EXPRESSLY AUTHORIZED HEREIN IS PROHIBITIED.
c. INTERROGATION TACTICS FOLLOWED BY: ******* MAY ONLY BE USED BY THOSE INTERROGATORS DESIGNATED IN WRITING BY THE ICE CHIEF.
2. INTERROGATION SAFETY
a. Approved interrogation tactics are found in Sections 3-6.
b. Additional safeguards are as follows:
1. Detainee behavior and reactions are continuously observed and evaluated by the interrogator.
2. Both the detainee's and the interrogators behavior are monitored by the Watch Officer.
3. IT IS CRITICAL THAT INTERROGATORS DO "CROSS THE LINE" WHEN UTILIZING THE TACTICS DESCRIBED BELOW. Therefore, verbal coded messages or nonverbal signals will be used by the Watch Officer (or other interrogators) when giving instructions to adjust interrogation procedure. For example, two kicks on the door indicated the interrogator should discontinue the current approach and move on to another approach. The statement, "Stop wasting time with this pig," means to discontinue the current training tactic and take a break.
3. DEGRADATION TACTICS
a. SHOULDER SLAP. The shoulder slap is a moderate to hard, glancing blow to the back of the shoulder with an open hand. It is used as an irritant.
b. INSULT SLAP. *****
(1) The insult slap is used to shock and intimidate the detainee. The slap is aimed at the detainee's cheek only. Contact will be made only with the fingers in the open hand position and the fingers will be slightly spread and relaxed. The slap will be initiated no more than 12-14 inches (or one shoulder width) from the detainee's face.
To ensure this distance is not exceeded and to preclude any tendency to wind up or uppercut, the slap will be initiated with the slap hand contacting the detainee's body on the top of the shoulder. The target area is slightly below the cheekbone, away from the eyes and ears. Extreme care must be taken not to strike the lower jaw. Slaps aimed at the ears, mouth, nose eyes or throat are prohibited.
(2) Uninterrupted or consecutive slaps are prohibited because the detainee will duck or dodge the slap, creating possibility for an injury. Experience has shown that after a second slap, the effectiveness of the slap tactic is significantly reduced. Interrogators will cease using the slap if detainee begins ducking. At this point, a threatened slap with the hand will achieve the same purpose as a slap. Blows with the back of the hand, fists, elbows, feet and knees are prohibited. Insult slaps are only to be used by those interrogators designated in writing by the ICE CHIEF.
c. STOMACH SLAP. ******
(1) As with the insult slap, the stomach slap is used to shock and intimidate the detainee. The tactic is delivered with the back of the bare hand. The slap will be directed towards the center of the abdomen. The detainee will not be struck in the solar plexus, ribs, sides, and kidneys or below the navel. The slap will not be performed against the bare skin. Slaps will be initiated with the interrogator's upper arm parallel to his/her body, extending the striking hand in a swinging motion to the target area. Detainees will be either facing or to the side of the interrogator when the slap is administered.
(2) Uninterrupted or consecutive slaps are prohibited. Blows to the stomach with the palm of the hand fist, knees or elbows are prohibited.
d. STRIPPING
(1) Stripping consists of forceful removal of detainees' clothing. In addition to degradation of the detainee, shipping can be used to demonstrate the omnipotence of the captor or to debilitate the detainee. Interrogator personnel tear clothing from detainees by firmly pulling downward against buttoned buttons and seams. Tearing motions shall be downward to prevent pulling the detainee off balance.
4. PHYSICAL DEBILITATION TACTICS
a. STRESS POSITIONS. Stress positions are used to punish detainees. ALL STRESS POSITIONS ARE RESTRICTED TO A MAXIMUM TIME OF TEN MINUTES AND A LOGBOOK ENTRY IS REQURED. An interrogator/guard will remain with detainees during use of stress positions. The authorized positions are:
(1) Head Rest/Index Finger position - Detainee is placed with forehead or fingers against the wall, then the detainee's legs are backed out to the point that the detainee's leaning weight is brought to bear on fingers or head.
(2) Kneeling position - Administered by placing detainee on knees and having him lean backward on heels and hold hands extended to the sides or front, palms upward. Light weights such as small rocks, may be placed in the detainee' s upturned palms. The detainee will not be placed in a position facing the sun or floodlights.
(3) Worship-the-Gods - The detainee is placed on knees with head and torso arched back, with arms either folded across the chest or extended to the side or front. The detainee will not be placed in a position facing the sun or floodlights.
(4) Sitting Position - the detainee is placed with his back against a wall, tree or post; thighs are horizontal, lower legs are vertical with feet flat on floor or ground as though sitting in a chair. Arms may be extended to sides horizontally, palms up and boots on.
(5) Standing position - While standing, the detainee is required to extend arms either to the sides or front with palms up. Light weights such as small rocks may be placed in upturned palms.
5. ISOLATION AND MONOPOLIZTION OF PERCEPTION TACTICS
a. HOODING
(1) Hoods are lightweight fabric sacks large enough to fit loosely over a detainee's head and permit unrestricted breathing.
(2) Flooding us used to isolate detainees. Individually hooded detainees may be moved provided an interrogator/guard leads the detainee. Detainees may not be left standing alone with the hood on. They must be placed either on their stomachs, kneeling, or sitting.
Detainee medical limitations must be considered.
6. DEMONSTRATED OMNIPOTENCE TACTICS
a. MANHANDLING. Manhandling consists of pulling or pushing a detainee. It is used as an irritant and to direct the detainee to specific locations. Detainees must be handcuffed and must grasp their trousers near mid-thigh with both hands. The interrogator firmly grasps detainee's clothing and then moves the detainee at a walking pace. The interrogator must maintain positive control of the detainee The detainee is not released until the interrogator is positive the detainee has regained balance.
b. WALLING. ***** Walling consists of placing a detainee forcibly against a specially constructed wall. Walling will only be performed in designated areas where specially constructed walls have been built. Walling is used to physically intimidate a detainee. The interrogator must ensure the wall is smooth, firm, and free of any projections. If conducted outside, footing area must be solid and free of objects that could cause detainee or interrogator to lose their balance. A detainee can be taken to tfio wall a maximum of three times per shift. Walling is done by firmly grasping the front of the detainee's clothing high on each side of the collar„ ensuring the top of the clothing is open. Care should be taken to ensure detainees with long hair do not get their hair tangled into the folds of clothes being grasped by the interrogator. To avoid bruising the detainee, roll hands under folds of clothing material and ensure only the backs of the hands contact detainee's chest. Maintain this grip throughout, never allowing the detainee to be propelled uncontrollably. Ensure only the broad part of the shoulders contact the surface of the wall. Grip the detainee's clothing firmly enough so the collar acts as a restrictive constraint to preclude the detainee's head from contacting the wall does this. If the detainee's head inadvertently touches the wall, walling will be ceased immediately. Walling is to be used by those interrogators designated in writing by the ICE CHIEF.
Stephen Soldz is a psychoanalyst, psychologist, public health researcher, and faculty member at the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis. He maintains the Psychoanalysts for Peace and Justice web site and the Psyche, Science, and Society blog. He is a founder of the Coalition for an Ethical Psychology, one of the organizations leading the struggle to change American Psychological Association policy on participation in abusive interrogations.
Both Katherine Eban and Jane Mayer referred to and described the SERE SOP back in the summer of 2007. A bit of it was included in documents released by the Senate Armed Services Committee June 17, 2008. But the bulk of the text remained classified and unavailable until today. An FBI commentary on the SERE SOP has been available since February 2006 at least, in heavily redacted form which obscured the content, but not the existence of the SOP.
Here is the document. It is also available in pdf. [As this was a draft, the formatting was inconsistent. I have corrected some formatting. I have not corrected any typos. Thus, presumably, the word "NOT" is missing after "DO" from the sentence "IT IS CRITICAL THAT INTERROGATORS DO 'CROSS THE LINE' WHEN UTILIZING THE TACTICS DESCRIBED BELOW." Obviously, despite my best efforts at accuracy, this text should be checked against the pdf before citing.]
"FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY"
JTF GTMO SERE SOP
10 DECEMBER 2002
JTF GTMO "SERE" INTERROGATION STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE
Subj: GUIDELINES FOR EMPLOYING "SERE" TECHNIQUES DIRING DETAINEE INTERROGATIONS
Ref: (a) FASO DETACHMENT BRUNSWICK INSTRUCTION 3305.3D
1. Purpose. This SOP document promulgates procedures to be followed by I I P-GTMO personnel engaged in interrogation operations on detained persons. The premise behind this is that the interrogation tactics used at U.S. military SERE schools are appropriate for use in real-world interrogations. These tactics and techniques are used at SERE school to "break" SERE detainees. The same tactics and techniques can be used to break real detainees during interrogation operations.
The basis for this document is the SOP used at the U.S. Navy SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) school in Brunswick, Maine and is defined by reference (a).
Note that all tactics are strictly non-lethal.
STRICT COMPLIANCE WITH THE GUIDELINES
LAID OUT IN THIS DOCUMENT IS MADATORY!
2. Training. All interrogators will undergo training by certified SERE instructors prior to being approved for use of any of the techniques described in this document.
3. Scope. Applicable to military and civilian interrogators assigned to JTF-GTMO, Cuba.
TED K. MOSS
LtCol, USAF
INTERROGATION TACTICS
1. GENERAL STATEMENT
a. This document describes in detail the interrogation tactics authorized for use in detainee interrogation operations at JTF_GTMO and the safety precautions that must be used to prevent injuries. The tactics are the same as those used in U.S. military SERE schools.
b. ANY PHYSICAL CONTACT NOT EXPRESSLY AUTHORIZED HEREIN IS PROHIBITIED.
c. INTERROGATION TACTICS FOLLOWED BY: ******* MAY ONLY BE USED BY THOSE INTERROGATORS DESIGNATED IN WRITING BY THE ICE CHIEF.
2. INTERROGATION SAFETY
a. Approved interrogation tactics are found in Sections 3-6.
b. Additional safeguards are as follows:
1. Detainee behavior and reactions are continuously observed and evaluated by the interrogator.
2. Both the detainee's and the interrogators behavior are monitored by the Watch Officer.
3. IT IS CRITICAL THAT INTERROGATORS DO "CROSS THE LINE" WHEN UTILIZING THE TACTICS DESCRIBED BELOW. Therefore, verbal coded messages or nonverbal signals will be used by the Watch Officer (or other interrogators) when giving instructions to adjust interrogation procedure. For example, two kicks on the door indicated the interrogator should discontinue the current approach and move on to another approach. The statement, "Stop wasting time with this pig," means to discontinue the current training tactic and take a break.
3. DEGRADATION TACTICS
a. SHOULDER SLAP. The shoulder slap is a moderate to hard, glancing blow to the back of the shoulder with an open hand. It is used as an irritant.
b. INSULT SLAP. *****
(1) The insult slap is used to shock and intimidate the detainee. The slap is aimed at the detainee's cheek only. Contact will be made only with the fingers in the open hand position and the fingers will be slightly spread and relaxed. The slap will be initiated no more than 12-14 inches (or one shoulder width) from the detainee's face.
To ensure this distance is not exceeded and to preclude any tendency to wind up or uppercut, the slap will be initiated with the slap hand contacting the detainee's body on the top of the shoulder. The target area is slightly below the cheekbone, away from the eyes and ears. Extreme care must be taken not to strike the lower jaw. Slaps aimed at the ears, mouth, nose eyes or throat are prohibited.
(2) Uninterrupted or consecutive slaps are prohibited because the detainee will duck or dodge the slap, creating possibility for an injury. Experience has shown that after a second slap, the effectiveness of the slap tactic is significantly reduced. Interrogators will cease using the slap if detainee begins ducking. At this point, a threatened slap with the hand will achieve the same purpose as a slap. Blows with the back of the hand, fists, elbows, feet and knees are prohibited. Insult slaps are only to be used by those interrogators designated in writing by the ICE CHIEF.
c. STOMACH SLAP. ******
(1) As with the insult slap, the stomach slap is used to shock and intimidate the detainee. The tactic is delivered with the back of the bare hand. The slap will be directed towards the center of the abdomen. The detainee will not be struck in the solar plexus, ribs, sides, and kidneys or below the navel. The slap will not be performed against the bare skin. Slaps will be initiated with the interrogator's upper arm parallel to his/her body, extending the striking hand in a swinging motion to the target area. Detainees will be either facing or to the side of the interrogator when the slap is administered.
(2) Uninterrupted or consecutive slaps are prohibited. Blows to the stomach with the palm of the hand fist, knees or elbows are prohibited.
d. STRIPPING
(1) Stripping consists of forceful removal of detainees' clothing. In addition to degradation of the detainee, shipping can be used to demonstrate the omnipotence of the captor or to debilitate the detainee. Interrogator personnel tear clothing from detainees by firmly pulling downward against buttoned buttons and seams. Tearing motions shall be downward to prevent pulling the detainee off balance.
4. PHYSICAL DEBILITATION TACTICS
a. STRESS POSITIONS. Stress positions are used to punish detainees. ALL STRESS POSITIONS ARE RESTRICTED TO A MAXIMUM TIME OF TEN MINUTES AND A LOGBOOK ENTRY IS REQURED. An interrogator/guard will remain with detainees during use of stress positions. The authorized positions are:
(1) Head Rest/Index Finger position - Detainee is placed with forehead or fingers against the wall, then the detainee's legs are backed out to the point that the detainee's leaning weight is brought to bear on fingers or head.
(2) Kneeling position - Administered by placing detainee on knees and having him lean backward on heels and hold hands extended to the sides or front, palms upward. Light weights such as small rocks, may be placed in the detainee' s upturned palms. The detainee will not be placed in a position facing the sun or floodlights.
(3) Worship-the-Gods - The detainee is placed on knees with head and torso arched back, with arms either folded across the chest or extended to the side or front. The detainee will not be placed in a position facing the sun or floodlights.
(4) Sitting Position - the detainee is placed with his back against a wall, tree or post; thighs are horizontal, lower legs are vertical with feet flat on floor or ground as though sitting in a chair. Arms may be extended to sides horizontally, palms up and boots on.
(5) Standing position - While standing, the detainee is required to extend arms either to the sides or front with palms up. Light weights such as small rocks may be placed in upturned palms.
5. ISOLATION AND MONOPOLIZTION OF PERCEPTION TACTICS
a. HOODING
(1) Hoods are lightweight fabric sacks large enough to fit loosely over a detainee's head and permit unrestricted breathing.
(2) Flooding us used to isolate detainees. Individually hooded detainees may be moved provided an interrogator/guard leads the detainee. Detainees may not be left standing alone with the hood on. They must be placed either on their stomachs, kneeling, or sitting.
Detainee medical limitations must be considered.
6. DEMONSTRATED OMNIPOTENCE TACTICS
a. MANHANDLING. Manhandling consists of pulling or pushing a detainee. It is used as an irritant and to direct the detainee to specific locations. Detainees must be handcuffed and must grasp their trousers near mid-thigh with both hands. The interrogator firmly grasps detainee's clothing and then moves the detainee at a walking pace. The interrogator must maintain positive control of the detainee The detainee is not released until the interrogator is positive the detainee has regained balance.
b. WALLING. ***** Walling consists of placing a detainee forcibly against a specially constructed wall. Walling will only be performed in designated areas where specially constructed walls have been built. Walling is used to physically intimidate a detainee. The interrogator must ensure the wall is smooth, firm, and free of any projections. If conducted outside, footing area must be solid and free of objects that could cause detainee or interrogator to lose their balance. A detainee can be taken to tfio wall a maximum of three times per shift. Walling is done by firmly grasping the front of the detainee's clothing high on each side of the collar„ ensuring the top of the clothing is open. Care should be taken to ensure detainees with long hair do not get their hair tangled into the folds of clothes being grasped by the interrogator. To avoid bruising the detainee, roll hands under folds of clothing material and ensure only the backs of the hands contact detainee's chest. Maintain this grip throughout, never allowing the detainee to be propelled uncontrollably. Ensure only the broad part of the shoulders contact the surface of the wall. Grip the detainee's clothing firmly enough so the collar acts as a restrictive constraint to preclude the detainee's head from contacting the wall does this. If the detainee's head inadvertently touches the wall, walling will be ceased immediately. Walling is to be used by those interrogators designated in writing by the ICE CHIEF.
Stephen Soldz is a psychoanalyst, psychologist, public health researcher, and faculty member at the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis. He maintains the Psychoanalysts for Peace and Justice web site and the Psyche, Science, and Society blog. He is a founder of the Coalition for an Ethical Psychology, one of the organizations leading the struggle to change American Psychological Association policy on participation in abusive interrogations.
One in 10 iPod users risks going deaf, experts warn
In parks, on trains and even pounding the pavement, we are permanently wired for sound.
But our love affair with our iPods and MP3 players could cost us our hearing.
More than a million Britons could go deaf because they listen to their music too loud and too long, experts warn.
Up to 10 per cent of iPod and other MP3 users across Europe are risking deafness if they listen for more than an hour a day for at least five years.
That means about 10million could end up sacrificing their hearing simply because they can't stop listening to music.
The warning comes from the EU's scientific committee on emerging health risks.
It carried out a study into the soaring numbers routinely exposed to high noise volumes through personal music players.
An EU safety standard already exists restricting the noise level of such players to 100 decibels.
But the scientists warn that the danger level is much lower than this.
They say music pumped into the ears above 89 decibels for long periods of time is actually louder than currently allowed in factories. Their report will be welcomed by campaigners for the deaf - and the fed-up commuters who have to endure loud music leaking from the earphones of neighbours on packed buses and trains.
Emma Harrison, head of campaigns at the Royal National Institute for Deaf People, said: 'Decision makers and opinion formers are finally waking up to the hearing loss time bomb threatening many young MP3 users.'
She said the institute had started a Don't Lose the Music campaign, which raises awareness of the dangers of listening to MP3 players too loudly.
'Our research revealed that 58 per cent of 16 to 30-year-olds are completely unaware of any risk to their hearing from MP3 players,' she said.
'The announcement that further action is needed is a vindication of this work.
'We want to see the Government and industry taking decisive action to save the hearing of future generations.'
The committee said users should turn down the volume on their music players, or, if possible, set the machine's maximum usable volume at a lower level.
Between 50million and 100million people across the EU are thought to listen to portable music players on a daily basis - equivalent to between six and 12 million in Britain.
EU consumer affairs commissioner Meglena Kuneva said a conference early next year would bring governments, the music industry and consumers together to discuss the way forward.
'I am concerned that so many young people who are frequent users of personal music players and mobile phones at high acoustic levels may be unknowingly damaging their hearing irrevocably,' she said.
'The scientific findings indicate a clear risk and we need to react rapidly.
'Most importantly we need to raise consumer awareness.
'We need also to look again at the controls in place to make sure they are effective and keep pace with new technology.'
But our love affair with our iPods and MP3 players could cost us our hearing.
More than a million Britons could go deaf because they listen to their music too loud and too long, experts warn.
Up to 10 per cent of iPod and other MP3 users across Europe are risking deafness if they listen for more than an hour a day for at least five years.
That means about 10million could end up sacrificing their hearing simply because they can't stop listening to music.
The warning comes from the EU's scientific committee on emerging health risks.
It carried out a study into the soaring numbers routinely exposed to high noise volumes through personal music players.
An EU safety standard already exists restricting the noise level of such players to 100 decibels.
But the scientists warn that the danger level is much lower than this.
They say music pumped into the ears above 89 decibels for long periods of time is actually louder than currently allowed in factories. Their report will be welcomed by campaigners for the deaf - and the fed-up commuters who have to endure loud music leaking from the earphones of neighbours on packed buses and trains.
Emma Harrison, head of campaigns at the Royal National Institute for Deaf People, said: 'Decision makers and opinion formers are finally waking up to the hearing loss time bomb threatening many young MP3 users.'
She said the institute had started a Don't Lose the Music campaign, which raises awareness of the dangers of listening to MP3 players too loudly.
'Our research revealed that 58 per cent of 16 to 30-year-olds are completely unaware of any risk to their hearing from MP3 players,' she said.
'The announcement that further action is needed is a vindication of this work.
'We want to see the Government and industry taking decisive action to save the hearing of future generations.'
The committee said users should turn down the volume on their music players, or, if possible, set the machine's maximum usable volume at a lower level.
Between 50million and 100million people across the EU are thought to listen to portable music players on a daily basis - equivalent to between six and 12 million in Britain.
EU consumer affairs commissioner Meglena Kuneva said a conference early next year would bring governments, the music industry and consumers together to discuss the way forward.
'I am concerned that so many young people who are frequent users of personal music players and mobile phones at high acoustic levels may be unknowingly damaging their hearing irrevocably,' she said.
'The scientific findings indicate a clear risk and we need to react rapidly.
'Most importantly we need to raise consumer awareness.
'We need also to look again at the controls in place to make sure they are effective and keep pace with new technology.'
Brain boost drugs 'growing trend'
Increasing numbers of people are using prescription drugs like Ritalin to boost alertness and brain power, say experts.
Up to a fifth of adults, including college students and shift workers, may be using cognitive enhancers, a poll of 1,400 by Nature journal suggests.
Neuropsychologist Professor Barbara Sahakian of Cambridge University said safety evidence is urgently needed.
Experts gather to debate this topic at a meeting in London on Monday evening.
The use of these cognitive enhancing drugs is spreading to younger and younger people. That's a concern
Neuropsychologist Professor Barbara Sahakian
Professor Sahakian's own work shows 17% of students in some US universities admit to using the stimulant Ritalin (methylphenidate) - a drug designed to treat hyperactive children - to maximise their learning power.
One in five of the 1,400 people who responded to the Nature survey said they had taken Ritalin, Provigil (modafinil) or beta-blockers for non-medical reasons. They used them to stimulate focus, concentration or memory.
Of that one in five, 62% had taken Ritalin and 44% Provigil - a drug normally prescribed to alleviating daytime tiredness in people suffering from the rare sleep disorder narcolepsy.
Unchecked
Most users had somehow obtained their drugs on prescription or else bought them over the internet.
Although these are only snapshots of use, Professor Sahakian says it does suggest these drugs are becoming more popular.
Professor Sahakian said given the increasing use of these drugs outside of their intended clinical setting, safety trials were urgently needed.
"We do not really have long-term efficacy and safety data in healthy people. These are studies that really need to be done.
"The use of these cognitive enhancing drugs is spreading to younger and younger people. That's a concern.
"Methylphenidate does have substantial abusive potential so we have to be worried about substance abuse problems and the use of these drugs in the developing brain in children."
John Harris, professor of bioethics at the University of Manchester said people should be allowed to make their own minds up about these drugs.
He said: "If these cognitive enhancing drugs make our lives better and make us better able to concentrate and better able to perform, this would surely be a good thing."
Up to a fifth of adults, including college students and shift workers, may be using cognitive enhancers, a poll of 1,400 by Nature journal suggests.
Neuropsychologist Professor Barbara Sahakian of Cambridge University said safety evidence is urgently needed.
Experts gather to debate this topic at a meeting in London on Monday evening.
The use of these cognitive enhancing drugs is spreading to younger and younger people. That's a concern
Neuropsychologist Professor Barbara Sahakian
Professor Sahakian's own work shows 17% of students in some US universities admit to using the stimulant Ritalin (methylphenidate) - a drug designed to treat hyperactive children - to maximise their learning power.
One in five of the 1,400 people who responded to the Nature survey said they had taken Ritalin, Provigil (modafinil) or beta-blockers for non-medical reasons. They used them to stimulate focus, concentration or memory.
Of that one in five, 62% had taken Ritalin and 44% Provigil - a drug normally prescribed to alleviating daytime tiredness in people suffering from the rare sleep disorder narcolepsy.
Unchecked
Most users had somehow obtained their drugs on prescription or else bought them over the internet.
Although these are only snapshots of use, Professor Sahakian says it does suggest these drugs are becoming more popular.
Professor Sahakian said given the increasing use of these drugs outside of their intended clinical setting, safety trials were urgently needed.
"We do not really have long-term efficacy and safety data in healthy people. These are studies that really need to be done.
"The use of these cognitive enhancing drugs is spreading to younger and younger people. That's a concern.
"Methylphenidate does have substantial abusive potential so we have to be worried about substance abuse problems and the use of these drugs in the developing brain in children."
John Harris, professor of bioethics at the University of Manchester said people should be allowed to make their own minds up about these drugs.
He said: "If these cognitive enhancing drugs make our lives better and make us better able to concentrate and better able to perform, this would surely be a good thing."
Bush critic wins 2008 Nobel for economics
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - U.S. economist Paul Krugman, a fierce critic of the Bush administration for policies that he argues led to the current financial crisis, won the 2008 Nobel prize for economics on Monday.
The Nobel committee said the award was for Krugman's work that helps explain why some countries dominate international trade, starting with research published nearly 30 years ago.
While the research for which he won the prize was not obviously partisan, Krugman is best known as the author of columns and a blog called "The Conscience of a Liberal" for the New York Times. He has long been tipped as a likely winner.
A professor at Princeton University, the 55-year-old Krugman argues that President George W. Bush's zeal for deregulation and loose fiscal policies helped spark the current banking meltdown.
He said news of the prize took him by surprise. "I took the call stark naked as I was about to step into the shower," he told a news conference at Princeton on Monday afternoon.
Speaking by telephone to a news conference earlier, Krugman offered a snap analysis on the turbulent times.
"We are now witnessing a crisis that is as severe as the crisis that hit Asia in the 90s. This crisis bears some resemblance to the Great Depression."
Praising world leaders' efforts to staunch the financial bleeding, particularly in Europe, he added: "I'm slightly less terrified today than I was on Friday."
World policy makers met at the weekend, after a black week on financial markets, to agree on radical measures to rescue banks, revive liquidity and avert a global recession.
It was the second year in a row that a major Nobel prize was awarded to an American known for his strong criticism of Bush -- last year's peace prize went to former U.S. Vice President Al Gore for his work on climate change.
Asked at the Princeton news conference if he saw a trend of Nobels going to people who were anti-Bush, Krugman said "A lot of intellectuals are anti-Bush."
The prize committee dismissed any suggestion its choice was influenced by the current crisis or political considerations.
"I don't think the committee has ever taken a political stance," committee secretary Peter Englund told Reuters. "The real, dramatic crisis is an event of the last month or so, which is in practice after the committee took its decision."
COMMON SENSE VOICE
Krugman's latest column in the New York Times, published on Monday, praised Britain for thinking clearly and acting quickly to address the crisis, unlike the United States. He mused: Did British leader Gordon Brown just save world markets?
Britain unveiled a plan last week to bolster ailing banks, and on Monday it waded in with 37 billion pounds ($64 billion) of capital, a move that could make the state the banks' main owner.
Readers of Krugman's blog posted hundreds of comments congratulating him as an accessible voice of common sense.
"Sometimes it feels as though you are the only sane person in America," said a writer who identified himself as Martin Gruner Larsen.
Krugman said he was encouraged by recent steps to address the crisis and said it was vital there should be a combination of capital injection and guarantees for banks.
Commenting on policy proposals from the two U.S. presidential candidates, he said: "It would be kind of nice if we did have a sophisticated government, but that may change."
Asked about accountability for the crisis, Krugman said the financial system had outgrown the regulatory system.
"There is a lot of grotesque greed under this crisis but greed isn't illegal," he said.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the prestigious 10 million crown ($1.4 million) award recognized Krugman's formulation of a new theory that addresses what drives worldwide urbanization.
"He has thereby integrated the previously disparate research fields of international trade and economic geography," the committee said. "Krugman's approach is based on the premise that many goods and services can be produced more cheaply in a long series, a concept generally known as economies of scale."
Krugman's theory clarifies why trade is dominated by countries that not only have similar conditions but also trade in similar products.
The Nobel committee said the award was for Krugman's work that helps explain why some countries dominate international trade, starting with research published nearly 30 years ago.
While the research for which he won the prize was not obviously partisan, Krugman is best known as the author of columns and a blog called "The Conscience of a Liberal" for the New York Times. He has long been tipped as a likely winner.
A professor at Princeton University, the 55-year-old Krugman argues that President George W. Bush's zeal for deregulation and loose fiscal policies helped spark the current banking meltdown.
He said news of the prize took him by surprise. "I took the call stark naked as I was about to step into the shower," he told a news conference at Princeton on Monday afternoon.
Speaking by telephone to a news conference earlier, Krugman offered a snap analysis on the turbulent times.
"We are now witnessing a crisis that is as severe as the crisis that hit Asia in the 90s. This crisis bears some resemblance to the Great Depression."
Praising world leaders' efforts to staunch the financial bleeding, particularly in Europe, he added: "I'm slightly less terrified today than I was on Friday."
World policy makers met at the weekend, after a black week on financial markets, to agree on radical measures to rescue banks, revive liquidity and avert a global recession.
It was the second year in a row that a major Nobel prize was awarded to an American known for his strong criticism of Bush -- last year's peace prize went to former U.S. Vice President Al Gore for his work on climate change.
Asked at the Princeton news conference if he saw a trend of Nobels going to people who were anti-Bush, Krugman said "A lot of intellectuals are anti-Bush."
The prize committee dismissed any suggestion its choice was influenced by the current crisis or political considerations.
"I don't think the committee has ever taken a political stance," committee secretary Peter Englund told Reuters. "The real, dramatic crisis is an event of the last month or so, which is in practice after the committee took its decision."
COMMON SENSE VOICE
Krugman's latest column in the New York Times, published on Monday, praised Britain for thinking clearly and acting quickly to address the crisis, unlike the United States. He mused: Did British leader Gordon Brown just save world markets?
Britain unveiled a plan last week to bolster ailing banks, and on Monday it waded in with 37 billion pounds ($64 billion) of capital, a move that could make the state the banks' main owner.
Readers of Krugman's blog posted hundreds of comments congratulating him as an accessible voice of common sense.
"Sometimes it feels as though you are the only sane person in America," said a writer who identified himself as Martin Gruner Larsen.
Krugman said he was encouraged by recent steps to address the crisis and said it was vital there should be a combination of capital injection and guarantees for banks.
Commenting on policy proposals from the two U.S. presidential candidates, he said: "It would be kind of nice if we did have a sophisticated government, but that may change."
Asked about accountability for the crisis, Krugman said the financial system had outgrown the regulatory system.
"There is a lot of grotesque greed under this crisis but greed isn't illegal," he said.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the prestigious 10 million crown ($1.4 million) award recognized Krugman's formulation of a new theory that addresses what drives worldwide urbanization.
"He has thereby integrated the previously disparate research fields of international trade and economic geography," the committee said. "Krugman's approach is based on the premise that many goods and services can be produced more cheaply in a long series, a concept generally known as economies of scale."
Krugman's theory clarifies why trade is dominated by countries that not only have similar conditions but also trade in similar products.
Armstrong to race in 2009 Giro d'Italia
MILAN (Reuters) - Lance Armstrong will race in next year's Giro d'Italia for the first time as part of his cycling comeback, the seven-times Tour de France winner said on Monday.
The 37-year-old, who retired in 2005, will compete in the May 9-31 race before bidding for an eighth Tour title in July.
"I will give my utmost, and not only to prepare for the Tour," Armstrong said in a statement.
"Not having taken part in the Giro was one of my biggest regrets as a rider. Finally I will be able to do it. For five years I lived in Como and I am very excited to return to Italy."
The American will start his comeback in January's Tour Down Under in Australia after being allowed to compete by the International Cycling Union (UCI) despite breaching the rules.
Riders making comebacks have to be in the UCI's anti-doping program for six months prior to racing but the governing body has made an exception for Armstrong, who announced he was returning to the sport only last month.
Armstrong, who fought off cancer and unproven doping allegations during his career, is partly making a comeback with the Astana team to promote his global cancer awareness campaign, LiveStrong.
The Giro, the second biggest stage-race after the Tour, will be celebrating its centenary next year. The route has yet to be announced.
"Lance knows very well the affection Italians have for him after the years he spent living on the banks of Lake Como," said Angelo Zomegnan, the cycling director of Giro organizers RCS Sport.
"It is an affection that is not equaled in any other European country."
Many riders opt out of racing both the Giro and the Tour because of the physical exertion required. Francesco Moser, who won the Giro in 1984, was skeptical that Armstrong could properly race in both.
"At 37 years of age, to return to racing after three years is a decision I don't understand and it seems dangerous to me. To race the Tour as well in the same year is not a simple thing," he was quoted as saying in Italian media.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
