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OT: The News Thread

Re: OT - The News Thread

I'm not sure exactly how close your godparents' house is to campus JCY, but Dalhousie St that's mentioned in the article is literally right beside it. I mean, I guess I feel bad for these people but I'm not sure what people in the neighbourhood expected buying "retirement dream homes" right beside a college campus.
 
Re: OT - The News Thread

I'll ask my parents tomorrow and get back to you in this thread, HL. And they've lived in their current home for about two decades, so it's not like they're new to the area or anything.
 
Re: OT - The News Thread

It is seriously time for some Anti-Trust loving in the U.S

The banks need to be broken up, and so do the pharma giants....

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/04/pfizer-caught-illegally-marketing.html

Internal company documents show that Pfizer and Pharmacia (which Pfizer later bought) used a multimillion-dollar medical education budget to pay hundreds of doctors as speakers and consultants to tout Bextra.

Pfizer said in court that "the company's intent was pure": to foster a legal exchange of scientific information among doctors.

But an internal marketing plan called for training physicians "to serve as public relations spokespeople."

According to Lewis Morris, chief counsel to the inspector general at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, "They pushed the envelope so far past any reasonable interpretation of the law that it's simply outrageous."

By April 2005, when Bextra was taken off the market, more than half of its $1.7 billion in profits had come from prescriptions written for uses the FDA had rejected.

But when it came to prosecuting Pfizer for its fraudulent marketing, the pharmaceutical giant had a trump card: Just as the giant banks on Wall Street were deemed too big to fail, Pfizer was considered too big to nail.

Why? Because any company convicted of a major health care fraud is automatically excluded from Medicare and Medicaid. Convicting Pfizer on Bextra would prevent the company from billing federal health programs for any of its products. It would be a corporate death sentence.

Prosecutors said that excluding Pfizer would most likely lead to Pfizer's collapse, with collateral consequences: disrupting the flow of Pfizer products to Medicare and Medicaid recipients, causing the loss of jobs including those of Pfizer employees who were not involved in the fraud, and causing significant losses for Pfizer shareholders.
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Re: OT - The News Thread

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/04/crisis_in_kyrgyzstan.html

Widespread anti-government protests in Kyrgyzstan recently turned violent, with groups of opposition protesters attempting to storm some government buildings, and clashing with riot police. Tensions are high, as Kyrgyz authorities declared a national state of emergency, and are enforcing curfews in at least three cities. As riot police fired on opposition members and protesters fought with stones and captured weapons, estimates of casualties have varied widely, with reports ranging from 12 killed to over 100 killed. Opposition leaders appear to have taken over some of the national television channels, and President Kurmanbek Bakiyev appears to have fled the capital, Bishkek overnight. As the situation in Kyrgyzstan remains in flux, I may post more photos here later, as warranted.
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Re: OT - The News Thread

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/30/tech/main6347584.shtml

(CBS/ AP) The first of several British investigations into the e-mails leaked from one of the world's leading climate research centers has largely vindicated the scientists involved.

The House of Commons' Science and Technology Committee said Wednesday that they'd seen no evidence to support charges that the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit or its director, Phil Jones, had tampered with data or perverted the peer review process to exaggerate the threat of global warming two of the most serious criticisms levied against the climatologist and his colleagues.

In their report, the committee said that, as far as it was able to ascertain, "the scientific reputation of Professor Jones and CRU remains intact," adding that nothing in the more than 1,000 stolen e-mails, or the controversy kicked up by their publication, challenged scientific consensus that "global warming is happening and that it is induced by human activity."
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Re: OT - The News Thread

As if the "The House of Commons' Science and Technology Committee" doesn't have tremendous self-interest in protecting one of their own...

But aside from that, what was there to investigate? Their own e-mails refer to "tricks" and "hiding the decline" - what stone was left unturned? These guys are fraudsters.
 
Re: OT - The News Thread

corksens said:
As if the "The House of Commons' Science and Technology Committee" doesn't have tremendous self-interest in protecting one of their own...

But aside from that, what was there to investigate? Their own e-mails refer to "tricks" and "hiding the decline" - what stone was left unturned? These guys are fraudsters.
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Hate to agree with corky, but don't think the East Anglia crew can do anything to save their credibility with me at this point.
 
Re: OT - The News Thread

They did provide one hidden benefit though that is starting to play itself out. Previous to that mess, it was incredibly difficult for a skeptic to get their hands on the raw data, or the computer programs required to analyze them. This incident has spawned a bit of a movement from within the climate science circles itself to actually provide all of it openly and with that, access to the peer reviewing process for skeptics to analyze the same data that climate scientists have access to and publish their own work on it.
 
Re: OT - The News Thread

MindzEye said:
They did provide one hidden benefit though that is starting to play itself out. Previous to that mess, it was incredibly difficult for a skeptic to get their hands on the raw data, or the computer programs required to analyze them. This incident has spawned a bit of a movement from within the climate science circles itself to actually provide all of it openly and with that, access to the peer reviewing process for skeptics to analyze the same data that climate scientists have access to and publish their own work on it.
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That's a very good point, but really it's what they should have been doing all along. And in the future, when skeptics and disaster-mongerers alike use the same data, I (and I am assuming many others) will automatically be skeptical of the 'climate scientists' data if the same raw information can be packaged to say something different. Essentially the clowns at East Anglia and co. have lost my trust, so even if they are on to something, because all that data is available, it can be twisted and manipulated by others whom I may be more likely to believe.

I'm not sure if that made any sense, it's 3:30 out here and I'm 6,000 words deep on a paper about Vietnamese nationalism, but I think the damage done by the East Anglians is irreversible and will have serious long-lasting implications. So yeah, it'll be good to have the information out there, and in the future things should hopefully be better, but they sure as hell shot themselves in the foot big time.
 
Re: OT - The News Thread

The big deal will be peer review...if skeptics come up with different results from the raw data and put forward their work for peer review and it's vindicated, then they're seriously onto something. If all they're able to do is flip and twist the numbers in ways that just don't stand up to academic scrutiny, the the argument for climate change gets that much stronger.

I agree entirely though, it should have been that way from the start.
 
Re: OT - The News Thread

SMOLENSK, Russia - Polish President Lech Kaczynski and some of the country's highest military and civilian leaders died on Saturday when the presidential plane crashed as it came in for a landing in thick fog in western Russia, killing 97, officials said.

Russian and Polish officials said there were no survivors on the 26-year-old Tupolev, which was taking the president, his wife and staff to events marking the 70th anniversary of the massacre in Katyn forest of thousands of Polish officers by Soviet secret police.

The crash devastated the upper echelons of Poland's political and military establishments. On board were the army chief of staff, national bank president, deputy foreign minister, army chaplain, head of the National Security Office, deputy parliament speaker, civil rights commissioner and at least two presidential aides and three lawmakers, the Polish foreign ministry said.
 
Re: OT - The News Thread

Wow....most countries don't allow that many high ranking officials to travel together for just that purpose...nor do they put them on a 26 year old plane.
 
Re: OT - The News Thread

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1163045.html

More than 300 olive trees were uprooted and two cars set alight in the West Bank village of Hawara in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Stars of David and the word 'Mohammed,' as well as racist slogans, were also sprayed in Hebrew across the town, including on the walls of a mosque.

A military official told Army Radio that the army suspected settler violence against Palestinians, part of some settlers' policy of imposing a 'price tag' on a government order to freeze Israeli construction in the West Bank.
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As part of the strategy, settlers from nearby Yitzhar have launched numerous attacks on Palestinians, including an arson attack on a mosque in December 2009.

Responding to news of the incident, Itamar Ben-Gvir, a spokesman for the right-wing Jewish National Front party, said:
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Re: OT - The News Thread

Some weirdness coming out about nuclear threats.....

First, don't expect quick response from the federal US gov....

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-04-13-nuke-plans_N.htm

Nuclear blast victims would have to wait

HEALTH REPORTER TWEETS



By Steve Sternberg, USA TODAY
The White House has warned state and local governments not to expect a "significant federal response" at the scene of a terrorist nuclear attack for 24 to 72 hours after the blast, according to a planning guide.

President Obama told delegates from 47 nations at the Nuclear Security Summit on Tuesday that it would be a "catastrophe for the world" if al-Qaeda or another terrorist group got a nuclear device, because so many lives would be lost and it would be so hard to mitigate damage from the blast.

A 10-kiloton nuclear explosion would level buildings within half a mile of ground zero, generate 900-mph winds, bathe the landscape with radiation and produce a plume of fallout that would drift for hundreds of miles, the guide says. It was posted on the Internet and sent to local officials.

SUMMIT: Nuclear agreement hailed as step forward
ON THE WEB: Read the planning guide (pdf)

The document is designed to help local officials craft plans for responding to a nuclear blast. The prospect is anything but far-fetched, says Rick Nelson of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Do I think in my lifetime I'll see the detonation of a nuclear device? I do."

One challenge he says, will be to persuade survivors to stay indoors, shielded from dangerous radiation until they're given the all-clear or told to evacuate. "In all likelihood, families will be separated," he says. "It's going to be scary to sit tight, though it's the right thing to do."

The government's planning scenarios envision a terrorist strike in an urban area with a 10-kiloton device, slightly smaller than the roughly 15-kiloton Hiroshima bomb. A 10-kiloton device packs the punch of 10,000 tons of TNT.

The chaos that would inevitably follow such a blast would make it difficult for the federal government to react quickly. "Emergency response is principally a local function," the document says, though "federal assistance will be mobilized as rapidly as possible."

The "Planning Guidance for Response to a Nuclear Detonation" was developed by a task force headed by the White House Homeland Security Council. It was circulated to state and local government officials and first responders in January 2009.

The report has never been formally released to the public, White House spokesman Nick Shapiro says.

It offers practical guidance to first responders and advice on radiation measurement and decontamination.

Disaster experts say local governments aren't prepared for a nuclear attack. "There isn't a single American city, in my estimation, that has sufficient plans for a nuclear terrorist event," says Irwin Redlener of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

The message for families is simple, he says: Stay put. Wait for instructions. If you've been outside, dust off, change, shower. "What citizens need to know fits on a wallet-sized card," Redlener says. "A limited amount of information would save tens of thousands of people."
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And this one about the gov hyping up the threat for apparently no solid reason.....yikes, wonder what's cooking.

Critics: Obama admin hyping terrorist nuclear risk
U.S. officials say the claim is not based on new intelligence

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/apr/14/obama-says-terrorist-nuclear-risk-is-growing/

By Bill Gertz and Eli Lake

The Obama administration is warning that the danger of a terrorist attack with nuclear weapons is increasing, but U.S. officials say the claim is not based on new intelligence and questioned whether the threat is being overstated.

President Obama said in a speech before the 47-nation Nuclear Security Summit, which concluded Tuesday, that "the risk of a nuclear confrontation between nations has gone down, but the risk of nuclear attack has gone up."

The two-day meeting concluded with an agreement by participants to take steps to prevent non-state actors like al Qaeda from obtaining nuclear weapons, either through theft of existing weapons or through making their own with pilfered nuclear material.
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Re: OT - The News Thread

NOT from the Onion, this is real.....sad


http://wcbstv.com/local/queens.man.fataly.2.1634342.html

NYC Man Charged With Fatally Punching His Baby Son NEW YORK (AP) ― Prosecutors say a Queens man yelled "toughen up" while fatally punching his crying 7-month-old son in the chest. Larry Greene was arraigned Wednesday on a second-degree murder charge. He could face 25 years to life in prison if convicted. Prosecutors also say Greene believed the baby preferred his mother. Laquana Greene says her brother is "a good person" who could not commit such a crime. The baby, named Xiah, died Tuesday night. The medical examiner said he also had bruises on his head and neck. District Attorney Richard A. Brown says it's the ninth time in five months that a family member or babysitter has been accused of killing or severely injuring a child in Queens. Brown says there is "no excuse" for such "senseless attacks."
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Re: OT - The News Thread

So basically, this "person" was surprised that a 7-month old baby loved its mother, and wasn't very tough.

Guess he'll learn how tough he himself is in prison.
 
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