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INSIDE THE System last week reported on the scandal of giant drug company Pfizer using children in botched drug trials. Now a new scandal has come to light. Up to 2,000 orphaned and illegitimate children across Northern Ireland children's homes may have been experimented on by drugs firm Wellcome in the 60s and early 70s.
Children in the homes were used as 'guinea pigs' and given experimental vaccinations for rubella, whooping cough, diphtheria, tetanus and polio. Wellcome is now a subsidiary of drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline. Already the Laffoy Commission has identified 211 children who took part in three trials. But many more may be involved.
GEORGE BUSH'S aides have commissioned a new docudrama glamorising and beefing up his handling of the 11 September attacks. It is a desperate attempt to drum up support for him during next year's presidential elections.
In the docudrama Bush says, 'If some tin horn terrorist wants me, tell him to come and get me.' In real life Bush carried on reading to a group of primary school children after he was informed that a plane had smashed into the first tower.
The drama has several Republican lackeys behind it including conservative producer and writer Lionel Chetwynd and Bush's chief political strategist, Karl Rove. Rove dreamed up Bush's Top Gun style landing on an aircraft carrier after the Iraq war ended.
A MAN in Rhodiad, Wales, is due to stand trial for having a 'harassing' or 'distressing' sticker in his car. The sticker poked fun at George W Bush.
174 million dollars - is the average income of the 400 on the top wages in the US during the year 2000. This is quadruple the $46.8 million average eight years earlier.
My neighbour Robyn has Alzheimer’s.
It’s a savage disease that steals a brain by degrees. Robyn is just a few years older than me and yet her life, as she once enjoyed it, is all but over. A couple of years ago she’d still recognise me if we saw each other in the street. Not now.
Her gorgeous kids are in their 20s but they’ve returned home to help their dad and enjoy what time they have left with their mum. It’s unbelievably sad but when I chatted with Robyn’s husband last week he was strangely ebullient.
While Robyn’s life was now characterised by increasing degradations, he told me, there was one surprisingly delightful element about her illness. Because she couldn’t remember things, each time they went for a walk it was as if she was seeing everything for the first time.
As we head towards a general election and all the attendant dastardliness and deception, I wonder if it’s time to pause and appreciate our country as if we were seeing it for the first time. The constant commentary — house price falls, wage stagnation, banking misconduct and global instability — may be unrelentingly negative but there are plenty of positives about the national landscape which we neglect to see.
The fact is, 55 years after Donald Horne wrote The Lucky Country — in which he argued that Australia had succeeded through good fortune rather than merit — we’re still receiving a string of “A” results in our report card from the global community. Of course, we must finesse and improve and innovate but perhaps we’re better able to do that from a position of gratitude and brio rather than pessimistic weariness.
We are on top of the world by so many measures. On the human development index which measures life expectancy, education and income per capita, we are third globally (New Zealand is 16th, US 13th and UK 14th). Yet do we wake up each day full of appreciation that we live longer, are better educated and earn more?
Our neighbours across the Tasman may be effusive about their young and progressive Prime Minister but our numbers tell an equally upbeat story. We are the 8th best country to live in if you’re a woman based on human rights, gender equality, income equality, progress and safety. In fact we’re ahead of New Zealand (9th), Germany (10th), UK (13th) and the US (16th).
New Zealand may top us on the Global Peace Index which assesses issues such as violent crime, terror incidents and military spending but we still come in at 13th place ahead of the usual Scandi show-offs, Sweden, Finland and Norway. We also score 13th place from Transparent International for lack of corruption in the public sector although this week’s Royal Commission findings into the financial services industry suggest the corporate sector cannot boast the same.
Our legal system also gets a top score from the World Justice Project which assesses whether our government officials are accountable, our laws fair and enacted, and our justice system delivered competently. We ranked 10th internationally ahead of the UK (11th) and the US (19th).
While democracy has been facing a crisis around the world with 71 countries suffering net declines in political rights and civil liberties, Australia was one of only 35 nations registering gains in freedom. In the Freedom House index we ranked 6th with a score of 98 out of 100. Notably the US ranked 58th. Likewise, the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index rates us 9th ahead of Switzerland, the Netherlands and the UK.
Commercially, we’re also no slouch. For ease of doing business we rank 18th while the 2018 innovation index compiled by Cornell University and the World Intellectual Property Organisation found us ahead of NZ (22) in 20th spot. The UK was fourth and the US sixth, giving us something to aim for. Equally, we need to try harder in respect to climate change. We ranked 55th in the Climate Change Performance Index, well behind the UK in eighth place.
Perhaps the greatest surprise considering our Eeyore attitude is where we rank in the World Happiness Report. The poll, which ranks wellbeing variables including income, life expectancy, social support, freedom, trust and generosity, positions us 10th in the world.
It’s no surprise then that Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide all feature in the top 10 cities to live. Brisbane slipped slightly to 22nd place but the upside is the housing is more affordable.
As for the gratitude index … well, there isn’t one. But when the ailing and burdened can still find things to delight in, it’s incumbent on the rest of us to do the same.
By jdupuis on September 11, 2017.
The last one of these was in mid-June, so we're picking up all the summer stories of scientific mayhem in the Trump era. The last couple of months have seemed especially apocalyptic, with Nazis marching in the streets and nuclear war suddenly not so distant a possibility. But along with those macro-level issues, Trump and his cronies are still hammering away at climate change denial, environmental protection, research funding and public health issues. As exhausting as it seems -- and this is part of the plan -- amongst all of us opposed to Trump, we need to keep track of a wide range of issues.
If I'm missing anything important, please let me know either in the comments or at my email jdupuis at yorku dot ca. If you want to use a non-work email for me, it's dupuisj at gmail dot com.
The selections are by no means meant to represent a comprehensive account of everything written about science and science-related over the last few months. I'm not aiming for anything than complete or comprehensive. For example, there are probably hundreds of articles written about climate-change related issues over that period, but I'm just picking up what I hope is a representative sample.
The last time around was a bit more thematically organized rather than chronologically. I'm trying the later organizational method this time around to see if I can get a sense of which I prefer or which seems more useful.
This post covers from approximately mid-June, 2017 up to August 31, 2017. The fact that most days -- even in the summer -- there are multiple things to report is terrifying.
2017.07.07. Trump Administration Reviewing Marine Protected Areas in US, Will The Ocean Be Valued Accurately?
2017.07.10. Climate Change -- What Now With The White House Abandoning The Paris Agreement?
2017.07.12. The Trump Administration Wants To Debate Climate Change On TV. Here’s What Scientists Think About It.
2017.07.13. Why Do Republicans Suddenly Hate College So Much?
2017.07.14. Does Being a Nice Personable Scientist Make Sense in Trump's America?
2017.07.19. I’m a scientist. I’m blowing the whistle on the Trump administration.
2017.07.19. That French plan to attract climate scientists? It’s working.
2017.07.24. Has the Moment for Environmental Justice Been Lost?
2017.07.25. Is a Conservative Climate Movement Heating Up?
2017.07.31. Donald Trump’s War on Scientists Has Had One Big Side Effect: More than a dozen Democratic candidates with scientific backgrounds are running for Congress.
2017.08.01. US Scientists, Please Run for Office. The Planet Needs You.
2017.08.04. Scientists: The Public Needs to Hear from You!
2017.08.15. These are the business leaders still sitting on Trump’s Manufacturing Council.
2017.08.16. Against discrimination: Science cannot and should not be used to justify prejudice.
2017.08.17. The Science Police: In highly controversial fields, researchers have to balance science and advocacy.
2017.08.17. Does Reg Review threaten Public Access?
2017.08.21. Yes, Trump viewed #Eclipse2017 without glasses. 'Don't look,' an aide shouted.
2017.08.23. God help us, Donald Trump tried to dispense energy facts again.
2017.08.23. Trump thinks “clean coal” is just coal that’s been cleaned off. Here’s what it actually is.
2017.08.25. US energy agency asked scientists to scrub references to climate change: Researchers were told to censor descriptions of projects funded by a Department of Energy laboratory.
2017.08.28. EPA Chief Scott Pruitt: "Science Shouldn't Dictate American Policy"
As usual, if there are any errors in the above list or if I've missed anything significant, please let me know in the comments. If you'd prefer not to comment, you can let me know via email at jdupuis at yorku dot ca or my non-work email dupuisj at gmail dot com.
for one year now, is rejuvenating the 14-year-old show.
Live, distributed by Disney-owned Buena Vista Television, is up across the board in the national syndicated ratings—especially with the key daytime demographic, young women.
"Kelly and Regis have had fabulous chemistry; they have sort of sparked a ratings resurgence that is rare in a show of this age," says Buena Vista Senior Vice President of Strategic Research Lloyd Komesar. "You rarely see a show that has been on this long that's able to reinvent itself and surge like our show has surged."
is up a whopping 70% in women 18-34 and 31% in women 18-49.
had an almost seamless entry onto the show and even gave birth in her first season. Philbin, who moonlights on ABC's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, has a rapport with Ripa very similar to his and Gifford's.
"I think there is more growth in this show ahead," Komesar says. "The attraction young women feel for this particular chemistry between Kelly and Regis is remarkable. They are coming back, and that's fueling the growth."
BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s new home prices rose for their 35th consecutive month in March, with more cities reporting growth as the government supported demand from first-time buyers and despite persistent curbs to dampen speculative demand.
Average new home prices in China’s 70 major cities rose 0.4 percent in March from the previous month, up from 0.2 percent growth in February, Reuters calculated from National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data published on Wednesday.
On a yearly basis, new home prices increased 4.9 percent in March, slowing from February’s 5.2 percent increase, partly due to a high base effect as policymakers rushed to impose a flurry of fresh tightening measures in late March last year.
The majority of the 70 cities surveyed by the NBS still reported monthly price increases for new homes. Fifty-five cities reported higher prices in March, up from February’s 44.
China’s property market has soared since 2016, giving a major boost to the economy but also raising concerns about bubbles. Prices have slowly leveled off and even softened in tier-1 cities following government measures to rein in speculative investment.
While more than 100 cities have introduced some measures to cool home prices, analysts still expect moderate price appreciation in the country’s vast number of smaller centers where regulations are less restrictive.
Price gains reported by smaller provincial capitals expanded by 0.3 percentage points in March from that in February. Haikou, a port city and the capital of China’s island province Hainan, became the top price performer in March, rising 2.1 percent on-month.
Meanwhile, prices in top-tier cities also increased 0.1 percent in March from February, reversing a fall in the previous month, the NBS said in a statement along with the data.
Ouyang Jie, vice-president of Shanghai-listed Future Land (601155.SS), said developers have been rushing to roll out new projects in the hope of accelerating sales and securing funding, especially in smaller cities where inventories are falling rapidly.
“More high-end projects were released into the market in March as some were delayed by authorities in the beginning of the year when the National Congress was underway,” said Joe Zhou, head of research for JLL China, a property services firm.
But Zhou also warned of the risks of a moderate price correction later this year with demand frontloaded in smaller cities and signs of softening as more supply becomes available.
China posted its fastest property investment in three years in the first quarter, driven by a surge in land values and as developers grew more confident about the policy outlook.
New home prices on average for the country are expected to rise faster than previously thought in 2018 on falling inventories and still robust demand from smaller cities, according to a Reuters poll last month.
New household loans, mainly mortgages, totaled 580 billion yuan in March. They made up 52 percent of total new yuan loans, versus 33 percent in February.
Chinese property developers are reporting firm results so far. Last week, China’s second-largest property developer Vanke (1036.HK) reported total contract sales of 154.26 billion yuan in the first quarter, up from 150.3 billion made in the same period last year.
Higher borrowing costs pose a risk for the sector as they will potentially dampen demand, although mortgage rates remain low compared with historic levels, analysts say.
Pluckley Church of England Primary school are currently looking for a Headteacher who will use their leadership experience to ensure that we continue to develop and remain at the heart of our community.
We are a small, highly regarded and popular village primary school situated in the heart of the beautiful Kent countryside. As a Church of England (Controlled) Primary School we consider it vital that children develop in an atmosphere in which the Christian principles of love and respect are given the highest priority.
At Pluckley CofE School we believe that all children thrive in an environment in which they are happy, challenged and secure: secure in the knowledge they are safe and cared for; challenged to achieve their best; and happy in the knowledge they are each appreciated for their individuality and their achievements.
We are a school, where all children from all backgrounds and abilities can be safe, successful and happy. Why not come and find out for yourself?
A disclaimer for the capitalist entertainment pellet above: This Boing Boing Video episode is a paid ad for Cheetos. This is also the 4th in a 6-part series of security bulletins from the long-lost Communist enclave of Soviet Unterzoegersdorf.
After eating most of analyzing the delicious, crunchy contents of a mysterious box parachuted in to Soviet Unterzoegersdorf by unknown forces, our agents realize that they have been duped into participating in an internet viral marketing campaign.
Let the proletarians sing with joy! Let us celebrate a glorious triumph! We will release Part II of the Soviet Unterzoegersdorf 2D adventure game for free download!
/ Political dissenters will be dealt with.
The computer game is a tribute to the proud yet imperiled republic of Soviet Unterzoegersdorf (pronounced «oon-taa-tsee-gars-doorf»), the last existing appendage republic of the USSR. The tiny enclave maintains no diplomatic relationship with the surrounding "Republic of Austria" or with the Fortress "European Union".
The downfall of her motherland -- the Soviet Union -- in the early 1990s had a particularly bad effect on the country's economic situation. Now the picturesque communist state is facing a serious lack of resources, lack of space, and lack of population. To make matters worse, party secretary Wladislav Gomulka was kidnapped and brought to US-Oberzoegersdorf. We must use every tool at our disposal to rescue Gomulka! Including plenty of classified soviet technology, a proud tradition of bureaucracy, the recognition of North Korea, and a pond full of radioactive byproduct.
Background on the series here. All other BBV episodes we're producing this month are ad-free.
* BB Video: (This is an ad) Soviet Unterzoegersdorf, pt. 3 of 6 / Cheetos Boredom Busters.
Windows Phone 7 is, as we’ve seen previously, incredibly fast. In fact I would go so far as to say that it is the fastest mobile device around for performing particular important tasks, with or without a speed-enhancing update.
As such I’m going to prove it. By the time you have read this article I will have snapped, edited and uploaded a photo from my Windows Phone 7 to my Windows Live account. Obviously you only have my word for the amount of time the process will take; however I think the previous explanation on how quickly these tasks can be performed should be enough to prove that everything that is about to happen is happening in real time.
I then hold the camera button for 1 second until the camera start and I line up and take the shot. As it slides away to the left, I drag the image back into view and drag the menu on the right across, selecting Extras.
Here I launch Photo Enhancer, one of the many photograph tweaking apps available in the Zune Marketplace (several are available for various fees; Photo Enhancer is free to HTC Windows Phone owners).
I decide that the image of a cold day needs warming up, and select the Warm filter, then tap Save. A message is displayed informing me that the new image is stored in Saved Pictures, so I tap Start, head to the Pictures Hub, select All > Saved Pictures, open the image, drag the menu up and tap Upload to SkyDrive.
Literally seconds later (you’ll see when you get there) the photo is available to view in my SkyDrive account.
As you can see, it’s pretty fast. Now there was one shortcut I took – the Photo Enhancer app doesn’t offer an awful lot in the way of enhancements, save a selection of filters. This meant I was able to quickly find and select a preset option rather than spend time resizing the photograph.
What this shows, however, is that there are a lot of image editing apps that can be installed on a Windows Phone device, and the best of these are designed to appear in the Extras list. Other examples of apps that you can use to edit your photos include Photo Studio, while more unusual uses for your images can be performed with apps such as Morfo or Ztitch, the latter a great way to create panoramas.
PROFILE of Henry Geldzahler, curator of the Metropolitan Museum's Dept. of 20th Century Art. Tells about his 1969 show for the Met's centennial celebration, "New York Painting & Sculpture: 1940-1970," & the controversy surrounding it. Tells about the Met's long history of conservatism & reluctance to modern & contemporary art works, & how in 1947 plans for a Three Museum Agreement (with the Museum of Modern Art & the Whitney) failed.
[Avionics Today 08-19-2016] The FAA is urging operators of small Unmanned Aircraft Systems UAS) to prepare for the new small drone rule for non-hobbyists, which becomes effective on August 29.
Under the new rule — also known as Part 107 — the person actually flying a drone must have a remote pilot certificate with a small UAS rating, or be directly supervised by someone with such a certificate.
To qualify for the certificate, a pilot must either pass an initial aeronautical knowledge test at an FAA-approved knowledge-testing center or have an existing non-student Part 61 pilot certificate. If the operator is qualifying under the latter provision, she must have completed a flight review in the previous 24 months and must take an FAA UAS online training course. The Transportation Security Administration will conduct a security background check of all remote pilot applications prior to issuance of a certificate, according to the FAA.
ASMIR BEGOVIC has denied Jose Mourinho lost the Chelsea dressing room before he was sacked.
Mourinho led the Blues to a first Premier League title since 2010 last season but was axed in December with Chelsea just one point above the relegation zone.
During the final weeks of the Portuguese's reign their were reports of player unrest and training ground bust-ups.
But Begovic insists that was not the case and put Mourinho's departure down to the 'unacceptable' results.