Two stories in the post and another eighty-something in the comments.
I like this one:
I’m pretty sure it was the night that I said to him, “Come on, can we please have sex, I think I’m really fertile!” We laugh because it really wasn’t romantic, but hey, it worked!
(Via Daniel Smith.)
This article states that international travel restrictions are useless as a means of preventing flu pandemics.
I don’t know, though, why the article talks about shutting off all international air travel when it’s one particular country that’s spreading swine flu around – Mexico. Keeping Mexicans out of other countries still looks like a winning idea to me.
An influenza virus that is part swine, part human, and part avian.
Update: An article from March 5: “Bird flu mix-up could have spelled disaster”:
IT’S emerged that virulent H5N1 bird flu was sent out by accident from an Austrian lab last year and given to ferrets in the Czech Republic before anyone realised. As well as the risk of it escaping into the wild, the H5N1 got mixed with a human strain, which might have spawned a hybrid that could unleash a pandemic.
Something to put the swine flu outbreak in perspective: The regular seasonal flu has killed more than 13,000 people in the U.S. since January, and kills between 250,000 and 500,000 worldwide annually.
Update: The numbers are from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A quotation:
The number of influenza-associated (i.e., flu-related) deaths varies from year to year because flu seasons often fluctuate in length and severity. CDC estimated that about 36,000 people died of flu-related causes each year, on average, during the 1990s in the United States. This figure includes people dying from complications of flu. This estimate came from a 2003 study published in the Journal of the American Medication Association (JAMA), which looked at the 1990-91 through the 1998-99 flu seasons. Statistical modeling was used to estimate how many flu-related deaths occurred among people whose underlying cause of death on their death certificate was listed as a respiratory or circulatory disease. During these years, the number of estimated deaths ranged from 17,000 to 52,000.
In 2009, CDC published additional estimates of flu-related deaths comparing different methods, including the methods used in the 2003 JAMA study. The seasons studied included the 1993-94 through the 2002-03 flu seasons. Results from this study showed that during this time period, 36,171 flu-related deaths occurred per year, on average.
Some unbelievably stupid people in the White House decided today it was a great idea to send a Boeing 747 – accompanied by two F-16s – for a low flyover around downtown Manhattan, 9/11 style, so they could shoot some photos:
A White House official apologized Monday after a low-flying Boeing 747 spotted above the Manhattan skyline frightened workers and residents into evacuating buildings.
The aircraft was a White House plane taking part in a classified, government-sanctioned photo shoot, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
“Last week, I approved a mission over New York. I take responsibility for that decision,” said Louis Caldera, director of the White House Military Office. “While federal authorities took the proper steps to notify state and local authorities in New York and New Jersey, it’s clear that the mission created confusion and disruption.”
Witnesses reported seeing the plane circle over the Upper New York Bay near the Statue of Liberty before flying up the Hudson River. It was accompanied by two F-16s.
Here is a video of the 747 flying over New York on a let’s-see-how-many-people-we-can-get-to-jump-out-of-windows mission:
Another video (from here):
And another one, with people running in panic:
Now a social worker who counsels post-traumatic stress disorder patients is considering filing a class-action suit against the government. I would be cheering her on if there were any chance of Mr. Caldera paying for his stupidity with his own money.
You kind of knew it was coming:
A crew member on a U.S.-flagged cargo ship captured by pirates off the coast of Somalia is suing his employers, claiming they sent him into pirate-infested waters without adequate protection, his attorney said Monday.
Richard Hicks of Royal Palm Beach, Florida, a crew member on the Maersk Alabama, was set to file suit Monday against Waterman Steamship Corp. and Maersk Line Limited, according to the attorney, Terry Bryant.
Hicks, working as chief steward and preparing food for other crew members, heard over the loudspeaker that pirates were on board, and he and other crew members gathered in the ship’s engine room for nearly 12 hours, Bryant said in a news release.
“The engine room was dark and hot, maybe 130 degrees,” Hicks said in the news release. “We were all cramping up with heat stroke symptoms when we were able to take a pirate hostage and tried to negotiate the return of our captain.”
I’d be surprised if he was among those who took that pirate hostage.
When you saw images of the Maersk Alabama crew celebrating the news of their captain’s rescue, you might as well have wondered, “Which of them will be the first to sue – or will it be a class action?”
Well, this one:
(AP Photo/David J. Phillip.)
Those who believe that assigning female interrogators to terrorists constitutes torture need to see this video. It shows Abu Dhabi Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan – a member of the United Arab Emirates royal family – torturing an Afghan grain dealer over a business disagreement. The video doesn’t show some of the things the UAE sheikh – with the help of UAE police – does to the man, such as soaking his genitals in lighter fluid and setting them alight.
But hey, the UAE minister of interior (the torturer’s brother) says, “a government review concluded that all rules, policies and procedures were followed correctly by the Police Department”. Muslims torturing muslims? Nothing to see here, move along.
The U.K. is busy soaking its rich, with the Labour government squeezing what it can from the popular resentment against rich bankers on whom the country’s recession is blamed. One doesn’t need to be a genius to see how it will affect British industry:
New flash: the United Kingdom has just raised their top tax rate from 40 to 50 percent. That’s before (after?) the country’s 17.5 percent VAT on virtually everything a resident buys—save petrol, alcohol, cigarettes and other items covered by “sin taxes,” which are WAY higher. And council tax. And the rest. Which includes the tax on new car purchases. For company director types, that little item was calculated at 35 percent for the first £80k. After that, nada. But now, it’s 35 percent on the whole schmeer: the complete purchase price. The Times reports that “The move left some luxury-car makers fuming, in particular Bentley, which is owned by Volkswagen but has its factory in Crewe.”
A Russian postcard (yes, postcard) from the 1900s. It is titled “Revellers” and depicts men drinking vodka in front of a government-run liquor shop in Kursk province.
Me, I would have simply smiled and asked the smug earth-saver to please give me two extra cardboard cups, thank you, and do have a nice Earth Day.
(Via Hub Blog.)
Corporate manslaughter and corporate homicide laws are something they have in Britain that says if there’s a fatal industrial accident, senior corporate management may be charged with manslaughter or homicide. And they are using these laws:
Gloucestershire company Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings has become the first firm in the UK to be charged under the new corporate manslaughter laws.
It’s over the death of Alexander Wright on 5 September 2008. Mr Wright, a junior geologist, was taking soil samples inside [a] specially-dug pit when the sides collapsed and crushed him.
CGH director Peter Eaton has been charged with gross negligence manslaughter, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 came into effect a year ago and Kate Leonard, reviewing lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service’s Special Crime Division, explained how it works:
Under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 an organisation is guilty of corporate manslaughter if the way in which its activities are managed or organised causes a death and amounts to a gross breach of a duty of care to the person who died.
A substantial part of the breach must have been in the way activities were organised by senior management. I have concluded that there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction for this offence.
Prosecution seems to believe it can prove that the sides of a pit in the ground collapsing was the fault of senior corporate management. I wonder how these laws will help Britain revive its business activity as the country plunges deeper into recession. A corporate manslaughter lawyer comments on the case:
” This situation is more likely to happen where the company is quite small and the director is only one of a small number and where he/she has a fair bit of control over the particular activity which was the cause of the death.
“If convicted, the company would face a massive financial penalty and a publicity order which could force them to widely publicise their conviction. The starting point for the fine will be 5% of the gross annual turnover of the business, but it could end up being as much as 10%. This would have an adverse effect on the company and its employees.
“It is also interesting to note that the director faces imprisonment,” he adds. “The maximum sentence for gross negligence manslaughter is life, but even if he escapes conviction for this most serious offence he could still face imprisonment for the offence under section 37 of the 1974 Health and Safety at Work etc Act, which could mean a maximum of two years under a recent amendment which just came into force in January 2009.
“The director may have a legal defence to the manslaughter charge brought against him personally, but this may all depend upon his level of control over the business and, in particular, his control over the particular activity which led to the death.”
Lechuza Caracas polo team owner, Venezuelan banker Victor Vargas:
“People write stories about me saying I have a Ferrari, a plane, a yacht. But it’s not true. I’ve got three planes, two yachts, six houses. I’ve been rich all my life!” In 2004, his daughter Margarita wed Luis Alfonso de Borbón, a cousin of Spain’s King Juan Carlos, great-grandson of the late Spanish dictator Francisco Franco and a legitimate heir to the non-existent throne of France.
He has thrived under Hugo Chávez, which also tells a lot about him.
Susan Boyle’s story is, of course, remarkable - but it’s not as though nobody knew she could sing.
Well, who would have thought: to strike it big, you need to have the talent and to put in the time.
Update: Case in point: young Susan Boyle singing at a family party 23 years ago:
I never thought I’d see a news headline like this: “Microbe-powered ‘fart’ machine stores energy”:
Scientists at Pennsylvania State University have created an electric “fart” machine of sorts, which takes advantage of a microbe’s ability to convert electrical energy into methane to create a more efficient way to store energy.
Wired has an article on the car scene of the French islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, which are just a ferry ride away from Newfoundland. How many car dealerships do 6000 people need?
More photos of this rare natural phenomenon here. (Click the photo to enlarge.)
Snow Rollers on the Camas Prairie, Idaho. March 31, 2009
The only thing more amazing than what he does on that bicycle is how easy he makes it look:
(Via Jason Kottke.)
It makes sense - straw bales should be good at absorbing shock waves:
CHEAP houses built from straw bales could dramatically improve building safety in earthquake zones. That’s the conclusion from tests in the US in which a simple straw bale house withstood shaking equivalent to a major earthquake.
Originally developed a century ago in Nebraska, homes with straw-bale walls are enjoying a revival in the US and Europe because they use green materials and provide excellent insulation. But the technology could also provide protection in quakes.
Nadya Suleman worked as a stripper who danced totally nude and was fired for breaking the rules – letting men touch her and touching them. Can’t say I’m surprised.
Complementary local currencies are on the rise, with six states now having alternative currency systems.
BerkShares -- a local currency in Great Barrington, Massachusetts