James Hartshorn

Gunman Shot Children From Shore, Reports Of Second Gunman

2011-07-23T16:21:00.001-07:00

New interviews have emerged that tell of how the Utoya gunman Anders Breivik stood on the shore and calmly shot victims as they tried to swim to safety. The gunman was dressed as a policeman and was able to lure some of his victims to him.

Meanwhile, Norwegian websites www.VG.no and www.Aftenposten.no report that a number of witnesses on the island saw a second gunman, not wearing a police uniform. Police are investigating these claims.

More on The Daily Beast: http://goo.gl/qMk5j

The Torture Chambers Of Benghazi

2011-03-09T02:20:00.001-08:00

As Gaddafi forces move out of towns and cities across Libya, the media are moving in. For the first time we are seeing the extent of the regimes apparatus of torture, and it's victims, as this report from Al-Jazeera shows:

UPDATED Mar 9: Map Of Areas Of Regime & Protester Control Within Libya

2011-03-09T02:04:00.001-08:00

Please note that this map is from the Wikipedia article on the Libyan uprising, replacing my map from earlier posts.

pop stars and a knight, it must be a gaddafi party

2011-03-07T11:26:00.001-08:00

Over the last few weeks, Wikileaks has published some damming reports that the Gaddafi family has given millions of pounds to fund their education and their entertainment. This has forced some celebrities to donate the earnings to a charity and to give a some what half hearted apology, mixed with an excuse. Wikileak's findings has also cause an independent enquiry into the funding of over 3.7 million pounds to the London School of Economics from the Gaddafi family and the resignation of its director Sir Howard Davies.

The artists and reported earnings for Gaddafi linked events:

2005 - 50 cent - unknow - undcilosed fee

2007 - Nelly Furtdo - 45 mins - $1million

2009 - Mariah Carey - 4 songs - $1million

2009 - Beyonce Knowles - 1 hour - $2million

2009 - Usher - 1 hour - undisclosed fee

Rumoured to have perform, Lionel Richie, Enrique Iglesias and Timberland. Most the pop stars have come out with regret at preforming at these event and have since donated their earning from this to charities.

Donations or payments to London School of Economics:

£2.2 - to train Libyan civil servants and professionals

£20,000 - tuition to head of Libyan investment authority

£31,000 - advice from Davies himself on Libya's wealth fund

£22,857 - travel costs from for academic LSE speakers to go to Libya

Gaddafi's son attended LSE and is now being investigated for plagiarism on his PhD thesis.

Earthquake from space

2011-03-07T08:41:00.001-08:00

New Zealand's Christchurch as seen through the Japanese spacecraft Alos. It shows the movement on the day the 6.3 tremor killed 160 people and destroyed the cities foundation.

The colour bands shows movement towards and from the satellite, you can see that the centre of the quake hit right under Christchurch.

Sexism And Car Insurance

2011-03-04T09:15:00.001-08:00

Further to our post earlier on the European Court of Justice's flawed decision on equal insurance premiums for male and female drivers, Dizzy has an interesting post here:
http://dizzythinks.net/2011/03/asessing-risk-will-never-be-as-cheap.html

Demonstrations In Morocco Prompt Concern In Other Arab Monarchies

2011-03-04T00:40:00.001-08:00

Recent protests in the Kingdom of Morocco have prompted concerns in other Arab kingdoms. So far the extreme protests in the Arab world have taken place in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya - all republics.
There have been small scale protests in countries such as Jordan, Oman and Saudi Arabia, but these have been contained with, on the most part, little bloodshed.
That Morocco, a country that has seen a decade of reforms, is subject to large scale street protests has damaged the theory that Arab monarchies are not inherently more stable than their republican neighbours.
The demonstrators are unhappy about repression and curbs on civil liberties, and are calling on Morocco to adopt a constitutional monarchy, such as those in the UK and Spain.

Ivory Coast At The Brink Of Civil War

2011-03-03T04:31:00.001-08:00

A view of the bay at Abidjan.

Rebels in the Ivory Coast have pushed south and taken a town formerly held by government loyalists. We reported last week of clashes in the southern port of Abidjan, and now appear to have taken a town in the Dix-huit-montagnes region, Zouan-Hounien. This small provincial town near the Liberian border is not an important gain in itself, but marks a general escalation of hostilities.

This map (based on a map from Wikipedia) shows the rebel controlled areas in the north of the country, the government held regions in the south, and the "zone de confiance", or ZDC, a military buffer zone that was created in 2007. The Yellow stars mark the recent flashpoints, the red star the location of the town of Zouan-Hounien:

Tensions have been mounting in the Ivory Coast for several months following elections in November 2010 after sitting president Mr Gbagbo refused to accept defeat to Mr Ouattara. At this time of turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East, the UN and the international community must ensure that it doesn't forget the Ivory Coast, a return to war there would be a tragedy.

VIDEO: Up To 20 Killed In Gaddafi Air Strikes On Brega

2011-03-02T16:43:00.001-08:00

News Ninja Current Events Trackers

2011-03-02T16:20:00.001-08:00

With a tip of the hat to the Crisis Monitors on the fantastic Blogs Of War, I have introduced our very own Current Event Trackers.

This page (accessible from the navigation bar at the top of the page) will contain Twitter widgets running searches for major current events, updated in real time.

For now there's only one, following the Arab rebellions and protests, more will follow.

If you have any ideas for other trackers, let me know in the comments below.

Should Saif Gaddafi Take A Leaf Out Of German Defence Ministers Book?

2011-03-01T15:24:00.001-08:00

Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the German Defence minister has resigned after a scandal involving his PhD thesis.

The German aristocrat was found to have copied large sections of text from sources without attribution, including newspapers and a US government website.

After a backlash from the academic community, which led to a wider campaign in Germany, Guttenberg has finally stood down, stating that he was the minister for defence, not self defence.

Guttenberg is not however the only politician to be facing charges of plagiarism. Saif Gaddafi, son of Libya's beguiled leader Colonel Gaddafi and widely seen as his heir and right hand man, is caught up in a similar scandal.

Saif Gaddafi studied at the London School of Economics from 2003 - 2008, earning a masters degree and a doctorate. The LSE is investigating allegations that he plagiarised, or rather his ghost writer plagiarised, large sections of his thesis.

The institution received £300,000 from the Gaddafi regime and is under pressure to give this money to charity, and to revoke Saif Gaddafi's doctorate.

Last week Saif was questioned on whether he and his father would leave Libya. His response was:

"There are three plans, plan A, plan B, and plan C. Plan A is to live and die in Libya. Plan B is to live and die in Libya. Plan C is to live and die in Libya."

I see he hasn't forgotten how to copy and paste.

If you would like to help humiliate Saif Gaddafi, check out the Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi Thesis Wiki, where you can collaborate on finding evidence of plagiarism in the thesis.

UPDATED Mar 1: Map Of Areas Of Regime & Protester Control Within Libya

2011-03-01T14:53:00.001-08:00

Map showing areas controlled by the Gaddafi regime (red) and anti-government protesters (green).

If you can help improve this information leave a comment below.

The European Court Of Political Correctness

2011-03-01T13:47:00.001-08:00

The European Court of Justice has ruled that it is unlawful for insurance companies to offer cheaper insurance to female motorists despite the fact that they have fewer accidents.

The change, which comes into force in 2012, will see women paying significantly more for their insurance, whilst men will pay slightly less - effectively being subsidised by their female counterparts.

Whilst gender equality is an important goal, this is not an example of it. Insurance companies assess the risk of insuring motorists based on many different demographic factors. If it is discriminatory to ask men to pay more, it follows that it is also discriminatory to ask younger people to pay more, or people who live in deprived areas with higher rates of vehicle crime.

Followed to it's logical conclusion, this decision by the European Court of Justice is, well, unjust.

Should The UN Deploy Peace Keeping Troops To Libya

2011-02-28T06:30:00.001-08:00

Some commentators have drawn a parallel to Libya of the situation in Bosnia and later Kosovo in the 90's. There are similarities: an autocratic leader slaughtering his own people, use of the armed forces to carry out these atrocities, potential for the crisis to affect other states in the region.
There are however major differences. Firstly the Gaddafi regime doesn't have the kind of popular support that Milosovic enjoyed. Every day that passes sees his power base crumble still further as diplomats defect, the armed services switch to the side of the rebels, and more and more towns and cities become stable under opposition control.
Gaddafi now has a firm hold over only parts of Tripoli. Certainly he still has the support of a substantial part of his military, but as the crisis progresses there will be more defections, which will act as a vicious circle of waning support for the regime.
The deployment of foreign troops onto Libyan soil would likely make the situation worse, vindicating Gaddafi and his statements on the intents of foreign parties. This would without doubt stabilise the tyrants support at least.
Worse still military intervention could force the Gaddafi regime into deploying chemical weapons against his own people, or the peacekeeping troops.
Of course, if he does possess these weapons there is a risk that Gaddafi would use these weapons even without UN intervention - but as we saw with Libyan pilots flying to Malta, or ejecting instead of carrying out bombings against civilians, giving an order does not mean it will be executed. If Gaddafi did order his military to commit genocide I believe it would be the final straw in his own demise.
The UN must prepare and make itself ready, and do so quickly - Gaddafi is nothing if not unpredictable - but for now it must be calm and patient, and give this abominable regime a chance to destroy itself.

Oman Export Refinery Under Siege Following Deaths Of Protesters

2011-02-28T04:48:00.001-08:00

Thousands of protesters have blocked roads leading to an industrial area of of Sohar in Oman following the shooting dead of protesters in the gulf state. The death toll in Oman rose to six after police shot dead stone throwing protesters. The police opened fire on a group of protesters on Sunday. Later a police station and governmental offices were set fire to. Oman is a neighbour of Saudi Arabia and of Yemen, where similar protests are also taking place.

UPDATED: Map Of Areas Of Regime & Protester Control Within Libya

2011-02-25T15:24:00.001-08:00

Map showing areas controlled by the Gaddafi regime (red) and anti-government protesters (green).

If you can help improve this information leave a comment below.

Gaddafi appears in public

2011-02-25T09:07:00.001-08:00

In the last few mins Gaddafi appeared and gave a speech in Green Square, Trapoli. He again mentioned that the forces of evil are behind this upraising and that he is one of the people. He tells them to dance, sing and stay up all night in the streets. He also says that he will not be beaten by these few, "We will die here, on the dear soil of Libya, we will beat all foreign threats like we did to the Italians." It comes as a surprise that he has made this public appearance, compared to only his telephone call the other day to state TV, but with the World's media allowed in for today maybe it shouldn't come as such a surprise and that Green Square has been bulked up for this show of defiance.

Conflict Of Interest Ahead Of UK AV Referendum

2011-02-25T00:29:00.001-08:00

Ed Howker at The Spectator has revealed a staggering conflict of interest in the run up to a UK poll on voting reform.
The publication says that the Electoral Reform Society, a major backer of the Yes to AV campaign, donating over £1.05 million to the campaign, is also a shareholder of Electoral Reform Services Ltd., a private company heavily involved in the implementation of British democracy.
The company, with an annual turnover of £21 million, stands to benefit from a change to polling methods, a change that many critics say could cost over £250 million?

Earthquake hits Hawaii

2011-02-24T16:45:00.001-08:00

Reports are coming in that a 3.3 magnitude earthquake has hit the Oahu region in Hawaii. Jolts were felt 130 km (80 miles) away in the capital Honolulu, there are so far no reports of damage or injury.

Blast off for the last time: US Discovery

2011-02-24T15:03:00.001-08:00

At 16:53 local time at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, NASA has launched US Discovery for the 39th and final time. With NASA now looking to deal with an American company to supply them with new launch services on a range of different vehicles, they are slowly retiring their own fleet, with Endeavour and Atlantis being the last two remaining.

Discovery has been in service since 1984 and has traveled more than 230 million km (143 million miles), thats more mileage than flying to the Sun from Earth (149 million km). US Discovery has a piece in American hearts as she was the first shuttle to fly after the Challenger and Columbia accidents.

Gaddafi uses the old blame it on al-Qaeda

2011-02-24T10:43:00.001-08:00

Speaking on Libyan state TV via telephone call Gaddafi claims that Osama bin-Laden has brain washed the youth and supplied them with weapons. "It is obvious that this is run by al-Qaeda" he says. "Those armed youngsters, our children, are incited by people who are wanted by America and the Western world." He also says that "Those young teenagers are carrying machine guns, and they feel trigger-happy. They shoot, especially when they get stoned with drugs." Gaddafi's strangest remark was an attack on British Royalty and the Queen rule, "Queen Elizabeth has ruled longer than I have and nothing has happened to her, no one has bothered her."

Map: Areas Of Regime & Protester Control Within Libya

2011-02-23T17:37:00.001-08:00

Map showing areas controlled by the Gaddafi regime (red) and anti-government protesters (green).

If you can help improve this information leave a comment below.

Libyan Pilots Eject As Aircraft Crashes Near Benghazi

2011-02-23T16:42:00.001-08:00

There are unconfirmed reports that two Libyan Air Force pilots ejected from their Sukhoi-22 fighter aircraft after refusing to bomb a target, possibly either an arms cache or protesters. The plane apparently crashed in an unpopulated area near the town of Ijdabiya, 100 miles south-west of Benghazi.

Sarah Palin likes...Sarah Palin

2011-02-23T15:22:00.001-08:00

In a leaked manuscript by one of Sarah Palin’s closest assistant's while she was governor of Alaska suggest's that she broke state election law, hated her job and even more worryingly for her ego, liked her own Facebook. In an unpublished book by Frank Bailey these leaked files contained Palin’s personal Gmail address and therefore a quick find your friends on Facebook revealed her account.

Mrs Palin set up a second account (her official page is ran by a ghostwriter) under the name "Lou Sarah". The reason for this most original name, Louise is her middle name. Palin would go as far as commenting, liking her own links and even plugging her own show. Lou has 12 friends on Facebook, is a fan of Sarah Palin, Bristol Palin, Mark Ballas (Bristol’s dancing partner on Dancing with the Stars), and an Alaskian fitness company. So its good to know that the guy/girl you always see and hate on Facebook liking their own status/pictures/links is as lonely as Lou Sarah, sorry Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin likes...Sarah Palin

2011-02-23T15:14:00.001-08:00

Mrs Palin set up a second account (her official page is ran by a ghostwriter) under the name "Lou Sarah". The reason for this most original name, Louise is her middle name. Palin would go as far as commenting, liking her own links and even plugging her own show. Lou has 12 friends on Facebook, is a fan of Sarah Palin, Bristol Palin, Mark Ballas (Bristol’s dancing partner on Dancing With the Stars), and a Alaskian fitness company. So its good to know that the guy/girl you always see and hate on Facebook liking their own status/pictures/links is as sad as Lou Sarah, sorry Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin like's...Sarah Palin

2011-02-23T15:07:00.001-08:00

Mrs Palin set up a second account (her official page is ran by a ghostwriter) under the name "Lou Sarah". The reason for this most original name, Louise is her middle name. Palin would go as far as commenting, liking her own links and even plugging her own show. Lou has 12 friends on Facebook, is a fan of Sarah Palin, Bristol Palin, Mark Ballas (Bristol’s dancing partner on Dancing With the Stars), and a Alaskian fitness company. So its good to know that the guy/girl you always see and hate on Facebook liking their own status/pictures/links is as sad as Lou Sarah, sorry Sarah Palin.

UK Government, Libya & Convicted Terrorists

2011-02-23T14:40:00.009-08:00

Tony Blair's May 2007 visit to Libya was about more than simply normalising relations with a former rogue state. The former Prime Minister was accompanied by senior officials from British defence firms MBDA and General Dynamics UK. Before they left they had secured contracts worth over £340 million.

Although strongly denied by the Labour government at the time, there is continuing speculation that these arms deals, along with lucrative oil exploration contracts for British oil giant BP were at least partly behind the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi in August 2009. The convicted bomber was released on compassionate grounds after Scottish doctors reported that he had less than 3 months to live.

A report into the release by British Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell revealed that the British government in Westminster "did all it could" to help facilitate the release of Megrahi, who is still alive today. The report did make it clear that the decision was made by the devolved Scottish government, and that no undue pressure was applied by the UK government.

Libyan Officials: "Life Is Returning To Normal"

2011-02-23T14:40:00.007-08:00

According to the BBC Libyan officials have just released a statement claiming that life in the major cities of Libya is returning to normal, the streets are safe and the government is in control. This is contradicted by footage coming out of the country which shows the protesters clearly in control.

Gunfire & Explosions Rock Ivory Coast City Of Abidjan

2011-02-23T14:40:00.005-08:00

At least 3 soldiers have been killed in clashes with demonstrators in the Ivory Coast city of Abidjan.

The demonstrators are angry at presidential incumbent Laurent Gbagbo, after elections in November last year showed that he lost to Alassane Ouattara.

Meanwhile a delegation of African Union officials have met with Mr Gbagbo in an effort to persuade him to step down.

Market trader Sephora Konate said:

"Since this morning, there has been constant shooting between the military and the people here. Everyone is terrified. Children are crying but there's nothing we can say to comfort them."

New Zealand Quake Death Toll Rises To 75, Hundreds Missing

2011-02-23T14:40:00.003-08:00

Officials in New Zealand have confirmed that 55 victims of the earthquake have been identified, and 20 more remain unidentified. Up to 300 more people are missing.

15 survivors have been found in a crushed, six-storey office building in the last hour, after a camera was lowered into the rubble.

Hundreds of rescue workers have been systematically checking the centre of Christchurch for more survivors whilst the armed forces have set up a cordon around the city centre to deter looting.

New Zealand's Prime Minister, John Key has declared a national state of emergency.

The 6.3 magnitude earthquake caused extensive damage largely due to it's shallow depth of only 5km, and the fact that the epicentre coincided with one of the oldest areas of central Christchurch.

24 Hour emergency helpline: 0800 779997

New Zealand Red Cross Person Enquiry Line: 0800 REDCROSS (0800 733 276) - for people in New Zealand concerned about the wellbeing of friends and relatives in Christchurch.

Apple To Unveil iPad 2

2011-02-23T14:40:00.001-08:00

Apple is holding an event on March 2 during which it will likely reveal details of the much anticipated successor to the iPad. Industry analysts expect it to add much requested features such as a front facing camera, FaceTime video calling support, higher quality display, a thinner, lighter form factor and a larger, higher quality speaker. The device is also rumored to support both CDMA and GSM.

A spring launch for the new iPad could also free up time in Apple's calendar for an iPhone 5 announcement this summer.

iPad 2 Features Dual-Core Graphics for Retina Display, Report Says - PCWorld

US Man Accused Of Murder In Pakistan Was Working For The CIA

2011-02-23T14:39:00.007-08:00

A former US special forces soldier arrested in Lahore, Pakistan on January 27 was working for the CIA, according to an unnamed US official.

Allen Davis, 36 was arrested after shooting two men dead, who he claimed were trying to rob him. Three parcels of equipment including a GPS device and two mobile phones have been sent to Pakistan's ISI for investigation.

Hundreds of Pakistanis have been demonstrating over the murders putting pressure on the Pakistani government to put Mr Davis on trial, despite protestations from the US State Department that Davis was an accredited member of the US consular staff - and therefore had diplomatic immunity.

Senator John Kerry has visited Islamabad to meet with Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to try to secure the release of Mr Davis, promising that he would be put on trial in the US.

The US has suggested that it may withhold aid to Pakistan until it releases Mr Davis.

President Obama said last week: "If it starts being fair game on our ambassadors around the world, including in dangerous places where we may have differences with those governments ... that's untenable.

"It means they can't do their job. And that's why we respect these conventions and every country should as well."

Lahore shooting suspect Raymond Davis 'was CIA' - BBC News

Gaddafi: "I will die a martyr"

2011-02-23T14:39:00.005-08:00

Colonel Gaddafi has said that he will not leave Libya, and will die a martyr.

During his defiant, rambling speech he tried to stir Libyans into reacting against the protesters. He used rhetoric about defying and defeating America, Britain and NATO.

He suggested that the young people of Libya were trying to emulate the people of Tunisia and Egypt, which he conceded.

He then went on to say that these young people - which he referred to as "cockroaches" - had been given drink, drugs and arms by unspecified groups and this was the cause of their actions.

He went on to say that if he had been a president he would have resigned, but as he was not he couldn't.

He said that he had already resolved the issue of power in Libya, saying the country was managed by the people via people's committees, which he suggested he may try to reform.

Gaddafi said that from tomorrow security should be restored by the police and the military. He also urged Libyans to "chase away" and "destroy" the protesters.

He continued by saying that if order wasn't restored then America would occupy Libya, and went on to discuss US engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The tone of his speech was defiant and did not sound like a leader that was about to step down.

Gaddafi Loses Control Of Eastern Libya

2011-02-23T14:39:00.003-08:00

Reuters are reporting that Gaddafi has lost control of the Eastern regions of Libya, including Benghazi and the border with Egypt, which is now controlled by anti-Gaddafi forces, some of them wearing military uniforms.

Iranian Frigate Enters The Suez Canal

2011-02-23T14:39:00.001-08:00

Earlier this morning two Iranian warships, a frigate, the Alvand, and a supply vessel, the Kharg, entered the Suez Canal en route to the Mediterranean.

The vessels are heading to Syria for training, marking the first time that Iranian vessels have traversed the strategic waterway since the Iranian Revolution of 1979.

The Alvand is usually armed with torpedoes and anti-ship missiles, although it is not currently carrying military equipment, nuclear or chemical contents, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Defence, which approved the request for transit earlier this month.

Iranian news agency Fars reported on the plans in January, before protests toppled the Mubarak regime in Egypt.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has said "Israel takes a grave view of this Iranian step".

Iranian warships enter Suez Canal amid Israeli concern - BBC News

Iranian Navy Ships Enter Suez Canal - Fars News Agency

Iranian Warships Sail Through Suez Canal - Channel 4 News

The UN's Responsibility in Libya

2011-02-23T14:38:00.001-08:00

Yesterday the Libyan Air Force started to bomb unarmed civilians using Mirage jet-fighters. The entire Libyan delegation to the UN resigned in protest, diplomats in China and India soon followed. Two Air Force Colonels had the courage to defy their orders and fly their planes to Malta, where one has applied for asylum.

The troubling thing is that many of the pilots either did not have a problem with bombing their own defenseless people, or were too afraid of the consequences if they disobeyed. Whereas in Egypt we saw the armed forces actively protecting protesters in Tahrir Square, in Libya they are murdering them.

The White House has said it is "very concerned" about the situation in Libya. Ban Ki-Moon censured the "very disturbing and shocking scenes". Sarkozy has said that it is an "unacceptable use of force" and asks for a political solution. Similarly British Prime Minister David Cameron has voiced his disapproval. China and Russia seem principally concerned about their citizens in Libya - with Russia sending planes in to help evacuate it's people.

The UN Security Council is meeting this morning to decide what course of action to take. Ibrahim al-Dabashi, Libya's Deputy Ambassador to the UN has already asked for a No Fly Zone to be set up over Libya.

This needs to be done today. Assuming the Russians and the Chinese can be persuaded not to veto a resolution (the Russians have after all just agreed a $1.8 billion arms deal with Gadaffi's regime) then the US, France and Britain all have aircraft within an hour of Libya.

It is true that there are other genocides occurring right now, which perhaps deserve as much attention as what is happening in Libya, but the fact that these attacks by the Libyan Air Force are so flagrant, so incontrovertible and potentially so easily stopped means that we really do not have any cause for delay. The UN needs to stand up and perform the job for which it was created.

Human Rights and Mythology

2010-10-12T19:18:00.001-07:00

I've just read the following comment on an article about the changing opinions of different religious groups on gay marriage:

"Gay marriage is not acceptable. God has created Adam and eve not Adam and Steve."

Perhaps Genesis is not a particularly reliable account of the formation of the human race, and should perhaps be taken with a pinch of salt. Or maybe God just thought it would be a good idea for the first two humans to reproduce?

By all means believe it, but don't base fundamental human rights on it. That is all.

>140

2010-10-05T19:53:00.001-07:00

Recently I've been rather worried. I love Twitter, and quite like Facebook. It's nice to share that amusing little thought that popped into my head. Or vent that little bit of anger caused by poor customer service in a national electronics chain store. Or tell the world that I'm currently at Firebug.

The reason I'm worried is that I think Twitter and Facebook are causing me to actually think in units of 140 characters (or the longer and much less famous limit set by Facebook). When I stopped chuckling to myself when I saw something funny, and instead started actually thinking "LOL!!!", I knew I had a problem. Sometimes it would be nice to express myself in several sentences.

So I've set up a posterous account. It was a tough choice between posterous and tumblr, although the fact that Katy Perry uses tumblr helped a lot. Also the Tweetdeck guys use posterous and they seem to know what they're doing.

I sort of feel compelled to write a longer first post, but I really can't be arsed. Goodnight.

Baroness Ashton's Questionable Rise To Power

2009-11-20T00:28:00.000-08:00

I would like to congratulate Baroness Ashton on her appointment as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. I actually think that this is the best case scenario for Britain - I think David Milliband would have made more of the position than he needed to. I'm sure Cathy Ashton will perform her role admirably.

It does bother me though that Lady Ashton rose to such power through questionable circumstances. She was made a life peer in 1999, after a career including with the Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament, management consultancies, and as a freelance policy adviser.

After being made a peer, Ashton became the minister responsible for the "Sure Start" programme, and the on to become the Leader of the House of Lords. It was in this role that Ashton helped push through the Lisbon Treaty - which created the roles of High Representative and President - despite popular opinion and a broken promise by Gordon Brown to hold a referendum on the treaty.

One can't help feeling that this unelected former quangocrat has been rewarded for her efforts.

Is Swine Flu Causing Cytokine Storms?

2009-04-28T11:18:00.000-07:00

Scientists investigating the 1918-1919 "Spanish Flu" pandemic believe that that strain of H1N1 influenza caused so much damage partly by causing victim's immune system to go into overdrive.
Researchers exhumed bodies that were buried in permafrost in Alaska and Canada, and managed to isolate the virus. When primates were infected with this strain, the scientists observed massive spikes in cytokines.
Cytokines are produced by cells when they become infected by a virus. They act as a signal to the body's immune system which then sends antibodies to that area.
The problems caused by the Spanish Flu virus were because it was such a new and unusual strain. The victims cells produced cytokines at a much higher rate, and affected organs were flooded by antibodies. Influenza is a respiratory illness and infected patients lungs were flooded with so many antibodies that their lungs were overwhelmed, ultimately leading to pneumonia.
The current outbreak seems to be affecting healthy young adults most severely, so it seems that it may be harming people via a similar mechanism.
The danger is as the virus resides in more hosts there is a much greater risk of the virus exchanging genetic material with other strains of influenza. Could this make the virus even more exotic to the immune system, and make "cytokine storms" more severe?

Deputy WHO Chief: "Containment Is Not An Option"

2009-04-28T02:17:00.000-07:00

The WHO yesterday raised it's pandemic alert level to Phase 4:

Phase 4: Verified human-to-human transmission able to cause community-level outbreaks. Significant increase in risk of a pandemic.

The deputy chief of the WHO, Dr Keiji Fukuda, said that the virus was so widespread that "containment is not an option" and that governments should concentrate on mitigating it's effects. According to the WHO, all it will take to progress to phase 6, the most serious, is:

human to human transmission confirmed in another country other than Mexico.
the virus to spread to another country in a different region.

Phase 5: Human-to-human transmission in at least two countries. Strong signal pandemic imminent
Phase 6: Virus spreads to another country in a different region. Global pandemic under way.

See also: Are We About To See The Next Flu Pandemic

UPDATE: There may be human-to-human, or community transmission in the USA. If this is confirmed we can expect Phase 5 shortly.

Are We About To See The Next Flu Pandemic?

2009-04-26T14:12:00.001-07:00

Extent of Swine Flu Infections: Purple - confirmed, pink - unconfirmed, no dot - fatality.

On Tuesday, April 21, the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) issued an alert that there had been two cases of swine flu in humans in California. On April 23 the Mexican government confirmed that the recent spate of flu like illnesses in Mexico were connected to this strain of swine flu.
Today cases of swine flu have been reported in Canada, with more suspected in New Zealand, Spain, France, UK, Israel, Columbia and Brazil. So far the virus may have killed 86 people, all in Mexico - although it is difficult to confirm the precise strain in each case. At the moment the picture isn't entirely clear, but it seems that this new and virulent strain of flu is spreading across the globe.
It should be made clear that this is by no means a pandemic at the moment; but does it have the potential to develop into one? From Wikipedia, these are the 3 conditions that the WHO says are needed for a pandemic to develop:

Emergence of a disease new to a population.
Agents infect humans, causing serious illness.
Agents spread easily and sustainably among humans.

Although there have been outbreaks of swine flu before, this one is a novel strain, containing genetic material from swine flu from North America, Europe and Asia, along with elements of bird flu and common human flu. This is a result of different strains of the flu virus co-existing in the same host, where they swap genetic material. This is a new disease.
The strain can clearly infect humans, and be passed from human to human. Non of the victims from outside Mexico seem to have had any contact with infected pigs, although all at this stage have recently returned from Mexico. The relatively high mortality rate in Mexico makes this a serious illness. Even if all the suspected cases were confirmed (many may be more common flu, or flu like illnesses) the mortality rate would be about 6%, compared with the the Spanish Flu outbreak of 1918 - 1919 which is believed to have had a mortality rate of 2.5% - 5%.
The strain does seem to be able to spread easily amongst humans, the scale of infection in Mexico suggests this. The question is can it spread sustainably? There are still only a handful of cases outside Mexico, and if these can be contained and controlled then a global pandemic may be averted, although the apparent scale of the infection in Mexico would still present a high risk.
So the outbreak certainly isn't a pandemic yet, and hopefully it won't become one, but the risk is there, and the WHO, CDC and governments and health care agencies around the world will be working very hard to fight this.

For now the advice is simple: maintain high levels of personal hygiene - wash your hands more frequently and more thoroughly, and if you fell ill with flu like symptoms stay at home - don't go to work, university, school, etc. but stay at home and seek medical help if your condition worsens.

You can keep up to date by following these on twitter:
@BreakingNews
@mpoppel - covering various news conferences etc. for BreakingNews.
@CDCemergency
@healthmap

Perfect F1 Experience: BBC & Tweetdeck

2009-04-26T07:15:00.000-07:00

I've just watched the fantastic Bahrain Grand Prix and thoroughly enjoyed seeing a great win by Jenson Button, along with a solid performance by Lewis Hamilton. The BBC coverage was fantastic, particularly the Red Button interactive features.
It was also the first time I've really used TweetDeck. I installed it a few days ago and really liked the ability to have a persistant search coloumn. What I didn't like was the notification pop-up. I use twhirl on a day-to-day basis and like the way that I can set it to show each tweet in the notification so I don't have to pull up the application window. TweetDeck only shows a summary - "3 new notifications", so I have to pull up the window each time to read a tweet. For this reason I've decided to stick with twhirl.
Today though, whilst watching the Grand Prix I used TweetDeck a bit differently. I turned off updates, so as not to use up API calls and kept twhirl running as usual. I then used TweetDeck purely for searches. I wanted to follow tweets with the #f1 tag, and being a Hamilton fan wanted to follow #Hamilton too. I set up two search coloumns, one searching for each tag.
This gave me a rolling update from thousands of people, and really helped me keep up to speed with the race. People on twitter caught things that the commentators missed, and expressed some interesting (and sometimes humorous) comments.
Will definately be doing it this way again, the only problem is getting Sundays off work!

Formula 1 Is Interesting Again

2009-04-25T09:02:00.000-07:00

There has been quite a lot of controversy over some of the rule changes rules changes prior to the 2009 F1 season. KERS, super-soft compound tyres and aerodynamic changes have all received a mixed response from the drivers, teams and fans.
After the first few races though, I think that these changes along with the changes from previous seasons like "shoot-out" qualifying have made the sport much more interesting. The teams that have decided to use KERS seem to have had varying degrees of sucess, with some teams ditching it altogether - the first being Ferrari ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix.
The one worry I have is that the sport is becoming too complex for new fans to be able to follow. With all this talk about KERS and rear diffusers it could be quite baffling for someone watching for the first time.
For veteran fans though 2009 is shaping up to be a great season, Hamilton the underdog, Red Bull with a great car and a fantastic young driver in Vettel, and the once written off Jenson Button driving for the new, but already championship leading BrawnGP. The problem I have is knowing which team I'm rooting for, McLaren, Red Bull or Brawn; either way, I can't wait for the race tomorrow.

Twitter

2009-04-11T10:38:00.000-07:00

After using Twitter (with twhirl) for about two days, I think I've identified the three ways which I use it (at least at the moment).

Messaging friends (although most of my friends are Luddites who don't use twitter yet!). It feels like a halfway-house between Facebook chat and email. Using Facebook chat can sometimes be quite stressful as I often feel under pressure to give a prompt response, which can be quite distracting. Also I have to be on Facebook, as does the friend I'm trying to contact. Also it seems to disconnect quite often, which sucks.
Getting news updates. I use an RSS reader for keeping up with blogs, and it has pop-up notifications, but for some reason I like getting news through Twitter. It feels more like a continuous stream of information, and feels more "live".
Thinking out loud. Earlier today I was in the queue at my bank, feeling a bit impatient, and I just felt like Tweeting "I don't like queuing". It just felt like something I'd like to share.

My current Twitter setup is:

Twitter: Obviously.
twhirl: A desktop client that means I don't have to be on the Twitter web page constantly.
Ping.fm: a web service that broadcasts my tweets to other services, such as Facebook (my Facebook status is now my latest tweet - good for my Luddite friends mentioned earlier), and this blog.
Mobile phone: for tweeting via SMS.