29.4.06
CNN.com - FDA says no�to medical marijuana - Apr 21, 2006
CNN.com - FDA says no�to medical marijuana - Apr 21, 2006: "WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that it does not support the use of marijuana for medical purposes."
CNN.com - Mexico set to legalize personal amounts of pot, cocaine, heroin - Apr 28, 2006
CNN.com - Mexico set to legalize personal amounts of pot, cocaine, heroin - Apr 28, 2006: "Excerpts from changes approved Friday by Mexico's Senate to the country's Federal Penal Code:
Article 478: No criminal prosecution will be brought against:
I. Any person in possession of medications which contain substances classified as narcotics ... when these medications, in their nature and amounts, are those necessary for the treatment of the individual or persons in his custody or care.
II. Any drug addict or consumer who is found in possession of a narcotic for personal use.
Article 474: (Defines a 'consumer' as):
Any person who consumes or uses psychotropic or narcotic substances, and who does not exhibit any symptoms of addiction."
Article 478: No criminal prosecution will be brought against:
I. Any person in possession of medications which contain substances classified as narcotics ... when these medications, in their nature and amounts, are those necessary for the treatment of the individual or persons in his custody or care.
II. Any drug addict or consumer who is found in possession of a narcotic for personal use.
Article 474: (Defines a 'consumer' as):
Any person who consumes or uses psychotropic or narcotic substances, and who does not exhibit any symptoms of addiction."
27.4.06
Technology Review: Emerging Technologies and their Impact
Technology Review: Emerging Technologies and their Impact: "Now Prism Solar Technologies of Stone Ridge, NY, has developed a proof-of-concept solar module that uses holograms to concentrate light, possibly cutting the cost of solar modules by as much as 75 percent, making them competitive with electricity generated from fossil fuels."
Copperfield fools robbers - People - Entertainment - smh.com.au
Copperfield fools robbers - People - Entertainment - smh.com.au: "Illusionist David Copperfield has magically escaped getting robbed.
After his show at a West Palm Beach, Florida, performing arts centre on Sunday Copperfield was walking with two female assistants back to their tour bus when four armed teenagers pulled up in a black car and demanded the group's belongings, according to police.
An assistant handed over $US400 from her pockets while the other gave up her purse with euro200, $US100, her passport, plane tickets and a mobile phone.
Copperfield said he turned his pockets inside out to reveal nothing in them, even though he was carrying his passport, wallet and mobile phone.
'Call it reverse pick-pocketing,' Copperfield told The Palm Beach Post."
After his show at a West Palm Beach, Florida, performing arts centre on Sunday Copperfield was walking with two female assistants back to their tour bus when four armed teenagers pulled up in a black car and demanded the group's belongings, according to police.
An assistant handed over $US400 from her pockets while the other gave up her purse with euro200, $US100, her passport, plane tickets and a mobile phone.
Copperfield said he turned his pockets inside out to reveal nothing in them, even though he was carrying his passport, wallet and mobile phone.
'Call it reverse pick-pocketing,' Copperfield told The Palm Beach Post."
26.4.06
Telegraph | News | Bach works were written by his second wife, claims academic
Telegraph | News | Bach works were written by his second wife, claims academic: "Bach works were written by his second wife, claims academic
Famous works attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach were not penned by the great composer but by his second wife, researchers believe.
A study by an academic who has spent more than 30 years looking at Bach's work claims that Anna Magdalena Bach, traditionally believed to be Bach's musical copyist, actually wrote some of his best-loved works, including his Six Cello Suites.
Martin Jarvis, a professor at Charles Darwin University School of Music in Darwin and the conductor of the city's symphony orchestra, said that 'a number of books would need to be rewritten' after presenting his findings to a Bach symposium last week.
The findings have been described as 'highly important' by Bach scholars and will be published in a doctorate, later this year.
Prof Jarvis, who is originally from Wales, used police forensic science techniques to scrutinise manuscripts he believed to be written by Anna Magdalena."
Famous works attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach were not penned by the great composer but by his second wife, researchers believe.
A study by an academic who has spent more than 30 years looking at Bach's work claims that Anna Magdalena Bach, traditionally believed to be Bach's musical copyist, actually wrote some of his best-loved works, including his Six Cello Suites.
Martin Jarvis, a professor at Charles Darwin University School of Music in Darwin and the conductor of the city's symphony orchestra, said that 'a number of books would need to be rewritten' after presenting his findings to a Bach symposium last week.
The findings have been described as 'highly important' by Bach scholars and will be published in a doctorate, later this year.
Prof Jarvis, who is originally from Wales, used police forensic science techniques to scrutinise manuscripts he believed to be written by Anna Magdalena."
25.4.06
Newsvine - Iran to Let Women Go to Soccer Games
Newsvine - Iran to Let Women Go to Soccer Games: "TEHRAN, IRAN — Iranian women will be allowed to attend soccer matches for first time since the country's 1979 Islamic revolution, Iran's president said in a decree posted on his Web site Monday.
Women would sit in separate section of the stands, away from the usually raucous male fans.
'The presence of families and women will improve soccer-watching manners, and promote a healthy atmosphere,' Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said. 'They will be allocated some of the best stands in stadiums,' he added."
Women would sit in separate section of the stands, away from the usually raucous male fans.
'The presence of families and women will improve soccer-watching manners, and promote a healthy atmosphere,' Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said. 'They will be allocated some of the best stands in stadiums,' he added."
Comic book gives graphic account of 9/11 atrocities - World - Times Online
Comic book gives graphic account of 9/11 atrocities - World - Times Online: "THE official report on the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, already a surprise bestseller, is to burst into colour as a comic book.
Two veteran American comic-book artists, who are more accustomed to working with superheroes, have turned the meticulously detailed 500-page bestselling government document into 144 pages of cartoons. The book, due out in September, illustrates the fate of the four hijacked planes, according to the timeline laid out by the 9/11 commission set up by Congress."
Two veteran American comic-book artists, who are more accustomed to working with superheroes, have turned the meticulously detailed 500-page bestselling government document into 144 pages of cartoons. The book, due out in September, illustrates the fate of the four hijacked planes, according to the timeline laid out by the 9/11 commission set up by Congress."
22.4.06
Iran, Russia reach 'basic' uranium deal - Mideast/N. Africa - MSNBC.com
Iran, Russia reach 'basic' uranium deal - Mideast/N. Africa - MSNBC.com: "TEHRAN, Iran - Iran’s envoy to the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Saturday the Islamic republic had reached a “basic deal” with the Kremlin to form a joint uranium enrichment venture on Russian territory, state-run television reported."
18.4.06
CEOs say how you treat a waiter can predict a lot about character - Yahoo! News
CEOs say how you treat a waiter can predict a lot about character - Yahoo! News: "Office Depot CEO Steve Odland remembers like it was yesterday working in an upscale French restaurant in Denver.
ADVERTISEMENT
The purple sorbet in cut glass he was serving tumbled onto the expensive white gown of an obviously rich and important woman. 'I watched in slow motion ruining her dress for the evening,' Odland says. 'I thought I would be shot on sight.'
Thirty years have passed, but Odland can't get the stain out of his mind, nor the woman's kind reaction. She was startled, regained composure and, in a reassuring voice, told the teenage Odland, 'It's OK. It wasn't your fault.' When she left the restaurant, she also left the future Fortune 500 CEO with a life lesson: You can tell a lot about a person by the way he or she treats the waiter.
Odland isn't the only CEO to have made this discovery. Rather, it seems to be one of those rare laws of the land that every CEO learns on the way up. It's hard to get a dozen CEOs to agree about anything, but all interviewed agree with the Waiter Rule.
They acknowledge that CEOs live in a Lake Wobegon world where every dinner or lunch partner is above average in their deference. How others treat the CEO says nothing, they say. But how others treat the waiter is like a magical window into the soul.
And beware of anyone who pulls out the power card to say something like, 'I could buy this place and fire you,' or 'I know the owner and I could have you fired.' Those who say such things have revealed more about their character than about their wealth and power.
Whoever came up with the waiter observation 'is bang spot on,' says BMW North America President Tom Purves, a native of Scotland, a citizen of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, who lives in New York City with his Norwegian wife, Hilde, and works for a German company. That makes him qualified to speak on different cultures, and he says the waiter theory is true everywhere.
The CEO who came up with it, or at least first wrote it down, is Raytheon CEO Bill Swanson. He wrote a booklet of 33 short leadership observations called Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management. Raytheon has given away 250,000 of the books.
Among those 33 rules is only one that Swanson says never fails: 'A person who is nice to you but rude to the waiter, or to others, is not a nice person.'"
ADVERTISEMENT
The purple sorbet in cut glass he was serving tumbled onto the expensive white gown of an obviously rich and important woman. 'I watched in slow motion ruining her dress for the evening,' Odland says. 'I thought I would be shot on sight.'
Thirty years have passed, but Odland can't get the stain out of his mind, nor the woman's kind reaction. She was startled, regained composure and, in a reassuring voice, told the teenage Odland, 'It's OK. It wasn't your fault.' When she left the restaurant, she also left the future Fortune 500 CEO with a life lesson: You can tell a lot about a person by the way he or she treats the waiter.
Odland isn't the only CEO to have made this discovery. Rather, it seems to be one of those rare laws of the land that every CEO learns on the way up. It's hard to get a dozen CEOs to agree about anything, but all interviewed agree with the Waiter Rule.
They acknowledge that CEOs live in a Lake Wobegon world where every dinner or lunch partner is above average in their deference. How others treat the CEO says nothing, they say. But how others treat the waiter is like a magical window into the soul.
And beware of anyone who pulls out the power card to say something like, 'I could buy this place and fire you,' or 'I know the owner and I could have you fired.' Those who say such things have revealed more about their character than about their wealth and power.
Whoever came up with the waiter observation 'is bang spot on,' says BMW North America President Tom Purves, a native of Scotland, a citizen of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, who lives in New York City with his Norwegian wife, Hilde, and works for a German company. That makes him qualified to speak on different cultures, and he says the waiter theory is true everywhere.
The CEO who came up with it, or at least first wrote it down, is Raytheon CEO Bill Swanson. He wrote a booklet of 33 short leadership observations called Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management. Raytheon has given away 250,000 of the books.
Among those 33 rules is only one that Swanson says never fails: 'A person who is nice to you but rude to the waiter, or to others, is not a nice person.'"
17.4.06
ABC News: Exxon Chairman Gets $400 Million Retirement Package Amid Soaring Gas Prices
ABC News: Exxon Chairman Gets $400 Million Retirement Package Amid Soaring Gas Prices: "Last year, Exxon made the biggest profit of any company ever, $36 billion, and its retiring chairman appears to be reaping the benefits."
15.4.06
NATIONAL JOURNAL: Cheney Authorized Leak Of CIA Report, Libby Says (04/14/2006)
NATIONAL JOURNAL: Cheney Authorized Leak Of CIA Report, Libby Says (04/14/2006): "Vice President Dick Cheney directed his then-chief of staff, I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, on July 12, 2003 to leak to the media portions of a then-highly classified CIA report that Cheney hoped would undermine the credibility of former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, a critic of the Bush administration's Iraq policy, according to Libby's grand jury testimony in the CIA leak case and sources who have read the classified report."
14.4.06
Apple - Boot Camp
Apple - Boot Camp: "More and more people are buying and loving Macs. To make this choice simply irresistible, Apple will include technology in the next major release of Mac OS X, Leopard, that lets you install and run the Windows XP operating system on your Mac. Called Boot Camp (for now), you can download a public beta today.
As elegant as it gets
Boot Camp lets you install Windows XP without moving your Mac data, though you will need to bring your own copy to the table, as Apple Computer does not sell or support Microsoft Windows.(1) Boot Camp will burn a CD of all the required drivers for Windows so you don't have to scrounge around the Internet looking for them.
System Manager
Optional alt. At startup, hold down the option key (alt) to choose between Mac OS X and Windows.
Run XP natively
Once you’ve completed Boot Camp, simply hold down the option key at startup to choose between Mac OS X and Windows. (That’s the “alt” key for you longtime Windows users.) After starting up, your Mac runs Windows completely natively. Simply restart to come back to Mac."
As elegant as it gets
Boot Camp lets you install Windows XP without moving your Mac data, though you will need to bring your own copy to the table, as Apple Computer does not sell or support Microsoft Windows.(1) Boot Camp will burn a CD of all the required drivers for Windows so you don't have to scrounge around the Internet looking for them.
System Manager
Optional alt. At startup, hold down the option key (alt) to choose between Mac OS X and Windows.
Run XP natively
Once you’ve completed Boot Camp, simply hold down the option key at startup to choose between Mac OS X and Windows. (That’s the “alt” key for you longtime Windows users.) After starting up, your Mac runs Windows completely natively. Simply restart to come back to Mac."
13.4.06
deseretnews.com | Physicist says heat substance felled WTC
deseretnews.com | Physicist says heat substance felled WTC: "EPHRAIM — A Brigham Young University physicist said he now believes an incendiary substance called thermite, bolstered by sulfur, was used to generate exceptionally hot fires at the World Trade Center on 9/11, causing the structural steel to fail and the buildings to collapse.
'It looks like thermite with sulfur added, which really is a very clever idea,' Steven Jones, professor of physics at BYU, told a meeting of the Utah Academy of Science, Arts and Letters at Snow College Friday.
The government requires standard explosives to contain tag elements enabling them to be traced back to their manufacturers. But no tags are required in aluminum and iron oxide, the materials used to make thermite, he said. Nor, he said, are tags required in sulfur.
Jones is co-chairman, with James H. Fetzer, a distinguished professor of philosophy at the University of Minnesota of Scholars for 9/11 Truth, a group of college faculty members who believe conspirators other than pilots of the planes were directly involved in bringing down New York's Trade Towers."
'It looks like thermite with sulfur added, which really is a very clever idea,' Steven Jones, professor of physics at BYU, told a meeting of the Utah Academy of Science, Arts and Letters at Snow College Friday.
The government requires standard explosives to contain tag elements enabling them to be traced back to their manufacturers. But no tags are required in aluminum and iron oxide, the materials used to make thermite, he said. Nor, he said, are tags required in sulfur.
Jones is co-chairman, with James H. Fetzer, a distinguished professor of philosophy at the University of Minnesota of Scholars for 9/11 Truth, a group of college faculty members who believe conspirators other than pilots of the planes were directly involved in bringing down New York's Trade Towers."
12.4.06
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Hamas in call to end suicide bombings
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Hamas in call to end suicide bombings: "Hamas is to abandon its use of suicide bombers, who have killed almost 300 Israelis, in any future confrontations with Israel, its activists have told The Observer.
The Islamic group, which leads the Palestinian Authority, says, however, that it may resort to other forms of violence if there is no progress towards Palestinian statehood.
Yihiyeh Musa, a Hamas member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, said Hamas had moved into a 'new era' which did not require suicide attacks.
'The suicide bombings happened in an exceptional period and they have now stopped,' he said. 'They came to an end as a change of belief.'"
The Islamic group, which leads the Palestinian Authority, says, however, that it may resort to other forms of violence if there is no progress towards Palestinian statehood.
Yihiyeh Musa, a Hamas member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, said Hamas had moved into a 'new era' which did not require suicide attacks.
'The suicide bombings happened in an exceptional period and they have now stopped,' he said. 'They came to an end as a change of belief.'"
7.4.06
Barbecue meats linked with prostate cancer - Yahoo! News
Barbecue meats linked with prostate cancer - Yahoo! News: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A compound formed when meat is charred at high temperatures -- as in barbecue -- encourages the growth of prostate cancer in rats, researchers reported on Sunday.
ADVERTISEMENT
Their study, presented at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, may help explain the link between eating meat and a higher risk of prostate cancer.
It also fits in with other studies suggesting that cooking meat until it chars might cause cancer."
ADVERTISEMENT
Their study, presented at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, may help explain the link between eating meat and a higher risk of prostate cancer.
It also fits in with other studies suggesting that cooking meat until it chars might cause cancer."
Oddly Enough News Article | Reuters.com
Oddly Enough News Article | Reuters.com: "NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A textbook used at schools in the Indian state of Rajasthan compares housewives to donkeys, and suggests the animals make better companions as they complain less and are more loyal to their 'masters,' The Times of India reported Tuesday.
'A donkey is like a housewife ... In fact, the donkey is a shade better, for while the housewife may sometimes complain and walk off to her parents' home, you'll never catch the donkey being disloyal to his master,' the newspaper reported, quoting a Hindi-language primer meant for 14-year-olds.
The book was approved by the state's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party government but has sparked protests from the party's women's wing.
State education officials in Rajasthan, a western state known for its conservative attitude toward women, said people should not be upset by the comparison, the paper said.
'The comparison was made in good humor,' state education official A.R. Khan was quoted as saying. 'However, protests have been taken note of and the board is in the process of removing it (the reference).'"
'A donkey is like a housewife ... In fact, the donkey is a shade better, for while the housewife may sometimes complain and walk off to her parents' home, you'll never catch the donkey being disloyal to his master,' the newspaper reported, quoting a Hindi-language primer meant for 14-year-olds.
The book was approved by the state's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party government but has sparked protests from the party's women's wing.
State education officials in Rajasthan, a western state known for its conservative attitude toward women, said people should not be upset by the comparison, the paper said.
'The comparison was made in good humor,' state education official A.R. Khan was quoted as saying. 'However, protests have been taken note of and the board is in the process of removing it (the reference).'"
Woman offers $22m to end seal hunt - Middle East - Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au
Woman offers $22m to end seal hunt - Middle East - Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au: "A CONNECTICUT offered Canada $US16 million ($22.25 million) to immediately end a controversial seal hunt, she wrote in an open letter to the prime minister today, but Canada is not biting.
'Your government has repeatedly stated that the $16 million realised from the slaughter of Canadian baby seals is vital to the fishing communities of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and Newfoundland,' Cathy Kangas said in her letter.
'If you stop this year's hunt immediately, we will provide you with this $16 million to be distributed at your discretion.'
But Steven Outhouse, a spokesman for Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn, said: 'The short answer is 'No'. We're not interested in the offer and would prefer she put the money in another worthwhile cause.'
Despite protests by countless animal rights groups and celebrities including Canadian-born actress Pamela Anderson, French film legend Brigitte Bardot and former Beatle Paul McCartney, Ottawa authorised the cull of 325,000 seals this year."
'Your government has repeatedly stated that the $16 million realised from the slaughter of Canadian baby seals is vital to the fishing communities of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and Newfoundland,' Cathy Kangas said in her letter.
'If you stop this year's hunt immediately, we will provide you with this $16 million to be distributed at your discretion.'
But Steven Outhouse, a spokesman for Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn, said: 'The short answer is 'No'. We're not interested in the offer and would prefer she put the money in another worthwhile cause.'
Despite protests by countless animal rights groups and celebrities including Canadian-born actress Pamela Anderson, French film legend Brigitte Bardot and former Beatle Paul McCartney, Ottawa authorised the cull of 325,000 seals this year."
6.4.06
How I Work: Bill Gates - Apr. 4, 2006
How I Work: Bill Gates - Apr. 4, 2006: "How I Work: Bill Gates
Not much of a paper chase for Microsoft's chairman, who uses a range of digital tools to do business."
Not much of a paper chase for Microsoft's chairman, who uses a range of digital tools to do business."
4.4.06
CNN.com - Doctors grow organs from patients' own cells - Apr 3, 2006
CNN.com - Doctors grow organs from patients' own cells - Apr 3, 2006: "In the new procedure, doctors extract muscle and bladder cells from a small piece of the patient's own bladder. The cells are grown in a Petri dish, then layered onto a three-dimensional mold shaped like a bladder.
In a few weeks, the cells produce a new bladder, which is implanted into the patient. Within a few more weeks, the new bladder has grown to normal size and has started functioning.
Atala is working to grow 20 different tissues and organs, including blood vessels and hearts, in the laboratory, according to the university.
'We're not using any type of stem cell population or cloning techniques, but mainly the patient's own cells that we're using to create these organs and put them back into the patient,' Atala told CNN.
Because the bladders are grown from a patient's own cells, there is no risk of rejection, as in a traditional transplant.
More studies will be needed before growing replacement organs becomes routine, but Atala said the procedure eventually might help ease shortages of organs available for transplant."
In a few weeks, the cells produce a new bladder, which is implanted into the patient. Within a few more weeks, the new bladder has grown to normal size and has started functioning.
Atala is working to grow 20 different tissues and organs, including blood vessels and hearts, in the laboratory, according to the university.
'We're not using any type of stem cell population or cloning techniques, but mainly the patient's own cells that we're using to create these organs and put them back into the patient,' Atala told CNN.
Because the bladders are grown from a patient's own cells, there is no risk of rejection, as in a traditional transplant.
More studies will be needed before growing replacement organs becomes routine, but Atala said the procedure eventually might help ease shortages of organs available for transplant."
3.4.06
Telegraph | News | Government in secret talks about strike against Iran
Telegraph | News | Government in secret talks about strike against Iran: "The Government is to hold secret talks with defence chiefs tomorrow to discuss possible military strikes against Iran.
A high-level meeting will take place in the Ministry of Defence at which senior defence chiefs and government officials will consider the consequences of an attack on Iran.
It is believed that an American-led attack, designed to destroy Iran's ability to develop a nuclear bomb, is 'inevitable' if Teheran's leaders fail to comply with United Nations demands to freeze their uranium enrichment programme."
A high-level meeting will take place in the Ministry of Defence at which senior defence chiefs and government officials will consider the consequences of an attack on Iran.
It is believed that an American-led attack, designed to destroy Iran's ability to develop a nuclear bomb, is 'inevitable' if Teheran's leaders fail to comply with United Nations demands to freeze their uranium enrichment programme."
S'abonner à :
Messages (Atom)