Is swine flu making pharmaceutical companies rich?

OK, who else do you want making vaccines? Companies exist to make money. That doesn’t mean we don’t ever need what they’re selling. I’m not discounting that there’s marketing and hype in pharmaceuticals, like many other industries. But I’m not going to forswear all medicines because Big Pharma is making a profit. If they weren’t making a profit, they wouldn’t be making the stuff.

In other words, if there’s proof swine flu’s a hoax and those people who died were misdiagnosed, let’s talk about a conspiracy. Otherwise, it’s a dangerous argument to make when people’s health could be protected with a swine flu shot.
Flu shots work best when everybody gets one. It’s called herd immunity. Not getting one increases everyone’s risk.

SHOOT: One of the better articles I've read on swine flu. Just so you know, though, in the past week 435 people have died of swine flu in North America, that's a 32% increase. In South America 485 people have died over the past week, an 18% increase. In the European Union deaths are up 18%.

clipped from thechronicleherald.ca Don’t be misled by swine flu skeptics • A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found swine flu kills people by depriving their blood of oxygen, which, in the most severe cases, leads to organ failure and death. A Canadian study, under the leadership of Dr. Anand Kumar of the Health Sciences Centre and St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg, found the average age of those hospitalized with swine flu was about 32, and almost two-thirds were women. • While it’s true that seasonal flu kills far more people than have so far died from swine flu worldwide, two things should be remembered. First, this hemisphere is just entering its flu season. Second, children and young adults are already dying in numbers greater than you’d expect from seasonal flu. Fact: The H1N1 vaccine is not some new, never-before-tried approach to immunizing people. • Some people dispute flu shots work at all.

Jailed journalist released

SHOOT: He works for a satirical paper, doesn't that explain something?

clipped from www.news24.com Niamey - The appeals court in Niger on Monday ordered the immediate release of an editor of a satirical paper weeks before completing his three-month jail term, a local media lobby group said. Abdoulaye Tiemogo, editor of the weekly Le Canard Dechaine, was jailed mid-August. "Tiemogo having served more than two months in prison is now free and should be out of prison today," chairman of the Association of Editors of Independent Media in Niger (ANEPI), Boubacar Diallo, said. He was convicted of "casting discredit on a judicial ruling" following a comment he made on a private television on an international arrest warrant for exiled former prime minister Hama Amadou on corruption charges. He then appealed against the conviction. The Paris-based global watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) in its latest worldwide press freedom index, ranks Niger number 139 out of 175 countries, a drop of nine places from last year.

So temperatures dip off a highest ever record, and that means a cooling trend?

"The last 10 years are the warmest 10-year period of the modern record," said NOAA climate monitoring chief Deke Arndt. "Even if you analyze the trend during that 10 years, the trend is actually positive, which means warming."

SHOOT: It doesn't take a genius to see we're still very high on an increasing trend. A warming trend. Some of those upward spikes are huge. I'd say we're due for another huge spike after a period of consolidation. Note each spike is followed by a downward motion, but not recently.

clipped from news.yahoo.com WASHINGTON – Have you heard that the world is now cooling instead of warming? You may have seen some news reports on the Internet or heard about it from a provocative new book. Only one problem: It's not true, according to an analysis of the numbers done by several independent statisticians for The Associated Press. The case that the Earth might be cooling partly stems from recent weather. Last year was cooler than previous years. It's been a while since the super-hot years of 1998 and 2005. So is this a longer climate trend or just weather's normal ups and downs? In a blind test, the AP gave temperature data to four independent statisticians and asked them to look for trends, without telling them what the numbers represented. The experts found no true temperature declines over time. "If you look at the data and sort of cherry-pick a micro-trend within a bigger trend, that technique is particularly suspect," said John Grego, a professor of statistics at the University of South Carolina.

Will we ever get to the Moon?

The skinny rocket, towering 327 feet, is the tallest to sit on a launching pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida since the 363-foot Saturn V rockets used for the moon landings in the 1960s and 1970s.
Critics of the Ares I, which is part of NASA’s Constellation program intended to return astronauts to the Moon by 2020, have described it as too expensive, underpowered and technically flawed. The biggest problem with the Ares I, however, is that it might be too late.

SHOOT: This test rocket won't even go as far as Earth orbit.

clipped from www.nytimes.com The first flight in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s program to build a next-generation rocket to replace the space shuttle could also be the swan song. The launching of the Ares I-X, a prototype, is scheduled for 8 a.m. Tuesday. It comes less than a week after a blue-ribbon panel reviewing NASA’s human spaceflight program released its final report, which offers a less-than-ringing endorsement of the Ares I rocket and brings the entire program into question. Most of the options explored by the panel look to alternatives from commercial companies to carry astronauts into Earth orbit. The $450 million Ares I-X is almost the same size and shape as the planned Ares I, but with a less powerful first stage and a dummy second stage. The test flight will carry 700 sensors to measure stress, temperature, vibrations and other data that will give engineers a chance to validate and tweak their designs.

350 in pictures

SHOOT: Good to see some activity but seems like it wasn't very well attended. I think instead of protesting there should be more of an attempt to do something or change something. Tree planting, a day on a farm, an attempt to live at home in the most sustainable way possible. The impact on the world turning off lightbulbs for an hour, for example, has an immediate effect.
I believe people are willing to ration themselves because one thing I think we're all clear on is this: massive consumption isn't good for us, or for this planet.
More here: http://www.350.org/

clipped from www.urbansprout.co.za 350 Noordhoek 350 Signal Hill 350 Kenya 350 Ethiopia 350 Mexico City 350 Chicago

UFS to re-open Reitz Case - following criticism of its decision to pardon

SHOOT: What a sad story. You'd think a year before the 2010 World Cup that the government would want such a shameful headline grabber out of the newspapers. But it is the ANC who are pushing for the re-opening of the Reitz case hardest. Why? Because 'Cry Racism' is a rallying call to other Africans. It's political efficacy isn't in doubt. It's good for Malema and black solidarity. It's divisive and harmful to everyone else of course. It's certainly at odds with Madiba's spirit of reconciliation.
Which is better, to blame the Reitz four, or to punish and then forgive them?
The way to resolve this matter ought really to be to see how the 'victims' of this case feel. Not to have the Youth League take up/make up the cause of the 'victims' as appears to be the case.

clipped from www.news24.com Bloemfontein - The University of the Free State will reopen discussions on the Reitz residence video following criticism of its decision to pardon the four students involved, it said on Sunday. "All stakeholders inside and outside the UFS are invited to meet with the university management to table their concerns and to try to find consensus on a way forward," rector Jonathan Jansen said in a statement. Anyone who wanted to be take part in these talks should contact Billyboy Ramahlele on 051-401-2822 to make an appointment. UFS management would be available for these consultations at any time. At his inauguration last Friday, Jansen announced the university had pardoned four former Reitz students whom filmed an initiation of five black staff members into hostel activities in 2007. Jansen's announcement had drawn criticism, notably from Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande, Cosatu and the ANC Youth League, and praise in the past week.

The View from my Bicycle [COLUMN]

Journalists vs Accountants

I went to an end of year function held by an accounting firm in the Northern Suburbs of Johannesburg over the weekend. I'm not sure what I was expecting, if anything. But I came away very aware that the people I used to work with, and these people, are very different. It boils down to a contrast in culture.

This afternoon I went to Pretoria and had a braai with a school friend of mine [also an accountant] and his family and friends, and I spoke to him about this idea, of cultural differences in different work industries. It's very real.


My friend, for example, is quite a reticent, mild mannered fellow. That modesty shouldn't be mistaken for timidness. You can see in the quality of their home life [dog, pool, trampoline, icecream and TV games for the kids, and the overall relaxed atmosphere] that being a solid breadwinner is a recipe for a calm, stable, happy family.


I think the main difference between people in the media and people involved in auditing and accounting, is that people in the media suffer from AADD [advanced attention deficit disorder]. Put plainly, media people lack the ability to listen. To themselves or anyone else. You can understand why. Each day is a barrage of noise coming in [input] and output. There's so much that the quality suffers. We know this based on the quality and quantity of media we see each and every day. It's no longer a public service, it's a private service pretending to be a public service.
Although some media people, editors in particular, are somewhat savvy to details, and somewhat perfectionistic, it's a schizophrenic quality rather than a consistent discipline. With accountants, that attention to detail is something else. It's meticulous. Because, of course, far more is riding on errors in those balance sheet calculations than a mere spelling error or an error in attribution. Furthermore, accountants are trained to maintain a constant level of attention. They're trained to see the details, and the bigger picture, and extrapolate meaningful insights. What does this information mean? What can I do with this? How can I tie all these details together to inform some new process, to bring the loose pieces together into something new and cohesive that adds value? Editors seem trained to do the opposite. Focus, then jump onto the next train of thought. Hence their schizophrenia.

But it's more than the mental aspect that differs from these two groups. While I worked for the media I also attended these year-end functions. It's probably no surprise, but accountants are a far more polished lot. Everyone in attendance was very neat, well dressed, almost all slim and apparently healthy and well looked after. Media folk always seem to be chronically addicted to something; have that hang-dog hungover look, and stink of either cigarettes or coffee or both. What they do, whether it's eating, or boozing, they do in excess. By excess I mean beyond that point where excess is fun. Yes, I'm generalising.

At our dinner I noticed the accountants ate modest portions of delicious grub. I was one of the exceptions that went back for seconds, and felt like a bit of a piggy between all these well balanced people. Of course I'd missed breakfast so I was particularly hungry, but I did give myself an extra glance in the mirror afterwards. There is something else to mention... I studied accounting for three years [when I did a BSC] and I found it mind numbingly dull.

I don't think you need to be particularly bright to be an auditor, but you do need to apply yourself. It's a commendable grown-up quality. People whocan't apply themselves lack maturity and another word I've used before - discipline. You need a certain amount of discipline to stick with something that is, well, boring. Although journalism is the same, I think the degree of difficulty, and complexity, and the dull factor, is greater in accounting. Hence, earnings are too. KPMG said their profits were up 15% over the past year. I doubt whether there is a media company in the world with comparable figures to those right now.

You might also think that it was a prissy evening filled with well dressed people who don't know how to loosen their ties and have fun. I was surprised at how young the majority of accountants were, and the majority - men and women - were really attractive. I'm talking classy, sexy, sophisticated attractive. At least a dozen of the girls wouldn't have looked out of place on the cover of GLAMOUR or COSMO. The men weren't geeky nerds either. There were one or two awkward looking fellas, one or two damsels in distress, but in general, a smart, sensible selection of beddable brides and charming, genteel grooms working the dance-floor.

It is hard to imagine those accountants being addicted to anything, because you'd imagine that would fizzle their ability to think clearly. Journalists, in contrast, those I've encountered, seem particularly susceptible to alcoholism, chain smoking, insomnia, narcissism, pettiness, you name it. They're also less socially balanced because they're so damn unhappy all the time. Thge most miserable people I've met aren't dentists or oil rig workers, they're editors. You'd think they'd beat the accountants on this score, because accountants work so many hours, and it isn't the most stimulating work in the world [something they - accountants -readily concede]. I think accountants work harder, but they also earn enough to play harder, to take those vacations and head off into the sunset. An accountant I spoke to had spent a year working in the US. In New York. Manhattan New York. I'm guessing but I'd say accountants earn enough to reward themselves with an abundance of exotic, life enhancing holidays. When editors go on holiday they either check into rehab or go chasing the dragon.

I don't particularly aspire to be in the media camp or the accountants camp. I admire the media for their savvy, in terms of general knowledge, of having their finger on the pulse, but having said that, knowing the latest detail in the ongoing Mugabe-Tsvangirai saga, and being the first to know has about as much value as knowing the blow-by-blow of a soapie. News is no longer earth-shatteringly important, or even relevant. Insights are, and the media are off the mark, far off the mark in this respect. We no longer turn to the media to learn anything that's significant or valuable in terms of information. When it comes to climate or economics or health, we're fed noise. The media is the mouthpiece of politicians and companies, little more. Which is why we're circumspect of what the media tells us; we suspectwe're being fed what someone wants us to hear.

I admire accountants more than journalists because they're able to do something I know I'm not, and that's apply themselves to mundane but valuable processes. There's a lot of value, for corporations, in someone who can look at those balance sheets, and consult, and push the strategy in a new direction. But they're ultimately just playing chess with money; do they ultimately create anything? They manage numbers, just as editors manage words.

Does the fact that accountants are well heeled, better polished and more balanced than their media peers make them better people? You might say yes, but the way to test this, if you ask me, is by asking this simple question. Which group is more plugged into reality? In the real world? I'd guess it's a dead heat. Accountants might get their noses ahead on account of their media cousins drowning in their own noise and addictions.
We know the people who work at companies like Goldman Sachs, who've run companies into the ground, the people who caused the subprime crisis are essentially accountants, or at least people who studied accounting. These schemes and tricks came from an inbred arrogance, from a sense of being smarter than the system, and too smart for their own good. The ponzi schemer and the TV presenter, or reality show celebrity, or lingerie model, or columnist, suffer from the same vulgar hubris. Too much money is the same as too much attention - it's simply too much.

I see myself as floating beyond both these groups. I'm not sure if it is a good place to be floating in. By that I mean I'm not sure if it is viable, financially, to have personal standards of integrity in the world. To be concerned about absolute reality, because this may be in conflict with a majority of subjective realities. Sure, a basic level of honesty is required by any employer, but there is also a basic level of depravity that gets you hired. You have to be prepared to sacrifice who you are, and transform yourself from thinking human being, sensitive person, to cubicle slave slash automaton who yearns for a paycheck each month. A certain amount of zealousness is good, but a certain amount above and beyond that can get you fired. The word zealous means the same, quite frankly, as caring. Giving a damn about yourself, and about what the hell is going on in the world.

Being creative in how you live means you're your own master, but potentially the master of disaster. Potentially you can be the creator of your own reality, your own prospects. I'm also interested in contributing something real to the world. In the same way that a farmer grows food that can nourish someone, that a builder can build a structure that can enhance, and add value to the human scale of living [as opposed to providing homes and spaces for cars] I'm interested in living out those insights, and introducing sustainable, sensible ideas into the maelstrom.

Problem is a lot of people aren't interested. A lot of people are still chasing their own tails. There's also a lot of noise out there from other people like [but not really like] me. Trying to publish stories, trying to make their mark. Being successful today often means being rich. It's not always, necessarily, a compliment. You may have earned money doing what you were trained to do, doing your job, but perhaps your salary depends on you pretending that the economy is growing when it isn't, or pretending that online advertising works when you know it doesn't. In other words, a sort of win/lose game between buyer and seller.

I'm more interested in finding a win/win, and being the sort of person, and doing the sort of thing that adds to our common experience from the world, rather than the opposite. In other words, you earn money by being honest, by doing honest business, by building something that doesn't only benefit yourself, or your company, but the entire equation. I'm interested in being part of the solution to our increasing troubles, are you?

350 is the most important number in the world

"Tomorrow will be the single most widespread day of citizens' action that the earth has ever seen."
In Cape Town a group of hikers will form a human 350 on top of Table Mountain which will be filmed from a helicopter "to send out the powerful message to the world that we need a fair, ambitious and binding agreement at Copenhagen towards promoting the safety of our ecosystems and the communities which depend on them".
Other events in South Africa include the Emmarentia Dam march (on Saturday from 10:00 to 16:00) in Johannesburg, where supporters can join a parade, enjoy a picnic afterwards and get the opportunity to write a postcard to President Jacob Zuma urging him to go to Copenhagen.
If you like building sand castles, Durban is the place to be. Between 11:00 to 13:00 Dairy beach will be transformed with sand art, music and inspiration. "As 350-Messenger, Archbishop Tutu says, 'I ask all people to support climate fairness tomorrow by starting or joining an awareness-raising action where you live. It's a chance for us to act as global citizens, not as isolated individuals and lonely consumers.'"

clipped from www.news24.com Millions of people will be participating in over 4 000 events in 170 countries, including South Africa, in a call on leaders to take global action against the worst crisis humans have ever faced,  by reducing carbon levels in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million. "A year ago, our greatest climatologist - Nasa's James Hansen - and his team produced a landmark series of studies. They showed that if we let the amount of carbon in the atmosphere go above 350 parts per million, we can’t have a planet similar to the one on which civilisation developed and to which life on earth has adapted," says McKibben. The bad news is that we're already past that number. "We're at 390 parts per million, which is why the Arctic is melting, why drought is spreading across the planet, why people are already dying from diseases like dengue fever and malaria occurring in places where they’ve never been seen before."

Quote of the day

...70% of the U.S. population [are] fantasizing about burning down our own capitol building and lyching it's 355 organized crime members...

SHOOT: This was a comment on a New York Times review of the moive Law Abiding Citizen.

clipped from movies.nytimes.com Wish it were a documentary! Kudos to Hollywood for making a violent film about retibution against a corrupt and inept government. With 70% of the U.S. population fantasizing about burning down our own capitol building and lyching it's 355 organized crime members along with their lobbyist puppeteers, I expect that there will be MANY movies like this allowing us to vent frustration without actually storming Washington. It's confusing to root for the "badguy" though. – Michael T , Texas Recommend Recommended by 0 Readers

Movie Review: Law Abiding Citizen

A. O. SCOTT: It’s about the cat-and-mouse game between two very smart guys, and it’s perfectly happy to be as dumb as it wants.

Nate, San Francisco: not every movie has to make a statement, some are just for entertainment. and, so with that perspective, this movie was pretty good, about how the justice system in our great country is really reduced to dealmaking and how to get things done in a country where the constitution is our binding fabric. that said, the movie was entertaining until the last ten minutes, where it went into cliche good guy has to win mode, when, in fact, none of the characters were good.

SHOOT: I've seen Gerard Butler in 'Gamer', and I wonder whether he has any savvy when sniffing out a good career-move movie. Because Law Abiding Citizen might attract him to the dumb mob, but they're a fickle forgetful lot. I decided to pass on this vicious garbage.

clipped from movies.nytimes.com “Law Abiding Citizen,” a blunt and sadistic revenge thriller starring Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler, occasionally pauses from the mayhem to stage a solemn debate about law, justice and morality. Mr. Butler, playing a family man whose wife and daughter were murdered by thugs, feels he was let down by the system, which gave one of the thugs a light sentence in exchange for testimony against the other thug, who was sentenced to death. Mr. Foxx, the prosecutor who made that deal, thinks that the system, however imperfect, did its job. But really, “Law Abiding Citizen” has about as much to say about real-life legal issues as “Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen” had to say about defense policy. And it has less ethical gravity than any three of the “Saw” movies. Though it sometimes puts on a serious face, this movie, directed with snarling, snappish style by F. Gary Gray (“The Italian Job”), wears its preposterousness with a certain pride.

Algae weapon in climate change war

The idea of harnessing algae for fuel has been around for decades, they say. Still, no one has been able to make it financially feasible.

SHOOT: You may be surprised to learn that as much as 70% of oxygen produced on Earth is produced not by forest, but by algae. I'm not sure if algae will work effectively as an energy source to fuel cars, but as a weapon against climate change, against accumulating CO2, certainly.

clipped from news.yahoo.com MIAMI (AFP) – Driven by fluctuations in oil prices, and seduced by the prospect of easing climate change, experts are ramping up efforts to squeeze fuel out of a promising new organism: pond scum. As it turns out, algae -- slimy, fast-growing and full of fat -- is gaining ground as a potential renewable energy source. Experts say it is intriguing for its ability to gobble up carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, while living happily in places that aren't needed for food crops. Algae likes mosquito-infested swamps, for example, filthy pools, and even waste water. And while no one has found a way to mass produce cheap fuel from algae yet, the race is on. "I think it's very realistic. I don't think it's going to take 20 years. It's going to take a few years," said chemical engineer George Philippidis, director of applied research at Florida International University in Miami. Experts don't see algal fuel replacing fossil fuels completely, and some have become leery of hype.

Swine flu deaths now at 6025

SHOOT: Swine flu is doubling in the United Kingdom, and is spiking 13% in the rest of Europe, 18% on average in South American countries.

clipped from www.mirror.co.uk Cases of swine flu have almost doubled in a week with more young people being hit and fears that hospitals may soon be struggling to cope. Figures yesterday showed an estimated 53,000 new cases in the past seven days - up from 27,000 the previous week. The total is now put at 435,000 and experts believe it could peak at 1.5million a week which would put huge pressure on the NHS. Overall, deaths from the virus have risen to 128 - 93 in England, 21 in Scotland, eight in Northern Ireland and six in Wales. Just under half had other severe health problems. More than half of deaths have been among under-45s, not over-65s as expected. Sir Liam said: "It's highly unusual to have so many younger people dying. We shouldn't pass this off as acceptable." It is also estimated that one in three children could catch the disease.

Why haven't we visited the moon in 30 years?

Syracuse University public policy professor Henry Lambright said he worries about changes that will cause a loss in momentum in NASA's exploration plans. "You've got to make a decision and you've got to stick to it if you are ever going to get to Mars."

SHOOT: They're talking about Mars, but why is the moon such a big deal? Why has it been 30 years since we were there? If we were there at all.

clipped from news.yahoo.com WASHINGTON – NASA needs to make a major detour on its grand plans to return astronauts to the moon, a special independent panel told the White House Thursday. Under current plans, NASA has picked the wrong destination with the wrong rocket, the panel's chairman said. A test-flight version of the rocket, the new Ares I, is on a launch pad at Cape Canaveral, awaiting liftoff later this month for its first experimental flight. The committee outlines eight options. Three of those involve a "flexible path" to explore someplace other than the moon, eventually heading to a Mars landing far in the future. The flexible path suggests no-landing flights around the moon and Mars. Landing on the moon and then launching back to Earth would require a lot of fuel because of the moon's gravity. Hauling fuel from Earth to the moon and then back costs money. It would take less fuel to land and return from asteroids or comets that swing by Earth or even the Martian moons, Phobos and Deimos, Augustine said.

Fall Of The Republic

Buy property now, before the market worsens again

SHOOT: Have you heard of a sucker's rally? If you buy property now, you're a sucker. It's still on it's way down. If you own property, consider subdividing and renting, because renting is going to be big from here on out.

clipped from www.fin24.com "With massive electricity hikes looming, upward pressure on oil ahead of the northern hemisphere winter and a volatile rand, the SARB's MPC committee would have been deeply concerned about inflation getting out of control," he said. Falconer said the property market could certainly have benefited from a further rate cut, "but we'll have to be content with a reduction of 500 basis points since December last year". "But potential homeowners have held back, hoping for further rate cuts," he said. "Property prices are as low as they're going to go; the market is well stocked with bargains; there are many eager sellers; banks are again advancing credit; there are clear indications the property market as a whole is starting to move again, and it's time for buyers to get back in." "The Australian Reserve Bank has become the first central bank to hike its repo rate, and we may follow suit in the next few months," Falconer said.

British doctors "unnerved" by the severity of swine flu

One in four of the patients in intensive care is under the age of 16.

The number of people who have died so far in the outbreak has increased to 122 in the UK, with 93 of them in England.

Sir Liam said over half of the deaths were in people aged under 45 and that this was a "very unusual pattern for flu".

SHOOT: This is still only the first or second wave. Like the recession, we expect, we hope things will improve, but the likelihood is, unfortunately, that it won't. And people aren't ready to prepare for this, let alone consider it.

clipped from www.telegraph.co.uk Doctors have been "unnerved" by the severity of swine flu in some patients and their rapid deterioration into a "life and death situation", Sir Liam Donaldson, chief medical officer has said. The number of people in intensive care with swine flu has reached its highest point yet, with 99 people currently in critical care beds out of a total of 506 in hospital. Sir Liam said intensive care specialists have told him privately that they are 'unnerved by the severity off the illness and how quickly it can develop'. He said some patients are 'getting into a life and death situation very early on'. The number of patients in intensive care has risen from 74 last week. The proportion of patients in hospital who are in critical care has remained at around 12 to 13 per cent since the outbreak began but is now been at 20 per cent for two weeks. The reason for the sudden jump in the number of patients with suffering with severe swine flu is unknown.