Those General Election Blues

I...wish I had something positive to say about this election, but...I don't.  Uh, Osborne's relatively photogenic ?  That help ?...Didn't think so.

Mylène Farmer: Tomber 7 Fois

Daisy Chainsaw: Hope Your Dreams Come True

Israel in Colour by British Pathé

Interesting time-capsules in these videos, including in the way Israel was portrayed by British Pathé back in the 'fifties & 'sixties.  Keeping in mind that Israel during much of this period was more political ally of the UK & France than of the United States.  There's a more than somewhat touristy if not propagandistic tone to many of the videos, but always cool to see a window into the past.  And in colour no-less.  Hell, most British teevee was still in black-and-white till the seventies.

Last line of the last video, from '69: 'They hope for peace.  The tragedy is, can it be achieved ?'  Well...

American Exceptionalism...

...in accidentally harming children by giving them the wrong doses of medicine apparently...

Children’s liquid medicines should only be measured in metric units to avoid overdoses common with teaspoons and tablespoons, U.S. pediatricians say.

Tens of thousands of kids wind up in emergency rooms after unintentional medicine overdoses each year, and the cause is often badly labeled containers or unclear directions, said Dr. Ian Paul, a pediatrician at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Children's Hospital and lead author of new metric dosing guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

"Even though we know metric units are safer and more accurate, too many healthcare providers are still writing that prescription using spoon-based dosing," said Paul. "Some parents use household spoons to administer it, which can lead to dangerous mistakes.”

For example, he said, accidentally using a tablespoon instead of a teaspoon would triple the dose.

To avoid errors associated with common kitchen spoons, the guidelines urge that liquid medicines being taken by mouth should be dosed using milliliters (abbreviated as "mL").

Also, prescriptions should include so-called leading zeros, such as 0.5 for a half mL dose, and exclude so-called trailing zeroes, such as 0.50, to reduce the potential for parents to misunderstand the dosing.

While the AAP has been pushing for more accurate dosing of children's medicines since the 1970s, the new guidelines are the most extensive call for metric dosing to date and are intended to reach drug manufacturers, retailers, pharmacists, prescribers and caregivers.

"For this to be effective, we need not just the parents and families to make the switch to metric, we need providers and pharmacists too," said Paul.

The image above is of course a map of countries that have still not adopted the metric system*.  Those other two countries in red are Liberia (yes, that Liberia) and Myanmar/Burma (yes, that one too).  And the latter announced in 2013 its own planned conversion to metric, which will leave just the US of A and Liberia in this particular little club.

And this of a country that adopted decimal currency in 1792.  To much of the rest of the world, the idea of using an Imperial-based system of measurement is as strange as still using the likes of guineas, florins, crowns, and groats.

A smidgen of history on the US' flirtation with metric:

In 1821, after studying the various units of measurement used by the 22 states, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams determined that the U.S. Customary System was sufficiently uniform and required no changes. Most people thought actually that the metric won’t survive Napoleon’s rule. They were wrong however and by the time the American Civil War ended, most of Europe had turned metric, besides the proud British of course.

In 1866, an act of Congress, signed into law by President Andrew Johnson, made it “lawful throughout the United States of America to employ the weights and measures of the metric system in all contracts, dealings or court proceedings.” The act however was merely an act of recognition, which didn’t necessarily translate into practical use.

Following the second WWII, the world officially entered a stage still in expansion: globalization. As America was importing and exporting millions of goods, it found itself in a predicament when trading with other countries, most of whom used metric. American companies had to make twin labels, train workers and students with both systems and re-purpose thousands of machines across various industries. The costs were and still are enormous. With this in mind, some Congressmen proposed the US finally switched to metric. In 1971, the U.S. National Bureau of Standards issued a report titled “A Metric America” recommending that the U.S. transition to the metric system over the course of 10 years. In response, Congress enacted the Metric Conversion Act in 1975 to commence the conversion process. However, these good intentions were extremely poorly applied because someone had the bright idea to strip out the 10-year deadline and make the conversion voluntary. Of course no one wanted to willingly change to metric.

Could it be that due to the size of its economy, the US has made a calculation that it would be more expensive for it to convert than not, unlike the conclusion the rest of the planet has come to ?  Perhaps.  More likely, it's just plain...cussedness.  Or, as it's more commonly explained:

Freedom!

* And yes, of course there are variations & exceptions in the degree of adoption, such as items sold in 'Liters' in the US, and the continuing use of MPH in the UK.

'Arya' on the Who

Having landed back in the UK fresh from touring the US, today Maisie Williams sets foot on the Doctor Who TARDIS to take up a guest role in the hit BBC One show that returns to our screens this Autumn.

Huh.  Cool.

That is all.

Spoon: Got Nuffin'

Your Daily Telegraph Fail

Sigh.  Because the Googlez iz so hardz work like.

<Clicks first link>

This one lookz gud.  <Publishes>

TPP & TTIP

And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

Revelation 17:1-2

TPP & TTIP (the Trans-Pacific Partnership & the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) don't seem to get much coverage in the media, despite their likely impact on so many countries, likely because a) the deals are complicated, and b) the deals are being worked in secret behind closed doors.  These are just 'trade deals' remember, not exactly a nuclear deal with Iran; Totally innocent stuff, and the reason the US, UK, and other governments don't want you to know about what's being discussed, is simply that it's so boring.  They'll tell you all about it eventually, such as...four years after the deals are already done and dusted.

In the meantime, you're just gonna have to trust them that the deals are in your best interest and will result in more jobs, more prosperity, and rising wages, just like...say NAFTA...or say...the MFN deal Clinton pushed with China.  Those worked out really well, didn't they ?  And the PRC is going to turn into a flourishing democracy with respect for the human rights and civil liberties of all its citizens any day now, right Bill ?

Basically, like all 'free trade' deals, the idea is to maximise corporate profits at the expense of labour costs (i.e. your paycheck), civil liberties, national sovereignty, safety, and the environment; to drag every nation slowly down to the lowest-common denominator.  To drag the EU standards down to those of the US, down to those of South America, down to those of east Asia, down ultimately one would imagine to those of Somalia.  And if any national government gets in the way of corporate profits by passing pesky laws to, say protect the safety & wellbeing of its citizens, well fuck 'em. !  They can just be sued, in trans-national arbitration tribunals, run by said corporations, and outside of national law.  Bye-bye national sovereignty.  And you think the EU is the threat, Ukippers ?


Here's a nice summary of the deals for the uninitiated (yes with Russell Brand, sorry):

Sounds good, huh ?

Remember this bit from Last Week Tonight ?  (Might want to skip to 8'05).  Think Philip Morris is the only corporation that does this stuff ?  Think making this shit even easier is a good idea ?

What to do, other than try to find some non-corporatist non-fascist non-cocksucker politicians to vote for ?  Well the first video has some suggestions towards the end.  I don't hold out much hope myself, but you never know.

For the American Sparkle-pony crowd, here's a bonus video, with not-going-to-be-the-Democratic-nominee-for-president-any-time-soon Elizabeth Warren on TPP and the ISDS tribunals back in February.

And if you really want lots more details on TPP, check out Gaius Publius' writings on the subject.  Don't know if Gaius has a dedicated page, but Hullabaloo & Americablog are probably good starting points.

Earth Hour

As John Oliver might say, How is this still a thing ?

If it makes you feel good about yourself for participating in this ridiculous act of tokenism, then yeah, go ahead, knock yourself out.  But if you think this will convince your right-wing climate-change-denying neighbour, then you're delusional.  And if you needed this annual event to remind yourself personally of the reality of climate change, well...

Vote out the right-wing fuckers that keep kow-towing to their/our Big Energy overlords and pushing a Globalisation agenda that is simply relocating industrial production and all its attendant problems (i.e. including pollution) to third-world nations if you really want to make a difference.

Oh and can someone put this painfully dire video in a time-capsule ?  It'll give the aliens a laugh when they come across the rotting corpse of our civilisation.

RATT: Lay it Down

Sigh...

That Ole' Grauniad

I get The Times. I get The Daily Telegraph. I get the Daily Mail. I pretty much ignore The Independent, and the like, if only because they bore me to tears. And then...there's always...The Guardian. That bastion of privileged left-leaning mostly upper middle-class liberal guilt. I read it, I've read it for years, and yet somehow I've never liked it it, never identified with it. And to this date, I'm not sure who reads it, or what their business-model is. If Murdoch hadn't put The Times behind a paywall, I'm not sure that I'd bother much with The Guardian at all. It's almost like they're constantly competing to shorten the distance between the right-wing portrayals thereof as trendy lefty politically-correct bullshit and reality. If there were a meaningful alternative in the slightly-left-of-centre UK media to the Grauniad crowd, I wouldn't waste another second on their site. Sadly...there ain't.  And thus I keep reading, and on some level supporting shit like this.

The evil evil licence-fee didn't pay for this crap, but something did.  And this kinda garbage won't occasion anywhere near the outrage that the average project of the (nominally-)public broadcaster would.  In what kinda fuckin' world do we live ?

Bad Education: Alfie's Prank-call to Pickwell

Would have preferred she'd stuck around for Series 3, me.  And didn't know they were trying to take Bad Education to the big-screen, but guess so.  Not sure how/if it'll translate.

And, why not, just one more vid....

So, Is That It ?

So, is that it ?  Was rather hoping there'd be a more innocent explanation...

10th Anniversary of Nu-Who

Huh, so I guess I missed the tenth anniversary of Nu-Who.

Peter tells us how he felt when he first saw #Rose. Tell us what made you squee when you first saw it... #DoctorWho http://t.co/H7ZO1mrcgQ
— Doctor Who Official (@bbcdoctorwho) March 26, 2015 

Squee.  Really, 'squee' ?

5 things you never knew about #Rose #DoctorWho #10YearsofNewWho pic.twitter.com/GcZRxYDpYv
— Doctor Who Official (@bbcdoctorwho) March 26, 2015

1. Which set a terrible precedent
2. Possibly the worst idea in the history of 'Who'.
3. One good thing about launching in 2005 I guess.
4. Huh.
5. Okay.

Anyways, I just hope Moffat redeems himself with the new series currently shooting and gives us the 'proper' Capaldi/Coleman series he denied us last year.  Not sure I can ever warm to Clara again though.

Tame Impala: Let It Happen

Blue State California

No, this isn't just about California, but it's drought-ridden California in the headlines currently (Talking about the US; No I didn't forget about the existence of Australia), what with the recent headlines about the state only having a year's worth of water-supply remaining.  And what with the scientists telling us that historically the nineteenth and twentieth centuries actually represented an abnormally wet period for California, the news isn't likely to get better any time soon.  Still, always helps to get, a little perspective...

By now, the impacts of California’s unchecked groundwater pumping are well-known: the dropping water levels, dried-up wells and slowly sinking farmland in parts of the Central Valley.

But another consequence gets less attention, one measured not by acre-feet or gallons-per-minute but the long march of time.

As California farms and cities drill deeper for groundwater in an era of drought and climate change, they no longer are tapping reserves that percolated into the soil over recent centuries. They are pumping water that fell to Earth during a much wetter climatic regime – the ice age.

Such water is not just old. It’s prehistoric. It is older than the earliest pyramids on the Nile, older than the world’s oldest tree, the bristlecone pine. It was swirling down rivers and streams 15,000 to 20,000 years ago when humans were crossing the Bering Strait from Asia.

...

“What I see going on is a future disaster. You are removing water that’s been there a long, long time. And it will probably take a long time to replace it. We are mining water that cannot be readily replaced,” said Vance Kennedy, a 91-year-old retired research hydrologist in the Central Valley.

Time to short Almond stocks ?

Nolwenn Leroy: Tri Martolod

Guess that language...

Via piece in which we learn that the English of Shakespeare's time spoke not, as we had been told recently with an American accent, but in a sort of Irish mumble.  Uh, okay.  Interesting enough summary still.

Sorry Jezza; New Host of Top Gear

So, with Clarkson officially out, inevitably the speculation ramps up over a replacement.  And there do seem to be a hell of a lot of names being floated about.  So who should it be then ?

Chris Evans, who consistently denies any interest in the role ?

Bringing back Noel Edmonds or Angela Rippon.  Uh, no comment.

Steve Coogan, the man who wrote, this...?

Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge ?  A fictional character as presenter ?  Surely Coogan can get one of the networks to agree to a Partridge motoring outlet if that's what he wants, but at the expense of Top Gear ?

Piers Morgan ?  Does anybody actually want that ?

Stephen Fry ?  That's a joke, right ?  That Stephen Fry ?  You kid, surely ?

Various race-car-drivers with no previous presenting experience ?

Various television presenters with little or no automotive experience ?


Suppose it depends in part on what the BBC plans to do with the show, and whether it is looking for another blokish politically incorrect middle-aged white fella to replace Clarkson (Nigel Farage, anyone...), or whether it fulfils the Guardianistas' desire for an 'eco-feminist Top Gear'.  I might suggest Sandi Toksvig as host, but she's got far too much humour and personality for the PC crowd.

Surely, there's a middle-way; someone who's a million miles away from a Clarkson clone, someone with the driving and the presenting experience, and someone who's self-evidently passionate (maybe a little too passionate at times) about motors and motoring.  Has there ever been anyone so perfect for Top Gear as Vicki Butler-Henderson ?

And to be blunt, someone ever so slightly easier on the eye, than ole' Slabber-chops Clarkson.

Guess it won't happen with all the Fifth Gear hate, but a guy can dream...

And as for the question of Josie Kidd, I think I'd still prefer VBH, but either of these gals would be preferable to pretty much any of the idiot males being mentioned for the role currently.  Shit, why not Larry King ?  And the Huffington Post even mentioned Vladimir Putin as a candidate...

Always with the Unintended Consequences

So, it seems like the investigation into the Germanwings crash in France is pointing towards the possibility that one of the pilots was locked out of the cabin, and unable to re-enter and prevent the ultimately fatal descent into the mountains.

a) This is horrifying
b) I'd predict that one phrase likely to be popping up sooner or later is 'who could have predicted' or one of the popular variants thereof.  Ya know, as with Condi circa 2001/2.

Were there no warnings of unintended consequences back 'round about 2002, when the FAA was frantically rethinking airport security, specifically to prevent the one particular vulnerability exploited on 11 September, 2001, without so much consideration towards the...entire rest of aviation history ?  This isn't ancient history.  I'm thinking...someone out there probably considered this sort of eventuality, and that's it's only a matter of time before a reporter unearths it.

And as for more recent history, well...

Air Canada, 2006: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=37a9dd60-18a9-4155-a6bb-8a8e8976bc04
Air India, 2013: http://www.usatoday.com/story/todayinthesky/2013/05/16/air-india-captain-locked-out-after-cockpit-door-jams-mid-flight/2165305/
Transavia, 2013: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/9838956/Pilot-locked-out-of-cockpit-as-co-pilot-slept.html
LAM Mozambique Airlines, 2013: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAM_Mozambique_Airlines_Flight_470
Air New Zealand, 2014: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11288373
Ethiopian Airlines, 2014: http://www.flyingmag.com/news/bizarre-ethiopian-airlines-hijacking-ends-copilots-arrest

That's all I found in a fairly brief search, but the prevalence of stories from 2013/4 is interesting perhaps.  Just related to the timing of the uptake of the newer technologies ?

I suspect the plane in the 2006 incident may have not had the current level of fortification, given that the crew in that story were able to 'remove the door from its hinges.'  Has some interesting verbiage nonetheless:

Eventually, the crew forced the door open by taking the door off its hinges completely, and the pilots safely landed the plane -- although in the event that the pilot was unable to access the cockpit, the first officer is also fully qualified to land the aircraft.

Air Canada Jazz said the incident is a first for them. But in Canada, a pilot getting locked out of the cockpit is a "non-reportable" incident, meaning airlines have no obligation to inform Transport Canada about it as they investigate themselves.

However, airline analysts warn that incidents like these are disasters waiting to happen -- both in terms of accidents related to human error and vulnerability to terrorism.

Oh, and one bonus story also from 2006 that may relate to earlier theories of what happened to this flight: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2006/dec/19/theairlineindustry.travel

Disturbingly, there had already been related emergencies on other airlines. After a 2003 Ryanair episode with another Boeing 737, Irish investigators had warned of "the potential for a full-scale accident" in exactly the kind of pressurisation emergency that later caused the Greek crash. They said: "With the locked door policy endeavouring to solve one specific problem, it may be creating another one or more problems that could impinge on aviation safety ... The implications for flight safety in the specific scenario of flight crew hypoxia is not being addressed by a locked cockpit door policy. This is a ... problem."

Similarly in 2004, British investigators described how a fire broke out in the passenger cabin of a British Airways plane taking off from Heathrow. Cabin staff spent time desperately banging on the locked cockpit door to try to attract the pilots' attention. The British investigation report warned that "both the flight crew and cabin crew were initially hampered in their efforts to deal with the incident promptly due to their inability to communicate with each other across the locked flight deck door."

Chris Roberts, a recently retired senior airline pilot and manager, told us: "With the locked cockpit door in place, communications are more difficult." He says: "Some regulators and airlines have dealt with this adequately but in some cases there is still more work and more training needed."

By contrast, shortly before September 11 2001, when cockpit doors were still generally open, an Aer Lingus stewardess was able to save the day by rushing in three times to warn her captain that passenger oxygen masks had dropped. Air conditioning had inadvertently been switched off. The inquiry into that incident found that oxygen deprivation had probably confused the pilots: "The continued persistence of the [stewardess] in keeping the flight crew advised of the deteriorating cabin condition did, without doubt, contribute to the safe conclusion of this serious incident."

As late as January 2001, British Airways was adamant that locked doors were too dangerous to adopt. Following an incident in which a mentally ill passenger attacked the pilots of a jumbo jet, BA chief executive Rod Eddington said: "We will not be locking the door because it does not make sense ... Locking the door would cause more safety problems than it would solve." But September 11 caused a panic reaction. Locked doors were hastily installed on planes all over the world despite a warning from the then US national transportation safety board vice-chairwoman, Carol Carmody. She said in May 2002: "We must be sure that crew communications during emergency systems are not compromised ... Access to the cockpit can be very important in an emergency."

Oh, and I'd almost forgotten this one: http://www.popularmechanics.com/flight/a10270/in-light-of-mh370-evidence-could-plane-cockpits-be-too-secure-16611747/

John Magaw, the first person to head the nascent TSA in 2001, told CNN that an always-locked cockpit was a concern since the outset. He said he told airlines, "Don't lock those doors so that you can't get in from the outside if something happens, and it fell on deaf ears," alluding to a well-publicized case of pilots who "flew past the airport because they were both asleep." However, some pilots scoffed at the idea that a locked cockpit is a serious concern, noting that planes are programmed to fly safely and even land on autopilot in the unlikely event both pilots nod off.

 Former Jetblue CEO and founder David Neeleman, whose airline was the first to install the reinforced cockpit doors system-wide after 9/11, tells PopMech that the latest troubling scenario means that "perhaps there needs to be way to get back in that door."

"But nobody ever thought about having to protect the passengers from the pilots," he says.

Genesis: Fountain of Salmacis

So, this came up on the shuffle, and...I just can't resist.  And, apparently there is a live teevee performance on YouTube, purportedly from Belgian TV.  But, of course, the audio sucks...so we'll put that below the fold.  Oh G-d, do I love this shit.

Live Performance:

Hie Thee to the Vomatorium

Story on the site is four short sentences long, so I'm not going to 'summarise'.  Fact, I don't want to even read it.  I feel nauseous already, just looking at the picture.

And in more vomit-inducing news:

Just what we need, even more consolidation in the industrial food sector.  Although...if any miraculously still-extant anti-trust bodies could somehow tie this in with a deal that required Kraft to divest Cadbury...  BTW, did the politicians in the UK ever apologise for 'falling for' the lies from Kraft on that deal ?

Not going to link to the actual stories here, because...I mean, do you need a reason ?

*Note that Heinz here, as on Mad Men are 'the Ketchup company.'  Heinz Baked Beans, what's that ?

Crystal Castles: Birds

Primus: Jerry was a Race Car Driver

What Were Those Words Mister Chairman?

Oh good, this finally made it to YouTube.  Not shown in the clips here, but afterwards Senator Jeff Clemens basically thanks Mister Koon for being such a good sport.  Meanwhile, the whole world is laughing at Florida.

The Murder of Farkhunda

This is some pretty fucked-up shit right here.

Farkhunda, who was beaten to death by a Kabul mob last week, had been arguing with a mullah about his practice of selling charms to women at a shrine.

In the course of the argument she was accused of burning the Koran and a crowd overheard and beat her to death.

Farkhunda, 28, was beaten, hit by bats, stamped on, driven over, and her body dragged by a car before being set on fire.

A policeman who witnessed the incident on Thursday told AP news agency that Farkhunda was arguing with a local mullah. Her father said she had complained about women being encouraged to waste money on the amulets peddled by the mullahs at the shrine.

"Based on their lies, people decided Farkhunda was not a Muslim and beat her to death," Mohammed Nadir told AP.

The policeman who saw the incident, Sayed Habid Shah, said Farkhunda had denied setting the Koran on fire.

"She said I am a Muslim and Muslims do not burn the Koran," he said. "As more people gathered, the police were trying to push them away, but it got out of control," he added.

Wait, 'The policeman who saw the incident'...

Police say they have detained 18 people over the incident, with more arrests expected. In addition, 13 policemen have been suspended for having failed to do enough to stop the attack.

And her father says 'they just stood around while she was killed.'

...I got nothin.

Male Preference for Optimal Lumbar Curvature, or...

Huh, this is interesting I guess.

A psychology study from The University of Texas at Austin sheds new light on today's standards of beauty, attributing modern men's preferences for women with a curvy backside to prehistoric influences.

The study, published online in Evolution and Human Behavior, investigated men's mate preference for women with a "theoretically optimal angle of lumbar curvature," a 45.5 degree curve from back to buttocks allowing ancestral women to better support, provide for, and carry out multiple pregnancies.

"What's fascinating about this research is that it is yet another scientific illustration of a close fit between a sex-differentiated feature of human morphology—in this case lumbar curvature—and an evolved standard of attractiveness," said the study's co-author David Buss, a UT Austin psychology professor. "This adds to a growing body of evidence that beauty is not entirely arbitrary, or 'in the eyes of the beholder' as many in mainstream social science believed, but rather has a coherent adaptive logic."

This research, led by UT Austin alumnus and Bilkent University psychologist David Lewis, consisted of two studies. The first looked at vertebral wedging, an underlying spinal feature that can influence the actual curve in women's lower backs.

About 100 men rated the attractiveness of several manipulated images displaying spinal curves ranging across the natural spectrum. Men were most attracted to images of women exhibiting the hypothesized optimum of 45 degrees of lumbar curvature.

"This spinal structure would have enabled pregnant women to balance their weight over the hips," Lewis said. "These women would have been more effective at foraging during pregnancy and less likely to suffer spinal injuries. In turn, men who preferred these women would have had mates who were better able to provide for fetus and offspring, and who would have been able to carry out multiple pregnancies without injury."

The second study addressed the question of whether men prefer this angle because it reflects larger buttocks, or whether it really can be attributed to the angle in the spine itself.

Approximately 200 men were presented with groups of images of women with differing buttock size and vertebral wedging, but maintaining a 45.5-degree curve. Men consistently preferred women whose spinal curvature was closer to optimum regardless of buttock size.

Hmm, I wonder how this is being covered by other news outlets...

Really ?

Classy headline yo.

Business Insider Australia, huh.

That's...not...what they said.

'Better workers' ?  Well credit for least sexy picture, Telegraph.

Maybe I should just stick to the BBC.  Gah, and now I'm blinded by excessive whitespace, as the BBC push what was the mobile site onto the desktop.  And another site falls victim to the cult of flat design.  Well at least they've lost the hyper-pixelated pictures that used to plague the mobile site.

Jimmy Dorsey: John Silver

Well, it was either this or Snake River Conspiracy...

Luddites, Rejoice !

Yay, fewer jobs !

(Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA.N) has started using a new automated system to build wing panels for 737 jetliners, an important step in preparing to hit record production speeds while introducing new models of the popular plane.

The robotic system, known as the Panel Assembly Line, or PAL, this week drilled holes and installed rivets for the wings of a production aircraft, the first such use of the system since installation began last summer, Boeing officials told Reuters during a visit to the Renton, Washington, plant.

PAL replaces older-generation machines that drilled the panels, but left workers the task of installing rivets, a laborious process that led to occasional injuries and defects.

PAL is designed to cut injuries in half, slash defects by 66 percent and reduce production "flow" time by 33 percent - all on half of the factory footprint.

Oh, no sorry, this is a pro-worker initiative, to reduce their injuries on the...the...job...uh...where is everybody ?  What, what did you say ?  Mouth Harolina, was it ?

Afzal Amin & the EDL: Strange Bedfellows

Protests against 'mega-mosques' and Pamela Geller's buddies, the English Defence League.  And racial incitement worthy of James O'Keefe himself.  British and American politics really aren't all that different after all are they ?

And such a rapid fall from grace. Almost feel sorry for the guy.

Rush: Red Barchetta

The Siren-Call of Libertarianism writ-large.  Or...just an undeniably awesome piece of rock-music.

Vivian Girls: Light in Your Eyes

Haven't listened to these gals for far too long.

Truly, the end-times are upon us.

View image | gettyimages.com

Pink Floyd: Free Four

The memories of a man in his old age
Are the deeds of a man in his prime.
You shuffle in the gloom of the sickroom
And talk to yourself as you die.

Life is a short, warm moment
And death is a long cold rest.
You get your chance to try in the twinkling of an eye:
Eighty years, with luck, or even less.

Obama on the Israeli Elections and the Deal, Good/Bad/Otherwise with Iran

That Cameron & Miliband Debate

Was going to go looking for a picture of Ed Miliband, from the bacon sandwich incident perhaps, but no look, here's the Guardian's headline for this story.  Yes, that Guardian.

The man on the right, you may recognise as David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative party, and the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  The man on the left is the leader of the (for-now) main opposition party, Labour.  In defence of the Guardian editors who chose this picture, it's actually pretty typical of how he looks, and if anything he arguably sounds worse.  Why one might ask if you were the man on the right, would you be afraid to debate the man on the left...on television no less.  Not a rhetorical question; I genuinely don't get it.  Is Ed really that scary, that daunting a debater ?  These are both very intelligent man, but one was born to be a media personality, and one was not.  And if we're honest, sadly, personality and presence probably count a lot more in television debates for the average voter than the actual issues being debated.

For fun, let's go ahead (below the fold) and see what Google returns for images of these two men.

David Bowie: Cracked Actor

Interesting Genetic Research and Utterly Inept Journalism

Saw various articles about the genetic study of Britons in the past two days, and while the data is interesting (clusters of very similar genetic profiles, Anglo-Saxon DNA dominant in England, hardly any Viking or Roman influence), noticed that almost every article managed to misrepresent the findings on at least one fundamental level.  Here's the Telegraph's headline:

Wow, that seems surprising, huh ?  Assuming, you don't take a literal reading of the headline, which would, in that case, seem to be utter obviously on-its-face horseshit.  So, okay...okay, not literally living in Anglo-Saxon tribal kingdoms, but...

Britons are still living in the same 'tribes' that they did in the 7th Century, Oxford University has found after an astonishing study into our genetic make-up.

Archaeologists and geneticists were amazed to find that genetically similar individuals inhabit the same areas they did following the Anglo-Saxon invasion, following the fall of the Roman Empire.

In fact, a map showing tribes of Britain in 600AD is almost identical to a new chart showing genetic variability throughout the UK, suggesting that local communities have stayed put for the past 1415 years.

Okay, first sentence is still suggesting the same horseshit.  Latter sentences seem to clarify.  Especially as '600AD' plus '1415 years' would bring us exactly up to the present day.  Still, seems pretty shocking that populations in the United Kingdom in the Twenty-First Century would bear such a close resemblance to those of one and a half millennia earlier, given especially all the migrations of the past century.  One might expect for example that there would be a greater Jewish presence after the Holocaust, a greater percentage of Caribbean, African, and Middle-Eastern populations from the end of empire, a reflection of the Italian presence post-war in Scotland, and some reflection of the in-migration from the eras of the European Community and European Union.  So, what might explain this seeming discrepancy, huh ?

The ‘People of the British Isles’ study analysed the DNA of 2,039 people from rural areas of the UK, whose four grandparents were all born within 80km of each other.

Because a quarter of our genome comes from each of our grandparents, the researchers were effectively sampling DNA from these ancestors, allowing a snapshot of UK genetics in the late 19th Century before mass migration events caused by the industrial revolution.

They then analysed DNA differences at over 500,000 positions within the genome and plotted each person onto a map of the British Isles, using the centre point of their grandparents’ birth places, they were able to see how this distribution correlated with their genetic groupings.

Quoted from the same fucking article.  So the researchers analysed the DNA of a very selective population of white people in isolated rural populations for the explicit purpose of determining the genetic makeup not of modern-day Britain at all, but that of a century or more before now.

Here's the Guardian headline on the same story for comparison:

A little better...

Since that asshole Rupert Murdoch put his best publication (by far), The Times, behind a paywall, as with The Sun & The Wall Street Rag, I can't easily assess the content of their coverage of this very important subject.  But I can access the headline at least, and...

I just...WTF ?  Is that picture from the latest series of Game of Thrones, or...Oh, is it that shitty series by the so-called 'History' Channel ?  It's that, isn't it ?  This is the picture you chose...and the headline you chose...for covering serious scientific research.

I just give up.

The Left Banke: Walk Away Renee

Why Wasn't He Just Sent to Room 101 ?

VoldemortGovernor Rick Scott

There are different levels of crazy when it comes to Governors of US States; There's Bobby Jindal crazy, there's Sarah Palin crazy, and then...there's Rick Scott crazy.  Two-term governor Rick Scott, as in Florida actually re-elected this man after his first four years of radical Talibangelican craziness.

Florida, with its large population of transplants from New York and other Northeastern areas used to be thought of as one of the more liberal more Democratic states.  But today, it's rapidly turning into a lunatic-fringe Orwellian hellhole.

An employee of Florida’s environmental protection department was forced to take a leave of absence and seek a mental health evaluation for violating governor Rick Scott’s unwritten ban on using the phrases “climate change” or “global warming” under any circumstance, according to a complaint filed against the state.

Longtime employee Barton Bibler reportedly included an explicit mention of climate change in his official notes from a Florida Coastal Managers Forum meeting in late February, during which climate change, rising sea levels and the possible environmental impact of the Keystone XL Pipeline were discussed.

On 9 March, Bibler received a formal reprimand for “misrepresenting that ‘the official meeting agenda included climate change’”, according to a statement from Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (Peer), a nationwide non-profit that champions public employees’ rights and providers resources and guidance to whistleblowers using its network of members across the country.

Bibler was instructed to stay away from the office for two days and told he could return to work only after a mental health evaluation from his doctor verified his “fitness for duty”, the complaint said. In the letter to Florida’s inspector general, Candie Fuller, the state’s Peer director calls for a full investigation to the matter.

Bibler told the Miami Herald that he “didn’t get the memo” about the gag order, so when he introduced himself by congratulating other officials on the call for the “exciting” work they were doing to address climate change, the “reaction was mostly shock”.

Keep in mind, this is Florida we are talking about here.

Of course, South Florida is not the only place that will be devastated by sea-level rise. London, Boston, New York and Shanghai are all vulnerable, as are low-lying underdeveloped nations like Bangladesh. But South Florida is uniquely screwed, in part because about 75 percent of the 5.5 million people in South Florida live along the coast. And unlike many cities, where the wealth congregates in the hills, southern Florida's most valuable real estate is right on the water. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development lists Miami as the number-one most vulnerable city worldwide in terms of property damage, with more than $416 billion in assets at risk to storm-related flooding and sea-level rise.

South Florida has two big problems. The first is its remarkably flat topography. Half the area that surrounds Miami is less than five feet above sea level. Its highest natural elevation, a limestone ridge that runs from Palm Beach to just south of the city, averages a scant 12 feet. With just three feet of sea-level rise, more than a third of southern Florida will vanish; at six feet, more than half will be gone; if the seas rise 12 feet, South Florida will be little more than an isolated archipelago surrounded by abandoned buildings and crumbling overpasses. And the waters won't just come in from the east – because the region is so flat, rising seas will come in nearly as fast from the west too, through the Everglades.

Even worse, South Florida sits above a vast and porous limestone plateau. "Imagine Swiss cheese, and you'll have a pretty good idea what the rock under southern Florida looks like," says Glenn Landers, a senior engineer at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This means water moves around easily – it seeps into yards at high tide, bubbles up on golf courses, flows through underground caverns, corrodes building foundations from below. "Conventional sea walls and barriers are not effective here," says Robert Daoust, an ecologist at ARCADIS, a Dutch firm that specializes in engineering solutions to rising seas. "Protecting the city, if it is possible, will require innovative solutions."

Ray Wylie Hubbard: Screw You, We're from Texas

Obama on Nowruz

Uh, this does seem a little weird.  Does Obama give such speeches for all peoples and religions the world 'round, or is this specific to Iran in 2015 ?  I...just don't know what to think here.

Thieving Irons: So Long

The Joy Formidable: Forest Serenade

Defining a new Security Architecture for Europe That Brings Russia in from the Cold: Roundtable discussion in Brussels with John Mearsheimer, Stephen Cohen and Katrina vanden Heuvel

So much sense spoken in one room.  No snark here.  Suppose it had to happen in Brussels, rather than in the US media.

Part 1, Presentations by the Panelists:

Part 2, Discussion with Panelists and Participants:

Word of the Day: Stinkefinger

What a language...

Van Halen: Unchained

Uh, Dave, we' don't need...to see...uh...

And flaming drums...Thanks, Alex !

Love and Rockets: No New Tale to Tell

Simple as a flower.  And that's a complicated thing.

Mike Lumish: One State. Two State. Red State. Blue State.

Didn't intend to link again so soon to the artist formerly known as Karmafish, but...I just can't resist with this piece.

Not sure how seriously I can take the idea of community service (as proof of 'loyalty' no less) as a solution to the demographic problem for a one-state solution to I-P (begs so many questions), but at least Mike Lumish has a proposal for a solution, rather than simply denying the problem exists, as seems to be the default for most Likudniks.  And with Bibi's recent pre-electoral comments, maybe it's time we starting having the debate in the West, rather than clinging to the fantasy that a two-state solution is still possible in this generation (Myself, I still think it might have been back in the nineties...but water under the bridge).  And while I hesitate to say too much about the whole I-P situation, my own 'evolving' attitudes being somewhat at odds with the tide in the West, I will say that there is much in Lumish's piece with which I agree.

In fact, the last two sentences quoted below reflect almost exactly what for years now would have been my advice to Israel.  In fairness, I guess I should also state what my advice would have been to the Palestinians, which is to publicly declare that as a two-state solution was clearly no longer viable that they would henceforth abandon claims to a separate statehood, and demand full and total rights as de-facto Israelis, including suffrage.  Which is another kind of one-state solution, but not on Israel's terms.

I disagree, however, that a single-state must necessarily mean the demise of Israel as either Jewish or democratic.

The reason for this is because there is no requirement that a democracy must incorporate hostile foreign elements into it, in order to remain a democracy.  What I propose, under the circumstances of initiating a single state, is that those non-Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria who wish to gain the franchise would need to demonstrate good will toward their Jewish neighbors through the completion of two years community service of some kind.

Those who receive a good report would be given the full franchise.

As for those Arabs who remain resident non-citizens, their children should be given every opportunity to join as full citizens of the state.  Since education would no longer be in the hands of hostile terrorist organizations, Israel could educate Arab youth to the benefits of joining with the country and clearly demonstrate those benefits as young people see their older siblings getting good university educations and well-paying jobs.

By limiting the franchise to only those Arabs who actually want to live peacefully within the Jewish state, Israel would remain both majority Jewish and democratic.  In fact, it would remain more democratic than the United States because the US, for far less good reason, does not allow Puerto Ricans to vote in national elections, despite the fact that Puerto Rico is incorporated into the United States. 
...
I certainly appreciate the dilemma, but since a negotiated conclusion of hostilities is, in fact, impossible - because this is not the Palestinian-Arab national objective - that leaves only the option of unilateral action.
Israel should, thus, declare its final borders, remove the IDF to behind those borders, and toss the keys over its shoulder.  Good-bye and Good luck

And, as I finish this piece, Biko of all things comes up in the shuffle.  Shit you not.  That you, God ?

The Damned: Alone Again Or

Obama Regrets Not Closing Guantanamo Prison 'On The First Day'

...

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama said Wednesday that if he could go back and do his presidency over again, he would have immediately shut down the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"I think I would have closed Guantanamo on the first day," Obama said to applause at an event in Cleveland, Ohio.

Obama went on to say that he didn't rush to close the military prison when he first took office because there was already bipartisan agreement that it should be closed. He noted that his GOP presidential opponent Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) had also called for shutting it down.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.  That is all.