w h o a r . c o . n z

“..Horror films are simply a disconcerting watch for the majority of us ..

.. but for Jane Barrett they are literally torturous.

She writhes in agony whenever the actors on the screen feel pain.

“When I see violence in films I have an extreme reaction,” she says.

“I simply have to close my eyes.

I start to feel nauseous and have to breathe deeply.”

She is just one of many people who suffer from a range of disorders that give rise to “extreme empathy”.

Some of these people, like Barrett, empathise so strongly with others that they experience the same physical feelings -

- whether it’s the tickle of a feather .. or the cut of a knife.

Others, who suffer from a disorder known as echopraxia ..

.. just can’t help immediately imitating the actions of others .. even in inappropriate situations.

Far from being mere curiosities, understanding these conditions could have many pay-offs for neuroscience ..

.. such as illuminating conditions like phantom pain.

They may even help answer the age-old question of whether empathy really is linked to compassion..”

go to source/story>>We feel your pain: Extreme empaths - 10 March 2010 - New Scientist

“..It starts with a painful blister - a very painful blister.

It feels, people say, like being stabbed with a red-hot needle.

When the blister bursts, the head of a worm pops out, thin, white and very much alive.

The rest of the worm, about a metre long, remains inside your body.

It can take up to two months to pull it out, inch by agonising inch, during which time it may be impossible to walk.

In extreme cases, you may host up to sixty of them, anywhere on your body.

The worms can cause paralysis or lethal bacterial infections .. and even if you survive mostly unscathed .. next year it can happen all over again.

The guinea worm (Dracunculus, or little dragon) is probably the closest living equivalent to the monsters in the Alien movies -

- except we’re beating this enemy.

Guinea worm was once widespread in Africa, the Middle East and many parts of Asia.

In 1986, there were nearly 4 million cases a year in 20 countries across south Asia and Africa.

Last year, there were just 3142 in four countries in Africa.

The worm could be extinct by 2012, making dracunculiasis the second human disease ever to be eradicated -

- the first being smallpox..”

go to source/story>>Parasite lost: Exterminating Africa’s horror worms - 10 March 2010 - New Scientist

“..Your favourite song comes on the radio.

You hum the tune; the lyrics remind you of someone you know.

Is your brain processing the words and music separately or as one?

It’s a hotly debated question that may finally have an answer.

People with aphasia, who can’t speak, can still hum a tune, suggesting music and lyrics are processed separately.

Yet brain scans show that music and language activate the same areas .. which might mean the brain treats them as one signal.

“There’s conflicting evidence,” says Daniela Sammler of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany.

Now Sammler and her team have discovered that both arguments may be partially true.

Her team worked out a way to determine when active regions were processing just music and when just lyrics ..

.. by studying a functional MRI brain scan of someone listening to songs..”

go to source/story>>Music and lyrics: How the brain splits songs - life - 09 March 2010 - New Scientist

“..Obesity kills, everyone knows that.

But is it possible that we’ve been looking at the problem in the wrong way?

It seems getting fatter may be part of your body’s defence against the worst effects of unhealthy eating .. rather than their direct cause.

This curious insight comes at the same time as several studies distancing obesity itself from a host of diseases it has long been blamed for, including heart disease and diabetes.

Instead, these studies point the finger at excess fat in the bloodstream ..

.. either when the fat cells of obese people finally get overloaded .. or when lean people who can’t store a lot of fat eat too much.

This seems to have a destructive effect by provoking the body’s immune response.

None of this changes the fact that too much rich food and too little exercise is bad for you.

But viewing obesity as a symptom of an unhealthy diet, rather than the direct cause of disease and death ..

.. plus a better appreciation of the immune system’s reaction to fat ..

.. should radically change our understanding of what is shaping up to be one of modern society’s biggest health scourges.

The findings also point to new ways to treat diabetes, heart disease and other diet-linked conditions.

In recent years, most rich countries, and some poorer ones, have seen a massive rise in so-called “metabolic syndrome” ..

.. whose symptoms can include insulin resistance, high blood cholesterol .. and an increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

That the syndrome goes hand in hand with obesity is well known .. but exactly how all these conditions are linked is unclear..”

go to source/story>>Obesity: Food kills, flab protects - health - 10 March 2010 - New Scientist

“.. People who hate teens might consider them a dream come true - buzzers that adults cannot hear yet disperse loitering youngsters from public places faster than a cop in a squad car.

But European governments have been asked to ban them.

A parliamentary panel of the Council of Europe said the so-called Mosquito buzzers treat young people “as if they were unwanted birds or pests.”

It said exposure to their signal - audible to most people under 20 but hardly anyone over 25 - amounts to degrading treatment banned by the European Convention on Human Rights.

The culture, science and education committee of the Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly said Mosquito buzzers violate the “right to respect for one’s private life” and violate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

“Children and other vulnerable persons have the right to be protected from serious attacks against their physical and psychical integrity,” it said in a report.

The device emits a pulsating signal that is irritating, if not painful, to minors and drives them from shopping centres or street corners.

They are typically installed by public administrations and shops but also schools and private residents, said the panel..”

go to source/story>>Buzzers treat kids as ‘unwanted pests’ | Stuff.co.nz

“.. Nanoparticles used to make some sunscreens transparent, making them popular with consumers .. might also be toxic ..

.. according to Australian research .. which adds to uncertainty about the safety of some sunscreens.

A study by Amanda Barnard, from the CSIRO’s materials science and engineering division, found the nanoparticles that provided the best transparency and sun protection .. also represented the highest for production of free radicals.

Using computer modelling, Dr Barnard analysed the properties of the man-made titanium dioxide nanoparticles found in some sunscreens, testing them in three areas: sun protection, transparency and potential for free radical production.

Studying various sizes of particles, she found it was a case of the smaller the nanoparticle the better the sun protection and transparency.

“Unfortunately the small ones also have a high surface-to-volume ratio and the surfaces are where the free radicals are produced through a photochemical, or light induced reaction,” she said.

Dr Barnard won the 2009 Malcolm McIntosh Prize for physical scientist of the year for her work on nanoparticles — tiny particles used in many products including sunscreens, cosmetics and paints.

Her latest research, published next month in the journal Nature Nanotechnology ..

.. found only particles less than 13 nanometres in size minimised free radical production .. while retaining other desirable properties.

The titanium dioxide nanoparticles in sunscreens range in size from three to 200 nanometres.

The results add to questions about the safety of such sunscreens.

The main concern is whether the nanoparticles interact with sunlight to produce free radicals .. that damage tissues or DNA..”

go to source/story>>Suncreen nanoparticles ‘might be toxic’ - science | Stuff.co.nz

“.. A tobacco giant has been told there should be a statue to commemorate dead Maori smokers killed by “the enemy that lies within our midst”.

Maori Party MP Hone Harawira told British American Tobacco’s managing director Graeme Amey at a select committee hearing on the tobacco industry yesterday ..

..that as many Maori died each year because of tobacco as died in World War II.

He said a submission to the committee on Wednesday spoke of the 600 Maori Battalion soldiers who died in World War II.

“We recognise that contribution every year.

“Six hundred Maori die every single year from tobacco yet there is no recognition of that anywhere.”

He said a friend had suggested a giant statue was needed to commemorate the “unknown smoker” as “a way of recognising that the losses in the battalion are replicated every single year ..

.. by an enemy that lies within our midst .. and continues to kill our people”.

Mr Amey repeatedly rejected Mr Harawira’s questions saying: “We sell a product that is legal.”

The tobacco firm controls about 75 per cent of all cigarette sales in New Zealand.

Mr Amey told the MPs that tobacco was an already highly regulated product, and any further regulation or ban would only increase an already active black market.

“We believe that a black market exists already.” He then offered to provide evidence to the panel outside of the meeting.

Mr Amey said the illicit trade of tobacco in Ireland made up 30 per cent of the market and 12 per cent in Australia.

Under current legislation, it was legal to grow up to 15 kilograms of tobacco for personal use each year.

That equated to about 25,000 cigarettes per individual, or 60 cigarettes a day.

British American Tobacco accepted there were significant risks with smoking but adult consumers were making adult choices, Mr Amey said.

He admitted he had quit smoking after 10 years.. saying he did so as a personal choice..”

go to source/story>>Harawira fires a volley for the smoking battalion | Stuff.co.nz

“.. The Department of Internal Affairs’ (DIA) internet filter is now operational and is being used by internet providers (ISPs) Maxnet and Watchdog.

Thomas Beagle, spokesperson for online freedom lobby Tech Liberty says he’s “very disappointed that the filter is now running, it’s a sad day for the New Zealand internet”.

He told Computerworld the filter went live on February 1 but DIA has delayed announcing that until it held a meeting with its Independent Reference Group.

He says he’s disappointed the launch was conducted in such a “stealthy mode”.

The manager of the Department of Internal Affairs’ Censorship Compliance Unit, Steve O’Brien, denies any subterfuge in the launch, saying the trial has been going on for two years and that has been communicated to media for “quite some time”.

“The Independent Reference Group has met and the filter system processes were demonstrated as set out in the code of practice, that is that the website filtering system prevents access to known websites containing images of child sexual abuse,” says O’Brien.

Beagle says the DIA refuses to say which other ISPs will be joining the filter, claiming the right to negotiate in secret.

However, Tech Liberty understands that Telstra Clear, Telecom and Vodafone have said they will implement the filter, with Orcon, Slingshot and Natcom saying that they won’t.

Vodafone spokesman Paul Brislen says Vodafone took part in the filter trial and is awaiting word from the DIA about the next steps.

The company will likely use the filter, he says, and when it does customers will be informed.

Orcon CEO Scott Bartlett says it is not true to say Orcon will not be taking part.

“We are still working with officials to fully evaluate this and ensure it doesn’t impact on our customers’ experience,” he says.

O’Brien says there is no compulsion for ISPs to tell their customers their internet service is being filtered.

“It’s a voluntary system and there’s no legislation,” he says, adding he understands the ISPs currently on the system have informed their customers.

David Zanetti, technical spokesperson for Tech Liberty, says he fears the stability of the New Zealand internet will be at risk..”

go to source/story>>New Zealand’s internet filter goes live | Stuff.co.nz

“.. A man whose wife ran over him twice in a four-wheel-drive has been flown to hospital with head, chest and back injuries.

Earthmoving contractor Terry Telford, 69, was run over yesterday morning when his wife Sandy reversed the vehicle down their long driveway near Opoutama, in northern Hawke’s Bay.

Lowe Corporation rescue helicopter marketing manager Louise Harvey said it appeared Mrs Telford, not realising what had happened ..

.. then drove forward, running over her husband again.

He suffered moderate head, chest and back injuries..”

go to source/story>>Wife accidentally runs over husband - twice | Stuff.co.nz

“.. But it will not identify which schools are being considered for a Public-Private Partnership (PPP).

Under the plan, a private company will build and own the school but the Crown will own the land and its board of trustees will retain governance and operational responsibility.

However, according to official papers, the school’s owners could use the school outside normal school hours and school boards would have to negotiate an “occupancy agreement” with the private owner.

Teachers’ unions say they have not been told about the project and want to be consulted before it is formally announced.

Education Minister Anne Tolley signalled last year that the Education Ministry was exploring using private sector capital to build new schools.

Just released Official Information Act papers show the ministry and Treasury have plans well advanced for the construction of a trial PPP school.

Others are planned if it is a success.

The ministry spends $500 million a year on school buildings, and must build three new secondary schools over the next four years to cater for roll growth.

The average secondary school costs around $70m.

Cabinet appears to have earmarked one of the three schools for a PPP .. but sections of the report have been blanked out..”

go to source/story>>Privately built state school near | Stuff.co.nz

“..as the cost of the scheme mounts.

Transport Minister Steven Joyce said the travel subsidy under the SuperGold card was set to exceed its $18 million-a-year budget, with the Wairarapa to Wellington train service and the Waiheke Island ferry singled out.

“The highest priority of the review process is to consider how to keep the scheme within the available budget of $18 million a year, while continuing to provide improved mobility for older people,” Mr Joyce said.

The Waiheke ferry cost $2 million and the operator was paid $13 a ticket.

Officials are also considering the level of reimbursement to operators and councils, and what services are eligible.

The review is also looking at how “off peak” is defined.

A discussion document notes that after the first 12 months “it has become clear that in its present form, the scheme is not financially sustainable with the funding available”.

But the card’s architect, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, said yesterday the changes could hit the elderly hard ..

.. and would be a breach of National’s assurances in 2008 that the elderly would not lose what they had..”

go to source/story>>Budget bust hits free rides for elderly | Stuff.co.nz

“..Labour MP Carol Beaumont is pushing a private member’s bill to limit interest rates charged by fringe lenders or “loan sharks” ..

.. which she says is the opening shot in a campaign against predatory lenders.

But Consumer Affairs Minister Heather Roy is sticking with advice from officials that interest rate caps have failed overseas and the Government will not support the bill.

Ms Beaumont has picked up colleague Charles Chauvel’s Credit Reform (Responsible Lending) Bill, which was introduced to Parliament last August.

The bill would allow maximum interest rates to be set, a power that doesn’t exist in New Zealand law.

While it does not define what constitutes the type of lending it is targeting, Ms Beaumont envisages the cap would still be effective at a level that would have no influence on bank or other mainstream lending.

The bill would also require lenders to “reasonably believe” the borrower will be able to repay the loan and seeks to limit the ability of loan sharks to recover more than they initially lent in the event of a default.

The bill is due to go before the House on April 28 and Ms Beaumont said she would be writing to all MPs seeking support for it..”

go to source/story>>Loan sharks targeted by Labour MP’s bill - Politics - NZ Herald News

“..Mr Power will face a grilling over two days from the committee of 18 countries on those and other issues relevant to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The minister will be supported by officials from Corrections, the Department of Labour, Crown Law, the Ministry of Justice, and UN-based Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials.

He will also be joined by New Zealand’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Jim McLay, a former National Party leader and Justice Minister.

Mr Power said it would be a robust discussion and something akin to an “international question time”.

“You front up, you make your statement and you are not quite sure what your supplementaries are going to be..”

go to source/story>>NZ human rights record under UN microscope - Politics - NZ Herald News

(they get a rave-review..)

go to source/story>>Review : Twenty years late … but it’s great to see them - Entertainment - NZ Herald News

(all in all..if you cut the crap..you’d get about twenty minutes from any hour-long bulletin now..so a much ‘tighter’ 30 min bulletin..

..containing ‘real’ news..cd/wd be a blessing in disguise..

at the very least..we’d be spared some of that cheery-chappys’ mindless blathering..eh..?..)

“..Television New Zealand is looking at radical solutions to trim $30 million to $40 million from budgets - including halving the 6pm news hour.

It is understood that TVNZ has sounded out TV3 advising: “If you go half an hour, we’d go half an hour too.”

“It would be a question of who blinks first,” said a TVNZ source who would not be named.

The idea of halving the news hour - creating a 30-minute bulletin followed by Close Up or Campbell Live - has been considered plenty of times..”

(and while they are at it..they can stop treating us like we are target-viewers of playskool..

..and you really only need one person to read the news…eh..?

there’s a big ’saving’..just there..

y’know..in the course of my days’ work..i see/read a lot of media..

and really..both of our hour-long main news bulletins..are far from anything to be ‘proud’ of..eh..

..and they often/mostly fail/fall at the task of being barely serviceable..)

go to source/story>>Media: News half-hour an option for TVNZ - Business - NZ Herald News

“..At least $15 million is now believed to be missing from an Auckland financial advisory firm, according to investigators probing the collapse of the company.

They have widened their investigation to include other businesses also linked to Remuera couple Mike and Jackie Bradley.

Liquidators sifting through the accounts of B’On Financial Services, which traded as Bradley & Bradley, have identified 40 investors in Auckland, Kerikeri and Tauranga who are owed money by the firm.

But they believe there may be more who have not come forward.

Serious Fraud Office head Adam Feeley said investigators had been working closely with the Companies Office and the liquidators on the Bradley case since late last year, and had “significant concerns” about the Bradleys’ business practices.

“Those concerns are such that we have now extended our inquiries beyond the original companies involved in the liquidation.”

Mr Feeley said the SFO was keen to hear from anyone who had invested with the Bradleys, and he urged anyone else considering doing business with the couple to seek independent legal and financial advice “which is always prudent anyway”.

One investor has told the Herald he already accepts he may never recover his life savings.

The man, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he has been told by investigators that international funds he thought he was investing in did not appear to exist..”

go to source/story>>$15m missing, say investigators probing couple’s finance advice company - National - NZ Herald News

“..Lower internet prices and unlimited downloads for home connections are predicted to be the result of a new high-speed link planned between New Zealand, Australia and the United States.

The project would build a $900 million, 13,000km high-speed link within three years.

The “Pacific Fibre” project is backed by some of New Zealand’s best-known businessmen, including high-flyers Sam Morgan, Sir Stephen Tindall and Rod Drury.

It would provide a broadband connection with five times the capacity of the current connection, part-owned by Telecom.

“Businesses love very high resolution multi-party video conferencing while grandparents expect to be able to Skype video their grandchildren - and that, too, will be in HD [high definition] or better,” said another Pacific Fibre founder, Mark Rushworth.

“But mostly we want to unleash that creative talent New Zealand has, and be on a level footing with the rest of the world.”

go to source/story>>$900m plan to open NZ internet tap - Business - NZ Herald News

“..New Zealand internet entrepreneurs Sam Morgan and Rod Drury have joined up with retailing entrepreneur Stephen Tindall to announce plans for a NZ$900 million optic fibre cable linking New Zealand, Australia and United States by 2013.

They said the 13,000km link would be five times bigger than the existing Southern Cross cable ..

.. and could unleash billions of dollars of economic potential .. by connecting New Zealand businesses to global markets by the internet.

They said they aimed to provide unlimited high speed broadband for Australasian consumers that challenged existing cables, including the current single Southern Cross system controlled by Telecom New Zealand.

Such a new cable across the Tasman and the Pacific would cost upwards of NZ$900 million.

Other founders include former Vodafone Chief Marketing Officer Mark Rushworth, tech industry veteran John Humphrey and tech entrepreneur and consultant Lance Wiggs.

Pacific Fibre is in talks with cornerstone investors and customers..”

go to source/story>>Entrepreneurs announce $900m fast broadband plan - Business - NZ Herald News

“..The following habits are recommendations from all types of writers–from fiction to non-fiction ..

.. and famous to lesser-known–

- and all offer great advice..

Routine

Finding and maintaining a successful writing routine will help you become a better writer..”

go to source/story>>101 Habits of Highly Effective Writers « Online Degrees.net Blog

“..European countries are blocking Wall Street banks from lucrative deals to sell government debt worth hundreds of billions of euros in retaliation for their role in the credit crunch.

For the first time in five years, no big US investment bank appears among the top nine sovereign bond bookrunners in Europe, according to Dealogic data compiled for the Guardian.

Only Morgan Stanley ranks at number 10.

Goldman Sachs doesn’t make the table.

Goldman made it to number five last year and in 2006, and number eight in 2007, the data shows.

JP Morgan was in the top ten last year and in 2007 and 2006 .. but doesn’t appear this year.

“Governments do not have the confidence that the excessive risk-taking culture of the big Wall Street banks has changed ..

.. and they still cannot be trusted to put the stability of the financial system before profit,” said Arlene McCarthy, vice chair of the European parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee.

“It is no surprise therefore that governments are reluctant to do business with banks that have failed to learn the lesson of the crisis.

The banks need to acknowledge the mistakes that were made .. and behave in an ethical way .. to regain the trust and confidence of governments.”

European sovereign bond league tables are now dominated by European banks such as Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank, and Société Générale, the Dealogic table shows.

Their business model is usually seen as more relationship-based ..

.. while US investment banks have traditionally been focused on immediate deal-making..”

go to source/story>>Europe bars Wall Street banks from government bond sales | Business | guardian.co.uk

“..According to the chief of Japans Democratic Party .. who says that the 9/11 hijackers are alive .. and that 9/11 was a complete hoax.

Dr. David Ray Griffin is a professor and author who wrote The New Pearl Harbor Revisited ..

.. and he says that he agrees; ..

..the World Trade Center was a hoax..”

go to source/story>> The 9/11 Hijackers are Alive? : Information Clearing House - ICH

“..Adelaide is Australia’s festival city.

Its arts festival is currently in swing.

Polite debate, aesthetics and high-octane wine are putting the world to rights.

With one exception.

Adelaide is where Rupert Murdoch began his empire.

The voracious trail starts here.

No statue stands; his is a spectral presence, controlling the only daily newspaper, even the printing presses.

Across Australia, he owns almost 70 per cent of the capital city press and the only national newspaper, and Sky Television, and much else.

Welcome to the world’s first murdochracy.

What is a murdochracy?

It is where the fealty and augmentation of Murdoch’s editors and managers are undisguised, an inspiration to his choir on seven continents ..

.. where even his competitors sing along .. and wise politicians heed the Murdochism: ..

..“What’ll it be? A headline a day or a bucket of shit a day?”

While the veracity of this celebrated remark is sometimes disputed, its spirit is not.

Stricken with pneumonia, the former prime minister John Howard dragged himself out of bed to pay obeisance to the man to whom he owed many empty buckets.

His successor, Kevin Rudd, scurried to an obligatory audience with Murdoch in New York prior to his election.

This is standard across the planet.

Before he took power, Tony Blair was flown to an island off Queensland to stand at the blue Newscorp lectern and pledge Thatcherism and media de-regulation to the jowled figure nodding in the front row.

The next day, the Sun lauded Blair as one who “has vision [and] speaks our language on morality and family life”.

Murdoch knows that little separates the main political parties in Australia, Britain and America.

He plays the man.

In 1972, he backed Australia’s Gough Whitlam who revealed a radical reformer, even threatening to expose America’s spy bases.

A furious Murdoch swung his newspapers against Whitlam with stories so outrageously skewed that rebellious journalists on The Australian burned their newspaper in the street.

That has never been repeated.

Dominant themes in the Australian murdochracy, sport and celebrity gossip aside, are the promotion of war and jingoism, American foreign policy, Israel and a paternalism toward Aborigines ..

.. the world’s most impoverished indigenous people, according to the UN.

This antiquated cold warring is not due entirely to the Murdoch press, of course .. but the agenda is..”

go to source/story>> Welcome To The World’s First Murdochracy : Information Clearing House - ICH

“..A global Internet oversight agency is reopening discussions about whether to create a “.xxx” domain name as an online red-light district ..

.. where porn sites can set up shop away from the wandering eyes of children and teenagers.

Parents would be able to use the system to help block access to porn sites, though because its use would be voluntary ..

.. the “.xxx” suffix wouldn’t keep such content entirely away from minors.

Religious and other anti-porn groups worry that “.xxx” would legitimize porn sites ..

.. and the proposal has already been rejected three times since 2000..”

go to source/story>>‘.XXX’ Web Address For Porn Sites Could Create Online Red-Light Districts

“..People sensitive to the taste of fat tend to eat less of it and are less likely to be overweight ..

.. according to Australian research that found human tongues can detect fatty tastes.

Researchers at Deakin University, working with colleagues at the University of Adelaide among others, found that fat was the sixth taste people can identify in addition to the five others — sweet, sour, salty, bitter and protein-rich.

In a statement, Deakin researcher Russell Keast said the findings built on previous research in the United States that used animal models to discover the taste for fat.

“Interestingly, we also found that those with a high sensitivity to the taste of fat consumed less fatty foods and had lower BMIs (body-mass indices) than those with lower sensitivity,” Keast added..”

go to source/story>>Salty, sweet: study says fat is the sixth “taste” - Yahoo! News

“..Matthew Bishop, the U.S. business editor of The Economist, has described himself as a “card-carrying capitalist,” so it’s a little surprising to pick up his new book, The Road from Ruin, turn to the cover flap and read the opening salvo (served up in bright blue lettering): ..

..”We Have a World Class Mess…Now What?”

Having a business editor of The Economist start things off with such a frank admission of “the fundamental flaws in the way we do capitalism” ..

.. is one of the main reasons I’ve picked The Road From Ruin as this month’s HuffPost Book Club selection.

An open, orthodoxy-free conversation about how we can fix our broken financial system is exactly what we need.

Reading The Road From Ruin — and joining in our month-long discussion about it — is a great way to start..”

go to source/story>>Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post

“..I must confess that until recently I had no idea what Twitter was.

Even now, I’m not completely sure how it’s best used.

When I want to post something, the younger, more tech-savvy people in my office help me out.

But I do know this: if you searched Twitter for “Dan Rather” over the past few days, you probably could guess why I feel the need to write this column.

It started this past Sunday when I appeared on Chris Matthews’ syndicated talk show.

I’ve known and respected Chris for many years and I enjoy doing his show.

I take the train down from my home in New York to Washington D.C. and as I approach Union Station my thoughts often turn to the years I spent covering the Johnson and Nixon White Houses.

It was a turbulent time for the country .. and a formative period for me as a reporter and a young father.

The Washington of that time was a far different place.

In some ways it was better: less politically rancorous, more collegial.

In many ways it, and the country it represented, was much worse.

African Americans were still very much second-class citizens.

Women held few positions of power.

We smoked more, polluted our environment more, and accepted social mores that anyone who has seen Mad Men knows are embarrassingly outdated.

The news media was also different, so different in fact that I won’t even try to enumerate all the changes.

Many who are far smarter and more perceptive than I have written volumes about it.

As with the country itself, there were some elements of the press that were better then and some that are better now.

There were many more newspapers and they were healthy, full of enterprising reporting.

The networks were flush with cash that they spent on their news divisions, supporting large staffs of journalists and bureaus across the country and around the world.

Most of the bureaus have closed .. and the staff has been laid off..”

go to source/story>>Dan Rather: Watermelons, Washington, and What We Call News Today

“..Lead slips in marginals that donor’s money was meant to secure

For years, Conservative Party officials argued that any controversy surrounding Lord Ashcroft was worth it ..

.. because his operation in marginal seats would deliver the party its first election victory for 18 years.

When the Tories’ lead in the opinion polls started to slip in January, party strategists declared that national figures did not really matter ..

.. because their deputy chairman’s blitz had ensured they were further ahead in the crucial seats that would decide the election.

Such arguments appear to be wearing thin.

Some Tory MPs and parliamentary candidates are wondering whether the “Ashcroft effect” is all it has been cracked up to be ..

.. after three polls in marginal seats suggested that the battle with Labour is too close for comfort.

Although surveys in marginal seats are viewed with caution by polling experts, the three polls suggest that a hung parliament is more likely than the outright Tory victory the key seats initiative was supposed to cement.

The Tories have spent £6m over two years in their target seats.

Some Tory MPs now fear that the row over Lord Ashcroft’s “non-domicile” tax status may be partly responsible for narrowing the gap between the parties.

“It would be the final irony,” one said.

“The ‘Ashcroft effect’ was supposed to be positive .. not negative.”

Some Tory candidates report that the headlines about the Ashcroft affair may have contributed to the voter disenchantment that they encounter on the doorstep –

- already at a record high after the MPs’ expenses controversy..”

go to source/story>>Have Ashcroft’s millions fatally wounded Tories? - UK Politics, UK - The Independent

“..the campaign to improve the rights of women was founded a century ago.

To celebrate the occasion, The Independent on Sunday salutes 100 women who have changed the world for ever and for the better ..

.. and who are drawn from all walks of life.

The IoS’s top female minds came together to make their selections;..

.. the only restriction facing them was that the candidates should be British .. and have made their lasting contribution during the past 100 years..”

go to source/story>>A century of distinction: 100 women who changed the world - News, People - The Independent

(i need..no..!..must have..!..a z-pen..!)

“..Z-Pen

A pen with the powers to transform scruffy handwriting into tidy computer text.

Inside the pen is a transmitter that beams all your scribblings and doodles from meetings to a USB drive ..

.. that you can later link up to a computer at your convenience.

Price: £99.99..”

(i have possibly the most scrawly-handwriting of anyone i know..but tonight i will sleep..and dream of a z-pen..

and while you are there..i also need/must have..an Aeron chair.

“..A gadget in itself, the Aeron office chair has earned a place in the Museum of Modern Art.

But its cult following is only the beginning.

Engineered to respond to your body’s movement .. the chair supports your lower spine and boosts circulation.
Price: £895.”

and..an Optoma Pico PK-101 projector..

“..Not much larger than a pack of playing cards .. this little projector will allow you to watch big-screen movies on the go..”

ta muchly..!

y’see..i need to sit in the chair..while using the pen..to review the movies i am watching using the projector..

so..as you can see..it all makes perfect sense..

..and..of course..all components are ‘essential’..

..eh..?..)

go to source/story>>Z-Pen A pen with the powers to transform scruffy handwriting into tidy comput…

“..Survey reveals a startling increase in libido among the ‘Viagra generation’

The feminist academic Camille Paglia once described sex at age 90 as “like trying to shoot pool with a rope”.

But despite her coruscating verdict sexual life expectancy is increasing, researchers say.

A study published today shows that among 75 to 85 year olds, four out of 10 men and two out of 10 women are still having sex – or they claim to, at least.

All sex surveys based on self reports are bedevilled by the accuracy of measurement.

It is hard to be sure whether the gender imbalance shows the resilience of male interest in sex ..

.. or the resilience of their propensity to boast about it..”

go to source/story>>Four in 10 men over 75 say they are still having sex (but only two in 10 women) - Consummation, Love & Sex - The Independent

“..Forget the laptop:..

.. Filofaxes, once synonymous with yuppies, have been modernised as a stylish and useful accessory

Remember the Filofax?

Sure you do — along with double-breasted suits, striped shirts and boxer shorts, it was a symbol of Eighties chic ..

.. a way to demonstrate that you meant business ..

.. lunch was for wimps .. and you were ready to go for it.

That it was basically a diary and address book is neither here nor there:..

.. everyone had a Filofax..”

go to source/story>>Flip back to the organised Eighties - Times Online

“..Wall Street and the City did little to deserve their record profits.

A Robin Hood tax is the only fair solution..

Banking occupies a unique niche in the economy.

Both vital and prone to crisis, Wall Street and the City of London are the beating hearts of the economy, pumping liquidity through the arteries of industry nationally and globally.

When they suffer a financial arrhythmia, as in the dire crisis of September 2008, the entire world economy risks sudden death.

Life support systems are wheeled in.

The Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, the ultimate providers of liquidity, not only save the banks but pad their profits too.

The seignorage of the central banks (income earned by the privilege of money creation) is, in effect, shared with leading banks ..

.. by lending them funds at near-zero rates .. that they lend out at a higher rate.

Thus were Wall Street’s record profits of 2009 concocted by the Fed .. despite the banks’ terrible balance sheets and record of reckless behaviour.

The Fed pumped more than a trillion dollars of new liquidity into the system .. and Wall Street netted an estimated $55 billion or more of profits.

With a knowing smirk, the bankers helped themselves to their share of the seignorage as well ..

.. to the tune of $20 billion in bonuses .. not even counting unrealised stock options.

The big financial institutions, notably the primary dealers for the central banks, such as Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs, therefore occupy a blessed position.

By all rights they are public utilities, vital organs for the economy .. that owe their financial rewards and lifelines to their proximity to central bank printing presses.

The mega-bonuses flow year in, year out, rain or shine, boom or bust.

Far-sighted bankers long ago figured out that they too should share the seignorage — not with the public but with the public officials who oversee the Fed and the Treasury.

The financial sector is the biggest lobbying industry in America .. and the biggest campaign donor.

The Fed’s money gets spread around.

The same occurs in London, Paris, Tokyo and beyond.

We are told that bankers’ bonuses are needed so these skilled technicians — who nearly bankrupted us all — do not jump ship.

But where would they go?

What economists would call the “opportunity cost” of bankers — their next best salary outside banking — would be a sharp step down without the seignorage.

Ouch.

Even as they feed on Wall Street largesse .. politicians have finally had to face the brazenness of these arrangements.

The White House and 10 Downing Street recently called for a new banking tax to recoup some of the seignorage, as have other G20 governments.

And none too soon , with the public up in arms about the injustice of it all .. and national budgets haemorrhaging mega-deficits..”

go to source/story>>Rob rich bankers and give money to the poor | Jeffrey Sachs - Times Online

“..Sex abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church are proof that that “the Devil is at work inside the Vatican”, according to the Holy See’s chief exorcist.

Father Gabriele Amorth, 85, who has been the Vatican’s chief exorcist for 25 years and says he has dealt with 70,000 cases of demonic possession ..

.. said that the consequences of satanic infiltration included power struggles at the Vatican as well as “cardinals who do not believe in Jesus ..

.. and bishops who are linked to the Demon”.

He added: “When one speaks of ‘the smoke of Satan’ [a phrase coined by Pope Paul VI in 1972] in the holy rooms, it is all true – including these latest stories of violence and paedophilia.”

He claimed that another example of satanic behaviour was the Vatican “cover-up” over the deaths in 1998 of Alois Estermann, the then commander of the Swiss Guard, his wife and Corporal Cedric Tornay, a Swiss Guard, who were all found shot dead.

“They covered up everything immediately,” he said.

“Here one sees the rot”.

A remarkably swift Vatican investigation concluded that Corporal Tornay had shot the commander and his wife and then turned his gun on himself after being passed over for a medal.

However Tornay’s relatives have challenged this.

There have been unconfirmed reports of a homosexual background to the tragedy and the involvement of a fourth person who was never identified.

Father Amorth, who has just published Memoirs of an Exorcist, a series of interviews with the Vatican journalist Marco Tosatti, said that the attempt on the life of Pope John Paul II in 1981 had been the work of the Devil ..

.. as had an incident last Christmas when a mentally disturbed woman threw herself at Pope Benedict XVI at the start of Midnight Mass, pulling him to the ground..”

go to source/story>>Chief exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth says Devil is in the Vatican -Times Online

“..There is no simple way to battle public hostility to climate research.

As the psychologists show .. facts barely sway us anyway

There is one question that no one who denies manmade climate change wants to answer: what would it take to persuade you?

In most cases the answer seems to be nothing.

No level of evidence can shake the growing belief that climate science is a giant conspiracy codded up by boffins and governments to tax and control us.

The new study by the Met Office, which paints an even grimmer picture than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, will do nothing to change this view.

The attack on climate scientists is now widening to an all-out war on science.

Writing recently for the Telegraph, the columnist Gerald Warner dismissed scientists as “white-coated prima donnas and narcissists …

.. pointy-heads in lab coats [who] have reassumed the role of mad cranks …

..The public is no longer in awe of scientists.

Like squabbling evangelical churches in the 19th century, they can form as many schismatic sects as they like, nobody is listening to them any more.”

Views like this can be explained partly as the revenge of the humanities students.

There is scarcely an editor or executive in any major media company – and precious few journalists – with a science degree ..

.. yet everyone knows that the anoraks are taking over the world..”

go to source/story>>The trouble with trusting complex science | George Monbiot | Comment is free | The Guardian

“.. 20+ African countries are selling or leasing land for intensive agriculture on a shocking scale ..

.. in what may be the greatest change of ownership since the colonial era.

— We turned off the main road to Awassa, talked our way past security guards and drove a mile across empty land before we found what will soon be Ethiopia’s largest greenhouse.

Nestling below an escarpment of the Rift Valley, the development is far from finished, but the plastic and steel structure already stretches over 50 acres* — the size of 20 soccer fields.

The farm manager shows us millions of tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables being grown in 1,500 foot rows in computer controlled conditions.

Spanish engineers are building the steel structure, Dutch technology minimises water use from two bore-holes and 1,000 women pick and pack 50 tons of food a day.

Within 24 hours, it has been driven 200 miles to Addis Ababa and flown 1,000 miles to the shops and restaurants of Dubai, Jeddah and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Ethiopia is one of the hungriest countries in the world with more than 13-million people needing food aid ..

.. but paradoxically the government is offering at least 7.5 million acres of its most fertile land to rich countries .. and some of the world’s most wealthy individuals .. to export food for their own populations.

The 2,500 acres of land which contain the Awassa greenhouses are leased for 99 years to a Saudi billionaire businessman, Ethiopian-born Sheikh Mohammed al-Amoudi, one of the 50 richest men in the world..”

go to source/story>>Billionaires and Mega-Corporations Behind Immense Land Grab in Africa | | AlterNet

“..As President Barack Obama hits the endgame for health care reform, is he making a ploy to associate price-gouging insurance companies with Wall Street greed?

Goldman Sachs recently released a report encouraging investors to buy up shares in two large insurance firms ..

.. and thereby profit from the industry’s soaring premiums.

Now, the White House is making that brief the centerpiece of Obama’s closing argument for overhauling the health system.

It appears that Obama is subtly using the Wall Street titan’s toxic reputation to demonize the insurance industry and rally public support for a comprehensive bill.

In a health care speech in Pennsylvania on Monday, Obama delivered a broadside against profiteering insurance firms.

As an example of the industry’s greed, he highlighted a conference call organized by Goldman Sachs.

“An insurance broker told Wall Street investors that insurance companies know they will lose customers if they keep raising premiums,” Obama said.

But, he added, the lack of competition allows insurers to keep premiums high for their remaining customers.

“And they will keep doing this for as long as they can get away with it.”..”

go to source/story>>Is Obama Turning on Goldman Sachs? | Mother Jones

“.. Senior church leaders have spoken out against conditions at New Plymouth prison, labelling the cramped cells a “source of shame and disgrace”.

They also say a 22-hour-a-day lockdown instituted in the prison is “disturbing.”

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu – who was imprisoned by dictator Idi Amin – and former Governor-General Sir Paul Reeves visited the city prison last week, along with the Bishop of Taranaki, Philip Richardson.

Their 3 1/2-hour visit was part of a week-long stay in the region, leading up to the consecration of St Mary’s Church as the Taranaki Cathedral.

In a statement released to the Taranaki Daily News yesterday, they commented on the professionalism, courtesy and humanity of the staff they met and the way they related to prisoners.

They found the work of the two chaplains, Sister Margaret and The Rev Judy Clark, a source of inspiration.

They also understood the importance of New Plymouth retaining a local prison, which allows prisoners from the region to maintain links with family.

However, they described the lack of resources which forces a 22-hours-a-day lockdown, as disturbing.

Physical conditions in the older part of the prison attracted special concern, with the bishops saying cramped cells built 150 years ago were “a source of shame and disgrace for us all”.

“In our view, to house men in such claustrophobic conditions for months at a time, some of them as young as 17, many of them still on remand ..

.. is dehumanising for inmates and staff alike.”

go to source/story>>Bishops shocked by New Plymouth prison - national | Stuff.co.nz

“..The time is rapidly approaching when we discover whether Steven Joyce has what it takes.

Whether he is a communications minister with mettle ..

.. or whether he travels the way of so many communication ministers before him - to the realm of the spineless jellyfish.

Maurice Williamson went there, championing the ideology of the light-handed regulator, but consigning the country to the slow lane of telecommunications for more than a decade in the process.

Paul Swain went there too. Faced with the big decision - whether to open monopoly services to competition - poor Paul didn’t have the bottle.

He’ll forever be known as the minister who the dropped the unbundling bundle.

He too set the country back another decade in the process.

Then came brave David Cunliffe, the minister who lived up to his name and slew the Goliath, Telecom.

It wasn’t a slingshot to the forehead.

Cunliffe used the twirling bolas of operational separation around the ankles to fell the giant and curb its rampant monopoly power.

Sadly, Cunliffe was weak on the mobile front - where duopoly rather than monopoly rips off consumers.

By machinations too tedious to mention, Vodafone conspired, with the help of Bill English, to force the minister, in 2007, to step aside from adjudicating in the arcane arena of mobile termination rates.

Basically, these are fictional fees mobile operators pay each other for calls terminating on one another’s network.

In truth they shouldn’t exist at all, but such is the power of telecommunications companies, they can make fiction reality and rort the hapless consumer.

Which is why New Zealand has one of the most expensive mobile services in the world..”

go to source/story>>Chris Barton: Joyce near high noon of communications portfolio - Opinion - NZ Herald News

“..Dozens of directors who run Auckland’s cultural and sporting facilities look set to be dumped by the Government for a handful of directors to control everything from ballet in the Aotea Centre to rugby fixtures at North Harbour Stadium.

The agency designing the Super City is working on winding up 16 major arts and other regional facilities to create a single major regional facilities council-controlled organisation for the Super City.

The new CCO, with a board of about eight directors, will be responsible for most of Auckland’s iconic facilities, such as Auckland Museum, Auckland Zoo ..

.. and Motat, cultural facilities like The Edge and Bruce Mason Centre, and major stadiums, including Mt Smart and North Harbour.

The directors will need to make calls on risky musicals, decide on a new herd of elephants at Auckland Zoo, deal with the Warriors at Mt Smart Stadium ..

.. and manage controversial museum director Vanda Vitali..”

go to source/story>>Ballet and rugby under one roof - National - NZ Herald News

“..Is reality TV finally living up to its name?

Most of what we are served up under that rubric is actually the farthest thing from reality.

The exploits of Snooki, Jake the Bachelor, and all those Real Housewives hardly reflect life as most of America knows it and lives it.

The real America is hurting — not jetting off to an exotic location for Fantasy Suite canoodling.

But no matter how sobering the statistics we are getting on a regular basis (and I’ll offer up some bracing ones in a moment), ..

.. the hardships and suffering tens of millions of Americans are experiencing are almost entirely absent from our popular culture.

Which is a shame, because drama and narrative have the ability to move people’s perceptions in a way that raw numbers never can.

Enter Undercover Boss, the new CBS reality show in which corporate CEOs don disguises and spend a few days experiencing what it’s like to be a low-level worker at their companies.

Watching the show — including the episode in which the CEO of a waste management company vacuumed out port-a-potties ..

.. and learned that one of his employees, a woman who drives a garbage truck, has to urinate in a cup ..

.. because her productivity requirements leave her no time for a bathroom break — I thought of Benjamin Disraeli.

Before becoming Prime Minister of England, Disraeli wanted to issue a wake up call about the horrible state of the British working class.

So, in 1845, he wrote a novel, Sybil, which warned of the danger of England disintegrating into “two nations between whom there is no sympathy, as if they were inhabitants of different planets.”

The book became a sensation .. and the outrage it provoked propelled fundamental social reforms.

In the 19th century, one of the most effective ways to convey the quiet desperation of the working class to a wide audience was via a realistic novel.

In 2010, it’s through reality TV.

And Undercover Boss has clearly touched a nerve with viewers.

Last week, only the Olympics and American Idol scored higher in the ratings.

It’s the kind of popular entertainment that can start out as one thing — a fun, high concept reality show —

– but morph into something that affects the zeitgeist .. by turning a spotlight on just how out of touch America’s corporate chiefs are.

And their cluelessness is not just about the jobs their workers do — it’s about the lives their workers lead.

Ever since Roseanne went off the air, network TV has not been the most welcoming place when it comes to telling the stories of working class Americans.

But now, week in and week out, millions can see what downsizing and Wall Street’s demands for ever-greater productivity and earning margins did to the lives of so many Americans, even before the economic crisis.

The chasm between America’s haves and have-nots has reached Grand Canyon-esque proportions.

Thirty years ago top executives at S&P 500 companies made an average of 30 times what their workers did —

– now they make 300 times what their workers make.

That’s the kind of statistic a show like Undercover Boss can put flesh and blood on.

Here are a few others:..”

go to source/story>>Arianna Huffington: Is Undercover Boss the Most Subversive Show on Television?