From an idea on Twitter to an online event: Wray village highlights rural broadband campaign and benefits of ‘symmetrical’ fast upload to digital future The ‘world’s first’ streaming of a village cricket match took its place in internet folklore today with thousands tuning in to the #twicket. Complete with an appearance from a 15 foot scarecrow and the issuing of yellow cards more usually associated with football, the cricket match from Wray in Lancashire was broadcast across as far afield as America and Australia. Organiser John Popham, who first came up with the plan to highlight the need for faster rural broadband provision just a few week ago, told me: “It worked better than my wildest expectations both in terms of viewers and the technology. The BBC even came along – I think they might be a bit worried!” At its height the match attracted more than 2,300 live viewers – and succeeded in making a local woman who stepped in to be commentator, Brenda Nickle, into an immediate online star with her observations about players as she sipped her Pimms. Popham now hopes to use other live events as part of the campaign to highlight the need for fast upload speeds to enable people to share content more easily. Almost all broadband provision in the UK is “asymmetric” – meaning that download speeds are far greater than upload speeds. Studies in Australia have found that symmetrical upload and download speeds leads to more creativity among users, while asymmetric connections creates a “consumer culture”. The UK government has repeatedly said that it wants the UK to be a leader in content creation, but there is little sign that it has taken in the importance of symmetric broadband in achieving this goal. Future events could well prove more difficult to achieve – Wray was chosen because, thanks to a network installed by Lancaster University, it is one of only three villages in the UK to have a symmetrical community network . “It’s going to be hard to live up to this, to do it again to this standard,” Popham said. The livestream was managed by Birmingham company Aquila which used basic camera equipment (two Sony Z1 cameras and and a DSR 350) with microphones on the boundary and at the commentary. There was also an audio only stream brovided by Radio Youthology with iPhone and Android apps. The hash tag #twicket started trending on Twitter shortly before the end of the match. Broadband Digital Britain Internet Digital Economy Act Sarah Hartley guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …The Subtlety of a Sledge Hammer: MSNBC Doubles Down on Liberal Advocacy with New ‘Lean Forward’ Spots
April 25, 2011 No CommentUntil now, MSNBC's “Lean Forward” ad campaign has largely avoided wearing the network's leftward slant as a badge of pride. Sure, there were hints here and there that “Lean Forward” really means “left-leaning,” but the older ads were subtle compared to the latest batch which beat you over the head with their liberal take on major political issues. For example, you can expect to see MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell in this spot lamenting that ObamaCare didn't go far enough to the Left:
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Suresh Kalmadi accused of favouring Swiss company when buying equipment for Delhi event Indian officials have arrested the chief organiser of last year’s Commonwealth Games as part of a corruption investigation into the scandal-plagued competition in New Delhi. India had hoped that the Games would help it project the image of a rising superpower, but instead it was embarrassed by corruption allegations, construction delays and cost overruns as the budget ballooned to 700 billion rupees (£9.1bn) from an estimated 18.9 billion rupees. Suresh Kalmadi, the highest-ranking member of the organising committee to be arrested, has been charged with conspiracy for allegedly favouring a Swiss company in the purchase of equipment for timing and scoring events, said a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) spokeswoman, Dharini Mishra. Two other officials on the organising committee – Lalit Bhanot and VK Verma – were arrested earlier in the same case. The CBI claims the government was cheated out of 1.41 billion rupees paid to Swiss Timings Ltd for equipment available from another company for much less. India Commonwealth Games 2010 guardian.co.uk
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Rigid ticketing policy and high prices spark concerns over empty seats and disappointed fans at London 2012 Olympics Olympic bosses are expecting a last-minute surge for London 2012 tickets ahead of the Tuesday midnight deadline for applications, though organisers have confirmed that this is not the last chance for members of the public to buy tickets. Officials said they were “hugely encouraged” by ticket sales, which have surged ahead of the deadline, with Easter Sunday evening the busiest period so far. But there have been complaints that the rigid ticketing policy will leave many fans disappointed and thousands of seats empty. “Tickets will be made available again,” said a spokesman for the London Olympic Games Organising Committee (Logoc). “But the best opportunity to get one is now, and we’d really encourage anyone who wants one to try now.” Prices range from £20 for the cheapest seats at preliminary events to £750 for the best views of the prestigious 100m final. The most expensive – for the opening ceremony – come in at £2,012. Where demand outstrips supply, organisers will hold a lottery to select applicants at random. Logoc gave no breakdown on Monday, but said it had received applications for all sports from across the UK and as far afield as the Falkland Islands. It said it had promoted the six-week sale as a “marathon not a sprint”. Logoc will be creating an online exchange forum, allowing ticketholders to resell at face value, but any attempt to tout will be liable to prosecution. “It’s not like at Glastonbury where there’s a photograph of the buyer on the ticket, but there is a lot of monitoring by our security and the police to make sure that people aren’t reselling for profit. “It is illegal to resell tickets for profit on sites such as eBay and we will be keeping a close eye on them.” The system has drawn criticism from some private ticketing firms who say it must be opened up to avoid leaving grandstands empty. Seatwave, a ticket exchange website that could potentially profit if 2012 auctions were allowed, demanded Logoc scrap its “confusing” lottery and sell seats on the open market. “There is a growing risk that millions of Olympic fans will not get the chance to attend the games and events they want to,” said Seatwave founder Joe Cohen. “The current ballot system is confusing, unnecessarily burdensome and the restrictions on ticket resale will mean that thousands of tickets will go unused. Let’s not repeat the images of blocks of empty seats we saw in Beijing.” There have also been complaints from some buyers over transparency and cost. Jack Miller, vice-president of the British Athletics Supporters Club, said he was caught unawares by prices “considerably more than Beijing”. “I blinked slightly when it totalled up what it would cost if I got everything I applied for,” he said. Ticket applicants will find out if they have been successful by 24 June. Olympic Games 2012 London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Locog) Athletics London Barry Neild guardian.co.uk
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Targets, bureaucracy and ballooning workloads make teachers increasingly anxious, delegates at NUT conference are told Stress is driving increasing numbers of teachers out of the profession, with some even considering suicide, a teaching union conference heard on Monday. Delegates at the National Union of Teachers conference in Harrogate heard there had been a “meteoric” rise in work-related stress due to demands to meet government targets. Research by the Health and Safety Executive in 2000 found teaching to be the most stressful profession, with 41.5% of teachers reporting themselves as “highly stressed”. Sue McMahon, a delegate from Calderdale, West Yorkshire, said: “As a divisional secretary, I have seen a meteoric rise in work-related stress and on more than one occasion have had to support a member who has attempted suicide. “This … is due to the demands being placed on our members to hit government targets.” She said a “target tsunami” from government is “sweeping away those [teachers] that you are struggling to support”. Laura Fisher from Wakefield told delegates how two weeks into her first job as a teacher, a colleague looked at her and said: “‘Go home and drink a bottle of wine and you’ll be fine.’ I said ‘I don’t drink’, and he said, ‘give it six months’. “That was six years ago. I still don’t drink, but I do like chocolate.” The NUT is concerned that an increase in form-filling has driven up teachers’ workloads. The union passed two resolutions, calling for the union to support victims of work stress and for the Health and Safety Executive to intervene in schools where employers do not carry out assessments of the risk of stress. Christine Blower, general secretary of the NUT, said: “Despite measures to reduce teachers’ workload, we still have the unacceptable situation of many classroom teachers, heads and deputies working in excess of 50 hours a week. With no limit to the working week, the long hours continue to take their toll on teachers’ health and their lives outside work. “Much of this time is spent on tasks which have little to do with teaching and learning, but are instead generated by unnecessary bureaucratic procedures which have become the bane of teachers’ lives.” Reducing the burden of planning and assessment on teachers would help reduce the workload of school staff, Blower said. “In too many schools, planning and assessment requirements have become formulaic burdens which simply waste teachers’ time.” John Illingworth from Nottingham told delegates the number of stress-related suicides among teachers is “low but significant”. “Stress-related illness is widespread, affecting thousands of teachers each year. It is more likely to end a teacher’s career than any other cause,” he said. Peter Harvey – the teacher who was given a community order after beating a 14-year-old pupil with a dumbbell – warned last year that “lots of teachers are ticking time bombs” because of stress in schools. In an interview with the Mirror, Harvey said: “I know teachers who, because of stress, can’t hold a cup of coffee or are too frightened to cross the road.” Teaching Teachers’ workload Schools Mental health Health Jeevan Vasagar guardian.co.uk
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Targets, bureaucracy and ballooning workloads make teachers increasingly anxious, delegates at NUT conference are told Stress is driving increasing numbers of teachers out of the profession, with some even considering suicide, a teaching union conference heard on Monday. Delegates at the National Union of Teachers conference in Harrogate heard there had been a “meteoric” rise in work-related stress due to demands to meet government targets. Research by the Health and Safety Executive in 2000 found teaching to be the most stressful profession, with 41.5% of teachers reporting themselves as “highly stressed”. Sue McMahon, a delegate from Calderdale, West Yorkshire, said: “As a divisional secretary, I have seen a meteoric rise in work-related stress and on more than one occasion have had to support a member who has attempted suicide. “This … is due to the demands being placed on our members to hit government targets.” She said a “target tsunami” from government is “sweeping away those [teachers] that you are struggling to support”. Laura Fisher from Wakefield told delegates how two weeks into her first job as a teacher, a colleague looked at her and said: “‘Go home and drink a bottle of wine and you’ll be fine.’ I said ‘I don’t drink’, and he said, ‘give it six months’. “That was six years ago. I still don’t drink, but I do like chocolate.” The NUT is concerned that an increase in form-filling has driven up teachers’ workloads. The union passed two resolutions, calling for the union to support victims of work stress and for the Health and Safety Executive to intervene in schools where employers do not carry out assessments of the risk of stress. Christine Blower, general secretary of the NUT, said: “Despite measures to reduce teachers’ workload, we still have the unacceptable situation of many classroom teachers, heads and deputies working in excess of 50 hours a week. With no limit to the working week, the long hours continue to take their toll on teachers’ health and their lives outside work. “Much of this time is spent on tasks which have little to do with teaching and learning, but are instead generated by unnecessary bureaucratic procedures which have become the bane of teachers’ lives.” Reducing the burden of planning and assessment on teachers would help reduce the workload of school staff, Blower said. “In too many schools, planning and assessment requirements have become formulaic burdens which simply waste teachers’ time.” John Illingworth from Nottingham told delegates the number of stress-related suicides among teachers is “low but significant”. “Stress-related illness is widespread, affecting thousands of teachers each year. It is more likely to end a teacher’s career than any other cause,” he said. Peter Harvey – the teacher who was given a community order after beating a 14-year-old pupil with a dumbbell – warned last year that “lots of teachers are ticking time bombs” because of stress in schools. In an interview with the Mirror, Harvey said: “I know teachers who, because of stress, can’t hold a cup of coffee or are too frightened to cross the road.” Teaching Teachers’ workload Schools Mental health Health Jeevan Vasagar guardian.co.uk
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Doctors give go-ahead for Gabrielle Giffords to travel to Florida for launch of Endeavour mission commanded by her husband Doctors have given approval for Gabrielle Giffords to travel to Florida to see her astronaut husband’s space shuttle launch this week. The trip will be the US congresswoman’s first since she was flown from Tucson, Arizona, to Houston more than three months ago for treatment after she was shot in the head at a community event in her home state. Her husband, Mark Kelly, told CBS television that Giffords would witness the launch of Endeavour, which is scheduled for Friday afternoon in Cape Canaveral. Kelly is the commander of the mission. “I’ve met with her doctors, her neurosurgeon and they’ve given us permission to take her down to the launch,” Kelly said. Barack Obama and the first family are also scheduled to watch the launch, but it is unclear whether they will do so with Giffords. Families view launches at Kennedy space centre from a restricted area, and there are no plans for Giffords to make a public appearance. Giffords has not been seen publicly since the shooting and has spent the last three months relearning how to speak, walk and take care of herself. She has been singing – as part of musical therapy – asking for her favorite foods and receiving visits from family, friends, and her rabbi. Kelly returned to training for the shuttle launch in February after taking time off to be at his wife’s hospital bedside. Giffords went to Kelly’s last launch, in 2008, when he commanded Discovery. The couple married in 2007. Six people were killed and 13 injured in the shooting at a community outreach event in the car park of a Tucson shopping centre in January. Jared Lee Loughner, 22, has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the attack. Gabrielle Giffords United States guardian.co.uk
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Doctors give go-ahead for Gabrielle Giffords to travel to Florida for launch of Endeavour mission commanded by her husband Doctors have given approval for Gabrielle Giffords to travel to Florida to see her astronaut husband’s space shuttle launch this week. The trip will be the US congresswoman’s first since she was flown from Tucson, Arizona, to Houston more than three months ago for treatment after she was shot in the head at a community event in her home state. Her husband, Mark Kelly, told CBS television that Giffords would witness the launch of Endeavour, which is scheduled for Friday afternoon in Cape Canaveral. Kelly is the commander of the mission. “I’ve met with her doctors, her neurosurgeon and they’ve given us permission to take her down to the launch,” Kelly said. Barack Obama and the first family are also scheduled to watch the launch, but it is unclear whether they will do so with Giffords. Families view launches at Kennedy space centre from a restricted area, and there are no plans for Giffords to make a public appearance. Giffords has not been seen publicly since the shooting and has spent the last three months relearning how to speak, walk and take care of herself. She has been singing – as part of musical therapy – asking for her favorite foods and receiving visits from family, friends, and her rabbi. Kelly returned to training for the shuttle launch in February after taking time off to be at his wife’s hospital bedside. Giffords went to Kelly’s last launch, in 2008, when he commanded Discovery. The couple married in 2007. Six people were killed and 13 injured in the shooting at a community outreach event in the car park of a Tucson shopping centre in January. Jared Lee Loughner, 22, has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the attack. Gabrielle Giffords United States guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media (video h/t Heather) Sigh. Apparently David Brooks didn’t write a full column on natural gas that he could read on the air this week, so he had to read from some industry literature on the subject. It sure sounded that way to me: MR. GREGORY: We are back. More of our roundtable with the roundtable here. I want to talk politics. I also want to talk about the politics of gas prices. Alex, you were saying in the break this is what can be connected economically to the president in terms of an economic downturn. T. Boone Pickens, natural gas advocate, of course, and, and author of “The Pickens Plan For Energy Independence.” I spoke with him this week as part of our Press Pass mid-week conversation, which is available on our blog, and he said there was a promise made about energy independence by this president that has not been a promise kept. This is what he said. (Videotape) MR. T. BOONE PICKENS: I remember very well what he said when he was nominated. He said that in 10 years we will not import any oil from the Mideast. We’re almost three years deep now from when he made that statement. There’s been no plan put forth that I’ve seen, and–since he’s been president, to accomplish that unless he started talking about natural gas. And when you get down to it, we don’t have a, a number of options. (End videotape) MR. GREGORY: David Brooks, a year ago after the gulf oil spill, this president said, “What I will not accept is inaction in the energy debate,” and yet that’s where we are. MR. BROOKS: Yeah, well, he joins a long list of presidents who have failed at this. But I do think the natural gas point is an essential point. Wherever you go around the country–western Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Texas–I’ve been a lot of places where we’re finding new natural gas deposits here. It seems to be the fuel of the future even though it’s the fuel of the president. The problem is we don’t have the infrastructure to really exploit it. And that–I think this is an area where we have to get over our aversion to fossil fuels and our fantasy that we’re going to live off solar and wind, which we’re not. And–but that’s an intellectual leap that the political class has to make. Transcript from here. If we’re really talking about the politics of this, why not talk about how Congress is owned by the resource-extraction sector — the oil, natural gas, and coal industries — to the point of disarming the EPA, ignoring science, and allowing industry leaders to “write” imaginary “regulations” of itself? That link points to David Brooks’s own newspaper, you think he might have read it. It’s absolutely clear that he’s read industry propaganda and committed key phrases to memory. And while a corporate-owned media is old news, we are only beginning to question how much big industries own individuals in the media. It’s not enough just to examine who openly sponsors shows like Meet the Press. How much PG&E stock does David Brooks own? What energy companies sit in David Gregory’s portfolio? Are the cocktails at the Greenspans’ Georgetown soirees completely fracking fluid-free? Are these voices benefiting personally from pushing a pro-industry agenda? Ya think? Why else would their comments and complete lack of follow-up sound like they are written by the industries themselves? PS. If you like media outlets that ask these kind of questions, you have to support them. We don’t get money for our server costs from the energy industry, we get it in small donations from our readers. Thank you.
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Click here to view this media (video h/t Heather) Sigh. Apparently David Brooks didn’t write a full column on natural gas that he could read on the air this week, so he had to read from some industry literature on the subject. It sure sounded that way to me: MR. GREGORY: We are back. More of our roundtable with the roundtable here. I want to talk politics. I also want to talk about the politics of gas prices. Alex, you were saying in the break this is what can be connected economically to the president in terms of an economic downturn. T. Boone Pickens, natural gas advocate, of course, and, and author of “The Pickens Plan For Energy Independence.” I spoke with him this week as part of our Press Pass mid-week conversation, which is available on our blog, and he said there was a promise made about energy independence by this president that has not been a promise kept. This is what he said. (Videotape) MR. T. BOONE PICKENS: I remember very well what he said when he was nominated. He said that in 10 years we will not import any oil from the Mideast. We’re almost three years deep now from when he made that statement. There’s been no plan put forth that I’ve seen, and–since he’s been president, to accomplish that unless he started talking about natural gas. And when you get down to it, we don’t have a, a number of options. (End videotape) MR. GREGORY: David Brooks, a year ago after the gulf oil spill, this president said, “What I will not accept is inaction in the energy debate,” and yet that’s where we are. MR. BROOKS: Yeah, well, he joins a long list of presidents who have failed at this. But I do think the natural gas point is an essential point. Wherever you go around the country–western Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Texas–I’ve been a lot of places where we’re finding new natural gas deposits here. It seems to be the fuel of the future even though it’s the fuel of the president. The problem is we don’t have the infrastructure to really exploit it. And that–I think this is an area where we have to get over our aversion to fossil fuels and our fantasy that we’re going to live off solar and wind, which we’re not. And–but that’s an intellectual leap that the political class has to make. Transcript from here. If we’re really talking about the politics of this, why not talk about how Congress is owned by the resource-extraction sector — the oil, natural gas, and coal industries — to the point of disarming the EPA, ignoring science, and allowing industry leaders to “write” imaginary “regulations” of itself? That link points to David Brooks’s own newspaper, you think he might have read it. It’s absolutely clear that he’s read industry propaganda and committed key phrases to memory. And while a corporate-owned media is old news, we are only beginning to question how much big industries own individuals in the media. It’s not enough just to examine who openly sponsors shows like Meet the Press. How much PG&E stock does David Brooks own? What energy companies sit in David Gregory’s portfolio? Are the cocktails at the Greenspans’ Georgetown soirees completely fracking fluid-free? Are these voices benefiting personally from pushing a pro-industry agenda? Ya think? Why else would their comments and complete lack of follow-up sound like they are written by the industries themselves? PS. If you like media outlets that ask these kind of questions, you have to support them. We don’t get money for our server costs from the energy industry, we get it in small donations from our readers. Thank you.
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