In a case of reality not imitating “art,” Dog the notorious bounty hunter bailed actor Nicolas Cage out of jail. Reality star Duane “Dog” Chapman posted Cage’s $11,000 bond after he was charged with domestic abuse and disturbing the peace over the weekend in New Orleans. “I am a…
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April showers interspersed with warm sunshine provide perfect conditions for grass to grow at maximum speed. Listening to the whirr of lawn mowers it is easy to forget that it was grass that made Britain great. Its lush nutritious greenness fed the sheep that made wool our main export; many a village church and manor was built on the profits of wool. Late medieval skills in managing early growth of grass on water meadows were central to this. After lean winter months, cows and sheep got a spring boost before moving on to other pastures. The farmer then gathered the best meadow hay at midsummer for next winter’s fodder. Because grass barely grows at all below 5C, and needs plentiful water, April, May and June are the months to make silage and gather hay for the long winter ahead. After years of more and more industrial methods, farmers are re-evaluating the merits of grass. It is rich in nutrients, grows fast and costs less than other feed. There is one problem: some cows have forgotten that they eat grass. Farmers are being advised: “Cows not used to grazing may stand at the gate for a couple of days and bellow – don’t listen, they will learn to graze, as long as what you put in front of them is quality [grass].” Perhaps the most surprising tip about growing quality grass in 2011 is that fields may need the added nutrient of sulphur, since winter fallout from the burning of sulphurous coal is no longer available. Farming Weather Paul Brown guardian.co.uk
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Radical plan unveiled by Recep Tayyip Erdogan to cope with growing strains of city with 17 million residents Istanbul is renown as the place where east meets west, the only city in the world to straddle Europe and Asia. But it may soon lose this unique status if the Turkish government goes ahead with a plan to divide it in two. The prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a former Istanbul mayor, has announced what he described as a “wild project” to split the city into European and Asian sides to make it easier to govern. “We will build two new cities in Istanbul due to high population,” Erdogan said, announcing his party’s manifesto for June elections.. “One on the European side and one on the Anatolian side.” Istanbul’s official population is soon expected to reach 17 million, with thousands more unregistered people living in the city. Tahire Erman, an urban planning expert at Ankara’s Bilkent University, said this caused significant problems for authorities: “[Istanbul] is already overgrown, and there are already many problems in the provision of infrastructure and municipal services to the city.” Should the plan go ahead, the two cities would be well connected by transport links promised by the ruling party, including a third bridge over the Bosphorus, the strait that divides the European and Anatolian sides of the city, and two tube tunnels for cars and rail transport under the water. Two bridges and frequent ferries already connect the two sides of the city. Resident Emre Borat, a 25-year-old computer engineer, welcomed the proposal. “Actually their project is not like dividing up into two, but more like creating [new cities] from Istanbul,” he said. “Since our economy is getting better, it seems like a good idea to have a separate city for the finance world, or for foreign investment in general.” Plans have been announced to build a new financial district in Atasehir, a booming district on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, as part of a government pledge to increase Turkey’s global stature by 2023, the centennial anniversary of the Turkish republic. No information has been released on what the proposed new cities would be called. Mustafa Demir, 51, a salesman, said that while the city was currently “ungovernable” any possible division might go badly “if they do it with the wrong intentions”. But the opposition People’s Republican Party vice-president, Gürsel Tekin, said the proposal was not practical. “The prime minister has these sorts of ideas. It does not matter if these projects come alive. They are soundbites.” Ayse Onol, a former journalist from Istanbul who knew Erdogan when he was mayor, said the announcement was not a serious proposal. “People in Turkey just care about headlines, Erdogan knows this. 2023 is far in the distance. People think we will be grander than America; this is a populist policy. It doesn’t matter if Istanbul is divided into two or 12. What matters is how the city is used, not how it is divided.” Turkey Europe guardian.co.uk
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US budget deficit has moved from a surplus at the turn of the millennium to a deficit of 11% by 2009 Shares fell sharply on Wall Street today after the ratings agency S&P issued a warning to the US government about its soaring budget deficit. In a move that surprised and rattled the financial markets, S&P said it was cutting its long-term outlook on America from stable to negative. The ratings agency said it was taking the step because the US had, in comparison to other nations given the coveted AAA rating, “very large budget deficits and rising government indebtedness and the path to addressing these is not clear to us”. The White House said it disagreed with the S&P judgement and insisted that the Obama administration would reach agreement with Congress over a way to reduce the US budget deficit, which has moved from a surplus at the turn of the millennium to a deficit of 11% by 2009. But the ratings agency said the gap between the White House and its Republican opponents remained “wide”, adding that it believed there was at least a one in three chance that “we could lower our long-term rating on the US within two years.” In early trading in New York, the Dow Jones industrial average had lost nearly 250 points – 2% – with the dollar weaker on the foreign exchanges and yields rising on US Treasury bills. The FTSE 100 in London was also down 2% or 126 points at 5869. The S&P warning shot to the US authorities mirrored the outlook change delivered to the UK in May 2009, which demanded that the UK government take action to rein in the budget deficit. Analysts said they would be watching closely to see whether the other ratings agencies – Moody’s and Fitch followed suit. US economy Economics Stock markets US Congress United States US politics Obama administration Larry Elliott guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …British military secrets, contaminated blood information, commercial negotiations, and other secret data is now readily available online, reports the Telegraph . Most of the documents were made available through Freedom of Information laws—but with sensitive information redacted. But because of an Internet blunder by officials, the redacted information is often…
Continue reading …A Republican party official from California who emailed an Obama “family photo” featuring the President’s face copied onto a chimpanzee’s body says she is “sorry if my email offended anyone.” But she never considered it racist, reports the New York Daily News . Marilyn Davenport said she simply was amused by…
Continue reading …The gay kiss controversy out of London keeps getting odder. After two men were booted from a Soho pub for kissing , activists decided to respond with a “kiss in” at the same pub. But a photo of two men kissing used to promote the event was removed from the Facebook…
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The American Academy of Pediatrics has urged CBS Outdoor to take down the advertisement funded by anti-vaccine groups For 17 days, every hour for 15 seconds, a controversial message is being sold to the American public via a CBS billboard in Times Square, New York. A photograph of a mother cradling her naked baby is accompanied by the words: “Vaccines: Know the risks.” This image is faded out, and replaced by the Statue of Liberty and “Vaccination. Your Health. Your Family. Your Choice.” The advert is paid for and endorsed by the non-profit National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) and Mercola.com (self-proclaimed World’s Number 1 Natural Health Website), and will be shown until 28 April. CBS Outdoor has faced a massive backlash for its choice of clientele: both NVIC and Mercola are viewed by many as anti-vaccine propagandists. In particular, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) , one of the many organisations responsible for testing the safety of vaccinations, is urging the company to remove the ad. It accuses CBS of putting the lives of children at risk by encouraging parents to delay or skip vaccination. Mercola and the NVIC use the ad to endorse their websites, linking the public to what the AAP deems “misinformation” – a barrage of articles blaming common ingredients in vaccines for a number of health problems from breast cancer to infertility. The NVIC publishes a disclaimer on almost every article, assuring readers that it is not anti-vaccination – despite the fact its spokesperson, Playboy model Jenny McCarthy, has publicly described vaccinations as “a product that’s shit” . For Mercola, NVIC and McCarthy, thimerosal – a mercury-containing preservative – is Public Enemy Number One. All three insist there has been a direct connection between vaccines containing thimerosal and the increasing number of children being diagnosed with autism. McCarthy’s own son has the condition, which she blames on the MMR shot he received before his diagnosis. Her bestselling Louder Than Words: A Mother’s Journey in Healing Autism warns parents of the “dangers” involved in vaccinations. NVIC’s website recommends A Shot in the Dark, one of the first books to link vaccines to autism and, in its words, a “classic”. As a precautionary measure thimerosal has been reduced or eliminated from vaccines in the US and Europe, but in 2010 it was proved that the preservative was not linked to autism and the AAP is keen to defend it . On 13 April, Dr Marion Burton, president of the AAP, wrote to Wally Kelly, CBS Outdoor chairman, describing her organisation as having “worked hard to protect children and their families from unfounded and unscientific misinformation regarding vaccine safety”. It seems the 15-second ad is undoing all its hard work. The letter states: “The AAP’s 60,000 member pediatricians urge you to remove these harmful messages … Please do your part to help reassure parents that vaccinating their children … is the best way to protect them from diseases.” The AAP is not alone in demanding that CBS remove the ad. Blogs are urging readers to sign a petition to get it removed, and there are campaigns such as Stop Jenny against McCarthy’s celebrity endorsement. They describe the ad as “misinformed consent” – linking parents to sites that aren’t scientifically accurate. CBS has yet to comment publicly on the negative attention surrounding the campaign. Would an ad campaign like this be allowed to run in the UK? It seems unlikely given the recent discrediting of Andrew Wakefield’s research linking the MMR vaccine to autism. Interestingly, Wakefield continues to work in America, despite being accused of fraud by the BMJ and struck off by the General Medical Council . Having resigned from the NHS for being (in his words) “unpopular”, he set up the Thoughtful House foundation in Texas, which researches autism. Wakefield’s research continues to be recognised by Thoughtful House and the National Autism Association , despite having been discredited by the AAP and the American Medical Association . In America, it seems, Wakefield, Mercola, NVIC and Jenny McCarthy enjoy the freedom to do and say whatever they please, without fear of being hounded by the media. Perhaps that is why CBS has allowed its Times Square billboard to be used by the campaign: the American media just don’t care enough to kick up a fuss. Immunology Medical research Controversies in science Vaccines and immunisation Autism Health Health & wellbeing guardian.co.uk
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Transport officials say extra hour off will leave staff refreshed but rejects calls to allow controllers to nap during breaks US air traffic controllers will get longer breaks between shifts to prevent fatigue, but transport officials have rejected another proposed remedy – on-the-job napping. The transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, said on Monday that while the government would not pay air traffic controllers to take naps while on duty, federal officials were open to other options to ensure aviation safety. He told CBS television’s The Early Show that officials “take very seriously” their obligation to solve the problem of sleepy controllers, adding: “Controllers have to make sure that they get the right rest and they come to work rested.” LaHood announced previously that the Ferderal Aviation Administration (FAA) would add an hour to the minimum time controllers must be off between shifts. He said under the plan staff should feel more refreshed when they arrive at work. Officials will visit control towers this week to discuss the problems of sleeping on the job. Five instances of sleeping controllers have been reported since late March. The latest incident occurred just before 8am on Saturday at a busy regional radar facility that handles high-altitude traffic for much of Florida, the Atlantic ocean and the Caribbean sea. Several other countries, including Germany and Japan, permit controllers to sleep during breaks and provide quiet rooms with beds for that purpose. Bill Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation of Alexandria, Virginia, said: “Given the body of scientific evidence, that decision clearly demonstrates that politics remain more important than public safety. People are concerned about a political backlash if they allow controllers to have rest periods in their work shifts the same way firefighters and trauma physicians do.” It has been an open secret in the US FAA since at least the early 1990s that controllers sometimes sleep on the job. The toughest are the midnight shifts, between 10pm and 6am. Scientists said it would be surprising if controllers did not doze sometimes because they were trying to stay awake at a time when the body naturally craves sleep. Studies show that 30% to 50% of night-shift workers report falling asleep on the job, according to Dr Charles Czeisler, chief of sleep medicine at Brigham and Women’s hospital in Boston. Six of eight present and former controllers interviewed by Associated Press admitted they briefly fell asleep while working alone at night at least once in their careers. Most of them did not want to be identified for fear of jeopardising their jobs or their colleagues’. Much more common is taking a nap on purpose, they said. During midnight shifts controllers take it in turns to sleep while the other covers both positions. The unsanctioned arrangements sometimes allow staff to sleep for up to four hours during an eight-hour shift, they said. The FAA does not allow controllers to sleep at work, even during breaks. Controllers who are caught can be suspended or fired. But at many air traffic facilities the sleeping swaps are tolerated as long as they do not affect safety, the controllers said. “It has always been a problem,” said former controller Rick Perl, who retired last year. Air transport United States guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Talk about a bad case of the munchies—a 6-year-old boy in Oregon who got hungry yesterday decided to drive to the store in the family van. The tiny driver crashed into several mailboxes then swerved into the oncoming lane and smashed into a pickup. The boy was unharmed, and…
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