Forget the hose . . . firefighters of the future may be putting out fires with a wave of an electric wand Fire extinguishers may soon be a thing of the past: wave a magic electric wand at a flame and you can snuff it out in milliseconds, according to Dr Ludevico Cademartiri. In a paper presented to the American Chemical Society, Cademartiri’s Harvard University team reported that they had been able to extinguish an 18in flame merely by using an electrified metal wire. The beam of electricity came from a 600 watt amplifier, about the same power as a car stereo system; so, the firefighter of the future would only need an ultra-portable power pack and wire rather than a cumbersome hose and large quantities of water or foam. How does it work, though? It’s based on the observation made some 200 years ago that electricity can change the shape of flames. Previous experiments involved direct current, or DC. But Cademartiri’s team used oscillating AC voltage, and found that the effects were “completely different”: the electrical field charges the carbon particles (or soot) generated by the fire, creating an organised “flow” of charged particles inside the flame that literally pushes the flame away from the fuel source, putting it out. “Essentially, the [electrical field] separates the region that’s hot and burning from the unburnt fuel, so that fuel will not continue to burn,” says Kyle Bishop, a researcher who worked with the team. Cademartiri thinks the method could be a more sophisticated way of putting out fires “than just throwing water at them”. And he and his colleagues are looking at applications beyond firefighting: controlling flames at will in the combustion process could, for example, lead to far more efficient coal, oil and gas-fired energy production. Firefighters Jon Henley guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …As if risking their lives to work feverishly to avoid nuclear meltdown wasn’t grim enough, there’s no respite for the weary workers at Japan’s hobbled Fukushima Dai-ichi plant. A Japanese nuclear official who just returned from five days at Fukushima paints a picture of life on the inside, reports the…
Continue reading …Moammar Gadhafi’s forces today halted the Libyan rebels’ advance on Gadhafi’s hometown of Sirte, driving them back a few dozen miles east of the city with the help of tanks and rockets. The rebels’ panicked retreat suggests that, even with the help of airstrikes from the US and its allies,…
Continue reading …Manslaughter charges may be coming down the pike for a handful of BP managers. Bloomberg spoke with three insiders who say federal prosecutors are considering whether to pursue the charges based on decisions made in the lead-up to the oil rig explosion that killed 11. Charging individuals would be an…
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The England manager says he needs only 100 words to communicate with his players. Which other jobs could be done so succinctly? England manager Fabio Capello recently defended his limited grasp of English, saying he needed not more than “100 words maximum” to communicate with his players. Here are some other professions where 100 words of English might suffice. Teacher You sit quiet please everyone now enough gum tie shirt homework yes today excuses no book open page talking stop discipline noise courtesy while others trying learn warning first second final exam board bored absent detention suspend imagery Shakespeare GCSE mock coursework maths note paper whose phone confiscate yes I can speaking class assignment Tuesday read chapter important attention chair face this way why bother hours lack support pay cuts thankless bloody babysitter can’t control teach students ignore education why inspire nonsense thanks bunch Jamie fucking Oliver total waste think quit retrain landscape gardener maybe life coach shut it Callum. Health and safety expert No unsafe not improper unable misuse substandard prevent stop inadequate supervision insurance payment broken accident workplace issue risk assessment circumstances statistically liable beyond control checks scaffolding helmet harness handrail ventilation potential harm noise restriction comply glass signage conker licence venue security fire hazard guidelines slippery visibility sharp exposed danger radiation maximum capacity minimum requirement footwear injury strain repetitive tree masonry responsible adult caution fire electric shock loose lighting litigious compensate of course we’re all going die madam that’s hardly the point due care attention just doing job Daily Mail Littlejohn jerk blame culture lawyers all fun until someone loses eye. Public relations manager Hi very my special new really client clientele like great totally fantastic beautiful legendary iconic fabulous perfect match cutting-edge brilliant world-class true alternative surprising unique buzz angle help relationship synergy we proud partnership longstanding brand profile traditional discerning element visual identity exciting business contact media official press release embargo super idea showcase huge story meet mobile interview Google tweet contact team soon lunch forward look to hearing speak further hesitate don’t call email details host launch champagne reception celebrity A-list mwah RSVP please bring invitation with thanks best love bye Christ you quick coffee now fired idiot Taxi driver Where left right lights immigration stop roadworks traffic not being funny but come over here free council houses bloody liberty politicians all same lying sorry which terminal mate cheeky my right of way pillock anyway immigrants EU taxpayer whole country hell handcart Cameron Clegg Obama not racist bone in body but still Berlusconi hand it to him his age complete mess blocked off cops everywhere dunno go round high street this hour Friday night innit North Circular could do petrol Libya unemployment celebrities Amy Winehouse you’ll never guess who had back cab other day that Lionel Blair no me neither. Fabio Capello Tim Dowling guardian.co.uk
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Airport operator breakup moves step closer as Competition Commission asks interested parties to look again at ruling on BAA’s monopoly Ferrovial, the Spanish industrial group, could on Wednesday move one step closer to the break-up of BAA, the British airports operator it bought five years ago for £10bn. Almost exactly two years ago, the Competition Commission ordered BAA to sell Stansted, Gatwick and either Glasgow or Edinburgh, arguing that the group had a monopoly. BAA, backed by Ferrovial, successfully appealed on a technicality, but the competition watchdog overturned it and the court of appeal reinstated its original ruling. The Competition Commission will now ask interested parties if anything has changed in the intervening two years to make its ruling invalid. Ferrovial has spent the last two years selling off assets – including Gatwick – which has helped it avoid producing a second consecutive annual loss. Selling more BAA airports will boost the coffers further. Ferrovial is also in talks with potential investors to offload a 10% stake in BAA. The sale would take its current 56% stake below the crucial 50% level, allowing it to deconsolidate the debt, wiping €14bn of debt from its balance sheet at a stroke. Ferrovial may be best known in Britain as the owner of BAA, but it also builds roads, bridges, railways and other infrastructure, as well as large commercial buildings such as hotels and offices. Almost two-thirds of its revenues come from outside recession-hit Spain. It has been a torrid couple of years for Ferrovial. Its share price has slumped in over concerns about higher debt costs and slumping public spending on infrastructure projects in Spain in particular and, to a lesser extent, Britain. Construction activity has also severely contracted in Spain because of the economic downturn. Ferrovial president Rafael del Pino recently urged the Spanish government, since it had got the deficit under control, to loosen the purse springs for public investment in infrastructure, citing Brazil and Britain as examples to imitate. The Spanish government has announced a €70bn programme to kickstart the economy with new infrastructure projects, such as more high speed rail links bypassing the capital, in line with the trend for the increasing regionalisation of Spain. But these projects are a long way off. The government also recently announced as part of the privatisation of its airports that it will invite companies to bid to run two of Spain’s biggest airports – Madrid’s Barajas and Barcelona – which could interest Ferrovial. BAA Travel & leisure Air transport Transport Recession Tim Webb guardian.co.uk
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Anne Marie Davis, 46, says Appropriate Adult will cause ‘unimaginable distress’ to victims’ families Fred West’s daughter Anne Marie Davis has broken a 10-year silence to criticise an ITV drama on the “untold story” of how the serial killer and his wife, Rosemary, were brought to justice. Davis, whose mother Rena Costello and half-sisters Charmaine and Heather were all murdered, says the two-part show will revive deeply traumatic memories for the families of the Wests’ victims. “I felt physically sick when I heard about the plans to turn the tragic events which devastated so many people’s lives into a TV drama,” she said. “I haven’t spoken about this for 10 years, and the only reason I am speaking now is because I want ITV to realise they will be causing unimaginable distress to the families of the young girls who were murdered. “No one should kid themselves. The object of this drama is to make money. But the programme makers have to recognise that a lot of vulnerable young women died. “They were real people and their loved ones are real people too who are still suffering and their wounds will only be reopened by a TV drama like this.” The ITV drama, Appropriate Adult, is to focus on the period between Fred West’s arrest and his suicide in prison on New Year’s Day 1995, as he awaited trial for 12 murders. Dominic West, the British star of The Wire, is playing the Gloucester builder, and Monica Dolan has been cast as Rosemary West, who is in prison for 10 murders. The “appropriate adult” referred to is the voluntary social worker Janet Leach, who sat in on police interviews with West because of concerns over his ability to understand the proceedings. She is being played by Emily Watson, who has described the drama as “tasteful” and “dark … but not nasty”. Davis, 46, said: “If the story is scripted from my father’s arrest it will cover the time when all those poor victims were found. I will never forget the images of police officers carrying their remains out of 25 Cromwell Street in crates. “I know how traumatic my own losses have been, but I cannot possibly imagine the pain the other families have suffered and are continuing to suffer.” Davis added: “I knew Fred and Rose were dangerous people, but I didn’t realise how dangerous. I knew they were involved in incest and paedophilia, but I thought it was confined to me. “These are not fictional characters, but extremely complex individuals who only shared their darkest secrets with each other.” Davis, who works in a Gloucester supermarket, said: “I have had customers come up to me and say, ‘Is there anything you can do to stop this programme – or anything we can do?’ “All I can say is that a lot of women and young girls lost their lives in desperately tragic circumstances and they deserve to be remembered – not to be seen as mere public property.” ITV says Appropriate Adult is being produced by the team responsible for previous dramatisations of the Moors murders and the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper. An ITV spokeswoman said: “Appropriate Adult is a factual drama which focuses on the involvement of Janet Leach who was appointed as appropriate adult in the police interviews Fred West gave during the investigation. “We have sought to contact as many relatives and victims as we could with assistance from the police, to let them know about the project and try to address any concerns they may have. “We have conducted dozens of interviews with individuals directly involved in the case over several years. It is certainly not ITV’s wish to cause distress to the families of the Wests’ victims, or their children, and Appropriate Adult does not contain any recreation of the actual crimes themselves. But we believe the factual drama genre is a valid form in which to explore and throw new light on real events.” ITV Crime Television industry Television Steven Morris guardian.co.uk
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Bashar al-Assad is expected to lift emergency laws and announce a crackdown on corruption in a speech Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has sacked his cabinet and suggested significant reforms in his first public intervention in a 10-day-old nationwide uprising. The authoritarian leader, whose silence so far has provoked anger among his people, is expected to deliver the most important speech of his career on Wednesday as he tries to win the trust of a rebellious Syrian people insisting on widespread reform and democratic freedoms. Assad is likely to lift emergency laws, which outlaw public gatherings, and introduce a corruption crackdown in a bid to stay ahead of the revolutionary current sweeping the Middle East. Protests of the scale seen over the past week are unprecedented in Syria, where one of the region’s most formidable police states has crushed dissent, but largely delivered stability for more than four decades. Large pro-government demonstrations were held in the capital Damascus on Tuesday, a week after running street battles between demonstrators and security forces who opened fire on them in the southern city of Deraa and the northern port of Latakia. They came as Assad, who succeeded his father, Hafez al-Assad, as president in 2000 and has ruled with the same unchecked power, was clearly calculating how to deliver concessions that would appease citizens without being seen to capitulate to them. “What we have in Syria is not yet a revolution. It is unrest in pursuit of legitimate reform,” a Syrian official said. “Assad is a popular president. If there was a vote tomorrow, I think he would win 60% or maybe more. “We have the problem of economic corruption but not political corruption. Assad has a lot of credit in the bank. He needs to cash it in or else we are heading for the unknown. Whatever happens, Syria has changed. The wall of fear for expressing your views has collapsed.” Syria’s protesters have been galvanised by the region’s uprisings and Assad faces a difficult task of convincing the country’s largely impoverished citizens that his old guard can offer the same political buy-in that was triumphantly seized by demonstrators in Tunisia and Egypt. “This is what this is all about for us,” said a Syrian businessman in the Lebanese capital, Beirut. “We want the same opportunity that everyone else is getting. We will not be taken for granted any more.” Another Syrian, who also refused to be named, outlined the fear felt by many in Damascus as the tide of full-blown revolt draws near. “There are a lot of people invested in the status quo,” he said. “And there are good reasons for that. Stability has been paramount in Syria and it is a formula that has delivered safety for many and success for some.” Syria’s ruling class almost exclusively stems from an Alawite sect, which is an offshoot of Shia Islam. Its citizens are majority Sunni Muslims, along with Christian and Druze minorities. Syria has long been prominent in the geopolitics of the region, but has taken on increasing importance over the past three years as the United States has tried to disengage it from Iran, which acts as a main patron. Israel has also tried to lever Syria free from Iran and from the Lebanese militia, Hezbollah. While the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, has condemned the use of violence by security forces, US politicians have been restrained in their criticism, describing Assad as a reformer and insisting that the western military intervention to protect civilians in Libya will not be repeated in Syria. The US recently sent an ambassador to Damascus after an absence of more than five years, during which the Bush White House had accused Assad of allowing his border with Iraq to be used as a turnstile for insurgents fighting US troops. However, suspicions have remained about Syria’s role in the region and its motivations, with near neighbours Iraq and Lebanon convinced that its rulers are continuing to play a pervasive role in their countries. “That is why we are looking at what is happening to Assad with such utter fascination,” said one Lebanese member of parliament. “The circle has turned for him and he is learning that he can no longer get by with the thuggish ways of the past.” As has been the case in Libya and Bahrain, Syria’s rulers have blamed the uprising on outside forces. Buthaina Shaaban, a top adviser to Assad, said that “armed gangs” had been responsible for the chaos. Anti-foreigner sentiment is running high and numerous reporters have been deported. The government has mounted an intensive propaganda campaign, sending demonstrators to the streets of the capital. On Saturday hundreds of families drove through the city waving flags and chanting “God, Syria and Bashar only”. Syria Bashar Al-Assad Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Martin Chulov guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Now that they’ve taken control of some critical oil fields and terminals, eastern Libya’s rebels are getting into the oil business. Qatar is rumored to be the first buyer, with a deal in place to buy the oil and ship it in leased tankers, the New York Times reports. Though…
Continue reading …For a bunch of people so concerned with the growing national debt, the House of Representatives doesn’t have a lot of members putting their money where their mouths are. The House has program that allows representatives to return a portion of their salaries toward debt reduction (the Senate doesn’t even…
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