10 Nov 2005
First avian flu cases in Kuwait

Well, it's arrived in the Middle East, crossroads of the Old World. Once it hits Africa, look out!

Two cases of bird flu have been detected in Kuwait, the first such infections to be reported in the Gulf.

(link) [BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition]

00:00 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link

Research finds cigarette manufacturers target youth market with candy flavored cigarette brands

Allow me to be the first to shout "Liar!" at these researchers. For the very documents they cite do not support their conclusion:

A 1993 [tobacco company] internal document stated, "Growing interest in new flavor sensations (i.e. soft drinks, snack foods) among younger adult consumers may indicate new opportunities for enhanced-flavor tobacco products that could leverage [a brand's] current strength among younger adult smokers."

Note that this doesn't say "We're adding candy to our cigarettes to entice teenage non-smokers to light up." It says: "We've noticed a trend toward weird flavors in junk food, so maybe adding a weird flavor to a cigarette would enhance brand loyalty in young adult smokers." Apparently our vaunted researchers can't read, or perhaps they simply assume that they know what the document really meant, regardless of what it actually said.

Yeah, that's probably it. I mean, this was such an obviously unbiased study. Just listen to the senior author talking about cigarettes:

Gregory Connolly, senior author of the study and a professor of the practice of public health at HSPH noted, "Tobacco companies are using candy-like flavors and high tech delivery devices to turn a blowtorch into a flavored popsicle, misleading millions of youngsters to try a deadly product. Adding candy flavors to a toxic product (cigarettes) isn't any different than adding sugar to contaminated meat a century ago. The only difference is that today one is regulated by the FDA and the other is not."

Hmmm, I wonder if the real purpose of this study is to persuade the FDA to regulate tobacco? Do you think the study would've come to a different conclusion if they'd found documents stating "We don't want kids to smoke." Probably not - we all know what liars the tobacco companies are, after all...

New research from the Harvard School of Public Health finds that cigarette makers are targeting young smokers with candy and liqueur-flavored new brands that mask the harsh and toxic properties found in tobacco smoke, and in one case, embedding a hidden flavor pellet within the filter.

(link) [EurekAlert!]

00:00 /Politics | 2 comments | permanent link

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

The Edmund Fitzgerald

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy.

With a load of iron ore - 26,000 tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and crew was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early

The ship was the pride of the American side
Coming back from some mill in Wisconson
As the big freighters go it was bigger than most
With a crew and the Captain well seasoned.

Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
And later that night when the ships bell rang
Could it be the North Wind they'd been feeling.

The wind in the wires made a tattletale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the Captain did, too,
T'was the witch of November come stealing.

The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashing
When afternoon came it was freezing rain
In the face of a hurricane west wind

When supper time came the old cook came on deck
Saying 'Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya.'
At 7PM the main hatchway caved in
He said 'Fellas, it's been good to know ya.'

The Captain wired in he had water coming in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went out of sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours
The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
If they'd pit fifteen more miles behind her.

They might have split up or they might have capsized
They may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
In the ruins of her ice water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams,
The islands and bays are for sportsmen.

And farther below Lake Ontario
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of November remembered.

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
In the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral
The church bell chimed, 'til it rang 29 times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
Superior, they say, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early.

-- Gordon Lightfoot

00:00 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

Eat, Sleep, Work, Consume, Die

This is a must read. 'Nuff said.

Technology makes it possible for us to work harder than ever. If you're lucky, you get paid more for your labors. Then you consume more. And the cycle repeats itself. Is this the sign of a healthy society? Ummmm ... no. Commentary by Tony Long.

(link) [Wired News]

00:00 /Home | 1 comment | permanent link