These gotta be Clinton guys...
Three federal judges yesterday questioned whether the method for creating a crustless, peanut butter and jelly sandwich is unique. Yep, it's just one life and death decision after another up here...
The hearing, at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, was the latest round in J.M. Smucker Co.'s attempt to expand its patent on Uncrustables, frozen, disk-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that have been among the Orrville, Ohio, jam-maker's most successful products. We got one of these things for my niece and nephew when we were down at Disney. $6.50 a pop and they didn't finish them. So I guess the fact that they suck isn't pertinent to the argument.
The three judges explored the difference between bread that is "smushed" versus "compressed," and pondered the idea of jelly "encapsulated" in peanut butter. One even questioned whether his wife violated Smucker's patent when she made lunch for their child. It depends on what the meaning of "is" is, as a disbarred Arkansas lawyer once said...
There is no deadline for the court's decision, but lawyers in the case said it could take several months. I'll bet. Wonder what the rate is?
Smucker obtained patent rights on the sandwich in 1999, and set out to expand them with new applications before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. But a patent examiner handling the case rejected the company's requests. The Patent Office's appeals board upheld the decision, declaring the sealed sandwich wasn't new, and citing, among other things, a pastry cookbook that shows how to seal the edges of tarts and stuffed pasta. Johnson, get cracking on the research for that PB&J thing, will ya?
Yesterday, Smucker lawyer, Robert Vickers of Fay, Sharpe, Fagan, Minnich & McKee LLP of Cleveland, argued that the sandwich's edge isn't made like the tarts or raviolis shown in the cookbook. Instead, he said, the bread retains its original characteristics but its edges are compressed. My niece does this every morning. I hope somebody from Wee, Fleecem, & Howe doesn't read Rantburg or she's in deep trouble.
"So it's smushed!" Judge Raymond Clevenger III declared. "God, when I think of how many "campaign contributions" I had to make to get this job..."
"It is sealed by compression, but it is not smushed," Mr. Vickers explained. "Four years of college, two years of law school, pass my boards, and I'm in Federal court arguing the meaning of "smushed"..."
Mr. Vickers also said the sandwich is novel because the filling "encapsulates" jelly between two larger layers of peanut butter. But the judges weren't sure how the "encapsulated" filling makes the Smucker sandwich different from other versions. I move that we adjourn to another "bar" to ponder this perplexing question...
At one point, another judge, Arthur Gajarsa, said his wife often squeezes together the sides of their child's peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to keep the filling form oozing out. "I'm afraid she might be infringing on your patent!" Really? You'll be hearing from us, your honor...
A statement handed out by company representatives at yesterday's hearing says, "It wouldn't be fair to let another company simply copy the product and benefit from the hard work our people have invested." My niece is six. If you can see the imaginative stuff she does PB&J and choclate milk, you'd hire her now before Kraft scoops her up.
#3
This is the kind of insanity that our intellectual property laws have caused becuase the courts have expanded them so stupidly over the past decade.
Time to flush them and start over. Limit copyrights to the original 25 year past the end of the authors life, or 25 years from first publication in the case of a company or corporation. Eliminate completely "business method" patents and software patents, as these are not used to protect an innovation but to close markets and permit monoplistic practices by companies that never produce anything but IP licenses lawsuits.
Color me disgusted that something this obvious ever got granted a patent.
#5
Give me a nice multi-grained bread with some body to it (no foam bread, fer me), some freshly ground almond butter, and some NZ manuka honey, and you got yerself a righteous AB&H.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/07/2005 18:02 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Gee, when I used to have nunch at my friend Tommy's house 40 years ago, his mom used to use a cookie cutter to remove the crust and seal the edges. So obviously, Smucker's patent is invalid on the basis of "prior art."
Posted by: Darth VAda ||
04/07/2005 18:27 Comments ||
Top||
#7
That would be "lunch," ackshually.
Posted by: Darth VAda ||
04/07/2005 18:45 Comments ||
Top||
#8
As BigEric (4-1/2) says to me:
"Pop! Pop! I don't care abou'dis stuff. Just gimme a spoon and d'jar of Peanut Butter."
#9
This is the kind of insanity that our intellectual property laws have caused becuase the courts have expanded them so stupidly over the past decade.
Time to flush them and start over. Limit copyrights to the original 25 year past the end of the authors life, or 25 years from first publication in the case of a company or corporation. Eliminate completely "business method" patents and software patents, as these are not used to protect an innovation but to close markets and permit monoplistic practices by companies that never produce anything but IP licenses lawsuits.
Color me disgusted that something this obvious ever got granted a patent.
#10
This is the kind of insanity that our intellectual property laws have caused becuase the courts have expanded them so stupidly over the past decade.
Time to flush them and start over. Limit copyrights to the original 25 year past the end of the authors life, or 25 years from first publication in the case of a company or corporation. Eliminate completely "business method" patents and software patents, as these are not used to protect an innovation but to close markets and permit monoplistic practices by companies that never produce anything but IP licenses lawsuits.
Color me disgusted that something this obvious ever got granted a patent.
Some guy in Japan (where else?) has built his very own Land Walker. Follow the link and play the video (top left picture where it says MOVIE). Ok, it shuffles more than walks, and the gatling gun fires plastic bullets instead of HE, but still.......
I WANT ONE!
Posted by: Steve ||
04/07/2005 10:12:05 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
VERY COOL!
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
04/07/2005 10:44 Comments ||
Top||
#2
That's it, the gauntlet has been thrown down. I'm building a better one and we are going into an arms race!
#4
Heh--this is great! And if Michael Jackson gets convicted, this thing can moonwalk and stand in for him at concerts!
Posted by: Dar ||
04/07/2005 11:19 Comments ||
Top||
#5
If some idjit actually builds a military version, I'll laugh my ass off. Hopefully before they get theirs shot off.
BFT Mk1 - Big Fucking Target, Mark One.
If you're lucky, they'll use ballistic glass for the pilot's cage, and it'll be able to take a random spray of assault rifle fire without the pilot going Tango Uniform.
How tall is that thing? 11 feet?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
04/07/2005 12:13 Comments ||
Top||
Remember, Pakis, for all your identity theft needs, choose Nicop™!
DUBAI - Pakistanis would no longer have to sweat it out to acquire the National Identity Cards for Overseas Pakistanis (Nicop) following the inauguration of the National Swift Registration Centre (NSRC) at the Pakistan Consulate in Dubai on Wednesday.
Inaugurating the centre, the Ambassador of Pakistan to the UAE Air Marshall (retd) Syed Qaiser Hussain said: "The centre is indeed a beneficial step for expat Pakistanis in the UAE. The cards would be made available in double quick time with the installation of sophisticated computerised machines."
Head of the Chancery at the consulate Imran Mirza said the seating area had been increased to accommodate 90 persons at a time, and the functioning of the centre would be systematic. "There will no longer be queues for banks as bribes money will be taken and a token given to the person," he said.
Joining the early 20th Century in bureauocracy ...
After obtaining the token, the applicant will be required to provide information to the computer data entry operator, eliminating the need to fill up forms. Photographs will also be taken on the spot and the applicant will then be taken for biometrics.
"People now need not waste time in filling forms. All data will be entered by trained staff to make it error-free, finger prints will be taken while only the signatures will be taken manually. All this data will be sent via the computer system to Islamabad where the cards will be made ready within a short period," he explained.
Islamabad's the first place I think of for ID cards ...
Details of the application can also be accessed by using the computer system which is linked with Nadra's system in Islamabad. "The cards will not be made locally. Only the applicant will be registered online and all the needed data will be sent to Nadra from where the cards will be processed and given to the applicant within six to seven working days," Mirza said.
And copied repeatedly by the ISI for their own purposes ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/07/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Hope they threw that "relgion" column in there. Don't want to piss anybody off...
PRINCE Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles will acknowledge their "sins and wickedness" at a religious blessing following their wedding this weekend, British royal officials said overnight. During the blessing by Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, the couple will join the congregation in reading the strongest act of penitence from the Anglican church's 1662 Book of Common Prayer. This was chosen in place of more modern prayers of penitence for divorcees, as the Prince and Mrs Parker Bowles are. The text issued by Clarence House, Charles's London residence, reads: "We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, Which we, from time to time, most grievously have committed, by thought, word and deed, Against thy Divine Majesty, Provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us."
The blessing takes place tomorrow at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, the royal family's residence just west of London. It will follow a civil marriage ceremony at Windsor Town Hall. The couple are holding a civil ceremony because, as divorcees, there would have been religious objections to an Anglican church wedding. Royal officials also announced that the former head of the Anglican church and a well-known British actor will be among those giving readings at the blessing. Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord George Carey, who stepped down in 2002, will read from the Book of Revelation, a chapter of The Bible.
In June last year, Carey made a public call for the couple to formalise their long relationship through marriage, saying it would be "the natural thing" for them to do. Veteran British actor Timothy West, a friend of both the Prince and Mrs Parker Bowles, will also give a reading, Clarence House officials said. West, 60, has appeared in films such as Cry Freedom and The Day of the Jackal, although he is better known in Britain for stage and television work. The 45-minute blessing service in front of 800 guests will follow usual Church of England procedure, and has been arranged in close consultation with Mr Williams. "The focus of the service is the dedication and commitment by the couple and prayer and support for them in their life together," Clarence House said.
Posted by: tipper ||
04/07/2005 11:17:49 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#6
A reading from the Book of Revelation at the blessing of a wedding.
"the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication." (Rev. 17:1-2 KJV)
Yeah, that'll get you a invite to the reception afterward.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/07/2005 15:20 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Minister:
Dearly Beloved, we are assembled together today to celebrate the marriage of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. The couple requested that they be allowed to read a passage, expressing their love for each other.
Prince Charles and Camilla in unison:
We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, Which we, from time to time, most grievously have committed, by thought, word and deed, Against thy Divine Majesty, Provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us.
Camilla:
Now can we just get on with it, Reverend? We've suffered enough.
Minister:
Yeah, I see what you mean. With Diana totalling out and Harry dressing up as a Nazi and all. Hokay, lets move on.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/07/2005 15:44 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Paul, that was harsh. Very harsh.
It was also screaming hilarious.
Well done.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/07/2005 17:00 Comments ||
Top||
#10
The primary issue would be that the King of England is also head of the Church of England. A Crown Price who marries a divorcee, in this case Camilla, could never be head of the Church, so therefore could not be King, as Edward VIII so discovered in 1937. This blessing would appear to be an attempt to circumvent that convention.
Posted by: john ||
04/07/2005 21:45 Comments ||
Top||
#11
word is the Queen offered Camilla a post-honeymoon trip to Paris with a limo and driver. She declined
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/07/2005 22:14 Comments ||
Top||
From Refinery Explosions to Corruption. The new look of Venezuela's Oil Industry.
By Gustavo Coronel
07.04.05 | At 6:00 AM Sunday morning, April 3rd, a potent explosion shook the refinery of Amuay, in the Venezuelan Paraguana peninsula. The explosion occurred in an electrical substation of the refinery and took no lives. This was, in itself, a miracle, as street vendors who try to sell food and all other kinds of goods to the workers of the refinery now closely surround the installations. Fortunately it was still too early for them to be around. Venezuelan friends tell me that, today, the areas near the entrances to this refinery look like a Persian market of the old tales, full of street vendors of every conceivable item. It was not like this before the "revolution."
The newspapers talk about a failure of the electrical system that feeds the steam boilers in a section of the refinery. This failure, in turn, affected all the industrial services to the refinery: steam production, water, and electric energy, leading to an interruption of the whole complex. The brief official statement by the management of the refinery claims that an emergency plan was immediately activated that led to the re-establishment of the operations but observers say installations are not back to normal. Staff from a contractor firm doing work nearby said that the accident took place while the major maintenance of the flexi Coker (reduces viscosity and metal content of heavy oils) was in progress. Instantly the refinery area filled with smoke, adding to the sensation of great danger among the population living nearby.
The rumors started to fly, in absence of a detailed explanation from the company. The Chävez controlled, local newspaper Nuevo DÃÂa, spoke of an explosion due to sabotage by the opposition. The blame started to be placed, as always, on the contractors and/or the former managers of the refinery. The truth is that this mishap is not the first one in Venezuelan refineries after the Chävez takeover: The El Palito refinery has had major problems in the recent past with loss of human lives. Only two weeks ago another fire broke out in the Amuay refinery. The deterioration in the quality of the managerial and the technical staff due to the politicization of the company has taken the company to very low levels of maintenance and operational reliability.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: TMH ||
04/07/2005 8:11:46 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
Aleksandr has spent the past seven years learning to look relaxed whenever he sees a police officer.
Like many other young men in Russia, the 25-year-old Muscovite is hoping to evade compulsory military service. He's been successful so far:
"Sometimes you feel a little vulnerable if you see some policemen who might check your documents at any moment," Aleksandr says. "I think the Russian army, in its current form, isn't a professional one. It doesn't make any sense. It's just some kind of farce. That's why I simply refuse to be another cog in this machine."
The Russian army's prestige, together with its funding, plummeted after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It's been a serious setback for President Vladimir Putin, who has put a priority on reviving the country's demoralized army, even as Russia's grinding war in Chechnya is in its sixth year.
Rights groups in Russia and abroad often blame the army for violating the rights of conscripts by recruiting scores of young men whose health should make them unfit for service.
Aleksandr Petrov, who works for Human Rights Watch in Moscow, says the army is also known to raid popular hangouts such as bars and nightclubs to enroll conscript-age men:
"A year or two ago, such raids were carried out on a massive scale. Now we also hear reports that more raids are taking place in Moscow, in Saint Petersburg, or in other big cities like Novosibirsk," says Petrov. "Such things really happen quite frequently. Sometimes these arrests are accompanied by rough questioning and physical action."
The horror stories that circulate about hazing and abuse in the army only add to the reluctance of many young men to spend two years in the military.
Last October, during the last conscription campaign, Human Rights Watch said in a report that new conscripts faced grossly abusive and humiliating treatment.
Russia's military command reacted by saying the report overplayed the problem and vowed to stamp out abuse.
The practice of hazing in the Russian army is so common it even has a name, "dedovshchina," which roughly translates to the "rule of grandfathers." Rights groups say dozens of conscripts die every year during hazing rituals.
Valentina Melnikova, head of the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers, a nongovernmental organization seeking to protect the rights of draftees, soldiers and their parents, fully sympathizes with men who refuse to serve in the army:
"Not all young men want to serve in the army, particularly those who don't want to go to Chechnya, get beaten up and made fun of, and who know that money is extorted there," Melnikova says. "The fact that people don't want to go to these stupid barracks is a totally reasonable opinion and wish. What we now have in Russia are Soviet armed forces, the same forces that entered Prague, Baku, that fought in Afghanistan and Karabakh. It's the very same Soviet army."
Conscripts d-o have an alternative -- a four-year non-military service. But it's widely viewed as too long and attracts only a handful of conscripts every year.
Affluent and educated families often manage to keep their sons out of the army. This means that poorer recruits make up a growing part of the armed services.
Many of these recruits suffer from ill health or alcohol or drug addiction, which has led the armed forces to regularly complain about the "low quality" of conscripts.
The General Staff recently announced that as many as 57 percent of conscripts drafted in the fall had health problems that prevented them from taking part in all of the army's standard exercises. More than one in 50 recruits had spent time in prison.
The next domino in the former U.S.S.R.'s "velvet revolutions" may be Bashkortostan, which like Chechnya is still a part of the Russian Federation. Opposition forces in the Siberian "republic" of Bashkortostan are laboring to overthrow their current leader and plan to demonstrate in Moscow on Friday to petition the Kremlin to dismiss President Murtaza Rakhimov. The demonstrators will present Russian officials with a petition with more than 117,000 signatures calling for Rakhimov's removal. Opposition leader Ramil Bignov said: "Georgia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan. The next stop is possible in Bashkortostan." Besides the Moscow demonstrations, opposition activists also plan to picket the presidential administration building in Ufa, the Bashkir capital, beginning on May 1, erecting a tent camp there. Last weekend 5,000 protesters rallied in Ufa to protest welfare reforms replacing state benefits with cash payments. In an echo of the corruption charges levied against former Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev's family, demonstrators are calling for nationalization of oil companies they claim were illegally seized by the president's family. Interestingly enough, Rakhimov's son, Ural is reportedly financing the opposition. Conflict between father and son became public in February when members of the Parliament close to Ural sought to oust the president's speaker of the loyal assembly, Konstantin Tolkachev. Bashkirs -- who make up half the 4 million population of Bashkortostan -- are ethnically linked to the Tartars and linguistically to the Turkic peoples. I wonder if Putin is behind this.
#3
It's not the greatest, but here's a map.
(It's the pink blob right above Kazakhstan.)
Incidentally, I'm curious about the article's claim that Bashkirs account for half of the country's population. I've always read that they're the #3 demographic behind both Russians and Tatars, with the usual large "Other" category. Perhaps there's been a large outflux of non-Bashkirs over the last two or three years?
Posted by: Rex Rufus ||
04/07/2005 23:18 Comments ||
Top||
Kyrgyzstan's Supreme Court annulled on Wednesday one of two criminal charges against key opposition leader Felix Kulov, a first step towards allowing him to run in a presidential election in June. The court overturned a guilty verdict on a charge of abuse of power dating from his time as head of the security services in the late 1990s. It was due to consider an appeal against a second set of embezzlement charges later on Wednesday. Kulov was sprung from jail during a lightning coup and street protests in the ex-Soviet state on March 24. A key opponent of former President Askar Akayev, he was imprisoned in 2001 on embezzlement and abuse of power charges that he said were politically motivated.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/07/2005 00:00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
(3rd item)
China is emerging from its self-imposed military isolation, cooperating with nations that were formerly anathema to Beijing's Red mandarins. Last month Beijing and Moscow finalized plans for "Commonwealth 2005," the first Russian-Chinese military exercise, which is scheduled for the fall off China's Yellow Sea coast. Now China and stalwart NATO member Turkey have launched fresh talks on military cooperation, which could include training and joint exercises. Turkish Air Force commander Gen. Ibrahim Firtina, who last held talks in Beijing two years ago, said that the object of his visit to Beijing with a delegation was is to develop military ties between the two countries. Firtina held meetings with the Chinese Chief of Staff Gen. Liang Guanglie and other military commanders. Besides military cooperation, Turkey is angling to increase its trade and investment in the Middle Kingdom, initially intending to increase its chemicals and steel exports to China with an eye to eventually transferring their production there.
(via Drudge)
En route to Rome, Clinton told reporters the pope "centralized authority in the papacy again and enforced a very conservative theological doctrine. There will be debates about that. The number of Catholics increased by 250 million on his watch. But the numbers of priests didn't. He's like all of us - he may have a mixed legacy." "Ah bet he liked cheap likker, cocaine and whores, just lahk me!"
#2
Bill needs to rethink his sympathy card. I do NOT read him that way. Remember Bill saying "no New taxes read my lips". ANd "I did not have sex with Monica Lewinski". We learned otherwise didn't we?
WE THE PEOPLE***
#4
Pres GW Bush
1st Lady Laura Bush
Pres GHW Bush
Pres Clinton
SoS Rice (Partially obscured by Pope's Miter)
From AP
1st Lady Laura Bush
Pres GW Bush
Pres GHW Bush
Pres Clinton
SoS Rice
#8
New pope will be conservative in all ways. On questions of theology, it's a given. On social issues, probably the same. The dispute over liberation theology was fought and lost almost 20 years ago. I was wondering cardinal Ratzinger, but now don't think so. First, he's german not italian. Second he served, although briefly, in the Wehrmacht. Third as perfect of the Congregation for the Doctine of the Faith, he already pretty much runs things. Next pope will be italian, and of the curia.
Posted by: Weird Al ||
04/07/2005 7:46 Comments ||
Top||
#9
My money is on any who'd be the Anti-American pope. Now that the hierarchy has seen more influence in world affairs since the Treaty of Westphalia, by playing a big role in taking down the old Soviet system, that taste of power will lead them to a position to take down the remaining world power. Maybe the bit about Fatima that this was the second to last pope, may come true.
#11
Whatever you need from me, just let me know. Conservative, liberal, whatever. Ready and willing to serve. Call me...
Posted by: Bernie Law ||
04/07/2005 12:24 Comments ||
Top||
#12
Tettamanzi's roumored to be quick in the rain, but I'm going for a long shot, Ortega-Alamino good blood lines and a blend of South-American/African opportunity. By a noose.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/07/2005 13:29 Comments ||
Top||
#16
Thought for the day: it doesn't matter whether the new pope is "liberal" or "conservative" in stated beliefs, as long as the implementation of their beliefs involves helping Bernie Law evade justice.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
04/07/2005 14:22 Comments ||
Top||
#17
The "dark horse" is the French Jew, Cardinal Lustiger... now odds are lowered to 12-1 at Paddy-Power
#20
The Paddy-Power Betting house has the Nigerian as a narrow favorite...
I hope that the cardinals do the right thing and select someone based on credentials/ability/principles, rather than color, or a desire to try something "different".
King Alberto II and Queen Paola of Belgium
Queen Margherita and Prince Consort of Denmark
Prince Charles of Great Britain
King Abdullah of Jordan
Prince Hans Adam II, Princess Maria, and Prince Nicholas of Liechtenstein
Grand Duke Henri and Grand Dutchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg
Queen Sonja of Norway
King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain
King Carl Gustav XVI and Queen Silvia of Sweden
Metropolitan Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow, Russian Orthodox Church
Bartolomeo I, Patriarch of Constantinople, Spiritual Guide, Christian Orthodoxy
Obed Viner, Director General of the Rabbinate in Israel
Archbishop Christodoulos of the Greek Orthodox Church
Nasrallah Sefir, Patriarch of Marionite Chriatians
Garegin II, Head of the Armenian Apolistic Church
Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury
Daniel Datuashvili, Metropolitan of Abkhazia
Teoctist, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox
Bishop Finn Wagle, of the Norwegian Protestant Church (Lutheran)
Arrchbishop K G Hammar, Swedish Lutheran Church
Abune Paulos, Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church
Mesrob II, Patriarch of the Armenian Church
As of 6 April, 200 cases of Marburg haemorrhagic fever have been reported in Angola. Of these cases, 173 have died. Kuanza Sul has reported its first case, bringing the number of affected provinces to six, all concentrated in the north-western part of the country.
Dr Niman's commentary: The latest update from the WHO clearly shows exponential growth a Marburg cases, creating increasing difficult conditions for contact tracing, which virtually assures continuation of the record breaking increase in cases.
The differential between diagnosed cases and those who have died has grown to 27. Last week the differential was 5-8 cases. The increase in patients who are still alive does not indicate that patients are recovering. It indicates that new cases are being discovered faster than the older cases can die, because the number of older cases is small. The growing differential also indicates that a number of additional patients have been identified, and the exponential growth virtually guarantees a new death record this month. The prior record of 280 deaths was set in the Ebola outbreak of 1967.
The dramatic growth in cases can be seen in the monthly figures. In January there were 20, 31 in February, and 75 in March. In the first 6 days of April there are already 74 newly diagnosed cases. The case fatality rate remains at or near 100%. New cases in neighborhoods or slums near Luanda indicate many more infections will be reported in the coming weeks. I thought the low numbers of new cases reported over the last two days indicated either the disease was slowing down of its own accord or the education/tracing/isolation resources brought in were having an effect. It now appears it is not slowing down at all and the number of cases is more than doubling with each infection cycle (7 to 10 days). A disease with no cure, no vaccine and a 100% fatality rate doubling every 10 days is about as bad as it gets.
#1
OK, don't get your panties in a wad. This epidemic is happening in one of the least healthy places on the planet. The life expectancy in Angola is somewhere around 40-42 years. Everything kills Angolans, not just Marburg.
Marburg haemorrhagic fever is an extremely rare disease that remains poorly understood. Information on the behaviour of Marburg virus once it enters a human population is sparse. As detailed in a fact sheet recently issued by WHO, the outbreak in Angola is one of only two large outbreaks of this disease that have occurred in indigenous African populations since the virus was first detected in 1967. The only other large outbreak, which began in late 1998 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was confined to two sparsely populated villages in an isolated corner of the country, caused sporadic cases with small chains of transmission over two years, and never reached the intensity of transmission seen in just the past few weeks in Angola. The outbreak in Angola is not only the largest on record, with the highest fatality, but is also the first to occur in an urban setting.
Almost three decades of civil unrest have left Angola with a severely weakened health infrastructure, a hospital system in dire need of basic equipment and supplies, inadequate communication and transportation systems, and a population weakened by economic hardship. These weaknesses hamper containment efforts, which depend on active surveillance for cases, rapid detection and isolation in specially designated and equipped facilities, and rapid tracing of contacts.
From October 1, 2004 to now there have been 200 cases identified. Even if you double that number to allow for the "outstanding" public health department in Angola, it still is a very minor, VERY MINOR problem.
Dr. Niman is one of the best virologists on the planet. He is also selling his patented systems for analyzing and predicting viral outbreaks. His company, Recombinomics, bases its success on receiving funding in some manner for these methods. He is hardly a disinterested party.
Marburg continues to be spread in the same old way, by intimate personal contact. Barrier methods that are routine for medical professionals in the United States are an absolute preventative. As I have said repeatedly, if it's yucky and it's not yours, don't touch it.
Dr. Niman is now working on a two track approach to funding, avian flu and Marburg. I wish him good luck, but even a thousand dead from Marburg is hardly a cause for a major world panic. In 2002, 16,371 people dies from HIV related causes in the United States alone. NIH
HIV is totally preventable. As is infection by Marburg.
You gotta understand. In a world of 5-6 billion plus people, a couple of hundred dead is statisticly irrelevant. It's tragic, especially to those who die, but it is hardly a sign of the end times.
#2
Chuck I don't dispute any of what you say (except perhaps the bit about routine barrier methods being an absolute preventative. They failed with SARS in Singapore) but most people don't grasp what exponential means and what doubling over a short period means. Marburg infections are clearly increasing at a rapid rate and we must assume they will continue to increase until they encounter one or more barriers to further spread. That might be a limit to the tranmission chain, preventative measures or some geographic factor. If it doesn't encounter a limiting factor then I can graph an exponential trend as well the next person and in a few months there will be an awful lot of dead people. I also understand about scale problems. Solutions at a small scale don't work at a larger scale. Trace and isolate is one of them. The bigger this gets the closer we get to trace and isolate only slowing the outbreak down rather than reducing it in size. I suspect we have already passed that point given the resources that can be brought to bear. I have said before I don't consider this a risk to developed countries, but until I see evidence of its spread slowing down then I find it ominous for Africa.
#3
Phil, I maintain that 200 cases isn't a large enough set to draw any conclusions from. Explosive spread is what we saw with the Spanish Flu at Fort Riley Kansas. On March 11, 1918, 101 men presented with flu symptoms. Within three months the Brits had 31,000 cases. You just do not have enough cases, or enough months, to graph a trend for Marburg.
I am not aware of the failure of barrier methods, universal precautions, in Singapore. I am aware of the scathing report on the SARS cases in Toronto's medical community caused by improper use of precautions and the government declaring the epidemic over when it was not.
I think we'll see hundreds of deaths, and some spread in the region. Tragic, but not earthshattering. Most of these deaths are caused by the physical condition of the patients rather than the disease.
Oil futures prices fell more than $1 a barrel Thursday afternoon, following the lead of gasoline futures, and brokers said there appeared to be further momentum lower. "It's collapsing," said Ed Silliere, a broker at Energy Merchant Intermarket Futures in New York. "The market was extremely overbought." Light, sweet crude for May delivery dropped $1.45 to $54.40 a barrel in afternoon trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange. After an early decline of nearly 8 cents, gasoline futures recovered some lost ground and were down 4 cents to $1.62.
On Wednesday the U.S. Energy Department said the supply of unleaded gasoline stood at 212.3 million barrels, or 5.5 percent higher than last year. However, gasoline demand remained healthy, up 2 percent from a year ago. Tetsu Emori, chief commodities strategist at Mitsui Bussan Futures, said he expects high gasoline prices to persist as "people are accumulating inventories before the summer driving season." The government report also showed that the nation's inventory of crude oil was 317.1 million barrels, or 8 percent higher than last year.
"U.S. oil demand is holding up well, and will help to support prices at lower levels," investment bank Barclays Capital said in a note. "There is ... nothing in the U.S. data to support another push up toward $60 yet." Emori said the current oil market remains "highly exaggerated," and that if prices followed market fundamentals, they should hover around the low $40 range.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/07/2005 3:09:40 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Hummm..... Mark E! what's the word, is the inventory build up due to fear or a softening in demand?
#2
For whatever reason that the price of oil drops "sharply", the price of gas never does. But it's funny how most of the time, when oil prices rise, the price of gas rises almost as fast.
#3
The inventory build up is both - a drop in demand due to price (i.e. you dont drive as much when it cost you an arm and a leg), but the main factor is fear, which has driven the market since 2003. Fear of the IRaq warhosing things, fear of Iran messing htings, fear of russian instability, fear of Nigerian instability, fear of that looney in Venezuela hosing things up... etc. Been one thing after another driving market price spikes, and NONE of them has come to pass.
For the fiscal element - look no further than the hedge funds, who have been leveraging the hell out of things, adn causing futures contracts to run irrationally. They screwed up the international system a few years back by shorting massively in the financial markets (they needed Greensapn to bail them out), and apparently have run amok again, this time in the oil sector.
#4
A market equalizes supply and demand by changes in price. That is the sole and only purpose of a market. When someone says 'based on fundamentals the price should be x or y' they don't know what they are talking about. Markets make value. The correct price is the one set in the market.
#10
The inventory build up is both - a drop in demand due to price (i.e. you dont drive as much when it cost you an arm and a leg), but the main factor is fear, which has driven the market since 2003. Fear of the IRaq warhosing things, fear of Iran messing htings, fear of russian instability, fear of Nigerian instability, fear of that looney in Venezuela hosing things up... etc. Been one thing after another driving market price spikes, and NONE of them has come to pass.
For the fiscal element - look no further than the hedge funds, who have been leveraging the hell out of things, adn causing futures contracts to run irrationally. They screwed up the international system a few years back by shorting massively in the financial markets (they needed Greensapn to bail them out), and apparently have run amok again, this time in the oil sector.
#11
The inventory build up is both - a drop in demand due to price (i.e. you dont drive as much when it cost you an arm and a leg), but the main factor is fear, which has driven the market since 2003. Fear of the IRaq warhosing things, fear of Iran messing htings, fear of russian instability, fear of Nigerian instability, fear of that looney in Venezuela hosing things up... etc. Been one thing after another driving market price spikes, and NONE of them has come to pass.
For the fiscal element - look no further than the hedge funds, who have been leveraging the hell out of things, adn causing futures contracts to run irrationally. They screwed up the international system a few years back by shorting massively in the financial markets (they needed Greensapn to bail them out), and apparently have run amok again, this time in the oil sector.
While not Caliphornia, as you might expect, the state where I was born and raised was a blue state, in part because King Richard the First still votes Democratic, despite being dead for years....
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/07/2005 1:23:41 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Bobby, some people who have been here for years get a licence to make cryptic comments. You are not one of them. If you have something to say then by all means say it but cryptic local allusions without explanatory facts will result in responses like this. I am supremely indifferent to whatever city you refer to and its blue/red/pink/?? status as well as a denizen I have almost certainly never heard off. This is not the DailyKos. We have broader concerns.
#2
You can't figure out King Richard the 1st? Obviously not from the mid-west. Out there, there has only been one King Richard. Hizzoner, the Greatest Mayor Chicago Ever Had, Richard J Daley himself. A fine figure of a man who knew the true meaning of the word Clout. Good Irish-Catholic boy who went to mass evey morning and destroyed his enemies every afternoon. If he wasn't already dead, this bill would have killed him.
Posted by: Weird Al ||
04/07/2005 7:36 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Weird Al, no, phil_b is not from mid-west, neither are many of us here. It is cool to include a mid-west ref, but the emphasis is on 'include'. Meaning there should be some substance to which the reference is added in an apropos fashion.
#15
#7 at least somebody else here remembers the chicago convention of 68'. Grand fun. The image of Daley screaming at the podium is etched in memory forever.
Posted by: Weird Al ||
04/07/2005 15:49 Comments ||
Top||
#17
What a waste. Why not simply enforce the criminal law? And who's going to pay to collect any judgments obtained in "pimp litigation"? A pimp law debt collection specialist? Pay up deadbeat or I'll have the sheriff garnish your girls and take your cellphone!
#18
"You'll be moved, all right. When the tear gas starts popping and Chicago's finest forms a line and starts indiscriminate clubbing - you'll be moved."
I wish them well, but capping a few dozen hard boyz and the rest of the Hamas politburo would have a faster and more long lasting effect. This only reinforces the mistaken idea that the Paleo problems are all the fault of Israel and the Jooos.
Actor Ben Kingsley and U.S. philanthropists unveiled an Arabic version of the film "Gandhi" on Wednesday, hoping to bring the legendary Indian revolutionary's message of nonviolent resistance to Palestinian towns, villages and refugee camps. The release of the 1982 Academy Award winning film, dubbed into Arabic by 129 Palestinian actors, comes at a key moment in the Mideast conflict. Many Palestinians are exhausted after more than four years of self-imposed violence but say they have no intention of abandoning their fight for an independent state. "The message (of the movie) is fresh. People should and will be affected by it," said Kamran Elahian, an Iranian-American businessman who helped organize the effort.
Kamran, when are you dubbing the movie into Farsi?
But Palestinians who saw the film were skeptical about applying its nonviolent message to their conflict with Israel. The new version of the film is the centerpiece of the Gandhi Project, which hopes to spread the philosophy of peace and tolerance throughout the region. The project, sponsored by the Skoll Foundation and the Global Catalyst Foundation, two U.S.-based philanthropic organizations, plans to offer free screenings throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip and to distribute DVD copies to local civic groups to show to youth. The film also will be shown to Palestinians in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. "Gandhi was an ordinary man who took it upon himself to change the world, and telling his story is one way to get people to see the Gandhi in themselves," said Jeff Skoll, chair of the Skoll Foundation.
NB: Jeff Skoll was the president and "first employee" of eBay and made pots and pots of money when they went IPO. eBay was founded in San Jose California with the mission statement: "people are basically good." This backfired on them when the fraudsters swarmed into eBay by the boatload. eBay's senior management has never fully been able to reconcile their belief in the fundamental goodness of people with proper wariness they should be operating with as a business. I'm not criticizing eBay or Jeff Skoll, just pointing out their blind spots.
Kingsley, who played Gandhi in the movie, said its most important message was the idea of Satyagraha, a Sanskrit word meaning "truth force," the use of nonviolent resistance to open the eyes of the oppressor.
Can someone point out where Satyragraha appears in the Qur'an or hadiths? Thanks!
"The force of truth is at the center of the controversy," he said.
The truth being that the Jooos dunnit. Case closed.
Gandhi and his followers boycotted British products in India and defied laws they considered unjust. Even when they were beaten for their protests, they did not fight back. Gandhi's campaign of disobedience was credited with helping win India's independence in 1947. He was assassinated by a Hindu nationalist in 1948. Kingsley is only the latest Hollywood actor to get involved in restarting Mideast peace efforts. "Seinfeld" star Jason Alexander came here in support of the grass roots "One Voice" peace initiative, and actor Richard Gere has been touring the region in recent days appealing for peace and dialogue. Though the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been saturated with violence, "Gandhi" could find a newly receptive audience.
In Western news reports, perhaps.
Relations between Palestinians and Israelis have warmed considerably since the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in November. The two sides declared a cease-fire, and violence has plunged in recent weeks. A poll last month showed Palestinian support for suicide bombings had plummeted to 29 percent from 77 percent in a poll last year. But it remains unclear how the film will be received. Even many of the 300 people who attended the movie's Arabic premiere Wednesday in the West Bank city of Ramallah were unconvinced. While they respected Gandhi as a man who liberated his people, they were not sure they were ready to adopt his tactics. "There are too many differences," said Dea Opahi, a 21-year-old man. "If we stopped resisting Israel, it would probably confiscate all the land left to us." "It's too late. Maybe if we had started earlier," said Khadga Sharkouyi, a 75-year-old woman. A few did believe it was time to try another way, especially in light of the results of more than four years of fighting that killed 3,469 people on the Palestinian side and 1,032 on the Israeli side. "For sure nonviolence is the best and Gandhi's experience is a good example" Hassan Hussein, 17.
Posted by: seafarious ||
04/07/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Well, it was worth a shot... If it means one less bus of civilians shredded it was worth it.
Posted by: Dar ||
04/07/2005 9:25 Comments ||
Top||
#2
It might give them some novel ideas about how to go about actually getting somewhere and making something rather than simply destroying people and things in a circus of sick violence headed nowhere.
#3
This is a fresh approach however men who have decided to take up arms have a hard time putting them down. They would probably identify with Ghandi only because he was opposed to Great Britain, not the non-violence he examplified. A step in the right direction though, no doubt. Films can make a huge impact on the changing of one's opinion.
The Ivory Coast's government, rebels and opposition leaders agreed in Pretoria yesterday to end the hostilities which have ravaged the world's top cocoa-producing state, killed thousands of people and left millions homeless since 2002. All the parties agreed to "solemnly declare the immediate and final cessation of all hostilities and the end of the war throughout the national territory", their statement said.
President Laurent Gbagbo, the rebel leader Guillaume Soro, and the opposition politicians Alassane Ouattara and Henri Konan Bedie signed the declaration.
The South African president, Thabo Mbeki, chaired the talks and helped draft the final agreement. "All the parties stayed up until nearly 3am to reach this agreement and then President Mbeki worked with them to draft the agreement," Mr Mbeki's spokesman, Bheki Khumalo, said. "We think it is a decisive breakthrough that will bring lasting peace, which is what the people of the Ivory Coast deserve.
"All sides are ebullient and buoyant. All sides agreed to a cessation of hostilities and steps for disarmament."
The agreement gives a more prominent role to the prime minister, Seydou Diarra, who is seen as much more moderate and conciliatory than President Gbagbo.
The most difficult part of the talks was the question of eligibility to stand for the presidency. In the 2000 election the opposition leader, Alassan Ouattara, was disqualified on the grounds that his parents were not born in Ivory Coast. The final decision has been left to Mr Mbeki, who will consult the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, and President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, who heads the African Union.
The fix is in.
The agreement is expected to end the hostilities which have split Ivory Coast between the government-held south and the rebel-controlled north. "Above all ... this was an agreement between Ivorians ... we really worked and identified the problems and sought to resolve them," Mr Gbagbo said after signing the accord.
The two sides have agreed several times to end the war, but their previous undertakings were handicapped by mutual distrust, because neither was willing to compromise on key demands. The Pretoria talks were regarded as the last chance to salvage peace in the former French colony.
Cocoa prices in London and New York fell after news of the agreement was announced, easing the fear of that further disruption of supply. Ivory Coast produces 40% of the world's cocoa beans.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/07/2005 11:25:02 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Cocoa dealers must be obnoxiously optimistic people...
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
PRINCE Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles will acknowledge their "sins and wickedness" at a religious blessing following their wedding this weekend, British royal officials said overnight. During the blessing by Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, the couple will join the congregation in reading the strongest act of penitence from the Anglican church's 1662 Book of Common Prayer. This was chosen in place of more modern prayers of penitence for divorcees, as the Prince and Mrs Parker Bowles are. The text issued by Clarence House, Charles's London residence, reads: "We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, Which we, from time to time, most grievously have committed, by thought, word and deed, Against thy Divine Majesty, Provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us."
07.04.05 | At 6:00 AM Sunday morning, April 3rd, a potent explosion shook the refinery of Amuay, in the Venezuelan Paraguana peninsula. The explosion occurred in an electrical substation of the refinery and took no lives. This was, in itself, a miracle, as street vendors who try to sell food and all other kinds of goods to the workers of the refinery now closely surround the installations. Fortunately it was still too early for them to be around. Venezuelan friends tell me that, today, the areas near the entrances to this refinery look like a Persian market of the old tales, full of street vendors of every conceivable item. It was not like this before the "revolution."
Kyrgyzstan's Supreme Court annulled on Wednesday one of two criminal charges against key opposition leader Felix Kulov, a first step towards allowing him to run in a presidential election in June. The court overturned a guilty verdict on a charge of abuse of power dating from his time as head of the security services in the late 1990s. It was due to consider an appeal against a second set of embezzlement charges later on Wednesday. Kulov was sprung from jail during a lightning coup and street protests in the ex-Soviet state on March 24. A key opponent of former President Askar Akayev, he was imprisoned in 2001 on embezzlement and abuse of power charges that he said were politically motivated.
As of 6 April, 200 cases of Marburg haemorrhagic fever have been reported in Angola. Of these cases, 173 have died. Kuanza Sul has reported its first case, bringing the number of affected provinces to six, all concentrated in the north-western part of the country.
