| |
|
14. november 2006
|
|
This will be bloody hard to explain:
International Atomic Energy experts have found unexplained plutonium and highly enriched uranium traces in a nuclear waste facility in Iran and have asked Tehran for an explanation, an IAEA report said Tuesday.
The report, prepared for next week's meeting of the 35-nation IAEA, also faulted Tehran for not cooperating with the agency's attempts to investigate suspicious aspects of Iran's nuclear program that have lead to fears it might be interested in developing nuclear arms.
And it said it could not confirm Iranian claims that its nuclear activities were exclusively nonmilitary unless Tehran increased its openness.
If I understand this correctly, "highly enriched" means weapons-grade, wholly unnecessary for peaceful use. An earlier, similar find was actually demonstrated to originate with equipment imported from abroad. IAEA is quite capable of distinguishing between known sources of enriched uranium, so I doubt that is the case here.
7:21:42 PM 
|
|
Text-speak in school:
New Zealand's high school students will be able to use "text-speak" - the mobile phone text message language beloved of teenagers - in national exams this year, officials said Friday.
Text-speak, a second language for thousands of teens, uses abbreviated words and phrases such as "txt" for "text", "lol" for "laughing out loud" or "lots of love," and "CU" for "see you." The move has already divided students and educators who fear it could damage the English language.
New Zealand's Qualifications Authority said that it still strongly discourages students from using anything other than full English, but that credit will be given if the answer "clearly shows the required understanding," even if it contains text-speak.
A few people objected in the obvious way:
The minor United Future Party said in a statement: "Untd Futr is cncernd bout da xeptnce of txt spk 2 b allwd in ritn xams 4 NCEA [...]
Internet blogger Phil Stevens was not amused by the announcement. "nzqa(New Zealand Qualifications Authority): u mst b joking," Stevens wrote. "or r u smoking sumthg?"
Obviously this doesn't apply to language education, and I'm not so sure this is a big change. I teach computer science, and while I'm very proud of my students' talents and work in the actual subjects, quite a bit of their writing leave something to be desired. I wished I could say that this is just because I'm getting older and dreaming about some golden age of perfect spelling, but results are actually declining over time. I'm not even convinced that text messages, IM or TV has that much to do with it. Still, this is a job for another teacher. If I can make out what they try to say, and it is correct, I don't mark them down for bad spelling or grammar.
I did, however, tell them before their latest test that I would very much prefer complete sentences, and that overall impression counts for the final grading. One of my pet peeves is dropping the pronouns. "Am going to school" is fine for informal writing, but do add an "I" in front of the sentences when you write an exam, a job application, or anything else serious.
I am probably the only person in the universe writing about this subject without using those funny abbreviations, despite actually using them in email, IRC and IM while today's cool kids were just an itch in their daddy's groin.
7:07:11 PM
|
|
We spent a bit of the last couple of years worrying about the possibility of bird flu becoming a deadly pandemic. To be sure, some of the scare was probably overblown, but the threat is real and doesn't go away just because the press gets tired of writing about it. Sooner or later, we'll probably get a worldwide, nasty flu pandemic. Just to make matters worse, the type of medicine that could help us, can also make us go nuts.
The maker of the antiviral medication Tamiflu issued a new warning for the flu drug Monday, saying patients must be closely monitored for potential psychiatric problems, including delirium and suicide.
Hoffman-La Roche Inc. had been discussing the matter with the Food and Drug Administration, which has been reviewing 103 cases in which patients reported bizarre behavior, usually within a day of taking Tamiflu.
Most cases involved children under 17 and occurred in Japan. The cases include three people who fell to their deaths after taking the drug, including a 14-year-old boy who climbed atop the railing of his family's condominium, an FDA memo says.
The memo also cites the case of an 8-year-old in Japan who took one dose of Tamiflu and, about an hour and a half later, tried to run out the front door of his home. The child would not answer to his name and was growling, according to the memo, which was prepared in advance of an FDA pediatric advisory committee meeting Thursday.
Dr. Debra Birnkrant, director of the FDA's division of antiviral products, said it was not yet known if the abnormal behavior was caused by the drug or the flu, which can cause fever and delirium.
But she added, "Since there were a number of cases over the last year that we looked at, we thought it would be the prudent thing to make the public aware."
Another drug for seasonal flu, amantadine, has been associated with similar neurological side effects, mostly in the elderly, Birnkrant said.
Considering there were 24.5 million Tamiflu prescriptions in Japan over five years, and only a few reported cases of negative psychological effects, this scare is probably overblown. The risk of flu doing damage is much higher than this possible risk to your mental health, but it is certainly a good idea to observe patients using the drug. This may discourage people in the danger zone from using the medication, so I hope doctors do a good job explaining and evaluating the relative risks involved.
6:07:42 PM
|
|
Michael Totten says that Lebanon may face a perfect storm:
I’ve been under Tornado Watch probably ten times or so in the American Midwest. Not once did a tornado touch down anywhere near me while I was on alert. Several tornadoes, though, blew through the area out of the blue with no warning on different days. So consider this a storm watch weather forecast for Lebanon with that level of built-in unpredictability.
The Lebanese government says Syria and Iran aim to overthrow the elected government in Beirut and reconquer the country. Whether they are actually trying to do this right now or not is unknown. There should be no doubt, though, that if they don’t have a plan to execute now it’s because they want to do it later instead.
Iran and Syria may be convinced that the Bush administration is a lame duck after the midterm losses, and that this is the right time to reestablish dominion over Lebanon. Hezbollah's objectives for starting the war with Israel may well be to strengthen its position and destabilise the democratically elected government.
The French-led UNIFIL forces, which I guess could be called dead frogs in this context, is surely not going to help. They refuse to do anything to stop Hezbollah from rearming, in violation of the UN mandate that put them there, but yet threatens to shoot at Israeli planes.
4:44:05 PM
|
|
It had appeared Tony Blair was suggesting asking Iran for help to stop outside meddling in Iraq. Now he denies having offered the mullahs anything.
Mr Blair said Iran - by helping the "most extreme elements of Hamas in Palestine; Hezbollah in the Lebanon; Shia militia in Iraq" - were putting "obstacles in the path to peace".
The only way to defeat such barriers was to "relieve these pressure points one by one" and offer Iran the choice of abiding by their international obligations or face isolation, Mr Blair said.
The Telegraph has a chilling story that may or may not be true.
Iran is trying to form an unholy alliance with al-Qa'eda by grooming a new generation of leaders to take over from Osama bin Laden, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.
Western intelligence officials say the Iranians are determined to take advantage of bin Laden's declining health to promote senior officials who are known to be friendly to Teheran.
First, Iran has every interest in a coalition loss in Iraq. Asking them for help is utterly futile and potentially dangerous. It also appears to be totally desperate.
Second, even if the Sunni and Shia extremists have been at each other's throats for some time, it will make sense for them to cooperate, and it is likely to happen.
8:37:19 AM
|
|
|
© Copyright 2006 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.12.2006; 09:19:23.
|
|
|
