I agree with these statements and couldn't word them any better, so here is a quote from Something Awful:
Rich, myself, Livestock, and probably some of the other writers have been watching the hurricane aftermath with nothing short of dumb shock. There is a disaster going on right now and it is manmade. The disaster is three strangers in Mississippi, together because they're all that's left and alone in a town without buildings, drinking floodwater polluted by corpses, shit and gasoline. The disaster is a woman wading through waist deep streets holding her daughter and wondering why the trucks won't stop to get her out of the city. The disaster is ICU patients dying one after another because diesel didn't flow and order couldn't be kept. It's an uninterrupted chain of personal disasters. It's inept triage on a national scale. It's unbelievable that this is America.
It's hard to comprehend that these repeating images of herds of people without food or water or medical treatment after nearly a week are happening on our soil. They're our fellow citizens and while the politicians, directors, planners and generals congratulate each other at press conferences they are suffering and dying. I have seen some efforts in the media to pressure officials to accept responsibility. None have, because in public office the buck stops nowhere. The only person I have really seen come close to capturing the raw fury of the people trapped in New Orleans or forgotten in Mississippi and Alabama is CNN's Anderson Cooper. He confronted Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu on live TV, chiding her with a voice cracking with emotion that he couldn't believe the politicians were patting each other on the back over a job well done when he just saw rats eating a woman's body in the street of Biloxi. On the Internet I've seen people blatantly placing blame on Bush, FEMA, Congress, the National Guard, and even Homeland Security.
Who is responsible? Who should be blamed? All of them. This is a colossal failure of our government to care for and protect its citizenry on every conceivable level. The heroes are the men and women on the scene doing their utmost to help those in need. Coast Guard rescue workers plucking people to safety and Red Cross workers feeding people from emergency kitchens are heroes. The man who commandeered a bus and got people out of New Orleans when the government was woefully impotent is a hero. The woman who smashed the glass on a convenience store to loot bottled water for fifteen kids who should have been absolutely inundated with supplies by then is a hero. The doctors and nurses hand-bagging ventilator patients 24 hours a day in dark hospitals are heroes. In the ineloquent but true words of the Mayor of New Orleans: "Don't tell me 40,000 people are coming here. They're not here. It's too doggone late. Now get off your asses and do something, and let's fix the biggest goddamn crisis in the history of this country." CNN was better prepared to deal with this disaster than FEMA was.
I am ashamed of my country's government in a universal way right now. Republicans, democrats, opportunists, it doesn't matter; they're all guilty in this situation. In a magical world where justice is actually served most of these people would not have jobs in a month or two. Instead the people without jobs will be the millions who have lost everything and found their government with its back turned. Remember that people are still dying because of this incompetence. Remember that when each and every one of these fools appears on TV for a photo op or complains about "placing blame later," because placing blame now is the only hope America has to change the situation.
In the United Kingdom somebody's head would be taken for this. A great number of politicians would have accepted some ounce of responsibility and in hindsight resigned. It disgusts me that no one can step up and say "I was wrong" or "I should have done more", "It is my fault". The most powerful country in the world is doomed if its leaders and officials are only going to cover their own asses and not solve the nation's problems.
From the BBC:
New Orleans crisis shames AmericansAt the end of an unforgettable week, one broadcaster on Friday bitterly encapsulated the sense of burning shame and anger that many American citizens are feeling.
The only difference between the chaos of New Orleans and a Third World disaster operation, he said, was that a foreign dictator would have responded better.
It has been a profoundly shocking experience for many across this vast country who, for the large part, believe the home-spun myth about the invulnerability of the American Dream.
The party in power in Washington is always happy to convey the impression of 50 states moving forward together in social and economic harmony towards a bigger and better America.
That is what presidential campaigning is all about.
But what the devastating consequences of Katrina have shown - along with the response to it - is that for too long now, the fabric of this complex and overstretched country, especially in states like Louisiana and Mississippi, has been neglected and ignored.
Borrowed time
The fitting metaphors relating to the New Orleans debacle are almost too numerous to mention.
First there was an extraordinary complacency, mixed together with what seemed like over-reaction, before the storm.
A genuinely heroic mayor orders a total evacuation of the city the day before Katrina arrives, knowing that for decades now, New Orleans has been living on borrowed time.
The National Guard and federal emergency personnel stay tucked up at home.
The havoc of Katrina had been predicted countless times on a local and federal level - even to the point where it was acknowledged that tens of thousands of the poorest residents would not be able to leave the city in advance.
No official plan was ever put in place for them.
Abandoned to the elements
The famous levees that were breached could have been strengthened and raised at what now seems like a trifling cost of a few billion dollars.
The Bush administration, together with Congress, cut the budgets for flood protection and army engineers, while local politicians failed to generate any enthusiasm for local tax increases.
New Orleans partied-on just hoping for the best, abandoned by anyone in national authority who could have put the money into really protecting the city.
Meanwhile, the poorest were similarly abandoned, as the horrifying images and stories from the Superdome and Convention Center prove.
The truth was simple and apparent to all. If journalists were there with cameras beaming the suffering live across America, where were the officers and troops?
The neglect that meant it took five days to get water, food, and medical care to thousands of mainly orderly African-American citizens desperately sheltering in huge downtown buildings of their native city, has been going on historically, for as long as the inadequate levees have been there.
Divided city
I should make a confession at this point: I have been to New Orleans on assignment three times in as many years, and I was smitten by the Big Easy, with its unique charms and temperament.
But behind the elegant intoxicants of the French Quarter, it was clearly a city grotesquely divided on several levels. It has twice the national average poverty rate.
The government approach to such deprivation looked more like thoughtless containment than anything else.
The nightly shootings and drugs-related homicides of recent years pointed to a small but vicious culture of largely black-on-black crime that everyone knew existed, but no-one seemed to have any real answers for.
Again, no-one wanted to pick up the bill or deal with the realities of race relations in the 21st Century.
Too often in the so-called "New South", they still look positively 19th Century.
"Shoot the looters" is good rhetoric, but no lasting solution.
Uneasy paradox
It is astonishing to me that so many Americans seem shocked by the existence of such concentrated poverty and social neglect in their own country.
In the workout room of the condo where I am currently staying in the affluent LA neighbourhood of Santa Monica, an executive and his personal trainer ignored the anguished television reports blaring above their heads on Friday evening.
Either they did not care, or it was somehow too painful to discuss.
When President Bush told "Good Morning America" on Thursday morning that nobody could have "anticipated" the breach of the New Orleans levees, it pointed to not only a remote leader in denial, but a whole political class.
The uneasy paradox which so many live with in this country - of being first-and-foremost rugged individuals, out to plunder what they can and paying as little tax as they can get away with, while at the same time believing that America is a robust, model society - has reached a crisis point this week.
Will there be real investment, or just more buck-passing between federal agencies and states?
The country has to choose whether it wants to rebuild the levees and destroyed communities, with no expense spared for the future - or once again brush off that responsibility, and blame the other guy.
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Declaration of Revocation
To the citizens of the United States of America, in the light of your failure to elect a competent President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective today.
Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories.
Except Utah, which she does not fancy.
Your new Prime Minister (The Right Honourable Tony Blair, MP for the 97.85% of you who have until now been unaware that there is a world outside your borders) will appoint a Minister for America without the need for further elections.
Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.
A questionnaire will be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed. To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:
1. You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then look up "aluminium." Check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.
The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and 'neighbour'; skipping the letter 'U' is nothing more than laziness on your part. Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters.
You will end your love affair with the letter 'Z' (pronounced 'zed' not 'zee') and the suffix "ize" will be replaced by the suffix "ise."
You will learn that the suffix 'burgh' is pronounced 'burra' e.g. Edinburgh. You are welcome to re-spell Pittsburgh as 'Pittsberg' if you can't cope with correct pronunciation.
Generally, you should raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. Look up "vocabulary." Using the same thirty seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "uhh", "like", and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication.
Look up "interspersed."
There will be no more 'bleeps' in the Jerry Springer show. If you're not old enough to cope with bad language then you shouldn't have chat shows. When you learn to develop your vocabulary, then you won't have to use bad language as often.
2. There is no such thing as "US English." We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter 'u' and the elimination of "-ize."
3. You should learn to distinguish the English and Australian accents. It really isn't that hard. English accents are not limited to cockney, upper-class twit or Mancunian (Daphne in Frasier).
You will also have to learn how to understand regional accents --- Scottish dramas such as "Taggart" will no longer be broadcast with subtitles.
While we're talking about regions, you must learn that there is no such place as Devonshire in England. The name of the county is "Devon." If you persist in calling it Devonshire, all American States will become "shires" e.g. Texasshire, Floridashire, Louisianashire.
4. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as the good guys. Hollywood will be required to cast English actors to play English characters.
British sit-coms such as "Men Behaving Badly" or "Red Dwarf" will not be re-cast and watered down for a wishy-washy American audience who can't cope with the humour of occasional political incorrectness.
5. You should relearn your original national anthem, "God Save The Queen", but only after fully carrying out task 1. We would not want you to get confused and give up half way through.
6. You should stop playing American "football." There is only one kind of football. What you refer to as American "football" is not a very good game.
The 2.15% of you who are aware that there is a world outside your borders may have noticed that no one else plays "American" football. You will no longer be allowed to play it, and should instead play proper football.
Initially, it would be best if you played with the girls. It is a difficult game. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which is similar to American "football", but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like nancies).
We are hoping to get together at least a US Rugby sevens side by 2005.
You should stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the 'World Series' for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.15% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. Instead of baseball, you will be allowed to play a girls' game called "rounders," which is baseball without fancy team strip, oversized gloves, collector cards or hotdogs.
7. You will no longer be allowed to own or carry guns. You will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous in public than a vegetable peeler. Because we don't believe you are sensible enough to handle potentially dangerous items, you will require a permit if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.
8. July 4th is no longer a public holiday. November 2nd will be a new national holiday, but only in England. It will be called "Indecisive Day."
9. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap, and it is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.
All road intersections will be replaced with roundabouts. You will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.
10. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call 'French fries' are not real chips. Fries aren't even French, they are Belgian though 97.85% of you (including the guy who discovered fries while in Europe) are not aware of a country called Belgium. Those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called "crisps." Real chips are thick cut and fried in animal fat. The traditional accompaniment to chips is beer which should be served warm and flat.
Waitresses will be trained to be more aggressive with customers.
11. As a sign of penance 5 grams of sea salt per cup will be added to all tea made within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, this quantity to be doubled for tea made within the city of Boston itself.
12. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling "beer" is not actually beer at all, it is lager . From November 1st only proper British Bitter will be referred to as "beer," and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as "Lager." The substances formerly known as "American Beer" will henceforth be referred to as "Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine," with the exception of the product of the American Budweiser company whose product will be referred to as "Weak Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine." This will allow true Budweiser (as manufactured for the last 1000 years in the Czech Republic) to be sold without risk of confusion.
13. From November 10th the UK will harmonise petrol (or "gasoline," as you will be permitted to keep calling it until April 1st 2005) prices with the former USA. The UK will harmonise its prices to those of the former USA and the Former USA will, in return, adopt UK petrol prices (roughly $6/US gallon -- get used to it).
14. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not adult enough to be independent. Guns should only be handled by
adults. If you're not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you're not grown up enough to handle a gun.
15. Please tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us crazy.
16. Tax collectors from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all revenues due (backdated to 1776).
Thank you for your co-operation.
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"In superfluids, as well as in superconductors, particles move in lockstep. They form one big quantum-mechanical wave," explained Ketterle. "Such a movement allows superconductors to carry electrical currents without resistance."
For those who know not of superfluidity:
Answers.com: Superfluidity is a phase of matter characterised by the complete absence of viscosity. Thus superfluids, placed in a closed loop, can flow endlessly without friction.
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Well, it's E3 this week, and like many other gamers I have been keeping up to date with the buzz of the industry. I'm not going to post facts about new consoles or anything, I mean, who wants to come here for a news source!? Suffice to say, I will post my opinions on the upcoming entertainment mammoths.
Xbox 360 was the first of the three consoles to be revealed, albeit on the shitty MTV extravaganza. The 30min advert packed show provided us with a brief glimpse of the console shell, 10 seconds of game play footage and some happy hobbits talking to professional no life gamers and the invaluable opinions of the all knowing pimp my ride team. Fantastic, luckily I downloaded this monstrosity and could skip all the shit, such as the Killers performance. Of interest was Perfect Dark Zero. Of what I could glimpse I was excited, things looked nice and really I was just happy to see that the game physically existed. Upon reflection, the graphics weren't amazing and at no point did I feel myself saying 'wow'. Moving on to the OurColony.net video, "a flipped and goosed" version of the MTV show that gave a little more information; I began being excited about the prospects of the new live features, the video interactions, the new controllers, the wireless features, the three core processing power and the USB device outlook. However, being a gamer, the principle error in the unveiling of the Xbox 360 system coverage was the distinct lack of GAMES. Nowhere to be seen were game trailers, game footage, game announcements, game development. Aside from the EA developments (tweaks) and PDZ, I've seen nothing. If I am buying a game console, the most important thing to show me are the games, who cares about Xbox live if the only game to support it will be Microsoft Solitaire 3D. So, while in the few days running up to E3 I was excited... the thunder has since been stolen, by Sony.
Playstation 3, welcome chang3. I was awake in the early hours of the British morning to listen to the Sony conference and the unveiling of their new system. I watched the two hour convention with awe. I'm not a particular Playstation fan boy, yes I own a ps2 but my favourite console of the current generation is easily the Xbox. I wasn't too stoked about the ps3, I had subconsciously ignored the hype associated with it. In watching the conference I had no real expectations, I'd heard of the cell processor but nothing of its capabilities. When the 2 teraflop performance power of the cell, the graphics processing of the nvidia RSX, the high bandwidth ram and bus, the 7 wireless controller capability, the 1080p support and the backwards compatibility were announced there was a gleaming grin across my face. Then I saw Vision Gran Turismo, Motorcross and Killzone trailers, I saw the real time Unreal Tournament processing power and I was astounded. This is a console I so dearly want. I have absolutely no care for the Xbox 360, despite their release of the sequel to my favourite game, Perfect Dark. I honestly can't wait to get my hands on the raw power of this machine, whatever the price. And I may just have to get a PSP to complement it.
Nintendo
Revolution. Not much on this yet but I'm hearing
some significant buzz concerning "touch" patents, a revolutionary controller
and backwards compatibility. I have faith in the innovation that is Nintendo
and I look forward to their future announcements (Mario 128? Please).
Who should I vote for?
Your expected outcome: Conservative
Your actual outcome:
Labour -20  | |
| Conservative -21 | |
 Liberal Democrat 40 | |
| UK Independence Party 17 | |
| Green 38 |
You should vote: Liberal Democrat
The LibDems take a strong stand against tax cuts and a strong one in favour of public services: they would make long-term residential care for the elderly free across the UK, and scrap university tuition fees. They are in favour of a ban on smoking in public places, but would relax laws on cannabis. They propose to change vehicle taxation to be based on usage rather than ownership.
Take the test at Who Should You Vote For
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PhysOrg: Optical computer made from frozen lightScientists at Harvard University have shown how ultra-cold atoms can be used to freeze and control light to form the "core" - or central processing unit - of an optical computer. Optical computers would transport information ten times faster than traditional electronic devices, smashing the intrinsic speed limit of silicon technology.
This new research could be a major breakthrough in the quest to create super-fast computers that use light instead of electrons to process information. Professor Lene Hau is one of the world's foremost authorities on "slow light". Her research group became famous for slowing down light, which normally travels at 186,000 miles per second, to less than the speed of a bicycle.
Using the same apparatus, which contains a cloud of ultra-cold sodium atoms, they have even managed to freeze light altogether. Professor Hau says this could have applications in memory storage for a future generation of optical computers.
But Professor Hau's most recent research addresses the issue of optical computers head-on. She has calculated that ultra-cold atoms known as Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) can be used to perform "controlled coherent processing" with light. In ordinary matter, the amplitude and phase of a light pulse would be smeared out, and any information content would be destroyed. Hau's work on slow light, however, has proved experimentally that these attributes can be preserved in a BEC. Such a device might one day become the CPU of an optical computer.
Traditional electronic computers are advancing ever closer to their theoretical limits for size and speed. Some scientists believe that optical computing will one day unleash a new revolution in smaller and faster computers.
Professor Lene Hau is Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics & Professor of Physics at Harvard University.
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EFF: Deep Links: "The clear rule of law this Court announced in Sony has served the nation well for more than 20 years. Intel, which provides the digital building blocks at the heart of the information economy, and other technology innovators have relied on the Sony rule in developing and deploying digital technologies that, though designed for noninfringing uses, could be put to infringing uses. The various tests proposed by Petitioners would require an inventor to predict, at the time it creates a new product, not only how people will use a product that has yet to be designed, let alone introduced in the marketplace, but also which of the various potential uses will ultimately predominate over the other potential uses. Such predications are impossible in the real world, especially since the uses to which products are put routinely change over time.Digital technologies are by their nature copying technologies; there will always be a risk that any digital technology, however well intentioned its designer, will be put to infringing uses. Faced with impossible predictions about how as yet undeveloped technologies might be used, ambiguous tests that would be unpredictable in their application, and nearly limitless statutory damages for guessing wrong about the unknowable, innovators, such as Intel, would grow timid. It would be irrational to bring new products to market in the face of massive uncertainty; innovators, such as Intel, would have no choice but to withhold from the market socially and economically useful products. The national economy, which has grown through technological innovation over the 20 years since this Court decided Sony, would suffer. ...
The entertainment industries have repeatedly predicted that new technologies would destroy their businesses. Although their concerns are understandable, new technologies that are capable of substantial noninfringing use have, over time, benefited both the entertainment industries and the public. or example, professional baseball initially barred radio broadcasts of games out of fear that radio would reduce attendance; the film studios feared that VCRs would be the end of movie theaters (and before that, refused to license theatrical movies for television distribution); the music industry feared that free, over-the-air radio would put record distribution out of business; and the film studios initially resisted the introduction of DVD technology. Ultimately all of these innovations proved enormously profitable to entertainment companies."
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BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Film | Record US box office high in 2004: "Record US box office high in 2004Ticket sales at the US box office reached a record high in 2004, although the actual number of moviegoers fell for a second year in a row.
Movies took $9.4bn (£4.9bn) at the domestic box office last year, compared to $9.2bn (£4.8bn) in 2003. The record high was attributed to increased ticket price, with attendance falling 1.7% to 1.51 billion. Shrek 2 was 2004's highest grossing film in the US, taking $436m (£229m), tracker Exhibitor Relations reported. Late boost
Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ and the Michael Moore documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 were unexpected box office successes in 2004, taking $370m (£194m) and $119m (£62.5m) respectively in the US.
Revenue for the year was falling behind 2003 in the final weeks of 2004, but comedy sequel Meet the Fockers boosted takings with total ticket sales of $162.5m (£85.3m) in the last fortnight of the year.
The average US ticket price was $6.22 (£3.26) last year, compared to $6.03 (£3.16) in 2003. Analysts said the two-year decline was no cause for alarm because 2002 was an anomaly with hit films such as the first Spider-Man movie and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. That year also included the latest instalments in the Star Wars, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings series.
'This is a great year,' said Exhibitor Relations president Paul Dergarabedian.
'We saw such massive increases in revenue and attendance in 2001 and 2002, there is just no way we're going to see increases sustained at that rate.'
Among films expected to perform well in US cinemas this year are Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith and Batman Begins starring Christian Bale.
King Kong, directed by Lord of the Rings film-maker Peter Jackson, and and Steven Spielberg's version of The War of the Worlds are also expected to prove popular."
The precise amount of money taken from the Northern Bank is not yet known but the bank said it was 'significant'.
It is understood two employees of the bank and their families were held captive before the robbery took place.
It happened at the bank's headquarters in Donegall Square West in the city.
It is believed it could be one of the biggest cash robberies in the UK.
No figure has been put on the amount stolen, but speculation has varied from between £20m and £30m.
Police were first alerted to the robbery at about 2345 GMT on Monday.
It is believed members of the gang took over the homes of senior officials from the bank.
It is understood that no-one was injured but one person is being treated for hypothermia.
The building houses the bank's cash centre, where tens of millions of pounds are believed to have been stored.
It is traditionally one of the busiest shopping weeks in the run-up to Christmas and large amounts of cash would have come in from businesses in the city.
The centre also takes in newly printed notes, sorts and distributes them."
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"I've only had them for about a week now, but I've been sleeping and showering in them. I hadn't taken them off in four days when one of the brackets cut me while I was asleep; I'd forgotten to sand the edges and they were still razor sharp. They're back on now and seem reliable enough to take on a two week trip over the holidays; I doubt I'll need to take them off during that time. Taking them on and off is a bit of a hassle, as it involves taking a tiny screwdriver and unscrewing them while they're on my face — about a 5 to 10 minute process — which I suppose is about what you'd spend with contacts." Click the link for the full article.
It's interesting, but as soon as he knocks those glasses, that's gonna be painful.
"I'm torn between that being cool and that being utterly stupid."
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"MILLAU, France (AP) -- Piercing the sky above the verdant hills of southern France, a stunningly modern roadway bridge hailed as the tallest in the world was officially inaugurated Tuesday.
Celebrated as a work of art and an object of French national pride, the Millau bridge will enable motorists to take a drive through the sky -- 270 meters (891 feet) above the Tarn valley for a 2.5 kilometer (1.6 mile) stretch through France's Massif Central mountains.
Designed by British architect Norman Foster, the steel-and-concrete bridge with its streamlined diagonal suspension cables rests on seven pillars -- the tallest measuring 340 meters (1,122 feet), making it 16 meters (53 feet) taller than the Eiffel Tower.
The bridge, which has an airy and fluid appearance, was designed to have the 'delicacy of a butterfly,' Foster said in an interview with regional daily newspaper Midi Libre.
'A work of man must fuse with nature. The pillars had to look almost organic, like they had grown from the earth,' said Foster, who also designed London's Millennium Bridge.
Colorado's Royal Gorge Bridge, towering 331 meters (1,053 feet) above the Arkansas River, is the world's tallest suspension bridge -- but it is designed for pedestrians. The Kochertal viaduct in Germany was the highest roadway, at 185 meters (607 feet), officials said.
President Jacques Chirac, surrounded by workers in hard hats, lifted a French flag covering a plaque on the bridge in the town of Millau on Tuesday. Fighter jets roared overhead, leaving a trail of red, white and blue smoke.
Millau is best known outside France as the place where anti-globalization activist Jose Bove dismantled a McDonald's restaurant.
The bridge, nearly three years in construction, opens to vehicles Thursday.
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: "According to an e-mail sent today to Harvard students, Google will collaborate with Harvard's libraries on a pilot project to digitize a substantial number of the 15 million volumes held in the University's extensive library system, which is second only to the Library of Congress in the number of volumes it contains. Google will provide online access to the full text of those works that are in the public domain. In related agreements, Google will launch similar projects with Oxford, Stanford, the University of Michigan, and the New York Public Library. As of 9 am on December 14, a FAQ detailing the Harvard pilot program with Google will be available at hul.harvard.edu."
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Treatment Turns On Anti-HIV Immunity, Holds AIDS Virus in Check
By Daniel DeNoon - WebMD Medical News
Nov. 29, 2004 -- It worked in mice. It worked in monkeys. And now in humans, a therapeutic vaccine has stopped HIV in its tracks.
The vaccine is made from a patient's own dendritic cells and HIV isolated from the patient's own blood. Dendritic cells are crucial to the immune response. They grab foreign bodies in the blood and present them to other immune cells to trigger powerful immune system responses to destroy the foreign invaders.
HIV infection normally turns these important immune system responses off. But animal studies show that when dendritic cells are 'loaded' with whole, killed AIDS viruses, they can trigger effective immune responses that keep infected animals from dying of AIDS.
Wei Lu, Jean-Marie Andrieu, and colleagues at the University of Paris in France and Pernambuco Federal University in Recife, Brazil, tested the vaccine on 18 Brazilian patients. All had HIV infection for at least a year. Their T-cell counts -- a crucial measure of AIDS progression -- were dropping, meaning their disease was worsening. None was taking anti-HIV medications.
After getting three under-the-skin injections of the tailor-made vaccine, the amount of HIV in the patients' blood (called the viral load) dropped by 80%. After a year, eight of the 18 patients still had a 90% drop in HIV levels. All patients' T-cell counts stopped dropping.
The findings appear in the December issue of Nature Medicine.
'The results suggest that [these] vaccines could be a promising strategy for treating people with chronic HIV infection,' Andrieu and colleagues write. 'The significant decrease of viral load as well as maintenance"
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The growing popularity of online gaming could spell problems for net service firms, warns network monitoring company Sandvine. It issued the warning following analysis which shows that Traffic on the Xbox game network increased fourfold on the launch day of Halo 2. The 9 November traffic explosion has continued into December, said Sandvine. Service providers now need to make sure that their networks can cope with the increasing demands for bandwidth. As well as being a popular single-player title, Halo 2 can be connected to Microsoft's subscription-based broadband network, Xbox Live.
Bandwidth hungry
But the surge in numbers and huge demands for bandwidth should be a wake-up call to the industry which must ensure that their networks can cope with the increases in traffic, said Sandvine's chief technology officer Marc Morin.
Broadband
In a bid to cope and ease congestion, providers are increasingly making their networks intelligent, finding out who is using bandwidth and for what. It could become common to charge people for the amount of bandwidth they use. 'The explosion in Xbox Live traffic attributed to Halo 2 should be seen as a clarion call,' he said. 'ISPs need to enhance the broadband experience for these high-end users by prioritising or reserving bandwidth for games,' he added. Online gamers are bandwidth hungry One of the main factors that spoils online gaming is 'lag' in which there is a noticeable delay between a gamer clicking on a mouse or keyboard and what happens in the online gaming world. Gamers tend to migrate toward networks with the lowest 'lag'. Analysing traffic will become increasingly important for service providers if they "
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