On the Record: when's the next revolution?

BBC News: "Supercomputer predicts revolution"

Feeding a supercomputer with news stories could help predict major world events, according to US research. A study, based on millions of articles, charted deteriorating national sentiment ahead of the recent revolutions in Libya and Egypt. While the analysis was carried out retrospectively, scientists say the same processes could be used to anticipate upcoming conflict. The system also picked up early clues about Osama Bin Laden's location. (...) >>>

Sept. 29, 2011
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Assange proves he's a common criminal -

... and a nut job hacker known as Mendax, the lier -

CBS: "WikiLeaks Backup Plan Could Drop Diplomatic Bomb"

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has a backup plan should anything happen to him or his notorious document-dumping website. (...) Supporters of WikiLeaks around the world are downloading a file the site calls an insurance policy. The files are encrypted with a code so strong it's unbreakable, even by governments.

If anything happens to Assange or the website, a key will go out to unlock the files. There would then be no way to stop the information from spreading like wildfire because so many people already have copies. (...) >>>

Dec. 3, 2010
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Another leftist fallacy debunked -

Tory Radio: "Debunking the myth that prison doesn’t work?"

I remember having a debate with Iain Dale on The Seven Days Show. I am in favour of criminals being sent to jail, as if locked up they can’t offend against myself, my family, my community. Iain is more in favour of sentences that don’t involve a custodial sentence. The argument has always been that because prisoners re-offend prison doesn’t work. But hand on, what evidence is there that people who don’t go to prison re-offend less?

According to a report from the Ministry of Justice:

Three-quarters of offenders return to crime regardless of whether they are jailed or given community sentences, according to the Ministry of Justice.

So from that we could suggest that people with a propensity to commit crime are not necessarily more likely to re-offend if they get sent the jail. We could however conclude that while in jail that cannot re-offend, yet they obviously can if they have a community sentence.

Yes we need to reform prison. Yes we need to tackle the drugs problem in there. Yes we need to do something to ensure prisoners when they enter the wider world have a support system in place. But I am not convinced by those who try to convince us prison doesn’t work. >>>

Nov. 4, 2010
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A deja vue or sharia politics?

CNN: "Malaysia's Anwar charged with sodomy"

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim pleaded not guilty Thursday to a sodomy charge that he has decried as politically motivated. (...) It's the second time that Anwar, one of Asia's best-known opposition leaders, has been charged with offenses that include sodomy. Anwar spent six years in prison after being convicted on corruption charges in 1999 and on sodomy charges involving his wife's former driver in 2000. Malaysia's highest court overturned the sodomy conviction and ordered him released from prison in 2004. (...) >>>

Updated: 7th Aug. 2008
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Times Online: "New drug Rember brings 'unprecedented' Alzheimer’s treatment advance"

A new drug could prove at least twice as effective in treating Alzheimer’s disease as current medications and significantly slow the progression of dementia, researchers say. The research team at the University of Aberdeen concluded that the drug, Rember, slows progression of the disease by up to 81 per cent. Sufferers taking the drug three times a day for 50 weeks showed a slower decline in blood flow to the parts of the memory that are vital to the memory. Experts hailed the study as a major development in the fight against Alzheimer’s (...) >>>

Updated: 30th July 2008
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Front Page: "A Trial in Error"

For an excellent example of why the Democratic-led Congress’s approval ratings are a dismal nine percent, look no further than last Friday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing to “impeach” President Bush. By any measure, the marathon six-hour hearing was a joke. For starters, it had to skirt around its nominal subject. For impeachment even to be considered, the House must first authorize a special inquiry to do so. But as committee chairman and impeachment booster Rep. John Conyers grudgingly conceded, that “has not taken place yet.” (....) >>>

Updated: 29th July 2008
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BBC: "GPs told to cut antibiotics usage"

Doctors in England and Wales are being told not to hand out antibiotics for common coughs and colds to help save the NHS millions of pounds a year. The over-prescription of antibiotics has been linked to the development of "superbugs" that resist treatment. Some 38m prescriptions for antibiotics were written by doctors in the UK in 2007, costing the NHS £175m. The National Institute for Health and Clinical (Nice) says the drugs do little to help cure coughs and colds.
Many are caused by viruses, which do not respond to antibiotics. (...) >>>

Updated: 23rd July 2008
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Politeia: "Smell Naples, and Die", by JackDM1294

(...) The Italian Government's grip on the waste management industry in the south of the country is historically less than vicious, with environmental NGOs fingering organised crime groups as part of the problem. The Camorra has infiltrated parts of the waste management industry in Naples, and a significant part of the budget appears to be disappearing into the pockets of the mafia. (....)

The leftist government of Romano Prodi, as well as the leftist authorities in Naples (...) do not seem to have impacted matters. (...) Poor Europe ... Your leaders have abandoned you! >>>

2nd Jan. 2008