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Wednesday, January 9, 2008

This year Israel turns sixty and it has embarked upon a campaign to celebrate its birthday. Along with technology writers for Slate, PC Magazine, USA Today, BusinessWeek, Aviation Weekly, Wikinews was invited by the America-Israel Friendship League and the Israeli Foreign Ministry to review Israel’s technology sector. It’s part of an effort to ‘re-brand the country’ to show America that there is more to Israel than the Palestinian conflict. On this trip we saw the people who gave us the Pentium processor and Instant Messaging. The schedule was hectic: 12-14 hours a day were spent doing everything from trips to the Weizmann Institute to dinner with Yossi Vardi.

On Thursday, the fifth day of the junket, David Saranga of the foreign ministry was able to arrange an exclusive interview for David Shankbone with the President of Israel, Nobel Peace Prize recipient Shimon Peres. For over an hour they spoke about Iranian politics, whether Israel is in danger of being side-lined in Middle Eastern importance because of Arab oil wealth, and his thoughts against those who say Israeli culture is in a state of decay.

Shimon Peres spent his early days on kibbutz, a bygone socialist era of Israel. In 1953, at the age of 29, Peres became the youngest ever Director General of the Ministry of Defense. Forty years later it was Peres who secretly gave the green light for dialogue with Yassir Arafat, of the verboten Palestine Liberation Organization. It was still official Israeli policy to not speak with the PLO. Peres shares a Nobel Peace Prize with Yitzak Rabin and Arafat for orchestrating what eventually became the Oslo Accords. The “roadmap” that came out of Oslo remains the official Israeli (and American) policy for peace in the Palestinian conflict. Although the majority of Israeli people supported the plans, land for peace was met with a small but fiery resistance in Israel. For negotiating with Arafat, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shouted at Peres, “You are worse than Chamberlain!” a reference to Hitler’s British appeaser. It was during this time of heated exchanges in the 1990s that Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by Yigal Amir, a Jew who thought it against Halakhic law to give up land given by God (Hashem).

Peres is the elder statesman of Israeli politics, but he remembers that he has not always been as popular as he is today. “Popularity is like perfume: nice to smell, dangerous to drink,” said Peres. “You don’t drink it.” The search for popularity, he goes on to say, will kill a person who has an idea against the status quo.

Below is David Shankbone’s interview with Shimon Peres, the President of Israel.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Major British charity Comic Relief has invested money in arms, alcohol and tobacco firms, according to a BBC Panorama investigation to be broadcast this evening.

The probe discovered evidence of hundreds of thousands of pounds going towards shares in weapons firms like BAE Systems and alcohol company Diageo. It is also alleged to have pledged upwards of £3 million into tobacco firms.

Ethical fund manager Helen Wildsmith told Panorama: “If people who’ve been giving them money, after watching the television, next year think twice and don’t give that money, because they’re concerned about their investment policy, then that could be argued to be a breach of fiduciary duty. They’re risking their reputation, and a charity’s reputation is very precious.”

Comic Relief was founded in 1985, and since then has taken in nearly £1 billion in donations. It funds charitable organisations in the United Kingdom as well as overseas. It uses a range of managed funds, which invests the money in the charity’s name – including on the stock market – in order to maximise return.

A spokesperson for the charity told the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph: “We put the money into large managed funds, as many other leading charities and pension funds do. On balance, we believe this is the approach that will deliver the greatest benefits to the most vulnerable people.”

The controversial investments were made between 2007 and 2009, Panorama explains. Peter Bennett-Jones, former chair of the company, defended the investments in a post on The Guardian’s website.

He said: “The Charity Commission guidance is quite clear that trustees must invest for the best possible financial return, while taking a level of risk appropriate for money in their care. They should only adopt an ethical investment approach with specific justification and not on the grounds of individual moral views. This sounds counterintuitive, but it is the law.”

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Well-known Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell was found unconscious on Tuesday at her Los Angeles home, and immediately taken to hospital, according to reports. An update on her condition appeared yesterday on her website.File:1974 Joni Mitchell.jpg

The update yesterday on her website said, “Joni remains under observation in the hospital and is resting comfortably. We are encouraged by her progress and she continues to improve and get stronger each day.” Webpage ‘We love you Joni’ was also created for fans on Facebook and Twitter to send Mitchell messages to get well soon.

A previous statement left on Mitchell’s website on Tuesday said, “Joni was found unconscious in her home this afternoon. She regained consciousness on the ambulance ride to an L.A. area hospital. She is currently in intensive care undergoing tests and is awake and in good spirits.” They added, “More updates to come when we hear them. Light a candle and sing a song, let’s all send good wishes her way.”

According to an early report by TMZ, the seventy-one year old musician’s condition was serious, and a 911 phone call was made from her home around 2:30 p.m. local time.

Rolling Stone, also claims that a Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson explained to them that, though they could not reveal who was taken to the hospital at the time, paramedics were sent to Mitchell’s house.

On her twitter account, CBC news producer Leslie Stojsic gave a conflicting statement to other reports on Mitchell’s condition, saying, “Source tells me she’s in hospital recovering after ‘minor medical emergency,’ was *not* found unconscious.” She also added, “I’m told now she’s resting in hospital and is among friends. A good sign.”

It did not take long for her condition in hospital to spread through the social media. Many tweeted prayers and well wishes; one of them being rocker Billy Idol. He tweeted, “Sorry to hear todays news about Joni Mitchell. I sang on her ‘Dancing Clown’ single many moons ago, all the best 4 her recovery.”

Mitchell also reportedly suffers from Morgellons disease; a skin condition where people claim they have fibres coming out of their skin, along with tingling sensations. In her memoir, ‘Joni Mitchell: In her own words,’ released last year, the folk artist describes her experiences with the disease saying, “All the time it felt like I was being eaten alive by parasites living under my skin. I couldn’t leave my house for several years.”

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Security experts are calling it a “botwar”. Multiple computer worms, with payloads that turn infected computers into sources of spam, viruses and security attacks, are being released by at least two separate groups. Now newer versions of one group’s worm include the ability to disable earlier versions of the other group’s infection. “The W32/Zotob-F worms (also known as Bozori) attempts to remove infections by earlier versions of the Zotob worm and other malware, so it can take control of the compromised computer for itself”, a Sophos news item stated. F-secure’s Weblog confirmed this and added “It seems there are two groups that are fighting: IRCBot and Bozori vs Zotobs and the other Bots.”

Gregg Keizer of TechWeb News draws parallels between the current events and a prior example of criminal activity; “The most notable back-and-forth between [virus and worm writers] was in early 2004, when the writers of the Bagle and Netsky worm families engaged in a long-running tit-for-tat exchange where each tried to delete the other’s code. The battle led to a veritable flood of malicious code that [lasted] weeks.” While some see a repeat of those events, other experts indicate that the current situation is “business as normal” for the criminals that create these “bot networks“.

A statement from Kaspersky Lab stated that confusion over the naming of the worms has combined with overzealous reporting by infected news organisations to create confusion as to the magnitude of the attack. At this stage they are not calling it an epidemic.

All of these worms currently exploit the MS05-039 Plug and Play vulnerability, for which a patch has already been released.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Hundreds of thousands of air travelers had their travel plans disrupted in Europe by volcanic ash from the Eyjafjallajökull eruption.

Tens of thousands of air travelers were stranded when all flights into and out of the United Kingdom were grounded, as it became one of the first nations to be affected. The grounding was even more extensive than that following the September 11 attacks of 2001 when only trans-Atlantic flights were canceled.

Eurocontrol released a statement saying “…most air traffic in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden is suspended.”

The grounding is because the volcanic ash drawn into the jet stream is of a particle size which allows it to remain aloft in the atmosphere. Ingestion of this foreign matter, because of its distribution, would lead to flame outs in all aircraft engines. The composition of the ash also means that it would first melt into glass if it were to enter the engine of an aircraft before solidifying again as it cooled. This could lead to damage to the compressors and fan blades, which would make it impossible to restart the engines, even if the aircraft were to exit the cloud.

The current contingency is informed by the experience of British Airways Flight 9, which on June 24, 1982 suffered just such complete engine flame outs when it flew through the plume of Mount Galunggung in Indonesia. In that case, the flight crew after many efforts was able to restart the engines, though one failed shortly after, and the aircraft landed without casualties.

The UK National Air Traffic Services (NATS) has stated that “restrictions will remain in place in UK controlled airspace until 1300 (UK time) tomorrow, Friday 16 April, at the earliest,” and that “We will review further Met Office information and at 0230 (UK time) tomorrow we will advise the arrangements that will be in place through to 1800 (UK time) tomorrow.” The NATS statement concluded “…the situation cannot be said to be improving”.

In addition to Northern Europe, the ash is drifting south; Berlin and Hamburg airports in Germany are closed, and airports in the Netherlands, Belgium and Northern France are described as now being closed or closing. Some flights from Spain and Portugal, together with upwards of 4,000 flights across Northern Europe, have been affected, and the knock-on effect of aircraft and crews out of position could disrupt air travel worldwide for up to 72 hours.

One affected group are British musicians booked to play at this weekend’s Coachella Festival in California. Amongst those stranded are Frightened Rabbit, Gary Numan, The Cribs and Bad Lieutenant.

Saturday, September 24, 2005

Oil, natural gas, and gasoline futures prices are all rising in anticipation of the Hurricane Rita landfall on Friday. The market price for crude oil is rising about 1% a day, while gasoline futures rose 5% both Wednesday and Thursday. Natural gas prices are also rising, with NYMEX Henry Hub price index showing an increase of over 3.5% on Thursday. Oil refineries in the path of the storm, despite the pressure exerted by rising oil prices, are expected to increase their prices which in turn will be reflected at the pump.

The price for crude oil is expected to reach US$68 a barrel after reaching the all-time high in the U.S. at $70.85 on Aug 30, in fear of the landing of Rita along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Along the Texas gulf coastline, whose key U.S. oil production facilities were largely untouched by the catastrophic Hurricane Katrina onslaught three weeks ago, production and distribution facilities have been battened down.

Rita was downgraded to a Category 3 storm Friday as it neared the coast. The storm, packing sustained winds of 125 mph, appears headed for the border between Texas and Louisiana. Hurricane force winds extend up to 60 miles from the center, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm, currently, is the third-most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic, just behind Gilbert in 1988 and the 1935 Labor Day hurricane.

Regions of Texas near where the storm is expected to land is home to the biggest concentration of U.S. oil refineries, accounting for 26 percent of the nation’s total capacity. After Katrina made its landfall in Louisiana last month, four damaged refineries in Mississippi and Louisiana were shut down, crippling 5 percent of the US capacity. Eighteen of the 26 refineries in Texas are located on the Gulf of Mexico with a combined distillation capacity of 4 million barrels daily.

The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch for the Texas coastline, including Galveston, where the nation’s largest oil refinery belonging to Exxon Mobil Corp. is located.

“Some of those refineries in Texas, they’re at sea level. It’s a table top, it floods very easily, said Ed Silliere, vice president of risk management at Energy Merchant LLC in New York.

Plants have shut down as Rita advances. Shell Oil shut down its seventh-largest refinery in Deer Park, Texas. There is no date set for resuming production. Conoco Philips is shutting its Old Ocean, Texas, refinery. BP is pulling some workers from its Texas refinery and shutting parts of the fourth largest plants in US. Valero, the largest U.S. refiner, said it is closing its plants in Texas City and Houston, with the shutdown to be completed by midday Thursday.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed at its meeting in Vienna on Tuesday to effectively suspend its quota system for the first time since 1991 Gulf War to relieve the rising oil price by pumping an estimated additional 2 million barrels of oil a day, which will begin at Oct 1 and last for 3 months.

The head of the U.S. Energy Information Administration (the statistical and analytical wing of the U.S. Department of Energy), Guy Caruso, criticized OPEC for constraining production to keep prices high after the 11-member oil cartel pledged to make available the additional 2 million barrels daily.

“Without question,” Caruso said Wednesday when asked during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing whether OPEC has contributed to soaring oil prices, “OPEC policy has been to constrain production and collude… Under the FTC definition of collusion and price-fixing, yes.”

According to OPEC, 62 percent in U.K., and 24 percent of fuel prices in the U.S. consist of taxes. Consuming nations have a responsibility to invest in refineries and to lower taxes if they want lower fuel prices, OPEC President Sheikh Ahmad Fahd al-Sabah said. He is the oil minister of Kuwait.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Hundreds of thousands of air travelers had their travel plans disrupted in Europe by volcanic ash from the Eyjafjallajökull eruption.

Tens of thousands of air travelers were stranded when all flights into and out of the United Kingdom were grounded, as it became one of the first nations to be affected. The grounding was even more extensive than that following the September 11 attacks of 2001 when only trans-Atlantic flights were canceled.

Eurocontrol released a statement saying “…most air traffic in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden is suspended.”

The grounding is because the volcanic ash drawn into the jet stream is of a particle size which allows it to remain aloft in the atmosphere. Ingestion of this foreign matter, because of its distribution, would lead to flame outs in all aircraft engines. The composition of the ash also means that it would first melt into glass if it were to enter the engine of an aircraft before solidifying again as it cooled. This could lead to damage to the compressors and fan blades, which would make it impossible to restart the engines, even if the aircraft were to exit the cloud.

The current contingency is informed by the experience of British Airways Flight 9, which on June 24, 1982 suffered just such complete engine flame outs when it flew through the plume of Mount Galunggung in Indonesia. In that case, the flight crew after many efforts was able to restart the engines, though one failed shortly after, and the aircraft landed without casualties.

The UK National Air Traffic Services (NATS) has stated that “restrictions will remain in place in UK controlled airspace until 1300 (UK time) tomorrow, Friday 16 April, at the earliest,” and that “We will review further Met Office information and at 0230 (UK time) tomorrow we will advise the arrangements that will be in place through to 1800 (UK time) tomorrow.” The NATS statement concluded “…the situation cannot be said to be improving”.

In addition to Northern Europe, the ash is drifting south; Berlin and Hamburg airports in Germany are closed, and airports in the Netherlands, Belgium and Northern France are described as now being closed or closing. Some flights from Spain and Portugal, together with upwards of 4,000 flights across Northern Europe, have been affected, and the knock-on effect of aircraft and crews out of position could disrupt air travel worldwide for up to 72 hours.

One affected group are British musicians booked to play at this weekend’s Coachella Festival in California. Amongst those stranded are Frightened Rabbit, Gary Numan, The Cribs and Bad Lieutenant.

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Two daughters of blues legend B.B. King are claiming on Monday that he was poisoned by business manager LaVerne Toney and personal assistant Myron Johnson. The allegations were made by daughters Karen Williams and Patty King in affidavits provided by their lawyer to the Associated Press.

“I believe my father was poisoned and that he was administered foreign substances,” Williams and King said in identically worded sections of the affidavits. “I believe my father was murdered.”

Williams and King also allege that family members were prevented from visiting their father prior to his death. The lawyer for King’s estate says the claims are ridiculous.

“I hope they have a factual basis that they can demonstrate for their defamatory and libelous allegations,” lawyer Brent Bryson said in a statement to the Associated Press.

Bryson says that King was appropriately cared for by medical professionals up until his death on May 14 in Las Vegas.

An autopsy of B.B. King’s body was carried out on Sunday by the Clark County, Nevada coroner’s office. The coroner’s office said on Twitter that it would be a minimum of six to eight weeks before results of the autopsy are finalised.

The Las Vegas Police department said that a potential homicide investigation into the death of the blues legend will depend on autopsy findings.

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Microsoft announced on Thursday they are partnering with KIND Financial to help governments track the production and distribution of legal marijuana. Kind Financial, a California-based start-up company, began selling its Agrisoft Seed to Sale software three years ago. Microsoft is admitting Kind’s software on the Government portion of its Azure cloud service.

Although Kind Financial CEO David Dinenberg stressed to The Guardian they “absolutely do not touch the plant”, his company does business with growers and distributors of marijuana, as well as the governments that regulate it. State law in twenty-five US states — but not US federal law — has legalized marijuana, whether medicinally or for recreational use. Kimberly Nelson, Microsoft executive director of state and local government solutions, said they expect significant demand for technology to help states make sure cannabis distribution within their state is done according to their laws.

Kind also provides kiosks similar to automated tellers (ATMs) to facilitate marijuana transactions in dispensaries. The distribution of marijuana is often done only with cash or through machines like the ones Kind offers since many banks in the United States shy away from the marijuana industry entirely. Microsoft is not interacting with this part of Kind’s operations, however.

Microsoft and Kind will apply for contracts with state governments for their software. Currently, they have applied to Puerto Rico, a US territory, where medical marijuana has recently been made legal. BioTrackTHC, a company similar to Kind Financial, already has contracts with Washington, New Mexico, and Illinois.

Dinenberg said his company’s partnership with Microsoft is a major step in advancing the legitimacy of cannabis-related businesses.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

The 28th-annual COMPUTEX Taipei show, the second largest IT show in the world, is the largest one since they held their first show in 1982 since expanding to TWTC Nangang. Not only were vast ICT products showcased from upper, mid, and lower-stream vertical and horizontal OEMs, OBMs, and world-class stellar companies like Intel, AMD, ASUS, Foxconn, Acer, BenQ, and Kingston, but also featured products related to green technology. Companies from Korea will be hosting the biggest international pavilion to catch the buyers’ eyes.

The Taipei Computer Association (TCA), one of the show organizers, will hold the 2008 WiMAX Taipei Expo at the Taipei Show Hall 2. It will allow the networking industry to chain the WiMAX Pavilion located in the TWTC Nangang and echo the basic infrastructure construction of WiMAX.

Organizing the show and promoting the ICT industry are considered major tasks by newly-elected President of the Republic of China Ying-jeou Ma. Pavilions like “mega trends”, “multimedia”, and “green technology” will be re-arranged to host trendy and energy-efficient products launched prior to this show.

According to Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), there were several seminars like “e21 Forum”, “DRAMeXchange Forum”, “Next Generation Networks Taipei”, “Taiwan Design Center Forum”, “CE Summit”, “Green IT Forum” held at the Taipei International Convention Center. TWTC Nangang was organized for buyers and companies to glance the vision of global ICT industry during the show hours. Since Jonney Shih, Chairman of ASUStek, showcased Eee PC before its launch during 2007 e21 Forum, seminars were progressively respected by industrial businessmen, especially international buyers.

Not only will there be a senior competition – Best Choice of COMPUTEX, mainly promoted by the TCA, but also the TAITRA will cooperate with International Forum Design (iF) holding the “Design and Innovation Award of COMPUTEX”. Its goals aims at discovering innovative and brand-new IT products to elevate the notability of Taiwan’s innovations.

TAITRA and TCA, the organizers, promised to do the be the best at services for transportation (Shuttle Buses, Taxis, MRT, International Airlines), living (Hotels), networking (TAITRA Lounge), and business (Trade Opportunity Rooms and Business Center) for the best quality of COMPUTEX.