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Monday, June 1, 2009

In a televised speech from the White House at 16:00 UTC today, President of the United States Barack Obama presented a reorganization plan following the 12:00 UTC announcement by General Motors that it had filed for bankruptcy and Chapter 11 protection from its creditors, the largest bankruptcy of a U.S. manufacturing company.

Describing the problem with the company as one that had been “decades in the making,” Obama explained the rationale behind his proposed reorganization plan for General Motors. He stated that his intent was not to “perpetuat[e] the bad business decisions of the past,” and that loaning General Motors money, when debt was its problem, would have been doing exactly that. His plan, he stated, was for the United States government, in conjunction with the governments of Canada and Ontario (which he thanked for their roles alongside the government of Germany which he thanked for its role in selling a corporate stake in GM Europe), to become shareholders in General Motors. The United States government would hold a 60% stake. The government will give GM a capital infusion of US$30 billion in addition to the funds it has already received.

Of the government ownership he stated that he refused “to let General Motors and Chrysler become wards of the state”, and described the bankruptcy of Chrysler, and the bankruptcy of General Motors that he envisioned as being “quick, surgical, bankruptcies”. He pointed to the bankruptcy of Chrysler as an example of what he envision for General Motors, but stated that General Motors was a “more complex company” than Chrysler.

Responding to challenges voiced by political opponents, before the speech, that the federal government would actively participate in the affairs of the restructured company, he stated that he had “no interest” in running GM, and that the federal government would “refrain from exercising its rights” as a corporate shareholder for the most part. In particular, he stated that the federal government would not exercise its rights as a shareholder to dictate “what new type of car to make.” He stated that he expected the restructured GM to make “high quality, safe, and fuel-efficient cars of tomorrow,” and several times described what he anticipated as “better” and “fuel-efficient” cars, after a streamlining of GM’s brands.

He said to the general public that “I will not pretend that the hard times are over.” He described the financial hardship that some — shareholders, communities based around GM plants, GM dealers, and others — would undergo as a “sacrifice for the next generation” on their parts, so that their children could live in “an America that still makes things,” concluding that one day the United States might return to a time when the maxim (a widely-repeated mis-quotation of what Charles Erwin Wilson once testified before the U.S. Senate when nominated for the position of Secretary of Defense) would once more be true that “what is good for General Motors is good for the United States of America.”

Thursday, July 6, 2006

The 15-year-old who killed Christopher Currie was Ngatai Rewiti of Otahuhu, Auckland. He has been found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter at the High Court of Auckland today, July 6. He was unable to be named earlier due to name suppression but after the verdict was heard Justice Helen Winkelmann lifted name suppression.

Rewiti will be given his sentence September 6.

The jury took four hours to reach the verdict after the four-day trial.

He was facing murder charges after dropping an eight-kilogram concrete block onto a car travelling on the Auckland motorway, killing the driver.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

A robotic system at Stanford Medical Center was used to perform a laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery successfully with a theoretically similar rate of complications to that seen in standard operations. However, as there were only 10 people in the experimental group (and another 10 in the control group), this is not a statistically significant sample.

If this surgical procedure is as successful in large-scale studies, it may lead the way for the use of robotic surgery in even more delicate procedures, such as heart surgery. Note that this is not a fully automated system, as a human doctor controls the operation via remote control. Laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery is a treatment for obesity.

There were concerns that doctors, in the future, might only be trained in the remote control procedure. Ronald G. Latimer, M.D., of Santa Barbara, CA, warned “The fact that surgeons may have to open the patient or might actually need to revert to standard laparoscopic techniques demands that this basic training be a requirement before a robot is purchased. Robots do malfunction, so a backup system is imperative. We should not be seduced to buy this instrument to train surgeons if they are not able to do the primary operations themselves.”

There are precedents for just such a problem occurring. A previous “new technology”, the electrocardiogram (ECG), has lead to a lack of basic education on the older technology, the stethoscope. As a result, many heart conditions now go undiagnosed, especially in children and others who rarely undergo an ECG procedure.

Monday, March 7, 2022

Cricket Grand Final match ups on Australia’s Sunshine Coast have been set, with many being made through washed out semi finals.

Three games scheduled the be played at Burpengary, Morayfield, and Wamuran were unable to proceed when the local government, Moreton Bay Council, closed access to any sporting grounds in their region. The games affected were the Division 3 game between Burpengary and USC, the Division 1 game between Caboolture and Maroochydore, and the Division 4 game between Wamuran-Stanley River and Palmwoods.

No play was possible on either ground at the Glasshouse Mountains grounds, as the sports club that controls the facilities did not allow them access. Games affected were the Division 4 game between Glasshouse and Maroochydore, and the Division 5 game between Glasshouse and USC.

One ground in Palmwoods got a game on. The Division 5 game at between Palmwoods and Cooroy-Eumundi at the Palmwoods Sports Reserve nearly had a first innings result on day 1. The home side batted first scoring 92. Cooroy were 52 for the loss of 9 wickets. Palmwoods would get the last wicket on Sunday.

The main ground in Tewantin, Read Park, was deemed too water logged after an inspection by both teams in the Division 1 game between Tewantin Noosa and Glasshouse. Tewantins Division 6 side managed to get 61 overs in on Sunday against Yandina before lighting became a factor. That match concluded in a draw.

USC and Palmwoods got enough play in for a first innings result. The home side chased down the 86 required for that result an hour before the scheduled lunch break. Palmwoods would concede the match about 20 minutes prior to the interval.

USC all-rounder George Bagshaw said: “We bowled well, bowled them out for about 86 and yeah, did the rest with the bat. [We] certainly dug in; Me and Trav[is Bell] put on a good partnership and, yeah, good for the rest of the boys to get it done this morning.”

Wednesday, July 5, 2006

The Ministry of Defence has named a British soldier from the 3 Para Battle Group who died while on patrol in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province.

The soldier, 19 year-old Private Damien Raymond Jackson, of South Shields, Tyne and Wear, came under fire from Taliban forces in the town of Sangin. He died while being given treatment.

His father, Daniel Jackson said: “I wish everyone to know just how extremely proud I am of my son Damien – of all that he has achieved in his lifetime and of the fact that he died, when duty called, protecting others, in the service of his country.

“A fine, upstanding South Shields lad, Damien was immensely proud to have achieved his ultimate ambition in becoming a member of the finest regiment in the British Army.”

He also condemned the government’s policy in Afghanistan, saying that UK forces are in “dreadful danger”. “We fully support the British Army in Afghanistan whilst in no way supporting or condoning a government policy, which has placed our young men and women in such dreadful danger.”

Private Jackson’s death means six British soldiers have died in the unstable Helmand region in the last four weeks. Since 2001 when operations began in Afghanistan, thirteen British soldiers have lost their lives.

On Saturday, two British soldiers were killed after a rocket-propelled grenade struck the headquarters they were in.

Prime Minister Tony Blair said he would give more resources to British troops to assist them in their fight against the Taliban, but he said the British Army has not yet made such a request.

“If they need more, we will make sure that they get more,” he told the House of Commons during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.

Along with the Conservative Party leader David Cameron, Mr Blair also commended the efforts of British soldiers by praising their “extraordinary and heroic job”.

“They are fighting a battle that I think is important not just for the security of Afghanistan. It is important for the security of the wider world,” the Prime Minister said.

Approximately 4,000 British soldiers are stationed in Afghanistan, and almost 3,000 of them work in Helmand Province.

In general, they are in Afghanistan to help train the country’s troops, provide security, and assist with reconstruction. As 20% of the world’s opium is produced in Helmand Province, the main task for troops there is to control drugs lords.

Sunday, April 24, 2005

New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) announced last Wednesday that it has agreed definitively to merge with Chicago-based Archipelago Exchange (ArcaEx) and form a new publicly traded, for-profit company known as NYSE Group. This announcement was followed two days later by NASDAQ®, which independently announced a definitive agreement to purchase Instinet Group.

Archipelago and Instinet are innovative e-trading (electronic trading) companies, and formerly were the two largest American rivals to NYSE and NASDAQ, in recent years taking increasingly large portions of their market share. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other regulatory agencies still have to review and approve the transactions, particularly with respect to US securities law and antitrust law, in order to ensure that the marketplace remains lawful and competitive.

Other pending issues for NASDAQ include obtaining the approval of Instinet shareholders, as well as customary closing conditions. NYSE must obtain the approval of its members and Archipelago shareholders.

These changes, a reaction to increased e-trading competition and a changed regulatory environment, will result in NASDAQ and NYSE trading each other’s shares and attempting to grab market share, which many hope will drive down transaction costs and ultimately benefit consumers. However, at least one commentator, Dan Ackman writing in Forbes, has noted that the trading commission at the NYSE currently averages less than a nickel (US$0.05) per share, and was less enthusiastic about potential efficiency gains from electronic trading at the exchange.

The transactions are also intended to make the two leading American stock exchanges more globally competitive with such exchanges as the London Stock Exchange, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the Toronto Stock Exchange, and the Australian Stock Exchange located in Sydney.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

January’s second Interview of the Month was with Danny O’Brien of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on 23 January in IRC.

The EFF is coming off a series of high-profile successes in their campaigns to educate the public, press, and policy makers regarding online rights in a digital world, and defending those rights in the legislature and the courtroom. Their settlement with Sony/BMG, the amazingly confused MGM v Grokster decision by the Supreme Court of the United States, and the disturbing cases surrounding Diebold have earned the advocacy organization considerable attention.

When asked if the EFF would be interested in a live interview in IRC by Wikinews, the answer was a nearly immediate yes, but just a little after Ricardo Lobo. With two such interesting interview candidates agreeing so quickly, it was hard to say no to either so schedules were juggled to have both. By chance, the timing worked out to have the EFF interview the day before the U.S. Senate schedule hearings concerning the Broadcast flag rule of the FCC, a form of digital rights management which the recording and movie industries have been lobbying hard for – and the EFF has been lobbying hard to prevent.