Wednesday, March 30, 2005

The owners of the Noodle House Restaurant of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.), Canada were overwhelmed by community support Tuesday when the restaurant overflowed with customers, cards, flowers, and personal pleas to not leave the province.

According to CBC News Prince Edward Island, the recent outpouring of support occurred after Tommy and Lina Ko, the restaurant owners, announced they would close the restaurant and leave the province following an incident two weeks ago, when groups of up to 200 teens from two nearby schools surrounded the restaurant, pelting it with snowballs, and threatening the Kos. Charlottetown Police Chief Paul Smith told CBC PEI that his force is ready to take whatever action is necessary to crack down on the behaviour and last week started videotaping over lunchtime when most of the misbehaviour has taken place. Police noted that they have received complaints from other businesses, pedestrians, and drivers in the busy “fast food alley” and intend to seek co-operation from the schools in identifying the main culprits.

However, a CBC PEI story from October, 2002, reported the Kos asking police to do more to stop the littering and other vandalism in the area including having signs smashed, windows broken, and fireworks set off in front of their restaurant. At that time, Deputy Chief Richard Collins told CBC PEI: “You can’t have upwards of 1,500 to 2,000 students in and around that area at dinner hour and not expect for some of them to misbehave,” but promised to continue patrols and try to teach the students respect of property.

Tommy Ko told CBC News that he was overwhelmed by the support this week and in thanks put on a surprise free buffet, though customers insisted on paying anyway. Nevertheless, after fighting the harassment for some five years, the Kos say they still are not sure they want to stay.

Thursday, September 1, 2005

With victims of Hurricane Katrina moved to shelters and remote locations, their relatives and friends in other parts of the world have turned to the web to try and establish contact and confirm their health. Many families living in the path of Katrina have even been split up as they are rescued and now desperately need to contact each other.

Several web sites have started forums for posting information on missing people. The forums also allow individuals and families in the path of the hurricane who are safe post their information, where they are now located and how their family should contact them.

The American Red Cross is keeping records of all persons they treat and assist, but those records are not available either by phone or online. They have issued a press release titled AMERICAN RED CROSS URGENT FAMILY ALERT. Quoting, in part:

The Red Cross does not have information on the well being of any individuals.

Our phone lines are being overwhelmed with calls, and we appreciate the desire to know how people fared during the storm.

Please do not contact any Red Cross media representatives with welfare inquiries.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a vault containing millions of seeds from all over the world, saw its first deposits on Tuesday. Located 800 kilometers from the North Pole on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, the vault has been referred to by European Commission president José Manuel Barroso as a “frozen Garden of Eden“. It is intended to preserve crop supplies and secure biological diversity in the event of a worldwide disaster.

“The opening of the seed vault marks a historic turning point in safeguarding the world’s crop diversity,” said Cary Fowler, executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust which is in charge of collecting the seed samples. The Norwegian government, who owns the bank, built it at a cost of $9.1 million.

At the opening ceremony, 100 million seeds from 268,000 samples were placed inside the vault, where there is room for over 2 billion seeds. Each of the samples originated from a different farm or field, in order to best ensure biological diversity. These crop seeds included such staples as rice, potatoes, barley, lettuce, maize, sorghum, and wheat. No genetically modified crops were included. (Beyond politics they are generally sterile so of no use.)

Constructed deep inside a mountain and protected by concrete walls, the “doomsday vault” is designed to withstand earthquakes, nuclear warfare, and floods resulting from global warming. Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg called it an “insurance policy” against such threats.

With air-conditioned temperatures of -18 degrees Celsius, experts say the seeds could last for an entire millennium. Some crops will be able to last longer, like sorghum, which the Global Crop Diversity Trust says can last almost 20 millenniums. Even if the refrigeration system fails, the vaults are expected to stay frozen for 200 years.

The Prime Minister said, “With climate change and other forces threatening the diversity of life that sustains our planet, Norway is proud to be playing a central role in creating a facility capable of protecting what are not just seeds, but the fundamental building blocks of human civilization.” Stoltenberg, along with Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai, made the first deposit of rice to the vault.

“It is very important for Africa to store seeds here because anything can happen to our national seed banks,” Maathai said. The vault will operate as a bank, allowing countries to use their deposited seeds free of charge. It will also serve as a backup to the thousands of other seed banks around the world.

“Crop diversity will soon prove to be our most potent and indispensable resource for addressing climate change, water and energy supply constraints and for meeting the food needs of a growing population,” Cary Fowler said.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

The death of Michael Jackson on Thursday has caused retail demand for his songs and for memorabilia to increase.

Yesterday, the top nine selling items at Apple’s iTunes Store were albums by Jackson, with first and second being a “hits” album and the 1982 album Thriller.

Amazon.com similarly reported selling more Jackson merchandise in the 24 hours following his death than it had sold in the preceding 11 years, and that sales of Jackson CDs accounted for 60% of its total business on Thursday. Yesterday morning the top seller in the album chart for Amazon’s U.K. division was Off the Wall, followed by Bad and Thriller in second and third places, respectively.

Many stores, including Graywhale CD Exchange in Salt Lake City, several record stores in Danville, Virginia, and many retailers in New Zealand, have all reported selling out of Jackson’s CDs and DVDs. The flagship store of Tower Records Japan, in Shinjuku, sold out of several of Jackson’s DVDs and ran low on several other items including CDs. The Danville Register Bee recommended to its readers that if they had record players they should investigate antique and charity shops, after one antique shop reported discovering three Jackson Five vinyl albums in its basement.

The effect of the increase in sales had an effect on stock prices. Midday yesterday, Apple shares rose around 2%, Amazon shares rose around 1.3%, and eBay shares rose by 0.64%. Stock market analysts predict that this will be a short-term effect, however. Scott Fullman, an investment strategist at WJB Capital Group in New York, stated “This is going to be one of these events that will have an immediate impact and then wane out in a week or two.”.

In Las Vegas, 21 items of Jackson memorabilia, including handwritten lyrics for Jackson’s song “Bad” and the shirt that Jackson wore on his Victory Tour in 1984, sold at auction yesterday at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino for a total of USD$205,000, with the shirt, at USD$52,500 the most expensive individual item.

eBay has reported an increase in individuals auctioning Jackson memorabilia. These range from records to a Fedora hat signed by Jackson.

Also for sale on eBay and elsewhere are tickets to the This Is It concerts, at the O2 arena, where Jackson had been scheduled to perform. Ticket sellers such as Ticketmaster, Seatwave, and AEG Live have announced that they will be refunding concert tickets. But under standard contract law such refunds only apply to the original purchasor of the ticket, who dealt with the ticket companies directly. Anyone buying a ticket on eBay only has recourse against the seller on eBay that they bought from, and even then only if it was explicitly stated in the terms and conditions of the particular eBay sale that a refund was available.

At the 2009 Glastonbury Festival, stalls have been selling commemorative T-shirts to Festival attendees, with various different slogans including “Michael Jackson R.I.P 1958–2009” and “I was at Glasto 09 when Jacko died”. T-shirt vendors also appeared outside of the UCLA Medical Center where paramedics took Jackson, proferring for USD$10 T-shirts with the slogan “in loving memory of Michael Jackson” and a silhouette of Jackson, although they had few takers.

In Union Square in New York, one street artist was selling hand-made buttons that have pictures of Jackson’s album covers on them. In Times Square, another T-shirt vendor was selling T-shirts printed with copies of the front page of USA Today that reported Jackson’s death.

One observer, Allison Southwick (a Better Business Bureau spokeswoman), commented “I’m honestly expecting to see a Web site pop up by the end of the day selling Michael Jackson commemorative plates.” Whilst such commemorative plates have yet to appear, collectors have been offering commemorative stamps of Jackson for sale on eBay and elsewhere. Several commemorative stamps of Jackson already exist. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines issued $5, $2, $1, and 60¢ Michael Jackson stamps in 1985, as part of its Leaders Of The World series. Tanzania issued a 350s stamp, part of a Famous Black Entertainers set, in 1990. Guinea issued a 500f stamp in 1991. St Vincent issued another $2 Jackson stamp in 1991, as part of Famous Entertainers series. And Grenada issued a 60¢ Jackson stamp, part of its Gold Record Winners series in 1992.

Gore Vidal once remarked of the death of rival Truman Capote that it was a “good career move”. The death of an artist does serve to increase the popularity of their works. People have speculated whether this will be a temporary or a permanent thing for Jackson.

Jim Lentz, who is the Chief Operating Officer of American Royal Arts (a memorabilia dealership in Boca Raton), asked “Is he Elvis or Marilyn Monroe, or is he Mike Tyson?”.

Elvis Presley died at 42, officially of heart failure. Stores sold out of his records and souveniers within hours of the news of his death. In the 20 years following his death, RCA Records sold approximately 400 million of his recordings.

In the days and weeks immediately following Presley’s death, RCA had to sub-contract pressing to other companies, as it was unable by itself to keep up with demand. Sony Corporation announced yesterday that it had received “unprecedented” levels of orders for CDs of Jackson’s music, and was considering boosting production. It had received 150,000 orders for CDs at its music unit in Tokyo. “The amount is unprecedented for one day and we think we need to consider increasing the production of CDs that we plan to sell from July.” said a spokesman for the company. Amazon has been informing customers buying Jackson CDs that they might have to wait between 1 and 3 weeks for their orders to be shipped.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

In a rare one-on-one interview with the editor in chief of the journal Science Magazine published online on Friday, Wen Jiabao, Premier of the People’s Republic of China, acknowledged that although companies were to blame, the government was also partially responsible in the recent melamine contamination of milk and infant formula from China.

“We feel that although problems occurred at the company, the government also has a responsibility,” said the Premier. He added that testing requirements should be installed for all important steps in the production process, and that all food should meet international standards. Responsibility for food safety implementations will lie with the Chinese Ministry of Health.

The two-hour conversation between chief editor Bruce Alberts and Premier Wen already took place on September 30th. A Chinese version of the interview was published in the communist party newspaper People’s Daily.

Earlier this week, batches of an injectable herbal medication based on ginseng were recalled after three people died. Wandashan Pharmaceutical all of its injectable herbal remedies. On Saturday, Taiwan suspended imports of a leavening agent used in baking because it tested positive for melamine.

In the milk incident, melamine was added to make the milk appear richer in protein. It caused an estimated 53,000 to become ill, mostly young children. The chemical can cause kidney stones and kidney failure.

However, the issues of China’s food industry are only mentioned tangentially. The Premier spoke about social, economic and scientific issues facing his country. Wen explained his “scientific outlook on development”, which tries to found social and economic progress for the people, in a sustainable fashion and with decreased disparities, on a scientific basis. An example is the use of transgenic crops in rural areas, which decreases the need for pesticides.

On the matter of fossil fuels, the Premier explained how “every year, China produces about 180 million tons of crude oil and imports about 170 million tons. China’s dependency on foreign oil is almost 50%. China’s coal production exceeds 2.5 billion tons a year. This kind of huge consumption of energy, especially non-renewable fossil fuel, will not be sustainable.” He reiterated China’s belief in the “common but differentiated responsibility” principle, in agreement with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol.

At the end of the interview, the Premier agreed that the scientific communities could build bridges between countries, even if their governments disagreed. “More scientific language and less diplomatic rhetoric could make thisworld even better,” he concluded.

The 66-year-old engineer specialised in geomechanics began his second 5-year term as head of the cabinet last March. During his office, China witnessed highlights like the Olympics in Beijing and the recent Shenzhou 7 space launch, but also international criticism, for example on the situation in Tibet.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

A Scottish woman who set out before Christmas to purchase a turkey finally made it home on Monday, after being cut off by snow for a month. Kay Ure left the Lighthouse Keeper’s cottage on Cape Wrath, at the very northwest tip of Great Britain, in December. She was heading to Inverness on a shopping trip.

However on her return journey heavy snow and ice prevented her husband, John, from travelling the last 11 miles to pick her up. She was forced to wait a month in a friend’s caravan, before the weather improved and the couple could finally be reunited.

They were separated not just for Christmas and New Year, but also for Mr Ure’s 58th birthday. With no fresh supplies, he was reduced to celebrating with a tin of baked beans. He also ran out of coal, and had to feed the couple’s six springer spaniels on emergency army rations.

“It’s the first time we’ve been separated”, said Mr Ure in December. “We’ve been snowed in here for three weeks before, so we are well used to it and it’s quite nice to get a bit of peace and quiet.”

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Peter Moore, a British IT consultant and computer programmer who was taken hostage by Iraqi militants during a May 2007 militant raid on the finance ministry in Baghdad, has been released alive and in good health.

He is the only known survivor of a group of five hostages, consisting of himself, three bodyguards, and Alan McMenemy, a security guard from Glasgow. The bodyguards (Alec Maclachlan, Jason Swindlehurst, and Jason Creswell) were later shot and killed, and their bodies have been returned to Britain. McMenemy is believed to have met the same fate. The last time Moore was known to be alive was when a DVD showing him was handed to Iraqi authorities earlier this year.

The five men were captured by a group of approximately forty men disguised as Iraqi policemen in May 2007, who are believed to belong to the Islamic Shia Resistance, an obscure militant organisation also known as the Righteous League. Moore is now in the British Embassy in Baghdad, and is to be reunited with his family as soon as possible, according to Milliband.

United Kingdom foreign secretary David Milliband said that he was “absolutely delighted at his release” after two and a half years of “misery, fear and uncertainty”. He claimed to be in a “remarkable frame of mind” after a “very moving” conversation with Moore. He also asked for the release of McMenemy’s body. He said that no “substantive concessions” had been made by the British government, instead praising Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for his government’s process of reconciliation.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued a statement in which he said he was “hugely relieved by the wonderful news that Peter has been freed”, calling for the British people to “remember the families of British hostages who have been killed in Iraq and elsewhere.” He continued with a pledge that the government would “continue to do everything [it] can to bring British hostages back to their loved ones, including the remaining hostage of the group in Iraq, Alan McMenemy”. He said, “I demand that the hostage takers return him to us.”

Moore’s father, Graeme, said he was “over the moon” about his son’s release, saying, “We are so relieved and we just want to get him home, back now to his family and friends. I’m breaking down, I’m just so overjoyed for the lad. It’s been such a long haul. I know that there have been one or two people working in the background to get Peter released. Peter is a very resilient lad and he always has been because of his background.” He said the British Foreign Office had been “obstructive” with regards to his son’s release.