Panic Nation

Stanley Feldman was interviewed by Matt Cooper on The Last Word this evening. He gave a refreshing explanation of why people should not panic over Bird Flu and all the other health scares that come and go on a regular basis and never really amount to anything.

The show is podcast and should be available for download tomorrow.

He has also published a book on the subject called Panic Nation. It may be worth a read.

No good deed goes unpunished

During the Winter Olympics a Norwegian cross-country ski coach Bjoernar Haakonsmoen helped a Canadian skier, Sara Renner, win an Olympic silver medal by handing her a replacement ski pole when one of hers broke.

He became a hero in Canada and was thanked at a ceremony at the Canadian embassy in Oslo yesterday. He was then presented with some maple syrup by the grateful Canadians. 5 tonnes of maple syrup! 7,400 cans of maple syrup! In a truck!

I know it's the thought that counts, but you can bet no one will help the Canadians next time, unless they have a very large family to feed. :-)

Bird flu arrives, cough, cough

Bird Flu has reached Scotland. Odds are the scientists didn't pick up the first bird to arrive in England or Scotland with the infection so I'd guess there's a reasonable chance it's spread already to Ireland. To be honest I'm surprised there was not a confirmed case before now, it's not like there is a glass wall between France and the British Isles. But lets be realistic, the media will have a field day and go into fits about a pandemic but there is no real risk to people at the moment.

Until people start getting sick there is no reason to worry and that's not likely to happen unless someone is living with poultry the way some people do in parts of Asia. Even then there probably isn't much to worry about. If H5N1 eventually does jump to humans, and that's still a big if, you'll more than likely catch it from one of your mates than any bird. I'll avoid the obvious catching diseases from "birds" joke here :-)

So there is no risk, unless of course you own a cat. Apparently they are susceptible to catching it.

Scientists know so little about H5N1 in cats that it is difficult to assess the risk they pose when infected, the virologist Albert Osterhaus from the Erasmus medical centre in Rotterdam and Peter Roeder, from the UN food and agriculture organisation, wrote in tomorrow's issue of Nature.

So if your cat brings you home a dead bird and puts in on the door step best not to leave it there. I knew there was a reason I didn't like cats.

Update 6 April: Bird Flu may be in Northern Ireland.

Update 7 April: Looks like the birds in Northern Ireland got the all clear. They are still dead, of course, but they can be happy in the knowledge that they didnt die of Bird Flu.

Unique Moment

Wired is reporting that in one hours time just after 1 am there will be a unique moment in American calendar time.

Pogue writes: Late tonight -- specifically, 123 seconds after 1:00 a.m. -- the time and date, for the first time in all of humanity, will be 01:02:03 04/05/06.

It happens next month in Europe because we write our calendars with the day before month. Geeky but kinda cool. (Ok, I'm sad)

John Reid thinks international law is getting in the way

The Guardian is carrying a story which if this was last Saturday I would assume was an April fools joke. Now assuming the editor didn't make a monumental screw up and hold the story over from Saturday then it appears British Defence Secretary John Reid thinks the Geneva convention is hindering British troops.

You cant actually argue against his point. The Geneva Conventions do hinder allied troops. International law does tie the hands of law abiding nations.

Mr Reid indicated he believed existing rules, including some of the conventions - a bedrock of international law - were out of date and inadequate to deal with the threat of international terrorists.

"We are finding an enemy which obeys no rules whatsoever", he said, referring to what he called "barbaric terrorism".

But isn't that the point of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars? The people and nations who ignore international law and the Geneva Conventions are terrorists and barbaric. Some one has to stand up to them. What makes the actions of a nation acceptable is following those rules despite the hindrance. If International Law and the Geneva Conventions were discounted then the allied task in Iraq would be much easier, they could just drop some nukes and sterilize all life from the nations that annoy them. But then who would be the good guys and who would be the bad guys?

Blogging Libel

The very public demise of a blog over the weekend may frighten some people away from blogging. El Passo Times received a big press hit on page 3 of the Irish Sunday Times. Unfortunately for El Passo the story was about the fact that it had shutdown after being served with “very serious legal documents”.

I have to admit when I read that on Sunday afternoon I got a minor moment of panic. Blogs being sued? Blogs being closed down? So publicly? Could I be sued? Who had I offended? What? Why? When?

However a quick look at El Passo showed me that their style of posting was, well lets just say, somewhat different to mine. In fact it was somewhat different from most of the blogs I read. I had looked at El Passo previously and not added it to my bloglines. It was a little too aggressive for my taste. I may bitch and complain about the government and ministerial decisions but that is, apparently, fair comment. It’s not personal. El Passo on the other hand went for the jugular of people and, in the case that led to their downfall, they apparently posted about the family of a public figure. I wont repeat the details, or even post a link to El Passo.

I’m not a solicitor or in anyway legally qualified but the key seems to be to remember public figures are still private people so don’t say anything about them you wouldn’t say about anyone else or want said about yourself. Even then don’t say anything you know is probably wrong or is likely to get your ass dragged to court. You may laugh it off but they might not. Your blog will be read by more than just you and other like minded individuals, it can be read by anyone and everyone. This includes comments posted by other people. It's your blog, your responsibility.

The public may want to know that the Department for Applied Widgets paid 4 billion euros for a secondhand plastic widget that was on sale on ebay with a previous highest bid of 50c. But they do not need to know that you personally think the local TD’s niece is a slapper whom your mate Jayo says he shifted in the nightclub last night.

Damien Mulley has some interesting and useful comments and Running with Bulls has a useful link to a pamphlet on libel.

(I have sort of cross-posted this with the another blog I post to but there I just posted a quick set of links. I wont make a habit of cross posting.)

April Fools round-up

Wikipedia has a round up of April fools jokes played this year. The internet dominates the list, but television and newspapers get a couple of mentions.

I saw this one and thought it was funny because I think it could happen

The Daily Mail announced that the door at Number 10 Downing Street that had been black for 270 years had been painted red by Tony Blair

It reminded me of the story of the Clinton staffers stealing all the W's from the computer keyboards in the White House before George W Bush's people arrived.

If you think you spotted a joke but are not sure then you could check here.

How to do election posters

When you have a stunning party leader and a willingness to use movie style posters for your election campaign you can come up with some really novel posters.

Yulia Tymoshenko, a.k.a The Orange Princess, is Ukraine's answer to Princess Leia. A journalist interviewed on the radio last week said he should no longer report on the election as he was totally infatuated with her, look at her web site to see why. She is definitely alot better looking than most Irish politicians ever get (I'm sure Deputy Healy-Rae wont mind the comparison).

But she is not by any means just a pretty face. She is a successful business person, though some of her gas dealings are reported as murky. She played a leading role in the Orange revolution and as the former Ukrainian prime minister she was ranked 3rd most powerful woman in 2005 by Forbes.

[via Boing Boing]

It pays to shop around

People always say it pays to shop around, but sometimes shopping around can be as easy as walking around one shop. Case in point is the Virgin Megastore in Dundrum.

Yesterday I bought the original Star Wars Trilogy for €24.99. This was a sale price and according to the sticker was reduced from €47.99. The boxes were on a stand at the front of the shop. At the back of the shop in the DVD section the same boxes were on sale for €42.99. These were the basic 3 disc packs, there is another box set with 4 discs for €57.99. 4 prices for one set of movies.

Of course €24.99 isn't a bad price for 3 movies so I'll forgive them, but I'll always search the shop before buying a DVD just in case I'm looking at the expensive stand.

Leinster steamroller on

Leinster completed the first part of a dream semi-final for Irish rugby fans. Munster will kick off in half an hour to try and make the second component.

Despite being underdogs Leinster went to Toulouse and beat the reigning European champions 35-41, with Toulouse scoring a converted try in the last 15 seconds to add a certain respectability to the score line.

Now its up to Munster to beat Perpignan in a sunny but shower soaked Lansdowne Road. Munster start as favorites so lets home Perpignan don't do a Leinster on the game. Dublin city center is a sea of red Munster jerseys. My brother, a huge Munster fan is in Landsdown Road and is already trying to figure out where to get a ticket for the semi-final.

If Munster win then it's Leinster Vs Munster in two weeks time and an Irish team is guaranteed to reach the final of the Heineken Cup.

Update: Munster were not on top form by any means, but they managed to beat Perpignan 19-10. For a long time it looked like Perpignan could spoil the day but in the end an injured Ronan O'Gara was still the best man to have on the Munster team for scores, and Paul O'Connell was going to drag Munster to the winning post if he had to personally flog every member of the Perpignan and Munster squads. So now the great Battle of Ireland is on for the weekend of 22/23 April.