Hamas and the Islamic University of Gaza in Palestine

The victory of Hamas in the Palestinian election has generated interest in the leadership of the organization. There is one thing that may have passed unnoticed: Three of its leaders Mahmoud Zahhar, Ismail Haniya and Abdel-Aziz Rantissi (assassinated by Israel in 2004), were faculty of the Islamic University of Gaza in Palestine. ...continues here!

California declares smoke 'toxic'

This is an additional reason why I like California!

California has become the first US state to classify second-hand tobacco smoke as a toxic air pollutant.

The decision by the California Air Resources Board puts drifting smoke in the same category as diesel exhaust, and could lead to tougher regulation. The agency said many scientific studies had linked passive smoking to a range of cancers and respiratory diseases. California pioneered smoking bans in the workplace, and later in restaurants and bars. ...continues here!

Choice increases segregation?

The following article appeared in the Guardian today (http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,1694612,00.html?gusrc=ticker-103704) under the title: Choice increases segregation, schools research shows. I disagree with the title. The research quoted does not “show”. It merely indicates. To infer causality requires much more than establishing association. However, the findings presented in the article are strong evidence in support of the claim. ...continues here!

Update: Michael Ignatieff not only succeeded but he has a bright future ahead!

(see my earlier posting, two days ago).

Michael Ignatieff, the scholar and writer, was touted as a future Canadian prime minister when he left Harvard University last November to stand as a candidate for the ruling Liberal party in a suburban Toronto constituency. That scenario may yet come true. But the results of Monday’s general election have made Mr Ignatieff’s path to the top of Canadian politics more circuitous than he or his supporters might have imagined two months ago. Mr Ignatieff won in Etobicoke-Lakeshore by a comfortable margin, overcoming resistance among some local Liberal supporters. A group of Ukrainians protested that the party leadership had circumvented the rules to secure his nomination. Others noted that he had not lived in Canada for almost three decades in a career that included teaching in Britain at both Oxford and Cambridge universities, becoming a regular on BBC television programmes and reporting on the Balkan wars. http://news.ft.com/cms/s/436cf05c-8d35-11da-9daf-0000779e2340.html

New report says climate action promotes economic growth in the state of California

George Bush thinks differently.

BERKELEY – A team of two dozen prominent experts led by professors from the University of California, Berkeley, released a new report today (Monday, Jan. 23) on the economic implications of meeting global warming emissions reduction targets established by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2005. ...continues here!

Dozens of federal agencies in the US track Web visitors illegally

Is this news?

Dozens of federal agencies are tracking visits to U.S. government Web sites in violation of long-standing rules designed to protect online privacy, a CNET News.com investigation shows (http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6018702.html). ...continues here!

Hamas: Talks with Israel not a taboo

Will it be Hamas that will make peace with Israel after all?

Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar raised the possibility on Monday of future negotiations with Israel through a third party. "Negotiations are a means. If Israel has anything to offer on the issues of halting attacks, withdrawal, releasing prisoners ... then 1,000 means can be found," Senior al-Zahar told reporters. As an example, he cited contacts Lebanese group Hizbullah held with Israel, via German mediators, for the release of Lebanese held in Israeli jails."Negotiation is not a taboo," al-Zahar said. "But the political crime is when we sit with the Israelis and then come out with a wide smile to tell the Palestinian people that there is progress, when in fact, there is not.

Israel officials have been debating recently how to react in the face of an expected Hamas gains in the elections. Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert already appointed a special team to closely monitor security and diplomatic developments on that front.http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3205217,00.html

Podcasts spread their wings

How quick will politicians be to utilize this new way of communication?

Suddenly, it seems, podcasting has broken through to a new level. The BBC's first published podcast chart reveals that the Radio Four Today programme's main interview was downloaded more than 400,000 times last month, second only, among BBC programmes, to Radio One's Chris Moyles Show. But the real change is in the way other media groups are now using podcasts to challenge broadcasters such as the BBC. ...continues here!

Blair's education 'highwire act'

I think TB is right in what he is trying to do. Many people disagree. One thing is certain: He can deliver his political message in a very powerful way. ...continues here!

A well-known Professor, candidate in the Canadian election

It is never too late for a professor to fulfill his political ambitions! (Or is it a dream, never going to come true?) .

On the outskirts of Toronto, Ontario, in a former bank covered with posters screaming his name, one of the Western world's most-noted intellectuals is sitting down to a dinner of ham and potatoes. It is a long way from Harvard for Michael Ignatieff, former Carr professor of the Practice of Human Rights and director of the Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy at the university (http://ksgfaculty.harvard.edu/Michael_Ignatieff). ...continues here!

Bird flu researchers warn against drugs hopes

Big money is made when people panic and Governments bow to media pressure

A BIRD flu pandemic will not be stopped by mass stockpiling of antiviral drugs, according to an authoritative study. The review, published in The Lancet, warns there is no evidence Tamiflu, which the government is stockpiling, is effective against the virus. ...continues here!

Google defies US over search data

Who is right and who is wrong?

The internet search engine Google is resisting efforts by the US Department of Justice to force it to hand over data about what people are looking for. Google was asked for information on the types of query submitted over a week, and the websites included in its index. The department wants the data to try to show in court it has the right approach in enforcing an online pornography law. Privacy groups say any sample could reveal the identities of Google users indirectly. And they say the demand is a worrying precedent, because the government also wants to make more use of internet data for fighting crime and terrorism. ...continues here!

Doctor made up cancer study: hospital

Another case of falsification of data to produce “scientific” claims published in a prestigious journal (LANCET), this time from Norway! ...continues here!

Paper retraction by Science Magazine

The retraction by Science, of the 2004 paper by Hwang Woo-Suk reinforces my belief (see also: S Korea cloning research was fake in this blog), that data used to support scientific claims should by publicly available. ...continues here!

Former UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl named president of Association of American Universities

It is significant that a Professor (and a former chancellor) of a public University becomes the leader of the American Universities. This is an excerpt of his views. Is this an indication of a turn back to basic research? (as opposed to market-needs research). ...continues here!

Dutch cannabis policy challenged

Things are taking a strange, though predictable, turn. Now Europe has to make a clear decision.
Maastricht's Mayor Gerd Leers has told the Dutch parliament that the licensing system that allows coffee shops to sell 5g of cannabis to each customer should be extended, to allow them to grow their own plants. "They should have a permit to grow their own cannabis so that they can cut their ties with the criminals," the mayor says. "That way we can control things. At the moment our system is so hypocritical." ...continues here!

France's 'pursuit of harmony' (Greece’s too?)

I read a piece about France, and the mentality of social cohesion. I don’t know how accurate it is (coming from a Briton), but I found it very interesting. I think that there exists a similar mentality in Greece. In theoretical terms, this mentality is wrong. However this is a case where one wonders whether the happiness of the people in a certain period of history counterbalances the negative economic indicators. ...continues here!

Clarke paves way for U-turn on cannabis

Is this the result of a careful study of the evidence or of giving in to electoral considerations?

Charles Clarke, the UK home secretary, was criticised yesterday from both sides of the debate on the misuse of drugs when he publicly indicated that he is considering restoring the class B status of cannabis in the light of medical evidence. In what the tabloids labelled a "humiliating climbdown" from the decision of his predecessor, David Blunkett, to downgrade the widely used drug to class C, Mr Clarke used media interviews to signal his approval of an imminent report, which he has already read, from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. ...continues here!

Diet, CSIRO, Nature and Funding

An article on the latest issue of Nature (December 22, 2005, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v438/n7071/index.html#Research-Highlights refers to a diet book published by Australian researchers working in Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). ...continues here!

Spy Court Judge Quits In Protest

People who honour their title.

A federal judge has resigned from the court that oversees government surveillance in intelligence cases in protest of President Bush's secret authorization of a domestic spying program, according to two sources.

Two associates familiar with his decision said yesterday that Robertson privately expressed deep concern that the warrantless surveillance program authorized by the president in 2001 was legally questionable and may have tainted the FISA court's work.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/20/AR2005122000685.html

Google, Microsoft and Sun fund new UC Berkeley Internet research center

An excellent example of how a top public University can cooperate with top industries to promote research with the interest of the public in mind. ...continues here!

Joint statement by the presidents of the top nine US Universities on gender equity in higher education

The following statement by the leaders of the top 9 research institutions in the US shows that they don’t put all of their efforts on research but they care also for a wider range of social issues. (Women receive half the doctorates in the United States but just a quarter of them are professors). ...continues here!

UC Berkeley Library Collection Hits 10-Million Mark

The University Library has acquired its 10-millionth volume this fall, bringing to the university a range of literary curiosities from ancient Egyptian papyri to a collection on the Swiss Enlightenment.

Many of the ten representative items, including a signed letter from Father Junipero Serra, were donated, but a few were purchased in the six-figure range through donor contributions, Leonard said. ...continues here!

NSA Eavesdropping Wider Than W.House Admitted

We learn more everyday…Data mining in action!

The volume of information gathered from telephone and Internet communications by the National Security Agency without court-approved warrants was much larger than the White House has acknowledged, The New York Times reported on Saturday. ...continues here!

Evangelicals plan to ban presents

Conservative religious leaders are flexing their muscles…

Conservative religious leaders are so pleased with their campaign against the "war on Christmas" that they're going to rev it up next year. ...continues here!

S Korea cloning research was fake

The controversy surrounding Professor’s Hwang Woo-Suk research that led to his resignation, raises an issue on which I have very strong views: The issue of the availability of the data on which various scientific claims are based. ...continues here!

U-wide warrant over 'CIA kidnap'

An Italian court –and not any of the European governments- is trying to set the record straight. In Greece, the minister of homeland security still insists that nothing happened…
...continues here!

EU vs. Microsoft

Is this an indication that Europe is doing well in the consumer protection front or the trade conflict between Europe and the US has reached a new level?
In Short: Computer giant Microsoft risks having daily fines imposed on it if it fails to fully implement a European Commission decision on code sharing. ...continues here!

'Voting error' gave London Games

What are the implications of a “voting error”? Well, it could be the presidential race in the US. It could also be the nomination of the city to organize the Olympics of 2012, as the following news item indicates. ...continues here!

Judge Rules Against 'Intelligent Design'

The following piece of news (from today’s San Francisco Chronicle), gives some hope to the scientific community (and not only).

"Intelligent design" cannot be mentioned in biology classes in a Pennsylvania public school district, a federal judge said Tuesday, ruling in one of the biggest courtroom clashes on evolution since the 1925 Scopes trial. ...continues here!

Are secular universities discriminating against religious schools?

An article in the Economist (Dec. 14, 2005) about the culture war
between the U of California and religious schools. The implications are far reaching.
(http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=5300912).

Swiss hospital to allow suicide

An indication of a “mature” society.
A hospital in Lausanne becomes the first to allow assisted suicide for terminally-ill patients. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4539126.stm)

School Reform in the UK

The argument goes on. The deputy prime minister of the UK John Prescott has spoken again, against the white paper in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph. (Sunday, 18 December 2005). Interestingly, in the same interview, he attacks the Eton "Mafia" running the Conservative Party. ...continues here!

Are secular universities discriminating against religious schools?

The "Economist" published a very interesting article on December 14, about the argument between the Univeristy of California and the association of Christian Schools in the US, regarding the admission procedures of the UC with reference to the teaching of non- scientific material in christian schools. ...continues here!

Latin America faces year of change

Interesting times for Latin America

Twelve presidential elections are due to take place in Latin America between November 2005 and the end of 2006. They include seven of the region's eight most populous countries: Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Chile and Ecuador. ...continues here!

The Thatcher years in statistics

A very good illustration of how graphical statistics can summarise so much important information.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/4447082.stm

George Papandreou Next President of Socialist International

This is a piece of news that made me very happy and proud.

Having known G. Papandreou as a politician and as a person for almost 30 years, I consider this as an international recognition of his political agenda. George is not a conventional Greek politician and certain Greek political “experts” doubt his ability as a leader. I hope that his election in January as the President of the Socialist International will make a lot of them reconsider their views. ...continues here!

Open access to scientific books

The following opens new avenues to free access to scientific books. Luc Devroye should be congratulated for it! (Visit his web page for more. http://cgm.cs.mcgill.ca/~luc/rnbookindex.html )

...continues here!

The net and mobile phones are giving us the power to change politics for the better

This is an interesting opinion.

Mociology refers to how mobile and wireless technology has changed the way we do things: downloading music on to a mobile phone, for example, or getting the football scores texted through on a Saturday afternoon. To Trippi, however, its potential lies in how it can be used for political purposes - just as he saw and exploited the possibilities of blogs for political campaigning while running Howard Dean's unsuccessful bid for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. ...continues here!

Caution over HIV 'cure' claims

Doctors say they want to investigate the case of a British man with HIV who apparently became clear of the virus. Scotsman Andrew Stimpson, 25 was diagnosed HIV-positive in 2002 but was found to be negative in October 2003. Mr Stimpson, from London, said he was "one of the luckiest people alive".

Chelsea and Westminster Healthcare NHS Trust confirmed the tests were accurate but were unable to confirm Mr Stimpson's cure because he had declined to undergo further tests. A statement from the trust said: "This is a rare and complex case. When we became aware of Mr Stimpson's HIV negative test results we offered him further tests to help us investigate and find an explanation for the different results.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4432564.stm

Bacteria modified to combat HIV

Scientists have genetically modified bacteria living in the human body to produce chemicals that block HIV infection. Although the research is still at an early stage, they hope it could eventually lead to a practical and cost effective new way to combat the virus. As of December 2004, there are 39.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS. The research, by the US National Cancer Institute, is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Most HIV transmission occurs on the surfaces of the gut and reproductive areas which are normally coated with a layer of bacteria. The researchers modified one of these bacteria - a form of E.coli - so that it began to secrete proteins that block HIV from infecting its target cells.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4692905.stm

Private Education: Is it worth the money?

The other side of the story. Not everything is rosy.

Sunday November 13, 2005
The Observer

There are as many different accounts of private schools as there are children who went to them. ...continues here!

O'Reilly on open source software.

The BBC web site has a very interesting interview with O’Reilly. Some of it follows. (For the full article go to the link at the end).

Tim O'Reilly: Proprietary software grew up, starting really in the 1980s, as an alternative and that became the dominant model with the rise of companies like Microsoft and Oracle and the like.

But then a set of people said, we like it the way it was where we just gave our stuff away. So you had a bit of revolt against the commercialisation of software which started with Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation which was founded in 1984. ...continues here!

Music and Mathematics

A very interesting event that I attended last Saturday.

Christopher Taylor in Conversation with Bob Osserman

MSRI invites you to attend a free public event at 2:00 PM on Saturday, November 5, 2005, which presents acclaimed pianist Christopher Taylor and mathematician Bob Osserman in a discussion that explores how harmoniously music and math inter-relate to each other. Taylor, who majored in mathematics, graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University in 1992. The following year he entered the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and became the first American to receive a medal since 1981. He has gone on to become a leading representative of 20th century piano music. ...continues here!

BBC: Nominate most important political protest

Parks was arrested and charged for violating segregation laws

BBC, on its web page, has initiated an interesting project. It is seeking the opinion of its readers to nominate most important political protest. I thought that this initiative should be supported, that is why I am adding a post for it. Below, some info from the site. All the details in http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/4381186.stm

...continues here!

Orwell Rolls In His Grave

"All over Oceania this morning there were irrepressible spontaneous demonstrations when workers marched out of factories and offices and paraded through the streets with banners voicing their gratitude to Big Brother for the new, happy life which his wise leadership has bestowed upon us. ...continues here!

UK: Primary test results indicate growing gender gap

Boys fell further behind girls in reading, writing and mathematics at primary school this year, according to the latest test results.

Just 51% of 11-year-old boys in England reached the level expected of their age group in the three core subjects, compared with 63% of girls.

The latest figures demonstrate that the growing gender gap is a much wider problem. ...continues here!

Greek “reality”

Τhe subtitle of the blog translates to: Greek “reality” (pragmatikotita) exists only in the minds of those who never managed (or did not want?) to escape it”. It refers to an argument often brought forth by people not wanting to consider adopting a practice established in another country in education, health, politics etc. arguing that “it will never work because this is just the way we Greeks are”