Last Westerners flee Mali, Niger for fear of Radical Islamic kidnappings, murders

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GLOBAL JIHAD UPDATE

The NY Times reports, "French Ask Volunteers in Mali, Niger to Leave" Feb. 18:

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — The French government is asking citizens who are volunteering for charity organizations in Mali or Niger to leave immediately due to the growing threat of kidnappings by an offshoot of al-Qaida.

A copy of the letter signed by France's foreign minister and dated Feb. 7 was shown to The Associated Press this week.

The government's request indicates that the terror group's reach is growing. Although large sections of the Sahara desert including the portion stretching across northern Mali and Niger has been considered too dangerous for foreigners for some time, the capitals of the two countries have long been considered safe.

Dozens of foreigners have been grabbed over the past several years in Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Algeria by al-Qaida, known by its [N. Africa] acronym, AQIM.

Terrorism expert and former CIA official Charles Allen quoted by VOA Feb. 8:

Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb or AQIM, along with its affiliates in Yemen and Somalia, has been using this region as a breeding ground for its activities.

"It functions as an umbrella organization for a disparate collection of Sunni Muslim terrorist elements determined to attack what they see as apostate regimes in Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania and Morocco. The bulk of AQIM forces are located in southern Algeria, northern Mali and Mauritania," he said.

More, Toronto Star Feb. 11 - "[Two] young Frenchm[en]were snatched by several men wearing turbans... just across the border in Mali. The ensuing clash left nine people dead, [one] who was killed with a point-blank gunshot to the face."

VIDEO FEATURE: Wisconsin’s libertarian Republican State Senator

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From Eric Dondero:

With all eyes on Wisconsin, libertarians nationwide should be reminded that there is at least one libertarian Republican standardbearer in the Legislature.

Frank Lasee of Green Bay was elected last November to the State Senate. Before that, he was a 4-term state rep.

From LR, Nov. 23, 2010, "Big Win in Wisconsin for libertarian Republicans: Frank Lasee elected to State Senate":

Frank Lasee has been a friend of the libertarian Republican movement for over a decade. He has been an ally in the legislature of both the Libertarian Party and the WI Republican Liberty Caucus. He was endorsed by the RLC in all his previous races.

He's been described as a "bit of an eccentric" (FoxPolitics.net). As a State Rep. in the early 2000s he was one of a handful of Wisconsin legislators to co-sponsor a bill to lower the drinking age to 18. He's been fiercely opposed to further restrictions and taxes on cigarettes.

He's also been a prime sponsor of TABOR in Wisconsin (Taxpayer Bill Of Rights).

Amazing Photo: ATV Kepler Climbs To Orbit

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Amazing Photo: ATV Kepler Launch As Seen From Orbit Aboard the ISS

"This remarkable photo was taken by ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli from the ISS on 16 February 2011, just minutes after ATV Johannes Kepler lifted off on board an Ariane 5 from Kourou at 22:50 UTC. It shows the rising exhaust trail of Ariane, still in its initial vertical trajectory. The trail can be seen as a thin streak framed just beneath the Station's remote manipulator arm. Credits: ESA/ NASA"

I’ve got your missing links right here (19th February 2011) | Not Exactly Rocket Science

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Top twelve picks

The “Haworth Misadventure” is over but it seemed important to collect some links for reference, given that it was one of the more interesting things to happen this week. For those who don’t know the story, it started on Saturday when I had a spot of bother getting hold of a scientist’s contact details thanks to a none-too-helpful press officer called Aeron Haworth. I put up the email chain on my Posterous blog (including the now-infamous line “I think you have all you need for a blog”), which led to an all-out outing on Ivan Oransky’s Embargo Watch and a… er… lively comment thread. Maryn McKenna did the best job of summarising the subsequent events and collating links to the various takes (of which I’ll highlight Deborah Blum’s not least because it offers support to all science blogs and because I chuckled at the bit where she dusts off her Pulitzer and uses it as a rhetorical cosh). See also Bob’O’Hara, David Harris, MediaBistro and others. After a private and public apology on Wednesday, I accepted and drew a line underneath the matter. Subsequently, Tabitha Powledge and Charlie Petit did some post-mortems at the NASW and KJST sites. And another related story about a journalist forgetting the power of words on Twitter.

Wild animals devour an elephant in time-lapse. One hyena gets almost inside the thing!

How IBM’s Watson computer excels at Jeopardy! John Rennie explains. I bet I could take it in chess-boxing though. Meanwhile, in a case of Dr Watson meets Dr House, IBM are planning to apply Watson’s tech to medical diagnoses.

Andrea Kuszewski delivers a data smackdown on the recent “thinking-cap” paper, which claimed to produce insight with electrical stimulation. Do not miss the second half. Also on that study: thinking caps are pseudoscience masquerading as neuroscience, say a trio of scientists in the Guardian. And here’s my original take on that study

Evolution (well, mutation) in 500 lines. Wonderful.

How do you sedate a bear? Dangle a very brave man head-first into its den with syringe of tranquilizer on a pole. And you get a cool video of a snoring bear and some great data on hibernation.

Around the world in 800 days – be sure to catch up on Gaia Vince’s amazing trek across 36 countries and 5 continents, looking at the human impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss.

A great guest post by Ivan Oransky on Gary Schwitzer’s blog: why negative studies are good for health journalism & where to find them

Ooh, fascinating. Flies sniff out the difference between hydrogen and deuterium using quantum smelling. Notable because the author addresses criticisms in the comments. More coverage from New Scientist.

Rats. Wearing pants. For SCIENCE!

How wastewater stations could help to weed out illegal drug use in London’s 2012 Olympics, by Brian Mossop.

Phantom pregnancies. In men. Wonderful stuff from Emily Anthes.

Science/writing/news

An interesting interview with Frans de Waal, a fantastic scientist and writer, talking about emotion and intelligence in apes.

Firstly, it’s a filter-feeder. Also, it’s a MURAL!

How scientists unintentionally cured baldness in mice

Nature paper suggests climate change doubled or trebled risk of UK floods of 2000 – “the first time scientists have quantified the role of human-induced climate change in increasing the risk of a serious flood”

GCSE exam evolution FAIL – a teacher’s take on a ridiculous exam question, by Julia Anderson.

Roger Highfield talks about the end of BSE and our understanding of other prion diseases, a nice counterpoint to my post earlier this week on prion-ish proteins in ALS

Why you should avoid getting pregnant on the way to Mars. Every time Ian Sample writes about space, we all win.

Hummingbird robots

“To reduce this overflowing cornucopia of crap, the government is calling in reinforcements in the form of 11 Australian dung beetle species.”

I KNEW IT! Science proves that people take longer to leave a parking spot if you’re waiting for it!

Got a Nobel prize (or similar)? Then work in China and get paid $23 million.

Ben Goldacre, Petra Boynton and others debate the existence of Female Sexual Dysfunction

DRAAAAAAINAAAAAAGGE! Antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant bugs in our water.

The scientists who are trying to speak with dolphins (and a slightly tenuous link to aliens and SETI)

Richter scale for media events: stories on blogs spread like earthquakes

Are cities “our species’ greatest invention” asks the Economist Do they make us more inventive/productive?

Which A-Levels should you study if you want to get into a top university? Tom Hartley’s analysis gives a thumbs-up to science.

IMRAN VICTOR! “The Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE) today claimed that the Government’s new immigration rules represented a victory for the science and engineering sectors. The new proposals give significant rewards to applicants with science and engineering qualifications.”

That Brian Switek can’t help spoiling super-predators with his “facts”. First the terror-birds, then the mega-bear.

A fascinating NYT piece about the value that different government agencies put on a human life.

Natural selection limits how many attractive males can exist in a population? Screw you, evolution.

Containers of jokes and metaphors – Stan Carey talks about the scaffolding beneath the structure of our imaginations

Tenrecs – hedgehog-like mammals that live in Madagascar – have been filmed using their quills to communicate.

For Valentine’s day – when intelligent people the world over forget that emotion comes from the brain not the heart – Jason Goldman gave Valentine’s tips for lovestruck scientists, Christian Jarrett provided some great evidence-based wooing tips, David Manly writes about animal sex, and the Smithsonian put up a cool pic of the world’s first artificial heart

“The nerd defense” Study shows jurors less likely to convict those with spectacles

1 in 8 psychotherapists have a patient who confesses to murder

“Another group believe Monckton is vulnerable to ridicule because he accepts basic physics.” Sigh.

Study finds botox may make people actually feel happier by paralyzing frown muscles.

Lie Detection: Misconceptions, Pitfalls, and Opportunities for Improvement

Heh/wow/huh

Anthropologists trace human origins back to one large goat.

Did you read that New Yorker piece last week? This is a bit perfect.

An Open Letter to Stephen Fry. Pure joy.

“The Good, the Bad, & the Cell Type-Specific Roles of HIF-1 in Neurons & Astrocytes” Papers named after movies and songs.

Have you noticed how it’s sometimes quite difficult to write about science without making it all sound like a sinister abduction plot? “The researchers took 10 people and…” ”They followed 2500 people for 7 years and…”

A truly wonderful animation about the placebo effect in 3 mins.

“I was trailing a squirrel and crouched to shoot it with my blowpipe when I saw the tiger.”

If Apple made water

Hehe. Cuts in UK science journalism take their toll on New Scientist.

This genius got a homophobic Leviticus tattoo. Leviticus forbids tattoos.

Journalism/blogging/internet

Go and support Jennifer Ouellette & the crew at Cocktail Party Physics on their 5th bloggoversay

It’s an absolute joy to see a science book on the shelves of my local supermarket amid the crime fiction and chick-lit. No prizes for guessing which one

Does science have a liberal bias? Martin Robbins raises an interesting issue (one comment from me)

Jay Rosen skewers the “Twitter can’t topple dictators” genre

How Steve Jobs stole Winnie the Pooh from David Dobbs, the heartless fiend.

Wonderful. The Royal Society Books Prize has been brought back from the brink for another 5 years! Because Rebecca Skloot hadn’t won this one yet ;-)

Alice Bell picked apart the rather silly idea of a People’s Panel for science.

“What’s New With Science News“, a podcast with John Rennie, Bora Zivkovic and Robin Lloyd

Ah, the Internet. Making it harder to spend f**king ages doing stuff since the 1990s. More curmudgeonliness.

A vaguely researched NYT piece prompts a much better discussion about the relative merits of health websites

Guardian no longer to use ‘today’, ‘tonight’, etc.

Can zinc stop colds? Gary Schwitzer reviews three stories from Reuters, NYT and WebMD

Look, if something’s a lie and you call it a lie, that’s not “opinion”. That’s journalism. If you don’t call it a lie, that’s monkey facepalm.

Informed by Nature: a great initiative to help small science outreach projects get funded and not revinent the wheel

Nokia + Burton: Self tracking and viral advertising

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Via Information Aesthetics:

It had to come to this. Now the "viral" infographics has engulfed us so much we cannot longer communicate a simple fact without some sort of Photoshop-crazy or weirdly-angled, textual chart (wonder-o-wonder, where do I get these examples from?), the next frontier seems to become the world of the quantified self.

And of course, the first people to adopt self-tracking viz for viral purposes are always the coolest of the bunch: mobile communications company Nokia and snowboard manufacturer Burton recently joined forces and hooked up a snowboarder to a powerful smartphone and a series of custom sensors in order to capture 5 different measurements during a snowboard run: speed, the 3D orientation of the board, feet pressure, heart rate and physiological rush (i.e. galvanic skin response).

Nokia and Burton now invite people to "interpret" this data in a creative way, ranging from unique visualizations to original installations that are triggered by the data. Their goal is to show the winning entries at the Burton US Open in March.

As any common data geek is also a star on the black-labeled snow slopes, winners will receive VIP tickets, plus accommodation and travel. For anyone who happens to live far, far away from Stratton, US, and has a bunch of free time around the middle of March, this seems like a sweet deal. Note that the submission deadline is 21 February! Others can wait until they release all the required information to develop and make your own data-augmented snowboard.

Be sure to follow the link and check out the embedded videos.


House of Representatives Votes to Defund IPCC | The Intersection

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Amid invocations of “ClimateGate,” House Republicans have voted to abandon the work of this leading, and celebrated, international scientific body, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. The vote was 244-179, with Republicans charging that the IPCC would receive an undeserved $ 13 million in the president’s next budget. I’m not clear on the true funding amount because I’m seeing contradictory figures–but it’s clearly tiny in the context of total federal spending.

Rick Piltz has much more about how the debate went down. It’s pretty staggering that we’re now at a point where the most definitive outlet for information about the state of the climate is being not only rejected, but defunded, on partisan grounds.


Discovery’s last voyage is go for February 24 | Bad Astronomy

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The last scheduled launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery has been set for February 24 at 16:50 Eastern time.

You can keep up with the latest info and NASA’s launch blog on their Shuttle website. The launch will be live, as usual, on NASA TV. As it happens I’ll be on a plane traveling to Florida to visit family at that time, so ironically I’ll be headed toward the launch but won’t be able to see it. The launch window is a very short ten minutes, so if they delay it at all maybe it’ll be for a day and I can see it.

The mission is to go to the International Space Station, as all the final flights have been. I just found out that if all goes as planned, Discovery will have spent a total of 363 days in space, just short of a solid Shuttle-year. That’s pretty amazing.

This flight has been much-delayed due to external tank problems, but NASA says those have been fixed. It’ll be carrying components of the ISS up to orbit, as well as Robonaut 2, a ...


Can you share a few slides?

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Pap slide submissions are needed for the CAP Interlaboratory Comparison Program in Gynecologic Cytology. All submitted slides are subject to rigorous review by three cytopathologists, and the College pays up to $20 per accepted slide.

Slides not accepted into the program can be returned if requested, and accepted slides can be tracked and returned should the need arise.

All submitted slides must meet these standards:

  • All LSIL, HSIL, and carcinoma cases must have tissue confirmation of the reference interpretation. Per CMS requirement, please write the biopsy diagnosis on the donor sheet or send an anonymized copy of the biopsy report.
  • Each submitted case should be accompanied by appropriate clinical information for the patient (for example, age, LMP, prior hysterectomy).
  • Materials submitted must be free of patient identifiers.
  • ThinPrep Imager slides should be stained specifically for use with ThinPrep Imager.

Not acceptable are broken, cracked, chipped, or repaired slides; slides with air bubbles or with plastic or liquid coverslips; slides showing fading, drying (particularly around the periphery), or intense orangeophilia; slides more than seven years old; and cases interpreted as moderate dysplasia, ASC-US, ASC-H, or AGC.

Contact Larry Flennoy (847-832-7275, lflenno@cap.org) for more information or to have a submission sheet and slide shipping materials mailed to you. Or, find submission sheets at http://www.cap.org, Cytopathology Topic Center page.

 

 

Leftwing Press attempts to smear WI Gov. Scott Walker over ties to libertarians

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Received major contributions from 1980 Libertarian VP candidate David Koch

From Eric Dondero:

And so it begins...

A prominent leftwing publication has revealed that Wisconsin's Republican Governor was backed by the the Kochs, and has ties to Cato, Reason, and CEI.

From Mother Jones, "Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker: Funded by the Koch Bros":

Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker, whose bill to kill collective bargaining rights for public-sector unions has caused an uproar among state employees, might not be where he is today without the Koch brothers. Charles and David Koch are conservative titans of industry who have infamously used their vast wealth to undermine President Obama and fight legislation they detest, such as the cap-and-trade climate bill, the health care reform act, and the economic stimulus package.

According to Wisconsin campaign finance filings, Walker's gubernatorial campaign received $43,000 from the Koch Industries PAC during the 2010 election. That donation was his campaign's second-highest, behind $43,125 in contributions from housing and realtor groups in Wisconsin. The Koch's PAC also helped Walker via a familiar and much-used politicial maneuver designed to allow donors to skirt campaign finance limits. The PAC gave $1 million to the Republican Governors Association, which in turn spent $65,000 on independent expenditures to support Walker.

Walker's plan to eviscerate collective bargaining rights for public employees is right out of the Koch brothers' playbook. Koch-backed groups like Americans for Prosperity, the Cato Institute, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and the Reason Foundation have long taken a very antagonistic view toward public-sector unions.

Note - David Koch was the 1980 Libertarian Party Vice-Presidential candidate.

Interestingly, the article does not mention the Republican Liberty Caucus, or this website. Libertarian Republican was an early and enthusiastic backer of Walker.

See LR article from June 9, 2009 "Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle in big trouble: Polls post tax and spend increase find him way behind both GOP challengers"

Where Does Your Strategy Come From?

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Gone are the days when you could create a comprehensive test-and-inspection strategy and implement it from a single vendor. Even the largest vendors have abandoned specific test steps to concentrate on their core expertise. How do you build your strategy? Do you start with vendors' offerings or with

It's in the Numbers

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture anticipates that by certifying a product with as little as 25% organic content as "bio-based," consumers and companies will create higher demand for bio-based materials. Are they right? Should the content threshold be increased?

The preceding article is a "sneak p

Who Drives Innovation?

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In his State of the Union address last month (you can view it again from the White House Web site), President Barack Obama said the U.S. needs to "out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world" if the country is going to "win the future." The government can aid this effort, in part,

Paperless: Are We There Yet?

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Early in the Information Age, many were sold the dream of the paperless office. All the reports, forms, drawings wouldn't ever have to make it to paper. "Going paperless" would save money, boost productivity — mainly from time savings in managing and sharing documents, but also big floor space

The Seasteading Institute launches The Magellan Network

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To help us create a realistic and sustainable seasteading movement, The Seasteading Institute is proudly launching The Magellan Network. The Magellan Network is a network for individuals interested in active exploration and prototyping of business models related to novel legal environments on the ocean. It is an invitation-only group geared towards those who are best able to make progress towards this goal: investors, entrepreneurs, and accomplished business professionals.

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