Interesting article about swine flu on Bloomberg

“Swine flu, a virus that normally infects pigs, has been detected in people in Mexico, the U.S., New Zealand, Canada, and the U.K. Health officials around the world are checking to see whether infections have occurred in their countries, and readying measures to prevent its spread.”The article answers some frequently asked questions about swine flu using information drawn from the data released by the World Health Organization in Geneva and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Here is a revised list of the most important points

What is Swine Flu?
Swine flu, or swine influenza, is a form of influenza that normally infects pigs.

How do people catch swine flu?
Flu is generally transmitted through the respiratory tract. Droplets of infected body fluids can carry flu when people cough or sneeze. Studies indicate that masks called N95 respirators that, when properly used, filter germs from the breath and hamper the spread of flu

What are the symptoms of swine flu?
Influenza normally causes symptoms such as coughing, sneezing, headaches and body aches, fever, chills, and sometimes vomiting and diarrhea. Swine flu causes the same symptoms, and may be difficult to distinguish from other strains of flu and respiratory illnesses

What’s a flu pandemic?
Flu pandemics occur when new influenza viruses emerge that spread quickly and few people have immunity to them.

How else can I protect myself from swine flu?
Personal hygiene measures, such as avoiding people who are coughing or sneezing and frequent hand-washing, may prevent flu infection.

House of Divine in glamorous Milton Keynes tweeted to say that Lucia and Karol were working on Sunday while another message offered a “Twitter Discount”. The operation has been exposed in The Sun newspaper, which trumpets: “A BROTHEL is touting its services via social networking site TWITTER

Article at The Guardian

An article by Guy Clapperton in The Guardian reveals the big TV makers are about to allow people the opportunity to access online television through their set tops. Clapperton writes

For a few years now, the television industry has been talking about “convergence” between the internet and television. It’s slowly becoming a reality: more and more people are connecting their computers to their TVs to view photos, listen to music and other activities that cross over between the two; now television manufacturers are starting to add functions to their TV sets that will allow people to share photos through social networks, play online games, watch YouTube and other material found on the internet. YouTube is a barometer of this shift, as people move on from watching short clips or videos to looking at longer works and whole programmes, and the BBC’s iPlayer, plus the versions from ITV and Channel 4, also make full-length programming available on computers

This may yet pose a threat to traditional broadcast outlets as they struggle to keep up with the rapid developments of technology and increasing competition from up and coming online broadcasters but the signs are showing that they are swlowly taking up the gauntlet and fighting for survival in this new digital era.

“In November 2008 a total of 40 articles appeared in British local and national newspapers that included the word ‘Twitter’. Though a quarter of them were published by the Guardian, this paper’s technology correspondent nonetheless found himself explaining to general readers that ‘Twitter, a mobile social network, has generated lots of buzz’. The Daily Telegraph, quaintly, was still using the word to describe a way of talking.
The following month, 85 articles appeared on the subject. By January 2009, it was 206. But those were still the dark ages. Hot on the heels of the Twitter plane crash came the site’s first live action celebrity lift catastrophe, when the actor Stephen Fry, a tweeter so prolific that one hopes he still eats, offered breathless updates from the stationary elevator in which he briefly found himself marooned. (His followers total is now 350,000).”

Article at guardian.co.uk

Report on the Guardian website

“John Prescott has been chosen as the unlikely leader of Labour’s general election campaign on the internet, as the party prepares to launch a low-budget battle for a fourth term in government”

What on earth is going on? John Prescott does not strike me as the most computer literate member of the Labour party. On further reading the name Alistair Campbell appears

Last night Alastair Campbell, former director of communications under Tony Blair, who also has a large following online, said it was clear Prescott was succeeding in motivating Labour supporters online in a way nobody else could. “You cannot imagine a cabinet minister getting the huge support he did for a campaign on bankers’ bonuses. What JP has shown is that he has an ability to cut through to voters that needs harnessing. Because he is no longer a cabinet minister, he can be a bit edgier. It is about making it fun. It is part of modern campaigning.”

The knives are out for you Gordon Brown and it looks like Campbell and co are sharpening them to boot

Article from The Telegraph

“She emails her grandchildren and her Christmas message appears on YouTube. Now the Queen has taken a further bold technological step by becoming the first member of the Royal family to have an official engagement tracked on Twitter.”

Wonder what her user name is?

European astronomers have taken a stunning photo of a Big Brother-style cosmic eye, nicknamed the Eye of God, staring down from space.photo was taken with a giant telescope at the European Southern Observatory, high on a mountaintop at La Silla in Chile. It is so detailed that a close-up reveals distant galaxies within the central eyeball. read more Telegraph

Further to an earlier article in which I commented on the relaxed attitude of the British public in the wake of the economic crisis, The Guardian report

Police are preparing for a “summer of rage” as victims of the economic downturn take to the streets to demonstrate against financial institutions, the Guardian has learned

The article reveals that it is

middle-class individuals who would never have considered joining demonstrations who may now seek to vent their anger through protests this year.

At last the country is waking up to the reality of the situation and making their voice heard. The government may choose not to listen but the message needs to get through. United we stand, divided we fall

Six months in Afghanistan footage | World news | guardian.co.uk

A series of films by John D McHugh about what life is really like for the US military in Afghanistan

Amusing article by Charlie Brooker about the launch of Walkers flavours competition finalists on The Guardian website :

“Exciting new crisp flavours? More like a dirty protest in mass-produced packets. Walkers are keen to point out that no squirrels were harmed in the making of their crisps”

The competition is split into three stages

Stage one: the public were invited to suggest exotic new flavours.
Stage two: Six flavours were chosen for the public to vote for their favourite.
Stage three: The top flavour becomes a permanent member of the Walkers line-up.

The finalists are

Builders Breakfast
Crispy Duck and Hoison
Cajun Squirrel
Chilli and Chocolate
Fish and Chips
Onion Bhaji

I still remember the hedgehof flavour and traffic warden flavour which were introduced in the 1980’s, they never caught on either