1 Extra Second For 31 December 2008

The world's official timekeeper, International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) in Paris, has mandated that 1 extra second be added to 31 December 2008 so as to reconcile 2 different time scales, one being the atomic time pieces and the other which is bbased on Earth's rotation on its own axis. This extra second is known as leap second, unlike the leap year it is not added every once it 4 years, it is only on a case by case basis, this year will be the 24th time the leap second is added since the practice started in 1972.

The IERS was established in its present form in 1987 by the International Astronomical Union and the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, replacing the earlier International Polar Motion Service (IPMS) and the earth-rotation section of the Bureau International de l'Heure (BIH). Among its other functions, the IERS is responsible for announcing leap seconds.

Leap seconds are necessary because time is measured using stable atomic clocks (TAI or International Atomic Time), whereas the rotation of Earth slows down continually, though at a slightly variable rate.

Leap seconds were added in the following days:

1972: 30th June & 31st December
1973, 1974, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1995, 1998, 2005, 2008: 31st December
1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1997: 30th June

Holocaust Hoax - Angel At The Fence

Holocaust is actually defined as the extensive loss of life especially through fire. Since World War II, the Holocaust has been associated with the genocide of Jews by the Nazis, led by Adolf Hitler. About 6 million Jews died in The Holocaust. Stories abound, many movies and books were written about the Holocaust.

The most recent story, Angel At The Fence, a memoir by Herman Rosenblat. It tells of how young Rosenblat at 12, was taken with his family from Poland to a Nazi concentration camp in Buchenwald. In his 3rd year in the concentration camp he met his wife, Roma Radzicky, who sneaked apples to him for 7 months from the other side of be barbed wire fence. Subsequently, Rosenblat was shipped to Czechoslovakia and subsequently liberated by Germans. As fate will have it, Rosenblat met Radzicky years later at a blind date in New York and then marrying her thereafter and they have been married for 50 years. Such a touching love story that had believers including Rosenblat's agent, his publisher, Oprah Winfrey, film producers, journalists, family members, school children and strangers online who ignored, or didn't know about, the warnings from scholars and skeptics that his story didn't make sense.

It was all a hoax. Gabriel Sherman of The New Republic, exposed Rosenblat's hoax after he found inconsistencies through his interviews with top scholars as well as with Rosenblat's sister in law and other Holocaust survivors. Faced with the relevation, Rosenblat confessed he fabricated the love story and his intent was to "bring happiness to people". Plans to launch the memoir in February 2009 has been shelved.

Rosenblat's fabrication would again find cause with non believers of the Holocaust.

Celebrities Versus Sense About Science

What some celebrities are saying or thinking might not go will with scientific proof or the lack of it. Do not blindly follow what they say, do your own homework.

Sense About Science is a United Kingdom independent charitable trust, its aim is to work with scientists to ensure that the best available scientific evidence is at the forefront of public discussions about science, and to correct misinformation.

Barack Obama: “We’ve seen a skyrocketing autism rate. Some people are suspicious that it’s connected to the vaccines. This person included. The science right now is inconclusive, but we have to research it.”

John McCain on autism:“There's strong evidence that indicates it’s got to do with a preservative in vaccines”

Although from differing parties, they have common ground in rise of autism and are commenting on the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine, but studies in several countries involving millions of children have shown no correlation between MMR and autism rates.

Find out more of MMR from Sense About Science here - http://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/pdf/MMRPolicyBriefing.pdf

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Madonna:"I mean, one of the biggest problems that exists right now in the world is nuclear waste… that’s something I’ve been involved with for a while with a group of scientists — finding a way to neutralise radiation."

Dr Nick Evans, Environmental Radiochemist, Loughborough Univ, differs with Madonna, he said:
"Radioactivity cannot be ‘neutralised’, it can only be moved from one place to another until it decays away at its own rate. It comes in many different types: some last for billions of years, others decay away in a few minutes. There are no magical solutions."

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Jamie Oliver, on the benefits of organic food: "I want to cook with the best ingredients and have food the way it should be: healthy, tasty and grown with nature."

Prof. Vivian Moses, Biologist, King’s College London, had this to say: "Not one of our crop plants or domestic animals exists in the wild: they have all been created by selective breeding over the past 10,000 years. Wheat, for example, doesn’t exist in nature; we made it. And nowhere on earth do crop plants exist in rows unless we put them there."

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Check out your facts with Sense About Science and its Science For Celebrities leaflets.

Oil At Lowest In 5 Years - Tumbling Gasoline Prices

Just 6 months back, crude oil was at its peak of about US$147 per barrel, fueled by speculation and the forecast by economists, traders, investors and speculators of growing demands in this globalized economy, it had gone from below US$70 per barrel and spiked to US$147 per barrel in a few short months. It defied logic and looks set to rise even more. All over the world people were devastated, due to increasing oil prices, the cost of daily necessities increased. There were strikes, unrest at various parts of the world. In countries where huge petrol subsidies were in place for years, their government had to re-look and subsidies were reduced, thereby adding fuel to the fire. People's livelihood were threatened, small businesses could no longer operate due to higher costs further adding further tears to the social fabric.

Then in July 08, the global demand fell due to the gloomy economy outlook and credit crunch caused by the US sub-prime mortgage market collapse. Crude oil prices started sliding, traders, investors and speculators fled from the commodities market. Crude oil prices has now fallen to less than US$35 per barrel. When oil prices were at its peak, people were going out less, spending less and hopefully saving more and the impact was a stagnant economy at best. With crude oil prices at its 5 year low, will people start spending and giving the economy a boost? No one knows for sure as the economy outlook is still bleak.

Trying to control the oil prices, OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) is now looking at reducing production, that may send crude oil futures trending upwards if there is big cuts in oil production, but with the global downturn, what is a big enough reduction and will that further curtail spending again?

2009 looks set to be a turbulent year, at least for oil prices.

Santa Kills 8 On Christmas Eve

A man dressed in Santa suit went to his former in-laws' house on Christmas Eve a quiet Covina neighborhood 25 miles east of Los Angeles and started killing indiscriminately. He shot an 8 year old girl in the face with a handgun when she answered the knock on the door. Then he started shooting at the party goers who were in the house and then he torched the house before fleeing away to his brother's house. The killer, Bruce Pardo, eventually ended up killing himself and was discovered by police on Christmas day.

The rampage left at least 8 people dead, including Pardo's ex-wife and her parents. Apparently Pardo who has no history of violence or criminal record was angry over his recent divorce for a marriage that lasted almost a year.

Pardo has armed himself with a handgun and had a gift wrapped box containing a pressurized homemade device he used to spray a liquid that quickly sent the house up in flames. Police are not able to if the dead bodies found in the house were shot or burnt to death and are still going through the ashes on Friday.

Bernard Madoff And His Ponzi Scheme

Bernard Madoff is the chairman of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, a firm which he started in 1960. Madoff was arrested for securities fraud in December 11, 2009, the alleged fraud may be valued at a loss of up to a $50 billion in cash and securities, thereby exposing a giant Ponzi scheme at works. To date, it is the largest investor fraud ever attributed to a single individual.

Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, the co-founder and chief executive of Access International Advisors, was found dead on Tuesday morning in his Madison Avenue office after apparently swallowing sleeping pills and slashing his wrists with a box cutter. Mr Villehuchet was said to be "devastated" and lost $1.5 billion to the Ponzi scheme perpetrated by Madoff.

The world’s wealthiest woman and heiress to the L'Oreal empire, Liliane Bettencourt, is also one of Madoff's victims. She has entrusted more than $22billion to Madoff through fund manager Access International Advisors. Many other distinguished names are also in Madoff's victims list.

Madoff's investment strategy is described as buying stocks correlated to the S&P 100 index, selling out of the money index call option and buying out of the money index put options. Rival firms tried to replicate Madoff's investment strategy but could not replicate the same "success" that Madoff had, thus raising the possibility that Madoff's gains were not from his strategy from from "front running" the firm's clients. Front running is the illegal practice of a stock broker executing orders on a security for their own account before filling orders previously submitted by their customers that will predictably affect the price of the security. The Ponzi scheme began to unravel when, in 2008, clients wanted to withdraw $7 billion from the firm and Madoff was struggling to raise $7 billion to cover redemption.

California Out Of Budget In 2 Mths - Mandatory Days Off

A California State official has warned that California will run out of money in less than 70 days. In the meantime, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger can strike a budget deal with Democratic leaders soon. If no deal is struck, the California State office could be forced to defer billions of dollars in payments or issue IOUs.

On the other hand, the governor tried to conserve cash by issuing an executive order last week requiring all state employees to take 2 unpaid days off each month starting in February 2009. 2 public employee unions, Professional Engineers in California Government and the California Assn. of Professional Scientists, filed a lawsuit in Sacramento County Superior Court asking the courts to stop Schwarzenegger's cost cutting efforts as it asserts that only the Legislature can alter the pay of workers who have labor contracts with the state.

This is not the first attempt by Schwarzenegger to reduce state costs, he has attempted to reduce the pay of state employees a few months ago but it never took effect as the California state payroll system was incapable of executing the order and the matter landed in court and was stalled.

One would shudder to think of the impact when critical public services could not be delivered when the state runs out of money.

$700billion Troubled Asset Relief Program - Where Did It Go?

The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is to bailout the financial sector, it was pushed through by the Bush administration quickly in October to saving the ailing banks. Do we know how the banks are spending the money?

The Treasury Department used the funds from TARP to buy stocks in the US banks, thus creating cash influx into the US banks, thereby hoping the banks to start lending money and getting the economy moving. Apparently, the bailout funds were issued with relatively no strings attached or restrictions imposed. If you go to a bank for financial loan, you will be hit with a list of questions including where the money would go and how it would be repaid but no one knows where the bailout funds of TARP went. How was it spent or how much of it has been spent or what plans the bank had in terms of investing these funds. No transparency at all, and these are all taxpayers hard earned money.

All banks who has received the bailout funds has chosen to be silent or vague about where the money went and they wouldn't explain why there is such a secrecy. We are talking about $700billion of taxpayers' money and yet the public does not know for sure where the money will end up. Fingers crossed that it was indeed well given.

First Hybrid Blu-ray and DVD disc

The format war brewing between new Blu-ray and HD DVD discs does evoke old memories of the VHS vs. Beta fiasco of the 1980s (eventually VHS won out over Beta). HD DVD seems more widely available as they are less costly. Blu-ray discs although are costlier, they can hold more data,

Now the first hybrid Blu-ray and DVD disc has been released in Japan. Although this technology is not new, JVC has released a prototype in 2004, Infinity Storage Media (ISM) is the first company to take this hybrid disc to production.

The new media has a total storage capacity of 33.5GB and is backward compatible with existing DVD and Blu-ray players. Currently only available in Japan and no news of release in other countries.

The Chinese Internet Porn Senstation - Huang Detained By Police

With the rapid growth of online blog sites, it is of little wonder what some people share on their blog. Some used blogs to rant, vent their outlets, others to earn from advertisers or get famous, now there's a new idea - to get notorious.

A Chinese woman, known as Huang, became an instant online sensation when she posted a homemade pornographic movie of herself online. Huang set up the blog, hoping to profit from her notoriety and sell interviews with herself for up to RMB30,000 (approximately $4,380) a time. The 12 minute video showed Huang performing sex acts, it soon became popular mainland and had thousands of downloaders last month. Although pornography is widely available in DVDs and online, it is illegal in China.

Huang has been detained in Shanghai and despite the police's best efforts, the video could still be found online.

Rick Warren - The Influential Evangelical Gay Opposing Pastor

President-elect Barack Obama invited Rick Warren, the founder of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, to deliver the inaugural invocation on January 20th, is this a mistake?

Obama's decision sparked an outcry from gay rights and other liberal groups as the influential evangelical pastor opposes same sex marriages. Warren publicly supported California's Proposition 8, which amended the state Constitution to ban gay marriage, thus incurring the wrath of the liberals. Warren became prominent during the presidential election in August when he hosted the Civil Forum on the Presidency. This was a 2 hour show where both Obama and John McCain were interviewed for an hour each on faith and moral issues by Warren.

Warren has indicated that he loves Muslims, people of other religions, Republicans and Democrats, gays and straights, but yet he compared the "redefinition of marriage" to include gay marriage to legitimizing incest, child abuse, and polygamy.

Did Obama made the right choice, what do you think? Feel free to comment.

Tech Savvy Mumbai Attackers

In the recent terrorist attack in Mumbai, the attackers were clearly tech savvy, with their satellite images of the city (from Google Earth), they could study the landscape of the city, with their GPS handsets, they could navigate their way through and communicating with their counterparts via internet and satellite phone. In this aspect alone, they are way more advanced than the Indian law enforcement agencies.

The following extract is from http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081214/D952IQ480.html

MUMBAI, India (AP) - When the attackers arrived on the shores of Mumbai last month, they had studied satellite images of the city, were carrying handheld GPS sets and were communicating with their handlers via the Internet and satellite phone.

Many of the Indian police they encountered did not even have walkie-talkies.

The Mumbai gunmen not only overwhelmed security forces with their weaponry and willingness to die, but also with their sophisticated use of technology, security experts said.

"These (terrorists) are well aware of the technology available and also know that the police are several steps behind. And a lot of this technology is extremely easy to use and to learn," said Pavan Duggal, a technology expert and New Delhi-based lawyer.

India's underfunded and poorly trained police force is simply unable to compete, experts said.

"Crimes that involve technology usually make the police very nervous," Duggal said.

To prepare for their Nov. 26 assault, militants examined the layout and landscape of the city using images from Google Earth, which provides satellite photos for much of the planet over the Internet, said Mumbai's chief police investigator, Rakesh Maria.

The 10 gunmen also studied detailed photographs of their targets on laptop computers, Maria said.

When the assailants traveled by boat from Karachi, Pakistan, to Mumbai - stealing an Indian trawler along the way - they used four GPS systems to navigate, Maria said. The sets could also be used as walkie-talkies.

The attackers were equipped with a satellite phone and nine cell phones. Throughout the attack, they called their handlers in Pakistan, who had eschewed conventional phones for voice-over-Internet telephone services, Maria said.

Those services route phone calls over the Internet, making it far harder to trace them. For example, a person might have a New York City telephone number, but calls made to that number are routed over the Internet, allowing a client to answer from anywhere there is online access.

Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a Pakistani accused of plotting the attacks, spoke from two Internet phone numbers to six different Indian mobile numbers, India's Hindu newspaper reported. The Internet numbers were paid by wire transfer by someone using fake ID, the newspaper said.

By contrast, many Indian police do not even have walkie-talkies or cell phones to communicate with each other. The commando unit flown in from New Delhi to take on the attackers had neither night-vision goggles or thermal sensors, which would have allowed them to pinpoint the locations of attackers and hostages during the siege, security experts said.

"The communication expertise that the gunmen employed was clearly a few steps if not a generation ahead of what the police had," said C. Uday Bhaskar, a former naval commander and retired director of India's Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses.

Bush, The Iraq War and Size 10 Shoes

President George W. Bush was at a news conference in Iraq to highlight on the work to be done after the Iraw Warwhen he had a pair of reportedly size 10 shoes thrown at him by a journalist from an Al-Baghdadia television, an Iraqi-owned station based in Cairo, Egypt. In Iraqi culture, throwing shoes at someone is a big insult. This was Bush's last trip to the war zones before Obama takes office 20th January.

The following is extracted from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081215/ap_on_re_as/bush;_ylt=AtLbxmQKAgTD.BbXwE8Rw8LXn414

KABUL, Afghanistan – On a whirlwind trip shrouded in secrecy and marred by dissent, President George W. Bush on Sunday hailed progress in the wars that define his presidency and got a size-10 reminder of his unpopularity when a man hurled two shoes at him during a news conference in Iraq.

"This is your farewell kiss, you dog!" shouted the protester in Arabic, later identified as Muntadar al-Zeidi, a correspondent for Al-Baghdadia television, an Iraqi-owned station based in Cairo, Egypt. "This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."

Bush ducked both shoes as they whizzed past his head and landed with a thud against the wall behind him.

"It was a size 10," Bush joked later.

The U.S. president visited the Iraqi capital just 37 days before he hands the war off to his successor, Barack Obama, who has pledged to end it. The president wanted to highlight a drop in violence and to celebrate a recent U.S.-Iraq security agreement, which calls for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011.

"The war is not over," Bush said, but "it is decisively on it's way to being won."

Bush then flew overnight to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan for a rally early Monday with more than 1,000 U.S. and foreign troops. "Afghanistan is a dramatically different country than it was eight years ago," he said. "We are making hopeful gains."

He then took a helicopter ride to Kabul to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

After their meeting, Bush said he told Karzai: "You can count on the United States. Just like you've been able to count on this administration, you'll be able to count on the next administration as well."

The president was then leaving Afghanistan to fly to Britain, stopping to refuel and then continue home.

In many ways, the unannounced trip was a victory lap without a clear victory.

In Iraq, nearly 150,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq, protecting the fragile democracy. More than 4,209 members of the U.S. military have died and $576 billion has been spent since the war began five years and nine months ago.

In Afghanistan, there are about 31,000 U.S. troops and commanders have called for up to 20,000 more. The fight is especially difficult in southern Afghanistan, a stronghold of the Taliban where violence has risen sharply this year.

Polls show most Americans believe the U.S. erred in invading Iraq in 2003. Bush ordered the nation into war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq while citing intelligence claiming the Mideast nation harbored weapons of mass destruction. The weapons were never found, the intelligence was discredited, and Bush's credibility with U.S. voters plummeted.

Technology Prevents Car Drivers from Chatting or Texting on Phone while Driving

Traffic statistics has shown that drivers who chat or text on the mobile phone while driving pose a hazard for other road users as it affects the judgement or reaction time of the driver. This could be especially true for teenagers who drive, laws in many countries and states have been enacted to prevent drivers from using their mobile phones but it is just a preventive measure and with the help of technology, this would could really make the roads safer for all.

Key2SafeDriving is a computerized car key invented by a pair of US inventors that prevents people from on mobile telephones or sending text messages while driving. Key2SafeDriving adds to a trend of using technology to thwart speeding, drunken driving, and other risky behavior proven to ramp-up the odds of crashing. Once Key2SafeDriving is inserted into the car's ignition, it sends a wireless signal to a driver's mobile phone blocking calls or texting.

The following extract is from http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=081212234616.amcm37lv&show_article=1

"If you're in driving mode, you can't talk or text -- period," a character tells a friend trying in vain to send a text message while driving a car in a YouTube video demonstrating how the keys work.

Bizarre Beauty Pageants

For most of us who are familiar with Miss World pageant, that is considered the norm. Have you also heard of the other bizarre beauty pageants listed below?

1. Animal Beauty Contests
2. Cow Contests
3. Transgender Pageantry
4. Holy Pageants
5. Camel Beauty Pageants
6. Odd Pageants
7. Offbeat Beauty Pageants
8. Jumbo Queen Beauty Pageant
9. Ugly Pageants
10. Depth of Beauty Pageant
11. Inmate Beauty Contest

The following extract is from http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/miss-world-pageant-beauty

This year’s Miss World pageant contains an online component, where viewers can log on to vote for their favorite candidate. Trend Hunter has long covered the bizarre relationship our culture has with beauty, and the unusual beauty pageants in the slideshow below showcase the depth of our fascination.

Sure, the Miss World pageant is the oldest major beauty pageant still in existence that judges international beauty. But not everyone can be a representative of their country, so naturally fringe beauty contests were bound to pop up.

Nature fans will either love or hate the variety of animal beauty competitions in existence. Cows, goats and camels are just three of the bizarre subjects celebrated in these beauty pageants. I’m sticking to watching the Miss World pageant.

There are also beauty pageants that honor their participants’ difference from cultural norms. The transgender beauty contest in the Philippines, the Depth of Beauty pageant and the Thai Miss Jumbo Queen beauty contest are three such examples.

Bush Administration to Use $700B Bank Bailout to Aid American Automakers

In a bid to revive the U.S. government's effort to rescue the American automakers, General Motors (GM) and Chrysler, the Bush administration is considering tapping into the financial bailout funds from going bankrupt. If GM or Chrysler files for bankruptcy, this will further rock the U.S. economy and send it into chaos if plants are shut down, job losses are triggered and delivering yet another shock to the jittery consumers.

The following is extracted from http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/12/12/business/auto.php :

Following the collapse on Thursday evening of efforts to rescue U.S. automakers with congressional legislation, the Bush administration shifted positions on Friday and said that it would dip into the money set aside for the $700 billion financial bailout to keep General Motors and Chrysler from going bankrupt.

"Under normal economic conditions we would prefer that markets determine the ultimate fate of private firms," Dana Perino, President George W. Bush's spokeswoman, said in a carefully nuanced statement released minutes before the financial markets opened in New York.

"However, given the current weakened state of the U.S. economy, we will consider other options if necessary - including use of the TARP program - to prevent a collapse of troubled automakers."

The Treasury Department promptly indicated that it would provide short-term relief to the automakers. "Because Congress failed to act, we will stand ready to prevent an imminent failure until Congress reconvenes and acts to address the long-term viability of the industry," said a Treasury spokeswoman, Brookly McLaughlin.

TARP is the Troubled Assets Relief Program, the official name of the Treasury's financial rescue program, originally intended to assist banks.

Referring to the carmakers, the White House statement said, "A precipitous collapse of this industry would have a severe impact on our economy. It would be irresponsible to further weaken and destabilize our economy at this time."

The statement indicated that Bush was prepared to capitulate on his objection to using the bank bailout funds to stave off imminent bankruptcy filings at General Motors and Chrysler and possibly Ford in the future.