Sunday, March 27, 2005

Cambridge, Massachusetts —

IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Center in Cambridge released a free tool March 25 for visualizing the changing history of a document or directory of documents, called history flow. The tool offers a variety of views of document histories, including a view that gives each revision equal importance, and a timeline view which displays each revision proportionally to how long it remained current. Each different editor who makes changes to the article has a distinct color, allowing for that editor’s text to be tracked over time.

The tool was first developed in 2003 by a collaboration between Fernanda B. Viégas of the MIT Media Lab and Martin Wattenberg and Kushal Dave of IBM. It was initially tested out on a large subset of the pages of Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia project which preserves every change made to each of its articles. The resulting paper was drafted in the winter of 2003 and presented at a conference in April 2004; it remains the most comprehensive overview of the lifecycle of articles in an active wiki community. A year later, the history flow paper is still the most frequently cited source of statistics about the reversion of vandalism on Wikipedia.

The current tool is maintained by Martin Wattenberg and Jonathan Feinberg at IBM. It allows users to download the text and histories of the contents of any MoinMoin wiki, or to view the history of the contents of an entire directory of documents. The tool is free to download and use, but its code is not open source. The support for MoinMoin wikis comes via a plugin, so the tool may be extensible to the native interfaces of other wiki engines in the future.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Over 800 National Health Service staff in Scotland are earning more than £140,000 each year—more than First Minister Alex Salmond. New figures also reveal that 3,000 NHS workers are earning over £100,000. One NHS board alone, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, employs 893 staff earning more than £100,000, and 181 being paid over £140,000.

Jackie Baillie, health spokeswoman for the Labour Party, which uncovered the figures, said they were “astonishing”, and urged health boards to examine if savings can be made by reducing salaries of top earners. “This is a far better option than cutting frontline staff like nurses and midwives. In tough financial times we need to make sure that our focus is on patient care and every penny is spent in the most efficient way.” She further said: “In the current economic climate, it is impossible to justify huge salaries for consultants and senior executives when health boards are planning 4000 job losses this year, including 1500 nurses and midwives.”

Britain’s largest health service industrial union, Unison, questioned the amount of money the NHS was paying. A spokesperson said: “Unison doesn’t begrudge anybody the rate of pay for the job but obviously our membership will be concerned that while they are to face a pay freeze and people delivering frontline services are losing their jobs, there is a cohort of folk who appear to earn more than the most senior politician in the land.”

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

The bodies of 46 Afghan illegal immigrants who suffocated to death in a container truck Saturday near Quetta, Pakistan, returned home Tuesday.

The Edhi Foundation placed the victim’s bodies into coffins to transport them back to Chaman. Funeral prayers were said before victims left Quetta hospital. “We are taking these dead bodies to Spin Boldak and later these will be flown to Kabul by helicopter. We are thankful to Pakistan government for every help,” said Afghan consul general Daud Mohsini.

Afghan officials received the bodies from The Edhi ambulances and Pakistan police escorts at the Pak-Afghan border Bab-e-Dosti (Friendship Gate). Security was high and traffic was backed up at the border crossing. The bodies were taken to Kandahar then to Kabul before they were laid to rest in their home towns.

Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan dispatched aircraft to Pakistan to bring home the 46 victims. Poor weather grounded the planes, and the bodies were driven back across the border.

Pakistan police found a locked truck packed with approximately 111 Afghan illegal immigrants around 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Quetta on Saturday. The driver had fled the scene where 62 people were initially pronounced dead. Police said that from the strong smell emanating from the truck, the victims may have died days before they were discovered.

45 other people were found unconscious and taken directly to the hospital. At hospital two more migrants died. “The death toll is 46,” said Ghulam Dastagir, a police official.

Wazir Khan Nasir, a senior police official said, “We have been able to talk to some of the people, who were trapped in the container. They were all Afghans in the container and the container was going to Iran, When the condition of people inside the container deteriorated, the driver fled, leaving the container.”

Survivors have reported that a human smuggling racket locked 64 Kabul residents and 37 Spin Boldak residents in the truck container Friday afternoon. The truck’s air conditioning unit stopped working causing the locked passengers to cry out for help which was unheeded by the truck’s driver, and they fell unconscious. However, the loud ruckus caused by the trapped people inside did alert police and local residents to their plight.

The trip had cost each illegal immigrant US$4,000 to 8,000 for the trip. Gul Zameen, a survivor said, “We are all poor and wanted to find jobs in Quetta and Iran.”

The survivors have been charged under the Foreigners Act and some have been detained. Karzai has ordered an investigation and “demanded people avoid dangerous illegal migration and not be deceived by smugglers.” “We’ll go to Pakistan and talk to the survivors to find out what had exactly happened. The culprits will be brought to justice,” said Moheeddin Baluch head of the investigating delegation.

Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is also investigating. Five suspects believed to be involved in running the human smuggling racket have been arrested.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Nigeria’s acting president, Goodluck Jonathan, has announced the dissolution of the country’s cabinet.

In a statement after a cabinet meeting, Nigeria’s information minister, Dora Akunyili, said that “the acting president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, dissolved the Federal Executive Council [cabinet].” In the same statement, Akunyili said that Jonathan had provided no reason for the move, although analysts said that it was due to the impediment of the cabinet to Jonathan’s efforts to put his own mark on the office.

According to Akunyili, the move would not lead to a power vacuum, as the permanent secretaries will step up to take the positions vacated. Jonathan had taken over the role of acting president in February after President Umaru Yar’Adua temporarily stepped down due to sickness, and the cabinet had been entirely appointed by Yar’Adua.

In Akunyili’s statement, she said that an official statement from Jonathan as to the future of the cabinet would be released soon. Additionally, at some time in the future, Jonathan will submit to the National Assembly a list of his submissions for the next incarnation of the cabinet.

In a statement released from the president’s office, a spokesman said that it was “the prerogative of the president to change the cabinet whenever he feels the need to inject new blood, reinvigorate the cabinet and give it a new focus.” According to another, unnamed, government official, the cabinet had become paralyzed by infighting, impeding attempts of governance on major issues.

Yar’Adua has recently returned to Nigeria after being treated for a heart ailment in Saudi Arabia, but has made no public appearances. As a reflection of his impaired condition, Nigeria’s election next year has been brought forward three months, and the ruling People’s Democratic Party, of which both Yar’Adua and Jonathan belong to, has announced that its candidate in those elections will be a Muslim, preventing Jonathan, a Christian, from running. The decision follows a tradition of alternating between Muslim and Christian candidates, allowing each two four-year terms.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Speaker of the U.S. House John Boehner announced yesterday that he would agree to a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut. In an effort to end the impasse between the House and Senate, Boehner told Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid that he would schedule a House vote on the Senate version of the bill that would extend the tax cut, which was due to expire at the end of the year.

Speaker Boehner announced the agreement in a brief statement: “Senator Reid and I have reached an agreement that will ensure taxes do not increase for working families on January 1”. Boehner informed other congressmen of the deal in a conference call yesterday evening.

The House may pass the bill via unanimous consent today, which would not require the presence of all members. Boehner and Reid also agreed to a bipartisan negotiation committee to sort out differences and extend the tax cut for an entire year, a goal recently sought by Republicans in the House.

The extension of the payroll tax cut, which would prevent approximately 160 million Americans from seeing a tax increase in 2012, had already been passed by the Senate last weekend. Earlier yesterday, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell joined several other Republican Senators in encouraging the House to pass the extension.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said that once the House acts, he “will be happy to restart the negotiating process to forge a yearlong extension.” At a news conference, Speaker Boehner issued a statement: “We have fought the good fight. Why not do the right thing for the American people even though it’s not exactly what we want.” President Obama also responded to the development in a statement: “This is good news, just in time for the holidays. This is the right thing to do to strengthen our families, grow our economy, and create new jobs. This is real money that will make a real difference in people’s lives.”

The tax cut extension impasse began when the House effectively rejected the Senate-approved version of the bill on Tuesday after being faced with opposition from House Republicans, specifically those associated with the Tea Party movement, who advocated for spending cuts and the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Bairnsdale will return to Gippsland’s major Australian rules football league after members voted to join the Gippsland League (GL). The GL, East Gippsland Football League and the Victorian Country Football League, regional Victoria’s governing Aussie rules body, have all approved the move.

Bairnsdale will field teams in the seniors, under 18 and under 16 grades, but not a reserves side like the rest of the competition. Players not selected in the senior side will be able to play for a club in the East Gippsland minor league, under a unique transfer agreement.

They will play their first game back in the major league in Warragul on April 9 before playing their first home game against Moe a week later.

Their furthest away game will be to Wonthaggi – a one way trip of approximately 224 kilometres.

Friday, January 25, 2008

B2B Trade Area of Taipei Game Show, criticized by trade buyers last year, but accompanied with 2008 Taiwan Digital Content Forum, moved to the second floor at Taipei World Trade Center for world-wide participants with a better exchange atmosphere this year.

Not only local OBMs (Softstar Entertainment, Soft-World International Corp., International Games System Corp., …, etc.) but also companies from New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea showcased different specialists with multiple styles. Especially on South Korea, participated members from G? Trade Show (Game Show & Trade, All-Round, aka Gstar) showcased gaming industry of South Korea and the G? upcoming at this November with brochures.

In the 2-days Digital Content Forum, world-class experts not only shared industry experiences, members from Taiwan Gaming Industry Association also discussed and forecasted marketing models for gaming industry. With participations from governmental, industrial, and academical executives world-wide, this forum helps them gained precious experiences of digital content industry from several countries.

According to the Taipei Computer Association, the show and forum organizer, the digital content industry in Taiwan was apparently grown up recent years as Minister of Economic Affairs of the Republic of China Steve Ruey-long Chen said at Opening Ceremony yesterday. Without R&Ds from cyber-gaming, and basic conceptions from policies and copyright issues, this (digital content) industry will be fallen down in Taiwan. If this industry wanted to be grown up in sustainability, gaming OBMs in Taiwan should independently produce different and unique games and change market style to market brands and games to the world.