Unsilent Generation: Does Air France 447 Reveal the Safety Risks of Plastic Aircraft?

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Does Air France 447 Reveal the Safety Risks of Plastic Aircraft?

It is conceivable that the materials used to construct parts of the Airbus 330 might have been a factor in the loss of Air France 447. While we may never know for sure whether structural issues contributed to the plane’s plunge into the Atlantic, the crash raises urgent questions that reach beyond even the untimely deaths of 228 people: Composite aircraft parts figure more and more in the future of commerical aviation, with the two biggest manufacturers preparing to roll out high-composite-content jets next year.It is conceivable that the materials used to construct parts of the Airbus 330 might have been a factor in the loss of Air France 447.

While we may never know for sure whether structural issues contributed to the plane’s plunge into the Atlantic, the crash raises urgent questions that reach beyond even the untimely deaths of 228 people: Composite aircraft parts figure more and more in the future of commercial aviation, with the two biggest manufacturers preparing to roll out high-composite-content jets next year.As of last month, the Dreamliner was being prepared final testing, with an eye toward release in 2010. The Airbus 380, made up of 25 percent composite, is under construction as well. In 2007, as construction of the Dreamliner got underway, a Boeing aerospace engineer claimed he was fired after he went public with warning that the composite materials rendered the aircraft unsafe.

scienceblogs.com: What is health care like in France? - by Mark H.

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What is health care like in France? - by Mark H

Here it comes. How dare I suggest the US could learn anything from France? By most assessments France provides the best health care in the world, with excellent life expectancy, low rates of health-care amenable disease, and again, despite providing excellent universal care, they spend less per capita than the US. Using about 10.7% of GDP and about 2000USD less per capita than the US they are providing the best health care in the world. To top it off, France's system isn't even socialized. That's right. It's yet another system that is a mixture of public and private funding that, if anything, provides the greatest level of physician and patient autonomy in making health care decisions. It is not, I repeat, not a single payer system. Doctors are largely self-employed, there is no big government authority telling doctors and patients what to do, just a progressive tax structure and requirements to pay into the system that fully subsidizes a functional health care system.

Businessweek: Chrysler, Fiat Drive Off the Lot - by David Kiley and David Welch

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Chrysler, Fiat Drive Off the Lot - by David Kiley and David Welch

Italian automaker Fiat (FIA.MI) officially began running the newly constituted Chrysler Group on Wednesday, June 10, a day after a deal was cleared by the courts enabling the Detroit automaker to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Freed from bankruptcy court, the new Chrysler Group faces a recession-wracked economy and no new vehicles for months. As arduous as Chrysler's path has seemed during the past six months—with an avalanche of negative publicity, collapsing car sales, and bankruptcy—the road ahead promises to be even more difficult. The new company will be working in a recession-weary environment, and with no significant new product arriving for months. "I would call this deal a move to salvage Chrysler, not save it, and we will have to see what comes of the salvage," says John Casesa, managing partner of New York-based Casesa Shapiro Group, an advisory firm specializing in the auto industry.

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, who will also serve as Chrysler CEO, made his first management moves on Wednesday. He named Chrysler Vice-Chairman James Press, the former U.S. head of Toyota who arrived at Chrysler in 2007, as deputy CEO. Frank Klegon, the company's product development chief, and top marketing executive Steve Landry both left the company.

WSJ: Irish Deflation Is Worst Since 1933 - Quintin Fottrell

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Irish Deflation Is Worst Since 1933 - Quintin Fottrel

Ireland slumped deeper into what some economists fear could be a lengthy period of deflation as the consumer price index fell by 4.7% in May from a year ago, by far the sharpest retreat in Europe and the worst here since 1933. Pushing the index down were lower mortgage interest repayments as the housing market has virtually ground to a halt, compounded by fall in energy prices, data from Ireland's Central Statistics Office showed Thursday. Excluding mortgage interest costs, the May consumer price index was only down 1.2% from a year earlier, the CSO said. Mortgage interest costs were down 42.4% on the year and, on the month, there was also a 12% drop in gas and 10.4% drop in electricity prices. Ireland was one of the first euro zone economies to see average prices fall. Most of the other 15 countries sharing the euro currency are showing annual inflation rates of around zero or just above.

PC World: Microsoft to Sell Windows 7 in Europe Without Browser - by Nancy Gohring

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Microsoft to Sell Windows 7 in Europe Without Browser - by Nancy Gohrin

Windows 7 will ship without Internet Explorer in Europe, in an effort by Microsoft to offer the product on time and without running afoul of competitive regulations in Europe, the company said. Microsoft on Thursday confirmed a Cnet story quoting from a memo that the software giant sent this week to PC makers. The move stems from a complaint that Web browser developer Opera filed with the European Commission last year saying that Microsoft gets an unfair advantage by tying IE with Windows. Mozilla has joined Opera in the suit. By shipping Windows 7 without the browser, Microsoft avoids potential requirements to delay shipment or other sanctions.

A Microsoft spokesman said the company is preparing a blog post that should go live Thursday that will offer more details about the decision to remove IE from Windows 7 and about how Europeans will be able to get the browser.

RFE: HEALTH ALERT: WHO Debates Whether To Declare Flu Pandemic

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HEALTH ALERT: WHO Debates Whether To Declare Flu Pandemic

The World Health Organization (WHO) is consulting with its emergency committee of flu experts as the UN agency debates whether to declare a swine flu pandemic. A decision to declare a pandemic could trigger large-scale production of vaccines as the flu continues spreading worldwide. The June 11 meeting of the emergency committee of flu experts will help determine if that is the case. It comes just a day after reports from 74 countries to WHO indicated that the total number of confirmed flu infections worldwide has reached 27,737. The infections have resulted in 141 deaths. If the WHO does declare a pandemic, that would be a signal to health officials worldwide to plan for the possibility of larger numbers of people catching the virus. And the declaration could prompt pharmaceutical companies to speed up the production of vaccines in an effort to counter the flu’s spread. The disease, which was first detected in Mexico in March, is considered particularly threatening to younger adults.

nieuwsuitamsterdam.nl: The Dutch political scene : PvdA party now takes D66 seriously

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The Dutch political scene : PvdA party now takes D66 seriously

With support for liberal party D66 growing in the polls, the party is being taken more seriously by coalition party PvdA, says D66 party leader Ivar Manuel (photo) in NRC Handelsblad. “The aldermen have been taking us more seriously for some time, ever since we are growing in the polls.” An example is the debate on the Red Light District, which Alderman Lodewijk Asscher wants to clean up. “Asscher and I have discussed this extensively in private and he has made some concessions to us.”

With the power of D66 growing, car-friendly PvdA council member Myriam Bergervoet sees new opportunities: “Its easier to discuss Islam with a Muslim fundamentalist than to discuss the environment with [green party] GroenLinks. D66 is more pragmatic.”

Bloomberg: Germany’s Inflation Rate Declined to Zero in May - by Francis Robinson

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Germany’s Inflation Rate Declined to Zero in May - by Francis Robinson

Germany’s inflation rate fell to zero in May for the first time in at least 13 years on lower energy costs and weakening demand. Consumer prices, calculated using a harmonized European Union method, were unchanged from a year earlier after increasing 0.8 percent in April, the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden said today. The May figure, revised from an initial estimate of minus 0.1 percent, is the lowest inflation reading since harmonized data were first compiled in 1996.

A 46 percent decline in crude oil prices over the past year is pushing down inflation at the same time as companies cut prices to tackle the deepest recession since World War II. The European Central Bank has downplayed the chance of deflation in Europe, with President Jean-Claude Trichet saying inflation will only temporarily move into negative territory this year. Germany’s inflation rate fell to zero in May for the first time in at least 13 years on lower energy costs and weakening demand.

WSJ: Green Dam Not Out to Censor China, Says Its Creator - by Loretta Chao

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Green Dam Not Out to Censor China, Says Its Creator - by Loretta Chao

The May 19 Chinese government notice about the requirement to install Green Dam software on computers being sold in China says this directive is aimed at "constructing a green, healthy, and harmonious Internet environment, and preventing harmful information on the Internet from influencing and poisoning young people." The software was developed by Jinhui Computer System Engineering Co., with input from Beijing Dazheng Human Language Technology Academy Co.

To try to reassure observers that Green Dam’s function is purely to block pornography and other content inappropriate for kids, Zhang, founder of Jinhui Computer System Engineering, one of the two companies that developed Green Dam, gave a step-by-step demonstration of the software for The Wall Street Journal. Zhang said that even users who have the software on the hard drive of their new PC would need to use an installer program to activate it. When they do so, they have the option of registering the software by providing some personal information. Users are given a standard password, which they can change, that enables them to access the program’s settings or turn it off. He showed how parents can turn on or off filtering for five categories of content: “adult/ pornography,” “extreme adult/pornography,” “violent games,” “homosexuality,” and “illegal activities/drugs.” Zhang said that “illegal activities” includes, but isn’t limited to, gambling. Users can also opt to turn on or off the notifications that appear when a Web site is blocked by Green Dam.

Mr. Zhang acknowledged it’s possible for the program to mistakenly block some Web sites, or allow Web sites with nudity to pass through filters.

NYT: China Requires Censorship Software on New PCs - by Andrew Jacobs with contibutions by Zhang Jing and Xiyun Yang

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China Requires Censorship Software on New PCs - by Andrew Jacobs with contributions by Zhang Jing and Xiyun Yang

China has issued a sweeping directive requiring all personal computers sold in the country to include sophisticated software that can filter out pornography and other “unhealthy information” from the Internet.The software, which manufacturers must install on all new PCs starting July 1, would allow the government to regularly update computers with an ever-changing list of banned Web sites. The rules, issued last month, ratchet up Internet restrictions that are already among the most stringent in the world. China regularly blocks Web sites that discuss the Dalai Lama, the 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square protesters, and the Falun Gong, the banned spiritual movement. Last week, as the 20th anniversary of the military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests approached, the government blocked a host of Internet services, including Twitter, Microsoft’s live.com and Flickr, a photo-sharing site, though by Monday evening, these sites had become available again. YouTube has been inaccessible in China outside Hong Kong since March.

PC makers that serve the Chinese market, among them Dell, Lenovo and Hewlett-Packard, said they were studying the new rules and declined to comment. But privately, industry executives in the United States said they were unnerved by the new rules, which were issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology with no consultation and no advance warning. Industry experts and civil libertarians say they are worried the software may simply be a Trojan horse for greater Internet control. The software developers have ties to China’s military and public security agencies, they point out, and Green Dam’s backers say the effort is supported by Li Changchun, the country’s chief propaganda official and a member of the decision-making body of the Communist Party, the Politburo Standing Committee. The software will be provided free, paid for by the government, and according to the official Green Dam Web site, it has already been downloaded 3.2 million times. That figure includes thousands of schools that were required to install the software by the end of May. The site claims that Chinese manufacturers, including Lenovo, Inspur and Hedy, have already agreed to install 52 million copies of the software on new computers.

CredoAction a US public advocacy group at http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/chinese_internet/?r=3848&id=4428-1136048-iw13Qhx has started a public protest action against the Chinese Government Internet directive.

EUobserver: Tough decisions on financial supervision remain for summit - by Andrew Willis

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Tough decisions on financial supervision remain for summit - by Andrew Willis

Finance ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Tuesday (9 June) made progress on a new financial supervisory framework for the European Union but failed to reach an agreement on several of its most contentious issues. Division over who should chair a new body designed to monitor overall risk levels in the European financial system mean EU leaders will be left to make the tough decisions when they meet in Brussels on 18-19 June.At stake is the chairmanship of the proposed European Systemic Risk Council, with the European Commission last month suggesting the position should be filled by the president of the European Central Bank.

The UK and a number of other member states outside the Eurozone however, fear their interests will not be represented sufficiently if this is the case, with wrangling now likely to continue all the way up to the next European summit in just over one week.Note EU-Digest: Non members of the Eurozone should be happy there is a euro fall-back position to pick up on where they went wrong. Most EU member states reflected the hope of economy commissioner Joaquin Almunia when he said: "I am fully sure that the European Council [of EU leaders] will adopt the commission position."

Telegraph: IMF tells Europe to come clean on bank losses - by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

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IMF tells Europe to come clean on bank losses - by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

"To restore confidence, you need total disclosure of possible losses," said Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF's managing director. "Not only losses which are linked to the original sub-prime crisis, but also the losses linked to the slowdown in the economy, and impaired assets. There are lots of things that still have to be disclosed," he said, adding that credit mechanism remained jammed. The latest IMF report said the chance to raise fresh bank equity while optimism lasts should be "seized without delay" and demanded a "comprehensive review to assess capital needs and viability."

Note EU-Digest: As one reads this article it is interesting to see how the Telegraph (a mouthpiece of the UK's Conservative party) in their comments on the IMF statement bad-mouthes the EU, the Germany and the euro, creating a perception that nothing is working in the EU. One has to recognize this is not objective reporting, just EU bashing.

RGE - Green Shoots or Yellow Weeds? - by Nouriel Roubini

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Green Shoots or Yellow Weeds? - by Nouriel Roubini

Recent data suggest that the rate of contraction in the world economy may be slowing. But hopes that “green shoots” of recovery may be springing up have been dashed by plenty of yellow weeds. Recent data on employment, retail sales, industrial production, and housing in the United States remain very weak; Europe’s first quarter GDP growth data is dismal; Japan’s economy is still comatose; and even China – which is recovering – has very weak exports. Thus, the consensus view that the global economy will soon bottom out has proven – once again – to be overly optimistic.

Telegraph: Worldwide military spending on weapons hits record high

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Worldwide military spending on weapons hits record high

World arms expenditure totaled euro 1.1 trillion ($1.464) trillion last year, a rise of 45 per cent from a decade ago and representing £135 for every person on the planet. Compared with 2007, the figure rose by 4 per cent in real terms, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Western companies dominate the ranking, with 44 of them from the US and 32 from Western Europe. Since 1999, US defense spending has soared by 67 per cent in real terms to euro 400 billion ($607 billion). China, which like Russia has almost tripled its military expenditure in the past 10 years, was for the first time the world's second-biggest arms spender in 2008. SIPRI estimated its spending accounted for six per cent of the global total. That would put it ahead of France and Britain, which each accounted for 4.5 percent. "China's increase has roughly paralleled its economic growth and is also linked to its major power aspirations," SIPRI said. SIPRI said the companies that registered the sharpest increases were manufacturers of armored tanks, in strong demand in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as companies that subcontract their services to the military.

On top of the list of 100 biggest weapons manufacturers was the US company Boeing, ahead of Britain's BAE Systems and another US group Lockheed Martin.

seattlepi.com: What caused Air France Flight 447 crash? No speculation, just facts

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What caused Air France Flight 447 crash? No speculation, just facts

Those following the crash of Air France Flight 447 have probably realized that speculation abounds about what may have caused the plane to break up just 14 minutes after the pilots had indicated that they were flying into dark clouds. It is still not clear that the Airbus A330 that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean was going too fast or too slow. Any assertions about either, at this point, are speculation.

Here's what is publicly known about the technical situation on board the aircraft just before it went down:
# The auto pilot was off, though it is not clear that the pilots switched it off.
# French investigators have determined that "based on the analysis of the automatic messages broadcast by the plane, there are inconsistencies between the various speeds measured."

Alternet: One of Europe's favorite spices- Do You Know About the Narcotic Effects of Nutmeg? - by Ibo Nagano

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One of Europe's favorite spices- Do You Know About the Narcotic Effects of Nutmeg? - by Ibo Nagano

Nutmeg, now a common household spice, comes from the tree Myristica fragrans, which originates from the Indonesian Banda Islands (also known as the Spice Islands). The name nutmeg comes from Latin, nux muscat, meaning musky nut. Legend has it that when M. fragrans sets seed, the musky smell of the nutmegs is so overpowering that it causes birds of paradise to fall to the ground (Krieg 1964). This may have more to do with the narcotic properties of nutmeg than with its characteristic scent, but it is this musky quality that has made nutmeg a popular flavoring for both sweet and savory dishes.Nutmeg is probably most widely used to treat stomach complaints. It has been used in South East Asia, India, the Middle East, and Europe to treat stomach aches and cramps, to aid digestion, and to dispel gas.One little-known application of nutmeg is its traditional use as an aphrodisiac. In India, nutmeg has been added to curry dishes and also to betel quids for its aphrodisiac effect (Rtsch 2005). Nutmeg is recognized as an aphrodisiac in Malaysia and in Arab countries, and its counterpart, mace, is prescribed by physicians in the Near East as an aphrodisiac (Forrest & Heacock 1972).

The traditional use of nutmeg as an aphrodisiac was recently put to the test by researchers at the Aligarh Muslim University in Aligarh, India. Their findings strongly support such an application. Their study was conducted by orally administering a 50% ethanol extract of nutmeg to male rats and monitoring changes in mating behaviors and sexual function. The extract was shown to significantly increase the frequency of erections and the mounting frequency, to decrease the amount of time between sexual episodes, and to significantly delay ejaculation in the test animals.

EUobserver: Sarkozy vows to change Europe after EU elections success - Elitsa Vucheva

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Sarkozy vows to change Europe after EU elections success - Elitsa Vucheva

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said his party's victory in Sunday's European elections showed that French people wanted the EU to change and has said he would come up with initiatives in that respect "in the days to come." In a communique published Monday (8 June) on the French president's website, Mr Sarkozy said that his centre-right UMP party's victory showed French people's "recognition for the work accomplished during the French presidency of the European Union [in the second half of last year] and their support for the efforts undertaken by the government to bring to an end an unprecedented global crisis".

Edie.net: Alternative energy: - Wind Power: Turkey to power up country's largest ever wind farm

Alternative energy - Wind Power: Turkey to power up country's largest ever wind farm

"Turkey's largest and most expensive wind farm is due to start producing power in the next few weeks. During the course of this year and into 2010 a further 29 wind turbines will be installed resulting in 54 wind turbines in total, which will be capable of generating 135MW, saving around 300,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year."

Telegraph.co.uk: President Nicolas Sarkozy's centre-Right UMP group and the Greens win

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President Nicolas Sarkozy's centre-Right UMP group and the Greens win

were the two big winners in France's European parliamentary elections, near complete results showed. But with 93 per cent of ballots counted, the opposition Socialists appeared to have suffered serious losses –plunging the already weak party into further disarray. With just under 28 per cent of the vote, the UMP was the first ruling party in France to come out on top in EU elections since 1979, in a major boost to the president, whose approval ratings have been poor in recent months.

Despite the poor turnout, François Fillon, the prime minister, was quick to praise Mr Sarkozy as the biggest winner in Sunday's vote. "This success is the recognition of the work accomplished by the the French presidency of the European Union" under Mr Sarkozy in the second half of 2008, he said.

Bloomberg.com/EU-Digest: Germany’s Merkel Wins EU Vote Seen as National Election Test - by Brian Parkin

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Germany’s Merkel Wins EU Vote Seen as National Election Test - by Brian Parkin

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats beat the Social Democrats in European Parliament elections yesterday with less than four months to go before a national vote, preliminary final results showed. The Christian Democratic Union and their Bavarian Christian Social Union sister party got 37.9 percent, according to results reported by Deutsche Presse-Agentur. The Social Democratic Party with chancellor candidate Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier got 20.8 percent.

“It’s a very successful election for Merkel,” Jan Techau, an analyst at the Berlin-based German Council on Foreign Relations, said in an interview. “It’s a pretty strong signal that German voters prefer the center-right parties because people expect them to be more competent on the economy.” Merkel’s preferred coalition partner, the pro-business Free Democrats, won 11 percent. This would mean that Merkel would be close to majority for a CDU/CSU-FDP alliance if today’s balloting had been for a national vote.

Note EU-Digest: With Sarkozy and Merkel winning big in these European elections, Europe's political dream team is alive and well and that is positive for Europe.