BA staff vote for suicide strike

Bad news for anyone planning of international travel over xmas.
Reported here.

Seems like a stupid idea to me. I don't know enough to say if their issues have merit, and one could certainly argue that BA should have put more aside when times were good, but to strike now will help no-one and will lead to more job losses.

Berlusconi given a knuckle sandwich.

Italy head man, Silvio Berlusconi has apparently received a punch to the face from an angry protester.
In my opinion Berlusconi has made a bit of a joke of Italian politics and has to much control of media, judges and other politicians to be trusted with the top political job too. However, I doubt that giving him a split lip is the best way forward.

BBC have covered this here. I'm sure there we will all be sick of this being repeated on the news within an hour.

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Edit: It turned out to be a model cathedral which was used as a weapon.

In Tamiflu we trust.. but maybe we shouldn't.

This is somewhat old news, but I think it is the first systematic review of neuraminidase inhibitor drugs (Tamiflu, etc). If you don't want to read it then the super-executive summary is that it is only mildly effective as a treatment and almost worthless ans a preventative. There have also been cases of resistant H1N1 reported, so there is no good reason for healthy people to be taking Tamiflu and no-one should be hoarding the medication.

Some beautiful spirals from Russian rocket booster.

The Norwegians seem to have all the luck when it comes to sky gazing. They get very little light polution, they get the aurora, and now they have amazing rocket ejecta spirals. I would have loved to see this.

Of course the various breeds of loons, nuts and conspiracy theorists are all over this. Phil Plait has covered the story here and here.

On another note: those in the UK lucky enough to have a clear sky should expect to see a meteor shower, which should peak (~2/minute) at ~2200 this evening. The show is courtesy of the Geminid meteors.

I'm Back!

At last my ISP have got their act together, so I'm back. They haven't had the good manners to even tell me why I have had no internet for so long. I certainly won't be renewing my contract.

I'll be posting more shortly, I'm a bit behind on everything 'net related at the moment.

Quick Update & Nigerian Witch Hunter Claiming Religious Discrimination

Well my internet is still off at home, so I'm posting from work. I have no idea when it will be back, maybe they started the disconnections early ;-)

On a more serious matter:
It appears that one of the key fanatics behind the child witch hunts in Nigeria, Helen Ukpabio of the Liberty Gospel Church, is claiming that her religious freedoms have been infringed and is claiming ~$800,000 in damages. The claim is based on the arrest of some members of her group who were disrupting and stealing from a conference on child rights and the problems caused by belief in witchcraft.
If you want to find out more, a lot of information will be turned up by a google search on her name.
There is a petition asking for her and her organisation to be brought to justice which you can sign if you agree with what they are calling for.

My ISP...

...is experiencing some problems at the moment, meaning that I am posting this from a friends house. Hopefully I'll be back on line soon and posting some more content.