Social Media

Right here's a bit of social media that's capable of expressing people's frustrations.

From what I read of this story, the authorities fear open, public criticism of their actions. They realize that if one person criticizes, there could be a lot more people out there with the same experience. And goodness forbid that these malcontents could get organized to change the system as they see fit.

in reference to: BBC News - Social media 'could transform public services' (view on Google Sidewiki)

I love this quote. It's so Orwellian.

The large unintended consequences of stricter regulations might be that some of your bankster thugs might move out of the country and you would no longer have to bail them out of their billion pound boondoggles. It sounds like a win-win to me. Just don't send them here to the States'.

in reference to:

"The UK is a small place in a very big world and if we hobble our banks with obligations that are totally different from those that are put in place elsewhere there are large unintended consequences that could do us harm.”"
- Former RBS chairman has £55k new job - Herald Scotland | News | Home News (view on Google Sidewiki)

Sir Tom

Isn't this guy old enough and rich enough to retire comfortably and spare the world of his handiwork?

in reference to: Former RBS chairman has £55k new job - Herald Scotland | News | Home News (view on Google Sidewiki)

Snake Oil

Using homeopathic remedies seem to be about the same as the pharma industry pushing its drugs-- if you just take this pill, all of your ills will be magically cured. It's a quick fix for a lot of problems that really call for discipline and work and personal responsibility.

Granted, it can be quite dangerous when a person has a condition like cancer.

However, as long as people want to buy snake oil, there will always be people around to separate them from their money.

in reference to: PharmaGossip: More on Boots The Chemist selling homeopathy (view on Google Sidewiki)

Friends and Followers

I wish sidewiki allowed us to have friends and followers. I also wish that it allowed us to reply directly to other users' sidewiki entries instead of just voting on them.

in reference to: Rank Sidewiki entries : Sidewiki - Toolbar Help (view on Google Sidewiki)

Pop-up Ads?

Who sees these in this day and age? If you have to use MS, at least have FF or Opera as your browser!

in reference to: Sydney Morning Herald - Business & World News Australia | smh.com.au (view on Google Sidewiki)

Dude,

You're getting a Sun!

in reference to: Navis automates Saudi port operations (view on Google Sidewiki)

Hah!

Limbuagh and Olbermann have their own Urdu franchises. Who would have known?

in reference to:

"The explosion in TV channels in Urdu, English and regional languages has bought to the fore large numbers of largely untrained, semi-educated and unworldly TV talk show hosts and journalists who deem it necessary to win viewership at a time of an acute advertising crunch, by being more outrageous and sensational than the next channel."
- BBC News - Ahmed Rashid: Pakistan conspiracy theories stifle debate (view on Google Sidewiki)

Parallel Universe

The Pakistani populace seems to be treated to the same sort of crap that we Americans receive here in the United States-- everything but the actual news and issues.

in reference to:

"Viewers may well ask where is the passionate debate about the real issues that people face - the crumbling economy, joblessness, the rising cost"
- BBC News - Ahmed Rashid: Pakistan conspiracy theories stifle debate (view on Google Sidewiki)

Slashdot

One of the internet's great legacy sites that still remains relevant. Commander Taco be praised!

in reference to: Slashdot Stories (10) (view on Google Sidewiki)

"Rebuilding Trust"

They're not interested in "rebuilding trust" at all, but simply want to put a new spin on all their old problems.

in reference to:

"Pfizer boss Jeffrey Kindler says companies need to rebuild trust or face regulation"
- Pfizer boss Jeffrey Kindler says companies need to rebuild trust or face regulation - Telegraph (view on Google Sidewiki)

Stoners

It takes forever for this page to load, which is fine if you're sampling some of the product. But as I don't do it any more, the load time is just kind of a pain in the butt.

in reference to: Woodstock Universe (view on Google Sidewiki)

Stoners

It takes forever for this page to load, which is fine if you're sampling some of the product. But as I don't do it any more, the load time is just kind of a pain in the butt.

in reference to: Woodstock Universe (view on Google Sidewiki)

Bummer

...as treatment-emergent side effects lead again and again to medication nonadherence...

and lack of profits for the pharmaceutical industry

in reference to:

"as treatment-emergent side effects lead again and again to medication nonadherence."
- Help ‘sensitive’ patients tolerate medication — Current Psychiatry Online (view on Google Sidewiki)

Effective Governance

The chaos and lawlessness of the internet do not lend themselves well to governance.

in reference to:

"Establishing effective governance for social media"
- Social Media Strategies | Advanced Human Technologies (view on Google Sidewiki)

BioPsychiatry

Psychiatrists still haven't discovered a neurobiological basis for good, old-fashioned evil.

in reference to: Biopsychiatry: a critique « Beyond Meds (view on Google Sidewiki)

It's called a master stroke:

...The national government is headed, of course, by Hamid Karzai. He held on to his job after his main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, said on November 1 he was dropping out of the presidential election runoff, because he expected more of the widespread cheating which took place during the first round...

That was an absolutely brilliant political move by Abdullah Abdullah. He used Karzai's fraudulent behavior to advance his cause so perfectly.

Now we are supporting an illegitimate government in what was already a tenuous and difficult situation.

in reference to: Al Jazeera English - Focus - Is Karzai losing US support? (view on Google Sidewiki)

Ah, the old doublethink

The defense ministry says,

"Allegations of this nature are taken very seriously, but must not be taken as fact. Formal investigations must be allowed to take their course."

and then,

But Bill Rammell, the armed forces minister, told the BBC that the latest allegations do not warrant a public inquiry.

Up is down. Back is forward. Front is rear.

in reference to: Al Jazeera English - Europe - UK probes new Iraq abuse claims (view on Google Sidewiki)

I will give Dave credit

He knows how to dress. He looks very good with the spread collar and the four-in-hand knot.

in reference to: The IN VIVO Blog: AZ's Dave Brennan: Personalization & Partnership... & Business Implications (view on Google Sidewiki)

I think this gets the LOL stamp:

...he will call on the US Government to increase funding for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “so that it is recognised as a watchdog with a full set of teeth”.

The last thing that pharma wants is for the FDA to have a full set of teeth. If the FDA were fully independent and fully functional, then a lot of very bad drugs backed by some very questionable studies would have never come to market. A lot fewer people would have been harmed and pharma could have saved some of its pocket change that it uses for settlements.

in reference to: AstraZeneca chief executive will call on the US Government to give the Food and Drug Administration ‘a full set of teeth’ at Kerentech (view on Google Sidewiki)

I find this disingenuous

It's disingenuous to refer to inconvenient truths about one's product as misconceptions and because they are inconvenient they won't be mentioned.

I also find it hilarious that PR people are unable to participate in or otherwise put their spin on conversations about what are some really lousy and/or deadly products.

in reference to:

"The question is: How exactly do you correct misconceptions about a product if they can’t be mentioned?"
- AZ’s First Corporate Blog Falls Flat (view on Google Sidewiki)

Hating on the cops

I can't understand all this hating on the cops. I realize there may be a few bad apples out there and I feel for people who've had bad encounters with them, but reading about stuff like this is just beyond my experience.

I've had my fair share of run-ins with the police and for some of these I was very mouthy and belligerently drunk. But every single time I have been treated with nothing but courtesy, deference and respect, which is far more than I can say about my dealings with people who call themselves mental health professionals.

in reference to: 00:49 « Spit. Bristle. Fury. (view on Google Sidewiki)

Hating on the cops

I've had my fair share of run-ins with the police and for some of these I was very mouthy and belligerently drunk. But every single time I have been treated with nothing but courtesy, deference and respect, which is far more than I can say about my dealings with people who call themselves mental health professionals.

in reference to: 00:49 « Spit. Bristle. Fury. (view on Google Sidewiki)

Ms Nowak: Bunny Cooker from Space

I am oddly impressed with this woman because she acted like such a man in staking out her territory and pursuing a rival.

This case has lingered for quite some time. She could have faced life in prison and the previous post from the Beeb said she was going to plead temporary insanity. Sorry, girl, you methodically planned the attack with malice aforethought. Psychotic people simply aren't capable of this.

Sadly, if a man had been accused and convicted of such behavior, he would have gotten more than just his hands slapped, no matter what position and expertise he had.

in reference to: BBC NEWS | Americas | Plea deal for ex-Nasa astronaut (view on Google Sidewiki)

Going back to my old school

CNN recently published a list of the 10 Most Expensive Undergraduate Colleges in the US. When I got to the very end of it, I was absolutely startled that my old school, Vassar, had tied for tenth position. I didn't know whether to be proud or concerned. Tuition for my freshman year there was $8200, a princely sum for the early '80s. And now for '09-'10 it's almost sixfold.

I went to Vassar because it was my safety school. I cursed that I didn't get into Princeton. But ultimately I was relieved that I would not be one of Brooke Shields' classmates and I learned to embrace Vassar wholeheartedly.

While at Vassar, I encountered a great many people like myself. There were a lot of Ivy League rejects there. And we were rejects not because we didn't have the ability to handle the academic requirements of an Ivy, but because we simply had not applied ourselves during our high school years.

We were misfits, freaks, malcontents and assorted other iconoclasts who heard the beat of a different drummer-- somehow the Admissions Office could pick us out from the applicant pool. When we passed through Taylor Gate, we were amazed that Vassar simply didn't encourage us to follow to follow this beat if we heard it; she REQUIRED us to. She articulated something that we had perhaps already discovered, that the life of a troublemaker was not an easy path, but she codified in us that it was the only path worth following and it was our duty to pursue it.

These days I now hear opinions like this-- articles that decry the managerial elite that our nation's finest schools are now producing, their students' lack of intellectual curiosity and hard questions, their desire to march lockstep with the group, to not rock the boat and to get along for material gain. When I read this essay, I was both ashamed that it specifically trashes our traditional brother school, Yale, and I was also quite proud because it describes exactly what Vassar is NOT.

I suppose that there are many other reasons that Vassar is among the costliest of things. We don't have the massive endowment of Harvard and Stanford and yet our portfolio has been hit just like everyone else's. Less than 10% of our operating budget comes from corporate donations and 60% of students receive some sort of financial aid. At least, those were the last figures that I saw.

However, in the final analysis, I have to say that I am very proud of my old school and want to tell any prospective student that her future value to you is beyond any estimation and her current price is worth every damn penny.