Eideard

Orange dots = Flickr photos, blue dots = Twitter messages, white dots = both simultaneously

Have you ever wondered where people are located when they post on Twitter or take a digital photo? Eric Fischer, a programmer and designer, recently answered this question by creating a series of maps showing people’s location when they send a Twitter message or upload a photo to Flickr, the photo-sharing Web site.

The data visualization series is called “See something or say something,” and according to Mr. Fischer’s Twitter feed, uses Twitter and Flickr’s A.P.I., or application programming interface, to figure out the location and times of each photo or message. He then plots it on a map.

In the map images, Mr. Fischer chose orange dots to illustrate the location of photos uploaded to Flickr, the blue dots show Twitter messages and the white dots are the location of both services being used at the same time.

Apps like these are facile enough that I guess we no longer need suggest these folks have too much time on their hands. Although I think that’s certainly true of Mr. Fischer.

Apple led U.S. retail growth in the first quarter of calendar 2011, accounting for a whopping 20 percent of all sales growth by publicly traded American retailers during the three-month period.

The data comes from retail sales expert David Berman, who told USA Today that he believes Apple’s retail success is “mind-boggling.” In the quarter which ended in March, Apple’s U.S. sales saw an 80 percent increase by $4.6 billion…

During the three-month span to start 2011, Apple’s retail sales were up 32 percent, and in-store revenue from Mac sales was up 90 percent. Revenue from retail stores was $3.18 billion, a year-over-year increase of 90 percent…

While international expansion has become a priority, Apple also has big plans for its stores in the U.S. The company’s flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York City is currently under renovation, as the company is spending $6.7 million to replace the giant 32-foot glass cube that serves as an entrance to the underground retail store.

Though I’m a recent fanboy – I switched a few years back after a quarter-century of plodding in the wonderful world of Wintel – I post this because of discussions among investors who are already panicking themselves over what they call Bubble 2.0. That fear can be laid at their own feet if they’re foolish enough to make the same mistakes at root of the previous tech bubble: like investing in companies without a profitable business plan. The watchword among the timorous is “don’t invest in tech!”

But, Apple’s story doesn’t exist in a vacuum. What company followed them into 2nd place in retail sales growth in the 1st quarter? Um, Amazon.com.

The first evidence has emerged that nationwide vaccination programmes for young women against HPV, the virus that triggers cervical cancer, are likely to cut the numbers who get the disease.

A study in Australia, one of the first countries to introduce the vaccination, has shown a drop in high-grade cervical abnormalities – changes to the cells in the neck of the womb that can be the precursor to cancer.

Australia introduced nationwide HPV (human papilloma virus) vaccination for women aged 12 to 26 from 2007.

While it will take many years to find out whether vaccination programmes definitely reduce the numbers of cervical cancers in the population, Australian scientists were able to analyse the results from their screening programme to find out whether there has been any drop in the number of young women with abnormal cell changes that are the precursor of cancer…

That finding, say the authors, “reinforces the appropriateness of the targeting of prophylactic HPV vaccines to pre-adolescent girls”…

In spite of worries that parents would refuse to have their daughters vaccinated against what is essentially a sexually-transmitted virus, the take-up has been good, according to figures from the Department of Health.

Well, that’s the case in the UK and, obviously, in Australia.

Anyone surprised?

American students are less proficient in their nation’s history than in any other subject, according to results of a nationwide test released on Tuesday, with most fourth graders unable to say why Abraham Lincoln was an important figure and few high school seniors able to identify China as the North Korean ally that fought American troops during the Korean War.

Over all, 20 percent of fourth graders, 17 percent of eighth graders and 12 percent of high school seniors demonstrated proficiency on the exam, the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Federal officials said they were encouraged by a slight increase in eighth-grade scores since the last history test, in 2006. But even those gains offered little to celebrate, because, for example, fewer than a third of eighth graders could answer even a “seemingly easy question” asking them to identify an important advantage American forces had over the British during the Revolution, the government’s statement on the results said.

Diane Ravitch, an education historian who was invited by the national assessment’s governing board to review the results, said she was particularly disturbed by the fact that only 2 percent of 12th graders correctly answered a question concerning Brown v. Board of Education, which she called “very likely the most important decision” of the United States Supreme Court in the past seven decades.

Students were given an excerpt including the passage “We conclude that in the field of public education, separate but equal has no place, separate educational facilities are inherently unequal,” and were asked what social problem the 1954 ruling was supposed to correct.

“The answer was right in front of them,” Ms. Ravitch said. “This is alarming…”

History advocates contend that students’ poor showing on the tests underlines neglect shown to the subject by federal and state policy makers, especially since the 2002 No Child Left Behind act began requiring schools to raise scores in math and reading but in no other subject. The federal accountability law, the advocates say, has given schools and teachers an incentive to spend less time on history and other subjects.

“History is very much being shortchanged,” said Linda K. Salvucci, a history professor in San Antonio who is chairwoman-elect of the National Council for History Education.

Bragging about scant victories, the report applauds our school system for 42% of students knowing something of day-to-day economics. That’s the best our kids do on any topic. 42%.

People living in England enjoy better health than Americans, despite less investment in healthcare, research published in the US has revealed.

Across all ages, US residents tend to fare worse in terms of diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease markers, data on over 100,000 people show…

The reason remains a mystery, says the US team…

Not a mystery if you pay attention to the bullshit cranked out by our bought-and-paid-for politicians.

Despite the greater use of health care technology in the US, Americans receive less preventive health care than their English counterparts…

But despite looking, the researchers did not find any real evidence that differences in obesity, alcohol consumption or physical activity were to blame.

Smoking may be a factor, but Dr Melissa Martinson and colleagues doubt it because even younger Americans who have not yet been exposed to decades of tobacco smoke appear to be in worse health than English counterparts.

And although a larger share of Americans are uninsured or under insured compared to populations in England or other European countries, even groups with good access to health insurance experienced worse health than people in England…

A spokesperson from the Department of Health said: “The NHS offers care free to all at the point of use and based on need.

“Whilst in some areas our outcomes may be favourable compared with those in the US, we are still clear that we have a long way to go before we achieve outcomes comparable with the best performing health systems.

“That is exactly why we are modernising the NHS.”

My mates in the UK complain about the NHS even more than their peers – and my friends – in the GWN complaining about Health Canada.

We have succeeded in modernizing little or nothing.

An ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church USA who once worked in Minneapolis has been acquitted by a church panel of charges that he violated the church constitution when he legally married his gay partner in California in 2008.

The case of the Rev. Erwin Barron, who was associate pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in the 1990s, is likely to be appealed. It is the first time the divided church, which sidestepped the issue of gay marriage at its national convention last summer in Minneapolis, has dealt with the possible discipline of a gay pastor who legally married a same-sex partner.

Barron, a college professor in San Francisco…faced a 2 1/2-hour trial before a presbytery panel of six at Oak Grove Presbyterian Church in Bloomington. After almost three hours of closed deliberations, the panel split 3-3. A two-thirds vote was required for conviction, which lawyers said could have led to defrockment.

“I’m relieved,” Barron said. “I wish it was more definitive. … The decision is not clear for the church.”

The Rev. Neil Craigan, a White Bear Lake pastor who was on the prosecuting committee, said his group will consider an appeal. The case could rise to the synod level and possibly to the national church for final disposition.

“I think there is a high probability that we will appeal to get more clarity on the issues that we face as a denomination,” Craigan said. “We’ve never had a trial of this kind before.”

But of course churches often have had trials like this one.

RTFA for all the gory details, rationales over why a church should aid in homophobia and diminishing the civil rights of Americans.

A large swath of the country is at risk of moderate to major flooding this spring, from northeastern Montana through western Wisconsin following the Mississippi River south to St. Louis, National Weather Service flood experts are forecasting. Today the agency released an initial spring flood outlook for this high risk region and will release a national spring flood outlook on March 17.

For the third consecutive year, forecasters predict moderate to major flooding along the Red River of the North, which forms the state line between eastern North Dakota and northwest Minnesota and includes the Souris River Basin and the Devils Lake and Stump Lake drainages in North Dakota.

If the current forecast holds, the main stem Mississippi River is at risk for moderate to major flooding from its headwaters in St. Paul, Minn., all the way to St. Louis…

“Excessive precipitation, mainly in the form of snow, coupled with continuously frigid temperatures has yielded a thick snowpack in much of the upper Midwest. We expect significant flooding when this snow begins to melt,” said Lynn Maximuk, central region director of the National Weather Service. “We urge residents in risk areas to closely monitor NOAA’s river forecasts and warnings, and prepare now for flooding.”

For complete details, see the spring flood outlook at http://www.weather.gov/oh/hic/nho.

It would be a chuckle if it weren’t tragic. I don’t see any of the climate change so-called skeptics telling their kin in flood zones to “sit tight and don’t worry about a thing. NOAA experts in weather and climate don’t know nuthin.”

Meanwhile, I hope the rest of y’all pay attention and check predictions and updates for your own neck of the prairie.

Marchionne at 2011 Chrysler product launch in Brampton, Ontario
Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission

Sergio Marchionne, chief executive of Fiat and Chrysler, has been forced on the defensive after causing a political firestorm in Italy by suggesting he could move the Italian company’s headquarters from Turin to the US…

His comments come just a month after he won tough labour concessions at Fiat’s flagship Turin plant on a pledge that he would not move production to cheaper sites in North America or eastern Europe.

Fiat is a symbol of Italy’s industrial might, and business leaders say any decision by Mr Marchionne to reduce its presence there would have a disastrous effect on the country’s already weak image as a place for foreign investment. Pierluigi Bersani, leader of the opposition Democratic party, demanding an explanation from Mr Marchionne said it was unacceptable for “Turin and the country to become a suburb of Detroit”.

On Sunday, John Elkann, Fiat chairman, sought to calm tension, telling Turin’s mayor that the city would remain a European headquarters of Fiat in any merger with Chrysler…

Fiat said only that Mr Marchionne spoke in his capacity as Chrysler chief executive. Even so, top bankers familiar with Fiat expect Mr Marchionne, who has made no secret of his frustration with Italian bureaucracy and labour relations, to seek to slim down operations in Italy and lead the group from the US…

How does it feel knowing that our economic worth – and guidance from Wall Street and Washington, DC in recent years – has made us as “desirable” as any other 3rd World country?

The majority of Americans have limited understanding of the planet’s climate system and the causes and threats of climate change, according to a new study by Yale University. Only 1 in 10 of those surveyed by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication said they are “very well informed” about climate change issues. And while 63 percent believe that global warming is occurring, many do not understand why.

According to the survey, 57 percent of respondents know that the greenhouse effect refers to heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere; 45 percent understand that carbon dioxide traps heat from the planet’s surface; and only 25 percent are aware of coral bleaching or ocean acidification. And the majority of respondents had significant misconceptions about climate science, including the incorrect belief that the hole in the ozone layer, toxic waste, aerosol spray, and acid rain cause global warming.

Based on these results, the authors say only 8 percent of respondents would have knowledge equivalent to a grade of an A or B, and more than 52 percent would receive an F grade.

Anyone surprised?

Ignorance ain’t bliss, folks.

A Scot has reclaimed the title of the world’s best porridge maker after it was won by an American last year.

Neal Robertson, 53, from Auchtermuchty in Fife, used a spon – a special double backed spoon he invented – instead of a traditional rod-shaped spurtle to prepare the dish.

He said that the spon and water from the hills above Auchtermuchty were the secret to making the perfect porridge.

Mr Robertson, who runs the Tannochbrae Tearoom in the Fife village, faced competition from last year’s winner Matthew Cox, from Portland in the US, who returned to Scotland to defend his title…

The Golden Spurtle World Porridge Making Championship was held in Carrbridge in the Scottish Highlands, with the main prize of the Golden Spurtle Trophy awarded to the porridge-maker deemed to have made the best traditional porridge using oatmeal, salt and water.

Professional chefs and porridge-making enthusiasts from across the UK took part, along with international competitors from Canada, the US and Sweden. The event was sponsored by oatmeal producers Hamlyns of Scotland.

The competition took place on the same day as the second World Porridge Day, aimed at raising money for hungry children in some of the world’s poorest countries.

You must understand the importance of this contest inside many Celtic families. In our household, even the dogs enjoy porridge for breakfast.