Thursday, April 17, 2008

Eric Bogosian is one of America’s great multi-dimensional talents. “There’s sort of three different careers, and any one of them could exist by itself, on its own two feet. There was that solo stuff, and then I started writing plays in the late seventies.” Although his work has spanned genres, most readers will recognize Bogosian for his acting, which has included a memorable performance in Woody Allen‘s Deconstructing Harry to co-writing and starring in the Oliver Stone movie Talk Radio (based upon his Pulitzer Prize-nominated play) to playing the bad guy in Under Siege 2 to his current role in Law & Order: Criminal Intent as Captain Danny Ross. They may not know, however, that he had collaborated with Frank Zappa on a album, worked with Sonic Youth, and was a voice on Mike Judge‘s Beavis & Butthead Do America. He started one of New York City’s largest dance companies, The Kitchen, which is still in existence. He starred alongside Val Kilmer in Wonderland and his play Talk Radio was recently revived on Broadway with Liev Schreiber in the role Bogosian wrote and made famous.

Currently at work on his third novel, tentatively titled The Artist, Bogosian spoke with David Shankbone about the craft of writing and his life as a creative.

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Fighting words were exchanged in the Australian House of Representatives over the matter of the division of Medicare safety net payments per electorate. The Minister for Health and Ageing Tony Abbott (Liberal, Warringah) had introduced a policy that the Government would pay Medicare users up to a fixed amount — the safety net — to help in addressing “gaps” in certain payments which Medicare would not cover, such as certain hospital payments. The Opposition was opposed to the idea on efficacy counts.

Abbott was asked a Dorothy Dixer in Question Time today about the benefits of the safety net. He alleged that criticism by the Opposition Health spokeswoman Julia Gillard (Labor, Lalor) that the safety net favoured Liberal/National Party coalition electorates was misleading as it was a Labor electorate, Grayndler that received the “highest safety net benefits per electorate”.

This led Gillard to make a personal explanation after Question Time, stating that “the top four electorates receiving money under the Medicare safety net are Wentworth, North Sydney, Bradfield and Warringah” — all coalition electorates. The Leader of the Opposition, Kim Beazley (Labor, Brand), put a question to the Speaker of the House, David Hawker (Liberal, Wannon) asking of the Speaker his “assurance that no person is being deliberately misled by the actions of any other person”.

Abbott had then interjected towards Beazley, saying “You big bellowing cow”; the Speaker asked Abbott to withdraw, but Abbott mentioned that “the Leader of the Opposition regularly interjects ‘pompous ass’ and ‘goose’, but I am happy to withdraw”. Beazley then responded through the Speaker saying of Abbott, “I think that he is a sleazy, dummy-spitting, little git.”

Abbott then made a personal explanation of his own, saying “The safety net benefit per person in the electorate of the member for Grayndler was $591, the highest in New South Wales…the safety net benefit in the electorate of Sydney was $589, the second highest…the benefit in the electorate of Lowe was $458, the third highest”.

The matter was not further raised at the time, but after the Matter of Public Importance debate, Gillard moved a motion to suspend standing orders which would prevent Abbott from explaining his earlier claim “when this claim is totally untrue”, to correct the “grossly inaccurate and misleading statement”, to “apologise to all Members in this place” and to “apologize to the Member for Grayndler and his constituents”. Gillard also listed the amounts of payments “released by the Minister himself”, that Wentworth received $7.8 million, North Sydney received $7.5 million, Bradfield received $6.9 million, Warringah received $6.3 million; whereas Grayndler received only $3.6 million. She attempted to debate the motion but a gag motion to silence Gillard was moved and won because of Government numbers. Anthony Albanese, the Labor member for Grayndler attempted to second the motion but the gag was moved on him as well. The final vote on the motion was lost 55 to 79.

Monday, August 27, 2007

The government of Finland has announced it will offer to send three specialist firefighting helicopters, 25 firefighters and 2-3 forest fire experts to Greece via the European Union to assist with the forest fire emergency Greece is currently experiencing.

Greece is currently in urgent need of fixed-wing aircraft with water-bombing capabilities, assets which Finland does not posses. If the Greek authorities deem Finland’s offers to be suitable, they will be dispatched with immediate effect, within six hours of Greece requesting the rotorcraft and personnel.

It is thought that the men would most likely be put to use protecting built-up areas in an attempt to prevent the death toll, already over 60, from rising any higher.

The helicopters have been sourced via a private company. Finland said that the country could not commit to send the aircraft any sooner without arrangements being made to cover their removal from service, as otherwise safety in Finland would be severely jeopardised, with emergency aircraft unavailable should Finland experience any fires of its own.

The helicopters Finland have available can each carry up to 800 litres of water or foam retardant, whereas large firefighting planes can carry tens of thousands of litres.

Finland had previously thought they would be unable to spare any help for Greece, and it was only after much sourcing of aircraft from the private sector that Finland was able to make the offer. Finland are also looking into whether they may be of assistance in reforestation efforts after the fires have been extinguished.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

2010 Formula One World Championship entrants USF1 have secured an investment deal with YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley, British magazine Autosport have revealed.

Hurley was positive about the future, and hinted at long term involvement with the team.

YouTube was bought out by search engine giants Google in 2006, which has consolidated the video-sharing website as a global phenomenon, valued at $1.65bn. However, its relationship with Formula 1 has not always been rosy. Video rights to Formula 1 are under the strict copyright of Bernie Ecclestone’s FOM concern. Videos of Formula 1 footage posted on the website are soon challenged and removed, however once removed they are soon replaced, due to the sheer number of videos on the site.

USF1 team principle Ken Anderson was positive about the deal, noting that Hurley’s business acumen and experience in setting up a global brand from scratch can be applied to the fledgling team.

Autosport have also revealed that veteran drivers Alexander Wurz and Pedro de la Rosa may be in the running for a seat alongside “an American rookie”. Austrian Wurz has not competed in Formula 1 since 2007 (For Williams in China), and de la Rosa has not raced competitively in F1 since 2006, when he replaced Juan Pablo Montoya at McLaren mid-way through the season.

The other two new entrants for next year, Campos Grand Prix and Manor Motorsport are yet to announce any investment or sponsorship agreements.

Hurley’s involvement is unlikely to see the YouTube logo added to the car as this is a personal involvement independent of his current position with YouTube.

Friday, June 20, 2008

The Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM), or Jason-2, satellite, has been launched into low Earth orbit. A Delta II rocket carrying the satellite lifted off from Space Launch Complex 2W at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, United States, at 07:46 GMT this morning. Spacecraft separation occurred around an hour later, and the solar panels on the satellite have deployed.

OSTM is a collaboration between the American space agency, NASA, and the French space agency, CNES. It will study and map the surface of the oceans from space. The Delta II rocket flew in the 7320 configuration, the lowest capacity variant, with three solid rocket motors, and no third stage. The exact launch time was 07:46:25.192 GMT.

This is the third launch of a Delta II carrier rocket to be conducted so far this year, and the 137^th overall. The next Delta II is scheduled to launch in mid-late August, with the GeoEye-1 civilian imagery satellite, however A GPS satellite launch which was delayed from mid July to an unconfirmed date could potentially occur before this. This is the 32^nd orbital launch of 2008.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

A Norwegian University of Science and Technology study released Thursday found electric vehicles have a potential for higher eco-toxicity and greenhouse impact than conventional cars. The study includes an examination of the electric car’s life cycle as a whole rather than a study of the electric car’s environmental impact during the use phase.

The researchers conducted a comparison of the environmental impact of electric cars in view of different ratios of green-to-fuel electricity energy sources. In the case of mostly coal- or oil-based electricity supply, electric cars are disadvantageous compared to classic diesel cars with the greenhouse effect impact being up to two times larger.

The researchers found that in Europe, electric cars pose a “10% to 24% decrease in global warming potential (GWP) relative to conventional diesel or gasoline vehicles”.

The researchers suggest to improve eco-friendliness of electric vehicles by “reducing vehicle production supply chain impacts and promoting clean electricity sources in decision making regarding electricity infrastructure” and using the electric cars for a longer time, so that the use phase plays a more important role in the electric vehicle life cycle.