Saturday, October 27, 2007

Gay Talese wants to go to Iraq. “It so happens there is someone that’s working on such a thing right now for me,” the 75-year-old legendary journalist and author told David Shankbone. “Even if I was on Al-Jazeera with a gun to my head, I wouldn’t be pleading with those bastards! I’d say, ‘Go ahead. Make my day.'”

Few reporters will ever reach the stature of Talese. His 1966 profile of Frank Sinatra, Frank Sinatra Has a Cold, was not only cited by The Economist as the greatest profile of Sinatra ever written, but is considered the greatest of any celebrity profile ever written. In the 70th anniversary issue of Esquire in October 2003, the editors declared the piece the “Best Story Esquire Ever Published.”

Talese helped create and define a new style of literary reporting called New Journalism. Talese himself told National Public Radio he rejects this label (“The term new journalism became very fashionable on college campuses in the 1970s and some of its practitioners tended to be a little loose with the facts. And that’s where I wanted to part company.”)

He is not bothered by the Bancrofts selling The Wall Street Journal—”It’s not like we should lament the passing of some noble dynasty!”—to Rupert Murdoch, but he is bothered by how the press supported and sold the Iraq War to the American people. “The press in Washington got us into this war as much as the people that are controlling it,” said Talese. “They took information that was second-hand information, and they went along with it.” He wants to see the Washington press corp disbanded and sent around the country to get back in touch with the people it covers; that the press should not be so focused on–and in bed with–the federal government.

Augusten Burroughs once said that writers are experience junkies, and Talese fits the bill. Talese–who has been married to Nan Talese (she edited James Frey‘s Million Little Piece) for fifty years–can be found at baseball games in Cuba or the gay bars of Beijing, wanting to see humanity in all its experience.

Below is Wikinews reporter David Shankbone’s interview with Gay Talese.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

A lively shopping district was suddenly struck by an indiscriminate murder spree on a Sunday afternoon. A young man attacked a crowd with a rented truck, and then stabbed people with a dagger, around 12:35 JST (3:35 UTC) on Sunday in the Akihabara district of Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo. The suspect, identified as Tomohiro Kat?, aged 25, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. Seven people were killed, and ten injured.

The injured people include pedestrians, a 53-year-old policeman, and a taxi driver, 54, who is believed to have left his taxi in order to help a pedestrian hit by the truck. About 17 ambulances came to the scene. NHK reports that medical teams trained for disasters joined the rescue.

The dead are six men aged between 19 and 74 and a 21-year-old woman; each was identified by police.

The truck, traveling on Kanda My?jin-d?ri (Kanda My?jin Avenue), ran into the crowd at a crossing on Ch??-d?ri (Ch?? Avenue), which is a vehicle-free road every Sunday. After entering the crowd, the truck continued moving for about 30 meters. The suspect then exited the truck and began stabbing people. According to a witness, the suspect, upon being pursued by police, ran south on Ch??-d?ri and was cornered in a narrow alley. The suspect dropped his knife after the police officer drew his gun, and was overpowered by the officer and several bystanders.

The suspect has been quoted as confessing to police, “I came to Akihabara to kill people. I’m tired of the world. Anyone was OK. Today I came alone.” The suspect, a native of Aomori City, lived and worked as a dispatched temporary employee in Shizuoka Prefecture. After being held at the Manseibashi Police Station, he was sent on Tuesday to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office.

At the scene, a table covered with a white cloth was set for memorial flowers and other offerings on the morning of Monday, June 9. As acquaintances of the dead and passersby visited, the table soon filled—almost flooded—with flowers, drink bottles, pictures, and folded paper cranes.

The incident occurred on the same date with the 2001 Osaka school massacre, in which eight elementary school students were killed.

NHK reported the incident as confirmed within 45 minutes, interrupting a news channel program for one minute. Some newspapers created special issues to report the incident as June 8 was a Sunday and also a press holiday, many newspapers in Japan were not scheduled for delivery on that evening or the following morning.

The Akihabara district is famous for its Electric Town with wholesalers and retailers of video games or electric gadgets such as PC parts, televisions and kitchen appliances. It has also become famous for distinctive trends in cultures created or supported by the youth.

Local residents, business owners, and government officials from Chiyoda Ward assembled for an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss whether the practice of maintaining the vehicle-free area on Sundays ought to be continued. The Tokyo Metropolitan Public Safety Commission is also expected to discuss the issue.

Wednesday, June 8, 2005

Copenhagen, Denmark – The Danish Integration Minister Rikke Hvilshøj’s car was set ablaze outside her family-home on the morning of Wednesday 8 June. From there, the fire spread to the family’s garage, and further on to the side of the house, damaging the roof above the kitchen and children’s room.

At the same time, an e-mail was sent to several media agencies, where a group calling themselves “Action Group Beate” claimed responsibility, saying it is a “protest against the racist immigrational laws of Denmark”. The police found the computer used for sending the mail within a few hours, and closed down the cybercafé whilst removing the computer.

Throughout the Danish political system politicians from both the ruling party and the opposition have expressed their outrage over the terrorism.

The insurance company is currently assessing the amount of damage done to the home, but so far they have made an estimate of £27.000, just for the house damages.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Two astronauts have performed a spacewalk, or EVA, to replace a depleted nitrogen tank in the Integrated Truss Structure of the International Space Station. The Space Station’s Nitrogen Tank Assembly (NTA), was successfully replaced with a new one, launched aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis, which is currently visiting the station, on mission STS-122. The old tank will be returned to Earth aboard the Shuttle. The NTA forms part of the Space Station’s cooling system.

The spacewalk was successful, and the primary task of changing the tank was completed ahead of schedule, allowing the astronauts to perform several secondary tasks, which included the installation of thermal covers on the newly installed Columbus module, and inspection of micrometeoroid shields on the Destiny module.

American astronaut Rex Walheim and German astronaut Hans Schlegel, both of the STS-122 crew, left the ISS Quest airlock at 14:27 GMT, and re-entered it at 21:12, after six hours and 45 minutes of extra-vehicular activity. This is the 103^rd spacewalk to be made as part of the International Space Station programme, and the second of three planned for the STS-122 mission.

Meanwhile, NASA have announced that the STS-122 mission has been extended by one day. Landing is now scheduled for next Wednesday, at 13:59 GMT. The extension will give the astronauts extra time to finish activating the Columbus module, a process which has been delayed due to computer problems aboard the module.

Friday, September 8, 2006

From September 3 to 8, experts gathered at the 10th International Congress on Obesity in Sydney, Australia, to discuss what they call the worldwide “obesity epidemic”. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1 billion people in the world today are overweight, and 300 million of those are obese. “Obesity and overweight pose a major risk for serious diet-related chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke, and certain forms of cancer“, a WHO fact sheet states. According to AP, experts at the conference “have warned that obesity is a bigger threat than AIDS or bird flu, and will easily overwhelm the world’s health care systems if urgent action is not taken”.

Of particular concern is the large number of overweight children. Dr. Stephan Rossner from Sweden’s Karolinska University Hospital, a leading obesity expert who was present at the conference, has warned that as a result of the increasing number of overweight children, “we will have, within a decade or two, a number of young people who are on kidney dialysis. There will not be organs for everybody”. UK-based International Obesity Task Force has said that junk food manufacturers target children, for example, through Internet advertising, chat rooms, text messages, and “advergames” on websites. Politicians are not doing enough to address the problem of obesity, including childhood obesity, the experts said.

According to Wikipedia, examples of junk food include, but are not limited to: hamburgers, pizza, candy, soda, and salty foods like potato chips and french fries. A well-known piece of junk food is the Big Mac. The US version of just one Big Mac burger contains 48% of calories from fat, 47% US Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of fat, 52% RDA of saturated fat, 26% RDA of cholesterol, 42% RDA of sodium, and little nutritional value. It also has 18% of calories from protein. According to WHO, most people need only about 5% calories from protein. Staples such as rice, corn, baked potatoes, pinto beans, as well as fruits and vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, oranges, and strawberries, provide more than this required amount of protein without the unhealthy amounts of fats or sodium, without cholesterol, and with plenty of fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

Both WHO and the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) define overweight in adults as a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 25 or above, and obese as a BMI of 30 or above. To combat overweight and obesity, WHO recommends that, among other things, people should be taking the following steps

• eating more fruit and vegetables, as well as nuts and whole grains;
• engaging in daily moderate physical activity for at least 30 minutes;
• cutting the amount of fatty, sugary foods in the diet;
• moving from saturated animal-based fats to unsaturated vegetable-oil based fats.

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

A Western Australian teachers’ website has come under fire by the Education and Training minister for publishing racist comments. Education and Training Minister, Ljiljanna Ravlich, today expressed concern about racist, abusive and offensive comments appearing on the anti-outcomes based education website PLATO.

Minister Ravlich said she was disgusted by some of the highly offensive comments made by members belonging to the group, People Lobbying Against Teaching Outcomes.

‘Some of the comments are obscene and, quite frankly, I worry that these people might be teaching our children,’ she said.

PLATO has since confirmed a teacher who is employed in the non-government education sector in Western Australia made the abusive comments.

The PLATO website was established to express dissent about the controversial Outcome Based Education system after Minister Ravlich insisted it continue to be used despite claims it was ineffective.

Last month the ongoing controversy even prompted a response from Prime Minister Howard who criticized the OBE method of teaching school children used in WA, describing it as ‘gobbledegook‘ and that it could be ‘dumbing down’ the high school English syllabus.

One member from the school teachers’ forum named, ‘Fed up teacher,’ launched a vicious and racist verbal attack on a member who posted a comment supporting the OBE system.

When the member objected to being labelled a ‘nazi‘ and the use of the term because her parents had suffered under the nazi regime, her response drew a further personal attack.

The posting by Fed up teacher said, ‘the nazis had the right idea, it is a pity they didn’t get to your parents before you were conceived, you really are a pathetic piece of trash that somehow escaped the final solution.’

Minister Ravlich condemned the attacks as disgusting and said it was just one of many offensive postings appearing on the website.

‘The website is littered with insults, foul language and abusive and racist comments,’ said Ms Ravlich.

The minister said PLATO has only about sixty members and as such was not broadly representative of the ‘thousands of dedicated and professional teachers in Western Australian schools.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Glenn Crowe is running for the NDP in the Ontario provincial election, in the Bramalea-Gore-Malton riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed him regarding his values, his experience, and his campaign.

Crowe did not reply to various questions asked.

Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.

Sunday, July 8, 2007

In an ongoing labor dispute from May of this year in California, United States, Teamsters Local 952, which represents the Orange County Transportation Authority‘s 1,200 coach operators, went on strike at 12:35 a.m. (0035 hrs) PDT Saturday morning after a cooling-off period declared by State Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger expired.

Sanctioned picket lines have been formed outside Authority facilities in Garden Grove, Anaheim, and Santa Ana. About 200,000 regular passengers are affected.

Major sticking points in the negotiation appear to be related to cost-of-living increases and pension funding allocations. The strike was declared after the Authority’s bargaining agent said he lacked authority to approve a union counter proposal, which he said had to be taken before the OCTA’s board of directors, who will not be available to meet until Monday the 9th at the earliest.