text:
'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' for August 29
Read the transcript to the Tuesday show
Aug. 30, 2006, 3:07 PM UTC
Guests: George W. Bush, E.J. Dionne
ALISON STEWART, HOST: Which of these stories will you will talking about tomorrow?
Katrina, one year later. A region still in ruins marks the day the storm hit.
The president touts improvement in the Gulf.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I stood in Jackson Square, and I said, We're going to help you, and we delivered.
STEWART: As is former FEMA director Michael Brown says he was the victim of White House talking points.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "HARDBALL")
MICHAEL BROWN, FORMER FEMA DIRECTOR: To sit there and go and television and talk about how things are working well, when you know they're not behind the scenes, is just wrong.
STEWART: The politics of Katrina.
And the politics of disagreement. If you criticize the war on terror, are you being a fascist? That is the word Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld used when he lashed out at administration critics, liking them to those who appease the Nazis. By gum golly, those are salty words.
Donde esta Ernesto? Tropical storm number two may brush over Florida, but cause problems with the Carolinas and beyond. We are tracking Ernesto. Could it ever reach hurricane status again?
And the circus has left town. Or has it? The John Mark Karr world tour winds down. The Boulder DA takes full responsibility for bringing the former man with a mullet for the most expensive DNA test in Colorado history, complete with a side of prawns, of course.
All that and more, now on COUNTDOWN.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It did burn me out a little bit.
STEWART: Good evening. I'm Alison Stewart, sitting in for Keith Olbermann.
One year ago, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, and this week President Bush made landfall in the Gulf, yesterday in Mississippi, and today in New Orleans, Mr. Bush acknowledging there was much to be desired in the government response back then, and there's much left to do today.
What he has been less willing to concede is that Hurricane Katrina did lasting political damage to his presidency and created a loss of faith in voters and even fellow Republicans.
In an exclusive interview today, NBC's Brian Williams tried to find out whether Mr. Bush is aware of the hit he has taken.
BRIAN WILLIAMS, NBC NEWS: You have apologized for the damage, but what about the damage to your presidency? And, Mr. President, here's what I mean. Most of the analysts call it your low point. A lot of Americans are always going to believe that that weekend, that week, you were watching something on television other than what they were seeing.
And Professor Dyson from the University of Pennsylvania said in our broadcast last night, it was because of your patrician upbringing, that it's a class...
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Dyson doesn't know—
I don't know Dyson, and Dyson doesn't know me. But I will tell you this, when it's all said and done, the people will down—you know, here, down here know that I stood in Jackson Square, and I said, We're going to help you, and we delivered. And that's—what matters, Brian, is that we help the good people here rebuild New Orleans, and the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. And we're going to do that.
You know, commitments in politics sometimes mean nothing. I made a commitment that means something, and that's what's going to happen. And, look, I understand people second-guessing decisions, and Professor Dysons of the world say things. My heart and my soul is to help these people. And they know it.
STEWART: We'll have more of that interview a little bit later on in the program.
While the president today said he takes full responsibility for the federal response, former FEMA director Michael Brown took the brunt of the blame. Yesterday, Mr. Brown said on "HARDBALL" that, from the get-go of storm management, the White House communications folks were concerned about image management, even when it conflicted with reality.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You admitted it was a mistake for you to play along with the White House message during (INAUDIBLE) -- Katrina, and you said that that message was a lie. What was the lie?
BROWN: The lie was that we were working as a team, and that everything was working smoothly. And how we could go out—you know, I beat myself up almost daily for allowing this to have happened. To sit there and go and television and talk about how things are working well, when you know they're behind the scenes, is just wrong.
STEWART: After some of the nation's top journalists saw for themselves what detractors call a disconnect between reality on the ground and the White House message, the President Bush suffered some of his toughest political moments.
There was his failed nomination of Harriet Miers, which alienated much of his Christian right base. There was the outsourcing of port management to a company based in Dubai, drawing fire from some of Mr. Bush's staunchest supporters in the war on terror.
And, of course, there has been Iraq. A poll taken last week showed a majority of Americans, 53 percent, now consider the invasion of Iraq a mistake. Fifty-one percent say they consider the war in Iraq separate from the war on terror. And 46 percent said America is focused too much in Iraq and not enough elsewhere.
Now, during his interview with Brian Williams today, President Bush says he stands behind recent political remarks by members of his administration. The reference was prompted by a new theme being sounded in the defense of the war and in attacking its critics.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld spelled it out clearly today, with a history lesson on the run-up to World War II.
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Over the next decades, a sentiment took root that contended that if only the growing threats that had begun to emerge in Europe and Asia could be accommodated, then the carnage and the destruction of then-recent memory of World War I could be avoided.
It was a time when a certain amount of cynicism and moral confusion set in among Western democracies. When those who warned about a coming crisis, the rise of fascism and Nazism, they were ridiculed or ignored.
I recount that history because, once again, we face similar challenges in efforts to confront the rising threat of a new type of fascism.
STEWART: In Mr. Rumsfeld's analogy, terrorists are Nazis, Mr. Bush is FDR, and critics of the war, it is understood, are Neville Chamberlains, the British prime minister who failed to oppose the rise of Nazism.
Vice President Cheney yesterday also suggested that those who criticize the war in Iraq are attempting to appease terrorists.
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Some in our own country claim retreat from Iraq would satisfy the appetite of the terrorists and get them to leave us alone.
STEWART: COUNTDOWN contacted Mr. Cheney's office to find out who he was saying has made this claim. His staff would not name anyone, but directed us to a previous speech of Mr. Cheney's in which he referred to Congressman Jack Murtha and Connecticut senatorial candidate Ned Lamont.
We gave Mr. Cheney's office an opportunity to dispute the notion that he was referring to them. They declined to do so but also were unable to identify a single instance when either Murtha or Lamont said that leaving Iraq would make terrorists, quote, "leave us alone."
Of course, it's impossible to know whether the debate over Iraq and terror would be different today if Katrina had not happened, or if it had not changed public perception of the presidency. But as my dad tells me, Ally (ph), you don't know what if, you only know what did.
So how did a natural disaster one year ago change politics in the past 365 days?
E.J. Dionne is a "Washington Post" columnist and a senior fellow at the Brooking Institution. He joins us now to help just track Katrina's impact on the political landscape.
And E.J., let's start just simply with the basics. How did Katrina change the way people, media, politicians see Mr. Bush? Where was the president, let's say, 367 days ago?
E.J. DIONNE, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Well, you know, I think that's a good way to ask the question.
It's good to be with you, by the way.
Because I think the president had run into trouble in the course of the year before Katrina happened. First, he tried to—his privatization of Social Security, which went down very badly. Then, as you mentioned earlier, there was the whole battle over Terri Schiavo, where a lot of Americans, including conservatives, were not on the side of those trying to rip that case out of state courts and put it in federal courts.
The month of August was actually a very a bad PR month for the administration, because it focused—the news focused on Karl Rove and Valerie Plame and all that.
So that the foundations of, I think, the president's popularity were already rickety when the hurricane hit. The hurricane then became, I think, extremely important, because when you go back and look at why did George Bush beat John Kerry in 2004, the last 4 or 5 points he got to win that election did not come from ideological conservatives, came from middle-of-the-road people who kind of trusted him more to protect us against unexpected threats.
And when he failed, when the administration failed in Katrina, he sort of threw away the best card he had to play with public opinion, and it reversed the presumptions. People used to give him the benefit of the doubt. After Katrina, people started asking a lot of questions and making a lot of criticisms.
STEWART: Let's talk a little bit about today's remarks by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Can you explain to me why a fascism analogy, of all of the analogies one could make, why that one?
DIONNE: Well, I think if you polled on the word "fascists," it would be about the most unpopular word imaginable. Everybody from left to right is against fascism. And obviously, that allusion to Neville Chamberlain.
What they're trying to say is, Anybody who opposes our policy in Iraq is some kind of sell-out who's going to appease the enemy. And what they're clearly trying to do is, they're clearly trying to shift attention away from specific questions about failures in Iraq, about why isn't Iraq going better. No one's saying any of the things they claim their opponents are saying. Their opponents are mostly saying, How did you guys make such a mess of this war?
But I also think they're trying to get Republicans to vote in the fall. Conservatives—a lot of conservatives are very unhappy. A lot don't like the big spending, the, you know, the big deficits. They're split on immigration. There are studies that show Republican can be made to be more enthusiastic about President Bush if you seem to draw this hard line on terror.
So I think a lot of this is directed at the president's core supporters, who might not vote this fall.
STEWART: All right. Before I let you go, I do want to play two sound bites for you.
First, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld from today. Let's listen in.
RUMSFELD: Any kind of moral or intellectual confusion about who and what is right or wrong can weaken the ability of free societies to persevere.
STEWART: All right, moral and intellectual confusion. Now, in light of that comment about confusion, here's President Bush characterizing the fight back in '04.
BUSH: We've actually misnamed the war on terror. It ought to be the, the, the struggle against ideological extremists who do not believe in free societies and who happen to use terror as a weapon to try to shake the conscience of the free world.
STEWART: OK, E.J., frankly, now, I'm confused.
DIONNE: Well, that last one sure doesn't fit on a bumper sticker, does it? I mean, they've been trying to rebrand this effort over and over again. You had that long thing the president said, which I can't remember, even though it was a couple of seconds ago. Then you had the war on terror. Now you have the war on Islamofascism.
I think it sort of reflects the difficulty they've had in making their core case, which is, this war in Iraq is intimately linked to the war on terror. Now, as you showed earlier, a majority of Americans reject that link. And that's very dangerous for the administration.
STEWART: E.J. Dionne with "The Washington Post." Thank you so much.
My pleasure speaking with you.
DIONNE: Great to be with you. Thank you.
STEWART: Ahead, much more of Brian Williams' exclusive interview with President Bush. The president on his relationship with his father, and his feelings on his impact if his presidency were to end today.
And in his brother's state of Florida, residents there are hoping tropical storm Ernesto causes no major headaches. We'll have the latest from the Florida coast and find out if the storm's expected to strengthen again.
You are watching COUNTDOWN.
STEWART: The sad federal response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster tarnished this administration's record. The war in Iraq has not helped restore any luster either.
In our fourth story on the COUNTDOWN, Brian Williams asks President Bush in an exclusive interview about that and about the public perception of his presidency.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAMS: When you take a tour of the world, you know, a lot of Americans e-mail me with their fears that, you know, some days they wake up, and it just feels to them like the end of the world is near. And you go from North Korea to Iran to Iraq to Afghanistan, and you look at how things have changed, how Americans are viewed overseas, if that is important to you.
Do you have any moments of doubt that we fought the wrong war, that there's something wrong with the perception of America overseas?
BUSH: Well, those are two different questions. Did we fight the wrong war? Naturally, I have no doubt. The war came to our shores, remember that. We were—we had a foreign policy that basically said, let's hope calm works, and we were attacked.
WILLIAMS: But those weren't Iraqis.
BUSH: No, no, they were—they, they weren't—no, I agree, they weren't Iraqis, nor did I ever say that Iraq ordered that attack. But they're a part of—Iraq is part of the struggle against the terrorists.
Now, in terms of image, of course I worry about American image. We, we—we're great at TV, and yet we're getting crushed in the PR front. I personally do not believe Saddam Hussein picked up the phone and said, Al Qaeda, attack America.
WILLIAMS: The folks who say you should have asked for some sort of sacrifice from all of us after 9/11, do they have a case, looking back on it?
BUSH: Americans are sacrificing. I mean, we are, we are—you know, we pay a lot of taxes. The Americans sacrificed when they—you know, when the economy went in the tank. Americans sacrificed when, you know, air travel was disrupted. American taxpayers have paid a lot to help this nation recover. I think Americans have sacrificed.
WILLIAMS: Mr. President, I know how much you love deep psychological examinations of yourself. While you were at Kennebunkport this last weekend, people talked about your relationship with your dad. People mentioned that former president Clinton has been a guest at Kennebunkport more often in the last few years than you have been.
BUSH: Yes.
WILLIAMS: And there was a lot of speculation. Your spokesman, Tony Snow, recently all but said it's because of the way your father chose to end the first Gulf war that bin Laden saw weakness enough to strike the United States. Is there a palpable...
BUSH: Trying to figure out where you're going here.
WILLIAMS: Is there a palpable tension when you get together with the former president, who happens to be your father? Lot of the guys who work for him are not happy with the direction of things.
BUSH: I know. Listen, this—my relationship is adoring son.
WILLIAMS: Do you talk shop?
BUSH: Sometimes, yes, of course we do. But, but—that's a really interesting question. I mean, it's kind of conspiracy theory at its most rampant. My dad means the world to me as a loving dad. He gave me the greatest gift a father can give a child, which is unconditional love.
And yes, we go out and float around there trying to catch some fish and chat and talk. But he understands what it means to be president. He understands I have, oftentimes have information that he doesn't have. And he also understands how difficult the world is today. And I explain my strategy to him, I explain exactly what I just explained to you down there, about how I view the current tensions.
And he takes it on board, and that he leaves me with this thought, I love you, son.
WILLIAMS: If your administration ended today, would you be satisfied with the record thus far? Again, the view out there, I think, if you asked nine out of 10 presidential historians, high point, bullhorn in the rubble of the buildings that came down. Low point, we're standing on it. Is that fair?
BUSH: You know, first of all, there's no such thing as short-term history, as far as I'm concerned. I think that you can't judge a presidency based upon a moment's notice. I believe you have to take—eventually, my standing in history will be judged by people 30 or 40 years from now, who will be able to take an objective look at whether the decisions I made led to peace and prosperity.
You know, this is a job where there—you, you just—you make
decisions, and you think—do what you think is right, and you let people
But recognizing that people are going to say what's on their mind at the moment.
But I read three histories of George Washington last year. The first president of the United States is still being analyzed by historians, which ought to say to this president and future presidents, do what you think is right, and eventually historians will figure out whether it made sense or not.
WILLIAMS: We always talk about what you're reading. As you know, there was a report that you have just read the works of a French philosopher. Can you tell us...
BUSH: "The Stranger."
WILLIAMS: Tell us the backstory of Camus.
BUSH: The backstory of the book?
WILLIAMS: Well, what led you...
BUSH: Well, I...
WILLIAMS: ... what led you to this?
BUSH: I was in Crawford, and I said, I was looking for a book to read, and Laura said, You ought to try Camus. Also read three Shakespeares.
WILLIAMS: This is...
WILLIAMS: ... a change.
BUSH: Not really.
WILLIAMS: You, just a few years ago, were...
BUSH: Wait a minute.
WILLIAMS: --reading the life story of Joe DiMaggio by Richard Ben Cramer (ph), if memory serves.
BUSH: (INAUDIBLE).
WILLIAMS: You've been on a Teddy Roosevelt reading kick. You (INAUDIBLE) discussed...
BUSH: (INAUDIBLE)...
WILLIAMS: ... the last time we were here.
BUSH: ... (INAUDIBLE) -- well, I'm reading about the Battle of New Orleans right now. I've got a eclectic reading list.
WILLIAMS: And now Camus.
BUSH: Well, that was a couple of books ago.
But let me, let me, look, the key for me is to keep expectations low.
WILLIAMS: Is that what everyone doesn't get?
BUSH: I don't know, Brian, what they get or don't get. Let me—you know, my life—look—here—here...
WILLIAMS: (INAUDIBLE).
BUSH: ... here's the thing. I don't (INAUDIBLE). Here's the thing.
The great thing about the presidency is, you're totally exposed, and people spend a lot of—particularly if you're making decisions, and hard decisions, people spend a lot of time not only analyzing decisions, they analyze the decision maker. And I understand that.
But a president must never let him get off—let, let that get him off track. (INAUDIBLE)...
WILLIAMS: Even if you're frustrated that we're getting something wrong?
BUSH: You have to do what you're thinking. If we're getting some thing wrong, we change it.
WILLIAMS: How have you been read wrong?
BUSH: Oh, I don't know about read wrong. I mean, (INAUDIBLE), I frankly don't pay that much attention to it. I don't want to hurt people's feelings about...
WILLIAMS: Still not watching television, huh?
BUSH: I watched a good baseball game.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STEWART: Brian Williams with the president.
For continuing remembrances of Katrina, stay with us here at MSNBC. Tonight at 10:00 is the premiere of "Rising from Ruin," a documentary following the lives of three families hit hard by Hurricane Katrina. That's "Rising from Ruin," hosted by my good friend Lester Holt, tonight at 10:00 Eastern, 7:00 Pacific, only on MSNBC.
Ahead on COUNTDOWN, the formerly conjoined Herron (ph) twins hit a milestone. They are finally out of ICU, and now doctors are beginning to focus on their psychological recovery.
Laughter is the best medicine. So we've ordered a prescription of Oddball for everyone, free refills, as long as you're able to stay on your blow-up doll. Oh, like you haven't done that before.
STEWART: I'm Alison Stewart, in for Keith Olbermann.
And once again, we take a short break from the real news of the day for the world-famous goofy news segment. Tonight, a special weird drunken sports from other countries edition.
Let's play Oddball.
And we begin along the Buwosko (ph) River in St. Petersburg, Russia, for the annual Festival of Whitewater Rafting and Inflatable Women. That is the fourth annual Bubba Babba (ph) Challenge 2006. One hundred and fifty swimmers and their blow-up companions brave the icy water and rapids for the one-kilometer race. Contestants have to complete their date—I mean, with their dolls—to be eligible for the big prize, a free hotel room and a bike pump.
What is he doing?
Oh, to the (INAUDIBLE) to the United Kingdom, home of the big annual World Championship of Bog-Snorkeling. It's snorkling in a bog. That's the drinking part. A hundred competitors here drinking booze from toilet plungers and braving the muddy bog water without the benefit of a sexy flotation device. They swam the length of the trench and back without using conventional swimming strokes, taking special care there not to drown.
A new world champion was crowned, Mr. Hayden Pitchbull (ph) of Wales, of the bog-circling pitchforks (ph), obviously.
Ahead on COUNTDOWN, Florida hoping for no surprises from Ernesto, the tropical storm making its way through the state overnight. We'll get the latest look at the conditions and the latest on the storm's track.
And JMK, John Mark Karr, this just in, he's still a big fat liar.
We'll take a look back at the media circus surrounding this sad story.
All that more ahead.
But first, time now for COUNTDOWN's top three newsmakers of this day.
Number three, Theresa Mayerik, principal of Morton High School in Indianapolis, Indiana. This year, she began strict enforcement of the school's dress code by suspending 128 kids on the first day of school, 10 percent of the student population sent home for wearing baggy pants, (INAUDIBLE) tops, low-cut shirts, and graphic T-shirts. An extra day of summer vacation, that'll learn 'em.
Number two, a woman known only as Mrs. Li from Wohato (ph), China. No one was injured in the head-on collision between her car and another this week. Officials say the accident occurred when Mrs. Li let her dog take a shot at driving the car.
She says the dog always liked to sit on her lap with the little paws on the steering wheel, so she figured she'd just give him a chance to work the pedals too, because animals who sniff each others' butts to say hello should really be responsible for 2,000 pounds of metal.
And number one, Dan Ruefly of Akorkick, Mellarillin (ph). I think that's how you say it. For more than a decade, he has commuted to Washington, D.C., across the (INAUDIBLE) Woodrow Wilson Bridge, one of the worst traffic bottlenecks in the region.
Seven years ago he was even in a bad accident on that bridge, badly injuring his hip. Last night just after midnight, Ruefly blew up the Woodrow Wilson bridge. It was a controlled demolition. He won a contest for the honor of pushing the plunger.
It is sweet revenge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one, plunge.
ALISON STEWART, HOST: Just over year after Hurricane Katrina passed over Florida, one of eight storms in the past two years, residents in the Sunshine State are prepping for rain, lots of it.
Our third story on the COUNTDOWN, the fifth hurricane of the season, Ernesto, actually he's been demoted. Ernesto has been downgraded to a tropical storm, but that still has enough force to make NASA want to get its expensive space shuttle off the landing pad and into a warm, cozy hanger. Now the trip was suppose to take 12 hours, but then the storm shifted course slightly, allowing the Space Agency to reverse their decisions six hours into the move, and return the spaceship to the launch pad in preparation for a possible flight next week.
But while NASA thinks the shuttle "Atlantis" will be able to weather the storm, many Florida homeowners still recovering from last year's hurricane season, are not so sure they will. Our correspondent Mark Potter is in South Beach Miami where residents are waiting on Ernesto.
And Mark, what's the biggest concern for people there right now, wind or rain?
MARK POTTER, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's really rain. This is not much of a storm, in fact it was just described by the director of the National Hurricane Center as mediocre. That hasn't turned out to be very much, but there is still a concern and it does have to do with the rain.
In the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area, Miami-Dade, Broward County, there are some 20,000 homes that still have those blue roofs—those blue tarps on the roofs, that were damaged during last year's hurricane season, primarily by Katrina and Wilma, and the concern is that the winds the we're feeling now could blow the tarps off and then the rain, five to 10 inches or rain, could get inside those houses, collapse some of the walls, and the ceilings. And so officials have urged all the residents of those houses to seek other shelter for their own safety. We don't know how many people did that, but we do know that officials are very concerned that people could be hurt if those walls crumble because they get wet.
But again, it's not very much of a storm. It certainly could have been worse, but there are still concerns on the part of some people down here.
STEWART: And I am wondering about all those folks who also live in mobile homes. That must be still a big issue.
POTTER: It is and people who lived in mobile homes and on the beach areas were all urged to evacuate to higher ground to some other shelter, go to other people's homes, very much a concern.
STEWART: All right. We all know that this could have been lot worse. It's the fifth named storm of the season, could have been a hurricane by now. Why did it fall apart—Mark.
POTTER: In one word, Cuba. The storm actually started to dissipate when it hit the southern edge of Haiti where two people where killed, and then it hit the southeast coast of Cuba, it went across the Sierra Maestra mountain range and stayed over Cuba for quit some time and while it was there it was torn apart and it was never able to recover, even thought the storm later exited the north coast of Cuba, heading for Florida where it is now, about to make official landfall here, but it could never recover. Even though the waters out there in the Florida Straights are 88 degrees, just perfect for the development of a storm, the storm, by that time it was so disorganized it was never able to build up past a tropical storm status and will not become a hurricane.
STEWART: So Cuba helped Florida in this case.
POTTER: Uh-huh.
STEWART: Uh-huh. Mark Potter, in South Beach.
POTTER: Absolutely did. Absolutely did.
STEWART: Miami, thanks a lot, Mark.
Even though Ernesto is slated to hit Florida as a tropical storm, their neighbors to the north a little bit nervous. Officials have issued a hurricane watch for the coast of Georgia and the Carolinas. We're joined now by NBC Weather Plus meteorologist, Bill Karins.
And Ernesto seemed to have a little bit of wanderlust—Bill.
BILL KARINS, NBC WEATHER PLUS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, this storm is going to defiantly going to be interesting in the future here, because this storm, Alison, as he was just talking about, has kind of done a little like, well, tourism. It went to Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, now it's going to the Keys in South Florida. And then it's going to take that path all the way up the East Coast, and this is where things get nervous because it's one thing for rain in sandy soil there in Florida, it's a whole different ballgame when you get that heavy rain in the mountainous terrain here of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, even some of that higher terrain there in New Jersey. And that's the big concern.
Heading through the Labor Day weekend of all things, too, so Saturday into Sunday is when we really could see some of the worst weather going through that entire region.
Now, we have to talk a little about what's going to happen in South Carolina and Georgia. It's been a long time since Georgia and Savannah and even Charleston has been hit by a storm. With this forecast path, coming off the coast, here around Daytona Beach, it's going be over the warm water here for about 12 to 24 hours. Now, this time it didn't strengthen down the Florida Straights for South Florida, it's still a change it would restrengthen here, and head up maybe as a strong tropical storm, or possible a weaker Category 1 hurricane. And this area has a lot of old trees, it hasn't been hit by a hurricane in a long time around Charleston. We would definitely have a lot of downed trees with all of those dead tree limbs, so that would probably be the biggest concern. After that, Alison, it's going to be that flooding concern as we continue to watch this storm tracing up further towards the north.
STEWART: And Bill Karins, I am going ask you to keep me honest, five storms, not hurricanes, right, I misspoke?
KARINS: We've had five tropical storms, this was the first hurricane. I can almost argue that was barely a hurricane. It was like 12 hours, Alison, that was it. This year has been very polite, we've been very lucky so far.
STEWART: All right, knock wood.
KARINS: I know, knock something, right?
Knock plastic. Knock anything you got. Meteorologist, Bill Karins with NBC Weather Plus, thanks a lot.
STEWART: Three weeks after doctors separated the Herrin twins, the 4-year-old sisters are out of intensive care. Now doctors are making sure they recuperate psychologically, as well.
And poor Paris Hilton, her new album, so not a hit. And so not a hit with Cher's son, either. A little kiss and tell, Hilton style. Details ahead, but first here are COUNTDOWN's "Top 3 Sound Bites" of this day.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Every department of my administration (BEEP) response to last (INAUDIBLE).
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Brothers have to be perfective. Except for mine, I have to be protective of him.
Oh, yeah, he's married, three kids, but his wife is just a control freak.
Yeah baby.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kyra, your mic is on.
JAY LENO, "TONIGHT SHOW": I guess the guy is just crazy. He—it looks like John Mark Karr will not be charged with a crime. But the good news, woo, he's now free to go back to teaching. Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jenny has traffic.
JENNY, WXII WINSTON-SALEM TRAFFIC GIRL: All right, I'm all nervous, but here's my rap. All right, you're gonna have a good, good drive today. There ain't no problems on the major roadway. Lookin', lookin' at country club things a look pretty good like Robin Hood. Now I'm movin' across the Triad (ph), yo, it ain't too bad, no, no, no, no, no now things look nice on 68 and I know you ain't going to be late. So that was your traffic rap today. Ma'am let's get some weather from our weather girl, (INAUDIBLE), come on give it to us the weather, boy, give it to us, word.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh boy, Jenny, it's weather guy, by the way.
STEWART: A look into the future for the Herrin twins. How ill the formerly conjoined sisters cope mentally after their separation?
And a look back on the whirlwind media frenzy surrounding John Mark Karr from suspect to liar and every crazy twist in between. That's next, this is COUNTDOWN.
STEWART: In so many important respects they were two people living as one for four years. Kendra and Maliyah Herrin were born eight weeks early and joined at the abdomen and pelvis until 22 days ago. In our No. 2 story on the COUNTDOWN, after 26 hours of separation surgery, their condition is improving. The twins moving from intensive care to separate recovery rooms. After four years of literally sharing the same space, even the same organs, the young girls will have to learn to live alone after being in each others constant presence as long as they can remember. With more on how the Herrin twins will need to make that vital adjustment, our correspondent is Ed Yates from our affiliate KSL in Salt Lake City.
ED YATES, KSL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Primary Children's support team is learning right now just from simple things Kendra and Maliyah do and don't do. Those cues will become even more evident when the girls leave intensive care and later when they go home.
KATIE STEVENS, PRIMARY CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: These girls are only four, but they're extremely bright, and they're very connected. So sometimes we find out what is going on with one by the reaction of the other.
YATES: Katie Stevens, who heads up medical social work at Primary, says it's important to understand how the girls are adjusting psychologically to their separation.
STEVENS: How comfortable are they in being apart? Of course we want to encourage them to be independent. We also want to respect the fact that they haven't been independent.
YATES: Again, little things. Kendra takes a wagon ride, then comes back. Down the road as the girls maneuver more, learning how to distribute on their own bodies.
STEVENS: What's it going to be like if one of you goes somewhere and one of you doesn't, how can you still communicate with each other? How can you still maintain the closeness they had without being conjoined?
YATES: Body language, verbal cues, play patterns, all these come into play once the girls leave ICU.
(on camera): A doll in a hospital gown, building blocks, Playdough, for example the girls may want to mold something, then tresh it. Play therapists say that cue is OK since it's an outlet for frustration or agitation.
(voice-over): Down the road, brothers, and sisters have always played with Maliyah and Kendra at home as one. Now they'll have to share that time with both. And for Kendra and Maliyah.
STEVENS: If they had something they were both kind of playing with it. Now they'll have separate space, with separate things, the whole dynamic will be different.
YATES: Ed Yates, at Primary Children's.
STEWART: Turn to our nightly round-up of celebrity and entertainment news, "Keeping Tabs." In a Simpson double feature, and if only I was talking about Homer and Marge.
Songbird Jessica Simpson, at the very start of a very massive P.R. blitz for her new album has just lost her voice. Her publicist says because of a bruise on her vocal cord the former Mrs. Nick Lachey has been ordered to stop singing by doctors. That edict doesn't extend to her sister, Ashlee, who famously got busted lip sinking on "Saturday Night Live." The recent rhinoplasty poster girl just landed a gig playing with Roxy Hart in the London stage production of "Chicago," meaning she'll be Tony Blare's problem until the end of October.
Speaking of blond wannabe singers, surprise, surprise, Paris Hilton's debut CD has tanked. In its first week the self-titled "Paris" sold a paltry 75,000 copies in the U.S. putting it at the bottom of the Billboard charts, despite the release of the first single "Stars are Blind." And to pump (ph) sales Hilton's record label rushed out her second single, "Turn it Up" but most people wanted to turn it off. And the hotel chain heiress is facing a new embarrassment in addition to her album flop.
Cher's son, Elijah Blue Allman, went on the "Howard Sterm Show" last night to relay that he had had sex with Paris Hilton before she was famous. Now he added that he was so worried he might catch a disease off Ms.
Hilton, he scrubbed his nether regions with Tilex after the encounter.
Now, according to MSNBC.com's Jeanette Walls, a source claims Paris Hilton is "not happy" about his comments, even though he described her as a sweet girl. And I'm sure that sweet girl bit made up for the Tilex comment, Elijah.
Now, if you're planning a wedding sometime over the coming months, watch out, wedding crashers may be on the way. Inspired by the hit film, "Wedding Crashers," NBC has given the green light to a reality TV series of the same name. The show will feature hidden cameras following improvisational actors as they go undercover at real weddings. It'll be produced by Ashton Kutcher and other producers from MTV's "Punked." An NBC vice president said, this series has a big upside potential for hidden camera humor. So hide your wedding plans now, if you show up at mine, someone will die.
Patsy Cline said it best, "Crazy." The man in the media, the Boulder district attorney meets the press to do some splainin' (ph).
And the press meets John Mark Karr. Karr and Cosby, will this ever end? That's next, this is COUNTDOWN.
STEWART: When John Mark Karr became a suspect in the killing of JonBenet Ramsey he claimed he was with the girl when she died. The 10-year-old case suddenly moved to hyperactive center stage for almost two weeks, but late yesterday the revelation that his DNA did not match that at crime scene led the Boulder district attorney not to file charges against him, and as they say, let the recriminations begin.
In our No. 1 story on the COUNTDOWN, yes our long national cable news nightmare is over, just not for the Boulder D.A., Mary Lacy. Ms. Lacy stepped up to full responsibility today for every inch of the investigation, including the expense of getting Mr. Karr back to the U.S. and she was well aware of some public anger.
MARY LACY, BOULDER, CO DISTRICT ATTORNEY: The decisions were mine, the responsibility is mine and I should be held accountable for all decisions in this case. Last night I was preparing to leave, I received a telephone call and he said, this was a voicemail, he said you should be tarred and feathered and run out of town and I want to you call me and tell me you are going to resign. His first question was, why didn't you surreptitiously take DNA in Bangkok before you took this person into custody> We did. We took surreptitious DNA on multiple occasions.
STEWART: But the bottom line, D.A. Lacy said was it a pristine sample was need and ultimately that meant getting Mr. Karr to Boulder.
LACY: I'm not embarrassed. I feel bad for a community that questions what we did because, you know, they've lost some trust in the system. Before you become judgmental, try to place yourself back in our spot starting in May and coming forward, would you have made decisions differently or would you have found flight and safety of children an important factor? Important enough to proceed the way we did?
STEWART: Today's 90-minute news conference came complete with one unwelcome interruption.
(FIRE ALARM)
LACY: Oh my gosh. We had nothing to do it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fire alarm is going off.
STEWART: A fire alarm seemed fitting in a case that sets off all kinds of false alarms and often sent the media scurrying over the most minute details and for the record, COUNTDOWN does not exclude itself from that judgment. Here's some of the highlights or perhaps lowlights.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: NBC NEWS has learned that JonBenet Ramsey's father believes that authorities in Colorado have made some sort of arrest in connection with his daughter's murder.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Mark Karr, a 41-year-old man who has been charged in connection with the death of JonBenet Ramsey.
IAN WILLIAMS, ITN NEWS: He was picked up from his cell at that immigration detention center in the middle of the afternoon.
Intriguing Lieutenant General Suap (ph) who is the of the immigration police and said that he has invited Karr to sing along the Bee Gee's song, "Words," after Karr had told him that he liked that band. But, Karr declined the offer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are also getting in brand new video right now. You may not believe this, take a look. This is video from 1987 of John Mark Karr singing at a friend's wedding. You can see him here, playing the guitar; he's got much longer hair, much more hair, quite frankly. John Mark Karr here, holding up a pair of shorts hiding his face. Incredible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The journey home has begun.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: JonBenet Ramsey's confessed killer flying back to the U.S. in the lap of luxury. On the menu, pate, roast duck.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fried king prawns and chocolate cake.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Steamed rice, broccoli and chocolate cake.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Champagne, drank beer and wine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Karr had roast duck with soy sauce and yellow noodles. And meal No. 3 consisted of pizza, chocolates and Evian water.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like the BBIB (ph), let's be honest about it. So, you can understand when he goes to the bathroom there will be 20 people watching him on him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Any idea what's on the menu today for him?
MICHAEL OKWU, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: He is going be getting jail chow.
CONTESSA BREWER, MSNBC NEWS: There's a lot of traffic outside the courthouse. Inside what we're looking at is a ceiling.
RITA COSBY, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: As we're looking again, this is the ceiling of the courthouse there in Los Angeles.
BREWER: There's the ceiling of the courthouse.
COSBY: (INAUDIBLE) to be getting underway, and again, looking at the picture, that is the ceiling.
BREWER: There's the ceiling tiles we are getting to know by heart at this point.
OKWU: We're told from inside the courtroom that a glass box has been transported into the courtroom and they're putting it into place.
BREWER: Michael, let me interrupt you, I got to just clarify here, when you say glass box, is that your assumption that—or are you getting details that this is a person-sized glass box that he's actually going be in it or are you talking about a small glass box?
OKWU: No, we're certainly not talking about a small glass box. He was expected to be placed in some sort after of a cage—Contessa.
BREWER: Michael, are you prepared to be on John Stewart's Comedy Central show tonight, talking about your big glass box and how many people are going to be inside it?
OKWU: I know I was really dancing around that, Contessa. But you know, my duty as a correspondent is to bring you latest from the courtroom and...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is breaking news out of Long Beach, California it is our understanding at this moment, that this is the airplane that has been sent to pick up John Mark Karr.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's cuffed, he's shackled, they'll put him in the back of the plane, they'll sit him down, and he won't be drinking alcohol.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're looking at a picture, also, on the right side of your screen of a small—relatively small turbo cropper, just taking off from Long Beach Airport.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The International Astronomical Union coldly announced in (INAUDIBLE) today, Pluto is dead. Ouch!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Breaking news into MSNBC, wheels on the ground in Boulder, Colorado.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Looks like they're going to go ahead and make a right-hand turn, so that's where they're going, not sure—the destination as far as we know is the Boulder County jail.
STEWART: KUSA is reporting that the John Mark Karr DNA is not, I repeat not a match.
COSBY: And now we're getting word no charges will officially be filed against John Mark Karr.
BREWER: OK, I wanted to ask you about the picture making the round.
There you are pressed up against the car window.
COSBY: He gave me a 30-45 second stare looking only, seemingly, at me.
BREWER: Did that creep you out?
COSBY: It did creep you out.
BREWER: Was he creeped outlook out looking back at you?
COSBY: Yeah. Well, he—yeah, yeah, it was worse for him.
STEWART: The John Mark Karr media circus from Bangkok to Boulder to bust. Look for the sequel, "Smut in Sonoma" as Karr will be facing child porn charges there. That's it for the Tuesday edition of COUNTDOWN, I'm Alison Stewart for Keith Olbermann. Thanks for watching.
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The wild grapevine, Vitis vinifera L. subsp. silvestris (Gmelin) Hegi, is considered to be an endangered taxon in Europe, mainly as a consequence of the introduction of pathogens from North America and of the destruction of its habitat. In the Rhine Valley, nearly all populations disappeared due to river management, the intensi.cation of forestry, and the introduction of phylloxera. After a growing awareness of the need to preserve endangered forest ecosystems, attempts to reintroduce wild grapevine in the Rhine Valley were performed, particularly in the French nature reserves Erstein and Offendorf since 1992. However, regular surveys of the plants indicate the rapid decline of the populations. In 2002, we proposed to summarise the knowledge accumulated after 10 years of experiments. Results indicate that from the initial 91 individuals planted in 1992, only 14 survived in 2002 (2 in Erstein, 12 in Offendorf). The failure of the experiment may be explained by several factors: unsuitable sites (too shady, absence of support for the young plants), absence of monitoring, vandalism or predation. According to these results and recent knowledge of the ecology of the plant and of vines in general, new transplantation experiments are proposed in which the plants will be monitored during their establishment in the forests. The success of this second transplant (50 plants per reserve) will be enhanced by restoration projects of the Rhine River dynamics, with partial re-.ooding. Floods should help to avoid, or at least to reduce, pest and disease expansion on future adult plants.


Seems like not so long ago, around this time of autumn, when, suddenly streets of Guwahati starts getting busier, shops look glitzy and glamorous than usual, like a canvas splashed with beautiful colors all around. Yeah! it's the time again to celebrate Durga Puja. People have already started making their preparations and shopping for new clothes, shoes, jewelry etc. Temples white washed, workers busy with their tools constructing beautiful majestic puja pandals. It's a feeling of a thrill to witness such sights while passing by the streets of Guwahati. To me, the streets looked no less than a grand wedding with the gorgeously dressed up bride. The idols have been made in the workshops of Panbazar make me reminisce, "what an amazing craftsmanship!".
It's been several years now since I have celebrated Durga Puja in Assam. Sitting here, far away, from that one festival, so full memories, sights, smells and what not, makes me go wild while thinking, salivating and swallowing hard, hanging in between my nostalgic feelings of Durga Puja celebration during my childhood and longing to participate in the grand celebration in my own land with my family. Though this is not possible, we are fortunate enough to be able to celebrate it here in Bahrain with equal devotion, grandeur, and traditional pomp.
Waking up to the crisp autumn morning with the mellifluous chants of Mahalaya, activating my ears and the invigorating fragrance of xewali phool( midnight jasmine, gave that Devine feeling while getting dressed up for school.
The thrill and excitement of upcoming long holidays, shopping for Durga puja, pandal hopping and relishing all puja delicacies, street food like aloo chop, egg-rolls, singara, kochuri and the staple or must have of this festival is the piping hot jelepi.
Drifting down my memory lane to those four days festive spirit, starting with Saptami morning. Eagerly waiting for pandal hopping wearing a new dress to get the first glimpse of the beautifully ornamented idol of MAA DURGA and offer our prayers and gratitude to the Goddess.
The beat of dhak and dhol( a musical instrument), with the lingering smell of burning incense and dhuna( a part of Hindu custom and is believed that burning of incense stick and dhuna purifies the air). There would be several stalls outside the pandal selling flowers, saki( earthen lamps), toys, food like singara, chop, jelepi etc. Maa stops by the stall to buy some flowers, saki and dhoop, while my eyes are glued to the other stalls especially the piping hot Jelepis.
Durga Puja and jalebi are inseparable. The charm of eating jalebi – singra after pandal hopping is a kind of ritual for the people in Guwahati and something that I miss here so much.
All good things must be shared, and that's what I believe. Sitting down sipping a cup of kadak ginger tea I thought of sharing my bagful of nostalgia along with my staple Durga puja delicacy of Guwahati – The Jelepi/Jalebi recipe.
Soak the urad dal for 3-4 hours. Then grind it into a fine thick paste and keep it aside.
Then add the urad dal paste into the flour batter and combine very well to give a smooth batter not too thin and just the pouring consistency.
Now add the food color if you wish, but I prefer to use Kesar( saffron) for color.
Finally, add the Eno salt and give it a good mix. your batter is ready for frying.
Heat the ghee/oil in a large pan. While the ghee gets heated, meanwhile you can prepare the sugar syrup.
For sugar syrup: add the sugar, cardamoms, and water in a large sauce pan over medium. Keep stirring the sugar until one string consistency. Turn off the heat and add the lemon juice into it while stirring it.
Now to check the ghee/oil is hot enough, put a small drop of the prepared batter. if it bubbles and rises up your oil is hot enough for frying.
Pour the batter into a piping bag with a small round nozzle or tip. Here, I have used a bottle with a small nozzle which is actually much handy and convenient. Now squeeze the batter in a circular motion forming a spiral shape into the hot oil. Repeat the process to fry 5-6 jalebi at a time or as the space in your pan permits.
Fry both side until nice golden color and crisp over medium heat.
Let the jalebis soak in the sugar syrup for a minute and take it out on a plate.
Garnish it a sprinkle of cardamom powder and kesar( safron) strands.
That's great! We make something that's very similar in Iraq & other Middle Eastern countries called "zlabya." Looks identical, but the ingredients are slightly different. Would love to try this version.
Thank you Hilda! Nice to know that there is something similar to Jalebi in Iraqi cuisine too. I would love to know more about it. Do share it.


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through the looking glass
Thatcher, Scientist
Margaret Thatcher was a chemist, don't you know?
It's one of those little facts that pops up in UK science policy discourse every now and again. Just this week, in a debate the Royal Institution on the structure of scientific careers, Evan Harris joked 'how do we keep more women like Margaret Thatcher in science?' (i.e. and out of politics…).
We don't necessarily expect women to be scientists, or politicians. Neither do we expect politicians to be scientists. That Thatcher was all of these things occasionally pops up as a little titbit of trivia. It seems to fit a nice little sideline when discussing Tory science policy, or as a thread to the various stories surrounding the odd glamour of Thatcher's public image. Newton invented the catflap. Einstein wore odd socks. And that 'Margaret-Thatcher Milk-Snatcher'? Well, she was one of the boffins behind how to put extra air in Mr Whippy ice-cream! There was a wink to it in the a recent BBC drama about about her early political career. I wonder if it'll make the movie?
For all it's mentioned, the idea of Thatcher as a scientist is never really explored though. Until now, as historian of science and technology, Jon Agar has bothered to do a bit of digging on this, published this week in Notes and Records of the Royal Society.
Agar, Jon (2011). Thatcher, Scientist, Notes and Records of the Royal Society. DOI: 10.1098/rsnr.2010.0096
The paper has two halves. Firstly, Agar talks about Thatcher's pre-political career as a scientist. He then goes on to talk about her time in politics, in particular the ways in which her first-hand knowledge of the mundane, material, practical life of the working researcher framed decisions she made in the early 1970s, whilst Secretary of State for Education (minister holding science brief at the time).
Thatcher was a scientist for about a decade, at least if you include training as time spent as a scientist (which I guess you can). She studied science at school and then, in 1942, moved on to a chemistry degree in Oxford, working with Dorothy Hodgkin, and Janet Vaughan. Apparently she was a 'good' chemistry student, competent but more enthused by politics, and happy to admit that she probably should have studied law. After graduation, she worked for four years as an industrial chemist (at British Xylonite Plastics and Lyons). He stresses that she was, as an industrial food chemist, in many ways a more 'typical' twentieth-century scientific figure than iconic characters like Albert Einstein. This overlapped with the start of her political career, and a photo of a lab-coated Miss Margaret Roberts (before her marriage), surrounded by bottles in a lab and pouring something into a conical flask, was used in a publicity campaign for the 1951 election.
That story about the airy icecream? Not true. Or at least Agar can't find any evidence for it. It sounds like she mainly did theoretical work on soap making, and possibly some cake-filling quality testing (Agar, 2011: 4-5).
(Boring historians with their evidence, spoiling everyone's fun. I'm pretty sure Newton didn't invent the catflap either by the way, and the thing about Florence Nightingale and piecharts seems pretty dodgy. I have no idea about Einstein's socks. Personally, I like to think he knitted his own, and don't want to burst the illusion by actually checking).
However, Agar's pulled out a narrative that's a bit more intellectually nourishing than trivia about ice cream. And no, I don't mean the cake-filling testing, though obviously I'm super-curious about that. He takes a story from reasonably early-on in Thatcher's political career: science policy reforms proposed in 1971 by Lord Rothschild (himself, a biologist by training, and later research director at Royal Dutch-Shell) which stressed market forces, articulating the government as 'customers' and research communities as 'contractors'. Thatcher, the minister with the science brief, was initially against these reforms, but changed her mind, a shift which Agar suggests may be part of the story of her move towards what later became known as 'Thatcherism'.
The changes were not liked by the scientific establishment. The Royal Society argued they should be consulted, not just as a relevant professional association but because, as scientists, they should have autonomy from political direction. Framing Thatcher's view on this in terms of her developing political philosophy, Agar argues that for her, science represented the best of the public economy: research councils were, along with grammar schools and Oxbridge, places where the public economy worked. Moreover, she saw it as a source for wealth, which for her, justified public spending. But this same justification made it a test case for her emerging views on economic liberalism: 'If markets could work for science policy, they could work anywhere' (Agar, 2011: 12). Moreover, because Thatcher had worked as a scientist, she understood it at a very mundane level; its nuts, bolts, labcoats, conical flasks and theories of soap production. As such, she was impervious to lobbying that of science as a special case, with special features, incapable of being understood by outsiders. As Agar concludes: 'Thatcher, who lived both worlds [science and politics], saw no separation, in principle and in practice.' (Agar, 2011: 13).
Poking at the idea that simply getting scientists and those with 'an understanding of science' (whatever that is) in parliament will necessarily serve the scientific establishment is, I'd argue, a much more interesting outcome of researching Thatcher the scientist than QI-style discussions of any involvement she may or may not have had in the production of cheap icecream. It also helps dispel the idea that politically engaged science in the UK is necessarily left-leaning (even if groups like Save British Science or individuals like JD Bernal might make it seem so). Scientists come in a range of guises. Thatcher had hers and it coloured her view. In many ways it's a rather typical one even, if it doesn't fit everyone's preferred image of the scientist.
You can read Agar's paper for yourself, there's no paywall (edit: at least for this week). Moreover, it's a very readable bit of scholarly writing, with a fair amount of dry humour and the odd moment of dramatic characterisation. There's also an accompanying video podcast where Agar introduces the paper (because even publications in Notes and Records of the Royal Society have trailers these days).
This entry was posted in chemistry, historyofscience, policy, research blogging, science and tagged chemistry, history of science, policy, research blogging, science on May 27, 2011 by alice.
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13 thoughts on "Thatcher, Scientist"
alice Post author May 27, 2011 at 12:47 am
Something else to say about this paper is that I really like the way in which Agar stresses the institutional history on the run up to the 1971 decision (stretching back to the early 30s). Part of this history is that it's not just about big iconic characters like Thatcher.
And on that point, just in terms of the drama of the paper, I also like that it's a moment relatively early on in her career where she isn't necessarily all that powerful that he focuses in on.
Neil May 27, 2011 at 6:24 am
A very minor point, but she wasn't necessarily working on 'soap-making' itself. From Agar's article:
"She certainly researched saponification, a chemical process named after, but not necessarily implying, soap making"
A saponification reaction is more generally cleavage of an ester with a base, which is the key step in making soap (all those lovely fatty acid esters) – but also a potentially useful reaction elsewhere.
Minor, but hopefully will stop the 'You know she made Mr Whippy' comments becoming 'Of course, she was just making soap' in future!
alice Post author May 27, 2011 at 7:52 am
Damn you chemists spoiling my fun… :)
Thank you though, you are right to give that clarification.
I still want to know about the cake fillings.
Richard May 27, 2011 at 7:02 am
Question is, did Thatcher's work as an undergraduate and in industry really amount to her thinking she understood or could 'live in' the science world?
Wasn't her experience of this world limited to the industrial part of it where the endpoint is clearly defined (filling cakes, saponification reactions with higher yields/fewer side products)?
Doing that sort of useful but not paradigm-shifting work doesn't necessarily amount to an understanding of the world of the research scientist and the autonomy that scientists argue they need ['If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be research' etc etc].
Mmm, I think you are right to be suggest difference there – it was sort of behind my point in parenthesis about whether you can claim training counts for time at as a scientist.
Still, I think Agar's point that in some ways she was a more typical scientist than Einstein is a salient one and that this distinction is maybe overstated in some political rhetoric? (though equally part of the power of argument, I'd say, is that there really is no such thing as a typical scientist…)
Rebekah Higgitt May 27, 2011 at 8:23 am
But isn't the fact that Thatcher was not a research scientist kind of the point? As Alice says, Thatcher's story helps us "Pok[e] at the idea that simply getting scientists and those with 'an understanding of science' (whatever that is) in parliament will necessarily serve the scientific establishment ". It also reminds everyone, including science lobbists, that talking about 'science' and 'scientists' when you really mean 'research' and 'research scientists' (probably university- rather than industry-based ones at that) can be unhelpful.
There's a bit of reflection on this in the paper with respect not just to Rothschild's career, but other scientists in his family.
Penny Walker May 27, 2011 at 8:44 am
I was at Friends of the Earth when she made her defining speech on climate change in teh late 1980s (although I don't think she used that term: http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/107346 and see also interesting thread about it here: http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2009/02/margaret-thatcher-climate-change.html)
Because she was so far from being a 'usual suspect' on environmental matters, this speech generated enormous interest and at FOE we were rushed off our feet responding directly to it and in the upswell of awareness and interest which followed.
I have always thought her scientific background led her to take this issue more seriously than non-science politicians, and made this unusual coincidence of interest possible.
Interesting links, thanks – fascinating to see Thatcher's scientific background being used as part of political discussion/ rhetoric today. It popped up a bit in the science vote stuff last year, but not much. I wonder if there'll be more or less of it in the future, especially with respects to climate science.
There's a line about environmental science in the paper (got the impression it wasn't held in quite the same regard as other areas though…).
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Sage November 13, 2012 at 11:17 pm
Well, it seems the "aerating ice-cream" thing is actually not an urban myth after all. It apparently happened whilst working for food manufacturer 'J. Lyons and Co', where a group of scientists (of which Thatcher was part) deciphered a way to add double the amount of air to a 'soft-scoop' type of ice-cream, which would enable it to be pumped from a machine, (& therefore at half the cost). … On a TV program by chef Heston Blumenthal recently, he's team actually managed to unearth a photo of Thatcher and her team around just such a machine.
Fergus Ray Murray January 7, 2013 at 5:24 pm
For what it's worth, I notice that Mr. Whippy themselves credit Thatcher! http://www.mrwhippyicecream.co.uk/the-history-of-ice-cream/
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Shocking behavior: Electric eels use remote control to locate, stun their prey
By Abrahim El Gamal ⋅ December 19, 2014 ⋅ Post a comment
Filed Under eels, electric eels
Catania, K. The shocking predatory strike of the electric eel. Science. 346, 1231 (2014). doi: 10.1126/science.1260807
Dinner, come to papa.
It's Friday night and you're at home with nothing in particular to do, so, naturally, you throw yourself on the couch and turn on the TV for an evening of vegetative entertainment. At some point in the middle of watching re-runs of Friends, you realize you're hungry. Fortunately, in anticipation of the considerable energy it takes to prepare a home cooked meal, you've stocked up on TV dinners, but even that will require you to get up off your … couch. Just then an ad for Lunchables airs and you're practically drooling, the pudding looks so good! And you think to yourself, wouldn't it be a wonderful world where you could use your remote control to extract sustenance from the TV itself?
As it turns out, electric eels are eons beyond the human couch potato, and can do just that—use electric pulses to remotely control their prey. While electric eels have a storied history in scientific research from early investigations into the nature of electricity to modern pharmacology, it was only recently in a study conducted by Professor Kenneth Catania of Vanderbilt University published in Science that the fascinating mechanism by which the electric eel Electrophorus electricus detects and immobilizes its prey was revealed.
Hey, you – not so fast. Electric eels employ a high voltage volley to immobilize swimming prey just before going in for the attack. (Catania, Science 2014).
Catania initially set out to mimic a "naturalistic" encounter of an eel with its swimming prey. To this end, a fish was placed in a tank with an eel and time between a "high voltage volley" emitted by the eel and fish immobilization (or "tetanus") were recorded. Once a baseline was established for prey response, Catania moved on to demonstrate that tetanus in fish was indeed an involuntary response to the eel's electric pulse. This time, instead of placing the fish in the same compartment with the eel, he separated the two with a conductive agar barrier, so that electrical signals could pass through without the eel ever seeing the fish. The unfortunate fish on the other side of the barrier had its brain surgically detached from its spine ("pithed") in order to ensure that strictly involuntary responses were measured. To measure fish response, the fish were immobilized at one end and attached at the other end to a "tension transducer," which measures tension induced by muscle contractions. In order to provoke electric volley responses from the eel, worms were added into the eel's compartment. Sure enough, upon encounter with worms, eels emitted a high frequency volley, triggering a tetanus response in fish with a time delay similar to that observed in the naturalistic experiment. Hence, the prey tetanus response is an involuntary response triggered by the eel's high frequency volley.
Nobody want to see us together. Experimental setup used to investigate affects of the eel high frequency attack volley on a brain dead fish (Catania, Science 2014).
Catania went on to localize the point of initiation of the prey response in the fish's nervous system. He first asked whether the remote control signal from the eel initiates at motor neurons (those neurons that control muscle movement) or occurs through direct control of prey muscles. To test this, Catania treated fish with with "curare," a plant toxin that blocks the action of motor neurons, or with a "sham" injection, which should have no effect on the fish's motor neurons. He observed a drop in tension to zero with curare treated fish as compared to the negative control, indicating the eels were triggering a response in the motor neurons. Catania further asked whether tetanus originated via stimulus of the central nervous system (spine) or further downstream in "efferent" branches of motor neurons. He compared fish whose brains and spinal cords (double pithed) were destroyed to those of fish with only brains destroyed, and observed no reduction in the response, indicating that the eel triggered a response in motor neurons efferents. A more precise dissection of the "form" or rhythm of the eel's "pulse train" lead to the observation that each pulse begins in "doublet," a phenomenon also observed at the onset of motor neuron trains associated with high rates of muscle tension. Hence, Catania concluded that the eel's volleys might be exquisitely optimized to induce rapid muscle tension in prey by mimicking motor neuron signaling.
Check it before you wreck it. Eels explore agar membranes with low frequency pulses, then induce twitches via high frequency doublets, followed by a high frequency attack volley (Catania, Science 2014).
In the course of his experiments, Catania chanced upon an observation that led to perhaps the most fascinating finding of his study. While the eels passed the time between worm feedings, they would occasionally emit high frequency doublets or triplets (series of two or three electrical pulses, respectively). Subsequently, they would attempt to break through the barrier, presumably to reach to the fish on the other side, suggesting the eels were able to detect movements elicited in fish as result of exploratory pulses. To test this hypothesis, Catania placed live prey opposite the agar barrier from the eels. In some cases the eels detected prey through the barrier and proceeded with a high voltage volley. In the more interesting case, eels explored the barrier with low frequency pulses, followed by high voltage doublet, which stimulated prey movement, and resulted in a full on high voltage volley. To further interrogate the eel's response to induced prey movements, Catania placed fish in insulating body bags that shielded them from electrical pulses. Although eels continued to emit sensory pulses, they never proceeded to attack since the electrically insulated fish never felt the stimuli (i.e., never twitched). However, when Catania induced twitches in body-bagged fish via an external voltage source, the eels responded in all cases with a high voltage volley, demonstrating "mechanosensory" feedback between the hunter and the hunted.
Careful what you twitch for. Experimental setup employed to test twitching feedback hypothesis (Catania, Science 2014).
Catania's study shows that electrical discharge is not simply a brute force feature of the electric eel, but rather the patterns and intensities of electrical pulses make up a deliberate hunting "vocabulary". Indeed, Catania's findings show that the language of electric eel is composed of three types of signals, low voltage pulses for sensing the eel's environment, pairs and triplets of high voltage pulses for exploring more complex environments, and high voltage volleys are used to inflict immobilizing tetanus, massive whole-body contractions, prior to the final attack.
In a few words, the electric eel's hunt is something more than shocking.
Abrahim El Gamal
Abrahim is a PhD student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego where he studies marine chemical biology.
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Adult in active complete moult. P3 fully grown, P4 at 2/3 of the final length and with sub-terminal black markings on both webs, P5 tip well visible, P6 missing, P7-P10 still old (score P3/P7). Note much black on the bill and dark iris. Mirror only on P10. Black markings on the greater primary coverts may an indication of sub-adultness, but this may also be visble in adult birds (more research on known-age birds necessary).


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Home › The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea by Michael Harney (Author) Hardcover New – October 2, 2008
The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea by Michael Harney (Author) Hardcover New – October 2, 2008
The country's leading connoisseur presents a comprehensive guide for developing your tea palate.
The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea transforms tea drinkers into tea experts. Written by one of the country's leading tea professionals, The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea is an illuminating resource for tea drinkers interested in developing and refining their palate as well as their understanding of the complex agricultural, historical, and cultural significance of tea.
Drawing on his singular experience, Michael Harney masterly explores the full range of teas, revealing how each tea is distinctive, with a taste that derives from a precise combination of cultivation and production techniques, and influenced by the geography as well as its history. These lively profiles of diverse tea varieties—from delicate white tea to aged black puerh tea—include brewing instructions and vivid descriptions of the beverage scent, taste, and appearance; everything you need to become a connoisseur.
Tea has long been popular in the United States, but only recently have Americans treated this nuanced beverage with a deeper curiosity, more refined approach, and wider appetite. The Wall Street Journal reports that total U.S. tea sales are nearly four times what they were in 1990, and this growing population of discriminate consumers will celebrate the new vocabulary provided in The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea.
Unique in scope, candor, and accessibility, The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea will quickly become the classic reference and staple in the library of every serious tea drinker.
Ever since the Boston Tea Party, Americans have never exhibited the same passion for tea that so many others in the world cultivate. Much of the tea consumed here is iced tea. Harney sets out to change American minds and educate their palates. Writing in language typically reserved for wine, Harney describes the distinctive tastes, colors, and mouthfeel of teas from each of the major groups: white, green, oolong, yellow, and black. He divides the green teas into Chinese and Japanese, and the black into Chinese and "British legacy," a catchall term for teas from India and other remnants of the British Empire. He also recommends proper brewing temperatures and the appropriate brewing time for each tea variety. Harney's comprehensive analyses of the differences among teas make this a noteworthy book for tea drinkers and a worthwhile reference tool for librarians. --Mark Knoblauch
Michael Harney has been the tea buyer and blender of Harney & Sons for twenty years. He travels to Asia and meets with tea producers from all the major tea countries looking for the season's best teas. He graduated from Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration. He lives with his wife and their three sons in Salisbury, Connecticut.
Publisher: Penguin Press; 1st Edition edition (October 2, 2008)


As the first of its kind, this handbook presents state-of-the-art information and analysis concerning the state of affairs in bioethics in around 40 countries. The country reports point out the most important discussions as well as the emerging topics in the field. Readers can orientate themselves quickly with regard to the various relevant issues, institutional structures and expertise available in these countries.


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Hardball trade tactics will leave US workers battered and bruised
By Former Ambassador Earl Anthony Wayne, opinion contributor — 06/06/18 08:30 AM EDT
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A long-time U.S. trade guru joked last week that as a rule of thumb, he favors trying to manage only one trade war at a time, not multiple trade conflicts at once as the U.S. is attempting.
As the danger of costly missteps and negative consequences with international partners becomes more evident, the United States needs a serious debate over the current approach and making course adjustments. The alternative could leave the U.S. trying to recoup after paying the price at home and abroad.
The U.S. has imposed new tariffs on steel and aluminum targeting nations that are long-time allies and friends in Europe and North America for "national security" reasons, rather than focusing on rival and trade bad-boy China, sparking alarms from pundits and experts from across the political spectrum.
The U.S. tariffs have engendered billions of dollars in promised retaliatory tariffs from Canada, Mexico and the European Union, which argue that U.S. tariffs violate trade rules and are unjustified and counterproductive.
Using the "national security" rationale for U.S. trade actions could also damage U.S. producers over the longer term if other countries argue that their security is compromised by importing U.S. corn, soybeans or airplanes and thereby seek to block imports and escape commitments made in the World Trade Organization or bilaterally.
If, on top of this, the U.S. gets into a tit-for-tat exchange with China over legitimate U.S. concerns about Chinese trade practices, it will be more costly for U.S. businesses and farmers given the $650 billion U.S.-China trade relationship.
There is broad agreement that China should change harmful trade-related practices, but great dismay that the U.S. has scattered its fire by taking on U.S. allies rather than focusing on China and mobilizing allies to help bring pressure for changes in Chinese steel overproduction or forced technology transfers.
According to press reports, the U.S. is seeking Chinese commitments to buy U.S. farm and other products in the latest bilateral talks, but it is not clear what commitments are being discussed on the longer-term systemic changes needed in Chinese economic policies.
Serious studies warn of the costs flowing from new U.S. tariffs and others' retaliation. America's farmers will suffer heavily from the retaliatory tariffs targeted on farm products by countries that view the U.S. trade moves as unjustified.
America's farmers fear losing major parts of their three largest markets — Canada, Mexico and China — as fallout from these conflicts. U.S. business groups have consistently warned about the negative effects of mishandling the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and other trade issues including with the new U.S. tariffs.
In the case of NAFTA, millions of U.S., Mexican and Canadian citizens will suffer if the U.S. pulls out, as President Trump Donald John TrumpCNN's Camerota clashes with Trump's immigration head over president's tweet LA Times editorial board labels Trump 'Bigot-in-Chief' Trump complains of 'fake polls' after surveys show him trailing multiple Democratic candidates MORE and his aides are again threatening to do.
The president is now floating the idea of splitting NAFTA into two negotiations apparently to gain leverage, while some Canadian and Mexican voices are saying no NAFTA is better than a bad NAFTA.
America's image in the world as a trusted partner is also suffering. U.S partners seriously question the "national security" rationale for the new tariffs and the legitimacy of the U.S. actions.
Such practices will affect other nations' willingness to work with the U.S. on other international issues, whether it is misbehavior of Iran, Russia or China, or in the case of Mexico, combatting drug trafficking and illegal migration.
Trade and economic disputes are hard to understand and assess. It is easier to pick up catch phrases about "fair" trade agreements or allegedly harmful "trade deficits," than to absorb the complicated analyses about trade, deficits and their relationship to the massive economic transformations that have swept through America this century.
Yet, not demanding serious explanations and justifications for the current U.S. trade approaches and not pressing for immediate adjustments as merited could well cost the U.S. dearly.
Hardball trade tactics will negatively affect all Americans. Independent trade research firm Trade Partnership Worldwide, for example, finds that the new U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum will cost the U.S. a net loss of 470,000 jobs (18 jobs lost for every steel/aluminum job gained).
Another study by that same group finds that potential new 25-percent U.S. tariffs on imported autos will result in a net loss of 157,000 U.S. jobs (three jobs lost for every one gained) and a decline in GDP.
The respected Peterson Institute for International Economics argues separately that new auto tariffs would cost 195,000 U.S. jobs and cause a drop in auto production.
Another study by the Peterson Institute argues that tariffs the U.S. has proposed against China will do serious harm to U.S. technological competitiveness, and the Trade Partnership Worldwide predicts serious U.S. job and output losses from reciprocal U.S. and Chinese tariffs.
The U.S. moves shocked traditional friends. Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau protested that the imposition of tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum exports for "national security" reasons comes when the U.S. actually sells more steel to Canada than Canada sells to the U.S.
It also neglects the fact that Canada has been a trusted security partner since World War I. Other Canadians echo his deep concern.
Consider the current U.S. trade approach from the perspective of a personal life experience. What would your reaction be to a neighbor who:
insists there is a problem that does not appear valid to you;
demands actions that you think will be very harmful;
redefines the city or neighborhood rules to justify his action; and
takes punitive steps to force you to accept his demands.
This is not a person one would choose to live next to, if given the choice. Sadly, this is how many partner nations in Europe, Canada, Mexico and Japan likely perceive U.S. tariffs.
The U.S. and its partners and rivals may end up playing out these trade conflicts aggressively, but Congress should insist that the administration provide detailed, in-depth justifications to explain its actions in the face of alarm and criticism.
What are the administration's studies that led to the measures being imposed? What do they show as the costs for U.S. workers, farmers, businesses and consumers?
How do U.S. positions and tactics get us to good longer-term economic results and maintain a strong U.S. role in the world? Alternative approaches need to be offered and urged as part of a serious discussion.
Now is the time for a concerted effort in Congress and by other elected representatives to press these issues in public and in private. The costs of misfired trade war tactics for the United States and its citizens need to be made crystal clear and alternative pathways forward must be highlighted.
Earl Anthony Wayne is a public policy fellow at the Wilson Center, a former assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs, the former U.S. ambassador to Argentina and the former U.S. ambassador to Mexico.
Tags Donald Trump economy International trade International relations Trade policy Economy of North America Mexico North American Free Trade Agreement Presidency of Bill Clinton Tariffs in United States history trade agreement Trump tariffs Free trade


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Neobisium artaxerxesi est une espèce de pseudoscorpions de la famille des Neobisiidae.

Distribution
Cette espèce est endémique de Russie. Elle se rencontre dans la réserve naturelle et biosphérique du Caucase.

Publication originale
 Nassirkhani, Snegovaya & Chumachenko, 2018 : Description of a new epigean Neobisium (Neobisium) species (Pseudoscorpiones: Neobisiidae) and redescription of Neobisium (N.) golovatchi from Russia. Revista Iberica de Aracnologia, , , .

Notes et références

Neobisiidae
Espèce de pseudoscorpions (nom scientifique)
Faune endémique de Russie

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia