Mystery behind Hitchcock’s Birds is solved at last.

Scientists link eerie avian suicides of 1961, which inspired cinema classic, to poison in the food chain.

By  Guy Adams    Thursday 29th December 2011.  Find Article Here:-

It has taken 50 years, rather than the shorter running time of one of his famous horror films, but Alfred Hitchcock’s most enduring whodunit appears to have finally been solved.

Scientists at Louisiana State University claim to have discovered why thousands of seagulls began killing themselves along the coast of northern California in the summer of 1961.

The mysterious avian deaths, in which many of the birds flew, Kamikaze-style, into houses along the Monterey Bay shore, south of San Francisco, were cited as one of the major inspirations for Hitchcock’s 1963 film The Birds.

Now a team of marine biologists, who have been conducting post-mortems of seabirds killed during the1961 incident, have reached a credible conclusion about their deaths: the creatures were poisoned.

Writing in the latest edition of the journal Nature Geoscience, the researchers say that they examined the stomach contents of seagulls and turtles collected during the period, and discovered unusual quantities of a nerve-damaging toxin called domoic acid. The acid, which most likely came from anchovies and squid which formed part of the birds’ natural diet, can sometimes cause brain damage. In severe cases, it leads to them becoming confused, suffering seizures, and dying.

Sibel Bargu, leading the research, said domoic acid was found in 79 per cent of the plankton ingested by anchovies and squid. Over a short period, that would become sufficiently concentrated to cause fatal injuries to predators who ingested the creatures.

Although this theory has previously been cited as a potential explanation for the 1961 event, Ms Bargu writes, no direct evidence has been obtained by scientists to support it. Until now. “Here we show that plankton samples from the 1961 poisoning contained toxin-producing Pseudo-nitzschia, supporting the contention that these toxic diatoms were responsible for the bird frenzy that motivated Hitchcock’s thriller,” she writes.

A similar toxic bloom is already known to have caused avian deaths in the same area in the 1990s, while in 1989, domoic acid was found to have contaminated mussels which killed four people on Prince Edward Island in Canada.

The spectacle of the dying birds was witnessed by Hitchcock, who took other elements of the film’s plot from a Daphne du Maurier novel called The Birds.

Confusion still reigns about what caused the toxins to become present in seawater in the first place, however. The usual culprit would be pesticides from farmland. But researchers note that there was a house-building boom in the area at the time, and wonder if leaky domestic septic tanks were instead to blame.

Financial wizards, industry-wreckers.

By Peter J Sephton 29th December 2012.  Find This Comment Here:-

I find it an oxymoron that Mr Cameron has argued that he wants to protect London’s financial institutions, and at the same time that he wants to take the UK back to a manufacturing base. Over a 40-year career at senior level in business from a mechanical engineering background, I have seen our engineering base ruined by the very people he wants to support, the financial wizards.

The quality of management in many UK businesses has been disastrous from the 1960s and the main reason has been simple: accountants have risen to the top. The accountancy backgrounds of many senior managers have produced the short-termism that has prevailed in British industry.

Their main consideration has been making a quick profit, instead of developing products and services with long-term market leadership capabilities. They might have created a financial centre in London, but they have ruined many good British businesses.

For decades, it was fashionable to blame trades unions and workers for the malaise of our industry, but the failure was entirely down to poor management. There was no understanding of building quality into products, the value of a skilled and informed workforce or providing what the customer wanted, with many British companies in the 1970s and 1980s building down to a price instead of up to a quality.

But I don’t expect any change unless Sir James Dyson takes over as prime minister. Politicians are beholden to accountants to keep them in office, something engineers cannot accomplish. Yet Britain has always produced the world’s most innovative engineers. Accountants may understand the stock market but don’t understand the business.

Monsanto’s Best-Selling Herbicide Roundup Linked to Infertility.

Andre Evans
NaturalSociety
January 21st, 2012  .  Find Article Here:-

A recent study has found that Monsanto’s Roundup pesticide may be responsible for causing infertility. After reviewing the many already well-documented negative impacts Roundup has on the environment and living creatures, it is no surprise to add yet another item to the list.

Researchers tested roundup on mature male rats at a concentration range between 1 and 10,000 parts per million (ppm), and found that within 1 to 48 hours of exposure, testicular cells of the mature rats were either damaged or killed. According to the study, even at a concentration of 1 ppm, the Roundup was able to affect the test subjects by decreasing their testosterone concentrations by as much as 35%.

How can such small levels of exposure have such a profound effect on the reproductive system? Roundup, being a glyphosate-based herbicide is also known to have endocrine disrupting properties.

Much like BPA, glyphosate-based herbicides have the ability to interfere with the natural hormonal balance in the human body, thereby introducing a number of health risks along with even the smallest levels of exposure. These chemicals are strong enough to affect your metabolism, behavior and mood, reproductive organs, and even provoke cancer.

As a result, any plants that are sprayed with roundup carry with them a chemical effect similar to that of other endocrine disruptors, offsetting the hormonal balance and causing adverse effects, despite even the smallest levels of exposure. This in part contributes to the number of males with increased fertility issues in more recent times.

It is no surprise that Monsanto, a company already infamous for a whole slew of dangerous concoctions, would also be responsible for affecting another major aspect of human health on a large scale.

Ultimately it is highly important to avoid any products sprayed with pesticides or herbicides for the many associated health risks – now fertility included. In addition to avoiding food which has been tarnished by this pesticide, you may also want to consider investing in a water filter. The carcinogenic chemical Roundup contains known as glyphosate has been found to be contaminating the groundwater in areas it is being applied in.

Being aware of the hormonal disruptors you face in your daily life such as BPA and now Roundup is a must. Even the smallest levels of exposure can have the large negative effects.

Explore More:

1. Monsanto’s Carcinogenic Roundup Herbicide Contaminating Water Supply
2. World’s Top Commercial Weed Killer Linked to Infertility: Scientist
3. USDA: Monsanto’s Roundup Herbicide Damages Soil
4. Exposure to this Chemical is Linked to Birth Defects
5. Monsanto’s Roundup Ready Crops Leading to Mental Illness, Obesity
6. Monsanto’s Roundup Spawns Superweeds Consuming Over 120 Million Hectares

Kodak files for bankruptcy protection.

By Jonathan Stempel, Thursday 19th January 2012.  Find Article Here:-

Eastman Kodak, the photography icon that invented the hand-held camera and helped bring the world the first pictures from the moon, has filed for bankruptcy protection, capping a prolonged plunge for one of America’s best-known companies.

The Chapter 11 filing may give Kodak, which traces its roots to 1880, the ability to find buyers for some of its 1,100 digital patents, a major portion of its value.

It may also help Kodak continue to shrink a business that still employs 17,000 people, down from 63,900 just nine years ago.

Kodak also obtained a $950 million, 18-month credit line from Citigroup so it can keep operating during the bankruptcy process, which it expects to complete in 2013.

“This is a necessary step and the right thing to do for the future of Kodak,” Chairman and Chief Executive Antonio Perez said in a statement on Thursday.

According to papers filed with the US bankruptcy court in Manhattan, Kodak had about $5.1 billion of assets and $6.75 billion of liabilities at the end of September.

In court documents, Chief Financial Officer Antoinette McCorvey said, without elaborating, that Kodak plans to sell “significant assets” during the bankruptcy. Non-US units are not part of the Chapter 11 case.

Kodak once dominated its industry and its film was the subject of a popular Paul Simon song, but it failed to embrace more modern technologies quickly enough, such as the digital camera – ironically, a product it even invented.

Its downfall hit its Rust Belt hometown of Rochester, New York, with employment there falling to about 7,000 from more than 60,000 in Kodak’s heyday.

Kodak’s market value, meanwhile, has sunk to less than $150 million from $31 billion 15 years ago.

In recent years, Perez has steered Kodak’s focus more toward consumer and commercial printers.

But that failed to restore annual profitability, something Kodak has not seen since 2007, or arrest a cash drain that has made it difficult for the company to meet its substantial pension and other benefits obligations to its workers and retirees.

McCorvey said Kodak ultimately suffered from a “liquidity shortfall” as some vendors stopped shipping and providing services, and demanded shorter payment terms.

Kodak named Dominic DiNapoli, a vice chairman at business turnaround specialist FTI Consulting Inc, as its chief restructuring officer.

The investment bank Lazard is also providing advice and has been helping Kodak look for a buyer for its digital patents. Kodak’s law firm is Sullivan & Cromwell.

Perez said the bankruptcy would help Kodak maximize the value of its technology assets, including patents related to digital imaging that it said are used in virtually every modern digital camera, smartphone and tablet.

In the last few years, Kodak has used extensive litigation with rivals such as Apple Inc, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co and Taiwan’s HTC Corp over those patents as a means to try to generate revenue.

Among Kodak’s many creditors are retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Target Corp, and movie companies Sony Corp and Walt Disney Co.

George Eastman, a high-school dropout from upstate New York, founded Kodak in 1880, and began to make photographic plates. To get his business going, he splurged on a second-hand engine for $125.

Within eight years, the Kodak name had been trademarked, and the company had introduced the hand-held camera as well as roll-up film, where it became the dominant producer.

Eastman also introduced the “Wage Dividend” in which the company would pay bonuses to employees based on results.

Nearly a century after Kodak’s founding, the astronaut Neil Armstrong used a Kodak camera the size of a shoebox to take pictures as he became in 1969 the first man to walk on the moon.

Those pictures arguably had more viewers than the 80 films that have won Best Picture Oscars and were shot on Kodak film.

Six years after Armstrong’s walk, and not long after songwriter Simon told his mama not to take his Kodachrome away, Kodak invented the digital camera.

The size of a toaster, it was too big for the pockets of amateur photographers, whose pockets now are stuffed with digital offerings from the likes of Canon, Casio and Nikon.

But rather than develop the digital camera, Kodak put it on the back-burner and spent years watching rivals take market share that it would never reclaim.

In 1994, Kodak spun off a chemicals business, Eastman Chemical Co, which proved to be more successful.

Kodak’s final downfall in the eyes of investors began in September when it unexpectedly withdrew $160 million from a credit line, raising worries of a cash shortage. It ended September with $862 million of cash.

It remained unclear how Kodak will address its pension obligations, many of which were built up decades ago when US manufacturers offered more generous retirement and medical benefits. Many retirees hail from Britain where Kodak has been manufacturing since 1891.

The company had promised to inject $800 million over the next decade into its British pension plan. It remains unclear how that country’s pension regulator might seek to preserve some or all of the company’s obligations to British pensioners.

McCorvey, the chief financial officer, said in court papers on Thursday that she expects the trustee for the British pension plan to have a “significant” general unsecured claim against the company.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Kodak collapses as it fails to keep up with the times.

Jim Armitage  19th January 2012.   Find Article Here:-

Glory days: the giant, now led by Perez, was once a photographic pioneer but it made the mistake of not capitalising on digital.

Eastman Kodak, the company which brought photography to the masses, filed for bankruptcy protection today in the grimmest chapter for one of the world’s best-known businesses.

Founded in 1880 by inventor George Eastman, the company has spent the past two decades failing to keep up with the digital revolution that has killed off Kodak’s main markets of film-based photography. Its demise under the leadership of chairman and chief executive Antonio Perez is sure to become a text-book case for future business studies students of a company which could not keep up with the times.

Ironically, it was Eastman Kodak which invented the first digital camera in 1975. However, fearing the new science would cannibalise its traditional business, it effectively sat on the new creation which was then taken up with gusto by the likes of Japan’s Canon and Nikon. Those giants now dominant the more profitable, high-end digital camera market, leaving Kodak with a few cheap models which are rapidly being superseded by mobile phones.

Ajay Bhalla of Cass Business School said: “This is a company that just became very outdated.”
Analysts said the company has been spending much of the past few years suing its competitors in a bid to bring in cash. Only today it filed a suit against Samsung Electronics over patent infringements.

Under US law, bankruptcy protection allows a company breathing space from its creditors to reorganise its business and debts. Eastman Kodak’s filing lists its assets as worth $5.1 billion (£3.3 billion) and its debts at $6.8 billion. The company said it had secured $950 million of funding from Citigroup to tide it over its reorganisation.

However, given the crisis it faces, it remains unclear what shape it will take when it emerges. Bhalla said: “They have a huge patent portfolio, which is probably the only valuable part of the business left. From here there are probably two options: first, sell the patent portfolio, like Nortel did. Second, and this is highly unlikely, find a buyer for the business. There is really no value left in the Kodak name.”

Bhalla pointed out that successive management teams had failed to deal with the core crisis of being in a dramatically shifting marketplace.

Where one-time film rival Fuji film moved into LCD screen technology and even adapting its chemicals to the pharmaceuticals industry, Kodak continued to keep film at the heart of its business in the mistaken belief that it should continue to base itself around its business heritage.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Your Kodak moments – in pictures Here:-

We look back on some of your favourite ‘Kodak moments’ taken using Kodak cameras or film. Here’s how you can get involved.

• Guardian readers
• guardian.co.uk, Thursday 19th January 2012.

Fried food heart risk ‘a myth’.

It is a “myth” that regularly eating fried foods causes heart attacks, researchers have found, as long as you use olive oil or sunflower oil.  Or as I have heard it put…”With their mediterranean diet, the Spanish would live forever if they didn’t drive so badly.”

Despite the research the British Heart Foundation warned Britons not to “reach for the frying pan” Photo: Rex Features

By Stephen Adams,  25th January 2012.    Find Full Article Here:-

They say there is mounting research that it is the type of oil used, and whether or not it has been used before, that really matters.

The latest study, published in the British Medical Journal, found no association between the frequency of fried food consumption in Spain – where olive and sunflower oils are mostly used – and the incidence of serious heart disease.

However, the British Heart Foundation warned Britons not to “reach for the frying pan” yet, pointing out that the Mediterranean diet as a whole was healthier than ours.

Spanish researchers followed more than 40,000 people, two-thirds of whom were women, from the mid 1990s to 2004.

At the outset they asked them how often they ate fried foods, either at home or while out. They then looked to see whether eating fried foods regularly increased the likelihood of falling ill from having coronary heart disease, such as a heart attack or angina requiring surgery.