145 counts of data fabrication against University of Connecticut Director of Cardiovascular Research: 11 Journals informed

January 11, 2012

Deepak Das

Another massive case of misconduct by an established  scientist – not a humble post doc but a Director of Cardiovascular Research!! Once again a scientist of Indian origin in the US is involved – Prof. Deepak Das!

This time there are also clear commercial motives which takes scientific misconduct into the realms of criminal fraud!!!

Hartford Business:The University of Connecticut is rejecting nearly $1 million in federal grants awarded to one of its scientists found to have falsified many of his findings on the health benefits of wine.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Academic misconduct, Medicine, Scientific Fraud, scientific misconduct | 2 Comments »

Will SAS be acquired by Qatar or Lufthansa?

January 11, 2012

SAS – which used to be one of my favourite airlines – needs new owners with access to larger markets and with financial muscle.

Lufthansa was – and still is – the most likely buyer. But in the last 2 days the rumors of interest from Qatar have been driving up the SAS share price. Of course the rumors have been denied.

But  SAS is unsustainable as it is and  something is due to happen with SAS ownership this year. And my guess would be that the clear fit and benefits would point to Lufthansa rather than Quatar.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Aviation, Business | Comments Off on Will SAS be acquired by Qatar or Lufthansa?

Light blogging while on assignment

January 10, 2012

I am travelling again on an assignment and blogging will be light for a week or so.

Posted in Trivia | Comments Off on Light blogging while on assignment

Tony Blair has income of £12 million, spends £8 million on administration but pays only £300,000 tax

January 8, 2012

I am not Tony Blair’s greatest fan and don’t have very high expectations of him. Nevertheless, the manner in which he cashes in on his former position is breathtaking! Personal ethics are clearly unknown to him.

Paying 2.5% of his income as tax is a pretty impressive case of tax avoidance (which is probably perfectly legal and not tax evasion). But it makes him a parasite. Some parasites are useful but he is not one of them.

The Telegraph:

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair channelled millions of pounds through a complicated web of companies and paid just a fraction in tax

Official accounts show a company set up by Mr Blair to manage his business affairs paid just £315,000 in tax last year on an income of more than £12 million. In that time, he employed 26 staff and paid them total wages of almost £2.3 million. ….

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Ethics, Politics | 5 Comments »

The data, all the data and nothing but the data

January 5, 2012

(Reuters) – Unreported data from early trials of experimental medicines in humans can result in harm to future patients and needless costs for health systems, according to scientists writing in the British Medical Journal on Wednesday.

The role of statistics in research leads to obvious risks for the drawing of conclusions about causal relationships between parameters without actually increasing the understanding about the underlying mechanisms. In pharmaceutical and health research such conclusions provide enormous financial benefits for the researchers and their sponsors – and not always in the interests of the patients involved.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Medicine, Research, Science | Comments Off on The data, all the data and nothing but the data

Saving your losses for a sunny day!

January 2, 2012

A case of squirrelling away your losses to avoid taxes when times are good!!

Allowing for deferred taxes to average out the ups and downs of a business cycle makes good sense. But of course such provisions are exploited to the full – especially by the financial “industry”.

Barclays stockpiles ‘losses’ to soften tax obligations

Barclays has amassed a war chest of “losses” to offset against future tax payments that can almost rival those at the crippled state-backed banks, despite remaining strongly profitable.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Business, Ethics | Comments Off on Saving your losses for a sunny day!

2012 – Ten Hopes

December 31, 2011

2012

I think I am an optimist and always have high hopes even if they are not often matched by my expectations or what actually transpires. But somehow the hopes remain.

A list of hopes can however be unending. So for 2012 I list just 10 – in no particular order or ranking:

  1.  that the killing stops
  2. that the food that is already plentiful and available can be distributed to all those who are in desperate need
  3. that India win the 4-Test series in Australia (though they were thrashed in the first match)
  4. that the Euro splits into two
  5. that the extremists of all kinds become marginalised and irrelevant
  6. that alarmism and sensationalism and belief systems are eliminated from science (though it undoubtedly helps to get funding)
  7. that having ethics replaces slavish compliance in politics and business
  8. that the do-gooders stop imposing their beliefs and telling others what is good for them
  9. that politicians realise that they are just civil servants, and
  10. that belief systems (whether in religions or economic theories or global warming) are subordinated to track records and evidence

Tags:
Posted in Trivia | Comments Off on 2012 – Ten Hopes

On courage and foolhardiness

December 30, 2011

A young friend recently faced a number of less than easy options regarding his employment and his career and our discussion turned to behaviour in the face of uncertainty and fears:

The fundamental characteristic of courage in actions is that the action remains central and fear is then the constraint or barrier to action which must be subordinated. I have heard it said that courage lies in confronting fear or defeating fear but this, I think, misses the central point. The focus of courage is on the actions not on the fears. Whatever purposeful action has been decided proceeds even though fear exists. Defeating the fear is not the focus where the action then becomes secondary or merely a by-product.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Behaviour, Philosophy | Comments Off on On courage and foolhardiness

Indian MMRCA decision imminent as political support peaks for the Eurofighter Typhoon

December 28, 2011

The long running saga for the purchase of 126 combat aircraft for the Indian Air Force (worth in excess of 11 Billion $) is coming to a head between the 2 short listed – the Eurofighter Typhoon (UK, Germany, Italy and Spain) and the French Rafale. In April, Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet, Lockheed Martin’s F-16IN Super Viper, the MiG Corporation’s MiG-35 and Saab’s Gripen NG were eliminated after the technical evaluation leaving Dassault’s Rafale to compete with the Eurofighter built by a 4-country consortium. The winner is likely to sell a further 80 – 100 aircraft in a second phase. One requirement that the suppliers will be judged on is the extent to which technology transfer will take place and the extent to which Indian industry can become sub-suppliers. Rumours in the Defence Ministry are indicating a decision in the first half of January 2012.

The political support for the Eurofighter has reached its peak with a joint letter written by the leaders of the four supplier countries to the Indian Government welcoming India as a “fifth partner country”.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Aviation, Defense, India | 4 Comments »

Sol Invictus: Greetings on Dies Natalis Solis Invicti

December 25, 2011

It is the 25th of December of the year 2011 of the Gregorian Calendar and it is the anniversary of the day of the birth of the Invincible Sun (Dies Natalis Solis Invicti).

More correctly, of course it is the presumed date of the birth of the Earth’s revolutions around the Sun. This revolution would have existed even when the Earth was just an amorphous conglomeration of gas and particles orbiting the Sun and still waiting to coalesce as the Earth. Since the seasonal celebrations could never be suppressed, it is the date which was hijacked as the day of the birth of Christ (first recorded in 354AD), some 1,657 years ago. But Natalis Solis Invicti goes back much longer than that. And to the best of our knowledge that was about 4,540,000,000 (±1%) years ago.

And while the celebrations around the world at this dark time of the year remain of vital importance in the human calendar, its relevance as the birthday of Christ has become largely meaningless. It is the celebration of renewal, of the beginning of a new year, of the coming lengthening of the days after the winter solstice which pre-dates Christian tradition and will continue long after its inevitable extinction. It is the certainty of belief that the earth will continue to revolve around the Sun and all that follows from that which lifts the human spirit.

Here the sun rises today at 08:48 and sets at 15:05 – a day-length of just over 6 hours. But the days are getting longer and already by next Saturday the day at this latitude will be 6 minutes longer. Over the next 200 days the length of each day will increase by an average of more than 3 minutes each day and by high summer the length of the day will be around 17 hours. And it is the affirmation of this renewal, this anticipation of what is to come and the reconfirmation of “certain” belief in Sol Invictus which lifts my spirit.

And so my greetings to all on this day to celebrate the day of the birth of the Invincible Sun.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Solar science | Comments Off on Sol Invictus: Greetings on Dies Natalis Solis Invicti

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »