Wikinews interviews Australian Statistician Brian Pink
February 22nd, 2023 | Uncategorized |
Monday, April 7, 2008
The Australian Bureau of Statistics is responsible for some of Australia’s largest surveys, including the Census of Population and Housing, held every five years. At its head is the Australian Statistician. The current Statistician, Brian Pink, started in his position on March 5, 2007, following the retirement of predecessor Dennis Trewin. Wikinews recently caught up with Brian Pink to talk with him about his first year in the position, as well as his previous tenure as Government Statistician at Statistics New Zealand, and the state of mathematical education in Australia.
((WikiNews)) : Good afternoon.
Brian Pink: Good afternoon.
((WN)) : And congratulations on spending a year as Australian Statistician.
Brazil —Denunciations of political corruption threaten the Brazilian government. The most recent case involves a deputy of the political party PTB (who supports the government of the Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva) in a scandal of the services of post office.
Lula’s government representatives said that they will investigate all the denunciations and affirmed that the government is a victim of political enemies.
GPS IIR-19, also known as IIM-6 and SVN-48, will be placed in plane A, slot 4, replacing the GPS IIA-15 satellite. IIA-15 was launched in September 1992, and has been operating for over twice its design life. This was the 135th launch of the Delta II, and the twelfth orbital launch of 2008.
On Tuesday, Microsoft launched BizTalk Server 2006 R2 with Radio-frequency Identification (RFID) technology in Taiwan. Microsoft Taiwan held a launch seminar with “Pulse the Operations with the Communication of Enterprises” topic and invited hardware and software companies to highlight the integration of RFID, SOA, and EDI with BizTalk Server 2006 R2.
At the press conference, Steven Martin (Director of Product Management for BizTalk® Server Product Group at Microsoft Corp.) mentioned the improvements to BizTalk Server 2006 R2 and the lower costs, which could increase the opportunities for enterprises. Martin also praised Taiwan for having an environment conducive to the development of RFID technology, and suggested that was the reason Microsoft Global Headquarters chose Taiwan as the first location for the product launch.
Aside from seminars and exhibitions, Microsoft Taiwan also welcomed Chang Jung Christian University, Telecommunication Laboratories of Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd., Tekho Inc., Formosa Petrochemical Co., Ltd., and Quanta Computer lnc. to introduce their solutions from their earlier integration and show the strength of RFID technologies in Taiwan.
After the launch series in Taiwan, Microsoft Global Headquarters announced that the next launch for BizTalk Server 2006 R2 would be Sydney, Australia on September 13, followed by Chicago, United States on October 2.
Television producer and owner of the anti-Scientology website www.xenutv.com (XenuTV), Mark Bunker, also known as Wise Beard Man, chatted online with Wikinews for nearly three hours. More than 120 people followed the interview live (many from Project Chanology), which makes this exclusive Wikinews interview our most attended IRC interview to date.
Bunker started XenuTV in 1999 and began to make videos that he provided for the Lisa McPherson Trust. Bunker has been a critic of the Church of Scientology since 1997.
In 2006, he won a Regional Emmy Award after he and KUSI-TV news reporter Lena Lewis produced a documentary news video on the issues with the United States – Mexico border with San Diego, California.
On Tuesday afternoon, Robert Byrd’s office corrected the reports used for this article. Mark Ferrell said, “Sen. Byrd did not have a medical issue – he is just fine.”
Associated Press. “Aide: Byrd left Hill lunch when Kennedy stricken” — Washington Post, January 20, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Barack Obama and Ted Kennedy in Hartford, February 4, 2008.Image: Ragesoss.
According to reports, two United States Senators, Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd, suffered medical problems during a luncheon with new U.S. President Barack Obama.
Kennedy collapsed as a result of a seizure and was taken away by paramedics in a wheelchair. In May, Kennedy was diagnosed with brain cancer, which required an operation. Kennedy is at Washington Hospital in Washington, D.C. where his family says he is awake and talking. At the time of his collapse, he was reported to be sitting with John Kerry, another Massachusetts Senator, 2004 presidential candidate, and close friend of Kennedy.
President Obama commented on the situation during the luncheon: “And so I would be lying to you if I did not say that right now a part of me is with him, and I think that’s true for all of us. This is a joyous time. But it’s also a sobering time. And my prayers are with him and his family and Vicki [Kennedy’s wife].”
U.S. Senator Byrd was also taken out of the luncheon after he had reported that he had trouble eating. Byrd, 91 is the oldest member of the U.S. Senate and the longest-serving Senator in the history of the body. Reports indicate that Byrd is doing well.
Australian solar racing team Sunswift paraded their fifth car, eVe, on the Kensington campus of the University of New South Wales, Sydney, yesterday. They are leaving for the 2013 World Solar Challenge this weekend. Both staff and students came to the send-off event in the early afternoon.
The vehicle route led from the biomed lawn of Michael Birt Gadrens in upper Kensington Campus down the University Mall to Anzac Parade with a few stops along the way at Commerce Courtyard and Globe Lawn. The driver, as well as the passenger, alighted as six members of the team carried eVe over the stairs of University Mall.
eVe, the latest car built by the Sunswift team, was designed for the new Cruiser class of the competition, and thus meets regulations for normal roads-worthy vehicles. While its predecessor IVy weighed under 150 kg, eVe weighs approximately 300 kg, with light carbon fiber monocoque construction and 15 kWh batteries weighing only 63 kg. However, eVe has achieved a similar drag coefficient, despite different overall shape and larger frontal area.
The 2013 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge is to take place on October 6–13, 2013.
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Sunswift cars of 2009 and 2013 side-by-side. Image: Wikiwide.
eVe prepares to take part in World Solar Challenge 2013; IVy has taken part in World Solar Challenge 2009 Image: Wikiwide.
Driver inside eVe during send-off parade Image: Wikiwide.
eVe as seen from above; during send-off parade Image: Wikiwide.
eVe and its driver on Send-Off Parade Image: Wikiwide.
eVe being carried over the stairs Image: Wikiwide.
Eve in Kensington Campus of UNSW, on Send-Off Parade Image: Wikiwide.
File:EVe Campus.png
Map of eVe’s send-off parade before Sunswift leaves for the World Solar Challenge. Image: Wikiwide.(Image missing from Commons: image; log)
The U.S. government warned private financial services that al Qaeda is planning a cyber attack on the U.S. stock and bank accounts, officials said on Thursday.
Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke says: “There is no information to corroborate this aspirational threat. As a routine matter and out of an abundance of caution, US-CERT issued the situational awareness report to industry stakeholders.”
The officials said that the attacks are aimed at destroying the databases of U.S. banking and stock market web sites. The Homeland Security group claims that the threat was for all of December.
A U.S. official said that the threat was posted on an website and called for the attack to avenge the imprisonment of Muslims in the Guantanamo detention camp.
Sexy video clips have a more negative influence on girls than on boys, says Dutch pop professor Tom ter Bogt. Ter Bogt investigated the influence of sexy video clips on the thoughts, behaviour and self-image of 13 to 16 year old children. After viewing the clips, girls felt that outward appearance was more important, they were less satisfied with their own appearance, and they became less resolute in denying permissive sex.
In his research Ter Bogt showed (censored) sexy videos from well-known pop-artists 50 Cent, Amanda Wilson ft. Freemasons, Nelly, NERD and David Guetta to a group of 250 children. An equally-sized group watched the concert performances of the same songs. After seeing the videos the girls in the test group felt more strongly that outward appearance was important for girls, and they tended to be less satisfied about their own appearances. Unexpectedly the videos did not affect the boys in the groups as much, their behaviour and self-image was more or less unchanged, contrary to previous beliefs that boys can be influenced by sexy videos to participate in group rapes.
Tom ter Bogt was instated today as professor at the University of Utrecht in pop music and youth culture. “There is no reason for a moral panic,” Ter Bogt says, “young people need to experiment with sex. But these experiments must be based on equality between men and women, and the relationships in these videos are not based on equality. The clips undermine the self-image of young girls. When they start to define their identity with their looks, they may lose self-confidence, will perform worse in school, and will suffer more from eating disorders.”
The conclusions of Ter Bogt are confirmed by research by US psychologists, but also shows that parents have a major influence in their girls’ self-image.