Parsons and Cheney- Biggest cowards in the world

Yet another story of an American with too much time on his hands and not having much to do, showing his cowardice by shooting an animal. If these "hunters" have any guts, they would try to hunt the animals without weapons, the way the animals defend themselves.

GoDaddy’s Bob Parsons OK With Causing A Media Stampede (Again) | Epicenter | Wired.com: "“Big Daddy” Bob Parsons of the web hosting company GoDaddy is in the news again, and boy, is he kicking up a storm.
No, it’s not because he’s recruited another sexy (Go) Daddy Girl for an advertising campaign or because one of his new provocative commercials was voted ‘most-watched’ in the Super Bowl. It’s because he shot a male elephant in Zimbabwe — and posted the explicit video online for the world to see."

Risks of the Southwest Model

Southwest Grounds 79 Planes After In-Flight Scare - NYTimes.com: "Southwest Airlines grounded 79 airplanes on Saturday after a piece of the fuselage on one of its Boeing 737s ripped open during a flight the day before, leaving a hole in the cabin ceiling and rapidly depressurizing the aircraft.

“We’re taking them out of service to inspect them over the next few days,” Whitney Eichinger, a Southwest spokeswoman, said Saturday. She said they would be “looking for the same type of aircraft skin fatigue.”

In a news release, Southwest announced that it would cancel about 300 flights on Saturday because of inspections, and that customers should expect delays of up to two hours.

“The safety of our customers and employees is our primary concern,” Mike Van de Ven, Southwest’s chief operating officer, said in a statement. “We are working closely with Boeing to conduct these proactive inspections and support the investigation.”

The Southwest plane, a 15-year old Boeing 737-300, was cruising at 35,000 feet on its way to Sacramento from Phoenix on Friday afternoon when passengers heard an explosion. The Associated Press reported that one woman described it as “gunshotlike.”

...

Regarding the Southwest incident, James E. Hall, a former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said that the airline had “a good safety program,” but that company worked its airplanes hard, scheduling flights with very quick turnarounds. “They pound their airplanes daily,” Mr. Hall said.

“The skin of the aircraft is like human skin,” he said. “Any type of puncture is serious.”

Two years ago, Southwest faced a similar episode when a hole ripped open in a plane’s fuselage and forced an emergency landing on a flight bound from Nashville to Baltimore. Earlier that year, Southwest was fined $7.5 million for safety violations by the Federal Aviation Administration.

In 1988, a flight attendant was killed and scores of passengers were injured when an Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 suffered a 20-foot rupture in its fuselage during a flight in Hawaii. The flight, carrying 89 passengers and a crew of five from Hilo, Hawaii, to Honolulu, was at traveling at 24,000 feet when the tear occurred...."

More Ethics Courses, More Scams

Scam effect: Course in biz ethics must at new IIMs - The Times of India: "A slew of scams, including Satyam, 2G, Bhopal gas tragedy ( Dow Chemical Company) and their protagonists have become a talking point at the new IIMs. Business ethics and values will now be taught as a part of the flagship postgraduate programme in management.

The newest IIM at Trichy, mentored by IIM-Bangalore, will introduce a full credit mandatory course in ethics, corporate social responsibility and values this summer for its maiden batch. ''India has always been known for its values and ethics. But things have changed in recent times. We believe each student passing out of the institute should act as change agents with socially responsive behaviour. During the interview stage, we are looking for qualities like ethical behaviour, integrity and spirit of inquiry among prospective students,'' said IIM-T director Prafulla Agnihotri.

Aditya Somani, a first year student at IIM-Ranchi, recently completed a second term course in business ethics and values. He said, ''The course did not teach him how to be ethical per se but focused on ethical decision making. ''I remember the Bhopal tragedy case where we discussed what ought to be done and what happened in reality. Professors throw up situations and we discuss how to tackle them.''

Heads of some of the biggest corporate houses, who hold honorary positions at IIMs, had pitched for these courses. Tata Motors vice-chairman Ravi Kant, who is chairman, board of governors at IIM-Rohtak, suggested a re-jig of the curriculum to include ethical business practices and CSR. In the first board meeting of the B-school in June 2010, he stressed the need for ''sensitisation of budding managers on sustainable profit making in long-term perspective versus short-term profitability.'' "

SHould we drink to this?

The truth about health drinks | Life and style | The Guardian: "The shift in our drinking habits over the past two decades has been remarkable: the global rate of bottled water consumption quadrupled between 1990 and 2005, and today the industry is worth some £2bn in the UK alone. Over the last few years we have seen an explosion in enhanced waters – not only flavoured waters (Volvic's Touch of Fruit, Britvic's Drench, This Water, Pret a Manger's Pure), but also waters with added vitamins and minerals (Vitaminwater), electrolytes (SmartWater), not to mention waters that promise to aid energy levels, concentration, sleep, sex and relaxation (Neuro drinks). The predicted growth of the market can be judged by Coca-Cola's 2004 buyup of Energy Brands Inc (which makes Vitaminwater), which was the largest purchase in Coca-Cola's 115-year history.

But are these drinks any healthier than, say, lemonade or cola? Certain flavours of This Water (the flavoured water range that shares a parent company with Innocent) contain 42g of sugar per 420ml bottle (a 500ml bottle of Coca-Cola contains 53g of sugar).

"The nutritional information is clearly stated on all our drinks labels," says Sarah Smart, This Water's marketing manager. "This Water drinks are made from pure squeezed juices from real fruits, spring water and sugar. The sugars found in our drinks are made up of the sugars in fruit juice and sucrose, which is needed to ensure that our drinks taste great – without it, they would taste too sharp. Unlike other flavoured water brands, our drinks will never contain concentrates, colourings or preservatives."

The problem with the enhanced water market is in part one of perception – as consumers, we associate the words "vitamins" and "fruit" and even "preservative-free" with a healthy diet, and give little thought to less desirable ingredients.

In January, the Advertising Standards Agency declared an advert that claimed Vitaminwater was nutritious "misleading"; while the drink promises much by way of added vitamins, including 100% of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of vitamin C, and while it does qualify as a "low-calorie" drink by EU guidelines, each 500ml bottle also contains the equivalent of around five teaspoons of sugar – about a quarter of the consumer's guideline daily amount.

"We have always been completely transparent that the drinks contain 23g of sugar in each 500ml bottle," a spokeswoman said, adding that its flavours and colourings are now "naturally derived" and that the drink "provides a convenient way to help people hydrate and get more of the vitamins and minerals they may require".

Of course a drink that promises extra vitamins, not to mention improved focus, sex or sleep, cannot help but seem alluring. Neuro Bliss, for instance, claims to be "designed to promote happiness and eliminate stress without affecting your energy levels" and states that it "works immediately". It contains L-Theanine, an amino acid found in green tea, to aid relaxation and mental function, phosphatidylserine, which "may help to maintain and improve healthy mental performance" and vitamin D3, which "supports healthy bones; may help support cognitive function and immunity". Should we be sceptical?

"For these claims to appear on a label," explains Bridget Benelan of theBritish Nutrition Foundation, "they have to either comply with the European Commission approved list, or be going through the process of applying for that approval." But the EC regulation has only been in place since 2007, and since thousands of appeals have been submitted, it is understandably taking a long time to check them all.

"A lot of them haven't got through," Benelan says. "For example, some probiotics, as well as the link between omega 3 and cognitive function. But vitamin D's link to bone health has been proved, and as long as there's more than 15% of the recommended daily amount in the drink, they can make that claim." Neuro Bliss contains 50% of the RDA of vitamin D3.

While such drinks can do no harm as an occasional treat, it is the cumulative effect of drinking them regularly, and in large quantities, that could prove harmful: a 2009 study found that Americans now obtain 25% of their calories from liquids.

"If people are consuming large quantities of things with a high calorie content, then there is reason to worry," says Benelan. "If we want something to drink, it's usually because we're thirsty, not because we need energy – and it's unlikely to mean that later we don't eat something because we've consumed calories from that drink."

• This article was amended on 1 April 2011. The original said a 500ml bottle of Coca-Cola contained 35g of sugar. This has been corrected to 53g. The headline was amended to remove a reference to health drinks containing more sugar than Coke.