marathon06.org

The time is 18:00 (UTC) on July 4th, 2006, and this is Audio Wikinews News Briefs.

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Thursday, February 16, 2017

Paranoria, TX, a modern radio drama hosted at internet-based AstroNet Radio, released its 100th episode. The episode is titled The People’s Choice and aired on Monday.

The station’s web site describes the show as “old school radio theater with a new and outrageous geeky spin!” In its early days, the show was featured solely at the long-running internet radio site TogiNet Radio, a site focused on talk radio. In late 2015, TogiNet established AstroNet Radio as a subsidiary station. The show originally featured amateur voice actors, local to East Texas. After some time, professional actors/talent came to be featured intermittently. Some of those were

• Kevin Betzer from television series Deep South Paranormal.
• Clu Gulager notably from The Virginian and The Fall Guy.
• John Gulager notably as director of Piranha 3DD.
• Diane Ayala Goldner notably from horror film franchise Feast.
• Vernon Wells notably from the films Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior and Weird Science.

Wikinews caught up with the show’s producer, George Jones, to discuss the show.

((WN)) First, tell our readers about Paranoria, Texas.

George Jones: Paranoria, TX started out as a little show that could. We really didn’t know what we were doing but we wanted to do Old School radio in a brand new format which consisted of a new script every week with a cast of voice actors. The result was a surprising hit and now the show has grown into something completely different than what it was in the beginning and we have followers worldwide. The basic premise of the story is that there is a group of nerds who come together plotting to take over the world but end up saving it time and again.

((WN)) When did the idea for the show first come to you?

GJ: I was called into the [TogiNet] studio for an interview about one of my events and while I was there the DJ asked me if I had ever thought about doing a radio show myself. I had no idea what I was going to do but I was intrigued and after a little brainstorming and utilizing my own creativity the show was born.

((WN)) You’ve written most of the scripts, right? Has anyone else helped you with writing?

GJ: I have written 90% of the scripts for the show. Eric Nivens, Alan Mendez, Jeremy Nagel and Matt McBride have also written a few scripts. It gets tough running a brand new 20-page script every week but somehow we’ve managed for almost a hundred weeks. We thank God for fans who keep us going, otherwise it would not have made it for so long.

Jones estimates since the first episode, the show has been downloaded roughly 30,000 times. The show is set to feature a spin-off series soon.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

London, England — Yesterday, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) held their first formal press conference as part of the 2012 Summer Paralympics. Approximately 60 media representatives attended and had the opportunity to ask questions of Craig Spence, IPC President Philip Craven, Chairman of the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralymic Games (LOCOG) Sebastian Coe, and LOCOG Director of Communications and Public Affairs Jackie Brock-Doyle following a short speech on the history of the Paralympic Games.

The reporters asked a variety of questions. A British journalist asked about having ATOS as a sponsor given the negative history the business has had with disability services in the country. The IPC responded by saying this is an issue that should be taken up by the relevant British government agency.

A Wikinews reporter asked if the high cost of technology for participating in disability sport at the elite level would leave Oceania, Asia, and Africa behind. Craven said historically, the IPC has worked on increasing disability sport participation; they were now working on changing that to developing disability sport around the world. He highlighted efforts by the IPC to bring down the cost of wheelchairs and prostheses as these are sporting equipment for participation in disability sport. He also said they had donated 4,000 wheelchairs to help spread disability sport.

A Canadian journalist from the Vancouver Sun asked about the lack of substantial coverage of the Games in North America. Craven responded by saying he was disappointed by United States coverage and the IPC has been aware of the problem for years. He contrasted the situation in the United States with France, where the public successfully put pressure on the rights-holding network to improve the coverage of the Games.

Another reporter asked about Paralympic social media usage during the Games. Craven responded that while not a big user of it himself, the IPC embraced social media. Spence said the IPC encouraged everyone involved to use it; 47 Paralympians have video blogs, and the Opening Ceremonies will be covered while they happen.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Ben Shephard has announced his departure from GMTV, the current television breakfast programme on ITV in the United Kingdom, having been a presenter on the programme for ten years. His current contract ends in April 2010, but he is expected to leave by the end of the Summer of 2010, according to the Press Association.

Initially, Shephard only presented an entertainment section of the television programme before being given a promotion to the sofa in 2005. He is the third presenter to leave GMTV within the last year, after the departures of Fiona Phillips and Penny Smith.

According to a statement released from Ben Shephard’s agent: “Ben’s two-year contract with GMTV is up at the end of April. Earlier this year, his management made it clear that he would not be renewing it, but would be happy to stay on temporarily during this transitional period. Ben is excited about moving on after 10 incredible years and will be focusing on a number of new projects with ITV and other channels.”

Adrian Chiles, who recently announced his departure from the BBC after modifications were made to The One Show — a show that he presented with Christine Bleakley — was recently reported to be appearing as a presenter on GMTV in the future.

Friday, February 9, 2007

Ford Motor Company CEO Alan Mulally has reported that Ford will rename the Ford Five Hundred to the Taurus for the 2008 model year, when a facelifted model is expected to be launched to improve the lackluster sales of the outgoing model. Mulally says that Ford’s decision to name all their cars with the letter F was a lackluster move, and makes their names easily forgettable. As a result, Mulally plans on reviving many respected Ford nameplates, the Taurus being one of them, and the Falcon possibly in the future.

The Ford Taurus was originally introduced in 1986, and was a revolutionary car that rewrote the rules for creating a sedan, and pushed the other American automakers to follow suit, leading to a design revolution that completely rid Detroit of the “boxy” cars of the 70s and 80s. The Taurus survived for four generations, selling over 7,500,000 units. The Taurus was discontinued in October 2006, after a brief run of 2007 models destined for fleet customers.

“How can it go away?” Alan Mulally remembered asking, “It’s the best-selling car in America.”

While it is not expected for the name change to turn the Five Hundred into a 400,000 plus units a year blockbuster like the Taurus, it is expected to make sales more solid, and to make the car well known, since the Taurus is a well known nameplate around the country.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Yesterday, at this year’s Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), company CEO Steve Jobs unveiled iPhone 4, along with the new iOS 4 operating system for Apple mobile devices.

The announcement was long-awaited but not a very big surprise. In April, the technology blog Gizmodo obtained a prototype of the new phone and published details of it online. While introducing iPhone 4, at the annual conference, Jobs started by hinting at the incident, saying, “Stop me if you’ve already seen this.”

The new iPhone was praised by Jobs as “the biggest leap we’ve taken since the original iPhone.” It is only 9.3 millimetres (0.37 inches) thick, making it “the thinnest smartphone on the planet”, a 24 percent reduction from Apple’s previous model, the iPhone 3GS. Structure-wise, iPhone 4 has a new stainless steel frame, which acts as an antenna, supposedly boosting its signal reception abilities and possibly reducing the amount of dropped calls. It also has a new screen, dubbed a “retina display,” which displays images at 326 pixels per inch. During the keynote, Jobs demoed the device’s new internal gyroscope as well. Even though it now uses Apple’s faster A4 processor (first used in its iPad tablet), iPhone 4 has a claimed seven hours of 3G talk time, up two hours from the 3GS.

In addition to its design features, Jobs showed off iPhone 4’s new video calling abilities. This feature is called FaceTime, and connects with other iPhone 4s via Wi-Fi. The phone has two cameras: one on the front for video chats, and one on the back for taking pictures and other videos. The rear camera has a resolution of five megapixels, is capable of recording high-definition video, and has an LED flash.

The iPhone 4 will use Apple’s latest mobile operating system, iOS 4. Formerly “iPhone OS,” iOS 4 was first introduced by Apple in April, and includes multitasking capabilities. Jobs called the new software “the most advanced mobile operating system in the world.” iOS will support Apple’s new mobile advertising service, iAd, which goes live on July 1.

iPhone 4 will be available on June 24 in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan. It comes in two colors—black and white—and two storage capacities. The 16GB version is priced at US$199 and the 32GB version at US$299. The iPhone 3GS’s price will be reduced to US$99, and the iPhone 3G will be discontinued. iOS will be available as a free software update to users of compatible older Apple devices (including the 3GS) on June 21. In the U.S., iPhone 4 will only be available on AT&T’s cellular network, despite calls for Apple to let the iPhone be used on other carriers, such as Verizon.

Competition-wise, the BlackBerry mobile device is still the most popular smartphone right now. Apple is also facing some serious competition from web giant Google’s Android operating system, as well as Palm’s webOS. Earlier this year, Android phones managed to outsell iPhones. iPhone users, however, account for over half of those surfing the Internet on a mobile browser in the U.S. Jobs also noted that over five billion iOS applications, commonly called “apps,” have been purchased from Apple’s App Store. The App Store currently has around 225,000 different apps for sale.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 75, has undergone surgery for early pancreatic cancer today. The disease was spotted during a routine check-up. She is likely to be hospitalised for ten days.

“Justice Ginsburg had no symptoms prior to the incidental discovery of the lesion during a routine annual checkup in late January at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland,” the Supreme Court announced.

Ginsburg underwent sugery and had chemotherapy for colorectal cancer in 1999; her mother and husband also suffered from cancer.

She was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton in 1993, and is considered to be on the liberal wing of the nine-member court.

A spokesman for President Barack Obama said that Obama’s thoughts and prayers are with Ginsburg.

According to the American Cancer Society, the one-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is 24%, and the five-year survival rate is 5%.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

London, England — Yesterday, Wikinews interviewed Michael Hartung, the Australian Deputy Chef de Mission at the Australian team quarters in the Paralympic Village.

((Hawkeye7)) What does the Deputy Chef de Mission do?

Michael Hartung: Makes the chef look good! (laughter) No, my role here is in support of our Chef de Mission and the team. There’s two of us, myself, and Kate McLoughlin is the other Deputy Chef de Mission. She focuses on the operations side of things, the logistics and travel and all that sort of stuff, the foundations of preparing the team and really getting here and back home safely with all their gear. The part of the team that I look after is the performance side of things, so in my particular area I have guys in the sports science and sports medicine grew, which is managed by Alison Campbell. We have classification in my area which is managed by Geoff Han. We’ve got high performance and coach support, which is Chris Nunn, and the media guys fit under my side of things, and they are managed by Tim Mannion. All of those guys are all staff at the APC, and they’ve been working with us for a considerable amount of time. They are all experts in their areas so as far as the performance elements of the team are concerned we’ve got a great bunch of people that come in here and its a continuation of the the job that we prepare for and that we do every day. So that’s been good, we’re not a bunch of outsiders who’ve come together just for this team. We’re professionals who work in these fields, doing these jobs day in and day out, so we should be experts when we get to the games in how it should be delivered.

((LauraHale)) Is everything going according to plan for you guys? You’ve got more gold medals than you got in Beijing.

Michael Hartung: Yep. Still not there yet in total but we’re happy. Our goal coming into this, one main goal was to finish top five, and we’re just hanging on. It’s tough. That’s the reality of Olympic sport. We’re having a really good games at the moment. The sub goal of ours was to just beat the medal tally at Beijing which we’ve achieved on gold, which is terrific, and we should achieve on total as well if things keep going the way they are for the next couple of days. That’s a terrific result and it just shows the strength of the Paralympic movement, and the strength of our competitors that there are so many nations fighting it out to be in that top five, and we’re certainly not there by any means. The nation that’s just behind us, the USA, is a traditional powerhouse of Paralympic sport, and a nation that has done extremely well over the history of Paralympic sport. So where we are right now is in a really good position and if we stay where we are now, and pick up a few more medals, we’ll be really happy with the performance of the team and where it’s gone on the medal tally.

((LauraHale)) In the lead up to this there was a lot of coverage of how much money the government gave you for stuff like the recovery centre inside here. How fundamental has that government support been towards this?

Michael Hartung: The Federal government provides us with basically all the funding that we give to the sport programs to deliver sport programs to athletes. And without the Federal government’s support, we cannot do the job that we do. It is essential, and without their investment we certainly wouldn’t be seeing the results that we have here. That been said we’ve also had great support in addition to funding from ministers and senators that have come across here and supported the team. Senator Kate Lundy is here. She’s departing tonight, but has been here for most of the games. It’s been terrific for us and the team to have had that sort of support for us here.

((LauraHale)) Classification has been a big issue in these games. To an extent the Americans lost some… Oscar’s classification’s been a big deal… There hasn’t been much Australian news related to classifications.

Michael Hartung: No, which is a really good sign. I think that shows all the work we’ve put in over the years to classification. We’ve got a program that’s been led by Jim MacMahon that we consider to be a world leading program. Which means that our policies and procedures and our work at a national level to ensure that people know where they fit in the classification spectrum, and no doubt early on is very important to us. So we minimise the risk of an athlete turning up and having a change in classification. This is really the Big Show. This is where it really matters, and for athletes to come here and not be 100% sure about their classification is something that we absolutely want to avoid. We should know where they sit, and there is a lot of money that is now invested through Federal funding and through the states’ institutes and academies and so on. A lot of money gets invested and we need some surety about where that investment is going, and which athletes are prospects for medals when they turn up.

((LauraHale)) We’ve talked to the Oceania people who’ve said they’ve got tremendous support from the APC with the Wales thing. Are you guys going to continue to do that support? Because they couldn’t say enough nice things about the APC and the coaches talking to their athletes.

Michael Hartung: Yeah, that’s terrific. I think that we certainly have an ongoing role that we have played and continue to play in Oceania in helping those countries really develop. New Zealand’s doing great and they’re certainly self-sufficient, and here as a great sporting nation, but for some of our other, smaller neighbors, it’s great that we’ve been able to provide support. We’ve provided opportunities for them to come and be part of the Cardiff staging environment we set up for our team. We started preparations for that back in 2007. So they joined us there, and hopefully that’s helped then achieve their great results here, with Fiji winning a gold medal. That’s a tremendous achievement for Oceania as a whole, not just Fiji, and that’s been terrific to know that the staging camp has assisted with that, along with the other support that we provide. We helped establish the Oceania Paralympic Committee not so long ago. We have Paul Bird, one of our Vice Presidents, as the President of the Oceania Paralympic Committee, and so we have a really close working relationship with those nations. It’s terrific to see them succeed, and to be successful.

((LauraHale)) Have you had a chance to see many of your athletes compete? And has there been any performance that has really stood out, Australian or not Australian?

Michael Hartung: Yeah! I’ve been fortunate to see a lot of our guys compete, right across the board. There’s many, many highlights for me. I don’t think there’s been one stand out performance. Natalie Smith getting a bronze medal to get us underway on the first day was such an incredible achievement, knowing where the shooting program was four or five years ago, not really being able to crack the medals, and to finally do it here in the first event, and to be the first medal was wonderful. Jacqui Freney’s performances here to win seven gold medals has been amazing, and she’s had a great meet here. Matt Cowdrey breaking the record and becoming the athlete to win the most gold medals for Australia has been a real achievement. But then seeing some of the things we’ve seen on the track and track cycling, Michael Gallagher and the other guys, they’ve had a great performance here at the games, incredibly well, and I think the most satisfying element of all of those performances is knowing the work that’s gone into supporting those athletes from the the people around them, but the work that those individual athletes have put into achieving success, because coming here, you can see that this is an elite sporting environment, and only the best in the world will achieve success, and you don’t become the best by doing it half arsed; you have to give it 150%, and that’s what it takes. No one wins unless they do that.

((LauraHale)) Anything else that we should know?

Michael Hartung: Apart from what we’ve just spoken about, I think that the London Organising Committee has done a terrific job with these games. They’ve made a sensational environment. Every games has its challenges, but the challenges here have been quite minor, and haven’t caused any major disruptions. It enabled us to create an environment here which is really performance based. That’s what the Australian Paralympic Committee is working on all the time is to create the best environment for our athletes. So that’s been great. The crowds here have been tremendous and the support of the British public, and that started long ago with the acknowledgment of both Olympic and Paralympic. Whenever they say things, they say “Olympic and Paralympic”. It’s not been just about one games, primarily the Olympic Games or whatever, and that’s been really good in terms of the psyche of the British people, because they know about Paralympic sport. They’re a very knowledgeable audience, and that’s been really great for the crowds here. They’ve cheered really loudly for the British athletes, but they’ve also been giving all the other athletes a big cheer as well, which is wonderful. And taking away from these games, the crowd, and the involvement and the support of all the athletes that have competed has been wonderful.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

The UK’s Communication Workers’ Union have effectively rejected a belated revised pay offer by telecoms giant British Telecom. Their statement, released early this evening, indicates a formal ballot on strike action is inevitable – unless the company revises their two percent offer for 2010.

The deadline set by the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) passed at noon last Friday, apparently unheeded by BT. The union’s announcement of their intent to ballot members apparently resulted in the offer — one with no new money on the table for this year.

Last week, when their ultimatum was ignored, CWU deputy secretary general (DSG) Andy Kerr expressed deep disappointment, citing the substantial profits made by the company in the last financial year: “[w]e’re obviously very disappointed that BT has not improved its pay offer of 2% despite their healthy profits this year.”

The turnaround from losses of £244 million to a billion-pound-plus profit has, the union claims, galvanised their membership into seriously considering industrial action. Reports of senior directors receiving million-pound bonuses, and former Labour minister Patricia Hewitt landing over over £50,000 extra per-year, are characterised as “directors’ ‘snouts in the trough'”. Hewitt was suspended from her parliamentary party in March over cash-for-access accusations, and works two to three days each month on BT’s remuneration committee.

The UK’s Press Association described the now-rejected offer as being worth 2% this year, and an additional 3% in 2011 with staff bonuses of up to £250. The package supposedly contains pledges on no compulsory redundancies and the return of call centre and non-frontline work from outsource companies in India.

Wikinews called both the Communication Workers’ Union, and British Telecom, seeking clarification on a number of points. Richard Knowles, a BT press officer in London, forwarded their terse sub-400-word statement, refusing to be drawn on reports that the offer includes the repatriation of call centre and back-office jobs. When challenged on this work being carried out in a jurisdiction with less-stringent data protection, and computer misuse legislation, our reporter was referred back to the company’s statement.

Sian Jones of the CWU’s Press Office, commenting prior to the union’s evening statement, remarked that repatriation of call centre work was an issue that the union had prior, unrelated, discussions with BT about; she gave no indication to Wikinews this was, or was not, part of BT’s revised offer.

The press release, shortly after 1630 BST, expressed clear intent to carry on with the process of balloting members on strike action. In the statement, CWU DGS Andy Kerr states, “[w]e’re very disappointed that BT’s revised offer remains materially unchanged for this year in terms of pay.”

Continuing, he emphasised, “[…] we’ve made clear, 2 per cent is unacceptable for our members as it does not reflect the reward they expect given the contribution they have made to cost savings of £1.75 billion and profits of over £1bn. In addition, inflation is at 5.3 per cent and staff are comparing this offer with the large salary rises and bonuses for senior executives which expose the blatant double standards being adopted by the company when it comes to remuneration.”

The CWU statement also expresses concern over BT’s disclosure of details within the offer; “BT’s decision to leak their offer to the media today has also raised trust issues for us with the company.”

Any sustained action by CWU members in BT’s employ could have a major impact on the country’s communication infrastructure. Millions of UK households and businesses are reliant on BT for internet access – in addition to telephony services.

Following the release of their statement, the CWU’s Sian Jones confirmed that the union had not, as-yet, given BT the formal seven-days notice of balloting members on strike action.

Any ballot would run for a two-week period; following such, the union would, again, be required to give seven days notice to BT; this time of their intent to take workers out on strike. She emphasised, “nobody wants to be on strike”, stressing that the union last took such action in 1987, and would prefer round-table discussions and an improved offer.

The structure of BT’s privatisation, and breakup to permit level playing-field telephony and broadband competition, would see other Internet service providers who rely on the ageing, once GPO-owned, copper POTS infrastructure unable to resolve customer faults. According to the CWU, BT has been querying managerial staff on their skillsets – as a form of preparation for any industrial action. A union spokesperson described this as “laughable”.

When called for comment on the union’s rejection of their revised offer, the BT press office declined to comment at this time.