An excerpt from Upworthy -
Sweden has a weird but awesome problem: They're running out of trash.
Garbage is a perennial problem, but Sweden's found a way to put their garbage to work.
By James Gaines
Sweden built 32 waste-to-energy plants that burn garbage, providing heat and electricity to surrounding towns. According to the Swedish government, the plants heat about 810,000 homes and provide electricity to 250,000 more. That must be nice, considering Sweden can get pretty chilly during the winter.
But at the same time, Sweden's also really good at keeping things out of the trash in the first place. They just straight-up recycle about half their stuff. There are special trucks that pick up used electronics, and even the stuff sent to the plants get sorted first.
http://www.upworthy.com/sweden-has-a-weird-but-awesome-problem-theyre-running-out-of-trash?c=upw1&u=6861cbea6edfdfe5a709ee39ad3c14b64135e61f
Thursday, December 15, 2016
The War on Drugs = Failure
From Salon -
WATCH: Colombia’s president condemns war on drugs
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos receives Nobel Peace Prize and uses speech to condemn U.S.-led war on drugs
By PETER COOPER AND CHARLIE MAY
http://www.salon.com/2016/12/15/watch-colombias-president-condemns-war-on-drugs/
WATCH: Colombia’s president condemns war on drugs
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos receives Nobel Peace Prize and uses speech to condemn U.S.-led war on drugs
By PETER COOPER AND CHARLIE MAY
http://www.salon.com/2016/12/15/watch-colombias-president-condemns-war-on-drugs/
Shonda's Masterclass
An excerpt from Entertainment Weekly -
Shonda Rhimes wants to teach you how to be a television writer — exclusive
The 'Scandal' creator discusses her upcoming MasterClass course
BY DEREK LAWRENCE
For $90, Rhimes will take students through more than five hours of lessons, teaching them how to craft a script, sell a pilot, and run a writers’ room. Ahead of the announcement, EW chatted with Rhimes about what to expect from her course, why this is such a great time to be a television writer, and whom she wants to take a MasterClass from.
http://www.ew.com/article/2016/12/15/shonda-rhimes-masterclass-course?iid=sr-link1
Shonda Rhimes wants to teach you how to be a television writer — exclusive
The 'Scandal' creator discusses her upcoming MasterClass course
BY DEREK LAWRENCE
For $90, Rhimes will take students through more than five hours of lessons, teaching them how to craft a script, sell a pilot, and run a writers’ room. Ahead of the announcement, EW chatted with Rhimes about what to expect from her course, why this is such a great time to be a television writer, and whom she wants to take a MasterClass from.
http://www.ew.com/article/2016/12/15/shonda-rhimes-masterclass-course?iid=sr-link1
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Keurig for Wine!
An excerpt from Reviewed -
There is now a Keurig for wine, and it's actually making 2016 great again
By Lee Neikirk
While the $1,200 price is—ironically—hard cheese to swallow, with flacons (the machine's version of Keurig K-cups) starting as low as $6, it might just pay for itself in a quality-of-glass to quantity-per-flacon ratio. But you'd better drink a lot of wine just to be sure.
Sadly the D-Vine is not available stateside yet, but it recently launched in Singapore, which is also a rough description of what everyone is doing there right now. But we shiraz heck hope it launches in the US soon. Dionysus, have mercy!
~~~~~~~~~~
And from the International CES (Consumer Electrics Show) this demo:
There is now a Keurig for wine, and it's actually making 2016 great again
By Lee Neikirk
While the $1,200 price is—ironically—hard cheese to swallow, with flacons (the machine's version of Keurig K-cups) starting as low as $6, it might just pay for itself in a quality-of-glass to quantity-per-flacon ratio. But you'd better drink a lot of wine just to be sure.
Sadly the D-Vine is not available stateside yet, but it recently launched in Singapore, which is also a rough description of what everyone is doing there right now. But we shiraz heck hope it launches in the US soon. Dionysus, have mercy!
~~~~~~~~~~
And from the International CES (Consumer Electrics Show) this demo:
Bailando en Cuba (Dancing in Cuba)
From The Undefeated -
MISTY COPELAND EN POINTE
America’s most famous prima ballerina heads to Cuba to represent female athleticism. (Yes, athleticism.)
BY KELLEY L. CARTER
http://theundefeated.com/features/misty-copeland-in-cuba-en-pointe/
MISTY COPELAND EN POINTE
America’s most famous prima ballerina heads to Cuba to represent female athleticism. (Yes, athleticism.)
BY KELLEY L. CARTER
http://theundefeated.com/features/misty-copeland-in-cuba-en-pointe/
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
He Chose . . .
Rick Perry for Secretary of Energy.
~~~~~~~~~~
From the Daily Beast -
But in recent years, the trend has been to appoint a Secretary of Energy with real technical expertise. President Bush appointed Samuel Bodman, who had a distinguished career as an MIT-trained chemical engineer before making a fortune in the private sector. President Obama upped the ante, appointing Berkeley’s Steven Chu and MIT’s Ernest Moniz to the position. Both are physicists. Chu has a Nobel Prize. By contrast, Perry took four chemistry courses and got two Cs, a D and an F. He got a C in physics. And a D in something called “Meat.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/13/rick-perry-will-really-run-the-department-of-nukes-not-energy.html
~~~~~~~~~~
From the Daily Beast -
But in recent years, the trend has been to appoint a Secretary of Energy with real technical expertise. President Bush appointed Samuel Bodman, who had a distinguished career as an MIT-trained chemical engineer before making a fortune in the private sector. President Obama upped the ante, appointing Berkeley’s Steven Chu and MIT’s Ernest Moniz to the position. Both are physicists. Chu has a Nobel Prize. By contrast, Perry took four chemistry courses and got two Cs, a D and an F. He got a C in physics. And a D in something called “Meat.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/13/rick-perry-will-really-run-the-department-of-nukes-not-energy.html
Before you pull in to that burger joint . . .
Check this out.
http://flowingdata.com/2016/12/12/calories-in-fast-food-menu-items/
http://flowingdata.com/2016/12/12/calories-in-fast-food-menu-items/
Why a Great Teacher Quit
An excerpt from Wired & Quanta Magazine -
A Great Science Teacher Quit Because US Schools Are Broken
By Thomas Lin
Comer does anything and everything, including videos, songs (she has students clap and chant: “S-C-I-E-N-C-E, scientists is what we’ll be! Solve. Create. Investigate. Evaluate. Notice. Classify. Experiment!”), kinesthetic movements (on this morning, she calls students up to act out how molecules behave), physical models (students roll little balls of Play-Doh to model molecular characteristics) and analytical reading to “ensure that every kid gets some point of access based on their level.” Throughout her lessons she interrogates students with reflexive urgency: “What’s your evidence? I need to know,” followed by the kicker, “How do you know?” Then come hands-on experiments to reinforce meaning and evoke wonder.
Why do master math and science teachers, who are passionate about their content area and about developing their craft, who are creative, smart and engaging, and who adore their students—why do they quit teaching? Some have given all they can; they’re burned out from thinking and worrying about their students seven days a week, and from battling with school officials over resources, scheduling, a shortage of support, and an abundance of rigidity. Often these talented, driven individuals are lured away by career options that offer greater professional stature and higher pay. And some are just so naturally adventurous that they were always bound to move on. For Comer, it was all of the above.
https://www.wired.com/2016/12/master-science-teacher-got-away/?mbid=nl_121316_p2&CNDID=
A Great Science Teacher Quit Because US Schools Are Broken
By Thomas Lin
Comer does anything and everything, including videos, songs (she has students clap and chant: “S-C-I-E-N-C-E, scientists is what we’ll be! Solve. Create. Investigate. Evaluate. Notice. Classify. Experiment!”), kinesthetic movements (on this morning, she calls students up to act out how molecules behave), physical models (students roll little balls of Play-Doh to model molecular characteristics) and analytical reading to “ensure that every kid gets some point of access based on their level.” Throughout her lessons she interrogates students with reflexive urgency: “What’s your evidence? I need to know,” followed by the kicker, “How do you know?” Then come hands-on experiments to reinforce meaning and evoke wonder.
Why do master math and science teachers, who are passionate about their content area and about developing their craft, who are creative, smart and engaging, and who adore their students—why do they quit teaching? Some have given all they can; they’re burned out from thinking and worrying about their students seven days a week, and from battling with school officials over resources, scheduling, a shortage of support, and an abundance of rigidity. Often these talented, driven individuals are lured away by career options that offer greater professional stature and higher pay. And some are just so naturally adventurous that they were always bound to move on. For Comer, it was all of the above.
https://www.wired.com/2016/12/master-science-teacher-got-away/?mbid=nl_121316_p2&CNDID=
They Don't Play
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
A Saudi woman tweeted a photo of herself without a hijab. Police have arrested her.
By Samantha Schmidt
The Saudi woman was going out for breakfast when she decided to make a statement. Violating the country’s moral codes, she reportedly stepped out in public wearing a multicolored dress, a black jacket and ankle boots — without a hijab or abaya, a loosefitting garment.
Late last month, she tweeted a photo of her outfit, and the post circulated through Saudi Arabia, drawing death threats and demands to imprison or even execute the woman.
On Monday, police in the country’s capital of Riyadh said they had arrested the woman, following their duty to monitor “violations of general morals,” a spokesman, Fawaz al-Maiman, said, AFP reported. The woman, who is in her 20s, was imprisoned after posting the tweet of herself standing next to a popular Riyadh cafe, he said.
He also accused her of “speaking openly about prohibited relations” with unrelated men, according to AFP.
“Riyadh police stress that the action of this woman violates the laws applied in this country,” Maiman said, urging the public to “adhere to the teachings of Islam.” Saudi women are expected to wear headscarves and loosefitting garments such as an abaya when in public.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/12/13/a-saudi-woman-tweeted-a-photo-of-herself-without-a-hijab-police-have-now-arrested-her/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_mm-saudiwoman-1235pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.6c55dd26178c
A Saudi woman tweeted a photo of herself without a hijab. Police have arrested her.
By Samantha Schmidt
 |
| Twitter - A Saudi woman went out yesterday without an Abaya or a hijab in Riyadh Saudi Arabia and many Saudis are now demanding her execution. |
The Saudi woman was going out for breakfast when she decided to make a statement. Violating the country’s moral codes, she reportedly stepped out in public wearing a multicolored dress, a black jacket and ankle boots — without a hijab or abaya, a loosefitting garment.
Late last month, she tweeted a photo of her outfit, and the post circulated through Saudi Arabia, drawing death threats and demands to imprison or even execute the woman.
On Monday, police in the country’s capital of Riyadh said they had arrested the woman, following their duty to monitor “violations of general morals,” a spokesman, Fawaz al-Maiman, said, AFP reported. The woman, who is in her 20s, was imprisoned after posting the tweet of herself standing next to a popular Riyadh cafe, he said.
He also accused her of “speaking openly about prohibited relations” with unrelated men, according to AFP.
“Riyadh police stress that the action of this woman violates the laws applied in this country,” Maiman said, urging the public to “adhere to the teachings of Islam.” Saudi women are expected to wear headscarves and loosefitting garments such as an abaya when in public.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/12/13/a-saudi-woman-tweeted-a-photo-of-herself-without-a-hijab-police-have-now-arrested-her/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_mm-saudiwoman-1235pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.6c55dd26178c
Monday, December 12, 2016
Not Funny
An excerpt from Now I Know -
|
|
|
|
Homeless Students
An excerpt from KQED -
Homeless U: How Students Study and Survive on the Streets
By Laura Klivans & Carrie Feibel
To study and survive at the same time, she must answer the same questions over and over. Can she afford dinner tonight? Will she be able to sit next to the secret outlet in the BART car so she can charge her phone? Can she get a job that still allows her to go to class and keep her grades up? These are just some of the challenges Jones and other homeless college students face in California.
https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2016/12/08/homeless-u-homework-without-a-home/
Homeless U: How Students Study and Survive on the Streets
By Laura Klivans & Carrie Feibel
To study and survive at the same time, she must answer the same questions over and over. Can she afford dinner tonight? Will she be able to sit next to the secret outlet in the BART car so she can charge her phone? Can she get a job that still allows her to go to class and keep her grades up? These are just some of the challenges Jones and other homeless college students face in California.
https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2016/12/08/homeless-u-homework-without-a-home/
Call to Prayer Controversy
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
Israel wants mosques to turn the volume way down
By William Booth and Ruth Eglash
JERUSALEM — When the call to prayer begins in the Palestinian neighborhoods here, the Muslim faithful hear a song beautiful and sublime. Hour by hour, five times a day, it is the soundtrack of their lives. And it stirs deep emotions.
Across the walls, across the lines that separate Arabs from Jews, the Muslims’ call to prayer means something very different.
The Jews hear noise, they say. And worse.
During periods of heightened violence, when the Jews who live near Palestinians hear the Arabs proclaim that “God is great!” in a broadcast that travels far from the mosque’s loudspeakers, they say they do not think of God.
They hear a threat.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/israel-wants-mosques-to-turn-the-volume-way-down/2016/12/11/8631e9b0-b538-11e6-939c-91749443c5e5_story.html?utm_term=.04a9ab4ef5d1&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1
~~~~~~~~~~
I loved hearing the call to prayer. It was very soothing and reverential. It was foreign to me, but I didn't perceive it as being intrusive.
The issue here is so much more than these simple prayers recited throughout the day.
Israel wants mosques to turn the volume way down
By William Booth and Ruth Eglash
JERUSALEM — When the call to prayer begins in the Palestinian neighborhoods here, the Muslim faithful hear a song beautiful and sublime. Hour by hour, five times a day, it is the soundtrack of their lives. And it stirs deep emotions.
Across the walls, across the lines that separate Arabs from Jews, the Muslims’ call to prayer means something very different.
The Jews hear noise, they say. And worse.
During periods of heightened violence, when the Jews who live near Palestinians hear the Arabs proclaim that “God is great!” in a broadcast that travels far from the mosque’s loudspeakers, they say they do not think of God.
They hear a threat.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/israel-wants-mosques-to-turn-the-volume-way-down/2016/12/11/8631e9b0-b538-11e6-939c-91749443c5e5_story.html?utm_term=.04a9ab4ef5d1&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1
~~~~~~~~~~
I loved hearing the call to prayer. It was very soothing and reverential. It was foreign to me, but I didn't perceive it as being intrusive.
The issue here is so much more than these simple prayers recited throughout the day.
Sunday, December 11, 2016
Brought Back Memories
An excerpt from the New Yorker -
SHOPGIRLS in Saudi Arabia
The art of selling lingerie.
By Katherine Zoepf
One morning in Riyadh, I was with a female photographer from the States and a male Saudi translator at Granada Center, another shopping mall. We were preparing to interview managers at a supermarket that had recently begun hiring women, and we’d stopped to buy breakfast at a Krispy Kreme stand. In the food court’s family section, frosted-glass partitions separate women and their male escorts from the section for single men. (Customers who don’t find this arrangement private enough sit at tables inside the family section, which are entirely surrounded by frosted-glass partitions.) We’d chosen a table next to windows overlooking a parking lot fringed by desiccated palm trees. I had spilled half a cup of coffee down the front of my abaya, and had shaken off my head scarf for a moment to dry myself with a wad of paper napkins. Our translator suddenly stopped talking, and I looked up to see two young men with long, untidy beards hovering over our table. They wore white thobe robes above their ankles, several inches shorter than is typical, and red-and-white checked ghutra headdresses without bands of black cord—styles favored by deeply religious Muslims and meant to indicate a rejection of vanity. They appeared to be in their early twenties, and it took me a moment to recognize them as members of the religious police. Our translator stood up. “If you could cover your hair,” he murmured, without looking at me.
The Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, the Saudi government group responsible for enforcing Sharia, is known as the Hai’a (the Arabic word means “committee”). Six years ago, Hai’a members were ordered to stop carrying canes, and they can no longer publicly strike miscreants, but they can detain and humiliate people and shut down businesses. Although the committee technically does not allow individual members to decide whether something is an affront to Sharia, they usually act as they see fit.
More than four thousand members of the Hai’a patrol in public places, making sure, among other things, that all women and girls past puberty are properly covered, and that men and women who are spotted together are either spouses or close relatives. We had violated both of these rules. The Hai’a men took our translator a few paces away and began rebuking him. He returned to our table to say that the men had asked for our passports. “You may need to call your embassy,” he whispered.
About twenty minutes later, the Hai’a men returned our passports, but took our translator away. As he was led out of the food court, I noticed other shoppers sneaking glances at us. A few of them had an expression that I recognized from elementary school—the sly, intent look of children enjoying the spectacle of schoolmates being disciplined by a teacher. An hour later, after our translator was released, he told us that he’d been taken to the Hai’a members’ S.U.V., and made to sign a “confession.” He laughed off our concern—forced confessions are something that young Saudi men take in stride.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/12/23/shopgirls
~~~~~~~~~~
As expats living in the UAE, we were not required to cover our hair.
SHOPGIRLS in Saudi Arabia
The art of selling lingerie.
By Katherine Zoepf
One morning in Riyadh, I was with a female photographer from the States and a male Saudi translator at Granada Center, another shopping mall. We were preparing to interview managers at a supermarket that had recently begun hiring women, and we’d stopped to buy breakfast at a Krispy Kreme stand. In the food court’s family section, frosted-glass partitions separate women and their male escorts from the section for single men. (Customers who don’t find this arrangement private enough sit at tables inside the family section, which are entirely surrounded by frosted-glass partitions.) We’d chosen a table next to windows overlooking a parking lot fringed by desiccated palm trees. I had spilled half a cup of coffee down the front of my abaya, and had shaken off my head scarf for a moment to dry myself with a wad of paper napkins. Our translator suddenly stopped talking, and I looked up to see two young men with long, untidy beards hovering over our table. They wore white thobe robes above their ankles, several inches shorter than is typical, and red-and-white checked ghutra headdresses without bands of black cord—styles favored by deeply religious Muslims and meant to indicate a rejection of vanity. They appeared to be in their early twenties, and it took me a moment to recognize them as members of the religious police. Our translator stood up. “If you could cover your hair,” he murmured, without looking at me.
The Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, the Saudi government group responsible for enforcing Sharia, is known as the Hai’a (the Arabic word means “committee”). Six years ago, Hai’a members were ordered to stop carrying canes, and they can no longer publicly strike miscreants, but they can detain and humiliate people and shut down businesses. Although the committee technically does not allow individual members to decide whether something is an affront to Sharia, they usually act as they see fit.
More than four thousand members of the Hai’a patrol in public places, making sure, among other things, that all women and girls past puberty are properly covered, and that men and women who are spotted together are either spouses or close relatives. We had violated both of these rules. The Hai’a men took our translator a few paces away and began rebuking him. He returned to our table to say that the men had asked for our passports. “You may need to call your embassy,” he whispered.
About twenty minutes later, the Hai’a men returned our passports, but took our translator away. As he was led out of the food court, I noticed other shoppers sneaking glances at us. A few of them had an expression that I recognized from elementary school—the sly, intent look of children enjoying the spectacle of schoolmates being disciplined by a teacher. An hour later, after our translator was released, he told us that he’d been taken to the Hai’a members’ S.U.V., and made to sign a “confession.” He laughed off our concern—forced confessions are something that young Saudi men take in stride.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/12/23/shopgirls
~~~~~~~~~~
As expats living in the UAE, we were not required to cover our hair.
International Number Ones
From Stumbleupon -
World Map Reveals What Different Countries Are Best At
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2rRrhr/:IZEHddkX:mWGShWS4/www.boredpanda.com/international-number-ones-statistics-world-map-2016
World Map Reveals What Different Countries Are Best At
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2rRrhr/:IZEHddkX:mWGShWS4/www.boredpanda.com/international-number-ones-statistics-world-map-2016
Black Girl Magic From Way Back
An excerpt from the Guardian -
How three black women helped send John Glenn into orbit
By Edward Helmore
When John Glenn was waiting to be fired into orbit aboard Friendship 7 in 1962, there was one person he trusted with the complex trajectory calculations required to bring him down safely from his orbital spaceflight: Katherine Johnson, an African-American mathematician who worked in Nasa’s segregated west area computers division.
“Get the girl, check the numbers,” Glenn said before boarding the rocket. “If she says they’re good, I’m good to go.”
Johnson was one of three female African-American mathematicians known as the “computers in skirts” who worked on the Redstone, Mercury and Apollo space programmes for Nasa. Now, thanks to an award-tipped movie, Johnson, Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan are about to become more widely celebrated.
The film, Hidden Figures, stars Taraji P Henson of TV series Empire, soul singer and actress Janelle Monáe, Octavia Spencer from The Help movie, and Academy Award winner Kevin Costner.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/dec/11/black-women-mathematicians-nasa-john-glenn-space-race?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1
How three black women helped send John Glenn into orbit
By Edward Helmore
When John Glenn was waiting to be fired into orbit aboard Friendship 7 in 1962, there was one person he trusted with the complex trajectory calculations required to bring him down safely from his orbital spaceflight: Katherine Johnson, an African-American mathematician who worked in Nasa’s segregated west area computers division.
“Get the girl, check the numbers,” Glenn said before boarding the rocket. “If she says they’re good, I’m good to go.”
Johnson was one of three female African-American mathematicians known as the “computers in skirts” who worked on the Redstone, Mercury and Apollo space programmes for Nasa. Now, thanks to an award-tipped movie, Johnson, Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan are about to become more widely celebrated.
The film, Hidden Figures, stars Taraji P Henson of TV series Empire, soul singer and actress Janelle Monáe, Octavia Spencer from The Help movie, and Academy Award winner Kevin Costner.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/dec/11/black-women-mathematicians-nasa-john-glenn-space-race?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)