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Tags: Feature Netizen Report Turkey
Netizen Report: #TheDayWeFightBack Edition
From top left: mural by War Design art collective in Bogota, Colombia; public protest in Manila, Philippines (photo by @leannejazul) ; public rally in San Francisco, US (photo by Ellery Biddle); anti-surveillance cartoon by Egyptian artist Doaa Eladl.
Sonia Roubini, Bojan Perkov, Hae-in Lim, Ellery Roberts Biddle, and Sarah Myers contributed to this report.
Global Voices Advocacy's Netizen Report offers an international snapshot of challenges, victories, and emerging trends in Internet rights around the world. This week's report begins on the Internet, where people and groups all over the world came together and took a stand against mass surveillance on February 11, #thedaywefightback. Citizens took to the streets and to the web, pushing online campaigns, calling elected representatives, hosting hackathons and organizing public protests — and over 244,000 people signed the Thirteen Principles on International Communications Surveillance, urging governments worldwide to uphold human rights standards when it comes to online privacy.
February 11 was also a great day for potent discussion about the different ways in which surveillance takes shape and effects citizens in different countries. On Advox, Yemeni activist and scholar Walid Al-Saqaf and Iranian-Canadian researcher Mahsa Alimardani each wrote editorials exploring the issue in different countries in the Middle East, where surveillance is often the norm, whether online or in real life. Probing at western digital rights communities’ shift of focus towards surveillance, Al-Saqaf wrote,
I cannot accept the idea that the fight has now moved to the area of surveillance and away from free speech. While this may be the case where censorship is limited or non-existent, it is certainly not applicable to many countries living under authoritarian rule.
Free Expression: “Too much freedom, and you might start hitting your wife,” warns Turkish gov’t
Riot police in Turkey used tear gas and water cannons last weekend to break up over 2,000 protesters demonstrating against the country’s new Internet legislation. The new bills, which passed on February 6, will require ISPs to make web user data available to authorities and will allow Turkey’s telecommunications authority to block websites, all without prior court approval.
As if it its views weren’t clear enough already, the Turkish government recently launched an advertising campaign featuring a woman with a bruised face and a caption suggesting that too much freedom online can lead to violence.
Thuggery: Azeri journalist takes exile from Turkey over harmful tweets
Mahir Zeynalov, a journalist for Turkish newspaper Today’s Zaman, has been barred from entering the country by the Turkish government after posting several tweets viewed as critical of high-level state officials. Zeynalov elected to return to his native Azerbaijan after officials threatened to expel him under an article of Law 5651 that allows for the deportation of foreigners “whose residence in Turkey is considered detrimental to public security and political and administrative requirements.”
Telecom authorities in Venezuela are threatening to fine local media for covering student protests that have dominated social discourse in recent weeks. A series of student demonstrations [es] — over issues ranging from poor conditions in university residence halls to national political reform — intensified this week after several students were arrested on dubious charges of “association” with criminal activity. From Caracas, Global Voices author and attorney Marianne Diaz writes,
As opposition leaders summon rallies around the country, people are expected to turn to social media to learn about the development of the demonstrations, which likely will not be reported on any public or mainstream news platforms.
Three Kazakh bloggers were sentenced to ten days in jail for engaging in “minor hooliganism” after they were excluded from a “blogger luncheon” hosted by the mayor of Almaty, Kazakhstan’s capital. The incident has divided Almaty’s blogging community, some of whom—including the three detained bloggers—have painted the invitees as “corrupt” and “tamed.”
Indonesian Twitter celebrity Benny Handoko was found guilty of defamation and sentenced to a year of probation after he called a former member of the Prosperous Justice Party a crook in a series of tweets.
Industry: Facebook boots Syrian opposition groups
Facebook’s recent decision to shut down pages belonging to Syrian opposition groups have dealt a blow to activists who had been relying on Facebook to communicate and report on the war’s atrocities. Some activists speculate that regime supporters are taking advantage of Facebook’s “Community Standards” that allow users to report on pages they believe are violating the site’s terms of service. While some pages with graphic imagery may in fact violate terms, some question whether Terms should be amended in response to unique situations such as this, where Facebook serves as a vital platform for information and documentation.
Twitter released its fourth transparency report, covering the second half of 2013. The report shows that the total number of user data requests rose by 22 percent compared to the previous report. The company received 1410 requests from 46 countries, most coming from the United States (59%) and Japan (15%), with France and the UK next in line. Twitter did not disclose all information on US government requests under national security laws, including FISA.
Netizen Activism: Keeping #Euromaidan alive, despite the cold
Activists in Ukraine are fighting to keep the Euromaidan protest movement alive through web-based projects, social media, and art. Updates on Euromaidan are available at their Public Relations Secretariat page and at Kraplya.com.
European Digital Rights, an association of 35 European digital rights organizations, launched Wepromise.eu, which urges political candidates to sign a “Charter of Digital Rights” promising to uphold a set of principles if elected. In turn, voters promise to elect candidates who sign on to the charter.
The Web We Want, a global campaign supporting digital rights activism around the globe held a cartoon contest to support #TheDayWeFightBack. Seventeen-year-old Paraguayan cartoonist Francisco Javier ¨Frankiano¨ Cardozo Baudry won the grand prize with his contribution ¨Do Not Fear, I care about you,¨ a multi-frame comic showing how surveillance is affecting every aspect of the lives of young Internet users today.
Command and Control – The State of Journalism in China, 25 Years After Tiananmen — Nieman Reports
Belarus: Time for Media Reform – Index on Censorship
Democracy in Crisis: Corruption, Media, and Power in Turkey — Freedom House
Attacks on the Press: Journalism on the Front Lines in 2013 – Committee to Protect Journalists
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Written by Netizen Report Team · comments (0)
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Lebanon: New Stamp to Commemorate Armenian Genocide
Lebanon will have a new national stamp released to commemorate the Armenian Genocide. Announcing it on Twitter, Minister of Telecommunications Nicolas Sehnaoui stressed the symbolic importance of the stamp:
Today we signed the order to launch the production of a new national stamp honoring all the victims of the Armenian Genocide
— Nicolas Sehnaoui (@NicolaSehnaoui) January 28, 2014
This stamp which will be on envelopes sent to all corners of the globe will be our shout-out to the world to recognize the Armenian Genocide
It is also a statement to our fellow Armenian citizens that they are a core component of our Lebanese society and that we are proud of them
Photo of the new stamp which will be produced in memory of the Armenian Genocide pic.twitter.com/AGB0pKOebn
An estimated 1 to 1.5 million Armenians were killed in present-day Turkey (then under Ottoman rule), starting from April 1915, in what became known as the Armenian genocide.
Armenian activists and supporters have taken this opportunity to remind the world of the importance of recognizing the Armenian Genocide:
@NicolaSehnaoui thank you for honoring the victims of the genocide, a devastating chapter in the history of the 20th century.
— nanor (@nanor) January 28, 2014
Should be used on the turkish embassy's docs ;) “@NicolaSehnaoui: the new stamp in memory of the Armenian Genocide pic.twitter.com/QXLR9rlSrR”
— Adham Hassanieh (@AdhamMG) January 28, 2014
@NicolaSehnaoui I am sending envelopes to turkey with such stamps
— Sari Aquismaia Árab (@Aquismaia21) January 28, 2014
@NicolaSehnaoui thank you dear for your contribution to the #ArmenianCause #RecognizeArmenianGenocide
— Garo Beujekian (@GaroBeujekian) January 28, 2014
London-based historian Rory Yeomans notes its historic importance:
@NicolaSehnaoui @Zinvor So much for Hitler's boast: "Who now remembers the Armenians?" The whole world, it seems :) #NeverForget
— Rory Yeomans (@roryyeomans) January 29, 2014
Turkish Twitter user Mehmet Kosucu thinks otherwise:
@MFATurkey @NicolaSehnaoui Please warn with this hostile minister in Lebanon,who thinks hostility towards TR is very easy.
— Mehmet Kosucu (@MehmetKosucu) January 29, 2014
Written by Joey Ayoub · comments (0)
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Tags: English Good News History International Relations Lebanon Middle East & North Africa Turkey Weblog
Lebanese blogger spoofs Study on Middle Eastern Women Dressing
The question “How should Middle Eastern Women Dress in Public” posed by the University of Michigan is attracting hilarious spoofs online. The content is so rich that an additional post to our first one was necessary.
When Washington Post Max Fisher shared the original image on Twitter, he wasn't expecting this response by WSJ blogger Tom Gara:
I have the most amazing haters, you guys. They’re so creative! http://t.co/2AoT6ZTAYC pic.twitter.com/ZIYL3SgxV0
— Max Fisher (@Max_Fisher) January 9, 2014
But the spoof that got the most attention was undoubtedly Karl Sharro's of KarlreMarks:
An Arab university ran this fascinating poll about what is most appropriate for American women to wear in public. pic.twitter.com/uIta80i1f8
— Karl Sharro (@KarlreMarks) January 9, 2014
Interviewed on PRI, he explained his motivation:
“It's almost like putting Muslim women on a scale from 1 to 6, from being fully covered to not being covered at all, which I think is pretty absurd.”
Tags: Digital Activism Egypt English Lebanon Middle East & North Africa Pakistan Photos Saudi Arabia Tunisia Turkey Weblog Women & Gender
Facebook Teams Up with Russia's Top Search Engine
Yandex gets to drink from Facebook's firehose. Images mixed by Kevin Rothrock, pulled from YouTube captures.
Scholars and researchers of the Russian Internet can rejoice this week, for Russia's leading search engine, Yandex.ru, is now the second website in the world, after Bing in the United States, to gain access to Facebook firehose data [ru]. This means that Yandex can now search Facebook's streaming API and provide live results for all public posts. The new deal with Facebook is limited to users based in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Turkey. Currently, only Yandex's blogs-specific search feature is capable of returning Facebook results, but the company's spokesperson told TechCrunch on January 13, 2014, that Yandex hopes to incorporate Facebook links in its general Internet search results soon.
Written by Kevin Rothrock · comments (0)
Tags: Belarus Eastern & Central Europe Economics & Business English Good News Kazakhstan Quick Reads RuNet Echo Russia Russian Technology Turkey U.S.A. Ukraine
Mapping the ‘Urban Commons’ of Rio de Janeiro, Istanbul and Athens
Street protest of teachers in Rio de Janeiro (Oct 7, 2013). Photo shared on the Facebook page Mapeando o bem comum do Rio de Janeiro (Mapping the commons in Rio de Janeiro, in Portuguese)
A group of activists, artists, social scientists and students of various studies are working to map the urban commons of Athens, Istanbul and Rio de Janeiro. Urban commons refer to non-private or institutional resources which are shared by all and generated as a result of collective participation. The “commons” include natural resources, urban public spaces, creative works and even cultural traditions and knowledge which are exempt from copyrights.
The project Mapping the Commons is part of a survey carried out by Pablo de Soto (@pablodesoto), a doctorate student of the Communication School of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. The hypothesis raised by de Soto is whether it is possible to map out the commons through collective creativity as a form of debating the control governments have over society's commons:
Which is the commonwealth of the contemporary metropolis and how can it be located? How are the commons being protected from enclosure by totalitarian neoliberalism’s public-private enterprises? Which new practices of commoning are emerging in the cycle of struggles that began in 2010-11? What are the advantages and the risks of such a cartography in times of crisis and rebellions?
In practice, the research method proposed by the project is based on nomadic and temporary workshops where the urban commons are discussed, parametrized, charted and represented in short videos.
Mapping Rio's commons
In October 2013, the researcher brought [es] the project to Rio de Janeiro, thus starting the mapping of the “practices of common doing” in Brazil, as explained [pt] in the Portuguese language page of Rio's project:
O Brasil, como América Latina toda, é um país especial nas práticas dos commons. O comum bebe de tradições ibéricas (faixanais, rossios, propriedades comunais), da cultura afro (quilombos, criação cultural coletiva, propriedades conjuntas) e indígenas (propriedade coletiva, malokas). Do mutirão ao conceito de ‘comunidade’ que substitui a palavra ‘favela’, o Brasil é uma celeiro de práticas do comum. Porém, o mercado e o capitalismo estão castigando o comum sem piedade.
Brazil, as the whole of Latin America, is a special country regarding practices of the commons. The “common” derives from the Iberian traditions (faixanais, rossios, communal properties), from the African culture (quilombos, collective cultural creation, joint properties) and from the indigenous cultures (collective property, malokas). From the mutirão (crowdsourcing) to the concept of “community” which replaces the word “favela” (slum), Brazil is a storehouse of common practices. However, both the market and capitalism are punishing the common without mercy.
Taking on the concept of “rebellious cities”, coined by social theorist David Harvey, de Soto adds that recent protests in Rio de Janeiro – “the demonstrations, the popular assemblies, the urban interventions” – point to a new demand for the right to the city, “a new common and participative space of coexistence”. He also explained to the English-language audience of the website that:
Rio de Janeiro, a city branded as “the marvellous city” has probably one of the most exuberant assets for natural and cultural commons in world. Those commons are disputed in a metropolis of enormous inequality and historically under state of exception.
Present days where the city is going to host mega events as the World Cup and the Olympic Games, where conflicts of housing evictions flourish in many areas, where protests that began last June have pointed to the mobility as a common and the right to the city, have opened an excellent opportunity for a political discussion on the urban commons.
#MapeandoOComum (#MappingTheCommons). A mapping workshop on “The struggle for the shared commons” took place in Rio de Janeiro from November 21-23.
The Mapping the Commons activities, which took place in Rio last October, included the seminars Metrópoles globais e Cidadania Insurgentes (Global metropolis and emergent citizenships) [pt] and O que pode a cidade? (What can the city?) [pt]. Working groups were created to take care of the parametrization and the mapping of the commons in Rio. The process has been disseminated through Facebook on the page Mapeando o bem comum do Rio de Janeiro (Mapping the commons in Rio de Janeiro) [pt]. The final presentation of the results of the project took place on December 14.
Athens, Istanbul and the commons
Before being introduced in Brazil, the Mapping the Commons research project had already been discussed in workshops in Athens (2010) and in Istanbul (2012). The videos which resulted from these workshops were also presented in Rio.
The rescue of Gezi Park, for instance, and the popular turmoil which took hold in the central area of Beyoglu, Istanbul in 2013, when the population camped on site against the demolition of the park as part of a urban renewal project, were the subject of the research.
The video below shows how the rescue of the commons in Istanbul turned into political strife after the police reacted with brutality against the demonstrators:
The video produced in the Greek capital, Athens, focuses on language issues, taking as a starting point the literature by Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt in their book Commonwealth:
Language like affects and gestures, is for the most part common, and indeed if language were made either private or public — that is, if large portions of our words, phrases, or parts of speech were subject to private ownership or public authority — then language would lose its powers of expression, creativity, and communication.
A philosophical elucidation about the commons, as suggested [pt] by de Soto on the project's Facebook page, can be found on Iohannes Maurus's blog [es], which links the theme with Marx's perspective.
Written by Luciane Salles · Translated by Elisa Thiago · View original post [pt] · comments (0)
Tags: Brazil Citizen Media Digital Activism Eastern & Central Europe Freedom of Speech Greece Human Rights Ideas Latin America Portuguese Turkey Weblog
Turk-Arab Youth Congress: Middle East Needs Greater Regional Cooperation
Participants at the annual Turk-Arab Youth Congress (TAYC) in Istanbul, Turkey at the end of October called for a future in which Turks and Arabs work together at all levels for a better future of the region.
The Congress emphasized the need for Turks and Arabs to recognize their common heritage as well as conform to their own standards instead of those set by the West.
Since 2012, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Youth Assembly (IMMYA), a platform for Turkish youth, has held the Turk-Arab Youth Congress (TAYC). The congress is a platform in which Arab and Turkish youth and intellectuals can meet, talk about ideas and bring about a new vision for the region's future. The sessions and workshops are intended to create a comprehensive understanding for the participants and policy makers about the ground issues and challenges that region faces in order to explore new ideas and approaches for the present and future.
The theme for this year's TAYC in Istanbul, Turkey, was “justice”, and the topics covered included: creating regional and global civil aid networks, and rethinking regional and global economic institutions. Young people belonging to 24 different Arab countries took part in the congress this year and zealously asked questions about their future, especially against the backdrop of uprisings and political unrest in the Middle East. The three-day (October 25, 2013 to October 27, 2013) program consisted of workshops, sessions and NGO presentations.
The description of the Facebook page of Turk Arab Youth Congress stated the following goals:
1.To draw a vision for the future of the New Arabic World.
2.To create the platform for the youth to meet with the Arab & the Turkish intellectuals
3.To share and to document the “Street Experience” of the demonstrations from the people of revolution
Image courtesy Gulay Kaplan. From Turk-Arab Youth Congress Facebook Page.
On the first day, notable intellectuals and advisors to some political parties in Turkey delivered opening speeches. Panel discussion were conducted to explain the current scenario of the region and future implications.
The Twitter account (@Turk_Arab) of the Turk Arab Youth Congress (TAYC) shared a steady stream of opinions and statements from the speakers. Some noteworthy ones are:
Miss Summeyye Erdogan, Advisor to the Chairman of AK party, told young people to remain united despite the divides between them:
Miss Sümeyye Erdoğan : “Turkey and Turkish people have never considered the neighbours as a tool for their own sake, we are brothers!” #tayc
— Tr&Ar Youth Congress (@Turk_Arab) October 25, 2013
The Director and Coordinator of TAYC 2013, Oguzhan Mailmail (@oguzhan Mailmail) welcomed the participants on the first day and explained the goals of the congress to them.
Sumeyye Erdoğan: We do not accept borders driven among us in this geography. #tayc2013 @GenclikMeclisi @Turk_Arab
— Oğuzhan Mailmail (@OguzhanMailmail) October 25, 2013
Dr. Kerem Kinik (@drkerem), President of Doctors Worldwide, gave a presentation on “togetherness” and suggested that young people share their pain and suffering and speak out against oppression:
@Turk_Arab @GenclikMeclisi #R4BIA dedi @r4biaplatform pic.twitter.com/qUxb9tBt2G
— Dr Kerem KINIK (@drkerem) October 25, 2013
@Turk_Arab @GenclikMeclisi said #R4BIA @r4biaplatform
Turk Arab Youth Congress (@Turk_Arab) tweeted:
An emphasis on togetherness from Dr Kerem Kınık! @drkerem #tayc2013 @GenclikMeclisi pic.twitter.com/u4GOrET3ED
Omar Salha (@o_salha), founder of Ramadan Tent and a doctoral fellow working on global diplomacy, conducted sessions on the intervention of international organizations in local conflicts and politics. He considered the interaction with the participants an insightful one:
Great two sessions&insightful comments, debates&discussions. Look forward to presenting ‘Role of Diplomacy in the Middle East’ @Turk_Arab
— Omar Salha (@o_salha) October 26, 2013
Izzy (@islam_altayeb), a Middle East analyst, tweeted:
In a decade or so, we will be overwhelmed by a new generation of Middle Eastern poets, writers & artists. Sorrow gives birth to beauty.
— Izzy (@islam_altayeb) October 23, 2013
The “Economic and Financial Commission” was moderated by Muzammil Thakur (@M_A_Thakur), an advocate for the cause of Indian occupied Kashmir:
اللجنة الاقتصادية والمالية في ورشة عمل مع @M_A_Thakur #TAYC2013 pic.twitter.com/8WK9ELhoS9
The economic and financial committee at the workshop
Merve Serire (@karakurukiz), who studied economics at Kadir Has University, Istanbul, Turkey, moderated the social, humanitarian and cultural commission:
اللجنة الثقافية والإنسانية والاجتماعية في ورشة عمل مع @karakurukiz #TAYC2013 pic.twitter.com/wOp9GEPEU6
The cultural and humanitarian and social committee at the workshop
As an example of the impact of the platform, Dorra Amara (@DorraAmara) from Tunisia and Merve Serire (@karakurukiz) from Turkey became close at the Congress. Amara tweeted this picture:
Who rule the world? Who lead the future? @karakurukiz @Turk_Arab #TAYC2013 pic.twitter.com/TQAJaCeny2
— Dorra Amara (@DorraAmara) October 26, 2013
At the end of all the sessions and workshops, the participants were asked to devise solutions for the Syrian refugee problem. Representative from each workshop shared information with all the participants in an evaluation conducted on the evening of October 26 and October 27, 2013:
@Turk_Arab Gençlik Kongresinde 2. gün oturumları değerlendirilmesi yapılıyor #tayc2013 #TAYC2013 pic.twitter.com/cRhQFEQiH4
— İBB Gençlik Meclisi (@GenclikMeclisi) October 26, 2013
@Turk_Arab Assessment of second day sessions at Youth Congress. #tayc2013 #TAYC2013
A short video clip, highlighting the overview of the congress can also be viewed through the following link:
It is evident that events of such nature are giving the Muslim youth a chance to channel their energies in the correct direction. They are discussing their future as they alone can better understand the dynamics of their respective countries. Apart from political harmony and unity, people across the borders can interact with each other. This is significant for Arab region that is going through disharmony and uncertainty.
Thumbnail image by author. Translations by Amira Al Hussaini & Baran Mavzer.
Written by Fakiha Hassan Rizvi · comments (0)
Tags: Arabic Citizen Media Digital Activism English Freedom of Speech Governance Human Rights Humanitarian Response International Relations Pakistan South Asia Tunisia Turkey Turkish War & Conflict Weblog Women & Gender Youth
Overwhelmed by Syrian Refugees, Bulgaria Seeks EU Aid
Bulgaria, as the closest EU country to Syria, is seeing more than its fair share of the average 5,000 refugees that are fleeing Syria every day. Unprepared and inexperienced in dealing with this influx of refugees seeking shelter, food and protection, Syria has requested assistance and financial aid from the European Union. Meanwhile, some Bulgarian ministers have allegedly proposed to use some of the new funding to put up a 30-kilometer barrier fence along the border with Turkey to prevent illegal entry.
Open Democracy reports in more detail:
Geographically, Bulgaria is not that remote from Syria. Sharing a border with Turkey, Bulgaria is the EU member state closest to Syria if one is travelling by road or railway transport. Therefore, as the most likely first point of entry into the Union, Bulgaria must be well equipped to meet the challenges that will ensue with the new expected waves of Syrian refugees in the coming months. Unfortunately, that appears not to be the case.[...]
This week it is expected that the European Commission will make a final decision as to whether Bulgaria will receive financial aid to cope with the situation. In the meantime, Kristalina Georgieva, the European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, has warned that the Bulgarian authorities lack experience of dealing with similar situations and have failed in crisis planning.
Written by Danica Radisic · comments (0)
Tags: Bulgaria English Governance Humanitarian Response International Relations Quick Reads Refugees Syria Turkey War & Conflict
Video: Anti-fascist Solidarity from Turkey to Greece
“We made this video to tell you we are with us. We had nothing more in mind.”
A moving video with testimonials of anti-fascist solidarity from Turkish activists in the memory of Greek rapper Pavlos Fyssas, slain by neonazis in Athens last month, was uploaded on YouTube, subtitled in Greek. The video was set to a dirge written by Turkish composer Zülfü Livaneli and Greek lyricist Lefteris Papadopoulos, and performed by famous Greek singer and political Maria Farandouri, an icon of the struggle against the Greek military junta in the late 60′s.
Written by Asteris Masouras · comments (0)
Tags: Digital Activism Greece Greek Middle East & North Africa Music Politics Protest Quick Reads Turkey Turkish Video Western Europe Youth
Warring across Syria's border with Turkey - English edition
Warring across Syria’s border with Turkey - English edition
▻http://mondediplo.com/blogs/warring-across-syria-s-border-with-turkey
In Oncupinar in southern #Turkey, close to the Syrian border, Ahmed sits huddled with his wife and four young children. They have been refugees for going on seven months, since a missile slammed into their Aleppo home.
Tags: Turkey Syria Country:Syria Region:southern Turkey Country:Turkey City:Aleppo
Serbia, Turkey, Slovenia and Brazil on Winning Streak at Girls’ U18 Volleyball World Championship
As the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) blog reports, the Serbian, Turkish, Slovenian and Brazilian under-18 girls’ national volleyball teams showed outstanding results on the weekend of July 27-28, some with a perfect win-loss ratio. Full stats and results are available and regularly updated on the Federation's website.
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Tags: Brazil English Quick Reads Serbia Slovenia Sport Turkey
France Sees Shades of its Revolutionary Past in Turkey's Revolt
The recent unrest in Turkey has left eight dead and more than 4,000 injured as well as exposed political divides and ineptitudes in the country that straddles Europe and Asia.
But the consequences of the massive protests, which grew from a movement to stop the destruction of Istanbul's Gezi Park for a redevelopment project in Taksim Square, have extended far beyond the borders of Turkey.
Members of the European Union, led by Germany, have used these clashes as an excuse to postpone negotiations on Turkey's entry into the European Union from late June until autumn. The website Cameroonvoice [fr] specified:
La chancelière Angela Merkel a déclaré la semaine dernière que les événements en Turquie ne correspondaient pas aux “notions européennes de la liberté de réunion et d’expression”.
The Chancellor Angela Merkel declared last week that the events in Turkey do not correspond to “European ideas of freedom of assembly and expression.”
At the same time, the events in Turkey seem to have generated questions about identity in France and throughout Europe tied to the prospect of Turkey's entry into the European Union. The French are asking themselves variations of, “Do we share the same values?”
Erdogan: The demonstrations are Twitter's fault, by khalid Albaih on Flickr, CC by-nc-sa/2.0
Not so different?
Many French media outlets have based their analyses of the EU matter on the events of June in Turkey, trying out a number of different analogies. As if this large neighbour, who might soon become part of the family, and its revolts offered the French a mix of complete exoticism and familiar reality. As Henri Goldman writes on his blog [fr]:
Un peu partout, on compare Taksim à Tahir, le Printemps turc au Printemps arabe. Sur les images qui circulent, ce sont les mêmes couches sociales,– étudiants, classes moyennes instruites… – qui tiennent le haut du pavé. Celles-ci nourrissent leurs aspirations à partir du kit culturel cosmopolite qui se diffuse par internet et constitue désormais le bagage commun des courants « branchés » des sociétés en transition. Le mode de mobilisation aussi les rapproche : des mots d’ordre lancés à travers la toile et qui essaiment en réseaux sans quartier général où n’importe quelle consigne est reprise pour autant qu’elle réponde à l’attente, indépendamment de qui la lance.”
Everywhere, Taksim is being compared to Tahir, the Turkish spring to the Arab spring. In the images making the rounds, we see the same social groups – students, educated middle classes… – leading the field. They feed their ambitions with the cosmopolitan cultural kit spread over the Internet and which now forms the stock ideas of the “fashionable” schools of thought in societies in transition. The means of mobilisation brings them together too: slogans begun on the Internet which spring up in networks without headquarters, where any instructions are repeated so long as they correspond to expectations, no matter who starts them.
Others, particularly in France, have seen the protest as a new “May '68“, referring to the Paris social revolution of 1968, sometimes in a desire to identify with the protesters. Chems Eddine Chitour's blog [fr] does just that:
“Les médias occidentaux pensaient et pensent que le dernier «domino» allait tomber. Ils ont présenté cette colère comme celle d’une Turquie ultralaïque qui en a marre de l’AKP et tout est fait pour forcer l’analogie avec les places Tahrir et partant avec les tyrans arabes. Pas un mot d’une analogie avec mai 1968 en Europe au sortir des trente glorieuses bâties sur la sueur des émigrés. Quand Daniel Cohn-Bendit et ses camarades avaient mis à mal le gouvernement de De Gaulle ce n’était pas pour du pain comme la plupart des révoltes dans les pays arabes, mais c’était pour secouer un ordre ancien en interdisant d’interdire…”
Western media outlets thought and think that the last ‘domino’ was going to fall. They have presented this anger as that of an ultra-secular Turkey, fed up with the AKP, and the analogy with Tahrir Square and the doing away with Arab tyrants is pushed to its limits. Not once has the analogy been drawn with May 1968 in Europe, at the end of the so-called golden years, built on the sweat of immigrants. When Daniel Cohn-Bendit and his fellow students took action against De Gaulle's government, it was not because they were starving, like most of the uprisings in Arab countries, but to shake up an old order by not allowing it to suppress them…
The European Parliament officially condemned the brutal repression of the demonstration. But Ex-Expat [fr] commented on a France 24 article which describes the ongoing demonstration:
Les seuls Européens en Turquie sont ceux au Taksim et leurs sympathisants!”
The only Europeans in Turkey are those in Taksim Square and their supporters!
A video showing the protesters in Taksim Square singing “Do you hear the people sing?” taken from the musical Les Misérables about the Paris uprising of 1832, demonstrates the link between the protesters and Europe:
From Gezi Park to Turkey's EU integration
“Taksim ist überall!” – “Taksim is everywhere!” Hamburg, Germany, 8 June, 2013. By Rasande Tyskar on Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0
The “European values” Angela Merkel spoke of are the values picked up by online media outlets, sliding almost systematically from the subject of the Gezi and Taksim demonstrations to that of Turkey's integration into the EU. Franck Proust [fr], a member of the European Parliament for the French UMP Party, reiterated the position of the French right-wing. Coralie Morallet explains [fr] on the regional news website Objectif Gard (Southern France):
Un accord de partenariat: oui, mais l’adhésion à l’Europe : Non! La Turquie n’a rien d’européenne. Nous ne partageons pas la même culture, ni les mêmes racines judéo-chrétiennes, ni les mêmes aspirations politiques“
A partnership agreement: yes, but accession to Europe: no! Turkey is not European. We don't share the same culture, nor the same Judeo-Christian roots, nor the same political aspirations.
A comment from Joël Toussaint [fr] responded:
L’Europe partage des racines judéo-chrétiennes qui ont été plantées… en Turquie! Le premier Concile de Nicée date de 325 et le premier Concile de Constantinople fut tenu en 381. (…) L’arrogance trouve sa racine dans l’ignorance… M. Proust saute à pieds joints sur le prétexte que lui fournit Erdogan et met ainsi le pied dans le plat. Il procède à un exercice d’amalgame entre le peuple turc et ses dirigeants. La démagogie politique dans toute sa splendeur!”
Europe shares Judeo-Christian roots which were sown… in Turkey! The first Council of Nicea was in 325, and the first Council of Constantinople took place in 381. (…) Arrogance is rooted in ignorance. Mr. Proust jumps feet first into the pretext given by Erdogan, and ends up putting his foot in it. He is conflating the Turkish people with their leaders. Political grandstanding in all of its glory!
The majority of comments were very pessimistic [fr] as to the outcome of the integration process:
(…) Vouloir absolument européaniser le digne successeur de l’empire ottoman est une vue de l’esprit, une vision idyllique de la future Union européenne. Ce n’est pas parce 5% de la population adhère aux idées et valeurs de l’UE que les 95% d’anatoliens vont le faire, ni parce que Constantinople est devenu Ankara que la mentalité des dirigeants ottomans – kémalistes ou islamistes (modérés ?), a changé.”
Demonstration of solidarity with #OccupyGezi in Wroclaw, Poland. By David Krawczyk on Flickr – CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
(…) Insisting on europeanising the worthy successor of the Ottoman Empire is an illusion, an idyllic vision of the future of the European Union. Just because 5 percent of the population adhere to the ideas and values of the EU doesn't means that 95 percent of Anatolians will do so. Just because Constantinople has become Ankara, it doesn't means that the mentality of the Ottoman leaders – whether Kemalist or (moderate?) Islamist – has changed.
But there are some who turn the spotlight on the values shared with the protesters themselves across European borders: against police violence, arbitrary detention of protesters and journalists, and for freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. As Cameroonvoice [fr] affirmed:
De l’Azerbaïdjan au Sénégal tout le monde compatit avec les manifestants de la place Taksim, pas avec Erdogan”, conclut Hakan Günes, professeur de politologie à l’université de Marmara.”
“From Azerbaijan to Senegal, everyone sympathizes with the protesters in Taksim Square, not with Erdogan”, concludes Hakan Günes, Professor of Political Science at the University of Marmara.
And the more that Turkey's Prime Minister's Recep Tayyip Erdoğan turns to conspiracy theories [fr] to denounce the influence of the European Union, Western media, social networks (especially Twitter), the more he risks isolating himself on the world stage. It is ironic, then, that it it is precisely with regards to the fear of the other and conspiracy theories that Sema Kaygusuz, a Turkish writer [fr], sees similarities between Turkish and American societies:
La Turquie est un pays où tout le monde a peur de l’autre. Les Kémalistes ont peur des islamistes, les islamistes ont peur des laïques, les femmes ont peur des hommes, les enfants ont peur des adultes… C’est la mentalité américaine : on est toujours en danger.”
Turkey is a country where everyone fears the other. Kemalists fear Islamists, Islamists fear secularists, women fear men, children fear adults… It's the American mentality: we are always under threat.
Written by Marie Bohner · Translated by Carol Bidwell · View original post [fr] · comments (0)
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Tags: Citizen Media English France French Germany International Relations Middle East & North Africa Photos Protest Turkey Weblog Western Europe
Online and Off, Information Control Persists in Turkey
Demonstrators at Gezi Park. Photo by Nevit Dilmen. (CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported)
Demonstrators in Turkey have occupied Istanbul’s Taksim Square since last May, in a movement that began as an effort to protect a city park, but has evolved into a larger mobilization against the ruling party’s increasingly autocratic stance.
Prime Minister Erdogan and the ruling AKP party have used many tools to silence voices of the opposition. On June 15, police began using tear gas and water cannons to clear out the large encampment in the park. But this effort also has stretched beyond episodes of physical violence and police brutality into the digital world, where information control and media intimidation are on the rise.
Since the protests began, dozens of Turkish social media users have been detained on charges ranging from inciting demonstrations, to spreading propaganda and false information, to insulting government officials. Dozens more Twitter users were reportedly arrested for posting images of police brutality, though the legal pretense for these arrests is unclear. A recent ruling in an Ankara court ordered 22 demonstrators detained on terrorism-related charges.
Prime Minister Erdogan made his view of social media known when he described social media as “the worst menace to society” at a June press conference. It is worth noting that Erdogan himself is said to maintain a Twitter account with over 3 million followers and 2,000 tweets (some Turks question whether the unverified account is really him, or an unofficial supporter.) While the Turkish government has had limited, if any, involvement in tampering with social media access thus far, government officials appear eager to take further action.
Roots in traditional media
Although current circumstances appear to be testing the limits of Turkey’s information policy framework, the country has a long history of restrictive media policy and practice. In 2013, Turkey ranked 154 out of 166 on the Reporters Without Borders’ Annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index, due in part to the fact that since 1992 18 journalists have been murdered there, 14 with impunity. In responding to protest coverage, authorities have fined, detained and even beaten members of the press. Institutional censorship has also been prevalent: When clashes between protesters and police escalated, activists noted that CNN Turk aired a documentary on penguins while CNN International ran live coverage of the events in Taksim Square.
Dubbed the “the world’s biggest prison for journalists” by Reporters Without Borders, Turkey has been particularly aggressive in arresting Kurdish journalists under Turkey’s anti-terrorism law known as Terörle Mücadele Yasası.
Controlling digital expression
As of 2012, 45% of Turkey’s population had regular access to the Internet. The country’s leading ISP, Türk Telekom (TT), formerly a government-controlled monopoly, was privatized in 2005 but retained a 95% percent market share in 2007. Türk Telekom also controls the country’s only commercial backbone.
Internet Law No. 5651, passed in 2007, prohibits online content in eight categories including prostituion, sexual abuse of children, facilitation of the abuse of drugs, and crimes against (or insults to) Atatürk. The law authorizes the Turkish Supreme Council for Telecommunications and IT (TIB) to block a website when it has “adequate suspicion” that the site hosts illegal content. In 2011, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights reported that 80% of online content blocked in Turkey was due to decisions made by the TIB, with the remaining 20% being blocked as the result of orders by Turkey’s traditional court system. In 2009 alone, nearly 200 court decisions found TIB decisions to block websites unjustifiable because they fell outside the scope of Law 5651. The law also has been criticized for authorizing takedowns of entire sites when only a small portion of their content stands in violation of the law.
Between 2008 and 2010, YouTube was blocked in its entirety under Law 5651 because of specific videos that fell into the category of “crimes against Atatürk”. During this period, YouTube continued to be the 10th most visited site in Turkey, with users accessing the site through proxies. The ban was eventually lifted when YouTube removed the videos in question and came under compliance with Turkish law. Sites likes Blogspot, Metacafe, Wix and others have gone through similar ordeals in Turkey in recent years. An estimated 31,000 websites are blocked in the country.
In December 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that Turkey had violated their citizen’s right to free expression by blocking Google Sites. While Turkey justified the ban based on Sites’ hosting of websites that violated Law 5651, the ECHR found that Turkish law did not allow for “wholesale blocking of access” to a hosting provider like Google Sites. Furthermore, Google Sites had not been informed that it was hosting “illegal” content.
In 2011, Turkey proposed a mandatory online filtering system described as an effort to protect minors and families. This new system, dubbed Güvenli İnternet, or Secure Internet, would block any website that contained keywords from a list of 138 terms deemed inappropriate by telecom authority BTK. The plan was met with public backlash and protests causing the government to re-evaluate the system and eventually offer it as an opt-in service. While only 22,000 of Turkey’s 11 million Internet users have so far opted for the system, opponents of Güvenli İnternet decry it as a form of censorship, disguised as an effort to protect children and families from “objectionable content”.
New policies could further restrict social networks
As the protests continue, the Turkish government is working to use legal tools already at its disposal to increase control over social network activity. Transportation and Communications Minister Binali Yildirim has called on Twitter to establish a representative office within the country. Legally, this could give the Turkish government greater ability to obtain user data from the company. But these requests have not received a warm response from Twitter, which has developed a reputation for protecting user data in the face of government requests. While Twitter has “turned down” requests from the Turkish government for user data and general cooperation, Minister Yildirim stated that Facebook had responded “positively”. Shortly thereafter, Facebook published a “Fact Check” post that denied cooperation with Turkish officials.
Turkey’s Interior Minister Muammer Güler told journalists that “the issue [of social media] needs a separate regulation” and Deputy Prime Minister Bozdag stated that the government had no intention of placing an outright ban on social media, but indicated a desire to outlaw “fake” social media accounts. Sources have confirmed that the Justice Ministry is conducting research and drafting legislation on the issue.
New media expert Ozgur Uckan of Istanbul’s Bilgi University noted that “censoring social media sites presents a technical challenge, and that may be why officials are talking about criminalizing certain content, in an effort to intimidate users and encourage self-censorship.”
While the details of these new laws remain to be seen, it is likely that they will have some impact on journalistic and activist activities in the country, especially in times of rising public protest and dissent.
Greg Epstein is an intern for Global Voices Advocacy and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. This post is also available on EFF's website.
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Tags: Activism Advocacy Arrest and Harassment Campaign Freedom of Expression Human Rights Turkey
Brazil Stockpiles Arsenal of Non-Lethal Weapons Ahead of World Cup
[All links lead to sites in Portuguese]
This post, written by Bruno Fonseca and Natalia Viana for Agência Pública, was originally published as a report entitled “Bomba brasileira na pele turca” (Turks Feel a Brazilian Bomb Firsthand) and is part of the special coverage #IndústriaBrasileiraDeArmas (Brazilian Weapons Industry) on the weapons lobby and industry in Brazil. The story will be published in a series of three articles on Global Voices Online. This is the third part of the series.
Check out the second post: Brazilian Weapons Firm Exports Arms to Arab Countries
The Brazilian federal government agreed to the purchase of thousands of non-lethal weapons from Brazilian arms firm Condor – the same company that furnished the tear gas used against protesters in Turkey – to be used by the police forces in all the host cities of the 2013 Confederations Cup and the 2014 World Cup for the sum of 49.5 million reais (22 million US dollars).
The agreement with Condor S.A. Indústria Química, signed on 26 November, 2012 to last until 31 December, 2014, provides for the supply of different types of weapons, such as 2,200 non-lethal short distance kits, which include pepper spray and pepper foam, tear gas grenades with traceable chips, indoor and outdoor moral effect grenades and explosive light and sound grenades; besides that, 449 non-lethal short distance kits with rubber bullet cartridges and impact expansible cartridges – bullets that expand when they touch the skin, avoiding perforation.
Apart from that, the agreement includes the purchase of 1,800 electric weapons for launching energized darts – the so-called Taser guns, 8,300 moral-effect grenades, 8,300 light and sound grenades, 8,300 triple smoke tear gas grenades, and 50,000 pepper spray canisters.
Find the entire agreement here.
The tear gas exported to Turkey was also bought by the Brazilian federal government for use during the 2014 World Cup and Olympics. Photo by Agência Pública. Used under a Creative Commons license
Condor's non-lethal weapons are largely employed by police forces all over the country as well as by the federal government. Federal programs buy such weapons, for instance, to be used by the Unities of Pacifying Police (UPPs, initials in Portuguese) in Rio de Janeiro and by police forces in 12 States involved in the program “Crack, É Possível Vencer” (Crack Cocaine, It's Possible to Win) including shock pistols, Taser guns, and pepper spray. The Brazilian government has already allocated 49 million Brazilian reais (approximately 22 million US dollars) to Condor just to pay for the weapons to be used during the Confederations Cup this year and in the 2014 World Cup.
The Brazilian tear gas exported to Turkey was also bought by the federal government to be used during the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games.
In April 2012, according to Transparency Portal [a website created by the federal government to inform on government's expenditures with the World Cup 2014], the federal government spent 1.5 million reais (approximately 669,000 US dollars) on the purchase of non-lethal ammunition from Condor to be used by the army to “ensure law and order in the residential compounds of Alemão and Penha”. Among the items which were purchased there were 1,125 explosive light and sound grenades (GL 307), 500 multi-impact pepper grenades (GM 102) and 500 smoke grenades, 29,500 rubber bullet cartridges and 700 random movement tear gas grenades (GL -310) – the same which were used against the protesters in Turkey.
In June, the government purchased weapons from Condor for the security of Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, amounting to a total of 1.3 million reais (approximately 579,000 US dollars). Among them were more than 900 pepper spray canisters, 1,300 triple tear gas grenades, 870 explosive light and sound grenades, and 5,000 12-calibre cartridges with rubber bullets.
Justice?
While the Brazilian Agency for the Promotion of Exports and Investment encourages the export of arms to countries such as Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, the use of the same non-lethal arms is questioned by the Brazilian justice.
In November 2012, the federal prosecutor for citizen's rights decided to investigate the damage brought by these arms to the health in the country. At the request of the organization Tortura Nunca Mais (Torture Never Again) from São Paulo, a working group comprising representatives of the Ministries of Justice, Defense and Health and of the Secretariat of Human Rights from the Presidency, as well as the Federal and State Police and the Municipal Guards, was created with the aim of monitoring bills on the subject. This was deemed necessary as there is no national rules to guide decisions and ensure an acceptable use of such weapons.
The working group shall also carry out a comparative study about police-training programs as well as studies about the consequences to the health of people targeted by these weapons, especially those that make use of electric shock and chemical components. Wilson Furtado, from Torture Never Again, observed:
Nossas polícias estão usando este tipo de armas supostamente não-letais de maneira ostensiva… O policial, em vez de deter a pessoa, atira e pronto, atingindo principalmente jovens que estão protestando.
Our police are using this type of allegedly non-lethal weapons ostensibly…Instead of arresting the person, the policeman fires the non-lethal weapon and that is it, targeting mainly the young people during their protest marches.
The organization asks for rules that regulate the use of non-lethal weapons, defining the type of authorized weapons and norms of purchase, control and use, as well as the mechanisms of information to citizens.
Written by Pública – Agência de jornalismo investigativo · Translated by Elisa Thiago · View original post [pt] · comments (0)
Tags: Brazil Citizen Media Economics & Business International Relations Latin America Portuguese Quick Reads Sport Turkey Weblog
Reposted by darksideofthemoon
Brazilian Weapons Firm Exports Arms to Arab Countries
[All links lead to sites in Portuguese unless specified otherwise.]
This post, written by Bruno Fonseca and Natalia Viana for Agência Pública, was originally published as a report entitled “Bomba brasileira na pele turca” (Turks Feel a Brazilian Bomb Firsthand) and is part of the special coverage #IndústriaBrasileiraDeArmas (Brazilian Weapons Industry) on the weapons lobby and industry in Brazil. The story will be published in a series of three articles on Global Voices Online. This is the second part of the series.
Check out the first post: Brazilian Tear Gas Used Against Turkish Protesters
Condor's stand in the Brazilian pavilion in Turkey in May 2013. Some of the items on display were the same which would be used against the Turkish population less than one month later. Agência Pública/Used under Creative Commons license
Less than one month before the beginning of recent anti-government protests in Turkey, the Brazilian government backed a meeting between national weapons firms and foreign buyers in Istanbul. During the International Defense Industry Fair 2013 in Turkey from May 7 and 10, the Brazilian Agency for the Promotion of Exports and Investment (Apex Brasil) and the Brazilian Defense and Security Industries Association (ABIMDE [en]) – whose vice-president, Carlos Frederico Queiroz de Aguiar, is president of Condor – set up an eye-catching display in the Brazilian pavilion.
In the area set aside for Condor, a showcase displayed a variety of metallic projectiles, grenades, and cans of colored sprays, the same as those which would be used a few weeks later in the streets of the same country. Beneath the name of the company in red were ballerina grenades and “diverse defense solutions” – according to the industry jargon – such as 13 types of 40 x 46mm incapacitating munitions for launchers.
Apex hadn't responded to questions about Condor and other Brazilian firms’ incentive in Turkey by the time of this report's publication. According to the Turkish newspaper Sozcu, Minister of Commerce Hayati Yazici stated that in the last 12 months, the country imported 628 tons of tear gas and pepper spray, mostly from Brazil and the United States. These imports were valued at 21 million US dollars.
Condor is the only Brazilian firm that sells weapons to the government of Turkey, according to a statement from their press secretary. In addition to long range projectiles and ballerina grenades, Condor also produces tear gas and pepper sprays, smoke bombs, rubber bullets and stun guns, known as Taser guns.
In 2011, the firm confirmed the sale of weapons to Arab countries, although they denied selling weapons directly to Bahrain, where police cracked down on protesters the following year. Among their clients was the government of the United Arab Emirates, which sent troops in support of the Bahraini government.
In April 2013, Condor signed yet another contract with the government of the UAE, valued at 12 million US dollars, to supply 600,000 units of non-lethal munitions. The agreement was announced during LAADEXPO 2013 [en], the largest defense and security exposition in Latin America, which took place at Riocentro in April.
In February 2013, ABIMDE participated in another weapons fair, this time in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Again, Condor participated in the event as the only Brazilian firm producing non-lethal weapons.
Use of non-lethal weapons questioned in Brazil
Last June 3, 2013, Brazil signed the Arms Trade Treaty at the United Nations. According to the text, which aims for the elimination of weapons trade for genocide, terrorists, and international organized crime, “trade in conventional weapons would be regulated, establishing standards for their export and promoting more transparency in their transfer.” Considered a great advance for a country which avoids transparency regarding the sale of Brazilian weapons – the Minister of Development, Industry, and Foreign Trade refuses to divulge the numbers of firms which export weapons, for example – the treaty doesn't have specific definitions about the trade of non-lethal weapons. Condor's products are sold to more than 40 countries.
The Ministry of Development, Industry, and Foreign Trade refuses to divulge data on Brazilian companies which export arms. Agência Pública/Used under Creative Commons license
Written by Pública – Agência de jornalismo investigativo · Translated by David Bond · View original post [pt] · comments (0)
Tags: Bahrain Brazil Citizen Media Economics & Business Human Rights International Relations Latin America Photos Portuguese Protest Turkey United Arab Emirates
Brazilian Tear Gas Used Against Turkish Protesters
[All links lead to sites in Portuguese unless specified otherwise. At the time of writing, Condor's website was offline for maintenance.]
This post, written by Bruno Fonseca and Natalia Viana for Agência Pública, was originally published as a report entitled “Bomba brasileira na pele turca” (Turks Feel a Brazilian Bomb Firsthand) and is part of the special coverage #IndústriaBrasileiraDeArmas (Brazilian Weapons Industry) on the weapons lobby and industry in Brazil. The story will be published in a series of three articles on Global Voices Online. This is the first part of the series.
In 2012, when the inscription “Made in Brazil” marked canisters of tear gas used against pro-democracy demonstrators in Bahrain, allegedly causing the death of more than a dozen people including a five-day-old baby [en], the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Relations (Itamaraty) announced [en] that it would investigate whether there were any irregularities in the export of Brazilian tear gas.
However, one year later, Itamaraty states that it is simply observing the case without conducting investigations or taking measures.
In an indignant response, American-Saudi activist Rasheed Abou-Alsamh, the author of a news report from January 2012 denouncing the use of Brazilian tear gas against pro-democracy protesters in Bahrein, wrote [en]:
O Itamaraty deve achar que somos ingênuos.
Itamaraty must find us naive.
In the absence of restrictions [from the Brazilian government] on the exportation of non-lethal arms, the same tear gas, manufactured by the firm Condor SA in Rio de Janeiro, is now employed by the Turkish police in repressing the growing protests against the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which have spread to more than 60 locations throughout the country, leaving hundreds wounded and estimates of 2,000 arrested.
Amnesty International confirms the use of Brazilian tear gas during the protests – which began after a peaceful protest against the removal of 600 trees in Taksim Square in Istanbul. American professor Suzette Grillot, who is in the capital city of Ankara, photographed one of the Brazilian canisters used by the police and told Agência Pública:
Um membro do nosso grupo encontrou a cápsula na noite de ontem (3 de junho) em Ankara.
A member of our group found the canister last night (June 3) in Ankara.
An American professor photographed one of the Brazilian tear gas projectiles used by Turkish police. Image: Suzette Grillot/Used under Creative Commons license.
Brazilian tear gas has been used since the beginning of the protests in Istanbul on May 31. One participant of the Occupy Gezi movement, who preferred not to be identified for fear of reprisal, explains:
Naquele dia, havia apenas um grupo pequeno de ambientalistas. A polícia invadiu o parque às 5h da manhã enquanto essas pessoas dormiam nas barracas. Os policiais queimaram barracas e atacaram os manifestantes com gás lacrimogêneo. Os policiais deveriam atirar os projeteis de gás para cima, mas eles miram nas pessoas. Alguns perderam a visão por serem atingidos diretamente (pelos projeteis), outros são atingidos nos braços e pernas. Existem centenas de vídeos mostrando efeitos do gás: lágrimas, náusea, vômito, dificuldade em respirar.
That day, there was just a small group of environmentalists. The police invaded the park at five in the morning while these people were sleeping in their tents. The police burned tents and attacked the protesters with tear gas. The police should have shot the gas canisters up, but they were aiming at people. Some lost their sight by being directly hit [by the canisters], others were hit in the arms or legs. There are hundreds of videos showing the effects of the gas: tears, nausea, vomiting, difficulty breathing.
The UN Office on Human Rights asked Turkey to conduct an independent investigation into the conduct of its security forces regarding the protests. The spokesperson for the UN High Commission for Human Rights, Cecile Pouilly, stated:
Estamos preocupados com relatos de uso excessivo de força por agentes legais contra manifestantes.
We are concerned with reports of excessive use of force by law enforcement agents against the protesters.
“Non-lethal” weapons do kill
The shell photographed by the American Suzette Grillot is the remains of a long range tear gas canister (GL 202) produced by Condor, a leader in the production of this type of weapon in Latin America. The canister can reach an average distance of 120 meters (394 feet) and should be targeted before or above obstacles such as walls and barricades “in order to remove people and disperse groups of law-offenders,” according to the manufacturers own description. However, Condor states on its site that incorrect use of the canisters can cause serious damage to health — and even death.
Another photo taken by demonstrators shows a random movement tear gas grenade (GL 310), also known as the “ballerina.” Upon impact with the ground, the bomb bounces back up moving in various directions, spreading the gas over a greater area and avoiding the possibility of the “target” throwing it back in the direction of the police force. The company’s site states that the grenade can ignite fires when it comes in contact with flammable materials.
In a photo made public by demonstrators, the weapons GL 310 and Gl 202 from Condor are shown (1st and 3rd items from left to right). The 2nd weapon from the left is from Nonlethal Technologies, a company from the United States, which is the principal exporter of non-lethal weapons to Turkey, alongside the Brazilian Condor/Used under Creative Commons license.
Tags: Bahrain Brazil Citizen Media Economics & Business Human Rights International Relations Latin America Photos Portuguese Protest Turkey Video
Composer's Ode to Turkish Protesters
German musician Davide Martello performed live during the protests in Istanbul's Taksim Square.
This track is dedicated to the Soldiers of Light, the victims of this insane violence by the turkish government. Composed during the protests in Istanbul two weeks ago… live in the crowds on Taksim Square.
That's how the musician describes his composition which is available for download on Soundcloud.
Written by Katrin Zinoun · Translated by Solana Larsen · View original post [de] · comments (0)
Tags: Arts & Culture Citizen Media German Germany Ideas Music Protest Quick Reads Turkey
« Résister ou partir » : le choix d'Halil, Allemand d'origine turque
http://fr.myeurop.info/2013/06/27/resister-ou-partir-le-choix-d-halil-allemand-d-origine-turque-10926
Delphine Nerbollier
Allemand d'origine turque, Halil Gülbeyaz s'est installé il y a peu à Berlin. Athée, alévi, engagé à gauche, cet écrivain et journaliste est aussi père de deux enfants. Pour myeurop, il explique son choix et partage son regard sans concession sur la politique d'#Erdogan comme de #Merkel. (...)
#Portraits #Allemagne #Turkey #immigration #islam #minorité #Turquie #union_européenne
Tags: Erdogan Merkel Portraits Allemagne Turkey immigration islam minorité Turquie union_européenne City:Athée City:Berlin Person:Delphine Nerbollier
What Do Brazil and Turkey Have in Common?
Brazil and Turkey are thousands of kilometers away from each other, but they have something in common: both countries went out to the streets to protest for their rights as citizens and are now struggling against the excessive violence and oppression from the police.
V for Vinegar is a website created to track protests and promote petitions about relevant causes in each country: in Brazil, for the demilitarization of the Police [pt], and for the immediate end to the violence in Turkey [tr].
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Tags: Brazil Digital Activism English Latin America Middle East & North Africa Protest Quick Reads Turkey
Censorship and Police Brutality Mark Three Weeks of Turkish Protests
This post originally appeared on the author's own blog, Azadolu.
It's been three weeks since massive protests started across Turkey. Since their start on May 31, the country has witnessed media censorship, police brutality, protests by the thousands and the deaths and injury of protestors. Here is the summary of past three weeks:
In the early stages of the demonstrations, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan defined protesters as “Capulcu“, which translates to looters from Turkish. This action backfired when protesters embraced the label. Protesters even made a music video by changing the lyrics of the song “Everyday I am Shuffling” to sound “Everyday I am Capulcuing”:
Media Censorship:
Even though Turkish mainstream media self-censored the protests, social media was active and is still active in covering the protests. CNNTurk, NTV and Haberturk (the main news channels of Turkey) were all involved in self-censorship. After CNNTurk published a documentary about penguins instead of covering the protests, Twitter user emre erdem tweeted [tr] with sarcasm:
@emreerdem Memlekwt yerinden oynuyor CNNTURK'te penguen belgeseli var, medyamizi seveyim…
The whole country is shaking, but there is a documentary about penguins on CNNTurk. Love our media…
The protests against media censorship continued in front of the NTV headquarters, since the station chose to play down the anti-government protests. Its partner company, Garanti Bank, which is a national bank, was targeted by protesters too – many of whom stopped using its services. The bank announced it had lost around 1,500 customers.
And recently, BBC suspended its cooperation with NTV, after the latter refused to air their programme “World Agenda”.
The programme was prepared by Selin Girit, who tweeted:
@selingiritBBC suspends partnership with Turkish news channel @ntv over television censorship on a piece about press freedom. @bbcworld@bbcturkce
Seven Turkish newspaper ran the same headline on the protests. Photograph shared by @ozlemmisler on Twitter
There were also some interesting coincidences in the Turkish media's coverage of the protests. Seven different newspapers had the same headline on the same day. Twitter user Ozlem Isler shared a photograph of the newspapers:
@ozlemmisler 7 gazete ayni manset! pic.twitter.com/LGN5D9EaGU
Seven newspapers, same headlines! pic.twitter.com/LGN5D9EaGU
Police Brutality:
Police brutality was the biggest concern of protesters. A video of policemen detaining a protestor showing on-lookers trying to protect the protestor by throwing whatever they could find on the policemen draws home the sentiment many harbour against police heavy-handedness. Here is the video:
Twitter user Capulcu S A explains the togetherness of the nation against police brutality:
@Sedat2Aral Never been like this… Doctors, Journos, students, artists, actors, business men…all turkey helping each other against Police brutality.
Ethem Sarisuluk's death after being shot by police was certainly the most heartbreaking moment of the protests. The policeman, who killed the protestor, is still missing. Sarisuluk was among four people killed and around 5,000 injured during the protests. The mayor of Ankara, the capital city of Turkey, said on a live TV show [tr] that it wasn't the police who killed him; that it was the other protesters, who killed him by throwing a rock at him. This video, which appeared online following the death, tells a different story. It shows a policeman running away with a gun, after what appears to be shooting a protestor at close range [Warning: graphic]:
You can learn more about police brutality during the protests here.
Social Media: “The Worst Menace to Society”
In return, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan vented off his anger at social media and called it “worst menace to society“. Twitter user Pelin explains the reason behind Erdogan's anger by sharing the Bloomberg report about Twitter usage in Turkey during protests:
@BettySpades Data shows why Twitter is a menace to Erdogan. Impact of social media on the gezi protests: #occupygezi#direnankarahttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-10/twitter-really-is-a-menace-to-erdogan.html …
Erdogan was also angry at the protesters who took shelter in a mosque during the police attacks. He told media that protesters dishonored the mosque by entering it with their shoes on, and that they drank alcohol in the mosque. This video here shows the opposite of what Tayyip Erdogan said. In the video, protesters are seen taking refuge in the mosque, with doctors treating injured people (Warning: graphic video):
Contradicting Messages:
Huseyin Avni Mutlu, the governor of Istanbul, also gave contradicting messages. On his Twitter account, he wrote there will not be any attacks on Gezi Park, where the protests began, by the police. Just hours later, the police attacked Gezi Park:
@Valimutlu GEZİ PARKI ve TAKSİM’e KESİNLİKLE DOKUNULMAYACAK,SİZLERE ASLA DOKUNULMAYACAKTIR.Bu sabah ve bundan sonra polis kardeşlerinize emanetsiniz.
Gezi Park and Taksim will not be touched, nobody will touch you. You are entrusted to your police brothers since this morning and henceforth.
Twitter user Utangac Adam replied to the governor:
@UtangacAdam Büyüklerimiz “İnsanlığın okulu yok” derdi.Şimdi ne demek istediklerini daha iyi anlıyorum… @Valimutlu
Our elders would always say “There is no school for learning humanity”. Now, I understand them better…
Prime minister Erdogan arranged several rallies for his supporters, including in Ankara and Istanbul. Erdogan threatened the protesters to clear Gezi Park by calling them terrorists. After his statement on clearing the Gezi Park from protesters, Turkish police attacked Gezi Park on June 16, and took control over Taksim Square and Gezi Park.
Passive Resistance: Standing Man Protests
Now the protests have turned into a passive resistance. The Duran Adam (Standing Man) protests started by a performance artist, Erdem Gunduz, who stood at Taksim Square without moving for three hours. Similar protests spread quickly all over the country. Poet Bejan Matur said on her Twitter account:
@bejanmatur duran adam;tc tarihinin gördüğü en sofistike eylem;.iktidarın asla baş edemeyeceği şahane bir performans.
Standing Man is the most sophisticated protest in the history of Turkish Republic. A great performance that the ruling party cannot deal with, ever.
Turkish people showed their desire for democracy, human rights and environmental conservation over the last three weeks. Even though the policemen were fierce, politicians were angry and the media was silent, they continued on their journey for a better life. Perhaps this video of protesters cheering sarcastically for more teargas to be thrown on them by the police speaks volumes of their ambition for a better country and a better tomorrow:
Written by Baran Mavzer · comments (0)
Tags: Citizen Media English Environment Freedom of Speech Human Rights Media & Journalism Middle East & North Africa Politics Protest Turkey Turkish Video Weblog
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Seventh Day Adventist Logo
This is the official website of the Southern Asia-Pacific Division of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
Seventh-day Adventist Church Seventh-day Adventist Church
SSD Employee Portal
Southern Asia-Pacific Division
The official website of the Southern Asia-Pacific Division of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
Adventist scientists in the Philippines create association to promote mission
[Photo courtesy to Dr. Bienvenido Mergal]
The Philippine Adventist Scientist Association (PASA) has officially been established after a group of 42 people, including 37 scientists, met for the first National Adventist Scientists Conference in Palawan, Philippines. The purpose of PASA is to motivate and empower Adventist scientists to use their profession for the church’s mission.
Besides electing the PASA officers, this meeting’s objective, which took place from May 20 to May 21, was to promote the goals of creation science, recognize the contribution of Adventist scientists to the church and community as well as reminding the members of their mission in their respective field.
Initiated by the Southern Asia-Pacific Division (SSD) Vice-President Bienvenido D. Mergal, the idea of PASA came from observing the Geoscience Research Institute Committee’s (GRICOM) goal to establish a database of scientists in every division.
“Because of that [GRICOM’ goal], I thought of organizing a Philippine-wide Adventist scientists association,” Mergal said. “Being a husband to a scientist, I feel that scientists here in the Philippines are the most neglected group of people. I believe that if we organize and equip these people then they can be a good instrument and part of the mission.”
The first meeting was attended by Dr. Jim Gibson, Director of Geoscience Research Institute (GRI) of the General Conference and though most attendees were scientists there were also some administrators present, like SSD President Saw Samuel. Guest speakers presented on the topic of creation science and the ethics of human cloning.
For the future, some of PASA’s projects include the publishing of a yearly scientific journal as well the organization of yearly scientific conferences.
“We will make PASA as a premier scientist portals for Adventist Scientists in the division territory if not worldwide.” said PASA President, Jose Oclarit. “We will have a yearly scientific conference. We will publish an Adventist science journal. This journal should be peer reviewed and circulation should be worldwide.”
Additionally, PASA officials and members wanted to welcome more scientists in the future.
“What makes me happy is the vision that they have, which is to use this group for evangelism.” Mergal said. “This is about reaching out through science and becoming an active instrument in God's work.”
Paola Mora Zepeda
Seventh-day Adventist beliefs are meant to permeate your whole life. Growing out of scriptures that paint a compelling portrait of God, you are invited to explore, experience and know the One who desires to make us whole.
Lay-led evangelism yields over 370 in Southern Philippines
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Ted Wilson Shares Bible Tips With Pakistani Minister
Adventist Church president also appeals to Pakistan’s Adventists to
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New CRN Data
The U.S. Climate Reference Network (CRN) of high-quality observing stations continued to expand in Alaska last summer, with three new stations being added at Ivotuk, Deadhorse, and in the Nowitna National Wildlife Refuge; the latter station is located 44 miles east-southeast of Ruby. This brings the number of CRN stations in Alaska to 16. I thought it would be interesting to look at the temperature data provided thus far by these new observing sites and to make a comparison with existing nearby stations.
Starting with Ivotuk (which I mentioned here), the chart below shows the daily temperature range in black shading and the daily mean temperature with the gray line. The blue shading indicates the difference between the daily mean temperatures at Ivotuk and Umiat; the two stations are not exactly similar (more than 100 miles apart, and over 1500' elevation difference), but Umiat is a well-known benchmark for interior North Slope climate. We see that Ivotuk was generally colder than Umiat through early November, but the extreme warm event of mid-November pushed temperatures above freezing at Ivotuk on six separate days. Umiat, down in the Colville River valley, only briefly rose above freezing on the 11th (still a remarkable achievement).
The chart for Deadhorse is shown below, with the comparison being made between the CRN site and Deadhorse airport. The distance between the two locations is about 2 miles, with the CRN site located just to the south along the haul road. The CRN site has become slightly but consistently colder than the airport in recent weeks, but the temperature rose above freezing at both locations on November 12.
Finally, the chart for Ruby 44 ESE is shown below. The relatively large diurnal temperature range in September, characteristic of the interior, stands out compared to the other two stations in the Arctic. The nearest longstanding and regularly reporting station is Tanana, about 75 miles to the northeast. In the second chart below I've included a comparison of the daily minimum temperatures, which were notably colder at Ruby 44 ESE than at Tanana during several of the colder spells of the late autumn. For instance, the CRN site observed sub-zero temperatures on October 7, which was the first day that sub-zero temperatures were observed anywhere in Alaska.
The apparent ease with which this new CRN station at Ruby 44 ESE has reached relatively low temperatures led Rick Thoman to speculate informally that it might be a good candidate for observing -70 °F during a robust cold snap. Other than the Chicken COOP station, which reported -72 °F in 2008, the -70 °F level has not been seen in Alaska since January 2000 (Manley Hot Springs); and only 3 sites have reported it since the great cold snap of 1989 (the aforementioned two, and Chandalar Lake in 1999).
Posted by Richard James at 5:14 PM
Labels: Climate, Temperature
NL7Y November 29, 2014 at 6:21 PM
Nowitna River CRN. Yes it's likely a cool spot in winter given the drainage of cold air from upstream. Hope the bears leave it alone. They dearly love to walk the perimeter of lakes in Spring after hibernation looking for snacks of vegetation and young wildlife. Anything new or unusual captures their interest:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/64°30'06.0%22N+154°07'47.0%22W/@64.50167,-154.12972,7897m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mesowest/getobext.php?sid=NWTA2
Brian B November 30, 2014 at 10:19 PM
Good stuff Richard. Unfortunately the NCDC doesn't make the acquisition of this data very user friendly. Neither of the three CRN sites you mentioned are part of the GHCN database – whereas all the other CRN data is. Perhaps they are still too new.
Richard James December 1, 2014 at 7:36 AM
I agree, it's a nuisance to get the data the way it is currently set up. I expect NCDC will get around to adding the new stations to GHCN sometime in the next few months.
Winter Storm Warning
PDO Update
Cold This Week - Or Not
More on Cloud Cover
A Little Cooler
Continued Warmth Aloft
U.S. Record Snowfall?
Exceptional Warmth
Fairbanks Snow Through Nov. 13
Fairbanks November Above Freezing Days
Strong Warming Ahead
Cloud Cover Continued
Aleutian Low Forecast
Historical Cloud Cover
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KAMALA HARRIS AND THE FREE HEALTHCARE FANTASY
The Torah Code's desription of this lady is spot on - with no indication yet that she will be elected President. Posted on 1/31/2019.
Senator Kamala Harris is running for President. Her platform is based on free healthcare for everyone, extremely high taxes to pay for it, open borders so a hoard of illegal and sometimes diseased aliens can flood our country to overrun our healthcare system. She wants to help save us from ICE agents that she sees as KKK. And she loves Iran. The lady is a prime example of the insanity that has seized control of the Democrat Party. On all matrices below, KAMALA HARRIS is the axis term. On Figure 1 at the same absolute skip and hugging her name is ENEMY. USA is also at the same absolute skip. HEALTHCARE is at skip +1, as are EXPENSIVE and LEPROSY. There is also an ELS of IRAN. If we extend the matrix 6 columns to the left we pick up BORDER in the open text. That's shown on the small matrix on Figure 1. The more significant matrix is Figure 2 which adds 8 columns on the left but subtracts 27 columns on the right. This allows us to see both BORDER and PLAGUE. We lose USA, IRAN and LEPROSY, but Leprosy was the plague spoken of in the text. Figure 1 was found against odds of about 656,467 to 1 while Figure 2 was found against odds of about 19,716,035 to 1.
Figure 1 below: Kamala Harris is strongly encoded with HEALTHCARE, EXPENSIVE, ENEMY, and USA. She favors IRAN. The statistical significance of Figures 1 and 2 are shown further below. Figure 2 which adds PLAGUE and BORDER shows the full consequences of her policies.
Spreadsheets for Figures 1 and 2 plus Figure 2. The shift to the left reveals a much more significant matrix and it lets us know the true threat to our security if we follow fools like Harris.
STATISTICAL AND POLITICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF FIGURES 1 AND 2. As per my standard protocol, no statistical significance is assigned to the axis term, here the 5th lowest ELS found for a transliteration of KAMILA HARRIS in (wrapped) Torah. The most significant a priori term seen all matrices is HEALTHCARE. For calculations related to Figure 1 I combined the large and small matrices shown to arrive at a combined matrix measuring 17 rows by 49 columns (833 letters). As such, odds against HEALTHCARE being at skip +1 (best case scenario) on Figure 1 are about 122 to 1. On the smaller, 408-letter Figures 2 they are about 249 to 1. In scanning over the spreadsheets it's apparent that the next most significant term on Figure 1 was USA which was found against odds of about 15 to 1. In comparison to that, on Figure 2 there was reference to a PLAGUE against odds of about 75 to 1. In the current border crisis a major concern relates to illegal immigrants bringing in all sorts of contagious diseases. Without a wall at our border there would be no stopping them.
The spreadsheet shows that Figure 2 is about 30 times more significant than Figure 1. Therefore we will focus on it. EXPENSIVE was the next most significant term. This is the major problem with Harris's proposal. Estimates are that her plan would cost the U.S. an additional 32.6 trillion dollars over the next decade. That's a huge number that's hard for us to relate to, so let me put it this way. In 2019 the estimated population of the United States was 328,127,915. If we divide the 32,800,000,000,000 cost of Harris's fantasy by 328,127,915 people, we find that the average cost per person would come to $9,752,294.31. More than 9.75 million dollars per person? This shows us that Senator Harris has clearly lost all connections to reality - a problem that is all too common with extreme liberals like her. EXPENSIVE was at skip +1 on Figure 2 against odds of about 28 to 1.
BORDER was the next most significant term, found in the open text against odds of about 23 to 1. Harris is against any wall at the border. She is fine with technology like drones, but drones can only film people coming across the border. They can't stop them from coming and bringing in diseases.
I sought two synonyms for ENEMY and one of them at a special case skip on the 408-letter matrix against odds of about 8 to 1. However, it only took 10 rows by 2 columns to show KAMILA HARRIS and ENEMY. Of those 20 letters, 9 are for KAMILA HARRIS, so the real odds against a match this close were over 308 to 1. What about IRAN? Remember that I cut it when I downsized the matrix to produce Figure 2, but it was on Figure 1 against odds of about 2.57 to 1 (not very significant). Again, Figure 1 was found against odds of about 656,467 to 1 while Figure 2 was found against odds of about 19,716,035 to 1.
Now, let's see what she had to say about the Iran nuclear accord and President Trump dumping it:
Today’s decision to violate the Iran nuclear deal jeopardizes our national security and isolates us from our closest allies. This nuclear deal is not perfect, but it is certainly the best existing tool we have to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons and avoid a disastrous military conflict in the Middle East.
“As the international community and the Administration’s own national security team has confirmed multiple times, Iran remains in compliance with the deal. In the absence of an Iranian violation, it is reckless to break this agreement without presenting any plan on how to move forward. Instead of establishing a comprehensive, strategic national security policy, this Administration is far too focused on scoring political points.”
No, Kamala, the deal would not at all prevent their acquiring these weapons. At best, it would only slow it down by 10 years, and three and a half of those years are now behind us. When it comes to nuclear weapons in the hands of Muslim terrorists, a deal that isn't perfect is a deal that invites our death. All of the missile tests by Iran show that it aims to put nuclear warheads on their rockets. I am in favor of force to remove the threat unless it can be shown that we have a deal to shut down Iran's missiles the way our ICBMs were shutdown by UFOs at Malmstrom Air Force Base on March 16, 1967. There is plenty about this incident online, however I interviewed a retired Air Force colonel who was at Malmstrom during the incident. He confirmed the story to my wife and me. Further details about the incident are here.
One last thought. We live in interesting times. The Government can track everything we do, and they seem to be close to being able to track our thoughts. The military follows everything I write (in real time), but one particular site - online as I write this - chooses to let me track their tracking of me. I have, in fascination, watched what they read while waiting for me to finish this article. One item they looked at (again) makes clear how closely I have tracked them. The series of articles that they examined on January 30, 2019 seems to have an ominous implication. I won't spell it out here, but I will (again) ask these people to contact me. They appear to be waffling between good and evil. To them I say: As you know, I love the military. Don't make a mistake like that was made by a few misguided personnel at Abu Ghraib Prison. Stick with Army regulations and our Constitution. The series of articles that you accessed in conjunction with this one might have been made to suggest where I should focus next in my research. But you have been here about once per hour over 4 years now. If you're that intrigued by what I know and what I learn, let's take the guess work out of what we're all doing.
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Ask The Atheists
Answers About RSS
What is your opinion of 'Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed'?
Ben Stein’s new film has undoubtedly caused controversy. What is your opinion?
Posted: May 5th 2008
John Sargeant www
The film tries to suggest that far from credible scientific research and body of evidence for evolution being undermined in academia it is creationists that are subject to a witch hunt for believing in intelligent design.
Not only is that a falsification of what is going on, it then makes the age old evolution = atheism = Nazism. The point is rammed home with images of Nazis, and the song “Imagine” is used (Yoko is taking them to court for that).
The problem for supporters of science is whether showing this film up for what it is promotes the film or is necessary because this film shows the undermining of science by politicizing religious belief to do so.
See all questions answered by John Sargeant
SmartLX www
The film has three messages: Intelligent Design is being Expelled from academia by Big Science, evolution leads to atheism and evolution led to Nazi atrocities. No, no and no.
Intelligent Design isn’t being expelled, it’s flunking out. The evidence does not support it. Any research done in its name is an attempt to lend it credibility and discredit the alternatives rather than find the actual truth, and therefore really isn’t science. There is no actual ID theory, only a vague hypothesis. (Great talking point there: even if evolution is “only a theory”, ID isn’t even that.) Proponents trying to advance ID in spite of the preceding are seen as impeding real science, and are discredited as scientists. Their careers suffer in the same way as if they were trying to promote astrology over astronomy, or alchemy over chemistry.
Prominent biologists and devout Christians Ken Miller and Francis Collins will tell you that evolution does not necessarily lead to atheism. Even Richard Dawkins, who evolution did lead to atheism, will recommend Miller’s books to believers. Evolution simply refutes the Argument from Design as it relates to living things, and encourages one to look for similar natural origins for other phenomena. There are plenty of other reasons why people believe in gods. Saying that evolution leads invariably to atheism is like saying that the design argument is the only good argument for theism. (Certainly, some others are no worse.)
The Nazis practiced eugenics, which is a form of artificial selection and has nothing to do with Darwin’s theory. By trying to exterminate the Jews and propagate the Aryan race, they were doing what farmers and animal breeders had already done for thousands of years. In canine terms, they were building a stock of a pure breed and putting down the mongrels (from their perspective, of course).
Hitler didn’t say anything about Darwin or evolution in Mein Kampf. His hatred for the Jews echoed a long history worldwide of leaders attempting ethnic cleansings.
Darwin and “Darwinians” never presented natural selection as a guide for living and breeding anyway; it is simply the way life has developed so far. Proper, civil human behaviour is very anti-Darwinian indeed on the face of it, even if it got that way by Darwinian means, and so it should be.
I want to point out one particularly ironic image that was produced to counter Expelled’s publicity: a Nazi belt buckle saying “GOTT MIT UNS” with “DARWIN” newly scrawled over “GOTT” apparently by Ben Stein. The Wehrmacht buckle actually says, and always said, “God is with us.”
See all questions answered by SmartLX
brian thomson www
I haven’t seen it, but I have seen Ben’s remarks on various chat show clips. They seem to indicate that the negative reviews are not exaggerating what he says, or quoting him out of context. I probably won’t get to see it unless it’s on broadcast TV here (Ireland), which is unlikely: this may be a Catholic country, but they’re not that fundamentalist. 8)
See all questions answered by brian thomson
bitbutter www
For anyone not familiar with the film, the wikipedia entry is very thorough.
With the huge media hype and controversy surrounding the film, the producers were in a perfect position to show the world exactly why Intelligent Design is an idea that should be taken seriously. By all accounts they have missed the opportunity to do so. This seems to confirm what was already very clear; ID proponents are empty-handed.
The Expelled film has two main premises: That scientists critical of the theory of evolution are being silenced by the mainstream scientific community, and that Darwinism leads to genocide.
The Expelled Exposed site reveals that the alleged marginalisation of creationists by 'big science’ has been grossly exaggerated, and in some cases blatantly fabricated.
The idea that Darwin’s ideas have a share in the blame for the holocaust is pure fantasy.
Firstly, Hitler didn’t need Darwin’s ideas at all. His horrific plan was an implementation of artificial selection, which had already been practiced for millenia (Darwin’s contribution was to show that evolution also happens without man deliberately trying to steer it in certain directions).
If Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection does deserve a share of the blame for the holocaust, then so do roads, railway systems, and Christianity (Hitler frequently used Christian themes in his speeches). Furthermore, we should be blaming Isaac Newton and his evil 'Gravity’ theory for enabling German rocket scientists to plot the trajectories of their weapons.
To the best of my knowledge Intelligent Design offers no testable claims, no mean of falsification, and no reason to take it seriously except as a threat to the public’s (especially children’s) appreciation of critical thought, and understanding of what science actually is.
To help combat the misinformation contained in Expelled, it is helpful to link to the Expelled Exposed site whenever you publish the word expelled online. Like this: Expelled. This will increase the visibility of the site in search engines.
See all questions answered by bitbutter
logicel
The IDiots (proponents of creationism thinly disguised as 'science’), being the dogmatic fools that they are, are simply switching their tactics from school boards (they were throughly trounced at the Dover Trial, where a Bush appointed conservative Christian ruled that ID is religion and can not be taught in science classes) to state legislation. At present, in America, there are a number of state bills supposedly focused on 'academic freedom.’
The movie 'Expelled’ is an attempt to popularize this bogus concept and give support to the IDiots’ attempt to squeeze their intellectually dishonest wares into science class rooms via a new strategy.
See all questions answered by logicel
Is your atheism a problem in your religious family or school?
Talk about it at the atheist nexus forum
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« Hospital CEO resigns, 23 workers fired over excessive doses, deaths | Main | Opening dates for "Star Wars": Rise of the Resistance ride at Galaxy's Edge announced »
Apple disables Walkie-Talkie app on potential eavesdropping glitch
hocus-focus/iStock(NEW YORK) -- Apple has disabled the Apple Watch's Walkie-Talkie app because of a glitch that could allow a user to eavesdrop on someone else's iPhone without their knowledge or consent, the company said on Thursday.
"We were just made aware of a vulnerability related to the Walkie-Talkie app on the Apple Watch and have disabled the function as we quickly fix the issue," Apple said in a statement to ABC News. "We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and will restore the functionality as soon as possible."
The company added that there no known reports of the bug being exploited for eavesdropping.
"Although we are not aware of any use of the vulnerability against a customer and specific conditions and sequences of events are required to exploit it, we take the security and privacy of our customers extremely seriously. We concluded that disabling the app was the right course of action as this bug could allow someone to listen through another customer’s iPhone without consent,” the company said.
The security flaw was first reported by TechCrunch.
It is the second such eavesdropping bug in the last six months. In February, the company fixed a bug that allowed users to eavesdrop on other iPhone users before a FaceTime chat began.
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Church calls for peace after synod meeting
Port Sudan harbour jobs - going, going...
Education Conference - next January
Official statement by the Beja Congress
Beja Congress joins armed alliance
VIDEO - Sediment behind river dam exposed
Original Beja music recording - needs funding
PICTURE - Market in Shalateen, Egypt
New website for the Beja Congress
Democracy in Eritrea - party list
Riots in Kassala, 13 year old killed
The Episcopal Church of Sudan held a three day business meeting in mid-November, and released a communiqué calling for peace in the countries where it operates. The church organization covers congregations in both Sudan and South Sudan.
Signed by the Archbishop, the leader of the clergy and the leader of the lay representatives, the document began with a reaffirmation of core commitments. The first one is to serve Jesus by proclaiming the Gospel.
The ECS synod reaffirmed its commitment to serving Jesus Christ in both Sudan and South Sudan through the continued proclamation of the Gospel, through national and international advocacy efforts for peace and reconciliation between the communities of conflict in Sudan and South Sudan, and through service delivery in the areas of healthcare, education and social development.
The post-synod document also declared with a bit of detail what efforts the church would take in each of four areas: proclaiming the Gospel, National and International Adocacy Efforts, Service Delivery and Stewardship and care of our environment.
In Proclaiming the Gospel, the church described its effort as:
In order to proclaim the gospel, the ECS will continue its efforts of high-level political and grassroots evangelisation in order to reach all the communities of the Sudan and South Sudan. The ECS will also continue to adhere to the traditions of the Anglican Communion through use of the Prayer Book and training to new and existing pastors on the meaning of Anglicanism.
The Episcopal Church of Sudan strongly condemned the persistent aerial bombardment of civilian territories, summary executions of innocents, and combat in civilian areas in the Nuba Mountains, Southern Blue Nile, Upper Nile State and Unity State. They went on to urge both governments [Sudan and South Sudan] to resolve any differences peacefully and not to resort to war and killing of the innocent civilians who yearn for peace. They said,
The ECS will remain a beacon of the hope of Jesus Christ so that the people of Sudan and South Sudan, traumatised by decades of devastating civil war, recognise the renaissance of their time and the hope of this new beginning.
Additionally the church will endeavour to mobilise their own local resources in order to improve and establish basic services [education and healthcare provision] to all people in Sudan and South Sudan.
To be good stewards over the land God has given us, the church said that they must ensure that our natural resources and our environment are not destroyed through carelessness or vandalism. Archbishop Reverend Daniel Deng Bul Yak and other representatives ended the communique with a prayer:
God bless Sudan
God bless South Sudan
God bless the Episcopal Church of the Sudan
An Episcopal Church of Sudan congregation would welcome any visitors who want to learn more about Jesus Christ, or Christian worship. There is a congregation in Port Sudan. Why not make a visit?
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/news.cfm/2011/11/23/ACNS4985
Al Jezeera reports that 30,000 jobs are expected to be lost for labourers in Port Sudan. A recently made decision to mechanize the unloading of ships will greatly reduce the need for workers.
The Red Sea State government is interested in helping the workers find alternate employment or create businesses, in order to reduce the negative impact of unemployment on so many people. Government officials from the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the International Labour Organization and the country representative of the United Nations Development Programme and the Microfinance Bank of Sudan and others were meeting to address the real problem.
Officials will explore ideas such as training and education support, and alternate jobs within the Maritime Port Authority.
Hussein Mohamed Khalifa, deputy head of the union longshoremen, said that there is a disregard of the dilemma faced by thousands of workers. He expressed his fear that this may lead to negative reactions.
Workers fear unemployment and the inability to keep up with the cost of living. Grinding poverty may come to some of them.
Story at Al Jezeera [Arabic] [English]
Previous $79 millionUS expansion of Port Sudan Harbour. June 2006.
Port Sudan harbour website
Description of Sudanese ports
The TED talks are coming to Port Sudan on January 21, 2012 in Alsalam Hall.
TED conferences are a worldwide phenomena. They offer excellent speakers who talk about their special areas of expertise in technology, entertainment and design. Almost 1000 talks are available in Arabic [subtitles]. People can watch the videos online. They are designed to run only 18 minutes or less.
The plan is that about 1000 participants will come to see the presentations. Topics will be about solutions that work to advance the process of education in rural areas. Urban areas often get good education. How can rural students also get a good education? Perhaps there are strategies or technologies that will show how it can be done.
The hope is that the intellectuals, businessmen and educators will learn from the examples of the speakers and from one another. Can Sudan improve the education of the Beja and all the citizens in the country?
Sourced from Port Sudan Online.
بيان هام من مؤتمر البجا حول انضمامه للجبهة الثورية السودانية
ظل شعب البجا يرزح لسنوات طويلة, في واقع متردي وبائس يعاني اهله من الفقر والمجاعات والامراض الفتاكة, ولم يجد من النظام الحاكم في السودان سوى الازلال؛ والاستبداد؛ والاستعلاء؛ والتقتيل ؛والتهميش؛ وموجات الغلاء الطاحن؛ والعطالة.
جماهيرنا الاوفياء
في اطار استعادة كرامة الانسان السوداني عامة, والبجاوي خاصة, انخرطت قيادة مؤتمر البجا في مشاورات مكثفة مع العديد من التنظيمات والحركات السودانية المسلحة, واستمرت في العديد من المدن في الداخل عبر الوسائط المتاحة وخلصت في نهايتها الى إعلان انضمامنا الى جبهة القوى الثورية السودانية التى ادرنا مع مكوناتها الاساسية العديد من الحوارات منذ وقت مبكر في لندن, خاصة بعد إن وجد ميثاق الجبهة الثورية السودانية, ترحيبا حارا من قبل جماهير الحزب, وشعب البجا, لطرحه قضية اسقاط النظام بشكل واضح لا لبس فيه, عبر العمل المشترك, الذي يزاوج مابين العمل السياسي السلمي والعمل الجماهيري المسلح.
إذ يعلن مؤتمر البجا إنضمامه للجبهة الثورية, فانه يعاهد شعبنا الابي ببذل الغالي والنفيس من اجل تحقيق الهدف النبيل, وهو اسقاط هذا النظام, وبناء سودان الديمقراطية؛ والعدالة؛ والرخاء ؛والمساواة.
اهلنا الشرفاء
إن شعب البجا الذي عانى لسنوات من التهميش, والافقار المتعمد , والموت الجماعي, حان الوقت لينتفض لاسترداد كرامته, وحقوقه المسلوبة خاصة وان الازمة السياسية التي تمر بها بلادنا بلغت زروتها, وإن الوقت حان لتخرج مواكبنا هادرة, تهتف باسقاط هذا النظام الاجرامي, الذي ارتكب ابشع الجرائم في حق الشعب وازله وافقره, ومارس الابادة الجماعية, في أبشع صورها, والتي تقف مجزرة بورسودان شاهدة عليها.
شبابنا الشجعان
نخاطب فيكم الروح البجاوية, التى لاترضى الضيم والذل والهوان, ان تهبوا جميعا وتواصلوا الطريق الذي إختطه طلاب مدينة كسلا, وشباب القضارف, الذين استبسلوا في مواجهة هذا النظام وهم عزل الا من ايمانهم بضرورة اسقاط هذا النظام, ونتمنى عاجل الشفاء للجرحى منهم , ونناشد أبناء البجا بل كل السودانيين, بالوقوف مع الجرحى والمصابين من الطلاب, ونقول لهم ان نضالنا سيتستمر الى ان تتحقق الغاية المنشودة باسقاط هذا النظام, واستعادة الديمقراطية وحقنا في العيش بكرامة في بلادنا التى ورثناها عن الاجداد, واننا سنسير في طريق قادة مؤتمر البجا العظام الذين خلفوا لنا مجد وتراث نضالي كبير.
ولا يفوتنا في هذا المقام ان نتوجه بالتحايا والتقدير لرفاقنا في قيادة الجبهة الثورية القائد مالك عقار, الاستاذ عبد الواحد نور, الدكتور خليل ابراهيم , القائد مني اركو مناوي, والقائد عبد العزيز الحلو, والاستاذ ياسر عرمان , لهذا التحالف التاريخي, ونقول لهم من هنا نبدأ كتابة تاريخ جديد للشعب السوداني والشعوب المهمشة.
بجا حديد
د. محمد ابو امنة
المكتب القيادي لمؤتمر البجا
[translation by machine - google]
Important statement of the Beja Congress about joining the Sudanese Revolutionary Front
The people of Beja suffer for many years, in fact worsening and miserable suffering people from poverty and starvation and deadly diseases, did not find the ruling regime in Sudan only Alszlal; and tyranny; and arrogance; and murder; and marginalization; and the waves of price rises grinding; and inertia.
Our fans loyal
As part of restoration of human dignity Sudanese general, and Bedjaoui private, engaged the leadership of the Beja Congress in intensive consultations with many organizations and movements, the Sudanese armed forces, and continued in many cities in the interior through the media available and concluded at the end of the announcement of our accession to the Front, the revolutionary forces of Sudan, which we turned with key components of many debates since early in London, especially after that found the Charter of the Revolutionary Front of Sudan, warmly welcomed by the masses of the party, and the people of the Beja, to put the issue of dropping the system is clear and unambiguous, through joint action, the mating between peaceful political action public action, armed.
The Beja Congress announced to join the RUF, he pledge to make our people proud dear to them in order to achieve the noble goal, bringing down the system, and building democratic Sudan; and justice; and prosperity; and equality.
Our people honest
The people of Beja, who suffered years of marginalization and impoverishment deliberate, and mass death, it is time to rise up to recover his dignity, and rights of the deprived, especially since the political crisis experienced by our country was Zrutha, and it was time to get out Moakpna outrageous, shouting to bring down this criminal regime, which committed the worst crimes against the people and the removal of the impoverished, and March of genocide in its worst forms, which stand witness the massacre of Port Sudan.
Our brave young people
Speak to you, the Spirit Abajouih, which Atrdy injustice, humiliation and disgrace, that Thbwa all and you continue the road trodden by students of the city of Kassala, young Gedaref, who heroically in the face of this system and are removed except by faith in the need to bring down the system, and wish speedy recovery to the wounded of them, and call upon the sons of Beja but all the Sudanese people, to stand with the injured students, and tell them that our struggle Setstmr that achieved the ultimate goal to bring down the system, and the restoration of democracy and our right to live in dignity in our country which we inherited from our forefathers, and we go on by the leaders of the Beja Congress bone who left us the glory of and the heritage of a great struggle.
We can not fail in this respect must turn Balthaaa and appreciation to our comrades in the leadership of the RUF leader Malik Agar, Professor Abdul Wahid, Dr. Khalil Ibrahim, leader Minni Arko Minawi, leader Abdul Aziz al-sweet, and Mr. Yasir Arman, because of this historic alliance, and tell them from here we start write a new history of the Sudanese people and marginalized people.
Baja iron
D. Mohammed Abu safe
Office of the Beja Congress leader
Old Beja Congress Logo. The new logo has two knives, and no gun.
From a published report.
The Beja Congress, a Sudanese armed opposition group, announced on Tuesday that they had joined the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF).
The SRF is a newly formed alliance of armed opposition groups in the country since November 11. It comprises Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), Sudan Liberation Army-Abdul Wahid (SLA-AW), Sudan Liberation Army-Minni Minnawi (SLA-MM) apart from the Beja Congress.
A statement issued by the Beja Congress said that its decision to join would help restore human dignity in Sudan in general and specifically with respect to the Beja minority.
The movement said that it had engaged in intensive consultations with many organizations and movements in eastern Sudan and had arrived at the decision to join the SRF.
The statement reinstated that the Beja people had been languishing for many years. “In fact the misery and suffering of the people is increasing due to poverty, starvation and other deadly diseases. The ruling regime in Sudan is subjecting its people to humiliation and tyranny. They are arrogant and killing the marginalized people,” the statement read.
It also pointed out the inaction of the government in the wake of the current economic crisis and inflation.
The newly created Sudan Revolutionary Front says its aim is to overthrow the Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party through all means, including violence. The group consists of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, the Justice and Equality Movement, and two factions of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army.
The group said it believes Sudan’s government is at a weak point economically, politically and militarily. [Read this analysis of Bashir's problems.]
“The [Khartoum] regime is imploding and will vanish, like other corrupt regimes around us that have come to rely on repression to retain power,” the group said. “It has humiliated our people and dismembered our homeland. Should its rule continue, it would lead to further division in Sudan.”
Eric Reeves, a Sudan expert at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, said the group could force Khartoum to face the “daunting prospect of fighting resource-draining wars on several fronts, with the likely shut-down of oil extraction and transport from the south.”
Khartoum’s National Congress Party said the Sudan Revolutionary Front is planning to carry out acts of sabotage to lead Sudan into a crisis. The official news agency quoted a ruling party spokesman, Yassir Yusuf, as saying that the government of South Sudan should “distance itself and lift its hand to stop providing assistance to rebel movements in Sudan.”
Meanwhile South Kordofan governor Ahmed Haroun called the SRF a “miserable alliance.”
Radio Dabanga and Washington Post.
UPDATE: For further analysis of the political efforts to reduce the impact of the SRF, read this piece that is aggressively critical of Umma party leader Sadig Almahdi.
SIDE NOTE - OFF TOPIC. There are now 300 posts on this blog. You get current news about the Beja people on this blog, and for learning more about the Beja people, please visit adroub.net
When a river is dammed, the water that collects in the lake above the dam stops moving, and the sediment that was carried in the flowing stream sinks to the bottom of the lake.
After some years, when enough sediment has settled, the size of the reservoir for holding water shrinks, and it becomes more difficult to manage the flow of water into irrigation systems or the turbine systems that generate electricity.
It may be possible to raise the dam, to make it higher. This will make a different lake in the same place. The Roseires Dam has been reconstructed to make it higher.
In Egypt, the dam at Aswan was rebuilt a few miles upriver, to create a Lake Nassar, because the dam in original location couldn't be built any higher.
Of course, other factors beside sediment collection have to be considered. These may include environmental issues, cost of operation, the need for more electricity, etc.
Water released from lake
Below is an amazing time lapse video showing the first stage of deconstructing a dam. It was used by an electrical company. Federal law demanded that certain environmental features should be built, and the company didn't want to pay those costs, which were going to be higher than just abandoning the dam.
A tunnel was cut into the dam at the bottom, and as the water is released in a rush, the sediment behind the dam is washed out, creating a new river bed. The dam later will be cut apart and removed.
Watch the video made in October 2011 and discover how much of the lake wasn't very deep. It was about half full of sediment. Fascinating.
Explosive Breach of Condit Dam from Andy Maser on Vimeo.
Spate Irrigation Problems
Many farmers who work in the regions around Kassala use spate irrigation. This involves building a small dam [about 2 feet high] that is very long, in a "u" shape. The dam essentially surrounds a field on the low side of flat land. This catches the water, which soaks into the land, charging it like a sponge, so that the land is moist. This allows a crop to be planted and grow even after the rainy season is over.
When it rains the water can't run off, and water from land uphill from the field will flow into the dammed area. This uphill water will bring soil with it, which will settle in the standing water. After a few seasons, enough sediment may collect in the field so that it is no longer useful because water will no longer make a "lake" above the dam.
An American from Illinois USA, and a Sudanese Beja met up in Cairo and now make music together. Miguel Merino and Ahmed Said Abuamna want to record an album of original Beja-style songs.
Using the fundraising website kickstarter, they hope to raise $15,000 by December 8, 2011 for this project to go ahead.
Their promo page has some great pictures of Beja dress and musical instruments.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/otaakband/miguel-merino-and-otaak-band/
Click to enlarge. Photo taken July 2011, by Yasser El-Rasoul
The Beja Congress has launched a new website. {in Arabic}
In English [machine translated] try google. To read further, get more text translated from Arabic to English, just refresh or reload your page. It seems that google translates only a select number of words at a time [1,000?].
I wonder if the BejaCongress.net team could archive posts by the month to make page loads easier...
President Afwerki has been the only president of Eritrea since its independence from Ethiopia in 1993. Yet there is hope for democratic rule in the country.
A meeting of over 500 people is set for November 21 in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia where they will discuss a process to establish democratic rule in Eritrea. The "National Congress" is organized by the Eritrean National Commission for Democratic Change. Here's a list of "civil societies" that are expected to participate. Most of these have been created during 2011.
Semere T. Habtemariam describes the role and task of opposition groups. In an extended essay, he analyses the existing rule of President Afwerki, and then explores the growing opposition to his rule. He ends with six ideas that opposition groups need to adopt if they are to be successful in changing Eritrean society. He makes a transition in the centre of the essay with these comments.
"The Eritrean people have not seen better days; injustice, oppression and hardship have been part of their normal life. This psychological make-up is hard to shrug off.
"The opposition faces an impossible mission of changing this psychological make-up of the people. The general messages of democracy, human rights and free press do not instinctively resonate with the masses. It is very hard to effectively articulate the intangible, invisible, future and disastrous effects of poor management and leadership. It is natural for the common people to reason: If Isaias Afwerki was good enough to lead us in our liberation struggle; he must then be good enough to rule us in liberation."
UPDATE: A demonstration of Eritreans who were calling for democracy in Eritrea and the ouster of President Afwerki was held in London, England recently. Other Eritreans were attending a meeting inside the fancy banquet facility "the Decorium" A video above was uploaded on October 23, 2011.
http://youtu.be/vi2YoDU_AKc
Portions of the Eritrean community have protested before. Here are two videos, posted in March and April 2011, of gatherings outside the Eritrean embassy on White Lion Road in London, England.
http://youtu.be/SutIjNcsPKM
http://youtu.be/jFna8sxjgow
Kassala Police say that there a confrontation between themselves and smugglers of sorghum. A child was shot and killed.
What's the reality? Reports say a 13 year old was killed by police. No reports on how that happened. Citizens were enraged, and threw stones at riot police and set fire to two police cars the next day, on Tuesday, November 1, 2011. Another child was shot by police and seriously injured.
Kassala is the centre of demonstrations over the rising price of foodstuffs, for a few weeks now.
Read the complete account at AllAfrica.
Another account has these details.
Police used teargas to break up a protest in eastern Sudan on Tuesday after police killed a 13-year old boy while chasing a truck, a witness said.
Hundreds of residents gathered in the city of Kassala near the border with Eritrea on Tuesday after the 13-year boy died. A 12-year old boy was also injured during the chase.
"Police used teargas to disperse the protest. People are very angry," said [unnamed] witness.
A police spokesman said the boy had been killed accidentally when police opened fire on a truck they suspected was carrying smuggled food. He said police in Kassala are investigating the incident.
Sudanese Online.
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Simulacra & Hyperreality Within the Paradigm of Architecture
Up to now, assignments relating to architecture have worked within the modernist meta-narrative focusing primarily on formal issues. Previous projects have examined the subject of architecture non-linguistically. Our approach has been (ideally) modernist. We have re-presented the subject formally thus having subordinated linguistic interpolation (labels.) Presumably, meaning was derived from an intrinsic internal resonance between the sublime and form but we (necessarily) function within western aesthetic paradigms assuming their universality thus implying innateness.
We now explore the opposite extreme and using architecture as a social metaphor, examine the ideological underpinnings of postmodern society. Generally, architecture reifies economic, political, social, religious, industrial, etc. societal elements. Contextually, it functions primarily iconically. It easily assumes the role of an egalitarian mechanism we may use initially to explore the interpolation of language between subject and perception, and then the similar interpolation of ideologies. Revelations regarding various agenda should be inescapable and should consequently help guide the creation of your project.
This project explores meaning. Our perception of reality is colored and limited by interpretation. It is interpolated by language rich with layer after layer of meaning. Our past projects have through formalism, attempted to remove interpolation but we must ultimately question if form and color are innate. The subject is therefore questioned and we are left only with language and consequently must view our concept of reality skeptically.
Jean Baudrillard, in Simulacra and Simulation[i] discusses Jorge Luis Borges’ “On Exactitude in Science”[ii].
“If we were able to take as the finest allegory of simulation the Borges tale where the cartographers of the Empire draw up a map so detailed that it ends up exactly covering the territory (but where, with the decline of the Empire this map becomes frayed and finally ruined, a few shreds still discernible in the deserts — the metaphysical beauty of this ruined abstraction, bearing witness to an imperial pride and rotting like a carcass, returning to the substance of the soil, rather as an aging double ends up being confused with the real thing), this fable would then have come full circle for us, and now has nothing but the discrete charm of second-order simulacra.
Abstraction today is no longer that of the map, the double, the mirror or the concept. Simulation is no longer that of a territory, a referential being or a substance. It is the generation by models of a real without origin or reality: a hyperreal. The territory no longer precedes the map, nor survives it. Henceforth, it is the map that precedes the territory — precession of simulacra — it is the map that engenders the territory and if we were to revive the fable today, it would be the territory whose shreds are slowly rotting across the map. It is the real, and not the map, whose vestiges subsist here and there, in the deserts which are no longer those of the Empire, but our own. The desert of the real itself.
In fact, even inverted, the fable is useless. Perhaps only the allegory of the Empire remains. For it is with the same imperialism that present-day simulators try to make the real, all the real, coincide with their simulation models.”[iii]
This project may be representational or may be conceptual. You may choose to document simulacra within an architectural genre or you may choose to create your own. You are not strictly limited to photography and may add to or modify your photographic project with other media. Be prepared to discuss your project with me. The project must be shot outside of class. Film processing must not be done during class either. Class time is reserved for printing, discussion and other aspects of production not previously listed.
You will have two weeks to complete this project.
(The following is from Wikipedia)
“The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth–it is the truth which conceals that there is none.
The simulacrum is true.”[iv]
Simulacra and Simulation is most known for its discussion of images, signs, and how they relate to the present day. Baudrillard claims that modern society has replaced all reality and meaning with symbols and signs, and that the human experience is of a simulation of reality rather than reality itself. The simulacra that Baudrillard refers to are signs of culture and media that create the perceived reality; Baudrillard believed that society has become so reliant on simulacra that it has lost contact with the real world on which the simulacra are based.
Simulacra and Simulation identifies three types of simulacra and identifies each with an historical period:
1.First order, associated with the pre-modern period, where the image is clearly an artificial placemarker for the real item.
2.Second order, associated with the industrial Revolution, where distinctions between image and reality breaks down due to the proliferation of mass-produced copies. The items’ ability to imitate reality threatens to replace the original version.
3.Third order, associated with the postmodern age, where the simulacrum precedes the original and the distinction between reality and representation break down. There is only the simulacrum.[v]
Baudrillard theorizes the lack of distinctions between reality and simulacra originates in several phenomena:
1.Contemporary media including television, film, print and the Internet, which are responsible for blurring the line between goods that are needed and goods for which a need is created by commercial images.
2.Exchange value, in which the value of goods is based on money rather than usefulness.
3.Multinational capitalism, which separates produced goods from the plants, minerals and other original materials and the process used to create them.
4.Urbanization, which separates humans from the natural world.
5.Language and ideology, in which language is used to obscure rather than reveal reality when used by dominant, politically powerful groups.
A specific analogy that Baudrillard uses is a fable derived from On Exactitude in Science by Jorge Luis Borges. In it, a great Empire created a map that was so detailed it was as large as the Empire itself. The actual map grew and decayed as the Empire itself conquered or lost territory. When the Empire crumbled, all that was left was the map. In Baudrillard’s rendition, it is the map that people live in, the simulation of reality, and it is reality that is crumbling away from disuse.
The transition from signs which dissimulate something to signs which dissimulate that there is nothing, marks the decisive turning point. The first implies a theology of truth and secrecy (to which the notion of ideology still belongs). The second inaugurates an age of simulacra and simulation, in which there is no longer any God to recognize his own, nor any last judgement to separate truth from false, the real from its artificial resurrection, since everything is already dead and risen in advance.[vi]
Thus, Baudrillard further distinguishes three orders of simulacra associated with three historical periods: first order simulacra belong to the pre-modern era in which images were clearly copies or representations of some original; second order simulacra arise with the industrial revolution, photography and mass reproduction technologies in the nineteenth century – the image obscures (dissimulates) and threatens to displace the real; third order simulacra are part of our postmodern era; the image is said to completely precede and determine the real, such that it is no longer possible to peel away layers of representation to arrive at some original.
It is important to note that when Baudrillard refers to the “precession of simulacra” in Simulacra and Simulations, he is referring to the way simulacra have come to precede the real in the sense mentioned above, rather than to any succession of historical phases of the image. Referring to “On Exactitude in Science“, a fable written by Borges, he argued that just as for contemporary society the simulated copy had superseded the original object, so, too, the map had come to precede the geographic territory, e.g. the first Gulf War: the image of war preceded real war.
Henceforth, it is the map that precedes the territory – precession of simulacra – it is the map that engenders the territory and if we were to revive the fable today, it would be the territory whose shreds are slowly rotting across the map.[vii]
With such reasoning, he characterised the present age as one of “hyperreality” where the real object has been effaced or superseded, by the signs of its existence. Such an assertion — the one for which he is most criticised — is typical of his “fatal strategy” of attempting to push his theories of society beyond themselves. Rather than saying, that our hysteria surrounding pedophilia is such that we no longer really understand what childhood is anymore, Baudrillard argued that “the Child no longer exists”.[viii] Similarly, rather than arguing — as did Susan Sontag in her book On Photography — that the notion of reality has been complicated by the profusion of images of it, Baudrillard asserted: “the real no longer exists“. In so saying, he characterized his philosophical challenge as no longer being the Heidiggerian/Leibnizian question of: “Why is there something, rather than nothing?”, but, instead: “Why is there nothing, rather than something?”[ix]
[i] Poster, Mark; Baudrillard, Jean (1988). Selected writings. Cambridge, UK: Polity. ISBN 0-7456-0586-9.
[ii] On Exactitude in Science . . . In that Empire, the Art of Cartography attained such Perfection that the map of a single Province occupied the entirety of a City, and the map of the Empire, the entirety of a Province. In time, those Unconscionable Maps no longer satisfied, and the Cartographers Guilds struck a Map of the Empire whose size was that of the Empire, and which coincided point for point with it. The following Generations, who were not so fond of the Study of Cartography as their Forebears had been, saw that that vast Map was Useless, and not without some Pitilessness was it, that they delivered it up to the Inclemencies of Sun and Winters. In the Deserts of the West, still today, there are Tattered Ruins of that Map, inhabited by Animals and Beggars; in all the Land there is no other Relic of the Disciplines of Geography.
Suarez Miranda,Viajes de varones prudentes, Libro IV,Cap. XLV, Lerida, 1658
From Jorge Luis Borges, Collected Fictions, Translated by Andrew Hurley Copyright Penguin 1999
[iii] Jean Baudrillard. Simulacra and Simulations. Op cit.
[iv] Jean Baudrillard. Simulacra and Simulations. Op cit.
[v] Hegarty, Paul (2004). Jean Baudrillard: live theory. London: Continuum. ISBN 0-8264-6283-9.
[vi] Ibid.
[vii] Ibid.
[viii] In the essay “The Dark Continent of Childhood” in the essay collection Screened Out, 2002.
[ix] In the essay “The Dark Continent of Childhood” in the essay collection Screened Out, 2002.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on April 4, 2010 by areed622.
← Technology & Ceremony : Societal Quantification
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Apex College for Girls (ACG) has been established as a premier institution of learning for women in Jaipur. A centre for academic excellence and achievement, ACG is one of the best institutions for Science, Arts & Commerce. The college is located in Jaipur’s centrally located Mansarovar Area. The college is just not keeping pace with the changing world, but has been the pioneering spirit behind many innovations in the field of education. The faculty at ACG strive to imbue the teaching/learning process with a unique blend of intellectual rigour and aesthetic and ethical engagement. At ACG the belief is in a holistic vision that never discounts the past, but at the same time embraces the future with unwavering confidence in the ability to shape it and harness its potentialities. ACG is a testimony to the farsighted vision of its founder Chairman, Dr. S. M. Juniwal and his indefatigable enthusiasm to actualize his dream. ACG is committed to nurturing and creating women who are equipped to be world citizens. ACG students understand that with the power of knowledge, comes the responsibility to translate it into creative citizens. ACG recognizes challenges as opportunities. Here students are empowered with professional competence, an ability to assume positions of leadership with ease and shatter inhibitory glass ceilings. An education at ACG enables women to reconcile excellence with humanity, to celebrate diversity and redefine notions of success. The emphasis is on a liberating and learner centered education. The aim of the institution is to provide access to higher education to women.
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Bachelor of Commerce (3 Years):
The Bachelor of Commerce degree is designed to provide students with a wide range of managerial skills, while at the same time building competence in a particular area of business . Most universities therefore, plan the degree such that in addition to their major, students are exposed to general business principles, taking courses in a c c o u n t i n g , f i n a n c e , b u s i n e s s management, human resources, business statistics, marketing, & economics; some programs also require introductory calculus and information systems.
Compulsory Subjects:
General Hindi
Optional Subjects:
Accountancy & Business Statistics
Economics Administration and Financial Management
Additional Compulsory Paper:
Book Keeping and Accountancy (Only For non commerce students taking admission in B.Com part I)
Bachelor of Science (3 Years):
The Bachelor of Science provides a multitude of study options, graduate pathways and career outcomes, and the opportunity to tailor your degree to suit your interests and goals.
Following combinations are available
For Mathematics Group-
Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics
For Biology Group-
Passed 10 + 2 Exam from any stream
Bachelor of Art(3 Years):
A Bachelor of Arts is a broad interdisciplinary undergraduate degree program encompassing general education, electives and major area of study courses. As opposed to a Bachelor of Science program, B.A. programs generally give you more flexibility in choosing your courses & are less specialized.
English (Lit. & Lang.)
History & Indian Culture
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Bonkers Blog March 2012
24 March (Part 2) - Strange behaviour
There are some councillors who one would never suspect of posting an obscene blog. Simon Windle, Steven Hall (I spelled his name right this time!), Alex Sawyer, Val Clark, John Fuller, either of the Bacons, probably not even John Waters or Katie Perrior. They just don’t seem the type. Some of the others probably wouldn’t have a clue how to do it, but that still leaves quite a lot who might have had a hand in it. It may also leave quite a lot who would like to see the culprit hung out to dry along with their leader who has allowed it all to happen on her watch and seemingly attempt a cover up. The thoughts of a few have filtered through via various channels indicating their stance on the matter.
Obviously these fall into two categories. Those who are disgusted and say they are pretty sure they know who did it and those that claim not to have a clue who did it but wished they did.
The odd thing is that one ward has two councillors in the first camp who offer nods and winks but a third who says he hasn’t a clue who did it. You would think three councillors in the same ward would share their information. How come two think they know who did it and the other one says the reverse? Unless of course… perish the thought.
Labour party councillors are excluded from consideration because none have any logical reason to be obscene bloggers.
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Release Day Blitz: Fear the Beard (The Dixie Wardens Rejects MC #2) by Lani Lynn Vale
Posted March 30, 2017 by bookstobreathe in Book Blitz/Promo, New Release / 0 Comments
Title: Fear the Beard
Author: Lani Lynn Vale
Series: The Dixie Wardens Rejects MC #2
Published by Dixie Wardens Inc
Genres: Erotic Romance, MC Romance
Tally is a twenty-year-old single mother struggling to finish nursing school. Has she made mistakes in life? Sure, but her daughter isn’t one of them. She works hard, she studies even harder, and she’s only a few weeks away from graduating.
She’s living her life the best she knows how when she witnesses a near miss motorcycle accident between a car and a biker. A biker that happens to be the most talked about teacher at her college. The moment she meets those startling blue, narrowly-escaped-death eyes, she realizes quickly that life as she knows it has changed. No longer will she be content to let life pass her by, even if it puts everything she’s worked so hard for in jeopardy.
Tommy is a highly skilled doctor. A teacher. A veteran. A fully-patched member of The Dixie Wardens MC. He’s lonely, but also set in his ways. What will it take for this man to accept that he needs to make some changes in his life? Apparently, it’ll take a guy in a truck, who’s preoccupied with his phone rather than focused on the road, nearly plowing into him on his bike at seventy miles per hour. Oh, and a twenty-something year old nursing student witnessing the entire thing from only a few feet away.
It only takes a second, a single heartbeat in time, as he looks into her worry-filled eyes to realize that he’d give anything for a single night with her. He may lose his job in the process, but after that one incredible night turns into an amazing weekend, he knows it’s worth the risk for the promise of her forever.
Genre: Erotic MC Romance
Cover Model: Jacob Wilson
Photography: Furious Fotog
I leaned back in my chair, letting my pencil drop onto the couch beside me, and stared at him.
He worked his jaw, his hand coming up to allow his fingers to scratch his beard.
He looked so freakin’ sexy, even doing innocuous things like touching his majestic beard.
It really was majestic…and longer than I remembered.
Was he growing it out? I wonder what it would feel like rubbing against the inside of my thighs?
“That look won’t get you anywhere right now,” he murmured.
I bit my lip.
“I…” I didn’t have anything to say to that.
I really shouldn’t be thinking about it.
I shouldn’t be thinking about how his cock filled me up. I shouldn’t be thinking about the erection I could now see straining his pants. I shouldn’t be wishing I could take it out and swallow it…
“Stop,” he snapped.
I’d bitten my lip, but my eyes remained on his cock.
And the next thing I knew, there was a two hundred and thirty-pound man on top of me, pinning me to the couch.
I gasped, taken aback at the suddenness.
He used my gasp against me, slamming his mouth to mine as he thrust his tongue into my mouth.
I moaned.
He tasted like chocolate.
I’d seen him eating M&M’s in class when I’d passed his classroom door on the way to my own.
I’d also been insanely jealous of that candy.
I wanted to melt in his mouth. I wanted to be the thing that he enjoyed the taste of.
He thrust his leg in between my thighs, and I parted them without hesitation before wrapping my arms around his shoulders and pulling him even closer to me.
I forgot what I was doing. I forgot where I was. I forgot everything, focusing only on the feel of his body on mine. The taste of his mouth. The smell of his skin.
Beard Mode
(The Dixie Warden Rejects MC #1)
Aaron ‘don’t ever call me Fatbaby’ Sims is lucky to be alive. Or at least that is what everyone keeps telling him. He doesn’t feel lucky, though. He’s scarred, has more than a little bit of a bad attitude, and there isn’t a single day that goes by that he doesn’t wish his wife would’ve just finished off the job.
After being denied his old position at the fire department, he leaves, and doesn’t look back. He heads straight to Alabama and into the semi-welcoming arms of The Dixie Wardens MC. There he becomes a part of a brotherhood that forces him to get back in the land of the living.
Imogen is a smart girl. A girl who doesn’t always make the best decisions.Her heart is in the right place when she walks into that prison, but it doesn’t take long for her to realize that her heart shouldn’t have had any say so in the matter. Especially when one wrong move lands her in the arms of a scarred man that looks frightening enough to scare any sane woman away.
Immediately enthralled by the angry man, she tries to get closer to him. But the harder she tries to get to know him, the further he pushes her away.
The only thing Aaron wanted to do after his now ex-wife was sent to jail was escape. Escape the awful memories. The pity-filled eyes. The curious glances.
He does a damn fine job at ensuring he draws as little as attention as possible, but then that annoying woman with her startling blue eyes starts hammering away at his resolve. Makes him feel when he doesn’t want to feel.
Imogen comes into his life and carves out a place for herself, obliterating his defenses one heated kiss at a time. It doesn’t take long, and he realizes he’s in deep. Too deep to ever want to come out.
Imogen will know what it’s like to be loved by a reject.
Son of a Beard
(The Dixie Wardens Rejects MC #3)
Truth Alan Reacher was a biker. He was a bladesmith. What he was not, was a fool.
The moment he walked in on his girl screwing his cousin on his bike, he does the only thing he can do.
He ditches the bike seat—and the girl—riding right out of her life without a backwards glance.
That is until he’s forced to attend the marriage of his cousin to his cheating ex-girlfriend. The only bright spot of the entire thing was watching some chick go off on the groom—the groom’s ex-fiancé—right in the middle of the bouquet toss.
Verity Ruthann Cassidy was supposed to be here today attending this wedding as the bride, not watching the festivities as a guest from the chairs she’d painstakingly purchased covers for while her fiancé—now her ex-fiancé—screwed around on her with another woman.
The icing on the wedding cake that she refuses to eat? She’s forced to attend the wedding due to her mother being the wedding planner. However, the night doesn’t turn out quite the way she expects it due to the hot-as-hell biker sitting in the chair directly beside her. The man gave one hell of a speech during the reception that sounded like something that could have come straight out of her own mouth, and she enjoyed every single second of it.
Thrown together under similarly lousy circumstances, the two newly single jilted former lovers of the happy couple decide to go to Vegas on what was to be Verity’s honeymoon trip.
One thing leads to another, and the next thing they know, their night has gone from a celebration of being single to a marriage—to each other. Verity and Truth now have to figure out if everything that happens in Vegas should stay in Vegas.
I’m Only Here for the Beard
(The Dixie Wardens Rejects #4)
Coming May 31st!
Sean is a man with needs—needs that a lot of women were ready and willing to fulfill. Yet, the only woman that he wants to fulfill them dumped him for another man. A man who’s a member of his MC and is someone he has to see every single day and twice on Sundays. He’s bitter and angry. He’s definitely not in the right frame of mind when it comes to dealing with women. Which is unfortunate for his new partner, Naomi, a fresh-out-of-school and totally green paramedic.
Naomi’s got enough problems on her plate. A brother who’s self-destructive and doesn’t care who he takes down with him. A man who she’s in love with but who doesn’t love her. A job that she hates because it is a constant reminder of what she can’t have. Desperate to distance herself from her problems, she runs, taking the first job in her field that she finds willing to take on someone with so little experience. The last thing she needs is a perpetually pissed off partner, especially when he sets her blood on fire. But life doesn’t ask how much you can handle when it dishes out challenges. It just keeps piling them on until you’ve bested them or you’ve buckled under them.
Sean really doesn’t want to like his new partner, Naomi. He just wants to be left alone to live his life however he damn well pleases and without complications.
Naomi doesn’t care what he wants, she can’t be anything but herself. It isn’t long before she’s breaking down his walls and making him feel again. She’s trying to pull him closer and he’s pushing her away.
It’s not long before Sean sees the error of his ways.
It’s too bad, though, that by the time he realizes she’s the one, Naomi’s already gone.
About Lani Lynn Vale
Lani Lynn Vale is a USA Today Bestselling Author of over thirty titles. She is married with three children, two dogs, two cats, a donkey, and a couple (a couple also meaning over twenty) chickens.
When she’s not writing, you can find her curled up in her favorite chair reading.
Lani is married with three children, and lives in the Great State of Texas.
By Lani Lynn Vale
Cover Reveal: I’d Rather Not (KPD Motorcycle Patrol #3) by Lani Lynn Vale
Release Day Review + Giveaway: Vodka on the Rocks (Uncertain Saints MC #3) by Lani Lynn Vale
Cover Reveal: It Wasn’t Me (KPD Motorcycle Patrol #2) by Lani Lynn Vale
Release Day Blitz: Son of a Beard (The Dixie Wardens Rejects MC #3) by Lani Lynn Vale
Release Day Blitz: Hail Mary (Hail Raisers #6) by Lani Lynn Vale
Ginger Voight’s Birthday Bash Sale, New Release, Scavenger Hunt & Signed Paperback GIVEAWAY!
Release Day Blitz & Giveaway: Almost a Bride (Destination Love #2) by Jo Watson
Review: Born Sinner (Se7en Sinners #1) by SL Jennings
Promo: Laid Out (Worth the Fight, #4) by Sidney Halston
Release Day Blitz: Challenged by You (Love in the City #5) by Steph Nuss
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Click image for full cover
A thrilling, alt-history adventure
* WINNER of the Young Adult section of the New Zealand Book Children's Awards
* Shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Literary Awards
Fifteen year old Willem lives in hiding in a small Belgian village on the edge of the great Sonian Forest. Willem and his mother have been living in secret for most of his life, since his father, a famous magician, fell out of favour with the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.
It is a world not much different from our own, in which small 'saurs' are a part of everyday life. Some are farmed, some are pets, others, more dangerous are avoided. There are rumours of even greater 'saurs' roaming the uncharted islands of the Americas.
When a girl from the village is killed, it becomes obvious that there are hidden terrors in the forest and that they are connected with Napoleon's plans to conquer Europe.
But Willem has a secret that could interfere with the emperor's plans and Napoléon will stop at nothing to find him.
War is coming, and young Willem is no longer safe, for Gaillemarde is just a stone's throw from the fields of Waterloo -- fields which will soon run red with blood.
The first book of the Battlesaurus duology
Suggested Age Range: 12yrs +
Rating: (17 ratings by visitors to this site)
Read this book? Add your rating
(17 ratings by visitors to this site)
...a compelling and powerful read....
- NSW Premiers Literary Awards Judges - April 2016
Hide Review
With Battlesaurus, Brian Falkner has done the seemingly impossible: he has made the premise of battle-trained dinosaurs fighting in the Napoleonic Wars thoroughly believable.
It is 1815 and Willem — who is not really Willem — at 15 has been in hiding his whole life. His father was a master magician in Napoléon’s court but, when he ran foul of Napoléon’s plan to battle train the creatures that roamed the forest, he was killed in retribution.
His wife and child escaped into hiding, but now dinosaurs are ravaging the English and only Willem, the boy who is a ‘greater conjurer than the father’, stands between Napoléon and his prize
Battlesaurus is a cracking read. From the slow reveal of the terror in the forest, to the secrets of Willem’s past, through to the espionage and ultimate betrayal, the pacing and plotting is excellent, yet never at the expense of the character development.
Falkner brings a sensitive and compassionate hand to his extensive cast.
Each character is flawed in their own way, courageous at times, witty at others.
It is a combination that makes for a compelling and powerful read.
a well-constructed, imaginative slice of world alternative history...
- Kinderlit Canada - April 2016
In my real life, away from Kinderlit, I would probably never pick up a book like Battlesaurus: Rampage at Waterloo; I’m not one for alternate histories, and the dinosaurs-at-The Battle of Waterloo premise comes off, to me, as profoundly gimmicky.
(Profoundly gimmicky, incidentally, is why I generally avoid alternate histories.)
Essentially, this is the story of that fabled battle, but in another dimension, where dinosaurs roamed the Earth alongside man.
Europe is full of smaller grade dinosaurs, such as raptors, which make the forests treacherous; North America is unsettled, over-run as it is by dino-giants, like T-Rex.
Napoleon, whose French army is battling against the coalition forces, headed by the British and the Prussians, is struggling.
Struggling, that is, until he unleashes his greatest weapons: Giant dinos, imported from the Americas and weaponized.
Of course, there’s one person (why is there never more than one?) who can stop him: A teen conjurer with a penchant for soothing dinosaurs.
Can Napoleon stop him before he can stop Napoleon?
Seasoned author Brian Falkner (he of the Recon Team Angel series) handles all of the tricky bits with aplomb, and his ability to build tension is really quite marvelous; it builds to such a degree, in fact, that it feels at certain points that it might rip the book apart.
The set-up might be a bit of a tough sell for reluctant readers, or those intimidated by history with which they aren’t familiar, and the dialogue could feel a bit stilted to those same readers, as Falkner endeavours (and succeeds) to capture an early 19th century pattern of speech.
Additionally, despite the ferocious looking “saur” being ridden by a French soldier on the front cover of the book, this is not a mile-a-minute actionfest.
(It becomes one, eventually, but the build up is quite long.)
The adventurous, seasoned young reader will be well-rewarded, and I would be unsurprised to discover that Battlesaurus, Rampage at Waterloo has become a favourite for many.
Not a book built to draw for reluctant readers, no, but a well-constructed, imaginative slice of world alternative history, and proof that Brian Falkner, like a French soldier astride a majestic T-Rex, is a force with which to be reckoned.
Thrilling and positively addicting...
- School Library Journal - January 2016
Falkner gives Napoleon a toothy secret weapon in this decidedly alternate history.
Part historical fiction, part dinosaur fantasy mash-up, this book will appeal to history buffs and dinosaur fanatics alike.
The battle scenes between Napoleon's army and the British are depicted in incredible detail, making readers feel as if they are right in the midst of the fight . . .
The first of a promising duology that readers will find thrilling and positively addicting.
one can only hope that Falkner is a swift writer...
- Booklist - January 2016
This alternative history asks, what if Napoleon won the battle at Waterloo . . .
The novel quickly ramps up to suspense, immersing the reader in the swiftly moving plot.
Characters are very well drawn, capturing the reader's sympathy.
With an ending wide open for a sequel, complete with a plot-thickening cliff-hanger, one can only hope that Falkner is a swift writer
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MissouriTigersMIZ
12-15, 3-12 Conf
MIZ 26 23 49
MSST 33 35 68
Mississippi StateBulldogsMSST
21-7, 9-6 Conf
Carter's 22 points lead Mississippi St over Missouri 68-49
Bulldogs feel prepared after conference games (2:29)
Guard Tyson Carter discusses Mississippi State's road to the postseason and how SEC opponents have geared them up for the challenge. (2:29)
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Tyson Carter came to Mississippi State two years ago as a super-skinny shooter who coach Ben Howland hoped would grow -- literally and figuratively -- into a larger role on the team.
Gaining the pounds hasn't come easy, but the points are starting to come in bunches.
Carter scored a season-high 22 points, Quinndary Weatherspoon added 20 and Mississippi State led the entire game in a 68-49 victory over Missouri on Tuesday night.
"Tyson had it going," Howland said. "He really did a great job. Made big shots."
Carter shot 7 of 12 from the field, including 4 of 8 from 3-point range. The 6-foot-4 junior's production has come at a good time: He's averaged 15 points over the past four games since starting guard Nick Weatherspoon was suspended for an undisclosed violation of team rules.
Carter's gained about 20 pounds since coming to Starkville two years ago, though he grinned and said it "doesn't look like it." Even though he'll never be a bruiser, he's gained enough strength to find cracks in the defense and create space to make shots.
"It's just playing harder, playing tougher," Carter said. "Three years brings a lot of experience. You learn ways not to get pushed around as much."
Mississippi State (21-7, 9-6 Southeastern Conference) has won five straight league games for the first time since 2008. Now the Bulldogs are essentially assured a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2009 and Howland said the discussion has turned to improving their seed on Selection Sunday.
"I'm so excited for our players," Howland said. "For me, it's all about the players and their chance to experience and compete in the NCAA Tournament. I got to do it twice as a player and it's the greatest experience you can have in college basketball."
Weatherspoon, a senior, passed 1,900 points for his career and made 3 of 4 3-point attempts. Reggie Perry had 15 points and nine rebounds. Abdul Ado blocked five shots.
Missouri (12-15, 3-12) lost its fourth straight game. The Tigers were competitive in their previous three losses to Ole Miss, Kentucky and Florida and hung close in this one for much of the night, but they couldn't overcome a tough night on offense.
Missouri's 49 points were a season low. The Tigers shot just 33 percent from the field and had 15 turnovers. Torrence Watson led Missouri with 12 points. Jeremiah Tilmon added 11.
"We just couldn't get baskets to go for us," Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin said. "They made enough to win the ballgame."
Mississippi State dominated most of the first half, pulling out to a 27-12 lead with 6:46 remaining. Missouri rallied to cut the deficit to 33-26 by halftime, but could get no closer than five points during the second half.
SEVEN-MAN ROTATION
Because of Nick Weatherspoon's suspension, Mississippi State's regular playing rotation has been cut to seven players.
So far, it hasn't been an issue. Howland credited his team's endurance for the five-game winning streak.
Carter played 37 of 40 minutes. Quinndary Weatherspoon played 35. Lamar Peters and Perry played 34.
"Those seven guys who played tonight, they're unbelievably well-conditioned right now," Howland said.
Missouri: The Tigers continue to compete, but fell apart in the second half of this one. Missouri has two of its final three regular season games at home.
Mississippi State: It wasn't a pretty performance, but the Bulldogs controlled this one the entire night. Carter's consistent scoring over the past two weeks has been a plus, Perry doesn't look like a freshman anymore and Ado has added 11 blocked shots over the past two wins.
Missouri: The Tigers host South Carolina on Saturday.
Mississippi State: The Bulldogs travel to Auburn on Saturday.
More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25
2018-2019 Southeastern Conference Standings
LSU 16-2 - 28-7
Tennessee 15-3 1 31-6
Kentucky 15-3 1 30-7
Auburn 11-7 5 30-10
South Carolina 11-7 5 16-16
Mississippi State 10-8 6 23-11
Ole Miss 10-8 6 20-13
Florida 9-9 7 20-16
Arkansas 8-10 8 18-16
Alabama 8-10 8 18-16
Texas A&M 6-12 10 14-18
Missouri 5-13 11 15-17
Georgia 2-16 14 11-21
Vanderbilt 0-18 16 9-23
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Bitcoin Blasted As A 'Failed Experiment' After Massive 70% Cost Crash
Your Blog » Bitcoin Blasted As A 'Failed Experiment' After Massive 70% Cost Crash
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In Individual: click through the next Article Over-the-counter platforms such as CoinCola or LocalBitcoins are sources to find people in your region to trade bitcoins with. Trust and security can be a concern, which is why it is advised you transact in a public location, and not necessarily with big amounts of cash. Some of these platforms, such as CoinCola, will enable its users to upload an ID proof. In this case, you will be in a position call for the ID proof of your trade partner for sharyleberhart57.soup.io added security. Whilst private keys are a security vulnerability, blockchains are generally a lot more safe against attacks in which a poor actor tries to alter the records in the database. Since of the way blocks are chained collectively, it is obvious when a person has tampered with old records.He first got interested in cryptocurrency in 2012. Nowadays, he works as a consultant for individuals and companies interested in understanding about how the blockchain technologies behind cryptocurrencies will influence their industries. According to digital currency tracker CoinDesk, on February 21 the value of Bitcoin stands at £7920.44 ($11,029.99).In this case, it would theoretically be possible to modify transaction data as preferred: obtaining manage more than the majority of the Blockchain network, these customers could in truth act on the info and approve or discard the blocks as practical. This situation is even so quite remote, Keep Reading given that the essential computing energy is incredibly higher and pricey and the developers are already operating for cover to prepare possible countermoves to attacks of this variety.There are nevertheless a lot of in the business who are skeptical of the long-term significance of the blockchain idea. Doubters have said that it is, at best, a slightly a lot more reliable way to track data, and at worst, a a lot significantly less effective method of keeping information than existing ones that rely on central gatekeepers.Bitcoin is the world's ideal known and most broadly used virtual currency. Like any other currency, Bitcoins are only worth as significantly as you and your counterpart want them to be. Should you have just click the next webpage about any concerns regarding in which as well as tips on how to work with just Click the next webpage, you can e mail us on our internet site. Ameer Rosic is the CEO of Blockgeeks, a Toronto-based business that trains blockchain developers. He compared the blockchain technology behind cryptocurrencies to peer-to-peer file sharing programs like Napster.Bitcoin isn't like classic money, and you can not store it at a standard bank. The safest way to store bitcoin is to generate a paper wallet, or get a hardware wallet. If you'd actually prefer a third celebration manage your bitcoins for you, you can store them at an exchange such as Coinbase or Xapo.So the basic point is that there is not a single data centre: the data - or more precisely the blocks - are simultaneously in the possession of all the subjects that are portion of the Blockchain network. One particular of the rewards of blockchain is that its security does not rest solely on a single point or individual, but on hundreds of nodes in the program that verify each and every transaction, mentioned Matt Gold, a lawyer operating with blockchain.FALLEN photo giant Kodak is releasing its own cryptocurrency amid the Bitcoin hype. Blockstack has constructed a way to record the basic details about your identity on a blockchain database and then use that identity to set up accounts with other online projects that are built on prime of it.The difficulty is, most people nonetheless never actually know what the blockchain in fact is, aside from being connected with the hyped — and volatile — digital currency bitcoin. Given the existing cryptocurrency marketplace, that has made blockchain a hot commodity.In order to explain greater, let's make a concrete instance: let's suppose, that our Blockchain is a register of actual estate trades and that Paul desires to sell a property to Ann. In this case, the information to be entered in the database are all those connected to this transaction, such as the data of the property, its value, the availability of Ann, the actual property of Paul, and so on.Blockchain has taken the IT world by storm, enabling companies to store information securely in a distributed database, with updates taking place in real time. It is the notion that underpins financial transactions created by way of Bitcoin (which it was originally created to energy) and many other technologies that rely on distributed safety to function.Envision a future in which you handle all of your private data — you are the one particular who gets to edit it, and even profit off of it, rather than a giant corporation. For the genuine believers, that, more than the surging worth of bitcoin, is what's truly fascinating about blockchain technology.It sits somewhere in the middle. Even though they supply the very same limited access and higher efficiency afforded by private blockchains, devoted nodes are set aside to be controlled by external businesses or agents, alternatively of having only read access below a private blockchain.
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Bank of America's Q2 profits beat forecasts
In 'no rush' to complete deal to rewrite NAFTA
Mexico's foreign minister Luis Videgaray, in Washington with Guajardo for meetings with USA officials, also struck an optimistic note, saying "we are getting close" when asked about the likelihood of reaching a breakthrough.
Lighthizer was speaking in Washington during the latest round of high-level talks between USA and Mexican officials to rejig the North American Free Trade Agreement, known as NAFTA, with a deal still elusive a year after the renegotiation began.
Canadian officials have insisted they're unfazed by being left out of the discussions because it's allowing the USA and Mexico to sort out tough bilateral issues, such as their differences on autos. Now, he says, the U.S. Is pursuing a more bilateral approach to talks - working with either Mexico or Canada alone, rather than in a group.
But some observers have refused to buy that argument.
Trump himself said he was in "no rush" to conclude the talks, repeating his oft-stated complaint that the 24-year-old trade agreement had been a "disaster" for the United States.
"We're not negotiating with Canada right now", said Trump, who has frequently complained about Canada's supply-managed dairy sector.
In a jibe to Canada, Trump repeated his claim that the country's tariffs and trade barriers were "too high", which was why the USA wasn't even talking to them right now. But we'll see how that works out.
Trade negotiators have sounded optimistic in recent weeks.
Meetings also took place at the office of the U.S. Trade Representative, where one official said most of the talks are coming along well.
The U.S. and Mexican governments have both expressed optimism the entire NAFTA renegotiation could be concluded before the end of the month. Lighthizer told Trump, "I'm hopeful that in the next several days we'll have a breakthrough".
"We have much better alternatives than that".
He said technical discussions would continue Monday and that he would return Tuesday to continue the high-level talks.
The U.S. and Mexico are resolving their differences on agricultural products covered under NAFTA after the Trump administration withdrew some of its sweeping demands, bringing the nations closer to an overall deal, according to five people familiar with the discussions.
Astronomers have discovered a "mini-moon" orbiting the Earth
Well, for one thing, they break the solitude of the moon, proving our planet is frequently orbited by more than just one object. He added that they still do not know whether the asteroids are fragile sand piles, monolithic rock blocks, or a mix of both.
Best Buy bought the company behind senior-friendly JitterBug phone
The big electronics retailer, Best Buy , has said that they will be acquiring the health tech company GreatCall for $800 million. GreatCall not only gives Best Buy more services to sell them, it offers the Geek Squad a broader customer base to reach out to.
Jose Mourinho told Man United star doesn’t look like £30m signing
Antonio Valencia has spent nine seasons at Old Trafford and was named as the first choice captain for the majority of last season. Should he fail to win back the fans and some silverware, sacking him would be the only sensible thing to do.
Bledisloe Cup 2018: Black Ferns and All Blacks double header sold out
Australia , who were frustrated by referee calls all afternoon, then lost full-back Israel Folau to a possible ankle injury as Naholo dismantled their defence, twice.
Pakistan welcomes Afghan govt's ceasefire offer to Taliban
This month the Taliban fought an intense battle with Afghan forces to control the strategically important city of Ghazni. The Taliban had taken control of part of Bulcheragh district and more than 50 government forces were missing, he added.
N Korea Urges S Korea to Not Succumb to Sanctions Pressure
Pompeo traveled to Pyongyang last month to flesh out the Trump-Kim agreement, but returned to the United States with little outcome.
Pathetic Manchester United prove Jose Mourinho warning true in Brighton embarrassment
How many more signings did Jose Mourinho want in the summer? Anthony Martial replaces the Chile worldwide in the starting XI. Marcos Rojo is another option, but the Argentina defender is still nursing an injury picked up at the World Cup.
Kevin Spacey's First Movie Since #MeToo Earned Just $126 On Opening Day
For reference, the top performing movie over the weekend was "Crazy Rich Asians", which took $25.2 million from 3,348 locations. The ensemble crime-drama Billionaire Boys Club quietly opened Friday in 10 theaters scattered in select states across the U.S.
Golf behind Timberwolves' draft mishap in 2009? Curry thinks so
"I don't know if that ever came out - that's a story", Curry said on "The Bill Simmons Podcast," as transcribed by CBS Sports. The stunning story will be sure to devastate the Timberwolves fans, even though it was over nine years ago now.
Nick Jonas & Priyanka Chopra Announce Their Marriage Engagement
Sophie shared the photo Nick and Priyanka first announced their engagement with and captioned it, "Wow". Hours earlier, Nick, 25, and Chopra, 36, both confirmed their engagement on Instagram .
Motorola One with display notch, 3,000mAh battery gets certified, launch imminent
The device will also house a smaller 3,000mAh battery compare to the 3,780mAH battery that's being rumoured for the One Power. They have been leaked in renders and live images a number of times and we're fairly sure what they are going to look like.
PUBG Mobile exceeds 100 million downloads on Android and iPhone
For more information, please visit the official PUBG MOBILE accounts on Facebook , Twitter and YouTube . Moreover, PUBG Mobile also recently exceeded 14 million daily active users (DAU).
Gunman who killed five at Florida airport to get life in prison
Santiago was living in Anchorage, Alaska, when he flew to Fort Lauderdale with a handgun checked in his luggage. Esteban Santiago was sentenced Friday in Miami federal court to five consecutive life terms, plus 120 years.
Quebec announces plan to compensate taxi drivers after Uber's arrival
In 2016, taxi drivers held protests in Montreal against Uber, saying the company would have a negative impact on their business. There are 7,600 taxi licences in Quebec and more than 4,500 will receive the maximum compensation, according to the province.
Iran to unveil new fighter jet, develop missiles: Defence minister
Iran has developed a large domestic arms industry in the face of global sanctions that have barred it from importing many weapons. The timing of the drills is unusual, as Iran's navy usually conducts annual exercises later in the autumn, officials said.
Huawei Mate 20 Lite : Its design, revealed by a leak
A recent leak of the Mate 20 Lite shows that the screen will also come with a notch, just like the Nova and P20 series. We're a tad lost in translation here as we don't know whether this next part is referring to the Mate 20, or the Pro.
Giuliani Goes Full Orwell: ‘Truth Is Not Truth’
And, of course , any meeting with regards to getting information on your opponent is something any candidate's staff would take. Giuliani joined Trump's legal team in April. " Donald Trump says 'I didn't talk about Flynn with Comey, '" he said.
Kiki Bertens rallies past Simona Halep for Western & Southern Open title
The set went to a tie-break and, after scoring four points in a row, Bertens later saved championship point before taking the set. The Dutch number one did not face a break point in the final set and dropped just three points on serve.
Etzebeth returns for Springboks, Pumas include Figallo
Argentina failed to win a game in the Rugby Championship a year ago for the first time since 2013. All but one of the Argentina squad for the Rugby Championship play for the Jaguares.
Chainz Married His Longtime Girlfriend And We Wish We Were There
2 Chainz actually proposed to Kesha twice. once at the BET Awards in 2013, but he never sealed the deal back then. On Saturday, the rapper Wednesday longtime lady love Kesha Ward in a star-studded ceremony in Miami.
Duke's Alex O’Connell suffers broken bone near eye
Duke posted a dominant win in its penultimate Canadian exhibition game on Friday night, routing the University of Toronto, 96-60. Just like Wednesday's game, the arena was awash in Duke blue, thanks in part to a ticket pre-sale to the school's alumni.
Essential Phone in Halo Gray getting big discount at Amazon
You are in luck! Amazon is the seller of this Essential Phone model, meaning you don't have issues with warranty and returns. Reviews of the Essential Phone since its launch have been mixed, however there is one thing that a lot of them can agree on.
Migrant spouse of pregnant woman detained on way to hospital
Then she chose to leave, and pick up and drop off her children with someone, before heading to the hospital around 5 p.m. Arrona-Lara is now in ICE custody pending removal proceedings with the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR)".
Federal court reinstates clean water rule delayed by Trump administration
The CWA prohibits the unpermitted discharge of pollutants, including the deposit of soil or fill material, in "waters of the United States".
After Decade-Long Absence, Google Mulls Relaunching in China
I think if we were to do our mission well, I think we have to think seriously about how we do more in China", Mr Pichai said. According to media reports, Google will not seek another contract when the current Project Maven contract expires in 2019.
Magnitude 6.6 quake hits North East of Raba, Indonesia - USGS
The quake destroyed more than 70 thousand houses, hundreds of schools and dozens of hospitals, as well as six bridges. It is reported by the national Agency for the elimination of consequences of natural disasters on Thursday, August 16.
Trump defends Manafort: "It’s a very sad day for our country"
A motion by AP, BuzzFeed , CNN, NBC, the New York Times , Politico and the Washington Post asked US District Judge T.S. They sent a note to the judge asking to wrap up at 5 p.m. instead of 5:30 p.m. because a juror had an event to attend.
Dozens Overdose In Connecticut Park On Tainted Synthetic Marijuana
NASCAR champion Truex needs sponsor to keep team intact
Jimmy Butler Hits on Dwyane Wade’s Wife, Wade Responds With Warning
Adorable, high maintenance fat cat Bruno seeks a permanent home
Time is running out for Brexit deals, warns Danish minister
Palestinian delegation sets out from Gaza for Egypt
Microsoft, Amazon release preview of Alexa, Cortana integration
How Far Will Lebron James and the Lakers go Next Year?
Redick shares chilling auto service experience
Danny Cipriani charged with misconduct by RFU over Jersey assault
OPEC sees lower 2020 demand for its oil, points to surplus
Amazon Prime Day 2019: 5 Tips for Finding Great Business Deals
Shure To Certify Microphones & DSPs To Work With Microsoft Teams
Trump blasts Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency, says US only has 'one real currency'
China's trade with BRI countries stays robust in H1
Traina Thoughts: Dairy Queen Worker Fired After Innocent Moana/Marijuana Mix-Up
Which Fast Food Place Has the Best French Fries?
USA regulators approve Facebook fine of about $5 billion
Starbucks to sell tie-dye frappuccino starting July 10
Federal Liberals blame Ontario PCs for Bombardier layoffs
China letting USA down by not buying US agricultural goods
Bitpoint Exchange Hacked for $32 Million in Cryptocurrency
Volkswagen to invest $2.6B in Ford's self-driving operations
Pelosi spars with progressive party members
Maxine Waters Grills Fed Chair Powell on Trump - And Crypto
ECB ready to ease again as inflation goal is 'some distance away'
US Fed officials see "strengthened" case for rate cut, minutes show
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John Bachir
Co-Founder and CTO of Medstro
Why it's a good idea to put a newline at the end of every file
I will today settle one of the great issues of our time: whether or not to always put a newline at the end of a file.There are two reasons why it's a good idea, and zero reasons why it's a bad idea.
Let's consider these files:
The first reason: when using various command . . .
sane_timeout: a replacement for Ruby's standard library Timeout
Ruby's Timeout library had a serious problems before 1.9: it would sometimes not timeout. This was solved by system-timer(see the readme for more background). But in 1.9, we finally have a Timeout thatreliablytimes out, joy. However, it still has some problems.
As some quick background, here is the basic usage:
require . . .
The somewhat peculiar behavior of Ruby's Thread#raise
Here's something that's perhaps not entirely obvious: when you call Thread#raise, the exception will be raised at whatever point of execution that thread happens to be at.
require 'thread'
t = Thread.new{
sleep 0.1
sleep rand(4) * 0.1 . . .
Ruby Thread#kill and ensure blocks
Here's something interesting in Ruby: If a thread is killed and the portion of code that was running has a corresponding ensure block, that block will be executed before the thread is killed. This is nice in that the utility of ensure is maintained (IO objects will be closed, etc.), but it's perhaps unintuitive that the semantics of . . .
PostgreSQL hstore
With its newish hstore extension, Postgres now has the ability to store schemaless data, like MongoDB, Riak, and other newfangled data stores. I've been wanting to play with it for a while and recently started on something that I thought might benefit from it. Inside model A, I'm storing an arbitrary number of rows of model B, which . . .
Passing multiple blocks to a Ruby method
Something I've wanted to toy around with for a while -- here's a little pattern for passing multiple blocks to a Ruby method. This is something I find myself wishing for now and again, although at the moment I can't think of what one of those use cases were.
def generate_continue_object(*args)
args.each{|a| puts a.inspect . . .
© 2019 John Bachir
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Help wanted in pedestrian collision investigation
Region of Peel– Investigators from the Major Collision Bureau are seeking the assistance of the public in locating the driver of a vehicle involved in a fail to remain collision with a pedestrian on March 17, 2019.
Shortly after 4:25 a.m. 21 year-old Navindra Sookramsingh was walking southbound on West Drive between the intersections of Clark Boulevard and Orenda Road in the City of Brampton. He was struck by a southbound vehicle in the southbound lane on West Drive. The collision was witnessed by the driver of a northbound vehicle.
It has since been determined that on March 17, 2019 at approximately 4:33 a.m. the male pedestrian had collapsed in the southbound curb lane of traffic on West Drive, south of Clark Boulevard. The male was ill at the time and he was in the process of getting up when he was struck by the southbound 2003-2007 Toyota Corolla.
The Toyota stopped momentarily after the collision and then drove away at a normal speed. It is possible the driver is unaware that he collided with a person.
Section 199 of the Highway Traffic Act makes it incumbent on a person who is knowingly involved in a collision to report the collision to police.
The victim is 21 year-old Navindra Sookramsingh from Brampton he remains in a Rehabilitation Center where he is recovering from serious life altering injuries resulting from this collision.
Police are appealing to the driver of this vehicle to contact them immediately.
Investigators from the Major Collision Bureau are seeking the public’s assistance in locating the vehicle and driver responsible for this collision. Police are asking citizens to be vigilant and report any similar vehicles with minor front end damage to them.
To assist the public, a photo of the suspect vehicle can be viewed by visiting our website.
Anyone with information on this collision as well as those with dash cam footage or surveillance cameras, are asked to call investigators with the Major Collision Bureau at (905) 453–2121, ext. 3710. Anonymous information may also be submitted by calling Peel Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS(8477) or by visitingpeelcrimestoppers.ca.
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Visit the Peel Regional Police YouTube Channel and our Livestream page.
Easter weekend stats
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) wrapped up its provincial seat belt campaign over the Easter Long Weekend with more than 1,000 charges laid against unbuckled drivers and passengers who failed to keep themselves safe.
While the OPP is pleased to report a zero fatality weekend on roads, officers focused on all unsafe behaviours that placed drivers and passengers at risk, laying more than 10,200 traffic-related charges across the province.
The number one offence committed by drivers was speeding, with more than 6,400 speeding charges laid.
During last year’s long weekend seat belt campaign, officers laid over 1,500 seat belt charges, more than 6,500 speeding charges and close to 11,000 traffic-related charges overall.
The weekend charges serve as an important reminder to drivers and other road users that when the OPP targets one particular behaviour during a traffic safety campaign, officers are highly committed to and well-resourced for enforcing all traffic laws.
Masseur Arrested for Sexual Assault
Region of Peel– Investigators from the Special Victims Unit have arrested and charged a man in relation to a sexual assault investigation.
On Saturday, March 16 the victim, a 48 year old woman from Brampton, attended a health and wellness spa in the City of Brampton to receive a massage, when she was sexually assaulted.
On Thursday, April 18, 2019 Napoleon Arenas a 62 year old man from the City of Brampton acting as a masseur, was arrested and charged with sexual assault. Napoleon Arenas was held for a bail hearing and attended the Ontario Court of Justice in the City of Brampton on Friday, April 19, 2019.
Napoleon Arenas is not a licensed massage therapist but may have practiced as a masseur in other cities.
Anyone with information relating to this investigation are asked to call investigators from the Special Victims Unit at (905) 453-2121, ext.3460. Information may also be left anonymously by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS(8477), or by visiting peelcrimestoppers.ca.
Caledon OPP Easter Long Weekend stats.
Caledon OPP officers stopped and charged numerous unbuckled drivers throughout Caledon during the Easter Long Weekend Campaign.
The following charges were laid by the Caledon OPP during the campaign:
• Seatbelt X 42 charges,
• Speeding X 176 charges,
• Stunt X 13 charges,
• Distracted driving X 10 charges, and
• Other Highway Traffic Act X 74 charges.
Seatbelts can help to protect a driver or a passenger in a collision and minimize injuries. Those who do not wear their seatbelts while in a vehicle put themselves at a greater risk of severe injury or even death. Through enforcement, engagement, and education, the OPP demonstrates its commitment to keeping all our road users safe.
To participate in OPP Child Car Seat Clinic organized by the Caledon OPP Auxiliary officers, please call 905-584-2241 to enquire about upcoming events.
Imparied driver blew almost four times the legal limit
On Friday, April 26 at about 5:25 p.m. uniformed Caledon OPP officers responded to a single motor vehicle collision at Mount Pleasant Road and Caledon King Townline South in the Town of Caledon.
En route to the call, officers received information that the sport utility vehicle that was involved in the collision had left the scene at a high rate of speed. The officer located the suspect vehicle and conducted a traffic stop. As a result, an approved screening device test was administered on the driver, which he failed.
The driver was then placed under arrest, and transported to the Caledon Detachment, where further tests were conducted. A reading of 310 mg of alcohol in 100 ml of blood was registered as a result of those tests.
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