Society's ChildS


Fish

Japan: Fishermen tells us - I'm finished

Miranda Leitsinger
World Blog
Mon, 06 Jun 2011 02:33 UTC
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© Jim Seida/msnbc.comTadashi Onodera in Kesennuma on Monday, June 6, 2011.
I saw Tadashi Onodera from a distance. He was sitting in a field of debris as far as the eye could see in Kesennuma. Hulks of homes, cars, remnants of everyday life jammed the landscape.

Onodera, a 63-year-old fisherman, returned from one year's work at sea on May 26 to a new 'normal.' He comes down here often now, saying he wants to see what's happening. His house is fine, but he pointed to the skeleton of his in-laws blue-colored home in the distance.

"It's extremely frightening," he said of the landscape.

"It's impossible to know what's going to happen with this whole area," he added, noting it was a question of whether the government would buy it from people or if they would be able to build on it.

Onodera, who stood alongside a rice paddy that couldn't be used since it had been swamped by the tsunami and the debris it carried, said he thought the rebuilding would take at least ten years. He said the government had to revive the fishing industry there.

"That's what this whole town lives on ... without that, if they can't bring that back, then there's nothing," he said.

But Onodera said he would not be joining his fellow fishermen.

"I'm finished. I'm 63. ... I've had enough," he said. "If I had the chance, if it was still here, I'd be out there. I'd love to work."
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Bizarro Earth

Syrian Internet Restored, Dramatic Footage Emerges

Charlie White
Mashable
Sat, 04 Jun 2011 13:45 UTC
Internet intelligence firm Renesys reports that Syrian Internet services are now operational again. But these dramatic clips of Syrians rising up against their government, shot on June 2, were allegedly sent out of the country via satellite phone.

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Family

US: 12-year-old who 'punched baby brother to death' could become America's youngest to spend life in prison

Paul Thompson
Daily Mail
Mon, 06 Jun 2011 06:27 UTC
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© Police HandoutCharged: If convicted, Cristian Fernandez, 12, could become the youngest American to face life in prison

Prosecutors want to lock a 12-year-old boy up for the rest of his life - to stop him from killing again.

Cristian Fernandez could become America's youngest ever 'lifer' after being charged as an adult over the murder of his two-year-old brother.

Prosecutor Angela Corey said: 'We have to protect the public from this young man'. She recommended that he face trial as an adult.

Ms Corey said the public had a 'right to be protected' from him.

If Fernandez were charged as a juvenile and convicted he would be free by the time he is 21.

Fernandez is alleged to have beaten his younger brother David Galarriago to death at their home in Jacksonville, Florida, in March.
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People

Greece Austerity Protests Grow

George Georgiopoulos
Huffington Post
Sun, 05 Jun 2011 23:26 UTC
Demonstrators gather Greece
© AP/Dimitri MessinisDemonstrators gather during a peaceful rally outside the Greek Parliament in Athens, on Sunday, June 5, 2011. Thousands of protesters have gathered for a 12th consecutive day to protest at fiscal austerity measures and demand that Greece stop paying its debtors. They have also denounced politicians of all stripes as incompetent and corrupt.
Tens of thousands Greeks rallied in central Athens on Sunday to denounce politicians, bankers and tax dodgers, as the government prepared to inflict another bout of austerity demanded by its international lenders.

"Thieves - hustlers - bankers," read one banner as more than 50,000 people packed the main Syntagma square outside parliament to vent their frustration over rising joblessness as austerity bites, blaming the crisis on political corruption.

Turnout was the biggest so far in a series of 12 nightly rallies on the square inspired by Spain's protest movement.

Amidst a sea of splayed hands waved at the parliament building -- an offensive gesture for Greeks -- one demonstrator raised a placard reading "Bravo Yemen", whose president underwent surgery in Saudi Arabia for injuries suffered in a rocket attack on his palace.
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Wolf

Malta: Star The Miracle Dog, Shot 40 Times And Buried Alive, Survives

Dean Praetorius
Huffington Post
Sun, 05 Jun 2011 22:28 UTC
It seems some animals can overcome even the most gruesome of fates.

These stories of survival are simply incredible, like this dog, who survived over 3 dozen gun shots from a pellet gun and a burial, according to TIME. The stray dog, named Star by her rescuers, was found buried up to her snout in sand in Malta.

It seems to be a miracle in and of itself that authorities were actually able to find her. According to the New York Daily News she was also well hidden.
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Stormtrooper

US: Cops taser a couple of teens, did they go too far?


WOIO.com
Fri, 03 Jun 2011 17:15 UTC
taser
© Unknown

Lorain County, Ohio -Two girls were hitting and pulling each others hair.

No one had a weapon and no one attacked an officer so why were both teens tazed? That's the question being asked.

It happened in Lorain County outside Whittier Middle School.

13-year old Stephanie Reese was one of the victims.

"Just a rush going through my body. I couldn't move my hands. I couldn't move my body. I was just going crazy," said Stephanie Reese.

Reese admits she was fighting with another girl when a police officer decided he needed to use force to break it up.
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Dollar

US: Family Furious After Queens Woman Leaves Nearly $250K to Doomsday Prophet

Don Kaplan
New York Post
Sat, 04 Jun 2011 11:31 UTC
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© unknownWilful Donation: Queens widow Doris Schmitt in her will left $250,000 to "Rapture" guy Harold Camping.

The family of a lonely Queens widow is outraged after she left nearly a quarter-million dollars in her will to the bogus doomsday prophet who led his flock to falsely believe that the world would come to an end on May 21.

"If the money had gone to any other charity in the world my family would be fine with it," Schmitt's great-nephew, Chris Heuwetter, told The Post.

"But it's going to this kooky preacher and that's why we're upset."

Doris Schmitt, 78, died alone in her Rosedale home just weeks before May 21 -- the date that wacky radio preacher Harold Camping claimed the world would end.
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Attention

US: 13 injured when bounce houses go airborne in New York

Rick Martin
CNN.com
Sun, 05 Jun 2011 18:21 UTC

A heavy gust of wind blew away inflatable bounce houses with children inside at a New York soccer event, leaving 13 people injured, authorities said late Saturday.

The Oceanside United Soccer Club in Long Island was hosting a tournament Saturday afternoon when three bounce houses started floating away, said Eric Evensen, a Nassau County police officer.

"As children were inside, a heavy gust of wind blew across the field, raising them off the ground and sending them airborne," he said. "Once they hit the ground, they began rolling and struck several people on the ground."

Lara Rhatigan said she was about to enter a ride when her neck got hooked by a rope connected to a bounce house.
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Yoda

Best of the Web: People Power! Bank of America Gets Pad-Locked After Homeowner Forecloses On It

Kelly Heffernan-Tabor
CBS News
Sun, 05 Jun 2011 14:37 UTC
Collier County, Florida -- Have you heard the one about a homeowner foreclosing on a bank?

Well, it has happened in Florida and involves a North Carolina based bank.

Instead of Bank of America foreclosing on some Florida homeowner, the homeowners had sheriff's deputies foreclose on the bank.


It started five months ago when Bank of America filed foreclosure papers on the home of a couple, who didn't owe a dime on their home.

The couple said they paid cash for the house.

The case went to court and the homeowners were able to prove they didn't owe Bank of America anything on the house. In fact, it was proven that the couple never even had a mortgage bill to pay.
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Alarm Clock

Hong Kong's "Tiger Parents" Face the Pressure

Judith Evans
Agence France-Presse
Sun, 05 Jun 2011 12:38 UTC
China child
© Agence France-PresseFILE
Hong Kong - Since Amy Chua published her Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother it has dominated school-gate conversation in Hong Kong, with parents soul-searching over how much they demand of their children.

The American mother's account of her Chinese-influenced, high-pressure parenting sounded more than a little familiar in the fiercely competitive city, where parents say they are also pushed to perform.

Jachinson Chan's daughters, aged 11 and 13, are ferried to an extracurricular activity every day of the week -- from Spanish to guitar, tennis and extra mathematics.

"People think we're crazy," he said -- but not because his children are too busy. "We're a joke among our friends because we don't have that many activities."

And not just any activity is good enough. "Piano is no longer considered a big deal," said Chan. "If your kid is in primary school and he or she can play the piano really well, the schools will yawn.

"You need trombone, for example -- something that not many people want to play. Parents are encouraging their kids to play the oboe."

OECD rankings generally place Hong Kong above the international average in education standards, and often near the top worldwide, but local universities only take 18 percent of school students.

So as parents climb the ladder in one of the world's most competitive economies, they and their children must also contend with the academic equivalent.

The results? A survey by retail group Plaza Hollywood in April said more than two-thirds of Hong Kong parents placed a higher premium on their child's grades than their health -- though the survey was unclear about its methods.

Media reports have said that children as young as three are being taught for 10 hours a day at some kindergartens.

Comment: Perhaps expectations in general should not be based on what society as a whole defines as success but rather what is healthiest for the child in the long term.

For more information regarding the effect of parental expectations on children, see this Sott link:

Parents' expectations, styles can harm college students' self-esteem

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