Society's ChildS


Nuke

For Japan, radiation is the new norm

Richard Wilcox, PhD
Activist Post
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 18:24 UTC
radiation japan
"We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one." — Jacques Cousteau

"When drinking water, remember its source." — Chinese proverb

"Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." — Matthew 7:16-20, Holy Bible

Japan has an amazing food culture thanks in part to the rich volcanic soil and ample rainfall, despite the lack of spacious farms. As it stands, Japan can feed approximately one third of its population from domestic production.
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Pistol

Fast and furious, Chicago style: Gang member accuses U.S. government of dumping guns in the hood

Isaac Davis
Waking Times
Tue, 13 Sep 2016 17:09 UTC
Chicago gun
There is a well-documented history of the U.S. government supplying weapons and arms to both friends and foe for political purposes and for profit. In addition to publicly known global arms deals to U.S. political allies like Israel and Saudi Arabia, revelations about the rise of ISIS indicate that U.S. arms and military trainees have been a critical factor in the rise of the terror group.

From 2006 to 2011 the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms ran a gun smuggling operation into Mexico to ostensibly dismantle Mexican drug gangs, accomplishing the precise opposite however, in what has affectionately become known as Fast and Furious. Further back in time we have covert operations like Oliver North's Iran Contra scandal of the mid 1980's, and America's involvement in arming rebels in Central America to destabilize uncooperative governments. The list goes on.

Furthermore, it is alleged that the CIA, DEA and other government agencies have been involved for decades in the destruction of American communities by covertly shipping in drugs. Former DEA agent Cele Castillo has been persecuted by the U.S. government for seeking accountability of the George H.W. Bush administration for drug smuggling into the U.S. He would know as he was directly involved.
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Christmas Tree

California cops begin testing drivers with marijuana breathalzyer, nationwide distribution planned for next year


RT
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 18:51 UTC
breathalyzer
© Joshua Lott / Reuters
Police in the US have gotten their hands on a marijuana breathalyzer and drivers in California were among the first to be tested - with nationwide distribution planned for next year.

As part of an initial field test, several erratic drivers were pulled over and asked to voluntarily blow into the breathalyzer. Two of the drivers who took part in the test admitted to smoking marijuana in the previous 30 minutes, and delivered a positive reading on the handheld device.

Other drivers who confessed to smoking pot within the previous two to three hours also tested positive - none of whom were arrested, although those who tested positive were not allowed to continue driving.

"Basically everyone agreed because they were curious," said Mike Lynn, CEO of Hound Labs, the Oakland-based company who developed the device with some help from the University of California's chemistry department.

Lynn, who also works as an emergency room doctor in Oakland, California, and a reserve officer with the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, tagged along with officers to assist in the pullovers and testing.
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Heart - Black

Man sets 'traditionally-dressed' Muslim woman's blouse on fire in NYC


RT
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 18:41 UTC
muslim woman
© Matt Sullivan / Reuters
A 'traditionally-dressed' Muslim woman found her blouse set on fire by a man with a lighter in New York's midtown in a disturbing incident being investigated by New York City police as a possible hate crime.

Police said the Scottish tourist felt heat on her arm on Saturday night as she stood outside a Fifth Avenue luxury boutique in Manhattan. She noticed her blouse was on fire.

The woman, Nemariq Alhinai, patted out the fire and noticed a man standing nearby holding a lighter. The man then walked away.

"She saw [the suspect] pull a lighter away and walk away," a source told the New York Daily News who first reported the incident. "He doesn't say anything."

It is not clear what police meant by 'traditional dress' whether she wore a hijab, which covers the head, or an abaya, which covers everything but the face, or a burqa, which conceals the face, as well.
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Red Flag

Rise of the machines: Robots poised to replace 6% of jobs by 2021


RT
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 18:19 UTC
robot
© Yuya Shino / Reuters
Robots are poised to replace interns as the unrewarded and unpaid worker ants of industry. A study by Forrester Research has projected that by 2021, artificial intelligence will be sophisticated enough to push many out of the job market as we know it.

The future of technology growing bright could signal lights out for taxi drivers, bankers and customer service agents. In a report released by Forrester Research, six percent of jobs could be taken by "early-stage intelligent agents," as soon as 2021. The study cites Facebook, Amazon and Apple as being at the forefront of developing nuanced bots that rely on algorithms like Siri, and that they could eventually replace truck drivers.

"By 2021, a disruptive tidal wave will begin," Brian Hopkins, vice president at Forrester wrote. "Solutions powered by AI/cognitive technology will displace jobs, with the biggest impact felt in transportation, logistics, customer service, and consumer services."

But those industries aren't the only ones that could replace their flesh-and-bone employees with something more mechanical. Researchers at the World Economic Forum have grimmer predictions. They see 7.1 million jobs being replaced with algorithms, two-thirds of which will be "concentrated in the Office and Administrative job family," Digital Trends reported.

Comment: See also:

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Camera

Study finds taking selfies linked to increased happiness in college students


RT
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 15:32 UTC
selfie
© Murad Sezer / Reuters
Constantly snapping selfies may seem a bit narcissistic, but a new study has found that taking photos on smartphones and sharing them online is actually linked to increased happiness levels among college students.

The research, conducted by academics from the University of California-Irvine's Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences, studied 41 college students for four weeks. Among them were 28 females and 13 males.

The students were first invited to the lab for an informal interview, and to fill out a questionnaire and consent form. They were then instructed to continue with normal daily activities while taking part in the study.

Each student was assigned one of three types of photos to take, to help researchers determine how smiling, reflecting, and giving to others might impact the participants' moods.

Comment: Perhaps asking students themselves how they felt after taking a selfie was not the best method for judging how selfies affect and transform our personalities:

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Brick Wall

TEPCO dismantles safety wall of Fukushima No. 1 reactor building


RT
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 02:44 UTC
Fukushima Daiichi
© Fukushima Daiichi / YouTubeRipping off the band-aid.
TEPCO has begun decommissioning the outer protective wall which was erected around the Fukushima No.1 reactor building in 2011 following the massive earthquake and tsunami that sent the power station into meltdown. Industrial cranes started the decommissioning of the exterior walls of the cover, which was installed around Fukushima's reactor building on Tuesday, by removing the first 20-ton panel which measured 23 by 17 meters.

This is the first time that the burned reactor has been exposed to the world in almost five years, after the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) went on to construct the cover in October 2011 as a temporary measure following a powerful earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

The entire site is highly contaminated with rubble and radioactive dust. TEPCO is taking all necessary precautions to prevent any radioactive dust from escaping the contaminated area.

The utility company, according to Asahi news, hopes to dismantle the remaining 17 panels of the protective cover by the end of the year to assess the state of the reactor's interiors and to remove the 392 fuel assemblies from the spent fuel pool in addition to melted nuclear fuel.


Comment: Protective wall removal...contaminated site...what if there is another tsunami in the very near future? They haven't even assessed the internal damage from 5 years ago. Send in the robots!

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USA

Bombshell leak reveals Williams tennis sisters and Rio Olympics gymnast heroine have been doping for years, with WADA's approval


RT
Tue, 13 Sep 2016 16:02 UTC
williams sharapova
Turns out American tennis stars also dope... surprise!
A hacktivist group claims it has uncovered files that show top American athletes including Serena Williams and Simone Biles took banned substances - although their respective sporting federations responded by saying the athletes did not break any rules.

The allegations were published on the website of the hacktivist group Fancy Bear, which described the revelations as being "just the tip of the iceberg."

The documents the group says it hacked from the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) files contain information that Serena Williams, one of the world's greatest ever tennis players, was taking a number of banned substances.

Williams was allowed to take oxycodone, hydromorphone, prednisone and methylprednisolone in 2010, 2014 and 2015, despite the substances being placed on WADA's list of banned substances.

However, the documents released also showed that Williams had been given special permission to take some of the drugs. The authorization was given by Dr. Stuart Miller from the International Tennis Federation (ITF).

Serena's older sister Venus was found to have taken prednisone, prednisolone, triamcinolone and formoterol, which are also on WADA's banned list. However, she was given special dispensation to take the substances as long as she adhered to various conditions regarding the use of the drugs.

Comment: Exceptions can be made for exceptional star athletes from exceptional countries.

Just how many Russian athletes are given "special dispensation" to take banned substances? We're guessing very, very few.

Just because these athletes had a therapeutic use exemption doesn't mean that the situation isn't ridiculously hypocritical. We'd be very interested to know who the doctors were that prescribed the drugs and why the athletes needed them. Plus, the drugs themselves are banned because they enhance performance. There's no getting around that, doctor's note or no doctor's note.

See also: Cultural warfare: US attempt to ban Russia from Olympics for 'cheating' is rank hypocrisy

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X

Norwegian court rules hairdresser Merete Hodne "deliberately discriminated" against Muslim woman


RT
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 15:09 UTC
Malika Bayan
© Scanpix / Carina Johansen / ReutersMalika Bayan is seen in court during a trial of hairdresser Merete Hodne who refused Malika Bayan access to her hair salon because of wearing a hijab, in Sandnes, Norway September 8, 2016.
A discrimination case in a Norwegian court has sparked renewed debate over Islam's place in Western society, after a Muslim convert wins her case against a hairdresser who refused to serve her for wearing a hijab. The reaction to a court ruling in Rogaland county, southwest Norway, to award compensation to a Muslim woman who was refused service at a hairdresser's has brought tensions surrounding the country's Muslim minority back into the spotlight.

On Monday, Jæren District Court in Rogaland county, southwest Norway, found that hairdresser Merete Hodne "deliberately discriminated" against a Muslim woman, Malika Bayan, when the latter walked into her salon wearing a hijab. The court ordered that Hodne pay Bayan 10,000 kroner ($1,200) in compensation as well as court costs of 5,000 kroner ($750).

In October 2015, 24-year-old Bayan and a friend walked into Hodne's salon in the town of Bryne, where she asked how much it would cost to dye her hair. Hodne, 47, refused and advised Bayan, an ethnic Norwegian Muslim convert, to look elsewhere as she "didn't accept"customers like her. When the case originally went to court, Hodne refused to pay the 8,000 kroner fine, claiming that seeing women in hijabs gave her anxiety.

'What can I say? I get freaked out by the hijab," the Fædrelandsvennen newspaper quoted her as saying during her testimony. "I know that not all Muslims are violent, but before one gets to know them, one can never know."

Comment: What hypocrisy! Hodne and her ilk treat Muslims like they are sub-humans and then have the gall to compare their victims to Nazis.

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Crusader

Austrian cardinal: Muslims want 'Islamic conquest of Europe'


RT
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 19:41 UTC
Austrian muslims
© Heinz-Peter Bader / Reuters
Many Muslims would be glad to see Europe conquered by Islam, an Austrian cardinal and leading future candidate for the papacy said. He also warned that the Christian heritage of Europe risked disappearing, with the statements raising much controversy online.

"Will there now be a third Islamic attempt to conquer Europe? Many Muslims think that and want that, and they say 'Europe is at the end,'" Cardinal Christoph Schönborn said, as cited by the Archdiocese of Vienna.

He was speaking during the church festival "Holy Name of Mary." The holiday commemorated the victory over the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Vienna in 1683.

He asked God to have mercy on Europe as people of Europe "are in danger of forfeiting our Christian heritage."
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