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People 2

Cern scientist's presentation giving facts on women in physics deemed 'highly offensive'

Pallab Ghosh
BBC
Mon, 01 Oct 2018 00:01 UTC
Cern
© Getty ImagesCern, based in Switzerland, is one of the world's largest centres for scientific research.
A senior scientist has given what has been described as a "highly offensive" presentation about the role of women in physics, the BBC has learned.

At a workshop organised by Cern, Prof Alessandro Strumia of Pisa University said that "physics was invented and built by men, it's not by invitation".

He said male scientists were being discriminated against because of ideology rather than merit.

He was speaking at a workshop in Geneva on gender and high energy physics.

Comment: When the facts are considered to be "highly offensive", going against the mob and presenting the facts is a revolutionary act. As ridiculous as it may seem, Strumia's presentation was actually quite brave. But, in the current environment, he may find it costs him his career.

See also:

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Beaker

Bootleg booze kills at least 42, poisons hundreds in Iran


RT
Tue, 02 Oct 2018 07:41 UTC
destroy alcohol booze
© FILE PHOTO Asif Hassan / AFPFILE PHOTO
Despite booze being strictly forbidden in Iran, some tainted alcohol has left at least 42 people dead and more than 300 poisoned. Hundreds are still recovering in hospitals.

The number of victims has climbed to 371 on Monday and has been drastically rising since the end of last week, with 42 fatalities, Iran's state-run IRNA news agency said, citing Head of the Emergency Department Mojtaba Khalidi. A total of 13 deaths were initially reported on Saturday, but 29 others died across the country as a result of the tainted alcohol in the intervening two days.

Of those hospitalized with poisoning, some 167 people have been already discharged, but 173 victims are still receiving treatment.

Comment: Whether it be cannabis in the US or alcohol in the Middle East, prohibition that doesn't follow logic or accepted morality will clearly never work. And forcing people to go to unreliable and unregulated suppliers only increases the risks for the consumer:

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People 2

Male teacher in female dominated workplace: Please don't call me a victim of sexism

N.P. Ingram
Quillette
Sun, 30 Sep 2018 00:01 UTC
classroom children
The conversation surrounding gender discrepancies in workplaces and universities often focuses on STEM - science, technology, engineering and mathematics - because these are high-paying fields in which women typically lag men in both representation and advancement. There is far less attention paid to similar or greater disparities in other disciplines. Rarely, for instance, does one hear much complaint about lower-status professions such as construction, logging or roofing, all fields where, in the United States, men make up over 96% of workers. The pattern is similar in my own country, Canada, and in the wider Western world more generally. In regard to skilled occupations that women dominate - such as accounting, nutrition, pharmacy, physical therapy, psychology, veterinary medicine, social work and nursing - advocacy groups fighting for equal representation tend to fall mute.

Comment: Quota systems in hiring practices, based on what really amounts to cosmetic considerations like gender, race or sexual identity, are nothing but a detriment to any field that implements them. Yet this trend is only becoming more prevalent, as merit-based hiring practices are increasingly viewed as archaic and discriminatory.

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Hardhat

Italy: Police blow up suspicious suitcase in airport metres from crowd only to find it was full of coconuts


freepressjournal.in
Tue, 02 Oct 2018 10:57 UTC
coconut suitcase
© Twitter
The Italian police blew up an unattended bag at the Rome airport after they suspected that it had a bomb in it. But, to their surprise, the suitcase turned out to contain a bunch of coconuts. A freelance journalist, Ned Donovan, who witnessed the scene, took to Twitter to narrate it. In a series of tweets, Donovan wrote, "Amazing, the Italian police have blown up a bag full of coconuts and have now reopened Rome airport." He also shared some pictures of the incident on his Twitter handle.

He further said that the police officials, after exploding the "suspect coconuts", wandered off and left the airport to be cleaned up. "There's so much about this incident that I enjoyed and also felt so Italian. They blew up what they thought was a bomb in the middle of the airport while people were about 10 meters away, and then when it was destroyed the police just wandered off and left it to be cleaned up."

Comment: One wonders whether they were just coconuts or whether they were being used to conceal something else, because there is a trend for smuggling drugs hidden in food. But then again, humans are a funny bunch, and it may just be that someone was transporting a load of their favourite coconuts, or as a gift for someone.

See also: Abandoned KFC served as a front for drug-smuggling tunnel from Mexico to Arizona



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Attention

Asia Argento changes story, now admits she had sex with underage accuser for 'two minutes' without condom


RT
Tue, 02 Oct 2018 06:57 UTC
Asia Argento
One of the leading voices of the #MeToo movement, actress Asia Argento, has rolled back on her previous claims and now admits that she slept with Jimmy Bennett, who has accused her of sexually assaulting him when he was 17.

The Italian actress previously denied having intercourse with her co-star, although she is believed to have paid Bennett a $380,000 settlement after he alleged that they had sex in a California hotel room in 2013. However, the actress revealed another version of their relationship during a TV show on Sunday, insisting that then-17-year-old literally "jumped" on her.

"He undressed me, put me sideways on the bed, climbed onto me and had complete sex without even using a condom," Argento told the host. She said that her former co-star told her that he had been sexually attracted to her "since he was 12 years old."

The U-turn in Argento's position comes after the now-22-year-old Bennett appeared on the same TV show and contradicted her version of events. He claimed that it was then 37-year-old actress who pushed him onto the bed and took off his pants, after which they "had sex."

Comment: This is why #MeToo has nowhere to go but down. Sex is complicated and private. When accusations are made after the fact, there is very little evidence to go on. And in many cases we are left only with accusations and counter-accusations. Victims then become the abusers and vice versa. The irony is that it also happens to the very vocal proponents of "always believe the victim", as it is in Argento's case. Should we always believe their accusers? Where's the line? And perhaps we could be doing this better?

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Ambulance

US cops mow down murder suspect with police cruiser after chase and exchange of fire


Sputnik
Mon, 01 Oct 2018 06:52 UTC
car chase
© Screenshot/ Tymist Network
Michigan officers sent a murder suspect flying into the air last week by striking him with a police cruiser as he attempted to flee the scene on foot, video footage obtained by bystanders inside a nearby building shows.

The incident, which unfolded on Thursday, was filmed by workers inside an office building that overlooks the S-curve portion of US highway 131 in Grand Rapids. The police chase stemmed from a homicide investigation in which the suspect, 33-year-old Adam Kenneth Nolin, was believed to have fatally shot his girlfriend, 27-year-old Tia Randall, at their home in Wyoming, Michigan.

Footage of the encounter captures the moments officers zeroed in on Nolin on US 131 after the suspect had already crashed his vehicle and exchanged fired with officers. Officials on the scene were from the Grand Rapids Police Department and the Wyoming Police Department.


​"I looked up and I see the truck sideways and I hear the crash," Karin Kapteyn, one of three employees who witnessed the sudden use of force from the fourth floor of the nearby building, told local news outlet MLive.

"I see the guy get out of the truck, and I'm thinking, 'OK, he's surrendering, he's turning himself in,' and then it turned into a movie."
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Family

UK trans parent heads to court to force govt to recognize her as male - child could be first to have no legal mother


UK Metro
Mon, 01 Oct 2018 06:45 UTC
trans lives matter
© Joel Goodman / Global Look Press''Protect Trans lives '' placard, Leeds, West Yorkshire. August 5, 2018.
The most senior Family Court judge in England and Wales is set to rule on a case involving a transgender man whose baby is at the centre of a historic human rights fight. Lawyers say the baby could become the first person born in England or Wales who will not legally have a mother. The baby is the child of a single parent who was born a woman but now lives as a man after undergoing surgery.

Judges have heard that the man had been biologically able to get pregnant and give birth but had legally become male when the child was born. He wants to be identified as the child's 'father' or 'parent' on a birth certificate but a registrar has told him that the law requires people who give birth to be registered as mothers.

Sir Andrew McFarlane, President of the Family Division of the High Court, is due to decide whether only either 'father' or 'parent' can be listed on the child's birth certificate following a trial scheduled to take place at the High Court in London in February. The man has taken legal action after complaining of discrimination. He says forcing him to register as the child's 'mother' breaches his human right to respect for privacy and family life.


Comment: Your gender is no more private than the sound of your voice, the color of your eyes, or the strength of your character.

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Arrow Down

Stock market crash in Italy, Argentina raises interest rates to 65 percent in panic

Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse
Mon, 01 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
Italy stock market
In the 9th largest economy in the world, the financial markets are crashing, and in the 21st largest economy in the world the central bank just raised interest rates to 65 percent to support a currency that is completely imploding. While the mainstream media in the United States continues to be obsessed with all things Kavanaugh, an international financial crisis threatens to spiral out of control. Stock prices are falling and currencies are collapsing all over the planet, but because the U.S. has been largely unaffected so far the mainstream media is mostly choosing to ignore what is happening. But the truth is that this is serious. The financial crisis in Italy threatens to literally tear the EU apart, and South America has become an economic horror show. The situation in Brazil continues to get worse, the central bank of Argentina has just raised interest rates to 65 percent, and in Venezuela starving people are literally eating cats and dogs in order to survive. How bad do things have to get before people will start paying attention?


Comment: "Eating cats and dogs in order to survive" sounds a lot like propaganda designed to justify US-led "intervention"...


On Friday, Italian stocks had their worst day in more than two years, and it was the big financial stocks that were on the cutting edge of the carnage...
Shares in Italian banks .FTIT8300, whose big sovereign bond portfolios makes them sensitive to political risk, bore the brunt of selling pressure, sinking 7.3 percent as government bonds sold off and the focus turned to rating agencies.

Along with the main Italian stock index .FTMIB, the banks had their worst day since the June 2016 Brexit vote triggered a selloff across markets.
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Heart - Black

Former Miss Iraq receives death threats days after model shot dead in Baghdad


Sputnik News
Mon, 01 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
Miss Iraq Shimaa Qasim
© Shimaa Qasim/ Instagram
The model's warning follows the deaths of other Iraqi social media stars and women's rights activists, as the mysterious string of murders continues with authorities unable to identify suspects or suggest a motive.

A model who was crowned Miss Iraq in 2015 and has almost 3 million followers on Instagram has warned she fears for her life after receiving multiple death threats online.

In a live broadcast on social media, Shimaa Qasim tearfully told her fans she had been threatened, with one person telling her "you are next", following the death of another Iraqi model.
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Cookies

Russian MP calls for nationwide campaign, blames internet for encouraging teenage masturbation


RT
Mon, 01 Oct 2018 14:09 UTC
Gennady Onishchenko
© Valeriy Melnikov / SputnikGennady Onishchenko, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Education and Science
A senior MP in charge of education and science has apparently started an anti-masturbation crusade as he alleged the practice to be extremely harmful to health and called for special classes in schools to deal with the issue.

In a radio interview, 67-year old Gennadiy Onishenko said masturbation was an acute problem and that it was especially spread among the younger generation. Then he alleged that the main reason behind this situation was the universal reach and availability of the internet. He said that the web had a "particular specialization" on masturbation and that even that it "encouraged" kids into playing with themselves.
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