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Silver lining? Late art historian's work and video game model could help rebuild Notre Dame

Alix Martichoux, SFGATE
Houston Chronicle
Tue, 16 Apr 2019 14:27 UTC
Notre Dame fire
© Thomas Samson, AFP/Getty ImagesFlames and smoke billow around the gargoyles decorating the roof and sides of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019. - A huge fire swept through the roof of the famed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on April 15, 2019, sending flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the sky.
French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to rebuild the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was devastated by a massive fire Monday. Reconstructing the intricate French Gothic cathedral is bound to be no simple task, and will likely take years, if not decades.

But some on Twitter pointed out a sliver of hope amidst the ashes: detailed 3D maps of the landmark have been created in recent years.

Ph.D. student Hannah Groch-Begley shared the work of art historian Andrew Tallon, who used laser scanners to create an immaculately accurate model of the cathedral.

Mounted on a tripod, the laser beam sweeps around the choir of a cathedral, for example, and measures the distance between the scanner and every point it hits. Each measurement is represented by a colored dot, which cumulatively create a three-dimensional image of the cathedral," explains a National Geographic profile of Tallon's work.

Comment: Paris' Legendary Notre Dame Cathedral Destroyed by Fire

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Attention

NYC health department closes Orthodox Jewish daycare for refusing to turn over health records amid measles outbreak

Rich Calder and Allie Griffin
New York Post
Tue, 16 Apr 2019 15:48 UTC
Measles outbreak Williamsburg NY
© Gregory MangoAs part of the city’s emergency order, schools and child-care programs have to turn over medical and vaccination records on demand to the Health Department — which the city charged United Talmudical refused to do.
The city Health Department shut down a preschool program tun by a Williamsburg yeshiva Monday for repeatedly refusing to turn over immunization and attendance records amid the measles outbreak.

The closure of the United Talmudical Academy's program at 75 Ross St. came less than a week after Mayor de Blasio ordered mandatory vaccinations in predominantly Hasidic neighborhoods across four Brooklyn ZIP codes.

"This outbreak will continue to worsen, and the case count will grow if child-care programs and schools do not follow our direction," warned Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot in announcing the closure.

Since the outbreak began in October, there have been 329 measles cases recorded in the city, with most in the Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Borough Park in Brooklyn. About 86 percent of the victims, 284, were under 18.

Comment: Measles hysteria: New York City declares public health emergency over recent outbreaks

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Piggy Bank

Nickel and dime, all the time: Democrat controlled California wants to tax soda, tires, guns, water, pain pills, lawyers, car batteries...

George Skelton
Los Angeles Times
Mon, 08 Apr 2019 20:05 UTC
Sacramento CA sales taxes
In California under Democrats, it’s tax, tax, tax — a drip and a drop, nickel and a dime — all the time. That’s not a political statement. It’s a fact.
To plagiarize T.S. Eliot, April is the cruelest month. But not for the reasons the poet wrote. Rather, for all the taxes.

And there are bills in the Legislature to make taxes sting even worse.

By April 10, Californians must pay their local property taxes. Five days later is the deadline for filing state and federal income tax returns. Also, the state and the feds want any initial pre-tax payment that's required on current earnings.

So tax collectors get three swings at us this month.

It's a perfect storm for millions of Californians because of the federal tax overhaul enacted in 2017 by the Republican Congress and President Trump. For the first time, deductions for state and local taxes on federal returns are limited to $10,000. That's much less than Californians have been deducting in this high-tax state.

Making the bite even sharper for salaried employees who receive a W-2, non-reimbursed job expenses are no longer deductible on federal returns. That hits teachers particularly hard because they often buy their own classroom supplies and have been deducting the costs.

So blame that tax shaft on Trump and Republicans.

But in California under Democrats, it's tax, tax, tax - a drip and a drop, nickel and a dime - all the time. That's not a political statement. It's a fact.

Comment:

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Network

5 social networks that can be used instead of manipulative Facebook

Jake Anderson
The Mind Unleashed
Mon, 15 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC
global networks
In recent years, the tide of public opinion has slowly but surely turned against the intrusive actions of Big Tech companies. People are tired of corporations mining their personal information and censoring or manipulating their content online and, as a result, the biggest social networks, like Facebook and YouTube, are beginning to see a noticeable exodus of users.

Until recently, fleeing users had nowhere else to go. But the advent of decentralized, encrypted technologies has ushered in a new generation of social platforms that prioritize privacy, transparency, and free speech, allowing users more control over their posts and content. There are now dozens of social applications operating on peer-to-peer or blockchain-based networks.

Here are five good starting points in your journey away from Facebook:

Minds

Minds is the oldest network on this list and has slowly cultivated an impassioned legion of users who consider it the heir apparent to Facebook. But Minds is vastly different than Facebook: it is open source, meaning that anyone can help improve the site's design; it is decentralized and encrypted, which means that corporate data miners can't poach user data and governments can't monitor the site's messaging app; and the site allows its users to earn money through their posts.
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Candle

Lucky break: Sixteen bronze statues removed from Notre Dame just 3 days before it went up in flames


The Local
Fri, 12 Apr 2019 12:16 UTC
Bronze Statues removed Notre Dame
Sixteen bronze statues briefly took to the skies over Paris after they were removed from the Notre-Dame cathedral to undergo restoration work.
Tourists at the world-famous landmark were left stunned on Thursday as the statues - representing the 12 apostles and the four evangelists from the New Testament - were lifted off the spire of the cathedral by crane.

"What's unique is that it's the first time we've seen them up close since they were set up by Viollet-le-Duc in the 1860s," Marie-Helene Didier, who is in charge of the renovation work, told AFP.
Bronze Statues removed Notre Dame

Comment: Paris' Legendary Notre Dame Cathedral Destroyed by Fire

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V

Numerous government websites taken down in response to Julian Assange's arrest

John Vibes
Activist Post
Mon, 15 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC
Assange anon
Following this week's arrest of WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange in London, the hacktivist group Anonymous released a video calling for his captors to be held accountable.

The video showed the classic Anonymous figure wearing a Guy Fawkes and speaking with a distorted voice.

"Many powerful forces from all over the world have worked to make this possible. Influential people representing the governments of the UK, the United States, and Ecuador have all signed off on this unprecedented attack on journalism. These interests have acted against the people without fear because they believe that their positions of power will grant them protection from the karmic consequences of reality," the message said.

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Bullseye

The production of hemp can be part of a real "Green New Deal"

Matt Agorist
Free Thought Project
Mon, 15 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC
AOC hemp
Instead of taxing Americans into oblivion with $50 trillion programs to legislate a cleaner environment, cultivating hemp is a far better option.

In February, New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Democratic Senator Edward Markey introduced the Green New Deal, a radical piece of legislation designed to overhaul America's economy in the name of fighting global warming. The implementation of this "deal" is estimated to cost upwards of $50 trillion and may be as high as $90 trillion.

One of the Green New Deal's goals is to meet "100 percent of the power demand in the United States through clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources" in the next 10 years. This alone would cost taxpayers upwards of $13 trillion.


Comment: See: Beware Agenda 21 And Its Green New Deal: Plundering The World Under The Guise of 'Sustainable Development'


Exactly where this money would come from is a mystery as the US currently owes over $22 trillion in debt. The green new deal could prove to be catastrophic in regard to the economy and would like be riddled with corrupt government contracts and ineffective bureaucracies. Luckily, however, there is a free market solution to fighting pollution and fostering a cleaner more renewable future for generations to come. That solution is hemp.
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Fire

Day before Notre Dame fire, ANOTHER apartment complex exploded in Paris - 2nd such incident in 1 week


Sott.net
Tue, 16 Apr 2019 10:39 UTC
rue pajol explosion paris apartment
© Twitter / @marxdorm
A five-storey apartment complex at 49 Rue Pajol in the eighteenth arrondissement of the French capital was badly damaged by an explosion of unknown origin on Sunday night. The whole building has been evacuated because of the risk of it collapsing, with 70 residents being relocated to an emergency shelter.

Two apartments were completely destroyed. According to firefighters, a woman has suffered burns on 20% of her body, but she is in stable condition. A man was also slightly injured.

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Fire

Hmmm... Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem catches fire at the same time as Notre Dame cathedral


Gulf News
Tue, 16 Apr 2019 10:13 UTC
al aqsa mosque fire
The blaze didn’t cause significant damage, but it did endanger a part of the worship site that’s over 2,000 years old.
As the iconic cathedral of Notre Dame burned in Paris, a fire broke out at Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem

A fire broke out at the roof of a structure known as Al Marwani prayer room in Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

The blaze didn't cause significant damage, but it did endanger a part of the worship site that's over 2,000 years old.

The Palestine News Agency cited a guard as saying Monday that "the fire broke out in the guard's room outside the roof of the Marwani Prayer Room, and the fire brigade of Jerusalem Islamic Waqf handled the matter successfully."

Comment: The courtyard or the roof? A courtyard on the roof?

This small fire wouldn't be newsworthy, but for its extraordinary timing...

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Wall Street

Goldman analysts see lower credit costs for Indian lenders, boosting GDP

Anirban Nag
Bloomberg
Tue, 16 Apr 2019 09:49 UTC
goldman sachs
A decline in credit costs of Indian banks is likely to boost the capacity of lenders to extend loans and, in turn, boost growth in the world's fastest-growing major economy.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said India's measures to improve the recovery of bad loans and a recapitalization plan equivalent to 1.1 percent of gross domestic product will lower costs for lenders.

"We estimate that credit costs -- how much banks set aside each year to deal with bad loans -- could fall from a peak of 230 basis points of banking system assets, or around 3.3 trillion rupees ($48 billion), in FY18 to 120 basis points, or 1.9 trillion rupees, in FY20," the analysts said in a note.
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