Society's ChildS


Battery

Research shows one third of smartphone notifications worsen mood

Sarah Knapton
The Telegraph
Mon, 02 Oct 2017 20:00 UTC
Man using smartphone app
© Getty Images
Smartphones were meant to make life easier, but a new study suggests that one third of notifications which pop up cause a downturn in our mood.

A team at Nottingham Trent University investigated the effect on mood as 50 participants received thousands of digital alerts over a five-week period.

Out of more than half a million notifications, they found that 32 per cent resulted in negative emotions, triggering users to feel hostile, upset, nervous, afraid or ashamed.

Notifications relating to non-human activity - such as general phone updates and wifi availability - had the worst impact on phone users' mood, the researchers found.

Faceless updates from apps were the most frustrating work-related notifications also had a negative impact on mood, particularly when they arrived in bulk.
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Nuke

Scientists find 'unexpected' radioactivity in groundwater and sands 100km away from Fukushima power plant


RT
Tue, 03 Oct 2017 14:05 UTC
Fukushimna radiation
© Toru Hanai / Reuters
Six years on, consequences of the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant continue to uncover. Scientists say they've found new and "unexpected" source of radioactive material dozens of kilometers away from the site.

New radioactivity has been discovered in salty groundwater and sands beneath beaches up to 100km away from the disaster site, according to the findings published in 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences' journal on Monday.

Researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in the US and Japan's Kanazawa University revealed high levels of persistent cesium-137 in eight beaches, sampled for the study between 2013 and 2016.

These levels turned out to be up to 10 times higher than levels in seawater of the power plant harbor, according to the press release on the WHOI website.

Comment:

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Smoking

Full smoking ban in Estonia prisons causes no 'noteworthy' incidents


The Baltic Times
Mon, 02 Oct 2017 16:34 UTC
Cigarette burning
Smoking was banned in Estonian prisons starting from Sunday and the Ministry of Justice said that the ban has not caused any noteworthy incidents.

Spokespeople for the Ministry of Justice told BNS that implementing a full ban on smoking went calmly and no serious incident regarding the smoking ban has been reported.

Spokespeople said that the rules as of 2010 say that inmates cannot be in possession of tobacco products. Cigarettes and other tobacco products are in the possession of prison staff and the inmates were allowed to smoke up to three cigarettes per day and only in the walking area.

"Smoking has been strongly restricted in prisons for seven years already," spokespeople said. "Therefore, only newly arrived inmates can have strong tobacco addiction, but not the longer term inmates. They said that the restrictions set in place in 2010 were psychologically more difficult.
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Info

Puerto Rican mayor reveals truth behind San Juan mayor's politically motivated attack on Trump

Chris Enloe
The Blaze
Tue, 03 Oct 2017 16:00 UTC
San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz
© Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesA Puerto Rican mayor is directly refuting the claims of San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, who has openly criticized the federal government for allegedly not providing enough help after Hurricane Maria devastated the island.
The mayor of a city that directly borders San Juan, Puerto Rico, is casting doubt on the claims of San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, who directly criticized Trump's administration on Friday for not efficiently helping the island after a powerful hurricane devastated it.

What did Yulín Cruz allege?

Yulín Cruz, a Democrat, has alleged in numerous interviews that the federal government has not done enough to support Puerto Rico in the wake of the hurricane. She even claimed that "we are going to see is something close to a genocide" if Trump and government agencies didn't do more to help.

What others say?

However, many other top Puerto Rican politicians, including Gov. Ricardo Rossello, have been very complimentary of the government's efforts to provide aid. One mayor in particular, Guaynabo's Angel Perez, is speaking out directly against Yulín Cruz and her claims that the government isn't doing enough to help.
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Red Flag

Negligence or useful 'accident'? Latest depot fire destroyed more ammo than Ukraine military has used during its three-year civil war


Sputnik
Mon, 02 Oct 2017 20:07 UTC
explosion ukraine military depot sept 2017
© ReutersMassive explosions and a blaze at a military ammunition depot in central Ukraine forced authorities to evacuate 24,000 people and close airspace over the region
Officials have calculated that last week's massive fire at an ammunition depot in central Ukraine has caused $800 million in damage, destroying over a quarter more ammo than Kiev has used over the course of its three-year war with independence supporters in eastern Ukraine.

According to Ukrainian television network TSN, the fire, which ignited last Tuesday at the Kalinovka base in Vinnitsa region, resulted in the loss of about 32,000 metric tons of ammunition (about 25% more than the estimated 24,000 tons used so far in the Ukrainian military's operations in the Donbass), and forced authorities to close 50 km-worth of airspace around the base.

More importantly, the network explained that the vast arsenal at the base was one of many left behind by the Soviet army as it withdrew from Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The vast arsenal there was placed in temporary storage facilities, often in areas not properly cleared for weapons storage.


Comment: Thousands forced to flee, airspace closed after munitions warehouse explodes in central Ukraine - UPDATE

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Eye 1

The New Establishment and the battle for the future

Nick Bilton
Vanity Fair
Sun, 01 Oct 2017 15:39 UTC
Apple Facebook Uber google
© Tamara Shopsi
Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, and Facebook have remade the economy in their image. So what happens if they turn on each other?

It was getting close to midnight at the Slanted Door, Charles Phan's renowned Vietnamese restaurant in the Ferry Building, overlooking San Francisco Bay. Outside, Teslas and Priuses were making their way along I-80, over the bridge toward Oakland and Berkeley; a few lights from the tankers, trawling the waters past Yerba Buena Island, flickered like fireflies. A cold early-October breeze rippled the waves.

C.E.O.'s are an early-waking group, and inside the restaurant only a few stragglers remained from the speakers' dinner of Vanity Fair's third annual New Establishment Summit. Bob Iger and Richard Plepler had left at least an hour earlier. Sarah Jessica Parker and Jony Ive were gone, too. Meanwhile, the restaurant staff was carefully bustling around the sleek, modernist dining room, whisking away wineglasses and stacking empty dessert plates after another busy night in America's idea capital.
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Sheriff

Research shows crime is actually reduced when proactive policing is curtailed

Jack Burns
The Free Thought Project
Tue, 03 Oct 2017 00:00 UTC
police state
Current US police practices INCREASE crime
It may seem counter-intuitive to some, but a new scientific research study suggests that crime can be reduced by cutting back on proactive policing. In other words, getting rid of modern-day policing policies and community-based policing may, in fact, reduce crime altogether.

The results of the research study were published in the journal Nature, and is titled, "Evidence that curtailing proactive policing can reduce major crime". The problem being studied was whether or not "high rates of police stops, criminal summonses, and aggressive low-level arrests reduce serious crime."

The researchers acknowledge law enforcement agencies will deploy their human resources (officers) to areas where crime is to be expected which provokes a response by the community to either comply with the law or execute their plans to commit crimes, often as a result of the police presence in the community.

Comment: Bureaucrats with weapons: Are police really necessary?

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Book

Evergreen College sanctions 80 snowflake students and issues a guide on how to deal with free speech like an adult

Emily Zanotti
The Daily Wire
Mon, 02 Oct 2017 09:46 UTC
evergreen college
Evergreen State College doled out punishments to 80 students they say were involved in an incident last spring that led to a schoolwide shutdown and a million dollar legal settlement.

They've also issued a handbook to students explaining, in great detail, how to handle the concept of "free speech" and what students should do if they encounter an opposing viewpoint (hint: it's not riot until the school shuts down and harass a professor and his wife out of their jobs).

Evergreen is facing both a budget and an enrollment crisis since students attacked Professor Bret Weinstein last May, alleging that he was "racist" for choosing not to participate in an event designed to show the impact of minority students on campus - but would have required all white students and faculty to stay home. Students became so enraged at the incident that they seized control of campus facilities, driving off campus safety officers and forcing the school to shut down for several days.
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Black Cat

CBS fires its special counsel who said that Vegas victims didn't deserve sympathy - because country music fans often are 'Republican gun toters'

Brian Flood
Fox News
Mon, 02 Oct 2017 00:00 UTC
CBS VP fired
CBS has parted ways with one of the company's top lawyers after she said she was "not even sympathetic" to victims of the Las Vegas shooting because "country music fans often are Republican," when discussing the mass shooting that unfolded in Las Vegas late Sunday night.

Monday night she issued a statement of apology.

Hayley Geftman-Gold, the network's now-former vice president and senior counsel, said, "Earlier today I posted an indefensible post in a Facebook discussion thread concerning the tragic Las Vegas shooting, a statement I sincerely regret. I am deeply sorry for diminishing the significance of every life affected by Stephen Paddock's terrorism last night and for the pain my words have inflicted on the loved ones of the victims. My shameful comments do not reflect the beliefs of my former employer, colleagues, family, and friends. Nor do they reflect my actual beliefs - this senseless violence warrants the deepest empathy. I understand and accept all consequences that my words have incurred."
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Airplane

UK's Monarch Airlines goes bust, leaving holidaymakers stranded


BBC News
Mon, 02 Oct 2017 09:17 UTC
cancelled flights
Departure boards at Luton airport showed cancelled Monarch flights
Monarch Airlines has ceased trading and all its future flights and holidays have been cancelled, affecting hundreds of thousands of customers.

About 860,000 people have lost bookings and more than 30 planes will be sent by the Civil Aviation Authority to return 110,000 holidaymakers who are overseas.

Monarch employs about 2,100 people and reported a £291m loss last year.

Terror attacks in Tunisia and Egypt, increased competition, and the weak pound have been blamed for its demise.

Theresa May's official spokesman said the prime minister "feels hugely sorry" for those affected by a "very distressing situation".
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