Society's ChildS


Boat

Castaway survives 15 months at sea, gets sued for $1mn, accused of 'eating' his crewmate


Rt
Thu, 17 Dec 2015 21:17 UTC
castaway
© Jose Cabezas / ReutersCastaway fisherman Jose Salvador Alvarenga.
A fisherman from El Salvador who was lost at sea for 438 days but miraculously survived is being sued for $1 million by the family of his dead crewmate, who accuse him of eating their son's remains in order not to starve to death.

Salvador Alvarenga, 36, is the only man in the world to have survived so long stranded at sea, but he might now have to pay $1 million to the family of Ezequiel Cordoba - the man who accompanied him on his shark fishing trip in November 2012.
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Bell

Homeless are taking refuge in LaGuardia Airport

Danielle Furfaro
New York Post
Mon, 14 Dec 2015 01:43 UTC
A homeless man sleeps on a ledge at LaGuardia Airport
© Georgett RobertsA homeless man sleeps on a ledge at LaGuardia Airport
LaGuardia Airport has become so riddled with homeless that it could now even make some 3rd world nations look good.

The number of homeless living at the airport has increased dramatically in the past year, turning the main terminal into the city's most popular de facto crashpad, where they sleep, eat and wash up while competing for space with passengers, according to Port Authority sources.

At least 50 homeless people live inside the airport's Terminal B, which anyone can get into without passing through security, sources said.

Comment: The Port Authority's main goal is to provide them services? Then quit dragging your arse about it (or lying about your intent) and get busy helping! Sheesh.

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Wolf

Oregon is the latest target of effort to get rid of national forests

Jenny Rowland
Climate Progress
Mon, 14 Dec 2015 23:50 UTC
English Peak, located within the Klamath National Forest
© WikiMediaEnglish Peak, located within the Klamath National Forest
A draft bill recently released by U.S. Representative Greg Walden (R-OR) proposes to dispose of hundreds of thousands of acres of national forest land in Oregon's Klamath River Basin so that it can be clear-cut or auctioned off to the highest bidder.

The proposal, which is the latest in a series of attempts by right-wing politicians to seize or sell-off national public lands, is so controversial that observers say it could spark a renewed water war in Rep. Walden's home state of Oregon.
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Quenelle

Thailand: Man faces 37 years in prison for insulting the king's dog

Carey Wedler
The Anti Media
Wed, 16 Dec 2015 23:10 UTC
King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Tongdaeng
© ReutersKing Bhumibol Adulyadej and Tongdaeng
In America, we often joke that what we post on the internet might land us in prison, but for the time being — though perhaps not for long — we are generally safe to say what we like about the government. We worry mostly only about the "slap on the wrist" of probably being placed on a watch list.

A man in Thailand, however, faces 37 years in prison for criticizing the king's dog on the internet, as well as allegedly insulting the monarchy.

Thanakorn Siripaiboon, a factory worker, faced trial this week in a military court for making a "sarcastic" comment about the king's dog online. Though officials declined to cite any specific statements, CBS News reports the man shared an "inappropriate" picture of the dog and liked a photo disparaging to the king.
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Che Guevara

Ouch! Teen punches Spanish PM Rajoy square in the face during election event


RT
Wed, 16 Dec 2015 23:09 UTC
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy
© Vincent West / ReutersSpanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, one of the four leading candidates for Spain's general election, arrives to a campaign rally in Santander, Spain, December 15, 2015.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was punched in the face on Wednesday during an election event in his home region of Galicia in the northwest of the country.

A young man caught the conservative politician by surprise during an event in Pontevedra, punching him hard and knocking his glasses off.

Rajoy was not hurt in the incident, according to a People's Party spokesperson, but he later appeared with a deep red mark on his face.

"I'm fine, and on the way to a rally in Coruna," he wrote later on Twitter.
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Health

Secret Service agent who was suspended over domestic incident shot and killed


Fox 5 DC
Wed, 16 Dec 2015 21:04 UTC
secret service
The U.S. Secret Service says a uniformed officer who was suspended after being charged in a domestic incident earlier this year has been shot and killed.

District of Columbia police say USSS Uniformed Division Officer Arthur Baldwin was shot and killed shortly before 3 p.m. in a residential neighborhood in southwest Washington on Tuesday. Police are looking for three people in connection with the shooting, but have released no information about them or a possible motive. Baldwin was placed on leave and his security clearance was suspended in April after he was charged with trying to break into his girlfriend's house while armed. His most recent court appearance was on Tuesday, a few hours before he was slain. He was scheduled for trial in February.

In a statement, USSS said:

"Secret Service is aware of the information. We express condolences to the family of our employee. Any inquiries regarding the investigation should be directed to Metropolitan Police Department."
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Health

Russia's humanitarian aid to troubled Luhansk and Donetsk regions exceeds 114,000 tons


ITAR-TASS
Wed, 16 Dec 2015 21:03 UTC
Russian aid to Donbass
© Valery Sharifulin/TASS
Russia delivered more than 114,000 tons of humanitarian cargos to Ukraine's embattled Donbas region during the conflict, Russian Federation Council Deputy Speaker Yuri Vorobyov told the Rossiya-24 TV channel on Wednesday.

According to him, Russia's Emergencies Ministry humanitarian aid convoys "have already delivered more than 57,000 tons of cargoes to the troubled Luhansk and Donetsk regions."

"Other channels, such as railroads and transportations organized by Russians or non-commercial organizations, made it possible to deliver the same amount of cargos or even more," the senator said. "It was really colossal flow of assistance, necessary for those living in east Ukraine. And Russia has managed to render aid of the kind."

Vorobyov pointed to the efficiency of the Federation Council's initiative to set up a committee on public support to east Ukraine residents, including through coordination of the humanitarian aid delivery.
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Robot

Your boss could be a robot five years from now

Catey Hill
Market Watch
Wed, 16 Dec 2015 20:52 UTC
robots
Robots are after your boss' job.

Managers spend much of their day working on tasks that robots will do better in the future, according to a survey released Wednesday by Accenture Strategy, the strategy arm of the global professional services company.

More than 8 in 10 managers say they spend a significant part of their day planning and coordinating work, 65% solving problems and related tasks, 52% monitoring and reporting performance and 45% analyzing and sharing information, according to the survey, which questioned 1,700 managers across 17 industries.

But in roughly five to 10 years, intelligent machines will likely be able to do many of these tasks more effectively than humans, says Bob Thomas, the managing director of Accenture Strategy. "We are entering a different kind of technological era," he says -- one in which robots play a much bigger role at work.

Comment: Jobs are already hard enough to find. Introduce robots to replace possibly half the American workforce, and you have even more poor, unemployed people who will be angry and want to blame someone for their predicaments.

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People 2

Professor issues call to fund studies on how to prevent possible zombie outbreak

Stacey Leigh Gonzalez
Latinos Health
Tue, 15 Dec 2015 20:36 UTC
zombies
Can a zombie apocalypse really occur? Tara Smith, an associate professor from Ohio's Kent State University is issuing an international call to action to fund and promote studies on how to prevent a possible zombie outbreak.

"Zombie expert Matt Mogk defines a zombie with three criteria: it is a reanimated human corpse; it is relentlessly aggressive, and it is biologically infected and infectious. But Mogk notes that this definition has been altered by the recognition of "rage" zombies, which are infected but still alive," Smith wrote on a recently published BMJ study.

Smith cited several scientific studies, news reports and fictional works to back up her research. As listed on Discovery News, the author specified three possible pathogens that could cause an outbreak: the Black Plague bacteria Y. pestis, mad cow disease as well as the Cordyceps fungus.

Out of the three pathogens, it is the Cordyceps fungus which is the most common, with 400 known species. According to the publication, the parasitic fungus invades the body of its host and takes over, using the body as a means to make the fungus spores spread.
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Brick Wall

Dismantling the Israeli wall of denial and belligerence, one brick at a time

Yoav Litvin
Counterpunch
Wed, 16 Dec 2015 00:00 UTC
Israeli wall
This past Sunday (December 13th, 2015) the first Haaretz Q conference took place at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City. Self-described as "an opportunity to ask and discuss the most pressing questions around Israel today and engage in a new Israeli American discussion about the future", the conference began with keynote addresses by prominent politicians such as Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, Member of Knesset (MK) and former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Secretary General Dr. Saeb Erekat. US President Barack Obama was also "in attendance", addressing the star-struck audience via a short prerecorded welcoming address.

Greeted with the respect of a standing crowd of hundreds in the main hall at The Roosevelt, President Rivlin began his speech by stating that although he does not agree "to say the least" with Haaretz's "very specific agenda" (which he later admitted was anti establishment, not just targeted at past and present right wing governments), he reads the paper every morning in order to understand points of view other than his own. Haaretz "is a beacon for a freedom of expression in Israel", testimony to the country's rich democratic culture, apparently. He then continued with a predictable circling-of-the-wagons-style defense of Israeli actions:

Comment: Faced with the facts, Israel doesn't have a moral leg to stand on. Rather, they stand on a wall of lies, deceit and deception that the world is quickly catching on to. The soldiers of Breaking the Silence, and other Israelis brave enough to speak out and champion the truth are nothing less than true heroes in this upside down, black is white, bad is good world of lies they (and we) are mired in. They deserve our every respect and support.

See also: and:

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