Climate Change
Milestone events at UN to kick-start action on new sustainability goals, climate pact un.org
“From a historical perspective, this will be a great day for the United Nations,” Selwin Hart, the Director of the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Change Support Team, recently said in reference to this coming Friday, when leaders from more than 160 countries are expected at UN Headquarters to sign the Paris Agreement, adopted last December at the UN climate change conference (COP21).
Earth Day
When Passover and Earth Day meet (Opinion) jpost w!
Today’s Earth Day is also the Fast of the Firstborn, when people like me thank our lucky stars or some higher power that we were not the first born of ancient Egypt at a time when a certain people’s cries of slavery were finally answered against the CEO of corporate Egypt.
What do you get when you mix liberal Jew, eisegesis of Biblical text, misunderstanding of your nation's history, and sold-out-and-on-fire-believer in climate change? I don't know, but it is a mess.
Passover
Passover Sacrifice Makes Comeback Overlooking Temple Mount breakingisraelnews
Just four days before Passover, the day the Bible commands Israel to bring a lamb to the Temple to be sacrificed, a group of Kohanim (members of the Jewish priestly class) sacrificed a lamb on Mount Scopus overlooking the site of the Temple. The Kohanim wore ritual clothes conforming to Biblical requirements and were accompanied by music played on silver instruments specially made to serve in the Third Temple.
There are some interesting pictures but, be careful - the last couple include a slightly disturbing picture of the slain lamb.
False Peace
France announces global summit on Israel-Palestinian peace process timesofisrael
France will host a meeting of ministers from twenty countries on May 30 to try and relaunch the Israel-Palestinian peace process, Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault announced on Thursday. He told the international press, however, that Israel and the Palestinian officials would not be invited to the meeting, which will take place in Paris.
He said the discussions would be based on the 2002 Saudi peace initiative — approved by the Arab League but not Israel — which called on the Jewish state to withdraw from Palestinian territory occupied in the 1967 Six Day War, including East Jerusalem, in exchange for a normalization of ties with Arab countries. It also outlined the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza and envisaged a “just solution” of the refugee issue.
Israel
Israel will never leave Golan, Netanyahu tells Putin timesofisrael
“I have come to Russia to step up coordination on security matters, to prevent mistakes, misunderstandings,” Netanyahu said during the two leaders’ meeting in Moscow. “We are not going back to the days when rockets were fired at our communities and our children from the top of the Golan… and so, with an agreement or without, the Golan Heights will remain part of [Israel’s] sovereign territory.”
China
China's Xi Jinping takes commander in chief military title bbc
But he was already in military command, everyone knew that, and to most Chinese ears the phrase is unlikely to conjure up the same resonances as it does in English translation, with its obvious link to the seat of US military power.
See also China's Xi moves to take more direct command over military
China Deploys Troops as North Korea Plans Another Nuke Test sputniknews
According to the statement, many of the [2,000] Chinese troops are tasked with measuring radioactive emissions in the event that North Korea follows through with their proposed nuclear test.
China Confirms Multiple-Warhead Missile Test in South China Sea freebeacon
Responding to a report in the Washington Free Beacon on Tuesday, the ministry defended the missile launch in an unusual confirmation of a nuclear system test.
“It is normal for China to execute scientific experiments within its territory, and these experiments are not aimed at any specific country nor target,” the ministry said.
Venezula
Venezuela to ration electricity in power crisis business-standard
It is the latest drastic measure to alleviate a severe electricity crisis which President Nicolas Maduro and his government blame on the El Nino weather phenomenon that causes drought.
Society
Austrailian Premier pledges $15 million for Pride Centre smh.au v
The centre is planned to showcase LGBTI art and history, as well as house free advisory, health and support services, and community spaces.
Canada will initiate bill to legalize recreational marijuana in 2017 dw
Canada's Health Minister Jane Philpott told the UN General Assembly that the Ottawa government will introduce legislation to legalize marijuana in the spring of 2017.
This relates to the UN drug meeting mentioned in a post on this blog a couple days ago. Also see World governments consider changing course from 'war on drugs'.
L.A. school opens gender-neutral restroom, sparking protest from concerned parents christiantoday
School administrators opened the facility on Friday after receiving a petition from the school's Gay Straight Alliance. The petition was signed by 700 students and staff. Members of the alliance also picketed the school after a transgender male was prevented by a janitor from using the girls' restroom, the Christian News Network reports.
3D Printed Archaeology
Oetzi the Iceman Copied on 3D Printer news.discovery w!
Pre-existing CT scans were used to make the resin replica which was then sculpted and hand-painted by US artist Gary Staab over many months, the South Tyrol Museum of Archeology, where Oetzi is housed, said.
See also 5000yo iceman mummy ‘resurrected’ by 3D printer v w!. Also for some balance on this 'iceman mummy' (unrelated to the 3D printing aspect), see A Possible Creationist Perspective on the Tyrolean (Oetztaler) Ice Man (PDF, slightly technical, 13 pages).
Space
Mice in space showed liver damage after two weeks dnaindia
The findings could interest the US space agency, which plans to send people to deep space destinations such as an asteroid or Mars by the 2030s -- missions that will require long stays in space.
A Seriously MASSIVE Bubble Blown in Space Celebrates Hubble’s 26th Anniversary slate
What you’re seeing is the gas blowing outward from a massive star. Called SAO 20575, it’s the brightest star in the image, near the left edge of the bubble. And by massive, I mean somewhere between 10 and 40 times the mass of the Sun, so it’s a real bruiser.
Robotics
SRI International spins off robotics project, aiming at human augmentation techcrunch
Superflex is...a full-body suit filled with soft muscle-like actuators that detect your movements and give them a boost. But the suit, which has been in development for several years now, isn’t about jumping over buildings or punching through walls. Instead, that little boost is intended to be the difference that lets someone in physical therapy walk normally, or prevents a soldier getting lumbar problems from carrying 50 pounds on her back all day.
Education AI
These eerie virtual children could be better teachers than real adults businessinsider.au v
The bots helped raise maths, science, and reading test scores significantly in multiple studies, researcher Justine Cassell tells Tech Insider. Her team is testing the bots in public and charter schools in Pittsburgh and hopes to extend the studies over the course of a school year.
Unfortunately I couldn't find a "meaty" video on this one. The linked article doesn't provide much, nor does the one for the ArticuLab program. I did find it funny that there were at least two idential copies of this story with only the titles changed (the one above says 'eerie' while the one from Tech Insider says Virtual cartoon children look like a great way to teach kids). Guess it all just depends on your perspective :)
No comments :
Post a Comment