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[PHOTO] Centre Island seagull
Sep. 10th, 2015 10:06 am
I liked this bird.
Sep. 10th, 2015
I liked this bird.
Bloomberg View's Leonid Bershidsky notes the upset of Russian oligarchs and other regime figures faced with sanctions preventing their entry into the European Union.
Dmitry Kiselyov, the public face of President Vladimir Putin's propaganda machine and one of the regime's top functionaries, is suing the European Union for subjecting him to a travel ban and asset freeze on the grounds that he backed Russia's military intervention in Ukraine.
The case provides an interesting insight into the psychology of Putin's acolytes, who have long viewed Western Europe as their playground. Now, they refuse to believe they have been cast out.
Quicktake Financial War
Kiselyov is head of the state-owned information agency Russia Today. When he took over in December 2013, he told employees: "Often, under the slogan of objectivity, we distort the concept: We look at our country as if it were somebody else's. I think this period of 'distilled' journalism is over." He puts those precepts into practice every Sunday night, as the anchor of "Vesti Nedeli," one of the 10 most popular Russian TV shows. His program is a relentless stream of anti-Western invective, delivered with a mixture of anger, sarcasm and exaggerated patriotism. The effect on the viewer is akin to being under heavy artillery fire.
Kiselyov was added to the EU sanctions list on March 21, 2014, as a "central figure of the government propaganda supporting the deployment of Russian forces in Ukraine." On Monday, the EU's official journal published details of his lawsuit against the EU Council, filed May 22, 2015. It says he "never expressed support 'for the deployment of Russian forces in Ukraine' as the Council claims."
That denial can be contested with a YouTube search.
CBC News' Terry Roberts suggests that the slowdown in the Canadian oil economy has had less of an impact in Newfoundland than in Alberta, mainly because the offshore oil of Newfoundland is less labour-intensive than Alberta's land-based extraction.
Newfoundland and Labrador's oil industry is cutting costs and deferring some capital spending, but has avoided Alberta-style cuts that have resulted in thousands of job losses.
A recent report estimated some 35,000 Alberta oilsands jobs have disappeared in the last year. That's from a directed workforce estimated at nearly 150,000 in 2014.
The axe has not come down quite so hard on oil jobs in this province, where an estimated 10,000 people work directly in the industry.
"We're talking in the 100 range as opposed to tens of thousands of [job losses] in Western Canada," said Paul Barnes of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.
CBC reports on the latest Conservative embarrassment re: refugees.
The atmosphere turned sour at a Conservative Party event in Welland, Ont., when reporters asked Stephen Harper about Syrian refugees.
[. . .]
Journalists began to shout at Harper, asking for specifics. He didn't offer any, but the crowd was obviously displeased.
When a third reporter said she was following up on the refugee story as well, the crowd began to groan in frustration at the media.
One supporter shouted at journalists. "How many kids drowned in pools in Canada since last summer? Do you blame the government for that?"
Harper interjected to try to encourage the reporter to continue with her question.
"OK, OK. Go ahead," he said.
The reporter proceeded to ask Harper once again about his security concerns.
"We will help refugees. We will also protect Canadians on security and we are committed to doing both of these things."
Reporters continued to shout "How?" but the questions were ignored.
Sarah Nasr of Al-Monitor looks at the opening of Istanbul's first Arabic-language bookstore.
Turkey has become the biggest host of refugees in the world. Syrians make up 45% of the total number of refugees in the country. As the number of Syrians in Turkey, especially Istanbul, increases, a group of Syrian intellectuals has sought to revive the Syrian cultural scene and create a platform for cultural exchange between Arabs and Turks. In this context, the first major Arabic bookstore in Istanbul was inaugurated in June under the name of Pages, or Safahat in Arabic.
Samer Qadri, a Syrian painter and one of the founders of the bookstore and cafe, told Al-Monitor, “Pages aims to be the first Arab cultural platform in Turkey to allow cultural exchange between Arabs, Turks and all other nationalities, given Istanbul’s central location and the fact that it attracts tourists from various countries.”
Pages displays books in Arabic, English, French and Turkish. Qadri said, “The bookstore was founded by four people: three Syrians and a Jordanian friend. We decided to open up a bookstore in Istanbul and personally funded it in the hope it will represent a fresh Arab cultural facade to contribute to the spreading of Arabic and translated books, as well as organizing lectures and cultural and artistic events to reflect the Arab refugee experiences, Syrians’ in particular.”
Qadri stressed that the bookstore and cafe is not intended to make a profit, as all events, seminars and exhibitions are free of charge. For a small fee, people can check out books or buy them for affordable prices. Pages also provides special shipping services from Arab and international publishers to facilitate access to books and avoid high shipping fees, which might be a burden some frequenters of the bookstore, especially students, cannot shoulder.
The Toronto Sun's Michael Peake reported on the opening of a century-old time capsule at Toronto's Summerhill station.
The trains don’t stop there anymore, but for a moment time did, as the 100-year-old time capsule from the former North Toronto train station was opened Wednesday.
The station, on Yonge St. between St. Clair Ave. and Davenport Rd., was modelled after St. Mark’s Square in Venice and in use for only 15 years until Union Station opened. The LCBO has occupied the location since 1940 — most of those years hidden behind drop ceilings and makeshift walls that concealed the marble and workmanship.
[. . .]
The copper box, which was located under the cornerstone – much to the surprise of workers who spent weeks finding it, was soldered shut and reopened the night before the unveiling.
There are pristine copies of the six daily newspapers in Toronto at the time — no, not the Toronto Sun, but its predecessor the Telegram. Also inside were stamps, coins, letters and a magnificent set of linen blueprints for the design of the station, which was built to the highest standards.
Torontoist's Kate Fane reports on the interesting-sounded new Queen West bookstore Flying Books, run by a former book publisher who is curating collections.
In Neil Gaiman’s 2012 commencement address at the University of the Arts, he stresses the importance of establishing a mountain: a goal towards which you direct all your creative energies. When making career decisions, you have to weigh whether the path will take you closer or farther away from your mountain (regardless of salary) and then choose accordingly.
It’s an idea that keeps coming up during our conversation with Martha Sharpe, the owner of the newly opened Flying Books. Her mountain has always been discovering, polishing, and promoting excellent works of fiction, though her ascension hasn’t been without its setbacks. During her 12 years at House of Anansi press, she was credited with introducing the country to award-winning authors like Michael Winter and Lisa Moore. But after relocating from New York to take on the role of Editorial Director at Simon & Schuster Canada, Sharpe found herself laid off after just 11 months.
Sharpe’s now on a slightly different track to her peak, this time as a literary retailer who carefully selects each work she sells. And like with any responsible climb, she isn’t doing it alone. Flying Books is located inside the Weekend Variety, the “Cultural Gifts Shop” owned by gallerist Katharine Mulherin, whom Sharpe describes as a “community hub” unto herself.
This is huge. From National Geographic's Jane J./ Lee, news that sperm whales have a culture.
More, including links to the study, at the site.
New ways to grab dinner, the trick to using a tool, and learning the local dialect. These are behaviors that animals pick up from each other. Killer whales, chimpanzees, and birds seem to have a cultural component to their lives. Now a new study suggests that sperm whales should be added to that list.
The ocean around the Galápagos Islands hosts thousands of female sperm whales and their calves that have organized into clans with their own dialects. (Mature males congregate in colder waters near the poles.) How these clans form has been something of a mystery until now.
A study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications suggests that culture—behaviors shared by group members—keeps these sperm whale clans together. Specifically, these deep-diving whales have a distinct series of clicks called codas they use to communicate during social interactions.
Sperm whales with similar behaviors spend time together, and they pick up vocalizations from each other. Scientists call this social learning. Whales that "speak the same language" stick together, giving rise to the clans that researchers have observed for more than 30 years. (Read about humpback whale culture.)
This is one more pillar of support for the idea that animals have culture, says lead study author Mauricio Cantor, a marine biologist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada.
More, including links to the study, at the site.
Homo naledi has just been discovered in South Africa, and as IFL Science notes this is hugely important.
textbook-worthy accident, H. naledi was first stumbled upon two years ago by amateur cavers during an exploration of a cave system known as Rising Star, located within South Africa’s famous Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. From this, the Rising Star Expedition was born, starting in November 2013 with a 21 day exploration involving a team of 60 scientists and volunteer cavers. Expecting to recover a single skeleton, just three days in they realized they had much more than that, “something different and extraordinary,” research leader Lee Berger said at a press event IFLScience attended.
That something different turned out to be not several, but 15 individuals from a single hominin species, represented by more than 1,500 fossil elements found within a single chamber in total darkness some 90 meters (295 feet) from the entrance. Named in tribute to the chamber, naledi means “star” in the South African language Sesotho. And sure, 1,500 sounds like a lot, is a lot, but the team believes that there are thousands and thousands of remains still untouched. “The floor is practically made of bones of these individuals,” Berger added.
Homo naledi. cc John Hawks_Wits University
In fact, so many have been recovered that almost every skeletal element of the body is represented multiple times throughout different age groups, from infants to teens, to young adults and the elderly. And the species seems to be a wonderful pick and mix of both primitive and human-like features. An exceptionally tall hominid, the bipedal H. naledi stood at around 150 centimeters (5 feet) and was distinctively slender, with powerful, well-muscled joints. Its skinny human proportions and long legs likely relate to the fact that it didn’t have to support much bodyweight, weighing in at around 45 kilograms (100 pounds).
Tall this species may have been, but members had an astonishingly tiny head. So tiny that their brains were as small as that of the smallest australopith – a group of extinct early hominins – with the females’ brains only being slightly larger than a chimpanzee’s at around 450-550 cubic centimeters (27-34 cubic inches). There was only a very small discrepancy between males and females, not just in terms of brain size but throughout the entire body. In fact, all of the individuals were remarkably similar, more so than if you were looking at sets of identical human twins, Berger said. Consequently, it is believed the individuals were likely closely related, perhaps a multi-generational family.
The mashup of Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get Blue Monday Out of My Head" and the New Order classic "Blue Monday" is probably one of the highest-profile mashups out there. I mentioned the song parenthetically in a 2004 post on mashups and popular culture.
Below is the official mix.
This is the extended mix, two minutes long.
Here's is a 2002 live performance by Kylie.
Below is the official mix.
This is the extended mix, two minutes long.
Here's is a 2002 live performance by Kylie.