General CE Chat

SteveJ said:
The Earth Gazers – the missions to the moon

A new telling of the story of the Apollo astronauts between 1968 and 1972 involves nervous breakdowns, a former Nazi and an atheist church:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/oct/04/the-earth-gazers-by-christopher-potter-review


The mission that changed everything

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2008/nov/30/apollo-8-mission
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One of the earliest HBO historical series was From Earth to the Moon. It does not get anywhere near the attention Band of Brothers does but it is quite good. I suggest watching it.
 
I'm particularly interested in how going to the moon affected the astronauts psychologically. The book Moon Dust is good reading on this matter.
 
The FBI’s Hunt for Two Missing Piglets Reveals the Federal Cover-Up of Barbaric Factory Farms

FBI AGENTS ARE devoting substantial resources to a multistate hunt for two baby piglets that the bureau believes are named Lucy and Ethel. The two piglets were removed over the summer from the Circle Four Farm in Utah by animal rights activists who had entered the Smithfield Foods-owned factory farm to film the brutal, torturous conditions in which the pigs are bred in order to be slaughtered.

While filming the conditions at the Smithfield facility, activists saw the two ailing baby piglets laying on the ground, visibly ill and near death, surrounded by the rotting corpses of dead piglets. “One was swollen and barely able to stand; the other had been trampled and was covered in blood,” said Wayne Hsiung of Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), which filmed the facility and performed the rescue. Due to various illnesses, he said, the piglets were unable to eat or digest food and were thus a fraction of the normal weight for piglets their age.

Rather than leave the two piglets at Circle Four Farm to wait for an imminent and painful death, the DxE activists decided to rescue them. They carried them out of the pens where they had been suffering and took them to an animal sanctuary to be treated and nursed back to health.
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Under normal circumstances, a large industrial farming company such as Smithfield Foods would never notice that two sick piglets of the millions it breeds and then slaughters were missing. Nor would they care: A sick and dying piglet has no commercial value to them.

Yet the rescue of these two particular piglets has literally become a federal case — by all appearances, a matter of great importance to the Department of Justice. On the last day of August, a six-car armada of FBI agents in bulletproof vests, armed with search warrants, descended upon two small shelters for abandoned farm animals: Ching Farm Rescue in Riverton, Utah, and Luvin Arms in Erie, Colorado.

These sanctuaries have no connection to DxE or any other rescue groups. They simply serve as a shelter for sick, abandoned, or otherwise injured animals. Run by a small staff and a team of animal-loving volunteers, they are open to the public to teach about farm animals.

The attachments to the search warrants specified that the FBI agents could take “DNA samples (blood, hair follicles or ear clippings) to be seized from swine with the following characteristics: I. Pink/white coloring; II. Docked tails; III. Approximately 5 to 9 months in age; IV. Any swine with a hole in right ear.”

The FBI agents searched the premises of both shelters. They demanded DNA samples of two piglets they said were named Lucy and Ethel, in order to determine whether they were the two ailing piglets who had been rescued weeks earlier from Smithfield.

A representative of Luvin Arms, who insisted on anonymity due to fear of the pending criminal investigation, described the events. The FBI agents ordered staff and volunteers to stay away from the animals and then approached the piglets. To obtain the DNA samples, the state veterinarians accompanying the FBI used a snare to pressurize the piglet’s snout, thus immobilizing her in pain and fear, and then cut off close to two inches of the piglet’s ear.

The piglet’s pain was so severe, and her screams so piercing, that the sanctuary’s staff members screamed and cried. Even the FBI agents were so sufficiently disturbed by the resulting trauma, that they directed the veterinarians not to subject the second piglet to the procedure. The sanctuary representative recounted that the piglet who had part of her ear removed spent weeks depressed and scared, barely moving or eating, and still has not fully recovered. The FBI “receipt” given to the sanctuaries shows they took DNA samples “from swine.”

Several volunteers at one of the raided animal shelters said they were followed back to their homes by FBI agents, who dramatically questioned them in front of family members and neighbors. And there is even reason to believe that the bureau has been surveilling the activists’ private communications regarding the rescue of this piglet duo.

The FBI specified as part of its search that it was seeking DNA samples from piglets they said were named “Lucy” and “Ethel.” But those were not the names the activists used when publicly discussing the rescue of the two piglets. In their videos about the rescue, they called the pair “Lily” and “Lizzie.” Lucy and Ethel were code names the activists used internally, suggesting that agents were surveilling the activists’ communications — either electronically or through informants — in an effort to find the two piglets and build a criminal case against the group.
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What has vested these two piglets with such importance to the FBI is that their rescue is now part of what has become an increasingly visible public campaign by DxE and other activists to highlight the barbaric suffering and abuse that animals endure on farms like Circle Four. Obviously, the FBI and Smithfield — the nation’s largest industrial farm corporation — don’t really care about the missing piglets they are searching for. What they care about is the efficacy of a political campaign intent on showing the public how animals are abused at factory farms, and they are determined to intimidate those responsible.
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It's a very long article. IMO it shows how the FBI, the government's political police, is naturally also corporate police.

https://theintercept.com/2017/10/05/factory-farms-fbi-missing-piglets-animal-rights-glenn-greenwald/
 
Knowingly exposing others to HIV will no longer be a felony in California

Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Friday that lowers from a felony to a misdemeanor the crime of knowingly exposing a sexual partner to HIV without disclosing the infection.

The measure also applies to those who give blood without telling the blood bank that they are HIV-positive.

Modern medicine allows those with HIV to live longer lives and nearly eliminates the possibility of transmission, according to state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Assemblyman Todd Gloria (D-San Diego), authors of the bill.

“Today California took a major step toward treating HIV as a public health issue, instead of treating people living with HIV as criminals,” Wiener said in a statement. “HIV should be treated like all other serious infectious diseases, and that’s what SB 239 does.”

Supporters of the change said the current law requires an intent to transmit HIV to justify a felony, but others noted cases have been prosecuted where there was no physical contact, so there was an argument intent was lacking.

Brown declined to comment on his action.

HIV has been the only communicable disease for which exposure is a felony under California law. The current law, Wiener argued, may convince people not to be tested for HIV, because without a test they cannot be charged with a felony if they expose a partner to the infection.

“We are going to end new HIV infections, and we will do so not by threatening people with state prison time, but rather by getting people to test and providing them access to care,” Wiener said.

Supporters of the bill said women engaging in prostitution are disproportionately targeted with criminal charges, even in cases where the infection is not transmitted.

Republican lawmakers including Sen. Joel Anderson of Alpine voted against the bill, arguing it puts the public at risk.

“I’m of the mind that if you purposefully inflict another with a disease that alters their lifestyle the rest of their life, puts them on a regimen of medications to maintain any kind of normalcy, it should be a felony,” Anderson said during the floor debate. “It’s absolutely crazy to me that we should go light on this.”

Anderson said the answer could be to extend tougher penalties to those who expose others to other infectious diseases.

http://www.latimes.com/politics/ess...ades-from-felony-to-1507331544-htmlstory.html
 
https://www.nrk.no/urix/_-frykter-paradis-trues-av-_burkaforbud_-1.13733807

"Nikab og burka er forbudt, og kan straffes med bøter på opptil 150 euro.
– Det er stor sannsynlighet for at jeg ikke kommer tilbake hit, fordi jeg syns det begrenser den personlige friheten, når man ikke kan gå kledd som man vil, sier Alutbi Mansour fra Saudi-Arabia."

Translation: "Niqab and Burka are not allowed anymore in Austria, and wearers may be fined upto 150 euros.
- "I most likely won't be coming back here, because I think it limits the personal freedom, when you can't go dressed as you like Says Alutbi Mansour from Saudi-Arabia"

Hehehe, someone should tell him.
 
Classic CIA

We could develop a Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington. We could sink a boatload of Cubans enroute to Florida (real or simulated). We could foster attempts on lives of Cuban refugees in the United States even to the extent of wounding in instances to be widely publicized. Exploding a few plastic bombs in carefully chosen spots, the arrest of a Cuban agent and the release of prepared documents substantiating Cuban involvement also would be helpful in projecting the idea of an irresponsible government
...
He mentioned specifically the possibility of producing crop failures by the introduction of biological agents which would appear to be of natural origin. [McGeorge Bundy, the US Attorney General] said that he had no worries about any such sabotage which could clearly be made to appear as the result of local Cuban disaffection or of a natural disaster, but that we must avoid external activities such as the release of chemicals, etc., unless they could be completely covered up.
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https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/docid-32112987.pdf
https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/docid-32105754.pdf
 


Musk v Trump in 2020. They can competitively measure fortunes and monosyllabically insult reporters!
I want to die.
 
Anyone see this? Coast Guard thinks the two women created this hoax.

http://www.bravotv.com/below-deck/blogs/hawaii-women-sailors-lost-at-sea-story-hoax-reports

Two Women and Their Dogs' Wild Lost-at-Sea Story Captivated the World — But Was it All a Hoax?

The plot thickens for two Hawaii women.

It was the kind of story that seemed scripted for a Hollywood movie: Two Hawaii women rescued by the U.S. Navy reported they had been lost at sea after their boat was crippled and sent way off course by a storm, so they drifted desperately — with their two dogs — for six months. But did it really happen as they said it did?

New questions have emerged since Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fiava were found 900 miles from Japan last week. For instance, according to a list of peculiarities assembled by the Daily Mail, the woman claimed they did not have an emergency radio beacon on board, but the Coast Guard found one — which had never been activated. And the fierce storm they said they encountered near the beginning of their journey was not actually recorded by meteorologists.

Further, they claim that they considered turning back after the storm hit, but nearby Hawaiian islands didn't have harbors deep enough for their boat, which was false.

They said that, days later, they couldn't stop for repairs on a nearby "uninhabited" island — but indeed Christmas Island, is inhabited and welcomes large vessels. Instead, they charted a new course 1,000 miles away in the Cook Islands, hundreds of miles beyond their original destination of Tahiti. When off Tahiti in June, the captain of the ship was reported to have told the Coast Guard they were doing OK and expected to land the next day — but the tale ended much differently, much later.

The saga, now in doubt, continues. The Coast Guard is investigating. And the women defended their account according to local news outlet Hawaii News Now.
 
MrMarcello said:
Anyone see this? Coast Guard thinks the two women created this hoax.

http://www.bravotv.com/below-deck/blogs/hawaii-women-sailors-lost-at-sea-story-hoax-reports

Two Women and Their Dogs' Wild Lost-at-Sea Story Captivated the World — But Was it All a Hoax?

The plot thickens for two Hawaii women.

It was the kind of story that seemed scripted for a Hollywood movie: Two Hawaii women rescued by the U.S. Navy reported they had been lost at sea after their boat was crippled and sent way off course by a storm, so they drifted desperately — with their two dogs — for six months. But did it really happen as they said it did?

New questions have emerged since Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fiava were found 900 miles from Japan last week. For instance, according to a list of peculiarities assembled by the Daily Mail, the woman claimed they did not have an emergency radio beacon on board, but the Coast Guard found one — which had never been activated. And the fierce storm they said they encountered near the beginning of their journey was not actually recorded by meteorologists.

Further, they claim that they considered turning back after the storm hit, but nearby Hawaiian islands didn't have harbors deep enough for their boat, which was false.

They said that, days later, they couldn't stop for repairs on a nearby "uninhabited" island — but indeed Christmas Island, is inhabited and welcomes large vessels. Instead, they charted a new course 1,000 miles away in the Cook Islands, hundreds of miles beyond their original destination of Tahiti. When off Tahiti in June, the captain of the ship was reported to have told the Coast Guard they were doing OK and expected to land the next day — but the tale ended much differently, much later.

The saga, now in doubt, continues. The Coast Guard is investigating. And the women defended their account according to local news outlet Hawaii News Now.
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I started having doubts when I read what they claimed about the sharks.

They said that the tigersharks ganged up in a coordinated effort to try and tip over their 50 foot sailboat, and that they had to lie down and keep totally still in the boat because the sharks could hear them.

Clearly some attention seekers.
 
For Duke University students interested in learning about hedge funds and the economic forces that drive them, Economics 381S -- Inside Hedge Funds, taught by Linsey Lebowitz Hughes, a lecturing fellow of economics -- is probably a good place to start.

There’s just one small catch, found six bullet points down on the front page of the course syllabus.

“Anyone who is on the staff of The Chronicle is not permitted to take this class.”

Upon coming across this stipulation, staffers at The Chronicle, Duke’s student newspaper, naturally wrote an article about it. Economics department officials have remained tight-lipped since. In full, the bullet point barring student journalists from the class reads as follows (emphasis original):
Capture2.PNG
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https://www.insidehighered.com/news...197637061&mc_cid=56d068f9cd&mc_eid=354d8a19b4
 
berbatrick said:
I think Kafka would have struggled to create this one:

https://www.facebook.com/doug.henwood/posts/10155063409881475
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Her radio interview is fantastic - she researches offshore tax arrangements including the accountants involved, differences between the different havens, what exactly (more than avoiding taxes) rich people want by putting their assets there, etc

https://kpfa.org/episode/behind-the-news-november-16-2017/
6:40 to 27:40

Edit: 2nd interview has a funny portion. It's an interview of this author. He's saying evangelicals on Mississippi talk radio aren't climate change deniers but are demanding faster heating to hasten the apocalypse.
 
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Apple’s iPhone X assembled by illegal student labour
Interns say they were ‘forced’ to work at Foxconn plant in China in order to graduate
Apple’s main supplier in Asia has been employing students illegally working overtime to assemble the iPhone X, as it struggles to catch up with demand after production delays. Six high school students told the Financial Times they routinely work 11-hour days assembling the iPhone X at a factory in Zhengzhou, China, which constitutes illegal overtime for student interns under Chinese law. The six said they were among a group of 3,000 students from Zhengzhou Urban Rail Transit School sent in September to work at the local facility run by Taiwan-based Apple supplier Hon Hai Precision Industry, better known as Foxconn. The students, aged 17 to 19, said they were told that a three-month stint at the factory was required “work experience” that they had to complete in order to graduate.
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https://www.ft.com/content/7cb56786-cda1-11e7-b781-794ce08b24dc
 
Silva said:
Reading between the lines, does this mean unpaid/extreme law wages?
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Yes, I'm assuming they were paid an intern's (surely lower) stipend, but had to do an employees' work *and* overtime.
 
berbatrick said:
Yes, I'm assuming they were paid an intern's (surely lower) stipend, but had to do an employees' work *and* overtime.
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reddit user said:
It's very common in China. Apple even has an entire section of their work policy about it:

https://images.apple.com/supplier-responsibility/pdf/Apple-Supplier-Responsible-Standards.pdf

(student worker protections section)

But it's hard to stop because in China the schools make deals with factories to supply labor to the factories. The schools the require their students to work at the factories to get a degree. They do it under the table now that it's not allowed to be explicit.

It's hard to stop something that is so commonly practiced and accepted.
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