Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Link Is Seen Between Virginia Student’s Disappearance and 2009 Killing - NYTimes.com

Link Is Seen Between Virginia Student’s Disappearance and 2009 Killing - NYTimes.com: "The arrest last week of a suspect in the disappearance of a University of Virginia student has led to a “significant break” in the investigation into the killing of another college student five years ago, officials said on Monday.

The suspect, Jesse L. Matthew Jr., 32, a hospital worker, was arrested in Texas, and the police said that he was the last person seen with the student, Hannah Graham, 18, who has been missing since Sept. 13. His arrest has provided a “new forensic link” for police investigating the death of Morgan D. Harrington, a 20-year-old Virginia Tech student who disappeared from the University of Virginia campus during a concert in 2009, the Virginia State Police said in a statement."



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MH370 search reveals vast underwater world with huge volcanoes and ridges deeper than the Grand Canyon | National Post

MH370 search reveals vast underwater world with huge volcanoes and ridges deeper than the Grand Canyon | National Post: "Until now, scientists had better maps of the surface of Mars than of this ocean floor.

These images show for the first time a dramatic underwater landscape with mountains higher than Mont Blanc and ridges deeper than the Grand Canyon – all 4.5 kilometres below the surface of the Southern Indian Ocean.

The discoveries were made as part of the hunt for the missing Malaysian airliner, flight MH370, which disappeared six months ago.

Experts used pulses of sound, which are bounced off the sea bed, to uncover this previously uncharted world."



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Nurse's big heart for babies lands her national award

Nurse's big heart for babies lands her national award: "The best way to illustrate why she received that honor is to describe what happened 10 years ago, when a tiny girl came under Hall’s care. Like Kashmir, Kristianne Lilly was born at 26 weeks. She weighed 1 pound, 7 ounces, and Hall was her primary nurse. Kristianne’s mother, Mary Ann Lilly, remembers that time in her life and the role the nurse played in it.
 
“It was so hard, and Stephanie made it better by taking time to explain complicated medical terms, encouraging our family to take care of ourselves, letting me stay by Kristi’s side, and coordinating Kristi’s care with the neonatologist and others,” Lilly said."



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Monday, September 29, 2014

A deeper look at Old Mountain View | News | Palo Alto Online |

A deeper look at Old Mountain View | News | Palo Alto Online |: "Seven homes, dating from 1895 to just last year, highlight the upcoming Mountain View Educational Foundation house tour through Old Mountain View this weekend.

The homes on Franklin and Villa streets, within easy walking distance of each other, include a Victorian with a chicken coop; a 1907 home remodeled in 1998; a Craftsman with many original details; a couple from the 1920s, each recently remodeled; and two newly constructed homes."



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Why George Clooney is a very lucky man - Telegraph

Why George Clooney is a very lucky man - Telegraph: "There are two ways of looking at the marriage of George Clooney to Amal Alamuddin in Venice this past weekend. The first is the most common one: “Wow, the world’s most eligible bachelor and Hollywood heart-throb has finally been bagged – what a lucky woman!” The second turns that on its head. One relative has been quoted as telling a journalist that “George will run for office now, as marriage to Amal will open so many doors for him”. In other words, she is the bigger catch.
Alamuddin is one of the world’s most successful campaigning human rights lawyers and a very big deal in her own right. She, along with 99 other women who are calling the shots in their lives and having an impact on the wider world, makes the joint GQ/Editorial Intelligence inaugural list of the “100 Most Connected Women in Britain” published today. And for good reason."



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Riot Police Withdrawn from Hong Kong Protest Sites

Riot Police Withdrawn from Hong Kong Protest Sites: "The Hong Kong government said on Monday it has withdrawn riot police from city streets after pro-democracy protests began to calm down.

In a statement, a Hong Kong government spokesman also called on protesters to leave protest areas as peacefully as possible.

Hong Kong police used pepper spray, tear gas and baton charges in an attempt to disperse thousands of pro-democracy protesters in the center of the global financial hub at the weekend.  At least 26 people were injured in the clashes."



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Active Consent Bill Signed in California - NYTimes.com

Active Consent Bill Signed in California - NYTimes.com: "California has become the first state to require students on college campuses to receive active consent before all sexual activity.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday signed into law a bill that will impose this new standard for consent at all colleges that receive state funding, including all public universities and many private institutions where students receive state grants.

Consent can be conveyed by a verbal “yes,” or signaled in a nonverbal way, but lack of resistance or objection cannot constitute consent."



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Crackdown on Protests by Hong Kong Police Draws More to the Streets - NYTimes.com

Crackdown on Protests by Hong Kong Police Draws More to the Streets - NYTimes.com: "The confrontation threatened to tarnish Hong Kong’s reputation as a safe enclave for commerce, and immediately raised the political cost of Beijing’s unyielding position on electoral change here; footage and photos of unarmed students standing in clouds of tear gas facing off with riot police officers flashed around the world on Sunday. It also set the stage for a prolonged struggle that poses a test for President Xi Jinping of China, who has championed a harsh line against political threats to Communist Party rule.

“If this one gets out of control, Xi will also lose face,” Willy Wo-Lap Lam, a commentator on Chinese politics who teaches at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said in an interview. “Everyone knows he’s the one running the show.”

Thousands of pro-democracy protesters had been gathering in front of the Hong Kong government headquarters since Friday, despite official warnings to leave. But on Sunday afternoon, the police moved in, lobbing tear gas canisters into the crowd and stopping supporters of the protest from entering the area."



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Managing Your Boss - Harvard Business Review

Managing Your Boss - Harvard Business Review:



"A quarter-century ago, John Gabarro and John Kotter introduced a powerful new lens through which to view the manager–boss relationship: one that recognized the mutual dependence of the participants.

The fact is, bosses need cooperation, reliability, and honesty from their direct reports. Managers, for their part, rely on bosses for making connections with the rest of the company, for setting priorities, and for obtaining critical resources. If the relationship between you and your boss is rocky, then it is you who must begin to manage it. When you take the time to cultivate a productive working relationship—by understanding your boss’s strengths and weaknesses, priorities, and work style—everyone wins.

In the 25 years since it was published, this article has truly improved the practice of management. Its simple yet powerful advice has changed the way people work, enhanced countless manager–boss relationships, and improved the performance of corporations in ways that show up on the bottom line. Over the years, it has become a staple at business schools and corporate training programs worldwide."



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Salary, Gender and the Social Cost of Haggling

Salary, Gender and the Social Cost of Haggling: "About 10 years ago, a group of graduate students lodged a complaint with Linda C. Babcock, a professor of economics at Carnegie Mellon University: All their male counterparts in the university's PhD program were teaching courses on their own, whereas the women were working only as teaching assistants.

That mattered, because doctoral students who teach their own classes get more experience and look better prepared when it comes time to go on the job market.

When Babcock took the complaint to her boss, she learned there was a very simple explanation: "The dean said each of the guys had come to him and said, 'I want to teach a course,' and none of the women had done that," she said. "The female students had expected someone to send around an e-mail saying, 'Who wants to teach?' " The incident prompted Babcock to start systematically studying gender differences when it comes to asking for pay raises, resources or promotions. And what she found was that men and women are indeed often different when it comes to opening negotiations."



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Women Need to Realize Work Isn't School - Whitney Johnson and Tara Mohr - Harvard Business Review

Women Need to Realize Work Isn't School - Whitney Johnson and Tara Mohr - Harvard Business Review: "Academic institutions are churning out ever-more female graduates. But the very skills that propel women to the top of the class in school are earning us middle-of the-pack marks in the workplace. Indeed, a recent study found that women account for 51.4% of middle managers in the U.S. but only 4.2% of Fortune 500 CEO’s. Based on our experience, the CEO statistics will continue to improve, but only incrementally, until women recognize that the boardroom is not the schoolroom. To be successful, we must now do the very thing we were always taught not to: be disruptive.

In school, being disruptive might get you sent to the principal’s office, but in business, disruption is a proven path to success, describing innovations that take root at the low end of the market, or create a new market, and then eventually upend an industry. If you play disruptively as you go into the workplace, you’ll be doing the upending.

Consider disrupting yourself when it comes to these five areas — areas where the skills you honed as a high-achieving student are likely doing you a disservice in your career:"



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Robust development research would like to meet interested policymaker | Global Development Professionals Network | Guardian Professional

Robust development research would like to meet interested policymaker | Global Development Professionals Network | Guardian Professional:

"Nobody's going to read that tome of a report - the key is to make it accessible, in a simple, clear and brief manner.

Photograph: Eightfish/Alamy

A quick web search on the phrase 'research uptake' produces a plethora of links to projects, titles and analytical pieces about impact – but not a great deal, in fact nothing, about the essence of the thing.

Add to that the fact that people who work in this area don't often communicate very well about what it is they do, and you have a tricky situation – a lot of expectation about putting research uptake into practice but not much information about how this should be done."



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12 ideas to improve development research access and uptake | Global Development Professionals Network | Guardian Professional

12 ideas to improve development research access and uptake | Global Development Professionals Network | Guardian Professional: "Researchers should help put their work into practice: While researchers should not have to become implementers, they should be given opportunities to get involved in designing policy plans. There is a space for this kind of consultation on each level of development policymaking process, from the strategic level down to the single project."



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So you want to work in development? | Global Development Professionals Network | Guardian Professional

So you want to work in development? | Global Development Professionals Network | Guardian Professional: "Many young people are desperate to work in the sector, but how do you decide which roles suit you most? Help is at hand – explore our development flow chart"



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Ebola: Woman saves three relatives from death - CNN.com

Ebola: Woman saves three relatives from death - CNN.com: "It can be exhausting nursing a child through a nasty bout with the flu, so imagine how 22-year-old Fatu Kekula felt nursing her entire family through Ebola.
Her father. Her mother. Her sister. Her cousin. Fatu took care of them all, single-handedly feeding them, cleaning them and giving them medications.
And she did so with remarkable success. Three out of her four patients survived. That's a 25% death rate -- considerably better than the estimated Ebola death rate of 70%.
Fatu stayed healthy, which is noteworthy considering that more than 300 health care workers have become infected with Ebola, and she didn't even have personal protection equipment -- those white space suits and goggles used in Ebola treatment units."



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Friday, September 26, 2014

Gas Odor Investigation Leads to Discovery of 2 Bodies in Mountain View Apartment | NBC Bay Area

Gas Odor Investigation Leads to Discovery of 2 Bodies in Mountain View Apartment | NBC Bay Area: "Two people were found dead in a Mountain View apartment complex where a strong chemical odor led to evacuations and a shelter in place advisory in the area on Wednesday evening, a police spokeswoman said.
Police said Thursday that they have determined it was not a gas line leak. Investigators are trying to determine what the source of the strong chemical odor was."



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Malaysia urged to stop transgender arrests - Asia-Pacific - Al Jazeera English

Malaysia urged to stop transgender arrests - Asia-Pacific - Al Jazeera English: "Malaysia's transgender population faces systematic repression, harassment and mistreatment, and the government must immediately repeal laws that criminalise their lifestyles, Human Rights Watch has said. 

On Thursday, the US-based group released a report it says details worsening abuses that transgender people face in the Southeast Asian nation.

They include arrest, assault and extortion by authorities, public shaming of transgender people by forcing them to strip off their women's clothing in public, and barriers to healthcare, employment and education."



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Malaysia sedition crackdown denounced - Features - Al Jazeera English

Malaysia sedition crackdown denounced - Features - Al Jazeera English: "Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is the latest figure to be caught in the government's widening sedition crackdown, in what one human rights group called "blatantly politically motivated".

Anwar will be questioned by police on Friday, and his lawyers expect him to be charged with sedition. He is the highest-profile figure to be investigated for "seditious acts". Lawyers say it relates to a speech he gave at a political rally three years ago, to mark the launch of a campaign relating to the 2006 murder of a Mongolian model, who was alleged to have had close links to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Fellow opposition MP Lim Kit Siang described the investigation as "the worst form of political vendetta and gross abuse of power".

At least 25 cases are now going through the courts, according to Lawyers for Liberty, a legal NGO. Among those charged is Anwar's own lawyer and opposition MP N Surendran."



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Malaysia sedition crackdown denounced - Features - Al Jazeera English

Malaysia sedition crackdown denounced - Features - Al Jazeera English: "Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is the latest figure to be caught in the government's widening sedition crackdown, in what one human rights group called "blatantly politically motivated".

Anwar will be questioned by police on Friday, and his lawyers expect him to be charged with sedition. He is the highest-profile figure to be investigated for "seditious acts". Lawyers say it relates to a speech he gave at a political rally three years ago, to mark the launch of a campaign relating to the 2006 murder of a Mongolian model, who was alleged to have had close links to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Fellow opposition MP Lim Kit Siang described the investigation as "the worst form of political vendetta and gross abuse of power".

At least 25 cases are now going through the courts, according to Lawyers for Liberty, a legal NGO. Among those charged is Anwar's own lawyer and opposition MP N Surendran."



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ISIS Executioner Identified, FBI Chief Says - ABC News

ISIS Executioner Identified, FBI Chief Says - ABC News: "The FBI knows the identity of the masked, English-speaking ISIS militant who has been videotaped apparently murdering American hostages, and he is likely from somewhere in North America, FBI Director James Comey said today.

Comey declined to reveal the name of the man, who top U.K. officials previously have said appeared to be British. Comey told ABC News the FBI and international partners were able to identity him.

In several ISIS videos in which Western hostages appear to be beheaded, an armed militant -- possibly the same man every time -- stands beside them and delivers statements against Western actions against ISIS in Iraq. Then he takes his knife to their throats."



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Attorney General Eric Holder, Prominent Liberal Voice in Obama Administration, Is Resigning - NYTimes.com

Attorney General Eric Holder, Prominent Liberal Voice in Obama Administration, Is Resigning - NYTimes.com: "WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is resigning but will remain in office until a successor is nominated and confirmed, the Justice Department said Thursday.

Mr. Holder, the 82nd attorney general and the first African-American to serve in that position, had previously said he planned to leave office by the end of this year.

The resignation was officially announced in a formal ceremony in the State Dining Room at the White House, with Mr. Obama hailing Mr. Holder’s accomplishments and praising his “deep and abiding fidelity” to the idea of equal justice under the law."



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Thursday, September 25, 2014

Why Richard Branson Lets Virgin Employees Take Unlimited Vacation - ABC News

Why Richard Branson Lets Virgin Employees Take Unlimited Vacation - ABC News: "Billionaire Richard Branson may be the coolest boss ever.

The Virgin Group founder believes people should be able to take time off work whenever they want -- no questions asked.

"It is left to the employee alone to decide if and when he or she feels like taking a few hours a day, a week or a month off," Branson said in an excerpt from his new book "The Virgin Way: Everything I Know About Leadership" that was posted to his blog."



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Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Appreciative Inquiry and Community Development | IISDnet

Appreciative Inquiry and Community Development | IISDnet:



"IISD believes that focusing on community strengths has the greatest potential to advance sustainable development at the community level. Through nearly a decade of fieldwork in five African countries, IISD has developed a sustainable livelihoods model that builds on local strengths by identifying and reinforcing the adaptive strategies that local people often develop to maintain their livelihoods in adverse circumstances. To enhance its livelihoods approach, the institute is now testing a new community development method called appreciative inquiry."



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The Citizen's Handbook- table of contents

The Citizen's Handbook- table of contents:




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Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Transit-riding Bay Area workers to reap financial benefits from new anti-pollution rule - San Jose Mercury News

Transit-riding Bay Area workers to reap financial benefits from new anti-pollution rule - San Jose Mercury News: "Bay Area commuters who eschew the automobile in favor of a bus, van pool, train or bike could save hundreds of dollars a year under a new regional strategy to fight pollution and traffic gridlock.

Beginning Sept. 30, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District will require companies with 50 or more full-time workers to offer a benefit rewarding employees who don't drive alone to work. Tens of thousands of workers could reap the benefits.

Although cities such as Berkeley and San Francisco require that employers offer some form of commuter benefit, the Bay Area program would be the first mandated regional effort, and the largest in the nation -- making it a tall order to get compliance from the 9,600 employers covered by the rule."



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Rockefellers, Heirs to an Oil Fortune, Will Divest Charity of Fossil Fuels - NYTimes.com

Rockefellers, Heirs to an Oil Fortune, Will Divest Charity of Fossil Fuels - NYTimes.com: "John D. Rockefeller built a vast fortune on oil. Now his heirs are abandoning fossil fuels.

The family whose legendary wealth flowed from Standard Oil is planning to announce on Monday that its $860 million philanthropic organization, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, is joining the divestment movement that began a couple years ago on college campuses.

The announcement, timed to precede Tuesday’s opening of the United Nations climate change summit meeting in New York City, is part of a broader and accelerating initiative."



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Monday, September 22, 2014

NSS Community :: Sculptor Profile :: Aldo Casanova

NSS Community :: Sculptor Profile :: Aldo Casanova: "An evolutionary tale unfolds in the sculpture of Aldo Casanova. The familiar and unfamiliar merge in his weighty bronzes sparking a dialogue about each piece's history and place in the world. Skulls, scarabs and relics populate Casanova's portfolio, as do armored rhinos, warriors and earth forms. At first glance, the subjects seem representative of life matter existent today, but, upon closer inspection, one can see that the mantles have been slightly manipulated to challenge those preconceived notions. The figures appear to be the genetically mutated cousins of their more commonly known relatives; their surfaces, hides and bones have adapted to the challenges of the new millennium. Gazing at a Casanova sculpture is like peering in on an archeological dig and at once witnessing our past, present and future. "



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Variations in coastal upswelling affecting marine ecosystem of California : SCIENCE : Tech Times

Variations in coastal upswelling affecting marine ecosystem of California : SCIENCE : Tech Times: "Using tree-ring studies from California coastal forests to reconstruct 600 years of climate, the researchers found the state has seen more winters featuring weak coastal upwelling since 1950 than occurred in the last six centuries.

Of the 10 weakest upwelling years in the last 600, four occurred after 1950, they reported in the journal Science.

Because the weather patterns that generate strong upwelling at sea can block storms from moving onshore, which can cause drought and stunting the growth of trees, the researchers discovered an inverse relationship between growth of tree rings and the health of the ocean ecosystem.

"The winters we see robust growth in the trees, we see poor growth in the marine ecosystem," says Texas marine science Professor Bryan Black."



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Fire to Flooding: Can California's Economy Survive Nature's Fury? - NBC News.com

Fire to Flooding: Can California's Economy Survive Nature's Fury? - NBC News.com: "When it comes to disasters, California can't seem to catch a break.

Wildfires are scorching thousands of acres. Floods and droughts are unleashing havoc on homeowners and farmers. Last month, an earthquake destroyed thousands of barrels of Napa Valley's world famous Chardonnays, Malbecs and Pinot Noirs.

But while the impact of a spate of natural disasters is being felt unevenly among industries and regions, economists say the Golden State's economy is unlikely suffer overall.

Like much else that happens in the country's most populous state, California has been experiencing more than its share of nature's wrath. After a series of temblors in March, Napa Valley wine growers last month woke up to a 6.0 Richter scale jolt that made a mess of some 120 wineries and inflicted an estimated $300 million in damages."



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NASA's Maven Explorer Arrives at Mars After a Year - ABC News

NASA's Maven Explorer Arrives at Mars After a Year - ABC News: "NASA's Maven spacecraft arrived at Mars late Sunday after a 442 million-mile journey that began nearly a year ago.

The robotic explorer fired its brakes and successfully slipped into orbit around the red planet, officials confirmed.

"I think my heart's about ready to start again," said Maven's chief investigator, Bruce Jakosky of the University of Colorado. "All I can say at this point is, 'We're in orbit at Mars, guys!'""



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Hundreds Of Thousands Turn Out For People's Climate March In New York City

Hundreds Of Thousands Turn Out For People's Climate March In New York City: "NEW YORK -- More than 400,000 people turned out for the People's Climate March in New York City on Sunday, just days before many of the world's leaders are expected to debate environmental action at the United Nations climate summit.

Early reports from event organizers are hailing the turnout as the largest climate march in history, far bigger than the Forward on Climate rally held in Washington, D.C., last year. High-profile environmentalists including Bill McKibben, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jane Goodall and Vandana Shiva marched alongside policymakers such as Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.). U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and former Vice President Al Gore were also there, and more than 550 buses carried in people from around the country."



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The colossal DEA failure that prevented a potentially major medical breakthrough - Salon.com

The colossal DEA failure that prevented a potentially major medical breakthrough - Salon.com: "The therapeutic properties of the synthetic compound MDMA, which would soon become known on the street as Ecstasy, were discovered by Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin, a  leading researcher for Dow Chemical in the late 1950s and early 1960s who had been so awed by the psychoactive effects of mescaline that he decided to devote his life to experimenting with similar compounds, which he concocted in a backyard lab at his home in Lafayette, California.  When he cooked up MDMA and “taste-tested” the drug in the 1970s, he thought he’d discovered a pleasant “no-calorie martini.” Then he increased the dose. The world cracked open."



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Friday, September 19, 2014

Crime on the high seas: The world’s most pirated waters

Crime on the high seas: The world’s most pirated waters: "Why here, why now
From a business standpoint, the boom in south Asian piracy makes a lot of sense. A third of the world's shipping moves through the Strait of Malacca and Singapore Strait each year, including most trade between Europe and China, and nearly all the crude oil that moves from the Persian Gulf to the big Asian economies like China, Japan and South Korea. About 130,000 vessels arrive in Singapore each year alone, according to both Singaporean and international estimates. That breaks down to a ship entering the strait every four minutes. And the global trade that flows through that bottleneck—only 1.7 miles wide at its narrowest point—is growing."



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Monday, September 15, 2014

If We Talked About Men The Way We Talk About Women

If We Talked About Men The Way We Talk About Women: "If We Talked About Men The Way We Talk About Women
“His wife must be loaded.”"



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Friday, September 12, 2014

Why The U.S. Chills Its Eggs And Most Of The World Doesn't : The Salt : NPR

Why The U.S. Chills Its Eggs And Most Of The World Doesn't : The Salt : NPR: "We Americans, along with the Japanese, Australians and Scandinavians, tend to be squeamish about our chicken eggs, so we bathe them and then have to refrigerate them.

But we're oddballs. Most other countries don't mind letting unwashed eggs sit next to bread or onions.

The difference boils down to two key things: how to go after bacteria that could contaminate them, and how much energy we're willing to use in the name of safe eggs."



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From Poverty to Power » Can donors support civil society activism without destroying it? Some great evidence from Nigeria

From Poverty to Power » Can donors support civil society activism without destroying it? Some great evidence from Nigeria: "First up is some really exciting work from DFID’s State Accountability and Voice Initiative in Nigeria, which suggests that even big donors can successfully support citizen engagement with the state.  This is important because gurus such as David Booth have questioned whether donors are just too cumbersome to do this, while academics such as Masooda Bano have shown how chucking money at genuinely grassroots civil society organizations in Pakistan destroys them within months (because their members promptly assume the leaders will run off with the money and leave)."



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Why You Should Start Paying Attention to a Crisis in Lesotho - UN DispatchUN Dispatch

Why You Should Start Paying Attention to a Crisis in Lesotho - UN DispatchUN Dispatch: "There’s a political crisis in Lesotho–and it matters far beyond the borders of the tiny African country, which is nestled inside South Africa.
Late last month, military forces in the small kingdom surrounded key government installations prompting the prime minister and newly appointed commander of the armed forces to flee to neighboring South Africa. Since then, mediation by the regional inter-governmental body, the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), returned Prime Minister Thomas Thabane to power. But the incident underscores the general democratic backsliding the region has undergone over the last few years — and the central role SADC has played in condoning it."



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Why Asia is probably poorer than we think | Jayati Ghosh | Global development | theguardian.com

Why Asia is probably poorer than we think | Jayati Ghosh | Global development | theguardian.com: "The first target of the first millennium development goal (MDG) is to halve extreme poverty. It has been interpreted in terms of income poverty alone, relying on counting people living below the arbitrary global poverty line of $1.25 per day. According to this measure, there has been a global reduction of income poverty that indicates the target has already been met.



 Most of this is due to rapid poverty reduction in Asia, especially east and south-east Asia and more recently in south Asia, so it is generally felt that the region is a success story. But does this rather basic measure leave out some important aspects of poverty?



 A new report from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) makes important points about the nature of poverty in Asia and how this widely used measure is inadequate to capture it. At least three more elements should be factored in: the costs of consumption for poor people; food prices, which have been rising much faster than the general price level, and vulnerability to natural disasters, climate change, economic crises and other shocks."



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Notes from the field: The danger of programs that pay for performance | Impact Evaluations

Notes from the field: The danger of programs that pay for performance | Impact Evaluations: "The problems arise if we are trying to learn something, in a rigorous (i.e. impact evaluation) fashion.   The first problem is that this, in some cases, can discourage innovation and risk taking in programs.   If my contract says that I have to reach 10,000 firms with a certain set of information and I have a way to reach the firms that has worked in the past, I'll go with that, even if there are some innovative but unproven potential cheaper ways.
 
The second problem is that if the contract pays the implementer for "performance" then the deck is stacked against a rigorous evaluation.  Impact evaluations are rarely costless for the implementer; things such as needing to recruit or identify a control group, implementation delays due to survey rounds, and the like can add to the cost of program implementation (I discussed these costs in more detail in an earlier post).   And if the implementer has to reach a target they would prefer to put all of their cash towards that.   Or, if they're a for-profit firm, they definitely won't want to cut into those profits to produce the public good that is impact evaluation."



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Read the Full Text of Obama's ISIS Speech - The Wire

Read the Full Text of Obama's ISIS Speech - The Wire:



Syria is the new Somalia? The President’s speech last night did not break much new ground, except for this one passage: “This counterterrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out ISIL wherever they exist, using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground. This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years.”  In other words, expect targeted airstrikes and drone strikes against ISIS targets in Syria, combined with limited humanitarian assistance.



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The High-End Appeal Of Impact Investing

The High-End Appeal Of Impact Investing: "With the fundamental belief that all investment decisions have social and/or environmental impacts, there’s increasing interest in impact investing. It’s a meaningful and viable way to take advantage of the concern companies have with maintaining a positive brand.

The overall goal of impact investing is to produce positive results that extend beyond strictly financial returns. It takes three forms. It can involve investing in “good” companies, divesting “bad” companies, or both."



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Move Up or Move Out: Transforming Smallholder Family Farms « IFPRI South Asia

Move Up or Move Out: Transforming Smallholder Family Farms « IFPRI South Asia: "Most smallholder farms are family-based—of the world’s 570 million farms, 88 percent are family farms while 84 percent are small.  Smallholder farms, with an average size of 2 hectares or less, provide not only livelihoods to 2.5 billion people but also 80 percent of the food consumed in Asia and Africa south of the Sahara. Nevertheless, with emerging challenges such as climate change, price shocks, agricultural-related risks to health, and limited access to finance and capital, smallholder farmers will suffer the most.

In the light of these challenges, strategies are needed that are tailored to different types of smallholders and a country’s level of transformation, said IFPRI Director General Shenggen Fan  at last month’s M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation’s campus in Chennai, India, where he spoke on  “Enhancing the Profitability of Family Farms” at the Asia-Pacific Regional Consultation on the “Role of Family Farming in the 21st Century: Achieving the Zero Hunger Challenges by 2025."











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Theories of Change in International Development: Communication, Learning, or Accountability? Craig Valters August 2014

Theories of Change in International Development: Communication, Learning, or Accountability?

Craig Valters August 2014



Abstract 

Critically analysing assumptions is a much needed endeavour in international development

policy and practice: existing management tools rarely encourage critical thinking and there

are considerable political, organisational and bureaucratic constraints to the promotion of

learning throughout the sector. The Theory of Change approach – an increasingly popular

management tool and discourse in development – hopes to change some of that. This

approach explicitly aims to challenge and change implicit assumptions in world views and

programme interventions in the lives of others, yet little is known about the extent to which it

really does so. This paper provides a much needed analysis of how Theories of Change are

used in the day-to-day practice of an international development organisation, The Asia

Foundation. They use the approach in three ways: to communicate, to learn and to be held

accountable, which each exist in some tension with each other. Creating Theories of Change

was often found to be a helpful process by programme staff, since it provided a greater

freedom to explain and analyse programme interventions. However, the introduction of the

approach also had some troubling effects, for example, by creating top-down accounts of

change which spoke more to donor interests than to the ground realities of people affected by

these interventions. Ultimately, this paper argues that while a Theory of Change approach can

create space for critical reflection, this requires a much broader commitment to learning from

individuals, organisations, and the development sector itself.


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The Best Evidence Yet on How Theories of Change are Being Used in Aid and Development Work | People, Spaces, Deliberation

The Best Evidence Yet on How Theories of Change are Being Used in Aid and Development Work | People, Spaces, Deliberation: "If you are interested in Theories of Change (ToCs), you have to read Craig Valters’ new paper ‘Theories of Change in International Development: Communication, Learning or Accountability’ or at least, his accompanying blog. The paper draws on the fascinating collaboration between the LSE and The Asia Foundation, in which TAF gave LSE researchers access to its country programmes and asked them to study their use of ToCs. That means Craig has been able to observe their use (and abuse) in practice.

What this paper helps answer is the question I raised a while ago – will ToCs go the way of the logframe, starting out as a good idea, but being steadily dumbed down into a counterproductive tickbox exercise by the procedural demands of the aid business?"



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Forget feast or famine, it's time to tell the complex story of development | Global Development Professionals Network | Guardian Professional

Forget feast or famine, it's time to tell the complex story of development | Global Development Professionals Network | Guardian Professional: "If the first casualty of war is truth, the first casualty of a disaster situation is complexity.

A few years ago, I had a conversation with a New York Times journalist who complained that NGOs had represented the situation in Haiti too simply and optimistically. No one, for example, had brought up land tenure, which quickly revealed itself to be one of the major challenges understood by few in the post-earthquake confusion. I pointed out that my organisation, Global Communities, had spoken about land tenure almost immediately – but nobody listened. Instead, the media focused on stories of desperate chaos or children miraculously pulled from rubble. We agreed that poor reportage is a hungry mouth that both sides feed. But there is no point in complaining about journalistic practices until we, communications professionals, first examine our own."



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Complexity won't make the public fall back in love with development | Global Development Professionals Network | Guardian Professional

Complexity won't make the public fall back in love with development | Global Development Professionals Network | Guardian Professional: "We are right to reexamine how we communicate, but instead of flirting with complexity we should challenge the message that development is only for those in poor countries"



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From Poverty to Power » How to write about development without being simplistic, patronising, obscure or stereotyping

From Poverty to Power » How to write about development without being simplistic, patronising, obscure or stereotyping: "It’s all very well writing for wonks, but what about the poor comms people who have to make all those clever ideas about nuance, context, complexity etc etc accessible to people who don’t spend all day thinking about this stuff? Oxfam America’s Jennifer Lentfer has a good piece on this on her ‘How Matters’ blog, discussing her work with a class of international development communications students. Her central question – ‘How can a new generation of communications professionals embrace nuance without turning the public off? (After all, nonprofits are competing against cat videos)’"



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Informal economy: ‘A nut that hadn’t yet been cracked’ | Devex

Informal economy: ‘A nut that hadn’t yet been cracked’ | Devex: "The informal economy, where those living in extreme poverty are concentrated, can be misunderstood and sometimes just overlooked by the development community."



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Thursday, September 11, 2014

BBC News - Judge Masipa's long journey to preside over Pistorius trial

BBC News - Judge Masipa's long journey to preside over Pistorius trial: "From her perch overlooking Courtroom D, where Oscar Pistorius has been on trial since March, Judge Thokosile Masipa has often seemed a distant, silent, diminutive figure - peering down at the drama unfolding before her from behind thick glasses, her mouth only rarely curling into an unexpectedly warm smile.

From the beginning, her (largely male) critics have been quick to interpret her detachment as a sign that she's either out of her depth, or overly intimidated by the television cameras broadcasting her every gesture to a global audience.

"The judge is clearly inhibited [by the cameras] in this case, as regards interventions," concluded the prominent South African lawyer, Jeremy Gauntlett.

And yet, as this long trial has snaked towards its conclusion, Judge Masipa's quiet demeanour - in stark contrast to the tears, theatrics and occasional snarls from the white males who have dominated the courtroom floor - has earned her growing respect and admiration."



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BBC News - Islamic State crisis: Obama threatens action in Syria

BBC News - Islamic State crisis: Obama threatens action in Syria: "President Obama's anti-IS strategy
A systematic campaign of airstrikes against IS targets "wherever they are", including in Syria
Increased support for allied ground forces fighting against IS - but not President Assad of Syria
More counter-terrorism efforts to cut off the group's funding and help stem the flow of fighters into the Middle East
Continuing humanitarian assistance to civilians affected by the IS advance
"



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Obama Authorizes Airstrikes Against ISIS In Syria

Obama Authorizes Airstrikes Against ISIS In Syria: "President Barack Obama addressed the nation Wednesday night, setting out a long-term strategy for defeating the Islamic State -- the militant group formerly known as ISIS or ISIL -- that includes authorizing U.S. airstrikes against the group in Syria.

"We will conduct a systematic campaign of airstrikes against these terrorists. Working with the Iraqi government, we will expand our efforts beyond protecting our own people and humanitarian missions, so that we’re hitting ISIL targets as Iraqi forces go on offense," Obama said in remarks as prepared for delivery. "Moreover, I have made it clear that we will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are. That means I will not hesitate to take action against ISIL in Syria, as well as Iraq. This is a core principle of my presidency: if you threaten America, you will find no safe haven."

Obama announced the U.S. will also "increase our support to forces fighting these terrorists on the ground," noting the U.S. will send an additional 475 service members to Iraq to support Iraq Security Forces."



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U.S. lawmakers embrace fight against Islamic State, some question Obama plan | Reuters

U.S. lawmakers embrace fight against Islamic State, some question Obama plan | Reuters: "Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said he, like Obama, favored working with partners in the region.

    "I think he laid out a very compelling case," he said.

    Still, Murphy had misgivings about arming and training Syrian rebels. "I have long been a skeptic of our ability to maneuver the nuances of an increasingly complicated civil war inside Syria," he said.

Islamic State's brutality and lightning takeover of large swathes of Iraq and Syria have galvanized the public, and their elected representatives"



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Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Amazon Warriors Fight Off Loggers | The Wider Image | Reuters

Amazon Warriors Fight Off Loggers | The Wider Image | Reuters: "Illegal loggers have long invaded areas of the Amazon rainforest. Tired of what they say is a lack of sufficient government assistance, the Ka’apor Indians feel it is time to take matters into their own hands.

The tribe sent out their best warriors to hunt down loggers and drive them off their land."



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BBC - Future - Reading the minds of the ‘dead’

BBC - Future - Reading the minds of the ‘dead’: "Thousands of patients remain trapped in a vegetative state between life and death. Three scientists are working to free them, as Roger Highfield reports."



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BBC - Future - The ultimate comeback: Bringing the dead back to life

BBC - Future - The ultimate comeback: Bringing the dead back to life: "“When you are at 10C, with no brain activity, no heartbeat, no blood – everyone would agree that you’re dead,” says Peter Rhee at the University of Arizona, Tucson. “But we can still bring you back.”

Rhee isn’t exaggerating. With Samuel Tisherman, at the University of Maryland, College Park, he has shown that it’s possible to keep bodies in ‘suspended animation’ for hours at a time. The procedure, so far tested on animals, is about as radical as any medical procedure comes: it involves draining the body of its blood and cooling it more than 20C below normal body temperature.

Once the injury is fixed, blood is pumped once again through the veins, and the body is slowly warmed back up. “As the blood is pumped in, the body turns pink right away,” says Rhee. At a certain temperature, the heart flickers into life of its own accord. “It’s quite curious, at 30C the heart will beat once, as if out of nowhere, then again – then as it gets even warmer it picks up all by itself.” Astonishingly, the animals in their experiments show very few ill-effects once they’ve woken up. “They’d be groggy for a little bit but back to normal the day after,” says Tisherman."



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BBC News - Sentinel system pictures Napa quake

BBC News - Sentinel system pictures Napa quake: "Europe's new multi-billion-euro Sentinel programme has returned its first earthquake analysis.

The EU satellite system has pictured how the Earth moved when the Magnitude 6.0 tremor hit California's wine-producing Napa region last month.

Scientists will use the figure, called an interferogram, to trace precisely the extent of the fault rupture.

In the past, this type of analysis has been very time-consuming, but the Sentinel project will now automate it.

Interferograms that once took many weeks, even months, to produce should in future come out within days of a big quake."



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BBC News - The girl with three biological parents

BBC News - The girl with three biological parents: "Alana was born through an infertility treatment called cytoplasmic transfer.

Her mum, Sharon Saarinen, had been trying to have a baby for 10 years through numerous IVF procedures.

"I felt worthless. I felt guilty that I couldn't give my husband a child. When you want a biological child but you can't have one, you're distraught. You can't sleep, it's 24-7, constantly on your mind," she says.

Cytoplasmic transfer was pioneered in the late 1990s by a clinical embryologist Dr Jacques Cohen and his team at the St Barnabus Institute in New Jersey, US.

"We felt that there was a chance that there was some element, some structure in the cytoplasm that didn't function optimally. One of the major candidates that could have been involved here are structures called mitochondria," he says.

Cohen transferred a bit of a donor woman's cytoplasm, containing mitochondria, to Sharon Saarinen's egg. It was then fertilised with her husband's sperm. As a little bit of mitochondria was transferred, some DNA from the donor was in the embryo."



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BBC News - Arrests over Egypt 'gay wedding'

BBC News - Arrests over Egypt 'gay wedding': "The Egyptian authorities have arrested seven men accused of appearing in a video apparently showing a gay wedding.

The video, showing a group of men celebrating on a Nile river boat, was widely shared on social media.

The men could face charges of inciting debauchery and spreading images that violate public decency.

Homosexuality is not explicitly outlawed in Egypt, but gay men are periodically accused of charges such as scorning religion or debauchery."



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BBC News - The elephant that flew

BBC News - The elephant that flew: "A baby elephant is filmed standing in a small aircraft, eye-to-eye with the pilot, Gary Roberts - an American nurse and missionary. The orphaned calf is the only survivor of a massacre by poachers. This is how Roberts did his best to keep the animal alive.

In March 2013 Gary Roberts received a worrying telephone call. There were rumours, he heard, that 100 elephants had been killed near the border between Chad and Cameroon. Could he fly over the area to check whether the reports were true, the caller asked.

In his Cessna aircraft he managed to pick up the herd's tracks and followed them to an area of low scrub - the massacre zone."



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BBC News - Islamic State: Can its savagery be explained?

BBC News - Islamic State: Can its savagery be explained?: "Islamic State has become synonymous with viciousness - beheadings, crucifixions, stonings, massacres, burying victims alive and religious and ethnic cleansing.

While such savagery might seem senseless to the vast majority of civilised human beings, for IS it is a rational choice. It is a conscious decision to terrorise enemies and impress and co-opt new recruits.

IS adheres to a doctrine of total war without limits and constraints - no such thing, for instance, as arbitration or compromise when it comes to settling disputes with even Sunni Islamist rivals. Unlike its parent organisation, al-Qaeda, IS pays no lip service to theology to justify its crimes.

The violence has its roots in wh"



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BBC News - India woman 'held captive for three years over dowry' rescued

BBC News - India woman 'held captive for three years over dowry' rescued: "Police in India have rescued a 25-year-old woman from her husband's home after her family alleged she was held captive and tortured for three years for failing to pay enough dowry.

Gunja Devi was dressed in tattered clothes and looked very scared, the officer who rescued her told BBC Hindi.

She was also denied contact with her daughter who is now three.

Dowry offences are a serious issue in India where more than 8,000 women are killed every year."



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BBC News - India woman 'held captive for three years over dowry' rescued

BBC News - India woman 'held captive for three years over dowry' rescued: "Police in India have rescued a 25-year-old woman from her husband's home after her family alleged she was held captive and tortured for three years for failing to pay enough dowry.

Gunja Devi was dressed in tattered clothes and looked very scared, the officer who rescued her told BBC Hindi.

She was also denied contact with her daughter who is now three.

Dowry offences are a serious issue in India where more than 8,000 women are killed every year."



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Malaysian Jet Over Ukraine Was Downed by ‘High-Energy Objects,’ Dutch Investigators Say - NYTimes.com

Malaysian Jet Over Ukraine Was Downed by ‘High-Energy Objects,’ Dutch Investigators Say - NYTimes.com: "PARIS — A Malaysia Airlines passenger jet that went down over a war zone in eastern Ukraine in July was struck by “high-energy objects from outside the aircraft,” Dutch officials leading the investigation of the crash said in a preliminary report published on Tuesday.

The finding is consistent with theories that the jetliner was brought down by a missile designed to detonate before reaching its intended target, spraying it with sharp metal fragments.

The objects struck the cockpit and front fuselage of the eastbound plane, investigators for the Dutch Safety Board reported, strongly suggesting that they were fired from eastern Ukraine or western Russia. The investigators did not identify the source of the fragments that struck the aircraft or who was responsible for launching them."



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BBC News - Nigeria's Boko Haram 'shoots ex-President Obasanjo's son'

BBC News - Nigeria's Boko Haram 'shoots ex-President Obasanjo's son': "The son of Nigeria's former President Olusegun Obasanjo has been shot and wounded in a battle with militant Islamists, the ex-leader's aide says.

Lt Col Adeboye Obasanjo was injured as the army fought to recapture the north-eastern town of Michika from Boko Haram, Muhammad Keffi told the BBC.

"Scores of insurgents" were also killed in the battle, the military said.

Last month, Boko Haram declared an Islamic state in areas it controls in north-eastern Nigeria."



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BBC News - Norway to 'export' inmates to Dutch jails to cut queues

BBC News - Norway to 'export' inmates to Dutch jails to cut queues: "Norway plans to export its prisoners to jails in the Netherlands to ease overcrowding and carry out urgent maintenance work, the government says.

It will rent up to 300 prison places from the Dutch, who already lease some of their extra capacity to Belgium.

Under the agreement, prisoners will be guarded by Dutch wardens, but the director will be Norwegian.

Norway has a current jail capacity shortage despite relatively low incarceration rates.

The nation is known for treating its inmates relatively humanely. Its non-violent offenders, for instance, are often held in open prisons with the freedom to move, work, enjoy recreational facilities and focus on rehabilitation."



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BBC News - Homes where you can live under the sea

BBC News - Homes where you can live under the sea: "Underwater hideouts may be the domain of James Bond villains and Gerry Anderson's Stingray puppets but people in the real world are also dreaming about living at the bottom of the sea - and the dreams may not be far off being realised.

Luxury resorts and restaurants, roaming fleets of research subs and domestic pods with fish-side views are among many ideas floating around, as you might say, for populating the oceans.

The way architect Michael Schutte sees it, with plenty of people prepared to pay a premium for living next to the sea, the next logical step is to start building below the waterline.

"If you've spent $15m on a piece of waterfront property in Miami, what's the next thing that you're going to add to that to actually improve that experience?" he says."



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Why I Turned Myself in to DHS - Jose Antonio Vargas - POLITICO Magazine

Why I Turned Myself in to DHS - Jose Antonio Vargas - POLITICO Magazine: "Nearly 21 years since arriving in the United States, I received my first set of papers from immigration officials after being arrested and briefly detained in the Texas border in July. The first page reads: “Warrant of Arrest for Alien.”

A month later—in lieu of Congress passing fair and meaningful immigration reform, and in the now-dashed hope that President Obama would be taking executive action soon—I turned myself into the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), joining 10 other undocumented immigrants in launching a campaign called #1of11Million."



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Like fish? Then there's good news from California's waters - LA Times

Like fish? Then there's good news from California's waters - LA Times: "ast week, the Monterey Bay Aquarium expanded the list of fish that consumers can feel good about eating. Its Seafood Watch, widely considered the most authoritative source on environmentally safe and sustainable fish, took 15 species off the "avoid" list and upgraded several other species from "good alternative" to "best choice," an unprecedented improvement. Most of the fish populations that are now believed to be more robust — and that therefore may be bought and eaten responsibly — are found off the coast of California, including lingcod and several kinds of rockfish.

The renewed health of these populations has been attributed to two changes in fisheries policy: the imposition of catch limits, which regulate how much seafood a fishing operation can take, and the creation of protected areas along the coast, where fishing is either banned or severely limited."



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Martine Rothblatt Is the Highest-Paid Female CEO in America. She Was Also Born Male. -- New York Magazine

Martine Rothblatt Is the Highest-Paid Female CEO in America. She Was Also Born Male. -- New York Magazine: "The Trans-Everything CEO
Futurist, pharma tycoon, satellite entrepreneur, philosopher. Martine Rothblatt, the highest-paid female executive in America, was born male. But that is far from the thing that defines her. Just ask her wife. Then ask the robot version of her wife."



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Monday, September 8, 2014

Vigilante 'border guards' keeping Ebola out of Senegal - Yahoo News

Vigilante 'border guards' keeping Ebola out of Senegal - Yahoo News:



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Q&A: What Federal Ruling Against BP Means for Oil Drilling's Future

Q&A: What Federal Ruling Against BP Means for Oil Drilling's Future: "On Thursday, a judge for the U.S. District Court of Eastern Louisiana issued a ruling that BP exhibited "gross negligence" and "willful misconduct" in the lead-up to the April 2010 explosion and spill.

The ruling holds that BP is subject to "enhanced civil penalties" under the Clean Water Act, which could add up to $18 billion more in fines to the $28 billion that BP has already spent on cleanup efforts and damage claims in the Gulf. The explosion spewed more than 200 million gallons (750 million liters) of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. "



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Has Jack the Ripper's identity really been uncovered using new DNA evidence? - Science - News - The Independent

Has Jack the Ripper's identity really been uncovered using new DNA evidence? - Science - News - The Independent: "Leaving aside for a moment that Kosminski, who was 23 when the murders took place and died in a lunatic asylum at the age of 53, was already a leading candidate for the murders, what exactly is this new evidence that so definitely nails him as the culprit?

It turns out to hinge on an old shawl that Mr Edwards bought in 2007 at an auction in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. He claims this large piece of cloth was found at the scene of the murder of Catherine Eddowes, one of the Ripper’s victims, and has a letter to “prove” it from a descendent of Sergeant Amos Simpson, the policeman on duty the night Eddowes was killed who had claimed the abandoned shawl for his wife."



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Friday, September 5, 2014

48 Unexpected Views Of Famous Historic Moments

48 Unexpected Views Of Famous Historic Moments: "By taking a look at iconic moments in human history from a different perspective, we can learn so much more."



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Post Peace Corps Sacrifice | Vaughan's Voice

Post Peace Corps Sacrifice | Vaughan's Voice: "When I tell people I served in the Peace Corps, most people react with a big “Wow. THAT must have been hard.” They seem to think that living in a developing country for 2 years must have been a filled with sacrifices. Truth be told, I did “give up” a lot. I gave up 24/7 access to high speed internet and was left with one internet day a week. I missed a lot of things. Food, drink, family, friends, and a language I was 100% versed in.

But now that I’ve been back in America for 8 months, I’m starting to realize that the sacrifices I made leaving the US for Paraguay, my host country, were nothing compared to the sacrifices I made when I finished my service and got on a plane headed back to North America. I realize this may be hard for some Americans to understand, so I’ve decided to use the power of GIFs to express just what I gave up when I left Paraguay and what life in the US has given me instead."



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Thursday, September 4, 2014

National roundup: N.C. death-row inmate released after 30 years in prison - The Washington Post

National roundup: N.C. death-row inmate released after 30 years in prison - The Washington Post: "The state’s longest-serving death-row inmate and his younger half brother walked out as free men Wednesday, three decades after they were convicted of raping and murdering an 11-year-old girl who DNA evidence shows may have been killed by another man."



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Sunnyvale: Joggers, hunters crossing paths at Moffett Channel - San Jose Mercury News

Sunnyvale: Joggers, hunters crossing paths at Moffett Channel - San Jose Mercury News: "Fish and Wildlife officials believe the increase is due to the fact that hunters find it is easier to go out to the Moffett Channel and Guadalupe Slough rather than going out to the designated check-in stations to hunt from the Alviso Pond A3W blinds.

Sunnyvale resident Kira Od said the situation has become a free-for-all.

"There's been an exponential increase in the number of hunters in the last few years. I used to know all of them; there used to be five to eight. I'm not against hunting, but I have to say we have to consider it," Od said of the ban. "It's scary out there, and someone will be shot soon. I'm sorry to say, but it's that bad.""



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Theodore Wafer Sentenced to 17 Years in Michigan Shooting of Renisha McBride - NYTimes.com

Theodore Wafer Sentenced to 17 Years in Michigan Shooting of Renisha McBride - NYTimes.com: "The defendant stood facing the judge in Wayne County Circuit Court here on Wednesday, speaking tremulously and in a low voice, and apologized to the family of Renisha McBride, the 19-year-old woman he shot and killed on the front porch of his suburban home last year.

“She was too young to leave this world, and for that I’ll carry guilt and sorrow forever,” said Theodore P. Wafer, a 55-year-old airport maintenance worker who fired a shotgun at Ms. McBride after she pounded on his front door in the middle of the night on Nov. 2."



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allAfrica.com: Resources » Ghana: Growing Fisheries

allAfrica.com: Resources » Ghana: Growing Fisheries: "Mark Amechi is the Founder and Director of Tropo Farms, West Africa's biggest fresh-water fish farm, which now produces and sells 6,000 tonnes of tilapia every year.
Set up in Ghana in 1997, it shows Africa's potential to develop its aquaculture sectors. With marine fisheries under such pressure, aquaculture can help African nations to ensure food and nutrition security and to support transformative growth.
Between 2000 and 2010, Africa's aquaculture grew almost tenfold to produce 600,000 tonnes of fish per year. Much of this growth took place in a handful of countries, including Ghana.
Mark expects his company will soon produce more than 10,000 tonnes. And in about five to ten years, Ghana could be exporting its fish, Mark says."







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Measuring inclusive growth | EurActiv

Measuring inclusive growth | EurActiv: "Taking a longer-term view of growth and accounting for social, economic, and environmental equity must be a top priority for the post-2015 development agenda. Discussion of the SDGs is now taking into consideration the need to incorporate food, water, and energy security, together with urban planning and biodiversity. But translating prospective goals into actions at the country level will not be feasible without measurable and meaningful indicators to guide policy and measure progress.

One method of measurement is “natural capital accounting,” which assesses the value of natural resources in development planning and national accounts, just as a family would account for their home’s value – and the cost of maintaining it – when deciding how much of their regular income to consume. A recent World Economic Forum report proposes a “dashboard” for inclusive and sustainable growth. This model brings together natural capital accounting, a human-opportunity index, a gender-gap index, measures of public investment as a percentage of GDP, a competitiveness index, indicators of shared prosperity, and disaggregated unemployment data."



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allAfrica.com: Africa: Medical Racism and the African Patient

allAfrica.com: Africa: Medical Racism and the African Patient: "West Africa and Western medicine have a history that reaches back to the 19th century. By the early 19th century, the medical folklore, which went hand-in-hand with the European colonial project in Africa, considered the region "the white man's grave". The notion of the white man's grave emerged due to the high death rate of Europeans in West Africa in the 19th century. Scholarly studies show that in quantitative terms the mortality rate during that period was usually between 300 and 700 per thousand per annum for any group of European newcomers to West Africa."



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Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Master of Tri-Sector Collaboration (MTSC) | Programmes | Singapore Management University (SMU)

Master of Tri-Sector Collaboration (MTSC) | Programmes | Singapore Management University (SMU): "The innovative Master of Tri-Sector Collaboration provides rigorous interdisciplinary training in effective problem solving for the 21st century’s complex environment. It is applicable to business, government, and civil society organisations, and to the interactions among them. It will:

Develop leaders able to flourish in a complex, tri-sector world
Enable students to master a toolkit of innovative skills for tackling global challenges together
Create cross-sector networks in the region
Provide students with deep understanding of key conceptual frameworks
Ensure that students can make sense of the plethora of megatrends affecting business-government-society interactions, from environment to demography to technology"



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Volunteer vacations and global development: Why they have more in common than you thought | Devex

Volunteer vacations and global development: Why they have more in common than you thought | Devex: "Over the past 15 years, the intersection of volunteering and tourism, or voluntourism, has leapfrogged from a curiosity to a mainstream sector, with a growing number of organizations sharing the space also known as “volunteer vacations,” and sending thousands of volunteers overseas each year.

Just as quickly, people started questioning its merits — suggesting that this form of experience-focused volunteering can cause more harm than good and perpetuate a Western “coming to save” view that the larger global development community has been working hard to shed."



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Volunteer vacations and global development: Why they have more in common than you thought | Devex

Volunteer vacations and global development: Why they have more in common than you thought | Devex: "Over the past 15 years, the intersection of volunteering and tourism, or voluntourism, has leapfrogged from a curiosity to a mainstream sector, with a growing number of organizations sharing the space also known as “volunteer vacations,” and sending thousands of volunteers overseas each year.

Just as quickly, people started questioning its merits — suggesting that this form of experience-focused volunteering can cause more harm than good and perpetuate a Western “coming to save” view that the larger global development community has been working hard to shed."



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Exodus Adventurous Peace Corps Senegal: Disappointed

Exodus Adventurous Peace Corps Senegal: Disappointed: "But what can we do about this? Here's the good news. Help locally. Find an organization in your own community that has identified a need and solves it with local goods and local people power. This is the very best approach if you truly want to give to those who are in unfortunate positions. But if you really feel that you want to help Africa or developing countries on other continents, please do your research. If you are coming here please learn some local culture, language, and norms. And most importantly understand the needs of the community and assess the potential impacts of your work. If your option is monetary giving, the Peace Corps is a great option alongside host country-run NGOs, or American NGOs working in capacity building. This is why the bulk of my work here is in information sharing and market linkages."



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Think local. Act global. Learn more about the Peace Corps