Sep 18 2014

The Breakfast Club (Science and Tech Thursday)

breakfast beers photo breakfastbeers.jpgIf I may be forgiven a little meta, be careful what you wish for.

I had opined to that group of us who put these together I found it easier with a theme and suggested some including Science and Technology to which the universal response was- “What an excellent idea, why don’t you do that?”

They kind of missed my point but being a ‘follow me’ type of leader I’m prepared to show how it can be done.

As always I don’t feel constrained by any particular format other than my own so I’ll start out with your quote–

The law that entropy always increases holds, I think, the supreme position among the laws of Nature. If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell’s equations – then so much the worse for Maxwell’s equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observation – well, these experimentalists do bungle things sometimes. But if your theory is found to be against the second law of thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation.

-Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, The Nature of the Physical World (1927)

Science Oriented Video!

Science/Tech News

Busy Days Precede a March Focusing on Climate Change

By LISA W. FODERARO, The New York Times

SEPT. 17, 2014

The run-up to what organizers say will be the largest protest about climate change in the history of the United States has transformed New York City into a beehive of planning and creativity, drawing graying local activists and young artists from as far away as Germany.

“This is the final crunch, the product of six months of work to make the People’s March a big, beautiful expression of the climate movement,” said Rachel Schragis, a Brooklyn-based artist and activist who is coordinating the production of floats, banners and signs.

The march, organized by more than a dozen environmental, labor and social justice groups, is planned to wend its way through Midtown Manhattan along a two-mile route approved by the city’s Police Department last month. It will start at 11:30 a.m. at Columbus Circle, then move east along 59th Street, south on Avenue of the Americas and west on 42nd Street, finishing at 11th Avenue and West 34th Street.

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Organizers say it is impossible to predict how many people could show up. But 1,400 “partner organizations” have signed on, ranging from small groups to international coalitions. In addition, students have mobilized marchers at more than 300 college campuses, and more than 2,700 climate events in 158 countries are planned to coincide with the New York march, including rallies in Delhi, Jakarta, London, Melbourne and Rio de Janeiro.

In New York, organizers are expecting 496 buses from as far away as Minnesota and Kansas to bring marchers.

“The most useful gallon of gasoline anyone will ever burn is the one that gets them to the march,” Mr. McKibben said. (By contrast, all floats will be pulled by biodeisel-powered cars and trucks or by hand, organizers said.)

Science/Tech Blogs

The Obligatories, News, and Blogs below.

Obligatories

Welcome to The Breakfast Club! We’re a disorganized group of rebel lefties who hang out and chat if and when we’re not too hungover we’ve been bailed out we’re not too exhausted from last night’s (CENSORED) the caffeine kicks in. Join us every weekday morning at 9am (ET) and weekend morning at 10:30am (ET) to talk about current news and our boring lives and to make fun of LaEscapee! If we are ever running late, it’s PhilJD’s fault.

I would never make fun of LaEscapee or blame PhilJD.  And I am highly organized.

This Day in History

News

Scottish independence: Alex Salmond calls on voters to seize ‘new dawn’

Severin Carrell, The Guardian

Wednesday 17 September 2014 17.58 EDT

Alex Salmond urged tens of thousands of yes activists to “get to it” by seizing the extraordinary chance for a “new dawn for Scotland”, as the final batch of polls before the vote confirmed the referendum hung on a knife-edge.

To chants of “yes we can”, the first minister urged more than 1,200 activists at the yes campaign’s final rally in Perth to continue campaigning vigorously on referendum day, urging them on with the words “let’s do this now”.

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“My confidence is based on what’s happening in the streets and communities around Scotland. I think there’s a very substantial movement towards yes,” Salmond said in Stewarton, adding that it was not simply an anti-Tory protest vote. People “are going to vote for something, for that vision of more prosperous but also a more just society. That’s what’s going to motivate people in the polling stations tomorrow”.

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Before launching a scathing attack on the rushed joint commitment by the UK parties to guarantee extra powers for Holyrood, Salmond told activists in Perth that Scotland would always seek a “harmonious relationship” with the rest of the UK if it votes for independence. “In an independent Scotland you will find the closest friend, most honest counsel and most committed ally. What we seek is a relationship of equals in these isles for our mutual advantage,” he said.

But seizing on a growing revolt by backbench Tory MPs over David Cameron’s backing for a deal to offer greater tax powers to Scotland, while protecting its preferential Treasury funding scheme under the Barnett formula, Salmond said the UK parties’ promises were already looking at serious risk.

“So the Westminster parties cobble together separate, contradictory proposals for more powers – none of which offer any answers to the real challenges we face. They fail to come up with an agreed package that the voters can judge and scrutinise and vote on,” Salmond said. “Instead they say ‘leave it to us, we will sort it out’ – behind closed doors, among themselves in the committee rooms of Westminster.

“It is an approach out of touch and out of time. But let’s be clear – in the event of a no vote, even if such a deal could be struck, it wouldn’t be the people of Scotland who would have the final say.”

He added: “It is the clearest demonstration yet of why Scotland’s future must be in Scotland’s hands. It makes the case for yes more clearly than ever … with a yes vote we can deliver for Scotland real power – the power to choose hope over fear, opportunity over despair.”

Separately, speaking to the Guardian, Salmond said of Cameron: “Should he resign? At first, I thought no. But now I don’t know. The way he has fought the campaign in Scotland has been miserable. His jacket is on a shoogly nail. You would not need to resign if you fought it properly but it was the way he did it. Just on the grounds of incompetence he should be pulled up. His conduct has been demeaning.”

Ferguson officer who shot Michael Brown testifies to grand jury – reports

Jon Swaine, The Guardian

Wednesday 17 September 2014 18.21 EDT

Darren Wilson testified on Tuesday for roughly four hours about his August 9 shooting of the unarmed 18-year-old, according to the St Louis Post-Dispatch.

The City of Ferguson police officer, 24, was “cooperative”, the newspaper reported, citing “a source with knowledge of the investigation” into Brown’s controversial death. It said that Wilson had also twice spoken to county investigators and once to federal authorities.

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The grand jury was originally expected to decide by the middle of next month, but was this week granted more time to consider the case. The extension means that it need not issue a decision until January 7 next year. It could decide to bring charges for crimes such as manslaughter or murder, though the latter is seen as unlikely by legal experts.

McCulloch said last month that his office “will present absolutely everything to this grand jury”. In an unusual move, evidence is being fed to the jury while investigations into the shooting continue, rather than being presented after the conclusion of inquiries as usual.

The prosecutor has also promised that if Wilson is not indicted, he will request permission to release to the public full transcripts and audio recordings of the grand jury hearings.

Brown was shot dead after a confrontation with Wilson following a request from the officer for the 18-year-old and a friend to move from the road to the pavement. Police have said that Brown assaulted Wilson. Several witnesses have said that Brown was shot repeatedly while fleeing and with his hands up. They are also expected to testify before the grand jury.

China hacked into Pentagon contractor networks ‘nine times’, US Senate finds

Associated Press

Wednesday 17 September 2014 13.49 EDT

A yearlong investigation announced by the Senate Armed Services Committee identified at least 20 break-ins or other unspecified cyber events targeting companies, including nine successful break-ins of contractor networks. It blamed China’s government for all the most sophisticated intrusions, although it did not provide any detailed evidence. The Senate report did not identify which transportation companies were victimized.

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The newly declassified Senate report says defense contractors have generally failed to report to the Pentagon hacker break-ins of their systems as required under their business agreements.

Earlier this summer, in an apparently unrelated investigation, the US accused five members of the Chinese military of hacking computers for economic espionage purposes. It accused them of hacking into five US nuclear and technology companies’ computer systems and a major steel workers union’s system, conducting economic espionage and stealing confidential business information, sensitive trade secrets and internal communications for competitive advantage.

Ebola lockdown in Sierra Leone: nationwide three-day curfew

Monica Mark, The Guardian

Wednesday 17 September 2014 14.41 EDT

Some 21,000 people have been recruited to enforce the lockdown, bulking up thousands of police and soldiers already deployed to quarantine districts in the worst-hit regions near the border with Guinea. But some international health experts have advised against the move, citing both practical concerns and disastrous attempts at the mass quarantine of the biggest slum in neighbouring Liberia.

Isolating communities has succeeded in some rural areas in past outbreaks in Central Africa. But last month, West Point, a sprawling neighbourhood in Liberia’s capital Monrovia, exploded in days of riots that led to at least one death after the army poured in, showing the challenges of trying to quell a disease that has never before reached urban areas.

“What you don’t want to do is actions that make the population lose more trust in you,” said David Heymann, who was part of the team that first identified the virus near the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola river in 1976. “Trying to cordon off an area isn’t rational unless you can enforce it 100 percent. It’s not dealing with the problem the way we know how to do it.”

Such extreme reactions seemed unlikely in Freetown. “I’ve accepted this if it will mean a light at the end of the tunnel,” said Linda Barrie, who has given over her entire roadside stall of household goods for bleach and hand sanitiser – both of which help kill the virus. “I haven’t seen any sign of Ebola here except that people don’t come to buy anymore. So the government should do whatever it is so this suffering can end.”

Sistema boss arrested in Russia on money-laundering charges

The Guardian

Wednesday 17 September 2014 04.51 EDT

Timothy Ash, chief emerging markets analyst for Standard Bank in London, said the news could cause further difficulties for a Russian investment landscape that is already muddied by sanctions related to the Ukraine conflict.

“Clearly all this comes at a particularly inopportune time for Russian markets, given concern over developments in Ukraine, the imposition of western sanctions and also the weak underlying growth story in Russia.”

Khodorkovsy, formerly the country’s richest man, claimed in an interview with the business daily Vedomosti that Rosneft was behind Yevtushenkov’s arrest. The former owner of the Yukos oil business spent more than a decade in jail after being convicted on economic charges that many believe were politically motivated.

Rosneft dismissed Khodorkovsky’s allegations. “I don’t understand why Rosneft has something to do with that. This is absurd,” the RIA news agency quoted a Rosneft spokesman as saying on Wednesday.

Yevtushenkov’s arrest has taken place against the backdrop of further pressure on the Russian economy. On Tuesday, the central bank said it was starting overnight rouble-dollar swap operations in order to make more dollars available to Russian banks, pushing the rouble higher in late trading on the Moscow exchange.

Occupy activists abolish $3.85m in Corinthian Colleges students’ loan debt

Jana Kasperkevic, The Guardian

Wednesday 17 September 2014 10.57 EDT

This was no act of goodwill by the government, which is currently suing Everest parent Corinthian Colleges for its predatory lending practices. Nor is it a gift from Everest itself, which is expected to shutter its doors and possibly leave 72,000 students out of their time and tuition.

Instead, the disappearing student loan debt is the second major piece of financial activism by a group of Occupy Wall street activists.

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“The Rolling Jubilee doesn’t actually solve the problem. The Rolling Jubilee is a tactic and a valuable one because it exposes how debt operates,” says Gokey.

“It punches a hole through the morality of debt, through this idea that you owe X amount of dollars that the 1% says you owe. In reality, that debt is worth significantly less. The 1% is selling it to each other at bargain-based prices. You don’t actually owe that.”

The 1% in this scenario are the companies issuing private student loans and the debt buyers, who often purchase student loan portfolios like the one purchased by the Rolling Jubilee.

More than 2,000 homes threatened by Northern California wildfire; new damages emerge from town

Associated Press

Sept. 17, 2014 11:46 p.m. EDT

The new figures from Weed brought a marked increase from the initial estimate that a total of 150 structures had been destroyed or damaged in the blaze that began Monday and rapidly swept across the town. Four firefighters lost their homes.

In the fire east of Sacramento, a total of 2,500 firefighters were now taking on the blaze that was threatening 2,003 homes and another 1,505 smaller structures, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.

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Near Yosemite National Park, a 320-acre fire that damaged or destroyed 71 structures, including 37 homes, around Oakhurst was 70 percent contained and all remaining evacuations were canceled.

More than 4,000 wildfires have burned in California this year.

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2 comments

  2. Then again, I don’t actually do these, but I do like themes.

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