It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Tuesday, May 07, 2019
XI'S CULTURAL REVOLUTION
China's social media 'army' of trolls wages war on Uighurs.
The Diba Central Army, a Chinese patriotic group, has been bombarding the Facebook pages of two pro-Uighur groups with an array of verbal grenades and offensive images.
AFP factfile on a 2018 report by Amnesty International on the "massive crackdown" of one million Muslims in China's western Xinjiang region
Monday, May 06, 2019
Grenfell Tower inquiry 'failing to deliver' as survivors and bereaved families 'lose faith', lawyers warn
Law firms accuse probe of showing 'complete disregard' for victims and their relatives and warn that, without urgent action, it will be 'shrouded in secrecy'
Lawyers representing those who survived the disaster and relatives of the deceased accused the probe of showing 'complete disregard' for their clients ( PA )
The Grenfell Tower inquiry is “failing to deliver” on promises it made to traumatised survivors and the families of victims, who have “lost faith” in the process, lawyers have warned.
Law firms representing those who survived the disaster and relatives of the deceased accused the probe of showing “complete disregard” for their clients and warned that, without urgent action, it would be “shrouded in secrecy”.
Despite assurances that chair Sir Martin Moore-Bick was expecting to deliver his interim report on the inquiry’s first phase by spring, the Grenfell community still does not have a date for its release.
And while Sir Martin initially said he was aiming for the second part of the inquiry to start at the end of 2019, it will now be early 2020 before hearings resume.
The inquiry team has been aiming to produce the report, based on the first phase of the inquiry, before 14 June – the second anniversary of the fire.
But less than a quarter of the 200,000 documents relevant to this phase, which will examine the wider issues surrounding the fire, have been disclosed.
The delays will exacerbate concerns about delays to any charges being brought, as the Metropolitan Police have said they must take the final report of the public inquiry into account before submitting a file to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Isabel Bathurst, who is representing a number of victims’ families for Slater and Gordon, one of the firms in the group of 11, said: “The families have lost faith in the inquiry and believe the process shows no humanity or fundamental interest in what they are fighting for.
“They collectively feel it is failing to deliver on its intended purpose and those in charge do not comprehend the extent of the trauma the victims and the victims’ families are still suffering every day.
“They deserve answers and to simply move the goal posts of when these will be provided is not acceptable.
“It is of their view that this inquiry has complete disregard for their voices and a total lack of respect for their loved ones who lost their lives, and therefore, their ability to fight for justice themselves.
“Unless these concerns are taken seriously now, there is a real belief that it will still be shrouded in secrecy by the time we reach the second anniversary –a situation we are not willing to accept.” Watch more
The group of lawyers, which represents more than 90 core participants, has written to the inquiry pushing for the chair to make urgent fire safety recommendations for residents across the country.
A spokesperson for the inquiry said teams were in regular contact with families, with monthly public updates, drop-ins and written and face-to-face contact with groups and legal representatives.
“We recognise that publication of the phase one report is important for the bereaved, survivors and residents and all core participants,” she said.
“The drafting of the report is a very substantial exercise in which accuracy and thoroughness is key. The inquiry will update all core participants on the timing of publication of the phase one report in due course.”
Maria Chiejina, the sister of 60-year-old Vincent Chiejina, who died on the 17th floor of the tower, said the probe had “not delivered what an inquiry should deliver” and that the process “needs to be human”.
Grenfell United, a campaigning group representing survivors and the bereaved, added: “It’s May and we still don’t know what the schedule for the inquiry is for this year, never mind what the new venue will be or when to expect the phase one report.
Grenfell Tower Inquiry: photos of inside the flat where fire began Show all 18
“As we get closer to the second anniversary with no useful information people are increasingly frustrated and anxious. They need to put survivors and bereaved back at the heart of this process.”
Deborah Coles, the executive director of the charity Inquest, which has been supporting Grenfell families, said: “Getting to the truth of what happened is of benefit to us all.
“However, a lack of transparency and clear timeframes from the inquiry are causing unnecessary anxiety and anguish among bereaved families and survivors.”
Papua New Guinea earthquake: 7.2 magnitude quake hits country Quake strikes eastern edge of mountainous country 8 hours ago
The 7.2-magnitude earthquake was reported by USGS ( USGS ) A 7.2 magnitude earthquake has struck near Papua New Guinea, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) has said. The quake struck 33km north west of the town of Bulolo in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The epicentre of the strong quake was 127 km (79 miles) below the surface, the USGS said, in a region at the eastern edge of the mountainous country. There were no immediate reports of damage. There are currently no tsunami warnings in the region, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The fire department in the eastern town of Lae said no one had yet called in to report damage or injuries so far following the quake.
It comes after Papua New Guinea was struck by a 7.5 magnitude quake which claimed the lives of more than 150 people last year.
Earthquakes are common in the country, which sits on the Pacific’s “Ring of Fire”, a hotspot for seismic activity due to friction between tectonic plates
Its mountainous terrain means it often takes aid agencies and government officials days before they can gather information on damage and casualties.
Dozens of people are dead after a Russian passenger plane made an emergency landing and erupted in a huge ball of fire and smoke at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport.
Aeroflot says the Superjet-100 had to return to the airport "due to a technical reason" and its engines caught fire upon landing.
Forty-one people including at least two children are known to have died
Passengers could be seen leaping onto an inflatable slide at the front and running from the blazing plane as huge black columns of smoke billowed into the sky.
MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian airliner that took off from Moscow was airborne for just 28 minutes before returning to make an emergency landing while still heavy with unburned fuel, which then ignited after a rough touchdown.
AS the ‘God of Chaos’ asteroid speeds past earth, it may end up protecting us from more dangerous foes to come
Currently, the best plan for redirecting an asteroid is to punch it hard enough to slow it down, but for that to work, we’ll need to understand what kind of object we’re trying to hit
Dr Jillian Scudder is assistant professor of physics at Oberlin College and Conservatory
The asteroid 99942 Apophis is 340 meters across, and coming our way, but it won’t get too close. On 13 April, 2029, this asteroid will zoom past the Earth, allowing scientists a close-up view of an asteroid without needing to travel to it.
Between the discoveries made by spacecraft orbiting other asteroids, Ryugu by Hayabusa 2, Bennu by Osiris ReX, and others, the asteroids which litter our solar system have turned out to be a diverse bunch of objects. But typically we have to sent robotic craft out to see them – it’s rare that they come so close to us, especially large ones like Apophis, named after the Egyptian god of chaos.
So last week, scientists began to plan. They have been given a brief window to observe this asteroid in high resolution, so what would they like to do? What data would be most helpful to understand larger asteroids in detail? And also, how will they be able to spot and understand changes on the surface of the asteroid as it passes by the Earth?
Apophis has been tracked reliably since its discovery in 2004, when its orbit was initially so poorly understood that there was a concern it might strike the Earth directly.
Since then, additional data has fine-tuned our understanding of its path, traced by gravitational forces, through our solar system, and while it will skim rather close to us – 31,000 kilometers – it will remain far enough away that nearly two and a half Earths could fit between the surface of our planet and the asteroid’s path.
If it’s missing us, why study it in so much detail? Apophis is by no means the only asteroid that has the potential to swing so close by the Earth; there are about 2,000 such objects in the solar system that we know about. And it’s worth knowing. An asteroid impact on the surface of the planet could be catastrophic; after all, it was an asteroid thought to be about 30 times larger than Apophis that triggered the extinction of the dinosaurs.
The end goal of studying these Earth-crossing asteroids is to be able to avoid disaster if an asteroid is discovered that will strike the Earth if no action is taken.
If Apophis is typical of asteroids which cross the Earth’s orbit, then by studying it in detail we learn about the type of objects we’ll be dealing with, should a hazardous asteroid be found.
Currently, the best plan for redirecting an asteroid is to punch it hard enough to slow it down even by a few minutes, allowing the Earth to pass in front of the asteroid unperturbed. But for that to work, we’ll need to understand what kind of object we’re trying to hit. The response of a pile of rocks loosely held together by gravity would have a very different response than one with more structure to it. Watch more
Apophis is a fun object to study because of its size, and the fact that it is (and it’s worth reiterating) definitely missing Earth.
An asteroid doesn’t have to be that large to do damage on the surface. The meteor that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia in 2013 was a much smaller object than Apophis – only about 20m or so – and even that was enough to shatter windows and set off car alarms, and a number of people were injured, mostly from the flying shattered glass.
Over a bigger city, or at a busier time of day, a slightly bigger object could easily have done much more damage.
Apophis, won’t be disruptive to us here on Earth, but what we can learn from it might help avoid chaos in the future. In the meantime, mark your calendars, because you may be able to see it zip past the Earth with the naked eye, as gravity pulls it inexorably inwards to the sun.
a Determining the timing of this event is poorly constrained stratigraphically since the Gething-Debolt unconformity marks a nearly 200 million-year gap in the geological record in this area.
Uniquely identifying this structure as an impact structure is a difficult task since
there are no wells penetrating the disturbed rocks of the structure.
The Hotchkiss structure is indicated by the small red circle on the Alberta map, in the north west near the Chinchaga River.
The Hotchkiss structure, located near the Chinchaga river, is an anomalous feature that has been observed on seismic data. The structure bears many of the diagnostic features of a complex impact crater. The structure is 3.9 km across and is buried approximately 1000-m below the surface. There are few wells in the area. Also in the area are a number of kimberlite pipes that are of considerable economic interest to local mining companies. The presence of these pipes, however, complicates the interpretation of this feature as an impact structure.
A combination of wind and weather prevented me from an overflight of the Hotchkiss structure (red circle). The routes we flew in GOZooM in our efforts to see the structure location are indicated here. In the area, we did manage to overfly Carswell, Pilot Lake and Gow craters.
The Hotchkiss structure exhibits many features, including evidence for a central uplift, large-scale faulting at the rim and in the central uplift, a breccia infill, and a continuation of the disturbance to depths in excess of 1500-m below the top of the feature. The structure also obeys many of the scaling relationships relating to impact features. At the time of formation between 120 and 330 million years ago, the original size of this structure is estimated to have been 3.9 km in diameter by 480 m in depth. At the end of the modification state, the transient cavity had a diameter of 2.26 km and was about 630 m deep. (Mazur 1999)
Simplified stratigraphic column for the Hotchkiss area. Subsequent to its formation, the Hotchkiss structure experienced a large amount of erosion. The Gething-Debolt unconformity marks this period of erosion during which an estimated 500 m of the structure was eroded. (Mazur et al 1998)Uniquely identifying Hotchkiss as an impact structure is a difficult task since there are no wells penetrating the disturbed rocks of the structure.Mazur 1999
The Hotchkiss structure in northwestern Alberta shows many of the morphological characteristics of a complex impact crater.Shown here are faults and a continuous surface representing the general shape of the structure as interpreted on seismic line 2 (Mazur 1999).
2-D seismic data interprets the current extent of the feature and its preerosional dimensions. The current size of the area of disturbance is 3.5 km across and 400 m thick. Using scaling relations, the Hotchkiss structure is estimated to have been 4.5 km in diameter and 500 m deep at the time of formation between 120 and 330 million years ago (Mazur, Stewart and Hildebrand, 1999).
This is typical northern Alberta geology around the buried Hotchkiss structure.
THE PHANTASM OF ALBERTA SEPARATISM RAISES ITS UGLY HEAD WITH UCP RECENTLY GLOBAL TV INTERVIEWED BARRY COOPER A PROFESSOR EMERITUS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY.
Dr. Cooper as he is known sometimes, is the highest paid academic in Alberta, his salary dwarves his colleagues at the U of C, because he is the leading light of the Right Wing in Canada, he gets grants and foundation funding.
He was interviewed giving succour to the so called Separatist streak in right wing Alberta politics. Now along with being a founding member of the Calgary School of Right Wing Politics he is also a Pro Oil Climate Change Denier with his foundation the Friends of Science.
Cooper is also an advocate for private schools, charter and vouchers schools developed under the Klein government. This was aimed locally at the Calgary education market more than it was for the rest of the province, where the dominant board the CBE was not quick to adapt to the reform change movement in Education, unlike the Edmonton Public School Board, so the right wing push for Charter schools was big in Calgary.
The so called separatism is also known as Firewall Alberta which Cooper, Flanagan and the Calgary School sold Harper on prior to his becoming PM.
To understand the so called Separatist politics of the right in Canada I thought I would share this with you, some blasts from the past about authentic Alberta History not right wing wishful thinking.
It originates in Alberta not in the dirty thirties but the early 1980's in the last days of the Lougheed government, with the Western Canada Concept (WCC) of rightwhingnut lawyer and defender of fascists Doug Christie. The WCC won a seat in a red neck rural riding, and had an MLA in the Alberta Legislature giving them some political credibility, some, enough for Lougheed to use them as a whipping boy against Ottawa. Which Ralph Klein continues to do today. Any time things got a little outta hand between the Liberals in Ottawa and the Alberta Government the bugaboo of Alberta Separatism would be raised. Clever ploy that.The reality is that during the 1980's two major right wing populist parties began in Alberta, both anti-semitic, white power, anti-biligualism, pro religious fundamentalist, pro Celtic Saxon peoples (code for White Power) anti immigrant anti multiculturalism, today add anti-gay. These were the WCC and Elmer Knutsens Confederation of Regions Party. The CRP did not win seats in Alberta but in New Brunswick, as a right wing backlash to that provinces French majority.Ironic eh.
The history of Alberta Alienation and the autonomous farmer worker resistance to Ottawa, the seat of political and economic power of the mercantilist state, dates back to the founding of the province one hundred years ago.
