Daily Archives: December 28, 2022

News to use

No tiene permiso

Santiago Galicia Rojon Serrallonga

SANTIAGO GALICIA ROJON SERRALLONGA

Derechos reservados conforme a la ley/ Copyright

Es un engatuzador que no tiene apegos ni cumple las promesas que uno le confía -opinan algunas personas, quizá, al contemplar, incrédulas, las huellas del año que se marcha, similar a cuando llegó, indiferente y sin compromisos. Por eso no lleva cargas ni liviandades. Por su encomienda y su natualeza, el año ha preferido deshacerse de recuerdos, sentimientos y todo lo que aconteció durante su estancia pasajera en el mundo. Muchos hombres y mujeres, desde antes de la visita del año nuevo, se abrazan, suspiran, hacen planes, acuden a brindis y reuniones, celebran y piensan que es momento de transformarse y mejorar, y, para su sorpresa, no es así porque, simplemente, se trata de una medida de tiempo para organizar la vida. El año nuevo no trae consigo premios, sorpresas, alegrías, tristezas, promesas, salud, enfermedad, nacimientos, defunciones, triunfos y…

View original post 286 more words

News to use

Boxing Day and beyond: some silver linings

Petchary's Blog

Recently, I was looking back at 2022. Pulling aside the dark veils that suddenly descended on us, I must acknowledge that there were shafts of sunlight – or at least, a silver lining or two, at regular intervals. The past year was not all gloom. In fact, if it weren’t for that half-darkness, I would never have appreciated our fragility, and how much we depend on each other. I thought of just a few things that I am grateful for.

Now, in the “in between” period between Christmas and the New Year (a great time for reflection, daydreaming, and of course eating Christmas leftovers, which always seem to taste better warmed up afterwards), I am thinking of all the positives. Mercury is going into retrograde, but let’s not worry about that, for now.

(Stolen from Twitter!)

There was kindness: so much, I hardly know how to quantify it. Friends brought…

View original post 704 more words

News to use

As Covid-19 Continues to Spread, So Does Misinformation About It – The New York Times

From Nov. 1 to Dec. 5, Australian researchers collected more than half a million conspiratorial and misleading English-language tweets about Covid, using terms such as “deep state,” “hoax” and “bioweapon.” The tweets drew more than 1.6 million likes and 580,000 retweets.

News to use

How to Make Roman Concrete, One of Human Civilization’s Longest-Lasting Building Materials | Open Culture

The fact of the matter is that, despite possessing technologies the Romans could hardly have imagined, their concrete lasts longer than ours. Why that should be the case comes down, in large part, to water: we put a great deal more of it into our concrete than the Romans did, in order to pour it more cheaply and easily. But this makes it more fragile and subject to deterioration over time (as seen in the early dilapidation of certain Brutalist buildings), even despite our use of chemical additives and steel reinforcement. Romans concrete was also mixed with seawater, which caused the formation of crystals within the material that actually strengthened it as it aged — thus cementing, as one wag in the comments puts it, the Romans’ place in history. Source: How to Make Roman Concrete, One of Human Civilization’s Longest-Lasting Building Materials | Open Culture

News to use

Brazilian archbishop is threatened for defending Indigenous peoples — even during Mass

  • Dom Roque Paloschi, president of the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI) and archbishop of Porto Velho in the state of Roraima, Brazil, has been under attack because he denounced Indigenous people’s rights violations.
  • It has always been risky to live in Amazonia and defend social-environmental issues, but Paloschi says the situation has worsened greatly in the last four years — the period that coincides with Jair Bolsonaro’s administration.
  • In 2021, 355 attacks against Indigenous people were reported in Brazil — the most since 2013, according to a CIMI report. 

Source: Brazilian archbishop is threatened for defending Indigenous peoples — even during Mass