All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness: Biden changes student loans program

The Education Department on Wednesday announced a sweeping overhaul to the loan forgiveness program that will immediately erase the debt of 22,000 borrowers to the tune of $1.7 billion. The government estimated another 27,000 borrowers could see about $2.8 billion in debts forgiven if they prove they were employed in an eligible job.  

The changes are designed to let borrowers correct errors and count payments they were trying to make toward the program. That should shorten the amount of time more than 550,000 borrowers – those who have already consolidated their loans – are required to make payments to qualify for forgiveness, the government said.

The redesign of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program is President Joe Biden’s latest effort to address the nation’s growing $1.7 trillion in student loan debt and ease the burden of struggling borrowers.

Source: Public Service Loan Forgiveness: Biden changes student loans program

Michael Holding says people must ‘call out’ and ’embarrass’ racists – BBC Sport

Holding said: “It is no longer good enough to say ‘I am fine, I am not racist’.

“You have now got to be anti-racist. You have got to call out the racists and you have got to embarrass the racists.

“Don’t just be silent and say to yourself ‘I am not like him or her’. You have got to be anti.” 

Source: Michael Holding says people must ‘call out’ and ’embarrass’ racists – BBC Sport

Fire and brimstone: Sodom and Gomorrah perhaps destroyed by ‘cosmic fireball,’ evidence shows – Study Finds

The high-salinity soil is believed to have triggered the “Late Bronze Age Gap” in which local cities were abandoned. Populations dropped from tens of thousands to maybe a few hundred nomads. Nothing could grow in these formerly fertile grounds, forcing people to leave the area for hundreds of years. Evidence for resettlement of Tall el-Hammam and nearby communities appears again in the Iron Age, roughly 600 years after the cities’ sudden devastation.

“All the observations stated in Genesis are consistent with a cosmic fireball. But there is no scientific proof this destroyed city is indeed the Sodom of the Old Testament,” says Kennett. The space rock hurtled through the atmosphere and exploded over the ancient city, he explained.

The researchers believe the disaster generated an oral tradition that inspired the written account in the Book of Genesis. It may also have led to the story of the burning of Jericho in the Old Testament’s Book of Joshua. “It is an incredibly culturally important area. It is where much early cultural complexity of humans developed,” adds Kennett.

The findings are published in the journal Scientific Reports.

 

Source: Fire and brimstone: Sodom and Gomorrah perhaps destroyed by ‘cosmic fireball,’ evidence shows – Study Finds

E-cigarette aerosols contain thousands of potentially harmful chemicals, study finds – UPI.com

Vaping devices contain thousands of unidentified chemicals that users inhale, a new study has found. Photo by kevsphotos/Pixabay E-cigarettes and other vaping devices contain thousands of unknown chemicals and substances not disclosed by manufacturers, including industrial materials and caffeine, a study published Wednesday by Chemical Research in Toxicology found.

The aerosols produced by these devices contained more than 2,000 chemicals, the vast majority of which are unidentified, the data showed.

Of that could be identified, six were potentially harmful, including three chemicals never previously found in e-cigarettes, according to the researchers.

Source: E-cigarette aerosols contain thousands of potentially harmful chemicals, study finds – UPI.com

Wondering Wednesdays, Baby Floors, Chapter 5: Section II, The Vision

Context, Thought, and Learning: ShiraDest Offers Project Do Better

This post finishes the rough draft of  Chapter 5 for my non-fiction WiP, Baby Floors.  

Putting a floor on poverty so that each and every baby born can have a safe childhood.

    I am nearly done editing this draft, to complete my “shitty first draft,” as Stephen King would say, so bear with me, and I hope that the outline marks are interesting for those following the writing process.

 

Once again, by way of disclaimer, the overall goal is now to explain why we need both equ. + justice, & why in 4 phases.  This chapter is part of showing what Phases I-IV could look like as potential roadmap for a fully inclusive society for all of us.  This vision is laid out in the hope that All HumanKind  will eventually have each person’s basic needs  met, without taking anything from anyone, and without violence, intimidation, nor coercion…

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