Category Archives: News to use

Useful news for all to advance knowledge of the world and how it works

Subantarktička ostrva Novog Zelanda – Sub-Antarctic Islands of New Zealand

Myrela

Izvjesni kitolovci iz XIX vijeka, koji su se iskrcali u Oklandskom arhipelagu, dali su, s dobrom dozom humora, jednom od ostrva ime Disappointment (razočaranje). Mora da su pred dolazak na ostrvo bili puni iščekivanja. Poslije silnih mjeseci zlopaćenja na brodu, iskrcavanje na sićušno ostrvo šibano kišom i ledenim vjetrovima nije bilo baš utješno, pa su ga, vjerovatno, užurbano napustili, u nadi da će naći neko pristupačnije. Na toj geografskoj širini to je bilo lakše reći nego uraditi, s obzirom na to da ovih pet subantarktičkih arhipelaga, pod upravom Novog Zelanda, dijele odlike koje ih čine nepogodnim za ljudska naselja, pa čak i ona najprivremenijeg karaktera. Ležeći sa strane jugoistočne obale Novog Zelanda, ove grupe ostrva zauzimaju ukupnu površinu od 764 km². Snerska ostrva i ostrva Baunti načinjena su od sićušnih grupa granitnih i metamorfnih stjenovitih tvorevina bez ikakve prirodne luke. Antipodska, Oklandska i Kembelova ostrva, dalje južno i djelimično pod…

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Istorijski centar Sukre, Bolivija – Sucre Historic Center, Bolivia –

Myrela

Šestog avgusta 1825. godine, u prostorijama Univerziteta San Fransisko Havijer, proglašena je Republika Čarkas, koja je od tog trenutka postala poznata kao Bolivija, u čast arhitekte oslobođenja zemlje i junaka Latinske Amerike, Simona Bolivara. Pet dana kasnije, u istim prostorijama, prijestonica nove zemlje bila je preimenovana u Sukre. Kasa de la Libertad (savremeni naziv Univerziteta) impresivno je zdanje. Podigla ga je prije 1700. godine Družba Isusova kao misionarsko sjedište, oko širokog manastirskog dvorišta. Ipak, od proglašenja nezavisnosti 1898. godine, građevina je bila sjedište bolivijskog Kongresa (Congreso Boliviano), zakonodavnog tijela zemlje.

Sukre je poznat i kao “grad sa četiri imena”. Pored današnjeg, nazivan je i Sjudad Blanka, zbog bjeline svojih zdanja zatim Čarkas, po imenu domorodačkog naroda koji je naseljavao tu oblast, i La Plata, kako ga je 30. novembra 1538. godine (datum osnivanja) nazvao Pedro de Anzures, markiz iz Kampo Redonda i predvodnik vojske Gonzola Pizara. Grad –…

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Profit Over People — The “American” Way

Filosofa's Word

Sure, go ahead, blame President Biden.  Blame George W. Bush, blame President Obama, blame the former guy … there’s plenty of blame to spread around.  Blame the military advisors who advised Bush and Obama (the former guy took advise from nobody, believing he actually had a functional brain).  Blame your Aunt Mabel for all I care.  The bottom line is that there was only one winner in the entire U.S.-Afghanistan fiasco:  private military contractors.

If you purchased $10,000 of stock evenly divided among America’s top five defense contractors on September 18, 2001 — the day President George W. Bush signed the Authorization for Use of Military Force in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks — and faithfully reinvested all dividends, it would now be worth $97,295.  Not a bad return on investment, eh?  Defense stocks outperformed the stock market overall by 58 percent during the Afghanistan War.  Those top…

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Landing the 11th Airborne Division

Pacific Paratrooper

Medic on Leyte

As General Eichelberger said more than once: “The 11th Airborne Division are the fightingest men I’ve ever seen.” And the largest and most violent armed conflict in history was about to start for these men.

November of 1944 arrived and with that came packing up for the next destination, Leyte, Philippines. It also meant the arrival of the rains, an understatement to say the least. Such downpours are alien to those who do not live in the tropics. Even the darkness is unique when it arrives in a flash and the blackness envelops everything like a sweeping shroud. A man’s eyes can no longer be trusted; he stands as though blindfolded.

11 November – 9 APA’s (naval transport ships designed to attack) and AKA’s (cargo ships designed to attack) would be required to carry the 11th A/B on to their target from Oro Bay with an escort…

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WACs in New Guinea + current news

Pacific Paratrooper

WACs in New Guinea, 1944

In June 1944, about the same time that Smitty landed in New Guinea, Gen. Kenney of the 5th Air Force started building up a WAC detachment in Australia. He had nearly 200 women in the HQ doing the secretarial duties.  They must have been originally scheduled for Alaska, because they arrived with heavy woolen skirts, coats and shirts.  The quartermaster re-equipped them with cotton G.I. clothing and the tailors of Brisbane were kept busy making alterations.

They were told of the deplorable conditions on New Guinea, but not a one backed off from the ‘hard knocks’ assignment.  So, General Kenney handed the women over to their commanding officer, Captain Blanche Kline.

US Army WACs, New Guinea

The women were warned that eggs would be nothing but a memory, so they purchased 30 hens from an Australian poultryman.  The WACs talked about the bacon and eggs…

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Un appello per la natura e i popoli indigeni! No alla Legge #490! …e un messaggio di uno sciamano Yanomami… aggiornato

Barbara Crane Navarro

Un ragazzo Yanomami nella foresta, Alto Orinoco, Amazonas, Venezuela

«Ho pensato che se i bianchi avessero potuto sentirmi, avrebbero convinto il governo a non lasciare che la foresta venisse distrutta … Ora, i cercatori d’oro puzzano della foresta con i fumi dei loro motori e i fumi dell’oro e del mercurio che bruciano insieme.

Adesso temiamo la malaria dei cercatori d’oro, che è anche molto feroce … Il soffio vitale degli abitanti della foresta è fragile di fronte a questi fumi epidemici di xawara. Se moriamo tutti, nessuno sarà in grado di compensare il valore delle nostre morti. I soldi dei bianchi e la merce non ce li riporteranno! E la foresta devastata non potrà mai essere ripristinata, sarà persa per sempre.»

– portavoce e sciamano Yanomami Davi Kopenawa

Una foresta in territorio indigeno distrutta dai minatori d’oro

Il 30% di quelle che ora sono riconosciute come terre indigene…

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Somos todos Xokleng pelo meio ambiente e contra o “marco temporal” —

Barbara Crane Navarro

Por Joenia Wapichana, deputada federal (Rede/RR), nascida na Raposa Serra do Sol, Sonia Bone Guajajara, coordenadora executiva da Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil (Apib) e Ana Patté, integrante da Apib e do povo Xokleng O Supremo Tribunal Federal pode definir neste dia 30 os critérios definitivos para demarcação de terras indígenas, além de exorcizar[…]

Somos todos Xokleng pelo meio ambiente e contra o “marco temporal” —

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