Category Archives: News to use

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

~Proverbs {203}~ — DiosRaw

Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare. ~ Japanese Proverb

~Proverbs {203}~ — DiosRaw

Rooftop Ruffians

Weekend Stories by Trishikh

At about the same time that David Belle was inventing the acrobatic training discipline of Parkour in France in 1988, a much cruder and somewhat hilarious version of the same was emerging on the rooftops of closely stacked houses in the northern crannies of the port city of Kolkata.

Similar to the Yamakasi-the nine founding fathers of Parkour, the ‘Rooftop Ruffians’ of Calcutta were nine in number too. They were a closely-knit teenage gang of varied ethnicity. Friend circles of such motley races could only be possible in a vividly cosmopolitan city like Kolkata. The difference in their language, religion or food preference was not a deterrent to but acted as the glue that bonded this unique friendship of theirs.

Very different from Belle’s French town of Lisses, the little city of Kolkata on the east coast of the Indian peninsula had always been a boiling cauldron of…

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Senate confirms Biden’s pick to lead White House environmental council | TheHill

Senate confirms Biden's pick to lead White House environmental council The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Brenda Mallory to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), which advises the president on issues such as environmental justice and conserving oceans, lands and wildlife.

The upper chamber approved Mallory’s nomination in a 53-45 vote, with three Republicans voting with Democrats to back her: Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Rob Portman (Ohio).

Mallory, who served as the council’s top lawyer under the Obama administration, will be the first Black leader of the CEQ.

Source: Senate confirms Biden’s pick to lead White House environmental council | TheHill

How Many Mass Killings Are Enough Before the World Helps Myanmar?

Over the past two and a half months since the Feb. 1 coup, the regime’s troops have killed at least 714 protesters and innocent citizens, including about four dozen children, according to the death toll compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) as of April 13­­­­. Killing has been the regime’s daily job since Feb. 1, at the rate of about 10 people per day over the past 72 days.

Undoubtedly, we’ll see many such massacres in the days ahead under this ruthless regime, which has applied relentless brutality, including the use of heavy weapons, to handle the nationwide anti-military dictatorship protests, without once ever pausing to consider any political or other civilized means of dealing with the crisis.

She continued: “Statements of condemnation, and limited targeted sanctions, are clearly not enough. States with influence need to urgently apply concerted pressure on the military in Myanmar to halt the commission of grave human rights violations and possible crimes against humanity against the people,” Bachelet continued.

Source: How Many Mass Killings Are Enough Before the World Helps Myanmar?

Free Software Lets You Create Traditional Japanese Wood Joints & Furniture: Download Tsugite | Open Culture

The Japanese art of tsugite, or wood joinery, goes back more than a millennium. As still practiced today, it involves no nails, screws, or adhesives at all, yet it can be used to put up whole buildings — as well as to disassemble them with relative ease. The key is its canon of elaborately carved joints engineered to slide together without accidentally coming apart, the designs of which we’ve previously featured here on Open Culture in animated GIF form. Though it would be natural to assume that 21st-century technology has no purchase on this domain of dedicated traditional craftsmen, it does greatly assist the efforts of the rest of us to understand just how tsugite works.

Source: Free Software Lets You Create Traditional Japanese Wood Joints & Furniture: Download Tsugite | Open Culture

Costa Rica stresses protocols as cases, hospitalizations increase –

Meanwhile, Covid-19-related hospitalizations have doubled over the last 15 days. As of Friday, April 9, there are 412 people hospitalized with the disease — 199 of them in intensive care.

“We have an individual and collective responsibility to flatten that curve that is rising dangerously. Vaccination is advancing, but we need to strengthen preventive measures to let this immunization advance and achieve the necessary protection, especially for the most vulnerable,” Salas said.

Source: Costa Rica stresses protocols as cases, hospitalizations increase –