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Post by mhbruin on Feb 12, 2023 9:13:56 GMT -8
Apparently I snore so loudly that it scares everyone in the car I'm driving.
Borders May Be Artificial, But They Matter
The tents are so close to the border wall between Syria and Turkey, they are almost touching it.
Those living here on the Syrian side may have been displaced by the country's more than decade-old civil war. But they could also be survivors of the earthquake. Catastrophes overlap in Syria.
The earthquake, untroubled by international borders, has brought havoc to both countries. But the international relief effort has been thwarted by checkpoints. In southern Turkey, thousands of rescue workers with heavy lifting gear, paramedics and sniffer dogs have jammed the streets, and are still working to find survivors. In this part of opposition-held north-west Syria, none of this is going on.
Syria's political map is a minefield for humanitarian work. In the north-west of Syria, it's Syrian Kurdish forces which control large swathes of territory, mainly in opposition to Damascus, but occasionally striking alliances of convenience.
Pockets controlled by Islamic State forces further compound the risks embedded in any relief operation.
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The death toll from the earthquakes in Turkey and northwestern Syria has gone past 33,000 as rescue efforts continue.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 12, 2023 9:16:22 GMT -8
That Would Be Over 340,000 Per Year
Russian soldiers are dying in greater numbers in Ukraine this month than at any time since the first week of the invasion, according to Ukrainian data.
The Ukrainian data shows 824 Russian soldiers dying per day in February.
The figures were highlighted by the UK's Ministry of Defence. The figures cannot be verified - but the UK says the trends are "likely accurate".
The increase comes as Ukrainian officials say that Russia has launched a "big offensive".
However, the secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine (NSDC), Oleksiy Danilov, also said Russia is experiencing "big problems" with the campaign.
"Our troops are repulsing [the offensive] very strongly," Mr Danilov said. "The offensive they planned is already taking place, gradually, but it's not the offensive they imagined."
That's Around the Population of Anaheim or Honolulu
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 12, 2023 9:18:02 GMT -8
5,000 Pregnant Russian Women Can't Be Wrong
More than 5,000 pregnant Russian women have entered Argentina in recent months, including 33 on a single flight on Thursday, officials say.
The latest arrivals were all in the final weeks of pregnancy, according to the national migration agency.
It is believed the women want to make sure their babies are born in Argentina to obtain Argentinian citizenship.
The number of arrivals has increased recently, which local media suggests is a result of the war in Ukraine.
Of the 33 women who arrived in the Argentinian capital on one flight on Thursday, three were detained because of "problems with their documentation", joining three more who arrived the previous day, migration agency head Florencia Carignano told La Nacion.
The Russian women had initially claimed they were visiting Argentina as tourists, she said.
"In these cases it was detected that they did not come here to engage in tourism activities. They acknowledged it themselves."
She said the Russian women wanted their children to have Argentinian citizenship because it gave more freedom than a Russian passport.
"The problem is that they come to Argentina, sign up their children as Argentinean and leave. Our passport is very secure across the world. It allows [passport-holders] to enter 171 countries visa-free," Ms Carignano said.
Having an Argentine child also speeds up the citizenship process for parents. As it stands, Russians can travel visa-free to only 87 countries.
How Do You Say "Anchor Baby" in Spanish?
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 12, 2023 9:21:16 GMT -8
Previous Guy Sees Dead People --- Voting. His Researchers? Nope!
The campaign paid researchers from Berkeley Research Group, the people said, to study 2020 election results in six states, looking for fraud and irregularities to highlight in public and in the courts. Among the areas examined were voter machine malfunctions, instances of dead people voting and any evidence that could help Trump show he won, the people said. None of the findings were presented to the public or in court.
About a dozen people at the firm worked on the report, including econometricians, who use statistics to model and predict outcomes, the people said. The work was carried out in the final weeks of 2020, before the Jan. 6 riot of Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol.
Trump continues to falsely assert that the 2020 election was stolen despite abundant evidence to the contrary, much of which had been provided to him or was publicly available before the Capitol assault. The Trump campaign’s commissioning of its own report to study the then-president’s fraud claims has not been previously reported.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 12, 2023 9:25:01 GMT -8
A Interesting Debate in a Philly Suburb, That Has Nothing to Do with the Super Bowl
Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, you’ve stirred up a serious cauldron.
Some are up in arms about the tiny article An that appears on the signs overtop the school’s coat of arms. One local resident, insisting the signs should read “A SCH Home,” sent me a photo of the offending article, along with a note of exasperation at “an educational institution promoting itself without proper grammar.”
On the one hand, this feels like a distinctly first-world controversy — the kind of kerfuffle that could only arise at a private institution whose high school tuition tops $46,000 a year. (For comparison’s sake, Philadelphia’s median household income is $52,649.)
On the other hand, no one knows how to use articles with acronyms or initialisms, so let’s dive in.
The difference between acronyms and initialisms is pedantic, but here, relevant. Acronyms can be read aloud as words on their own: NASA, AWOL, AIDS, FOMO. Initialisms are read letter by letter: FBI, CIA, YMCA. Some will add periods to initialisms (F.B.I.), but most who do that are psychopaths. Or the New York Times.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 12, 2023 9:26:17 GMT -8
Who Won the Week?
The 5,000 members of two CSX railroad unions who are finally getting paid sick time
South Carolina, after the DNC shuffled the primary deck to make it the first one to go in 2024 (followed by NH, NV, GA and MI)
Capt. Janet Days, who becomes the first Black woman in charge of Naval Station Norfolk, the world’s largest naval base
The rescue and relief personnel and agencies working their butts off in the wake of the massive earthquake in Turkey and Syria
Viola Davis, for becoming the latest member of Club EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) with her Grammy for Best Spoken Word
President Biden: deals with Chinese spy balloon like a seasoned pro, then baits GOP on national TV during boffo SOTU to loudly proclaim that Social Security & Medicare must be left alone
The Pennsylvania state House, which flipped from red to blue with the impressive victories by Dems Joe McAndrew, Matt Gergely, and Abigail Salisbury in 3 special elections
DeAndrea Benjamin, the 12th Black woman to be confirmed as a federal judge (4th Circuit) during the Biden administration
LeBron James, for beating Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 38-year-old all-time NBA scoring record of 38,387 points
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 12, 2023 9:27:48 GMT -8
Guess Who Has a Laptop Problem. No, Not Hunter.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 12, 2023 9:29:56 GMT -8
According to Fox Noise, Biden Looks Too Healthy
On Friday Fox News aired a very special Hannity episode that featured an interview with Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas. Prior to his election he was Donald Trump's White House physician. Which he apparently thinks qualifies him to speak authoritatively about the health of Joe Biden, who he's never examined and virulently hates. Jackson was especially suspicious about Biden's observably robust demeanor and general fitness...
"To be honest with you, I think that there's a medication. I want to know when he gets his physical done what medications is he actually on. Because he looks sometimes like he's really jacked up something."
Because It's Sunny?
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 12, 2023 9:32:02 GMT -8
Gov. DeathSentence Wants No Guns, But Doesn't Want Anyone to Know He Wants No Guns.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) wanted guns banned from his election-night party in Tampa last year but wanted to blame city officials, according to a new report.
Emails obtained by The Washington Post reveal the sensitive request made by DeSantis’ campaign to city officials in Tampa prior to a Nov. 8 election party. DeSantis, who received a 100% rating from the National Rifle Association last year, didn’t want any guns at his event. He also didn’t want anyone to know it was his decision, according to the new emails.
“DeSantis/his campaign will not tell their attendees they are not permitted to carry because of the political optics,” Chase Finch, the Tampa Convention Center’s safety and security manager, said in an Oct. 28 email to other city officials about the request.
In another email to city employees, Finch said, “it sounds like they want us to say it’s our policy to disallow firearms within the event space if anyone asks.”
Finch received a response back less than half an hour later from Nicole Travis, the city’s administrator of development and economic opportunity:
“We are not saying anything about concealed carry. That is the responsibility of the renter. We follow State Statute that permits concealed carry.”
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 12, 2023 9:33:14 GMT -8
Not All Time Away From Home is a Vacation
Natural disasters forced an estimated 3.4 million people in the U.S. to leave their homes in 2022, according to Census Bureau data collected earlier this year, underscoring how climate-related weather events are already changing American communities.
The overwhelming majority of these people were uprooted by hurricanes, followed by floods, then fires and tornados. Nearly 40% percent returned to their homes within a week. Nearly 16% percent have not returned home (and may never do so), and 12% percent were evacuated for more than 6 months.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 12, 2023 9:34:58 GMT -8
Chocolate!
Federal workplace safety authorities have fined a central Pennsylvania confectionary factory more than $14,500 following an accident last year in which two workers fell into a vat of chocolate.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Mars Wrigley in the June accident at the Elizabethtown M&M/Mars factory, saying the workers were not authorized to work in the tanks and weren't trained on the proper safety procedures for the equipment.
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