turbinetree
turbinetree's Journal'Voice of the forest': George the snail, last of his kind, dies at age 14
Climate change and invasive predators have taken a heavy toll on native animals and insects in the Hawaiian Islands
As New Year’s Day broke in the Hawaiian Islands, one rare creature was not there to emerge from his shell and greet it: George, the last snail of his kind and a local celebrity, was dead at age 14.
The passing of George, a member of the Achatinella apexfulva species and a tree snail who fed on tree fungus, algae and bacteria, epitomizes the decline of biodiversity on the Hawaiian islands, where climate change and invasive predators have taken a heavy toll on native animals and insects. Snails like George also played a part in the songs and stories of native Hawaiian culture, which holds that snails made sounds and are “the voice of the forest”.
George, who never lived in an actual forest, was still a mascot for endangered Hawaiian snails. After a pathogen outbreak in the lab where he lived, he became the only surviving member of his species and was visited by hundreds, if not thousands, of schoolchildren. Despite his celebrity status, George wasn’t the prettiest snail to look at. David Sischo, the snail extinction prevention program coordinator for the Hawaii Invertebrate Program, described him as “old and grizzled” and said that George was also “bit of a hermit”, who would stay in his shell at times when most other nocturnal snails emerge. Although scientists had hoped that George, a hermaphrodite, would have offspring, his solitary life ruled out that possibility.
Snails like George used to be ubiquitous throughout the Hawaiian islands. In fact, the Achatinella apexfulva was the very first snail species to be written about by non-native scientists, said Sischo. In the 1780s, when British captain George Dickson arrived in Hawaii, he was given a lei made with the shells of George’s ancestors. Back then, the snails hung from trees in giant clusters, easy pickings for scientists and collectors. “In a few minutes I collected several hundred specimens, picking them from trees and low bushes as rapidly as one would gather huckleberries from a prolific field,” a collector named DD Baldwin wrote in 1887.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/08/george-the-snail-tree-snail-hawaiian-islands-biodiversity
Conservatives lose it after Christian Bale thanks Satan for 'inspiring' him to play Dick Cheney
SARAH K. BURRIS
06 JAN 2019 AT 21:22 ET
Actor Christian Bale accepted the Golden Globe award from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for his role in the film “Vice.”
Bale plays former Vice President Dick Cheney in a story that details the unique role he had in George W. Bush’s White House.
According to Rotten Tomatoes, “Bale’s transformation is a sight to behold.” He donned prosthetics to achieve some of the key characteristics of Cheney, but capturing the so-called “evil” of Cheney was all Bale.
“Thank you Satan for the inspiration,” Bale said about the biographical drama-comedy role.
He then offered a challenge to other actors, saying it was a kind of “competition.”
“I will be cornering the market on charisma-free assh*les,” he said. “What do you think, Mitch McConnell next? That would be good, wouldn’t it?”
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/01/conservatives-lose-christian-bale-thank-satan-inspiring-play-dick-cheney/
After More Failed Negotiations, Pelosi To Push Individual Bills To Reopen Agencies
Source: Talking Points Memo
By CATHERINE LUCEY and Lisa Mascaro
January 7, 2019 7:16 am
WASHINGTON (AP) -- With no weekend breakthrough to end a prolonged partial government shutdown, President Donald Trump is standing firm in his border wall funding demands and newly empowered House Democrats are planning to step up pressure on Trump and Republican lawmakers to reopen the government.
Trump showed no signs of budging on his demand for more than $5 billion for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, though on Sunday he did offer to build it with steel rather than concrete, a concession Democrats panned.
With the shutdown lurching into a third week, many Republicans watched nervously from the sidelines as hundreds of thousands of federal workers went without pay and government disruptions hit the lives of ordinary Americans.
White House officials affirmed Trump's funding request in a letter to Capitol Hill after a meeting Sunday with senior congressional aides led by Vice President Mike Pence at the White House complex yielded little progress. The letter from Office of Management and Budget Acting Director Russell Vought sought funding for a "steel barrier on the Southwest border."
Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/pelosi-to-reopen-individual-agencies
And to add this quote from the asshole narcissistic megalomaniac psychopath .................
-snip-
Trump also asserted that he could relate to the plight of the hundreds of thousands of federal workers who aren't getting paid, though he acknowledged they will have to "make adjustments" to deal with the shutdown shortfall.
Then I think that he should have had to walk to Camp David, forfeit his check, and turn the lights off in the white house......................to "make adjustments"...................
November 3, 2020 cannot get here fast enough..........................
Nucor to set up plate mill in U.S. Midwest for $1.35 billion
BUSINESS NEWS JANUARY 7, 2019 / 6:47 AM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO
(Reuters) - Steel producer Nucor Corp (NUE.N) said on Monday it would spend about $1.35 billion to build a plate mill in the U.S. Midwest, taking advantage of federal tax cuts that has resulted in windfall gains for several companies.
Nucor is also benefiting from higher steel prices for domestic producers due to tariffs imposed on imports by the Trump administration last year.
The new mill, which is expected to be fully operational in 2022, would produce 1.2 million tons a year of steel plate products and create about 400 full-time jobs, the company said.
“Tax reform, continued improvements to our regulatory approach and strong trade enforcement are giving businesses like ours the confidence to make long-term capital investments here in the United States,” Chief Executive Officer John Ferriola said in a statement.
Nucor currently operates plate mills in North Carolina, Alabama and Texas.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nucor-mill/nucor-to-set-up-plate-mill-in-u-s-midwest-for-1-35-billion-idUSKCN1P10ZC
Biggest anti-union firms in the country and they also like to do this....................and also the most deadliest
https://nwlaborpress.org/1997/nucor.html
The college football national championship game busts one of amateurism's greatest myths
Haven't we been here before?
LINDSAY GIBBS
JAN 7, 2019, 8:00 AM
On Monday night, the Alabama Crimson Tide will face off against the Clemson Tigers in the 2019 College Football Playoff National Championship Game.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve been here before. Alabama and Clemson have faced off in two of the last three national championship games, with Alabama winning in 2016 and Clemson winning in 2017. In 2018, the two programs faced each other again, just one round earlier, in the semifinals. Since the College Football Playoff system began in 2014, it has been the Alabama and Clemson show.
As former Clemson Student Information Director Tim Bouret pointed out on Twitter, after Monday night, either Clemson or Alabama will have won 11 of the last 12 College Football Playoff games that have been played.
This lack of parity is nothing new. Since 1998, as many as 42 schools could have conceivably sent a team to a national championship game. Instead, just 17 have made an appearance.
https://thinkprogress.org/college-football-parity-myth/
And as I was reading this article, I kept thinking that the United States Supreme Court declined to hear the case of the college athletes forming a union or being paid
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/04/us/politics/supreme-court-declconsider-ncaa-rules-on-paying-athletes.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/18/sports/ncaafootball/nlrb-says-northwestern-football-players-cannot-unionize.html
The death of Venice? City's battles with tourism and flooding reach crisis level
A tax on daytrippers has hit the headlines, but La Serenissima’s mounting problems also include rising waters, angry locals and a potential black mark from Unesco
Why Italy regrets its Faustian pact with tourist cash
Venice’s Santa Lucia railway station is packed as visitors scuttle across the concourse towards the water-bus stops. Taking a selfie against the backdrop of the Grand Canal, Ciro Esposito and his girlfriend have just arrived and are unimpressed with what may greet them in future if the Venetian authorities get their way: a minimum city entry fee of €2.50 throughout the year, rising to between €5 and €10 during peak periods.
It is the price of a cappuccino, but for them “it’s going too far”. “They are using people like a bank machine,” says Esposito. “We are in Europe and can travel freely across borders, yet we have to pay to enter one of our own cities.”
In earlier times it was the wheeled suitcases that tourists rattled over the cobbles that drew the ire of Venetians – so much so that the authorities pledged to fine anyone caught using one up to €500. That never happened, but now another – more plausible – penalty is being concocted. To manage the impact of the 30 million people who visit the lagoon city every year, the daytrippers – those who come, take pictures, and leave – are to be forced to pay, although it is unclear when the tax will be introduced or how it could be enforced.
Venice may have a centuries-long history of cultivating tourism, devising crowd-drawing events such as the annual carnival, the Biennale international art exhibition and a star-studded film festival, but the advent of mass tourism has left it struggling with how to deal with the near-constant hordes who trudge around its precious sites, through its 11th century basilica, over its famous Rialto bridge, and along its maze of winding calle. The influx is a blessing for the local council’s coffers but a scourge on the city’s fragile monuments and environment.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/06/venice-losing-fight-with-tourism-and-flooding
-snip-
In a move to allay environmental concerns, Brugnaro tried to indicate to Unesco in late 2017 that he was getting tough on the cruise ships that, weighing more than 96,000 tonnes, disembark thousands of passengers in the heart of the city. They would no longer be able to sail past St Mark’s Square, he announced, and would instead take a less glamorous route via the industrial area of Marghera.
Environmentalists have claimed that waves caused by the cruise ships have eroded the underwater supports of historic buildings and polluted the waters. But the plan is yet to be approved by the national government. If and when that approval comes, work on the new route, which requires the dredging of canals and construction of a new port, would take an estimated four years. And while diverting the ships would better preserve the historic centre, the move will do little to address concerns about pollution.
It goes without saying, however, that Venice’s troubles are not limited to tourism. The city is also endangered by recurring acque alte, or high waters. On 29 October last year, three-quarters of the city was hit by the worst flooding in a decade. Rain poured for almost 24 hours, with strong winds raising the water to 156cm above the normal sea level – a record reached only five times in the history of the city. As tourists persevered with their holidays – wading through knee-deep water in wellies and venturing to deluged shops and restaurants – locals counted the cost of the damage.
Super-rich sabbatical: the boom in luxury long breaks for the 1%
From shark swims to snow leopard treks, a tailored trip of up to a year is now a must-have
The super-rich are going on sabbatical. It turns out having bucket-loads of money can be stressful, leading some of the world’s richest people to take a break for a month or so, or even a year, to escape the pressure of managing their businesses or personal fortunes.
Tom Barber, the founder of the London-based travel agency Original Travel, said so many super-rich customers had asked his firm to arrange bespoke trips ranging in duration from one to 12 months that his firm was launching a special division dedicated to sabbaticals for the 1%.
“It’s a huge trend,” Barber said. “The wealthy are looking for an escape. Often they want to get some sense of a back-to-basics lifestyle and learn the skills of our ancestors, like how to hunt and cook their own food.
“For others, it’s ‘braggability’. They want to use their money to open doors that normal people can’t and to tell their friends all about it,” he said. “If you’re in the 0.01%, you are going to be a competitive type of person.”
These are no ordinary holidays. Recent trips Barber’s firm has arranged include snow leopard spotting in India, living with the Sān people in Botswana and diving with sharks in the “sardine run” off the coast of South Africa.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/jan/06/super-rich-sabbatical-the-boom-in-luxury-long-breaks-for-the-wealthy
-snip-
A US executive living in Mexico, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Guardian he was setting off on a seven-month sabbatical with his wife and two children next month. The family are planning on driving from Punta Arenas, at the very southerly tip of Chile, back to their home in Mexico.
“We’ve shipped our vehicle down to the very south of Chile, and fitted it out for an extreme adventure, with a tent on the roof and full suspension,” he said. First the family will head to Antarctica, before driving up the Andes, stopping off to trek to Machu Picchu in Peru and to dive the Galápagos Islands.
“My wife and I decided that we had to do this now, to spend some intensive time with our kids before it was too late,” he said. “My eldest is about to turn 13 and the youngest is nearly 10.”
BOO FUCKING HOO........................
Robert De Niro on Donald Trump
Robert De Niro: 'Trump is a real racist, a white supremacist'
The notoriously reticent star has become one of the most vocal critics of Donald Trump. He talks about how the man in the White House makes mobsters look bad, the damage being done to America – and how he fears for his mixed-race children
Here, with Orson Welles and Spike Lee on the walls, and James Dean and Natalie Wood on the doors to the toilets, is where Robert De Niro might have died. In October, a pipe bomb addressed to the actor was sent to the New York warehouse where his film production company hugs an atrium dotted with vintage movie posters.
A security guard found the suspicious package in the mailroom at 5am and police vehicles swarmed the Tribeca neighbourhood before dawn. De Niro got a call from security early that morning telling him the pipe bomb was being removed. “Naturally you are concerned,” he says phlegmatically. “It’s just what it is. Just be careful.”
Cesar Sayoc, a bodybuilder, pizza deliveryman and fanatical supporter of Donald Trump, was subsequently arrested in Florida and charged with sending a total of 13 pipe bombs to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other critics of the president. De Niro says only: “There are a lot of crazy people out there. Everybody’s got their reasons.”
How did the double Oscar-winner find himself on a hit list alongside Obama and Clinton? The short answer is that De Niro has become one of the most colourful, pugnacious and unsubtle decriers of the Trump presidency.
The late politicisation of De Niro is all the more remarkable because of his reputation as a man of few words, notorious for responding to journalists’ questions with terse monosyllables. He stormed out of interviews with the BBC’s Barry Norman – who rashly gave chase – and with the Radio Times, claiming he was being asked questions with a “negative inference”. The New York Times mused in 1993: “No one, perhaps, is better suited to being an actor and less suited to being a personality.”
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jan/06/robert-de-niro-trump-is-a-real-racist-a-white-supremacist
Britons would now vote to stay in EU, want second referendum: poll
Source: Reuters
WORLD NEWS JANUARY 6, 2019 / 5:16 AM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO
LONDON (Reuters) - More Britons want to remain a member of the European Union than leave, according to a survey published on Sunday which also showed voters want to make the final decision themselves.
Britain is due leave the EU on March 29, but Prime Minister Theresa May is struggling to get her exit deal approved by parliament, opening up huge uncertainty over whether a deal is possible, or even whether the country will leave at all.
The survey by polling firm YouGov showed that if a referendum were held immediately, 46 percent would vote to remain, 39 percent would vote to leave, and the rest either did not know, would not vote, or refused to answer the question.
When the undecided and those who refused to answer were removed from the sample, the split was 54-46 in favor of remaining.
That is broadly in line with other polls in recent months which show a deeply divided electorate, in which opinion has swung towards remaining in the EU. The 2016 referendum voted 52 to 48 percent in favor of leaving.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-poll/britons-would-now-vote-to-stay-in-eu-want-second-referendum-poll-idUSKCN1P006O
First and Foremost Prime Minister Theresa May is trying her damnedest to be like Margret Thatcher....................if she can get this initiative passed, her libertarian Tory party will go after more social programs to gut and become more racist (sounds like the libertarian republicans in the US).
And her policies are going after and will have a direct problem with the aviation industry in the country.......................British Airways is owned by Iberia Airlines as a partner, in another example is Ryan Air which holds a 20% stake in Flybe
(https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ryanair-outlook/ryanair-says-not-seeing-any-brexit-impact-well-prepared-for-no-deal-idUSKCN1NQ1JM)
This Breixt bull shit goes after those arrangement.
Airbus will pick up and leave and take 14,000 aviation jobs and put them back in France and Germany.
Theresa May and her party are worried about Ireland wanting to break from the Kingdom, one has to look at Flybe to see the economic impact.
And then there is Scotland, and the ship building up there ( Queen Elizabeth II) was built there, the Scots did try to leave the United Kingdom).
Then there is the Oil reserves in the North Sea.
The financial markets which are the main drivers in the country such as London would move.
And then there is NATO
http://ukandeu.ac.uk/brexit-and-nato-an-essential-piece-of-the-puzzle/
Yep May and her crowd own this shit..........................I guess her and her Tory party are in many ways like humpty dumpty.....................
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