suffragette
suffragette's JournalAll the more reason for caring and change. Developed countries have
issues with this as well.
That doesn't nullify calls to recognize and improve. Brazil's message that that we can and must do better is just as valid as the same message from developed countries. We have to accomplish this together.
Here are some examples of similar issues in western Canada and the Pacific Northwest, both regions which value environmental concerns, but also still face problems and need to improve. Having issues doesn't invalidate calls to improve them in our countries. The same should be the case for Brazil.
Victoria's Secret: Dumping Raw Sewage Like It's 1915
http://thetyee.ca/News/2015/01/26/Victoria-Raw-Sewage-Dumping/
More specifically, I blamed Victoria's raw sewage, which is pumped out to the Juan de Fuca Strait at a rate of 130 million litres per day. British Columbia's capital is one of the last major cities north of San Diego to dump all of its untreated waste (including pesticides, street runoff and pharmaceuticals) into the ocean. On Friday, the sewer's screening system failed, spilling three million extra litres of unfiltered crap into Ross Bay.
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"Victoria thinks they're miraculously in a different situation."
When I relate this anecdote to the scientists tasked with monitoring Victoria's sewer situation, Chris Lowe and Glenn Harris of the Regional District's environmental protection division confirm the vast majority of testing happens within a few hundred metres of Greater Victoria's two major sewer outfalls. They test for a great many things -- heavy metals, bacteria, dissolved oxygen, hundreds more toxins -- but at a relatively short distance. Then they use computer models to extrapolate where it goes. This happens in weekly, monthly and quarterly cycles. Government guidelines don't require more remote testing, so they don't generally do it.
Lowe and Harris told me bacteria tests do routinely exceed water quality guidelines -- a problem that seems to be getting worse as time passes. Fecal coliform is a group of bacteria found in poop that can carry illness-causing pathogens like salmonella, E. coli and norovirus. Between tests in 2010 and 2013, the average fecal coliform count in Victoria's wastewater pipes went from 5.3 and 5.7 million bacteria per 100 millilitres of water up to 7.2 and 9.3 million bacteria per 100 millilitres of water.
It's been so bad for so long there's even a poop mascot, Mr. Floaty, to try to get people energized around the issue.
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Water and waste ignore man made borders, which has led Washington State to express its discontent over the issue.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/victoria-sewer-dispute-hits-the-fan-as-washington-state-urges-bc-intervene/article19131685/
Environmentalists and communities in the United States complain of pollution, while scientists say the ocean acts as a natural toilet that flushes and disperses waste with minimal environmental impact.
Gov. Inslee said the sewage issue poses health and economic issues for the area, because the untreated waste flows toward Washington State.
“Left unresolved, Victoria’s lack of wastewater treatment has the potential to colour other regional and national issues at a time when our two countries are working to re-establish steady economic growth through various cross-border initiatives,” said the letter.
And Washington has issues with run off pollution and waste leaks itself.
https://www.hcn.org/blogs/range/washington-runoff-causes-stormwater-stomachaches
Each year, 1.8 million to 3.5 million illnesses are caused by swimming in water contaminated by sewage overflows, and an additional 500,000 from drinking contaminated water.
One of the most troubling effects of polluted runoff is the contamination of peoples' drinking water--something we might take for granted as safe. More than half of the documented waterborne disease outbreaks in the US since 1948 occurred after extreme rainfalls, according to a 2001 peer-reviewed study. A 2003 study likewise made the connection between polluted stormwater runoff and waterborne disease.
Northwesterners generally can expect clean, safe drinking water to flow from their taps. But that's not always the case. There are numerous local examples of drinking water that's fouled when sewage and stormwater flow into waterways, or when storm runoff directly dumps fertilizers, fecal bacteria, and other pollution into our drinking water sources.
Yet, disasters have happened in those countries. Flame lighter is reminder of that.
But, those countries aren't bashed or removed from future consideration.
Look at what happened to Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima in Athens.
He was attacked by a defrocked Irish priest during the marathon, an attack that may have cost him the gold.
https://m.
https://m.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44124-2004Aug29.html?nav=rss_sports/leaguesandsports/olympics/2004summer
In Sunday's men's marathon, the last competition of the Summer Games, a Brazilian runner who led for more than 23 miles fell out of the lead shortly after being assaulted by a man in a black beret, red kilt and green knee socks. The assailant pushed him through a wall of befuddled fans onto a curb until he could be extricated and sent on his way again -- wobbly and dazed.
Within minutes, Italian Stefano Baldini and American Meb Keflezighi, who had been about 10 seconds behind, surged into the lead, setting the stage for Baldini to race to his first Olympic gold and Keflezighi to claim a stunning silver, the first Olympic medal won by an American man in the event in 28 years.
And then, there he came. As Keflezighi made the sign of the cross after running through the finish in 2 hours 11 minutes 29 seconds, 34 seconds behind Baldini, the battered Brazilian, Vanderlei de Lima, entered the 108-year-old marble Panathinaiko Stadium and sprinted joyously, exuberantly, to a bronze medal in 2:12:11.
"The Olympic spirit prevailed here," de Lima said. "My determination prevailed."
http://sportsworld.nbcsports.com/vanderlei-de-lima/
Neil Horan, a defrocked Irish priest who similarly trespassed onto the British Grand Prix Formula One course the year before, grabbed de Lima by his blue Brazilian singlet. He took the runner off the road and into a row of spectators in a few seconds.
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De Lima emerged seven seconds after the collision to continue running, his lead cut into but not gone. He was obviously affected. De Lima once waved his arms in apparent exasperation after returning to the road.
“I think that the psychological shock was the greatest impact that I suffered,” de Lima said in Portuguese in the NBC Olympics profile. “To be attacked like that, it was painful. I was totally defenseless and exhausted.
“From that moment, it was a matter of overcoming the odds. I was even shaking my head like that guy messed everything up for me. But quitting the race didn’t once cross my mind.”
https://m.
I'll admit it. I'm a sucker for a great Olympic Opening Ceremony. Spoilers!
Anyone else watching the opening ceremony?
I like how they are celebrating the many cultures and ethnicities in Brazil, while not sugarcoating.
Melania lies about writing speech, Donald lied about writing "Art of the Deal"
Do we we see a pattern here?
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-tells-all
DONALD TRUMP’S GHOSTWRITER TELLS ALL
“The Art of the Deal” made America see Trump as a charmer with an unfailing knack for business. Tony Schwartz helped create that myth—and regrets it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/19/us/politics/trump-book-tony-schwartz.html
Donald J. Trump has regularly boasted about “The Art of the Deal,” his best-selling autobiography, as a business bible that demonstrates the sharp negotiating prowess he would bring to the presidency. The book, released in 1987, details his rise to the top of New York’s real estate world; it helped spawn his career as a reality television star and cemented his image as a winner with a golden touch.
But Tony Schwartz, the book’s ghostwriter, who spent 18 months in the 1980s interviewing and shadowing Mr. Trump, says that it is really a work of fiction.
In an interview with The New Yorker magazine for its July 25 issue, Mr. Schwartz explained publicly, and for the first time, what he learned from living in Mr. Trump’s world. Here are some highlights.
The Art of Regret
Mr. Schwartz, a former magazine writer who said he worked on the book because he needed the money, told the writer Jane Mayer that he painted Mr. Trump in the most positive light that he could, thinking that a sympathetic character would be better for the book’s sales than a story about a cruel tycoon. If he could do it over again, however, Mr. Schwartz said the book would be titled “The Sociopath.”
Code Pink in the house!
Strong similarities to attack on Dallas police one year ago
I was reading an article about the ramifications of the use of a robot to kill the suspect in yesterday's shootings and saw this sentence:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/08/police-bomb-robot-explosive-killed-suspect-dallas
The link embedded in the above sentence led to this article from last year.
Saturday 13 June 2015 20.36 BST Last modified on Saturday 13 June 2015 23.07 BST
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/13/dallas-police-headquarters-shooting-dead
Dallas police attack: gunman confirmed dead hours after opening fire on HQ
Suspect who launched early-morning attack, which included planting bombs, was shot by police sniper after fleeing in armoured van
The headquarters building was riddled by bullets in the attack, which happened at around 12.30am local time on Saturday morning. Police said they discovered multiple suspicious packages planted at the scene, one containing pipe bombs that detonated after being picked up by an anti-explosives robot, causing damage to cars.
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Later on Saturday police said the vehicle was on fire, and ammunition rounds were going off inside it. Police said in a Twitter post that the fire started when they used robots to clear the van of weapons, including pipe bombs.
Initial reports suggested there were as many as four suspects but officials said they now believed that a lone suspect took shots from multiple locations. Brown declined to confirm the suspect’s identity.
Some of the points stand out as similar:
- Yesterday's attack occurred almost one year after the previous one
- The combination of guns and bombs. We don't yet know if bombs were planted in Dallas, but after last year the threat of that is notable. There is more info in last year's article about the bombs that were discovered last year.
- There were initially four suspects last year as well.
I'm not sure what to make of this yet. But it seems too similar to be coincidental.
One difference is the attacker last year was white.
I don't have cable, so I don't know if cable news is discussing the attack from last year and drawing comparisons yet. I think it does bear examining.
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