Question submitted by Spazito

Teens share bullying tales in confession booth

One girl says the torment of being bullied made her suicidal and ultimately "ruined two years of my schooling."

Another girl took three showers a day in a futile attempt to appease classmates who jokingly insisted — day in, day out — that she smelled.

One boy remembers having been a bully and says, “I’m just disgusted with myself.”

These are some of the stories that emerged after the CBC News Network show Connect with Mark Kelley set up a video confession booth in a Quebec high school to encourage students to share their personal experiences with bullying.

more

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/05/24/bullyproof-connect-booth.html

This was done at a school in Quebec but were it to be done anywhere, I suspect, sadly, the stories would be all too similar.

I love Arizona, a beautiful State!

Ptah put out an invite in the Welcome and Help forum so here I am with my story. My husband and I had the opportunity to visit Arizona and fell in love with it. We found the beauty of Sedona almost surreal and, imo, there are no photos that can do justice to the stunning, almost overwhelming beauty of the Grand Canyon. We also visited Oatman and felt we went back in time to the 'old west'. I still have my fridge magnet from there.

I am saddened by the state of the government there right now but am hoping it is temporary. I have friends who are on their way to Phoenix right now and I am looking forward to hearing about their visit when they return.

Hi, I'm Spazito!

I am Canadian, love politics Canadian and American (maybe too much, lol). DU has been my go-to place for years because it has news, politics, you name it, you can most likely find it here.

Glacier time-lapse images reveal 'epochal change'

"Nothing is quite as damning or convincing as photo evidence.

snip

Your basic human perception of this stuff is that major epochal, geologic scale change happened a long time ago or will happen a long time in the future.

"[But] when we looked at these pictures, we realized — good God — we're right in the middle of epochal change happening right now. It's happening right in front of our cameras," recounts Balog, an American photographer, mountaineer and founder of the Extreme Ice Survey (EIS).

The survey documents the shrinking and retreat of Earth's glaciers using cameras placed in strategic positions near the outflow of the giant ice sheets. Cameras are left in place for months at a time and take one to two pictures an hour. The end result are short films documenting the death of glaciers."

more

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/01/13/pol-glaciers-time-lapse-environment.html

There is a fascinating time-lapse video clip in the article.

Possible bug in either the vote count or the explanation of the vote...

on a hidden message.

There is a hidden post in a thread that shows a jury decision to hide but it says the vote was 3-2. Here is the message in the hidden post:

"A Jury voted 3-2 to hide this post on Tue Dec 20, 2011, 06:33 AM. Reason: This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate. (See Community Standards.)"

The hidden post can be found here (It is reply #17, I couldn't do a hyper-link because it's a hidden post it seems):

http://www.democraticunderground.com/124013269#post17

Seeing that there are 6 jurors on each jury, it seems there was a glitch or something here, maybe just in the explanation or in the vote itself, something was lost in 'translation'.

This glitch may be related to the question in this thread but I'm not sure, I originally posted the vote count discrepancy there but thought it might be better as it's own OP:
'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/124013341

Layaway bills paid off by secret Santas

Anonymous donors in the United States are paying off the layaway accounts of strangers, buying the toys and games set aside by impoverished parents for their children.

snip

Last week, a young father in dirty clothes and worn-out boots stood in line at the Kmart layaway counter, Edna Deppe, assistant manager at the store in Indianapolis,recalled.

With him were three small children. He asked to pay something on his bill because he knew he wouldn't be able to afford it all before Christmas. Then a mysterious woman stepped up to the counter.

"She told him, 'No, I'm paying for it,'" Deppe said. "He just stood there and looked at her and then looked at me and asked if it was a joke. I told him it wasn't, and that she was going to pay for him. And he just busted out in tears."

more

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/12/18/secret-santas-pay-off-layaways.html

Oilsands' carbon emissions rising

The intensity of oilsands carbon emissions — the amount of greenhouse gases created per every barrel of oil produced — increased by two per cent between 2009 and 2010, according to an industry report.

The 2010 Responsible Canadian Energy progress report by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) also found that overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the oilsands rose 14 per cent in the same time period as the number of oilsands operations expanded.

"The increase in total GHG emissions is a result of the significant increase in both mining and in situ production, both of which require more fuel — for mine trucks, in situ steam production and upgraders," read the report.

more

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2011/12/16/pol-capp-oil-industry-emissions-report.html

This report is from CAPP, the Industry Assn itself, so you can be sure they put the best light on this they could and it's still BAD news.

'Barefoot Bandit' sentenced to seven years over crime spree

The 20-year-old "Barefoot Bandit" has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison after pleading guilty to dozens of charges.

Colton Harris-Moore gained international notoriety while evading police across America in stolen planes, boats and cars during a two-year crime spree.

Judge Vickie Churchill said "this case is a tragedy in many ways, but it's a triumph of the human spirit in other ways". She described Harris-Moore's upbringing as a "mind numbing absence of hope", and believed he was genuinely remorseful and contrite.

Friday's proceedings consolidated cases against Harris-Moore in three Washington state counties. He has already pleaded guilty to federal charges in Seattle and will be sentenced for those crimes early next year. He will serve his state and federal sentences at the same time.

more

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/16/barefoot-bandit-sentenced-seven-years

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Former NHLer Kennedy tells U.S. to speak up against child sex abuse

Canada's Sheldon Kennedy stepped into the American spotlight on Tuesday, the victim of a sexual predator making a Capitol Hill appearance to urge U.S. lawmakers to "empower" anyone who suspects children are being sexually abused.

Under the glare of television cameras and the din of snapping shutters, the former NHL player matter-of-factly told of the ordeal he suffered at the hands of a once-trusted hockey coach. His testimony came as America grapples with the Penn State college football scandal.

"In my case, my abuser was International Hockey Man of the Year," Kennedy told the U.S. Senate subcommittee on children and families, whose members include Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota.

"In Canada, that gave him almost God-like status. Sound familiar? The kids — and often their parents too — looked up to him as a hero. This was someone who could make their dreams come true and he used that trust to hurt them."

more

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2011/12/13/sp-sheldon-kennedy-congress.html