Monthly Archives: March 2015

Gateway to Freedom: Historian Eric Foner on the Hidden History of the Underground Railroad – Video

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Gateway to Freedom: Historian Eric Foner on the Hidden History of the Underground Railroad
As tens of thousands gather in Selma, Alabama, to mark the 50th anniversary of the historic voting rights marches of 1965, we go back 150 years to look at another chapter of the freedom struggle...

By: freespeechtv

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Gateway to Freedom: Historian Eric Foner on the Hidden History of the Underground Railroad - Video

Is Hong Kongs academic freedom under Chinese attack?

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BEIJING Scholars in Hong Kong are growing concerned that the territorys cherished academic freedom is coming under renewed attack from China in the aftermath of last years student-led pro-democracy protests.

Attacks in Communist Party-backed newspapers on a leading liberal professor, reports of government interference in academic appointments and renewed calls for patriotic education to be introduced into schools have stirred up emotions in the former British colony.

Academics are concerned that China and its conservative backers in Hong Kong are trying to subtly exert more control over universities and schools in order to gradually rein in criticism and silence a source of unrest.

We are very worried about the erosion of freedom of expression in Hong Kong we see this happening in the media and it is now happening in academia, said Dora Choi Po-king, an associate professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and member of a new Concern Group of academics.

Hundreds of academics signed a petition letter this month expressing their concerns about political intervention in the territorys universities and a serious threat to academic freedom, one of the core values held dear in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong enjoys very considerable academic freedom at the moment, and any attempt to curb that freedom is likely to be both subtle and fiercely resisted.

There is no comparison to the savage clampdown that universities in mainland China faced after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, but many academics are worried, nevertheless.

This year the onslaught has been pretty substantial, said Michael Davis, a law professor at the University of Hong Kong, complaining of an attempt to rein in government critics or pro-democracy voices.

Hong Kong media report that the territorys Beijing-backed chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, has been attempting to block the appointment of a leading liberal academic to a key post at Hong Kong University.

The former dean of HKUs law faculty, Johannes Chan Man-mun, was critical of the government during last years protests. One of his faculty members, law professor Benny Tai Yiu-ting, was a leader of the Occupy Central movement.

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Is Hong Kongs academic freedom under Chinese attack?

Freedom camping may become illegal in Christchurch

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Kirk Hargreaves

FREEDOM CAMPERS: Backpackers settle in for the night in a car park in New Brighton, Christchurch.

Dean Kozanic

ANOTHER NIGHT, ANOTHER CAR PARK: German visitors Danilson Dala, left, and Andrew Triendade pack up their gear to move on after a night in a Christchurch car park.

Freedom camping could soon be illegal in parts of Christchurch.

City councillors have voted unanimously in favour of drafting a new bylaw under the Freedom Camping Act.

Eight other territorial authorities have introduced freedom camping bylaws that restrict where they can go.

The Christchurch City Council has been reluctant to do so, preferring instead to deal with the issue a case at a time.

After a summer marred by clashes between residents and freedom campers it has decided to take a tougher stance.

"We've done the softly-softly approach. How long does this nonsensical water treading continue?" Cr Jamie Gough said.

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Freedom camping may become illegal in Christchurch

Freedom's Sam Magnan, Parkland's Siena Salvaggio top seeds at PIAA 3A swimming championships

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For Freedom senior Sam Magnan, it's his last opportunity for state glory. To Parkland junior Siena Salvaggio, it's a chance to finally forget last year.

Their color of choice isn't silver. It's gold.

Magnan placed second in the Class 3A 500-yard freestyle a season ago, while Salvaggio placed second in both the Class 3A 50 and 100 freestyle last year. Both District 11 swimming stars are back at the PIAA Swimming and Diving Championships this week at Bucknell University.

Action in the 3A championships commences on Friday morning in Lewisburg.

Magnan earned the top seed for the 500 freestyle with a time of 4 minutes, 30.17 seconds at the District 11 meet. Salvaggio is the No. 1 seed in the 100 freestyle with a qualifying time of 49.92 seconds from the district final.

The Pennridge girls from District One are seeded first for the 400 freestyle relay.

A University of Virginia recruit, Magnan is staying confident and thinking positive about his final trip to the PIAA swimming championships. His goal, of course, is a state title. His mission, though, is a state record.

Matt Belecanech of Saint Joseph's Prep set in the PIAA mark, 4:22.21, in 2009.

"Definitely, I'm trying for the state record," said Magnan, whose preferred distance is the one mile an event not offered at the scholastic level. "My best is less than three seconds off [the record]. I'm hoping to drop time and get it.

"I'd be pretty disappointed if I don't win the gold medal. But I'm not thinking like that. I've got to stay confident that I'll win."

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Freedom's Sam Magnan, Parkland's Siena Salvaggio top seeds at PIAA 3A swimming championships

Moves to stop freedom campers

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Kirk Hargreaves

FREEDOM CAMPERS: Backpackers settle in for the night in a car park in New Brighton, Christchurch.

Dean Kozanic

ANOTHER NIGHT, ANOTHER CAR PARK: German visitors Danilson Dala, left, and Andrew Triendade pack up their gear to move on after a night in a Christchurch car park.

Freedom camping could soon be illegal in parts of Christchurch.

City councillors have voted unanimously in favour of drafting a new bylaw under the Freedom Camping Act.

Eight other territorial authorities have introduced freedom camping bylaws that restrict where they can go.

The Christchurch City Council has been reluctant to do so, preferring instead to deal with the issue a case at a time.

After a summer marred by clashes between residents and freedom campers it has decided to take a tougher stance.

"We've done the softly-softly approach. How long does this nonsensical water treading continue?" Cr Jamie Gough said.

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Moves to stop freedom campers

Mogo Freedom gullwing trailer hauls outdoor gear, sleeps two

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Over the past few years, we've seen a barrage of tiny, ultralight camping trailers hit the market. We won't say that it's a new trend, since man has been constructing lightweight road trip shelters for nearly as long as he's had an automobile to tow them, but some interesting ideas and designs have definitely been bubbling to the surface lately. The Mogo Freedom trailer is the latest member of this rising tide, opening the walls of camping trailer design to create a super-simple, ultra-versatile shelter and toy hauler.

While tightening the proverbial belt during tough economic times, Mogo founder Matjaz Korosec went on a search for a more affordable type of holiday. He wanted a small, light vessel that he could fill with recreational gear like bikes and kayaks and tow with a small car. While a few of the designs we've covered especially the Teal Tail Feather seem like they could have fit the bill quite nicely, Korosec decided that the current market didn't have exactly what he was looking for. So he did what many other start-up founders had done before him and created his own design to fill the void.

Korosec's original parameters weren't necessarily unique, but the trailer they birthed certainly is. In following the "cheaper, lighter caravans for the masses" approach taken in 1949 by British Sprite caravan designer Samuel Alper, Korosec and his team came up with a simple, 772-lb (350-kg) trailer that very easily converts between gear hauling and sleeping configurations. They formed Mogo Freedom last June and spent the remainder of the year finalizing and testing a prototype and touring events to gather feedback. The company incorporated the feedback into the "Free" package it showed at last month's Caravan, Camping and Motorhome Show in Birmingham, UK. "Mogo" is derived from the idea, "Whatever your M.O., GO."

Unlike other small trailers, which include various furniture, fittings and appliances, the cabin of the 12.1 x 6.3 x 6.4-ft (L x W x H/370 x 191 x 195-cm) Mogo trailer is virtually empty. All that's inside is a floor-filling double mattress. During transit, the mattress lifts out of the way and secures up under the ceiling, freeing the interior for hauling up to 882 lb (400 kg) of recreational toys, such as bicycles, kayaks and surfboards. The floor of the trailer includes storage compartments for organizing smaller gear and tools. When you arrive at camp, all you have to do to set up is remove the gear and drop the mattress no wrestling around with shock-corded poles, cranking pop-up tents, or assembling interior fixtures.

Another interesting aspect of the Mogo trailer is the two wing side doors that are used for loading the trailer doesn't include a rear tailgate and also work as sun-shading, weather-sheltering rooftops at camp. Given the large space these doors open up, campers can leave their folding chairs at home and sit atop the trailer mattress, tailgate- style. They can also use the open wings to essentially triple the size of the interior by affixing canvas walled awnings, creating additional weather-protected space for sleeping, cooking, storage and more.

The wing doors close and lock from inside via central handles, letting occupants escape from cold weather, mosquitoes and other pesky discomforts of outdoor living. The windows can then be used for ventilation.

In terms of construction, the Mogo Freedom trailer body is built from balsa wood sandwiched inside a shell made from an impact-resistant plastic. Mogo claims the plastic, also used in the marine and housing industries, offers better strength, insulation and impact resistance than traditional trailer materials like aluminum or fiberglass. The body is bonded and screwed to a chassis supplied by AL-KO.

The Freedom's boxy shape looks a bit rough for aerodynamic performance, but it's not designed simply for visual effect. Mogo explains that it chose the rounded rectangle packaging to increase structural integrity when compared to the more popular teardrop design.

"Mogo Freedom departed from the commonly used way of caravan assembly," the company explains on its website. "We preserved the ancient way of keeping the walls in line with the edge of the roof. This assembly process has been lost in caravan production when the search for more aerodynamic front compromised the building integrity extending the front and increasing the pressure between the wall and the roof seam. Since the seam in Mogo between the wall and the roof are in the same line, the stress points have been reduced and the shell integrity improved."

Mogo plans to build each Freedom to customer specifications and offers four equipment packages to make product selection easier (but make/model a bit strange). The four packages are the company name split up: the Mo, Go, Free and Dom options. Prices start at 7,230 (US$10,750), which buys you an empty trailer with rear window, braked chassis and dual wing doors mattress and other equipment not included. From there, each package adds select equipment options like front window, mattress, wing-door awnings, chassis suspension, Grub Hub roller kitchen and Hubi solar-charged lithium battery power kit. The all-inclusive Dom package retails for 12,870.

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Mogo Freedom gullwing trailer hauls outdoor gear, sleeps two

Scientists want DNA-changing tests on human embryos, eggs stopped

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NEW YORK With rumors that scientists are about to announce they have modified the genes of human eggs, sperm, or embryos, five prominent researchers on Thursday called on biologists to halt such experiments due to fears about safety and eugenics.

The call for a self-imposed research moratorium, which is extremely rare in science, was based on concerns that the work crosses an ethical line, said Edward Lanphier, president and chief executive officer of California-based Sangamo BioSciences Inc., senior author of the commentary published in the science journal Nature.

Humans are not rats or other (experimental) organisms, and this is not something we want to do, Lanphier said in an interview. The research should stop.

Rumors that one or more labs are on the verge of genetically-engineering a human embryo have swirled for months, he said.

Critics of the work say the experiments could be used to try to alter the genetic quality of humans, a practice and belief known as eugenics.

At least two technologies, one called CRISPR and the other known as zinc-finger nucleases, can genetically modify a human embryo. They act as what an article last week in the MIT magazine Technology Review, cited by the Nature authors, called a kind of search-and-replace tool to alter DNA, even down to the level of a single letter.

Experiments have been planned or are underway using the technology on human eggs or embryos, Technology Review reported, to correct genetic defects such as those causing cystic fibrosis or in the BRCA1 breast-cancer gene.

But existing and developing methods can allow parents who carry identified genetic illnesses to keep their children from inheriting them, the Nature authors argued, and genome-editing can itself introduce DNA errors, meaning that the precise effects of genetic modification to an embryo may be impossible to know until after birth. Even then, potential problems may not surface for years.

In theory, genes associated with intelligence, appearance and other nonmedical traits could also be edited into or out of embryos, eggs or sperm.

Genome-editing is being developed to treat HIV/AIDS, some forms of cancer, and other illnesses by altering genes in, say, adults white blood cells. Sangamo is conducting clinical trials of genome editing as a cure for HIV/AIDS that will allow patients to stop taking antiretroviral drugs.

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Scientists want DNA-changing tests on human embryos, eggs stopped

Supplier highlights eco-friendly products

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Cebu Bionic Builder Supply Inc. executive vice president for operations Bernard Vonn Sia demonstrates the Nano-Coat anti-heat solution during a press briefing. (Sun.Star Cebu/Amper Campaa)

CEBU Bionic Builder Supply Inc. sees a huge market for eco-friendly and power efficient products as more consumers turn to green innovations to help save the environment.

Cebu Bionic executive vice president for operations Bernard Vonn Sia said Cebu firms, whether big or small, have considered installing eco-friendly systems in their facilities and businesses not only to cut down operating costs but as part of corporate responsibility programs in lessening CO2 emissions.

Demand for green products is accelerating. Companies now are not only concerned about making money but also in making positive impact to the environment, said Sia.

He, however, noted that despite the growing awareness, there is still that market perception that going green requires huge capital outlay.

Green products require much capital expense because of innovation and technology. But with the growing demand, there are products now in the market that dont require that much investments but has features proven to reduce power costs and are eco-friendly, said Sia.

Cebu Bionic unveiled last Wednesday its five new energy-saving and eco-friendly products that can bring down power consumption tremendously.

These products include: the industrial and commercial fan called Big Ass Fan; an anti-heat solution-Nano-Coat; a daylighting systems called Solatube; Smart Plugs, a USB-wall socket-charger, and HCGs Home Automation System, which controls household appliances, lighting system technologically, through mobile device like tablet, smart phones.

We are introducing these products to Cebu because of the robust developments here. But while the demand of green products are growing here, we can see that the market is only limited to solar-based products, said Sia.

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Supplier highlights eco-friendly products