‘SNL’ Parodies ‘Love Island’ and It’s Almost as Bizarre as the Real Thing – Thrillist

Posted on by

Is it, like, a requirement for every Saturday Night Live cast member to be able to do a really bizarre British accent? Cecily Strong proved herself worthy in last season's Great British Bake-Off sketch,starring her and Emily Blunt as two disastrous chavs, but this weekend half of SNL's cast showed off their impressions of people from all the places in the United Kingdom that you won't see on the brochures.

Part of the joy of being an American watching British dating showLove Island is getting to hear all the accents that aren't featured in Doctor Who or Downton Abbey. Truly, some of them sound like downright gibberish -- and this is coming from someone who just watched all five seasons of Peaky Blinders in under two weeks. "You've heard an English accent, you've heard an Irish accent," says the narrator of this fake-promo sketch. "Now, here are all the little weirdies in between."

Host Phoebe Waller-Bridge plays Essex-born Bellarosa, whose parents are a boxer and a pub, and she's up against Strong's Grace, a 22-year-old 41-year-old from Liverpool, and Chloe Fineman's Shiobhan is "from the part of Ireland where the soil is bones." Alex Moffat's character is from a part of England simply called "Murder-Suicide," and Aidy Bryant's catchphrase is just, "...Wot??" And absolutely none of them has anything resembling relationship standards."It turns out, they also have 100% pure grade trash," the show's announcer says, "just like us!"

Next week's host is Stranger Things' David Harbour, which is pronounced like it's spelled.

Visit link:

'SNL' Parodies 'Love Island' and It's Almost as Bizarre as the Real Thing - Thrillist

Love Islands Amy Hart reveals starring on Love Island was an obsession and an ITV psychologist would get in – The Sun

Posted on by

LOVE Island's Amy Hart has revealed how ITV's 'welfare girl' had to force her to eat and would comfort her in bed after her split from Curtis Pritchard.

Amy bravely opened up about the heartache that caused her to sensationally quit the villa as she revealed her own struggles with mental health.

7

Amy, 27, explained the lengths ITV went to in order to look after her in the villa, saying: "The welfare girl came in every single lunchtime apart from one day a week to check how much water we were having, how much wed eaten and how we were.

"And when it all went t**s up for me and I was lying in bed crying at lunchtime, she would get into bed with me and just stroke my head and talk to me and now I speak to her on the phone twice a week to check how I am.

Weve been given 18 months of sessions as mandatory from ITV and then we can have more if we want them afterwards. Im very unorganised and busy at the moment so I let my psyche sessions go and [my welfare rep] ended up phoning my manager and saying we need to get a date in Amys diary when shes free so they are really on it.

Speaking to Heat magazine for its Wheres Your Head At? campaign, the former British Airways stewardess said: "I lost a stone in my first six months in BA and when Curtis finished with me I wasnt hungry and wanted to control my [diet] again, but ITV stepped in and made me eat as the psyche was watching me all the time."

7

Amy admitted she was desperate to star in the show, and trying to achieve her dream took over every aspect of her life.

"It started way before being in the villa," she said. "I applied for Love Island in October so I had this goal of Love Island, everything in my life was centred around love island.

"So, my Instagram, everything - I'd want the ultimate picture. I'd never been interested in the "Instagram life" before, but I was like "I need to get my Instagram good for Love Island," so everything...

"Borderline obsession I would say with getting on love island, because I thought: 'it is gonna solve all of my problems. I'm gonna get a boyfriend and my life's gonna be perfect after that'."

She sensationally quit the villa after Curtis kissed Jourdan Riane and admitted his head had been turned while Amy was away in Casa Amor. Curtis then moved on with Maura Higgins after she revealed her crush on him.

7

7

7

Amy opened up about her struggle ahead of World Mental Health Day on October 10, telling Heat: "I have had mental health issues in the past but I was reluctant to accept it. I didnt admit that I had anxiety until a couple of years after I first started my job flying at British Airways.

"My previous anxiety issues manifested within food. I would order the biggest dinner youve ever seen and take one bite and start shaking, crying and saying I cant eat this anymore.

"I felt like wasnt in control of the rest of my life - I was convinced I was going to get sacked, so food was my control thing.

7

7

Since leaving the villa Amy has been inundated with nightclub appearances and has been a panellist on Loose Women.

Meanwhile Curtis has landed a fashion deal with Debenhams as well as becoming an ambassador for Weight Watchers.

Maura has a lucrative fashion deal with Boohoo.com and has been signed up for Dancing on Ice.

Exclusive

STRICTLY GLUM DANCING Kevin Clifton moans 'told you so' after he & Anneka get Strictly boot

Exclusive

never been better Strictly spat backstage as Katya Jones makes 'dig' at ex-husband Neil

JOE BLOW Joe Swash slams 's***' holiday with Stacey Solomon and complains non-stop

Out of hand Love Island's Molly-Mae accused of photoshopping as fans spot her tiny hands

Exclusive

STRICTLY 'FLING' Strictly's AJ Pritchard enjoyed a 'secret fling' with co-star Daisy Lowe

Exclusive

house of horrors Katie Prices mansion is unliveable & the family now live in the annexe

Amy spoke to Heat after pledging support to Wheres Your Head At? To get help on mental health issues and find out how you can support our campaign so that mental and physical health are given equal treatment in the workplace please go to http://www.wheresyourheadat.org.

Got a story? email digishowbiz@the-sun.co.uk or call us direct on 02077824220.

We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.

Originally posted here:

Love Islands Amy Hart reveals starring on Love Island was an obsession and an ITV psychologist would get in - The Sun

Oyster Creek. Three Mile Island. How the power grid can lose 2 nuclear plants in a year. – lehighvalleylive.com

Posted on by

The fission of uranium-235 ceased Sept. 20 at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania and a year before, nearly to the day, at Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in New Jersey.

As the steam generated by the heat of the atoms nuclei splitting dwindled to a wisp and the turbine generators fell silent, the regional power grid lost more than 1,400 megawatts of carbon-free electricity generation -- enough to power more than 1.1 million homes.

More nuclear power plant retirements may be on the horizon: PJM, the Pennsylvania-based coordinator of wholesale electricity in 13 states plus the District of Columbia, has already begun planning for the planned retirements of the dual-reactor, 1,813-megawatt Beaver Valley Power Station in Pennsylvania and the DavisBesse and Perry nuclear power plants that together generate 2,143 megawatts in Ohio.

PJMs grid, which covers Pennsylvania and New Jersey, had 183,454 megawatts of installed generating capacity available as of May 2019. The company puts the total capacity of the recently retired nuclear plants and the three planned for retirement at 5,387 megawatts, or about 3% of overall capacity. (PJM says its all-time highest power use was 165,563 megawatts in the summer of 2006.)

Had PJM identified reliability concerns with either Three Mile Island or Oyster Creek, it could have paid their operators to remain open, through what is called a "reliability must run," PJM spokesman Jeff Shields said. Or it could have outlined new power-transmission projects needed to offset the loss.

Neither step was necessary.

"And we also have a pretty healthy queue of replacement generation that's coming in, especially in Pennsylvania and Ohio with the shale gas," he said.

The grid counts 11,415 megawatts of new natural gas-fired electricity generation coming online in 2018 and 2019 and an additional 10,514 megawatts from gas expected to go in-service in 2020 through 2023. Operators of those future plants have signed what are called interconnection service agreements with PJM.

"That's sort of a stage at which the projects are likely to get built," Shields said of the agreements.

All told, new gas, wind and solar plants are projected to add 29,097 megawatts to the grid, as 19,037 megawatts of capacity are lost from retired coal, gas and nuclear plants, PJM says. That's a net increase of more than 10,000 megawatts.

The loss of more than 5,000 megawatts of carbon-free electricity from nuclear plants comes at a time when local and state leaders are looking to stem greenhouse gas emissions.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday took a step toward capping greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, as part of an effort to fight climate change in a heavily populated and fossil fuel-rich state that has long been one of the nation's biggest polluters and power producers, The Associated Press reports.

The Democrat ordered his administration to start working on regulations to bring Pennsylvania into a nine-state consortium of Northeastern and mid-Atlantic states that sets a price and limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, according to the AP; joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, however, could face pushback from the Republican-controlled Legislature, which is historically protective of Pennsylvanias influential coal and natural gas industries.

The good news is that new power plants, fueled by natural gas from the Marcellus Shale underlying Pennsylvania and neighboring states, are more efficient than the old fossil fuel plants they are replacing, PJM says.

"The gas generation, those generators are increasingly more efficient," Shields said. "They still do have carbon emissions. To that extent, that argument will continue.

"Basically we've seen emissions go way down in our footprint, and that's mostly explained by the replacement of coal for gas and renewables, although renewables are still making headway."

Kurt Bresswein | For lehighvalleylive.com

Materials are amassed Friday, Oct. 4, 2019, for construction of the new Pohatcong Solar Farm at Carpentersville Road and High Street in Pohatcong Township. The township land use board in July 2019 approved the project, which WFMZ-TV 69 reports will generate 10 megawatts for the regional power grid.

PJM projections show that if all three nuclear plants planned for retirement in Pennsylvania and Ohio go offline, carbon dioxide emissions would rise by about 3.7% above 2019 levels. Other emissions, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, would drop, thanks to older fossil fuel plants shutting down. If those nuclear plants remain online and all or even half of the new gas plants open, all three pollutants would drop across PJMs territory.

Three Mile Island, the site of the United States worst commercial nuclear accident in 1979, was closed by operator Exelon Corp. because it was no longer profitable, according to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. Left with a single reactor, like Oyster Creek, TMI lost more than $100 million between 2012 and 2016, the commission says. It also lost out on valuable revenue from PJM in what are known base residual auctions.

Across all of PJM, 10,643 megawatts of nuclear capacity did not clear in this years auction for 2021-22, compared with 3,243 megawatts that failed to clear last year, according to Exelon.

This represents the largest volume of nuclear capacity ever not selected in the auction. Thats partly to blame on cheaper natural gas, as Pennsylvanias become the nations second-largest gas producer after Texas, state and federal analysts say.

Statewide, natural gas has replaced nuclear as the top source of electricity in Pennsylvania, the U.S. Energy Information Administration says.

From a cost perspective, PJM projects the closure of costly nuclear power plants to drive down the price of electricity as that trend toward natural gas continues.

As for the future of the nuclear plants recently shut down in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Exelons Oyster Creek is set to become an interconnection station between the companys proposed 1,100-megawatt offshore Ocean Wind project and PJMs grid, nj.com reported last month.

At Three Mile Island, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Sept. 26 certified cessation of power operations and the permanent removal of fuel from the Unit 1 reactor vessel that remained online after the 1979 partial meltdown that ended Unit 2s run. Decommissioning of both reactors is now underway, the commission says.

Editors note: This article contains charts that can be viewed on your web browser if they are not displaying properly.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.

See the original post:

Oyster Creek. Three Mile Island. How the power grid can lose 2 nuclear plants in a year. - lehighvalleylive.com

Silicon Island: The Future STEM Economy Of Puerto Rico – Forbes

Posted on by

September 20, 2017, is a day that will be forever remembered in Puerto Rican history. It's the day Hurricane Maria made landfall along the eastern coast of the island of Borinquen. The onslaught that followed devastated the island. A million people were left without running water for months, millions more were left without electricity some for over a year and the death toll numbering in the thousands will never be truly known.

This led to an economic fallout that caused hundreds of thousands to leave the island and worsened the economic reality of thousands more who stayed. According to a report from USA Today, some estimates had the total economic impact of the hurricane at over $100 billion. The report also claimed that over 40% of working Americans on the island of over 3 million inhabitants lost their jobs and have been unable to recover. Political turmoil both on the island and at the federal level have further worsened these losses.

However, with great hardship comes great opportunity. I believe Puerto Rico has the potential to unleash an economic and educational renaissance throughout the island unlike any time in its history if it focuses on the future and that future is STEM.

Jobs related to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) are leading world economies and will continue to lead all economies into the future. It has been an emphasis on STEM that has allowed China to become an economic powerhouse at the world stage. Over 60% of the value in the top five of TechCrunch's Unicorn Leaderboard (via Forbes) comes from Chinese startups.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the growth of STEM jobs in the United States alone between 2012 and 2022 is estimated to rise by 13%, However, according to research published by the Smithsonian Science Education Center, there were an estimated 2.4 million unfilled jobs in the sector in 2018.

I believe there is not only a need but an opportunity for Puerto Rico to transform itself into the future powerhouse of STEM jobs by focusing on education at all levels and harnessing the budding tech industry developing on the island.

In my opinion, it can be and should be done. In fact, a country not too much larger by population or dimension has already done it. Israel is only about twice as large both in land area and population in comparison to Puerto Rico, yet when it comes to STEM-related talent and proficiency, it competes with the European Union, the United States and China.

According to research published by Hacker Noon (via Forbes), Israel has almost 1,000 startups in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) alone, and in the last five years, the exits for these companies have averaged $121 million. A study conducted by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem found that Israel's focus on STEM education from early childhood through adulthood may have contributed to the rise in startups.

I believe Puerto Rico can do the same and that it already has the beginnings of infrastructure support through technology startups and STEM nonprofits.

CiencaPR is a nonprofit that was established in 2010 with an emphasis on promoting STEM throughout the island and creating future scientists. Parallel18 (P18) is a global accelerator for STEM startups that is already on its sixth generation of startups and recently announced a partnership with Google Launchpad to further augment its startup's global reach. The Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust leads many efforts across the island to stimulate the economy via STEM-related projects and has already invested upwards of $50 million. It's helped support CiencaPR and P18 as well.

Many co-working spaces are popping up across the island such as Piloto 151, which provides corporate services at a reduced cost for multiple STEM startups at the same time. These types of efficiency and groups are integral in supporting startups as they gain traction in the marketplace.

The space industry and NASA has had a foothold in the Puerto Rican STEM community since the inception of the Arecibo Observatory. This indelible piece of science has continued to push the boundaries of our understanding of the cosmos from the detection of the rotation of Mercury in 1967, to the discovery of the first exoplanet in 1992, to the discovery of the first repeating fast radio burst in 2016. NASA is continuing to push STEM on the island through partnerships with the Space Foundation in developing workshops for space entrepreneurship.

FourthBrainthe brainchild of Andrew Ng, previously at Google DeepMindis pushing the boundaries in AI as far as NASA is in space. It is looking to transform the island into a powerhouse for AI engineering education, and if anyone can do it, this group will.

From a legal perspective, the island is also ripe for disruption in STEM startups thanks to Law 101, and Act 20 and 22. Law 101 fosters research and development activity conducted at local universities in Puerto Rico, allowing qualified principal investigators or a co-principal investigator to seek tax exemptions for salaries earned from eligible R&D grants. Act 22 provides incentives to businesses to move to the island with exemptions on R&D and operational costs and Act 20 provides incentives for individuals.

The destruction that Maria brought and the political aftermath have left the Island of Enchantment picking up debris even to this day. But from the ashes of that calamity, there is an opportunity to reinvent itself for the future of its citizens if it leverages developing projects and focuses on future economies through STEM education and entrepreneurship. And from the ashes, a new island will emerge. An island of promise. An island of hope. An island of the future.

A silicon island.

Continue reading here:

Silicon Island: The Future STEM Economy Of Puerto Rico - Forbes

Katie Price’s ex-toyboy Charles Drury ‘to star on Love Island and spill about their fling’ – Mirror Online

Posted on by

Katie Price might find her dirty laundry being aired on national television again as her tomboy ex-boyfriend Charles Drury has been lined up to star on the winter edition of Love Island.

While some might say the 41-year-old reality star has made a career out of airing her lifes ups and downs, she normally has her say on her own terms through the many, many reality TV shows that she has starred in.

But having 22-year-old fling Charles appearing on a weeks long reality show could result in him letting slip details of their whirlwind affair that The Pricey would not be able to control.

Last month, fans were shocked as Katies engagement to Kris Boyson came to a crashing end as she was photographed out and about with much-younger love interest Charles.

Then came some mud slinging as Katie publicly compared the penis size of the two men - before seemingly then ending her romance with Charles.

The builder has since made a number of cryptic messages via social media about being left heartbroken - and now ITV bosses are sniffing around to snap him up as a Winter Love Island contestant.

He was approached last year but was seeing someone at the time but now hes single, producers called him up and asked him to re-audition for the show, a source from the show blabbed to The Sun.

Video Unavailable

Click to playTap to play

Play now

"Nothings signed yet and hes not even sure if he wants to do it but theyre keen to meet him. Katie will be furious when she finds out hed have girls falling over him, and hes bound to talk about what dating Katie was like if he makes it into the villa, the source added.

Charles has left cryptic messages online hinting that his romance with Katie did not end on good terms.

He shared a post on Instagram Stories that read: You never really forget the ones who touched your heart; regardless whether its the ones who broke it or healed it.

He shared a second quote that read: Good things come to those who wait. But better things come to those who work for it."

Meanwhile, it is believed Katie unfollowed Charles on Social Media after he refused to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement that would have prevented him from discussing his romance with her.

Relations are believed to have nosedived after Katie used Charles to fix up her mansion before she took back on-off lover Kris Boyson.

And things turned terminal when Katie tried to get him to sign an NDA declaring he would not discuss their relationship in public or even with his friends.

He thought that was outrageous and told her that. She unfollowed him on Instagram and was furious, a source told The Sun.

Katie's representatives did not want to comment when contacted by Mirror Online.

We've also reached out to Love Island.

Continue reading here:

Katie Price's ex-toyboy Charles Drury 'to star on Love Island and spill about their fling' - Mirror Online

Greece must act to end dangerous overcrowding in island reception centres, EU support crucial – UNHCR

Posted on by

Rows of tents outside Moria reception centre on the island of Lesvos, Greece. UNHCR/Gordon Welters

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is today calling on Greece to urgently move thousands of asylum-seekers out of dangerously overcrowded reception centres on the Greek Aegean islands. Sea arrivals in September, mostly of Afghan and Syrian families, increased to 10,258 - the highest monthly level since 2016 worsening conditions on the islands which now host 30,000 asylum-seekers.

The situation on Lesvos, Samos and Kos is critical. The Moria centre on Lesvos is already at five times its capacity with 12,600 people. At a nearby informal settlement, 100 people share a single toilet. Tensions remain high at Moria where a fire on Sunday in a container used to house people killed one woman. An ensuing riot by frustrated asylum-seekers led to clashes with police.

On Samos, the Vathy reception centre houses 5,500 people eight times its capacity. Most sleep in tents with little access to latrines, clean water, or medical care. Conditions have also deteriorated sharply on Kos, where 3,000 people are staying in a space for 700.

Keeping people on the islands in these inadequate and insecure conditions is inhumane and must come to an end.

The Greek Government has said that alleviating pressure on the islands and protecting unaccompanied children are priorities, which we welcome. We also take note of government measures to speed up and tighten asylum procedures and manage flows to Greece announced at an exceptional cabinet meeting on Monday. We look forward to receiving details in writing to which we can provide comments.

But urgent steps are needed and we urge the Greek authorities to fast-track plans to transfer over 5,000 asylum-seekers already authorized to continue their asylum procedure on the mainland. In parallel, new accommodation places must be provided to prevent pressure from the islands spilling over into mainland Greece, where most sites are operating at capacity. UNHCR will continue to support transfers to the mainland in October at the request of the government.

Longer-term solutions are also needed, including supporting refugees to become self-reliant and integrate in Greece.

The plight of unaccompanied children, who overall number more than 4,400, is particularly worrying, with only one in four in a shelter appropriate for their age.

Some 500 children are housed with unrelated adults in a large warehouse tent in Moria. On Samos, more than a dozen unaccompanied girls take turns to sleep in a small container, while other children are forced to sleep on container roofs. Given the extremely risky and potentially abusive conditions faced by unaccompanied children, UNHCR appeals to European States to open up places for their relocation as a matter of priority and speed up transfers for children eligible to join family members.

UNHCR continues to work with the Greek authorities to build the capacity needed to meet the challenges. We manage over 25,000 apartment places for some of the most vulnerable asylum-seekers and refugees, under the EU-funded ESTIA scheme. Some 75,000 people receive monthly cash assistance under the same programme. UNHCR is prepared, with the continuous support of the EU and other donors, to expand its support through a cash for shelter scheme which would allow authorized asylum-seekers to move from the islands and establish themselves on the mainland.

Greece has received the majority of arrivals across the Mediterranean region this year, some 45,600 of 77,400 more than Spain, Italy, Malta, and Cyprus combined.

For more information on this topic, please contact:

Read the original:

Greece must act to end dangerous overcrowding in island reception centres, EU support crucial - UNHCR

Grand Island woman sentenced to 10 years in prison for child’s death – WGRZ.com

Posted on by

BUFFALO, N.Y. A Grand Island woman will spend the next 10 years in prison for causing the death of a two-year-old child.

Brianna Valenti, 27, was sentenced in court Monday for First Degree Manslaughter.

Investigators say Valenti called 911 September 10, 2018, because her boyfriend's child, Raelynn Fuller, was unresponsive. The child was taken to Children's Hospital and remained in intensive care until she was taken off of life support 12 days later.

They say Valenti violently shook Raelynn causing the head trauma that killed her.

Valenti pleaded guilty to one count of Manslaughter in the First Degree, a Class B violent felony, on August 26, 2019. She pleaded guilty to the highest sustainable charge.

In addition to the 10 years in prison, Valenti will have to serve five years post-release supervision.

RELATED: Grand Island woman pleads guilty in toddler's death

Read more:

Grand Island woman sentenced to 10 years in prison for child's death - WGRZ.com

Jayapal talks Trump conduct, healthcare during Vashon Island town hall – Q13 News Seattle

Posted on by

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

KING COUNTY, Wash. -- Rep. Pramila Jayapal was back in Washington state on Monday, speaking at a town hall on Vashon Island.

The meeting at the Vashon High School Theater was the 12th town hall she's done since taking office.

The big topic of Monday's town hall revolves around President Donald Trump's conduct, which Jayapal says is leading to a constitutional crisis.

"Recognize that this is a new moment," she said. "It is a moment where we see very clearly, the President has betrayed his values, betrayed the Constitution and betrayed our national security. And we can't allow it to continue."

Some of the questions people in the audience asked involved wages, immigration and healthcare.

"The cost of our healthcare system today, $35 trillion; over ten years, going up to $60 trillion... So if Medicare for All is what the Koch brothers say it costs, $3.2 trillion a year, that's $32 trillion over the next ten years. I say that's a hell of a deal, and you get all of your care covered," Jayapal said.

Another person asked if bipartisanship is still possible in Congress. She mentioned a number of amendments she passed with Republicans, including a bill dealing with adding more housing for homeless seniors.

Read more:

Jayapal talks Trump conduct, healthcare during Vashon Island town hall - Q13 News Seattle

Grand Island Fire Department observing Fire Prevention Week – Grand Island Independent

Posted on by

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), along with the Grand Island Fire Department, is promoting this years Fire Prevention Week campaign: Not Every Hero Wears a Cape. Plan and Practice Your Escape!

Fire Prevention Week is officially Oct. 6-12, but members of the Grand Island Fire Department will be visiting local elementary schools during the entire month of October to educate students about the need to create and practice a home fire safety plan.

NFPA statistics show that in 2017, U.S. fire departments responded to 357,000 home structure fires. These fires caused 2,630 deaths and 10,600 injuries. On average, seven people died per day because of a fire in a home during 2012 to 2016. In a typical home fire, occupants may have as little as one to two minutes to escape safely once the smoke alarm sounds, so pre-planning is extremely important.

During the month of October, the Grand Island Fire Department will provide a grade-specific safety message to local elementary school students. The Grand Island Fire Department is seeking elementary-aged students to help ensure their household members are better prepared in the event of a home fire. Specifically, third-grade students will work with family members to create a home escape plan. Escape plans should:

Identify two exits from every room and a path from each exit to the outside.

Show the locations of all smoke alarms in the home. There should be at least one on each level, in each bedroom, and near all sleeping areas.

Name a meeting place outside in front of the home where everyone will meet upon exiting.

In addition to creating a home escape plan, students should practice the plan with all members of the household at least twice a year. It is also crucial to make sure everyone knows how to call 911 from a mobile phone or neighbors phone once they are safely outside.

Grand Island Fire Chief Cory Schmidt said, People are at the most risk of dying from a fire while they are in their home, the place where they may mistakenly feel the most secure. The Grand Island Fire Department is working together with our local elementary-aged heroes to educate residents on the importance of creating and practicing a fire escape plan before a fire occurs.

NFPA and the Grand Island Fire Department offer these additional fire safety tips:

Practice the home fire drill twice a year. Conduct one at night and one during the day with all family members and practice using different ways out.

Push the smoke alarm button to start a fire escape drill so children will associate the audible alarm with the need to evacuate their home.

Teach children how to escape on their own in case adults are not available to help them.

Close doors behind you this may slow the spread of smoke, heat and fire.

Once you get outside, stay outside. Never go back inside a burning building.

Make sure the number of your home is clearly marked and easy for the fire department to find.

Test smoke alarms at least twice a month. A working smoke alarm cuts the risk of dying in a home fire in half.

Replace smoke alarms that are 10 years old or older.

For more information on the 2019 Fire Prevention Week campaign, Not Every Hero Wears a Cape. Plan and Practice Your Escape! visit http://www.firepreventionweek.org.

For more information on how to do this or about Fire Prevention Week, find the department at http://www.facebook.com/GI.FireDepartment or http://www.Twitter.com/GIFireDept, online at http://www.grand-island.com/fire, or call (308) 385-5444, ext. 220.

See the article here:

Grand Island Fire Department observing Fire Prevention Week - Grand Island Independent

Monday evening fire engulfs apartment in east Grand Island – Grand Island Independent

Posted on by

Three adults were displaced and one person was transported following a fire Monday evening.

The Grand Island Fire Department was called shortly before 8:30 p.m. to 615 Yund St. in east Grand Island. Shift Commander Bryan Stutzman said upon arrival, the top apartment was completely engulfed in flames and one person was trapped.

It was blowing up and flames were coming out, he said. The guy was stuck inside and we pulled him out. We went up the landing and went inside the sliding glass doors to bring him out.

The complex at the aforementioned address has a top apartment and a bottom apartment. Stutzman said the top apartment had two adult occupants and the bottom apartment had one occupant, all of whom were displaced by the fire. Scanner traffic said the Red Cross was dispatched to assist these individuals.

Stutzman said one person was transported to CHI Health St. Francis with unknown injuries.

He added crews distinguished the flames but worked to put out hot spots in the top apartment.

Stutzman said the cause of the fire is yet to be determined as the state fire marshal was brought in to investigate the fire.

This is a developing story.

Read the rest here:

Monday evening fire engulfs apartment in east Grand Island - Grand Island Independent

Neighbors fear the Treasure Island TOD has too little parking, but it actually has too much – Streetsblog Chicago

Posted on by

[This piece previously ran in the Chicago Reader]

Last month at the UNs Climate Action Summit, 16-year-old activist Greta Thunberg had a stern warning about global warming for world leaders and, by extension, city politicians and adults in general: The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you.

One of the simplest things individuals can do to fight climate change is drive less, or not at all. Thats relatively easy in much of Chicago, where there are a wealth of alternatives to private car ownership: walking, biking, Divvy, e-scooters, CTA, Metra, Zipcar, taxis, and ride hailing. Its especially convenient to live car lite or car free if you live near a train station or express bus service.

Recently the City Council took an important step to address global warming by encouraging transit use and discouraging driving. Aldermen passed atransit-oriented development ordinancethat allows additional housing density and essentially waives the usual off-street car parking requirements for new developments within a quarter mile of rapid transit stops or a half mile ondesignated Pedestrian Streets.

The resulting transit-oriented development boom, which has mostly involved upscale projects, has been blamed for accelerating housing displacement ingentrifying neighborhoods like Logan Square. And its true the city needs to work harder topromote affordable TODacross Chicago, so that residents of all income levels can benefit from easier transit access.

But gentrification isnt much of an issue in already affluent communities like East Lakeview. Therefore, the TOD proposed by Glencoe-based Optima, Inc., for the shuttered Treasure Island supermarket location at 3460 N. Broadway sounds like a pretty good project. The site is a ten-minute walk from the Addison Red Line station, and a five-minute walk from express buses on Inner Lake Shore Drive.

The eight-story steel-and-glass building would include 246 apartments, a mix of studios, one-, two-, and three-bedroom units, with 107 car parking spaces and 129 bicycle spots. Its geared toward relatively wealthy Chicagoans, with rents ranging from $1,500 to $5,000, and amenities like a rooftop pool deck, basketball courts, and a dog park. But, as mandated by Chicagos currentAffordable Requirements Ordinance, Optima would also include 13 on-site affordable units, and pay $1.5 million into the citys fund to build low-income housing elsewhere.

Optima is seeking a zoning variance from the current B3-2 designation, which permits a five-story structure, to allow for the additional height. Alderman Tom Tunney (44th) would have to sign off on the change.

While the city typically requires a 1:1 ratio of car spots to apartments, because the supermarket site is located a half mile from the el, and this stretch of Broadway is a Pedestrian Street, the developer probably wouldnt have been required to include any car parking at all. So arguably 107 spaces is too many for such a transit-friendly location, surrounded by walkable retail, including a Jewel-Osco one block north. But some neighbors are griping that the proposal doesnt includeenoughcar spots.

The opposition groupBalance on Broadway, launched this summer, says it has collected over 1,250 signatures against the proposal. Quotes from neighbors listed on the website include Too tall, not enough parking, too dense, and Not only does it eliminate what little [on-street] parking there is, now we would have an eyesore!

BOB cofounder Mike Wilborn, 70, a retired insurance agency professional who lives nearby, says parking isnt one of the core organizers chief concerns. Rather, he says, they want the building to stay within the current zoned height limit of 50 feet (although there are plenty of high-rises nearby); with fewer units, which they say would mean less of an impact on traffic; and an architectural style that uses less glass to better fit in with existing structures on Broadway.

Wilborn says the BOB leaders dont have a problem with the proposed parking ratio of one car spot for every 2.3 apartments. We understand the TOD initiativethe city is trying to get more people on transit. Our feeling is that if we can get the height down, there will be fewer concerns about parking and congestion. However, he says hes talked with many other neighbors for whom parking is the primary worry.

One of them is Rhoda Bernstein, 68, a retiree who has lived for 41 years in a 1950s townhouse just east of Treasure Island on Stratford Place. She says its already difficult to find street parking near her home, so she rents a spot at the 555 Cornelia building, a 21-story condo tower half a block east of the proposed eight-story complex.

The developer thinks its going to be filled with millennials who dont drive, but I know plenty of millennialsmy friends children and grandchildrenwho drive all over the city all of the time, Bernstein says. Theyre going to be parking all over the neighborhood, which is already packed.

She argues this would create more demand for off-street parking, which would raise her garage rent, and make it impossible for people visiting her to find curbside spaces. I dont know why they think the people who live there wont have cars.

According to Peter Haas from Chicagos Center for Neighborhood Technology, U.S. Census statistics, and other data, such as late-night parking counts the group conducted at similar local buildings, indicate that parking demand would be far lower than neighbors like Bernstein think.CNTs eTOD Social Impact Calculatormapping tool allows users to analyze the financial, social, and environmental impacts of proposed development. Given the location and the mix of bedrooms, we calculate that . . . there will only be 0.17 car spaces used per unit, or about 42 spots, Haas says. So I think [107 spaces] is plenty of parking, if nottoomuch.

Audrey Wennink, transportation director for the Chicago-based Metropolitan Planning Council, who lives just down the street from the site, agrees. When people move into a unit they will do so knowing there is limited parking available. She noted that TOD buildings typically have clauses in the lease that prevent tenants from obtaining residential street parking permits.

Wennink added that, in addition to the Red Line and LSD express buses, the building would be near the Addison bus line, and right on the Broadway route. Theres a Divvy station just north of the property, and Optima plans to install a TransitScreen display in the lobby with CTA bus and train arrival times. All of that would incentivize car-free living.

Optima declined to comment. Staff from the 44th Ward and the 46th Ward offices (located across the street from the site) didnt return calls by press time.

I asked Bernstein about Greta Thunbergs argument that adults who dont take immediate action to fight global warming will leave a shameful legacy. I totally agree, she says, conceding that, in light of the climate crisis, it does make sense to build dense housing near transit with little or no car parking. But I dont consider a ten-minute walk to the Red Line close when its 25 below.

Of course, if we continue with business as usual, including car-centric development, freezing cold Chicago winters wont be a problem too much longer.

Follow this link:

Neighbors fear the Treasure Island TOD has too little parking, but it actually has too much - Streetsblog Chicago

Bear Grylls The Island stars offer to perform sex act in bid for fresh water – Mirror Online

Posted on by

Bear Grylls The Island stars Marco and Jack offered to perform an oral sex act on another contestant after they were left so thirsty in a bid to get some water.

The cheeky duo hunted through the jungle to find a fresh water source, and jokingly propositioned Ivor, 55.

"Mate, if you find water I will suck your d***," 30-year-old Marco said, and Jack added "So would I."

And seeing the funny side of the joke, Ivor said: "Well, let us hope we find water then."

The boys went on to find water later in the programme, and the 55-year-old couldn't hide his excitement.

He joked: "Right, on your knees boys."

In the first week of the show, the group had been on the island just a few short hours when double glazing salesman Ben took to drinking his own wee in a bid to stay hydrated.

Viewers at home were particularly baffled by such drastic measures as Ben's co-stars were seen carrying bottles of clean water around with them.

"Too soon, buddy. Too soon," one told Ben.

"This idiot must have done that before. Even worse they have water," tweeted another.

"Sorry, but there is no way on earth I could drink me own wee. I'd rather drink sea water," cried a third.

Viewers also voiced their shock at the antics of Marco and Ivor during the Channel 4 premiere.

The pair caused outrage when they told the others they were hunting for water whilst 'selfishly' looking for money to hide from their new pals.

Fans called out their 'snakey' methods on social media, branding the duo 'vile' and 'selfish' and 'next level disgusting.'

Marine Marco became self-appointed leader of the group early on but viewers at home are already anticipating his downfall.

Read the original:

Bear Grylls The Island stars offer to perform sex act in bid for fresh water - Mirror Online

Vashon Island woman finds poetry in grocery lists – KING5.com

Posted on by

VASHON ISLAND, Wash. We all make them. Then we leave them behind. Which makes Madisen Gatemen really happy.

She finds and collects, grocery lists.

"It's something so small that can have so much meaning. A grocery list tells you so much about somebody. "

It started when she worked at the Vashon Thriftway.

"People would come through the check stand and say 'Hey can you throw this away?' I'd say 'Sure.' And I'd kinda glance at it and be like, Hmm. I wonder what's on there."

What she found moved her: "It was so intimate and so vulnerable. And that, I think, is really beautiful in such a simple way. It's somebody's grocery list, you don't think about it.

Now she has more than 700. Written on takeout baskets. On sheet music. On guest checks. Each list, a little story.

One of my favorites is right there. Bananas, and mousetraps, said Gateman, pointing to the brief list. Another is headed: Larrys List. It reads like a to-do haiku: Pepper bacon? Coffee. Lemonade. Frozen Hashbrowns. String for weed whacker, read Madisen, This persons getting stuff done!

Larry's List

Anne Erickson - Evening

Some are strange, some are sad, like one that has a note scribbled on it: This is the last time we went grocery shopping together.

They're all revealing: "What they need. What they don't need. Their desires, their hopes, said Madisen.

She displays her lists on Vashon Island - recently at Snapdragon Bakery. She wants them to be seen and displaying them off-island is the main thing on her 'to do' list.

"They need to be touched, they need to be held and witnessed. They're important."

Some of Madisen Gateman's 700+ grocery lists

Anne Erickson - Evening

Meanwhile, Madisen Gateman has a message for the person who needed 'Bread, Roast Chicken, Ginger Ale and Duck Leashes':

She appreciates your work.

"Someone wrote this, carried it around all day, stuffed it in their pocket, maybe it fell out when they pulled their phone or their wallet out, and they probably never thought of it again. But I did.

Madisen would love to get more grocery lists. Send them to Madisen Gateman PO Box 516, Vashon, WA 98070

KING 5's Evening celebrates the Northwest. Contact us: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Email.

Excerpt from:

Vashon Island woman finds poetry in grocery lists - KING5.com

Pop Social Darwinism in Contemporary American Capitalist Society: the Marketization of Che as Individualist Symbol – CounterPunch

Posted on by

I. INTRODUCTION

In what way is the selling of Che Guevara a negation of Che and an assertion of the Hobbesian ideology of rugged individualism and Social

Darwinism in US society? This is the central question that this essay will discuss.

II. NEO CONSERVATISM AT HOME, GLOBALIZATION ABROAD AND THE NECESSITY OFPOP SOCIAL DARWINIST IDEOLOGY

1) In the last 20 years American capitalism has changed drastically due to the computerization of society, politics, economics and finance. For the first time globalization make a practical reality

2) The Soviet challenge to American capital ended and with it the terms under which American economic and political power functioned in the world

3) The alternative socioeconomic, political and ideological challenge of socialism as a practical day to day challenge came to an end, at least in the short term. Thus it became possible for the US capitalist class to dismantle the power that the state had in limiting the operations of private capital in other words, begin a process of dismantling that sector of the state that hindered the operations of capital (welfare state, redistribution, taxation, regulation, et al) In order to do all these things it was necessary to sell an ideological message that made acceptable an ideology that was pre-welfare state, that is, a return to the period from 1898 to the 1920s in the US. That meant a return to Social Darwinism the American ideology of unfettered capitalist enterprise (robber barons and all). But to do that it was necessary to dismantle the regulations requiring fairness in the media and consolidating ownership. The centralization of media ownership is now accomplished. The AM message has been neo conservative and fascist. The same has taken place, but at a different level and scale in the television networks.

III THE CREATION OF REALITY SHOWS or POP SOCIAL DARWINISM

The Context

Regardless of what the world may think it is imperative that Americans be duly socialized into the Hobbesian frame of mind if the United States is to get rid of the welfare state at home and engage in the brutal imposition of American power abroad. American culture has to move from the social contract world of liberal thought into the Hobbesian framework that claims that the world is mean, nasty, brutish, vile and violent and only the strongest and fittest survive.

It is not surprising that this is happening just now in the United States. The post-Soviet globalization of the world requires and necessitates that Social Darwinist ideology with deep roots in American history and culture become once again a fundamental part of contemporary popular thought. But the Social Darwinism espoused by William Graham Sumner in the early 20oth century of unencumbered laissez faire now married to sociobiology and narcissistic individualist ideology in order to promote a survival of the fittest attitude that the majority of the population identifies with because it applies to the other person, besides it is fun as well as profitable. That cultural work is the bread and butter of the television networks. For wealth accumulation is the goal of existence, in order to have fun.

If AM radio engages in neo fascist ideological warfare, American television is to teach friendly fascism as a form of entertainment. American television has come up with the survival of the fittest entertainment or cut throat competition. You win by defeating the others. The text found in every TV shows follows the views of Andrew Carnegie, the law of competition, be it benign or not, is here; we cannot evade it; no substitutes for it have been found; and while the law may be sometimes hard for the individual, it is best for the race, because it ensures the survival of the fittest in every department. (Hs, Kenneth. 1986. The Great Dying: Cosmic Catastrophe, Dinosaurs and the Theory of Evolution. NY: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich. 1986, p. 10).

Naturally, such political values dont flourish in a vacuum, and its no surprise that todays most memorable TV shows are reality programs such as Joe Millionaire, The Bachelor and, of course, the aptly named Survivor, all of which are essentially Darwinian games of selection, extinction and survival. [John Powers, George of the Jungle, LA Weekly, May 9-15, 2003]

B. Types of Social Darwinist TV Shows

1) Social Darwinism inside the corporation: corporate board room with the overpowering magnate where one has to sacrifice others to survive -but this is the text in hyper urbanized Manhattan, [Donald Trumps The Apprentice, The rebel billionaire] then

2) Social Darwinism between groups: shift to Amazing Race or Survivor Vanuatu the survival of the fittest again, who are willing to create coalitions to get rid of the weakest links in a sort of salami tactics approach until you get rid of everyone by means of numerous coalitions against just one (The coalition of the willing, a la Irak) or 3) Social Darwinism among individuals: trading spouses of the The Bachelor (after all they are commodities with use value)

IV POP SOCIAL DARWINISM AND THE MARKETIZATION OF CHE

The life and work of Che Guevara challenges Social Darwinist ideology. Neither Marx nor Engels nor Trostky, Stalin, Fidel or Mao seems to hold sway for the new consumerist generations worldwide. But Che, contrary to Fidel or Mao, died young. Marx, Engels and Trotsky are unavailable to people who are barely able to speak fluently in any language and are captured by image. And Korda, among others, without intending it have provided images of Che that have found resonance among the youth of the world. So Che the image-product has been sold.

But Che, the historical, the real, the revolutionary man has to be denied, aborted, erased from the world of the young. Why? Because Che is actually the real negation as symbol, theory and practice of ruthless capitalist globalization.

This leads to two different reactions. One is rejection, thus:

I believe that Social Darwinism coincides with the rules of nature whereas universalism is merely idealism at its worst. Socialists are just capitalists who do not have the ability to be successful. So fuck your Che Guevara t-shirts!

The other is to rob Che of any real meaning and to appropriate his image in such a manner that it becomes a product, one more item to sell and at the same time an emblem of POP SOCIAL DARWINISM.

Hence, the corporate version of Che is a distorted one on purpose. He has to be transformed from historical figure in order to transform him into an individualist, in search of adventure for its own sake so that Che merely tests himself against the world. So we will be provided with images of him crossing the Andes, or as guerrilla in Cuba, the Congo or Bolivia. The message is clear Che the adventurer, and then the next step is you conquering nature, becoming rugged while defeating your competitors. Finally you as triumphant American individualist, giving orders to the small man from little dark corner of the world to hurry up driving you to your destination, then you have triumphed and you will be a millionaire.

What are the qualities that are considered positive in this survivalist shows? Selfishness, deviousness, treachery, secret deals, two faced behavior, manipulation, betrayal, absence of responsibility, sacrifice and toss away the other [a form of downsizing]. And, of course, democracy is the process by which alliances are created to get rid of those considered redundant.

V. SOCIAL DARWINISM CONFRONTS CHE AS HIDDEN SOCIAL GOSPEL

The fascination with Che Guevara and even with Fidel Castro is not because of their ideologies seeking social justice, participatory societies and a high degree of community. Rather, American capitalist ideology requires that they be seen as survivors, who one might detest because of what they stand for but the capitalist ideology envies them because of their ability to have iron discipline and manage to survive against all odds.

Indeed, the succession question what will happen after FC died was the question that revealed American ideology in its ultimate essence. For the capitalist wanted Fidel Castro to die and come to an end because he was NOT one of them, for he was the anti-capitalist, the very negation of the Hobbesian paradigm. Yet, he was also the survivor that Americans project as a sort of radical-Social Darwinist that has endured despite all odds.

And that they envied. They wanted Fidel to die just as it happened with Che, but they were afraid that in dying there will be no more symbols of their rugged individualism (as they conceive of it).

But Che, like Fidel Castro among others were symbols and actors and leaders of mass social struggles and of social organizations and social theories and ideologies that knew that a different world is possible and necessary.

Bibliography

1. Derek Alger, Game Show Darwinism, AlterNet, Posted February 19, 2001.

2. Beverly Lucey, The Social Darwinism Thing, Ethical Oasis, 06/23/2002.

3. Jenifer Johnston, Small, ugly, evil: welcome to Big Brother 5, The Sunday Herald, 23 May 2004

4. Leilla Matsui and Seth Sandronsky, The Passion of the Donald: Getting in Touch With Your Inner Psychopath, http://www.dissidentvoice.org.

See the original post:

Pop Social Darwinism in Contemporary American Capitalist Society: the Marketization of Che as Individualist Symbol - CounterPunch

Tara Westover on Being ‘Educated’ – The Emory Wheel

Posted on by

Jessie Wang, Contributing

Historian and award-winning memoirist Tara Westover discussed themes of family and education in her memoir Educated at the Emory Student Center on Sept. 26.

Educated has won over a dozen awards and was named Book of the Year by the American Booksellers Association. The bestselling memoir chronicles Westovers upbringing as a Mormon survivalist in the mountains of Idaho and her attempts to reconcile her desire for self-determination with the strict ideologies of her parents.

Westover, 33, was joined in conversation by Carol E. Henderson newly appointed vice provost for diversity and inclusion, chief diversity officer, and adviser to the president as part of the Emory Integrity Projects Common Read One Book, One Emory program.

Westover was raised by Mormon survivalist parents who distrusted public education and health, and did not set foot in a classroom until she was 17. Despite studying independently for the ACT and subsequently gaining entrance to Brigham Young University (Utah), Westover quickly became aware of how insubstantial her homeschooling had been.

The only history I learned was my fathers, she said. I didnt even know what the Holocaust was.

Westover acknowledged that although her unique upbringing made her stand out among her peers, her differences have never bothered her.

I spent my whole life not fitting in, Westover said. Im OK now with not fitting in. Ive accepted that conformity is an illusion. You dont have to be like everybody else.

Another byproduct of Westovers idiosyncratic childhood was the perspective she gained on what it means to be educated something she wanted to convey through the ambiguity of her books title.

[Educated] can mean informed, fearless, intelligent, arrogant, brainwashed, she said. Part of the way that I would define education was getting access to other points of view.

Westover emphasized the importance of appreciating and accepting other perspectives, noting that two people can have the same experience and come to different conclusions.

I think that respecting people that you disagree with is a prerequisite to self-respect, she said.

Nevertheless, Westover voiced her concerns that education was beginning to associate more with certainty than inquiry, which she believes has bled into how we perceive others.

Weve kind of gotten into a social space where we think if we know one thing about a person, we know everything, she said.

Westover stated that she was inspired to write about her life as a way to cope with her gradual estrangement from her parents, a process she described as difficult and long.

When I went through that process, I just felt like I was the only person it had ever happened to, and I thought it might be helpful for other people to read about it, she said.

Westovers described her writing process in Educated was like journaling, which she said helped her cope with the changes in her life. She argued that journaling was more therapeutic than the act of writing for readers and encouraged the audience to consider it.

Theres something in writing that I think is therapeutic, Westover said. But then I also think that when you write for people, its not really as therapeutic because there are different rules.

Westover also revealed that there are aspects of her life that she deliberately omitted from her memoir for fear that they would be poorly received, and pointed to the vast cultural differences between rural and urban America.

There are some things I could have written about my father that would have been too shocking, and they would not have been received in context, she said.

One potentially controversial passage that Westover did keep in the memoir featured the repeated use of the N-word. Westover included the story in the memoir to highlight her conscious evolution, tying into the larger theme of what it means to be Educated.

I wanted to write a story about language and the power of it, Westover said. For so long I just heard [the N-word] as any other word, and then I was awakened to how powerful it was. I didnt want to blunt the power of it by representing it in any way less than it was.

Westover acknowledged that it was a difficult choice, one that still gives her food for thought.

I rethink it all the time, she confessed. Maybe I made the wrong decision.

Concluding the discussion, Westover revealed that she would not offer any advice to her younger self.

There are things you have to learn that nobody can tell you, Westover said.

Read more from the original source:

Tara Westover on Being 'Educated' - The Emory Wheel

Could a robot be prime minister? Machines will soon be smart enough to run the world, says futurist – CBC.ca

Posted on by

Read Story Transcript

Canadians are heading to the polls in two weeks, but one futurist argues that one day we'll be casting our votes for a robot prime minister.

"At some point we're going to create a machine that's better than the human brain, and that machine is going to be better at running the planet and running the world," said Zoltan Istvan.

"You really have an opportunity here to maybe get what we can see as true leadership, for the very first time in perhaps everyone's lifetime."

Istvan ran in the 2016 U.S. presidential election under the banner of the Transhumanist Party, a group that believes in using technology to modify and enhance our intellect and bodies as long as no harm results to anyone else. He is not running in the 2020 campaign.

He said people he met along the campaign trailwere skeptical of the Transhumanist pitch, but argued that people underestimate how quickly technology is advancing.

He told The Current's Laura Lynch that "almost every single action that a human does, a machine can almost certainly do dramatically better."

"When you talk about running a country, you talk about governing for the greatest good," Istvansaid. "Amachine is going to have better algorithms."

He added that one benefit of robot leaders would be that they could improve over time, weeding out idiosyncrasies or issues experienced by previous iterations.

A robotprogrammed to lead wouldn't necessarilybe stuck behind a desk on Parliament Hill it could beartificial intelligence that you could access anywhere, like a smart speaker in your living room.

The implication for democracy would be that "in the future, an AI will be able to keep on millions and millions of close relationships with its voters base," Istvansaid.

It "might be campaigning right in your living room," he added.

"That's where this becomes really interesting, is a really direct relationship with a potential AI political leader."

Kerstin Dautenhahn, Canada 150 research chair in intelligent robotics, said she "would definitely not want political leaders to be robots."

She told Lynch that "we need to maybe be realistic on what machines are good at, and what humans are good at."

"AI is certainly very good [at] enhancing vast amounts of data, so for example, recognizing one face in a million different faces, or collecting data on people's habits and then recognizing patterns," said Dautenhahn, director of the social and intelligentrobotics research lab at the University of Waterloo.

"What machines are not very good at is common sense and general intelligence, so for example machines lack compassion, they lack empathy."

Dautenhahn said those common sense decisions are vital for politicians "because they are dealing with incomplete information, they have to make quick decisions, they have to make predictions."

"That's what people are very good at and it is because we are human beings," she said.

Istvan argued that decisions based on emotion can lead to "total chaos."

"That's why we want pure reason, pure statistical analysis," he said.

He told Lynch that "even if the picture is incomplete, a statistical analysis of that would make a much better decision than something that comes out with emotions."

"Frankly, the last thing I want is [U.S. President Donald] Trump to be emotional as he's making decisions with the military and things like that."

Istvan said the qualities needed for leadership could eventually be programmed into robots, but Dautenhahn warned that the people programming them could unwittingly introduce their own biases.

"I would certainly not vote for a robot because ... there's no such thing as pure rational decision-making," she said.

Dautenhahn acknowledged that humans make mistakes, but perhaps robotics could be used to help us make better-informed decisions, rather than just making them for us.

"I think humans are pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good in what they're doing, and they can certainly be complemented by AI, in areas where the AI is very good."

Written by Padraig Moran. Produced by Ben Jamieson.

Read more:

Could a robot be prime minister? Machines will soon be smart enough to run the world, says futurist - CBC.ca

Education and Enhancement in a Transhuman Future – Patheos

Posted on by

by David Lewin

Should we expect the schools of the future to be saturated with technology? It has been widely reported (e.g. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/319288) that some leaders within major Silicon Valley tech companies have, rather hypocritically, chosen to limit the influence of their products on their own children, by restricting access to screen time and social media. Take the following report:

You cant put your face in a device and expect to develop a long-term attention span, [said] Taewoo Kim, chief AI engineer at the machine-learning startup One Smart Lab A practicing Buddhist, Kim is teaching his nieces and nephews, ages 4 to 11, to meditate and appreciate screen-free games and puzzles. Once a year he takes them on tech-free silent retreats at nearby Buddhist temples. (https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-parents-raising-their-kids-tech-free-red-flag-2018-2)

Other educational spaces also appear to provide shelter from technology saturation, for instance Waldorf schools, which prioritise outdoor learning and low-tech play. This concern to shelter students reflects certain perceived risks of technology saturation: distractedness and diminished attention span, heightened depression and anxiety, poor health and obesity and, in extreme cases, suicide. Limiting access to technology has become newsworthy because of the prevailing assumption that technology enhances education. Whatever the truth of the matter, we currently know little about the long-term impact of many technologies on the educational formation of young people: the influence of technology seems widespread, indeterminate, and seldom given sufficient justification. This knowledge gap is by no means unique to modern technologys educational interventions, but is at the foundation of education itself: there is an interpretive gap between what educators intend and what students learn.

This raises two general questions: First, how do we justify influencing others? If the answer to this question is basically consequentialist (because the outcomes of influence are good), then we are presented with a second question which problematizes this response: namely, what are we to make of the gap between our intentions to influence or enhance, and the outcomes of these intentions?

I would argue that human enhancements have existed as long as education itself. Nick Bostrom and Anders Sandberg (https://nickbostrom.com/cognitive.pdf) have suggested that education may be usefully labelled as a conventional means of human enhancement, as distinct from nominally unconventional means of enhancement, such as nootropic drugs, gene therapy, or neural implants. This distinction has its place, though Bostrom and Sandberg acknowledge the continuum between enhancements that are conventional (working through education) and unconventional (drawing upon recent technologies), making the distinction fluid, indeterminate and contextual. Caffeine is one thing, but gene editing for purposes of non-therapeutic interventions (e.g. selecting or removing traits in reproduction) remains controversial. Of course, convention is a rather unstable form of justification. In general, the question of the justification of unconventional enhancement parallels that of conventional enhancement. It is one of the key questions that shapes education theory: namely, how are our intentions to influence justified?

The gap between the intentions and the outcomes could be understood as a weakness or risk intrinsic to education. Gert Biesta speaks of the beautiful risk of education (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMqFcVoXnTI), arguing that it is a misconception to see education as a stable relation between inputs and outputs in which we can eliminate the unexpected or the risky. To construe education without risk is to miss something of its beauty. Education can make use of, or better, relies on this gap in order to create spaces that are essentially open to something unbidden, an opening that involves, as Hannah Arendt puts it, the coming of the new and young. By contrast, the sciences of learning have worked to eliminate this gap through the development of what is known as the behavioural objectives model in which measurable educational objectives and outcomes are made explicit and become the sole target of education. The behavioural objectives model can be interpreted as the expression of technical subjectivity in which all forms of insecurity are eliminated in favor of pure transmission, and the risks of exposure to the unbidden are minimised. The idea that behavioural objectives ensure control of the educational process is seductive but, illusory and ultimately corrosive since, as Arendt, Biesta and others have argued, the educational event itself depends upon the introduction of something radically new. What makes the new radical here is that there is a discontinuity between the conditions in which newness may arrive, and the very arrival itself. Something about the new is necessarily unanticipated. Without the new, education becomes the reproduction of the old which, echoing Adornos critiques of Halbbildung (half-education), is only ever half the educational story.

This gap between educational intention and what actually takes place demands something of those involved: speculative, or interpretive judgements. We might say that interpretation constitutes the pedagogical relation between educator and student: the educator speculates that the student is educable, projecting ideas about what capacities the student could realise through certain educational influences; the student speculates about what the educator intends and is capable of, e.g. that they are (or are not) both interested in and able to support the students growth. Then there is speculation about the outcomes of the educational event: the enhancement of a capacity may not be immediately obvious to the student or educator, taking days, months or even years to be properly realised or recognised. In short, there is a great deal of faith in pedagogical structures, processes and relations. This is significant because unconventional means of enhancement likewise involve speculation, risk, and judgement. Just as writing may enhance or diminish human memory, so ubiquitous access to google may extend and undermine certain cognitive capacities; at least an ambivalence should be noted. Unconventional means of enhancement through, for instance, drugs like Ritalin or Modafinil, might be thought to involve unacceptable risks in comparison to conventional schooling, but risks are part of any effort to influence because they are defined by the gap described between intention and outcome.

In her essay The Crisis in Education, Arendt says that hope always hangs on the new which every generation brings; but precisely because we can base our hope only on this, we destroy everything if we so try to control the new that we, the old, can dictate how it will look. Indeed, the older generation cannot fully anticipate changes brought on by the young but can, indeed must, show the world and let go, hoping that in doing so conditions are created in which the new may arrive. Education involves creating conditions in which it is possible for the new to come in to the world, conditions that might also be described in terms of openness: openness to the mystery, the unbidden, the Other, or as self-transcendence.

I would not be the first to challenge the view that the technologically defined immortality of transhumanism would be an enhancement, though my challenge is based on educational insights. Specifically, the transhuman quest for immortality, in which the old seeks to sustain itself indefinitely, seems to oppose the radical renewal of education described by Arendt and others. There is the basic problem of resources: the old must make space for the new by the renewal of life through death, which perhaps could be solved by extraterrestrial colonization or through digitization and uploading. However, the educational principle that life is constituted by a creative tension between those coming in to the world (the young) and those going out (the old) is a basic condition for life itself. The necessity of education correlates with the necessity of the renewal of the world.

Rather than being regarded as revolutionary or radical, transhumanism is, then, fundamentally and ruinously conservative: it seeks to sustain what is, as it is. Transhumanists sometimes berate those who are hesitant about the scale and scope of technological change as bio-conservative, though maybe the transhuman community itself that is the most conservative of all: it fails to see how the preservation of the old world is an affront to the ongoing renewal that sustains the world.

This renewal is not a case of the new entirely replacing or displacing the old, as a cult of youth might have it. By no means does this jettison tradition and the past. In order for children to arrive in the world, they must, says Arendt, be introduced to it. Herein lies the legitimate but limited authority of educators: that, by showing the world, they are able to take responsibility for it, while letting the forces of renewal remake it. Arendt ends her Crisis in Education essay with the following appeal to love:

Education is the point at which we decide whether we love the world enough to assume responsibility for it and by the same token save it from that ruin which, except for renewal, except for the coming of the new and young, would be inevitable. And education, too, is where we decide whether we love our children enough not to expel them from our world and leave them to their own devices, nor to strike from their hands their chance of undertaking something new, something unforeseen by us, but to prepare them in advance for the task of renewing a common world.

For Arendt, this renewal is not realised in a techno-utopia in which we may exist indefinitely, but a common world in which the old order is in constant transformative renewal. This means convention and tradition provide the ground for representing the world to the young, who then are able to introduce something new through invention and transformation. This balance between old and new, past and future, makes education both necessary and possible.

My concerns are less that transhuman prospects for extended or unending life are real possibilities than what these prospects indicate about contemporary attitudes to human formation and education: namely, the current technologisation of education disregards the interpretive gap which makes education more than a mechanical process of construction. Bringing to view the interpretive gap reminds us that renewal is both possible and essential in order to exceed the conservative forces that seek only to recreate the patterns of the past.

Every parent, educator and transhumanist has an idea of the good and a belief or hope in the possibility of realising it; what might be called a faith in the future. Faith is necessary because of the gap between our intentions to make change, and the outcomes of those intentions. There is a twofold problem: we often dont know whether change is good, and even if we did know this, we often dont know if change can, or has, been realised. It is the human condition to live in this gap, a gap that requires us to live between the conventions and traditions that ground us, and the inventions and transformations that develop us. This gap ensures that, thankfully, the influences of the old on the young are not entirely mechanical or predictable, and that our humanity is staked upon a wager to affirm the world without hanging on to it indefinitely. Because of this gap, it is incumbent upon us to reflect upon the judgements that we must inevitably make, and the possible futures in which we put our faith, hope and love.

Read the rest here:

Education and Enhancement in a Transhuman Future - Patheos

Jordan Peterson, Nietzsche, and Avoiding Living for Happiness Alone – Merion West

Posted on by

The resistance displayed towards these important thinkers is most regrettable, and for all the Complacent Men quick to criticize them, doing so makes you no closer to achieving your ever so desiredand elusivehappiness.'

Introduction

Man has had to fight for every atom of the truth, and has had to pay for it almost everything that the heart, that human love, that human trust cling to. Greatness of soul is needed for this business: the service of truth is the hardest of all services. Friedrich Nietzsche (The Antichrist)

Let me first state that I am not arguing for the abolishment of pleasure or to criticize unduly the people who walk down the road of hedonism; I just would not suggest it. Likewise, there is nothing wrong with being happy; if it crosses your path, you certainly should not ignore it. But what I want to make clear is that making happiness an end-in-itself will make anything (or anyone) that stands in the way of that goal an enemy, especially those who are skeptical about it, like some public intellectuals who are gaining increasing popularity today.Jordan B. Peterson,for example, called it a simplification of life itself, and Slavoj iek described happiness as fitting for the category of slaves. You can despise them (or me) all you want for destroying your fundamental goals in life, but let me first explain in more detail why I believe happiness is something you shouldnt aim for.

The Intelligence toConform

My first thought about the tendency to conform to simple ideas and philosophies has always been that differing degrees of intelligence was a factor. Many social psychologists agree with this, and there is even someevidence to support this view. But as of late, I find myself believing this explanation less and less. Regardless of the presence of bright individuals, the informational influence to conformthe process where people accept information from other group members in order to paint a picture of realitystill exists. When the majority within a certain group follows an ideology, theory, or idea, its very difficult not to conform to this.

I dont want to state that conformity is a bad thing because it isnt necessarily. We often dont know everything about every subject or possible situation. In these cases, we look to others for possible answers to our lack of knowledge. Another reason to conform is to stabilize social relations within a certain group. Cass Sunstein described this in his book Conformity: The Power of Social Influences: that a nonconformist or dissenter causes a lot of tension within a group when he or she does not abide by the groups norms. This makes the role of dissenter not very popular, but, at the same time, Sunstein believes that role is sometimes very much needed. For instance, when certain groups censor important informationand nobody within the group reacts in a responsible way by not tolerating the use of censorshipthat vital role falls to the dissenter.

Conformists to prevailing trends, thus, can stand in the way of progress itself, such as when, for example, they claim that certain subjects or social/political issues must not be discussed. Sunstein notes the detrimental effect on societies and groups when certain information is hidden: The real problem is that when cascades are occurring, people do not disclose information from which others would benefit. The result is that both individuals and private and public groups can blunder, sometimes catastrophically.

Additionally, the fear of being offended by new ideas gives rise to individual weakness. To some degree, this weakness is justified by the individuals need for comfortability. Unfortunately, the individual does not perceive comfortability as a weakness, as he should. Rather, he too often sees it as compensation for occasionally encountering misfortunes during his life. Achieving this compensation is believed to bring him a step closer towards achieving any individuals primary end goal: to attain a continuous state of pleasure and happiness.

The Complacent Man

In Friedrich Nietzsches Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche introduces us to the Last Man, which is characterized as the modern man who has low ambitions, seeks equality, deindividuation, and is the antithesis of the Higher Man. The Higher Mans ambitions exceed his own expectations of life. The Higher Man is motivated to create something that can outlive himself.

Sadly, this quality of striving towards a goal that is of greater significance than mere personal aimshas been replaced by its opposite: narrow and individualistic ambitions. Nietzsche notes in Human All Too Human how the modern man lacks this quality of the Higher Man: [The modern] individual looks his own short life span too squarely in the eye and feels no strong incentives to build on enduring institutions, designed for ages. He wants to pick the fruit from the tree he has planted himself, and therefore no longer likes to plant those trees which require regular care over centuries, trees that are destined to overshade long successions of generations.

These higher level of ambitions make the Last Man resentful towards the Higher Man; forthe Last Man will continuously be confronted with his own lousy goals. In todays world, we see another rendition of the Last Man. Here is where I propose the concept of The Complacent Man, who has equally low ambitions, puts pleasure and comfortability as his highest values, and despises challenging and difficult ideas. Nevertheless, his arrogance gives him the strength to be more than satisfied with himself than the Last Man.

The distinction between these different kinds of human beings is visible in the way they engage with intellectual progress and the acceptance of suffering as an unalterable axiom. The Higher Man will approach both of them with a kind of couragewithout ignorance or naivety. This is unique to the Higher Man. The Last Man and the Complacent Man both engage in the denial of misfortune, whereby both try to disregard suffering as a way to remain ensconced in their comfortable lives. When we touch upon the attainment of knowledge, we see a clear difference between the Last Man and the Complacent Man; the Last Man will utter anything that comes to his mind, without any concern for offending others, while the Complacent Man would rather censor that which might be considered offensive or challenging. The Complacent Man is the one who poses a great danger to intellectual progress.

The HedonicParadox

One of the most important goals in Western society appears to be achieving continuous pleasure and most of all, happiness. In the last few years, much has been written about this aim and why its wrong. Unfortunately, there are still too many people who didnt get the message.

The reason may be found in the definition ofhappiness. Everyone wants to be happy, right? Happiness brings with it the effortless thought of being in such a state where suffering is non-existent. Unfortunately, this is far from ever being accomplished, as Sigmund Freud states in Civilization and Its Discontents: It [being the primary aim for happiness] is quite incapable of being realized; all the institutions of the universe are opposed to it; one is inclined to say that the intention that man should be happy has no part in the plan of creation. This is where the desire to be happy and its realization collide.

If these people claim their fundamental aim is pleasure and happiness, then you would suppose that you would encounter someone who is genuinely happy most of the time, but this is not the case. In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle noticed the same nonexistence of a continuous state of pleasure: How is it, then, that we are incapable of continuous pleasure? Perhaps the reason is that we become exhausted; for no human faculty is capable of continuous exercise. Pleasure, then, also cannot be continuous; for it is an accompaniment of the exercise of faculty. Being able to experience pleasure/happiness occasionally and constantly desiring it are two different things.

As Aristotle described, pleasure is a side-product of activitywhere pleasure is activated during the performance of an activity as a way to achieve perfection at it. This makes pleasure not an end-in-itself. For this reason, pleasure should not be considered a desirable end goal in the long term (or even the short term). This introduces the Hedonic Paradoxin whichthe intrinsic aim for personal pleasure will result in failing to acquire it.

It still remains the case that the prevalence of hedonic individuals at some rate could trigger the belief that someone could also achieve happiness just by aiming at it. This assumption eventually works as a tool to suppress the conscious thought of suffering. By only thinking about pleasure, you dont have to think about all the misfortunes that work against achieving happiness. The simplicity that the Complacent Man wears with him, which is based on an undue focus on pleasure and happiness, can be seen as innocence. Even if the aim of happiness may seem harmless to the nave individual, in reality, its far from it. This is the trait of the Complacent Man that keeps him from changing for the better and exposing himself to truths about the world.

The notion that happiness is the highest achievable goal there is, is for many people indisputable, regardless of its failure to be realized. Richard Taylor had suggested in Good and Evilthat its perhaps for this reason (adherence to the high value of pleasure and happiness) that hedonism is among the most popular philosophies people adopt.

People expect pleasure and happiness as the reward for overcoming suffering. Perhaps it can be viewed as a way to calm oneself down before approaching a possibly suffering situation. One can make little optimistic predictions about when one might be freed of suffering, which may look something like this: When this [fill in your prospective miserable situation] is over, life will be much better, and Ill finally be happy. But we know this end state is seldom realized.

Ignoring the Dragon and theMice.

There are many who despise thinking about philosophical, existential, or metaphysical questions and choose instead to surround themselves with people who avoid engaging with important but potentially unnerving areas of thought.

But its the rejection of suffering (or the refusal of its existence) that leads one astray. Perhaps one might think of it along the lines of Seths dream, which refers to the myth of Osiris when he, the king of Egypt, was murdered by his own brother, Seth, and was sent to the underworld. This was all a consequence of Osiris naivety towards the evil character of his brother. In Maps of Meaning, Dr. Jordan B. Peterson not only describes this myth in greater detail, but he asserts the danger of taking anave stance towards malevolence. This he considers to be the most significant take-away from the myth of Osiris.

When Leo Tolstoy was struggling to find meaning for himself, and science didnt give him the answer he desired, he began to look at the morality of people around him who werent drowned in nihilism. He argues there are four different ways to get out of the state of nihilism. Before getting to the anti-nihilism recipes that he describes in A Confession, he tells an old fable:

There is an Eastern fable, told long ago, of a traveller overtaken on a plain by an enraged beast. Escaping from the beast he gets into a dry well, but sees at the bottom of the well a dragon that has opened its jaws to swallow him. And the unfortunate man, not daring to climb out lest he should be destroyed by the enraged beast, and not daring to leap to the bottom of the well lest he should be eaten by the dragon, seizes a twig growing in a crack in the well and clings to it. His hands are growing weaker and he feels he will soon have to resign himself to the destruction that awaits him above or below, but still he clings on. Then he sees that two mice, a black one and a white one, go regularly round and round the stem of the twig to which he is clinging and gnaw at it. And soon the twig itself will snap and he will fall into the dragons jaws. The traveller sees this and knows that he will inevitably perish; but while still hanging he looks around, sees some drops of honey on the leaves of the twig, reaches them with his tongue and licks them. So I too clung to the twig of life, knowing that the dragon of death was inevitably awaiting me, ready to tear me to pieces; and I could not understand why I had fallen into such torment. I tried to lick the honey which formerly consoled me, but the honey no longer gave me pleasure, and the white and black mice of day and night gnawed at the branch by which I hung. I saw the dragon clearly and the honey no longer tasted sweet. I only saw the inescapable dragon and mice, and I could not tear my gaze from them. And this is not a fable but the real unanswerable truth intelligible to all.

Tolstoy describes four different kinds of people that respond in their own way towards, in his view, the meaninglessness of life. The morality of the second group of individuals is most important for our purposes. He views them as dull and ignorant. Their nave attitude towards the dragon or the mice makes them look only towards the honey, even though they remain aware of both forces that are working against reaching a joyful state. Just like these individuals, the Complacent Man only wants the pleasurable things about life, without experiencing also the suffering.

The Skeptic

There needs to be someone who sees through the innocent character of the Complacent Man, someone who doesnt take the easy definition as the only one. There must be someone who sheds light on the Complacent Mans morality and shows him why its toxic. This individual we call the skeptic. Just for now, Ill introduce two versions of the skeptic; the empty skeptic and the genuine skeptic.

Lets start with the empty skeptic; he will criticize your perspective and morality just for the sake of criticizing. He is a skeptic, just to be skeptic. He brings no treasure, only his useless moral rejection. The empty skeptic does not differ much from the Complacent Man because he takes the easiest route available to him. In some sense, the empty skeptic is even worse than the Complacent Man; for he will not even conform to those ideas that need to be conformed to.

When the empty skeptic engages in a discussioninstead of having the motivation to learn something from the one he disagreeshe is only motivated by a desire to win the discussion or debate. In order to obtain this goal, he may use tactics such as the Straw man. A great example is the popular Channel 4 interview between Cathy Newman and Dr. Jordan B. Petersonwhere Newman plays the role of the empty skeptic by repeatedly rephrasing Dr. Petersons arguments in such a way that his arguments lose their strength and overall message. Only then does it become easy for her to mock his persuasive points.

Let me continue with the genuine skeptic:the only one who will appear as a real challenge to the Complacent Man. Let it be clear that we should not underestimate these individuals, for their intellect is hiding behind a curtain of pleasure and decadence. The genuine skeptic will put his values aside so he that might be able to benefit the community. Therefore, he is identical to the dissenter. He is always needed to remind the conformists about their flaws and errors in thinking.

The skeptic is always the one who ruins the party, but the majority uses its language and thought patterns to marginalize the skeptic in an effort to reduce his role to the non-existent. The moment the skeptic shows any marked disagreement with the majority, his value will decline.Skepticism itself opposes overprotection and safe spaces. We know that because safe spaces dont make any distinction between offending utterances and actual psychological harm. So just to be safe, their proponents censor anything that might even be interpreted as offensive. Sunstein concludeslater in his book that the institutions that promote conformity (and all innocent and weak traits that accompany them) are destined to fall apart.

Conclusion

It should not matter how progress is achieved, and this refers to progress as the search for truth. One, who is living correctly, ought not seek comfortability. He ought to want to be challengedthats where the potential for the much-discussed happiness lies. In the most challenging situations, happiness can appear as a byproduct of achievements, but happiness, again, shouldnt be sought for itself. As the comedian Tim Minchin concluded during his University of Western Australia commencement speech; We didnt evolve to be constantly content. Contented Homo erectus got eaten before passing on their genes.

We should aspire to be thegenuine skeptic, which isto know to avoid conforming to simple ideologies and philosophies. Our goal should be to forgo dismissing the dragon and the mice and to confront theexistential questions that life provides.

The notion that Western societies have attained all their goals and are able to make pleasure their highest value is a foolish one. Many who begin to resemble The Complacent Man are aware of their faulty morality, but as was stated before, it can be exceedingly difficult to stand in opposition to the majority: to dissent.

Regardless of the negative effects on group harmony, we need those who open our eyes to the other side of the conversation. We need this other half to engage in debates so as to reach the truth. Fortunately, today this is already happening, thanks to public intellectuals like Dr. Gad Saad, Dr. Jordan B. Peterson, Bret Weinstein, and many others. These figures have put their personal values aside to bring discussions to light that tremendously benefit the public. In some ways, they are the killjoys of the societal partybut in the best way possible. The resistance displayed towards these important thinkers is most regrettable, and for all the Complacent Men quick to criticize them, doing so makes you no closer to achieving your ever so desiredand elusivehappiness..

Alessandro van den Berg is an economics teacher in the Netherlands.

Read more here:

Jordan Peterson, Nietzsche, and Avoiding Living for Happiness Alone - Merion West

Former Idaho state budget director charged with sexual exploitation of a minor – East Idaho News

Posted on by

Martin L. Marty Peterson

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) Martin L. Marty Peterson, 76, of Boise, a figure in Idaho politics for five decades, was arrested Thursday and charged with sexual exploitation of a minor.

A press release from Attorney General Lawrence Wasdens office said that Peterson is alleged to have possessed sexually exploitative material. The investigation was performed by the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Unit, the Boise Police Department and the Ada County Prosecutors Office.

The Idaho statute under which Peterson is charged is quite broad and includes several specific offenses. The Ada County Prosecutors Office would not say Thursday what Peterson is alleged to have done. It would confirm only that he would be arraigned Friday afternoon.

Among other positions, Peterson served on U.S. Sen. Frank Churchs staff, on former Gov. Butch Otters transition team, as the executive director of the Association of Idaho Cities and on the Idaho Humanities Council, per his page on the Idaho Humanities Council website. He was also the budget director for former Govs. John Evans and Cecil Andrus, and has served as an assistant to several University of Idaho presidents.

Peterson, a Lewiston native and University of Idaho graduate, has served on U of Is School of Journalism and Mass Media advisory board, the Friends of Idaho Public Television board and as the president for the Foundation for Idaho History. He also was the director of U of Is James A. and Louise McClure Center for Public Policy Research.

University of Idaho officials declined to comment about Petersons arrest but said he is currently still on the journalism school board.

Peterson, who has written many guest columns for the Statesman, co-authored Idaho 100: The People Who Most Influenced the Gem State. He has written other books and also graduated from Columbia Basin College and Harvard Universitys Senior Managers in Government Program.

See the article here:

Former Idaho state budget director charged with sexual exploitation of a minor - East Idaho News

George Hulstrand Jr.: Collin Peterson’s opponent will face a fight – West Central Tribune

Posted on by

Thank you for the commentary by Mike McFeely titled Dont count out ol Collin Peterson just yet in the Sept. 19 paper.

Many years ago I was able to attend a meeting of the whole U.S. Ag committee at an open hearing in Marshall.

In attendance were both Democrats and Republicans. Collin Peterson was there as well.

What was clear was how much respect all the members had for Peterson. The agriculture committee is much less partisan than most of our congressional committees.

Michelle Fischbach is running against Collin Peterson.

This individual knows nothing about agriculture yet agriculture is our districts lifeblood.

Her only real claim to fame is that she is married to Scott Fischbach, who is chairman of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life.

Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life has more and more in this part of the state turned into an organ of the Republican Party.

And yes, I know what I am talking about. At one time I was chairman for that organization in Kandiyohi County. Why is it that MCCL always has its fair booth right next to the Republican Party's booth?

In the past Peterson was a strong supporter of MCCL.

Michele Fischbach will have a fight on her hands if she wants to take on Peterson successfully.

George Hulstrand Jr.

Willmar

Read more:

George Hulstrand Jr.: Collin Peterson's opponent will face a fight - West Central Tribune