‘Taste of the Caribbean’ festival showcases island culture – Globalnews.ca

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Sunday marked the final day of the Taste of the Caribbean festival in the Old Port.

The five-day festival showcases trademark foods and drinks from the Caribbean.

Many of the vendors sold authentic food from various countries.

READ MORE:New Caribbean restaurant in Vaudreuil makes point of giving back to community

To cook the food can be a long process and one that starts before any visitors arrive.

Its hours and hours and hours to put together the sauce, to season the chicken, Tara Carson, festival worker, said. They get prepared at least 48 hours in advance.

The festival has seen thousands of visitors and was held from June 21 to 25.

Beyond the jerk chicken, corn and fish were other Caribbean treats like spicy peanut butter.

What makes it different is the hot pepper that we add to it, Stanley Dumornay, D&D Mamba, said. It also has organic cane sugar and a bit of salt.

Those in attendance could also take part in cooking demonstrations and learn how to cook with rum.

Organizers say the festival saw a large increase in visitors from years past.

2017Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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'Taste of the Caribbean' festival showcases island culture - Globalnews.ca

Celebrity chef injured in gas explosion at new Bahamas restaurant – Palm Beach Post

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A South Florida chef who starred in a cable TV reality cooking show suffered third-degree burns Thursday after a gas explosion at his new restaurant in the Bahamas,Local 10 News in Miami reports.

Ralph Pagano was airlifted to a Miami hospital after the blast at Resorts World Bimini. He was turning on the kitchen's gas burners when the oven blew up. "My hands were on fire, my shirt was on fire, my pants were on fire," Pagano told Local 10 News from Jackson Memorial Hospital.

The chef, who starred in the Lifetime showAll Mixed Up, suffered burns on his face, legs and hands. "I thought I was going to die," he said. "Luckily, I stopped, dropped and rolled."

"I'm going to need skin graphs and about a month in the hospital, but I'm alive," Pagano said.

Pagano has made other TV appearances, including competing onHell's Kitchen andIron Chef. He owns several South Florida restaurants: Naked Taco in Miami Beach, Naked Lunch in Miami and Naked Crab in Fort Lauderdale.

He was opening a new Naked Taco location when the accident occurred.

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Celebrity chef injured in gas explosion at new Bahamas restaurant - Palm Beach Post

Tradeweb to Be Main Offshore Trading Platform for China ‘Bond Connect’ – New York Times

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SHANGHAI Tradeweb, a fixed-income trading platform, will connect with China Foreign Exchange Trading System (CFETS) to be the main interface for offshore investors trading in China's bond market through the country's upcoming "Bond Connect" scheme, the company said on Monday.

Talks between Tradeweb and the Hong Kong exchange were exclusively reported by Reuters last August.

Tradeweb, majority-owned by Thomson Reuters, the parent company of Reuters News, matches buyers and sellers of fixed income products across more than 22 international OTC bond markets.

In a statement, Tradeweb said that eligible overseas institutional investors from its network of more than 2,000 clients would be able to trade directly with liquidity providers in the CFETS market through Tradeweb's platform.

Investors trading through Tradeweb will be able to use global custodians to settle through a nominee holding arrangement provided by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's Central Moneymarkets Unit, the statement said.

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Tradeweb to Be Main Offshore Trading Platform for China 'Bond Connect' - New York Times

Robert Whitcomb: No Smoking Downtown; Dems at Sea; Blasting Offshore – GoLocalProv

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Sunday, June 25, 2017

Robert Whitcomb, Columnist

Robert Whitcomb

June may be had by the poorest comer."

-- James Russell Lowell

The new ordinance banning smoking outdoors in part of downtown Providence reflects the confusions and hypocrisies of American policies regarding tobacco and some other drugs (such as alcohol). On the one hand we say that smoking is very unhealthy and leads to many thousands of deaths a year and vast health expenses, on the other hand, tobacco products are legal and pull in billions of dollars a year in tax money. (Some argue that smoking, by causing early and often fast deaths, actually saves on overall national health costs: Fewer of those too-expensive old folks who take so long to expire.)

I think that the new ordinance isnt a bad idea. It may extend a few lives, including of those people who must breathe in second-hand smoke in situations such as waiting for buses at Kennedy Plaza. And there will be fewer cigarette butts and other smoking-related litter on the streets and sidewalks.

Smoking banned downtown

Now back to the scarier substance-abuse problem opiate addiction and lethal overdoses.

xxx

I was not at all surprised that young Jon Ossoff narrowly lost the 6th District Georgia congressional race to Republican Karen Handel last Tuesday. The traditionally very Red district, another triumphant example of ruthless Republican gerrymandering, was still the GOPs to lose, whatever the many millions of dollars the Democrats pumped in.

It will take a while to deconstruct the vote, but I suspect that the Democrats did not get quite the turnout that theyd hoped for. This would be another example of why, although in many national polls a majority of the public backs what are basically Democratic positions on health care and other big issues, the GOP, aided by the state legislatures doing the gerrymandering of congressional districts, does so well in campaigns.

Consider the failure of the young, who lean heavily Democratic, to vote while people in their 50s and older vote heavily -- most often for Republicans. That may continue as long as the GOP doesn't threaten their Medicare and Social Security.

Democrats leadership troubles

The older (or just old) Tea Party types (mostly men) who comprise, for example, the little group who denounce me every week in the Facebook comments at the bottom of this column, do vote. And some or most are retired and have plenty of time to denounce socialists and elitists in social-media posts while they take a break from the Fox News echo chambers. God bless em! At least theyre not passive.

Meanwhile, Democratic strategists must be wondering if they should have poured a lot more money into a special South Carolina congressional race, in another intensely gerrymandered and traditionally very Republican district. Democrat Archie Parnell came very close last Tuesday to winning that contest. He may have been a better candidate than the somewhat callow and too-mild Mr. Ossoff, who perhaps should have taken on the Trump regime with much more energy.

The underlying demographic changes favor the Democrats but maybe they dont deserve to win because so many of the folks calling themselves Democrats are too lazy to take 20 minutes to show up at the polls every couple of years.

Oh yes, and the Democrats urgently need new leaders in the U.S. House. Number 1: Nancy Pelosi, 77, should retire as their leader now! The party needs new faces to present to the public.

They desperately require leaders with inspirational talents, organizational ability and pragmatism. They need to eloquently promote the interests of lower-and-middle-income people and push back hard against the plutocracy now in charge in the White House and in the Capitol.

Meanwhile, some Democrats may be secretly hoping for a recession. Given the realities of business cycles (the current business expansion is very old) and other factors among them Chinas economic woes, Brexit and inflated technology stock prices -- they may well get it next year. Ten percent unemployment would give the Democrats control of Congress in 2018, probably by a landslide.

xxx

The Trump administration, in a sleeping bag with the oil and natural-gas sector, wants to hand out permits for large-scale seismic blasting up and down the Atlantic coast, from Delaware to Florida, to detect the presence of fossil fuel. Such blasting can injure or even kill such intelligent mammals as whales and dolphins and other marine animals.

xxx

A plan to help maintain the 17-acre Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, in downtown Boston, may be an example for upkeep of other public parks. Since property owners near the Greenway obviously benefit more than most people from this amenity, theyve agreed to pay $1 million a year in a voluntary tax on the big buildings along the Greenway via a Business Improvement District that would defray the bulk of yearly maintenance. The idea is to let the state reduce its spending on the park to $750,000 a year by 2020 from the current $2 million.

User taxes, including highway tolls, are very fair. You benefit; you pay.

India Point Park, in Providence, is an example of where similar arrangements could be made to better maintain public spaces and save on local and state government spending. Certainly the Downtown Providence Improvement District has done fine work in making Downcity a lot more presentable than it was a couple of decades ago.

xxx

President Donald Trump

xxx

If you want to know who the prime historical villains are in our exorbitantly expensive and convoluted health-care system, look no further than the American Medical Associations support, starting in the 40s, for a fee-for-service, private- insurance company model that would maximize physicians incomes. In tandem were the AMAs successful efforts to prevent the creation of the sort of universal, government-backed health system that virtually all other developed nations have and better health.

This system has ensured that American physicians are the worlds highest paid although medical outcomes lag behind most other developed nations. Of course, in the 60s Medicare and Medicaid came along. But Medicare, trapped in the traditional fee-for-service model, was for decades a bonanza for doctors, until federal cost containment efforts in recent years.

Yes, it was all about the money.

xxx

Anti-Republican lunatic James Hodgkinson, who shot at a group of GOP politicians at a park in Alexandria, Va., gravely injuring House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, had 200 rounds of ammunition in a storage unit. Thats the sort of thing youd expect in a nation whose gun laws are written by the National Rifle Association and their paymasters in the weapons biz, in collaboration with the Republican Party. I (and numerous family members) have owned guns all my life but the need to stock up on war-zone levels of ammo has eluded me. But then, I somehow forgot the potential joys of mass murder.

xxx

As the United States withdraws from speaking out for human rights and democracy, the Chinese dictatorship moves in with piles of money. That money is already having sad effects.

Consider that Greece has vetoed a European Union statement denouncing Chinese human-rights abuses in the wake of Greece recently getting billions of dollars in infrastructure investments from Beijing. Croatia and Hungary (the latter run by a semi-fascist president), also the beneficiary of massive Chinese spending, have also blocked E.U. statements on Chinese actions, including Chinas attempt to take over the entire South China Sea. Each E.U. nation has veto power over statements meant to be the official E.U. position.

Here at home we have the Confucius Institute problem. The Instituteis affiliated with ChinasEducation Ministry and has the official aim to promote Chinese language andculture. But it is really a propaganda and intelligence office, a handy base for industrial and other espionage and a sturdy platform for the increasingly aggressive and expansionist dictatorship to keep in line Chinese students studying abroad. Their very presence tends to constrain intellectual freedom regarding things Chinese.

Some U.S. colleges and universities, such as Rhode Islands Bryant University, have partnered with the Institute satellites for the money and business connections they provide after they set up shop on American campuses. These Confucius Institute operations provide free (to the colleges) teachers and textbooks and cover operating costs. Some administrators and faculty members like them because they help bring in full-tuition-paying Chinese students and provide free and luxurious junkets to China to some administrators and faculty members. Such operations are inappropriate on American college campuses.

Rachelle Peterson, director of research at the National Association of Scholars, a conservative group, has accurately complained: Confucius Institutes export the fear of speaking freely around the world. They permit a foreign government to have intimate influence over college classrooms. Its time to kick them off campus. Ms. Peterson quoted former Chinese Communist Party propaganda chief Li Changchun as calling the on-campus Confucius Institute satellites an important part of Chinas overseas propaganda efforts.

xxx

Amazons plan to buy Whole Foods has elicited a lot of heavy breathing and assertions that Amazon will wipe out a lot of grocery stores. I think that these forecasts are exaggerated. Groceries stuff that can rot are not the same things as books and clothes. The distribution challenges are very different.

Most people will continue to drive or walk to a regular (not high-end, expensive organic) supermarket or small grocery store for the foreseeable future. Inflation-adjusted wages have been falling for most people. The market for expensive (and some would say pretentious) food is unlikely to vastly expand. For all its alleged glamour, most people dont shop at the expensive likes of Whole Foods and never will.

An Amazon-Whole Foods mating might work very well in densely populated affluent areas with a close enough proximity to warehouses to ensure that the stuff can be delivered unspoiled to Amazon-Whole Foods supermarkets or to your home. But it wouldnt work well in thinly populated areas.

Finally, even in this plutocratic age, its possible that the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Justice Department will awake from their all-too-frequent torpor and press monopoly charges against the company if it tries to take over a big hunk of the grocery business.

Anyway, Im more worried about the effects on employment and wages of the automation of cashier and other jobs now underway in many kinds of stores than about Amazon specifically (I always use cashiers, not those machines, in a tiny effort to help preserve jobs.) And I worry about the effects on local tax revenue and jobs from so many stores of all kinds closing because of the online revolution.

xxx

Scott Avedisian

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Robert Whitcomb: No Smoking Downtown; Dems at Sea; Blasting Offshore - GoLocalProv

Seniors make waves with high-seas whodunit – Simi Valley Acorn

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When razors and pill boxes go missing,fingers start pointing in original cruise ship caper

By Alicia Doyle

Special to the Acorn

WELCOME TO THE SHOWAbove, actors sing Sea Cruise during rehearsals this week for Hi-Jinx on the High Seas at the Simi Valley Senior Center. The original musical comedy, which runs two hours and features some 30 songs, will be performed June 29 and 30 at the center. At right, Bill Heiden, left, leans in to listen to Tina Larson as she whispers to him during a scene. The show is filled with kooky characters, including gamblers and seasick passengers. A whodunit caper about stolen items on a cruise ship is the subject of an original musical comedy that will be staged at the Simi Valley Senior Center on June 29 and 30.

Hi-Jinx on the High Seas was written and directed by members of the Simi Valley Senior Center Performing Arts Group.

It is a conglomerate of vignettes of people you would see if they were traveling on a cruise shipand people start missing things, said Jeanne Reed, 79, the shows director. We lose really important things, like hemorrhoid cream, a razor, a pill box, comb and sunglasses.

JESSE WATROUS/Acorn Newspapers Cast members, most of whom are residents of Simi Valley, use their own names for the characters they play.

This production has no star, said Reed.

The play is filled with kooky characters, such as a compulsive gambling husband whose wife is a compulsive spender.

I lose my hemorrhoid cream and he loses his shaver, said Tina Larson, 73, who is playing herself alongside her husband, Duwayne, 79.

Reed will play the role of a passenger traveling with her best friend, who has tremendous seasickness and keeps losing track of her seasick pills.

Were this crazy group of oddballs, Reed said.

Yolie Alvarado, 68, plays the prime suspect.

Everybody thinks Im the thief, said Alvarado. I carry this big bag around with me, so they think I have all the goodies in there.

In the play, shes a solo traveler whose father owned a secondhand store.

So Ive got this weird, bizarre clothing, said Alvarado, who will sing Second Hand Rose. Im by myself all the time and my character is just crazy wacky. I cant hear too well, I cant see too well, Im in my own little dream world. I dont like anybody.

Alvarados song is one of about 30 to be performed during the musical. Popular tunes include Ill Be Seeing You, I Could Have Danced All Night, Under the Sea and The Best Things in Life Are Free.

The show, which runs about two hours, will include an intermission, when tap dancers from the Simi Valley Senior Center will perform.

Linda Detamore, one of the tappers, is also portraying a passenger in the play.

Im a friend of a disabled lady. Shes in a wheelchair and Im her caregiver, Detamore, 59, said about her role. I protect everybody and I stand up for Yolie when shes accused. Im only there because Im taking care of my friend, whos on her first cruise.

Pat Danova will play the part of Detamores friend.

There are so many talented people in this show, said Danova, 74.

Trudy Dubrow, 85, is performing with the group for the first time this year.

My character is someone who is always nervous; I get seasick and nauseous and I worry about my seasick pills, said Dubrow.

Dubrow, who is also involved with an improv group in Woodland Hills, said she was happy to find a group in Simi Valley that would give her the opportunity to participate in one of her favorite hobbies.

I just moved here to Simi, Dubrow said. Im enjoying this skit and the people at the senior center are lovely. Ive always done straight acting, and when I came here I didnt know this was a musical. So this is a whole new thing for me.

Hi-Jinx on the High Seas will be performed at 1:30 p.m. Thurs., June 29 and at 9 p.m. Fri., June 30 at the senior center at 3900 Avenida Simi.

Admission is free.

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Seniors make waves with high-seas whodunit - Simi Valley Acorn

Big waves close coastal walkway, but some still brave stormy seas – Taranaki Daily News

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DAVID BURROUGHS

Last updated15:17, June 26 2017

DAVID BURROUGHS

Part of the coastal walkway in New Plymouth is closed due to large waves.

High waves crashing on to the footpath turned a pleasantstroll into a soggy adventure for people on New Plymouth's Coastal Walkway.

The section of the walkwayrunning adjacent to the Woolcombe Terrace cliffs was closed off by the New Plymouth District Council (NPDC) around midday on Monday and barriers and warning signs were erected.

READ MORE: *Christchurch's top five walks *Rockfall prompts coastal walkway changes *Six waving wands to be installed along New Plymouth Coastal Walkway *Cyclist suffers serious head injuries in crash on Coastal Walkway

GRANT MATTHEW/Fairfax NZ

Members of the public avoid the big waves caused by high tides along the Coastal Walkway.

However a number of people ignored the signs, with one person commenting "that was fun" as they clambered under the barrier and back onto the open stretch of walkway.

Another biker was seen almost getting washed off his bike before hopping off and watching the waves crash around him.

Those that stayed on the open stretch of walkway weren't safe either, with some people franticallyrunning when particularly large waves hit.

GRANT MATTHEW/Fairfax NZ

Part of the walkway was closed due to the size of the waves.

Delwyn and John Lusted, who were visiting from Palmerston North for a few days, didn't let the waves deter them from taking a walk and managed to dodge getting hit.

"I nearly did, it's fun,' Delwyn said.

"If you like getting covered in sea water," John added.

DAVID BURROUGHS/FAIRFAX NZ

The walkway was closed at 11.30am and the New Plymouth District Council estimated it would be closed for about three hours.

He said quite a few people had told them about the walkway and they had finally come to have a look.

"It's lovely here, so we got a good day," he said.

Mark Joyce walked along the top of the cliffs and said the the waves were "stunning".

"You feel the power of nature," he said.

Andrea Payne was eating her lunch on the nearby railway overpassand said it was a great form of entertainment.

"I'm just getting my giggle from it, watching people get smoked," she said.

She had seen a few people get drenched and a few waves that had come right across the walkway and onto the grass.

It was the worst she had ever seen it.

"I come down most days," she said.

TheNPDCposted on Facebook to say the walkway had been closed for the public's safety due to high seas.

"The Molesworth Street underpass alongside Huatoki Stream is also closed - we'll reopen them in about three hours when the tide drops," it said at midday.

NPDCmanager parks and open spaces, Stuart Robertson, said the walkway was closed as a precaution due to a combination of the high tide and the large waves as it was quite easy for people to be washed off their feet.

"There's a reason why we close it and but at the end of the day it's precautionary and people will make their own decisions obviously,"

"But the reality is you should never turn yourback on the sea and it's a moment ofinattentionand you could be knocked off your feet and swept out.

"People shouldprobablyrespect that."

He said the walkway was usually only closed around four times a year, and he didn't expect it to be closed for too long.

-Stuff

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Big waves close coastal walkway, but some still brave stormy seas - Taranaki Daily News

Micronations / Axis Powers Hetalia – TV Tropes

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Principality of Sealand - Peter Kirkland

Aim for it! Sealand will enter the G8!

Sealand: (holding up a fist) My punches are really strong! Do you wanna see?

Ladonia: (panicked) No, don't!

Sealand: Sometimes I ride the goat while swabbing the deck, and that is not a euphemism for anything.

Principality of Seborga

So you must be little Wy! Hmmm, maybe I'll hit on you after a couple hundred years go by.

Principality of Wy

Did you think we're buddies? But I'm different from you... I've been re-cog-ni-zed!

Republic of Kugelmugel

Declaring my independence is...ART!!!!

Republic of Molossia

Sunnovabitch! You formally entered the country?!

Principality of Hutt River

Paying your respects to me, your senior, is simple etiquette, yes?

Republic of Nikko Nikko

A Halloween Party? I certainly would like to go, but I've already withdraw from nation status, so...

Voiced by: Dallas Reid (EN)

Nikko Nikko: If you believe and try your best, your dreams will come true, won't they, Japan?

Japan: What on Earth did you try your best at?!

Ladonia

The only one with the power to gather all the micronations is a true blue like me!

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Micronations / Axis Powers Hetalia - TV Tropes

Jewish Intentional Communities Initiative – Hazon

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Community leaders from Brooklyn to Berkeley recievedsupport to make their community-building dreams a reality.

Hakhel is the first-of-its-kind Jewish Intentional Communities incubator in North America. Derived from the Hebrew word for community, Hakhel means assemble, a term which alludes to the projects two-fold aim of encouraging and developing young communities, and using these communities as a method for engaging young adults in Jewish life, learning and service. Finalists received guidance from two expert mentors, Aharon Ariel Lavi and James Grant-Rosenhead, modest financial assistance, participation in Hazons Jewish Intentional Communities Tour in Israel, and peer-to-peer networking opportunities within the cohort, thanks to support from UJA Federation of New York.

The 2016cohort, plus some additional members of the movement outside of the cohort, travelledto Israel inMarchto learn from the Israeli experience, expand their horizons to new and different models of communities, andestablish long-term, direct relationships between the American communities and their Israeli counterparts.

Lavi and Grant-Rosenhead are founder-members of intentional communities in Israelandactivists and leaders in the Jewish intentional communitiesmovement. Together, they assist the Hakhel projects in conducting feasibility studies, creating work plans, and honing their long-term vision of internal development and external outreach.

Work at Home Mom & Pop

Gulienne Rollins-Rishon

WAHMP aims to create a communal space where Jewish parents of all denominations can come together, with young children in tow, to a shared office space, in order to pursue their creative or telecommuting endeavors. Our co-working environment, with on sight child engagement, will offer the standard amenities of a shared office environment, plus a kosher kitchen, private nursing space, and hours compatible with both parenting and Jewish lifestyles. Our space will provide not only office set-up and peer interaction for both adults and children, but also engaging networking opportunities, and workshops and lectures run by experts in Jewish spirituality, parenting, finance, and law. We also aim to provide an opportunity for our member artists to showcase and sell their work, and space for our members to collaborate on new projects.

Makom NY

Rabbi Debbi Bravo

Makom NY is a new kind of Jewish community on Long Island where all are welcome. They come from many backgrounds and are seeking Jewish learning, culture, connections and community.They are acommunity beyond any one movement where all people are personally welcomed and where social, denominational, faith and financial barriers do not exist. They look to embrace meaningful worship that uses the transcendent power of music toenable connection and spirituality; intergenerational programming of holiday celebrations, social justiceand Israel connection; immersive Jewish learning experiences for children that foster alifelong love of Judaism, an understanding of the modern Hebrewlanguage and preparation for Bnai Mitzvah; parallel adult and family learning experiences that allow families of allbackgrounds to discover and create their own Jewish identities; andJewish Life Cycle celebrations.

Haredi Tech Entrepreneurs

Ronnie Rendel

The ultimate dream of this community is a virtual kibutz of harediheads of families engaged in building, investing, and marketingtechnology products.The community will take in new members recently completing or in theirfinal years of yeshiva (or seminary), include training programs andguidance mentors directing new members in the right tech field andbuilding the right skills.The ideal is for the community to also provide housing for its members,in return for participation in its program, much like a kibutz.The biggest hurdle for a young family today is housing cost, andelevating this pain is a big value for joining this community.

As members create and participate in products, which are owned by thecommunity (which acts as a sort of a tech incubator and memberssharing equity), they become mentors and later leaders of thecommunity.

Beineinu

Rabbi Laurie Phillips & Daphna Mor

Beineinu is a New York City-based initiative dedicated to cultivating personal Jewish pathways that resonate with the unique needs of our modern world. They build community between them by offering meaningful experiences for all people of all ages. Whether youve long been a part of Jewish life, or are embarking on something utterly new, they invite you to join our gatherings and develop your own customized endeavor with them.

The concept behind Beineinu isthe Havurah model: our leadershipcultivates small communities formed from about 10 households, and implements a plan with each group. The group decides the content and the frequency of meetings, gathering throughout the year to explore and connect with Jewish learning and one another, developing and strengthening identity with relevance and meaning. Their first groups have come together in Brooklyn, Harlem, and on the Upper West Side.

GariNYC

David Kay, David Meyer, Leya Robinson, Morriah Kaplan, Noah Finkelstein, Tom Corcoran, Sara Zebovitz, Sarah Lerman-Sinkoff

Theyare a Jewish, social justice oriented group, hoping to create a network of communal Jewish life in America. They will be focused on our local communities by getting involved in neighborhood activities and taking action together with our neighbors. They host Shabbat dinners and share resources and thoughts on holidays with the Habonim Dror community, and hope to expand that. They see communal living and communal responsibility as essential to creating a world based on social justice and equality, and see our Jewish life as central to those values.

Kol Hai

Amy Hannes, David Nidorf, Doree Lipson, Emily Abramson, Simon Abramson, Felice Winograd Holt, Rebecca Stacy, Alan Rothman, Ayelet Singer

Kol ai (which means all life) is an emerging, Jewish Renewal spiritual community in New Yorks Hudson Valley. We gather for music-filled, joyful Shabbat and holiday services, as well as meals and other shared community experiences. Our ecumenical, intergenerational community is comprised of a diversity of people including families, retirees, young farmers and NYC friends seeking shabbat in nature. We learn through chanting, prayer, ritual text study and immersive experiences in the regions natural landscape.

The Beis Community

Hart Levine, Yael Levine, Rebecca Mintz, Nathaniel Moldoff, Aryeh Canter, Jordana Burstein

We are a group of passionate young professionals committed to building a community that is socially progressive and Orthodox. A hallmark of our activities has been a focus on intentional prayer, creativity in ritual, and Torah study as well as an openness and warmth that welcomes all Jews. We focus on inreach, outreach, and up-reach, encouraging those who are actively engaged in Jewish life to strengthen and support less involved Jews who are in search of their own faith and practice. Our goal is to use the incredible human capital in our community and our position in New York City to create an aspirational model for the Modern Orthodox communities of the future.

Lev BLev

Sara Shalva, Adam Simon, Nancy Cohen, Jennifer Zwilling Rosenwasser, Lori Simon, Alex Boyar, Jon Rosenwasser, Benjamin Shalva, Jeff Wetzler, Jennifer Goldman-Wetzler

Theircommunity grew out of a table of friends sitting at the Hkader Ohkel at Camp Yavneh in New Hampshire. As an emerging intentional community, they come together 6 8 times a year to celebrate Jewish life as families. Over some shabbatot or entire weekends or holidays they find inexpensive opportunities to gather to sing, hike, learn, discuss and live in community. At those times, when they manage to take the time and spare the expense to gather together at a family camp or small retreat, they realize how important it is for us to be with their chevra, especially on retreat: away from the business of usual life. There, they have the time to learn together and to take the time to reflect together on who they are and who they want to be.

Boulder Jewish Community Housing Initiative

Jeff Levy

The mission of the Boulder Jewish Community Housing Initiative (BJCHI) is to establish a Jewish Moshav (the Moshav) in Boulder, Colorado based on cooperative community, Jewish culture and religious practice, social justice, and sustainable environmental practices. The Moshav will be a denominationally unaffiliated, pluralistic, multi-generational community of households, united by a connection and commitment to Judaism, sustainability, and social justice, who have come together to live Jewish-inspired lives in community and in harmony with nature and Jewish and natural rhythms of the year. The Moshav will consist of two limited-equity cohousing communities one senior and one intergenerational totaling approximately 60 sustainably built housing units, 25 of which (40%) will be affordable to low- and moderate-income households.

Berkeley Moshav

Roger Studley

Residents of Berkeley Moshav who ideally would constitute a village diverse in age, family composition, economic circumstance, and Jewish observance will engage together in Jewish ritual, study, and culture, creating a milieu in which daily Jewish life will be normal, rich, and fun. In short, Jewish life would strengthen community, and the community would nurture Jewish life. As a part of the surrounding community, we hope to engage neighbors in communal events, both those that share our traditions (such as a Sukkot meal) and those that simply create more community (such movie nights in our common house). The idea is both to develop the Jewish lives and identities of ourselves and our community and then to share these lives and identities as we engage the wider world.

Members include Roger Studley & Chai Levy, Asaf Shor & Hilla Abel, Bridget Wynne & Julia London, Chaim & Nell Mahgel-Friedman, Chasya-Uriel & Ahava Steinbauer, Daniel Barash & Mark Jacobs, Glenn Massarano, Harriet Schiffer, Jenny & Josh Kirsch, Judy Gussman, Michael & Rebecca Liskin, Shira & Yoav Potash, Tamar & Yossi Fendel, and Yari Mander.

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Jewish Intentional Communities Initiative - Hazon

Young nun fights for justice for immigrants and the poor … – Washington Times

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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Tracey Horan had never been behind the walls of a convent before she moved to El Paso, Texas, after college to teach middle-school math.

She was surprised to learn that the religious sisters watched TV, told jokes and even drank beer on occasion. But they also were deeply spiritual and committed to social justice issues. Horan, who was on a journey of self-discovery and discernment, wondered if she was being called to the religious life.

The Indianapolis native and Roncalli High School grad lived with the Sisters of Charity for two years, growing not only in her faith but in her awareness of systemic poverty, discrimination and economic oppression - issues the sisters confronted in their work and discussed at the dinner table every evening.

Today, the 29-year-old one-time cheerleader-turned-teacher-turned-community activist is a second-year mission novice with the Sisters of Providence, founded by Saint Mother Theodore Guerin in 1840. She will take her first vows this year - vows of poverty, chastity and obedience - on her way to becoming a full member of the religious order based at St.-Mary-of-the-Woods.

Aging religious

Women like Horan, now known as Sister Tracey, are a rarity these days. New recruits in the ranks of nuns and sisters in the United States have plummeted for decades, though recent years have shown a slight trend upward.

According to National Religious Vocation Conference data, more than 90 percent of the nations 58,000 nuns and sisters are 60 and older. The median age of the 300 sisters in the Sisters of Providence is 75, Sister Tracey said, adding, I bring down our average, Im proud to say.

She senses a resurgence in interest in religious life, pointing to her own class of sisters as proof.

We have eight women in formation, which is exciting. A lot of communities arent getting any new people.

I think people are looking for something, a sense of intentional community, said the young sister, who looks like most everyone else at a local coffee shop on a Monday morning, dressed in slacks, a T-shirt and sandals in the summer heat. It takes a lot to be focused on this kind of mission, so it is important to be with other people who can strengthen you.

Its hard for her to describe why she feels this is the life for her. It just fits. I equate it to falling in love. I feel like I can be my fullest self in this life.

Her parents, longtime members of St. Jude Catholic Church on the south side, were pleased but skeptical when she announced her plans to join the religious life.

She had enjoyed an active social life in high school and college, all while holding true to her Catholic faith. Joe and Eileen Horan thought their daughter would follow a more traditional path. But she had long felt there was something more she was called to do.

My parents didnt believe me at first; they thought it was a phase. Over time, they started to see I was the happiest Id ever been.

Community activist

Her mission as a Catholic and a Sister of Providence is advocating for the dignity and well-being of all people, paying special attention to the poor and disenfranchised. Its fitting then that her faith journey and ministry search brought her back to Indianapolis last summer when she joined the Indianapolis Congregation Action Network (IndyCAN) and the Justice for Immigrants Campaign of the Archdiocese as a bilingual community organizer.

Its the perfect intersection of faith and civic engagement, she said. She mobilizes support for causes critical to Catholic social teachings. And her status as a sister brings a moral presence to bear, whether its in meetings with city officials on mass transit or in organizing a public rally to force action on what she and IndyCAN call the unlawful detention of immigrants by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Indianapolis.

She calls it sending a moral message. And she has no problem calling out policies she considers illegal and immoral.

But when religious leaders and others have the opportunity to meet with policy makers and put a human face on a policy outcome, the conversation shifts, she said.

Me being a sister and being part of IndyCAN and working on this in a really clear and public way, I think gives people hope. It really is an extension of the church.

Her co-workers say shes the perfect messenger.

She is so spiritually in tune, such a divine being, said Nicole Barnes, IndyCAN operations manager. Her sisterhood is integrated into who she is its not something she does - its her way of being. It just oozes out of her, and shes this tiny thing, but shes feisty and serious about justice for people.

Sister Tracey lives with four other Sisters of Providence in the Nora neighborhood. Each has her own work to do in the community, but they carve out time to pray together regularly, and they take turns cooking.

To relax, the young sister watches Parks and Recreation and Call of the Midwife. Shes also an enthusiastic runner and hiker. She keeps up with old friends on Facebook but isnt able to spend much time with them. Ive really changed a lot since those days.

At 84, Sister Marilyn Herber is the senior member of the household, and she says Sister Tracey gives her hope.

Shes just a great example to me, said Sister Marilyn, who entered religious life in 1952. The young people who come today are so filled with life and goodness and a desire to make change in this world. They get it.

Kind but stubborn

If its possible to be an idealist and a realist, that would describe Sister Tracey.

The Rev. Chris Wadelton, pastor at St. Philip Neri Catholic Church on the east side, saw both sides at a February rally organized by the young sister and IndyCAN that drew 2,000 people. The City of Inclusion rally was held in response to policies by the Trump administration that some think unfairly target immigrants, Muslims and refugees.

He marvels that she is able to balance her religious training with a job that demands long hours. She brings a renewed focus to faith-based social justice. To see a young, dynamic person, talented in so many ways, choose religious life, thats inspiring.

Juan Perez-Corona, 45, has seen Sister Tracey in action, working to help people with immigration issues, housing, medical care and employment. Hes been so impressed with her commitment that he now volunteers alongside her.

We are so blessed to have her, the father of three said. It doesnt matter color, race, religion, she just wants to help people.

Perez-Corona, who has been in the country since 1988, now has legal status here, but hes never forgotten the fear he felt 10 years ago when he said he was pulled over by a police officer in Indianapolis for no reason and asked to produce residency papers. He spent nine days in jail, but it took years to resolve his case with IndyCANs help.

Going where others wont

Sister Tracey said examples like that inspire her to do the hard work that others, even many within the church, are reluctant to embrace.

This is the heart of our mission, she said. When our sisters first came here, they were really pioneers, and thats still kind of our role. (Sisters) often choose to be in places where other people tend not to be. But if were not willing to get out in the trenches, what are we doing?

Its also challenging, she said, because it forces us to ask questions that are uncomfortable.

Take immigration, for example. Were dealing with this narrative that says all immigrants are criminals and that the only people being deported are criminals, which we know isnt true, she said. She has worked with IndyCan to develop a hotline for immigrants and others to call if they feel threatened by authorities.

She wasnt always so welcoming to undocumented immigrants, she said, recalling a high school discussion more than 10 years ago about building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

I was one of those who said, Theyre criminals; its pretty clear, theyre breaking the law. But I had no idea.

A teacher assigned her to research the other side of the argument. I was so ticked off, but it was really smart of her. I had to see - why are people crossing, what are their stories, whats behind this?

So she allows some grace for those who are not yet willing to fight what she believes is a moral imperative.

I have to remember my own transformation, and Ive come a really long way as far as understanding and getting a broader picture of peoples experiences and perspectives. If its possible for me, being as stubborn as I am, its possible for anyone.

Sister Traceys work in the community was just recognized by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, who held their Spring General Assembly in Indianapolis. In a reception June 14, she received the 2017 Cardinal Bernardin New Leadership Award, sponsored by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, for her work to reduce poverty and racial inequality.

In prepared remarks, Cardinal Joseph Tobin, formerly archbishop of Indianapolis, described Sister Tracey as a dynamic young woman promoting the common good among immigrants and brothers and sisters living in poverty.

While the day-to-day slow work of God is not always glamorous, her ministry lends hope, said Shoshanna Spector, executive director of IndyCAN.

Society yearns for courageous, prophetic leaders who are prepared to inspire, speak out and support the most marginalized. Sister Tracey is this person.

___

Source: The Indianapolis Star, http://indy.st/2sKSVKC

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Information from: The Indianapolis Star, http://www.indystar.com

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Young nun fights for justice for immigrants and the poor ... - Washington Times

Indiana Christian school at center of LGBT voucher debate … – goskagit.com

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. The Lighthouse Christian Academy promises to provide an exemplary education, a caring atmosphere and service to God, but says in its admissions brochure that it reserves the right to deny admission to LGBT students because the Bible deems their lifestyle sinful.

As the Trump administration seeks to expand school choice nationwide, the academy was thrust into the national spotlight last month as part of a heated debate over whether schools that receive money from taxpayer-funded vouchers can discriminate against certain groups of students, such as LGBT children or students with disabilities.

Lighthouse officials say theyve never turned anyone away based on sexual orientation. But at a congressional hearing, Senate Democrats cited it as an example of a school that discriminates against LGBT students. A Lighthouse brochure says the Bible does not allow homosexual, bisexual or any form of sexual immorality and if a students home life violates biblical rules, the school can deny them admission or expel them.

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Pressed on the issue, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, an ardent supporter of school choice, told the Senate committee that discrimination is wrong, but that it was up to Congress and the courts, not her department, to intervene.

Founded in the early 1990s by a tight-knit group of families who wanted an affordable Christian education for their children, the academy is now an academically successful K-12 school serving 300 children in the Bloomington area. About half receive vouchers to help pay an annual tuition that ranges from $4,500 to $6,000 depending on a students grade.

This year, Lighthouse received over $665,000 in state funds to enroll 152 students.

DeVos and the Trump administration are strong proponents of giving states a greater role in education. Earlier this year, the administration rescinded former President Barack Obamas guidance that instructed to schools to let students use school restrooms in accordance with the gender they identify with, not their sex at birth. The move sparked criticism from the civil rights community.

The administration is looking at taxpayer-funded vouchers as a way to expand school choice nationwide, but it has not yet come out with a specific plan on how to do it.

Indiana is one of 30 states that use public money for school choice programs, including vouchers, educational savings accounts and tax-credit scholarships. The District of Columbia has the countrys only federally funded voucher program. All told, some 450,000 students participate nationally.

In a study last year, Indiana University professor Suzanne Eckes found that none of the states with voucher programs prohibits discrimination against LGBT students.

Lighthouse defends its right to educate children according to its values, saying that Christians are state taxpayers, too, and should be allowed to fund institutions of their choice with their money.

Parents are free to choose which school best comports with their religious convictions, Brian Bailey, an attorney who is serving as the schools spokesman, said in a statement. For a real choice and thus real liberty to exist, the government may not impose its own orthodoxy and homogenize all schools to conform to politically correct attitudes and ideologies.

Former Lighthouse student Mary Wegener, 24, says some of her classmates at the school were gay and received love and care. Bailey confirmed that the school did admit some students who were tempted by same-sex intimacy, saying we teach our students to flee these sins.

Wegener sees both sides of the story, but says a religious school cannot function contrary to its core beliefs.

If they (Lighthouse) are going to be a Christian school, they cant conform to everything else, because then that would be a private school that knocked out the Christian name.

Carissa Dollar, 46, of Indianapolis, who has a transgender daughter, is unconvinced.

I have a problem with public funds going to a private institution who then make decisions that would be discriminatory to any group, Dollar said. Its wrong if an LGBT student, or even if someone in their family identifies on the LGBT spectrum, could be denied admission to the school.

Dick Komer, senior attorney with Institute for Justice, a libertarian public interest law firm, said that federal law has protections against discrimination on the basis of race, national identity, sex and religion, but they do not extend to LGBT individuals.

If the people who are grilling DeVos believe that sex includes sexual orientation and gender identity, then they should propose amendments to the statues that they have written and given her to enforce, Komer said. The Congress is supposed to write the law, the agency is supposed to administer what Congress has given them. And Congress hasnt given it to them.

Eckes, the Indiana University professor, said states must create protections to ensure that any benefit they create is available to all. She said that decades ago some private schools used their own interpretation of the Bible to exclude African-American students and federal protections were necessary to stop those practices.

If you accept public money in the form of a voucher then you shouldnt be able to discriminate whether its based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability or sexual orientation, Eckes said. If you agree to take that public money, then there are certain rules that you need to follow.

Lindsey Burke, director of education policy studies at the conservative Heritage Foundation, disagrees.

Racism was based on identity and skin color and had no reasonable basis, Burke said. This is about whether a student, a family is going to live out their communal beliefs of the school that they have chosen to attend. These are intentional communities that are built upon a moral code that they have decided on.

(STORY CAN END HERE)

Lily Eskelsen Garca, president of the National Education Association, the countrys largest teachers union, said the Trump administrations attempt to fund private schools takes away money from public schools, where discrimination is not allowed.

Every child, every blessed child has the legal, civil and the human right to attend their public school, but no one can say that about a private school, Eskelsen Garcia said. Why would you get public dollars to a school that discriminates against students?

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Indiana Christian school at center of LGBT voucher debate ... - goskagit.com

Watch live as SpaceX launches its second rocket in 48 hours – Recode

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Update: You can watch the launch in the embedded livestream below, or at Spacex.com/webcast.

SpaceX is hitting a number of milestones this weekend. On Friday, Elon Musks space transportation company launched and landed a used rocket for the second time in its history a sign that the company could be nearing its goal to cut the costs of space travel.

On Sunday, the company expects to launch yet another rocket. Itll be the first time SpaceX has attempted to launch two rockets within the span of 48 hours.

It wasnt exactly intentional. The company pushed back the launch of its reused Falcon 9 from last weekend to this to give its crew time to replace a valve. But the double header, if successful, is a significant step toward the companys goal of shooting rockets every two to three weeks.

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell told Reuters in February that she hoped the company would get to a point where it was launching rockets at that pace.

The launch will position a second batch of Iridium satellites into space using an entirely new Falcon 9 rocket. The rocket used for the first batch, which was launched in January, was the one the company launched again on Friday.

This will be the companys seventh launch in 2017.

Of course, this is all in an effort to eventually go to Mars. Musk, who wants to eventually help colonize the planet, said he expects to send his first robotic mission to Mars in 2020. Four years after that, the famously ambitious executive predicted SpaceX will send its first manned mission Mars.

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Watch live as SpaceX launches its second rocket in 48 hours - Recode

6 Things Quantum Computers Will Be Incredibly Useful For – Singularity Hub

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Computers dont exist in a vacuum. They serve to solve problems, and the type of problems they can solve are influenced by their hardware. Graphics processors are specialized for rendering images; artificial intelligence processors for AI; and quantum computers designed forwhat?

While the power of quantum computing is impressive, it does not mean that existing software simply runs a billion times faster. Rather, quantum computers have certain types of problems which they are good at solving, and those which they arent. Below are some of the primary applications we should expect to see as this next generation of computers becomes commercially available.

A primary application for quantum computing is artificial intelligence (AI). AI is based on the principle of learning from experience, becoming more accurate as feedback is given, until the computer program appears to exhibit intelligence.

This feedback is based on calculating the probabilities for many possible choices, and so AI is an ideal candidate for quantum computation. It promises to disrupt every industry, from automotives to medicine, and its been said AI will be to the twenty-first century what electricity was to the twentieth.

For example, Lockheed Martin plans to use its D-Wave quantum computer to test autopilot software that is currently too complex for classical computers, and Google is using a quantum computer to design software that can distinguish cars from landmarks. We have already reached the point where AI is creating more AI, and so its importance will rapidly escalate.

Another example is precision modeling of molecular interactions, finding the optimum configurations for chemical reactions. Such quantum chemistry is so complex that only the simplest molecules can be analyzed by todays digital computers.

Chemical reactions are quantum in nature as they form highly entangled quantum superposition states. But fully-developed quantum computers would not have any difficulty evaluating even the most complex processes.

Google has already made forays in this field by simulating the energy of hydrogen molecules. The implication of this is more efficient products, from solar cells to pharmaceutical drugs, and especially fertilizer production; since fertilizer accounts for 2 percent of global energy usage, the consequences for energy and the environment would be profound.

Most online security currently depends on the difficulty of factoring large numbers into primes. While this can presently be accomplished by using digital computers to search through every possible factor, the immense time required makes cracking the code expensive and impractical.

Quantum computers can perform such factoring exponentially more efficiently than digital computers, meaning such security methods will soon become obsolete. New cryptography methods are being developed, though it may take time: in August 2015 the NSA began introducing a list of quantum-resistant cryptography methods that would resist quantum computers, and in April 2016 the National Institute of Standards and Technology began a public evaluation process lasting four to six years.

There are also promising quantum encryption methods being developed using the one-way nature of quantum entanglement. City-wide networks have already been demonstrated in several countries, and Chinese scientists recently announced they successfully sent entangled photons from an orbiting quantum satellite to three separate base stations back on Earth.

Modern markets are some of the most complicated systems in existence. While we have developed increasingly scientific and mathematical tools to address this, it still suffers from one major difference between other scientific fields: theres no controlled setting in which to run experiments.

To solve this, investors and analysts have turned to quantum computing. One immediate advantage is that the randomness inherent to quantum computers is congruent to the stochastic nature of financial markets. Investors often wish to evaluate the distribution of outcomes under an extremely large number of scenarios generated at random.

Another advantage quantum offers is that financial operations such as arbitrage may require many path-dependent steps, the number of possibilities quickly outpacing the capacity of a digital computer.

NOAA Chief Economist Rodney F. Weiher claims(PowerPoint file)that nearly 30 percent of the US GDP ($6 trillion) is directly or indirectly affected by weather, impacting food production, transportation, and retail trade, among others. The ability to better predict the weather would have enormous benefit to many fields, not to mention more time to take cover from disasters.

While this has long been a goal of scientists, the equations governing such processes contain many, many variables, making classical simulation lengthy. As quantum researcher Seth Lloyd pointed out, Using a classical computer to perform such analysis might take longer than it takes the actual weather to evolve! This motivated Lloyd and colleagues at MIT to show that the equations governing the weather possess a hidden wave nature which are amenable to solution by a quantum computer.

Director of engineering at Google Hartmut Neven also noted that quantum computers could help build better climate models that could give us more insight into how humans are influencing the environment. These models are what we build our estimates of future warming on, and help us determine what steps need to be taken now to prevent disasters.

The United Kingdoms national weather service Met Office has already begun investing in such innovation to meet the power and scalability demands theyll be facing in the 2020-plus timeframe, and released a report on its own requirements for exascale computing.

Coming full circle, a final application of this exciting new physics might be studying exciting new physics. Models of particle physics are often extraordinarily complex, confounding pen-and-paper solutions and requiring vast amounts of computing time for numerical simulation. This makes them ideal for quantum computation, and researchers have already been taking advantage of this.

Researchers at the University of Innsbruck and the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) recently used a programmable quantum system to perform such a simulation. Published in Nature, the team used a simple version of quantum computer in which ions performed logical operations, the basic steps in any computer calculation. This simulation showed excellent agreement compared toactual experiments of the physics described.

These two approaches complement one another perfectly, says theoretical physicist Peter Zoller. We cannot replace the experiments that are done with particle colliders. However, by developing quantum simulators, we may be able to understand these experiments better one day.

Investors are now scrambling to insert themselves into the quantum computing ecosystem, and its not just the computer industry: banks, aerospace companies, and cybersecurity firms are among those taking advantage of the computational revolution.

While quantum computing is already impacting the fields listed above, the list is by no means exhaustive, and thats the most exciting part. As with all new technology, presently unimaginable applications will be developed as the hardware continues to evolve and create new opportunities.

Image Credit:IQOQI Innsbruck/Harald Ritsch

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6 Things Quantum Computers Will Be Incredibly Useful For - Singularity Hub

Two Conjectures Collide, Endangering the Naked Singularity – WIRED

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Two Conjectures Collide, Endangering the Naked Singularity - WIRED

Lamar-Dixon Expo Center gym back in play after renovations – The Advocate

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GONZALES The 36,000-square-foot gym at the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center has gotten new life in a renovation that not only expands its sports capacity but broadens its appeal for other events.

"It's going to be a great asset for the community," said Travis Turner, Ascension Parish councilman and head of the council's recreation committee.

By removing space-consuming wooden bleachers andreplacing them with portable ones and by rearranging basketball goals, workers transfigured the gym's previous lone basketball court into two; the space has been reworked to add a second volleyball court, as well.

A new public address system, laminate wood floors and fresh paint make the gym, a free-standing building on the Lamar-Dixon grounds, almost like a new venue for all types of events.

"It will provide us with another opportunity to attract a diverse calendar of events to Lamar-Dixon that will appeal to a broader audience," Parish President Kenny Matassa said.

The $339,000 gym project came in early in May instead of July and about $10,000 under budget, said Martin McConnell, public information officer for the parish government.

Last month, the popular Senior Sock Hop dances the parish throws for older adults returned to the gym for the first timesince its upgrade.

A second, still unfunded phase, would expand the size of the gym building and add a third court.

"We'll keep working toward that end," Turner said.

Three years ago, Ascension Parish voters rejected by a large margin a proposed 10-year, 5-mill property tax that would have funded a new recreational complex at Lamar-Dixon, a new performing arts center and upgrades to all parish parks.

In the wake of the tax's failure, Turner pushed for funding for improvements to the gym alone.

Turner had originally sought funding for a $2 million renovation and expansion of the gym, but a budget amendment he proposed in late 2015 for the project died in committee, as Parish Council members wrangled over funding for recreational needs elsewhere in the parish.

Turner returned with a scaled-back version of the original gym plan, opting for a first phase that renovated the existing gym building with new courts for basketball or volleyball.

"The gym was inadequate," Turner said. "Individuals who wanted to play basketball and volleyball were underserved."

The renovation of the gym was due to begin last fall, but the August flood changed those plans, and the facility served as a major distribution center for meals after the disaster.

Work on the gym, which is called the Ascension Gym and has a lobby and concessions area, began in January.

The Lamar-Dixon Expo Center, off La. 30 just outside the Gonzales city limits and not far from the Tanger Outlet shopping center, has 90,000 square feet of air-conditioned display space in two other large buildings on the site, two open-air arenas and two recreational vehicle parks.

The renovated gym enhances "Lamar-Dixon's capacity as a general entertainment center in the parish and the capital city region and Gulf coast," said Kyle Gautreau, chief of staff for the Ascension Parish government.

Follow Ellyn Couvillion on Twitter, @EllynCouvillion.

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Lamar-Dixon Expo Center gym back in play after renovations - The Advocate

Virtual Reality Takes Consciousness Research into Mystic Realms of the Divine Play – The Sociable

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Virtual Reality is blazing new frontiers in the exploration of consciousness by adding whole new dimensions to the notion of what is real.

We will see in the near future extremely effective machines using modern technology to alter consciousness; some of them, including the virtual reality technology, are already quite advanced. Stanislav Grof

Similar to the psychedelic experience, Virtual Reality is opening new paths towards mystical experiences like those that have inspired the worlds greatest religions.

Through this powerful technology, we are closer than ever to being able to enter altered states of consciousness by being immersed in a realm where time travel is possible, where fantastical landscapes capture our imaginations, and where we can prepare ourselves for the next great adventure after this life.

Read More:Microsoft Predicts Terence McKennas Cyberdelic Vision of Virtual Reality

According to Dr. Stanislav Grof, a pioneer in psychedelic research since the 1960s and whom Ill be quoting throughout this article, The menacing specter of death that we harbor in our unconscious interferes with our everyday existence and makes our life in many ways inauthentic. In technological societies, the predominant reactions to the situation are massive denial and avoidance that are in their consequences destructive and self-destructive on an individual as well as a collective level.

How can Virtual Reality show us another way of looking at death one that puts us not in denial or avoidance, but one that helps us accept and embrace our own mortality?

The man who dies before he dies, does not die when he dies. Abraham a Sancta Clara, 17th century German Monk.

Harvard Divinity School reported that researchers were using consciousness hacking through a VR app called When We Die to prepare people for what happens when they shuffle off this mortal coil.

According to one of the apps developers, Paula Ceballos, Aging, death, and mortality are not topics that are openly spoken about in western cultures, so its [the app] addressing that, making it top of mind, and making you comfortable in the discomfort of mortality and dying.

Ceballos touched upon a key theme which corroborates both ancient teachings and modern psychedelic research as it relates to what it means to prepare for ones own death.

Separatingoneself from the ego, or separating the desires of the body from the mind, is an important step towards a living a fulfilling life without the fear of death.

To experience the loss of the ego is like experiencing death in that it is the end of how you perceive yourself in this reality we call life the death of the idea of the self as being different from everything else in the cosmos.

This notion of death before dying led Grof to write in his 1998 book The Cosmic Game:Explorations of the Frontiers of Human Consciousness:

The experience of pyschospirtual death and rebirth is a major step in the direction of the weakening of our identification with the skin-encapsulated ego and reconnecting with the transcendental domain. We feel redeemed, liberated, and blessed and have a new awareness of our divine nature and cosmic status. We also typically experience a strong surge of positive emotions towards ourselves, other people, nature, God, and existence in general. We are filled with optimism and have a sense of emotional and physical well-being.

With Virtual Reality, we are now able to step outside our own bodies and experience a realm completely separated from waking life. The key word here is experience because one has to experience this virtual reality, not just study it, in order to grasp what if fully entails. You cant fully describe in words the scent of a rose to one who cannot smell.

In VR, our identity with ourselves is suspended, like in a dream, where we can take off and fly to uncharted territories which gives us insight into new perspectives never before imagined.

Read More:Terence Mckennas cyberdelic predictions for Virtual Reality 25 years on

It can even be argued that what we call reality is a form of virtual reality what the Hindu mystics called maya or illusion and we are both actors and directors in this celestial drama.

As Grof said, The virtual reality simulating a material universe is worked out with such an acute sense for miniscule detail that the result is absolutely convincing and believable. The units of consciousness cast as the protagonists in the countless roles of this play of plays get entangled and caught in the complex and intricate web of its illusionary magic.

If we accept that the material universe as we know it is not a mechanical system but a virtual reality created by absolute consciousness through an infinity complex orchestration of experiences, what are the practical consequences of this insight? Stanislav Grof

The extent to which Virtual Reality can be used in exploring consciousness leads researchers to suggest that VR can affect our dreams to point of lucidity.

Lucid dreams are dreams where you realize you are dreaming. Its like waking up inside a dream where you can control what is going on around you.

Lucid dreaming is also the first step towards what is known as astral projection, but that is a topic for another time.

The Atlantic reported that MacEwan University Psychologist Jayne Gackenbach discovered that gamers report a greater sense of control in their dreams than non-gamers and that Virtual Reality would enhance that sense of control even greater.

When you alter peoples waking realities, their memory changes. The more you think youre in one reality, it alters your memory of other realities, said Gackenbach.

That means being immersed in a virtual reality can not only affect your dreams making them become more lucid but it also suggests that experiencing virtual reality can change ones perspective on everyday reality as well.

This is where we revert back to mystic traditions and psychedelic experiences as being in the same realm as virtual reality.

Its like the case of the Chinese philosopher Chuang-tzu who awoke from a dream in which he was a butterfly, and he could not fully determine whether he was not actually a butterfly dreaming of being a human.

Read More:New evidence for Holographic Universe backs up ancient esoteric teachings

The idea that we may be living in a computer simulation or that reality is some type of holographic illusion held together by consciousness be it collective or absolute seems a lot more plausible if we enter altered states of consciousness through the use of technology like VR, meditation, holotropic breathwork, or entheogens.

By undergoing death and rebirth in their initiatory crises, shamans lose the fear of death and become familiar and comfortable with its experiential territory. Stanislav Grof

The real world applications of Virtual Reality have led researchers to use this technology to treat depression much in the same way institutions like Johns Hopkins University is using magic mushrooms to helpterminal cancer patients.

Psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms, has been used to induce mystical experiences in cancer patients that not only comforts them with their own mortality, but also as a way of allowing them to experience death before dying, much like the When We Die VR app.

Read More:Researching shrooms: The magic tripping dose, mystical experiences and the tech community

According to Grof, Many of the great mystical traditions developed specific technologies for inducing spiritual experiences and combined observation and theoretical speculation in a way that resembled modern science.

Shamanism is a worldwide phenomenon that preceded religion by thousands of years. Shamans were the first doctors, priests, and spiritual advisers of ancient communities.

Read More:The Deep Mind in the Cave: Awakening Consciousness in the Spirit of AI

In the view of the shaman, mental illness is a form of spiritual crisis, one that can be remedied by journeying into mystical realms.

Modern day shamans view psychiatric hospitals as horrific places where souls are trapped and tormented where they should be liberated and given spiritual treatment rather than be given mind-numbing drugs.

Read More:UW research into DNA storage backs up ancient shamanic knowledge

Virtual Reality is now being used to treat what our society calls mental illness.

According to an article in Big Think, So far the 285 studies published on virtual reality and mental health are encouraging. Sufferers of social anxiety, PTSD, and phobias are finding success.

Clinical psychology professor Daniel Freeman and his brother, writer Jason Freeman were paraphrased as saying, as in dreams, virtual reality is a safe space for us to engage in problem solving that wed normally be reluctant to attempt out there, and that they even foresee VR as being a diagnostic tool, cheaper and more accessible than fMRI machines and talk therapy sessions.

Virtual Reality has serious potential to unlock doors where modern pharmaceuticals and therapy have could not, but what are the higher implications of VR as it pertains to altering consciousness, and where can that altered consciousness lead once the doors of perception are cleansed?

The creative intention behind the divine play is to call into being experiential realities that would offer the best opportunities for adventures in consciousness. Stanislav Grof

I keep referring to the work of Stanislav Grof in this article as his more than 40 years of experience working with consciousness is astounding!

According to Grof, whose practical research into ancient cultures combined with thousands of holotropic sessions have revealed, consciousness is not an epiphenomenon of the brain as mainstream science suggests.

Instead of the brain as a generator of consciousness, Grof postulates that consciousness acts more like a TV or radio signal if the TV or radio is damaged, the signal still exists.

In that respect, consciousness cannot be ruled out as a driving force in reality and that consciousness may actually create reality, and the source of creation is one and the same as nothingness The Void.

Just as physicists postulate that energy cannot be created nor destroyed and that the universe is filled with dark matter and dark energy that cannot be perceived, only measured, is just one mainstream science observation of this phenomenon known as The Void.

According to Grof, When all the boundaries dissolve and we transcend them, we can experience identification with the creative source itself, either in the form of Absolute Consciousness or the Cosmic Void.

Experiencing identification with the creative source or the void is to identify with our own consciousness as we are both actors and creators in the Divine Play. In other words we are the conscious universe having a human experience, as if every living thing is a simulated avatar of the original source of creation.

In order to experience life, following this logic, we are bound to act in the Divine Play, otherwise life would not exist in this respect.

According to Grof, Each of us appears in the divine play in a dual role of creator and actor. A full and realistic enactment of our role in the cosmic drama requires the suspension of our true identity. We have to forget our authorship and follow the script.

What better way to have adventures in consciousness, to explore vastness of the universe, the complexity of atoms, or the intricacies of our own psyches than through the mind-altering, dream-changing, ego-breaking technology of Virtual Reality?

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Virtual Reality Takes Consciousness Research into Mystic Realms of the Divine Play - The Sociable

Driftmoon talks India with Trancehub! – Trance Hub (satire) (press release) (blog)

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If asked to define Driftmoon, one can say Driftmoon is heart and mind combined into perfect harmony. Juraj Klicka, better known as the face of Driftmoon defines modern trance for all. It is pure, melodic, orchestral and puts the listener in a state of tranquil.So far every track by Driftmoon (including Drifter, Exodus, Leviticus, Howl At The Moon, Cama) have rocked planet trance and been supported by Armin Van Buuren on ASOT, earning Future Favourite and Tune Of The Week status on more than one occasion. Not only the king of trance but Aly & Fila, Markus Schulz, W&W, Solarstone, Jorn Van Deynhoven, Max Graham and the best of the rest are now hooked on Driftmoons phenomenal sounds.

The man flies down to India next week for a two city tour. Before he comes here, we sit down with him for a short Q&A about his expectations from here, his upcoming work and many other things!

Hi Juraj its lovely to finally have you perform in India! How does it feel like to finally come here?

Hi! Thank you for having me there and thank you for this interview. India has been in my sight for years even before I started making music. Its a beautiful country with rich cultural and historical heritage so its the place I want to visit of course, absolutely cant wait to breathe some of the history personally next week!

Have you planned to visit any places or looking forward to eating here?

India is a huge place and I would love to travel it all by train, which is what my sister did few years ago when she was traveling and backpacking there, I loved the photos ! It looks gorgeous. Also Indian cusine is one of my most beloved ones so of course, I will eat as much as I can there!

Driftmoon was a two-member project, which started off with you and Mikka. How did it all begin?

Driftmoon was originally a two member project made up of David Sherlock (owner of Freshly Squeezed Samples) and Miikka Leinonen, I joined the projects when they had difficulties finishing any of the tracks, they had great ideas (such as Drifter, Luminance, Howl At The Moon,) but they lacked technical skills to make the ideas into records, thats where I stepped in. David soon left to focus purely on FSS and Miikka left the project last year when he wanted to pursue a different path. I am fully dedicated to the project and Ive invested everything into making it a success.

How did you decide to name your project Driftmoon?

Originally we had huge problems with naming the project, we wrote down all our ideas on single document and then we were checking online which were available, Driftmoon was the last left and we went with it, eventually by the time we released a first track we found out that there is an indie game called Driftmoon as well, funny coincidence!

How did you start producing music? What inspires what you produce? Any specific place, person or an artist?

I started producing music when I was 15 but I didnt really get into it before I was 22, I went to study music and composition in UK and USA. By that time I already knew that I want to make and compose music full time for living.

Central Europe is a hotbed for trance producers at the moment, the change has come about in the last few years. What really led to this?

I think its a matter of geopolitical circumstances, situation in Europe allows young people to explore different aspects of life as well and it can lead many teenagers and adults to pursue career paths they wouldnt be normally allowed to.

Any artist you would like to collaborate with? Or you would like to play a B2B set with?

I take huge pride in my music and there arent many people I would love to collaborate with, I think only few (and classical) composers come to mind, no one from trance scene, sorry!

You happen to be a huge fan of tattoos. Which one is your most favorite one and why? Any meaning behind it?

I am huge fan of tattoos and the pain because even if you believe it or not, it cleans my mind because you have to be there and simply take it. It calms my mind down and I can focus more on important stuff. There are many I like but their meaning will be hidden, sorry!

You recently met Grammy nominated Cellist Tina Guo. Is there a collaboration on the cards? Could you tell us a little more about it?

I worked with her on my album already, she is an amazing person! I cant reveal anything for the future, yet

You have had fairly great relations with United Music Transmission, how did they start?

United Music Events are based in Prague even despite the owners are Dutch, they needed help with their show few years ago and one of the owners contacted me, now I am working full time on the show each year, another happy coincidence!

Any message for the Indian fans who are excited to see you in India?

I absolutely cannot wait to see all of you in India! It will be an amazing party, I promise you that.

Driftmoon performs in Pune on the 30th of June and Bangalore on the 2nd of July. Get your tickets here!

Pune :https://tinyurl.com/DriftMoon-Pune

Bangalore : https://tinyurl.com/DriftMoon-Bangalore

Trance enthusiast. Armada Ambassador. Content writer. Im not afraid of 138! Making people give Trance a chance.

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Driftmoon talks India with Trancehub! - Trance Hub (satire) (press release) (blog)

Is a ‘brain massage’ the secret to treating depression? – Telegraph.co.uk

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Cana 'brain massage' battle the potentially life-threatening effects of depression?

That's the hope behind a relatively new treatment, called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS for short), which is showing impressive results in the treatment of depression among test cases in the UK.

TMS sends magnetic pulses of low-level electric currentthrough specific parts of the brain, stimulating or suppressingthe cells and potentially so the theory goes changing their behaviour. It's been around for a while, but has only recently been fine-tuned;theNational Institute for Clinical Excellence backed TMS in 2015, recognising it as a safeand effective treatment for a range of disorders including neuropathic pain, de-personalisation syndrome, depression and addiction.

For Freddie Webster, 27,it's not an exaggeration to say TMS may have saved his life.

Ive battled depression for the past 10 years, combating it with drugs in the darkest moments when my thoughts turned to suicide, says the website designer from Surrey.

When I was first diagnosed with a depressive disorder the symptoms would begin with me feeling down about everything, having a bleak outlook, lacking energy but having heightened anxiety. Then I would descend into bouts of clinical depression. Id lose focus, I couldnt concentrate, my memory would suffer, it ruined relationships and jobs. Id have suicidal thoughts.

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Is a 'brain massage' the secret to treating depression? - Telegraph.co.uk

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Three waiters arrested in Mumbai for fraud and cloning ATM cards … – Hindustan Times

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The Bandra police recently arrested three more waiters working for a hotel in Sakinaka for allegedly using skimmers to steal credit and debit card details of their customers to cheat them later. With this, the total number of arrested accused in the case reached eight.

DCP, zone IX, Paramjit Dahiya said, Eight people, including six waiters, have been arrested. Eight skimmers and 50 ATM cloned cards have been seized.

Apart from Bandra police in Mumbai, FIRs have been registered in Thane and Pune districts for duping unsuspecting customers. According to Bandra police, the three waiters were working in Persian Durbar in Sakinaka area in Andheri east. Two other waiters one from Pune and another from Thane were also arrested. The unsuspecting customers coming over to the Sakinaka hotel not only handed over their credit card/debit card to the three waiters but also gave their PIN code to them.

The waiters swiped the card on the three skimmers that have been recovered from them. The stolen information was then used to clone cards with the help of a software and laptop, said detection officer, sub inspector Bhimsen Gaikwad from Bandra police station. Santosh Shetty, general secretary of Association of Hotels and Restaurants (AHAR) having 8,000 hotel establishments as members in Mumbai told HT, We have put up sign boards at our hotels as well as we ask our waiters to go up to the table with the payment machine. We ask customers to swipe the card and enter the pin code with their own hands. In general, customers should desist from handing over their card and pin while making payment at anyplace.

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Three waiters arrested in Mumbai for fraud and cloning ATM cards ... - Hindustan Times

Turkey Drops Evolution From Curriculum, Angering Secularists – New York Times

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The last crumbs of secular scientific education have been removed, said Feray Aytekin Aydogan, the head of Egitim-Sen, a union of secular-minded teachers. Ms. Aydogan also scoffed at the notion that evolution was too complex for teenagers to understand.

Forget high school, you can comfortably explain it in preschool, she said in a telephone interview. This is one of the basic topics you need to understand living beings, life and nature.

Over the past five years, analysts have noted how Mr. Erdogans government has steadily increased references to Islam in the curriculum and removed some references to the ideas of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkeys founder. It has also increased the number of religious schools, known as imam hatip schools, and spoken of Mr. Erdogans desire to raise a pious generation of young Turks.

Mr. Erdogan has also moved gradually to reduce restrictions on the wearing of Islamic dress. In 2011, he removed a ban on head scarves in universities, and in 2013, scrapped a similar ban in the civil service. This year, he did the same for women in the army, an institution previously regarded as the last bastion of hard-line secularism.

For some, these changes simply constitute a progressive attempt to open up public space and discourse to the pious sections of the population that for decades were marginalized by the countrys secular and military elite.

Its not true that Turkey is becoming less secular, said Ezgi Yagmur Kucuk, 20, a trainee anesthetist who does not wear a veil. Everyone can believe whatever they like.

Others, however, see an attempt not just to promote freedom of religion, but to ensure its primacy. According to Kerem Oktem, the author of Angry Nation, a history of contemporary Turkey, the country is not continuing along a process of secularization its going into a post-secular context.

Still, Turkey is not considered likely to morph into a second Iran. The countrys vexed relationship with secularism also predates Mr. Erdogans tenure.

Technically, mosque and state were never completely separated in Turkey, even during the days of Ataturk. Instead, religion was placed under the control of the state. The process of legitimizing Islamic thought was in part begun during the rule of Kenan Evren, the army general who took power in a coup in 1980 and who viewed Islam as a potential buffer against communism.

To add to the complexity, Mr. Erdogans party the Justice and Development Party, or A.K.P. has a confusing relationship with Islamism, or the belief in a society governed according to Islamic law. It does not call for the application of Shariah law.

Its leaders have historically denied they are Islamists, preferring instead to be known as conservatives. Unlike the political wing of Egypts Muslim Brotherhood, a group to which the A.K.P. has sometimes been compared, several of its female lawmakers are unveiled.

One of Mr. Erdogans best-known supporters, Cem Kucuk, an outspoken commentator, has even called for hard-line Islamists to be expelled from the party.

It uses religion to get votes, said Jenny White, an expert on the changing role of Islam and secularism within Turkey. But they do not have a coherent theological, religious ideology.

The party and Turkish politics in general are best viewed through an authoritarian lens rather than an Islamist one, said Ms. White, the author of Muslim Nationalism and the New Turks, a book about identity in contemporary Turkey.

The A.K.P. is all about staying in power and whatever it has to do to stay in power, it will do, she said.

Any further attempts to Islamize Turkish society is likely to be met with resistance, Mr. Oktem said. Despite Mr. Erdogans increasing authoritarianism, roughly half the country still voted against plans to give him more power in a recent referendum.

Most of these people are those who dont think religion should have such a central place in society, Mr. Oktem said.

He added, Turkey is still not a deeply Islamic society, and much of the public visibility of Islam doesnt necessarily have a very deep basis.

But for Ms. Aydogan, the teachers union leader, the outlook for secularism in the education sector is already bleak.

Removing evolution from the curriculum, Ms. Aydogan said, puts Turkey in the same league as ultraconservative Saudi Arabia, where the concept is briefly mentioned in the curriculum but strongly criticized.

A version of this article appears in print on June 24, 2017, on Page A7 of the New York edition with the headline: Turkey Drops Evolution From Curriculum.

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Turkey Drops Evolution From Curriculum, Angering Secularists - New York Times

In Turkey, no teaching of evolution, but banning gays is fine – Hot Air

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Its a new day in Turkey under the rule of their tyrant, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. And in the manner of most famous authoritarians its a necessary step to mold the thinking of young minds. You wouldnt want a bunch of crazy, democratic, westernized ideas running rampant as they had been over the past couple of decades. So now that Erdogan has fired or imprisoned thousands of teachers and professors who have the wrong sort of ideas, those loyal to him are changing up the curriculum a bit. For starters, well have no more of what wacky evolution talk in the classroom. (CNN)

Turkish high school students will no longer be taught the theory of evolution.

The subject has been cut from the curriculum under changes made to eliminate controversial topics, the head of the national board of education, Alpaslan Durmus, announced in a video address.

If our students dont have the background, the scientific knowledge, or information to comprehend the debate around controversial issues, we have left them out, Durmus said.

Another tactic were seeing is a typical maneuver employed by many tyrants. Theres no better way to solidify your support than by giving the people a common enemy to rail against. Traditionally the targets of such attacks tend to be Jews, but the next easiest option is homosexuals, particularly in Muslim nations. CNN further reports that open attacks on gays are on the rise and the police and the government are doing little or nothing about it. They describe one particularly horrible attack on a sex worker named Kemal Ordek and then deal with the growing trend of intolerance.

Although homosexuality has been legal in Turkey since 1923, Turkey has one of the worst records of human rights violations against LGBTI+ people in Europe, according to a 2016 report from the European Region of the International LGBTI Association. A separate 2016 report to the United Nations by Turkish LGBTI+ advocacy groups identified at least 41 hate crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender people that resulted in death from 2010 to June 2014.

Ordek survived the brutal attack, but many others havent. In 2009, Eda Yildirim, a transgender sex worker was decapitated and burned alive; her breast implants cut out of her before she was murdered. In 2015, another transgender sex worker died after being stabbed 200 times by a client.

One last item of interest is a decidedly darker tone in Erdogans language lately. The international community has taken note of his despotic tendencies and a few nations have actually been pushing back against him or at least criticizing the Turkish government. Erdogan had a response for all of his critics this week, and rather than taking a conciliatory tone, he essentially began threatening everyone with Turkeys military might. (Hurriyet Daily, emphasis added)

We are aware of the games being played in Syria and Iraq and the crisis scenarios that are being tried to be staged in the region. However, we hope that everyone knows this truth; Turkey is too big a bite to be swallowed in these types of games, Erdoan said in his message released to mark Eid al-Adha on June 24.

We are determined to give our answer on the field to those who think that they can make our country surrender to these types of traps. It will be too late for those who set their eyes on our territorial integrity and national unity when they understand their mistakes, he also said.

Erdogan has locked down and consolidated his absolute power at home and shut down the free media. Hes thrown tens of thousands of his critics in prison and used those examples as a way to silence most of the rest. Now, with the internal situation mostly under control, the Tyrant of Turkey is turning his gaze on his neighbors. Hes already claimed the role of intermediary in the current dispute between Qatar and her neighbors. Hes moving military assets around in Qatar as well as Syria like pieces on a chess board. All the signs have been there for us to see ever since the failed coup last summer, so if this situation really goes entirely pear-shaped we wont be able to say that we shouldnt have seen it coming.

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In Turkey, no teaching of evolution, but banning gays is fine - Hot Air