company:the star

Canada’s yellow vest movement looks like it’s here to stay — but what is it really about? | The Star
▻https://www.thestar.com/edmonton/2019/01/04/canadas-yellow-vest-movement-looks-like-its-here-to-stay-but-what-is-it-rea

Although some yellow vest members denounce extremists in their midst, the movement, intentionally or not, is providing a platform to individuals and groups with extreme views. The Wolves of Odin — an Edmonton-based splinter group of the Soldiers of Odin who insist they’re only against radical Islam but have posted blatantly Islamophobic remarks on social media — have attended every yellow vest protest in Edmonton.

The Yellow Vest Canada Facebook page, which has more than 100,000 members, is particularly toxic, said Canadian Anti-Hate Network director Evan Balgord, a researcher who has been tracking the yellow vest movement nationwide.

“If you go through it at any given moment, you’re going to find anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, you’re going to find death threats, you’re going to find other calls to violence, racism directed to Muslims — and it doesn’t take very long,” Balgord said. “I found my first death threat in five minutes.”

#gilets_jaunes #Canada

Caged by Canada

Along with the indefinite nature of immigration detention, the use of criminal jails to house migrants has been a major target of criticism from humanitarian organizations.

Looking at one day in January as a snapshot, the Star found that more than two-thirds of immigration detainees, including almost all of the long-term detainees, were in maximum-security provincial jails. Canada’s three medium-security facilities dedicated to immigration detention — one each in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, which can hold 195, 109 and 24 people, respectively — were not full.

http://projects.thestar.com/caged-by-canada-immigration-detention/images/toure1.jpg http://i.imgur.com/0orth3g.png

Uzbekistan’s long-persecuted Bukhara Jews - Al Jazeera English
▻http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/04/uzbekistan-long-persecuted-bukhara-jews-150428083657675.html

http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/Images/2015/4/28/e2ccd247c77042008efe462a8213e1d8_18.jpg

Bukhara, Uzbekistan - The body was wrapped in a worn-out carpet instead of a prayer shawl. Not a single relative entered the cemetery through its gate under an azure cupola topped with the Star of David.

But the 75-year-old woman who died in early April, two days before Passover, was buried and mourned in accordance with Jewish rites in Bukhara, an ancient city in central Uzbekistan that lies some 2,800km northeast of Jerusalem.

Bukhara was once a focal point on the Great Silk Road, a powerhouse of Islamic learning. It was also the capital of one of the world’s oldest and most isolated Jewish communities that barely survived centuries of persecution and is now facing extinction because of an exodus to Israel and the United States.

A dozen men carried the body and put it to rest among the graves, which now outnumber the entire Jewish population of Bukhara.

#ouzbékistan #asie_centrale #boukhara #minoritéz

George Lucas Is Building Affordable Housing For The Poor
▻http://reverbpress.com/news/george-lucas-is-building-affordable-housing-for-the-poor

In 2012, the Star Wars creator wanted to build a studio on Grady Ranch in Marin County, California. But the project failed after Lucas’ rich neighbors opposed the effort, citing “environmental and traffic concerns” according to the Washington Post.

Deprived of the opportunity to build another studio, Lucas decided to get even more creative with his property. If he couldn’t improve Marin County by building another workplace, he would improve it another way.

So, he decided to build environmentally friendly affordable housing for the poor, much to the dissatisfaction of the wealthy neighbors who killed Lucas’ prior proposal. Bet they wish they had approved of it now.

How do George Lucas’ rich neighbors feel about this? They’re pissed off, of course. They are literally whining about the project, accusing Lucas of waging class warfare and claiming that the project will bring drug dealers, crime, and “lowlifes” to the area. Because apparently, rich people think anyone making a living working a real job shouldn’t get to live in a nice neighborhood. But Lucas isn’t backing down. He’s going to be a champion for the working poor whether the wealthy residents of the community like it or not.

#riches #lutte_des_classes

How the Universe Made the Stuff That Made Us - Facts So Romantic
▻http://nautil.us/blog/how-the-universe-made-the-stuff-that-made-us

http://static.nautil.us/5087_043c2ec6c6390dd0ac5519190a57c88c_314x177.jpg

A Hubble Telescope image of the Homunculus Nebula, a cloud of material formed by nucleosynthesis in Eta Carinae. The star is spewing out the cloud as it nears the end of its life. Within a million years, it will likely go supernova and blast material out in a more dramatic and energetic explosion.ESA/NASA When our Universe was in its infancy, the the only element it contained was hydrogen, the simplest one—not nearly enough by itself to create interesting things like planets and people. By the time things cooled sufficiently for the single proton in each hydrogen atom to pair with a negatively charged electron, about 92 percent of the atoms in the Universe were hydrogen. The rest had fused mostly into helium with traces of lithium and a few other light elements. At that time the (...)

#Canada deports people to wars, repressive regimes

Canada deports more than 10,000 people every year, including some to states with “atrocious human rights records,” according to newly released figures obtained by the Star.

▻http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014/08/20/canada_deports_people_to_wars_repressive_regimes.html

#déportation #Afghanistan #Irak #renvoi #asile #migration #réfugiés #expulsion

Cartographie floue : le fond de l’Océan Indien

BBC News - Malaysia Airlines MH370: Searching in an ocean of uncertainty
▻http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-26956798

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/74131000/jpg/_74131341_74131340.jpg

Look at the map at the top of this page. It shows the topography of the Indian Ocean bottom, west of Australia.

The star marks the rough location where the search vessel ADV Ocean Shield has been working this week, making encouraging pinger detections that could be the black boxes of MH370.

It’s on the northern edge of a small oceanic plateau, sometimes called Wallaby Plateau or Zenith Plateau.

(…)
But look again at the map, at the black lines that criss-cross back and forth.

The thick bands indicate tracks surveyed by modern acoustic echosounders, which map a swath of area along the path of the ship, and these are very accurate (to about 2%).

The thin tracks indicate older, low-tech echosoundings, which are not as reliable. They are, though, “direct” measurements.

That cannot be said for everything else you see. This is mapping conducted by satellites that infer the shape of the ocean bottom from the shape of the water surface above.

(…)
This kind of fuzzy mapping is pursued by satellites fitted with radar altimeters. Most of our maps of the gross outlines of mountains on the seafloor were produced this way - thanks to a 1985-86 US Navy satellite campaign and a 1994-95 European Space Agency effort.

Fuzzy mapping is a good phrase. The best resolution is about 20km. It’s thought there are somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 seamounts that rise a kilometre or more above the seafloor, but which are invisible in these kinds of maps.

Ukraine’s Darth Vader bids to lead nation to the dark side | World news | theguardian.com
▻http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/31/ukraine-darth-vader-president-internet-party?CMP=fb_gu

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/3/31/1396264772358/The-Ukrainian-Internet-pa-011.jpg

As Ukraine battles to stave off dark forces of its own, the Star Wars villain Darth Vader announced at the weekend he was running for president in a bid to restore glory to the downtrodden nation.

The Sith lord, or at least an unnamed costumed protester often seen on Kiev’s Independence Square flanked by his loyal stormtroopers during the winter protests, has been chosen as the official candidate of the Ukrainian Internet party (UIP) which has become known for its theatrical public stunts.

“After winning intra-party primaries by a landslide, comrade Vader will be our party’s candidate,” said the UIP leader, Dmitry Golubov, who spent time in prison after being convicted of using the internet to run a credit card fraud scheme.

▻http://boingboing.net/2014/04/01/darth-vader-announces-ukraine.html

#it_has_begun

L’inoubliable odeur du violeur | Courrier international
▻http://www.courrierinternational.com/chronique/2013/04/26/l-inoubliable-odeur-du-violeur
C’est ce qu’on appelle les avoir dans le nez !

Violée de nuit dans un taxi par des hommes armés, Luyanda Ngcombolo n’a pas vu le visage de ses agresseurs. Mais quand la police sud-africaine l’a convoquée un an après les faits pour reconnaître deux suspects qui venaient d’être arrêtés, elle a tenu à se rendre à la séance d’identification.

Une fois à la prison, elle a demandé à pouvoir sentir chacun des hommes alignés. Son étrange requête a été acceptée, rapporte The Star de Johannesburg. Les yeux fermés, « elle s’est dirigée vers le premier des 10 hommes, s’est rapprochée de lui et lui a humé le torse. Après avoir senti le dixième homme, elle est retournée vers le neuvième pour le sentir de nouveau, et elle a ouvert les yeux. C’était l’un des hommes qui l’avaient violée. Elle a refermé les yeux, revenant sur ses pas et flairant chaque homme jusqu’à ce qu’elle s’arrête sur le cinquième. Elle a ouvert les yeux. C’était son second assaillant », écrit le quotidien sud-africain.

Les deux hommes, accusés d’avoir violé plus d’une cinquantaine de femmes, avaient déjà été identifiés par d’autres victimes. Boitumelo Galubetse et son complice Bongani Madlala ont été condamnés à sept cent quatre-vingts ans de prison chacun par la cour de Vereeniging.

Rape victim IDs attackers by smell
▻http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/rape-victim-ids-attackers-by-smell-1.1504052

#viol #odorat

Norway’s ruling party backs oil drilling around Arctic islands - World Updates | The Star Online

▻http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2013/4/21/worldupdates/norways-ruling-party-backs-oil-drilling-around-arctic-islands&sec=Worldu

Sunday, April 21, 2013
Norway’s ruling party backs oil drilling around Arctic islands

OSLO (Reuters) - Norway took a major step towards opening up an environmentally sensitive Arctic area to oil and gas exploration when the ruling Labour Party gave the go-ahead on Sunday for an impact study.

▻http://starstorage.blob.core.windows.net/archives/2013/4/21/worldupdates/2013-04-21T110752Z_1_CBRE93K0UXH00_RTROPTP_2_ENERGY-A

Exploration in the waters around the Lofoten islands just above the Arctic circle is becoming one of the most contentious issues for parliamentary elections in September.

#norvège #arctique #énergie #lofoten #pétrole

Luke’s Change : an Inside Job
▻http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dvv-Yib1Xg

An examination of some questionable events and circumstances leading up to the destruction of the Death Star, through the eyes of an amateur investigative journalist within the Star Wars galaxy. The focus is mainly on the connections between the people who created and operated the Death Star and those responsible for destroying it.

#conspiration #science_fiction

‘Jedi’ most popular alternative faith in UK – Census — RT
►http://rt.com/news/jedi-uk-religion-census-866

‘Jedi’ is now the most popular faith in the ’Other Religions’ category in England and Wales. Those identifying with the Star Wars creed outnumber atheists, taking seventh place among all the major world religions, the 2011 census revealed.

The number of Jedi Knights have in fact nearly halved in the last decade, declining from 390,127 followers in 2001 to 176,632 in 2011.
Despite the drop in numbers ,‘Jedi’ still remains the top alternative faith and ranks seventh overall after Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism and Buddhism.

#religion #wtf

Most citizens of the Star Wars galaxy are probably totally illiterate:
►http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/10/most-citizens-of-the-star-wars-galaxy-are-probably-totally-illiterate - alas the article shows no conclusive evidence about fan literacy.

Hier il pleuvait sur Saint-Ouen, ce qui n’est pas très original. Hier, était prévu un meeting du Front de Gôche, place de la mairie, en plein air. Toute la journée hier, et même ce week end, la ville bruissait d’une rumeur : Mélenchon y serait, Mélenchon à Ouen-Ouen, oyé !, The Star en personne près de chez nous ! Las ! Pas de Mémél à l’horizon (il n’en était d’ailleurs pas question sur les affiches) et en plus, la pluie !
Heureusement, la Mairie veillait : le meeting put donc avoir lieu, dans la big salle municipale mise à disposition, d’un claquement de doigts. C’est beau, la solidarité... En quatre ans d’existence, le syndicat Sud local n’a jamais pu bénéficier d’une salle, petite ou grande : refus sytématique. De là à en conclure que le Front de Gôche bénéficie d’une sympathie municipale hors du commun, il n’y a qu’un pas que nous nous empressons de franchir !

Au cours de l’année 2010, pas moins de 18 716 employées de maison – la Malaisie en comptait près de 250 000 cette même année – ont fui leur employeur, écrit The Star, citant un rapport du ministère des Ressources humaines. Pour 92,3 % d’entre elles, il s’agissait d’Indonésiennes. Les mauvais traitements subis par ces domestiques que ce soit en Malaisie, à Singapour ou au Proche-Orient font régulièrement les gros titres de la presse indonésienne et Jakarta s’est engagé à négocier un cadre légal plus protecteur pour ses travailleurs émigrés.
►http://www.courrierinternational.com/breve/2011/06/23/les-bonnes-se-font-la-belle