Monday, October 09, 2017

Dubai plans on being 10 years ahead of any other country, including technologies such as artificial intelligence.

Personally, I think Dubai can do exactly that.

October 8, 2017

...The PCFC’s new projects and initiatives (click here) include smart applications in fulfilment of 10X initiative which sees Dubai 10 years ahead of other countries.

InnoGate is one of the leading innovations that DP World and JAFZA will share with the world. It is a global innovation platform and a sophisticated online employee idea sharing system which connects 78 terminals.

Trakhees will have a number of innovations including the Smart Brochure; a smart augmented reality based mobile app which provides information about Trakhees to visitors at any place.

Sultan bin Sulayem, DP World Group Chairman & CEO and Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation said: ““PCFC has always put customers at the top of its priorities and offers new innovative services for investors and traders to carry out their transactions effectively and efficiently in record time.

“Our offerings at Gitex this year reflects our efforts in achieving the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai to transform our services into smart government services in order to achieve the highest level of happiness for customers and investors.”

He added that Gitex is a great platform to share experiences in IT Information with other entities taking part from other parts of the world. More than 4,100 ehibitors are taking part in this big event including 1,500 participating for the first time.

The event will feature a number of functions and there are more than 126 speakers and 230 sessions to cover health, retail, smart cities, finance, transport, logistical services, education and digital marketing sectors.

On his part, Ahmed Mahboob musabih, Director of Dubai Customs pointed out that Dubai Customs is following a clear vision that is based on innovation.

He added:” It’s very important to keep abreast of technological advancements in order not only to survive but to thrive in today’s market. That’s why we adopt the latest smart intelligence technologies such as Jawab service which the new artificial intelligence communication service, which connects Dubai Customs with its clients through social media platforms”....

'The Loneliest Polar Bear' coming October 2017

The Oregonian 

Published September 28, 2017

Be prepared to fall in love with Nora the polar bear. The two-year-old cub has overcome incredible odds. Abandoned by her mom, she was hand-raised by keepers. But big challenges remain for this little girl who lived a year in Portland and has built a legion of fans. Check out Chapter 1 of our special 5-part series “The Loneliest Polar Bear," our documentary and loads of kids activities -- all coming soon.

Wrongful practices of the USDA? That is a worry beyond this incident.

October 8, 2017
By Alicia Graef

...In another victory for animals in captivity, (click here) the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is now going to have to defend renewing a license to a troubled roadside zoo in Iowa that has a long history of animal welfare violations.

The Cricket Hollow Animal Park, formerly known as the Cricket Hollow Zoo, has been in the spotlight in recent years over its failure to properly care for numerous species it holds captive.

According to the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), the USDA renewed the zoo’s license on the very same day it issued the zoo 11 violations of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) in 2014, and ongoing problems were acknowledged by the agency long before that. By 2015, the zoo had been cited for over 100 violations during five years, including inadequate staffing, unsanitary facilities and poor veterinary care.

Although the USDA did briefly suspend the zoo’s license, the agency’s failure to take meaningful action and allow the zoo to remain open prompted the ALDF and two Iowa residents to file a lawsuit, arguing that the license renewals violate the agency’s own regulations....

June 20, 2016

Cedar Rapids, Ia. — A federal judge (click here) has ordered endangered lemurs and tigers housed at a private northeast Iowa zoo to be moved within 30 days.

The order signed Friday by Chief Magistrate Judge Jon Stuart Scoles directs owners of Cricket Hollow Zoo near Manchester to move its lemurs to Special Memories Zoo in Hortonville, Wis., and its tigers to the Exotic Feline Rescue Center in Center Point, Ind.

The decision stems from a 2014 lawsuit filed by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, which alleged the zoo maintained deplorable living conditions. The fund's executive director, Stephen Wells, said he's disappointed about the decision. The group had recommended other locations for the animals. Wells said the group is evaluating legal options....

What type of leadership does not carry out a judge's order? Animals are already dead.

October 5, 2015
By Grant Rodgers

A northeast Iowa zoo (click here) that’s come under fire for deaths of tigers and lemurs in its care should have all its animals “rescued” and sent to sanctuaries, a California veterinarian told a judge on Monday.

The testimony opened the trial in a federal lawsuit against the owners of Manchester’s Cricket Hollow Zoo brought last year on behalf of several Iowans who reported seeing animals suffering in small pens filled with feces and buzzing with flies. Tom and Pamela Sellner, the zoo’s owners, have argued in court documents the claims against them are exaggerated.

But Jennifer Conrad, a Santa Monica veterinarian, testified to Chief Magistrate Judge Jon Scoles in a Cedar Rapids courtroom that the Sellners regularly fail to take steps to protect their animals from disease and injury. Conrad testified that five tigers have died at the zoo since June 2013. None of their bodies were lab-tested to find a cause of death....

There is institutionalized misogyny in the USA government.

October 8, 2017
By Emily Shugerman

...“We filtered out the mayor a long time ago, (click here) we don’t have time for political noise,” Mr Long said. “...We filter that out, keep our heads down, and continue to make progress and push forward in restoring central functions for Puerto Rico.”...

There needs to be an investigation into the allegations of "political noise" by the San Juan mayor. Brock Long's attitude may have caused the deaths of people that would have been alive today if there was adequate response on an appropriate timeline.

This is the most outrageous statement made to date about the devastation to Puerto Rico. I can't believe a national emergency director actually blamed a mayor seeking help for the people she serves and was minimized to her message. I don't believe any of Mayor Cruz's statements were political or out of line with the reality as it was happening.

Mr. Long should be investigated as well as his superiors that allowed and possibly encouraged this level of racism causing the deaths of helpless Americans.

Paddock gambled $1 million per night and took valium to cope with his addiction.

Police are still pondering a motive. (click here)

There are other reports that state gambling transactions in the tens of thousands, but, not a million per night. Evidently, there are reports from police that Mr. Paddock was planning bigger events to kill even more people. When I heard about the unrealistic world Mr. Paddock lived in, it reminded me of the Columbine shootings.

Dyland Klebold and Eric Harris carried the same outrageous ideology when cutting down innocent people in the high school. They were going to kill and bomb the school to end every life they could find and then they intended to fly a jet into a major USA city to further kill Americans along with themselves. 


The Columbine shooters never expected to die in their initial attack either. They ultimately would perish in a flame of glory when the jet crashed to the ground.


The School Shooter: A Threat Assessment Perspective. (click here)


Is there a mental health diagnosis that applies to people with these grandiose ideologies?


The tricky part is these shooters know if their intentions were to leak out to others, they could be taken into custody for evaluation to the intent of stating such ideas to others. One of the reasons a person is removed from their freedom is to determine if they are homicidal and/or suicidal. Mr. Paddock was definitely a man carrying a deranged sense of self with grandiose ideas about his personal power. The weaponry he obtained does prove Paddock was able to validate his great power by obtaining any sense of weaponry on the market, including, a very anti-social method of changing a semi-automatic weapon into an automatic weapon.

Gun enthusiasts sometimes state, the government can't be trusted with their liberties, hence, the need for weapons of mass murder.

Steven Paddock was a wealthy man able to obtain any source of power, however, it was he that we should fear and not the government he profoundly sought to defeat in his choice of weapons. He was prepared to take on the authorities seen by a camera placed in halls. Is there any question Steven Paddock was an addict to gambling, Valium and power? No one saw this coming? No one detected his hubris in life? An ideology so toxic it kills?

Filling gaps left by trump, nurses and labor unions join puerto rico rel...

"Morning Papers"

The Rooster

"Okeydoke"

October 9, 2017


The detention of a member of staff, a Turkish national, in Istanbul last week triggered a diplomatic row, prompting both sides to halt most visa services.

The first worker was held over alleged links to a cleric blamed for the failed 2016 Turkish coup, but no reason has been given for the latest warrant.

The row has driven down Turkey's currency and stocks.

Turkey has asked Washington to review its decision to suspend all non-immigrant visa services, taken on Sunday in response to last week's arrest.

On Monday Turkey's foreign ministry said the suspension was causing "unnecessary tensions".

Turkey has also suspended "all visa services".

I don't know how much anyone can believe "Sputnik" anymore, but, the fact is clear; Turkey is moving closer to Russia.

"Apparently, (click here) the final agreement on this issue [situation in Idlib] was reached during a meeting in Ankara between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. We can now say that  all military actions are being coordinated by these two parties," Oytun Orhan, an expert on the Middle East, told Sputnik Turkey.

Ankara should be cautious in it's approach to Russia. Originally, under President Obama, it was the three countries; Turkey, Russia and the USA; working together to stabilize Syria. Then Turkey shot down a Russian jet and now Moscow has moved in to secure Turkey so it won't happen again.

This is my particular point of view, but, the cooperation between Turkey and the northern Iraqi Kurds is astounding. It wasn't the USA that found a basis for that cooperation. I think relations between the Kurds and Turkey has to be settled with a peace for both sides, but, for it to move as quickly as it did, is a curiosity.

If Turkey gets too cozy with Russia it can slip into an unintended war with the USA backed rebels and the Assad forces. What side will Turkey take and what will be the outcomes for all countries involved?

I think the USA is sliding into an identity crisis, as one that cannot be trusted and apparently Ankara feels safe with Putin.


President given sweeping powers, (click here) with ability to enact laws by decree and dismiss parliament

...The decision has become, in effect, a referendum on Erdogan and the Turkey he has moulded in his image - fiercely nationalist, conservative and beset by problems.

This previously stable corner of the region has become consumed by terror attacks - once-rapid economic growth has stalled.
Dozens of journalists are in jail. Three million, mostly Syrian, refugees have poured into the country.

Tens of thousands of people have been arrested or dismissed following the failed coup. The country's hope of EU membership is evaporating. And Turkey is arguably more politically polarised than ever.

But at the same time, Turkey has gone from a financial basket-case at the turn of the century into one of the world's top 20 economies.

The middle-class has hugely expanded. Millions of impoverished Turks have been economically emboldened under Erdogan's leadership.

Schools, hospitals, roads and giant infrastructure projects have transformed daily life. Pious Turks, who long felt excluded by an old secular elite, have been empowered. And Turkey has freed itself from the grip of a once omnipotent military....

"Good Night, Moon"

The waning gibbous

18.3 days old 

86.6 percent lit

October 5, 2017

A new study (click here) shows that an atmosphere was produced around the ancient Moon, 3 to 4 billion years ago, when intense volcanic eruptions spewed gases above the surface faster than they could escape to space.  The study was published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
When one looks up at the Moon, dark surfaces of volcanic basalt can be easily seen to fill large impact basins.  Those seas of basalt, known as maria, erupted while the interior of the Moon was still hot and generating magmatic plumes that sometimes breached the lunar surface and flowed for hundreds of kilometers.  Analyses of Apollo samples indicate those magmas carried gas components, such as carbon monoxide, the ingredients for water, sulfur, and other volatile species.
To right: Map of basaltic lavas that emitted gases on the lunar nearside
In new work, Dr. Debra H. Needham, Research Scientist of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, and Dr. David A. Kring, Senior Staff Scientist, at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, calculated the amounts of gases that rose from the erupting lavas as they flowed over the surface and showed that those gases accumulated around the Moon to form a transient atmosphere.  The atmosphere was thickest during the peak in volcanic activity about 3.5 billion years ago and, when created, would have persisted for about 70 million years before being lost to space....