"North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's powerful uncle was stripped naked, thrown into a cage, and eaten alive by a pack of ravenous dogs, according to a newspaper with close ties to China's ruling Communist Party," reports NBC News. "Jang and other aides were completely eaten up." Dear biologists and mafia pigfarmers: is this credible? Sounds to me like a placed story intended to make Kim look in-charge.
Named is a Finnish clothing pattern label founded by sisters Saara and Laura Huhta that started from the dream of turning their passion into a career. Designing their own collection of clothing patterns felt like a natural way to implement both sisters' love for clothes, fashion, design and DIY. The duo wants to encourage fellow fashion lovers to give sewing their own garments a try.
Named garments are a combination of Scandinavian clean-lined simplicity and interesting details.
At the center of the debate: prescription contraceptives.
Tim Matsui/Getty Images
The Obama administration has asked the Supreme Court not to extend a temporary injunction given to a group of Colorado nuns who want to be exempt from some rules in the new health care law. The rules relate to the requirement that most employers provide health insurance that includes coverage of birth control costs.
"Applicants claim a right to extraordinary relief," the solicitor general's office says in a court filing released just after 10 a.m. ET on Friday. But the nuns have no right to object, the filing says, in large part because even if they do what the law requires, their employees still very likely will not get "the items and services" that the nuns object to.
Basically, the Justice Department is making the case that all the nursing home the nuns operate has to do is:
"Self-certify that they are non-profit organizations that hold themselves out as religious and have religious objections to providing coverage for contraceptive services, and then provide a copy of their self-certification to the third-party administrator of their self-insured group health plan. At that point, the employer-applicants will have satisfied all their obligations under the contraceptive coverage provision."
What's more, Justice argues that "this case involves a church plan that is exempt from regulation under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. Employer-applicants' third-party administrator therefore will be under no legal obligation to provide the coverage after applicants certify that they object to providing it."
Those who support the nuns' case, though, argue that just the act of signing such a self-certification could be tantamount to issuing a "permission slip" for the use of contraceptives by recognizing that such coverage exists, and therefore violates the Catholic orders' rights.
The solicitor general's filing offers this additional glimpse into why the nuns and other religious organizations object to the new law:
"If employer-applicants' third-party administrator were nevertheless to decide to provide contraceptive coverage, applicants' employees and their covered dependents would receive such coverage despite applicants' assertion of their religious objections, not because of those objections."
In other words: The employees might still get contraceptive benefits, even if a religious group registers its objections — a provision that doesn't please those groups.
In reality, the nuns and many other Roman Catholic nonprofit groups turn to the Christian Brothers Employee Benefit Trust for their self-insured health plans. That trust's plans do not provide contraception coverage. What's more, the Christian Brothers has joined the nuns' order in the legal challenge to the law.
Earlier Friday, NPR's Scott Horsley previewed the announcement for our Newscast Desk:
"Justice Sonia Sotomayor granted a temporary injunction on New Year's Eve to the group of nuns. ... They had objected to a provision in the new health care law that requires most workplace health insurance policies to include birth control at no cost.
"The nuns' complaint is one of dozens challenging the contraceptive requirement. But the government argues that the nuns are a special case, since their insurance provider is a self-funded church plan, and therefore already exempt from government regulation.
"Later this year, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in another case testing whether for-profit employers can be required to cover birth control for their employees."
Scott was also on Morning Edition. In that report, Marcia Greenberger of the National Women's Law Center argued that some charities are trying to impose their own religious views on employees who may not share them. Attorney Mark Rienzi, who works for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, made the case that "we have a big powerful federal government that has lots of ways to get contraceptives to people if it really thinks that's urgently important."
The sea level rise from Boston Harbor appeared worse than that seen during Hurricane Sandy in 2012 despite significantly less wave action. For example, today’s high tide showed a record level of water intrusion on the harborwalk at Christopher Columbus Park. Sea level rise and Boston’s rising tides have also been recently reflected in the recently proposed FEMA flood maps.
Compare this Long Wharf photo to this photo, taken at the height of Sandy.
Fighters of al-Qaeda linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant carry their weapons during a parade at the Syrian town of Tel Abyad. (REUTERS)
The enemy of an enemy is not always an ally, at least not in Syria. Terrorist groups associated with al-Qaeda have faced a new wave of opposition in both Syria and Iraq this week, as rebel and tribal groups have turned on their sometime "friends."
In Syria, The Guardian reports, groups opposed to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad have escalated their attack against Islamic State of Iraq in Syria (ISIS) in two of the jihadist group's strongholds. Most of the ISIS fighters, who are typically not Syrians, came to the country fight against Assad in the hopes of knocking out the government and establishing an Islamic state. As their strength has grown, and their tactics have become more brutal, they've found themselves clashing with other rebel fighters as much as they have the military. The fighting near Aleppo seems to end a months-long coexistence of necessity between the two rebel factions. The Guardian explains:
The group's members have imposed a strict interpretation of Islamic law in much of northern Syria, subverting local authority and intimidating towns and communities. The increasing strength of the group has also further splintered the original armed Syrian opposition, which has at times come to a battlefield accommodation with the better funded jihadis, and had tried to avoid a reckoning with them.
According to the LA Times, the fighting started on Friday after ISIS attempted a takeover of Atarib, near Aleppo. A coalition of Free Syrian Army fighters, with help from Islamic Front rebels, responded by blocking ISIS members from entering the town, and captured a couple dozen ISIS members in the process. There doesn't seem to be an accurate death toll from Friday's fighting, which soon spread to a handful of other cities around Aleppo.
Meanwhile, a coalition of government forces and tribal militias in Iraq are attempting to oust ISIS from Ramadi and Fallujah in the western part of the country. The pair of cities were a key battleground for U.S. troops in the most recent Iraq war, but the absence of American soldiers has threatened the turn country back over to the militants. On Friday, ISIS militants declared the region to be an Islamic state. The Washington Post spoke to a journalist familiar with the mood in Fallujah on Friday:
"At the moment, there is no presence of the Iraqi state in Fallujah,” said a local journalist who asked not to be named because he fears for his safety. “The police and the army have abandoned the city, al-Qaeda has taken down all the Iraqi flags and burned them, and it has raised its own flag on all the buildings.”
Fighting broke out in the region earlier this week, after the Shi'ite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki cleared protest camps in the two cities. Some of the largely Sunni residents of Fallujah and Ramadi have been protesting for over a year over what they see as unfair treatment under al-Maliki's government. The government decided to remove its military presence from the cities on Tuesday — apparently in an effort to return calm. But al Qaeda militants almost immediately entered the region once the military withdrew. The military returned the next day, prompting the latest round of violence.
This DIY tutorial is for an ironing table that is specially designed to pin together duvets, which Morgan sews for The Heather Company. It is also the perfect table for ironing as well as a great cutting mat surface.
This tutorial is for the working surface of the table (which contains several important layers), as the shelves can really be made of anything (but more on that later!)
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A helicopter rescued all 52 passengers from a research ship that has been trapped in Antarctic ice since Christmas Eve after weather conditions finally cleared enough for the operation Thursday.
Come learn "Slash", a party/card/storytelling game that just finished a successful crowdfunding campaign, as part of Open Board Gaming night.
Learn to play for free from representatives of the publishers!
Time: 6 pm (During Open Board Gaming night)
Price: Free!
Location:
4 Pleasant St
Cambridge, Massachusetts
02139
United States
A worker throws a petrol bomb after clashes broke out during a protest Friday near Phnom Penh, Cambodia. At least four people were killed when police opened fire at the workers.
Samrang Pring /Reuters /Landov
Cambodian police killed at least four people Friday near the capital, Phnom Penh, when they opened fire on protesting garment workers who want the country's minimum wage doubled.
"Chuon Narin, deputy chief of the Phnom Penh Municipal Police, said the four were killed and about 20 others wounded in a southern suburb of the capital after several hundred workers blocking a road began burning tires and throwing objects at police officers. Witnesses said some officers fired AK-47 rifles into the air and that others shot at ground level."
Cambodian human rights group LICADHO confirmed the toll, calling it "the worst state violence against civilians to hit Cambodia in 15 years."
Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions, told the Phnom Penh Post that the four dead were striking workers, and condemned the crackdown. But the national military police spokesman, Brig. Gen. Kheng Tito, defended the use of force.
"We're just doing our jobs. We fear the security situation, so we have to crack down on them," he said. "If we allow them to continue the strike, later on, it will become messy and more complicated to control."
As we've previously reported, Cambodia's garment industry is one of the world's largest. It employs about a half-million people in 500 shoe and garment factories, many of them foreign-owned. The sector is the country's biggest export earner.
Protests by garment workers are not unusual, but Friday's deadly violence represents an escalation. The protests took place at Canadia Industrial Park, which houses factories that supply to companies including H&M and PVH, the owner of Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein. The Phnom Penh Post reports:
"The demonstration at Canadia comes amid an ongoing national strike that began last week when the Ministry of Labour's Labour Advisory Committee set a new monthly minimum wage of $95 — $65 less than striking unions demanded. The ministry raised the minimum wage another $5 earlier this week, but many workers have remained on strike."
Friday's violence also comes amid growing protests against Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has been in power for more than two decades. His party won elections in July that opposition groups said were flawed. The AP notes:
"Although the wage and election issues are not directly linked, the opposition has close ties with the country's labor movement. Last Sunday, many workers joined a massive political rally organized by the opposition. ...
"The standoff over wages presents Hun Sen with a dilemma, as increasing violence could drive the workers into a tighter alliance with the opposition, providing a vast pool of people for their increasingly confident street demonstrations. But the government is also close to the factory owners, whose exports fuel the economy and who are generally seen as financial supporters of Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party."
They leap into the air, adjust their tails, land headfirst in the snow, burrow down and hit a teeny moving target — buried 3 feet below. It's their lunch. How does a fox catch a mouse in winter? This is amazing.
Ok, I’ll take the bait. The pizza at Lincoln Tavern in South Boston is very good. I know because I enjoyed a few free slices that the good folks at Lincoln donated to volunteers when they hosted a tremendous charity event a few months ago.
I’m not sure what vacant, rookie Yelper, “Nikki R.” thinks about the pizza at Lincoln because the twit didn’t mention it in their 1-star review, but they did mention the pizza box:
“was SO disappointed last night when i got a pizza to take home and it was in an ugly generic box.. what?!?! what happened to the lincoln pizza boxes? everyone loves walking home with a lincoln pizza box and everyone knows where you got it from. hm”
The post reminded me of comments made on Eater Boston by a guest who attended a free, pre-opening, ‘friends and family’ night hosted by one of the Boston area’s best restaurants:
“Tried ribelle tonight and was not impressed. Loud, weird paper over windows. Not a larger enough menu selection for vegetarian or kosher diners. I won’t be going back.”
The “weird paper” the anonymous ‘friend’ or ‘family’ member was referring to, was brown paper taped over the windows because the restaurant was closed to the public!!
“Do you really think it’s fair to give a restaurant 1 star because they ran out of pizza boxes? Yelp drives people to or away from restaurants, and obviously 1-star ratings can have a detrimental impact on restaurants. If you owned or worked at Lincoln Tavern, would you be amused by the 1-star review?” (I’ll update if they respond.)
Maybe it’s a ruse, or maybe Nikki is just looking for a little attention, but restaurant workers have a right to be frustrated and angry when anonymous dimwits fuck with their livelihood. It’s not funny.
“Some chefs borrow money, they do everything they can, they kill themselves, it’s the culmination of a career working 100 hours a week or more. They finally open a place and within eight minutes of opening, some asshole has posted on Yelp, ‘Worst meal ever.’ You can understand why they go insane…”
German-Jewish painter Moritz Daniel Oppenheim’s TheKidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, thought to be lost for over a century, was recently rediscovered and then auctioned by Sotheby’s at their annual Judaica sale. Maya Benton details the controversial episode behind the art:
The painting, lost for more than a century, depicts the notorious case of Edgardo Mortara, a 6-year-old Italian Jewish boy seized by church authorities from his family’s home in Bologna in 1858, based on a rumor that he had been baptized by the family’s illiterate gentile servant girl.
If baptized, the boy would have to be considered a Catholic in the eyes of the church and would no longer be allowed to remain in the home of his Jewish family. Such unauthorized conversions of Jewish children were not uncommon in the papal states. Despite the family’s desperate pleas and protestations, little Edgardo was brought to a monastery in Rome, taken in by the pope, and raised as a Catholic. When he grew up, he became a priest.
The kidnapping of this boy, and his family’s tireless efforts to lobby the Vatican for his return, became a source of international outrage and controversy, galvanizing Jewish leaders, including Moses Montefiore, the Rothschilds, and rabbis throughout America and Europe, who lobbied the pope for Mortara’s return. The case became an international scandal with far-reaching political ramifications.
In an interview, David Kertzer, author of a book on the kidnapping, highlights the impact it had on church-state relations in Europe, especially Italy:
In Italy—well, I wouldn’t say that if not for the Mortara case there would still be papal states today—but the end of the papal states was a matter of convincing the various powers that be that this was an anachronism that could no longer be propped up. There was no more important figure in all of this than Napoleon III, because it was through his intervention, in 1859, that the Kingdom of Italy took shape. He had previously been the pope’s big protector. Indeed, he brought him back to power in 1849, even though personally he had his own anti-clerical past. But I think we have evidence that the Mortara case, which Napoleon III was well aware of, and in which he did indeed intervene, really made him feel that the papal states could no longer survive in the modern world and that he should not be propping them up. He had many other considerations, but the fact is that [the Mortara case] was one of them, and it’s remarkable that this totally unknown 6-year-old Jewish child in Bologna would play this role.
Update from a reader:
The kidnapping became an international incident because of a confluence of events. Jews were emancipated from European Ghettos during the 1840s and early 1850s at the time Europe was democratizing. Paul Reuter, a Jewish Englishman, invented the news wire in 1851. By the time of the kidnapping, 1858, newspapers, including Jewish papers – were being fed by a wire service offering international news. Denouncing the kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara became a way for world leaders to emphasize their commitment to democracy and human rights. Might also be the first example of worldwide Jewry exercising any kind of political influence.
And a noble cause that was.
(Image of TheKidnapping of the Mortara Child by Moritz Daniel Oppenheim, via Sotheby’s)
“I’m not really interested in exposing secret bases,” Begley tells us. “I suppose I’m just trying to sketch the broad contours of our military footprint: what does it look like from above? How does it appear on a map? And in a fashion similar to the project I made about American prisons last year, how might we see this landscape as one continuous scroll?”
Not everything is visible. Bing and Google both censor satellite imagery not only by limiting our zoom, but by creating other interventions to separate the public from sensitive information (and not always in tandem). Volkel Air Base in the Netherlands, for instance, has been obfuscated at the request of their government. On Google, it’s a wash of green polygons, while on Bing, it’s a black blob. Meanwhile, a secret drone base that Wired’s Danger Room uncovered in Saudi Arabia appears fairly clearly on Bing, whereas Google provides a simple gray box that reads, “Sorry, we have no imagery here.”
Who steals shovels off our porch during a snowstorm? We're the people who dig out other people on the street ... Have no idea how we are going to dig out neighbors. Won't resort to stealing though. Just don't get it. What's particularly weird is they left behind their small shovel - like they were trading up? Sigh. Snow brings out the worst (and best in a couple of cases).
"The punk band Crass later said it had been responsible."
British spies hunted in vain for the creator of a fake recording of an alleged spat between British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and U.S. President Ronald Reagan, declassified documents revealed Friday.
First year female Snowy Owl near a turn around runway at the Portland International Jetport in Portland, Maine, long shot through a fence, and enlarged to the max
via overbey ("$5 on Westernized, faux-Tantric ritual.")
Photo of a human skull by Ray Myint. A human skull was found in Tilden Park on Wednesday Jan 1, 2014.
A human skull was found in the area of Grizzly Peak Boulevard in Tilden Park on Wednesday evening, less than half a mile west of South Park Drive.
Oakland Police Department responded to a call from someone who had seen the skull at around 5:40 p.m.
“When officers arrived on scene they discovered the skull,” OPD spokesperson Johnna Watson said. “The Alameda Coroner’s Office has been contacted.”
Watson said the skull was found surrounded by beads and lying on a paper plate and that it had been verified as being a genuine human skull.
Oakland police told the Oakland Tribune that the skull appeared to be old, but they did not believe it was of Native American origin.
An East Bay Regional Park District spokesperson said the matter was in OPD’s hands. OPD said this morning they were not releasing any more details about the incident.(...)
Currently, Blizzard Hercules is dumping snow all over the east coast.
Despite JFK's delayed opening and school closings, New Yorkers are getting fewer inches of snow than many other areas.
CNBC put together a chart of current snow fall by area. Boxford, MA is buried in 21 inches. Manhattan is way down the list with just five inches of snow.
For most of us the snow is beautiful when it is coming down and a hassle for travel but for the elderly and people with disabilities it can leave them stranded in their homes with out access to needed medications, food, and services.
We can help! I invite you to join me in digging out our elderly and disabled neighbors by participating in a program called #SnowCrew run via NeighborsForNeighbors.org.
click through for photograph of patti smith + current pope
tangentially: patti smith recorded her last pre-retirement album during the (incredibly brief) papacy of john paul I, to whom the title song ("wave") was a tribute
FRODO: Good to see you again, Gandalf. Though you do seem distracted.
LOCAVORE GANDALF: I’m confused by that booth selling “The Shire’s Best Beef." As we both know, for a Hobbit, no matter how hearty, to handle anything bigger than a pig—it must have been imported from Rohan, or even Gondor.
FRODO: Right. And last week, you rode a dragon through the Northern Wastes just to smoke a pipe on top of Firdas Mithrir.
LOCAVORE GANDALF: Indeed! It was quite bracing.
FRODO: Have you any idea of the carbon footprint of a dragon?
LOCAVORE GANDALF: I don’t see what that has to do with this.
FRODO: [sigh]
II: SOUTH OF RIVENDELL
FRODO: So then Sam and I go running, fast as our legs can carry us, with our pockets stuffed full of potatoes and carrots and whatever else we can grab. Wouldn’t you know we had a right stew that night, ate so much we filled ourselves near to bursting—
MASTER-CLEANSE BOROMIR: Must you Hobbits always speak of food!
FRODO: Sorry?
MASTER-CLEANSE BOROMIR: [pinches the bridge of his nose] I’m sorry. I just wish this headache would stop.
FRODO: Sure, sure. I understand.
MASTER-CLEANSE BOROMIR: Perhaps if I held that ring for just—
FRODO: I don’t think that’s a good idea.
[awkward silence]
III: THE MINES OF MORIA
GIMLI: Now, my friends, you shall know the meaning of Dwarvish hospitality! Malt beer, meat on the bone, cheese logs, bacon twisties—
VEGAN, STRAIGHT-EDGE ARAGORN: We should not have come to this place.
IV: FANGORN FOREST
PALEO MERRY: So no pork? But chicken and beef and mutton are all fine? It just seems antiquated, with everything we know about nutrition.
KOSHER PIPPIN: Antiquated? Yours is named after an ancient era!
PALEO MERRY: Sure, people were healthier, there was no heart disease, no obesity—
KOSHER PIPPIN: Yes, I’m sure they were right fit. I’m sure they were staying thin as Elf-kings, eating dead moths and wooly-oliphant fur. And they got plenty of exercise, with all those prehistoric beasties chasing them day and night.
PALEO MERRY: Fine, you have a point. But if it’s purely for health, why bring religion into it? You really think it’s necessary to follow each tenet, even after so many have been disproven? No matter the health benefits, you can’t possibly argue—
TREEBEARD: My young masters, I’m terribly sorry to interrupt, but do you see that great mountain, far over yonder, covered with beautiful, ancient trees?
MERRY and PIPPIN: Yes.
TREEBEARD: You do? Good, because if either of you says another word, I will kick you both riiiiiiiiight over it. Like two little footballs.
MERRY and PIPPIN: …
V: WEST OF THE BLACK GATE
GLUTEN-FREE FRODO: What have we got to eat?
SAMWISE: Lembas bread.
GLUTEN-FRE FRODO: Have we nothing else?
SAMWISE: And look! Something else!
GLUTEN-FREE FRODO: Oh, thank heavens!
SAMWISE: More lembas bread!
GLUTEN-FREE FRODO: You asshole.
VI: MORLAC’S BEASTORIUM, NURNBOG, SOUTH NURN
ORGANIC, NON-GMO RINGWRAITH: A Naazgul feasts upon the flesh of creatures that crawl, swim, and fly. His cry strikes fear into the hearts of all living things.
ORCISH CLERK: Mmm-hm.
ORGANIC, NON-GMO RINGWRAITH: [reading label] Magnesium Chelate. Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate. What abominations are these? Have you nothing made from elf-ear or man-heart?
ORCISH CLERK: Perhaps you could try our store in Osgiliath.
ORGANIC, NON-GMO RINGWRAITH: [glowers]
VII: THE CAVES OF GONDOR
FRODO: Do you want to know how Boromir died? He never ate anything! He just wasted away! It happened to him, and now it’s happening to you!
FRUCTARIAN FARAMIR: Take him to the holding cells! I think we have some elvenberry mash and nastirtium crisps in the pantry. See that he eats them, and see that he enjoys them.
VIII: THE DEAD MARSHES
GOLLUM: What’s ‘potatoes’?
VEGAN, DUMPSTER-DIVING SAMWISE: Potatoes? PO-TA-TOES? The only thing I eat, apart from wilted cabbage leaves? Dried-up, mealy potatoes, while everyone else has chicken pie and cheese logs and bacon twisties—
GOLLUM: Never mindses.
IX: THE FOOT OF BARAD-DUR
VEGETARIAN, ORGANIC, SODIUM-FREE SMEAGOL: My… [reaches into FRODO’s shirt, pulls out a packet of bacon]
Almost three times as many tourists have visited Vatican City in the last 9 1/2 months than all of 2012, testament to Pope Francis’ popularity and the public’s fascination with him. Last week, the pontiff was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year.
Between March and December of 2013, some 6.6 million tourists poured into Vatican City, a figure calculated using ticketing figures for special events and crowd estimates at popular sites like St. Peter’s Square. Meanwhile, in 2012, the Vatican had a total of 2.35 million visitors. That was the last calendar year that the controversial Pope Benedict served before stepping down in February and becoming the first pope to fail to serve a life term in almost 600 years.
Pope Francis, (called Jorge Mario Bergoglio before his election), an Argentine and the first pope from the Americas, has enjoyed wide popularity in Latin America, and the US, despite questions about his past. He also has become well known as a progressive thinker, who speaks openly about income inequality, capitalism, and homosexuality, often angering conservative Catholics.
Italian tourism officials had been predicting a bump in Vatican visits in the first years following Pope Francis’ election, since they’d seen increases in visitation and hotel reservations within the first months of his election. It is estimated that a tenth of all tourists visits to Italy are to Vatican City, and 10.3% of Italy’s GDP relies on tourism.
9())
9())
heart of hearts:
