firehose

Courtney shared this story from Super Opinionated.

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Bernie Sanders Announces Bill To Abolish For-Profit Prison Industrial Complex

ORDU, TURKEY—To lovers of hazelnuts, this small city on the Black Sea coast in far eastern Anatolia is nothing short of a garden of earthly delights.

Residents dispatch young children to schools named after top hazelnut-producing families, before roaming the aisles of supermarkets stacked high with hazelnut delicacies. They pack off their college-age students to conduct hazelnut research at a nearby university, and then later retreat, hazelnuts in hand, to lounge in the waterfront park—which is dedicated, of course, to another hazelnut baron.

Even animals are occasionally caught up in the hazelnut-eating frenzy. Some locals half-jokingly insist their prized findik have aphrodisiac qualities. A few have subsequently taken to rearing their chickens on excess produce in order to encourage breeding.

“It makes them frisky,” Uğur Altaş said with a laugh, as he gestured towards the handsomely fed birds wandering—chicks in tow—through the grounds of his hazelnut factory.

Nuts about nuts

Seen from afar, Ordu might be thought to nurse a slightly unhealthy obsession with a basic foodstuff. But as the cornerstone of the global hazelnut industry, the province’s nut-centric ways are no laughing matter.

Roughly 75% of the world’s hazelnut supply is grown in Turkey, and a full one-third of that emanates from Ordu’s impossibly lush green hills. The province relies on the crop for up to 80% of its economic activity. “If there were no hazelnuts in Turkey, the price would go up fivefold,” said Irfan Balkanlıoğlu, the local governor.

Quite how a small region a few hours shy of the Georgian border came to practically corner the international hazelnut market is a source of some confusion to local farmers. Some point to the area’s ceaseless rain, erratic temperatures, and steep, rugged terrain, which make it ill-suited to cultivating most other produce. Others say that the authorities once took to planting hazelnut trees in order to temper regular landslides on the previously barren slopes.

But what is clear, Ordu natives hasten to add, is the superior quality of their end product.

“The unsaturated fat content is high, the spice is good, the aroma is the best,” says Teoman Önsel, branch manager at Sagra’s Sanset factory, which produces a string of hazelnut products, ranging from hazelnut marzipan to hazelnut chocolate wafers and dark chocolate hazelnut spread. “They’re definitely the best hazelnuts in the world.”

For over a decade, this once-neglected backwater prospered as demand for its product boomed among the growing middle classes in China and India. Ordu rolled out impressive new facilities and infrastructure off the back of its natural riches, while farmers expanded their gardens further up the precipitous peaks in order to reap the rewards of the surging price.

Frozen out

But in 2013, as Ordu prepped for another bumper August harvest, the honeymoon period ground to a jarring halt. A bout of severe frost in late March cut Turkey’s output from 660,000 tonnes (728,000 tons) in 2012 to 549,000 tonnes. The following year, unseasonably cold spring temperatures struck once more, and the country’s yield tumbled to 381,000 tonnes, according to the local price exchange, pitching thousands of locals into poverty. Many workers migrated elsewhere in pursuit of work; Ordu authorities were left to rue their dependence on a single crop.

“We lost everything, and I mean everything, to the frost last year,” said Ahmet Oğuz Aslan, the governor of Kumru sub-district, which lies an hour’s drive inland from Ordu city. His community, tucked amid a series of towering hazelnut-covered hills, struggled mightily as local pickings dropped from 11,000 tonnes in 2013 to zero last summer.

The disaster in Ordu has had serious repercussions further afield. Shortages have hiked the price for Turkish hazelnuts from $6 to $17, and pushed the good beyond many buyers’ budgets. “China had been demanding more and more, but this year—because the harvest was poor—they couldn’t afford as much and their demand was lower,” said Nejdet Gürsoy, general manager of Ordu’s Gürsoy factory, as he gestured at the empty truck scales, where farmers would ordinarily be lining up to deposit their loads to be weighed.

The price spike has also affected the world’s most famous hazelnut-chocolate spread. Italian chocolatier Ferrero first created Nutella soon after the Second World War, when chocolate was expensive and inaccessible and hazelnuts cheap and plentiful. It now snaps up about a quarter of the world’s hazelnut crop. But between Turkey’s freak weather and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, where much of the world’s cocoa is produced, the company feels assailed on all sides. “Prices have to be higher than they were two years ago, because all raw materials—not just hazelnuts—are getting more expensive,” a Ferrero executive, who asked not to be named, said.

Last year Ferrero bought Oltan, Turkey’s largest hazelnut producer, to safeguard its supply. Industry analysts expect this year’s harvest, which is now starting to come in, to be even bigger than average. Nonetheless Ferrero, among other hazelnut giants, is looking to diversify its planting and break Ordu’s stranglehold once and for all.

Watch out for the neighbors

With prices earlier this year reaching a record high, neighboring Georgia and Azerbaijan have eagerly expanded their hazelnut plantations. Various South American countries and the US state of Oregon have also tried to boost their market share.

Ordu hazelnut producers are all too aware of the brewing battleground. “It’s an expensive product, so it’s natural that other countries are interested,” said Gürsoy, the factory manager. “If the hazelnut industry in Turkey doesn’t change some of its practices, the competition will only hurt us.”

But Ordu’s residents too are seeking to reduce their reliance on hazelnuts. They fear further poor harvests, which many believe are prompted by climate change. The local government is keen to reel in Gulf Arab tourists by marketing the area as a green, waterfall-packed “Hidden Heaven.” Some farmers have taken to keeping bees and uprooting hazelnut-bearing trees in favor of fruits and tea leaves. (Old habits die hard though: some peddle it into tea flavored with hazelnuts at a nearby plant.)

There’s plenty of evidence to suggest, however, that Ordu will maintain its lofty position in the hazelnut-growing world.

East Asia’s growing appetite for nuts, Turkey’s proximity to the Middle East—which consumes mountains of hazelnuts during the annual holy month of Ramadan—and the continued high demand for chocolate all bode well for Ordu’s supremacy. “In general, if you have hazelnuts, you have demand from the world,” Balkanlıoğlu, the governor, said.

Ordu farmers, many of whom appear to have been drawn to hazelnuts by the minimal effort needed to tend to them, also seem to have woken up to the necessity of taking better care of their trees, and local agriculture authorities are developing a cold-resistant strain that can weather future harsh frosts.

Finally, Ordu residents insist their province enjoys better health than their non-hazelnut-growing neighbors, as a direct consequence of their cherished crop. “Be sure to eat at least 10 hazelnuts every morning,” said Servet Sahin, Chairman of Ordu’s Chamber of Commerce, as we wrapped up our meeting. “It gives you energy and stops Alzheimer’s.”

The FCC announced it is backing the development of a platform for easier communication for the deaf and hard of hearing. The platform will be a core set of apps that can link existing text and video services for hearing or speech-impaired users.

There’s a reason why Silicon Valley has a reputation for being the land of young, white, privileged brogrammers.

If you look at the makeup of students today, white children who grow up in higher-income households with educated parents are more likely to have a computer at home and access to computer science classes, according to a new survey from Gallup that was commissioned by Google. (The report surveyed 1,673 students in seventh to 12th grades, 1,685 parents, 1,013 teachers, 9,693 principals, and 1,865 school district superintendents.)

Students who are black, Hispanic, and/or from lower income backgrounds are less likely to have computers at home or any type of computer science instruction. Hispanic students in particular have the lowest rate of access to computers—both at home and at school. (The survey did not include any data for Asian students. A Gallup spokesman said there weren’t “enough respondents in that group to break out and report separately.”)

All that said, parents of households with an annual income of $54,000 or less are the most bullish about the opportunities computer science classes will give their children. Twenty-nine percent said they believed computer science is more important to a student’s future success than required courses, such as math, science, history, and English; three-quarters thought most students should be required to learn computer science.

But the reality is many schools, especially those serving students from disadvantaged backgrounds, are ill equipped to teach a computer science curriculum. Not all principals and superintendents view it as a priority—especially if they work at a public school district or in a rural area.

In addition, principals whose schools don’t offer computer science education say they are too burdened with existing testing requirements (32% of them cited this as the main reason, more than any other), are too financially strapped to train and hire new teachers, and can’t afford the necessary equipment.

These charts help explain why the tech world is so homogenous. Children who grow up with privilege are more likely to learn how to program. The ability to write code is highly prized by Silicon Valley, making it especially welcoming to the already privileged.

Read this next: Ten charts that paint a fascinating portrait of the modern-day programmer

Portable speakers are usually the little ugly runts of sound, but not anymore. Trash Amps have come up with the aesthetically pleasing Mason Jar Speaker that allows you to play audio from your phone, tablet, computer or guitar on the go.

Courtney shared this story from Super Opinionated.

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BBC News

Explosion at chemical plant in east China, casualties unknown: Xinhua Reuters SHANGHAI An explosion hit a chemical plant on Saturday night in eastern China, the official Xinhua state news agency said, citing local authorities. No casualties have been reported yet, Xinhua said. The blast, which triggered a fire, happened around ... China explosion: Fires at Shandong chemical plantBBC News Blast Rocks Chemical Plant In Eastern ChinaSky News Explosion at chemical warehouse in China's Shandong provinceRT all 18 news articles »

A hyper little corgi named Nero tried to cool himself off on a hot summer’s day by repeatedly running back and forth across a blue kiddie pool in an effort to catch the water coming from the hose that his his human was using. Unfortunately for little Nero, his human decided to have a bit of fun with his dog and turned the nozzle off each time Nero made the rounds.

Thanks Brad!

In 2013, the Washington city of SeaTac became the first in America to approve a $15 minimum wage. But the question of whether the pay increase would apply to thousands of workers at Sea-Tac airport quickly got hung up in the courts. Now, those workers will get their raise—the Washington State Supreme Court has said that the minimum wage does apply to the airport, reversing a lower court decision in favor of the low-wage employers fighting to avoid paying a living wage.

The low wages at the airport are felt in the city of SeaTac:

“Now, possibly, our food pantry lines will go down,” said the Rev. Jan Bolerjack, minister at the Riverton United Methodist Church.

Airport workers have made up a big proportion of those using the food pantry.  “Some workers have come right off shift to get food for their families,” said Bolerjack.  “A living wage is the only fair thing, the only just thing, for workers working a full shift.”

Washington state, by the way, has one of the higher state minimum wages, at $9.47 an hour. It's still not enough for workers to live on.

We wish this were one of our infamous April Fool’s Day jokes, but it’s not. At some point in the near past, sometime after InDesign CC was released, Adobe quietly stopped installing almost all the fonts that used to come with the program. Mike wrote that up here. At a time when Adobe has repeatedly announced its […]

To all you Whovians out there, Warlord Games has just announced that they have acquired the license to create a miniatures game based on the Dr. Who television series. *puts on scarf* The license includes all of the Doctors, their companions, and their foes. So everything from the Daleks to the Master to the Cybermen are all apparently fair game to be in the game.

With just the announcement for now, we don’t have any further details to give. But obviously stay tuned and we’ll be giving you all the updates we can, when we can. (My Tardis is on the fritz right now, otherwise I’d travel forward into time and see what the game was like before coming back and letting you know).

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Orlando Sentinel

Job totals shrink in Louisiana in July, but unemployment rate falls as more ... Fox Business Fewer people had jobs in Louisiana in July as employer payrolls shrank, but the unemployment rate fell again as even more people left the labor force. The state's unemployment rate fell to 6.2 percent in July from 6.4 percent in June. July 2014's ... California unemployment rate falls to 6.2 percentSacramento Bee California jobless rate drops to 6.2 percent in Julyseattlepi.com Florida one of top three states in over-month job increases; Tampa area second ...Bradenton Herald Winona Daily News -Santa Rosa Press Democrat all 282 news articles »

A studious cat named Bubba has spent a lot of time roaming the halls, attending class and sleeping in the library of Leland High School in San Jose, California, so much so that school administrators decided that the orange tabby deserved his very own student identification card. According to the redditor who posted the story, Bubba doesn’t live at the school, but lives nearby and comes and goes as he pleases.

His owners live right next to the school. … I’ve just gone to school with him for 6 years now. …He sat on my lap and took a nap while I was taking my Spanish final.

images via Bubba the Cat Facebook Page

via reddit

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Expert woodworker and engineer Matthias Wandel demonstrates how to make a hexagon cake knife, an idea that was inspired by his wife who wondered aloud how she should cut a cake.

This project started when Rachel said “Now I have to cut the cake into squares or triangles”. My immediate thought was “why not cut it into circles, or hexagons?”. This got me thinking about a good method of cutting a cake into a hexagon honeycomb pattern. The easiest I figured, was to make a knife that snakes through the honeycomb pattern …Testing the knife by pressing it down on some pine. I had actually shaped the handle to have a slight curve on the bottom of it so that the knife can be rocked back and forth a bit for cases where it needs to slice through some tough cake or pizza bottom. It left a nice indentation in the pine. so I’m confident that it can slice any cake.

images via Matthias Wandel

via reddit

George Miller, director of Mad Max: Fury Road and Happy Feet, could end up helming the follow-up to Man of Steel, rumors say. A superhero story like this might look very different under Miller’s direction.

Miller made a lot of waves with his directorial choices in Fury Road by centering Furiosa’s story-line and also by passing off the editing to the talented Margaret Sixel. The “Center of Frame” editing technique that Miller encouraged Sixel to employ in Mad Max ensured that the focus would stay on characters’ faces (by comparison, this post details how many other action films center a shot on female characters’ cleavage, whereas male characters’ faces get centered in the frame).

If Miller ends up directing Man of Steel 2, Sixel might well join as the editor, since the pair works together pretty often (uh, also, they’re married to each other).

What do you think about this rumor? And which lady character from the Superman universe do you wish would emerge with an Imperator story-line in Man of Steel 2?

(via Topless Robot, image via Fanpop)

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Fox News

Police trying to uncover motive in federal building shooting Sentinel Republic “The [suspect] walks in the door, goes into the security line, pulls out a gun”, an official said. By early evening, the outdoors surrounding the scene were frightening, emergency vehicles were spurting over the streets of New York during the rush hour ... US man kills guard, self at federal officeRapid News Network Congressman says NYC federal building gunman got 'raw deal'Herald and News Congressman: Federal Building Shooter Was Given "Raw Deal"NBC New York New York Times -News 12 New Jersey all 821 news articles »

A revamped federal project aims to tally all people who die in police custody. Why can we count bees, but not bodies?

Actress Ellen Page caught Sen. Ted Cruz off guard at the Iowa State Fair on Friday, pressing the presidential candidate about LGBT rights as he grilled pork chops.

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Courtney shared this story from Super Opinionated.

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This week, the Cassini spacecraft made its fifth and final flyby of Dione , Saturn’s fourth-largest moon. This image, in which Saturn and its rings can be seen looming behind the moon, was captured in the leadup to the mission’s last close approach, on August 17, 2015.

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bara-godzilla:

dismaland

Today an autopsy confirmed the early eyewitness reports that St. Louis police officers shot teenager Mansur Ball-Bey in the back. Every person there who saw the shooting has said this for days and this was a huge reason immediate protests broke out after his death.

What I want you to notice, though, is something very troubling that was said in the press conference today. The police chief, Sam Dotson said:

"Just because he was shot in the back doesn't mean he was running away," Dotson said. "It could be, and I'm not saying that it doesn't mean that. I just don't know yet.

"What I do know is that two officers were involved and fired shots, but I don't know exactly where they were standing yet and I won't know until I get their statements."

In essence, what Chief Dotson just admitted was that days after the shooting death of a beloved teenager, his office still hadn't spoken to the officers who fired the shots. Now that the autopsy results are back, and are public, these officers have the chance to shape their statements around the evidence that is leaked.

Let's be clear, though: this process isn't accidental, it was built this way on purpose. In Cleveland, after police shot and killed Tamir Rice, the officers never gave official statements during the entire investigation. Nine months later, still no statements.

Police are given unending grace and latitude to use lethal force on their job and simply go not just days, but months on end, without even stating what happened. In the meantime, grieving families are virtually ignored and often treated like the enemy when they ask for even the most basic answers.

Jason Doré, executive director of the Louisiana GOP, spent $175.98 on the website, according to the hackers' database