tidings ginevra: November 2012

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Heidi Klum: no makeup for charity, 'empowerment.' Really?

Heidi Klum is ditching her lipstick as part of a BBC Children in Need 'Go BearFaced' campaign, which encourages women to spend Nov. 9 without makeup. But one mom wonders: How do more Heidi Klum photos help girls?

By Stephanie Hanes,?Correspondent / November 2, 2012

Heidi Klum arriving at the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, Sept. 23, 2012.

Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

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Even without makeup, Heidi Klum still looks great.

Skip to next paragraph Stephanie Hanes

Correspondent

Stephanie Hanes is the lead writer for Modern Parenthood and a longtime Monitor correspondent. She lives in Andover, Mass. with her husband, Christopher, her daughter, Madeline Thuli, a South Africa Labrador retriever, Karoo, and an imperialist cat named Kipling.

Emanuel faces new clash with Chicago teachers

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is headed for another clash in coming months with unionized teachers over whether to close dozens of schools, after a bitter teachers strike temporarily shut down the nation's third largest public school district in September.

Facing a December 1 deadline to issue a proposed list of schools to be closed, new Chicago Public Schools chief executive Barbara Byrd-Bennett on Friday asked the state legislature for a four-month delay until March 31.

She said time was needed for a "rigorous, transparent and open dialogue" with school parents, teachers and other.

Feelings are still raw after the first Chicago teachers strike in 25 years drew national attention to the city's dispute over education reform.

Chicago teachers and some parents complain that Emanuel's administration has ignored their concerns.

Chicago has seen a 20 percent surge in the number of murders this year, and people in crime ravaged neighborhoods worry that closing schools might force students to cross gang boundaries and increase urban violence.

More than 200 people, including teachers union members, parents of Chicago school students and other activists, rallied against school closings at Emanuel's office on Friday, and some staged a sit-in nearby.

Urban school districts around the country are grappling with the same issue of closing schools, including Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Washington, according to a study last year on school closings by the Pew Charitable Trust.

In a statement on Friday, Byrd-Bennett acknowledged the delay was requested to repair a rift with some in the community.

"Our goal is to give the community the respect they deserve in this process, rebuild trust with CPS (Chicago Public Schools) and create a path for right-sizing our district," she said.

But the union said it wants a halt to school closing rather than extending the deadline.

"We have called for a moratorium on all school actions until we have an analysis of the devastating impact these actions have on our students and neighborhoods," said Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis in a statement.

Emanuel said that, in the wake of the strike settlement, the district needs to have a more effective education plan.

"We have more buildings, chairs, tables and desks than we have students in our district," he said in a statement.

ENROLLMENT DOWN

The Chicago Tribune has reported that school district officials are considering closing up to 120 schools next year, or about 17 percent of schools in the 400,0000-student district. The district said there is no list of targeted schools.

Enrollment in Chicago Public Schools has fallen nearly 20 percent in the last decade, mainly because of population declines in poor neighborhoods.

Some 140 schools are half-empty, according to the district. The union said 86 Chicago public schools have closed in the past decade, but the district could not confirm that number.

At the heart of the dispute is the expansion of charter schools, which are publicly funded but most are non-union.

The teachers union has complained they undermine public education and force more community schools to close. Their academic performance record compared with community schools is mixed, according to national studies.

Chicago now has 103 charter or "contract" schools, some run by philanthropists, which account for 12 percent of students. There are plans by supporters for 60 more charter schools over the next five years, according to the district and the union.

A powerful U.S. education movement is pushing charter schools. Emanuel and U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, a former Chicago schools chief, argue that schools performing poorly in academics should either be closed permanently, reopened with new principals and teachers, or converted to charter schools run by non-union personnel.

Teachers say they want more resources put into neighborhood public schools to help them succeed.

One Chicago school that has already been marked for a gradual closing is Dyett High School on the city's South Side. The school's academic standing is low, with a graduation rate of 33.7 percent in 2011 compared with 57.5 percent for Chicago public schools on average and a national rate of 75 percent.

But Kitesha Reggs, whose daughter attends Dyett, said the school lacks needed resources such as up-to-date books or enough computers. Reggs said that once Dyett closes, students may have to travel far for an alternative.

"It's just a safety issue," Reggs said. "They should be in their own neighborhood."

School district spokeswoman Becky Carroll said that for this year, academic criteria would not be used to determine school closings.

(Reporting By Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Greg McCune and Todd Eastham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chicagos-emanuel-faces-clash-teachers-school-closings-005819604.html

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Group Adjourns Without Acting on Antarctic Reserve - NYTimes.com

PARIS ? Frustrating advocates, an international commission charged with overseeing the Southern Ocean took no action Thursday on a proposal championed by the United States and New Zealand to create the world?s largest marine reserve in the seas around Antarctica.

The two nations had proposed the creation of a 872,000-square-mile reserve in the Ross Sea and East Antarctic; conservationists wanted more, some 1.9 million square miles of protected area. Crucially, despite months of talks between Washington and New Zealand?s government in Wellington, the two countries went into the meeting in Hobart, Australia, with slightly different plans and had to work out a joint proposal early this week.

The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, whose members include the European Union and 24 member states, operates on a consensus principle, and the issue never came to a vote.
Gerald Leape, a marine policy official with the Pew Environment Group, said China and Russia had been the main opponents of the proposal, while Japan, South Korea and Ukraine had been lukewarm.

The Southern Ocean is one of the most important ecosystems on Earth, home to penguins, seals and whales, as well as vast populations of krill, one of the most important links in the ocean food chain.

A marine protected area can be a place where no commercial activity, including fishing and mineral exploration, is permitted, or an area in which only a few activities are banned. The commission said it would hold an inter-annual meeting ? an unusual step ? in July in Bremerhaven, Germany, to discuss the topic again.

?We?re very disappointed that CCAMLR didn?t take action,? Mr. Leape said. ?The scientific case for an M.P.A. in the Ross Sea and East Antarctica has been made.? Steve Campbell of the Antarctic Ocean Alliance said that 1.2 million people around the world had joined environmental organizations in backing the creation of marine reserves.

The commission has been criticized for holding its meetings behind closed doors out of sight of journalists. But the Southern and Antarctic Ocean Alliance, a coalition that includes environmental and conservation organizations like Greenpeace, W.W.F. and the International Fund for Animal Welfare, has observer status and reports on its activities to the media.

Conservationists said the meeting had not been a complete loss, as the commission adopted a proposal championed by the United States and European Union requiring it to inspect all vessels fishing in the Southern Ocean instead of only those carrying toothfish, commonly known as Chilean sea bass. The Pew Environment Group said in a statement that the action ?closed an important gap.?

Toothfish grow slowly, and little is known about the fishery. That has not stopped large-scale exploitation of the stock, with illegal fishing commonplace for many years.

Source: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/group-adjourns-without-acting-on-antarctic-reserve/

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Home Improvement With A Few Easy Words Of Advice | Junecann

TIP! Use fruits and flowers to brighten up your kitchen. A beautiful arrangement of fresh flowers or a bowl of brightly colored fruit will perk up any kitchen.

When you know how to change things up a bit, you can derive the maximum value of and appreciation for your living area. However, if you don?t have the knowledge and experience necessary, you may end up causing a lot more harm than good. This way, you can ensure your satisfaction and money?s worth from your home improvement efforts, with the great advice in this article!

TIP! Pay your contractor through credit card or check so you could stop payment if you need to. In this way, you can avoid having unscrupulous contractors skip town with your down payment.

Don?t complete an unsafe upgrade, hire a professional contractor and designer to provide you with proper home improvement plans. The expense will be well worth the investment. These can also be shown to the buyer if you want to sell your home.

TIP! Using wallpaper is a great alternative to painting and paneling. Wallpapering a home is easy and doesn?t cost all that much if you wish to improve how a room looks.

Investing in a serious backyard fence (a tall wooden one or even a chain-link one) is a good idea when you move into a house that?s immediately adjacent to forested or undeveloped land. Doing this will keep wild animals, including coyotes, rabbits and skunks, from entering the yard. This is especially important if you intend to have a garden in your yard.

TIP! Prior to adding paint to your walls, cover up each electrical outlet cover with a small sheet of aluminum foil. The foil protects while you paint and is much easier to work with than tape.

To get the most out of your home improvement projects, make sure you are using the best tools for the job. The correct tools will help make the job easier to do and you will better results. It is also important that you know how to ptoperly use the tools your are going to be dealing with.

TIP! When purchasing new furniture for a bedroom, freestanding units can be very versatile. There are disadvantages to fitted dressers and cupboards.

Using CFL bulbs in your home is great for both saving money and the environment, but clean up when one breaks must be learned. Get everyone out of the room to make sure that they don?t breathe in harmful mercury. You can use strong tape to clean up residual glass pieces, after you have used traditional methods for the larger ones. Throw everything in the trash and then run the vacuum. Throw out the vacuum bag when you are finished.

TIP! If your home isn?t complete with a shower, it is wise to think about having one installed. A shower is easier to get into than a bathtub and also limits the water consumed by people in the house.

Before you decide to paint a wall that was previously covered with glossy paint, you should first use a good primer to prime the walls. This will allow the paint to stick to a wall better, and keeps brand new paint from starting to peel. Using a primer is essential if you are switching a dark wall to a lighter shade, since you won?t need as many coats of paint.

TIP! When it comes to home improvement, don?t go it alone! Some projects can be undertaken with help from the entire family?even young children. The addition of a garden can increase a home?s value while making it beautiful.

Are you trying to sell your property? Doing some work around your house can increase your home?s value. For example, making updates to a kitchen can greatly increase your home?s appeal to prospective buyers.

TIP! When making your budget, put everything you need into it. Unexpected expenses can quickly add up and one slight mistake can throw your whole budget off track.

Find inspiration for remodeling or redecorating from magazines, paint swatches and home improvement shows. Even if you have no immediate plans to do a project, finding and retaining ideas for later use can make your projects less stressful when you do decide to begin undertaking them. As well, if you know what you want to do well in advance, you can start buying materials a bit at a time.

TIP! In home improvement, you should focus on making improvements that are highly visible. Home buyers judge housing with their eyes.

Prior to tackling a major home improvement project by yourself, it might be wise to solicit a professional opinion. Sometimes, just that opinion can help you save money and time. Without speaking with a professional prior to making home improvements, you may really mess things up.

TIP! There are thousands of do-it-yourself instructional videos online to help you with renovation, home improvement projects and almost any kind of home repair. You will be surprised how many people may have had the same trouble you are having, then videotaped their solution and uploaded it to the web.

You need to ensure you are safe. For example, hardhats protect you in the event of an accident. Using safety goggles, masks, gloves and hardhats ensures that you complete your project and are healthy enough to enjoy it!

TIP! Take into consideration how long each home improvement project lasts. For example, you can expect a new chimney to be usable for a lifetime of at least 100 years.

If you hire a professional for home improvements, check credentials carefully. You have to ensure that the professionals you hire have the proper qualifications to do the work in your home. This will also help you make sure the job is completed right with high standards. You will be helping avoid any problems by verifying their professional credentials.

TIP! When you select a new home improvement contractor, be sure to shop around for estimates that are comparable. Make a list that you give to each of the contractors of the things you want done.

When done wrong, home improvement projects can be frustrating, but when done right, they can be increase your home?s value and make it look amazing. Hopefully, you?ve found the tips written here to be helpful and you will surely be a success when it comes to any home improvement project that you plan to start.

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Source: http://www.junecann.com/home-improvement-with-a-few-easy-words-of-advice/

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The Science behind Superstorm Sandy s Crippling Storm Surge

Sandy, a massive ?superstorm,? unleashed high winds and large-scale flooding in New York and New Jersey?and the future holds more such damaging surges

By David Biello

superstorm-sandy SUPERSTORM: Post-tropical cyclone's massive extent, seen here from space, generated a devastating storm surge that inundated New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. Image: NASA

GOWANUS, BROOKLYN?Superstorm Sandy's surge halted a little more than a block from my home, mirroring almost precisely the border of two different nearby flood zones on New York City's evacuation map. Homes, stores and warehouses closer to the Gowanus Canal at the westernmost end of Long Island?one of the most polluted sites in the U.S. as a result of an industrial legacy paired with sewage overflows in heavy rains, qualifying its bottom muck, waters and adjacent land for Superfund designation?saw basements and lower floors turned into stinking pools. The foul waters remained trapped by sandbags and other would-be antiflood precautions even the day after.

Throughout the New York metropolitan region and farther south in New Jersey, Sandy's hurricane-force winds brought down trees and power lines, causing an estimated $20 billion or more in damage. But the more than 74-mile-per-hour winds? most enduring impact may have been from the massive swell of water they pushed atop land, obliterating beaches, drowning boardwalks, filling subway tunnels, destroying electrical infrastructure and wrecking lives.

Although it may be hard to believe, the event could have been even more damaging. "This was not the worst case," says storm surge specialist Jamie Rhome of the National Hurricane Center (NHC) at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "A worst case would have been a stronger storm with the exact same track" that also came ashore at the same time as high tide. "That would have produced even more flooding," he adds.

Yet, Superstorm Sandy's massive flooding is already unprecedented in recent decades. According to experts, however, it is only going to become more likely in coming decades, thanks to a combination of local geography, vulnerable coastal development and already-happening sea-level rise as a result of climate change. In the future, it will not take a frankenstorm like Sandy to inundate the region. Given that reality, the best defense may be to accept the inevitability of flooding and prepare infrastructure to withstand it, as is common in other regions more historically prone to storm surge flooding.

Not the first flood
The New York metropolitan area has, of course, suffered damaging storm surges throughout its history, although most were not as severe. For example, in 1960 Hurricane Donna stormed up the entire Eastern seaboard as a Category 2 tropical cyclone, boasting winds above 105 mph. Even though Donna had mitigating factors?it arrived at low tide and that storm (like last year?s Category 1 Hurricane Irene) traveled parallel to the coast rather than striking it head on?those winds pushed enough seawater into New York Harbor to cause a storm surge of more than six feet that similarly inundated parts of Manhattan.

In contrast, Sandy's larger surge is a result of the post-tropical cyclone's track, which saw the superstorm turn in to and then smash the coast of New Jersey, pushing a punishing wall of water in front of it into the Garden State?s coast as well as north into New York Harbor.

How do winds create a storm surge? In a tropical cyclone, air pressure is highest at the edges and low at the center. The air flows, at speeds above 74 mph, to fill that low-pressure area. In addition, the low pressure itself helps raise the sea's level beneath it, heightening the surge where the center of the storm makes landfall. Wave action itself can also enhance the effect, adding even more height to a storm surge as the waves pile into shore one on top of the next.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=93faef4d6e4980ccdefcebe66b0e3b2b

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Thursday, November 1, 2012

Cell phones spammed with anti-gay, anti-Obama messages | theGrio

Anti-Obama text messages from an anonymous source hit hundreds of voters? phones Tuesday night.

Politico reports one message read, ?Voting for Obama means voting for same-sex marriage.? Others include ?Obama stole $716 Billion in Medicare. We cant [sic] trust Obama to protect our seniors,? ?Obama is using your tax dollars to fund Planned Parenthood and abortions. Is that right?? and ?VP Biden mocks a fallen Navy Seal during memorial. Our military deserves better.?

Many of the recipients tweeted screenshots of their messages. Jim Spellman, a reporter for CNN, tweeted, ?A new low for these political campaigns: text messages? Please give us a break!?

Not much is known about the source of these messages except that they come from addresses like republicanett.com, votegopett.com, aiccomett.com and informedett.com, which suggest the texts may have been sent from the Internet, not from phones. Searches of the domain names show they were registered in February, but information on the owners is blocked.

Not only is it difficult to determine who is sending the texts, but the legality of the issue isn?t easy to discern either. The Federal Communications Commission prohibits text spams, but it seems whoever is behind this organized campaign is using the loophole of sending e-mails to phone numbers.

Last week, the FCC made the announcement that it would begin taking comments until November 23 on a petition that aims to ban Internet-to-phone messaging as a form of auto-dialing.

The person behind the petition, Scott Goodstein, a former Obama 2008 online external director and founder of Revolution Messaging, a digital campaign consultant firm, criticized the anti-Obama spam as ?modern day push-polling.?

?These abuses threaten what is a very promising technology of text messaging for political engagement,? he told?Politico. ?People did not opt-in to receive these messages and ultimately end up having to pay the cost for this unwanted misinformation that appeared on their mobile phone.?

The messages also don?t seem to be well-targeted. Among the people who reported to have received them are hardcore Democrats, children and residents in non-battleground areas.

New York Times congressional correspondent Jonathan Weisman?s 13-year-old daughter was one of the recipients. She received the message: ?Obama denies protection to babies who survive abortions. Obama is just wrong.?

Weisman replied on Twitter, ?Hey sms@gopmessage.com, not cool texting my daughter your little hit piece. I?d like you to stop it.?

Follow Ugonna on Twitter at?@ugonnaokpalaoka

Source: http://thegrio.com/2012/10/31/cell-phones-spammed-with-anti-gay-anti-obama-messages/

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