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Friday, May 26, 2006

In February of 2006, the Savarino Services Construction Corp. proposed the construction of a seven million dollar hotel on Elmwood and Forest Avenues in Buffalo, New York. In order for the hotel to be built, at least five properties containing businesses and residents would have to be destroyed. It was not certain whether the properties were owned by Savarino or by the landlord Hans Mobius. The hotel was designed by Karl Frizlen of the Frizlen Group, and is planned to be a franchise of the Wyndham Hotels group.

Elmwood Avenue is known by the community as a popular shopping center, and Nancy Pollina of Don Apparel (who is “utterly against” the construction) claims it’s the only reason why students from Buffalo State College leave campus. Additionally, Michael Faust of Mondo Video said he did not want to “get kicked out of here [his video store property].”

In 1995, a Walgreens was proposed to be built on the same land, but Walgreens later withdrew its request for a variance because of pressure from the community. More recently, Pano Georgiadis tried to get the rights to demolish the Atwater House next to his restaurant on Elmwood Avenue, but was denied a permit due to the property’s historical value. He has since been an opponent to the hotel construction.

In the process of debating the hotel, it was thought that a hotel had previously existed on the proposed site, however; research done at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society had shown that no hotel had previously existed on the site.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

The fourth annual Maker Faire took place this past weekend at the San Mateo Fairground in San Mateo, California located in the United States. The first Maker Faire, which took place in 2006, had approximately 20,000 people in attendance. This year, more than 80,000 people were expected to attend; quadruple the attendance of just four years prior. On Saturday night, it was reported that attendance was up considerably over last year’s event.

Maker Faire, the self-declared “World’s Largest DIY Festival”, offers a forum where hundreds of makers and crafters alike man booths where they display their work. In the main halls alone, there were hundreds of booths. Outside the expo halls, the surrounding area was also filled with many interesting projects, some of which were mobile. In addition to all of the projects on display, there were a number of on-stage presentations. The biggest presentation of the weekend was given by Adam Savage who spoke on the topic of his “Colossal Failures”. During his talk, the Fiesta Hall was filled to capacity.

The theme for this year’s fair was “Remake: America” after President Obama‘s call to “begin again the work of remaking America”. In addition, “going green”, alternative fuel vehicles, crafting, steampunk and sciences for the young, were common themes found throughout the fair.

Monday, January 31, 2005

New York, USA — Students and professors at New York‘s Hamilton College have raised protests over an invitation to the controversial ethics professor, Ward Churchill, to participate in a panel at the college. The main objection is related to comments by Mr. Churchill, chairman of the ethnic studies from the University of Colorado, who in a paper written after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, compared the victims of the attack to “little Eichmanns“.

Churchill’s paper, entitled “Some People Push Back”, charges that all American citizens are complicit in the “genocide of 500,000 Iraqi children,” which he maintains occurred during the Gulf War as a direct result of military actions and the destruction of infrastructure and the water supply. Due to their inaction and empowerment of the American government, he compares American citizens to “Good Germans.” He also charges that the inhabitants of the targets of attack, namely the Pentagon and World Trade Center, have a dubious claim to the title “Innocent Civilians,” as the Pentagon was a military target and the WTC was home to many who he alleges profited from the Iraqi Genocide.

Administrators defended Professor Churchill’s appearance despite the fact that some considered his views repugnant and disparaging.

According to Hamilton College spokesman Michael DeBraggio: “Hamilton, like any institution committed to the free exchange of ideas, invites to its campus people of diverse opinions, often controversial.”

The University of Colorado’s Interim Chancellor Phil Distefano said in a statement:”I wish to make it clear that Professor Ward Churchill’s views of the events of 9/11 are his own and do not represent the views of University of Colorado faculty, staff, students, administration or Regents. While I may personally find his views offensive, I also must support his right as an American citizen to hold and express his views, no matter how repugnant, as guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution.”

The professor’s opinions divided New York’s Hamilton College, where Churchill is scheduled to speak. Jessica Miraglia, a student at Hamilton, created a poster defending the professor reading “You don’t have to agree with them in order to learn from them.”. Sophomore Matt Coppo, who lost his father in the World Trade Center attacks was angered over the invitation to Churchill. “Knowing that I’m paying for a person to disrespect my father, it doesn’t go over too well in my mind.”

Two congressmen from Colorado asked professor Churchill to apologize for comparing victims of the 9/11 World Trade Center attack to Nazis. Professor Churchill has said that he will not back off his statement.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

A robotic system at Stanford Medical Center was used to perform a laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery successfully with a theoretically similar rate of complications to that seen in standard operations. However, as there were only 10 people in the experimental group (and another 10 in the control group), this is not a statistically significant sample.

If this surgical procedure is as successful in large-scale studies, it may lead the way for the use of robotic surgery in even more delicate procedures, such as heart surgery. Note that this is not a fully automated system, as a human doctor controls the operation via remote control. Laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery is a treatment for obesity.

There were concerns that doctors, in the future, might only be trained in the remote control procedure. Ronald G. Latimer, M.D., of Santa Barbara, CA, warned “The fact that surgeons may have to open the patient or might actually need to revert to standard laparoscopic techniques demands that this basic training be a requirement before a robot is purchased. Robots do malfunction, so a backup system is imperative. We should not be seduced to buy this instrument to train surgeons if they are not able to do the primary operations themselves.”

There are precedents for just such a problem occurring. A previous “new technology”, the electrocardiogram (ECG), has lead to a lack of basic education on the older technology, the stethoscope. As a result, many heart conditions now go undiagnosed, especially in children and others who rarely undergo an ECG procedure.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

The Israeli Interior Ministry has announced today that 900 new housing units are slated to be built by Israeli officials at the Gilo settlement located in East Jerusalem.

A press release by the Interior Ministry read, “The planning and construction committee has authorised the construction of 900 housing units in the Gilo neighbourhood in Jerusalem.” Annexed after the 1967 war, East Jerusalem is what Palestinians still hope to make the capital of their future state. However, the current Israeli government has made claim to Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. “Jerusalem is Israel’s capital and will remain as such,” said government spokesman Mark Regev.

Earlier this month the Palestinian Authority insisted that all negotiations with Israel would be put permanently on hold until settlement expansion and home demolitions were halted. The UN reports that 1,500 home demolition orders in East Jerusalem are currently pending in Israeli courts. At least 600 Palestinians have been displaced from their homes in East Jerusalem since the beginning of this year. Nearly 500,000 Israelis live in more than 100 different settlements located in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

U.S envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, asked President Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel settlement expansion plans, however his request went unheeded. Settlement expansion has soured relations between the U.S and Israel, however Israel is still the largest recipient of U.S aid annually. Responding to requests by the U.S government that settlement expansion be halted Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said that he, “strongly objects to the American demand to halt construction in Jerusalem and will allow construction for Jews, Muslims, and Christians in any part of Jerusalem without prejudice. The demand to halt construction by religion is not legal in the United States or in any other free place in the world.”

Under international law building settlements in occupied territory is illegal. The UN has deemed Israeli settlements to be a violation of the Geneva Convention.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

The majority of radio stations in Somalia have stopped playing music after orders from Islamist militants, who claim that the songs are un-Islamic. The stations reported that they complied with the ban over fears for their life.

Before the forbiddance, which includes playing all music and jingles, thirteen of the fifteen stations played music. A radio station manager said “We are using other sounds such as gunfire, the noise of the vehicles and birds to link up our programmes.” Other controllers spoke about the fear of losing listeners and advertisers due to the bans.

A BBC reporter compared the militants ban to demands from the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Somali militants issued the order 10 days ago and all but two stations have stopped playing music. The only stations not in compliance with the ban are a government controlled station and a UN-funded station based in Kenya.

Pop music is popular in Somalia and the ban has been met with heavy criticism. Militants in certain parts of the country have previously banned the watching of films and football.

Since 1991, Somalia has had no functioning government, with militants controlling large parts of the country. The government, which is backed by UN funds and troops from the African Union, only control a small part of the capital city, Mogadishu.

Saturday, February 3, 2007

According to news reports from Turkey, a number of the members of the Turkish security forces, though unofficially, are treating Ogün Samast, the assassin of Hrant Dink as if he were a national hero.

For instance, after being taken into custody, Samast was filmed shoulder to shoulder with the Turkish police, in front of a Turkish flag and a quote from Turkey’s founder Atatürk: “The nation’s land is sacred. It cannot be left to fate.”

On January 24th, Ogün Samast was transferred to the Bayrampa?a prison, Istanbul’s largest prison. Before the transfer, inmates from a section of the prison were temporarily moved to another section, which, as a result, housed more than 100 inmates, 80 more than its maximum capacity. Then, the now-vacant section, often subject to inmates’ complaints regarding bedbugs, was cleaned and disinfected. Finally, the walls were painted, a brand new cotton bed was put in, and red carpet was laid out on the floors of the section.

When Samast was brought to the Bayrampa?a Prison, inmates witnessed that he was welcomed with cheers and applause by the jail management, soldiers, and the guards. Witnesses also report that Samast was given two guards to serve him. He ate kebab, a luxury food compared to the food given to other inmates.

After four days, Samast was transferred to the Kand?ra F-type Prison.

Ultra-nationalist elements of the Turkish society seem to have penetrated into the Turkish security forces. These events resulted major Turkish newspapers such as Sabah, Radikal, and Vatan to accuse the Turkish security forces and the Turkish state of supporting, endorsing, and cooperating with the killers of the journalist.

A 52 year old Turkish-Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink was assassinated in front of the Agos newspaper office, at the Istanbul district of Osmanbey, where he worked as the editor and a journalist. Dink, a brave journalist who was not afraid to discuss one of Turkey’s most controversial issues, clearly called what happened to Armenians in 1915 when the land was being governed by the Ottoman Empire the Armenian Genocide.

Following her father’s assassination, Dink’s daughter, referring to the fascist obsession with pure blood, said:

Large numbers of people marched protesting the killing of Hrant Dink on the day of his funeral, carrying placards that read “We are all Armenian” and “We are all Hrant Dink”.