Forbid Them and They Will Come

"These tragedies are the result of the tragic collateral damages of Italian and European policies, protecting borders and reducing safe and regular passage to Europe."

Maco Bertotto, director of programs, MSF (Medicines sans Frontiers)

"Desperation can never justify travelling in conditions that endanger the lives of their children."

Italian InteriorMinister Matteo Plantedosi   

 

"It is inhumane to exchange the lives of men, women and children for the price of the 'ticket' they paid in the false perspective of a safe journey,"

"The government is committed to preventing departures, and with them the unfolding of these tragedies, and will continue to do so."

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni 

Dozens of people managed to survive the boat's sinking   EPA

The latest migrant tragedy, a colossal loss of lives that may eventually tally well over a hundred in number of those who drowned is once again in the news. These are people gambling with their lives who assure themselves that the chances of their dying along with their family members are slight, reasoning that hundreds of thousands have made similar trips in the last decade and lived to flourish finding new lives in Europe. These are migrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran and Syria, Muslims attempting to escape the smothering poverty, violence and political-sectarian tribal antipathies of their culture and fellow Muslims.

People ardent in their religious conviction, quick to repeat that Islam is a religion of peace, one that enjoins its faithful to brotherly reception of other Muslims. Yet in these theocracies, dictatorships, tyrannies  and oil Sheikdoms Islam is practised as a governing control over peoples' lives, offering little in compensation for their constricted lives of bondage to governing bodies that make use of Islam as a torture chamber of the mind and body..

Those who prefer to escape the confines of their native lands and strike out for distant lands offering a future for themselves and their families as free and equal citizens envision a kinder world of opportunities attainable through the expedient of a dangerous undertaking, dependent on the professional paid assistance of human traffickers, seasoned in the enterprise of teaching migrants how to evade authorities and how to manipulate the public feelings of compassion to their advantage.

Bodies of the drowned are being recovered from the Mediterranean a day after a wood sailboat with a maximum of 50 spaces, where 200 people were on board taxing the craft to the limit in an unruly, storm-tossed sea. When the wooden ship hit shoals it collapsed and broke apart and passengers, inclusive of children, had little chance of survival. According to Pakistan's Prime Minister Sharif, over two dozen aboard were his citizens.

 

Rescuers recover a body at a beach near Cutro, southern Italy, after a migrant boat broke apart in rough seas, Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023. Rescue officials say dozens of migrants have died after their boat broke apart off southern Italy. Giuseppe Pipita/AP

Bodies were washed ashore adjacent to where their vessel sank near a seaside resort on the eastern coast of Calabria as the storm that destroyed the boat began to calm. In the nearby town of Crotone dozens of coffins were spaced in a sports hall prior to a funeral, with local people leaving flowers and candles, showing their respect for the dead. According to local authorities 80 survived the disaster of the 180 to 200 people who boarded the vessel as it left from Turkey.

Italy's current government is one where the elected leader campaigned on a promise to put a stop to he work of migrant rescue groups. Italy has been besieged over the years by hundreds of thousands of migrants reaching its islands and mainland shorelines in flight from conflict and endemic poverty. Central Americans, Haitians and Africans along with Arabs from the Middle East have flooded in similar numbers overland to reach Mexico, planning to cross into the United States where a similar ingress flow of migrants is occurring.

Since 2014 over 20,000 deaths have been registered by the United Nations Missing Migrants Project, in the central Mediterranean. 220 of those migrants died making the crossing in 2023 alone. Most of the boats setting out for Europe crowded with migrants who have paid handsomely for the privilege to flirt with death in their determination to reach Europe, depart from North Africa, but Turkey has seen an increasing number of departures in the past number of years; 15,000 in 2022.

The Calabria boat wreckage after departure from the Turkish port of Izmir occurred following an initial effort to reach the vessel before bad weather intervened. But the rescue effort failed and what is left is retrieval of all the missing, presumed to have drowned, the sea gradually giving up their bodies. Italian authorities have arrested three men, suspects of human smuggling who survived the collapsed boat.

The wreckage of a ship that was carrying migrants is seen on the beach as search and rescue operations continue in Crotone, Italy February 27, 2023. Valeria Ferraro/Anadolu Agency/Getty

Twitter On The Fly

"Nearly four months into Elon Musk's ownership of Twitter, one of the most influential social media websites has been transformed into a mercurial billionaire's personal sandbox."

"Twitter users knew the site would change under Musk, who purchased the company in October for US$44 billion and installed himself as CEO on a promise of restoring 'free speech."

"What many underestimated was the extent to which Musk would make wholesale changes with the potential to disrupt the experience across the site for his own benefit."

Faiz Siddiqui and Jeremy B. Merrill, San Francisco 

Elon Musk ordered employees to email him a summary of what their software code has “achieved” in the past six months, “along with up to 10 screenshots of the most salient lines of code."   Reuters

It was reported on Platformer that Twitter has undergone major algorithmic changes on Musk's orders. The result is that some users now see the tweets posted by Musk before any others. Evidently Elon Musk was concerned that his viewer engagement was in decline. This new fix ensured that Musk's tweets would be pushed to the top of many Tweeters' feeds.

According to a new feature that displays view counts rolled out late last year, Musk's tweets were driving massive engagement; over a billion views on December 18, as an example. The Twitter owner's tweets on a typical day in December were shown 231 million times. When that number dropped significantly in the new year that they were shown only 137 million times on a typical day the wealthiest man in the world was rather disturbed.

After all, if such immense wealth cannot buy focus loyalty, what can? Well, money can achieve miracles; from this week when his posts were artificially boosted he's back in business with around 400 million views per day. Musk, as many might be aware, and many might not care, is a prolific Twitterer. His healthy ego spurs him to tweet whatever's on his mind.

With close to 130 million followers, he has quite an admiring Twitter retinue, one of the most popular site users. When he expressed an interest in acquiring Twitter back in April of 2022, he stated his wish to restore 'free speech' and to solve the persistence of spam and bots. Several former Twitter employees with direct knowledge of his prioritized issues revealed that changes initiated by Musk frequently were geared to improving his own user experience.

His imperative clearly was to 'improve' his personal experience on the site. Since his takeover as CEO of the Twitter social media site major changes include several directly benefiting Musk, according to former employees ... with little potential upside for the legion of Twitter users. "Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying 'parody' will be permanently suspended'; a new policy posted by Musk on November 6.

"I remember people on our team thinking he's having a very personal experience unique to him on the platform."

"Our impression was just that he was describing his very specific experience as a Twitter users and Elon Musk is not a typical Twitter user."

Anony7mous former Twitter employee

While in Qatar for the World Cup Final, a policy banning the promotion of other social media sites on Twitter, such as Instagram was posted, along with prohibiting users from pushing links to competing sites like Mastadon. A swift backlash followed from those pointing out the new policy flouted free speech, Despite Musk's own stated conviction that it must be upheld. A day later, Musk backed down.

Then came a poll asking whether he should stand down as CEO of Twitter. Respondents voted yes in the majority, leading Musk to commit to finding a replacement. No clear candidate has yet emerged. Musk announced at an international summit he likely would require to the end of 2023 to find a successor in the Twitter CEO role.

“I think Elon Musk is a visionary. Almost singlehandedly, he’s changed the way Americans think about automobiles. I have a Tesla and love it."

 "That said, he’s been a terrible fit for Twitter. He appears to be making it up as he goes along.”

Stephen King, Horror novelist

Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images/Gotham/GC Images

Water: The Essential Nutrient

"In terms of research, we still know so little about how to eat, what to eat to be healthy, which supplements to take, which nutrients we need. It can be confusing."

"Dehydration is like a stressor for your body, so I see this as an immune challenge"

"If we are chronically dehydrated, the cells are always on alert, they're always reactive. So they neglect their physiological functions because they become engaged in trying to resolve the challenge."

"The thing about water is that it's an essential nutrient."

Marie-Eve Tremblay, associate professor, Canada research chair, neurobiology of aging and cognition, Institute of Aging and Lifelong Health, University of Victoria

A study from the NIH finds that adults who stay well-hydrated develop fewer chronic conditions, such as heart and lung disease, and live longer overall than those who don't drink enough fluids.Wladimir Bulgar / Science Photo Library/Getty Images Plus

Water is an absolute necessity. Water from any and all sources, including tea and coffee, the water content of the food we eat. Hydration is vital for metabolism, for cell and organ function, for brain function and for the immune system. Insufficient water in one's system makes it difficult for the body to maintain natural processes.

 

Lack of needed water results in low-grade inflammation linked to most diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's. New research on hydration indicates aging can be decelerated with proper liquid intake; diminishing the risk of developing chronic diseases and the extension of one's lifespan can be achieved through adequate water intake.

A definitive study emerged out of the Laboratory of Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, a division of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, in Maryland. There, researchers examined lifelong water restriction in mice, studying serum sodium, the concentration of sodium in the blood. Experimental mice with increased serum sodium levels -- more sodium, less water -- had shortened lifespans by six months, equal to 35 years of human life.

The most common factor increasing serum sodium is a decrease in body water content. Researchers focused on hydration for that very reason. Liquid intake from water, other liquids and from fruits and vegetables with high water content influences serum sodium. Hydration also results from food consumed in the human diet. 

The same researchers later began a study with human participants. "We calculated the biological ages of the study participants based on health markers", explained study author Natalia Dmitrieva. Blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol measures are biomarkers that measure how well kidneys and cardiovascular, respiratory, organs and immune systems are operating.

Those study participants identified with higher and faster-aging risk held a 64 percent elevated risk for chronic diseases like stroke, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, chronic lung disease, diabetes and dementia. Risk of disease, early death and accelerated aging was also higher in some participants with low serum sodium levels. A similar outcome can be attributed to certain health conditions and medications.

In Truth, There Are Consequences

"Michelle's stated desire to become transgender was never challenged and it was treated to the exclusion of her other serious mental health issues, closing the door to alternative treatment options."

"[The defendants] permitted Michelle to self-diagnose as transgender and prescribe her own treatment without providing a differential diagnosis or proposing alternative treatments."

"Michelle came to believe that her biological sex of female did not match her true gender identity of male."

"She further came to believe that this mismatch between her biological sex and gender identity was causing her feelings of depression, self-harming behaviour and unease in her body, a mental-health condition commonly known as gender dysphoria."

"However, as a result of what she read on the internet, she became convinced that she was a transgender man, and that once she embraced this new identity, her depression would subside." 

"Michelle has struggled to come to terms with the permanent changes from her hormone treatments and hysterectomy surgery have caused; a low voice, male-pattern balding, facial hair, an enlarged clitoris, a flat chest, and the inability to ever become pregnant."

"All of this has caused her to suffer from a worsening of her depression."

Statement of claim; legal suit,Ontario Provincial Court

Michelle Zacchigna, 34, of Orillia, Ont., when she was taking testosterone, left, and after she stopped, right. Photo by Courtesy of Michelle Zacchigna

Orillia, Ontario resident 34-year-old Michelle Zacchigna has launched a malpractise suit against no fewer than eight health professions. Included among them are doctors, psychologists, a psychotherapist, and a counsellor. The defendants operate out of a number of clinics and institutions in southern Ontario. Four of the defendants filed notices of intent to defend against the suit in Ontario Superior Court; statements of defence have yet to be filed.

 

"I've been under the impression that all medical malpractice suits are challenging. Doctors win the majority of cases in Canada", observed the women in conversation with news media. "It's very much a David and Goliath undertaking." 

Ms. Zacchigus narrates her early years of social difficulties forming relationships with fellow students in elementary school. She was often the subject of bullying at school. Which led her by age eleven to begin behaviours known as self-harming; cutting her arm with a knife as example, behaviours that carried forward into adulthood. At age 20 she attempted suicide and was referred for psychotherapy by her family doctor. She was treated for social anxiety and clinical depression.

None of which helped her out of her unhappy and depressed state. She dropped out of university as a result of her mental health decline. While she was in therapy she came across an online community focused on gender noncomformity. What she gleaned from the site was an insight into her dysphoria; the first indication she felt of having been born in the wrong body. Before this she had not identified as male.

"Michelle received these formal diagnoses for the first time nine years after she was formally referred to the [therapist] following her suicide attempt in 2008, and eight years after she first 'came out' as transgender in 2009."

"[The psychologist] did not analyze or consider whether Michelle met the diagnosis for gender dysphoria in her assessment reports."

Statement of claim for lawsuit

At this point she began attending a support group in Toronto for people thinking of gender transition. There a counsellor informed her of opportunities she could access to proceed through a medical transition and she was invited to apply for medical intervention in 2010. A recommendation letter written by the counsellor outlined a medical history failing to match fully her past medical history, according to the claim. Nor were alternatives recommended or encouragement to seek confirmation of her own diagnosis of gender dysphoria.

All this in a background where professional medical governing bodies, institutions such as school boards and dysphoria-counselling clinics have cautioned teachers, doctors, academic administrators, as well as friends, family members and even parents not to question people  -- including underage children -- convinced they are occupying incorrect genders and plan to transition to complete their journey through life in psychological comfort.

Her regular therapist recommended her for transition treatment, indicating that she was an 'ideal candidate for hormone therapy'. The supervising psychologist of the therapist supported the recommendations and at a Toronto health centre Ms. Zacchigna was prescribed testosterone hormone therapy following three appointments. The MD working out of the health centre then became her family physician.

"On or about November 20, 2020, Michelle began to question whether she had ever been transgender, or if she had ever met the criteria for gender dysphoria."

"Since that time, she has commenced a process of detransition toward living life as a woman again."

"The Defendants failed to investigate or failed to adequately investigate and/or confirm that Michelle's stated desire to transition to the male sex was rooted in a diagnosis of gender dysphoria resulting from other factors in Michelle's mental health including her history of clinical depression, anxiety, developmental disabilities, and social difficulties."

Statement of claim, lawsuit

According to the lawsuit claim neither her mental health nor counselling records were consulted; no screening "for any other mental health diagnoses or development disabilities" were considered. She underwent testosterone therapy for three or four years. Then, in 2012 her breasts were removed by a surgeon in Florida on the recommendation of her doctor; a procedure she paid for. She became 'disenchanted' with testosterone four years later. "She no longer cared about the ongoing masculinization of her body".

 

A psychologist diagnosed her in 2017 with several conditions, including attention defiicency, hyperactivity disorder, borderline personality, clinical depression, autism spectrum disorder, and traits of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the statement of claim. Her family doctor referred Ms. Zacchigna in 2017 to another doctor for possible hysterectomy surgery. A year later she underwent a partial hysterectomy. 

 

She now seeks $350,000 in general damages to compensate for pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life, as well as an undetermined amount for past and future loss of income, past and future medical treatment, along with other expenses and costs. It might seem to the casual onlooker that she could experience some difficulty persuading a judge and jury of the implication that she experienced 'loss of enjoyment' through a life fraught with psychic insecurity and unhappiness, much less loss of income.

Under current medical practise, patient insistence that they know best what they feel and how they feel and why they feel should be honoured. Doctors are pretty well forbidden from questioning the wisdom of choice of patients, suspected mental instability aside. In fact, mental instability might be viewed as par for the course for anyone seeking gender transition. Health professions committed to the concept of 'the patient knows best' have become enablers out of conviction.

“I will live the rest of my life without breasts, with a deepened voice and male-pattern balding, and without the ability to get pregnant. Removing my completely healthy uterus is my greatest regret,”

The Benefits to Schoolchildren of Immigration From Another Culture

"While [my son] was not suspended or in any form of trouble, he needed to be kept at home and to miss a day of education because the school was unsafe for him because he was at risk of violence by a number of students, many of whom are known to the administration for ongoing violent behaviour."

"The violence and chaos no longer affect  him. It used to be upsetting behaviour. Now it's a part of his everyday life."

"But when he gets home [from school], he's destroyed."

"My son will hit me, and he's not even particularly angry. It's just his first reaction, which he's never, ever, ever, been like that."

"He's four years  old! He hadn't heard that [swearing] before he went to school."

"Oh my God, I feel like a bad parent for sending him to school. I feel guilty sending my kid to school. How messed up is that?"

Mother's name withheld to protect her son

February 15, 2023 -- Vimy Ridge Public School portables. Photo by Jean Levac /Postmedia

"Every child deserves to be and feel physically and emotionally safe at school."

"[In future there will be class time devoted to] positive behaviour character traits and a focus on kindness."

"[School staff are] focused on building positive relationships and supporting children to develop strategies to resolve conflict between one another. [Personalized support will be offered to students with] concerning behaviour."

"[In the interim], any incidents of violence or bullying will be taken seriously and enforced following the full extent of the school's progressive discipline policy."

Ottawa-Carleton District School Board

"[The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario is conducting a survey among members about school violence, a concerning , pervasive and growing issue."

"Many school spaces are not safe, especially for those working on the front lines with students whose needs are not being met."

"We hope the data collected will finally convince the . . . government to take action to address the unacceptable and troubling rise of violence in schools."

"[More children are arriving at school with] dysregulated [behaviour]."

Elementary Teachers Federation, union president Karen Brown

Older residents of Ontario must be feeling relieved that they no longer have children in elementary, middle and high school in Ontario. Unfortunately, it's not just Ontario. School Boards and individual school administrations speak of 'progressive values' and 'progressive policies' while issuing boiler-plate statements that they have the best interests of their students at heart in this new kind of schooling experience. In particular the sentence: "Every child deserves to be and feel physically and emotionally safe at school" is meant to reassure parents.

Despite which, it fails to since, on the record, school administrators reproach any teacher who attempts to instill discipline in the classroom and to single out poorly behaving children for reprimands. These are children for whom social discipline is an unknown; it is not taught at home. It is, in short, a parental shortcoming that has been largely imported with the arrival of refugees, haven seekers and immigrants from many Islamic majority countries. Where law-breaking and violence appears to be endemic.

Elementary schools, high schools, and later street gangs echo the influence of Muslim offspring gravitating to lawlessness and disregard for civilized social mores. When crime reports appear in local newspapers, invariably readily-identifiable names linked to Arab or Muslim backgrounds loom disproportionately large. But to make that kind of observation is clearly leaving oneself open to charges of 'racism' and/or 'Islamophobia' and no one likes being labeled. 

 

It is not civilized to be 'intolerant', but apparently, to suffer assaults against civilized society is tolerable.

A mother revealing to her local news media outlet that her three-year-old child, happy to begin junior kindergarten began arriving home daily in tears. "It was to the point that he would get off the bus and he would just cry until he went to bed, like meltdown crying". The little boy pleaded not to be sent back to school where he felt terrorized. "The bad boys" hit him, he told his mother. Other students threw chairs around, stood on bookshelves to toss objects about. And he had become a punching bag.

The name of the elementary school? Vimy Ridge Public School in Ottawa, the nation's capital. In commemoration of an epic battle during World War I, for freedom and democracy. Another mother whose Grade 3 child attends the school spoke of his having been bullied for two years without cease, and instead of the situation improving, it is worsening. "I'm not saying he's an angel on Earth. These are boys, they can play fight."

But her son, she says, comes home with bruises on his nose and scratches on his face. He informed his mother of a recent incident when one student and his cousins ganged up on other children, asking them if they were Muslim. "[My son] came home and he said, 'yeah, mommy, I told them 'I'm Muslim, don't hit me'!" Yet another mother spoke of her son being targeted by groups of students bullying him and committing violence throughout the school year.

As she told it, a group of boys surrounded her son at recess, calling him names and hitting him. She sent an email to the school reportingt the incident, but the very next day her son was swarmed by a group again. The bullying and harassment has never stopped, she said. Raising her concerns with the principal, the vice-principal, superintendent and director has accomplished exactly nothing. Her son was 'jumped' by a student the day after she wrote the school, warning violence had been threatened against her son.

What is happening at this school is not, unfortunately, unique. The school board took the unusual step of closing Riverview Alternative elementary school in January for several days to enable staff to be trained on safety and strategies for instruction. A situation that reflects wider trends combined with aggravating factors like overcrowded classrooms and shortages of teaching staff.

Children's schoolwork is being ripped up by others and their personal supplies stolen. Some of the Vimy Ridge school's parents are actively seeking to transfer their children to another school. Sometimes switching their children's education to the Catholic board, or looking around for a private school to accommodate their child's education. 

Parents protest outside Vimy Ridge Public School to draw attention to their concerns about bullying, which they say is getting out of control. Feb. 13, 2023. (Peter Szperling/CTV News Ottawa)

Alberta Drug Harm Reduction

"There are people out here actively protesting against recovery . . ."

"That's just the craziest thing I've ever heard, and it just shows you how drug policy has been radicalized in North America."

Tom Wolf, drug recovery advocate, San Francisco based 

"We're saying that you can recover and there is a better life for you that you deserve and that we will be there for you."

"[We are providing increased funding for] harm reduction programs [in tandem with new treatment beds]."

"[Alberta is] indisputably [leading the country in addiction recovery]."

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith

"We support meeting people where they are at regarding their relationship with drugs, understanding that recovery can include resuming use after a period of abstinence."

Euan Thomson, safe supply activist, Calgary

"We are not against recovery ... But recovery can't be without accountability."

"We have to know what our dollars are buying and what we are getting for it."

"[Harm reduction likely would have saved my son's life]."

Petra Schulz, mother of man who died of an overdose during a relapse 

San Francisco-based recovery advocate Tom Wolf is pictured in this screenshot from a video documenting a protest outside the Alberta Recovery Conference. Wolf called it the "craziest thing he had ever seen." Photo by Twitter/Tom Wolf

A treatment-based alternative to 'safe supply' policies was under discussion at an addictions conference taking place in Alberta. Protesters gathered to accuse the conference of a far-rigjt, colonialist perspective promoting an enterprise geared to a solution to a dire problem, that the protesters insisted would end up killing people. Conference organizers and attendees were in disbelief that their program, meant to give drug addicts hope for a better future was being condemned in favour of 'safe supply'.

One conference participant posted a video to social media stating his disbelief. Tom Wolf has credited a drug-related jail sentence with giving him the impetus to take himself away from a life of homelessness and drug addiction, and to turn  his attention and energies instead to becoming a drug recovery advocate.

A mere dozen people gathered outside the Calgary Hyatt Regency Centre during the conference to protest, holding up signs such as "they talk we die", or "nice people take drugs" and another banner reading "support harm reduction". Small the gathering of protesters may have been but they were vociferously opposed to the drug recovery scheme being promoted and discussed at the conference.

Oregon county commissioner Ben West posted: "These people are actually protesting recovery models!" The conference represents a gathering of roughly 1,300 individuals convened at the Alberta Recovery Conference to discuss the Alberta Model, a treatment-based approach, with an end goal of assisting addicts to gain "a life free of illicit drugs".

This approach stands in sharp contrast to the addiction and overdose policy pursued throughout much of Canada, in particular in Alberta's next-door neighbour, British Columbia, where policy-makers have committed to harm reduction strategies with an emphasis on providing venues for safe supply and safe consumption in prevention of drug overdoses.

Speaking at the conference, the premier of Alberta lauded her province's support for the recovery values the conference was supporting. Alberta experienced a thousand fatalities from drug poisoning in 2022. Yet there has been a downward trend in drug-related deaths in the province. Contrasting with the sky-high deaths resulting from drug use in British Columbia. Alberta drug-related deaths in November had plunged a whopping 47 percent in comparison to a record high of the previous year.

 

The protest group considered themselves rallying for "Albertans who use drugs and their allies", calling for increased funding on safe consumption sites and at the same time to tighten oversight on "for profit" treatment centres. "Harm reduction and recovery go together, because dead people don't recover", one of their pamphlets read.

 

Conference participant Keith Humphreys posted a slide boasting that there was a "60 percent increase" in Alberta harm reduction spending, along with a "massive increase in Naloxone distribution". The conference itself saw mentions of harm reduction although the strategy was cited as a bridge toward detoxification and ultimately, abstinence.

Protesters rally outside the Hyatt Regency Hotel where the sixth annual Recovery Capital Conference was taking place on Tuesday, February 21, 2023. Protesters were calling for changes to addictions recovery programs in the province. Gavin Young/Postmedia

Earthquakes. Seismology, Core Detection

"We analyzed digital records of ground motion, known as seismograms from large earthquakes in the last decade."

"The latent heat released from solidifying the Earth's inner core drives the convection in the liquid outer core, generating Earth's geomagnetic field."

"Life on Earth is protected from harmful cosmic rays and wo9uld not be possible without such a magnetic field."

ThanhSon Pham, observational seismologist, Australian National University, Canberra

 

"I like to think about the inner core [of Earth] as a planet within the planet. Indeed, it is a solid ball, approximately the size of Pluto and a bit smaller than the moon."

"If we were somehow able to dismantle the Earth by removing its mantle and the liquid outer core, the inner core would appear shining like a star."

"Its temperature is estimated to be about, 5,500 to 6,000 degrees Celsius, similar to the sun's surface temperature."

Hrvoje Tkalcic, geophysicist, Australian National University 

Seismic waves have helped researchers to learn about the layers that comprise Earth’s solid centre. Credit: Maksym Yemelyanov/Alamy

An intensive study of Earth's deep interior was published on Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications. Researchers from the Australia National University based their study on the behaviour of seismic waves resulting from large earthquakes, confirming the presence of a distinct structure within Earth's inner core. Where an immensely heated innermost solid ball of iron and nickel exists, roughly 1,350 kilometres in width.

Earth's internal structure itself about 12,750 km, is comprised of four layers; a rocky crust on the exterior, a rocky mantle within, an outer core of magma and a solid inner core. The metallic inner core is about 2,440 km in width, discovered in the 1930s -- a discovery also based on seismic waves travelling through Earth.

Then in 2002m\, scientists proposed that within the inner core was an innermost section separated from all else, similar to a Ukrainian nesting doll. This discovery was enabled by the increasing sophistication of seismic monitoring. Seismic waves are unleashed by earthquakes, travelling through the planet; monitoring the waves can reveal interior contour structure based on the changing shape of the waves.

Up to the present, scientists detected these waves bouncing up from one side of Earth to the other and then back again. Waves from 200 quakes were studied in this newly published research, where quakes with magnitudes above 5.0 ricocheted up to five times within the planet. Enabling the discovery of the inner core's outer shell and confirmed innermost sphere, both sufficiently heated to become molten, but a solid iron-nickel alloy resulting from the immense pressure at the centre of the Earth rendering them to a solid state.

Researchers were able to differentiate the inner and innermost spheres and their solid core with the seismic waves acting differently between each. Slowly growing in size, the inner core is narrowing the outer core by solidifying molten materials as Earth continues its gradual cooling process, a continuation that began at its formation about 4.5 billion years ago.

"[The study is important because it offers a measurement of Earth’s innermost section that was very difficult to achieve.] It requires finding seismic waves recorded at very long distance and that are fairly weak in amplitude, and then enhancing the amplitude so that you could measure the wave speed in the very deep interior of the Earth."

Geophysicist Vernon Cormier, University of Connecticut

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In a new study, we’ve observed clues that distinguish the very deepest part of Earth’s core

Rediscovering the Ancient World of Civilization

"Important texts [and] ancient fragments [which may] change the way we think [about the world's first civilization could be found beneath the desert sands in Iraq]."

"There was one moment when we knew we  had something promising. We found a stone and the stone had an inscription."

"When we read the inscription it was King Gudea building a temple for the god Ningirsu and then the name of the temple, so we knew without a doubt this was the temple."

Sebastien Rey, British Museum

 

"The discovery of the lost palace and temple hold enormous potential for our understanding of this important civilization, shedding light on the past and informing the future."

Hartwig Fischer, director, British Museum

 

Ancient Sumerians lived in the first ever city that humanity created. This was a civilization that invented a system for numbering, and developed the first codes of law. Its ancient innovations impressed civilizations to follow, but the Sumerian culture and all artefacts associated with it sunk into oblivion. In 1877 a French archaeological team unearthed Girsu, a fabled ancient city which was thought to be a myth, for thousands of years.

 

Latterly, the British Museum fielded an archaeological team in an area described as the "cradle of civilization" the remnants of a lost city. Pursuing their work in southern Iraq, archaeologists discovered a palace dating back 4,500 years, of King Gudea in Tello, the ancient Sumerian city of Girsu.  Archaeologists are anticipating that further excavation could unearth cuneiform tablets with texts detailing daily life in t he city.

Image: Statue of King Gudea; dolerite; Tello, Iraq; 2130BC The Trustees of the British Museum

Hope is high that among the finds may be the lost tablets of a 4,000-year-old story, the Epic of Gilgamesh, a poem believed to have inspired some Biblical stories. And thus a scramble for artefacts from the culture that reigned from 4,500 BC to 1,900 BC. Girusu had been explored, then left abandoned for over a century. Thought is that some 100,000 tablets were taken from the site during the early excavations.

 

In 2015 an archaeological team from the British Museum began work sifting through the debris that the French had previously excavated. They discovered the remnants of the temple of the deity Ningirsu, the conclusion of a 150-year-old search for a lost holy of holies". 

The Epic of Gilgamesh is the story of the Mesopotamian warrior king, a slayer of demons until his companion died, prompting him to look for a source of immortality. His journeys brought him to Utnapishtim a man chosen by the gods to build a boat for survival of a flood meant to wipe out humanity.

The British Museum, Getty and the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage of Iraq formed a joint initiative to unearth and preserve antiquities from ancient Iraq. Initially launched by the U.K. government as a pilot in 2015 in response to the Islamic State destruction of heritage sites in Iraq and Syria.

Palmyra's Temple of Baalshamin, which was targeted by ISIS. Bernard Gagnon/Wikimedia Commons

 

 

A Tragic Misfortune of Alzheimer's Diagnosis in the Young

“He could not recall events from just one day prior or the places of his personal belongings. He also had difficulty reading and reacting. […] He could not remember whether he had eaten or not […] He was unable to complete his education and had to withdraw from high school, even though he had had an above-average academic performance before beginning to experience significant cognitive decline two years prior.”

Journal of Alzheimer's Disease

The young man started having difficulty concentrating in school, which soon progressed to significant memory impairment. Image credit: Burdun Iliya/Shutterstock.com

‘This is the youngest case ever reported to meet the diagnostic criteria for probable [Alzheimer’s disease] without recognized genetic mutations.’ 

"Exploring the mysteries of young people with Alzheimer's disease may become one of the most challenging scientific questions of the future."

Beijing Research Team

A 19-year-old has been diagnosed at a memory clinic in China as being the  youngest person ever to have presented with Alzheimer's disease. Capital Medical University's Xuanwu Hospital in Beijing neurologists explained that the patient's brain indiacted early symptoms of the neurodegenerative disease; among them memory loss, hippocampal atrophy and shrinkage. 

Other possible causes of cognitive decline were ruled out leading to the teen's diagnosis with early onset Alzheimer's. This most common form of dementia detected and diagnosed in the brain of a 19-year-old upsets the view long-established verity that the disease is associated with aging, and at the same time emphasizes a requirement for ongoing study in young people.

According to new data from Blue Cross Blue Shield, Alzheimer's diagnosis accelerated 200 percent between 2013 and 2017 among individuals between the ages of 30 and 64; the average age of early onset diagnosis considered to be 49 years old. Prevalence of the disease increases with age, with roughly five to six percent of people diagnosed developing characteristic symptoms prior to age 65, according to the Mayo Clinic.

 

 The teen began experiencing an inability to focus in class some two years prior to the consultation with the clinic. He experienced problems reading, remembering events from the day before, and would misplace his belongings as his cognitive ability deteriorated. Unable to complete homework, the teen soon became incapable of recalling whether he had eaten. His reaction to events lagged badly, leaving him little option but to leave his studies in high school.

A memory disorder was further confirmed resulting from an auditory and learning test, placing him far distant from his student peers in short- and long-term memory recall. A high concentration of p-tau181 was revealed when a sample of the adolescent patient's cerebrospinal fluid was tested. Mild hippocampal atrophy was recognized through a PET scan; both indications that led the study authors to diagnose him with "probable" Alzheimer's disease.

What's more, a genome sequence came up with no inherited gene mutations for the condition, typically seen in younger patients. And nor was there any family history of the disease. UK experts revealed 12 lifestyle factors that could slash a person's chances of dementia by up to 40 per cent, such as regular hearing checks, seven hours of sleep a night and more exercise.

 

Going Easy on Indigenous Offenders

"I've been in and out of this courtroom since I was twelve years old and it's not a good thing. I don't want to see my children having to be put through this circle of relapse and my recidivism."

"I've learned to calm my anger a little bit. I've learned to continue to work on myself a little bit spiritually. I've learned to look at where I come from and the person I'm supposed to be spiritually."

"And sometimes it's hard understanding what was done to my people and what continues to be done to our people as a whole."

Troy Wolfe, 34, habitual criminal, London, Ontario

"...You've given impassioned speeches to this court before. Judges in this court have heard from you before and ... nothing has happened."

"And so, I ask you this: what were you accomplishing when you drove two people with sledge hammers to Gordons Gold, allowed them to smash the [show]cases, take half-a-million-dollars' worth of jewellery and then escape?"

"What were  you accomplishing for you and your people at that point? What deep-rooted concerns were you dealing with?'

"That's an issue simply of greed. You didn't care who you hurt. You didn't care what happened to them. You wanted the money."

"You've been in what I would describe as a cyclical period of recidivism and reoffending. Every time you get out, you commit another offence."

Justice Bruce Thomas, regional senior justice, Superior Court, London Courtrooom

This 'from the heart' appeal from an Indigenous man who at age 34 had amassed a long list of law-breaking as a familiar figure to the local police force and to the justices serving the community has gone rather stale. The words and the purported passion behind them can no longer serve the purpose intended for them, since the speaker has time and again returned to his life of crime and the little speech, well rehearsed, is no longer of any interest as a screen for criminal activities. The real screen needless to say, is his aboriginal background; as such not much is expected of him. The invocation of 'his people's' travail has been trivialized to serve his purpose.

Those of aboriginal background never fail to remind authorities of that fact. In law and in practise it draws out sympathy. First Nations people in Canada have lived for hundreds of years under a\the oppressive condition of colonialism. Much like indigenous people all around the world. Life in Canada for indigenous people can be what they make of it; for too many, personal motivation is absent while for others it is a spur to a future where they intend to prosper. Mr. Wolfe is not one of the latter.

He spoke of having experienced a brutal childhood, lived in an atmosphere of addiction and alcoholism, the pall that residential schools are held to have cast over his community, the trauma involved in intergenerational relations; above all what he spoke of as the "racial genocide" of his people and "this DNA that we're born with". He informed the court that he has changed. While in prison he developed a curriculum for the assistance of Indigenous inmates to counteract the absent programming in a number of prisons he was committed to.

He was "at a good place in my life. I just wish you guys don't look at me as like a lost cause". Judge Thomas heard him out, then responded complimenting his articulate defense, saying "you put forward a firm understanding of the plight of Indigenous people and the issues of reconciliation that need to be before the court". However, said the judge further, he was glossing over his lack of commitment to what he has said was his changed outlook on life.

This charge and sentencing came in relation to a violent daytime robbery in 2019 when he drove two masked thugs to a jewellery store in northwest London. Equipped with sledge hammers, the thugs smashed show cases while a traumatized staff looked on as the two men finally left with the looted jewellery. In July Wolfe admitted to being the man behind the car's steering wheel, itself stolen at gunpoint. He drove those men to the store and acted as their lookout. The spoils were transferred to a van parked close by where they then drove to Oneida Nation of the Thames.

On the way, a police officer happened to recognize the van as one he associated with Wolfe, and he followed behind. All three men were arrested a short while later as they were wading into the Thames River. But for an earring back and a ring none of the looted valuables was ever recovered. A joint sentencing submission from the Crown and the defence for a seven year sentence found favour with Justice Thomas. Wolfe had already served 67 months awaiting trial in pre-sentencing custody. He now has 15 months left to serve in prison.

Justice Thomas ordered Wolfe to pay $162,500 within the following five years as restitution. One of the two men who snatched the jewellery was also ordered to pay a similar penalty. At age 34, said the judge, Wolfe should focus on doing whatever he can "to stay outside of the penitentiary, to stay outside the reformatory and be with your family and accomplish something". He was reminded of his children who were in the courtroom; it is his responsibility to change. 

 

"If you come back before this court, it only gets worse. So make that decision yourself, do what you have to do. It's not easy. At some point, you have to say 'It's on me now. I've got to do this for my family'."

Jonathan Juha, The London Free Press

Ethics? O Canada My Home And Native Land!

"Over the last five years and on several occasions, I have observed senior officials being unaware of their obligations and mistakenly making assumptions."

"Offers to provide training and educational sessions on a variety of topics have been offered to all federal parties and to regulatees, yet we continue to see a succession of mistakes that are largely attributable to the inability to recognize the need to seek consultation [with the Ethics Commission]."

"As a parliamentary secretary since 2015 and having served for several years on both the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics and the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, Mr. Fergus [veteran MP and parliamentary secretary] should be well versed on the functioning of both regimes and the importance of consulting the [Ethics] Office." 

"I am quite concerned that someone with the breadth of experience of Mr. Fergus would fail to recognize the possibility of a contravention."

"The Act has been there for 17 years, for God's sake, so maybe the time has come to do something different so that we don't keep repeating the same errors. After 17 years, maybe we should realize that something is not working."

"I don't think the crafters of the Act envisaged the situation where a prime minister would be found in breach himself. So it has created a very special situation. It's a funny situation to be in and it was not envisioned by the crafters, obviously."

Federal Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion, Ottawa

Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion, who has announced he will be leaving his post, says he has seen little evidence during his tenure that the federal government takes ethics seriously. Photo by Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press/File

"If the [Liberal] party disagrees with Trudeau, finds that he shouldn't be a serial violator, then they would remove him."

"If Trudeau is not going to hold himself accountable, and the party is not going to hold him accountable, well he kind of has to not hold them accountable in return."

"It's kind of a quid pro quo with his own party members. Trudeau's caucus failed the [ethics standard] system."

Ian Stedman, ethics law expert, associate professor, York University school of public policy and administration

After studying a concerning "succession of mistakes" from senior government officials who have a propensity to break ethics laws, the federal Commissioner of Ethics, Mario Dion, called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to order all his ministers and parliamentary secretaries to seek out additional ethics training. All of whom have been exposed in the past to such training. Before they even take their seats in Parliament, newly-elected Members of Parliament routinely receive a round of ethics training to ensure they are fit to sit in government as lawmakers.

Mr. Dion tabled a report finding that Liberal MP and parliamentary secretary to the prime minister, Greg Fergus broke ethics laws by contacting the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to influence the board to allow a small television company mandatory carriage in Quebec. Fergus is chair of the Parliamentary Black Caucus and sought to further the aspirations of a Black-owned company attempting to gain a significant windfall of revenue.

As MP Fergus well knows there is a clear prohibition under ethics laws for senior officials wishing to exert any form influence or pressure on a tribunal; that very issue is one repeated frequently in reports and public guidelines on the website of the Ethics Commission. The report the Ethics Commissioner released on this matter is the second in a three-month period where a Liberal MP was found by Mr. Dion in breach of ethics laws. International Trade Minister Mary Ng was reprimanded for her personal involvement in two contracts issued by her department to a company owned by her "close friend", a former Liberal staffer. 

Mr. Dion's predecessor prior to 2018 when he took the office, published a report that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau broke conflict of interest laws by accepting two flights from the Aga Khan (who petitions government) and vacationing with his family on the Aga Khan's sumptuous private island. Since then, Mr. Dion completed two dozen additional investigations into Liberal ministers (including the prime minister in two more occasions), MPs and top public servants and government agency administrators subject to the Conflict of Interest Act.

No fewer than five senior Liberals were found in violation of ethics laws, including Trudeau and the-hen Liberal Finance Minister. Over the period of his mandate as commissioner Dion's office gave 140 presentations on ethics and conflict of interest obligations to thousands of attendees, one third of those lectures Mr. Dion presented himself. "Giving a contract to a friend, I don't think you require much training to understand this isn't appropriate", commented Mr. Dion. "Something has to be done" to show they "are taking this seriously". 

The Conflict of Interest Act, points out Mr. Dion, states specifically that respecting that law represents a "condition of employment" for public office holders it applies to. In theory, anyone who breaches the act could lose their job if the individual at the top takes the Act seriously. "I don't think the crafters of the act envisaged the situation where a prime minister would be found in breach himself. So it has created a very special situation", added Mr. Dion.

"Twice already, Canada's conflict of interest and ethics commissioner, has found the prime minister violated ethics rules. The first occasion was in 2017, when former commissioner Mary Dawson ruled on Trudeau and his family accepting a vacation on the Aga Khan's private island in the Bahamas."

"The second occasion was just last year, when the current commissioner, Mario Dion, found that Trudeau had tried to influence then-justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to overrule a decision not to grant a deferred prosecution agreement to SNC-Lavalin."

"Dion already had announced he would be looking into the decision to grant the WE Charity a sole-sourced contract to administer the Canada Student Service Grant when the charity revealed it and its affiliates had paid the prime minister's mother and brother about $300,000 for speaking engagements over the last four years."

"When photos were published in the midst of the last campaign showing that Trudeau had worn blackface on multiple occasions before entering politics, there was enormous potential for a career-ending blow to the prime minister."

Éric Grenier · CBC News · Posted: Jul 12, 2020 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is under fire for his government's decision to award a contract to WE Charity, an organization with ties to himself and his family. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

Fated

"When  you come from a loving family and something like this comes, it destroys you. He [adoptive father] was my giant."

"How can something like that happen?"

"That really made me really torn. It tears something out of your body. It rips your heart out. This is your family."

“How do you have the wrong baby and give it to the parent? What happened at that time? It’s something I will never be able to explain. Obviously, it was a big, careless mistake.”

“I have met already some of my sisters and brothers. I need to get my identity back. I need to prove who I am.”

“I call him my brother [Beauvais]. Even though we are not brothers, we are brothers in a way.”

Edward Ambrose, 67, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Edward Ambrose holds up two picture frames. The picture in his left hand is a wedding photo of his 'bonded parents,' as he calls them. The pictures in his right hand are of his biological parents, who he never got to meet. (Gary Solilak/CBC)

 

"[It was a difficult childhood -- living with his siblings in a historically Metis community on the shores of Lake Manitoba -- but] seemed normal to us."

"All of a sudden I realized I'm not Native. That really upset me."

“The hardest time in my life, I think, is when I had to phone my two sisters … and tell them that I was not really their brother,"

“I felt as if something was taken away from me. I guess I fought for the right to be native. Whenever anyone teased me about it, I would fight them when I was a kid, and I was kind of proud to say I was native. And you don’t understand it until it’s taken away from you suddenly."

Richard Beauvais, 67, Sechelt, British Columbia

It's an old story, one that takes people by surprise, angers and upsets them, leaving them feeling that their world has turned inside out and they hardly know how to respond. Some do with dismay and bitterness, disbelief and self-pitying anguish. Some take it in stride, others are traumatized and forever changed. Their verities altered, they are no longer, they feel, who they thought they were. This happened to two men whose both sets of parents lived in Manitoba.

Their mothers gave birth to them at a municipally owned and operated hospital equipped with eight beds and cribs and four bassinets. The Arborg Medical Nursing Unit was located within the area now administered by the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority itself under the control and direction of the Manitoba Department of Health. But in 1956 when the men were born, the provincial health department was not responsible for the hospital.

And it was there that the babies were given into the care of the wrong families. Each set of parents took  home with them babies not their biological own, but a stranger's who just happened to give birth at the same time in the same nursing centre. And it is only now that each of those men discovered that switch that threatens the stability of their lives. One, Edward Ambrose, lives in Winnipeg, the other, Richard Beauvais in Sechelt, British Columbia, their sense of identity suspended.

Born June 28, 1955, neither man suspected they had been switched at birth. They had no reason at all to investigate the time and place they were born and whether their parents actually were their parents. Beauvais was recently given an at-home ancestry kit as a gift. When it was returned he was identified as having Ukrainian and Jewish genetic origins. This man who had been raised Metis, who had always believed himself Indigenous. As a youth he knew racism, and he was also sent to a residential day school.

He puzzled over the genetic results, discussed the situation with some of his relatives, then set it aside as an anomaly, inexplicable and of no real significance. And then Ambrose's sister made use of an at-home ancestry kit. Curiosity drives people to want to know about their distant past. To discover unexpected links. And she did. Her results revealed a brother living in British Columbia and she reached out. It just happened to be Beauvais.

Soon Ambrose's sister and Beauvais discovered that both men had been born the same day in the same small hospital. Ambrose was nonplussed and disbelieving. He and his sister decided on further testing, hoping to ease his mind. The conclusion was that further tests indicated they were not, after all, biological siblings. Had the two men not been switched, their life paths would have been completely different.

Beauvais explained that his father died while comparatively young leaving his mother to struggle to raise three children, himself and two siblings, in Saint Laurent, Manitoba. He recalls the difficulties of an impoverished childhood, scrubbing about in the local dump to find anything edible. He recalls being picked on by others and bullied because he was an Indigenous child. In time he and his siblings were taken into care.

Then came various foster homes until a family adopted him and that family represented his safe haven; their support was invaluable and continues to the present. He moved to British Columbia and became a commercial fisherman. He married and children followed. Pride in his Metis roots was shattered when he learned he was not Metis, leaving in his mind a profound sense of loss. He was loathe to tell his sisters that what they had believed all their lives just was not reality; they were not biologically related. 

 

Ambrose's story is fairly similar. His memories revolve around growing up in a farming community south of Arborg. His mother died in 1953 when he was 9 years of age, followed by his father's death when he was 12. He was placed with various relatives, and finally with a foster family that adopted him. As an adult, he married, became a father and lived his life. Now, he says, he's trying to explore the good that can come from the truth about his parentage.

Richard Beauvais, seen here with his wife, Sonja, says it was a shock to learn he was not Métis. (Submitted by Richard Beauvais)