Stuart Jeanne Bramhall's Blog: The Most Revolutionary Act , page 1139

Seismic Cement: Economical Earthquake Retrofitting

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According to Vancouver’s  straight.com, University of British Columbia researchers have developed a type of earthquake-resistant concrete that enables builders to quake proof really cheaply by sprayed them with a 10 millimeter thick (a little over 1/4 inch) coating of seismic concrete. Preliminary tests reveal that eco-friendly ductile cementitious composite (EDCC) is strong enough to protect vulnerable buildings against seismic shocks as strong as the magnitude 9.0 earthquake that hit Tohoku, Japan, in 2011.

EDCC is described as a mixture of “cement with polymer-based fibres, flyash and other industrial additives, making it highly sustainable”.

According to UBC researchers, by replacing nearly 70 per cent of the cement in the concrete, with flyash,* it’s possible to greatly reduce the amount of carbon emissions released. Typically the production of one ton of cement releases almost a ton of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

This new technology will be a great boon in earthquake prone New Zealand – where many communities are tearing down historic brick and stone buildings because conventional earthquake retrofitting is so expensive.

Read more at  straight.com

*Flyash is a byproduct from burning pulverized coal in electric power generating plant.

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The Effect of Climate Change on US Prisons

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The cruel effect of climate change on US prisoners.

Moorbey'z Blog

What does climate change mean for a country with 2 million prisoners?

In some ways, incarcerated people are on the front lines, exposed to ever-higher temperatures — the heat index has hit 150 degrees in one prison — without air-conditioning in their cells. In Texas, at least 20 prisoners have died from heat stroke, and some of their families are suing the state for failing to protect them. This had been reported widely in local media, but the same issues have been showing up across the country, and we sensed that the American public might want to hear the story, too.

We traveled to Texas with producer Abby Ellis of Divided Films, covering hundreds of miles around the state to film people and places that capture the effects of rising temperatures, the debate over whether to air-condition prisons, and the story of a family for whom it was too late.

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Shell Buys Electric Vehicle Charging Firm

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 According to Green Car Reports, Royal Dutch Shell is safeguarding future profits by acquiring NewMotion, a Dutch electric-car charging station firm with more than 30,000 electric-car charging stations across Europe. The company specializes in converting normal parking spaces into charging points for electric cars.

In the past year, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, and France have all laid out plans to phase out the internal-combustion engine by no later than 2040. The regulations hit home for European oil producers Shell and BP more than Exxon or Chevron, both U.S.-based companies.

Shell is predicting global oil demand could peak by 2020. This is consistent with most studies predicting it will peak sometime within the next 5-15 years.

Read more: Green Car Reports

 

 

Hidden History: When Muslims Ruled in Europe

When the Moors Rules in Europe

Bettany Hughes (2011)

Film Review

When the Moors Ruled in Europe corrects many common misconceptions about Muslim rule in Spain between 711 and 1492 AD. Historical and archeological evidence contradicts the prevailing belief that this 700 year rule represented a violent military occupation. At the time Muslim Berbers from North Africa invaded Spain, the Christian/Visigoth cities were collapsing into chaotic anarchy – all the evidence suggests the inhabitants welcomed the Berbers for the security they provided.

Owing to its favorable climate, Spain quickly became the primary agricultural hub for a Muslim Empire that extended from North Africa to the Chinese border. After introducing irrigation, Muslim rulers also introduced citrus, avocado and other exotic crops which quickly spread across Europe. Owing to a faith committed to learning, the Moors also introduced universal literacy (in contrast to the rest of Europe where only clerical elites were taught to read). They also introduced advanced architecture, modern medicine, astronomy, Arabic numerals*, algebra, geometry and classical Greek philosophers which the Catholic church had banned in the rest of Europe.

During the 12th century, scholars from all over Europe flocked to the great libraries at Toledo to translate (into Latin) classical Greek and Arabic texts. These scholars would introduce a new approach to knowledge, based on rational inquiry, that would inspire the founding of prestigious universities at Oxford, Paris and elsewhere.

Christian Armies Retake Spain and Launch the Spanish Inquisition

Inspired by the Crusades to the Holy Lands, during the 12th century, Christian armies from northern Spain began slowly retaking Moorish cities from their Muslim rules. By 1250, only Grenada at the southern tip of Spain remained under Muslim rule.

In 1469, Isabella, Queen of Castille, married her second cousin Ferdinand, who was king of Aragon. In 1492, a siege which had begun 100 years earlier was successful and they seized Grenada to unify Spain.

Soon afterwards they launched the Spanish Inquisition to arrest, torture and kill Muslims, Jews and Christian heretics suspected of not practicing the “true” Catholic faith. Initially Muslims (who were mainly ethnic Spaniards) were offered the option of conversion. However in 1609, 300,000 were forcibly removed Most resettled in North Africa.

The Inquisition also burned more than a million Muslim texts.

*Arabic numerals also made multiplication and division possible – both are virtually impossible with Roman numerals. It was also via Spain that numerous Arab terms for scientific concepts were introduced into English and other European languages (eg al-cohol, al-gebra, al-gorithm, al-chemy).

The Black Panther Party Was Founded on This Day in 1966: Here’s What We Don’t Learn About the Black Panther Party in Our Schools — but Should

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If US textbooks mention the Black Panther Party at all, they erroneously associate them with violence and black separatism.

Rethinking Schools

By Adam Sanchez and Jesse Hagopian

On Monday April 1, 1967 “George Dowell and several neighbors from North Richmond, California . . . heard 10 gunshots. Sometime after 5:00 a.m., George came upon his older brother Denzil Dowell lying in the street, shot in the back and head. Police from the county sheriff’s department were there, but no ambulance had been called. . . . [The] sheriff’s office reported that deputy sheriffs Mel Brunkhorst and Kenneth Gibson had arrived at the scene at 4:50 a.m. on a tip from an unidentified caller about a burglary in progress. They claimed that when they arrived, Denzil Dowell and another man ran from the back of a liquor store and refused to stop when ordered to halt. Brunkhorst fired one blast from a shotgun, striking Dowell and killing him. . . .

For the Dowells, the official explanation did not add up, and…

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The Rebirth of Catalan: How a Once-Banned Language is Thriving

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Attempts to suppress the Catalan language date back centuries but intensified under Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. Catalans my age were forbidden to speak it in school.

Mining Awareness +

From “The Conversation”:

The rebirth of Catalan: how a once-banned language is thriving

Irene Boada, Queen’s University Belfast

Barcelona is one of the best-known cities in the world, yet visitors expecting to practice their Spanish can often be surprised when they hear Catalan spoken in the streets. The language has had a troubled history, but is a key marker of identity in Catalonia, a region where many hope for independence from Spain. The outcome of regional elections on September 27 means the current Catalan president Artur Mas may now seek to declare independence.

Attempts to suppress the Catalan language and culture have deep historical roots but were intensified during the era of Francisco Franco. The dictator banned the Catalan language from public spaces and made Spanish the sole language of public life.

Lluis Companys, leader of Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War.
Wikimedia

For 40 years under the…

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Mumia Abu Jamal on Puerto Rico: ’A colony by any name’

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Puerto Ricans are colonial subjects of the US empire.

On Christopher Columbus’s second voyage to what was called the West Indies, he visited Puerto Rico, called Boriquen by the native Arawaks dwelling on the island.

Columbus docked in November, 1493, and with him came the force and greed of the Spanish Empire. For four centuries Spain brought imperial exploitation, slavery, repression and death to the Arawak, and in their place arose a new people: the mixture of southern Europeans from Spain, the remnant of Indians, and Africans.

After the U.S. pushed a weakened Spain out of Cuba, it seized Puerto Rico as well.

From that seizure in 1898 by the U.S., until today, Puerto Rico has been an American property, under the U.S. government’s thumb.

Did you know that Puerto Ricans can’t vote for president? That they on the island can’t vote in general elections?

They fight in every American wars–and die in every conflict.

When U.S. businesses open…

Women Will Not Be Silenced

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As discussions rage about sexual harassment, it is women who will lead the conversation – not misogynists.

The UK political magazine empowering young people

As discussions rage about sexual harassment, it is women who will lead the conversation – not misogynists.

Women are treated as second class citizens on this planet and the majority of us are, quite frankly sick, of it. Whilst Harvey Weinstein is apparently “seeking treatment”, it’s set the world alight with sexual harassment discussions. From Donna Karen victim blaming the women accusing Weinstein, to Lindsay Lohan defending him because “He’s never harmed me or did anything to me”, it seems everyone has an opinion.

The case came to a head recently when Rose McGowan had her Twitter account suspended after tweeting “Ben Affleck fuck off” followed by “@benaffleck “GODDAMNIT! I TOLD HIM TO STOP DOING THAT” you said that to my face. The press conf I was made to go to after assault. You lie.”. This is while the president of America is allowed to tweet such sentences as “Truly weird…

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Flu Vaccines in Pregnancy and Childhood: What You Need to Know

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Receiving flu vaccines (in pregnancy and childhood) may result in mercury exposures exceeding the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommended maximum levels.

peoples trust toronto

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Download and print our flu vaccine brochure. Share with your family, friends, doctors and community leaders.

Visit our flu vaccine web page. It’s full of flu facts to help you make informed decisions about your family’s healthcare.

You want to do everything right for your child, and would never knowingly allow someone to inject a neurotoxin into your infant. Before getting a flu shot, you need to know this: MERCURY is a NEUROTOXIN.

What You Need to Know

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns pregnant women and young children not to eat fish containing high levels of methylmercury. Yet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends pregnant women and infants get influenza vaccines, many of which contain ethylmercury from the preservative thimerosal. Receiving them may result in mercury exposures exceeding the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommended maximum levels.

World Mercury Project is deeply concerned…

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The Obscenity of Child Homelessness

Eviction: the Hidden Homeless

The Vision (2010)

Film Review

This documentary studies the devastating effect of homelessness on children. It profiles two British working class families caught between the high cost of housing and hopelessly bureaucratic social services. In both families the father is the bread winner – in one case a bus driver and the other a landscaper.

When the families suddenly become homeless, they are placed in a bed and breakfast, at enormous cost to the local authorities responsible for housing them. This approach – placing families in hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation – is obviously very costly and significantly reduces the number of families local authorities can help. One of the families profiled must compete with hundreds of other homeless families in an on-line lottery for public housing units.

The film emphasizes the horrendous stress homelessness places on children. Besides missing out on regular nutritious meals (due to lack of cooking facilities), frequent placement changes causes them to miss a lot of school. Those who manage to attend face stigma, bullying and deteriorating achievement. Homeless children, on average, miss eleven weeks of school. A single episode of homelessness doubles the odds that a student won’t complete secondary school.

Above all, homeless kids face the continual threat they will be referred to child protective services and be removed from their parents’ care.

The documentary also poignantly depicts the cruelty of one housing bureaucracy when it rules ones of the families as “intentionally homeless,” after the department responsible for their housing subsidy misses the payment deadline to the department that collects their council house rent. This label –  “intentionally homeless” – automatically disqualifies the family for government subsidized housing.