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ajthefox

ajthefox

Posted
Posted
On 22/10/2016 at 17:43, Webbo said:

If you have an ancestor who died in WW1 or just want to check your surname to see if there any possible ancestors.

 

Everyman remembered.

98 with my surname, two who served in the Leicestershire regiment.

 

My mum does loads on Ancestry.com, she'll have a field day with this. Interesting stuff though I admit.

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ajthefox

ajthefox

Posted
Posted

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/dec/04/graduate-sues-oxford-university-1m-failure-first-faiz-siddiqui

 

Some bloke claiming damages against Oxford following 16 years of mediocrity.

 

If the teaching on your degree is shit then complain at the time and do something about it, don't wait 16 years and then try and claim your career was ruined because your education wasn't up to standard. Sounds to me like someone is bitter about their own past mistakes.

 

In any case, if he had that much potential and hasn't lived up to it he can't claim the sole reason is his university education. 

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Buce

Buce

Posted
Posted

Sesame Street introduces an autistic character:

 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/20/sesame-street-autistic-character-julia-children

 

"It is commonly held that kids can be cruel, but it’s not a phrase I have ever used, largely because I regard it as a spectacular understatement. Children can be, and frequently are, awful, vile, contemptible and vicious, along with many other things that I cannot put in a family newspaper.

I learned this from growing up with a brother who has autism. There were a few exceptions, but in the large part the children in our village were not equipped to understand or accept abnormal behaviour, and so resorted to mockery and imitation – behaviour that, thankfully, my brother’s severe disability precluded him from being hurt by, though that didn’t preclude me being affected by it.

They would imitate the hooting noises he made and flap their hands, and there were frequent slurs of “disabled”, “spaz” and “retard”. Even now, over a decade later, the use of the latter in casual conversation – often by otherwise kindly and affable people – feels like a punch in the gut.

 

The extent to which the discourse around autism has moved on even in the past decade is encouraging

 

My mother, who works as a supply teacher, tells me that things are much better these days, though there is no doubt that bullying continues. Children with autism and other special needs are treated with more kindness, she says, and accepted as part of the school community. No doubt this can partly be put down to an increase in diagnosis and awareness (one in 68 children in the US now has an autism spectrum disorder – ASD – diagnosis), but also, I think, the steady cultural acceptance that, in many aspects not limited to our brains, not everyone is born the same.

Which is why I am overjoyed that Sesame Street has introduced an autistic muppet, called Julia (who will be operated by a woman, Stacey Gordon, who has a son with autism). This has a personal resonance, because my brother adores the Muppets and Sesame Street, and I would have loved him when he was little to have been able to watch one of his favourite programmes and see aspects of himself reflected back.

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I cannot profess to read his mind, but I know him well enough to be aware that this was something he was actively seeking. We always suspected that his fondness for cartoon The Raggy Dolls lay in the fact that all the dolls are “defective” in some way, and live in a reject bin, which they sneak out of in order to have adventures. There’s Sad Sack, with his depression, Hi-Fi with his stammer, and Dotty with her spoiled clothes (not to mention Claude who is, er, French). “Don’t be scared if you don’t fit in,” the song went, “look who’s in the reject bin! It’s the Raggy Dolls, Raggy Dolls, dolls like you and me.”

The Raggy Dolls was a programme specifically designed to promote tolerance, kindness, and understanding of disabilities. In much the same way, Julia will not just help children with autism who watch it, but all children. It will help to enlighten them about specific behaviours. For instance, when Julia is introduced to Big Bird, she ignores him. He is upset, until the other Muppets explain that she just does things a little differently. Similarly, she jumps up and down when she is excited, but instead of excluding her the other children incorporate it into their games.

Sesame Street's Count von Count and the lack of foreign voices on children's TV

The vampire’s Transylvanian accent is one of few on American kids’ shows, despite millions of second-generation immigrants. Mona Chalabi explores why

 

Read more

The extent to which the discourse around autism has moved on even in the past decade is encouraging. When my brother was diagnosed, I was given a cheap illustrated pamphlet designed for the siblings of children with autism. Now there is a whole genre of books dedicated to explaining autism to children (and making those with ASD feel less alone), from Jasper and the Magpie to Everybody is Different, My Brother Charlie and I See Things Differently. You may note that many of these books have male characters, and much of the cultural conversation around autism ignores the (hugely under-diagnosed) girls who have it. So a female Sesame Street character with autism is a wonderful thing.

We still have a long way to go when it comes to autism understanding and acceptance, and getting to people when they are young will help avoid the kind of bullying that autistic people can suffer (a US-based 2012 study found that 63% of children with ASD had been bullied, and were victims three times more frequently than their non-autistic siblings).

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Autistic children and adults are in many ways ripe targets for bullies, because their difficulties picking up on social cues, coupled with the strength of their emotional reactions, makes many of them easy to aggravate. Fear is another factor – those with no experience of people with special needs will pass that ignorance down to their children.

But I am hopeful. As workplaces become increasingly open-minded to the benefits of neurodiversity – the BBC and GCHQ being noted frontrunners – the hope is that acceptance of brain differences will trickle down to children, too. “Our message is that individuals aren’t weird, they are just part of a neurodiverse spectrum upon which we all sit,” said Leena Haque, of the BBC’s neurodiversity programme Project Cape.

Bravo to Sesame Street for echoing those sentiments and bringing them to a new generation of children. I can’t wait to introduce my brother to Julia".

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Bellend Sebastian

Bellend Sebastian

Posted
Posted

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/apr/03/banksy-of-punctuation-puts-full-stop-bad-grammar-bristol

 

I fully endorse this man's reckless antics.

 

I saw a story the other day (about people who want to bring back Imperial measurements, naturally) where a market trader had a sign that referred to 'Today's deal', but for no reason at all he'd got the quotation marks around the first word only. Needless to say, I was furious - every bit as livid as those wanting to bin decimalisation, and bring back Florins or whatever it is they're demanding.

 

Superfluous apostrophe's (spot my crazy joke there) are bad enough but putting things in quotation marks that aren't quotes is a crime that's surely up there with murder

 

 

 

 

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Webbo

Webbo

Posted
Posted

Chhattisgarh: News anchor learns of husband’s death while reading live bulletin, finishes telecast

 

Supreet Kaur, 28, began reading news from across Chhattisgarh at 10 am as usual on Saturday. About 15 minutes into the bulletin, she broke news about a car accident in Mahasamund that had left three dead. Kaur spoke to a local reporter who gave more details but no names. Soon she learnt that she was reading news live about her husband’s death. Kaur kept her composure and continued the bulletin on IBC 24 for at least 10 minute. She broke down once the cameras were off.

 

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/chhattisgarh-news-anchor-learns-of-husbands-death-while-reading-live-bulletin-maintains-composure-4605203/

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MC Prussian

MC Prussian

Posted
Posted (edited)

Doubts have arisen over the credibility of the "White Helmets" movement operating in Syria. Allegedly, this NGO dies in fact receive state funding by many Western countries, Japan plus the US AND has been accused of stageing rescue attempts and successful missions in the war zones:

http://theindicter.com/statement-by-swedish-doctors-for-human-rights-on-misrepresentations-referred-in-veterans-today-article-on-white-helmets/

 

http://www.globalresearch.ca/fake-news-alert-cnn-finally-admits-white-helmets-staged-fake-video/5559164

 

Edited by MC Prussian
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Mike Oxlong

Mike Oxlong

Posted
Posted

Hi Jeff :wave: 

 

 

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos asks how to give away money

The Amazon founder approaches Bill Gates in terms of net worth - but he lags far behind in philanthropic spending.

14:57, UK,Friday 16 June 2017

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos
Image:Jeff Bezos is the second richest man in the world 
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The billionaire founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, has asked people on Twitter to help him with ideas for philanthropy.

The Amazon founder is on track to be richer than Bill Gates, who is by far the most famous technology billionaire philanthropist.

But the second richest man in the world seemingly wants to out-compete the Microsoft founder's charitable activities too.

Mr Bezos said on Twitter he wanted his "philanthropy strategy" to be "the opposite of how I mostly spend my time - working on the long term" but rather one which focused on "the right now".

In the tweet, he cited the work of Mary's Place, an organisation which supports homeless women, children and families in Seattle, where Amazon is based.

Jeff Bezos asked Twitter to suggest targets for his charity
Image:Mr Bezos asked Twitter to suggest targets for his charity

"I want much of my philanthropic activity to be helping people in the here and now - short term - at the intersection of urgent need and lasting impact," he said.

"If you have ideas, just reply to this tweet with the idea."

There have been more than 17,000 responses to that tweet.

Mr Bezos recently stumbled in his sprint to overcome Mr Gates as the world's richest man when his company's share price fell more then 3%, wiping $2.6bn (£2bn) off his net worth.

Despite momentarily becoming the world's third richest man, Mr Bezos' net worth has now recovered to $82.8bn (£64.8bn) - keeping him ahead of Spanish clothing tycoon Amancio Ortega at $81.5bn (£63.8), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

He remains considerably short of Mr Gates' enormous $89.4bn (£70bn) net worth.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the largest philanthropic organisations in the world.

It was founded in 2000 and had an endowment of over $44bn (£34.4bn) at the end of the 2014 calendar year.

The foundation has promised to spend all of its resources within 20 years of both of the Gates' deaths.

The New York Times claimed that Mr Bezos started asking for ideas about philanthropy after it enquired about his charitable activities.

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Innovindil

Innovindil

Posted
Posted
16 hours ago, Mike Oxlong said:

Hi Jeff :wave: 

 

 

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos asks how to give away money

The Amazon founder approaches Bill Gates in terms of net worth - but he lags far behind in philanthropic spending.

14:57, UK,Friday 16 June 2017

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos
Image:Jeff Bezos is the second richest man in the world 
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  

The billionaire founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, has asked people on Twitter to help him with ideas for philanthropy.

The Amazon founder is on track to be richer than Bill Gates, who is by far the most famous technology billionaire philanthropist.

But the second richest man in the world seemingly wants to out-compete the Microsoft founder's charitable activities too.

Mr Bezos said on Twitter he wanted his "philanthropy strategy" to be "the opposite of how I mostly spend my time - working on the long term" but rather one which focused on "the right now".

In the tweet, he cited the work of Mary's Place, an organisation which supports homeless women, children and families in Seattle, where Amazon is based.

Jeff Bezos asked Twitter to suggest targets for his charity
Image:Mr Bezos asked Twitter to suggest targets for his charity

"I want much of my philanthropic activity to be helping people in the here and now - short term - at the intersection of urgent need and lasting impact," he said.

"If you have ideas, just reply to this tweet with the idea."

There have been more than 17,000 responses to that tweet.

Mr Bezos recently stumbled in his sprint to overcome Mr Gates as the world's richest man when his company's share price fell more then 3%, wiping $2.6bn (£2bn) off his net worth.

Despite momentarily becoming the world's third richest man, Mr Bezos' net worth has now recovered to $82.8bn (£64.8bn) - keeping him ahead of Spanish clothing tycoon Amancio Ortega at $81.5bn (£63.8), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

He remains considerably short of Mr Gates' enormous $89.4bn (£70bn) net worth.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the largest philanthropic organisations in the world.

It was founded in 2000 and had an endowment of over $44bn (£34.4bn) at the end of the 2014 calendar year.

The foundation has promised to spend all of its resources within 20 years of both of the Gates' deaths.

The New York Times claimed that Mr Bezos started asking for ideas about philanthropy after it enquired about his charitable activities.

The world needs more people like Bill Gates and his wife, some of the work they have done is nothing short of incredible. 

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David Guiza

David Guiza

Posted
Posted

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-40886600 - as somebody whom has lost a friend waiting for an organ this is great news. As a vegan/veggie i'm a little apprehensive/weirded out, but I think it's very much a case of positives outweighing the negatives. 

 

If more people were willing to sign up as donors and/or the UK adopted an opt out system then it perhaps wouldn't be necessary anyway. 

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Buce

Buce

Posted
Posted
On ‎11‎/‎08‎/‎2017 at 12:43, David Guiza said:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-40886600 - as somebody whom has lost a friend waiting for an organ this is great news. As a vegan/veggie i'm a little apprehensive/weirded out, but I think it's very much a case of positives outweighing the negatives. 

 

If more people were willing to sign up as donors and/or the UK adopted an opt out system then it perhaps wouldn't be necessary anyway. 

 

Completely immoral.

 

I'm sorry you lost a friend but I don't see how you square this with having vegan values; I can only assume your loss has clouded your judgement.

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Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Buce said:

 

Completely immoral.

 

I'm sorry you lost a friend but I don't see how you square this with having vegan values; I can only assume your loss has clouded your judgement.

This definitely doesn't seem like something vegans would be cheering on i the forms it suggests here - producing pigs to then be slaughtered for their organs for use as donor organs into humans. I wonder if they could skip forward to just produce the organs themselves using stem cells and still have them without the viruses? They're clearly getting towards somewhere useful here. I guess I sit on the fence if they can't get beyond making full animals. 

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Carl the Llama

Carl the Llama

Posted
Posted (edited)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40936334

lol Yeah definitely anti-semitism and not the broken English of a non-native anglophone directly addressing a failure to comply with the hotel's rules.


The best bit is 

Quote

 

Correspondents say the instruction to Jewish guests to have a shower touches raw nerves about the Holocaust, because Nazi death camp guards sent Jews to "showers" that were actually gas chambers

 

because that's definitely the message the person was trying to send.  Talk about your PC overload lol 

 

About the only thing you can criticise is that they singled out the people breaking the rules instead of either addressing the matter face to face or making the notice more general.  Jesus Christ.

Edited by Carl the Llama
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