Saturday, June 20, 2009
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Audio Wikinews News Brief for June 20, 2009 |
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Friday, December 30, 2005
The Australian Centre for Languages, a company which has a multi-million dollar contract with the Australian government to provide refugee services, has been accused of breaching its duty of care following the death of a chronically ill child and allegations of failing to provide three women in their care with food.
Monday, June 14, 2010
A stampede in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi has killed at least five people and left at least 79 more wounded, reports say.
The incident occurred at a church rally, led by Christian leaders voicing their opposition to a new constitution to be voted on in a referendum later this summer, primarily because it is to include a clause for abortion.
A petrol bomb apparently was thrown into the crowd as the rally was drawing to a close at dusk, prompting panic as people tried to flee. Some witness reports suggest there were two individual blasts. According to police, the explosions were not large and didn’t leave any damage.
Kenyan prime minister Raila Odinga was present at the scene of the disaster. He commented on the incident, saying: “It is a very, very regrettable incident, and this incident is condemned in the strongest terms possible. We don’t know as yet the cause of this incident.”
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for detonating the bomb. Spokesman for Kenyan police Eric Kiraithe said that “[i]t is very, very much too early to say who is responsible. Our investigations have begun, and in due course the culprits will be found.”
Friday, September 26, 2008
On October 14, 2008, Canadians will be heading to the polls for the federal election. New Democratic Party candidate Max Lombardi is standing for election in the riding of Cambridge. Lombardi is an information technology specialist who has lived in Cambridge for 25 years.
Held since 2004 by Conservative Gary Goodyear, the riding of Cambridge includes the city of Cambridge, Ontario and the Township of North Dumfries, Ontario. Also running in the riding are Gord Zeilstra (Liberal) and Scott Cosman (Green).
Wikinews contacted Max Lombardi, to talk about the issues facing Canadians, and what they and their party would do to address them. Wikinews is in the process of contacting every candidate, in every riding across the country, no matter their political stripe. All interviews are conducted over e-mail, and interviews are published unedited, allowing candidates to impart their full message to our readers, uninterrupted.
For more information, visit the campaign’s official website, listed below.
By Chris McCombs
Sugar has a powerful ability to frustrate dieters. The more sugar you consume, the more insulin your body produces. And the more insulin your body produces, the harder it is to burn fat. And sugar is an insidious creature, because it doesn’t just pop up where you might expect it, like candy and soda. It can also appear in foods with refined carbohydrates, like bread and pasta. So if you get sugar from practically everything you eat, how can you possibly avoid
1. Get More Vinegar When You Can
Some studies have suggested that consuming vinegar actually reduces the amount of glucose you absorb from refined carbohydrates. An acid that appears in vinegar might actually help break down the sugar before it gets to your bloodstream. It can also be a powerful appetite suppressant. So where should get this vinegar from? You can add vinaigrette dressing to your salad. Or you can eat pickles or other pickled vegetables. Or you just ask for vinegar on your sub at the sandwich shop.
2. Eat More Fiber
Fiber has also shown to cut down on the amount of glucose you get from carbs. You probably get the most sugar reducing benefit if you eat soluble fiber, that is, fiber that can form a gel when combined with a liquid. Sources of soluble fiber include carrots, apples, oranges, nuts, and peas. Soluble fiber has a major health benefit as well. It can reduce your bad cholesterol, therefore keeping your arteries free and clear and keep your heart healthy.
3. Weight Train
This one is a must if you expect to lose weight for a number of reasons, one of them being that pumping weights can help you regulate your glucose intake. If you do your resistance training first thing in the morning, how your blood glucose will be affected by the sugary foods you eat will be reduced by up to fifteen percent throughout the day. This is probably because working out takes a lot of energy out of your muscles, and one of those forms of energy comes in the form of stored glucose. So the next time you eat sugar, your muscles absorb it to get their energy back for the next workout. This is one of the many reasons why working out helps your diet and your diet helps you work out.
4. Skip the Fruit Juice
Fruit juice has a misleadingly healthy reputation. Sure, orange juice is loaded with vitamin C, but it also has about as much sugar as a can of soda. It might be a somewhat healthier source of sugar than soda, but it still increases your insulin levels. When putting fruit in your diet, don’t think that juice is a suitable substitute for whole food. You will get far less of the nutrients and fiber if you do so.
Of course, don’t think that just because you follow a few glucose-reducing tips, you can eat as much sugar as you want without being affected. You still have to be sensible. Some of these are simply designed to just reduce the amount of glucose you might absorb through your regular diet, which in the end will help you burn fat even faster.
About the Author: Chris McCombs is an
Orange County Exercise
enthusiast and personal trainer. Chris owns his own fitness business Positively Fit Inc. which helps people all over Orange County lose fat and get the body they want. You can learn more about Chris at http://www.socalworkout.com
Source:
isnare.com
Permanent Link:
isnare.com/?aid=219121&ca=Wellness%2C+Fitness+and+Diet
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Torture proliferates American headlines today: whether its use is defensible in certain contexts and the morality of the practice. Wikinews reporter David Shankbone was curious about torture in American popular culture. This is the first of a two part series examining the BDSM business. This interview focuses on the owners of a dungeon, what they charge, what the clients are like and how they handle their needs.
When Shankbone rings the bell of “HC & Co.” he has no idea what to expect. A BDSM (Bondage Discipline Sadism Masochism) dungeon is a legal enterprise in New York City, and there are more than a few businesses that cater to a clientèle that wants an enema, a spanking, to be dressed like a baby or to wear women’s clothing. Shankbone went to find out what these businesses are like, who runs them, who works at them, and who frequents them. He spent three hours one night in what is considered one of the more upscale establishments in Manhattan, Rebecca’s Hidden Chamber, where according to The Village Voice, “you can take your girlfriend or wife, and have them treated with respect—unless they hope to be treated with something other than respect!”
When Shankbone arrived on the sixth floor of a midtown office building, the elevator opened up to a hallway where a smiling Rebecca greeted him. She is a beautiful forty-ish Long Island mother of three who is dressed in smart black pants and a black turtleneck that reaches up to her blond-streaked hair pulled back in a bushy ponytail. “Are you David Shankbone? We’re so excited to meet you!” she says, and leads him down the hall to a living room area with a sofa, a television playing an action-thriller, an open supply cabinet stocked with enema kits, and her husband Bill sitting at the computer trying to find where the re-release of Blade Runner is playing at the local theater. “I don’t like that movie,” says Rebecca.
Perhaps the most poignant moment came at the end of the night when Shankbone was waiting to be escorted out (to avoid running into a client). Rebecca came into the room and sat on the sofa. “You know, a lot of people out there would like to see me burn for what I do,” she says. Rebecca is a woman who has faced challenges in her life, and dealt with them the best she could given her circumstances. She sees herself as providing a service to people who have needs, no matter how debauched the outside world deems them. They sat talking mutual challenges they have faced and politics (she’s supporting Hillary); Rebecca reflected upon the irony that many of the people who supported the torture at Abu Ghraib would want her closed down. It was in this conversation that Shankbone saw that humanity can be found anywhere, including in places that appear on the surface to cater to the inhumanity some people in our society feel towards themselves, or others.
“The best way to describe it,” says Bill, “is if you had a kink, and you had a wife and you had two kids, and every time you had sex with your wife it just didn’t hit the nail on the head. What would you do about it? How would you handle it? You might go through life feeling unfulfilled. Or you might say, ‘No, my kink is I really need to dress in women’s clothing.’ We’re that outlet. We’re not the evil devil out here, plucking people off the street, keeping them chained up for days on end.”
Below is David Shankbone’s interview with Bill & Rebecca, owners of Rebecca’s Hidden Chamber, a BDSM dungeon.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
London, England — At the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) press conference Monday, Sir Philip Craven indicated the goal of the IPC is to grow disability sport globally. At the same time, according to Paul Bird of the Oceania Paralympic Committee, the Micronesian of Oceania has been left completely behind by the Paralympic movement.
According to a member of the Oceania Paralympic Committee, the IPC recognizes fewer countries than the International Olympic Committee, with IPC rules prohibiting countries from becoming full members of the organization if their independence is not clear. This rule dates back to the organization’s founding and no serious attempts have been made to change it since.
As many Micronesian countries are not viewed as independent countries, they cannot join. This includes Guam, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Palau, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The only eligibility route for elite athletes with disabilities in these countries to the Paralympic Games is through their home country, which for most of the Micronesian region is the United States; they have to compete against better-funded and better-supported competitors to earn national team selection. No disability sport competitors from Micronesia were chosen to represent the United States at the 2012 Summer Paralympics.
This problem is not unique to Micronesia, with the United States territories of Puerto Rico and United States Virgin Islands not being represented as members of the United States team in 2012.
Thursday, February 8, 2007
This Sunday, the International Animated Film Association (Association International du Film d’Animation) or ASIFA will hand out the Annie Awards in Glendale, California. As animation’s highest honor, the crowd is always a who’s who of direction, art design, character design, layout, visual effects, and voice artists.
There are 23 award categories in the Annies, sorted into Individual Achievement and Production categories.
Perhaps the most competitive category is “Best Animated Feature”, which will be a fight between Cars (Pixar Animation Studios), Happy Feet (Warner Bros. Pictures/Village Roadshow Pictures/Kennedy Miller Production/Animal Logic Film), Monster House (Columbia Pictures/ImageMovers/Amblin), Open Season (Sony Pictures Animation/Columbia Pictures) and Over The Hedge (DreamWorks Animation).
Cars, Happy Feet, and Monster House are all nominated in the Academy Awards for the same category, perhaps signifying an edge up in the competition.
Direct-to-DVD releases are eligible for the “Best Home Entertainment Production”. Included are Bambi II (DisneyToon Studios), The Adventures of Brer Rabbit (Universal Animation Studios), and Winnie the Pooh: Shapes & Sizes (DisneyToon Studios).
Charlie and Lola, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, King of the Hill, The Fairly OddParents, and Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! are all up for “Best Animated Television Production”.
“Best Animated Video Game” will be awarded to either Flushed Away The Game (D3 Publisher of America, Inc.), Monster House (THQ, Inc.), and SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature From the Krusty Krab (THQ, Inc.); the category was just created last year.
Adventure Time (Nickelodeon), Fumi and the Bad Luck Foot (Thunderbean Animation), No Time For Nuts (Blue Sky Studios), and Weird Al Yankovic Don’t Download This Song (Acme Filmworks) are all up for “Best Animated Short Subject”. Only No Time for Nuts is up for an Oscar, which has significantly different rules. “Best Animated Television Commercial” will go to either an advertisement for Candy Factory, ESPN, Hilton, St. Louis Zoo, and United Airlines.
Notably, no non-US films or productions have been nominated for any of the awards.
ASIFA is a non-profit worldwide organization dedicated to preserving and promoting animation, which maintains national branches in 55 countries, as far away as UlanBaatar, Mongolia and Tehran. The Annies are awarded by its California chapter ASIFA-Hollywood.
The awards were started in 1972, after voice actress June Foray noticed the industry lacked a formal way to acknowledge its achievements. Performing in over 202 productions, Foray’s most known characters are Rocket J. Squirrel (Rocky and Bullwinkle) and Granny (Looney Tunes).
ASIFA also hands out “Juried Awards” to various notable figures in animation. Bill Plympton, Genndy Tartakovsky, and Andreas Deja will each win the Winsor McCay Award, in recognition of lifetime or career contributions to the art of animation. Bill Matthews, Michael Fallik, Marc Deckter, and Eric Graf will each win a Certificate of Merit. The June Foray Award will go to Stephen Worth, for his “significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation.” The Ub Iwerks Award and Special Achievement award will not be handed out.
Professional photographer John Mueller will attend the ceremony on behalf of Wikinews, taking photos of nominees and the rest of America’s animation elite. Mueller was selected from a wide pool of professionals offering their services. The photos from the event will be released under the Creative Commons By Attribution license, which allows them to be used by anyone for any purpose.
Submitted by: JD Arbuckle
New parking lots, walkways and paved surfaces look fabulous when they are new. The question is, how does a commercial property owner or manager keep those paved surfaces looking new? There are several options available through commercial paving companies in Minnesota and throughout the upper Midwest. The ideal way to find out what you can do is to contact your favorite asphalt and concrete company. Most commercial asphalt and concrete companies in Minnesota will offer several options that will help you keep your property appealing to potential renters and tenants, not to mention customers.
One of the options is to arrange for scheduled maintenance of your paved surfaces. Many asphalt and concrete companies in Minnesota offer this service, which is ideal for keeping up with damages and other factors that can impact the quality and look of your paved surfaces. Before the damage from weather, traffic and day-to-day wear and tear becomes a problem, the damages can be addressed when first detected, often avoiding long term damages that can cost a pretty penny to repair. Talk to your commercial asphalt and concrete company in Minnesota to arrange for scheduled inspections and minor repairs throughout the year.
Ideally, to maintain your paved surfaces from the get-go, it is often recommended by asphalt and concrete companies in Minnesota to finish off the surface with sealcoat. Sealcoat is a final touch of asphalt emulsion sprayed or spread on a newly paved surface to seal and protect the pavement from an array of potentially damaging situations. Believe it or not, sunshine and its UV rays cause wear on blacktop just as traffic and weather does. Sealcoat protects the pavement from the elements, including UV rays. Interestingly, in addition to added protection, certain types of sealcoat actually increase traction for traffic.
In the upper Midwest, the weather poses specific problems for paved surfaces but the right sealcoat can provide a safer, more durable surface for vehicles in addition to protecting the blacktop from the damages caused by the frigid cold, ice and snow. Talk with any of the top commercial asphalt and concrete companies in Minnesota and they are likely to tell you the same thing. While one cannot completely avoid damages to commercial paved surfaces, one can provide a sealcoat to stave off day-to-day wear and tear for a period of time.
Of course, each situation is different. If you’re in need of some repairs and possible resurfacing of your commercial paved surfaces, it is recommended by nearly all commercial asphalt and concrete companies in Minnesota that you top it off with sealcoat. Your existing parking lot can be protected and have an aesthetically pleasing look by using sealcoat. Asphalt and concrete companies in Minnesota can perform the needed repairs, fill the cracks and patch the potholes then tidy up the whole deal with a protective and durable layer of sealcoat. Contact one of the many reputable and professional asphalt and concrete companies in Minnesota and learn just how affordable and beneficial sealcoat can be.
About the Author: JD Arbuckle is a freelance writer specializing in consumer education on a variety of topics, including asphalt and concrete companies in Minnesota (
acsasphalt.com/
), sealcoat companies in Minnesota and ACS Asphalt Concrete Solutions, Inc.
Source:
isnare.com
Permanent Link:
isnare.com/?aid=1959549&ca=Home+Management}