Events & Items Of Interest

[sandrewn]

This is for Annie Edison Taylor, the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel and live, October 24, 1901.

 

 

Annie, cat with 8 lives(remaining) and the barrel

 

 

sandrewn

[Former Member]

Which weighed more? The barrel or her hat & clothing?  ;-)

[William King]

Report: Young migrants in Germany turning to prostitution

A rising number of adolescent migrants in Germany are turning to sex work after aging out of youth welfare programs. The Left Party has called for increased funding into integration and social policies.

 

German aid charities have reported a marked increase in the number of young migrants turning to prostitution in Germany. That's according to an investigation published on Monday by Berlin broadcaster rbb in cooperation with a number of local charities.

The increase has seen more young men to sex work, namely of Afghan, Pakistani and Iranian backgrounds.

Aid charities see Germany's wavering social system as the catalyst for the rise. Once refugees turn 18 they no longer qualify for state support for young people, forcing them to turn to prostitution as a way to make ends meet.

 

Full article - Deutsche Welle in English

 

[William King]

Japanese Manga, Boy's Love, and Rotten Women.

How literature is changing attitudes towards gay men.

 

Until the end of the 90’s, BL (Boy's Love) characters would often declare “I’m not gay”, and there were many references in stories about discrimination towards gay people. From the year 2000 and onward, society has become less narrow-minded, and works that depict a world where gays can live happily have been introduced.

 

 

“Yes, the stories aren’t changing out of pity. ‘Evolved BL’ was not born of a desire to be compassionate (towards gay men). It’s because both the authors and fans of BL are ‘living’ in the world of these handsome male characters.”

“In order for these characters (whom the author and readers identify with) to live happily, there is a desire for the characters to be depicted in a way that overcomes the hate and prejudice towards homosexuality (in real life). So even though BL is just romantic entertainment, the signs of society’s evolving attitude towards homosexuality is being reflected in the stories.

 

A fascinating blog about how gays are seen in a changing Japanese society. 

Read the blog... Evolved Boy’s Love: How Rotten Women's Gloom Could Eliminate Prejudice - Takurei's Room

[Drew Espinosa]

 

Hey GA, we really are one big family!  

[William King]

Lord of All Hopefulness, Lord of All Joy – Mrs. Miniver.

 

Did you know that a lady, Joyce Torrens (1901-53), wrote using the alias Jan Strummer, and it was she who penned the hymn – Lord of All Hopefulness (we used to sing that hymn at morning assembly when I was at school). She wrote this in 1929 for Canon Percy Dearmer of Westminster Abbey, for his new edition of Songs of Praise. It was a non-doctrinal, non-sectarian, hymn and was quite daring at the time because it replaced "Thy" with "You".

 

This perhaps little known writer was also responsifor a newspaper column in which she invented the character of Mrs. Miniver, a kind of plucky English woman who embodied the spirit of the time.

 

In 1942 Mrs. Miniver became a film, it was heavily promoted in America, where it won an Oscar for Best Motion Picture. More importantly, the film told the story of how a middle class English family were forced to confront the Blitz (the bombing of London by Nazi Germany aimed at reducing the city to rubble). The film acted as a catalyst, arousing sympathy amongst ordinary Americans. In so doing, it played a crucial role in turning the tide of American opinion for entry into the second world war – as they say, the rest is history.

 

 

Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy, 
Whose trust, ever childlike, no cares could destroy, 
Be there at our waking, and give us, we pray, 
Your bliss in our hearts, Lord, 
At the break of the day.

 

Lord of all eagerness, Lord of all faith, 
Whose strong hands were skilled at the plane and the lathe, 
Be there at our labours and give us, we pray, 
Your strength in our hearts, Lord, 
At the noon of the day.

 

Lord of all kindliness, Lord of all grace, 
Your hands swift to welcome, Your arms to embrace. 
Be there at our homing, and give us, we pray, 
Your love in our hearts, Lord, 
At the eve of the day.

 

Lord of all gentleness, Lord of all calm, 
Whose voice is contentment, whose presence is balm, 
Be there at our sleeping, and give us, we pray, 
Your peace in our hearts, Lord, 
At the end of the day.

 

 

 

[Drew Espinosa]

LIGO detects another Black-hole Merger

[William King]

Here are some unrelated trivial statistics to ponder:

 

On average a French man spends 4600 Euros ($5500) a year on their health and lives to 82,

an American spends 8400 Euros ($10,000) a year and dies at 79.

 

The population of Iceland is 330,000 inhabitants, the number of tourists visiting the country this year is expected to be 2.2 million.

 

70% of Google employees are men and 60% are white.

 

The stock market valuation of Tesla is 57 billion dollars, 6 billion more than General Motors.

 

[William King]

Sometimes you read really crazy, sad, but very funny things: 

 

A woman has been sentenced to life in prison for shooting her husband dead – after her husband’s pet parrot kept repeating, ‘Don’t shoot! Don’t f***ing shoot!’ in his voice.

Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2017/08/30/woman-gets-life-in-prison-after-pet-parrot-grasses-her-up-for-murder-6889177/#ixzz4rGMZMvvf

[sandrewn]

For the first time in 152 years, a

supermoon, blue moon, and total

lunar eclipse will coincide

 

No one alive in the world right now has ever seen one of these. This is your chance tonight. The next one will occur  in 2037. This is probably my only chance to see one. Then again who knows, I still might be above ground for the next one, fingers crossed.

 

 

 

 

 

Go to the article below, to find out if and what time you can see it or part of it. If it is overcast for you, NASA will provide a livestream for view.

 

Here is the page with all the info.

A supermoon and total lunar eclipse will coincide for the first time in 152 years — Quartz

 

And here is the live feed if you can go out to see it yourself.

 

 

"Super Blue Moon Totale Eclipse" - 31 Jan. 2018, at 11:30 UT - YouTube

 

 

Take picture(s) if you can to post in the galleries here at GA.

 

 

Good luck,

sandrewn

 

 

 

 

 

[TalonRider]

I may not be able to see this event as the sun rise and moon set times are so close together.

[sandrewn]

I have a clear sky, but the same problem as you, the proximity to sunrise. There is always that NASA live streaming I mentioned above. I did PM Palantir, who is in the perfect location to see the entire event (just after midnight over there), hopefully he will be successful.

 

Regards

sandrewn

PS. I just went outside  to look, starting from the lower right, almost a quarter is in shadow now.

[Palantir]

Lol - almost perfect. I'm envious (but only slightly) of my sister in Perth WA where the moon is just now rising so they have the Super moon effect as well as the total eclipse.

Yep! The sky is clear as clear and the moon is now an eerie dark red and I've been watching through my binoculars.

Amazingly, the total eclipse lasts a whole hour and in a few minutes reaches what they call maximum eclipse - so I'm heading out again.