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Post by WingsofCrystal on Mar 15, 2020 12:09:21 GMT
Good morning, good morning!
TechXplore
Press freedom group stores censored articles in Minecraft library
15 March 2020
A virtual library housing censored articles from around the world has been created within the hugely popular video game Minecraft by press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
Minecraft, with its signature pixelated graphics, enables players to build entire universes from Lego-like digital blocks, either alone or with others online.
RSF said it had put work by banned, exiled or killed journalists in five countries—Egypt, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Vietnam—on an open server, making it available for players to view despite local censorship laws.
"In these countries, where websites, blogs and free press in general are strictly limited, Minecraft is still accessible by everyone," the group said in a press release.
"These articles are now available again within Minecraft, hidden from government surveillance technology inside a computer game. The books can be read by everyone on the server, but their content cannot be changed," it said.
In May last year, Minecraft said 176 million copies of the game have been sold since its launch a decade ago.
The project, announced on Thursday to mark the World Day Against Cyber Censorship, is called the "Uncensored Library" and takes the form of a large neoclassical-style building in the game.
RSF said the library was growing, with more texts being added both in English and their original language.
Already available in the game are articles by slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and from Egyptian online newspaper Mada Masr, which has been blocked in the North African country since 2017.
techxplore.com/news/2020-03-freedom-group-censored-articles-minecraft.html
Crystal
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Mar 15, 2020 12:20:27 GMT
Telegraph
Italians over 80 'will be left to die' as country overwhelmed by coronavirus
Hardest-hit region drafts new proposals saying who will live and who will die
By Erica Di Blasi Turin 14 March 2020 • 4:38pm
Coronavirus victims in Italy will be denied access to intensive care if they are aged 80 or more or in poor health should pressure on beds increase, a document prepared by a crisis management unit in Turin propose.
Some patients denied intensive care will in effect be left to die, doctors fear.
The unit has drawn up a protocol, seen by The Telegraph, that will determine which patients receive treatment in intensive care and which do not if there are insufficient spaces. Intensive care capacity is running short in Italy as the coronavirus continues to spread.
The document, produced by the civil protection deparment of the Piedmont region, one of those hardest hit, says: "The criteria for access to intensive therapy in cases of emergency must include age of less than 80 or a score on the Charlson comorbidity Index [which indicates how many other medical conditions the patient has] of less than 5."
The ability of the patient to recover from resuscitation will also be considered.
One doctor said: "[Who lives and who dies] is decided by age and by the [patient's] health conditions. This is how it is in a war."
The document says: "The growth of the current epidemic makes it likely that a point of imbalance between the clinical needs of patients with COVID-19 and the effective availability of intensive resources will be reached.
"Should it become impossible to provide all patients with intensive care services, it will be necessary to apply criteria for access to intensive treatment, which depends on the limited resources available."
It adds: "The criteria set out guidelines if the situation becomes of such an exceptional nature as to make the therapeutic choices on the individual case dependent on the availability of resources, forcing [hospitals] to focus on those cases in which the cost/benefit ratio is more favorable for clinical treatment."
Luigi Icardi, a councilor for health in Piedmont, said: "I never wanted to see such a moment. It [the document] will be binding and will establish in the event of saturation of the wards a precedence code for access to intensive care, based on certain parameters such as potential survival."
The document is already complete and only approval from a technical-scientific committee is needed before it is sent to hospitals. The criteria are expected to apply throughout Italy, government sources said.
More than 1,000 people in Italy have now died from the virus and the number is growing every day. More than 15,000 are infected.
Italy has 5,090 intensive care beds, which for the moment exceeds the number of patients who need them. It is also working to create new bed capacity in private clinics, nursing homes and even in tents. However, the country also needs also doctors and nurses - the government wants to hire them - and equipment.
Lombardy remains the most critical region. However, the situation is also serious in neighboring Piedmont. Here, in just one day, 180 new cases were recorded, while deaths numbered 27. The trend suggests that the situation is not about to improve.
Roberto Testi, president of the coranavirus technical-scientific committee for Piedmont, told The Telegraph: "Here in Piedmont we aim to delay as long as possible the use of these criteria. At the moment there are still intensive care places available and we are working to create more.
"We want to arrive as late as possible at the point where we have to decide who lives and who dies. The criteria relate only to access to intensive care - those who do not get access to intensive care will still receive all the treatment possible. In medicine we sometimes have to make difficult choices but it's important to have a system about how to make them."
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/14/italians-80-will-left-die-country-overwhelmed-coronavirus/
Crystal
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Post by moksha on Mar 15, 2020 13:37:51 GMT
What happened to the singing post, It was kinda funny. .
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Post by swamprat on Mar 15, 2020 16:14:37 GMT
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Post by swamprat on Mar 15, 2020 16:50:24 GMT
One more, and then I'll behave.....
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Post by swamprat on Mar 15, 2020 19:10:06 GMT
Well,,,,maybe just one more.
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Mar 16, 2020 12:37:55 GMT
What happened to the singing post, It was kinda funny. . Good morning Moksha,
No idea. That sums up everything in my life right now, LOL!
Crystal
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Mar 16, 2020 12:43:59 GMT
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Mar 16, 2020 12:53:24 GMT
How does ancient Assyrian language sound?
Mar 21, 2013
AssyriaTimes
Have you ever wondered how does the ancient Assyrian language sound? In this video you would hear two scripts read by Dr. Irving Finkel. Dr. Finkel is the curator in charge of cuneiform inscriptions on tablets of clay from ancient Mesopotamia, of which the Middle East Department has the largest collection- some 130,000 pieces -- of any modern museum. This work involves reading and translating all sorts of inscriptions, sometimes working on ancient archives to identify manuscripts that belong together, or even join to one another.
The first script is the words of Cyrus the Great (سخنان کوروش کبیر), the Persian King and the King of Babylon. The second script is a piece of poetry about the Story of the Flood.
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Crystal
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Mar 16, 2020 12:57:54 GMT
US Government Confirms UFO Sighting & Aliens
Mar 15, 2020
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Crystal
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Post by swamprat on Mar 16, 2020 23:25:19 GMT
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Mar 17, 2020 12:32:06 GMT
Good morning, good morning lovely UFOCasebookers!
NYPost
Annual UFO Festival in Roswell remains a go despite coronavirus
By Associated Press March 17, 2020 | 1:51am
ROSWELL, N.M. — An annual New Mexico event dedicated to UFOs isn’t changing plans despite concern around the new coronavirus.
KOB-TV reports the UFO Festival in Roswell remains scheduled for July 3-5 and organizers say they have no plans to move it.
Mainstreet Roswell board member Molly Boyles says organizers still have time and will only cancel or postpone if government agencies recommend it.
Boyles, the owner of Once Again Consignment and Resale, also says she doesn’t plan to close the doors to her shop anytime soon.
Roswell Mayor Dennis Kintigh says the city so far has no positive cases of COVID-19.
The site of a supposed UFO crash in 1947, Roswell has an annual extraterrestrial festival that draws thousands.
nypost.com/2020/03/17/annual-ufo-festival-in-roswell-remains-a-go-despite-coronavirus/
Crystal
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Mar 17, 2020 12:39:38 GMT
Visiting Supergiant 'Betelgeuse'
Mar 15, 2020
Astrogeekz
Betelgeuse, a red supergiant star that can undergo a Supernova explosion at any moment. What would it be like to visit this monster?
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Crystal
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Post by HAL on Mar 17, 2020 13:20:53 GMT
It has been reported that Betelgeuse is returning to it's normal brilliance. Looks like the super nove will have to wait awhile.
HAL.
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Post by ZETAR on Mar 17, 2020 17:01:59 GMT
Plague of locusts set to descend upon Middle East in time for PassoverA plague of locusts the likes of which have been unseen for over 30 years is about to hit Africa and the Middle East. Adding to the perfect biblical storm, the current coronavirus pandemic is affecting travel of international experts and in-country gatherings for training to combat the locust threat, said Rome-based Senior Locust Forecasting Officer Keith Cressman on Monday.
www.timesofisrael.com/plague-of-locusts-set-to-descend-upon-middle-east-in-time-for-passover/
Cressman works at Locust Watch, a division of the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization, which gives emergency assistance to countries facing desert locust invasions and constantly monitors the status of potential infestations. According to the organization’s most recent forecast report, there are new “extremely alarming” swarms forming in Horn of Africa.
The Desert Locust (Schistocerca gregaria) “is the most destructive migratory pest in the world,” according to the Locust Watch website. As depicted in the Book of Exodus, when the highly mobile swarms of Desert Locust form, “they are ravenous eaters who consume their own weight per day, targeting food crops and forage.”
While one locust may not seem a major fresser (eater, Yiddish), the swarms can grow to millions of individuals, “with the capacity to consume the same amount of food in one day as 35,000 people.”
It appears that the hardest hit countries will include Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Iran, Pakistan, and Sudan, the last of which will likely be affected later this summer, said Cressman.
“It is always very difficult to find and treat all infestations, and this is the nature and challenge of managing Desert Locust,” he said in an email to The Times of Israel. The inability to travel due to coronavirus restrictions may prevent proper, timely treatment.
SHALOM...Z
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