The Northstar Journal: The Magazine With Heart
News & Commentary; From Our European Desk ~ East-West Schism; Meade Fischer ~ Try Mount Tamaplaise ; Good Examples; Bad Examples; Our Science Section Abridged; The Green Agenda; Health; Lifestyle; Funzone; From Northstar; All Creatures Great & Small; Northstar Endorses; You Guys Think We Make This Stuff Up; About Us
September 4, 2016 Vol. 8 No. 52
THIS WEEK’S THEME MUSIC ~ Forty Hours A Week, by Alabama
HERE’S TO 40 HOURS A WEEK
Hi again, gang, from the shores of the Salish Sea. This weekend, in America, we are celebrating Labor Day, a holiday which marks the end of several things and the beginning of several others.
Summer is over and school is starting, much to the relief of many parents and a few spouses of teachers with too much vacation time on their hands. This holiday also sets the stage for the winter celebrations on this continent, among them, Canadian Thanksgiving in October, American Thanksgiving in November, along with Election Day, and of course the December festivals enjoyed by all the major religions of the world.
It is also The Northstar Journal’s eighth birthday, so on behalf of Olya Bereza, Denny Steussy, Meade Fisher, Sara G. and in memory of Shannon Patricia Goddard, Happy Birthday us. Through the worst of a Recession and several questionable living situations generated by hard times, we hit the streets of 22 countries every Sunday here in the States. It takes a good team and I am very proud of this one.
Labor Day itself honors American workers down through history. From the linen mills of colonial New England to the coal mines of West Virginia, to the assembly lines in Detroit, across the prairies of Kansas and Nebraska to the Silicon Valley of California and the giant aircraft plants of Washington State, American muscle, the brains and brawn of our nation’s “working stiffs,” has made ours a land of enviable prosperity and international reckoning.
I have a red neck and my shirts have blue collars. And I am proud to count myself among those anonymous millions whose “blood, sweat, toil and tears” ~ to borrow a phrase from Sir Winston Churchill ~ have made this country what it is today.
Have a great week, gang, and thanks for the ear.
Rusty
THIS WEEK’S THEME MUSIC ~ Forty Hours A Week, by Alabama
THE NEWS
This is not reassuring. Hours After Discovery, Asteroid Swept By
Since I drink enough of this to have a street in Brazil named after me, I found this to be a very heads up question. Will Coffee Become Extinct?
We suspected this was coming. F.D.A. Bans Sale of Many Antibacterial Soaps, Saying Risks Outweigh Benefits
INTERNATIONAL HEADLINE NEWS
NASA: Earth Is Warming At A Pace ‘Unprecedented In 1,000 Years’
Why Fixing Democracy Matters
A New Normal For Arctic Sea Ice?
Flooding of Coast, Caused by Global Warming, Has Already Begun
ASIA
China Launches Own Aircraft Engine-Maker
Blast At Chinese Embassy In Bishkek
Rare Harmony As China And U.S. Commit To Climate Deal
New Afghan Attorney General Seeks Justice In System Rife With Graft
AFRICA
Bono And Africa’s Richest Man Visit Nigeria Camp
Nigerian Economy Slips Into Recession
Once A Bucknell Professor, Now The Commander Of An Ethiopian Rebel Army
Libya: Unified Against Isis, Fragmented After
Violence After Gabon Elections Leaves One Dead
African Elephant Population Dropped 30 Percent In 7 Years
MIDDLE EAST
Israel Quietly Legalizes Pirate Outposts In The West Bank
Israel Seeking Police Recruits: Eager, And Arab
U.S. Strategy On Syria Is A Non-Issue In Washington And On Campaign Trail
Trapped In Homs, Architect Imagines A New Future For Syrian Cities
Israel Courts Foreign Money In Effort To Become Gas Exporter
Dam Project Threatens To Submerge Thousands Of Years Of Turkish History
EUROPE
Apple Faces 13bn-Euro Irish Tax Bill
How Europe Is Going After Apple, Google and Other U.S. Tech Giants
Eurozone Inflation Remains Weak
How Russia Often Benefits When Julian Assange Reveals The West’s Secrets
Islam Karimov Dies at 78, Ending A Long, Ruthless Rule of Uzbekistan
Why Expats Face An Uncertain Future In Russia
CANADA
Canadian Shot By Bangladesh Police Tied To Calgary Terrorists
Justin Trudeau On The Cover Of Marvel Comic Book Is Now A King Among Memes.
Chinese-Canadians Fear China’s Rising Clout Is Muzzling Them
UNITED STATES
Shooting Scares Show A Nation Quick To Fear The Worst
Court Costs Entrap Nonwhite, Poor Juvenile Offenders
Supreme Court Blocks North Carolina From Restoring Strict Voting Law
David Brown, Dallas Police Chief, Announces Retirement
Emergency Ministry Chief Dies During Storm Rescue In Russia’s Far East
Russia Is Going To Deploy A Division Of Troops About 50 Miles From The Us
California Farmers Enlist Drones In Battle Against Drought
A Ranger, A Field Of Wildflowers And The Retelling Of Flight 93
LATIN AMERICA
Scheduled Flights To Cuba From U.S. Begin Again, Now With Jet Engines
Venezuelan President Is Chased By Angry Protesters
Peru Sentences Ex-Soldiers To Prison For Killing Villagers In 1985
With Impeachment Over, Brazil’s Next Challenge Is Its Flailing Economy
Thousands March In Venezuela To Demand President’s Ouster
Dilma Rousseff Is Ousted As Brazil’s President In Impeachment Vote
OCEANA & POLYNESIA
Former Judge Offers Swap With Refugee
Free Trade Negotiations With EU To Begin Next Year, Steven Ciobo Says
China Respects Our Foreign Investment Stance, Turnbull Says
Adelaide Driver Caught Using Metal Pan Instead Of Steering Wheel
Gofundme For Paddington Residents Whose House Burnt Down Raises $25k
Namatjira Artworks Decaying In ‘Birthplace Of Modern Aboriginal Art’
TOPICAL HEADLINE NEWS
CANONIZATION OF MOTHER TERESA
Mother Teresa Is Made A Saint By Pope Francis
What Do You Know About Mother Teresa And Other Saints?
Timeline: Mother Teresa: The Life Of A Saint
IMMIGRATION
Migrant Crisis: ‘They Couldn’t Wait … They Threw Themselves Into The Water’
Where Seattle’s Refugees Come From
‘10,000 migrants saved off Libya coast’ – Italy coastguard
Angela Merkel’s Embrace Of Migrants Looms Over Elections In Her Home State
FROM OUR EUROPEAN DESK
THE EAST-WEST SCHISM: CATHOLIC OR EASTERN ORTHODOX
History is interesting thing. Sometimes it teaches us something. Sometimes it shows us the consequences of previously made decisions, even if they were centuries ago.
Perhaps I already mentioned a town I love in West Ukraine, Lviv. Before the 13th Century fall Kievan Rus, a few parts of West Ukraine were still Eastern Orthodox. But that ended when Ukraine Prince Danylo married a Catholic. From that time forward, there was antagonism between the two religions.
Why write about something that happened several hundred years ago? Well, for one thing, we are facing the same thing today. My better half, whom I once met in Lviv, is Christian but belongs to “the other” religion.
Here is how wikipedia.org describes the East-West Schism
“The East–West Schism, also called the Great Schism and the Schism of 1054, was the break of communion between what are now the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches, which has lasted since the 11th century.[1] It is not to be confused with the Western (which is also sometimes called the “Great” Schism).
But if my Orthodox church doctrine is based rather on intuitive experience of God (theoria), then my heart feels upset to follow the same pattern. If we have one God who taught Love why should there be the requirement that both partners be of the same religion?
There is no logic behind this. They were rules made hundreds of years ago to fit people and times that no longer exist. People made those rules and people can change them into something which works much better.
The time for that change, for the uniting of two religions or the acceptance of both, is clearly now and nearly a thousand years late in coming.
As a quick note on a slightly different subject, we were delighted to hear that Mother Teresa is to be canonized despite some apparent controversy regarding the details of her life and saintly acts.
That’s it for this week, Mishka. Stay warm, my cousin.
MEADE FISCHER TRAVELS
Where has one of North America’s foremost travel photojournalists and writers been lately and who or what has he been shooting? Try Mount Tamalpais.
YOU MIGHT ALSO WANT TO CHECK THESE OUT
70 Breathtaking Backcountry Campsites
GOOD EXAMPLES
New Orleans Program Teaches Officers to Police One Another
Where the World’s Biggest School Meal Program Is Keeping Local Farmers in Business
Meet The Farmworker Who Helped Win Rent Control In California’s Wine Country
BAD EXAMPLES
VIDEO: ‘I didn’t know drinking would harm my child’
Their Soil Toxic, 1,100 Indiana Residents Scramble to Find New Homes
Investigation Finds Phillips Andover Faculty Engaged in Sexual Misconduct With Students
OUR SCIENCE SECTION, ABRIDGED
I’d really like to see this. Video: This Robot Is Greeting Tourists In Japan
I’m curious about this too. Hurricane Season Is Heating Up. So Is The Planet. Coincidence?
This was a little scary. Watch One Of The World’s Largest Lakes Shrink Before Your Eyes
EARTH
Sagebrush Science Makes a Breakthrough with Soil Pasta
A New Economic Vision That Mixes Together Occupy, Amish Culture, And Startups
Experts Declare Anthropocene Has Begun
SPACE
NASA Team Ends 12-Month Mars Simulation
NASA Imagine Mars – Mars Survival Kit
Space X Explosion At Cape Canaveral
TECHNOLOGY
VIDEO: Driverless Racing Car Makes Track Debut
How Driverless Cars May Interact With People
Driverless Taxis’ Human Problem
THE GREEN BEAT
Native Americans Still Fighting For Voting Equality
A Test Of U.S. Climate Leadership Will Be How We Treat The Standing Rock Sioux
Scientists Have Identified A Key Way The Amazon’s Forests May Adapt To Climate Change
How Cities Are Tackling Their Enormous Food Waste Problem
“Our Victories Are Preventing Decades Of Pollution”
Why Three-Day Weekends Could Help To Save The World
HEALTH
Are Smoothies Better for You Than Juices?
Should We Be Exercising During High Smog Alerts?
Unpredictable Weather Raises ‘Zombie’ Diseases From The Ground
Awesome Veggie To Keep You Young
LIFESTYLE
Video Games Allow Characters More Varied Sexual Identities
This Small Indiana County Sends More People To Prison Than San Francisco And Durham, N.C., Combined. Why?
How Americans Build Wealth In 10 Charts
‘The Way People Look at Us Has Changed’: Muslim Women on Life in Europe
FUNZONE
BEST OF THE NET
Fantastic Views Of How Earth Looks From Space
A Megacity Girds for a Major Quake
MASHA & THE BEAR
KIKORIKKI ~ a truly fun way to experience science
FROM NORTHSTAR
A superpower no longer, a resource hungry and repressive America faces a Latin American armada rampaging its west coast and a strong, silent and powerful Canada manning the North Wall. The fires of rebellion burn in the Pacific Northwest and it is into this crucible and forge that the cybernetic patrol boat Testament and her crew of three men and three women are thrust. Individuals of duty and conscience both, when they join the other side, all Hell breaks loose. A rollicking adventure for anyone who loves the sea, a good yarn and characters who spring to life even as Testament herself leaps the waves. For a $4.00 Kindle Book adventure you will remember for a lifetime, please go here.
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ALL CREATURES, GREAT AND SMALL
Nobody knows cats. Except other cats, of course. Think You Know Cats?
This is almost too cute. Dog Groomer Gets Caught Dancing With His Client
This was a major ooops. South Carolina Accidentally Kills Millions Of Honeybees
FOLKS WE FOLLOW ~ Cornell University’s August Project eFeeder newsletter is now available online. Features in this issue include winners of their photo contest, Home Tweet Home (we did NOT make that up) and a very interesting article on the Western Scrub Jay. Yes, check it out here.
YOU GUYS THINK WE MAKE THIS STUFF UP
The Strangest Storytellers In Fiction
Dog Has Identical Twin Puppies
Stuntman Rides Unicycle On Massive Chimney In Romania.
ABOUT US
FRIENDS OF NORTHSTAR ~ Amnesty International, EarthSkyNews, Ecofinder-Kenya, GritTV With Laura Flaunders, Help End World Hunger & Poverty | Heifer International® | Heifer.Org, Mother Nature Network, Nature Conservancy in Washington, National Wildlife Federation, No Camels – Weekly Israeli Innovation News, Ocean Conservancy, Outside Magazine, The Rainforest Site, SeaDoc Society: People & Science Healing The Sea, Showcase Magazine: Today’s Media For Artful Living, Sierra Club, Sightline Institute, The Sun Magazine, Wildlife Conservation Society, Wildlife Extra Magazine, World Wildlife Fund, Writing For Peace, YES magazine
Dennis Steussy – Associate Editor
Meade Fischer – Contributing Editor
Shannon Patricia Goddard (1962 – 2001) – Editor Emeritus
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