Pacem, Libertatem, Justitiam November 17, 2019 Volume 12 Number 13
Reader-Supported Please go here. Thank you very much.
Inside: American Needs A President; Joker 2019 Reviewed; Beyond the Pale; Climate Change; Community, Ecology; Health; Good News; Not So Good News; Our World and Beyond; Funzone: Movie of the Week; Best of the Net; Travel; Masha & the Bear, All Creatures Great & Small; Strange But True; About Us
AMERICA NEEDS A PRESIDENT. RIGHT NOW, WE DO NOT HAVE ONE.
Rusty Miller, Editor
Hi again, from the shores of the Salish Sea: As most of you know, this magazine tries very hard to stay out of the politics of other nations. Media much bigger than we are covers the subject much better. Our responsibility is to provide you with information on which to base life-enabling and life-enhancing choices.
But sometimes our responsibility to you also means remembering what somebody famous once said about all of us having far more to fear from those who passively accept evil than from those who actively commit it.
Sometimes our responsibility to you also means praising those who have the courage to stand on their integrity and do the right thing, despite plagues and pestilence not seen since Old Testament times. I’m extremely fortunate to personally know people like that and to be represented in Seattle, Olympia and Washington, DC by individuals of that caliber.
Former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yankovich certainly falls into that category as well and this story is as compelling a tribute to integrity as it is an indictment of an individual and others who have absolutely none. An Unflappable Marie Yovanovitch Faces Down Trump’s Taunts
I warn all of you now that this story is not an easy read. The president of the United States vilified her before the world. He lied about her record as a diplomat. And he threatened her in language that would have done justice to the evil-doers in a Tom Clancy or Clive Cussler thriller.
Except that Trump is not a novelist and these promises of retribution were not works of fiction. He meant them.
This kind of conduct is totally unacceptable and The Northstar Journal now goes on record calling for the resignation of US President Donald Trump or his removal from office under the Articles of Impeachment. Anyone who feels he deserves to remain in office needs to leave along with him.
America needs a president. Right now, we do not have one.
Rusty
Northstar editor Merritt Scott “Rusty” Miller is a journalist, author, editor and photographer living in Seattle, Washington. For comments, please go here
JOKER 2019 REVIEWED
Olya Bereza, Associate Editor
Hi Rusty:
Recently I watched Joker 2019, starring Joaquin Phoenix, and was pleasantly surprised by how psychologically deep that movie is and how the acting is totally believable. I didn’t read reviews before watching so probably expected some superficial usual Batman- Joker action type film. From the first minutes to the end, the film grabbed all the imagination showing the life struggle and how unfair, rough and dim reality can be for some people.
The Joker hit the Box Box Office: ‘Joker’ Becomes First R-Rated Movie to Hit $1 Billion and the reason is easy to understand if one only looks around in the world and sees the amount of uprisings throughout
A world on fire: Here are all the major protests happening around the globe right now. Protests around the world in pictures from Chile and Lebanon to Barcelona and London
It seems the sheer number of people who feel down or severely depressed is rising. Maybe it’s modern living: processed food and lack of nutrients that could lead to psychological instability. Corporations rule the world and who knows what’s in that food in supermarkets.
Maybe it is the media bombarding us with all the bad news every few hours. Perhaps it is the lack of journalistic standards and a proliferation of hate speech throughout the Internet.
Maybe it’s the overall feeling of uncertainty and lack of confidence in the future. Maybe it is not being able to stop wondering about how many homeless in the world or the ones on poverty level or the ones for whom loosing their job will mean appearing in those categories. This is the critical number that shows when housing breaks down
Somehow the dream we all seem to have of a comfortable, safe and happy life appears not to be working. Paradoxically, that is exactly why The Joker 2019 works so well for me and why it is so popular.
People just recognizing themselves when – though damaged from inside — they continue to smile, because from childhood people were instilled with responsibility to, as the English are fond of saying, “keep a stiff upper lip”.
However, not everyone can do that. And sometimes even the strongest melt like candles in the sun. And when life overwhelms them, they see in their own mirror, the Joker’s same modern “smiling” depression.
And Miskha, they feel the total devastation from the inside when Joker’s hysterical laugh resonates.
Olya
Northstar columnist and associate editor Olya Bereza was born in the former Soviet Union and now lives in Ukraine. Fluent in Russian, Ukrainian, and English, she is a degreed psychologist with a background in international marketing and personnel management. For comments, please go here.
BEYOND THE PALE
Migrant Aid Workers Face Arrests And Prosecutions
Open, Friendly And Rich. Modern China Can Learn From Ancient Emperor Taizong
Over 300 Killed As Hundreds Of Thousands Take Part In Iraqi Protests
Singapore, About 1,000 People Sleep Rough Every Night
Stay Or Go? Hong Kong’s International Students Pack Their Bags Amid Protest Chaos
BUSINESS & TRADE
‘Berlin Rocks’ Says Elon Musk As He Chooses European Factory
British Steel To Be Rescued By Chinese Firm In £70m Deal
Former Alaska Airlines Exec Returns To Lead Horizon Air Unit
Airline Failures Weaken Market For Leased Boeing, Airbus Jets
CLIMATE & CLIMATE CHANGE
European Investment Bank Ends Lending To Fossil Fuel Projects
IEA World Energy Outlook Outlines 1.5C Scenario
GCF Partners With Chilean Private Equity Firm As Unrest Continues
EU Plots Climate Deal With China
Stakeholders Push For Progress On France’s Climate Adaptation Plans
With UN Climate Talks Looming, Spanish Election Continues Political Uncertainty
Economic Opportunity Should See US Get On Board With Shipping Clean-Up
The World’s Foremost Energy Outlook Is Still Leading Us To Catastrophic Climate Change
Countries Are Falling Far Short On Action To Tackle Climate Change As Fossil Fuel Use Increases
Italy Becomes First Country To Make Climate Change Education Mandatory
Venice Floods: Climate Change Behind Highest Tide In 50 Years, Says Mayor
Some Of The Biggest Lakes In The World Are Vanishing Due To Climate Change
COMMUNITY & LIFESTYLE
When Your Power’s Out, Internet’s Off And There’s No Cell Service, Radio Still Works
Regulators Launch New Probe Of Blackouts Imposed By PG&E And Other Major Utilities
Sweden Has Invented A Word To Shame People For Flying
Should More People “Earn To Give” Rather Than Looking For Work With A Direct Impact?
The Young Chinese Woman Mentoring Scientists Of The Future
Helping Delivery Robots Find Your Front Door
ECOLOGY
This Bioplastic Made From Fish Scales Just Won the James Dyson Award
Wind And Solar Plants Rise In The Shadow Of Fukushima’s Nuclear Meltdown In Japan
Voices In China’s Environmental Wilderness Struggle To Be Heard
U.S. Natural Gas Is Fueling A Global Plastic Boom
The Aluminum Can: An American Recycling Success Story
WiFi, Amazon And Food Trucks: Trump Team’s Vision For National Parks
The U.S. Has Spent More Money Erasing Native Languages Than Saving Them
Is Renewable Energy’s Future Dammed?
HEALTH
A Pickle a Day May Keep Your Anxiety at Bay
Is ‘AQ’ More Important Than Intelligence?
How Climate Change Is Clobbering Kids’ Health
Why Weight Training May Be The Best Exercise For Lifelong Fitness
Complementary Cancer Therapies ‘Do More Harm Than Good’
4 Ways To Become Stress-Free Just About Anywhere
What Ailments Does Medical Marijuana Help?
Cannabis-Based Medicines: Two Drugs Approved For UK NHS
HISTORY
The True Story of the Aberfan, South Wales 1966 Mining Disaster
44 Years Ago, Shirley Chisholm Became the First Black Woman to Run For President
The Equal Rights Amendment Is 96 Years Old and Still Not Part of the Constitution. Here’s Why
The Real-Life Story of Maria von Trapp
The True Story of the Battle of Midway
There Are Whales Alive Today Who Were Born Before Moby Dick Was Written
Underground Railroad Safe House Discovered in Philadelphia
The True Story of Netflix’s “The King,” Henry V
Scientists Now Know Where The Largest Ape To Ever Exist Sits In Primate Family Tree
Newly Discovered Fossil Bird Fills in Gap Between Dinosaurs and Modern Fliers
GOOD NEWS
A 9-Year-Old Genius Is Getting An Engineering Degree Next Month
Crystal Chigbu: The Mum Making Prosthetic Limbs For Nigerian Children
I Recall, The Northwest In Fall
One Year After Surviving A Mass Shooting, The Capital Gazette Journalists Refuse To Be Silenced
NOT SO GOOD NEWS
Michigan Woman Sues Priest Who Questioned If Her Dead Son Would Go To Heaven At His Funeral
NASA Research: Astronauts Are Getting Clots, Bizarre Blood Flow
After CEO’s Ouster, McDonald’s Workers Sue Over ‘Systemic Problem’ Of Sexual Harassment
UK Growth ‘Slowest In Almost A Decade’
This Coyote Almost Died Because Humans Can’t Pick Up After Themselves
FOLKS WE FOLLOW
Daniel McKnight – Chef Extraordinaire
Emma Ortega Negrete: Empowerment
Huki Media: The Voice Of Micronesia
Nathaniel Rush: Cuisine Extraordinaire
River Chad: International Travel
OUR WORLD AND BEYOND
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | That black dot on the sun is a world in space. It’s Mercury, the innermost planet in our solar system. The rare Mercury transit took place on Monday. A selection of photos here. Check out more cool images at EarthSky Community Photos or submit your own. This photo is via our friend Abdulmajeed Alshatti in Kuwait. Our thanks to all who submitted photos!
I, personally, would like to see this. If nothing else, they’re much quieter than a 747. How Airships Could Return To Our Crowded Skies
Omedetō, minasan. Iku hōhō! Congratulations, folks. Way to go! Japanese Space Probe Returning To Earth, With Chunks Of Asteroid
Something tells me we are in for some very big surprises. What if below the surface, there is a species as dedicated to its survival as ours allegedly is to its own? NASA’s Curiosity Rover Finds Strange Fluctuating Oxygen Levels On Mars
EARTH
Hundreds From America To Australia Report Sighting Meteor
Newly Discovered Fossil Bird Fills In Gap Between Dinosaurs And Modern Fliers
Rice Paddies Rise In The Hudson Valley
SPACE
China Successfully Tests Mars Lander In Giant Drop Test
Something Very Strange Seems To Be Synchronizing Distant Galaxies
Did Ancient Earth Life Escape Our Solar System?
Images From NASA’s Earth Observatory – Always Excellent & Renewed Weekly
TECHNOLOGY
Computer Science Professors Debate AI Safety — On FaceBook
Questions On AI Safety That Likely Require Non-AI Expertise
This Bioplastic Made From Fish Scales Just Won The James Dyson Award
Artificial Intelligence Can Be Biased. Here’s What You Should Know.
This NASA App Lets You Control A SpaceX Spacecraft
DJI Makes App To Identify Drones And Find Pilots
BEST OF THE NET
Even Earth’s Most Amazing Creatures Do Some Funny Things
Elevated Park Will Connect Crissy Field With Presidio
TRAVEL
Six Spots Around The World Where You Can Try Your Hand At Falconry
This Prison Island Is Now A Paradise
MEDIA OF THE WEEK: Playing For Change is an international “orchestra” of solo and ensemble musicians and vocalists who perform from where they live, around the world. And just like on entertainment videos in general, when each takes a riff, the camera shows them. I personally sent one of these to the mother of an autistic young man. He totally loved it and the joy on his face needed no translation. Yep, my alarm clock goes off playing one of these too. To experience them for yourself, please go here.
DAILY 10 QUESTION TRIVIA QUIZ: This one is from Daily Email Trivia and delivered to me in mine. There is also an opportunity, the site, to take more quizzes on a wide range of subjects and to engage interactively and competitively.
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.
Associate editor Olya Bereza is also the children’s novelist Holley Dovetail. This is one of several of short novels for the young and the young at heart. To preview and/or purchase on amazon.com, please go here.
ALL CREATURES, GREAT AND SMALL
Chevrotain aka Mouse Deer — Photo: Independent birds/Shutterstock
Here’s another chance to die of cute. Meet The Chevrotain, The Small And Secretive Mouse Deer
Why is this news? Cows Strongly Prefer Outdoor Pasture To Other Environments
Considering that the Native North Americans of the region were not responsible for the near extinction of this species but that the same people who slaughtered the buffalo were, I find this extremely ironic. And quite frankly, welcome news. Influx Of Grizzly Bears Compels Montanans To Adapt
SHORTS
How Much Weight Can A Hawk Carry?
Senior Dogs And Veterans Are Better Together
Salmon Swim Above The Grand Coulee Dam For First Time In 80 Years
STRANGE BUT TRUE
Microsoft Is Hiding Source Code In An Apocalypse-Proof Cave
The Animal That Can Regenerate Itself
Three Cows Swept Away By Hurricane Dorian Have Been Found Alive
OUR THANKS THIS WEEK TO:
Earth Sky News: Updates On Your Cosmos And World
Moscow Times: Independent News From Russia
South China Morning Post – This Week In Asia
ABOUT US: The Northstar Journal is an international general interest online weekly reaching readers in 22 countries, where it is also shared with family, friends and associates. We are also on FaceBook and Nextdoor.com. We are entirely reader supported. To contribute, please go here. If you would like to sponsor an edition or participate in some other way, please contact us at minstrel312@aol.com Thank you and thanks for stopping by. Have a good week. Rusty and Olya
The Northstar Journal 