supraoutletshop.com

Monday, November 9, 2009

The Walt Disney Company has today announced the inclusion of a Christmas special in its animated comedy series Phineas and Ferb. The special, entitled “Phineas and Ferb’s Christmas Vacation,” will follow the series’ protagonists, stepbrothers Phineas and Ferb, trying to spread Christmas cheer across their city after the mad scientist Dr. Doofenshmirtz uses a machine to cancel the holiday.

Disney has high expectations for the special. On November 27, the company will stream one of the seven musical numbers that will be showcased in the special on its public radio network Radio Disney. The official special is set to air accordingly the following month on December 6, 2009, on the company’s cable network Disney XD. Soon after, it will air on fellow Disney networks Disney Channel and ABC Family.

The crew of the series too have high hopes for the Christmas special. Zac Moncrief, who directed the special, announced that he believes it will “go down in history as a cartoon classic.” When asked about the special, co-creator Jeff “Swampy” Marsh explained, “It’s kind of intimidating. You sit down and think, ‘This is something that’s going to live at Christmas for a long, long time.'” Dan Povenmire, the other co-founder, said of his excitement over the featured musical numbers, “[H]opefully they’ll be songs that this generation of kids will think of as Christmas songs the same way that kids think of ‘Dahoo dore’ (from ‘How The Grinch Stole Christmas‘) or ‘Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.'”

Thursday, June 2, 2005

Darwin’s Ltd. opened a second location of their sandwich shop at 1613 Cambridge Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in late May. It is situated across from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. Previously limited to one location at 148 Mount Auburn Street, the second store seats approximately 30 people and sells sandwiches, coffee drinks, locally made pastries, as well as some produce and snack foods. The establishment also provides free wireless access through the WanderingWifi service. The shop plays music during the day; during this reporter’s visit to the shop, selections played ranged from David Bowie to The Strokes. The store is air-conditioned.

Key differences between the original store and the new one include the unification of the cafe and the sandwich line now behind one counter, handicap accessible restrooms, no beer or wine sold at location, and a lack of a loyal customer base. Although the recent months have been slow, business is expected to pick up with the return of Cambridge area students this autumn.

While the original location of Darwin’s was recently cited for lacking sneeze guards before the kitchen counter, according to the Cambridge Chronicle, the new Darwin’s has acrylic sheets along the front of their sandwich counter. The original Darwin’s has installed the sneeze guard at the kitchen counter the day following citation.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

NASA’s Cassini–Huygens spacecraft has discovered evidence for a large-scale saltwater reservoir beneath the icy crust of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The data came from the spacecraft’s direct analysis of salt-rich ice grains close to the jets ejected from the moon. The study has been published in this week’s edition of the journal Nature.

Data from Cassini’s cosmic dust analyzer show the grains expelled from fissures, known as tiger stripes, are relatively small and usually low in salt far away from the moon. Closer to the moon’s surface, Cassini found that relatively large grains rich with sodium and potassium dominate the plumes. The salt-rich particles have an “ocean-like” composition and indicate that most, if not all, of the expelled ice and water vapor comes from the evaporation of liquid salt-water. When water freezes, the salt is squeezed out, leaving pure water ice behind.

Cassini’s ultraviolet imaging spectrograph also recently obtained complementary results that support the presence of a subsurface ocean. A team of Cassini researchers led by Candice Hansen of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, measured gas shooting out of distinct jets originating in the moon’s south polar region at five to eight times the speed of sound, several times faster than previously measured. These observations of distinct jets, from a 2010 flyby, are consistent with results showing a difference in composition of ice grains close to the moon’s surface and those that made it out to the E ring, the outermost ring that gets its material primarily from Enceladean jets. If the plumes emanated from ice, they should have very little salt in them.

“There currently is no plausible way to produce a steady outflow of salt-rich grains from solid ice across all the tiger stripes other than salt water under Enceladus’s icy surface,” said Frank Postberg, a Cassini team scientist at the University of Heidelberg in Germany.

The data suggests a layer of water between the moon’s rocky core and its icy mantle, possibly as deep as about 50 miles (80 kilometers) beneath the surface. As this water washes against the rocks, it dissolves salt compounds and rises through fractures in the overlying ice to form reserves nearer the surface. If the outermost layer cracks open, the decrease in pressure from these reserves to space causes a plume to shoot out. Roughly 400 pounds (200 kilograms) of water vapor is lost every second in the plumes, with smaller amounts being lost as ice grains. The team calculates the water reserves must have large evaporating surfaces, or they would freeze easily and stop the plumes.

“We imagine that between the ice and the ice core there is an ocean of depth and this is somehow connected to the surface reservoir,” added Postberg.

The Cassini mission discovered Enceladus’ water-vapor and ice jets in 2005. In 2009, scientists working with the cosmic dust analyzer examined some sodium salts found in ice grains of Saturn’s E ring but the link to subsurface salt water was not definitive. The new paper analyzes three Enceladus flybys in 2008 and 2009 with the same instrument, focusing on the composition of freshly ejected plume grains. In 2008, Cassini discovered a high “density of volatile gases, water vapor, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, as well as organic materials, some 20 times denser than expected” in geysers erupting from the moon. The icy particles hit the detector target at speeds between 15,000 and 39,000 MPH (23,000 and 63,000 KPH), vaporizing instantly. Electrical fields inside the cosmic dust analyzer separated the various constituents of the impact cloud.

“Enceladus has got warmth, water and organic chemicals, some of the essential building blocks needed for life,” said Dennis Matson in 2008, Cassini project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

“This finding is a crucial new piece of evidence showing that environmental conditions favorable to the emergence of life can be sustained on icy bodies orbiting gas giant planets,” said Nicolas Altobelli, the European Space Agency’s project scientist for Cassini.

“If there is water in such an unexpected place, it leaves possibility for the rest of the universe,” said Postberg.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

A new law that proposes no spitting, swearing, or urinating in public passed its second reading in Calgary.

Calgary City Council is expected to pass it into law later this year.

Fines would range from $50 for carrying a visible knife or standing on public benches and $300 for urinating or defecating in public. People who spit would face a $100 fine and those who fight in city streets would pay a $250 ticket.

“You have to set the groundwork of expectations — mutual expectations — in order to be able to work well together, live well together,” said Ald. Madeline King, a councilor who represents part of Calgary’s inner city. “This is the right thing to do — this is a social contract between Calgarians that calls for a minimum amount of respect,” he said.

“Unless you have rules, things don’t work so well in terms of living together harmoniously,” said Ald. Madeleine King. “It’s not targeting the homeless, it’s targeting anyone who behaves in this way.”

It will come back to council for final approval next week.

City lawyers have concerns about enforcing some parts of the legislation.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

A recent revelation by American actor John Travolta in court testimony during an ongoing extortion case in The Bahamas that his late son Jett suffered from autism, has stirred debate and controversy over the disease. News media and critics have questioned whether Travolta and his wife Kelly Preston should have acknowledged Jett’s illness sooner. In response to comments made Tuesday about the recent events on the ABC television program The View, the National Autism Association issued a press release stating they “very much support the Travolta family and all families affected by autism”.

Travolta’s testimony last week admitting that his son was autistic was the first time he had stated as much publicly; previously he and his wife had only said Jett had experienced Kawasaki syndrome. Travolta’s son Jett died in January 2009 at the age of 16 after experiencing a seizure. “My son was autistic and suffered from seizure disorder. Every five to ten days he suffered seizures which lasted 45 seconds to a minute,” said Travolta in his court testimony on September 22. A piece in iVillage noted Travolta had been pressured for years to speak out publicly about his son Jett’s autism. iVillage cited a 2007 piece in the New York Post, where a source commented “He could do so much good for autism awareness if he would just come forward.”

News media and critics have suggested that Travolta and his wife’s allegiance to Scientology was behind their rationale for not previously acknowledging that Jett was autistic. The Church of Scientology opposes psychiatry and does not recognize autism as an affliction. Church representative Tommy Davis had told MSNBC that “The Church of Scientology has no position on autism,” however a Scientology-founded organization the Citizens Commission On Human Rights stated to the United States Senate in 2008: “The Citizens Commission on Human Rights believes that there is no known medical treatment for autism except off-label drugs.”

Former Scientologists Tory Christman and Claire Headley were interviewed about the recent revelation by Travolta for The Daily Beast, and commented on its implications. Christman suffers from epilepsy, a condition which also causes seizures. She told The Daily Beast that the Church of Scientology pressured her to go off of her seizure medications, and instead take “vitamins and supplements”. After doing so, Christman experienced a grand mal seizure and knocked out two of her teeth in the bathroom. Headley, who has filed a lawsuit against Scientology for labor-law violations, told The Daily Beast that the only techniques that Scientology would have sanctioned to help Jett would have been internal procedures known as “assists and objective processing”. Church representative Tommy Davis responded to The Daily Beast: “This religion is utterly and completely about helping. It’s just insane to think that Scientology would be a factor in somebody not getting all the help they need.”

ABC News reported Tuesday that the president of the National Autism Association (NAA), Wendy Fournier, stated those that had experience with autism awareness had previously recognized signs from media video that Jett Travolta suffered from the disease. Fournier commented: “It didn’t really come as a surprise for people. But I’ve read some things that really bother me – basically that they should have come forward sooner. Everybody handles autism in the best way that they can and for whatever personal reasons they had, they chose not to make it public. Just because you have a child with autism and you’re a celebrity, it does not automatically mandate you to be a spokesperson for the disorder.” Another official from the autism community, the national manager for Talk About Curing, Autism Rebecca Estepp, said to ABC News: “The Travoltas are suffering right now from a tragedy that could affect anyone. … We’ve heard of several children passing away with seizures lately.”

On Tuesday’s edition of the ABC television program The View, co-host Whoopi Goldberg commented on the statements made by the representative of the National Autism Association to ABC News about Travolta’s admission of his son’s autism. “Since John Travolta has testified his son Jett was autistic in this blackmail case, the National Autism Association has come out saying they didn’t expect him to be a celebrity spokesperson for autism, but he should have come forward sooner,” said Goldberg.

The View co-hosts proceeded to discuss whether Travolta should have publicly revealed his son’s ailment earlier, and the impact of labels in society and the media. Sherri Shepherd commented on the negative impact of labeling individuals, and guest-host Gloria Estefan remarked: “I don’t like labels, period.” “I guess what is stunning to me is that anyone has the right to expect you to say anything about your family,” said Goldberg.

“Isn’t it partly that he’s a Scientologist and that there’s a reputation that Scientologists don’t believe in diseases of certain kinds?” asked co-host Joy Behar. Goldberg asserted that it was the individual’s decision whether or not to speak publicly about such an issue. Shepherd pointed out that celebrity actress Jenny McCarthy has spoken out publicly about autism, which her son suffers from, and noted that her voice has helped to focus public attention on the disease.

Behar questioned Travolta’s earlier statements that his son had Kawasaki disease: “The thing about Travolta though – he called it Kawasaki disease. Did he know that it was autism, and just said it was Kawasaki – was he making that up? I don’t know.” Goldberg said: “This is not the way to get people to come out and say, ‘You know what, I’m going to take a stand.’ It’s just, it’s none of your business until somebody wants to make it your business, but that’s just me.

After the program’s broadcast, the National Autism Association came out with a press release Tuesday, in response to statements made on The View. “The National Autism Association stated today that they very much support the Travolta family and all families affected by autism”, said the press release. The NAA clarified that the statement made to ABC News by its president Wendy Fournier was the opposite position of that quoted by Goldberg, asserting that it was taken out of context. “I agree with Ms. Goldberg, the Travoltas, like any other family struggling with the illness of their child, are entitled to their privacy. I have read hurtful, judgmental comments from individuals as well as organizations, suggesting that that the Travolta family owed it to the autism community to use their celebrity to bring awareness to the disorder. I couldn’t disagree more,” said Fournier.

The organization’s board chair, Lori McIlwain, commented in the press release: “NAA is here to support families and fellow parents. This debate does not serve anyone. As a nation, we need to instead focus on helping those affected by autism, which now affects 1 in 100 children.” According to the release, the organization was founded in 2003, and is one of the largest in the United States. The NAA’s mission includes educated families about autism and neurological disorders.

Cleveland, Ohio-based University Hospitals Case Medical Center child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Marcie Hall said that according to studies one fourth of autistic children may concurrently have seizure disorder. The director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Management Center at New York City’s Montefiore Medical Center, Dr. Shlomo Shinnar, stated: “In neurologically-normal children with epilepsy, the risk of death is actually no different than for children without seizures.”

Thursday, July 10, 2008

The three members of the flight crew and thirteen members of British Airways Flight 38 have been awarded with the BA Safety Medal. The airline considers the award to be its highest accolade and has only awarded it three times before.

On January 17 the Boeing 777 airliner was on final approach to Heathrow Airport with 136 passengers on board when it suffered a loss of engine power. The plane crash landed immediately beyond the perimeter fence, just before the start of the runway.

British Airways say that due to the crew’s professionalism only minor injuries were sustained. The medals have been awarded for their handling of the accident.

Captain Peter Burkill, who was on board, said “It is a great privilege for us to receive the BA Safety Medal. We are extremely honoured to be added to the list of the very few people who have received this award. The training we undergo at British Airways is second to none. During the events of the 17 January these skills kicked in, as we did everything we could to ensure the safety of our passengers.”

Thursday, March 8, 2007

Results are coming in for the Northern Ireland Assembly election held on Wednesday 7 March. With all first preference votes counted, both the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin have made gains: the DUP received 30.1% of first preferences, an increase of 4.4 percentage points on the 2003 election, while Sinn Féin won 26.2%, up 2.6 percentage points. This means that the two parties have gained more than half of the vote. The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) came third with 15.2%, the Ulster Unionist Party fourth with 14.9% and the Alliance Party fifth with 5.2%.

The election is a crucial step in restoring devolved government to Northern Ireland, which has been under direct rule from Westminster since October 2002, when the Assembly was suspended after allegations that an IRA spy ring was operating there. The resulting court case collapsed. Attempts to get the leading unionist and nationalist parties to resume power-sharing had failed until the St Andrews Agreement was reached in October 2006. This agreement commits Sinn Féin to accepting the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the DUP to accepting power-sharing.

All 108 seats have now been filled. The DUP are the largest party with 36 seats, followed by Sinn Féin with 28 seats. Their combined total of 64 seats gives the two parties a majority of ten in the Assembly, assuming that they are willing to work together. Among others, DUP leader Ian Paisley has been elected in North Antrim, as has Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams in West Belfast. DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson topped the poll in East Belfast, where Naomi Long of the Alliance Party was also elected. The leaders of the other two main parties were also elected: Mark Durkan of the SDLP was elected on the first count in Foyle, while Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey was elected on the third count in East Belfast. Alliance Party leader David Ford was elected in his constituency of South Antrim on the fifth count. Dawn Purvis, leader of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP), was elected on the last count in East Belfast. The Green Party won their first ever seat in the Northern Ireland Assembly, when their Northern Ireland chairperson Brian Wilson was elected on the tenth count in North Down with 2839 first preference votes.

Anna Lo of the Alliance Party has become the first candidate from an ethnic minority background to have been elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly, winning a seat in South Belfast with the fourth highest first preference vote in the constituency, 3829 votes. She said her decision to stand had been an extension of her community work, and that she wanted to give a voice to Chinese people who never felt they had any part to play in Northern Ireland politics. She also said she hoped that indigenous voters who were fed up with “tribal politics” would give her their support, and that she was determined “to be much more than a candidate for ethnic minorities”.

Counting the votes cast in the 600 polling stations continued through to Friday 9 March. Turnout was 63.5%, down 0.5 percentage points on the previous election. Assembly elections use the Single Transferable Vote (STV) method of proportional representation, with each constituency returning six MLAs.

A new power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive is to be formed by 26 March, according to the St Andrews Agreement. The election of a First Minister and Deputy First Minister requires the support of a majority of unionist MLAs and of nationalist MLAs (“parallel consent”). In practice this means that the largest unionist party and the largest nationalist party must agree to share power. If they cannot agree by the deadline the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont will be suspended again and MLAs will have their salaries and allowances stopped. Though there has been criticism of the deal reached at St Andrews by elements within both the DUP and Sinn Féin, the government in Westminster believes that these dissenters are in a minority.

Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain said to CNN: “I’m optimistic that we can achieve a working government on March 26, but it’s a very stark choice for them — get into power, or shut up shop”. But he also warned that “if this falls over on March 26, there is no prospect of another settlement for a very long time, maybe years”. On Friday 9 March Mr Hain began separate meetings with the leaders and deputy leaders of the DUP and Sinn Féin.

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said he had “no problem” with working with the Unionists and shaking the hand of Ian Paisley: “I think it is very, very important in terms of representing a community that for a long time was marginalized and excluded. We’re about reaching out to the Unionists”.

But Ian Paisley claimed that Sinn Féin’s decision to support the police had been “qualified”, and said, “you can’t pick and choose how far you are prepared to go for peace.” He also said that Sinn Féin had to “turn from their evil ways”. To the BBC he said: “We will enter into talks tomorrow with the Secretary of State, we will be meeting the Prime Minister next week, and the hard negotiations are now going to start. Sinn Féin are not entitled to be at the table until they declare themselves for democracy. I am a democrat, I don’t speak to loyalist paramilitaries, I don’t speak to Sinn Féin”.

On Friday 9 March British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern made a joint statement. They said, “The message of the electorate is clear. After so many years of frustration and disappointment, they want Northern Ireland to move on to build a better future together through the restored institutions. Many of the practical issues which have been raised in this election campaign can and should be resolved locally.” They said that they would work closely with the Northern Irish parties to restore devolved government by the deadline of 26 March and praised the progress already made in this direction. “The people of Northern Ireland have suffered grievous pain and loss. But enormous progress has been made and there is now no good reason why we should not be able to complete this historic process. All must now take responsibility in government for building and consolidating peace, this is what the people of Northern Ireland want. They deserve no less.”

[edit]

Friday, September 20, 2013

Cathedral Square, Sydney, Australia —Wikinews attended the Wheelchair Rugby Tri-Nations Series in Cathedral Square, Sydney, ongoing from Wednesday. This is the first time an international wheelchair rugby event has been held outdoors, and in this arena. Three nations are competing: the United States, Australia, and New Zealand.

The venue is Cathedral Square, Sydney, which is adjacent to Hyde Park. The Sydney Central Business district is on the other side of the park. An outdoor stadium has been constructed specifically for the tournament, which is believed to be the first time an international wheelchair rugby tournament has been held outdoors. This choice was validated by the fine and warm weather. Free sunscreen was given to the crowd.

The Opening Ceremony was officiated by Australian Paralympic Committee Chief Executive Officer Jason Hellwig. In attendance were the Premier of New South Wales, Barry O’Farrell, the Deputy Lord Mayor of Sydney, Robyn Kemmis, and Paralympic swimmer Matthew Cowdrey. A large crowd, mostly consisting of school groups, was entertained by boy band Justice Crew singing their hit Best Night.

Each team is to play the others two twice, on Wednesday September 18 and Thursday September 19. Finals are to be held on Friday. All three teams are highly ranked internationally. The United States team is ranked number one in the world. It won bronze at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, gold at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, and bronze at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, and is the current world champion. This is its first visit to Australia since the 2000 Summer Paralympics.

The Australian team, known as the Steelers, is ranked second in the world. It won silver in Beijing and gold in London. The team is almost unchanged from the one that won in London. Greg Smith has become the assistant coach.

The first game, held immediately after the Opening Ceremony, was between the United States and Australia. The United States proved the better team, forcing errors and turnovers. Three turnovers in the first quarter were especially costly for the Steelers, who lost 56–43.

The second game was held at 17:30 under lights. The crowd was small, but there were a number of New Zealand fans in the crowd, including a few Maori. Two of the New Zealand players are also Maori. The well-disciplined United States team proved too good for the Wheel Blacks as well, who lost 58–40 in an entertaining contest.

The third game was at 19:30, between Australia and New Zealand. The Australians led the whole game, which was nonetheless entertaining to the last. In the dying seconds of the game, Australia’s Ryley Batt shunted a stalling New Zealand player across the line to force him to score, then threw the ball to team mate Chris Bond, who raced for the line at high speed but was beaten by the buzzer. Australia won 61–48.

The New Zealand team, known as the Wheel Blacks, is ranked tenth in the world. It won gold in Athens.

Highlights of the tournament are scheduled to be shown on Foxtel Sports in Australia on September 28 and 29.