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AFGHANISTAN WHERE GOD ONLY COMES TO WEEP

Jul 30, 2022 | BOOKS, WOMEN, WORLD

Afghanistan where God only comes to weep is the title of the book written by Siba Shakib that I read thanks to Vincenzo Franca e Francesco.

Also with Siba Shakib I share month and year of birth.

And in this video among other things she talks about sitting together and drinking coffee.

But this time the reading instead of a relaxing moment was particularly painful.

This book was still a journey, from which, however, I returned with a wound.

Afghanistan, where God only comes to weep.
I think the words chosen by the author as an introduction to her book are absolutely emblematic.

When I told about Denise Ho, Gabriella reminded how important it is to keep the focus on other realities as well, and surely the condition of women in Afghanistan is one of them.

On July 1, the Human Rights Council concluded its 50th regular session after adopting 23 resolutions and held an urgent debate on the human rights of women and girls in Afghanistan. In a resolution, the Council reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights by all women, girls and children in Afghanistan, including the right to freedom of movement, the right to education, the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including their sexual and reproductive health, the right to work and the right to access justice on an equal basis with others. The Council asked the High Commissioner to hold an enhanced interactive dialogue during its 51st session, with the participation of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan.

Yet these words seem sterile empty and useless: UN News on July 1 published a terrible “statistic”

The situation of women in Afghanistan is so desperate that they commit suicide at the rate of one or two a day.

BABY FORMULA

Jun 2, 2022 | CHRONICLE, ECONOMY, WORLD

The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) defines infant formula: “Baby Formula” as a food that purports to be or is represented for special dietary use exclusively as infant formula by reason of its simulation of human milk or its suitability as a complete food or partial substitute for human milk.

It may seem strange, but in the United States the various brands of Baby Formula on the market are produced almost exclusively by the same company: Abbott Nutrition.

Leaving aside issues of monopoly, this caused a huge problem when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation (CORE) network, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state and local partners investigated consumer complaints and/or reports received by the FDA from September 2021 to February 2022 regarding illnesses among infants who allegedly consumed infant formula products from Abbott Nutrition’s Sturgis, MI, facility, advising consumers not to consume milk powder from certain batches.

Abbott initiated a voluntary, proactive recall of powdered formulas, including Similac, Alimentum and EleCare, manufactured in Sturgis, Michigan, one of the company’s manufacturing facilities.

Consumer complaints were related to Cronobacter sakazakii or Salmonella Newport found in infants who had consumed powdered infant formula produced at this facility.

This resulted in a drastic difficulty in sourcing powdered milk precisely because of the fact that virtually most of the production is from the same facility.

This is a huge problem, since infants whose mothers are not fortunate enough to have breast milk cannot feed on anything else.

Real special flights have been set up to solve this emergency: Open Fly Formula.

A protocol has been initiated to transport infant formula via an airlift procured by the DOD i.e., the Department of Defense.

The company that produces this infant formula reports that in order to move the infant formula from Zurich, Switzerland, to Plainfield, Indiana, in the United States, it takes about 21 days with a commercial plane to ship and clear customs so that it can enter distribution.

Instead, the cargo was transferred from Switzerland to Ramstein to be loaded onto two C-17s on Bravo alert in Germany and through USTRANSCOM i.e., U.S. Transportation Command, the transport was done under the auspices of this sort of motto:
Regardless of whether the needs are in Ukraine, India or even here at home, from deploying combat-credible forces, to providing vaccines, food, water and supplies during a pandemic or natural disaster, USTRANSCOM will provide.

Can you tell me exactly what “combat-credible” means?

Undoubtedly the milk emergency had to be solved, what puzzles me is the mixing of “aid” and “military.”

Meanwhile, a kind of chain of solidarity was created among parents to find advice through Facebook groups in which, however, scammers and profiteers took over.

How did we do it before milk powder existed? I wonder, too.
Were nannies the only alternative?

EGG COFFEE

May 6, 2022 | RECIPES, WORLD

Wandering around, unfortunately only in a virtual way, better than nothing, I came across the egg coffee.

Did you already know him?

I found it in Minnesota, where the tradition of this recipe is carried on, which is actually referred to as Scandinavian.

And at this point I would ask for Luisella‘s help.

In the Midwest, coffee with egg is also called Lutheran coffee or Church basement coffee and has become a local specialty, apparently no longer known in Scandinavia as evidenced by the tone of this Minnesota Brown tweet.

By the way Salem! Curious coincidence, isn’t it?

The connection between Scandinavia and Minnesota dates back to the mid-1800s when Scandinavian immigrants brought their method of making egg coffee to the Midwest of the United States to improve the suboptimal coffee available.

The egg absorbs the tannins and impurities that typically lend bitterness and unpleasantness to cups of low-quality boiled coffee.

Swedes and Norwegians invented this method of preparation, which requires breaking a whole egg into the coffee grounds with a little water, mixing everything together.

After bringing the water to a boil in a coffee pot, the coffee blend is added, which must remain in the infusion.

In this video that I found really interesting you can see the procedure well

It doesn’t look bad, what are you saying?

Joy K. Lintelman wrote a very in-depth article: A hot heritage – Swedish Americans and coffee, I particularly like the historical images.

Instead Joy Estelle Summers tells for Eater: I remember watching my grandmother who made us egg coffee when we visited his summer cabin on the orange shores of Lake Esquagama, Minnesota. She broke an egg into a small bowl and beat it until it was well blended, then mixed the egg with the dry coffee grounds …

This grandmother‘s memory is beautiful, right?

And your grandmother, what did she prepare?

REPAIR CAFÉ

Feb 18, 2022 | ECONOMY, ENVIRONMENT, ITALY, WORLD

Repair Café is a fantastic idea that was born in Amsterdam in 2009 by Martine Postma.

But what is a Repair Café?

It is not just a hangout.

It is not just volunteering.

Repair Cafè has a very important social function.

Repair Café is a free meeting place where you can repair objects of all kinds together.

Repair Café is an organization that provides tools and materials to help carry out repairs on clothes, furniture, appliances, bicycles, dishes, appliances, toys, and much more thanks to the availability of experienced volunteers, with repair skills in all types of fields.

The success in the Netherlands has spread over space and time, forming a worldwide movement with the express purpose of preserving the ability to repair in society and promoting the recovery of objects that can continue to function.

There are organizations in Belgium, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, India, Japan and many other countries around the world.

In this video Martine, Ginko and Therese explain also giving numbers

Isn’t it wonderful that coffee machines are among the most sheltered objects?

There is also a Repair Café in Pavia founded in 2015 by Irishman Mike Kavanagh and Australian Michael Richards.

The team, which also takes care of teaching the knowledge needed to repair, has since grown and organizes repair events in collaboration with various local associations.

In this regard, I would like to point out the appointment on Saturday 26 February: Activators Breakfast.

Are you for reuse?
Can you fix broken objects?
Is there a particular object to which you have given or would you like to give new life?

What if I tell you 金継ぎor kintsugi?

VIRTUAL TV NEWS

Jan 20, 2022 | MEDIA, TECHNOLOGY, WORLD

Virtual TV News: Reality or Science Fiction?

When we talk about Artificial Intelligence, we immediately think of cutting-edge technologies, robots capable of understanding and deciding the actions to be taken and a futuristic world in which machines and humans coexist. In fact, Artificial Intelligence and its use are much more real than one might imagine and are now used in several sectors of daily life. However, these are less invasive uses than what is thought or what is often shown by science fiction films that have found the inspiration for many more or less successful series in the theme of Artificial Intelligence.

This is the introduction published on the dedicated Artificial Intelligence site.

But are we really sure that these are really “less invasive uses than what is shown in the movies?”

The video below shows the presentation of the first virtual anchorman for XINHUA, we are in 2018

On December 20, 2021, a National Business Daily journalist announces that he is virtual after seventy days, I also write it in number: 70 days of programming, during which it was broadcast without no one would notice anything.

The Chinese state media NBD then illustrated, in collaboration with the artificial intelligence company Xiaoice, the official launch of their TV programs: live news broadcast entirely managed by Artificial Intelligence.

Xiaoice 微软小冰, which defines itself The unicorn born of a giant, is linked to Microsoft, which transformed it into an independent company on July 13, 2020.

Here you can find the official video and description of the project that is part of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan under Key digital technologies: innovation and application

Our focus will be on high-end chips, operating systems, key AI algorithms, sensors and other key fields. Go on here.

Now, it would seem that given the level of many journalists, unfortunately, such a condition would not make much difference … but there is little to joke about.

What do you think? Is there a present or past journalist who, on the contrary, you particularly respect?

LETTERS TO THE PAST

Dec 18, 2021 | MOVIES, WORLD, MOVIES, MUSIC, MUSIC, WHO CARES, WHO CARES, WORLD

In a week it will be Christmas, but what Christmas will it be?

This thought carries the nostalgia of memories that flow as if in slow motion.

If I could write a letter to me from 1979 I would tell myself to be overjoyed because the coming years will be an explosion of life, colors, sounds, emotions.
And I would tell myself to learn The logical song well, because one day unfortunately the meaning will appear in all its clarity.

If I could write a letter to me in 1989, I would tell myself that that was the first of thirty-two years of work that I will like but that I have to follow the desire to study and expect more for myself.
And I would tell myself to fight so that, just like in Berlin, all the walls are torn down.

If I could write a letter to me from 1999 I would tell myself that this whole idea of the 2000s is just a big soap bubble and that the upcoming future is wearing a mask that hides the regress.
And I would tell myself that there’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.

If I could write a letter to me from 2009 I would tell myself that the crisis is not about to end and to be prepared to experience the recession.
And I would tell myself that The Resistance isn’t just the best rock album.

If I could write a letter to me in 2019, I would tell myself to live every single minute with the awareness of the enormous value of simple moments that, however trivial, will change.
And I would tell myself that things are about to happen that I would never have believed.