The Procrastinator (some) Times: May 2015

Sunday 31 May 2015

The Procrastinator (some) Times Sunday 31st of May Edition

Dear friends, welcome to your latest edition of The Procrastinator (some) Times. We are running a bit late, but well... do I need to say more?

In our News section, Thomas Gorton in Dazed Magazine notice that the new Tory government isn't wasting any time and among their plans is trying to ditch the Human Rights Act and substitute it with the British Bill of Rights, or the declaration of how Human Rights are not so universal after all.

Meanwhile, the Syrian people have lost confidence in all the international community, said to VICE News Raed Saleh, the head of Syria's "White Helmets. "The Syrian people have been killed for 4 years and nobody acted seriously to stop the killing."

And in our monthly share of Venezuelan news we share the Wall Street Journal article that affirms that U.S. prosecutors are investigating several high-ranking Venezuelan suspected of turning the country into a global cocaine hub. That's how we roll, yes.

In our Science & Technology section you will meet Les Baugh the bionic man, via The New York Times. In Design, Business & Innovation, we share via The Drum an article that talks about Facebook’s Instant Articles a CMS that fuels media owner dreams but leave publishers with a wary of lack of clarity.

In Culture & Entertainment, William Brown, Senior Lecturer in Film at University of Roehampton, shares in The Conversation his impressions of Oscar Nominated film Timbuktu. Also, photographers like David LaChapelle and Martin Parr choose their best summer shots, from Coney Island to the Dead Sea. #Summeriscoming!

Finally, In Dog We Trust by La Guía del Perro, share with us some hot weather tips and the story of the dogs that are being trained to detect prostate cancer with more than 90% accuracy.

Enjoy your June, happy reading and happy meaningful procrastination!

x

NEWS: Syria's First Responders Say They Need a No-Fly Zone, But No One Listens

"For the second time in as many months, United Nations Security Council members have heard from Syrians working to save civilians from the government's exploding barrel bombs and alleged chlorine attacks, and again were asked to impose measures, including no-fly zones, to save lives. But diplomats and officials, including those in the US government, say such steps are unlikely.
Last Wednesday, Raed Saleh, the head of Syria's "White Helmets," a volunteer civil defense search and rescue corp that responds to victims of the country's four year civil war, met privately with EU diplomats and United Nations representatives, accompanied by a representative from Mayday Rescue, a group that has trained and supported the White Helmets.
In an interview with VICE News, Saleh said he wants the "Syrian people to get safe zones to protect civilians from the airstrikes of the Syrian Regime."
"The Syrian people have lost confidence in all the international community," said Saleh. "The Syrian people have been killed for 4 years and nobody acted seriously to stop the killing." Read full article in VICE News. E.T.P. 6'

NEWS: The British Bill of Rights (or how Human Rights are not so universal after all)

Photo: The Procrastinator Times ©

UK's new government isn't wasting any time says Thomas Gorton in Dazed Magazine, "Boris Johnson has shut down ten fire stations in London, Iain Duncan Smith is pressing on with his plan to cut £12 billion of welfare funding and Michael Gove – a man who once wrote of his support for hanging – is in charge of scrapping the Human Rights Act, a law that's been in place since 1998 to ensure that our human rights are protected." But now the Tory party wants to replace the Human Rights Act with a "British Bill Of Rights".

Gorton asked Bella Sankey, director of policy at human rights organisation Liberty, what that change in law might mean for her. This is a small extract of her thoughts: "At best, the repeal plans are merely a vapid attempt to indulge xenophobia and English nationalism. At worst, they’re a conscious bid by Government ministers to unilaterally renounce the universality of human rights and choose when and to whom they apply. As well as diminishing all of our rights, axing the Act would give a green light to tyrannical despots the world over – if UK leaders think it’s fine to limit human rights to certain groups, why shouldn’t they?" Read full article in Dazed. E.T.P. 3'

NEWS: Venezuelan Officials Suspected of Turning Country into Global Cocaine Hub

Caracas. Photo: The Procrastinator Times.

So, this is one of these things that everybody kind of suspects but nobody can prove, FIFA-style scandal, sort of say. The Wall Street Journal is changing the state of things because according to their research the U.S. now has proof that some Venezuelan officials (on top of ruining the country) have turned it into a Cartel.

"U.S. prosecutors are investigating several high-ranking Venezuelan officials, including the president of the country’s congress, on suspicion that they have turned the country into a global hub for cocaine trafficking and money laundering, according to more than a dozen people familiar with the probes." Read full article in the Wall Street Journal. E.T.P. 5'

SCIENCE: The Bionic Man

Video Still via New York Times.

This is truly brilliant: "Les Baugh lost his arms as a teenager. Engineers at Johns Hopkins are trying to give them back, but better. Mr. Baugh is testing a robotic prosthetic that he can control with his mind." Have a look at the Zackary Canepari, Drea Copper and Emma Cott video in The New York Times Bits. E.T.P. 9'

DESIGN, BUSINESS & INNOVATION: Facebook’s Instant Articles

Photo via The Drum.

"Facebook’s direct publishing deal to get publishers to create native content for its audiences begins in earnest its transformation into a media owner but publishers are wary of the lack of early clarity on its impact on data and the social media fate of those who don’t get with the program.
The content management system (CMS) essentially allows publishers to upload their articles directly to Facebook, which then manages the transition of it people. It hands the social network more control over editorial than ever before and, while a controversial prospect, is being sold to publishers as a way to boost the reach and value of their content." Read full article in The Drum. E.T.P. 7'

CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT: Timbuktu, right at the heart of the world

Timbuktu Movie Still via The Conversation.

William Brown, Senior Lecturer in Film at University of Roehampton, shares in The Conversation his impressions of Oscar Nominated film Timbuktu, a film that even though it has a storyline, consists mainly of juxtaposed vignettes, which according to Brown give the film an abstract feel.

"A tracking shot of a gazelle running across the northern Mali desert. Shattering gunshots. A van of men is chasing the beast, concerned not to kill, but to exhaust and capture it. More gunshots: traditional wooden statues are blown to bits in the sand.
These armed marauders are jihadists arriving from Libya and other countries into Azawad, the region of Mali in which Abderrahmane Sissako’s new film Timbuktu is located. They don’t speak the local languages (particularly Tamasheq, a Tuareg dialect) and so use translators and a mixture of Arabic, Bambara, French and English in order to ensure that women wear gloves and socks, that men roll up their trouser legs, and to ban, inter alia, football, music, smoking, loitering in the streets and sitting on one’s doorstep. Woe betide anyone who breaks these arbitrarily-imposed laws; it’s lashes, stoning or a gunshot for them." Read full article in The Conversation. E.T.P. 5'

CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT: My Best Summer Shot

Women sunbathing in a walled-off nude beach at Ein Bokek. Photograph: George Steinmetz via The Guardian.

"What does summer look like? Sunburned Brits, idyllic sand dunes or an ice-cream dripping in raspberry sauce? We asked Martin Parr, David LaChapelle, Nadav Kander, Elaine Constantine and more to pick their favourite images."

Read the article and watch the photos in The Guardian. E.T.P 6'