Author: Admin

Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Yesterday, the state government of New South Wales (NSW), Australia announced “Bradfield” as the name for the planned third city in Greater Sydney.

Bradfield is located at west of City of Parramatta and Sydney, in vicinity of the then currently in construction Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport. The city is to be named in honour of John Bradfield, the engineer who designed the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney rail line. The name came after a public consultation earlier last year.

In a press release on the New South Wales official website, Premier Gladys Berejiklian commented on the significance of the chosen name, “Bradfield was a renowned engineer who designed and oversaw the construction of both the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney’s original railway network”. “The name Bradfield is synonymous with delivering game-changing infrastructure and it sets the right tone for the area we have referred to as the ‘Aerotropolis Core’ until now”, Berejiklian added.

According to the announcement, the planned city area is more than 1 km² (100 hectares) positioned to the north of the Bringelly suburb. In the official announcement, Premier Gladys Berejiklian wrote the city would be a “high-tech manufacturing and research hub” and it would create 200 thousand jobs. Premier Gladys Berejiklian clarified the scope of the planned city, saying “[t]his area will be transformed into a thriving city centre, home to advanced manufacturing, research, science and education and we want Bradfield to be as iconic as the existing major city centres of Sydney and Parramatta. […] What are paddocks now will be a thriving, bustling city centre offering the best job opportunities anywhere in Australia.”

Minister for Western Sydney Stuart Ayres commented on the prior public consultation and the large community involvement, saying “The number of suggestions the community put forward to ‘Name the Place’ was overwhelming and we are thrilled with the level of participation and interest this project attracted. […] We thank everyone for having their say and want to assure the community the remaining suggestions will be considered as names for streets, parks and other landmarks in the new city centre. […] I look forward to Bradfield being the first name that people think of when starting a new job, creating a new business, learning a new skill and investing in NSW.”

Per a report from Sydney Metro published in June 2020, the Western Sydney International project of the airport and the metro is planned to be inaugurated in 2026.

With some comments on social media having indicated concerns over the hotter climate in the area, Wikinews has retrieved the mean maximum temperatures for the three areas — Sydney, Parramatta, and Badgerys Creek location — and has found arithmetic mean of annual of monthly mean maximum temperatures for these locations to be 23.13, 23.8 and 24.04° Celsius, according to the data from 1996 to 2020 from the Bureau of Meteorology.

According to official data from local authorities, City of Sydney was founded in 1842 and has an area of 26.15 km²; while Sydney was converted from a penal colony in the year of 1788. Parramatta was also founded in 1788, and has an area of 84 km².

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Isaac Hayes has quit his role in Comedy Central’s animated series South Park, where he has been the voice of Chef since 1997.

Hayes, an outspoken Scientologist, said “There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins,” in reference to the “Trapped in the Closet” episode which mocked the Church of Scientology and several celebrity followers.

Matt Stone, a co-creator of South Park, told the Associated Press that “This is 100 percent having to do with his faith of Scientology… He has no problem — and he’s cashed plenty of checks — with our show making fun of Christians.”

Stone claimed that “[Hayes] wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin.”

Trey Parker had earlier explained that Hayes was the only reason Scientology had not been the subject of a South Park episode sooner. He said, “To be honest, what kept us from doing it before was Isaac Hayes. We knew he was a Scientologist and he’s an awesome guy. We were like, ‘Let’s just avoid that for now.'”

Stone & Parker decided to create the episode after hearing that comedian Penn Jillette had been barred from poking fun at the controversial religion on his cable show Penn & Teller: Bullshit!.

In January of 2006, Comedy Central’s United Kingdom affiliate removed the episode Trapped in the Closet from its broadcast schedule, reportedly to avoid legal action by actor Tom Cruise.

According to an article by Roger Friedman at Foxnews on March 20th, Hayes might not have quit South Park himself. Friedman questions the statement of Mr. Hayes, and points to the information that Mr. Hayes suffered from a minor stroke on January 17th, and may not have been alone in the decision.

Sunday, April 3, 2005

Volunteers from across the United States and some foreign countries gathered Friday to start an unofficial border patrol project.

They converged on the town of Tombstone, Arizona to take part in what organizers call the Minuteman Project.

Many came with personal firearms, cell phones or walking canes.

Most estimates numbered the group at 400 to 450 people, recruited from the Internet, far less than the 1,300 the organizers had hoped for, but “it was enough to send a message,” according to Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo.

“The federal government has walked away from this border,” he told some volunteers. He gained support and popularity for his stance against illegal immigration, but was characterized as anti-immigration in general.

“We are here to exercise what is a basic American right: free speech and the right to assemble,” he said.

Local citizens such as Luis Martinez, a third-generation Tombstone-area resident, were very unhappy with the developments. “They’ve come here to cause problems — to fight. Not to solve problems.

“I work in a ranch and all the ranchers use labor from the other side” of the border.

As Martinez fought back tears, he said he wanted to see the throngs leave Tombstone and go home.

During speeches delivered at orientation meetings, Rep. Tancredo was applauded loudly as he dismissed criticism from those who have called the volunteers racists and xenophobes. His fellow [[Republican Party (US)|Republican}}, President George Bush, described the group as “vigilantes.” Mexican President Vicente Fox used the term cazamigrantes — immigrant hunters.

Tancredo said: “We are saying to our government, ‘Please enforce the law,’ That is not a radical idea. That is not a vigilante idea. It is an American concept: the rule of law.”

Many of the volunteers, some from as far away as Italy, are bedding down in the nearby Miracle Valley Bible College for about $5 a night. Others are camping on the grounds of the run-down campus, about two miles north of the border.

Opposing sides were on the streets in Tombstone, although it appeared there was little contact or friction. Local, state and federal officers had mobilized in case confrontations arose.

James Gilchrist, a former Marine and a retired accountant from Aliso Viejo, Arizona, who ran the sign-up effort, said he expected more than 1,000 volunteers to help highlight the 30-day effort. The project’s goal is to patrol 23 miles of the San Pedro Valley, watch the border, and report illegal activity to law enforcement officials.

Many people fear that the project could result in vigilante violence. Organizers hope it causes the U.S. government to increase border patrols.

Tombstone is best known as the site of the 1881 shootout at the OK Corral.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Japanese multinational company Fujitsu launched a website for a dog pedometer which allows customers to monitor their dog’s health online. The device measures data while attached to the dog’s collar. Customers are also able to add more data to the website manually, then it displays the complete set of data graphically. Fujitsu launched the website today (Tuesday) and plans to start the sales in Japan tomorrow (Wednesday).

The pedometer is called “Wandant”, from Japanese “Wan” equivalent to “woof”, and the “dant” of “pendant”. The latter refers to the pedometer, because it is attached to a dog collar. The users can transfer data to an Android phone using a touch-card to make it available online.

Fujitsu said Wandant would be the first cloud-based dog health-care service.

The data include walking, temperature, and shaking motion statistics. The users can manually enter additional data such as food quantities, weight, custom notes, and photos.

Fujitsu said, “The data are presented graphically on a custom website that makes trends in the dog’s activities easy to understand at a glance. This helps owners get a stronger sense of their dog’s health, while enabling communication with the dog.”

Thursday, June 12, 2008

2008 The 2nd-annual Google Developer Day started its tournament in Pasifico Yokohama, Japan as its first stage. According to Google, this programmer-based event is similar to Google I/O, the largest programming event which is only available in USA and held earlier on May 28 & 29 in San Francisco, California.

Takuya Oikawa, Software Engineer of Google Japan, analyzed the future trend on programming and redefined the “3C”. “There are three key features to drive on the next generation programming, that is, ‘Client’ [user-oriented], ‘Connectivity’, and ‘Cloud Computing‘,” stated Oikawa.

Fumitoshi Ukai, the Software Engineer of Google Japan, has pointed out the importance of Google App Engine, and performed a SWOT analysis using the Sichuan earthquake as an example, and said: “The failure or success of Cloud Computing will be determined by three critical factors – ability of offline computing, language support, and quotas of databases.”

After the Japan Stage, 2008 Google Developer Day will be held in China, Taiwan, Australia, Mexico, and Brazil during the month of June. The Europe Tour of Google Developer Day will kick off from London, England on September 16.

Friday, December 9, 2005

The key legislative provisions of a new dangerous dog bill could mean felony criminal charges and higher home-owner insurance premiums for Virginia dog owners whose pet is deemed dangerous. A Spotsylvania County committee, called the Dangerous Dog Task Force, hammered out the basics of the bill that county Senator R. Edward Houck will introduce to the General Assembly in January.

Within the bill:

• a first-time incident by a dog would result in a felony charge to the owner, with an increase in the severity of the penalty for subsequent offenses (the penalty ranges from 1 to 10 years in prison)
• a dog deemed dangerous must be registered with the state on the Virginia Dangerous Dog Registry (published by the state to the web) and owners must carry insurance liability protection for the animal up to $300,000
• dangerous dogs cannot be sold, adopted or transferred , except to animal control
• no dog deemed dangerous can be transferred into the state

The dog would be legally defined as dangerous if it has bitten or attacked a person or companion animal. In the case of an attack on a companion animal, the injuries to the animal are such that it had to be euthanized. Currently, the Virginia state penal code contains no guidelines in the case of injury or death due to a dog attack.

“We’re not talking about a little situation where somebody’s pet chases a kid down the street with a bike and maybe jumps up and causes a very slight little scratch or a little nick or something,” Senator Houck said Tuesday. “We’re talking about where people are seriously disfigured and maimed.

“This journey has just begun, this is going to be a long way,” Senator Houck cautioned, since the proposals before the General Assembly could face many changes, or outright rejection.

Task force committee member Maureen Hill-Hauch said to the issue of dog owners being held accountable for their animal’s actions, “This will send a clear and convincing message to irresponsible dog owners.”

The legislation, called the Dorothy Sullivan Memorial Bill, is named in memory of the 82-year-old Spotsylvania woman who was mauled to death by 3 neighborhood Pit Bulls while she was walking her own dog in her front yard. The owner of the attacking dogs, Deanna Large, 38, has been charged with a felony of involuntary manslaughter. The trial is scheduled to begin December 20.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad confirmed on Tuesday that the country has successfully enriched uranium from 164 of their centrifuges.

“I am officially announcing that Iran has joined the group of those countries which have nuclear technology. This is the result of the Iranian nation’s resistance. Based on international regulations, we will continue our path until we achieve production of industrial-scale enrichment,” Ahmadinejad said.

“Iran has put into operation the first unit of 164 centrifuges, has injected (the uranium) gas and has reached industrial production. We operated the first unit which comprises of 164 centrifuges, gas was injected, and we got the industrial output. We should expand the work of these machines to achieve a full industrial line. We need dozens of these units (sets totaling 164 centrifuges) to achieve a uranium enrichment facility,” said Iran’s former President, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, earlier today.

Ahmadinejad had said on Monday that he would release “good nuclear news which will be a source of pride for the whole Iranian nation” today and that reports from the media are part of the United States campaign involving “psychological warfare.”

“Nothing can stop our civil nuclear program as the Iranians are a courageous nation and not afraid of intimidations. We are not after atomic bombs,” added Ahmadinejad.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran began to test 20 centrifuges in March. Iran’s current enrichment is only to reactor-grade — around 3.5% of the isotope uranium-235. Uranium-235 has a natural abundance of 0.72% and is one isotope of uranium which is easily fissionable. In order to create a nuclear bomb, a few hundred metric tons of natural uranium must be used enriched above 90% of uranium-235. Experts have said that if Iran is going to attempt to make enough uranium-235 for a nuclear bomb, they would need to install a few thousand centrifuges in series or process the gas through the same set of centrifuges over 50 times.

On Wednesday, Mohamed ElBaradei, the President of the IAEA, will visit Iran to review the progression, if any, to Iran’s nuclear program and will release a report at the end of April.

The United States said that Iran is “moving in the wrong direction” in regards to its nuclear program and that if it continues its program, it will discuss the possibility of taking steps with the United Nations.

Washington DC is said to “be talking about the way forward with the other members of the Security Council and Germany about how to address this [Iran’s nuclear program],” according to White House spokesman Scott McClellan.