This month's focus is on the threats faced by women reporters globally, including the case of the imprisoned Egyptian human rights writer Solafa Magdy.
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Thursday, October 1, 2020
Swiss city Geneva to introduce a minimum wage of over $4,000 a month
The Swiss city of Geneva is to introduce a minimum wage of 23 Swiss francs ($25) an hour, equal to roughly 3,772 Swiss francs ($4,100) a month for a 41-hour working week.
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Rihanna Launches Men’s Collection of Savage x Fenty Featuring Brand Ambassador Christian Combs
Rihanna is expanding her Savage X Fenty lingerie line to include a men’s collection, which is scheduled to be released on Friday. She is also introducing a new brand ambassador, who happens to be an heir to Hip Hop royalty, Christian Combs, the son of entertainment mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs.
According to The New York Daily News, this will be Rihanna’s first collection of men’s loungewear and underwear. This news comes right before the scheduled Savage X Fenty Fall/Winter 2020 show also on Friday. The show, which can be exclusively viewed on Amazon Prime Video, will feature Lizzo, Willow Smith, Paris Hilton, and Demi Moore, with performances by Roddy Ricch, Mustard, Ella Mai, Travis Scott, Bad Bunny, Miguel, and Rosalia.
“It’s lit !! S/O @badgalriri 
I have my new line in collaboration w/ @savagexfenty Coming out OCT 2!!! 
Don’t wanna miss this ! Tune into Amazon to see it live !”
It will be an 11-piece capsule collection that will feature woven and knit boxers and swimming trunks with the Savage x Fenty logo imprinted around the waistband. The line ranges between $12 to $70 and includes a satin monogrammed pajama set accentuated with a smoking jacket.
“I wanted to create men’s wear styles that everyone can wear,” Rihanna said in a written statement. “And after Christian did such a great job at the 2019 fashion show wearing men’s, I knew we had to have him as a collaborator.”
Christian Combs, who also has the rap moniker of King Combs, is the son of Sean “Diddy” Combs and late model Kim Porter, who passed away on November 15, 2018.
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Wednesday, September 30, 2020
Stacer – Linux System Optimizer & Monitoring Tool
Stacer is a GUI based application written in C++ to monitor and optimize Linux OS. The latest build version of Stacer is 1.1.0, which provides all in one stop for our common activities we
The post Stacer - Linux System Optimizer & Monitoring Tool first appeared on Tecmint: Linux Howtos, Tutorials & Guides.
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Essence Magazine to furlough staff amid pandemic
The pubication said the negative impact of COVID-19 led to the cancellation of major events such as the popular Essence Music Festival.
Essence magazine, an iconic American publication dedicated to covering all things Black Girl Magic since 1970, has furloughed staff “due to revenue losses” amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
In a press release on Tuesday, Essence noted that the negative impact of COVID-19 led to the cancellation of major events such as the popular Essence Music Festival.
“Six months into an unprecedented and continuing global pandemic, COVID-19 has had a broader and longer-lasting impact than anyone expected – and Essence Communications, Inc. (“ECI”) has not been immune to it,” the magazine said in an announcement on Tuesday.
“Nonetheless, our commitment to successfully guiding this iconic brand through these immediate challenges and forward is unwavering. Our team and the community we serve are too important. The culture we reflect and create is too important,” the publication continued. “The platforms we’ve built for the celebration, inspiration and empowerment of Black women and communities are too important. This is why we are making the business decisions we are making today.”
Read More: Essence Magazine sexual harassment claims ‘not substantiated’
The publication intends to “pay everyone impacted throughout this week and will cover their medical benefits premiums throughout the furlough,” which is expected to last no longer than six months.
“We will remain in touch with all of those impacted to provide relevant and pertinent updates regarding this matter as we have them,” the magazine said. “We do not anticipate that any furloughs will exceed six (6) months. We are confident that the actions we are taking now will help ensure that ESSENCE is here to thrive for another 50+ years as an independent Black-owned media business.”
The bombshell furlough announcement comes three months after Essence Magazine was hit with internal backlash from its predominantly Black female staff.
Read More: Essence Magazine’s staffers anonymously call out toxic workplace culture
Accusations of pay inequity, sexual harassment, corporate bullying, intimidation, colorism, and classism are a few of the things the employees outlined in blog published on Medium in June. TheGRIO previously reported, the disgruntled employees called on the advertisers to pull their ads until all of the magazine’s executives are fired, including Essence Ventures owner Richelieu Dennis.
In response to the allegations, Essence issued a statement that read, in part: “It is extremely important to us that we foster a safe, transparent and respectful workspace for everyone and that we expect that from everyone – not just those who work for us, but also those who work with us.”
Meanwhile, Dennis issued a lengthy statement via Instagram this week, in which he addresed the shake-up at the publication due to the COVID crisis. He makes clear that “Essence isn’t going anywhere, whether it’s pages, stages or screens.”
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Antarctic sea ice may not cap carbon emissions as much as previously thought
The Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica is a region where many of the world’s carbon-rich deep waters can rise back up to the surface. Scientists have thought that the vast swaths of sea ice around Antarctica can act as a lid for upwelling carbon, preventing the gas from breaking through the ocean’s surface and returning to the atmosphere.
However, researchers at MIT have now identified a counteracting effect that suggests Antarctic sea ice may not be as powerful a control on the global carbon cycle as scientists had suspected.
In a study published in the August issue of the journal Global Biogeochemical Cycles, the team has found that indeed, sea ice in the Southern Ocean can act as a physical barrier for upwelling carbon. But it can also act as a shade, blocking sunlight from reaching the surface ocean. Sunlight is essential for phytosynthesis, the process by which phytoplankton and other ocean microbes take up carbon from the atmosphere to grow.
The researchers found that when sea ice blocks sunlight, biological activity — and the amount of carbon that microbes can sequester from the atmosphere — decreases significantly. And surprisingly, this shading effect is almost equal and opposite to that of sea ice’s capping effect. Taken together, both effects essentially cancel each other out.
“In terms of future climate change, the expected loss of sea ice around Antarctica may therefore not increase the carbon concentration in the atmosphere,” says lead author Mukund Gupta, who carried out the research as a graduate student in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS).
He emphasizes that sea ice does have other effects on the global climate, foremost through its albedo, or ability to reflect solar radiation.
“When the Earth warms up, it loses sea ice and absorbs more of this solar radiation, so in that sense, the loss of sea ice can accelerate climate change,” Gupta says. “What we can say here is, sea ice changes may not have such a strong effect on carbon outgassing around Antarctica through this capping and shading effect.”
Gupta’s coauthors are EAPS Professor Michael “Mick” Follows, and EAPS research scientist Jonathan Lauderdale.
The role of ice
Each winter, wide swaths of the Southern Ocean freeze over, forming vast sheets of sea ice that extend out from Antarctica for millions of square miles. The role of Antarctic sea ice in regulating the climate and the carbon cycle has been much debated, though the prevailing theory has been that sea ice can act as a lid to keep carbon in the ocean from escaping to the atmosphere.
“This theory is mostly thought of in the context of ice ages, when the Earth was much colder and the atmospheric carbon was lower,” Gupta says. “One of the theories explaining this low carbon concentration argues that because it was colder, a thick sea ice cover extended further into the ocean, blocking carbon exchanges with the atmosphere and effectively trapping it in the deep ocean.”
Gupta and his colleagues wondered whether an effect other than capping may also be in play. In general, the researchers have sought to understand how various features and processes in the ocean interact with ocean biology such as phytoplankton. They assumed that there might be less biological activity as a result of sea ice blocking microbes’ vital sunlight — but how strong would this shading effect be?
Equal and opposite
To answer that question, the researchers used the MITgcm, a global circulation model that simulates the many physical, chemical, and biological processes involved in the circulation of the atmosphere and ocean. With MITgcm, they simulated a vertical slice of the ocean spanning 3,000 kilometers wide and about 4,000 meters deep, and with conditions similar to today’s Southern Ocean. They then ran the model multiple times, each time with a different concentration of sea ice.
“At 100 percent concentration, there are no leaks in the ice, and it’s really compacted together, versus very low concentrations representing loose and sparse ice floes moving around,” Gupta explains.
They set each simulation to one of three scenarios: one where only the capping effect is active, and sea ice is only influencing the carbon cycle by preventing carbon from leaking back out to the atmosphere; another where only the shading effect is active, and sea ice is only blocking sunlight from penetrating the ocean; and the last in which both capping and shading effects are in play.
For every simulation, the researchers observed how the conditions they set affected the overall carbon flux, or amount of carbon that escaped from the ocean to the atmosphere.
They found that capping and shading had opposite effects on the carbon cycle, reducing the amount of carbon to the atmosphere in the former case and increasing it in the latter, by equal amounts. In the scenarios where both effects were considered, one canceled the other out almost entirely, across a wide range of sea ice concentrations, leading to no significant change in the carbon flux. Only when sea ice was at its highest concentration did capping have the edge, with a decrease in carbon escaping to the atmosphere.
The results suggest that Antarctic sea ice may effectively trap carbon in the ocean, but only when that ice cover is very expansive and thick. Otherwise, it seems that sea ice’s shading effect on the underlying organisms may counteract its capping effect.
“If one just considered the physics and the pure capping, or carbon barrier idea, that would be an incomplete way of thinking about it,” Gupta says. “This shows that we need to understand more of the biology under sea ice and how it underlies this effect.”
This research was supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation.
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Revamped MIT Climate Portal aims to inform and empower the public
Stepping up its ongoing efforts to inform and empower the public on the issue of climate change, MIT today announced a dramatic overhaul of the MIT Climate Portal, climate.mit.edu, which provides timely, science-based information about the causes and consequences of climate change — and what can be done to address it.
“From vast wildfires to an unusually active hurricane season, we are already getting a glimpse of what our climate-changed future looks like,” says Maria T. Zuber, MIT’s vice president for research. “With this website, we aim to communicate in rigorous but accessible ways what the science tells us: Yes, human-caused climate change is an urgent, serious problem; and yes, we can do something about it. Addressing climate change is an institutional priority, and this kind of public engagement is one way we hope to accelerate solutions.”
Survey research shows that increasing numbers of people, both in the United States and around the world, are concerned about climate change. But in the U.S., research also shows that members of the public rarely hear about or discuss the issue. Researchers at the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication have suggested that there might exist a climate change “spiral of silence,” in which “even people who care about the issue shy away from discussing it because they so infrequently hear other people talking about it.”
MIT’s efforts at public engagement on climate change are intended to help break this “spiral” — encouraging people to discuss climate change while also providing them with resources to discuss it in a way informed by the latest science and research. These engagement efforts are part of a commitment the Institute made in its 2015 Plan for Action on Climate Change “to offer the public a trusted source of climate change information, to engage leaders and citizens in the effort for solutions, and to use MIT’s expertise in online education to dramatically expand our reach.”
“We often talk about reaching people whom we call the ‘climate curious’ –— people who want to learn more about what climate change means for them and their communities and, of course, what they can do about it,” says John FernΓ‘ndez, the director of the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative and a professor in the Department of Architecture. “Our goal is for this website to become a dependable resource for people across the U.S. and all over the world, so that they can have effective conversations about the urgency of the climate problem and our ability, even now, to reduce the grave risks it presents.”
Managed by the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative, the MIT Climate Portal features a range of content, including a comprehensive climate change primer and climate-related news from all corners of the Institute. New features launched today include brief “explainers,” written by faculty and scientists at MIT, that provide high-level overviews of important topics like wildfires, carbon pricing, renewable energy, and ocean acidification. Also new to the website is an “Ask MIT Climate” feature, where members of the public can get answers to their own questions about climate change. (If you have a question about climate change that you would like the MIT Climate Portal to answer, email climate@mit.edu.)
The site also offers a clearinghouse of everything climate-related happening at MIT, from events to course offerings, to keep interested students, alumni, parents, faculty, and staff members up to date. Just as importantly, it creates a digital meeting place for members of the MIT community to share their latest work on climate change. Faculty, students, and staff across the Institute for years have made significant contributions to improving public understanding of and engagement with climate change, with tools like the climate simulators created by the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative; the Climate CoLab platform; and a number of public events, contests, and educational materials. The site will make these resources accessible in one place.
In addition to the MIT Climate Portal, MIT had previously launched two other digital resources for the public: an online, Webby Award-winning interactive primer on climate change, and a podcast series, TILclimate (short for “Today I Learned: Climate”). Both of these resources are accessible through the portal.
By enlisting MIT students in editorial aspects of the new website, the project is also proving to be a valuable hands-on educational tool. For example, for the “Ask MIT Climate” feature, students take questions about climate change submitted by users and then, under the guidance of MIT faculty members, research the answers and write responses.
“We see this as a powerful learning opportunity, a way for MIT students to strengthen their content knowledge about climate change, energy, and sustainability, but also to improve their ability to effectively communicate complex science and engineering topics to diverse audiences, a critical skill that will serve them well after they leave MIT,” says FernΓ‘ndez.
The new website is not static: New content will be developed and added over time, and all departments, labs, and centers at MIT that work on climate change are invited to contribute to it. Members of the MIT community who want to learn more about getting involved, or who have ideas for subjects to cover, are encouraged to contact the Climate Portal team.
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Ciara, Vanessa Bryant bond over breastfeeding in new photo
The image shows the dynamic duo draped in a blanket while cradling their babies.
Fans of Vanessa Bryant and Ciara have dubbed the duo ‘friend goals’ after they shared an image on Monday of them together on a private plane while breastfeeding their babies.
Both women are draped with a blanket as Bryant cradles her 15-month-old daughter Capri while Ciara is holding her 2-month-old son Win Harrison Wilson. The multi-platinum artist captioned the moment, “Got Milk?:)” along with the hashtag #MomLife.
On Tuesday, Bryant took to Instagram to post an adorable photo of her cuddling with Ciara and Russell Wilson’s baby boy.
“Sweet Baby, Win,” Bryant captioned the image. In the comment section, Ciara called Kobe Bryant’s widow “Auntie V,” while Wilson described the pic as “the sweetest.”
Read More: New WW ambassador Ciara says she gained over 65 pounds during pregnancy
Ciara and her NFL star hubby welcomed their son on July 23. The couple are also parents to 3-year-old daughter Sienna, and the Grammy winning songstress shares 6-year-old son Future with her famous ex of the same name.
Shortly after giving birth, Ciara explained the special meaning behind Win’s unique moniker to ET’s Nischelle Turner.
“There was a lot of love and thought put into it. Russ, we would talk about names, and Russ kind of always had this name Win in the rotation, years ago, before we knew we were having a girl,” she said. “He had all the good names and Win won. So Win is the name and he’s so cute. He’s so precious.”
Last week, WW International, formerly known as Weight Watchers, announced that Ciara has signed on to be the company’s newest global ambassador, theGRIO reported.
“After recently having my third child my life is more hectic than ever, and I know that I have to care for myself first, so that I can take care of everyone else,” Ciara said in a company press release. “I’m committed to setting a positive example for my children and to me, that means still eating the foods I love while making healthier choices. I’m just getting started, but I’m determined and I feel great!”
In an Instagram Story, CiCi encouraged her followers to share their own fitness journeys, as she herself continues to shed the pounds she packed on while pregnant with her third child.
Read More: Ciara uplifts Vanessa Bryant during play date: ‘The toughest mama I know’
“I’m a woman of ambition on a mission and I want to make it happen, I want you guys to join me on this exciting journey,” she explained. “It’s going to be challenging, I know it’s not going to be easy, but I’m ready for it!”
In the WW press release, the “Level Up” singer also shared how she wants to “help people take their health into their own hands” during the ongoing coronavirus epidemic.
“I’ve always appreciated being in shape — I’m ready to get back at it and lose the baby weight,” she said. “But I’m also very aware that my life is more eventful with three kids, so a restrictive lifestyle doesn’t work for me anymore.”
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Botham Jean’s family says they weren’t invited to city’s ‘Bo Day’ celebration
‘I don’t know what you want to call it but I see it as gross disrespect.’
Two years after Botham Jean was fatally shot inside his apartment by former Dallas police officer Amber Guyer, the city celebrated “Be like Bo” day on what would have been his 29th birthday on Tuesday.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson proclaimed Sept. 29, 2020 a day of celebrating Jean’s life and work. Jean’s family traveled back to Dallas to observe his birthday, but claim they were not invited to participate in the city hall event announcing “Be like Bo” day, NBC reports.
“I don’t know what you want to call it but I see it as gross disrespect,” Botham’s mother Allison Jean said. “I hate to see people use my son’s name, just for the publicity, just for the optics — that disrespects his family.”
Mayor Johnson’s office said they notified the family about the event through their pastor, who attended the celebration.
Read More: Texas law enforcement group gives Botham Jean’s brother award for hugging Amber Guyger
“Like my mom said, I call it disrespect, Mayor Johnson has disrespected Botham’s family from day one,” said Jean’s sister, Alisa Charles-Findley.
“My son was never one involved in any confusion, my son was focused, he was clear with what he wanted in life, he respected people and in his death I expect people to give the same to him while he lived,” Allison Jean added.
Earlier this year, the NFL put out a gripping and heartfelt PSA humanizing Botham Jean. The video was part of the #EveryonesChild campaign under the Responsibility Program, a joint initiative between the NFL and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, theGRIO reported.
The video is narrated by Jean’s mom and sister, and also includes Jean’s father, Bertram Jean.
In the PSA, Allison Jean says “To know Botham was to love him. The world has lost a great man. He was destined for greatness.”
“Botham was everything to us. I just can’t do without him being here,” Botham’s father adds. “I looked forward to the day Botham would have gotten married, having kids. Life is not sweet anymore.”
Returning to Dallas, the Jean family intends to continue their fight for police reform.
“There have been so many other persons killed since Botham, that his name may be forgotten. Because last year we should remember, Jemel Robinson, we should remember EJ Bradford, we should remember Atatiana Jefferson, it comes on this year, it starts off with Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Rashard Brooks, Jacob Blake, so it’s just growing and growing and growing,” said Allison Jean.
“I think the city of Dallas needs to go back to the words that I used immediately following the trial, that they need to clean up. Because we could see that there is a lot of trouble going on within the police department,” she added.
Guyger was convicted last year for the murder of Botham Jean and sentenced to ten years in prison. In August, she filed an appeal to overturn the conviction.
In recent months, activists and supporters have called for the renaming of Lamar Street to “Botham Jean Boulevard,” which his family believes “is quite appropriate” as it is the “street on which he lived and died,” said Allison Jean.
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Changes expected for next debate after first-round ugliness
‘I just hope there’s a way the commission can control the ability of us to answer the question without interruption.’
Following the disastrous presidential debate on Tuesday, the group that sponsors the event intends to roll out a few changes aimed “to maintain order” during the next faceoff between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
The presidential debate commission wants to prevent a repeat of the chaos that erupted between the candidates in Cleveland on Tuesday night. As noted by CNBC, Trump and Biden frequently ignored moderator Chris Wallace’s rules, talked over each other, and traded jabs by name-calling. At one point, the former vice president told the ex-reality TV star, “Will you shut up, man?”
The most memorable moment from the debate came when Trump refused to denounce white supremacy, and he called on the often violent alt-right group Proud Boys to “stand down, and stand by,” which members took as the green light to live out their fantasy to fight antifa in Trump’s defense.
As reported by NBC, Proud Boys organizer Joe Biggs posted after the debate that he was “standing by,” and that Trump “basically said to go f— them up.”
Read More: Biden breaks single-hour record for donations after contentious debate
“President Trump told the proud boys to stand by because someone needs to deal with ANTIFA… well sir! we’re ready!!” Biggs wrote.
Wallace, a longtime Fox News anchor, attempted to host an orderly 90-minute debate and at times he struggled to maintain control. At one point he told Trump, “the country would be better served if we allowed both people to speak with fewer interruptions. I’m appealing to you, sir, to do that.”
Trump lashed out at Wallace many times during the debate and shortly thereafter on Twitter.
In the end, Biden described the political theatrics as “a national embarrassment.”
The commission said in a statement Wednesday that it will soon implement changes to its format, as the initial debate “made clear that additional structure should be added to the format of the remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues.”
The commission added that it “will be carefully considering the changes that it will adopt and will announce those measures shortly.”
The group is considering giving the moderator the ability to cut off a candidate’s microphone while his opponent is talking, ABC 7 reports.
Tim Murtaugh, communications director for the Trump campaign, said the commission was “only doing this because their guy got pummeled last night. President Trump was the dominant force and now Joe Biden is trying to work the refs.”
Read More: World reacts with surprise, worry to 1st Biden-Trump debate
Trump also addressed the planned changes in a tweet, writing “Try getting a new Anchor and a smarter Democrat candidate!”
At a campaign event in Ohio, Biden told reporters he’s in full support of changes to the debate format.
“I just hope there’s a way in which the debate commission can control the ability of us to answer the question without interruption,” Biden said. “I’m not going to speculate on what happens in the second or third debate.”
In a post-debate chat with The Times, Wallace said, “As a practical matter, even if the president’s microphone had been shut [on Tuesday] he still could have continued to interrupt, and it might well have been picked up on Biden’s microphone, and it still would have disrupted the proceedings in the hall,” he said.
The next presidential debate between Trump and Biden is scheduled for Oct. 15 in Miami. A third debate is scheduled for Oct. 22 at Belmont University in Nashville.
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