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The Nazis fooled the world for 16 days in 1936 -- and were allowing it to happen again

During just 16 days in 1936, Adolf Hitler reinvigorated the Nazi party in one of his most successful propaganda coups—hosting the Olympic games in Berlin. Using the sporting event as a platform to shape the party’s image in a more favorable light, Hitler had “every reason to be satisfied” after he and Nazi officials charmed their global counterparts, the historian Oliver Hilmes told Quartz.

“In the 1930s, Nazi Germany had a major image problem after a series of provocations and broken promises,” he says. “But the Olympic games played a major role is showing his ‘friendly face’ and presenting the country as an open-minded and tolerant one, even as a friendly member with the wider community.”

This was quite a feat because only months before the Olympics, the unified forces of Nazi Germany, the Wehrmacht, basically wiped its feet with the Treaty of Versailles and marched into the demilitarized zone of Rhineland.

This is worth remembering today. After a year in which North Korea put the rest of the world on edge with its frequent missile tests and chilling propaganda, there was much cooing over the authoritarian state marching in unison with South Korea at the Winter Olympics, and the presence of some hermit state officials. Meanwhile, two countries with horrendous track records for human rights and corruption, Russia and Qatar, are gearing up to host football World Cups in 2018 and 2022.


More: https://qz.com/1230045/hitler-and-the-nazis-used-the-olympics-as-propaganda-like-north-korea-russia-qatar/

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NASAs planet-hunting deep space telescope is about to run out of fuel

The Kepler space telescope is running on empty, and there are no places to fill up when you’re 94 million miles from Earth.

Charlie Sobeck, an engineer for the Kepler mission, announced in an update that the end is near for the nine-year old deep space observatory. “At this rate, the hardy spacecraft may reach its finish line in a manner we will consider a wonderful success,” he wrote. “With nary a gas station to be found in deep space, the spacecraft is going to run out of fuel. We expect to reach that moment within several months.”

Kepler was launched on March 6, 2009, on what was originally envisioned as a three-and-a-half-year mission. The spacecraft was guided into a solar orbit, trailing the Earth as it circles the sun, on a quest to find Earth-sized planets orbiting distant stars.

The Kepler telescope can’t actually “see” those distant planets, of course. Rather, it looks for variations in light as a planet passes in front of its star, creating a tiny pulse. Repeated observations can detect the size and orbit of the planet.

Kepler has discovered hundreds of exoplanets over the past nine years. Its mission could have ended in 2013 when a reaction wheel on the spacecraft broke, making it unable to maintain its position relative to the Earth.


More: https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/kepler-telescope-out-of-fuel/

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Cuomo: Probe any NY schools that blocked student walkout

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo asked state education officials Thursday to investigate reports that some New York schools prevented students from taking part in Wednesday's nationwide student walkout to protest gun violence.

In a letter the Democrat sent to Education Department Commissioner MaryEllen Elia, Cuomo called on her to look into any reports of schools blocking exits so students couldn't leave.

Cuomo called such actions "an egregious safety violation" and unlawful. His letter mentioned reports of schools in New York state disciplining students and faculty for participating in the event, and Cuomo asked Elia to use her authority "to stop these schools, reverse course and cease any disciplinary actions."

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"Threatening to discipline students for participating in the peaceful demonstrations is not only inappropriate, it is unconstitutional," Cuomo said in his letter.


More: http://poststar.com/news/state-and-regional/cuomo-probe-any-ny-schools-that-blocked-student-walkout/article_b983c0e5-d0dd-5458-817f-a033df06fbbf.html