Liberal_in_LA
Liberal_in_LA's JournalSpain's solidarity refrigerator reduces waste - people deposit food, people take. it's working
To cut food waste, Spain's Solidarity Fridge supplies endless leftovers
Deliveries like Eguileor's arrive several times per day at the Solidarity Fridge, a pioneering project in the Basque town of Galdakao, population about 30,000. The goal is to avoid wasting perfectly good food and groceries. In April, the town established Spain's first communal refrigerator. It sits on a city sidewalk, with a tidy little fence around it, so that no one mistakes it for an abandoned appliance. Anyone can deposit food inside or help themselves.
This crusade against throwing away leftovers is the brainchild of Alvaro Saiz, who used to run a food bank for the poor in Galdakao.
"The idea for a Solidarity Fridge started with the economic crisis — these images of people searching dumpsters for food — the indignity of it. That's what got me thinking about how much food we waste," Saiz told NPR over Skype from Mongolia, where he's moved onto his next project, living in a yurt and building a hospital for handicapped children.
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There are rules: no raw meat, fish or eggs. Homemade food must be labeled with a date and thrown out after four days. But Javier Goikoetxea, one of the volunteers who cleans out the fridge, says nothing lasts that long.
"Restaurants drop off their leftover tapas at night — and they're gone by next morning," he says. "We even have grannies who cook especially for this fridge. And after weekend barbecues, you'll find it stocked with ribs and sausage."
When NPR visited on Monday, the fridge was filled with fresh vegetables — tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini — from a local community garden, along with unopened cartons of milk and jars of lentils and baby food. There were also pintxos — Basque tapas — wrapped in plastic and labeled with the date, from a local bar.
http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/08/13/npr-spain-leftovers
nature represented in legos
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2015/08/12/sean_kenney_s_nature_connect_lego_animal_sculptures_are_featured_in_beautiful.html
check before you lock. Check twice! Where is the baby?
Always Look Before You Lock
Always check the back seats of your vehicle before your lock it and walk away.
Keep a stuffed animal or other memento in your child’s car seat when it’s empty, and move it to the front seat as a visual reminder when your child is in the back seat.
If someone else is driving your child, or your daily routine has been altered, always check to make sure your child has arrived safely.
http://www.safercar.gov/parents/InandAroundtheCar/Tips-Avoid-Heatstroke.htm
"Sitting the month" No showers or going outdoors: Why the Chinese put mothers into 'confinement'
The recent death of a Shanghai woman has put the spotlight on the Chinese traditional custom of "postpartum confinement," a month-long period when new mothers are put on bed rest and advised to keep warm -- even in the heat of summer.
The mother, who was following the custom also known as "zuoyuezi," died from heat stroke after wrapping herself in a thick quilt and keeping the air-conditioning switched off despite high summer temperatures, state media reported.
A similar tragedy several months ago involved a new mother who refused to move and later died of pulmonary artery thrombosis.
Zuoyuezi, literally means "sitting the month." Traditional Chinese medicine purports that women that have just given birth are more susceptible to cold air, so it's not uncommon for mothers to refrain even from washing themselves or their clothing.
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By contrast, when 30-year-old Yang Xue delivered her daughter in a Beijing hospital two days later, she returned home and, following the principles of zuoyuezi, stayed there for more than a month without showering.
China's one child policy changes
"It's horrifying to hear that women don't sit the month. I'd rather stick to the tradition," she said. "It was a bit uncomfortable at the beginning but I got used to it later on."
Yang's parents and in-laws came to help but she also paid 8,000 yuan (US$1,265) for a "yuesao" -- a nanny dedicated to taking care of the mother and newborn.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/11/china/chinese-postpartum-confinement/index.html
Cop Arrested After His Own Body Cam Refuted His Report, Shows Him Pummeling Teen
In his report, Fraser wrote that his victim, 19-year-old Michael Roquet “struck me with his left elbow in my chest,” and later “he hit me again with his elbow…. so I struck him [with a baton] in the leg and upper body” and then handcuffed him.
However, according to the body camera footage of the incident, it is clear that there is no violent struggle, and only a drunken college kid serving as an outlet for this cop’s rage. At no time in the report did Fraser mention that he struck Roquet in the head. Nor did Fraser mention that Roquet fell to the ground after the devastating blow and that he proceeded to pummel his inebriated victim as he curled up in the fetal position to protect himself.
“He [Roquet] is not resisting at that point, he is on the ground,” said Police Chief Scott Freeman as he watched the video of this beating.
Amazingly enough, when the department investigated themselves, they actually found wrongdoing. In the report investigators issued to Fraser after the incident they stated that “You violated… policy…. You used hard control strikes from an impact weapon… on an individual who was actively resistant, but was not assaultive…. a strike to the head from a baton is considered use of deadly force…. You used more force than necessary.”
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/cop-arrested-after-his-own-body-cam-refuted-his-report-shows-him-pummeling-teen
Ambulance team pay $700 of injured dog's care out of their own pockets
Woodland Hills EMS was called to respond to the Parkway East Tuesday, where a woman was in distress, but they had no idea what that call would turn into.
A female pit bull jumped from the Parkway East overpass, landing 200 feet below near Old William Penn Highway.
VIDEO: Watch Kelly Brennan's report
According to Woodland Hills EMS, a woman spotted the dog on the parkway and tried to help it. The dog became frightened and jumped.
The team took the dog to AVETS in Monroeville for initial care, which they paid themselves, roughly $700.
Dr. Sean Smarick of AVETS estimated the future care of the dog to be $8,000 which the EMS team did not have. Smarick said the dog could have stayed there while the proper authorities tried to locate the owner, but the EMS team said they wanted to immediately help the dog they named Ophelia.
http://www.wtae.com/news/dog-jumps-200-ft-off-parkway-east-vet-hopes-owner-steps-forward/34664162
gofundme account at almost $10,000
Teen with pellet gun (playing with friends) who was shot by LAPD officer (paralyzed)gets $15 million
The Los Angeles City Council unanimously agreed Wednesday to spend $15 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of a teen who was paralyzed in a police shooting, struck with a single shot after an officer said he mistook a pellet gun for a real firearm.
Five years ago, 13-year-old Royahent Gomez Eriza was shot and wounded when police happened upon him and two friends playing on a dark Glassell Park street.
At the time, police officials said the officer believed the teenager was an adult man and was unable to see the orange tip of the pistol that reveals it as a replica. Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck called the incident “a tragedy for all involved” and said the city had seen “far too much heartbreak involving these types of realistic guns that are labeled as toys.”
In the lawsuit, the teen and his mother alleged that the officer had drawn his weapon "without just and legal cause," disputing the police account of what happened.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-police-shooting-20150812-story.html
as (very) tiny houses pop up around the Los Angeles area, councilman calls them a threat
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Tiny houses come to San Pedro, in an effort to address the homeless population there with 4-by-6-foot wood structures on wheels. Anne Turner and her dog, Jack, and boyfriend Ricky Bates are living in one of the first houses they helped build. On 8th Street between Beacon and San Pedro Streets. Aug. 10, 2015. (Brad Graverson / Staff Photographer)
A South Los Angeles man, Elvis Summers, has collected nearly $85,000 in a Go Fund Me online fundraising campaign to build the homes, which are rudimentary but do offer doors and sliding windows.
Dozens of them now line the streets of Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles.
Locally, the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council’s Homelessness Committee has launched an effort to build tiny houses for the many homeless who live on local streets, especially around San Pedro’s main post office on Beacon Street.
Three of the doghouse-style structures are parked along the curb on Eighth Street just east of Palos Verdes Street, where a homeless encampment on the sidewalk was moved a few months ago.
http://www.dailybreeze.com/social-affairs/20150811/la-councilman-pushes-for-removal-of-tiny-houses-for-the-homeless
Councilmen demand removal of tiny houses for homeless, call them a ‘threat’
Two Los Angeles city councilmen Tuesday called for the removal of small wooden dwellings built for the homeless in San Pedro and other parts of the city, apparently inspired by a viral video showing a man building a similar house for a homeless woman in South Los Angeles.
Councilman Joe Buscaino questioned the legality of the shed-sized homes, which are typically placed in parking spaces next to sidewalks or other public areas.
The motion, seconded by Councilman Mitch Englander, calls for the city attorney to “report on the legality of the placement of such structures in both the public right-of-way and on private property, and recommend removal protocol for city departments to follow.”
The motion will be taken up by the Public Works and Gang Reduction Committee and the Homelessness and Poverty Committee.
http://mynewsla.com/government/2015/08/11/councilmen-call-tiny-houses-for-homeless-a-threat-demand-removal/
Lost For Days in California Wildfire, Cat Miraculously Survives (but not her whiskers)
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Debi and Jeff Brusatori were racing to flee the flames threatening their Hayfork, California, home last week when they loaded up their car with their tabby cat Ruthie Rosemary in tow.
But as they were driving away, Ruthie jumped out of the car. They couldn't go back thanks to the encroaching Fork Complex fire, which by early August had burned more than 24,000 acres in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.
When they returned to see what was left of their home five days later, they found little more than ashes and burned-out vehicles, which had been exposed to flames so hot and intense that their alumnium parts had melted.
From behind a burned-out track, however, they "heard a familiar mew," the Forest Service reported -- it was Ruthie, who had somehow survived five days in the wilderness with only slight injuries to her whiskers and eyebrows.
http://www.weather.com/news/news/cat-lost-california-fire-survives
Medical student in Mexico under fire for posting selfie with dying patient
Source: sfgate
A medical student at the Universidad del Valle de Mexico in the border city of Reynosa, near Hidalgo, Texas, is coming under fire this morning after snapping a photo with a dying woman as a souvenir for her first day on the job.
The student, identified as María José González by Mexican news outlet Proceso.com.mx, reportedly found the woman in serious condition while on duty at the university’s hospital when she decided to take a “selfieeee,” according to screenshots of the photo.
The photo, which was originally uploaded to messaging app Whatsapp, has been circulating around social media and gaining criticism from Twitter users who call González a “stupid student.”
González replied to the criticism by posting an apology in Spanish on her Facebook account, saying she snapped the photo as a keepsake for the first day of her internship, but never intended for it to be published on social media.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/us-world/border-mexico/article/Med-student-in-Mexico-under-fire-for-posting-6437524.php
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