"Sweden has just broken ground on a skyscraper greenhouse, or “plantscraper,” the first of its kind despite slews of architectural designs and long-time envisioning on the topic."
-- See story below.
Welcome to the Overnight News Digest
(graphic by palantir)
The OND is published each night around midnight, Eastern Time.
The originator of OND was Magnifico.
Current Contributors are ScottyUrb, Bentliberal, wader, Oke, rfall, JML9999 and NeonVincent who also serves as chief cat herder.
Headlines and Stories:
Burma poll: Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD sweeps by-elections - Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party has won a landslide victory in by-elections, local election officials have confirmed.
With partial results announced, the National League for Democracy (NLD) won at least 40 of the 45 seats being contested.
Ms Suu Kyi said she hoped the polls marked the start of a new era in Burma.
But the parliament remains dominated by the military and its allies, who hold the vast majority of the 664 seats ...
Ms Suu Kyi - who spent years under house arrest after her party won polls in 1990 but was not allowed to take power - has promised to use her voice to continue to push for further reform.
-- by bbc.co.uk, Photo: screen grab from BBC video
FBI information gathering on Muslims decried - Newly disclosed intelligence-gathering on Bay Area Muslims by FBI agents who took part in "community outreach" programs is a dangerous practice that the Justice Department should look into, says Michael Yaki, a former San Francisco supervisor now on the U.S. Civil Rights Commission.
"These practices bring back the specter of McCarthyism," Yaki said last week in a letter asking the Justice Department's inspector general for an investigation. He said he would also discuss the issue at an upcoming Civil Rights Commission meeting on the U.S. government's post-Sept. 11 outreach efforts to Arab and Muslim American communities.
Documents released earlier in the week by the American Civil Liberties Union showed that agents from the FBI's San Francisco office took notes on the names, viewpoints and religious activities of Muslims they encountered at Bay Area meetings from 2004 through 2008, and entered the information into intelligence files accessible by other federal agencies.
The meetings were part of the FBI's community relations program, meant to foster cooperation with local Muslims.
-- Bob Egelko, sfgate
California affirmative action ban challenge rejected - A federal appeals court on Monday upheld California's voter-approved ban on state-backed affirmative action programs, denying arguments that it is depriving minority students of a fair shot at admissions to public universities.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the latest challenge to Proposition 209, which was filed on behalf of dozens of black, Latino and Native American students who are trying to overturn a ban on using race and ethnicity as factors in university admissions. The three-judge panel concluded it was bound by a 9th Circuit ruling in 1997 that found Proposition 209's provisions constitutional.
9th Circuit Judge A. Wallace Tashima disagreed in part with the ruling, saying he believes the court "wrongly decided" the issue in 1997.
Despite the setback, lawyers for minority students say they will ask the 9th Circuit to rehear the case with an 11-judge panel, which would have more leeway to reconsider the 1997 ruling. The legal maneuvering is considered a possible prelude to U.S. Supreme Court review.
by Howard Mintz, mercurynews.com
GSA chief resigns amid reports of excessive spending- The chief of the General Services Administration is resigning and two of her top deputies have been fired amid reports of excessive spending at a training conference at a luxury hotel that featured a mindreader, a clown and a comedian.
GSA Administrator Martha Johnson submitted her resignation to the White House on Monday. Public Buildings Service chief Robert A. Peck and Johnson’s top adviser, Stephen Leeds, were forced out Monday, White House officials said. Four GSA employees who organized the four-day conference have been placed on adminstrative leave pending further action.
The resignations come as the agency’s inspector general prepares to release a scathing report on the training conference, held at a luxury hotel outside Las Vegas in October 2010.
-- By Lisa Rein and Joe Davidson, Washington Post
Feds raid downtown Oaksterdam pot school - Federal agents swooped in Monday morning to search Oaksterdam University in Oakland, the state's first cannabis industry training school.
Agents with the U.S. Marshals Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Internal Revenue Service's criminal investigation division are searching the school at the corner of 16th Street and Broadway, in the heart of the city's widely recognized downtown cannabis-oriented district, authorities said.
Hundreds of protesters converged on the school, and at least two people were arrested during their demonstrations.
-- Matthai Kuruvila,Henry K. Lee, sfgate.com
Small Banks Shift Charters to Avoid U.S. as Regulator - An increasing number of the nation’s more than 600 savings and loan associations are fleeing the comptroller’s office as they navigate a shifting regulatory landscape. The Dodd-Frank financial reform law closed their longtime regulator, the Office of Thrift Supervision, and moved them to the comptroller. A few of these institutions are trying to become credit unions, and many others are choosing state oversight. Nationally, 35 have applied to switch from national to state charters since July 2011.
While the banks say that they are looking for a regulatory agency that understands them, some former industry experts have expressed concern that the financial institutions are regulator shopping.
--JESSICA SILVER-GREENBERG, nytimes
Benefits Of Being Bilingual: Two Languages May Delay Alzheimer's Disease - Many Canadians can attest that the bonuses of being bilingual are bountiful. Learning a second language has been shown to bring in more income and offers a more flexible mindset -- and now, a study out of York University in Ontario links knowing two languages with a delay in the onset of dementia and Alzheimer's Disease.
The research, published last Friday in "Trends in Cognitive Sciences", peeks into the minds of bilingual adults and looks at how bilingualism combats degenerative mental diseases like Alzheimer's or dementia -- and the results are promising. According to Dr. Ellen Bialystok, the lead researcher in the study, bilingual adults were found to have a greater cognitive reserve as they got older that allows the mind to run longer and more smoothly ...
By knowing two languages, the brain's regions that govern general attention and cognitive control are more stimulated, compared with someone who is monolingual. The anticipation of having to speak one of two language at any given time forces the brain to run continually, and results in an experience that helps avoid a mental conflict between languages.
-- Brian Vinh Tien Trinh, Huffington Post Canada
Skyscraper Farming: An urban solution soon to be tested
Imagine you’re walking down a stark city street, the wind is biting, and you long for a little warmth and rejuvenation. Above you stands a “plantscraper”—your new local farm. The fields don’t spread out for acres, however. Instead they rise up vertically, floor by floor. As you step inside, you breathe in the earthy aroma and observe the young green shoots and the mature fruits hanging on their vines. After your urban farm immersion, you rejoin the brisk bustle of the street…refreshed.
Sweden has just broken ground on a skyscraper greenhouse, or “plantscraper,” the first of its kind despite slews of architectural designs and long-time envisioning on the topic. Located in the city of Linkoping, it was introduced by SymbioCity, which is a program that focuses on connecting people with solutions that “save the environment and money at the same time.” The chosen design was created by Plantagon, and is being carried out in partnership with SWECO, SAAB, Combitech, and Tekniska Verken. It is designed to grow plants on the south, east, and westerly facing sides of the building. The north, where the sun is indirect, is intended for commercial space and research facilities. Work is being done to create an efficient system for energy, waste and water. People involved in the project have the vision that the Plantagon Greenhouse will become an “international center of excellence for urban agriculture” that acts as a research facility for future projects of the like.
--Hannah Pick, odewire.com, Image: plantagon.com
Republican Meteorologist on Climate Change - Finally there is, a Republican, self-identified Christian, who thinks that "acknowledging climate science doesn’t make you a liberal". Minnesota meteorologist Paul Douglas has written a provocative essay, "A Message from a Republican Meteorologist on Climate Change", that has been getting attention on the Net across the political spectrum. Douglas has more than 35 years in meteorology and is a businessman. He begins his essay:
I’m going to tell you something that my Republican friends are loath to admit out loud: climate change is real. I am a moderate Republican, fiscally conservative; a fan of small government, accountability, self-empowerment, and sound science. I am not a climate scientist. I’m a meteorologist, and the weather maps I’m staring at are making me uncomfortable. No, you’re not imagining it: we’ve clicked into a new and almost foreign weather pattern.
--Magnifico
Excerpts from First Nations News & Views, published every Sunday at Daily Kos
• And the 38th Annual Denver March Powwow Princess for 2012 is . . . :
Calsee Has No Horse (Oglala Lakota) from Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota!
Powwows are one of our richest cultural community events. They take place all across the nation, and there is a powwow circuit that many dancers follow to compete for money rewards. Powwows are also spiritual events, a way to give thanks to the creator and pay tribute to our veterans. Like the Miss Navajo Nation contest, the powwow royalty competes based on skill. There is no, nor will there ever be, a bathing suit contest. If you haven't attended a powwow, you should but be aware there are cultural rules you need to follow.
—navajo
• Lakota Hunger Strikers Target Enbridge Tar Sands Pipeline: The Lakota Hunger Strike for Sacred Water Protection began today at 11 a.m. and will continue through Tuesday, April 3. The strike is in solidarity with First Nations people of Canada who opposed a proposed pipeline that would run from Alberta to Pacific ports to supply supertankers with tar sands oil for shipping along the coast of the Great Bear Rainforest. In a statement, Cheyenne River Reservation participants said: "Mining corporations use and contaminate an enormous, irreplaceable amount of pure drinking water, creating the world's greatest ecological manmade disaster in the extraction of tar-sands oil." Strikers will burn a sacred fire at a campsite on the reservation near Eagle Butte for the entire 48 hours they go without eating.
—Meteor Blades
• Amnesty Int'l Reports on Abuses of Immigrants, Natives in Southwest: The 85-page report, titled "In Hostile Terrain: Human Rights Violations in Immigration Enforcement in the U.S. Southwest," says there are systemic failures of federal, state and local authorities to enforce immigration laws without discrimination. "Communities living along the U.S.-Mexico border, particularly Latinos, individuals perceived to be of Latino origin and indigenous communities, are disproportionately affected by a range of immigration-control measures, resulting in a pattern of human rights violations."
—Meteor Blades
• Meet the Vochol, Beadwork on Wheels:
The Huichol Indians of west-central Mexico have poured artisanship into the iconic VW Beetle,
smothering it in their characteristic beadwork. (Courtesy of Smithsonian Magazine.com via ICTMN)
At one time, hailing a cab Mexico City meant that about half the time you would be taken to your destination in a Volkswagen Beetle, the Bug in the United States, but the "Vocho" in Mexico. Indeed, the car was a favorite everywhere. I once rented a brand new one in Nogales, drove it all around Mexico for two weeks before dropping it off in Mérida. But I never saw one like this done up in the intricate style of the Huichol Indians of Nayarit and Jalisco. It's the work of Huichols Francisco Bautista Carrillo and his daughter Kena Bautista, 227 million beads' worth. The vehicle is named the Vochol, a combination of the nickname Vocho, and the tribal name Huichol.
—Meteor Blades
• Illinois Junior High School Votes to Drop Indian Mascot: Aptakisic Junior High in Buffalo Grove, named after the man who was chief of the area’s Potawatomi tribe nearly 200 years ago, recently announced it's changing its sport mascot from the "Indians" to the "Eagles." The principal noted that this generation of kids is very sensitive and more aware of the harmful effects of Native American mascots.
—navajo with a h/t to lexalou
• Indian Inmates Challenge S.D. Prison Tobacco Ban: In a federal trial of a lawsuit filed in 2009, a Lakota traditional healer, Richard Moves Camp (Oglala Lakota), has argued that tobacco is an integral part of American Indian religious ceremonies and denying its use can be compared with taking away the Bible from a Christian. South Dakota prisons ban even ceremonial tobacco use. Camp said tobacco has been a central part of prayer for thousands of years. Inmates Blaine Brings Plenty and Clayton Creek, both Oglala Lakotas and members of prison-based Native American Council of Tribes filed the suit.
—Meteor Blades
More News:
Privacy backlash over Girls Around Me mobile app - An app that allowed users to find nearby women who had "checked in" on a social network has been withdrawn by its developer after complaints.
Russian developer i-Free removed its Girls Around Me app which used publicly available data from Foursquare.
Foursquare, a location-based social network, has already revoked the app's access to its data.
A company representative for i-Free said the reaction to the app was a "serious misunderstanding".
In a statement given via email to the Wall Street Journal, the company said: "We believe it is unethical to pick a scapegoat to talk about the privacy concerns.
-- bbc.com
Ashton Kutcher to play Steve Jobs in new film - Variety confirms that Kutcher will be taking on the role of the Apple co-founder in a new independent film, “Jobs.” Directed by Joshua Michael Stern (“Swing Vote”), the biopic will chronicle Jobs’ life beginning with his early hippie days.
While some are calling the resemblance uncanny, others wonder whether the usually goofy Kutcher, best known for romantic comedies and his role on “Two and a Half Men,” is the right man for the role.
-- dailydish, sfgate
Sir Peter Blake recreates Sgt Pepper sleeve for 80th
Click here to see an enlarged version of the artwork
British artist Sir Peter Blake has recreated the iconic album sleeve for The Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band on his 80th birthday.
...
Gone are cutouts of actress Marilyn Monroe, comedians Lenny Bruce and WC Fields to be replaced by Amy Winehouse, Kate Moss, artists Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst and musicians Eric Clapton and Noel Gallagher.
Sadly, gone too are The Beatles themselves.
"I don't own the copyright," he explains. "Part of everything that went wrong at the time was that my agent signed away any kind of royalties and the copyright so we had to ask Apple Corps - The Beatles' management - for permission and they didn't want it to be associated with advertising."
Apple Corps have yet to comment on Sir Peter's claims.
--Kev Geoghegan Entertainment reporter, BBC News