e-Estonia - estonia.eu "e-Estonia" is the term commonly used to describe Estonia's emergence as one of the most advanced e-societies in the world – an incredible success story that grew out of the partnership between a forward-thinking government, a pro-active ICT sector, and a switched-on, tech-savvy population. Thanks to this success, Estonians and the Estonian state enjoy a wide range of e-solutions that those living elsewhere can only dream about. In Estonia you can access wi-fi internet even in forestsFor citizens of Estonia, e-services have become routine: e-elections, e-taxes, e-police, e-healthcare, e-banking, and e-school. The "e" prefix for services has almost become trite in the sense that it has become the norm. Most Estonians would not even consider doing things the old-fashioned way, like physically visiting an office when the process could easily be completed online. Electronic ID card As of January 2012, more than 1.1 million people in Estonia (almost 90% of inhabitants) have ID cards. e-Ticket
San Andreas fault ‘ready to go,’ expert warns of major earthquake A massive earthquake looms for Southern California, according to one expert. Thomas Jordan, director of the Southern California Earthquake Center, shared his ominous warning during this week's National Earthquake Conference in Long Beach. Kevin Schafer/Getty Images/Minden Pictures RM The San Andreas fault is due for a massive earthquake, one expert said. “The springs on the San Andreas system have been wound very, very tight. The last major earthquake along the fault line in the area occurred in 1857. Luciano Corbella/Getty Images/Dorling Kindersley The last major earthquake along the fault line in the area occurred in 1857. “Were the Fort Tejon shock to happen today, the damage would easily run into billions of dollars, and the loss of life would likely be substantial, as the present day communities of Wrightwood, Palmdale, Frazier Park, and Taft (among others) all lie upon or near the 1857 rupture area,” the Southern California Earthquake Data Center wrote. MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images
The Pacific Northwest is Doomed | Big Think by Robert Montenegro If you have friends who live in the U.S. states of Washington or Oregon, you've probably seen this tremendous piece from The New Yorker on social media this week, likely accompanied by words of dread and nightmare fuel, or at least a long string of disconcerted emojis. To offer a very basic summary, a massive earthquake is expected to develop in the next hundred years out of the Cascadia subduction zone, which stretches from Vancouver Island, Canada, to Mendocino, California. The tectonic plate beneath the region would effectively collapse, triggering a 45-foot tsunami that would make an absolute mess of the coastline. Everyone who lives within the red zone below — and plenty of people outside of it — would be in deep, deep fertilizer. It's a long read, but I recommend carving out the 15-20 minutes it'll take to run through the article. The most disturbing part of the piece is Schulz's relentless account of just how unready the region is to sustain such a disaster.
Video shows how traffic stop escalated into confrontation HEMPSTEAD, Texas (AP) — A police dashboard video released Tuesday shows that a Texas state trooper tried to pull a black motorist out of her car, then drew his stun gun and threatened her after she refused to follow his orders during a traffic stop. The roadside encounter swiftly escalated into a shouting confrontation as the officer attempted to drag 28-year-old Sandra Bland from her vehicle, with the officer at one point saying, "I will light you up," as he held the stun gun. Days later, Bland was found dead in a jail cell in a case that has caused her family and supporters to dispute that she hanged herself with a plastic garbage bag, as authorities have said. The video posted by the Texas Department of Public Safety shows the trooper stopping Bland for failure to signal a lane change. After he hands her a written warning, the trooper remarks that Bland seems irritated. The Illinois woman replies that she is irritated because she had changed lanes to make way for the trooper's car.
Photographs of the Soul | Layer by layer_2012 겹겹 – 중국에 남겨진 조선인 ‘일본군 위안부’ 사진 속에서 진실을 찾아가는 것만큼 어려우면서도 즐거운 일은 없다. 보여지는 진실이 아니라 내면의 진실을 사진에 담기 위해 대상과 인연을 만들어 나간다. 할머니들과 인연 또한 우연이 아니다. 2001년부터 중국에서 돌아오지 못하고 그곳에 살고 계신 할머니들을 만나면서 그들의 더 깊은 내면까지 이해하는 또 하나의 계기가 되었다. 할머니들과 보내는 시간 속에서 살아있는 진실을 순간순간의 사진 한 장으로 포착하는 것은 극도의 긴장을 요구했다. 파인더 속의 할머니는 한 사람의 인간 그 자체였다. 이미 할머니들은 척박한 땅에 뿌리를 내리고 홀로서기라는 사투가 시작된 지 70여 년의 세월이 흘렀다. 그들은 또다시 어디로 가야 할까. 重重 中国に残された朝鮮人元日本軍「慰安婦」の女性たち 写真の中で真実を探し出すことほど、難しく、そして楽しいことはない。 ハルモニたちとの縁は偶然のものではない。 2001年から、当時より中国で帰国できずにそのままそこで暮らしているハルモニたちに出会い、彼女たちの内面を深く知るひとつのきっかけができた。 ハルモニたちと過ごした時間の中で、生きている瞬間を写真に捉えるということは、極度の緊張を要した。 ファインダーの中の彼女たちはひとりひとりの人間そのものだ。 既に彼女たちが痩せ地に根を下ろし、孤独という死闘が始まって以来70年の年月が流れた。 Layer by layer The survived Korean women who had been left in China – ‘Comfort Women’ The processes of seeking the truth in a photograph would be difficult but enjoyable. The relations with the surviving Korean Comfort Women, who were mostly in their 80s and 90s, were not formed accidentally. Would they be forced to move to other place again?
Earth - The Cracks Ripping Earth Apart Standing here at Thingvellir, I may be looking at something quite new: the achingly slow birth of a new continent. Sigmundsson tells me that a new "micro plate" is forming beneath our feet. This "special Icelandic plate" is continually expanding as new crust forms on either side of it. The consensus is that this marks a passing separation from the rest of the rift zone. It may never quite grow into a new continent. Furthermore, the whole of Iceland is made up of relatively new crust. Iceland is being stretched and torn, but from the resulting cracks, new crust forms. We cannot normally see that the ground beneath our feet is ever-changing.
Japan Earthquake Holds Lessons For Oregon Coast | OPB This story is part of a series Oregon Public Broadcasting is doing on how well the Northwest is prepared for the magnitude 9.0 earthquake that scientists say will hit along the Cascadia Subduction Zone just off the Pacific Coast. In this piece we look at: Three times in three years Jay Wilson has returned to Kadonowaki, Japan. Each time, the weeds are a little bit taller, the concrete foundations are a little more weathered. The scene near Kadonowaki shortly after the 2011 tsunami. Stephanie Chang On March 11, 2011, a tsunami scraped a vast swath of this town from the earth. As Wilson surveys the landscape, it’s hard to know whether he’s more rattled by this tsunami that has happened, or the tsunami that will happen — in Oregon. “It’s a kind of foreshadowing of what some communities are going to look like when this thing does happen someday,” said Wilson, chairman of the Oregon Seismic Safety Policy Advisory Commission. Jay Wilson The Hospital That Withstood A 9.0 Dr. Dr. Jason Bernert / OPB
戦後７０年の原爆ドーム「保存運動盛り上げた女子高生の存在を知ってほしい」 | 猪野元健 原爆ドームは今年で「100歳」、被爆70年の年です。保存運動が高まった大きなきっかけが、原爆で被爆し、白血病で亡くなった女子高生の楮山ヒロ子さんの日記です。同級生が楮山さんの存在を広めたいと、情報を集めて冊子を制作中です。 中学生時代の楮山ヒロ子さん（右から２人目）＝同級生提供 1945年８月６日の広島。 原爆ドームは1915年に広島県物産陳列館として完成しました。 戦後、市民の間で、戦争のこわさを伝えるために保存しようという意見と、悲しみや憎しみを思い出させるから壊そうという意見がありました。 「あの痛々しい産業奨励館（原爆ドームのこと）だけが、いつまでも、恐るべき原爆を世に訴えてくれるだろう」 楮山さんが16歳に白血病で亡くなる前の年につづった日記の一部です。 保存への機運は高まり、広島市議会は66年に永久保存を決定。 国内外の多くの人が訪れる世界遺産・原爆ドーム＝広島市 「楮山さんのことを伝えていきたい」 中学生の時、同じクラスだった寺田正弘さん（71歳）たち3人は3年前に楮山さんの情報を集め始めました。 同級生ら30人ほどに聞き取り調査をしたところ、「小柄で明るく、笑顔が印象的」「運動神経がよく、いつも一生懸命」という声が多く寄せられました。 中学校を卒業する際、同級生の吉村勝文さんへのよせ書きにはこうあります。 楮山さんが中学校を卒業するときに吉村さんに向けて書いたよせ書き 一部を拡大 原爆で被爆すると、時間がたってから白血病などの病気になることがあります。 「生前に被爆した話は聞いたことがありませんでしたが、本人は原爆症のこわさをか抱えて生活を送っていたのでしょう。 寺田さんたちは、楮山さんの生い立ちや人となりなどをまとめた冊子を今年中には完成させたいと考えています。 子どもたちには「苦しいことがあっても、それを乗り越えていこうとした生き方も知ってほしいです」と話します。 楮山さんの情報を集めている同級生の寺田正弘さん（中央）ら この記事は、「朝日小学生新聞」４月２７日付に掲載した記事を加筆・修正しました。
The Lonely End With one of the fastest aging populations in the world and traditional family structures breaking down, Japan’s kodokushi phenomenon is becoming harder to ignore—not that the government and the Japanese people don’t do their best to sweep it under the carpet. Inaccurate statistics abound, with confusing definitions of what is and isn’t considered kodokushi being created in the process. According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, there were some 3,700 “unaccompanied deaths” in Japan in 2013. However, other experts estimate the number is nearer 30,000 a year. Scott North, a sociologist at Osaka University, argues that this extreme divergence could be the result of experts including some forms of suicide (of which there are around 27,000 cases a year in Japan) into the category of kodokushi. Kato’s was an extreme case—and was likely more to do with benefit fraud than kodokushi—but it’s not unusual for those who die alone to go weeks or even months before being discovered.
Cyclone Winston: Village built by Australian man for Fiji's poor survives unscathed Updated Cheap, sturdy houses designed by an Australian man have survived Fiji's devastating cyclone with barely a scratch and provide a potential blueprint for reconstruction efforts. Key points Of the 230 Koroipita houses none sustained significant damagePeter Drysdale uses roofing screws for sturdier constructionVillagers thank Mr Drysdale for giving them safe housesThe houses could be built in five days for $13,000 each, Mr Drysdale says In Koroipita, or Peter's Village, on the north-west coast of Fiji's main island Viti Levu, residents are cleaning up after Cyclone Winston. But it is not a massive effort like those seen in other cyclone-ravaged parts of the country. Instead, a handful of men are repairing a small section of a collapsed retaining wall. Of the 230 houses, none sustained any significant damage after Cyclone Winston swept through the Fiji islands. "Have a look at this connecting roof. "And we use about 58 kilograms of nails. Villagers thank Drysdale for saving their homes
Make it Through 【戦後70年】空襲は「死傷者極めて少数」？ 1945年8月2日はこんな日だった ■八王子、長岡など空襲 70年前の1945年8月1日深夜から2日未明にかけて、アメリカ軍のB29が来襲、富山、八王子（東京）、水戸、長岡（新潟）などの都市を空襲した。 1945年10月撮影。 八王子は、8月2日0時48分にB29が爆撃を始めた。 東京都八王子市に住んでいた森田志津子さんは当時16歳。 「夜が白み出すと、火の静まるのも待ち遠しく、みな家に向かいました。 しかし「死傷者は極めて少数」と報じられた。 「空襲警報とともに、老幼者の事前避難を行い、全市の避難路には『誘導員』を配置したため、避難の混乱は寸分も起らず、河原、山地など予め避難先と目されていたところには整理員を配置し、避難者の密集するのを避けた。 8月1日深夜から2日未明の空襲を伝える朝日新聞の号外 朝日新聞（大阪本社版）8月3日付 1日午後10時半に始まった新潟県長岡市の空襲では、約1万2000戸が焼け、1486人が死亡した。 ■ポツダム会議が終了 ポツダム会談に参加した（左から）イギリスのアトリー首相、アメリカのトルーマン大統領、ソ連のスターリン書記長。 イタリア、ドイツが降伏し、大勢の決した第2次世界大戦の戦後処理を話し合う、主にアメリカ、イギリス、ソ連の連合国首脳による会談は、7月17日からドイツ・ベルリン郊外ポツダムで開かれていたが、8月2日に終了。 日本に無条件降伏を呼びかけるポツダム宣言は、すでに7月26日に発表されていた。 （8月3日に続く） 朝日新聞（東京本社版）1945年8月2日付 *1 『グラフィック・レポート 昭和の戦争記録――東京目黒の住民が語る』岩波書店、1991*2*3 朝日新聞（東京本社版）1945年8月3日付*4『日米の教科書 当時の新聞でくらべる太平洋戦争』辰巳出版、2015※文中の引用は現代表記に改めました。 Close [Wikimedia] ポツダム宣言を受諾し、太平洋戦争における日本の降伏を決断した。 昭和天皇 ポツダム宣言を受諾し、太平洋戦争における日本の降伏を決断した。 ハフィントンポスト日本版はTwitterでも情報発信しています。
Why Did Two Girls Want to Kill for Slender Man? -- NYMag If 12-year-olds Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser knew that the internet character they worshipped was a fantasy, why did they want to kill their friend for him? Video stills and Morgan’s drawings are part of the court record; mug shots courtesy of the Waukesha Police Department. Payton had been called “Bella” since about the first grade. Morgan had been Bella’s best friend since fourth. Both girls loved cats and playing dress-up. There were three girls at the sleepover at Morgan’s house that night: Morgan and Bella and Morgan’s newer friend Anissa, who lived in the same housing complex as Morgan — Sunset Apartments, on Big Bend Road — and rode the school bus with her every day. Waukesha is a suburb of Milwaukee, a politically conservative and fairly bleak place, despite its spot on a few “best places to live” lists. As the girls set out for David’s Park, Bella walked ahead and Morgan and Anissa lagged behind. Hide-and-seek was a haphazard affair. “Where’s Bella’s body now?”
Lesson Ideas for Teachers | Dynamic Earth Pre & Post Visit Material... We have worked very closely with practicing teachers to develop a range of activities suitable for you to use in the classroom, the school hall or even the playground. All activities aim to help you extend your pupils experience at Dynamic Earth creating something that has a greater longevity, looking at topics from different perspectives or simply increasing the depth of learning back at school. All activities are linked intrinsically with the Curriculum for Excellence, with many being cross curricular and encouraging mixed stage learning. Teacher resources In support of this topic we have produced some teacher resources for use with your class. Geological Time Communication Rock Opera Tectonics Marie Tharp and Sonar For more teacher resources on the Curriculum for Excellence click here We would love to hear any feedback you have on our teacher resource packs.