Trump's star on Hollywood Walk of Fame demolished

Yesterday, Booman Tribune passed along a report from Deadline Hollywood that Donald Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame had been destroyed by a man with a pick-axe.  It was the latest of a series of defacements of the sidewalk monument since Trump began running for President.  In the spirit of a picture being worth 1000 words, and moving pictures being worth even more than that, I'm sharing CNN's video report of the incident: Trump's Hollywood star destroyed.

Los Angeles police are looking for the man who destroyed Donald Trump's Hollywood Walk of Fame star with a sledgehammer and a pickaxe.

ODN has reaction and follow-up in Destroyed: Donald Trump's Hollywood Walk of Fame Star.

Donald Trump's Hollywood Walk of Fame Star destroyed by vandals...Report by Lydia Batham.

While this is certainly an escalation and a direct insult to Trump, I don't consider it to be a Weimar Moment.  That would involve violence between groups of Trump supporters and Trump opponents, such as in Chicago and San Jose.  This isn't violence against people; it's just highly visible vandalism.  In that way, "Jamie Otis" (probably not his real name) is behaving like the Earth Liberation Front.  They primarily targeted property, too.  Just the same, I didn't approve of the ELF's tactics then and I don't approve of this action now.  Don't trash symbols of the opposition--vote!

Self-driving cars--fantasy and reality: Student sustainability video festival 47

I promised to resume the Student sustainability video festival with an entertainment-related episode at the conclusion of "Test Tube and DNews on burning trash for energy."  With no further ado, here are the videos from the most popular student talk of last summer, beginning with Automated cars from Minority Report.

Autonomous self-driving cars: driverless, automated vehicles with rotating passenger compartments from the movie Minority Report.

So far, that's just science fiction.  Here's the reality: Personal transport pods unveiled at Heathrow Airport.

Heathrow Airport has begun to transport passengers in computer controlled, driverless, car-sized personal "pods".

They're not the cars from "Minority Report," but they're cool none the less.  As my friend Nebris is fond of saying, sci-fi is now.

Stay tuned for more installments of this series.

China ends one child policy

ODN (formerly ITV) has the story in China ends its decades long one-child policy.

All couples in China can now have two children as the country's ruling Communist party announced an ease of family planning restrictions. Report by Claire Mewse.

After 35 years, the "basic national policy" has served its purpose by dramatically restricting Chinese population growth.  It's about time for a two child policy for all Chinese, which will still keep China's population from outgrowing its economy.

This change comes just as I am about to start my lectures on human population, so it's very timely.  On the one hand, it will get the students' attention.  On the other, I'll have to update the lecture by replacing the NTDTV video in China's top six environmental problems embedded in the same slide as the poster above with the ODN video.  That's an easy fix. 

By the way, this news has prompted interest in relevant entries from my back catalog.  In particular, people were reading China's gender imbalance: Student sustainability video festival 45.  The change is policy should ease that problem, along with allowing its working age population to stabilize, both issues explored in Next Media Animation thinks low birth rates in the U.S. and China aren't all good.  Looks like China recognized that NMA was right.

Chewbacca arrested as Darth Vader campaigns for Mayor of Odessa, Ukraine

Last year, I reported on the aborted campaign of Darth Vader for President of Ukraine.

[S]omeone posing as Darth Vader ran for President of Ukraine on the Internet Party ticket this spring before his candidacy was rejected.  Too bad about that.  His campaign would have been more fun to report on that what actually happened in Ukraine this summer.

The Dark Lord of the Sith granted my wish, as he's now running for Mayor of Odessa.

Darth Vader is among the candidates vying for the post of Mayor in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa.  He joins Peking Duck and a man calling himself Putin in the leadership race.

Unfortunately, things are running about as smoothly as last time.  Follow over the jump for the Sith Lord's misfortunes.

Eating bugs in Wales

It's been almost a year and a half since I last blogged about eating bugs, so when I saw ODN post a video on the topic, I thought "Why not?  It's time."  With that, I present Hungry? A pop-up resturant sells bugs and insects for lunch.

A pop-up restaurant in Cardiff sells bugs and insects for lunch.  Report by Asana Greenstreet.

I'll be sure to add this to my list of stories to gross out edify my students about the future of food.

Liberia declared Ebola-free

It's been more than four months since I posted Ebola best and worst for 2014, which was the last time I gave any kind of update on the Ebola epidemic.  That's too long, and the entries where I mentioned it in passing don't count.  Fortunately, I have good news to report: Liberia declared Ebola-free, but outbreak continues over border.

Liberia vows to be vigilant to keep Ebola-free as country goes 42 days without a new case after a year-long epidemic that killed over 4,700 people. Nathan Frandino reports.

The Reuters article accompanying this video continues with the death toll.

However, celebrations were muted by thoughts for the dead and medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) urged vigilance until the worst outbreak of the disease ever recorded was also extinguished in neighboring Guinea and Sierra Leone.

A total of 11,005 people have died from Ebola in the three West African neighbors since the outbreak began in December 2013, according to the WHO.

ODN joined Reuters in reporting this welcome development.


Don't believe the "42 weeks" part; that's an error.  It's 42 days.

When the epidemic is declared over in all three countries, I'll post Professor Farnsworth.  Until then, it looks like the rest of the world may have dodged a bullet.

Costa Rica and other green countries for Earth Day

On Earth Day, one of my students asked me which country was doing the best on renewable energy.  I answered Costa Rica, based on its using only renewable energy for electricity during the first 75 days of 2015, as Accuweather reported on Earth Day.

For the first 75 days of 2015, Costa Rica's 2.8 million citizens not only powered their homes and businesses with solely renewable energy sources, but cut costs as well.

As part of a nationwide clean energy campaign, Costa Rica challenged itself to run the entire country by using natural energy sources such as water, sunlight and wind.

Backed by the country's inhabitants, government agencies only stopped when resources diminished to the point that it was hurting the economy. Without any domestic oil or natural gas sources, importing such fuel supplies is costly, but necessary at the present time to keep up with import and export demands.

ODN has more in Costa Rica goes 75 days powering itself using only renewable energy.

Costa Rica manages to achieve a clean energy milestone by using only renewable energy for the first 75 days of the year - a record for any country. Report by Claire Lomas.

The student was impressed.  Of course, Costa Rica was still burning lots of gasoline and diesel in its cars, trucks, planes, and motorcycles, but at least it was completely renewable when it came to electricity.

Even so, Costa Rica may not have been the best answer, as Discovery News reported in Which Countries Are The Most Eco-Friendly?

As the world moves to become more environmentally friendly, some countries outshine others. Which country is the most eco-friendly?

In terms of renewable energy now, the answer may still be Costa Rica, but other countries, notably Switzerland and Sweden, may be better for the environment overall.  In addition, the image from EcoWatch at the top of the entry shows Norway ahead of Costa Rica as well.  Maybe I should follow up with that student about this information.

Solar Impulse 2 lands in China on Earth Day

Last month, I reported Solar Impulse 2 begins round-the-world flight.  For what's left of Earth Day, it's time for an update, as On Demand News (formerly ITN) reports Solar plane arrives in eastern China's Nanjing.

The Solar Impulse 2 has arrived in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing, finishing the sixth leg of its voyage around the world. Report by Gabriella Darlington.

I promise to keep my readers posted on the future legs of the flight.  That should be easy since the plane is flying to Hawaii and then on to other cities in the U.S. afterwards.

I'm not done with Earth Day, as I have videos from CNN, WOOD-TV, and DNews still to come.  When I wrote "stay tuned for the final installment about posts from the back catalog that made big moves on the leaderboard last year after a celebration of Earth Day," I didn't say how long that celebration would be.  It could last for almost a week!

Shortest lunar eclipse in a century on Passover

Fifteen days ago, I posted Equinox, eclipse, and supermoon.  Solar eclipses are always accompanied by a lunar eclipse and last month's event was no exception.  On Demand News reports in Blood Moon rising: Incredible timelapse video captures lunar eclipse.

Los Angeles' Griffith Observatory captured stunning timelapse footage of a total lunar eclipse that took place in the early hours of Saturday. Report by Laurie Blake.

This was the third of four consecutive total lunar eclipses.  I missed the first one in the sequence last year because it snowed.  At least, I got a record season snowfall for Detroit to compensate.  I was able to see the second.  I should be able to see the fourth this September, at least if the sky is clear.  If so, it should be spectacular, as it will take place during a supermoon, so the moon will be large and totality long.  I'm looking forward to it.