Stay true to the dreams of thy youth

• X Prize’s biggest bet: oceans, the “black hole” of innovation | SmartPlanet

  "Last Tuesday, the foundation announced their most ambitious commitment to date: a multi-year effort to launch three additional ocean challenges by 2020. The Ocean Initiative builds on two existing ocean-related contests — a $1.4 million prize for better oil spill cleanup technology and an ongoing $2 million competition for ocean pH sensors. Together, that makes five prizes in 10 years, marking the biggest bet X Prize has placed in a single research category, Time reported."

  tags: innovation technology xprize oceans environment

• One-and-a-Half Cheers for Georgian Democracy - Bloomberg

  "Mikheil Saakashvili was hailed, wrongly, as a beacon of democracy when he became president of Georgia a decade ago. It is only now, after Sunday’s election of a successor completed the country’s first peaceful transfer of power via the ballot box, that he deserves some of the praise. "

  tags: georgia democracy europe europeanunion politics authoritarianism

• CNPC Said Near Buying Petrobras Assets for Over $2 Billion - Bloomberg

  "China National Petroleum Corp., the country’s largest oil producer, is nearing an agreement to buy Petroleo Brasileiro SA’s assets in Peru for more than $2 billion, said three people with knowledge of the matter. The proposed deal may be announced as soon as next month, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private."

  tags: oil gas china peru petrobras brazil energy

• Robyn Lawley: Why The Dangerous ‘Thigh Gap’ Trend Makes Me Mad - The Daily Beast

  "“Thinspiration” has always been a scary subject online -- when unhealty images and messages proliferated on social networks such as Pinterest, Tumblr, and Instagram are used to encourage users to be unhealthily thin. There is now a disturbing breed of thinspiration that pressures women and girls to pursue a “thigh gap,” which is defined as the space between one's thighs. Everywhere online, users are posting aspirational pictures of thigh gaps, used as inspiration for weight loss and dieting. “I want the thigh gap. Right now, I could start a fire b/t my thighs,” one user laments on Pinterest. “No goal was ever achieved without thigh gap.”"

  tags: bodyimage health fitness skinny anorexia

• Banksy slams 1 World Trade Center in rejected New York Times op-ed - Yahoo News

  "Banksy, the elusive British street artist nearing the end of a monthlong New York City residency, published an op-ed column on his website on Sunday slamming the design of 1 World Trade Center, the 104-story skyscraper scheduled to be opened on the World Trade Center site next year. "As a visitor staying in New York for the past few weeks one thing has become very clear to me," Banksy wrote in the op-ed. "You've got to do something about the new World Trade Center. That building is a disaster. Well no, disasters are interesting. One World Trade centre [sic] is a non-event. It's vanilla. It looks like something they would build in Canada.""

  tags: wtc newyork banksy art architecture

• Call for Arab states to re-evaluate relationship with oil and end energy subsidies | The National

  " Arab states have been urged to re-evaluate their relationship with oil, phase out energy subsidies and invest heavily in renewable energy. Revenue from oil and gas will continue to be crucial but governments should use the funds to develop renewable resources and focus on energy efficiency."

  tags: gcc oil gas energy finances government sociacontract

• Feeding prejudice against the Roma - FT.com

  "The racial stereotypes underlying this frenzy of police action, and the sometimes hysterical media coverage are the latest manifestations of a longstanding undercurrent of blind prejudice that has long justified policies of subjugation of, and discrimination against, Europe’s 12m Roma citizens"

  tags: roma discrimination racism europe

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