law

“Development” or destruction of the planet? The value of a standing forest could be more than the value of a forest burned and logged in the name of development. How many more trees would be cut, forests burned down in the name of development in days not far behind us, and time ahead?

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RIO DE JANEIRO — Twenty years ago, a Brazilian environmental activist and rubber tapper was shot to death at his home in Acre State by ranchers opposed to his efforts to save the Amazon rain forest. After his death at age 44, Francisco Alves Mendes, better known as Chico, became a martyr for a concept that is only now gaining mainstream support here: that the value of a standing forest could be more than the value of a forest burned and logged in the name of development.

This month, Brazil took what environmentalists hope will be a big step forward in realizing Mr. Mendes’s vision. The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva introduced ambitious targets for reducing deforestation and carbon dioxide emissions in a nation that is one of the world’s top emitters of this heat-trapping gas.

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Images courtesy of John Klossner, Mike Peters / Dayton Daily News / King Features Syndicate, P.C. Vey, humor-in-photos-and-pictures.blogspot.com, Nick Anderson / Houston Chronicle, Hajo / CWS, and Riber / Cagle Cartoons

In the award-winning "Goya's Ghosts," set in late 18th-century Spain, a desperate father trying to rescue his innocent daughter attempts to prove that if subjected to torture, even the most innocent man of cloth will confess to the most preposterous absurdities.

After Inés Bilbatua (one of the artist Francesco Goya’s muses) is arrested by the Holy Office, then tortured and forced to make a false confession, her father, Tomas, also a friend of Goya’s, extracts revenge on Lorenzo, forcing him to make a confession of his own.

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From the movie:

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Inquisitor: Were you served pork?
Inés Bilbatua: But I didn’t have any. I don’t like it. I don’t like the taste.
Inquisitor: Are you prepared to swear on the Holy Cross?
Inés Bilbatua: I swear on Jesus’ sacred wound, I’m telling you the truth.
Inés Bilbatua: And I would suppose you would not object if you are given an opportunity to prove it?
Inquisitor: No. I would be grateful. How would you like me to prove it?

(The girl was then brutally tortured - i.e., put to “The Question”.)

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(Inés’ family invites Brother Lorenzo and family friend Artist Francesco Goya to dine at their home to seek Lorenzo’s help with rescuing their daughter.)

Brother Lorenzo: I presume that you are anxious to have some news of your daughter.
Inés’ father, Tomas: Oh, yes. Extremely so. She has never, ever been away. Have you seen her?
Brother Lorenzo: (Regarding her release,) I couldn’t say. She must stand trial.
Inés’ father: Stand trial?  read more »

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The metric system, that is the system of units based on the metre, was officially adopted in France on 10 December 1799 (19 frimaire An VIII) and became the sole legal system of weights and measures there from 1801.

In France, before the start of the Revolution in 1789, there had been no uniformity of weights and measures. Trading had been difficult and fraud had been easy, so in 1790 the French National Assembly called for uniform new measures to put a stop to the abuses taking place. Charles Maurice Talleyrand, Bishop of Autun, presented to the Assembly a scheme based upon “natural” measures which he proudly stated would be “for all people, for all time”. This was modified by the Academy of Science, which also strongly favoured the new measures forming a decimal system as follows. The unit of length, the metre, was to be equal to the ten-millionth part of the arc of meridian between the North Pole and the equator and passing through Paris. The gram was to be the “absolute weight” of a volume of pure water, equal to the cube of the hundredth part of the metre and at the temperature of melting ice.  read more »

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To the undiscerning eye of a visitor, there is nothing too unusual about Florêncio de Abreu Street in downtown São Paulo. The buildings, many of them noble structures with brightly painted façades and stone balconies, reflect the city's rich history, and the constant noise of commercial bustle and angry traffic are the classic sounds of a major modern metropolis. But until 2006, much of that eye-catching architecture went unseen. São Paulo is a supremely intense city whose futuristic mix of skyscrapers, helicopters, advertising and rain has earned it comparisons with the urban imagery of the sci-fi film Blade Runner. But for the longest time, the nice bits, like the buildings along Florêncio de Abreu Street, were hidden behind billboards, electronic ads, shop signs and street banners.

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BAGHDAD — Days after top Iraqi and American officials suggested that a draft of the security pact between the countries was close, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki toughened his language, reiterating earlier Iraqi demands for a fixed date for the withdrawal of American troops. “It is not possible for any agreement to conclude unless it is on the basis of full sovereignty and the national interest, and that no foreign soldiers remain in Iraqi soil after a defined time ceiling,” Mr. Maliki said in a speech to Shiite tribal leaders in Baghdad’s Green Zone.

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SACRAMENTO - On Thursday, July 31, California’s Republican Governor Schwarzenegger signed an executive order cutting the pay of up to 200,000 state employees to the federal minimum of $6.55/hour and firing over 10,000 part time and temporary workers until the state’s budget impasse is resolved. The order exempts public safety agencies but will have an immediate effect everywhere else: Hiring, overtime and contracting will be halted, and tens of thousands of employees will feel the squeeze. It covers 22,000 retired state employees who work under contract, temporary and part-time workers such as those who fill in at the Department of Motor Vehicles, seasonal employees and student assistants. The order affects the approximately 10,000 state employees in San Diego and Riverside counties. They work at Department of Motor Vehicles offices, highway offices, state parks and beaches, unemployment offices, fish hatcheries and agriculture inspection stations.

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