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http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/24/caitlyn-jenner-halloween-costume-sparks-social-media-outrage-.html

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ne...een-costume-labeled-817515?utm_source=twitter

It's nowhere near October, but one ensemble is already on track to be named the most controversial Halloween costume of 2015.

Social media users were out in full force on Monday criticizing several Halloween retailers for offering a Caitlyn Jenner costume reminiscent of the former-athlete's Vanity Fair cover earlier this year.

While Jenner's supporters condemned the costume as "transphobic" and "disgusting" on Twitter, Spirit Halloween, a retailer that carries the costume, defended the getup.

"At Spirit Halloween, we create a wide range of costumes that are often based upon celebrities, public figures, heroes and superheroes," said Lisa Barr, senior director of marking at Spirit Halloween. "We feel that Caitlyn Jenner is all of the above and that she should be celebrated. The Caitlyn Jenner costume reflects just that."
 
Come on dude, you're gen x not a boomer. Accidentally typing this shit into your twitter is something I expect my grandma to do.
Fucking junkie couldn't even search for someone attractive.
Looking at someone they know is the goal. That way he has an accurate depiction each time he undresses her with his eyes.
 
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(Will add archive if the article ever moves up from #2000 in que)

Pantone launches bold new color to combat menstruation taboos

Jacqui Palumbo, CNN

Pantone has released a bold new shade of red, called "Period," to help destigmatize menstruation.

The new hue -- an "energizing and dynamic red shade that encourages period positivity," according to a press release -- was launched as part of the Seen+Heard campaign, an initiative by Swedish feminine care brand, Intimina.

Vice president of the Pantone Color Institute, Laurie Pressman, described the color as a "confident red" that can help encourage positive conversations about menstruation.
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/leatrice-eiseman-sanctuaries-home-color/index.html
"An active and adventurous red hue, courageous Period emboldens those who menstruate to feel proud of who they are -- to own their period with self-assurance; to stand up and passionately celebrate the exciting and powerful life force they are born with; to urge everyone, regardless of gender, to feel comfortable to talk spontaneously and openly about this pure and natural bodily function," Pressman said via email.

Menstruation remains a taboo topic in many parts of the world, impacting people's health, education and socioeconomic status.
In India, for instance, women are sometimes forbidden from cooking or touching anyone during their period, as they are considered impure or dirty, which can contribute to a culture of silence and misinformation around hygienic practices. And in a mid-western region of Nepal, a 2019 study found that the practice of making girls sleep in menstruation huts is still prevalent, despite a nationwide ban.

The stigma also impacts women in the US, where period poverty -- a lack of access to affordable menstrual hygiene products -- affects one in five teens.

"Despite the fact that billions of people experience menstruation, it has historically been treated as something that shouldn't be seen or talked about publicly," said Intimina's global brand manager, Danela Žagar, in a press statement.

"And if we look at popular culture, depictions of periods have ranged from wildly inaccurate and unsympathetic to being the subject of jokes and derision."
Building period positivity
Pantone's latest initiative joins a number of recent efforts to boost the visibility of the so-called "period positivity" movement.

In 2019, a short documentary called "Period. End of Sentence," directed by Rayka Zehtabchi, won an Academy Award. Later that year, the Unicode Consortium -- a non-profit organization that develops and approves new emoji -- introduced a "drop of blood" symbol following a campaign by the girls' rights and children's charity, Plan International.

While Pantone is best-known for its Color of the Year (which this year went to Classic Blue, a balm for uncertain times), it has also launched colors related to social and environmental issues.

In May, the organization released Pippi Longstocking Orange as part of Save the Children's "Girls on the Move" initiative. Then, following the choice of Living Coral as 2019's Color of the Year, Pantone partnered with the Ocean Agency and Adobe to release Glowing Blue, Glowing Yellow and Glowing Purple -- shades based on the fluorescent colors produced by coral when threatened by warming oceans.

"Color is one of the most powerful modes of expression we can use to engage attention and get our voices heard," Pressman said.

pantone-period.jpg
 
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After measuring radiation on the moon for the first time, scientists say a lunar base should be built underground to protect astronauts
awoodward@businessinsider.com (Aylin Woodward)
Tue, September 29, 2020, 1:34 PM PDT










https://s1.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/ZqhxjJhknNztsuUFSeEnPg--~B/Zmk9ZmlsbDtweW9mZj0wO3c9NjQwO2g9MzYwO3NtPTE7YXBwaWQ9eXRhY2h5b24-/https://sneed.yimg.com/hd/cp-video-transcode/prod/2020-09/30/5f74cc1b3ab5f26b3c723dc6/5f74cc1b3ab5f26b3c723dc7_o_U_v2.jpg
Scroll back up to restore default view.
  • NASA recently unveiled the plan for its Artemis program, a series of missions that would return astronauts to the moon.
  • A new study found how much radiation astronauts are exposed to on the lunar surface: a daily dose about 200 times as great as on Earth.
  • NASA wants to build a base on the moon, but the new data suggests it'd be safest to bury such a base under 2.5 feet of moon dirt to protect astronauts from radiation.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
NASA wants to build a permanent base on the moon by the 2030s — a place astronauts could stay for extended visits at the lunar south pole.
But a new study found that any astronauts who go there would face levels of radiation nearly three times as high as what the astronauts on the space station deal with. Long-term exposure to enough of this cosmic radiation poses significant health risks, including cataracts, cancer, and diseases of the central nervous system.
The new research, published last week in the journal Science, calculated for the first time what a moonwalker's daily dose of radiation would be.
"If you think about people staying on the moon for extended periods of time — say, on a scientific research station for a year or two — then these levels start getting problematic," Robert Wimmer-Schweingruber, an author of the new study, told Business Insider.
The solution, he said, would be to build any lunar base beneath the moon's surface.
"Covering your habitat with sufficient amounts of lunar dirt should do the trick," Wimmer-Schweingruber said.
The first study to calculate radiation on the moon
Apollo astronauts carried radiation-measuring instruments on their missions in the 1960s and '70s, but those dosimeters could tell scientists only the total amount of radiation the astronauts were exposed to throughout their time in space, from blasting off to landing, not just on the moon.
Wimmer-Schweingruber's team was able to document daily radiation levels on the moon's surface by analyzing data collected by China's Chang'e 4 spacecraft, which landed in January 2019.
https://sneed.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/BR3i1ZpgTqh532ulUAsS6g--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTY0MA--/https://media.zenfs.com/EN/business_insider_articles_888/62a0ac336d34f1916127a00d54acee0fThe Chang'e 4 lunar probe, photographed by the Yutu-2 rover.
CNSA/CLEP
A tool aboard Chang'e 4 measured the total amount of radiation it had absorbed, then relayed that radiation data back to Earth via satellites. Then it was simple arithmetic: The researchers divided that total radiation dose by the amount of time the tool had collected data to calculate the daily total.
"The radiation exposure we have measured is a good benchmark for the radiation within an astronaut suit," Thomas Berger, another author of the study, said in a press release.
200 times the radiation we experience on Earth
https://sneed.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/24VVUC8mQgik_N.yVD9iMw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTY0MA--/https://media.zenfs.com/EN/business_insider_articles_888/9f97593eaf314d126972b2d135a188e9The Lunar Lander Neutron and Dosimetry instrument helps scientists measure radiation levels on the moon.
Stefan Kolbe/Kiel University
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Radiation is a catch-all term — Wimmer-Schweingruber described it simply as "energy being deposited into places in your body that it shouldn't be, to sometimes ill effect."
On Earth, that energy can come in the form of light and heat, which we can feel, as well as from sources like X-rays, which we can't. The planet's strong magnetic field and a thick atmosphere shield the surface from most cosmic radiation, which comes from galactic cosmic rays, solar particles speeding away from the sun, neutrons, and gamma rays.
When people fly on planes, they soar above part of that atmospheric shield, so the dose of radiation they're exposed to increases. Astronauts on the moon, meanwhile, face a daily radiation level five to 10 times as high as transatlantic fliers, since the moon doesn't have the shield that Earth does.
So an astronaut on the lunar surface would be exposed to 1,369 microsieverts of radiation per day, about 200 times the daily level on Earth.
"This is a considerable exposure," Wimmer-Schweingruber said.
https://sneed.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/k_FSKOr3r6zmqbN2gNFD2g--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTY0MA--/https://media.zenfs.com/EN/business_insider_articles_888/ea83d7325ffee0bf47bb3ce9f6d7fa2eThe astronaut Eugene Cernan takes the lunar roving vehicle for a spin during the Apollo 17 mission, on December 12, 1972.
NASA
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That's why his team suggests burying lunar bases.
"Ideally you'd like to be under as much material as is equivalent to Earth's atmosphere," Wimmer-Schweingruber said, adding that "an optimal depth is 30 inches of lunar soil."


I thought this was something a lot of people already knew?
 
My take was that this was the first time it was actually quantified. Astonomers and astronauts have known about the dangers of space radiation for a long time now.

I don't think they knew whether it was the same everywhere, or had any actual plans for long term stays there.

Ah makes sense. I was told by some of my friends who are into science, not the I Fucking Love Science crowd, but you know actual people who study geology, physics, etc., that any bases on the moon and Mars would have to be underground to protect the people staying there from radiation. It’s not my field of expertise at all, but they said it so matter of factly that I took their word for it and kinda assumed that was the general consensus.
 
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Ah makes sense. I was told by some of my friends who are into science, not the I Fucking Love Science crowd, but you know actual people who study geology, physics, etc., that any bases on the moon and Mars would have to be underground to protect the people staying there from radiation. It’s not my field of expertise at all, but they said it so matter of factly that I took their word for it and kinda assumed that was the general consensus.

Yeah, I think it would be more correct to say that the Chinese lander confirmed what was already believed.
 
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Subway sandwiches contain 'too much sugar' to legally be considered bread, Supreme Court rules
THE SUPREME COURT today ruled that sandwiches made by Subway contain too much sugar to legally be considered bread.

The ruling today arose from an appeal from Bookfinders Ltd, a Subway franchisee, which claimed that it should not have to pay VAT as many products it sells are “staple foods” and should attract a 0% VAT rate.

However, the five-judge court ruled that the sandwiches must attract a rate of VAT due to its sugar content.

The law states that for bread to be considered a “staple product” and not attract VAT, it “shall not exceed 2% of the weight of flour included in the dough”. Subway’s bread has a 10% ratio.

This appeal arises from a claim submitted to the Revenue Commissioners by Bookfinders Ltd in December 2006. In the claim, the Subway franchisee sought a refund for VAT payments made from the period January/February 2004 to November/December 2005 at a rate of 9.2%, which it claimed should instead have been subjected to 0% VAT.

The court ruled “to exclude the bread used by the appellant in their sandwiches from being considered as bread under para. (xii) of the Second Schedule, as the sugar content in the bread exceeded the percentage allowed in the Schedule.

“The Schedule excluded bread from the 0% rate where any of a number of specified ingredients exceeded the allowed percentages.”

Bookfinders argued that all of the ingredients if included, would have to have exceeded the allowed percentage in order to fall outside the 0% rate (and not just the sugar) and into the 13.5% rate. The judges rejected this argument also, agreeing that it was clear that once the allowed percentage was exceeded for any one ingredient, the bread lost the 0% rate.

The franchisee also argued that certain VAT rates applied to cooked products and cold products which had subsequently been heated. It argued that only cold tea and coffee which had been heated fell under the 13.5% rate, while tea and coffee which was prepared hot came under the 0% rate.. The Court similarly rejected this argument.
 
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