this was a weapon that's possibly used in medieval times (definitely long before 20th century). The main part may have been a sword and the hilt could be unscrewed or somehow used as a club. Thanks!
the world of the rich vs the average person...
of all the places to not have easy access to healthcare....
has the US considered.....not funding them?
Ignoring the fact that gender dysphoria is a real thing whereas hysteria isn’t,
I'm not sure how you can make this your premise; back then hysteria was very much "a real thing". Also one could say that doctors have manipulated people undergoing surgery now into giving consent
I got downvoted recently for saying "If you’re friends with someone, wouldn’t you want to know if they’re also friends with someone problematic?" and "I would definitely want to know if my friends were close with people who’d been in prison."
Though to an extent, the lack of community, especially amongst children is due to the complete lack of independence and they have to depend on their parents to drive them everywhere.
where do you live that there's not even a playground or a residential street within walking distance of your home?
Wish it'd be acceptable for people to call out reps/senators for "doing the bidding" of other countries too
When I'm feeling blue about something for a while, I do try to exercise daily. I don't know whether or not endorphins make a difference for me but I do not that I feel more awake after exercising. I like the feeling that I accomplished something for that day and it keeps my routine regular. The alternative that I can spend a lot of time thinking about something troubling me and I'm not productive.
I wouldn't use "never get to experience" but i would say it's much harder to have that real sense of community that we easily found in the 90s, early 2000s, etc.
People are more connected to others but still more isolated from others. We were less connected to other people back then so people made a real effort to come up with fun activities and bond together. For kids, it's the lack of just playing outside in the neighbourhood with friends. For adults, it's the lack of third places and community/religious events.
Orr would defend his Communist friends to his Fascist freinds and he would defend his Fascist friends to his Communist friends. No one ever defended Orr because he was too weird.
yes this is basically what I mean
I know people who were Christians in Afghanistan, who were outed to the government (Taliban). The word they use is “spy”. It may not be the normal, English use of the word, but it’s the word that real-life people who have been on the receiving end of the betrayal use.
This is basically what i mean; someone who you can't fully trust about their allegiance.
That is really awful what happened to those people; are they ok now?
Would you rather he, as a non-government affiliated citizen, pick a side? War is stupid. Communication is great. Maybe this is naive of me, but I think the world would be better, and maybe require less war, if everyone had equal access to communication.
I recently read about Ted Hall who shared nuclear secrets with the Soviet Union because he thought everyone should have equal access to nuclear weapons and this would prevent another world war.
Your logic is similar and it's not a good thing.
That is such a heads-up for me in terms of making assumptions based on my own privilege, and I apologise for doing that here. I’m very lucky to be able to discuss politics without fear.
it's ok, everyone has their own problems
my wording was maybe not clear
Not a good way to make them see reason. I know it’s hypothetical but if you’re friends shouldn’t you put in some effort to help instead of just drop them?
you're planning to spend time debating with a ziganwu? or if you're western, a staunch far-left or far-right supporter or someone with very racist views?
no, it's normal to have a variety of friends
i'm talking about people with loyalty to a specific ideology and they are not honest about who they are in contact with, i live in asia in an area where you can get in a lot of trouble if you support democracy and if you share such information with the wrong person you can get in a lot of trouble
I heard them called “bats” because they flap around between different groups and are associated with darkness thus “shady”!
hahahahah
In any case, political crimes (“democracy supporter”) are just more justification to not care, imo.
you are saying you want people to not care about who they share information with when they live under a state that will arrest you for many more reasons than someone in the west would expect?
duplicitous
i learned a new word, thank you!
i learned a new word, thank you!
The closest word I can think of is a sycophant but that's too strong word and not exactly what I'm looking for. The word I'm thinking of has negative connotations and it's for someone who is friends with different groups but only at a superficial level and isn't necessarily honest about who all they're friends with. This person would be seen as untrustworthy.
many east asian dishes included some ready made sauce like 豆瓣酱 or 柱侯酱 in chinese cuisines or 고추장 in korean cuisine. These sauces make our dishes delicious but unfortunately they are very high in salt and/or sugars. Is there some way to make the dishes with these sauces from scratch or without such high salt/sugar? We often have to add sugar in the dish in addition to the sauces. Thanks.
I'm sure this is a similar problem in other cuisines but my question is just about east asian cuisines.
edit: i'm referring to homemade food, not restaurant food.
There are organizations like Save a Family Plan where you can sponsor a family who is living in poverty overseas and help give them funds for education etc. Are there any organizations like this for Canadian families? I tried searching online but it kept showing results for how to sponsor one's family to come to Canada (like to immigrate). Thanks.
I'm aware of the perils of microcredit so i'd rather not get involved with something where the person might have extortionate interest rates or there's a loan to be paid, i am talking about microfinance where there is money directly given to the family in need and it is used to help make the family self sufficient.
When i was very young and learning beginner spanish, i thought it was taught that in some parts of latin america, they use some plural form instead of tu when speaking. Is this correct or am I misremembering?
For example, pad thai should be balanced between sweet, sour, and salty. Indian dishes don't have meat as the feature in a dish but rather it's added for some texture; the dish itself is the feature. Hunan cooking is dry and hot and often sour and differs from Sichuan cooking which it's often compared against. Generally speaking in Asian cuisines, if you don't cook the spices exactly correctly, it will change the taste of the dish quite a bit.
As a francophone, i can say that french-based cooking is an art as the ingredients are traditional basics that are in season. The food should be delicate or have a cut (e.g. a creamy cheese should have something acidic to cut it like a nice wine). It is the combination of the techniques (method of cutting ingredients like julienne style or method of cooking like flambee, saute, etc.) to create the dish.
I got into a mild accident last week; after being checked out, i don't have anything broken but i have torn ligaments in one of my feet. My recovery has mostly been resting my foot and not putting pressure on; i'm not allowed to go for a walk. Would I be able to go swimming? This way I can keep my foot from being stiff but i can do some exercise.
Aurora Sky Castner, a Texas teen who was born in jail and graduated at the top of her class this week, will be attending Harvard University in the fall
Looking to make a bison steak and can't seem to find juniper berries or any other fresh/sour berry to pair. Thanks.
I have a few friends who have their own pilots license (private pilot i assume). How safe is it to fly your own plane?
I have acrophobia so learning how to fly is not high on my list but would like to know about how safe it is to assuage some fears. To be it seems scary because if something goes wrong, you wouldn't be the only person getting hurt (as would be the case for scuba diving or skiing) but you might also risk hurtings others like your plane crashing out of control.
edit: i'm asking on the off chance i feel like one day getting a private pilots license like my friends. i'm not planning on flying with the friends anytime soon; they live on the other side of the world.
It's going to be very cold over the next few days in my area and I'd like to buy something for the people who are homeless, particularly ones who won't be in a shelter.
For budgeting, there is one shelter in my area for adults and one for children/teenagers. I don't know how many people would not have shelter but in the past, I have planned for 40 people when providing food for people in a shelter.
My budget is about $200 USD; what would be the most useful? thermal blankets? hot food?
Edit: thanks to all who responded. I called the shelter and the most needed items are (1) sleeping bags (2) very warm gloves to prevent frostbite (3) boots
I moved countries a few years ago and am building up my credit score from scratch. I'm cognizant of good practices to build up my credit score like paying my credit card on time. My credit score dropped 10 points in the last month but I don't know why. I've increased my spending on my card because of Christmas and travelling but make the payments right away (typically same day) so that there is not a large balance on my card at the end of the month. The total spending for the month is less than 30% of my credit card limit.
I don't have any other form of credit like loans. Any suggestions why there was a drop?
pizza? flowers? a card?
Also, what's the phrase in english for support and encouragement to keep going when someone is going through a difficult time? In chinese say "加油" (literally: add oil ie. add fuel to keep going) or in french we say "courage", don't know what the phrase is in english.
Is anyone else seeing this message? It was 300 characters before and now it's 200, it's incredibly difficult to write a message with so few characters.
article: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/household-finances/article-in-10-years-will-canada-be-a-country-of-roommates/
Pope Francis' representative in the Holy Land said on Monday he was willing to exchange himself for Israeli children taken hostage by Hamas and held in Gaza.
Exclusive analysis: Bobby Shah and his wife, deceased realtor Ramina Shah, slipped a Canadian civil forfeiture and fentanyl seizure case on a Charter of Rights defence
The Biden administration’s sweeping attack on global fentanyl trafficking syndicates emanating from Chinese factories has also implicated Canada’s central involvement, singling out a Vancouver drug lab owner, whose realtor wife was stabbed to death in 2022, after the couple evaded a British Columbia civil forfeiture case that saw seizures of fentanyl, cocaine, chemical precursors, and a drug press, along with their mountainside mansion and luxury vehicles.
On Tuesday, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced numerous indictments and Treasury Department sanctions against 28 people and companies, including eight chemical companies in China, their executives and alleged Chinese transnational drug-trafficking bosses.
The indictments charge a web of chemical factories across China, from Wuhan to Anhui and Hubei and Jiangsu, and reveal how the traffickers running these companies have sold fentanyl precursors to undercover D.E.A. agents requesting shipments into Mexican drug labs.
While the Sinaloa Cartel is a major distributor for Chinese fentanyl ravaging American communities and causing tens of thousands of deaths annually, the only major targets outside mainland China named in the D.E.A.’s new investigations are Vancouver-area convict Bahman Djebelibak, 41, and his Port Coquitlam-based lab and chemical distribution facilities.
“Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat the United States has ever faced,” Garland said at a press conference in Washington, billed as a “message on behalf of the U.S. government” to China and anyone else involved in “trafficking of fentanyl at every stage and in every part of the world.”
“We know that this network includes the cartels’ leaders, their drug traffickers, their money launderers, their clandestine lab operators, their security forces, their weapons suppliers, and their chemical suppliers,” Garland continued. “And we know that this global fentanyl supply chain, which ends with the deaths of Americans, often starts with chemical companies in China.”
One of the Chinese companies sanctioned by the Treasury Department, Jinhu Minsheng Pharmaceutical Machinery, has allegedly been selling pill press machines used to manufacture counterfeit oxycodone, case records say.
“A major customer of Jinhu Minsheng’s is Western Canada-based Valerian Labs, Inc., which is led by Canadian national Bahman Djebelibak,” documents cited by Garland say.
The records allege Djebelibak, aka Bobby Shah, is a major actor in Chinese fentanyl syndicate networks, and he is accountable for “the international proliferation of illicit drugs or their means of production.”
The U.S. government is seeking Djebelibak’s arrest and the charges have not been proven yet in court, documents say.
These records charge that Djebelibak and his Port Coquitlam-based lab, also known as Hollywood Vape Labs, sought to procure “2,000 liters of chloroform, 800 liters of dichloromethane, and 200 kg of iodine, substances used in the production of fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine.”
The records add, “notably, Valerian Labs Distribution Corp. has imported chemicals from Hebei Guanlang [another] member of the Syndicate targeted.”
The Bureau’s review of Canadian legal records finds that Djebelibak and his deceased wife, Ramina Shah, were caught up in March 2018 federal police raids of Valerian Labs and the couple’s suburban-Vancouver mansion, which led to a failed B.C. civil forfeiture action.
The case was dismissed in 2021 after B.C. provincial Judge David St. Pierre found police searches had violated the couple’s Charter rights.
There is no indication, however, that St. Pierre balanced his decision by considering the stunning killing power of the fentanyl, chemical precursors and lab equipment allegedly discovered by police, as they executed search warrants stemming from a financial fraud probe against Djebelibak.
At the couple’s $2.9 million mountainside mansion in Maple Ridge, officers seized a Land Rover, a Porsche and a 2006 Pontiac G6, fraudulently registered to one of Djebelibak’s associates, who was involved in Djebelibak’s scheme of trading cash and luxury items for cheques, Canadian court records say.
In a hidden compartment of the Pontiac, officers found about two kilograms of fentanyl, a one-kilo brick of cocaine, and chemicals used to cut cocaine for street dealing.
Officers also found axes in Djebelibak’s mansion, one of which was kept in the couple’s bedroom.
During searches of the mansion and Valerian Labs, officers also discovered pieces of gold and silver jewellery and suspected drug-trafficking paraphernalia, including “score sheets” and cellphones, a hydraulic press covered in drug residue, blank cheques and bank cards in the names of other people, a credit card machine and printer, and money transfer papers.
Police also found a “5-gallon drum of sodium borohydride, which can be used as a cutting agent for controlled substances such as ecstasy, located behind stacks of containers at Hollywood Vape Labs,” B.C. civil forfeiture records say.
The provincial judge — in hindsight perhaps foolishly — gave the benefit of the doubt to the couple, on how they earned a living.
He discounted evidence that officers executing search warrants found tax returns indicating the couple only claimed about $20,000 each in annual income, which could not possibly explain how they afforded luxury assets, including a mansion, Range Rover, Porsche.
The judge, apparently referring to Hollywood Vape Labs and Valerian Labs, explained: “It was known that Mr. and Mrs. Shah owned or co-owned several private (apparently legitimate) business enterprises.”
In January 2022, a year after the civil forfeiture case was dropped, Shah was found stabbed to death in a parkade in Coquitlam, not far from Valerian Labs.
Her contact appears to be listed on the website of Hollywood Vape Labs — evidently still active — which declares itself a “proudly Canadian” business, founded in 2015.
At the time of her murder, Ramina Shah was working in real estate. Police say they are continuing to investigate her murder.
Djebelibak ’s B.C. court records indicate he has been convicted for using counterfeit money. The Vancouver Sun — reporting on Ramina Shah’s case — said her husband was acquitted in a 2002 stabbing in Kelowna after a judge said it was impossible to determine who was holding the knife when the other man was injured.
A request for comment on the U.S. government allegations against Valerian and Djebelibak was not immediately answered on Wednesday.
“These eight cases are the result of DEA’s efforts to attack the fentanyl supply chain where it starts — in China,” Drug Enforcement Administration head Anne Milgram said Tuesday, at the Garland press conference. “Chinese chemical companies are fueling the fentanyl crisis in the United States by sending fentanyl precursors, fentanyl analogues … into our country and into Mexico. DEA will not stop until we defeat this threat.”
China is pressing countries to boycott a British-organised event at the United Nations in Geneva on media freedom in Hong Kong with the son of a jailed media tycoon, a letter showed and four diplomats confirmed on Tuesday.
China is pressing countries to boycott a British-organised event at the United Nations in Geneva on media freedom in Hong Kong with the son of a jailed media tycoon, a letter showed and four diplomats confirmed on Tuesday.
The event on Wednesday titled 'Media Freedom in Hong Kong' is being held on the sidelines of the five-week meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council. Among the speakers is Sebastien Lai, the son of Jimmy Lai who this week marked his 1,000th day in a Hong Kong prison on charges related to the former British colony's national security law and sedition.
In a letter circulated widely among diplomats at the U.N. in Geneva, China's mission asked countries "to refrain from participating in this event in any way".
"Hong Kong-related issues are China's internal affairs that brook no external interference," said the diplomatic note reviewed by Reuters.
Four diplomats confirmed having received it and three of them said that Chinese diplomats had also been contacting some countries individually to not attend or support the event in any way. The diplomats declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Still, so far, at least 22 countries have co-sponsored the event, a document showed, including the United States, France and Germany.
China's diplomatic mission in Geneva did not respond to Reuters request for comment. Hong Kong authorities released a general statement saying it condemned "misleading and slanderous remarks" by organisations and media in the context of the Lai case which amounted to political interference.
Britain's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said it would continue to raise "longstanding and legitimate concerns over the erosion of rights and freedoms in Hong Kong," citing the Sino-British Joint Declaration which is meant to guarantee Hong Kong's autonomy.
The financial hub returned to China from Britain in 1997. Diplomatic tensions between Chinese authorities and Britain have been running high in recent years.
Britain released a report this month saying that Hong Kong authorities have extended the application of a Beijing imposed national security law "beyond genuine national security concerns". Jimmy Lai's trial under the new law has been postponed to Dec. 18 and is expected to last 80 days.
China, one of the 47 members of the Geneva-based Human Rights Council and seeking re-election next month, has in the past sought to counter criticism of its human rights record.
Last year, it asked the then-U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet not to publish a highly-anticipated report which said that China's arbitrary and discriminatory detention of Uyghurs in Xinjiang may constitute crimes against humanity.
Two sisters from Kingston and their adoptive mother have been charged by Iqaluit RCMP with two counts each of fraud over $5,000 following an investigation into allegations they falsely claimed to be Inuit in order to receive a benefit as adopted Inuit children through Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporation...
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/5541849
> Two sisters from Kingston and their adoptive mother have been charged by Iqaluit RCMP with two counts each of fraud over $5,000 following an investigation into allegations they falsely claimed to be Inuit in order to receive a benefit as adopted Inuit children through Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporation (NTI). > > In April, NTI asked police to investigate the actions of twins Amira and Nadya Gill and their adoptive mother Karima Manji in applying for enrolment under the Nunavut Act. > > The Gill sisters have been awarded scholarships and launched a business based on their Inuit status. > > Between October 2016 and September 2022, RCMP allege the women "used this Inuit beneficiary status to defraud the Kakivak Association and Qikiqtani Inuit Association of funds that are only available to Inuit beneficiaries by obtaining grants and scholarships." > > The allegations have not been tested in court. > > The three are scheduled to appear in an Iqaluit court on October 30. > ---- > Their adoptive mother, Karima Manji, was charged with fraud in 2015 over $5,000, theft over $5,000, possession of property obtained by a crime over $5,000 and presenting a forged document. She was the executive director of Kingsmere Retirement Living in Alliston and placed on administrative leave after being charged by Toronto Police for allegedly defrauding March of Dimes of $800,000. https://www.toronto.com/news/crime/alliston-retirement-home-director-charged-in-march-of-dimes-fraud/article_72614d3b-ec61-5d61-8901-83b4a51eb76c.html
----- April 2023 news: https://www.aptnnews.ca/featured/family-of-kitty-noah-hope-rcmp-investigate-toronto-twins-claims-of-being-inuit/
The family of Kitty Noah, the Inuk woman who Toronto twins Amira and Nadya Gill have allegedly claimed as their mother to gain “Inuit status” and access to thousands of dollars in Indigenous scholarship money, say they’ve never heard of them.
The Gills applied for and received Inuit identity through Nunavut Tunngavik Inc, or NTI. NTI is responsible for ensuring promises made to Inuit under the Nunavut Agreement are carried out, and they enroll Inuit people as beneficiaries of that agreement.
“It has been a complete shock to find out that Amira and Nadya Gill were registered under the Nunavut agreement using the name of my mother,” said Noah Noah, Kitty’s son in a written statement from the family and posted on social media.
The Noah family said while they’ve never heard of the twins but they know of their mother, Karima Manji.
Noah, the eldest of Kitty’s seven children, said he is her legal guardian because his mother has suffered two brain injuries in her lifetime and requires daily assistance.
“We do not know the Gill sisters and had no knowledge that they existed, but Karima Manji their mother is known to our family,” said Noah.
In an email March 29, Amira Gill said their Inuit heritage comes through the Noah and Hughes families from Iqaluit, and that their mother lived with a man named Harry Hughes.
Noah explained to a reporter from the Local Journalism Initiative with Nunatsiaq News, that Hughes is his father, who died in 1997. He added that Hughes and Manji briefly dated before Hughes died.
However, it was his mother, Kitty Noah who was listed as a birth mother on the application, according to Noah.
“My mother is a vulnerable person who may have been exploited. It is our priority at this time to protect her dignity.”
Noah has also said his family did not file the complaint with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.
Native language French, fluent in English, practicing Cantonese and German.