Monday, June 26, 2017

Notations On Our World (Special Edition): On @POTUS re: #MuslimBan

As we went to press, the Supreme Court came down on the side of all who have challenged the President's Ban in noting that anyone who has a connection with the United States along with refugees--there are questions with the extent of the Umbrella that refugee organizatoins are able to take advantage of--although the White House has claimed vindication.   Professor Jonathan Turley noted this earlier today in his blog:

Supreme Court





It appears that the Battle Royale over immigration is on.  The Supreme Court issued the following order: "We grant the petitions for certiorari and grant the stay applications in 
part." Read more of this post








The grassroots effort to continue the opposition is continuing as underscored by this guidance as this fact sheet was released by the National Iranian American Council:


  SFO & LAX Clinics UPDATE
  Supreme Court Ruling This Morning

As you may know, the Supreme Court issued a ruling this morning agreeing to hear the case challenging the Trump Administration's Muslim travel ban in the second Executive Order.  In the ruling, the Court did not allow the travel ban to apply to foreign nationals who have relationships with persons or organizations in the United States.
The Court's narrow ruling does allow implementation of the travel ban only for persons from the 6 countries named in the second executive order who do not have a relationship with any person or entity in the United States.
Pursuant to the President's June 14th memo, we believe the government will not implement the Court's ruling for 72 hours - or until Thursday morning, June 29.
The SFO Bay Area and LAX airport coalitions were in contact immediately following the Court's ruling, and we are working both within California and with the international collaboration of the the airport clinics to assess both the impact of and response to the ruling.
We will send out alerts to this email listserv as the planning takes shape and if there is a need for volunteers at the airports.
Many thanks,
The LAX and SFO Bay Area Coalition Members
Additional national information is also available from:
Points of Contact for the airports:
Contact information for passengers
LAX: Public Counsel is staffing a hotline/email for the SoCal region for arriving passengers.
Travel Delay Hotline Number: 213-201-4780
Travel Delay Email: lax@publiccounsel.org
SFO:
Council on American-Islamic Relations: +1-408-986-9874
Asian Americans Advancing Justice: +1-415-848-7711
ACLU Northern California: +1-415-621-2488
OneJustice: airports@one-justice.org
Please continue to monitor your email and our social media for updates on volunteer needs. 
Please share the Immigration Pro Bono Response Network link with your network! You can also visit our Airport Clinics page for updates on our work with families and passengers impacted by the travel ban.


What is clear is that the battle is not over by any stretch.

Sunday, June 25, 2017

An #Outsider Newsflash (Special Edition): Los Angeles Welcomes The Freedom Sculpture! FREE July 4th Celebration!



Please also enjoy this background on the Cyrus Cylinder  courtesy of the Farhang Foundation:

View of the Week (W-End Edition): A Window Into The Future

Please enjoy courtesy of the Abundance Insider as we wish all a great week and to all our Muslim Brothers and Sisters around the World, A Happy Eid:

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In China, A Store of the Future: No Checkout, No Staff

What it is: Wheelys, a crowdfunded startup based in Stockholm, recently launched tests of a 24-hour retail concept called Moby Store that runs entirely through technology -- no humans. Wheelys is testing this concept on Hefei University's campus (450 kilometers west of Shanghai), partnering with university professors on the technology required. At Wheelys, holographic faces greet shoppers; as they scan QR codes on each product, sensors detect when items are removed.
Why it's important: Here's another take on the fully automated supermarket Amazon Go and others are developing. In a recent blog on the first jobs to go, Peter unveiled his vision of a near-term future of retail in which an AI agent provides highly personalized service, and shoppers simply exit the building to be automatically charged. The face of retail is about to change. Share on Facebook.
Spotted by Marissa Brassfield Written by Sydney Fulkerson

Internet of Things Made Simple: One Sensor Package Does Work of Many

What it is: Carnegie Mellon researchers, with funding from Google and the Lucile Packard Foundation, have developed a general-purpose, ubiquitous sensor that changes the way we think of the IoT. By combining machine learning with a package of sensors to monitor phenomena like sounds, vibration, light, heat, electromagnetic noise and temperature, the suite can determine whether a faucet's left or right spigot is running, or if the microwave door is open. "The idea is you can plug this in and immediately turn a room into a smart environment," said Gierad Laput.
Why it's important: This is a promising user interface for smart rooms. The IoT market doesn't just include new connected devices -- it also includes products and services for retrofitting users' existing possessions. Will this ubiquitous sensor help enable a true Internet of Everything? Share on Facebook.
Spotted by Marissa Brassfield / Written by Jason Goodwin

IISc Bangalore Scientists Are Experimenting With Drone Seed-Bombing, And Hope To Plant A Forest

What it is: IISc Bangalore scientists held the first ever drone-seeding trial on the Pinakini river this past World Environment Day (June 5). The goal of this experiment is to ultimately turn inaccessible areas into lush, green forests. The targeted area is a 10,000-acre patch of land spread around the Doddaballapur hill range (north of Bangalore) that will also contain a committee's initiative to build a 200-acre science center in Gauribidanur. Drones allow the scientists to view the landscape before dropping the seeds, which also allows them to geotag the path. In the future, Bangalore scientists see UAVs being used to drop seeds efficiently and at scale.
Why it's important: This initiative transforms once-inaccessible land into forests. As drone technology continues to demonetize, ambitious projects that were once considered impossible are not only possible, but executable in a scalable fashion. Share on Facebook.