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Source: Publicly Available Standards
https://standards.iso.org/ittf/PubliclyAvailableStandards/index.html
In accordance with ISO/IEC JTC 1 and the ISO and IEC Councils, these International Standards are publicly available for Standardization purposes.
Whitefish-PREPA contract aimed to avoid government oversight | Utility Dive
Source: Whitefish-PREPA contract aimed to avoid government oversight | Utility Dive
As the blackout continues, it is likely to put even more distance between the size of this electrical outage and other historical events. The 1.25 billion outage hours following Maria already easily exceeds 1998’s Hurricane Georges, which caused approximately 1 billion outage hours. Katrina caused less than 700 million hours of lost power, and the Northeast Blackout of 2003 was less than 600 million. Hurricane Irma, also this year, created about 750 million outage hours.
Rhodium called it “a blackout without rival.”
“We can find no event in recorded US history where there were as many people without power for as long as has occurred over the past month in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands,” the firm said.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, “the average person can walk a half-mile in about 10 minutes” on sidewalks.
San Francisco has always been at the top of this list, but it moved to number one by carving out small parks in the core of the city, where there is high population density.
The city has spent $355 million in bond and general fund money over the past four years to purchase land, renovate dilapidated parks and improve open spaces. In 2012, voters passed the $195 million Clean and Safe Neighborhood Parks Bond to fix up neighborhood parks.
Cohabitation, while still relatively uncommon, is on the rise in the U.S. as marriage is declining. In 2015, 6% of all U.S. adults were living with a partner, while half of adults were married.
http://www.governing.com/topics/mgmt/gov-trump-budget-federal-workforce-state-employment.html
The federal government currently employs just over 2 million civilian employees, another 1.3 million active-duty military members and funds millions more contract positions. Contrary to popular notion, the majority of those jobs aren’t located in the Washington, D.C., area. In fact, a review of the most recent Office of Personnel Management (OPM) figures shows 79 percent of federal civilians are based outside of D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
If Texas were a country, it would have the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world and would be on a par with Mexico or Turkey. “We’re trying to figure out how to get our rate down to a First World country,” says Tony Dunn, chair of the Texas chapter of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. The question is not just why Texas has this problem, but also why it’s been getting so much worse and why it’s more severe there than in other states. There are no clear answers, but there are clues.
The state task force published its first significant findings on maternal mortality last July. Cardiac events and hypertension rank as the first and third causes of death, aligning more or less with national trends. But in Texas, to the bewilderment of everyone, drug overdoses ranked second.
The entire country has been grappling with an opioid epidemic that is showing no sign of slowing down. Texas is not ground zero — the Rust Belt and parts of New England claim that title — but it ranks near the top.
Adaptive Bicycle Workgroup advises on the development of the Adaptive Bicycle Rental pilot project. It is composed of potential users – mostly Portlanders with disabilities – along with nonprofit and government staff
A 2014 World Bank article found that 84 percent of households had no electricity connection. At the same time, rural villagers are connecting to modern technologies and looking to generate a steady supply of power.
According to Myanmar’s 2014 census, about 178,000 households used private water mills as a primary source of lighting, while 945,000 used solar and 1 million used diesel generators. Diesel generators are expensive to run, making renewable sources more appealing in poor villages. Less sophisticated sources of light, like candles and lamps, used to be prevalent in poorer households, but they are a fire hazard in huts made of wood or bamboo.
Myanmar (Burma) was economically isolated until just a few years ago, and its first democratically elected president took office in 2016. The country does not have laws governing the rural, off-grid power production or a system of support for the burgeoning DIY power industry. In partnership with the World Bank, Myanmar’s National Electrification Plan (NEP) aims to bring power to all citizens by 2030, but the government overwhelmingly favors expanding the coal-powered grid.
Source: After 40 Girls Die in Orphanage Fire, Guatemala Asks Evangelicals for Advice | Christianity Today
Virgen de la Asunción, was built for 400 children but housed about 750. Inside, orphans were physically and sexually abused by staff and by other children. There were complaints about water leaks and poor food quality. Only 3 of the 64 security cameras in the building were working.
Township of Bernards’ zoning board decision that required the proposed mosque to have more parking spaces than Christian or Jewish places of worship.
The town’s reasoning: since Muslim services are held on Fridays, people would be coming after work instead of together as families, and therefore more spots would be needed. But when the Muslim community offered to split the services, or use ride-sharing or overflow arrangements, the board still denied their application.
While many may associate Islam with the Middle East or North Africa, nearly two-thirds of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims live in the Asia-Pacific region.
Source: World Muslim population more widespread than you might think | Pew Research Center
estimated 1.6 billion Muslims around the world, making Islam the world’s second-largest religious tradition after Christianity. And although many people, especially in the United States, may associate Islam with countries in the Middle East or North Africa, nearly two-thirds (62%) of Muslims live in the Asia-Pacific region
The American Historical Association condemns the executive order issued by President Donald J. Trump on January 27 restricting entry to the United States.
American refusal to admit refugees was during the 1930s, when Jews and others fled Nazi Germany. A combination of hostility toward a particular religious group combined with suspicions of disloyalty and potential subversion by supposed radicals anxious to undermine our democracy contributed to exclusionist administrative procedures that slammed shut the doors on millions of refugees.
Source: Impeachment in the United States – Wikipedia
no U.S. President has been removed from office by impeachment and conviction.
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2017/01/11/eviction-navigators-promising-tool-stable-communities/
court navigators have in common is that they are trained and supervised individuals with no prior formal legal training. Navigators provide one-on-one assistance to unrepresented litigants in the City’s Housing and Consumer Courts: “Navigators provide information, assist litigants in accessing and completing court-required simplified forms, attend settlement negotiations and accompany unrepresented litigants into the courtroom.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Code_Hollywood
Along with featuring stronger female characters, films examined female subject matters that would not be revisited until decades later in American films. Nefarious characters were seen to profit from their deeds, in some cases without significant repercussions, and drug use was a topic of several films. Many of Hollywood’s biggest stars such as Clark Gable, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Blondell and Edward G. Robinson got their start in the era. Other stars who excelled during this period, however, like Ruth Chatterton (who decamped to England) and Warren William (the so-called “king of Pre-Code”, who died in 1948), would wind up essentially forgotten by the general public within a generation.[2]
Beginning in late 1933 and escalating throughout the first half of 1934, American Roman Catholics launched a campaign against what they deemed the immorality of American cinema. This, plus a potential government takeover of film censorship and social research seeming to indicate that movies which were seen to be immoral could promote bad behavior, was enough pressure to force the studios to capitulate to greater oversight.
The country admitted 84,995 refugees in fiscal 2016, the most since 1999. Where they settled varied, with some states taking in large numbers and others very few.
Source: Just 10 states took in 54% of US refugees in fiscal 2016 | Pew Research Center
California, Texas and New York resettled the most refugees in fiscal 2016 (which began on Oct. 1, 2015, and ended Sept. 30, 2016), together taking in 20,738 refugees, or about a quarter (24%) of the U.S. total. Michigan, Ohio, Arizona, North Carolina, Washington, Pennsylvania and Illinois, which each received 3,000 or more refugees, rounded out the top 10 states by number of resettled refugees. Overall, 54% of refugees admitted to the U.S. in 2016 were resettled in one of these 10 states.
At the other end of the spectrum, some states and the District of Columbia took in few or no refugees in fiscal 2016. Arkansas, the District of Columbia and Wyoming resettled fewer than 10 refugees each, while two states – Delaware and Hawaii – took in none.
Ruling on 2014 incident is rare moment of justice for Pakistani Christians facing blasphemy allegations.
Source: Five Men Sentenced to Death for Burning Christian Couple Aliv… | Gleanings | ChristianityToday.com
A mob of about 600 people beat to near-death Shahzad Masih, 26, and his five-months-pregnant wife Shama Bibi, 24, for their unintentionally “blasphemous” act two years ago. The couple was then thrown into the large kiln
Activate! Justice: Talk about money and moral wrongs 