Indian Architect Turns to Bees and Terracotta to Design Innovative Cooling System
This Video Will Change How You See Food
Human Wrongs Watch
5 February 2019 (FAO)* — A third of all food produced is lost or wasted each year, but just a quarter of what we waste is enough to end world hunger.
Zero Hunger starts with you. Watch the video to find out more.
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World’s Biggest Refugee Settlement Gets Biggest Ever Waste Facility
The human waste treatment facility under construction at the refugee settlement near Kutupalong, Bangladesh. © UNHCR/Firas Al-Khateeb
By the UN Refugee Agency (UNHR)* — UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and Oxfam have together put into service this week in Cox’s Bazar the biggest human waste treatment facility ever built in a refugee settlement.
In a World of Corporate-Backed Politicians, Beware the Sounds of Sirens
Human Wrongs Watch
By Roy Eidelson – TRANSCEND Media Service*
“Citizens of the democratic societies should undertake a course of intellectual self-defense to protect themselves from manipulation and control, and to lay the basis for more meaningful democracy.” — Noam Chomsky, 1989 (Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies)

Odysseus is tempted by the swirling Sirens in Homer’s The Odyssey.
My copy of Homer’s The Odyssey, a remnant of high school Latin days, has been gathering dust on a shelf for decades now.
But I’ve been thinking more about the book in recent years, especially as my writing has increasingly turned to the psychology of propaganda.
Meanwhile, around the World
Human Wrongs Watch
By Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service*
Syria calls on our full attention, for a fresh look. Looking at what? The “reality of Syria”, the “real Syria”, and then seeing what?

Johan Galtung
The Germans make an apparently useful distinction between reality für mich, as I, ich, see it, and, an sich, reality in, by, for itself, reality as such. Objective, not subjective.
A useful distinction; making us ponder, how different are they?
Apparently useful; how do we get to, at this an sich thing?
Old questions; maybe no new answers, but worth pondering.
To the West, Syria spells colonial history–by the West since 1916 more than by the Ottomans since 1516–and post-colonial history. Why?
As Inequality Grows, the UN Fights for a Fairer World

Inequality is an “entrenched imbalance”
The question of inequality was raised several times by the UN in January: speaking at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, UN chief António Guterres pointed out that, while technological progress and globalization have led to “fantastic improvements” in many areas, they have also increased inequality and marginalized millions.
‘World Must Do More to Tackle ‘Shadowy’ Mercenary Activities Undermining Stability in Africa’
With mercenaries undermining global peace and security and weakening States’ capacities to protect their people, the UN Security Council on Monday [4 February 2019] shone its spotlight on their activities as a source of destabilization in Africa.
