The Break Room

A news aggregation blog.

[motherjones]

The average presidential candidate’s house Is twice as big as the average American’s

[pewresearch]

Puerto Rico’s nearly decade-long economic recession has led to people leaving the island for the mainland in numbers not seen in more than 50 years, new Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data has found.

Puerto Ricans leave in record numbers for mainland U.S.

[nbcnightlynews]

Don't pack lithium batteries in your bags, FAA warns

[micdotcom]

Emma Watson gave a smart response to being asked if she’s “white feminist” 

When someone on Twitter asked Emma Watson, “Are you a white feminist?” they likely were not prepared for the informed soliloquy that would follow. In a viral tweet photo, Watson explained that she wants nothing short of inclusivity and has launched many efforts to raise up voices that aren’t her own.

[mapsontheweb]

World’s longest domestic flight operated by Air Austral.

From Paris-CDG to St-Denis-RUN : 9,3486 km in ~11h.

[the-break-room]

Refugee rhetoric echoes 1938 summit before Holocaust, UN official warns

Human rights chief condemns language such as ‘swarms of refugees’, saying it is deployed by those seeking to make political capital from the crisis

[the-break-room]

Inside the MSF Hospital in Kunduz

An exclusive first look at the horrific aftermath of the U.S. attack in northern Afghanistan.

[the-break-room]

The most interesting buzz and bestGun Shop Ordered To Pay Millions For Selling Firearm That Injured Two Police Officers links

[the-break-room]

The most interesting buzz and bestNestlé Is Illegally Bottling Water Amid California's Drought, Lawsuit Says links

[the-break-room]

Bernie Sanders and guns, explained

The one issue on which the self-described "democratic socialist" isn't so liberal.

[the-break-room]

Guinea election: Poll valid but disorganised - EU monitors - BBC News

Guinea's presidential election at the weekend was valid but there were severe logistical difficulties, according to EU election observers.

[futurescope]

The World’s Smallest Robots: Rise of the Nanomachines

This short documentary by the The American Chemical Society & the University of Nebraska about nanomachines is worth a watch. Not the ususal #transhumancyborgswilldisruptyourfutures stuff but a realistic look at science and opportunities.

Nanomachines – including nano-sized motors, rockets and even cars – are many orders of magnitude smaller than a human cell, but they have huge promise. In the future, they could deliver drugs anywhere in the body, clean up oil spills and might even be used as artificial muscle cells.

[the-break-room]

A missile test announced by Iran over the weekend was an apparent violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution and Washington will raise it at the United Nations, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday.

[humanrightswatch]

Taliban Unrolls its Media Hit List

The latest addition to the Taliban hit list are two of Afghanistan’s largest TV channels: 1TV and TOLO News. On October 12, the Taliban issued a statement on its website disputing a recent report by the two channels and said that the outlets’ employees were now “enemy personnel” who would be “considered military objectives” to be “directly eliminated.”

Read more

[the-break-room]

Israel Set to Deploy Troops to Quell Palestinian Attacks

Israeli soldiers are to be sent to help police in Jerusalem and other Israeli cities, as well as to the West Bank and the border with the Gaza Strip.

[humanrightswatch]

The Tragic Civilian Toll of Airstrikes in Yemen

One night in July, as they slept in their home in central Yemen, Sabah and her family were awakened by loud explosions nearby. Terrified, Sabah took her family outside, including her daughter, who had just given birth. “All of a sudden the windows in our house shattered and the roof collapsed,” she told me as we sat among the ruins of her house a few days after the airstrike. When the dust settled, Sabah discovered that six houses had been destroyed and 16 people were dead, including her two brothers and their children.

Sabah’s family got caught up in the war that has been raging in Yemen since last year.

Read more

[cnet]

Watch a floating blue ball of water effervesce in space in glorious 4K

Take a ball of water in microgravity. Add coloured dye and an effervescent tablet. Film the fascinating results.