Monthly Archives: August 2022

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Viktor Schreckengost, the father of industrial design and creator of the Jazz Bowl, an iconic piece of Jazz Age art designed for Eleanor Roosevelt during his association with Cowan Pottery died yesterday. He was 101.

Schreckengost was born on June 26, 1906 in Sebring, Ohio, United States.

Schreckengost’s peers included the far more famous designers Raymond Loewy and Norman Bel Geddes.

In 2000, the Cleveland Museum of Art curated the first ever retrospective of Schreckengost’s work. Stunning in scope, the exhibition included sculpture, pottery, dinnerware, drawings, and paintings.

Friday, June 27, 2008

A Casa-212 aircraft owned by the Indonesian air force disappeared while on a flight from the capital Jakarta to Bogor in West Java Friday morning.

The plane was carrying 12 Indonesian military personnel and 6 civilians including a British, Singaporean and Indian national.

The plane was tasked to test a new digital camera designed to conduct aerial mapping and topography.

The aircraft was last sighted on radar in the Salak moutain region on the main island of Java, 90 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of the Indonesian capital.

The Indonesian military has deployed a search and rescue team in the area.

Authorities fear that the aircraft crashed in a densely forested area making any rescue difficult.

Air Force spokesman Chaeruddin Ray said the region was covered in thick fog and in a rough terrain.

Three planes and forty people were deployed into the region to look for the downed plane.

Indonesia has been plagued with several plane accidents resulting in a ban on the entry of Indonesian airlines into European airports. This is the second incident in Indonesian aviation involving a Casa-212. In January of 2008, a similar plane model owned by a private company also crashed.

The Casa-212 is a design by Spanish avionics company Construcciones Aeronáuticas, a turbo-prop plane designed for a short take-off and landing.

The Spanish company licensed an Indonesian avionics firm to assemble and manufacture this aircraft.

Friday, April 1, 2022

A proposal for a 33-turbine wind farm within a pine tree plantation near the Gippsland town of Delburn in Australia was approved by Victorian planning minister Richard Wynne on March 27, though first reported late on Tuesday. Plans for a battery energy storage system were put on hold due to fire risks. The wind farm, scheduled to be built by OSMI Australia Pty in 2023, would be the first wind farm built in a plantation in the state of Victoria.

A planning panel heard from local residents, community groups, and OSMI representatives in late 2021, ultimately recommending in a 224-page report that approval for the wind farm be granted, but stated that “the information provided about the siting and fire-safety measures for [the battery energy storage system] was inadequate for it to recommend in favour of it at this stage”.

OSMI executive director Peter Marriott insisted that the battery energy storage system was “certainly not a key part of the project”, but added “it’s something we’ll always remain open to — we’re obviously really keen to digest the findings of the recommendations of the CFA and WorkSafe investigation into the Moorabool battery fire.”

Nationals member for Gippsland South Danny O’Brien noted a recent court ruling last Thursday ordering a Tarwin Lower wind farm to stop emitting noise at night, remarking “it seems incredible the Minister could have approved Delburn just a few days later, despite strong opposition from the local community”.

O’Brien added “given Gippsland’s relatively densely populated landscape, the right location for wind farms is offshore, where I strongly support proposed facilities such as the Star of the South”.

Voices of the Valley, a local community group established in the wake of the 2014 Hazelwood mine fire, celebrated the approval, with the group’s president Wendy Farmer saying “power stations have dominated the landscape over the past century in the valley, but now we are watching the transformation of energy across the region”, and noting that the news “comes on the week of the fifth anniversary of the Hazelwood power station closure”.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Cypriot prosecutors have charged five people over the 2005 crash of Helios Airways Flight 522. The loss of the Boeing 737 killed all 121 people on board in what was the deadliest air disaster for both Greece and Cyprus.

“The charge sheet was submitted to the court [in Nicosia] today [Tuesday], and a response to the charges has been set for February 26,” said deputy attorney general Akis Papasavvas. The names of those charged were not released, and they face charges of manslaughter and causing death by a reckless, thoughtless or dangerous act, which carry life and four year terms respectively. They all worked for Helios.

“The charges concern two of the three most serious offences under the Cyprus penal code,” said Papasavvas. Families of the victims, who had already called for criminal prosecutions, are still carrying out a civil action against the Cypriot civil aviation authority and airframer Boeing. Helios closed in 2006, having been renamed Ajet Airways.

The unresponsive aircraft, supposed to be flying between Lanarca to Prague, entered Greek airspace, where it was intercepted by two F-16 fighter jets on August 14, 2005.

The F-16 pilots reported the airliner’s pilots were slumped over the controls. After flying on autopilot for two hours the aircraft crashed near Athens despite the efforts of a flight attendant, who was training to become a pilot, to take control and save the jet.

The subsequent investigation discovered that the pilots failed to adequately monitor the pressurisation system. The plane lost cabin pressure and hypoxia caused the incapacitation of the passengers and flight crew. It is thought that the conscious flight attendant had used multiple crew oxygen cylinders to outlast the others on board. Investigators also believe that the equipment had been left in the wrong setting after testing by maintenance engineers and never checked before flight.

After failing to resuscitate the pilot-in-command, the trainee pilot turned off the autopilot and attempted an emergency landing at Athens International Airport, which the aircraft had been circling in a holding pattern awaiting human input. However, the aircraft ran out of fuel before reaching the runway.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

On the morning of January 4, 2008, while at the 2008 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, 19-year-old goalie Steve Mason received a phone call from Canada informing him that he was traded by the Ontario Hockey League’s London Knights to the Kitchener Rangers.

In a press release Friday, Kitchener Rangers Head coach and General Manager Peter DeBoer announced the trade to the Knights. In return for obtaining Mason, the Rangers have sent the Knights, Centre Phil Varone, Defenceman Steve Tarasuk along with 2nd, 3rd and 4th round draft picks in 2011 and a 2nd round pick in 2012.

Mason said that he had an enjoyable time playing for the London Knights, but nonetheless, he believes that he has a bright future playing for the Kitchener Rangers. He also notes that he doesn’t want the trade to distract him from playing in the Gold Medal Game, against Team Sweden.

Team Canada won the game in overtime 3-2.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Wikinews interviewed author Amy Scobee about her book Scientology – Abuse at the Top, and asked her about her experiences working as an executive within the organization. Scobee joined the organization at age 14, and worked at Scientology’s international management headquarters for several years before leaving in 2005. She served as a Scientology executive in multiple high-ranking positions, working out of the international headquarters of Scientology known as “Gold Base”, located in Gilman Hot Springs near Hemet, California.

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

In early May, Wikinews extended an invitation to Vitaly Filipchenko, an independent candidate in the 2021 New York City mayoral election, set to take place November 2nd, alongside other candidates. Filipchenko answered some questions about his policies and campaign during a phone interview.

Filipchenko, registered on the New York City Campaign Finance Board as Vitaly A. Filipchenko, is the first Russian candidate for New York City mayor, being born in Tomsk, Siberia in 1973, according to news agency Sputnik. He has since naturalised as a United States citizen. According to the web site, Filipchenko has been educated in road construction and maintenance and owns a moving services company; he describes himself on his web site as a “small business owner”. On his web site’s platform page, he says that “[m]y English may not be perfect – but my platform is.”

Incumbent Democrat mayor Bill de Blasio, who won re-election in the 2017 New York City mayoral election by 66.5%, cannot run for a third term under term limits. As of April 28, 22 candidates are currently running, the majority of whom are also Democrats. Ahead of the June Democratic primary for New York City mayor, a poll conducted May 23 and 24 by WPIX and Emerson College of 12 Democratic candidates with a margin of error of 3.2 per cent has former commissioner for the New York City Department of Sanitation Kathryn Garcia and Borough President of Brooklyn Eric Adams leading with 21.1% and 20.1%, respectively.