Funding drive for ‘Oz’ slippers

soars over the rainbow

WASHINGTON (AFP): It took just seven days for “Wizard of Oz” nostalgics to raise more than $300,000 in a crowdfunding drive to restore Dorothy’s iconic slippers to their ruby red glory. The US Smithsonian’s Museum of American History, which owns the slippers, said Monday that its Kickstarter campaign had gone “over the rainbow.” The sequined pumps were famously worn by Judy Garland as she skipped down the yellow brick road in the 1939 musical, one of Hollywood’s first color films. Support for restoring them “spanned six continents and 41 countries,” the museum said in a statement.

 

Since the crowdfunding campaign runs for another 23 more days, the museum announced a “stretch goal” Monday of $85,000 to help conserve and display the movie’s Scarecrow costume (worn by actor Ray Bolger), in an exhibit set to open in 2018.

The Smithsonian Institution - which oversees museums and research centers in and near Washington - receives federal funds to support its core operations, but that money does not cover repairing the shoes.

The institution often solicits corporate and private donations to pay for projects beyond its budget.

Dorothy’s slippers, one of the film’s most iconic props, have been on near-constant display at the museum since they were anonymously donated in 1979.

Conservators say the shoes’ sequins are flaking, leaving them more of a washed-out auburn than the glittery ruby color for which they’re known.

MGM Studios’ prop department created the shoes by dying commercially manufactured low-heeled slippers red and attaching red sequined netting.

The Kickstarter campaign is the Smithsonian’s second, after it raised $719,779 last year through crowdfunding to conserve Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit.

“Inviting the public to support this project gives our audiences the opportunity to have an active role in the preservation of the Ruby Slippers,” said museum Director John Gray.

“It provides a better understanding of what museums do to ensure that our national treasures are preserved and on display.”

 

 

 

 

Iraqis are world’s most generous

to strangers: Global survey

LONDON (Reuters): Although torn by civil war, Iraq is the world’s most generous country towards strangers in need, according to a new global index of charitable giving. Eighty one percent of Iraqis reported helping someone they didn’t know in the previous month, in a global poll commissioned by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF). For the first time since CAF began the poll in 2010, more than half of people in 140 countries surveyed said they had helped strangers - with many of the most generous found in countries hit hard by disaster and war. Despite suffering instability and violence, Iraq has twice been ranked top in terms of helping strangers. Libya, with its own internal conflict, was second on the list this year and Somalia, embroiled in civil war for 25 years, fourth. “I think that the lesson here is societies are incredibly resilient and that large scale disasters tend to activate a collective humanitarian response.”

 

said Adam Pickering, international policy manager at CAF, which promotes charitable giving.

In terms of donations to charity, Myanmar held the top position, with nine out of ten surveyed saying had they given during the previous month.

The Southeast Asian country also retained its position for the third year at the top of the World Giving Index - a combined measure of respondents reporting help to strangers, donations of money and time spent volunteering.

The report said the generous giving reflected the practice of “Sangha Dana”, where the country’s Theravada Buddhist majority donate to support those living a monastic lifestyle.

The United States ranked second on the combined measure of generosity.

The World Giving Index is based on data form a global poll by market research firm Gallup of 140 countries. .

 

 

 

 

Driverless truck from Uber’s

Otto makes Colorado delivery

WASHINGTON (AFP): A self-driving truck built by Uber’s unit Otto made a pioneering delivery of beer in Colorado last week, Otto announced Tuesday. The 18-wheel semi loaded down with Budweiser made the 120 mile (200 kilometer) trip from Fort Collins through the center of crowded Denver to Colorado Springs using only its panoply of cameras, radar and sensors to read the road. The truck carried a professional driver, but he simply monitored the progress from the truck’s sleeper berth behind the driver’s seat. The trip was a fairly straight two-hour drive south on the I-25 highway, “exit-to-exit”, the company said in a statement, suggesting the initial and final stretches off the highway were handled by a driver.

The test came just six weeks after Uber launched its demonstration self-driving car service in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, gaining a jump on the many automakers that are now developing systems for cars and trucks to pilot themselves.

“This shipment is the next step towards our vision for a safe and productive future across our highways,” Otto said.

“With an Otto-equipped vehicle, truck drivers will have the opportunity to rest during long stretches of highway while the truck continues to drive and make money for them.”

Uber took over Otto in August to combine forces on developing self-driving technology, and Otto co-founder Anthony Levandowski became head of the program for both companies.

Otto said the initial test drive was the beginning of a partnership with Anheuser-Busch, the largest US beer brewer.

It launched a website, freight.uber.com, for truckers themselves to sign on to work with the company in the future.

“When you see a truck driving down the road with nobody in the front seat, you’ll know that it’s highly unlikely to get into a collision, drive aggressively, or waste a single drop of fuel,” Otto said.

 

 

 

 

Trump launches nightly Facebook

show to skirt ‘media filter’

WASHINGTON (AFP): Donald Trump’s campaign has launched a nightly show on Facebook Live aiming to bypass “the media filter”, as White House hopefuls sprint the final leg of a caustic race. Broadcasting from New York’s Trump Tower via the Republican candidate’s Facebook page, the show dubbed “Trump Tower Live” premiered Monday and is expected to air every evening through the November 8 vote. “This is just an effort by us to reach out to you guys,” said Trump adviser and co-host Cliff Sims. “You don’t have to take it through the media filter and all the spin that they put on it - you can hear it from us directly.” Set in what the hosts called the “Trump campaign war room,” the show mimicked the look and feel of a cable news broadcast, though with lower production values.

The hosts and their “guests” - including Trump’s campaign manager and a Republican chief communications strategist - crowded around a small desk set against a backdrop of boxes, loose papers, campaign workers and a large portrait of the real estate magnate.

After a discussion surrounding the Hillary Clinton email controversy and an interview with a conservative commentator, the show cut to a livestream from a Trump rally in key battleground state Florida.

By late Monday night the broadcast had more than 1.3 million views on Facebook.

The live show comes amid chatter that the bombastic billionaire is looking to start his own media company should his presidential bid fail - reports Trump has brushed off.

The Republican candidate has repeatedly attacked media outlets as “corrupt” for participating in what he calls a vast conspiracy to “rig” the election in favor of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

“The media isn’t just against me,” Trump told cheering supporters at a St Augustine, Florida rally on Monday. “They’re against what we represent.”

The broadcast is set to air live each night at 6:30 pm (1030 GMT), running up against US network television news.

 

 

 

 

 

Seal ‘attacks surfers’ in rare

Australia encounter

SYDNEY (AFP): An aggressive seal has bitten a surfer and knocked another man off his board at a popular Sydney beach in a “freak occurrence”, a report said Tuesday. Nathan Shepherd underwent surgery on his arm after the fur seal leaped out of the water and bit him at Shelly Beach in Manly on Sunday afternoon. “I thought it was amazing to be out with a seal. It was swimming closer to me. It swam quite fast - it jumped out of the water and bit me on the upper arm,” the 45-year-old told the Manly Daily newspaper. “I tried to bring the surfboard down on top of it, and then to put the surfboard between me and the seal, and then I got back on the board and paddled to shore.” The wound on his right arm was “like a tooth mark. It’s deep,” Shepherd said, adding: “It was a freak occurrence.” Lifeguard Victoria O’Halloran said the seal “was incredibly aggressive... I’ve never seen anything like it”. An hour earlier the seal had knocked another surfer off his board and sunk its teeth into the board. “It literally came from underneath me and knocked me right off the board with some pretty big force. I’ve got two big bite marks on there,” surfer Tom Wallington told the Daily.

Pictures in the paper showed the bite marks and beachgoers gathering around the seal to take photos when it came ashore.

Shona Lorigan from marine wildlife rescue group ORRCA - which was called to the beach - said the creatures were wild animals with “very, very, very sharp teeth” and would defend themselves if threatened or provoked.

Under New South Wales state law, people should not be closer than 40 metres (131 feet) to an adult seal when it is on land, no closer than 10 metres in the water, and 80 metres from a pup.

“You never ever stand between a seal and their escape to the water. That also can cause some real issues,” Lorigan told AFP.

The attack came a day after a shark crashed into a man’s board while he was surfing near popular tourist spot Byron Bay, some 800 kilometres (500 miles) north of Sydney.