Sexist A-Gender: Female Author Sentenced Over Claim She Tweeted ‘I Don’t Like Men’

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Sexist A-Gender: Female Author Sentenced Over Claim She Tweeted ‘I Don’t Like Men’

By Feza Uzay

A Turkish woman was given a five-month, 18-day sentence for “insulting men” in a tweet, in which the court heard she wrote: “I don’t like men.”

Pinar Yildirim, 34, an author and influencer campaigning for women’s rights, said jailing a woman for the statement she tweeted is bizarre in a country where “women are humiliated, insulted and harassed in every field.”

Yet leaving that aside, she said, the really shocking thing is that she was sentenced for something she had not even written, as can be seen in the tweet, which is still online.

She decided to post the comment on Twitter where she has 1.9 million followers after a statement by Turkish media authorities that implied watching Netflix content encourages homosexuality.

The indictment by the Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office stated that Yıldırım, known as Pucca on Twitter, was reported to have made posts that publicly humiliate individuals on the basis of social class, religion, sect, gender and regional differences.

Influencer and writer Pinar Yildirim plans to appeal her prison sentence. She claims the prosecution altered the content of the social media post that led to her conviction. (@puccito/Zenger)

“RTUK (Radio and Television Supreme Council) made a statement that Netflix content encourages homosexuality. They had a gay character removed from the series named Ask 101 (Love 101). I posted this tweet based on that. A sensible person knows that by watching TV, he/she will not be gay,” she said.

“I’ve watched so many gay TV shows, I’ve finished movie after movie, no, no! I still like the vile, characterless sex called men…”

But when she came to court, the phrase “I still like men” had been changed to “I don’t like men” in the case file, she said.

Yildirim is appealing the sentence.

She said her conviction was an “unprecedented case” in the country.

“Recently, the court decided not to prosecute a male individual who cursed a female journalist and, most importantly, made a death threat.

“Women are humiliated, insulted and harassed in every field, and our courts prefer to be insensitive to these issues for some reason.

“Systematically, my tweets were already being reported to the police by a certain group. I go to the police station almost every week to testify.

“People were looking at it as if nothing would come out of this case, and everyone was shocked, of course. Except for a small group of guys, they were rejoicing. Even the prison sentence was not enough for them, there were also those who wanted me dead and wrote in detail about how they would rape me.”

“Women are humiliated, insulted and harassed in every field, and our courts prefer to be insensitive to these issues for some reason,” says Pinar Yildirim. (@puccito/Zenger)

Discussing what needs to change in society for the situation of women in Turkey to improve, Yildirim said: “Men.”

She does not think women are treated equally to men.

“Every week a woman is killed because of domestic violence. These murders are romanticized in the press and presented as ‘love murders.’

“I’m not even talking about the mobbing at work… We can’t even go out on the street at the same time as men, because if something happens to us, they will say, ‘what was she doing there at that hour?’”

“It is very difficult to define oneself as a feminist in Turkey. Men decide whether you are a feminist or not.

“It’s irritating to even talk about it in 2021. Surely it should be equal?”

According to the United Nations, 38 percent of women in Turkey have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from their partner.

Edited by Judith Isacoff and Kristen Butler



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Sew Lucky: Police Recover 400-Year-Old Tapestry Snatched From US Official’s Home

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Sew Lucky: Police Recover 400-Year-Old Tapestry Snatched From US Official’s Home

By Joseph Golder

A rare Flemish tapestry hanging on the wall of the U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission’s residence in Vienna that was stolen in August has been recovered, police said.

The tapestry, which is more than 400 years old, was stolen Aug. 1 from one of the buildings owned by the U.S. Embassy in the Doebling area of the Austrian capital. Police announced on Oct. 26 that they had located the tapestry and arrested a suspect on Oct. 18. The 29-year-old suspect, who was not named, is from South Africa, police said.

The suspect “stated that he acted out of financial difficulties,” police said.

The Flemish tapestry, “Atlas and Fortuna as Patrons of the World” by Jan Gheteels, was on display in the residence of the Deputy Chief of Mission, according to the U.S. Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies.

The 400-year-old rare Flemish tapestry has been recovered by police. (Bundeskriminalamt Osterreich/Zenger)

“The tapestry belongs to an important period before 1550, when Flemish weaving came under Italian influence,” the foundation’s website says.

“It displays the rich Renaissance figurative style associated with Michelangelo. Reweaving and repairs funded by the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies brought the tapestry back to vibrant life in 2000.”

Vienna police said in a statement: “After a burglary and arson in a residence in Vienna-Doebling on Aug. 1, 2021, the Vienna State Criminal Police Office started an investigation.

“Finally, through extensive, tactical criminal investigative measures, it was possible to investigate a suspect. The [suspect] was arrested … with the support of the Task Force to Fight Street Crime.

“A high-priced tapestry that was stolen in the act was found by the detectives.”

Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said: “The investigation of the suspect is visible evidence of the outstanding skills of the Viennese criminologists. I would like to thank all employees involved for their commitment.”

The theft took place when the house was empty for a short time over the summer during a change of personnel.

Leslie Hayden, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, currently serves as Acting Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Vienna, according to the website of the U.S. Mission to Vienna.

“Leslie is a five-time recipient of the State Department’s Superior Honor Award and was recently awarded U.S. Special Operations Command’s Outstanding Civilian Service Medal for her contribution to the mission of U.S. Special Operations Forces.”

In July, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. nominated Victoria Reggie Kennedy, the widow of the late senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy, to be U.S. ambassador to Austria.

Edited by Judith Isacoff and Kristen Butler



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Parents Arrested In Baby’s Death In 30-Year-Old Cold Case

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Parents Arrested In Baby’s Death In 30-Year-Old Cold Case

By Peter Barker

A married couple from North Carolina have been arrested in connection with the case of an infant whose remains were found in a trash can in 1991. DNA evidence identified the couple as the infant’s parents, police said in a statement.

The 30-year-old cold case is heading to resolution with the arrests of Scott Gordon Poole, 54 and his wife, Robin Lynn Byrum, 51, on Oct. 25 by the Alexander County, North Carolina, Sheriff’s Office.

The couple were charged with concealing the birth of a child, a Class I felony. “Additional charges may be filed pending further investigation,” the sheriff’s office said.

DNA analysis identified Robin Lynn Byrum as the dead infant’s mother, police said. (Alexander County Sheriff’s Office/Zenger)

On April 4, 1991, “Nags Head authorities found the body of an infant who appeared to have been deceased for some time. At the scene, authorities were unable to confirm the infant’s gender due to decomposition. The Pitt County Medical Examiner’s Office in Greenville, NC determined that the child died by blunt force trauma to the face and asphyxiation,” the Nags Head, North Carolina, Police Department said on Facebook.

“These arrests are a result of many years of diligent investigation by our highly-trained and dedicated law enforcement professionals,” said Nags Head Mayor Ben Cahoon. “While they are responsible for responding to accidents and crimes, they must also defend the innocent. This is a true example of that. The Board and I appreciate their diligence in working to solve this crime.”

During a re-investigation of the case in 2019, one of “Baby Doe’s” ribs was sent to a private lab in Texas for forensic analysis.

“The lab recovered human DNA from the bone and used that hereditary material to conduct a genealogical profile, which led to a family in North Carolina. Further investigation by Nags Head Police led to the individuals who were arrested,” Nags Head police said.

Nags Head Police Chief Phil Webster said: “The tragedy of this child’s death and the manner in which his body was disposed of is compounded by the fact that, until now, no one has been found responsible for this incredibly heartbreaking act.

“But, through the hard work of Nags Head Police investigators and our law enforcement partners in the case, those who did this will be held accountable for a death that has remained unsolved for three decades.”

The two suspects are being held at the Dare County Detention Center in North Carolina.

No further information about the child’s birthplace or age was stated, and no information was revealed regarding a possible motive.

Edited by Judith Isacoff and Kristen Butler



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How A Bullied Boy Became A Successful Med-tech Entrepreneur

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How A Bullied Boy Became A Successful Med-tech Entrepreneur

By Abigail Klein Leichman

The typical successful Israeli startup entrepreneur bears no resemblance to Shilo Ben Zeev.

He wasn’t a Scout leader. He didn’t serve in an elite army intelligence unit. He has no college degree. In fact, he barely made it through high school.

At best ignored and at worst bullied, Ben Zeev had a difficult childhood.

“I was fat and had lots of health problems. I didn’t have friends. My father didn’t believe in me. Altogether, I couldn’t really be a good student,” said Ben Zeev, who was raised in a religious family in Jerusalem.

After high school, the army rejected Ben Zeev because of his weight. Determined to be a soldier, he went on a strict diet for seven months. But despite losing 40 kilos (88 pounds) and entering the armored corps – where he made his first real friends — his IDF service was cut short when they discovered he had Type 1 diabetes.

Nevertheless, through a lot of sweat equity and a knack for identifying golden opportunities and business partners, Ben Zeev became a serial med-tech entrepreneur.

One of his co-founded companies, Emendo Biotherapeutics,  was acquired in 2020 by Japanese pharmaceutical company AnGes for $300 million.

“I want any teenager with problems to know that life doesn’t end with school,” he said.

“I became an entrepreneur with no skills. If you push your dream and don’t give up, you can do a lot. There were years when I struggled to make a living, and I lost two toes to diabetes. But life is not about happiness, it’s about achievement. So keep fighting. At some point, baruch Hashem [thank God], it gets better.”

A man who gets things done

After the army, Ben Zeev worked for the Likud political party until he was about 28.

His physician, Prof. Itamar Raz, now head of the Israel National Council of Diabetes, spotted potential in Ben Zeev. “He saw that I knew how to get things done.”

When Raz founded the D-Cure Fund in 2004 to advance diabetes research in Israel and abroad, he asked Ben Zeev to be its CEO.

Shilo Ben Zeev, serial med-tech entrepreneur. (Photo by Tamar Paluch/courtesy of Shilo Ben Zeev)

“I can’t say I did very well,” he said. “I didn’t even speak English then.”

But his one-year stint at D-Cure sparked a life-changing interest in medical technology.

In 2006, Ben Zeev joined LifeWave, a connected health solution that produced a device for treating diabetic wounds. As chief operating officer, he was instrumental in taking the company public on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

His next venture was co-founding LabStyle Innovations. Its flagship product was MyDario, a compact glucose meter connected to mobile devices through a diabetes management app.

“It was the first time an iPhone was used as a medical device,” said Ben Zeev, whose business model was to sell test strips for the glucometer.

Although MyDario won awards  for its revolutionary approach, ultimately what survived was the app rather than the device.

In 2016, two years after Ben Zeev sold his share, the company was renamed DarioHealth and its new owners created a widely used digital platform for managing chronic health conditions.

“Then I met Dr. David Baram and we founded three companies: MyBiotics,  [a microbiome pharmaceutical company]; Smartzyme Biopharma, [a diagnostics and therapeutics company that builds advanced tools for protein engineering]; and Emendo Biotherapeutics, [which develops gene editing tools for genetic disorders]. We sold Emendo last year in a deal orchestrated by David, and he remains its CEO.”

A better nipple

Speaking from his family car in Australia, Ben Zeev says he is now focusing solely on Emulait, a startup he founded less than a year ago.

Emulait is developing a system for 3D-printing customized pharma-grade silicone nipples for baby bottles that are a biomimetic replica of the nursing mother’s breast in shape, texture and color.

To understand why Ben Zeev is in Australia talking about breastfeeding, we must explain something about his personal life.

At the age of 38, Ben Zeev was often in New York on business. In 2013, three different people urged him to meet a woman who had just moved to Israel from Australia.

“I traveled back from New York to Israel to meet her in 2013, and we got married a year later,” he said.

Shilo and Tamar Ben Zeev now reside mostly in Australia — he also has a permanent residence in Nevada — with their daughters Amalia, 6, and Rahni, 3.

“I share with Tamar everything, and she gives me advice — most of the time good advice,” he jokes.

“No, it’s just that sometimes he listens and sometimes he doesn’t,” his wife chimes in from the passenger’s seat.

Emulait grew out of Amalia’s troubles switching between breast and bottle. This not uncommon problem of “nipple confusion” happens because the infant finds it difficult to adapt to sucking differently from a natural and a faux nipple.

Seeing his baby and wife suffering – Amalia even endured a surgical orthodontic procedure to improve her latching ability — led Ben Zeev to seek a way to scan a woman’s nipple and print one exactly like it for a baby bottle.

Following years of research, Ben Zeev developed an app that does just that.

“It will help the 20 percent of babies with nipple confusion and will also help mothers who go back to work,” he said. “Any caregiver can feed the baby with the Emulait feeding system while mother is at work, and the mother can still breastfeed when she returns, providing breast-bottle transition ease for the baby.”

Emulait is moving into the production phase, and raising funds, with an eye toward launching around March.

“If you have an idea and did your research and know it’s right, don’t let anyone tell you that you’re wrong,” Ben Zeev said, based on personal experience.

Many times, potential investors ushered Ben Zeev out the door after asking about his background.

“I could feel their disrespect back then. But I climbed and climbed until someone listened to me. Today if I call VCs, they are respectful — but it took 22 years. There is no question that becoming an entrepreneur with no background is very hard and you have to work much harder,” he said.

Although he remains estranged from his father, who never believed in him, Ben Zeev takes full responsibility for his own failures and successes.

“Don’t blame anyone,” he says. “Keep striving. If you believe in what you are doing, just do it.”​

Produced in association with Israel21C.



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VIDEO: All White Now: White Rhino Calf Romps With Mom

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VIDEO: All White Now: White Rhino Calf Romps With Mom

By Joseph Golder

A white rhinoceros has become the 14th calf to be born at a Dutch zoo since 1977. The zoo uses DNA sequencing to maximize genetic variation within the population.

The healthy white rhinoceros, also known as the square-lipped rhinoceros, was born at Royal Burgers’ Zoo in the city of Arnhem, Netherlands, on Oct. 26.

The video shows mother and baby nuzzling, as the newborn takes its first steps.

The zoo said it is one of Europe’s most successful breeders of white rhinoceroses, the second-largest land mammal.

The newborn entered the world in a heated enclosure; its mother has given birth to eight calves in total.

A total of 295 white rhinos — 168 cows and 127 bulls — live in 75 zoos in Europe, according to the Royal Burgers’ Zoo.

The zoo said the southern white rhino is the most numerous of the five rhinoceros species around the world, but their numbers are dwindling, due to decades of poaching their valuable ivory horns.

The northern white rhino is believed to be extinct in the wild. The last known male of the subspecies died in Kenya in 2018.

The baby rhinoceros with its mom in the Royal Burgers’ Zoo, Arnhem, Netherlands. The mother has given birth to eight calves in total. (Royal Burgers’ Zoo/Zenger)

White rhinos have complex social structures. Groups of up to 14 rhinos can form, notably including females with calves. Adult males defend territories of roughly one square mile, which they mark. They also compete for females, using their horns and large size to inflict wounds on their rivals.

The zoo said: “Safaripark Beekse Bergen in the Netherlands coordinates the European population management program for square-lipped rhinoceros.

“The best matches between animals are made using DNA research to maximize the genetic variation within the population. Under this program, animals are moved to and from zoos with square-lipped rhinoceros throughout Europe.”

The work is crucial. The Red List of Threatened Species compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature categorizes white rhinos as Near Threatened, which means they could become endangered in the near future.

Lion triplets were recently vaccinated at Royal Burgers’ Zoo. (Royal Burgers’ Zoo/Zenger)

The Royal Burgers’ Zoo also recently celebrated the arrival of lion triplets, seen in the photo being vaccinated against cat flu.

The cubs show their teeth as they are handled by zoo workers while their mother paced back and forth in her enclosure.

The all-female triplets received their second and final vaccination against cat flu, and were also weighed and dewormed during the session, according to the zoo.

The Royal Burgers’ Zoo is the birthplace of the famous Leo the Lion, the roaring lion seen in the introduction credits to films by MGM Studios.

Edited by Fern Siegel and Kristen Butler



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Victim Of Femicide In Brazil Fights To Create Awareness, Change Laws

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Victim Of Femicide In Brazil Fights To Create Awareness, Change Laws

By Luciano Nagel

PORTO ALEGRE, Brasil — A survey by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights places Brazil in fifth place in the world ranking for femicide.

The term describes the murder of women because they are women. Brazil ranks fourth in Latin America, behind El Salvador, Colombia and Guatemala.

In 2019, 3,737 women were murdered in Brazil. The number is lower than the 4,519 homicides of women in 2018, down by 17.3 percent. These data, from the 2021 Violence Atlas, cover the total number of women victims of lethal violence in the country in 2019. It includes both times when women were killed for being women and acts derived from urban violence, such as robberies that included murder and other conflicts.

The Brazilian Public Security Yearbook  notes that in 2020, Brazil recorded 1,350 cases of murdered women.

In the state of Río Grande do Sul, domestic violence cases are on the rise, according to the chief of the Women’s Police Station in Porto Alegre, the delegate Jeiselaure Rocha de Souza.

The delegate Jeiselaure Rocha de Souza is the chief of the Women’s Police Station in Río Grande do Sul. (Photo: Press Department, Civil Police) 

“In 2021, there was a 25.8 percent increase in femicides in Río Grande do Sul, compared with the same period a year earlier. This year 77 crimes of femicide were recorded,” said the police. The data show that more than 84 percent of these crimes were committed by the victim’s partner or ex-partner, and 75 percent took place in the family home.

“A woman’s home, for victims of domestic violence, is still the least safe place from them to be, because they are murdered in their own homes,” said the delegate.

The police also said 50 percent of femicide cases took place on the weekend, and 35 percent were with firearms.

The Brazilian police arrest a man accused of attacking his partner. (Photo: Press Department/RS Civil Police) 

In Río Grande do Sul, there are 23 police services specialized in helping women, geared toward the prevention, investigation and legal processing of crimes. At these police stations, a battered woman can make a formal complaint and ask for urgent protection measures.

The Maria da Penha Law states that violence against women is a crime and shows how to prevent, confront and sanction aggression. Created in August 2006, it states these Specialized Women’s Police Stations should offer urgent protection measures within 48 hours.

In Brazil, there are only 400 Specialized Women’s Police Stations, spread throughout 374 cities, per a survey by Revista AzMina. It means that in 93 percent of Brazilian municipalities (the country has some 5500), women who suffer from domestic violence must seek attention at a regular police station.

Survivor, fighter and winner 

In Porto Alegre, Bárbara Penna was the first activist for the cause of protecting women who have been domestic-violence victims, after she was attacked by her ex-partner João Moojen Neto. Penna was burned and thrown out of a third-story window in her building.

Bárbara Penna was attacked by her ex-partner João Moojen Neto. She was burned and thrown out a third-story window in her building in Porto Alegre. (Courtesy of Bárbara Penna)

In the fire, which took place in November 2013, she lost her two children, a 2-year-old girl and a 3-month-old boy. An older neighbor who tried to help her died of smoke inhalation. At that time, Penna was only 21 and had been in an abusive relationship for three years.

She was burned over 40 percent of her body and suffered broken heels, ankles and vertebrae, craniocephalic trauma and two cardiopulmonary arrests. She was in a coma for two months, had an infection and underwent more than 249 surgeries. She found out her children had died four months later, when she was released from the hospital.

It was not until September 2019 that João Moojen Neto was sentenced to 28 years, four months in prison for the death of the two children and for attempted homicide. He is in prison today.

On her Instagram, Penna is gathering signatures for a petition to change the Maria da Penha Law and to add other palliative measures regarding modifications to it.

“We should have almost a complete reformulation of the law. To lower the numbers of women attacked and murdered, we need to know explicitly what will happen to the aggressor, what women’s real rights are, what protections she and her children will have. We also need a truly severe punishment for the aggressor, which is currently not the case,” she says.

Translated by Melanie Slone. Edited by Melanie Slone and Fern Siegel



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Cancer-fighting Cells Can Become Harmful Double Agents

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Cancer-fighting Cells Can Become Harmful Double Agents

By Jon Schiller

When working correctly, your immune system detects and responds to pathogens ranging from viruses to parasitic worms, as well as cancer cells and foreign objects such as wood splinters.

But researchers recently discovered that the cells in certain cancer patients can act as “double agents,” helping cancerous tumors grow rather than eradicate them.

The study by researchers at Tel Aviv University, published in the journal Cell Reports, found that immune cells called neutrophils play a critical role in interacting with cancerous growth. Neutrophils are continuously recruited from the bone marrow to do their job.

“Neutrophils are the front-line soldiers of the immune system,” said lead researcher Dinorah Friedmann-Morvinski. “When a tumor begins to develop, the neutrophils are among the first to mobilize and attack it in order to eliminate it.”

However, the researchers were surprised to find that neutrophils can “change sides.” Over time, they can be recruited to the cancerous area to support its development and speed the growth of tumors.

“As a result, they aggravate the damage that the tumor itself creates,” said Friedmann-Morvinski.

“The study showed that the change in the properties of neutrophils takes place in the bone marrow itself — where there is no tumor at all: the cancerous tumor is located only in the brain, and from there it succeeds in changing the properties of the cells it recruits,” said Friedmann-Morvinski.

Stress fibers and micro tubules in human breast cancer cells. (National Cancer Institute/Unsplash)

The new findings may shed light on a type of immunotherapy treatment where T-cells are removed from the patient, processed, and returned to the body with increased healing abilities.

“One of the major problems today is that even these cells that have been sent to heal are suppressed and their actions stifled. If we know how to change the interaction between neutrophils and T-cells so that they are not suppressed, this will have implications for the effectiveness of immunotherapy,” she said.

This study was led by Friedmann-Morvinski and her PhD student Prerna Magod. Also participating were Liat Rousso-Noori and Ignacio Mastandrea, also from the TAU Faculty of Life Sciences, as well as other researchers from the university’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine and from the Weizmann Institute of Science.

In another recent study, researchers looked at the fact that for cancer immunotherapy to be most effective, a patient’s immune system must be able to “see” the tumor in question.

“Hotspots” on cancer cells’ outer membranes can provide this service. These molecular structures contain mutated peptides called neoantigens that the immune system’s T cells recognize as foreign – the first step in binding to the neoantigens and killing the cancerous cells.

But only a handful of neoantigens qualify as hotspots. And they are hard to find because they are presented to the immune system by protein complexes that come in thousands of versions.

The study used bioinformatics to develop a method for identifying features common to many tumors. This can help develop effective immunotherapy for entire groups of patients, researchers said.

“We’ve uncovered a neoantigen that is expressed in thousands of new melanoma cases every year, and we’ve shown that it can be used in these patients to mark tumor cells for immune destruction,” said PhD student Aviyah Peri, who led the study with her professor, Yardena Samuels, at the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Produced in association with Israel21C.



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Smarter News Quiz: Cowboys, Weddings and Halloween Costumes

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Smarter News Quiz: Cowboys, Weddings and Halloween Costumes

By Rachel McMahon


The post Smarter News Quiz: Cowboys, Weddings and Halloween Costumes appeared first on Zenger News.

Moon Shiver: Photographer’s Spooky Image Of Halloween Blood Moon 

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Moon Shiver: Photographer’s Spooky Image Of Halloween Blood Moon 

By Arian Movileanu

The images of last week’s blood moon were captured by an Iraqi astrophotographer with a fast-growing online following.

Darya Kawa Mirza, from Erbil, capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, shares his astrophotography on Instagram, where he boasts 131,000 followers. Astrophotography is the art of shooting astronomical or celestial objects.

Sky watchers were treated to a blood moon, also known as a Hunter’s Moon, on Oct. 21. The Hunter’s Moon is the full moon after the Harvest Moon and occurs in October or early November. Its name is literal: The full Hunter’s Moon illuminates the hunter’s prey.

Moonlight illuminates its surroundings. (@daryavaseum/Zenger)

Mirza shared several shots with the message: “What is Hunter’s Moon? Also called the blood moon or sanguine moon, it is the first full moon of fall in the Northern Hemisphere.

“As autumn settles in and crops are cleared from the field, hunters journey into the twilight to stock up on fattening deer — guided by the light of a full moon, known as the Hunter’s Moon.

“I love the night sky, the stars and the planets, and exploring the unknown,” Mirza said.

Darya Kawa Mirza loves the sky and exploring the unknown through his photos of the moon in Erbil, Iraq. (@daryavaseum/Zenger)

How does he achieve his perfectly timed snaps?

“Astrophotography is completely different from normal photography, and you have to be patient, calm, waiting for the best moment. Sometimes, even after working on a single image for a month, most pictures are far from perfect — and 95 percent will go in the garbage,” he said.

“Every month we have a different full moon, some years it is 12 and others 13. It depends mainly on the number of full moons in that year and the Hunter’s Moon is no exception.”

Darya Kawa Mirza takes a photo of clouds shaped like tiger stripes, while capturing a harvest moon, shot in Erbil, Iraq. (@daryavaseum/Zenger News)

Mirza said he got exceptional shots of the Hunter’s Moon this year. During a full moon at this time, the moon is at its highest point above the horizon, “leading to less atmospheric turbulence. I don’t use filters for my images, only raw data editing in Photoshop or another type of software.

“There are several devices I use, like my cameras (Canon EOS 6D and Canon EOS 1200D) and lenses Canon EF 24-105mm, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM, and Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM.

“I also use a Celestron Astro Master 114eq telescope and a Celestron NexStar 8SE telescope.”

Mizra is currently at university, studying for a Master of Science degree.

For those in the Southern Hemisphere, the Harvest and Hunter’s Moons are based on the March equinox, their equivalent autumn equinox.

Edited by Fern Siegel and Kristen Butler



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Consumers Seem Unfazed By 7-Year-High Gasoline Prices

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Consumers Seem Unfazed By 7-Year-High Gasoline Prices

By Daniel James Graeber

Retail gasoline prices should remain elevated for the short term as demand holds up even amid mounting inflationary pressures, analysts said.

Travel club AAA listed a national average retail price of $3.39 for a gallon of regular unleaded on Tuesday, about 20 cents per gallon higher than a month ago.

Retail gasoline prices have been on a steady rise for at least a month. (Graph courtesy of AAA)

That means a perfect storm is brewing in the commodities market.

Higher natural gas prices push some segments of the economy toward coal or crude oil as an alternate resource. In an under-supplied oil market, there is competition for the petroleum that refineries would usually turn into gasoline.

White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said Tuesday that Washington would continue to put pressure on OPEC to open the spigot, given ongoing concerns about energy-related inflation.

Like crude oil, the average retail price for gasoline is at a seven-year-high. But even with soaring prices, demand seems to be holding. Federal estimates last week on the total amount of refined petroleum products sent to the market, a loose proxy for demand, showed levels are still on par with pre-pandemic numbers.

“Once weather turns (colder), demand should turn lower,” said Denton Cinquegrana, the chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service. “But right now, I don’t see anything deterring demand.”

Winter weather usually curbs road travel and subsequently demand, pushing retail gas prices lower as a result. Commuters would also get a break because the so-called winter blend of gasoline is usually cheaper to produce, but that’s not the case this year. Most of the blending components needed to make gasoline are also expensive.

A national forecast shows a warm winter ahead, though La Nina could spoil that for part of the South. (Map courtesy of The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

Cinquegrana added consumers may still feel flush from stimulus and savings from last year, so there’s discretionary cash to dampen the pain at the pump.

Patrick DeHaan, the senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy, said there is no real impact on demand yet, but the unknown factor may be where oil prices are headed.

Crude oil prices account for the bulk of what consumers see at the pump. If forecasts for $100 per barrel oil, a good $15 per barrel higher than the U.S. benchmark, prove accurate, it would trickle down to consumers.

Some of those forecasts, DeHaan said, are hyperbolic. “I just don’t know that we’ll hit $100,” he said.

Recent forecasts of a colder winter in some parts of the country could add to the pressure ,given the contagion effect of the exponential spike in natural gas prices. Colder weather could lead to lower demand, but that could be offset by higher prices for heating fuels in general, which are already fetching a premium.

Phil Flynn, a senior energy analyst at The PRICE Futures Group in Chicago, told Zenger that refiners are behind where they should be in utilization and output. It just doesn’t look good for travelers at the moment.

“I don’t think the pain at the pump is done yet,” he said.

Edited by Bryan Wilkes and Fern Siegel



The post Consumers Seem Unfazed By 7-Year-High Gasoline Prices appeared first on Zenger News.

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