Review: Cyjin: The Cyborg Ninja – Movies Games and Tech

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Cyjin is a fast paced addictive platformer developed by Aiya Games. When I see another platformer come out I usually approach with some skepticism. For one, these normally arent my type of game. Plus, theres a whole host of platformers with clunky controls and tedious gameplay, especially on PC. So I found myself pleasantly surprised playing through the fast paced stages in Cyjin.

In a game such as this, controls are all important, and thankfully, Cyjin has excellent mouse and keyboard controls. Most of it is controlled with the mouse, aiming, then jumping with a left click. You can blast through projectiles with the shield using right click. It didnt take too long to get the hang of it, and once I did, it was easy enough to make precise movements. This is doubly important as dashing through enemies is your primary way to attack. It gradually introduces other mechanics as you play through the game.

Its a classic example of a game that is easy to pick up and put down. It has fast paced platformer and puzzle based addictive gameplay. Blasting through a level, trying to go as fast as possible is a fantastic experience

There is a storyline, but its nothing really worth mentioning, a game like this is all about the gameplay, the story is there to give the stages more thematic flair. The music and level design all come together to form a cohesive product that feels like a complete, albeit short, experience.

This isnt a game that will eat up hours of your time. Its not something to immerse yourself in for days. However, if youre looking for some fast paced platforming, which is easy to play for a short while then put down again, you cant go wrong with Cyjin.Thus despite the game being relatively small in scope, what it does do, it manages to do well. There isnt too much to say about this game, it does exactly what it says on the tin, ultimately if youre into platformers, it may be worth picking this one up.

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Review: Cyjin: The Cyborg Ninja - Movies Games and Tech

What is Posthumanism, and Why Should You Care …

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Welcome to Posthumanism and Video Games. The purpose of this project, conducted by St. Olaf undergraduates Anthony Dungan and Israa Khalifa, is to examine how numerous video games interact with posthumanism and what audiences can learn about posthuman ideas through video games.

At its core, posthumanism is a theoretical framework that wants to re-imagine what a human is or rethink humanitys place in society. Some posthumanists want to remove humanity as the center of existence and want to every object in existence to be treated equally; others consider what existence on Earth would be like if humanity went completely extinct. Some challenge the boundaries of the human body and want to extend or augment those capabilities through cybernetics; others consider the personhood of completely artificial beings like androids or artificial intelligence. For a more nuanced definition and understanding, see our glossary entry on posthumanism.

The fact is, humanity is already becoming a posthuman society. Cybernetic bodies arent some far-off concept, but rather something that exists already. There are recent advancements like cybernetic and prosthetic limbs, as well as enhancements that have been around for decades, like hearing aids. Artificial life is making significant progress as well. In 2017, the first robot became a citizen of a country, and robots are becoming more physically capable. Imagining an existence without humanity might not be that hard, considering the threat that global warming poses to society means Earth might very well be literally posthuman within a few hundred years.

In addition, scientific knowledge and technological advancements are historically situated. Keeping this in mind allows for an understanding of Western cultures long history of individualism, technological warfare, and the binarism between body and soul. Posthumanism rejects that binary and allows for a fuller understanding of the Wests obsession with a human and technological apocalypse or a techno-utopian world. In addition, posthumanism breaks free from the patriarchal and supremacist legacy created by Christianity in the Enlightenment as well as favoring humans over other objects. These legacies of the Enlightenment are directly linked to systematic oppression, racism, slavery, and wars all over the world. Posthumanism, to an extent, allows for alternative solutions or ways of thought to break free from these problems.

We could say something about how games are the most profitable medium in the modern entertainment industry. We could also say that video games reach an incredibly large audience, or a number of other reasons. The fact is, we researched video games because the medium allows players to directly interact with ideologies in a safe space. Unlike audiences in other mediums like film, literature, or music, players directly interact with whats happening. They dont just see fancy technology, they use it. Players are active participants in the messages they create, which is something unique to the medium of games. As games are a relatively young medium, researching the medium helps establish a better understanding of how games engage audiences in unique ways.

With that in mind, please enjoy the results of our research! You can read our analyses in any order, but if you want to be directed to a good beginning spot, Id recommend our podcast episode, Embodiment in Transistor. If youre interested in making your own Thoughtful Play project, contact thoughtfulplay@gmail.com. You can check out our glossary here, and if you want to check our sources, head over here.

Anthony Dungan has been playing video games for almost longer than he can remember. It all started when his parents would let him watch them play Star Wars video games, and his obsession that started then has only become more rabid. Almost two decades later, Anthony has started mixing academic work into his love of video games. After watching a thoughtful, engaging presentation on The Last of Us by a professor from St. Olaf College, Anthony knew that he had to attend St. Olaf to improve his writing skills and hopefully have a chance to engage in academic work on video games. This wish was granted, and resulted in Posthumanism and Rhetoric in Video Games.

Israa Khalifa studies sociology and anthropology at St. Olaf College.

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What is Posthumanism, and Why Should You Care ...

Panel 1: Critical Posthumanism and Italian Cinema and …

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Organizers: Enrica Maria Ferrara (Trinity College Dublin) and Russell J. A. Kilbourn (Wilfrid Laurier University)

As Andr Bazin writes in The Ontology of the Photographic Image: For the first time, an image of the outside world takes shape automatically, without creative human intervention All art is founded upon human agency, but in photography alone can we celebrate its absence (2009, 7). Even in the digital era, the photographic basis of the cinematic image continues to signify, as does Bazins singling out of post-war Italian film as the prototype for an audiovisual modality befitting a newworld and new subjectivities. With the above claim in mind, this panel seeks papers that explore the posthumanist dimension of Italian cinema, and/or other audiovisual media, from post-war to contemporary, as a means of escaping a human-centred gaze.What does it really mean to speak of cinema as the absence of the human? Adopting Karen Barads ideas, it means emphasizing the dimension of intra-action between human and technological apparatuses as a way to enact new subjectivities at the intersection of human and non-human entities (Barad 2003); it also means enhancing the notion of human identity as co-ontology (Nancy 2000), a relational identity that recognizes the illusory notion of separateness between body and mind, and between the human and its related others (Ferrara 2020). As highlighted by Elena Past (2019), certain featuressuch as a slow walking pace, intermixing or juxtaposition of fictional and non-fictional elements, the use of non-professional actors, long takes, hand held cameras, and long shotsare particularly suited to illustrating the entanglement of human and non-human ontologies. From this perspective, it is productive to analyse through a posthumanist lens films by traditional auteurs, such as Fellini, Pasolini, Antonioni, Wertmller, but also contemporary features by directors such as Dario Argento, Marco Bellocchio, Michelangelo Frammartino, Matteo Garrone, Paolo Genovese, Paolo Sorrentino, and Alice Rohrwacher, to name but a few. At the same time, however, it is also arguable that cinemas gaze is irreducibly anthropomorphic; i.e., not merely centering (on) the human body, in the form of actors bodies and faces, for instance, but alsocontra Baradinscribing a humanist agenda in its very materiality.

This panel seeks papers, therefore, that offer critical posthumanist readings of cinema as medium and mode of expression or representation or some other process, including the possibility of representing or revealing what was heretofore unavailable to physical, affective, or intellectual apprehension, which might be thought of in productively posthumanist terms, whereby film is read as a relational medium, allowing for alternative subjectivities to emerge.

Please send a 250-word abstract and a 100-word bio to Enrica Maria Ferrara (ferrarae@tcd.ie) and Russell J. A. Kilbourn (rkilbourn@wlu.ca) by5 December 2021.Notification of acceptance of abstracts will be sent out to authors by30 December 2021.

The languages of the conference are English, Italian and Spanish

Proposals for virtual papers will not be considered.

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Climate Change Is Creating a Northern Labor Crisis – The National Interest

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Editorsnote: In November,The National Interestorganized a symposium on the confluence of demographics, migration, and climate change. We asked a variety of scholars the following question: Canmigrationbe a solution to the various demographic challenges facing many nations, or is it a challenge in its own right? How should states adapt to and/or mitigate the effects of changing demographics and influxes of migrants?The following article is one of their responses:

In many ways, Canada seems perfectly positioned to take advantage of climate change. The country sits on a vast wealth of natural resources with an abundant supply of freshwater, oil, and natural gas. Its political system is, for the moment, relatively stable. And as the planet warms, Canadas traditionally unfarmable northern regions could turn into the worlds breadbasket. But for all its advantages, Canada is desperately lacking in one vital resource: people.

Indeed, despite being the worlds second-largest country, Canada has a relatively modest 38 million citizens, a mere one-ninth of the United States population. More importantly, the national fertility rate has long been in steady decline, with the number of Canadian births reaching a fifteen-year low in 2020. This puts the country in a precarious position: while most populations need a total fertility level of a little over two children per woman to survive, Canada sits at just 1.47, representing one of the lowest birth rates in the West. Were this trend to continue, the countrys population could start shrinking within the next two decades.

Theres good reason to see this as a serious national security concern. Most crucially, Canadas dropping fertility rates will bring about a massive shift in the countrys age demographics, with the percentage of Canadians aged sixty-five and older projected to increase from 17.2 in 2018 to over 20 in 2030. The resulting impact on the workforce will be dramatic. Today, the countrys ratio of workers to pensioners is three to one. Over the next fifteen years, that number will fall to two. And indeed, while the cultural implications of this sort of demographic change can be complicated, the economics are rather simple: as Canada ages, its productivity will decline, labor costs will skyrocket, and the countrys robust social programs will crumble under the weight of its retiring population.

Degrowth, then, would represent a catastrophic opportunity loss for a country primed to benefit from global warming. In one famous study, Stanford professor Marshall Burke estimated that if Canada were to take complete advantage of its newfound agricultural opportunities, it could see a fivefold increase in its gross domestic product over the next several decades. But thats a huge if. Canada will need a massive amount of labor to exploit its 4.2 million square kilometers of new agricultural frontier, and as it stands, its population is not growing nearly fast enough to meet the regions growing demand.

So now, with the writing on the wall for its future growth, Canada has started looking abroad. The result has been a dramatic increase in Canadas immigration targets: just last year, Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino announced that the country would be aiming to add an additional 500,000 permanent residents in 2021, an increase of more than 50,000 from 2020.

And yet many still think this doesnt go far enough. One particularly influential group of business leaders and academics, known as the Century Initiative, wants Canada to nearly triple its population by 2100. Growing our population to 100 million by 2100 would reduce the burden on government revenues to fund health care, old age security, and other services, the Initiative's site reads. The group states that 100 million is not just a number. Its a vision for the Canada we want to build for future generations.

Such an approach would have profound socio-cultural implications. To be sure, a 100 million person Canada would look markedly different from how it looks today, raising the question of whether or not Canadians are ready for such a sudden shake-up of the national demographic.

But its a risk that Canada seems prepared to take, and theyre not alone. To the east, Russia and the Scandinavian countriesboth thought to be potential climate winnershave cited underpopulation and declining birth rates as major obstacles to their national growth. Russia, in particularnever known for its subtletyhas discussed flying in hundreds of thousands of Indian workers to its now-arable Far East region. Many in Sweden, too, have pushed for increased immigration rates as the population ages.

Each approach will surely have unique strengths and weaknesses that will lead to different results depending on each countrys specific circumstances. For a nation like Russia, for example, the presence of China to the south means that it must be careful when deciding which foreign nationals (and how many) it wants to allow in. Canada, on the other hand, has the advantage of an immigration system that prioritizes immigrants with perceived value, allowing the country to admit those who best fit its evolving socio-economic needs.

Immigration, then, will have a key role to play in the West as declining birth rates and climate change transform the world order. Indeed, with the right policies, countries like Canada and Russia could see their prospects soar. But with the wrong policies, their economies could be destined to collapse.

Thomas Hochman (@thomashochman) is a Fellow at Citizens Climate Lobby. His work has been featured in The National Interest, The Washington Examiner, and a number of other outlets.

Image: Reuters.

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Climate Change Is Creating a Northern Labor Crisis - The National Interest

The Afghans are calling – The News International

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The writer heads the Sustainable Development Policy Institute.

We have not seen this level of near-universal poverty in any country in recent history, said Ms Kanni Wignaraja, assistant secretary of the United Nations Development Programme, last month, while referring to the deteriorating economic situation of Afghanistan. The UN estimates that the percentage of the Afghan population living below less than $1.90 when the Taliban took over will increase from 50 percent to 97 percent by next summer.

The above shocking numbers were partly due to changing weather patterns, prolonged periods of drought accompanied by above-average temperatures. Food insecurity further worsened after the change in regime in Kabul. According to the World Food Programs (WFP) estimates released in the beginning of this month, three million Afghans were at the brink of famine. Likewise, an equal number of children are malnourished. Another 23 million, in a country of 38 million, faced acute hunger. Out of those, 8.7 million were only one step behind famine: in WFP language, in a state of emergency. Children and women in Afghanistan are the worst affected by this situation. There are four million internally displaced persons in Afghanistan; of them, 80 percent are women and children.

In its recent story, The Economist has described the worsening situation in Afghanistan in these words, Locals report cases of entire families starving to death in their homes. Hospital wards are taking in emaciated children, including 11-year-olds who weigh just 13kg. Poor Afghans are selling their remaining possessions for food. Some are selling their daughters. The misery is as bad in the cities as it is in the countryside. As the winter sets in, the agony will only deepen.

A closer analysis reveals that Western Coalition Forces were merely interested in maintaining a status quo in war-torn Afghanistan during the last two decades. They did nothing to stabilise Afghanistan as a country.

Under twenty years of coalition-supported rule, the Afghan economy did not prove to be much different from its armed forces. Both collapsed without showing any sign of resistance. While a strategic affairs expert can tell you about the armed forces, let me describe why the Afghan economy collapsed after the Talibans victory.

It would not be wrong to say that successive governments in Afghanistan were dependent on foreign aid. Till August 2021 (before the Taliban interim government), Afghanistan used to receive $8.5 billion per annum as foreign aid. That external financing was equal to 45 percent of its GDP, and financed 75 percent of the government budget, including almost all health, education and security spending.

Almost 80 percent of its electricity needs are met through imports from neighbouring countries (from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Iran). Other essential imports include wheat (from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan), fuel (from Iran, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan), and medicines (from India, Pakistan, and Iran). Since America has frozen Afghan assets worth $9 billion, it is unable to pay for its imports.

The Afghan government does not print its local currency and hence is facing a shortage of it. Half a million soldiers and police personnel have lost their jobs, and civil servants, including 220,000 teachers, have gone unpaid for months. Only last week, the Taliban government made partial payments to select civil servants through the meagre revenue collected during the three months of their rule.

The US lists the Taliban as specially designated global terrorists (SDGT) so routing payments through US dollar payment system is fraught with criminal liability. As per the UN Security Councils Resolution 1988 (mandatory implementation by all countries), the Afghan Taliban as an entity are not sanctioned. However, some cabinet members are listed under UNSC 1988. Hence dealing with the Taliban may invoke international sanctions. The US Office for Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has frozen the assets of the Afghan government. And the Taliban government is yet to be recognised by any country in the world.

Due to the sanctions, Afghanistans commercial banks face difficulties in transactions with correspondent banks and interbank placements. They are at risk of insolvency. Strict withdrawal limits have been imposed on depositors local currency/foreign currency accounts. This has undermined payments for general imports, leading to a shortage of critical imports such as food, fuel and electricity.

The OFAC, while upholding and enforcing US sanctions against the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, and other sanctioned entities, has issued General License (GL) 14 and GL15. Through GL14, the US Treasury will continue to work with financial institutions, international organisations, and the NGO community to ease the flow of critical resources, like agricultural goods, medicine, and other essential supplies, to people in need.

Through GL15, certain transactions related to exporting or re-exporting agricultural commodities, medicine, and medical devices are authorised.

Mexico, Ireland and Norway (UNSC members) and international NGOs support exceptions of humanitarian assistance as part of the UN sanction regime. Likewise, Switzerland, Chad and the Philippines (and a few others) have enacted national legislation to protect humanitarian assistance from material support offences. Despite the backing of the above-mentioned countries, and OFACs GL 14 & 15, routing US dollars funds transfer to Afghanistan is exceedingly complicated.

In September 2021, donors pledged $1 billion in response to the UNs flash appeal for $600 million. However, only one-third of those pledges could materialise. The European Union promised $1.15 billion in October. Yet 300 million euros of that had already been committed, and much of the rest will be provided to Afghanistans neighbours so they may send humanitarian assistance. The WFP requires around $220 million a month to avert a food crisis during the harsh winter months.

Pakistan may face the direct brunt of the evolving humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. In case of an economic collapse (which may be quite soon under the existing scenario), Pakistan needs to be ready to host up to another one million, mostly non-vaccinated both for Covid-19 and polio, refugees. Sharing its essential imports (wheat, petroleum products, and vaccines) with the refugees would further increase the current account deficit, affecting the value of the rupee versus US dollar and the interest rate. On top of it, Pakistan would have no filter to distinguish foes (members of anti-Pakistan groups) from friends among the refugees. A few thousand miscreants among a half-million peaceful Afghan refugees would be enough to sabotage the peace that the people of Pakistan achieved after braving hundreds of suicide bombers during the last two decades.

The socio-economic security of Pakistan and, most notably, the dignified assistance of Afghan people, are linked with a resumption of foreign aid if not unfreezing of Afghan assets.

No one can disagree with the Western demands for fundamental rights for Afghans. However, punishing the intended beneficiaries and letting them starve to death because their rulers are not respecting their basic rights is akin to throwing the baby out with the bathwater and must be avoided.

The West can follow the Yemeni model, where Houthis the de-facto rulers of Yemen do not enjoy international recognition. However, the international community is funding Yemeni civil servants and the people of Yemen, calling it support to President Hadis government in exile (based in Saudi Arabia).

Finally, we dont have to pay the Taliban to pay the salaries of staffers of basic services delivery departments or take care of food aid in Afghanistan. International NGOs and UN agencies can hire such civil servants as their short-term service providers and pay them directly, bypassing the Taliban. However, a functional banking system is a prerequisite for transferring such aid. The US would have to come up with an innovative solution for that.

Afghans are calling; one hopes the West is paying attention to their miseries.

Twitter: @abidsuleri

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The Afghans are calling - The News International

A Day Of Dinner And Decolonization: 9 Indigenous Activists, Educators And Healers To Follow – Forbes

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1960s AUTUMN SCENIC WITH CORNUCOPIA BESIDE WOODEN FENCE (Photo by H. Armstrong ... [+] Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images)

Thanksgiving Day is just as complex and layered as the casseroles consumed at dinners taking place across the nation in observance of the holiday. As millions of Americans celebrate family, friends, and unwavering gratitude, Indigenous Peoples are tasked withrefocusing the narrative to center the genocide of their ancestors. Societys refusal to acknowledge and account for intergenerational harm contributes to the ongoing socio-economic disparities plaguing their communities, today.

As many as 15 million Native Americanpeople are estimated to have been livingin North America when ChristopherColumbus arrived in 1492. Toward the end ofthe 19th century, a mere 238,000 remained. As thousands of Indigenous women and children continue going missing, and activists face incarceration for protecting the environmentsolidarity to Indigenous communities is more critical now, than ever.

Throughout American history, they have survived over 1500wars, ambushes, raids and seizures all sanctioned by the United States government. Yet their bold love, indomitable resilience, ancestral connection and steady pursuit of healing are disrupting the colonial norms shaping the current social ecology.

These 9 Indigenous activists, educators, and healers are shattering common misconceptions about the origins of Thanksgiving and Indigenous history.

Soni Lopez-Chavez

Soni Lopez-Chavez

For Soni Lopez-Chavez, the pursuit of passion and beauty has called to her, her entire life. Born in the vibrant city of Guanajuato, Mexico at an early age, Lopez-Chavez moved to San Diego where she has resided ever-since, ever-inspired by the gorgeous scenery and diverse cultures.Currently favoring digital illustration as her medium of choice, her work embodies pulsating color schemes and themes of heritage as based off her own Indigenous background and childhood.

My parents gave up so much and worked endlessly to give me better opportunities. For them and for myself I create images to raise awareness, to help heal and inspire. I encourage you to support the healing process and self-determination of Indigenous communities. Learn more about Indigenous rights by helping those who have already been working on these issues for a long time like Indigenous artists, business owners, journalists, and community organizers.Soni Lopez-Chavez

Corrine Grey Cloud

Corrine Grey Cloud

Corinne Grey Cloud is Lakota and Mohawk and lives in Mission SD. She is the CEO of Rice Consulting LLC, a Diversity Equity and Inclusion company that works on Native Specific DEI trainings for Fortune 500 companies. Grey Clouds articles and work have been featured in Huffington Post, Al Jazeera, and Google. She currently is on staff forPowwows.comand serves on numerous boards including for Feminist on Instagram.

Thanksgiving is a complicated holiday for many people, but especially for Native folks. We have for centuries been presented a narrative that eludes to Natives having given the land they steward over to colonizers when in fact that interaction was bloody and traumatic with lasting effect today. I encourage the non-native population to embrace Thanksgiving as a day to be thankful for your relatives, and to drop the legend of an imaginary peaceful dinner between Pilgrims and Indians. Its ok to embrace what is the truth of our history, while working toward making our nation a better and more inclusive one. Corrine Grey Cloud

Pnar Sinopoulos-Lloyd

Pnar Sinopoulos-Lloyd

Pnar Sinopoulos-Lloyd(they/them) is an award-winning Indigenous multi-species futurist, Quechua gender technologist, wildlife tracker and trans eco-philosopher. They along with their spouse are the co-founders of Queer Nature, a transdisciplinary organism stewarding, earth-based queer community through survival skills, multi-species kinship and rites of passage. Sinopoulos-Lloyds relationship with transness, hybridity, neurodivergence, Indigeneity and belonging guided their work in developing Queer Ecopsychology through a decolonial and autistic lens. As a survival skills mentor, one of their core missions is to uplift and amplify the brilliant survival skills that BIPOC, 2SLGBTQ+ and other systematically targeted populations already have in their resilient bodies of survivance.

"An integral way to support Indigenous folks is honoring Indigenous cosmological technologies this includes our prismatic genders. Gender liminality is Indigenous cosmological technology.This includes disrupting cisheteropatriarchy which is a tool of settler colonialism. In my Andean lineage, our gender expansiveness is specifically a technique for world-making during collapse and apocalypse (Pachacuti). This original instruction of futurist is embedded in our origin story as Qariwarmis, our Andean Two-Spirit (2S) role. Center and amplify 2S and Trans Native leadership and brilliance." Pnar Sinopoulos-Lloyd

Luis and Trini Rodrguez

Luis Rodrguez (Mixcoatl Itztlacuiloh) and Trini Rodrguez (Tlazohteotl)

Luis Rodrguez (Mixcoatl Itztlacuiloh) and Trini Rodrguez (Tlazohteotl) are Indigenous spiritual practitioners and activists for some 30 years, based in the San Fernando Valley (SFV) section of Los Angeles. Luis is Mexica/Raramuri and Trini is Mexica/Wixarika. Their teachers have been among the Dine (Navajo), Lakota, Akimel Ooldham, Mexica (in Mexico and US), Maya (in Mexico and Guatemala), Pibil of El Salvador, and Quechua in Peru, among others. Luis is part of the SFVs Turtle Lodge. Trini facilitates the Hummingbird Womens Lodge. They are cofounders of Tia Chuchas Centro Cultural & Bookstore of Sylmar CA, an Indigenous-based arts & literacy center. They also run the podcast The Hummingbird Cricket Hour, which addresses personal and social issues with an Indigenous lens.

Clarity is also Medicine. Luis & Trini Rodrguez

Fidel Rodriguez

Fidel Rodriguez

Fidel Rodriguez works as a producer, educator, mentor, and organizer. For over 20 years, He has produced several award-winning radio programs for Clear Channel and Pacifica Radio. Rodriquez has developed educational conferences, concerts, and has facilitated wellness and leadership trainings for numerous companies, government agencies, and non-profit organizations. The educator has been an international keynote speaker on topics ranging from culture, history, shamanism, spirituality, consciousness, wellness, violence, decolonization, and creating paradigm shifts in thinking.For over a decade, Rodriquez has worked for the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission where he facilitates adult leadership trainings and creates youth development and wellness workshops for youth affected by childhood trauma and the juvenile justice system. These workshops focus on practical wellness tools, history, trauma, poverty, racism, leadership, and healing.Rodriquez graduated from the University of Southern California as a McNair Scholar with degrees in Chicano/Latino and African American studies and is a certified trainer for Franklin Covey. He is an initiated Awo, which describes one who possesses specialized, esoteric knowledge and wisdom, in the ancient wisdom known as Ifa.

The transformation of human consciousness is upon us, we all feel it.It is now time to let go of the painful experiences youve endured on your journey that now live in your mind. Let go of them, they no longer serve you.Connect at every moment with Mother Earth and your ancestors.Love yourself, share loving-kindness with all beings you encounter, and may your character not spoil your destiny. We our the ancestors of those yet unborn. With deep gratitude to all who read these words. You are loved. Fidel Rodrguez

Allen Salway

Allen Salway

Allen Salway is a 23-year-old Din, Oglala Lakota, Tohono Oodham Writer, Influencer, and Cultural Curator from the NavajoNation. The climate justice activists work has been featured on MTV News, Washington Post, New York Times, Paper Magazine and several other publications. Salway, an ambassador for DigDeeps Navajo Water Project, is committed to bringing water and electricity to Navajo families living without.

To me, Thanksgiving is a reminder of our resistance as Indigenous People navigating this settler society that continuously tries to erase and destroy us. Yet, we are still here. Allen Salway

Charlie Amy Scott

Charlie Amy Scott

A Din scholar born and raised within the Navajo Nation, Charlie Amy Scott (they/her) reflects, analyzes, and critiques what it means to be a Din in the 21st century on her personal blog,dineaesthetics.com, while inspiring joy and justice to thousands on Instagram and TikTok at @dineaesthetics.

My ancestors, and the ancestors of so many Indigenous communities have survived displacement, removal, and genocide. No matter what this colonizing world attempts to do, we will continue to be here reminding people of our strength, our beauty, and our voice. Today, and every day, I celebrate the brilliance of Indigenous Peoples, and hope others join me. Learn and grow a little more, and challenge the colonial narratives we are told and support Indigenous Peoples, our issues and our causes. Charlie Amy Scott

Xiuhtezcatl

Xiuhtezcatl

Xiuhtezcatl, Mexica and Xochimilca,bridges many worlds through his music and his voice. As an Indigenous creative, his vision comes to life at the intersection of art, storytelling and community organizing. A multifaceted performer and Hip Hop artist, Xiuhtezcatls music serves as a vehicle to reclaim space, build community and engage his generation in reimagining our future.

Indigenous people are reclaiming space and shifting culture everywhere we look, from the climate movement, to the fashion and entertainment industry and beyond. As we continue to tear down physical and symbolic monuments to enslavement and genocide, I encourage y'all to tap into the wave of Indigenous creatives, artists, storytellers, organizers and leaders. Get familiar with the complexity and diversity of Indigenous peoples and voices. That is where our strength lies. Before you know it, we will be impossible to ignore. Xiuhtezcatl

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A Day Of Dinner And Decolonization: 9 Indigenous Activists, Educators And Healers To Follow - Forbes

Will India’s Akasa Air be able to weather the turbulence facing other airlines? – The National

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India has had a history of airlines which have ended in failure. Among them were Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines, businessman Naresh Goyal's Jet Airways and the country's first low-cost carrier, Air Deccan, founded by former army captain GR Gopinath.

Despite these collapses and a turbulent operating environment, which has only worsened during the coronavirus pandemic, Indian billionaire Rakesh Jhunjhunwala is seemingly undeterred.

He is trying his hand at bringing the new Akasa Air to the skies along with former Jet Airways chief executive Vinay Dube. The new airline is billed as an ultra low-cost carrier and it plans to start operating in the coming months. But Akasa Air will be flying into stormy weather.

Considering the past and present situation, it will not be a cakewalk for the company and it will have to overcome many hurdles to make its way up, says Nitin Shah, the executive director of Findoc, an Indian financial services group.

As the aviation industry worldwide grapples with the impact of the pandemic, Indian airlines are projected to report collective losses of between $3.2 billion and $3.7bn in the current financial year ending March 31, 2022, according to aviation consultancy Capa India.

But analysts also point to room for growth in India's aviation sector, as Asia's third-largest economy is expected to expand in the coming years.

The country's economy is forecast to grow 9.5 per cent this year and 8.5 per cent in 2022, according to the International Monetary Fund, after shrinking 7.3 per cent in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

By 2030, Indias international air traffic is projected to increase by between 50 million and 60 million passengers a year compared with pre-Covid levels, to reach 115 million to 125 million, according to Capa. It is then expected to double again by 2040, to 240 million.

Increasingly, Indians are expected to take up air travel. Currently, only a single-digit percentage of its population of almost 1.4 billion travels by air. And that is the market potential Akasa Air is targeting.

India is one of the fastest-developing aviation markets and has extraordinary potential, says Mr Shah. There is a huge potential for the sector to grow in future. The Indian aviation sector has witnessed a strong recovery in the post-lockdown era.

But the near-term challenges are great, analysts say. Even before the Covid-19 crisis hit, India's aviation industry was going through turbulence. Factors including price wars between India's carriers and soaring taxes on fuel pushed several airlines into steep losses, leaving them in a precarious position.

High fuel and running costs, and a capital intensive business, along with cut-throat competition, has made the business of even the best-placed players quite vulnerable to any adverse developments, says Richa Agarwal, a senior research analyst at Equitymaster.

High fuel and running costs, and a capital intensive business, along with cut-throat competition, has made the business of even the best-placed players quite vulnerable to any adverse developments

Richa Agarwal, senior research analyst, Equitymaster

In recent history, the full extent of the woes of the sector came into sharp focus with the demise of Kingfisher Airlines in 2012. The airline, set up by liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya, started operations in 2005. It launched amid great fanfare and gained a lot of popularity among consumers, becoming known for its high levels of customer service.

But the competitive environment and the airline's high costs meant that it became unviable, and it became a struggle for the company to pay its staff and bank loans. It was the airline's failure and insolvency that led to Mr Mallya becoming a wilful defaulter, as he fled to the UK, where he is currently based. The Indian government is fighting to have him extradited.

Air Deccan went down with Kingfisher after the budget airline, which had run into losses, merged with Kingfisher in 2007.

Following Kingfisher's demise, low-cost carrier SpiceJet was on the verge of collapse. But Ajay Singh, its co-founder, stepped in with a rescue package. This involved restructuring the airline's ownership. SpiceJet survived, seemingly against the odds.

Indian billionaire Rakesh Jhunjhunwala. Prashanth Vishwanathan / The National

Players in this segment have shut shop in the last few years due to mounting debts, poor acquisitions and cheaper prices offered by competitors, says Gaurav Garg, the head of research at CapitalVia Global Research. Also, the rising fuel prices and a depreciating rupee seem to be a major reason in the increasing operating costs of the airlines.

Jet Airways also became a victim of the tough operating environment and it stopped flying in April 2019, when it ran out of cash.

Even Air India, the country's flag carrier, has long struggled with losses and mounting debt. This led to its long-awaited privatisation this year, with Tata Sons acquiring the ailing airline.

In the past decade, seven airlines have ceased operations, including regional carriers like Air Costa and Air Pegasus, alongside bigger players.

There is fierce competition among Indian carriers, as the market continues to recover from the impact of Covid-19. Akasa Air's plan to hit the skies coincides with Jet Airways' aim to resume operations in 2022 under new ownership.

We believe the entry of another low-cost operator, Akasa, will only make the going tough, Ms Agarwal says. The industry dynamics will remain challenging with the fight for slots and traffic, and high costs.

For these reasons, she does not think it is a good investment.

We believe that in the past, quite often, tycoons obsession for airline business has been more driven by megalomania than a sound investment decision based on economics, she says. Its not bad luck.

The impact of Akasa Air on low-cost carriers is likely to be similar to that of Kingfisher's on full-cost carriers seen in 2005, according to Kapil Kaul, chief executive and director at Capa India.

Kingfisher's impact on full-cost carriers was very strategic, which led to some bad decisions by Jet Airways, including the acquisition of Air Sahara, he says.

However, Akasa Air is regarded as a major emerging player based on the financial strength and the hiring strategy so far, Mr Kaul says.

Working in its favour is the Bengaluru-based airlines strong team, which offers a chance at success, some experts say.

Mr Jhunjhunwala, the co-founder of Akasa Air, holds a 40 per cent stake in the new airline. A stock trader and investor, he is often referred to as the Warren Buffett of India because of his savvy stock investments.

Mr Dube is the chief executive of the new airline, and Aditya Ghosh, the former president of India's largest domestic carrier, IndiGo, is also on the board.

Certain carriers have committed the mistake of over expansion and taking on huge debt, which led to stretching too wide and ultimately, the collapse of the business, Mr Garg says.

On the contrary, Akasa being a well-capitalised new entrant, holds the potential to be successful over the long term if it focuses on certain crucial elements like managing its fleet composition, distribution model and destination selection, which would differentiate it from the existing players and provide a competitive edge.

Akasa Air is already well-positioned for its take-off in 2022, having placed an order this month for 72 Boeing 737 Max planes, valued at close to $9bn.

We are already witnessing a strong recovery in air travel and we see decades of growth ahead of us, Mr Dube said at the time of the deal, announced during the Dubai Airshow.

Akasa Air's core purpose is to help power India's growth engine and democratise air travel by creating an inclusive environment for all Indians, regardless of their socio-economic or cultural backgrounds.

As an ultra low-cost carrier, Akasa Air will have an opportunity to win over passengers with low fares, says Mr Shah. But the key to profitability will be focusing on keeping operating costs even lower than other airlines like IndiGo and SpiceJet, and making profits by selling a big volume of tickets.

Akasa Air will have to navigate its way through strong headwinds, but soaring profits could be on the horizon.

Updated: November 28th 2021, 4:40 AM

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Will India's Akasa Air be able to weather the turbulence facing other airlines? - The National

Is Time Travel Possible? | NASA Space Place NASA Science …

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The Short Answer:

Although humans can't hop into a time machine and go back in time, we do know that clocks on airplanes and satellites travel at a different speed than those on Earth.

We all travel in time! We travel one year in time between birthdays, for example. And we are all traveling in time at approximately the same speed: 1 second per second.

We typically experience time at one second per second. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA's space telescopes also give us a way to look back in time. Telescopes help us see stars and galaxies that are very far away. It takes a long time for the light from faraway galaxies to reach us. So, when we look into the sky with a telescope, we are seeing what those stars and galaxies looked like a very long time ago.

However, when we think of the phrase "time travel," we are usually thinking of traveling faster than 1 second per second. That kind of time travel sounds like something you'd only see in movies or science fiction books. Could it be real? Science says yes!

This image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows galaxies that are very far away as they existed a very long time ago. Credit: NASA, ESA and R. Thompson (Univ. Arizona)

More than 100 years ago, a famous scientist named Albert Einstein came up with an idea about how time works. He called it relativity. This theory says that time and space are linked together. Einstein also said our universe has a speed limit: nothing can travel faster than the speed of light (186,000 miles per second).

Einstein's theory of relativity says that space and time are linked together. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

What does this mean for time travel? Well, according to this theory, the faster you travel, the slower you experience time. Scientists have done some experiments to show that this is true.

For example, there was an experiment that used two clocks set to the exact same time. One clock stayed on Earth, while the other flew in an airplane (going in the same direction Earth rotates).

After the airplane flew around the world, scientists compared the two clocks. The clock on the fast-moving airplane was slightly behind the clock on the ground. So, the clock on the airplane was traveling slightly slower in time than 1 second per second.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

We can't use a time machine to travel hundreds of years into the past or future. That kind of time travel only happens in books and movies. But the math of time travel does affect the things we use every day.

For example, we use GPS satellites to help us figure out how to get to new places. (Check out our video about how GPS satellites work.) NASA scientists also use a high-accuracy version of GPS to keep track of where satellites are in space. But did you know that GPS relies on time-travel calculations to help you get around town?

GPS satellites orbit around Earth very quickly at about 8,700 miles (14,000 kilometers) per hour. This slows down GPS satellite clocks by a small fraction of a second (similar to the airplane example above).

GPS satellites orbit around Earth at about 8,700 miles (14,000 kilometers) per hour. Credit: GPS.gov

However, the satellites are also orbiting Earth about 12,550 miles (20,200 km) above the surface. This actually speeds up GPS satellite clocks by a slighter larger fraction of a second.

Here's how: Einstein's theory also says that gravity curves space and time, causing the passage of time to slow down. High up where the satellites orbit, Earth's gravity is much weaker. This causes the clocks on GPS satellites to run faster than clocks on the ground.

The combined result is that the clocks on GPS satellites experience time at a rate slightly faster than 1 second per second. Luckily, scientists can use math to correct these differences in time.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

If scientists didn't correct the GPS clocks, there would be big problems. GPS satellites wouldn't be able to correctly calculate their position or yours. The errors would add up to a few miles each day, which is a big deal. GPS maps might think your home is nowhere near where it actually is!

Yes, time travel is indeed a real thing. But it's not quite what you've probably seen in the movies. Under certain conditions, it is possible to experience time passing at a different rate than 1 second per second. And there are important reasons why we need to understand this real-world form of time travel.

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Race to make laws in space before asteroid mining starts and there’s a ‘new wild west’ – Daily Star

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As yet, no-one has committed a crime in space - but someone came close in 2019.

Then Summer Worden, the wife of NASA astronaut Anne McClain, claimed that the former US Army engineer had illegally hacked her bank account from a computer on the International Space Station.

The claims were disproven, and the two women subsequently divorced. But with more and more people making their way into orbit every year its only a matter of time before the first outer-space crime is committed.

The first attempt to draft a set of laws governing space travellers dates back almost 30 years before the first manned space flight. A Czech legal expert published a book about the problems space travel might represent for lawyers.

Most efforts at creating a universal set of laws for off-world activities have centred on property law and mineral rights for example, a NASA bid to capture an asteroid and place it in lunar orbit sparked a major debate about who owns celestial objects.

After all, with the value of some asteroids estimated to be in the trillions of dollars, its a question we need to resolve.

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has predicted that the Earths first trillionaire will be the person who exploits the natural resources on them.

For example, one massive iron asteroid that was probably once the core of a dead planet could make someone incredibly rich or end all life on Earth.

The asteroid, called 16 Psyche, is thought to contain deposits of iron worth around 8,000 quadrillion.

Theoretically, if 16 Psyche could be mined and its iron retrieved, the value of the metal could be divided between the worlds eight billion people to make every man, woman and child on the planet a billionaire.

Or, equally, any attempt to bring the multi-trillion-dollar space rock down to Earth could result in a planet-killing catastrophe on a par with the event that saw off the dinosaurs.

NASA are currently working with Elon Musk to design a probe that can land on 16 Psyche, remove a small section, and return it to the Earth for analysis.

Theres another set of international agreements covering the legality of weapons in space. A 1967 Outer Space Treaty signed by most of the major world powers bans military bases, weapons testing and military manoeuvres on other heavenly bodies.

However it doesnt go as far as banning all military activity in space, and the recent anti-satellite weapons tests from Russia and China show that the law doesnt really stretch very far beyond the Earth at all.

John Logsdon, founder of the Space Policy Institute and professor emeritus at George Washington University, says that there are no meaningful laws in space at all.

He said: The governing structure for space activities is way out of date and doesnt reflect today's realities in space.

There are no rules. Theres no space traffic regime or control. [There are] thousands of objects in space - satellites and space debris. Its a wild environment up there with things shooting around and no traffic management to make sure they dont collide with one another.

Paul Kostek, a space policy specialist from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers , says that the next phase of space exploration, with prospectors competing to claim the next valuable asteroid, threatens to turn space into a new wild west.

It really is the wild wild west, or in this case the wild wild space,' he said. "What is all of that going to mean, how are people even going to manage space?

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Race to make laws in space before asteroid mining starts and there's a 'new wild west' - Daily Star

First commercial mission to the ISS prepares for launch – Freethink

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In February 2022, Texas-based startup Axiom Space will launch the first fully private mission to the International Space Station (ISS) a milestone for commercial spaceflight. While onboard, the astronauts will conduct microgravity research that could help future astronauts, the first step in Axioms quest to create the worlds first commercial space station.

The challenge: The microgravity environment aboard the ISS allows scientists to conduct experiments that wouldnt be possible on Earth.

However, there isnt nearly enough time for government scientists to conduct all of the potential microgravity research, nor is there enough room aboard the ISS for all the potential experiments.

Humanity has only scratched the surface of low-Earth orbits potential for breakthrough innovation.

The idea: Axiom Space is working to expand the amount of research that can be done in microgravity by creating the worlds first commercial space station, a place where anyone could buy the time and space needed for their experiments.

Humanity has only scratched the surface of low-Earth orbits potential for breakthrough innovation, Michael Suffredini, the startups president and CEO, said in a press release, and Axiom was founded to push that envelope.

In 2024, Axiom plans to launch the first module. Initially, it will attach to the ISS to expand the amount of room available for astronauts and experiments, and when the ISS is retired, itll separate to become its own space station.

Before that happens, though, Axiom is sending groups of private astronauts to the ISS to conduct experiments.

Were doing these series of missions in order to do a couple of things, Christian Maender, in-space manufacturing and research director at Axiom, said during a November conference. First, to develop markets, but also to do pathfinder work towards what is eventually our Axiom station.

Whats new: The first of those missions, Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1), is set to launch in February 2022 with four crew members one is an Axiom employee (hell serve as commander), and the other three are men paying $55 million each to spend about a week aboard the ISS.

During their time in space, the crew will conduct more than 100 hours of microgravity experiments on behalf of a number of universities, startups, and institutes.

We applaud the Ax-1 crews commitment to advancing scientific inquiry and kicking off this civilizational leap.

Those include studies related to climate change, STEM education, and the environmental health of the Great Lakes. Several microgravity experiments focused on the impact of space travel on the human body are also planned.

We applaud the Ax-1 crews commitment to advancing scientific inquiry and kicking off this civilizational leap, Suffredini said.

Were confident this mission will become not just a monumental moment in space travel, but the true beginning of making spaces potential for meaningful discovery available to private citizens and organizations for the first time, he continued.

Wed love to hear from you! If you have a comment about this article or if you have a tip for a future Freethink story, please email us at tips@freethink.com.

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What the History of Early Flight Might Tell Us About the Future of Space Travel – Air & Space Magazine

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At the height of the first space age, visions of future space travel ranged from the fantasticalthe interstellar adventures of Buck Rogersto the credulous, with NASA planning visits to both Venus and Mars before the end of the century. There was a palpable expectation that the world would see a proliferation of new technologies across the sky, and who could blame the prognosticatorsafter all, theyd already seen it happen once in their lifetimes.

Almost as soon as the Wright brothers cracked the code on the ancient dream of human flight, aero fever encircled the globe (well before the airplanes themselves could do so). Our new Early Flight gallery, opening next year, traces the slow evolution of the idea over the centuries and its sudden explosion in one swift decade from that first flight in 1903 to the beginning of World War I.

Champagne corks popped across France as airplanes circled the Eiffel Tower, and New Yorkers craned to see aircraft fly loops around the Statue of Liberty. Hundreds of thousands were thrilled by aerobatic displays at early airshows across Europe and the United States.

During the first years of flight, safety measures were introduced that are still in use today. In 1912, crowds in Chicagos Grant Park watched Tiny Broadwick become the first woman to jump from an airplane. (The pilot was aviation pioneer Glenn Martin.) Tiny had gotten her start leaping from hot air balloons wearing a handmade aerial life preserver. In 1914, while demonstrating parachutes for the U.S. Army, Tinys static line became stuck. Cutting it short and pulling it manually, she executed historys first planned free fall from an airplane, inventing the ripcord and selling the military on the new safety technology for their nascent, and hazardous, fleet of early aircraft.

The centerpiece of the new gallery, the 1909 Wright Military Flyer, is the most complete example of the worlds earliest airplanes. It was used by Wilbur Wright to teach the first three military aviators to fly.

As Mark Twain once observed, history doesnt repeat itself, but it often rhymes. The first decade of aviation was one of frenetic creativity and promise. Now, as we begin a second space age with plans for Starships and new lunar landers (both in this issue), who knows what new advances will come our way? We may yet see the boom predicted in the middle of the last century by pulp magazines and on silver screens. After all, its happened once before.

Christopher U. Browne is the Acting Director of the National Air and Space Museum.

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Every Space Tourism Package Available in 2021 Ranked: From $125K to $60 Million – Observer

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Sir Richard Branson flew into space aboard a Virgin Galactic vessel, a voyage he described as the experience of a lifetime at the Spaceport America in New Mexico, United States on July 11, 2021. Virgin Galactic / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

2021 is a historic year for commercial space travel. A record number of civilian orbital and suborbital missions launched successfully: Elon Musks SpaceX launched four amateur astronauts into Earths orbit for the first time; a Russian film crew spent 12 days on the International Space Station shooting the worlds first movie in space; and two multi-billionaires flew to the edge of Earths atmosphere as the first passengers of their respective space companies to show the public that their new spacecrafts are safe and fun.

As with everything in its early stages, space tourism today is unattainably expensive (although demand appears to be strong enough to keep existing companies in this market busy for several years). But eventually, as technology matures and more companies enter the industry, prices will hopefully go down. As a space tourism entrepreneur told Observer this summer, going to space in the future will be more and more like going to Europe.

Below, weve rounded up every space tourism package that is either available now or in the near future. We have listed them in the order of price and compared them by travel duration, maximum altitude, passenger cabin amenities, and value for moneyif you can afford it, that is.

Price: $125,000Flight altitude: 30 kilometersWhat youll get: A relaxing six-hour ride to the stratosphere in a balloon-borne pressurized capsule.Date available: 2024Value for money: (4/5 stars)Space Perspective offers a radically gentle journey 20 miles above. Space Perspective

Founded by the team that launched Alan Eustace in 2014 for his Guinness World Record space jump, Florida-based Space Perspective in June began selling tickets of its yet-to-be-licensed Spaceship Neptune flights.

A pressurized capsule designed to carry up to eight passengers and one pilot will be slowly lifted by a hydrogen-filled balloon the size of a football field when fully inflated to 19 miles (30 kilometers) in the sky, about three times the altitude of commercial planes. The passenger cabin features a bar, a bathroom and huge windows specially designed for sightseeing.

The balloon will hover at its peak altitude for about two hours before slowly descending to a splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean, where passengers and will be picked up by a recovery ship.

Because the space balloon moves at only 12 miles per hour during ascent and descent, no special training is required before the ride.Space Perspective completed a test flight in June. The company expects to begin flying paying customers before the end of 2024.

Ticket Price: $450,000Flight altitude:50 kmWhat youll get: A 90-minute ride to 50 kilometers above sea level in a SpaceShipTwo spaceplane. A few minutes of zero-gravity experience during descent.Date available:NowValue for money: (2/5 stars)Virgin Galactic Spaceship Cabin In Payload Configuration Virgin Galactic

If you like a more thrilling space experience provided by a company with a little bit of a track record, Virgin Galactics 90-minute suborbital flight might be your choice.

In July, the companys founder, Richard Branson, became its first passenger and flew to the edge of Earths atmosphere in a VSS UnitySpaceShipTwo spaceplane along with two pilots and three Virgin Galactic employees.

A pioneer in the nascent space tourism industry, Virgin Galactic began selling seats in 2013 at $250,000 apiece. By the time it halted sales in 2014 (after a test flight failure), the company had collected deposits from more than 600 aspiring customers.Ticket sales resumed in August this year at a higher price of $450,000. Virgin Galactic said it has since received 100 reservations.

Each VSS Unity SpaceShipTwo can carry up to four passengers. Virgin Galactic expects to fly paying passengers three times a month in 2023. At its current reservation volume, it will take the company a number of years to clear its wait list. So, patience is your friend here.

Ticket Price: Reportedly $28 millionFlight altitude: 100 kmWhat youll get: A 12-minute ride to the Krmn line, the internationally recognized boundary between Earths atmosphere and outer space.Date available:NowValue for money: (1/5 stars)

Blue Origin offers a similar suborbital flight package to Virgin Galactics. The main difference is that Virgin flies passengers in a plane while Blue Origin launches amateur astronauts in a real rocket.

On July 20, a few days after Bransons spaceflight, Jeff Bezos became the first customer of his own space company as well, blasting off to 107 kilometers in the sky in a New Shepard booster-capsule combo. The same spacecraft launched another crew of four passengers, including Star Trek actor William Shatner, on October 13.

Blue Origin began taking reservations in May. The exact ticket price is still a mystery. Bezos has said Blue Origin will price New Shepard flights similarly to its competitors, which led us to speculate that it would likely fall in the range of what Virgin Galactic charges. But, according to Tom Hanks, the ride would cost $28 million, which he said was the reason he turned down Bezos invitation to fly on the October mission. Hanks may have been joking, but $28 million was how much an auction winner paid to fly alongside Bezos in July. Of that total, $19 million was donated to various space organizations, Blue Origin said. If the remaining amount went to the company itself, it was still a hefty $9 million.

Blue Origin said it has raked in $100 million from private clients, but refused to disclose how many tickets have been sold.

Ticket Price: Estimated $55 millionFlight altitude: 574 kmDate available:NowWhat youll get: Three-day stay inside SpaceXs Dragon capsule circling around Earth with three crew mates.Value for money: (3/5 stars)Earth view through the glass cupola on SpaceXs Dragon capsule during the all-civilian Inspiration4 mission in September. SpaceX

SpaceX has more experience launching humans into space than any other company in this roundup. Its civilian package, rightfully the most expensive of the bunch, provides the closest experience to true space exploration.

In September, four amateur astronauts blasted off into space in a modified SpaceX Dragon capsule, equipped with a 360-degree glass dome, and spent three days flying in Earths orbit. The crewed spacecraft shot up to an altitude of 357 miles, about 100 miles higher than the average orbital altitude of the International Space Station.

The trip was paid for by tech billionaire Jared Isaacman, who was also one of the passengers. SpaceX didnt disclose the exact amount he paid. It was estimated in the $200 million ballpark, given that NASA pays about $55 million for each seat on SpaceXs regular crewed missions to the ISS.

Ticket Price: $55 millionFlight altitude: 408 kmDate available: 2022What youll get: A 10-day trip to the International Space Station, including a weeklong stay in the orbital lab.Value for money: (5/5 stars)

Next year, another four-person, all-civilian mission is expected to launch with a SpaceX Dragon capsule, this time to actually dock at the International Space Station and let the crew live in the orbital lab for a week. (The Inspiration4 mission stayed in orbit only.)

The trip is marketed by Houston-based Axiom Space, a company led by former NASA official Michael Suffredini. Dubbed Ax-1, the mission will be piloted by former NASA astronaut Michael Lpez-Alegra. Three passengersLarry Connor, Mark Pathy and Eytan Stibbehave reportedly paid $55 million each for the remaining seats.

Axiom has three more flights planned in 2022 and 2023. Under NASAs low Earth orbit commercialization policy, two ISS civilian missions no longer than 30 days are allowed per year. Axiom actually aims to eventually build a stand-alone space station to replace the aging ISS. The first major module is expected to launch in 2024.

Ticket Price: $50 million to $60 millionFlight altitude: 408 kmDate available: NowWhat youll get: A 12-day trip to the International Space Station.Value for money: (5/5 stars)Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov (C), along with film director Klim Shipenko (R) and actress Yulia Peresild (L) pose for a photo ahead of the launch to the International Space Station (ISS) on October 05, 2021. Roscosmos Press Service/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

If you dont feel like buying your first space trip from an inexperienced private company, Russias national space agency Roscosmos has a ISS getaway package very similar to what Axiom and SpaceX have to offer.

In October, Roscosmos sent an actress and a director to the ISS for a 12-day trip to shoot scenes for what will be the first movie filmed in space. On December 8, another civilian, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, known for having booked a SpaceX Starship flight around the moon in 2023, will travel to the ISS in a Russian Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft, set to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Maezawa will fly with his assistant, Yozo Hirano, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin. According to Space Adventures, a Virginia-based company currently working with Roscosmos on future commercial flights, a seat on an ISS-bound Soyuz spacecraft will cost in the range of $50 million to $60 million.

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Every Space Tourism Package Available in 2021 Ranked: From $125K to $60 Million - Observer

Will the spice flow? How does new ‘Dune’ hold up to 1984’s film and Frank Herbert’s classic novel? – Space.com

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The sleeper has awoken! More than 55 years after Frank Herberts seminal sci-fi novel "Dune" hit the shelves, and a year-long pandemic delay, director Denis Villeneuve ("Arrival," "Blade Runner: 2049") has unwrapped the first half of his ambitious $165 million adaptation of the award-winning book with mixed results but a palpable dose of storytelling passion.

The 1965 novel was inspired partly by Herbert's awareness of the Department of Agriculture's plan to stabilize and relocate tons of encroaching sand dunes in Florence, Oregon. This blossomed into a futuristic work of singular significance encompassing themes of religion, politics, and ecology amid the turbulent world of feuding houses vying for control of a valuable consciousness-expanding substance called the spice melange. This rare commodity is found only on Arrakis, AKA Dune.

With such legendary notoriety, this project is only the third Hollywood iteration of "Dune," even counting the respectable TV version produced by the Sci-Fi Channel in 2000. The first to mount an assault on the work was Chilean-French cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky, whose trippy version would have come with Mick Jagger, Salvador Dali, Orson Welles and a burning giraffe! Note: If you're wondering how to see the new movie outside the theaters, check out our "Dune" streaming guide for tips on where to watch.

A superb documentary titled "Jodorowsky's Dune" chronicles his exhaustive efforts.

Following the failure of Jodorowskys wild dreams to bring "Dune" to life in the mid-70s, iconoclastic director David Lynch ("The Elephant Man," "Blue Velvet") took up the quest. In 1984, Universal Pictures released the first "Dune" feature adaptation which I still believe is a flawed masterpiece.

Audiences were enraptured with the film's scope and stirring score (and an oiled-up Sting in a loincloth), but were bewildered at the movies' hallucinatory tone and head-spinning mythology. Pre-"Game of Thrones" patrons of that era were unaccustomed to complex sci-fi narratives of the same magnitude as todays "The Expanse," requiring nervous theater owners to even issue "cheat sheet" info cards to aid the confused. Polarizing at best, it's still an ambitious attempt.

Now Villeneuve takes a stab at the book once considered unfilmable, and in his hands the material takes on a magnificent 21st century sheen that at times seems like the definitive cinematic version of the source novel. But this valiant attempt at a revelatory adaptation is sort of ponderous and boring. Not that its not without its visually arresting moments. The spaceships instill power and austerity and those dragonfly-like Ornithopters seem like theyre real machines straight from the novel!

In one of the most startling sequences of the movie near its midpoint, we're whisked from the arid wastelands of Arrakis to the harsh prison planet of Salusa Secundus.

Here in the former homeworld of Emperor Shaddam IV's House Corrino prior to its resettlement on Kaitain, we see thousands of fanatical Sardaukar terror troops in formation during a sinister ceremony while an unsettling war cry drones. It's a chilling scene that reveals the fierce warriors' recruitment process as theyre marked in fresh blood streaming from upside-down victims crucified inside tiered stone fortifications.

Herbert's novel delves briefly into Salusa Secundus as the secret hive where Sardaukar are spawned and trained, but Lynch's treatment doesn't allude to any of it. Witnessing their rituals add a measure of fear that supports their legendary status as the fiercest fighters in the galaxy.

"The big challenge was to try not to crush the audience at the start with an insane amount of exposition," Villeneuve told the Los Angeles Times. "It took a long time to find the right equilibrium so that people who don't know 'Dune' will not feel left aside and will feel part of the story."

Regarding the casting process, Timothe Chalamet is seriously up to the task of portraying Paul, the young messianic member of the Atreides clan who will bring deliverance to the desert planet of Arrakis. Doubters should watch his riveting performance as young Henry V in the Netflix film, "The King."

Chalamet plays Paul with simmering intensity and a hint of naivety that transforms into a determined leader whose compassion is matched only by his reserved vengeance against the Harkonnens and the machinations of the Emperor and the Spacing Guild. The guild and its deformed Navigators from Lynchs version are the ones who alert Shaddam IV of the necessity to kill Paul Atreides to secure spice production. Their monopoly on space travel cannot be understated. Strangely, Villeneuve brushes over the importance of the Spacing Guild and its paranoid orchestration of events that lead to the downfall of House Atreides

Those familiar with the 1984 film will recall the eerie scene when a grasshopper-like Third Stage Guild Navigator in his glass travel tank permeated with orange spice gas glides into the Emperors throne room to warn him of the Atreides' prophecy and implications of his threat to Arrakis' future.

Other cool elements of Lynch's "Dune" you won't see in Villeneuve's movies are the wearable sonic weapons called the Weirding Modules that transform sounds into high-intensity bolts. These throat-worn devices are not mentioned in Herberts "Dune" novels. The special weapons were substituted for the books' Bene Gesserit martial arts form known as the Weirding Way.

Apparently Lynch decided to use sonic modules instead to stay clear of the goofiness of seeing "Kung-fu on sand dunes." I'll sure miss those vocal-triggered neck guns as Villeneuve's "Dune: Part 2" unfolds.

For "Dune's" musical score, the great Hans Zimmer wields the orchestral baton with his usual thunderous aplomb where everything is turned up to "11." This is in stark contrast to Lynch's use of Brian Eno's hypnotic Prophecy Theme and the pop rock tracks by Toto. One wouldnt think those choices wouldn't meld into a proper soundtrack but it gave that movie an operatic grandeur which feels lost in Villeneuves film beneath deafening action-oriented drums and primal chants. Zimmers derivative music seems stale and falls somewhere between his acclaimed scores for "Black Hawk Down" and "Man of Steel." Nothing new here to hear.

The rest of Villeneuve's casting choices are a bit predictable but often daring, especially Jason Momoa inhabiting the skin of the gruff battle-hardened swordmaster, Duncan Idaho, as well as Dave Bautista's rabid Rabban, who cultivates a charismatic ferocity to match his Harkonnen pedigree.

Stellan Skarsgard's Baron Vladimir Harkonnen is a bloated brute portrayed as a power-addicted despot, far different from Kenneth McMillans role in the 1984 film which bordered on over-the-top cartoonishness. (Remember the blood-gushing heart plugs?) As the short-lived patriarch of House Atreides, Oscar Issac is a solid Duke Leto and Josh Brolin lends gravitas to the troubadour-warrior Gurney Halleck. Thick-accented Javier Bardem is magnetic playing the Fremen chieftain Stilgar.

As the Lady Jessica, Rebecca Ferguson is engaging and vulnerable but feels too young to have a son of Pauls age. I was also pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed British actress Sharon Duncan-Brewsters gender-swapped performance as the Imperial planetologist, Dr. Liet-Kynes.

Overall, the glacial pacing for Villeneuve's "Dune" feels far too relaxed, especially the plodding first act before the galactic crossing to Arrakis and the stronghold city of Arakeen. The director can apparently indulge in a languorous start due to the project being delivered in two chapters. Lynch wisely chose one extra-long cut.

And yes, those monster sandworms are on the prowl here, perfectly depicted via modern CGI instead of the intricate puppets created by "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial's" Carlo Rambaldi. These colossal creatures erupt from the sandy oceans like killer kaiju bent on disrupting spice production in the fertile harvesting beds. We're treated with some gaping maws erupting from the sand but not any full-length glimpses of their immensity.

Those hoping to see Zendaya ("Spider-Man: Homecoming") better not blink or youll miss her as her Chani consists of seven minutes of total screen time made up of pensive glances inside Pauls dreams and a dearth of lines in the films final scenes. For someone featured so prominently in all the trailers, teasers, and marketing material it seems somewhat misleading.

But it's not what is shown in "Dune" that feels adrift and absent, it's what's not shown. Namely the royal domain of Emperor Shaddam IV on planet Kaitain, his daughter Princess Irulan, the Spacing Guild and its mutated Navigators, and Feyd-Rautha, the Baron's nephew famously played with sexy savagery by The Police's Sting and whose fate is linked to Paul's.

"Dune: Part 1" unfolds as a sometimes sluggish but occasionally brilliant introduction to Frank Herberts influential magnum opus. I can only hope that the sequel, now officially greenlit by Legendary/Warner Bros. due to the films $41 million opening for a 2023 release, offers a more energized pace and emotionally resonant climax to expand our minds like the fabled psychotropic spice of Arrakis.

It shall be seen whether or not Villeneuve decides to retain the secret that Paul Atreides carries the Harkonnen bloodlines as his mother was once part of the Barons concubine. This was expressly left out of the David Lynch adaptation and needs to be included. Another piece of Herberts book thats omitted is the anti-technology stance of banning all AI and computers across the galaxy.

This movie is really focused on Paul and I brought in a little bit of the Harkonnens just for context, to understand the geopolitics of the story, Villeneuve adds in his interview. This movie just gives a little glimpse into the Harkonnens. The second movie is much more about them.

Overall, I truly miss the source materials inherent weirdness and psychedelia (Herbert experimented with magic mushrooms!) on screen and hope Villeneuve delivers a less subdued and sterile interpretation for the follow-up in two years.

Until then, I just might pop on Lynchs much-maligned Dune and soak up some radical 80s nostalgia. The spice must flow!

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Will the spice flow? How does new 'Dune' hold up to 1984's film and Frank Herbert's classic novel? - Space.com

Meet Anousheh Ansari, the only woman ever to travel to space on self-funded mission – Economic Times

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Fifteen years before Amazons founder, Jeff Bezos, catapulted himself into space in a rocket, Anousheh Ansari became the first female space tourist, spending nine days on the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. She is still the only woman ever to have traveled to space on a self-funded mission, which cost her $20 million.

Today, Ansari is CEO of XPrize, a California-based nonprofit that organizes multimillion-dollar competitions to support scientific innovation and benefit humanity. The first competition (sponsored by her family and worth $10 million) was aimed at building the worlds first nongovernment-funded spaceship. The winning design was licensed by Richard Branson, who used it to build the Virgin Galactic rocket that he boarded on a July spaceflight (nine days before Bezos).

Q: There seems to be a space craze going on right now among the worlds billionaires. What motivated you to go on a space mission?A: Since I was very young, Ive always wanted to go to space. Its what inspired me to study sciences, physics, math, and go in the direction I went. It was and still is a big passion of mine to understand our universe, how its built, my relationship to it. To me, its this extraordinary place of discovery and exploration.

Q: Why do you think Mr. Bezos and Mr. Branson flew to space?A: I happen to know both of them, and both of them are big space fans. Jeff Bezos grew up reading Jules Verne and has had a passion for space for many years. Branson bought the license for the winning spacecraft design in our XPrize competition, and invested hundreds of millions of dollars in building Virgin Galactic.

From the outside, it looks like another billionaire splurge. In the case of those two men, I know its not just a whim. Its something theyve passionately cared about all their life.

Q: What made you spend $20 million on your own space trip in 2006?A: To me, I would have paid with my life. It wasnt a matter of money. I felt that this was part of the purpose of my living on this earth.

Q: What was life like on the space station?A: My time up there was spent partly doing scientific experiments with the European Space Agency, partly talking to a lot of students and telling them how it felt to be there. I also wrote a blog.

For me, it was a moment of reflection on my life, the reason Im here on this planet. It helped me see the big picture.

Q: What about the practicalities of spending nine days up there?A: Life on a space station is like being a child and needing to relearn everything whether its washing your hair, eating in space, or working in space. Youre in microgravity, and things are different. You cant have a shower. Water floats; it doesnt flow. Theres no cooking going on, and no refrigerator. So all food forms are either dehydrated or in cans. Youre floating and not sleeping in a bed, so you need to get used to that. Youre not walking around, youre flying around. Realizing that you dont need to exert that much force to move around takes time. I banged myself around the space station many times, and got bruises.

When youre orbiting the Earth, you see a sunrise and a sunset every 90 minutes, so your biorhythm is completely out of whack. Your body goes through a lot of changes. You get this surge of fluid that goes to your head and causes headaches and puffiness. Your spine stretches, so youre taller, but you feel back pain. Your muscle mass changes; your bone density changes. Slowly your body starts adapting and changing as well.

Q: How is space exploration and travel useful to humanity?A: Space is the answer to our future on Earth. As the population grows, as our way of life requires more consumption of resources, we wont be able to sustain life as we know it without access to the resources of space. We need to build infrastructures and technologies that will give us access to the continuous energy of the sun to power our cities, for example, and to move some manufacturing into orbit so that it doesnt have a negative impact on our environment. Space will allow us to understand our planet and be able to predict things better.

Many technologies we use today come from the space program, whether its the lightweight material in clothing or shoes, or the lightweight material used in aerospace, satellite entertainment, GPS systems, the banking system.

Q: Three years ago, you moved over to the nonprofit organization XPrize. Can you talk about its mission?A: XPrize launches massive competitions to solve humanitys grand challenges. We focus on specific problems that have been stagnant because of lack of funding or lack of understanding or attention. A lot of our work right now is focused on climate change, energy, biodiversity and conservation.

Q: How do your competitions attract such huge sums?A: We dont, the teams do. When we have a $10 million competition, someone whos been sitting on their couch at home just thinking about something will have a reason to go build it. They form a team, and we connect them with potential investors.

Q: Are you tempted to go back to space again?A: I would love to go back to space at any point in time. I would be happy and willing to go live in space. I felt at home when I was on the space station; I experienced a freedom I had never felt before.

Q: A spiritual experience?A: Yes, it was a spiritual experience but not because I felt closer to God, because I dont believe that God is up there and that you get close to him if you go into space! I felt like I was reaching a different level of understanding of humanity.

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Meet Anousheh Ansari, the only woman ever to travel to space on self-funded mission - Economic Times

A record year for investment trusts but only these four deserve your attention – Telegraph.co.uk

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Investment trusts are supposed to be century old institutions known for solid but stale strategies, but a spate of new launches have offered DIY savers the chance to own stocks involved in space, hydrogen and "digital infrastructure".

It has been a record year for new fund launches, according to the Association of Investment Companies, a trade body, with 13 new companies to choose from. They have attracted 3.4bn in savings.

However, while more options gives investors the chance to own modern stocks, knowing whether a fund is good is difficult due to the lack of a track record.

New funds include Seraphim Space, which raised 180m and buys companies involved in space travel and communications while HydrogenOne Capital raised 107m to invest in hydrogen power. Two digital infrastructure funds were also launched: Cordiant Digital Infrastructure and Digital 9 Infrastructure. Both buy and run physical assets that keep our lives connected and online, such as data centres and undersea cables.

Mick Gilligan, of wealth manager Killik & Co, has invested in four new trusts this year: Cordiant Digital Infrastructure, Digital 9 Infrastructure, Pantheon Infrastructure and Seraphim Space.

"We bought the two digital funds because they generate a lot of cash and are low risk, because customers of the stocks they own will need them regardless of economic growth. They are also big and growing areas so there is a long pipeline of investors to buy and make money from," he added.

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A record year for investment trusts but only these four deserve your attention - Telegraph.co.uk

Kate Mulgrew spills the beans on ‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ and bringing Captain Janeway back to TV – Space.com

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With latest entry into the Star Trek universe "Star Trek: Prodigy" warping into the unknown on Paramount Plus, Space.com got the chance to talk to one of its stars: none other than Kate Mulgrew, best known for playing Capt. Kathryn Janeway in "Star Trek: Voyager."

The new show from streaming service Paramount Plus and Nickelodeon will follow five kids who are incarcerated on an obscure planet in an uncharted part of the galaxy. They escape from their imprisonment and race across the planet to find a defunct starship buried in the sand of the planet's surface. They enter the ship, but are unable to make it work. With prison guards hot on their heels, they suddenly stumble upon an Emergency Training Hologram in the form of Capt. Janeway.

The seemingly derelict starship is the NX 76884 USS Protostar. Since it carries the NX registration, perhaps this was an experimental ship or prototype of some kind. Here's how to watch Star Trek: Prodigy online and if you're looking for more Trek, check out our Star Trek streaming guide.

A protostar is a very young star that is still gathering mass from its parent molecular cloud and they have been mentioned in "Star Trek" before. The Enterprise NX-01 surveyed a protostar just before the incident at the Vulcan monastery at P'Jem in the "Enterprise" episode "The Andorian Incident" (S01, E07) and the Argolis Cluster was a protostar cluster mentioned in the "Deep Space Nine" episode "Behind the Lines" (S06, E04).

Interestingly, we learn in the "Voyager" episode "The Omega Directive" (S04, E21) that in theory, a type-6 protostar could be used to generate a wormhole So we asked Kate Mulgrew about this. You can watch the full interview above.

"Do you enjoy being nerdy questions about Voyager?" I asked.

"Nerdy questions..?" Mulgrew replied with a quizzical tone in her voice.

"Do you mind if I ask you a nerdy question about Voyager..?!" I continued.

"I wondered if that was coming and I'm not surprised! Go for it!" Mulgrew said with a laugh.

"We learn in the 'Voyager' episode 'The Omega Directive' (S04, E21) that theoretically, a type-6 protostar could be used to generate a wormhole So is this an indication of what's to come, is this an experimental vessel designed to somehow travel to the Delta Quadrant in superfast time by way of a wormhole?" I asked, almost out of breath.

"Not only nerdy, but beautifully and wonderfully nerdy!" Mulkgrew said, smiling. "But unanswerable, due to spoilers. You're going to have to wait and watch."

Along with Kate Mulgew, "Star Trek: Progidy" features an all-star cast, including Jason Alexander (Doctor Noum), Ella Purnell (Gwyn), Jimmi Simpson (Drednok), Jason Mantzoukas (Jankom Pog), Jameela Jamil (Ensign Asencia), John Noble (Diviner), Daveed Diggs (Commander Tysess), Dee Bradley Baker (Murf), Brett Gray (Dal), Angus Imrie (Zero), Rylee Alazraqui (Rok-Tahk) and Robert Beltran as Capt. Chakotay.

"Star Trek: Prodigy" is airing now on Paramount Plus in the U.S. and has already been renewed for a second season. You can also stream it on Paramount Plus in international territories including Latin America, the Nordics and Australia. The first two seasons of "Star Trek: Lower Decks" are also available to on Paramount Plus along with four seasons of "Star Trek: Discovery" which just returned to TV this month.

Today's best Paramount Plus deals

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Kate Mulgrew spills the beans on 'Star Trek: Prodigy' and bringing Captain Janeway back to TV - Space.com

COVID-19: No reason to cancel Christmas over Omicron variant – Jacinda Ardern – Newshub

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Omicron, or B.1.1.529, has more mutations than the highly transmissible Delta variant - the strain that's been circulating in New Zealand since August and prompted months of lockdown in Auckland. It's prompted countries around the world to slap travel restrictions on southern African nations.

Ardern's Government on Saturday announced South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Seychelles, Malawi and Mozambique would be listed as "very high risk" - meaning only New Zealand citizens can travel from those countries and must spend a full two weeks in managed isolation.

It comes after the Government last week said it would reopen the border to fully vaccinated international travellers in April - though people will still need to self-isolate for a week.

New Zealanders in Australia will be able to enter the country from next month.

When asked on Monday if that reopening could still go ahead with Omicron, Ardern said New Zealand has "always made decisions based on the evidence we have".

"Let's get the evidence in before we make calls on that either way."

Ardern also noted the South African doctor who was one of the first to suspect the new coronavirus strain among patients has said symptoms of the Omicron variant were so far mild and could be treated at home.

"We need to be prepared for it either to be possibly more severe, possibly milder - we just don't know yet and so I'm confident we will get that information well in advance of any wider adjustments at our border," Ardern said.

"As always, we will be cautious because that has served us well and it's serving us well now."

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COVID-19: No reason to cancel Christmas over Omicron variant - Jacinda Ardern - Newshub

Covid 19 Delta outbreak: PM Jacinda Ardern on Covid, visit to Auckland, and National Party turmoil – New Zealand Herald

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November 25 2021PM Jacinda Ardern said Auckland will start at the red traffic light setting next week to make sure restrictions were eased in a careful way so case numbers don't balloon.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is back in Auckland to meet members of the business and social sector communities as well as to visit Western Springs College in the city's inner west.

Speaking with media, Ardern said Auckland will start at the red traffic light setting next week to make sure restrictions were eased in a careful way so case numbers don't balloon.

Once restrictions had been eased, the situation could be reassessed. "We do want to ease carefully so we will see the impact of those changes," she said.

Ardern said she understood the pandemic made the ability for businesses to plan difficult, but the Government wanted to get the domestic settings right so there wasn't an increase in cases and a further escalation of restrictions.

On the issue of rushing the traffic light system legislation through parliament, Ardern said while the Government was moving quickly there was still scrutiny.

"Had we not done what we have done, Auckland would face ongoing restrictions, and I don't think anyone would agree with that," she added.

The Government wouldn't make the change to the traffic light framework if it wasn't safe to do, Ardern said. The new system would offer better protection for the public and the country's high vaccination coverage offered the ability to manage Covid from a good position.

"Aucklanders have made all the difference. They've stayed home; they've got vaccinated; they have literally saved lives," she said.

Questioned on the turmoil ensnaring the National Party, Ardern said the country was in the middle of pandemic and she was not concentrating on issues relating to the opposition.

"The most important thing is ... to focus on the issues important to the New Zealand people, and that is the pandemic," she said. "I see this as a matter for the National Party."

24 Nov, 2021 06:02 PMQuick Read

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On rapid antigen testing, Ardern said the cost was still to be determined but it was "a lot cheaper".

She said the tests were between $30 to $60 each. The Government would still use PCR testing in its response.

Ardern's visit comes as a raft of new Covid announcements have been made in recent days and weeks.

Auckland hairdressers today opened for the first time in more than three months while the rest of the country is now about a week away from moving into the new traffic light system to manage Covid.

Kiwis have also recently found out that from next year they will be able to return to the country and complete seven days isolation at home rather than in a managed isolation facility, provided they have been fully vaccinated and recently tested negative for the virus.

Her visit also comes as Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins today revealed New Zealand would revert to the alert level system if a new vaccine-resistant variant overwhelmed the country and the traffic light framework couldn't contain it.

Speaking to The AM Show, Hipkins said while the Government was absolutely committed to the traffic light system, a back-up plan would be reinstating the alert level system which is set to be dismantled next week.

The Government would have to revert to the alert level plan if it had a variant of the virus that was resistant to the vaccine, he said.

It was a possibility, but it's not what they thought would happen, he added.

Hipkins also said tens of thousands of people would be coming across the border each week when it reopened to Australia in January.

He said it was difficult to model how many positive cases would come into New Zealand from international travellers.

"We have to accept the reality that the risk of Covid-19 around international travel is going to be progressively increasing over the next three to four months."

It was possible Australia would see surges as it reopened its borders internally. Hipkins said the fact they were double vaccinated didn't mean they couldn't be carrying Covid-19.

The Government had been looking at other highly vaccinated countries and some were still experiencing a lot of difficulty at the moment. "We want to try and do this in a way that's sustainable."

The Government's decision to finally set the dates when fully vaccinated Kiwis can fly home from overseas without entering MIQ was as much about a "groaning" administrative system as it was health risk, says one expert.

From January 17, fully vaccinated New Zealanders can travel from Australia without traversing MIQ, Hipkins announced at yesterday's 1pm Beehive briefing.

Fully vaccinated Kiwis from all other countries can arrive and bypass MIQ as of February 14.

These fully vaccinated international arrivals will still need to self-isolate for seven days at home in New Zealand, register a negative Covid-19 test on arrival and another before entering the community.

And all fully vaccinated foreign nationals can start arriving from April 30. But Hipkins said that date might change, or the overseas influx could be tailored by visa category.

Hipkins said the plan balanced the demands of multiple groups with the need to prevent a Covid-19 surge.

But the complexity and challenge of managing pandemic prevention systems explained much of the decision, public health expert Professor Michael Baker said.

"It's a mixture of a genuine desire to protect New Zealand from the ravages of the pandemic, and an element of administrative capacity."

It was logistically impossible to open up New Zealand before Christmas, Baker said, with recent challenges showing multiple systems under strain.

He said the pandemic prevention systems were "groaning" with the volume of demands, including on MIQ and vaccine passes.

All overseas arrivals not required to go into MIQ will need a negative pre-departure test, proof of full vaccination, and passenger declaration about travel history.

Opposition parties blasted the three-step travel announcement.

"This timetable to open New Zealand to the world is truly pathetic," National's Covid-19 response spokesman Chris Bishop said.

He said Hipkins had already admitted no fully vaccinated travellers from Australia for months tested positive for Covid, so there was no reason the transtasman bubble should not reopen now.

Act said Labour was "the Grinch who stole Christmas for no reason", depriving Kiwis overseas of a chance to come home.

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Covid 19 Delta outbreak: PM Jacinda Ardern on Covid, visit to Auckland, and National Party turmoil - New Zealand Herald

PM Jacinda Ardern: ‘Throughout this pandemic one of the hardest things to do has been to plan’ – RNZ

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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the focus now is on getting New Zealand's new Covid protection settings right domestically.

Watch it here:

Ardern confirmed that Auckland will start at the red light of the new traffic light alert level system on 3 December. Future changes to that level will depend on the rest of the country's status, she said.

"It will matter for Auckland what is happening with the outbreak and the impact of eased restrictions on the outbreak's growth."

The impact on health systems will also be important in determining alert level changes under the traffic lights.

"Now that we're easing restrictions we do need to see what impact that has on the growth of the outbreak."

Ardern did not want to weigh in on the leadership changes in the National Party today.

"I see this as an issue for the National Party."

She said her focus is on the pandemic.

"The most important lesson I've had in politics is on focusing on what's best for the New Zealand people," she said.

"I don't see this as a matter for Parliament. I see this as a matter for the National Party Caucus to deal with. I'll be continuing to focus on the pandemic and they can manage any leadership issues they have."

The government has announced todaythat rapid antigen testing will be rolled out widely soon.

Ardern said rapid antigen testing is a lot cheaper than the current PCR testing that is being used for clinics.

"They are very low cost relative to what we've been using. We will still use PCR testing as a tool in our response, in addition to rapid antigen testing."

Pricing and so forth will be determined by pharmacies and the Ministry of Health.

With the gradual end of MIQ announced and the opening of New Zealand's borders in 2022, Ardern said the focus is on giving NZ citizens abroad certainty, as they will be the first to return home without quarantine.

Those in Australia can return in mid-January and in most other countries in mid-February.

"We do want to ease carefully though," she said and New Zealand will see the impact made by those changes and take into account as the border opens.

"Throughout this pandemic one of the hardest things to do has been to plan," Ardern said.

"Our focus now is on getting the settings right domestically."

Hospitality opens on 3 December, and early openings by hairdressers and others using the new vaccine pass will make it easier for them to be rolled out in more places.

With the Auckland border, she says the strict requirements for transit have kept case numbers from being worse than they could have.

Legislation that will replace the current alert levels with the traffic light system passed its final reading in the House, with opposition parties criticising it as divisive and unduly rushed.

Ardern defended that passage and said the legislation still has checks and balances.

"We are still making sure that whilst we need to move quickly, we still have scrutiny as well."

"The orders still go through Parliamentary Select Committee. They are scrutinized by the opposition and we still maintain debate in the New Zealand Parliament on all these changes."

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PM Jacinda Ardern: 'Throughout this pandemic one of the hardest things to do has been to plan' - RNZ

Leadership in the time of Covid is a thankless job, in politics and in sport – Stuff.co.nz

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OPINION: Assuming you have the required skills, would you want to be Prime Minister or All Black rugby coach? Really?

Its a wonder they can find anyone to do either job, given leadership means abuse, insinuations, and accusations. Opposition leader is said to be even worse.

PM Jacinda Ardern and Ian Foster must wonder what they were thinking when they stuck their heads above the parapet; two Waikato kids now being widely compared with a by-product from the back end of cows.

Neither will be having a great time, both are likely to be cursing Covid. OK, Ardern had Whakaari/White Island and the mosque shootings to deal with as well, but for two years Covid has stalked their every move.

READ MORE:* New political puppets unveiled at Wellington's Backbencher pub* Which prime ministers oversaw the biggest house price increases?* Limited travel bubble gives All Blacks extra hope to be home by Christmas but one massive hurdle remains

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All Blacks head coach Ian Foster, dejected after losing to France.

Public doubts are rising. Ardern is maintaining her smile as she slips in the polls, and a potpourri of disaffected Kiwis protest in the streets.

Foster has never won a popularity poll, even before consecutive losses to Ireland and France. You wouldnt rule out an anti-Fozzie march, the way things are going in Aotearoa.

Why lump Ardern and Foster together, you ask? Stints as a Press Gallery and sports reporter have revealed they have more parallels, than differences.

In Australia, its said the cricket captain is the second-most important person, after prime minister. Former PM John Howard even put it the other way around.

Rachael Kelly/Stuff

Werner Marx and Phil Gerritson of Tapanui were at Groundswell's Mother Of All Protests in Gore.

And so it is in Godzone, where rugby is the national game and politics has five sides on the Parliamentary pitch at the same time.

A PM must manage the unmanageable, whether the country or her own MPs, as does the All Blacks coach, harnessing an array of talents and mindsets into a cohesive whole.

After an election, one political team is given the ball, while the others complain about how they want it, how unfair the rules are, and what they would do if they only had the ball (always much better).

And just like Super Rugby, political parties have fans who will go nowhere else, or even see any merit in their rivals. A small percent of voters might switch, but only to the next-door party on the political spectrum.

No-one is going from the Greens to ACT, or vice versa, that would be like a Crusaders fan switching to the Blues. A decade after Foster left the Chiefs, there are still accusations of bias, with every selection seen through a Chiefs filter.

When the All Blacks get rucked over, the coach is a target of frustrated fans, powerless to vote him out, and with employer New Zealand Rugby usually as supportive as an international front-row forward.

My point is (yes, I know it has been a long wait) no normal person could handle either job, and both Ardern and Foster are more talented than normal people; which is not to say they are flawless, or even the best.

Yes, there is the money - the prime minister gets $471,049 and annual allowances for travel and lodging, and a lifetime annuity.

DAVID WHITE/Stuff

John Key was one prime minister who got to choose the timing of his own exit.

For that, prime ministers work endlessly, irrespective of the colour of their rosettes. I say this as someone who has been phoned by a PM after 11pm, and before 7.30am. Exhausting.

Fosters salary is a state secret. Top All Blacks earn more than a million.

So there is the money, but when did money ever make you less tired, or less stressed? Your body doesnt know how much youre being paid. It just knows it is exhausted, and youre not looking after it. The same goes for your brain.

And at the end of it all it can (and usually does) end in tears; Helen Clark, Jenny Shipley, Laurie Mains, John Hart, Grizz Wyllie, Bill English, John Mitchell, Jim Bolger, Mike Moore - did any stop being top gun on their own terms?

Or maybe they did. Maybe they (and their families) were simply relieved the war was over.

Whod blame them?

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Leadership in the time of Covid is a thankless job, in politics and in sport - Stuff.co.nz