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PHOTOS: Tom Sawyer Island Returns with Several Areas Now Closed at Magic Kingdom – wdwnt.com

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Danzig

After closing for refurbishment in October, both the Liberty Square Riverboat and Tom Sawyer Island have reopened at Magic Kingdom today.

While Tom Sawyer Island did not open until 11:00 AM, we caught a few glimpses of Cast Members preparing the island and rafts while we were taking our cruise on the Liberty Belle.

While construction was obvious on the islands Harpers Mill, no other refurbishment was visible in the past few months.

We lined up before 11:00 AM to take a raft across Rivers of America.

We werent the only guests excited to return to the island.

There are social distancing markers for lining up on the dock.

Three parties are allowed on one raft.

We took the Becky Thatcher raft.

The rafts social distancing markers have not been replaced and are still in bad shape.

A couple minutes later, we were pulling up to Tom Sawyer Island.

Our first stop was the refurbished Harpers Mill.

Nothing inside the mill was moving, though all the sound effects were on.

Youll even hear the owl hooting.

Aunt Pollys wasnt open, but it usually only operates seasonally.

The barrel bridge was closed for refurbishment.

A green wall blocks the exit.

When we peeked beyond the wall, there were no barrels.

The entrance also had a green wall.

A new plank of wood had been installed on these stairs.

It looks like a tree was chopped down here and covered in fence netting.

The Scavengers Fort playground was closed, though we think that probably has more to do with COVID-19 precautions than refurbishments.

We did get to walk through the windmill.

The pole was moving inside the windmill.

We also visited some of the islands caves.

Unfortunately, the bridge leading to the islands large fort was closed.

A Cast Member told us the fort was still closed for refurbishment.

We did catch a glimpse of the fort while on the Liberty Square Riverboat. Refurbishment must be happening inside.

There is hand sanitizer throughout the island, especially near the raft docks.

Finally, we took the Huck Finn raft back to Frontierland. Thanks for joining us on this trip! Are you excited to return to Tom Sawyer Island? Let us know in the comments.

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PHOTOS: Tom Sawyer Island Returns with Several Areas Now Closed at Magic Kingdom - wdwnt.com

Pinstriped Purgatory: Weak connection to the community, Pizza Rats promotion doomed Staten Island Yankees – SILive.com

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Danzig

(EDITORS NOTE: The author is a published sports journalist who gives readers a first-hand account of the Staten Island Yankees rocky relationship with the New York Yankees, its unprecedented lawsuit against MLB and the Yankees, attendance and financial struggles, internal strife within the franchise, and deteriorating ballpark conditions. Human-interest angles, such as COVIDs impact on team personnel, are examined as well.)

SECOND IN A SERIES

Minor league baseball inside Robert Pimpsner admits that Staten Island may not have the tourism lure of Coney Island or other NYC hotspots.

However, he argues the Staten Island demographic should not be overlooked, especially in terms of its love for baseball. With a population of almost half a million, the Island has a potential market larger than that of Oakland, Minneapolis, Anaheim, St. Louis, Cleveland, and other Major League cities. Staten Island also has the highest median income of the five boroughs many families there can easily afford a night at a minor league ballpark.

With an attractive market, why did the team draw so poorly? In addition to factors already discussed in part 1 of the series, Pimpsner points to a dearth of marketing in the franchises backyard.

READ PART 1 OF THE SERIES HERE

There was a weak connection with the community, Pimpsner claims. The team was too focused on trying to attract people from Manhattan and New Jersey.

Pimpsner notes the Cyclones may have advertised more effectively on Staten Island than the home team; the Brooklyn club even had signs along Staten Island roadways. He estimates close to half of Staten Islanders are Mets fans who may have been turned off by a squad named Yankees.

And there was always the running joke between fans that citizens on the south side of the borough were not even aware of the Staten Island Yankees existence.

Attendance woes plagued the Staten Island Yankees in recent years. Nearby construction of the Empire Outlets and New York Wheel, costing valuable parking space, is partly to blame; others also cite a weak bond between team and community. (Staten Island Advance/Victoria Priolo)

BALLPARK EXPERIENCE WAS LACKING

David Percarpio, who worked for the Staten Island Yankees from 2014 to 2020, first as senior account executive, then as group sales manager, and eventually as director of merchandise though, views the ballpark experience as the main issue.

The team never did anything to entice people to come to the park, Percarpio says. And there wasnt enough of an effort to reach out to the people who had had a negative experience at the stadium.

People had been conditioned to expect more giveaways and better promotions. When the team began to scale back in that department, it started losing fans.

Pam Cocozello, a die-hard S.I. Yankees fan and season ticket holder since 1999, also observed a decline in fan-centered promotions.

Early on the promotions were better, Cocozello says. They used to give away tickets to Broadway shows, oil changes and car washes, gift cards, and more.

Percarpio also complains that jersey and bobblehead giveaways, which fans loved, waned over the years. But it was the inflexibility and lack of variety that irk him most.

It became the same crap every year, Percarpio sighs. Our gameday promotions, presentation, and much of our merchandise were old, never changed, and werent creativeand fans began to notice.

Even the celebrities brought to the ballpark were lower tier. The Cyclones always blew us out of the water when it came to promotions. The problem was that our marketing budget was incredibly shrunk over the years.

SOME HUGE PROMOTIONS

Percarpio and others also acknowledge the home runs the S.I. Yankees hit in the promotions department, even if they believe there were few. The team held a wildly successful Game of Thrones night in 2015 and featured a Pride night to celebrate the LGBTQ community before either MLB team in New York had done so.

Here is a look at the uniforms, merchandize and food associated with the Pizza Rats games at Richmond County Bank Ballpark in 2019.

The promotion that generated the most buzz also managed to polarize fans. Back in 2016, the team had sought to drop Yankees from its name and permanently adopt a new moniker. Five names were chosen as possibilities. Pizza Rats, in reference to the 2015 viral video of a rat dragging a slice of pizza down NYC subway stairs, was one of them. The name was to be decided by fans and was put to a vote. Pizza Rats won. Management, however, missed filing deadlines to make Pizza Rats the new name and logo.

Pimpsner adds that the name change had received considerable pushback from some Staten Islanders, including season ticket holders, and the New York Yankees. In its lawsuit, Nostalgic Partners LLC claims that the Major League club vociferously rebuked the name change and threatened to terminate affiliation with Staten Island. Plus, Percarpio says some team sponsors opposed the Pizza Rat moniker as well. With these obstacles, Pizza Rats became only a temporary name for a handful of games mostly on Saturday nights during the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

Many Staten Islanders feel the name had little connection to their home. They have a point: Pizza Rats is derived from an insignificant occurrence in another borough. Staten Islanders voices in the matter may have been muffled to an extent: the vote was also open to fans outside of Staten Island and the whittling down of possible names to a top five was done by the team, not the fans. Additionally, the team had used the help of a branding company in making these decisions.

SOME FANS BOYCOTTED THE PIZZA RATS GAMES

Cocozello and fellow die-hard fan Beverly Vaiano, both from Staten Island, loathed the Pizza Rats name and boycotted the games in which it was used. Vaiano, a season-ticket holder since 2001, and Cocozello even emailed team management and MiLB, expressing their displeasure.

The Pizza Rat name may have sold merchandise, but I dont think it helped contribute that much to attendance, Vaiano says. People were going to those Saturday night games regardless, partly because of the fireworks and partly because it was a Saturday night.

The change of the name was the death of the team, Cocozello plainly states. Management should have had a meeting with the season-ticket holders and asked for our input. We knew what worked and what wouldnt work.

However, from a short-term business and marketing standpoint, the alternative identity was undeniably successful. The rebranding drew national press. Pizza Rat merchandise was flying off the shelvesout-of-state and international orders were coming in. Some employees say Pizza Rat merchandise sold 10 times more than other items.

The Pizza Rats promotion was great, Reicin insists. If you understand minor league baseball and what its all about, you have to love it.

There are Mets fans on Staten Island as well, and changing the name from Yankees probably helped in attracting their attention. I know that traditionalists and the Yankees may have had a distaste for it. But if Trenton could temporarily be the Pork Roll, what was wrong with Pizza Rats for Staten Island?

Like Reicin, Smith loved the alternative moniker and believes it wasnt as resented by Island residents as thought.

UNFORGETTABLE PROMOTION

I once talked to a fan at a game who hated the idea of the Pizza Rats name and promotion, Smith recalls. But when he saw the logos, he was soon posting a picture to social media of him wearing a Pizza Rats shirt while smiling and with his thumbs up. Point is, I think a lot of people came around to it.

It was an unforgettable promotion and an organic way to draw new fans.

That may be the case, but some will argue the cost of that marketing ploy was drawing the ire of the New York Yankees.

The S.I. Yankees ending their partnership with Legends Hospitality (the company that had run the stadiums concessions) in 2019 also irritated Bronx higher-ups, according to Pimpsner and Percarpio. The New York Yankees were supposedly unhappy because Legends Hospitality is their concessions operator as well.

Reicin refutes this, saying the Yankees were pretty accommodating regarding the decision. He says his team discontinued its relationship with Legends Hospitality to assume more control and increase flexibility in the concessions department. Percarpio, though, viewed it purely as a financial consideration, since the team would increase profits from merchandise and food sales if concessions were operated internally.

According to Percarpio and Anthony Silvia, the clubs stadium operations manager from 2017 to 2019, such profits were far from enough. Both claim the team was in dire financial straits during the second half of the 2010s.

The team was hemorrhaging money, Percarpio says. I dont think there was one year where we hit our budget goals. We continually finished in the red.

The place was an absolute money pit, Silvia remembers.

Several employees estimate ownership had to pay out one to two million dollars per year just to cover losses, but this has not been verified.

(Coming tomorrow: Staten Island Yankees claim they always felt like the redheaded stepchild)

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Pinstriped Purgatory: Weak connection to the community, Pizza Rats promotion doomed Staten Island Yankees - SILive.com

Inside Out: This years Teddy Bear Drive served Staten Island well despite Covid restrictions – SILive.com

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Danzig

Editors Note: Welcome to Inside Out, our weekly roundup of stories about Staten Islanders making waves, being seen, supporting our community and just making our borough a special place to live. Have a story for Inside Out? Email Carol Ann Benanti at benanti@siadvance.com

Retired Surrogate Robert J. Gigante smiles in his chambers amid hundreds of teddy bears collected for his Teddy Bear Drive several years back. (Staten Island Advance/Irving Silverstein) staten island advance

Retired Surrogate Robert J. Gigante heads up an enormously successful Teddy Bear Drive at holiday time each year. The drive translates into an extraordinary endeavor involving the collection of those fluffy little guys to be distributed to children in need and/or those experiencing a health crisis.

This season, however, organizers of the drive, now in its 20th year, ran into a number of road blocks because of restrictions connected to the coronavirus making the holiday season for 2020 so much different.

But Gigante explains teddy bears were still needed as a way to bring smiles to childrens faces especially at holiday time.

During past years the drive grew from a collection of 200 to 300 bears during the first few years to way over 1,000 bears during the last few years.

In years past, collection boxes were placed at venues around town -- at banks, the St. George Theatre and the Hilton Garden Inn in Bloomfield, to mention a few. But this year the set up was a little different.

And what made it even more difficult, said Gigante, was that this year those collection boxes had to be sealed because of coronavirus concerns. And since so many of us were quarantined, the effort became all the more challenging.

Teddy bears were wrapped in cellophane for this years Teddy Bear Drive. (Courtesy/William Newstad) Staten Island Advance

In walked William Newstad, an attorney with the New Dorp law firm of Sak, Rampulla and Newstad, who Gigante said came to the rescue and offered to do the leg work. He had no problem making the deliveries, Gigante said.

A community-spirited Staten Islander, Newstad is an active member of the Boy Scouts as leader of Cub Scout Pack 41. And in previous years he portrayed Santa Claus in the St. George Theatres holiday extravaganza.

At a Build-A-Bear Workshop at the Staten Island Mall are from left, Girl Scout Troop 5012 leaders Maria McGrail, Mary Wildes and Jill Delgado, Robert J. Gigante and William (Bill) Newstad, leader of Cub Scout Pack 41. (Staten Island Advance/Carol Ann Benanti) Staff-Shot

And as Newstad explained, We cant let this Teddy Bear Drive die.

So when the Goodhue Center, the Nalitt Institute and The Addeo Hospice Residence placed calls wondering if they would received a delivery of those flurry little ones, organizers assured them the show would go on.

These places were hurting because they normally receive teddy bears and toys from charities and a number of individuals. But this year was different, said Gigante.

Newstad devised a plan. After searching the web he located several vendors who would donate the teddy bears. As a result more than 200 teddy bears were delivered to the centers.

Gigante continued: We also sent out letters to the Bar Association, Macys and Amazon who were terrific and sent us teddy bears that were sealed. And thanks to Bill it was a real win and we reinvented the wheel and had over 200 bears. We figured out a way to do it and gave a gift to everyone in the program looking for help.

Next year, hopefully it will be a little more normal, said Newstad. The bears were individually wrapped in cellophane and a bunch came from Bob Schwimmer. He was our lifeline this year or we wouldnt have been able to do it. We were able to get deliveries from him.

I brought the bears that were individually wrapped up to The Nalitt Center who ordinarily would have a Christmas party. But this year they did a virtual drive-by Christmas party a drive through where bears were handed through the windows of the car.

I would like to thank the members of the Richmond County Bar Association for their support of this years Holiday Teddy Bear Drive. And even though Covid restrictions meant no collection boxes were situated in banks or public places, the need still existed more than ever and we were able to deliver over 200 bears to the Nalitt Center, Goodhue Center, the Addeo Hospice Residence and to Silver Lake Head Start, said Gigante.

And once gain we cannot thank the judges, judges staff, attorneys and city Correction Officers and especially Bill Newstad for keeping the drive alive!

CELEBRATIONS - FEB. 7 THROUGH FEB. 13

FEB. 7

Happy birthday Sunday to former Congressman Michael Grimm, Shirley Jahns, who turns 90, Pat DiScenza, who turns 81, Joanne Nuzzo, Esther Montalbano, Scott Johnsen, Christian Pfaff, Jim Bunberry, Andrew Morales, Samantha Decker and twins Eleanor Danis and Theresa Gargano.

Wedding anniversary greetings Sunday to Hank and Judy Barnett.

FEB. 8

The happiest of birthdays Monday to Michelle LaBove, Jennifer Simonson, Olga Oogie Smith, Christopher Uhlig, Raymond Marsh, Art Truscelli, Alexandria Nicole Catalano, Buddy Connor, Grace Buono and Marc and Elizabeth Dennis who share a birthday, but are nine years apart.

FEB. 9

Tuesday is birthday time for Gail LaChance, Jillian Manna, Ron Riccardi and Franny Montalbano.

FEB. 10

Birthday greetings Wednesday to Ellen Washington, who turns 88, Phil Migliore, Mary DeMaio, Victoria Tabacco, who turns 21, Edward Sierp, Timothy Smith, Michael Pelle Sr., Steven Heyward, Ruth Waldhelm, Maliyah Greene, and Feliz Torres Jr.

Happy wedding anniversary Wednesday to Helen and Harry Heyward.

FEB. 11

Thursday is birthday time for Jane Rogers, former president and general manager of the Staten Island Yankees, Caitlyn Marie Rowan, Grant Miller, John Michael Rutherford, who turns 18, Iris Napolitano, Jennifer Lemmen, Wayne Baskin and Rosemary Lawson.

Happy wedding anniversary Thursday to Rosemary and Tom Lawson and to Pat and Toni DiScenza.

FEB. 12

The best of birthdays Friday to Dr. Craig Campbell of West Brighton, Grand Marshal of Staten Island St. Patricks Day Parade in 2011 who remains active in charity and community work with the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) and the Brighton Kiwanis Club, Kari Pulizzano. Robert Verdi, Todd Peter Curry of Sunnyside, Mary Antico, Althea Rubano, who celebrates her 92, Nancy Tiedemann Gigantiello, Jeremy Panzella, Frank Azzara and Daniel J. Finamore.

FEB. 13

Saturday is birthday time for Jay Price, Lynn Votto, twins Daniel and Connor Murphy, who turn 22, Nicole Bova, Jessica Jones-Gorman, Matthew Blasi, who turns 25 on Rev. Vincent Capodannos birthday date, and Carol Polvere.

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Inside Out: This years Teddy Bear Drive served Staten Island well despite Covid restrictions - SILive.com

Marco Island close to finishing investigation of police, fire chiefs – Wink News

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Danzig

MARCO ISLAND

It should be confirmed Wednesday why Marco Islands police chief and fire chief are being investigated and if they did anything wrong.

We know Tuesday it has something to do with vaccine distribution.

Related to access to the Eventbrite system, City Manager Mike McNees said.

McNees told us hes about done wrapping up the investigation. McNees says hes clear about what happened, but he said he needs to bring Police Chief Tracy Frazzano and Fire Chief Chris Byrne together one last time for questioning. Both were placed on administrative leave at the start of the investigation.

When McNees met us at the police department, he wouldnt tell us if the two City employees inappropriately gave out vaccines.

We have defended that issue all the way that its not who you know, McNees said.

He did say both have worked very closely in Marcos rollout from the beginning.

The fire chief helped set up that process. In fact, hes responsible for us even being able to provide vaccines on Marco Island, so hes been involved in that from the beginning, McNees explained. The police department has been there helping with the distribution and helping with crowd control.

Some on Marco just hope for the best.

I hope that maybe there was a miscommunication, Ken Lage said. If maybe there was something going on, I hope theyre both cleared.

McNees told us Marco Island will be announcing Wednesday if there will be any disciplinary action taken.

The whole issue of the vaccines is really sensitive, and everyone is trying to get one, McNees said. And theres an awful amount of speculation, and all I got to say to people is this is not going to drag out.

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Marco Island close to finishing investigation of police, fire chiefs - Wink News

Top 21 vintage photos of Staten Island – Winter wonderland edition (via @classicstatenisland) – SILive.com

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Danzig

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Staten Island wintertime, but vintage.

Straight from our @ClassicStatenIsland account, where nostalgia and local history have a party. Follow and like our pages on Instagram and Facebook to see classic Staten Island Advance photos from our archives and submitted by our readers everyday.

Here are some of our favorite vintage photos of Staten Island in the wintertime, and make sure to check out the Where Staten Island Eats page for all things food on S.I.!

1940: Boats stuck in Great Kills Harbor

1936: Ice interrupts boat schedule

1964: Looks like were walking today

1978: Snow Ticketing

1961: For better or for worse

1996: Quick, improvise!

1996: Aint nothing gonna break her stride

1996: Clean up on aisle snow

1996: New Dorp snow mountain

Mid 1930s: Ski jumping on Todt Hill

1981: Hockey on Martling Pond

1880s: Looks like a nice day to harvest some ice

1960: Hi, is this pond taken?

1978: Rain or shine! ...or snow?

1964: Weathering the storm

1996: Walking Hylan Blvd in a blizzard

1978: Snowfall on Broad St.

1979: Thats a lot of snowballs!

1934: The bay channel hath frozen over

1981: Serenity on ice

Meaning and Morality Without God: Atheists Know Better Than They Think – Christianheadlines.com

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Danzig

Nature documentaries like the BBCs Planet Earth, Blue Planet, and most recently, A Perfect Planet, are amazing masterpieces of modern videography, displaying creation in detail and majesty. Every creature soaring through the sky, or streaking through the deep, or thundering over the savannah exhibits power, beauty, and unmistakable purpose. David Attenboroughs grandfatherly narration and Hans Zimmers moving musical scores only add to the childlike awe these films induce.

All of which makes it even more odd when Attenborough declares that all of this glory lacks purpose, or that it arose by chance and natural selection, and that none of it bears witness to any meaning or Mind beyond itself.

A recent article on atheism, also from across the pond, reminded me of this contradiction. In The Guardian, Harriet Sherwood described a new project from the University of Kent that seeks to discover whether disbelieving in God makes people less spiritual overall. According to the projects authors, atheism doesnt necessarily entail unbelief in other supernatural phenomena. Nor do unbelievers lack for a sense of purpose, despite lacking anything to ascribe ultimate meaning to [in] the universe.

In the article, Sherwood profiled several unbelievers, from an agnostic to a free thinker to Positivist pastor and Satanic priest (who makes it clear he doesnt believe in a literal Satan). All of them insist that life can be deeply meaningful and even moral without God.

We can determine for ourselves what is meaningful, said one. The meaning of life, suggested one woman, is to make it the best experience you can, to spread love to those around you. Beauty and tradition are at the core of my philosophy, said another. One self-identified atheistic Jew explained, Being part of a religious community offers music, spirituality and relationshipsit reminds me Im on a journey to understand myself better and motivates me to help others.

Hearing outspoken unbelievers proclaim that meaning and morality arent accidents is about as jarring as hearing David Attenborough proclaim that the worlds most amazing creatures areaccidents.There is an inability of atheists to let go of the transcendent.

In his book, Miracles, C.S. Lewis wrote about the passionate moral activism of a famous atheist of his day, H.G. Wells. Moments after men like Wells admit that good and evil are illusions, Lewis said, you will find them exhorting us to work for posterity, to educate, to revolutionise, liquidate, live and die for the good of the human race.

But how do unbelievers, naturalists as Lewis calls them, account for such ideas? Certainly, nature is no help. If thoughts of meaning and morality find their origin in arrangements of atoms in our brains, then they can no more be called true, Lewis observed, than can a vomit or a yawn.

Lewis concludes that when Wells and other unbelievers say we ought to make a better world, they have simply forgotten about their atheism. That is their glory, he concludes. Holding a philosophy which excludes humanity, they yet remain human. At the sight of injustice, they throw all their Naturalism to the winds and speak like men and like men of genius. They know far better than they think they know.

Id love to ask the people behind masterpieces like Planet Earth, or the unbelievers profiled in The Guardian, about this contradiction. Years ago, I had a similar conversation with a woman I was seated beside on an airplane. She had very strong moral opinions about all kinds of things, but scoffed at me, How can you believe in God! I gently asked her why she believed in right and wrong. It was a fun conversation, and it made me realize that it is possible to affirm the human gut-level intuition about beauty and wonder and morality, while questioning where all of those things come from.

And if you havent read Lewis masterful book Miracles, add it to the list. If its been a while, its worth revisiting. Fair warning: unbelievers should beware. As Lewis himself said, A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading.

Publication date: February 5, 2021

Photo courtesy: GettyImages/Boonyachoat

BreakPointis a program of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. BreakPoint commentaries offer incisive content people can't find anywhere else; content that cuts through the fog of relativism and the news cycle with truth and compassion. Founded by Chuck Colson (1931 2012) in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends. Today, you can get it in written and a variety of audio formats: on the web, the radio, or your favorite podcast app on the go.

John Stonestreet is President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and radio host of BreakPoint, a daily national radio program providing thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN),and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.

Meaning and Morality Without God: Atheists Know Better Than They Think - Christianheadlines.com

Podcast Ep. 360: Are Southern Baptists Still Racist? This Guy Has Exhibit 1 – Friendly Atheist – Patheos

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Danzig

In our latest podcast, Jessica and I discussed the past week in politics and atheism.

We talked about:

Order Elle the Humanist and get a 10% discount with the promo code friendlyatheist!

The Arkansas legislature has passed a bill that would force women seeking an abortion to call an anti-abortion hotline first. (0:42)

The same Arkansas legislature passed a bill allowing churches to hold super-spreader events during a pandemic. (5:30)

The leader of one of the largest atheist groups in the country is stepping down and hoping a person of color replaces him. (10:12)

Are Southern Baptists still racist? Heres Exhibit 1. (15:50)

A priest on YouTube called out pro-life hypocrisy and viewers lashed out! (32:00)

Democrats rejected saying the Pledge of Allegiance at House Judiciary Committee meetings because its pointless. (40:45)

A report on a German archdiocese reveals some truly horrifying details. (44:15)

The Catholic Church hoarded billions of dollarsin PPP loans. (49:53) Are all Republicans evil? A discussion. (53:55)

Wed love to hear your thoughts on the podcast. If you have any suggestions for people we should chat with, please leave them in the comments, too.

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or Google Play, stream all the episodes on SoundCloud or Stitcher, or just listen to the whole thing below. Our RSS feed is here. And if you like what youre hearing, please consider supporting this site on Patreon and leaving us a positive rating!

(Screenshot via YouTube)

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Podcast Ep. 360: Are Southern Baptists Still Racist? This Guy Has Exhibit 1 - Friendly Atheist - Patheos

Why every Catholic should watch HBO’s ‘Raised by Wolves’ – National Catholic Reporter

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Danzig

"Raised by Wolves," a television series created by Aaron Guzikowski and released on HBO Max last September, initially feels like many other works of science fiction: set in a dystopic future where the Earth is destroyed and competing groups escape to other planets for survival. Yet in just 10 episodes, it becomes clear how deceptively profound the show truly is, and for Catholic viewers especially, there is much for us to contemplate.

The pilot begins following two androids, Mother and Father, who escaped from a war on Earth between atheists and a religious order known as the Mithraics. Mother and Father, reprogrammed and tasked with rebuilding the human race and civilization, now live on the extrasolar planet, Kepler-22b. They left Earth with six embryos, but only one survives. They, along with their last surviving son, Campion, struggle to survive on Kelper, all the while believing they are the planet's only inhabitants. Soon after, however, the Mithraics arrive, along with the violence of the world they thought they left behind.

The Mithraics, based on the first century Roman cult, are a group of warriors and priests who believe in a rigid caste system. They are more militaristic and technologically advanced than the androids or atheist humans. Once they arrive on Kepler-22b, their struggle to survive challenges their faith in ways they are not entirely prepared for. For them, religion is a matter of adhering to their sacred texts, and there is no room for question. Unlike the Christian faiths of our world, they are not contemplative. This is something that is put to the test on the new planet, and although their faith is unreflective, different characters are forced to contemplate and reexamine who they are following, and whether their god Sol's will is always being expressed by the one who is ordained a leader. Androids and humans, on the other hand, want no relationship with any kind of faith tradition, but despite themselves are drawn into areas that rationality cannot explain and they are forced to express a kind of faith and trust both in themselves and each other when facing the unknown.

Violence soon escalates on the new planet over these religious differences, with each side believing their respective opinion concerning belief, rationality and faith the superior one. Each individual character struggles with their own personal understandings of faith. Some are more rigid in their desire to follow the laws of Sol, while others question Sol's will and abandon their faith when given the first opportunity to do so. When Marcus, a former child soldier for the atheists who assumed the identity of a Mithraic soldier, begins to hear the voice of Sol commanding him, he becomes filled with pride. Some look upon this revelation with awe and wonder, but other higher-ranking clerics, filled with jealousy, seek to supplant him.

These people, with their own pasts and hopes and fears, all are in competition with one another and this mysterious new world as they each try to figure out what really matters to them in order to build a future and survive. For the Catholic viewer, this is a worthwhile opportunity to reflect about our own will and faith and how each is expressed in our lives.

This engagement with faith will feel familiar to fans of works like "Alien" and "Blade Runner." Ridley Scott, an executive producer, directed the first two episodes, and like other Scott works, the show encouragers viewers to think more deeply about consciousness, the soul and the role of religion in human life. In "Blade Runner," the idea of androids possessing souls is toyed with, and in "Prometheus" and "Alien Covenant," we see characters attempting to play God and change change creation.

Religious elements are even more fleshed out in "Raised by Wolves" by Scott and Guzikowski, a lapsed Catholic. Many things in the show feel similar to our own world like the war between believers and atheists. In the first episode, Father, realizing that Campion must not be raised alone, signals the Mithraic ship. When Mother finds out, she kills father in a rage. This murder evokes Cain and Abel and instills a sense in us that although the world we are watching on screen is new, the stories and lives of these characters are universal.

The show, which initially presents itself as a series about rational atheism versus blind faith, offers a powerful commentary on the dangers of fanaticism. The beliefs of the Mithraics, humans and androids, no matter how adamantly they believe in their convictions, are insufficient. Each character's rationalism or blind faith is tested, pushed and sometimes broken, and each character, and viewer, is left with more questions than answers.

"Raised by Wolves," which was renewed for a second season several weeks after its premiere, will keep the viewer coming back for more because it is so unlike other shows available on streaming services. It challenges how we think about morality and although this is not explicitly a "Catholic" show, it very much shows an engagement with religious themes and ideas that a Catholic worldview lends itself to understanding, and it does all this without watering down the complexity of the series.

In an era where shows are designed to be consumed as quickly as possible, "Raised by Wolves" challenges us to slow down, chew over every episode and think about how religion informs how we view the world around us.

For Catholic viewers, the show which premiered amid a global COVID-19 pandemic and anti-racism marches all across the United States encourages us to confront our understanding of the Catholic imagination and engage with art that might not seem readily "Catholic" but that nevertheless can offer us glimpses of the truth, for all art touches the sublime in some way or another.

Why every Catholic should watch HBO's 'Raised by Wolves' - National Catholic Reporter

A Humanist Leader Is Stepping Down and Hoping a Person of Color Will Replace Him – Friendly Atheist – Patheos

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Danzig

There are always changes of leadership in the non-profit world. Weve seen quite a bit of it in the insular world of organized atheism. But this one hits me personally.

Roy Speckhardt, the executive director of the American Humanist Association, is stepping down from his position after 15 years at the helm (and 20 years with the organization). Ive known him ever since I became involved in this (loose) community nearly two decades ago, and hes been a consistent voice of reason in a community that often claims that word but doesnt always deserve it.

It would be hard to describe all the ways hes shaped how people see Secular Americans in a more inclusive, positive light but I would just point out that he helped steer the formation of the Secular Coalition for America (a lobbying group in D.C.), oversaw a legal team that argued in front of the Supreme Court, and helped convince Rep. Jared Huffman to go public with his humanism.

I suspect there are very few long-term activists in our community who havent worked with him, directly or indirectly, at some point. Were all better off because of that.

So why step down now?

While there are always multiple factors in a decision like this, one reason stands out.

Speckhardt acknowledges that the atheist world remains a predominantly white cis male one thats certainly still the stereotype and one way to change that is making sure women, LGBTQ individuals, and people of color are in positions of power. Speckhardt has routinely elevated those voices within the AHA, but ultimately, hes always been the guy at the top of the pyramid. Hes the one who gets quoted in the media, for example, by virtue of his position.

So as he leaves his post, hes urging the AHA board to give strong consideration to replacements who arent like him, especially people of color since weve rarely seen them running atheist groups of this size. In a statement sent to me, he explained:

Being at the helm of such an organization as the AHA, whose mission is so critical to our times and whose influence far outstrips its size, was the greatest honor of my life, but Ive decided its time for me to step down and make room for new leadership. It is my emphatic hope that my seat is filled with a Black or Brown humanist because our movement has gone too long without such diversity at the helm and this would open the door for the AHA to truly achieve its potential as a humanist and anti-racist institution.

Obviously, the position is open to everyone who wants to apply. (The job is already listed on LinkedIn.) But its no small thing when the leader of one of the largest atheist groups in the country gives his board clear direction on how he believes they should move forward.

The current President of the AHA Board of Directors, Sunil Panikkath, said that Speckhardt will stay in his position until a new leader is selected.

Speckhardt hasnt announced his future plans just yet, though his next book, Justice Centered Humanism, will come out in April.

(Screenshot via YouTube)

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A Humanist Leader Is Stepping Down and Hoping a Person of Color Will Replace Him - Friendly Atheist - Patheos

Virtual reality meditation and breakfast bars: Can wellness save the office? – Sydney Morning Herald

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Danzig

They feel relaxed and enjoy the experience, which is a nice thing to be able to say during a work day, Fritz-Kalish says. [It means] the whole day isnt just about working for someone else, they have done something that nourishes themselves.

Talk of wellness programs has been popularised in the past decade with the rise of tech giants and our increasingly digitised workforce, but it tends to evoke notions of free kombucha and nap pods, often drawing eye-rolls from workers fed up with superficial initiatives that avoid dealing with systemic problems of stress and burnout.

Past studies have found that employee wellbeing programs dont lead to significant improvements in physical health markers, rates of medical diagnosis and job performance, despite participants reporting they engage in more positive behaviour, like regular exercise, or perceive themselves as healthier.

But in a post-COVID world in which personal health is at the fore, workplace wellness can be a lever to lure employees back to the office. Workers have relished the benefits of operating from home: a Fair Work Commission survey found only 5 per cent want to return to the workplace full-time. So while most offices are now diligent about hygiene measures and social distancing rules, drawing people in will take more than just plenty of hand sanitiser.

Allied health provider Better Rehab reopened its Melbourne offices in October and quickly expanded its wellbeing program (which includes wellness leave for self-care days and discounted gym classes) to launch a daily breakfast bar for its 80 employees.

Each weekday from 8am, the staff kitchen hosts a spread of cereals, pastries and fresh fruit with hygiene measures in place.

Victorian manager Kyle Platek says the idea is to support good nutrition at the start of the day and provide the team a chance to socialise before they begin to work.

Better Rehabs Kyle Platek and Jenna Cardamone have been enjoying free daily team breakfasts.Credit:Eddie Jim

Funnily enough no one spoke about it really in the beginning but in practice its the one we hear the most talked about. People seem to really bond it generates some nice common ground, Platek says.

Twice a month the menu is expanded most recently, with bacon and eggs while the business has also been arranging what it calls magnet events, such as Fur Fridays when staff can bring their dogs in.

Theyre a deliberate effort made to help bring people back in and be together, Platek says.

Libby Sander, Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at Bond University, says in-office wellbeing measures can help entice people to the workplace, and ones that have a social or mental health element will be particularly effective.

[Its about] having purpose around the reason youre going to the office, Sander says. I think employee wellbeing programs are very important and even if people arent stressed by the job, theyre stressed by whats going on externally. So I think its as, if not more, important than ever.

But these initiatives are unlikely to convince people to return full-time, she says, with a hybrid model expected to be most popular. People have seen a new way of doing things I dont think its enough of a trade-off, two hours of commuting [every day] for a nice coffee machine and free gym at lunchtime.

The new Sydney headquarters of business software company SAP ANZ is designed to emulate some of the positive impacts of working from home, says head of human resources Debbie Rigger.

A wellness room with cushions and yoga mats designed by Unispace for Pfizers Dublin office in mid-2020.

Staff who choose to return have access to treadmill desks and a shared wellness hub called The Nest, which includes a reformer Pilates studio and an area for fitness and yoga classes, as well as health seminars.

There have also been layout changes to foster team collaboration and socialising, with table tennis and pool tables. [It] has been designed like a big fun house and it feels like family.

Ian Worthy, principal of strategy at commercial interiors design firm Unispace, says many organisations are reconfiguring the workplace to offer what cant be experienced at home. Some offices are turning areas with rows of desks and closed meeting rooms into team huddle spaces, amphitheatres and flat rooms for yoga and mindfulness classes. Bike and car parking is also a focus.

The return to work is much more purposeful than its been before. You dont return to work [just] because its Monday ... Smart organisations are getting to understand that, Worthy says.

So how can businesses avoid falling into the well-worn trap of gimmicky wellness programs?

Sanders key message to employers is to implement wellbeing initiatives that staff actually want or are evidence-based, not fads, while remaining focused on the overall work culture.

Organisational psychologist Dr Amanda Ferguson is sceptical of work-wellbeing programs and cautions against measures to build resilience rather than genuinely helping employees.

Its like a bandaid. It doesnt solve the problem [of resourcing and workload], Ferguson says. If you have a good culture and you have [wellness] perks and theyre adding to your message, staff are more likely to buy into them. But if they think theyre just an overlay to a structural problem youre just breeding cynicism.

Start your week with practical tips and expert advice to help you make the most of your personal health, relationships, fitness and nutrition. Sign up to our Live Well newsletter sent every Monday.

Sophie is Deputy Lifestyle Editor for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.

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Virtual reality meditation and breakfast bars: Can wellness save the office? - Sydney Morning Herald

Mark Zuckerberg made a short appearance on the Clubhouse app and talked about the future of AR and VR and Facebook’s progress on it – Digital…

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Danzig

Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder and CEO of Facebook, made a short appearance on the audio-only Clubhouse app as Zuck23. Clubhouse is a new social networking app that provides audio-only rooms. The recent club house meeting was hosted by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and CEO Vlad Tenev. They discussed about the crisis which the game stock market is in these days. Mark Zuckerberg talked about the future of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technology and also discussed about the contribution the company will be providing to these two platforms in the near future and the progress it has made till now.

Talking about the corona virus pandemic and how it hit everywhere else Mark Zuckerberg said that one thing that this pandemic and the lockdown has taught is that working doesnt always require physical appearances and that work can be done from home and from anywhere as well, he said that VR and AR platforms can make that happen more fully in the future. VR will unlock the chance where one can live anywhere he wants but can also be present at someplace else and still feel like hes actually there. With the work Facebooks Reality Lab is doing these days it is soon to be expected that Facebook will make this happen soon virtually and that is the main focus of the Labs as well, i.e. to create the sense of presence without actually being present physically. Mr. Zuckerberg also believes that everyone should be teleporting and not transporting, Facebook has a plan set out for the future of four to five years for AR and VR platforms and with these plans all of the above mentioned things are to happen soon.

According to Josh Constine, the private equity investor, Mark Zuckerberg says that the main aim for these technologies is to develop something small enough to fit into that body. Such technologies will also get the work to be done even from remote working areas and half of the workforce is likely to work from these areas over the next decade or so.

Mr. Zuckerberg said that Facebooks progress regarding these platforms is at the correct pace and these tasks are to be done very carefully, responsibly and thoughtfully.

Andrew Bosworth, currently the vice president of Augmented and Virtual Reality at Facebook tweeted that Facebook is working towards making remote areas more developed to be worked from at and is trying to make a mixed reality environment. He also mentioned that floating displays will be shown that will be able to move and resized via only gesture control. The user will be able to take over shortcuts on a keyboard with a virtual taskbar, including the windows and facebook icon.

Featured photo: AP

Read next: Facebook Provides Misleading Information to the Users in Its Fight Against Apples New Data Policy

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Mark Zuckerberg made a short appearance on the Clubhouse app and talked about the future of AR and VR and Facebook's progress on it - Digital...

Is this an avatar I see before me? Audience takes to stage in virtual Shakespeare play – The Guardian

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Danzig

Playhouses may be dark, but the Royal Shakespeare Company is to bring immersive theatre to audiences wherever they are in the world by combining revolutionary virtual reality and video games technologies with traditional live performances.

Real-time animation will be created by actors interacting with a live audience, who will in turn influence a story inspired by A Midsummer Nights Dream.

Mischievous Puck and his fellow fairies will be conjured up by actors whose every movement will be translated by cutting-edge technology into virtual avatars that mirror them as extraordinary creatures.

A fantasy world inspired by Shakespeares imagination will be recreated on an audiences computers and mobile phones in a way that allows them to interact directly with the narrative and music. They could, for example, become an iridescent firefly, lighting up a virtual enchanted forest along with thousands of other fireflies and guiding Puck along the way. Or they could trigger layers of instrumental sound, adding to a symphonic score performed by the London-based Philharmonia Orchestra.

In a pioneering project, to be announced tomorrow, specialists from the worlds of theatre, music and gaming have shared their expertise, developing a prototype that could be adopted for future live performances.

In a groundbreaking RSC production of The Tempest in 2016, actor Mark Quartley wore sensors that captured his movements, rendering Ariel, the sprite, as an animated ethereal character on stage.

It used real-time performance-capture technology that has developed dramatically since then. Now in a production entitled Dream, to be premiered next month motion capture and facial rigging will reproduce the movements of seven RSC performers for virtual avatars that are more detailed, including faces and hands, which could not be achieved for Ariel.

Unlike a regular live stream, this is interactive, showing how the excitement of a live performance can be recreated beyond the confines of a physical location.

Headed by the RSC, the projects key players include the Philharmonia Orchestra, Marshmallow Laser Feast, virtual reality creators, and Epic Games, developers of the Unreal Engine video games software.

The RSCs artistic director, Gregory Doran, spoke of his excitement at the projects potential.

He told the Observer: This is a 21st-century reimagining of Shakespeares play, which is giving us a completely different vocabulary of imagery. Thats extraordinary. When we did The Tempest in 2016, we explored the opportunities that the digital world could give to us.

I really did think then quoting the play this is a brave new world. Theres so much opportunity out there. Its as if technology is now providing us with this amazing paintbox. We have a lot of very exciting talent that can find uses for those new tools.

He added: What I love about this potential for an interactive experience is its not the play of A Midsummer Nights Dream, but its the world of A Midsummer Nights Dream. If that makes you want to read or watch this play, then thats great.

He recalled that in his youth he got hooked on the Greek classics by watching the extraordinary creatures created by Ray Harryhausen, who pioneered animation effects in films such as Jason and the Argonauts, the 1963 masterpiece.

He believes that the technology could inspire interest in the theatre and Shakespeare from young people who are already so familiar with the world of video games: This gives audiences of different ages a shared point of connection across the generations and, if that experience also has Shakespeares imagination behind it, thats got to be a good thing.

Luke Ritchie, the Philharmonias head of innovations, said: Weve never had a collaborative process like this. Its a game-changer. Youll be seeing real-time live animation which is being made live by live performers on a stage, creating virtual beings.

Sarah Ellis, the RSCs director of digital, said: We are expanding our theatre-making toolkit. This is a pioneering piece of stage production. It allows us to look at exciting possibilities.

She added: One of the things we were most proud of with The Tempest was the inter-generational moment where we had young and old audiences responding to it. Through gaming technology were now creating a piece of live performance, not a game and we hope it will once again bring together generations, either through the Shakespeare or the technology.

The production will include two new orchestral pieces by Esa-Pekka Salonen, the Philharmonias principal conductor, and by Swedish composer Jesper Nordin, creator of a groundbreaking interactive music software called Gestrument, which enables Dream to have an interactive musical soundtrack affected by the actors movements.

Dream is an Audience of the Future Demonstrator project, part of the governments Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. It will be performed between 12 and 20 March. Audiences can either buy a 10 ticket, to interact directly, or view the performance passively for free. Tickets will be available via dream.online

Is this an avatar I see before me? Audience takes to stage in virtual Shakespeare play - The Guardian

Dyess Airmen expand on virtual forces – 62nd Airlift Wing

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Danzig

By Senior Airman Mercedes Porter, 7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs / Published February 05, 2021

DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Its no secret that the 317th Maintenance Groups Virtual Reality Lab at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, has hit the ground running when it comes to getting their Airmen trained faster and smarter virtually. The lab consists of 16 separate virtual C-130J Super Hercules aircraft with no limiting factors with an average of 40% time saving trainings.

With the progressions being made, the unit has been able to reach out to their 7th Bomb Wing partners and bring in the 7th Civil Engineering Squadrons fire department on board to train inside the virtual C-130J.

Stepping into the VR was a great experience, said Senior Airman Curtis Brye, 7th CES firefighter driver. Just being able to see up close what maintenance does and how they function will help allow us to coordinate our functions and patterns.

Due to the limited availability of aircraft due to flying operations, mission requirements, and inclement weather, the VR program will allow the fire department to train efficiently and more frequent. This will ensure the Airmen are fully prepared for any flightline emergencies.

This gives us an opportunity with a different agency that we dont normally get to work with, said Staff Sgt. Hunter Salge, 7th CES lead firefighter. We usually see most people on their worst days, but to come in and get their knowledge on their job can help us do our own. Just going through this trainer, I was able to see new things that I havent in my eight years of being here.

Although in the early stages, there is a possibility for the fire department to get their own virtual programs tailored to their training needs. This will open the door to many more opportunities for agencies to train together, such as maintainers and firefighters if a disaster ever struck the flightline.

We all think its incredibly important to get inputs from across the Air Force, said Staff Sgt. Tyler Hicks, 317th Maintenance Group virtual reality instructor. With the results we are seeing within the programs and training we are completing, it shows that it works. Wed love for anyone to reach out for more information on these programs, so that we can spread the word and get more involvement to help achieve greater heights within our mission goals.

The background information of the 317th Maintenance Groups Virtual Reality Lab can be found here.

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Dyess Airmen expand on virtual forces - 62nd Airlift Wing

AI Definition & Meaning | What is Artificial Intelligence?

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Danzig

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a wide-ranging branch of computer science concerned with building smart machines capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence. In simpler terms, it is making computers think like humans. The term is used to describe machines that mimic cognitive functions such as learning and problem solving.

While the term was coined in 1956, AI has since advanced by leaps and bounds thanks to advanced algorithms, increased data volumes, and improvements in computing power and technology. In the 1950s, early AI research delved into topics such as problem solving and symbolic methods. Ten years later, the US Department of Defense expressed interest and began to train computers to mimic basic human reasoning. By 2003, intelligent personal assistants were produced long before Siri or Alexa were introduced.

Popular examples of artificial intelligence include AI autopilots on commercial flights, spam filters, mobile check deposits, and voice-to-text features on mobile devices.

To understand how AI works, understanding the sub domains of AI and how these domains can be applied to various industry fields is critical.

AI is being used in every industry, and the demand for AI capabilities only continues to grow.

NATO scientists study the role of women in combat units – NATO HQ

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Danzig

NATOs Science and Technology Organization (STO) recently completed a major study on the integration of women into ground combat units.

The study found that many NATO and partner countries are integrating women into ground close combat units and the roles open to women are increasing.

Gender integration influences combat effectiveness. It is therefore important, the study notes, to identify best practices, collect evidence and collate lessons learned to support the participation of women in combat roles and to better understand the effects of gender integration.

The study, conducted by scientists from NATO and partner countries, identified:

The empirical evidence and recommendations from the study will be shared and help inform defence research programs within participating nations. It will also provide opportunities for collaborative research with academic institutions, as well as security partners such as police organisations.

Going forward, the STO will publish a compendium report on the role of women in the armed forces. NATO recognises the vital roles women play in peace and security, and the importance of incorporating gender perspectives in all that the Alliance does.

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NATO scientists study the role of women in combat units - NATO HQ

NATO Marine Research Center Reaches Out to Young Scientists – The Maritime Executive

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Danzig

A competitor launches an autonomous underwater vehicle during CMRE's European Robotics League (ERL) competition (file image courtesy CMRE)

By Edward Lundquist 02-03-2021 03:39:00

NATO knows it must help create and develop its own workforce for tomorrow. Thats why the scientists, engineers and technicians at the NATO Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) in La Spezia, Italy, are looking for the next generation to take their place, and theyre starting with high school and college students.

A part of NATOs Science and Technology Organization, CMRE has a vibrant outreach effort to encourage young people to get involved with science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects.

CMRE Director Dr. Catherine Warner is proud of the centers engagement with schools in the local community. This is close to my heart, because we want to encourage young people, and young women especially, to get into STEM. When we look at maintaining our technological edge, one of the things we need are qualified people, and that starts with getting people educated in STEM.

CMREs relationship with high schools in and around La Spezia, as well as colleges and universities that come to the Centre to participate in international projects, has successfully attracted people who are obtaining STEM degrees and work in relevant fields to become involved with the Centre, including joining CMRE as research interns.

Warner cites a local internship program that has been particularly rewarding. In La Spezia, students who attend the technical high school do internships in their junior and senior year. Weve provided opportunities for some of them to come here to CMRE. You wouldnt believe how technically advanced they are.

CMRE joined the Blue Template Blue Tech Educational Partnership Project with the Ligurian District of Marine Technologies (https://www.dltm.it/) in 2018 to develop training activities aimed at fostering the exchange of innovation, experience and know-how between different types of organizations, including education, training and industry. Through this project, CMRE helped to expand the boundaries of the classroom by offering experiential learning opportunities to local technical high school students in La Spezia. In May 2018, eight students arrived at the Centre to tour the labs and facilities as well as attend lectures on mechatronics and underwater robotics applications, given by Dr. Gabriele Ferri. Through this internship, students engaged in collaborative learning and critical thinking in the field of maritime defence science and were able to see first-hand how a professional laboratory operates. The programme is expected to resume for the 2021-2022 academic year.

Another recent success story is the Giona Project, an initiative that involves several institutions in the area of La Spezia aimed at promoting awareness, understanding, and the safeguarding of the marine environment among students. Weve done research here at CMRE on the impact of acoustic energy on marine mammals, which is of interest to our nations, because we want to avoid harming marine mammals, Warner explained. Through a cooperation agreement with three local high schools, tutored and assisted by CMRE scientists and engineers, students and their teachers have had the chance to embark on-board the NATO Coastal Research Vessel Leonardo to conduct a real bio-acoustic research project.

We provided acoustics data to the students, and they went out on Leonardo to acquire additional data, and then conducted an analysis as a science project. Ultimately, the students were able to present their findings at a very large and prestigious conference here in La Spezia in May 2018 with the European Cetacean Society, and also during a final workshop with schools, local authorities and media in Lerici in June 2019, said Dr. Diego Merani, CMREs Head of Scientific Communications and Information Systems and the project manager ofthe Giona Project. It was a huge success, and we hope to continue that relationship.

The 2020 trial was cancelled due to COVID 19, but Merani said the centre is working to allow the students processing data in the cloud, with CMRE scientists providing remote tutoring sessions.

Warner said the Giona Project exemplifies the longstanding close ties with the neighbouring community. The woman who led this effort for the La Spezia School System, Dr. Pamela Nascetti, is a biologist who worked at CMRE. In fact, her father worked here.

Warner hopes to have more students come to CMRE and design and conduct their own experiments.

In addition to the Giona project, another major event at CMRE is the European Robotics League (ERL) Emergency robotic competition. Now part of the SciRoc EU project and sponsored by IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society (OES) and Blue Robotics, and with the help of the Italian Naval Support and Experimentation Centre (CSSN) next door to CMRE, the ERL Emergency competitions attract student robotics teams from around the world.

The teams robots compete outdoors and underwater to carry out tasks in realistic emergency response scenarios. One task is for the robots to autonomously find a mannequin underwater that represents a casualty. Although ERL Emergency is a competition, its a friendly one that promotes collaboration and exchange of ideas between international teams of science and engineering students with a common interest in robotics. These young people will be building the robots of tomorrow, which will be doing more dull, dirty and dangerous work so that humans dont have to.

The annual robotics events include talks on robotics topics, ranging from robotics disaster-response strategies in response to a nuclear accident, to ocean robotics for surveillance applications, and are given by visiting speakers from around the world.

The competitions help develop the next generation of robotics scientists; act as a benchmarking activity to compare the suitability and reliability of robotic systems; and create vital connections and collaborations between CMRE and the worldwide robotics community. The success of these events has raised awareness of CMRE as one of the worlds leading institutions in marine robotics research.

Some of the competition participants have returned as interns and visiting scholars, further strengthening CMREs outreach efforts.

TheCMRE Visiting Researcher Programme(VRP)offers the best and brightest students,university researchers and scientists and engineers from NATO nations laboratories the opportunity to participate in research at the Centre. Visiting Researchers have access to CMRE equipment, facilities, and data, and growing their research experience through collaboration with CMRE scientists and engineers at the Centre, located on the beautiful west coast of Italy. Some stipends and expenses are covered, depending on education and experience.

The program provides opportunities for work experience in one of CMREs core competencies, which include underwater acoustics, sensors and signal processing, ocean observation and prediction, operations research of complex systems, remote sensing and adaptive sampling, communication engineering, ocean engineering, information theory, cognitive science, and autonomy and collective intelligence. Current research programmes based on these competencies include autonomous mine countermeasures, cooperative anti-submarine warfare, environmental knowledge and operational effectiveness, marine mammal risk mitigation and maritime security.

We definitely have an amazing team, with incredible ideas and a great work ethic, said Warner. We have around 50 engineers, and have always been able to attract the top-tier of scientists from the nations. Currently we have 47 NATO civilian scientists, as well as more than 20 visiting researchers who will come here for several months to work with us. We recently had a couple of students from the French Naval Academy here working on deep learning and automatic target recognition.And thats really the point of CMRE, to have people come here with their expertise, experience and knowledge, and go home with a better understanding of NATOs challenges and opportunities.

Despite the COVID 19 pandemic, the CMRE STEM education outreach programme has continued with Introduction to Robotics, an online lecture given by a CMRE scientist for a group of 20 local students who are participating in the robotics track of Giona Project. These students are building a remotely operated underwater vehicle to participate in an upcomingroboticscompetitionthis fall.

Edward Lundquist is a retired U.S. Navy captain who writes on naval, maritime and defense issues.

The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive.

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NATO Marine Research Center Reaches Out to Young Scientists - The Maritime Executive

The Post-Trump Reset With NATO Starts in Germany – Foreign Policy

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Danzig

Welcome to Foreign Policys Security Brief. Whats on tap today: Biden pauses Trumps troop withdrawal from Germany, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin confronts extremism in the military, and tensions between China and Taiwan continue to rise.

If you would like to receive Security Brief in your inbox every Thursday, please sign up here.

Not Quite Ready to Move On

The Biden administration has frozen former President Donald Trumps plans to withdraw some 12,000 U.S. troops from Germany and is conducting a review of the decision, according to the top commander of U.S. forces in Europe, Air Force Gen. Tod Wolters.

Trump abruptly announced in July that he would withdraw one-third of U.S. troops from Germany12,000 of some 36,000 totalbecause Berlin failed to meet NATO defense spending targets. The move came as a surprise to German officials and was made against the advice of some of Trumps own aides.

What Wolters said. The new administration has comfortably stated to us that we need to conduct a thorough review, cradle to grave, in all areas, Wolters told reporters on Wednesday. And then, after theyre allowed to conduct that review, well go back to the drawing board. What I will say that exists at this very moment is that every single one of those options, that theyre all on hold, and they will all be reexamined.

Speaking at a White House briefing on Thursday, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan confirmed that Biden was freezing the withdrawal as part of a global review undertaken by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

The backdrop. Then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper slapped a veneer of strategic coherence on the withdrawal decision when it was first announced in July 2020, saying the move was part of broader plans to reorient U.S. troops to better face Russian aggression. He insisted it would not undermine NATO unity, and that some troops could be repositioned to the Black Sea and rotations in the Baltics and Poland.

Then Trump undercut his defense secretary, doubling down on claims that Germany, like other allies, was taking advantage of the United States and not paying its fair share to NATO defense. We dont want to be the suckers any more, Trump said at the time. Were reducing the force because theyre not paying their bills; its very simple.

Now, theres a new sheriff in town. Team Biden seems intent on trying to repair relations with its NATO allies after four years of tensions, spats, and awkward photo ops. The pause on troop withdrawals from Germany clearly fits into that plan, though the populist narrative that allies are taking advantage of U.S. military presence worldwide wont disappear with Trump.

What the experts are saying. Jim Townsend, a former Pentagon NATO policy official under the Obama administration, told Foreign Policy that it was important for Washington to complete the review on the plans and make a decision quicklynot least for the U.S. troops and their families stationed in Germany who are caught in limbo.

Not only do our guys in the field need to know, but the Germans need to know too, Townsend added. If we really want to begin to restore the relationship with Germany, and with Europe generally, we need to address this early on and in consultation with them so we can make up for that lack of consultation.

What Were Watching

Stand down. Secretary of Defense Austin has ordered the U.S. military to schedule a stand down within the next 60 days to address the issue of extremism in the ranks after the Jan. 6 pro-Trump assault on the U.S. Capitol. The move means that every unit will have to break from normal operations for a short period of time within the next two months in order to deal with the problem. It was not immediately clear how the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Space Force would implement the new guidance.

Systematic abuse. Women in Chinas Uighur internment camps face a systematic pattern of rape, abuse, and torture, according to new accounts from survivors told to the BBC. The disturbing details of what some of an estimated 1 million interned Uighurs have endured under the Chinese government crackdown prompted immediate outcry from human rights groups. The revelations could further chill relations between Beijing and the Biden administration, which appears set to keep in place Trumps determination that Chinas abuses in Xinjiang amount to genocide.

Strait on through. Speaking of China: A U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer transited the Taiwan Strait today in a move meant to flex U.S. military muscles with an eye tto Beijing. Its the first time a U.S. ship has transited the waterway during the Biden administration. A Navy spokesman described the passage as routine, but it comes after rising tensions near the strait in recent days, with Chinese aircraft buzzing the area and prompting a rebuke from the Biden administration.

Feb. 4: French President Emmanuel Macron will speak at a virtual event at the Atlantic Council.

Feb. 9: Donald Trumps second impeachment trial begins in the Senate.

Feb. 9: The U.N. Security Council convenes to discuss the ongoing conflict in Syria.

FBI gets a deputy. FBI Director Chris Wray has tapped Paul Abbate as the agencys deputy director, according to a Monday press release. Abbate was considered for the top FBI job under Trump, but he was passed over. A long-tenured law enforcement official, Abbate had previously served as associate deputy director of the FBI, and as executive assistant director for the criminal, cyber, response, and services branch.

The Biden administration plans to keep Wray in the top post.

Duss in the wind. Sen. Bernie Sanders top foreign-policy advisor is expected to depart Capitol Hill for a role at the State Department, Politico reported on Wednesday. The hiring of Matt Duss, one of the architects of the challenges to Trumps war powers authority that allowed U.S. forces to assist the Saudi-led coalition in the Yemen war, would be a victory for progressives.

Want to know more? Check out Robbies profile of Duss from February 2020back when Sanders was vying for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Top NSC Russia job open. The top National Security Council job overseeing Russia appears to be up for grabs again. Andrea Kendall-Taylor, a veteran intelligence analyst now at the Center for a New American Security, was announced as the senior NSC director for Russia and Central Asia several weeks ago. But on Twitter she said she would be staying at CNAS after all.

New Iran envoy. Biden tapped Rob Malley to be his Iran envoy late last week, as we reported. He has his work cut out for him: Getting Iran back to the negotiating table on its nuclear program will be easier said than done.

Pence finds a new home. Trumps former Vice President Mike Pence will join the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, as a distinguished visiting fellow.

Space doesnt have a mother. You cant reach out and hug a satellite. You cant see it; you cant touch it. Its hard to have that connection.

Gen. John Raymond, head of the U.S. Space Force, on why the new military branch might have a bit of a PR problem in explaining to average Americans what it does

Foreign Policy Recommends

A real-life spy thriller. From Technology Review: Read this fascinating and largely unknown account of how a team of CIA officers, with the help of Mexican spy, borrowed a crashed Soviet spy satellite to unlock secrets of Moscows Cold War space program.

Sounds uncomfortable. A smuggler was apprehended in New Zealand with nearly 1,000 cacti and other plants strapped to her, according to the Guardian. The plants were reportedly worth over $10,000.

Thats it for today.

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The Post-Trump Reset With NATO Starts in Germany - Foreign Policy

Why Israel is joining the Pentagon’s ‘Arab Nato’ – Middle East Eye

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Danzig

With none of the usual fanfare associated with such a momentous decision, the Pentagon announced last month a major reorganisation to bring Israel - for the first time- inside its military command in the Middle East alongside the Arab states.

Until now, Israel has belonged to the US militarys European command, or Eucom, rather than the Middle Eastern one, known as Central Command, or Centcom.The decision effectively jettisoned the traditional wisdom that Israels inclusion in Centcom would increase friction between the US and Arab states, and would make the latter more reluctant to share intelligence or cooperate with the Pentagon.

Those concerns were felt especially keenly when the US had large numbers of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Back in 2010, David Petraeus, then Centcoms commander, expressed fears that the price of too-overt military collusion with Israel could be exacted on US forces stationed in the region.

But Israels long-standing goal has been to force the Pentagon to restructure Centcom, and pressure had mounted from pro-Israel lobby groups in Washington in the final months of the Trump administration. The decision looked very much like a "parting gift"to Israel from President Donald Trump as he stepped down.

Israels formal transfer to Centcom has not yet taken place, but the move was cemented last week with the first visit to Israel by General Kenneth McKenzie, the current head of Centcom, since Joe Biden entered the White House.Alongside Israels military chief of staff, Aviv Kohavi, McKenzie planted a tree - officially to mark the Jewish holiday of Tu Bishvat but symbolically representing a new era in their strategic partnership.

The decision to bring Israel inside Centcom is best viewed - from Washingtons perspective - as the culmination of efforts to push the Arab states into public 'normalisation' with Israel

On Friday, after a meeting with the US general, Benny Gantz, Israels defence minister, issued a statement praising the Pentagons reorganisation, saying it would "afford Israel opportunity to deepen cooperation with new regional partners and broaden operative horizons".

The decision to bring Israel inside the US military command in the Middle East is best viewed - from Washingtons perspective - as the culmination of efforts to push the Arab states into public "normalisation"with Israel.

Military normalisation can now be added to the political, diplomatic and economic normalisation that formally began last September when two Gulf states, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, signed the so-called Abraham Accords with Israel.Morocco and Sudan have also announced their own peace deals with Israel, and other Arab states are likely to follow suit once the dust settles with the incoming Biden administration.

Since the signing of the Abraham Accords, the UAE has been forging strong trading ties with Israel and has helped to establish the Abraham Fund, designed to finance the infrastructure of occupation Israel has used to deprive the Palestinians of statehood.When flights to Dubai were launched in November, Israeli tourists poured into the UAE to take advantage of the new friendly relations and escape lockdown restrictions back home.

In fact, it is widely reported that such visits have become one of the main ways Israel has imported new variants of Covid-19.Last week, Israel effectively closed its borders - except to General McKenzie - to keep the virus in check.

On the face of it, Israels desire to move into Centcom - a kind of Middle East Nato covering several Arab states with which Israel still has hostile relations - appears counter-intuitive. But, in fact, Israel will make major strategic gains.

How Gulf states became business partners in Israel's occupation

It will align US security interests in the region even more closely with Israels, at the expense of its Arab neighbours. It will aid Israels continuing efforts to crush the national ambitions of the Palestinians, with many Arab states either explicit or implicit cooperation. It will accentuate political tensions within the bloc of Arab states, further weakening it. And it will help to build pressure on recalcitrant Arab states to join the broader consensus against Israels one remaining significant regional foe: Iran.

It is significant that Washingtons long-standing concern about Israels presence in Centcom damaging US relations with the Arab states has apparently evaporated.

Once, the US was careful to distance itself from Israel whenever the Pentagon got deeply mired in the region, whether it was the US Gulf war of 1990 or the invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003. Those calculations no longer seem relevant.

The move demonstrates a growing US confidence that the Arab states - at least those that matter to Washington - are unperturbed about being seen to make a military accommodation with Israel, in addition to political and economic engagement.It underscores the fact that the oil-rich Gulf states, alongside Israel, are now the key drivers of US foreign policy in the region and suggests that the most important, Saudi Arabia, is waiting for the right moment to sign its own accord with Israel.

Israel, it is expected, will continue to conduct military exercises in Europe with Nato countries, but will soon be able to build similar direct relations with Arab armies, especially those being rapidly expanded and professionalised in the Gulf using its oil wealth.

It is likely that Israeli officers will soon move out of the shadows and publicly train and advise the UAE and Saudi armies as part of their joint roles in Centcom. Israels particular expertise, drawing on decades of surveilling, controlling and oppressing Palestinians, will be highly sought after in Gulf states fearful of internal dissent or uprisings.

As the Israeli scholar Jeff Halper has noted, Israel has shown how effective it is at translating its military and security ties with armies and police forces around the world into diplomatic support in international bodies.

The Middle East is not likely to be different. Once Israel has become the linchpin of more professionalised armies in the region, those states dependent on its help can be expected to further abandon the Palestinian cause.

Another dividend for Israel will be complicating Washingtons relations with the Arab region.

Not only does Centcom operate major bases in the Gulf, especially in Bahrain and Qatar, but it leads the proclaimed "war on terror", with overt or covert operations in several Arab states, including Iraq and Syria.

With Israel inside Centcom, the US and its most favoured Arab states are also likely to be more directly implicated in Israels major military operations against the Palestinians, such as the repeated 'wars'on Gaza

It will be harder for the US to disentangle itself from Israels own openly belligerent operations, including air strikes, in both countries, that are conducted in flagrant violation of international law. Tensions between the US and Baghdad have in the past escalated over Israeli air strikes in Iraq, with threats to limit US access to Iraqi airspace.

This will pose a significant challenge to the regions cooperative institutions such as the Arab League. It is almost certain to drive an even deeper wedge between pro-Washington Arab states and those accused of being on the wrong side of the "war on terror".

The result could be a regional divide-and-rule policy cultivated by Israel that mirrors the decades-long, disabling divisions Israel has generated in the Palestinian leadership, most pronounced in the split between Fatah and Hamas.

The biggest bonus for Israel will be a more formal alliance with Arab states against Iran and shepherding more ambivalent states into Israels orbit.

That appears to have been the purpose of the recently well-publicised reconciliation between the UAE and Saudis on one side and Qatar on the other, achieved in the dying days of the Trump administration. One of the chief causes of the lengthy blockade of Qatar related to its insistence on maintaining political and economic ties with Tehran.

Israels aim is to force the Biden administrations hand in continuing Trumps belligerent anti-Iran policy, which included aggressive sanctions, assassinations and tearing up the 2015 nuclear agreement with Tehran signed by Barack Obama. That deal had given inspectors access to Iran to ensure it did not develop a nuclear bomb that might neutralise the strategic clout Israel gains from its nuclear arsenal.

Once Israel has become the linchpin of more professionalised armies in the region, those states dependent on its help can be expected to further abandon the Palestinian cause

Inside Centcom, Israel will be able to work more closely with Gulf allies to sabotage any efforts inside Washington to revive the nuclear accord with Tehran. That point was underscored last week when an online security conference, hosted by Tel Aviv University, was attended by two Gulf ministers.

At the conference, Kochavi, Israels military chief of staff, issued an unprecedented public rebuke to Biden over recent statements that he wished to revive the nuclear deal. Kochavi called the agreement "bad and wrong strategically and operatively", claimed that Iran would launch nuclear missiles at Israel once it had them, and declared that a go-it-alone attack by Israel "must be on the table".

Bahrains foreign minister, Abdullatif al-Zayani, observed that Israel and the Gulf states would have a better chance of preventing any US conciliation towards Iran if they spoke in a "unified voice". He added: "A joint regional position on these issues will exert greater influence on the United States."

That view was echoed by Anwar Gargash, the UAEs foreign affairs minister.

In a sign of how the Biden administration is already fearful of taking on a broad Middle Eastern alliance against Iran, the new presidents pick for secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said last month it was "vitally important"to consult with Israel and the Gulf states before re-entering the deal.

Is the UAE plotting with Israel against Palestinian refugees?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, desperate to bolster his electoral fortunes and deflect attention from his looming corruption trial, has every incentive to prise open that chink.

Ensuring Iran remains the Middle Easts number one bogeyman - the focus of western hostility - is in the joint interests of an Israel that has no intention of ending its decades-old obstruction of Palestinian statehood and of Gulf states that have no intention of ending their own human rights abuses and promotion of Islamic discord.

Mike Pompeo, Trumps departing secretary of state, planted a landmine last month designed to serve Israeli and Saudi interests by highlighting the fact that a number of al-Qaeda leaders have found shelter in Iran.That echoed the Bush administrations - in this case, entirely fanciful - claim of ties between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein as a pretext, along with non-existent WMD, for the invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003.

With Israels arrival in Centcom, the lobbying for a repeat of that catastrophic blunder can only grow - and with it, the prospects for renewed conflagration in the Middle East.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

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Why Israel is joining the Pentagon's 'Arab Nato' - Middle East Eye

China and Russia have formed axis of power, NATOs top general warns – NEWS.com.au

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Danzig

China and Russia are forming a new axis of power, NATOs top general has warned.

Tod Wolters, NATOs Supreme Allied Commander Europe, or SACEUR, has told reporters that growing co-operation really does suggest an emergence of a partnership of convenience.

Its a partnership that potentially spans the globe, from the Middle East to the Western Pacific and Arctic north.

We are ever so vigilant with respect to that growing co-operation, Wolters said. Such co-operation advanced mutual interests, and that advancement could be to the detriment of Europe and corresponding and surrounding nations.

NATO has accused Russia of breaching international treaties through the development of new nuclear weapons. It also blames Russian-sourced cyber attacks and disinformation campaigns for destabilising the West.

China is also coming under increased scrutiny over its repression of the Uighur and Tibetan peoples and its aggressive territorial claims and debt-trap diplomacy.

RELATED: Nuclear war threat a real possibility

Meanwhile, both authoritarian governments show intense interest in the Arctic as the retreating ice exposes potential new oil, gas and mineral reserves.

In the face of increasing aggressive activity in the high north from both Russia, which is an Arctic nation, and China, which claims to be a near-Arctic nation, we must maintain a favourable balance of power in this region for ourselves and for our allies, outgoing US Navy Secretary Kenneth Braithwaite warned last month.

EMERGING AXIS

Things havent always been so genial between the two powers.

Russia and China share a 4200km border. And large portions of Moscows mineral-rich eastern provinces are claimed by Beijing as part of its historical domain - including the city of Vladivostok.

For now, President Vladimir Putin and Chairman Xi Jinping have put that source of disagreement aside.

Russia and China began strengthening their diplomatic, economic and military ties after Western nations imposed sanctions on Moscow in 2014. Russia had just invaded the Crimean Peninsula and launched covert combat operations in eastern Ukraine.

In 2018, the two powers contributed hundreds of thousands of troops and aircraft and warships towards their largest-ever joint military exercise.

In 2019, Putin and Xi shook hands over a significant gas pipeline project linking Siberia to northeast China.

In 2020, Russian warships and combat jets joined Chinese military exercises in the western Pacific.

And theyve begun co-operating in the Arctic.

Without sustained American naval presence and partnerships in the Arctic region, peace and prosperity will be increasingly challenged by Russia and China, whose interests and values differ dramatically from ours, a recent US Navy report states.

Some 90 per cent of trade is carried by sea. The retreating Arctic ice can dramatically shorten shipping routes to and from Asia, Europe and North America.

Left uncontested, incremental gains from increased aggression and malign activities could result in a fait accompli, with long-term strategic benefits for our competitors, the Blue Arctic: A Strategic Blueprint report warns.

WORST-CASE SCENARIOS

Hudson Institute Center for Defence Concepts senior fellow Bryan Clark says the West needs to reconsider how to contend with a Russia-China alliance.

That alliance goes go far beyond warships and warplanes working together, he warns.

Unless (the Pentagon) begins to rethink its scenarios and rebalancing its forces, recent Chinese and Russian grey-zone successes in the East and South China Seas or Crimea could become the norm and the US military could find itself losing a battle of inches against patient competitors who are willing to play the long game.

Clark says the West believed worst-case scenarios included an invasion of Taiwan, a lengthy blockade of Japans southwest islands or a sustained submarine threat off the US coast.

But Clark says Moscow and Beijing are well aware of this and have adapted their plans accordingly. Both are methodically developing strategies and systems that circumvent the US militarys advantages and exploit its vulnerabilities by avoiding the types of situations for which US forces have prepared, he adds.

They have shifted their primary battlefield from the sea and the sky to the digital and propaganda domains.

The Chinese and Russian militaries seek to make information and decision-making the main battlegrounds for future conflict (to) direct forces to electronically or physically degrade an opponents information sources and communications while introducing false data that erodes the defenders orientation and understanding.

Follow-up hybrid, or grey-zone, operations using paramilitaries and mercenaries could then seize objectives without providing an immediate trigger for retaliation.

NEW WORLD ORDER

Chinese chairman Jian Zemin and Russian President Boris Yeltsin met in 1997, vowing to promote the multipolarisation of the world and the establishment of a new international order.

Their successors, Chairman Xi and President Putin, are well down the path of putting that plan into effect.

RELATED: Russia on the brink of revolution

Analysts in the West specifically doubted that Beijing and Moscow could overcome decades of mistrust and rivalry to co-operate against US efforts to maintain and shape the international order, write political scientists Professor Alexander Cooley and Associate Professor Daniel Nexon.

But the 1997 declaration now looks like a blueprint for how Beijing and Moscow have tried to reorder international politics in the last 20 years.

Both have sought to manipulate and discredit international organisations and Western institutions.

At the same time, they are building an alternative order through new institutions and venues in which they wield greater influence and can de-emphasise human rights and civil liberties, they write. The net result is the emergence of parallel structures of global governance that are dominated by authoritarian states and that compete with older, more liberal structures.

And that is as much a result of their growing alliance as the more visible joint military exercises.

Beijing and Moscow appear to be successfully managing their alliance of convenience, defying predictions that they would be unable to tolerate each others international projects, say Cooley and Nexon.

This new brand of great power competition is being fought out among international non-government organisations, charities, lending institutions and legal tribunals.

Although the United States still enjoys military supremacy, that dimension of US dominance is especially ill-suited to deal with this global crisis and its ripple effects, they warn.

Jamie Seidel is a freelance writer | @JamieSeidel

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China and Russia have formed axis of power, NATOs top general warns - NEWS.com.au

Regular Exercise and Lifting Weights Might Be the Key to Immortality – The Great Courses Daily News

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Danzig

ByMichael Ormsbee, PhD,Florida State UniversityEdited by Kate Findley and proofread byAngelaShoemaker, The Great Courses DailyAging doesnt cause the dramatic drop in muscle mass that we often see; rather, it is chronic disuse of muscles due to inactivity that is primarily responsible. Photo By DenisProduction.com / ShutterstockAging and Lifting Weights

Research has repeatedly shown that lifting weights can help prevent age-associated chronic diseases like osteoporosis and type 2 diabetes. It is also a major factor in allowing you to move around and maintain your independence.

You need at least enough muscle mass to walk unassisted, get out of a chair, and carry groceries. The best part about lifting weights is that there are no age restrictions.

Now, you may need a modification of an exercise or two, but that is where a certified personal trainer can come into play and show you proper form to prevent injury and make any changes you may need to accommodate any physical limitation. Consider Ernestine Shepherd, who began to lift weights at age 56 and started competing as a bodybuilder in her 70s.

As we age, a phenomenon called sarcopenia occurs, which is the natural, progressive loss of muscle mass. Studies have shown that between the ages of 40 and 50 years old, we can lose more than 8% of our muscle mass, and that can accelerate to more than 15% per decade after the age of 75, if measures are not taken to prevent it.

Fortunately, we can do much to slow this process down. Most people think that aging alone causes us to lose muscle. Now, though, research is showing that its not simply aging but rather the lack of physical activity that is responsible for sarcopenia.

One study looked at lifelong exercisers to determine if chronic exercise could prevent the loss of muscle mass and strength in aging adults. The researchers took 20 men and 20 women between the ages of 40 and 81 years old who exercised at least four to five times per week and competed as triathletes.

These older athletes were put through a series of tests to study their health, strength, and body composition using magnetic resonance imaging or MRI technology. MRI gives us a precise view of the fat and muscle in specific regions of your body. This study used it on the quadriceps muscles of the thigh to look at muscle quality.

As you might expect, the younger people in the study did have a lower body mass index, or BMI, and body fat percentage compared to older athletes. However, the lean muscle mass and strength were no different between the younger and the older athletes.

Whats more is that these benefits were similar in both men and women. This highlights the fact that long-term exercise training can aid in preserving muscle mass and may also prevent increases in body fat as we age.

Additionally, this study helps to debunk a common myth by showing that aging alone doesnt cause the dramatic drop in muscle mass that we often see. Rather, its the chronic disuse and inactivity that are primarily to blame.

One of the most interesting people to discuss is a man who is a prime example of how exercise and a healthy diet can improve your muscle mass and quality of life, Professor Ormsbee said. Hes John Nagy.

Nagy is a participant in the Physical Activity Centre of Excellence at McMaster University in Canada. Not only does he exercise vigorously, but he is also 97 years old.

A recent interview described his daily routine like this: his warm-up begins with movements in the shower, followed by floor and ball exercises for his core and his back. Hell then walk to the Universitytwo miles each wayor make up for it on his treadmill, followed by a 90-minute workout at the University.

He also keeps dumbbells, resistance bands, and a Swiss Ball in his apartment next to the treadmill along with a stationary bike. Mr. Nagy embodies the idea of using regular exercise to maintain his quality of life and to stay able-bodied so that he can live to the fullest.

Just like Ernestine Shepherd, Professor Ormsbee said. Maybe we should all take a pageor maybe a few chaptersout of their books.

Michael Ormsbee is an Associate Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food, and Exercise Sciences and Interim Director of the Institute of Sports Sciences and Medicine in the College of Human Sciences at Florida State University. He received his MS in Exercise Physiology from South Dakota State University and his PhD in Bioenergetics from East Carolina University.

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Regular Exercise and Lifting Weights Might Be the Key to Immortality - The Great Courses Daily News

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