BWW Review: ANIMALS at Williamstown Theatre Festival On Audible Theater – Broadway World

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Williamstown Theatre Festival's robust New Play and Musical Development Initiative provides support and professional opportunities to playwrights, composers, and other generative artists.

In this World Premiere of ANIMALS, a new play by Emmy Award nominee Stacy Osei-Kuffour, Lydia (Aja Naomi King) and Henry (Jason Butler Harner)'s dinner guests Coleen (Madeline Brewer) and Yaw / Jason (William Jackson Harper) are about to arrive when Henry's spontaneous marriage proposal threatens to burn the evening to a crisp. Wine bottles and years of unspoken tensions are uncorked, and, before the evening is through, Lydia must confront her long-held fears and feelings if she is going to commit to a future with Henry.Jason Butler Harner, Madeline BrewerAja Naomi King, William Jackson Harper

Directed by Obie Award Winner, Whitney White, the piece is billed as a comedy that "marches into the muddy intersection of romantic entanglement, identity, pride, and survival." For me the piece is something like the theatrical (verbal) equivalent of a mixed doubles tennis match. There are lots of volley's, some overhead smashes and an occasional Ace leaving the recipient unable to respond but stinging none the less. The four characters engage in relatively rapid-fire banter that includes a fair amount of intensity and emotion. The subject matter often deals with sensitive issues that include political correctness, cancel culture, race, roles, and even some romance. The dialogue is real, sometimes raw, rarely funny. The piece packs a lot of drama and emotion, but not much oomph, sizzle, or pizazz. ANIMALS presents something of a character study as it examines things done in the name of love. Those things, however, are not always pretty. As one character suggests: "you people are ANIMALS".

With a running time of 96 minutes, ANIMALS is now available to Audible listeners. Special access to all seven titles in the WTF Season on Audible will be made available to eligible donors. Visit http://www.wtfestival.org/support for more information.

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BWW Review: ANIMALS at Williamstown Theatre Festival On Audible Theater - Broadway World

Letter: Will we be ready the next time? – LimaOhio.com

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Now that the covid 19 vaccine(s) are being approved by the FDA and distributed throughout the US, the question arises, what happens next time? And there will be a next time.

Since the Communist Chinese uploaded this virus into our country, the federal government including Lord Fauci and the National Institute of Health, the CDC and mainstream media have done nothing to educate nationally the population about the personal responsibility of citizens to help protect us from the next virus.

We have crossed the 300,000 death toll from this virus on our way to getting close to the 650,000 deaths from heart disease every year.

42% of the US population have a body mass index above 30 or classified as obese. Underlying conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes and hypertension in the older more vulnerable population are five times more likely to have an unfavorable outcome from contracting Covid 19 according to the CDC.

So where is the federal education programs for a healthy lifestyle and improving the individual immune systems? We as a nation are setting ourselves up for a repeat performance and because of what, woke politics, political correctness?

By contrast, India with a population of 1.3 billion or roughly 4 times the population of the US, has a population with a body mass index of 6% 36% lower than ours. The death toll in India from Covid is 144,000.

By changing to a more healthy lifestyle, we as a nation can prepare ourselves through personal responsibility for the next time.

Craig Nichols,

Findlay

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Letter: Will we be ready the next time? - LimaOhio.com

Mike Pompeo’s Dad was a Hunanese Bandit and Other Real Fake News – Sixth Tone

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Did you know that getting COVID-19 can make women infertile? That former U.S. president Barack Obama was arrested? Or perhaps you were too busy reading how Amazon now sells black toilet paper out of political correctness or Greeces red light districts will limit patrons to 15-minute visits each as a COVID-19 precautionary measure.

Had enough yet? How about this one? U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is Hunanese, his father was a renegade bandit and a landlord, and thats why he hates China.

Those are just some of the headlines and reports Ive seen over the past couple months, scrolling through my parents social media posts, chat groups of secondary school classmates, microblogging platform Weibo, and Jinri Toutiao Chinas most popular news portal. A few were brought to my attention by my 9-year-old daughter.

They have, without exception, garnered widespread readership, been shared across social media, and generated significant discussion.

And they are, without exception, fake.

There is a real demand in China for international news. If anything, the countrys growing international influence and engagement has made the subject more attractive, not less. But increasingly, this massive demand for news about the outside world exceeds what traditional channels alone can deliver, leaving the countrys media environment overrun with disinformation.

Fabricated or false new stories about international events rampage across the Chinese internet partly because of its hermetic environment, which limits readers ability to visit foreign websites and find out for themselves what is true or false. Language is another barrier. English may be a compulsory class in Chinese schools, but only a minority of people can fluently read foreign language news. Most simply read secondhand compilations and rundowns instead.

Then there is the countrys dearth of qualified foreign correspondents. Having failed to become true centers of knowledge production, staff at Chinas news agencies abroad struggle to bring their understanding of other countries back to China and enrich peoples worldviews.

In shattering the monopoly on information once held by these news agencies, the internet has democratized content creation and dissemination. But it didnt take long for some to realize that disinformation and conspiracy theories reeled in as much, if not more attention than more sober reporting and ad revenue to boot. And whereas coverage of domestic issues is tightly regulated in the interests of maintaining social stability, regulators and the public alike take a far more relaxed stance toward international issues, especially as the public opinion climate increasingly turns against the West and its white liberal compradors.

Above: The screenshot on the left shows a fake report about Obama being arrested; The screenshot on the right shows a similar fake news report about Gina Haspel. Below: A screenshot of the original video shows it was taken out of context. From the website of China Fact Check

The trend has only become more prevalent this year with the explosion of what the World Health Organization termed an infodemic of disinformation about the coronavirus. The combination of information bubbles, selective or distorted reporting, and manipulation has only reinforced our distrust of neutral outlets. Today, many readers prefer to judge media on their standpoint, not the quality of their reporting, and polarization overwhelms levelheaded discussion.

Disinformation and political polarization are hardly unique to China, but those working in the Chinese news industry need to shoulder more responsibility for our failure to give diverse, varied perspectives on stories. This will become more pressing as China grows more powerful, if only because the citizens of an emerging superpower should have an understanding of the world that befits their status. Having accurate information about other countries is essential to adopting a rational, open-minded, tolerant worldview. Otherwise the barrage of disinformation will gradually distort the Chinese peoples knowledge of the world and hinder constructive dialogue between China and other nations.

So what can we do? As a former editor in Chinese media myself, I know from experience that traditional fact-checking methods, which rely on teams of specialized workers painstakingly querying each claim made in an article, are wholly inadequate for the tidal wave of misinformation flooding our social media feeds. Instead, I decided to try something new. This year I launched China Fact Check, which takes a digital, new media approach to the issue. The idea is to create an online platform to foster collaborative relationships between three parties key to stopping fake news: universities, the media, and social media platforms.

My rationale for including the first party, universities, is simple: Fact-checking should start with young people. Theyre at a crucial stage in their intellectual development, and its important to encourage and support them in improving their media literacy and cultivate their ability to differentiate between the trustworthiness of different sources.

Theyre also extremely helpful volunteers. College students possess a natural familiarity with the internet, and many of them are also fluent in foreign languages, allowing them to check the sourcing on reports in the original.

Supplementing their youthful enthusiasm, I have been joined in my project by a group of veteran international news reporters and editors, who have volunteered to form and run a quality audit committee to ensure fact-checking standards and quality. Despite the stigmatization of the mainstream media both domestically and globally, professionally trained media professionals still have the responsibility to act against fake news and disinformation.

The third piece of the puzzle is the trickiest. A 2019 study of 10 Chinese cities found that 99.82% of respondents got news from their smartphones. Roughly 75% listed chat groups on messaging app WeChat as a news source; 20% listed Weibo. Television and print media accounted for only 6.5% and less than 1% of respondents news consumption, respectively.

In short, companies like ByteDance, Sina, and Tencent are not just tech firms; theyre major media outlets as well. But compared with their international counterparts like Facebook and Twitter, they have yet to come under intense public pressure over disinformation. Meanwhile, as algorithms mature and become more accurate, the mutual dependence between users, content creators, and those platforms has only deepened. Users get a rush from reading their tailored news feeds, while the latter two groups reap the profits.

Its not always that Chinese social media platforms fail to give due attention to disinformation; its just that they typically attempt to solve the problem the way they approach everything else: with messy, opaque regulations and conflicting standards. They remove some posts really quickly while leaving more radical content untouched. Tencent runs a database of rumors and fake news that will automatically alert readers if theyve read articles on WeChat later flagged as misinformation. Yet, because platforms opt first and foremost to work with government agencies and mainstream media outlets, its difficult for third-party fact-checking agencies to get their work noticed or included in these databases.

Still, its not completely hopeless. Disinformation is its own ecosystem, with mature mechanisms of production, sharing, and consumption. We have to acknowledge the collapse of our traditional media infrastructure and take an active role in building something new an ecosystem for truth. That will require active participation from society; more responsible, engaged media outlets; and platforms willing to sacrifice revenue to ensure that the most widely shared news is also the most accurate.

I dont want my child growing up on fake, skewed information that then shapes her outlook of the world. Who would?

Translator: Katherine Tse; editors: Cai Yineng and Kilian ODonnell; portrait artist: Wang Zhenhao.

(Header image: DigitalVision Vectors/People Visual)

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Retired UW computer science professor embroiled in Twitter spat over AI ethics and cancel culture – GeekWire

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University of Washington computer science professor emeritus Pedro Domingos. (UW Photo)

The University of Washington computer science department denounced comments made online by a retired professor over a debate about AI ethics, Timnit Gebrus controversial exit at Google, so-called cancel culture, and more.

A heated back-and-forth involving longtime AI researcher Pedro Domingos and the response from the UW demonstrates the complexity of public discourse on controversial topics. It also highlights unanswered questions related to the societal implications of artificial intelligence, and is the latest example of the backlash that can occur when politics collides with academia and the tech industry.

Domingos, who joined the UW faculty in 1999 and is the author of The Master Algorithm,sparked the initial discussion on Twitter after hequestioned why the Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) conference was using ethics reviews for submitted papers.

Its alarming that NeurIPS papers are being rejected based on ethics reviews,' he tweeted last week. How do we guard against ideological biases in such reviews? Since when are scientific conferences in the business of policing the perceived ethics of technical papers?

His opinion drew a number of responses from other top data scientists and those involved with NeurIPS.

The problem here is that folks like him lack the humility to admit that they do not have skills in qualitative work and dismiss it all as a slippery slope,' tweeted Rumman Chowdhury, founder of Parity and former global lead for Responsible AI at Accenture Applied Intelligence. Qualitative methods have rigor. Ethical assessment can be generalizable and sustainable.

The discourse on Twitter then shifted to last years decision to rename NeurIPS. There were concerns over the previous name NIPS due to racial slurs and sexism.

That set off the beginning of a long exchange between Domingos and Anima Anandkumar, a professor at Caltech and director of machine learning research at NVIDIA who led a petition to change the name of the conference. Pornography came up in a discussion about web search results for the term nips, sparking a response from Katherine Heller, chair of diversity and inclusion for NeurIPS 2020, and Ken Anderson, chair at the University of Colorados computer science department.

As of Tuesday, Anandkumars Twitter was no longer active. She declined to comment for this story.Update:Anandkumar posted a public apology on her blog Wednesday. She also said she deactivated her Twitter account in the interest of my safety and to reduce anxiety for my loved ones.

NeurIPS posted a statement on ethics, fairness, inclusivity and code of conduct on its homepage. Weve reached out to the conference for comment.

Having observed recent discussions taking place across social media, we feel the need to reiterate that, as a community, we must be mindful of the impact that statements and actions have on our peers, and future generations of AI / ML students and researchers, it reads. It is incumbent upon NeurIPS and the AI / ML community as a whole to foster a collaborative, welcoming environment for all. Therefore, statements and actions contrary to the NeurIPS mission and its Code of Conduct cannot and will not be tolerated.

The Twitter chatter also delved into the recent departure of Gebru, a top AI ethics researcher at Google, and whether she was fired by the company or resigned following a controversy related to an AI ethics paper. Domingos tweeted that Gebru was creating a toxic environment within Google AI and said that she was not fired, despite Gebru stating otherwise.

Heller then tweeted at Domingos and said he was violating the NeurIPS code of conduct.

Later that evening, the UWs Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering issued a lengthy statement via Twitter. The schools leadership took issue with Domingos engaging in a Twitter flame war belittling individuals and downplaying valid concerns over ethics in AI, and for his use of the word deranged. Heres the statement in full:

#UWAllen leadership is aware of recent discussions involving Pedro Domingos, a professor emeritus (retired) in our school. We do not condone a member of our community engaging in a Twitter flame war belittling individuals and downplaying valid concerns over ethics in AI. We object to his dismissal of concerns over the use of technology to further marginalize groups ill-served by tech. While potential for harm does not necessarily negate the value of a given line of research, none of us should be absolved from considering that impact. And while we may disagree about approaches to countering such potential harm, we should be supportive of trying different methods to do so.

We also object in the strongest possible terms to the use of labels like deranged. Such language is unacceptable. We urge all members of our community to always express their points of views in the most respectful and collegial manner.

We do encourage our scholars to engage vigorously on matters of AI ethics, diversity in tech and industry-research relations. All are crucial to our field and our world. But we are all too familiar with counterproductive, inflammatory, and escalating social-media arguments.

We have asked Pedro to make clear he tweets as an individual, not representing the Allen School or the University of Washington. We would further argue that this whole mode of discourse is damaging and unbecoming.

The Allen School is committed to addressing AI ethics and equity in concrete ways. That work is ongoing, and many of our activities are listed on our website.

One key component is to expand the inclusion of ethics in our curriculum and prepare students to consider the very real impact that technology can have, especially on marginalized communities.

In recent years, we have added multiple classes on this topic at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, and we plan to continue to work toward expanding that aspect of our curriculum.

As a school, we have stated our commitment to be more inclusive and to consider the impact of our work on people and communities. We will not be deterred, by naysayers inside or outside of our community, from putting in the hard work required to achieve those aims.

Signed,Members of the Allen School LeadershipMagdalena Balazinska, Prof. and DirectorDan Grossman, Prof. and Vice DirectorTadayoshi Kohno, Prof. and Associate Director for Diversity, Equity & InclusionEd Lazowska, Prof. and Associate Director for Development & Outreach

Domingos described the schools response as cowering before the Twitter mob.

We followed up with Magdalena Balazinska, a well-regarded researcher and educator who took over as the Allen School director last year. Heres what she had to say about the matter:

As leader of the Allen School, one of my highest priorities is to promote a culture and an environment that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive. I also deeply care about an environment in which people discuss issues, even potentially controversial ones, openly, with empathy, and without bullying. Witnessing what happened on Twitter this past week was disheartening. We need to find ways to come together. The entire tech industry should work toward all these goals, and we have much work to do.

Ed Lazowska, a longtime leader at the Allen School, said the department is committed to academic freedom and freedom of speech.

We encourage good-faith dialogue, including on controversial issues, he said. But we expect members of our community to engage in that dialogue in a respectful, collegial, and constructive manner that is free from personal attacks and is not dismissive of peoples lived experiences. Pedro failed to live up to those standards and we felt compelled to make clear where we stand.

Lazowska added: Pedro is within his rights to tweet. We felt it was important to distance the school from his views.

In an email exchange with GeekWire, Domingos said the Allen School should have stood by my right to voice my opinions, and back me up in my efforts to free the machine learning community from the miasma descending on it.

Instead, they chose to pay their obeisance to the ultra-left crowd, as they have before, Domingos said, referencing Stuart Reges, another UW computer science professor who was criticized for his 2018 essay that claimed women are underrepresented in software engineering because of personal preference, not because institutional barriers deter them from pursuing careers in tech.

Reges told GeekWire he was disappointed that the Allen School has thrown Pedro under the bus.

He has raised significant questions about the activism surrounding Timnit Gebrus termination from Google and new efforts to inject ethics reviews into all aspects of AI research, said Reges. The greatest sin he has committed has been to refer to deranged activists. The unified mob reaction to try to cancel him proves that his opponents and the Allen School leadership are not willing to engage in meaningful dialog to explore the issues.

Domingos said the Twitter spat highlights how the machine learning community is being progressively strangled by political correctness and extreme left-wing politics.

The larger problem is that academia and the tech industry, not just machine learning, are being strangled by a crowd that refuses to allow the free exchange of ideas on which research depends, and is successfully imposing an increasingly far-left orthodoxy, he told GeekWire. People live in fear of their attacks.

Daniel Lowd, an associate professor at the University of Oregon who earned his PhD from the UW in 2010, tweeted that he would like to publicly disavow and distance myself from these comments by my PhD advisor and collaborator.

The reaction to Domingos original tweet about ethics reviews of AI papers also reflects the pressing dilemma of AI ethics as the technology increasingly infiltrates everyday life.

Considering the ethical impact of AI research is absolutely essential, said Oren Etzioni, a UW computer science professor emeritus (retired) who is now CEO of Seattles Allen Institute of Artificial Intelligence.

That said, its hard to argue with Pedros observations about online attacks and the refusal to allow the free exchange of ideas, said Etzioni, who noted that he was speaking to GeekWire as an individual and not a representative of any institution.

Etzioni called out a platform his father launched called Civil Dialogues that encourages deliberation on pressing issues. He also noted his Hippocratic oath created in 2018 as a way to encourage AI software developers to remember their ethical burden.

Asked about Domingos comments on Twitter, Seattle University senior instructor and AI ethics expert Nathan Colaner said it seems that his underlying attitude is that ethical concerns in AI are overblown, and that ethicists are making too much of their concerns, specifically when it comes to algorithmic bias.

I think thats the wrong attitude to have, Colaner said. First of all, there is no legitimate debate to be had about whether algorithms are neutral. It is also now clear that AI is not going to remove human bias, as we sometimes used to hear. But what is still unclear is whether human bias is a worse or less bad problem than algorithmic bias.

Colaner said there are plenty of unanswered questions that need answers as AI innovation continues at a rapid pace. The AI ethics community is basically scrambling, he said, adding that he supports the Allen Schools statement. Colaner is managing director of the Initiative in Ethics and Transformative Technologies, an institute at Seattle U made possible through a donation from Microsoft.

Healthy debate sharpens everyones minds, Colaner said, but since we in the AI ethics community have serious, time-sensitive work to do, distraction is not useful, which is why Twitter made the unfollow button.

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Retired UW computer science professor embroiled in Twitter spat over AI ethics and cancel culture - GeekWire

How did a Proud Boys leader with a felony record get into the White House? – Salon

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The chairman of the white nationalistProud Boys group, a convicted felon,posted photos from inside the White House gates ahead of a violent pro-Trump rallyin Washington DC on Saturday, raising new questions about the president's apparent embrace of the right-wing agitators.

Enrique Tarriorevealed that he visited the executive mansionon Saturdayafterreceivinga "last-minute invite to an undisclosed location." The White House later said that Tarriohad not been invited, but had instead taken part ina holiday tour."He was on a public White House Christmas tour," White House spokespersonJudd Deere said over the weekend. "He did not have a meeting with the president, nor did the White House invite him."

White House public tours are self-guided, and anyone who wants one,including Christmas tours, must apply no fewer than 21 days ahead of their booking date because the application includesasecurity formand background check.Hopefuls with afelony are generally denied, a former Trump White House official told Salon, unless a senior member of the administration intervenes.

In 2013, Tarrio, also known asHenry TarrioJr, was convictedoftwo class C, one class D and one class E feloniesfor stealing and reselling $1.2 millionworth of diabetes test strips from Abbott Labs, and served16 months in federal prison. Court records show that hewasreleasedin December2014with two years probation, and ordered to pay restitution for the full$1.2 million.

On Saturday, Tarrio was accompanied to the executive mansionby other members ofLatinos for Trump, includingBianca Garcia, the president of the group, and her son,Armani Garcia,aformer intern for Rep.Jody Hice, R-Ga. It is unclear if or when Latinos for Trump applied for its White House tour, and unclear why Tarrio received a security pass.

In the past, people who have been invited to the WhiteHouse specifically because of their work on criminal justice reform have been denied entry. For instance, Vicki Lopez, a former county commissioner in Florida who had been previouslysentenced to 27 months in federal prison for mail fraud,was notallowed intothe Obama White House in 2009, despite receiving a commutation fromformer President Bill Clinton. People with prior convictions who are able to gain entry are generally given special badgesand personal escorts. It would be highly unusual for someone with Tarrio's criminal history to get inside the White House without someone high up in the administration personally pulling strings, according to the former White House official.

A White House spokesperson declined to reply when asked who had checked Tarrio in on Saturday: The East Wing, where visitors usually enter, or the Executive Office of the President.

During the firstpresidential debate in September, Trump had the opportunityto denouncewhite supremacistsand violent far-right groups specifically, Democratic opponent Joe Biden invited him to condemnThe Proud Boys. Trump did not denounce the group but told them "stand back and stand by,"a directive that the group took as an endorsement. The Proud Boys Telegram accountwrote,"standing down and standing by sir."Another known accountincorporated a version of thephrase "Stand back. Stand by" intoa new group logo.

"I think this 'stand back, stand by' thing will be another Proud Boy saying," TarriotoldThe Daily Beast.(The Beast pointed out that previous slogans were:"The West Is the Best," and the warning "F*ck Around and Find Out.")

Trump eventually condemned the group in a Fox Newsinterview two days later but he also claimed he knew "almost nothing" about them. "I condemn theProud Boys," Trump said. "I don't know much about theProud Boys, almost nothing, butI condemn that."

The Proud Boys self-identify as "Western chauvinists," butdeny being part oftheracist alt-right. Members claim theyare instead simply a men'sgroup that promotes an "anti-political correctness" and "anti-white guilt"ideology, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

On his 2020 Ballotpedia candidatequestionnaire, Tarrio cited as his favorite book Pat Buchanan's 2001"The Death of the West:How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization."

"This book shows the growing problems and divide in our country," Tarrio wrote."It allows me to learn how to find solutions to conserve our nation and restore the love we have for it. We are not a perfect nation, but we must strive everyday to get as close to perfection as possible."

The group'sinitiation process demands aspirants to, among other things,denouncemasturbation andrecite five brands of breakfast cereal while fighting off an attack from other members. Thefinal requirement for membership involves "a major fight for the cause," founder Gavin McInnes told Metro.us in a 2017 interview.

"You get beat up, kick the crap out of an antifa" and possibly get arrested, McInnes explained.

"Their disavowals of bigotry are belied by their actions," the SPLC says on its profile of the group. "Rank-and-file Proud Boys and leaders regularly spoutwhite nationalistmemes and maintain affiliations with known extremists. They are known foranti-Muslimand misogynistic rhetoric."

In 2017, Proud Boysmarchedatthe Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virg., but after a neo-Nazi terrorist attack on counter-protesters left one woman dead, the group's founder Gavin McInnesssought to create distancefrom the white supremacist movement.In recent months, members have shown upto counterBlack Lives Matter protests, and last month President Trump shared a video of a post-election Proud Boys brawl in D.C., selectively edited to make it appear that a member was a victim, not an instigator.

The grouphasheld rallieswhere hundreds of membersattended, many of them armed.However, its chairman, Tarrio, cannot legally own a gun, because he is a convicted felon. He oftenappearsin photographs wearinga tactical vest with afruit-flavored malted alcoholic beverage tucked into a front pocket.

The Proud Boys also haveties to longtime Trump associate and convicted felon Roger Stone, and they areopen about its support for the outgoing president.Anotherleader, Joe Biggs, boastedlast year that he was having dinner with Trump at the president's D.C. hotel, and shareda picture of himself seated beside Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.Trump'sofficial schedulethat evening included "remarks at a fundraising committee reception" at Trump International Hotel at 8:00PM.Tarrio'sSaturday visit coincided with a rally in the nation's capital where thousands of right-wing protesters,including several hundred Proud Boys,a number of themdressed in tactical vests and fatigues, took to the streets toprotestTrump's election defeat.

This January, Tarrio launched his ill-fated congressional campaignwithalaunch partyat Trump National Doral in Miami on Jan. 25. (Tarrio had toacceptRoger Stone's endorsement in absentia that evening, as the Trump confidant had been arrested that morning.) About 300 people attended the event, whichcaught the tail end of the Republican National Committee's winter meeting and ended with fireworks.

However, his campaign's finance records do not indicate any payments on the night other than a$900 expense onJan. 27 to Trump's BLT Prime restaurantin Washington, D.C. (There is a BLT Prime at Trump's Doral club as well.)Tarrio laterbraggedthat"We exceeded our expectation by three-fold with 250+ in the building."

A White House spokesperson referred Salon's questions about security checks to the U.S. Secret Service.The Secret Servicedid not reply to multiple requests for comment.

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How did a Proud Boys leader with a felony record get into the White House? - Salon

Letter to the editor: Kershisnik was right | Rocketminer – Wyoming Tribune

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Once again Dan Kershisnik has attacked my writing. This time I wrote about rafting, published here in the Rocket Miner on Nov. 21. His comment appeared on Nov. 28.

How will I ever be able to win? Why wont Kershisnik just invite me out for a beer at some fancy drinkery like Steves Wyoming Club? There he could advise me on the wisdom and moral superiority of Trump supporters like himself.

After reading my column and Kershisniks letter, a female confidant pointed out to me that when I wrote, they looked hot and fun in a hippy sort of way, it could indeed be construed that I was objectifying women. OK, I admit it, although this has never happened before, Kershisnik is right.

The same confidant, however, had a good laugh when she pointed out the irony of Kershisniks lecture to me, because, since when do Trump supporters worry about objectifying women? Remember the Access Hollywood tape? That alone should have made it impossible for him to become president, but some characteristics in Trumps presentation of himself have a super-glue hold on many people. These same characteristics repel me.

Whereas within Wyoming, in the presidential elections of both 2016 and 2020, I was in the minority, within the nation I have both times been within a large majority. The Electoral College was designed, in part, to keep clowns like Trump out of the White House, but it has failed. It didnt do so hot in 2000, either, but not nearly as badly in 2016.

In light of this, Kershisnik comes out sounding like a Hollywood liberal espousing political correctness. Next, hell be recommending that I take sensitivity training classes to heighten my awareness of the feelings of fascists and racists. Who knows, from there he might start telling me about whales and bison and reusable shopping bags, and the evils of fracking, but I bet he still wont be wearing a mask. Contradiction seems to be his way.

Perhaps my name touches off an attack-reflex in him against all things liberal. With pride, I consider myself a writer with liberal views on rural places. I respect conservatives when they are being conservative, which is a set of economic and social ideologies, but not when they are acting crazy and racist and ignorant, which in times past was not characteristic of conservatives. It used to be possible to have polite, logical discussions with them, but many of them have changed.

These past four years have witnessed the most mocking, insulting, and lying president we have ever had. Its with confusion and deep regret that so many Wyomingites have supported Trump these last few years. Will their flags and conspicuous signs and hateful slogans ever go away? To better understand these times, I have been reading up on Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple, the suicide cult. Ive also reread some pages about the rise of Adolf Hitler.

Contrasting the above characters with liberal Barrack Obama, whos worse offense was trying to get everyone health insurance, its easy to see that a sickness has invaded rural America; it would take a pretty good neighbor, and with courage, to point this out. I would say to people who are still supporting Trump, Who and what you support say a lot about who and what you are. When Trump has been disgusting, his supporters, his excuse makers, are by association also disgusting.

Still, I thank Dan Kershisnik for pointing out to me something that I should have put more thought and sensitivity into. That beer, however, will have to wait a while, as Im currently camping, hiking and exploring, and enjoying the relative warmth, of The Big Bend area of Texas. This is, however, another story for another time.

Much of Texas, like Wyoming, is pretty trumpian, but I was encouraged the other day seeing a small Bidden/Harris sign in the garden of a cottage; there is hope.

Tom Gagnon, Rock Springs

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Letter to the editor: Kershisnik was right | Rocketminer - Wyoming Tribune

Santa Claus to fly by the International Space Station – GPS World magazine

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Santa Claus will be performing a ceremonial fly-by of the International Space Station (ISS) on Dec. 24. The visit will honor the 20th anniversary of continuous life on the ISS, a milestone achieved in November.

The official NORAD Santa Tracker at NoradSanta.org will allow users to track Santas journey all day on Dec. 24. New for this year, visitors will be able to see the ISS orbiting the planet in its precise real-time location by zooming out on the 3D Santa Tracker app. Other updates include additions to Santas traditional garb, including a face mask and space helmet.

Santas sleigh flying past the International Space Station on a precise digital twin of the Earth built by Cesium. (Photo: Cesium)

The ISS is a spectacular example of what humans can accomplish when we work together, said Hannah Pinkos, lead developer of the app. 2020 has been a tough year, but I think this special trip is Santas way of reminding us to believe in ourselves.

NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, is a United States and Canada bi-national organization that defends North America by tracking objects flying in and around its airspace 24 hours a day using radar, satellites and fighter jets. Each year, it joins corporate partners in taking on a special mission to also track Santas sleigh. The app shows Santas position reflected on a digital twin of the Earth provided by Cesium, a Philadelphia-based geospatial software company.

Cesium is rooted in aerospace, so its especially meaningful to us that our technology will allow millions of people to enjoy this event in real-time from the safety of their homes, added Cesium CEO Patrick Cozzi.

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Santa Claus to fly by the International Space Station - GPS World magazine

NC native heading to International Space Station in fall of 2021 – WCTI12.com

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  1. NC native heading to International Space Station in fall of 2021  WCTI12.com
  2. NASA Astronauts Hard at Work on Multiple Life Science Investigations Aboard the International Space Station  Space Ref
  3. China's Space Program Suggests Decoupling Won't Work Like the US Hopes  The Diplomat
  4. World's space achievements a shining star in 2020 | Science  Albany Democrat Herald
  5. Eventful year in space distracted us from grim year on Earth  Los Angeles Times
  6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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NC native heading to International Space Station in fall of 2021 - WCTI12.com

Commentary | Tim Peake’s 2015 space station mission gave UK science a long-lasting shot in the arm – SpaceNews

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UK Science Minister Amanda Solloway remembers Peakes Dec. 15, 2015 mission to the ISS as a turning point for British space exploration.

Five years ago today, Maj. Tim Peake stepped off a gangway into a Soyuz rocket, fastened his seat belt and took to the skies from a remote desert in Kazakhstan. As he did so, he took along a photograph of his family and friends, his iPod nano, and the anticipation of a whole country.

As Tim made the eight-minute, 45-second journeyaway from the Earths gravity, the former RAF officer and Apache helicopter pilot wrote his name into our history books, and pub quizzes up and down the land, becoming the first Briton to live on humanitys most unique science laboratory, the International Space Station.

I am delighted that we are ending this difficult year on a rare high note. These past few weeks have seen rapturous applause for the outstanding achievements of scientists from our shores and beyond in helping us find a safe vaccine for COVID-19. And it is a time in which we should also recognize the shot in the arm for science that Tim Peake gave this country.

Tim became our own star in space and used his time to inspire many school children in the UK to believe space is within their grasp and to discover the wealth of opportunities that exist in science, technology, engineering.

During his missions 186 days and 11 hours, Tim undertook no fewer than 250 pioneering science experiments, before going on to don the infamous white pressure suit and join the history books once again as he joined the few who can say they have walked in space.

But Tims job on the space station went far beyond the experiments.

While onboard Tim took time to host question and answer sessions with school students giving kids a chance to put their questions to an astronaut floating round the Earth, thousands of miles away, and have answers beamed back down to Earth.

He was able to harness the growing power of social media to capture the publics imagination, sharing images that reflected the true beauty of the world; allowing us all to vicariously enjoy a thin slice of the heavens on a daily basis.

In the weeks prior to launch, a competition to design the mission badge, led by the BBCs Blue Peter, generated over 3,000 entries and was won by 13-year-old Troy Wood, who, with talent beyond his years, visualized a design featuring Isaac Newtons apple and the Soyuz rocket.

Five years on, we know Tim did not leave his legacy in orbit. Since his return he has been a beacon for science and a champion for space, sharing his wonderful experiences as an astronaut to inspire people in myriad ways. He embarked on a nationwide tour with the Soyuz rocket in tow, visited schools across the country and used his platform to encourage us all to ponder a career in space, to take up that science qualification, or register for an amateur astronomy course.

In the first two decades that followed the halcyon days of the space race in the 1960s, one of the great ambitions of many children was not to be a football player, singer or a celebrity, but to be an astronaut or a rocket scientist.

We know that the legacy of Tims historic journey similarly captivated people in the UK and we have now launched a campaign to ask people to share their memories of Tims mission and their personal reflections.

Inspiring British spacemen and women cannot be a guise for underinvestment. We are serious about turbocharging our research community, which is why we are not just talking a good game, we are investing record amounts in research and development. In the recent Spending Review we committed to invest 14.6 billion ($19.5 billion) in research and development including to support groundbreaking technologies and businesses, for innovation loans to help cutting-edge UK businesses access capital, and to build new science capability and support the whole research and innovation ecosystem.

This is married to big ambitions to make us the first country in Europe to launch satellites in the next couple of years, earning us our stripes as a space nation and giving the UK its very own Sputnik moment.

When Tim reached the International Space Station five years ago, he boldly went where no Briton had gone before. Because of him, I know he will be the first of many.

Amanda Solloway is the United Kingdoms science minister.

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Commentary | Tim Peake's 2015 space station mission gave UK science a long-lasting shot in the arm - SpaceNews

Utilizing the International Space Station to enable humans to reach Mars – The Hill

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Over the past 20 years, the International Space Station (ISS) has housed more than 200 astronauts from 17 countries. The ISS has proven to be uniquely capable of enabling the development and testing of exploration technology and human physiology research for future Mars missions.

In the next 10 years the ISS can play a critical role in overcoming hurdles on the road to human exploration of Mars, not only as a laboratory for key research topics, but as the starting point for simulated Mars missions that take humans from a zero-G environment to Mars analog sites on Earth. Areas of research include environmental and life support systems, habitation module development, human factors, space nutrition, space suit testing, long duration human physiology, surface adaptation and rehabilitation, and much more. The ISS is a unique facility for solving scientific mysteries, and if we leverage everything it has to offer, it will accelerate our efforts to explore the solar system.

Integrated Mars mission analogs

One unanswered question is how long it will take for astronauts to recover from their zero-gravity transit to Mars when they reach the martian surface. Currently, astronauts returning from the ISS are scooped up by support staff moments after they reach the Earth; however, astronauts will not have the same luxury on Mars. They will need to self-recover on a dangerous alien planet after six to nine months in a zero-g environment and begin work as soon as possible. Given this reality, it is necessary to understand how long astronaut recovery, both physical and mental, will take in order to design the architecture of future Mars missions to meet their needs. We can start to answer these questions with astronauts returning from the ISS now.

Mars missions will also require updates to the operations concepts, tools and processes astronauts need to enable their ground activities as quickly and safely as possible. Expeditions that simulate astronaut operations with time-delayed support teams will demonstrate where knowledge is lacking. These activities should be incorporated into upcoming ISS expeditions to maximize the benefits of the ISS while it is in orbit. Addressing these unknowns will allow us to buy down significant risk for the crews on their way to Mars.

To take full advantage of any of these tests, we need to start now. If humans are going to go to the martian system in the 2030s, it requires an understanding of what the crew will experience. Integrated analog missions, in harsh environments such as the dry valleys of Antarctica or the Arctic, which combine the above research areas, could potentially revolutionize our understanding of Mars mission operations.

Long duration spaceflight studies laboratory

The ISS is also useful for testing how humans will perform during deep space missions. Early Mars missions may be as long as 1,100 days from launch to Earth return for both orbital and surface missions. Whether by design or as a contingency plan, the crew could end up spending the entire duration in a zero-G environment. It is currently unknown how missions of this duration will affect astronaut health and performance. In fact, there are zero data points for long term human spaceflight beyond 438 days (Valeri Polyakovs Mir mission in 1994), not even half the duration of the shortest Mars missions.

Missions such as The Year in Space, with Scott Kelly and Mikhail Korniyenkos time aboard the ISS, have been key to understanding how long-duration space flight affects the human body and psyche. That being said, we need more data points to generate a statistically meaningful dataset from a diverse population if we are going to generalize the findings.

The two-and-a-half hour exercise regimen currently employed on the ISS largely remediates the effects of bone loss and muscle deterioration on 6-month to 1-year missions. But, even if these problems prove manageable, there are still other challenges that we need to examine. For example, astronauts on the ISS can also experience vision blurring, renal stone formation, bone fractures and limited access to medical care, to name a few. How astronauts will overcome these and other unknown challenges that may arise as they extend their stay in space is currently unknown. But we can pursue more long duration missions on the ISS to find out.

A testbed for Mars mission equipment

ISS can also serve as a valuable testbed for Mars mission equipment such as for experiments and technology demonstrations that require microgravity, radiation or thermal space environments. Environmental control systems, 3D printing techniques, intelligent systems and many other technologies required for Mars exploration could be tested on the ISS today, in an in-space environment only hours away from the Earths surface. It is necessary to understand how new deep space systems withstand the rigors of exposure to a zero-G environment. In fact, many of these systems, such as urine processors, can be thoroughly tested only when there are humans regularly stressing the system.

Public outreach

The public wants NASA to do great things; they want to see humans explore the solar system. As NASA develops more comprehensive plans to send humans to Mars in the 2030s, the public would almost certainly be excited to see NASA testing equipment for the Mars Transfer Vehicle in orbit or to follow the progress of astronauts on simulated Mars missions from the ISS to a Mars analog site during the 2020s. Taxpayers will witness astronauts doing real training in preparation for Mars, and the public will even be able to experience the challenges of such missions firsthand, both through social media and augmented or virtual reality experiences currently in use in the space program.

The ISS is unique: it is nearby, it is active, but it will not last forever. If we are serious about ever going beyond the Earth system, we need to take advantage of our resources at hand. With the right expertise applied and supporting management structure, the ISS can expand the horizons of human space exploration. There are no other platforms in existence that provide the unique capabilities that the ISS offers. Abandoning the opportunity to use the ISS to the fullest extent of its capabilities will only slow us down and even stand in the way of the journey to Mars.

Chris Carberry is CEO of Explore Mars, Inc., and author of Alcohol in Space. Rick Zucker is vice president for policy, and member of the board of directors, of Explore Mars, Inc.

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Utilizing the International Space Station to enable humans to reach Mars - The Hill

China Moon Mission Brings Lunar Rocks to Earth, and New Competition to Space – The New York Times

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China may have been a latecomer to the moon, but when its capsule full of lunar rocks and soil returned to Earth early Thursday, it set the stage for a new space race over the coming decades. This time, it will be a competition over resources on the moon that could propel deeper space exploration.

The countrys Change-5 spacecraft gathered as much as 4.4 pounds of lunar samples from a volcanic plain known as Mons Rmker in a three-week operation that underlined Chinas growing prowess and ambition in space. It was Chinas most successful mission to date.

The United States and the Soviet Union competed for supremacy in an epic space race in the 1960s and 70s, during which they brought back lunar samples, but that was a different era. Now China is in the fray, and todays competition once seemingly the realm of science fiction could be equally intense and more mercantile.

The Chinese are eager to flaunt their technical skills and explore the solar system. Like the United States, the country has a broader goal to establish a lunar base that could exploit its potential resources and serve as a launching pad for more ambitious missions.

Beijing has not staked out some sort of declarative statement where they want to replace the United States as leader in space, said Brendan Curry, chief of Washington, D.C., operations at the Planetary Society. But they certainly want to be a major actor in space.

In a statement, the China National Space Administration said a capsule with the moon rocks landed in Inner Mongolia at about 2 a.m. local time (it was around 1 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday). The capsule had separated from the main spacecraft when it was about 3,000 miles above the southern Atlantic Ocean. At an altitude of about six miles, it deployed its parachutes to slow its descent.

Video broadcast on state television showed recovery teams arriving at the capsule less than an hour after the landing. It may take hours for the capsule to be transferred to facilities where it can be confirmed that the lunar samples are intact.

Space now is fast becoming one more arena where the two countries might clash. Although Chinas military and civilian space programs are still catching up with those in the United States, the countrys ambitions were part of the Trump administrations motivation to set up a Space Force.

Vice President Mike Pence last year announced plans to accelerate Americas return to the moon by 2024 during a speech in which he warned that China wanted to seize the lunar strategic high ground and become the worlds pre-eminent spacefaring nation.

Entrepreneurial space companies could further upend any competition between NASA and China. By the time that NASA or Chinese astronauts reach the moon, Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of SpaceX, says he will be sending people to Mars. Even if Mr. Musks pronouncements turn out to be too optimistic, the future of space exploration may no longer be dominated by national space agencies.

Some hope that a competition between China and the United States could change to cooperation. But NASA is currently limited from directly working with the Chinese space agency or Chinese-owned companies. That provision was inserted in 2011 into the law financing NASA by Frank Wolf, then a Republican congressman from Virginia, to punish China for its human rights record and to protect American aerospace technology.

In the near term, planetary scientists in the United States could be left out of the science bonanza from the rocks gathered by Change-5, which came from a region of the moon much younger than those visited previously.

Although the law does not prevent non-NASA scientists from working with Chinese counterparts, it does prevent Chinese scientists from looking at the moon rocks that NASA astronauts brought back during the Apollo missions, and China may well return that snub.

Obviously the United States prohibits cooperation with China, no? said Xiao Long, a scientist at the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan, who has advised the Chinese space program. It certainly does not hope that China develops quickly. They have already put their cards on the table. It is not something that is being done quietly.

At a talk on Tuesday to the Greater Houston Partnership, an economic development organization, Jim Bridenstine, the NASA administrator, addressed the prospect of relaxing the ban on NASA-China cooperation.

Its above my pay grade, Mr. Bridenstine said. But certainly, I do believe NASA is a tool of diplomacy. I believe that asset is a tool that can be used as, for example, a pot sweetener for a trade deal. I think it can be used for all kinds of purposes for international diplomacy.

The incoming Biden administration has yet to announce its plans for NASA. But it will probably push back the Trump administrations 2024 target, which was unlikely to be achieved even if President Trump had been re-elected because of technical and financial limitations.

In contrast to the uncertainty and periodic shifts in direction at NASA, China has stuck to its plans and timetables, with the countrys space program serving as a source of national pride that provides another tool of international diplomacy.

Chinas leader, Xi Jinping, has made space a central part of his dream of creating a greater, more powerful China and, despite occasional setbacks, the space program has made enormous progress.

They are able to commit to a much longer-term goal, said Namrata Goswami, an independent analyst and co-author of a new book on space exploration, Scramble for the Skies.

The development of the Change probes started in the early 2000s when President George W. Bush declared that NASA astronauts would return to the moon by 2020. It continued that path when the Obama administration canceled that moon program and focused on more distant destinations like an asteroid and Mars.

The first two Change spacecraft were orbiters that circled the moon. Change-3 landed in December 2013, and China joined the United States and Soviet Union as the only nations to make a successful landing there. In January 2019, Change-4 became the first spacecraft to land on the far side of the moon. Its rover, called Yutu-2, is still operating, studying lunar geology nearly two years later. China is now the only country to land successfully on the moon in the 21st century, and has done it three times.

And even as the Trump administration touted a return to the moon, China has shown no urgency to accelerate its plans of sending Chinese astronauts to the moon in the 2030s. If NASA astronauts arrive earlier, China seems to be in no rush to beat them.

But while China takes its time with longer-term space goals, the successful Change-5 mission took off only last month, and its speedy return with lunar samples provided almost instant gratification. It required feats of engineering and execution that China has never attempted before.

Not long after arriving in lunar orbit, Change-5 split into two parts, an orbiter and a lander that reached the surface on Dec. 1. It then scooped up and drilled for samples that the spacecraft returned to lunar orbit and then ultimately back to Earth. The lander also lifted a small Chinese flag.

China envisions its moon missions as more than demonstrations of its space technology and national pride. It envisions the moon as a base robotic at first, then perhaps a human outpost that will support space exploration in the decades to come.

Lt. Gen. Zhang Yulin, a former deputy commander of Chinas astronaut program, wrote in The Peoples Daily last year that cislunar space the area between the Earth and moon would become another broad field for the expansion of human living space.

Another senior official in Chinas space program, Bao Weimin of the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, last year floated the once seemingly fanciful idea that cislunar space could become an economic zone generating $10 trillion for the countrys economy.

Its not just about showing off technology, Dr. Goswami said in a telephone interview. They are starting to articulate economic aspirations in terms of the resources that are out there.

China was not the only country to bring something back from space in December. A Japanese spacecraft, Hayabusa2, returned to Earth after a six-year journey with what that countrys space agency described as a large number of particles, which scientists will study to understand the building blocks of the solar systems inner planets, including Earth.

Still, in scope, ambition and resources, Chinas program now rivals the United States and Russias. And in the nearer term, competition between the two countries could occur closer to Earth.

China is planning to build a space station in orbit around Earth and has offered to have astronauts from other nations work there. If it is able to accomplish that goal, that would make the Chinese orbital outpost a competitor with the International Space Station led by the United States and Russia.

And the restrictions on cooperative study of Chinas new stash of moon rocks will also be a disappointment for many scientists in the United States in the years to come.

They represent a completely different era of lunar history and will definitely help in our quest to understand the evolution of our moon, wrote Clive R. Neal, a professor of civil engineering and geological sciences at the University of Notre Dame who said he would love a chance to examine the new samples.

Alas, Dr. Neal added in his email, I dont think this is possible.

That was followed by a sad face emoticon.

Claire Fu in Beijing contributed research.

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China Moon Mission Brings Lunar Rocks to Earth, and New Competition to Space - The New York Times

SpaceX will launch a spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office Thursday. Watch it live! – Space.com

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Update for 11:10 am ET: SpaceX has called off today's launch attempt for the NROL-108 spy satellite due to higher than expected pressures in the Falcon 9 rocket's upper stage. The next launch attempt will be Friday, Dec. 18, at 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT). There is a 3-hour launch window for the mission.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. SpaceX is set to launch a spy satellite into orbit for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) on Thursday (Dec. 17), and you can watch the action online.

The flight is scheduled to blast off from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center here in Florida during a planned three-hour window that opens at 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT). However, the exact liftoff time has not yet been announced.

You can watch the launch live here and on the Space.com homepage, courtesy of SpaceX, beginning about 15 minutes before liftoff. You'll also be able to watch the launch directly from SpaceX here.

Related: SpaceX's 1st secret US military satellite launch (& landing) in photos

This mission will mark the 31st launch this year for SpaceX and its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, as well as the third Falcon 9 to fly in a little over a week. On Dec. 6, SpaceX kicked off its final launch run of the year by ferrying an upgraded cargo Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station, marking the first time there were two such craft attached to the orbital outpost. A few days later, the California-based rocket builder launched a radio satellite into orbit for Sirius XM.

Now, SpaceX will close out a record-setting year with a bang. The company announced that this mission, dubbed NROL-108, includes a rare treat: an upright Falcon 9 booster landing at Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, as opposed to the more common drone-ship landings at sea.

To date, SpaceX has successfully recovered 69 first-stage boosters, 20 of which touched down on terra firma. For its 70th, the company's Falcon 9 will touch down at one of the company's landing sites just 9 miles (14 kilometers) from where it lifted off. SpaceX warned central Florida residents that they should expect to hear sonic booms as the rocket touches down at LZ-1.

"There is the possibility that local residents may hear one or more sonic booms during the landing attempt," SpaceX officials said in an advisory emailed out to the media. "Residents of Brevard County are most likely to hear one or more sonic boom, although what residents experience will depend on weather conditions and other factors."

Officials at the U.S. Air Force's 45th weather squadron have said that the weather looks good for Thursday's attempt, with 70% chance of favorable conditions for launch. The main issues for concern are liftoff winds and potential for a thick cloud layer.

Related: Hitch a ride to space (and back) on a Falcon 9 in this awesome video

The star of today's mission will be one of SpaceX's frequent flyers a Falcon 9 first stage known as B1059. This will mark the booster's fifth launch and landing attempt. Previously it ferried two different Dragon cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station (CRS-19 in December 2019 and CRS-20 in March of this year), launched the Starlink 8 mission in June, and most recently lofted the SAOCOM-1B Earth-observing satellite into orbit for Argentina on Aug. 30.

Thursday's flight will mark the 102nd overall launch of a Falcon 9 rocket and the 70th first stage recovery. SpaceX's drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You" is sidelined for this mission as the booster will attempt its second touchdown on land in a row. (Previously in August it landed at LZ-1 after carrying SAOCOM-1B to space.) That touchdown will occur approximately nine minutes after liftoff.

The company's other drone ship, "Just Read the Instructions" is on its way to Port Canaveral, toting a seven-time flyer. That booster, B1049, became the second in SpaceX's fleet of veteran rockets to launch and land seven times when it ferried the first of two massive radio broadcasting satellites into space for Sirius XM on Sunday (Dec. 13). The second Sirius XM satellite is set to launch sometime next year, and the duo are expected to replace aging satellites already on orbit.

GO Ms. Tree, one of SpaceX's net-equipped boats, is heading to the recovery zone to await today's launch. It's unclear yet if the vessel will attempt to catch the Falcon 9's falling payload fairing the protective "nose cone" that surrounds a satellite during launch or if SpaceX will just scoop the two halves out of the ocean. (Whether or not a catch is attempted depends on a number of factors, including weather and sea conditions at the recovery zone.)

SpaceX has been successful in its attempts to reuse more of the Falcon 9, even reusing several fairings on multiple missions. The payload fairing accounts for approximately 10% of the cost of the rocket, which is roughly $62 million. Reusing fairings could save as much as $6 million per flight, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has said.

The company has been reusing payload fairings, and even used its first refurbished fairing on a paying customer's flight. The Sirius XM-7 mission featured one fairing half that previously flew on the Anasis-II mission earlier this summer, which launched a communications satellite for South Korea's military.

Today's mission will mark the final launch from Florida for 2020. In total 31 missions have launched from the area this year, and 26 of those have been on SpaceX rockets.

Follow Amy Thompson on Twitter @astrogingersnap. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.

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SpaceX will launch a spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office Thursday. Watch it live! - Space.com

Space Operations Chief Emphasizes the Importance of Partnerships – Department of Defense

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Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. "Jay" Raymond spoke today at TechCrunch's Space 2020 virtual event.

Raymond emphasized the role partnerships play in the Space Force. "I'm going to really work hard on cultivating partnerships," he said, citing Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, New Zealand, France, Germany and Japan.

Two days ago, he said he signed a memorandum of understanding with Japan for the Hosted Payload Program, which involves putting U.S. payloads on Japanese satellites. "It saves us dollars and gives us capability."

Last year, the U.S. signed a Hosted Payload Program memorandum of understanding with Norway. Two payloads on their satellites saved the U.S. more than $900 million, he said.

"We're really turning these partnerships into partnerships where we operate together; we train together; we exercise together; we war-game together; we develop capabilities together, and it's proven to pay significant advantages and there's future growth opportunities ahead," he said.

Raymond said he also wants closer ties to the commercial sector.

A few weeks ago, he mentioned watching NASA launch U.S. astronauts from U.S. soil aboard a commercial rocket to the International Space Station.

"I really believe with all this going on in the commercial industry that there's a fused relationship to be had. And we're trying to bring us closer together and to be able to capitalize on this innovative transformation that's happening, especially in the national security space business," he said.

Raymond said industry is heading toward autonomous launches and reusable rocket stages. "Those are going to be huge national advantages that we need to be able to capitalize on."

All of the launch industry will eventually go to autonomous launch operations, he predicted, adding that he's written a policy letter mandating that all Defense Department launches be autonomous by 2025. "It completely rewrites the rulebook on how we do range operations; reduces the footprint of the infrastructure that we have; reduces the amount of bodies that have to come to work to support a launch; allows us to launch more cheaply; allows us to have greater transaction rates, so we can launch more and turn the range around a lot quicker and reduces launch costs."

Raymond said the U.S. has no desire to weaponize space.

"Our goals are to deter conflict from beginning or extending into space," he said.

Unfortunately, adversaries such as China and Russia have robust programs to weaponize space, he mentioned.

Raymond said his goals are to keep the Space Force lean, diverse, agile and cutting-edge and to reduce bureaucracy.

There are currently about 2,400 uniformed personnel in the Space Force, and that number should soon climb about 6,400, he said. Additionally, there are another 10,000 Space Force civilians.

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Space Operations Chief Emphasizes the Importance of Partnerships - Department of Defense

NASA shares photo of what snow-covered Himalayas look like from space – The Indian Express

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By: Trends Desk | New Delhi | Updated: December 16, 2020 5:40:19 pmThe picture also captures the orange airglow, which is the result of atmospheric particles reacting to solar radiation.

NASA shared an image what the snow-covered Himalayas look like from space and its being widely shared on social media. Shared from NASAs official Instagram handle, the picture also captured the bright city lights of New Delhi and Lahore.

The enhanced, long-exposure image was reportedly taken by one of the crew members of the International Space Station (ISS).

The snow-covered Himalayan Mountains are in splendid view in this enhanced, long-exposure image taken by a crew member aboard the @iss, the post read.

Take a look here:

The picture also captures the orange airglow, which is the result of atmospheric particles reacting to solar radiation.

Take a look at some of the reactions to the picture:

The Himalayan mountain range has some of the highest peaks in Earth, including the Mount Everest, located at the border between Nepal and China.

The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

For all the latest Trending News, download Indian Express App.

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NASA shares photo of what snow-covered Himalayas look like from space - The Indian Express

SSTV Event to Help ARISS Mark 20 Years of Continuous Ham Radio Operation in Space – ARRL

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12/17/2020

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) will continue its year-long 20th anniversary celebration of continuous ham radio operation from the ISS this month, with a slow-scan television (SSTV) event over the holidays. The first ARISS school contact took place in December 2000, not long after the first ISS crew arrived on station a month earlier and had made test contacts. The commemorative late-December SSTV event will be held December 24 through December 31, although dates are subject to change. The frequency will be 145.800 MHz, using SSTV PD-120 mode. Over its 20 years, ARISS has supported nearly 1,400 scheduled ham radio contacts with schools, student groups, and other education organizations.

ARISS would not be the complex and growing program of education, operations, and hardware were it not for ARRL, AMSAT, NASA, and the ISS National Lab (INL), said Rosalie White, K1STO, ARISS-US Delegate representing ARRL. For these past 20 years and for the years to come, when we grow into lunar ham radio opportunities and more, the ARISS team will continue to be grateful to ARRL and all our sponsors. We could not do it without you!

The ARISS ham radio gear, for what would become NA1SS on board the station, arrived ahead of the Expedition 1 crew, headed by Bill Shepherd, KD5GSL. Shepherd made the first ARISS school contact with students at Luther Burbank Elementary School in Illinois on December 21, 2000. NASA has marked the ARISS milestone with an infographic highlighting the educational contacts via amateur radio between astronaut crew members aboard the ISS and students.

ARISS will continue to sponsor various commemorative events through November 2021, including more of the very popular ARISS SSTV sessions. In celebration of the 20th anniversary of ham radio on the space station, ARISS took part in the ISS Research and Development Conference (ISSRDC) panel session, 20 Years of STEM Experiments on the ISS. A video developed for the session describes the program, conveys some key lessons learned over the past 20 years, and describes the ARISS teams vision for the future.

Twenty years of continuous operations is a phenomenal accomplishment, said ARISS-International Chair Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, whos been with the program from the start. But what makes it even more extraordinary is that ARISS has achieved this through hundreds of volunteers who are passionate in paying it forward to our youth and ham radio community. On behalf of the ARISS International team, I would like to express our heartfelt thanks to every volunteer who has made ARISS such an amazing success over the past 20 years. Your passion, drive, creativity, and spirit made it happen.

In September, ARISS announced that the initial element of its next-generation Interoperable Radio System (IORS) had been installed in the ISSColumbusmodule, replacing outmoded and problematic station gear.

A helpful addition to the ARISS website is a Current Status of ISS Stations, which reports the present or coming operating mode of ARISS radios in the Columbus and Service modules. Click on General Contacts and then Current Status of ISS Stations on the drop-down menu of the ARISS website to access the reports.

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SSTV Event to Help ARISS Mark 20 Years of Continuous Ham Radio Operation in Space - ARRL

Check out these amazing views of Earth shot from the space station – Digital Trends

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Soichi Noguchi has emerged as the resident photographer of the International Space Stations current Expedition 64 crew.

The 55-year-old Japanese astronaut reached the orbiting outpost last month, together with three American astronauts, aboard SpaceXs Crew Dragon capsule on its first operational flight.

Since arriving, Noguchi has been tweeting some amazing photos as the ISS orbits the planet every 90 minutes or so, from around 250 miles up. The images were likely taken from the space stations seven-window Cupola observatory, which offers incredible views of Earth, the moon, and beyond.

So lets take a look at some of the best ones to date

This remarkable image shows Houston, Texas, as well as Trinity Bay and Galveston Bay, and Beaumont off to the east.

Howdy, #Houstonian! #houstontx # pic.twitter.com/hkhXW9JXPG

— NOGUCHI, Soichi (@Astro_Soichi) December 10, 2020

An enviable view of Spains Balearic Islands

#Ibiza #Spain's Balearic Islands in the #Mediterranean Sea. pic.twitter.com/ZwXzKFtzY0

— NOGUCHI, Soichi (@Astro_Soichi) December 14, 2020

Noguchi describes this eye-catching image of Mauritania in Africa as almost like an oil painting.

Almost like an oil painting #Africa is beautiful. #Mauritania and #WesternSahara pic.twitter.com/JpD6dtPacV

— NOGUCHI, Soichi (@Astro_Soichi) December 13, 2020

A striking photo of Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri (not Illinois, Soichi!)

I found #Dragon! Lake Ozarks in #Illinois , near hometown of @Astro_illini pic.twitter.com/wbfUY4kLC4

— NOGUCHI, Soichi (@Astro_Soichi) December 5, 2020

With its quirky man-made islands in the Persian Gulf, heres no mistaking Dubai from 250 miles up

Palms, and the World. #Dubai Happy belated anniversary #UAENationalDay pic.twitter.com/wNabENmWf4

— NOGUCHI, Soichi (@Astro_Soichi) December 8, 2020

If you follow an imaginary diagonal line from the top right corner of this photo, youll see a bright white dot about a quarter of the way down. Its the Sydney Opera House

Sydney, #Australia. Yes, I can see the famous operahouse! pic.twitter.com/6sD5CXZ5d7

— NOGUCHI, Soichi (@Astro_Soichi) December 9, 2020

Noguchis fabulous night shot of his home countrys capital city

Good night, #TOKYO! pic.twitter.com/laSbi0FbSW

— NOGUCHI, Soichi (@Astro_Soichi) December 6, 2020

Here we see the Texas location of SpaceXs recent test flight of its prototype Starship rocket, which ended in a spectacular fireball.

Boca Chica, #TX. Probably the closest place to #moon and beyond. Go, #SpaceX !!! pic.twitter.com/jgyeuqYJCG

— NOGUCHI, Soichi (@Astro_Soichi) December 10, 2020

An awesome view of Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia

#Riyadh, #SaudiArabia magical city in the middle of beautiful desert. pic.twitter.com/S0jHVVWuWM

— NOGUCHI, Soichi (@Astro_Soichi) December 6, 2020

Beautiful Hawaii islands, tweets Noguchi.

Beautiful #Hawaii islands. # pic.twitter.com/dh1U0PsSk5

— NOGUCHI, Soichi (@Astro_Soichi) December 5, 2020

The Japanese astronaut points out the place where the Crew Dragon, which transported him and his fellow crew members to the ISS last month, was built.

#LosAngeles our #resilience spacecraft was built here. pic.twitter.com/OssLoOtJBp

— NOGUCHI, Soichi (@Astro_Soichi) December 5, 2020

Turning his gaze away from Earth for a moment, Noguchi captured this beautiful image of the moon, a place set to welcome the first woman and next man before the end of this decade.

#Moonrise pic.twitter.com/sz1TZa4Gew

— NOGUCHI, Soichi (@Astro_Soichi) November 30, 2020

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Check out these amazing views of Earth shot from the space station - Digital Trends

NASA shares picture of snow-covered Himalayan mountains from space. It also captures Delhis bright… – Hindustan Times

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In her famous track titled Tennis Court, singer Lorde sang the poetic lyric, Ill see the veins of my city like they do in space. If youre a Delhite, then this statement may be the aptest description for what this image, shared on the official Instagram account of NASA, shows. The long-exposure photograph, taken by a crew member aboard the International Space Station, shows what the snow-covered Himalayan mountains look like from space. It also captures the bright city lights of New Delhi. The stunning snapshot may leave you stunned.

Posted just a few hours ago, the image is accompanied by text explaining what it shows. It reads, The snow-covered Himalayan Mountains are in splendid view in this enhanced, long-exposure image taken by a crew member aboard the @iss. The highest mountain range in the world, the Himalayas are the result of 50 million years of collisions between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates. South of the range, or to the right from this perspective, lies the agriculturally fertile region of northern India and Pakistan.

The caption further goes onto state that the bright city lights of New Delhi and Lahore are visible below the orange airglow of atmospheric particles reacting to solar radiation. Check out the post below:

Since being shared on the photo and video sharing platform, this post has accumulated over 5.8 lakh likes and many comments from netizens. These numbers are also steadily rising.

Here is what Instagram users had to say about the post. One person said, OMG! So beautiful.

Another individual wrote, A marvellous picture. Brilliant photography and fascinating exquisite image! read one comment under the post.

What are your thoughts on this share?

Also Read | Heres what 2 supermassive black holes merging together look like. Check it out

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NASA shares picture of snow-covered Himalayan mountains from space. It also captures Delhis bright... - Hindustan Times

DarkZero, Spacestation to play in SteelSeries Rival Cup this weekend – Dot Esports

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Screengrab via @DarkZeroGG

After a week of cross-pollination in content between Spacestation Gaming and DarkZero Esports Rainbow Six Siege teams, SteelSeries announced today that the teams will play each other in their Rival Cup on Saturday, Dec. 19.

The victors will take home $5,000, while the losers will still pocket $2,500.

The pair last locked horns in early November during NAL Stage Two play, with Spacestation taking home a 2-1 victory. They didnt meet in the November Mini-Major, which was ultimately won by TSM.

DarkZero and Spacestation are two of North Americas premiere Rainbow Six teams. DarkZero won the August Mini-Major, which was online. Spacestation are the reigning Six Invitational champions and won the final season of ESLs Pro League this spring.

The showmatch could have some overlap with the Six Invitational Closed Qualifiers, which are scheduled to start an hour after the match on the official Rainbow Six Twitch channel. The Rival Cup will take place on Dec. 19 at 2pm CT on the SteelSeries Twitch channel.

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DarkZero, Spacestation to play in SteelSeries Rival Cup this weekend - Dot Esports

Notable Heroes in Health Care: ORell Williams – BizTimes – Milwaukee Business News

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Dr. ORell Williams works as a physician and serves as vice president of medical affairs at Ascension St. Joseph on Milwaukees north side. As a former Milwaukee firefighter and physician he uses his skills, courage and compassion to improve the health of the

Dr. ORell Williams works as a physician and serves as vice president of medical affairs at Ascension St. Joseph on Milwaukees north side. As a former Milwaukee firefighter and physician he uses his skills, courage and compassion to improve the health of the community.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit early and hard, Williams became increasingly concerned about the disproportionate number of minority patients battling the virus.

He quickly jumped in using his voice and his role in the community to dispel disinformation and educate the community that COVID-19 was real and serious.

He took the time to brief faith leaders in the community about the disease, and met with elected officials to help them make informed decisions and taught people how to protect themselves and prevent its spread.

He took advantage of opportunities to reach people where they live, build deeper connections and instill confidence in his message, said Reggie Newson, vice president of government and community services and chief advocacy officer, Ascension Wisconsin.

Williams also serves as clinical management section chief for Ascension Wisconsin, a position he has held since the beginning of the pandemic. In this role Williams mobilized more than 1,000 physicians across the state to be able to help patients where the need was greatest.

He oversaw the implementation of advanced telehealth technology across Wisconsin which expanded access to care and allowed Ascension providers to virtually offer consultative support to needed areas.

He also continues to see patients two days a week providing much needed access to primary care.

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Notable Heroes in Health Care: ORell Williams - BizTimes - Milwaukee Business News

Notable Heroes in Health Care: Maternal Health Initiative – BizTimes – Milwaukee Business News

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Last updated on December 16th, 2020 at 09:15 am

Maternal morbidity rates have dramatically increased over the past 20 years, with significant disparities for women of color, uninsured or underinsured women and women living in lower socioeconomic areas.

Prenatal care is a key determinant in maternal morbidity and infant mortality. In late 2019, Ascension St. Joseph in Milwaukee established the Ascension Maternal Health Initiative to help understand why women missed prenatal appointments and help them overcome any barriers they may experience.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit which only exacerbated the problems that already existed.

The team quickly shifted their focus and continued to care for their patients by routinely calling them, even providing care for them in their homes. They brought supplies like food, diapers and cleaning supplies with them.

The pandemic made getting to appointments even more difficult and some patients were scared to leave their homes, said Dr. Matt Lee, medical director, Women and Families at Ascension Wisconsin. The maternal health team responded quickly.

Jequeta Hamm credits the team with saving her life. She was pregnant and living with lupus which put her in a high-risk category for COVID-19.

The team consistently checked on her throughout her pregnancy and after she gave birth. They drove to her house to check her blood pressure after discovering she wasnt feeling well. With her blood pressure very high they got her to Ascension St. Joseph where she spent four days getting her blood pressure and her cardiomyopathy under control before returning home to her baby.

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Notable Heroes in Health Care: Maternal Health Initiative - BizTimes - Milwaukee Business News