What is the Liveable Income Guarantee, and how could it affect you? – Yahoo Finance Australia

Posted on by

The economic crises that have punctuated the 21st century, most notably the global financial crisis and the Covid-19 crisis, have led to a growing realisation that alternatives to our present system arepossible and perhaps inevitable.

In particular, there has been an erosion of the belief that the economy is able to provide a decent income to everyone who wants to work.

A number of proposals have been put forward in the wake of this realisation, among them

universal basic income, which would unconditionally provide every resident (children and adults) with a regular subsistence wage

ajob guaranteein which the government would provide real jobs, at the minimum wage, to all unemployed Australians

Many seem utopian, which isnt necessarily a bad thing its good to look beyond the day-to-day to consider how things could be done differently.

In a new Australian National University Policy Brief we propose something practical, which we are calling aLiveable Income Guarantee(LIG).

It starts with one of the most successful institutions weve got: the age pension.

Before the age pension was introduced in 1908, retired Australians were highly likely to be poor. But now, on some measures, retired Australians are less likely to be in poverty than Australians of less than pension age.

Our proposal is to replicate this success for the entire population.

We are proposing a payment equal to the pension, and subject to the same asset and income tests, that would be provided to everyone who is willing to make a contribution to society consistent with their ability to do so.

Contribution would be defined broadly to maximise contributions. Examples would include full-time study, volunteering, caring for children, ecological care, and starting a small business.

The biggest shift relates to the treatment of unemployed workers and single parents.

JobSeeker is set to return to theunliveablerates of the former Newstart afterthe end of December.

We are suggesting that instead it be lifted to the rate of the age pension, which is about where it used to be before unemployment benefits were frozen in real terms in the 1990s.

Newstart versus the age pension

Dollars per fortnight, single. Source: Ben Phillips ANU, DSS

Parenting Payments have also been notoriously low, especially for single parents, whose support has been cut consecutively by five prime ministers fromHoward to Turnbull.

Unlike some proposals for a universal payment to all citizens, the increased expenditure required for the liveable income guarantee would be relatively modest, as little as A$20 billion a year.

This is roughly comparable to the budget cost of the income tax cuts, primarily directed to high earners, legislated to take effect in2022 and 2024.

The real barriers to the adoption of the proposal are ideological. The central assumption underlying economic policy in Australia has been that in a market economy everyone who wants a decent job is capable getting one.

It has followed that the unemployed are seen as either unwilling to work or suffering from particular deficits that need to be remedied by training and job readiness programscase by case.

Over the first two decades of this century, it has become evident this assumption is incorrect. The global financial crisis and the subsequent swing to austerity produced sustained high unemployment in much of the developed world.

While Australia avoided the worst consequences thanks to well-timed stimulus (here and in China) the unemployment rate has failed to fall below 5 per cent as underemployment has climbed for more than a decade.

Any prospect of a rapid return to full employment have been dashed by the pandemic.

Longer term it is clear that many existing jobs will disappear as a result of technological change, and it isnt clear that our current institutions will be able to manage the process.

While governments should commit to a return to full employment, they are unlikely to be completely successful.

The implementation of a liveable income guarantee would allow us to be better prepared in case they are not and to be better prepared for future disruptions, be they pandemics or anything else.

Story continues

On the brighter side, technological progress has increased our productive capacity to the point where we can afford to support a much wider range of non-market contributions to a market economy. The crisis has shown us how importantmany of those contributions are.

Looking beyond the crisis, it is possible (relatively simple) to create a society in which everyone has a decent standard of living, and no one is excluded.

Providing dignity to everyone who makes a contribution would benefit us all.

Authors:

John Quiggin: Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland

Elise Klein: Senior Lecturer, Australian National University

Troy Henderson: Lecturer in Political Economy, University of Sydney, University of Sydney

This article originally appeared in The Conversation.

Make your money work with Yahoo Finances daily newsletter. Sign uphereand stay on top of the latest money, news and tech news.Follow Yahoo Finance Australia onFacebook,Twitter,InstagramandLinkedIn.

Read the rest here:

What is the Liveable Income Guarantee, and how could it affect you? - Yahoo Finance Australia

THE FUTURIST: Think of COVID-19 as a bike with training wheels for the 2020s – Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Posted on by

By David Houle| Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Learning to ride a bike is a clear image for most, either a memory from your childhood or from parenthood. The first lesson is to learn how to peddle, break, hand signal, turn and generally adapt to the concept of a bike. Then the training wheels come off and the concept of balance is the next big lesson to learn. (My father was hardcore. He said no training wheels, learn balance first on a scooter.) Once learned, it's a skill that isalways remembered and has become a metaphor whenever someone says they havent done something natural or routine in a long time Hey, its just like riding a bike!

The 2020s is the most disruptive decade in history. (Hey, great title for a book!). COVID-19 is one big global disruption. Hard to think of anything or anyone that hasntbeen disrupted in the last 7 months. We all had to make major fundamental changes in how we live. We all are still having to live differently than we did this time a year ago. Healthcare workers and just about everyone in the field of education are in full-on adjustment, and largely on their own. Actually, these groups of workers seem to have to fight politicians who are making decisions based upon politics instead of science, certainly in this state, while they struggle forward with no new support or funding. (Yes, this angers me. Shouldn't children and education get what is needed in a global crisisfirst?)

Business owners, large and small, have either closed their businesses for good or are working like crazy to keep from doing so. We all know the issues and the challenges. What we dont know is how to consider that we will never return to normal.

What is the new normal? When will everything go back to how it was?

There is no normal. The only normal is abnormality. Expect, be open to and even embrace abnormality. Nothing will go back to how it was.

The single largest psychological symptom of the pandemic is the belief that sometime this will be over. It will not.

The movie theater business, the restaurant business, the office leasing business, the theater business, the concert business, the in-person conference business and all the other businesses that are based upon lots of people coming together in a space will never be the same. Sorry. Many of these businesses will remain, but many fewer than before COVID-19. Those that remain will be different in how they operate and how they serve customers.

False hope can be deadly. Please dont hang on to it.

Why is almost everything going to be different even if COVID-19 goes away?

Political tampering withscientists at the CDC, the FDA, and HHS has shown in recent polls that a majority of citizensdont trust the government. I've heard people say: Let all our political leaders take the first vaccine and if nothing bad happens to them it will be good for the country. If something bad does happen to them, it will be good for the country.

The creation, production and distribution of a successful vaccine will need to betaken by at least 75% of the population for there to be a post-COVID-19 economy, at a time when many are reticent to trust a vaccine.

Second, over time people change, particularly when they have had to absorb massive amounts of change in several months time. Past research has shown that new habits can be fully formed in several weeks. We have had months now to recalibrate our lives. Streaming services have exploded during COVID-19, all for the price of a single movie theater ticket, or less. We may all go back to the theaters, but nowhere near the frequency we had in the past.

We have learned to cook more, save more, spend less on food and generally become healthier eaters. We have become cooks, dieters and bread makers. Yes, we will go out to restaurants, but not with the frequency of the past.

The largest disruption, of course, is working from home. Millions who never did, do now. Many like it so much that they dont want to go back to the officeever again. Companies see the cost savings they have realized and will support their employees' desire to continue working at home. Look for vacancies and darkness in downtown office buildings across the country.

What COVID-19 has done is to give us a chance to learn how to ride a bike with training wheels. We had never ridden one and how we have. However, we havent had to learn the concept of balancing during on-going disruption. To lose the training wheels will mean that the next disruption of any magnitude will be easier to adapt to.

Very few of us, and as a futurist I am one of the few, have achieved anystate of balance with the pandemic. Things are off-kilter until we get back to the way it was or until we have a vaccine or "until we return to normal. All delusions.

In the 2020s there will most likely be another global pandemic. There will be deflation in parts of the world and inflation in others. There will be a massive reckoning about debt and finance. If 100% of Americas GDP went to retire the federal governments debt, we still would not have retired all of it. There will be unprecedented numbers of unemployed and under-employed.

There will be major geo-political upheavals and continued wealth inequality. Oh, and something called the climate crisis. In a recent book I forecast a range of 50-100 million climate crisis refugees globally in the next ten years, and probably at least five million of those in our country.

COVID-19 has been our opportunity to learn the experience of riding a bike. We now have to get ready to ride through disruption after disruption, and keep our balance while doing it.

Sarasota resident David Houle is a globally recognized futurist. He has given speeches on six continents, written seven books and is futurist in residence at the Ringling College of Art + Design. His website is davidhoule.com. Email him at david@davidhoule.com.

Read more from the original source:

THE FUTURIST: Think of COVID-19 as a bike with training wheels for the 2020s - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

The Moon Might Be Littered With Ancient Shrapnel From Venus – Futurism

Posted on by

Blast Zone

The surface of the Moon may be covered in rocks that came from Venus potentially making it easy to study our hellish planetary neighbor.

Billions of years ago, Yale astronomers theorize, asteroids and comets impacting Venus could have dislodged chunks of the planets surface and send them careening through the stars. If they did, CNET reports, then some of these Venusian meteorites may have made their way to Earth or the Moon, giving easier access to samples from a planet where recent findings suggest extraterrestrial life could possibly be hiding.

Its fairly speculative work, which the authors concede in their research, which was accepted for publication into the Planetary Science Journal. But the two astronomers behind the work suggest its worth keeping an eye out, given the possibility of obtaining material from Venus without having to actually go there.

The Moon offers safe keeping for these ancient rocks, study coauthor Samuel Cabot said in a press release. Anything from Venus that landed on Earth is probably buried very deep, due to geological activity. These rocks would be much better preserved on the Moon.

The researchers are counting on more than random luck. They argue that the Earth and Moons gravitational pulls would be more than enough to draw in the Venusian meteorites.

An ancient fragment of Venus would contain a wealth of information, coauthor Gregory Laughlin said in the release. Venus history is closely tied to important topics in planetary science, including the past influx of asteroids and comets, atmospheric histories of the inner planets, and the abundance of liquid water.

READ MORE: Bits of Venus may be lurking on the moon, scientists suggest [CNET]

More on Venus: Scientists Speculate About How Life on Venus Could Have Begun

See the rest here:

The Moon Might Be Littered With Ancient Shrapnel From Venus - Futurism

Physicist: There Were Other Universes Before the Big Bang – Futurism

Posted on by

Universe 2.0

Before the Big Bang, when our universe began to rapidly expand, there may have been a previous universe whose place we took.

Sir Roger Penrose, a University of Oxfordmathematician and physicist who just won the Nobel Prize for work in the field of black holes, suggested that our universe was not the first to exist, The Telegraph reports. And, he added, it wont be the last either.

The Big Bang was not the beginning, Penrose said, according to the paper. There was something before the Big Bang and that something is what we will have in our future.

In Penroses view, a universe will continue to expand until all of its matter eventually decays. And then, in its place, a new one will begin.

We have a universe that expands and expands, and all mass decays away, and in this crazy theory of mine, that remote future becomes the Big Bang of another aeon, he said, according to The Telegraph.

The proof of his idea are what Penrose calls Hawking Points: the corpses of black holes from before the Big Bang that outlived their own universes but are now at the end of their lifespans, leaking radiation as they fade into nothing.

So our Big Bang began with something which was the remote future of a previous aeon and there would have been similar black holes evaporating away, via Hawking evaporation, Penrose added, and they would produce these points in the sky, that I call Hawking Points.

READ MORE: An earlier universe existed before the Big Bang, and can still be observed today, says Nobel winner [The Telegraph]

More on Penrose: You Could Generate Power By Dangling Crap Into a Black Hole

Link:

Physicist: There Were Other Universes Before the Big Bang - Futurism

Elon Musk: Fusion Will Probably Be More Expensive Than Wind, Solar – Futurism

Posted on by

On Tuesday, a team of MIT researchers made a big splash when they announced that their SPARC compact fusion reactor is very likely to work.

The announcement, detailed in seven papers penned by dozens of scientists from a laundry list of research institutions, claimed that the researchers were on a straight path to achieving fusion power generating power from fusing atomic nuclei together like the Sun, rather than splitting them,like a nuclear power plant. The promise is a never-ending source of clean power without running the risk of a nuclear disaster.

Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk says hes impressed by the research with one major catch: the cost.

Its cool and for sure can and should be done, he tweeted about the fusion research,but I suspect its best case will be more costly than windand solar (aka big fusion reactor in sky).

Fusion energy has been the holy grail for energy generation for over half a century. While the science and technology surrounding reactor designs have come a long way, Musk is right that it remains an elusive dream.

Cost isnt the only issue facing it. As of right now, its simply not viable yet.

Despite all that, the people working on the next generation of fusion reactors are undeterred. The SPARC team at MIT is hoping to get to the point where their reactor puts out ten times the amount of energy it consumes.

But as weve heard many times before, the technology is still well over a decade away their goal is to start generating electricity starting in 2035.

And then, like Musk said, fusion energy could be a costly endeavor. The price of wind and solar energy have plummeted over the years, giving them a more-than-healthy head start over fusion.

Developing a functioning and efficient fusion reactor is also proving to be an extremely costly process. The ITER fusion power plant, soon to be the largest of its kind in the world, is an international collaboration with a sky-high price tag: a whopping $22 billion a conservative estimate,critics say.

The US Department of Energy has long been skeptical of ITERs plans. Congress confirmed it had approved a $115 million investment in 2016, but support for the project dwindled throughout president Donald Trumps first term. Only $50 million were set aside by the Department of Energy this year including for both national and international fusion energy research and development.

Despite the lack of enthusiasm for ITER, US lawmakers havent given up on solar [fusion?]. Earlier this month, the US House of Representatives approved a fusion energy commercialization program to support a burgeoning industry of private fusion startups.

The hopeis to make fusion a reality through public-private partnerships very much in the same vain as NASAs collaboration with SpaceX and other contractors.

By scaling down operations who needs a multi-billion dollar, football field-sized reactor? some startups are hoping to come up with their own solutions in achieving fusion energy.

Fusion is poised for a SpaceX moment,' CEO of startup General Fusion Christofer Mowry told NBC last year.

A 2018 paper explored what the economy of fusion energy could look like in the coming decades. While the costs strongly depend on what the exact designs of the fusion reactors look like, the electricity price could become comparable to that of solar and wind, the papers authors argue.

But it may not be a question of either or fusion is perhaps more likely to be just part of the solution. According to a study commissioned by a British fusion power startup, fusion may be a way to make up for electricity shortfalls in the renewable energy sector.

In other words, wind and solar alone wont be enough to meet demands and keep climate change in check. Fusion could help by replacing current power generation from coal and natural gas.

More on fusion: MIT Researchers Say Their Fusion Reactor Is Very Likely to Work

Read the original here:

Elon Musk: Fusion Will Probably Be More Expensive Than Wind, Solar - Futurism

The International Space Station Finally Got Its New Space Toilet – Futurism

Posted on by

Precious Cargo

On Monday morning, the spacecraft carrying a brand-new toilet finally arrived at the International Space Station.

The long-awaited delivery showed up alongside cargo and scientific experiments on the S.S. Kalpana Chawla, a Northrup Grumman spacecraft named after one of the astronauts who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, Space.com reports. Once its installed, ISS crewmembers will test it out for several months to see if its cut out for future missions to the Moon.

Once its installed, ISS crewmembers will test it out for several months to see if its cut out for future missions to the Moon.

The toilet, which is the first one that NASAs sent to the ISS since 1990, is designed to be more accessible and user-friendly than the existing one, which has also become a notorious hazard for crewmembers.

The original toilet will stay where it is, but it was designed to be best suited for men, leaving women on the ISS with an unfair struggle.

That will be crucial if the toilet passes the test and tags along on the upcoming Artemis missions, during which NASA hopes to send the first woman to the surface of the Moon.

READ MORE: The International Space Station Finally Got its New Space Toilet [Space.com]

More on the space toilet: NASA Says It Needs a New Space Toilet for the Artemis Moon Missions

Continue reading here:

The International Space Station Finally Got Its New Space Toilet - Futurism

A novelists vision of the virtual world has inspired an industry – The Economist

Posted on by

Neal Stephenson is lord of the Metaverse

Oct 1st 2020

IN THE LATE 1980s, a young author named Neal Stephenson was working on a project to create a graphic novel. He typed in some code on his Apple Macintosh II and a pair of spherical mirrors appeared on the screen, hanging in space. To make the images look more realistic, the code he used calculated how light bounced off the objects in the frame, so each mirror featured on it a convincing reflection of the other.

At the time it was unbelievable that you could use code to generate that kind of an image, he recalls. He remembers having two conflicting thoughts: 3D computer graphics presented a tremendous opportunity to create a whole new medium, but they were too expensive and too difficult to make.

And so I got to thinking about what could make it cheap, he says. Television had started out as an expensive curiosity and then became cheap and accessible by becoming a mass-broadcast medium. Mr Stephenson began to imagine what might be necessary to bring about a similar transition for 3D computer graphics. I was trying to imagine what a popular medium would look like, centred on the use of the 3D graphics technology. And the Metaverse was my best guess as to what something like that might look like.

Introduced to the world in 1992 in his novel, Snow Crash, the Metaverse was a persistent virtual worldaccessible to individuals via special gogglesin which people could meet, claim territory, build things, make money and more.

The impact of Mr Stephensons idea on the real, non-fictional world has been profound. Ask anyone working to create interactive 3D virtual environments what has inspired them, and Snow Crash will be somewhere on that list.

That explains why Mr Stephenson is also a sought-after futurist in Silicon Valley. Over the years he has been tapped by firms including Blue Origin, Jeff Bezoss space-launch company, and most recently as chief futurist for Magic Leap, a startup making augmented-reality glasses.

Today it is Mr Stephensons visiona social, persistent, virtual-reality 3D space accessible to anyone and which will one day be a successor to todays internetthat many tech companies are seeking to build. One of the biggest supporters of Mr Stephensons idea of a Metaverse is Tim Sweeney, boss of Epic Games and creator of Unreal, the game engine that powers Fortnite and many other popular games. Mr Sweeneys stated ambition is to turn such games into some version of the persistent virtual world described in Snow Crash.

One thing I got wrongwas assuming a television model for the development of this medium, says Mr Stephenson. What grew instead was games. Still, he reckons that what makes science fiction useful to people in the real tech world is plasticityleaving some room for interpretation, so that people who try to implement it can incorporate their own ideas and point of view.

I think that where Tim and the Epic folks are going with it, is based on an understanding that you do have to start with a game engine if youre going to build a Metaverse, says Mr Stephenson. Because just having a game engine that works, and that is sustainable as a business, is kind of the table stakes. If you cant do that, you cant build a multi-user realistic 3D platform.

This article appeared in the Technology Quarterly section of the print edition under the headline "Lord of the Metaverse"

Continue reading here:

A novelists vision of the virtual world has inspired an industry - The Economist

The Best Antidote to Stress – FEI – FEI Daily

Posted on by

Auris/iStock/Getty Images Plus

This year really has been unlike any other. The 2020 Financial Leadership Summit Virtual Conference kicked off yesterday with Andrej Suskavcevic, FEIs President and CEO, and Frank Cesario, CFO of Radiac Abrasives, Inc. and Conference Chair,welcoming us. Although we were meant to gather in May in Franks hometown of Chicago, this year has taught us that indefinite uncertainty affords us opportunity to gather new insights from our peers, content experts, and industry leaders. Wecan form and deepen relationships that will help us confidently navigate our new normal. And, well be gifted resources that guide us in implementing the change our organizations need to remain competitive in the I want it right now and I want itmy way marketplace.

FEI invited me to offer opening remarks about staying positive in unprecedented times. I shared research showing just how high COVID-19 has elevated Americans stress levels. I offered suggestions for ways society is evolving, a download to helpyou and your team to process loss, and many habits you can deploy to remove stress, manage time, and walk forward with clarity. All business today is personal. So, being near emotionally balanced people, openly expressing your emotions, andintentionally distributing your time into activities, colleagues, and learning that uplifts you will allow you to thrive. The best antidote to stress is resilience.

Our next speaker, Howard Tullman, a futurist, serial entrepreneur, and venture investor, wowed attendees with more than 250 slides and examples of emerging trends, competitive considerations, and how technologies are transforming our lives.Howards key takeaways for me include the idea that todays success is your greatest impediment to change and future economic viability. The businesses of the future will offer access to products, services and experiences, without having assets.And, that we now have to mass customize our offerings as customers are empowered in ways theyve never been. As Howard said, be consistent, persistent, and resistant. To learn more about him, visithowardtullman.comto read his TullmanTruisms and blog about entrepreneurship for Inc. Magazine.

The Hays Companys David Ross gave an incredible presentation about avoiding costly health plan mistakes. Jeff Dawley, President and Co-Founder of Cybersecurity Compliance Corporation, spoke about cybersecurity and building resilience inyour organization. Bruce Willey, CEO of American Tax and Business Planning, offered insights into small business tax planning process improvement. And, it wouldnt be a FEI Summit if we didnt close without a bit of fun - comedian Collin Moulton did just that.

We opened discussing stress and its causes. We talked about the pace of change increasing. We shared ideas about ways to mitigate risk and plan for whats next. And, we closed with humor and a belief that no matter what the next year brings,we will be better together.

The theme of this years Summit is Vision 2020. If day one is a barometer, expect six learning-rich days. There will be opportunities to experience our sponsors virtually, and download the digital conference bag, in the engagement hub. Purposelydesigned networking sessions will allow you to share your obstacles and receive myriad solutions back. Having vision often means we have to surrender how something is done and trust that more beneficial outcomes are available. If you happento miss a session, youll be able to view it on demand through December 31st.

For the last three years, Michael S. Seaver has served as emcee of the Financial Leadership Summit. For more on his work as speaker, leadership consultant, and executive coach, visit michaelsseaver.com.

Read more here:

The Best Antidote to Stress - FEI - FEI Daily

Exxon Mobil Planning to Massively Increase Its Annual Emissions – Futurism

Posted on by

Betting on Oil

According to internal documents obtained by Bloomberg, Americas largest oil and gas corporation Exxon Mobil has been planning to increase annual carbon-dioxide emissionsby 17 percent by 2025 equivalent to about the output of the country of Greece.

And thats not even the whole picture, as it only reflects Exxons own operations as an oil company not the emissions hit from millions of customers burning fuel.

The real climate change impact would be about five times the companys estimate, as Bloomberg reports, amounting to about 100 million tons of additional carbon dioxide.

Unlike many of its rivals, Exxon Mobil has never made any promises about cutting emissions or plans of ever becoming carbon neutral. For instance, BP set an extremely ambitious goal of becoming net zero by 2050 earlier this year. Shell announces similar plans as well.

The pandemic has wreaked havoc on the oil industry this year with oil prices hitting negative numbersfor the first time ever.

As demand returns and capital investments resume, Exxon wrote in a statement to Bloomberg that our growth plans will continue to include meaningful emission mitigation efforts. For instance, it published plans to offset methane emissions and reducing carbon intensity during oil production.

READ MORE: Exxons Plan for Surging Carbon Emissions Revealed in Leaked Documents [Bloomberg]

More on Exxon: Tesla Is Now Worth More Than ExxonMobil

Read more here:

Exxon Mobil Planning to Massively Increase Its Annual Emissions - Futurism

Do Not Offend the Gods: 8 SFF Books Featuring Deities – tor.com

Posted on by

When I was growing up, my world was neatly divided into monotheism and pantheism. On the monotheism side there was the god of Abraham and on the pantheism side there were the GreeksZeus, Hera, Athena, etc. Youre probably noticing some signs of a very limited world view. I had been told that the Romans had gods just like the Greeks only with new names like Jupiter and Juno. I knew there were other religions, and I was at least passingly familiar with the Norse gods. My fifth-grade social studies textbook made sure I knew a little about the Sumer and Ur and the Egyptians, but their gods? Their gods just didnt show up very often back then and there were so many other gods to whom Id never even been introduced.

When I wrote my first novel The Thief, I knew I wanted to set it in the landscape of Ancient Greece with a Byzantine level of technology and pantheistic religion, but I didnt want to co-opt the Olympian gods or the Titans for my story. In so many textbooks over the years, the Greek pantheon has been reduced to one dimensional versions of their former selves. I wanted three dimensional characters and I was afraid there would be too much dissonance between my gods and their schoolbook definitions.

By then, Id read and loved Diana Wynne Joness Dalemark books in which she created, particularly in Drowned Ammet, gods and goddesses so real that you thought they must be based on some religion you just hadnt yet learned about. I wanted to make up gods that felt that real. My gods are a mix of very human traits and the unknowable. They meddle in human affairs and the mortals must make the best of it. Im going to take it as a win that a disturbing number of reviewers refer to them as Greek gods and dont seem to realize that they arent.

And now, I think Im living in a golden age, with so many fabulous writers bringing us stories of gods and goddesses drawn from cultures all over the world or invented from whole cloth. Here are some of my favorites. Some of the gods are very down to earth while others are far from it. They are sometimes kind and sometimes cruel. Some seem like mortals writ large and some are ineffable. The one thing they all have in common? Just like the god Eugenides in Return of the Thiefyou want to stay on their good sideif you can.

Apollo took from them the day of their return.

The Iliad is an excellent example of just how much misery that gods can inflict on humanity, but that story begins with the wrath of Achilleswhen the events that led to the war on Troy are long over. With The Odyssey, we get a front row seat as Odysseus slays the Cyclops and makes a lifelong enemy of his father, Poseidon. We see his men eat the cattle of Apollo and then we get a ten year long lesson in why you shouldnt offend the gods.

I was in my twenties when I read this book. Id only ever read one book by Jones, Dogsbody. I had no idea she had written anything else. Her books werent on a shelf in any library Id visited and this was long before you could look up an author on the internet. The best we had was an out of date collection of Books in Print. I hope it seems bizarre to at least some of my readers, that this may have been the first time I read a story with gods and goddesses that werent either Greek or Celtic. It was Athena and Artemis and Zeus or it was Arawn and Cernunnosthose had been my only options. Sure, there was The Lord of the Rings, but Tolkien stripped much of the identifying features out of his source material. Jones was writing about Thor and Odin and Loki and I was delighted.

David, a perfectly ordinary British school boy is home from school for a miserable holiday with his miserable family, distant relatives who are his guardians and who make it clear his presence is deeply unwelcome. In the back garden, venting his misery, David shouts out nonsense syllables that just happen to be the words that will release Loki from an underground prison where hes been holding up a bowl to catch the poison dripping on him from a venomous snake. Loki appears a boy, just Davids age, charming and little odd and up for some fun, like, setting a whole department stores on fire, for example.

When the other gods show up looking for escaped Loki, David has to decide whose side hes on. Its a shame you cant help out one god without pissing off a bunch of others.

Mortals believe gods to be omnipotent and ever-knowing. The truth is more slippery

The Lord of Xibalba has had his head cut off by his twin brother and his bones have spent 50 years in a trunk before Casiopea discovers them. When a single bone shard pierces her skin, the Mayan god of death is reconstituted. He draws life from her, but with that nourishment comes Casiopeas humanity, changing the nature of the god even as they work together to reinstate him on the throne of Xibalba. While Casiopea is tied to Hun-Kam, her unpleasant cousin Martin, works for the new Lord of Xibalba, Hun-Kams brother. Mortal, gods, witches, demonsall have to take sides and hope their side wins.

Trail of Lightning is set in a post-apocalyptic world where the Dinetah has become an independent nation with a wall around to keep the that have flooded the outside world. Maggie Hoskie is a monster slayer. She didnt offend Neizghani, her immortal teacher so much she disappointed him. She was his apprentice until he left her behind without warning or explanation. With no other choice, she carries on, on her own.

I love everything about Roanhorses work, but particularly the fact that it is set in the future. In this story, perhaps the gods should have been more careful they didnt offend Maggie Hoskie.

Jemisins Broken Earth trilogy won her well-deserved Hugos, but its The Inheritance Trilogy that I love. She fuses gods and science together, and in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, she makes creating gods look easy.

Yeine Darr is summoned to the capital city, Sky, by her grandfather to be a pawn in a terrifying competition to be heir to his throne. Her only possible allies are the gods bound to serve her family. On the one hand, they are very powerful, on the other, theres nothing to make a god dangerously angry like being trapped and enslaved in a mortal body.

What happens when the gods are not merely capricious they are all out monsters?

Lazlo Strange is an orphan who grows up dreaming of a city that so offended its gods that its name was wiped from everyones memory and replaced with the word Weep. When the hero of Weep, the man who slayed its gods, comes to the librarians of Zosma, seeking help for his city, Lazlo seizes the chance to see Weep for himself.

Lainis writing so vivid, so confident that there is no limit to the poetry she brings to her prose. Her gods are truly horrifying and just as truly captivating.

You have the four cardinal godsthe Dragon, the Tiger, the Tortoise, and the Phoenix. Then you have local household gods, village guardian gods, animal gods, gods of rivers, gods of mountains

Rin is an orphan, fortunate enough to have a marriage arranged with a local inspector who will accept her as a wife in exchange for looking other way while her adoptive parents run their opium business. Rejecting that future, Rin sits for the Keju, the Empire wide test that selects candidates for Sinegard, an elite military school.

In the scene quoted above she is arguing for the common viewpoint of the gods in her experiencethey are cultural references, metaphors, personifications of emotions or significant events. As in the world of The Thief, people give lip service to the gods. They never expect them to appear.

Who is Adam Black, also known as Ablahka? His librarians used to be children. What are they now? Caroline doesnt know. After being locked away in an infinite library, trained by an adoptive father who might be God, and dying a few times in the process, shes not really all there anymore. When her Father, Adam Black, Ablahka, disappears, perhaps murdered by any one of the other terrifyingly powerful gods the Duke, Barry OShea or the mysterious Q-33 North, no one on Earth knows what happens next.

New York Timesbestselling author Megan Whalen Turner is the award-winning author of six novels set in the world of the Queens Thief. These epic novels of intrigue and adventure can be read in any order, but were published as follows: The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, The King of Attolia, A Conspiracy of Kings, Thick as Thieves, and Return of the Thief. Megan Whalen Turner has been awarded a Newbery Honor and a Horn BookBoston Globe Honor, and won the Los Angeles Times Book Award for Young Adult Literature. She has won the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Childrens Literature and was a finalist for the Andre Norton Award. She worked as a bookseller for seven years before she started writing. Her first book was a collection of short stories called Instead of Three Wishes.

Read the rest here:

Do Not Offend the Gods: 8 SFF Books Featuring Deities - tor.com

Former NASA administrator: Biden will reestablish ‘constancy of purpose’ in space and nation | Opinion – Florida Today

Posted on by

Charles F. BoldenJr., Your Turn Published 1:26 p.m. ET Oct. 6, 2020

During my years at NASA, first as an astronaut followed by my appointment as NASA administrator in 2009, a fundamental principle upon which all programs were operated was constancy of purpose. Coined by Vice Adm. Joe Dyer, chairman of the NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel during my tenure as NASA administrator, this concept recognized that, to be successful, our efforts must be consistently funded, managed, and carried out over long spans of time.

NASA programs unfold over years, from Apollo, to the space shuttle, Hubble Telescope, and the International Space Station. The same will be true of the development and implementation of the Space Launch System, Orion crew capsule and the hoped-for Gateway that will orbit around the moon. These are multi-year, multi-administration projects that will need constancy of purpose to be successful.

Constancy of purpose also has an important place in my life as a father, grandfather, husband and citizen.

Our Constitution is the original example of constancy of purpose for the United States. It is the foundational document providing the underpinning of our society over hundreds of years. It is a living document that changes when it needs to adapt to give us guidance to us as a nation. Adapting that document to fit our current needs requires steady leadership and integrity that we do not see in our current administration.

Holmdel, NJ- 05/18/11- The 78th annual commencement of Monmouth University takes place at PNC Bank Arts Center on Wednesday, May 18, 2011. Commencement speaker, the Honorable Charles F. Bolden Jr., Administrator of NASA; Astronaut, addresses the crowd.DOUG HOOD/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER(Photo: DOUG HOOD/ASBURY PARK PRESS)

Constancy of purpose has been attacked across our society over the past four years.

The Affordable Care Act has provided critical health care coverage for more than 20 million Americans but is under attack with nothing proposed to take its place.

Our local governments have been forced to manage the worst worldwide pandemic in a century without guidance from the federal government the entity capable of effectively dealing with such an emergency.

Science is under attack on a daily basis from the very individuals who should be supporting the advancement of understanding.

Internationally, our nation, which President Reagan called the shining city on the hill, is no longer looked to for leadership in issues that cross the globe.

It is for these reasons that I joined almost 500 former public servants in signing a public letter endorsing Joe Biden to be the next president of the United States.

Along with my colleagues, I believe that Biden is, above all, a good man with a strong sense of right and wrong. He is guided by principles that have long made America great: democracy is a hard-won fight we must defend and support at home and abroad; Americas power and influence stem as much from her moral authority as it does from her economic and political power. Biden understands that.

Biden is compassionate, empathetic, and grounded in the utmost integrity. He has a love of people, the ability to listen, and the human capacity to care for and offer counsel when it is really needed. These are marks of the strong leader we need today.

Critical organizations such as NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the State Department need leadership that shares these values and uses constancy of purpose to carry out their missions. Biden understands that and will lead us back to President Reagans shining city on the hill.

Maj. Gen.Charles F. BoldenJr. is a retired Marine officer, astronaut, and former NASA administrator.

Read or Share this story: https://www.floridatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/10/06/biden-reestablish-constancy-purpose-space-and-nation-opinion/5896795002/

See the article here:

Former NASA administrator: Biden will reestablish 'constancy of purpose' in space and nation | Opinion - Florida Today

Atheists Have a Hard Time Running for Office (But It’s Getting Easier) – Friendly Atheist – Patheos

Posted on by

In a political season when weve seen the first openly gay presidential candidate, the first Black woman to run for Vice President, the first whatever-the-hell-Marianne-Williamson-was, why is it still shocking to consider an openly atheist candidate running for federal office? Rep. Jared Huffman is openly Humanist the only non-theist in Congress willing to say that but even he came out after getting elected.

Why is there still such an antipathy to electing atheists?

Thats what Phil Zuckerman tries to answer in a piece for The Conversation. Zuckerman, a professor of sociology and secular studies at Pitzer College and author of What It Means to Be Moral: Why Religion Is Not Necessary for Living an Ethical Life, says that there are two reasons people dont feel comfortable voting for an atheist:

There appear to be two primary reasons atheism remains the kiss of death for aspiring politicians in the U.S. one is rooted in a reaction to historical and political events, while the other is rooted in baseless bigotry.

Lets start with the first: atheisms prominence within communist regimes. Some of the most murderous dictatorships of the 20th century including Stalins Soviet Union and Pol Pots Cambodia were explicitly atheistic. Bulldozing humans right and persecuting religious believers were fundamental to their oppressive agendas. Talk about a branding problem for atheists.

The second reason atheists find it hard to get elected in America, however, is the result of an irrational linkage in many peoples minds between atheism and immorality. Some assume that because atheists dont believe in a deity watching and judging their every move, they must be more likely to murder, steal, lie and cheat. One recent study, for example, found that Americans even intuitively link atheism with necrobestiality and cannibalism.

I would add another reason to the list: People just arent used to it. It sounds paradoxical, but if more atheists were elected, more atheists would be elected. Or, if more politicians came out as atheists after election, it wouldnt be such a burden for future candidates. Voters just need more examples of atheists in office so they can see that the sky isnt falling.

Theres also a sideways approach to the matter: Openly atheist candidates can be elected simply by downplaying that aspect of themselves since its not necessarily relevant to policymaking. It would be strategic and honest for candidates to admit theyre not personally religious before explaining why they value evidence-based policies and care about the issues that matter locally. If anyone tries to use atheism against you, throw it right back at them like youre an Amy Coney Barrett defender discussing her Catholicism. Use the opportunity to pivot to issues that matter to other voters.

That sort of approach is precisely what more than one hundred candidates for statewide and national office have been doing this year.

According to research from myself and the Center for Freethought Equality, those candidates are on the ballot this November, many of them having survived primary challengers, and are not shying away from using non-religious labels. None of them, to my knowledge, have made atheism a central part of their campaign. Theyre just not running away from it.

Thats the key to winning. And the more of them who succeed, the easier itll get for other atheists during the next election cycle.

(Image via Shutterstock)

Read this article:

Atheists Have a Hard Time Running for Office (But It's Getting Easier) - Friendly Atheist - Patheos

Why is it so hard for atheists to get voted in to Congress? – The Conversation US

Posted on by

Every election cycle has its firsts.

This year, the selection of Kamala Harris as Joe Bidens running mate presented the U.S. with its first politician of Indian heritage and the first Black woman to be on a major party ticket. It followed Hillary Clintons becoming the first woman to win the popular vote for president in a 2016 election to replace Americas first Black president, Barack Obama.

Meanwhile, Pete Buttigieg became the first openly gay candidate to win a presidential primary and Ted Cruz became the first Latino to do so. In recent years Americans saw the first Jewish American win a primary, Bernie Sanders, and Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar became the first Muslim women elected to Congress.

But in this era of increasing diversity and the breaking of long-rigid political-demographic barriers, there is no self-identifying atheist in national politics. Indeed, throughout history, only one self-identified atheist in the U.S. Congress comes to mind, the late California Democrat Peter Stark.

This puts the country at odds with democracies the world over that have elected openly godless or at least openly skeptical leaders who went on to become revered national figures, such as Jawaharlal Nehru in India, Swedens Olof Palme, Jose Mujica in Uruguay and Israels Golda Meir. New Zealands Jacinda Ardern, the global leader who has arguably navigated the coronavirus crisis with the most credit, says she is agnostic.

But in the United States, self-identified nonbelievers are at a distinct disadvantage. A 2019 poll asking Americans who they were willing to vote for in a hypothetical presidential election found that 96% would vote for a candidate who is Black, 94% for a woman, 95% for a Hispanic candidate, 93% for a Jew, 76% for a gay or lesbian candidate and 66% for a Muslim but atheists fall below all of these, down at 60%. That is a sizable chunk who would not vote for a candidate simply on the basis of their nonreligion.

In fact, a 2014 survey found Americans would be more willing to vote for a presidential candidate who had never held office before, or who had extramarital affairs, than for an atheist.

In a country that changed its original national motto in 1956 from the secular E pluribus unum out of many, one to the faithful In God We Trust, it seems people dont trust someone who doesnt believe in God.

As a scholar who studies atheism in the U.S., I have long sought to understand what is behind such antipathy toward nonbelievers seeking office.

There appear to be two primary reasons atheism remains the kiss of death for aspiring politicians in the U.S. one is rooted in a reaction to historical and political events, while the other is rooted in baseless bigotry.

Lets start with the first: atheisms prominence within communist regimes. Some of the most murderous dictatorships of the 20th century including Stalins Soviet Union and Pol Pots Cambodia were explicitly atheistic. Bulldozing humans right and persecuting religious believers were fundamental to their oppressive agendas. Talk about a branding problem for atheists.

For those who considered themselves lovers of liberty, democracy and the First Amendment guarantee of the free exercise of religion, it made sense to develop fearful distrust of atheism, given its association with such brutal dictatorships.

And even though such regimes have long since met their demise, the association of atheism with a lack of freedom lingered long after.

The second reason atheists find it hard to get elected in America, however, is the result of an irrational linkage in many peoples minds between atheism and immorality. Some assume that because atheists dont believe in a deity watching and judging their every move, they must be more likely to murder, steal, lie and cheat. One recent study, for example, found that Americans even intuitively link atheism with necrobestiality and cannibalism.

Such bigoted associations between atheism and immorality do not align with reality. There is simply no empirical evidence that most people who lack a belief in God are immoral. If anything, the evidence points in the other direction. Research has shown that atheists tend to be less racist, less homophobic and less misogynistic than those professing a belief in God.

Most atheists subscribe to humanistic ethics based on compassion and a desire to alleviate suffering. This may help explain why atheists have been found to be more supportive of efforts to fight climate change, as well as more supportive of refugees and of the right to die.

This may also explain why, according to my research, those states within the U.S. with the least religious populations as well as democratic nations with the most secular citizens tend to be the most humane, safe, peaceful and prosperous.

[Youre too busy to read everything. We get it. Thats why weve got a weekly newsletter. Sign up for good Sunday reading. ]

Although the rivers of anti-atheism run deep throughout the American political landscape, they are starting to thin. More and more nonbelievers are openly expressing their godlessness, and swelling numbers of Americans are becoming secular: In the past 15 years, the percentage of Americans claiming no religious affiliation has risen from 16% to 26%. Meanwhile, some find the image of a Bible-wielding Trump troubling, opening up the possibility that suddenly Christianity may be contending with a branding problem of its own, especially in the skeptical eyes of younger Americans.

In 2018, a new group emerged in Washington, D.C.: The Congressional Freethought Caucus. Although it only has 13 members, it portends a significant shift in which some elected members of Congress are no longer afraid of being identified as, at the very least, agnostic. Given this new development, as well as the growing number of nonreligious Americans, it shouldnt be a surprise if one day a self-identified atheist makes it to the White House.

Will that day come sooner rather than later? God only knows. Or rather, only time will tell.

See the article here:

Why is it so hard for atheists to get voted in to Congress? - The Conversation US

Pastor Who Said Atheism Has Never Healed a Disease Tests Positive for COVID – Friendly Atheist – Patheos

Posted on by

Yesterday, we learned that John Hagee, the senior pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, tested positive for COVID.

His son Matthew made the announcement:

Thats quite a reveal from John Hagee, given that he once said Hurricane Katrina was the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans because there were plans for a gay pride parade that would supposedly reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other Gay Pride parades. (I dont know what that means.) Hagee later backed away from that comment when he was trying to help elect Republican John McCain in 2008. McCain later rejected the endorsement.

Hagee has also said Hitler was fulfilling Gods will by pressuring Jews to return to Israel.

So was COVID Gods way of punishing Hagee?

If it happened to a Democrat, no doubt thats what Hagee would say.

I wont stoop to his ignorance. But I will point out that Hagee has a long history of promoting Christian Nationalism and conspiracy theories. Which is to say: If God wanted to punish him, theres no shortage of reasons to do it.

While Hagee has been in the Oval Office to pray for Trump, he wasnt spotted at any of the recent White House super-spreader events so its not clear where he picked up the virus.

Lets note, however, that Hagees church has been hosting in-person, indoor, mask-option, not-very-socially-distanced services for weeks now. He has also claimed Atheism has never healed a disease; faith in God has, but not atheism.

For his sake, lets hope his doctors are relying on proper science and not just sending prayers his way. God hasnt stopped the virus, but the nations that have followed the best advice of epidemiologists have been most successful at combatting the disease.

Visit link:

Pastor Who Said Atheism Has Never Healed a Disease Tests Positive for COVID - Friendly Atheist - Patheos

Please Support the Work I Do Through This Site – Friendly Atheist – Patheos

Posted on by

I post this article once a month, and the options have changed. Thanks for your support! The latest project Im working on involves a Substack newsletter that sums up atheism-related news three times a week.

Over the past decade, what began as a personal blog has turned into a hub with several contributors and multiple posts per day. I create YouTube videos, put out a podcast each week, and have released books! More recently, I created a podcast about the history of the Pledge of Allegiance.

In order to facilitate all of this, I have a Patreon page.

If youd like to help out, you can pledge a certain amount every month (with rewards along the way!) from as low as $3 a month.

As always, Im grateful for the kind words and support you all send my way. Its a pleasure being a source of information (and solace) for you, and I hope to continue it well into the future.

If Patreon isnt preferable for you, you can use a credit card through Venmo (My address: Mpromptu at gmail) or send mail to P.O. Box 9734 Naperville, IL 60567.

And for those who prefer to make a one-time donation only, since Patreon doesnt allow those right now, you can always give via PayPal:

Thank you!

Excerpt from:

Please Support the Work I Do Through This Site - Friendly Atheist - Patheos

Leading Irish atheist wades into the Dawkins disinvitation row – Patheos

Posted on by

THE CHAIR of Atheist Ireland Michael Nugent has written to the Historical Society at Trinity College Dublin, known as the Hist, asking it to reconsider its recent decision to drop Professor Richard Dawkins from its 2021 list of speakers because his presence could make students uncomfortable.

Auditor of the Hist Brd ODonnell announced the cancellation in a statement on her Instagram page at the weekend, saying that she had been unaware of Richard Dawkins opinions on Islam and sexual assault until this evening, adding that the society:

Will not be moving ahead with his address as we value our members comfort above all else.

Amidst growing fury over Dawkins disinvitation, Nugent, above, said in his letter that he had spoken as a guest of the Hist several times:

I have always enjoyed it as a place of intelligent debate where ideas are tested robustly, passionately, and rationally from all sides of an issue. That is what a good debating society does.

You have a particular responsibility to protect this reputation as custodians of the worlds oldest student debating society.

I am writing to ask you to reverse your decision to unilaterally break your agreement to host Richard Dawkins as a speaker. Like Richard, I had a speaking event unilaterally cancelled, speaking about atheism to final year students in a Roman Catholic school. Thankfully, the school reconsidered, and honoured their agreement. I hope you are open to doing the same

Your decision harms the credibility of the Hist as a debating society, and your stated reason misunderstands the nature of debate. The priority of a debating society is not to value our members comfort above all else.

Indeed, part of the purpose of good debate is precisely to cause some discomfort, by challenging peoples beliefs from all sides of an issue.

Your decision also harms the integrity of the Hist as a body that can be trusted to keep its word. There is a major distinction between a decision to not invite someone, and a decision to publicly disinvite someone after inviting them. Richard has done nothing so unpredictable to justify unilaterally breaking an agreement.

The Council of Europes Venice Commission advises democratic governments. In a report on the relationship between freedom of belief and freedom of expression, it concluded:

The purpose of any restriction on freedom of expression must be to protect individuals holding specific beliefs or opinions, rather than to protect belief systems from criticism. The right to freedom of expression implies that it should be allowed to scrutinise, openly debate, and criticise, even harshly and unreasonably, belief systems, opinions, and institutions, as long as this does not amount to advocating hatred against an individual or groups.

Richard has never advocated hatred against anybody. Whether or not you agree with him, he is an honourable man who pursues truth and promotes education and human rights. I ask you to please reverse your decision, and I look forward to your response.

Nugent referred in his letter to two articles hes written about Dawkins. You can access them here and here.

His intervention coincides with a petition calling on the Hist to reverse its decision. It says:

Richard Dawkins is a renowned philosopher, biologist and author who has made major contributions to the field of evolutionary biology with his works The Selfish Gene and The Extended Phenotype.

He is also an outspoken critic of organised religion and has garnered a reputation as one of the worlds most prominent atheist intellectuals.

The Hists decision to prioritise the comfort of its members over debate and discourse is an outrage of the highest order. This ludicrous decision contradicts the fundamental idea of a debating society and deprives the student body of the opportunity to both engage with and challenge the views of one of the most prominent intellectuals of the 21st century.Not only does this damage the reputation of the Hist, but is also an abject embarrassment for the college as a whole.

We ask the Hist to reverse this cowardly decision

One of the most damning criticisms of the decision was published on Monday by The Burkean, which said:

Let us make something clear, the views held by Dawkins in relation to Islam are completely reasonable, and the very fact he has been deplatformed from an Irish college is outrageous in itself. However, his deplatforming is merely a symptom of a far greater travesty that has occured over the last number of years

The modern progressive has managed to worm its way to the top of Irish society. While the likes of ODonnell would have been laughed out of the room less than a decade ago, they now rule the roost, forcing their views down the throat of everyone they can.

Dissent in the minds of these ideologues should never be tolerated, as demonstrated by how frequently they will try to get people deplatformed, and even depersoned, when they are perceived to have sinned against their new form of Cultural Maoism

It is clear that ideologues have gained control of the halls of debate in this country and its colleges. Whether it be online, on television, or in our universities, what used to be the source of much needed dialogue within an often fractured island now do not permit even a slight deviation from dogma. For those of us rightfully horrified by such a state of affairs, we need to act now, or the consequences will be disastrous

Hat tip: Antony Niall and Angela_K

Id love a cup of coffee

More here:

Leading Irish atheist wades into the Dawkins disinvitation row - Patheos

The ending of Raised By Wolves explained – Looper

Posted on by

Although it's not for the first time, in this episode, Mother is confronted by Father about the fatalistic streak she's been developing over the course of the story, one that seems unbefitting of her self-described atheism. Father's position, that their mission is their own to determine, better represents atheism than Mother's, which is essentially a dogmatism based around another person's design for them.

Mother has always revered her "creator," Campion Sturges, after whom she named her youngest child. There's a logic to this as an artificial life-form, she has a certainty of purpose that few humans can ever experience. She is not only programmed to serve a specific aim, but she is conscious of that programming and aware of the person who created it. Her feelings intensify after uncovering archived memories of their time together on Earth, during which she falls in love, and the feeling may even be reciprocated.

Mother may retain the capacity for faith from her time as a Mithraic-made Necromancer, but as she points out to Father, her effective worship of her creator does not actually require faith. Faith implies the possibility for doubt, and Mother hasmet her god. Sol, on the other hand, is an immaterial god, who, until recently, could be dismissed as superstition. It will be interesting to see how she copes with the strange new physical evidence of Sol's existence that has just been born from her body.

Follow this link:

The ending of Raised By Wolves explained - Looper

Dealing with the unexpected: 7 financial steps to take after the death of a spouse or loved one – CNBC

Posted on by

Brenda Pickens lost her husband, Howard, to Covid-19 in March.

Source: Brenda Pickens

Brenda Pickens' life changed dramatically this past spring, when her 63-year-old husband, Howard, died from Covid-19 complications.

His death, which occurred a month after the couple's 28th wedding anniversary, was something they never really planned for.

"We didn't think either one of us would be alone so early in our lives," said Pickens, 62, who also contracted the virus and spent months recovering.

With only a small life insurance policy payout and some retirement savings, she contemplated selling her home in Waveland, Mississippi, and her husband's barbershop, Fade 1, in nearby Bay St. Louis. Pickens was also furloughed from her job at a naval base barbershop.

More from Invest in You:Are you prepared? This is the financial first-aid kit you need to stockHome-rich but cash-poor? What to know about reverse mortgagesHow pandemic has upended the financial lives of average Americans

These days, she's seen some temporary financial relief, including a grant from the state of Mississippi that will keep the barbershop running for about six months. However, Pickens is now battling new health concerns. Since contracting the coronavirus, she has developed heart issues and is seeing a number of specialists.

Fortunately, she has good insurance and is receiving paid time off from her job while on medical leave.

"I'm trying to hang in there, but if push comes to shove, I'll file for disability," she said.

While she has a support system, she is still grieving the loss of her husband.

"It still gets kind of lonely," Pickens said. "He was my best friend."

However financially prepared, or unprepared, you may be, losing a loved one is overwhelming. Not only are you dealing with grief, but there are financial decisions that must also be made. Here are seven steps you can take to help ease the transition.

"It might be tempting to make a lot of decisions all at once," said certified financial planner Stacy Francis, president and CEO of Francis Financial in New York and a member of the CNBC Financial Advisor Council.

That may mean moving to a new place, selling a house, going right back to work and taking a new job.

Her advice: Don't do it.

"Give yourself a little bit of a pause so that you have time to allow yourself to start the grief process and that you give yourself time to navigate this new normal for yourself," she said.

"When you have been through trauma, it is very hard to think clearly."

damircudic | E+ | Getty Images

Finding professional support through, for example, a grief counselor or therapist can help you navigate the mourning process. A financial expert, meanwhile, can help you through money issues concerning insurance, wills, debt and the like.

"Put yourself on a path of not only recovery, but to eventually be able to rebound," said Francis, who specializes in working with widows and widowers and is a certified grief recovery specialist in The Grief Recovery Method approach.

Once you are ready, you can review your finances and reset.

The first thing to do when it comes to finances is to take a look at what money is coming in and how that may have changed since your loss.

You may be facing lower income without your spouse's salary, or you may have some additional funds through a life insurance payout or inheritance.

It is really important to see where you are and to then, once you have all of that information, start to create that new road map for your family

Stacy Francis

president and CEO of Francis Financial

If you have children under age 18, be sure to apply for spousal survivor benefits from Social Security, Francis said. Also, make sure you are collecting any life insurance money you may be entitled to, so reach out to your loved one's employer to see if there was coverage, as well as any private insurers.

Another potential source of money may come from any unclaimed funds. Do a search on your state's online unclaimed funds site for both you and your loved one.

The coronavirus pandemic has already hit people's expenses. Losing a spouse will add to that.

You may need extra childcare or therapy sessions. On the other hand, you may see a decrease in some expenses, like a payment for a second car.

List everything and compare it to what you have coming in and see what needs to be adjusted.

If you have outstanding credit card bills, check with your creditor. Many are already offering programs, like payment deferments or a reduction in interest rate, to help people get through the pandemic.

filadendron | E+ | Getty Images

If you are left with high medical bills in the wake of your loved one's death, talk to a medical billing and health insurance expert, Francis advises.

That can help you truly understand if these are bills you need to pay or if your health insurance wasn't billed properly, with the proper medical coding.

"We've also seen some individuals be able to negotiate with their health insurance," she said. "They just want to get paid.

"The last thing they want to do is have you declare bankruptcy."

Get an understanding of what your finances look like now.

That includes retirement and brokerage accounts, your home's value, your mortgage and any other loans you may have.

Taken together with your expenses and cash flow, it will help you form a plan for your near-term and long-term future and could impact college, retirement and the rest of your life, Francis said.

If you lost your spouse and have children, appoint guardians as soon as possible, even if you aren't ready to take a look at your overall will and estate plan, said New York-based estate-planning attorney Robert Steele.

When things settle down, you can then update your will and beneficiaries on any retirement plans or insurance policies.

"Your will, your estate plan is going to most likely need to change, especially if you have younger children," Steele said.

That includes creating a trust for your kids if they are young, so they don't receive the money outright, and naming a trustee to oversee it.

Additionally, if you lost your spouse, he or she was likely your health-care proxy and had power of attorney. You'll have to choose another person "who you trust and value," Francis said.

In the end, coming up with an overall plan will help you move forward both emotionally and financially.

"While it might be frightening and scary to look at all of this, it is really important to see where you are and to then, once you have all of that information, start to create that new road map for your family," Francis said.

SIGN UP:Money 101 is an 8-week learning course to financial freedom, delivered weekly to your inbox.

CHECK OUT:Therapist raises nearly $100,000 in 6 weeks to give free mental health care to the Black communityviaGrow with Acorns+CNBC.

Disclosure: NBCUniversal and Comcast Ventures are investors in Acorns.

Go here to read the rest:

Dealing with the unexpected: 7 financial steps to take after the death of a spouse or loved one - CNBC

Andrew Raven Thompson – Journal Review

Posted on by

Andrew Raven Thompson of Waveland passed away Sunday night, Sept. 27, 2020, after an auto accident. He was 13.

Born June 1, 2007, at Crawfordsville, he was a seventh grade student at Southmont Jr. High. He loved video games, riding his bike, playing with his brother and sister, going to grandpas, riding tractors and four-wheelers, and had just learned to do a back flip on the trampoline.

Surviving family include: parents, Andrew and Kynda Thompson; brother Odin Thompson; sister Audry Thompson; grandparents, Brad and Yvonne Jones and James and Lisa Bailey; great-grandparents, Ed and Donna Priebe and Keith Brock; uncle Kory Jones; and aunts, Rebecca Jones and Katie Bailey.

He was preceded in death by his grandmother, Tyrina Cronk; great-grandparents, Beverly Brock and Clyde and Carolyn Jones; and uncle James Bailey.

Visitation will be 2-5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3 at the Waveland Christian Church, 212 W. Main St., Waveland. Services will begin at 5 p.m., led by Pastor Dave Keesee. Arrangements were made through Burkhart Funeral Home.

Online condolences may be made at http://www.BurkhartFH.com.

Continue reading here:

Andrew Raven Thompson - Journal Review

Flooding impacts Treasure Coast drivers – WPBF West Palm Beach

Posted on by

Hundreds of drivers across the Treasure Coast were impacted by road closures and accidents caused by flooding throughout the area. Well, the rain today just seemed to sit upon us. And kept coming down at times a little heavier than others, said Jeff Stafford, Surfside Grill Employee. Continuous rain caused flooding near Jensen Beach Club north of Waveland, where more than 9 inches of rain fell in the area. Its a lot more than normal in a short period of time, I would say, Stafford said. According to the St. Lucie County sheriffs deputy on scene, low visibility and flooding cause one driver to end up in the drainage ditch in front of Surfside Grill. The accident happened despite the restaurant's efforts to alert customers of the entrance to the parking lot. Well, we purposely put the American flags there so people could see the entranceway, Stafford said. Obviously, he missed that by quite a lot.In Fort Pierce, officials closed Midway Road between 25th Street and Oleander Boulevard.With the amount of flood water, I would say be more careful when you know its raining like that and to slow down and obey the signs, Stafford said.

Hundreds of drivers across the Treasure Coast were impacted by road closures and accidents caused by flooding throughout the area.

Well, the rain today just seemed to sit upon us. And kept coming down at times a little heavier than others, said Jeff Stafford, Surfside Grill Employee.

Continuous rain caused flooding near Jensen Beach Club north of Waveland, where more than 9 inches of rain fell in the area.

Its a lot more than normal in a short period of time, I would say, Stafford said.

According to the St. Lucie County sheriffs deputy on scene, low visibility and flooding cause one driver to end up in the drainage ditch in front of Surfside Grill.

The accident happened despite the restaurant's efforts to alert customers of the entrance to the parking lot.

Well, we purposely put the American flags there so people could see the entranceway, Stafford said. Obviously, he missed that by quite a lot.

In Fort Pierce, officials closed Midway Road between 25th Street and Oleander Boulevard.

With the amount of flood water, I would say be more careful when you know its raining like that and to slow down and obey the signs, Stafford said.

The rest is here:

Flooding impacts Treasure Coast drivers - WPBF West Palm Beach