Horner: TV should not fear new F1 social media freedom – Motorsport.com, Edition: Global

Posted on by

Ahead of the first pre-season test, F1's new owners Liberty Media gave the green light for teams and drivers to post short video footage on to the internet.

Previously, such freedom was not allowed because Bernie Ecclestone felt that it would devalue the exclusivity of broadcast deals that television companies were paying for.

With fans loving the explosion of video footage over the past week, Horner hopes that such freedoms for teams and drivers remain and that television companies come to realise the wider benefits to be had from the sport being followed by more people.

"The television broadcaster would never get that access to what we're showing," Horner told Motorsport.com. "They need to ultimately complement each other, because we're not going to film anything on track that's not within our remit.

"But by being able to personalise the drivers, give an insight into some of the bits behind the scenes, it will only encourage a growing following to turn on the television and watch the races. I really see it as a general benefit to the overall sport."

F1 management's decision to open up social media use was only a trial for the first test, and it is unclear if the freedom will remain in place for next week's final test or the F1 season itself.

Horner believed the move was a big winner for fans and anything that could attract more to follow the sport had to be embraced.

"It's that behind the scenes stuff that the fans crave, and it's been great to get that content out there," he said.

"At the end of the day, it's an advertisement for Formula 1, because hopefully then, as the following grows, those followers will want to view the races and turn on their televisions. It's how they complement each other.

"We've certainly put out a lot of content. They've even put me on Instagram! It's been tremendously well received. It's been a great way of advertising the sport, and engaging with the fanbase.

"The way people watch content these days is very, very different. You've only got to go on a train and see how everybody is looking at their phone. By opening up this avenue to get great content out there, I think it's a real positive."

More:

Horner: TV should not fear new F1 social media freedom - Motorsport.com, Edition: Global

Curbs on religious freedom among human rights problems in India: US – Economic Times

Posted on by

Restrictions on foreign-funded NGOs and religious freedom along with corruption and police and security force abuses are among the most significant human rights problems in India, according to a US report.

The State Department 2016 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - the first under the Trump Administration - said other human rights problems in India in the year 2016 included disappearances, hazardous prison condition and delay in justice due to court backlogs.

"The most significant human rights problems involved instances of police and security force abuses, including extrajudicial killings, torture, and rape; corruption, which remained widespread and contributed to ineffective responses to crimes, including those against women, children, and members of Scheduled Castes (SCs) or Scheduled Tribes (STs); and societal violence based on gender, religious affiliation, and caste or tribe," said the report released yesterday.

"Other human rights problems included disappearances, hazardous prison conditions, arbitrary arrest and detention, and lengthy pretrial detention. Court backlogs delayed or denied justice, including through lengthy pretrial detention and denial of due process," said the report which will be submitted to the Congress.

"The government placed restrictions on foreign funding of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), including some whose views the government believed were not in the 'national or public interest,' curtailing the work of civil society," said the India section of the report.

Observing that there were instances of infringement of privacy rights, the report said that the law in six states restricted religious conversion, and there were reports of arrests but no reports of convictions under those laws.

The report alleged some limits on the freedom of movement continued. Rape, domestic violence, dowry-related deaths, honor killings, sexual harassment, and discrimination against women and girls remained serious societal problems, it said.

Child abuse, female genital mutilation and cutting, and forced and early marriage were problems. Trafficking in persons, including widespread bonded and forced labor of children and adults, and sex trafficking of children and adults for prostitution, were serious problems, it added.

Societal discrimination against persons with disabilities and indigenous persons continued, as did discrimination and violence based on gender identity, sexual orientation, and persons with HIV, the State Department said in its report.

"A lack of accountability for misconduct at all levels of government persisted, contributing to widespread impunity. Investigations and prosecutions of individual cases took place, but lax enforcement, a shortage of trained police officers, and an overburdened and under resourced court system contributed to infrequent convictions," the report said.

"Separatist insurgents and terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, the northeastern states, and the Maoist belt committed serious abuses, including killings of armed forces personnel, police, government officials, and civilians," it added.

See the original post:

Curbs on religious freedom among human rights problems in India: US - Economic Times

MTA ‘Freedom Ticket’ could make some commutes cheaper – Fox5NY

Posted on by

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - It's a long haul for security guard Richard Smith to get from Rosedale, Queens, to his job in Manhattan via MTA bus and subway. He could take a Long Island Rail Road train and cut his commute in half, but that would cost almost three times more. But Patricia Goodson, who lives in nearby Locust Manor, decided to make that trade-off.

Many New York City residents face this dilemma in parts of southeast Queens and Brooklyn, where access to subway lines is limited.

Andrew Albert, chair of the NYC Transit Riders Council and a non-voting board member of the MTA, says the solution could be in something called the Freedom Ticket, which the MTA has agreed to test out.

As the name implies, the Freedom Ticket would give the commuter the freedom to ride whatever mode of transportation meets their needs in a given area. The ticket would allow unlimited free transfers across LIRR and MTA bus and subway lines for a flat rate. While it hasn't been determined what that rate would be, it would be significantly less than the cost of separate tickets.

Right now, for example, a peak ride from Locust Manor to downtown Manhattan costs nearly $13 each way in combined LIRR and MetroCard fees.

Albert says the LIRR stations expected to participate in the pilot would include Atlantic Terminal, East New York, and Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn; and Locust Manor, Laurelton, Rosedale, and St. Albans in Queens.

The MTA says there is no official timeline for the Freedom Ticket pilot could start, but transit advocates hope it is in place by the fall.

Read more:

MTA 'Freedom Ticket' could make some commutes cheaper - Fox5NY

Report: Freedom on downswing – Rutland Herald

Posted on by

Basic freedoms of expression and association are on the decline around the world, the United States said Friday in a report that warned of worsening conditions for opposition groups and human rights activists.

In a departure from past practice, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declined to announce the report in-person or to speak about it publicly as his predecessors have done. Human rights groups and some lawmakers decried that decision and said it raised concerns that the U.S. was backing away from its traditionally vocal advocacy on human rights.

Corruption, use of torture and discrimination against minorities have gotten worse in some parts of the world, the report said.

It laid out concerns about sexual abuse of women, growing crackdowns on the media and internet freedom, suppression of political opposition groups and the inability of people to choose their own governments.

Tillerson, in a letter to Congress about the report, did not address any specific human rights concerns, but said promoting rights and democracy is a core element of U.S. foreign policy.

Read this article:

Report: Freedom on downswing - Rutland Herald

How disappearing sea ice has put Arctic ecosystem under threat – The Guardian

Posted on by

An adult polar bear hunting for seals on the melting pack ice in the Arctic. Photograph: Alamy

In a few days the Arctics beleaguered sea ice cover is likely to set another grim record. Its coverage is on course to be the lowest winter maximum extent ever observed since satellite records began. These show that more than 2 million square kilometres of midwinter sea ice have disappeared from the Arctic in less than 40 years.

The ices disappearance triggered by global warming caused by rising carbon emissions from cars and factories is likely to have profound implications for the planet. A loss of sea ice means a loss of reflectivity of solar rays and further rises in global temperatures, warn researchers.

But there are other pressing concerns, they add. Sea ice loss is now posing serious threats to the Arctics indigenous species its seals, fish, wolves, foxes and polar bears. The Arctic food chain relies on a stable sea ice platform and that is now disappearing, putting the regions wildlife at risk, said marine ecologist Tom Brown, of the Scottish Association for Marine Science (Sams), in Oban.

Sea ice provides a platform from which polar bears can hunt, and it links communities of land animals such as foxes and wolves. The sea ice cap has been retreating for decades, and as it does the animals who live on its edge have had to move north, said Andrew Shepherd, professor of Earth observation at Leeds University.

But that process takes them further and further away from land and there is likely to be a limit about the distance they can tolerate.

In fact, the erosion of sea ice strikes at the very root of the Arctic ecosystem, for it provides a surface on which algae the basic material on which the entire food chain in the region depends can grow. Algae lingers on the underside of sea ice and as spring begins there is a major increase in its growth, said Brown. It is then eaten by tiny creatures called zooplankton, and they in turn are eaten by fish that are in turn eaten by seals, which are in turn consumed by polar bears. But if algae levels drop the whole food chain is disrupted.

This point was backed by Professor Geraint Tarling, of the British Antarctic Survey. The most important of the consumers of algae is a species of zooplankton called Calanus glacialis. It is rich in fats like omega-3 and is consumed by Arctic cod and baleen whales, he said. Crucially, in recent years levels of Calanus glacialis have been found to be declining and are retreating in their range. In its place a temperate species called Calanus finmarchicus has appeared, but it contains much less fat and that is of poorer quality. As a foodstuff it is simply inferior.

The base of the Arctic food chain is being depleted, in other words. However, it is not the only threat to wildlife in the region. In 2015 the journal Science published a paper by Professor Eric Post, of Penn State University and colleagues that shows that populations of wolves and foxes are currently isolated only in summer. For most of the year these groups are connected by sea ice.

But as its sea ice coverage declines over the years, this is extending the length of time that packs are kept away from each other, which threatens to lead to diminished cross-breeding and genetic wellbeing.

Then there are the narwhals. These tusked whales sometimes called the unicorns of the sea are prized by Inuits who use their blubber and skin to make a traditional, chewy meal called muktuk. Narwhals can hide safely in sea ice and so avoid their natural predator, the killer whale. Robbed of that protection, narwhal numbers could dwindle dangerously, marine biologists warn.

To uncover greater details of these issues, the UK Natural Environment Research Council (Nerc) has launched a programme called PRIZE, productivity in the seasonal ice zone, which will use underwater robot craft to study how nutrient flow and other factors are changing as the Arctic sea ice retreats. It will probe variations that are occurring in zooplankton behaviour, the composition of the seabed and other factors that could influence wildlife disruption.

Other dangers facing the Arctic were highlighted by Professor Julienne Stroeve, of University College London. Consider the example of harp seals, she said. They often give birth on snow mounds on sea ice. But if that sea ice is thin or formed late it breaks and the seal pups are dumped into the ocean and they drown. In addition, Stroeve pointed to the problem of increasing numbers of warm spells during which rain falls instead of snow. That rain then freezes on the ground and forms a hard coating that prevents reindeer and caribou from finding food under the snow, she added.

Caribou face another danger posed by climate change. Normally they try to take advantage of a range of nutritious plants that bloom in the Arctic spring in order to help them recover from the fierce Arctic winter and to strengthen females before giving birth. But the plant species on which they rely are now blooming earlier and earlier as spring in the far north arrives sooner each year while the caribous internal clock remains unchanged and locked into the wrong biological cycle. As a result, the plants on which they rely are past their best when caribou arrive and so there is less nutrition available when they give birth. As a result, fewer calves are born.

It is a problem of synchronicity. The alignment of different lifecycles is being disrupted by sea ice loss and it is affecting animals on both land and in the ocean. It is a bit like having your breakfast time changed, said Finlo Cottier, senior lecturer in polar oceanography , who is also based at Sams. You are used to sleeping in to 8am, but one day breakfast is served at 6am but no one tells you. The result: you go hungry. That is what is beginning to happen all over the Arctic.

As the Arctic warms, rain more frequently falls instead snow and then freezes over the ground preventing caribou and reindeer from finding food.

Harp seals give birth on mounds of snow on sea ice. If this is weakened or thinned because it has formed late in the year, it can break apart, causing pups to drown.

Zooplankton form a critical part of the food chain. They live off algae that form on the underside of sea ice and in turn they are eaten by fish such as Arctic cod and also be baleen whales.

Polar bears use sea ice as platforms from which to hunt seals and other creatures. Male and female bears also meet on ice sheets to mate.

Slow swimming whales like the narwhal use sea ice to hide from predators like killer whales and could also be affected as shipping in the region increases as ice retreats.

Read this article:

How disappearing sea ice has put Arctic ecosystem under threat - The Guardian

The Incredible Unsung Karst Ecosystem – JSTOR Daily

Posted on by

Its one of the worlds most incredible, yet unsung, ecosystems. It makes up as much as 15% of the worlds land area, and can be found across the world from Puerto Rico to Ohio, from Madagascar to Australia. Its karst, a limestone landscape formed long ago when marine organisms such as corals secreted calcium carbonate that formed into blocks of sedimentary rock. That rock was eventually raised above sea level due to uplift or other tectonic forces. The result is one of the most striking and diverse ecosystems on Earth.

Limestone is soft and porous, so over the millennia water and weathering have carved the karstlands into wild towers resembling tyrannosaurus teeth. Caves, sinkholes, steep cliffs, and other dramatic formations are common. In some cases, the karst forms uniform cones called cockpits. The worlds largest caves and underground rivers are located in karstlands. The porous rock holds a lot of groundwater, streams, and ponds, sometimes underground.

Karsts are home togigantic cave crickets, centipedes, crabs, and even the worlds smallest mammal, the bumblebee bat.

The variety of surfaces and other microhabitats within the karst supports huge numbers of plant and animal species. Local variations in temperature, elevation, and moisture lead to incredible plant diversity; gullies support full-sized forests, while mosses, ferns, orchids, and other smaller plants cling to cliffsides and towers. Cut off by the forbidding terrain from surrounding non-karst areas, many of the plants are found only in the karstlands. In a Malaysian survey, 60% of plant species were found exclusively in the karst.

Karst animal communities are also unique. Caves are cut off from the surrounding area, allowing evolution to occur in isolation. There is particularly impressive invertebrate diversity; gigantic cave crickets, centipedes, and even a pale, long-limbed, small-eyed crab can be found in these caves. The worlds smallest mammal, the bumblebee bat, lives exclusively in karst caves, as do several species of snakes and lizards. Fish include a pale loach which uses large pectoral fins to scale subterranean ledges Spiderman-style. On the surface, great species diversity of butterflies, fishes in isolated ponds, and land snails thrive in the calcium-rich soil. These examples are from Southeast Asia, but karstlands worldwide host unique species ensembles.

But while the rugged landscape makes development difficult, karst is threatened by limestone and cement quarrying. Fortunately, in many areas the tourism and biodiversity value of the karstlands have been recognized. Many nations have karst national parks and guides lead tourists into caves, boosting local economies. Populations of bird and reptile species from surrounding areas take refuge in the karsts, so if properly protected, karstlands may one day support repopulation of restored areas.

By: REUBEN CLEMENTS, NAVJOT S. SODHI, MENNO SCHILTHUIZEN and PETER K.L. NG

BioScience, Vol. 56, No. 9 (September 2006), pp. 733-742

Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Institute of Biological Sciences

Comments are closed.

See original here:

The Incredible Unsung Karst Ecosystem - JSTOR Daily

Using Google to map our ecosystem – Phys.org – Phys.Org

Posted on by

February 28, 2017

Researchers in the Singapore-ETH Centre's Future Cities Laboratory developed a method to quantify ecosystem services of street trees. Using nearly 100,000 images from Google Street View, the study helps further understanding on how green spaces contribute to urban sustainability.

Do you remember the last time you escaped the hot summer sun to enjoy a cool reprieve in the shade beneath a broad-leafed tree? While sizzling summer days may seem far away right now in the northern hemisphere, tropical cities like Singapore deal with solar radiation on a daily basis.

Street trees - keeping it cool

Trees and plants offer some relief, especially in urban areas with higher ambient temperatures, by providing shade and increasing evaporative cooling. Urban green spaces such as parks, gardens, and urban river networks deliver ecosystem services to cities reducing flood risk, cooling urban micro-climates, and creating recreational spaces. While it is generally accepted that trees and plants benefit urban environments, until now researchers have had very little data to work with in order to quantify the extent that street trees regulate urban ecosystems. Most of the research has been conducted in the temperate zones of Europe and North America, but little is known about how trees contribute to urban ecosystems in tropical regions. With urban populations exploding in megacities like Tokyo, Shanghai, and Delhi to well over 20 million people - it is important to understand how green spaces contribute to urban sustainability.

Google Street View as an environmental dataset

Researchers in the Future Cities Laboratory at the Singapore-ETH Centre, a research outpost of ETH Zurich, developed a method to map and quantify how street trees regulate ecosystem services. Using nearly 100,000 images extracted from Google Street View, they analysed hemispherical photographs using an algorithm to quantify the proportion of green canopy coverage at 50 metre intervals across more than 80% of Singapore's road network. Google Street View's technology allowed researchers to tap into a standard dataset of panoramic photographs and streetscapes that use a global positioning system (GPS) to map images to specific locations. The high spatial resolution of the images allowed researchers to estimate the amount of solar radiation that reaches the earth's surface. "In addition to cooling urban microclimates, these trees, which are integrated within dense urban street networks, also provide other benefits, such as reducing the risk of flash flooding and cleaning the air," says Peter Edwards, Principal Investigator at the Future Cities Laboratory and Director of the Singapore-ETH Centre. Researchers on the project concluded that increasing the cover of the street tree canopy could reduce ground surface and air temperatures on Singapore's streets. In addition, the relative quantity of the canopy may also serve as an indicator of evaporative cooling from leaves and rainfall interception.

Thermal comfort in green cities

"The study shows that trees are extremely important in providing shade in Singapore, and this shade could improve thermal comfort for people. Providing trees to help cool the environment is particularly important in tropical cities like Singapore, which suffers heavily from the urban heat island effect," says Dan Richards, a postdoctoral researcher at the Future Cities Laboratory and the project's coordinator. This new and relatively inexpensive method of rapidly estimating the amount of shade provided by street trees could help urban planners to identify areas of a city with low shade and prioritise the planting of new trees. Since Google Street View covers many of the world's cities, the method could be readily applied to quantify the proportion of canopy coverage and solar radiation in other tropical cities. If Google Street View images were collected during the growing season, the method may also be adapted to assess cities in temperate zones that experience a seasonal loss of tree leaves - enabling the possibility of creating strategically greener and more sustainable urban environments.

Explore further: Where are the trees? Not Paris, new 'Green View Index' finds

More information: Daniel R. Richards et al, Quantifying street tree regulating ecosystem services using Google Street View, Ecological Indicators (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2017.01.028

Where are the trees? More important, where aren't the trees? A lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is helping some of the world's cities answer both questions in an attempt to make them more pleasant places to ...

The recent spate of heatwaves through eastern Australia has reminded us we're in an Australian summer. On top of another record hot year globally, and as heatwaves become more frequent and intense, our cities are making ...

Streets lined with gold? Not exactly, but a new report from the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Research Station estimates trees lining Californian streets and boulevards provide benefits to municipalities and residents ...

Cities should feature compact development alongside large, contiguous green spaces to maximize benefits of urban ecosystems to humans, research led by the University of Exeter has concluded.

Arnhem has planted the world's first ever stadsklimaatboom ('urban climate tree') in the Sonsbeekkwartier. This district is experiencing serious heat problems, which are known as the 'urban heat island effect'. The tree will ...

Australian councils are being urged to take up new guidelines in green urban planning to create cooler cites with greener landscapes to reduce the risk of heat stress.

New research findings show that as the world warmed millions of years ago, conditions in the tropics may have made it so hot some organisms couldn't survive.

Though tailpipe emissions could fall in the years ahead as more zero-emission vehicles hit the streets, one major source of highway air pollution shows no signs of abating: brake and tire dust.

In September 2015, the German Volkswagen Group, the world's largest car producer, admitted to having installed "defeat devices" in 11 million diesel cars sold worldwide between 2008 and 2015. The devices were designed to ...

Scientists at EPFL and SLF describe with precision how snow and sand surfaces erode when exposed to wind. Their description can contribute to better predictions of dust emissions from deserts and snow transport in Antarctica, ...

What matters more for the evolution of plants and animals, precipitation or temperature? Scientists have found a surprising answer: rain and snow may play a more important role than how hot or cold it is.

Carbon emissions to the atmosphere from streams and rivers are expected to increase as warmer water temperatures stimulate faster rates of organic matter breakdown.

Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more

The rest is here:

Using Google to map our ecosystem - Phys.org - Phys.Org

Researchers use Google street view images for assessing ecosystem processes – The TeCake

Posted on by

The TeCake
Researchers use Google street view images for assessing ecosystem processes
The TeCake
With the technologies developed by Google gaining leverage with each passing day, the Google Street view is all set to make a mark on the environment sciences. A team of researchers from the Future Cities Laboratory, Singapore-ETH center have ...

and more »

See original here:

Researchers use Google street view images for assessing ecosystem processes - The TeCake

Exclusive: Marloes Coenen Talks Cyborg’s UFC Challenges, Drug Test Failure, Cyborg’s Prime – Fightful (press release) (registration)

Posted on by

Fightful (press release) (registration)
Exclusive: Marloes Coenen Talks Cyborg's UFC Challenges, Drug Test Failure, Cyborg's Prime
Fightful (press release) (registration)
Marloes Coenen is no stranger to Cris "Cyborg" Justino. Many consider the Dutch featherweight Cyborg's biggest test yet, despite dropping both of their fights. As Coenen readies herself to capture a Bellator 145 pound Championship, she tells Fightful ...
Budd wins Bellator women's featherweight titleESPN (blog)
Bellator 174 Results: Winners, Scorecards from Coenen vs. Budd CardBleacher Report
Bellator 174 Odds For Friday Night's FightsEye on Gaming (press release) (blog)
Sherdog.com -FightLine.com
all 70 news articles »

View post:

Exclusive: Marloes Coenen Talks Cyborg's UFC Challenges, Drug Test Failure, Cyborg's Prime - Fightful (press release) (registration)

Cause of Mexican sewage spill fouling US beaches under investigation – Reuters

Posted on by

By Alex Dobuzinskis | LOS ANGELES

LOS ANGELES A massive sewage spill from Mexico's Tijuana River that polluted miles of coastland in Southern California and northern Mexico has prompted an investigation, with U.S. officials calling it deliberate and Mexican authorities saying it was an accident caused by heavy rain.

The pollution closed beaches and kept surfers and swimmers out of the ocean, drawing outrage from residents of the cross-border region.

Tensions are running high between Mexico and the United States after U.S. President Donald Trump promised to build a border wall, deport millions of Mexicans in the United States illegally and tax Mexican imports.

U.S. officials, including Imperial Beach Mayor Serge Dedina, believe the spill was deliberate to cut corners during repair work on a sewer pipeline in Mexico but not politically motivated.

"It was intentional," Dedina said by phone from the California city near the Mexican border. "The big picture is we need to work to support Mexico's effort to improve the sewage infrastructure system in Tijuana so this doesn't happen again."

A spokeswoman at the Tijuana State Public Service Commission said the spill was an accident that resulted from heavy rains collapsing a sewage interceptor in the city, adding that they notified the International Boundary and Water Commission, a joint U.S.-Mexico agency.

The commission, which is leading the investigation, was notified on Feb. 23 but U.S. officials believe the spill started at least two weeks earlier and dumped roughly 143 million gallons (541 million liters) of sewage into the Pacific Ocean, said Lori Kuczmanski, a spokeswoman for the U.S. section of the commission.

Contact with raw sewage can cause serious infections and illnesses such as diarrhea.

The sewage spill polluted 20 miles (32 km) of coastland from the areas of Rosarito in Mexico to Coronado in California, Dedina said.

U.S. Representatives Juan Vargas and Scott Peters, who represent the San Diego area, on Wednesday submitted a letter to the U.S. Secretary of State and the director of the Environmental Protection Agency asking for federal actions to prevent any similar occurrence.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Additional reporting by Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City; Editing by Patrick Enright and Lisa Shumaker)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce next week it would reopen a review of 2022-2025 vehicle emissions requirements after automakers urged the Trump administration to reverse a decision under former President Barack Obama, a source said on Friday.

WASHINGTON The Trump administration is seeking a 17 percent cut to the budget of the government's meteorological agency that monitors the climate and issues daily weather forecasts, the Washington Post reported on Friday.

SALMON, Idaho Wildlife advocates are ramping up their campaign against the annual culling of bison that roam onto state lands in Montana each winter from Yellowstone National Park, erecting dramatic billboards showing buffalo bleeding in the snow.

Visit link:

Cause of Mexican sewage spill fouling US beaches under investigation - Reuters

Offshore sand could help replenish beaches – The Westerly Sun

Posted on by

NARRAGANSETT Frequent storms and sea-level rise will make beach replenishment increasingly necessary in southern Rhode Island, and there is more than enough offshore sand to do the job.

Bryan Oakley, an assistant professor of geology at Eastern Connecticut State University who monitors beach erosion, and URI oceanographer John King, who located the sand deposits, presented their findings at the University of Rhode Islands Narragansett Bay campus on Feb. 28 as part of Sea Grants Coastal State discussion series.

Westerlys most dramatic beach restoration was in 2014, after Superstorm Sandy damaged Misquamicut State Beach. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers $3 million restoration effort involved trucking in 84,000 cubic yards of sand from an inland quarry.

From this section: Moratorium on quarries could buy town time

Oakley, who lives in Westerly and tracks changes to the profile of Misquamicut Beach, showed photographs of the beach before, during and after the replenishment of the beach, or berm.

They came in and put 65,000 cubic meters thats 84,000 cubic yards of sand, he said. It cost $3.1 million from glacial upland material .... After replenishment, one of my students said it looked a lot like a highway, not a bad description of it, about as soft as macadam if you were trying to sit on it that first spring.

Oakley said he wanted to see how long the new sand would remain on the beach, so he and his students mapped the area using a global positioning system. They created a model that showed that 39 percent of the sand had been washed away less than a year after the project was completed.

Thats actually not bad, Oakley said. Weve also had no major storms, and since January we havent been out. Well be back out in a couple of weeks, and were looking at some other techniques to get detailed pictures of sections of the beach and see if we can get a handle on some of the offshore distribution as well.

At $36 a cubic yard, upland sand is considerably more expensive than sand dredged from the ocean bottom, which costs $15. Oakley said the benefits of supporting a vital sector of the Rhode Island economy outweighed the expense of replenishment if those costs were kept low. Its economically practical when your rates are relatively low and the economic benefits are high, he said.

In comparison with states like New Jersey, the southern Rhode Island coast is relatively undeveloped, so beach replenishment here is less frequent.

If you think about the stretch from Watch Hill to Point Judith, weve got several large sections of undeveloped barrier beach, Oakley said. Quonochontaug, East Beach, Moonstone thats a great resource, and we should be happy we dont have this level of development that warrants running out and spending millions of dollars to dump a lot of sand on the beach.

Offshore deposits

King warned that sea-level rise would eventually render discussions of beach replenishment irrelevant. You kind of have to put this in the context of were in the midst of a slow-moving disaster of a magnitude weve never seen before due to global climate change, he said. And Im a climate scientist. So when these folks start talking about OK, were going to stop the ocean, I just say, Yeah, sure you are. You may slow it down for a while, but youre not going to stop it.

With funding from the federal Bureau of Energy Management, King mapped sections of the ocean floor in federal waters just outside Rhode Islands 3-mile limit. The goal of the project was to find a source of sand that would be large enough to be used for extensive beach replenishment initiatives.

With beach replenishment, you either go big or go home, he said.

Kings team first used sonar to determine the composition of the ocean bottom and the thickness of the sand deposits. They also took samples of the bottom to determine the quality of the sand. The upland sand used in the Misquamicut replenishment was coarser than natural beach sand and did not match the texture of the existing beach.

When youre doing this kind of thing, you not only need to know if its sand, you need to know if its high-quality sand, he said. King said he knew from looking at geological data that the best sand would likely be found off the coast near Charlestown, where it had been deposited when the glaciers retreated 20,000 years ago.

We sort of zeroed in on this area along the south coast, he said. Theres a thing called the Charlestown moraine, its like a long pillow, which is actually a glacial terminal moraine a big pile of material that builds up in front of an ice sheet.

In front of the terminal moraine was a huge lake, which was created by a dam made by the ice sheet and the moraine behind it.

So you had a very, very big glacial lake, and streams coming off of this ice sheet into the lake, forming big deltaic deposits. So these loaves of material are deltas that were actually debris coming from the melting ice sheet, sometimes underneath, a little bit over the top, carrying a lot of sand and gravel, he said.

Kings team decided to take a closer look at the sand and gravel deltas and created profiles of what are known as glaciodeltaic deposits, and they are huge. The newly mapped deposits are estimated to contain approximately 160 million cubic meters, or 209,272,099 cubic yards, of sand.

We have an order of magnitude more sand out there than we need anytime soon, King said.

The next phase of the project will involve a Special Area Management Plan of the areas where promising deposits have been found to determine the effects that mining the sand might have on the marine ecosystem.

The question is, can you go out there and remove 5 to 10 feet of this material without having a really devastating impact to the bottom, and thats a question we dont have an answer to yet, King said. Thats where the SAMP approach comes in. At some point, we have to talk about what are the impacts to habitat.

cdrummond@thewesterlysun.com

@CynthiaDrummon4

View original post here:

Offshore sand could help replenish beaches - The Westerly Sun

Famed astronomer ties stars to art – Plattsburgh Press Republican

Posted on by

PLATTSBURGH William Herschel, the discoverer of the planet Uranus, has composed symphonies.

In the third movement of one, the song is low and slow and creeps into silence for two seconds, said noted Canadian astronomerDr. David Levy.

Then out of that silence, the organist pounds on a note.

In one note, the audience and the organist rise up into the heavens. All in one note. That is astronomical, Levy told an audience at SUNY Plattsburgh recently, with his hands up in the air.

"Hes talking about the heavens there."

Levy focused on the intersection of astronomy and art in his talk, "Talks, Tune and Text: The Night Sky in History, Literature and Music," pointingout the connections between science, music, literature and visual art.

Taking the night sky that I love and the literature that I love to see how we can see this in an interdisciplinary way," Levy explained his intent.

"People like me become interested in astronomy not so much for the science but for the literature for it."

Levy holds a Ph.D in English literature and specializes in the appearance of astronomical phenomena in the works of Shakespeare and other authors.

He has written 34 books and has discovered 22 comets.

His greatest discovery is Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet, which collided with Jupiter in 1994, a joint find with Gene and Carolyn Shoemaker.

'CHILDISH WONDER'

Since the age of 8, Levys obsession with the night sky has fueled his life mission.

With the influence of his father, who was an avid reader, Levy developed a love of literature, leading to his doctorate in English literature.

Levy joked that his father would have disowned him if he had not liked Shakespeare. However, even in the books he read, Levy still looked for astronomy.

I never lost that childish wonder in the night sky, he said.

INFLUENCES

Levy told stories about how real astronomical phenomena is woven into the work of famous artists.

When Shakespeare was a boy, his father showed him a bright yellow spot in the sky that had appeared "out of nowhere," Levy said.

The astronomer traced the time of that story to the creation of the supernova Tycho's Star. The sight later influenced Shakespeare when he wrote "Hamlet."

Vincent Van Gogh was also influenced by the night sky, as evidenced by his famous painting "Starry Night."

Levy told how Van Gogh went to a bookstore and found Camille Flammarions book "Popular Astronomy." The cover displayed a beautiful sketch of the Whirlpool Galaxy.

Van Gogh loved the sketch so much, its the centerpiece of his painting.

"The International Astronomical Union feels that astronomy is not just meant for the astronomers; its meant for the rest of us," Levy said. "Like literature is not meant for English majors; its for anyone who likes to read.

He believes artists really project their appreciation for the night sky through their art.

Thats a way of looking at science and the night sky through music and art, Levy said.

CONNECTIONS

Megan Spears, an amateur astronomy and Levy fan, agrees. She has followed Levy's and the Shoemakers careers and, when told by a friend that he was going to be speaking at SUNY Plattsburgh, had to attend.

I am an artist myself, and astronomy is my passion for science, Spears said.

She said she learned everything she knows about visual astronomy from stargazing.

I think it plays a big role in how I create my art. I can see how it can easily correlate as being the vast heavens in itself into an artistic medium, whether it be music, poetry, art as in paintings there is a whole variety of different ways it can be portrayed.

BLENDED

Ed Guenther, a friend of Levy and husband of SUNY professor Dr. Wendy Gordon, says the astronomer shares an important message.

I think the takeaway is you don't have to be an astronomer, a nerd or have a pocket protector or anything to enjoy other art and life, Guenther said.

She saw two young women nodding their heads in agreement throughout the program.

That connection that everything is tied together and you are not just an accountant, mathematician or astronomer; you can be all those things an astronomer, composer and a poet.

"And I think thats nice.

Read this article:

Famed astronomer ties stars to art - Plattsburgh Press Republican

Astronomy in pop songs – The Standard

Posted on by

BACK IN 2005, British singer-songwriter Katie Melua released the single Nine Million Bicycles. In the second stanza of the song, Melua uses a reference to a cosmological fact to drive her point home: We are 12 billion light years from the edge/ Thats a guess, no one can ever say its true/ But I know that I will always be with you.

It was a lovely song, and to no ones surprise it reached the top of the charts in the UK.

But its popularity was the reason why many scientists took issue with the fact that the science was wrong. One British cosmologist, Simon Singh, even wrote an op-ed in no less than The Guardian to criticized what he called Meluas bad science. In the op-ed, Singh pointed out that scientists in fact know how old the universe isits 13.7 billion years old. Furthermore, that number is not just a guess but an estimate that was derived from the careful methods of science.

Singh reminded the reader that while there are many things about the universe that still remain a mystery to us and are yet to be solved by scientists, the age of the universe is not one of them. The science writer said its regrettable that such a lovely and popular song contains a misconception that can spread to the public.

To her credit, Meluas response to Singhs criticism was one of convivial apology for the error. With the help of Singh, Melua re-recorded the song so that the lines in question ended up being: We are 13.7 billion light years from the edge of the observable universe/ Thats an estimate with well-defined error bars/ And with the available information/ I predict that I will always be with you.

By re-recording the song, Melua and Singh not only got great publicity, they also educated the UK public about the true age of the universe and the methods of science.

Astronomy is a favorite source of references for writers, poets, and songwriters. There is no surprise there. Anyone who has looked up into a starry sky or has stared at the loveliness of a full moon can relate to the urge to wax poetic in the face of such grandeur. Furthermore, anyone who has studied even a bit of astronomy knows that the goings on in outer space can be such a treasure trove of metaphors for poetry and songwriting.

Nowadays, there is no shortage of pop songs talking about celestial objects. However, most of them simply use the words star or moon for a quick rhyme or trivial metaphor. Those songs themselves might be lovely, like Frank Sinatras Fly Me To The Moon or Ed Sheerans All Of The Stars, but as songs about astronomy they are not interesting.

More interesting are songs that find a way to use facts about the heavens in order to express a facet of human experience. For example, in Liannne La Havas soothing song Unstoppable, the singer compares the long range of the gravitational force on satellites to the long reach of the love between her and her loved one. In Bless The Broken Road by Rascal Flatts, the singer compares the people who broke his heart to northern stars that lead him to the person hes meant to be with. Filipino artist Reese Lansangan has a cute song entitled A Song About Space that is, well, all about space.

One of my absolute favorite is by the folk singer-songwriter Peter Mayer, whose discography is a constellation of excellent scientific references sung to folksy hymns. In Blue Boat Home, he compares the Earth to a boat in space, and we humans voyagers in space. The entire song is simply beautiful, but one line in particular reveals Mayers grasp of the science: Sun my sail and moon my rudder/ As I ply the starry sea / Leaning over the edge in wonder / Casting questions into the deep.

In the first line, Mayer does two things. First, he reinforces the sailing metaphor by comparing the Sun and Moon to parts of a boat. Second, he expresses scientific facts in a poetic way. As a ships sail allows it to be pushed forward, the Suns gravitational force is what makes the Earth ply the starry sea. As a boats rudder allows it to be steered and gives it stability, the Moon is thought to make the Earths orbit and rotation more stable.

So my challenge to all of the artists and creative people reading this: The next time you want to come up with a metaphor to express some aspect of human drama, try to learn a bit of astronomy. Not only can it make your composition more beautiful, it might even give you a metaphor you might not find elsewhere.

Decierdo is resident astronomer and physicist for The Mind Museum.

COMMENT DISCLAIMER: Reader comments posted on this Web site are not in any way endorsed by The Standard. Comments are views by thestandard.ph readers who exercise their right to free expression and they do not necessarily represent or reflect the position or viewpoint of thestandard.ph. While reserving this publications right to delete comments that are deemed offensive, indecent or inconsistent with The Standard editorial standards, The Standard may not be held liable for any false information posted by readers in this comments section.

More:

Astronomy in pop songs - The Standard

Astronomer Ruth Murray-Clay appointed to chair in theoretical astrophysics – UC Santa Cruz (press release)

Posted on by

Astrophysicist Ruth Murray-Clay gave a brief overview of her research on planetary systems at the investiture ceremony. (Photos by Steve Kurtz)

James Gunderson described how he and his wife Valerie Boom were inspired to establish the E. K. Gunderson Family Chair in Theoretical Astrophysics.

Ruth Murray-Clay, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz, was honored as the inaugural holder of the E. K. Gunderson Family Chair in Theoretical Astrophysics at an investiture ceremony on Wednesday, March 1, at the University Center.

The chair was established in 2016 with a $160,000 gift from James L. Gunderson and Valerie J. Boom to support recruitment of a faculty member in astronomy and astrophysics. The chair honors the work of Gunderson's father, a psychologist whose work on human adaptation to confined and extreme conditions was used by NASA in understanding the implications of space travel.

Murray-Clay studies the formation and evolution of the solar system and of planetary systems around other stars. She explores a broad range of physical processes that contribute to the ultimate structure of planetary systems, including the evolution of the protoplanetary disk, planet formation, gravitational dynamics, and the evolution of atmospheres. She also studies objects in the outer reaches of our solar system for clues to its dynamical evolution.

"I am excited and honored to be here and to be the recipient of this chair," said Murray-Clay, who joined the UCSC astronomy faculty in 2016. She received her bachelor's degree in physics and astronomy at Harvard University and her master's and Ph.D. degrees in astrophysics at UC Berkeley. In 2015, Murray-Clay won the Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy, which recognizes the exceptional contributions of astronomers under the age of 36.

Increasing support for faculty chairs is a priority of the Campaign for UC Santa Cruz, which has raised $311 million for the campus.The Gunderson Family Chair in Theoretical Astrophysics is a four-year term chair (not an endowed chair) specially designed to augment the startup funding the campus provides for new faculty. Paul Koch, dean of physical and biological sciences, said such chairs provide important support for a new faculty member's research and graduate students. "The support from these chairs allows us to be competitive and attract the best faculty," he said.

The Campaign for UC Santa Cruz supports excellence across the university through increased private investment in the people and ideas shaping the future. It is bringing critical new resources to the student experience, excellence in research, and the campus commitment to environmental and social justice.

See more here:

Astronomer Ruth Murray-Clay appointed to chair in theoretical astrophysics - UC Santa Cruz (press release)

Amazon deepens university ties in artificial intelligence race – Reuters

Posted on by

By Jeffrey Dastin | SAN FRANCISCO

SAN FRANCISCO Amazon.com Inc has launched a new program to help students build capabilities into its voice-controlled assistant Alexa, the company told Reuters, the latest move by a technology firm to nurture ideas and talent in artificial intelligence research.

The e-commerce company said it is paying for a year-long doctoral fellowship at four universities for an undisclosed sum. Working with professors, the Alexa Fund Fellows will help students tackle complex technology problems in class on Alexa, like how to convert text to speech or process conversation.

Amazon, Alphabet Inc's Google and others are locked in a race to develop and monetize artificial intelligence. Unlike some rivals, Amazon has made it easy for third-party developers to create skills for Alexa so it can get better faster - a tactic it now is extending to the classroom.

The fellowship may also help Amazon recruit sought-after engineers whose studies will make them more familiar with Alexa than with other voice-controlled assistants. The schools in the program are Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins, the University of Southern California and Canada's University of Waterloo.

"We want Alexa to be a great sandbox" for students, said Doug Booms, vice president of worldwide corporate development at Amazon, in an interview on Wednesday.

He added that the fellowship's goal is to excite the next generation of scholars about natural language understanding and other voice technologies, not to produce research for Amazon. Under the program, students' projects remain their own intellectual property.

At the University of Waterloo, students are improving Alexa's interaction with air conditioners so it understands requests to cool a room to its normal temperature, without requiring the user to specify a number in Celsius, said Fakhri Karray, a professor of electrical and computer engineering who is overseeing the work.

Securing close ties to university talent and research has become an urgent priority for many tech firms. Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] in 2015 took 40 people from Carnegie Mellon's robotics center in-house to work on self-driving cars and other projects. Microsoft Corp has awarded fellowships to doctoral researchers in different areas of computer science, like artificial intelligence, for years.

Amazon itself created the Alexa Prize competition among universities to push forward conversational artificial intelligence, with a $100,000 stipend for each sponsored team.

The money for the new fellowship comes from the Alexa Fund, an investment by Amazon of up to $100 million to advance voice technology.

(Reporting By Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco; Editing by Bernard Orr)

NEW HAVEN, Conn. A top U.S. Federal Reserve official on Friday raised caution about central banks issuing digital currencies as they are vulnerable to cyber attacks and criminal activities along with privacy issues that still need to be addressed.

NEW YORK Digital currency bitcoin hit a record high on Friday on optimism about the approval of the first U.S. bitcoin exchange-traded fund by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

More U.S. consumers complained about imposter scams than identity theft for the first time in 2016, as fraudsters relied more on the phone and less on email to find victims, the Federal Trade Commission said on Friday.

Go here to read the rest:

Amazon deepens university ties in artificial intelligence race - Reuters

Maharashtra eyes $5 bn investment and 100000 jobs in defence & aerospace – Business Standard

Posted on by

The Maharashtra government released a draft defence and aerospace policy on Saturday, to attract an investment of $5 billion and create 100,000 jobs over the next five years. The proposed investment is expected in Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Ahmednagar and Aurangabad.

The government aims to establish Maharashtra as the preferred destination for domestic and aerospace manufacturing, promote indigenous and modernised technological capabilities, developed world class skilled manpower and support MSMEs to be globally competitive. In a bid to cut red tape and remove procedural hurdles, the defence industry will be declared as an essential service under the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA).

Parrikar said the Centre will also contribute its share to the proposed fund and added that the fund will be a game changer for the defence and aerospace sector to boost the Make In Maharashtra.

The policy proposes to leverage the strategic location and existing maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility of Nagpur to develop it as a global hub for airlines. The government plans to provide incentives on VAT on service parts at the Nagpur MRO to make it as preferred choice for low-cost carriers.

Further, the indigenous technology and R&D will be promoted and the government will provide need-based support to R&D institutions set up with the approval of the state government. Fiscal and non-fiscal incentives will be provided to investors who set up aerospace and defense related R&D.

Incentives will be provided to units for training cost to develop skilled human resources. Focus will be laid on imparting vocational training and provide support in up-gradation of industrial technology institutes (ITIs).

As far as anchor units are concerned, the state will provide special incentives and other support needed to such units in the form of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives.

Fadnavis said the defence and aerospace policy pays special attention on MSMEs that will form a critical cluster of suppliers to anchor units located in the region. Incentives will be given for their market development, quality certifications and patent registration.

The government will give special support to units established in collaboration with public enterprises of defense sector/units under the Ministry of Defence. Those benefits will be applicable to joint ventures too.

This list of incentives also includes industrial promotion subsidy, exemption in electricity duty, stamp duty, entry tax and local body tax, waiver in VAT and CST. In order to promote walk to work, all mega and ultra-mega anchor units (those with investments between Rs 500 crore and Rs 1,000 crore-plus) will be allowed to utilise up to 20 per cent of the designated land for residential and commercial purposes.

Moreover, defence and aerospace units will be entitled for relaxation under the Shops & Establishment Act with regard to working hours, work shifts and employment of women. These units will be exempted from maintaining records for attendance and salary. They will also enjoy the option of self-certification and filing of consolidated annual returns under 13 Acts administered by the Labour Department.

Defence and aerospace units will be entitled for relaxation under the Contract Labour Act applicable to special economic zones. These relaxations will be subject to the approval of the state legislature.

Continued here:

Maharashtra eyes $5 bn investment and 100000 jobs in defence & aerospace - Business Standard

Bigelow Aerospace offers plan for an expandable space station orbiting the moon by 2020 – Next Big Future

Posted on by

Bigelow Aerospace founder Robert Bigelows company makes in-space habitats. One (the BEAM adds 16 cubic meters of living area to the ISS) is now attached to the International Space Station and he and his company are developing permanent, stand-alone habitats to serve as private space stations in orbit around the Earth, ready to house private astronauts.

Bigelow has talked with United Launch Alliance Chief Executive Tory Bruno about using the company's Atlas V 552 rocket, which has an extra-wide payload fairing, to deliver the B330 into orbit.

United Launch Alliance is developing an advanced upper-stage vehicle, ACES, to provide in-space propulsion.

Two ACES in tandem could be used to move the B330 into a low lunar orbit. They orbit within 75 kilometers of the lunar surface

Bigelow has spoken SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell about using the company's Dragon 2 spacecraft to transport astronauts to the B330 in deep space.

By 2020, NASA and commercial astronauts ould be living and working in lunar orbit inside a functional space station.

What if the @SpaceX V2 and/or the @LockheedMartin Orion were engaged as the transportation vehicles to and from the lunar depot?

The only accommodating launch vehicle and fairing for this large B330 spacecraft is the @ulalaunch Atlas 552, stretched fairing

Robert Bigelow @RobertTBigelow Feb 28

The B330 is designed to be a standalone space station capable of operating in LEO or beyond.

SOURCES- Twitter - Robert T Bigelow, Orlando Rising, Ars Technica

See the rest here:

Bigelow Aerospace offers plan for an expandable space station orbiting the moon by 2020 - Next Big Future

First ceiling collapse at Charlotte Maxeke in January already, claim staff – News24

Posted on by

2017-03-03 12:13

Lizeka Tandwa and Jenni Evans, News24

Johannesburg - A section of a dental clinic at Johannesburg's Charlotte Maxeke Hospital has been cordoned off because part of a ceiling that collapsed in January has still not been repaired, according to two sources.

Speaking on condition of anonymity after Thursday afternoon's ceiling collapse at the hospital entrance, staff said a section at the dental clinic had already collapsed in January.

One worker said Gauteng Infrastructure MEC Jacob Mamabolo's statement that the rest of the building was safe, was false.

A worker said that, when staff arrived at the dental clinic on January 23, they found a part of the ceiling had caved in. The clinic is run by the University of the Witwatersrand.

Gauteng infrastructure department spokesperson Theo Nkonki could not immediately confirm the incident, but said Mamabolo was due back at the hospital on Friday to assess the situation.

A section of the roof at the large hospital in Parktown, Johannesburg, collapsed around 14:30 on Thursday. Seven people were injured, three of them seriously, Johannesburg emergency services said.

Shoddy workmanship

Speaking at the site on Thursday, Mamabolo alleged that shoddy workmanship by contractors who were waterproofing the roof had played a role in the collapse.

"The way they were removing the concrete stone, we could see they did not do a proper check on the strength of the building or the roof itself."

Mamabolo said the contractor had removed concrete stones and placed them on a thin roof that could not handle the weight, resulting in the collapse.Private construction workers were repairing a leak at the time.

The contractor was removed from the premises and an investigation was started.

The FF Plus believed the entire health infrastructure in the province was collapsing. It urged the infrastructure department to be more thorough with checks on contractors to avoid future catastrophes.

'There must be accountability'

The party said committees in the Gauteng legislature were often told of work not done properly, or jobs left unfinished because the contractor was either unqualified, or had ran out of money.

"Construction work comes to a standstill while the provincial government must go to court to get contracts suspended and to appoint new construction companies," said FF Plus MPL Philip van Staden.

DA MPL Jack Bloom called for an urgent infrastructure check at the hospital. A report dated 2012 had contained warnings of structural problems in the building, he said.

He wanted to know how the contractor was appointed, and recommended that future maintenance should be made the responsibility of the hospital's management.

"There must be accountability for this terrible tragedy that should serve as a wake-up call to give a far higher priority to maintenance and repair of our hospitals."

According to the infrastructure department's website, the Gauteng government planned to spend R42bn on socio-economic infrastructure programmes in the next three years.

A "maintenance crack team" had already implemented a pilot project of revitalising the Orlando Clinic dental ward.

24.com encourages commentary submitted via MyNews24. Contributions of 200 words or more will be considered for publication.

Follow this link:

First ceiling collapse at Charlotte Maxeke in January already, claim staff - News24

Vladimir Putin Isn’t a Supervillain – Foreign Policy (blog)

Posted on by

Americas hysteria over Russian President Vladimir Putin is mounting, and theres no reason to think the fever will break anytime soon. At this point its only tangentially related to the accusations that Putin has made President Donald Trump his puppet or that Trump or Attorney General Jeff Sessions, or any number of other administration officials is in cahoots with Russian oligarchs.

Perhaps youve heard about the sudden death of Russias U.N. ambassador, Vitaly Churkin? Its all nefarious Kremlin intrigues or so were told. In fact, a lot of Russian diplomats have died recently isnt that suspicious? And dont look now, but while you were fixated on Russias subversion of American society through psychological warfare, you may have missed that Russias expanding its influence in Syria. And provoking Japan. And meddling with Britain. And its sowing chaos in the Balkans. And the Baltics. And Ukraine. And may invade Belarus. And Finland. And if that werent enough, Putin has a master plan for overthrowing the entire European and world democratic order. We might as well give up: Russia runs the world now.

With such bombast dominating American political discourse, citizens and pundits rightly worry about the potential for geopolitical competition from Russia. But is Putins regime really as threatening and omnipresent as it is cracked up to be?

Western commentary on the Kremlins foreign-policy ambitions tends to fall into two opposing camps, each with different starting points: One begins with Russias foreign policy, the other with Russian domestic politics. Both are prone to hyperbole in their appraisals and conclusions, albeit in different directions. And neither is useful for understanding, or responding to, the reality of Russian ambitions.

I call the first camp Putler, a mashup of Putin and Adolf Hitler, the two leaders whom Western commentators seem most fond of pairing. Largely a result of Russias 2014 annexation of Crimea and intervention in the Donbass, this lens portrays Russia as the foremost threat to liberal democracy: a scary, aggressive, expansionist, revanchist reincarnation of the Soviet Union, equating Putin with the worst excesses of authoritarianism. Rooted in 20th-century historical analogies, specifically World War II, this camp implicitly prescribes military confrontation: Anything less, including economic sanctions, is weak-kneed, Chamberlainesque appeasement, to evoke the Hitlerite comparison.

Another favored historical analogy for Putler adherents is the Cold War. For many observers, it is a given that we are already grappling in a life-and-death Cold War 2.0 (just without, they neglect to mention, the ideology of communism, the nuclear arms race, realist power balancing, global competition for proxies, or any of the other elements that defined the original Cold War). House Speaker Paul Ryans recent reference to Russia as a global menace led by a man who is menacing falls squarely within this school of thinking, along with his rejoinder that President Barack Obamas sanctions followed too much of an appeasement policy.

Turning from geopolitical ambitions to Russian domestic policy, the Putler worldview tends to highlight Putins consolidation of autocratic control, fraudulent elections, his harassment and murder of opposition journalists, curtailing of civil liberties, and his use of disinformation through state-run media to disorient and control the public. It is a portrait of Putin as an unrestrained totalitarian, intent on weaponizing absurdity and unreality. Such appraisals often border on the hysterical, but one imagines they draw a lot of internet traffic.

At the other end of the spectrum from the Putler worldview is the Dying Bear camp. This approach is dismissive of Russia as a threat; its adherents instead presage stagnation, corruption, and decline. The term originated with demographers, discouraged by Russias dim health prospects, but could reasonably include its political, social, and economic limitations as well. To be sure, Russias health and demographic statistics lag far behind those of Western Europe and the United States, with relatively high mortality rates, relatively low fertility rates, and average life expectancy on par with impoverished African countries. In the medium and long term, that means demographic decline: Fewer Russians means fewer taxpayers, fewer conscripts, and fewer state resources; all exert downward pressure on Russias growth potential. There are a bevy of other limitations on Russias potential for future economic growth: an undiversified economy cursed with an overreliance on resource extraction; a lumbering, systematically corrupt, and growing state bureaucracy that impedes entrepreneurship; technological backwardness; and a kleptocratic political system that rewards cronyism and penalizes development. Without economic diversification and freedom, were told, Russias economy has hit rock bottom. Groaning under the weight of Western sanctions and low global oil prices, Russias own Economic Development Ministry is forecasting no real improvement in living standards until 2035.

For some in the Dying Bear camp, Russias foreign-policy aggression including its incursions into Ukraine and Syria is just Putins attempt to distract patriotic Russians from the misery of their own existence and have them rally around the flag of patriotism, since he cant deliver the performance legitimacy associated with the economic growth of the early 2000s, driven by sky-high global oil prices. While the Putler perspective calls for confrontation, Dying Bear prescribes management or marginalization, if not disengagement: Why bother taking Russia seriously if its doomed anyway?

President Obamas dismissive public statements about Russia being at best a regional power, or a weaker country that doesnt produce anything worth buying except oil and gas and arms, and that its international interventions are borne not out of strength but out of weakness are all reflective of the Dying Bear position.

The reality, of course, is somewhere between these extremes. Russia is not nearly the global menace that many fear, nor is it doomed to collapse. Russias geopolitical strength is indeed constrained by its demographic, economic, social, and political weaknesses, but those arent as catastrophic as theyre often made to be. Russians today are healthier and living longer than they ever have. Though having ever fewer women of childbearing age presages long-term demographic decline, with births outpacing deaths, Russias population has recently registered natural growth for the first time since the collapse of communism.

Economically, the ruble has stabilized following the collapse of late 2014, and the recession of 2014-2015 is statistically over. However, Russia isnt out of the woods, with low oil prices leading to dwindling state revenue, and little private investment for the foreseeable future, which will inevitably mean stagnation and low growth. Russias economic performance is so intimately tied to public spending that any curtailment of spending despite dwindling oil receipts would reverberate throughout the economy. And the economy ultimately constrains its political options. Although Putins geopolitical gambits in Ukraine and Syria can boost his approval ratings, they come at the expense of increasing poverty and unpaid wages, which are fueling a notable rise in labor protests nationwide. While presently manageable, the Kremlin will need to address these socio-economic issues in order to maintain domestic tranquility, limiting its resources for foreign adventurism in Syria, Ukraine, and beyond, to say nothing of investments in health care, education, science, and infrastructure. Russia cant have it all.

So, despite its high-level meddling in American affairs, for the foreseeable future, Russia is poised to continue to muddle through, with economic and demographic stagnation constraining its lofty geopolitical ambitions. Unsurprisingly, the Russia of 2020 will look more like the Russia of 2012 or 2016, rather than the expansionist Soviet Union of 1944 or the collapsing Soviet Union of 1991. Accordingly, American foreign policy toward Russia should not be given to the militarization and conflict of the Putler camp, nor to the marginalization of the Dying Bear view, but rather a respectful engagement, recognizing the interconnectedness of Russias varied strategic interests, which may conflict with Washingtons own.

The problem, though, is that stasis isnt a particularly sexy prognosis, which means it is not a frequently made one. There are two reasons for this. First is a lack of nuanced understanding of Russian governance. Most experts know what liberal democracy looks like and if we believe democratization scholarship (and there is good reason for skepticism, especially in the Trump era) that once consolidated, democracies are robust and durable. We also understand that autocracies can be reasonably stable, too: just look at the longevity of Fidel Castros reign in Cuba or the Kim dynasty in North Korea. But we have a harder time understanding a polity like present-day Russia, which is neither fully democratic nor fully autocratic. For a long time, democratization theorists have struggled to understand this sort of neither/nor illiberal democracy or competitive authoritarian regimes like Russia that combine democratic and nondemocratic elements. If liberal democracy is understood to be the optimal endpoint, then it is understandable to assume that Russia is just stuck in transition, rather than having achieved something of a stable equilibrium in its own right.

Second, still haunted by Kremlinologists fabled inability to foresee one of the most significant geopolitical events of the 20th century the collapse of communism and the Soviet Union Russia watchers now appear to be hypersensitive to any economic or social clue that may portend trouble for the Putin regime. When the global financial crisis rocked Russia in 2008, we were told it was the end of the Putin era. When popular protests opposed his re-election in 2011-2012, experts called it the beginning of the end of Putin. The Euromaidan revolution in next-door Ukraine likewise allegedly portended the end of Vladimir Putin. As it turns out, competitive authoritarian regimes in general, and Putins Russia in particular, tend to be surprisingly durable.

With Russias new prominence in American political discourse, it is necessary to have a sober assessment of the countrys capabilities and limitations. Russia is neither the juggernaut nor basket case it is varyingly made out to be. A well-reasoned Russia policy begins by quelling ones hysteria long enough to recognize this and then engaging it accordingly.

Photo credit:HARRY ENGELS/Getty Images

Twitter Facebook Google + Reddit

More:

Vladimir Putin Isn't a Supervillain - Foreign Policy (blog)

Rethinking Nonviolent Resistance In The Face Of Right-Wing … – Huffington Post

Posted on by

From Brexit to the Trump presidency and Marine le Pens campaign-trail successes in France, right-wing populism is sweeping across the West.

Analysts and scholars have expressed concerns that this movement could threaten the fate of liberal democracy, and its hard-fought triumph over other contesting political ideologies since the end the Cold War.

In other words, the End of History, as described by the American political philosopher Francis Fukuyama, may come to an end.

The rise of right-wing populism may also open a Pandoras box for demagogues to promote a xenophobic agenda, as evident in Donald Trumps controversial travel ban.

There is deep fear that populist leaders such as Donald Trump advised by the right-wing ideologue Steve Bannon will eviscerate democratic checks and balances in the pursuit of consolidated power.

As a response, activists are calling for civil resistance against authoritarianism, and street protests are being staged to remind the enthroned populists of people power.

Safeguarding democracy through civil resistance is necesary. But it is important to acknowledge the fact that many of these leaders are democratically elected and supported by large segments of society.

We may choose to believe that voters for right-wing populist parties share chauvinistic and nationalistic opinions with their strongmen. However, the popular appeal of these leaders has much to do with the socio-economic decline that some constituents in the West have experienced, and this needs to be addressed if we want to efficiently counter authoritarian regimes.

The increasing oligarchisation of liberal democratic societies set a stage for a dignity deficit, especially among white, non-urban and working-class population.

In recent decades, the middle class in the West found their lives unprecedentedly precarious due to increasing unemployment and a lack of social security. The post-Cold War era ushered into force neoliberal dominance.

The speed of economic globalisation means that manufacturing jobs have been lost to countries offering cheap labour, while austerity policies resulting in cutback in social expenditure imply that most of the time, individuals are left on their own to finance their increasingly expensive healthcare and education, to name a few necessities.

Automation and immigrants looking for high- and low-skilled jobs in economically advanced countries have raised many questions about the future of employment for the American and European middle classes. These were left unanswered.

Against this backdrop, the well-off have reaped the benefit of globalisation. So have the cosmopolitan urbanites who have caught up with changing socio-economic landscape.

Meanwhile, political elites in Washington, Paris and London are perceived as having ignored this crisis of surging inequality, as they continue neoliberal policies that hurt the working class people who often consider themselves the backbone of their societies.

For instance, a series of free trade deals have been advocated by governments to be a brainchild of liberal democracy. However, rather than improving work conditions and life chances for common people, many of these deals have strengthened global corporations, contributing to greater inequality.

A good example is the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which potentially radicalises corporate deregulation, challenging states judicial sovereignty, and imposes fiercer standards of intellectual property.

Think tanks also point out that the signed and ratified TPP can result in job losses and declining wages.

Right-wing populism is a symptom of society polarised by economic injustice and the collapse of liberal democracy, which has enhanced the distance between political elites and their constituents.

Populist figures such as Trump and le Pen can mobilise popular support sufficiently to contest other liberal or centrist candidates because of their anti-establishment rhetoric.

They acknowledge the injustice and humiliation inflicted on their constituents through the loss of jobs and neglect of the political class.

Often popular anger is being diverted toward immigrants, who are portrayed as a threat to economic and cultural security, resulting in the proliferation of xenophobic attacks. Scapegoating immigrants becomes the expression of fear and vulnerability.

The increasingly precarious livelihood of this section of the population has led to a general perception that their idea of a great nation is in danger.

Populist slogans such as Make America Great Again or Take back our Country respond to this perception and collective emotion attached to it.

Lacking other political alternatives, people find hope in right-wing populist discourse, even when the candidates push forward radical agendas.

In this sense, the social divide runs parallel to the crisis of liberal democracy. Tackling right-wing populism requires not only resistance against leaders with authoritarian traits but also comprehension of why a vast number of people view populism as a hopeful alternative to the existing system.

Resistance in the form of street demonstrations and boycotts remains an important tool for defending democracy. Nevertheless, it does little to address ongoing social bifurcation.

It is difficult to imagine that supporters of right wing-populism, who despise the so-called political correctness and see the liberal agenda as irrelevant to their livelihood, would participate in progressive demonstrations such as the Womens March.

Does this mean that protests end up constituting an echo chamber where the progressive agenda circulates among those already convinced by the progressive ideas? Does it imply that while liberals resist Trump with various methods of nonviolent action, they have so far failed to understand the underpinning causes of populist trajectory, and have thereby missed the chance to communicate with those electing populist leaders?

Is it possible that protests can contribute to dividing society even more as protesters at times claim to hold higher moral ground than their populist opponents?

It is high time to rethink how nonviolent resistance can help counter right-wing populism.

Nonviolent resistance is more than taking to the street. It is political activism in the sense that it offers analytic tools to understand pillars of support of the ruling government, which normally include electoral constituents, bureaucratic bodies and the media.

Well crafted messages should convey to the general public the elites legitimacy deficit, and at the same time show the availability to political alternatives.

The messages amplified through persistent campaigns should be conducive to the eventual realignment of allies. Shifting alliances especially the defection of electoral supporters of the government wil allow activists to increase political momentum in the pursuit of social and political change.

The implication is that those committing to nonviolent resistance not only resist the powers that be they also analyse how the ruling powers discourses resonate with popular resentment, which in effect helps galvanise support to sustain its ruling legitimacy.

This understanding allows activists to design campaigns that show empathy to groups across political affiliations.

In the wake of right-wing populism, these campaigns need to address the structural underpinnings of a collapsing political establishment and offer a genuine platform for debating alternatives based on economic redistribution, reconfiguration of power relations between the political class and the people, and political reconciliation of groups with different aspirations.

Communicating with those you disagree with instead of reinforcing an echo chamber is the key to achieving all this.

The ideas laid out above are not completely novel.

Examples of communicating across the aisle appeared during US Civil Rights campaigns where African American leaders tried to appeal to white consciousness, extending their political messages to convince white priests and white constituents to endorse the course of the black struggle.

In ousting the Slobodan Miloevi, the Butcher of the Balkans, Serbias pro-democracy movements launched campaigns in Miloevis rural footholds, areas that had initially endorsed his ethno-nationalism.

Their success lived in the campaigns association of healthy patriotism with the downfall of Miloevi, and the creation of peaceful and democratic Serbia. The campaign message sought to unite Serbians whose political opinions were once split along the fault line of pro- or anti-Miloevi.

Beyond overthrowing a dictator, a well-run campaign can bridge the perception gaps that divide a nation, reminding us of the importance of constructing the future together based on the idea of dignity, justice and inclusiveness.

This article is adapted from a blog originally published on Cafe Dissensus.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Read the original:

Rethinking Nonviolent Resistance In The Face Of Right-Wing ... - Huffington Post