Monthly Archives: April 2017

Master of the high seas: Pomp, patriotism and politics as Navy’s newest ship gets a name – Wicked Local Wellesley

Posted: April 10, 2017 at 3:04 am

Rick Holmes Opinions/Mass. Political Editor @HolmesAndCo

BATH, Maine - The orders of the day called for dress blues, so the crew of the USS Thomas Hudner marched in their sharpest uniforms into the biting wind and slushy snow of an April storm. It was a special occasion, the christening of the nations newest destroyer, and the men and women of the U.S. Navy dont mind getting wet.

Ship christenings have traditions that are well-practiced here in Bath, where they have been launching ships into the Kennebec River for 400 years. A Navy Band played. Dignitaries spoke, including all four members of Maines Congressional delegation. The wife of the ships namesake smashed a bottle of champagne on the bow of the 509-foot craft.

The honoree, Capt. Thomas Hudner, was on hand, a rarity when it comes to ship christenings. In 1951, when his friend and wingman, Jesse Brown, was shot down in Korea during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, he crash-landed his own plane in a vain effort to rescue him. President Harry Truman awarded Hudner the Congressional Medal of Honor for "displaying conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life."

There was no talk of jobs, money or politics as Hudner and his ship were honored that blustery morning. But the presence of Maines two senators and two Congress members was a reminder. Each was introduced with reference to the committee assignments most relevant to keeping the Navys ships being built by Bath Iron Works.

The 5,900 jobs at BIW skilled manufacturing jobs with good union pay and benefits are critical to the economy of Mid-Coast Maine. Every Maine politician, whether its the liberal Democrat from the states southern House district, the Republican from the northern district who based his remarks on America First, or the states moderate senators, Republican Susan Collins and Independent Angus King, makes preserving those jobs a top priority.

Defense contracting is big business, and General Dynamics, owner of BIW, is one of the biggest in the world. Theres an intense competition between BIW and the Huntington-Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, to build Arleigh-Burke class destroyers like the Hudner. Its the job of the Maine Congressional delegation, along with an army of General Dynamics lobbyists, to keep those contracts coming here.

None of the speakers mentioned the cost of the USS Hudner, but its your money, so you should know: $663 million.

The Hudner, which will be officially commissioned next year after more testing, is the 66th out of a planned 75 Arleigh-Burke destroyers. And thats just one part of the American fleet, which is far and away the largest Navy in the world. The U.S. has more destroyers than the next five countries combined. The advantage in aircraft carriers, the most powerful sea-going vessels, is even greater. No other country has more than one. The U.S. has 10.

Our large fleet is getting ever larger. We have about 272 vessels today, which was due to grow to 305 ships under Obama administration plans. President Donald Trump campaigned on a pledge to build a 350-ship Navy.

Thats just part of Trumps proposed $603 billion defense budget. Hes calling for a $54 billion increase in military spending, paid for by huge cuts in non-military domestic programs.

And theres the rub. To budget is to choose. The USS Hudner costs more to build than the budget for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting ($445 million) and the National Endowment for the Arts ($145 million) combined two of 19 programs zeroed out in Trumps budget with their own political constituencies. Theres a large debate to come about the choices we make.

But the story of Capt. Hudners heroism in Korea is a reminder that national security isnt just about dollars and cents. Hudner disobeyed an order to stay in the air. He destroyed an expensive piece of military equipment in a futile effort to save a buddy. For that he received not a reprimand, but the nations highest military honor.

Even that decision may have involved some politics. Jesse Brown, the pilot Hudner tried to save, was black, the nations first African-American naval aviator, and Truman had taken intense criticism for his decision to integrate the armed forces.

Their friendship was spotlighted at the time, and again at the ship christening ceremony, sending a message about inclusion.

My father was a Navy man. Like the members of the future crew of the USS Hudner who marched proudly through the snow in Bath, he helped supervise the construction of the aircraft carrier that would carry him to war in the Pacific. We should all be proud of the ships Americans build, and of the men and women who sail into danger on them.

But we cannot forget that theres politics and money behind every line of the federal budget.

Rick Holmes can be reached at rick@rickholmes.net. You can follow his journey at http://www.rickholmes.net. Like him on Facebook at Holmes & Co, on follow him on Twitter @HolmesAndCo.

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Master of the high seas: Pomp, patriotism and politics as Navy's newest ship gets a name - Wicked Local Wellesley

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Fiji’s luxury Vatuvara Private Islands – Gourmet Traveller Magazine Australia

Posted: at 3:04 am

On a deserted island in Fijis pristine northern Lau archipelago, Sophie McComas settles into an over-the-top villa owned by Oakley founder, Jim Jannard.

I'm being defeated in a staring contest by a double-decker coconut cake, thickly iced and sprinkled with golden toasted coconut flakes and frangipani flowers. It sits beside a bottle of Taittinger on ice, my only companions inside a villa that's big enough for 10, but intended for two.

Only three of these enormous villas hug the shrouded shoreline of Kaibu, a remote island in the pristine Lau archipelago in Fiji's far east. Kaibu is one of two islands that comprise Vatuvara Private Islands resort, a hideaway accessible only by its gloriously retro Twin Otter plane, which banks above the sapphire lagoon before touching down on an airstrip at the island's peak.

The owner, like his islands, is very private. In 2007, more than 30 years after launching his sportswear and eyewear company Oakley Inc, Jim Jannard sold it to the eyewear giant Luxottica for $US2.1 billion. His next project, named Red, was more niche but no less successful, producing high-resolution digital cameras for the film industry. One of the brand's earliest champions was New Zealand director Peter Jackson, who shot The Hobbit trilogy on Jannard's cameras, catapulting their value.

Drinks served on the beach at the resort.

So, with no issues regarding cash flow and with a mission to find somewhere to spend a few weeks a year with his toes in the sand and his head in a coconut cocktail, the Californian entrepreneur scoured Fiji. In 2010, he bought a pair of reef-fringed islands in the east: Kaibu, a 324-hectare piece of land on which US fibreglass tycoon Jay Johnson had previously developed a simple, quiet resort, and neighbouring Vatuvara, which is roughly the same size, dotted with coconut groves and dominated by a soaring mountain peak resembling a stone hat.

Jannard's next step was to lure husband-and-wife management team Rob and Lynda Miller, an Australian and American respectively, to build a secluded resort and run it in the months he wasn't enjoying his splendid island isolation. The Millers were managing Wakaya Club and Spa at the time, considered by many (including Gourmet Traveller, which featured it back in January 2006) as the South Pacific's most exclusive island resort. Its reputation was due in no small part to the Millers' careful management since the early '80s. In its heyday, Wakaya was favoured by the likes of Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise (even after their split), Russell Crowe, Demi Moore and Spain's Prince Felipe. Apparently Keith Richards toppled out of one of the resort's coconut trees in 2006. That's the extent of the Millers' account - discretion is high among their talents. "We've had to hide the guest book a few times," says Rob when we meet over a salad lunch, plucked mostly from the island's organic kitchen garden.

The resort's signature lunch dish of raw fish marinated in coconut milk.

The Millers are a relaxed couple - he's a hotelier and chef by trade, she has a horticultural degree - and when they arrived, they shared a clear picture of the kind of paradise they wanted to create in this corner of the world. Jannard had his own ideas, of course, but for the most part the Millers were left to realise their vision. "We thought if we can imagine it, we can make it happen," says Lynda.

After 28 years at the larger (though still boutique) Wakaya resort, with its 10 bures and expansive villa, they were keen for a new, smaller project. "We decided it would be fun and new and something we can take charge of ourselves," says Rob. The aim was to attract a similar crowd to a more tranquil and remote island idyll. The Lau archipelago is sparsely populated; the closest resort island is Laucala, owned by Red Bull's Dietrich Mateschitz, 60 kilometres to the north. "Between them and us and a few little ones, that's all there is this side of the mainland," says Rob. "Everything else is off Nadi. When you come here, you're out, way out. Almost in Tonga. It's all untouched."

The view from Delana, one of the resort's three villas.

The couple moved to the uninhabited Kaibu in 2010 with a tent, a generator and a handful of helpers, and began work. "We looked at the island like a big backyard," says Lynda, recalling the early days of the resort's transformation. They trained villagers from a neighbouring island in carpentry, gardening and construction to help them, and employed Fijian architects to polish and modernise the existing resort's classic Fijian style. The beachfront pavilion that houses Jim's Bar & Grill is built with darkly stained pylons of Fijian mahogany. The main bar is a highlight; Rob worked with a local tattoo artist to etch the thick slabs of Vesi hardwood with Fijian-style carvings noticeable only when you run your palm over them. For a contemporary feel based on South Pacific style, Lynda sourced furniture from Italy and soft furnishings from Coco Republic and Tommy Bahama.

Sitting on the crest of the island is Delana which, at 450 square metres, is the largest and most impressive of the three villas. A pair of heavy wooden doors as wide as my outstretched arms swing open and I'm looking down the barrel of an infinity-edge lap pool and beyond to the lagoon. I count 11 lounging positions on sofas and daybeds by the pool's edge, each one upholstered in dove-grey linen, scattered with bright cushions and accessorised with potted succulents, candles and coasters.

Fruit punch and juices.

From the pool terrace, I spot Delana's private cove, where a rack of stand-up paddleboards is flanked by a life-sized chessboard and a cabana with neighbouring twin hammocks.

Inside Delana, the blaze of the sun is muted by the coolness of stone and dark lacquered hardwood. Two desks sit side by side in a study so handsome it's almost presidential. That space flows into a lounging area dominated by slouchy, contemporary Italian furniture, screened by double doors from a supersized custom-made bed looking out to the pool and lagoon through floor-to-ceiling glass. Just a few steps from the bed is a square stone spa bath and massage area, with twin massage tables and a therapist on call. The Vintec is stocked with your favourite wine and spirits requested before arrival.

The island's other villas, Vatu and Saku, sit on either side of Delana but are completely hidden from it. Marginally smaller than the master villa, they have similarly over-the-top features. There are private pools, ocean-facing terraces for yoga or Pilates classes, deep stone tubs, outdoor showers, and unlimited cocktails and snacks. For guests who can't (or won't) switch off, there's high-speed WiFi available everywhere on the island - from every hammock and on every beach.

Lounges with a view at Delana.

Tablets in each villa are loaded with deserted island playlists, and there's a direct line to staff should guests need a pillow fluffed or bottle chilled. If one were to request a bath filled to the brim with single-malt whisky, it's not hard to imagine the only question might be one's preference of barrel age.

It would be a shame, though, to remain indoors when there's scuba diving, surfing and fishing trips, cooking classes and a four-hole golf course. A perfect morning might involve a lagoon ride in Houdini, the island's speedy 11-metre Naiad boat, with a couple of stand-up paddleboards in tow. It wouldn't be an unreasonable or unusual request to be dropped off on one of the powdery banks that rise from the private lagoon for a few hours at low tide, with a bucket of iced Champagne, a walkie-talkie and your lover. Houdini will reappear when summoned.

The dining pavilion's exterior.

Back on land, Lynda guides us through the gardens that she and her team of six have cultivated. Paths arc through a riot of lush green splashed with the rude colours of bougainvillea, hibiscus, and frangipani. The gardens are beautiful, but that's only a fraction of the story. With a degree in horticulture and a goal of self-sufficiency, Lynda has developed an expansive farm and orchard with full organic certification, a standard still uncommon in Fiji. "When we arrived, this area was sort of a natural bog," she says, gesturing to small pools at the lower end of the sloping garden. "We created ponds and redirected the water into them, so we can utilise the land here." Chooks scratch and fuss between tomato vines and rows of lettuce, rocket, endive and zucchini; they lay eggs haphazardly, leaving a treasure hunt for the gardeners. There's a little market garden behind each kitchen, so chefs can dash out and snip mint for drinks or salad leaves for lunch. Ink-blue coconut crabs with muscular pincers scurry along paths in front of us and dart up palms to evade capture (as a protected species, they needn't worry).

The orchard is full of bush lemons, cumquats and Indian and Tahitian limes, which are squeezed and mixed with fresh sugarcane juice and ginger for breakfast drinks. There are dark glossy-leafed macadamia trees and laden breadfruit trees, pawpaws and bananas, delicate vanilla plants and jalapeo plants, bushy rows of shiso and soy beans. Almost everything on the table is grown on the island or sourced nearby. Lynda's herbs and local lobster fill curries at dinner; at lunch, there are sliders with organic beef and lamb from neighbouring Mago Island, which is owned by Mel Gibson. (Oysters from his island are also said to be excellent.)

Fijian wood carvings dominate the Valhalla's look.

There are two spots for dining on the island, not counting your villa. Jim's Bar & Grill is a breezy pavilion on the beachfront with a barbecue on the sand for the day's catch - prawns on lemongrass skewers, say, or lobsters caught in nearby reefs - and also a wood-fired pizza oven. This is the spot for knocking the top off a young coconut and sipping its water, and for leisurely breakfasts - smoked salmon with poached eggs and homemade chilli jam, perhaps, or piping hot doughnuts and local coffee. A traditional Fijian lovo earth oven is fired up for chickens, joints of pork or whole fish to cook underground until tender, smoky and crisp-skinned.

Set back from the beach, up on a crest en route to Delana, is a more formal dining pavilion with bar and lounge, aptly named Valhalla. Games and books are stacked up for rainy afternoons, before evening cocktails and candlelit dinners. The menus mix fresh Californian and Japanese flavours with Fijian staples - labelled by Rob as "Pacific Rim" - though as is the way on this isle of plenty, the kitchen will endeavour to make anything requested. Seafood is abundant; local fishermen routinely come ashore with lobsters, crabs and torpedo-sized yellowfin tuna. We start one evening with Gingeritas and roasted coconut chips dipped in aoli. Tuna sashimi, lobster curry and grilled opakapaka - a pink deepwater snapper - are followed by banana-caramel souffl and a nip of whisky from the island's 300-bottle stash.

Delana's master bedroom.

The cocoon of tranquillity and comfort at Vatuvara seem so shatterproof it's hard to imagine that conditions are not always so calm or predictable. The most recent cyclone in February last year was the wildest in Fiji's recorded history: a category-five event named Winston. It and its accompanying tidal surge devastated many islands, killing 44 people and affecting 350,000 more. An estimated 32,000 homes were destroyed, many of them in low-lying villages. The damage at Vatuvara resort was enormous, though less deadly. Rob recalls running to the resort's main pavilion after the roof on his house blew away. "Once the roof goes, the walls go," he says. "It was like a washing machine. [The storm] was about eight hours all up." The gardens were shredded; coconut palms torn clean from the sand.

A year later it's hard to detect damage. Aside from a few slightly balding palms, the scars have disappeared under new growth. "It's funny," says Rob as we sit at the outdoor table at Jim's Bar & Grill, looking out to the garden, "during cyclone season, you just have to go ahead and chop the tops off the banana trees so they don't rip away in the wind. Once the storm has passed, they sprout again as if nothing had happened. Everything goes back to normal."

The view from Vatu.

The team here has done much the same. Lynda has the garden back in shape, and guests enjoy its bounty at every meal. It's hard to spot a Fijian face without a smile here, whether they're wrangling coconut crabs or agreeing that, yes, of course, it would be a good idea to whip up a second coconut cake. It's impossible not to match their smiles with one just as wide.

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Gilman: For Mark Sundeen, the search began with a meat snack (column) – Summit Daily News

Posted: at 3:02 am

After two decades of bumming around the country, first as a dirtbag outdoorsman stringing together jobs in the rural West, and later as a city-bound freelancer "whose sole purpose was to inhale dollars, transform them into pleasure, then exhale a stream of carbon into the air, feces into the sewer and plastic containers into the landfill," Mark Sundeen settled in Missoula, Montana.

There, he got engaged to a woman who also valued a simpler life, bike-commuted 14 miles daily and lived on garden feasts that took hours to concoct.

In a world where human appetites obliterate entire ecosystems, Sundeen recognized that what we choose to consume has moral implications. But one night while grocery shopping, faced with the $6.50 price tag on organic butter, he headed instead for the cheaper stuff in the conventional food aisles. There, he succumbed to a greasy breast of fried chicken, no doubt factory-raised on monoculture grain and cruelly caged. Then, he wiped his sins away with a moist towelette and pedaled home.

It's a wry encapsulation of a conundrum that those who aspire to sustainability face: We carve out sacrifices here and there Drive less! Recycle! Install solar! until they interfere with other desires. In search of a clearer path, Sundeen, author of "The Man Who Quit Money," set out to find people who have gone far beyond what most of us consider "good enough."

The result is his book, "The Unsettlers: In Search of the Good Life in Today's America," which provides a contemporary twist on Wendell Berry's 1977 classic, "The Unsettling of America." Where Berry argues that industrial agribusiness and modern capitalism have distanced people from the land and each other, Sundeen explores a movement toward radical simplicity, digging deep into peculiarly American strains of utopianism and telling the stories of three couples trying to live out their ideals in wildly different places.

Olivia Hubert, a black horticulturalist, and Greg Willerer, a white former teacher with roots in the anarchist punk scene, create a tiny urban farm. They're hoping to localize and humanize Detroit's inner-city food system part of a bigger ambition to build a more just version of a city bludgeoned by industrial collapse, racism and poverty.

There is Ethan Hughes, who led a cross-country, bike-driven "superhero" expedition to do good, and his wife, Sarah Wilcox, a classically trained soprano. They create a car-free, electricity-free intentional community in Missouri that engages in nonviolent activism.

We also meet Luci Brieger and Steve Elliott, who founded a small organic farm not far from Missoula that catalyzed a vibrant local food scene across western Montana.

The book is part memoir, chronicling Sundeen's new marriage and quest for a better life, and part social history. But though Sundeen finds beauty in each of the couples' lives, he doesn't flatten them into human Instagrams "the soft-focus shots of sun-dappled mason jars and fresh-picked pears" that tug at the heart of anyone stuck in a cubicle.

Hubert and Willerer must chase armed intruders from the crackhouse across the street off their property instead of merely grappling with gophers attacking their fields. Hughes and Wilcox weary of the infighting common in intentional communities and grope to maintain momentum when few of their peers are willing to commit to the enterprise for more than a summer. And Brieger and Elliott watch their dream enter mainstream society as yet another piece of the corporate machine: Mega-organic agriculture that sends plastic-sealed produce thousands of miles, driving right over the environmental and community benefits of the small, diversified farms that the couple built their lives around.

The characters are weird, stubborn and strong, and Sundeen provides a nuanced picture of their beliefs, underpinned by both religious and social justice movements and influences ranging from Wendell Berry and Thomas Jefferson to the Quakers, Booker T. Washington, the Nation of Islam, Tolstoy and Gandhi. Sundeen also acknowledges that the "renunciation of privilege" can become "just another means of exercising it."

In the end, nobody finds revelatory answers, yet all persist. Sundeen himself recognizes that his own role is not to be a pioneer but what he already is: a writer. In this, the book seems to suggest that the true recipe for revolution is not utopianism but the emotional foundations of its practitioners. In other words, to live right, one must find true purpose, work hard in its service and do the best good she can.

Sarah Gilman is a contributor to Writers on the Range, the opinion service of High Country News (hcn.org). She is a contributing editor of the magazine in Portland, Oregon.

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Iowa State Pride Week seeks to create local community – Iowa State Daily

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Iowa States Pride Summit is kicking Pride Week off with a call for unity and inclusion.

Various clubs and campus organizations will host events Monday through Friday to inform and express what Pride Week is all about.

It gives us an opportunity to create intentional spaces and gather in community with each other, said Joel Hochstein, hearing officer for the Office of Student Conduct.

Hochstein said Pride Week is about forming a local community and connecting with other local communities to join together on a national scale.

All students, faculty and staff are welcome to participate in the 10 official panels, activities and political call-to-action events outlined in the LGBTSS Pride Week events webpage.

The Pride Alliance, College of Business, Pride Summit, LGBT Student Services (LGBTSS), Office for Diversity and Inclusion, Gamma Rho Lambda, the Queer Graduate Association and Iowa State oSTEM will host these various events this week.

The events that the organizations are doing are meaningful in different ways for different people, Hochstein said.

With events varying from political action sessions, such as Contact Your Representatives! in the Agora at 11 a.m. Thursday to an open campus event for information on sex topics at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Carver, Hochstein said theres bound to be something for just about everyone.

At 5:30 p.m. Monday, the Pride Summit will host Making Workday Work for You in the lobby of the Student Services Building. The event will include a town hall on the new ISU student information system, allowing students to ask questions about how they fit into this systems plan.

The Office of the Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion will also host an event at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in Beardshear to discuss the founding of Ames first-ever Pride Fest. Students can come by to share their thoughts and opinions, and meet those who are trying to make Ames Pride 2017 a reality.

To get involved in Pride Week, students can attend events, become a part of one of the organizations that host the events or contact the Pride Summit for more information.

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Love, anger and social transformation – Open Democracy

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Credit: Flickr/r2hox. Some rights reserved.

Its November 9 2010, and Im one of many students that have surrounded and taken over the Conservative Party headquarters at Millbank Tower in London. Im angry, we are all angry, because the government is trying to triple the amount of money we have to pay to learn, develop and grow as young people. They are trying to raise UK university tuition fees from 3,000 a year to 9,000 as part of the continuous process of marketizing education.

There is screaming, shouting and drumming all around me, along with police in riot gear, but we outnumber them by far as we are in our thousands. I am part of a huge crowd that is singing and moving like a shoal of fish in the sea. I am at the front, face to face with a helmet, baton and shield. It's hard to see the person inside but thats not my focus - I am focused on getting into the glass fronted party headquarters. Suddenly we are all pushed forward and I find myself kicking with my feet, hitting the glass with anything I can find. I feel this rush of adrenaline in my body. I feel all my anger around the injustice of what the government is doing come out as a physical force.

I feel a release as I kick at the glass - and then there is this beautiful moment when the glass window smashes. Everyone cheers and rushes forward. We have done it - we have broken into the building. People stand on chairs. We chant, we sing, we fill the room, and for a moment this collective anger becomes collective joy - it becomes togetherness. I feel elated, I feel pumped, I feel powerful. I feel we are powerful, I feel together we can change the world. We just broke into Conservative party headquarters for Christ sakes - we can do anything!

And yet

Theres no doubt that anger is a powerful motivator. It motivates us to get out onto the streets and do something: to take action; find kindred spirits; build collective power. But it also has a negative side when it turns to hate hate at the world around us, hate at people who are destroying the environment, hate at the people who voted for Brexit. In my own struggles I also began to direct that hate towards myself in the form of guilt - guilt for being white, middle class and privileged; guilt for spending time doing things other than creating social change; and at its worst, a general sense of guilt every time I experienced pleasure or joy.

That doesnt mean accepting racist, sexist or other discriminatory behavior we must stand up and challenge it and become aware of how we perpetuate it but carrying that hate around inside of ourselves is incredibly self-destructive. So, can anger coexist with love, or do we have to choose one or the other? Neither extreme works for me, so what could a new approach to politics look like that acknowledges both of these forces as equally important in creating transformational social change?

From my early twenties I was drawn to spaces and places where I could explore what alternative forms of love might look like. I spent time in intentional communities and at festivals such as Boom andNowhere (the European Burning Man), and went on courses and workshops exploring intimacy and sexuality. In different ways all of these spaces embraced the idea of love and connection as a force for positive social change.

It was during these explorations that I discovered Tamera an intentional community in Portugal that has had a particularly profound impact on my life. Tamera was founded in Germany in 1978 and in 1995 it moved to Portugal. Today 170 people live and work there on 330 acres of land. As they put it:

The founding thought was to develop a non-violent life model for cooperation between human beings, animals and nature. Soon it became clear that the healing power of love and human community had to be placed at the center of this work. Love, sexuality and partnership need to be freed from lying and fear, for there can be no peace on Earth so long as there is war in love. The ecological and technological activities of Tamera include water conservation and promoting regional autonomy in energy and food. Through theGlobal Campusand theTerra Nova School, we are working within a global network of similar communities on the social, ecological and ethical foundations for a new Earth a Terra Nova.

Love is a powerful force that motivates me to act, to create, to give, to be alive - love of the natural world, love of music, love from a friend that gets me through a difficult year; the love between me and a partner that can make me feel like I am flying and can achieve anything; sexual love that can put a smile on my face for the rest of the day; love for a stranger in another country that can make me donate money to charity; or the love of a family member that can make me drive through the night to be with them by morning.

Ive had some of the most empowering, motivating, life affirming experiences in these spaces, experiences that have given me the energy to go back to everyday life and keep on fighting for a more beautiful world. However deep down Ive always felt that there was something problematic in this approach to social change that it couldnt just be about love and nothing else. Theres a hope that when we live in utopian spaces such as Tamera, then all of the things that are sad, bad or problematic about human society like pain, anger and power will simply disappear, but this strikes me as naive. The reality is that we bring all of our issues and privileges with us to these communities, and if they are not explicitly addressed then the same patterns of inequality will be reproduced.

Without a clear awareness and analysis of power and how it functions, and proactive methods of engaging with it, love can become degenerative, particularly for those who may have less power because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic standing or personal confidence. So the way ahead at this crucial time in history must be nuanced, consciously working with power and embracing both our anger and our love.

With the rise of President Trump and a politics of hate and fear, its important that we dont disengage, that we stay awake to, honour and acknowledge our pain, anger and rage. These are crucial emotional responses that lead us to take action, challenge the status quo, and build a different form of power together. But we cant let that anger turn into hate, blame and guilt. Otherwise we lose, because we become participants in the political and emotional games of the forces that oppress and discriminate against marginalised groups; who promote further cuts in services and greater austerity; and whose actions take away the hope and future of the next generation.

Instead we must create a politics of love, empathy and compassion; a politics that reminds us of the beauty that exists inside of ourselves and in the world in which we live; and social movements that make us feel alive, connected and supported. But to do this we need to re-imagine and diversify the narrative of love, beyond the confines of romance and the passive acceptance that is so often used in new age philosophies. As the writer and activist Bell Hooks writes:

We need to reclaim the concept of love, not as an abstract, all embracing, fantasy but as a set of ethics, principles, values and behaviours. A love that is justice in action... To begin by always thinking of love as an action rather than a feeling is one way in which anyone using the word in this manner automatically assumes accountability and responsibility...Culturally all spheres of life politics, religion, the workplace, domestic households, intimate relations - should and could have their foundation in a love ethic.

In this understanding love does not become passivity, acceptance or disengagement, or give into the pretence that pain, anger, and power do not exist. Instead it becomes a daily practice which also involves critical reflection, discernment, values and principles, as well as nurturance, care and support. A love that is justice in action is one that acknowledges power and knows that equality is a prerequisite for unity. Thisquote from the Black Lives Matter movement sums it up perfectly:

Our aim is to provide hope and inspiration for collective action to build collective power to achieve collective transformation, rooted in grief and rage but pointed towards vision and dreams.

The politics of the future must embrace all that makes us human: our anger, our pain, our joy and our love.

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Love, anger and social transformation - Open Democracy

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Astronauts Risk Damaging Their Brain’s With Deep Space Travel – TrendinTech

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Although the prospect of exploring space may just be too much for some people, astronauts just cant get enough of it. The trouble is that as well as the excitement that deep space travel brings, there is also a high risk of astronauts causing serious damage to their brains as high-energy cosmic rays whizz through the craft and into their bodies.

A new study examined the effects that space-like radiation had on rodents. The results showed there to be significant brain damage and cognitive problems six months after being exposed to the radiation. This suggests that astronauts could endure memory problems, impaired judgment, and anxiety as a result of space radiation.

Charles Limoli is a neurobiologist at the University of California, and he says, I do not think that during the course of a trip to Mars and back the astronauts will come back with anything remotely similar to full-blown Alzheimers. But more mild changes, more subtle changes they would still be concerning, given the level of autonomy astronauts operate under and the amount of work they have to do.

During the research, mice appeared to be less interested in new toys or toys in new locations once theyd been exposed to the radiation while rats became less flexible when responding to environmental changes. Both became more anxious and preferred to remain sheltered rather than be out in the open.

When Limoli and colleagues investigated the brain damage that may underlie these problems, hey found the neurons dendrites had a lot fewer spines than normal, and because the spines help pass signals between neurons, any damage to them will affect learning and memory. When we look at those animals that perform the poorest on a given behavioral task, those animals show the largest reductions in these dendritic spines, explains Limoli. Lasting inflammation was also found in the rodents brains.

During the research, none of the animals showed any signs of recovery, which surprised the researchers. But evidence suggests that these problems will, in fact, continue to linger. Limoli advises, The actual time that these animals are irradiated here on Earth.is a matter of minutes, and we see changes now that last out to a year, which is astounding. In humans, it could be months before these symptoms became apparent and until astronauts set off on a deep space mission, we cant be sure exactly how the body will react to galactic cosmic rays.

Next, Limoli and team will try to find out which regions of the brain are the most vulnerable to the radiation. Drugs are also being made that could help protect the brain against exposure to or recovery from it. Limoli comments, I dont think this means were not going into space, but if we know whats out there, we can prepare to deal with it much better.

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Adidas to Mass-Produce 3D Printed Shoes in Vats of Warm Liquid Goo – Singularity Hub

Posted: at 3:01 am

Adidas just announced theyre partnering with 3D printing company Carbon to mass-produce a line of shoes with 3D printed mid-soles (the spongy bit that cushions your foot). Called Futurecraft 4D, they aim to make 5,000 pairs by the end of the year, ramping up production to 100,000 pairs next year.

While 3D printing is often touted for its ability to customize products, Adidas will start with a single design to test the tech. Their ultimate goal, however, is to customize each shoe to fit the unique contours of a persons foot.

This isnt the companys first foray into the world of 3D printingan earlier model of the Futurecraft shoe, made with Materialise, previously sold for $333nor are they the only shoe company pursuing the technology.

Whats interesting about this project is the challenges Adidas says Carbons technology can solve. And whereas 3D printed shoes have mostly arrived in small numbers, Adidas commitment to ramp up production is notable.

The idea of printing objects on demand is exciting, but the reality is more nuanced. 3D printing is slow and costly. Traditional manufacturing processes like injection molding still reign supreme for mass manufacturing at cost.

Adidas and Carbon are optimistic this may be changing for some products.

Of the 3D printers weve covered over the years, Carbon's is a personal favorite. Instead of stacking layers to make an object, Carbon uses light and heat to selectively harden liquid resin. The result is very sci-fi. A digital design made manifest is hoisted from a vat of high-tech goo in a single finished piece.

But Carbon's process has practical advantages too. For one, its relatively fast.

Printing soles used to take Adidas 10 hours. Now it takes 90 minutes. And they aim to further reduce print time to 20 minutes. Also, each sole is printed continuously in one piece, which eliminates weak spots where layers meet. And the soles honeycomb geometrythe properties of which vary over the sole's lengthwouldnt be possible with injection molding.

Mechanical engineers have been taunting the world with the properties of these structures for years, according to Carbon cofounder, Joseph DeSimone. You cant injection-mold something like that, because each strut is an individual piece.

The technology also allows for faster, more complete prototyping. Adidas ran through some 50 designs before landing on their final choice.

A typical process, which would require copious retooling, would try out a handful of designs before moving on. By 3D printing both the design and the final product, Adidas can skip tooling on both ends. And unlike prior prototypes, the design and the final product are made of the same materiallimiting the likelihood the final product will perform differently.

In addition to Adidas, Nike, Under Armour, and New Balance have their own 3D printed shoe projects, but these have mostly been produced in small batches. While 100,000 pairs of shoes is a drop in the ocean relative to the hundreds of millions of pairs Adidas sells each year, it's a lot more than a few hundred pairs.

Whether the shoe itself catches on? We'll have to wait and see.

Image Credit: Adidas

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Basketball courts, playgrounds, more at Ascension Parish sheriff’s new, unique substation – The Advocate

Posted: at 2:59 am

DONALDSONVILLE Outdoor basketball courts a full court and two half-courts will be ready soon and two playgrounds are expected to be built in time for summer at the new Ascension Parish sheriff's family-friendly substation in Donaldsonville, deputies say.

Under an intergovernmental agreement with the Ascension Parish School Board, the Sheriff's Office has opened the substation in what was once an adult education building on the former campus of West Ascension Elementary School, which opened in 1966 and closed in 2005.

Two other elementary schools, Lowery Elementary and Donaldsonville Elementary, now serve schoolchildren in the Donaldsonville area.

Deputies have been working out of the new substation on Maginnis Street for several months now.

The Sheriff's Office provides law enforcement for the city, which hasn't had a police force since the 1980s.

Inside the building, in addition to office space for deputies, there's a conference room where deputies hope to offer a variety of programs for children. There, youngsters will be able to sit and read a book if they'd like, or they can step across the hall to a vending machine room and get a soda.

But the Sheriff's Office wanted the substation to be more than a satellite office. The substation, in fact, offers a new park for the city.

The deputies will continue to work out of the offices they have in Donaldsonville City Hall on Railroad Avenue, which is where people who have been arrested or who are being questioned about a crime will continue to be taken by deputies, Deputy Chief Bobby Webre said.

There won't be any of that type of activity at the new substation. There won't even be a "most wanted" poster on the wall, he said.

"Whatever we can do that will let the citizens, kids and deputies interact in a positive way" is the vision that Sheriff Jeff Wiley has for the substation, Webre said.

Across the country, "we're seeing more of a divide between law enforcement and the community," Webre said. "Instead of stepping back, let's step further out into the community."

The new substation has taken shape over two years, said Lt. Kyle Hanna, who is overseeing the project.

The 1,900-square-foot building itself was in good shape, but some plumbing work needed to be done, a parking lot poured and the new basketball courts put in, Hanna said.

The basketball goals, which will get their nets soon, can be adjusted for height, he said.

Deputy Delacey Joseph, who played basketball at Tulane University and now coaches a local girls basketball team, in addition to her work as a deputy, helped design the courts and will bring basketball workshops there, Webre said.

LSU students, all biological engineering majors involved with the university's Community Playground Project headed by professor Marybeth Lima, are helping design and will provide the volunteer labor to build two playgrounds near the basketball courts, Webre said.

Bleachers will go up near the courts, where people will be able to sit under the shade of a large live oak tree. A new pavilion nearby also offers shade.

The next projects for the park include fencing and public restrooms.

Capt. Darryl Smith, who leads the Sheriff's Office west side patrol, said, "There was nothing in this area when I grew up here.

"There was nothing equivalent, 20-something years ago. This is forever. It's a perfect family setup."

Follow Ellyn Couvillion on Twitter, @EllynCouvillion.

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Gorsuch’s ascension to high court vindicates McConnell plan – WBKO

Posted: at 2:59 am

WASHINGTON (AP) Neil Gorsuch's ascension to the Supreme Court was vindication for Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, whose risky bet more than a year ago paid off big time for President Donald Trump and the Kentucky senator himself.

When Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016, McConnell decided immediately that the Senate would not fill the seat until the next president was elected. McConnell never wavered. He ignored Democratic griping, misgivings from fellow Republicans, and ultimately erroneous predictions that GOP Senate candidates would pay a political price.

Now McConnell can take credit for allowing Trump to put a young conservative on the court for life, even though it took changing Senate rules to do it.

"No. 1, it's courageous. No. 2, it's genius, in that order, because he knew how much criticism he would get," said Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla.

Democrats and some Republicans predicted dire fallout from McConnell's divisive Senate rules change that removed the 60-vote filibuster barrier for Supreme Court picks, and they warned of a more polarized Senate and court over time. But most in the GOP were full of praise for their wily leader.

"Mitch did what he thought was the right thing at the time, and I think the American people agreed with it, as was evidenced by the outcome of the election," said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. "And now we have a great justice on the Supreme Court."

Frustrated Democrats grudgingly acknowledged that McConnell got what he wanted and delivered for his party, even as they insisted that the damage done to the Senate in the process would not quickly be forgotten.

The next time Democrats control the White House and the Senate, they could be the ones to benefit from the rules change enacted under McConnell. That's because the change will apply to all future Supreme Court nominees, too, eliminating any need for input from the minority party in making confirmations to the high court.

"The Republicans engaged in historic obstructionism that made it possible for this confirmation process to be conducted," said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. "We now have a radical right-wing justice on the Supreme Court. And I think that was their goal all along. So it is successful."

Some Republicans say the vacancy was an important factor in Trump's victory in November because the prospect of putting a conservative on the court helped evangelicals and other voters overcome their misgivings about Trump. In exit polls 21 percent of voters called Supreme Court appointments "the most important factor" in their vote, and among those people 56 percent voted for Trump.

McConnell told reporters Friday that "the most consequential decision I've ever been involved in was the decision to let the president being elected last year pick the Supreme Court nominee."

It was a gamble. McConnell said after the election that he didn't think Trump had a chance of winning or Republicans of holding their Senate majority.

McConnell and other senators also expressed the hope that after the bitter fight over Gorsuch, the Senate can get back on a more bipartisan course. That will be necessary to pass spending bills to keep the lights on in government by an April 28 midnight deadline.

McConnell pledged to preserve the 60-vote filibuster threshold on regular legislation, as opposed to nominations, which will continue to act as a tool forcing bipartisan outcomes and ensuring participation from the minority party.

As for Gorsuch, 49, he will be sworn in Monday and jump into cases of consequence, including one involving separation of church and state that the justices will take up in less than two weeks. Gorsuch is a veteran of Denver's 10th U.S. Circuit of Appeals with a history of conservative rulings that make him an intellectual heir to Scalia.

"As a deep believer in the rule of law, Judge Gorsuch will serve the American people with distinction," Trump said in a statement.

The judge won support Friday from 51 of the chamber's Republicans as well as three moderate Democrats up for re-election in states Trump won last fall: Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana. GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia, who has been recovering from back surgery, did not vote.

Gorsuch is expected to join a conservative-leaning voting bloc of justices, making five on the nine-member court.

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Conference to focus on space exploration in next decade | Boston … – Boston Herald

Posted: at 2:59 am

LOWELL, Mass. Astronauts, scientists and entrepreneurs are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the start of the Space Age and looking ahead to the next frontiers at a conference in Lowell.

"Space Exploration in the Upcoming Decade: The Domestication of Space," will bring industry leaders from around the world to share their work.

The conference will be held at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell from April 21 and April 22.

Space travel, human's ability to live on other planets and research that benefits life on Earth are a few of the conference's topics.

Keynote speakers include astronaut Col. Robert Cabana, director of the John F. Kennedy Space Center; Kenneth Sembach, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute and retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. James Abrahamson, the first director of the Strategic Defense Initiative.

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