Daily Archives: October 16, 2019

In January, 1973, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times flew to Nice, France, to interview the director Herbert Ross about The Last of Sheila, a mystery picture that he was shooting on the Cte dAzur, much of which took place on a luxurious, hundred-and-sixty-five-foot yacht called H.M.S. Malahne. The gilded ship, which was built in England in 1937 and once helped evacuate soldiers from Dunkirk, became something of a Hollywood fixture in the nineteen-sixties and seventies: it served as the floating production office for Lawrence of Arabia in Jordan, was a regular Mediterranean clubhouse for Elizabeth Taylor and Frank Sinatra, and popped up in The Last of Sheila, as the watery summer home of a sinister film producer played by James Coburn. (There was a kernel of truth buried in this fiction: at the time of filming, H.M.S. Malahne was the property of a womanizing film producer named Sam Spiegel, who was allegedly so handsy with actresses that Billy Wilder once said that he had velvet octopus arms.) Dark things can happen out at sea, when people feel unmoored from both the shoreline and a landlocked sense of morality. The Last of Sheila, written by Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheimwho used to host infamous mystery parties together in New Yorkpushes this idea to murderous excess. A group of glamorous strangers (including Raquel Welch, Ian McShane, and Dyan Cannon) set sail, people start dying, and its up to the viewer to discover whodunnit. In his Los Angeles Times interview, Ross acknowledged the inherent creepiness of floating stories: If you have a group of people on a ship, he said, the ship becomes a metaphor for existence, you cant help it.... its about civilization and barbarism.

I could not stop thinking about The Last of Sheila while watching the Season 2 finale of Succession, which traps the Roy family and their closest remora on a superyacht in the Adriatic. Like H.M.S. Malahne, which would look like a dinghy beside the Roys boat (rich people never say yacht), their sea vessel is also the setting for a kind of murder mystery. After a series of scandals involving Waystar Roycos cruise division (dark things happen at sea!), the companys board demands a blood sacrifice, a scapegoat that they can tie up in litigation while the empire sails on, more or less unscathed. Each person who boards the ship knows that they could end up as the one overboard.

Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) and Shiv Roy (Sarah Snook) on the beach.

And yet they look fabulous. Relaxed. Expensive. Carefree. Cool in Top-Siders and floral maxidresses and gossamer pareos. Like Cannon in Sheila, who wore oversized tinted glasses and a circus of colorful caftans and straw hats, even as she was fearing for her life, the Roys, in resort wear, are engaging in high-stakes high fashion, on the high seas.

When I wrote about the fashion on Succession earlier this fall, I argued that the Roys are a family of little pleasure or sparkle, that, in spite of their money, they are tasteful to a fault, dressing protectively in uniforms of beige cashmere rather than in eccentric couture. I spoke to the shows costume designer, Michelle Matland, who told me that this was accuratebut that she could not wait for me to see the finale, where we would get to see a different side of the Roy dress code. I shouldnt even be telling you this, she said, at the time. But they go on a yacht. We get to see them at play.

Even with this tip-off, the Roys maritime peacocking came as a thrilling visual surprise. At last, here was the family in private, dressing only for each other. Sails out, nails out, bro, as Kendall instructed Cousin Greg. And while their fashion choices are more adventurous at seaToms pink linen Ralph Lauren jacket, Shivs flowy white Hobbs jumpsuit with an oversized waist sash, Willas floral Equipment dress, which she likely bought after seeing it on Kate Middletonthere is still a sense of gloom that seeps through the pastels. I spoke to J. Smith-Cameron, who plays Gerri, Waystar Roycos general counsel, who did her best Sue Mengers impression in a series of Cynthia Rowley caftans. Smith-Cameron told me that she wanted to look like she was seasick with stress, even in spangles. We see these people on this plush boat on the Adriatic with delicious food, and theres a pool and a slide and Jet Skis, she said. But everyone is filled with dread. So it was actually meant to be jarring: beautiful surroundings with long faces and furtive glances, not people enjoying themselves. So all of our resort wear is meant to look nice but at the same time be amusingly counter.

Matland echoed this sentiment. Tom, for example, is coming off his disastrous performance at the congressional hearings on Waystar Roycos crimes and is highly agitated, she said. His clothing, which was a lot of Ralph Lauren linen suits, is there to belie the fact that he is on the edge of a breakdown. He is constantly trying to look as if he is comfortablepink linens say honeymoon, vacation, enjoymentbut it is there to cover for the fact that he is unhinged.

Matlands goal with the episode was to telegraph the shared anxiety that each character feels while laundering this panic through the resort-wear section of Bergdorf Goodman. Kendall (Jeremy Strong), who quietly slumps around, wears a tiny Paul Stuart trilby hat (Strongs idea), which Matland says serves as both a security blanket and as a sign that he is feeling deeply insecure. The hat was crumpled, if youll notice, she said. It was purposefully imperfect.

In the final twist, when Kendall turns saboteur, he is back in his city armor: a sharp, fitted Tom Ford suit that almost shines like sharkshin. He sheds the earth tones that he has been wearing all season and dons the color blacka mournful color, but also one that marks him as an assassin, capable of patricide. Hes lost his blingy Oliver Peoples sunglasses, the typical eyewear of rich scions who have a trust fund and personal shoppers who run errands to SoHo; he is at last seeing clearly.

Sunglasses were crucial to this episode, Matland told me, when it came to winking at subtle differences between characters. Shiv, for example, wears traditional Ray-Bans, a sign that she wants to traffic in old-money rituals rather than in flashy ostentation. (It was significant that she did not wear Gucci or Prada, Matland said.) Toms sunglasses in his much memed chicken-stealing moment, right after he breaks down about his unhappy marriage, are Persol, an old-world Italian brand favored by worldly celebrities, most notably by Anthony Bourdain, who wore his pair all over the globe. His shades are as close to representing rebelliousness as one can get in the Roys world. Tom is past his breaking point; hes having his Brando moment.

Logan Roy (Brian Cox) on the top deck of the yacht.

Logan never lets his guard down, even in the sunhis sun hat is wool, from Walker Slater, a tweedy, posh haberdasher from Scotland. Nor does Roman, who, despite being the most feckless character, may also be the most authentic, in that he almost never changes his costume. He has a uniform hes super-comfortable in, Matland said. Blue oxford button-ups. Always.

As for Shiv, most of her boat wear, including her cream pinstripe suits, is Ralph Lauren Purple Label, a sign that she arrived on the ship most prepared for professional ruthlessness. She wants the top job, shes dressed for it, and shes willing to throw her husband under the bus for it, save for a rare moment of weakness in front of her father. Her one whimsical touch is an oversized straw hat with a black ribbon, from the Brooklyn brand Lola, which makes her look pampered and pastoral, like an extra from Anne of Green Gables. Even with her sharp, new-ish bob and architectural wardrobe, Shiv is still a spoiled, priggish little girl who throws tantrums if she cant get her way, and her accessories betray her true nature. (As a side note, Smith-Cameron told me that she was so taken with Shivs hat that she went out and bought one for herself after the episode wrapped.)

In Succession, no detail is out of place. Like a classic whodunnit, it is the kind of show that begs rewatching, studying, squinting at with a gimlet eye. If you run the finale back, you might wonder when exactly Cousin Greg decided to betray Logan and give Kendall the incriminating documents that he stole. Was it while shirtless and in baggy swim trunks, drinking a mediocre ros, or was it while he was wearing a navy Lacoste polo on the Roys private jet? When Greg first boards the yacht, in a striped French blue sweater and tailored khaki shorts, he looks suspiciously like Tom Ripley, a sleek interloper in the world of luxury who is willing to kill to survive. Perhaps even then Greg was eager to turn traitorous. Matland, who worked on the film The Talented Mr. Ripley, understands more than most how to make summer attire appear instantly malevolent. She creates a world of sunny poplins and ivory linens and breathable cottons, but, in the end, we are the ones left holding our breath.

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Lets Talk About the Yacht Clothes on Succession - The New Yorker

Overfishing is a major problem for the worlds oceans, but a strategy adopted nearly 50 years ago has helped protect fisheries: giving nations exclusive rights to waters 200 miles offshore and letting them police their own fish stocks.

A study by UC Berkeley graduate student Gabriel Englander shows that the nations that reap the most value from fisheries within their exclusive economic zones (EEZs) are the most effective at keeping other nations out. These results, published this week in the journal Nature Sustainability, are the first to demonstrate that assigning property rights to countries leads to the protection of fisheries from unauthorized fishing.

EEZs were first established in the 1970s, giving nations authority over fish, oil and mineral resources in a huge chunk, some 39%, of the worlds oceans. Before that, countries had authority only within three miles of land, leaving the bulk of marine resources free for exploitation.

Using newly available data, Englander found that unauthorized foreign fishing is 81% lower just inside EEZs compared to just outside them. Today, more than 95% of global marine fish catch occurs inside EEZs.

The results could have implications for preserving fisheries in the remainder of the ocean. The United Nations recently convened the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) to consider the creation of new marine protected areas on the high seas, which are remote and costly to police.

BBNJ negotiators could also consider extending property rights to high seas regions as an alternative or complement to high seas marine protected areas, Englander wrote in his paper.

Englander used new data made available in 2017 by Global Fishing Watch on large vessels and their movements in space and time. They were able to make inferences about fishing activity based on a convolutional neural network analysis of vessel movement, allowing Englander to compare fishing inside and outside EEZs.

He found that just 10 EEZ sea regions account for 97% of the global deterrence effect.

The large overall deterrence effect comes from just a couple of places. What these (EEZs) have in common is that they are all valuable near their boundaries, said Englander, who is a fifth-year grad student in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics of the College of Natural Resources. Because enforcing EEZ boundaries is so expensive, it is only worthwhile for countries with the most valuable fisheries near their boundaries.

These sea regions belong to Argentina, Iceland, Norway, Faroe Islands, Falkland Islands, Canada, Marshall Islands and Peru and contain some of the most vulnerable species, including Argentine Angelshark, Greenland Shark and Atlantic Halibut.

Englanders superb analysis reveals that entry by unauthorized vessels to the EEZs has been deterred, concluded Scott Barrett of Columbia University in a commentary in the same edition of the journal. It remains for future research to show whether this deterrence effect has also caused coastal fisheries to be conserved.

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Best way to protect ocean fisheries? Let nations profit from them - UC Berkeley

Key point:It would have been a Cold War dream come true.

In the early1980s, the Reagan Administration was looking to fund high visibility defense programs. Reagan had been elected on a platform of rebuilding the armed services after the hollowing out of the early1970s.

One example was the reactivation of four World War II-eraIowa-class battleships, which started in 1982. Each of the four ships, Iowa, Missouri, New Jersey and Wisconsin was refurbished, their sixteen and five-inch guns brought back online. Each battleship was also equipped with sixteen Harpoon anti-ship missiles,thirtytwoTomahawk land attack cruise missiles and four Phalanx close-in weapon systems (CIWS) for defense.

The four battlewagons were swiftly retired after the end of the Cold War because the manpower-intensive vessels each required a crew of nearly two thousand. That made them early victims of the post-Cold Wardrawdownas the defense budget was sharply reduced. Today, all four serve as memorials or floating museums. Retirement put an end to future upgrades, which might have included the boldest of them all.

In the November, 1980 issue of the United States Naval InstituteProceedings, Captain Charles Myers,USN(retired) proposed reactivating the battleships with significant modifications to the aft section.The proposal envisioned deleting the number three turret near the stern and the three sixteen-inch guns housed in it.

In place of the number three turret would be an extraordinary set of armaments. A V-shaped, ramped flight deck would be installed, with the base of the V on the ships stern. Each leg of the V would extend forward, so that planes taking off would fly past the stacks and ships bridge. Two elevators would bring BoeingAV-8BHarrier II jump-jets up from a new hangar to the flight deck. It was envisioned such a conversion could support up to twelve Harriers.

Thats not all. Existing five-inch gun turrets would be deleted and replaced with 155-millimeter howitzers for naval gunfire support. In the empty space between the V would be a field of tactical missile silos such as the Mk.41.Up to 320 siloscould fit in this space, supporting a mixture of Tomahawk land attack missiles,ASROCanti-submarine rockets and Standard surface-to-air missiles. This massiveloadoutwould dwarf even the 154 Tomahawks found on todaysOhio-class guided missile submarines.

Myers called the vessel the Interdiction Assault Ship. The ship could interdict enemy fleets on the high seas, particularly the Soviet NavysKirov-classnuclear-poweredbattlecruisersthat were then under construction at the Leningrad shipyards. In a wartime scenario, the U.S. Navy worriedKirovbattlecruisersand their formidable missile armament could be used to target American aircraft carriers or devastate convoys of reinforcements headed to Europe.

The Interdiction Assault Ship (IAS) would go after theKirovs, bombarding them with 16-inch guns and Harpoon missiles. Embarked Harrier jump jets could also join in the fight. The ships would be an economy of force measure, allowing aircraft carriers to go about their preassigned wartime duties with minimal distraction.

TheIASalso had a second mission: supporting Marines in an air assault landing. The six remaining 16-inch guns, backed up by the new 155-millimeter guns, could bombard land targets prior to an assault. The Navy and Marines would use the flight deck, in conjunction withIwo Jima-class helicopter landing shipsandTarawa-classamphibious assault ships, to help manage the assault force of anairmobileassault on an enemy-held position.

Under such a concept, theIASwould become part of an air assault staging area. The flight deck could be used as excess space to hold helicopters. The hangar was estimated to be able to accommodate up to 500 Marines. Once ready, the armada of helicopters would take off, escorted by the Interdiction Assault Ships Harrier fighters, which would also provide close air support until Marine artillery could be landed.

Although much discussed, execution of theIASconcept was delayed at least twice. The Department of Defense and the Navy wanted the battleships reactivated as quickly as possible, and as a result they were updated for service with only a minimal baseline of improvements the installation of Harpoon and Tomahawk missiles and the necessary fire control, Phalanx self-defense systems andRQ-2Pioneer drones.

The installation of the flight deck and missile silos would have to wait. They were again suggested in the late1980s, but for one reason or another, mostly coming down to cost and the Cold War winding down, the Navy got cold feet. By 1992 all four ships would be decommissioned.

In hindsight, the Interdiction Assault Ship concept might have had a difficult time fitting in with U.S. military operations in the1980s. Among operations in the Persian Gulf, Grenada, off the coast of Lebanon and Central America, there was no operation in which theIASwas a must-have. An amphibious ship could do the job or a battleship, but a compromise of both with the inherent shortcomings of an compromise would not have brought anything particularly compelling to the table.

TheIASwas a big stick for big wars chasing down theKirovsand other heavy Soviet surface combatants in World War III, supporting U.S. Marines in Norway, then executing the Maritime Strategy and joining the carrier fleets in attacking Soviet bases above the Arctic Circle. In this scenario, theIASsreal innovation a field of 320 missile silos would be a must-have. The ability to fire off salvoes of 16-inch shells and Tomahawk missiles at land targets, especially Soviet air defenses, would have been a godsend to the aircraft carriers and aircrews who would have had to fly combat missions over the Soviet Union.

Today all fourIowa-class battleships are scattered across the United States serving as floating museum ships. New technologies such as lasers andrailgunswill almost certainly spark a new wave of calls for reintroducing the ships with21stCentury technologies. While unlikely in the current fiscal environment, such a possibility shouldnt be completely ruled out. TheIowaclass keeps coming back, and still may yet again.

This first appeared in September 2015 and is being reposted due to reader interest.

Image: DVIDShub.

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Aircraft Carriers and Battleships Are Legends: Can You Combine Them Into 1 Warship? - The National Interest Online

Tony winner Roger Bart has joined the cast of the forthcoming world premiere of Back to the Future The Musical, which will open at the Manchester Opera House February 20, 2020. The production will play a 12-week run through May 17 prior to transferring to the West End.

Bart, who won the Tony for his portrayal of Snoopy in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, will play Dr. Emmett Brown, the role created on screen by Christopher Lloyd. Bart has also been seen on Broadway in a Tony-nominated turn in The Producers, plus roles in The Frogs, Young Frankenstein, and Disaster the Musical.

He joins the previously announced Olly Dobson as Marty McFly, Hugh Coles as George McFly, Rosanna Hyland as Lorraine Baines, and Cedric Neal as Goldie.

In a statement Bart said, I am thrilled to be here in the great city of Manchester, England, to introduce to the world this extraordinary incarnation of this hilarious and heart-warming story. Playing the role of Doc Brown, made iconic on film by the brilliant Christopher Lloyd, is going to be the adventure of a lifetime. After all, at this stage of my life, who doesnt want to go back in time?

LISTEN: Hear the New Version of 'Back in Time' From the Upcoming Back to the Future Musical

The show, featuring a book by the movies co-writer, Bob Gale, will feature additional songs from the source material, including The Power of Love and Johnny B. Goode, but will largely be comprised of an original score by Glen Ballard (Jagged Little Pill) and original film composer Alan Silvestri. Dobson previously offered a sample of the duos collaboration with the track Put Your Mind to It.

The musical features direction by Tony winner John Rando (Urinetown, On The Town) with set and costume design by Tim Hatley, lighting design by Hugh Vanstone and Tim Lutkin, sound design by Gareth Owen, video by Finn Ross, choreography by Chris Bailey, musical supervision and arrangements by Nick Finlow, and illusions by Chris Fisher. Orchestrations will be by Ethan Popp, with dance arrangements by David Chase.

Roger Bart has been a special guest performer on Playbill Travels Broadway on the High Seas cruises. Cabins are now on sale for Broadway in the Great Northwest, Playbill Travels first domestic cruise featuring Kate Baldwin, Tedd Firth, Christopher Fitzgerald, Aaron Lazar, and Faith Prince (April 26May 4, 2020), and for Broadway on the Mediterranean (August 31September 7, 2020), featuring Audra McDonald, Will Swenson, Gavin Creel, Caissie Levy and Lindsay Mendez, and for Broadway on the Nile (December 27, 2020January 7, 2021), with performers soon to be announced. To book a suite or stateroom, call Playbill Travel at 866-455-6789 or visit PlaybillTravel.com.

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Tony Winner Roger Bart Joins Cast of Back to the Future Musical - Playbill.com

In August, President Donald Trump made international headlines when he voiced an interest in buying Greenland, the world's largest island, which teeters on the edge of the icy Arctic Ocean. As it turns out, Greenland isn't for sale, and Trump was widely ridiculed for his diplomatic blundering. Yet, many wondered what could be behind this unprecedented move and if it might have something to do with the United State's growing interest in owning a slice of the Arctic.

The U.S. is one of eight nations surrounding the Arctic along with Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia and Sweden that are all currently jostling for ownership of the region's frozen seas. Several of the countries have already submitted formal papers to a United Nations body, claiming portions of the vast Arctic seabed. Climate change is also opening up the Arctic's formerly ice-locked waters, making the region more accessible than ever before. "Based on current trends, the predictions of the Arctic being completely ice-free are [that it will happen] around 2040 or 2050," said Richard Powell, a polar geographer at the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

This surge of interest in the region has been dubbed the "scramble for the Arctic," or more sensationally, "the new Cold War," because Russia and the United States are big players. But despite the opportunities the region presents, can the Arctic Ocean really be owned by anybody? And why do so many countries want a stake in this landscape of drifting icebergs and polar bears?

Related: Why Is There So Much Oil in the Arctic?

There's a straightforward answer to the second question: The Arctic possesses massive oil and gas reserves. The seabed beneath the Arctic Ocean houses an estimated 90 billion barrels of oil about 13% of the world's undiscovered oil reserves and an estimated 30% of the planet's untapped natural gas, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

A century ago, this immense mineral wealth would have been unreachable, because we lacked the technology to exploit it. Back then, countries were limited to exploring only a thin sliver of sea along their coasts, while areas of remote ocean, like the deep Arctic, were designated as high seas that belonged to no country. But with huge technological advancements in recent decades, remote stretches of ocean have become increasingly accessible. That's forced international lawmakers to play catch-up and expand the definitions of where countries can legally explore.

Currently, under a treaty called the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), signatory countries can exploit resources from the seabed out to 370 kilometres off their shorelines. But if a country can provide evidence that particular geological features on the seabed located farther out from that 200-mile limit are connected to the nation's continental landmass, then the country's jurisdiction can be expanded deeper into the sea.

"[Countries] compile the data, make the claim, then the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf [a U.N.-appointed body] rule as to whether they accept the reasoning or not," Powell told Live Science.

In the Arctic, this approach puts large swathes of once-untouchable ocean up for grabs by the surrounding nations, known as the "Arctic 8." Many of their claims now focus on the Lomonosov Ridge, a huge, deep-sea geological feature that stretches across the Arctic Ocean. Several nations posit that this ridge is an extension of their continental shelf, a claim that could grant them access to larger areas of Arctic seabed, and thus, vast mineral wealth.

All this points to a future in which different nations will indeed own chunks of the Arctic Ocean, each with varying degrees of power. Russia and Canada, for instance, are staking the two largest claims, which would inevitably give these nations more regional influence.

However, the divvying up of the Arctic isn't likely to happen very soon. For one thing, gathering evidence about the seafloor, crafting detailed reports and wading through the intricate science of nations' claims is an intensive procedure that's only just begun.

"The process of deciding on those claims itself is going to take possibly decades. Some people predict a couple of decades, but certainly years," Powell said. Even if countries get the go-ahead, they'll then have to shoulder the huge expense of getting their ships to the Arctic, building deep-sea infrastructure, and extracting oil and gas from miles beneath the surface.

"It's not just about melting ice. It's still an isolated environment. There are still difficult seas and icebergs, and it's very difficult to get insurance to operate," Powell said. "There's a whole set of other issues that are involved in whether that's practical."

Related: 10 Things You Need to Know about Arctic Sea Ice

At this stage, therefore, countries' claims to the Arctic are mostly anticipatory, said Amy Lauren Lovecraft, a professor of political science at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and director of the Center for Arctic Policy Studies. "A lot of what's being divvied up doesn't have anything to do with immediate need. It's about 'let's get what we can under UNCLOS so that we have access to all of that space in the future,'" she said.

Still, should we be worrying now about what ownership will ultimately do to the Arctic, even if that reality is still decades away? Could nations' jockeying for oil access spark a war? And how will an influx of resource-hungry countries affect the region's fragile ecology?

Powell said the effects on the Arctic will be determined by the general global situation when nations finally move in. "One could imagine a world where there's more conflict and anxiety about different things, and in that scenario, it would be bad news for the Arctic. But then you can also imagine increasing global organization to combat climate change," which might prompt states to work together to forge better environmental regulation, Powell said. "I definitely think it depends on other, wider issues."

Lovecraft said she is more cautiously optimistic. "If I put on my absolute environmentalist's hat, it's true, the Arctic will be used more." However, she added, "I don't think it's a race to the bottom." In other words, the Arctic will be owned and explored but that doesn't necessarily mean it will be destroyed.

The reason is that too much hangs in the balance. For instance, the Arctic's frigid waters,already threatened by climate change, support food chains that benefit the entire planet. Lovecraft said that governments grasp the crucial importance of protecting that resource.

There's proof in the Arctic Council, established in the 1990s by the eight Arctic nations. It promotes cooperation among different countries and indigenous communities of the region, "in particular on issues of sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic," the council website says.

Lovecraft said that countries have a desire to safeguard political and environmental stability in the region; theyre not blindly hurtling towards disaster. "People tend to think only about the Arctic in environmental terms, or in these old, Cold War terms. But it's far more nuanced, and there's a lot of goodwill," she said.

This cooperation might also become increasingly crucial as other, non-Arctic nations, like China, grow interested in the region. "They're never going to be an Arctic country, but they have money. They will use that soft power to create joint ventures [with Arctic nations] and all other kinds of ways to be in the Arctic," Lovecraft said. A major question then becomes whether the Arctic 8 will band together to protect the region from exploitation, Lovecraft said.

She added that a fixation with the national "scramble for the Arctic"' could be distracting people from a larger and more immediate threat to the region: climate change. Ownership will change the face of the Arctic, but climate change is shaping the landscape irrevocably, right now.

"We're not going to have a war anytime soon in the Arctic. What we are going to have is a fundamental disruption in the ecosystem," Lovecraft said. "What can [the eight Arctic countries] do to better steward this resource? Why not put more energy into protecting that future, for the common good of mankind?"

Originally published on Live Science.

(Image credit: Future plc)

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Who Owns the Arctic? - Livescience.com

A host of Broadway favorites raised their voices October 14 to help animals in need, 14 as part of the annual concert fundraiser Best in Shows, which took place at Feinsteins/54 Below. Seth Rudetsky served as host and music director for this year's iteration of the annual concert, which raises funds for the Humane Society of New York.

Among those appearing were Tony Award winners Beth Leavel (The Prom) and Lillias White (The Life), as well as Tony nominee Brenda Braxton (Smokey Joes Caf, Chicago), Nick Adams (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert), singer-songwriter Javier Colon, Adam Kantor (The Bands Visit), Cassandra Kubinski (You Get Me ), Tony nominee Beth Malone (Fun Home), Bonnie Milligan (Head Over Heels), Christine Pedi (Forbidden Broadway), and Paige Price (Saturday Night Fever).

Tony nominee Andy Karl and Orfeh were honored this year with the Humane Society of New Yorks Sandy Fund Award for their work in support of rescued animals.

Best in Shows is produced by Broadway animal trainer Bill Berloni and his wife Dorothy.

Flip through photos from the evening below:

Braxton, Rudetsky, and White have been special guest performers on Playbill Travels Broadway on the High Seas cruises. Cabins are now on sale for Broadway in the Great Northwest, Playbill Travels first domestic cruise featuring Kate Baldwin, Tedd Firth, Christopher Fitzgerald, Aaron Lazar, and Faith Prince (April 26May 4, 2020), and for Broadway on the Mediterranean (August 31September 7, 2020), featuring Audra McDonald, Will Swenson, Gavin Creel, Caissie Levy and Lindsay Mendez, and for Broadway on the Nile (December 27, 2020January 7, 2021), with performers soon to be announced. To book a suite or stateroom, call Playbill Travel at 866-455-6789 or visit PlaybillTravel.com.

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See Photos From the Star-Studded 2019 Best in Shows Concert at Feinstein's/54 Below - Playbill.com

Original Rent star Adam Pascal, as previously reported, will star in 5-Star Theatricals upcoming production of The Music Man, which runs October 1827 at the Kavli Theatre in Thousand Oaks, California. Get a first look at the Tony nominee as Harold Hill in the photo above.

Larry Raben will direct Meredith Willsons Tonywinning musical, with choreography by Peggy Hickey (Anastasia, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder) and music direction by Brad Ellis.

Pascal will be joined by Katharine McDonough as Marian, Trent Mills as Marcellus Washburn, Joshua Blond as Winthrop, Lisa Dyson as Mrs. Paroo, Savannah Fischer as Amaryllis, Dani Gonzalez as Ethel Toffelmier, Rich Grosso as Charlie Cowell, Joe Hart as Mayor Shinn, Christie Lynn Lawrence as Eulalie Shinn, Antonia Vivino as Zaneeta Shinn, Chris Hunter as Oliver Hix, Jonathan Matthews as Ewart Dunlop, James Thomas Miller as Olin Britt, Richard Storrs as Constable Locke, L. Michael Wells as Jacey Squires, and Adam Winer as Tommy Djilas.

The ensemble will feature Brittany Anderson, Laura Aronoff, Nichole Beeks, Lucas Blankenhorn, Lucy Bollier, Calvin Brady, Samara Gottlieb, Tina Hidai, Scotty Jacobson, Rachel Josefina, Cleo Magill, Anne Montavon, Chet Norment, Luke Pryor, Camal Pugh, Aria Surrec, Bayley Tanenbaum, Joshua Tanenbaum, Abigail Thompson, Zachary Thompson, Dekontee Tucrkile, Spencer Ty, Weston Walker-Pardee, and Samantha Wynn Greenstone.

The production will also have lighting design by Jared A. Sayeg, sound design by Jonathan Burke, costume design by Tanya Apuya, props design by Alex Choate, and hair and wig design by Jessica Mills. The production stage manager is Talia Krispel.

Pascal recently appeared as Edward Lewis in the Broadway musical adaptation of Pretty Woman. His Broadway appearances also include Something Rotten!, Disaster!, and Memphis.

Patrick Cassidy is the artistic director of 5-Star Theatrical, formerly operated as Cabrillo Music Theatre.

See What Your Favorite Stars Are Up to Away From Broadway With Playbill Universe

To celebrate Adam Pascal on his birthday look back through some of his past shows and performances.

Pascal has been a special guest performer on Playbill Travels Broadway on the High Seas cruises. Cabins are now on sale for Broadway in the Great Northwest, Playbill Travels first domestic cruise featuring Kate Baldwin, Tedd Firth, Christopher Fitzgerald, Aaron Lazar, and Faith Prince (April 26May 4, 2020), and for Broadway on the Mediterranean (August 31September 7, 2020), featuring Audra McDonald, Will Swenson, Gavin Creel, Caissie Levy and Lindsay Mendez, and for Broadway on the Nile (December 27, 2020January 7, 2021), with performers soon to be announced. To book a suite or stateroom, call Playbill Travel at 866-455-6789 or visit PlaybillTravel.com.

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First Look at Rent Tony Nominee Adam Pascal as Harold Hill in The Music Man - Playbill.com

Fisherman Michael Cavanagh has no doubts about the potential for violence on the high seas in the event of a no-deal Brexit at the end of the month.

The Greencastle-based skipper , says that just after the initial March 29th deadline passed, an Irish crew fishing for crab off Scotland got a nasty shock, even though there had been an extension.

They went to haul their pots, but 400 of them had already been hauled and the eye (which crabs crawl through) had been cut out of all the pots. And it wasnt Boris Johnson who did it.

Was it UK fishermen?

Who else was it? asks Cavanagh, the chairman of the Killybegs Fishermens Organisation (KFO) .

The organisations chief executive Sean ODonoghue says he has been warning for some time about the potential for conflict between fishermen of different nationalities if there is not agreement allowing for the status quo to be retained for a period once Brexit happens.

He reckons a lot of Irish people do not realise just how close UK waters are to the coast of Co Donegal and so may not appreciate the fears of the industry.

Can you imagine telling fishermen from Greencastle that they can no longer fish outside their back door?he asks.

ODonoghue says the Irish fishing industry will fall off a cliff if there is a no deal Brexit. He notes that over 14,000 people around the Irish coast work in fishing related industries.

Irish fishermen, just like the French, will not be happy if they are barred from areas they have fished for generations, he stressed.

Neither Michael or I will be be able to control this, he warns.

Just look at the farmers, agrees Cavanagh.

Both of them believe French fishermen will be particularly militant if they find themselves barred from much of the English Channel post-Brexit, and they believe blockades at French ports will happen within 24 hours of such a scenario.

Throw into the mix strong policing by Royal Navy boats protecting UK waters and there will be mayhem, warns ODonoghue.

He cites the tension between French and UK fishermen in the English Channel during the so-called scallop wars, when boats were rammed and stones thrown, as an indicator of the potential strife to come.

Somebody will lose a life, agrees Cavanagh.

ODonoghue says in a worst case scenario, those blocking French ports will not take time to check if vehicles have an Irish registration or if they are carrying fish or pharmaceuticals. Everybody will be affected, he says. And it will escalate quickly to Northern ports like Rotterdam.

Cavanagh says if things go badly, Irish fishermen will not hesitate to block Irish ports. And there will be no point having a blockade in Killybegs. It will be in Dublin because this is about bread and butter.

At Killybegs pier on Monday, just one vessel - the Northern Ireland-registered Voyager - could be seen unloading fish, while several local boats were tied up. According to ODonoghue, uncertainty over Brexit meant many local skippers had used up their quotas in the first three months of the year. How could you blame them when they expected they might be barred from UK waters from April?

Businessman Eugene McBrearty said local people were very glad to have the Voyager there because it meant a few days work for one of the the local fish processing factories , which would otherwise have been idle.

Out of his office window he pointed to one pier, where four local vessels were tied up. Thats 150m worth of boats lying idle.

McBrearty, owner of the KER Group (Killybegs Electrical Refrigeration Services) which provides engineering and refrigeration services to trawlers , has had to seek out new markets in places like Namibia, Chile and Saudi Arabia in the long lead in to Brexit.

The threat posed by pirates off Saudi Arabia and the need for security when operating in other Gulf states, means spreading his wings beyond Killybegs was not the exotic lifestyle choice some might imagine. But while a few years ago 80 per cent of his business was Killybegs-based, this has dropped to 40 per cent .

Liam Young , chief executive of Donegal and Wexford-based Errigal Bay shellfish processors, says that Brexit put the brakes on development at his company a long time ago.

The uncertainty has meant his company having to stall key decisions about investing in new equipment, launching new products or hiring new staff, while the slump in the value of sterling has really hurt, he says.

We are competing with companies in the UK whose costs have fallen by 20 per cent, putting the squeeze on us, he explains.

Young says that Errigal, which has a workforce of 150 and exports all its products , was impacted almost immediately after the Brexit referendum, but the impact became really acute when sterling started to slide.

The last thing we want is for the uncertainty to continue. We just want it done, he said.

Like a lot of Irish exporters, Errigal Bay uses Britain as a land bridge en route to markets in continental Europe and that is another worry as any delays when transporting fresh produce could be devastating.

Many in Donegal are also wondering what delays they will face closer to home given that those doing business in Dublin cross the border with Northern Ireland twice on the way.

I remember well the days when I had to sit and wait at a check point in Aughnacloy for two and a half hours and youd have to take everything out of the boot of the car, says Cavanagh. Nobody wants go back to that.

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Fishermen warn of mayhem on seas in event of no-deal Brexit - The Irish Times

On the third day of a noreaster, the storm is set to continue to bring wind, rain and potential coastal flooding, particularly for Cape Cod and the Islands, and Nantucket.

The National Weather Service predicted Friday morning that the long duration offshore ocean storm will continue to produce sustained winds at a maximum of 25 to 35 miles per hour along the coastlines of the Cape and Islands with maximum gusts between 35 and 50 miles per hour. The strongest winds are predicted for Friday morning and afternoon; theyre supposed to die down Friday evening.

For Boston, maximum wind gusts could reach between 35 and 40 miles per hour through Friday afternoon, the service said.

Our noreaster is still spinning well to our southgusty winds and rough season continue today, Terry Eliasen, a meteorologist with WBZ, said.

The storm could also bring some minor coastal flooding to Nantucket with 1.5-to-2-foot storm surge during high tides with waves reaching 5 to 10 feet, the service said. Nantucket was under a coastal flood advisory as of 6:15 a.m. Friday.

Expected inundation of less than one-foot above ground level in low-lying areas near shorelines, the service said.

The service also predicts dangerous sea conditions for all vessels with strong winds and high seas off shore.

Since Wednesday, Boston has received just .1 inches of rain, but areas of Cape Cod have gotten well over an inch. Nantucket has received nearly 3 1/2 inches of rain, the service said.

Bands of showers, mostly light, will expand farther north and west of Boston today then weaken and ease out of the picture tomorrow morning, WBZ meteorologist Barry Burbank said.

He predicts Boston could get another .3 inches of rain before midnight Friday.

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'Still spinning': Here's the latest on what to expect from the ongoing nor'easter - Boston.com

The Navy has both a tradition and a futureand we look with pride and confidence in both directions.Adm. George Anderson, 1961

Sunday, Oct. 13, marks the 244th birthday of the United States Navy.

The Navy has evolved significantly from its colonialseafaring roots, but its spirit of service to the nation remains.

The colonial militia is most often mentioned in American history textbooks, but the Navy also had a rule in the struggle for our independence. The Founders debated the practicality of having a naval force at first because of the British Royal Navys domination of the seas. Fortunately for Americans and much of the future world, the Continental Navy proved its mettle and won the respect of General Washington as a partner to the Army.

The Navy then all but disappeared after the Revolutionary War. It took pirates off the North African coast, tensions with France, and war with Great Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries to highlight the necessity of the Navy.

On April 30, 1798, President John Adams signed a congressional act establishing the Department of the Navy after both the Department of Treasury and the Department of War advised Congress to do so.

Today, the seas are arguably more relevant to global commerce than ever. In fact, approximately 90% of all the worlds goods are shipped by seas. These economic lifelines are threatened every time a ship is hijacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden, or when Iranian vessels interfere with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

A rising China and a resurgent Russia also are trying to tip the scales, shifting their resources to the Pacific Ocean and Arctic Circle. For example, China built airfields in the Spratly and Paracel islands, many in areas still disputed by neighboring countries.

Although the Navy abandoned a global force for good asa slogan, it continues to be one. It not only keeps the peace on the high seas,it airlifts in supplies and offers assistance from its hospital ships at timesof flooding and natural disasters.

This undertaking involves the commitment of approximately 337,000 active-duty personnel, 102,000 ready reserve, and an additional 279,000 Navy civilian employees.

The United States enjoys a blanket of security thatspans the entire globe, in part thanks to the efforts of American sailors whotirelessly patrol both the blue waters and the littorals.

From the Barbary Coast, to the Battle of Midway andbeyond, the Navy will go to victory or to the rescue. Happy Birthday, U.S.Navy!

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Forged by the Sea, and Centuries of Devotion to the American People - Daily Signal