#department of agriculture and cooperation

[coopsday]

Cooperatives Building a Better Future for All.

This year on July 6, cooperatives around the world will celebrate the International Day of Cooperatives with the theme "Cooperatives Building a Better Future for All". Cooperatives will have the opportunity to showcase their current and historical contributions to building a sustainable future, accelerating efforts to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by 2030.

Watch the UN DESA International Day/International Year of Cooperatives!

[batboyblog]

Things the Biden-Harris Administration Did This Week #36

September 27-October 4 2024

President Biden and Vice-President Harris have lead the federal response to Hurricane Helene. President Biden's leadership earned praise from the Republican Governors of South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia, as well as the Democratic Governor of North Carolina and local leaders. Thousands of federal workers are on the ground in effected communities having given out to date over 8 million meals, over 7 million letters of water. Both President Biden and Vice-President Harris have been on the ground in resent days meeting with effected families. During her trip to Georgia Vice-President Harris announced that the federal government will reimburse state and local government 100% of the costs from Hurricane Helene.

A strike by the International Longshoremen’s Association that briefly shut down ports on the East Cost and Gulf ended in a tentative deal. Both sides thanked Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg for helping push the deal through. President Biden and Vice-President Harris had expressed solidarity with the works when the strike was announced and President Biden directed Secretary Buttigieg to take the lead in pressuring management to make a deal with the Longshoremen. The ILA got a 62% raise as part of the agreement.

Vice President Harris announced new actions to help those struggling with medical debt. This actions include new standards from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on debt collection. the CFPB plans on requiring debt collectors to confirm debts are valid and accurate before engaging in collection actions. As well as cracking down on debt collectors that collect on debt that is not owed by patients. Other actions included an announcement by the DoD that it was reducing pricing for civilians who get medical treatment at DoD hospitals and a track down on tax-exempt hospitals who are required by law to offer financial assistance but often do not. These steps come after Vice President Harris in June announced plans to remove medical debt from credit scores. Following the Vice President's call to action North Carolina moved forward a plan to eliminate medical debt for 2 million people in the state. President Biden's American Rescue Plan funds have been used by state and local Democrats to eliminate $7 billion dollars in medical debt.

The Department of Transportation announced $62 Billion in infrastructure funding for 2025. Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed by President Biden this will be $18 billion dollars more than was spent in 2021. The Biden-Harris Admin has helped support over 60,000 infrastructure projects across all 50 states, rebuilding roads and bridges, breaking ground on America's first high speed rail, updating ports and airports, and breaking high speed internet to rural communities.

The Department of Transportation announced $1 Billion dollars of investment in America's passenger rail future. This comes on top of $8.2 billion in investments announced in December 2023. The funds will help expand and modernize intercity passenger rail nationwide.

The Departments of Energy and Agriculture announced a $2.8 billion joint project to bring 100% carbon pollution-free energy to the rural midwest. The DoE is investing $1.5 billion into helping bring the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan back on-line. Shut down in 2022 plans to refit and reopen it to allow the plant to keep generating clean energy till 2051. Once back online the Palisades Nuclear Plant will help stop an anticipated 4.47 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions a year, or 111 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions over its lifetime. The USDA is investing $1.3 billion in two rural electric cooperatives, Wolverine Power Cooperative and Hoosier Energy, which cover rural communities in Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana. This investment will help Wolverine and Hoosier connect to the Palisades Plant, reduce prices for customers, and reduce climate pollution, putting Wolverine Power on the path to be 100 percent carbon-free energy before 2030.

The Treasury and the IRS announced that 30 million Americans, across 24 states will qualify for free direct filing of their taxes in 2025. The IRS says that the average American spends $270 dollars and 13 hours filing their taxes. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, passed by President Biden with Vice President Harris' tie breaking vote, Americans will be able to file their taxes quickly and for free directly with the IRS. Tax payers in Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming will in 2025 be able to use direct file.

The USDA announced $7.7 billion in funding for Climate-Smart Practices on Agricultural Lands. This represents the single biggest investment in these programs in USDA history. Since implementation began in 2023 this conservation assistance has helped over 28,500 farmers and ranchers apply conservation to 361 million acres of land.

The Department of Energy announced $1.5 billion in investments in transmission infrastructure to help ensure our grid is reliable and resilient. This will help support nearly 1,000 miles of new transmission lines across Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. These lines will bring 7,100 MW of new capacity and create 9,000 good paying union jobs. Studies find to keep up with growth and meet our climate goals of carbon free energy the US will need to triple the 2020 transmission capacity by 2050. This is an important step to meeting that goal.

[rjzimmerman]

In eagle nirvana, avian flu is decimating America’s national bird. (Washington Post)

Excerpt from this Washington Post story:

The research boat thumped over the waves on a crisp June morning, spraying William Bowerman as he peered into 136 square miles of lakes and a cerulean sky in Voyageurs National Park.

“This is my favorite day of the year, because I’m here in eagle nirvana,” said Bowerman, a bald-eagle researcher who has been coming to these waters for half of his 63 years.

He spoke nostalgically of recent summers when you could scale a 70-foot white pine, peer over the edge of a massive nest and observe healthy brown eaglets. And from that perch, you could see the next eagle nest a mile away, and beyond it a third.

But as Bowerman and his colleagues monitored the status of the park’s bald eagles on this perfect morning, they were finding no young birds — just empty nests and the occasional adult.

Seventeen years after the Fish and Wildlife Service removed the bald eagle from the endangered species list, signaling the comeback of an iconic species, a new enemy is stalking our national bird. Not lead from duck-hunter bullets, not DDT from insecticides, not PCBs from industrial polluters.

The enemy this time is avian influenza.

In Northern Michigan, where Bowerman, a University of Maryland professor, has spent 40 years continuing a long-running bald-eagle census, the number of occupied eagle nests had risen from 52 in 1961 to 114 in 1984 and about 1,000 by the end of 2021. Late that year, highly pathogenic avian influenza reached North America.

The impact was immediate and devastating. In 2022, the number of occupied nests plunged 50 percent. Tests on dead bald eagles performed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources revealed that 38 percent of those that could be diagnosed had died of avian influenza.

In Minnesota, however, there are no comprehensive figures on the impact of the disease because the state does not collect all dead eagles for necropsy, the animal version of an autopsy.

Nationwide, avian influenza has killed at least 606 bald eagles in 45 states, according to findings from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, part of the Department of Agriculture. And those are just the eagles whose remains have been recovered and tested; experts believe they represent only a small fraction of the true toll.

“The warning bell has been rung,” said Peter Nye, who started organizing New York state’s bald-eagle restoration program in 1975 when the state had just a single pair. When he retired in 2010, the number had risen to an estimated 450.

In Florida and Georgia, avian influenza has caused an alarming rate of bald eagle deaths and nest failures, researchers wrote in January 2023 in the journal Nature Scientific Reports. Nest success rates — the percentage that result in the birth of eaglets that learn to fly — dropped in the two-hardest hit Georgia counties, Camden and Glynn, by 43 percent and 62 percent respectively in 2022.

Eagles were nesting when the virus began to overrun the population.

“Waterfowl were dying, and the eagles were eating the waterfowl,” said Nicole Nemeth, lead author of the paper and head of the research and diagnostic service at the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study at the University of Georgia. The study, launched in 1957, receives dead wildlife from 17 states and has helped researchers evaluate the broader impact of avian influenza.

As dead eagles came into the study in 2022, the organizers heard the same basic story again and again.

“‘This was a nesting adult. We found it dead. A day or two later, we found the mate dead, and then the chicks died.’ It was sad, depressing, alarming,” Nemeth said. “It was like you were trying to sleep at night, and you just could not get out of your mind the fact that these birds were dropping dead.”

In a graphic video accompanying the journal study, an eagle infected with avian influenza jerked its head frantically and beat its wings, unable to rise more than a few feet from the ground.

Nemeth and her colleagues concluded that the eagle losses from avian flu offer a broader picture of the disease’s impact, “an early horizon scan of an emerging threat to populations of predatory and scavenging birds across North America.��� Hundreds of hawks and owls have already been felled by the disease, according to federal figures.

[slotumn]

Prompt for 3H fans:

You're building a cabinet post-canon, and you can assign anyone who's not Byleth, Shez, lords, retainers, or royals with obligations to other nations (so no Petra) to lead the following positions/departments:

Domestic affairs & administration (includes stuff like infrastructure, territory planning, etc)

Military & defense

Science & medicine

Education

Economy & finance

Law & justice

Agriculture & natural resources

Diplomacy & foreign affairs

Who do you pick? (Hopes characters allowed)

Basically it's a build your own house, except it's for an actual post-war government instead of just monthly missions at the academy.

My own picks + reasonings under the cut:

Domestic affairs: Lorenz

Like I said in this post, he's a practical guy. He'd get the roads fixed and the mail system running and he'd be good at negging the local lords into cooperating with the new government.

Military & defense: Holst

He's a good general with real-life experience, and is one of the people who's been trusted to do his own thing militarily in canon and was mostly successful with it (it's what he does offscreen in 3H). Mainly dealt with Almyrans but wasn't a slouch at Gronder against the Empire, either, so I assume he's flexible too.

Science & medicine: Manuela

Look, she might be a hot mess in personal life but I think she's one of the few people who'd be able to do a government job while also having insight and firsthand experience the field she's assigned to. Other possible candidates (Hanneman, Linhardt, etc) for this are better suited as researchers instead of ministers imo.

Education: Seteth

He's overprotective of Flayn, but when it comes to youth who aren't his daughter he's far more reasonable and pretty good at giving advice. Other candidate was Hanneman, but again I think Hanneman is more research professor than a minister in a government.

Economy & finance: Marianne

To be specific, Marianne with Margrave Edmund's tutelage. House Edmund is the money house™. And honestly I don't see many others in the cast who'd be anywhere near suited for this position. Anna doesn't count, merchant mindset and nation-running mindset is different.

Law & justice: Ashe

He wants to follow law/some sort of code and he has a sense of justice, but he also knows from firsthand experience why/how people break the law, so he wouldn't be unreasonably rigid/unyielding in the affairs. Also the token Faerghan of the administration; many others here are Leicesterian (can't help it I have GD bias) but I'd want a unified Fódlan's cabinet to have people from all regions.

Agriculture & natural resources: Leonie

This is probably my most unconventional pick, but my reasoning is that this department would especially require familiarity with on-site/field conditions, and Leonie already has some of that (from a hunter village) + would be willing to go around looking at things herself as needed. Sorry about your dream of leading a mercenary band Leonie but I'm going to stick you in this position until the continent gets back on track. Other possible candidates were Marianne or Lorenz considering their paired ending, but I think they fit the other positions above better. And Bergliez may have the Empire's breadbasket but I am not assigning Caspar or his dad to this position.

Diplomacy & foreign affairs: Ferdinand

He's good at talking, wouldn't mind the tiring schedule of being sent everywhere, and even has an actual ending where he becomes a foreign minister. Other possible candidates were Sylvain or Cyril, but I'd be afraid of Sylvain getting into some sex scandal abroad and Cyril would need more education and training (specifically in Government Official Speak™, if you send him as is he will cause a scandal by calling a foreign official a dumbass to their face).

[rabbitcruiser]

The United States National Park Service was created on August 25, 1916.

National Park Service Founders Day    

The National Park Service was created when President Woodrow Wilson signed the Organic Act on August 25, 1916. The anniversary of its creation is known as National Park Service Founders Day, or simply as Founders Day, and is celebrated by all national parks. They offer free admission and host special programs, both in-person and virtual. The celebration happens to take place during National Parks Month.

According to the Organic Act, "the Service thus established shall promote and regulate the use of the Federal areas known as national parks, monuments and reservations" and their "purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." This is not too far removed from the National Park Service's current mission statement: "The National Park Service preserves unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations. The Park Service cooperates with partners to extend the benefits of natural and cultural resource conservation and outdoor recreation throughout this country and the world." The National Park Service is a bureau in the U.S. Department of the Interior. It is led by a director who is nominated by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

The first national park was Yellowstone National Park. It was established on March 1, 1872, with the Yellowstone Act, "as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people." Yellowstone was administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, as were other early parks and some monuments, while other monuments and historical areas were administered by the War Department and the Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture. When the National Park Service was created on today's date in 1916, it managed 35 parks and monuments. With an executive order in 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt brought 56 national monuments and military sites administered by the War Department and the Forest Service into the National Park Service. This move brought areas of historical, scenic, and scientific importance together. For a new park to be created, there must be an act of Congress. But, on account of the Antiquities Act of 1906, the president can proclaim national monuments on lands under federal jurisdiction.

By the 2020s, there were over 420 national park sites, or units, in the National Park System, covering over 85 million acres of land, located in every state, in the District of Columbia, and in a number of US territories. Collectively they are referred to as parks, although there are many naming designations, such as National Battlefields, National Military Parks, and National Historic Sites. There are also "related areas"—these are not managed by the National Park Service, but "are linked in importance and purpose to places managed directly by the National Park Service by preserving important segments of the nation's natural and cultural heritage." Examples are National Heritage Areas, Affiliated Areas, and trails in the National Trails System. The National Park Service employs about 20,000 people, and has almost 300,000 volunteers! With such an expanse of land in its jurisdiction and so many people involved in the land's preservation, it's apparent that the National Park Service's original goal of conservation for future generations is still being met, and this is celebrated today with National Park Service Founders Day!

How to Observe National Park Service Founders Day

There are numerous ways you could celebrate the day:

Visit a national park or other location managed by the National Park System. Remember, there is free admission today! If you can't visit in person, you could do so virtually.

Get the NPS app.

Check out the National Park Service's "Games and Challenges."

Read a book about the national parks.

Watch National Parks: America's Best Idea and read its companion book.

Learn about the past directors of the National Park Service.

Volunteer or work for the National Park Service.

Follow the National Park Service's social media accounts.

Source

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazil boosts agricultural exports to Africa and Asia

Last year, Brazil witnessed a significant enhancement in the export of agricultural products to Africa and Asia, following the establishment of specialized sanitary certification services for its agricultural commodities. This development was spearheaded by the Department of Inspection of Plant Products under the Secretariat of Agricultural Defense, focusing on the certification of food safety standards for markets including China, Morocco, and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations.

Notably, Brazil's exports to the GCC included 270 tons of nuts and almonds in 2023, with shipments like cashew nuts to Oman, Brazilian nuts, and pecans to Saudi Arabia, alongside coconut oil to the United Arab Emirates. Additionally, the collaborative efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture, agricultural attachés, and ApexBrasil have broadened the scope of Brazilian agricultural exports. This includes a significant increase in coffee beans to Indonesia and the introduction of crude soybean oil to the Moroccan market, alongside a 30% rise in black pepper exports to the same country.

Continue reading.

[treethymes]

It’s often said that under capitalism, relations between people appear as relations between things. The butcher, baker, and candlestick maker vanish into the Bed Bath & Beyond. But there’s a countertendency at work within the ruling class, among whom relations between things often appear as relations between people. Mr. Smith seems to have dinner with Mr. Brown, but behind the veil are the bank and newspaper sitting to sup. This is a virtue of the joint-stock model: Huge piles of capital, years of work extracted from labor and subsequently aggregated, meet as men. Capital’s fundamental drive for better-than-average returns means that no operator can be satisfied with a tie, but in order to function the system needs superficial competition on a stone platform of cooperation. In the fascist system competition is external, between nations, its various components conceived as parts of a single body. Individual interest is subordinated to that of the group. That was anathema to [Herbert] Hoover and his fellows, who saw individual interest as the prime mover, society’s engine. Capitalist collectivity emerges in two ways: First, there’s exploitation, wherein capitalists extract bits of value from their employees’ work and gather it up into lumps to reinvest. Second, there’s association, in which investors pledge their gathered lumps to a common cause. Unlike an enveloping fascist state, an associative state comes together like an interoffice softball league, via the ostensibly free and voluntary association of participants.

The stone foundation of capitalist cooperation cracked during the Depression, as near-term self-preservation undermined long-term self-interest. The “Popular Front” alliance between leftists and liberals offered a different model, a democratic state that mediated between capital and labor much the way the associative state mediated among capitalists. The idea had a lot to offer, especially in the face of fascists on the right and communists on the left. The Stanford athletic association treasurer [Hoover] was abandoned, nearly alone in his fidelity. But he grasped something the others didn’t: Financialization and economic democracy can’t blend. If property rights are subject to popular control, then investors will encounter the public as an obstacle, a variable to be managed. For example, banks loaned credit to farms based on existing prices, which were based on the current cost of labor. Improving labor conditions by picket was an attack on property valuation, which thanks to financialization made it an attack on property, full stop. The Roosevelt coalition brought together capital and labor under one roof, but one partner always sought to dominate the other.

Bill Camp was an odd choice for a New Deal bureaucrat, but the banker, cotton planter, and proud son of a Klansman was the right wing of the FDR team, one of the Confederate Democrats who hadn’t left the party yet, except for a single dalliance with the Chief [Hoover] in 1928. He was a link of continuity between Hoover’s agricultural administration and the New Deal version. When the Agricultural Adjustment Act came under legal challenge, Camp was introduced to the left side of the coalition, and he was shocked to discover that his very own lawyer was a communist. Camp knew one when he saw one, and when he realized that Department of Agriculture officials were planning to help the left-wing Southern Tenant Farmers Union get better conditions for cotton workers in the South—Camp’s ancestral stomping ground—he denounced them. Camp called a handful of his conservative politician friends from the cotton belt and they went over the head of the agriculture secretary, Wallace (the new one), straight to President Roosevelt. The next day the president fired the left-wing lawyers, and Agriculture reversed a pro-tenant rule interpretation. But Camp couldn’t forget about his commie lawyer, and when one of Camp’s local congressmen wanted to make a name for himself exposing liberal Reds, Camp fed everything he had on Alger Hiss to Richard Nixon, helping ignite the congressional Red Scare.

Herbert Hoover understood that the social forces Bill Camp and Alger Hiss represented—the plantation owner and the plantation worker—no government could bring into harmony. Capital by its nature dominates labor, and if it fails to accomplish that, it ceases to exist. The rule interpretation Camp objected to bound planters to their existing tenants, which was an untenable attack on their profitability, even though at the time they weren’t profitable at all without the government’s help. The conflict was inherent, and it didn’t take until the end of World War II for the Cold War to start or for liberals to reveal which side they planned to take. After George Creel lost the California gubernatorial nomination to the wacky socialist writer Upton Sinclair, he and FDR knifed the populist author. First they rewrote Sinclair’s platform to moderate it, then they cut a deal with the Republican incumbent, Frank Merriam, anyway—the same Merriam who called the machine guns to the San Francisco waterfront. Merriam trounced Sinclair, who waited patiently for the Roosevelt endorsement that never came. “He didn’t realize at first that communism was the threat,” Camp recalled of Creel, regarding the official’s work; “he became one of the greatest fighters [against communism].” So much for the New Deal.

[…]

Communism, Hoover and his allies saw, was not merely a political party running Russia or an economic philosophy. It was a real movement that threatened to abolish capitalist control over society and thereby destroy capitalism in its entirety. Communists were communists whether they realized it or not, even when they thought they only wanted better wages. It’s easy now to look back and see the Hooverites as victims of a paranoiac fantasy about the world—to see them either as the only ones who really believed the Marxist revolutionary rhetoric or as cynical operators stoking an arbitrary moral panic. But Bert knew the global revolution was real. He saw it in China, narrowly escaped it in Russia, confronted it outside the window in DC, and heard it tear apart his farm in California. They took his mines, and they would kill him and take the rest if he wasn’t vigilant, just like they did to his formerly privileged friends around the world. Still nursing his wounds from defeat but far from vanquished, Herbert Hoover devoted the rest of his life to winning the class war. Palo Alto became his watch tower.

Malcolm Harris, Palo Alto

[govindhtech]

Space Tech: Private Ventures and Mars Exploration

Space Tech

Beyond intrepid exploration, space technology has advanced to address pressing issues on Earth. It is becoming more and more essential to the effective operation of contemporary societies and their economic growth. Space has the potential to directly affect billions of people’s lives and open up large-scale, highly impactful solutions.

A broad term for satellites, space stations, ground stations, tracking and monitoring centers, downstream analytics and artificial intelligence, software, and other technologies, SpaceTech offers innovative ways to solve global concerns. Satellites increase communication, navigation, and earth observation capacity at low cost even in remote locations. Satellite-based earth observation data is vital, accurate, and reliable for data-driven decision-making by businesses and governments.

The underserved and otherwise unprofitable regions can benefit from high-speed connectivity thanks to the satellites. The application of action plans for intelligent agriculture, resource management (land and water), infrastructure development (urban and rural), climate and weather monitoring, environmental protection (including reducing the risk of disaster), and other purposes can all benefit from the use of satellite data.

Aerospace Innovation

The space industry is predicted to increase in value from USD 360 billion in 2018 to USD 558 billion by 2026 and roughly USD 1 trillion by 2040. Even though the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is one of the world’s top space agencies and is working on projects like the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (NavIC) and the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), India currently only makes up 2%, or USD 7 Bn, of this market value.

One reason could be that the private sector’s contribution to the Indian space industry has primarily consisted of ISRO subcontracting, with ISRO historically handling the crucial value addition activities internally. Because of this, Indian private companies have lagged behind other world leaders in SpaceTech in terms of end-to-end capabilities.

The publication of SpaceCom Policy 2020, Space RS Policy 2020, Geospatial Policy 2021, and other policies, along with the creation of organizations like NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL) and the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN–SPACe), have created a national push to expedite the private sector’s involvement in the Indian space area. The Department of Space is also working on a comprehensive Space Act and other policies, including launch vehicle and space exploration policies.

Because of our natural curiosity and desire to understand the universe, space travel has long fascinated people.

Recently, private enterprise and international cooperation have transformed space exploration.

This article will explore the changing face of space exploration and emphasize the importance of international collaboration and private industry.

New Space Technologies

Pioneers of Personal Space Travel

NASA, Roscosmos, and ESA were the only government space agencies allowed to explore space. However, private companies leading space innovation changed everything:

SpaceX since 2002 has resupplied the ISS, developed reusable rocket technology, and prepared to colonize Mars.

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin offers professional and recreational suborbital and orbital spaceflight.

Rick Branson’s suborbital space tourism company, Virgin Galactic.

Innovating, competing, and seeking commercial opportunities beyond Earth are redefining space exploration in private space ventures.

Space Exploration Companies

International Space Cooperation

Space exploration requires international cooperation even as private businesses grow:

The Earth-orbiting International Space Station (ISS) is a global collaboration marvel. European, Japanese, Canadian, Russian, and US space agencies participate.

Mars exploration: NASA, ESA, and others work on Curiosity and Mars Sample Return.

The Artemis Accords outlines global cooperation on the Moon and beyond, inviting international partners to lunar exploration.

Global Collaboration and Private Enterprises Benefits

Space exploration benefits from private sector involvement and international cooperation in a number of ways.

Innovation: By bringing in competition and innovation, private endeavors lower costs and advance technology.

Commercialization: Businesses worldwide can take advantage of commercial endeavors to expand their satellite deployment, space tourism, and resource exploitation capabilities.

Shared Resources: Working together, nations can pool resources, exchange knowledge, and take on challenging projects.

Scientific Discovery: Across national boundaries, international cooperation increases the possibility of scientific discovery and exploration.

Difficulties and Things to Think About

Although private and international partnerships present notable benefits, they also present certain challenges.

Regulation: To address new challenges, the framework governing international cooperation and private space endeavors needs to change.

Resource Management: A complex ethical and legal challenge is the responsible use of space resources, such as lunar mining.

Space Debris: Coordinated actions ought to tackle the expanding problem of space debris and environmentally friendly space operations.

Space Travel Prospects

Future space exploration could lead to asteroid mining, planet colonization, and scientific breakthroughs.

Space exploration is entering a new era as private companies and multinational partnerships change the space environment.

Space exploration is more accessible, sustainable, and transformative than ever thanks to private innovation and international collaboration. It shows our willingness to push the limits and our enduring spirit of exploration.

Mars Rover

What is Mars Rover?

A robotic vehicle that investigates the surface of Mars is called a rover. Rovers are long-range, remotely controlled vehicles that gather data and take images while traveling great distances. They have found evidence of water, ancient life, and possible resources on Mars, among many other significant discoveries.

Six Mars rovers have been successful so far:

In 1997, Sojourner became the first rover to set foot on Mars. During 83 days, it investigated the Ares Vallis region. The twin rovers Spirit (2004) and Opportunity (2004) touched down on Mars in 2004. For many years, they investigated the Gusev Crater and Meridiani Planum, respectively. Opportunity stopped operating in 2018 and Spirit became stuck in 2010.

Gale Crater is presently being explored by Curiosity (2012). It has found evidence of ancient lakes and rivers, among many other significant discoveries.

The Jezero Crater region is being explored in Perseverance (2021). In addition to gathering samples of rock and regolith broken rock and soil for potential return to Earth, it is searching for indications of prehistoric life.

The first Chinese rover to set foot on Mars is Zhurong (2021). It is investigating the area of Utopia Planitia.

An essential component of our Mars exploration are the Mars rovers. They have made significant contributions to our understanding of the Red Planet’s potential for habitability.

Read more on Govindhtech.com

[cridhe]

"Dozens of foreign workers have been killed or abducted since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. The death toll for Thai nationals, who comprise one of the largest groups of foreign workers in the country, had risen to 29 as of Monday, with 18 Thais thought to be held hostage.

Thailand's government has vowed to repatriate workers who want to come home, and has set a target of bringing back 4,000 by the end of this month. More than 7,000 Thais are waiting for a seat on the next plane home, according to cabinet officials.

As of July, there were around 119,000 legal foreign workers in Israel and over 25,000 there illegally, according to Israeli authorities. In agriculture, there were 22,862 legal foreign workers and another 7,493 without valid paperwork, largely those who had overstayed visas. This sector imports almost all of its labor from Thailand, though there are also a few thousand "trainees" from Asia and Africa working in Israel's agricultural sector as part of work-study programs.

The history of Thais working in Israel goes back decades.

Hundreds of agricultural "trainees" and "volunteers" from Thailand arrived in Israel in the 1980s and thousands had gone there by 1992, according to research by anthropologist Matan Kaminer, with a particular influx following the 1987 Intifada, or Palestinian uprising.

"There was a strategic decision that was made on the part of the Israeli state to replace Palestinian workers with migrant workers so they wouldn't have this dependence," Kaminer told Nikkei Asia.

Under pressure from the U.S. and nongovernmental groups over labor rights issues, the worker pipeline was formalized in 2011 when the countries signed an agreement known as the Thailand-Israel Cooperation on the Placement of Workers (TIC) project, which was implemented in 2013.

-

The TIC agreement, which allowed Thais to work in Israel for a maximum five years and three months but only in agriculture, helped slash the fees paid by workers from an average of $9,000 to around $2,100, according to a 2019 study by Rebeca Raijman and Nonna Kushnirovich.

Kushnirovich said the proportion of visas to work in the agricultural sector had remained stable at about a quarter of all foreign work visas.

The exclusive bilateral deal means Israel's agricultural industry is its most homogeneous sector in terms of foreign workers.

"Close to 100% of the foreign workers in it came from Thailand," she said.

-

However, cases of mistreatment of Thai workers on Israeli farms have continued to plague the sector. A 2020 snapshot of Thai migration to Israel by workers rights nongovernmental organization Kav LaOved found 83% were paid below the legal minimum wage. Many do not receive legally assured entitlements and face unsafe working conditions and difficulty accessing medical care, according to the study.

Similar concerns were documented by Human Rights Watch in a 2015 report, while the 2022 U.S. State Department Trafficking in Persons Report characterized the treatment of some Thai workers in Israel's agricultural sector as forced labor.

There were about 5,000 registered Thai workers and 1,000 unregistered ones in the area near the Gaza Strip when the attack occurred, said Yahel Kurlander, a volunteer with Aid for Farm Workers, a newly formed group set up to help Thai workers in Israel.

"In many of the sites to which workers have been evacuated, they were pressured to go to work immediately, and in others the hosts have clarified that those who wish to stay another week will have to work," the group, which has established a refuge for workers, said in a statement.

-

If the response to the situation is handled poorly, he said, there is a possibility it could deter migrants in the future, particularly given the sector's track record of labor rights violations.

"The relationship between the two sides, between the Israeli employers and the migrants from Thailand ... it's been very rocky for years. This might be a kind of turning point," Kaminer said.

Yahel Kurlander, an academic specializing in Thai workers in Israel, was also cautiously optimistic that the current situation could be a catalyst for improvements as there will likely be a deficit of workers with more Palestinians shut out and some Thais deterred from returning.

"When there is an extreme need for workers, they can ask for more money, they can ask for more rights," she said.

[mybeingthere]

Miao Skirt (China), 1950–60.

Cooper Hewitt museum describes:The skirt is dated 1950–60 and we acquired it in 2009. Its medium is hemp and its technique is plain weave patterned with hand drawn starch resist, indigo dyed. It is a part of the Textiles department.

The Miao are one of approximately 60 ethnic minority groups recognized by the Chinese government. The group resides primarily in Guizhou province in southwest China; some have migrated as far as Thailand and Vietnam, where they are known as the Hmong. Historically, they have been a marginalized group, practicing subsistence agriculture in the inhospitable hilltops and moving on when the thin soil is depleted. 

The Miao have at least 80 different subgroups with specific regional costumes. They hold festivals during the agricultural low season at which hundreds, or even thousands of Miao travel long distances to attend. Elaborate costumes and jewelry are worn, particularly by young women, as an expression of group identity and as an indicator of wealth and skill. 

The range of decorative techniques is awe inspiring but always includes indigo dyeing and finishing, and wax-resist dyeing. Indigo is often grown and fermented at home. The pleated, indigo-dyed skirt is an important feature of all of the regional costumes, although they vary in the details of their construction, ornamentation, and length. Typically, the narrow, back-strap woven hemp fabrics are stitched together selvedge to selvedge. The wax resist is applied by hand in intricate geometric patterns using a small quill or tool with a copper head. 

The fabric is then dyed multiple times in an indigo bath. Various processes are often used to give the indigo a high sheen, which is particularly prized. The process of pleating the skirts varies as well, but usually involves inserting several rows of stitching to draw up the fabric in loose gathers, which are then manually manipulated into sharp pleats. Sometimes the skirts are dried on a barrel-like cylinder or stretched on a vertical frame to pull the pleats into straight columns.

This particular skirt is made from traditional indigo resist-dyed hand-spun yarns. The waistband and upper pleated band are solid blue, while the lower pleated band of the skirt is patterned with five rings of hand-drawn designs, including sawtooth and “Greek key” type patterns. The upper pleated band also has decorative stitches to hold the pleating in place.

https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18732723/

[beardedmrbean]

Australia has decided to examine and remove Chinese-made surveillance technology used in government buildings.

Defense Minister Richard Marles on Thursday said the Chinese-made cameras could pose a security risk for the country.

Two companies, Hikvision and Dahua, have provided at least 913 cameras, intercoms, electronic entry systems and video recorders in over 250 Australian government buildings.

Both companies are partly owned by the Chinese government.

"We would have no way of knowing if the sensitive information, images and audio collected by these devices are secretly being sent back to China against the interests of Australian citizens,'' said shadow Minister for Cyber Security James Paterson, who requested the audit.

The checks came after Britain in November announced that it would stop installing Chinese-linked surveillance cameras in sensitive buildings.

Some US states have also banned vendors and products from several Chinese technology companies.

Hikvision rejects claims of security threat

An audit found that equipment from at least one of the two companies was present in almost every government department, except the Agriculture Department and Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Paterson urged the government to "urgently" come up with a plan.

Defense Minister Marles said that issue was significant but added "I don't think we should overstate it."

Hikvision said that to represent the company as a national security threat is "categorically false," as it cannot sell cloud storage, access the video data or manage databases of end users in Australia.

"Our cameras are compliant with all applicable Australian laws and regulations and are subject to strict security requirements," said a spokesperson of the company.

Dahua Technology has not yet responded.

China urges "fair" treatment

Beijing on Thursday accused Canberra of "misusing national might to discriminate against and suppress Chinese enterprises."

"We hope Australia will provide a fair, just and nondiscriminatory environment for the normal operations of Chinese enterprises," said China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning. 

According to Paterson, both companies are subject to China's national intelligence law which requires them to cooperate with Chinese intelligence. 

In similar cases, China's general response to such situations has been to defend their high-tech companies and present them as good corporate citizens who play no part in intelligence gathering. 

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week. #6

Feb 16-23 2024

The EPA announced 5.8 billion dollars in funding upgrade America's water systems. 2.6 billion will go to wastewater and stormwater infrastructure, while the remaining $3.2 billion will go to drinking water infrastructure. $1 billion will go toward the first major effort to remove PFASs, forever chemicals, from American drinking water. The Administration all reiterated its plans to remove all lead pipes from America's drinking water systems, its spent 6 billion on lead pipe replacement so far.

The Department of Education announced the cancellation of $1.2 billion in student loan debt reliving 153,000 borrowers. This is the first debt cancellation through the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan, which erases federal student loan balances for those who originally borrowed $12,000 or less and have been making payments for at least 10 years. Since the Biden Administration's more wide ranging student loan cancellation plan was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2023 the Administration has used a patchwork of different plans and authorities to cancel $138 billion in student debt and relieve nearly 4 million borrowers, so far.

First Lady Jill Biden announced $100 million in federal funding for women’s health research. This is part of the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research the First Lady launched last year. The First Lady outlined ways women get worse treatment outcomes because common health problems like heart attacks and cancer are often less understood in female patients.

The Biden Administration announced 500 new sanctions against Russian targets in response to the murder of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. The sanctions will target people involved in Navalny's imprisonment as well as sanctions evaders. President Biden met with Navalny's widow Yulia and their daughter Dasha in San Francisco

The White House and Department of Agriculture announced $700 Million in new investments to benefit people in rural America. The projects will help up to a million people living in 45 states, Puerto Rico, and the Northern Mariana Islands. It includes $51.7 million to expand access to high-speed internet, and $644.2 million to help 158 rural cooperatives and utilities provide clean drinking water and sanitary wastewater systems for 578,000 people in rural areas.

The Department of Commerce signed a deal to provide $1.5 billion in upgrades and expand chip factories in New York and Vermont to boost American semiconductor manufacturing. This is the biggest investment so far under the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act

the Department of Transportation announced $1.25 billion in  funding for local projects that improve roadway safety. This is part of the administration's Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program launched in 2022. So far SS4A has spent 1.7 billion dollars in 1,000 communities impacting 70% of America's population.

The EPA announced $19 million to help New Jersey buy electric school buses. Together with New Jersey's own $45 million dollar investment the state hopes to replace all its diesel buses over the next three years. The Biden Administration's investment will help electrify 5 school districts in the state. This is part of the The Clean School Bus Program which so far has replaced 2,366 buses at 372 school districts since it was enacted in 2022.

Bonus: NASA in partnership with Intuitive Machines landed a space craft, named Odysseus, on the moon, representing the first time in 50 years America has gone to the moon. NASA is preparing for astronauts to return to the moon by the end of the decade as part of the Artemis program. All under the leadership of NASA Administrator, former Democratic Senator and astronaut Bill Nelson.

[enterprisewired]

Wind-powered cargo ship sets sail in a move to make shipping greener

This month saw the debut of Pyxis Ocean, a huge red cargo ship. But unlike the majority of those that came before it, this one is partly powered by wind.

Two WindWings, massive steel sails that are 37.5 meters (123 feet) tall and were created by industry partner Yara Marine Technologies, were retrofitted onto the ship that is contracted by US cargo corporation Cargill.

It is anticipated that the wings will reduce emissions by up to 30%. The savings would be considerably greater, according to developers, if utilized in conjunction with alternative fuels.

The journey, which started in China and is currently traveling to Brazil, will test the technology.

Cargo ship sets sail to test wind power at sea

New wind-assisted propulsion methods

Every year, the shipping sector emits more than one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide or about 3% of all emissions in the world that are caused by people. The industry promised in July to reach net zero in terms of global warming pollution “by or around 2050.” One method for achieving this is the utilization of wind. New wind-assisted propulsion methods have emerged recently, however, the idea is not new—sailing ships have been in use for more than 5,000 years.

On cargo ships, enormous kites and rotor technologies have been tested in an effort to lessen their reliance on diesel. However, the International Windship Association estimates that there are now only about 20 big commercial vessels using wind power.

The entry of Cargill, one of the biggest agricultural traders in the world that moves about 225 million tonnes of goods annually, might have a significant impact. According to John Cooper, CEO of BAR Technologies, the company’s involvement has been crucial in helping WindWings gain traction. He claims, “They show the way, and others respect what they’re doing.”

Cost of wind-assisted technologies comparable to the fuel savings

According to Cargill, the wings not only assist in lowering cargo ship emissions but also enable owners of vessels to comply with new industry standards for energy efficiency and save money by reducing fuel usage. According to the business, WindWings can save 1.5 metric tonnes of fuel per wing per day on an average worldwide route, with the potential for even greater fuel savings for transoceanic flights. This, according to the company, might become even more crucial when using more expensive, future greener fuels (such as ammonia and methanol).

The cost of wind-assisted technologies must be comparable to the fuel savings they offer in order for them to become widely used, according to experts. In order to make adjustments to the design before it is produced at scale, the performance of the wings will be closely evaluated along the journey.

Cooper claims that BAR Technologies already has other contracts in the works, including one for a cargo ship chartered by Vale that will depart from Shanghai in September and be outfitted with four WindWings. We anticipate assisting the global shipping sector as it makes the switch to cleaner, greener propulsion, according to him.

[adalidda]

Photo: The operations board of Deko Agribusiness App

Are you looking for a way to optimize your agricultural and agribusiness operations?

Do you want to streamline your logistics, sales and marketing processes? Do you want to digitalize your agricultural value chain and access real-time data and insights?

 If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you need Deko Agribusiness App, the ultimate app for small farmers, agricultural cooperatives, agribusinesses SMEs and corporations.

 Deko Agribusiness App is a cloud-based platform that helps you manage your crop production, from planning to harvesting. You can track your inputs, outputs, costs, revenues, and profits with ease. Deko Agribusiness App also enables you to digitalize your agricultural value chain, by integrating with drones and satellites. You can monitor your crops, soil, weather, pests, and diseases in real-time. You can also manage inventory in your warehouses.

 With Deko Agribusiness App, you can:

Increase your productivity and profitability

Reduce your risks and losses

Enhance your quality and sustainability

Expand your market reach and opportunities

Empower your decision making and innovation

Don’t miss this chance to transform your agricultural and agribusiness operations with Deko Agribusiness App. Visit our website https://dekoagri.adalidda.com to get started as a Free User.

 If you need additional information, please contact us at:

 Deko Integrated and Agro Processing Limited (Nigeria)

3rd & 4th Floor, Idubor House

52 Mission Road

300002 Benin City

Edo State

Nigeria

Phone/WhatsApp: +2349040848874

Email: pr@dekoholding.com

Website: dekoholding.com

 Deko Industries (Cambodia)

Phone/WhatsApp: +85510333220

You can test Deko Agribusiness App with the following demo accounts:

Logistics Dept. Username: edwardjohn@gmail.com Password: SVCTT7279P Access code: 5F9TT31WGV

Finance Dept. Username: marylawal@gmail.com Password: 6I0HOQP2RC Access code: 5F9TT31WGV

Marketing and Sales Dept.

Username: kolawole@gmail.com Password: 6JP1J4EECF Access Code: 5F9TT31WGV

Agricultural Dept. Username: petermoses@gmail.com Password: JZ7W7895AZ Access code: 5F9TT31WGV

Notes: In Deko Agribusiness app, the access level is by staff position (co-worker, manager) and by department. Example: Staff in the agricultural department can't view information of the Logistics department. Managers can view but can't edit information. You can create the business account for your organization from the login screen at https://dekoagri.adalidda.com/login The login guide is available at https://dekoagri.adalidda.com/loginmanual

The demo accounts are non-managers accounts so you can't delete content that is posted by other person. All posts done with the demo accounts will be deleted after 24 hours.

Please share with your friends

Thank You

[rabbitcruiser]

The United States National Park Service was created on August 25, 1916.

National Park Service Founders Day    

The National Park Service was created when President Woodrow Wilson signed the Organic Act on August 25, 1916. The anniversary of its creation is known as National Park Service Founders Day, or simply as Founders Day, and is celebrated by all national parks. They offer free admission and host special programs, both in-person and virtual. The celebration happens to take place during National Parks Month.

According to the Organic Act, "the Service thus established shall promote and regulate the use of the Federal areas known as national parks, monuments and reservations" and their "purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." This is not too far removed from the National Park Service's current mission statement: "The National Park Service preserves unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations. The Park Service cooperates with partners to extend the benefits of natural and cultural resource conservation and outdoor recreation throughout this country and the world." The National Park Service is a bureau in the U.S. Department of the Interior. It is led by a director who is nominated by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

The first national park was Yellowstone National Park. It was established on March 1, 1872, with the Yellowstone Act, "as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people." Yellowstone was administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, as were other early parks and some monuments, while other monuments and historical areas were administered by the War Department and the Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture. When the National Park Service was created on today's date in 1916, it managed 35 parks and monuments. With an executive order in 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt brought 56 national monuments and military sites administered by the War Department and the Forest Service into the National Park Service. This move brought areas of historical, scenic, and scientific importance together. For a new park to be created, there must be an act of Congress. But, on account of the Antiquities Act of 1906, the president can proclaim national monuments on lands under federal jurisdiction.

By the 2020s, there were over 420 national park sites, or units, in the National Park System, covering over 85 million acres of land, located in every state, in the District of Columbia, and in a number of US territories. Collectively they are referred to as parks, although there are many naming designations, such as National Battlefields, National Military Parks, and National Historic Sites. There are also "related areas"—these are not managed by the National Park Service, but "are linked in importance and purpose to places managed directly by the National Park Service by preserving important segments of the nation's natural and cultural heritage." Examples are National Heritage Areas, Affiliated Areas, and trails in the National Trails System. The National Park Service employs about 20,000 people, and has almost 300,000 volunteers! With such an expanse of land in its jurisdiction and so many people involved in the land's preservation, it's apparent that the National Park Service's original goal of conservation for future generations is still being met, and this is celebrated today with National Park Service Founders Day!

How to Observe National Park Service Founders Day

There are numerous ways you could celebrate the day:

Visit a national park or other location managed by the National Park System. Remember, there is free admission today! If you can't visit in person, you could do so virtually.

Get the NPS app.

Check out the National Park Service's "Games and Challenges."

Read a book about the national parks.

Watch National Parks: America's Best Idea and read its companion book.

Learn about the past directors of the National Park Service.

Volunteer or work for the National Park Service.

Follow the National Park Service's social media accounts.

Source

[yatescountyhistorycenter]

From Penn  Yan, with love

By Jonathan Monfiletto

Depending on how you look at it, it was either the height of the Cold War or the early days of this standoff between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Fourteen years after World War II ended, the Iron Curtain had indeed descended as Russia wrestled Eastern European countries into its orbit, and the Space Race was on after Sputnik and Sputnik II were launched. Still, the Cuban Missile Crisis had not yet unfolded, the Vietnam War had not yet erupted, and there were still more than 30 years before the USSR fell along with the Berlin Wall.

Amid this period of tension – sometimes with sharp words, other times with nuclear threats – as the world’s two superpowers stared each other down, a dozen Soviet graduate students – with an average age of 27 – spent a week in Penn Yan in November 1959, during a monthlong tour of the United States. They visited various businesses and industries and other establishments, and they learned about what life is like in a democratic, capitalist society during what was billed as an activity to build better international cooperation and understanding.

The group, which also included three American guides, arrived in Penn Yan on Wednesday, November 4 from the Boston, Massachusetts area – having visited Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, WGBH Educational Television, and the like – and then departed Penn Yan one week later for a two-day visit to Washington, D.C. and a weeklong stay in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of these things is not like the others, as the old Muppets song goes, but it seems Penn Yan got the nod for a tour stop because of its prior connections to the Experiment in International Living, one of the entities that organized the experience.

But unlike the group’s other stops, Yates County could offer a look into life in a rural, agrarian community. While six local families each housed two of the Soviet group members during their weeklong stay, the activities during the day kept the Soviet students learning about the agricultural and industrial components of the area and enjoying the recreation offered by the Finger Lakes region. Following a reception at the Oliver House on Thursday, November 5, the group took a walking tour of downtown Penn Yan and later visited three local farms – the Loomis poultry farm, the Miller dairy farm, and the Emerson poultry processing plant. The next day took them to Cornell University to tour the campus as a whole and then visit the animal husbandry, agricultural engineering, and home economics schools.

Other notable activities included attending classes and an assembly at Penn Yan Academy, touring Penn Yan Boat Company and Urbana Wine Cellar, and being feted at a dinner held by the Penn Yan Central School District Adult Education Advisory Council on the final night in the village. There was plenty of time in the itinerary for fun, however – group rides on Keuka Lake and even group flights over the lake as well as the senior play, a high school football game, a bowling outing, free time with their host families, and more. Civic organizations from the Chamber of Commerce to the Rotary Club to the American Legion and other groups hosted the visitors at different points in time.

The group included a medical student, a correspondent for a youth newspaper, a post-graduate agricultural student, a pianist, and even an actress, who was the only member of the group to be singled out in a newspaper headline. None of them had visited the United States before, but all of them seemed to leave with a good impression, especially of the Penn Yan and Yates County community. The goodwill extended to their hosts as well, as the families who hosted the Soviet students wrote letters – now contained within the subject files of the Yates County History Center – commenting on their positive interactions and experiences with their foreign guests. The local American Legion, seemingly contrary to its tenets, even allowed the students to use its facilities to celebrate the 42nd anniversary of the Russian Revolution – an event compared to the Fourth of July in an editorial in The Chronicle-Express.

Generally, the Penn Yan families who hosted the Soviet students had good things to say about their guests and the visit, noting the students were well mannered and well educated and the families and their visitors enjoyed discussing their respective lifestyles without getting into politics. Two main criticisms of the weeklong tour were the television coverage that distracted the Soviet students from the task at hand and the lack of free time in the schedule with which the students could have spent more time with their host families. Overall, it seems as if everyone – the Soviet students and their American hosts alike – believed the experience was a pleasant and worthwhile undertaking.

The words of one of the Soviet students, Vadim Loginov, as quoted in a newspaper article, might sum up the feelings of goodwill on both sides of this moment of U.S.-Soviet cooperation: “We know we have a different approach to things, and a different philosophy of life, but we did not come here to look for the differences, but rather want to see the many things we share alike.”