#national 311 day

[murderousink23]

03/11/2024 is Commonwealth Day 🌎, Ramadan ☪️🌎, World Plumbing Day 🚽🌎, Malsenitsa 🇷🇺, National Oatmeal Nut Waffles Day 🇺🇸, National Worship of Tools Day 🔧🇺🇸, National 311 Day 🇺🇸, National Promposal Day 🇺🇸, Key Deer Awareness Day 🇺🇸, National Napping Day 💤🇺🇸

[thorsenmark]

The Winter Outside (Joshua Tree National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: In Joshua Tree National Park at a roadside pullout with a view across an open plain with Joshua Trees and other plant-life. I liked how the snow helped to minimize colors, almost creating a green with black-and-white setting and also added textures and details with the plant-life and trees. While I felt there was negative space with the overcast and snowing skies, I was able to later pull out some details and shades present using the ClearView Plus tool in DxO PhotoLab 6.

[todaysdocument]

Washington, DC, November 11, 2004 -- The Capitol Building on a crisp fall day from the National Mall. Bill Koplitz/FEMA

Record Group 311: Records of the Federal Emergency Management AgencySeries: Photographs Relating to Disasters and Emergency Management Programs, Activities, and Officials

This color photograph shows the US Capitol building on a bright fall day.  The photograph was taken from the Mall, which is lined with trees and lamp posts and has many people strolling.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved on our archive

This is why it's so important to follow your local or regional wastewater data if you can: The national news declares Covid over for everyone when New York and California so much as dip. In Ohio, even while rates are slowing, Covid is still on the rise.

By Jacob Clary

Covid-19 has seen small decreases lately across Highland County and statewide, but is still up significantly from a couple of months ago according to Ohio Department of Health (ODH) statistics.

According to ODH, Highland County’s case rate has increase significantly since the last time The Times-Gazette reported on Covid-19 on Aug. 5, 2024. On that date, the latest statistics were from Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, which showed that Highland County’s case rate was at 64.9 cases per a population of 100,000 for the two weeks before that date.

The newest statistics for Highland County have seen that case rate skyrocket to 150.6 cases per a population of 100,000 for the two weeks before Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, with 65 cases. Ohio’s overall case rate for this period was 110.4. This increase is even slightly muted compared to the increases from a few weeks prior, as the number released on Sept. 26 is down from the data seen earlier this month.

On Sept. 19, 2024, the data showed that Highland County had a case rate of 178.4 cases per a population of 100,000 for the two weeks before then, with Ohio’s rate being 145.6. Surprisingly, even this was a drop compared to the week prior, as on Sept. 12, 2024, ODH reported that Highland County’s case rate was 187.7 cases per a population of 100,000 for the two weeks before that date, as Ohio’s rate was at 161.8

However, the county’s most significant case rate of this period was reported on Sept. 5, 2024, when the county’s case rate was 243.3 cases per a population of 100,000 for the two weeks before then. Ohio’s rate was reported at 165.2.

ODH also reported multiple other statistics that show Covid-19’s slight falling off in Ohio as a whole following the highs of a couple of weeks ago, with all of these statistics having been last updated on Sept. 26, 2024.

In terms of overall Ohio cases, from the week of Sept. 6, 2024, through Sept. 12, 2024, there was a seven-day case increase of 10,315. For the week of Sept. 13, 2024, through Sept. 19, 2024, there was a seven-day increase of 8,391 cases and then a seven-day increase of 6,103 Covid-19 cases for the week of Sept. 20, 2024, through Sept. 26, 2024. These statistics show the fall-off between a couple of weeks ago in case rate, with that case rate down significantly since early September.

In terms of Ohio hospitalizations, those have also followed a similar path, having gone down, but also went up slightly a couple of weeks ago. For the week of Sept. 6, 2024, through Sept. 12, 2024, ODH reported that there was a seven-day hospitalizations increase of 281. That number then increased during the week of Sept. 13, 2024, through Sept. 19, 2024, when there was seven-day hospitalizations increase of 311. That number then went back down, with the seven-day hospitalizations increase at 245 for the week of Sept. 20, 2024, through Sept. 26, 2024.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Covid Data Center, Ohio’s test positivity went down for the week through Sept. 21, 2024, to 12.4 percent, a decrease of 2.2 percent from the previous data set.

[mariacallous]

The U.S. defense industrial base just got a $20 billion shot in the arm from the national security supplemental bills passed by Congress last week. But although officials and experts believe the funding will provide a much-needed jolt to military production and help open up new factory lines, some say it’s still not enough to respond to China, Russia, and terror threats at the same time.

“We have begun—begun—to rebuild the industrial base with the supplementals,” Bill LaPlante, the Pentagon’s acquisition chief, said at an event last week. “Calling it a wartime footing, no.”

The biggest need? Money. Officials and experts say that the United States needs more of it, lots more, to make the real investments. At the peak of World War II, the United States was spending nearly 40 percent of its GDP on defense. It’s down to less than a tenth of those spending levels now. And the need to spend more has gone up with the Chinese spending more—and with Russian factories working around the clock.

“It’s still shy by quite a bit [for] what you would need to get our stockpiles in the right shape, get our industrial base in the right shape, help the Taiwanese, and get the Ukrainians in a position that they can get some leverage in negotiations,” said Jeb Nadaner, a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for industrial policy. “If the benchmark is against the calendar and the clock, we’re still falling behind every month. And that can’t go unnoticed by China.”

But the jolt will allow the United States to surge artillery production and solve key bottlenecks.

One is the production of solid rocket motors used for everything from Javelin anti-tank weapons that can hit a tank from a little over a mile away to intercontinental ballistic missiles that can propel warheads across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans if a U.S. war with Russia or China ever went nuclear.

Aerojet Rocketdyne, which was recently bought out by L3Harris Technologies for nearly $5 billion, was one of only a few suppliers. But the supplemental gives several billions of dollars for companies, such as Orbital ATK, to expand their solid rocket motor facilities.

And it provides money from the Defense Production Act—the same law that Washington used to force U.S. manufacturers to produce more masks, gloves, and face shields during the coronavirus pandemic—to build out a second tier of rocket motor suppliers, including X-Bow Systems in Texas; Ursa Major in Colorado; and Adranos in Mississippi, which was recently bought out by defense technology company Anduril. The idea is to fast-track work that wasn’t going to be done until at least 2026, if not 2027 or 2028, according to a congressional aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity to talk about military contracts that hadn’t been made public.

There’s also about $100 million to help Williams, one of the only American makers of cruise missile motors, speed up production in Michigan. Those motors are used in the long-range anti-ship missile that might one day help Taiwan fend off Chinese landings; the armor-piercing joint air-to-surface standoff missile; the Tomahawk land attack missile that is the U.S. Navy’s weapon of choice; and the Harpoon missile that the Ukrainians have used in the Black Sea.

There’s also money to build factories for ball bearings, printed circuit boards, and other subcomponents for the $311 billion that the Pentagon wants to spend in the upcoming year to develop new weapons. Processor assemblies, castings, forgings, microelectronics, and seekers for munitions have been major bottlenecks. And there are recruitment and attrition problems almost across the board, from welders at shipyards to rocket engineers, a generational problem that might need vocational-training fixes at the high school level and up.

But with some Democrats pushing back on the Biden administration’s $850 billion Pentagon budget proposal as too costly, there’s also a focus on smaller attritable capabilities that don’t need a whole lot of start-up capital or defense industrial muscle to get moving.

There’s a ton of counter-drone money, about $600 million, that will go toward Coyotes, a small drone capable of intercepting other drones, and Roadrunners, an air defense munition that takes off vertically—just like the F-35 fighter jet variant flown by the U.S. Marines.

Some members, such as House Armed Services Committee ranking member Adam Smith, have advocated for ending production of ground-launched nuclear weapons. Congress is also trying to scrap old weapons, including F-15 fighter jets, the A-10 Warthog aircraft, and littoral combat ships used by the Marines. Smith is even curious about using microwaves as the next generation of air defense instead of directed energy.

The United States is also torn between near-term needs, like 155 mm artillery ammunition, and long-term needs—like a sixth-generation fighter jet that will follow the F-35. “There are going to have to be some trade-offs between preparing for a near-term fight and near-term deterrence and probably making some trade-offs on some next-generation weapons systems,” said Seth Jones, the senior vice president and director of the international security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is still going to be a major factor in setting requirements for the U.S. military. “We’re going to be selling 155 [mm] like a drunken sailor for a few years,” said Mark Montgomery, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “The Western alliance needs the U.S. to crank 155 [mm] for a decade.”

Other weapons used in the early days of Ukraine’s defense of Kyiv are likely to hit a plateau in production. Those include Javelin systems; the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS; and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, which the Pentagon sent to Ukraine in large numbers early in the war and are also included in the supplemental, but which have taken on a secondary role as the fight has been bogged down in trench warfare for months and months.

Allies can help solve some of the bottleneck problems. The United States is co-developing new glide-phase interceptors with Japan as well as co-producing guided multiple-launch rockets with Australia and guidance-enhanced missiles for Patriot air defenses with the Germans. But after the political fights that took the supplemental more than six months to get through Congress, LaPlante and other officials acknowledged that the United States now has an image problem in showing itself to be a reliable torch-bearer for the global defense industrial base.

There’s another major production plateau that members of Congress are trying to stave off: attack submarines. The Biden administration’s proposed budget for the upcoming year slashed funding for one attack submarine. For years, producing two a year had been the standard, even though U.S. shipyards only produce between 1.2 and 1.4 Virginia-class submarines each year, and new variants are 24 to 36 months behind schedule.

And there are dependencies that are difficult—if not impossible—to cut. The United States still buys a significant amount of its titanium from Russia, which is used for everything from landing gears to tank armor, and is only slowly ramping up production of rare earth minerals, which are dominated by China. But the U.S. military’s weapons are ravenous for rare earths: The F-35 needs 900 pounds of rare earths to run, and the Virginia-class submarines need more than 10 times that amount. The military also needs lithium ions used in advanced battery production that China also dominates.

Where Congress and the Pentagon are having more trouble jolting the defense industrial base to life is for weapons that might be used in the Indo-Pacific. The U.S. Army’s precision strike missile that would be used to hit incoming Chinese ships from more than 600 miles out, for instance, is still being developed—the seeker that would find enemy vessels isn’t finished—so there’s no way to ramp up capacity, at least not yet.

But before the United States ramps up industrial capacity, some members of Congress want the Pentagon to take a good, hard look at what’s already on the books.

“Where can we look within the budget and say, wouldn’t we be better to spend more money on these things that we really do need?” Smith said. “So before I get into a discussion about, ‘Gosh, it’d be great if we had another $50 billion,’ where are we spending the money that we have? I think that’s the first question.”

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Signe Wilkinson

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

April 20, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

APR 21, 2024

Cheering broke out in the gallery and among Democrats on the floor of the House of Representatives this afternoon when the House passed the $60.8 billion aid bill for Ukraine. The vote was 311–112, with all Democrats and 101 Republicans voting in favor and 112 Republicans voting against. One Republican voted present. 

The House also voted on the three other bills that will be packaged with the Ukraine bill as a single measure to go in front of the Senate. The House voted in favor of providing $8.1 billion in support for Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific by a vote of 385–34. It approved more than $26 billion for Israel, including $9.2 billion in humanitarian aid not specifically for Gaza but for populations in crisis, by a vote of 366–58. And it voted 360–58 to place additional sanctions on Iran, seize Russian assets, and require the Chinese owners of TikTok to sell the company within nine months if they want it to continue to be available on U.S. app stores.  

The total price tag of the measures is about $95.3 billion. About $50 billion of it will be used here in the U.S. to replenish the supplies that will go abroad. 

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) says the Senate will take up the measure on Tuesday. Senators had gone home for recess but will come back to vote. The Department of Defense says it is ready to rush crucial supplies as soon as it gets the go-ahead. "We have a very robust logistics network that enables us to move material very quickly; as we've done in the past, we can move within days," Pentagon press secretary Air Force Major General Pat Ryder said Thursday.  

Aid to Ukraine has been stalled since Biden first asked for it in October 2023. First, MAGA Republicans said they would never pass such a national security supplemental bill until the U.S. addressed the need for better security at the country’s southern border. Senators, including Republican James Lankford (R-OK) took them at their word and hammered out a strong border security measure, only to have Republicans reject it when Trump demanded they preserve border security as a campaign issue. The Senate then passed the national security supplemental bill without a border measure, but that was back in February. Although it was clear the measure would pass the House, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has steadfastly refused to take it up. 

Meanwhile, countries around the globe have been stepping into the breach, providing funds and weapons for Ukraine as Ukraine’s war effort has faltered without U.S. war matériel.

Suddenly, the dam has broken. 

The MAGA extremists who oppose aid to Ukraine expressed anger over the measure’s passage, but outside of that group, there was bipartisan relief and mutual congratulations. The chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Representative Michael McCaul (R-TX), who has been vocal in his belief that Republicans have fallen prey to Russian propaganda, compared today’s vote to the period before World War II, when British prime minister Neville Chamberlain tried to appease dictator Adolf Hitler in 1938 by agreeing to Germany’s annexation of the Sudetenland. To Chamberlain’s successor, Winston Churchill, fell the task of fighting World War II. 

“Our adversaries are watching us here today, and history will judge us on our actions here today,” McCaul said. “So as we deliberate on this vote, you have to ask yourself: Am I Chamberlain or am I Churchill?”

House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said: “For months, the national security priorities of the American people have been obstructed by pro-Putin extremists determined to let Russia win. A bipartisan coalition of Democrats and Republicans has risen up to work together and ensure that we are getting the national security legislation important to the American people over the finish line.”

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also released a statement welcoming the passage of the measure. “This bipartisan legislation will allow the Department to surge lifesaving security assistance to help Ukraine defend itself from Russia’s aggression, support Israel’s defense from Iran and its proxies, and increase the flow of urgently needed humanitarian aid to suffering Palestinians in Gaza.” It is also, he wrote, “an important investment in America's future.”  

President Joe Biden said that “members of both parties in the House voted to advance our national security interests and send a clear message about the power of American leadership on the world stage. At this critical inflection point, they came together to answer history’s call, passing urgently-needed national security legislation that I have fought for months to secure.” 

The reiteration of the bipartisan nature of the vote suggests support for the idea that the breaking dam refers not just to the national security supplemental bill but also to the power of MAGA Republicans more generally. Representative Tom Cole (R-OK) suggested this interpretation in an interview today with Ryan Lizza of Politico. 

MAGAs are Trump loyalists, counting on his return to power, and Trump is visibly diminished. For the last week, he has been sitting in a courtroom with no choice but to do as he is told by the judge while potential jurors have expressed their dislike of him to his face. This is novel for him, and it is clearly taking a toll. 

Trump’s financial troubles have not gone away, either. Yesterday, New York attorney general Letitia James asked a judge to void the $175 million appeals bond Trump posted to secure the $454 million judgment against him in the business fraud case. She says that the defendants have failed to show that there is enough collateral behind the bond to secure it. She has asked for a replacement bond within a week. Without a bond, James can begin to seize Trump’s property. 

Since Republicans took control of the House, Republican leaders have had to turn to Democrats to find the votes to pass crucial legislation like the national security supplemental bill, preventing a U.S. default, and funding the government. Republicans interested in governing and eager to protect the institutions of democracy appear to be getting fed up with the attention-seeking and bomb-throwing MAGA faction that refuses to do the work of governing. 

That frustration might have been on display when the House also voted on a fifth measure: a border bill the extremist Republicans demanded. Because it was considered under a suspension of the rules, it needed a two-thirds majority to pass. The measure failed with a vote of 215–211. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a lawyer with the American Immigration Council advocacy group, noted that the last time the House voted on a similar measure, it got 219 votes. This time it got fewer votes, even with an added $9.5 billion for Texas, Florida, and other states that are restricting immigrants’ rights. 

In The Atlantic today, David Frum noted the changing U.S. political dynamic and, referring  to the Ukraine vote, wrote: “On something that mattered intensely to [Trump]—that had become a badge of pro-Trump identity—Trump’s own party worked with Democrats in the House and Senate to hand him a stinging defeat. This example could become contagious.” In other words, he said: “Ukraine won. Trump lost.”

For his part, leading Russian politician Dmitry Medvedev had his own reaction to the House’s passage of the national security supplemental bill with aid for Ukraine. He vowed that Russia would win the war anyway and added: “[C]onsidering the russophobic decision that took place I can't help but wish the USA with all sincerity to dive into a new civil war themselves as quickly as possible. Which, I hope, will be very different from the war between North and South in the 19th century and will be waged using aircraft, tanks, artillery, MLRS, all types of missiles and other weapons. And which will finally lead to the inglorious collapse of the vile evil empire of the 21st century—the United States of America.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[bienvs3000w24]

Roles of a Nature Interpreter

This week's blog prompt got me thinking, specifically about my interests and how I can incorporate this into communicating information regarding the natural environment to the public. I touched upon it briefly in my last blog post, however, I have always really enjoyed photography, and in recent years nature photography has become a hobby of mine.

Some photos I took the other day while on a walk :)

In terms of my ideal role as an environmental interpreter, I envision a position in which I can combine my love for the environment and capture it through a lens. I also love to find new trails and hikes in which I can explore nature, so it would also be nice to incorporate this into my role.  Therefore, I envision myself working as some type of park guide in which I can share all my knowledge with others and demonstrate the beauty and importance of nature through real-world experiences as well as photographs. I would love to focus on birds, their importance, and their impact on our environment. I have always had an interest in birds and believe that they are beautiful animals! One specific location that I've always been interested in is Banff National Park. Banff is home to over 311 species of birds with the Grey Jay or Canada Jay being one of the most popular, which is one of my favourite birds. I have previously done projects on these birds so it would be cool to explore even more in-depth about them and hopefully teach other people everything I love about them as well! In this role, my responsibilities would include giving guided tours outlining the importance of different plant and animal species, with a focus on birds,  and creating a fun environment in which children and adults of all ages want to learn. I believe it would be fun to focus more on the visual aspect of nature interpretation, teaching people how to identify differences between certain plant species and so on. This would help to tie in my love for photography! I would also love to include as many hands-on activities and experiences for them as I believe this helps to immerse people in their environmental surroundings. I am a more hands-on learner however, as a nature interpreter, I must recognize the various learning styles and cater my teaching to address everyone's needs.

Another way in which I could envision myself taking on the nature interpreter role would be through an online blog or website which would act as a virtual gateway into the natural world. I would love to showcase my photographs alongside insights and personal stories to help educate and enlighten individuals about the amazing world around us! Each post will address various ecosystems, the intricacies of wildlife, and how/why environmental conservation is extremely important in today's day and age.  No matter what roles I would take on as an environmental interpreter, I just want to make a difference and show people that caring about nature is super important, just as people have taught me!

[freetheshit-outofyou]

USS Albacore (SS-218), a 311-foot, Gato-class submarine lost 7 November 1944 of the coast of Hokkaido Japan, she was presumed lost on 21 December 1944 and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 30 March 1945, found 16 February 2023.

The USS Albacore earned 9 battle stars, received 4 Presidential Unit Citations and was responsible for sinking at least 10 ships.

Below is a listing of the ships compliment, their names are written in memorial at the National Memorial Cemetary of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii:

IN THESE GARDENS ARE RECORDED

THE NAMES OF AMERICANS

WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES

IN THE SERVICE OF THEIR COUNTRY

AND WHOSE EARTHLY RESTING PLACE

IS KNOWN ONLY TO GOD

Walter Henry Barber, Jr., Kenneth Ripley Baumer, Henry Forbes Bigelow, Jr., Edward Brown Blackmon, William Walter Bower, Allan Rose Brannam, Herbert Hodge Burch, Nicholas John Cado, John Joseph Carano, Charles Lee Carpenter, James Louis Carpenter, Pasquale Charles Carracino, Stanley Chapman, Douglas Childress, Jr., Frederick Herbert Childs, Jr., Perry Aubrey Collom, Audrey Cecil Crayton, Eugene Cugnin, John Wilber Culbertson, Philip Hugh Davis, Ray Ellis Davis, Fred Wallace Day, Julius Delfonso, James Leroy DeWitt, James Thomas Dunlap, Carl Hillis Eskew, John Francis Fortier, Jr., Gordon Harvey Fullilove, Jr., John Wilfred Gant, John Paul Gennett, William Henry Gibson, John Frederick Gilkeson, Charles Chester Hall, James Kenneth Harrell, Robert Daniel Hill, Allen Don Hudgins, Donald Patrick Hughes, Eugene Edsel Hutchinson, Burton Paul Johnson, Sheridan Patrick Jones, George Kaplafka, Nelson Kelley, Jr., Morris Keith Kincaid, Victor Edward Kinon, Joseph Mike Krizanek, Arthur Star Kruger,Walter Emery Lang, Jr., Jack Allen Little, Kenneth Walter Manful, Patrick Kennyless McKenna, Willie Alexander McNeill, Joseph Norfleet Mercer, Leonard David Moss, Richard Joseph Naudack, Encarnacion Nevarez, Joseph Hayes Northam, Frank Robert Nystrom, Robert James O'Brien, Elmer Harold Peterson, Charles Francis Pieringer, Jr., James Teel Porter, Jerrold Winfred Reed, Jr., Francis Albert Riley, Hugh Raynor Rimmer, A. B. Roberts, James Ernest Rowe, Philip Shoenthal, George Maurice Sisk, Joe Lewis Spratt, Harold William St. Clair, Arthur Lemmie Stanton, Robert Joseph Starace, John Henry Stephenson, Maurice Crooks Strattan, Earl Richard Tanner, William George Tesser, Paul Raymond Tomich, Charles Edward Traynor, Theodore Taylor Walker, Elmer Weisenfluh, James Donald Welch, Richard Albert West, Wesley Joseph Willans, Leslie Allan Wilmott, David Robert Wood

[realiv0]

And the new New Year’s Address (2022 into 2023):

New Year greetings of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Dear Ukrainians!

This year began on February 24. Without prefaces and preludes. Sharply. Early. At 4 o'clock.

It was dark. It was loud. It was hard for many and scary for some. 311 days have passed. It can still be dark, loud, and complicated for us. But we will definitely never be afraid again. And we'll never be ashamed.

It was our year. Year of Ukraine. Year of Ukrainians.

We woke up on February 24. Into another life. Being another people. Another Ukrainians. The first missiles finally destroyed the labyrinth of illusions. We saw who was who. What friends and enemy are capable of, and most importantly, what we are capable of.

On February 24, millions of us made a choice. Not a white flag, but a blue and yellow flag. Not escaping, but meeting. Meeting the enemy. Resisting and fighting.

The explosions on February 24 stunned us. Since then we have not heard everything. And we don't listen to everyone. We were told: you have no other option but to surrender. We say: we have no other option than to win.

On February 24, we began to create our victory. From many bricks – hundreds of other victories.

We have overcome the panic. We did not run away but united. We have overcome doubts, despair, and fear. We believed in ourselves and in our strength. The Armed Forces of Ukraine. Intelligence. National Guard. SBU. Special Operations Forces. Border guards. Territorial defense forces. Air defense forces. The police. The State Emergency Service. All our defense and security forces. I am proud of you all, our warriors!

This year can be called a year of losses for Ukraine, for the whole of Europe, and the whole world. But it's wrong. We shouldn't say that.

We haven't lost anything. It was taken from us. Ukraine did not lose its sons and daughters – they were taken away by murderers. Ukrainians did not lose their homes – they were destroyed by terrorists. We did not lose our lands – they were occupied by invaders. The world did not lose peace – Russia destroyed it.

This year has struck our hearts. We've cried out all the tears. All the prayers have been yelled. 311 days. We have something to say about every minute. But most of the words are superfluous. They are not needed. No explanations or decorations are needed. Silence is needed to hear. Pauses are needed to realize.

The morning of February 24.

Hostomel. Bucha. Irpin. Borodianka. Kharkiv.

Mriya.

Kramatorsk Station. Toy.

Chernihiv.

Mariupol. Drama Theater. The word "Children" written.

Olenivka.

Odesa. Multi-story building. Girl. Three months old.

Vilniansk. Maternity hospital. Baby. Two days old.

Azovstal.

It's impossible to forget. And it's impossible to forgive. But it's possible to win.

We stood on our feet because there was something that kept us going. Our spirit.

Defense of Kyiv.

Kharkiv.

Mykolaiv.

Chornobayivka.

Snake Island.

HIMARS.

Antonivsky Bridge.

"Cotton" pops.

Crimean Bridge.

Neptune.

Cruiser Moskva.

Russian warship.

Izyum, Balakliya and Kupyansk.

Kherson.

And we pray that there will be Kreminna and Svatove, Melitopol, all of Donbas, Crimea.

We fight and will continue to fight. For the sake of the main word: "victory."

It will be for sure. We are approaching it for 311 days.

We gave it a lot of strength. But at the moment, when it seems that you can't go any further, remember that we have already passed with you.

I want to say to all of you: Ukrainians, you are incredible! See what we have done and what we are doing!

How our soldiers have been smashing this "second army of the world" since the first days.

How our people stopped their equipment and infantry columns.

How an old man used his hands to stop a tank.

How a woman knocked down a drone with a jar of tomatoes.

How enemy tanks, armored personnel carriers, helicopters, shells were stolen during the occupation.

How we fundraised for Shahed hunters, naval drones, armored vehicles, ambulance vehicles and Bayraktar drones in several hours.

How we withstood all threats, shelling, cluster bombs, cruise missiles, darkness and cold.

How we supported each other and the state.

Everyone is important in war.

Who holds a weapon, the steering wheel of a car, the helm of a ship or plane, a scalpel, or a pointer.

Everyone who is behind a laptop, who drives a combine harvester, a train.

Who is at a roadblock and a power plant.

Journalists and diplomats, utility workers and rescuers.

All. Who is working. Studying at a university or school. And even those who are just learning to walk.

All this is for their sake. Our children. Our people. Our country.

There are no small matters in a great war. There are no unnecessary ones. Each of us is a fighter. Each of us is a front. Each of us is the basis of the defense.

We fight as one team – the whole country, all our regions. I admire you all. I want to thank every invincible region of Ukraine.

Kharkiv. Mutilated but unconquered. You proved to the enemy that being close territorially does not mean being close in mind. Kharkiv is a Ukrainian city. The hero city.

Invincible Mykolaiv. Heroically withstands all blows. The city on a wave that overcomes all storms.

Sumy city and the region. You were one of the first to feel the full-scale invasion of the invaders. Sumy region became a bone in their throat for them. Ordinary people made Molotov cocktails, burned enemy columns, took the first prisoners. Sumy region is a force.

Dnipro. The support and reliable rear of our front. You received people, you got the lives of wounded soldiers back. Despite constant barrages, Dnipro lives on.

Odesa. Sunny and friendly, now a fortress. World fortress. Which defends us and which defends the world. Feeds it by sending millions of tonnes of salvation by sea every day. Because it is Odesa Mama.

Kherson! You are heroic people! You have been under occupation for more than eight months. No news. No communication. Separated from Ukraine.

Thousands of you took part in actions against the ruscists. You did not know whether we saw it in Ukraine or knew about it. The occupiers lied to you that Ukraine abandoned you and would not fight for you. But you believed and waited despite everything. The face of Kherson is cut by fragments of shells, but the main thing is that we welcome the New Year free and together under blue and yellow flags. And therefore, we will restore everything, rebuild everything. Just like Chernihiv and Zaporizhzhia, and Kramatorsk, and Bakhmut.

Those that became a refuge for millions of Ukrainians: Rivne, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil, Vinnytsia. I thank you! Those who receive and transfer millions of tonnes of aid from Europe and the world: Lviv, Uzhgorod, Chernivtsi, Lutsk. Thank you! Those who accept the evacuation of businesses, enterprises, universities: Khmelnytsky, Zhytomyr, Kropyvnytsky, Poltava, Cherkasy. Thank you!

And those who are waiting for Ukraine. And will wait. Donbas, Luhansk region, Crimea. Thanks to you, our warriors!

And, of course, Kyiv region and the city are our heart, which always beats thanks to you, all our Ukrainians!

We are all one family. One Ukraine.

This is the year when Ukraine changed the world. And the world discovered Ukraine. We were told to surrender. We chose a counterattack! We were told to make concessions and compromises. We are joining the European Union and NATO.

The world heard Ukraine. European Parliament, Bundestag, the UK Parliament, Knesset, the US Congress.

The world felt Ukraine. Ukraine in the media. In the hearts of people. At the top of Google search.

The world saw Ukraine. On the main squares in Toronto, New York, London, Warsaw, Florence, Sydney, and other cities.

Ukrainians surprise. Ukrainians are applauded. Ukrainians inspire.

Is there anything that can scare us? No. Is there anyone who can stop us? No.

Because we are all together.

It is what we are fighting for. One for each other.

The best salute for us is at the warehouses of the occupiers. The best gift is the numbers in the report of the General Staff.

We do not know for sure what the new year 2023 will bring us. But ready for anything.

New achievements? We will be happy. New hits? We will be steadfast. Continuation of the fight? We will fight. And when we win, we will hug.

Dear Ukrainians!

A few minutes remain until the New Year. I want to wish all of us one thing – victory. And that's the main thing. One wish for all Ukrainians.

Let this year be the year of return. The return of our people. Soldiers – to their families. Prisoners – to their homes. Immigrants – to their Ukraine.

Return of our lands. And the temporarily occupied will become forever free.

Return to normal life. To happy moments without curfew. To earthly joys without air alerts.

The return of what has been stolen from us. The childhood of our children, the peaceful old age of our parents.

So that grandchildren come to visit their grandparents during the holidays. To eat watermelons in Kherson. And the cherry in Melitopol.

So that our cities are free. Our friends are faithful.

And so that our main figure and main success appeared in reports near the figure of 100,000 destroyed enemies, thousands of units of destroyed Russian equipment – it is 603,628 square kilometers. The area of independent Ukraine, as it was since 1991. As it will always be.

May the New Year bring all this. We are ready to fight for it. That's why each of us is here. I'm here. We are here. You are here. Everyone is here. We are all Ukraine.

Glory to Ukraine!

Happy New Year!

Source:

https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/novorichne-privitannya-prezidenta-ukrayini-volodimira-zelens-80197

[new-universe-discovered]

Day 311 of 1:

Dear diary, new universe discovered. It's National Nut Day. Take that however you will.

[murderousink23]

03/11/2023 is World Plumbing Day 👩‍🔧👨‍🔧🌏, National Oatmeal Nut Waffles Day 🇺🇲, National Worship of Tools Day 🔨🗜🛠🔧⚒🇺🇲, National 311 Day 🇺🇲, National Promposal Day 🇺🇲, Key Deer Awareness Day 🦌🇺🇲

[thorsenmark]

The Winter Outside (Joshua Tree National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: In Joshua Tree National Park at a roadside pullout with a view across an open plain with Joshua Trees and other plant-life. I liked how the snow helped to minimize colors, almost creating a green with black-and-white setting and also added textures and details with the plant-life and trees. While I felt there was negative space with the overcast and snowing skies, I was able to later pull out some details and shades present using the ClearView Plus tool in DxO PhotoLab 6.

[aestheticvoyage2023]

Day 311: Tuesday November 7, 2023 - "Pancakes"

Song: The National - Not In Kansas

Quote: Be hopeful. Be optimistic. Never lose that sense of hope.  ~John Lewis

[considerourknowledge]

Airlines Suggest Walking to Destinations in Wake of Cancelations

The storms across the nation, coupled with illnesses and staff shortages, have  created major problems for the nation’s airlines. More than 5,500 Southwest flights have been taken off departure boards across the country in the last two days, with 311 cancellations for Delta, which had the second-most cancellations by a U.S. airline. Southwest has had by far the most problems, and they have suggested that travelers walk to their destinations because that will likely be faster than waiting for the troubled airline to rebook passengers. In a statement issued Monday, the airline said the "continuing challenges" to its operations impacting its customers are "unacceptable, and that if people are so inclined to not wait for us to rebook we encourage them to walk to their destinations.”

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 11.24 (after 1950)

1962 – Cold War: The West Berlin branch of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany forms a separate party, the Socialist Unity Party of West Berlin. 1962 – The influential British satirical television programme That Was the Week That Was is first broadcast. 1963 – Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin of President John F. Kennedy, is killed by Jack Ruby on live television. Robert H. Jackson takes a photograph of the shooting that will win the 1964 Pulitzer Prize in Photography. 1965 – Joseph-Désiré Mobutu seizes power in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and becomes President; he rules the country (which he renames Zaire in 1971) for over 30 years, until being overthrown by rebels in 1997. 1966 – Bulgarian TABSO Flight 101 crashes near Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, killing all 82 people on board. 1969 – Apollo program: The Apollo 12 command module splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean, ending the second crewed mission to land on the Moon. 1971 – During a severe thunderstorm over Washington state, a hijacker calling himself Dan Cooper (aka D. B. Cooper) parachutes from a Northwest Orient Airlines plane with $200,000 in ransom money. He has never been found. 1973 – A national speed limit is imposed on the Autobahn in Germany because of the 1973 oil crisis. The speed limit lasts only four months. 1974 – Donald Johanson and Tom Gray discover the 40% complete Australopithecus afarensis skeleton, nicknamed "Lucy" (after The Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"), in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia's Afar Depression. 1976 – The Çaldıran–Muradiye earthquake in eastern Turkey kills between 4,000 and 5,000 people. 1989 – After a week of mass protests against the Communist regime known as the Velvet Revolution, Miloš Jakeš and the entire Politburo of the Czechoslovak Communist Party resign from office. This brings an effective end to Communist rule in Czechoslovakia. 1991 – Space Shuttle program: Atlantis launches on STS-44. 1992 – China Southern Airlines Flight 3943 crashes on approach to Guilin Qifengling Airport in Guilin, China, killing all 141 people on board. 2009 – The Avdhela Project, an Aromanian digital library and cultural initiative, is founded in Bucharest, Romania. 2012 – A fire at a clothing factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, kills at least 112 people. 2013 – Iran signs an interim agreement with the P5+1 countries, limiting its nuclear program in exchange for reduced sanctions. 2015 – A Russian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24 fighter jet is shot down by the Turkish Air Force over the Syria–Turkey border, killing one of the two pilots; a Russian marine is also killed during a subsequent rescue effort. 2015 – A terrorist attack on a hotel in Al-Arish, Egypt, kills at least seven people and injures 12 others. 2015 – An explosion on a bus carrying Tunisian Presidential Guard personnel in Tunisia's capital Tunis leaves at least 14 people dead. 2016 – The government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—People's Army sign a revised peace deal, bringing an end to the country's more than 50-year-long civil war. 2017 – A terrorist attack on a Mosque in Al-Rawda, North Sinai, Egypt kills 311 people and injures 128. 2022 – Five days after the general elections which resulted in a hung parliament, opposition leader and former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim is officially named as the 10th prime minister of Malaysia. 2023 – Hibiscus Rising, commemorating David Oluwale, is unveiled in Leeds.

[bilsmodias]

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References:-

Bangladeshi crisis and foreign policy

7 Tips to Improve Your UPSC Interview Preparation For Sure Success

The Evolution and Influence of Renewable Energy

Unique Sports from Every Corner of the Globe

Mastering The Art Of Essay Writing in UPSC Mains Exam