A robotic arm located outside of the International Space Station has been hit by orbital debris, but it's still functioning.
The impact to Canadarm2, first noticed by NASA and the Canadian Space Agency during a routine inspection on May 12, punched a hole in the arm boom and its thermal blanket. "Despite the impact, results of the ongoing analysis indicate that the arm's performance remains unaffected," according to a release by the Canadian Space Agency. While the exact object responsible for this damage is unknown, the space station is at risk of impact from objects too small to be tracked as it orbits the Earth from 220 nautical miles away. These tiny objects could be pieces of rock, micrometeorites, dust particles or even flecks of paint that chip off of satellites.
There is already a ton of debris naturally in space. We should take clear steps to avoid creating more. We don't need a "garbage island" in space. Garbage Island? Wikipedia notes:
The patch was described in a 1988 paper published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The description was based on research by several Alaska-based researchers in 1988 who measured neustonic plastic in the North Pacific Ocean.[9] Researchers found relatively high concentrations of marine debris accumulating in regions governed by ocean currents. Extrapolating from findings in the Sea of Japan, the researchers hypothesized that similar conditions would occur in other parts of the Pacific where prevailing currents were favorable to the creation of relatively stable waters. They specifically indicated the North Pacific Gyre.[10]
Charles J. Moore, returning home through the North Pacific Gyre after competing in the Transpacific Yacht Race in 1997, claimed to have come upon an enormous stretch of floating debris. Moore alerted the oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer, who subsequently dubbed the region the "Eastern Garbage Patch" (EGP).[11] The area is frequently featured in media reports as an exceptional example of marine pollution.[12]
The JUNK Raft Project was a 2008 trans-Pacific sailing voyage made to highlight the plastic in the patch, organized by the Algalita Marine Research Foundation.[13][14][15]
In 2009, two project vessels from Project Kaisei/Ocean Voyages Institute; the New Horizon and the Kaisei, embarked on a voyage to research the patch and determine the feasibility of commercial scale collection and recycling.[16] The Scripps Institute of Oceanography's 2009 SEAPLEX expedition in part funded by Ocean Voyages Institute/Project Kaisei[17] also researched the patch. Researchers were also looking at the impact of plastic on mesopelagic fish, such as lanternfish.[18][19]
In 2010, Ocean Voyages Institute conducted a 30-day expedition in the gyre which continued the science from the 2009 expeditions and tested prototype cleanup devices.[20]
in July/August 2012 Ocean Voyages Institute conducted a voyage from San Francisco to the Eastern limits of the North Pacific Gyre north, (ultimately ending in Richmond British Columbia) and then made a return voyage which also visited the Gyre. The focus on this expedition was surveying the extent of tsunami debris from the Japanese earthquake-tsunami.[21][22]
The Great Pacific garbage patch (also Pacific trash vortex) is a garbage patch, a gyre of marine debris particles, in the central North Pacific Ocean. It is located roughly from 135°W to 155°W and 35°N to 42°N.[1] The collection of plastic and floating trash originates from the Pacific Rim, including countries in Asia, North America, and South America.[2] The gyre is divided into two areas, the "Eastern Garbage Patch" between Hawaii and California, and the "Western Garbage Patch" extending eastward from Japan to the Hawaiian Islands.
Despite the common public perception of the patch existing as giant islands of floating garbage, its low density (4 particles per cubic meter) prevents detection by satellite imagery, or even by casual boaters or divers in the area. This is because the patch is a widely dispersed area consisting primarily of suspended "fingernail-sized or smaller bits of plastic", often microscopic, particles in the upper water column known as microplastics.[3] Researchers from The Ocean Cleanup project claimed that the patch covers 1.6 million square kilometers.[4] Some of the plastic in the patch is over 50 years old, and includes items (and fragments of items) such as "plastic lighters, toothbrushes, water bottles, pens, baby bottles, cell phones, plastic bags, and nurdles." The small fibers of wood pulp found throughout the patch are "believed to originate from the thousands of tons of toilet paper flushed into the oceans daily."[3]
Research indicates that the patch is rapidly accumulating.[5] The patch is believed to have increased "10-fold each decade" since 1945.[6] A similar patch of floating plastic debris is found in the Atlantic Ocean, called the North Atlantic garbage patch.[7][8] This growing patch contributes to other environment damage to marine ecosystems and species.
If you haven't heard of Garbage Island, blame the media. I think more people learned of it due to the AMERICAN DAD episode "News Glance With Genevieve Vance" where Hayley gets a local news job and goes to it to the tune of Carly Simon's "Let The River Run," taking public transportation and walking only to come back to her house's attic where Roger is the anchor Genevieve Vance. He'll let her report on Garbage Island only if she gets him a hot story that will increase viewership. It's a funny episode but also an honest indictment of our media environment in the US -- and Genevieve seems a lot like Nancy Grace.
"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
Tuesday, June 1, 2021. A brief look at Iraq and at media lies.
A Memorial High graduate is now a combat team commander in Iraq.
Captain Gregory Davis Jr. took over command this month from Captain Brandi Tregre.
Davis is leading the Louisiana National Guard’s Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.
A change of command ceremony took place at Erbil Air Base.
Davis is a 2009 graduate of Memorial High School, where he commanded the school’s first NJROTC program.
Davis said the soldiers in this company have had more unique experiences in these past two years with mobilization, hurricanes, floods, ice storms, COVID-19 and deployment.
Leading a combat team. Combat. Oh, we're admitting to that now. Mainly because you can't keep a lie forever. They've been saying training forever. Especially after ISIS was 'defeated.' (It lost control of Mosul, it was not defeated.) So for several years, the US government has lied that the US troops were in Iraq for training. Over the weekend, the talking point became that the combat missions were over and they were just present for training. And no one's supposed to notice that the script is being rewritten yet again. Endless rewrites, caught in development hell as the Iraq War goes on and on.
We starve, look at one another short of breath
Walking proudly in our winter coats
Wearing smells from laboratories
Facing a dying nation of moving paper fantasy
Listening for the new told lies
-- "The Flesh Failures (Let The Sunshine In)," written by James Rado, Gerome Ragni and Galt MacDermot for the musical HAIR.
The Fifth Dimension took the refrain from the song and merged it with another song from the musical ("Aquarius") to end up with a chart topper. It also weakened "The Flesh Failures." "Let The Sunshine In" was about openess. Not just between people but about an open government. A government's ies being exposed. When you reduce the song to just the refrain ("Let The Sunshine In") sang over and over, you also dilute the point about how desperately sunshine (openess) is needed and why.
People think they're doing something new with media critiques. They're not. Media critiques start in what is now the United States before the United States starts. What are Thomas Paine's truths but a rejection of an established media that censors while covering for the status quo.
THE NEW ARAB takes stenography and notes:
The US-led mission to combat the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq announced on Sunday that it will change its role from direct combat to support.
Coalition forces will be focused on providing support to the Iraqi army, and will no longer be engaged in combat missions.
Missing anywhere in that dictation where THE NEW ARAB notes that the US government began claiming in January 2020 (following the vote in the Iraqi Parliament) that they weren't doing comabt or even support missions.
Just paper over everything with a new lie and don't ask any questions? Keep listening "for the new told lies."
As we saw last week, activists continue to be targeted and assassinated in Iraq. Ahmed Maher (THE NATIONAL) reports:
Investigations into the killings of political activists in Iraq since the start of the latest round of protests have failed to produce a single trial or prosecution, the UN has found.
Arrest warrants have been issued against suspects in limited numbers, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq – known as Unami – said in the report, which covers the anti-government protests which began in October 2019.
“The rights of many victims and their families to truth, justice, redress and reparation have not been fully respected,” the report said.
Titled Accountability for Human Rights Violations and Abuses by Unidentified Armed Elements, the report documents a range of human rights violations and abuses carried out by state security forces and unknown militia groups, many of which operate outside state control and have links to political parties.
The targeting of political activists, human rights defenders and prominent protesters by armed groups is not a new trend in Iraq.
Human rights violations have included the excessive use of force, arbitrary detention and related ill-treatment and torture, and interference with freedom of expression – including restrictions on internet access and on media outlets reporting on demonstrations.
However, the number and scope of incidents increased after October 2019 as demonstrators took to the streets across central and southern Iraq to vent their anger at the country's political system. This is perceived by many as corrupt and unable to provide even basic services.
At least 500 protesters have been killed since these mass demonstrations began.
Halgurd Sherwani (KURDISTAN 24) also notes the UN report:
In its latest human rights report published on Sunday, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) details investigative procedures the Iraqi government has undertaken to hold accountable perpetrators of crimes against the protesters who took the streets in October 2019 over the state’s structural corruption and weakness to resist foreign influence.
The 24-page report, titled, “Accountability for Human Rights Violations and Abuses by Unidentified Armed Elements,” comes as Iraq witnesses a new wave of protests demanding accountability and the end of impunity for the killings of demonstrators and activists.
Despite the government’s promises to investigate violations against protesters and activists, no one has yet been held accountable, according to the UN report.
“UNAMI could not identify any judicial investigations into crimes perpetrated by ‘unidentified armed elements’ against protestors and critics since 1 October 2019 that have culminated in a trial or prosecution,” the report said.
And that's all we're doing this morning, sorry. I thought I'd be over the second COVID shot by now but my head is pounding and this is going to have to be it. I'm taking a shower (I worked out while dictating this) and then I'm going back to bed.
The following sites updated:
