SIMPLE THINGS I DO NOT UNDERSTAND

Pacem, Libertatem, Justitiam

February 23, 2020

Volume 12 Number 24

Reader-Supported  Please go here. Thank you very much.

Inside: Simple Things I Do Not Understand; Sometimes Fear Is a Choice: Facing Covid-19; Covid-19; Beyond the Pale; Climate & Climate Change; Community & Lifestyle, Ecology; Economics; Health; History; News – Good; News – Not So Good; Our World and Beyond; Earth; Space; Technology; Funzone: Movie of the Week; Best of the Net; Travel; Masha & the Bear, All Creatures Great & Small; Strange But True; About Us

Photo courtesy of https://www.corporatecomplianceinsights.com/emergence-cognitive-risk-era-role-cognitive-risk-governance/

Rusty Miller, Editor

Hi again, from the shores of the Salish Sea.  This past week, I’ve been back to paying attention to the obvious and admitting that there are some very simple things I do not understand.

Why do people write articles about crime prevention when criminals also read them?

Why is it that most comparisons between us and the rest of the animal kingdom tend to slander the beast?

Why is it that people who oppose prayer in school have no problem spending money which bears the legend In God We Trust?

Why is it that everybody who agrees with us is intelligent, kind, caring and wise, while those who disagree with us are dumber than ditch water and a total disgrace to the species?

Why do people think Emma Lazarus was being flattering when she called immigrants “teeming refuse”?

If there is life after death, why is the transition still called “dying”?

Why would anyone run a race with a rat?

If you folks can enlighten me on any of this stuff, I’ll publish the results.  In the mean time, have a great week ahead.

Rusty

Northstar editor Merritt Scott “Rusty” Miller is a journalist, author, editor and photographer living in Seattle, Washington.  For comments, please go here

Men stand on a balcony of a sanatorium where the evacuees from coronavirus-hit China’s Hubei province are quarantined, in the village of Novi Sanzhary in Poltava region, Ukraine February 21, 2020. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko REUTERS

SOMETIMES FEAR IS A CHOICE:  FACING COVID-19

by Olya Bereza, Associate Editor

Hi Rusty:

Unfortunately this week in my country we are finding out where fear ultimately leads.  In a Ukrainian town, dozens of protesters have attacked buses carrying evacuees from coronavirus-hit Wuhan China Coronavirus: Ukraine protesters attack buses carrying China evacuees

It is both sad and extremely unsettling to see the effects of this pandemic on, let us say, “less intellectual people” as they fall back on primitive survival instincts despite the Call Of Reason. President Zelenskiy recently compared Thursday’s clashes with the Europe reaction to the various plagues of the Middle Ages.

Minister of Health Zoryana Skeletska’s joining the group of evacuees in the quarantine was a respectful step toward calming down the citizens of that community.

I’m sure Ukraine, despite the years of crisis, still has good professionals and facilities to protect citizens from the virus.  The psychology of crowd was very well described in quite a few works as instinctive, consciousness and emotional.  Hopefully police will take these states of mind under account when as they too cope with this phenomenon.

Being a civilized human is not a given and sometimes requires additional efforts.  It is easy to slip back to instinctive behaviour especially when surrounded by fear.

Sometimes news should concentrate on positive side more like there are no confirmed cases of coronavirus in Ukraine yet.  All evacuated people didn’t have signs of catching it either.

Olya

Northstar columnist and associate editor Olya Bereza was born in the former Soviet Union and now lives in Ukraine.  Fluent in Russian, Ukrainian, and English, she is a degreed psychologist with a background in international marketing and personnel management.  For comments, please go here.

COVID-19

American Doctors Are Bracing For A Global COVID-19 Pandemic

First Cases Of Coronavirus In Iran Have Killed 2 Elderly Citizens, State News Agency Says

Coronavirus: Largest Study Suggests Elderly And Sick Are Most At Risk

Doctors Aren’t Enough – To Fight The New Coronavirus, We Need An All-Of-Science Response

How Travelers Around The World Deal With ‘Voluntary’ Home Quarantines

Coronavirus Outbreak To Cost Airlines Almost $30bn

Coronavirus In Russia: The Latest News 

Coronavirus: South Korea ‘Emergency’ Measures As Infections Increase

BEYOND THE PALE

Bride Trafficking, A Hitch On China’s Belt And Road

How China Became A PC Superpower

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Adviser Resigns Over Race And Eugenics Controversy

Ukraine Conflict: Deadly Flare-Up On Eastern Front Line

CLIMATE & CLIMATE CHANGE & WEATHER

Canadian Farmers Have A Plan For Tackling Climate Change

Climate Finance: Failing To Serve The Most Vulnerable?

Climate Home News Launches Front Line Climate Justice Reporting Programme

How Knitting Enthusiasts Are Using Their Craft To Visualize Climate Change

How To Raise Climate-Resilient Kids

January 2020 Was Earth’s Warmest On Record

JP Morgan Economists Warn Of ‘Catastrophic’ Climate Change

Mysterious’ Seasons Harm Nigeria’s Farmers Who Need Help With Climate Change

Red-State Utah Embraces Plan To Tackle Climate Crisis In Surprising Shift

Sydney Storm: Thunder And Lightning Thrash Australian City

What Is Thundersnow?

What U.S. Farming Can Do To Stop Climate Change

Which Countries Have Not Ratified The Paris Climate Agreement?

Why Flying At Lower Or Higher Altitudes Might Reduce The Climate Impact Of Air Travel

Winters Are Warming Faster Than Other Seasons Across Much Of The United States

COMMUNITY & LIFESTYLE

‘Death Cleaning’ Is The New Way To Declutter. Here’s What To Know

From Sung Joon To Cool’s Lee Jae-Hoon, K-Pop Stars Are Opening Up About Their Personal Lives. Here’s Why

How The Smithsonian Is Documenting The Work Of Immigrant Rights Activists

Meet The Group Redefining What It Means To Be A Scout

Read About Nina Simone’s Life And  Other African American Women Who Changed The World.

What I Learned From Women Who’d Been Prisoners Of The Gulag

Where Are The World’s Best Burgers? Top Chefs Reveal

Why Dishwashers Are Better Than Hand Washing

ECOLOGY

Charging Ahead On Electric Vehicles: Ev100 Progress And Insights Report 

Could Solar Panels Make Greenhouses Energy-Neutral?

Finnish Town Rations Carbon

Loop Could Be The Major Packaging Shift We’ve Been Waiting For

Protect 30% Of Earth To Avert ‘Irreversible’ Biodiversity Loss – Former Ministers Say

South Korea Urged To Exit Coal By 2029 To Stick To Paris Climate Agreement

This Biodegradable, Edible Wrapper Could Replace Single-Use Plastics For Food

Washington State Lawmakers Want To Fund Solutions For Healthier Soil — And Less Gassy Cows

What The Data Says On The Carbon Footprint Of Dinner

World’s Most Unlikely Solar Farms

ECONOMICS

China Economy: Why It Matters To You

Coronavirus Triggers Boom In Private Jet Inquiries

Fuel Prices Push UK Inflation To Six-Month High

GM Scraps Historic Holden Car Brand In Australia

HSBC Signals Mass Job Cuts As Profits Plunge

Singapore Budget Expected To Include Tax Hike And Covid-19 Relief Package, With Yearly Deficit Projected

Singapore Cuts GDP Forecast For 2020, Cites Risk To China’s Growth From Coronavirus

HEALTH & WELLBEING

Fist Bumps Vs. Handshakes: How COVID-19 Does—And Does Not—Spread

How Often Do You Really Need To Shower?

Is Shellfish Healthy? Here’s What The Experts Say

Scientists Retract Study Claiming Vapes Cause Heart Attacks

Scientists Scanned Brains Of Bullies And Found Something Grim

The Surprising Health Benefits Of Listening To Music

HISTORY

Looking Back At George H.W. Bush’s Lifelong Career Of Public Service

This Virtual Reality Exhibit Brings Martin Luther King Jr.’S ‘I Have A Dream’ Speech To Life

Recently Digitized Iwo Jima Footage Shows The Human Side Of The Famous Battle

Why The Experimental NAZI Aircraft Known As The Horten Never Took Off

When The Greenbrier And Other Appalachian Resorts Became Prisons For Axis Diplomats

Boeing’s History Reveals Connections And Disconnections In The West’s Economy

Spotlighting The Forgotten Women Of The Surrealist Movement

The Defiance Of Florence Nightingale

Remnants Of A 19th-Century Red-Light District And Chinatown Unearthed In Montana

The New Explosive Theory About What Doomed The Crew Of The ‘Hunley’

A Beacon Of Resilience And Love: Harriet Tubman

Recognition Of Major Osage Leader And Warrior Opens A New Window Into History

Mass Grave Shows The Black Death’s ‘Catastrophic’ Impact In Rural England

Himalayan Glacier Shows Evidence Of Start Of Industrial Revolution

This Carving Is Helping Archaeologists Unravel The Secrets Of Ancient Scottish Warriors

Archaeologists Unearth Possible Shrine To Romulus, Rome’s Legendary Founder

Australian Aboriginal Tale Might Be The Oldest Story Ever Told

A Pair Of Horses Helped Excavate A Hulking Brachiosaurus Fossil In Utah

NEWS – GOOD

Greyhound To Stop Allowing Immigration Checks On Buses

These 16 People And Groups Are Fighting For A More Equal America

As Popular In Her Day As J.K. Rowling, Gene Stratton-Porter Wrote To The Masses About America’s Fading Natural Beauty

Missing Woman Survives Five Days Lost In Queensland Forest

The Unlikely Friendship Saving Egypt’s Synagogues

This Food Bank Is Making Gardening Accessible For All

Jeff Bezos: World’s Richest Man Pledges $10bn To Fight Climate Change

NEWS – NOT SO GOOD

6-Year-Old Girl Involuntarily Committed To A Mental Health Facility

Iran Appeals Court Upholds Baseless Prison Sentences Against Wildlife Conservationists

Boeing Finds Debris In Wing Fuel Tanks Of Undelivered 737 Maxs, Orders Inspections

Boy Scouts File For Bankruptcy Due To Sex-Abuse Lawsuits

German Far-Right Group ‘Planned Attacks On Mosques’

Neural Network Says These 11 Asteroids Could Smash Into Earth

Rod Blagojevich Was Among 11 People Who Received Clemency 

Russian Activist Anastasia Shevchenko Living Under House Arrest

OUR WORLD AND BEYOND

Primitive bee trapped in amber. It lived in a tropical jungle 100 million years ago, when flowering plants were just beginning to diversify. It’s thought that bees and flowering plants co-evolved. This specimen has traits from modern bees and their evolutionary ancestors, the carnivorous apoid wasps. Image via George Poinar Jr./ OSU.  Read more.

EARTH

Arctic Ice Melt Changing Major Ocean Current

Ecuador’s “Throat Of Fire” Volcano Terrifyingly Near Collapse

Earth Just Recorded Its Hottest January In History

Angkor Wat May Owe Its Existence To An Engineering Catastrophe

SPACE

Here’s Why NASA Suspects Mars Life Could Be Hiding Underground

MIT Proposes New Plans For Deflecting Killer Asteroids

New Rocket Design Is Powered By A Ring Of Literal Explosions

SpaceX Says It Will Launch Space Tourists As Soon As Next Year

The Latest From NASA’s Earth Observatory

Where Will NASA Explore Next? Here Are The Four Shortlisted Missions

Latest Images From NASA’s Earth Observatory

TECHNOLOGY

Amazon Patented A System That Literally Whips Stuff Into Orbit

Are Smartphones Hurting Our Health?

Bomb-Sniffing Cyborg Locusts? Bomb-Sniffing Cyborg Locusts.

Hackers Stick Tape On Speed Sign, Trick Teslas Into Going Faster

History Of The Hard Hat

Scientists Create Artificial Genome That Can Reproduce

Video Shows Iran’s Humanoid Robot Drill Through Wall, Snap Selfie

BEST OF THE NET

This Hot Dog Cooking Robot Is The Beginning Of The End

Alan Ladd, The True Quiet Man:  From The Hollywood Collection

Fireball Meteor Lights Up Night Sky Over Malaysia

 

TRAVEL

Portugal’s Mysterious Inverted Towers

Nine Rare Natural Phenomena Worth Traveling For

Pompeii’s House Of Lovers Reopens To The Public After 40 Years

MOVIE OF THE WEEK: TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST is an adaptation of the classic Richard Henry Dana Jr.’s memoir of life aboard an American ocean-going sailing vessel in the 1840s.  Conditions were particularly harsh, as this film so graphically points out, and Dana’s novel is credited with changing that when, after the book’s publication, the American Congress passed Merchant Marine Law:  Governing Rights of Seamen.  It’s all star cast includes  Alan Ladd as Charles Stewart; Brian Donlevy as Richard Henry Dana; William Bendix as First Mate Amazeen; Barry Fitzgerald as Terence O’Feenaghty; Howard Da Silva as Captain Thompson; Albert Dekker as Brown and Frank Faylen as Hansen.  Perhaps the highest compliment I could pay this film is that it made me feel as though I was on the deck with these men.

DAILY 10 QUESTION TRIVIA QUIZ:  This one is from Daily Email Trivia and delivered to me in mine.  There is also an opportunity, the site, to take more quizzes on a wide range of subjects and to engage interactively and competitively.

A superpower no longer, a resource hungry and repressive America faces a Latin American armada rampaging its west coast and a strong, silent and powerful Canada manning the North Wall. The fires of rebellion burn in the Pacific Northwest and it is into this crucible and forge that the cybernetic patrol boat Testament and her crew of three men and three women are thrust. Individuals of duty and conscience both, when they join the other side, all Hell breaks loose. A rollicking adventure for anyone who loves the sea, a good yarn and characters who spring to life even as Testament herself leaps the waves. For a $4.00 Kindle Book adventure you will remember for a lifetime, please go here.

Associate editor Olya Bereza is also the children’s novelist Holley Dovetail. This is one of several of short novels for the young and the young at heart. To preview and/or purchase on amazon.com, please go here.

This little fairy-tale short story dedicated to a pet-friend gone chasing the rainbow. For kids their first lost and challenge in life is letting go of their pet friends that once became part of their world. This little story will help in times they have to say good-bye without falling into despair.  Yep, go here.

ALL CREATURES, GREAT AND SMALL

https://gardenvarietynews.wordpress.com/2014/02/19/diseases-spread-from-honeybees-to-wild-bumblebees/

Seems like the more we learn about all creatures great and small, the more we find out how much we are all alike.  Like Humans, Bumblebees May Create Mental Images In Their Brains

This is local and I totally love it.  Man Performs Risky Rescue To Save Dogs Stuck On Point Defiance Cliff

Well, I’m glad this is all cleared up.  Why Poodles Are So Often Misunderstood

SHORTS

Why Wolverines Are The Arctic Animal We Love To Hate

Thousands Of Feral Horses To Be Removed From National Park After Australian Wildfires

World’s Largest Cave Fish Discovered In India

This Icelandic Volcano Recreates Early Conditions On Earth

Watch A Musician Play Violin During Brain Surgery

This Ten-Foot-Tall Bottle Of Wine Seemed Like A Great Idea—Until It Started Leaking

OUR THANKS THIS WEEK TO:

American Heritage Magazine

BBC

Crosscut Magazine

Earth Sky News:  Updates On Your Cosmos And World

High Country News

Jewish Defense League

KQED Science

Modern Farmer

Moscow Times:  Independent News From Russia

Mother Nature Network

National Geographic

National Public Radio

Newsweek

Rainforest Site

Sightline Institute

Smithsonian Magazine

South China Morning Post – This Week In Asia

Time Magazine

UBS Nobel Perspectives

WNYC Studios

 

ABOUT US:  The Northstar Journal is a general interest online weekly reaching an international readership from America to Australia and Europe to Asia.  We are also on FaceBook and Nextdoor.com. If you enjoyed this edition and would like

 

IN GRATITUDE TO MY NATION’S AFRICAN AMERICANS

TO VIEW IN YOUR NATIVE LANGUAGE

February 16, 2020

Volume 12 Number 24

Reader-Supported  Please go here. Thank you very much.

Inside: In Gratitude To My Nation’s African Americans; To Boxcar Willie, With Love From Ukraine; Covid-19; Beyond the Pale; Business & Trade; Climate & Climate Change; Community & Lifestyle, Ecology; Health; History; News – Good; News – Not So Good; Our World and Beyond; Earth; Space; Technology; Funzone: Movie of the Week; Best of the Net; Travel; Masha & the Bear, All Creatures Great & Small; Strange But True; About Us

Black Americans defending our country during WW II. Photo courtesy of the Military Times

Rusty Miller, Editor

Hi again, from the shores of the Salish Sea.  Last week, as we mentioned in passing, February is black history month.  We wanted to say much more about it then but the coronavirus pandemic demanded editorial comment.  Now, I’ve got a couple three questions for you.

What do Crispus Attucks and Lemeul Haynes have in common?  Both are African American.  Crispus was the first casualty of the American Revolution and Mr. Haynes was the first Minuteman.

What do Cpl. Freddie Stowers, First Lieutenant Vernon J. Baker and Pfc. Milton Olive III have in common?  All three are African American.  All three won the Medal of Honor.

What do Toni Morrison, Ralph Bunche and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. have in common?  All three are African American.  All three are Nobel Prize winners.

What do Madame C. J. Walker, George Washington Carver and George Edward Alcorn, Jr. all have in common?  All three are African American.  All three inventors whose contributions altered forever the destiny of our species.

On behalf of a nation which glories in the athletes and entertainers among you, thank you all for being with America every step of the way.  Considering how you’ve mostly been treated, I find your human remarkable.

And an inspiration to us all.

Rusty

Northstar editor Merritt Scott “Rusty” Miller is a journalist, author, editor and photographer living in Seattle, Washington.  For comments, please go here

Approaching the Urals from Northern Russia Photo courtesy of https://www.hansrossel.com/fotos/fotografie/rusland/rus_s3.htm

TO BOXCAR WILLIE, WITH LOVE FROM UKRAINE

Olya Bereza, Associate Editor

Hi Rusty:

This past week, many celebrated St Valentine’s Day and the social media feed was full of love confessions.  Maybe I should follow. I listened to the music you sent me, Mishka, of Boxcar Willie’s rendition of “Life Is Like A Mountain Railway” And it brought me to tears. So my love confession goes to trains.

Probably it’s inherited love.  As you know, my grandfather was a train driver; my mum was literally born on rails (as granny couldn’t make it to hospital).  And my grand – few times grand- pa was engineering railroads in Ukraine in the19th Century.

My early days train rides from the Ural Mountains to steppes of Ukraine were always exciting journeys. Just to sit there looking out at the ever-changing landscape in awe was a meditation of its own. Especially wonderful were views going through Urals.  Mishka, those lakes and forests are just amazing.  Some even compare them to the Swiss Alps.

Those trips of my youth could take about three days, but if you had fellow passengers who were good company, it was fun. The daily routine would include some food, some sleep, and some gymnastics going up and down on seats that could be described as double-decker beds. Having tea in train is a “ceremony” as the whole social life there circles around having that proverbial cuppa. The look of faceted glasses with special railway branded holders is very original. Being an amateur writer, for me it is a great inspiration to have time for creativity while sipping tea.

Also trains could be one of the solutions to modern day challenge of reducing and keeping smaller the carbon footprint.  As inexpensive airline transportation becomes more popular because of the shortened travel time, I nonetheless strongly contend that within the context of our responsibility for climate change mitigation, we need to take more than just another glance at trains.

Wouldn’t electric trains be a perfect means to travel if they will be comfortable enough and more affordable?  As I mentioned before, Mishka, I do dream about trans-European trains. While Ukrainians are enjoying now their free visa regime to the Shengen Area (an area comprising 26 European states that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders), for me it would just make so much sense to be able to travel throughout Europe without changing trains. Maybe the Ukrainian government’s decision to take aboard Germans specialists could be a step closer to my dream Why Ukraine Wants Germany To Help Modernise Its Railways

Although they are not by nature altruistic, corporations eventually reflect the concerns and priorities of their end users.  With the growing emphasis on environmentally appropriate technology in general, I believe it is only a matter of time before trains take their rightful place in the transportation matrix, not only here but all over the world.

Here’s something I hope you all love as much as I did. The 25 Greatest Train Journeys In The World

That’s it for this week.  Stay dry, Mishka.  Spring is coming.

Olya

Photo courtesy of: https://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1036285

Northstar columnist and associate editor Olya Bereza was born in the former Soviet Union and now lives in Ukraine.  Fluent in Russian, Ukrainian, and English, she is a degreed psychologist with a background in international marketing and personnel management.  For comments, please go here.

COVID-19

The CDC Has Confirmed A 15th Case Of COVID-19 In The U.S. Here’s What To Know

Russians Escape Coronavirus Quarantine ‘Cages’

Us Military Issues Executive Order To Prevent Covid-19 Pandemic

This Cruise Ship Has The Highest COVID-19 Infection Rate In The World

Sharp Increase In Deaths And Cases In Hubei

‘Pariah’ Cruise Ship Rejected By Five Ports Docks At Last

What’s In A Name? Why WHO’s Formal Name For The New Disease Matters

Singapore Bank Evacuated After Worker Falls Ill

WHO Finally Gives The Coronavirus An Official Name

App Checks Whether You’ve Come In Contact With Deadly

News Coverage Of  In 2020 Is Very Different Than It Was For Ebola In 2018

Outbreak Should Bring Out The Best In Humanity

Only 5% Of People Tested For  In The U.S. Were Found Positive

First Signs Are Emerging That China’s  Containment Could Be Working

Researchers Are Using High-Tech Methods To Predict Where The Virus Might Go Next

How To Fight The

China Launches  ‘Close Contact Detector’ App

Senior Chinese Officials ‘Removed’ As Death Toll Hits 1,000

China Is Spraying Entire City Blocks To Contain Outbreak

BEYOND THE PALE

Honduras Violence: Gunmen Storm Court Building To Free MS-13 Leader

The Battle For Hong Kong:  A Frontline Video Special

The Ongoing Struggle For Peace In Darfur

Landmark Islamic Funeral Held For Sex Worker In Bangladesh

Venezuela Crisis: Juan Guaidó Greeted With Abuse After Return From World Tour

Pope Francis Rules Against Ordaining Married Men In Amazon

Russian Former Prison Official Kills Himself In Court

Strange Russian Spacecraft Shadowing U.S. Spy Satellite, General Says

What’s Next For Ireland After Its Seismic Election Result

BUSINESS & TRADE

Amazon Wants Trump To Testify About Military Contract Awarded To Microsoft

Bank Of England Gold: Rare Look Inside The Vaults

Eurozone Economy Barely Growing At All

German Economy Barely Grows At End Of 2019

CLIMATE & CLIMATE CHANGE

Storm Ciara Kills At Least Seven In Europe

Time-Lapse As Snowstorm Hits Turkish Coast

UK Government Appoints Alok Sharma As Cop26 President

Don’t Shop Till You Drop:  Advice To Uk Citizens On Net Zero Climate Goals

UK Climate Diplomacy ‘Already Happening’ For Cop26 Despite Leadership Vacuum

Locust Plague Destroys Livelihoods In Kenya But ‘Biggest Threat Yet To Come’

EU Parliament Urges ECB To Put Climate At Heart Of Strategy Review

Shipping Could Raise Ambition Of 2030 Climate Target, Study Shows

Campaigners Urge African Union To Stop Fossil Fuel Proliferation On Continent

Marshall Islands, Suriname Norway Upgrade Climate Plans Before Cop26

One Million Solar Panels! If Only We Knew Where They Were…

Carbon Taxes Are Key To Stop Deforestation

Bank 2030: Accelerating The Transition To A Low Carbon Economy

How A Program In Washington State Is Bringing Climate Change Into The Classroom

Climate Change Has Driven Serious Declines In World’s Bumblebees

In Pictures: Storm Ciara Batters North-Western Europe

COMMUNITY & LIFESTYLE

Photo courtesy of Mother Nature Network

You Can Take In A Concert 333 Feet Underground In Cumberland Caverns

India’s Forgotten Masterpieces

Oscars 2020: Highlights

Women Who Farm Are Finally Getting Counted

Plant Savvy:  Planning The Spring Garden Of Your Dreams

How Mattresses Could Solve Hunger

Solving Seattle’s Violent Crime Begins With Mentorship, Not Fear And Punishment

‘Where The Millionaire Can Sit With The Homie’ And Have A Good Time. Chef Kristi Brown’s Welcoming Space

Refugee Resettlement Is A Yes Out West

Billionaires Are Changing Communities And The Wild In Wyoming

ECOLOGY

This Team Wants To Capture Unlimited Energy From Inside The Earth

Here’s How To Store Wind And Solar Energy Using Just Gravity

Canadian Pipeline Protest Forces Closure Of Major Rail Link

Two Countries, One Border And Their Shared Pollution

The Most Sustainable Way To Heat Homes

Global Energy-Related Carbon Emissions Flat In 2019

HEALTH & WELLBEING

It May Be Possible To Counter Some Of The Genetic Risk Of Alzheimer’s With These Lifestyle Changes

How Many Steps Should I Take A Day?

The Truth About Milk Alternatives

Editor’s Note:  Please consult with your personal physician or health care provider before taking any medical advice you read in the media, including this one.

HISTORY

Swiss Machines ‘Used To Spy On Governments For Decades’

How Two 1950s Kids Playing On The Railroad Tracks Found A National Treasure

The Civil War Wasn’t Just About The Union And The Confederacy. Native Americans Played A Role Too

When A Women-Led Campaign Made It Illegal To Spit In Public In New York City

Charles Darwin’s Publisher Didn’t Believe In Evolution, But Sold His Revolutionary Book Anyway

18th-Century Log Cabin Discovered Beneath Condemned Pennsylvania Bar

George Washington Saw A Future For America: Mules

This Glass Gaming Piece May Hail From First Viking Raids In England

New Research Rewrites The Demise Of Easter Island

These 3-D Models Offer A Digital Glimpse Into 3,000 Years Of Athens’ History

Was This Cave An Ancient Lab For Preserving Human Bodies?

Newly Discovered Tyrannosaur Was Key To The Rise Of Giant Meat-Eaters

Gigantic Turtles Fought Epic Battles 10 Million Years Ago—And Have The Scars To Prove It

NEWS – GOOD

All Of The Fires In Australia’s Most Populous State Are ‘Now Contained,’ Authorities Say

Harrismith, South Africa: A Town Fixing Itself

How Companies Teach Their Employees First Aid For Mental Healthnews –

Passengers Disembark Cruise Ship In Cambodia After Being Denied Entry To 5 Countries Over COVID-19 Fears

Quick-Thinking Customer Knocks Shoplifter Off His Feet

What Makes This Country So Happy?

Why China’s Huge Increase In New COVID-19 Cases Is Actually A Step In The Right Direction

NEWS – NOT SO GOOD

By 2050, Our Destruction Of Nature Will Cost The US $83 Billion A Year

Chinese Military Hackers Charged With Stealing Millions Of Americans’ Info From Equifax

Huge Locust Swarms Decimating Crops In East Africa, Threatening Food For 13 Million People

New Study Shows That When It Comes To Pesticides And Kids, The EPA Has Looked The Other Way

Once Protected As National Monuments, These Utah Lands Now Face Drilling And Mining

Russian Anti-Fascists Jailed On Terror Charges Over Alleged Election, World Cup Attacks

OUR WORLD AND BEYOND

Incredible.  Way to go, folks.  Record-Setting British Airways Flight Crosses Atlantic In Under 5 Hours

Scientists Invent Device To Generate Electricity From Rain  That would make Seattle bright enough to be seen from Andromeda.

We stand solidly behind this.  Save The Giants, Save The Planet

EARTH

Antarctic Island Hits Record Temperature Of 20.75C

The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Reintroduces Bighorn Sheep On Tribal Lands

World’s Largest Cave Fish Discovered In India

7 Bizarre And Fantastic Creatures From The Biodiversity Heritage Library

SPACE

Meet Astronaut Jeanette Epps

Find Out How To #Beanastronaut

This Group Is Collecting Designs For A Martian City

Next NASA Mars Rover Will Sport A Rock-Vaporizing Laser

NASA Snaps Photo Of Epic Dust Devil On The Surface Of Mars

NASA: Next Moon Landing Will Cost About $35 Billion

Mysterious Fast Radio Burst Repeats In 16-Day Rhythm

In A Single Grain Of Moon Dust, ‘Millions Of Years’ Of Lunar History

What Does The Sun Really Sound Like?

Space Force General: Russian Satellite Is “Unusual And Disturbing”

SpaceX Hires Former NASA Chief Of Human Spaceflight

Latest Images From NASA’s Earth Observatory

TECHNOLOGY

Facebook Removes ‘Foreign Interference’ Operations From Iran And Russia

Boston Dynamics’ Robot Dog Is Going To Work On An Oil Rig

The Electric Plane Leading A Revolution

DARPA Is Using Gamers’ Brain Waves To Train Robot Swarms

BEST OF THE NET

Wildlife Photographer Of The Year Winners Will Take Your Breath Away

Let’s Go Behind The Scenes With The Furry, Fluffy, Fabulous Stars Of The Westminster Dog Show

Here’s Where You Can Apply To Be A NASA Moon Astronaut

TRAVEL

A Welsh Isle ‘Forgotten’ For Millennia

New York’s 101-Year-Old Pizzeria

Canada’s Little-Known Geological Wonder

Japan’s ‘Perfect’ National Treasure

MOVIE OF THE WEEK:  THE RED BALL EXPRESS tells the story of black and white Americans fighting side by side trucking supplies to Patton’s Third Army during the Second World War.  Starring Jeff Chandler and Alex Nicol, it also features African American actor Sidney Poitier in a strong performance as a soldier whose opinion of whites changes after serving with them..

DAILY 10 QUESTION TRIVIA QUIZ:  This one is from Daily Email Trivia and delivered to me in mine.  There is also an opportunity, the site, to take more quizzes on a wide range of subjects and to engage interactively and competitively.

A superpower no longer, a resource hungry and repressive America faces a Latin American armada rampaging its west coast and a strong, silent and powerful Canada manning the North Wall. The fires of rebellion burn in the Pacific Northwest and it is into this crucible and forge that the cybernetic patrol boat Testament and her crew of three men and three women are thrust. Individuals of duty and conscience both, when they join the other side, all Hell breaks loose. A rollicking adventure for anyone who loves the sea, a good yarn and characters who spring to life even as Testament herself leaps the waves. For a $4.00 Kindle Book adventure you will remember for a lifetime, please go here.

Associate editor Olya Bereza is also the children’s novelist Holley Dovetail. This is one of several of short novels for the young and the young at heart. To preview and/or purchase on amazon.com, please go here.

This little fairy-tale short story dedicated to a pet-friend gone chasing the rainbow. For kids their first lost and challenge in life is letting go of their pet friends that once became part of their world. This little story will help in times they have to say good-bye without falling into despair.  Yep, go here.

ALL CREATURES, GREAT AND SMALL

Photo courtesy of https://www.newswirenow.com/2020/02/05/video-shows-coyote-and-badger-on-a-mission-together/

Considering they are also natural competitors for the same food supply, this is also a lesson for the American Congress .  Watch A Coyote And Badger Hunt Their Prey Together

Can Talking To Trees Promote Wellbeing?  Of course it can.  Hugging them helps too.

Ants Have A Brilliant Strategy For Determining Friend From Foe  We should be this clever.

SHORTS

Chance Fossil Discovery Reveals Ancient Marine Reptile

Cheetah Changes His Hunting Strategy In A Surprising Way

Meet The Newest Dog Breed Of Westminster

Meet The Pangolin, An Adorable Endangered Creature

Spider’s Web Is Part Of Its Mind, New Research Suggests

Whale ‘Breach Party’ Stuns Travelers In Maui

Tesla Driver’s Autopilot Often Swerved Toward The Same Barrier. One Day, It Killed Him.

World’s Largest Honey Bee Makes Rare Hallucinogenic Honey

Orangutan Reaches Out To ‘Rescue’ Man

OUR THANKS THIS WEEK TO:

American Heritage Magazine

BBC

Crosscut Magazine

Earth Sky News:  Updates On Your Cosmos And World

High Country News

Jewish Defense League

KQED Science

Modern Farmer

Moscow Times:  Independent News From Russia

Mother Nature Network

National Geographic

National Public Radio

Newsweek

Rainforest Site

Sightline Institute

Smithsonian Magazine

South China Morning Post – This Week In Asia

Time Magazine

UBS Nobel Perspectives

WNYC Studios

 

ABOUT US:  The Northstar Journal is a general interest online weekly reaching an international readership from America to Australia and Europe to Asia.  We are also on FaceBook and Nextdoor.com. If you enjoyed this edition and would like

 

HOW OUR MODERN WORLD CREATES OUTBREAKS LIKE CORONAVIRUS

TO VIEW IN YOUR NATIVE LANGUAGE

February 9, 2020

Volume 12 Number 23

Reader-Supported  Please go here. Thank you very much.

Inside: How Our Modern World Creates Outbreaks Like Coronavirus; BAFTA; Coronavirus; Beyond the Pale; Business & Trade; Climate & Climate Change; Community & Lifestyle, Ecology; Health; History; News – Good; News – Not So Good; Our World and Beyond; Earth; Space; Technology; Funzone: Movie of the Week; Best of the Net; Travel; Masha & the Bear, All Creatures Great & Small; Strange But True; About Us

Photo courtesy of https://jiminmontana.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/mother-nature-our-angry-step-mother/

Rusty Miller, Editor

Hi again, from the shores of the Salish Sea.  Interesting mail this past week. So… in response to one of you who suggested that climate change and the Coronavirus might both be the behavior of a sentient planet striking back at a symbiot turned parasite (us) poisoning it and removing its very skin, hectare by hectare, I’m not sure there’s a pragmatic way to determine that but intuition is an “extra” sense often more reliable than the relatively primitive instruments of discovery and analysis we traditionally use in these regards.

I honestly don’t know how we can see it any other way.  Like all life forms on Mother Earth, we are, ourselves, composed of millions of cells which respond to our behavior, both negatively and positively.  Good health is as much a collective cellular choice as the immune system’s response to cells gone rogue and invasive threats to its existence.

How Our Modern World Creates Outbreaks Like Coronavirus is a perspective of general application.  We aren’t just poisoning the planet and everything thing that lives here, we are committing indiscriminate genocide on a scale which makes the Holocaust and Armenia dramatically pale in comparison.

So yes, this and other pandemics, as well as global warming and a dramatic increase in volcanic and seismic events could very well be Gaia’s attempt to save her own life and ours in the process.  That is a theory relatively easy to test.

We just need to begin being nicer to one another and to the planet.  That’s not rocket science in my house.  I hope it is not in yours.

Rusty

Northstar editor Merritt Scott “Rusty” Miller is a journalist, author, editor and photographer living in Seattle, Washington.  For comments, please go here

BAFTA

Olya Bereza, Associate Editor

Hi Rusty:

Last Sunday evening, I happened to watch the BAFTA ceremonies, which, as you know, are the British Academy Awards.  One week ahead of the Oscars, they featured almost the same contestants so it may be called a good way to “test the water” before this Sunday’s awards.

It’s wonderful that a few famous A-Listers took the time to fly across the Pond to take part. Just like millions of other people, I like American movies and Hollywood and there were some outstanding works.

BAFTA Film Awards 2020 complete winners list: 1917 wins ‘Best Film’, Joaquin walks away with ‘Best Actor’

But in a way, by copying the Academy Awards, BAFTA was also making itself vulnerable to its weaknesses.  One of those was brilliantly articulated by copying the Oscars, the British awards was prone to its weakness point too. This was brilliantly articulated by The Joker actor Joaquin Phoenix in a speech highlighting the film industry’s lack of diversity, noting that neither of the best actor or best actress nominees were people of colour.

If you came to London, you would see that the United Kingdom is a very multicultural nation.  This diversity must be reflected in terms of opportunities across the Isles, together with the identification, recognition, encouragement and support of local talent at the community level.

The thing myself as an observer I missed was actually Britishness. The Brits do have their very own sense of humour and presenting of reality so it would definitely help to see more of their films.

In the closing speech, Prince William, BAFTA president, promised in future “a full and thorough review of the entire awards process”.

That’s it for this week.  Stay dry, Mishka.  Spring is coming.

Olya

Northstar columnist and associate editor Olya Bereza was born in the former Soviet Union and now lives in Ukraine.  Fluent in Russian, Ukrainian, and English, she is a degreed psychologist with a background in international marketing and personnel management.  For comments, please go here.

CORONAVIRUS

China To Round Up Infected In “Mass Quarantine Camps”

Coronavirus And Oil: Why Crude Has Been Hit Hard

Coronavirus: Eating Sea Urchins And Swiss Rolls Under Quarantine

Doctors In China Are Starting Human Trials For A Coronavirus Treatment

Global Solidarity, Collaboration Needed To Defeat The New Coronavirus Outbreak

How Malaysian Plague Fighter Wu Lien-Teh Laid Down Lessons For Wuhan Virus

How To Talk To Your Kids About The Coronavirus Outbreak

Outbreak Has Become The World’s Largest Work-From-Home Experiment

Passengers On A Virus-Stricken Cruise Ship In Japan Speak About Life Under Quarantine

Past Outbreaks Provide A Roadmap For U.S. Government Response To Coronavirus Threat

Russian Coronavirus Victims Quarantined In Siberia

World Health Organization Declared Coronavirus A Global Health Emergency. What Does That Mean?

BEYOND THE PALE

Locusts Swarm East Africa With Worst Plague In Decades

Trump Acquitted By Senate In Impeachment Trial

U.K. Has Officially Left The European Union. But Could Scotland End Up Back In It?

Brexit Has Revived The Prospect Of A United Ireland. Could It Actually Happen?

Wuhan Coronavirus, Climate Change, And Future Epidemics

BUSINESS & TRADE

AirAsia’s Tony Fernandes Steps Aside Amid Bribery Probe

Brexit: Boris Johnson Sets Out Vision Of UK-EU Trade Deal

China Halves Tariffs On More Than 1,700 US Goods

Credit Suisse Boss Tidjane Thiam Quits After Spying Scandal

Ikea Announces First Big UK Store Closure

Uber Sees Path To Profit Despite $1.1bn Loss

CLIMATE & CLIMATE CHANGE

January 2020 Was The Warmest Ever On Record In Europe And Marginally Warmest Globally

Cities’ Lawsuits Seeking Damages For Climate Change Reach Critical Juncture

Climate Activist Greta Thunberg Nominated For Nobel Peace Prize

Climate Change: Australian TV Audience Boos Skeptical Senator

Democratic Contenders In Iowa Caucus Aim To Rejoin Paris Accord In Green Goals

Offshore Wind Deployment Boom ‘Too Slow’ To Meet EU Climate Target

UK Government Drops Claire O’Neill As President Of Cop26 Summit

UK Walks Diplomatic Tightrope For 2020 Climate Summit After Shaky Start

UK’s Boris Johnson Urges All Countries To Set Net Zero Emissions Goals In 2020

World Misses Symbolic February Deadline To Ratchet Up Climate Action Before Cop26

Youth Activists Urge African Governments To Do More To Curb Climate Change

COMMUNITY & LIFESTYLE

‘Art Of War’ Strategies / Handling Skeptics

February Is Black History Month: To See How Much We Own African Americans

Get Ready For The Great Backyard Bird Count

Kirk Douglas, Towering Icon Of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Dies At 103

Li Wenliang: Coronavirus Death Of Wuhan Doctor Sparks Anger

People Are Upcycling Old Glassware Into Stunning Glass Garden Mushrooms

War Movies Have Long Focused On The Courage Of Men. These Films Turn The Lens On Women

Why Many Chinese Women Are Giving Motherhood A Miss

ECOLOGY

‘All-Electric’ Movement Picks Up Speed, Catching Some Off Guard

Alaska’s Largest Rural Solar Project Set To Break Ground

Coal Power Plants In The U.S. Are Closing. Here Are The Ones Left In The West

How Utility Planning Is Building A Clean Energy Future In The American Northwest

The Most Sustainable Way To Heat Homes

Washington Staters Tackle Ocean Acidification With New Seaweed Crops

What Is Future Planet?

What You Can Do To Reduce Microfiber Pollution

Which Cities Have Declared Climate Emergencies?

HEALTH & WELLBEING

8 Scientifically Backed Ways To Beat The Winter Blues

Cancer Symptoms Can Appear Years Before Diagnosis

Early Detection Is Key To Combating The Spread Of Coronavirus

How To Stay Healthy On A Plane Right Now

How To Wake Up Even The Groggiest Brain

How Rising Global Temperatures Are Making Our Bodies More Susceptible To Emerging Viruses

Why Energy Drinks Are Worse For You Than Soda

HISTORY

Nine Women Whose Remarkable Lives Deserve The Biopic Treatment

Boston And New York Competed For America’s First Subway

Even In Death, Charles Dickens Left Behind A Riveting Tale Of Deceit

See Winston Churchill’s Little-Known Art

Why Babe Ruth Was The Ultimate Symbol Of The Roaring ’20s

The History Of Wives Replacing Their Dead Husbands In Congress

How Soap Box Racing Became A National Craze

Court Case Alleges Submarine Collision With Wreck Of The Titanic Went Unreported

Britain’s Shocking Slavery Stories

This Czech Well May Be The World’s Oldest Wooden Structure

The Best Board Games Of The Ancient World

Bookended By Wasp Nests, These Aboriginal Artworks May Finally Have Definitive Dates

Siberian Hunters Cooked In ‘Hot Pots’ At The End Of The Last Ice Age

Jaw Of 330-Million-Year-Old Shark Discovered In Kentucky Cave

NEWS – GOOD

After Cancer Took His Mother, James Allison Taught Our Immune Systems How To Fight It

Australia Fires: Couple Risk Their Lives To Save Animals

Congratulations, Christina Koch!

That Dystopian Hellscape Keeping You Up At Night? It’s Less Likely Than You Think

The Shrub Helping Solve Climate Change

NEWS — NOT SO GOOD

Ranchers Blindsided By Trump’s Border Wall

Russian Reporter Milashina, Who Exposed Chechen Gay Purge, Attacked In Grozny

At Least 138 Salvadorans Deported By U.S. Have Since Been Killed, Report Says

Homeless US Student Population ‘Highest In Over A Decade’

Murder Map:  America’s Deadliest Cities

Vancouver Has The Worst Traffic Congestion In Canada Again, According To This Ranking

OUR WORLD AND BEYOND

Experts are calling them dunes. They say the newly identified form of northern lights appears as an evenly spaced pattern of waves, resembling dunes on a sandy beach. Read more.

Cit­izen Scientists Help Identify New North­ern Lights

Scientists Grew Palm Trees From 2000-Year-Old Seeds

Musicians Are Using AI To Create Otherwise Impossible New Songs

EARTH

What Earth Would Look Like Without Oceans

Sand Dunes ‘Communicate’ As They Migrate

Warm Water Measured Below Antarctic Glacier

SPACE

Australian Smoke Plume Sets Records

Latest Images From NASA’s Earth Observatory

NASA To Broadcast Sunday’s Solar Orbiter Launch

One Of These NASA Astronauts Could Be The First Woman On The Moon

Pluto Has A Nitrogen Heartbeat

Watch Cygnus Launch & Briefings

NASA Astronaut Sets Space Record, Says She’ll Miss Microgravity

SpaceX Is Planning A Miles-High Starship Flight As Early As March

Top 4 Keys To Understanding Moon Phases

TECHNOLOGY

Handheld Device “Prints” New Skin Directly Onto Wounds

New Generation Of Dark Matter Experiments Gear Up To Search For Elusive Particle

New Hydroelectric Turbine Designs Are Safer For Fish And Improve Energy Efficiency

Robot Kayaks Track Tidewater Glacier Melting

The Virus Outbreak Is Delaying Tesla Model 3 Shipments

This Robotic Hand Stays Cool By Sweating

BEST OF THE NET

Tired Of Watching Politics? Watch Live Panda Cam

9 Stunning Photos Capture Beautiful Landscapes Around The Globe

Asia’s Surprising Foodie Capital

TRAVEL

Book Space On A SpaceX Rocket For $1 Million Online

LA’s Best Cultural Spaces

Must-See Outdoor Art Installations Of 2020

Nation With A Useless Passport

Post Office In The Atlantic Ocean

Unexpected London Landmark

MOVIE OF THE WEEK:THE KING OF TEXAS – this customizing of Shakespeare’s King Lear for the American Oklahoma Territory of the late 19^th Century reunites Star Trek stars Patrick Stewart and Colm Meaney, with a strong supporting class including Jaws’ Roy Scheider, , Marcia Gay Harden, Lauren Holly, David Alan Grier, Patrick Bergin, Matt Letscher, Liam Waite, Steven Bauer, Julie Cox and Richard Lineback If you love Westerns, make some popcorn and pour some soda pop over ice in a big glass.  This is an evening’s entertainment.

DAILY 10 QUESTION TRIVIA QUIZ:  This one is from Daily Email Trivia and delivered to me in mine.  There is also an opportunity, the site, to take more quizzes on a wide range of subjects and to engage interactively and competitively.

A superpower no longer, a resource hungry and repressive America faces a Latin American armada rampaging its west coast and a strong, silent and powerful Canada manning the North Wall. The fires of rebellion burn in the Pacific Northwest and it is into this crucible and forge that the cybernetic patrol boat Testament and her crew of three men and three women are thrust. Individuals of duty and conscience both, when they join the other side, all Hell breaks loose. A rollicking adventure for anyone who loves the sea, a good yarn and characters who spring to life even as Testament herself leaps the waves. For a $4.00 Kindle Book adventure you will remember for a lifetime, please go here.

Associate editor Olya Bereza is also the children’s novelist Holley Dovetail. This is one of several of short novels for the young and the young at heart. To preview and/or purchase on amazon.com, please go here.

This little fairy-tale short story dedicated to a pet-friend gone chasing the rainbow. For kids their first lost and challenge in life is letting go of their pet friends that once became part of their world. This little story will help in times they have to say good-bye without falling into despair.  Yep, go here.

ALL CREATURES, GREAT AND SMALL

Photo courtesy of BBC Earth.

This is an absolute romp.  Animal Sleeping Habits Include Holding Hands.

Not in a million years would I answer yes to this question.  Is It Possible To Cuddle With Sharks?

Can Disease-Sniffing Dogs Save The World’s Citrus?  We certainly hope so.

SHORTS

Here Are 5 Animals You Didn’t Know Existed

In A First, Scientists Film Wild Grey Seals Clapping To Show Their Strength

Jackass Penguin Calls Follow Similar Rules To Human Speech

Study Shines Light On Urgent Threats To Fireflies

The Science Behind A Penguin Huddle – A Hug Or A Vital Survival Technique?

This Little Owl Was Found In A Ditch, But Her Reason For Being There Was A Surprise

This One Cave Salamander Stayed Completely Still For 7 Years, But It Wasn’t Dead

Give Spring Bees A Boost With Dandelion Blooms

Feeding Bluebirds Might Help Them In A Surprising Way

17 Dogs That Really, Really Love Sticks

Whales Struggled To Find Food After New Zealand’s 2016 Earthquake

U.K. Developers Unearth 42 Bizarrely Buried Skeletons

Wild Grey Seal Filmed ‘Clapping’ On Camera For The First Time

Watch A Mother Reunite With Her Deceased Child In VR

OUR THANKS THIS WEEK TO:

American Heritage Magazine

BBC

Crosscut Magazine

Earth Sky News:  Updates On Your Cosmos And World

High Country News

Jewish Defense League

KQED Science

Modern Farmer

Moscow Times:  Independent News From Russia

Mother Nature Network

National Geographic

National Public Radio

Newsweek

Rainforest Site

Sightline Institute

Smithsonian Magazine

South China Morning Post – This Week In Asia

Time Magazine

UBS Nobel Perspectives

WNYC Studios

ABOUT US:  The Northstar Journal is a general interest online weekly reaching an international readership from America to Australia and Europe to Asia.  We are also on FaceBook and Nextdoor.com. If you enjoyed this edition and would like

 

AUSCHWITZ & SHOAH REMEMBERED

TO VIEW IN YOUR NATIVE LANGUAGE

Pacem, Libertatem, Justitiam

February 2, 2020

Volume 12 Number 22

Reader-Supported  Please go here. Thank you very much.

 Inside: Auschwitz & Shoah Remembered; Brexit; Australian Fires; China Coronavirus; Beyond the Pale; Business & Trade; Climate & Climate Change; Community & Lifestyle, Ecology; Health; History; News – Good; News – Not So Good; Our World and Beyond; Earth; Space; Technology; Funzone: Movie of the Week; Best of the Net; Travel; Masha & the Bear, All Creatures Great & Small; Strange But True; About Us

Photo courtesy of https://israelseen.com/2017/10/22/sabine-sterk-can-we-do-it-2/

Rusty Miller, Editor

Hi again, from the shores of the Salish Sea.  This past week marked the 75^th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, a horror from Hell which has come to symbolize the Holocaust itself.

Ironically, it was not the German NAZI Party which invented the concentration camp, but the British during the Boer War.  It would have been supreme irony if it had been the British who liberated Auschwitz but it was the Soviets, under whom Jews had historically fared little better than anywhere else since the Diaspora flung them to every continent on the planet.

The Holocaust happened in silence because people who knew about it from its birth through its evolution chose not only to do nothing about it but refused to say anything about it.  And as history itself has pointed out time and time again, often we have more to fear from those who passively accept evil than from those who actively commit it.

I’ve just finished thanking one of my US senators, Maria Cantwell, for marking the anniversary and promising that it will never happen again on her watch.  My personal list of gratitude grows longer with each day and with it, my own resolve to do my part to make sure Shoah remains an infinitely sad chapter in the history of our species.

And not the next one.

Rusty

The world should never forget.  Olya

Northstar editor Merritt Scott “Rusty” Miller is a journalist, author, editor and photographer living in Seattle, Washington.  For comments, please go here

BREXIT

Olya Bereza, Associate Editor

Hi Rusty:

On the 31st of January, in Downing Street, a countdown clock finally concluded.  After 47 years, Great Britain’s era as a part of the European Union has ended

I think this is a very moving video of Europeans saying good-bye in their native languages  The Long Goodbye: Europeans Bid U.K. Farewell On Brexit Eve | NBC News

While it is difficult to answer the BBC’s Brexit’s happened… so what now?, we can say for sure that the tomorrow after Brexit came as a sunny warm day about +12C.  Actually, it was a quite ordinary day, aside from the celebrations which took place earlier at Parliament Square.

I was looking through the front pages of various newspapers and the one that I particularly liked was from the Daily Express, which read “Rise And Shine. It’s A Glorious New Britain”. I think it never depended on unions or trade deals alone. If a nation is confident in its success and prepared to work hard, the future will always be bright.

It has been a long, hard, options-exploring  four-year journey to Brexit after referendum on 2016. Now that’s all history 

Let us hope it works for them.

Olya

Northstar columnist and associate editor Olya Bereza was born in the former Soviet Union and now lives in Ukraine.  Fluent in Russian, Ukrainian, and English, she is a degreed psychologist with a background in international marketing and personnel management.  For comments, please go here.

AUSTRALIAN FIRES

Watch As Much-Needed Rain Pours Through Western Australia

Australia Fires: Firefighters Dance On Tiktok To ‘Raise Spirits’

Australia Fires: Blaze ‘Sparked By Helicopter Lights’ Rages Near Canberra

Australia’s Droughts And Fires Present New Dangers To The Platypus

CHINA CORONAVIRUS

A Timeline Of How The Wuhan Coronavirus Has Spread—And How The World Has Reacted

American Doctors Are Treating A Coronavirus Patient With A Robot

Americans Trapped In Wuhan Aren’t Angry At The Chinese Government. They’re Angry At Their Own

Britons On Wuhan Flights To Be Quarantined

Death Toll Rises As Virus Spreads To Every Chinese Region

Forbidden City And Parts Of Great Wall Close Temporarily In China To Limit Spread Of Coronavirus

Here’s The Growing Coronavirus Death Toll In One Chilling Graph

How Scientists Are Using Social Media To Counter Coronavirus Misinformation

How The Wuhan Coronavirus Is Sparking Global Economic Fears

In China, Drones Are Yelling At People About Coronavirus [UPDATED]

Is The Coronavirus A Pandemic? Here’s What Experts Say.

Outbreak Is Most Dangerous For The Elderly

Outbreak Is Now A Public Health Emergency Of International Concern. Here’s What That Means

Outbreaks Like The Coronavirus Are Here To Stay. This Is How Humans Will Fight Back

Scientists Race To Develop A Vaccine

Technology Giants Join China Shutdown

U.S. To Deny Entry To Foreign Nationals Who Have Been In China Due To Coronavirus

WHO Declares The Coronavirus Outbreak A Public Health Emergency

Why Coronavirus Seems To Be Striking More Adults Than Kids

Worldwide Cases Surpass Sars Outbreak In 2003

Wuhan Residents Shout From Windows In Solidarity

BEYOND THE PALE

Belgium Euthanasia: Three Doctors Cleared In Landmark Trial

Dissatisfaction With Democracy ‘At Record High’

Fighting For Congo’s Most Vulnerable Girls In Kinshasa

Trump Middle East Plan: Palestinians Reject ‘Conspiracy’

BUSINESS & TRADE

Amazon: Christmas Sales Soar As Other Retailers Struggle

Britain Is Finally Leaving The European Union. Here’s What Will Change

Coronavirus: Starbucks Closes 2,000 Chinese Branches

Hong Kong Stock Market Takes A Tumble On Reopen

Why Businesses Are Supporting Reproductive Rights

CLIMATE & CLIMATE CHANGE

California Wildfires: Could Native Burns Be A Solution?

English Sparkling Wines Challenge The Supremacy Of Champagne, France—Thanks To Climate Change

Everything You Need To Know About The UN Climate Refugee Ruling

How Davos Became A Climate Change Conference

How To Garden For Bumblebees

IMO Under Pressure To Regulate New Ship Fuels Over Arctic Warming

Indigenous Lands, Protected Areas Limit Amazon’s Carbon Emissions

Locusts Lay Eggs As Plague Worsens In Horn Of Africa, UN Warns

OR Governor Brown: Climate Policy Can Protect Environment, Boost Economy

To Fight Loneliness, Let’s Get Innovative

UN Relocates Biodiversity Talks To Italy From China After Coronavirus Emergency

UN Ruling On Climate Refugees Could Be Gamechanger For Climate Action

Which Countries Have Not Ratified The Paris Climate Agreement?

COMMUNITY & LIFESTYLE

Я/МЫ: Why Are Russians Using This Symbol?

Women’s Rights In Saudi Arabia: Real Change Or Cosmetic Reforms?

‘You Shall Never Be A Bystander.’ How We Learn About The Holocaust When The Last Survivors Are Gone

How Japanese Artist Chiura Obata Came To Be An American Great

Kobe’s Basketball Greatness Made Him A Hero To So Many Kids

This Vietnamese National Park Is A Spice Lover’s Dream

This Utah Ranch Has A “Command Center” For Paranormal Research

What Translating A Firsthand Account Of Life In Auschwitz Taught Me About The Language Of Suffering

Why Gender Inequality In The Bedroom Matters For Women

ECOLOGY

Can A Whole City Go Green? Yes!

China Announces Plan To Ban Single-Use Plastics

How Do We Fix The Fertilizer Problem?

How The Xbox Stands Between Microsoft And Its Climate Goals

Recycling Revolution: How One Seattle Company Is Saving 170,000 Pounds Of Waste From Landfills

Sainsbury’s Pledges £1bn To Cut Emissions To Zero By 2040

Yes, We Can Make Cities Affordable And Low-Carbon

HEALTH & WELLBEING

Symptoms Of Coronavirus

4 Types Of Doctors Visits You Should Make For A Long, Healthy Life

6 Natural Ways To Combat Anxiety

10 Zoonotic Diseases (Meaning They Travel From Animal To Human)

21 Ways To Help Someone You Love Through Grief

102 Genes Linked To Autism In One Of The Largest Studies Of Its Kind To Date

Are Solar Storms Dangerous To Us?

Cancer Risk Taking Men By Surprise

Can Going Vegan Affect Intelligence?

This Is Why Long Commutes Can Actually Be Good For Your Mood

Researchers Transplant Lab-Grown Heart Muscle Cells Into Patient

Skeptic Tries ‘Forest Bathing’

What Casual Drinking Does To Your Body Over Time

HISTORY

How Jacob Lawrence Painted A Radical History Of The American Struggle

Félicette, The First Cat In Space, Finally Gets A Memorial

Lessons Worth Learning From The Moment Four Students Sat Down To Take A Stand

The Deadliest Disaster At Sea Killed Thousands, Yet Its Story Is Little-Known. Why?

What Happened After The Liberation Of Auschwitz

What It Was Like To Fly In The Battle Of Britain

Ship That Vanished In Bermuda Triangle Found Nearly A Century Later

This Man Was Tried In Tennessee For Teaching Evolution

How World War I Planted The Seeds Of The Civil Rights Movement

Susan B. Anthony’s Childhood Home Is Getting Renovated

A Not-So-Brief History Of Scottish Independence

Newly Unearthed Anglo-Saxon Monastery May Have Hosted England’s First Coronation

Archaeologists Unearth Trove Of Medieval Artifacts In London Cesspit

How Buddhism Spread Written Language Globally

The Lives Of The Last Neanderthals

Neanderthals May Have Trekked 2,000 Miles To Siberia

Newly Described Meat-Eating Dinosaur Dominated During The Jurassic Period

Fossil Reveals How Feathered Dinosaurs Differed From Birds

NEWS – GOOD

Amazon Employees Cite ‘Moral Responsibility’ To Speak Out On Climate, Despite Risk Of Losing Their Jobs

Duchess Of Cambridge Shares Portraits Of Auschwitz Survivors To Mark Holocaust Memorial Day

For The First Time In Four Years, The U.S. Life Expectancy Rose A Little

Insys Executives Are Sentenced To Prison Time, Putting Opioid Makers On Notice

Navy Will Stop Scraping Ship Hulls And Polluting Puget Sound Scientists Managed To Find Marine Animals Not Contaminated By Plastic

Trump’s Wall: High Winds Blow Over Section Of US-Mexico Border Fence

NEWS — NOT SO GOOD

Kobe Bryant: US Mourns Basketball Legend Killed In Helicopter Crash

One-Third Of Americans Experience Poor Air Quality Due To Pollution

Seven Unexploded WWII Bombs Found At German Tesla Factory Site

Star Witness In Harvey Weinstein Trial Says ‘No’ Was A ‘Trigger’ For The Movie Mogul

The Ocean Is Getting So Acidic That It’s Dissolving Crabs’ Shells

OUR WORLD AND BEYOND

Solar flares are brief eruptions of intense high-energy radiation from the sun’s surface. They’re associated with sunspots, coronal mass ejections or CMEs, and other signs of high activity on the sun, during its 11-year cycle. A big solar flare can result in charged particles hurtled toward Earth that cause disturbances to modern life, for example, in satellite communications and power line transmissions. Image via NASA. Read more.

EARTH

Is This London’s Strangest Landmark?

Jamaica And Cuba Rattled By Powerful 7.7 Magnitude Earthquake

Nile River:  9 Interesting Facts

Carolina Bays:  Why They Remain An Enduring Mystery

SPACE

Enceladus’ Inner Complexity Is Good For Life

ESA’s Solar Orbiter Will Launch Next Month

Everything You Need To Know About The Mars 2020 Rover

How Likely Are Space Super-Storms?

NASA Has Discovered New Super Earth

NASA Is Adding A Space Hotel To The Space Station

New Solar Telescope Releases Its 1st Images

See The Sun’s Surface Move In ‘Unprecedented’ Detail

The First Cookies Baked In Space Have Returned To Earth

We Just Got A Treasure Trove Of Photos Of The ‘Dark’ Side Of The Moon

What Is Astrophysics?

TECHNOLOGY

Scientists Release Genetically Engineered Moths For First Time

Most Children Sleep With Mobile Phone Beside Bed

Don Cameron: The Scot Shaping The History Of Hot Air Balloons

BEST OF THE NET

Australian Soldiers Use Time Off From Fighting Fires To Feed Displaced Koalas

 Personality Quizzes

Drug Lord’s Rogue Hippos Taking Over Colombia

TRAVEL

The Birthplace of Canada’s Mountain Culture

Following Beethoven’s Footsteps Through Vienna

Could This City Be The New Rome?

MOVIE OF THE WEEK: THE IRON TRIANGLE – Starring Beau Bridges as a captured American soldier, this film rivals Apocalypse Now, Platoon and Full Metal Jacket as definitive portrayals of the Vietnam War.

DAILY 10 QUESTION TRIVIA QUIZ:  This one is from Daily Email Trivia and delivered to me in mine.  There is also an opportunity, the site, to take more quizzes on a wide range of subjects and to engage interactively and competitively.

Playing For Change is a movement created to inspire and connect the world through music, born from the shared belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people

A superpower no longer, a resource hungry and repressive America faces a Latin American armada rampaging its west coast and a strong, silent and powerful Canada manning the North Wall. The fires of rebellion burn in the Pacific Northwest and it is into this crucible and forge that the cybernetic patrol boat Testament and her crew of three men and three women are thrust. Individuals of duty and conscience both, when they join the other side, all Hell breaks loose. A rollicking adventure for anyone who loves the sea, a good yarn and characters who spring to life even as Testament herself leaps the waves. For a $4.00 Kindle Book adventure you will remember for a lifetime, please go here.

Associate editor Olya Bereza is also the children’s novelist Holley Dovetail. This is one of several of short novels for the young and the young at heart. To preview and/or purchase on amazon.com, please go here.

This little fairy-tale short story dedicated to a pet-friend gone chasing the rainbow. For kids their first lost and challenge in life is letting go of their pet friends that once became part of their world. This little story will help in times they have to say good-bye without falling into despair.  Yep, go here.

ALL CREATURES, GREAT AND SMALL

This is heart-wrenching.  These Animals Survived The Bushfires, And They Need Human Help More Than Ever

Meet the original inventor of stealth.  Jewel Beetles Bend Light To Make Themselves Invisible To Predators

Excellent!  Albatrosses Outfitted With GPS Trackers Detect Illegal Fishing Vessels

SHORTS

This Is How A Woodpecker Swap Meet Works

India Cleared To Bring Cheetahs Back To Forests

Why Australia’s Surge Of Highly Venomous Spiders Isn’t As Bad As It Sounds

The Mystery At The Bottom Of Lake Ohrid

Newly Discovered Underwater Volcanic Range Is Teeming With Bizarre, Tiny Fanged Fish

Some Salamanders Can Regrow Lost Body Parts. Could Humans One Day Do The Same?

OUR THANKS THIS WEEK TO:

American Heritage Magazine

BBC

Crosscut Magazine

Earth Sky News:  Updates On Your Cosmos And World

Jewish Defense League

KQED Science

Modern Farmer

Moscow Times:  Independent News From Russia

Mother Nature Network

National Geographic

National Public Radio

Rainforest Site

Sightline Institute

Smithsonian Magazine

South China Morning Post – This Week In Asia

Time Magazine

UBS Nobel Perspectives

WNYC Studios

ABOUT US:  The Northstar Journal is a general interest online weekly reaching an international readership from America to Australia and Europe to Asia.  We are also on FaceBook and Nextdoor.com. If you enjoyed this edition and would like

 

WE WILL WEEP AND WE WILL MOURN

TO VIEW IN YOUR NATIVE LANGUAGE

Pacem, Libertatem, Justitiam

January 26, 2020

Volume 12  Number 22

Reader-Supported  Please go here. Thank you very much.

Inside: We Will Weep & We Will Mourn; The Word ‘Cool’ No Longer Applies; Australian Fires; China Coronavirus; Beyond the Pale; Business & Trade; Climate & Climate Change; Community & Lifestyle, Ecology; Health; History; News – Good; News – Not So Good; Our World and Beyond; Earth; Space; Technology; Funzone: Movie of the Week; Best of the Net; Travel; Masha & the Bear, All Creatures Great & Small; Strange But True; About Us

Man With Hands Clasped, Dean Cornwell

Rusty Miller, Editor

Hi again, from the shores of the Salish Sea.  Earlier this week could be described as Seattle’s Bloody Wednesday.  A gangland shooting in front of a downtown McDonalds Restaurant during the evening rush hour left two dead and several others injured, including a child.

The mainstream media’s covered this like a wet wool blanket so I’m not going to repeat the details here.  But for perspective, as mass shootings go, this was a small one and in most ways, typical of those occurring daily around the world.

We will weep and we will mourn.  We will attempt to address the issue by putting more law enforcement on the street and trying yet again to control guns and a “three in a cab rack in the pickup” culture.  In the end, we will pray.

We will be no more prepared for it the next time it happens but the rituals we go through as victims will be more familiar.  Like soldiers and first responders, we will grow accustomed to death and perhaps enjoy life more knowing how close at hand mortality can really be.

As long as we condone any form of violence, people will die from it.  And prayers will not protect them.  I’m a peaceful man who has been to war and for whom violence is not an option.  I know I am not alone in these regards.

Maybe someone can tell me then, why I so feel like I am.

Rusty

Northstar editor Merritt Scott “Rusty” Miller is a journalist, author, editor and photographer living in Seattle, Washington.  For comments, please go here

THE WORD ‘COOL’ NO LONGER APPLIES

Olya Bereza, Associate Editor

Hi Rusty:

The World Economic Forum 2020 in Davos was in the spotlight of this week’s news. The theme of the event was Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World.

Many world leaders participated in the event but I would like to highlight the speech by The Prince of Wales that was most constructive because it not only pointed to global warming, climate change and loss of biodiversity as the “greatest threats humanity has ever faced and likely of its own creation” but also outlined solutions. They included “taxes, policies and regulations in a way that catalyses the sustainable market”.

His Royal Highness also said that he has dedicated most of his life to the restoration of harmony among humanity, nature and the environment. He called for 2020 to be “the year that we put ourselves on the right track” and for the private sector to “lead the world out of the approaching catastrophe into which we have engineered ourselves”.

This past week, the Queen signed the Brexit deal so even though the UK has chosen another political way than the rest of Europe, it is good to see that the British monarch supports the whole Continental movement towards sustainability.  Davos 2020: Prince Charles meets Greta Thunberg

In talking about social media, one discussion took my attention about also recent news that Coca-Cola will not abandon single-use plastic bottles because customers still want them.  That’s what the firm’s head of sustainability told the BBC.  The consumer public has replied with a petition alleging Coca-Cola just said people still want plastic bottles. Let’s prove them wrong.

I remember the 90s, when I was still a kid, and how Coca-Cola Classic’s glass bottle was representing everything that could be called cool. Decades later, more information about the company’s activity and practices made me change my mind.  Coke claims to give back as much water as it uses. An investigation shows it isn’t even close. 

I doubt the word cool can be used anymore.

Olya

Northstar columnist and associate editor Olya Bereza was born in the former Soviet Union and now lives in Ukraine.  Fluent in Russian, Ukrainian, and English, she is a degreed psychologist with a background in international marketing and personnel management.  For comments, please go here.

AUSTRALIAN FIRES

Australia Rains Bring Relief From Fires—And A Surge In Deadly Spiders

Giant Koala Sand Art Captures Australian Bushfires Emotions

Australia Fires: US Crew Dead In Firefighting Plane Crash

Australian Bushfires Reveal Hidden Sections Of Ancient Aquaculture System

Firefighters Save Grove Of Trees In Australia That Predate The Dinosaurs

CHINA CORONAVIRUS

China Puts 13 Cities On Lockdown As Coronavirus Death Toll Climbs

Chart: Wuhan Coronavirus Compared With MERS, SARS And Common Cold

Some Blame The Coronavirus Spread On China’s Love Of Eating Wild Animals. The Truth Is More Complex

China Is Building A 1,000-Bed Hospital Specifically To Treat Mystery Epidemic

China Coronavirus: Death Toll Rises As More Cities Restrict Travel

Flights Into The U.S. Are Not Being Rerouted For Coronavirus Screening, CDC Says

China Coronavirus: Wuhan And Huanggang On Lockdown

Coronavirus: British Passenger ‘Wasn’t Sure’ He Could Get Out Of Wuhan’

China Shuts Down Transportation From The City Of Wuhan After The Coronavirus Outbreak Kills 17 People

BEYOND THE PALE

Who Made It Into Russia’s New Cabinet?

Meng Hongwei: China Sentences Ex-Interpol Chief To 13 Years In Jail

Myanmar Rohingya: World Court Orders Prevention Of Genocide

Sanna Marin, The World’s Youngest Female Head Of Government, Wants Equality, Not Celebrity

BUSINESS & TRADE

Asset Manager Puts Climate At Center Of Investment Strategy

China’s Travel Industry Counts Cost Of Coronavirus

Disney+ To Launch A Week Earlier Than Planned In The UK

Major Companies Join New Alliance To Accelerate Transition To Electric Vehicles

More Precious Than Gold: Why The Metal Palladium Is Soaring

Starbucks Is Now Aiming To Become ‘Resource-Positive’

Steelhead Will Be Farmed In Puget Sound

Tesla Overtakes Volkswagen As Value Hits $100bn

Uber Sells Its India Food Delivery Business To Zomato

CLIMATE & CLIMATE CHANGE

Massive U.S. Snowstorm Births A ‘Snow Dragon’ In Maine

Florida’s Weather Forecast? Cold, With A Chance Of Iguanas

Storm Gloria Floods Major River Delta In Eastern Spain

Storm Gloria: Deadly Squall Batters Spain, Then Shifts To France

Bering Sea Elders Discuss Recent Changes In Arctic

Climate Change: ‘We’re Not Perfect’, Says Marion Cotillard On Antarctica Trip

Erosion Crisis Swallows Homes And Livelihoods In Nigeria

How To Stop Freaking Out And Tackle Climate Change

Teenager’s Speech On Climate Change May Change The World As She Tells Politicians To Panic

The Youth Climate Movement Loses In Court, Heads To Legislature

UK Must Cut Land Use Emissions By Two Thirds To Meet 2050 Goal, Advisers Warn

UK To Stop Funding Coal Abroad But Will Help Africa With Oil, Gas

Why Fossil Fuel Companies Are Finally Reckoning With Climate Change

COMMUNITY & LIFESTYLE

14 States (Plus New York City And D.C.) Sue Trump Administration To Stop SNAP Cuts

Afghanistan Remembers Japan’s Tetsu Nakamura, The Slain Doctor Who Brought Water To Thousands

Art Of Compact Living

Fewer Americans Are Binge Drinking, But Those Who Are, Are Drinking More

Harry And Meghan: Prince Arrives In Canada Ahead Of New Chapter

Hong Kong’s Little-Known ‘Ice Rooms’ 


Strength From Grief: How Aboriginal People Experience The Bushfires

Immigrants New To U.S. Are Farming Its Lands With Old Ways

Walkable Places Are Growing In Value Almost Everywhere

When Is Store-Bought Better Than Homemade?

Why Japan Doesn’t Fear Robots

World Leaders Gather In Israel For Holocaust Forum

ECOLOGY

After A Decade Of Fracking, Billions Of Dollars Lost And A Climate In Crisis

Big Fashion Companies Finally Join Consumers To Stop The Massive Clothing Waste Problem

Critical Conservation Milestone In Washington 12 Years In The Making

Florida To Buy Everglades Land To Prevent Family From Drilling For Oil

Oslo Court Backs Arctic Oil Exploration In Defeat For Environmentalists

Plastic To-Go Containers Are Bad, But Are Alternatives Any Better?

Should You Be Refilling That Plastic Water Bottle?

Fertilizer: The Contaminant We Can’t Live Without

Plastic Waste On Planes

 Saving Jobs And Old-Growth Trees

Why Fossil Fuel Companies Are Reckoning With Climate Change

Yimbytown 2020: Fair And Sustainable Cities

HEALTH & WELLBEING

Protect Yourself From The China Coronavirus

Virologist: China Virus Will Be At Least 10x Worse Than SARS

Scientists Discover Immune Cell That Kills Most Cancers

Scientists Confirm That Stress Can Indeed Turn Hair Grey

An Infectious Virus From China Is Reportedly Spreading To Other Countries. Here’s What To Know

Beans, Beans For Every Meal

Why We Need Time Alone And Time With Other People To Thrive

The Rise Of The Blend? — How Meat And Plant Hybrid Products Could Be Big In 2020.

Shedding New Light On The Silent Crisis

The Global Mental Health Crisis Requires A Worldwide Investment, Advocates Say On TIME Davos Panel

City Noise Supercharged My Anxiety, Nature Sounds Saved Me

HISTORY

How One Man’s Story Offers A New Way To Understand Slave Insurrection

The Women Behind The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

14th-Century Steam Bath Found In Mexico City

Australian Fires Reveal Ancient Water System Built Long Before The Pyramids

NEWS – GOOD

A Lonely Chimp Spent Life Behind Bars At A Zoo. Finally, A Judge Ruled That She Must Be Freed

Astronomers Award 2020 Education Prize To Deborah Byrd

At Long Last, An Exhibition Celebrates Centuries Of Women At Work

Bees Are Now Considered The Most Important Living Thing On Earth

Entire European Union Bans A Bayer Insecticide

Extinct Leopard Was Spotted In Taiwan For The First Time In Over 30 Years

Google Boss Sundar Pichai Calls For AI Regulation

Social Media Helped Juul Dominate The Vaping Market. Now, Teens Are Using It To Help Each Other Quit

NEWS — NOT SO GOOD

21 States File Lawsuit Against Trump Administration Over ‘Dangerous’ Changes To Firearm Regulations

Experts Were Wrong: Chinese Virus Is Spreading Between Humans

Ricky Gervais Rants About Trophy Hunters

OUR WORLD AND BEYOND

This is amazing.  Watch First-Ever Footage Of Atoms Forming And Breaking Bonds

So is this.  Watch A Massive Bald Eagle Take Off From A Boston Street In Slow Motion

This makes me very nervous. Scientists Discover Ancient Viruses Inside Glacier

Scientists: Human Hibernation Is Entirely Possible

Professor: UFOs May Be Time-Traveling Humans From The Future

EARTH

Grapevines Sprout Where Tobacco Once Grew In Southern Maryland

What Caused Haiti’s 2010 Quake And Puerto Rico’s More Recent Temblors?

SPACE

Boeing Quits — And Kills — DARPA Experimental Spaceplane Program

Could Future Moon Homes Be Made Of Fungi?

Goldilocks Stars Best For Alien Life?

Help Name The Next Mars Rover

How Many Supermoons In 2020?

Strange Objects Found Orbiting Our Galaxy’s Supermassive Black Hole

The Mystery Of Our Solar System’s ‘Great Divide’ May Finally Be Solved

Watch A Spacex Rocket Explode In Mid-Flight

TECHNOLOGY

Europe-Wide Traffic Survey To Recruit ‘Citizen Scientists’

Rolls-Royce Is Building Tiny Nuclear Reactors

See Boston Dynamics’ Robot Dog Tackle An Outdoor Obstacle Course

Ultrasonic Hands Could Give Robots A Lighter Touch

BEST OF THE NET

Meet Landmine Detecting Herorats And More Amazing Animals

For This Stray Dog, There’s No Place Like Subway

How Well Do You Know These Seven Worlds?

TRAVEL

Twelve Anniversaries And Events Worth Traveling For In 2020

This Picturesque Austrian Town Is Being Overrun By ‘Frozen’ Fans

Why Japan Is So Successful At Returning Lost Property

Russia’s Mysterious City Of The Dead

MOVIE OF THE WEEK: ANTARCTICA – A FROZEN HISTORY – Go where still few have gone before.  And learn why.  This is outstanding.

DAILY 10 QUESTION TRIVIA QUIZ:  This one is from Daily Email Trivia and delivered to me in mine.  There is also an opportunity, the site, to take more quizzes on a wide range of subjects and to engage interactively and competitively.

Playing For Change is a movement created to inspire and connect the world through music, born from the shared belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people

A superpower no longer, a resource hungry and repressive America faces a Latin American armada rampaging its west coast and a strong, silent and powerful Canada manning the North Wall. The fires of rebellion burn in the Pacific Northwest and it is into this crucible and forge that the cybernetic patrol boat Testament and her crew of three men and three women are thrust. Individuals of duty and conscience both, when they join the other side, all Hell breaks loose. A rollicking adventure for anyone who loves the sea, a good yarn and characters who spring to life even as Testament herself leaps the waves. For a $4.00 Kindle Book adventure you will remember for a lifetime, please go here.

Associate editor Olya Bereza is also the children’s novelist Holley Dovetail. This is one of several of short novels for the young and the young at heart. To preview and/or purchase on amazon.com, please go here.

This little fairy-tale short story dedicated to a pet-friend gone chasing the rainbow. For kids their first lost and challenge in life is letting go of their pet friends that once became part of their world. This little story will help in times they have to say good-bye without falling into despair.  Yep, go here.

ALL CREATURES, GREAT AND SMALL

Photo courtesy of Smithsonian Magazine.

Oh oh.  Sharks Are Evolving To Walk On Land

I had a mated pair of river otters for neighbors for awhile on Fidalgo Island.  So I totally loved this.  15 Fascinating Facts About Otters

This is certainly good news.  Why The Future Of West Virginia’s Rare Flying Squirrel Looks Bright

This is long overdue.  Bees Are Now Considered The Most Important Living Thing On Earth

SHORTS

A Plan To Curb Wild Horses, And Save The West
How Birds See The World Compared To Humans

How To Help Hummingbirds In Winter

Meet The Narwhal, ‘Unicorn Of The Sea’

Northwest Salmon In Peril, And Efforts To Save Them Scale Up

The Primary Suspect Behind The Deaths Of A Million Seabirds? A West Coast Heat Wave

What Are Dog Whiskers For?

Woman Rescues An Adorable Kitten That Turns Out To Be A Bobcat

Cows Painted To Look Like Zebras Attract Fewer Biting Flies, Study Finds

Edmonton Man Builds 16 Ft. Wide Igloo In 5 Weeks

Chaotic Possum Who Trashed Woman’s Office Has Become An Unapologetic Hero

OUR THANKS THIS WEEK TO:

American Heritage Magazine

BBC

Crosscut Magazine

Earth Sky News:  Updates On Your Cosmos And World

Jewish Defense League

KQED Science

Modern Farmer

Moscow Times:  Independent News From Russia

Mother Nature Network

National Geographic

National Public Radio

Rainforest Site

Sightline Institute

Smithsonian Magazine

South China Morning Post – This Week In Asia

Time Magazine

UBS Nobel Perspectives

WNYC Studios

ABOUT US:  The Northstar Journal is a general interest online weekly reaching an international readership from America to Australia and Europe to Asia.  We are also on FaceBook and Nextdoor.com. If you enjoyed this edition and would like to contribute to the next, please go here.  To contact us directly, minstrel312@aol.com

 

THIS TOO SHALL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN

Pacem, Libertatem, Justitiam

January 19, 2020

Volume 12  Number 21

Reader-Supported  Please go here. Thank you very much.

Inside: This Too Shall Never Happen Again; Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth; Beyond the Pale; Business & Trade; Climate & Climate Change; Community & Lifestyle, Ecology; Health; History; News – Good; News – Not So Good; Our World and Beyond; Earth; Space; Technology; Funzone: Movie of the Week; Best of the Net; Travel; Masha & the Bear, All Creatures Great & Small; Strange But True; About Us

Rusty Miller, Editor

Hi again, from the shores of the Salish Sea. On Monday, the United States celebrates the life of perhaps one of the most controversial figures in American history and certainly of the decades he walked among us.

I first became aware of him on the Six O’Clock News, which we watched when my father, a California Highway Patrolman, took his dinner break at home and watched it with us.  As they sent the dogs against this historical American and as helmeted troopers moved in with nightsticks of the hardest of woods besides ironwood, my father cheered.

I was little then but I still somehow knew there was something terribly, terribly wrong going on and I became so sick to my stomach I had to leave the room.  My departure was noticed and later that evening, my father kindly and gently explained to me that God made a place for everyone and that when people forgot that place, it was the responsibility of policemen and national guardsmen to remind them and to make sure they remained there.

When the giant in your life tells you that’s how it is, you don’t argue, and I didn’t.  I just never believed the idea that a loving god could also be a bigot.  The Divine left that dubious privilege to us and we have exercised it with enthusiasm.

Dr. King, I am so sorry for all that you and yours have endured.  I hope that shame is as imprinted on the national character as it is on my own.  This too, shall never happen again.

Rusty

Northstar editor Merritt Scott “Rusty” Miller is a journalist, author, editor and photographer living in Seattle, Washington.  For comments, please go here

Australian wildfires

NEVER TURN YOUR BACK ON MOTHER EARTH

Olya Bereza, Associate Editor

Hi Rusty:

After all seasonal celebrations, including for us Slavs two official Christmases and an additional New Year two weeks later than the first one, (check Julian and Gregorian calendars), the 2020s are finally here.  Congratulations, stepping into the next decade.

The other day, I read quite an interesting newspaper called Hourglass, distributed by Extinction Rebellion.  I agree with its main message that we need systemic answers to climate change. Rather then putting the whole emphasis on personal consumption, it should be on what else will work, including national legislation for corporations.  For an example, one can bring one’s own bag to shop but against millions of plastic packages produced every day, that doesn’t really help much.

Thinking about what is the most important challenge of the decade on a global agenda, it definitely would be climate change and ways to counterbalance it.  Our prayers certainly go out to Australia, the nation suffering the most at the moment, from one of the most devastating aspects of this global phenomenon.  With so many fires going around the world, it seems the UN countries should really create some international “fire brigade” on permanent basis to help those in need. Australia Bushfires: What Countries Have Offered International Aid?

While it will certainly help that countries have begun serious efforts at reducing or eliminating their dependence on fossil fuels, more needs to be done to face challenges which seem to lie ahead. According to National Snow and Ice Data, at present, the Earth’s atmosphere contains about 850 gigatons of carbon and estimations are that there are about 1,400 gigatons of carbon frozen in permafrost. So global warming and melting could unlock huge carbon and methane stocks and trigger a catastrophic global warming feedback loop.

But there is good news also. One hypothesis of Siberian scientists is that an ice age ecosystem could save the world. To put it simply, natural grasslands, maintained by numerous grazing animals, have the capacity to both slow climate warming and prevent permafrost from melting.

Animals trampling the snow helps cold air reach permafrost where an untouched blanket of snow insulates permafrost and keeps it warmer. They already bought a few bison and keep a herd of cows, yaks and other animals. Russian Scientist Who Moved To Siberia To Revive The Last Ice Age’s Ecosystem And Stop The Thawing Of Permafrost Is Hailed As ‘Superhuman’ On Ben Fogle’s New Lives In The Wild

Of course it takes many animals to keep tundra colder. In the most daring dreams of the scientists, they would like their Pleistocene Park joined by the woolly mammoth.  Who knows? Maybe next decade will bring the breakthrough that will make their dream come true?  Are Scientists on the Verge of Resurrecting the Woolly Mammoth? 

With bison and other grazers back on the scene, chances are favoring a return to the ecosystems these scientists feel will help save the planet.  Granted, much work will be required but perhaps this new approach really will work. What Brought Bison Back From The Brink Of Extinction? There is still hope that humankind will resolve those mistakes of the past which have come back as a boomerang to remind us of the first of all commandments.

Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth

Olya

Northstar columnist and associate editor Olya Bereza was born in the former Soviet Union and now lives in Ukraine.  Fluent in Russian, Ukrainian, and English, she is a degreed psychologist with a background in international marketing and personnel management.  For comments, please go here.

AUSTRALIAN FIRES

Australia’s Climate Change Polarisation Hampers Long-Term Bushfire Fixes

Australian Firefighters Have Saved The Last Groves Of A Rare, Prehistoric Tree

Australia Droughts: ‘Wall Of Dust’ Envelops Town

Intense Thunderstorms Bring Relief And Problems To Fire-Ravaged Australia

Australian Wildfire Smoke Stokes Health Fears In Cities

Australia’s National Park Staff Is Now Air-Dropping Food To Wallabies

Australia Bushfires: Carrots Dropped From Helicopters Feed Wallabies

Australian Wildfires Spawn Rarely Seen Weather Phenomena

BEYOND THE PALE

‘Technocratic Placeholder’? Putin Picks Little-Known Tax Chief As Russian PM

Putin’s Plan To Rewrite Russia’s Constitution Could Allow Him To Lead For Years To Come

Iran Plane Crash: Khomeini Defends Military In Rare Address

Iran Plane Downing: Victims’ Governments To Press Tehran For Answers

A Divided Country: Iran’s Turmoil In Two Minutes

Iran’s Only Female Olympic Medalist Defects From Islamic Republic

Libya Talks Fall Apart

The Queen Breaks Silence About Meghan Markle And Prince Harry’s Decision To Scale Back Royal Roles

US-Iran Crisis: A Middle East War Risks Drawing In China And Russia, Too

BUSINESS & TRADE

Senate Passes New Trump-Backed U.S.-Canada-Mexico Trade Deal

World’s Largest Asset Manager Puts Climate At The Center Of Its Investment Strategy

Ukraine Becomes Third Largest Agricultural Exporter To EU | Kyivpost – Ukraine’s Global Voice

CLIMATE & CLIMATE CHANGE

January Heat Wave Engulfed U.S. East, Toppling Records

$1 Billion Weather/Climate Disasters: 14 For US In 2019

2010 To 2019 Was The Hottest Decade On Record

2019 Was The Second-Hottest Year Globally On Record, And Ocean Temperatures Are Hotter Than Ever

China-Backed Coal Plants On EU’s Doorstep Hide Huge Carbon Costs

Climate Change Tops Risks For World In 2020 – Davos Report

Climate Change: Can Glasgow Go Carbon Neutral?

Cop25 President Carolina Schmidt Blames Big Emitters For Low-Ambition Climate Talks

EU Reveals Climate Fund Details As Critics Worry Cash Won’t Be Enough

Feeling Distressed About Climate Change? Here’s How To Manage It

Germany Agrees Pay-Out To States And Companies In Coal Phase-Out Deal

Injuries And Deaths Could Rise With Climate Change In The U.S., A New Study Finds

New Report Shows Companies Are Collaborating To Reach Net-Zero

Oregon Unveils New Climate Change Legislation

Plants Are Now Sprouting High In Himalayas As The Planet Warms

The Science Behind Snow Rollers, Ice Circles And Other Winter Phenomena

UN Outlines 2030 Goals To Save Planet’s Biodiversity

Who Should Pay Up For The Cost Of Climate Change?

COMMUNITY & LIFESTYLE

China Refutes Human Rights Report, Insists The Country’s Record ‘Is At Its Historical Best’

Don’t Worry Village: Welcome To South Korea’s Retreat For Stressed Millennials

New York Public Library Announces Its Most Borrowed Books Of All Time

Retired Pope Benedict Warns Francis Against Relaxing Priestly Celibacy Rules

Should Public Transit Be Free? More Cities Say, Why Not?

Trump Impeachment: House Sends Historic Case To Senate

Why Female Protesters Are At The Forefront Of India’s Resistance Movement

You Can Now Download Images Of 100,000 Artworks From Prominent Paris Museums’ Collections

ECOLOGY

Germany Agrees Plan To Phase Out Coal Power By 2038

Microsoft Makes ‘Carbon Negative’ Pledge

Reconnecting With Nature ‘Triggers’ Eco-Actions

Shuttering Coal-Fired Plants In US Improves Crop Yields

Through Awareness, Education And Cleanups, An Israeli Initiative Is Taking A Stand On Plastic

HEALTH & WELLBEING

This Year’s Flu Season Got Off To A Strange Start. What Does That Mean For The Months Ahead?

How To Prep A Week’s Worth Of Soups In No Time

7 Ways To Lower Your Blood Pressure Naturally

Miscarriage Can Lead To ‘Long-Term Post-Traumatic Stress’

How Ageism Negatively Affects Older People’s Health

New Research: Cannabis Accelerates Growth Of Common Tumors

Normal Human Body Temperature Has Changed In The Last Century

Paralyzed Man Runs Marathon In Robotic Exoskeleton

Thailand Confirms Traveler From China Hospitalized With New Form Of Coronavirus, According To U.N. Officials

This Kind Of Exercise Is Best For Helping You Live Longer, A New Study Says

This May Be The Secret To Feeling Younger And Living Longer

HISTORY

The Equal Rights Amendment Is 97 Years Old And Still Not Part Of The Constitution. Here’s Why

The True History Behind The ‘1917’ Movie

The American Scion Who Secured British Neutrality In The U.S. Civil War

In 1851, A Maryland Farmer Tried To Kidnap Free Blacks In Pennsylvania. He Wasn’t Expecting The Neighborhood To Fight Back

Gold Bar Found In Mexico City Park Was An Aztec Treasure Looted By Conquistadors

This Inca Idol Survived The Spanish Conquest. 500 Years Later, Archaeologists Are Unveiling Its History

Column: History Shows What’s Wrong With The Idea That War Is ‘Normal’ In The Middle East

Medieval Padlock Hints At Prosperity Of Scotland’s Pictish Farmers

Climate Change May Have Been The One Thing Vikings Truly Feared

To Craft Cutting Tools, Neanderthals Dove For Clam Shells On The Ocean Floor

World’s Oldest Scorpions May Have Moved From Sea To Land 437 Million Years Ago

What Did The Earliest Life Look Like?

10 Surprising Facts About Neanderthals

How Did Humans Come To The Americas?

NEWS – GOOD

Here’s How Much Better California’s Last Fire Season Was Than The Previous Two

As The World Faces One Of The Worst Flu Outbreaks In Decades, Scientists Eye A Universal Vaccine

Health Officials Say Romaine Lettuce Is Safe To Eat Again As Nationwide E. Coli Outbreak Has Ended

‘People Would Tell Me To Remove My Scarf’: Muslim Crossfit Athlete Nastassia Kaddour Readies For Her First Crossfit Games

Diego, The 100-Year-Old Tortoise Who Fathered 900 Babies, Returns To The Wild

How The Heroes Of Africa Triumphed Against All Odds

How Singapore’s Schools Prime Youth For Success In Hong Kong And Mainland China

Alaska Man Survives Three Weeks With Little Food And Shelter

NEWS — NOT SO GOOD

U.S. Drinking Deaths Double In 2 Decades With Faster Rate For Women: Study

MIT Suspends Another Professor For Epstein Ties

The Kazakh Muslims Detained In China’s Camps

OUR WORLD AND BEYOND

With all due respect, this still makes me a little nervous.  Scientists Build “First Living Robots” From Frog Stem Cells

Absolutely intriguing.  Mysterious Blind ‘Ghost Fish’ Reveals Congo To Be The Deepest River In The World

Woolly Mammoths: Plans To Bring Them Back From Extinction In Russia

EARTH

What Lies Beneath The Antarctic Ice Sheet?

Scientists: Ocean Warming At The Rate Of Five A-Bombs Per Second

Scientists Just Found The Oldest Material On Earth — And It Smells Funny

The Lost Pyramid Baffling Experts

Geologists Baffled By “Massive Anomalies” At Edge Of Earth’s Core

Taal Volcano: Lava Spews As ‘Hazardous Eruption’ Feared

Did Phosphorus-Rich Lakes Help Kickstart Life On Earth?

SPACE

NASA’s New Space Observatory Discovers Its First Earth-Like Exoplanet

A New Way To Detect Oxygen In Exoplanet Atmospheres

China Boots Up Colossal Alien-Hunting Radio Telescope

NASA Wants To Grow A Moon Base Out Of Mushrooms

SpaceIL Gets $1 Million Grant For New Spacecraft, Fresh Moon Mission

Ten Celestial Events You Don’t Want To Miss In 2020

TECHNOLOGY

25 Best Produces of CES 2020

DOE: New York Will Be Home To A New Particle Collider

OrCam Unveils Wearable Smart Device For Hearing Impaired, Nabs Award

Scientists Design Bacteria-Based Living Concrete

Sony Showed Up To CES With A Radically Different Concept Car. A Top Executive Told Us Why

BEST OF THE NET

Watch The Spectacular Eruption Of One Of Mexico’s Most Active Volcanoes

Human Evolution: 20 Years Of Discoveries

What Does The Year Of The Rat Hold For You?

TRAVEL

Europe’s Mysterious ‘City Of The Dead’

Photographer Beckons You To Explore White Sands National Park

Pilgrims Can Still Follow This Ancient Path From Canterbury To Rome

The Capital City That’s Being Moved

The Glitzy European City Going Green

The Shipwreck That Spawned A Nation

The World’s Most Honest Country?

Why 2020 Is The Year To Visit Cairo

MOVIE OF THE WEEK: One Million, BC – This remarkable film starring Victor Mature and Carole Landis is remarkably accurate considering the discoveries of prehistoric life since it was made in 1940

DAILY 10 QUESTION TRIVIA QUIZ:  This one is from Daily Email Trivia and delivered to me in mine.  There is also an opportunity, the site, to take more quizzes on a wide range of subjects and to engage interactively and competitively.

Playing For Change is a movement created to inspire and connect the world through music, born from the shared belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people

A superpower no longer, a resource hungry and repressive America faces a Latin American armada rampaging its west coast and a strong, silent and powerful Canada manning the North Wall. The fires of rebellion burn in the Pacific Northwest and it is into this crucible and forge that the cybernetic patrol boat Testament and her crew of three men and three women are thrust. Individuals of duty and conscience both, when they join the other side, all Hell breaks loose. A rollicking adventure for anyone who loves the sea, a good yarn and characters who spring to life even as Testament herself leaps the waves. For a $4.00 Kindle Book adventure you will remember for a lifetime, please go here.

Associate editor Olya Bereza is also the children’s novelist Holley Dovetail. This is one of several of short novels for the young and the young at heart. To preview and/or purchase on amazon.com, please go here.

This little fairy-tale short story dedicated to a pet-friend gone chasing the rainbow. For kids their first lost and challenge in life is letting go of their pet friends that once became part of their world. This little story will help in times they have to say good-bye without falling into despair.  Yep, go here.

ALL CREATURES, GREAT AND SMALL

Jane Goodall would have called her sister.  So would I.  Scientist Andie Ang On Her Life In The Wild

Here’s a chance to succumb to cute.  Watch Wolf Puppies Play Fetch

We actually already knew this.  Cows Communicate With Unique Moos

SHORTS

Scientists Discover 10 New Birds

Why Snowy Owls Are Spending The Winter In Detroit

Crickets Chirp To Flirt

Scientists Made A Drone Fly Better Using Real Pigeon Feathers

Billionaire Seeks “Life Partner” To Join Him On SpaceX Moon Trip

Gingko Biloba Trees Guard A Secret Fountain Of Youth

OUR THANKS THIS WEEK TO:

American Heritage Magazine

BBC

Crosscut Magazine

Earth Sky News:  Updates On Your Cosmos And World

KQED Science

Modern Farmer

Moscow Times:  Independent News From Russia

Mother Nature Network

National Geographic

National Public Radio

Rainforest Site

Sightline Institute

Smithsonian Magazine

South China Morning Post – This Week In Asia

Time Magazine

UBS Nobel Perspectives

WNYC Studios

ABOUT US:  The Northstar Journal is a general interest online weekly reaching an international readership from America to Australia and Europe to Asia.  We are also on FaceBook and Nextdoor.com. If you enjoyed this edition and would like to contribute to the next, please go here.  To contact us directly, minstrel312@aol.com

 

IS ANYONE SAFE FROM THIS?

Pacem, Libertatem, Justitiam  

January 12, 2020

Volume 12  Number 20

Reader-Supported  Please go here. Thank you very much.

Inside:  Is Anyone Safe From This?; Be All You Can Be And Live Long And Prosper; Beyond the Pale; Business & Trade; Climate & Climate Change; Community & Lifestyle, Ecology; Health; History; Good News; Not So Good News; Our World and Beyond; Earth; Space; Technology; Funzone: Movie of the Week; Best of the Net; Travel; Masha & the Bear, All Creatures Great & Small; Strange But True; About Us

IS ANYONE SAFE FROM THIS?

Olya Bereza, Associate Editor

Hi Rusty:

Last week with arising tensions between America and Iran after the assassination of general Qasem Soleimani: US Kills Top Iranian General In Baghdad Air Strike, the world was shaken by the Ukraine Airline MAU Boeing 737 crash just hours after Iranian strikes on US bases Iranian Attack On U.S. Forces In Iraq

From the very beginning the coincidence of these events has been speculated in the media. Now, a few days later, we know where that circle of violence led. The real cause of the tragedy is known. ‘Disastrous Mistake’: Iran Admits It Shot Down Ukrainian Plane saying it was a “human error”

Most of the passengers being Iranian nationals, suggesting that many possessed dual citizenship so it is believable that what happened was a horrible mistake as a continuation of chain of previous events Ukrainian Boeing 737-800 crash: The stories of those killed in

Among the Ukrainian victims was the crew and two passengers.  President Zelensky responded to the tragedy very quickly and contacted the relatives promising them, as did Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in response to the deaths of 63 of his countrymen, both a thorough investigation and compensation from Iran.

Nothing in the world will bring those innocents back.  And now we must ask what has become a rhetorical question.  Is anyone safe from this?  Why those people became inadvertent victims of somebody’s “battle for the Middle East” or any other battle over makes absolutely no sense to me and I am outraged.

Not for the first time in history have ordinary people been trapped by circumstances over which they had absolutely no control. The Iran Plane Crash: History Shows Shooting Down Of Passenger Airplanes Were Often Mistakes  Will it be the last time?  Will we survive our own violence?

There is still hope that one day it will happen. If you read this Stanislav Petrov: The Man Who May Have Saved The World you will understand why I believe this.

Mishka, my heart goes out to your Canadian countrymen.  May mercy and justice serve them as well.

Olya

Northstar columnist and associate editor Olya Bereza was born in the former Soviet Union and now lives in Ukraine.  Fluent in Russian, Ukrainian, and English, she is a degreed psychologist with a background in international marketing and personnel management.  For comments, please go here.

BE ALL YOU CAN BE AND LIVE LONG AND PROSPER

Rusty Miller, Editor

Hi again, from the shores of the Salish Sea:  We’d like to express our appreciation to the Jewish Defense League (JDL) for their email:  “Thank you.  Keep up the good fight!”  Our response was, “With the JDL guarding our back, how could we not?  Never again.  Forever.”  I can put the Strad back in my violin case.  I’ve got the Right Hand of God on my shoulder now.  L’chaim.

What I appreciate perhaps most about this endorsement is that the JDL understands that The Northstar Journal is not just opposed to anti-Semitism.  For over thirteen years, this small oneline weekly publication has fought for the right of every human being on this planet to become all they can be and to live long and prosper doing it.  Yep, I love clichés when they work and these aren’t dusty yet.  Be all you can be and live long and prosper.

Isn’t it great to be doing that?  Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone could?  I mean, how cool would it be if some rickets-bent little kid in Angola didn’t also need to go to bed also so hungry he almost chews his own fingers off?  How about the mother in sectarian and religious-torn Palestine who must choose between one son who is Muslim and the other who is Jewish?  What about the Appalachian coal miner father of six who has just been told his pit is closing and no new industry is taking its place?

Once your imagination starts moving in this direction, you become a global traveler and you can see the entire panoply of humanity.  If your heart survives the experience, you’ll come back saddened beyond belief and ashamed of every single word or deed done to divide this species since the Divine said no to the Tower of Babel.

If you have a conscience, once the roaring in your ears stops, you’ll start being nicer to everyone, including yourself.  You’ll be proactively compassionate and you will never permit any word or deed which denies anyone their right, opportunity and encouragement to do what again?

Be all you can be and live long and prosper.

Have a good week, gang.  And thanks for the ear.

Rusty

Northstar editor Merritt Scott “Rusty” Miller is a journalist, author, editor and photographer living in Seattle, Washington.  For comments, please go here

BEYOND THE PALE

66 Die After Flooding In Indonesia’s Sinking Capital City. Here’s What To Know

China, Japan And South Korea Must Choose: History Or Economics

Iran Crisis: How Will US-Iran Relations Play Out In 2020?

Iran Crisis: US ‘Ready For Serious Negotiations’ With Tehran

Iran Plane Crash: Airliner ‘Was Trying To Return To Airport’

Japanese Billionaire Giving Out $9 Million In Basic Income Trial

Kremlin Says Merkel, Putin To Discuss Middle East Crisis In Moscow

Magnitude 6.4 Earthquake Shakes Puerto Rico

Soleimani: Huge Crowds Pack Tehran For Commander’s Funeral

Soleimani: Stampede Kills At Least 35 Mourners At Commander’s Burial

Two More US Sites Hacked With Pro-Iran Propaganda

AUSTRALIAN FIRES

The Huge Australian Fires Could Change The Entire Earth’s Climate

The Crucial Lessons From Australia’s Wildfires

More Than One Billion Animals Have Been Killed In Australia’s Wildfires, Scientist Estimates

How Bear The Dog Is Saving Koalas Injured In Australia’s Bushfires

How You Can Help People And Animals Impacted By Australia’s Devastating Wildfires

At Least 24 People And Millions Of Animals Have Been Killed By Australia’s Bushfires

Australia Deploys Military Reservists To Combat Wildfire, As Thousands Evacuate

BUSINESS & TRADE

Elon Musk Says You Still Don’t Need A College Degree To Work At Tesla. Here’s What He Looks For In Job Applicants Instead.

Ikea To Pay Family $46m After Child Killed By Falling Drawers

Russia In 2020: Will The Economy Grow Faster?

Tesla Is Now The Most Valuable Auto Company In US History

The Surprising Birthplace Of The Dollar

CLIMATE & CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate Change, Aging Population Major Economic Factors For Canada’s Next Decade

What Will Another Decade Of Climate Crisis Bring?

To Fight Climate Change, One City May Ban Heating Homes With Natural Gas

How Climate Change, Politics And Our Ability To Coexist Will Shape The New Decade

Russia Plans To ‘Adapt’ To Climate Change

COMMUNITY & LIFESTYLE

Homelessness On The Rise Around The US, But Down In WA State

In The 1980s, A Far-Left, Female-Led Domestic Terrorism Group Bombed The U.S. Capitol

Why The Dutch Government Wants You To Stop Referring To The Netherlands As ‘Holland’

Olympia Becomes Largest City In Pacific Northwest To Offer Free Public Transit

How Haiti’s Devastating Earthquake Prompted A Worldwide Effort To Safeguard Cultural Heritage

ECOLOGY

A Beautiful Thing Happened After Coal-Fired Plants Were Shut Down In The U.S.

Almost Half Of Denmark’s Electricity In 2019 Came From Wind Power

 Does Building Transit Reduce Traffic Congestion?

First Nations Standoff: UN Calls For Canada To Suspend Pipeline Work

How Affordable Housing Design Strengthens Social Resilience

One Year After Tense Standoff, Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs Issue Eviction Notice To Gas Company

Russian Court Rules To Demolish Controversial Landfill

Shuttering Of U.S. Coal Plants Saved More Than 26,000 Lives Over The Past Decade

Study Finds 26,000 Lives Were Saved By Shift From Coal To Natural Gas

What Really Happens To Plastic Bottles You Toss In The Recycling Bin

GOOD NEWS

Alex Trebek To Rep. John Lewis: Let’s Beat Pancreatic Cancer Together

Despite Everything, US Emissions Dipped In 2019

For The First Time, A U.S. Observatory Has Been Named For A Female Astronomer: Vera Rubin

Mealworms Can Eat Toxic Styrofoam Safely

She Spent 2 Years Interviewing Young Men. Here’s Why She’s Optimistic After #Metoo

Remembering June Bacon-Bercey, A Pioneering African American Meteorologist

NOT SO GOOD NEWS

The Minimum Wage Is Rising, But These Workers Are Being Left Behind

DR Congo Measles: More Than 6,000 Dead In World’s Worst Outbreak

Gen X Women Get Less Sleep Than Any Other Generation. What’s Keeping Them Up?

As New York Rape Trial Opens, Harvey Weinstein Faces New Sex Charges In California

HEALTH

2019-2020 Flu Season On Track To Be Especially Severe, New Cdc Data Suggests

3 Rituals That Will Make You More Motivated

A Small Team In Southeast Washington Is Leading The Charge In Telepsychiatry

Mediterranean Diet Named Best Diet Of 2020

Is Vitamin-Enhanced Water Better For You Than Regular Water?

Kindness Doesn’t Just Make You Healthier, It Can Actually Slow Aging, New Research Shows

Scientists Calculated How Much Longer You Can Live With A Healthy Lifestyle

The Pills That Can Change Who You Are

The U.S. Spends $2,500 Per Person On Health Care Administrative Costs. Canada Spends $550. Here’s Why

U.S. Cancer Death Rates Continue To Drop, But Progress Is Stalling For Some Cancers

Why Saunas Are Ridiculously Healthy

Wuhan Pneumonia Outbreak: Mystery Illness ‘Caused By Coronavirus’

HISTORY

Old Moscow And St. Petersburg Through An American Photographer’s Lens

Century-Old Lungs May Push Origin Of Measles Back 1,500 Years

Emily Hale Was T.S. Eliot’s Confidante—And More, Suggest Newly Unsealed Letters

How The Wealthy Of Pompeii Protected Their Valuables

14th-Century Illustration Of Venice Is The Oldest Found Yet

Last Known Appearance Of Homo Erectus Was In Ngandong, Java

Did Over-Hunting Walruses Fuel The Collapse Of Norse Greenland?

High-Status Roman Burials Found In Britain

2,000-Year-Old Measuring Table Points To Location Of Ancient Jerusalem Market

Viking Runestone May Trace Its Roots To Fear Of Extreme Weather

Humans Were Roasting Root Vegetables 170,000 Years Ago, Study Suggests

OUR WORLD AND BEYOND

Happy Flipping Birthday!  The Oldest Person in the World Turns 117

Outstanding and good for them!  Fukushima Plans To Power Region With 100% Renewable Energy

We need to pay more attention to this place.  Ten New Bird Species And Subspecies Found In Indonesia  World’s Largest Flower Bloom Found In Remote Indonesian Jungle

EARTH

The Chinese Paddlefish, Which Lived For 200 Million Years, Is Now Extinct

Mexico’s Popocatépetl Volcano Had A Spectacular Eruption Last Week

Iconic Puerto Rico Landmark Collapses In Earthquake

5 Surprising Facts About The Famous Matterhorn

SPACE

Active Volcanoes May Still Exist On Venus

Astronomers Prepare A Mission Concept To Explore The Ice Giant Planets

Dragon Released From Station Carrying Science For Earth-Analysis

SpaceX Sends 60 More Starlink Satellites Into Orbit

TECHNOLOGY

Researchers Find Major Security Flaws In Popular App Tiktok

Eight Remarkable Inventions Unveiled At This Year’s CES

CES 2020: Sony Announces Electric Car Concept

CES 2020: Restaurant Cat Robot Meows At Dining Customers

CES 2020: The Russian Car With No Driver At The Wheel

CES 2020: Quibi Aims To Change How We Watch Shows On Phones

China’s Belt And Road: An Environmental Disaster For Southeast Asia?

BEST OF THE NET

Sing, Sing, Sing – The Swing Girls

Everyday People – Playing For Change

The Family Sunk By Killer Whales

TRAVEL

How To Travel To What Could Be The World’s Newest Country

Africa’s New Top Destination?

Attention Bibliophiles: These Book Towns Should Be Your Next Vacation Stops

MOVIE OF THE WEEK: RESTING PLACE (1986) John Lithgow, Morgan Freeman, CCH Pounder, Frances Sternhagen and G. D. Spradlin , at their best in a story about the right of a black hero to be buried in his Southern town’s cemetery.

DAILY 10 QUESTION TRIVIA QUIZ:  This one is from Daily Email Trivia and delivered to me in mine.  There is also an opportunity, the site, to take more quizzes on a wide range of subjects and to engage interactively and competitively.

Playing For Change is a movement created to inspire and connect the world through music, born from the shared belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people

A superpower no longer, a resource hungry and repressive America faces a Latin American armada rampaging its west coast and a strong, silent and powerful Canada manning the North Wall. The fires of rebellion burn in the Pacific Northwest and it is into this crucible and forge that the cybernetic patrol boat Testament and her crew of three men and three women are thrust. Individuals of duty and conscience both, when they join the other side, all Hell breaks loose. A rollicking adventure for anyone who loves the sea, a good yarn and characters who spring to life even as Testament herself leaps the waves. For a $4.00 Kindle Book adventure you will remember for a lifetime, please go here.

Associate editor Olya Bereza is also the children’s novelist Holley Dovetail. This is one of several of short novels for the young and the young at heart. To preview and/or purchase on amazon.com, please go here.

This little fairy-tale short story dedicated to a pet-friend gone chasing the rainbow. For kids their first lost and challenge in life is letting go of their pet friends that once became part of their world. This little story will help in times they have to say good-bye without falling into despair.  Yep, go here.

ALL CREATURES, GREAT AND SMALL

Photo courtesy of Smithsonian Magazine

Can Scientists Protect North Atlantic Right Whales By Counting Them From Space?  Let’s hope so, eh?

This is an absolute romp.  Immerse Yourself In Jane Goodall’s Wondrous, Chimpanzee-Filled Life

Sometimes it really is better to leave well enough alone, good intentions notwithstanding.  B.C. Man Under Investigation For Moving Bear Cub

SHORTS

Animals & Their Habitats

How Dog Parks Took Over The Urban Landscape

Meet The Modern Chicken Coop

This Ancient Hindu Temple Was Carved (Not Built) Out Of A Single Rock

How A Poisonous Plant Saved An Island

Scientists Velcroed 3-D Glasses To Cuttlefish To Study Their Depth Perception

OUR THANKS THIS WEEK TO:

American Heritage Magazine

BBC

Crosscut Magazine

Earth Sky News:  Updates On Your Cosmos And World

Modern Farmer

Moscow Times:  Independent News From Russia

Mother Nature Network

National Geographic

National Public Radio

Rainforest Site

Sightline Institute

Smithsonian Magazine

South China Morning Post – This Week In Asia

Time Magazine

UBS Nobel Perspectives

WNYC Studios

ABOUT US:  The Northstar Journal is a general interest online weekly reaching an international readership from America to Australia and Europe to Asia.  We are also on FaceBook and Nextdoor.com. If you enjoyed this edition and would like to contribute to the next, please go here.  To contact us directly, minstrel312@aol.com