Year: 2024

Saturday December 28, 2024
(Launch file photo courtesy SpaceX)
     SpaceX sent another 22 Starlink satellites into space Saturday night from Vandenberg SFB in northwestern Santa Barbara County.
     Liftoff for the Falcon 9 rocket was at 5:58 PM
     This was the 16th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched SARah-2, Transporter-11, SDA-0A, and 12 Starlink missions.
     Following stage separation, the first stage landed on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship, which was stationed in the Pacific Ocean off the Southern California coast, about eight minutes after launch.
     About an hour after launch, the second stage successfully deployed the satellites into low earth orbit.
 

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24th December 2024
Professor of Ethnobotany, Faculty of Science, University of Ibadan, Taiye Remi Fasola has called on the Federal Government and other interested stakeholders to tap into the growing herbal medicine market, which according to her is expected to reach $550 billion by the year 2030.
She made the call while delivering the 568th Inaugural Lecture of the University of Ibadan on behalf of the Faculty of Science.
The lecture was entitled, “Ethnomedicine: The Mother of Modern Medicine.”

Prof. Fasola advised the government and other interested stakeholders to tap into the herbal medicine market by exploring nature for medicinal plant species, which if properly harnessed, its value chain can spur economic growth, assist health care delivery and provide employment for the youths.
She, however, called for urgent action as some of the medicinal plants are going into extinction.
To stem the tide of increasing loss of medicinal plants, she recommended that research institutes and universities should be funded for large-scale production of plant seedlings, especially the threatened and endangered species usually collected from the wild.

Fasola further called for the incorporation of medicinal plants into Botanical Gardens, public parks, forestry, and agricultural stations.

She also called on the University of Ibadan and public-spirited individuals to give urgent attention to the UI Botanical Garden, which is consistently being degraded by erosion and other factors.
Prof. Fasola also stressed the need to encourage rural dwellers to grow the medicinal plants that they need rather than uprooting them from the wild.
The UI don stated that this was attainable through adequate publicity by the State Governments and the Local Government Councils.
The inaugural lecturer counselled governments and their agencies to provide medicinal plant seeds, saplings, and other propagation materials free of charge to farmers.
Prof. Fasola recalled that in November 2023, the National Association of Nigerian Traditional Medicine Practitioners urged President Tinubu to expeditiously assent to the country’s Traditional Complementary and Alternative Medicine Council Bill.

She explained that the bill aims at protecting and regulating traditional medicine practices in Nigeria in line with the recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO) to integrate traditional medicine into health care systems.
She therefore used the opportunity to urge President Tinubu to take urgent action on the bill as it will be a significant step towards recognising and institutionalising alternative medicine in Nigeria.

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house of fun free coin 🏉 Unlocking Joy: The Allure of Free Coins in the House of Fun  Agencia Brasilia
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology refers to the development of computer systems that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as
1. Learning
2. Problem-solving
3. Decision-making
4. Perception
5. Language understanding
AI technology has various applications, including:
1. Virtual assistants (e.g., Siri, Alexa)
2. Image and speech recognition
3. Natural Language Processing (NLP)
4. Robotics
5. Healthcare and medical diagnosis
6. Autonomous vehicles
7. Chatbots and customer service
There are different types of AI, including:
1. Narrow or Weak AI (designed for a specific task)
2. General or Strong AI (human-like intelligence, still in development)
3. Superintelligence (significantly more intelligent than humans, still speculative)
AI technology has the potential to revolutionize numerous industries and aspects of our lives. However, it also raises concerns about job displacement, bias, and ethics.
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Lockdown issued in Antioch due to law enforcement activity  KRON4
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Your donation will support The Ithacan’s student journalists in their effort to keep the Ithaca College and wider Ithaca community informed. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment and cover our annual website hosting costs.
“The Deliverance,” directed by Lee Daniels, was advertised as the next great Netflix horror film. It is not.
“The Deliverance” is the first horror film directed by the Oscar-nominated Daniels, who is best known for his critically-acclaimed dramas “Precious” (2009), “The Butler” (2013) and “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” (2021).
Loosely based on the story of Latoya Ammons, who believed her children were possessed after moving into a new house, the film follows ex-convict Ebony Jackson (Andra Day) as she battles alcoholism and poverty — all while abusing the children she claims to love. Ebony is an unlikable character who is hard to root for.
Despite being a horror film, the most interesting conflicts within “The Deliverance” stem from Ebony’s personal relationships with her mother, Alberta (Glenn Close), and Child Protective Services worker Cynthia (Mo’Nique). Both Alberta and Cynthia are on Ebony’s side as she fights to retain custody of her children against the unnamed father threatening to move them to Iraq.
Moving through these conflicts, the first act sets up a potentially powerful redemption story where Ebony stops being selfish and starts genuinely caring for her children. Unfortunately, the film unravels like a mediocre drama. Swarms of flies and a dead black cat provide a few requisite scares that aren’t all that scary.
After a pivotal birthday party scene for Shante, Ebony’s daughter, “The Deliverance” proceeds as a stereotypical exorcism film with run-of-the-mill demonic possession scenes, dropping the most interesting elements of the first half hour. The only silver lining is Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor’s performance as Reverend Bernice James, who saves an otherwise forgettable exorcism scene.
Daniels skillfully crafts compelling interpersonal dynamics, which is evident in the first act of “The Deliverance.” If he’d continued in this direction, rather than straying into horror, this movie might have been great.
All the actors give decent performances, with Mo’Nique’s being the most memorable. Close definitely makes the best of her bad lines, proving that she is one of the greatest actors of all time. However, nothing can save this film from the pitiful dialogue that comes up throughout its runtime. When Cynthia first appears, she looks at herself in a mirror and says, “I got you now, Ebony Jackson,” before interrogating Ebony about the abuse of her children. In a comedy, cartoonish lines like this would be funny. However, this film is no comedy. These lines simply detract from the seriousness of the movie’s themes.
The best part of this movie is Eli Arenson’s cinematography, which was also the highlight of “The Watchers” — another lackluster horror film, but with a slightly bigger budget. A standout shot is Ebony’s youngest son walking down their eerie basement stairs, superimposed over the center of an eye’s pupil. Too bad the lighting wasn’t bright enough for most shots to be easily viewable.
Sadly, “The Deliverance” fails to deliver.  For a film with such talented actors and deep themes, the ending’s anticlimactic “Jesus-will-save-you” message comes out of nowhere. Hopefully, Lee Daniels will return to his dramatic roots.
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Plane burst into flames after skidding off runway at an airport in South Korea, killing at least 85  WGN TV Chicago
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NATO is in a “boiling frog” situation with suspected Russian hybrid attacks creeping up to a volume that would have been “utterly unacceptable” five years ago, says the alliance’s deputy assistant secretary general.
Security and Defence Editor @haynesdeborah
Sunday 29 December 2024 02:58, UK
There is a “real prospect” an unconventional attack by Russia against NATO – such as an act of sabotage or arson – will cause “substantial” casualties, a top alliance official has told Sky News.
James Appathurai, who is updating a NATO strategy to track and deter so-called hybrid warfare, said allies must be clearer among themselves and with Moscow about what level of grey zone hostilities could trigger an allied response, including the use of military force.
He said NATO’s 32 member states were already in a “boiling frog” situation, with suspected Russian hybrid attacks across Europe, the United States and Canada creeping up to a volume that would have been “utterly unacceptable” five years ago.
There had been a particular rise in more “kinetic” acts – like cutting vital undersea cables, sabotage against buildings and the planting of incendiary devices inside aircraft cargo – since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“We can definitely count dozens. Up to 100 for sure. But then there’s a lot of foiled plots,” Mr Appathurai, NATO’s deputy assistant secretary general for innovation, hybrid and cyber, told Sky News in an interview at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels.
He said the increase in attacks was a response by the Kremlin to Western military support to Ukraine as well as a belief that the West is anti-Russia – something the official said was not true – and is trying to constrain Moscow from attacking its neighbours. “That part’s true. So they don’t like what we’re doing, but also they see us as an enemy. And that’s getting worse.”
Russia has previously denied allegations of sabotage, cyber hacks and assassinations.
NATO head warns allies must return to ‘war mindset’ – but is Europe listening?
NATO must shift to wartime mindset, secretary general warns
Russia ready to hit UK with wave of cyber attacks, minister will warn
Asked if he was worried a suspected Russian hybrid attack could breach a threshold that would prompt NATO to invoke its Article 5 collective response – whereby an attack on one is deemed an attack on all – and go to war with Russia, Mr Appathurai said: “What really worries me is that one of these attacks, as I say, will break through in a big way.”
He pointed to an attempt by Russia in 2018 to kill Sergei Skripal, a former Russian double agent, and his daughter Yulia, in Salisbury using a batch of a novichok chemical weapon that contained enough poison potentially to kill thousands of people.
“So there is a real prospect of one of these attacks causing substantial numbers of casualties or very substantial economic damage,” Mr Appathurai said.
He added: “And then what we don’t want is to be in a situation where we have not thought through what we do next.
“So that’s part of the reason why we’re going to exercise all of this. And that includes military elements of the response.”
Read more from Sky News:
Champion boxer dies at 35
UK rejects Putin apology over plane crash
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His team is updating a NATO strategy to understand, deter and counter hybrid warfare that was last drawn up in 2015 when the threat was very different.
The work includes a new effort by the alliance to plot all suspected hybrid attacks by Russia and other hostile actors, including China, Iran and North Korea, to have a better understanding of the scale and scope of the challenge.
The updated policy – which is due to be approved at a summit in 2025 – will also set out how NATO can better deter aggression and how it should respond – given that any move by the alliance could be deemed escalatory.
“We’re in a little bit of a boiling frog situation,” Mr Appathurai said.
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He continued: “We are seeing now what would have been utterly unacceptable five years ago, but we’ve kind of gotten used to it… And that’s very dangerous.
“So we want to establish a baseline now, then prevent escalation, manage it if it happens, but also work to de-escalate, not to where we are now, but to where we were years ago.”
Since its foundation in 1949, NATO allies have been deterring the then-Soviet Union and now Russia from launching conventional military attacks on its soil.
There is a clear red line – well understood by both sides – about how any kind of armed attack could trigger a collective Article 5 response.
The alliance has said hybrid hostilities – which are deliberately hard to attribute and could be carried out by criminals acting unwittingly on behalf of the Russian intelligence services – could reach the level of a hybrid attack that might require the same kind of armed response.
However, the threshold is unclear.
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On whether NATO needs to be better at setting out to Russia what its red lines are when it comes to hybrid warfare, Mr Appathurai said: “What we need to do now is be clearer among ourselves and then decide how we communicate that also to the Russians, that there are no-go areas.
“So we do need and are working on being more clear about what these red bands – these areas are, these thresholds.”

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Artificial Intelligence Helping F1 Teams Prepare For Competition  GM Authority
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SEATTLE — Animal news in Washington state has kept locals on their toes this year, with bizarre encounters and unexpected rescues making headlines.
Early in the year, a woman survived a cougar attack near Fall City when her friends jumped in to help. That was just the beginning for animal newsmakers in Washington state.
Here’s where things currently stand with some most attention-grabbing, animal-related stories of 2024:
On Sunday, April 28, the owner of four zebras who was transporting them from Winlock, Washington, to Anaconda, Montana, stopped just off Interstate 90 near North Bend area to fix a problem with the trailer. That’s when the zebras escaped and ran away.
Three of the four were captured within hours. The fourth, a mare named “Sugar,” ran wild in the North Bend and Snoqualmie Valley areas for days. She was frequently spotted by residents and passersby. 
On Friday, May 3, Sugar was safely captured near North Bend after private citizens teamed up with animal control officers from Regional Animal Service of King County and other law enforcement.
Animal services investigated the escape. The owner faced potential fines. However, the county ended up not fining or citing the owner, according to Cameron Satterfield, communications manager with the King County Department of Executive Services.
A kinkajou found at a rest stop in central Washington in June ended up going across the country for his new home.
On June 23, the nocturnal rainforest mammal was found at the Selah Creek Rest Area. State officials said it was unclear if the kinkajou was abandoned or escaped. 
With the help of Washington state Department of Transportation workers and a cardboard box, state troopers wrangled the kinkajou into a trooper’s vehicle. Fish & Wildlife officers then took it to Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium.
While the kinkajou was undergoing tests, a national search was underway for a permanent home. The Point Defiance Zoo did not have a space that met the kinkajou’s needs. 
The kinkajou was moved to Millbrook School’s Trevor Zoo, about a two-hour drive from New York City. His new caretakers named him “Oscar.” He was described as being “a little grouchy,” which is how he got his name. 
In October, zoo staff were preparing to introduce Oscar to a female kinkajou, “Mira.” 
As of Dec. 24, zoo staff are still slowly introducing Oscar to Mira, according to Kylee Depew, the director of animal care at Trevor Zoo. 
“The two of them spend some limited time together daily and are moving towards being together full time,” wrote to KING 5. “Once they are comfortable being together full time, they will move on exhibit and be able to be viewed by the public. Oscar is curious and is engaging in basic training with our keepers.”
In July, Pierce County deputies were led on a wild kangaroo chase in the Parkland/Spanaway area. 
It all began when deputies and state troopers were called to a traffic hazard report the morning of Sunday, July 14. When they arrived, they encountered what was initially believed to be a wallaby. 
After “several attempts,” the animal was tackled by deputies. Body camera video shared by the department shows one of the attempts, where the animal can be seen hopping away from deputies after trying to corner it.
Following the capture, there was confusion over who actually owned the kangaroo. The sheriff’s department said the animal belonged to Debbie Dolittle’s Petting Zoo and was returned. In a Facebook post, however, the petting zoo said its kangaroo was at the Puyallup fairgrounds that morning for the “reptile expo.” 
KING 5 reached out to the sheriff’s department for an update. A public information officer spoke with deputies who were on site during the encounter, and they reported the kangaroo was returned to its owner. However, that was not documented in a police report as the case was not being investigated. Though the incident is documented in the system, no owner information has been added.
Around the end of September, a woman who lives near Poulsbo told law enforcement she couldn’t get into her home because of a raccoon invasion. 
Kevin McCarty, a spokesperson for the Kitsap County Sheriff, previously said the woman called deputies because about 100 raccoons outside her home were “demanding food.”
The woman told deputies she started feeding raccoons around her house about 35 years ago without any problems. 
Six weeks ago, the population of raccoons “exploded” and the animals surrounded her home day and night hoping for a meal.
Kitsap deputies responded to the woman’s home and were startled by what they saw.
 “They were shocked,” McCarty said. “They had never seen that many raccoons in one place. Nobody ever remembers being surrounded by a swarm of raccoons. This was a first.”
Fish & Wildlife took over the case following the initial response. 
On Oct. 9, a wildlife conflict specialist for Kitsap County met with the woman, according to Bridget Mire, coastal regional communications specialist for Fish & Wildlife. The woman told them she stopped feeding the raccoons. The raccoons had since left, “so there was no need for removal or euthanasia.”
“We are glad for a positive outcome to this case,” Mire told KING 5.
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