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  • Kilauea Volcano Erupts; Alert Levels, Hazards, US Geological Survey Monitoring, Lava Maps

     View of a fissure from Luana Street near fissure 2 and 7, Leilani Estates; USGS video

    Lava moving along street

    Lava moving along Makamae Street, Leilane Street, Leilani Estates on May 6th, USGS photo

    This is a developing story, so please keep checking the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Kīlauea status website for daily activity updates. In addition to status updates, public-domain current photos, videos, and maps are also available.  You can also visit the USGS home page, the USGS Facebook page, and the USGS Twitter feed as updates become available.

    Monday, May 14, 2018, 8:36 AM HST (Monday, May 14, 2018, 18:36 UTC)


    KILAUEA VOLCANO (VNUM #332010)
    19°25’16” N 155°17’13” W, Summit Elevation 4091 ft (1247 m)
    Current Volcano Alert Level: WARNING
    Current Aviation Color Code: ORANGE

    Summary: 

    LOWER EAST RIFT ZONE 

    Eruption of lava continues from multiple points along the northeast end of the active fissure system. Residents in lower Puna should remain informed and heed Hawaii County Civil Defense closures, warnings, and messages (http://www.hawaiicounty.gov/active-alerts)

    This morning, activity is dominated by lava fountaining, explosion of spatter more than 100 feet into the air, and an advancing lava flow from fissure 17 at the northeast end of the fissure system. As of 630 am the fissure 17 flow had traveled just under a mile roughly east-southeast parallel to the rift zone. It is turning slightly south and at this time is about one half mile south of Highway 132. 

    Fissure 18 that became active late yesterday is weakly active.

    A fissure 19 has been spotted very near fissure 15 as of about 8 am just northeast of Pohoiki Road and north of Hinalo Street at the east end of Lanipuna Gardens. It is producing a sluggish lava flow. 

    Volcanic gas emissions remain elevated throughout the area downwind of the vents. Yesterday with the onset of activity at fissure 17, powerful steam jets have occurred intermittently near the west end of the fissure. These jets may be responsible for some of the loud sounds reported by residents and emergency workers. 

    For the most recent map showing the locations of activity, please see https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/multimedia_maps.html

    HVO field crews are on site tracking the lava flow as conditions allow and reporting information to Hawaii County Civil Defense. 

    This eruption is still evolving and additional outbreaks of lava are possible. Ground deformation continues and seismicity remains elevated in the area. 

    The location of future outbreaks could include areas both uprift (southwest) and downrift (northeast) of the existing fissures, or, existing fissures can be reactivated. Communities downslope of these fissures could be at risk from lava inundation. Activity can change rapidly. 

    Conditions around the erupting fissures can change very quickly. Residents in lower Puna should remain informed and heed Hawaii County Civil Defense closures, warnings, and messages (http://www.hawaiicounty.gov/active-alerts).

    KILAUEA SUMMIT
    Deflationary tilt at the summit of the volcano continues and seismicity remains elevated. Last night several strong earthquakes shook HVO and the surrounding area. 

    This morning, a steady, vigorous plume of steam and occasionally minor amounts of ash is rising from the Overlook vent and drifting downwind to the southwest. As has been observed over the past several days, occasional rockfalls into the deep vent are expected produce intermittent pulses of slightly more vigorous ash emissions. Depending on wind conditions, dustings of ash may occur in the Kilauea summit area and downwind. More energetic ash emissions are possible if explosive activity commences.

    Current webcam views are here: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/multimedia_webcams.html

    REMARKS

    USGS/HVO continues to monitor the situation at the summit and the lower East Rift Zone 24/7 in coordination with Hawaii County Civil Defense and other emergency authorities. HVO geologists are onsite in the area this morning conducting overflights, examining the fissure vent activity for significant changes, and searching for any signs of new or resumed activity.

    Please see this link for newly organized information about ash hazards, gas hazards, and the Lower East Rift Zone eruption. https://vog.ivhhn.org/

    Hawaii County Civil Defense messages regarding conditions, warning, and evacuations may be found at http://www.hawaiicounty.gov/active-alerts/. 

    MORE INFORMATION

    Activity Summary also available by phone: (808) 967-8862

    Subscribe to these messages: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/vns2/

    Webcam images: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/multimedia_webcams.html

    Photos/Video: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/multimedia_chronology.html

    Lava Flow Maps: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/multimedia_maps.html

    Definitions of terms used in update: https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/extra/definitions.pdf

    Overview of Kīlauea summit (Halemaʻumaʻu) and East Rift Zone (Puʻu ʻŌʻō ) eruptions:
    https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/extra/background.pdf

    Summary of volcanic hazards from Kīlauea eruptions:
    https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/extra/hazards.pdf

    Recent Earthquakes in Hawai’i (map and list):
    https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hvo/earthquakes/

    Explanation of Volcano Alert Levels and Aviation Color Codes:
    https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/activity/alertsystem/index.php
    https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2006/3139/ 

    CONTACT INFORMATION:

    askHVO@usgs.gov 

    The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory is one of five volcano observatories within the U.S. Geological Survey and is responsible for monitoring volcanoes and earthquakes in Hawai`i.

     

     

  • Little Women, Masterpiece Theater: “I detest rude, unladylike girls!” “I hate affected, niminy-piminy chits!” “Birds in their little nests agree,” sang Beth, the peacemaker

    Wayside Home

    Top: The Wayside House; Wikipedia

    CHAPTER ONE

    PLAYING PILGRIMS

    “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.

    “It’s so dreadful to be poor!” sighed Meg, looking down at her old dress.

    “I don’t think it’s fair for some girls to have plenty of pretty things, and other girls nothing at all,” added little Amy, with an injured sniff.

    “We’ve got Father and Mother, and each other,” said Beth contentedly from her corner.

    The four young faces on which the firelight shone brightened at the cheerful words, but darkened again as Jo said sadly, “We haven’t got Father, and shall not have him for a long time.” She didn’t say “perhaps never,” but each silently added it, thinking of Father far away, where the fighting was.

    Nobody spoke for a minute; then Meg said in an altered tone, “You know the reason Mother proposed not having any presents this Christmas was because it is going to be a hard winter for everyone; and she thinks we ought not to spend money for pleasure, when our men are suffering so in the army. We can’t do much, but we can make our little sacrifices, and ought to do it gladly. But I am afraid I don’t,” and Meg shook her head, as she thought regretfully of all the pretty things she wanted.

    “But I don’t think the little we should spend would do any good. We’ve each got a dollar, and the army wouldn’t be much helped by our giving that. I agree not to expect anything from Mother or you, but I do want to buy Undine and Sintran for myself. I’ve wanted it so long,” said Jo, who was a bookworm.

    “I planned to spend mine in new music,” said Beth, with a little sigh, which no one heard but the hearth brush and kettle-holder.

    “I shall get a nice box of Faber’s drawing pencils; I really need them,” said Amy decidedly.

    “Mother didn’t say anything about our money, and she won’t wish us to give up everything. Let’s each buy what we want, and have a little fun; I’m sure we work hard enough to earn it,” cried Jo, examining the heels of her shoes in a gentlemanly manner.

    “I know I do—teaching those tiresome children nearly all day, when I’m longing to enjoy myself at home,” began Meg, in the complaining tone again.

    “You don’t have half such a hard time as I do,” said Jo. “How would you like to be shut up for hours with a nervous, fussy old lady, who keeps you trotting, is never satisfied, and worries you till you’re ready to fly out the window or cry?”

    “It’s naughty to fret, but I do think washing dishes and keeping things tidy is the worst work in the world. It makes me cross, and my hands get so stiff, I can’t practice well at all.” And Beth looked at her rough hands with a sigh that any one could hear that time.

  • The Looming Threat to Sex Education: A Resurgence of Federal Funding for Abstinence-Only Programs?

    Four Stages of Life: Adolescence
















    Four Ages of Man – Adolescence; Nicolas Lancret (22 January 1690 – 14 September 1743). Wikipedia

    Since 1996, more than $2 billion in federal funding have been spent on programs for young people that focus on promoting sexual abstinence outside of marriage (“abstinence-only”). Federal funding for these programs accelerated under the George W. Bush administration, then dropped significantly while President Obama was in office. During the Obama era, proponents of abstinence-only programs found themselves on the defensive: Politically, they could no longer look to the president for support for their ideologically driven agenda. As a practical matter, they were faced with a wealth of evidence that abstinence-only programs do not work to deter or delay sex among young people. And public opinion was not on their side, with a majority of the public in favor of sex education that includes information about contraception in addition to abstinence.1Rather than reexamining their programmatic approach, abstinence-only proponents began to adopt a new rhetorical frame in an attempt to appeal to a wider audience and in preparation for a change in the political landscape.

    With social conservatives now in control of both the White House and Congress, abstinence-only programs are poised for a dramatic comeback and federal funding for these programs is likely to see significant increases again. But despite some retooling, abstinence-only programs remain as flawed as ever.

    Over the past several years, proponents of abstinence-only programs have been working to enhance their brand and reframe their approach. One of the most significant changes has been to rebrand abstinence-only programs as “sexual risk avoidance” programs, based on the premise that young people should be held to a higher standard of behavior than merely risk reduction. Risk avoidance and risk reduction are two common public health prevention strategies that aim to address risk-taking behaviors—such as cigarette smoking and illicit drug use—and promote differing protective behaviors. Interventions can range from those that promote abstaining from the activity in the first place, returning to abstinence (cessation) or reducing individual risks if and when engaging in the activity.

    For activities that have inherent dangers that outweigh any potential benefits, such as cigarette smoking or drunk driving, this range of strategies makes sense. But sexual activity is not like many other risky behaviors, which can be prevented altogether. By contrast, sexual activity is a natural and healthy part of being human, and sexuality — far from being inherently harmful — can offer pleasure and intimacy throughout one’s life, not to mention the potential for having children.

    Another part of the abstinence-only rebranding effort has been elevating the concept of “success sequencing for poverty prevention.” Initially developed by analysts at the Brookings Institution, this view holds that the formula for escaping poverty is for young people to finish high school, work full time, and wait to get married and have children until at least age 21.2 Groups across the political spectrum have endorsed and adapted this concept, some by concluding that waiting until marriage to have sex enables young people to follow this model for success. Abstinence-only proponents have taken advantage of the currency of success sequencing to promote their programs as poverty prevention measures.

  • Secret Cities: The Architecture and Planning of the Manhattan Project

    Shift Change at

    Shift change at the Y-12 uranium enrichment facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, during the Manhattan Project. Notice the billboard: “Make CEW count — Continue to protect project information.” Date circa 1945; Ed Westcott / American Museum of Science and Energy/ Manhattan Engineer District; Wikipedia

    The National Building Museum opens Secret Cities: The Architecture and Planning of the Manhattan Project. Through photos, artifacts, maps, and models, this new exhibition explores the vast, highly classified effort to produce the atomic bomb, with an emphasis on the three “secret cities” that were built to accommodate the many thousands of people who worked on the project. Secret Cities is open through March 3, 2019.

    The Manhattan Project owed its success not only to brilliant scientific work, but also to significant achievements in architecture, engineering, planning, and construction. The effort to produce the world’s first nuclear weapon would ultimately involve hundreds of thousands of people and require large-scale, secure facilities. In order to undertake this complex enterprise, the US government built three new cities from scratch: Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Hanford/Richland, Washington; and Los Alamos, New Mexico.

    The speed and scale of construction of these cities were in many ways unprecedented. Influenced by the planned community movement and heavily reliant on prefabricated construction, these cities were in many ways proving grounds for emerging ideas about design and planning. Begun in late 1942, they collectively housed a total of more than 125,000 people by the end of the war in August 1945. Yet these cities appeared on no maps, and their existence was a remarkably well-maintained secret until the bombing of Hiroshima.

    Secret Cities examines the cities as case studies in modern urban planning and building technology, while revealing the distinct way of life that emerged at each site. The exhibition also explores the architectural and planning legacy of the Manhattan Project, including its role in the emergence of multidisciplinary corporate architecture and engineering firms. The exhibition concludes with an overview of the postwar development of the three cities, which remain important centers of scientific research today.

    Manhattan Project Historical ResourcesA WAC detachment at Oak Ridge, Tennessee

     A WAC detachment marching at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, June 1945 (courtesy the Army Corps of Engineers; it is reprinted in Rachel Fermi and Esther Samra, Picturing the Bomb: Photographs from the Secret World of the Manhattan Project (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 1995)

  • Updated: Who Is Gina Haspel: The CIA’s Biography of the First Woman to be Nominated as CIA Director; Recording of Live Testimony Before Senate Intelligence Committee

    White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, CIA Deputy Director Gina Haspel, and CIA Chief Operating Officer Brian Bulatao enter CIA Original Headquarters Building.

    Update: C-Span Recording of live testimony

    Gina and Kelly

    Senate Intelligence Committee Hearings

    Deputy Director Gina HaspelCIA

     

    Gina Haspel joined the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the waning days of the Cold War, and for the past three decades she quietly devoted herself to serving on the front lines of the Agency’s mission. She received many honors throughout her career, including the Intelligence Medal of Merit, a Presidential Rank Award, the Donovan Award, and the George H.W. Bush Award for Excellence in Counterterrorism.

    Gina was born in Ashland, Kentucky, the oldest of five children. Her father served in the Air Force, having joined at 17, and she grew up on military bases overseas. But Kentucky was always her home away from home. Both her parents grew up there, and after graduating from high school in England, Gina returned home to attend the University of Kentucky, where she studied languages and majored in journalism. She remains an avid fan of Wildcat basketball even though she moved to Louisville her senior year for an internship and graduated with honors from the University of Louisville.

    Her parents instilled in her a deep love of country and a commitment to public service. As a junior in high school, Gina came home and told her dad that she had figured out what she wanted to do with her life: she was going to attend West Point. Her dad had to gently break the news to her that West Point did not admit women. The pull of service and adventure, however, stayed with her.

    After college, Gina worked as a contractor with the 10th Special Forces Group at Ft. Devens in Massachusetts. She ran the library and foreign language lab. The soldiers there made an impression, especially when it came to their global mission. Some of the soldiers (including a young Mike Vickers, who went on to become Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence), mentioned the CIA to her. Gina came to understand that CIA was a place where women could serve doing clandestine work around the world.

    So she studied up on CIA, typed up a letter on her college manual typewriter, and sent it off. On the outside of the envelope she wrote simply, “CIA, Washington, D.C.”

    “I wanted to be part of something bigger than just me,” she says. “I think with my dad’s service in the military, I saw that as a natural affinity. I wanted an overseas adventure where I could put my love of foreign languages to use. CIA delivered.”

    Gina’s first overseas assignment was as a case officer in Africa. “It was right out of a spy novel. It really didn’t get any better than that.”

  • Stateline: Why Most States Are Struggling to Regulate Airbnb

    Stateline May 7

     

     Baltimore resident Jeannette Belliveau, who rents a couple of rooms in her historic townhouse to short-term guests, sits with her dog, Copper, in one of the guest suites. States are having a hard time regulating the short-term rental industry;  The Pew Charitable Trusts

    Belliveau lives with her dog and two cats in a 19th century house in the Upper Fells Point section of Baltimore, not far from Johns Hopkins Hospital, and rents out a couple of rooms for short-term stays to make a living. In other parts of the city, Al Hallivis, a real estate investor and single dad, owns a half-dozen houses that he also rents by the night.

    A few miles toward the city’s picturesque harbor, a variety of hotels offer traditional overnight stays.

    All three models cater to Baltimore visitors, but that’s where the similarity ends.

    Belliveau, Hallivis, and hotels have different business models, different perspectives and different agendas. These competing constituencies help account for the difficulty states have had in regulating and taxing the short-term rental industry, even as some cities have taken action to regulate short-term rentals.

    short term rental legislation“

     

    “One-size-fits-all state regulation may not always be the most appropriate policy response, and states may therefore choose to allow local governments to regulate,” said Kellen Zale, a law professor at the University of Houston who has done research on the short-term rental market.

    Some big cities, such as New York, saw the short-term rentals as a threat to the rental market based on long-term leases, as well as to traditional hotels. New York last year allocated extra funding to enforce a state law restricting rentals for fewer than 30 days unless the host is present and there are no more than two guests.

    Other cities saw the short-term rentals as a potential source of income and sought to expand tourist or hotel taxes to the new schemes, with varying success.

    Stateline May 7

    The view of downtown Baltimore from the roof of Jeannette Belliveau’s historic townhouse, which she rents to short-term guests. The Pew Charitable Trusts

    San Francisco this year began limiting the number of nights a year absentee owners can rent their properties through Airbnb or similar platforms. Owners who live in their residence can rent it out without limit. Owners also must pay a $250 registration fee to the city.

    Short-term rentals in San Francisco dropped by 55 percent after the limitations took effect, according to the San Francisco Chronicle and Host Compliance, a company that helps cities keep track of short-term rentals.

  • Art Nouveau In the Netherlands, a Quest for the ‘Truth’, the ‘Genuine’, the Original; Leaving in Architecture and the Decorative Arts

    A calendar

     Theo Nieuwenhuis (1866 – 1951); a detail from a calendar magazine in June 1898, Litho on paper. Gemeetemuseum Den Hague

    A new art for a new, improved society. That is what many artists and designers were looking for around 1900. After a century of styles that literally quoted the past, new forms language emerged, based on asymmetry, curved lines and organic decorative motifs. The Netherlands played its own unique role in this artistic quest.  

    In this country, Art Nouveau fizzed with a desire to innovate and with idealism, but it was also a search for the authentic. In this interdisciplinary exhibition, the Gemeentemuseum will showcase the finest decorative arts in a broad context, making the dynamics of the age (1884-1914) visible, tangible and recognizable in this age where authenticity and craftsmanship are once more highly prized.

    The art world’s urge to innovate around 1900 coincides with major changes in society. For the first time, the urban population was growing faster than the rural population. New means of communication fostered internationalization. The first cautious steps towards wider suffrage prompted the rise of equal rights movements. And industrialization and growing prosperity in the swathes of the population. In the art world, especially among designers and decorative artists, these changes led to counterreactions, including a rediscovery of the value of nature, the countryside and the traditional.

    As in neighboring countries, the new industrial society was responsible for the ‘decline in art’ in the Netherlands, too. “We are children of the steam engine, the telegraph and electricity. We have turned our backs on the beautiful, and that is why we no longer understand it,” decorative artist Johannes Ros lamented.Utrecht plate

    However, there were differences between the Netherlands and neighboring Belgium and Germany. A new expressive form that developed there was designed to appeal above all in the emerging world for a world that was gathering momentum, whereas Art Nouveau in the Netherlands was a quest for the ‘truth’, the ‘genuine’, the original. The re-evaluation of tradition and skill, the reform of art education, appreciation of the perfection and pristine quality of nature, and fascination with exotic, unspoiled cultures; here, the urge for innovation and idealism get hand in hand with a search for authenticity.

    Jan Willem Mijnlieff (1862 – 1937), executed by Fayence + Tegelfabriek, Holland, ca 1900; Utrecht plate, glazed painted earthenware

  • Ferida Wolff’s Backyard: Rabbit in the Bush; Seasons and Changing Climate

    Rabbit in the Bush

     Rabbit in the bush
    Look who was camouflaged underneath last year’s hibiscus bush. The rabbit blended in so well I had trouble seeing it at first. Its coat picked up the gray of the broken branches, the brown of the fallen leaves and the white of the small stones scattered throughout the patch.
     
    This must have been a teenage rabbit, smaller than an adult but not newborn. A baby bunny pranced nearby but was chased away across the yard by this rabbit who then returned to its comfy resting place.
     
    The little one will learn the tricks of survival before long, I’m sure. It will learn how to become part of the landscape so that it can peacefully munch on the grasses. It will discover its place in the world and how to be who it is among the variables. It already knew how to zip along, turning quickly to disorient its pursuer.
     
    Seeing the rabbits made me think of how we all adapt to our environments. We learn to accept some things we are given and change others. We can shift our perspective to create a safer space and blend in when necessary. We, and the rabbits, are fast learners. It helps us to live and to thrive.
     
    Cottontails and camouflage:

    Daffodils in bloom 

    Seasons and Changing Climate

     
    Several weeks ago Spring arrived in an unusual way here in the northeast — we had four snowstorms. We also had crocuses hiding under the blanket of white. Last week we had atypical temperatures in the high sixties — and daffodils. Today it was back in the 40s and the flowering plum tree in our front yard was, well, flowering.
     
    I have always respected the inner sense of nature with its seasonal consistency. It has traditionally provided focus in our world. But lately I am concerned; our weather is changing. The seasons are shifting with winters becoming shorter and summers becoming longer, in weather terms. We have been experiencing more floods and extreme storms. Islands are becoming flooded and unlivable. Forest fires are fiercer and more prolonged. Glaciers are melting and animals are losing traditional habitats. I wonder how our food supply will be affected as well as our health.
     
    I hope that we can preserve our beautiful planet for future generations. It is truly an amazing place. And as Spring moves toward Summer, I will plant some vegetables as I do each year. They will each take their own time to grow and hopefully produce their offerings that will be so appreciated by our family. There is nothing as delicious as a handpicked and immediately eaten tomato!
     
    How is climate changing?
     
    And more:
    https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/global-warming-effects/ 
     
    ©2018 Ferida Wolff for SeniorWomen.com

  • The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration Near a Prominent Slave Auction Place In the United States

    The Legacy Museum

    The Legacy Museum:  From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration is situated on a site in Montgomery, Alabama where enslaved people were once warehoused.  A block from one of the most prominent slave auction spaces in America, the Legacy Museum is steps away from an Alabama dock and rail station where tens of thousands of black people were trafficked during the 19th century.

    Right, a wall inside the new Legacy Museum, a project from the Equal Justice Initiative, shows how the effects of slavery are still felt in the present.   

    “EJI* believes that the history of racial inequality and economic injustice in the United States has created continuing challenges for all Americans, and more must be done to advance our collective goal of equal justice for all. The United States has done very little to acknowledge the legacy of slavery, lynching, and racial segregation. As a result, people of color are disproportionately marginalized, disadvantaged and mistreated. The American criminal justice system is compromised by racial disparities and unreliability that is influenced by a presumption of guilt and dangerousness that is often assigned to people of color. For more than a decade, EJI has been conducting extensive research into the history of racial injustice and the narratives that have sustained injustice across generations. The new museum is the physical manifestation of that research.”The Legacy Musueum

    Right: This piece is part of The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which opened on  April 26th, 2018. Nkyinkim Installation by West African artist Kwame Akoto-Bamfo. Wikipedia

     The 11,000-square-foot museum in Montgomery, Alabama, was built on the site of a former warehouse where enslaved black people were imprisoned and is located midway between a historic slave market and the main river dock and train station where tens of thousands of enslaved people were trafficked during the height of the domestic slave trade. Montgomery’s proximity to the fertile Black Belt region, where slaveowners amassed large enslaved populations to work the rich soil, elevated Montgomery’s prominence in domestic trafficking, and by 1860, Montgomery was the capital of the domestic slave trade in Alabama, one of the two largest slave-owning states in America.

     The Legacy Museum employs unique technology to dramatize the enslavement of African Americans, the evolution of racial terror lynchings, legalized racial segregation and racial hierarchy in America. Relying on rarely seen first-person accounts of the domestic slave trade, EJI’s critically acclaimed research materials, videography, exhibits on lynching and recently composed content on segregation, this museum will explore the history of racial inequality and its relationship to a range of contemporary issues from mass incarceration to police violence.

    Visitors will encounter a powerful sense of place when they enter the museum and confront slave pen replicas, where you can see, hear, and get close to what it was like to be imprisoned awaiting sale at the nearby auction block. First-person accounts from enslaved people narrate the sights and sounds of the domestic slave trade. Extensive research and videography help visitors understand the racial terrorism of lynching and the humiliation of the Jim Crow South.  Compelling visuals and data-rich exhibits give visitors the opportunity to investigate America’s history of racial injustice and its legacy, drawing dynamic connections across generations of Americans impacted by the narrative of racial difference.

    EJI has curated sculptures from Titus Kaphar and Sanford Biggers, a wide range of videography and animated content from leading filmmakers and artists, and fine art pieces including works from Elizabeth Catlett, John Biggers, Yvonne Meo and Kay Brown, an art which will challenge and inspire visitors. Design and creative partners also include Local Projects, Tim Lewis and TALA, Molly Crabapple, Orchid Création, Stink Studios, Human Pictures, HBO, and Google.

     An unparalleled resource for researchers, the museum houses the nation’s most comprehensive collection of data on lynching. It will also present previously unseen archival information about the domestic slave trade brought to life through new technology.

    As a physical site and an outreach program, the Legacy Museum:  From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration is an engine for education about the legacy of racial inequality and for the truth and reconciliation that leads to real solutions to contemporary problems.

    *The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society. 

    The Legacy Museum is located at 115 Coosa Street, Montgomery, Alabama 

    Editor’s Note: Wikipedia’s List of Museums focused on African Americans

  • Harvard Shorenstein Center: Foodborne Illness: Causes, Identification and Costs

    By Chloe Reichel    Pixabay

    A lunchtime salad seems innocuous enough — until a couple days later, when you’re rushing between the bathroom and your sick bed. The culprit? E. coli, a bacteria commonly transmitted through food or water that can cause serious illness. Outbreaks happen regularly, and E. coli is just one of many agents that transmit foodborne illness — others include salmonella and listeria.

    According to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, in 2015, 902 foodborne disease outbreaks were reported, which encompassed over 15,000 illnesses, 950 hospitalizations and 15 deaths. Outside of known outbreaks, the CDC estimates that 48 million people become ill from foodborne pathogens each year.

    How does food become tainted? As they say, it happens. Often E. coli is spread through fecal contamination; the same goes for norovirus, the most common cause of restaurant-associated outbreaks with a single confirmed source. Salmonella in eggs is spread through poultry droppings or infected laying hens.

    While food safety measures like washing produce and cooking meat and eggs all the way through can remove or kill bacteria and mitigate some of the risk of foodborne illness, these methods aren’t foolproof. A study published in 2017 in Food Science & Nutrition looked at whether washing ready-to-eat mixed salad greens and romaine lettuce inoculated with E. coli got rid of potentially harmful bacteria. They found that “only washing in a high flow rate (8 L/min) resulted in statistically significant reductions.” Another study points out the heightened risk that prepared salads pose, given the contamination potential of leafy vegetables, along with the added intermingled proteins which introduce the risk of cross-contamination and provide “an excellent substrate for bacterial growth.”

    Before you swear off food entirely, swapping chewing for sipping in an attempt to mitigate risk, consider that meal replacement products are not immune. A study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases in 2018 documents a multistate outbreak of salmonella in a meal replacement shake powder.

    Another wrinkle — though most foodborne illnesses run their course after a few miserable days, more serious infections might require treatment with antibiotics. A study published in Epidemiology and Infection in 2017, however, indicates that the widespread problem of bacterial resistance also affects food outbreaks — 21 percent of salmonella outbreaks studied in the paper were resistant.

    While it might seem that the threat of disease lurks at every bite, researchers are developing new strategies to identify and map outbreaks. A 2017 paper published in the Journal of Food Protection outlines a geospatial mapping effort of early-onset outbreaks, which might help identify likely ports of entry for contaminated produce. Other research provides worldwide estimates of which foods most commonly cause foodborne illness. Elsewhere, the internet provides forums for crowdsourcing foodborne illness reports, and scholars are using platforms not dedicated to the purpose, like Twitter and Yelp, to identify outbreaks. A Twitter-based system used to find potential sources of outbreaks was found to be “64 percent more effective than the current state of the art;” a Yelp-based system that monitors restaurant reviews has identified 10 outbreaksand nearly 9,000 complaints of foodborne illness in New York City over five years.

    A brush with foodborne illness, or the mere threat of illness, is often enough to put people off the offending item for some time. Multiple studies document how recalls and food safety scares affect product demand. A working paper presented at the Southern Agricultural Economics Association’s 2017 annual meeting found that a salmonella outbreak in ground beef reduced purchases by 17 percent in Utah in the month following the recall. A study published in 2016 in Food Policy finds that in the weeks following a December 2003 Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) incident in the United States, households bought 26 percent less beef per person, on average. From this figure, the authors estimate the recall cost the beef industry around $97 million. Another study looks at the impact of recalls on stock prices, finding that shareholders’ wealth is reduced by an average of 1.15 percent in the five days following a recall of a “serious food safety hazard.” This translates to about a $109 million reduction, the authors write — a big loss for lost appetites.