First Full Day on the Water/November 24

https://newslit.org/

Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception:  How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation."  In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information.  They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).

How to Debunk:

1.  Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.

2.  Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs.  Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.

3.  Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp.  Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.

4.  When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.

5.  Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.

"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.  

"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."

"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."

Sander van der Linden
Social Psychologist
University of Cambridge

Source:  Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

Wow, what a busy, beautiful first day on board ship! Our tour leader told us that the weather and sea conditions have been extraordinarily calm for this time of year. The forecast is for another day like this tomorrow. I’m writing today’s entry from the ship’s Library which is next to the ship’s lounge and live music. That and the gentle rolling of the ship are keeping me energized and motivated to complete this after a busy, full day.

We have another full day of sailing tomorrow before we get to South Georgia Island. From everything that I’m learning, South Georgia is a wildlife Mecca. We also have what is hopefully our last COVID test tomorrow. If every test comes back Negative, the rest of the trip will be Masks optional. We are the first cruise to Antarctica in over 1.5 years. All the protocols are new. Polar Latitudes, the folks operating the tour, hired on an extra doctor just to develop the protocols. It’s all pretty exciting to be in a position to prove that the safety measures that we have all had to practice over the past 19 months really do work. We are a control group for a larger institutional experiment! Good stuff.

Breakfast was sort of a help yourself except that you had a personal food handler who served you the food as you walked down the line making your choices. The food in general has been wonderful. Fresh, tasty and lovingly prepared and presented. Especially the fruits and vegetables. The fruit plates include pineapple, watermelon, kiwi and cantaloupe and each one of them was impeccably at the peak of ripeness and freshness. I’d have to say that the fruits have been at least as good as I have ever eaten. Lunch was a stir fry prepared right in front of me and Dinner was a delightful little tostada-like dish with beans, corn and other goodies. Tomorrow I’m joining a group for an early morning workout on the Heliport deck at 6:30. I also reserved a slot in the Exercise Room from 12:30-1:00. COVID tests are starting at 12:15 and will be done by our Dinner pods.

Today’s lectures began with an introduction to five Citizen Science opportunities to participate in while we explore. They involve daily bird counts, a Whale project (photo based), water clarity and phytoplankton research using a Secchi disk and cloud observations.

Astronomer Alex Fillipenko gave a talk in his own inimitable enthusiastic way on “Beautiful Atmospheric sights. Our own fellow “Gentoo” and trip Ornithologist, Lisa then did a presentation on “The Birds of Antarctica and South Georgia'” followed in the afternoon with a presentation on Whales sandwiched around our first Citizen Science Bird counting session. Mountaineer Conrad Anker gave a very informative and heartfelt presentation on his 1999 expedition to Mt. Everest in search of the body of the pioneering British climber, George Mallory who died on Mt. Everest on his third and final attempt to climb the world’s highest peak. Anker did successfully summit the mountain.

More of the same tomorrow as we make our way to South Georgia.

Bruce

PS: Sorry, no photos for now. The bandwidth for the ship’s wifi isn’t doing well with music and photos.