Category: Seeking Common Ground

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

Today started in humid subtropical Buenos Aires and 3.5 hours later we were in subpolar Ushuaia (Ursh-why-ah).  I woke up at 5:05, a few minutes before my alarm to get packed, catch a bite of breakfast and be ready to board the bus for the airport to make it onto our charter flight to Ushuaia to meet out floating home for the next three weeks, the Seaventure.

This is a maiden voyage of sorts for the Seaventure.  The ship that is now called the Seaventure has made numerous trips to the Antarctic and the Arctic, but not as the Seaventure. 

The trip from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia had us experiencing temperatures in the mid 90s to the low 40s.  I’m happy that I brought the warm clothing!  It’s not likely to get any warmer than that. Ushuaia is the southern most city in the world and has a population of 100,000ish people.  It’s name means “Bay to the West” in the tongue of native peoples.

It’s getting a little late (11:15), so my creativity is waning.  So, if I get boring, stop reading and come back tomorrow.

I do have to say before I flake out that. One lecturer that I want to hear is our Astronomy leader, Alex Filipenko is one of UC Berkeley’s most popular teachers and now I know why.

I was up on the Helopad where you can get 365 degree views and Alex appeared after a few minutes and started walking, checking his phone, taking pictures of clouds, walked some more.  A couple others were up there and the subject came up why are you walking around?  I thought it had something to do with Astronomy.  No, it was just Alex trying to keep his 10,000 step streak going.  He started it in March of 2020 and has done it every day since whether on Terra Firma or on a ship headed for Antarctica.

We had a safety presentation and later on an evacuation drill on how to get to the lifeboats before dinner.  And, we got the boots that we will be using for our landings and our very nice (and effective) outer shell jacket from Polar Latitudes.  It was useful today and will be even more useful later in the trip.

We will be sailing to get to our into the Southern Ocean over the next three days and will cross the Antarctic Convergence where cold water flowing northward meet the relatively warmer (it’s not a hot-tub) waters of the sub-Antarctic.  It’s where we will officially enter Antarctic waters.

We will stay in our meal pods for another two days after which we will be COVID tested for the final time (hopefully) at which point we will be cleared to remove our masks and eat with other members of the group.

It is a fascinating bunch of people.  I talked to Frank at the airport in Buenos Aires.  He has been a professional violinist.  I had a conversation with Ralf, a retired naval officer and skydiver who showed me some of his helmet-cam photos of fellow skydivers.  Scott was a Physics major who went on to MBA School and had a career with the World Bank.

I suspect that I will meet others with equally fascinating stories.  There’s more, but I need to get some sleep.  I may be a little late with this post because the ship wifi is down.

Bruce

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

Don’t get too excited. Today was a pretty routine, quiet, stress free day. At least after 4:00 p.m. when our luggage arrived from American Airlines. If you missed the beginning of this story, yesterday I told you about our baggage having a little personal time without us as it decided to party hardy in lively Miami.

I knew (?) that they would meet up with us in Argentina because American sent me an email that the bags had been unloaded in Buenos Aires at 7:45 a.m. this morning. So, where were they. The Concierge told us that when this happens, the airlines gather up as much lonely baggage as they can before delivering it to the many hotels that dot the downtown skyline.

After lunch (a delicious veggie taco on a blue corn shell, it was pretty, but don’t look for photos. I’m not one to take. pictures of food) I told our tour operator of our issue with the rebellious luggage and they said that they would pursue the little deviants.

About 90 minutes later, guess who appeared at the door of Room 805 at the Alvear Art Hotel in downtown Buenos Aires? Our three little juvenile delinquents. They were unusually quiet. Actually, they haven’t made a beep since they were returned to us. I guess it scared them a little. A little like Home Alone.

But our luggage story was topped by one of our table-mates in our 10 person travel pod (more about that tomorrow). We are known as the “Gentoos. Our table-mate and tour Ornithologist, Lisa, told us that the Gentoo penguin is a humorous creature. That seems to match our table group. Let’s see, there is Andrew, Laura, Lisa, Bob, Peter and I’ll introduce you to the other five when I get a chance to seed their name tags again.

Tomorrow will be a little more eventful. We begin boarding the four buses for the airport starting at 6:00 and are scheduled to leave at 6:15 and be at the airport by 7:30 a.m. to catch our charter flight to Ushuaia. I hope we have 130+ early sunrise worshippers.

We are scheduled to land at 12:30 in Ushuaia and get back on busses to get the the dock to meet our home for the next three weeks, the Seaventure. We’ll have lunch on the boat and are scheduled to set sail (well, maybe not exactly setting sail at 6:00 p.m. We were reminded this evening to start any sea sickness prevention measures tomorrow morning which means that I need to dig back into my suitcase to get out the Dramamine.

At least we had luggage to dig into!

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

The plane trip from Miami to Buenos Aires was surreal. It barely felt like I was on an airplane. Except for take-off and landing, the sounds, the movements, the whole environment felt like I was spending the night in a hotel room with great room service. The 777-300 is so big that it doesn’t seem like you are flying. It’s just another day on Terra Firma.

But, I digress. This is about today.

We landed at 10:40 Buenos Aires time which we have calculated is five hours ahead of our home Pacific Standard Time zone. I say that assuming that Miami is in the Eastern Time Zone with New York. If it’s Central Time, then it is four hours. Something tells me that it might be four hours. I’ll leave that for you to figure out. The Captain warned us that it was hot (37-38 degrees Celsius) and when we stepped out of the climate controlled comfort of the plane, that proved to be an accurate statement.

We got through with Customs in a quick and efficient way with no problems and then made our way over to the Baggage Carousels. Flight 931’s bags began coming off an coming off and coming off. But not ours. Bob and I waited for many a cycle seeing folks gleefully pull their bags off the Carousel. When it became apparent after about a half hour of this (and the fact that the red light went on and the Carousel stopped), we went over to Baggage Claim as suggested by a helpful AA attendent.

After standing in line there for several minutes, the second AA employee had checked the system and told both Bob and I that our bags would be arriving TOMORROW from Miami. It was our good fortune that we will be here all day tomorrow (to get COVID antibody tests) as well as spending the night here before traveling as a group to Ushuaia where we will meet our ship, the “Seaventure.”

The next step was to go out and see if our hosts from Wilderness Travel were still there to deliver us to the Alvear Art Hotel, several miles from the international airpot. As I expected, they had long since gone, but the next wave of hosts was there and one of them took us under his wing. He first tried to see if his friend, a Concierge at the Alvear Art hotel could arrange a ride for us. When that didn’t work, he guided us to a Cab company and for 3000 centavos ($30) we got a ride to the hotel.

Since being here, we’ve started meeting fellow passengers (like Jim), Polar Latitudes staff members and Sarah, the Wilderness Travel rep in Argentina. The first person we met was the Polar Latitudes trip Ornithologist whom we saw again at Dinner this evening. I will learn her name tomorrow when the group gets together. She noticed that I was a photographer, which is a major complement as I still think of myself as a guy with some decent camera equipment.

I wandered up to the 17th Floor Fitness Room and did 25 minutes on the Exercise bike. while being conscious not to work up too much of a sweat as I don’t have any clothes to change into yet (remember that?). Took a shower and now am writing this account of the day. Bob has been resting and reading. Even if there was much to see and do around the hotel, it is hot without clean clothes to change into, I couldn’t convince the natural adventurer in me to go outside. There didn’t seem to be enough upside to working up a sweat today.

Tomorrow is when things officially get started and it starts feeling like this is really going to happen. I guess the anticipation is still going on!

Bruce

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

I suspect that Antarctic Explorer Ernest Shackleton would have found the Business Class accomodations on this American Airlines 777-300 Airliner to be overly extravagant and a waste of precious resources.

Movies, music, TV, news and more on my very own personal screen, food and drink at your beckon call, headphones (even though mine didn’t work), reclining seat, blanket and full-size pillow, my own personal “suite.”  To call it merely a seat would be an understatement of substantial proportions

Mind you that I am not complaining about my treatment on this 8:15 hour flight from Miami to our first staging area at the Alvear Art Hotel in Buenos Aires.  I am a tad bit embarrassed to luxuriate like this while on my way to learn about explorers that, at the turn of the last century chose to go where no one had gone before while undergoing the greatest hardships that just about anyone could imagine.

Ah, but times change, modes of travel change and exploration has changed along with it.  I suppose that I shouldn’t be too hard on myself and my fellow softies for following in the footsteps of Scott, Amundsen, Shackleton and Mawson in relative ease and opulence.  Getting to the Antarctic in a matter of days when it took these explorers 2-3 years by boat to complete the journey/adventure/exploration.

We left San Jose at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, November 20 and as we leave the Caribbean and enter the Pacific at an altitude of 33,000 feet over Panama and turn southward, it is about 1:30 in the morning by my internal clock.  Yet, I don’t feel the least bit tired…yet.  Where is that energy coming from? 

I think that it is coming from Scott, Amundsen, Shackleton and Mawson.

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

Five or so weeks ago, I was invited to hop on a boat in Argentina and cruise to the Antarctic to view a full solar eclipse, see thousands of penguins and other wildlife, learn more about the explorers of this unique, fascinating and endangered continent and see ice, lots and lots and lots of ice.

Preparation and anticipation have been exhilarating. I’ll admit a little stressful at times, given concerns with COVID-19 and the understandably strict protocols of two governments, a tour company and a cruise company to make the trip happen in a safe virus free environment. I cleared the first hurdle with two Negative COVID tests here in San Jose.

I would be remiss if I waited any longer to thank my benefactors and fellow science nerds, Ellen and Bob for giving me this opportunity to see a part of the world that I had previously only dreamed about ever seeing in person. Their generosity and thoughtfulness will always be remembered and payed forward. Thanks you guys.

All the reading about the trip and the destination, all the gathering and shopping for polar clothing, all the preparation and purchasing of photographic equipment, all the coordinating with Denise at Wilderness Travel, all the packing and unpacking, all the subtractions and additions to the luggage, the weight limits, all the anticipation.

The anticipation for the start of the trip will end today. Meredy will drive Bob and I to San Francisco to begin the adventure. From there, we continue on to Miami and then on to Buenos Aires where we’ll go through another round of COVID testing before flying to the southern tip of South America to board the Seaventure. That is, if all goes well in Buenos Aires.

I’ll be recording the trip in writing and photographs. The writing will be here in this space along with a few of the photos.

So, I invite you to share the next three weeks with me. I hope that I can share my experiences in a vivid and entertaining way. Come along for the ride!

Bruce