The Daily Moth 2-6-19

NASA To Launch Probe To Knock Off Asteroid From Its Orbit; 2018 Earth’s 4th Warmest Year on Record; Politics of Climate Change; Highlights of President Trump’s SOTU Address and Democratic Response by Stacey Abrams; Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau Interacts with Deaf Community

[alfredgregory]

I believe That Alex good explain clear for our deaf peoples he seems is right answer very true and also fact expects so.

[santinamwarania]

Impressed with Canada Prime mister. He is very open-minded ...a willingness to learn ....

[TheDailyMoth]

[Transcript] ——— Hello, welcome to the Daily Moth! It is Wednesday, February 6. Ready for news?

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NASA To Launch Probe To Knock Off Asteroid From Its Orbit

NASA announced they would do a test in 2022 to see if they can knock an asteroid off its orbit. This would be to prevent a potential dangerous asteroid that could severely damage Earth.

NASA said they are working with the European Space Agency to send a probe called the Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART) that will strike an asteroid.

The probe will be launched between 2020 to 2021. It will target an asteroid named Didymos and aim at a smaller rock that orbits it, named Didymoon, to see if the impact will shift its path.

The impact is expected to happen in October 2022. NASA released a video that shows what it will look like. See this.

[Video]

I was expecting a big explosion or something, but it seems like that impact would be enough to move it.

The size of Didymoon is similar to the Great Pyramid in Giza. If it hit Earth, it could destroy an entire region of our planet.

To be clear, those asteroids are not a threat to Earth as they are more than 7 million miles away from Earth. This is only a test.

The study of the impact will continue until 2026 to understand how much its movement changed.




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2018 Earth’s 4th Warmest Year on Record; Politics of Climate Change

Last year, 2018, was Earth’s 4th warmest year on record, according to a report by the NOAA, NASA, and the U.K. Met Office.

Axios did an article on this with an animation that showed temperature increases on Earth between 1921-1969 and 1970-2018.

The report explained that reliable data on Earth’s temperatures started in 1880 and that nine out of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 2005.

The possible causes are greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and increased agriculture.

NASA said the long-term impacts of global warming are already being felt in coastal flooding, heat waves, intense precipitation, and ecosystem change. Sea ice and glaciers in the Arctic are melting.

The NOAA said climate change has caused an increasing frequency of billion-dollar disasters, such as major hurricanes or wildfires.

This is a scientific study of global temperatures and its effects, but this issue can be politically divisive.

The Obama administration made climate change a policy priority by committing to the Paris climate agreement, which outlined goals and responsibilities for nations around the world to do their part to limit global warming.

But the Trump administration has taken a different path and approach with President Trump announcing in the summer he would pull out of the agreement. He said he wanted a better deal for American businesses and taxpayers.

Last week Trump mocked the idea of global warming by tweeting during the polar vortex that it wouldn’t be bad to have a little of that good old fashioned global warming.

The NOAA appeared to respond to that by tweeting an illustration of how more moisture from warmer ocean temperatures can trigger winter storms.

There was also a video in ASL by Facebook page, “Atomic Hands, ” that explained how rising temperatures in the Arctic can cause the polar vortex to “spill over” southwards. They also explained that Australia is going through record heat. The link to that video is in the transcript.

Climate change may be a big topic during the upcoming political debates leading to the 2020 elections.





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Highlights of President Trump’s SOTU Address and Democratic Response by Stacey Abrams

Last night President Trump gave a State of the Union address that was 82 minutes long. Here are some highlights.

Trump said women filled 58% of the newly created jobs last year and praised the record number of women elected to Congress.

Many Democratic female lawmakers were dressed in white and applauded at this.

Trump said he would meet with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam this month.

Trump asked Congress to work together to pass a bill to secure the southern border to avoid another shutdown. He did not say he would declare a national emergency.

Trump criticized New York’s abortion rights law and wanted Congress to pass a bill that would prohibit late-term abortion. Republicans gave a standing ovation while Democrats sat in silence.

Trump said Congress should avoid ridiculous partisan investigations. He said war and investigation would make it impossible to have peace and legislation.

When Trump said there should be an end to revenge politics, he looked behind him to House Speaker Pelosi, who applauded with a certain facial expression. That image went viral, becoming a meme.

Trump said Congress should work on lowering the costs of healthcare and prescription drugs and protect people with pre-existing conditions.

Trump condemned anti-Semitism. He honored a SWAT officer who was one of the people who stopped the Tree of Life Synagogue attack in Pittsburgh and honored two Holocaust survivors.

Now, I will share some highlights of the Democratic response by Stacey Abrams. She gave the speech that was 11 minutes long from an electrical workers union hall in Atlanta and is the first black woman to give the Democratic response.

Abrams said the partial government shutdown was a stunt engineered by Trump.

Abrams said America is made stronger by immigrants, not walls.

Abrams challenged Republicans to be stronger on gun safety, saying first graders practice active-shooter drills while the White House responds timidly.

Abrams said we must hold everyone from the very highest offices to our own families accountable for racist words and actions.

Abrams said the next battle for our democracy is stopping voter suppression by improving voting rights and ballot access.

So, those are the two speeches.






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Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau Interacts with Deaf Community

The Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Liberal) recently had at least three contacts with the Canadian Deaf community.

Deaf activist Jessica Sergeant tweeted a video explaining that at a town hall on January 10 in Regina, Saskatchewan, a Deaf man, Allard Thomas, asked why the Accessible Canada Act (ACA) that recently passed (in the House of Commons) did not include recognition of ASL and LSQ as official languages of Deaf people in Canada.

Here is Trudeau’s response.

[Video]

Trudeau was asked the same question again at another town hall in Milton, Ontario on Thursday.

Deaf activist Jeffrey Beatty showed a clip of his response to a question by a Deaf man, Dean Walker. He asked about this and also asked a second question about deaf schools and programs facing budget cuts. See this clip.

[Video]

We see from the video that Trudeau knows how to sign, “thank you, ” and the “deaf applause.” We also see that he was more firm in his recognition of Deaf Canadians’ desire for ASL/LSQ recognition, that the ACA bill did not adequately address this, and that he would talk with a disabilities official about this.

We also see Trudeau being strong in saying that he hopes the Ontario government will rethink their approach to cutting deaf schools and programs. Trudeau encouraged members of the community to stand up and make it known they oppose the cuts.

There have been several protests and rallies in the past several years by Deaf Canadians on deaf program cuts and on ASL/LSQ recognition.

The ACA bill, which is the equivalent of the ADA bill here in the U.S., has passed the House of Commons and will be debated in the Senate.

Beatty explained that the Senate will start sitting in a few weeks, so we can expect Deaf Canadians and allies to continue to push for ASL/LSQ recognition, as well as recognition and respect for indigenous sign languages.

Those were the first two contacts. The third contact with the Deaf community was on Friday. Trudeau visited the Maison des Sourds in Montreal, Quebec. It is a center and a home to deaf and deaf blind people and provides community services.

Trudeau posted on his official Facebook wall an image of him talking with a woman and thanking the center for their important work and for welcoming him and teaching him sign language.

Global News filmed the visit. It showed Trudeau communicating with the deaf members either with an interpreter or by voice, shaking their hands and hugging them, and allowing others to take selfies with him.

So, those are the three contacts Trudeau had with the Deaf community.



Photo of ASL/LSQ Rally by Rylyn Lennox




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That is all for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light!

[robhyde]

Thanks for bring more news about science and deaf!!!! Thanks! I'm satisfied now. :)

[cynthiahopkins]

Wishing, our President Trump should goes to listen Deaf communities what the deaf people have the rights to speak about ASL keep the language and significance for education for the deaf school over USA?

[aarondelgado]

It is a colossal waste of money sending a probe to knock off an asteroid from its orbit.