"You distinguish between science that’s objectively established as true and science on the frontier"

"Neil deGrasse Tyson is perhaps the country’s best-known popularizer of science. The astrophysicist, who is 62, has achieved that status through his ever-expanding body of work in television, podcasting, journalism, social media and books (his latest is the new “Cosmic Queries”) and as director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. 

He has done so at a time when, distressingly, skepticism toward established science has become increasingly widespread. Tyson himself received some scrutiny in 2019 after he was subject to two claims of sexual misconduct, which he subsequently described as misunderstandings. Those claims were investigated by his employers at the museum as well as Fox Broadcasting and National Geographic, which respectively air his series “Cosmos” and “StarTalk”; all three of them decided to continue employing Tyson. 

“We’ve lost confidence in our civic entities,” Tyson says about declining public trust in science. “That’s a strong destabilizing force, and some of that spilled over into the scientific community.”

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/04/19/magazine/neil-degrasse-tyson-interview.html

Neil deGrasse Tyson at the Rose Center at the American Museum of Natural History in New York in 2006. He has been the director of the Hayden Planetarium since 1996. Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times

"at some point, surplus became more important than feeding people"

"The global, industrialized food system faces increasing scrutiny for its environmental impact, given its voracious appetite for land is linked to mass deforestation, water pollution and a sizable chunk of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The implied trade-off has been that advances in agriculture have greatly reduced hunger and driven societies out of poverty due to improved productivity and efficiencies. But Mark Bittman, the American food author and journalist, argues in his new book Animal, Vegetable, Junk that these supposed benefits are largely illusionary.

In a sweeping deconstruction of the history of food, spanning the past 10,000 years of organized agriculture, Bittman takes in everything from Mesopotamian irrigation to the Irish famine to the growth of McDonald’s to posit the rise of uniformity and convenience in food has mostly benefited large companies, fueled societal inequities and ravaged human health and the environment. Al Gore, the former US vice president, has called the book a “must-read for policymakers, activists and concerned citizens looking to better understand our food system and how to fix it”.

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/apr/25/our-unequal-earth-mark-bittman-cheap-food-american-diet

For more about Mark visit his web page  https://www.markbittman.com/

Mark Bittman, the American food author and journalist - "Animal, Vegetable, Junk"

Finance Committee - Budget Hearings - Apr 27, 28, 29 and May 4

Finance Committee Meetings

Please find the agendas and links for the upcoming Finance Committee Meetings Posted below: 

•  April 27 Agenda = Central government, Human Services, Culture and Recreation, Debt and Interest, Benefits

https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif6896/f/agendas/4.27.21_fin_com_agenda.pdf

• April 28 Agenda = Public Safety (Police, Fire, Regional Dispatch)

 https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif6896/f/agendas/_2021-04-28_finance_committee_agenda_.pdf

• April 29 Agenda  = Dept of Public Works 

 https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif6896/f/agendas/_2021-04-29_finance_committee_agenda_.pdf

• May 4 Agenda = Schools

 https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif6896/f/agendas/_2021-05-04_finance_committee_agenda_.pdf

Additional details on the FY 2022 budget can be found
https://www.franklinma.gov/town-budget/pages/fy-22-budget-materials

Finance Committee - Budget Hearings - Apr 27, 28, 29 and May 4

Franklin TV: "Owl-cam Sees All! Necessity is the mother of invention."

by Pete Fasciano, Executive Director 04/25/2021

We have all been reprogrammed by ‘Le Virus’. What was is no more, and we are headed toward our new normal, whatever that might be. The term ‘new normal’ has become part of our viral lexicon. We say it, but what is it? No one can fully know. That said, we are already living some part of it in our day-to-day. Specifically, we have changed the way we connect and communicate, and IMHO, some of that change is here to stay. I’ve opined in past scribblings on this page that Zoom is here to stay. I still believe that.

Before: Me? On a video? OMG! No way! My hair! My house! I’m a mess.
After: Zoom?  Yeh, fine.  Let’s hang out. Casual athleisure attire is de rigueur.

While laptop cams are pretty good for one-on-ones, they fall short for whole family shots and groups. Enter Owl-cam. It’s a smart camera. It’s wikkid soopa-smaht!

Owl-cam Sees All!

The Meeting Owl is a webcam. Like a webcam, it sees you; it also hears your voice. It has a built-in speaker system. Camera-microphone-speaker, all-in-one, and all connect to your computer with one standard USB cable. No fuss. No muss.

Owl-cam knows who is speaking in a group and shows only that person or persons to the other participants at the far end of the Zoom meeting. What is Owl-cam, and how does it work this magic? It has not 1, but 8 built-in directional microphones arranged in a circle inside its vaguely owl-like casing. Hence, its round shape.

The dome camera is actually at the top, but looks sideways for a 360-degree panorama view. The microphones inform the camera where the person speaking is seated. The camera pulls that person from the panorama image.  When two people speak, it does a side-by-side split-screen image of both.

You’ll see Owl-cams in action in the days ahead. We’re installing some in Town Hall, the Senior Center, our own community room, and wherever future groups gather to conduct hybrid Zoom meets in our new normal.

And – as always –
Thank you for listening to wfpr●fm. 
And, thank you for watching.

 

Get this week's program guide for Franklin TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) online

http://franklin.tv/programguide.pdf  or for archive purposes

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EDxLKpRhX5qRnUkh_l2g5gEkUXyfKICF/view?usp=sharing

Recap: "King Philip Stuns Franklin With Late Touchdown"

Ryan Lanigan, founder and Editor-in-Chief of HockomockSports.com, provides the recap for Friday's FHS vs KP football game:

"For three quarters, Franklin and King Philip were locked in a rock fight on Mactaz Field. 

Then came the fourth quarter fireworks. 

After neither team found the end zone in any of the first three quarters, there were three touchdowns in the final period including two in the final five minutes. Franklin took the lead with just over three minutes to go but King Philip answered with a game-winning drive, scoring with just over a minute to go to secure a 14-10 win. 

“I don’t know [how we won it], there were so many ups and downs in that one,” said King Philip head coach Brian Lee. “It was the type of game that we’ve had success in the past, the type of game we’ve competed in but this group, we’re very young and we don’t have many seniors out there, and throughout this year we were having trouble in the close games. But they kept coming back, it was just awesome to see."

Continue reading the article

https://hockomocksports.com/king-philip-football-stuns-franklin-with-late-touchdown/

For a photo gallery from this game

https://hockomocksports.smugmug.com/2020-2021/Fall-II-2021/King-Philip-Franklin-Football-04-23-21/

King Philip junior Danny Clancy comes down with the game-winning touchdown catch with just over a minute left in the game. (Ryan Lanigan/HockomockSports.com)

FDA and CDC Lift Recommended Pause on Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) COVID-19

Following a thorough safety review, including two meetings of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have determined that the recommended pause regarding the use of the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) COVID-19 Vaccine in the U.S. should be lifted and use of the vaccine should resume.

The pause was recommended after reports of six cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot in individuals following administration of the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine. During the pause, medical and scientific teams at the FDA and CDC examined available data to assess the risk of thrombosis involving the cerebral venous sinuses, or CVST (large blood vessels in the brain), and other sites in the body (including but not limited to the large blood vessels of the abdomen and the veins of the legs) along with thrombocytopenia, or low blood platelet counts. The teams at FDA and CDC also conducted extensive outreach to providers and clinicians to ensure they were made aware of the potential for these adverse events and could properly manage and recognize these events due to the unique treatment required for these blood clots and low platelets, also known as thrombosis-thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS).

The two agencies have determined the following:

• Use of the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine should be resumed in the United States.
• The FDA and CDC have confidence that this vaccine is safe and effective in preventing COVID-19.
• The FDA has determined that the available data show that the vaccine’s known and potential benefits outweigh its known and potential risks in individuals 18 years of age and older.
• At this time, the available data suggest that the chance of TTS occurring is very low, but the FDA and CDC will remain vigilant in continuing to investigate this risk.
• Health care providers administering the vaccine and vaccine recipients or caregivers should review the  Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine Fact Sheet for Healthcare Providers Administering Vaccine (Vaccination Providers)external icon and Fact Sheet for Recipients and Caregiversexternal icon, which have been revised to include information about the risk of this syndrome, which has occurred in a very small number of people who have received the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine.

Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine fact sheet for recipients

https://www.fda.gov/media/146305/download

Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine fact sheet for healthcare providers

https://www.fda.gov/media/146304/download

Updated CDC guidance on cleaning

"Cleaning with a household cleaner that contains soap or detergent reduces the amount of germs on surfaces and decreases risk of infection from surfaces. In most situations, cleaning alone removes most virus particles on surfaces. Disinfection to reduce transmission of COVID-19 at home is likely not needed unless someone in your home is sick or if someone who is positive for COVID-19 has been in your home within the last 24 hours."

Continue reading the article online

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/disinfecting-your-home.html

Updated CDC guidance on cleaning

For additional info from the Town of Franklin

https://www.franklinma.gov/home/pages/vaccination-and-covid-19-data