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Reposted from BBC
Thieves who stole copper and lead from the roof of a Roman fort museum used its scaffolding to strike again. The thefts began in June 2023 at Segedunum Roman Fort, in Wallsend, North Tyneside, which marks the start of Hadrian's Wall. After metal from the roof was first stolen, scaffolding was put up around the UNESCO Heritage Site, but the thieves used the structure to access the roof again. The fort's manager, Geoff Woodward, said the roof will be repaired with material that will be of no interest to thieves. Mr. Woodward said: "We are very frustrated by the ongoing theft of materials from Segedunum’s roof and the damage it is causing to the building. "We have worked with North Tyneside Council to make emergency repairs whilst awaiting funds from our insurers to permanently resolve this issue." He added that recent high winds and rain had "exacerbated the problem". Thefts from the museum roof have been taking place since late June last year, a Segedunum spokesperson said.
In September, the scaffolding was erected to make temporary repairs, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. But despite additional security being put in place, a spokesperson for the museum said the scaffolding "inevitably provided additional access points" to the roof. Wallsend councilor Louise Marshall said: "It is incredibly disappointing that this building is being targeted. “In terms of ongoing damage to Segedunum, I need to take this up further with the police to see what can be done." Segedunum has received almost one million visitors since it opened on 17 June 2000. The site is legally protected and became a scheduled ancient monument in 1982.
The man died at the scene at about at 10:45 GMT despite efforts from emergency services, and a cordon remains in place. In a statement, the Met said the man's death was being treated as "unexpected but not thought to be suspicious". Inquiries are under way to identify the man and notify his family, the Met added. The Tate Modern said the gallery had closed for the day, adding: "We are very sad to report that a member of the public passed away at Tate Modern this morning. "The police are not treating the event as suspicious, but we have closed the gallery for the day as a mark of respect. "All our thoughts are with the person's family and friends at this time."
Reposted from CISA
We would like to take a moment to share some upcoming FREE courses offered by the Office of Bombing Prevention (OBP) for this February. Virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT) courses provide general awareness level counter-improvised explosive device (C-IED) information to a broad audience through an on-line virtual training experience with a live instructor. Perfect for participants with time availability constraints, they can be taken as stand-alone courses or serve as prerequisites for many of the instructor-led courses provided by the Office for Bombing Prevention (OBP). The courses are free of charge. Please see the PDF attached for a list of these trainings through the month of February and registration information.
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The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released its fourth annual Year in Review. The 2023 Year in Review reflects on the agency’s accomplishments across its broad cybersecurity, infrastructure security and emergency communications missions as the nation and the world adapted to technological advances, spillover from international events and other major events. As you will see in our Year in Review, 2023 was an especially productive year for our team and our partnerships. CISA also celebrated its fifth birthday since its establishment in November 2018! The report calls out a number of significant accomplishments including:
Promoting Secure by Design Principles. As part of an Administration-wide push to promote secure software development, CISA launched its Secure by Design campaign in April 2023. This effort strives for a future where technology is safe, secure and resilient by design by encouraging software manufacturers to take ownership of customer security outcomes. In October 2023, CISA and 17 U.S. and international partners published an update to a joint Secure by Design white paper on “Shifting the Balance of Cybersecurity Risk: Principles and Approaches for Secure by Design Software.” Originally released April 13, 2023, this paper urges software manufacturers to revamp their design and development programs to produce only secure by design products. It also emphasizes three core principles: 1.) Take ownership of customer security outcomes, 2.) Embrace radical transparency and accountability, and 3.) Lead from the top.
Reposted from Yale News
As the Yale Peabody Museum prepares to reopen after a major renovation, a team of skilled specialists is helping its smaller fossil exhibits come to life. A pair of prehistoric predators stand together in the preparators’ lab in the basement of the Yale Peabody Museum. Poposaurus, a 200-million-year-old bipedal carnivore, bares its pointy teeth. To its right, Deinonychus, a nimble raptor that roamed present-day Montana 108 million years ago, seems poised to sink its sickle-shaped talons into hapless prey. Both skeletons will reside in the Peabody’s Burke Hall of Dinosaurs alongside refurbished and reposed Brontosaurus and Stegosaurus specimens, among other fossilized wonders, when the museum reopens this spring after a transformative, building-wide renovation.
Deinonychus, whose discovery in the late 1960s by Yale paleontologist John Ostrom helped dispel the notion that dinosaurs were plodding brutes, prowled Burke Hall for decades before the renovation. Poposaurus, a more recent discovery, will make its debut in the revamped space where Rudolph Zallinger’s famed mural, “The Age of Dinosaurs,” still stretches across the south wall. For the Peabody’s preparators, whose work often combines scholarly discipline with artistic techniques to reanimate these and other prehistoric creatures for public view, readying Deinonychus for public display required just a few touch ups. But creating the new Poposaurus skeleton demonstrated the full range of the preparators’ skills. The team’s expertise in excavating and preserving fossils, their mastery of long-extinct animals’ anatomy, and a creative touch bring the predatory reptile specimen to life. But it’s just one example of the work the preparators — Marilyn Fox, Cathy Lash, and Christina Lutz — have done, with the help of a group of dedicated volunteers, to ready the Peabody’s fossil specimens for the museum’s historic reopening. In 2003, Yale paleontologists discovered the Poposaurus skeleton in Utah’s late Triassic Chinle Formation. The excavated bones include the hind legs and feet, the left forelimb, and much of the spine and tail, making it by far the most complete specimen of its kind. To allow for the original fossil material to remain accessible for ongoing research, the Peabody preparators reproduced the skeleton, making molds and casts of the fossilized bones, and carefully crafted reconstructions of the missing pieces based on existing fossils from the ancient predator. The reconstructed specimen — about 14 feet long from the tip of the snout to the tip of the tail — demonstrates the importance of the preparators to the museum’s scientific and educational missions, said Vanessa Rhue, the Peabody’s collections manager for vertebrate paleontology.
The team collected the specimen in Utah, made the field jackets to protect the fossils, removed the bones from the rock matrix that encased them, molded and casted each existing bone, and sculpted the absent components based on meticulous research, she said. No Poposaurus skulls are known to exist, so Lash sculpted one based on the skulls of related animals. “His head and neck had weathered out in the gulley before we got there,” said Fox, the museum’s chief preparator for vertebrate fossils. “Cathy did a lot of research to figure out the most accurate shape for the reconstruction.” Lutz painted the cast portions of the mounted specimen that represent the actual fossils so that they resemble the genuine bones — mottled and cracked — while the remaining components are a flat brown, which will allow visitors to discern the elements based on fossilized bones from those that are not. (A fragment from the end of the snout was the only portion of the skull the paleontologists discovered.) “When you look at this specimen, it’s very difficult to distinguish, even with a trained eye, that it’s not an actual fossil,” Rhue said. “That’s no easy feat. It’s a phenomenal job and every step of it was a product of Yale expertise.” Burke Hall’s exhibits will trace the evolution of life on Earth from the earliest ocean life, through the Permian-Triassic extinction event 251 million years ago — when volcanic eruptions poisoned the air and oceans, killing off most plants and animals — to the meteor strike 66 million years ago that wiped out all non-avian dinosaurs. Visitors will learn how animals adapted to life in water and on land, and how scientists believe birds developed the ability to fly. “Roughly speaking, visitors will be traveling through time as they walk through the gallery,” said Chris Norris, the museum’s director of public programs.
The next gallery takes visitors across the extinction boundary to explore the interplay between plants, animals, and the environment, including the effects of a changing climate over the past 66 million years. The final gallery introduces human evolution to the story, examining how modern humans have changed the environment, and how the environment has changed them. Exhibits throughout the three galleries have benefitted from the preparators’ time and attention, said Kailen Rogers, the museum’s associate director of exhibitions. “The preparators are incredibly knowledgeable,” Rogers said. “We’ve had wide-ranging conversations about what is best for the specimens and how they should be displayed. It’s been rewarding to work with them and recognize how they care for and understand these materials.” A skeleton of Hesperornis, a 5-foot-long flightless bird with tiny wings and a beak lined with sharp teeth, offers a sense of the preparators’ role in creating the displays. Discovered in 1876 during a Yale expedition to Kansas (which was led by famed paleontologist Othniel Charles “O.C.” Marsh), the extraordinary fossil provides insight into the evolutionary link between modern birds and dinosaurs. A mainstay at the Peabody since it was mounted more than a century ago, the skeleton has acquired a new and more scientifically accurate skull during the museum’s closure.
During the skeleton’s original mounting, the replaced skull was sculpted from plaster and wasn’t closely based on actual fossils. But a few years ago, Michael Hanson, at the time a Yale graduate student in geology and geophysics (and who is now a research fellow at the Smithsonian Institution), used a CT scanner to image fragments of Hesperornis skulls in the museum’s collection. He assembled the scans into a more accurate digital version of the skull, which was then 3D printed at the Yale Center for Engineering Innovation & Design (CEID). “It’s much more detailed, delicate, and accurate than the original reconstructed skull. Every bone is represented,” said Fox, who conserved the specimen and worked with Hanson and the CEID on the skull. “The folks at the CEID did a great job printing it.” The restored Hesperornis will be displayed alongside fossilized remains of other animals that inhabited the Western Interior Seaway, a vast inland sea that split the North American continent in two, including the paddle of a Plesiosaur — a marine reptile with a long neck and small head — and the flattened skull of a Pteranodon, a flying reptile that inhabited cliffsides along the seaway and preyed on the fish that inhabited it. New galleries charting life on Earth after the cataclysmic meteor impact at the end of the Cretaceous Period offer more examples of the preparators’ ingenuity. Plans for the display originally included the fossilized front portion of a skull that belonged to a small, female Arsinoitherium — an extinct rhino-like herbivore with a pair of horns protruding above its snout that inhabited North Africa 30 million years ago. (The specimen was unearthed by Yale paleontologists in the Oligocene Jebel el Qatrani Formation in the Fayum region of Egypt in 1966.) But Rogers, the associate director of exhibitions, thought the incomplete specimen would be difficult for non-paleontologists to understand. “To me, I could look at the fossilized portion of the skull and still have no idea what the animal looked like,” she said. “I suggested we make it easier for visitors to understand what they’re seeing.” To that end, preparator Lutz sculpted the skull’s back section based on existing casts of complete skeletons and the skulls of similar animals. She attached the reconstructed portion with magnets so that it can be easily removed, allowing researchers to access the fossilized portions. Making the reconstructions reversible also allows for the fossil mounts to be revised as more is learned about how the animals looked and behaved, Rhue said. “The foundational conservation the preparators have done on this material allows for individual parts of the skull to be modified if needed at a later date and you can also remove individual portions of the specimen off exhibit for research as well,” she said. “Providing scholars access is very important for the Peabody as a research institution because not a lot is yet known about Arsinoitherium and many of the other extinct animals on display.”
Not far from the reconstructed skull is a hulking skeleton of Megacerops, which inhabited present-day South Dakota 35 million years ago. A behemoth with two blunt horns protruding from its snout, it appears ready to step from its exhibit platform and stride through the gallery. A previous inhabitant of the museum’s mammal hall, the skeleton was completely covered in old paint and adhesives, which stained its bones dark brown. Armed with toothbrushes and ethanol, Fox, Lutz, and volunteers scrubbed the entire skeleton — which is about the length of a pickup truck and composed of hundreds of genuine and reconstructed bones, restoring the fossil’s bright eggshell color. Back in the lab, a state-of-the art facility built during the renovation to accommodate the preparator’s needs, volunteer Joe Peters works to free a fossil — a plate that belonged to an armored reptile called an aetosaur from the Triassic Period — from its matrix, the rock surrounding the specimen. Peters, a retired industrial chemist and engineer who lives in North Haven, Connecticut, uses a small, stainless-steel spatula to carefully scrape away red-colored dirt and rock. “It’s nice to have something to do that is mentally stimulating,” said Peters, who has volunteered at the museum for several years, working as a docent and teaching geology classes in addition to lending the preparators a hand. “This is interesting work.” “It can also be frustrating because fossils are delicate and tend to fall apart,” Fox said. Peters shrugs. “I try not to panic when that happens,” he said. A skull larger than a Thanksgiving turkey rests on a table behind Peters’ workstation. It belonged to a duck-billed dinosaur known as Lambeosaurus, which was collected by paleontologist Charles Sternberg in 1919 from the Oldman Formation in Alberta, Canada. The skull was covered with an unknown adhesive that the preparators cleaned off. Lutz is painting the skull’s reconstructed sections before it returns to the Great Hall. “It’s almost done,” Fox said.
Reposted from Tim Richardson
Last week, many parts of the U.S. had extremely cold temperatures. Where I live in East, Tennessee, it was bitter cold with temperatures reaching below zero. Unfortunately, for many, including my family, that meant frozen pipes. As fate would have it, I didn’t find out that some of the pipes leaked until the temperature warmed up. Life without water makes everyday living inconvenient. Because the pipes had been frozen for a few days, we had a mountain of dirty laundry that needed attention. The water problem needed to be quickly fixed. I reasoned that a lot of people would be experiencing plumbing problems and that scheduling a plumber quickly might prove challenging on a Monday after a week of record lows. I replayed possible scenarios in my mind. I didn’t like any of the alternatives.
Even though I am not particularly skilled at plumbing repairs, I began thinking about attempting the repair myself. I really dreaded it because of the location of the pipes – in a very difficult to reach location under the house. I thought of a lot of excuses. I had an extremely negative internal dialogue going on in my head. I procrastinated big time! After a lot of negative reflection, I decided to act. First, I watched some videos on YouTube on repairing plumbing leaks. Then I went to Home Depot to gather everything I could think of that might be needed to fix the leaky pipes. Finally, I consulted a friend who can fix anything. I ventured under the house to the area where the leak was located and assessed the situation. While it wasn’t particularly enjoyable, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I had played repeatedly in my mind. It wasn’t as cold as I had imagined. It wasn’t as wet I thought it would be and getting to the broken pipes took less effort that I figured. The repair even looked doable – IF the right tools were available. However, even with the right tools, the repair would have had to be made while I was on my back, in an extremely cramped location that was surrounded by other pipes and even some electrical wiring. My knowledge and tools were limited and as much as I wanted water for my family, I decided to call a professional.
Sometimes we face situations in our lives that make us imagine the worst. We replay them repeatedly in our minds making the problem worse than it really might be. Then we procrastinate over taking any action delaying a possible solution while we fret.
While it’s important to take time to think about a difficulty we are facing, pondering too long can become paralyzing – delaying potential solutions. The steps that I took to try to solve my plumbing problem could also be used in a variety of professional or even personal situations.
Remember, you can’t solve every problem you face in your work or personal life by yourself. There’s no reason to feel like a failure if you seek the advice and counsel of someone with more skills, experience, and knowledge.
“You’re fired!”
Nearly 1/4 of NFL coaches have heard those words recently. These firings include coaches who have won Super Bowls and coaches who have a roster that includes All-Pro players even past MVPs on their teams. Some of these coaches will likely end up in the NFL Hall of Fame because of their astonishingly successful careers. However, none of those things can protect a coach forever. Unfortunately, that is also true in other organizations. Like NFL coaches, leaders must maintain an environment of continuous improvement. Coaches and business leaders are a lot alike in several ways. Just like in the NFL, your role players are constantly changing. A great leader should always be considering what new talent is needed and making appropriate hires to compliment the team. Leading NFL teams win because they execute the basics extraordinarily well. The same applies in the workplace. When you get the basics like sales, customer service, finances, and human resources mastered, everything else will improve.
Sports teams rely on a massive roster off the field to succeed: assistant coaches, trainers, strength and conditioning coaches, therapist, sports psychologists, medical professionals, and others to keep the team functioning optimally. The same applies in business–supporting roles are essential to keep teams strong. Professional football has evolved and will continue to involve in the years ahead. What worked last season may not be the key to future success. In the business world, it’s important to continually look at new ways of executing tasks, serving customers, and branding products and services. Innovation is key. During a game, coaches adjust their strategies all the time. Business leaders must do the same. Feedback is vital and must be ongoing. Don’t wait until it’s too late to ask for or give important feedback. There’s a lot of on the field and post-game celebration in football. Players perform better when they receive praise and recognition. It’s amazing how much better a work team can be when they work in an environment with healthy and regular encouragement. Like in sports, sometimes in business there are changes in ownership, new board of directors and even politics that can undo everything. But the winners in football and in business play their best game, treat their teams well, and focus on what they can control, and as a result, find themselves always winning regardless of the score.
Reposted from EMR-ISAC
Registration is now open for the 9th Annual Tribal Nations Training Week at the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) in Anniston, Alabama. This event is open to all personnel who work in an emergency response capacity and are affiliated with one or more tribal nations or the Indian Health Service, and those who work directly with tribal nations. Tribal Nations Training Week will take place from March 9-16, 2024. The theme for this year’s weeklong training event is “Developing Generational Resiliency Through Training.” The deadline to register is Wednesday, March 6, 2024.
In addition to an extensive list of course offerings, the week will feature an executive session for tribal leaders or their designated representatives. The executive session is comprised of a Tribal Leaders Symposium, followed by Continuity of Government Operations Planning for Rural Communities, NIMS Overview for Senior Officials, a closed listening session with FEMA Headquarters and the Department of Homeland Security’s Tribal Advisory Council, a workshop discussion on the disaster declaration process and its requirements, and a Senior Officials Workshop for All-Hazards Preparedness.
Reposted From USSS
The U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) is pleased to offer new opportunities to attend live virtual presentations on preventing targeted violence. In these presentations, our expert researchers will share findings and implications from decades of research on targeted violence and offer strategies for preventing acts of violence impacting the places where we work, learn, worship, and otherwise live our daily lives. This list of available virtual training events is regularly updated, and presentation topics change from month to month.
To learn more about this series of live virtual presentations, or to register for one or more of these events, please follow the link below.
Reposted from Art Sentry
Museums and cultural institutions hold profound significance, serving as custodians not only of invaluable artworks but also as reflective mirrors of society, situated at the intersection of history, creativity, and human experience. Within the confines of a gallery, occasional confrontations arise, often avoidable—some visitors, whether due to real experiences or perceptions, feel targeted by security personnel. Allegations range from intentional surveillance based on age, race, or other false accusations. The motivations behind such incidents may vary, with guards potentially harboring prejudices or simply executing their duties diligently patrolling exhibits to safeguard paintings, sculptures, and historical artifacts. Instances arise where individuals inadvertently breach display boundaries, prompting guards to issue warnings like, "Please step away." A seemingly harmless act, such as leaning in to look at a painting's details or reaching out to point out an interesting feature on a sculpture, can escalate into an argument, creating an undesirable atmosphere for everyone involved. To foster an inclusive environment and address bias concerns while maintaining collection safety, museums turn to Art Sentry—a system designed to prevent unwanted touches through camera-based motion detection and alarms. This technology establishes an imperceptible protective zone around valuable pieces, issuing audible alerts to deter potential interactions. The neutral, automated alert ensures a non-confrontational response.
Museums face constant challenges in safeguarding their collections, such as unintentional damage from visitors taking selfies, handling artifacts, or exploring exhibits. While security guards diligently fulfill their roles, Art Sentry complements their efforts, mitigating biases and enhancing the overall visitor experience. Furthermore, it enables guards to cover more space without incurring additional security costs. With the Art Sentry System in place, security guards intervene only when visitors disregard audible alerts, allowing them to focus on tasks beyond continuous gallery surveillance. This technology empowers security personnel to engage with visitors, answer inquiries, and provide directions, fostering a more welcoming environment. By employing Art Sentry, museums reduce the risk of artwork damage and align with Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion (DEAI) goals. Implementing comprehensive measures, including security protocols, signage, stanchions, and innovative technologies, ensures a balance between preserving precious collections and creating a positive, inclusive visitor experience.
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