From the Wired Magazine website
On New Year’s Eve of last year, the artificial intelligence platform BlueDot picked up an anomaly. It registered a cluster of unusual pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China. BlueDot, based in Toronto, Canada, uses natural language processing and machine learning to track, locate, and report on infectious disease spread. It sends out its alerts to a variety of clients, including health care, government, business, and public health bodies. It had spotted what would come to be known as Covid-19, nine days before the World Health Organization released its statement alerting people to the emergence of a novel coronavirus.
BlueDot’s role in spotting the outbreak was an early example of AI intervention. Artificial intelligence has already played a useful but fragmented role in many aspects of the global fight against the coronavirus. In the past months, AI has been used for prediction, screening, contact alerts, faster diagnosis, automated deliveries, and laboratory drug discovery.
From the Breaking Defense website
Creating a limited Space Force National Guard and Reserve along the lines proposed by Adjutant Generals in February will cost about $100 million each year to operate, says the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). An additional $20 million might be incurred by DoD in one-time costs for the construction of new facilities, says a new study released today.
Senior leadership of the Guard and Reserve, including Gen. Joseph Lengyel, head of the National Guard Bureau, have argued strenuously that a separate component is needed to support the Space Force to maintain a smooth chain of command and a consistent training profile.
And they have some pretty strong backing on Capitol Hill.
Off the 117th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment Facebook page
Hawaii Army National Guard Soldiers with 230th Engineer Company, 103rd Troop Command conduct ropes refresher training during COVID-19 operations on the island of Maui, Kihei, Hawaii, May 16, 2020. This type of training is vital to the search and extraction mission conducted by members of the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive (CBRNE) Enhanced Response Force Package (CERFP).
More photographs by SFC Theresa Gualdarama
From the This Day in Aviation website
5 June 1948: Flying at 40,000 feet (12,192 meters), north of Muroc Air Force Base, California, the second Northrop YB-49 “flying wing,” serial number 42-102368, was undergoing stall recovery performance testing with a crew of five aboard. The pilot was Major Daniel A. Forbes, Jr., United States Air Force, and the co-pilot was Captain Glen W. Edwards.
From the Kaiser Health News website
It takes moxie to flip an unhealthy lifestyle to a healthy one — particularly for folks over 60.
Most baby boomers approach retirement age unwilling to follow basic healthy lifestyle goals established by the American Heart Association, said Dr. Dana King, professor and chairman of the department of family medicine at West Virginia University, referencing his university’s 2017 study comparing the healthy lifestyle rates of retired late-middle-aged adults with rates among those still working.
Kaiser Health News interviewed three other prominent experts on aging and health about how seniors can find the will to adopt healthier habits.
“People do financial planning for retirement, but what about retirement health planning?” King said.
Motivated seniors can begin by following KHN’s 10-step program:
As Honolulu restaurants reopen today, these two articles off the Frolic Hawaii website will help you with your sit down lunch or dinner planning.
New Department of Health guidelines drive changes to restaurant dining as we knew it before the start of the pandemic.
The first article – These Oahu restaurants are reopening for dine-in – is a listing of restaurants that are reopening. Most have a link to the restaurant’s website for more information. Frolic has updated the list since it first appeared on May 22.
The second article – Changes you’ll see when you eat at restaurants again – covers the new requirements like, social distancing, masks seating, etc. for some of the restaurants on the first article’s list. Recommend you call or visit the website of any restaurant where you plan to dine.
Several restaurants, like Zippy’s, have chosen to reopen at later dates.
Happy dining
Attached is today’s COVID-19 Daily News Update issued by Hawaii State Department of Health.
There is a large amount of speculation regarding COVID-19, please rely on OFFICIAL sources for accurate information. We added a long term post on the maroon bar above titled “COVID-19 Information.” The post includes links to the Hawaii Department of Health, the CDC and the FEMA websites.
Off the 117th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment Facebook page
Kauai Mayor Derek Kawakami expressed his gratitude to the Soldiers and Airmen of the Hawaii National Guard at Lihue Airport, Lihue, Kauai, May 28, 2020, when 58 Guard members departed Kauai to Oahu where they’ll out-process off orders and reunite with their families.
With the combined leadership of Mayor Kawakami and Task Force Kauai Commander LTC Auredith Tumpap, these Guard members made a difference to the County’s response to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 including, but not limited to having provided an array of civil support services from temperature screenings of airport passengers, member of the community, assisting Kauai Police Department with security checkpoints, and helping out with local food distribution sites.
More photographs by 2LT Haley Delos Santos
From the This Day in Aviation website
4 June 1974: Second Lieutenant Sally D. Woolfolk, United States Army, graduated from the Rotary Wing Flight School at the Sally D. Woolfolk, Fort Rucker, Alabama. She was the first woman to be designated a U.S. Army Aviator.
From the Task and Purpose website
This story was originally published by ProPublica.
When they passed another bill this month to help the tens of millions of Americans left unemployed and hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic, Democrats in the House of Representatives touted the $3 trillion legislation’s benefits to working people, renters, first responders and others struggling to get by.
They made no mention of the defense contractors.
Tucked away deep in the nearly 2,000-page Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions, or HEROES, Act, is a section that will funnel money to defense and intelligence companies and their top executives, according to experts.
The Senate passed this bill on June 3, 2020. News reports did not indicate if money for the defense contractors were removed or survived the Senate vote.
From the Frolic Hawaii website
Waikiki with no crowds and cheap parking? And room on the beach? We might not see this again in our lifetime.
Parking structures are luring back locals with good deals, just ahead of Friday’s reopening of more than two dozen restaurants for dine-in service from one end of Waikiki to the other. Dozens more restaurants are serving up takeout.
Attached is today’s COVID-19 Daily News Update issued by Hawaii State Department of Health.
There is a large amount of speculation regarding COVID-19, please rely on OFFICIAL sources for accurate information. We added a long term post on the maroon bar above titled “COVID-19 Information.” The post includes links to the Hawaii Department of Health, the CDC and the FEMA websites.
From the Images of Old Hawaii website
Fear of a repeat-attack on Pearl Harbor prompted the Army and Navy to plan a less vulnerable, bomb-proof complex, designed and built as an underground open bay with floor space for an aircraft assembly and repair plant.
Construction on the $23-million underground complex began in 1942 and was completed in late-1944. It was a free-standing structure that was later covered with 5-feet of soil for pineapple cultivation.
It was in immediate proximity to Wheeler Army Airfield and Waieli Gulch Field. (While Wheeler remains an active military facility, Waieli Gulch Field only lasted through the war – however, remnants of the runway can still be seen.)
Continue reading – Great old photographs
Newly integrated U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor weapons are now operational, bringing expanded air-to-air and air-to-ground attack technology to the stealth fighter following the production of a multi-year software upgrade program intended to prepare the jet for a major great-power war.
Called Increment 3.2B, the upgrade includes AIM-120D and AIM-9X air-to-air missiles and brings improved surface strike technology. The software upgrades, which have been underway for many years, are now ready for war. “Air Combat Command authorized the release and fielding of the F-22 Update 6 Operational Flight Program for incorporation into Increment 3.2B,” a statement from F-22-maker Lockheed Martin read.
Retiree News 