Open House Fact Sheet: Fill & Download for Free

Unlike the United States, Russia has a sizable fleet of icebreakers.According to the White House fact sheet, Russia currently operates 40 icebreakers and has another 11 planned or under construction. Out of the 40 around 27 are ocean-going icebreakers, some of which are nuclear-powered. Russia is also planning to introduce a new class of super-nuclear icebreakers, by the end of 2020.According to The Diplomat magazine, the United States has only two operational icebreakers: the Polar Star and the Healy. However, only the Polar Star is a heavy icebreaker capable of accessing all of the Arctic year-round. Furthermore, the Polar Star, commissioned in 1976, is slated to reach the end of its operational lifespan in 2020.UpdateWhy are icebreakers important? Nearly a quarter of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas may lie under the Arctic seabed; for commercial shippers, the opening of the Northeast Passage would shorten voyages between the Asia-Pacific region and Europe.Update #2 (2019)In August 2019, President Donald Trump floated the idea of buying Greenland from Denmark. Greenland’s growing strategic value is linked tightly to new Arctic shipping lanes.Update #3 (2020)In June 2020, President Donald Trump ordered a cross-government push to deliver a new fleet of icebreaker ships by 2029 aimed at bolstering US presence in the polar regions and maintaining a critical foothold in the high north.

I could spend hours and hours on this.Here are just a few:Precision medicine: FACT SHEET: Obama Administration Announces Key Actions to Accelerate Precision Medicine InitiativeUsing data to increase trust in community policing: FACT SHEET: White House Police Data Initiative Highlights New CommitmentsData + civil rights - Big Risks, Big Opportunities: the Intersection of Big Data and Civil RightsUsing data to address our criminal justice system: Call to Action: Data-Driven Justice Initiative, Disrupting Cycle of IncarcerationThe way forward w/ A.I.: Public Input and Next Steps on the Future of Artificial IntelligenceOpening up data to understand big issues in society such as the 7.2% rise in traffic fatalities 2015 Traffic Fatalities Data Has Just Been Released: A Call to Action to Download and AnalyzeMORE DATA! Data.govUsing data at the local city level — the Oppertunity Project: Fact Sheet: The White House Launches The Opportunity Project,” Utilizing Open Data to Build Stronger Ladders of Opportunity for AllClimate change. It’s real. That’s not a debate. We need to use the data to figure out what we’re going to do about it.

When my maternal grandmother died, I was 13, and she’d lived with us for two years. She had cancer as well as the early stages of Alzheimer’s. My adult heart aches imagining her internal landscape during those last months.My parents’ solution to constant phone calls during the day was creating a Forgettery Book. It spelled out simple, recent facts, such as her house having been sold, that she was living with us, that she was being treated for cancer. Despite the cutesy name, it was a horrible idea.It didn’t stop her from feeling scared and confused. It didn’t help her make sense of anything.I remember waking her from a nap one afternoon, to get her ready for my parents’ annual holiday Open House.“Gaggie, it’s time to get ready for the party!” My 12-year-old self had no clue how jarring this announcement would be.“Well, I’ve only been here for a day, how would I know about a party?”“But Gaggie, you’ve been living here for a year.”I wish I’d known then how to respond gently, with patience and kindness. Thirty years later, I can still see the look of horror on her face.After she died, I found a romance novel in her room. I took it to read, to feel closer to her in some small way. Scribbled in the margins throughout, in her spidery hand, were notes she’d left to herself.You sold your house.Don’t call Chris.Don’t bother Chris at work.It broke my heart. I wish that she’d felt nurtured, not a burden, in her final years.Forgettery Books or Fact Sheets: They are angry banners stating, “You are a burden. Don’t bother me with this question again.”Caregiving is hard. It can be a marathon, for everyone involved. It’s especially difficult when the person you love seems to be receding before your eyes. But when they’re gone, often all that you long for is one more day with them. One more hour. One more conversation. Whatever that looks like.Grief is painful enough without adding regret to the mix.I repeated this to myself, almost as a mantra, while my father was dying last year. He was bitter, often confused, and not exactly kind to us as we cared for him. It took Herculean effort to be patient with him at times.Dig deep. Lean on those you can. No regrets.