US to buy #icebreakers from #Finland, #Trump says after golfing with #Stubb
Even though there was high ice cover over all the Great Lakes this winter, it was effectively just a short blip. Most of the 2025 Great Lakes have been well below average both before and after mid-February. As a result, the St. Lawrence seaway is opening early. The Soo locks Lake Superior-Huron is opening this Fri Mar 21, and the Welland Canal the next day with the top-hat ceremony, along with Montreal-Lake Ontario. 
https://www.standard-freeholder.com/news/ice-breaking-st-lawrence-river
#icebreakers #shipping #GreatLakes #ClimateChange
Attending this short creative workshop weekly and they keep doing these supposed ice breaking exercises at the start like "two truths and a lie" which are met with determined silence and brooding non-compliance from all attendees.
It's quite amusing.
#people #communication #BS #TeamBuildingBollocks #IceBreakers
New video!
Great Get to Know Each Other Board Games
We share some great ice breaker games while answering a question about games to get to know the boy she brings home.
I’m in the middle of this series so grabbing a sale book helps! $.99 for Touched By Ice #icebreakers #ad
https://amzn.to/49C8vsA
If you're in meetings or gatherings where people use an opening question to get the conversational ball rolling you may appreciate this list collected by Rob Walker, author of The Art of Noticing. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j4rj883slFvh1zZLGedqQFM0wqCrHlIEPE62K0LkKak/edit
It is already a late ice year, and it is almost certainly going to be another low ice year on the Great Lakes in 2024. Part of our responsibilities at Fisheries and Oceans Canada #DFO is providing safe passage for ship traffic using Canadian Coast Guard #icebreakers. Currently, we have 3 for the #GreatLakes, and the CCGS Samuel Risley and Griffon will be working the lakes above the Welland Canal (Erie, Huron, Georgian Bay, Superior), but may have little to do this year.
https://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/winter-is-coming-canadian-icebreakers-on-windsor-standby
I know I'm not the only one here who's weirdly particular about weirdly particular things! Sure everyone's got there favorite color, favorite food, favorite movie, favorite season...
I say those are basic favorites! I say, let's all of us share a favorite about something weirdly specific that we like to be particular about! I'll start.
My favorite aspect ratio is 16:9
Does anyone have a favourite icebreaker question for meetings where people don’t know each other (think training courses, inter-department work meetings etc.)?
I used to like, “what’s your name and what was the first album you bought?”, but this only works well if you’re, ahem, older (pre-streaming).
Current favourite is “which actor/ess would you want to play you in a movie about your life? And what movie would it be in the style of?”
Any other favourites?
The CCGS Amundsen (named for Arctic explorer Roald Amundsen) is different from the other #Canadian #icebreakers in that it was originally the Sir John Franklin, but was bought by a consortium of Canadian universities and federal departments in 2002 to be used as a dedicated Arctic research vessel. It is run by Canadian Coast Guard, but there is much more input and involvement in the cruises from Canadian universities on this vessel.
https://cabinradio.ca/154567/news/environment/climate/on-an-icebreaker-scientists-study-the-last-ice-area-before-it-disappears/
The #US wants to spend $13 billion to build Arctic #icebreakers, in order to compete with #Russia and #China. Except, the US seems to have "lost" the technology to do so.
"U.S. officials are racing to procure new polar icebreakers because one of only two that the Coast Guard now sails has reached the end of its life, and the one assigned to the Arctic is out of service for maintenance every winter."
"Delivery of the first new icebreaker has slipped to 2028 from 2024 as designers, engineers and welders grapple with something the U.S. hasn’t done in decades: reliably shape hardened steel that is more than an inch thick into a curved, reinforced ship’s hull."
"The Coast Guard hasn’t launched a new heavy icebreaker since 1976. Out of practice, U.S. shipbuilders have had to relearn how to design and build the specialized vessel, say officials in the industry and the government."
"By comparison, Russia has three dozen national icebreakers suitable for the Arctic, according to the U.S. Coast Guard, and China has four, including two icebreaking research ships that regularly appear at high latitudes."
"The machinery and skills to build the hulls of most oceangoing vessels aren’t sufficient for the specialized icebreakers. The hull plates need a bespoke alloy and specialized heat-treatment, with a process to form and weld massive curved plates."
“Higher-strength steels require very skilled people,” said Jeff Moskaluk, senior vice president at SSAB Americas.... “It’s not like you just treat it the same as any other piece of steel. It takes a beating—that’s exactly what the steel is designed for.”
"In addition to the technical challenge, American yards are reckoning with a shortage of shipwrights. Employment in ship and boat building totaled just 154,800 in July after peaking at 1.3 million during World War II, according to data from the Federal Reserve."
'“One of the challenges is the workforce—getting qualified welders,” said Bob Merchent, retired former chief executive of VT Halter Marine, since acquired by Bollinger Shipyards. '
So many people seem to think that because we are the US, we have the best technology in the world, and the most skilled workers.
That used to be true. It hasn't for a long time now, though, and the situation is getting worse, jeopardizing national security in multiple ways.
We don't have the designers or experienced engineers. We don't have the shipwrights or welders. We are having trouble with basic execution, because investment bankers don't understand #technology, and think blue collar workers are interchangeable.
It isn't just our inability to build super-sophisticated #hypersonic #missiles, while Russia and China can.
We can't even build an icebreaker, while "poor, pathetic, backward" Russia has 36 in service.
If I could eliminate the use of #icebreakers from just the professional realm, I'd feel as if I'd contributed a wee bit to the wellbeing of humanity.
#Icebreakers Can Actually Be Useful https://www.modusinstitute.com/blog/icebreakers-can-actually-be-useful
"Connection activities are not #icebreakers... because many #icebreakers have nothing to do with the training topic or concepts, they waste valuable learning time." Sharon L. Bowman #TrainingFromTheBackOfTheRoom
“Okay, let’s go around and everyone tell us your name, pronouns, where you call home, your program, research interests, and maybe something fun, like…”
Just saw @rejectedjokes@Twitter.com ask this question over on the birdsite, so thought I'd have some fun and pose it for my fellow Mastodonians too:
WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE MOVIES OF ALL-TIME?
Welcome. My first post was of #Max. #Pets are great #Icebreakers!
#Maximoo #Maxodon #Labrador #Blacklab
#GardenersDog #Dog
#DogsofMastodon
#Boop
CrimethInc.: **Santiago de Chile: Solidarity to the #Icebreakers : From Those Denied Entry into the Us (& Their Friends)**
"An open letter from Chile expressing support for the occupations of ICE offices and detention centers around the United States."
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