The Smithtown Township Arts Council (STAC) has announced that the works of artist Tina Anthony will be on view at Apple Bank, 91 Route 111, Smithtown now through February 4, 2021. The exhibition, part of STAC’s Outreach Gallery Program, can be viewed during regular banking hours. Modified business hours due to COVID-19 are Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Some artists take a long time to fulfill a dream. Tina Anthony was always drawn to painting, but life always seemed to get in the way of her paintbrushes and easels. Ms. Anthony raised a family and taught school for 35 years. Then after a long period, she decided to study Art. Fortunately, she found many great instructors on Long Island and has studied pastels, oils, drawing and watercolor.
Tina Anthony has been actively showing her work at various galleries across Long Island. Living only one block from Crab Meadow Beach and only a short distance from Stony Brook, the marshes and meadows have become a force of nature for this beach wanderer and observer of light.
For more information, call 631-862-6575.
Images courtesy of STAC
Suffolk County Police arrested a man Tuesday night after he allegedly shot a housemate with a crossbow in Stony Brook.
Police said James Nicosia was involved in a discussion with his landlord at his residence, located at 269 Hallock Road, when Xiaonan Sun, who is the landlord’s son and one of Nicosia’s housemates, allegedly shot him with a crossbow at around 6:55 p.m. Police did not give motive for the shooting.
Nicosia, 41, was transported to Stony Brook University Hospital in serious, but stable condition.
Police charged Sun, 36, with assault in the 2nd degree. He was held overnight at the 6th Precinct and is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip Dec. 30.
Suffolk County Police detectives are continuing to investigate a car crash that killed a pedestrian in Stony Brook Tuesday night.
Police said Kimani R. Porter was driving a 2017 Dodge truck southbound on Nicolls Road, at the intersection of Shirley Kenny Drive, when the vehicle struck Kenneth Rott who was crossing the street at approximately 6:45 p.m Dec. 29. Rott, 60, of Kings Park was pronounced dead at the scene. Porter, 31, of Brooklyn was not injured.
The Dodge was impounded for a safety check. Detectives are asking anyone with information on the crash to contact the 6th Squad at 631-856-8652.
Brookhaven Town Councilman Kevin LaValle (center) attended a ribbon cutting for Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen in Centereach on Nov. 23. Located at 1770 Middle Country Road in front of Island Thrift, the fast-food chain is known for its signature chicken, fried shrimp, biscuits and most recently, its fried chicken sandwiches.
“I was happy to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony for Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen … I want to thank them for giving me the grand tour of their new building and letting me try some of their delicious food, and I wish them the best of luck with their new business!” said Councilman LaValle.
In addition to the Centereach location, there are currently nine other Popeyes locations in Suffolk County including Patchogue, Shirley, Lindenhurst, Bay Shore, Huntington, Riverhead, Brentwood, Deer Park and Coram.
The Bicycle Film Festival is coming to Long Island! The international film festival celebrating bicycles through art, film and music throughout the last 20 years is back – and now it’s virtual! Hosted by the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington, the festival begins January 22 and runs through January 31.
BFF Long Island presents a 90-minute international film program of the most important short films from the BFF collection. BFF select shorts will appeal to a wide audience from film connoisseurs to avid cyclists and everything in between. Let the BFF curated collection take you on a journey around the world as we learn about a charismatic Ghanaian immigrant in Amsterdam who teaches refugee adult women to ride bikes – experience a birds-eye view of a BLM bicycle protest ride from New York to DC – feel the anguish of a father’s loss – the struggle of a young woman and her bike in Iran – and reprieve from genocide through cycle sport.
“In a year of a global pandemic, economic strife, violent acts by racist groups, a contentious election period the bicycle boom worldwide is optimistic news to celebrate. We hope to offer a positive respite from all of this for people,” said BFF Founding Director, Brendt Barbur.
Founded in New York BFF has been celebrating bicycles through art, film and music the last 20 years. The physical BFF spanned the world in up to 100 cities to an audience of over one million people. The international locales included Paris, London, Tokyo, Shanghai, Moscow, Mexico City, Capetown and Istanbul and more at some of the most important venues such as Sydney Opera House and the Barbican or an old factory in Zurich. The Subcultures of cycling have shared equal billing with the most exciting innovators in music, art, design and film. Participants have included: Erykah Badu, Karl Lagerfeld, Francesco Clemente, Shepard Fairey, Albert Maysles, Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, Alex Katz, Kaws, Mike Mills, Paul Smith, the Neistat Brothers, Tom Sachs, Ridley Scott, Kiki Smith, Swoon, and Ai Weiwei.
Program Event Fees: Pay-what-you-want, between $10 and $25. Tickets can be purchased on the Cinema Arts Centre website. www.cinemaartscentre.org. Or by visiting the event page: https://bit.ly/BicycleFFLI
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MEET MIA!
This week’s shelter pet is Mia, a loving and energetic two year-old Pit/Lab Mix currently waiting at the Smithtown Animal Shelter for her furever home.
Equal parts goofy and affectionate, Mia came to the shelter as a stray after being hit by a car and fortunately sustaining only minor injuries. She loves to whip around her rope toys and chase after balls and thinks she is a lap dog and will crawl in your lap and shower you with kisses.
Mia was a yard dog, so she is protective of her space when it comes to strangers, and she will require a home that can properly introduce her to new people. Once she meets a new friend, she loves them unconditionally. Mia would be best as the only pet in the home. She comes spayed, up to date on her vaccines and microchipped.
If you are interested in meeting Mia, please call ahead to schedule an hour to properly interact with her in a domestic setting, which includes a Meet and Greet Room, the dog runs, and a Dog Walk trail. Family Pet Meet and Greets and at home interactions are also welcome and an integral part of the adoption process.
The Smithtown Animal & Adoption Shelter is located at 410 Middle Country Road, Smithtown. Shelter operating hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the week, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the weekend. For more information, please call 631-360-7575 or visit www.smithtownanimalshelter.com.
Resolutions that focus on health and fitness are made each year. Numerous people are eager to lose weight, improve their physical fitness levels or even stop habits that can hinder their mental or physical wellness.
People have many options when they seek to lose weight. Fad diets may promise quick results, but highly restrictive eating plans or marathon workout sessions can be dangerous. Taking shortcuts or risks in the hopes of losing weight can lead to various health issues and ultimately put people’s overall health in serious jeopardy. Thankfully, there are many safe ways people can lose weight. The first step in safe weight loss is to visit a doctor and let him or her know your plans. The doctor can help determine if a specific eating plan or exercise routine is safe based on your current health.
Certain medications can affect metabolism and even contribute to weight gain, so a discussion with the doctor can help ensure people aren’t putting their health in jeopardy when their goal is to get healthy. It’s also vital that people trying to lose weight do not believe everything they read online.
Research published in The American Journal of Public Health in October 2014 found that most people who search the internet for tips on how to lose weight come across false or misleading information on weight loss, particularly in regard to how quickly they can shed some pounds. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises the safest amount of weight to lose per week is between one and two pounds. People who lose more per week, particularly on fad diets or programs, oftentimes are much more likely to regain weight later on than people who took more measured approaches to losing weight.
In addition, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics notes it is better to lose weight gradually because if a person sheds pounds too fast, he or she can lose muscle, bone and water instead of fat. The calories in, calories out concept is something to keep in mind when attempting to lose weight. But metabolism and other factors, including body composition and physical activity levels, also are factors. How well one’s body turns calories into fuel also needs to be considered. The best ways to experiment are to start slowly. • Calculate the average daily calories consumed in a day using a tracker. This can be a digital app on a phone or simply writing down calories on a piece of paper. Track over a few days and see, on average, how many calories you’ve been consuming.
• Notice extra calories. Many diets can be derailed by eating extra calories that you don’t realize you’re consuming. That cookie a coworker insists you eat or the leftover mac-and-cheese from your toddler’s plate can be sources of extra calories. Be mindful of what’s being consumed, including sweetened beverages.
• Explore the science. According to the Scotland-based health service NHS Inform, one pound of fat contains 3,500 calories on average. Cutting calorie intake by 500 calories per day should see you lose 1 pound per week. The same goes in the other direction. Eating 500 more calories per day for a year can result in gaining close to 50 pounds. Small changes really add up.
• Eat filling foods. Choose low-calorie, high quality foods, like vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins. Meals that provide satiety can help eliminate between-meals snacks that can derail your weight loss efforts.
• Seek support as a way to create accountability. Share weight loss plans with a friend or relative who can help monitor your progress and keep you on track.
• Incorporate strength training. Good Housekeeping says the more lean muscle you have, the faster you can slim down. Start slowly with strength training, using free weights or body weights. Aim for strength workouts three to four times per week and alternate with calorie-blasting cardio. Explore safer ways to lose weight, including taking a gradual approach that promotes long-term weight loss.
A paper published in Frontiers in Marine Science on December 15 is calling for action to remove the oil from a decaying and inactive tanker in the Red Sea that holds approximately one million barrels of oil – four times the amount of oil contained in the Exxon Valdez, the tanker that had a disastrous environmental oil spill in 1989 – before its current seepage turns into a massive oil spill into the sea. The paper, a policy brief, is authored by a team of international scientists led by Karine Kleinhaus, MD, MPH, an Associate Professor of the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) at Stony Brook University.
Called the Safer, the tanker is a floating storage and offloading unit (FSO) abandoned for years, and with access controlled by Yemen’s Houthis. The paper, titled “A Closing Window of Opportunity to Save a Unique Marine Ecosystem,” comes shortly after The New York Times reported on November 24 that the Houthis will grant permission to a United Nations (UN) team to board the Safer to inspect and repair the vessel in the near future.
“The time is now to prevent a potential devastation to the region’s waters and the livelihoods and health of millions of people living in half a dozen countries along the Red Sea’s coast,” says Dr. Kleinhaus. “If a spill from the Safer is allowed to occur, the oil would spread via ocean currents to devastate a global ocean resource, as the coral reefs of the northern Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba are projected to be among the last reef ecosystems in the world to survive the coming decades.”
She explained that the reason the coral reefs of the northern Red Sea are unique is because they survive in much warmer waters than today’s ocean temperatures, which are becoming too high for most coral to tolerate (over half of the Great Barrier Reef has degraded due to marine heat waves caused by climate change). Additionally, the fish living on the reefs off Yemen in the southern Red Sea are a major resource of food for the populations of the region, and the entire sea and its coral reefs are a highly biodiverse and rich ecosystem.
Dr. Kleinhaus and co-authors point out that in May 2020 seawater breached the Safer and entered the engine compartment, and news agencies have reported oil spots next to the tanker, indicating likely seepage. The tanker has been abandoned since 2015, which the authors emphasize is a long advance warning of a decaying tanker poised to degrade to the point of a mass oil leak into the Red Sea.
The paper reveals a computer model of how the oil will disperse if a major leak begins this winter. The model shows that the oil will reach much further if the spill occurs now rather than in summer, due to the typical winter currents in that region of the Red Sea. A spill now will cause much broader and more extensive devastation as a result.
Despite the signs of the Safer’s structural deterioration, access to the tanker has yet to be achieved and concrete steps to repair or to prevent an oil spill have yet to been taken, the authors point out. Dr. Kleinhaus adds that winter is the worst time to have an oil spill in that region, as winter currents will disperse oil much more widely.
The authors urge that “Emergent action must be taken by the UN and its International Maritime Organization to address the threat of the Safer, despite political tensions, as a spill will have disastrous environmental and humanitarian consequences, especially if it occurs during winter. With millions of barrels of oil, a day passing through the Red Sea, a regional strategy must be drafted for leak prevention and containment that is specific to the Red Sea’s unique ecosystems, unusual water currents, and political landscape.”
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