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Comment FB fact-checking (Score 3, Interesting) 225

I was "fact-checked" by FB a couple of months ago when I posted on an amateur astrophotography group an article about the Bortle light pollution scale. For those not sure what this is , it's a 1-10 scale where 1 is no light pollution at all (mostly this means high altitude or very remote sites), and 10 is inner city sky - ie virtually no astronomical sights/sites can be seen. https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F... My post was too much for the "fact-checker" and I was prevented from posting anything to any page - even those I am an admin of - for a week. Heaven help us if the new process is "better"

Comment Re:No problem with incoming batteries (Score 1) 203

Yes. In summary, here in Oz panels are cheap and there are financial incentives to install them, but batteries are expensive, so people don't install them. Governments and planners still haven't got their heads around the need for "community batteries" for example, or the need to subsidise house owners to actually buy them.

Comment From my wife (Score 3, Insightful) 127

I'll comment on this, second hand from my wife who was the Nurse Unit Manager of a palliative care ward for over 10 years. When she started VAD was virtually non-existant, but when she retired it was becoming more available. She was and still is a supporter of VAD, because she pointed out that when someone was in extreme pain, they were often so "drugged up" with pain killers to the point where their bodily and mental functions shut down that they died anyway. She sometimes asked if this was akin to murder/manslaughter, because by the time this extreme medication was being administered, they had no say in what treatment they were prepared to accept - because they couldn't say anything. I certainly want the option if I need it and will fight tooth and nail to get it.

Submission + - US Congress to open another UAP (UFO) hearing (space.com)

thephydes writes: The hearing will go ahead on November 13th at 11.30ET (16.30GMT)
Apparently it will "further pull back the curtain on secret UAP research programs conducted by the U.S. government, and undisclosed findings they have yielded,"

It's driven by two republicans, Nancy Mace and Glenn Grothman, who say:
"Americans deserve to understand what the government has learned about UAP sightings, and the nature of any potential threats these phenomena pose. We can only ensure that understanding by providing consistent, systemic transparency. We look forward to hearing from expert witnesses on ways to shed more light and bring greater accountability to this issue,"

Comment or 70 hour weeks (Score 1) 226

According to Bhavish Aggarwal - founder of Ola Cabs - we should be working 70 hour weeks, and claims that he works 20 hour days, 7 days per week. Quoted as saying "The younger generation today wants a little bit off – I don't agree with this work life balance concept," https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theregister.com%2F20...

Submission + - Mars hit by around 300 basketball sized meteorites each year

thephydes writes: Analysis of data collected from the Mars Insight lander mission — which ended in 2022 — suggests that around 300 basketball sized meteorites strike Mars each year.
https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticle...

The analysis was carried out by scientists at the Imperial College London and ETH Zurich.
It found that these meteorites can produce craters larger than 3m in diameter.

A report on this study in The Register says of the analysis of marsquakes:
"The rate of these marsquakes, which were detected by InSight’s ‘seismometer’ – an instrument capable of measuring the slightest ground movements – exceeds previous estimates based on satellite images of Mars’ surface."

Submission + - SHELOC back online (nasa.gov)

thephydes writes: JPL has announced that the SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals) on the Perseverance Rover has been brought back online.
https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jpl.nasa.gov%2Fnews%2F...

“Six months of running diagnostics, testing, imagery and data analysis, troubleshooting, and retesting couldn’t come with a better conclusion,” said SHERLOC principal investigator Kevin Hand of JPL.

The original description of SHERLOC says : Mounted on the rover's robotic arm, SHERLOC uses cameras, spectrometers, and a laser to search for organics and minerals that have been altered by watery environments and may be signs of past microbial life. In addition to its black-and-white context camera, SHERLOC is assisted by WATSON, a color camera for taking close-up images of rock grains and surface textures.

Comment My win 10 computer did this too (Score 1) 166

Perhaps I didn't read the fine print, but my win 10 PC started doing this without notification. What really pissed me off is that any files in odt were deleted and not transferred at all, as were some pdf's - only macrorshaft office files were uploaded. So if I hadn't been backing up all my files regularly to an external hdd, hundreds of hours of work on my family history would have been lost. As it was, I had to get some copies from my sister to who I had given them, and some had to be re-created from the remaining pdf's. So, lesson learned - all documents, downloads, photos etc are on separate disks to "drive C", and I continue to back up regularly. - fuck you macroshaft. Why am I using win instead of unbuntu? Very good question that I've asked myself several times since then.

Submission + - Is there life on Enceladus?

thephydes writes: Enceladus is one of 146 moons of Saturn — discovered in1789 by William Herschel. It does have the potential to host life as we know it, according to Prof Michelle Dougherty.

“Enceladus has three key ingredients that are considered to be essential for the appearance of life,” said astronomer Prof Michele Dougherty of Imperial College London. “It has got liquid water, organic material and a source of heat. That combination makes it my favourite moon in the whole solar system.”

To investigate this possibility, ESA is considering a mission to more closely study the moon.

https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsc...

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