T-Mobile Will Retire Sprint Brand, Unify Retail Stores In Mid-Summer

In an investor conference call this week, new T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert said that he’s targeting mid-summer as the time when the T-Mobile and Sprint brand will be unified. “This was originally planned for early summer but was pushed to mid-summer due to the coronavirus pandemic,” notes PhoneDog. From the report: T-Mobile actually began combining the networks for T-Mo and Sprint…

Today is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day

Today is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, which catalyzed action to protect the environment, not just in the US but internationally. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/first-earth-day-50th-anniversary-april22-2020…

Federal Support Ends For Coronavirus Testing Sites As Pandemic Peak Nears

An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: Some local officials are disappointed the federal government will end funding for coronavirus testing sites this Friday. In a few places those sites will close as a result. This as criticism continues that not enough testing is available. In the Philadelphia suburbs, Montgomery County has a drive-through site that has tested 250 people…

Fastest sunsets happen near equinoxes

We’re talking about the amount of time needed for the body of the sun to sink below the horizon. It’s true. The sun actually sets faster around the time of an equinox. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/when-are-the-fastest-sunsets…

Delivery Apps Keep Adding Restaurants Without Their Consent

Several delivery services, including Postmates, Seamless, Grubhub, and DoorDash, are offering food from restaurants without their explicit permission. “The delivery apps pull up restaurant menus listed online, from which customers make their selections, and couriers working for the apps place orders on their behalf,” reports Eater. “The process essentially inserts third-party apps as middlemen into a service many restaurants say they…

Quest To Use CRISPR Against Disease Gains Ground

The prospect of using the popular genome-editing tool CRISPR to treat a host of diseases in people is moving closer to reality. From a report: Medical applications of CRISPR-Cas9 had a banner year in 2019. The first results trickled in from trials testing the tool in people, and more trials launched. In the coming years, researchers are looking ahead to more…

Latest sunrises (north) and sunsets (south) in early January

Shortest and longest days at the solstices, but latest sunrises (Northern Hemisphere) and sunsets (Southern Hemisphere) in early January. Nature is subtle on a tilted Earth, pursuing an elliptical orbit around the sun. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/latest-sunrises-for-midnorthern-latitudes-in-early-january…

Earliest sunsets for 40 degrees N. around now

Earliest sunsets for 30 degrees N. were centered on late November and early December. Earliest sunsets at mid-northern latitudes are happening now. S. Hemisphere? Watch for your earliest sunrises. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/earliest-sunset-today-but-not-shortest-day…

Brief but potent meteor outburst expected November 21-22

Exciting news! Some lucky observers may catch a brief outburst of alpha Monocerotid meteors this Thursday night (or Friday morning). And we do mean brief. Peak activity – a rate of 400 meteors per hour – is expected to last 15 to 40 minutes. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/possible-meteor-outburst-alpha-monocerotids-nov-21-22-2019…

Is America’s Federal Banking System Considering Its Own Digital Cryptocurrency?

America’s lawmakers and Federal Reserve officials “are so concerned about Facebook’s plans to launch a new digital currency,” reports Politico’s financial services reporter, “that they’re contemplating a novel response — having the central bank create a competitor.”
Momentum is building for an idea that was once considered outlandish — a U.S. government-run virtual currency that would replace physical cash, a dramatic move…