Megalodon shark’s enormous babies ate their siblings in the womb

Megalodons – the extinct giant sharks that lived in most of Earth’s oceans about 3 million years ago – gave birth to babies that were larger than adult humans, scientists say. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/megalodon-extinct-giant-shark-enormous-babies…

Tech CEO Apologizes After His Arrest Over Capitol Hill Protests

“Turning digital data into profit,” is the slogan of Cognesia, a data analytics company whose client list includes Visa, Rolls-Royce, and Toys ‘R’ Us. Now Variety reports:
Brad Rukstales, the chief executive of a Chicago-area company that provides data-marketing solutions, said he was arrested Wednesday after he entered the U.S. Capitol alongside a mob of pro-Trump rioters seeking to overturn the 2020…

‘Companies Are Fleeing California. Blame Bad Government.’

Bloomberg Editorial Board: Amid raging wildfires, rolling blackouts and a worsening coronavirus outbreak, it has not been a great year for California. Unfortunately, the state is also reeling from a manmade disaster: an exodus of thriving companies to other states. In just the past few months, Hewlett Packard Enterprise said it was leaving for Houston. Oracle said it would decamp for…

Last full moon of the decade, again

The last full moon of 2020 – and the last full moon of the 202nd decade – happens on December 29 or 30, 2020, depending on your time zone. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/last-full-moon-of-the-decade-on-december-29-30…

Bitcoin Miners in Nordic Region Get a Boost From Cheap Power

The Nordic region once again has become a lucrative place to mine crypto-currencies, thanks to a plunge in electricity prices. From a report: The wettest weather in at least 20 years boosted production from hydro-electric plants, leaving Sweden and Norway with some of the lowest power prices in the world. The resulting glut in the most important raw material for making…

China Jails Citizen Journalist for Wuhan Reports

A Chinese citizen journalist who covered Wuhan’s coronavirus outbreak has been jailed for four years. From a report: Zhang Zhan was found guilty of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, a frequent charge against activists. The 37-year-old former lawyer was detained in May, and has been on hunger strike for several months. Her lawyers say she is in poor health. Ms Zhang…

No leap second for December 31, 2020

World timekeepers have decreed there will be no leap second on December 31, 2020. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/leap-second-june-30-december-31-why-need-controversy…

Signal Says Cellebrite Cannot Break Its Encryption

Signal, in a blog post: Yesterday, the BBC ran a story with the factually untrue headline, “Cellebrite claimed to have cracked chat app’s encryption.” This is false. Not only can Cellebrite not break Signal encryption, but Cellebrite never even claimed to be able to. Since we weren’t actually given the opportunity to comment in that story, we’re posting this to help…