Will you see Saturn and Mercury in the east before sunup these next few mornings? It won’t be easy. They’re near the sunrise. Their quasi-conjunction comes on February 23. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/mercury-saturn-quasi-conjunction-feb-23-2021…
Tag: rise
Python Turns 30. A Steering Council Member Reflects
Today is the 30th anniversary of the Python programming language, “which has never been more popular, arguably thanks to the rise of data science and AI projects in the enterprise,” writes Venture Beat. To celebrate the historical releases file has been updated to include Guido van Rossum’s original 0.9.1 beta release from 1991. (Its ReadMe file advises that Python 0.9 “can…
Hundreds of fish species, including many we eat, are consuming plastic
As more and more plastic trash permeates the oceans, microplastics are making their way into fish and shellfish, and potentially into humans. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/hundreds-fish-species-consume-microplastics-including-human-food…
What is the Milky Way?
When someone says “Milky Way,” do you think of the starry pathway across our sky, or of the great pinwheel-shaped galaxy in space? Both are correct! Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/what-is-the-milky-way-galaxy…
How Bill Gates Is Funding the Fight Against Climate Change
Bill Gates was interviewed tonight on the CBS News show 60 Minutes about his efforts to combat climate change: The good news is Gates believes it’s possible to prevent a catastrophic rise in temperatures. The bad news? He says in the next 30 years we need scientific breakthroughs, technological innovations and global cooperation on a scale the world has never seen….
C Passed Java to Take #1 Spot on TIOBE’s Index
“C is at the top of the list of TIOBE’S Index for February 2021 with Java in second place,” reports TechRepublic: Those two languages swapped positions on the list as compared to 2020, but the rest of the list is almost exactly the same as a year ago. Python is in the No. 3 spot followed by C++, C#, Visual Basic,…
The Rich Got Richer: GameStop’s Trading Frenzy Benefited Wall Street’s Elite
While GameStop’s surge has been heralded as a victory for underdogs, “Growing evidence casts doubt on the idea that the episode mostly benefited small-time investors…” reports the Washington Post. (Alternate URLs here and here “And, in at least some cases, novice investors lost their shirts.” Giant mutual funds that own the largest stakes in GameStop saw the biggest gains in value….
Has the polar vortex arrived? What is it?
The polar vortex is an enormous, 3-dimensional ring of winds that surrounds the North and South poles during each hemisphere’s winter. The polar vortex influences the jet stream, which can bring cold winter weather to the U.S. and Europe. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/what-is-the-polar-vortex…
About Half of Global Wastewater Is Treated, Instead of Previous Estimate of 20%, Study Finds
schwit1 shares a report from UPI: The study published Monday in the journal Earth System Science Data, estimated 359 billion cubic meters of wastewater is produced each year — which is “equivalent to 144 million Olympic-sized swimming pools,” Edward Jones, a doctoral researcher at Utrecht University and the study’s lead author, said in a statement. Researchers found that 52% of that…
Was GameStop’s Rise Actually Orchestrated By Hedge Funds?
Robert J. Shapiro advised senior members of the Obama administration on economic policy, and served as an Under Secretary of Commerce under Bill Clinton. Now a senior fellow at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown, he’s suspicious of the surge in GameStop’s stock price:
Allegedly, this is the tale of scrappy, small online day traders buying shares of a beleaguered company…