2021 has brought a deadly avalanche season. “We’re only halfway through the season and we’re 3/4 of the way to the number of fatalities we’d see in a typical year. The dangerous, record-breaking year keeps avalanche forecasters up at night,” one expert said. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/avalanches-2021-united-states-how-to-survive…
Tag: survival
Female giraffes who hang out with friends live longer than loners
Female giraffes who socialise in a group with at least three others have a better chance of survival – unlike male giraffes, who don’t form long-lasting relationships Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2267107-female-giraffes-who-hang-out-with-friends-live-longer-than-loners/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Monarch butterflies are in trouble: Here’s how to help in your own yard
The 2020 annual count of monarch butterflies in the western United States found shockingly few, confirming fears that the insect is on the brink of extinction. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/monarch-butterflies-of-western-us-nearing-extinction-what-you-can-do…
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…
Are Google, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft ‘Digital Warlords’?
EFF special consultant/blogger/science fiction writer Cory Doctorow warns in Locus magazine about the dangers of what Bruce Schneier calls “feudal security”: Here in the 21st century, we are beset by all manner of digital bandits, from identity thieves, to stalkers, to corporate and government spies, to harassers… To be safe, then, you have to ally yourself with a warlord. Apple, Google,…
McConnell Ties Full Repeal of Section 230 To Push for $2,000 Stimulus Checks
On Tuesday night, McConnell introduced a new bill tying increased stimulus payments to a full repeal of Section 230. From a report: The bill comes amid new momentum for direct $2000 stimulus payments, and increasing pressure on party leaders to appease President Trump’s escalating demands. Democratic party leaders criticized the inclusion of Section 230 repeal as an effort to scuttle stimulus…
The Lasting Lessons of John Conway’s Game of Life
Siobhan Roberts, writing for The New York Times: In March of 1970, Martin Gardner opened a letter jammed with ideas for his Mathematical Games column in Scientific American. Sent by John Horton Conway, then a mathematician at the University of Cambridge, the letter ran 12 pages, typed hunt-and-peck style. Page 9 began with the heading “The game of life.” It described…
AI Just Controlled a Military Plane For the First Time Ever
On December 15, the United States Air Force successfully flew an AI copilot on a U-2 spy plane in California, marking the first time AI has controlled a U.S. military system. Dr. Will Roper, the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, reveals how he and his team made history: With call sign ARTUu, we trained uZero…
John le Carre, Author of Spy Novels, Dies at Age 89
“This terrible year has claimed a literary giant and a humanitarian spirit,” tweeted novelist Stephen King, adding later that “The Little Drummer Girl was one of the best novels I’ve ever read.” Margaret Atwood tweeted “His Smiley novels are key to understanding the mid-20th century.” And the Associated Press tells the story of how spy-novel writer John le Carré was “drawn…
Tesla Model 3 Crash Hurls Battery Cells Into Nearby Home
According to a facebook post from the police department of Corvallis, Oregon, a Tesla Model 3 crashed at over 100mph, causing batteries from the Tesla to enter two different residences by breaking through the windows, one landing on a person’s lap and the second landing on a bed, catching the bedding on fire. “A tire was ripped from the car during…