Some call attempts to land on Mars “7 minutes of terror.” The Perseverance mission will provide the most detailed video and photos of a landing yet. We’ll watch ourselves land on another planet, for the first time ever. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/get-ready-nasa-perseverance-landing-feb2021…
Tag: Union
Russian Campaign Promotes Homegrown Vaccine and Undercuts Rivals
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: Russian news outlets connected to election disinformation campaigns in the United States have set their sights on a new target: convincing Spanish-speaking countries that the Russian coronavirus vaccine works better than its American competitors, according to researchers and State Department officials. The Russian campaign has focused on Latin American nations,…
What’s the difference between asteroids and comets?
Asteroids and comets are generally composed of different materials and reside in different locations of the solar system, while some rare objects display characteristics of both. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/whats-the-difference-between-comets-and-asteroids…
Amazon’s Anti-Union Blitz Stalks Alabama Warehouse Workers Everywhere, Even the Bathroom
Some workers in Amazon’s Bessemer, Ala., warehouse complain that the company’s aggressive performance expectations leave them little time to take bathroom breaks. From a report: When they do get there, they face messaging from Amazon pressing its case against unionization, imploring them to vote against it when mail-in balloting begins Feb. 8. “Where will your dues go?” reads a flier posted…
Corporate Trolls? A Covert, Pro-Huawei Influence Campaign on Social Media
“Huawei, the crown jewel of China’s technology industry, has suffered from a sustained American campaign to keep its equipment from being used in new 5G networks around the world,” reports the New York Times. Now they’ve identified “a covert pro-Huawei influence campaign in Belgium about 5G networks.” [Alternate URL here] It began when trade lawyer Edwin Vermulst was paid to write…
The US Government’s Entire 645,000-Vehicle Fleet Will Go All-Electric
Jalopnik reports:
The United States government operates a fleet of about 645,000 vehicles, from mail delivery trucks to military vehicles and passenger cars. On Monday, President Joe Biden announced that his administration intends to replace them all with American-made, electric alternatives… In 2015, the government operated 357,610 gasoline vehicles and 3,896 electric ones; in 2019, those numbers grew to 368,807 and 4,475,…
What is the Sickle in Leo?
The Sickle in Leo is an easy-to-spot backward question mark shape made of stars that marks the head and shoulders of the constellation of the lion. The moon sometimes passes in front of the Sickle’s brightest star, Regulus. Source: https://earthsky.org/favorite-star-patterns/the-sickle-backward-question-mark-pattern-in-leo…
Nintendo Sued by European Gamers Hampered by Broken Controllers
Nintendo faces a complaint from BEUC, a European consumer group, over what it calls “systematic problems” with the controllers for the company’s popular Switch games console. BEUC said it filed a complaint with the European Union and national consumer protection organizations after evidence from users showed that in 88% of cases, “the game controllers broke within the first two years.” A…
EU begins to clamp down on vaccine exports as supplies fall short
Vaccine makers are set to deliver fewer coronavirus vaccine doses to the European Union than expected, leading the bloc to require pharmaceutical firms to notify it before exporting vaccines Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2265818-eu-begins-to-clamp-down-on-vaccine-exports-as-supplies-fall-short/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Google Workers To Form Global Union Alliance
Google employees from across the globe are forming a union alliance, weeks after more than 200 workers at the search engine giant and other units of parent company Alphabet formed a labor union for U.S. and Canadian offices. From a report: Alpha Global was formed in coordination with UNI Global Union, a union federation that represents about 20 million workers globally,…