NYTimes: A federal judge in Louisiana expressed concern on Friday that the Trump administration had deported a 2-year-old U.S. citizen to Honduras “with no meaningful process” and against the wishes of her father.
In recent decades, the increase has been in annual increments of 1 to 2 ppm. But last year, the increase measured by the NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory was 3.75 ppm, according to the lab’s early April update of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. That brings the annual mean close to 430 ppm, about 40% more than the pre-industrial level, & enough to heat the planet by about 2.7F (1.5C)
Even if the growth rate slows again in 2025, “the worry is that this year’s jump might include non-El Niño factors like temperature responses from soils & vegetation that might persist or intensify as the Earth warms.” The unprecedented increase of atmospheric CO2 is just one of several red lights flashing on the climate dashboard.
In a world first, Japanese researchers flew a lightning-proof drone in a thunderstorm, using it to induce and direct natural lightning strikes. The team is now working on how this flying lightning rod might capture and store lightning energy.
There's a decent bit of energy in the average lightning strike, as you might expect; Real Clear Science estimates about a billion joules. That translates to around 278 kilowatt-hours, or enough to charge a standard Hyundai Ioniq 6 nearly six times over. There are around 1.4 billion lightning strikes every year globally, or about 44 every second, representing some 383.6 terawatt-hours of electricity flashing out of the sky for free. That's nearly 1.5% of global electricity consumption (at 2023 levels) – and quite a decent resource if we could capture it.
NBC: A groundbreaking microscope at Harvard Medical School could lead to breakthroughs in cancer detection and research into longevity. But the scientist who developed computer scripts to read its images and unlock its full potential has been in an immigration detention center for two months — putting crucial scientific advancements at risk.
The scientist, the 30-year-old Russian-born Kseniia Pertova, worked at Harvard’s renowned Kirschner Lab until her arrest at a Boston airport in mid-February. She is now being held at ICE’s Richwood Correctional Center in Monroe, Louisiana, and fighting possible deportation to Russia, where she said she fears persecution and jail time over her protests against the war in Ukraine.
AP: The Education Department will begin collection next month on student loans that are in default, including the garnishing of wages for potentially millions of borrowers, officials said Monday. Currently, roughly 5.3 million borrowers are in default on their federal student loans.
The Trump administration ’s announcement marks an end to a period of leniency that began during the COVID-19 pandemic. No federal student loans have been referred for collection since March 2020, including those in default. Under President Joe Biden, the Education Department tried multiple times to forgive millions of people’s student loans, only to be stopped by courts.
Head of Homeland Security can't even secure her purse.
CNN: Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem fell victim to a thief while eating dinner at a downtown Washington, DC, restaurant Sunday night. Noem, who was asked about the theft at the White House Easter Egg Roll, acknowledged the incident & said the matter has not been resolved.
The Secret Service, which provides security for Noem, reviewed security camera footage at the restaurant & saw an unknown white male wearing a medical mask steal her bag & leave the restaurant. The thief got away with Noem’s driver’s license, medication, apartment keys, passport, DHS access badge, makeup bag, blank checks, and about $3,000 in cash. ___
Who the hell carries around $3000 in cash?!? Did she just take a bribe or something?
Built & operated by SpaceLogistics LLC, a Northrop Grumman subsidiary, MEV-1 had already made history on Feb 25, 2020 when it docked with the decommissioned Intelsat IS-901 communications satellite in GEO at an altitude of 22,000 miles above the Earth. Paradoxically, there was nothing wrong with the US$250-million IS-901 even after 15 years of service. The only reason it was taken out of service and shunted into a graveyard orbit was that it had run out of the propellant that it needed to keep it in its proper orbit and maintain attitude control.
Instead of tossing out a perfectly good piece of hardware, Northrop developed the MEV as a life-extension spacecraft that can not only bring defunct satellites back into service, it can also dock with craft that were never designed with a docking mechanism. The MEV-1 managed its docking feat with a special probe that inserts into the main engine nozzle of the target satellite and locks itself in. It then takes over the propulsion and attitude control duties, allowing the satellite to be reactivated and put back on the job. ___
So this spacecraft docked with a satellite never intended to be docked. Provided the orbital control needed for a satellite out of fuel giving it an extra 5 yrs of life. Then moved it to an unused orbit, undocked, & is heading for another satellite to service. this is the way.
Vanguard-1 is the second U.S. satellite launched to space. Conceived by the Naval Research Laboratory in 1955, it was designed to test the launch capabilities of a three-stage launch vehicle and the effects of the harsh space environment on a satellite. Today, it remains as the oldest artificial object orbiting Earth. A team of researchers and engineers from Virginia-based consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton have put together a proposal on how to retrieve the satellite from space, bringing it back to Earth to study how its equipment has fared over the years, according to a report by Space.com. The team’s proposal is detailed in a study published in the Aerospace Research Center earlier this year.
Vanguard-1 went silent in 1964, but tracking data shows its location and orbit. The satellite has persisted for so long due to its location in a highly elliptical orbit, unlike the Soviet Sputniks and the U.S.’s Explorer-1, which fell back to Earth within months or years due to atmospheric drag in low Earth orbit. If it were to be retrieved, Vanguard-1 would be the oldest satellite ever returned to Earth. ___
The technological hurdles overcome on such a project would potentially allow for later space junk cleanup projects. Before we Kessler Syndrome ourselves out of space for millennia.
“You are currently here because the Department of Homeland Security paroled you into the United States for a limited period. DHS is now exercising its discretion to terminate your parole. Unless it expires sooner, your parole will terminate seven days from the date of this notice. If you do not depart the United States immediately, you will be subject to potential law enforcement actions that will result in your removal from the United States.“
“I was born in National City, California," Martinez said. "I was never paroled, I was never admitted into this country, I am no type of parole." Although he was born in the U.S., Martinez said he is still worried, since he has been helping the undocumented community for years.
American police departments near the United States-Mexico border are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for an unproven and secretive technology that uses AI-generated online personas designed to interact with and collect intelligence on “college protesters,” “radicalized” political activists, and suspected drug and human traffickers, according to internal documents, contracts, and communications 404 Media [and Wired] obtained via public records requests. https://www.404media.co/this-college-protester-isnt-real-its-an-ai-powered-undercover-bot-for-cops/
Massive Blue, the New York-based company that is selling police departments this technology, calls its product Overwatch, which it markets as an “AI-powered force multiplier for public safety” that “deploys lifelike virtual agents, which infiltrate and engage criminal networks across various channels.” According to a presentation obtained by 404 Media, Massive Blue is offering cops these virtual personas that can be deployed across the internet with the express purpose of interacting with suspects over text messages and social media.
One major hurdle left to reassemble and test… this orange tube needs to be re-clamped. Because it needs to stretch to get the heater element assembly back in place. If I stretch without the clamp it comes off without a way to reattach. It’s about 4-5” down an area too tight for hands. My long pliers are bent ends and won’t fit. My wire stripper pliers aren’t quite long enough. Oh for a long armed Hemostat
@ai6yr poorly designed. Took a lot of disassembly and picking and blowing from each side of the clogged tube to finally get air flowing thru it. And this is an industrial 160 psi compressor.
Also note that coffee grounds accelerated out of a tube via 160psi compressed air feels like being sandblasted. And all their plastic bit are quite sharp. I’ve literally got blood, sweat, and tears invested in this repair now. lol
esoteric thinker, egg chair philosopher, permaculture advocate, pattern literate human being. The clock is ticking for all life on this planet. we need change. landscape designer.Fair Warning: Very little of my descriptive content will have CWs. I will put sensitive media blocks on any photos or vids though.