upstart writes in with an IRC submission for AnonymousCoward:[Ed. note: For those who are unfamiliar or need a reminder, a quick search brought up this YouTube video.]Scientists analyze Monty Python's silly walks, determine they are indeed silly:
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for SoyCow4275:FYI: When Virgin Media said it leaked 'limited contact info', it meant p0rno filter requests, IP addresses, IMEIs as well as names, addresses and more:
quietus writes:German company CureVac has received a rather strange offer from the current White House.On March 3, CureVac's CEO was invited to the White House, for a meeting with President Trump, Vice Pence and several members of the Coronavirus Task Force. Asked for when a vaccine could be ready, he estimated that a potential candidate could be ready within a few months. Apparently, that triggered the members of the meeting so much, that they've now offered to buy the company, at whatever price.One condition though: production would be exclusively for the United States.The move is not exactly one to gain popularity, and follows on the heels of the President's worrying statement that "a large number of new clusters in the United States were seeded by travelers from Europe".Original SubmissionRead more of this story at SoylentNews.
martyb writes:[Update 1: 20200315_130751 UTC: Updated to add alternate YouTube links. --martyb][Update 2: 20200315_133158 UTC: Today's launch was aborted at T:+0:00, due to "Launch abort on engine high power". No word, yet, on when a retry will be attempted.--martyb][Update 3: 20200315_195221 UTC: SpaceX tweet: "Standing down today; standard auto-abort triggered due to out of family data during engine power check. Will announce next launch date opportunity once confirmed on the Range". In response to a query "Out of family?", User Viv replied: "Data from sensors & system isn’t always the same, but if you plot it on a graph, all nominal data will be one big cluster aka family. If readings from sensors or systems are not within this cluster, they’re out of family, eg something might be wrong w sensors or system itself". For those who missed it, here is a brief video that shows a few seconds bracketing the scheduled launch countdown and abort. Follow the main SpaceX twitter feed for date and time of next launch attempt. --martyb]Watch Live: SpaceX attempts to launch the same Falcon 9 a fifth time:
Chocolate writes:A UK supermarket has banned the use of money that was stored in shoes and bras as part of the effort to reign in the spread of COVID-19. Among other strange facts coming out of this outbreak is that some people lick their money before handing it over to the cashier.We are doomed.[Ed Note - Updated the story to reflect that the store is called Iceland and is, in fact, a UK supermarket.]Original SubmissionRead more of this story at SoylentNews.
Phoenix666 writes:With Wuhan Coronavirus spreading in New York City, parents, Parent Teacher Associations, and schools seem to be inevitably headed for extended shutdowns and quarantines. The Department of Education is crossing its fingers, wiping down all surfaces, and hoping to avert the worst without closing schools, but parents are going to need contingency plans.Do Soylentils have recommendations for online resources that members of NYC's school boards can share with the parent community to help kids keep up with their school work? Khan Academy is an excellent resource for math & science; it doesn't span every subject but something like it that grade school kids can understand would be ideal.Original SubmissionRead more of this story at SoylentNews.
Even though it has only been a short while since our last round-up there are 22 separate stories merged into this round-up. Many report duplicate news but, nevertheless, we have tried to distill the important elements of each submission.Firstly, there is some confusion regarding the actual names that are reported for the virus, the disease that it causes, and names frequently seen in media reporting. From https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-020-0695-z:
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Bytram:International Space Station system that turns astronaut pee into drinking water getting 'much appreciated' boost:
martyb writes:SpaceX and United Launch Alliance have made the construction and launch of space-faring rockets seem almost commonplace. Once in a while things don't go completely right, but it is amazing how much a successful launch is now taken for granted. This was not always the case!Growing up, I was faced with the daunting prospects of the Cold War and the nuclear arms race. Every couple weeks there seemed to be yet another nuclear weapon test on the nightly news. First with atomic bombs and later with hydrogen bombs. It was common to hear and see daily reminders of Duck and Cover, fallout shelters, and Mutual Assured Destruction. It was a frightening time to be a child. Especially since there were certain "facilities" in the area that would likely put us on the list of Soviet targets.Juxtaposed with that fear was a sense of hope and destiny. John F. Kennedy had just been elected president. His inaugural address challenged: "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." Then, on the heels of the USSR's Yuri Gagarin becoming the first person in space, Kennedy became "eager for the U.S. to take the lead in the Space Race, for reasons of national security and prestige." A short while later, Kennedy gave his famous speech (transcript and video [NB: He doesn't even seem to sweat!]) in which he uttered the challenge:
An Anonymous Coward writes:Noted pianist McCoy Tyner just passed. Perhaps best known for five years with John Coltrane in the early 1960s, he also recorded with his own band for many years. This is probably the obit of record,
DannyB wrote in with a submission which became:Ilya Dudkin at Skywell Software has a storyTop 7 Dying Programming Languages to Avoid Studying in 2019 –2020.Each language gets a paragraph's treatment as to why he thinks these languages are dead or dying. Those languages are: