Nostr notes by Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD

The City of Pasadena approved an organization to hire 600 goats ...

2026-05-17T04:24:30Z

The City of Pasadena approved an organization to hire 600 goats to eat vegetation on the steep slopes of the Arroyo Seco and reduce wildfire risk. The pilot project was 100 acres (about 50 hectares). The goats finished their work much faster than expected. See this article in PasadenaNow.

https://pasadenanow.com/main/goats-finish-ahead-of-schedule-in-arroyo-seco

#goats #vegetation #removal

The news media were supported by advertising and paper copy sales ...

2026-05-09T16:05:12Z

In reply to nevent1q…w6cm
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The news media were supported by advertising and paper copy sales for more than a century, so it was not free then. The move to online seemed free

When the protests from religious leaders reach the front page of ...

2026-04-13T16:12:24Z

In reply to nevent1q…ydxt
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When the protests from religious leaders reach the front page of the Washington Post, it is really bad.

Another way to explain the layoffs is, “we are spending ...

2026-02-28T15:26:05Z

In reply to nevent1q…k0z8
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Another way to explain the layoffs is, “we are spending billions of dollars on AI data centers, so we don’t have funds left to pay for human employees”.

The NASA JPL robotics team found a way to use the commercial CPU ...

2026-02-23T04:39:50Z

The NASA JPL robotics team found a way to use the commercial CPU (Snapdragon) in the Ingenuity helicopter base station on the side of the Perseverance rover to do advanced image processing on the imagery captured by the rover and determine the rover location on Mars accurately. Since it was not a space-hardened CPU, they had to do extra error checking, but it works well. See the news release for more:
#Mars #NASA #JPL #PerseveranceRover
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-perseverance-now-autonomously-pinpoints-its-location-on-mars/

It seems that winter arrives late in the Aleutian Islands.

2025-12-20T21:42:36Z

In reply to nevent1q…a4gf
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It seems that winter arrives late in the Aleutian Islands.

Our NISAR satellite flies at 747 km. I hope Starlink and its ...

2025-12-18T18:54:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…rvqz
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Our NISAR satellite flies at 747 km. I hope Starlink and its fragments stay far away from that altitude.

The article says that the anomaly was at 418 km altitude, which ...

2025-12-18T18:48:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…uk2l
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The article says that the anomaly was at 418 km altitude, which is low enough that fragments should fall into the atmosphere quickly.

Wow, that is a very good dog.

2025-11-23T21:22:50Z

In reply to nevent1q…xv6z
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Wow, that is a very good dog.

The customs declaration says audio cassette. I hope you have a ...

2025-09-17T03:53:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…sgqc
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The customs declaration says audio cassette. I hope you have a working cassette player.

Wow. This is a level of AI intrusion, only a few days after the ...

2025-09-07T17:22:43Z

In reply to nevent1q…656r
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Wow. This is a level of AI intrusion, only a few days after the court let Google keep Chrome

Three most famous fascist regimes, Germany, Italy, and Spain, did ...

2025-08-24T21:39:59Z

In reply to nevent1q…9sps
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Three most famous fascist regimes, Germany, Italy, and Spain, did not have a transition to a successor leader of fascist governments, but the USSR had several leadership transfers in seven decades. We don’t know if the GOP in the USA will succeed in bending the government structure to continue after the exit of Trump

Miller has negative public appeal. JD Vance might be slightly ...

2025-08-23T21:15:12Z

In reply to nevent1q…75mh
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Miller has negative public appeal. JD Vance might be slightly above zero

Some people will never understand satire no matter what

2025-08-17T23:34:00Z

In reply to nevent1q…yjf0
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Some people will never understand satire no matter what

See this Washington Post article today: ...

2025-08-12T23:10:53Z

In reply to nevent1q…ktyu
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See this Washington Post article today:
https://archive.ph/2025.08.12-090623/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/08/12/nasa-nuclear-reactor-moon-trump-plan/

Now the Interim Administrator of NASA wants to have some company ...

2025-08-12T23:02:07Z

In reply to nevent1q…y674
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Now the Interim Administrator of NASA wants to have some company or companies build small modular nuclear reactors to run on the Moon.

Other internet services are requiring users to verify their age ...

2025-08-02T16:09:42Z

In reply to nevent1q…95m2
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Other internet services are requiring users to verify their age by taking a selfie or photo of their government ID, so estimating age based on search history seems less invasive.

I forget that very warm in Alaska is 80 F/27 C. I heart that the ...

2025-07-21T15:34:35Z

In reply to nevent1q…v2gs
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I forget that very warm in Alaska is 80 F/27 C.

I heart that the north of Scotland reached an all-time record 32 C/90 F earlier this month.

The reason that I set up the bridge to Bluesky was to avoid ...

2025-07-18T21:42:38Z

In reply to nevent1q…6tep
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The reason that I set up the bridge to Bluesky was to avoid having two different accounts. If I need to make a second account, I might as well create it on Bluesky. I will think about this some more. I have limited bandwidth so I don’t know if I can keep up with two accounts.

So it depends on the order of the text and user tags or we need ...

2025-07-18T16:01:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…7xma
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So it depends on the order of the text and user tags or we need to put other links in the post? Is it sufficient to move the tags to the end? Maybe I need to create a different Fediverse account for more local conversations and only use the bridged account for "pure" open posts. Laura "Tegan" Gjovaag ⛈ 🐸 (npub1mnz…jcak)

I set up the bridge to Bluesky from my account. Does that mean ...

2025-07-18T15:41:35Z

In reply to nevent1q…hdm4
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I set up the bridge to Bluesky from my account. Does that mean that the bridge will be mangling all bridged posts that I make, including this one?

NASA will hold and stream a news briefing on Monday, July 21, ...

2025-07-18T00:21:38Z

NASA will hold and stream a news briefing on Monday, July 21, with a preview of the NASA-ISRO SAR (NISAR) mission.

The Earth-observing satellite, a collaboration between NASA and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation), carries an advanced radar system that will view Earth in unprecedented detail and detect the movement of land and ice surfaces down to the centimeter.

Launch is targeted for no earlier than late July.

#NASA #ISRO #SAR #satellite #NASAJPL

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-to-preview-advanced-us-india-radar-mission-ahead-of-launch/

Specifically, the Irish Catholic Church did this with the ...

2025-07-15T21:43:21Z

In reply to nevent1q…hxcr
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Specifically, the Irish Catholic Church did this with the cooperation or at least acquiescence of the government.

If there are more berries than dough, then the muffin will be ...

2025-07-04T23:38:54Z

In reply to nevent1q…0e5m
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If there are more berries than dough, then the muffin will be more like a pie.

I hope that you don’t have fireworks exploding near your home ...

2025-07-04T18:05:08Z

In reply to nevent1q…67q8
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I hope that you don’t have fireworks exploding near your home so Summer can be calm today.

Brief video about the interstellar comet by NASA JPL. ...

2025-07-03T22:23:24Z

Brief video about the interstellar comet by NASA JPL.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=-vzafaw0t08&si=mOyubwfGzRwQjEEq

It is not only NSF, but also NASA, NIH, NOAA, USGS, and ...

2025-05-05T00:25:16Z

In reply to nevent1q…u2s4
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It is not only NSF, but also NASA, NIH, NOAA, USGS, and Department of Energy science budgets. National Labs, too.

They now say that the launch was successful, with the Biomass ...

2025-04-29T13:50:42Z

In reply to nevent1q…cjts
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They now say that the launch was successful, with the Biomass satellite talking to the ground stations. https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/FutureEO/Biomass/Biomass_launched_to_count_forest_carbon

The Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex is the largest and ...

2025-04-27T20:17:22Z

In reply to nevent1q…yx9f
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The Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex is the largest and busiest in the USA. It handled over 10 million containers entering the USA last year.

I work on a NASA mission (NASA-ISRO SAR or NISAR) that will be ...

2025-04-27T18:47:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…7u5l
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I work on a NASA mission (NASA-ISRO SAR or NISAR) that will be downlinking about 4 TB of data per day and processing about 75 TB of data products every day. NASA decided about 8 years ago to do all the data storage and processing in AWS. NASA was one of the leaders in large scale computing 20-25 years ago, but no longer wants to deal with the hardware requirements.

Last I heard, Seattle was in Washington state, not California, ...

2025-04-27T18:32:25Z

In reply to nevent1q…2v4q
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Last I heard, Seattle was in Washington state, not California, but the number of ships scheduled to arrive at the huge ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is dropping substantially also. Rasta (npub1ekr…358t)

I don't know what radar wavelength they use in cars, but I ...

2025-04-22T15:06:48Z

In reply to nevent1q…seyl
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I don't know what radar wavelength they use in cars, but I agree that it is likely a very high frequency that could reflect well from aluminum-coated mylar. I think Waymo cars have Lidar scanners in their spinning turrets, which would have a different reflection response.

Nice! Was that photo taken before or after the earthquake in ...

2025-03-28T17:24:18Z

In reply to nevent1q…8d9q
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Nice! Was that photo taken before or after the earthquake in September 2023 that destroyed many buildings in Marrakech?

Why is the Trump administration targeting NIH first for these ...

2025-02-08T19:14:43Z

In reply to nevent1q…2x0c
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Why is the Trump administration targeting NIH first for these extreme actions? Because it is the biggest source of Federal grants?

The Trump Office of Management and Budget has instructed all USA ...

2025-01-28T10:43:45Z

The Trump Office of Management and Budget has instructed all USA Federal agencies to stop funding all external activities, including science grants to universities and research institutes. There were people reporting NSF review panels on Monday being postponed, which was surprising, but this is everything. Archive link to Washington Post article below. #USA_politics https://archive.ph/qeptT

I did not find the baby owl photo yet, but here is an adult ...

2025-01-27T03:13:35Z

In reply to nevent1q…8juu
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I did not find the baby owl photo yet, but here is an adult burrowing owl.

Those earthen bricks may be fire-resistant, but they look like ...

2025-01-12T19:55:43Z

In reply to nevent1q…wvc9
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Those earthen bricks may be fire-resistant, but they look like the worst possible building material for earthquake risk.

CNN published a satellite image acquired by the Maxar satellites ...

2025-01-09T05:12:02Z

CNN published a satellite image acquired by the Maxar satellites at 10:45 a.m. PT on January 7. They used the short-wave infrared channels to see the fires through the smoke and clouds. It is a devastating view of almost every house burning over most of the western half of Altadena, California.
https://www.cnn.com/weather/live-news/los-angeles-pacific-palisades-eaton-wildfires-01-08-25#cm5on5ljn00053b6nfv5v500t

Yes, JPL and all of the residential areas around it have been ...

2025-01-08T17:14:30Z

In reply to nevent1q…w55e
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Yes, JPL and all of the residential areas around it have been evacuated. They are now shutting down computer systems and transfering the Deep Space Network operations to their operations center at Goldstone.

I live a mile south of the 210 freeway in Pasadena, so I am not ...

2025-01-08T16:52:13Z

In reply to nevent1q…x0k6
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I live a mile south of the 210 freeway in Pasadena, so I am not worried about my home.

The evacuation order is north of 134 and east of 2 still, but the ...

2025-01-08T16:49:41Z

In reply to nevent1q…et7s
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The evacuation order is north of 134 and east of 2 still, but the area west of the 2 is in evacuation warning. I still think it won't go into the main city of Glendale south of the 134.

Los Angeles County news conference is reporting two fatalities in ...

2025-01-08T16:32:23Z

Los Angeles County news conference is reporting two fatalities in Altadena from the Eaton Fire #EatonFire

At this time, the only part of Glendale evacuated is in the ...

2025-01-08T16:18:56Z

In reply to nevent1q…lx4v
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At this time, the only part of Glendale evacuated is in the Verdugo Hills. I don't think it will reach the main city of Glendale.

The Eaton Fire is continuing to spread rapidly and has now ...

2025-01-08T14:47:19Z

In reply to nevent1q…s8t4
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The Eaton Fire is continuing to spread rapidly and has now scorched 2,227 acres as of 6 a.m. Wednesday, according to CalFire. The burned area is almost all in populated areas, not up in the mountains. #EatonFire

Currently, the evacuation orders have extended over a large area ...

2025-01-08T14:15:56Z

Currently, the evacuation orders have extended over a large area north, west, and east of Pasadena. I live a mile south of the 210 freeway in Pasadena, so we are not in the evacuation zone or the warning area. #EatonFire Map from Watch Duty showing evacuation area from La Cañada to Monrovia

Fire burning in Eaton Canyon of Altadena, just north of Pasadena, ...

2025-01-08T04:01:58Z

Fire burning in Eaton Canyon of Altadena, just north of Pasadena, California, called the Eaton Fire. 🔥 already 200 acres. Watch Duty map below.

You might want to be a little more specific. It is the people ...

2025-01-07T21:49:46Z

In reply to nevent1q…fjpa
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You might want to be a little more specific. It is the people near the wildland-urban interfaces that need to be prepared to evacuate, not every one of the 15 million people in the Los Angeles area.

Thanks for the sounding profile plot. What are the two lines ...

2025-01-02T18:33:07Z

In reply to nevent1q…l0sk
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Thanks for the sounding profile plot. What are the two lines showing?

That is very interesting! Here in California, the temperature ...

2025-01-02T02:37:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…kfa5
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That is very interesting! Here in California, the temperature almost always drops with elevation. I guess Alaska is different.

I thought the top of Denali could be colder due to the elevation.

2025-01-02T02:31:23Z

In reply to nevent1q…ucu2
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I thought the top of Denali could be colder due to the elevation.

That is the lowest temperature where you have a weather station, ...

2025-01-02T02:26:59Z

In reply to nevent1q…lpv7
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That is the lowest temperature where you have a weather station, I assume. It could be a lot colder in the mountains.

Launch update: #NISAR, a powerful Earth-observing satellite, is ...

2024-12-21T00:40:21Z

Launch update: #NISAR, a powerful Earth-observing satellite, is targeting a likely launch date in March 2025.

The joint NASA (npub1fsw…0e3e)-IsrO (npub1xla…l4gn) mission will scan nearly all of Earth’s land and ice surfaces to measure changes down to fractions of an inch: https://blogs.nasa.gov/nisar

There are still people with ‘aol.com’ emails?

2024-12-14T23:18:47Z

In reply to nevent1q…p7le
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There are still people with ‘aol.com’ emails?

Do I understand correctly that they have 100 moderators for 22 ...

2024-11-26T01:27:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…5y45
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Do I understand correctly that they have 100 moderators for 22 million users? That seems like a very small number.

The Earth-observing NISAR satellite is coming together 🌎 A key ...

2024-10-25T13:44:17Z

The Earth-observing NISAR satellite is coming together 🌎

A key piece of the science hardware – its reflector – has arrived at the Indian Space Research Organisation’s assembly and test facility, where it will prepare for launch in 2025.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/nisar/2024/10/23/nisar-satellites-radar-antenna-reflector-arrives-in-india/

Why is Fairbanks much warmer than other places near on the map. I ...

2024-10-20T02:34:24Z

In reply to nevent1q…40az
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Why is Fairbanks much warmer than other places near on the map. I realize the stations are far apart.

Work on the NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) radar ...

2024-10-14T21:46:30Z

Work on the NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) radar antenna reflector is done, and NASA expects to transport the reflector to India before the end of the year for integration with the rest of the NISAR spacecraft. NISAR will launch in early 2025. See the NISAR mission blog at: https://blogs.nasa.gov/nisar/
#NISAR #NASA #ISRO

Guardian article: US meteorologists face death threats as ...

2024-10-13T03:53:28Z

Guardian article: US meteorologists face death threats as hurricane conspiracies surge https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/11/meteorologists-death-threats-hurricane-conspiracies-misinformation?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

NASA is still working with SpaceX on final evaluations of the ...

2024-10-12T14:46:05Z

NASA is still working with SpaceX on final evaluations of the situation at the NASA launch pad but they have already announced that the Europa Clipper spacecraft may be launched on Monday. The eye of Hurricane Milton passed over the pad early on Thursday, 10 October. They use standard language "no earlier than Monday, 14 October". https://blogs.nasa.gov/europaclipper/

The eye of Hurricane Milton passed over the NASA launch pad at ...

2024-10-10T14:56:02Z

The eye of Hurricane Milton passed over the NASA launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida last night. Crews have not yet gone there to check for damage.
The Europa Clipper spacecraft is safe inside the SpaceX assembly building.
#hurricaneMilton #NASA

The National Guard is not deployed outside the USA.

2024-09-29T20:24:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…jlmh
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The National Guard is not deployed outside the USA.

The main job of FEMA is not rescuing people from drowning but ...

2024-09-29T19:16:35Z

In reply to nevent1q…vsh9
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The main job of FEMA is not rescuing people from drowning but supporting survivors.

Is Project 2025 planning to dismantle FEMA in addition to NOAA? ...

2024-09-20T21:27:02Z

In reply to nevent1q…htc6
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Is Project 2025 planning to dismantle FEMA in addition to NOAA? It seems that they don’t want the federal government to provide any public assistance with weather forecasting so maybe they won’t help after storms either

Yes, innocent bystanders were injured and killed but not all ...

2024-09-18T01:21:25Z

In reply to nevent1q…ef36
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Yes, innocent bystanders were injured and killed but not all pagers in Lebanon were triggered to explode. It was an act of terrorism that struck many people who happened to be nearby.

It seems that only one shipment of pagers ordered by Hezbollah ...

2024-09-18T00:52:03Z

In reply to nevent1q…qnym
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It seems that only one shipment of pagers ordered by Hezbollah had been modified.

The NYT article says the explosions were triggered by a message ...

2024-09-18T00:11:58Z

In reply to nevent1q…jnej
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The NYT article says the explosions were triggered by a message but it doesn’t say why they concluded that.

Isn’t Musk in Gen-X? Maybe that is why he likes the X name so ...

2024-09-16T02:47:05Z

In reply to nevent1q…a6wv
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Isn’t Musk in Gen-X? Maybe that is why he likes the X name so much

We do analysis of surface motion with radar satellites. The ...

2024-09-11T20:01:54Z

In reply to nevent1q…e9hr
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We do analysis of surface motion with radar satellites. The landfills stand out because the surfaces are sinking due to compaction after they close of sections.

Maybe some small-volume special toxic materials would be ...

2024-09-11T19:55:37Z

In reply to nevent1q…mr0p
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Maybe some small-volume special toxic materials would be transported, but the volume of regular garbage is huge.

I doubt that garbage can be economically transported out of ...

2024-09-11T19:53:40Z

In reply to nevent1q…vs2h
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I doubt that garbage can be economically transported out of California.

I believe there are dozens of different landfills in LA County, ...

2024-09-11T19:47:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…5tc0
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I believe there are dozens of different landfills in LA County, but I don't know how they are organized

Washington Post has an editorial on the international cooperation ...

2024-09-04T17:27:31Z

Washington Post has an editorial on the international cooperation on preparing for the impact of a large asteroid strike. It includes fancy graphics showing the presently mapped near-Earth objects. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/interactive/2024/asteroids-nasa-strike-extinction-preparation/

Interesting to see South Dakota on the top tier of green ...

2024-08-30T01:35:55Z

In reply to nevent1q…pwfk
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Interesting to see South Dakota on the top tier of green electricity, but it has a small population and no coal mining or much oil and gas extraction, so it would be easy for them to get a high percentage of wind power.

He can count on Kid Rock and Kanye/Ye to allow their music. ...

2024-08-12T20:57:31Z

In reply to nevent1q…dcz8
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He can count on Kid Rock and Kanye/Ye to allow their music. Probably a few others like Ted Nugent and Eric Clapton

What process does your country use? I don’t know much about ...

2024-07-31T19:29:13Z

In reply to nevent1q…3zrk
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What process does your country use? I don’t know much about other countries.

The leadership of political parties in the UK is chosen by the ...

2024-07-31T13:58:01Z

In reply to nevent1q…xmuj
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The leadership of political parties in the UK is chosen by the party with no external voting. Voters only votes on their local Member of Parliament and get no direct say in the Prime Minister. I don’t know the details about other countries’ choices.

The Democrats had a number of primaries earlier this year, and ...

2024-07-30T22:51:52Z

In reply to nevent1q…8cg0
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The Democrats had a number of primaries earlier this year, and almost all of the delegates who were chosen in those primaries were committed to selecting Biden for President. Now, Biden has withdrawn, and those delegates are allowed to choose a different candidate at the DNC convention. Most delegates have said they will vote for Harris. What some suggested was a new set of primaries in the short time before the convention, to choose new delegates.