🔗 Articles: Saturday 13.Jul.2024

Don’t be evil. 👿 🔎

NZ Herald: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket’s engine fails during satellite launch

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket suffered an upper-stage engine failure yesterday after lifting off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, a setback on a mission without astronauts on board that will likely delay upcoming human spaceflight launches while the company investigates what went wrong.

The problem occurred during the launch of a batch of Starlink satellites, used to beam the internet to ground stations and cellphones. The company said that since the “second stage engine did not complete its second burn” the satellites “were deployed into a lower than intended orbit.”

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on X that the engine failed “for reasons currently unknown. Team is reviewing data tonight to understand root cause.”

Wikipedia: PixelFed service

Pixelfed is a free and open-source image sharing social network service. The platform uses a decentralized architecture which is roughly comparable to e-mail providers, meaning user data is not stored on one central server. It uses the ActivityPub protocol, allowing users to interact with other social networks within the protocol, such as Mastodon, PeerTube, and Friendica. Pixelfed and other platforms utilizing this protocol are considered to be part of the Fediverse.

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Pixelfed has photo sharing features similar to Instagram and is sometimes considered as an “ethical” alternative to Instagram. Users can post photos, stories and collections via an independent, distributed and federating photo community in the form of connected Pixelfed instances. Posts made in the same Pixelfed instance as the user will appear on Local Feed, while posts from other Fediverse instances will be available on Global Feed. The Home Feed, however, will show posts of followed users. The discover page displays images that may be of interest to users.

Each post allows for a maximum of 10 photos or videos attached. Pixelfed also shares some of Mastodon’s features, including an emphasis on discovery feeds and content warnings.

See also PixelFed home

via Numeric Citizen

US News & World Report: Ozempic Linked With Lower Dementia Risk, Nicotine Use, British Study Finds

The study, published in the Lancet’s eClinicalMedicine journal on Thursday, explored more than 100 million medical records of U.S. patients to see if Ozempic increased the risk of several neurological and psychiatric conditions in the first year of use compared with three common antidiabetic drugs.

The study found Ozempic, or semaglutide, was not tied to a higher risk of any of the neurological or psychiatric conditions studied, such as anxiety or depression, and patients taking Ozempic had lower rates of cognitive decline and nicotine use.

Stuff: Freeze-dried woolly mammoths share their genetic secrets with scientists

A study published Thursday (local time) in the journal Cell about mammoths inspires a new way of looking at ancient DNA samples that may hold more information about the past than previously thought.

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The authors suggest that the mammoth was found in such a well-preserved state because of the dry and cold winters of Siberia, where it was found. In those conditions, the mammoth probably entered a dehydrated stated shortly after death, protecting it from being colonized by fungi and bacteria.

Originally from the Washington Post.

New Yorker: I’m Not an A••hole. I’m an Introvert

I can be loud at times, and I’m not shy, so a lot of people assume that I’m an extrovert. But I’m not. I’m an introvert. When I explain this to people, they ask me, “Well, if you’re such an introvert, why are you talking to a group of strangers in an elevator? This is a social interaction that you initiated and could have easily avoided.” I don’t answer them. I just shake my head at how misunderstood the word “introvert” is these days.

As with all humour, some people will not enjoy this but it’s impossible to know whom. It may be you.

TorStar: Why 2026 mortgage renewals could make or break the economy

The mortgage crisis has hit Toronto homeowners hard. Household debt is near record levels and unemployment is inching upward, creating a precarious environment for over-leveraged homeowners.

Already, some are losing their homes. Mortgage delinquencies and defaults are expected to continue trending upwards as homeowners face mortgage renewals in 2025 and 2026. Canada’s banking regulator recently named mortgage renewal as one of the top financial risks facing the country. And the six major banks are bracing for more defaults, setting aside $4.36 billion in provisions for credit losses in the second quarter of 2024 — an increase of $1.6 billion from the same time last year.

The low interest rate mortgage trap is snapping shut.

Guardian: Goats of gold: Australia’s feral goat problem has become a $235m export trade

Feral goats are found all over Australia, but western NSW is where they are most prevalent, with the last count, in 2020, estimating a population of 4.9 million. According to Meat and Livestock Australia 2,364,307 goats, worth $235m, were slaughtered in 2023.

That’s only 0.4% of global production, and domestically, the market is small. Just 9% of Australian goat meat is consumed onshore. The rest is exported: Australia produces 35% of all goat meat exports, and accounts for 44% of the global export value of goat meat. Most is exported as frozen whole carcasses.

The Guardian: What we know about the shooting at a Donald Trump rally

Suspected shooter and one rally attendee dead, says Butler county district attorney – here’s what else we know about the situation.

Last Updated: 13.Jul.2024 22:39 EDT

Friday’s articles

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