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Monday Links from the Lockdown vol. DXCVII

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    Monday Links from the Lockdown vol. DXCVII

    Can't believe we have to do a five-day week this week. There should be a Bank Holiday every Monday really. Still, no need to actually do any work when there's this lot to read
    • The Snitch - ”In Scott Kimball, the FBI thought it had found a high-value informant who could help solve big cases. What it got instead was lies, betrayal, and murder.” Jordan Michael Smith uncovers the story of a problematic informant.
    • Solar Eclipse: Exactly What You’ll See From The U.K. And 29 European Cities This Thursday - ”A solar eclipse is coming to Europe for the first time since 2015. It will be a partial solar eclipse, with only some of the Sun blocked by the Moon, though exactly how much will depend on your location.” You might just have time to make it to Greenland for the best view, if you've had your vaccines
    • Putting Microchips in Vaccines Is a Terrible Idea, When You Think About It - James Heathers considers the secret plan beloved of conspiracy theorists: ”I am the chief scientific officer of a data company that makes wearable devices. I’ve spent the past 15 years sticking tech on people, and in people. Thinking about how body-mounted devices work takes up basically my whole day, and one of my favorite mental exercises is seeing if I can pry practical insights from the wild and irresponsible conceptions of the smooth-brained garbage-people on the internet.”
    • Radioactivity May Fuel Life Deep Underground and Inside Other Worlds - ”New work suggests that the radiolytic splitting of water supports giant subsurface ecosystems of life on Earth — and could do it elsewhere, too.” Handy when there's no sunlight where you live
    • Death by Primordial Black Hole - ”If such an object a mere thousand times bigger than an atom passed through your body, the result would not be pretty.” Just in case you'd thought of doing this at home
    • The Leg at the Bottom of the Sea - A rather odd bit of flotsam (or jetsam, I can never remember which is which): ”Teenage diver Sebastian Morris and his dad were hunting for treasure in the Gulf of Mexico when they found a below-the-knee prosthetic. How do you lose that in the ocean? Amazingly, they solved the mystery.”
    • Diamond Geezer: Hornchurch - An interesting bit of geology revealed by rail: ”Hornchurch is an impressively nondescript East London suburb, with little more to show historically than a medieval church and a former WW2 airfield. But geologically speaking it's extraordinary - the very furthest south that glaciers came in Britain - and we only know this because of the Overground's least used railway line.”
    • The Traveler and His Baggage - ”In Nazi-occupied Paris, ‘Dr. Eugène’ offered Jews an alternative to deportation, slavery, and death camps. But the escape network was not what it seemed.” A shocking tale of Nazi-occupied France.
    • Find owls near me! - Neat little project by Natalie Downe and Simon Willison: ”A website that tells you where your nearest owls are! This is a re-imagining of the original owlsnearyou.com, which launched way back in January 2010 (it's now a website about lawyers).” As with all Natalie and Simon’s projects, it’s open source: https://github.com/simonw/owlsnearme
    • BigPicture 2021 Competition Winners - ”BigPicture encourages photographers from around the world to contribute their work to this competition that both celebrates and illustrates the rich diversity of life on Earth and inspires action to protect and conserve it through the power of imagery.” Some beautiful photos here; this bear is by Michelle Valberg


    Happy invoicing!

    #2
    More ice:

    http://www.antarcticglaciers.org/gla...-introduction/

    It would appear that owls are not widespread locally.

    I think the last one I saw was in Penscynor Bird Gardens half a lifetime ago.
    Last edited by DoctorStrangelove; 7 June 2021, 22:10.
    When the fun stops, STOP.

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by DoctorStrangelove View Post
      More ice:

      http://www.antarcticglaciers.org/gla...-introduction/

      It would appear that owls are not widespread locally.

      I think the last one I saw was in Penscynor Bird Gardens half a lifetime ago.
      Thanks for that, lots of info that may come in handy if my trip at the end of the year happens.

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by NickFitz View Post
        • Putting Microchips in Vaccines Is a Terrible Idea, When You Think About It - James Heathers considers the secret plan beloved of conspiracy theorists: ”I am the chief scientific officer of a data company that makes wearable devices. I’ve spent the past 15 years sticking tech on people, and in people. Thinking about how body-mounted devices work takes up basically my whole day, and one of my favorite mental exercises is seeing if I can pry practical insights from the wild and irresponsible conceptions of the smooth-brained garbage-people on the internet.”

        This one was very entertaining! Although I do think it is anti-conspiracy propaganda of course

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by NickFitz View Post
          [*]The Leg at the Bottom of the Sea - A rather odd bit of flotsam (or jetsam, I can never remember which is which): ”Teenage diver Sebastian Morris and his dad were hunting for treasure in the Gulf of Mexico when they found a below-the-knee prosthetic. How do you lose that in the ocean? Amazingly, they solved the mystery.”[/LIST]
          Here you go:
          https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/flotsam-jetsam.html

          Comment


            #6
            I think "smooth-brained garbage-people on the internet." is my favourite phrase of the year so far
            "Being nice costs nothing and sometimes gets you extra bacon" - Pondlife.

            Comment

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