Co-workers ditch colleague on Colorado hiking retreat — who falls 20 times and gets stranded
Carla Sinclair / 11:55 am PT Tue Aug 27, 2024
Image: Patsy Michaud / shutterstock.com
A hiker on an office retreat in Colorado found out who his true friends were (none) when his co-workers left him to summit a 14er alone — leading to a rescue mission.
The group of 15 employees had set off on the Mt. Shavano trail in Chaffee County at sunrise on Friday. They then split into two groups, but for some reason that is unclear, left one of the hikers to climb on his own. After summiting at 11:30am, the lone hiker began to descend, only to become disoriented.
To make matters worse, according to the Chaffee County Search and Rescue Facebook page, personal items he had used as markers on the way up had disappeared — collected by his co-workers, who were ahead of him, on their way down.
"Concerned for himself, he sent a pin drop to co-workers already descending," CCSR said in their post. "These co-workers informed him his route was wrong and to climb back up the slope to regain the trail."
But by the time he got back on track, "a strong storm passed through the area with freezing rain and high winds, and he again became disoriented, losing cell phone signal as well."
As if that weren't enough, it took another five hours before his co-workers called in for help, and by that point, the hiker had lost his cell phone signal, and "high winds and freezing rain…made reaching the summit unsafe, and presented many difficulties for the drone operator."
It wasn't until the next day that the hiker finally got cell service, which allowed rescuers to find him. But not before falling 20 times throughout the night "on the steep slopes below Esprit point toward the North Fork," with his final fall leaving him "unable to get back up."
Fortunately, he was still conscious by the time rescuers reached him, but it's not clear what condition he was in. Sheesh. With co-workers like his, who needs a job?
Advice to his co-workers from the rescuers, as paraphrased by Advnture:
Always hike with a partner – if your partner wants to turn back, go with them.
Pack some bright clothing to make yourself searchable.
Remember to pack the 10 hiking essentials in your daypack, including a light source to attract rescuers' attention.
Previously: Stranded kite surfer rescued thanks to HELP message spotted from the air
Weird Al's "Phantom Menace" parody is now in HD (video)
Jason Weisberger / 11:41 am PT Tue Aug 27, 2024
Star Wars
Weird Al's classic Star Wars tribute, "The Saga Begins," set to Don McLean's "American Pie" is now viewable in HD. The costumes are fantastic.
This is a beautiful video, but something about Al's face reminds me of the De-aged Anakin and Obi-Wan in the TV series. I haven't seen it in recent memory and had forgotten what a pageant it is.
Previously:
• Weird Al's UHF gets a 4K release
• There's a 'Weird Al' Yankovic remix of Portugal. The Man's 'Feel it Still'
• Class on Weird Al's music to be offered at Vermont university
• Listen: Weird Al's parody of Michael Jackson's 'Black or White' that the Gloved One wouldn't let him release
Lucid Air: now with electroshock handles and pepper spray cannon
Jason Weisberger / 11:10 am PT Tue Aug 27, 2024
Image: Jonathan Weiss/shutterstock.com
Reminiscent of the Titanic's press release, US Armor Group announced an "indestructible" armored version of Lucid's Air Sapphire EV with "impenetrable" internet/WIFI.
The US Armor Group modifies Lucid's luxury EV sedan into a battle jitney. Obviously, there is armor, but you can also add gun ports, poison gas detection, bad guy zappers, and pepper spray sprayers. Aside from the Pope perhaps upgrading the Pope Mobile, who is buying these to drive around, and where do they live? Crime is down, and I want my car to be lighter. Adding all this shit to an EV is going to have you living at the charging station.
US Armor Group added an impenetrable internet/WiFi security package to safeguard all sensitive data from hackers, as well as scanners that gather intelligence from over a million sources, including local Police and Fire stations, to stay aware of any potential threats on the road.
The security specialist has also added a one-touch outreach feature that instantly connects them with US Armor Group for assistance using an integrated communication system.
In addition to ballistic glass and a bolstered exterior, US Armor Group says it can add several custom countermeasures to ensure the safety of its customers, including electric-shock door handles, pepper spray dispensers, concealed gun ports, and poison gas protection/detection. It can also add upgraded armor to stop high-powered rifles, grenades, and explosive devices.
Once someone brags about their internet/WIFI security, you can be sure there is a 14-year-old with a Flipper who can take remote control of the car and pepper spray them in the face.
Previously:
• Watch this new heart-pounding edit of last year's South African armored car heist
• Watch as an armored car driver displays nerves of steel
• How armored vehicles stop bullets
• LA school police get free grenade launchers, rifles, armored MRAP vehicle from DoD. They'll return grenade launchers.
Trump's grip on independent voters plunges 8 points
Mark Frauenfelder / 10:56 am PT Tue Aug 27, 2024
Boing Boing/Flux
A new poll from Florida Atlantic University Political Communication, Public Opinion Research Lab and Mainstreet Research USA shows Kamala Harris leading the septuagenarian felon and pussygrabber by 4 points.
Most importantly, Harris has significantly increased her lead among independent voters since July. The poll shows Harris with 48% support from independents compared to Trump's 35%, a 13-point advantage. This represents a substantial widening of the gap, as the previous poll had shown a much closer race with Harris at 45% and Trump at 43% among independents.
Donald trails Harris among women, Hispanics, Blacks, and white college graduates. But Trump is still favored by men and white non-college graduates.
It looks like Donald might have to rely on traitorous state government officials and corrupt loyalists in the Supreme Court to steal the election.
Contractors renovating National Gallery wing find 1990 letter from donor praising removal of false columns
Rob Beschizza / 10:37 am PT Tue Aug 27, 2024
Photo: Claudio Divizia / Shutterstock
In the late 1980s, London's National Gallery got a new wing thanks to a donation from Lord Sainsbury and his brothers. He objected to false columns added by the architect, Robert Venturi, but had no formal authority to overrule him. Instead, he hid a letter inside one of them thanking whoever was finally removing them. They were removed, and the letter found, 34 years after the wing was opened.
The text of the letter, replete with Lord Sainsbury's ALLCAPS energy, follows.
IF YOU HAVE FOUND THIS NOTE YOU MUST BE ENGAGED IN DEMOLISHING ONE OF THE FALSE COLUMNS THAT HAVE BEEN PLACED IN THE FOYER OF THE SAINSBURY WING OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY. I BELIEVE THAT THE FALSE COLUMNS ARE A MISTAKE OF THE ARCHITECT AND THAT WE WOULD LIVE TO REGRET OUR ACCEPTING THIS DETAIL OF HIS DESIGN.
LET IT BE KNOWN THAT ONE OF THE DONORS OF THIS BUILDING IS ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTED THAT YOUR GENERATION HAS DECIDED TO DISPENSE WITH THE UNNECESSARY COLUMNS.
The current renovations are controversial (making the foyer look like "a third-rate office park") but the unnecessary columns (pictured here) were plainly horrible and seem to have been a target of mockery.
Here's the letter itself.
Sainsbury died before they were removed, but after plans for their removal were made. So he died happy. About that, anyway.
That closed door is giving your cat FOMO
Gail Sherman / 10:35 am PT Tue Aug 27, 2024
Image: Gail Sherman
Anyone with a cat knows that a closed door will soon have a furry little arm poking under it, perhaps with a bit of rage behind it. Why do cats hate closed doors so much? Our semi-domesticated furry friends are experiencing something all too familiar to us humans: fear of missing out.
"It is a little bit of FOMO," [board-certified veterinary behaviorist Karen] Sueda told Live Science. "The FOMO of like, 'I don't know what's on the other side, and I want to go see and figure it out.'"
A closed door hits on all of what cat behaviorist Jane Ehrlich calls the "three terrible C's" that cats dislike: They hate not having choice, they hate not being in control, and they hate change. While cats don't necessarily want to be involved in whatever is happening behind the door, they do want to know what's going on, she said.
Cats also enjoy attention from their owners — which a closed door eliminates. A 2017 study published in the journal Behavioural Processes suggests most cats prefer human interaction to other stimuli, including food and toys. And cats don't understand that a closed door is temporary, either, Johnson said.
Johnson suggests that you keep doors consistently open or closed to avoid stressing out your kitty. She doesn't specifically address the closed bathroom door situation familiar to anyone who shares their home with cats, but be prepared for them to be upset if you don't invite them in with you.
Previously: Star Wars but with cats
Newfoundland's "Mrs. Roper Pub Crawl" a very good time
Jason Weisberger / 10:33 am PT Tue Aug 27, 2024
Image: YouTube
Twillingate, Newfoundland Organizers is the latest town to put on a raucous "Mrs. Roper Pub Crawl."
Over 100 people participated in a celebration of Helen Roper, of "Three's Company" and "The Ropers" fame. Helen and Stanley Roper were an incredible couple who were early examples of living their best lives, and folks find these events very liberating. The event is growing faster than the organizers know what to do. "Oh, Stanley!"
Previously:
• Mrs. Roper Bar Crawl brings 'Three's Company' landlady to the streets of San Francisco
Nick Offerman's "Proud to Be a Kamala Man"
Jason Weisberger / 10:03 am PT Tue Aug 27, 2024
Image: YouTube
Superstar comedian and actor Nick Offerman offers this parody of Lee Greenwood's tired conservative standard.
I can not tell you how sick I am of Republicans playing "God Bless the USA" while crapping all over the constitution they claim to love and working as hard as they can to restrict other people's rights. Nick Offerman's take is wonderful fun, and a rousing endorsement of the Harris Walz ticket.
Bonus:
Previously:
• Nick Offerman sings 'I Like Beer,' his ode to Brett Kavanaugh (& supremely illegitimate justice)
• Nick Offerman shares his misadventures in sawdust and workshop projects for all levels
• 45 minutes of Nick Offerman sipping whisky in silence by a yule log
• Nick Offerman and Seth Rogen review maker gadgets for Wired
Over 200 ex-GOP officials warn of "irreparable damage" to democracy if Trump wins in 2024
Mark Frauenfelder / 9:55 am PT Tue Aug 27, 2024
Boing Boing/Flux
In an open letter, over 200 Republicans who worked for the Bush, McCain, and Romney administration warned that "another four years of a Trump presidency would irreparably damage our beloved democracy."
"Of course, we have plenty of honest, ideological disagreements with Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz," the letter states. "That's to be expected. The alternative, however, is simply untenable."
The MAGA party has moved so far right to the right of the GOP that if Ronald Reagan were to run today, MAGA would compare him to Fidel Castro and Pol Pot.
Serial plagiarist's memoir looks strikingly familiar
Jason Weisberger / 9:29 am PT Tue Aug 27, 2024
Image: Screenshot/Social Media
Melania Trump once again finds herself accused of swiping someone else's work.
It seems even the cover of Melania's memoir has to be stolen for it to be authentically Melania. Be it stealing from Michele Obama or losers like Betsy DeVos, Melania is known to see what she likes and take it. The Daily Beast notes that her book cover looks like 2020s "Channel Catwalk."
That's because the memoir bears striking similarities to Chanel Catwalk, a 2020 book by the French author Patrick Mauriès. The book's publisher, Thames & Hudson, advertises it as having compiled every Chanel collection ever created by the late fashion legend Karl Lagerfeld into one place.
Like Melania, the book's title is in all caps, centered over a black background in white text of a similar font and size. The only apparent differences are that Chanel Catwalk includes two words—stacked atop each other—and includes its publisher's name in the bottom-left corner.
With millions of books published annually, it seems inevitable many covers will resemble each other. However, Melania's memoir is under even more intense scrutiny after it appeared that she plagiarized large swaths of her 2016 RNC speech from Michelle Obama's DNC convention.
Daily Beast
Previously:
• Melania a no-show at Trump's 75th birthday event
• The cinematic universe of Melania Trump christmas videos
• Melania leads low-effort battle against the cyber bullies
• Melania Trump publicly orders husband to fire administration official
• Melania humiliated, a JFK conspiracy bombshell, and beautiful people in this week's dubious tabloids
• Melania dodges Trump's kiss
Trump appoints conspiracy theorists to co-chair his transition team
Jason Weisberger / 9:10 am PT Tue Aug 27, 2024
rfk jr photo shoot
Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr. have been named honorary co-chairs of Donald Trump's Presidential Transition team.
Both Gabbard and RFK jr are known for their out-there opinions. Gabbard claims the US is using biological weapons in Syria, and has enjoyed discussing Great Replacement Theory themes with Tucker Carlson. At the same time, RFK jr is just his own anti-vax, tin foil hat-wearing space cadet. Donald Trump has appointed these two to plan his hopeful return to the White House.
Donald Trump will name his new allies Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard as honorary co-chairs of his presidential transition team, according to a senior campaign adviser.
The Republican presidential nominee offered the roles to the pair of former Democrats as he seeks to regain momentum after Kamala Harris took over as that party's nominee from President Joe Biden, reported the New York Times.
"I've been asked to go on the transition team, you know, and to help pick the people who will be running the government," Kennedy told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in an interview posted on X.
Previously:
• RFK Jr declares Trump as 'frightened' and 'barely coherent'
• It can't just be the brain worm: what the hell is wrong with RFK, Jr?
• RFK Jr. spins deranged CIA Covid pandemic conspiracy
Boeing plane tire explodes in Atlanta, instantly killing 2 Delta workers and seriously injuring a 3rd
Carla Sinclair / 9:02 am PT Tue Aug 27, 2024
Image: Vytautas Kielaitis / shutterstock.com
A Boeing 757 plane tire exploded at Georgia's Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport this morning, killing two workers and seriously injuring a third.
The accident occurred around 5:00am in a maintenance area of the airport, when workers were removing a tire from the 31-year-old plane. One of the victims who died was a Delta employee, while the other was a contractor. The person who was injured also works for Delta.
"The Delta family is heartbroken at the loss of two team members and the injury of another following an incident this morning," said a statement put out by Delta. "We have extended our full support to family members and colleagues during this incredibly difficult time."
Details on what led up to the explosion have not been released.
None of the victims have been identified.
According to flight information associated with the plane's tail number, the aircraft arrived in Atlanta from Las Vegas on Sunday night.
Airport officials have confirmed that there is no impact to airport operations because of this incident.
Previously: Not again! Boeing plane makes emergency landing in New York when emergency slide flies off mid-flight
"NPS Front Desk" showcases talented Rangers
Jennifer Sandlin / 8:38 am PT Tue Aug 27, 2024
National Park Service sign. Image: Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:National_Park_Service_sign_%28TK%29.JPG
The National Park Service once again brings its "A" game and showcases how awesome and talented its Rangers are! This time, the NPS brilliance comes in the form of a concert series called "NPS Front Desk," a clever riff on NPR's Tiny Desk series.
Jewel Cave National Monument kicked off the series with a performance—featuring NPS Rangers, of course—of the song "Long, Long Crawlway," written by early cave explorer Jan Conn. Jewel Cave National Monument introduces the song and performance on their Facebook page:
Jan had a passion for music and for adventuring through Jewel Cave. She wrote several songs inspired by her adventures. "Long, Long Crawlway" is one of our favorites as it's featured in our park film! Jan's adventures (or misadventures in long crawlways) included surveying about 65 miles of cave passageways with her husband, Herb. The Conns also helped plan out our entire Scenic Tour Route!
Jewel Cave National Monument challenged other NPS parks to participate in the series, and Zion National Park stepped up in grand style. Zion posted a stunningly beautiful performance of the western classic "Cool Water" by The Virgin River Fun Time Band (which is comprised of Zion rangers).
Previously:
• It's not love, it's littering: NPS asks tourists to stop with the locks
• $100m gift to the National Park Service is 'transformative'
• Cry for help: U.S. National Parks Service hates dogs, breaks law
• Listening to the past: NPS releases historic audio recordings
2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine approved. Now go get it!
Jason Weisberger / 8:33 am PT Tue Aug 27, 2024
Telnov Oleksii/shutterstock
FDA officials say to get vaccinated whenever possible; timing the COVID shot for a seasonal swing isn't nearly as important as just being vaccinated.
With only 22.5% of adults and 14% of children having received the 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine, it is no surprise we're seeing a summer surge of COVID-19. About half the people I've spoken to in the last week or two here in Los Angeles have COVID. Waste water monitoring shows the spike leveling off in Oregon. I've already had a friend bail on their "burn" and come home, as it was just too unpleasant to be sick on the Playa. Getting vaccinated reduces the likelihood and severity of symptoms.
For those who are already certain they'll get a COVID-19 vaccine this year and are only deciding on when exactly to get it, the officials offered some things to consider. First, the CDC recommends that Americans get their 2024–2025 COVID-19 vaccines sometime in September or October, with the idea of boosting protection against the winter wave (not necessarily the summer wave). Deciding whether to go within that window or later, Marks leaned on the earlier side, though he considered it a personal choice.
"We're talking about a vaccine that is covering a virus that is continuing to evolve. And it is likely that what is going to be there in four or five months from now will further evolve from where it is now," Marks said. "Now, getting vaccinated a little later probably will help protect against it then, too. But getting vaccinated now probably gives you the maximum amount of protection against what is currently circulating, and that will last for several months at least."
"I can tell you," he concluded, "I already have my appointment."
Previously:
• Can a Covid-vaccine PSA even work? This one tries, but who's really listening?
• Second Covid vaccine '94.5% effective' and can be kept in a fridge
• New Novavax COVID-19 vaccine authorized, available 'in the coming days'
SpaceX Polaris Dawn is a historic and risky mission
Gail Sherman / 7:36 am PT Tue Aug 27, 2024
Update: This morning's scheduled launch of Polaris Dawn was scrubbed due to a ground-side helium leak and has been rescheduled for 3:38 AM on August 28th.
Polaris Dawn will launch on Tuesday no earlier than 3:38 AM EDT. There is a four-hour launch window and an additional launch window the following day. Despite launching from Kennedy Space Center, the launch vehicle, the spacecraft, and the crew are not from NASA. Space travel is inherently risky, but on its way to making history, Polaris Dawn is taking on a lot of risk.
The four-person crew consists of billionaire Jared Isaacman, who financed and will command the mission, Scott Poteet, Isaacman's pilot and friend, and two SpaceX employees. Isaacman previously commanded the Inspiration4, the first commercial human spaceflight with only private citizens aboard. This is the first spaceflight for everyone but Isaacman.
The Dragon capsule will enter a highly elliptical orbit, reaching 1,400 kilometers from Earth and passing through the South Atlantic Anomaly, part of the Van Allen Belt, where the crew will be exposed to high levels of non-ionizing radiation. Their path will take them further from the Earth than any crewed mission since the Apollo program, which carries an increased risk of space debris and micrometeorites.
On day three of the mission, Isaacman and Sarah Gillis from SpaceX are scheduled to participate in the first-ever extra-vehicular activity (EVA) or spacewalk by a private crew on a commercial spacecraft. The Crew Dragon capsule does not have an airlock, so the entire capsule will be depressurized during the EVA, exposing the crew to the near vacuum of space. All four crew will be wearing specially designed suits that can be used for the mission's duration, rather than separate launch/reentry and EVA suits, including the two who will remain on board.
The crew is set to perform dozens of scientific experiments during Polaris Dawn, including studying how the eye responds to microgravity, testing an onboard glucose monitoring device, measuring their exposure to the high-energy neutron radiation of the Van Allen Belt, and using lasers to communicate with Starlink satellites.
Polaris Dawn Mission Specialist and Medical Officer Anna Menon will also read to patients at St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital from her children's book, Kisses From Space. The crew will also enjoy Doritos specially designed to be eaten in space, where crumbs are not just messy but dangerous. The limited edition glow-in-the-dark cans are only available by donating to St. Jude's. Doritos has already donated $500 million. Isaacman's Inspiration4 raised $240 million for St. Jude Children's Research. Whatever your feelings about private spaceflight, at least this billionaire space tourist is doing some good.
The launch will be simulcast on Space.com.
Previously: SpaceX hired to destroy the International Space Station
Webb telescope spots baby Jupiters in distant nebula
Rob Beschizza / 7:08 am PT Tue Aug 27, 2024
Three young gas giants circled in a composite impage of NGC1333. Credit: ESA, Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Scholz, K. Muzic, A. Langeveld, R. Jayawardhana
Six Jupiter-sized worlds may be seen in images captured by the Webb space telescope of NGC1333, a stellar "nursery" full of young celestial objects.
In the young star cluster NGC1333, located about 1,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Perseus, a team of astronomers found hundreds of newly formed starlike objects, including six infant worlds with masses between five and 15 times that of Jupiter. The dusty disk around the smallest world is exactly like the kind that circle baby stars and give rise to planetary systems. This dusty disk might one day turn into a pack of orbiting moons, says Adam Langeveld, an astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University.
The discovery is reported in The JWST/NIRISS Deep Spectroscopic Survey for Young Brown Dwarfs and Free-Floating Planets [arxiv]
Here we report results from an extremely deep spectroscopic survey of the young star cluster NGC1333 using NIRISS WFSS on the James Webb Space Telescope. The survey is photometrically complete to K ∼ 21, and includes useful spectra for objects as faint as K ∼ 20.5. The observations cover 19 known brown dwarfs, for most of which we confirm spectral types using NIRISS spectra. We discover six new candidates with L-dwarf spectral types that are plausible planetary-mass members of NGC1333, with estimated masses between 5–15 MJup. One, at ∼ 5 MJup, shows clear infrared excess emission and is a good candidate to be the lowest mass object known to have a disk. We do not find any objects later than mid-L spectral type (M ≲ 4 MJup). The paucity of Jupiter-mass objects, despite the survey's unprecedented sensitivity, suggests that our observations reach the lowest mass objects formed like stars in NGC1333. Our findings put the fraction of FFPMOs in NGC1333 at ∼ 10 % of the number of cluster members, significantly more than expected from the typical log-normal stellar mass function. We also search for wide binaries in our images and report a young brown dwarf with a planetary-mass companion.
The new space telescope is outperforming expectations when it comes to glimpsing smaller exoplanets as well as the baby Jupiters.
One of the smaller planets that JWST looked at is GJ 1214b, which has frustrated astronomers since its discovery in 2009 (SN: 12/16/09). The planet is a sub-Neptune, meaning its size is somewhere between that of a rocky world like Earth and a gaseous one like Neptune. "What the heck are sub-Neptunes?" asked astronomer Eliza Kempton of the University of Maryland in College Park. They could be balls of rock with thick hydrogen and helium atmospheres, or maybe water worlds (SN: 2/22/12). "What we'd like to do with atmospheric characterization is measure their atmospheres and see which is which," Kempton said.
Crayola receives trademark on the earthy, leathery, clay-undertoned scent of crayons
Rob Beschizza / 6:55 am PT Tue Aug 27, 2024
Screenshot: USPTO
Is the "earthy" scent of Crayola unique to that brand? The company filed for U.S. trademark protection on a distinctive sensory aspect to its crayons, and it was awarded last month, capping at least six years of attempts by the company.
In July, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a trademark to the arts and crafts giant for the smell of its crayons — that waxy scent of a childhood spent trying to colour within the lines. While it's too soon for this back-to-school season, Ruggiero imagines one day pumping it through the aisles of retailers, triggering nostalgia while shoppers are browsing and hopefully buying more crayons.
The news story above doesn't seem to link to the trademark—here it is—or quote it in full, despite it being only one sentence long.
"The mark consists of a scent reminiscent of a slightly earthy soap with pungent, leather-like clay undertones."
Delicious! It's not mentioned in the story (beyond pointing out that the trademark was initially denied) but I wonder if the "earthy" scent is characteristic of high-quality ingredients that other brands don't use, but have begun imitating with fragrances.
Crayola, a unit of Hallmark, first applied for the trademark in 2018 and was initially turned down less than a year later, but won its bid on appeal. During the process, the company shared examples of its own crayons as well as competitors to verify the distinctiveness.
"Chocolate breakthrough" reported by Swiss scientists
Rob Beschizza / 6:35 am PT Tue Aug 27, 2024
Image: Lindt
"Chocolate breakthrough" sounds like a euphemism for something unpleasant, but in this case it's good news: Swiss scientists report successfully making chocolate with the entire cocoa fruit rather than just the beans.
They say traditional chocolate production, using only the beans, involves leaving the rest of the cocoa fruit – the size of a pumpkin and full of nutritious value – to rot in the fields. The key to the new chocolate lies in its very sweet juice, which tastes, Mr Mishra explains, "very fruity, a bit like pineapple". This juice, which is 14% sugar, is distilled down to form a highly concentrated syrup, combined with the pulp and then, taking sustainability to new levels, mixed with the dried husk, or endocarp, to form a very sweet cocoa gel. The gel, when added to the cocoa beans to make chocolate, eliminates the need for sugar.
This could improve the efficiency and economics of the process and enable sustainable production and decolonialize the industry. Yay!
Mr Mishra was partnered in his project by KOA, a Swiss start-up working in sustainable cocoa growing. Its co-founder, Anian Schreiber, believes using the entire cocoa fruit could solve many of the cocoa industry's problems, from the soaring price of cocoa beans to endemic poverty among cocoa farmers.
"'Instead of fighting over who gets how much of the cake, you make the cake bigger and make everybody benefit," he explains.
Right. There's been a chocolate breakthrough and it's definitely going to trickle down.
"Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story" trailer hits hard
Gail Sherman / 6:33 am PT Tue Aug 27, 2024
Superman Logo, via Wikimedia Commons
Christopher Reeve was Superman. The physicality of his dual performances as Clark Kent and Superman has never been matched by the others who have come after him. How he responded to tragedy made him great, however. When a horseback-riding accident left him paralyzed and unable to breathe on his own, he didn't give up. Instead, he spent the remainder of his life as a true hero.
After becoming a quadriplegic, he became a charismatic leader and activist in the quest to find a cure for spinal cord injuries, as well as a passionate advocate for disability rights and care – all while continuing his career in cinema in front of and behind the camera and dedicating himself to his beloved family.
When the trailer makes you cry, you know you are in for a real gut punch from the whole film. Make sure to bring tissues to this one.
Previously: Superman now officially fights for "a better tomorrow" instead of the American way
Special counsel Jack Smith appeals Judge Cannon dismissing Trump's classified documents case
Rob Beschizza / 4:34 am PT Tue Aug 27, 2024
Special Counsel Jack Smith. Screenshot: U.S. Department of Justice
Trump-appointed Federal Judge Aileen Cannon was expected to do it all along and eventually did, tossing the case against him for refusing to return classified documents that he took from the White House. Special counsel Jack Smith, who she decided should not have been appointed in the first place, is now appealing the ruling.
In a brief filed with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, Smith says Judge Cannon was also mistaken in ruling that the process used to appoint the Special Counsel was unconstitutional. Smith is appealing Cannon's ruling, asking the 11th Circuit Court to reverse her order to dismiss the case and send it back "for further proceedings." In his brief, the Special Counsel does not ask the court to remove the Trump-appointed judge from the case. Even before her dismissal, Cannon was criticized by legal observers for delays and rulings that favored Trump. If the Appeals court reverses her ruling, many legal observers believe it may also ask Cannon to recuse herself from the case.
Cannon's declaration that the Special Counsel's position was fundamentally unconstitutional "runs counter to decades of rulings by other federal courts upholding the constitutionality of the Special Counsel's office," reports NPR. The cynical if rather obvious view is that she was a partisan appointment with poor qualifications for the job and performed the service expected of her: to shield Trump from legal consquences.
NARA recovers famed 1982 Grace Hopper lecture recorded on obsolete media format
Rob Beschizza / 4:15 am PT Tue Aug 27, 2024
Hopper delivering the 1982 lecture
U.S. Navy computer scientist and COBOL inventor Grace Hopper gave a famed lecture in 1982 that was recorded using an obsolete video medium for which no player now exists. Yesterday, the NSA posted it on its YouTube channel, reflecting years of demand for it to be made public and work by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to retrieve the footage: "NARA's Special Media Department was able to retrieve the footage contained on two 1' AMPEX tapes and transferred the footage to NSA to be reviewed for public release."
In one of the more unique public proactive transparency record releases for the National Security Agency (NSA) to date, NSA has released a digital copy of a lecture that then-Capt. Grace Hopper gave agency employees on August 19, 1982.
The lecture, "Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People," features Capt. Hopper discussing some of the potential future challenges of protecting information. She also provided valuable insight on leadership and her experiences breaking barriers in the fields of computer science and mathematics.
Here's the lecture, in two parts.
A fantastic quote:
"Now back in the early days of this country, when they moved heavy objects around, they didn't have any Caterpillar tractors, they didn't have any big cranes. They used oxen. And when they got a great big log on the ground, and one ox couldn't budge the darn thing, they did not try to grow a bigger ox. They used two oxen! And I think they're trying to tell us something. When we need greater computer power, the answer is not "get a bigger computer", it's "get another computer". Which of course, is what common sense would have told us to begin with."
Woman sues American Airlines for outrageous sexual assault on flight to New Jersey
Carla Sinclair / 2:07 pm PT Mon Aug 26, 2024
Image: Markus Mainka / shutterstock.com
A woman who says she was sexually assaulted on an American Airlines flight is now suing the company for "failing to promptly intervene when the assault occurred."
The lawsuit states that the woman, from New Jersey, fell asleep on a flight from Charlotte, North Carolina to Newark on August 26, 2022, when the gentleman climbed on top of her and placed a puffer jacket over the two of them.
"Shortly after takeoff, the flight attendant turned off the cabin lights, and Plaintiff closed her eyes to sleep," says the federal lawsuit, filed last week on August 20, according to The Independent. "Plaintiff awoke to find the Perpetrator's left arm inside her pants and his right hand forcing her hand onto his penis."
From The Independent:
After taking a seat between a friend and "an unknown male passenger," the woman settled in for the two-hour journey.
The stranger had covered the two of them with his black puffer jacket, and had "digitally penetrated her," according to the suit, describing the woman as having been frozen in "a state of shock and panic." …
"Plaintiff gathered the courage to push [the] Perpetrator away, at which point he quickly returned to his seat."
The attacker then tried to act normal, as if nothing had happened, by asking the woman if she would like some water, the suit continues. It says she quickly managed to wake her friend, who reported the alleged assault to a flight attendant. The woman was switched to a different seat for the remainder of the flight, according to the lawsuit.
The suit says American "owed a duty of care" to ensure the woman's safety during the flight, but "breached its duty of care by failing to properly monitor the cabin, failing to prevent the sexual assault, and failing to promptly intervene when the assault occurred."
With so many fellow passengers as potential witnesses, the brazen act seems outrageous, but according to the FBI, sexual assaults on airplanes is on the rise. From the FBI last April:
[T]he FBI is taking that opportunity to alert the public about a serious federal crime that is on the rise: sexual assault aboard aircraft. …
Crimes aboard aircraft fall within the FBI's jurisdiction, and in the case of in-flight sexual assaults, agents describe elements of these crimes as being strikingly similar. The attacks generally occur on long-haul flights when the cabin is dark. The victims are usually in middle or window seats, sleeping, and covered with a blanket or jacket. They report waking up to their seatmate's hands inside their clothing or underwear. Many passengers may consume alcohol or take prescription drugs to relax or sleep, and this can both lend a false sense of security and may tempt offenders who find these victims vulnerable. In addition, offenders are known to take advantage of the fact that some victims might not report an incident because they are embarrassed, don't want to cause a scene, or may try to convince themselves the assault was accidental. …
Passengers are encouraged to take the following precautions before and during a flight:
• If an incident happens, report it immediately to the flight crew and ask that they record the attacker's identity and report the incident. They can alert law enforcement, if necessary.
• Offenders will often test their victims, sometimes pretending to brush against them to see how they react or if they wake up. If such behavior occurs, establish boundaries, and consider asking to be moved to another seat.
• If your seatmate is a stranger, no matter how polite he or she may seem, keep the armrest between you down.
• If you are arranging for a child to fly unaccompanied, try to reserve an aisle seat so flight attendants can keep a closer watch on them. Minors are known targets.
"Flyers are urged to be aware of their surroundings and take precautions to stay safe including keeping the armrest down between you and your seatmate and requesting a seat change if the passenger next to you engages in behavior that makes you feel uncomfortable," said Mehtab Syed of the Los Angeles FBI office.
"Anyone who believes they have been sexually assaulted is encouraged to alert a member of the flight crew and contact the FBI at tips.fbi.gov or 1-800-CALL-FBI."
Previously: Judge orders airline to compensate passenger for rotten fish in his lost luggage
Teflon: Miracle invention or slow-acting poison? Why not both!
Mark Frauenfelder / 12:38 pm PT Mon Aug 26, 2024
Happy Pan (1957) was the first commercially available Teflon coated frying pan. trozzolo, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Teflon was accidentally discovered in 1938 by DuPont chemists while they were trying to develop new refrigerants to replace dangerous, explosive ones used in the 1920s-30s. Rudy Molinek wrote a piece for The Smithsonian titles "The Long, Strange History of Teflon, the Indestructible Product Nothing Seems to Stick to" that describes how Teflon went from being a mysterious laboratory curiosity to playing a crucial role in the Manhattan Project, before becoming a household name through non-stick cookware and eventually leading to the development of a whole class of chemicals known as PFAS, which are now raising significant health and environmental concerns.
Highlights:
It was first used in the Manhattan Project to protect pipes from corrosive uranium hexafluoride gas.
The first consumer product with Teflon was a non-stick skillet called the "Happy Pan" in 1961.
Teflon sales are about $3 billion annually and projected to grow.
The carbon-fluorine bond in Teflon is the strongest bond in chemistry, making it extremely stable and non-reactive.
Teflon and related chemicals (PFAS) are now found in 97% of Americans' blood. These "forever chemicals" don't break down easily and can cause health issues like cancer and reduced fertility.
Excerpt:
Inventor Marion Trozzolo came up with the first Teflon-coated skillet, called the Happy Pan, in 1957 and began selling it in 1961. For the 25th anniversary of the skillet, in 1986, Trozzolo gifted an original Happy Pan to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.
Since then, Teflon has spread everywhere. In 1969, Wilbert and Bob Gore used a form of PTFE to make a waterproof, breathable fabric they called Gore-Tex that's now omnipresent in raincoats and hiking boots. Inventors have also put Teflon in dental floss, plumbing thread-seal tape and medical devices like artificial heart valves, among many other applications.
Previously:
• Geckos can't climb teflon
• Teflon-coated yarn