[Salon] Our night sky is rapidly disappearing. At our current rate of dumping excess light into the world, a child born today who could see 250 stars right now from their nearby night sky will only be able to see 100 stars from that same spot on their 18th birthday.
Light pollution does far more than ruin stargazing experiences — it has a devastating affect on the environment. Driven primarily by unchecked urbanization, light pollution disrupts firefly mating rituals, lengthens pollen season and makes navigation more difficult for diverse species ranging from monarch butterflies to Atlantic salmon. It isn't good for human health, either. Too much artificial light has been linked to an increased risk of depression while electronic devices can negatively impact our sleep.
Globe at Night regularly monitors the sky, but not because these astronomers are casually sky gazing for fun. They are citizen scientists from all over the world united by a common goal: The need to monitor the sky and measure light pollution, or excess artificial lighting that has a negative impact on the natural environment. They discovered that the night sky on average gets 9.6% brighter every year.
Considering the seriousness of the light pollution problem, one would think that it's impossible to solve. In fact, it would be quite easy for people to reduce light pollution both for their own sake and that of animals in their environment. After all, light pollution exists entirely as a result of human behavior.
#1
There have been outdoor lighting fixtures that direct the illumination downward, with no 'uplight' but plenty of 'area light', for years (I have them around our property). It's even easier with LED types where the lighting is more directional.
Unfortunately you typically can't find these at your local Home Depot.
And, for some reason, urban lighting planners like to bathe whole buildings from ground mounted fixtures for no reason other than appearance. It looks impressive, but has contributed significantly to this problem.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/24/2023 7:13 Comments ||
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#2
To see the Milky Way Stars ?
Rural Ga pretty much ceased in the late 1960's.
Found it again In 1990's in the Western NC mountains on Old US64 between Hayesville and Franklin or while on the Blue Ridge Pkwy.
But on my last walk and ride about trip, that too had become light populated.
#15
I think there is a county in Texas that has light restrictions. There are radio restrictions in a portion of West Virginia. Radio is another kind of pollution.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/24/2023 15:00 Comments ||
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Whoa — not Copts, but something else actually get a few church buildings of their own?
[AlAhram] Head of Egypt’s Evangelical community Rev. Dr Andrea Zaki participated on Saturday in the laying of the foundation stone for a new church in New Minya city and another new church in Zawya Sultan district in Minya governorate.
The event was attended by the Evangelical Church’s pastors in Minya as well as officials from the Upper Egyptian governorate.
"Today events are brimming with joy as the Egyptian people come together, showcasing the strength and time-honoured tradition of coexistence among them." Rev. Zaki said.
He also expressed in his gratitude to President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi for his sincere and dedicated efforts to build a nation founded on the principles of citizenship, equality, and shared living for all.
According to estimates, there are around 250,000 Evangelical Christians in Egypt.
Compare to the 10 million or so Copts, who date back to that first generation after Jesus.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] A Democratic Republic of the Congo soldier opened fire on people gathered at his child's funeral, Reuters reported on July 23, citing a statement by military and local officials.
"At least 13 people, including nine children, died as a result of shooting at people who had gathered on Saturday evening to mourn his dead child," the statement said.
The shooting took place in the village of Nyakova on the shores of Lake Albert in Congo's eastern province of Ituri. According to the agency, the man is being sought, the motive for the crime is unknown. The soldier was reportedly worried that his child would be buried without him.
Sharing his pain...
As reported by IA Regnum , a year ago, members of the UN Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) began firing on the border with Uganda. It was clarified that as a result of the shooting, several people were killed, and several more were injured of varying degrees of severity.
[Defender] Former security state operatives occupy the highest positions at Big Tech internet platforms, and are responsible for censoring political content and limiting public debate, Glenn Greenwald reported on Tuesday.
Americans have been aware of security state efforts to control media narratives since the 1970s, when the Senate’s Church Committee exposed the CIA’s Operation Mockingbird, Greenwald told listeners of his podcast, "System Update."
Under that program, CIA agents covertly infiltrated and influenced the nation’s largest news organizations.
Project Mockingbird’s exposure greatly embarrassed the media and the government, as the CIA is forbidden from targeting the American public, Greenwald said.
Over the past decade, a series of whistleblowers revealed the U.S. security state has again amped up its covert targeting of American citizens, particularly since the start of the post-9/11 War on Terror.
News that intelligence agencies spied on Americans or infiltrated the news media was considered scandalous just over a decade ago.
But today, things have changed, Greenwald said. In fact, it has become common for top news outlets to openly hire former U.S. security state agents to report and comment on the news.
And in the last few months, the Twitter files and the latest Missouri v. Biden decision made clear how aggressive the censorship regime has become.
The U.S. government, in part, dictates what content social media platforms ought to allow on their sites, Greenwald said. But, he added:
#1
The super cuts of all the news outlets using the same script are pretty damning.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/24/2023 12:32 Comments ||
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#2
The naive Americans now live in a nation where doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, government destroys freedom, the press destroys information, religion destroys morals, and's banks destroy the economy"
This is true American exceptionalism…no other country ever did that before …..
Posted by: Aca Joe ||
07/24/2023 16:42 Comments ||
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#3
Joe, genocide is pretty common in human history. Perhaps you should read some of it. My family emigrated from something called the potato famine. Maybe, you could look it up.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/24/2023 16:48 Comments ||
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#4
^^^ The things you claim to think, Mr. Joe. Have you never read a newspaper?
#5
If I got really depressed, I could see where Joe was coming from. But I'm pretty cynical.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/24/2023 17:25 Comments ||
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#6
I misread naive as native. I now understand what Joe is saying. Only a portion of Americans are naive about evil. A portion of us fight evil and a portion support evil.
An objective metric for the level of naïveté in the middle is how the Barbie movie does going forward. If American interest in that movie drops like Indy 5, then you can know that the proportion of naive Americans is less than the studio planned. If the movie continues to be popular, then it is safe to assume that Americans are suckers.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/24/2023 18:18 Comments ||
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[WIRE] The Department of Energy (DOE) announced on Friday a plan to crack down on home hot water heaters, part of a string of proposed rules from the Biden administration on appliances that critics warn will limit consumer power.
The new proposed rule would tighten requirements for water heaters, dictating that "most common-sized electric water heaters to achieve efficiency gains with heat pump technology and gas-fired instantaneous water heaters to achieve efficiency gains through condensing technology," according to a press release from the agency.
Such standards would save consumers $11 billion annually on utility bills and $198 billion for Americans over a 30-year period, DOE said. The regulations would also reduce greenhouse gas emissions by roughly 500 million tons during the same time period, the agency claimed.
"Today’s actions — together with our industry partners and stakeholders — improve outdated efficiency standards for common household appliances, which is essential to slashing utility bills for American families and cutting harmful carbon emissions," Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement.
#1
OK!
These freaking ECO Idiots need to be removed from office the next election, and legally hamstrung from ever being able to do or try this again.
We need to ensure US Constitutional civilian rights & protections are guaranteed without any If's, And's or But's added by those in power. Whether they come from Political Elected, politically appointed, Gov employed, Commercial types (ie. Social Media), or those hiding behind a Special Interest Group masking banner.
PLUS, mandatory criminal charges and prison sentences for anyone violating the Citizen owned, NOT Government controlled, Bill of Rights.
#2
Love my gas-fired instantaneous water heater. Also have 1 electric.
No more keeping a tank hot 24x7.
No more heat loss to pipes between tank and point of use.
#6
We will all end up Amish. I’m buying suspenders.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/24/2023 12:31 Comments ||
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#7
...Love my gas-fired instantaneous water heater.
I looked into that and decided the necessary home modifications to make the installation 'code compliant' weren't worth the outlay. But that is the point of the 'Biden Greenfleece Bill' -- someone else has to pay for the infrastructure changes -OR- we all move into high density urban tenements...
The invasion is well underway here in America, and they’ve got plenty of excess males of military age, so why not try for India, too?
[OneIndia] The Indian authorities have arrested two Chinese nationals for trying to enter the country illegally through Nepal. This is the second such incident to be reported in less than a month.
The Chinese citizens were arrested in Bihar on Saturday by immigration officials. They were caught on Saturday night at the Raxaul border outpost falling in East Champaran district, Assistant Foreigner Regional Registration Officer SK Singh said, according to a report in PTI.
The two people claimed that their names are Zhao Jing and Fu Cong and hail from Jaoxing province of China. They were found without valid travel documents and claimed to have left their passports at a hotel in Birganj, right across the border, where they had stayed the previous night.They had reached the border by an autorickshaw and tried to cross over on foot, Singh said.
"In the course of the interrogation, they demonstrated strange behaviour. While one of them is fluent in English, the statement given by them are inconsistent and self-contradictory," said an immigration official.
The immigration department official added that as per records the Chinese nationals had made an earlier attempt to sneak into Indian territory on July 2 when they claimed to have done so inadvertently.
They had been let off and their passports were returned with ''entry refused'' stamped on these, said the official. However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... he added, "Their repeated attempts to enter the area raises suspicions. Hence they have been handed over to the local police for further investigation and action".
"Motive behind their move could not be established. Interrogation is being done," Hindustan Times quoted East Champaran superintendent of police (SP) Kantesh Kumar Mishra as saying.
"In the course of the interrogation, they demonstrated strange behaviour. While one of them is fluent in English, the statement given by them are inconsistent and self-contradictory," said an immigration official on condition of anonymity.
[The Federalist] The campaign to erase women has officially escalated to leaving them out of the sacred act of reproduction.
For years, researchers, celebrities, and OB-GYNs have touted making babies outside of the bedroom as a novelty attraction available for anyone willing to pay. Millions of test tube babies and a million more frozen embryos later, the global fertility industry has found a new way to create life without a key natural component: women.
The Economist ran a series of articles in "Technology Quarterly" this month advocating for the expansion of assisted reproductive technology to in vitro gametogenesis (IVG), an experimental procedure that involves reprograming adult male stem cells to become usable eggs.
At least one of the stories acknowledges that outsourcing reproduction through existing technology like in vitro fertilization is "failing most women." Already, countries, states, and healthcare facilities are grappling with how to handle ethical, moral, and legal crises like commercial surrogates with cancer and gay men who want taxpayers to fund the creation of motherless children.
As biotechnologists ramp up their fantasies about facilities filled with artificial wombs, dehumanizing "gene editing," and now, fabricated female gametes, concerns about technology outpacing our humanity should be high.
The solution the British publication repeatedly prescribes to its readers, however — speeding up technical advancements to meet the rapidly growing desire of infertile or sexually incompatible adults to have children — falls prey to one of the biggest scams sold by the multi-billion dollar babymaking business.
#1
OK !!! taking this into Sci-fi realm .
Which some social idiot usually tries to replicate after the movie/book comes out. Or those seeking power & $$$$$$$$$$
IF an Uber Rich Elite Business Class or had their minions in government spike the food supply with a contraceptive or develop a mandatory VAX.
Then the Government could grow and train its own citizens and in 3 to 4 generations we'll have basically the Clone Wars narrative.
#5
#2 Parents of UNBORN babies to get massive tax credits under new GOP push to incentivize mothers to carry pregnancies to term
Don't extend it to Illegal Immigrant Breeders dropping Anchor Babies!
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/24/2023 18:14 Comments ||
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#6
^ Frank, we’re talking about a Republican initiative. Of course there will be amnesty adjacent policy included inside the Trojan Horse.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/24/2023 18:23 Comments ||
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#7
^ Yeah, there's a Constitutional amendment I could go for: No legislative crap sandwiches. Every law can have one purpose only, not a pinata of unrelated stuff. No more log rolling.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/24/2023 18:37 Comments ||
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[Blaze] An Australia intelligence agency is funding research attempting to merge artificial intelligence with human brain cells.
According to The Guardian, "Research into merging human brain cells with artificial intelligence has received a $600,000 grant from defense and the Office of National Intelligence (ONI)."
The funding from the Australia National Intelligence and Security Discovery Research Grants Program will go to research being conducted by the Monash University and Cortical Labs.
Adeel Razi, the project's lead and associate professor from the Monash University's Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, explained, "This new technology capability in future may eventually surpass the performance of existing, purely silicon-based hardware."
Last year, the research team created a "DishBrain" — a "semi-biological computer chip with some 800,000 human and mouse brain cells lab-grown into its electrodes," according to New Atlas. The DishBrain utilizes lab-cultivated neurons from human stem cells.
The scientists were able to train the brain cells to play the classic video game "Pong."
[GIZMADO] As millions of people head to the theaters this weekend to see Christopher Nolan’s epic Oppenheimer, a new study has been released that tracks the radioactive devastation wrought by the U.S. government’s first nuclear weapons test. The "Trinity" test, as it was secretly known, was the first nuclear detonation by the American military, occurring on July 16, 1945. That test resulted in the distribution of radioactive deposits to 46 U.S. states, as well as to parts of Canada and Mexico, the new research shows. The report also attempts to analyze the impact of the dozens of other "atmospheric" nuclear weapons tests carried out by the federal government between 1951 and 1962 inside the United States. The tests, researchers say, caused "widespread dispersion of radioactive fallout" and led to "environmental contamination and population exposures." Here are some of the key takeaways from the new report.
#1
I met a fellow who retired as an Army O-5 in '65, who was one of the "volunteers" to be upwind of a nuke blast in Nevada in the '50's. The government regularly checked on him for effects of that blast throughout his life.
#4
We grew up "down wind", should have shown up in retarded life expectancy in the population by now. Another the sky is falling exercise. Far more people have died of other things in the interim than your ability to discretely show the effects of open air radiation down wind other than in the immediate area of the tests.
#5
Genetic predisposition is also a factor. That with environmental insult added will probably not go well. Then you meet the 88 year old guy who's been smoking filterless since he was 9.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/24/2023 8:09 Comments ||
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#6
/\ Perhaps Chernobyl in 1986 was simply another example of Russian paranoia ?
#7
I ran the Nellis AFB desert northeast of Mercury, NV for a number of years. Developed a condition we called alligator skin. When exposed skin tans, dries and cracks, generally my legs. For the longest time I thought it was due to hot sun and low humidity but guys that ran in pants didn't get it, nor exposed arms and faces.
Later I learned of alpha particle decay and radiation dermatitis from the dust I kicked up running. Can't imagine what I breathed.
#8
I was wondering what Godzilla was doing in NM...
Posted by: Regular joe ||
07/24/2023 16:12 Comments ||
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#9
My late FIL was w/ SAC (7th Bomb Wing) and flew on B-36 out of Carswell during those times. He was part of two missions that were sent thru the mushroom clouds in the 50’s to study affects on men and machine. Said it was the most beautiful, terrifying mixture of green and orange colors he’d ever seen.
Side note - I attended one of the group’s last reunions and had a grand time just listening and seeing these gentlemen. At my table, were a couple of fellas involved w/ Flying Tigers, a person who was on recon flight over Hiroshima or Nagasaki day after for damage photos and several B—17 personnel that had transferred after WWII into LeMay’s flying circus of Nuke bombers. Salute!
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Defender] Former security state operatives occupy the highest positions at Big Tech internet platforms, and are responsible for censoring political content and limiting public debate, Glenn Greenwald reported on Tuesday.
[The Federalist] The campaign to erase women has officially escalated to leaving them out of the sacred act of reproduction.
[Blaze] An Australia intelligence agency is funding research attempting to merge artificial intelligence with human brain cells.
