Monthly Archives: February 2019

Farewell, Oppy

The Washington Post: Opportunity, NASA’s record-setting Mars rover, is declared dead after 15 years. “A eulogy for the spacecraft that transformed our understanding of the Red Planet.” By Sarah Kaplan.

“Opportunity’s historic mission, which uncovered signs of Mars’s watery past and transformed our understanding of the Red Planet, has finally come to an end after 15 years, NASA declared Wednesday.

The cause was system failure precipitated by power loss during a catastrophic, planetwide dust storm that engulfed the Mars rover last summer.

“It’s going to be very sad to say goodbye,“ said John Callas, the mission’s project manager. “But at the same time, we’ve got to remember this has been 15 years of incredible adventure.“

Opportunity’s mission was planned to last just 90 days, but it worked for 5,000 Martian “sols“ (which are about 39 minutes longer than an Earth day) and traversed more than 28 treacherous miles — two records for NASA.”

Link via MetaFilter.

The Heroes of the Thai Cave Rescue

Maclean’s: Into the dark – The inside story of an improbable team of divers, a near-impossible plan and the rescue of 12 boys from a Thai cave.

“We were foreigners and we weren’t going somewhere foreigners often go, so when I saw the blond man across the Bangkok airport shuttle bus on our way to the remote mountains of Chiang Rai, a one-hour flight away, I asked whether he was about to do the one thing or the other: “Are you rescuing the boys or covering the rescue?“

“Well, we’re hoping we can help rescue them,“ he said. He didn’t seem hopeful. He seemed grim. We stepped off the bus onto the hot tarmac and walked toward the plane.

“You never know,“ I said. “It could happen.“ Save 12 children and their soccer coach who got stranded three kilometres inside a flooded cave in northern Thailand at the start of the rainy season with no known food, water or swimming skills: It could never happen.

He nodded. “You never know.“ “

Link via MetaFilter.

“Trump has evinced little respect for the rule of law”

The Atlantic: Impeach Donald Trump. “Starting the process will rein in a president who is undermining American ideals—and bring the debate about his fitness for office into Congress, where it belongs.” By Yoni Appelbaum.

“On January 20, 2017, Donald Trump stood on the steps of the Capitol, raised his right hand, and solemnly swore to faithfully execute the office of president of the United States and, to the best of his ability, to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. He has not kept that promise.

Instead, he has mounted a concerted challenge to the separation of powers, to the rule of law, and to the civil liberties enshrined in our founding documents. He has purposefully inflamed America’s divisions. He has set himself against the American idea, the principle that all of us—of every race, gender, and creed—are created equal.

This is not a partisan judgment. Many of the president’s fiercest critics have emerged from within his own party. Even officials and observers who support his policies are appalled by his pronouncements, and those who have the most firsthand experience of governance are also the most alarmed by how Trump is governing.”

Link via MetaFilter.

C-SPAN: Rep. Ocasio-Cortez Explains Our Broken System. (Video, 5:06min)

Link also via MetaFilter.

Datenkrake Facebook

Deutsche Welle: Kartellamt untersagt Facebook Datensammelei. “Eine “marktbeherrschende Stellung” löst im deutschen Kartellrecht Alarm aus. Im Fall des sozialen Netzwerks sieht das Bundeskartellamt den Wettbewerb gefährdet – und setzt eine Frist.”

“Das Bundeskartellamt hat Facebook untersagt, außerhalb des Online-Netzwerks Daten seiner Nutzer zu sammeln – wie dies zum Beispiel über “Gefällt mir”-Buttons auf anderen Webseiten geschieht. Behördenchef Andreas Mundt erklärte, Facebook besitze in Deutschland eine marktbeherrschende Stellung und missbrauche sie. Dies sei ein Wettbewerbsverstoß. Facebook will sich gegen das Votum vor Gericht wehren. Wegen der Verknüpfung von Datenschutz und Wettbewerbsaufsicht könnte der Fall wegweisend werden – und jahrelang durch die Instanzen gehen.

Das Kartellamt untersagte Facebook auch, die auf fremden Websites gesammelten Daten mit Informationen zusammenzuführen, die bei Einträgen der Nutzer auf der eigenen Online-Plattform gespeichert wurden. Die Behörde betrachtet dabei zum Konzern gehörende Dienste wie Instagram und Whatsapp ebenfalls als Drittquellen. Das Online-Netzwerk bekommt ein Jahr Zeit, sein Verhalten zu ändern, und muss innerhalb von vier Monaten Lösungsvorschläge präsentieren.”

“North is on the move”

NPR Science: As Magnetic North Pole Zooms Toward Siberia, Scientists Update World Magnetic Model.

“North is on the move, and that’s a problem for your smartphone’s maps.

Earth’s geographic north pole is fixed. But the planet’s magnetic north pole — the north that your compass points toward — wanders in the direction of Siberia at a rate of more than 34 miles per year.

That movement may seem slow, but it has forced scientists to update their model of Earth’s magnetic field a year earlier than expected so that navigational services, including map-based phone apps, continue to work accurately.”

NPR: The North Magnetic Pole Is Shifting East, Fast. “NPR’s Ari Shapiro speaks with Nature reporter Alex Witze about a rapid shift in the Earth’s magnetic poles.”