leicsmac

https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/controversial-phosphine-findings-on-venus-corroborated/4020063.article A team led by Dave Clements, a reader in astrophysics at Imperial College London, announced initial findings at a special session of the National Astronomy Meeting in the UK in July. They are yet to be peer reviewed and are based on a tremendous amount of new data since the initial discovery of phosphine in 2020. The researchers have not only found phosphine (PH3) in Venus’s atmosphere once more, but also ammonia (NH3) at parts per billion deeper down in the clouds. By no way confirmed yet, but the question of phosphate (and perhaps even life) on Venus keeps rumbling on.

Well done, Gus. Honours board with bat and ball.

In my lifetime: Cook Strauss Trott Root Brook Stokes (c) Prior (wk) Swann Broad Wood Anderson All time: Cook Gooch Hutton Root Hammond Brearley (c) Knott Laker Broad Trueman Anderson

On topic to the above: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg4yerrg451o The dark side of the digital world in Korea. NB. If you want blokes to not do stuff like this, perhaps your government ought to address the systemic and social inequality that exists between men and women in Korea and actually get young blokes treating women like human beings rather than either conquests or adversaries, Mr Yoon.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9wjx781ngzo Groundless antivax sentiment. How very proud "Doctor" Wakefield, Internet misinformers and those with "religious objections" must be when they see children suffering from an easily preventable and possibly eradicatible disease.

Root and Atkinson finally imposing some authority here. Should make at least a par total.

Depends on what ones view of "freedom" and "personal responsibility" is, I guess. There's an issue here in that laws based on such nebulous ideas of ethics differ depending on location so you're always going to get situations like this. FWIW I absolutely agree that it's bollocks and that the creator of a platform should bear some responsibility for not policing illegal activity on it.

Pretty much what @Zear0 said above. A threat to the ideal of personal freedom, but at the same time the system they have is here to stay and cooperation with them on a variety of matters is essential.

Thank you for that, seems like an entirely fair argument. Better covert ops to deal with the very shady things happening on these platforms then, because even though the blunt approach being taken here is likely ineffective, it's reasonably clear that something has to be done to stop those who do some pretty nasty criminal stuff on these platforms.

And IMO the attitudes of people like Peaky are a contributing part to that decline, I don't see how they would not be. Additionally, this is a human problem, not just a UK human one, in which the UK has to play its part.

Either we sort world population numbers as individuals and get them to stabilise or events stemming from lack of resources will do it for us in a most ugly fashion. You know that as well as I do, Jon. Yes, there will be a downside in the form of lopsided age demographics for a while and some folks might get a little annoyed that there's not enough people of certain skin colours around, and that will need careful management... but believe it or not, those are the best possible outcomes. All the others get very, very grim.

Would you mind elaborating on this further? I would be interested.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy54905nv0go The BBC has learned that Telegram - the messaging app service whose boss has been arrested in France - refuses to join international programmes aimed at detecting and removing child abuse material online. The app is not a member of either the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) or the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) - both of which work with most online platforms to find, report and remove such material. ...The BBC has contacted Telegram for comment about its refusal to join the child protection schemes. Previously it has said it is "absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform". ... clearly platforms don't encourage horrible crimes and abuse, people encourage horrible crimes and abuse, then.

https://phys.org/news/2024-08-international-high-global-temperatures.html Greenhouse gas concentrations, the global temperature across land and the ocean, global sea level, and ocean heat content all reached record highs in 2023, according to the 34th annual State of the Climate report. The international annual review of the world's climate, led by scientists from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) and published by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, is based on contributions from nearly 600 scientists in 60 countries. It provides the most comprehensive update on Earth's climate indicators, notable weather events, and other data collected by environmental monitoring stations and instruments located on land, water, ice, and in space. "The BAMS State of the Climate report is the product of an international effort to more fully understand global climate conditions in 2023," said NCEI Director Derek Arndt. "This report documents and shares a startling, but well established picture: We are experiencing a warming world as I speak, and the indicators and impacts are seen throughout the planet. The report is another signpost to current and future generations." Growth is good, right?

I do sometimes think this too, but then I think of seeing graveyards chock full of children pre-1950, imagine the suffering they must have gone through and then imagine the suffering their parents must have gone through seeing only two or three out of ten children reach adulthood, and I simply can't imagine that they would be happier, given the level of grief and suffering there must have been. Not to mention it's the most socially responsible thing someone can do to guarantee the future by far, right now.

Fantastic from the Danimal.

First off, good choice picking one of the three or four months of the year when the weather is actually temperate there. Right... Seoul: - night out in Hongdae and/or Itaewon - going to the top of Lotte Tower and/or Namsan Tower - Majang Meat Market for Hanwoo beef, fantastic - Gyeongbokgung Palace - a lot of the museums, but National Museum of Korea is a great one - Gwanghwamun - Everland (if you like theme parks, not the greatest though, but has an excellent zoo) - Han River Tour - Bukchon traditional village - Myeongdong/Insadong traditional shopping districts - Jogyesa Buddhist Temple Elsewhere: - beaches on Jindo (could do what everyone else does and go to Busan, but these are much emptier and pristine) - Panmunjeom DMZ tour (just try not to vomit at the idea of being where Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump shook hands) - Busan Spa Land (fantastic for a few hours relaxation) - Busan Aquarium (if you like swimming things) - Pyeongchang (though maybe just the wrong time of year for snowy stuff, views are still unreal) That's off the top of my head, if you're looking for anything specific, let me know.

Could be a false flag, could be folks with a chip on their shoulder about white people being stupid and xenophobic themselves. Either way, divisive idiocy.

Yeah, general "feeling" does seem to play into it some, and social media doesn't create that by itself, but rather acts as a force multiplier for it.

That's entirely possible - or at least, they know more about stuff that deserves anxiety these days.

It may be that this is a problem that has always been rather prevalent and children are now merely reporting it more and therefore giving more accurate numbers of the problem rather than suffering in silence, than there being a sudden massive jump in anxiety and mental health issues (though of course there may well be exacerbating factors these days such as social media).

OK... so given this is a proposed problem, what is the proposed solution? Assume all such threats are bluffs and act accordingly? That only has to be wrong once. Also, that this piece didn't mention the Monroe Doctrine is a little hypocritical, given that "allows" the US to do exactly what it says Russia is doing in the second paragraph here. Very interesting analysis overall, though.

Absolutely right, especially about the difficult situation part. NB. Purely to reiterate here, what has been publicly stated about Russian nuclear weapons use of any type is "only when under nuclear attack or when under conventional attack and the existence of the state is threatened". Now, what defines the second part of that could (rather dangerously) be open to wide interpretation, but I'm pretty sure a lot of people would conclude that Ukraine do not have the capacity to threaten the existence of the Russian state. Of course, nuclear weaponry isn't the only WMD that Russia possess and should things escalate, they might decide instead to take a slightly smaller step up involving chemical or other disabling weaponry (targeting food and water and the means to distribute it?) on a big scale on a city. Here's hoping not.

If what's being said is true, it's another boost for the AfD and those that think like them. Dispiriting.

Reasonably routine win in the end.