Congress is voting on whether to re-authorize FISA Section 702‚ which originated in the Patriot Act. Its re-authorization would allow the FBI to secretly spy on Americans without warrants.I remember thinking all they have to do is just change the meaning of terrorist‚ Glenn Beck says‚ recalling the Patriot Acts passing. If they decide a group of Americans are terrorists‚ were done. And thats exactly what theyve done now.We cannot allow Section 702 to pass‚ he continues‚ adding‚ We have given the keys to everything about us to the government‚ and the government has turned hostile on many Americans.Chip Roy is one of the congressmen fighting against it with a bill that has an amendment to add the Fourth Amendment protection. He believes it could still pass‚ but it seems like it wont as the speaker has put his finger on the scales.Thomas Massie is also fighting its re-authorization.Massie says that the biggest red flag is that there are carve-outs in the bill for congressmen.If the FBI is surveilling you using FISA‚ theyre going into this database and searching with your name‚ and youre a congressman‚ and theyre ostensibly doing it for your own good because theyre worried about the foreign actors they have to notify you‚ but only if youre a congressman‚ only if youre a senator or a U.S. representative‚ Massie explains.This notification only applies to incumbent congressmen‚ not candidates.My solution here would just be get a warrant‚ and then you dont have to put carve-outs for congressmen‚ Massie says.Want more from Glenn Beck?To enjoy more of Glenns masterful storytelling‚ thought-provoking analysis‚ and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos‚ subscribe to BlazeTV the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America‚ defend the Constitution‚ and live the American dream.

Its a measure of human ingenuity and curiosity that scientists debate the possibility of life on Venus. They established long ago that Venus surface is absolutely hostile to life. But didnt scientists find a biomarker in the planets clouds? Could life exist there‚ never touching the planets sweltering surface? It seems to depend on who you ask. Well start with phosphine. Phosphine is a biomarker‚ and in 2020‚ researchers reported the detection of phosphine in Venus atmosphere. There should be no phosphine because phosphorous should be oxidized in the planets atmosphere. According to the paper‚ no abiotic source could explain the quantity found‚ about 20 ppb. Subsequently‚ the detection was challenged. When others tried to find it‚ they couldnt. Also‚ the original papers authors informed everyone of an error in their data processing that couldve affected the conclusions. Those authors examined the issue again and mostly stood by their original detection. At this point‚ the phosphine issue seems unsettled. But if it is present in Venus atmosphere and is biological in nature‚ where could it be coming from? Venuss surface is out of the question. That leaves Venus cloud-filled atmosphere as the only abode of life. While the idea might seem ridiculous at first glance‚ researchers have dug into the idea and generated some interesting results. In a new paper‚ researchers examine the idea of microscopic life that lives and reproduces in water droplets in Venuss clouds. The title is Necessary Conditions for Earthly Life Floating in the Venusian Atmosphere. The lead author is Jennifer Abreu from the Department of Physics and Astronomy‚ Lehman College‚ City University of New York. The paper is currently in pre-print. Spacecraft have struggled to contend with the harsh conditions on Venuss surface. The Soviet Venera 13 lander captured this image of the planets surface in March of 1982. NASA/courtesy of nasaimages.orgIt has long been known that the surface of Venus is too harsh an environment for life‚ the authors write. Contrariwise‚ it has long been speculated that the clouds of Venus offer a favourable habitat for life but regulated to be domiciled at an essentially fixed altitude. So‚ if life existed in the clouds‚ it wouldnt be spread throughout. Only certain altitudes appear to have whats needed for life to survive. The type of life the authors envision aligns with other thinking about Venusian atmospheric life. The archetype living thing &;lt;being&;gt; the spherical hydrogen gasbag isopycnic organism‚ they state. (Isopycnic means constant density; the other terms are self-explanatory.)Heres how the authors think it could work.Venus is shrouded in clouds so thick we can only see the surface with radar. The clouds reach all the way around the globe. The cloud base is about 47 km (29 miles) from the surface‚ where the temperature is about 100 C (212 F.) At equatorial and mid-latitudes‚ they extend up to a 74 km (46 miles) altitude‚ and at the poles‚ they extend up to about 65 km (40 miles.)Cloud structure in the Venusian atmosphere in 2016‚ revealed by observations in two ultraviolet bands by the Japanese spacecraft Akatsuki. Image Credit: Kevin M. Gill The clouds can be subdivided into three layers based on the size of aerosol particles: the upper layer from 56.5 to 70 km altitude‚ the middle layer from 50.5 to 56.5 km‚ and the lower layer from 47.5 to 50.5 km. The smallest droplets can float in all three layers. But the largest droplets‚ which the authors call type 3 droplets with a radius of 4 m‚ are only present in the middle and lower layers. It has long been suspected that the cloud decks of Venus offer an aqueous habitat where microorganisms can grow and flourish‚ the authors write. Everything life needs is there: Carbon dioxide‚ sulfuric acid compounds‚ and ultraviolet (UV) light could give microbes food and energy.Because of temperature‚ life in Venus clouds would be restricted to a specific altitude range. At 50 km‚ the temperature is between 60 and 90 degrees Celsius (140 and 194 degrees Fahrenheit). The pressure at that altitude is about 1 Earth atmosphere. This figure from the research shows the temperature and pressure throughout Venuss atmosphere. Image Credit: Image Credit: S. Seager et al. 2021. doi:10.1089/ast.2020.2244Theres a precedent for life existing in the clouds. It happens here on Earth‚ where scientists have observed bacteria‚ pollen‚ and even algae at altitudes as high as 15 km (9.3 miles.) Theres even evidence of bacteria growing in droplets in a super-cooled cloud high in the Alps. The understanding is that these organisms were carried aloft by wind‚ evaporation‚ eruptions‚ or even meteor impacts. But theres an important difference between Earths and Venus clouds.Earths clouds are transient. They form and dissolve constantly. But Venus clouds are long-lasting. Theyre a stable environment compared to Earths clouds. In Earths clouds‚ aerosol particles are sustained for only a few days‚ while in Venus clouds‚ the particles can be sustained for much longer periods of time.Add it all up‚ and you get stable cloud environments where aerosol particles can sustain themselves in an environment where energy and nutrients are available. The researchers say that though eventually aerosol particles and the life within them will fall to the surface‚ they have time to reproduce before that happens.This image shows the cycle of Venusian aerial microbial life. Image Credit: S. Seager et al. 2021. doi:10.1089/ast.2020.2244The idea of a microbial life cycle in Venusian clouds was developed by other researchers in their 2021 paper The Venusian Lower Atmosphere Haze as a Depot for Desiccated Microbial Life: A Proposed Life Cycle for Persistence of the Venusian Aerial Biosphere. There are five steps in Venuss proposed cloud lifecycle:Dormant desiccated spores (black blobs) partially populate the lower haze layer of the atmosphere.Updrafts transport them up to the habitable layer. The spores could travel up to the clouds via gravity waves. Shortly after reaching the (middle and lower cloud) habitable layer‚ the spores act as cloud condensation nuclei‚ and more and more water gathers into a single droplet. Once the spores are surrounded by liquid with the necessary chemicals‚ they germinate and become metabolically active.Metabolically active microbes (dashed blobs) grow and divide within liquid droplets (shown as solid circles in the figure). The liquid droplets continue to grow by coagulation.Eventually‚ the droplets are large enough to settle out of the atmosphere gravitationally; higher temperatures and droplet evaporation trigger cell division and sporulation. The spores are smaller than the microbes and resist further downward sedimentation. They remain suspended in the lower haze layer (a depot of hibernating microbial life) to restart the cycle.In this new work‚ the researchers focus on time. One of the key assumptions of the aerial life cycle put forward in Seager et al. 2021 is the timescale on which droplets would persist in the habitable layer to empower replication‚ the authors write. It is this that we now turn to study.This table from the research shows generation times for some common Earth bacteria. Image Credit: Abreu et al. 2024.The authors used E. Coli generation times under optimal conditions in their work. In aerobic and nutrient-rich conditions‚ E. Coli can reproduce in 20 minutes. So‚ the E. Coli population will double three times in one hour. Bacteria must reproduce faster than they fall to the surface to sustain itself. They need to form a colony.The researchers calculated that to sustain itself‚ the time it takes for bacteria to fall from the habitable part of the atmosphere to the inhabitable has to be longer than half an Earth day. As droplet size increases‚ the droplets would begin to sink. As the droplet size approaches 100 m‚ the droplets would start sinking to the lower haze layers‚ they explain. However‚ their detailed calculations show that reproduction outpaces the fallout rate. According to the teams work‚ a population of bacteria could sustain itself in Venus clouds.There are‚ obviously‚ still some questions. How certain are we that nutrients are available? Is there enough energy? Are there updrafts that can loft spores into the right layer of the atmosphere?But the real big question is how was this all set in motion? An optimist might even imagine that the microbial life actually arose in a good-natured surface habitat‚ perhaps in a primitive ocean‚ before the planet suffered a runaway greenhouse‚ and the microbes lofted into the clouds‚ the authors write. If thats the case‚ this unique situation arose billions of years ago. Is there any other possibility? Could life have originated in the clouds? Much scientific investigation into Venus‚ phosphine‚ clouds‚ and life relies on scant evidence. Few are willing to go out on a limb and proclaim that Venus can and does support life. We need more evidence. For that‚ we have to wait for missions like the Venus Life Finder Mission. Its a private mission being developed by Rocket Lab and a team from MIT. Who knows what VLF and other missions like DAVINCI and VERITAS will find? Stronger evidence of phosphine? Better data on Venus atmospheric layers and the conditions in them? Life itself? Artists impression of the Rocket Lab Mission to Venus. Credit: Rocket Lab The post Could Life Exist in Water Droplet Worlds in Venus Atmosphere? appeared first on Universe Today.

Millions of people took a trip over to the US or Mexico to try and catch a glimpse of the 2024 total solar eclipse. Whether you took the trip or not‚ if you have since been bitten by the eclipse bug then there are three upcoming eclipses over the next couple of years. August 2026 sees an eclipse passing from Greenland‚ Iceland and Spain‚ 2027 sees an eclipse over North Africa and in 2028 Australia all be the place to be. With loads of possibilities for all locations‚ its time to get planning.Many people across the World make attempts to witness solar eclipses‚ often travelling hundreds if not thousands of kilometres. I tried such a journey back in 1999 travelling from my home in Norfolk‚ UK to Cornwall‚ a journey of over 600 kilometres. Alas‚ and like many eclipse chasers before me‚ cloud thwarted my view. However‚ the experience of the daylight turning to dusk in a few seconds at the onset of totality‚ the birds singing as the Sun came out again‚ it was all such an incredible amazing experience.Since that cloudy experience in Cornwall I committed to one day‚ actually seeing a total solar eclipse. I have seen partials‚ and they are wonderful but nothing like the majesty of a total solar eclipse.What are we talking about? Well‚ the Moon travels around the Earth and the Earth travels around the Sun. Its these changing relative positions that lead to the lunar phases. When the Moon is broadly between the Sun and Earth we experience a new moon phase. You might therefore wonder why we dont experience a total solar eclipse every new moon! The answer lies in the obits; the orbit of the Moon around Earth is tilted by about 5 degrees in reference to the Earths orbit around the Sun. During most new moons the Moon is slightly above or below the Sun when viewed from Earth. Its only when the two orbits intersect at a new moon that we see a total solar eclipse.This is exactly what happened on 8 April 2024‚ a total solar eclipse became visible as the Moon silently passed directly between the Earth and Sun. When we get a perfect alignment of three celestial bodies like this its called a Syzygy‚ a wonderful word and great for a game of Scrabble. Totality for this eclipse lasted for about 4 minutes depending on the location of the observer. Thats the chief difference between a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse. Lunar eclipses are visible anywhere on Earth that the Moon is visible but solar eclipses are only visible from very specific locations on Earth.Over the next few years there are some great opportunities to see total solar eclipses. Unless you are lucky‚ you will have to travel but the next opportunity takes place on 12 August 2026. You will need to be travelling to either Greenland‚ Iceland or Spain to catch this eclipse. Greenland and Iceland are the best option as Spain will only get the eclipse toward the end of the day. Next up is 2027 when an eclipse takes place on the 2 August visible from North Africa. After that‚ its 2028 but for southern hemisphere observers so its a trip to Australia.Wherever you venture to observe a total solar eclipse‚ it is imperative that you be careful when observing it. The ONLY time it is safe to observe a solar eclipse directly is during the moments of totality. As soon as the bright parts of the solar photosphere are visible‚ then direct observing is dangerous and will lead to damage to your eyes. If you are planning a trip to observe a total solar eclipse‚ be sure you are prepared and know exactly when and how you can observe it to ensure your eyesight remains safe.Source : Time and Date Eclipse CalendarThe post Here are the Next Three Total Solar Eclipses Coming Up appeared first on Universe Today.

The potential is huge.

Mouse‚ an upcoming FPS game‚ immediately caught our attention with its retro‚ black and white cartoon visuals and Doom and BioShock style shooting when it was first announced last year. Since then‚ though‚ its creators at Fumi Games have been heads down on the project‚ meaning we haven';t had many updates on its progress. That';s changed today‚ thanks to a new trailer that gives a better look at exactly what to expect from Mouse when it finally arrives. Continue reading Cuphead style throwback shooter gets eye popping new gameplay trailerMORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best FPS games‚ Best old games‚ Best indie games

Hell is always a good videogame setting. This has been obvious ever since Doom first set players loose within the inferno to dispatch waves of snarling demons‚ and its continued to be the case in games like Metal: Hellsinger‚ Hades‚ Diablo 4‚ and the wonderful Devil Daggers. Clearly‚ at least a few game makers out there agree with us‚ as evidenced by the announcement of a new‚ hell set shooter called‚ delightfully enough‚ Kill Knight. Continue reading Hades and Doom collide in hellish new top down horror shooter

The student frequently suffers antisemitic slurs including Holocaust references and kike epithets. The administration has not acted on his reports.

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