No deaths have been reported aboard the ship

Further exploration is needed‚ but the truth is out there

'Targeted and exploited by a foreign intelligence service'

After a nail-biting descent‚ a commercial space company became the first in history to conduct the soft landing of a spacecraft on the Moon after their Odysseus lander touched down at 5:24 p.m. CST on February 22nd. Landing in the area called Malapert A in the South Pole region of the Moon‚ the Houston-based Intuitive […] The post Intuitive Spacecraft Lands on Moon in Nail-Biting Descent of Odysseus–A First for US Company‚ 50 Years After Apollo appeared first on Good News Network.

Deciding what to feed your budgie can be tricky‚ especially when it comes to human foods. Lettuce‚ though seemingly harmless‚ raises questions for many parakeet owners. This article will explore the types of lettuce that are safe for your feathered friend and how to incorporate them into their diet properly. Key Takeaways Can Budgies Eat... Can Budgies Eat Lettuce?

The post The Vocal Talents of Cats: Olga’s Repertoire of Sounds by Christopher Bays appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it‚ but all of these articles were assigned‚ contracted and paid for‚ so they aren't considered public domain. However‚ we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article‚ then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com. Hi‚ I’m Christopher! Read my introduction to learn more about me and my silly Russian Blue cat‚ Olga. I cared for a Siamese cat for nearly 20 years and grew accustomed to his constant chatter and howling. Unlike Olga‚ he never stopped talking unless I was petting him or he was sleeping. I wasn’t used to having a quiet pet when I adopted Olga‚ and when she was a kitten‚ she sounded more like a mouse than a cat because her meows sounded like squeaks. She’s more talkative now‚ especially in the morning before breakfast‚ and her vocal range is more expansive. Olga doesn’t have the chops of my Siamese‚ but she’s much louder and harder to ignore than when she was a few years ago. She didn’t make a sound in her carrier when I adopted her‚ but after her first trip to the vet‚ she became more vocal during car rides. Watch out! Your hand looks tasty. The Carrier Meow Convincing Olga to get into her carrier is a struggle. Since her veterinary appointments are always early in the morning‚ she knows she’s heading to the vet’s office if I don’t feed her breakfast. She hides from me and runs away until I finally catch her and put her in the carrier. She doesn’t stop whining until I take her out of the carrier in the examination room. Her meows in the carrier are repetitive and sound sadder than the ones she uses to beg for food. They’re so repetitive that I’m surprised she has time to take a breath‚ and although I’m always patient with her‚ the constant meow‚ meow‚ meow is difficult to endure. Luckily‚ it’s only a 30-minute trip. The Olga Grunt Without opening her mouth‚ Olga grunts if I look at her when she’s hungry. She sits next to my chair and stares at me when it’s close to dinnertime‚ but sometimes‚ the staring begins a few hours early. I ignore her stare to discourage her from begging too early‚ which doesn’t help‚ but she’s quiet unless I make eye contact. She also makes the grunt if I pet her when she’s trying to sleep or show her a toy or paper ball I’m about to throw. This is how I strut! The Howl at Dawn I usually get up before dawn‚ and even on the weekend‚ I can’t sleep very late because my Russian Blue turns into a feline alarm clock without a snooze button. She’s loudest in the morning‚ and the longer I try to sleep‚ the louder she gets. I didn’t think she was capable of howling until recently‚ but now she’s nearly as skilled at it as my Siamese cat. She runs around the house‚ screams‚ and usually jumps into the bathtub so the sound echoes and carries farther. It’s a warning that if I don’t feed her soon‚ she’ll find something to destroy or bat around in the house. When I finally wake up and walk to the kitchen to feed her‚ she’ll whine if I’m not moving fast enough. I’m happy she’s no longer a squeaker and is more talkative‚ even when the pleas for food become obnoxious. The post The Vocal Talents of Cats: Olga’s Repertoire of Sounds by Christopher Bays appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it‚ but all of these articles were assigned‚ contracted and paid for‚ so they aren't considered public domain. However‚ we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article‚ then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com.

Book Recommendations Science Fiction Never Mind the Torment Nexus‚ Here’s Five SF Ideas I’d Like to See in Reality Hey‚ tech billionaires—if you want to steal ideas from science fiction‚ start with these… By James Davis Nicoll | Published on February 26‚ 2024 Photo by AbsolutVision [via Unsplash] icon-comment 0 Share New Share Twitter Facebook Pinterest RSS Feed Photo by AbsolutVision [via Unsplash] Headlines are filled with the exploits of billionaires attempting to create in reality the Torment Vortices about which they read in such works as Don’t Create the Torment Nexus (popularized by @AlexBlechman). Who among us has not dreamed of screaming eternally in a Torment Nexus? Nevertheless‚ there may be drawbacks to Torment Nexuses. Being the boundless font of positivity that I am‚ I prefer not to focus on the negative aspects of our current circumstances. Instead‚ perhaps we could refocus billionaires’ efforts on science fictional goals every bit as shiny as Torment Nexuses! Here are five science fictional ideas I’d love to see made real‚ arranged in order of decreasing possibility. The Joymaker from Frederik Pohl’s The Age of the Pussyfoot Joymakers are amongst the most prominent features of the year 2527‚ in which Charles Dalgleish Forrester finds himself revived. Joymakers combine “telephone‚ credit card‚ alarm clock‚ pocket bar‚ reference library‚ and full-time secretary‚” as well as other functions‚ in an affordable‚ compact package. Virtually every 26th century person carries and relies on their joymaker. Readers may notice that joymakers sound a lot like smartphones‚ pocket bars aside. This is because they are essentially smartphones. In his 1968 afterword‚ Pohl speculates that it probably won’t take five centuries for bulky 1960s computers to become multifunction conveniences one could fit into a pocket. He guessed it might take fifty years. If one counts the IBM Simon as a smartphone‚ it took about twenty-five years. I include joymakers as a proof of concept: it is possible for SF predictions to become physical reality‚ sometimes sooner than one might expect. Extreme paleo-archaeology‚ as exemplified in H.P. Lovecraft’s 1931 At the Mountains of Madness There is no compelling reason to think there were technological cultures prior to humans. However‚ absence of evidence does not mean evidence of absence. Who knows what dread interesting secrets are hidden in Earth’s past… or if we could survive discovering them? Let’s find out! Even if the Silurian hypothesis is wrong‚ and there were no previous civilizations—or if there were‚ none of them involve sanity-rending revelations that leave us with underpants on our heads‚ muttering “wibble‚ wibble”—what we do discover is certain to be fascinating.1 Universal Basic Income‚ as exemplified in Rachel Swirsky’s January Fifteenth There have been a number of UBI experimental projects carried out of late‚ in nations from Canada to Finland to Kenya. The results: providing people with a minimum assured income reduces the effects of homelessness and health problems and increases investments in education and entrepreneurship. Since this runs contrary to the accepted wisdom that only anxiety and the possibility of a lingering death by malnutrition can sufficiently motivate proles‚ no nation ever actually implements UBI‚ preferring to run test program after test program until they get the answers they want. Some might ask how UBI benefits the 1%. For one thing‚ the people at the bottom of the social pyramid are likely to spend their UBI; the money will soon find its way into the accounts of the wealthy. Also‚ people confident they can buy food and pay rent will finally have the time to properly appreciate the far grander crises bearing down on us‚ from climate change to nuclear war.2 Symbiotes‚ as imagined in Clifford Simak’s ​“Ogre” (Collected in I Am Crying All Inside and Other Stories‚ 2015) Ogre’s alien lifecloaks enjoy a commensal relationship with humans‚ trading food‚ warmth‚ and health in exchange for access to higher cognitive functions. The result from the human perspective is transformation into a form suited to a far broader range of environments than Mark 1 humans (that is‚ without advanced technology like spacesuits). As it happens‚ humans already enjoy intimate mutually beneficial relationships with other species‚ such as the gut bacteria. Some estimates put the fraction of the human body that is non-human microbiome at around sixty percent. Add-ons analogous to Cloaks would only be a continuation of a process already in progress. Superluminal communication‚ as exemplified by Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed To be a total buzzkill‚ all evidence to date suggests that the speed of light is a hard limit on how quickly information can travel. None of the suggested work-arounds appear to be realizable in this universe. Whereas most of my favored torment nexuses need only overcome intractable social or technological barriers‚ a device that allows instant communication over vast distances appears to be precluded by natural law. Still‚ consider how useful it would be to have real-time control of distant space probes… As well‚ superluminal communication would facilitate intra-temporal communication: the same device that allows one to send commands to Voyager without time lags would also allow one to send messages to the past‚ which could only result in great hilarity. Who among us has not wanted to mail forged invitations in the name of various 19th-century luminaries‚ inviting Hans Christian Andersen for lengthy visits? Those are my five preferred torment nexuses (or perhaps‚ worthy alternatives to inventing the torment nexus). Which SFnal development would you like to see made reality?[end-mark] The Boring Billion (a geological era in which nothing of note appears to have occurred) aside. ︎Is there a Maslow’s Pyramid of Existential Threats? ︎The post Never Mind the Torment Nexus‚ Here’s Five SF Ideas I’d Like to See in Reality appeared first on Reactor.

Hollywood finally spared us of all the sanctimonious political lectures this year during the 30th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards that aired live on Netflix on Saturday night‚ which is a stark contrast to previous years.  You have to wonder if they were told to avoid politics from the higher-ups‚ or if they individually decided to do so on their own‚ especially considering that it’s an election year‚ the world possibly being on the brink of World War III and that our nation is facing the worst border crisis in U.S. history under President Joe Biden. One might think that these mostly liberal celebrities who helped get Biden in the White House would be telling their fans to re-elect him‚ but no‚ Biden’s name was not even brought up once. The lack of politics during the 2-plus hour show‚ is truly stunning when you take into account how much Hollywood had to say when Donald Trump was president.  As you may remember‚ when it came Trump’s presidency‚ clueless celebrities typically had something negative to say whenever they were given a platform to do so.  To be frank‚ it was a good thing that we didn't have to listen to celebrities blab on about politics during the awards show. That's how it should be. Although‚ actress and singer Barbara Streisand did lightly denounce the rise of anti-semitism after receiving a Life Time Achievement Award‚ but failed to mention the atrocities committed against Jews by Hamas terrorists‚ the Biden Administration’s handling of the conflict or leftists openly supporting Hamas in the U.S. I can't help but think back to the people who built this industry. Ironically‚ they were also escaping their own troubles. Men like Szmuel Gelbfisz‚ who changed his name to Samuel Goldwyn‚ Eliezer Meir who became Louis B. Mayer and the four Wonskolaser brothers who became Warner Brothers‚ –– they were all fleeing the prejudice they faced in Eastern Europe‚ simply because of their religion. And they were dreamers too‚ like all of us here tonight. And now I dream of a world where such prejudice was a thing of the past." While the actors were quiet on politics‚ they were very outspoken on the Hollywood strike victory‚ with many actors using the stage to discuss the positive results of the strike.  The SAG awards viewership had been sinking for years‚ some believe because of how political Hollywood has become.  The question is now - with Hollywood being mum on polarizing political events‚ will it bring in more viewership in the future?  We will have to wait and see.