Regime Media in Action

Over half a century since NASA left the Moon‚ the space agency surprised everybody in November 2023 when it announced it was placing scientific equipment on the lunar surface once more‚ hitching a lift on American space company Astrobotic's Peregrine lander.After a successful launch on January 8‚ the world has been watching the first-ever private US mission to land on the Moon‚ especially as it got into trouble not long after lift-off. Unfortunately‚ it's looking pretty certain that NASA's equipment for searching for water ice and examining the lunar soil‚ as well as several other payloads from seven different countries‚ will not make it to the Moon. At least‚ not softly.The spaceship hit trouble shortly after heading out of the Earth's atmosphere‚ leaving it unable to point its solar panels at the Sun. Astrobotic has now confirmed that there is "no chance" of a soft landing on the Moon."Astrobotic’s current hypothesis about the Peregrine spacecraft’s propulsion anomaly is that a valve between the helium pressurant and the oxidizer failed to reseal after actuation during initialization‚" the company said in an update. "This led to a rush of high pressure helium that spiked the pressure in the oxidizer tank beyond its operating limit and subsequently ruptured the tank. While this is a working theory‚ a full analysis report will be produced by a formal review board made up of industry experts after the mission is complete."As well as being a disappointing end to the Moon mission‚ the company is in the unusual position of telling the world that the remains and DNA of several Star Trek actors and a handful of US Presidents are now stranded in space. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and science fiction writer Arthur C Clarke are among those whose DNA was placed on board the spaceship‚ while the ashes of Nichelle Nichols‚ James Doohan and DeForest Kelley are also on board. Strands of hair from Dwight D. Eisenhower‚ John F. Kennedy‚ and George Washington represented the US Presidents on what was called the "Enterprise" payload. Ashes were also being sent to the Moon‚ courtesy of private space companies Elysium Space and Celestis.Peregrine still has a little fuel left and is attempting to deliver the payloads it can – experiments on board that were not intended to land on the Moon. The company has not elaborated on which payloads it is focusing on‚ but the Enterprise payload was not destined for the Moon itself‚ but a solar orbit of 150 million to 300 million miles (241 million kilometers to 482 million kilometers) into deep space‚ past the orbit of Mars. It could be that this is one of the payloads the Peregrine lander is able to deliver but for now‚ we will have to wait and see.

A huge‚ Bronze Age fortification enclosing the Khaybar Oasis in the North Arabian Desert has been discovered by archaeologists. The walls would have once stretched over 14.5 kilometers (9 miles)‚ making this one of the two largest walled oases ever unearthed in Saudi Arabia.What remains of the vast rampart has been dated to between 2250 and 1950 BCE‚ during which time oases were common in the region and were inhabited by sedentary populations.Despite being one of the longest-known fortifications from this period‚ no such walls had ever been identified at Khaybar‚ aside from a famous Islamic-period fortress in the center of its great wadis (river valley). The researchers believe this walled oasis has gone undetected for so long due to the extreme reworking of the desert landscape over the last four millennia.Having finally discovered it‚ a feat they say “constitute[d] a significant scientific challenge”‚ the team was able to estimate the fortifications’ original dimensions: approximately 14.5 kilometers long‚ 1.7 to 2.4 meters (5.6 to 7.9 feet) thick‚ and 5 meters (16 feet) high. However‚ a little less than half of their length survives today.In their heyday‚ the mammoth walls would have enclosed a territory of almost 1‚100 hectares (2‚700 acres). Only the fortified city of Tayma‚ which had walls around 19 kilometers (12 miles) in length‚ can rival Khaybar in terms of size – the two sites are the largest walled oases in the region.In identifying Khaybar as an immense walled oasis that belonged to a network of other such fortified settlements in north-western Arabia‚ the team has shed some light on human occupation in the area and furthered our understanding of the social complexity of the pre-Islamic period.“Dating from the Late third millennium BCE‚ the ramparts of Khaybar were probably built by Indigenous populations as they settled down and ostentatiously demarcated their oasis territory‚” the researchers write in their new study. “These ramparts lasted for several centuries before being dismantled or replaced by more recent structures.”“In addition to the discovery of a unique and securely dated monument‚ the recognition of the Khaybar walled oasis constitutes a crucial landmark in the architectural and social heritage of north Arabia‚” they conclude.At 4‚000 years old‚ the walled oasis of Khaybar is undeniably a senior citizen of fortified settlements – but for the world’s oldest fortress (an astonishing 8‚000 years old)‚ you have to travel east to Siberia.The study is published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

The ocean is full of some of the most weird and wonderful creatures Earth has to offer‚ from the cutie patootie that is the dumbo octopus to the horrifying deep-sea football of your nightmares. While whales might be busy creating Fibonnaci spirals‚ one diver was lucky enough to see a larval form of a tripod fish that doesn’t even look real.Frida Yolotzin‚ a scuba diving instructor‚ saw the fish while diving at a blackwater site off the coast of Cozumel in Mexico. Blackwater diving occurs at night and divers can be tethered to their boat with hundreds of meters of dark open ocean around them.Yolotzin was fortunate to spot the larval form of a tripod fish while enjoying her dive. She shared the video of the fish on her Instagram profile writing that “a colorful reflection caught my eye‚ it was this extraordinarily beautiful fish swimming up and reflecting our lights in such a surreal way‚ being by far the most precious animal I’ve ever seen.”                    Yolotzin also identified the fish as a rainbow tripod fish larva. Adult tripod fish‚ also known as spiderfishes (Bathypterois spp)‚ are some of the world’s deepest-living fish found in waters around 1 kilometer to over 6 kilometers (0.6 to 4 miles) in depth. The name tripod fish comes from the very long pelvic and caudal fin rays‚ which can be up to a meter (3 feet) long‚ that they use to support themselves on the bottom of the ocean‚ according to the Australian Museum. The tripod helps the fish “stand” above the seafloor and wait for their prey‚ typically tiny prawns and crustaceans‚ to come past and into their waiting mouths. Tripod fish are generally blind or eyeless‚ having little need for light reception in the dark depths of the ocean. Instead‚ writes Bec Crew for Australian Geographic‚ they feel the vibrations of movement through those long fins‚ helping them hunt. This tripod fish was seen off the coast of Hawaii using its fins to "stand" on the seafloor.Image credit: NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program‚ INDEX-SATAL 2010‚ NOAA/OER/ via Wikimedia Commons (public domain)Smithsonian Magazine mentions that the larvae have large rounded fins‚ as seen in the video‚ to help them mimic jellyfish and avoid other predators. The larvae are more often seen by divers because they are moved up to the surface by the currents. This is a strategy known as ontogenetic vertical migration‚ whereby as the larvae age they will migrate down into the deeper ocean‚ eventually reaching the sea floor. “Probably we will be the only humans it will ever meet‚” concluded Yolotzin. 

“I checked it very thoroughly‚” said the computer‚ “and that quite definitely is the answer. I think the problem‚ to be quite honest with you‚ is that you've never actually known what the question is.”“But it was the Great Question! The Ultimate Question of Life‚ the Universe and Everything‚” howled Loonquawl.“Yes‚” said Deep Thought with the air of one who suffers fools gladly‚ “but what actually is it?”So wrote Douglas Adams back in 1979‚ and the galaxy has been pondering it ever since. We know the Answer is 42‚ but what we really need is an answer to the question of what the Question was to get that Answer.Any questions?LifeThere are so many things that 42 could be the answer to. In math alone‚ it’s the number of partitions of 10 – that is‚ the number of ways you can write 10 as a sum of positive integers; it’s the first number equal to the sum of its own nonprime proper divisors; the number of triangulations of a heptagon; and it was the last natural number below 100 to reveal a representation as a sum of three cubes – that last one only occurred in 2019.It turns up in the FIFA World Cup: it’s the number of all possible outcomes of each group stage‚ counting up all wins‚ losses‚ and draws. It’s the precise offset in degrees from a light source that produces a rainbow‚ which is all sorts of delightful.                          Unfortunately‚ when it comes to human lives‚ 42 has a much less fun claim to fame: it’s pretty much the worst age to be.At least‚ that’s the result of a study that followed tens of thousands of people across three countries back in 2015. Happiness‚ it turns out‚ tracks with age in a U-shape: it’s highest at the beginning and the end‚ and we’re all doomed by statistics to become crotchety old bastards in the middle for a bit.“The change-in-life-satisfaction function crosses the zero x-axis at ages 42.3 in the [British Household Panel Survey]‚ 40.1 in the [Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia study]‚ 41.4 in the [German Socio-Economic Panel] and 46.9 in the [Medicine in Australia Balancing Employment and Life study]‚” noted the authors. “By implication‚ these are the ages at which well-being reaches a minimum.”And yes‚ if you were wondering‚ the average of those figures… is 42.It makes sense‚ actually‚ because 42 is also the average age of a midlife crisis. That’s according to data from Spotify‚ at least: it’s the “specific point when middle-aged listeners drop their sophisticated singer-songwriters‚ their ‘best of the 80s‚ 90s and today‚’ and spontaneously start listening to teeny-bopper pop again‚” noted Caitlin Dewey for The Washington Post back in 2015.The change in music taste at that age can’t be attributed to parenthood‚ and it only lasts for a couple years or so – but it’s definitely there‚ and‚ perhaps unexpectedly‚ it’s more pronounced in women. Don’t worry‚ though: by about 45‚ you’ll be back listening to painfully outdated golden oldies once again. After all‚ apparently once you hit 42 years old‚ things can only get better.The universeWe live on a rotating rock named Earth‚ orbiting a sun named‚ um‚ The Sun‚ which‚ in turn‚ orbits the center of the Milky Way‚ which itself orbits a supermassive black hole named Sagittarius A*.It won’t always be this way. One day (whatever that may mean in this situation)‚ our Sun will run out of hydrogen and stop being able to create helium via nuclear fusion‚ as it currently does. Without that outward pressure‚ it will fall prey to gravity‚ which will make the core extremely hot and dense‚ igniting the outside shell and forming a red giant big enough to gobble up its nearest planets.That won’t be the end of the Sun: when the temperature in the core gets high enough‚ nuclear fusion will start again – but this time‚ it will be turning helium into carbon‚ and fast. Eventually‚ it will blast out a planetary nebula and collapse into a white dwarf roughly the size of the Earth‚ and from there‚ a black dwarf – a type of star so old that none are currently known. But for the Earth‚ there’s a reasonable chance that our time in the universe will end in the jaws of a gigantic red star that we once relied on to provide us with life. And the really sad part? Technically‚ we won’t even have reached middle age.“Throughout all of these changes‚ the Sun and our Solar System will continue to orbit around the Milky Way’s center‚ completing a full orbit every ~250 million years or so‚” wrote astrophysicist and author Ethan Siegel in October 2023. “The time to return to our starting point is known as a galactic year‚ and has about a ~10% uncertainty on how long it actually takes. Meanwhile‚ in term of stellar evolution‚ we are quite confident that the Sun will last roughly 10–12 billion years from the moment nuclear fusion first ignites in its core until the red giant phase begins‚ a track that we’re just a hair over 4.5 billion years into‚ at present.”With this information‚ we can figure out – more or less – how many galactic years the Earth-Sun system gets to enjoy before one cosmic dance partner finally destroys the other. And the result? You guessed it.“42 is an answer that’s extremely consistent with the best data we have‚” Siegel wrote. “It may yet turn out to be the exact answer to this question‚ although superior data will be required to know for certain.”EverythingWhen it comes to “ultimate questions”‚ you could do worse than one concerning the fundamental nature of existence itself. And while we’ll leave the existentialism to the philosophers – this isn’t IFLP after all – there’s one pretty important place that 42 crops up in cosmology: the Hubble Constant.“It's a measure of how fast the universe is expanding at the current time‚” Wendy Freedman‚ an astrophysicist at the University of Chicago who has spent her career measuring the constant‚ told BBC Future back in 2021.And it really does fulfill the remit of “everything”‚ too: “The Hubble Constant sets the scale of the Universe‚ both its size and its age‚” she explained.How’s that‚ you ask? Well‚ let’s start by thinking about how big the universe is. We know the observable universe is about 93 billion light-years in diameter‚ with us slap bang in the middle of it – but what about the unobservable universe?“We can only make inferences based on the laws of physics as we know them‚ and the things we can measure within our observable Universe‚” Siegel wrote in 2018. But the best data we have suggests that the entire universe – the bits we can’t see as well as the bits we can – must be at least 250 times bigger than the observable part. “This means the unobservable Universe‚ assuming there's no topological weirdness‚ must be at least 23 trillion light-years in diameter‚ and contain a volume of space that's over 15 million times as large as the volume we can observe‚” Siegel explained. “If we're willing to speculate‚ however‚ we can argue quite compellingly that the unobservable Universe should be significantly even bigger than that.”And it’s for this nigh-impossible question that the Hubble Constant is key.See‚ the universe may be unfathomably huge‚ but it’s still expanding – and if we want to know how big it is‚ we need to know precisely how fast that’s happening. There are two main ways to measure this speed: we can either look at the nearest galaxies to our own and figure out how quickly they’re moving away from us‚ which is known as “late universe” measurement; or‚ we can extrapolate it from lumps and bumps in the cosmic background radiation‚ or “early universe” measurement. While estimates of the Hubble Constant go back all the way to Georges Lemaître in 1927 – two years before Edwin Hubble got in on the game‚ in fact – modern estimates have the advantage of a vast wealth of empirical data from spacecraft such as the Planck mission. Now‚ there’s a bit of a cosmic paradox here‚ because you’ll find significantly different results for the Hubble Constant depending on how you measure it‚ and nobody really knows why‚ but since the Planck mission measured cosmic background radiation‚ that’s what we’ll concentrate on here. And according to the most current of those estimates‚ the Hubble Constant is… 42.“We have taken two measurements for the constant‚” Richard Saunders‚ a senior lecturer at Cambridge University’s Cavendish Astrophysics Laboratory‚ told The Independent in 1996 “and the average of them is‚ well‚ it's 42.” Saunders had just headed up a project to measure the Hubble Constant using the Ryle radio telescope – an array of what look like huge satellite dishes‚ but are in fact specialized antennae and radio receivers that scan the sky to pick up cosmic background radiation. He had measured the Hubble Constant in km/s/Mpc‚ or kilometers per second per Megaparsec – interestingly‚ this means that the Hubble Constant is technically a frequency‚ rather than a speed or acceleration – and here’s the really weird thing: he was wrong… but the answer is still 42.The most up-to-date estimates of the Hubble Constant these days‚ which use data from the Planck mission‚ put the value a little higher. “There are multiple possible cosmologies that can reproduce the patterns we see [in the cosmic background radiation]‚” explained Siegel in a 2021 column on the constant. “But […] the best-fit value comes in at 67-68 km/s/Mpc for the expansion rate […] There’s very little actual wiggle-room.”Let’s take the middle of that interval‚ then‚ for balance – call it 67.5 km/s/Mpc. Well‚ what is that in imperial? That is‚ in miles/s/Mpc?Oh. It just so happens to be 42.

After his revealing testimony before Congress last summer regarding extraterrestrials and alien technology‚ whistleblower David Grusch faced security concerns that led to the cancellation of his appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast‚ reports mirror.co.uk. In a new three-part documentary titled “UFO Revolution: Exposing the Largest Government Cover-Up‚” produced by TMZ‚ an investigation delves into the government’s suppression of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) sightings. Former intelligence officials detail the impact of their involvement with the subject‚ shedding light on the scrutiny affecting their lives. During the first episode‚ filmmaker Jeremy Corbell recounts an anticipated discussion on Joe Rogan’s podcast‚ “The Joe Rogan Experience‚” involving Grusch‚ fellow journalist George Knapp‚ and himself. However‚ the planned conversation was derailed as Grusch failed to appear‚ attributing his absence to security concerns stemming from his whistleblower testimony before Congress‚ as confirmed by Corbell. “Look man‚ reprisals are real‚” Corbell said in the documentary. “The effect of trying to silence people is absolutely real as well.” He then speaks about his experience trying to gather evidence from witnesses‚ who often fear they would face consequences if they speak out. The filmmaker asserts that a good portion of those witnesses work within agencies that would likely target them for revealing the truth. “To people like David Grusch who really just took it on the chin‚ came forward and said what he could say in that setting‚” Corbell said. “Yeah man‚ you’re going to take shots. You better be truly‚ deeply be prepared to the core of who you are to take those hits.” The post David Grusch forced to drop out of appearances for ‘safety concerns’ appeared first on Anomalien.com.

In 15 months‚ the singer-songwriter delivered many pop hits about some memorable characters. His career ended tragically on the brink of stardom The post Jim Croce: What Might Have Been appeared first on Best Classic Bands.

20 years. It’s almost 20 actual years since the release of Half-Life 2. We’ve had the Episodes. Half-Life Alyx is fantastic. But when it comes to a full-tilt‚ loose-end-tying mainline sequel - Half-Life 3 - we’re still waiting‚ hoping‚ slowly fading away. Valve’s superlative sci-fi shooter series may one day come back‚ but in the meantime‚ Gordon Freeman fans are doing a spectacular job of keeping Half-Life alive. Enter a new Half-Life 2 mod‚ so big and professionally made to call it a mod feels reductive. This is a proper‚ finished‚ fully playable pseudo spin-off to Half-Life 2‚ casting you as one of the FPS game’s most memorable side characters‚ trapped in what is certainly the most terrifying place Valve has ever built. We’re going back to Ravenholm. Continue reading Amazing new Half-Life 2 campaign is like a full‚ unofficial spin-off MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best old games‚ Best FPS games‚ Best VR games

Since the beginning of Season 13‚ it’s safe to say that I’ve fallen out of love with League of Legends. Despite being the game that got me into this industry in the first place‚ as well as the one I’ve sunk literal years of my life into‚ Season 13 left me with a bad taste in my mouth. The events‚ Dark Cosmic Jhin‚ Redeemed Star Guardian Xayah and Rakan - all things that left me feeling like Riot didn’t quite know what its playerbase actually wanted. Coming into Season 14 my expectations are pretty high - and this season’s cinematic has already managed to vault the bar. Continue reading The League of Legends Season 14 cinematic is exactly what I needed MORE FROM PCGAMESN: League of Legends Season 14‚ League of Legends patch 13.23‚ League of Legends tier list