If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties‚ subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Rather than “news‚” reports about ties between the chair of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) advisory committee (now dissolved) – and Big Tech‚ could be treated as “yet more evidence.” The person in question is Kate Starbird‚ the chair of the former body‚ the Homeland Security Advisory Council Disinformation Subcommittee‚ and a report now says that it turns out she also advised companies behind social platforms on their “moderation” policies. This revelation happened behind closed doors during Starbird’s testimony dating back to last June‚ which she gave before the House Judiciary Committee probing the weaponization of the federal government – what is known as the government/Big Tech censorship collusion. In addition to chairing the former CISA committee‚ Starbird is also the head of the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public that “specializes” in “disinformation and misinformation‚” and was also involved in the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP) – that opponents essentially say had the role of promoting censorship (in favor of the eventual winner) ahead of the 2020 presidential ballot. (Speaking of “ties that bind” – the University of Washington center was given $2.25 million a year later to fight “disinformation‚” the money coming from the National Science Foundation‚ a government agency.) Now‚ the documents that the Washington Examiner says it has had access to from last summer’s testimony before Congress shed light on the depth and breadth of Starbird’s involvement with Big Tech. Starbird treads carefully while providing answers in Congress‚ and yet‚ revealed a lot. When asked if she was behind any social media content moderation guidelines‚ Starbird said she was not‚ but when quizzed about “directly advising” these platforms‚ the answer was that she “sometimes had conversations” with them. “I don’t draft (moderation policies)‚ but I’ve had conversations with representatives of several platforms‚ actually‚” the transcript of the testimony reads. Not only that‚ but Starbird said she was “happy” when these “conversations” turned to how to best label posts on social media. “Those are the kinds of things that I’m happy to have a conversation with a platform about: Like‚ how you might want to go about labeling‚ which accounts you might want to not bother labeling. Maybe you really only want to label — you know‚ I might advise‚ like — you know‚ you focus labels on the people that‚ you know‚ are verified accounts or have large audiences‚ those kinds of things‚” she is quoted as telling Congress. Now‚ Starbird told the Washington Examiner that her contacts with social media platforms in this context started in 2017 – and were unrelated to her work with government bodies. “I did not consult with platforms around content moderation of specific pieces of content or accounts. Nor did I communicate with platforms as part of my role at the EIP or as a member of the CISA advisory committee‚” stated Starbird. The post Exposed: Researcher’s Secret Advising Role in Big Tech’s Content Moderation Policies appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Looks Like Payback: DHS Targets Texas‚ Florida with Secret Migrant Flights

7.4 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Taiwan‚ Hundreds Injured

Time Works Differently on the Moon

UK: Elderly Being Forced to Sell Their Homes To Be Used for Migrants

Birds might not be able to get a driving license (boo)‚ but as it happens‚ some of them have found another way to get about whilst doing minimal exercise: soaring. At one point or another‚ they do have to flap their wings – but which one can go the longest without doing so?To find out‚ we have to head to the Andes‚ home to the absolute unit that is the Andean condor. And when we say unit‚ we’re not joking – this thing can weigh up to a whopping 15 kilograms (33 pounds)‚ making it the world’s heaviest soaring bird.It might seem like something that heavy couldn’t get up in the air in the first place‚ but Andean condors also have an impressive wingspan of up to 3.2 meters (10.5 feet). Their weight is also part of the reason they soar; flapping a lot would be too energy expensive for such a big bird‚ so instead they utilize hot air currents to stay in the air.It feels appropriate‚ then‚ that researchers have found the Andean condor spends the least time flapping during flight out of the soaring birds.A team from Swansea University and the National University of Comahue tracked eight Andean condors over the course of five years‚ tagging them with a GPS device and a recording unit that could log their wingbeats.From this data‚ they found that the condors flapped their wings for only 1 percent of their flight time. That means they only just clinch the title from wandering albatrosses‚ who can spend up to 14.5 percent all the way down to just 1.2 percent of their flight time slowly flapping their wings‚ according to one study. Similarly to albatrosses‚ much of the time that the condors in the study spent flapping was during takeoffs – more than 75 percent‚ in fact. The rest of the time‚ they successfully avoided flapping their wings by making the most of wind and air currents‚ to the point where one bird even managed to go five hours without flapping‚ covering 172 kilometers (just under 107 miles) in that time.That being said‚ weather didn’t seem to have much of an impact on whether or not the condors flapped their wings. “This suggests that decisions about when and where to land are crucial‚ as not only do condors need to be able to take off again‚ but unnecessary landings will add significantly to their overall flight costs‚” explained study author Dr Hannah Williams in a statement at the time.Thankfully for the younger birds‚ that decision-making ability doesn’t seem to be something that only comes with age – all of the condors in the study were immature. “Our results demonstrate that even inexperienced birds can cover vast distances over land without flapping‚” the authors write.It’s an impressive feat‚ but it’s not just the big birds that are capable of such record-breaking flight tricks – the title for the longest time a bird can fly without landing‚ for example‚ goes to a much smaller feathered friend.

A lot of space debris is simply dropped down towards Earth‚ where the friction of the atmosphere should burn it up and destroy it before it can reach us. However‚ that is not always the case‚ and NASA is now investigating whether a piece of a battery pallet released in 2021 came crashing down through the roof of a home in Naples‚ Florida on March 8.The batteries had been used on the International Space Station (ISS) for years‚ and once they were no longer useful‚ a whole pallet of them was dropped from the ISS. It was going to orbit Earth for a while‚ but the air friction with the most tenuous layers of the atmosphere would eventually slow it down enough and make it come down.“Mission controllers in Houston commanded the Canadarm2 robotic arm to release an external pallet loaded with old nickel-hydrogen batteries into Earth orbit on Thursday morning. It is safely moving away from the station and will orbit Earth between two to four years before burning up harmlessly in the atmosphere‚” NASA wrote in a statement back on March 11‚ 2021.Best laid plans‚ am I right? The nine batteries were packed on the HTV9 cargo ship that visited the ISS between May and Aug 2020. Despite expectation that the pallet was going to burn‚ it became clear as it got lower that about half a tonne of the original 2.6 would survive the atmospheric burn‚ as astronomer Jonathan McDowell reported on Twitter.   Details were also shared by the European Space Agency which was tracking this object.“The total mass of the batteries is estimated at 2.6 metric tonnes‚ most of which may burn up during the reentry. While some parts may reach the ground‚ the casualty risk – the likelihood of a person being hit – is very low‚” a statement said.It was on a follow-up to McDowell’s first tweet that Alejandro Otero reported that what he believed was a piece of the pallet had crashed through the roof and two floors of his house‚ almost hitting his son. McDowell assisted Otero‚ who got in touch with the Aerospace Corporation‚ and NASA then got in touch.       IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from external sites."NASA collected an item in cooperation with the homeowner‚ and will analyze the object at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida as soon as possible to determine its origin‚" NASA told AFP on Tuesday. "More information will be available once the analysis is complete."It is unclear if anyone including NASA is liable for damage. The space station was issued a fine for littering when bits of Skylab fell in a town in Australia‚ but they didn’t pay it.

Everyone in Japan will have the same surname by 2531‚ according to a simulation run at the Tohoku University research center.Japan‚ where same-sex marriage is still illegal‚ currently requires couples to choose between their surnames when they get married. Ninety-six percent choose to go with the man's name. According to Professor Hiroshi Yoshida at Tohoku University's Research Center for Aging Economy and Society‚ if the law is not changed this will lead to a situation where every Japanese citizen will have the family name "Sato" in a little over 500 years.As of 2023‚ Sato was the most popular surname in Japan‚ shared by 1.529 percent of the population. That seems low considering that the claim is that shouting "Sato" in 2531 Tokyo will result in just about every local citizen looking in your direction. However‚ the surname Sato grew by 1.0083 times from 2022 to 2023.Continuing this growth rate (a huge assumption)‚ everyone becomes Sato by 2531. "From a general probability perspective‚ there are many cases of people marrying into a group with a major surname‚" the paper explains‚ "and if this process is repeated over a long period of time‚ there is a possibility that they will be absorbed into the Sato surname and converge."If‚ however‚ Japan changes the law to allow for separate surnames‚ by that year only 7.96 percent of Japan's citizens will be named Sato (assuming that 39.3 percent choose to continue to select one surname‚ the proportion of people who said they would do so in a 2022 survey). Under this scenario‚ we would still reach the Sato totality by 3310. "However‚ according to 'Japan's Future Population Projections' 2023.4‚ the Japanese population in 2120 is estimated to be 41‚229‚000. If this pace continues‚ the Japanese population is estimated to be 281‚866 in 2‚531 and 22 in 3310‚" the paper adds. "In other words‚ even if 100 percent adoption of the Sato surname is postponed for 800 years‚ there is a high possibility that the Japanese people themselves will become extinct before that due to the declining birthrate."Of course‚ it's probably not going to play out like that. The research was put together at the request of the Think Name Project‚ which aims to pressure the government into allowing married couples to have separate names‚ and was meant to highlight an absurd scenario if the law is not changed. Which is a shame for anybody who wants to know the surname of everybody in Japan‚ but only wants to learn one name.[H/T: The Guardian]

The Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) Camera is now complete. It will soon travel to the Vera C. Rubin Observatory where it will provide an incredible new eye on the southern sky and help us better answer fundamental questions about the nature of dark matter and dark energy.The LSST camera is a technical marvel. It is 3‚200 megapixels and it weighs 3‚000 kilograms (6‚600 pounds). The images produced by the camera are so large that to screen them properly it would take 378 4K ultra-high-definition televisions in a grid to screen them properly. What a device!“With the completion of the unique LSST Camera at SLAC and its imminent integration with the rest of Rubin Observatory systems in Chile‚ we will soon start producing the greatest movie of all time and the most informative map of the night sky ever assembled‚” Director of Rubin Observatory Construction and University of Washington professor eljko Ivezić‚ said in a statement.       The camera itself has two lenses. The first one is 1.5 meters (5 feet) across‚ making it the largest ever lens constructed for such a purpose. The second one is 90 centimeters (3 feet) wide‚ which is also not exactly small. Both are custom-designed‚ and the second one is used to seal the focal plane of the lens‚ which is kept in a vacuum.The focal plane is the beating heart of the camera. It is made of 201 CCD sensors – similar to what you find in a usual digital camera – but these are custom-made. Each pixel is 10 microns wide and the focal plane is so flat that its surface doesn’t vary by more than one-tenth of the width of a human hair. All together‚ you have a revolutionary resolution.“Its images are so detailed that it could resolve a golf ball from around 25 kilometers (15 miles) away‚ while covering a swath of the sky seven times wider than the full Moon. These images‚ with billions of stars and galaxies‚ will help unlock the secrets of the Universe‚” said SLAC professor and Rubin Observatory Deputy Director and Camera Program Lead Aaron Roodman.The Rubin Observatory will study how galaxies and clusters of galaxies have changed over billions of years‚ providing insights into the evolution of galaxies and the distribution of dark matter. It will measure supernovae‚ providing insights into the expansion of the universe and its cause: dark energy. It will also help study the solar system by spotting never-seen-before asteroids.The first light for the observatory is expected in January 2025.

Newsmax host Chris Plante took a look at how woefully unprepared President Joe Biden has left America with his forced green economic transition. On the April 1 edition of Chris Plante The Right Squad‚ Plante pointed out that the Biden administration had spent a fortune on electric vehicle chargers‚ but had almost nothing to show for it. “It’s been nearly two and a half years now since Joe Biden signed the bipartisan infrastructure law that allocated -- listen to this now -- $7.5 billion American taxpayer dollars to build electric vehicle charging stations across the country. And The Washington Post reported today that‚ to date as of today‚ just seven EV charging stations with a total of 38 spots in four states are now operational‚ according to the Federal Highway Administration‚” Plante said. He summed up the brutal statistics: “So $7.5 billion  — two-and-a-half years — they've got seven charging stations and 38 plugins at I believe $197 million each.” Yikes.   One of Plante’s guests also went after the Biden EPA. Spectator Political Reporter Matthew Foldi told Plante that this slow rollout isn’t the first EV humiliation for the Biden Administration. “Remember Jen Granholm‚ the energy secretary's failed road trip? She couldn't charge. The cops were called‚” Foldi said‚ before adding‚ “The Wall Street Journal reported on how EVs and other digital-controlled products open extra access to the grid‚ which enemies can exploit. There are huge problems.”  Foldi brought up the ridiculous dichotomy of the Biden Administration pushing the nation towards electric vehicles while failing to take into consideration the possibility of enemy threats. “There are huge problems we're not even thinking about if you make a massive push towards vehicle electrification‚ which they're sprinting to‚ but failing to do‚” Foldi concluded. The Post reported that the $7.5 billion in funding ought to support “20‚000 charging spots or around 5‚000 stations‚” rather than the 38 charging spots and 7 stations that have been created in reality. The newspaper‚ true to its leftist form‚ mourned that “the sluggish build-out could slow the transition to electric cars.” At the same time that the Biden Administration is failing at building electric chargers‚ the Biden Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) still plans to implement Biden’s destructive and tyrannical electric vehicle mandate. In a post on X‚ Forbes Media chairman and editor-in-chief Steve Forbes called out the Biden administration for its push to ban Americans’ preferred vehicles through emission regulations: “Make no mistake‚ @EPA’s rule will ultimately ban gas-powered cars by mandating 50% EV sales by 2032.” Conservatives are under attack! Contact ABC News at 818-460-7477‚ CBS News at 212-975-3247 and NBC News at 212-664-6192 and demand they hold Biden and his cronies accountable for attempting to restrict fossil fuel production and Americans’ choices.