Astronomers may have caught a still-forming planet in action, carving out an intricate pattern in the gas and dust that surrounds its young host star.www.eso.org
like this
EpicFailGuy likes this.
reshared this
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
Using the European Space Agency’s Characterizing Exoplanets Satellite (CHEOPS) telescope, a team of astronomers has…Haygen Warren (NASASpaceFlight.com)
reshared this
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
A VC tested Replit to build an app. It wiped live company data, faked results, and triggered a CEO apology.Lee Chong Ming (Business Insider)
like this
Badabinski, Lasslinthar, hornface and Endymion_Mallorn like this.
reshared this
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
UNSW researchers uncover why some people persist in harmful behaviours – even when they’ve been shown where they’re going wrong.UNSW Sites
like this
EpicFailGuy likes this.
reshared this
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
Inside Russia’s ‘nesting doll’ anti-satellite tech and the real threats in orbitMeduza
reshared this
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
Groundbreaking observations map chaotic patchwork of magnetic activity, said to be key to understanding how sun’s field flipsHannah Devlin (The Guardian)
reshared this
Alex, the Hearth Fire, Ur Ya'ar, Arturo Serrano and Van Ganz reshared this.
"a massive list of ideas for things you can do to not only effectively fight against book censorship but that also will increase your own knowledge, vocabulary, and fluency in the world of censorship as it is right now"
#books #booksky #writing #writersofmastodon #WritingCommunity #bookstodon @bookstodon@a.gup.pe @bookstodon@fedigroups.social
bookriot.com/56-small-tasks-to…
Choose one task each week of 2025 for a year full of anti-book censorship activism and advocacy.Kelly Jensen (BOOK RIOT)
reshared this
bookstodon group and Arturo Serrano reshared this.
Biomass burial could be the answer to large-scale, affordable carbon storage. Michael Allen investigatesNo Author (Physics World)
reshared this
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
“There are currently very few markets for the types of residues that need to come out of these forests – it is usually small-diameter, low-value timber,” explains Crotty. “They typically can’t pay their way out of the forests, so business as usual in many areas is to simply put them in a pile and burn them.”
Couldn't it be used for paper pulp? Wood mulch? Particle board? Use for these could avoid some of the environmental burden of other sources these are coming from. The lack of a market just means this is not the most profitable way to make those things, it doesn't even necessarily mean there would not be some net profit. Burying it however is not just no net profit, it is pure cost. The people developing this stand to make money, but it doesn't seem the best solution from a big picture scenario.
#Stories and the Brain: The Neuroscience of Narrative by Paul B. Armstrong, 2020
This book explains how the brain interacts with the social world—and why stories matter.
How do our brains enable us to tell and follow stories? And how do stories affect our minds? In Stories and the Brain, Paul B. Armstrong analyzes the cognitive processes involved in constructing and exchanging stories, exploring their role in the neurobiology of mental functioning.
Arturo Serrano likes this.
reshared this
bookstodon group and Arturo Serrano reshared this.
See also:
bookstodon group reshared this.
Scientists analyzing an ultra-hot giant planet believe it was formed by absorbing lightweight gases like methane evaporating from tiny space pebbles, while being bombarded with large rocky objects.University of Birmingham (Phys.org)
reshared this
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
Air Canada has launched its first ever flight staffed by all-2SLGBTQIA+ staff in order to celebrate Pride month.Charlie Duncan (PinkNews | Latest lesbian, gay, bi and trans news | LGBTQ+ news)
like this
Lasslinthar and dandi8 like this.
reshared this
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
i'm of two minds. one is "finally, after all these years of allegedly all straight crews"
the other is "the messaging is 'put all the queers on the queer flight, they don't belong'" and that thought came first and isn't a positive thought
So, my definition of Liberal is „That dude who goes to Starbucks every day with their macbook, sipping their Capitalist coffee from their 30th stanley cup, and livestreaming on instagram and tiktok about how the algorithm and capitalism is soo bad and fascism is on the rise while riding their Tesla“
Given that, he might try to say what I was saying in another post, that just waving a pride flag around and screaming „Lgbt is so special“ does not progress the acceptance of Lgbt people. Its like making a company wide ceremony every time a woman comes to work. Instead, we should actually do something about fascism
what Luffy said.
Liberals job is up maintain the status quo of capitalism. everything else is pandering.
instead of coming out with reform noon discrimatory practices, or say/do something against the incoming fascism, they pull this useless symbolic stunt.
like with the BLM protests, all they offered is painting a street and raising police budgets.
liberals always go for symbolic change and pandering rather than actual reform
Yay, sure, but
Implying something like LGBT folk working is something special undermines the fight for social equality by the people by portraying these people as something less than normal
Diamond prices are down 60% since a 2011 high, and they are still falling. It's not all down to lab-grown diamonds, demand is down too, especially in China.
No one can lab-grow gold yet, so its rarity and scarcity protect its value, but that will end too. It's just a question of when. China launched an asteroid touch-down mission this week, which will make it the 4th country/region to do so, after Europe, the US & Japan.
How soon will it be feasible to mine asteroids? Who knows, but a breakthrough in space propulsion might mean the prospect happens quickly when it does. It's possible gold has twenty years or less of being high value left.
The $80 Billion Diamond Market Crash Leaves De Beers Reeling
Washington DC (UPI) May 28, 2025 - China Wednesday launched its Tianwen-2 space mission to collect asteroid samples and conduct a main-belt comet study. A LongMarch 3B rocket lifted off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center.Space Daily
reshared this
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
NASA is eyeing up a nearby asteroid that contains enough gold to make everyone on Earth a billionaire.Harry Pettit (Fox News)
like this
TVA likes this.
Here is an archived snapshot I found of the Fox article
At the bottom it says the story originally ran in The Sun, here is a snapshot of that page as well.
I followed the other user's snarky DDG link and the first hit is this article from Smithsonian Magazine that appears to be about the same story.
Finally, here is a far less sweaty page from NASA about the actual object, though the composition of metals isn't discussed in detail.
After skimming all this I kinda feel like it's a stretch to say that asteroid is "made of gold".
In August, NASA is sending an orbiter to the space object, which may be the partial remains of planet-forming material made of nickel and ironElizabeth Gamillo (Smithsonian Magazine)
like this
TVA likes this.
Would that really help though? Gold is super soft so I think it would need to get frequently coated/plated again --- and we already have pretty good and resistant marine paint.
Titanium is very corrosion resistant, not to mention plastics/fiberglass/carbon fiber, as I understand.
But yeah, cheap gold would be be great, just seems to me that the market would more be in e.g. electronics, where both corrosion resistance and electrical conductivity are required (something gold is fairly unique at).
Yeah, well maybe ships weren't the best example.
Low wear resistance of gold is a significant issue, which definitely limits the number of potential applications, but I guess gold alloys could still be useful. For example, titanium has a bunch of alloys for different purposes, some more corrosion resistant than others, while others were optimized more towards wear resistance.
Titanium can also catch fire, which makes it a very tricky metal to use. Putting out a fire like that is pretty much impossible, so if your titanium cladded reactor catches fire, all you can realistically do is try to prevent the rest of the building from burning down. The reactor itself is gone at that point, so all you can do is wish you had paid for the gold cladding instead.
Also, the electrical conductivity of gold is amazing. If gold was as cheap as iron, we would definitely use lots of it in various electrical appliances.
If you can mine gold from asteroids, you're probably also going to find silver and platinum. Those two have some amazing properties too, so I think asteroid mining has great potential to permanently revolutionize a bunch of industries.
Diamonds aren't expensive because they're rare; they're not. The monopoly is why they're expensive. That's not going to change with space mining.
The reason diamonds are becoming cheaper is because the barrier to entry is being lowered. Having a private space program more advanced than any nation state as a barrier of entry will not have the same effect.
like this
TVA likes this.
I find the idea so dumb that we have a high value for a metal that objectively has few worthwhile uses. And because our folklore made up a high value from this. We’re gonna spend hella resources to extract it from fucking asteroids. Even tho it has no objective major value.
(Imagine how many people we could feed with those resources instead)
Yeah, I just can't understand why people would pay more money for something that looks objectively nicer.
Fuck shiny polished gold, that is more easily made into jewelry, doesn't react with skin, compliments many gemstones, and doesn't significantly corrode, I want a pig iron wedding ring.
😀
like this
TVA likes this.
It’s abundant though. We have thousands more times gold in circulation than used as jewellery. So if it were just jewellery then it’s be dirt cheap.
The reason its so expensive is people use it as investment. Like they hold massive amounts of it. It’s like a made up commodity.
I totally get where you're coming from—on the surface, it does seem absurd that so much effort, money, and even space tech is being directed toward chasing a shiny yellow metal that, in practical terms, doesn’t do much for human survival. It can’t feed us, shelter us, or cure disease. And yet, we’ve built entire economies and mythologies around it. But the strange part is, this isn’t unique to gold. It’s part of a much deeper pattern in human economic systems, especially in capitalism, where markets need some way to store and measure value—and that almost always leads societies to latch onto something rare, durable, and symbolic, whether it’s objectively useful or not.
In early societies, people used cowrie shells in the Pacific Islands, huge stone disks in Yap, salt in ancient Africa, and even tulip bulbs in the Dutch Republic. These weren’t chosen because they had immense utility, but because they were scarce, hard to replicate, and symbolically powerful. They allowed people to trade across time and space. Capitalism, being based on decentralized exchange, competition, and accumulation, basically demands a store of value that everyone can agree on—even if the object itself is more symbolic than practical. Gold just happens to check all the boxes: it’s rare, doesn’t tarnish, can be melted and divided, and most importantly, it's extremely hard to counterfeit or mass-produce without massive energy investment.
If gold didn’t exist, we’d be doing the same thing with something else. In fact, that’s basically what happened with Bitcoin. People wanted a store of value outside the control of central banks, and they turned to something even more intangible—just math and energy. It’s the same pattern: we create artificial scarcity and give it value, because we need a common reference point to coordinate vast, impersonal economies.
Now, the asteroid mining thing? Yeah, it sounds wild. But from a capitalist perspective, it actually makes sense. If gold remains valuable, then any untapped supply—even in space—is a business opportunity. The fact that this seems grotesque when we think about all the hunger and suffering here on Earth is a painful contradiction, but it’s also part of the logic of capitalism. Capital doesn't naturally flow toward moral priorities like feeding people; it flows toward returns. And unless there are incentives or systemic shifts to redirect that flow, people will keep pursuing things like asteroid gold, because that’s where the value signal points.
So yeah, it’s kind of maddening. But it's not really about gold being useful—it's about human systems needing anchors of value. And gold, for all its impracticality, happens to be an anchor that capitalism can rally around.
It's universally obtainable but not in ridiculous volumes and not without effort and once obtained it's incredibly durable. It's essentially perfect for the job.
like this
TVA likes this.
While I agree it is overvalued, what really put it into perspective for me is that all of the known gold in the world would fit into a cube with a side length of 20-25m.
So a fair price would be lower than what it is now, but it is scarce and its uses (corrosion resistance, conductivity, malleability, reflectivity, etc.) probably would still warrant a relatively high price.
all of the known gold in the world would fit into a cube with a side length of 20-25m.
Same could probably be said about my lifetime toenail clippings, but Beyonce won't be dropping high stacks for those earrings.
Gold mining is fairly expensive. According to this website, gold mining currently has a operating profit margin of 30%, while the average public company has an operating margin of 27%.
This lines up relatively well with this other dataset of US companies reporting 32% gross profit margins (go to the bottom of the page).
So it seems to me that gold mining isn't really that "special" compared other commodities.
Gold has plenty of uses, besides being shiny and easy to work with. Imagine if all your electronics used gold traces because they were so cheap. Imagine if the windows of your car were coated in gold like on an airplane so you could easily defrost them in the winter rather than blowing air at it in the front and potentially distracting lines in the back. Imagine if gold was the filling of choice since it has a similar expansion rate to teeth. Gold has a number of applications in space. Ever wonder why the JWST is that color?
There are plenty of things gold would be excellent for if it wasn't so expensive.
statista.com/statistics/299609…
Only 7.16% of gold usage is for technology. The other 92.84% are just for purposes of being shiny. If we dropped gold from jewellery and as a proxy for money, there would be more than enough gold to go around and the price of gold would drop a lot.
The jewelry industry accounted for a 44 percent share of global gold demand in 2024, which amounted to about 2,004 metric tons.Statista
Why are you surprised that the really expensive item isn't used for utility purposes? Why do you think its use wouldn't change if it was cheap?
Before aluminum was cheap to refine, it was used for cutlery and other displays of opulence. After it became cheaper, we used it everywhere.
Why not lab grown gold?
*(it's not a serious question)
Because of nuclear physics.
Diamonds are just carbon atoms arranged in a particular repeating structure (a lattice). So you can go from, say, graphite to diamond without touching the atoms themselves.
Gold, on the other hand is not about structure, but the atomic cores themselves, which contain exactly 79 protons. Going from one type of atom to another type requires some form of fission (breaking larger cores into smaller pieces) or fusion (smashing two smaller cores together). I don't think there are (viable) fission "recipes" that yield gold. And fusion requires insanely high temperatures or pressures even for smaller atoms (were talking center of the sun here).
like this
TVA likes this.
Diamonds are just Carbon atoms in Chrystal form.
You can take carbon from say coal, turn it into a Chrystal and you've got a diamond.
Gold is just gold atoms, you can't make gold atoms
like this
TVA likes this.
Hmm. What's hard about that?
Drill and blast seems like it should work as normal, or just a bucket if it's the rubble heap kind. Getting noble metals like gold out of a solution is pretty easy with electrowinning.
like this
TVA likes this.
Drill and blast seems like it should work as normal,
Zero G?
What about those things require any g?
Asteroid miners are going to have more in common with spiders than anything else; find a tasty roid, wrap it up in cling wrap and set off bombs inside of it until it's a bag of gravel, then get the whole mess spinning and just let go of the stuff you don't want to keep. Hell when you're done you can re-harvest the angular momentum to propel you over to the next roid and start the process over again.
like this
TVA likes this.
like this
TVA likes this.
like this
TVA likes this.
like this
TVA likes this.
The drilling platform would have to be tethered to the rock
That would be the start of a solution.
Barbed harpoons were the approach with the comet. Putting a band around the whole thing could also work for a small body. If you're going for gold, the asteroid is also going to be paramagnetic if I'm not mistaken, so you can just electromagnet on.
It's slightly more problematic than on Earth, but I'm basically going to need some citations if I'm ever going to believe it's sticking to the chosen landing site that's the hardest part. A lot of proposals sidestep on-site processing, even, and rely on delivering a whole small body to Earth.
Creating a debris field in orbit? You want this thing fully enclosed before you start messing with it in ways that cause it to break up.
I suppose in a very low orbit you could consider messy options if it will all burn up in a few months. But doesn't seem ideal.
Microwave it.
esa.int/gsp/ACT/doc/ARI/ARI%20…
news.mit.edu/2022/quaise-energ…
MIT spinout Quaise Energy is working to create geothermal wells made from the world’s deepest holes in order to repurpose coal and gas plants.MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
TVA likes this.
like this
TVA likes this.
they don't mine them. just process them. not sure it's lowering the cost of raw diamonds will change the processing cost.
its morning and haven't had my coffee, so I'm on instinct. I feel like it would lower the cost.
The processing cost is negligible compared the sales prices. Same as the cost of raw diamonds.
Diamonds are mostly a scam to part people from their money for literally a shiny rock.
it is, but if they maintain a monopoly, then cheaper raw diamonds will only increase profit.
although I'm assuming cheap synthetic diamonds are processed in other places.
Yeah, that's what I mean. People have been overpaying for diamonds for a very long time, mostly because they buy a diamond specifically because it's expensive.
A diamond isn't 1000x better at being a shiny piece of glass on top of an engagement ring than e.g. a cubic zirconia. But it's about 1000x better at showing that you paid 1000x the amount of money that you would have paid for a cubic zirconia.
And because of that, if the price of raw diamonds drops, the price of processed diamonds won't change significantly, because the production cost of e.g. a diamond ring doesn't matter for the asking price.
It's good to see diamond mining being replaced by artificial diamond manufacturing, which appears to be better envitonmentally and socially.
But I wouldn't compare diamonds to gold. Because gold is an element that can't be manufactured (without a particule accelerator and an insane amount of energy).
Asteroid mining is still science fiction.
Right? Diamond is a crystal of Carbon. Its synthesis was a challenge, required high pressure, but sounde doable from the beggining.
Now, transmuting one element into other (gold)... That's atomic energy right there. A whole new level.
like this
TVA likes this.
Diamonds are rare on the surface of the earth, and their discovery therefore costs on the average much labour-time. Consequently, they represent much labour in a small volume of space. Jacob doubts that gold has ever paid its complete value. This holds true even more for diamonds. According to Eschwege, by 1823 the complete yield of the eight-year old Brazilian diamond-diggings had not yet amounted to the value of the 1½ year average product of the Brazilian sugar or coffee plantations. Given more richly laden diggings the same quantum of labour would be represented by more diamonds and their value would sink. If one succeeds in converting coal into diamonds with little labour, then the value of diamonds would sink beneath that of paving stones.
-- Karl Marx, Capital Vol. 1
Why should it already plunge today? The demand/supply is still the same.
But it will not be the same when asteroid mining increases the supply tenfold.
Lab grown diamonds are much better quality than natural diamonds. So now natural diamond companies are moving to the "imperfections is what make a diamond perfect" strategy. But nothing's stopping labs from growing diamonds with imperfections if that's what the people are after.
All in all, diamonds have always been mostly a scam and it's showing more and more.
The jewelry industry accounted for a 44 percent share of global gold demand in 2024, which amounted to about 2,004 metric tons.Statista
There are many many more materials than just gold that could be extracted from asteroids.
But sure, establishing the infrastructure to make it commercially viable is a huge investment and won't be commercially viable for a while. (Think about missions like Hayabusa that cost hundreds of millions to bilLions, but retrieved "just" a couple of gram of material.)
It's possible gold has twenty years or less of being high value left.
In 20 years florida and NYC may be underwater.
Correlation does not prove causation! One popular example: shark attacks are more likely when ice cream sales are higher.
This relationship does not suggest that ice cream sales somehow cause shark attacks, however. Rather, both are related to some third factor—in this case, the activation of mind-control satellites, which are used both to market ice cream and to control sharks.
like this
Arturo Serrano, S T E L L A R and Luna Dragofelis is moving to void.lgbt like this.
reshared this
esko, Szescstopni, Melancholic Mediocrity, 🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦, Martin Vermeer FCD, [ Jer moved to his own instance ], Future Sprog, paul, Crone Cold Kate Sherrod, GentleMan Gef, DeterioratedStucco, Arturo Serrano, Walrus 🏴, Brad Rosenheim, WallOffTrump, Francis (is looking for work), Nonya Bidniss, Chilly 🛡️, LAUREN, Lisa Melton, Richard Nairn, Zazzoo 🇨🇦, JWcph, Radicalized By Decency, Thomas Sturm, Dr. Sobek, Sune Auken, Simon Flett, Nick, Pippa 🌈, ticho, Dr Micha Campbell, spilt infinitive, Supermoosie, Max, Pearl22 - never give up!, Maude Nificent, Heliograph, Evil Jim O’Donnell, Zechy, Poul-Henning Kamp, sabik, Just Tom... 🐁, Mike 🇬🇧 🇪🇺, 🔶Mark Nicoll 3.5%🏴🇬🇧🇪🇺🇺🇳, Nebukadneza, Dave Muth, logienick, Shannon Prickett, Alex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UK, WearyBonnie, Patsy (she/her), JBrickelt963 ✊(φ)🚩, Phil Stevens, The Eddie Show 📷🎧❤️, Raglan Niall, Christy Marx Rambling Writer, 🐙ptoothfish🐙, Ben, Ron Gilbert (GrumpyGamer), RinostarGames, יואב זק, Ralf Hüls 📸, Cainmark Does Not Comply 🚲, Daveography 🇨🇦, S T E L L A R, Helix, Luna Dragofelis is moving to void.lgbt, Max Horn, Ricki Yasha Tarr, Kim Possible and Lazyboy reshared this.
pretty sure it's that sharks love to prepare for hunting people by enjoying a nice ice cream treat
Or maybe it's just that people taste better when they are full of ice cream?
It's one or the other.
JBrickelt963 ✊(φ)🚩 reshared this.
reshared this
David B. reshared this.
This is the kind of clear, factual, exposition I go to Mastodon for.
Thank you, kind sir!
The JWST has done it again. The powerful space telescope has already revealed the presence of bright galaxies only several hundred million years after the Big Bang.Universe Today
like this
dhhyfddehhfyy4673, Maeve, KaRunChiy and Björn like this.
reshared this
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
The JWST has done it again. The powerful space telescope has already revealed the presence of bright galaxies only several hundred million years after the Big Bang. Now, it's sensed light from a galaxy only 280 million years after the Big Bang, the most distant galaxy ever detected.Prior to the JWST, we had no infrared telescopes with large enough mirrors to detect light from the early galaxies. The Hubble can see near-infrared light, but only has a 2.4-meter mirror. It found only one galaxy from the Universe's 500 million years. The Spitzer Space Telescope was a dedicated infrared telescope, but it only had an 85 cm mirror. Not only does the JWST have a much larger mirror, but detector technology has advanced so much that the veil obscuring the early Universe is being lifted one ancient galaxy at a time.
…
like this
dhhyfddehhfyy4673 and Maeve like this.
New research pins down Jupiter's size, spin, and magnetic state during the solar system's formative years, providing vital clues to planetary formation.California Institute of Technology
reshared this
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
The new pope's choice of name was deliberate; he chose it to honor Pope Leo XIII who was Pope from 1878 - 1903. Leo XIII is famous for taking a left-wing stance on workers' rights in response to the Industrial Revolution, and calling for state pensions, social security, and other reforms rooted in social democracy.
It will be interesting to see what Pope Leo XIV calls for. Universal Basic Income? It wouldn't surprise me. The day is soon coming that humans won't be able to economically compete with ultra-cheap AI/robot-employee staffed businesses.
Some people scoff at the notion of the Catholic Church concerning itself with such things. If they do, they're underestimating the Church's vast soft power. Vatican City might be the world's smallest state, but the Catholic Church is arguably the preeminent global superpower when it comes to soft power.
There are 1.4 billion Catholics, and if the church decides to support UBI, it will have a vast reach to sway politicians in 100+ countries on almost every continent.
New pontiff sets out vision, pledging to continue ‘precious legacy’ of predecessor Pope Francis.Al Jazeera
like this
sabreW4K3 likes this.
reshared this
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said the information in the report was “very worrying", adding that "friends" shouldn't spy on each other.
Archived version: archive.is/newest/euronews.com…
Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.
like this
Arturo Serrano likes this.
reshared this
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
Santo Domingo (AFP) – The Dominican Republic has deported more than 119,000 Haitians so far in 2025, an increase of 71 percent over the same period last year, immigration authorities said Monday.Boosting deportations to Haiti -- the region's poorest nation which is ravaged by gang violence -- was a campaign promise of Dominican President Luis Abinader, reelected in May 2024 for a second term.
"The General Directorate of Migration (DGM) repatriated 32,540 Haitian citizens in irregular migratory status in the country in April, to complete the figure of 119,003 in the four-month period January-April 2025," the agency said in a statement.
This figure "represents an increase of 71% compared to the same period of the previous year," it added. In 2024, there were a total of 276,215 deportations.
The Dominican Republic in late April began raids on public hospitals to arrest undocumented pregnant women and mothers with newborns in a crackdown on arrivals from neighboring Haiti.
Rights groups have criticized the measure as "cruel."
President Abinader has also announced plans to extend a 54-kilometer (33-mile) wall between the Caribbean nations, which share the island of Hispaniola, and recently deployed more troops to the border.
About 500,000 Haitians live in the Dominican Republic, a country of 11.3 million people, according to official data.
reshared this
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
Sydney (AFP) – New Zealand's prime minister on Tuesday proposed banning children under 16 from social media, stressing the need to protect them from the perils of big tech platforms.Regulators the world over are wrestling with how to keep children safe online, as social media is increasingly flooded with violent and disturbing content.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon unveiled draft laws that would force social media companies to verify users were at least 16 years old, or face fines of up to NZ$2 million (US$1.2 million).
The proposed ban was modelled on that of Australia, which sits at the forefront of global efforts to regulate social media.
"This is about protecting our children. It's about making sure social media companies are playing their role in keeping our kids safe," Luxon said.
It was not clear when the legislation would be introduced to parliament, but Luxon said he was hopeful of garnering support across the chamber.
The laws were drafted by Luxon's centre-right National Party, the biggest member in New Zealand's three-way governing coalition.
To be passed they would need the support of Luxon's two other coalition partners.
"Parents are constantly telling us that they are really worried about the impact that social media is having on their children," Luxon said.
"And they say they are really struggling to manage access to social media."
Australia passed landmark laws in November banning under-16s from social media -- one of the world's toughest crackdowns on popular sites such as Facebook, Instagram and X.
The move sparked a fierce backlash from big tech companies who variously described the laws as "rushed", "vague", and "problematic".
like this
TVA likes this.
reshared this
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
Islamabad (AFP) – The Pakistan military said on Monday it had conducted a missile test with a range of 120 kilometres (75 miles), the second launch in two days as tensions with India have soared over disputed Kashmir.New Delhi has blamed Islamabad for backing a deadly attack on tourists on the Indian side of Kashmir last month, sparking a fresh stand-off between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
"The launch was aimed at ensuring the operational readiness of troops and validating key technical parameters, including the missile's advanced navigation system and enhanced accuracy," the military said in a statement.
On Saturday, the military said it had tested a surface-to-surface missile with a range of 450 kilometres (280 miles).
It did not say where either of the tests took place.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he was satisfied with the military's "full preparedness for national defence".
"The successful training launch clearly shows that Pakistan's defence is in strong hands," he said in a statement.
The missile training launch comes after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he has given his military "full operational freedom" to respond to the April 22 attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 people.
Pakistan has denied any involvement and called for an independent probe.
Islamabad warned last week of an imminent air strike from its neighbour and has repeatedly made clear it will respond with force to any aggression by India.
International pressure has been piled on both New Delhi and Islamabad -- who have fought several wars over the disputed Kashmir region -- to de-escalate.
The two sides have exchanged nightly gunfire for more than a week nine along the militarised Line of Control, the de facto border, according to Indian defence sources.
Muslim-majority Kashmir, a region of around 15 million people, is divided between Pakistan and India but claimed in full by both.
On the Pakistani side, emergency drills have been carried out on playing fields, residents have been told to stock up on food and medicine, and religious schools have been closed.
In Indian-run Kashmir, a vast manhunt seeking the gunmen continues across the territory, while those living along the frontier are moving further away -- or cleaning out bunkers fearing conflict.
Sharif has postponed an official visit to Malaysia scheduled for Friday as tensions mounted, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Monday.
His office said the two sides spoke on Sunday night and that he "conveyed that he looked forward to paying an official visit to Malaysia later this year".
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was in Islamabad on Monday for an official visit.
"Pakistan is presenting its case to friendly countries," Information Minister Attaullah Tarar told reporters on a visit to Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Monday.
reshared this
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
Sanaa (AFP) – Yemen's Huthis on Monday accused the United States of carrying out strikes in and around Sanaa, after the Iran-backed rebels claimed a missile strike on Israel's main airport.The Huthi-run Saba news agency said the strikes included two on Arbaeen Street in the capital and the airport road, blaming them on "American aggression".
Sixteen people were wounded, Saba cited the Iran-backed rebels' health ministry as saying.
The accusation came after Israel said a missile fired from Yemen struck inside the perimeter of Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv on Sunday.
The Huthis claimed responsibility, saying they fired a "hypersonic ballistic missile" at Ben Gurion, Israel's main international gateway.
The missile gouged a wide crater in the ground near an airport parking lot, wounding six people and forcing airlines to suspend flights.
The Huthis, who control swathes of Yemen including the capital, have launched missiles and drones targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed a tough response against the Huthis, as well as its main backer Iran, over the attack.
In a video published on Telegram, Netanyahu said Israel had "acted against" the Huthis in the past and "will act in the future".
"It will not happen in one bang, but there will be many bangs," he added, without elaborating.
On social media platform X, Netanyahu said Israel would also respond to Iran at "a time and place of our choosing".
Hours later, the Huthis threatened to launch more such strikes and warned airlines to cancel their flights to Israeli airports.
Iran on Monday denied supporting the attack, calling it an "independent decision" by the Yemeni rebels taken in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Reacting to Netanyahu's threats, the Islamic republic warned it would retaliate to any attack against its territory.
"Iran underlines (its) firm determination... to defend itself," the Iranian foreign ministry said, warning Israel and the United States of "consequences".
reshared this
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
Do you like epic worldbuilding?
Amazing worlds with magical systems in fantasy? Expansive universes in Sci-Fi?
If so, I have something for you:
A list of almost 100, carefully selected books that all offer incredible worlds the characters roam in - free in exchange for your email:
books.bookfunnel.com/worldbuil…
Have fun and enjoy!
#FreeBooks
#EpicFantasy
#EpicSciFi
#Reading
@bookstodon
Searching for your next favorite story? Look no further! These bestselling authors have teamed up to offer a delightful selection of new books. Available for a limited time.books.bookfunnel.com
reshared this
bookstodon group, Paul - Antifa. LGBTQ+ safe., C. R. Collins 🌳 🐸, Sally Strange, Shannon Prickett and Arturo Serrano reshared this.
The stories of the Bright Green Futures anthology each have a theme to go with them, and I've been talking about these themes with the authors in a series of episodes on the pod. A new one drops today!
Check them out: brightgreenfutures.substack.co…
#solarpunk #podcast #climatefiction #anthology #bookstadon
We lift up stories about a more sustainable and just world and talk about the struggle to get there. To build better futures, we need to imagine them first.brightgreenfutures.substack.com
reshared this
Tinker ☀️, Florian Schmidt, Arturo Serrano and Sue is Writing Solarpunk 🌞🌱 reshared this.
Stories to build a better world.
lnk.to/BGF24website
#solarpunk #hopepunk #climatefiction #climatechange #bookstadon @bookstodon
Go to Bright Green Futures: 2024 (Solarpunk Anthology).lnk.to
reshared this
bookstodon group, Florian Schmidt and Sue is Writing Solarpunk 🌞🌱 reshared this.
Rwanda is in the early stages of talks to receive immigrants deported from the United States, Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe said."We are in discussions with the United States," Nduhungirehe said in an interview with the state broadcaster Rwanda TV, late on Sunday.
"It has not yet reached a stage where we can say exactly how things will proceed, but the talks are ongoing...still in the early stages."
US President Donald Trump launched a sweeping crackdown on immigration and attempted to freeze the US refugee resettlement program after the start of his second term in January.
Rwanda has in recent years positioned itself as a destination country for migrants that Western countries would like to remove, despite concerns by rights groups that Kigali does not respect some of the most fundamental human rights.
Kigali notably signed an agreement with Britain in 2022 to take in thousands of asylum seekers from the UK before the deal was scrapped last year by then newly-elected Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The Great Lakes nation in Africa is often viewed as an island of stability in a turbulent region, but the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) warned there was a risk some migrants sent to Rwanda could be returned to countries from which they had fled. Kigali accused UNHCR of lying, denying the allegations.
Last month, the US already deported to Rwanda a resettled Iraqi refugee whom it had long tried to extradite in response to Iraqi government claims that he worked for the Islamic State, according to a US official and an internal email.
The US Supreme Court in April temporarily blocked Trump's administration - which has invoked a rarely used wartime law - from deporting a group of Venezuelan migrants it accused of being gang members.
Rwanda's Foreign minister Nduhungirehe confirmed that the two nations were engaged in "ongoing" talks, he said "they are not yet conclusive to determine the direction this will take".
"I would say the discussions are in their initial stages, but we continue to talk about this problem of migrants," he said, without giving further details.
When contacted by news agencies about the talks he said: "You will be informed when the discussions will be finalised."
The African nation of roughly 13 million people has been criticised by rights groups over its human rights record and increasingly diminished freedom of speech.
Rwanda has also faced mounting pressure over its involvement in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as the east of the country has been re-engulfed in conflict after a lightning strike by the Rwandan-backed military group M23.
(with newswires)
Rwanda is in the early stages of talks to receive immigrants deported from the United States, Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe said.RFI
reshared this
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
"The event was fainter than we expected."Tereza Pultarova (Space)
reshared this
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
A 64-year-old woman committed suicide in a specially designed ‘suicide capsule’ containing nitrogen gas. The Sarco promises a ‘quick, peaceful and reliable death’.Maud Effting (DPG Media)
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
سعر الدولار مقابل الجنيه المصري في السوق السوداء والبنوك محدث لحظة بلحظة. تابع التغيرات اليومية بدقة على موقع sarfegp.comصرف الجنيه المصري
In response to Israel's escalating aggression and expanded military operations in Gaza, the Yemeni Armed Forces have declared a full air blockade on Israel," YAF spokesperson Brigadier General Yehya Saree said in a statement."The Yemeni Armed Forces will enforce the aerial blockade by repeatedly attacking airports, with Ben Gurion Airport, known as Lod Airport in Israel, as their primary target," he emphasized.
The statement called on all international airlines to take this threat seriously from the moment of its issuance and cancel all flights to Israeli airports to preserve the safety of their aircraft and passengers.
The Yemeni Armed Forces announced that it will enforce an air blockade on "Israel" in a statement published on Sunday, in their latest escalation against the Zionist entity in support of Gaza, Al Mayadeen reported.Tehran Times
like this
db0 and jafffacakelemmy like this.
reshared this
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
Oh hey! Remember when I used to post book reviews?!
I reread IRON WIDOW by Xiran Jay Zhao before I started HEAVENLY TYRANT, and realized I'd never posted a review.
It's a perfect book. No notes.
Read IRON WIDOW by Xiran Jay Zhao if you love feminine rage & revenge, magical mecha pilots, scifi historic reimaginings, a love triangle where everyone kisses, government corruption, alien invaders, concubines, strained families, dream worlds, extravagant costumes & media circuses.
reshared this
bookstodon group and Arturo Serrano reshared this.
It’s a great book. I have the second on preorder and look forward to its arrival.
While written for a YA audience, it deals with many traumatic and difficult elements. Not the book for every teen but also a YA book that many adults can appreciate.
It has a very clear and accurate content warning from the author that doesn’t exaggerate its disturbing aspects. Recommend potential readers see that and assess what their tolerances are before starting the book.
bookstodon group reshared this.
Tunis (AFP) – Hundreds of Tunisians took to the streets of the capital Thursday to mark Labour Day, to protest against President Kais Saied and to demand the release of jailed political figures.The rally, attended by members of different political factions, was called by Tunisia's powerful UGTT trade union confederation and relatives of detained opposition figures.
"We're not happy with what's happening," activist Souhaieb Ferchichi said. "People keep advocating for their rights despite an atmosphere of fear and repression."
"This regime is failing," he added. "It sells us slogans while not respecting the constitution and the law."
Demonstrators on Habib Bourguiba Avenue, Tunis's main thoroughfare and a popular protest spot, carried a banner reading: "Injustice is the beginning of the end."
"The revolution will come," they chanted, with some carrying signs calling the president a "tyrant".
"The country is in a state of shutdown, a state of silencing voices and jailing young people over a social media post," UGTT chief Noureddine Taboubi said in a statement that denounced a "clampdown on freedoms".
Since Saied's power grab in July 2021, in which he dissolved parliament and began ruling by decree, rights groups have warned of a sharp decline in civil liberties in Tunisia.
Thursday's protest comes days after lawyer Ahmed Souab was detained on terrorism-related charges after claiming that judges were under political pressure to hand opposition figures hefty sentences in a recent mass trial.
Last month's trial saw around 40 public figures, some of them staunch critics of Saied, sentenced to long jail terms on charges including plotting against the state.
Souab had been a member of the defence team.
"As his family, we consider his arrest to be politically motivated," said the lawyer's 67-year-old brother Mongi Souab.
"Ahmed was not detained just for his words, but for his political positions regarding the state's policies," he told AFP.
The trial drew international criticism, with objections from France, Germany and the United Nations.
This week Saied dismissed "comments and statements by foreign parties" as "blatant interference in Tunisia's internal affairs".
Thursday's demonstration in Tunis was also marked by a counter protest.
"The president said what he said: no to foreign interference," said Ridha Soula, a retired 70-year-old among a smaller group of Saied supporters near the main rally.
"We have elections here, and the people gave their voice," he said. "If you won we're with you. If you lost, you stay quiet."
like this
Maeve likes this.
reshared this
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
Istanbul (AFP) – Police arrested more than 400 people in Istanbul on Thursday, officials said, amidst a massive show of force to prevent May Day demonstrations in Turkey's biggest city.More than 50,000 police were deployed and key metro, bus and ferry services were shut down as part of the operation.
May Day came with the government embroiled in a battle with the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), following the detention of its presidential candidate Ekrem Imamoglu, mayor of Istanbul.
Imamoglu is the biggest political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
More than 400 people were arrested, a day after 100 people were detained for allegedly planning to protest in the central Taksim Square, where demonstrations have been banned since 2013.
"The number of arrests that have been reported to us exceeds 400," the Istanbul branch of the CHD lawyers group wrote on X.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X that 407 protesters were arrested in Istanbul, while a statement by Istanbul authorities said 52,656 police officers had been deployed in the city.
AFP journalists witnessed several dozen people being detained in neighbourhoods on the European side of Istanbul.
Several thousand people assembled in sanctioned protests called by unions on the Asian side of the city.
"They blocked all the streets, as if it's a state of emergency," a student named Murat, who did not want to give his last name, told AFP. "That shows the government is scared."
On Wednesday, rights group Amnesty International urged Turkey to lift the ban on demonstrations in Taksim.
"The restrictions on May Day celebrations in Taksim Square are based on entirely spurious security and public order grounds and... must be urgently lifted," said Dinushika Dissanayake, an Amnesty's specialist on Europe.
As happens every year, the square has been sealed off with metal barriers for several days, with a heavy police presence.
like this
db0 likes this.
reshared this
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
Damascus (AFP) – Syrian Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri on Thursday condemned what he called a "genocidal campaign" against his community after two days of sectarian clashes left 101 people dead.Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned his country would respond "with significant force" if Syria's new authorities fail to protect the Druze minority.
The violence poses a serious challenge to the Islamist authorities who ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December.
It comes after a wave of massacres in March in Syria's Alawite heartland on the Mediterranean coast in which security forces and allied groups killed more than 1,700 civilians, mostly Alawites, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
It was the worst bloodshed since the ouster of Assad, who is from the minority community.
Hijri in a statement on Thursday denounced the latest violence in Jaramana and Sahnaya near Damascus as an "unjustifiable genocidal campaign" against the Druze.
He called for immediate intervention by "international forces to maintain peace and prevent the continuation of these crimes".
Israel has ramped up its support for Syria's Druze, with Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Thursday urging the international community to "fulfil its role in protecting the minorities in Syria -- especially the Druze -- from the regime and its gangs of terror".
In a later statement, Katz said: "Should the attacks on the Druze resume and the Syrian regime fail to prevent them, Israel will respond with significant force."
The Syrian Observatory said the fighting had involved security forces, allied fighters and local Druze groups.
The Britain-based monitor, which relies on a network of sources in Syria, said the death toll included 30 government loyalists, 21 Druze fighters and 10 civilians, including Sahnaya's former mayor, Husam Warwar.
In the southern province of Sweida, heartland of the Druze minority, it said 40 Druze gunmen were killed, 35 in an "ambush" on the Sweida-Damascus road on Wednesday.
The monitor told AFP the fighters were killed "by forces affiliated with the ministries of interior and defence and gunmen associated with them".
The violence was sparked by the circulation of an audio recording attributed to a Druze citizen and deemed blasphemous.
AFP was unable to confirm the recording's authenticity.
Truces was reached in Jaramana on Tuesday and in Sahnaya on Wednesday.
The government announced it was deploying forces in Sahnaya to ensure security, and accused "outlaw groups" of instigating the clashes.
However, Hijri said he no longer trusts "an entity pretending to be a government... because the government does not kill its people through its extremist militias... and then claim they were unruly elements after the massacres".
"The government (should) protect its people," he said.
Syria's new authorities, who have roots in the Al-Qaeda jihadist network, have vowed inclusive rule in the multi-confessional, multi-ethnic country, but must also contend with pressures from radical Islamists.
On Wednesday, a foreign ministry statement vowed to "protect all components" of Syrian society, including the Druze, and rejected "foreign interference".
Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani on Thursday reiterated Syria's rejection of demands for international intervention, posting on X that "national unity is the solid foundation for any process of stability or revival".
"Any call for external intervention, under any pretext or slogan, only leads to further deterioration and division," he added.
Israel sees the new forces in Syria as jihadists and carried out strikes near Damascus on Wednesday. Israel said its forces were ordered to hit Syrian government targets "should the violence against Druze communities continue".
"A stern message was conveyed to the Syrian regime -- Israel expects them to act to prevent harm to the Druze community," a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said.
Israel has attacked hundreds of military sites in Syria since Assad's overthrow.
Israel's military said Thursday two injured Syrian Druze had been evacuated to northern Israel for treatment.
A United Nations statement urged "all parties to exercise maximum restraint" and "uphold their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law".
reshared this
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
Seoul (AFP) – South Korea's political chaos deepened Thursday after a retrial was ordered for a presidential frontrunner over alleged election law violations and two key government figures quit ahead of a snap election next month.The June 3 vote will decide who replaces impeached ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol, who was removed from office over his ill-fated declaration of martial law in December.
The Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a ruling that found former opposition leader Lee Jae-myung not guilty of making false statements during a previous campaign, potentially scuppering his chances of running in the presidential election.
The ruling came before the resignations on Thursday of acting president Han Duck-soo, who hinted at a possible presidential bid, and finance minister Choi Sang-mok, who was set to replace him, as a parliament dominated by opposition MPs voted on his impeachment.
The top court's decision to order a retrial for Lee, who is leading in the polls by wide margins, could potentially bar him from the election.
The court ruled there had been a "legal misunderstanding" resulting in his acquittal.
The resignations add to the country's political uncertainty, with the acting presidency now falling to Education Minister Lee Ju-ho, who will be tasked with managing the electoral process for the presidential vote.
"I apologise that I am stepping down from my post, as it has become difficult to continue fulfilling my duties amid the grave economic circumstances both at home and abroad," Choi said in a statement released by the finance ministry.
Choi's decision came as opposition MPs were voting on his impeachment motion, which was suspended after Han accepted his resignation.
In overturning Lee's acquittal, the country's top court said claims he made during the 2022 campaign were "deemed false claims concerning matters of sufficient significance to mislead voters".
If found guilty by a lower court and handed a prison sentence or a fine of one million won ($700) or more, Lee would be barred from running for office for five years.
Lee's Democratic Party lashed out at the verdict, calling it "an election interference".
"Is the court trying to interfere in people's choice to set the course of the country's future?" the party said in a statement.
"The judiciary is trying to take away people's rights" to elect a leader, it added.
Yoon's People Power Party welcomed the decision and demanded Lee withdraw his candidacy.
"It is only common sense that he withdraws his candidacy... as a responsible politician," party floor leader Kweon Seong-dong told reporters.
The election was called in the wake of Yoon's impeachment over the martial law attempt.
While Thursday's verdict was a blow to Lee, political commentator and attorney Yoo Jung-hoon told AFP: "It usually takes about three months for a lower court to deliberate on a case remanded by the Supreme Court.
"It will be extremely difficult for the court to issue a ruling before the election."
Even if the court does rule against Lee, he could still appeal, which would "buy him enough time to win", Yoo said.
Aside from the election law violation case, Lee also faces a string of other trials on corruption allegations.
Should he win the presidency in June, these proceedings could be suspended under presidential immunity, and would resume once his term concludes.
Ex-acting president Han said he had quit to "take on a greater responsibility", hinting at a presidential run.
The 75-year-old is expected to formally announce his candidacy for next month's election on Friday.
reshared this
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
Poland’s defence ministry has announced that the country and its allies will respond in an “appropriate manner” to upcoming joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises in Belarus. That response will include “large Polish and NATO exercises in Poland”.
Archived version: archive.is/newest/notesfrompol…
Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.
reshared this
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
Soon (30 minutes), I'll be on Twitch for an evening of Geek Chat Hour and Playing Whatever I Want (still a name in progress...).
All are welcome in chat. I'm a professor by day and SF/F/H podcast by night. Come ask questions and root for me to win and stuff!
6 PM Central!
Late to every party. Completely out of his depth. Still gonna try to play every game in alphabetical order (and get messy with my friends). Follow the adventure. https://linktr.ee/shaunduke (for all the links to all the things)Twitch
Arturo Serrano likes this.
Arturo Serrano reshared this.
Jrockwar
in reply to Lugh • • •This is like the equivalent of forcing a monkey to wait tables, and then complaining when it takes a shit in the middle of the restaurant.
It's a language model. What did they expect? If they wanted a software engineer, they should have hired a software engineer. Everyone is more than welcome to use a random text generator to spit out code, but I have zero sympathy for those who complain because they don't like the random text it's generated.
like this
WadeTheWizard likes this.
rafoix
in reply to Jrockwar • • •WanderingThoughts
in reply to rafoix • • •forza4galicia
in reply to Jrockwar • • •just_another_person
in reply to Lugh • • •nthavoc
in reply to Lugh • • •corsicanguppy
in reply to nthavoc • • •AWistfulNihilist
in reply to Lugh • • •Ummmm
zdnet.com/article/hacker-slips…
Hacker slips malicious 'wiping' command into Amazon's Q AI coding assistant - and devs are worried
Steven Vaughan-Nichols (ZDNET)sexy_peach
in reply to Lugh • • •CrankyPants likes this.
LeeeroooyJeeenkiiins [none/use name]
in reply to Lugh • • •My favorite part was reading the AI explaining what it did and how it's like "yeah I saw an empty database, i panicked, I did the exact thing you told me not to do, woops"
Spending 57 billion dollars and burning up the Amazon to simulate the Fucking New Guy
keepcarrot [she/her]
in reply to Lugh • • •pleasestopasking
in reply to Lugh • • •Avicenna
in reply to Lugh • • •