NSW and Victoria just jumped 1.8 metres north: Added to the list of “things I didn’t know about Australia”: It sits on a particularly fast-moving (~7cm/yr) tectonic plate, and due to a lack of updates since 1994, the GPS system is currently off by about six feet (but is soon to be fixed).
Links
Stuff I find around the web that interests or amuses me.
Story Time From Space: Astronauts reading STEM-focused children’s books from the International Space Station to kids on earth!
How to Change Your Off-Facebook Activity Settings: “This tutorial will guide you through the steps to not only ‘clear’ the off-Facebook activity already linked with your account, but also to prevent future activity from being associated with your account going forward.”
Ring doorbell app packed with third-party trackers: “Ring isn’t just a product that allows users to surveil their neighbors. The company also uses it to surveil its customers.”
SF Disco Preservation Society: Huge archive of DJ mixtapes from the 2000s back to the days of disco.
Samsung Galaxy Fold review: The future is an ugly disappointment: “Should you buy a Galaxy Fold? NO! God no. Are you crazy? The sky-high price, durability issues, nascent form factor, and new screen technology should rule the phone out for just about everyone.”
Star Trek: Picard: Why Trekkies are the greatest fans of all: “So much sci-fi and fantasy is ugly and dystopian; Star Trek places great faith in humanity. As the film and TV academic Gerry Canavan has observed, ‘The idea of Star Trek is that the future might be good; we might be good; we might find a way, somewhere far beyond the stars, to become our better selves.'”
Can ‘Star Trek’ Chart a Way Forward?: “With ‘Picard,’ a spinoff following Patrick Stewart’s Starfleet officer, the franchise is trying to rediscover its place in a universe it effectively invented.”
Rosa Parks Was My Aunt. It’s Time to Set the Record Straight: I believe her story is more relevant than ever because she and people like her laid a foundation so that women today can be more vocal, can run for office, can demand equal rights and equal pay, and say we don’t have to be harassed.
This Twitter thread of someone watching The Princess Bride for the first time is wonderful.