2018 Current Events Study Guide

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Volante
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Re: 2018 Current Events Study Guide

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Huh. I guess I didn't add this one...I'm certain I meant to.

Termites have been moved to the cockroach order, Blattodea, from their unique own (formerly Isoptera).

https://gizmodo.com/termites-are-finall ... 1823437375
...the reality is that cockroaches and termites share a common ancestor—something geneticists proved back in 2007. Their molecular analysis demonstrated that termites are basically social cockroaches.
The best thing that Neil Armstrong ever did, was to let us all imagine we were him.
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Re: 2018 Current Events Study Guide

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Volante wrote: Tue Mar 20, 2018 3:33 pm Huh. I guess I didn't add this one...I'm certain I meant to.

Termites have been moved to the cockroach order, Blattodea, from their unique own (formerly Isoptera).

https://gizmodo.com/termites-are-finall ... 1823437375
...the reality is that cockroaches and termites share a common ancestor—something geneticists proved back in 2007. Their molecular analysis demonstrated that termites are basically social cockroaches.
I can tell you I wasn't very happy when they held a party in my home.
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DBear
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Re: 2018 Current Events Study Guide

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The Alliance of American Football announced its formation.

From Wikipedia

"The Alliance of American Football is a proposed professional football league set to play in February 2019, one week following the NFL's Super Bowl championship game. It is founded on March 20, 2018, by Charlie Ebersol, director of the original ESPN 30 for 30 documentary and son of NBC Sports president Dick Ebersol and will be overseen by former NFL general manager Bill Polian, former Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu and executive J.K. McKay. Advisers also include Hines Ward, Justin Tuck and Dick Ebersol himself. The Alliance will begin a 12-week season kicking-off February 9, 2019, on CBS. One regular-season game per week will air on CBS Sports Network, and culminating with the championship game the weekend of April 26–28, 2019 on CBS."

Certainly looks to be more serious than Vince McMahon's talk of bringing back the XFL.
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Volante
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Re: 2018 Current Events Study Guide

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Let's go with this link...

https://gizmodo.com/facebook-suspends-c ... 1823858305
Facebook has booted Cambridge Analytica, a data firm once hired by President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, and its UK-based parent company SCL Group after it allegedly received user data improperly downloaded and shared by a University of Cambridge professor.
I don't think J! will go deeper than making you know Facebook or Cambridge Analytica.

LL, though, might expect you to know Cambridge Analytica's CEO was Alexander Nix and University of Cambridge professor Aleksandr Kogan (who's work with CA was independent of his work for UofC).

But this sucker's becoming a pretty deep warren in a pretty short time. Expect new keywords any day.
The best thing that Neil Armstrong ever did, was to let us all imagine we were him.
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Re: 2018 Current Events Study Guide

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A California appeals court upheld the dismissal of Olivia de Havilland's lawsuit against the creator of the television series Feud: Bette vs. Joan. de Havilland, who is 101 years old and very much alive, objected to being portrayed as a "b**ch" in the series. The appeals court ruled that a person "does not own history" and does not have veto power over how he or she is portrayed in an "expressive work" such as a TV series. de Havilland, who is played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, appears in only 17 minutes of the 6-1/2 hour series. Main characters Bette Davis and Joan Crawford are played by Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange, respectively.

Linda Brown, of Brown v. Board of Education fame, has died at the age of 75. In 1951, Oliver Brown tried to enroll Linda at the all-white Sumner Elementary School near her Topeka home. When the school refused to enroll her, Oliver Brown sued the Topeka Board of Education. Four similar cases were combined with Brown's complaint and presented to the Supreme Court as Oliver Brown, et al v. Board of Education of Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas, et al.

Lockheed Martin has obtained a patent for a compact fusion reactor. The company may debut a prototype CPR the size of shipping container, but capable of powering a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier or 80,000 homes, sometime in the next year or so.
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Re: 2018 Current Events Study Guide

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Blue Lion wrote: Tue Mar 27, 2018 8:29 am
Lockheed Martin has obtained a patent for a compact fusion reactor. The company may debut a prototype CPR the size of shipping container, but capable of powering a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier or 80,000 homes, sometime in the next year or so.
I look forward to having a Mr. Fusion soon.
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Re: 2018 Current Events Study Guide

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Cat Hammarskjold wrote: Tue Mar 27, 2018 9:26 pm
Blue Lion wrote: Tue Mar 27, 2018 8:29 am
Lockheed Martin has obtained a patent for a compact fusion reactor. The company may debut a prototype CPR the size of shipping container, but capable of powering a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier or 80,000 homes, sometime in the next year or so.
I look forward to having a Mr. Fusion soon.
I was unaware of this approach and last I know we are still trying to build a massive project at the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. I do agree the Tokamak is a dead end.

I kind of liked the way they pooh poohed away the Tritium requirement. High schoolers have designed semi-plausible atomic bombs, just add U-235. Last I knew, our demand for Tritium to keep our nuclear arsenal fresh exceeded our supply. But I don't know if the quantities needed for this are relatively large or relatively small.

We don't need any of this crap now if we would get over the paranoia surrounding fission power plants. A pellet the size of an eraser replaces a ton of coal. We can burn rocks for 200 years and by then should have a handle on fusion.
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Re: 2018 Current Events Study Guide

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twelvefootboy wrote: Tue Mar 27, 2018 11:06 pm
We don't need any of this crap now if we would get over the paranoia surrounding fission power plants. A pellet the size of an eraser replaces a ton of coal. We can burn rocks for 200 years and by then should have a handle on fusion.
After Fukushima Daichi it’s a tad disingenuous to dismiss fears as paranoia IMO. I would be a lot more sanguine about fission if we were to discard Uranium fuel for Thorium. Thorium fission is inherently safer, produces far less dangerous waste and has a plentiful domestic fuel supply. The only reason we pursued U fission in the first place was to supply our needs for nuclear weapons development.
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Re: 2018 Current Events Study Guide

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Woof wrote: Wed Mar 28, 2018 10:08 am
twelvefootboy wrote: Tue Mar 27, 2018 11:06 pm
We don't need any of this crap now if we would get over the paranoia surrounding fission power plants. A pellet the size of an eraser replaces a ton of coal. We can burn rocks for 200 years and by then should have a handle on fusion.
After Fukushima Daichi it’s a tad disingenuous to dismiss fears as paranoia IMO. I would be a lot more sanguine about fission if we were to discard Uranium fuel for Thorium. Thorium fission is inherently safer, produces far less dangerous waste and has a plentiful domestic fuel supply. The only reason we pursued U fission in the first place was to supply our needs for nuclear weapons development.
By all means we should update the technology. There have been better power plant options for decades. But if Fukushima proved anything, it's how safe the worst case mega-disaster can be. Let's see: Earthquake - check. Tsunami - check. Underwater backup generators - uh oh. Proceed with worst case: Zero fatalities, a little radiation sunburn from leaky boots, almost immeasurable widespread release (less than a banana boat). I'm not up to date with the ground zero local community damage, but the projections were very little cancer uptick expected. I apologize for not being current, but the hype far exceeds the story, even if it is 1000x worse. Now, financially - a mega disaster. Still stacks up better than Deep Sea Horizon Oil drilling, Exxon Valdez (and countless others), or tens of thousands of black lung victims from the coal industry. Windmills and solar farms? Let's see how they pan out.
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Re: 2018 Current Events Study Guide

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twelvefootboy wrote: Wed Mar 28, 2018 11:58 am
Woof wrote: Wed Mar 28, 2018 10:08 am
twelvefootboy wrote: Tue Mar 27, 2018 11:06 pm
We don't need any of this crap now if we would get over the paranoia surrounding fission power plants. A pellet the size of an eraser replaces a ton of coal. We can burn rocks for 200 years and by then should have a handle on fusion.
After Fukushima Daichi it’s a tad disingenuous to dismiss fears as paranoia IMO. I would be a lot more sanguine about fission if we were to discard Uranium fuel for Thorium. Thorium fission is inherently safer, produces far less dangerous waste and has a plentiful domestic fuel supply. The only reason we pursued U fission in the first place was to supply our needs for nuclear weapons development.
By all means we should update the technology. There have been better power plant options for decades. But if Fukushima proved anything, it's how safe the worst case mega-disaster can be. Let's see: Earthquake - check. Tsunami - check. Underwater backup generators - uh oh. Proceed with worst case: Zero fatalities, a little radiation sunburn from leaky boots, almost immeasurable widespread release (less than a banana boat). I'm not up to date with the ground zero local community damage, but the projections were very little cancer uptick expected. I apologize for not being current, but the hype far exceeds the story, even if it is 1000x worse. Now, financially - a mega disaster. Still stacks up better than Deep Sea Horizon Oil drilling, Exxon Valdez (and countless others), or tens of thousands of black lung victims from the coal industry. Windmills and solar farms? Let's see how they pan out.
I don't believe as strongly as you in using nuclear fission technology (for one thing, it is ridiculously expensive, as my electricity bill in Ontario shows). I do think it is amazing and tragic that people focus on the danger of the radiation in the Fukushima prefecture (Learned league reference!) tsunami - over 15000 people died, and many more lost their homes, and the whole disaster cost many many billions of dollars. The radiation is dangerous and everyone is right to be terrified of it, but putting more money and effort into tsunami and earthquake safety will save more lives.
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Re: 2018 Current Events Study Guide

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Aylesbury, England is now home to "Earthly Messenger", a statue of David Bowie in his various personas. Cool design.

http://variety.com/2018/music/news/davi ... 202736115/
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Re: 2018 Current Events Study Guide

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From Business Insider:


Researchers have identified a network of fluid-filled spaces surrounded by connective tissue that fills the spaces between our organs, surrounding and potentially protecting our insides throughout the body.
•In a study, scientists define this network as a new organ, the interstitium , which they say could be the largest organ in the human body.
•Understanding this network as an organ could help us understand how diseases like cancer spread and it help explain what healing techniques like acupuncture are tapping into.
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Re: 2018 Current Events Study Guide

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New song: Cardi B - "Be Careful"
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Re: 2018 Current Events Study Guide

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Steven Bochco, TV writer and producer, has died. He could be an entire category...
https://news.avclub.com/r-i-p-legendary ... 1824246682

Created Hill Street Blues, Cop Rock (bottom row material there), Doogie Howser, LA Law, Capitol Critters (TOC bottom row), NYPD Blue
Also wrote for Ironside and Columbo
Emmys and Peabodys for HSB, LA Law and NYPD Blue

~

Scott Foster, 36 year old accountant in Chicago, went 7-7 blocking shots for the Blackhawks against the Winnipeg Jets as an emergency goalie
https://deadspin.com/blackhawks-play-36 ... 1824199592

The NHL requires two goalies on the day roster. Every team keeps an emergency sheet of local available people who played in college in case too many of the regular players get scratched. Normally the backup makes it the whole game, but this is the first time I can recall one in recent history getting ice time. The newbie gets to keep the jersey.
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Re: 2018 Current Events Study Guide

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Clue Jungry wrote: Wed Mar 28, 2018 5:26 pm Aylesbury, England is now home to "Earthly Messenger", a statue of David Bowie in his various personas. Cool design.

http://variety.com/2018/music/news/davi ... 202736115/

Sadly it was defaced on its first day.
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Re: 2018 Current Events Study Guide

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Volante wrote: Sun Apr 01, 2018 10:22 pm Steven Bochco, TV writer and producer, has died. He could be an entire category...
https://news.avclub.com/r-i-p-legendary ... 1824246682

Cop Rock (bottom row material there),
Hilariously enough, that's the main thing I know him for. I never watched Hill Street Blues and only watched an episode or two of NYPD Blue, but damn if I don't enjoy some Cop Rock. RIP to someone who was a little too ahead of his time on that one.

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Re: 2018 Current Events Study Guide

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Saw this tweeted in a review of last night's "Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert": The show was produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice, and John Legend. If it wins the Emmy Award for Variety Special (Live), all three would win their EGOT at the same time.
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Re: 2018 Current Events Study Guide

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That is the first time I have ever seen any of Cop Rock. That was so bad it was funny. It might have worked today in the multi-channel universe.
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Winnie Mandela has died at 81.
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In college sports news..

Villanova Wildcats def. Michigan Wolverines 79-62 to win the NCAA men's college basketball title. Second title in three years for Nova. Sorry, CrunchyTaco (though at least you won the JBoard bracket pool).

Notre Dame Fighting Irish def. Mississippi St. Bulldogs 61-58 to win the NCAA women's college basketball title, on a buzzer beater by Arike Ogunbowale (whose last-second heroics also beat UConn in the semifinal).


Not sure what else they could ask for without guaranteeing a TS.
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