Numlock News: March 5, 2024 • Augury, Emulate, Exons
By Walt HickeyModern-Day AuguryMost of the year, white-tailed tropicbirds are hanging out at sea, and then every year they go to Bermuda to breed in what has historically been a sign that spring is here. Anecdotally, birdwatchers started noticing that the birds were showing up early, and that could be a bad sign for the ocean. A team of researchers analyzed data going back decades about the tropicbird population and sightings of it, and found that since the 1950s the average date of the first observation of a white-tailed longtail is now 20 to 25 days earlier, a one-day shift every three years. That means the birds are now arriving in Bermuda in February, not March. Listen, I’m a reasonable guy, and I’ve never been particularly inclined to practice augury to foretell dire omens or discern the will of fate itself from the movements of birds, but I gotta say this does seem pretty bad? Rebecca Heisman, Hakai Magazine All these worlds are yours, except Europa; I have dibsA new study based on data collected during the Juno spacecraft’s flyby of Jupiter’s moon Europa in 2022 at a distance of 219 miles finds some disappointing results for those hoping that the moon would have interesting amounts of oxygen on its surface. Before the flyby, estimates based on telescope observations of oxygen in Europa’s ice approximated that the planet’s surface was producing as much as 1,100 kilograms of oxygen per second. The data from the flyby counters that, and the team calculated that between 6 and 18 kilograms of oxygen are produced every second, well below expectations and a bit of a disappointment for those who were hopeful Europa could sustain life. Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press EmulateYuzu is an emulator that allows its users to play Nintendo Switch games on a PC or an Android phone, with the mild issue being that Nintendo has not and won’t ever authorize the software to actually do that. Following a suit, Yuzu will shut down, delete their code, and pay Nintendo $2.4 million. Yuzu was a bit of a flagrant actor here — its Patreon was racking up $30,000 a month, reportedly — but the case spells a serious issue for emulators in general, not just the ones that pirates love. For instance, the 3DS emulator Citra is now dead thanks to the legal crossfire, since its developers were involved in Yuzu, and it’s got the emulator developers who strive to make tech to preserve gaming history skittish because the 3DS is simply not an active platform anymore. ExonsA new study published in Evolution looked at so-called “living fossils,” which are species that have not evolved in any significant way for long periods of time, and sought to figure out which of them were, indeed, the slowest when it came to developing mutations. There are lots of animals that have looked essentially the same for millions of years, such as coelacanths and horseshoe crabs, but one stands above all others when it comes to their DNA repair rate and thus timelessness: gars, a type of fish found to have the slowest rate of evolution of any vertebrate with a jaw. The researchers analyzed 1,100 exons from the genomes of 478 species, and found that gars on average had just 0.00009 mutations per million years, way slower than placental mammals (which averaged 0.02 mutations per million years), amphibians (0.007 mutations per million years), or other living fossils (0.0005 mutations per million years). PlanetsA new paper published in the Journal of Science Communication analyzed 142 planets from science fiction novels, films, television and more, and attempted to understand how the representation of planets outside our solar system has evolved in pop culture over the years. The inflection point found in the data set was 1995, which is around when the first planet orbiting another sun-like star was first discovered. Prior to that, lots of the representation of other worlds rendered them remarkably Earth-like, with higher proportions of Earth-like habitable planets present in science fiction. After that — when writers perhaps heard about worlds where it rains diamonds, or is covered in lava — things began to get weirder. International School of Advanced Studies Table for SixRestaurants are beginning to turn away or tax large parties of eight or more, and sometimes even six or more, as the larger groups can slow down service and take up time at tables. Some restaurants want big deposits, others simply say they can’t accommodate them, and it’s making booking small parties annoying. One solution is to force large parties to book at 5 or 8 p.m., outside of the main dinner rush. Groups of six or more are rare, according to an analysis of reservations booked in 2023 on Resy, accounting for just 8 percent of reservations. A slim majority of reservations on the platform are for tables for two. Alina Dizik, The Wall Street Journal TipYoung people are excellent tippers, according to a new analysis of data composed of 2,239 visits to beer taprooms, with younger drinkers being considerably more generous than older tippers. Those aged 21 to 25 averaged a 27.5 percent tip rate, one that declined steadily to 25.0 percent among those in the 36 to 40 age bracket, followed by a bumpy decline to 23.2 percent tip rate among those aged 56 or older. The average age of a hospitality industry employee working in places that sling alcohol is 35.2 years old, meaning that young patrons are often served by young bartenders. Thanks to the paid subscribers to Numlock News who make this possible. Subscribers guarantee this stays ad-free, and get a special Sunday edition. Consider becoming a full subscriber today. Send links to me on Twitter at @WaltHickey or email me with numbers, tips or feedback at walt@numlock.news. Send corrections or typos to the copy desk at copy@numlock.news. Check out the Numlock Book Club and Numlock award season supplement. Previous Sunday subscriber editions: The Internationalists · Video Game Funding · BYD · Disney Channel Original Movie · Talon Mine · Our Moon · Rock Salt · Wind Techs · Yeezys · Armed Forces · Christmas Music · The Golden Screen · New York Hotels · A City on Mars · Personality Change · Graphics · You Are What You Watch ·Comics Data · Extremely Online · Kevin Perjurer · Kia Theft Spree · Right to Repair · Chicken Sandwich WarsSunday Edition Archives: 2022 · 2021 · 2020 · 2019 · 2018You're currently a free subscriber to Numlock News. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. |
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Numlock News: March 4, 2024 • Reruns, Uranium, Wasabi
Monday, March 4, 2024
By Walt Hickey Welcome back! Spice Flows Dune: Part Two made $81.5 million in North America, beating already high expectations of a $72 million to $75 million opening for the film. It also made $97
Numlock News: March 1, 2024 • Dwayne, Dune, Cocoa
Friday, March 1, 2024
By Walt Hickey Have a great weekend! It's the last day of the sale! If you'd like to become a paid subscriber to Numlock, support the newsletter, get the Sunday special edition, and all the
Numlock News: February 29, 2024 • Atmospheric Dehydration, Shaq, Mirai
Thursday, February 29, 2024
By Walt Hickey The Fool's Spring Sale continues! This is a perfect time to upgrade to a paid subscription. Fuel Cell The Toyota Mirai is a hydrogen fuel cell-powered personal automobile, and
Numlock News: February 28, 2024 • Call of Duty, Butterflies, Pickleball
Wednesday, February 28, 2024
By Walt Hickey Oishii A startup with Japanese roots raised $134 million to advance its premium strawberries. The company started in 2016 and is based out of New Jersey, but nevertheless is using its
Numlock News: February 27, 2024 • Antarctica, Saola, Bogs
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
By Walt Hickey The Fool's Spring Sale continues! This is a perfect time to upgrade to a paid subscription. Antarctica The continent of Antarctica has been the subject of fascination for centuries,
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