#Nasa #spacecraft captures first closeups of #Jupiter’s largest #moon in decades | Jupiter | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jun/08/juno-nasa-jupiter-moon-ganymede
#spacecraft
Hey everyone, I’m #newhere. I’m also technically a #gplusrefugee although, to be honest, I haven’t really been active on G+ for quite a while now, particularly since Google started messing with the platform a while back.
I’ll also make this my #introduction or #presentation thread, so it’s going to be a long one.
My main computer interests are #webdesign #dtp #computerart #computeranimation and #computermusic.
I’m a huge fan of the #opensource #libre aspect of computing, in particular #linux and #bsd. Specific interests in this area are #blender #gimp #inkscape #scribus #archlinux #debian #gentoolinux #manjarolinux #linuxmint #opensuse #sabayon #sabayonlinux #ubuntu #ubuntustudio #freebsd #netbsd and #openbsd.
I’m interested in #music of all kinds, in particular #dancemusic #housemusic #technomusic #trancemusic #soulmusic #discomusic #funkmusic #new-wave #post-punk #punk-rock #punkrock #rockandrollmusic and #rockmusic.
On the geek front, I love #animation #anime #atompunk #rocketpunk and #steampunk, #comics #comics-books and #graphicnovels, #sci-fi of all kinds on television and in film in particular #doctor-who #doctorwho and #star-trek #startrek. I also love reading #sciencefiction #sf #sff #sf&f literature of all kinds, as well as #fanzines based around either sf literature or television and movie sci-fi.
I’m also a big fan of #science, particularly #astronomy #astrophysics #cosmology #spacecraft #spaceflight #spaceexploration #spaceships #terraforming #palaeontology #palaeobotany #geology and #archeology.
Okay, enough of that. Why am I here?
As I’ve said, I haven’t been active on G+ for a while now. Likewise with Twitter. My current main social networking activity is still on Facebook, although I’m also trying to scale that back quite a bit, until it is eventually at a minimal level. I don’t really like Facebook (either as a social network or as a corporation), despite the fact that I use it almost every day. I merely tolerate it, as that is where “everybody” is hanging out. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to totally drop Facebook, as all my family, friends and most of my general contacts are on there (and are highly unlikely to move here or anywhere else), so I’m still kinda chained to that platform, although I’d like to be on there a lot less, and do my serious social networking on a superior open social platform.
In the wake of the recent disgraceful Facebook privacy/data scandal and the announced planned closure of Gplus, I’ve decided to go on the hunt for another social networking platform to make my permanent home, preferably something not owned by a corrupt mega-corporation. So far I haven’t tried very many in depth, three or four at most, and only given a cursory look at a number of others and dismissed them right away. To be honest, most of what’s out there doesn’t really grab me at all. I’ve set up an account on #MeWe, which I quite like (it resembles G+ quite a lot, but with less activity, for now at least), but there isn’t a lot of life on my feed over there yet. I also set up an account on #Minds a year or so ago, but I’ve never really used it.
There are other, similar networks out there, but all of them are pretty much variations on the same centralised theme, the new pretenders to the throne wanting to be the next big social networking thing and all of them claiming that our data and privacy will be totally safe in their hands, unlike with evil ol’ Facebook and Google. But they all say that, don’t they, at least until they get really big themselves, and turn into huge, greedy, profit-guzzling monsters? Remember how open Google was when it started out, built on open software, and all for the libre side of things? And look at them now, totally gone over to the Dark Side.
Many of these companies turn bad when they hit it big, even if they’re nice guys at the outset, starting off small and with the best of intentions. But once they get really big, it’s in the nature of big, powerful corporations to push the legal and ethical limits and throw their enormous weight around, all in the pursuit of profit. People mean nothing to them. We’re all nothing but numbers on a balance sheet from their perspective.
For a change, I’d really like to try something that is GENUINELY open and free, federated and decentralised, rather than owned by one company, without the claws of any huge corporations embedded deep in it, and not subject to the profit-driven whims of those corporations, abusing our data and privacy, changing stuff on us willy-nilly, getting rid of features and (in the case of Google) entire platforms, if they aren’t making them enough money, and dumping untold thousands of users and their online social networking communities on the scrapheap. I’ve really had enough of that crap. These companies do not DESERVE our support, and should be avoided like the plague.
So here I am, taking my first steps on Pluspora/Diaspora, with a truly free, open, decentralised network. I’ll try to stick with this one, as it’s a lot closer to my own philosophical leanings, although so far I’m finding it quite a culture shock, being more accustomed to the more rigidly structured platforms on Facebook and G+, with their Pages, Groups, Communities, etc. I guess I’ll eventually get used to the way there is none of that stuff on here and how absolutely everything is controlled by hashtags.
I’m genuinely attracted to the platform, as the #opensource #libre ethos is much closer to my own personal beliefs and sympathies. I can conceivably see myself using Pluspora/Diaspora at some point for all of my serious geek social networking, with Facebook relegated to keeping me in contact with family and friends. Only time will tell. :)
#ThisWeekInPictures: Oct. 14 - 21 by NBC News
Battle for Mosul begins, presidential candidates have a laugh at dinner, a pygmy anteater makes its debut, and more.
14 PHOTOS
1. #Iraqi #soldiers #walk on a #road as #smoke billows from the #Qayyarah #area, about 35 miles south of #Mosul, on Oct. 19, 2016, during an #operation against #ISIL to retake the main hub #city. In the biggest Iraqi #military operation in years, #forces have retaken dozens of #villages, mostly south and east of Mosul, and are planning multiple #assaults for October 20.
YASIN AKGUL / AFP - Getty Images
2. #Commuters are #dressed in #black and #white or #dark colored #clothing mourning the #death of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej during the #morning rush hour at a #station in #Bangkok on Oct. 17.
ISSEI KATO / Reuters
3. 89th Airlift Wing Vice Commander Col. Christopher M. Thompson loses his hat with the blast from #Air #Force #One, with #President Barack #Obama aboard, as it departs from #Andrews Air Force #Base, Md. on Oct. 20 en route to #Miami to encourage #people to sign up for #health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act during an upcoming enrollment period.
Jose Luis Magana / AP
4. A #street #vendor selling #paintings #drinks hot #tea while waiting for #customers on a #sidewalk in central #Lviv, #Ukraine on Oct. 20.
GLEB GARANICH / Reuters
5. #Democratic presidential #candidate Hillary #Clinton, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, #Archbishop of #NewYork, and #Republican presidential candidate Donald #Trump share a laugh during the Alfred E. Smith #Memorial #Foundation #dinner on Oct. 20 in New York.
Evan Vucci / AP
6. A #Ukrainian #serviceman #fires a 2S7 Pion self-propelled #gun during #military #exercises near the #village of #Divychky in #Kiev #region, #Ukraine on Oct. 21.
VALENTYN OGIRENKO / Reuters
7. North #Korean #traffic #police #women chat next to a #residential #building while off duty on Oct. 18, 2016, in #Pyongyang, North #Korea.
Wong Maye-E / AP
8. A vet holds a #pygmy anteater, also known as a #silky #anteater, at the #Huachipa #Zoo, on the outskirts of #Lima, #Peru on Oct. 19. The zoo presented on Wednesday three anteater #species: #giant #bears, #tamanduas, and #pygmies, during an #event to promote their pair of silky #anteaters, who just turned 11 years old. The zoo is preparing a #breeding #program of this #rare species, that does not exceed 13 cm.
Martin Mejia / AP
9. Newly displaced #people wait to receive #food #supplies at a #processing center for displaced people In #Qayyara, south of #Mosul, #Iraq on Oct. 21.
ZOHRA BENSEMRA / Reuters
10. #Soldiers of the #Sudan #People #Liberation #Army ( #SPLA ) #celebrate while standing in #trenches in #Lelo, outside #Malakal, northern South #Sudan, on Oct. 16. Heavy #fighting #broke out on October 14 between the #government's SPLA and #opposition #forces in #Wajwok and Lalo #villages, outside Malakal. SPLA #commanders claim they succeeded to keep their positions and assure their #forces just responded "on self #defence".
ALBERT GONZALEZ FARRAN / AFP - Getty Images
11. #Smoke rises from a #building after #shelling in the #rebel held besieged #town of #Douma, eastern #Ghouta in #Damascus, #Syria on Oct. 19.
BASSAM KHABIEH / Reuters
12. #Migrants are seen during #rescue #operation in the #Mediterranea #Sea on Oct. 20.
Yara Nardi / Italian Red Cross via Reuters
13. #Members of an #evangelic #church attend church #damaged by #Hurricane #Matthew, in the commune of #Roche-a-Bateaux, in #LesCayes, #Haiti, on Oct. 16. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced distress at the "absolute #devastation" caused by the deadly hurricane in Haiti, and disappointment at the little #emergency #aid reaching the struggling #nation.
HECTOR RETAMAL / AFP - Getty Images
14. The #Orbital #ATK #Antares #rocket, with the #Cygnus #spacecraft onboard stands on launch Pad-0A during sunrise at #NASA's #Wallops #Flight #Facility on Oct. 16 in Wallops #Island, #Virginia. Orbital ATK's sixth contracted #cargo resupply #mission with NASA to the #ISS will deliver over 5,100 pounds of #science and #research, #crew supplies and #vehicle #hardware to the orbital #laboratory and its crew.
Bill Ingalls/NASA / NASA via Getty Images
#image #photo #picture #pictures #foto #photography #photograph