![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
New Scientist - Home (
newscientist_feed) wrote2025-09-26 06:00 pm
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
Novels need a gripping story to stay popular as the decades pass, but it seems that other less-obvious factors may also contribute to their lasting success
Snopes.com (
snopes_feed) wrote2025-09-26 07:50 pm
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
Did Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and Simon Cowell team up to launch 'Truth News' channel?
According to the story, Cowell had stepped off the judging panel and into the media battlefield.
Snopes.com (
snopes_feed) wrote2025-09-26 06:59 pm
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
Untangling rumor Meta labeled some Threads users as members of 'Antifa'
A social media meme began after U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order declaring "Antifa" a "domestic terrorist organization."
Snopes.com (
snopes_feed) wrote2025-09-26 05:57 pm
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
Trump claims he ended 7 wars. Here's the truth
The president has repeated the claim, most recently during a speech before the U.N. General Assembly.
New Scientist - Home (
newscientist_feed) wrote2025-09-26 03:09 pm
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
Did a star blow up and hit Earth 10 million years ago?
There are signs deep beneath the Pacific Ocean that an exploding star once sent cosmic rays blasting out towards Earth, and now we have an idea of which stars may be to blame
New Scientist - Home (
newscientist_feed) wrote2025-09-26 02:00 pm
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
Babies' brains 'tick' more slowly than ours, which may help them learn
The rhythm of an infant's brain activity seems to put them in constant learning mode, whereas that of an adult may allow them to retrieve conceptual knowledge
Snopes.com (
snopes_feed) wrote2025-09-26 01:51 pm
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
Posts claim Erika Kirk launched fundraiser after husband's death. Here are the facts
The posts claimed Kirk had a net worth of $12 million.
New Scientist - Home (
newscientist_feed) wrote2025-09-26 01:00 pm
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
Atmospheric chaos has sent temperatures soaring in Antarctica
Stratospheric temperatures in Antarctica are spiking, which could see strange weather unfold across the southern hemisphere in the coming months
New Scientist - Home (
newscientist_feed) wrote2025-09-26 12:00 pm
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
How fast you age may be controlled by a DNA repair boss in your cells
When a key protein regulator dials down DNA repair mechanisms, our cells accumulate more mutations, which may cause us to age faster
seawasp (
seawasp) wrote2025-09-26 09:06 am
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Every time I think they've hit the bottom of stupid...
... they start drilling.
This time it's the incompetent Secretary of War calling together effectively ALL of the flag officers throughout all branches of the military into a single meeting, in ONE WEEK, publicly announced.
I can't even BEGIN to address all of the reasons this is stupid beyond easy belief, and also highly concerning in other ways, but... holy Jebus.
First of all, wherever the meeting is held -- barring it being a hidden conference room in Cheyenne Mountain, maybe -- you have just created the biggest damn military strategic and tactical target the modern world has EVER seen. You literally have gathered the ENTIRE chain of command, minus the President (who in this case is worse than useless anyway), into ONE ROOM. A single attack could literally behead the USA's military machine in a few seconds.
There's a lot of jokes about how the top brass are expendable, and there's always a few that are, but the fact is if you take away HUNDREDS of people at the top of a regimented, strictly-organized military you will create chaos. There's SO many parts of that machine that assume a reasonably smooth flow of information from top to bottom and back up with carefully-designed succession backups.
But not succession backups fhree or four deep. The PRESIDENT is like a dozen deep, but most officers have one or two people who can step into their places and reasonably well catch the load. A lot of THOSE are people at or near that officer's level.
If you're taking away ALL the people at the top several levels, there's no backup or precedent for that kind of "beheading" strike.
So that's ONE level of stupid.
A level of CONCERNING is that we have no idea of the REASON for this meeting. Why the hell would you suddenly summon every single ranking officer to you?
I can't think of any reason that's GOOD. This could be a "show us this loyalty" moment, where they basically want to make sure every one of the top brass are behind Trump--- or are removed from office and replaced.
This could be a global strategy meeting (recognizing that Hegseth's idea of strategy will be barely superior to Trump's) in which they're going to plan some ridiculously overarching plan to get rid of *ALL* of "America's Enemies" in some bargain-basement James Bondian scheme.
I don't THINK it could be a Vlad Tepesch situation -- we're not quite back in the quaint era of executing all your enemies in a single ballroom -- but I am absolute stymied trying to imaging a halfway sane reason for doing this.
Our current government, ladies, gentlemen, friends, foes: a government of the grifted, by the grifters, for the grifters, run by clowns that would embarrass Pennywise and the Joker.
Snopes.com (
snopes_feed) wrote2025-09-26 01:00 pm
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
Examining rumors Queen Elizabeth II 'loved' Charlie Kirk's work
According to users' posts, the queen took great interest in the conservative activist's work.
Snopes.com (
snopes_feed) wrote2025-09-26 12:36 pm
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
Rumor about Barbra Streisand suing Karoline Leavitt is fake
The White House press secretary did not launch a "verbal assault" on the singer and actress.
Snopes.com (
snopes_feed) wrote2025-09-26 11:00 am
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
Trump hung Biden's 'autopen signature' in new White House 'Walk of Fame,' but many presidents have u
Presidents have signed documents via autopen since Thomas Jefferson.
Snopes.com (
snopes_feed) wrote2025-09-26 10:00 am
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
What to know about claim FBI plans to categorize trans people as 'Nihilistic Violent Extremists'
The rumor originated from a report by independent journalist Ken Klippenstein that cited two anonymous national security officials.
New Scientist - Home (
newscientist_feed) wrote2025-09-24 07:00 pm
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
Amazing images expose inner world of mind-blowing plants and fungi
Surreal images from a new book, Microcosms, show how confocal microscopy that uses laser scanning creates a super-sharp new journey around mind-altering plants and fungi
New Scientist - Home (
newscientist_feed) wrote2025-09-24 07:00 pm
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
A compelling book about the end of the Neanderthals is a rare treat
Forget the tropes about how violence or maybe volcanic eruptions killed off our ancient cousins, The Last Neanderthal by Ludovic Slimak offers a very different take on how they died out