News

A 25 Year OOF

A whoopsie-doodle that set research back 25 years. Also, the very fancy court makes decisions, audio evidence of Trump's crimes dropped, Island Nations prepare for the worst, and a meteorite fell on a—uh—it taught us a lot, at least.

Endeavorance

Jun 28, 2023 — 4 min read

Who unplugged my specimens?

Consider the following: you're working on a 25-year-long research project. Oh, yeah uh—you're a science dork in this scenario. Ya nerd.

Anyway, you're out here doing your science shit and you come to your Research Place one morning to find that your project has been ruined by the cleaning staff.

That happened. A research lab in Troy, New York had samples from a 25 year project destroyed when a member of the contracted cleaning staff unplugged a freezer that was keeping the samples in deep freeze. Reportedly, they were annoyed by the beeping of a temperature fluctuation alarm.

This happened back in 2020, but now the lab is suing the cleaning contractor, citing inadequate training. They're seeking $1 million to help restart their research.

Big Boy Court makes decisions

The Very Large Court of the United States (sometimes referred to as "The Supreme Court") passed down judgement on three cases, with more expected later this week.

The most biggest of courts ruled that states do not have the ability to just unilaterally decide as a legislature who their state will vote for in presidential elections. Had they done otherwise, the strategies that Trump's folks tried to use to just ignore the will of voters and send "alternative representatives" could be possible.

In addition to the opinions, they also rejected a plea from Republicans to prevent the creation of a second (yes, second) majority Black district in Louisiana. There is an ongoing legal battle over the deeply gerrymandered district map in the state.

For more info than you could ever want on these decisions, I recommend browsing https://www.scotusblog.com/

Oh look, he said the thing

As I mentioned several issues ago, Trump was indicted on a slew of federal criminal charges. The evidence included an audio recording of which we—until very recently—only had a transcript of. The recording was reportedly from an interview of Trump, in which he showed off classified documents that he had in his possession, acknowledged they're classified, then acknowledged he could no longer declassify them.

Well, that audio is out now, and it is verbatim what was reported before. You can listen to that audio here if you'd like. Really, the best part is the "can you bring some Cokes in here, please?" casually thrown out by Trump at the very end, right after doing the crimes on tape.

Island Nations would really rather not sink

Island nations across the world (and especially Pacific island nations) are at risk of disappearing off the map completely due to rising sea levels caused by man-made climate change. We've literally industrialized them out of the map. Now, they're taking steps to ensure their political footing as a recognized nation can remain intact if or when that happens.

The Pacific Islands Forum, an intergovernmental organization among pacific island nations, is pushing forward the question: "if we disappear from the map, will you respect our nation?"

Notably, the destruction of these nations is not their doing. Their homes are sinking because of the effects on the globe caused by other nations.

There have been previous discussions about keeping sovereignty on ocean waters where islands were if they disappeared. Ultimately, the people of these nations would rather their homes just continue to exist of course. But as time goes on and the window of opportunity to prevent catastrophic climate shift wanes, they're preparing for the worst case scenario.

On this day…

On this day in 1911, the Nahkla meteorite fell to Earth, landing in Egypt.

The meteorite had its origins from Mars, and is quite notable as it is the first meteorite to suggest a water process existing on Mars, helping to further our understanding of the existence of water on that most reddest of planets.

Also, it reportedly landed on a dog, vaporizing it instantly. Uh. So. I mean that part is unconfirmed but is part of the legend.

So hug your dogs.