Category Archives: Mars Colony

Chad was back on Saturday Night Live this weekend, and it was the highlight of a surprisingly solid show hosted by Elon Musk. This time around, Pete Davidsons uber-slacker starred in Chad on Mars, with an expedition to Mars gone wrong. Musk, playing himself, oversees the operation from SpaceX mission control and calls upon a hero to save the day as a massive solar storm bears down upon the colonists on Mars.

Enter Chad, whos super-chill, monosyllabic, and just stupid enough to take on the suicide mission. The whole sketch is funny, making the nights best use of Musk, delivering top-notch visual effects, and recruiting musical guest Miley Cyrus to play Chads girlfriend, whos got some big news to share with him before he sacrifices himself for all mankind. Among the sterling nuggets of dialogue, delivered with deadpan perfection by Davidson: OK, Bye, No, thank you, Balls are sweaty.

Long live Chad! Watch the full episode here.

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Pete Davidsons Chad on Mars Is the Only Musk-Watch New SNL Sketch - Fatherly

All Souls Catholic School students are all smiles behind their masks as they await the start of judging of the Mars Colony Challenge, a project-based STEM competition to create a colony on Mars that would allow people to not only survive, but thrive.

SANFORD | As our nations attention focused on Mars with the recent landing of NASAs Perseverance Rover, a group of All Souls Catholic School students recently brought the Red Planet closer to home with a Mars Colony Challenge.

Deemed the ultimate project-based STEM competition, the Mars Colony Challenge was the culmination of a four-month assignment that challenged four middle school teams Mega, Alpha, Rhos and Sigma (MARS) to work together to build a colony model that would not only allow its inhabitants to survive, but also thrive, on Mars.

The assignment was part of the schools newly implemented Applied Math and Science class, an invitation-only extracurricular class taught by Kim Craft, a professor at Full Sail University in Orlando. Twelve students were tasked to design a Mars-base camp habitation module that would provide necessities like water, food, oxygen, and power in a comfortable environment for the three-year roundtrip it would take to get to Mars. They had to also take in account the peoples physical, mental and spiritual well-being, all on a $1 billion budget.

Craft said the idea of the colonization of Mars is not an out of this world idea. Scientists have talked about it for years.

Life on Mars was something to galvanize the students around because it is such a timely topic, she said. This project allowed students to study astronomy, physics, even budgets on Excel spreadsheets. They got a chance to see the cutting edge of technology- everything from robotics, to artificial intelligence, and machinery in preparation for this project.

The project also provokes reflection on Gods creation, leading to a deeper appreciation of its mystery. The beauty and mystery of creation generate in the heart of man the first movement that stirs prayer, Pope Francis said at a General Audience in Rome one year ago. Man in prayer contemplates the mystery of existence around him, he sees the starry sky that towers over him and that astrophysics shows us today in all of its immensity and wonders what the design of love must be behind such a wonderful work!

I really enjoyed the hands-on research, said Luis, a seventh grader who aspires to be a structural or mechanical engineer. I was testing our chemical compositions before the competition was finalized.

The students presented their work to a panel of judges, professionals in the fields of engineering and imagineering, who scored their work in several categories. Judges Bill Robinson, a former engineer/imagineer at Walt Disney Imaginary Worldwide; Paul Vogt, senior director of Product Line Management at Seagate; and Scott Von de Houten, a distinguished engineer and architect at CISCO Systems, said the quality of the students work made it difficult in selecting a winner, but in the end, they gave first-place honors to Team Sigma.

All of the projects were very well done and high caliber, Robinson said. The kids knew their stuff.

I think they did a great job, especially considering we have the pandemic going on, Craft said. Despite some difficulties early on, the students maintained their enthusiasm and their persistence. It really is an unbelievable accomplishment, not only that they put together and assimilated the technical information, but also turned this into almost a theatrical production.

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Mars project is out of this world | Orlando | thefloridacatholic.org - Florida Catholic

It seems an apology is in order. Up until this past weekend, like many armchair news-quarterbacks out there, I had Elon Musk all wrong. Thanks to his unlikely turn hosting Saturday Night Live, however, all those misconceptions have been vaporized, and Im now sorry I ever thought that he was a wealth-hoarding, egomaniacal troll with a dangerous amount of influence.

Look, I know I sometimes say or post strange things, but thats just how my brain works, the host said during his opening monologue. To anyone Ive offended, I just want to say: I reinvented the electric car and Im sending people to Mars on a rocket ship. Did you think I was also gonna be a chill, normal dude?

I didnt realize that the strange things Musk was known for saying and posting were mainly tweets such as the one he mentions in the monologue, which reads 69 days after 4/20 again haha. Instead, I was one of the sheeple who got hung up on his antagonizing the concept of pronouns, telling his followers to get red-pilleda phrase mainly associated with mens rights or white supremacymocking the idea that one of the worlds richest people should pay more in taxes, and aggressively, continually downplaying the danger of COVID-19well into the pandemic.

What a silly mistake!

Instead, I should have known that Elon Musk is just an un-chill, non-normal guy who blurts out the wrong thing sometimes. Lest my concerns linger beyond the monologue, though, not one but two separate sketches feature the host saying whats on his mind a little too bluntly. Awk-ward!

Perhaps Musks tendency to tell it like it is too hard is just the price he pays for being such a misunderstood messiah. After all, as the episode repeatedly emphasizes, he is mere inches away from colonizing Mars! I could have sworn Musk had a habit of routinely moving the goalposts on his Mars timeline (and every other timeline he sets for any project in his businesses), and that his rockets keep exploding, but possibly I dreamt that? Otherwise, the idea of a leather jacket-clad Musk supervising a SpaceX Mars colony mission might be ridiculously self-aggrandizing. And that cant be true, when Musks appearance on SNL was so obviously self-deprecating. Something had to give, and that something was any doubts that Elon Musk will soon make multiplanetary living a reality.

Another wild fantasy I entertained was that Musk might be so invested in crypto because of his ability to manipulate the market at will and make a mint off of it. His tweets simultaneously hyping his SNL episode and Dogecoin certainly helped raise the price of the latter from $0.256 to $0.655 over the course of one week. After seeing Musk plays a financial analyst on Weekend Update, however, I understand the old version of myself to be a presumptuous crank. Musks character calling himself The Dogefather and closing with a doge catchphrase, precipitating a massive stock dump and problems at Robinhood, is just part of a broader, mind-bending examination of whether the dollar is actually more valid than crypto, and not, in fact, a scam.

I mean, if it were a scam, why would Musk make a joke about it being a scam? Famously, it is impossible to ever say the truth in jest.

Mainly, though, the episode taught me new ways to look at Musk that I previously had not considered.

People are so mean online, the noted tunnel-enthusiast says, in close up, during one sketch, prompting a laugh from the live audience. Ostensibly, he is speaking as the much-memed Nintendo villain, Wario, but hes also slyly winking at his own behavior online. Prior to that moment, I had been under the impression that calling one of the Thai cave rescuers a pedo guy in 2018, in retaliation for the hero characterizing Musks offer to help a PR stunt, revealed a profound deficiency of character. It turns out, though, it was just a standard case of being mean online. Classic Elon!

Similarly, I thought that someone with as much influence over millions of rabid supporters baselessly peddling COVID misinformation for months on end was inexcusable, dangerous, and morally reprehensible. But then I heard Musks side of the story, in the form of one sketch in which a Wild West bandit bears a striking resemblance to Elon Musk. For a while, I thought masks were dumb, the character says. But now I admit: Masks make sense.

I hadnt considered that Musks COVID skepticism was an adorkable, quirky misunderstanding before, and I apologize for my limited imagination. Thanks to Saturday Night Liveand an unrelated, massive head wound incurred over the weekendI now know that next time Musk says something outrageously wrong, no matter how many people take him at face value, I will respond like his mother does in the opening monologue: with a laugh and a mollifying, Thats great, Elon.

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News Thank you, 'SNL,' for Musksplaining Elon Musk to the world - Fast Company

May 13th 2021

WHAT GOES up must come down. That was certainly true of bitcoin, a cryptocurrency enthusiastically endorsed by Elon Musk which surged in value in February after Tesla added $1.5bn-worth to its balance sheet. It plunged on May 12th after the carmaker stopped customers using bitcoin to buy its vehicles. Mr Musk worries about the use of fossil fuels to mine the cryptocurrency. More gracefully, on May 5th a prototype version of SpaceXs massive Starship rocketdesigned to be the biggest since the Saturn V that took the Apollo astronauts to the moonrose 10km above Boca Chica in Texas, before flying itself back to its launchpad and landing gently on the ground. It was not Starships first high-altitude test flight. But it was the first that had ended without a fireball.

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It was the latest piece of good news for SpaceX, a rocketry firm founded in 2002 by Mr Musk, who is perhaps better known as the founder of Tesla, an electric-car pioneer. Like Tesla, SpaceX has taken an unloved technology and made drastic improvements, shaking up a complacent industry. While Teslas missionaccelerate the worlds transition to sustainable energyis grand, SpaceXs is even grander. Mr Musk wants to use its cheap rockets to make humanity a multi-planetary space-faring civilisation by establishing a colony on Mars. And like Tesla, SpaceXs valuation has soared. According to PitchBook, a data-analysis firm, SpaceXs latest funding round, completed in April, valued it at $74bn, up from $46bn in August 2020. CB Insights, a firm of analysts, ranks SpaceX the third-most-valuable startup in the world (see chart).

It may seem odd to describe a 19-year-old firm as a startup. But most of SpaceXs swelling valuation comes not from the business it already does but, again like Tesla, its investors hopes for its future. To pay for its Martian ambitions, SpaceX plans to transform itself into a globe-straddling telecoms giant. It hopes to repeat Mr Musks signature trick of making big improvements to existing technologies. Its Starlink service, currently open to testers in countries including America, Britain and Germany, is building the biggest satellite network ever, in order to beam fast internet access to every corner of the planet.

SpaceXs advances in rocketry provide the launchpad. Its craft are unusual in that they are reusable, rather than disposable. After launch, the first stage of its Falcon 9 can fly itself back to Earth; and after a refurbishment lasting a few weeks, it can fly again. Along with a focus on cost-cutting and a willingness to experiment and take risks, that has allowed SpaceX to undercut its competitors drastically.

As with Tesla, complacent incumbents have been trying to respond. United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, two aerospace giants, has cut jobs and trimmed costs. In November Tory Bruno, its boss, said prices for its Atlas V rocket were down from $225m per launch to just over $100m. Arianespace, a European firm, has also cut prices for its Ariane 5, which is thought to cost around 175m ($213m) per flight. It hopes the Ariane 6, due to make its first flight next year, will be 40% cheaper than its predecessor. SpaceX charges $62m for a fresh rocket, or $50m for a used one.

Low prices, a focus on cost control, and a willingness to take risks and iterate rapidly (another signature Musk trait) have helped SpaceX win contracts with everyone from Iridium and Intelsat, established satellite firms, to startups such as Planet and governments, including those of America, Germany and South Korea. On April 16th NASA awarded SpaceX $2.9bn to develop a lunar lander as part of Americas plan to return astronauts to the Moon by 2024 (though the contract was suspended on April 30th, while a government agency reviews rival firms complaints). On September 15th it plans to fly four tourists on a three-day orbital jolly. Morgan Stanley, a bank, describes SpaceX as mission control for the fast-growing emerging space sectorwhich, estimates Seraphim Capital, a venture-capital company, attracted $8.7bn of venture investment in the year to March, up by 95% from the year before.

And it is not standing still. Starship has a carrying capacity more than six times that of the Falcon 9. Despite its vast size, it is fully reusable, and is intended to be far cheaper than SpaceXs current rockets. Mr Musk hopes Starship could end up costing less than $2m per launch.

However nifty SpaceXs technology gets, the launch market, at around $6bn in 2019, is relatively small, says Simon Potter of BryceTech, a firm of analysts and engineers. Many players are shielded from full competition by governments worried about national security. That will limit SpaceXs market share. Instead, says Adam Jonas, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, SpaceX sees launch as an enabling technology for its other plans. The firms next target is the telecoms business. Starlink aims to provide internet access worldwide, including places where other forms of connectivity are poor or non-existent.

This is a much bigger market, at least on paper. The International Telecommunication Union, a UN agency, reckons 48% of the worlds population was offline in 2019. Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceXs chief operating officer, said in 2019 that the worldwide internet-access market was worth perhaps $1trn a year. SpaceX, Mr Musk has said, might aim to capture around 3% of that. Even that sliver would have brought in $30bn two years ago.

Satellite internet is not a new idea. But it is another technology that Mr Musk thinks he can improve. Existing internet satellites fly at high altitude, to maximise coverage. The drawback is that many customers must share a single satellite, limiting capacity. And the time taken for radio signals to travel to high-flying satellites adds unavoidable, and irritating, delays. At the moment satellite internet is usually a last-resort option when nothing better is availablein remote rural areas or on ships at sea, for instance.

Starlink hopes to fix those problems by using its cheap rockets to put thousands of small, cheap satellites in low orbits. In the first quarter of 2021, SpaceX launched more objects, measured by mass, into orbit than every other rocket operator combined, says Mr Potter. Starlinks 1,500-odd existing satellites already account for around a quarter of all those in orbit. SpaceX has firm plans for over 10,000 more, and has filed paperwork for up to 42,000more than four times as many satellites as have been launched since the start of the space age.

The prototype service is undergoing testing by thousands of people. Most seem pleased, reporting fast and responsive connections. But the satellite-internet business has a poor record. Iridium went bankrupt in 1999, the year after its launch (it was eventually bailed out by the American government). Intelsat and Speedcast, two established companies, filed for bankruptcy last year, as did OneWeb, a startup with a similar business model to Starlinks. Intelsat is currently restructuring and Speedcast is doing business again under new owners. But the fragility of the business makes assigning a future value to SpaceX tricky. Morgan Stanleys attempt spans two orders of magnitude, from $5bn to $200bn, with different assumptions about the viability of Starlink accounting for almost all the difference.

Even with low launch costs, at least two big challenges remain, says Rasmus Flytkjaer of LondonEconomist image repository Economics, a consultancy. One is that most of Starlinks potential customers are people ill-served by terrestrial internet firms. They tend to live in relatively poor rural areas. Starlinks price of $99 per month is not cheap even for rich-country users. The other is the cost of the high-tech satellite dishes needed to make the system work: 23-inch antennas that attach to roofs or walls. Since Starlinks satellites are in low orbits, they zip quickly across the sky. The aerials must be able to track satellites as they move, and switch seamlessly from one to the next as they disappear below the horizon.

Ms Shotwell said in April that the dishes, which SpaceX sells for $499, cost around $1,500 to produce, down from about $3,000 two years ago. SpaceX hopes that economies of scale will eventually drive manufacturing costs down to a few hundred dollars. Part of Iridiums problem, says Mr Flytkjaer, was meeting the capital cost of building up its network before it could attract paying customers. Mr Musks deep pockets, he says, should mean SpaceX is less likely to run out of cash than its predecessor two decades ago.

Such challenges may explain Mr Musks uncharacteristic lack of bombast when talking about Starlink. Tesla sells cars with features like Ludicrous Mode and Bioweapon Defence Mode. Starlink, by contrast, calls its public-test programme the Better Than Nothing Beta Test. At a space conference last year Mr Musk said Starlinks goal, for now, was simply not to go bankrupt. He has repeatedly tried to assure existing telecoms firms that Starlink is not a threat, pointing out that the service is ill-suited to serving large numbers of customers in densely populated cities.

Starlinks test programme is currently available in only a handful of rich countries. Yet the firm said on May 5th that it had collected half a million pre-orders. It has requested regulatory permission for up to 5m users in America alone. In December SpaceX won $886m from Americas government to provide broadband in rural areas; it is said to be in similar talks in Britain. Not all governments will be as accommodating, since the internet access offered by Starlink could prove tricky for the authorities to censor.

In poorer countries, says Mr Flytkjaer, Starlinks satellites could connect rural mobile-phone masts to the internet, spreading the cost among many users. SpaceX is running tests with Americas armed forces, which like the idea of having internet connectivity on any battlefield. In 2019 the firm showed its ability to provide high-speed, in-flight internet to a military jet.

Mr Musk is not the only billionaire who thinks satellite internet is an idea whose time has come, despite its unpromising history. After its bankruptcy OneWeb was rescued by the British government and Bharti Enterprises, an Indian conglomerate whose founder, Sunil Mittal, is one of Indias wealthiest men. Jeff Bezos, Amazons founder, is every bit as rich as Mr Muskand just as much of a space cadet, bankrolling Blue Origin, his own private rocket firm. Amazon itself is planning a low-flying satellite-internet similar to Starlink, called Kuiper. The car industry increasingly dances to Mr Musks tune. The space industry is going the same way.

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline "Elon Musks other company"

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Elon Musk's other company SpaceX, a Tesla for the skies - The Economist

Elon Musk hosted Saturday Night Live as promised, and the show largely went without a hitch though cryptocurrency fans weren't all that thrilled. As Protocol reports, the price of Dogecoin crashed by just under a third at the start of Musk's SNL stint and bouncing back only slightly before continuing to fall later. Trading was so frenetic that Robinhood warned of delays in order statuses that weren't resolved until early Sunday morning.

Musk didn't shy away from Dogecoin during the show. SNL devoted a Weekend Update segment to it, with Musk playing the role of a financial expert who keeps trying to explain the digital money to people who (just like in real life) don't quite get what it means. He eventually admits that "yeah, it's a hustle."

Musk also had memorable moments as Wario on trial, a cowboy inventor and, of course, himself (taking charge of a Mars colony rescue).

This was clearly a rose-tinted look at Musk that emphasized his image as an eccentric but successful genius. You weren't going to see him talk about his clash with a rescue diver, his run-ins with the SEC or other ugly sides to his life. Still, this likely went more smoothly than you might have expected for a business tycoon. The question is whether or not SNL will bring on more tech luminaries going forward. We wouldn't count on it Mark Zuckerberg has already made a brief appearance, and few other execs are quite so outspoken and otherwise ripe for comedy.

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Elon Musk's 'Saturday Night Live' appearance crashed the price of Dogecoin - Engadget

The Daily Beast

FBIAn active-duty Marine Corps Major, who allegedly pushed a cop during the Capitol riot so thousands of fellow insurrections could enter the building, was among a fresh crop of alleged rioters to be hit with federal charges Thursday.Christopher Warnagiris, a 40-year-old who has been stationed at the Marine Corps base in Quantico since last summer, has been hit with a slew of charges, including assaulting officers and obstruction of justice. He was arrested on Thursday in Virginia and is set to make a court appearance in the afternoon. He is one of dozens of current and former law enforcement officials charged in connection with the Jan. 6 riot. Videos and photos showed Warnagiriswearing a dark jacket with green zippers, a military green backpack, and glovestrying to enter the Capitol through the East Rotunda doors with a slew of others. While Capitol Police officers attempted to hold the large crowd at bay, they eventually lost ground and a group of rioters managed to push the doors open, according to a criminal complaint. Warnagiris seemed to use his body to keep the door partially open to help others inside.As the struggle continued, several USCP officers repositioned themselves from the outside of the doorway to the inside and continued to try to stop the stream of individuals from entering the building, the complaint states.Former Navy SEAL Admits He Marched on Capitol on Jan. 6Warnagiris got into a struggle with one officer positioned between him and the growing crowd inside, even after the officer ordered him to get out of the doorway. When Warnagiris didnt comply, the officer said Warnagiris tried to push him out of the wayand Warnagiris pushed back in an effort to maintain his position in the open door.Federal authorities said they were first tipped off to Warnagiris identity on March 16, when a member of the public recognized him in a batch of photos the FBI released asking for help. The witness told authorities that Warnagiris was an active duty Marine officer and said they had worked with him for about six months in 2019.The next day, after confirming Warnagiris was an active service member, FBI agents went to his military command and interviewed a co-worker. That person said they had worked with Warnagiris for about nine months.According to a 2018 article on the Marines website, Warnagiris was an operations officer for the U.S. landing force command element LHD Tonnere, a French Navy amphibious assault ship, as it began a two-month deployment in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations.Charges against three other alleged insurrectionists were also made public Thursday. Brittiany Angelina Dillon, who was arrested in D.C. on May 11; Hunter Palm, who was arrested in Denver, Colorado on May 12; and Michael Gareth Adams, who was arrested in Alexandria, Virginia on Apr. 22. In January, a relative of Palms wrote a letter to the FBI identifying him as one of the rioters, according to an affidavit signed by FBI Special Agent Matthew J. Hamel. The filing says Palm called the unnamed family member on Jan. 6 and said he had gotten inside the Capitol building, where he eventually entered a conference room with a long table and several chairs where he sat to rest. Hunter Palm. FBI In a follow-up interview with FBI agents, Palm admitted to being on the premises during the siege, the affidavit states. He handed over a flash drive with video from the day, which Palm confessed to having deleted from his cell phone, as well as the clothes he wore to the Capitol: a gray hoodie, jeans, an American flag hat, and a flag emblazoned with the words TRUMP and Keep America Great.The evidence Palm turned over doesnt help his case. A criminal complaint states that, in one video, he can be seen approaching the Capitol building and shouting, Stop the Steal! In another, he walks inside and says, Were in the Capitol building. Palm told agents that he was pushed inside. However, the affidavit says he can be seen walking freely into the Capitol, chanting, Whose house? Our house! He makes his way into House Speaker Nancy Pelosis conference room, as off-camera voices call out for her execution.You guys want a tour? Palm asks the others, then sidles up to a laptop and says, Whos good at hacking? Whos good at hacking? After Palm sits down at the head of the conference room table, he puts his feet up and states, I think I like my new dining room. I pay for it.Michael Gareth Adamswho brought his longboard to the riot and is the second skateboarder to face charges related to the events of Jan. 6was also done in by footage of him breaching the Capitol. Members of the public provided several videos to investigators showing Adams entering restricted areas that day, an affidavit says. Michael Adams. FBI After two associates of Adams said they couldnt be sure it was him in the videos, Adams was ultimately identified by someone who said they were 100 percent sure it was. If there was still any doubt, the FBI says it reviewed cell phone location data that placed Adams at the scene. He was released on bail following his arrest; the judge ordered him to stay away from D.C. except to meet with his lawyers or to attend court appearances.Investigators homed in on Brittiany Angelina Dillon after searching another alleged rioters cell phoneand saw text messages between her and Bryan Betancur, who was arrested for storming the Capitol after a GPS ankle monitor he was wearing for a burglary conviction showed he was there.The DC Police have reached a new low...they shot someone near me. Please come home intact, Dillon wrote to Betancur in one text, according to a criminal complaint. Brittiany Angelina Dillon. FBI In another message, Dillon wrote, I was there. I got pepper sprayed at the door of the capital and tear gassed 3 times making my way up to it. A third text Dillon sent reportedly stated, I fought hard...I fell in the door and they tried to beat me with batons so I backed off and they pepper sprayed my eyes.Not only was Dillon seen on video recorded inside the Capitol that day, and placed at the scene by her cell phone and Gmail account, automatic license plate readers clocked her traveling from Maryland to D.C. and back again on the day of the riots.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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Debris From Chinese Rocket Expected To Hit Earth Soon - Yahoo News

There is no hard evidence of life being on any other planet other than Earth, but now researchers have found something that could be evidence of life.

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According to a new paper published in the Advances in Microbiology, researchers have suggested that images captured of the surface of Mars show signs of fungal life existing. Researchers put forward the argument that patches of fungi that look like lichen, as well as spherical objects that resemble puffball fungi that is found on Earth. Additionally, the researchers show images of what they claim is bacteria growth occurring on the Opportunity rover.

Here's some of what the researchers wrote, "Fungi thrive in radiation intense environments. Sequential photos document that fungus-like Martian specimens emerge from the soil and increase in size, including those resembling puffballs (Basidiomycota). After obliteration of spherical specimens by the rover wheels, new sphericals-some with stalks-appeared atop the crests of old tracks."

"Sequences document that thousands of black arctic "araneiforms" grow up to 300 meters in the Spring and disappear by Winter; a pattern repeated each Spring and which may represent massive colonies of black fungi, mould, lichens, algae, methanogens and sulfur reducing species. Black fungi-bacteria-like specimens also appeared atop the rovers. In a series of photographs over three days (Sols) white amorphous specimens within a crevice changed shape and location then disappeared."

It should be noted that some of the images the researchers are claiming as evidence for fungi life have been debunked by NASA. The "puffballs" mentioned by the researchers are what NASA has seen in many different places across Mars. NASA dubbed the puffballs as "blueberries," and they are believed to be caused by a mineral buildup within rocks and erosion. Another thing to note is that NASA hasn't officially claimed that what it has photographed on Mars is evidence for life.

For more information on this story, check out this link here.

Originally posted here:

Did we just find actual proof of life on Mars? - TweakTown

Zach Snyder, the man behind the cinematic resurrection of Superman and the launch of the Justice League franchise, cut his teeth on zombie fare with the 2004 remake of George Romeros Dawn of the Dead. One of the eye-popping twists in that update was that the undead werent your typical shamblers they could move at superhuman speed, and had agility and much greater strength than the sagging bags of carrion in films that came before. In his new Army of the Dead, Snyder delves back into that bag of tricks, and in the process turns the Vegas strip into a hive of hidden horrors akin to the hellacious labyrinths plumbed in the Resident Evil series.

The film opens with a military convoy taking an asset to a secret location in the Nevada desert. As happenstance and an act of fellatio have it, the package an alien-zombie incarnation that seems like an escapee from John Carpenters 2001 Ghosts of Mars gets loose and turns Sin City into a zombie colony. Though its walled off by the U.S. Army, efforts to clean and reclaim the Strip fail and nuking it gets a stamp of approval. In that week before the drop, a wealthy mogul named Tanaka (Hiroyuki Sanada) approaches former military ops hero Ward (Dave Bautista), now slinging burgers, to assemble a team for a mission to fetch $200 million sitting in a vault that only Tanaka has the blueprints for. Ward is doubly invested in the grab and go, as his daughter, Kate (Ella Purnell), is working at a camp outside Vegas where people assumed to be infected live in military-monitored migrant camps.

From there Army of the Dead proceeds in a pretty straight-up fashion: Navigate the flesh-chomping hordes, a zombified Siegfried & Roy tiger and the zombie king (that alien) and his queen, get the cash, grab Kate and chopper out before the area becomes a mushroom cloud. Kinda like a video game, and likewise solid if predictable genre fun.

Of the colorful recruits, the standouts are mostly Omari Hardwick (Sorry to Bother You) as the heady Vanderohe and Tig Notaro, bringing a dash of Jane Lynch comedic relief to the mayhem as the capable chopper pilot. The films best parts are that opening scene and the elongated credit sequence chronicling the fall of Vegas as a quirky cover version of Viva Las Vegas plays. Im not sure if Snyder was reaching for something deeper with a zombie king and queen and the seeming foundation of a zombie civilization they do seem to communicate and have lawful order. It adds a dash of intrigue and of course allows for the assemblage of the entity of the title. In it all, you know theres a few hidden agendas (think Alien) and aptly at one point, The Cranberries Zombie rolls; it feels like a too obvious choice, like Viva Las Vegas, but they both fit poetically as flesh is ripped from bone by tenacious cannibalistic maws.

Tom Meek is a writer living in Cambridge. His reviews, essays, short stories and articles have appeared in the WBUR ARTery, The Boston Phoenix, The Boston Globe, The Rumpus, The Charleston City Paper and SLAB literary journal. Tom is also a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics and rides his bike everywhere.

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Originally posted here:

'Army of the Dead': We're off to a Las Vegas heist, but technically it's impossible to make a killing - Cambridge Day

The Daily Beast

FBIAn active-duty Marine Corps Major, who allegedly pushed a cop during the Capitol riot so thousands of fellow insurrections could enter the building, was among a fresh crop of alleged rioters to be hit with federal charges Thursday.Christopher Warnagiris, a 40-year-old who has been stationed at the Marine Corps base in Quantico since last summer, has been hit with a slew of charges, including assaulting officers and obstruction of justice. He was arrested on Thursday in Virginia and is set to make a court appearance in the afternoon. He is one of dozens of current and former law enforcement officials charged in connection with the Jan. 6 riot. Videos and photos showed Warnagiriswearing a dark jacket with green zippers, a military green backpack, and glovestrying to enter the Capitol through the East Rotunda doors with a slew of others. While Capitol Police officers attempted to hold the large crowd at bay, they eventually lost ground and a group of rioters managed to push the doors open, according to a criminal complaint. Warnagiris seemed to use his body to keep the door partially open to help others inside.As the struggle continued, several USCP officers repositioned themselves from the outside of the doorway to the inside and continued to try to stop the stream of individuals from entering the building, the complaint states.Former Navy SEAL Admits He Marched on Capitol on Jan. 6Warnagiris got into a struggle with one officer positioned between him and the growing crowd inside, even after the officer ordered him to get out of the doorway. When Warnagiris didnt comply, the officer said Warnagiris tried to push him out of the wayand Warnagiris pushed back in an effort to maintain his position in the open door.Federal authorities said they were first tipped off to Warnagiris identity on March 16, when a member of the public recognized him in a batch of photos the FBI released asking for help. The witness told authorities that Warnagiris was an active duty Marine officer and said they had worked with him for about six months in 2019.The next day, after confirming Warnagiris was an active service member, FBI agents went to his military command and interviewed a co-worker. That person said they had worked with Warnagiris for about nine months.According to a 2018 article on the Marines website, Warnagiris was an operations officer for the U.S. landing force command element LHD Tonnere, a French Navy amphibious assault ship, as it began a two-month deployment in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations.Charges against three other alleged insurrectionists were also made public Thursday. Brittiany Angelina Dillon, who was arrested in D.C. on May 11; Hunter Palm, who was arrested in Denver, Colorado on May 12; and Michael Gareth Adams, who was arrested in Alexandria, Virginia on Apr. 22. In January, a relative of Palms wrote a letter to the FBI identifying him as one of the rioters, according to an affidavit signed by FBI Special Agent Matthew J. Hamel. The filing says Palm called the unnamed family member on Jan. 6 and said he had gotten inside the Capitol building, where he eventually entered a conference room with a long table and several chairs where he sat to rest. Hunter Palm. FBI In a follow-up interview with FBI agents, Palm admitted to being on the premises during the siege, the affidavit states. He handed over a flash drive with video from the day, which Palm confessed to having deleted from his cell phone, as well as the clothes he wore to the Capitol: a gray hoodie, jeans, an American flag hat, and a flag emblazoned with the words TRUMP and Keep America Great.The evidence Palm turned over doesnt help his case. A criminal complaint states that, in one video, he can be seen approaching the Capitol building and shouting, Stop the Steal! In another, he walks inside and says, Were in the Capitol building. Palm told agents that he was pushed inside. However, the affidavit says he can be seen walking freely into the Capitol, chanting, Whose house? Our house! He makes his way into House Speaker Nancy Pelosis conference room, as off-camera voices call out for her execution.You guys want a tour? Palm asks the others, then sidles up to a laptop and says, Whos good at hacking? Whos good at hacking? After Palm sits down at the head of the conference room table, he puts his feet up and states, I think I like my new dining room. I pay for it.Michael Gareth Adamswho brought his longboard to the riot and is the second skateboarder to face charges related to the events of Jan. 6was also done in by footage of him breaching the Capitol. Members of the public provided several videos to investigators showing Adams entering restricted areas that day, an affidavit says. Michael Adams. FBI After two associates of Adams said they couldnt be sure it was him in the videos, Adams was ultimately identified by someone who said they were 100 percent sure it was. If there was still any doubt, the FBI says it reviewed cell phone location data that placed Adams at the scene. He was released on bail following his arrest; the judge ordered him to stay away from D.C. except to meet with his lawyers or to attend court appearances.Investigators homed in on Brittiany Angelina Dillon after searching another alleged rioters cell phoneand saw text messages between her and Bryan Betancur, who was arrested for storming the Capitol after a GPS ankle monitor he was wearing for a burglary conviction showed he was there.The DC Police have reached a new low...they shot someone near me. Please come home intact, Dillon wrote to Betancur in one text, according to a criminal complaint. Brittiany Angelina Dillon. FBI In another message, Dillon wrote, I was there. I got pepper sprayed at the door of the capital and tear gassed 3 times making my way up to it. A third text Dillon sent reportedly stated, I fought hard...I fell in the door and they tried to beat me with batons so I backed off and they pepper sprayed my eyes.Not only was Dillon seen on video recorded inside the Capitol that day, and placed at the scene by her cell phone and Gmail account, automatic license plate readers clocked her traveling from Maryland to D.C. and back again on the day of the riots.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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Posted on May 6, 2021By EditorJunior Residents

Taylor Richardson | Photo Credit: Renee Parenteau

At only 17 years old, Taylor Richardson has already impacted the local community, the country, the world. She aspires to someday impact space.

Taylor is determined to visit Mars. A little Black girl walking around in an astronauts suit saying she wants to go to Mars was a very lofty dream. But she is doing the work to try to ensure that, said her mother, Latonja Richardson.

Taylors service and advocacy work began when she was 9 years old when she built a Mars colony, a project that earned her a stay at Alabamas Space Camp where she was the only Black girl of 500 attending. There, she was given the nickname Astronaut StarBright.

Most people know her for her philanthropy skills. In the last three years, Taylor has raised almost $250,000 for girls empowerment and STEM resources for girls, particularly girls of color, not just nationally, but internationally as well, said Latonja.

Through my work, the legacy I want to leave behind is to bring a sisterhood of warriors with me all the way to the stars by disrupting the status quo where Black girls like me have equal representation at the table, Taylor said. And her intention is not only to benefit Black girls, but all girls.

Taylor launched The Black Friend Challenge, hoping to distribute 100 copies of the book The Black Friend by Frederick Joseph as a way to prompt dialogue to combat racism. So far, shes raised over $22,000, and all 21 Jacksonville public libraries now have the book available, as do over 30 states and 40 US Embassies.

In June 2019, Taylor was the first Black girl and the youngest ever to receive an Aspiring EVE award by The Florida Times-Union. Though she is still too young to vote, in summer 2019, Taylor helped 150 Jacksonville youth register to vote. She has been interviewed on national news shows along with celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Mae Jemison, the first African American woman to travel through space.

Taylor has spoken at conferences around the world to push #RepresentationMatters. She has graced the covers of two scholastic science magazines. She was voted 2017 Girl of the Year for Women in Aviation, being the first African American girl to do so. She is featured in two documentary films that are doing well in festivals across the country. She has her own Wikipedia page, and a list of other accomplishments too lengthy to print.

As a young child, Taylor was bullied due to the color of her skin and to her diagnosis of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). She changed the acronym to Abundantly Different Happily Divine, trademarked that name, and now sells ADHD apparel. The proceeds she donates to a local ADHD foundation and to space initiatives.

Taylor has proven that labels of any sort need not hold anyone back from following their dreams and achieving their goals. What Im most proud about with Taylor is not her successes but how she has handled her failures, how she has handled being bullied, said Latonja.

Despite her early setbacks, Taylor is currently a junior at The Bolles School, maintaining a 3.8 GPA while attending virtual classes. Her next step is college; she wants to be a physician, a scientist, and an astronaut. Then, its to Mars.

Kids are not the future; we are here now. We are not going to change the world someday; we are already doing it, Taylor said.

Taylor Richardson, The Black Friend Challenge, The Bolles School

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