Source: Live Science

Humans are responsible for some of the wobble in Earth's spin.

Since 1899, the Earth's axis of spin has shifted about 34 feet (10.5 meters). Now, research quantifies the reasons why and finds that a third is due to melting ice and rising sea levels, particularly in Greenland — placing the blame on the doorstep of anthropogenic climate change.

Another third of the wobble is due to land masses expanding upward as the glaciers retreat and lighten their load. The final portion is the fault of the slow churn of the mantle, the viscous middle layer of the planet.

"We have provided evidence for more than one single process that is the key driver" for altering the Earth's axis, said Surendra Adhikari, an Earth system scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and a lead researcher on the new study.

Read more: https://www.livescience.com/63655-why-earth-wobbles.html

Removing CO2 from the air can be done a few different ways, including planting trees that naturally soak up carbon dioxide. A leading line of research is backing technology capturing far more CO2 faster than trees ever could. A small handful of companies around the world are pursuing this. Two examples:

Last year, Switzerland-based Climeworks opened its first commercial-scale plant that captures CO2 from the air.
Canada-based Carbon Engineering, whose investors include Bill Gates, is planning to build its first commercial plant by early next year. Its CEO Steve Oldham told me recently to stay tuned for potential news soon on new partnerships, including possibly with oil and gas companies, though he wouldn’t disclose any more details.

Two of the biggest considerations with capturing carbon are the cost to do it, and then what to do with it once you’ve caught it.

On the capture cost:

The current cost to capture a ton of CO2 anywhere between $600 and $800, according to Climeworks. But estimates by that company and Carbon Engineering project that cost could drop to below $100 for commercial scale projects in the next several years.
On what to do with it:

In theory, captured carbon dioxide can be turned into almost anything, including building material like carbon fiber and cement, shoes, transportation fuel and even beer.

Carbon Engineering is focusing on making fuel, which it says is is currently 25% more expensive to produce than a comparative gallon of diesel.

Climeworks says its CO2 can be adapted for various uses, and it’s in the process of making beverage-grade CO2 available to sell in the coming months for things like beer.


https://www.axios.com/earths-climate-change-liposuction-sucking-carbon-from-the-air-471783e6-3865-4904-8c06-759a7ad31511.html

Source: CBS News

A "minute pressure leak" was detected aboard the International Space Station Wednesday evening. NASA said in a status update that the lab's six-member crew is in no danger as troubleshooting continues.

The agency's post indicates the leak is located in the Russian segment of the station, and social media posts based on monitored air-to-ground transmissions indicate it may be in the Soyuz MS-09 ferry ship docked at the Rassvet module.

The Soyuz MS-09 carried Sergey Prokopyev, German astronaut Alexander Gerst and NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor into orbit June 6.

The Russian space agency Roscosmos has not released an update.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/international-space-station-leak-detected-2018-08-30/

Source: ABC News

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team is fighting a bid by a Russian firm to join an appeal brought by an American who is seeking to challenge the legitimacy of Mueller’s appointment.

In a motion filed on Monday, the prosecutors argued that the court should not allow Concord Management and Consulting, LLC to "intervene" in the appellate case of Andrew Miller, a former associate of longtime Donald Trump friend and self-described political "dirty trickster" Roger Stone.

...

Miller's legal team did not oppose the move. Paul Kamenar, Miller’s attorney, told ABC News that "Concord has the better argument than the special counsel does that intervention should be granted" in Miller's appellate case. "I suspect the Court of Appeals will grant Concord's motion," Kamenar said, adding that the court's decision could come as soon as this week.

In its motion filed on Monday, prosecutors said that Concord should not be allowed to join Miller's appellate case because the firm "has not suffered a concrete and particularized injury as a result of the district court's contempt finding against Andrew Miller."

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/mueller-fights-russian-firms-attempt-intervene-roger-stone/story?id=57484303

Source: Newsweek

The South African government has begun the process of seizing land from owners in cases where the negotiation for compensation has stalled. Two game farms in Limpopo province are being targeted after the government offered the owners one-tenth of the asking price.

The process moved forward after negotiations with the white owners of the properties stalled, according to South Africa's City Press newspaper. Akkerland Boerdery, the company of property owners Johan Steenkamp and Arnold Cloete, demanded 200 million rand ($13.7 million) for the land, but is being offered just 20 million rand ($1.37 million).

Earlier this year, Akkerland Boerdery was sent notice that an inspection of the properties would be held in order to audit their value before being handed over to the state.

Steenkamp told Newsweek that the decision was delivered on very short notice during a long weekend of South African public holidays in March. The notice demanded that the keys to the farm be handed over within seven days, forcing them to seek legal representation and file an urgent application to the courts.

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/south-africa-begins-seizure-land-game-farmers-1081286

Source: New York Post

Apparently, the “fatherland” is not as sympathetic as he expected.

A notorious neo-Nazi rally’s organizer was caught on tape being scolded by his daddy for using his parents’ bedroom to livestream his hate.

Jason Kessler, who concocted last year’s deadly Unite The Right rally, was talking anti-Semitic conspiracy theories with his neo-Nazi pal Patrick Little when his dad busted in the room and started yelling at him, video shared on social media shows.

“Hey! You get out of my room!” Kessler’s father can be heard shouting. “I want this to stop in my room, Jason, this is my room.”

Read more: https://nypost.com/2018/08/15/unite-the-right-organizer-admits-to-living-with-parents-gets-yelled-at-by-dad-during-live-stream/

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I know it’s the NY Post, but this article was too good to not post.

Source: Gizmodo

As it speeds away from the Sun, the New Horizons mission may be approaching a “wall.”

The New Horizons spacecraft, now at a distance nearly four billion miles from Earth and already far beyond Pluto, has measured what appears to be a signature of the furthest reaches of the Sun’s energy—a wall of hydrogen. It nearly matches the same measurement made by the Voyager mission 30 years ago, and offers more information as to the furthest limits of our Sun’s reach.

“We assume there’s something extra out there, some extra source of brightness,” study author Randy Gladstone from the Southwest Research Institute told Gizmodo. “If we get a chance with New Horizons we can maybe image it.”

The Sun’s light sends charged particles outward, causing hydrogen particles in the space between planets to release characteristic ultraviolet light. But eventually, the Sun’s energy should wane, creating a boundary where interstellar hydrogen piles up at the edge of the outward pressure caused by the solar wind’s energy.

Read more: https://gizmodo.com/new-horizons-spacecraft-sees-hydrogen-wall-at-the-end-o-1828258683

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Have some science to distract and entertain you from our train wreck of a President.

Source: USA Today

The bank and tax fraud trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was abruptly recessed Friday morning, casting doubt that the government could rest its case by day’s end.

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III, who huddled privately with prosecutors and defense lawyers at the bench for most of the morning, excused the jury until 1:45 p.m., and did not reveal the reason for the delay.

Before adjourning, Ellis offered an unusually emphatic instruction to the jurors that they should not discuss the case with others or among themselves until all the evidence was in.

Ellis also reminded the panel that Manafort, who was seated at the defense table, is presumed innocent of the 18 criminal counts lodged against him.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/08/10/paul-manafort-trial-judge-jury-friday-update/956821002/

Source: Washington Post

An attorney for Brock Turner, the former Stanford University swimmer convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman in 2016, launched a bid to overturn his client’s convictions before a panel of skeptical appellate judges Tuesday, arguing that Turner never intended to have sexual intercourse with the woman. He just wanted “outercourse,” attorney Eric S. Multhaup told the court in a brief and in oral arguments.

The distinction is central to Multhaup’s argument that Turner should not have been convicted of assault with intent to commit rape because, he claims, Turner’s clothes were on when two bicyclists saw him thrusting on top of the half-naked, unconscious woman. He argued that Turner was engaged only in “outercourse,” a “version of safe sex” with no “penile contact,” Multhaup explained, the Palo Alto Weekly reported.

The long-shot legal argument had three California 6th District Court of Appeal justices scratching their heads, according to multiple accounts of the hearing.

“I absolutely don’t understand what you are talking about,” Justice Franklin D. Elia told Multhaup, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/07/26/brock-turners-sexual-assault-appeal-he-intended-outercourse-not-intercourse/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.ccee12533494

Source: AJC

Stormy Daniels, the pornographic film star who has alleged she had an extramarital affair with Donald Trump before he became president, has canceled her scheduled performances for this Sunday at the Pink Pony strip club in Brookaven.

Her attorney said Daniels — her real name is Stephanie Clifford — cancelled because of a “family issue,” though he declined to elaborate, calling it a personal matter.

“She is dealing with a family issue that is requiring her to cancel, unfortunately,” Michael Avenatti told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “She feels very bad about it, but she looks forward to rescheduling and coming to Atlanta.”

...

Dennis Williams, the Pink Pony’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, said he learned from Daniels’ representatives late Friday that she had cancelled all of her public appearances for the next two months. Avenatti said it is “completely false” that Daniels is canceling her appearances for the next two months. Further, Williams called the short notice of her cancellation at his club Friday “extremely unprofessional.”

Read more: https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/stormy-daniels-cancels-sunday-performances-brookhaven-pink-pony/i8YpSsCV3whl4DkizgpU2K/

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1. I cannot believe I read this article about a porn actress.
2. Fucking Trump, getting me to read inane articles about porn actresses.