Using seaweed to reduce methane burps!

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Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters

Scientists are combing Ireland’s west coast for seaweed to feed to cattle and sheep after research showed it could stop them breathing out so much climate-warming methane.

The project, coordinated by a state agriculture body, is tapping into the country’s growing seaweed harvesting industry, which is seeking new markets as it revives centuries-old traditions…

About 20 species of seaweed, most from Ireland’s windswept Atlantic coast, have been tested by researchers while dozens more have been collected by the project’s partners in Norway, Canada, Sweden, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Scientists in the United States and Australia have already demonstrated dramatic methane-reducing qualities from one seaweed type – Asparagopsis – when small quantities are added to the feedstock…But they have not yet managed to scale up production of the seaweed, which is not easy to grow in northwest Europe.

The Irish project aims to find abundant native seaweeds to use instead, even though the researchers admit they are unlikely to match the reduction in emissions of more than 80 percent shown with Asparagopsis.

Researchers are also working on how to integrate the feed additives into Ireland’s predominantly grass-based cattle farming system.

Bet they’ll find something local. RTFA and especially check out the gear used to isolate and measure methane production from the cattle. Modern science rocks!

Judge orders attorneys who brought frivolous election fraud case to pay more than $180,000 to folks they sued

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Two lawyers who went to court to claim voter fraud after the 2020 election must pay nearly US$180,000 to the defendants they sued, a federal magistrate judge ordered Monday, saying their lawsuit aimed to “manipulate gullible members of the public and foment public unrest.”

The order from Magistrate Judge N. Reid Neureiter of the U.S. District Court in Colorado adds to the federal judiciary’s condemnations of attempts by attorneys supporting then-U.S. President Donald Trump to use the courts to vet right-wing conspiracies in the days after the presidential election…

The plaintiffs had no lawyers or experts that were able to support their claims of switched votes and government conspiracies, the judge noted, calling the lawsuit itself “one enormous conspiracy theory.”

Like Trump, these clowns had nothing but hot air to offer the court. Unlike many American voters, our court system tries to base decisions on proven fact – not hyperbole and innuendo.

Gangs have a fun weekend in San Francisco – robbing and looting

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Drivers blared their horns Saturday evening as dozens of thieves carrying luggage and bags darted from a Nordstrom department store near San Francisco and hopped into cars waiting for them outside. All but three of the 80 or so looters escaped, police said…

The spectacle Saturday night was one of several incidents of looting and shoplifting reported at high-end retail stores around the Bay Area over the weekend.

On Friday night, thieves broke into at least 10 stores, including a Louis Vuitton in San Francisco’s Union Square. And on Sunday night, officers in Hayward, about a 30-minute drive from San Francisco, were investigating after a group of smash-and-grab burglars destroyed glass cabinets and stole merchandise from a mall jewelry store.

…Nordstrom employees and shoppers in Walnut Creek were ambushed by approximately 80 thieves who entered the store in unison just before 9 p.m., police said.

Jodi Hernandez, a reporter with NBC Bay Area, was outside the store and recorded footage of what she dubbed the “flash mob robbery.” Hernandez said about 25 cars blocked the street in front of Nordstrom before the occupants stormed inside and then returned to the vehicles with stolen merchandise.

Jim Dudley, a retired San Francisco Police officer who now teaches criminal justice at San Francisco State University, said the burglaries might be the result of a “perfect storm” created by corporations and policymakers in California, where many retailers have “no chase” policies regarding shoplifters and where at least $950 of merchandise must be stolen for state prosecutors to press felony charges.

The weekend’s looting and shoplifting incidents “seem to be coordinated, with tools, lookouts, vehicles for getaway and swarming tactics used by criminals with intent to plunder,”

You know if these gangs were Left-wing political groups…just planning peaceful flash mob demonstrations…absolutely everything about the planned events would be known in advance by the local coppers. They all get sufficient funds to pay for informants inside any political organization standing to the left of Fox News. Just another line item in the budget.

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NASA’s Mission To Crash a Spacecraft Into an Asteroid Is Ready To Launch – You Can Watch It Live

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NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, is the world’s first full-scale planetary defense test, demonstrating one method of asteroid deflection technology. True to its name, DART is a focused mission, proving that a spacecraft can autonomously navigate to a target asteroid and intentionally collide with it (called a kinetic impact) at roughly 4 miles per second (6 kilometers per second). Its target, which poses no threat to Earth, is the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos (Greek for “two forms”), which orbits a larger asteroid named Didymos (Greek for “twin”).

As part of NASA’s larger planetary defense strategy, DART will simultaneously test new technologies and provide important data to enhance our modeling and predictive capabilities and help us better prepare for an asteroid that might pose a threat to Earth, should one be discovered…

NASA will provide coverage of the upcoming prelaunch and launch activities for the agency’s first planetary defense test mission, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART). The mission will help determine if intentionally crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid is an effective way to change its course. DART’s target asteroid is not a threat to Earth…

Live launch coverage on NASA Television will begin at 12:30 a.m. EST Wednesday, November 24, 2021 (9:30 p.m. PST Tuesday, November 23, 2021), on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website, with prelaunch and science briefings beginning Sunday, November 21.

Yes, there are lots of interesting, politically-sensitive things going on, as well. This is a proof-of-concept test that just might save our butts from being vaporized by an asteroid impact, sometime in the future. Worth keeping in touch with the experiment.

Autonomous, emission-free containership

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Victora Klesty/REUTERS

Norwegian fertilizer producer Yara has debuted its long-awaited Yara Birkeland, the world’s first electric and autonomous container ship for emission-free shipping. The ship departed for its maiden voyage Friday in the Oslo fjord…

“We are proud to be able to showcase the world’s first fully electric and self-propelled container ship. It will cut 1,000 tonnes of CO2 and replace 40,000 trips by diesel-powered trucks a year, says Svein Tore Holsether, CEO of Yara…

The ship was constructed by VARD and it will begin manned commercial operations from 2022, kicking off a two-year testing period of the technology that will make the ship self-propelled and finally certified as an autonomous, all-electric container ship.

A seafaring nation like Norway prides itself in showing the way to the newest and best practices for commerce afloat. Looks like a pretty good start to me.