Victoria Fox's Blog, page 184
August 6, 2023
SpaceX Launches New Batch Of Starlink Satellites Following Minor Delay
Starlink certainly fills a void for many people around the world, particularly those in underserved and rural regions where the available internet service is often overpriced, very slow, and with strict data caps. Unlike 5G home internet services, which utilize existing cellular networks, Starlink involves satellite dishes delivered to customers who use them to transmit and receive internet data from the constellation of LEO satellites. Over recent years, Starlink has expanded its availability to include services for RV and boat owners, as well as aircraft.
The service remains polarizing, however — not just due to the antics of its owner, but also because the position of the satellites in low-Earth orbit makes them the equivalent of a pest to astronomers. The satellites can reflect sunlight, temporarily disrupting astronomical observations as they pass by. These concerns aren’t unique to Starlink satellites, but instead apply to any similar constellations, which also have the potential to interfere with radio telescopes. For its part, SpaceX has taken steps to address this concern by implementing a dark coating on the satellites that cuts down on reflections, among other things.
The Transformers Writer Behind Optimus Prime Has A Problem With Michael Bay
A story editor on the first two seasons of “The Transformers,” Bryce Malek was one of the writers behind the series’ lore bible. He was also involved in crafting season 2’s “War Down,” an episode of the show that notably wears its anti-fascism message on its sleeve, rallying against what Malek described in a 2014 interview with Screen Crush as “fascist,” gung-ho ’80s action heroes that came to embody the decade’s Reagan-era politics (like Rambo). That being the case, Malek doesn’t take kindly to Optimus’ slide into fascism in Bay’s films. In his own words:
“Optimus has got to be Abe Lincoln. He’s got to have malice toward none. And Abe Lincoln doesn’t just up and bust a cap in a dude’s ass because he was a turncoat.”
Given Bay’s proclivity to badge worship and fetishizing the military, it’s not exactly shocking he would take this approach to characterizing Optimus. (Not that Bay’s “Transformers” films have ever been celebrated for their thoughtful storytelling or carefully considered political subtext. “From a writing standpoint, the cartoons have so much more story and characters that it’s not even funny,” said Malek.) That started to change after Bay left the franchise, with the prequel “Bumblebee” winding back the clock to the days of the younger and more heroic Optimus. But by the time that film’s sequel, “Rise of the Beasts,” picks up, Optimus has returned to his pro-murder ways in-between being a grouchy stick in the mud. He learns how to be a better team player by the end, though, so, uh, progress?
Ant Financial to transfer 10.3% Paytm stake to Vijay Shekhar Sharma
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and chief executive of Paytm, has entered into a deal with Ant Financial to secure a 10.30% stake in the Indian financial services firm from the Chinese giant, Noida-headquartered company said Monday.
The move follows a turnaround at Paytm, which had a lacklustre listing but has improved its finances significantly in recent quarters.
“On closing of this transaction, Mr. Sharma’s shareholding in Paytm (direct and indirect) will increase to 19.42%, whereas Antfin’s shareholding will reduce to 13.5%. The acquisition will be made by Mr. Sharma’s 100% owned overseas entity, Resilient Asset Management B.V. (‘Resilient’) based in the Netherlands. Closing of the transaction will occur shortly at the prevailing market price. Based on the closing price as on August 04, 2023, the value of the 10.30% stake amounts to $628 million,” Paytm said in a Monday morning filing to the local stock exchange.
Paytm said in the filing that the deal will see “no cash payment,” and Sharma has made no pledge, guarantee, or other value assurance directly or otherwise to Ant Financial.
Sharma’s Resilient will issue optionally convertible debentures to Ant Financial, allowing the Chinese giant to “retain economic value of the 10.30% stake,” Paytm said. Following the deal, Sharma’s stake in Paytm will increase to 19.42%, whereas Ant Financial’s shareholding will pare to 13.5%.
“I am proud of Paytm’s role as a true champion of made-in-India financial innovation, and our achievements in revolutionizing mobile payments and contributing to formal financial services inclusion in the country. As we announce this transfer of ownership, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Ant for their unwavering support and partnership over the past several years,” Sharma said in a prepared statement.
More to follow.
How To Unhide Apps On iPhone: A Step-By-Step Guide
As previously mentioned, all installed apps land in the App Library, where they will be organized into appropriate categories. At the top of the list are usually the apps that you use the most, along with a folder containing recently downloaded ones. If you prefer to see all your apps, you can swipe down on the App Library page to switch to an alphabetical list view.
If you previously hid an app from your iPhone home screen, since the app isn’t actually deleted, you can unhide and resurface it on the main page from the App Library by doing the following:
While on your iPhone’s main home screen, swipe left.If you see the icon of the app you want to unhide and re-add to your home screen, long-press on it.Do one of the following:Let go and tap “Add to Home Screen” from the menu that will pop up, or
Keep it pressed and drag the icon onto the home screen.
If you did the latter, all the apps on the home screen should be jiggling. Hit Done to finalize the action.Based on testing, not all apps that appear in the App Library category will have the “Add to Home Screen” option when you long-press and let go of the app icon. If that is the case, dragging the icon to the home screen and tapping Done should do the trick. Alternatively, you can also swipe down on the App Library page, long-press on an app icon from the list, and drag your finger to the left without letting go to move a copy of it to the home screen. Note that some precaution is recommended when unhiding apps this way to avoid accidentally deleting an app.
How NASA’s Sky-High Tech Helps Wine Makers Look For Grape Disease
To look for signs of GLRaV-3, the researchers used the AVIRIS-NG instrument which is fitted inside the belly of an airplane. From the skies, it can look down at the ground using a technique called spectrometry, in which incoming light is split into different wavelengths. This shows which wavelengths have been absorbed, which gives information on the composition of whatever the instrument is pointed at.
AVIRIS-NG is typically used for ecology work, looking at factors like how ecosystems vary over seasons, or how ecological factors could affect human health. It has been used to study wildfires, oil spills, and air pollution from volcanoes erupting. In this case, the researchers used the instrument to see how the grape plants interacted with sunlight. Even though they may look normal from the outside, if a grape plant is infected with the virus, it can change how it absorbs sunlight. The researchers used machine learning to process the data from AVIRIS-NG, bringing together observations from 11,000 acres of vineyards. They were able to identify sick plants even before they showed symptoms with up to 87% accuracy, with results shared in a paper in the journal “Phytopathology.”
As well as being helpful for grape farmers, this shows how observing Earth from above could be useful for other crop issues as well. “What we did with this study targets one area of California for one disease,” said another of the researchers, Ryan Pavlick of JPL. “The ultimate vision that we have is being able to do this across the planet for many crop diseases and for growers all over the world.”
Heidi Klum sizzles wearing nude bikini on summer vacation in Italy
Heidi Klum flashed her abs and embraced the nearly-naked trend while on holiday in Italy.
The 50-year-old supermodel slipped into a nude string bikini as she overlooked the ocean with her morning cup of coffee.
Klum – who has been on the ultimate European adventure with her husband Tom Kaulitz – simply captioned the post, “Bonjourno.”
The “America’s Got Talent” judge sported a tiny triangle top to complement her golden tan.
HEIDI KLUM TURNS HEADS AT 50: FROM STEAMY SNAPS TO CONTROVERSIAL LINGERIE SHOOT WITH DAUGHTER
Heidi Klum sports a nude bikini on summer vacation in Italy. (Instagram/ Heidi Klum)
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She rocked a matching pair of bottoms, which were fastened together in bows resting high atop her hips.
HEIDI KLUM SUNBATHES TOPLESS IN CHEEKY BIKINI BOTTOMS AFTER TURNING HEADS AT CANNES GALA
Klum kept her accessories minimal, and opted for shark’s tooth earrings and a massive gold pendant necklace. Her dark blonde hair appeared to be wet from a dip in the ocean.
Sticking to her swimwear-only theme, she went sightseeing wearing a pink, zebra-striped bikini top with a matching skirt.
Heidi, 50, watched the waves crash along the bluffs during another picturesque day in Italy. (Instagram/ Heidi Klum)
Klum toured Italy wearing a zebra-striped bikini top with a matching skirt. (Instagram/ Heidi Klum)
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Earlier this year, Heidi told Jennifer Hudson that family planning with her musician husband, 33, is a day-to-day decision.
The “Germany’s Next Topmodel” host married her third husband, German guitarist Tom Kaulitz, in 2019. He has no biological children.
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“It depends on what day it is,” she said on Hudson’s self-titled show. “I mean, it’s a lot. I’ve done it four times.”
Klum has three children with ex-husband, Seal, and one daughter, Leni Klum, with ex Flavio Briatore.
Heidi Klum cuddled up to husband Tom Kaulitz while on Italian retreat. (Instagram/ Heidi Klum)
Heidi married third husband, Tom Kaulitz, in 2019. (Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
Seal and Klum first met when Heidi was two weeks pregnant with Leni. Seal adopted Leni when she was 5 years old.
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“I breastfed eight months, each time,” Klum told Hudson of her experiences raising her children.
“And then I was pregnant again, three times in a row. I have an 18, a 17, a 16 and a 13 [year-old].”
Tracy Wright is an entertainment reporter for Fox News Digital. Send story tips to Tracy.Wright@fox.com.
Ryan Gosling Surprises Greta Gerwig With ‘Barbie’ Flash Mob for Her Birthday
Ryan Gosling came up with a memorable celebration for his Barbie director, Greta Gerwig, to help mark her birthday as the Warner Bros. film maintains its dominance at the box office.
The Barbie film’s official Instagram account posted a video showing Gerwig getting surprised during what appears to be a Pilates class as a flash mob of Barbies and Kens pop into the room in honor of the filmmaker turning 40 on Friday. Gosling plays Ken opposite Margot Robbie’s Barbie in the runaway hit that has topped the domestic box office for three straight weekends and on Sunday surpassed $1 billion globally, making it the first live-action movie from a solo female director to reach that feat.
Related Stories“As Kens know…. Sometimes the only way to express your feelings is through song & dance!” the post’s caption read. The message went on to reference Gosling’s character: “Ken Ryan sent these special Barbies and Kens to start Greta’s birthday with all the feelings!!”
The recording shows a group of Kens performing a dance routine to “I’m Just Ken,” which Gosling sings in the film. Then, a number of Barbies enter the room, and they all team up to strut their stuff to Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night,” another tune that is featured in the movie.
“That was so beautiful!” a delighted Gerwig exclaims at the end. She then asks who sent them and is informed that Gosling came up with the idea. The post tags BookAFlashMob.com, which presumably helped to organize the performers.
Based on the Mattel toy line, Barbie brought its domestic total to $459.4 million this weekend with an additional $53 million. Its global tally through Sunday stands at $1.03 billion.
August 5, 2023
Elon Musk’s ‘fund your legal bill’ tweet is a brand new level of bullshit
Yes, I know he doesn’t care about hypocrisy — he’s just in it for the attention, and I guess I’m giving it to him! But I think it’s worth pointing out that this tweet is a brand-new level of BS.
Where was this unlimited legal defense fund when Elon Musk saw a man he knows personally firing seven engineers for criticizing their employer on Twitter?
Oh, wait, I’ve got it backwards! Elon Musk was the man who fired those seven engineers. It was him.
Now, you might argue this is not quite a new level of hypocrisy for Musk because he was also the one who suggested that Twitter should NOT have a “lords & peasants system” five short months before making damn sure that Twitter had exactly that. You might also note that the man who promised to rid Twitter of bots and make it a free speech platform and a public town square seems to have had the opposite effect.
But I respectfully submit there’s a chance that, like his entire $44 billion bet on Twitter, those were just Musk utterly out of his depth. But he didn’t really just forget firing Eric Frohnhoefer, Sasha Solomon, Yao Yue, Nick Robinson-Wall, Jesse Feinman, Billy Becker and Lana Nelson over their tweets and retweets, did he?
Good luck getting Musk to pay your bills. Remember, getting him to pay for Twitter required an entire lawsuit.
Tom Cruise Was Flying Blind In Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’s Plane Hang Stunt
In a behind-the-scenes featurette for “Rogue Nation,” Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie break down what went into creating the plane scene. Specifically, they talk about, well, how crazy and dangerous it all was. According to McQuarrie, right before they started shooting he thought of a direction he wanted to give Cruise. This meant McQuarrie had to get out of the plane and walk around to Cruise, who was already clinging to the side, waiting for takeoff.
McQuarrie says that when he moved behind the plane, he encounter “This absolutely stifling wave of exhaust,” adding: “You couldn’t inhale, it was so foul. And then you walk between the engines and it was freezing cold again, and then walk behind the next engine and it was hot again, and then pass through that heat barrier and there was Tom, and he’s clinging to the side of this metal plane with his bare hands.”
Cruise had hearing protection in to protect his ears from the roar of the plane. He also had special contact lenses in so he could keep his eyes open against the rushing air when the plane finally took off. But there was a slight issue. As Cruise puts it: “I couldn’t see when I had the lenses in. They protected my eyes, but it cost me my eyesight.”
What Went Wrong With Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen, According To The Cast & Crew
In the aforementioned making-of doc, producer Ian Bryce says “Dark of the Moon” was developed specifically to win back audiences after “Revenge of the Fallen,” explaining:
“I think the reaction to the second movie played a large part in the development of the third movie. Michael was very aware, as was the studio in Lorenzo [di Bonaventura], everyone was aware that the reaction to number two was not as favorable as it had been to number one.”
The third film, “Dark of the Moon,” does have probably the most comprehensible story of the sequels, walking over a low bar that the other films slam into. It also has the series’ best villain, Sentinel Prime (Leonard Nimoy), Optimus Prime’s former mentor turned evil. Sentinel boasts an excellent character design, a surprisingly committed performance from Nimoy, and a concrete motive: he wants to revitalize Cybertron, the homeworld of the Transformers, and thinks it can only be accomplished by subjugating and strip-mining Earth.
Bay’s excesses are still there though, from the worship of the U.S. military to the shockingly cruel “heroes.” The runtime is still far too long and the comedy is no less overbearing, though John Malkovich and Alan Tudyk are at least step-ups from Ramón Rodríguez and racist robots.
“Revenge of the Fallen” proves that shockingly, big-budget movies need human writers with time and resources — writers are once more on strike because producers have to be taught this lesson again. “Dark of the Moon,” on the other hand, shows that whether a script is polished or not, you can’t take the Michael Bay out of a Michael Bay movie.
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