CaaC (John)

Anyone on O2? O2 4G still down as transport networks and millions of outraged customers unable to get internet data Andrew Griffin 4 hrs ago O2's internet network is suffering an outage. And O2's customers are outraged. The carrier's 4G problems have hit the networks 25 million customers, as well as those using networks that rely on its infrastructure, like GiffGaff and Tesco Mobile. But it is also causing problems in places that rely on O2's network coverage for other important services. Transport for London's live timetables, for instance – which allow people to see accurately when a bus is about to turn up at any given stop – appears to have broken and is showing that no buses are arriving. That appears to rely on O2's data connections to work, and since buses are unable to connect to the central service the entire system is broken. TfL is yet to comment on the outage but its site shows that no London buses are arriving at bus stops. The buses themselves are of course running as normal. Away from major systems such as those, the problems have led to anger to O2 customers who have already had to deal with other outages in recent weeks. Numerous people tweeted at O2's official account – which has been attempting to offer updates on the problems throughout the morning – to express their frustration over the fact they were unable to get onto the internet. Some users even asked for compensation for the outage period. Regulator Ofcom says that it is unlikely that carriers will have to offer refunds for the problem period, but that such a payout is possible if it lasts for a long time or the network wants to make amends. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/news/o2-4g-still-down-as-transport-networks-and-millions-of-outraged-customers-unable-to-get-internet-data/ar-BBQzmqY?MSCC=1544107329&ocid=chromentp

The Mysterious Star KIC 8462852 Apr 19, 2018 Tabby's Star's dimming could be signs of an alien civilization. The Allen Telescope Array searches radio frequencies to investigate this strange behaviour. Allen Telescope Array credit: Seth Shostak By Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer The SETI Institute is following up on the possibility that the stellar system KIC 8462852 might be home to an advanced civilization. This star, slightly brighter than the Sun and more than 1400 light-years away, has been the subject of scrutiny by NASA’s Kepler space telescope. It has shown some surprising behaviour that’s odd even by the generous standards of cosmic phenomena. KIC 8462852 occasionally dims by as much as 20 per cent, suggesting that there is some material in orbit around this star that blocks its light. For various reasons, it’s obvious that this material is not simply a planet. A favoured suggestion is that it is debris from comets that have been drawn into relatively close orbit to the star. But another, and obviously intriguing, possibility is that this star is home to a technologically sophisticated society that has constructed a phalanx of orbiting solar panels (a so-called Dyson swarm) that block light from the star. To investigate this idea, we have been using the Allen Telescope Array to search for non-natural radio signals from the direction of KIC 8462852. This effort is looking for both narrow-band signals (similar to traditional SETI experiments) as well as somewhat broader transmissions that might be produced, for example, by powerful spacecraft. But what if ET isn’t signalling at radio frequencies? Our ATA observations are being augmented by a search for brief but powerful laser pulses. These observations are being conducted by the Boquete Optical SETI Observatory in Panama, part of a nascent global network of optical SETI observatories. Both the observations and the data analysis are now underway. Once the latter is concluded, we will, of course, make them known here and in the professional journals. On the basis of historical precedent, it’s most likely that the dimming of KIC 8462852 is due to natural causes. But in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, any suggestive clues should, of course, be further investigated – and that is what the SETI Institute is now doing. https://www.seti.org/seti-institute/mysterious-star-kic-8462852

How about this, this is my current wallpaper on this Laptop (I change it every so often) The story behind this screenshot... Astronomers Have Spotted Something Very, Very Strange Surrounding A Distant Star Since its first light in 2009, the Kepler Space Telescope has been scanning the cosmos in search of habitable worlds beyond our Solar System. During its routine observations, the telescope observed something very unusual. Nestled between the constellations Cygnus and Lyra, sits a strange and intriguing star. Kepler is designed to observe stars and look for tiny dips in their brightness. These dips, especially if they repeat, can be a sign the star has one or more planets orbiting it. By measuring the timing and the size of the dips, scientists can learn a great deal about the transiting planet. The data is then processed automatically by computers with algorithms designed to look for repeating patterns – a sign that something is orbiting the star.

FOOTBALL GOSSIP Tractor Sazi have reported former Kilmarnock striker Lee Erwin and ex-Celtic and Hibernian forward Anthony Stokes to the world governing body Fifa after the pair quit the Iranian top-flight club claiming personal problems. (Daily Record) Scotland centre-half David Bates, who has been linked with Arsenal and Everton, says he is not interested in moving from the German second tier at present as he is loving life with Hamburg. (Scottish Sun, print edition) Rangers manager Steven Gerrard will block any attempt by Nottingham Forest manager Aitor Karanka to take centre-half Joe Worrall back from his season-long loan at Ibrox and there is no clause in the contract allowing it. (Scottish Sun) Swansea City are expected to make a transfer move for Ayr United striker Lawrence Shankland this week, with the English Championship club ready to offer around £200,000 for the 23-year-old. (Daily Express, print edition) Liverpool and Netherlands centre-half Virgil van Dijk says his spell at Celtic was pivotal in him becoming one of the best defenders in the world. (Daily Record) Scottish Championship strugglers Falkirk are poised to make a January transfer move to sign Motherwell striker Ross MacLean on a permanent basis, with the 21-year-old having fallen out of favour on loan to Greenock Morton. (Daily Express, print edition) Former Rangers forward Michael O'Halloran hopes to make his Melbourne City debut in their derby with Melbourne Victory on 22 December after being kept out of action by a hamstring injury picked up ahead of the A-League season. (Scottish Sun) Steven Gerrard says he is finding it hard to stick up for his players after Alfredo Morelos became the eighth Ibrox player to be shown a red card this season - and the Rangers manager admitted that Kyle Lafferty could also have been sent off in the 1-0 defeat by Aberdeen.(The Herald) Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes was "astonished" by the second yellow card that led to Sam Cosgrove being sent off in Wednesday's 1-0 win over Rangers. (Daily Mail, print edition) Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has warned that players frustrated at not getting regular game time will be direction to Wednesday's performance in a 1-1 draw with Motherwell at Fir Park. (Evening Times) Hibernian assistant Garry Parker says Florian Kamberi was taken off after 53 minutes in Wednesday's 2-2 draw with St Mirren because head coach Neil Lennon wanted the striker "to do better in everything".(Edinburgh Evening News) Assistant head coach Garry Parker admits Hibernian are in desperate need of January reinforcements after their run without a victory was extended to seven matches. (Edinburgh Evening News) https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46464758

Science & Environment Fossil preserves 'sea monster' blubber and skin By Paul Rincon Science editor, BBC News website 1 hour ago Scientists have identified fossilised blubber from an ancient marine reptile that lived 180 million years ago. Blubber is a thick layer of fat found under the skin of modern marine mammals such as whales. Its discovery in this ancient "sea monster" - an ichthyosaur - appears to confirm the animal was warm-blooded, a rarity in reptiles. Its skin also resembles that of modern whales and dolphins, having lost the scales characteristic of its ancestors. The researchers say the skin was smooth, still somewhat flexible, and retained evidence of the animal's camouflage pattern.

'Sarlacc's pit': Enormous unexplored cave accidentally discovered in Canada Tim Wyatt 5 hrs ago The entrance to the cavern is roughly the size of a football pitch (Canadian Geographic/YouTube) A vast unexplored cave which was discovered by accident in Canada may have never been seen by humans before. Officials from Canada’s ministry of national resources stumbled across the huge cavern while conducting a caribou count by helicopter in April. After conducting an investigation and an initial exploration of the opening, the ministry said it believes the cave was not known even to First Nations peoples who have lived in the area for millennia. The cave sits in a pristine Alpine landscape inside a local national park in British Columbia, in Western Canada. Experts have suggested that the cave might have been covered with snow all year round, until as recently as the 1990s, and thus lain undiscovered for thousands of years. Rising temperatures caused by climate change could be to blame for its eventual emergence. The cavern has not yet been named as government officials are consulting local First Nations groups, but that has not stopped it acquiring a nickname. “The initial group that discovered it called it Sarlacc’s pit,” geologist Catherine Hickson, who was on the team which found it, told Global News. The Sarlacc is a fictional monster which features in the Star Wars film Return of the Jedi, and lives inside a huge cave in the ground. “It’s this vertical huge hole and you can imagine a space monster like the Sarlacc occupying this pit. “It is huge. It is enormous. When you first see it, you just gasp because it’s just this huge hole in the ground.”

Manchester United: Disabled fans want netting to protect them from missiles By Simon Stone BBC Sport 1 hour ago | Man Utd Netting was placed in front of visiting Juventus fans seated above the section for disabled Manchester United supporters at Old Trafford during a recent Champions League tie Disabled Manchester United fans have called for netting to be put up at Old Trafford to protect them from missiles hurled by away fans. The disabled supporters' section is below where visiting fans are housed. Manchester United Disabled Supporters Association (MUSDA) says flares, bottles filled with urine, coins and pies thrown by travelling supporters have landed in their section. Netting was used for Champions League games against Juventus and Young Boys. Now MUSDA is pressing to make that permanent. A recent fans' forum meeting was told: "If granted, it would come as a great relief to all those who have suffered over the years from the various items that have been thrown in our direction." It is understood the club have the procedure under review and are making decisions on a case-by-case basis. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46454824

Australia releases rare marsupial bilby into the wild 1 hour ago A rare marsupial that once ran wild in Australia has been reintroduced into New South Wales for the first time in more than a century. Sightings of bilbies - small nocturnal mammals with long, rabbit-like ears - were last recorded in 1912. Thirty captive-bred animals were released into a large predator-free enclosure near the town of Narrabri, northwest of Sydney. This is seen as a major victory in efforts to save them from extinction. However, without the protection of a 32km (20 miles) fence they probably would not survive, the BBC's Phil Mercer in Sydney reports. Bilbies - who feed on plant roots, ants, beetles and spiders - disappeared in New South Wales before the start of World War One following the introduction of predators including cats and foxes. 'Rewilding' may rescue vulnerable Australian animals https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-46451894

Liverpool: Andy Robertson can be future Reds captain, says Virgil van Dijk By Daldeep Kaur for BBC Sport Scotland 10 minutes ago | Liverpool Van Dijk and Robertson are both key components of Liverpool's defence Andy Robertson is on track to become a future Liverpool captain, believes team-mate Virgil van Dijk. The former Queen's Park and Dundee United left-back has played 48 games since joining from Hull City in 2017, including the Champions League final. Already, captain of his country, the 24-year-old has led Scotland six times since taking the role in September. "If he keeps improving he will [captain Liverpool]," Dutch international Van Dijk told BBC Scotland. "He's already a leader. You don't need an armband to be a leader for this team. "He's doing very well, he's made incredible steps in his career and he just needs to keep doing what he's doing." 'I'm always grateful to Celtic' Like Robertson, Van Dijk has become a cult hero at the Merseyside club following his £75m move from Southampton in January. Prior to his stratospheric rise in England, the Dutchman was a regular in Celtic's defence. Joining the Scottish champions as a 21-year-old in 2013 from Groningen, the unknown young defender transformed himself on the way to winning two Premiership titles and a Scottish League Cup. It was a two-year period that Van Dijk admits helped shape his future. "Celtic helped me a lot in making my move to Southampton," he said. "I'm always grateful for that. "It was a great time for me in my development. Three years abroad adapting to the British style of play and winning trophies for such a big club with amazing fans." https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46434770

I think it is a bit confusing @Stan , I see one post by you with the rainbows below and another post with the rainbows on top? mind you, I have been drinking red wine so I don't know what @...Dan is on!!

One of the best this guy, I loved watching him play.

Love the one below "Space, the Final Frontier"

Exciting times ahead for space lovers. Ultima in View: NASA’s New Horizons Makes First Detection of Kuiper Belt Flyby Target.

Astronauts aboard Soyuz spacecraft arrive safely at the ISS Mallory Locklear 3 hrs ago The three crew members aboard the Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft have safely arrived at the International Space Station after launching from Kazakhstan earlier today. Anne McClain of NASA, David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency and Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos are all getting settled on board the ISS following a six-hour journey. This was the first crewed launch of a Soyuz rocket since an equipment malfunction caused astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin to abort their launch and engage an emergency landing in October. The crew arrived at the ISS at 12:33 PM Eastern and the hatch between their spacecraft and the space station opened a little over two hours later. The three will spend more than six months on the ISS conducting hundreds of science experiments. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/astronauts-aboard-soyuz-spacecraft-arrive-safely-at-the-iss/ar-BBQsIMV

NASA spacecraft arrives at ancient asteroid, its 1st visitor 2 hrs ago © The Associated Press This Nov. 16, 2018, image provided by NASA shows the asteroid Bennu. After a two-year chase, a NASA spacecraft has arrived at the ancient asteroid Bennu, its first visitor in billions of years. The robotic explorer Osiris-Rex pulled within 12 miles (19 kilometers) of the diamond-shaped space rock Monday, Dec. 3. The image, which was taken by the PolyCam camera, shows Bennu at 300 pixels and has been stretched to increase the contrast between highlights and shadows. (NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona via AP) CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — After a two-year chase, a NASA spacecraft arrived Monday at the ancient asteroid Bennu, its first visitor in billions of years. The robotic explorer Osiris-Rex pulled within 12 miles (19 kilometers) of the diamond-shaped space rock. It will get even closer in the days ahead and go into orbit around Bennu on Dec. 31. No spacecraft has ever orbited such a small cosmic body. It is the first US attempt to gather asteroid samples for return to Earth, something only Japan has accomplished so far. Flight controllers applauded and exchanged high-fives once confirmation came through that Osiris-Rex made it to Bennu — exactly one week after NASA landed a spacecraft on Mars. "Relieved, proud, and anxious to start exploring!" tweeted lead scientist Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona. "To Bennu and back!" With Bennu some 76 million miles (122 million kilometers) away, it took seven minutes for word to get from the spacecraft to flight controllers at Lockheed Martin in Littleton, Colorado. The company built the spacecraft there. Bennu is estimated to be just over 1,600 feet (500 meters) across. Researchers will provide a more precise description at a scientific meeting next Monday in Washington. About the size of an SUV, the spacecraft will shadow the asteroid for a year, before scooping up some gravel for a return to Earth in 2023. Related slideshow: NASA spacecraft rockets toward the sun for the closest look yet (Provided by Photo Services - See link) Scientists are eager to study material from a carbon-rich asteroid like dark Bennu, which could hold evidence dating back to the beginning of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago. As such, it's an astronomical time capsule. A Japanese spacecraft, meanwhile, has been hanging out at another near-Earth asteroid since June, also for samples. It is Japan's second asteroid mission. This latest rock is named Ryugu and about double the size of Bennu. Ryugu's specks should be here by December 2020 but will be far less than Osiris-Rex's promised booty. Osiris-Rex aims to collect at least 60 grams, or 2 ounces, of dust and gravel. The spacecraft won't land, but rather use a 10-foot (3-meter) mechanical arm in 2020 to momentarily touch down and vacuum up particles. The sample container would break loose and head toward Earth in 2021. The collection — parachuting down to Utah — would represent the biggest cosmic haul since the Apollo astronauts hand-delivered moon rocks to Earth in the late 1960s and early 1970s. NASA has brought back comet dust and solar wind particles before, but never asteroid samples. Japan managed to return some tiny particles in 2010 from its first asteroid mission, also named Hayabusa. Both Bennu and Ryugu are considered potentially hazardous asteroids. That means they could smack Earth years from now. At worst, Bennu would carve out a crater during a projected close call 150 years from now. Contact with Bennu will not significantly change its orbit or make it more dangerous to us, Lauretta stressed. Scientists contend the more they learn about asteroids, the better equipped Earth will be in heading off a truly catastrophic strike. The $800 million Osiris-Rex mission began with a 2016 launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Its odometer read 1.2 billion miles (2 billion kilometers) as of Monday. Both the spacecraft and asteroid's names come from Egyptian mythology. Osiris is the god of the afterlife, while Bennu represents the heron and creation. Osiris-Rex is actually a NASA acronym for origins, spectral interpretation, resource identification, security-regolith explorer. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/nasa-spacecraft-arrives-at-ancient-asteroid-its-1st-visitor/ar-BBQstVz

NASA's Insight is already breaking records Mark Serrels 10 hrs ago If you're not following NASA Insight on Twitter, then I don't know what to tell you. That thing is a delight. It tweets in the first person like this: Which makes me feel like Insight isn't a collection of nuts and bolts, but rather a harmless dog robot, roaming the desolate planes of Mars, doing science, furthering human knowledge and having the time of its life. Basically AIBO in space. But here's the interesting news so far: First off, the photos keep on coming, and (for me at least) they remain jaw dropping. A stark reminder that a human-made machine is currently on Mars, doing stuff. That sensation never gets old. Secondly, Insight has already broken a world record. It's already beaten its robot buddies in its ability to soak up energy from the sun. During its first full day on Mars, Insight generated more energy than any other vehicle on the surface of Mars, hitting 4,588 Watt-hours during. For comparison, Curiosity hit 2,806 Watt-hours and Opportunity hit 922. "It is great to get our first 'off-world record' on our very first full day on Mars," said InSight project manager Tom Hoffman. "But even better than the achievement of generating more electricity than any mission before us is what it represents for performing our upcoming engineering tasks. The 4,588 watt-hours we produced during sol 1 means we currently have more than enough juice to perform these tasks and move forward with our science mission." 1/15 SLIDES in link vv https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/technology/nasas-insight-is-already-breaking-records/ar-BBQpXnz?ocid=chromentp#image=BBQpXnz_1|1

Science & Environment Gravitational waves: Monster black hole merger detected By Jonathan Amos BBC Science Correspondent 19 minutes ago Gravitational waves have been detected from the biggest black hole merger yet, scientists will formally announce on Monday. Their exquisite laser labs observed the ripples in space-time from this gargantuan collision on 29 July 2017. The event saw two holes, weighing more than 50 and 34 times the mass of our Sun, uniting to produce a single object over 80 times the mass of our star. The discovery follows a major data re-analysis project Researchers from the LIGO-VIRGO Collaboration will also list three other black hole mergers that were missed in the initial run-though of the data; and the promotion to full detection status of a previously uncertain "candidate". The re-analysis brings the total number of gravitational waves events now in the catalogue to 11. Ten are black hole mergers; one occurrence was the result of a collision between dense star remnants, so-called neutron stars.

Punchdrunk?

And I hope it's a big success it will be strange seeing landing craft's with Chinese flags other than American and European, these countries should unite in the conquest of space, which one day will be our home when planet Earth fades away when the Sun disappears and becomes a white dwarf.