Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite Systems Like Starlink Cause Environmental Harm Regulators Didn’t Prepare For

Last June scientists warned that low-Earth orbit ( #LEO ) satellites constantly burning up in orbit could release chemicals that could undermine the progress we’ve made repairing the #ozone #layer.

Researchers at USC noted that at peak, 1,005 U.S. tons of aluminum will fall to Earth,
releasing ♦️397 U.S. tons of aluminum oxides ♦️per year to the atmosphere, an
💥increase of 646% over natural levels. 💥

Numerous companies, most notably Elon Musk’s #Starlink and Jeff Bezos’ #Blue #Origin,
are working on launching tens of thousands of small LEO satellites in the coming years.

A new report by U.S. PIRG adds to concerns that these launches haven’t been thought through environmentally,
noting that the disposable nature of such satellites means ♦️29 tons of satellites ♦️will re-enter our atmosphere every day at peak.

After years of delays, the FCC did recently release rules requiring that satellites be removed from orbit within five years to help minimize “space junk.”

But the organization notes that very little if any thought was given by innovation-cowed regulators toward the 🔸environmental impact of so many smaller satellites constantly burning up in orbit:🔸

“We shouldn’t rush into deploying an untested and under-researched technology into new environments without comprehensive review.

Over just five years Starlink has launched more than 6,000 units and now make up more than 60% of all satellites.

The new space race took off faster than governments were able to act.”

The steady launches are also a notable pollution concern, the report notes,
releasing ♦️“soot in the atmosphere equivalent to 7 million diesel dump trucks circling the globe, each year.”

#SpaceX has consistently played fast and loose with #environmental #regulations,
with regulators even in lax Texas starting to give the company grief for releasing significant #pollutants into nearby bodies of water.

techdirt.com/2024/08/16/report…

Report: Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite Systems Like Starlink Cause Environmental Harm Regulators Didn’t Prepare For

Last June scientists warned that low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites constantly burning up in orbit could release chemicals that could undermine the progress we’ve made repairing the ozone layer. Rese…

^Techdirt

Everyone who builds web applications should read the Reckoning series by @slightlyoff infrequently.org/series/reckon…

My own notes here, but you should work through the entire thing: simonwillison.net/2024/Aug/18/…

Seriously, take a look at the case-study in which the California food stamps signup site takes 29.5s to become interactive on a slow rural mobile connection, and tell me we don't urgently need to do better! infrequently.org/2024/08/objec…

Reckoning: Part 2 — Object Lesson

SNAP benefits sites for more than 20% of Americans are unusably slow. All of them would be significantly faster if states abandoned client-side-rendering, and along with it, the legacy JavaScript frameworks (React, Angular, etc.

^{Alex Russell}

"Parking your 2 ton death machine's hood over the pavement like an arsehole."

submitted by u/juoig7799
redd.it/1ev3sol
#fuckcars

Piešťanské zábaly... nie, nebol som sa rochniť v bahne - bol som si vychutnať trochu kultúry na prvom ročníku tohto divadeľného festivalu. Štvordňový vstup by bol na mňa trochu moc, ale žiaden problém - na každé predstavenie sa dal kúpiť lístok osve. Bolo to super, a to množstvo ľudí, ktorí prejavili záujem o takéto podujatie, bolo ohromujúce aj pre usporiadateľov.

Jediný zlý bod boli, samozrejme, ľudia. Ani to, že si kúpite celodenný lístok na divadelný festival z vás kultúrneho človeka neurobí. Dupľom nie, ak sa vám počas celého predstavenia nezavrú ústa a na slušné upozornenie, či by sa vám lepšie nerozprávalo hneď vedľa v kaviarni iba tupo konštatujete, že tu sa vám dobre rozpráva...

#piestany #divadlo #kultura #nekultura

When writing an email do you use 'I hope this email finds you well'❓

And how would you think people look like when they actually get your email⁉️

#emailwriting#emailmemes#findsyouwell#tuta#tutamail

Seventeen years ago, I pissed off Apple by stating their first Intel MacBook Pro got really hot. I was in my early 20s, my first year at @osnews, and they were pressuring me to change my review. I effectively told them to fuck off, and they kicked me out of their review/press program.

Now look at everyone getting press access from Apple, and think to yourself - would any of them tell Apple to fuck off?

osnews.com/story/140522/google…

Great Braille Game! I learned about this game from Holly Anderson of the Maccessibility Podcast.
Brailliance is a Braille version of the popular Wordle game with a little twist.
You are given the total number of dots in the word, and you have to guess what the word is by figuring out the letters in the word with each of your guesses.
For example. The word has a total of 10 dots.
So your first guess is tale, t, a, l, e.
It tells you that 3 of those letters are in the word, and one is not.
t, a, and l, are in the word, and the letter e is not.
Please note: those letters are part of the final word, but they do not have to be in that order.
So lets see, the letters t, a, and l, equal a total of 8 dots, so you only have 2 dots left to make the final word.
And you only have 4 letters left with 2 dots, b, c, i, and k.
So now it is just a process of elimination
For this word, the correct other letter was k. So the final word was talk, t, a, l, k.
The tough part is figuring out words that have a specific number of dots, but this gets easier the more you play.
Plus, to help you out, the total number of dots for each letter can be found on the letters of the on-screen keyboard.
So how good do you know your Braille? Ready to take the challenge?
Just like Wordle, there is a new puzzle every day, as well as some other puzzle packs that you can play on the side if you like.
The game is totally free, and does have a cost to get rid of ads if you want.
I actually find this game more fun and challenging as Wordle! So I highly recommend giving it a try.
Here is the app store link.
apps.apple.com/us/app/braillia…

#Game #Accessible #Wordle #Braille #Maccessibility #Blind
@dhsholly

‎Brailliance - Learn Braille

‎Brailliance is a puzzle game where you guess the word by adding up braille dots. This game has been carefully crafted to be playable by everyone, and it includes multiple accessibility features for people with blindness and other disabilities.

^{App Store}

Welcome to the family of #reproducibleBuilds SkillRack! 🥳 With the next sync publishing v1.0.6, the green RB shield will be present at #IzzyOnDroid

apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/index/a…

„SkillRack Tracker“ – IzzyOnDroid F-Droid Repository

Track and calculate your SkillRack points effortlessly.

^{IzzyOnDroid App Repo}

makeuseof.com/libreoffice-why-…

Some great reasons to use LibreOffice instead of Microsoft 365

- It's Free
- It Works With Microsoft Office Files
- It Has Lots of Features
- It Is Cross-Platform
- It Keeps My Information Private
- You Can Sync Files With LibreOffice if You Want To

I personally have been using it for years, I love it. This article does a great job of outlining some of the reasons why.
@libreoffice

#opensource #LibreOffice #software

Why I Use LibreOffice Instead of Microsoft 365

LibreOffice is more than just a good substitute; it’s a worthy replacement in its own right.

^{David Delony (MakeUseOf)}

Pixelfed for Android (v1.0.0.66) is now available on F-Droid!

fdroid.pixelfed.net/fdroid/rep…

FediNuke/tier0.csv transparency update:

Added some new bias sources to replace a removed one, and increased the consensus requirement. This caused some removals.

No new instances added to FediNuke. Two dead instances removed:

• noagendasocial.nl
• theapex.social

Removed 16 dead instances from my larger tier0.csv list. After these changes, another 9 instances failed to meet the consensus requirement for inclusion without overrides. I used my override process to add back 5 that were of sufficient severity. See more about my override process: I can force-add instances that almost have the minimum consensus requirement, with minimal overhead.

#FediNuke

My Fediverse blocklists

Documentation on which Fediverse blocklists I offer, how they are made, their differences, their caveats, and their intended use.

^{Seirdy’s Home}