motd - 02/##/2025 ----------------- 02/28/2025 iMac G4(K): https://jcs.org/2025/02/26/imacg4k @00:41 02/28/2025 Framework 12in laptop: https://frame.work/laptop12 Looks interesting, somewhat like a 12in MacBook. @00:18 02/25/2025 Git configurations used by Git core devs: https://blog.gitbutler.com/how-git-core-devs-configure-git/ Sorting branches into columns by most recently used: $ git config --global column.ui auto $ git config --global branch.sort -committerdate Sorting tags in numerical order: $ git config --global tag.sort version:refname Better diffs: $ git config --global diff.algorithm histogram $ git config --global diff.colorMoved plain $ git config --global diff.mnemonicPrefix true $ git config --global diff.renames true @13:06 02/25/2025 Hydrogen nano-clusters at low temperatures show superfluidity: https://phys.org/news/2025-02-hydrogen-superfluid-nanoscale-year.html @10:10 02/25/2025 Brewing tea reduces toxic heavy metals in drinking water: https://phys.org/news/2025-02-brewing-tea-toxic-heavy-metals.html "In a new study, Northwestern University researchers demonstrated that brewing tea naturally adsorbs heavy metals like lead and cadmium, effectively filtering dangerous contaminants out of drinks. Heavy metal ions stick to, or adsorb to, the surface of the tea leaves, where they stay trapped until the used tea bag is disposed of. ... After testing different types of bags without tea inside, the researchers found cotton and nylon bags only adsorbed trivial amounts of the contaminants. The cellulose bags, however, worked incredibly well. ... When comparing different varieties of tea, the researchers discovered tea type and grind played minor roles in adsorbing contaminants. Finely ground tea leaves, particularly black tea leaves, adsorbed slightly more metal ions than whole leaves. Again, the researchers attributed this to surface area. ... Steeping time played the most significant role in tea leaves' ability to adsorb metal ions. The longer the steeping time, the more contaminants were adsorbed. ... [T]he researchers estimate that tea preparation can remediate about 15% of lead from drinking water, even up to lead concentrations as high as 10 parts per million. That estimate applies only to a 'typical' cup of tea, which includes one mug of water and one bag of tea, brewed for three to five minutes. Changing the parameters remediates different levels of lead. Steeping for longer than five minutes, for example, adsorbs more lead compared to the average steeping time." @10:06 02/25/2025 Monovalent carbon compound with a single bond to a phosphorus group: https://phys.org/news/2025-02-exotic-monovalent-carbon-compound-features.html "Normally, a carbon atom shares all four of its valence electrons to create four bonds with other atoms (tetravalent carbon). When fewer bonds are formed, unusual compounds such as carbenes are obtained[.] ... Rare cases exist of divalent carbon compounds called carbones, where a central neutral atom in an electronically excited state is stabilized by two bonds with neutral electron-pair donating groups. Now, another milestone was achieved with the synthesis of an organic compound that contains a singly-bonded (monovalent) carbon atom in its ground state[:] ... a chemical compound featuring a single carbon atom bonded to a phosphorus group, Ph3P->C. The compound was generated from a diazophosphorus ylide precursor by irradiation with ultraviolet (UV) light at very low temperatures, which led to elimination of N2 and formation of Ph3P->C." @09:58 02/25/2025 Beaches on Mars? https://www.sciencealert.com/ancient-beaches-found-on-mars-reveal-the-red-planet-once-had-oceans https://phys.org/news/2025-02-ancient-beaches-testify-ocean-mars.html @09:52 02/25/2025 Plastic Ice VII: https://dailygalaxy.com/2025/02/scientists-discovered-new-form-of-ice/ "Scientists created this peculiar ice [plastic Ice VII] by squeezing water to 6 gigapascals-nearly 60,000 times Earth's atmospheric pressure-and heating it to 327 [deg] C (620 [deg] F). Under these extreme conditions, water molecules arrange themselves into an interwoven cubic structure, with hydrogen atoms behaving unusually. Instead of staying locked in place as in regular ice, the hydrogen atoms move freely, almost like in a liquid." @09:50 02/25/2025 Xcode phones home: https://lapcatsoftware.com/articles/2025/2/5.html Sites Xcode connects to are: developerservices2.apple.com devimages-cdn.apple.com appstoreconnect.apple.com @09:33 02/24/2025 QR codes in all caps seem to be smaller: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/02/why-are-qr-codes-with-capital-letters-smaller-than-qr-codes-with-lower-case-letters/ @12:29 02/21/2025 What antifungals are really doing: https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/what-antifungals-are-really-doing @16:26 02/16/2025 The lost pyramid of Dahshur: https://dailygalaxy.com/2025/02/archaeologists-in-disbelief-after-breaking-into-a-4000-year-old-sealed-egyptian-pyramid/ "Among the remnants of the burial [in the pyramid], archaeologists discovered a canopic chest inscribed with faded hieroglyphs. With advanced scanning technology, experts deciphered the markings, revealing the name of the tomb's occupant: Princess Hatshepsut. This was not the famous Pharaoh Hatshepsut of the 18th Dynasty but an entirely different royal figure. Until now, no records mentioned another Hatshepsut, making this discovery even more extraordinary. The presence of her own pyramid suggests she was a person of great significance, yet her name had been erased from history." @13:58 02/15/2025 Radioactive anomaly in the Pacific ocean: https://www.sciencealert.com/mysterious-radioactive-anomaly-discovered-deep-under-the-pacific-ocean @00:20 02/15/2025 Hidden portrait in a Picasso: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/see-the-hidden-portrait-of-a-mysterious-woman-discovered-beneath-a-picasso-painting-180986037/ @00:14 02/12/2025 The most energetic neutrino detected thus far: https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/02/most-energetic-neutrino-yet-seen-smashes-through-seafloor-detector/ "The neutrino that was detected had an energy of at least 60 Peta-electronVolts, possibly hitting 230 PeV. ... Attempts to trace back the neutrino to a source make it clear that it originated outside our galaxy[.]" @10:48 02/12/2025 Interesting family of Pythagorean triples: https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2025/02/11/binary-triples/ a = 2^(4n) + 2^(2n+1) b = 2^(4n) - 2^(4n-2) - 2^(2n) - 1 c = 2^(4n) + 2^(4n-2) + 2^(2n) + 1 @10:20 02/12/2025 Hidden portrait underneath a Titian painting: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/experts-say-theyve-found-a-portrait-of-a-mysterious-businessman-hidden-beneath-a-titian-masterpiece-180986022/ @10:06 02/09/2025 Quipu: https://www.livescience.com/space/astronomy/astronomers-discover-quipu-the-single-largest-structure-in-the-known-universe "Astronomers have discovered what may be the largest-scale structure in the known universe - a group of galaxy clusters and clusters of galaxy clusters that spans roughly 1.3 billion light-years across and contains a mind-boggling 200 quadrillion solar masses. The newfound structure is dubbed Quipu after an Incan system of counting and storing numbers using knots on cords. ... [T]he structure is complex, made up of one long filament and multiple side filaments[,] ... potentially making it the largest object in the universe in terms of length, beating out previous record-holders such as the Laniakea supercluster." @00:03 02/08/2025 ADB-USB Wombat: https://eshop.macsales.com/blog/97070-when-old-meets-new-using-a-35-year-old-adb-apple-extended-keyboard-ii-with-an-apple-silicon-m4-mac-mini/ @22:37 02/08/2025 Plesiosaurs had scales similar to sea turtles: https://phys.org/news/2025-02-soft-tissue-plesiosaur-reveals-scales.html https://www.sci.news/paleontology/plesiosaur-skin-scales-13648.html @22:32 Older ----- 01/##/2025 https://srirangav.github.io/motd/2025/01/motd.txt https://srirangav.github.io/motd/2025/01/index.html ##/##/2024 https://srirangav.github.io/motd/2024/motd.txt https://srirangav.github.io/motd/2024/index.html ##/##/2023 https://srirangav.github.io/motd/2023/motd.txt https://srirangav.github.io/motd/2023/index.html ##/##/2022 https://srirangav.github.io/motd/2022/motd.txt https://srirangav.github.io/motd/2022/index.html Links ----- Text: https://srirangav.github.io/motd/motd.txt HTML: https://srirangav.github.io/motd/index.html RSS --- RSS (all entries): https://srirangav.github.io/motd/rss.xml RSS (current month's entries only): https://srirangav.github.io/motd/rss-cur.xml RSS (current year's entries only): https://srirangav.github.io/motd/rss-ytd.xml Validation -------------- HTML: https://validator.w3.org/nu/?doc=https%3A%2F%2Fsrirangav.github.io%2Fmotd%2Findex.html RSS (all entries): https://validator.w3.org/feed/check.cgi?url=https%3A//srirangav.github.io/motd/rss.xml RSS (current month's entries only): https://validator.w3.org/feed/check.cgi?url=https%3A//srirangav.github.io/motd/rss-cur.xml RSS (current year's entries only): https://validator.w3.org/feed/check.cgi?url=https%3A//srirangav.github.io/motd/rss-ytd.xml