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New to me Facts and Ideas in October 2024

By Justin G. on 24NOV04MON

Some interesting facts in here! More crow facts.

Week 41

Began on 24OCT07MON .

• Fact: plants, even of different species, will synchronize boom years of producing seeds. This is called masting. Via Tuesday Triage.
• Idea: The planned closing of Waffle House restaurants during and after hurricanes has been a useful indicator of their severity. Via Kottke. See also hn for a guess at what the index represents; it’s a uniform standard across jurisdictions. Apropos Milton. The actual Index/screenshot, and additional hn discussion.

Week 42

Began on 24OCT14MON .

• Fact: Europa Clipper launches successfully. Arriving at Jupiter in 2030. See also hacker news for launch streams.
• Fact: We’ve reached solar maximum, via Damn Interesting.
• Fact: Hurricane Oscar is very small.

Week 43

Began on 24OCT21MON .

• Fact: Intelsat 33e breaks up in geostationary orbit. It’s a Boeing bus. Via Hacker News.
• Fact: Orion and Meade shutdown in July. Also Coronado. Very abruptly. This is a bummer. Via the YT algorithm.
• Hypothesis: 70% of meteorites originated in 3 asteroid impacts, via Damn Interesting.
• Fact: Claude (a LLM chatbot) can control your computer. Via HackerNews.
• Fact: OpenAI (a LLM chatbot) can provide your read your fortune.
• Fact: I am late to the cereal milk latté party. My unscientific research suggests an upper limit age of 2016, so probably a couple of years older. Via Rosecrans Baldwin.

Week 44

Began on 24OCT28MON .

• Hypothesis: Man chucked in well appears in Norwegan saga. Also, and. Via Damn Interesting, Kottke, and others.
• Fact: (almost): Apple is off lightning connectors.
• Hypothesis: Crows hold grudges for up 12 years after the offended crow has passed on. Via Kottke.
• Likely fact: Touch screens are ageist because of lowering moisture levels in skin. Via hacker news comment.

Email me the cool facts you've learned lately. Or a correction.