#reflection probe maps

[toonlets]

REFLECTION PROBE MAPS

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Can Life Exist on an Icy Moon? NASA’s Europa Clipper Aims to Find Out

With a spacecraft launching soon, the mission will try to answer the question of whether there are ingredients suitable for life in the ocean below Europa’s icy crust.

Deep down, in an ocean beneath its ice shell, Jupiter’s moon Europa might be temperate and nutrient-rich, an ideal environment for some form of life — what scientists would call “habitable.” NASA’s Europa Clipper mission aims to find out.

NASA now is targeting launch no earlier than Monday, Oct. 14, on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Europa Clipper’s elongated, looping orbit around Jupiter will minimize the spacecraft’s exposure to intense radiation while allowing it to dive in for close passes by Europa. Using a formidable array of instruments for each of the mission’s 49 flybys, scientists will be able to “see” how thick the moon’s icy shell is and gain a deeper understanding of the vast ocean beneath. They’ll inventory material on the surface that might have come up from below, search for the fingerprints of organic compounds that form life’s building blocks, and sample any gases ejected from the moon for evidence of habitability.

Mission scientists will analyze the results, probing beneath the moon’s frozen shell for signs of a water world capable of supporting life.

“It’s important to us to paint a picture of what that alien ocean is like — the kind of chemistry or even biochemistry that could be happening there,” said Morgan Cable, an astrobiologist and member of the Europa Clipper science team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which manages the mission.

Ice Investigation

Central to that work is hunting for the types of salts, ices, and organic material that make up the key ingredients of a habitable world. That’s where an imager called MISE (Mapping Imaging Spectrometer for Europa) comes in. Operating in the infrared, the spacecraft’s MISE divides reflected light into various wavelengths to identify the corresponding atoms and molecules.

The mission will also try to locate potential hot spots near Europa’s surface, where plumes could bring deep ocean material closer to the surface, using an instrument called E-THEMIS (Europa Thermal Emission Imaging System), which also operates in the infrared.

Capturing sharply detailed pictures of Europa’s surface with both a narrow and a wide-image camera is the task of the EIS (Europa Imaging System). “The EIS imagers will give us incredibly high-resolution images to understand how Europa’s surface evolved and is continuing to change,” Cable said.

Gases and Grains

NASA’s Cassini mission spotted a giant plume of water vapor erupting from multiple jets near the south pole of Saturn’s ice-covered moon Enceladus. Europa may also emit misty plumes of water, pulled from its ocean or reservoirs in its shell. Europa Clipper’s instrument called Europa-UVS (Europa Ultraviolet Spectrograph) will search for plumes and can study any material that might be venting into space.

Whether or not Europa has plumes, the spacecraft carries two instruments to analyze the small amount of gas and dust particles ejected from the moon’s surface by impacts with micrometeorites and high-energy particles: MASPEX (MAss SPectrometer for Planetary EXploration/Europa) and SUDA (SUrface Dust Analyzer) will capture the tiny pieces of material ejected from the surface, turning them into charged particles to reveal their composition.

“The spacecraft will study gas and grains coming off Europa by sticking out its tongue and tasting those grains, breathing in those gases,” said Cable.

Inside and Out

The mission will look at Europa’s external and internal structure in various ways, too, because both have far-reaching implications for the moon’s habitability.

To gain insights into the ice shell’s thickness and the ocean’s existence, along with its depth and salinity, the mission will measure the moon’s induced magnetic field with the ECM (Europa Clipper Magnetometer) and combine that data with measurements of electrical currents from charged particles flowing around Europa — data provided by PIMS (Plasma Instrument for Magnetic Sounding).

In addition, scientists will look for details on everything from the presence of the ocean to the structure and topography of the ice using REASON (Radar for Europa Assessment and Sounding to Near-surface), which will peer up to 18 miles (29 kilometers) into the shell — itself a potentially habitable environment. Measuring the changes that Europa’s gravity causes in radio signals should help nail down ice thickness and ocean depth.

“Non-icy materials on the surface could get moved into deep interior pockets of briny water within the icy shell,” said Steve Vance, an astrobiologist and geophysicist who also is a member of the Europa Clipper science team at JPL. “Some might be large enough to be considered lakes, or at least ponds.”

Using the data gathered to inform extensive computer modeling of Europa’s interior structure also could reveal the ocean’s composition and allow estimates of its temperature profile, Vance said.

Whatever conditions are discovered, the findings will open a new chapter in the search for life beyond Earth. “It’s almost certain Europa Clipper will raise as many questions or more than it answers — a whole different class than the ones we’ve been thinking of for the last 25 years,” Vance said.

TOP IMAGE: This artist’s concept (not to scale) depicts what Europa’s internal structure could look like: an outer shell of ice, perhaps with plumes of material venting from beneath the surface; a deep, global layer of liquid water; and a rocky interior, potentially with hydrothermal vents on the seafloor. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

LOWER IMAGE: The puzzling surface of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa looms large in this reprocessed color view made from images taken by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft in the late 1990s. The images were assembled into a realistic color view of the surface that approximates how Europa would appear to the human eye. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute

[xelasrecords]

Tea! Would You Like Some?

Han Jumin x Reader

Jumin Week 2023 - Day 3: Quality Time @juminweek2019

High-quality time shared between two people highly stupid about their feelings. And for each other.

My x reader comeback after so long! Had a meet cute recently so y'all get a lighthearted crushing stage fic for once :)

Words: 3.9k

Masterlist | Read on AO3

How soon you could come had no correlation to Jumin's expectation of seeing you materialise in his living room. At least, that was what he told himself. His traitorous fingers told a different thing. They had typed out a message asking where you were, if there was any problem with your ride, if you had input the correct address in your map, and if he needed to send out a search party if you didn't reply in the next five minutes, but that, he felt, would be too drastic.

Jumin erased the last part and sent the text. He sighed, fingers drumming on the arm of his white sofa. Contrary to Zen's belief, he was not one to blow things out of proportion. He always did just enough and everything else was simply a precaution.

Perhaps a five-minute grace was not precaution enough. Four minutes. He could wait for four.

The second his doorbell rang, Jumin leapt to his feet. He never considered the distance from the living room to the entrance too far, but now he doubted the interior design of his penthouse. Large spaces allowed him to breathe—until you took it away just by not reneging on your promise to visit. You were someone he had only met a handful of times, always with the other members and never at his own place.

Today was special. Today he decided to ignore his fear of being left behind by his loved ones and let you in.

You could be someone he loved. You could be the one who stayed.

Jumin composed himself and opened the door, and there you were, standing with your hands deep in your pockets, waiting for him.

Nothing could have prepared him for the sight of you. Despite being mussed by the wind, your hair fell beautifully around your face like a divine frame that accentuated your features. Your eyes were bright, your smile was wide, and you were wrapped in a coat that must be your favourite. He never saw you without it. He wished he knew more about your fashion sense so he could gift you clothes that you would like. He also wished he was close enough to see himself in your eyes' reflection, but that time would come later. Everything had its order, and patience was a virtue that had been drilled into him since childhood.

"I have been waiting for you," said Jumin, not bothering to hide the relief in his voice. "Did anything happen on your way here? You didn't reply to my text."

"I was rushing." Your smile turned apologetic. "Didn't check my phone, sorry."

Jumin stepped aside to let you in. The fact that your hand could have grazed his had you walked nearer to him did not escape his attention. "No matter. It's all right now that you're here."

Leading you to the white plush sofa where he had waited with perfect calmness, he felt tense and oddly exposed, like he was anticipating a foreboding that might come to pass. He did not feel like Han Jumin. This was an iteration of him that he had not been acquainted with.

"Did I make you wait too long?" you asked.

"No," Jumin said. "You didn't have to hurry. You were not yet late." He hoped the sofa would be good enough for you. He had asked his housekeeper to clean off every speck of dust he could detect, twice over.

You sat down and stared at him with a look that he couldn't discern. "I wanted to be early."

Jumin took a seat beside you, careful to maintain a respectful distance despite his heart's protest. "You possess an excellent sense of time management. We will get along well." Compliments flowed out of him easily when it came to you. If you let him, he would graciously point out your strengths one by one.

But was that disappointment on your face?—though it disappeared before he could probe further. "Yes, I love time and managing stuff." You sighed. "That's why I'm the assigned party coordinator."

Now that you were at the spot where he had cast secret spells to summon you, Jumin wasn't sure what to say. He was desperate to know if you shared his jitters. You were motionless, spine straight and hands clasped on your lap, studiously watching the black television screen. There was nothing save for the blurred reflection of both of you sitting in a similar position. He had been imagining all sorts of exciting conversations with you, but your presence had flung them out of his head. This had never happened before. An MRI scan was in order after you went home.

It was possible that you were growing bored, though your affable expression had not indicated so. But it might not mean anything, for you always seemed pleasant. You were very, very pleasant to look at. It was also possible that he was the only one with an insatiable curiosity towards you. For all he knew, you could be with a partner and merely accepted his invitation to hang out with him as a newly anointed member of the RFA. And you were a member. This was a friendly meet-up, nothing more.

"Tea," said Jumin suddenly. His voice echoed in the silence.

Startled, your head snapped to him. "What?"

"Everyone in my family learns to brew tea," Jumin explained. "The tea leaves in my pantry are directly imported from China, obtained from the only six three-hundred-year-old Wuyi trees in existence. The legend of this tea can be traced back to the age of emperors and dynasties, and it has become extraordinarily rare over time. It has the best quality in the world."

"How did you get it if it's so rare?" You were trying to hold a smile back, but it was not a mocking sneer. There was a certain fondness in it that made him want to let all his guard down and pull you into his arms.

"Auctions," Jumin simply said. "You ought to try it. It will keep you warm." Only then he noticed that you still had your coat on and was promptly filled with horror. "My apologies. I seem to have lost my manners." He outstretched his arm. "Leave your coat with me. It can't have been comfortable sitting in that."

"Shame." You handed it over. "I was planning to take a nap in this."

"Is that how people normally sleep? Or is it a tradition unique to you?" Jumin folded your coat into a perfect half over his forearm. "I'd appreciate it if you could teach me your ways."

"I was joking, Jumin. Should I teach you how to make one?" you said, in a tone so kind that he was taken aback. People tended to laugh at his face or look away politely when he failed to understand a joke.

"There is no need. I already have a handbook for it." Jumin was unable to keep smugness out of his voice. "It includes a list of one hundred jokes that you can make to both family and work colleagues alike. I have made good use of it when I need to break the ice."

"But does it include learning how to take one?"

"Unfortunately, I have yet to encounter a book for it."

You squeezed his shoulder, and the warmth of your touch penetrated all layers of his clothing that he had carefully planned. Navy blue suit, black tie, complete with a beige waistcoat and white striped shirt. Everything was new. "Don't worry," you said. "It just means the joke isn't funny to you. A good joke will make you laugh naturally."

"I see." Jumin fixed his tie. "I promise to laugh at your next joke."

"I said naturally. Honestly, Jumin. Please don't plan for it. You're going to give me performance anxiety."

"Then I look forward to your performance." He smirked, and you groaned. Something about you brought out the childlike side in him that he didn't know was still alive. "If you would wait here for a moment. I shall brew you a cup of tea. It won't be long."

Without waiting for your response, Jumin stood up, hung your coat on the silver coat rack by the hallway, and headed to the kitchen. Something was wrong with him. A smile kept threatening to break out of his face and there was a palpable beating in his throat when it should stay underneath his ribcage and he felt giddy about something. He was sure that this was abnormal. Was he finally living up to Zen's senseless claim that he was a strange creature? Jumin stowed these additional symptoms away for his next doctor's appointment. Forget MRI, he needed a full-body checkup.

Jumin heard a soft padding behind him as he turned on the kettle. Your footsteps were quiet, almost drowned by the gurgling of the boiling water and it reminded him of the elegance of Elizabeth the Third. He'd introduce you to her when she decided to make an appearance. The thought of the two of you getting along put a smile on his face.

"I thought you would've offered me wine before tea. Are you really Jumin?" you teased, peering from behind him. He was scooping oolong tea leaves into the strainer in a precise measurement when his muscles turned rigid. Your chin was nearly perched on his shoulder. He regretted that you didn't.

But Jumin dearly wished he knew either. He paused and looked over at you. Now he could see himself in your mischievous eyes. Now he saw how happy he was. The opportunity came sooner than he was prepared for. His breath hitched. "Would you like some wine instead?" he asked, keeping his gaze steady. "I have a wide variety you can choose from in the cellar."

"Tea is fine," you said. "I'll take anything you give me, really."

"Beware," Jumin said dryly. "You have not known me long. There could be poison in your drink."

It took a second for his joke to register, but when it did, you started to laugh. Jumin was stunned, then relaxed when he realised you were not under any pretences of politeness. He felt as if he got a high score for a competition he had unknowingly participated. He never used to put high importance on winning. As someone who consistently broke his own records, achievements were just another thing that his office and father would hold a customary celebration for.

But you were different. Your laughter was a prize he wanted to win all the time. He liked seeing you in joy, and liked that he was the source of it. It was a high that he never wanted to come down from.

"Did you copy that joke from your handbook?" you asked.

"I came up with it on the spot," said Jumin proudly, and your grin widened.

Your eyes flitted to the only china cup laid out on the marble countertop. "Aren't you making another for yourself?"

Jumin shook his head. "I'm not in the mood for tea."

You lifted a brow. "I am so surprised."

Jumin's forehead furrowed in genuine confusion. "Why would you be?"

You flailed your arms about. "Is tea not your passion?" you said. "You were fired up when you talked about it. That's all you've talked about. If I didn't know you better, I'd think it's your favourite drink in the world."

"I merely wanted to keep you warm, and a cup of tea was the fastest way to do it." Actually, Jumin thought being embraced by him would be faster, but he doubted you would accept his advanced advances. "You're the one who has been on my mind, not tea."

"Not tea," you repeated.

"It's nothing compared to you," Jumin affirmed.

"Oh." You pressed your palm against your cheek. "That's nice. You're nice." You gave a perfunctory sweep at his polished monochromatic penthouse, sparse but efficiently filled with the essential household items. "Your place is also nice."

But you were looking at everywhere but him, and that didn't feel as nice. "You might be the first person calling me nice besides V," Jumin said, deciding to focus on the positive. "And V is exempted as he is my closest friend. I'm not sure how to feel about this, to be honest. I'll have to think about it later."

"Take your time," you said, finally looking at him. "I'm not going anywhere."

Quietly, Jumin poured hot water into the teacup and stirred sugar into the steaming amber liquid, allowing the clinking of the teaspoon to fill the space he couldn't. For all his desire to have his interest in you reciprocated, he could not picture the reality if you did. He wouldn't know what to do with himself. He wanted to invite you into his mind, yet was frightened by the thought of you being repelled after knowing him.

"Careful, it's hot," Jumin warned as you lifted the teacup to your lips. "Tell me, how do you find it? Is it to your taste?"

You took your time sipping the tea. He suspected you did it to keep him on his toes, and had to admit that it was part of your intrigue. Jumin could never guess your next move. Anything he predicted you would prove him wrong in the most delightful way possible.

You looked up from the rim of the cup. "What if I say it isn't?"

A connoisseur in understanding your jest now, Jumin replied, "I shall melt into a puddle and lie on the floor until you give me an honest review."

"I will mop your puddle and wring it out the window."

He looked at you thoughtfully. "I'd say I'm offended, but I heard that committing murder is an expressway to one's heart."

"Sometimes even literally," you agreed.

Jumin's eyes widened. "The double meaning escaped me. You are a genius."

You set your cup down on its saucer with a delicate clink. "But is murder the only way to your heart?"

Jumin forgot the mechanism of speaking. Due to his years of experience with women whom he never spared a glance for, he could detect the act of flirting when he saw one. And you were flirting. With him. He was eighty-nine per cent sure of it. You deemed him worthy to be flirted with. Jumin almost slid down to his knees.

"No." He managed to get a full sentence out. "No," he tried again, "but you don't even have to try. Whatever you're doing, you are doing it well." Two better sentences. Magnificent.

"That's too bad," you said. Jumin noticed that your hand was still wrapped around your cup, steam unfurling on the top of it. You must still be cold. "I've been waiting to hack through your chest with an axe."

Jumin walked towards the heater controller and turned it on. "Is homicide the only thing in your mind?"

"It's more of an ad break from the thoughts of you."

At that, Jumin turned around. You had been thinking about him. He knew how impossible it was to stop thinking about you, and your admission was making him lightheaded. Did you ever dream of him and then scramble for your phone the first thing in the morning just to hear his voice? Did you ever yearn to talk about him to your friends the way he did, except his only friend was doing his habitual disappearance and the loneliness was more profound now that you were his constant excitement but he had no one to tell it to? Did you have anyone you hold dear to your heart? Were you open to considering him as one someday? It was not yet appropriate to be so upfront with his questions, he knew.

But one question should be fine. "How long have you been thinking of me?" Jumin asked.

You leaned against the counter and crossed your legs. "I talk to you every day. So, every day." He wondered if your composure was a facade, the way his was.

Jumin nodded. "We share the same habit. I can't quite recall what I used to think about before you entered our lives."

"Your darling white cat, the cat projects that generate a steady loss for your company, and some new cat-friendly inventions? Jaehee's nightmares, basically."

Jumin chuckled. "You know me well. I must say I'm surprised." It wasn't so bad to be known. He could get used to the feeling. "Assistant Kang doesn't appreciate the fine things in life. It's a pity that Elizabeth the Third is hiding somewhere right now. If you see her, you'll understand why I do all those things for her."

"You love her," you said kindly. "I understand that enough."

Jumin stared at you. You kept saying the right things and he kept falling, falling, falling.

"You've finished your tea," Jumin noted, but not without regret. He dreaded having to let you go.

You studied the empty cup. "Wow, I think I inhaled it. You were right, it was the best tea I've ever tasted. Thank you."

"I hope you will stay longer. Do you have other arrangements for the evening?" Jumin, who had arranged his whole weekend around your visit, calmly inquired.

"I don't," you said, with just as much calmness.

"My collection doesn't stop at drinks," he said. "I have a brand new record player and an array of classic vinyls. You can peruse them if you'd like. A three-star Michelin chef will be flying in to prepare dinner and you can request anything you want, provided that you do it three hours prior. There's also a gym on the second floor, though exercising is probably not the best activity since you don't bring a change of clothes." He paused. "You don't happen to bring one, do you?"

"Jumin, I—no. But I could wear yours if I so desperately need to shower here."

He thought he saw your eyes suspiciously glittered, but it was gone when you blinked. "I don't have clothes that would fit you perfectly." He frowned. "They're all tailored to my body, you see. I'm afraid you wouldn't find much comfort in them. Now, would you like to sit down? I've made you stand for too long." He guided you to the kitchen island, fingers light around your wrist, and pulled out one of the brass bar stools. "Please excuse my bad manners today. Something must have come over me. I don't tend to be like this."

You settled in your seat only to swivel back to meet his towering figure. Your knees nudged his legs, and Jumin was stunned, unmoving. He thought an attraction was supposed to burn him alive, to light him up from the inside. What he felt now was akin to petrification. It crept up on him from the ground he stood and incapacitated his ability to form coherent thoughts.

"Jumin," you enunciated his name with great care. He had never thought his name was beautiful until it lulled out of your mouth. He wanted to brand it into his memory.

"Yes," he said, because it was the only thing his mouth could form.

"Your house sounds like a treat."

"That's because it is. You can entertain yourself here. Whatever you want, I will do my best to provide it for you."

"Other guys could give me those too. There have been some, you know," you confessed, and Jumin was torn between wanting to know more about your past and quelling down the illogical jealousy it spurred. "Gold-dipped bouquets with diamonds, fancy restaurants where they ordered for me without asking about my preferences, jewellery that I wouldn't pick for myself." Your voice was tinted with slight distaste, but it was gone in the next instance. "Do you think I was swayed by them?"

Now Jumin's gaze turned sharp. This was a test, he realised. Your intention was not to compare him to other men, nor was it to flaunt how desired you were. Jumin knew the latter well without needing you to prove it to him. He felt the torrent of his desire all the time. It threatened to wash him ashore and pull him back into the raging sea, never letting him be at peace until he could be certain you wanted him back. So what would you get out of your question? Whatever your goal was, he knew what he was supposed to do. You favoured honesty, just as he did. That was one of the many things he respected about you.

"I doubt you were," Jumin said. "Your affection isn't the kind that could be bought. I may not know you intimately, but I know you would not budge under insensitive bribery, and your tale reeked of one. What they did was foul and not driven by the best intentions. That's not how you, or anyone, should be treated."

Your expression softened as you reached for his hand. "I know you're not trying to impress me with your wealth. I'm sorry if I made you think so. I meant to show you that I'd be here even without you throwing those things at me. You called me just to meet up and I came right away. If I stay back, it's because I want to spend more time with you." You averted your eyes. "Did you have to make me say all that?"

Emboldened by your hold that you hadn't let go, Jumin tilted your chin and you leaned forward by a fraction. "You enjoy my company," he said, assessing your earnest face. He could hear his racing heartbeat in his ears. "But will you stay?"

"You'd really like an encore to embarrass me," you grumbled. "Didn't you hear what I just said?"

"You phrased it as a hypothesis. I cannot be sure that staying with me is what you want unless you state it clearly," Jumin pressed. Though he was always surrounded by people, no one had ever bothered to stay. Not for long. Not for the person he was.

His fear and desperation must have shown on his face, for you let out a small breath and gently squeezed his arm, before trailing your sight to the empty cup waiting on the counter. "I think you should refill my tea," you said slowly. "I need more if we'll talk into the night, won't I?"

The warmth from your hold spread throughout his body and a smile broke through Jumin's face, his uncertainty receding. Someone as beautiful and brilliant as you, a gem rarer than his tea—for those tea leaves could be reproduced but you were one of a kind—wanted him as much as he wanted you. It was the first real smile he wore in a while. "We can switch to something stronger after dinner," Jumin suggested.

"Wine," you guessed. Oh, how he loved that you could read his mind. "I knew it. You always default to wine. Farewell, tea. His affair with you has been short but memorable."

Jumin was all too eager to agree. "Farewell."

Jumin hoped it would be a long, long time before his relationship with you could end. If it would ever end.

The footnotes that I thought would be an occasional extra but they just won't go away:

This fic is inspired by good dates and bad dates and that early crush feeling when you don't quite know the person yet so everything feels exciting and scary.

Don't worry, Jumin's tea rambles didn't deviate from canon. On day 8 he wishes you to learn tea brewing since all his family does it. I thought it'd be fun to highlight his nervousness by making him do something unexpected, especially since he's the type who would randomly do something out of pocket while still maintaining his gravitas.

The tea's legend is based on Da Hong Pao, a very rare, government-protected Chinese tea that you can only get if the president honours you some and from auctions. I didn't think I'd research that deep for accuracy for a mere fic but what am I if not committed.

The header is made to seem like a cheeky ad in the spirit of Jumin's tea endorsement. Contemporary fun with a touch of antiquity is what I was going for to capture the fic's mood and Jumin's preference. The challenge was to make a dynamic animation without looking flat or too complicated but still fit the time, format and size constraints. People still need to be able to immediately read the text, which means no over-the-top entrances and transitions. Truthfully, I die a little bit inside whenever I have to sacrifice aesthetics for function but it is what it is!

Youtube | Goodreads | Letterboxd | Pinterest

[beardedmrbean]

Cornell University gets an F in research.

School president Michael Kotlikoff claimed the upstate Ivy League school wasn’t aware of Jew-bashing musician Kehlani’s anti-Israel stance — despite the information being available with a simple online search.

Kotlikoff told the Cornell Student Assembly it was now “too late” to dump the singer-songwriter and switch to another performer for Slope Day, the university’s end-of-year celebration to be held on May 7.

“We found out about the social media of this performer roughly three weeks ago,” Kotlikoff said, according to the The Cornell Daily Sun.

“It’s too late to secure another performer that will be acceptable or appropriate for Slope Day,” he told students.

Kotlikoff claimed that university brass and organizers were unaware of Kehlani’s political views when beginning negotiations for her to perform last October.

But even basic research would have turned up her views on social media supporting violence against Israel, outraged students and faculty said Monday.

In a sign of mounting backlash, members of the student group Cornellians for Israel have launched a petition and GoFundMe drive demanding that the school replace Kehlani with another performer — or they will boycott the event and select their own entertainer to headline a unifying counter-concert on the Ithaca campus.

The furor comes after President Trump’s administration froze $1 billion in federal funding to the elite school amid a civil-rights probe over whether it failed to prevent antisemitic discrimination and harassment on campus.

“It’s honestly laughable that they claim they were unaware of her glorification of violence, endorsement of an intifada, or demonization of Jews,” said Amanda Silberstein, a 21-year-old junior who is president of the school’s Chabad Center and vice president of Cornellians for Israel.

“It doesn’t take a private investigator to uncover that—just a quick look at her social media.”

As the Post reported Sunday, the watchdog group StopAntisemitism exposed Kehlani anti-Israel and antisemitic views in a July 12, 2024 post.

A single google search with the words “Kehlani” and “Israel” provides scores of Instagram hits about her hostility toward the Jewish state.

The multi-Grammy Award-nominated R&B artist herself posted a music video last spring that starts with “Long live the Intifada” — an inflammatory phrase that critics say promotes violence against Israelis and Jews. She also shared a map online that eliminates the state of Israel and refused to condemn Hamas for the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.

“What’s most frustrating is the hypocrisy at play. If she had a track record of attacking any other marginalized group, there’s no doubt Cornell would have moved quickly to find a replacement,” Silberstein pointed out.

“But when it comes to antisemitism, the bar is somehow lower. All we’re asking for is to be afforded the same level of care and protection as every other student on this campus.”

Silberstein said Slope Day is a festival that is supposed to unite the student body.

“Instead,” she said, “this decision has fractured it — leaving many Jewish students like myself feeling abandoned by the very school that claims to prioritize inclusion and safety for all.”

If Cornell doesn’t cancel Kehlani’s performance, Silberstein said the pro-Israel group will find a “non-political, unifying” voice to be featured at a counter-event somewhere on campus.

Faculty members were also disgusted by the divisive controversy.

“Selection of a performer who openly supports an Intifada and war against Israel reflects a toxic campus culture that the administration has ignored,” said Cornell law professor William Jacobson, founder of the civil rights group EqualProtect.org.

StopAntisemitism, a Jewish advocacy group, urged Cornell brass to do the right thing by not promoting or condoning a hate-mongering entertainer.

“President Kotlikoff’s excuse that it’s `too late to cancel’ is a cowardly abdication of leadership. There is never a deadline on doing what is right,” said StopAntisemitism founder Liora Rez.

“If the performer held views targeting any other minority group, the university would act swiftly. Jewish students deserve the same protection and respect.”

Kolitkoff said the administration inserted a clause in Kehlani’s contract prohibiting her from discussing her her political views during the performance.

He also said Kehlani didn’t voice her opinions during performances on her recent “Crash World Tour,” which included a finale at Northeastern University.

“That was a sold-out concert that had no political events,” Kotlikoff said, according to the Cornell Sun. “And by all accounts, a very successful performance.”

Cornell has been roiled by numerous anti-Israel protests over the past year and Jewish students’ lives have been threatened.

Student Patrick Da pleaded guilty last year to threatening to kill Jews in posts on the university’s website.

[katy-133]

Guide: How to Make TF2 Water Animated

(Images by hisanimations)

A guide on how to make TF2 water animated using hisanimations' map pack resources. As well as how to animate TF2 waterfalls and other water that uses scrolling textures.

A brief history on TF2 water porting

A previous version of the TF2 map pack port by hisanimations worked differently with handling water textures.

hisanimations: "Texture Scrolling - Waterfalls, vortexes, spooky portals, they all have a Geometry Nodes nodegroup to control the scrolling. If you find one missing, you can report it, or add it yourself. The scrolling is tied to time itself, so no matter what framerate you have, the speed will always be the same." -May 2023 TF2 Map Pack announcement: [link not available for Tumblr]

As of the October 2024 update of the TF2 map pack (now renamed the SEBC, or Source Engine Blender Collection), materials are set up differently to help animators and artists save up on file space. However, the water_animation folder (containing image frames for the water's normal map) is no longer included in the maps folder, which was used to animate the water. You'll need to do some things to restore it.

This guide is to help recreate the water animations from the previous TF2 Map Pack. It is basically a description of the method hisanimations used for the TF2 Map Pack.

Making TF2 water animated

hisanimations: "By default, the water is not animated, but there is a way to make it animated. Within every water material, there should be an animated texture node. To apply it, select the world mesh. Go to edit mode. Select the mesh that has the water material. Localize the material and swap the node links. Enable Cyclic and [Auto Refresh], and it should now be animated." -[OUTDATED] I Ported EVERY TF2 Map to Blender [OUTDATED], Chapter: The Improvements: Water Animation, 6:14 of video.

This section is for large bodies of water, like the water beneath the bridge in the map 2Fort.

First, download the water_animation.zip folder.

[file: zip download not available for Tumblr]

Extract it. Make sure the image frames are directly inside the folder, with the folder named water_animation. Place this folder somewhere you'll remember, like inside the _materials folder of your SEBC folder.

Open the .blend of the map you want. Select the part of the mash that contains the water. In the Material Properties tab, select the water material slot (if the slot list is long, uncollapse the little triangle button to unhide the search text parser and type in water to narrow down results).

In the Shader Editor, select Add > Texture > Image Texture to add an image texture node. In the new node, select Open. In the new window, find and select the water_animation folder and select the first frame of the image frames inside (tfwater001_normal_00.png). Set the node from Single Image to Image Sequence. Set Frames to 60. Checkmark on Cyclic and Auto Refresh. Set the Color Space to Non-Color.

Plug this image sequence node into the water material's shader so that it replaces the $normalmap Image Texture node.

The water should now be animated as you scrub through the timeline.

Adding water reflections

This section is for creating a more accurate water effect, like for shots where you want a merc's reflection in the water.

hisanimations: "In Eevee, [in the Render Properties tab,] enable Screen Space Reflections to get reflections off the water. You can add a reflection plane to make the reflections more accurate." -[OUTDATED] I Ported EVERY TF2 Map to Blender [OUTDATED], Chapter: The Extras, 10:41 of video.

To turn on reflections: In the Render Properties tab, enable Screen Space Reflections

To add a reflection plane: Select Add > Light Probe > Plane (or Reflection Plane, depending on your version of Blender)

Change the size or scaling of the plane, and place it just below the surface of the water.

Animating waterfalls

This section is for animating waterfalls and water that uses an image texture.

hisanimations: "Things like waterfalls and vortexes in game have animated textures. Which means you'll see them shift to fake movement. This has also been implemented in the map pack, but because there's no way for me to automatically add them some models, may lack this animation." -[OUTDATED] I Ported EVERY TF2 Map to Blender [OUTDATED], Chapter: The Features: Texture Scrolling, 3:02 of video.

Firstly, download hisanimations water.blend and custom.blend files:

hisanimations: animated waterfalls - put into _materials [attached .blend files: water.blend, custom.blend]: [link not available for Tumblr]

[file downloads not available for Tumblr]

Place them in the _materials folder of your SEBC.

The waterfalls should now be animated on you TF2 maps in the SEBC when you open them and scrub through the timeline.

Animating other waters: Texture scrolling

The waterfall texture scrolling should work with any textures that tiles (example: green nuclearwaste.png on TF2 maps).

To use it for another, open the map file you want. Then select File > Append… Then in the new window, locate the custom.blend or water.blend file in the _materials folder of the SEBC. In the folders you see inside the file, select Material > custom/waterfall002_solid. Its data will now be inside your .blend file.

Select the mesh with the water/liquid you want to animate with a texture scroll. In the Material Properties tab, select the material slot for the liquid. In the Shader Editor, note the name of the current material. Switch to the material waterfall002_solid. Select and copy the nodes for the material that are plugged to the left of the #basetexture Image Texture node.

Switch back to the previous shader material for the liquid. Paste in the nodes. Plug the Add node to the Vector of the image texture node of the material. To make the speed of the animation slower, decrease the value of the Multiply's bottom-most Value property from 1.2.

What this guide doesn't cover

Below are water effects I haven't been able to make a guide for at the time of writing. Feel free to make a guide for these:

Adding water waves on shores (banana Bay, beaches, etc.) (I think it's animated using the same methodology as other scrolling textures, but I haven't been able to confirm it at the time of writing.)

Water trails (from boats/mercs moving through the water)

Water splash decals (shooting at the water)

Animating caustics (underwater light)

Rain and Raindrops (Sawmill map, etc.)

Some links to water effect resources that may be useful:

Fake Caustics: [link not available for Tumblr]

Bubbles: [link not available for Tumblr]

[Alt links to YouTube tutorials instead:]

[mysticstronomy]

WHAT IS INSIDE THE MOON??

Blog#340

Saturday, October 14th, 2023

Welcome back,

Well, the verdict is in. The Moon is not made of green cheese after all.

A thorough investigation published back in May has found that the inner core of the Moon is, in fact, a solid ball with a density similar to that of iron. This, researchers hope, will help settle a long debate about whether the Moon's inner heart is solid or molten, and lead to a more accurate understanding of the Moon's history – and, by extension, that of the Solar System.

"Our results," wrote a team led by astronomer Arthur Briaud of the French National Centre for Scientific Research in France, "question the evolution of the Moon magnetic field thanks to its demonstration of the existence of the inner core and support a global mantle overturn scenario that brings substantial insights on the timeline of the lunar bombardment in the first billion years of the Solar System."

Probing the interior composition of objects in the Solar System is most effectively accomplished through seismic data. The way acoustic waves generated by quakes move through and reflect from material inside a planet or moon can help scientists create a detailed map of the object's interior.

We happen to have lunar seismic data collected by the Apollo mission, but its resolution is too low to accurately determine the inner core's state. We know there is a fluid outer core, but what it encompasses remains under debate. Models of a solid inner core and an entirely fluid core work equally well with the Apollo data.

To figure it out once and for all, Briaud and his colleagues collected data from space missions and lunar laser ranging experiments to compile a profile of various lunar characteristics. These include the degree of its deformation by its gravitational interaction with Earth, the variation in its distance from Earth, and its density.

Next, they conducted modeling with various core types to find which matched most closely with the observational data.

They made several interesting findings. Firstly, the models that most closely resembled what we know about the Moon describe active overturn deep inside the lunar mantle. This means that denser material inside the Moon falls towards the center, and less dense material rises upwards. This activity has long been proposed as a way of explaining the presence of certain elements in volcanic regions of the Moon. The team's research adds another point in the "for" tally of evidence.

And they found that the lunar core is very similar to that of Earth – with an outer fluid layer and a solid inner core. According to their modeling, the outer core has a radius of about 362 kilometers (225 miles), and the inner core has a radius of about 258 kilometers (160 miles). That's about 15 percent of the entire radius of the Moon.

The inner core, the team found, also has a density of about 7,822 kilograms per cubic meter. That's very close to the density of iron.

Curiously, in 2011 a team led by NASA Marshall planetary scientist Renee Weber found a similar result using what were then state-of-the-art seismological techniques on Apollo data to study the lunar core. They found evidence of a solid inner core with a radius of about 240 kilometers, and a density about 8,000 kilograms per cubic meter.

Their results, Briaud and his team say, is confirmation of those earlier findings, and constitute a pretty strong case for an Earth-like lunar core.

And this has some interesting implications for the Moon's evolution.

We know not long after it formed, the Moon had a powerful magnetic field, which started to decline about 3.2 billion years ago. Such a magnetic field is generated by motion and convection in the core, so what the lunar core is made of is deeply relevant to how and why the magnetic field disappeared.

Given humanity's hope to return to the Moon in relatively short order, perhaps we won't have long to wait for seismic verification of these findings.

Originally published on www.sciencealert.com

COMING UP!!

(Wednesday, October 18th, 2023)

"IS THE MOON RUSTING??"

[fantasyismyonlyrealescape]

Whumptober 2024: No. 17 - Nowhere Else To Go/Ruined Map

Title: Stitch Me Back Together

Fandom: WWE (Professional Wrestling)

Characters: Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens (Zowens)

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Word Count: 816

A/N: Welcome to another addition to Whumptober, Day 17. Cheers!

Summary: Kevin Owens shows up at Sami's door in the middle of the night, injured and lost. As Sami tries to tend to Kevin's injuries, he reflects on what brought them to this point.

Cross posted on AO3 under user wrestlinginjeans.

A battered Kevin Owens showed up at Sami’s door late into the night, dejected and broken. Blood was strewn across his face, down his arms and chest, his black t-shirt torn. Sami could see bruises blossoming under his collarbone and across his shoulders. Sami’s eyes widen, immediately reaching out and grabbing Kevin by the shoulders, his hands moving over Kevin’s body, probing his limbs to determine if he might have any hidden injuries.

Wincing and taking in a harsh breath as Sami’s hands find a particularly sore area of his right wrist, Kevin takes a staggering step back to escape Sami’s searching hands. Sami immediately closes the distance between them again and Kevin holds up a shaking hand.

“Sami, please. I need to sit down…” Kevin manages to gasp out, swaying on his feet as Sami grabs him by the arm.

“I’ve got you…” Sami says quietly, transferring part of Kevin’s weight to his own by slinging one of Kevin’s arms over his shoulders, just in time as Kevin’s knees begin to buckle. It’s slow going, but after a few minutes Sami has settled Kevin in his sparsely furnished apartment, the dark-haired man collapsing heavily on Sami’s couch.

              Sami lingers just outside of Kevin’s line of vision for a moment, wringing his hands together nervously before running a hand through his hair as he observes Kevin’s body language. His partner was in a considerable amount of pain, that was certain. Kevin rarely showed anybody he was operating at less than one hundred percent. He had grown more comfortable with showing Sami over the years, but he was still not as open as Sami would like. So, seeing Kevin in this state was doing a number on Sami. Taking a steadying breath, he approaches Kevin and stops in front of him.

“Kev…” Sami prompts, noticing that Kevin had closed his eyes. After a heartbeat, Sami sees grey orbs appear from underneath sluggish lids. “There you are, Kev… I’m going to need to take a look at you, see if you have any hidden injuries.”

Kevin gives Sami a tired nod, his eyes closing once again.

Sami nods in response, knowing that Kevin couldn’t see him. Crouching down beside his friend, his eyes and hands begin to brush over Kevin’s skin, his heart aching at the amount of damage done to his partner’s body. Kevin groans every so often at the redhead’s probing and Sami notices Kevin was biting his lip to keep from crying out as Sami presses on his body.

“Kev, what happened?” Sami asks, trying to distract his injured friend with conversation as he continues his examination.

A shuddering breath escapes Kevin as he opens his mouth to speak, a cry ripping itself from his throat. As Sami presses down on the right side of Kevin’s ribs to check the extent of the damage, Kevin tries to shy away from the contact. Sami immediately starts whispering reassurances in English and French as he makes quick work of the rest of his examination. Standing swiftly, he bends down to give Kevin’s arm a gentle squeeze.

“I’m going to go get some supplies from the bathroom. I’ll be right back, okay?” Sami explains gently before dropping his hand and striding towards the bathroom to get the required items.

Half a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, a roll of gauze, a box of band-aids and a bag of cotton balls later and the pair are utterly exhausted. The supplies, strewn across the floor next to a bowl of bloodied now cold water and several bloodied towels accompanied the medicine cabinet items. Sami had stripped Kevin of his torn t-shirt, tossing it into the corner before he started tending to Kevin’s wounds. So, Kevin was laying back heavily against the throw pillows, bare chested except for the wrap of gauze around his ribs.

After Kevin got some rest, Sami knew that he would have to get checked out by a proper doctor, his knowledge only stretching so far, but for now Kevin seemed to be out of harm's way. Sami’s emotions were completely shot, reaching out a bloodied shaking hand to adjust the blankets around Kevin. Sami knew that Kevin’s anguished cries while Sami tended to his wounds would haunt him for longer than he cared to admit. Sami’s eyes rake over Kevin’s prone body, his eyes coming to rest on Kevin’s face. For now, his partner appeared to be asleep, his face only slightly pained. For now, that would have to be enough.

Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens have been and always would be intertwined, two connecting puzzle pieces, two sides of the same map. Over the years, their friendship had had its fair share of challenges, creating tears in the fabric of their friendship, but they had always found a way back to each other. Even a ruined map could lead two wounded souls back to each other.

[wildswalk-the-stars]

As the evening trails into night, he returns with a bottle of Dalaran noir and clear disinterest of sleeping in the guest room, placing his few belongings there for storage, lighting the candles in the primary bedroom with an errant wave.

A few shared glasses over the rest of the berry pie, tang of fruit and wine mixed with velvet conversation; always with that razor's edge of mutual intellect and curiosity. Probing, but not too much. Supportive, but not too saccharine. Testing the boundary of what they are, they were, they could be.

Circling each other with that hungry self-sufficiency. Their own little wolf pack. Soon enough…twining together. A pair of sacred serpents. Enacting ancient rights only privy to the bold; those dreamers who fancy the esoteric, who note motes and details of life lost to the obvious, the sensational. Wholly satisfactory for calming the ache of loneliness, abandonment. A balm for the fear of "not being seen."

This is no surface level joining, theirs. Can that be anxiety-provoking? In its way, perhaps. Time will tell. But for the moment there is joy and comfort in this respite from the world. In one another's arms, stars-made-flesh a map for her to traverse and explore at her whim.

Given wholly; mirrored and reflected.

When she awakens, he would be away, the space bedecked with black and white roses--their striking contrast conjuring images of the moon and the night sky. Alabaster and ebony. A synergy of opposites, finding a roost in the space betwixt, between, and within.

[mountrainiernps]

Are you thinking of visiting a national park like Mount Rainier this winter?

 Perhaps take a scenic drive and partake in some recreation like snowshoeing?

 While planning for time in the park, you’ll pack your 10 Essentials; navigation (map and compass, GPS), sun protection, insulation, illumination, first aid supplies, fire (emergencies only), repair tool, food, water (and water purification) and emergency shelter.

Winter has firmly gripped the upper elevations of Mount Rainier. If you’re planning on recreating in the park and away from the roads, there are some seasonal essentials to bring along for winter. A few items to help you handle the extra challenges of winter weather.

Winter 10 Essentials

Snow Shovel (compact) – for digging snow caves, etc.

Full Length Insulated Sleeping Pad -even when sitting down for a break, it’s good to be insulated from the cold snow.

Stove and Fuel – to melt snow or ice into water.

Heat Packs

Goggles and Wool/Pile Hat – for staying warm and protecting exposed skin and eyes is important.

Gloves (base/mid/shell layers) – for staying warm and protecting your skin from frostbite and low temperatures.

Avalanche Transceiver – wear one with fully charged batteries and train to use it.

Avalanche Probe – keeping one on you and training to use it are key.

Ability to assess mountain weather and avalanche hazards – educating yourself about winter weather and hazards can help you keep your adventure fun.

Map, compass & GPS (with extra batteries) – knowing how to navigate even with low visibility is a good skill to build and keep sharp. Bringing extra batteries can help when winter cold saps your battery power.

Carrying these winter 10 essentials when you snowshoe, ski or hike in the national park in winter can go a long ways towards having a positive experience. Making memories of your time in the wilderness that you can treasure for days and years to come.

Are there any other things you consider essential for winter recreation?

What is your favorite item to bring on your winter Mount Rainier adventure?

Park information on winter safety can be found here https://www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/winter-safety.htm  Park information on winter travel can be found here https://www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/winter-travel.htm 

These photos are from years past and do not reflect current conditions. NPS/S. Redman Photo. Snow covered evergreens with dark clouds obscuring the sun. December, 2010. NPS Photo. View from a roadside pull-out on the road to Paradise of forested hills and mountains leading up to Mount Rainier. January, 2022. NPS Photo. View from the Paradise lower parking lot looking west at smaller mountains on the southern flank of Mount Rainier. Snow covers trees and mountains. January, 2020.

[this-week-in-rust]

This Week in Rust 526

Hello and welcome to another issue of This Week in Rust! Rust is a programming language empowering everyone to build reliable and efficient software. This is a weekly summary of its progress and community. Want something mentioned? Tag us at @ThisWeekInRust on Twitter or @ThisWeekinRust on mastodon.social, or send us a pull request. Want to get involved? We love contributions.

This Week in Rust is openly developed on GitHub and archives can be viewed at this-week-in-rust.org. If you find any errors in this week's issue, please submit a PR.

Updates from Rust Community

Official

Blog: Launching the 2023 State of Rust Survey Survey

A Call for Proposals for the Rust 2024 Edition

Project/Tooling Updates

ratatui: a Rust library for cooking up terminal user interfaces - v0.25.0

Introducing Gooey: My take on a Rusty GUI framework

Two New Open Source Rust Crates Create Easier Cedar Policy Management

Introducing FireDBG - a Time Travel Visual Debugger for Rust

Fornjot 0.48.0 - open source b-rep CAD kernel written in Rust

Committing to Rust for kernel code

A Rust implementation of Android's Binder

Preventing atomic-context violations in Rust code with klint

Rust for Linux — in space

Observations/Thoughts

Rust is growing

A curiously recurring lifetime issue

The rabbit hole of unsafe Rust bugs

Faster Rust Toolchains for Android

The Most Common Rust Compiler Errors as Encountered in RustRover: Part 1

Nine Rules for SIMD Acceleration of your Rust Code (Part 2): General Lessons from Boosting Data Ingestion in the range-set-blaze Crate by 7x

What I Learned Making an embedded-hal Driver in Rust (for the MAX6675 Thermocouple Digitizer)

Rust Walkthroughs

Rust: Traits

Write a Toy VPN in Rust

Getting Started with Actix Web in Rust

Getting Started with Rocket in Rust

Generic types for function parameters in Rust 🦀

Benchmarking Rust Compiler Settings with Criterion: Controlling Criterion with Scripts and Environment Variables

[series] Multithreading and Memory-Mapping: Refining ANN Performance with Arroy

[series] Getting started with Tiny HTTP building a web application in Rust

Miscellaneous

Embedded Rust Education: 2023 Reflections & 2024 Visions

The Most Common Rust Compiler Errors as Encountered in RustRover: Part 1

Default arguments for functions in Rust using macros

[audio] Rust in Production Ep 1 - InfluxData's Paul Dix

[audio] Episode 160: Rust & Safety at Adobe with Sean Parent

Crate of the Week

This week's crate is constcat, a std::concat!-replacement with support for const variables and expressions.

Thanks to Ross MacArthur for the self-suggestion!

Please submit your suggestions and votes for next week!

Call for Participation

Always wanted to contribute to open-source projects but did not know where to start? Every week we highlight some tasks from the Rust community for you to pick and get started!

Some of these tasks may also have mentors available, visit the task page for more information.

Ockam - Fix documentation warnings

Ockam - Library - Validate CBOR structs according to the cddl schema for nodes/models/secure_channel

Ockam - Implement events in SqlxDatabase

Hyperswitch - [REFACTOR]: [Nuvei] MCA metadata validation

Hyperswitch - [FEATURE] : [Noon] Sync with Hyperswitch Reference

Hyperswitch - [FEATURE] : [Zen] Sync with Hyperswitch Reference

Hyperswitch - [REFACTOR] : [Authorizedotnet] Sync with Hyperswitch Reference

If you are a Rust project owner and are looking for contributors, please submit tasks here.

Updates from the Rust Project

386 pull requests were merged in the last week

enable stack probes on aarch64 for LLVM 18

add new tier 3 aarch64-apple-watchos target

add hexagon support

add the function body span to StableMIR

allow async_fn_in_trait traits with Send variant

cherry-pick "M68k: Fix ODR violation in GISel code (#72797)"

AIX: fix XCOFF metadata

-Ztrait-solver=next to -Znext-solver

actually parse async gen blocks correctly

add a method to StableMIR to check if a type is a CStr

add more suggestions to unexpected cfg names and values

add support for --env on tracked_env::var

add unstable -Zdefault-hidden-visibility cmdline flag for rustc

annotate panic reasons during enum layout

attempt to try to resolve blocking concerns (RFC #3086)

avoid overflow in GVN constant indexing

cache param env canonicalization

check FnPtr/FnDef built-in fn traits correctly with effects

check generic params after sigature for main-fn-ty

collect lang items from AST, get rid of GenericBound::LangItemTrait

coroutine variant fields can be uninitialized

coverage: skip instrumenting a function if no spans were extracted from MIR

deny ~const trait bounds in inherent impl headers

desugar yield in async gen correctly, ensure gen always returns unit

don't merge cfg and doc(cfg) attributes for re-exports

erase late bound regions from Instance::fn_sig() and add a few more details to StableMIR APIs

fix ICE ProjectionKinds Deref and Field were mismatched

fix LLD thread flags in bootstrap on Windows

fix waker_getters tracking issue number

fix alignment passed down to LLVM for simd_masked_load

fix dynamic size/align computation logic for packed types with dyn trait tail

fix overlapping spans in delimited meta-vars

ICE 110453: fixed with errors

llvm-wrapper: adapt for LLVM API changes

make IMPLIED_BOUNDS_ENTAILMENT into a hard error from a lint

make exhaustiveness usable outside of rustc

match lowering: Remove the make_target_blocks hack

more expressions correctly are marked to end with curly braces

nudge the user to kill programs using excessive CPU

opportunistically resolve region var in canonicalizer (instead of resolving root var)

properly reject default on free const items

remove unnecessary constness from ProjectionCandidate

replace some instances of FxHashMap/FxHashSet with stable alternatives (mostly in rustc_hir and rustc_ast_lowering)

resolve: replace visibility table in resolver outputs with query feeding

skip rpit constraint checker if borrowck return type error

some cleanup and improvement for invalid ref casting impl

tweak short_ty_string to reduce number of files

unconditionally register alias-relate in projection goal

update FreeBSD CI image

uplift TypeAndMut and ClosureKind to rustc_type_ir

use if cfg! instead of #[cfg]

use the LLVM option NoTrapAfterNoreturn

miri: visit the AllocIds and BorTags in borrow state FrameExtra

miri run: default to edition 2021

miri: make mmap not use expose semantics

fast path for declared_generic_bounds_from_env

stabilize type_name_of_val

stabilize ptr::{from_ref, from_mut}

add core::intrinsics::simd

add a column number to dbg!()

add more niches to rawvec

add ASCII whitespace trimming functions to &str

fix cases where std accidentally relied on inline(never)

Windows: allow File::create to work on hidden files

std: add xcoff in object's feature list

codegen: panic when trying to compute size/align of extern type

codegen_gcc: simd: implement missing intrinsics from simd/generic-arithmetic-pass.rs

codegen_llvm: set DW_AT_accessibility

cargo: clean up package metadata

cargo: do not allow empty name in package ID spec

cargo: fill in more empty name holes

cargo: hold the mutate exclusive lock when vendoring

rustdoc: use Map instead of Object for source files and search index

rustdoc: allow resizing the sidebar / hiding the top bar

rustdoc-search: fix a race condition in search index loading

rustdoc-search: use set ops for ranking and filtering

bindgen: use \r\n on windows

bindgen: better working destructors on windows

clippy: add new unconditional_recursion lint

clippy: new Lint: result_filter_map / Mirror of option_filter_map

clippy: don't visit nested bodies in is_const_evaluatable

clippy: redundant_pattern_matching: lint if let true, while let true, matches!(.., true)

clippy: do not lint assertions_on_constants for const _: () = assert!(expr)

clippy: doc_markdown Recognize words followed by empty parentheses () for quoting

clippy: fix binder handling in unnecessary_to_owned

rust-analyzer: deduplicate annotations

rust-analyzer: optimizing Performance with Promise.all 🏎

rust-analyzer: desugar doc correctly for mbe

rust-analyzer: dont assume ascii in remove_markdown

rust-analyzer: resolve alias before resolving enum variant

rust-analyzer: add minimal support for the 2024 edition

rust-analyzer: move out WithFixture into dev-dep only crate

rust-analyzer: fix false positive type mismatch in const reference patterns

rust-analyzer: syntax fixup now removes subtrees with fake spans

rust-analyzer: update builtin attrs from rustc

rust-analyzer: fix fragment parser replacing matches with dummies on incomplete parses

rust-analyzer: fix incorrectly replacing references in macro invocation in "Convert to named struct" assist

Rust Compiler Performance Triage

A lot of noise in the results this week; there was an lull in the noise recently, so our auto-inferred noise threshold went down, and thus five PR's were artificially flagged this week (and three supposed improvements were just reverting to the mean). Beyond that, we had three nice improvements: the first to debug builds in #117962 (by ceasing emission of expensive+unused .debug_pubnames and .debug_pubtypes), a second to diesel and serde in #119048 (by avoiding some unnecessary work), and a third to several benchmarks in #117749 (by adding some caching of an internal compiler structure).

Triage done by @pnkfelix. Revision range: 57010939..bf9229a2

6 Regressions, 9 Improvements, 3 Mixed; 5 of them in rollups 67 artifact comparisons made in total

Full report here

Approved RFCs

Changes to Rust follow the Rust RFC (request for comments) process. These are the RFCs that were approved for implementation this week:

No RFCs were approved this week.

Final Comment Period

Every week, the team announces the 'final comment period' for RFCs and key PRs which are reaching a decision. Express your opinions now.

RFCs

[disposition: postpone] RFC: Precise Pre-release Deps

Tracking Issues & PRs

[disposition: merge] Support async recursive calls (as long as they have indirection)

[disposition: merge] make soft_unstable show up in future breakage reports

[disposition: merge] Tracking Issue for ip_in_core

Language Reference

No Language Reference RFCs entered Final Comment Period this week.

Unsafe Code Guidelines

No Unsafe Code Guideline RFCs entered Final Comment Period this week.

New and Updated RFCs

RFC: patchable-function-entry

Call for Testing

An important step for RFC implementation is for people to experiment with the implementation and give feedback, especially before stabilization. The following RFCs would benefit from user testing before moving forward:

No RFCs issued a call for testing this week.

If you are a feature implementer and would like your RFC to appear on the above list, add the new call-for-testing label to your RFC along with a comment providing testing instructions and/or guidance on which aspect(s) of the feature need testing.

Upcoming Events

Rusty Events between 2023-12-20 - 2024-01-17 🦀

Virtual

2023-12-20 | Virtual (Vancouver, BC, CA) | Vancouver Rust

Adventures in egui app dev

2023-12-26 | Virtual (Dallas, TX, US) | Dallas Rust

Last Tuesday

2023-12-28 | Virtual (Charlottesville, NC, US) | Charlottesville Rust Meetup

Crafting Interpreters in Rust Collaboratively

2024-01-03 | Virtual (Indianapolis, IN, US) | Indy Rust

Indy.rs - with Social Distancing

2024-01-09 | Virtual (Dallas, TX, US) | Dallas Rust

Last Tuesday

2024-01-11 | Virtual (Charlottesville, NC, US) | Charlottesville Rust Meetup

Crafting Interpreters in Rust Collaboratively

2024-01-16 | Virtual (Washington, DC, US) | Rust DC

Mid-month Rustful

Europe

2023-12-27 | Copenhagen, DK | Copenhagen Rust Community

Rust hacknight #1: CLIs, TUIs and plushies

2023-12-28 | Vienna, AT | Rust Vienna

Rust Dojo 3: Holiday Edition

2024-01-11 | Reading, UK | Reading Rust Workshop

Reading Rust Meetup at Browns

2024-01-11 | Wrocław, PL | Rust Wrocław

Rust Meetup #36

2024-01-13 | Helsinki, FI | Finland Rust-lang Group

January Meetup

North America

2023-12-20 | Austin, TX, US | Rust ATX

Rust Lunch - Fareground

2023-12-27 | Austin, TX, US | Rust ATX

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Quote of the Week

The Tianyi-33 satellite is a 50kg class space science experimental satellite equipped with an operating system independently developed by Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications—the Rust-based dual-kernel real-time operating system RROS. RROS will carry out general tasks represented by tensorflow/k8s and real-time tasks represented by real-time file systems and real-time network transmission on the satellite. It will ensure the normal execution of upper-layer applications and scientific research tasks, such as time-delay measurement between satellite and ground, live video broadcasting, onboard web chat services, pseudo-SSH experiments, etc. This marks the world’s first official application of a Rust-written dual-kernel operating system in a satellite scenario.

– Qichen on the RROS web page

Thanks to Brian Kung for the suggestion!

Please submit quotes and vote for next week!

This Week in Rust is edited by: nellshamrell, llogiq, cdmistman, ericseppanen, extrawurst, andrewpollack, U007D, kolharsam, joelmarcey, mariannegoldin, bennyvasquez.

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[dangersam]

New map, and tutorial finished

Hey all, I've made a fair amount of progress on the game over the past month, so let's get into what I've been up to.

"Gary Island" map

One conundrum I had while designing the tutorial scenario was where to locate it (i.e. which map to use and whereabouts on that map).  I could have used one of the existing maps but they are all pretty large and "open plan", which made it hard to lay out the scene for the tutorial.  I needed something small with clear boundaries that spatially confine the player.

For a while I had been resistant to the idea of adding another map for the tutorial scenario, but it became apparent that this was going to be necessary, and worthwhile investing the time and effort in.  So I decided to make a new map, an island surrounded by water, with a 250x250 m playable area.

For long time followers of the game's development, I resurrected the water from those old procedural island maps!  I was also reluctant to do this actually, as introducing water brings about a whole host of implications (what happens when you go in the water? buoyancy? drag? sound & particle effects? player swimming animations?)  So for now the water is beyond the map boundary and is just there for visual effect.

As usual, first I started with making the terrain height map:

Then, painted the textures (reusing those from the other maps):

Finally, added details (e.g. grass) and trees:

Overall I'm quite pleased with how the map turned out.  It has a central area (which I've used for the tutorial scenario), and other areas that are connected via paths for a bit of variety.  I'm thinking this will be good for other scenarios, and also as a general starter map for players.

Water reflection optimisations

After bringing back the water, I needed to do some performance optimisations to the old reflection rendering implementation (water reflections are rendered using another camera with a view that is flipped upside relative to the main camera).

I improved the code by eliminating some expensive per-frame calls (GameObject.Find(), GetComponent(), etc.) and getting rid of GC allocs.  I also reduced the level of detail during the reflection render (by overriding the LOD bias, turning off terrain details, and reducing the tree LOD switch distance).

Finally, I added a "video options" setting to make the water reflection rendering only include the terrain & sky, or be turned off altogether (falling back to a reflection probe).

Tutorial scenario

To finish the final iteration of the tutorial scenario, first I had to create a scene in the new map.  I laid out all the constructions, checkpoints, and so on for each of the tutorial stages that the player completes in sequence.

Then I worked on the scenario scripting, organising the Lua scripts by breaking them up into the tutorial stages.  The scripts are responsible for tracking player progress through the tasks they have to complete for each stage, showing a UI window with instructions (text and videos), and helping the player get back on track if they make a mistake.  This turned out to be a huge amount of work, but I think the results turned out really well.

Here's a sneak peak of the start of the tutorial scenario:

So the tutorial scenario is now (more or less) complete, which is a huge milestone, as that was the last major task before early access release.  There's still a bunch of work to do, but I'm now in a position to prepare the game for release which is very exciting!

Part resizing indicator

I’ve implemented another indicator that shows unit dimension numbers near a part when resizing it with the resize manipulator.

This makes it much easier to see the part dimensions while resizing, as it saves having to look down at the part UI overlay.

Script mods

The script mods included with the game have continued to develop.  For example, I implemented a "builder tool extensions" script mod that provides an interface with options for precise part placement.

I also improved and added to the various debug tools, and added a simple "hello world" example.  I can’t wait to see what script mods of their own players can come up with!

[toonlets]

let's talk about reflection probe cube maps for URP...

Q: let's talk about reflection probe cube maps for URP... does the reflection map cube box need to be an actual cube? Or can it have different dimensions on each side?

A: In URP, reflection probes capture and store information about the surrounding environment, which is then used to render reflections on reflective surfaces in your scene. The reflection map cube box is used to define the area in which the reflection probe captures the environment information.

The reflection map cube box does not necessarily need to be an actual cube. It can have different dimensions on each side, as long as it is a rectangular prism shape. However, it is generally recommended to use a cube-shaped reflection map cube box, as this will ensure that the captured environment information is consistent across all sides of the cube.

If you use a non-cube-shaped reflection map cube box, you may need to adjust the reflection probe's settings to compensate for any differences in the captured environment information. In general, it's a good idea to experiment with different reflection map cube box shapes and sizes to find the best settings for your specific scene and project.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Gaia spots possible moons around hundreds of asteroids

ESA's star-surveying Gaia mission has again proven to be a formidable asteroid explorer, spotting potential moons around more than 350 asteroids not known to have a companion.

Previously, Gaia had explored asteroids known to have moons—so-called "binary asteroids"—and confirmed that the telltale signs of these tiny moons show up in the telescope's ultra-accurate astrometric data. But this new finding proves that Gaia can conduct "blind" searches to discover completely new candidates, too.

"Binary asteroids are difficult to find as they are mostly so small and far away from us," says Luana Liberato of Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, France, lead author of the new study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

"Despite us expecting just under one-sixth of asteroids to have a companion, so far we have only found 500 of the 1 billion known asteroids to be in binary systems. But this discovery shows that there are many asteroid moons out there just waiting to be found."

If confirmed, this new finding adds 352 more binary candidates to the tally, nearly doubling the known number of asteroids with moons.

An outstanding asteroid explorer

Asteroids are fascinating objects, and hold unique insights into the formation and evolution of the solar system. Binaries are even more exciting, enabling us to study how different bodies form, collide and interact in space.

Thanks to its unique all-sky scanning capabilities, Gaia has made a number of important asteroid discoveries since its launch in 2013.

In its data release 3, Gaia precisely pinpointed the positions and motions of 150 000+ asteroids—so precisely that scientists could dig deeper and hunt for asteroids displaying the characteristic "wobble" caused by the tug of an orbiting companion (the same mechanism as displayed here for a binary star). Gaia also gathered data on asteroid chemistry, compiling the largest ever collection of asteroid "reflectance spectra" (light curves that reveal an object's color and composition).

The 150,000+ orbits determined in Gaia's data release 3 were refined and made 20 times more precise as part of the mission's Focused Product Release last year. Even more asteroid orbits are anticipated as part of Gaia's forthcoming data release 4 (expected not before mid-2026).

"Gaia has proven to be an outstanding asteroid explorer, and is hard at work revealing the secrets of the cosmos both within and beyond the solar system," says Timo Prusti, Project Scientist for Gaia at ESA. "This finding highlights how each Gaia data release is a major step up in data quality, and demonstrates the amazing new science made possible by the mission."

Rendezvous with a binary asteroid system

ESA will further explore binary asteroids via the forthcoming Hera mission, due to launch later this year. Hera will follow up on NASA's DART mission—which collided with Dimorphos, a moonlet orbiting the asteroid Didymos, in 2022 as an asteroid deflection test—to produce a post-impact survey of Dimorphos. It will be the first probe to rendezvous with a binary asteroid system.

Gaia helped astronomers view the shadow cast by Didymos as it passed in front of more distant stars in 2022, an observing technique known as stellar occultation. The feasibility of this technique has been drastically improved by Gaia's asteroid orbits and ultra-precise star maps in recent years, proving the mission's immense value for solar system exploration.

IMAGE: This image shows the orbits of the more than 150,000 asteroids in Gaia’s data release 3, from the inner parts of the solar system to the Trojan asteroids at the distance of Jupiter, with different colour codes. The yellow circle at the centre represents the sun. Blue represents the inner part of the solar system, where the near earth asteroids, Mars crossers, and terrestrial planets are. The Main Belt, between Mars and Jupter, is green. Jupiter trojans are red. Credit: ESA/Gaia/DPAC; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

[ixnai]

The uncanny valley is not a bug; it’s a feature. In the realm of artificial intelligence, the uncanny valley represents a chasm of mistrust and discomfort, a stark reminder of the inherent biases and errors embedded within AI systems. These biases are not mere anomalies; they are systemic features, woven into the very fabric of machine learning algorithms.

AI systems are trained on vast datasets, which are often riddled with historical prejudices and skewed perspectives. These datasets serve as the foundational architecture upon which AI models are built, much like the scaffolding of a complex software application. When an AI model processes this data, it doesn’t merely replicate the information; it amplifies the biases, creating a distorted reflection of reality. This is akin to a recursive function in software that, instead of converging to a solution, spirals into an infinite loop of error propagation.

The danger lies in the AI’s ability to make decisions based on these flawed datasets. Consider a convolutional neural network (CNN) tasked with facial recognition. If the training data is predominantly composed of images from a specific demographic, the CNN’s feature maps will inherently favor that demographic, leading to higher error rates for underrepresented groups. This is not a glitch; it’s a deterministic outcome of the training process, a feature of the model’s architecture.

To avoid these pitfalls, one must approach AI development with a rigorous methodology akin to software testing. This involves implementing robust validation techniques, such as k-fold cross-validation, to ensure that the model’s performance is consistent across diverse subsets of data. Additionally, adversarial testing can be employed to probe the model’s vulnerabilities, much like stress testing a software application to identify potential points of failure.

Moreover, the integration of fairness constraints during the model training phase can mitigate bias. Techniques such as re-weighting or re-sampling the training data can help balance the representation of different groups, akin to load balancing in distributed systems to ensure equitable resource allocation.

In conclusion, the uncanny valley is a stark reminder of the biases and errors that pervade AI systems. These are not mere bugs to be squashed but features that require careful consideration and mitigation. By adopting rigorous validation and fairness techniques, we can bridge the chasm of mistrust and build AI systems that are not only intelligent but also equitable and reliable.

[spacenutspod]

NASA’s PUNCH mission, designed to unravel the mysteries of the solar wind, has captured its first-light images, marking a key milestone in its 90-day commissioning phase. Scientists say the instruments are working as expected, and the mission is on track to deliver new insights into how the Sun’s corona transitions into the heliosphere. Four Satellites, One Instrument Rather than a single probe, PUNCH (short for Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) is a constellation of four small satellites strategically deployed in Earth’s orbit. Working in tandem, they behave like a single wide-field instrument with a unique ability: spotting and tracking faint features in the solar wind. “All four instruments are functioning as designed. We’re excited to finish on-orbit commissioning and get these cameras working together,” said Craig DeForest, lead scientist of the mission at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado. Credit: NASA/SwRI Zodiacal Light and Star Fields The first-light images, taken on April 14 and 16, reveal star-filled skies shrouded in a warm amber haze — a glow known as the zodiacal light, created when dust particles orbiting the Sun reflect sunlight. Some constellations, including Taurus and Cetus, can be seen, but they are not the ultimate target. These stars and the zodiacal light will be digitally removed from the images. The mission aims to isolate the faint glow of the solar wind as it emerges from the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona. “Throughout the commissioning phase, the PUNCH team is calibrating the NFI data to remove 99% of the light to show materials streaming out from the Sun’s outer atmosphere in stunning detail,” DeForest explained. Building A 3D Map Of The Solar Wind PUNCH’s instruments include three wide-field imagers (WFIs) and one near-field imager (NFI). Together, they will create a 90-degree panoramic view of the solar corona and heliosphere. The mission will take advantage of a subtle optical phenomenon: light polarization. “A polarimeter is a camera that can measure polarized light like you might see through a pair of polarized sunglasses, and we use that to measure what we’re imaging in three dimensions,”said DeForest. “That scattering process polarizes the light, and the degree of polarization tells us where the object was in three dimensions.” This technique could allow researchers to map the solar wind in 3D for the first time — a potential breakthrough for space weather forecasting and heliophysics research. Credit: NASA/SwRI Testing Water-powered Propulsion Beyond the scientific payload, the mission is also a testbed for innovative spacecraft propulsion. During commissioning, the PUNCH team demonstrated the performance of new “water-powered, shot-glass-sized” rocket engines. These engines use electrolysis to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, which are then combusted to produce thrust. The system offers a safe and non-toxic alternative to traditional propulsion methods. According to DeForest, the “safety and stability” of this system is a major benefit, especially since each satellite in the constellation must maneuver hundreds of times to maintain proper formation. First Science Data Coming This Summer PUNCH launched on March 11, sharing a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with NASA’s SPHEREx mission, which aims to map the sky in near-infrared wavelengths. After completing its commissioning period, PUNCH is expected to begin scientific operations by June, with data release and analysis following shortly after. The mission’s ultimate goal is to answer a long-standing puzzle in solar physics: how the hot, structured corona becomes the turbulent solar wind. time, we may have the right tools to see it clearly. Enjoyed this article? Subscribe to our free newsletter for engaging stories, exclusive content, and the latest news. For more news like this, visit Dailygalaxy.com.

[nikhilvaidya27]

Talent Consulting in the Age of AI: What Can’t Be Replaced

By Nikhil Vaidya | Founder, Prism HRC

In boardrooms today, I often hear the same question phrased in different ways:

“Can’t we automate this part of recruitment?” “Why are we still relying on consultants when AI tools can scan CVs in seconds?”

It’s a valid question. AI has changed the game in recruitment — and it should. But if you’re an employer, HR leader, or decision-maker, let me offer a perspective that goes beyond automation.

Because filling a position isn’t the same as hiring the right person — and that difference will define your organization's culture, performance, and retention in the next 5 years.

⚙️ AI is Excellent at Efficiency — But That’s Not the Same as Effectiveness

Here’s where AI helps:

Sourcing from large databases

Eliminating clearly unqualified candidates

Matching keywords in resumes

Predicting short-term success patterns

But what AI lacks is context. It doesn’t understand:

Why your organization rejected few candidates last quarter who met 100% of the technical criteria

That your next product head must be someone who can survive ambiguity and lead without hierarchy

That you're trying to quietly replace someone without breaking internal morale

Talent consulting isn't about matching skills — it’s about decoding business strategy into hiring decisions.

🧠 What Employers Should NOT Automate

1. Leadership Hiring

AI doesn’t recognize political complexity, change management exposure, or emotional leadership. A VP hire who looks great on paper might blow up team morale. We’ve seen it.

Recommendation: Involve experienced consultants in stakeholder alignment, vision mapping, and qualitative screening.

2. Cultural Integration

Hiring talent from a different industry or geography? AI may shortlist, but only a human can assess whether that talent can integrate, not just adapt.

3. Retention Risk Mapping

AI can highlight job-hopping, but it can’t read intent. When we speak to candidates, we probe:

Why they left

What drives them

Whether this move aligns with their long-term growth

Machines don't ask, “What made you leave even after your promotion?”

Human conversation reveals long-term risk far better than algorithmic scoring.

🧭 Strategic Hiring = Context + Culture + Capability

Here’s what we help our clients do at Prism HRC — especially MNCs and high-growth firms:

Decode hiring into a business strategy lever, not a reactive function

Create candidate experiences that reflect employer brand + internal realities

Map long-term potential, not just current skill match

Design hiring journeys that align with post-placement success metrics

📉 What Happens When You Rely on AI Alone

Mis-hires due to over-filtering

Underperforming leaders who looked great on paper

High attrition because candidates were “qualified,” not “aligned”

A broken EVP because the hiring journey felt transactional

Ask any CHRO — these cost millions in productivity, morale, and hiring cycles.

🔑 Final Thought: Use AI as a Co-Pilot, Not a Captain

AI should be your assistant, not your recruiter. Consultants who understand your business model, team dynamics, and future goals — that’s where the real ROI is.

At Prism HRC, we don’t just hire people. We help you build sustainable teams, align talent with transformation, and future-proof your leadership pipeline.

If your hiring strategy is still driven by efficiency, it’s time to evolve.

📩 Let’s talk if you’re hiring for tomorrow, not just today.

📲 Connect with Prism HRC 🔗 Website: Prism HRC 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jobssimplified/?hl=en