SpaceX has more than 1,000 satellites beaming high-speed internet to Earth, but China promises to offer higher speeds with the launch of what it calls the world’s first 6G satellite. Here’s how both are on a quest to build powerful internet networks in space. Photo illustration: Sharon Shi
Monthly Archives: June 2021
Museum Tour: Accademia Gallery, Florence, Italy
The Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze, or “Gallery of the Academy of Florence”, is an art museum in Florence, Italy. It is best known as the home of Michelangelo‘s sculpture David. It also has other sculptures by Michelangelo and a large collection of paintings by Florentine artists, mostly from the period 1300–1600, the Trecento to the Late Renaissance. It is smaller and more specialized than the Uffizi, the main art museum in Florence. It adjoins the Accademia di Belle Arti or academy of fine arts of Florence, but despite the name has no other connection with it.
Infographic: 75 Largest Underwater Species
News: Top 5 Stories For June 17, 2021 (Reuters)
Five stories to know for June 17, 2021:
1. The Biden-Putin summit in Geneva highlighted huge differences but also small gains. Russia said arms control talks agreed with the U.S. should start within weeks.
2. U.S. Senate Democrats are scrambling to unite around a sweeping election reform bill that they aim to bring to a vote next week, in the face of Republican opposition and state moves to pass laws placing new restrictions on voting.
3. Biden is set to sign a bill declaring Juneteenth a federal holiday commemorating the end of legal enslavement of Black Americans.
4. Chinese state media quoted a disease expert saying the COVID-19 origins probe should shift to the United States after a study showed the disease could have been circulating there as early as December 2019. China’s top diplomat, said the idea that coronavirus escaped from a Wuhan laboratory is an “absurd story.”
5. Five hundred Hong Kong police officers sifted through reporters’ computers and notebooks at pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily, alleging that Apple Daily articles violate the national security law
High Views: Glass Elevator Added To NYC Skyscraper
A glass elevator and observation deck are under construction at the top of Kohn Pedersen Fox’s supertall skyscraper One Vanderbilt in New York. Called Summit One Vanderbilt, the observatory and elevator ride is being built towards the crown of the 1,401-foot-tall (427 metres) tower next to Grand Central Station in Midtown Manhattan. Kohn Pedersen Fox designed One Vanderbilt and Summit One Vanderbilt for developer SL Green Realty. The attraction is split into three parts called Ascent, Levitation and Summit. Ascent is a glass elevator complete with a transparent floor that will take visitors up the outside of the supertall skyscraper to a height of 1,210 feet (369 metres). Read more on Dezeen: https://www.dezeen.com/?p=1661707
Wildlife Views: A Red Fox ‘Snow Dives’ To Hunt Prey
Unlike the buffalo who dig through tonnes of snow, this crafty fox has a unique way of hunting its prey in winter.
Aerial Views: Lithuania – Cities & Landscapes (4K)
Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe.[a] It is one of the Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea to the southeast of Sweden and the east of Denmark, with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia to the southwest. Lithuania covers an area of 65,300 km2 (25,200 sq mi), with a population of 2.7 million. Its capital and largest city is Vilnius; other major cities are Kaunas and Klaipėda. Lithuanians belong to the ethno-linguistic group of the Balts and speak Lithuanian, one of only a few living Baltic languages.
Morning News: Global Inflation, Rental Homes & China’s Space Program
A.M. Edition for June 17. WSJ’s Paul Hannon on the role central banks around the world play in determining interest rates to control inflation.
Property-rental sites deal with a shortage of inventory and strong demand. China marks a milestone in its space program. Marc Stewart hosts.
Climate: Rainforests In Some Unexpected Places
Many of us are familiar with rainforests; lush and exotic environments that serve as the pinnacle of life on Earth. For the most part we assume these only occur throughout the tropics, but as it turns out certain areas in the temperate latitudes can receive just as much rainfall, creating a number of rainforests in unexpected places.
Temperate rainforests are coniferous or broadleaf forests that occur in the temperate zone and receive heavy rain. … The moist conditions of temperate rain forests generally support an understory of mosses, ferns and some shrubs and berries.
Walks: Alberobello In Southeastern italy (4K)
Alberobello is a town in Italy’s Apulia region. It’s known for its trulli, whitewashed stone huts with conical roofs. The hilltop Rione Monti district has hundreds of them. The 18th-century Trullo Sovrano is a 2-level trulli. Furniture and tools at the Museo del Territorio Casa Pezzolla re-create life in the trulli as it was centuries ago. Southwest of town is the Casa Rossa, a WWII internment camp.
Boomers Daily 