(TheGuardian) Internet sleuths claim to have decoded a hidden message displayed on the parachute that helped Nasa’s Perseverance Rover land safely on Mars last week. They claim that the phrase “Dare mighty things” – used as a motto by Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory – was encoded on the parachute using a pattern representing letters as binary computer code.

Reddit users and social media posters on Twitter noticed that the red-and-white pattern on the parachute looked deliberate, and arrived at the result by using the red to represent the figure one, and the white to represent zero.

Each of the concentric rings in the parachute’s pattern represents one of the words. The zeroes and ones need to be split up into chunks of 10 characters, and from that, adding 64 gives you the computer ASCII code representing a letter. For example, seven white stripes, a red stripe and then two more white stripes represents 0000000100, the binary for four. Adding 64 to that gives 68, the ASCII code for the letter D.

snip

The origins of the phrase are an 1899 speech by Theodore Roosevelt, in which he said: “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”

Read More: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/feb/23/dare-mighty-things-hidden-message-found-on-nasa-mars-rover-parachute

(Local10News) HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – A search is ongoing for a missing woman from Hollywood who has not been seen in days.

Noemi Bolivar was last seen on Thursday.

Loved ones are concerned she may be in danger and they’re hoping someone out there will recognize her and help bring her home.

Marycel Bolivar is beside herself, desperate for information on her daughter.

“This is totally out of character, she would never disappear on her own without saying something,” said Marycel. “She’s not that kind of runaway kid or anything. She’s a good girl.”

Noemi is on the autism spectrum.

Although she’s 21, her family says she has the social maturity of a 15 year old, but she is very high functioning and very bright.

snip

Noemi was last seen wearing a striped shirt, denim shorts and purple sneakers. She is approximately 5-foot-3 and 126 pounds.

Anyone who thinks they have seen Noemi or with any information on her whereabouts is urged to call Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS.

Read More:
https://www.local10.com/news/local/2021/02/15/family-friends-concerned-after-21-year-old-girl-on-autism-spectrum-disappears/

(Local10News) TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A top Florida official responsible for his state’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak is stepping down.

Jared Moskowitz heads Florida’s Division of Emergency Management and has overseen much of the state’s response to the outbreak.

He told the USA Today Network that an official announcement of his departure is expected Tuesday by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Moskowitz, who was raised in South Florida and graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, said he won’t be leaving the job immediately but will stay on to allow for a “gradual transition.”

Moskowitz, 40, is a Democrat and former member of the state House.

(Read More)
https://www.local10.com/news/local/2021/02/15/jared-moskowitz-florida-official-overseeing-covid-19-response-resigns/

*Can't believe he lasted this long under the oppression of Governor Ron DeathSentence

What do you think, my fellow DU friends - should there be a federal law requiring a candidate for president to release his or her tax returns? Or individual states requiring candidates to release tax returns or they can not be on the state ballot? I am interested to know your thoughts about this....

(HuffPost) Here’s what it’s like to lose the person who raised you to a far-right cult.

Shortly before Joe Biden was inaugurated, Sam’s mother began stocking up on food in a panic. He didn’t know why, but he knew it probably had something to do with QAnon.

The 19-year-old started to notice changes in his mother’s behavior around the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. She had always been a nervous woman: She stopped flying after 9/11 and had hovered closely to Sam and his two younger siblings for their entire lives. But during the COVID-19 crisis, his mom’s paranoia spiraled from quirky to deranged. It has turned her into someone he hardly recognizes.

Though she didn’t used to be very political, she now fears the president is a pedophile who stole the election. She’s scared of radiation from the 5G towers in her neighborhood and, as a white woman, she told her son, she’s afraid of being harmed by Black Lives Matter protesters — a movement she once supported. She worries that Sam’s brother and sister are being “indoctrinated” at their public high school and wants to move them to a Catholic one. She’s also refusing to get them immunized against COVID-19 as false rumors swirl that the vaccine contains a secret location-tracking microchip. (She was initially terrified of the virus but now considers the lockdowns an affront to her freedoms.)

“She wasn’t always like this,” Sam said. “It just keeps getting worse.”

(Read More)
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/children-of-qanon-believers_n_601078e9c5b6c5586aa49077

I hope there is something from this senate trial that Fulton County Deputy District Attorney Fani Willis can use....

He has me in tears. Love him.

If you were to very publicly ridicule someone for attending a maskless gathering during a pandemic, you would probably have a glance at your diary to see if you were imminently scheduled to make that exact same mistake. However, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) appears to have overlooked that crucial step.

On Thursday, McCarthy admitted attending his son’s largely maskless wedding during a coronavirus surge in California on Dec. 5—the same day he jabbed Gov. Gavin Newsom for attending his own maskless party. The top California Republican owned up to attending the gathering after he was asked about it by the Los Angeles Times. Under the state’s coronavirus pandemic measures, wedding receptions are banned and wedding ceremonies, while allowed, require masks be worn at all times. Both rules appear to have been ignored at Connor McCarthy’s wedding.

According to the Times, videos of the wedding show that guests, including the Republican congressman, were not wearing masks at several points during the day. At one point, he can reportedly be seen addressing guests using a microphone. A dinner was held after the wedding that appears to flout the state rule banning wedding receptions or celebrations.

There would perhaps be more sympathy for McCarthy’s decisions if he hadn’t spent months repeatedly taking shots at Democratic politicians who have been criticized for flouting COVID-19 health advice. Last year, he ridiculed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after she was captured in security footage without a mask while at a San Francisco salon, claiming that the footage proved Pelosi “thinks she deserves special treatment.”
(Read More)
https://news.yahoo.com/mccarthy-attended-son-maskless-wedding-133625450.html

(NBC5dfw) A man who took his life in front of the home of U.S. Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) Wednesday afternoon has been identified as a former staffer, according to the Irving police.

Irving police said officers were called to a shooting outside Van Duyne's home at about 3:30 p.m. When officers arrived, they found an unidentified man on the sidewalk in front of Van Duyne’s house who was dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The Dallas Morning News reported Thursday afternoon that the man was identified by Irving police as 55-year-old Richard Christian "Chris" Dillard, a GOP activist and former communications director for Van Duyne's campaign from November 2019 to April 2020.

Irving police said Thursday afternoon that there was no note left behind or any other clue as to why Dillard chose to take his own life in the manner that he did.

(Read More)

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/man-takes-his-own-life-in-front-of-congresswoman-beth-van-duynes-home/2548634/

that diverted the plane from crashing into the Capitol, I thought of the trump-fearing repugs in the Senate that were anything but brave as they diverted democracy with their votes NOT to proceed with the impeachment trial in the Senate. They should be known from this day forward as "The Cowardly 44".