Hola friends,

As 2019 is ending, have a look at how we have fared this year,climatically.How hot are we?Pretty hot.
Three surface temperature datasets suggest 2019 will be the second warmest year in the instrumental record ( >85% likelihood).

Virtual guarantee this will be the 5th year in a row more than 1°C above late 19th C, and a top 5 year. It will be certain that the top five years will have occurred in the last five years.

5 warmest years in a row is not a good sign.Earth is changing.

Every year I hope for a point where in which there is actual change from people.This year brought Greta Thunberg, Earth has a bright future, with these children, But I am sincerley scared,will they inherit it?
The change in global currents is alarming.India alone saw 6 cyclones in a row.My hometown in kerala had floods consecutively for 2 years.
There is a pattern in this chaos.Earth has given warnings.Please heed them & change.
We have only one planet.There is no place like earth, the exo planets we found doesnt even come close to earth ( in terms of beauty & life support systems ).Lets unite to protect it.

Happy weekend :)

On this very day: exactly 100 years ago gravity veered towards Albert Einstein & his Theory of Relativity & the world was changed forever & Einstein became famous.
It was the day when Eddington’s results of the bending of light by the sun were announced to the royal society.

Hi Friends,
The Mercury transit has begun.Remember the next time mercury travels across the face of the sun (from the earths perspective ) will be on 2032.so dont miss this journey.it goes on for about 5.5 hours, so you can tune in when your free.

If you own a telescope with appropriate sunfilter, you can watch the transit.its visible from Europe,parts of west Asia, Americas,Africa, Atlantic & pacific ocean.
If you can't see it,dont worry NASA has you covered with SDO lives.The solar dynamics observatory would be doing live broadcasts,link down here
mercurytransit.gsfc.nasa.gov/2
Happy watching :)

Good morning, Sunshine!

Today, Mercury will pass between the Earth & the Sun, silhouetting it against our home star. This passage will begin at approximately 7:35am ET and last for more than five hours. Here's how you can watch the #MercuryTransit: nasa.tumblr.com/post/188903511 

#introduction #india I'm a computer programmer, community organiser and digital rights activist based in Bangalore, India.

Growing up as a lonely, bullied kid in the 90s, I found solace in books, computers, and later, the online world. In my quest to find belonging, never quite fulfilled, I've been involved with various communities over the year. A biography in toots:

Tomorrow, Earthlings will be treated to a rare cosmic event — a Mercury transit. From our perspective, the planet Mercury will look like a tiny black dot gliding across the Sun’s face. Discover how you can safely watch the transit: nasa.tumblr.com/post/188903511 

For those of you who missed the announcement from the @freemo account just wanted to reiterate it here.

In honor of our new Indian friends we added two new emoji to the server.

:india: :thiruvalluvar:

Also if anyone has any emoji they want added, even if its just for personal use (like a monogram of your name or a picture of your own face, anything) we can add it. Just send a 50kb or less PNG image to @freemo and it can be added.

@Simplyswapy I have constantly feared that an invasion of data would follow up with subtly suggesting us things to do online because they sit there capturing everything we post and say here! Due to this reason I wished for an anonymity. It's like even if I say no to the license agreement and decide to not stay up on anything, With browsing or randomly just watching something on youtube is enough for them to show ads suggesting get this and get that. I remember i searched something online from amazon and everywhere else I did go since then, Ads popped asking me to get the things I searched. Creeps me out even today! Nothing is in out control infact I guess. Great read! Relatable and Interesting!! 👍

@Simplyswapy I somewhat agree. I dislike how big companies, particularly social networks, can manipulate data and reinforce some behaviors in ways that may not be good for society (e.g., anything related to politics), but it is sometimes practical in terms of how easier it makes for searching results or curating things that I'm genuinely not interested in. Reading Snowden's book makes me more wary of the governments themselves than any private corp, as they can be more dangerous with the data they collect about us.

Reading Permanent record, autobiography of Edward Snowden.There is an intresting bit when he talks about Intelligence agencies & tech industries.The very belief that they are entitled to their unilateral decision making based on data,makes them apolitical as data itself is just information.The idea of harmless surveilance or surveilance for greater good?
Makes me feel vulnerable when one pours out into the digital world,someone is just calling it data & putting a label on you & uses it in a way profitable to them.Imagine tweeting feeling sad tonight after a break up & netflix suggests me Always be my may be😐 and Google suggests best shops that sell cookie dough near by.They know me too well.🙊
Its like they put a label on my feeling & advertise it."swapy is sad & would probably eat cookie dough today & watch netflix😣."
The otherside to this is the assumption that since I posted it, I gave them permission to use this data.But do most people even read the license agreement or data usage policies?People just click accept.I didnt agree to sell my sadness 😑.These tech companies are merging all the time.Google has taken over so many that google knows more about me than I do.Its like If I die, the google me would go on living, inactive till they archive me.creepy digital existance?

This book is a gem.Especially for people from a country like India where the Data protection laws are virtually non existant.

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