Elon shortening his stay
Elon Musk could be heading for the metaphorical and literal door at Twitter very soon. And no, we aren’t doxxing you, Musk. We’re just making a joke that you may very well be out of a job where Twitter is concerned.
Following a tirade with Musk at the helm, the big boss tweeted out a poll yesterday that boldly asks “Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.” Whether he will is a different story altogether. During Musk’s brief time as Twitter CEO, Musk has been known to move the goalposts to favour his desired outcome. It’s possible that he could stay on as CEO despite the outcome of the poll. He owns Twitter. He can do whatever he wants with it.
Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022
The decision to leave his future up to Twitter’s users stems from the billionaire’s ‘random’ decision to ban links that promote other social media such as Instagram and Facebook on the platform. Oh, and his ever-dropping Tesla stock prices could have had something to do with the new poll.
At the time of writing, the poll is currently sitting at a 56.4% ‘Yes’ rate.
Source: The Verge
NASA SWOT’s the Earth
NASA has launched its Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission – the first of its kind – to survey all of Earth’s freshwater systems from a distance. The mission took off from Space Launch Complex 4E at the Vandenburg Space Force Base in California last week Friday on the back of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
The first question you might be asking is: “Why?” The system is designed to not only study our oceans but the freshwater systems that connect them and the flow of water between them. NASA can then use this data to better understand climate change’s effects and to better keep an eye on Earth’s climate.
“Warming seas, extreme weather, more severe wildfires – these are only some of the consequences humanity is facing due to climate change,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “The climate crisis requires an all-hands-on-deck approach, and SWOT is the realization of a long-standing international partnership that will ultimately better equip communities so that they can face these challenges.”
Once SWOT is up and running, it’ll be able to monitor 90% of the Earth’s surface, pulling off an entire scan every 21 days. It uses what’s known as a Ka-band radar interferometer to observe large parts of the Earth at once.
We’re not sure when SWOT will start its work. But it’ll be soon. We could be seeing the first release of data by the end of January.
Source: Digital Trends
Goodbye Geralt and Clark Kent, hello Warhammer
Amazon wants in on video game adaptations. It’s made that quite clear after making deals that’ll see a live-action God of War reach screens eventually. Now, it’s completed a similar deal with Games Workshop to gain the rights to the popular Warhammer 40K franchise. What started as a tabletop has grown to become a series of books, games, and now a live-action TV series. And Henry Cavill has earned a spot on the show’s producers and the yet-to-be-confirmed cast of actors.
Cavill joined the series after the DCEU made it clear that he would not be returning as Superman or to Netflix’s The Witcher either. This leaves the actor’s schedule wide open, allowing him to join another project that he himself is a massive fan of.
“For 30 years I have dreamt of seeing a Warhammer universe in live action. Now, after 22 years of experience in this industry, I finally feel that I have the skill set and experience to guide a Warhammer Cinematic Universe into life,” says Henry Cavill on his Instagram page.
There’s not much else to know yet about the Warhammer series. We know it’s coming, and Henry Cavill is involved. A release date and other cast members are still a way away from being announced.
Source: Ars Technica
Trolling for cash
Remember Donald Trump? He’s back in the headlines – but not for the reasons you may think. Earlier this week, the former US President teased a “major announcement” was on the way, leading many of his supporters to think that something of actual importance would be announced. What they got instead was far funnier.
And what they got was a collection of poorly designed NFTs. Yup. We’re not making that up. 45,000 NFTs went on sale, selling at $100 (around R1,700) each. Trump’s supporters snapped up every last one of them in less than 24 hours. There was the added “bonus” that one of the 45,000 purchasers would win a chance to meet the former president at a future event.
Despite selling out so quickly, some of Trump’s fans viewed the cash grab as a sign that Trump wasn’t taking his re-election seriously enough. As if that was ever in doubt. According to the company’s page, the sale of these NFTs was never intended to fund Trump’s next campaign.
“These Digital Trading Cards are not political and have nothing to do with any political campaign. NFT INT LLC is not owned, managed or controlled by Donald J. Trump, The Trump Organization, CIC Digital LLC or any of their respective principals or affiliates. NFT INT LLC uses Donald J. Trump’s name, likeness and image under paid license from CIC Digital LLC, which license may be terminated or revoked according to its terms.”
What makes the story even funnier is that the images are clearly photoshopped. A quick reverse image search on Google shows that most of these NFTs were created using photos pulled from the Internet.
Source: Gizmodo