Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Wikipedia article of the day for March 25, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for March 25, 2020 is Megarachne.
Megarachne was a predatory freshwater arthropod of the order of eurypterids, often called sea scorpions. Two fossil specimens of the genus have been discovered, in San Luis, Argentina, in deposits of Late Carboniferous age from the Gzhelian stage. Megarachne ("great spider") was initially misidentified as a spider. With a body length of 54 cm (1.77 ft), it was a medium-sized eurypterid, similar to others within the Mycteropoidea, a rare group known primarily from South Africa and Scotland. The mycteropoids evolved a specialized method of feeding referred to as sweep-feeding, raking through the substrate of riverbeds to capture and eat smaller invertebrates. Due to their fragmentary fossil record and similarities between the genera, Megarachne and two other members of its family, Mycterops and Woodwardopterus, have been hypothesized to represent different developmental stages of a single genus.

Facebook Is ‘Just Trying to Keep the Lights On’ as Traffic Soars in Pandemic


By BY MIKE ISAAC AND SHEERA FRENKEL from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/3duq29q

Monday, March 23, 2020

Start-Ups Jump the Gun on Home Kits for Coronavirus Testing


By BY NATASHA SINGER from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/2Je14x6

Wikipedia article of the day for March 24, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for March 24, 2020 is Hours of Mary of Burgundy.
The Hours of Mary of Burgundy is a book of hours, a form of devotional book for lay people, completed in Flanders around 1477. It was probably commissioned for Mary of Burgundy, then the wealthiest woman in Europe; Mary was the only child of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and wife of Maximilian I, ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. The book contains 187 folios (folio 14v pictured), each measuring 22.5 by 15 centimetres (8.9 in × 5.9 in). It consists of the Roman Liturgy of the Hours, 24 calendar roundels, 20 full-page miniatures and 16 quarter-page format illustrations. It includes meticulously detailed illustrations and borders by the influential illuminator known by the notname of the Master of Mary of Burgundy. Other miniatures, considered of an older tradition, were contributed by Simon Marmion, Willem Vrelant and Lieven van Lathem. The two best-known illustrations contain a revolutionary trompe-l'œil technique of showing a second perspective through an open window.

The Coronavirus Revives Facebook as a News Powerhouse


By BY KEVIN ROOSE AND GABRIEL J.X. DANCE from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/2Uc2aQo

Trump Administration Gives Apple More Tariff Relief


By BY JACK NICAS from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/2UgPCHL