Sunday, September 27, 2020

Wikipedia article of the day for September 28, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for September 28, 2020 is Rigel.
Rigel is a blue supergiant star in the constellation of Orion, approximately 860 light-years (260 pc) from Earth. It is the brightest and most massive component of a star system of at least four stars that appear as a single blue-white point of light to the naked eye. A star of spectral type B8Ia, Rigel is calculated to be anywhere from 61,500 to 363,000 times as luminous as the Sun, and 18 to 24 times as massive. Its radius is over 70 times that of the Sun, and its surface temperature is 12,100 K. Rigel varies slightly in brightness, its apparent magnitude ranging from 0.05 to 0.18. It is classified as an Alpha Cygni variable. It is generally the seventh-brightest star in the night sky and is usually the brightest star in Orion, though it is occasionally outshone by Betelgeuse. With an estimated age of 7 to 9 million years, Rigel has exhausted its core hydrogen fuel, expanded and cooled to become a supergiant. It will end its life as a type II supernova.

Ransomware Attacks Take On New Urgency Ahead of Vote


By BY NICOLE PERLROTH AND DAVID E. SANGER from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/335fwm3

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By BY MIKE ISAAC AND DAVID MCCABE from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/2HCjGtl

Saturday, September 26, 2020

Wikipedia article of the day for September 27, 2020

The Wikipedia article of the day for September 27, 2020 is Margaret Macpherson Grant.
Margaret Macpherson Grant (1834–1877) was a Scottish heiress and philanthropist. Born in Aberlour parish to a local surgeon, she was educated in Hampshire and inherited a large fortune from her uncle, Alexander Grant, a planter and merchant who had become rich in Jamaica. Macpherson Grant took up residence in Aberlour House, which had been built for her uncle by William Robertson. She lived unconventionally for a woman of her time, entering into what was described as a form of marriage with a female companion, Charlotte Temple, whom she met in London in 1864. Macpherson Grant donated generously to charitable enterprises, establishing an orphanage (now the Aberlour Child Care Trust) and founding St Margaret's Episcopal Church in Aberlour. She made several wills over the course of her life that would have left her estate to Temple, but after Temple left her to marry a man, Macpherson Grant revoked her will, and the bulk of her fortune went to cousins, who were probably unknown to her.

U.S. Places Restrictions on China’s Leading Chip Maker


By BY ANA SWANSON AND RAYMOND ZHONG from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/3n4sJUe

Pasta, Wine and Inflatable Pools: How Amazon Conquered Italy in the Pandemic


By BY ADAM SATARIANO AND EMMA BUBOLA from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/33Z7Ocp

Inside eBay’s Cockroach Cult: The Ghastly Story of a Stalking Scandal


By BY DAVID STREITFELD from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/2EAlXnL