We're based in lemm.ee, which is going down at the end of the month. I'll continue to moderate and contribute to this community at !ems@piefed.social

Please let me know if you have any questions

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/31169225

The artificial blood is created by extracting hemoglobin — a protein containing iron that facilitates the transportation of oxygen in red blood cells — from expired donor blood. It is then encased in a protective shell to create stable, virus-free artificial red blood cells. As these artificial cells have no blood type, there is no need for compatibility testing. The synthetic blood can reportedly be stored for up to two years at room temperature and five years under refrigeration.

My city has a budget shortfall of $400,000 and they're looking at cutting firefighter positions, arts funding, and parks funding to make up the shortfall. They also, incidentally, spent over $400,000 on just Microsoft office licenses last year, which doubled in cost from the previous year. My goal is to fix the budget shortfall, or at least take a big bite out of it, by switching all users who can't specify what advanced (see: VBA) features they use from MS Office onto LibreOffice, since it provides all the same basic functionality and interoperable file formats. As a stretch goal, I'd love to persuade them to get on Linux, but that might be a bridge too far for most folks at the city.

Does anyone have any advice to help me persuade the city to cut bullshit MS office licenses instead of firefighters? The city does have an IT dept that I've considered reaching out to, but I'm worried that they may fight that proposal because:

A. I hear that MS lobbies city IT relentlessly

B. They may not have the capacity to do the switch.

As for Linux, I'd love to get the machines that are W10 dependent switched to Linux, but that feels like a big reach. People tend to have a "NERD!" reaction to Linux, like mentioning tabletop gaming.

President Donald Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa engaged in a tense back-and-forth at the White House on Wednesday over Trump's false claims of "genocide" against white South African farmers.

"I don't know, all of these are articles over the last few days, death of people, death, death, death, horrible death," Trump said.

Trump claimed White South Africans were "fleeing because of the violence and the racist laws."

"This is sort of the opposite of apartheid. What's happening now is never reported. Nobody knows about it," he added.

"I would say if there was Afrikaner farmer genocide, I can bet you these three gentlemen would not be here, including my minister of agriculture," Ramaphosa said. "He would not be with me. So, it'll take him, President Trump, listening to their stories, to their perspective."

At times, Ramaphosa sought to steer the conversation back to trade and economic investment, which he said was the "real reason for being here." But Trump continually talked about the treatment of White South Africans.

But when pressed on what he wants Ramaphosa and his government to do, Trump conceded, "I don't know."

Elon Musk, a South African native and a top adviser to the president during his second term who has also amplified false claims of "white genocide," was present for Ramaphosa's visit to the White House.

Musk was seen standing behind a couch and did not speak during the exchange between Ramaphosa and Trump.

"Elon is from South Africa. I don't want to get him involved," Trump said. "That's all I have to do. Get him into another thing. But Elon happens to be from South Africa."

"This is what Elon wanted," Trump said, chuckling.

Well, I guess now we know why he fucked with Grok.

Let's suppose we have a wish granting genie that gives us a working Alcubierre drive. The drive is turned on and the bubble is staying stationary to our frame of reference (so, it's turned on on our imaginary helipad and it's just sitting there). What could an outside observer expect to see when they look at the bubble? I.e. would light get redshifted or distorted, since it has to pass through space that's expanding faster than the surrounding space? If I shine a laser pointer directly at the bubble, does it lens around the bubble and stroke the far wall, or will it pass through and strike what's inside? Further, could one expect any ill effects from approaching or passing through the bubble, or would that even be possible? Would an Alcubierre drive in motion create a gravitational wave or something very much like it, since it works by distorting space?

Looks like there's a protest event called Hands Off! being planned for Saturday April 5. This link goes to one near me, but I saw many of them, so you may be able to find one near you!