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Japan's cherry blossom 'earliest peak since 812' (BBC)
The cherry blossom season, Japan's traditional sign of spring, has peaked at the earliest date since records began 1,200 years ago, research shows. The 2021 season in the city of Kyoto peaked on 26 March, according to data collected by Osaka University. Increasingly early flowerings in recent decades are likely to be as a result of climate change, scientists say. The records from Kyoto go back to 812 AD in imperial court documents and diaries. The previous record there was set in 1409, when the season reached its peak on 27 March.
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Global chip supply chain increasingly vulnerable to massive disruption, study finds (reuters)
About 75% of semiconductor manufacturing capacity, as well as many suppliers of key materials—such as silicon wafers, photoresist, and other specialty chemicals—are concentrated in China/East Asia, a region significantly exposed to high seismic activity and geopolitical tensions. All of the world’s most advanced semiconductor manufacturing capacity—in nodes below 10 nanometers—is currently located in South Korea (8%) and Taiwan (92%).
These are single points of failure that could be disrupted by natural disasters, infrastructure shutdowns, or international conflicts, and may cause severe interruptions in the supply of chips. If Taiwan were unable to make chips for a year, it would cost the global electronics industry almost half a trillion dollars in revenue, the report found: “The global electronics supply chain would come to a halt.”
Related: The Chip Wars of the 21st Century - by Steve Blank
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UK Gov study: "Number of Pregnant Women suffering Miscarriage after having Covid Vaccine increases by 483% in just 7 weeks"
Japanese Redcross: "Those who have been vaccinated with the new coronavirus are not allowed to donate blood for the time being." (auto-translator)
Leaked Memo Reveals Concerning New Brain Disease In Canada (theguardian): "Spasms, memory loss & hallucinations among symptoms of 43 patients in New Brunswick province"
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Scientists Create Simple Synthetic Cell That Grows and Divides Normally (nist.gov)
Five years ago, scientists created a single-celled synthetic organism that, with only 473 genes, was the simplest living cell ever known. However, this bacteria-like organism behaved strangely when growing and dividing, producing cells with wildly different shapes and sizes. Now, scientists have identified seven genes that can be added to tame the cells' unruly nature, causing them to neatly divide into uniform orbs.
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Delicious Brazilian 1970s Music
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Dance! - Pictogram #Art by an unknown artist
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Aït-Ben-Haddou (ⴰⵢⵜ ⴱⴻⵏⵃⴰⴷⴷⵓ; آيت بن حدّو) - Historic Kasbah in Morocco
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"The Entire Universe is Prefused with Signs, If It Is Not Composed Exclusively of Signs." - Charles Peirce
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"If you do not change direction, you might end up where you are heading." ~ Lao Tzu
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The arrogance of space: “18 bikes can be parked in the place of one car, 30 of them can move along in the space devoured by a single automobile..."
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Hybrid Warfare News
The Evergreen ship that blocked the Suez Canal after navigating an “up yours” sign - Chip-starved automakers shudder at Renesas plant's 1-month halt (nikkei)
- Texas Power Failures Shut Chip Factories, Squeezing Tight Supply (bloomberg)
- Why the World Is Short of Computer Chips, and Why It Matters (wp)
- Indonesian oil refinery fire: Hundreds evacuated from Balongan village (NZherald)
- Massive Explosion Hits Balongan Oil Refinery in Indonesia (sputniknews)
- Dozens killed in besieged Mozambique gas town (reuters)
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Czech Republic's richest man Petr Kellner dies in helicopter crash
Billionaire elites are dropping like flies. Last month it was Olivier Dassault from France. This month Czech Republic's richest man Petr Kellner (56) dies. Both billionaires died in seperate helicopter crashes. Coincidence?
