Tootfinder

In opening statements in New Mexico's suit against Meta, state prosecutors argue Meta misrepresented the safety of its platforms, as Meta's attorney pushes back (Morgan Lee/Associated Press)
https://apnews.com/article/meta-new-mexi…

Meta accused in New Mexico trial of failing to protect children online
Meta is on trial in New Mexico to answer allegations that its social media platforms enable predators to target children for sexual exploitation. The case is one of a series of lawsuits nationwide accusing social media companies of not doing enough to protect children online. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sued Meta in 2023 alleging its platforms enable predators to target children for sexual exploitation. Meta denies the allegation and accuses prosecutors of taking a “sensationalis…

Weekend #Plankton Factoid 🦠🦐
The White Cliffs of Dover are an iconic formation often seen on television or films that can be over 100 m high. The white colour is chalk "biomicrite" formed by the compacted deposits from dense blooms of Coccolithophore phytoplankton covered with distinct plates of calcite (coccoliths) in a shallow sea during the Late Cretaceous. The dark bands of fli…

A gaggle of scorned landlords and real estate agents across L.A. have a message:
If Alexys Watson messages you on Zillow asking if you accept Section 8 vouchers,
choose your next words very, very carefully.
Over the last eight months, dozens of landlords and real estate agents have responded to Watson's inquiries — and dozens have been sued for $100,000. or more.
The lawsuits allege discrimination for refusing a Section 8 applicant, regardless of whether they act…

Two students in falling snow at night in the courtyard between Gates Hall and the new CIS building
#photo #photography #portrait

Proton Energy Dependence of Radiation Induced Low Gain Avalanche Detector Degradation
Veronika Kraus, Marcos Fernandez Garcia, Luca Menzio, Michael Moll
https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.01800 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2602.01800 https://arxiv.org/html/2602.01800
arXiv:2602.01800v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: Low Gain Avalanche Detectors (LGADs) are key components for precise timing measurements in high-energy physics experiments, including the High Luminosity upgrades of the current LHC detectors. Their performance is, however, limited by radiation induced degradation of the gain layer, primarily driven by acceptor removal. This study presents a systematic comparison of how the degradation evolves with different incident proton energies, using LGADs from Hamamatsu Photonics (HPK) and The Institute of Microelectronics of Barcelona (IMB-CNM) irradiated with 18 MeV, 24 MeV, 400 MeV and 23 GeV protons and fluences up to 2.5x10^15 p/cm2. Electrical characterization is used to extract the acceptor removal coefficients for different proton energies, whereas IR TCT measurements offer complementary insight into the gain evolution in LGADs after irradiation. Across all devices, lower energy protons induce stronger gain layer degradation, confirming expectations. However, 400 MeV protons consistently appear less damaging than both lower and higher energy protons, an unexpected deviation from a monotonic energy trend. Conversion of proton fluences to 1 MeV neutron-equivalent fluences reduces but does not eliminate these differences, indicating that the standard Non-Ionizing Energy Loss (NIEL) scaling does not fully account for the underlying defect formation mechanisms at different energies and requires revision when considering irradiation fields that contain a broader spectrum of particle types and energies.
toXiv_bot_toot

Dang it all. The dryer at our holiday accommodation appears to have, bizarrely, melted the zip (just a small section, but enough) on my Cactus shorts... and now I'm perpetually flying low. These are my 90% of days-type clothing in summer. Sigh. Luckily, I'll be able to take them in for repairs shortly... assuming I can find something to wear while they're at the shop.

My neighbor took this picture of our shared backyard last night.
#NYC #snowmaggedon2026 #Queens

A look at the growth of Belfast in Northern Ireland as a home for producing TV shows, following the success of the comedy Derry Girls (Hollie Richardson/The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/feb/13/belfast-home-of-quality-tv-drama…

The January wildfires that ripped through Los Angeles forced the state to spend billions in disaster aid
-- and delay tax filings for LA residents.
The cost of Medi-Cal,
the state-run health insurance program for low-income residents, ballooned to $6 billion more than anticipated.
Donald Trump’s on-again-off-again tariff policies rocked the stock market,
which California heavily relies on for tax revenue.
And the state lodged a flurry of lawsuits again…

Your one-minute guide to California’s budget outlook this year
Spoiler alert: California’s deficit grows, uncertainty looms, and state leaders may have fewer options than before to tackle it.

Wow, that was a wild night. Hail/sleet, thunder & lightning, lots of water falling from the sky.