Tootfinder

The fourth #AAS247 press conference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZmP4fC07-Q about The Milky Way and Stellar Explosions covered the paper Resolving the Fe K-alpha Doublet of the Galactic Center Molecular Cloud G0.11-0.11 with XRISM (https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.02482), 25 years of observing the Kepler supernova remnant with Chandra (https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2026/kepler/ and https://chandra.si.edu/press/26_releases/press_010626.html and https://www.nasa.gov/missions/chandra/supernova-remnant-video-from-nasas-chandra-is-decades-in-making/) and the paper Where do stars explode in the ISM? -- The distribution of dense gas around evolved massive stars in M33 (https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.17694 with https://public.nrao.edu/news/stars-that-die-off-the-beaten-path/).

Sources: Forbes has cut ties with dozens of contributing writers; one exec said Forbes needs to ensure the contributor model is "financially sound" (Alexandra Steigrad/New York Post)
https://nypost.com/2025/12/05/me…

Exclusive | Forbes abruptly fires dozens of contributing writers — as bosses move to ensure news site is 'financially sound'
Dozens of the 108-year-old financial news site’s “contributing writers” – from finance and media to lifestyle, sports and food – were informed late Monday that their contracts wer…

eu_procurements: EU procurement contract networks (2008-2016)
A bipartite network of public EU procurement contracts, from 2008 to 2016, between issuing buyers (public institutions such as a ministry or city hall) and supplying winners (a private firm). Contracts are aggregated into annual snapshots, edges are annotated with contract value information. Nodes are annotated with location information, including country of origin.
This network has 839824 nodes and 4098711 edges.

Hollywood Burbank Airport’s air traffic control tower is temporarily unmanned due to staffing shortages during the government shutdown.
Air traffic controllers are working without pay during the shutdown,
leading to an uptick in workers calling out sick.
Outgoing flights have been delayed an average of two hours and 31 minutes,
with several flights canceled.

Burbank Airport air traffic control tower unmanned amid government shutdown
The Hollywood Burbank Airport's air traffic control tower is temporarily unmanned and flights are delayed Monday afternoon due to staffing shortages amid the ongoing government shutdown, according to the FAA

Sources: data center startup Crusoe is arranging an employee share sale involving ~$120M worth of shares that values it at ~$13B, up from $10B just weeks ago (The Information)
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/openais-data-cen…

OpenAI’s Data Center Partner Nears $120 Million Stock Sale For Its Employees
Crusoe, a startup developing a large data center in Texas for Oracle and OpenAI, is arranging an employee share sale that values the seven-year-old firm at around $13 billion, according to two people with knowledge of the transaction. The deal involves selling around $120 million worth of ...

No-reference Quality Assessment of Contrast-distorted Images using Contrast-enhanced Pseudo Reference
Mohammad-Ali Mahmoudpour, Saeed Mahmoudpour
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.05053

No-reference Quality Assessment of Contrast-distorted Images using Contrast-enhanced Pseudo Reference
Contrast change is an important factor that affects the quality of images. During image capturing, unfavorable lighting conditions can cause contrast change and visual quality loss. While various methods have been proposed to assess the quality of images under different distortions such as blur and noise, contrast distortion has been largely overlooked as its visual impact and properties are different from other conventional types of distortions. In this paper, we propose a no-reference image q…

Sources: the Netherlands is prepared to drop the ministerial order that gave it control of Nexperia if China allows exports of its critical chips again (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-07/dutch-ready…

Dutch Ready to Drop Control of Nexperia If Chip Supply Resumes
The Netherlands is prepared to suspend a so-called ministerial order that gave it control over Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia in a move that would de-escalate a fight with Beijing that threatens to disrupt automotive production around the world.

Dish files counterclaims against Disney and ESPN over the launch of limited-time passes for Sling TV and alleges antitrust violations and breach of contract (Todd Spangler/Variety)
https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/dish-countersues-disney-e…

Dish Countersues Disney, ESPN Over Sling TV Short-Term Passes
Dish Network is firing back at Disney and EPSN in a legal dispute over its launch of limited-time passes for Sling TV

How the huge data center buildout is heating up local politics in US towns across red and blue states on issues like water, electricity, and noise (Evan Halper/Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/01/06/da…

The data center rebellion is here, and it’s reshaping the political landscape
As the buildout of AI infrastructure alarms communities, it is fast emerging as a potent electoral issue across the political divide.