Giant hole appears at 'the end of the world' in Siberia

[email protected] (The Independent)
July 18, 2014

Giant holeJul 18: A mysterious crater has appeared at the "end of the world" in Siberia, leaving a pit 80m wide and so deep it has not yet been measured.

Researchers are being dispatched to investigate the hole, which has confounded scientists with its dramatic appearance.

Some have speculated it could have been made by a meteorite striking earth, an underground explosion, or is a sinkhole caused by collapsing rock, the Siberian Times reported.

One imaginative online commentator claimed it could even be evidence "of the arrival of a UFO craft" to the planet.

The area's name, Yamal, translates as the "end of the world" and the remote peninsula reaches into the Arctic Ocean.

It holds some of Russia's largest gas reserves and the crater appeared less than 20 miles from the biggest gas field, Bovanenkovo.

The dark colour of the crater's sides was said in a Zvezda TV report to indicate "temperature processes" or burning.

Whatever caused it, it is large enough to comfortably fit several military helicopters in the entrance.

Experts from the Centre for the Study of the Arctic and the Cryosphere Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences will take samples of soil, air and water.

A spokesman for the Russian Emergencies Ministry's Yamal branch ruled out a meteorite but said it was too early to say what cause the crater.

Initial reports about the phenomenon were dismissed as fakes but evidence has proved its existence for the last two years.

Anna Kurchatova, from the Sub-Arctic Scientific Research Centre, told the Siberian Times global warming could be a cause.

She believes the hole was formed by a mixture of water, salt and gas, igniting an underground explosion.

The gas had accumulated in ice mixed with sand beneath the surface of what was a sea 10,000 years ago, and ignited when the permafrost melted "like popping a champagne bottle", she claimed.

If her analysis is correct, another explosion could have worrying implications for the many underground gas pipelines running through the region.

The nearby Bovanenkovo field is of central importance to gas supplies from Siberia to the world.

Yamal is also known for its huge reindeer herds, which are managed by the indigenous Nenets.

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News Network
March 18,2020

San Francisco, Mar 18: Facebook said a bug in its anti-spam system temporarily blocked the publication of links to news stories about the coronavirus. Guy Rosen, Facebook's vice president of integrity, said on Twitter Tuesday that the company was working on a fix for the problem.

Users complained that links to news stories about school closings and other information related to the virus outbreak were blocked by the company's automated system.

Later on Tuesday, Rosen tweeted that Facebook had restored all the incorrectly deleted posts, which also covered topics beyond the coronavirus.

Rosen said the problems were unrelated to any changes in Facebook's content-moderator workforce. The company reportedly sent its human moderators home this week because of the coronavirus outbreak.

A representative for Facebook did not immediately respond to questions on the status of Facebook's content moderators, many of whom do not work directly for the company and are not always able to work from home.

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News Network
June 30,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 30: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Monday launched 'Skill Connect Forum' and said that the government is committed to provide impetuous to creating jobs by reviving economic and industrial activities.

The 'Skill Connect Forum' portal connects both private entrepreneurs and job seekers on the same platform.

After launching the forum, the Chief Minister said that the portal provides information on jobs available and who needs a job. "Under this forum, an unemployed will be imparted skills and then enabled to get a job," Yediyurappa said.
Besides providing jobs via registration, the portal also provides a skilled pool of people for those looking to hire, he added.

Deputy Chief Minister Dr CN Ashwath Narayan, who is also the Skill Development Minister said that portal will be a boon to the youth seeking jobs and it will avoid unemployment issue to a great extent.

"All these years, there was no information and communication between job seekers and recruiters. The portal will solve that problem," he said.

Narayan said that there was no proper information on skilled workers and job market. Moreover, skill development was not in sync with the market. All these issues have been addressed by the portal, he added.

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Agencies
February 5,2020

San Francisco, Feb 5: After a German artist, Simon Weckert, demonstrated how he "hacked" Google Maps with 99 smartphones and a wagon to create "virtual traffic jams" on the streets of Berlin, Google responded to the incident saying it "appreciates" creative use of maps.

Admitting that it has not quite cracked travelling by wagon, the tech giant also hinted that it might use cases like this to improve how its maps work.

"We appreciate seeing creative uses of Google Maps like this as it helps us make maps work better over time," 9to5Google quoted a Google spokesperson as saying.

In a YouTube video, Weckert showed that he put 99 smartphones with Google Maps onto a small wagon cart and then wheeled that cart around various streets in Berlin, including outside the Google office, Android Authority reported on Monday.

The smartphones "apparently fooled Google Maps" into thinking that there was a high concentration of users on those streets.

Because the second-hand phones were in a cart, Maps was further tricked into believing that the traffic was slow-moving.

As a result, the navigation app started showing virtual traffic jams by turning green streets to red in the online navigational tool, showcasing how digital technology can have a real impact on the real world.

"Traffic data in Google Maps is refreshed continuously thanks to information from a variety of sources, including aggregated anonymised data from people who have location services turned on and contributions from the Google Maps community," the Google spokesperson said.

"We've launched the ability to distinguish between cars and motorcycles in several countries including India, Indonesia and Egypt, though we haven't quite cracked travelling by wagon," the statement added. After a German artist, Simon Weckert, demonstrated how he "hacked" Google Maps with 99 smartphones and a wagon to create "virtual traffic jams" on the streets of Berlin, Google responded to the incident saying it "appreciates" creative use of maps.

Admitting that it has not quite cracked travelling by wagon, the tech giant also hinted that it might use cases like this to improve how its maps work.

"We appreciate seeing creative uses of Google Maps like this as it helps us make maps work better over time," 9to5Google quoted a Google spokesperson as saying.

In a YouTube video, Weckert showed that he put 99 smartphones with Google Maps onto a small wagon cart and then wheeled that cart around various streets in Berlin, including outside the Google office, Android Authority reported on Monday.

The smartphones "apparently fooled Google Maps" into thinking that there was a high concentration of users on those streets.

Because the second-hand phones were in a cart, Maps was further tricked into believing that the traffic was slow-moving.

As a result, the navigation app started showing virtual traffic jams by turning green streets to red in the online navigational tool, showcasing how digital technology can have a real impact on the real world.

"Traffic data in Google Maps is refreshed continuously thanks to information from a variety of sources, including aggregated anonymised data from people who have location services turned on and contributions from the Google Maps community," the Google spokesperson said.

"We've launched the ability to distinguish between cars and motorcycles in several countries including India, Indonesia and Egypt, though we haven't quite cracked travelling by wagon," the statement added.

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