Episode 536: Trekking Through Space, Time, and Disaster Tech

Real Life: Steven is sick or dead, we don't remember, so Ben and Devon take over the show. Devon is traveling for the holidays so needs to bill as much as possible at work. Devon explains what it's like to be an independent contractor. Ben's work is a little less reliable. Snoop Dogg records a holiday message for Ben's parent, parent, parent company. Snoop Dogg is somehow still as famous as ever.   Future or Now: This Week in Space Astrophysicists capture astonishing images of gamma-ray flare from supermassive black hole M87. The jet is tens of millions of times larger than the black hole's event horizon. The galaxy M87, located in the Virgo constellation, provided the first-ever photo of a black hole in 2019, when the Event Horizon Telescope captured an image of the supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center. An international research team has now observed a teraelectronvolt gamma-ray flare seven orders of magnitude -- tens of millions of times -- larger than the event horizon, or surface of the black hole itself. A flare of this intensity -- which has not been observed in over a decade -- can offer crucial insights into how particles, such as electrons and positrons, are accelerated in the extreme environments near black holes. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/12/241213140634.htm  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_87  Black holes and why they look like that: https://youtu.be/zUyH3XhpLTo?si=7drAgoVloX9hytmo    New Technology Could Keep Communications Going During Disasters RNZ (12/6) News from New Zealand: "The 'mesh node' is a small black walkie-talkie sized box that connects to a cellphone through Bluetooth. It then connects to a network of solar powered nodes across the region, which allows users to send short text messages, even when all other communications are down. It has been tailor-made by Tai Rāwhiti Civil Defence, and emergency manager Ben Green said it is "a cost-effective solution for reliable communications in a disaster." https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/535819/new-technology-could-keep-communications-going-during-disasters    Book Club: Next week book club: WHERE RABBITS COME FROM, a French animated short film that's being shopped around for awards this season. The answer will surprise you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH_TgDEuCfI&ab_channel=StudioNiloc  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAkqGMU-mug&list=PLwDe6hrCodhk0k3qCN0QTqixXu6g2R5Nh&index=6  Lower Decks   The 947th episode of Star Trek was the penultimate episode of Lower Decks. This episodes has awesome cameos and did multiverse right. Devon still likes the show but doesn't feel it's actually Star Trek canon. We wish Loer Decks had gone for seven seasons. There's plans for more comedic Star Trek in the future. Will it be as good as Lower Decks? More Star Trek News  The Section 31 movie is coming in January. Ben is looking forward to it, Devon has no plans to watch it. Ben is excited by the secondary cast of the movie. Are there Xindi in the movie? The movie is set in the "Lost Era".