pyroclast writes: After years of requests from the Linux gaming community, GOG has officially confirmed that it is developing native Linux support for the GOG Galaxy launcher. The announcement marks one of the biggest shifts in the company's history and signals a stronger commitment to Linux as a first-class gaming platform. While GOG has offered DRM-free Linux game downloads since 2014, its Galaxy launcher has remained exclusive to Windows and macOS—until now.

In a statement to GamingOnLinux, GOG joint CEO Krzysztof Papliski said the company has hired a dedicated specialist and is actively exploring the best approach for bringing Galaxy to Linux. He described Linux as "one of the topics we hear the most about from our community," emphasizing that the project is now an active development priority.

The rapid adoption of Valve's Steam Deck, continuous improvements to Proton, and increasing hardware compatibility have significantly expanded Linux's role in PC gaming. As Linux's share of Steam users has grown, more developers and publishers have begun treating the platform as a viable target rather than a niche operating system.

For GOG, supporting Linux more fully aligns with its philosophy of giving users greater control over their purchased games.

An official Linux Galaxy client could simplify game management for thousands of Linux users.

Potential benefits include:

* Easier installation and updating of GOG titles
* Native achievement synchronization
* Improved cloud save support
* Better integration with modern Linux desktops
* Reduced dependence on compatibility layers
* Official technical support from GOG

While third-party launchers have served the community well, many users have long preferred an officially maintained solution.

Combined with continued investments in Proton, Vulkan, Steam Deck compatibility, and native Linux game development, GOG's announcement reinforces the momentum behind Linux as an increasingly important gaming platform. As more companies recognize the platform's growth, Linux users can expect broader support from game publishers and software developers alike.

There are seismic concerns where earthquakes can be generated through overstressing the subsurface when fracking. Hot spring chemicals, primarily sulfur related compounds, potentially migrating to the surface. However, since EGS does not target hydrocarbons and the risk of encountering gas pockets are quite low (a large concern in traditional fracking) as the subsurface targets are hot rocks in the basement rock. The purpose of FORGE, mentioned in the original article, is to provide a field lab to evaluate these questions and give better insight into EGS. Here are the publications coming out of FORGE https://utahforge.com/publicat...

Yes, the potential is there but depending on the heat in those wells will determine their viability to conversion. Here's a list of geothermal potential maps for North America https://www.smu.edu/dedman/aca.... The oil/gas plays are in areas with lower heat, due to the conditions to make the organic conversions to create those products. Eastern Utah has low temps but high natural gas, Wyoming and Texas are similar. Conversion would be ideal, if the heat is there to support it.

The extractive economy unearths inert to extremely hazardous stuff then the processing to concentrate the product exacerbates what already was toxic. In the case of EGS, the areas that are developed are evaluated for heat, not mineral or organic sources. In most cases, the heat is near the surface within volcanically derived bedrock with the primary concern of radioactive rock exposure, which is relatively low, among other volcanic chemical hazards. Long-term filtration through the rock would increase the concentration of these components in a closed system, which would need to be monitored. Sites are evaluated for these hazards, and samples are taken to evaluate the risks and determine the mitigative response needed to move forward with the site or not.

It is fracking, that's what EGS is. The system targets deep (~8000 feet) hot (~200C) impermeable rock that normally would not be viable for traditional geothermal production and creates pathways to extract the heat by connecting wells to circulate water. The seismic issue comes from the over-pressurization of reinjecting contaminated water from oil/gas production. In EGS, the fracking process targets specific pressures to generate the pathways and produces minimal to undetectable seismic surficial activity. The DOE-sponsored FORGE field lab in Utah, https://utahforge.com/laborato..., has been studying this process for the past few years and provides seismic data for the subsurface ground stimulations https://utahforge.com/seismic-.... Check out their data portal for more information. To answer your question of permanency, most fracking activities use a specific type of sand to fill in the generated cracks allowing the pathways to be maintained, depending on the material being fractured.

pyroclast writes: The Anthropocene Working Group have put forward Crawford Lake, in Canada, as a Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the Anthropocene. A GSSP is an internationally agreed-upon reference point to show the start of a new geological period or epoch in layers of rock that have built up through the ages.

The team has gathered core sample sections from a variety of environments around the world, from coral reefs to ice sheets. Samples from a range of these sites were then sent for analysis to the University of Southampton's GAU-Radioanalytical labs at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton. Researchers there processed the samples to detect a key marker of human influence on the environment — the presence of plutonium.

Professor Andrew Cundy, Chair in Environmental Radiochemistry at the University of Southampton and member of the Anthropocene Working Group, explains: "The presence of plutonium gives us a stark indicator of when humanity became such a dominant force that it could leave a unique global 'fingerprint' on our planet.

Other geological indicators of human activity include high levels of ash from coal-fired power stations, high concentrations of heavy metals, such as lead, and the presence of plastic fibres and fragments. These coincide with 'The Great Acceleration' — a dramatic surge across a range of human activity, from transportation to energy use, starting in the mid-20th century and continuing today.

As a geologist mapping landslides and landslide potential, it is helpful to keep generating these types of data studies. As what appears to be obvious and apparent common knowledge, based on some of these comments, the correlation of landslide triggers can be challenging. Engineering Geologists and Geological Engineers know what can cause a landslide, some have calculated the window of failure pretty accurately (for smaller slides), but the data involved is massive. Knowing the material, moisture input/output, material response, air pressure influences, thermal expansion, etc, then calculating the exceedance of the factor of safety for the material is tricky, then do that over several miles. Groundwater influences have always been the key failure trigger, knowing how the interaction with the material brings it to failure is the challenge.

So it appears phase two of COVID reclusion will lead to a resurgence of Second Life. Conferences will be held there and corporations will generate their office space within. Phase three will be total immersion VR; dare I say we saw a preview with Ready Player One? God help us all.

An anonymous reader writes: As reported previously by ZDNet, the bug, dubbed "KRACK" — which stands for Key Reinstallation Attack — is at heart a fundamental flaw in the way Wi-Fi Protected Access II (WPA2) operates. According to security researcher and academic Mathy Vanhoef, who discovered the flaw, threat actors can leverage the vulnerability to decrypt traffic, hijack connections, perform man-in-the-middle attacks, and eavesdrop on communication sent from a WPA2-enabled device. In total, ten CVE numbers have been preserved to describe the vulnerability and its impact, and according to the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the main affected vendors are Aruba, Cisco, Espressif Systems, Fortinet, the FreeBSD Project, HostAP, Intel, Juniper Networks, Microchip Technology, Red Hat, Samsung, various units of Toshiba and Ubiquiti Networks. ZDNet has a list of all the patches currently available.

These events are normally considered geologic hazards: earthquakes, landslides, floods, etc. These are hazards because of the impact they have on us and our way of life, same is considered with climate change, how much will this change impact us and are we okay with that. So the question is, how will this impact us and since it's up were people are not, nothing much will come from this other than more evidence there is a rapid change to the environment. We always need more data to improve our understanding, this gives us that.

Wait, it's 2017 and you've never heard of Linux or the GPL? Also, how is this net neutrality? This is a licensing problem you have and not net neutrality. Let me tell you what net neutrality is: Say Microsoft had an interest in all other OS downloads, they convince the ISPs to limit the speed/access to sites they dictate and/or redirect OS searches to their site instead. Thus preventing access to their competitors. Now MS starts an entertainment business and further convinces the ISPs to limit/redirect Youtube, Netflix, Amazon Streaming, Pandora, etc, etc to encourage consumers to use their FAST HD entertainment. So the ISPs decide to set up a business model to allow the other companies to compete for more access/speeds benefiting only them leaving little option for the consumer. OR they did with cable and offer tiered access to specific sites at various prices. They will go far further hurting the consumer then they ever did with bundling cable. Also, why do you feel justified in taking a community code without contributing back? I know capitalism is capitalism, but linux is for a better overall community not for a single profiteer. Make your own shit if you want that.

https://xkcd.com/1168/

pyroclast writes: According to research from Duke University https://www.sciencedaily.com/r..., rocks forming from fast spreading tectonic plates create hydrogen gas in large quantities. The tectonic alternation of hydrolyzed ultramafic rock to serpentinized rock has the byproduct of hydrogen gas.

"A major benefit of this work is that it provides a testable, tectonic-based model for not only identifying where free hydrogen gas may be forming beneath the seafloor, but also at what rate, and what the total scale of this formation may be, which on a global basis is massive," said [researcher] Lincoln F. Pratson[.]

"Most scientists previously thought all hydrogen production occurs only at slow-spreading lithosphere, because this is where most serpentinized rocks are found. Although faster-spreading lithosphere contains smaller quantities of this rock, our analysis suggests the amount of H2 produced there might still be large," [researcher Stacy] Worman said.

[S]cientists need to understand where the gas goes after it's produced. "Maybe microbes are eating it, or maybe it's accumulating in reservoirs under the seafloor. We still don't know," Worman said. "Of course, such accumulations would have to be quite significant to make hydrogen gas produced by serpentinization a viable fuel source."

From QuakeGuard technical page: "The QuakeGuard technology detects the non-destructive P-waves while filtering other sources of vibrations that can lead to false alarms. The elimination of false warnings is a result of QuakeGuard's patented DSP algorithms that filter detected vibrations to isolate the signature waveforms of a seismic event that has just occurred. Depending on the geological composition of the terrain and the distance from the epicenter of the seismic event, a warning of 10 to 60 seconds is possible."

Assuming this is the same QuakeGuard as mentioned in the article, here is their technical explanation http://www.seismicwarning.com/technology/waveseparation.php