As our lives have become a seemingly endless series of work meetings on Zoom and FaceTime or WhatsApp catch-ups with friends, we’re all getting a bit sick of seeing people’s faces enclosed in a cold, almost lifeless, digital frame. A tech worker from New York had a different idea for his tech conference, which he announced, in all seriousness, on April Fools’ Day. The free conference is called Deserted Island DevOps and is happening on Thursday, entirely inside Animal Crossing, the Nintendo Switch hit game released in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic. From a report: Speakers are doing their talks on an island in Animal Crossing specifically built for the conference, and attendees can follow along in the game, on Twitch, or Zoom, as a fallback option. Other than the unusual, and incredibly colorful and fun setting, the conference is very much like any other conference. The speakersâ(TM) avatars are standing behind a podium, their slides are being displayed next to them, and attendees sit in the audience. Crucially, the conference isn’t about Animal Crossing, it’s kind of a standard software development type conference. It just happens to be happening inside a video game.

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Source: Slashdot – This Tech Conference Is Being Held on an Animal Crossing Island

Crashing waves emitting a flash of neon blue have lit up darkened stretches of Southern California’s coastline this month, most recently making an appearance in the South Bay. From a report: The sporadic phenomenon — sometimes called sea sparkle — is something scientists have been studying for 120 years. It’s associated with a red tide, or an algae bloom, made up of organisms called dinoflagellates. These tiny single-celled organisms are common members of the coastal plankton community that float on or near the ocean’s surface and can emit bioluminescence, most commonly when they’re grabbed by a predator. The light acts to startle their attacker, according to Michael Latz, a marine biologist with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.

Occasionally, the organisms are found in high concentrations, resulting in red tides and known for giving the ocean water a deep red, brown or orange hue during the day. At night, they can put on a truly spectacular show when jostled by a crashing wave or the wake of a boat. Red tides are difficult to predict, and not all of them produce bioluminescence. Scientists still aren’t sure about all the factors that lead to them, Latz said.

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Source: Slashdot – Glowing Blue Waves Lighting Up SoCal Coastline Roll Into the South Bay