Category Archives: Technology and Society

Technology and Society

Linux Problem

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When I do a ‘dnf update’ I get the following message:

Package skypeforlinux_8.62.0.83-1.x86_64.rpm is not signed
The downloaded packages were saved in cache until the next successful transaction.
You can remove cached packages by executing ‘dnf clean packages’.
Error: GPG check FAILED

It won’t update anything until I resolve this, but I have no idea how to do so. I don’t understand why it won’t install anything because there’s a problem with one package.

[Update a while later]

OK, new mystery. I want to set up Windows as a virtual machine, so I hooked up an SSD to put it on. But when I do so, I don’t see anything in the file manager. What’s even weirder is that when I look at /dev, all I see is sdb and sdb1, with no sda. But I know that my OS is on an SSD (presumably sda1), and /home is on a separate hard drive (which would be sdb1). How is this machine even running?

[Update a few minutes later]

OK, I’ve tried two different SSDs with two different cables, but I am not getting an sdc. I shouldn’t have to reboot, should I?

[Update a few more minutes later]

Never mind, bad power connector. But I still don’t understand why I’m not seeing my boot/root drive as sda.

[Update a while later]

OK, I rebooted, and now I see all the drives.

Business, Economics, General Science, Science And Society, Space, Space Science, Technology and Society

Moon Metals

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An interesting new discovery by LRO:

“If this hypothesis is true, only the first few hundred meters of the moon’s surface possesses little iron and titanium oxides, according to NASA. ‘But below the surface, there’s a steady increase to a rich and unexpected bonanza,’ it said.”

At the Space Settlement Summit last fall in Pasadena, a Canadian mining engineer berated the assembled for lack of seriousness when it comes to lunar resources. “You have no idea what’s under that dust,” he said, “and you won’t until you get up there and start drilling.” I thanked him for the comment, noting that for people who claim to want to develop the solar system, we think really small, likely from hanging out with NASA too much.