SoylentNews

An Anonymous Coward writes:

During a hearing of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology Tuesday, Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher managed to baffle and amaze when he asked about life on Mars.

[...] "You have indicated that Mars had a, was totally different thousands of years ago," the California congressman said, addressing a panel of space science experts.

"Is it possible that there was a civilization on Mars thousands of years ago?".

[...] Kenneth Farley — NASA Mars 2020 rover project scientist — had to start off his answer by correcting Rohrabacher's question.

"So, the evidence is that Mars was different billions of years ago, not thousands of years ago," Farley said.

[...] "Would you rule that out? That — see, there are some people — well, anyway," Rohrabacher said.

Farley answered: "I would say that is extremely unlikely."

Source: Mashable

Original Submission

CoolHand writes:

A recent law promoting whaling allows Japan to take a key step towards resuming commercial hunting of the giant mammals that are "a great source of food," officials said on Thursday.

Japan defies international protests to carry out what it calls scientific research whaling, having repeatedly said its ultimate goal is to whale commercially again. In the 2016-2017 season, its fleet took 333 minke whales in the Antarctic.

The new law, passed in June, will help enshrine as a "national responsibility" an activity that was previously just a tacit policy, said Shigeki Takaya, director of the Whaling Affairs Office at Japan's Fisheries Agency.

"While the government has given its support to the implementation of scientific research into whales, it is heartening to see that the law clarifies its position even further," Takaya told a news conference.

In 2014, the International Court of Justice ruled that Japan should halt Antarctic whaling.

Per the Huff, Japan's government thumbs its nose at international law at the behest of their commercial fishing industries, and gives permission to "deal with" protesters.

In a 2012 poll conducted for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), 88.8% of the Japanese public said they had not bought any whale meat in the past 12 months. While 26.6% said they supported Japan's scientific whaling, 18.5% opposed the hunts and the rest of the population were undecided, hardly a ringing endorsement of Japan's bloody whaling policy.

Much of the whale meat brought in from the scientific whaling scheme is being held in warehouses, frozen because it does not sell well on the Japan market. Sales of dolphin meat have also plummeted. Because sales of whale meat are so poor, the Japan government has subsidized the scientific whaling scheme at 5 billion yen ($44.7 million US) annually.

Furthermore, the new legislation allows Japan to send vessels to Antarctica with the fleet specifically to deal with harassment from such organizations as the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which seeks to interfere with whaling activities they contend violate international law. [...] The legislation also gives new authority to Japan immigration enforcement to deal with people who may be "likely" to sabotage or harass whaling vessels in Japan. This is an obvious effort to legalize the blocking of people, such as members of Sea Shepherd, who come to Japan to legally and peacefully protest the dolphin hunts in Taiji.

Original Submission

martyb writes:

Weather is big business. Farmers want to know when is the best time to plant (or harvest). Event organizers want to know if a thunderstorm might come up during an open-air concert. And the rest of us want to know about their daily commute and plans for the weekend barbeque.

During a chat not long ago in the #Soylent channel of SoylentNews' IRC server, I discovered there are likely others who have an interest in all things weather-related.

I thought it might be interesting to see what weather resources my fellow Soylentils use. Not just for forecasting, but for getting current conditions, and while we are at it, let's include space weather forecasts, too. Note: I live in the USA and my primary browser is Pale Moon; please submit comments with other resources!

• Broadcast media - Local radio / TV station broadcasts.
• The Weather Channel - Cable TV weather channel
• http://www.accuweather.com/ - online weather forecast
• http://www.intellicast.com/ - online weather forecast
• ForecastFox -- an addon for Firefox, it gets a localized report from AccuWeather and displays it in a toolbar in FireFox (original, FF v28+) browser.
• http://images.intellicast.com/WxImages/RadarLoop/usa_None_anim.gif - Radar Loop for entire USA.
• https://earth.nullschool.net/ - earth :: a global map of wind, weather, and ocean conditions
• http://en.blitzortung.org/live_lightning_maps.php - A worldwide, real time, community collaborative lightning location network.
• http://www.weather.gov/ US National Weather Service.
• http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/planetary-k-index - Planetary k-index -- likelihood of geomagnetic storms (aurora).
• http://services.swpc.noaa.gov/images/aurora-forecast-northern-hemisphere.jpg - visual prediction of aurora in northern hemisphere or southern hemisphere

Many of the sites require some Javascript, but I have had success using NoScript and selectively enabling from 1 to 4 domains to get things to work.

My favorite going-down-the-rabbit-hole site is at nullschool.net -- click on the word "earth" to bring up (and hide) a menu of features and presentations you can choose. Check out ocean currents and temps, surface winds and temps, etc. See their about page for a more detailed summary of the options.

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

For quite some time now Linux and FOSS vlogger Nixie Pixel, has been bringing videos about Linux, FOSS, and more to many a thirsty geek. Finally, after a mysterious absence of one year, the vlog darling returns to YouTube.

If you're not familiar with her, she has two channels on YouTube:

NixieDoesLinux, and "OS.ALT. The second of which covers the indie/hacking/geek community, including open source alternatives to operating systems and gaming."

Original Submission

frojack writes:

Remember all the handwringing over the fact that games like Pokemon go brought people into their own parks? We covered it just a few weeks ago. Seems a lot of Soylentals were very much in favor of requirements for demanding pre-approval and fees from any company that may someday make any future profit from any citizen who wandererd into a city park.

https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=17/06/10/1952248

Well it didn't take long for that to be slapped down by the courts.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/07/judge-blocks-law-regulating-where-augmented-reality-games-can-be-played/

A judge on Thursday declared as unconstitutional a local Wisconsin ordinance mandating that the makers of augmented reality games get special use permits if their mobile apps were to be played in county parks. The law—the nation's first of its kind—was challenged on First Amendment grounds amid concerns it amounted to a prior restraint of a game maker's speech. What's more, the law was seemingly impossible to comply with.

Original Submission

canopic jug writes:

With many countries already heading towards cashless transactions, we are facing some hard decisions. These decisions will be made whether we ignore them or not, so to have a say it is essential to be active. These are not new issues, but they are quickly approaching. Dominic Frisby at The Guardian is the latest to take up some of the pertinent questions around the move to a cashless society.

Poor people and small businesses rely on cash. A contactless system will likely entrench poverty and pave the way for terrifying levels of surveillancePoor people and small businesses rely on cash. A contactless system will likely entrench poverty and pave the way for terrifying levels of surveillance

Source: Why we should fear a cashless world

Original Submission

takyon writes:

New artifact finds have pushed the minimum age for the arrival of humans in Australia to 65,000 years ago:

Archaeologists have found the first evidence to suggest that Aboriginal people have been in Australia for at least 65,000 years. The discovery indicates their arrival on the continent was up to 18,000 years earlier than previously thought.

It was made after sophisticated artefacts were excavated from a rock shelter in the Northern Territory. Researchers unearthed what they say are the world's oldest stone axes and ochre crayons, thought to be used for art.

The research, which has been peer-reviewed, was published in the journal Nature [DOI: 10.1038/nature22968] [DX]. It is based on findings at the Madjedbebe shelter, near Kakadu National Park.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

You'd better get that in writing:

A plan to build an ultrafast Hyperloop [One] tube train has been given "verbal [government] approval" to connect large cities on the East Coast, tech entrepreneur Elon Musk says. He adds that the system would whisk passengers from New York to Washington, D.C., in 29 minutes.

After his tweet about the plan set off intense interest, Musk added a clarification, stating, "Still a lot of work needed to receive formal approval, but am optimistic that will occur rapidly."

We're seeking more details from Musk and his companies that are involved in the Hyperloop project — from the vehicle unit to the Boring Co., which would dig the tunnels. He did not specify, for instance, which agency had given its approval or when construction might begin.

Engineers who are working on the project have the goal of sending pods through a tube at speeds of more than 700 mph, using magnetic levitation and an electric motor in a vacuum environment.

The Boring Company's mundane tunneling plans may have been a red herring to distract from underground Hyperloop development.

Is this how Muskmania dies? With an undeliverable promise of multi-billion dollar infrastructure? Or will Musk deliver a transportation system faster than the highest-speed rail, create the world's most valuable car company, and build a Hyperloop on Mars designed to transport him from the ice caps to his throne (crafted from the disinterred bones of Steve Jobs) at Olympus Mons?

Mykl writes:

Vice's Motherboard reports that an exploit in the popular online game Counter-Strike led to potential execution of specially crafted malware:

The researcher found that the Source engine could be exploited by loading malicious code into a custom asset within a player-made map. Games sometimes allow players to make custom maps for online play. In these maps, players can load custom assets such as textures, character skins, or ragdoll models...

A hacker could create a malicious ragdoll model, load it into his or her game, invite people to join, and then frag them to trigger the exploit and hack into their computer, according to Justin Taft, the researcher who found and reported the vulnerability.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

NPR visits a prison goat farm that was the subject of an activist's ire back in 2015:

Whole Foods loved [Jim Schott's] cheese. His company [Haystack Mountain] grew. It also changed. Ten years ago, Haystack Mountain started buying milk from a farm in a prison. Schott doesn't recall telling Whole Foods or his other customers about that change in the Haystack Mountain story. In any case, Schott felt that it was a good thing — "a model of good prison management."

Then, in 2015, a prison reform activist named Michael Allen sent a letter to John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods. Allen demanded that Whole Foods stop selling Haystack Mountain's cheese because it was made, in part, using the labor of prisoners earning pennies per hour. The way Allen sees it, Haystack was "taking advantage of helpless, powerless individuals. They're fair game for corporations to make money off of. And I just told [Mackey] that we wanted him to get out of that business."

Many things besides cheese are made in prisons. Across the country, tens of thousands of inmates work for businesses that have set up operations inside prison walls. They make flags and furniture. Most of the time, they attract little attention. People may feel differently about something they eat, though, especially a boutique food like goat cheese. To Allen's amazement and delight, Whole Food caved to his demands. In a statement, the company said that some of its customers weren't comfortable with products made by prisoners, so it would no longer sell them.

The inmates are still milking those goats, though. I was curious about this farm, and set up a visit.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

I'm not sure about "mobile first", but Microsoft's "cloud first" strategy seems to be paying off:

Microsoft Corp reported better-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue on Thursday, helped by strong performance in its fast-growing cloud business. Shares of the world's largest software company rose more than 3 percent in after-hours trading, after touching a record high of $74.30 during the regular session.

Microsoft said revenue from its cloud unit, which includes the flagship Azure platform and server products, rose about 11 percent to $7.43 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter ended June 30. Analysts on average had expected revenue of $7.32 billion, according to data and analytics firm FactSet.

Revenue from Azure nearly doubled in the quarter.

Microsoft Azure.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Xanda the Lion is dead!

Two years after Cecil the lion was killed by a trophy-hunter in Zimbabwe, prompting global outrage, his son may have met a similar sad end. Xanda, a six-year-old lion with several young cubs, was reportedly shot on a trophy hunt. He is said to have died outside the Hwange National Park in northern Zimbabwe. The lion had been fitted with an electronic tracking collar by Oxford University researchers.

The BBC's Africa Correspondent, Andrew Harding, reports that at the age of six, Xanda was old enough to be legally targeted by big game hunters. These individuals, many from the US, UK and South Africa, pay tens of thousands of pounds for the deadly pursuit - thereby funding the staff who protect other wildlife in the National Park.

Cecil incident from 2015.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

A team of teenagers who competed in a robotics competition in Washington, D.C. have gone missing:

Six teenagers from a Burundi robotics team have been reported missing after an international competition in Washington and two of them were seen entering Canada, police said on Thursday.

The four males and two females were last seen late on Tuesday afternoon when the robotics contest ended at the FIRST Global Challenge, police said. Authorities issued missing persons photographs of the six on Wednesday.

Two of the Burundians - Audrey Mwamikazi, 17, and 16-year-old Don Ingabire - were spotted crossing the United States border into Canada, District of Columbia police spokeswoman Margarita Mikhaylova said.

"We don't have any indication of foul play and we're continuing to investigate this case," she said. Police said they did not have information about how they were spotted or the nature of the border crossing.

DC Police photo on Twitter with contact number. Time notes:

There was no official indication Thursday that any of the teens were trying to avoid returning to their homes in Africa, but a leader in the Burundian community in the U.S. suggested that they may be intending to seek asylum. Immigration attorneys said an asylum application could take years to sort out.

Also at NPR, which gives a reason why the kids may want to seek asylum:

Burundi, which is in central Africa, has faced intense political unrest since 2015. "Hundreds of people have been killed, and many others tortured or forcibly disappeared," according to Human Rights Watch. "The country's once vibrant independent media and nongovernmental organizations have been decimated, and more than 400,000 people have fled the country."

Original Submission

takyon writes:

An international investigation has taken down two dark web marketplaces:

Two of the largest dark web marketplaces have been shut down following a "landmark" international law enforcement investigation.

The AlphaBay and Hansa sites had been associated with the trade in illicit items such as drugs, weapons, malware and stolen data.

According to Europol, there were more than 250,000 listings for illegal drugs and toxic chemicals on AlphaBay.

Hansa was seized and covertly monitored for a month before being deactivated.

The agency said it believed the bust would lead to hundreds of new investigations in Europe.

"The capability of drug traffickers and other serious criminals around the world has taken a serious hit today," said Europol's executive director Rob Wainwright.

[Ed. addition] The US Department Of Justice announcement goes into considerable detail about the size of the site and the products carried there, as well as the agencies around the world which assisted with the takedown.

Further, Ars Technica UK explains the critical opsec mistake that lead to the takedown:

takyon writes:

Your mass just decreased:

[In] recent decades, physicists have combined strong electric and magnetic fields in a device called a Penning trap to measure the proton's mass more and more precisely. In these experiments, an electric field traps the proton while a magnetic field forces it to move in a circle. While it rotates, the proton will vibrate, or oscillate, at a frequency that's related to its mass. Researchers can calculate the proton's mass by measuring these oscillations, and comparing them to those of a reference—typically, the nucleus of a carbon-12 atom, which is defined as 12 atomic mass units.

But no experiment is perfect. Magnetic fields vary in time and space, causing small measurement errors. To reduce the impact of these fluctuations, a group of physicists working in Mainz, Germany, loaded the carbon nucleus and the proton into separate storage traps, then shuttled them quickly into and out of the measurement trap. Although swapping the nucleus and the proton required more than 30 minutes in previous experiments, the German group needed only about 3 minutes—limiting the chances for errors to accumulate. The team also added more motion detectors to their setup, leading to a measurement with an overall precision of 32 parts per trillion.

The researchers found the mass to be 1.007276466583 atomic mass units [DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.033001] [DX]. That's roughly 30 billionths of a percent lower than the average value from past experiments—a seemingly tiny difference that is actually significant by three standard deviations, the team reports this week in Physical Review Letters. (By comparison, scientists typically consider two standard deviations enough for an experimental result to be statistically significant.)

Original Submission