SoylentNews

martyb writes:

Nancy Reagan, wife of former US President Ronald Reagan, passed away today at the age of 94 of congestive heart failure.

The New York Times reports:

Nancy Reagan, the influential and stylish wife of the 40th president of the United States who unabashedly put Ronald Reagan at the center of her life but who became a political figure in her own right, died on Sunday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 94.

[...] "Without Nancy, there would have been no Governor Reagan, no President Reagan," said Michael K. Deaver, the longtime aide and close friend of the Reagans who died in 2007.

President Obama said on Sunday that Mrs. Reagan "had redefined the role" of first lady, adding, "Later, in her long goodbye with President Reagan, she became a voice on behalf of millions of families going through the depleting, aching reality of Alzheimer's, and took on a new role, as advocate, on behalf of treatments that hold the potential and the promise to improve and save lives."

Australian Broadcasting Corporation News reports:

Nancy Reagan, devoted wife and trusted confidante to late president Ronald Reagan who after his death became the most ardent guardian of his political legacy, has died aged 94.

The former first lady died at her home in Los Angeles from congestive heart failure, her spokeswoman Joanne Drake said.

She will be buried next to her husband at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, Ms Drake said.

"She is once again with the man she loved," her stepson Michael Reagan wrote on Twitter.

One tech-related aspect of Ronald Reagan's presidency was his championing of the Strategic Defense Initiative aka "Star Wars":

The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons (Intercontinental ballistic missiles and Submarine-launched ballistic missiles).

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Antonin Scalia, a sitting U.S. Supreme Court Justice, has died:

US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia - one of most conservative members of the high court - has died. Justice Scalia's death could shift the balance of power on the US high court, allowing President Barack Obama to add a fifth liberal justice to the court. The court's conservative majority has recently stalled major efforts by the Obama administration on climate change and immigration.

Justice Scalia, 79, was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986. He died in his sleep early on Saturday while in West Texas for [a] hunting trip, the US Marshall service said. Justice Scalia was one of the most prominent proponents of "originalism" - a conservative legal philosophy that believes the US Constitution has a fixed meaning and does not change with the times.

Justice Scalia's death is, unsurprisingly, now being widely reported.

From the San Antonio Express News:

According to a report, Scalia arrived at the ranch on Friday and attended a private party with about 40 people. When he did not appear for breakfast, a person associated with the ranch went to his room and found a body.

[...] The U.S. Marshal Service, the Presidio County sheriff and the FBI were involved in the investigation. Officials with the law enforcement agencies declined to comment.

A federal official who asked not to be named said there was no evidence of foul play and it appeared that Scalia died of natural causes.

A gray Cadillac hearse pulled into the ranch last Saturday afternoon. The hearse came from Alpine Memorial Funeral Home.

Most major news outlets are covering this story, including CNN [video autoplays], The Washington Post, The New York Times, and NBC.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

As expected, gravitational waves, which were predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago, have been detected by the LIGO Collaboration:

Scientists are claiming a stunning discovery in their quest to fully understand gravity. They have observed the warping of space-time generated by the collision of two black holes more than a billion light-years from Earth. The international team says the first detection of these gravitational waves will usher in a new era for astronomy.

It is the culmination of decades of searching and could ultimately offer a window on the Big Bang. The research, by the LIGO Collaboration, has been accepted for publication in the journal Physical Review Letters. The collaboration operates a number of labs around the world that fire lasers through long tunnels, trying to sense ripples in the fabric of space-time. Expected signals are extremely subtle, and disturb the machines, known as interferometers, by just fractions of the width of an atom. But the black hole merger was picked up by two widely separated LIGO facilities in the US.

The historic paper in question: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger (open, DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102)

Archived video of the press conference webcast will be available here.

NASA provided an infographic for their Astronomy Picture of the Day feature with details about the discovery.

Also at NPR, NYT, Scientific American, and Ars Technica Live, The New Yorker. BBC's Jonathan Amos offers an analysis of the discovery.

Original Submission

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

Previously: Militia Occupies Federal Building in Oregon After Rancher Arson Convictions

Russia Today reports:

Ammon Bundy, the leader of the armed group occupying a federal wildlife refuge near Burns, Oregon, and four others have been arrested by law enforcement amid gunfire, according to the FBI.

At 4:25 pm on [January 26], the FBI and Oregon State Police "began an enforcement action to bring into custody a number of individuals associated with the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. During that arrest, there were shots fired", the Bureau said in a statement.

The FBI said one person who was "a subject of a federal probable cause arrest is deceased". He said they are not releasing any information on the person "pending identification by the medical examiner's office".

One person suffered non-life threatening injuries and was taken to a local hospital for treatment. He was arrested and is in custody.

The arrested individuals include:
- Ammon Edward Bundy, age 40, of Emmett, Idaho.
- Ryan C. Bundy, age 43, of Bunkerville, Nevada.
- Brian Cavalier, age 44, of Bunkerville, Nevada.
- Shawna Cox, age 59, of Kanab, Utah.
- Ryan Waylen Payne, age 32, of Anaconda, Montana.

CNN, NYT, Washington Post, BBC, OregonLive.

Original Submission

cmn32480 writes:

From the BBC:

Iran holds two US Navy boats and crew, Pentagon says, adding it has assurances Tehran will return them "promptly"

As this was released at about 4:15pm Eastern time (9:25pm UTC) there are no futher details at this time.

We will update this summary when more information is available.

UPDATE - 9:35pm UTC:

The incident happened near Farsi Island after one of the ships encountered mechanical problems. Fox News reported that the sailors had drifted into Iranian waters, but that has not been independently confirmed. Iran has assured the US that the sailors and two small vessels would be returned promptly, the Associated Press reported.

Original Submission

GungnirSniper writes:

Legendary rock showman David Bowie has passed away from cancer at the age of 69.

This comes after the recent passings of Scott Weiland and Lemmy Kilmister. Keith Richards is still standing.

See also BBC coverage.

Original Submission

North Korea Detonates First Hydrogen Bomb

HughPickens.com writes:

The NYT reports that North Korea has announced it has detonated its first hydrogen bomb dramatically escalating the nuclear challenge from one of the world's most isolated and dangerous states. "This is the self-defensive measure we have to take to defend our right to live in the face of the nuclear threats and blackmail by the United States and to guarantee the security of the Korean Peninsula," said a female North Korean announcer on the state-run network. "With this hydrogen bomb test, we have joined the major nuclear powers." The North's announcement came about an hour after detection devices around the world had picked up a 5.1 seismic event that South Korea said was 30 miles from the Punggye-ri site where the North has conducted nuclear tests in the past.

"North Korea's fourth test — in the context of repeated statements by U.S., Chinese, and South Korean leaders — throws down the gauntlet to the international community to go beyond paper resolutions and find a way to impose real costs on North Korea for pursuing this course of action," says Scott Snyder, a Korea expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. According to the Times, the test is bound to figure in the American presidential campaign, where several candidates have already cited the North's nuclear experimentation as evidence of American weakness — though they have not prescribed alternative strategies for choking off the program. The United States did not develop its first thermonuclear weapons — commonly known as hydrogen bombs — until 1952, seven years after the first and only use of nuclear weapons in wartime.

mendax writes:

The New York Times is reporting a claim made by the North Korean government in which is says that it has detonated a hydrogen bomb:

a claim that, if true, would dramatically escalate the nuclear challenge from one of the world's most isolated and dangerous states.

In a brief announcement, about an hour after seismic detectors around the world picked up a 5.1 magnitude seismic event along the country's northeast cost, officials said that the test was a "complete success." But it is difficult to tell whether that boast is true, and it may be weeks or longer before detectors sent aloft by the United States and other powers can determine what kind of test was conducted.

The apparent North Korean test took place at or near the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, where the three previous tests have been conducted over the past nine years. But if the North Korean claim is true, this one was of a of a different nature.

Like most of the rest of the world who know something about the physics of these devices, I'm very skeptical of this claim, given that, even on a slow news day, the North Korean government has about as much credibility as the boy who cried wolf.

cmn32480 writes:

Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock:

With a heavy heart Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock, stalwart proponent of Free Open Source Software, Father, Son, and the 'ian' in Debian.

Ian started the Debian project in August of 1993, releasing the first versions of Debian later that same year. Debian would go on to become the world's Universal Operating System, running on everything from embedded devices to the space station.

Ian's sharp focus was on creating a Distribution and community culture that did the right thing, be it ethically, or technically. Releases went out when they were ready, and the project's staunch stance on Software Freedom are the gold standards in the Free and Open Source world.

Ian's devotion to the right thing guided his work, both in Debian and in the subsequent years, always working towards the best possible future.

Ian's dream has lived on, the Debian community remains incredibly active, with thousands of developers working untold hours to bring the world a reliable and secure operating system.

The thoughts of the Debian Community are with Ian's family in this hard time.

His family has asked for privacy during this difficult time and we very much wish to respect that. Within our Debian and the larger Linux community condolences may be sent to in-memoriam-ian@debian.org where they will be kept and archived.

Docker, Murdock's employer, has this statement (cache).

Ian Murdock: How I came to find Linux, from August.

Previous coverage.

Original Submission

http://store.steampowered.com/ has been taken offline because a DDOS attack was allowing users to see random other users account profiles.

There are reports of seeing pages displayed in different languages (Russian, English, German, etc.) as well as the display of other people's account details such as email address, account balance, friends, etc.

Other coverage:

• Gaming souk Steam spews credit cards, personal info in Xmas Day security meltdown
• Steam Goes Nuts, Offers Access To Other People's Accounts [UPDATE]
• Is something wrong with Steam?
• Steam Is Randomly Logging Users Into Other People's Accounts And Exposing Their Information [Update]
• Steam Is Going Haywire, People Can Access Others' Accounts [Updated]

UPDATE [2015/12/26-00:03:00]: There are reports that the Steam store was taken offline. Further, I have seen reports that the Steam store is now back up, but some people report still being unable to login.

Original Submission

Falcon 9 Stage 1 successful landing

e_armadillo writes:

I just watched the live stream at http://www.spacex.com/, and they did it! Elon is the man!

SpaceX Succeeds in Landing Booster

J053 writes:

SpaceX has successfully launched their upgraded Falcon-9 rocket, returned and successfully landed the booster stage (on land!), and deployed a constellation of 11 Orbcomm satellites.

SpaceX Just Landed a Rocket for the First Time

martyb writes:

Wired is reporting that SpaceX Just Landed a Rocket for the First Time:

They stuck the landing! For the first time ever, SpaceX has landed a booster after sending its payload into orbit—on the ground.

Over the past year, SpaceX has tried and failed to land the first-stage booster of its Falcon 9 rocket twice on a drone barge in the ocean. (And on its third try, the rocket blew up on launch, which, yeah.) This time, SpaceX managed to land its rocket on a landing pad on Cape Canaveral, Florida. Being able to reuse the booster could help cut launch costs in the future.

Also, SpaceX's YouTube channel posted a 56-minute video: "ORBCOMM-2 Full Launch Webcast by SpaceX".

SpaceX Stage 1 Booster Landed Successfully

el_oscuro writes:

Elon Musk's SpaceX not only blasted 11 satellites to orbit on Monday, but also brought its towering first-stage booster back down, with a historic landing at a pad at Cape Canaveral, Fla.

It was the company's first launch since its rocket carrying cargo to the International Space Station exploded on June 28.

The full video is available http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-spacex-return-to-flight-20151221-story.html

The launch is at about 32 minutes in, and the booster lands at about 42 minutes.

Original Submission #1  Original Submission #2 Original Submission 3

cmn32480 writes:

This evening, December 20, 2015, SpaceX will be launching the upgraded Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral with 11 Orbcomm communications satellites.

SpaceX's live webcast begins at 8:05 p.m. EST (0105 GMT), less than a half-hour before the Falcon 9's scheduled launch time of 8:29 p.m. EST (0129 GMT) with 11 communications satellites for Orbcomm.

Live updates, and the stream of the launch are available at SpaceflightNow.com

From the SpaceflightNow article (separate from the live stream):

SpaceX says Sunday is the target launch date for the first launch of a remodeled version of its Falcon 9 rocket, and the launcher's first mission since a June failure, after completing a practice countdown and engine ignition test Friday.

The mission's firsts, including a possible landing attempt for the Falcon 9's first stage, make it a critical launch for SpaceX as the company simultaneously resumes flying its fully-booked manifest, debuts a new generation Falcon booster, and continues a lengthy research and development initiative into rocket reusability.

Sunday's launch attempt is timed for 8:29 p.m. EST (0129 GMT Monday) from Cape Canaveral's Complex 40 launch pad.

Sources said only an instantaneous launch opportunity is available Sunday due to restrictions imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration, which may be hesitant to re-route holiday week air traffic around the Cape Canaveral launch base for several hours in case of launch delays.