SoylentNews

Ethanol-fueled writes:

Paraphrased: a Bloomberg Businessweek report that Nicole Antal, a librarian in Sharon, Vermont discovered that a Utah-based foundation had quietly purchased more than 900 acres of nearby farmland adjacent or close to the birthplace of Joseph Smith.

The mastermind of the purchases, a wealthy engineer named David Hall, made contact with Antal and was very forthcoming about his vision - sustainable, high-tech, high-density communities across the globe; with a trial run in Vermont based on the Plat of the City of Zion. While all that sounded a bit farfetched, Hall revealed that he already had more than 150 engineers working on technology and architecture for the project.

Vermont, famous for being fiercely proud, idealistic, and ornery (this guy being one of the more famous residents) were stirred into a frenzy, with the opposition concerned that Hall was attempting to start a cult.

Hall is a fourth-generation Mormon. "Joseph Smith was just the wildest guy out there," he says. "Lots of things he did were stupid, but in my view, he was a sage or a seer and didn't even understand what came to him." The more futuristic aspects of his plans include pedestrian communities which sustain individual privacy and views of nature. Rooftop farms will make use of advanced techniques drawn from marijuana cultivation, and box-shaped greenhouses will improve yields and prevent the spread of disease and insects. Ground-floor spaces will be occupied by businesses, all connected by enclosed walkways and space for moving "pods" that transport the sick and elderly.

The article is a bit long even for an adequate summary here, but there are many technological aspects of Hall's plans worth reading about, and it is refreshing to see that somebody is concentrating on the positive rather than the negative. What do you think?

Original Submission

fork(2) writes:

ScienceNews reports on a report from the CDC (informative graph):

U.S. drivers love to hit the road. The problem is doing so safely.

In 2013, 32,894 people in the United States died in motor vehicle crashes. Although down since 2000, the overall death rate - 10.3 per 100,000 people - tops 19 other high-income countries, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported July 8. Belgium is a distant second with 6.5 deaths per 100,000. Researchers reviewed World Health Organization and other data on vehicle crash deaths, seat belt use and alcohol-impaired driving in 2000 and 2013.

Canada had the highest percentage of fatal crashes caused by drunk drivers: 33.6 percent. New Zealand and the United States tied for second at 31 percent. But Canada and 16 other countries outperformed the United States on seat belt use - even though, in 2013, 87 percent of people in the United States reported wearing safety belts while riding in the front seat.

Spain saw the biggest drop - 75 percent - in its crash death rate. That country improved nearly all aspects of road safety, including decreasing alcohol-impaired driving and increasing seat belt use, the researchers say.

Original Submission

hemocyanin writes:

DNC [Democratic National Committee] top dogs can't seem to wrap their brains around GPG encryption, and so now we have the chance to peruse their emails. Which is nice, but still sort of shocking that the people who want to run the country can't secure their communications. It will probably take a while before anything of great interest is found in the archive because it was just released , but if you want to help in the search, have fun.

Here is one amusing excerpt:

NOTICE: This communication may contain privileged or other confidential information. If you have received it in error, please advise the sender by reply email and immediately delete the message and any attachments without copying or disclosing the contents. Thank you.

Original Submission

n1 writes:

Tom Secker at SpyCulture.com:

Recently released documents on former White House consultant and MPAA [Motion Picture Association of America] capo Jack Valenti strongly suggest that his appointment as president of the MPAA in some way involved the CIA. The new documents on Valenti come from the CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] and the State Department. Though they are tiny fragments in themselves the details they do contain are eye-opening. Valenti was a State Department consultant with a Top Secret clearance in the early months of taking over at the MPAA. At the same the CIA were interested in Valenti 'in connection with certain sensitive matters'. [...]

The files of the Office of Security (SY) Department of State, reviewed by Special Agent (redacted) on October 11, 1974, disclose that on 5/5/66 the appointee was under consideration for appointment as a Consultant to the Secretary of State; SY in May 1966 reviewed his personnel and security files at the White House and utilized a previous full field investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

SY granted him Final Clearance for Top Secret on 5/25/66 as a Consultant, valid for 180 days only, unless appointed in the meantime: SY again granted him Final Clearance for Top Secret on 5/31/67 as a Member of the Board of Foreign Scholarships.

It was announced in April 1966 that Valenti would be leaving his White House position to take up the vacant job as head of the MPAA, so why was he simultaneously being granted a Top Secret security clearance? Valenti began his new job in June so he was a consultant to the State Department in the early months of his new job at the MPAA.

While this was going on the CIA's Office of Personnel Security sent a memo to Marvin Watson, a special assistant to President Johnson. [...]

Subject is of interest to this Division. He is not being considered for staff employment but rather is of interest in connection with certain sensitive matters in which the Agency is involved.

Naturally, this could mean anything. But the date is significant – after Valenti's new job at the MPAA had been announced but before he took up the role. This cannot be related to his role at the State Department because they had reviewed the FBI's investigation for themselves.

Related: Eric Johnston and the CIA

Original Submission

butthurt writes:

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Roger Ailes is to resign as chairman and CEO of Fox News. Rupert Murdoch is to take over Ailes' responsibilities. The resignation comes after accusations of sexual harassment. It is rumoured that he will receive $40 million as he leaves, but that he will be subject to a non-compete agreement.

Ailes had been with Fox News since its founding in 1996. Prior to that, he was a Republican political consultant.

Original Submission

mendax writes:

Just when you thought it was safe to go to the movie theaters again, the latest in the "alternate universe" Star Trek films hits the theaters today. Ars Technica and El Reg have two reviews of the flick.

El Reg, with its usual caustic brand of British humor, calls it "An unwatchable steaming pile of tribble dung", while Ars describes it thusly: "Trek by numbers is no Trek at all". Both articles do heap praise on Karl Urban's dead-on portrayal of Dr. McCoy. Still, it might be worth watching in the theater, for as as we all know there are is no bad Star Trek. Ever!

As for myself, I think I'll do what I usually do and wait for it to come out on video and see if it is truly targ manure.

[From a more general perspective, the Rotten Tomatoes meta movie review site has a critic score of 85% and an audience score of 86%. -Ed.]

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Routine scientific procedures using millions of animals are still being authorised when there is a tried and tested alternative, according to a group of scientists investigating the production of antibodies.

The scientists, writing in the Cell Press journal, Trends in Biotechnology , say the use of animals in consumer society is effectively 'hidden' and products assumed to be 'animal-friendly' are anything but. They say an animal friendly antibody production technique using bacteriophage viruses instead of live animals is being overlooked, despite the enormous potential for reduction in animal use.

The global antibody industry is worth 80 billion dollars and relies heavily on animals to produce the antibodies that are used to detect the vast range of molecules indicative of state of health, safety or the environment. Antibody-based tests are used in consumer and environmental safeguarding—from healthcare, over the counter, point of care and laboratory diagnostic testing to food safety, agriculture and household products.

[...] Dr Alison Gray, a visiting researcher at The University of Nottingham's School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, said: "The antibody-based tests that are commonly used in society appear to be far removed from animal experimentation since no animals were directly tested on. However, the target molecule to be detected is repeatedly injected into the animal, initiating an immune response. Months later, the animal is euthanased [sic] and antibodies to that molecule are extracted and incorporated into an in vitro, 'animal-free' test. So in reality, we are not replacing animals but substituting methods.

"The ultimate aim of scientists in this field should be to replace the use of animals in research and industry but due to a lack of awareness about this technology, this is not happening fast enough. The 20 year old advanced technology called 'phage display' which uses bacteriophage viruses to produce monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies is available and cost-effective and can replace a huge number of animals. In fact this technology has grown to a level of scientific sophistication that outweighs obsolete and outdated animal immunisation protocols."

Original Submission

fork(2) writes:

SoylentNews reported on the loss of Japan's Hitomi spacecraft in March and the value of the small quantity of data that it was able to return before its demise. Now NASA is considering contributing a replacement for the X-Ray Spectrometer in another Japanese mission.

SpaceNews reports:

In a presentation to the astrophysics subcommittee of the NASA Advisory Council's science committee July 20, Paul Hertz, director of NASA's astrophysics division, said the Japanese space agency JAXA has approached NASA about contributing a copy of its Soft X-Ray Spectrometer (SXS) for a new version of Japan's Hitomi spacecraft.

[...] JAXA leadership is now talking about building a copy of Hitomi that could launch around the end of the decade. "JAXA has announced their intent to study a rebuild of Hitomi," Hertz said, referring to that new spacecraft as ASTRO-H2. NASA, he said, is now studying developing a "build-to-print" version of the SXS for that new spacecraft.

[...] Hertz said that JAXA had requested insights from NASA in how to improve their mission assurance efforts, and that NASA agreed to share its knowledge with them. "We're not satisfied with merely making sure the previous mistakes can't happen again," he said. "We intend to work with JAXA to review best practices and the state of the art in managing these complex systems."

Original Submission

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) reports via Common Dreams

The current attempt to remove President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil bears many resemblances to the [Bill] Clinton impeachment episode. It is led by a group of politicians who seek to overturn the results of national elections and steer the nation in a different, right-wing direction; and the elected president has not committed an impeachable offense.

[...] Most importantly, a crime is missing; even Bill Clinton's enemies could at least come up with the alleged crimes of perjury and obstruction of justice. But Dilma Rousseff's impeachers have no such criminal violation to even allege. This was the conclusion[PDF] [the week of July 11 by] the federal prosecutor, Ivan Claudio Marx, who was assigned to investigate the offenses for which Dilma is about to stand trial in Brazil's Senate.

He determined that Dilma did not break the law in her handling of the public budget. The impeachment centers around her decision to delay payments to the state banks, which allowed the government to maintain the appearance of staying within a targeted fiscal balance in its accounts. Marx determined that this was not a crime, because it was not a "credit transaction" that would require congressional approval.

In a society where the rule of law is in effect, that would spell the end of the effort to remove the elected president. But press reports--inasmuch as they even bothered to report on the prosecutor's conclusion--seem to indicate that pro-impeachment forces are acting as though the law, and the prosecutor's statement, are irrelevant. They are pressing full steam ahead for the Senate to reverse the results of the October 2014 presidential elections. And as we now know from leaked transcripts of phone conversations, some of the leaders are doing it to prevent further investigation of their own alleged corruption.

Previous: Brazil's Dilma Rousseff to Face Impeachment Trial

Original Submission

Knowledge Troll writes:

This data-mining game is what they call totalitarianism is how Oliver Stone described Pokémon Go at Comic Con. Earlier in the month Al Franken also expressed some concern asking the creator of the game about privacy, data sharing, and account access.

More from Stone:

Personally I gave up my smart phone more than two years ago because I did not want a spy machine in my pocket; I've never played Pokémon Go but it seemed like a great way for the game creators to get people to run around and point the players camera at what ever they want, obtain other location based data, or focus players into businesses that pay for the privilege. Perhaps I just need to adjust my tinfoil hat but what do the 'lentils think? Is Stone just trying to plug his new movie or is this a legitimate concern?

Original Submission

takyon writes:

A new map of the human cerebral cortex has been created:

A detailed new map by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and associates lays out the landscape of 180 areas of the cerebral cortex in painstaking detail; 97 of these areas have never been previously described.

The new map is intended to help researchers studying brain disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, dementia and epilepsy. They will be able to use it to understand differences in the brains of patients with these diseases, compared with adults who are healthy. It also will accelerate progress in deciphering the workings of the healthy brain and elucidating what makes us unique as a species, the researchers say. The new map will also be vital for neurosurgeons.

A multi-modal parcellation of human cerebral cortex (DOI: 10.1038/nature18933)

Original Submission

hoeferbe writes:

From an article in the July 21, 2016 Business Insider:

Edward Snowden wants you to know at all times whether the NSA is keeping tabs on your iPhone.

Along with Andrew Huang, his coauthor and fellow hacker, Snowden presented his research on phone "hardware introspection" at MIT [PDF], which aims to give users the ability to see whether their phone is sending out secret signals to an intelligence agency.

In their paper, Snowden and Huang make it clear that what you see on your phone's screen is not always true.

If you turn off Bluetooth or cellular service, the phone's radios and other electronics can still be made to send signals, especially if they are compromised by a sophisticated intelligence agency or hackers. Even airplane mode isn't a defense, since the current version of Apple's iOS still keeps the GPS active while in that state.

"Trusting a phone that has been hacked to go into airplane mode is like trusting a drunk person to judge if they are sober enough to drive," they write.

So instead of trusting the phone's software to tell the user if something is fishy, the pair proposes something else: A device that plugs into the hardware and constantly scans to see whether is transmitting.

Though they think their research can be applied to just about any phone, for right now they are building a device for the 4.7" Apple iPhone 6.

Original Submission

fork(2) writes:

Writing in the Strange Behaviors column on takepart, Richard Conniff reviews a paper that appeared in Science (DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf8838) this week (paywalled). The paper's summary on Science says:

Butterflies are better documented and monitored worldwide than any other nonpest taxon of insects. In the United Kingdom alone, volunteer recorders have sampled more than 750,000 km of repeat transects since 1976, equivalent to walking to the Moon and back counting butterflies. Such programs are revealing regional extinctions and population declines that began before 1900. In a recent study, Habel et al. report a similar story based on inventories of butterflies and burnet moths since 1840 in a protected area in Bavaria, Germany. The results reveal severe species losses: Scarce, specialized butterflies have largely disappeared, leaving ecosystems dominated by common generalist ones. Similar trends are seen across Europe and beyond, with protected areas failing to conserve many species for which they were once famed. [Citation numbers removed, see the link above if you want them]

In his article, Conniff says:

[Oxford University lepidopterist Jeremy A.] Thomas acknowledges that the decline in butterflies is not exceptional. Bumblebees, dragonflies, moths, and ladybirds (or ladybugs, in this country) may be even worse off because of environmental damage inflicted by humans. Those insect groups really matter in the sense that they have ecological value for pollination and predator control. Butterflies, on the other hand, are mostly just pretty to look at.

The idea that we are destroying butterflies -- not just individual butterflies but vast swaths of species -- resonates ominously.

Original Submission

Two separate submissions on the same topic here.

Verizon to Disconnect Unlimited Data Users Who Use "Extraordinary" Amounts of Data

MrPlow writes in with a submission via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard:

According to sources of ours, Verizon is working on an Unlimited Data Plan Migration for the highest unlimited data users on their network. Starting tomorrow, July 21, Verizon will begin notifying users who have been flagged as using that "extraordinary" amount via mailer and through bill messages and explain to them their options to stay with Big Red.

What are their options? Verizon is forcing these out of contract "extraordinary" data users to move to The Verizon Plan (a tiered plan) by August 31 or they will shut down the line. If they don't take that option by August 31 and their line is disconnected, they will have up to 50 days to re-activate, but of course, they can only do so by switching over to The Verizon Plan.

Source: http://www.droid-life.com/2016/07/20/verizon-unlimited-data-rip-tetherers/

Verizon to disconnect unlimited data customers who use over 100GB/month

"exec" writes in with the news that Ars Technica has this story:

Verizon Wireless customers who have held on to unlimited data plans and use significantly more than 100GB a month will be disconnected from the network on August 31 unless they agree to move to limited data packages that require payment of overage fees.

Verizon stopped offering unlimited data to new smartphone customers in 2011, but some customers have been able to hang on to the old plans instead of switching to ones with monthly data limits. Verizon has tried to convert the holdouts by raising the price $20 a month and occasionally throttling heavy users but stopped that practice after net neutrality rules took effect. Now Verizon is implementing a formal policy for disconnecting the heaviest users.

The news was reported by Droid Life yesterday, and Verizon confirmed the changes to Ars this morning.

"Because our network is a shared resource and we need to ensure all customers have a great mobile experience with Verizon, we are notifying a very small group of customers on unlimited plans who use an extraordinary amount of data that they must move to one of the new Verizon Plans by August 31, 2016," a Verizon spokesperson told Ars. "These users are using data amounts well in excess of our largest plan size (100GB). While the Verizon Plan at 100GB is designed to be shared across multiple users, each line receiving notification to move to the new Verizon Plan is using well in excess of that on a single device."

The 100GB plan costs $450 a month.

Original Submission #1  Original Submission #2 

takyon writes:

China will ban all software and hardware that blocks Internet advertisements:

In a document published by China's Commerce Bureau [in Chinese], the People's Republic of China laid out the framework for a new Internet policy advertising law that will take effect September 1. This new Internet policy contains some radical changes to China's existing Internet guidelines, such as a blanket ban on ad-blocking. The new policy also pushes significantly stricter advertising guidelines, however, which could make it more beneficial to both users and companies.

Under China's new Internet Policy article XVI, all software and hardware that intercepts, filters, covers, fast-forwards or in any way prevents an advertisement from being viewed is prohibited. The policy explicitly points out that ad-block capability in email clients is also prohibited, as is network-level hardware that that may contain ad-block features. In our reading of the document, it would appear China is doing this to encourage what it would consider fair economic development of the Internet.

The new advertising laws do make some attempts to protect individual users from certain types of advertisements. For example, advertisements for prescription drugs and tobacco products are banned, and any products designed for pharmaceutical purposes must be reviewed by China's advertising agency before they can be put online. Advertisements are also required to be clearly marked, and they cannot be disguised as other content in an attempt to trick users into clicking them. Pop-up ads will be restricted to clearly display their location, and they must contain a clearly marked close button so as not to trick users.

This is good news for anybody seeking to hack Chinese Internet users.

Original Submission