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stormwyrm writes:

In a paper (paywalled) published in the journal Icarus, a team of scientists led by Carey Lisse and Ralph McNutt of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (that designed, built, and operates the New Horizons spacecraft) have made, using the Chandra X-Ray Telescope, the puzzling detection of X-ray emissions from Pluto. Being a cold, icy world with no magnetic field, Pluto has no obvious mechanism for producing X-rays, but it is known that the interaction of gases surrounding such bodies and the solar wind can produce X-rays, though the intensity of the emissions is still higher than would be expected given the measurements of the dwarf planet's tenuous atmosphere and its great distance from the sun. From the JHUAPL press release:

While NASA's New Horizons spacecraft was speeding toward and beyond Pluto, Chandra was aimed several times on the dwarf planet and its moons, gathering data on Pluto that the missions could compare after the flyby. Each time Chandra pointed at Pluto — four times in all, from February 2014 through August 2015 — it detected low-energy X-rays from the small planet.

[...] "We've just detected, for the first time, X-rays coming from an object in our Kuiper Belt, and learned that Pluto is interacting with the solar wind in an unexpected and energetic fashion," said Carey Lisse, an astrophysicist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, who led the Chandra observation team with APL colleague and New Horizons Co-Investigator Ralph McNutt. "We can expect other large Kuiper Belt objects to be doing the same."

[...] The immediate mystery is that Chandra's readings on the brightness of the X-rays are much higher than expected from the solar wind interacting with Pluto's atmosphere.

[...] Lisse and his colleagues [...] suggest several possibilities for the enhanced X-ray emission from Pluto. These include a much wider and longer tail of gases trailing Pluto than New Horizons detected using its SWAP instrument. Other possibilities are that interplanetary magnetic fields are focusing more particles than expected from the solar wind into the region around Pluto, or the low density of the solar wind in the outer solar system at the distance of Pluto could allow for the formation of a doughnut, or torus, of neutral gas centered around Pluto's orbit.

Other coverage from Starts With A Bang and Gizmodo.

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MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

If you have ever wanted to see an indie video game developer commit PR suicide, then 2016 is your lucky year. In what appears to be an attempt to outdo Hello Games and their No Man's Sky debacle, indie developer Digital Homicide has filed a personal injury lawsuit against 100 people on Steam for writing negative reviews and comments about their various games. As the 100 people listed in the lawsuit are identified only by their Steam usernames, Digital Homicide has also subpoenaed Valve, the company behind Steam, for the actual names of the 100 people that they are suing.

As if that wasn't enough, Digital Homicide is allegedly considering another lawsuit directly against Valve in an attempt to create a digital "safe space" for developers on Steam. This effectively means that on top of the $18 million that Digital Homicide is seeking in damages in their original lawsuit against the 100 Jane and John Does, Digital Homicide wants Valve to create an environment on Steam where developers are safe from things like "harassment, verbal and written assault, libel, and slander." Mr. Bob Lawsuitsfeedmyfamily, a retired legal advisor that specializes in the study of frivolous lawsuits, stated that the two cases will likely "force Digital Homicide to change their company's name to Digital Suicide." Even in a best case scenario where Digital Homicide somehow wins their lawsuits against Valve, "they will likely be ridiculed and hated for as long as the Internet can remember" Lawsuitsfeedmyfamily said.

Source: http://techraptor.net/content/kekraptor-digital-homicide-sues-valve-wants-steam-safe-space

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MrPlow writes in with a story submitted via IRC for Runaway1956:

Alcohol and painkiller manufacturers, terrified that they might lose market share, are major players in the fight against pot-legalizations ballot initiatives.

The fight against legalized pot is being heavily bankrolled by alcohol and pharmaceutical companies, terrified that they might lose market share.

On the heels of a filing last week that revealed that a synthetic cannabis company is financing the opposition to legal marijuana in Arizona comes a new disclosure this week that a beer industry group made one of the largest donations to an organization set up to defeat legalization in Massachusetts.

The Beer Distributors PAC, an affiliate that represents 16 beer-distribution companies in Massachusetts, gave $25,000 to the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts, tying it for third place among the largest contributors to the anti-pot organization.

William A. Kelley, the president of the Beer Distributors of Massachusetts, did not respond to a request for comment, but his organization's decision to oppose legalization is hardly unique in the alcohol industry.

In Arizona, one of the five states with marijuana legalization ballot measures this November, the Arizona Wine and Spirits Wholesale Association donated $10,000 to a group opposing legalization. In 2010, the last time California considered marijuana legalization, another alcoholic beverage distribution group provided financing to a law enforcement-backed campaign to defeat legalization.

Source: https://theintercept.com/2016/09/14/beer-pot-ballot/

[Update: The article in The Intercept had two 'links' that lacked any actual URL. An alternative was found for the link to William A. Kelley and replaced. Could not find a link to corroborate the $10,000 donation in Arizona — that link was removed. -Ed.]

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Appalbarry writes:

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reports on a former math teacher who claims to solved the question "Which checkout line up will be fastest?"

In a nutshell he has concluded that the number of people in the lineup is more important than the number of items a person has in their cart.

The critical factor, he says, is the average of 41 seconds that it takes a shopper to pay the cashier and engage in idle chit chat.

So a long line of people in the Express line, with two or three items each, will actual move slower than the checkout with one guy with a full shopping cart.

YMMV.

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martyb writes:

For those who have mastered typing ctrl-alt-meta-cokebottle commands, there's a new release of the Emacs text editor:

Version 25.1 of the Emacs text editor is now available.

For more information on Emacs, see:
http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs

You can retrieve the source from your nearest GNU mirror by using one of the following links:
- http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/emacs/emacs-25.1.tar.xz
- http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/emacs/emacs-25.1.tar.gz

You can get the PGP signatures at
- http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/emacs-25.1.tar.xz.sig
- http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/emacs-25.1.tar.gz.sig

You can choose a mirror explicitly from the list at:
- http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html

Mirrors may take some time to update; the main GNU ftp server is at:
- http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/

Highlights of this release include:

• Emacs can now load shared/dynamic libraries (modules)
• Experimental support for Cairo drawing
• Enhanced network security (TLS/SSL certificate validity and the like)
• New minor mode 'electric-quote-mode' for using curved quotes as you type
• Character folding support in isearch.el
• Xwidgets: a new feature for embedding native widgets inside Emacs buffers
• New and improved facilities for inserting Unicode characters

The Windows binaries have not yet been officially released but the adventuresome can jump in and take an unofficial look.

How do you type esc on a mobile phone/tablet?

[Update: It looks like Windows binaries have been released; see: ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/windows/. -martyb.]

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DBCubix writes:

In what could be considered a real life episode of The Bachelor, a man from Chicago used Tinder to invite 15 women on a boat trip.

The woman was reportedly offering $100 to passing boats to get back to shore.

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DBCubix writes:

A California lawsuit could lead to negative reviews being removed from the web.

The case is now headed for the California Supreme Court.

Original Submission

DBCubix writes:

This week the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed The Ham Radio Parity Act -- a huge victory for grass-roots advocates of amateur radio.

The national ham radio association is now urging supporters to contact their Senators through a special web page. "This is not just a feel-good bill," said representative Joe Courtney, remembering how Hurricane Sandy brought down the power grid, and "we saw all the advanced communications we take for granted...completely fall by the wayside."

Original Submission

-- OriginalOwner_ writes in that Autoblog reports [1]

At TechCrunch's Disrupt conference in San Francisco [1], Comma.ai founder George "Geohot" Hotz announced the launch of the Comma One semi-autonomous driving device. Hotz said at the conference that his company has worked on the Comma One for about a year, and it will be available at the end of the year for $999 and a $24 per month subscription fee.

But aside from the reasonable price, which TechCrunch points out is possible thanks to off-the-shelf components, the appeal here is that it's an add-on to an existing car that can be installed at home by the car's owner. This gives people with normal cars the opportunity to have semi-autonomous features without having to buy an entire vehicle... that is, if you have a Honda or Acura with lane-keeping assist, since Comma One is currently only compatible with those vehicles. It remains to be seen if the company will add more vehicles to the list over time.

[...] This system is similar in capability to the Tesla Autopilot system, and will be able to complete a drive, start to finish, without the driver having to touch anything.

[...] Hotz told TechCrunch that the device should start shipping at the end of the year. He also said that owners of compatible Honda products in the San Francisco area are eligible for beta testing, and can get involved by emailing him at george@comma.ai.

[1] Same as the link in TFA.

Original Submission

Runaway1956 writes:

Beijing (AFP) - The publisher of Chinese national carrier Air China's in-flight magazine apologised Thursday for allegedly "racist" travel advice offered to passengers visiting London, as mainland social media users rushed to defend the controversial tips.

The latest issue of "Wings of China" ran an article detailing safety tips for travellers based on the race and nationality of local residents.

"London is generally a safe place to travel, however precautions are needed when entering areas mainly populated by Indians, Pakistanis and black people," the article said in English translation below a Chinese text, according to a photograph published by CNBC.

"We advise tourists not to go out alone at night, and females always to be accompanied by another person when travelling," it added.

The Chinese version was worded slightly differently, stating that such neighbourhoods were "comparatively more chaotic" -- an adjective often used to describe dangerous areas.

The English translation prompted London MP Virendra Sharma, who emigrated from India to Britain in the 1960s, to complain to the Chinese government.

"I am shocked and appalled that even today some people would see it as acceptable to write such blatantly untrue and racist statements," he said in an online statement.

"I have raised this issue with the Chinese ambassador, and requested that he ensures an apology is swiftly forthcoming from Air China, and the magazine is removed from circulation immediately," Sharma said.

In a Chinese-language statement Thursday, the publisher attributed the "inappropriate descriptions" to editorial errors, stating that they were at odds with the "original intention to actively promote the beautiful scenery of London".

https://www.yahoo.com/news/british-mp-hits-racist-air-china-london-tips-011816101.html

A number of other news sources are carrying the story, with varying degrees of indignation.

CNBC has coverage including an image of the offending text.

Additional Coverage:
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/08/air-chinas-magazine-says-media-readers-misinterpreted-london-travel-advice.html
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/07/air-chinas-safety-tips-for-london-visitors-may-raise-eyebrows.html

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

It's become increasingly clear that Jeffrey P. Bezos, who in the last several months has been talking much more openly about his once secretive space company, has some really big ambitions in space.

As Blue Origin moves toward its goal of having "millions of people living and working in space," the company has launched and landed the same rocket four times in a row, an unprecedented feat aimed at ultimately lowering the cost of space travel. By 2018, it plans to soon fly tourists on short jaunts past the edge of space in capsules designed with large windows. And earlier this week, Bezos announced plans to fly a new massive rocket, capable of getting to orbit, by the end of the decade.

For his achievements, Bezos, the founder of amazon.com and the owner of The Washington Post, was awarded the prestigious Heinlein Prize Wednesday evening at an event at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The honor came with a $250,000 award that the multi-billionaire pledged to donate to Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, a nonprofit.

During a half-hour-long question-and-answer period, he offered some additional insights into his vision for how humans will eventually spread out into the solar system, what he hopes his legacy will be and how he competes against other billionaire space enthusiasts such as Elon Musk and Richard Branson. He also talked briefly about what it's like to go back to his high school reunions, and the day The Post opens a bureau on Mars. He didn't mention whether an assignment there would be a promotion or a banishment.

An edited transcript of his remarks is available in the article.

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https://www.newscientist.com/article/2105986-what-you-eat-when-youre-sick-may-determine-if-youll-get-better/

Does that mean the Atkins followers have a higher risk of brain damage from flu? Or there's still enough glucose around?

Journal reference: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2016.07.026

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Plaintext passwords, usernames, e-mail addresses, and a wealth of other personal information has been published for more than 2.2 million people who created accounts with ClixSense, a site that claims to pay users for viewing ads and completing online surveys. The people who dumped it say they're selling data for another 4.4 million accounts.

Troy Hunt, operator of the breach notification service Have I Been Pwned?, said he reviewed the file and concluded it almost certainly contains data taken from ClixSense. Besides unhashed passwords and e-mail addresses, the dump includes users' dates of birth, sex, first and last names, home addresses, IP addresses, account balances, and payment histories.

A post advertising the leaked data said it was only a sample of personal information taken from a compromised database of more than 6.6 million ClixSense user accounts. The post said that the larger, unpublished data set also includes e-mails and was being sold for an undisclosed price. While the message posted over the weekend to PasteBin.com has since been removed, the two sample database files remained active at the time this post was being prepared. The Pastebin post, which was published on Saturday and taken down a day or two later, read in part:

[Continues...]

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

The International Standards Organisation this week signed off ISO 38504, new "Guidance for principles-based standards in the governance of information technology."

[...] the opposite of principles-based governance is rules-based governance. In the latter, organisations look at the rules under which they must or choose to operate and methodically demonstrate that they comply with each and every instruction. Rules-based governance is usually applied by strongly-regulated organisations or IT shops that like to nail down every last byte and manage change assiduously.

By contrast, as the ISO 38504 summary explains, "A principles-based approach to standardization is aimed at providing non-prescriptive guidance". Principles-based guidelines are considered helpful because "it can identify the outcomes of applying the principles without specifying explicit methodologies, structures, processes and techniques needed to achieve the outcomes."

The new standard is therefore a standard explaining the best way not to obey every last instruction in standards, but still emerge with processes that help IT to remain well-governed.

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takyon writes:

BBC reports:

An autistic man suspected of hacking into US government computer systems is to be extradited from Britain to face trial, a court has ruled. Lauri Love, 31, who has Asperger's Syndrome, is accused of hacking into the FBI, the US central bank and the country's missile defence agency. Mr Love, from Stradishall, Suffolk, has previously said he feared he would die in a US prison if he was extradited.

Also at Ars Technica , The Guardian , and Reuters . Here is the judgment against Love (PDF).

Original Submission