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mechanicjay writes:

The Guardian has a fascinating piece entitled Sexual paranoia on campus – and the professor at the eye of the storm. There is a lot going on in this article/interview and it touches on a lot of different issues in both society and higher-ed in general. Some choice quotes:

On a personal note, when I interact with students (which is every day), it's always either with an open office door, or in a public area. So as not to be discriminatory, I do the same for all students, men, women, or others. This sort of culture on campuses does make everyone suspicious of everyone else and it makes it hard to trust others. Students can't trust the instructors because they might "do something", staff can't trust the students because even a false accusation can be career ending, so there's this overall chilling effect that occurs when what should be a collegiate environment turns into an us vs them thing. This is definitely worse in some places than others, but there is an undercurrent of it everywhere. I applaud Laura Kipnis for bringing these issues to the light -- if we're going down this route, it should at least be a conscious community decision rather than bureaucratic policy handed down from University Counsel and risk assessment teams.

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takyon writes:

What do you do when you don't have the funding to address a perpetual backlog of unanalyzed rape kits? Ask drivers to foot the bill when applying for a driver's license:

Across the country, there's a backlog of kits containing potential evidence of sexual assaults. Victim advocates say the situation threatens public safety. Lawmakers in dozens of states are pushing for funding, and in Texas, one state representative has offered an innovative solution.

Thousands of rape kits sit sealed and untested in forensics labs and law enforcement offices in Texas. What's missing is state and local funding to pay to analyze the evidence in many of those kits.

If state Rep. Victoria Neave has her way, residents could help chip in. When Texans go to the Department of Public Safety office to apply for a driver's license, they'd be asked if they'd like to help the state pay to test DNA evidence from sexual assault cases — in the same way they're asked if they want to donate to support veterans or organ donation.

The Texas Department of Public Safety issues driver's licenses rather than the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles.

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MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

Kim Dotcom has petitioned the US Supreme Court in the hope of regaining control over millions of dollars in assets that were seized by the US Government. Dotcom's legal team is challenging the finding that as a fugitive, Megaupload's founder has no standing to reclaim his seized property.

[...] However, Dotcom is determined to regain access to his property and has now taken the case to the US Supreme Court. Together with the other defendants, he filed a petition to the Supreme Court to overturn the "fugitive disentitlement" ruling and the forfeiture of his assets.

The crux of the case is whether or not the District Court's order to forfeit an estimated $67 million in assets was right. The defense argues that Dotcom and the other Megaupload defendants were wrongfully labeled as fugitives by the Department of Justice.

Dotcom's legal team warns that, if the current verdict stands, the US Government can seize the assets of foreign nationals based on unproven claims.

Source: https://torrentfreak.com/kim-dotcom-takes-fight-over-seized-millions-to-us-supreme-court-170410/

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

Now new technology and a rare bipartisan push from lawmakers who are trying to reduce regulations for the sale of hearing aids are raising hopes that more people with mild to moderate hearing loss will be able to buy hearing devices a lot more cheaply and without seeing a doctor.

It's a modest-sounding goal, but supporters believe the measure on Capitol Hill could lower prices, spur innovation, and ultimately get hearing aids into the ears of far more people. Only 15 to 30 percent of people who need hearing aids actually get them, according to some estimates.

Currently, regulations in most states, including Massachusetts, require consumers to go to a licensed audiologist or other specialist to purchase a hearing aid. The average cost: $2,300 per ear.

Legislation sponsored by Democratic Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa would supersede individual state rules and force over-the-counter hearing aids into the national market. It has the support of AARP, which is the largest lobbying group for seniors and advocates for people with hearing loss. But it is drawing opposition from hearing aid makers and a major trade association for audiologists.​

Supporters say the bill could unleash competition and put hearing aids that cost a few hundred dollars on the shelves. It could also foster technology that, among other benefits, allows consumers to use smartphones to control their hearing aids.

Source: https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2017/04/10/bipartisan-bill-would-make-hearing-aids-cheaper-and-more-accessible-but-some-doctors-object/17H4hx5qSPsPAITu2s997L/story.html

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takyon writes:

Rock fragments from mud volcanoes below the sea floor contain complex organic matter, suggesting the existence of microbes as far as 10 km below the sea floor:

An interdisciplinary team of scientists led by scientists from Utrecht University with participation from University of Gothenburg have found new clues about how deep life may extend into the Earth's interior near the deepest place on our planet – the Challenger Deep in the Pacific Ocean. In their paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they examine complex organic molecules that have been trapped within rock fragments brought to the seafloor by massive mud volcanoes.

[...] In their hunt for tell-tale signs of life, the scientists have analysed rock fragments that have been carried by the mud volcanoes from as deep as 20 km within the Earth. Using state-of-the-art analytical techniques they found organic matter encapsulated within the clasts. [...] Although Dr. Plümper and his colleagues cannot pinpoint the exact origin of the organic matter, chemical analysis of the constituents hint at microbial life deep within or below the mud volcano. This is consistent with calculations conducted by the authors using the currently known temperature limit for life, 122 °C, and the temperatures expected under the mud volcanoes, which suggest that life could exist as deep as 10,000 meters below seafloor. This is considerably deeper than other serpentinizing regions such as mid-ocean ridges and could have provided a sheltered habitat for life helping it to survive the more violent phases of Earth's early history.

List of largest lakes and seas in the Solar System and hydrothermal vents.

Subduction zone forearc serpentinites as incubators for deep microbial life (open, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1612147114) (DX)

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takyon writes:

A Ugandan activist has been charged with computer-related crimes for criticizing the government on Facebook:

Stella Nyanzi, one of Uganda's most controversial academics and activists, appeared in court Monday, after being arrested and charged Friday with cyber harassment and the misuse of a computer, for "shaming" the government.

Nyanzi's latest run-in with the 31-year-old regime of President Yoweri Museveni began with a fight for free sanitary pads for school-age girls. "She's the one person who has dared to come out strongly in the country and say what many have feared to say many, many times," said Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera, an LGBT rights activist, shortly after leaving the court house.

During the 2016 elections, Museveni and wife, Janet, promised to provide free pads to poor young girls across the country. [...] The elections passed; Museveni won. Earlier this year, Janet Museveni told the country's parliament the promise of free sanitary pads wasn't going to happen because the country was facing a tough economic climate. Nyanzi was furious. She decided if the government wasn't going to do it, she would give poor girls sanitary pads. So she started a crowdfunding campaign and she also unleashed a torrent of criticism toward Museveni, his wife and his supporters. Her criticisms flowed into her Facebook timeline. They were always pointed and sometimes profane. In one of them, she writes that she refuses to call the president's wife "Mama Janet," as most Ugandas do[.]

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-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

The Center for American Progress reports

After Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-KY) decision to prevent a president of the opposite party from nominating anyone to the Supreme Court, it's doubtful that any justice will ever be confirmed again when the presidency is controlled by a different party than the Senate. That means America will lurch back and forth between extended periods with a understaffed Supreme Court, followed by massive shifts in the law as one party fills a backlog of vacancies.

[...] Several states have shown that there is a better way [than what, it appears, will happen at the federal level from now on].

The Missouri plan

As America struggled through the Great Depression, Missouri's courts were a den of partisanship and corruption. As former Chief Justice of Missouri Michael Wolff explains, judges were "selected in elections in which nominees were chosen by political parties under a patronage system." In much of the state, judges were selected by a single machine party leader, "Boss" Tom Pendergast. Throughout Missouri, "judges were plagued by outside political influences, and dockets were congested due to the time the judges spent making political appearances and campaigning."

Frustrated with their politicized judiciary, the people of Missouri passed a ballot initiative replacing the state's corrupt process with a non-partisan coalition--at least for the state's top judges.

When a vacancy arises on the state's supreme court, a seven person commission consisting of "three lawyers elected by the lawyers of The Missouri Bar . . . three citizens selected by the governor, and the chief justice" submits three candidates to fill that vacancy to the state's governor. The governor then has 60 days to choose among those three names. If the governor fails to meet this deadline, the commission selects one of the three.

Finally, after a year of service, the newly appointed judge must survive a retention election, where a majority of the electorate can cast them out of office--though this only happens rarely.

This method of judicial selection, as well as variants upon it, was adopted by many states since its inception in Missouri.

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butthurt writes:

You put on your shoes, tie them as firmly as possible, but soon after the laces come undone.

Now scientists think they know what causes one of life's knotty problems.

[...] The researchers say an understanding of shoelaces can be applied to other structures, such as DNA.

[...] They found that when running, your foot strikes the ground at seven times the force of gravity.

Responding to that force, the knot stretches and then relaxes.

As the knot loosens, the swinging leg applies an inertial force on the free ends of the laces, leading to rapid unravelling in as little as two strides.

BBC News

related stories:
Untangling the Mechanics of Knots
Useful Dead Technologies Redux

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

Authorities in Spain have arrested a Russian computer programmer thought to be one of the world's most notorious spam kingpins.

Spanish police arrested Pyotr Levashov under an international warrant executed in the city of Barcelona, according to Reuters. Russian state-run television station RT (formerly Russia Today) reported that Levashov was arrested while vacationing in Spain with his family.

[...] Levashov is currently listed as #7 in the the world's Top 10 Worst Spammers list maintained by anti-spam group Spamhaus. The U.S. Justice Department maintains that Severa was the Russian partner of Alan Ralsky, a convicted American spammer who specialized in "pump-and-dump" spam schemes designed to artificially inflate the value of penny stocks.

[...] There is ample evidence that Severa is the cybercriminal behind the Waledac spam botnet, a spam engine that for several years infected between 70,000 and 90,000 computers and was capable of sending approximately 1.5 billion spam messages a day.

Alleged Spam King Pyotr Levashov Arrested

Fake News at Work in Spam Kingpin's Arrest?

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takyon writes:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-39573426

Taiwan's parliament has approved a bill banning the slaughter of cats and dogs for human consumption. The bill also prohibits those using a car or motorbike from pulling their pets alongside them on a lead as they travel. Anyone caught breaching the order faces a large fine or up to two years in prison - and having their names and photographs made public.

The measures were introduced to improve the country's animal protection laws. The move on Tuesday is a landmark amendment to Taiwan's Animal Protection Act, and is the first of its kind in Asia.

Taiwan had already banned the sale of meat and fur from cats and dogs in 2001.

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takyon writes:

If the Governor signs MD HB177, beekeepers in Maryland will be granted legal permission to shoot black bears if they threaten honey bee colonies, but only if they have contacted the state's Department of Natural Resources to receive an electric fence:

It's a cliché that happens to be true: Bears love honey. And in Maryland, lawmakers have passed a bill making it legal to shoot a black bear if it threatens a beekeeper's hive.

In February, state Del. Mike McKay testified before the Environment and Transportation Committee on behalf of the bill. He wore a vest festooned with the image of Winnie the Pooh. Del. Herb McMillan noted McKay's attire didn't seem to square with his arguments. "I know you came in here talking about Winnie the Pooh, but the gist of the bill is that you can shoot him," McMillan said, according to The Baltimore Sun.

Existing Maryland law requires a person to have a hunting license and a black bear hunting permit in order to hunt black bears in the state. Exempted is "a person who kills or wounds a black bear in defense of his/her own life, the lives of other individuals, or the lives of animals on the individual's property." This week, Maryland's General Assembly passed McKay's bill. So, if the measure is signed by the governor, as of June, the exemption on hunting bears will extend to the owners of honeybee colonies, if the owner has contacted the state's Department of Natural Resources and installed an electric fence to protect the hive. The measure also provides funds to provide electric fences to beekeepers.

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DavePolaschek writes:

OpenBSD 6.1 has been released. The short version points out the addition of syspatch (which should make upgrading easier one of these years). The long version notes, among other things, support for ARM64, which includes, if you're a thrill-seeker, the ability to run OBSD on a Raspberry Pi 3 which seems relatively cool. Or at least cheap.

And of course, there's a new song.

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takyon writes:

Although 23% less was spent on renewable energy globally in 2016, 9% more capacity was installed compared to the previous year:

A new study tracking global investment in renewable energy found that investors spent less money in 2016 to add more renewable energy capacity than in any previous year. In total, investors only spent about $241.6 billion in renewable energy investments in 2016, down 23 percent from 2015.

But they got a lot of bang for their buck. According to the collaborative report from the UN, the Frankfurt School, and Bloomberg New Energy Finance, investments in "wind, solar, biomass, and waste-to-energy, geothermal, small hydro, and marine sources [like wave and tidal energy]" resulted in the addition of 138.5 GW of energy capacity in 2016. That represents a nine percent increase year-over-year from the 127.5 gigawatts added in 2015.

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AnonTechie writes:

From Wikipedia to 99designs, and Google to LEGO, crowdsourcing has changed the way the world does business. By partnering with the masses through innovative campaigns, companies can benefit from a vast amount of expertise, enthusiasm and goodwill, rather than from paid labour. But what's in it for the crowd?

Why do ordinary people sign on to help design or produce a product without much compensation? Why do they volunteer their time and skills to a company that profits? And how can a firm better address the crowd's needs in order to to maximize value for all involved in the co-creation project?

Their findings are the first to show that there are four different types of members volunteering in these communities:
1. Communals build skills and community bonds;
2. Utilizers join the communities to sharpen their skills without much intention to form social bonds;
3. Aspirers lack both skills and bonds, but aim to gain more of both;
4. Tourists are minimally invested in both community and skills and infrequently participate.

https://phys.org/news/2017-04-big-businesscrowdsourcing-win-win-situation.html

[Abstract]: Managing Communities of Co-creation around Consumer Engagement Styles

Do you agree and would you be part of such crowd-sourcing initiatives ?

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Layers of guano deposits on an Antarctic island have revealed that penguins there were impacted by periodic volcanic eruptions:

For thousands of years, the birds have nested on the Ardley outcrop where their poop, or guano, would collect at the bottom of a lake. But when scientists drilled into these sediments, they got quite a surprise. Interspersed with the layers of penguin waste were thick sections of volcanic ash, indicating the Ardley birds were frequently decimated by eruptions.

"What causes the biggest declines in the penguins is the volcanic activity on nearby Deception Island," explained Stephen Roberts from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). "Eruptions have gone off at regular intervals over the last 7,000 years. We found there were five phases when the penguin population grew quite significantly, and for three of these the population crashed. This was due to the volcano going off," he told BBC News.

Past penguin colony responses to explosive volcanism on the Antarctic Peninsula (open, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14914) (DX)

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Alabama lawmakers have voted 24-4 to allow Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham to establish a police department. The church has over 4,000 members and is also home to a K-12 school and a theological seminary with 2,000 students and teachers:

"After the shooting at Sandy Hook and in the wake of similar assaults at churches and schools, Briarwood recognized the need to provide qualified first responders to coordinate with local law enforcement," church administrator Matt Moore said in a statement, referring to the mass murder of 20 first graders and six teachers at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut by a deranged man with an AR-15 style rifle just before Christmas 2012. "The sole purpose of this proposed legislation is to provide a safe environment for the church, its members, students and guests." The church would pay the bill for its officers.

[...] "It's our view this would plainly be unconstitutional," Randall Marshall, the ACLU's Acting Executive Director, told NBC News. In a memo to the legislature, Marshall said they believe the bills "violate the First Amendment or the U.S. Constitution and, if enacted, would not survive a legal challenge." "Vesting state police powers in a church police force violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment," his memo states. "These bills unnecessarily carve out special programs for religious organizations and inextricably intertwine state authority and power with church operations."

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