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Phoenix666 writes:

It's 2017. Why are there still Nazis?

It's a question many observers are asking after hundreds of white supremacists, many displaying swastikas and Confederate battle flags and shouting racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-communist slogans, took to the streets of Charlottesville, Va., this weekend, provoking violence that claimed the life of one counter-protester and resulted in multiple injuries.

The continued existence of people who hold openly white supremacist ideologies more than seven decades after the fall of the Third Reich can be explained, in part, through a social theory developed in the early 1990s. Social dominance theory seeks to explain how hierarchy-enhancing ideologies do not just drive social inequality, but are also a result of it. It suggests that a single personality trait, called social dominance orientation (SDO), strongly predicts a person's political and social views, from foreign policy and criminal justice to civil rights and the environment. What's more, it offers insight into how ideologies such as racism, sexism, and xenophobia tend to arise from the unequal distribution of a society's resources.

"Social dominance theory provides a yardstick for measuring social and political ideologies," says Felicia Pratto, who developed the theory with fellow psychologist Jim Sidanius. "SDO is one way – not the only one – to try to figure out what those ideologies are 'about.'"

You too can take the Social Dominance Orientation quiz to determine your nazi quotient.

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956

The 450-foot-long boat is one of three in its class and is specially modified to conduct some of America's most covert underwater operations. That fact alone — as Keddie points out — makes the appearance of the black and white flag significant.

[...] So why did it a U.S. submarine return home flying an undoubtedly British tradition? Much is unclear. U.S. submarine activity is rarely discussed by the Pentagon, and the vessels operate in almost complete secrecy. While it's unlikely the Carter torpedoed an enemy ship or fired one of its cruise missiles, the flag could represent the success of a more covert mission. The Carter can insert commandos, deploy unmanned submersible vehicles, and likely splice undersea cables all while using specially outfitted thrusters to almost hover off the seafloor. One of the Seawolf class's namesake participated in the Cold War-era operation Ivy Bells that saw U.S. submarines tapping Soviet underwater communication lines.

Source: Why did one of the US Navy's most advanced subs return to port with a pirate flag?

Also:

The ominous Jolly Roger is an important part of submariner lore and conveys a clear message when it is flown atop a submarine's conning tower.

Source: Why The Navy's Top Spy Submarine Flew A Pirate Flag While Pulling Into Port

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Leave Blank writes:

Some viewers of a new episode of South Park found themselves with "warped smart home lists."

We spend a lot of time talking about South Park's sometimes insightful, sometimes tone deaf social commentary, but Matt Stone and South Park if it wasn't also vulgar, immature, and just a bit obnoxious. That side of the show made itself known with Season 21's premiere, and fans have the warped smart home lists to prove it.

The central plot of "White People Renovating Houses" follows a gang of Confederate flag-waving protesters who are infuriated that automation has negated their jobs. That side of the episode is at times scathing in its critique of enraged blue collar workers and incredibly silly when it came to the white people renovating houses plot. However, the best moments definitely come from the boys asking Amazon Echo's Alexa to do and say increasingly disgusting things. It's a very dumb joke that never gets old because who hasn't asked their smart home device something idiotic?

It's also a joke that's translated to the real world because most of these bits intentionally started with the keywords "Alexa," "Okay Google," and "Hey Siri." Of course real Amazon Echos, Google Homes, and iHomes were happy to respond. Cortana was (not so) mysteriously missing from the AI party.

Previously: News Anchor Sets Off Alexa Devices Around San Diego Ordering Unwanted Dollhouses

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Phoenix666 writes:

On Thursday, Daimler announced that it would bring its line of short-haul electric trucks to the US. The United Parcel Service (UPS) will buy the first three trucks, and Daimler is also offering eight trucks to New York City-based non-profits, including the Wildlife Conservation Society, the New York Botanical Garden, Habitat for Humanity New York City, and Big Reuse Brooklyn.
...
The Fuso eCanter trucks will have a range of 62 miles (or about 100km) and will be sold in Japan and Europe as well. Daimler said it's only planning on producing 500 trucks in the next year, but it intends to start mass-producing the trucks in 2019. It's unclear how much these trucks cost.

The trucks have a load capacity of three and a half tons, Daimler said, with a powertrain that draws on "six high-voltage lithium-ion battery packs with 420 V and 13.8 kWh each."

New York City and the Bronx in particular have asthma rates several times the national average. Many blame the high levels of trucking in the city. Shifting delivery fleets to EVs could help.

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MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

Adopting the format of a movie trailer, Kronoberg County's "The Test" video features a host of animated sex organs and a Hollywood-style voice-over. The narrator sets the scene by ominously informing the viewer:

"It all started as the perfect love story, a time of lust and trust, where each night is an adventure... but danger lurks between the sheets."

The County's head of public health and social development told The Local they were all thrilled when the advertising company that produced the video showed them it for the first time.

"We all thought it was really great and fun, but also informative and different. It's exciting, we really liked it," Annika Magnerot said.

The video can be found on Youtube.

Source: https://www.thelocal.se/20170914/video-animated-action-movie-genitals-spread-chlamydia-awareness-in-sweden

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Martin Shkreli has been jailed following a peculiar Facebook post:

Martin Shkreli, the former pharmaceutical executive who is awaiting sentencing for a fraud conviction, was sent to jail on Wednesday after a federal judge revoked his bail because he had offered $5,000 for a strand of Hillary Clinton's hair.

Mr. Shkreli, who was free on $5 million bail while he awaited sentencing, had made two Facebook posts offering cash to anyone who could "grab a hair" from Mrs. Clinton during her book tour.

At the hearing in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto said that Mr. Shkreli's post could be perceived as a true threat. "That is a solicitation to assault in exchange for money that is not protected by the First Amendment," she said.

Also at CNBC and Bloomberg.

Original Submission

Harvard Dean Rescinds Chelsea Manning's Visiting Fellow Invitation, Calling It a 'Mistake'

Phoenix666 writes:

Harvard's Kennedy School of Government rescinded a visiting fellowship offered to Chelsea Manning, the former military intelligence analyst who spent seven years in prison for leaking classified government secrets, after the university faced forceful backlash from CIA Director Mike Pompeo among others.

"I now think that designating Chelsea Manning as a Visiting Fellow was a mistake, for which I accept responsibility," Douglas W. Elmendorf, the school's dean, wrote in a 700-word statement released shortly after midnight Friday.

Manning was one of four visiting fellows announced two days earlier by the Kennedy School's Institute of Politics. As part of the program, visiting fellows appear on Harvard's campus for speaking engagements and events, interacting with undergraduate students on "topical issues of today," the school's initial announcement explained.

Elmendorf decided to withdraw the invitation after realizing that "many people view a Visiting Fellow title as an honorific," though the school had not intended to "honor [Manning] in any way or to endorse any of her words or deeds."

The Establishment called.

Harvard withdraws Chelsea Manning fellowship after CIA response

Leave Blank writes:

Harvard University invited Chelsea Manning to be a visiting fellow, but withdrew the invitation after CIA Director Mike Pompeo wrote:

The students there are now owed an institution that acts responsibility; an institution that does not sanction or legitimize the criminal path Ms. Manning took to undermine our national security.

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AnonTechie writes:

North Korea's defiant pursuit of nuclear weapons capabilities, dramatised by last weekend's powerful underground test and a recent long-range ballistic missile launch over Japan, has been almost universally condemned as posing a grave, unilateral threat to international peace and security.

The growing North Korean menace also reflects the chronic failure of multilateral counter-proliferation efforts and, in particular, the long standing refusal of acknowledged nuclear-armed states such as the US and Britain to honour a legal commitment to reduce and eventually eliminate their arsenals.

In other words, the past and present leaders of the US, Russia, China, France and the UK, whose governments signed but have not fulfilled the terms of the 1970 nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), have to some degree brought the North Korea crisis on themselves. Kim Jong-un's recklessness and bad faith is a product of their own.

The NPT, signed by 191 countries, is probably the most successful arms control treaty ever. When conceived in 1968, at the height of the cold war, the mass proliferation of nuclear weapons was considered a real possibility. Since its inception and prior to North Korea, only India, Pakistan and Israel are known to have joined the nuclear "club" in almost half a century.

To work fully, the NPT relies on keeping a crucial bargain: non-nuclear-armed states agree never to acquire the weapons, while nuclear-armed states agree to share the benefits of peaceful nuclear technology and pursue nuclear disarmament with the ultimate aim of eliminating them. This, in effect, was the guarantee offered to vulnerable, insecure outlier states such as North Korea. The guarantee was a dud, however, and the bargain has never been truly honoured.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/05/nuclear-armed-nations-brought-the-north-korea-crisis-on-themselves

[Ed Note: Since this story was submitted there has been at least one additional ballistic missile test by North Korea.]

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

After 13 years the Debian-Administration website will go read-only at the end of the month. Then later in the year it will transform it into a solely static-site so that the articles, weblogs, and associated comments are not lost - and they can be served via single server or two. Mostly this is happening due to lack of new content being added and folks posting more elsewhere.

https://debian-administration.org/article/730/This_site_is_going_to_go_read-only

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Google faces Antitrust suit filed by new social media company Gab.ai.

The legal action is the latest salvo in an escalating battle between right-leaning technologists and leaders against Silicon Valley giants such as Facebook and Google.

Gab alleges in the lawsuit that "Google deprives competitors, on a discriminatory basis, of access to the App Store, which an essential facility or resource."

"Google is the biggest threat to the free flow of information," Gab chief executive Andrew Torba said in a statement. "Gab started to fight against the big tech companies in the marketplace, and their monopolistic conduct has forced us to bring the fight to the courtroom."

Gab has published its court filing.

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Phoenix666 writes:

Senior citizens are shaping the way neighbourhoods evolve and grow, all in the name of maintaining deeper connections to their communities as they age, according to one Western researcher's work inside a pair of London neighbourhoods.

"We were looking at how the built-in social environment in London either supports or holds barriers to seniors being socially engaged and participating in activities," said School of Occupational Therapy professor Carri Hand, whose work looked at Westmount and Old South neighbourhoods in London. "We focused on social connections and activities, seeing how they interacted."

Through interviews with seniors, and the use of GPS tracking to follow their movements, Hand found older adults are creating our communities through casual social interactions, helping others and taking community action. From those three areas, Hand has revealed some common truths about these particular neighbourhoods.

Seniors expressed deep connections to physical places in neighbourhoods – restaurants, cafes, parks, libraries. Everyday neighbourhood activities, such as shopping or walking, appeared key to maintaining a sense of connection to the neighbourhood and in developing informal social ties.

It turns out old people are not worthless.

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Phoenix666 writes:

The mobile games developer behind Angry Birds expects to be worth about $1bn when it lists on the stock market.

Rovio has set a range for its share sale that would value the business at between 802m euros and 896m euros ($960m-$1.07bn; £710m-£795m).

The Finnish firm's boss, Kati Levoranta, said the listing would help the company expand further.

It is "more than just a gaming company", she said, with sales from film and merchandising as well.

The Finnish firm expects to list on the main part of the Helsinki Nasdaq on 3 October.

For the year to 30 June, Rovio reported revenues of 265.8m euros, of which 210.1m euros came from games and 55.7m euros from brand licensing.

"The mobile gaming market is expected to grow fast and Rovio has grown faster than the market in recent years," said Ms Levoranta.

"But Rovio is much more than just a gaming company. Angry Birds branded consumer products are already sold in some 120 counties and the first Angry Birds Movie, released in 2016, was an international box-office success.

Is it a good investment?

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martyb writes:

Over at Ars Technica is a story, SpaceX proves it's not afraid to fail by releasing a landing blooper reel:

SpaceX is famously not afraid to fail. "There's a silly notion that failure's not an option at NASA," company founder Elon Musk has said in the past. "Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough."

In recent years, others in the aerospace industry have come to see the sense of this ethos, as SpaceX has tinkered with its Falcon 9 rocket to make it a mostly reusable booster, finally achieving reuse of the rocket's first stage earlier this year. To go further in space, at a lower cost, new things must be tried.

Even Gene Kranz, who famously said that failure was not an option as a NASA flight director during the Apollo lunar missions, has recently enthused about SpaceX, saying, "Space involves risk, and I think that's the one thing about Elon Musk and all the various space entrepreneurs: they're willing to risk their future in order to accomplish the objective that they have decided on. I think we as a nation have to learn that, as an important part of this, to step forward and accept risk."

To that end, SpaceX has put its failure on display in a new video showing the company's (often explosive) attempts to first return the Falcon 9 first stage to the ocean, then to an ocean-based drone ship, and more. Along they way the engineers have clearly learned a lot about rockets, propellants, and the pitfalls of trying to return a very large rocket from space.

Note: the apocryphal saying was not from the actual Apollo 13 mission. It was a line from the movie based on the mission. See this section on the Wikipedia entry for Gene Kranz.

With that out of the way, I find it absolutely amazing that just a few short years ago, the concept of a rocket that could land upright was science fiction. Now, it happens so routinely for SpaceX that they feel comfortable releasing a "blooper reel"!

(I'm curious, though, how many millions of dollars does that video show going up in flames?)

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DeathMonkey writes:

The U.S. national debt reached $20 trillion for the first time ever last Friday after President Trump signed a bipartisan bill temporarily raising the nation's debt limit for three months.

While at Camp David, Mr. Trump, with the stroke of his presidential pen, increased the statutory debt last Friday by approximately $318 billion, according to the Treasury Department. Before the bill's completion, the U.S. debt was sitting around $19.84 trillion.

The legislation allowed the Treasury Department to start borrowing again immediately after several months of using "extraordinary measures" to avoid a financial default. The bill passed last Thursday 80-17 in the Senate and in the House 316-90 on Friday. Around $15 billion in emergency funding for Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts was attached to the borrowing measure.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/national-debt-hits-historic-20-trillion-mark/

[That works out to just shy of $62,000 per American. --Ed.]

Original Submission

takyon writes:

At least two Motel 6 locations in Phoenix, Arizona reported guest lists to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It was also rumored that ICE paid out $200 for every undocumented immigrant caught. A PR director from Motel 6's parent company confirmed that staff members at the locations were working with ICE without the approval of senior management:

At least two Motel 6 locations in Arizona are reporting their guest lists to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, which has resulted in at least 20 arrests, according to local media.

Phoenix New Times reported on Wednesday that two franchise locations of the motel chain are sending their guest lists to ICE agents "every morning," and possibly receiving $200 per undocumented immigrant caught in the sting.

"We send a report every morning to ICE — all the names of everybody that comes in," one front-desk clerk told the Times. "Every morning at about 5 o'clock, we do the audit and we push a button and it sends it to ICE."

Immigration attorney Denise Aguilar wrote The New Times in an email that some of her clients "have heard (no telling how valid the info is) that ICE is paying $200 per person for the front-desk clerk to report."

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that law enforcement must obtain a warrant to search hotel/motel registries.

Also at The Washington Post, NY Mag, and Vice.

[Ed. Addition] A follow-on story at Phoenix New Times After New Times Story, Motel 6 Says It Will Stop Sharing Guest Lists With ICE raises many interesting questions about the situation, and then was itself updated: