SoylentNews

I've been learning to sail dinghies. I live a very long way from the sea so I sail on the local pond. It's been staring me in the face for years and a few months ago, missing the sea and boats in general, I decided to sign up for some courses.

I am fairly used to motor boats and have sailed aboard small yachts very occasionally a long time ago, but I figured I'd give it a try on my own as skipper.

I have a certificate now that means I can be let loose on the village pond in the company of a safety boat (captained by a young whipper-snapper shouting at me when I sit on the wrong side of the boat etc). Sailing a dinghy is very undignified. They tend to capsize, and it happens even to the best of us. What's more the pond water is green. It's not healthy like the sea.

Still, I went sailing on the sea with my dad again recently, and for once I was able to advise him about the trim of his sails.

I inadvertently excluded AC posts on my previous journal post. Apologies. And I don't think I can change comment options on an existing post. So I'm making another post in case others want to comment here. (And folks: let's keep the nonsense out of here, please. I'm opening comments up for discussion about the good of this site.)

As noted there, I have made a new donation (in addition to my previous subscription) of $200, and I've pledged to donate $100 more if we can get at least up to our semi-annual goal of $2000 by the end of August. See that linked journal entry for more thoughts on why we should do this.

Sulla has said there may be some Blackberry prizes available for those who donate, and he has donated $100 himself (as well as asking for someone to match him).

Will others join us? Challenge others? Pledge a match if we meet the goal?

[EDIT: Please continue discussion on this topic at this new journal entry. I inadvertently excluded AC comments here, and I don't think I can modify this post's comment policy.]

I've reflected a bit on a significant event that happened this week. To me, it was a really extraordinary thing. This week, SoylentNews went down for a while. I noticed something was weird when I looked at it in the morning, but by the time I had any opportunity to spend time on the site, it was live again.

A site like this that's powered entirely by volunteers experienced a significant hiccup, various solutions were tried, and it was resolved and restored as best as possible within a matter of several hours. That's really something.

And given that there seem to be questions about Slashdot's commitment even to anonymous posting and free speech anymore (let alone all the various complaints many of us left there for years ago), SN serves as an important place on the internet.

Because of that, I just made a donation of $200. I am already a subscriber to this site, but I donated again today. I'm NOT looking for any applause for doing so -- if anything, I'm hoping to encourage others to do the same. Perhaps even shame those who have never subscribed into doing so.

To that end, I will make a further pledge: IF OTHER DONORS CAN GET US UP TO OUR $2000 FUNDING GOAL BY AUGUST 31ST (roughly 2 weeks from now), I WILL DONATE AN ADDITIONAL $100 to SN.

The minimum subscription for a year is $20. That's less than 6 cents per day. Even if you look at this site once per week, that's 39 cents per week. Do you get any information or entertainment or other value out of this site? Why do you come back? If you do, please hit "Subscribe." I know from things said in comments here that many people make a lot more money than I do. If you can give $100/year, that's 28 cents per day. Think about how much you may pay for coffee or lunch out a few times per week or whatever, and ask yourself what value this site gives you. If you have some flexible spending money, give up a nice dinner out or two this month, and make a donation to SN.

Nobody asked me to do this. As many people know, I've had issues with this community at times. But the editors and the submitters and those who maintain the code and servers here -- they deserve our applause. And they need money to keep things going. Our Founders (according to the site info) incurred significant expenses to set this site up and have never been repaid properly. They deserve to. And the maintainers here deserve to have some extra cash in reserve in case things don't always go so well one year or something.

What did those guys who got our site back up the other night ask for? Nothing. In the long comment thread linked above, an AC made a comment suggesting a donation, and MartyB replied. Most other people just said "thanks."

But I see many usernames who said "thank you" who don't have a subscriber star next to their name. I know you can voluntarily hide it, but I wear it not to brag, but instead to shame others into thinking about subscribing. I realize some people may not be able to afford much or even anything. I know for some people even $20 out of their annual budget may be a significant expense to worry about. I want those people to be welcome here too. But consider -- even if you can only pay $5, that's something. That helps keep the site going.

(An aside: I also think it should be possible to "earn" a subscription to this site through volunteer work. If you are a site admin or editor and put in at least, say, X hours/year on this site, I think you automatically deserve to be identified as contributing to the community too. I would even be in favor of a special badge for that, but I also appreciate the egalitarian approach here -- so you guys at least deserve an automatic star next to your name, assuming you want to wear it.)

Also, lastly, I want to put out a call to the ACs of the world. Slashdot seems to be saying it doesn't want you. Most of the internet is saying it doesn't want you. SN welcomes you. Consider taking a moment and donating. I don't know if you can make an anonymous donation or not, or how that works, but I hope you consider doing so.

If you're already a subscriber, consider doing as I have done, and make an extra donation now. Give up a few lattes or pack a lunch a few times in the next few weeks, and give another $20.

I don't know if others have responded to MartyB's post, but the current ticker I see for funding says ~$210 out of $2000 for the second half of 2019. But that amount hasn't been updated since the site went down. I've already pledged $200 more toward that funding goal, and I hope others have too.

Again, I'll make another $100 donation if we can get to that goal by the end of the month. It's not a lot of money, but considering the time and effort put in by our admins to keep things running, it's well deserved. I hope others will step up and perhaps also offer a bonus donation. If we reach our goal quickly, I might consider an additional incentive for a stretch goal.

Hong Kong protesters call for 'Mulan' boycott after star went public in support of police

Even Mulan is getting political. Liu Yifei, the Chinese-born actress starring in Disney's upcoming live-action "Mulan" remake, waded into the Hong Kong protest controversy on Thursday by expressing support for the city's police, who anti-government demonstrators accuse of using excessive force to quell unrest. "I support the Hong Kong police. You can all attack me now. What a shame for Hong Kong," she posted on Weibo, a Twitter-like Chinese social media platform.

Immediately, people began posting #BoycottMulan on Twitter -- which is banned in China. Hours later, the hashtag was trending in Hong Kong and the United States with 37,700 tweets posted at time of writing. Twitter users accused the actress of supporting police brutality, and called out the fact that she's an American citizen. "Liu is a naturalized American citizen. It must be nice. Meanwhile she pisses on people fighting for democracy," one person tweeted.

On the flip side, she also received plenty of praise on Weibo, the dominant platform in China. Nearly all the comments on her post echoed support for the Hong Kong police and Beijing.

I'll make a man out of you.

Also at NYT and Deadline.

SMART Modular Shows Off 256 GB Gen-Z Memory Module

SMART Modular this month demonstrated one of the industry’s first prototypes of a EDSFF 3-inch DDR4 Gen-Z memory module. The ZMM supports advanced functionality enabled by the new interface and offers throughput akin to that offered by today’s DDR4-4000 memory modules.

SMART Modular’s 256 GB ZMM uses Samsung’s 32 Gb 4-high DDR4 DRAM devices as well as IntelliProp’s Gen-Z Mamba memory controller ASSP, which supports multiple access semantics, including byte and block addressable DRAM access, in-band configuration, and access key/region key memory isolation opcodes in a bid to simplify memory access needed to handle emerging data-centric workloads. The controller features 16 Gen-Z lanes with 25 Gbps PHY as well as 400 Gbps aggregate performance. The chip requires up to 20 W of power, so it needs proper cooling.

Gen-Z.

Trump official revises Statue of Liberty poem to defend migrant rule change

A top US immigration official has revised a quote inscribed on the Statue of Liberty in defence of a new policy that denies food aid to legal migrants.

The head of Citizenship and Immigration Services tweaked the passage: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free".

The official added the words "who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge".

It comes as Trump officials debuted a regulation that denies aid to migrants.

Ken Cuccinelli, the Trump administration's acting head of Citizenship and Immigration Services, announced on Monday a new "public charge" requirement that limits legal migrants from seeking certain public benefits such as public housing or food aid, or are considered likely to do so in the future.

Missouri Walmart panic caused by armed man testing gun rights

A man who sparked panic by walking into a Walmart with a rifle and body armour told police he was testing his right to bear arms in public.

Dmitriy Andreychenko entered the shop heavily armed, days after a mass shooting at another of Walmart's stores. "I wanted to know if that Walmart honoured the second amendment," the 20-year-old told police after his arrest.

Prosecutors have charged him with making a terrorist threat. If found guilty, the charge could result in a four-year prison sentence and a fine of $10,000 (£8,300), Greene County prosecutor Dan Patterson said in a statement.

On 8 August, Mr Andreychenko entered the store "armed with an AR style rifle slung across his chest", police said, wearing a ballistic vest and recording himself. Both the rifle and a handgun he carried were loaded.

He told police he did not expect the reaction his walk generated. "This is Missouri, I understand if we were somewhere else like New York or California, people would freak out," he said, according to police filings. Days before, 20 people had been killed in a Walmart in El Paso by a gunman carrying an automatic rifle.

Also at CBS.

How to make a right turn from a main street onto a low traffic street.
_{Easy Guide: For Dummies!}

1. First come to a complete stop.
2. Pause for several seconds.
3. (only if driving a BMW...) if there are cars approaching from behind you, continue to wait until they either pass you or are forced to come to a complete stop behind you. The more accumulation, the better.
4. Signal for a right turn.
5. Look around to see that it is safe to make a right turn.
6. When you feel as through you are ready to proceed, then gradually begin making the right turn from the busy street you are on to the non-busy street you are turning into.
7. If any other cars that were behind you also make the same right turn, then proceed slowly and carefully.

“MAGA Bomber” Cesar Sayoc was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Monday for sending 16 mail bombs to 13 people around the United States last year, including leading critics of President Donald Trump such as former President Barack Obama, ex-Vice President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, actor Robert De Niro and financier George Soros.

“I am beyond so very sorry for what I did,” Sayoc said before he was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Manhattan by Judge Jed Rakoff, according to the Courthouse News service.

“Now that I am a sober man, I know that I a very sick man,” Sayoc reportedly said. “I wish more than anything that I could turn back time and take back what I did ... I feel the pain and suffering of these victims.”

But Rakoff said, “The nature and cirumstances of the instant offenses are, by any measure, horrendous.”

“While none of the devices exploded ... at the very least they were intended to strike fear and terror into the minds of their victims and to intimidate those victims, mostly prominent political figures, from exercising their freedom.”

‘MAGA Bomber’ Cesar Sayoc sentenced to 20 years in prison for trying to kill Trump critics, including Obama, Clinton, Biden, Booker, Harris

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says first orbital Starship prototype flight debut is just weeks away

According to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, one or both of the company’s two orbital Starship prototypes could be “ready to fly” – or nearly so – by the end of August. Even if Musk is off by one or several months, it would still make for a spectacular achievement.

The focus of the conversation that led Musk to the classic Musk-time prediction was the topic of a long-promised presentation on SpaceX’s Starship program. Although just a few weeks shy of the usual schedule, 2019’s presentation – set for August 24th in Boca Chica, Texas – more or less follows an annual September update tradition that Musk has consistently followed since 2016. Each year, Musk has given the public a glimpse into the constantly evolving process of designing SpaceX’s next-generation Mars-bound rocket. Despite the tradition’s consistency, 2019 is simply different.

The prototypes are referred to as "orbital", but the first flight will be high-altitude suborbital with 3 Raptor engines:

Elon Musk will update the status of Starship development on August 24

In regard to his August 24 presentation, Musk said of this suborbital test vehicle, "We should have Starship Mk1 with 3 Raptors almost ready to fly by then." The orbital version of Starship will ultimately fly on six Raptor engines. The flight of that vehicle into space may come in 2020, or 2021.

One interesting piece of information to look out for: What payload could a single-stage-to-orbit Starship deliver? Probably not much, and it might not make sense not to use it without the Super Heavy booster, but maybe it could still be competitive with smallsat launchers.

August 12-14: 200-meter Starhopper test
August 24: Starship update presentation
Late August?: High-altitude suborbital launch
2020: Orbital

Also: Report outlines SpaceX’s plans for Starship launches from KSC

SpaceX plans to build facilities at the Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A for launches and, eventually, landings of its next-generation launch vehicle, according to a newly released report.

An environment assessment prepared by SpaceX, and released by NASA Aug. 1, discusses plans to develop additional facilities at LC-39A, which currently hosts Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches, for use by the company’s Starship vehicle and its Super Heavy booster.

The plans outlined in the document call for the construction of a new launch mount at the complex near the existing one used by the Falcon 9 and Heavy. The modifications to the pad would also include a tank farm for the methane fuel used by the Raptor engines that power Starship and Super Heavy.

The Super Heavy booster would land at a ship in the ocean downrange from the launch site, although the report noted that SpaceX may later have the booster return to land. The Starship upper stage would initially land at the company’s existing Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, but the company plans to build a pad near the new launch mount at LC-39A for to support Starship landings at a future date.

The facilities will be able to support up to 24 Starship/Super Heavy launches a year, the company said in the report, with a corresponding decline in Falcon launches from the complex. “Due to the higher lift capability, Starship/Super Heavy could launch more payloads and reduce the overall launch cadence when compared to Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy,” the report states.