SoylentNews

Politically connected sex offender Jeffrey Epstein settles suit, averting victim testimony

A last-minute settlement has been reached in Florida in a long-running lawsuit involving a politically connected financier accused of sexually abusing dozens of teenage girls.

The deal came Tuesday just before jury selection was to begin, and for now, it means none of the victims of Jeffrey Epstein will be able to testify.

Article text replaced:

A last-minute settlement was reached Tuesday in a long-running Florida lawsuit involving a politically connected financier accused of sexually abusing dozens of teenage girls, clearing the way for the victims’ lawyers to try to unravel a once-secret agreement that prevented federal criminal prosecution of the financier.

[...] Epstein could have faced a possible life sentence if federal prosecutors had pursued a draft 57-page indictment that was never filed. Now, Scarola and Edwards say that possibility still exists, and the victims — some of whom were only 13 or 14 when they were molested — may yet get their day in federal court amid a national #metoo movement that seeks to hold sexual harassers and abusers to account.

[...] The settlement reached Tuesday involved a lawsuit Epstein filed against Edwards almost a decade ago. Edwards filed a counterclaim, contending that Epstein sued him maliciously, trying to harm Edwards’ reputation and derail his work with Epstein’s own abuse victims.

Jeffrey Epstein apology deprives accusers of day in court

Until his disgrace, Epstein rubbed shoulders with the likes of former President Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Prince Andrew.

The money manager - the subject of a bombshell Miami Herald investigation last week - was accused of trafficking some 40 teenage girls.

Epstein eventually agreed a plea deal widely seen as extraordinarily lenient. His accusers never got the chance to testify.

The prosecutor criticised for letting Epstein off the hook was Alexander Acosta, who is now labour secretary in the Trump administration.

Lawmakers call for investigation into Labor Secretary Acosta for sex offender plea deal

The lawmakers, which include 10 representatives from Florida, are asking the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General to investigate the "circumstances" surrounding the nonprosecution agreement Acosta entered into with Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy Florida investor who was convicted on two counts of prostitution in 2007.

A new Miami Herald investigation provides details into the deal Acosta and Epstein struck after Epstein was accused of sexually abusing dozens of young girls, many of whom were minors. Epstein was facing a life sentence in federal prison but only served 13 months in county jail as a result of the plea deal with Acosta.

Navy Admiral Scott Stearney Is Found Dead in Bahrain Home

The admiral overseeing American naval operations in the Middle East and Southwest Asia was found dead in Bahrain on Saturday, the Navy said.

[...] Admiral Stearney, 58, took charge in May of the Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, as well as a broader naval coalition there that includes more than 20,000 United States and allied maritime forces.

[...] The American-led naval forces play an important role in safeguarding such vital regional waterways as the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea. In recent years, the naval forces have confronted threats including marauding pirates, harassing Iranian revolutionary guard attack boats, weapons smugglers, and Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen firing missiles at commercial ships.

Senior U.S. admiral found dead in Bahrain, no foul play suspected

Top Navy admiral was found dead in 'apparent suicide'

Vice Adm. Scott Stearney, the Navy’s top officer overseeing forces in the Middle East, died Saturday in what defense officials now call an “apparent suicide," CBS News reports.

In more Trump corruption news:

President Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty Thursday in New York to lying to Congress about a Moscow real estate project that Trump and his company pursued at the same time he was running for president.

In a nine-page filing, prosecutors laid out a litany of lies that Cohen admitted he told to congressional lawmakers about the Moscow project — an attempt, Cohen said, to minimize links between the proposed development and Trump as his presidential bid was well underway.

As part of Cohen’s plea, he admitted to falsely claiming that efforts to build a Trump-branded tower in Moscow ended in January 2016, when in fact discussions continued through June of that year, the filing said. Among the people Cohen briefed on the status of the project was Trump himself, on more than three occasions, according to the document.

Trump has repeatedly said that he had no business dealings in Russia, tweeting in July 2016, “For the record, I have ZERO investments in Russia,” and telling reporters in January 2017 that he had no deals there because he had “stayed away.”

Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, pleads guilty to lying to Congress about Moscow project

NASA Will Announce Its 1st Commercial Partners for the Return to the Moon Thursday

The selected companies will be revealed Thursday (Nov. 29) during a news conference held at NASA's headquarters in Washington, D.C. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine will lead the news conference. The event will begin at 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT); you can watch it live on Space.com, courtesy of NASA TV, or directly at the agency's website.

I'll do a sub on it later. Check out the live news conference if you can.

‘Cowboy Bebop’ Live-Action Series Lands at Netflix

The series, which hails from Tomorrow Studios, has been in the works since last year. Netflix has ordered 10 episodes.

Shinichiro Watanabe, director of the original anime, will serve as a consultant on the project. Christopher Yost, who previously penned “Thor: The Dark World” and “Thor: Ragnarok”, will write the first episode and executive produce. Andre Nemec, Josh Appelbaum, Jeff Pinkner, and Scott Rosenberg of Midnight Radio will serve as executive producers. Yasuo Miyakawa, Masayuki Ozaki, and Shin Sasaki of Sunrise Inc.– the studio behind the original series–will also executive produce along with Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements of Tomorrow Studios, Tetsu Fujimura, and Matthew Weinberg. The series is a co-production between Netflix and Tomorrow Studios, with Netflix handling physical production.

The track record for adaptations of anime is not great. Another classic about to be sullied by Netflix?

On a side note, Variety.com has three separate posts about Finland offering incentives to film and TV productions. I guess Variety was offered an incentive, too.

Nubia's latest gaming phone comes with up to 10GB of RAM

Nubia Red Magic Mars announced: Snapdragon 845, 10GB RAM, and shoulder triggers

Not sure if I want to do another submission about a 10 GB of RAM "gaming smartphone". Although it could be amusing.

Previously: 4 Gallon Kimchi Ferment

I took it out on the 26th, so about 15 days of fermentation.

This version of the recipe had just 25% of the crushed red pepper I normally use. The resulting taste was much milder, but still satisfying, and still tasted like kimchi rather than sauerkraut or something. You get a more noticeable ginger taste this way.

The biggest disappointment may have been the radishes. By becoming soggy, they lost the crisp crunchiness they had at the start. This should have been obvious but I wasn't thinking about it. They became less spicy, which may be a plus for some. There have been kimchis made primarily of radishes for centuries, so it's not coming out of left field as an ingredient. I cut my red (Cherry Belle?) radishes into thin circular slices rather than cube chunks as seen in the linked recipe.

Rather than the 4 gallons I was expecting, I made just over 3 gallons, filling about 12.5-13 quart jars. I used a slotted spoon to get the veggies in the jars, and then put each jar in the sink so I could pour liquid from the bucket into it. Some minor gas buildup was already evident when I sealed and opened some of the jars. I'd like for it to develop that tangy carbonation I got in the old storebought kimchi, so some of these will be sitting around in the fridge for a long while.

I didn't see any signs of bubbling in the airlock, maybe because the bucket was only just over half full, or because the lactobacillus fermentation process is much slower than say, yeast + beer. I think the airlock may have helped in getting a consistent flavor with less "funk". It also prevented the smell from escaping into the room, until I opened the bucket.

I didn't write down the cost of materials but it was probably in the neighborhood of $15, or $30 counting reusable supplies, to make the equivalent of maybe $150-300 worth of kimchi. It should be able to stay good in the fridge for up to 6 months, possibly longer. I'll agree with the AC that says it's a waste of time to make bread. You are competing with impeccably baked artisan loaves in the $1-3 range (less for clearance bread). Kimchi or sauerkraut? You can easily beat it on price. Time spent making it isn't too bad (worse for kimchi than sauerkraut since I had to cut up a lot of stuff and soaked cabbage for a while). Simplify the steps for saeurkraut and you can start some in under half an hour. And you can put it on your meat and potatoes.

If any of you decided to make some, or buy some, I'd like to hear how it turned out.

Yet another Trump Campaign staffer reports to prison today.

Most corrupt administration ever.

Papadopoulos ordered to jail Monday

American Exorcism

Priests are fielding more requests than ever for help with demonic possession, and a centuries-old practice is finding new footing in the modern world.

Someone apparently hacked Drake’s Fortnite account and used racial slurs on a charity live-stream

Ninja plays Fortnite with fake Drake after Drake's account is hacked - hacker gets racist on stream

The account 'Duddus647' randomly joined Ninja's game while he was doing a charity livestream to raise money for the Ellen Fund, in collaboration with the Ellen show.

Believing that it was in fact Drake, Ninja attempted to text the rapper, saying "I'm not sure if Drake meant to invite me?" - before jumping into a game.

With the Drake account completely silent at first, Ninja began to play as normal, assuming that the star was maybe just setting up his microphone and audio.

Things seemed perfectly normal (if one of the most famous people in the world randomly joining your game of Fortnite can ever be considered 'normal'), and Ninja quickly got to taking out opponents.

Suddenly however, "Drake" broke his silence, except of course it wasn't Drake at all, but rather a hacker who had gained access to the account - and began saying the N-word repeatedly.

Drake (musician)

Aubrey Drake Graham (born October 24, 1986) known mononymously as Drake, is a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur. His rapping ability has been noted as "polarizing", and has contributed to him being named one of the most divisive rappers of his generation by multiple critics and media publications. Drake initially gained recognition as an actor on the teen drama television series Degrassi: The Next Generation in the early 2000s.

[...] Drake holds several Billboard chart records. He has the most charted songs (186) among solo artists in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, the most simultaneously charted Hot 100 songs in a single week (27), the most time on the Hot 100 (431 weeks) and the most Hot 100 debuts in a week (22). He also has the most number one singles on the Hot Rap Songs, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and Rhythmic Charts. Drake has also won three Juno Awards, six American Music Awards, and fifteen Billboard Music Awards. He is the RIAA's top certified digital singles artist and one of the world's best-selling music artists, with more than 95 million records sold globally.

Hillary Clinton calls on Europe to curb migration to halt populists

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is calling on European leaders to enact stricter immigration policies in order to counter the growing threat of right-wing populism on the continent.

“I think Europe needs to get a handle on migration because that is what lit the flame,” Clinton told The Guardian in an interview published Thursday, referring to the rise of anti-immigrant politicians across Europe.

“I admire the very generous and compassionate approaches that were taken particularly by leaders like [German Chancellor] Angela Merkel," she said, "but I think it is fair to say Europe has done its part, and must send a very clear message — ‘we are not going to be able to continue provide refuge and support’ — because if we don’t deal with the migration issue it will continue to roil the body politic.”

#HillaryGraduatedFromBeingAnNPCBoss :^)

███████.com is a proper stealth mode Dot Com style start-up with more Aeron chairs than people based in Central London between the Ritz Hotel and Fortnum & Mason. We seek someone who:-

• Can write POSIX C to a subset of the MISRA standard to target GNU/Linux, BSD, MacOSX and the cheapest micro-controllers we can find; probably 16 bit AVR or possibly 32 bit Xtensa.
• Can write useful documentation in US English as plain text, HTML or OpenOffice format.
• Can occasionally invoke horrors written in PERL4 and make.
• Is willing to solder, flash and test micro-controllers.
• Alternatively, wants the thankless task of implementing a Unix GUI.

We strongly encourage part-time tele-work, part-time hours and job sharing. We encourage you to use your favorite text editor and email client. Furthermore, we:-

• Prefer HTML2 rather than HTML5.
• Prefer UDP rather than TCP.
• Prefer IPv4 rather than IPv6. (This seems to get howls of protest from people don't understand RFC1365.)
• Prefer wired rather than wireless.
• Prefer Unix rather than Windows.
• Prefer RISC rather than CISC.
• Prefer compiled programming languages.
• Prefer strong typing and static checking.
• Attempt to follow the 12 Step Joel Test without being a cargo cult.
• Are strongly skeptical about cryptographic currency and weakly supportive of block-chain.
• Are strongly pro-privacy.
• Are strongly against cloudy computing.
• Appreciate junk food including our local source of caffeinated bacon.
• Prefer jello rather than Trello. (Sorry, Joel.)
• Prefer slack rather than Slack.

Indeed, we are chilled and low drama with collective experience of South California counter-culture and hydroponics. We are very accommodating towards alternative lifestyles and disabilities. For us, wisdom is highly prized and we appreciate that wisdom is often accompanied with ailments of age. Regardless, we retain some exhuberance and immaturity. Last week, in jest, I was intentionally struck with a scrunched food wrapper. Also, a spherical cow plushie was thrown around the office. This week, it is joined by a spherical sheep, spherical ladybug and spherical tiger. We are willing to reduce such shenanigans if people require concentration. Unfortunately, this is the first of many steps going from innovation to stale, hollow corporation. However, we are doing our utmost to ensure that people don't have to tone down appearance or mannerisms for our traditional New York investors. (We're not encouraging an us-and-them mentality but you can definitely tell who has the money and who has the ideas.)

We've been given a very long leash to make the most awesome, reliable, valuable, legal product and/or service by Mar 2019 with ongoing work subject to outcome. Personally, I'd like to deliver (five sets of) micro-processor, operating system, filing system, database, streaming video desktop remoting system with HDR, 3D sound and much more besides. However, in the four months covering Christmas, it would be optimistic to deliver a draft version of one piece. Indeed, even in the long-term, we cannot be all things to all people. So, where is the best place to concentrate effort? Consider broad market trends:-

• IBM peaked in the 1960s. It is still around but it isn't feared.
• With the licensing of PCDOS in 1981, IBM ultimately aided its successor, Microsoft. Microsoft is still around but it isn't feared.
• With the distribution of Internet Explorer in 1995, Microsoft ultimately aided its successor, Google.
• Google has peaked and has difficulty obtaining and retaining staff due to ethics, censorship and brogrammer culture.

In general:-

• Trends oscillate between server and client. IBM in 1960 (centralized) to Microsoft in 1985 (decentralized) to Google in 2010 (centralized) to ??? in 2035 (decentralized). Between IBM and Microsoft, infill all of the mini-computer companies (DEC, Data General) and dedicated word processor companies (Wang, Commodore). Between Microsoft and Google, infill all of the power desktop companies (Intergraph, SGI, Sun, Dell). From Google to its logical successor, infill rich client companies (Apple, Amazon, Facebook). Indeed, Apple's peak valuation and social media valuations rely on a hybrid of local software and vast server farms. MAGAF [Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook] have more than six million servers, 10 million storage units and create an electrical base load which requires 10 nuclear power stations.
• Companies at the extremes of the trend become monopolies before falling into maintenance mode. Many of the remainder chase a changing market.
• Tech monopolies create to environment for their successors.
• A successor is *almost* the opposite of the predecessor.
• Hybrid apps have reached an inevitable peak. This is likely to concede to systems with more autonomy.
• The current environment suits development of a decentralized, privacy respecting system. This is increasingly likely over the next 20 years.
• Security and privacy are awful. This is due to externalized costs and historically weak regulation. Retail banking is a relative leader in security; in part due to disproportionate impact on its own staff. However, legislation is tightening in North America and Europe; in part due to the vitriol on social media towards legislators. This regularly includes credible death threats to immediate family. In the UK, several people have been arrested or imprisoned for credible threat of rape towards politicians. Given that politicians are rarely sexually attractive, it should indicate that the problem is widespread.

Security and privacy are increasingly marketable. However, it is like King Canute attempting to fight a rising tide. It cannot be commanded or legislated. Best option is to isolate. Cannot redact data which has escaped. This is espcially true if it would be good manners.

With a rising tide of privacy infringement, the perfect product and a hypothetical contract with one bank does nothing for customers of other banks, retail breaches, medical breaches, government breaches or any other problem. There is no silver bullet which covers all cases. Regardless, anyone can be "king of their own castle" and home security is a domain where everything is within reach of a customer. If implemented correctly, the customer has complete control. Furthermore, an installation should function beyond the viability of the manufacturer. Convenience features, such as remote access, rapidly devolves into a security quagmire. Convenience features may also require more than four months of effort.

Home security dovetails with the trends of decreased driving and driving licenses, decreased drinking in bars and nightclubs, increased parcel delivery, increased food delivery, binge watching drama, increased remote study, streaming exercise classes and generally following the trends of the film: WALL-E and the short story: The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster. Overall, there is demand for a home automation system and a home security system which connects to a big screen television. The laziest method to implement such functionality is as a Kodi module. Kodi is typically deployed on a Raspberry Pi where extensive interfaces (USB, I2C, GPIO) are often unused. Obviously, this would be a lame, unreliable and insecure implementation but it would certainly be an impressive and convenient demonstration. Geeks may find Kodi's menu system to be quite tedious (and laggy). So, an expert mode is definitely required. It would be particularly useful if a scripting interface was available.

The objective is to have one system which can be used to watch films, watch television, listen to radio, listen to albums and also dip lights, adjust room temperature, brew beer, water plants, feed fish, set burgler alarm, review external security cameras and check who is at front door. Further options are possible but these compromise privacy. It is possible to forward dubious camera footage. It is also possible to integrate a house intercom, voice activated commands and video conferencing. However, interior cameras and microphones are specifically excluded because that's creepy. Even the creepy king, Mark Zuckerberg, covers his laptop camera but he'll willingly make a buck by pointing a camera at you. Our intention is to only integrate functionality which increases security without compromising privacy. How is this achieved? Everything from television to leaf node (lock, trip switch, light bulb) is fairly unconstrained. However, it would be a significant bonus if a system is:-

• Cheaper than a NanoLeaf.
• More open than Philips Hue.
• More reliable than both.

It is also a bonus if functionality overlaps with industrial, office, retail, automotive or aerospace use. For serious use, a Raspberry Pi would be replaced with a 1U rack server with ECC RAM. For very serious use, servers could be clustered with fail-over. Leafs should be as economical and as useful as possible. A friend who runs a virtual reality start-up gave a demostration of an Xtensa micro-controller with USB, GPIO, wifi and 256KB flash serial ROM. When flashed with a Lua interpreter it is possible to run scripts which are stored on a local filing system. Virtual serial over USB also allows access to a Lua REPL. From this, it is possible to join a WPA2 network, run a DHCP client and run an HTTP server. Indeed, without stopping the HTTP server, it is possible to modify the URL-space so that arbitrary paths may be handled by arbitrary functions. A fall-through case serves static files from the local filing system. My friend estimated that the minimum configuration used less than 64KB ROM.

What can be achieved in a smaller space? Chess computers have been implemented with 128 bytes RAM and a popular chess program for the Commodore VIC20 was supplied as a 2KB ROM. Graphic competitions have a 4KB category with impressive entries. (Although, Subdream's 64KB Raum Zeit octree renderer and Porter Robinson & Madeon's animated music video for Shelter remain favorites.) A smaller system is not an academic problem. A smaller system uses less energy. A smaller system also creates savings which ripple through manufacture, wholesale, retail and integration. Reducing cost of a micro-controller by 5¢ may reduce retail price by more than US$1. Alternatively, savings can be allocated to improved cipher suites. For many devices, almost any cipher would be an improvement. I hope that it is possible to include a CLI, graph library and SMART style EDI interface in a micro-controller with 4KB RAM and 16KB ROM. I also hope to implement a network switch with 2KB RAM. Even if these estimates are repeatedly raised, the result remains competitive in a market with dual-core light bulbs, quad-core watches and where 1GB RAM is regarded as embedded.

Our preferences for hiring are as follows:-

• UID1111 who is bold enough to show work, introspective and, despite protest to the contrary, cares about detail, such as string buffers.
• UID2828 who is working on the closely related problem of vehicle networking.
• UID5227, Linux device driver contributor. (I noted the quality of this work at the time.)
• Anonymous Coward who shared a fast and concisely documented matrix library.

We are heavily constrained by time. We would otherwise like to exhaust these options before seeking people more widely.

I'd like to finish with a message to people with similar sentiments to SoylentNews' Not So Anonymous Coward, SaltySpice. (When did we start naming our trolls?) We strongly agree that there are too many oxygen thieves in software development and corporate administration. If they could FOAD, we'd make more progress. In particular, computer security is a sticking plaster for developers who don't care. From our unused collation of soggy.jobs, the most generous lower bound for fake or speculative job adverts is 5%. We would be wholy unsurprised if the majority of job adverts are fake. Particular ire goes to Infosys and IBM subsidary, Aspera, for listing fake jobs. Paraphrasing from email:-

Me: Are you *sure* you're rejecting UDP, file transfer, POSIX C programmer with professional experience of your CLI and GUI?
Michelle Munson, co-founder of Aspera: Yes.

That's like the alleged musicians, Duran Duran, who came second in a lookalike competition or the guy in Charlie Brooker's ScreenWipe USA who failed a screen test to portray himself in a fictional version of his own life. However, when unemployed people are expected to seek work but employers are not obliged to hire, don't be surprised when the result is nepotism, time-wasting and abusive practices. Also don't be surprised when the unviable dregs are advertised for an extended period. My personal favorite was a job advert for a tri-lingual, Adobe, Java, Cisco expert which paid San Francisco minimum wage. This idiocy is made significantly worse by "signposting" "services" which provide another level of indirection where none is required.

It is damning that the majority of programming jobs are obtained via family, friends and interview prowess. Ability to do the job is very secondary. Caring about the project is also secondary. I would be inclined to hire SaltySpice in preference to MDC but, c'mon, meet me half way. Give me *anything* which puts you ahead of my least competent, least employable ex-colleague.