62546595
submission
judgecorp writes:
The British Government has had to produce an emergency surveillance Bill after the European Court of Justice ruled that European rules on retaining metadata were illegal. That Bill has now been passed by the House of Commons with almost no debate, and will become law if approved by the House of Lords. But the so-called DRIP (Data retenteion and Investigatory Powers) Bill could face a legal challenge: the Open Rights Group (ORG) is fund-raising to bring a suit which would argue that blanket data retention is unlawful, so these emergency measures would be no more legal than the ones they replaced.
62325921
submission
sfcrazy writes:
How black can a black get? The ‘new black’ of the science world is so dark that it makes it almost impossible for the human eye to see it. British researchers have created a “strange, alien” radiation-absorbing material that absorbs all but 0.035 per cent of light. Setting a new world record, Vantablack is so dark the human eye finds it difficult to determine its shape and dimension.
It is also said to conduct heat seven and half times more effectively than copper, and is ten times stronger than steel.
62324769
submission
petrus4 writes:
I've had a while to think about this, but my recent experiences over the last
several hours with FreeBSD's disastrous new package management system, pkgng,
has finally convinced me that I'm not just being paranoid.
At this point, I believe that a systematic campaign is being waged against
FOSS UNIX by the trans-Atlantic intelligence community; and I have seen
sufficient instances of it at this point, that I've been able to identify the
strategy that is being used. The fact that FreeBSD has had some radical, systemic
changes only a few years after the systemd debacle with Linux, is just a
little too coincidental to my mind.
The plan goes like this:-
Phase 1. Get a corporate stool pigeon to write
an extremely disruptive piece of software for the system that you are
attempting to destroy. Said software needs to have a sufficient number of
superficially cool/flashy features that it will seduce less
intelligent/discerning users; but the main thing which said software needs to
do, is radically disrupt and compromise the operating system's level of
transparency, discoverability, and openness. In Linux's case this was
systemd, and in FreeBSD's it has been pkgng. Both of these pieces of software
share a few different characteristics.
a} They are opaque, undiscoverable, and almost completely impervious to user
control. It's hard for the average user to figure out what said software is
doing. With the earlier form of FreeBSD's package management, I could see the
URL where the package was being downloaded from, and it was also entirely
possible to change said URL in plain text. Now, pkgng uses bit torrent, and I
can't see where the torrent file has originated from, or which process is
being called as a bit torrent client. I can't choose which bit torrent
program I want to use, either. What configuration there is, is also written
in YAML, rather than plain text; which is another strike against it for me.
b} They incorporate a sufficient amount of automation, and apparent
advancement, that it is possible to make a superficially plausible argument
that anyone who objects to said software is simply a Luddite, who is
supposedly opposed to technological progress in general. Of course, this is a
disingenuous claim, because it is entirely possible to write advanced,
well-automated software that is not opaque, and does not compromise the
ability of a user to control it. The ability to make this argument, however,
is of vital importance for Phase 2, which I will get to in a moment.
c} They are extremely tightly integrated and coupled into the rest of the
system. Systemd is like an octopus, and pkgng isn't much better. I was
horrified when I discovered that pkg has actually been added to the base
system. Ports always used to be completely detachable from base; the choice
of whether to install it at all was given to you at the end of
sysinstall.
With these programs, you only get to make the choice once as to
whether or not you use them, and if you decide to do so, then after that, you
are owned. They can no longer be removed; you are stuck with them whether you
like them or not. Fortunately, FreeBSD is still sufficiently modular that I
was able to delete /usr/local and /var/db/pkg. I have since tried to install
NetBSD's pkgsrc and have been unable to get it to function, so I have had to
resort to manual compilation of source at the moment. For most things, I am
prepared to tolerate that; although I haven't tried to install X yet. I am
anticipating that that will be a nightmare of Biblical proportions.
Phase 2. Once you have your disruptive program written, you now have to make
sure that acceptance of it is universal, and anyone who resists must be
bludgeoned into compliance. This is effectively achieved by hiring lots of
sock puppets and trolls, and sending them into distribution development/core
team mailing lists.
If you think I'm just being paranoid about my description of this step, I
would invite you to go and read Debian's mailing list archives, during the
period when they were debating whether or not to add systemd. Anyone who
attempted to resist or offer counter-arguments to the inclusion of systemd was
shouted down and abused into silence; and I can still remember how savage a
response I got in /r/FreeBSD when I expressed doubts about pkgng several
months ago, as well.
In addition to this, I've also been reading about how broken GTK theming has
become for GNOME/GTK 3.
I've never liked GNOME. I don't think it is well designed, and I also don't
think the GNOME developers have ever done an adequate job of really listening
to their users; but since the release of GNOME 3, that has become a
lot worse. Breakage has been reported in bug trackers, only to
receive snide responses from developers about how said features are being
retired, because said developers feel that they would "dilute the GNOME
brand," as if GNOME were some sort of corporate product. I can't think where
I would have got that idea
from.
I was honestly in something close to a state of shock in response to pkgng
earlier, though. I've been using Linux (and to a slightly lesser extent,
FreeBSD) for 20 years now; and I have never seen anything like pkgng and
systemd, and both have originated within the last five years. UNIX is one of
the few things that I have ever been truly passionate about, and to read the
degree of open contempt that has been expressed towards it by Lennart
Poettering, has been genuinely heartbreaking.
We need to start recognising what is being done to us; and quickly, before it
gets worse. Given how undiscriminating Linux's userbase is, I wasn't really
surprised that Poettering's software has become as popular as it has, but for
something like pkgng to be accepted into FreeBSD is both inexplicable and
downright terrifying. I can't believe that nobody in the core team knew better.
I am asking everyone who reads this, and who cares about the operating system
that has given us a stable, open, discoverable, and empowering computing
environment over the last 45 years, to join me in taking the following
actions.
a} Boycott all use of systemd, pkgng, GNOME, KDE, and any other software
which has known corporate influence or sponsorship, or which is also written
with blatant disregard for UNIX development philosophy.
b} If a} is not possible while using Linux, to then join me in migrating to
either Open or NetBSD, where we can use software that will not contribute to
the strangulation of our operating systems, which the NSA and GCHQ
are attempting to bring about through corporate proxies.
Above all, remember that you have a choice. You can keep choosing to use the
supposedly new, shiny, but ultimately opaque, disempowering, and enslaving
corporate sponsored desktop environments, or you can choose to defend and
retain your autonomy and freedom. This is a choice which must be made with
the utmost urgency, before they take our remaining autonomy away from us.
I am asking for nothing less than a full scale revolt against, and migration
away from, Red Hat in particular; and I need your help. Ultimately this will
be as much for your own benefit, as for mine.
62227073
submission
StartsWithABang writes:
Our observable Universe is a pretty impressive entity: extending 46 billion light-years in all directions, filled with hundreds of billions of galaxies and having been around for nearly 14 billion years since the Big Bang. But what lies beyond it? Sure, there's probably more Universe just like ours that's unobservable, but what about the multiverse? Finally, a treatment that delineates the difference between the ideas that are thrown around and explains what's accepted as valid, what's treated as speculative, and what's completely unrelated to anything that could conceivably ever be observed from within our Universe.
62215139
submission
AHuxley writes:
The http://thedesk.matthewkeys.net... reports on a FOIA request covering "... all e-mails sent by Edward Snowden"
Remember how Snowden should have raised his concerns with his superiors within the NSA?
Remember how no such communication could be found?
Remember how one such communication was released but did not seem to be raising direct concerns?
Well some record of e-mail communications seems to exist but they are exempt from public disclosure under the federal Freedom of Information Act.
62139249
submission
coondoggie writes:
DARPA’s two-year old program to better understand and perhaps ultimately influence social media has begun to bear fruit but some of that harvest is raising a stink. DARPA said when rolling out its Social Media in Strategic Communication (SMISC) program was to develop a social networks science that will develop automated and semiautomated operator support tools and techniques for the systematic and methodical use of social media at data scale and in a timely fashion. But in building that science the agency says it has funded myriad social media/Twitter research (including a study that looked at Lady Gaga’s Twitter following—a model of social media popularity, DARPA stated) as well as a look into Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit and Kickstarter.
62134739
submission
thejman78 writes:
Most fuel cell vehicle myths and misconceptions stem from a single seven year old article in The New Atlantis magazine. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and DOE, fuel cells will cost $30-$50 per kw-hr of output by 2017, depending on production volume. To put this number in perspective, Tesla battery packs are estimated to cost over $200 per kw-hr of output today and may fall to $140-175 per kw-hr by 2017. In all likelihood, fuel cell vehicles will cost less than battery electric vehicles by the end of the decade (barring some major decrease in battery costs, of course).
62080999
submission
astroengine writes:
How cosmic dust is created has been a mystery for some time. Although the textbooks tell us that the dusty stuff that builds the planets — and, ultimately, the complex chemistry that forms life (we are, after all, made of ‘star stuff’) — comes from supernova explosions, astronomers have been puzzled as to how delicate grains of dust condense from stellar material and how they can possibly survive the violent shock waves of the cataclysmic booms. But now, with the help of a powerful ground-based telescope, astronomers have not only watched one of these supernova ‘dust factories’ in action, they’ve also discovered how the grains can withstand the violent supernova shock. “When the star explodes, the shockwave hits the dense gas cloud like a brick wall,” said lead author Christa Gall, of Aarhus University, Denmark. “It is all in gas form and incredibly hot, but when the eruption hits the ‘wall’ the gas gets compressed and cools down to about 2,000 degrees. At this temperature and density elements can nucleate and form solid particles. We measured dust grains as large as around one micron (a thousandth of a millimeter), which is large for cosmic dust grains. They are so large that they can survive their onward journey out into the galaxy.” The surprising size of the measured dust particles means they can better survive the supernova's shockwave. This research has been published in the journal Nature.
61861909
submission
61823951
submission
mask.of.sanity writes:
Forensics and industry experts have cast doubt on an alleged National Security Agency capability to locate whistle blowers appearing in televised interviews based on how the captured background hum of electrical devices affects energy grids. Divining information from electrified wires is a known technique: Network Frequency Analysis (ENF) is used to prove video and audio streams have not been tampered with, but experts weren't sure if the technology could be used to locate individuals.
61817745
submission
sciencehabit writes:
How much do we hate being alone with our own thoughts? Enough to give ourselves an electric shock. In a new study, researchers recruited hundreds of people and made them sit in an empty room and just think for about 15 minutes. About half of the volunteers hated the experience. In a separate experiment, 67% of men and 25% of women chose to push a button and shock themselves rather than just sit there quietly and think. One of the study authors suggests that the results may be due to boredom and the trouble that we have controlling our thoughts. “I think [our] mind is built to engage in the world,” he says. “So when we don’t give it anything to focus on, it’s kind of hard to know what to do.”
