Rockstar Games has officially revealed the trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI, which is coming in 2025. You can watch it on YouTube. IGN reports: The trailer gives us a look at the game's female protagonist, a first for the series. Her name is Lucia, and that she starts off in prison -- "bad luck, I guess," she quips. The trailer confirms, too, that it's set in Vice City with a large sign - not a huge surprise for those who've been following the series, but exciting nonetheless. In addition to lots and lots of quick shots of crime, we also get glimpses of TikToks and live-streams, hinting that social media will be a big part of this game.

It all takes place as Tom Petty's "Love Is a Long Road" plays in the background, appropriate for the many car-related crimes we see. And yes, true to the Florida setting, there are alligators in locations where they shouldn't be. It ends by showing us a little more of Lucia and a male character, seemingly both lovers and partners-in-crime. "The only way we're gonna get through this is by sticking together and being a team," Lucia says at one point. Fans have been talking about GTA 6 ever since GTA 5 was released in 2013, perhaps unsurprisingly as IGN deemed that one a "masterpiece" in our review.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: On Wednesday, a group of military and military-adjacent scientists gathered at a conference to discuss the possibility of creating a super soldier. They discussed breeding programs, Marvel movies, The Matrix, and the various technologies the Pentagon is researching with the goal of creating a real life super soldier complete with cybernetic implants and thorny ethical issues surrounding bodily autonomy. The talk happened at the The Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference, or I/ITSEC, an annual conference where military leaders come to talk shop and simulation corporations gather to demo new products. It's the kind of place where execs and generals don virtual reality helmets and talk about the virtues of VR sims. You could even catch members of congress talking about the importance of simulations and war. "Winning the war of cognition by pushing readiness and lethality boundaries," reads the official poster for the 2019 I/ITSEC.

It was here, in Orlando, Florida, where five illustrious members of the military-industrial complex gathered to discuss super soldiers at the "Black Swan -- Dawn of the Super Soldier" panel. Lauren Reinerman-Jones, an analyst from Defense Acquisition University, moderated a panel that included U.S. Army Developmental Command representatives George Matook and Irwin Hudson, research scientist J.J. Walcutt, and Richard McKinley, who works on "non-invasive brain stimulation" for the Air Force. I/TSEC advertised the panel in its program with a picture of the experts next to a posing Master Chief, the genetically enhanced super soldier from the Halo video game franchise. Throughout the conversation, which covered the nuts and bolts of what's possible now and what's about to be possible along with various ethical concerns, references to science fiction and fantasy stories were common. Some of the ideas discussed include synthetic blood, pain-numbing stimulants, limb regeneration, and non-invasive brain stimulation. The discussion references the John Scalzi book about a near future where Earth wages war by offering the elderly new youthful bodies in exchange for military service.

They also discuss the ethical and legal concerns surrounding the creation of super soldiers, as well as the societal norms and potential risks. "What risks are we willing to take? There's all these wonderful things we can do," Matook said. "We don't want a fair fight. We really don't, this is not an honorable thing. We want our guys to be over-matching any possible enemies, right? So why aren't we giving them pharmaceutical enhancements? Why are we making them run all week when we could just be giving them steroids? There's all these other things you could do if you change societal norms and ethics. And laws, in some cases."

The discussion concludes with considerations about the long-term effects, reversibility of enhancements, and the potential ownership of enhanced individuals by the government. "So if you do these kinds of changes to an individual, what do you do when their service is up? What happens? Or are they just literally owned by the government for life," asks Reinerman-Jones. Hudson replied with a grim joke: "Termination."

America's census bureau looked at how many people relocated into each state from another state, compared to the total number of people making a move in that state. The state with the lowest "inmigration" ratio? California.

From 2021 through 2022, "California's inmigration rate was 11.1% last year..." reports SFGate. "For comparison, nearby Oregon had a inmigration rate of 21%."

But the census bureau cautions that California — America's most populous state — "also had a relatively large base of movers overall" — over 4 million — which could help explain its low ratio in several statistics. SFGate reports: California's outmigration rate — defined as the "number of people moving out of a state as a share of that state's total number of movers" — was also below the national migration average. Texas had the country's lowest outmigration rate, at 11.7%, according to the Census Bureau's analysis.
California and Texas are America's two most populous states. (The total population of California is 39 million — roughly 11.7% of America's population — while Texas has another 30 million. Oregon's population is just 4,240,137.) Interestingly, most people moving to California arrived from... Texas. (44,279). At the same time, 102,422 people moved from California to Texas, with another 74,157 moving from California to Arizona.

New York state also lost 91,201 people to Florida, and another 75,103 people to New Jersey. The second-highest number of people (31,225) who moved from a different state to California came from New York...

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, California saw a net loss of 340,000 residents between 2021 and 2022, with most of the people who left heading to Florida or Arizona.

NASA selected Blue Origin in February to launch the Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission, a pair of smallsats that will study the interaction of the solar wind with the magnetosphere of Mars. The space agency now expects the mission will be on the first launch of Blue Origin's New Glenn launch vehicle next year. SpaceNews reports: Neither Blue Origin nor NASA disclosed exactly where in the manifest of New Glenn launches ESCAPADE would take place. "It will be an early New Glenn mission and we're going to be ready," one Blue Origin executive, Ariane Cornell, said at the Satellite 2023 conference in March. At a Nov. 20 meeting of the NASA Advisory Council's human exploration and operations committee, Bradley Smith, director of NASA's Launch Services Office, said he was "incredibly excited" about the ESCAPADE launch, which he said was scheduled for about one year. His charts, though, and past presentations, listed an August 2024 launch for ESCAPADE.

"It's an incredibly ambitious first launch for New Glenn and we really appreciate the partnership," he said. Later in the committee meeting, he confirmed that NASA expected ESCAPADE to be on the inaugural New Glenn launch. "We will very likely be the very first launch of New Glenn," he said. That is acceptable, Smith said, since ESCAPADE is what NASA characterizes as a "class D" mission with a higher tolerance for risk. "We're willing to take a little bit of risk with a price tag and a mission assurance model that reflects that risk."

Besides the inherent technical risks in the first launch of a new rocket, there are also schedule risks. New Glenn development is years behind the original schedule Blue Origin put forward. The company has not provided recent updates about progress towards a first launch of the rocket, although Jarrett Jones, senior vice president for New Glenn at Blue Origin, said at World Satellite Business Week in September that the first flight vehicle would arrive at a Florida integration facility by the end of the year, with the company planning "multiple" launches of New Glenn in 2024.

As if homesickness, wasting muscles, thinner bones, an elevated cancer risk, the inescapable company of overachievers and the prospect of death in the endless vacuum of space were not enough to contend with, male astronauts may return from deep space prone to erectile dysfunction, scientists say. From a report: In what is claimed to be the first study to assess the impact of galactic radiation and weightlessness on male sexual health, Nasa-funded researchers found that galactic cosmic rays, and to a lesser extent microgravity, can impair the function of erectile tissues, with effects lasting potentially for decades. Raising their concerns in a report on Wednesday, the US researchers said they had identified "a new health risk to consider with deep space exploration." They called for the sexual health of astronauts to be closely monitored on their return from future deep space missions, noting that certain antioxidants may help to counteract the ill-effects by blocking harmful biological processes.

"While the negative impacts of galactic cosmic radiation were long-lasting, functional improvements induced by acutely targeting the redox and nitric oxide pathways in the tissues suggest that the erectile dysfunction may be treatable," said Dr Justin La Favor, an expert in neurovascular dysfunction at Florida State University and a senior author on the study. The warning comes amid a renewed focus on deep space missions, with Nasa and other major space agencies preparing for long-term expeditions to the moon and more ambitious voyages to Mars. Nasa's Artemis programme aspires to send astronauts to the moon as early as next year, with crewed missions to Mars tentatively lined up for as early as 2040.

Images and information from social media (and other online sources) are being used by AI to create "create convincing and personalized scam calls, texts and emails," writes the Palm Beach Post, citing a warning from Florida's consumer watchdog agency. In an older version of the scam, a caller would greet "Grandma" or "Grandpa" before saying, "It's me — I know I sound funny because I have a cold," and then make an urgent plea for money to get out of a scrap... Using audio and video clips found online, the con artist can clone the voice of a family member to make the call more compelling...

Listen for clues to a con like incorrect or mispronounced names or unfamiliar terms of endearment. The pressure to act quickly and to keep the call a secret are all timeless hallmarks of a scam, the agency notes. Detailed instructions on how to deliver funds in a form that is hard to recover — wired funds, a gift card or pay app — are also indications of a ripoff in the making.
The consumer watchdog agency suggests this precaution. "Encourage family members to set their social media pages to private."

Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader SonicSpike for sharing the article.

schwit1 shares a report from Fortune: After launching Amazon from a garage in Seattle in 1994, centibilllionaire Jeff Bezos is leaving the Pacific Northwest behind and setting sail for Florida. In an Instagram post, the world's third wealthiest person -- with a net worth estimated at $160 billion -- said he wanted to be closer to my parents after they recently moved back to Miami. "My parents have always been my biggest supporters," he posted to his Instagram account, adding that his spacefaring company Blue Origin is increasingly shifting operations to Cape Canaveral.

Florida also offers a financial benefit to the Amazon founder -- it doesn't charge capital gains tax which, for a man who's sold some $30 billion in stock since 2002, according to Bloomberg, can be quite substantial. [...] But Miami is not the only place where Bezos lives. In addition to his collection of luxury cars and private Gulfstream jets, Bezos owns multiple properties valued recently at a half-billion dollars. Bezos recently bought a large home in Florida, notes schwit1.

Thai Food Near Me, Dentist Near Me, Notary Near Me, Plumber Near Me -- businesses across the country picked names meant to outsmart Google Search. Does it actually work? From a report: Thai Food Near Me isn't the first business to think of the Google-first naming convention. There are reminders of Google's kingmaker status in online discoverability everywhere in cities across the country. Among the businesses I was able to find: a chain of half a dozen Affordable Dentist Near Me's in Texas; an Antiques Near Me two hours outside of New York City; seven Plumber Near Me businesses; a Phone Repair Near Me in Cape Cod, Massachusetts; a Psychic Near Me in Chicago; and more than 20 iterations of "Notary Near Me" across the US. Felix Silva decided on the name Barber Shop Near Me after considering more than 20 other options for his Coral Springs, Florida, store in 2019. The name is meant to be neutral and memorable -- another one in contention was "The Barber Shop" -- but Silva fully leaned into the Google joke: the logo is a red location pin resembling Google's own, with a blue, white, and red barber pole pattern in the middle.

[...] As with Thai Food Near Me, the most powerful thing an SEO-driven name might be able to do is get customers in the door. From there, it's up to a business to give them a good experience, whether that's a great plate of pad see ew or the perfect haircut. Then, the cycle continues -- happy customers leave good reviews. Good reviews help the business's Google Maps profile rank higher. Silva uploads high-quality photos and videos to the page and shares updates, too. That's another SEO move; some experts say active profiles can improve a business's rankings. Still, the naming scheme has caught on: one acquaintance selling Christmas trees, for example, rebranded his business to be called Christmas Trees Near Me, Silva says. (Silva's is not the only Barber Shop Near Me, either -- there are also shops with the same name in Oak Park, Illinois; Queens, New York; and Muskogee, Oklahoma, according to Google Maps.)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: The IRS will test a free tax filing service in 2024 for a subset of lucky taxpayers in as many as 13 states, the agency announced today. Direct File, as the service is called, is a shot across the bows of Turbotax, H&R Block, and other paid tax prep services, whose owners have resisted free and simple tax filing for decades. "This is a critical step forward for this innovative effort that will test the feasibility of providing taxpayers a new option to file their returns for free directly with the IRS," said IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel in a press release announcing the news.

Over the last year and a half, the IRS has been building out the pilot program, which it characterizes as being "one more potential option" on the continuum from self-managed Free File, to commercial products like Turbotax, to a tax prep professional. The IRS describes Direct File as "a mobile-friendly, interview-based service" available in English and Spanish, intended for people with simpler tax situations like W-2s and common income credits and deductions. Whether the interviews are with actual people or some kind of automated or semi-automated process is unclear. But this, like many of its specifics, will likely change as the agency receives feedback from this limited scale pilot.

Arizona, California, Massachusetts, and New York are the four states that are integrating with Direct File for 2024 (i.e. the 2023 tax year); Alaska, Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming "may also be eligible," due to not having state income tax, but it is not final. Every state was given the opportunity to participate in the Direct File program, but not all were "in a position to join." Among the residents of these states, a limited number of individuals with "relatively simple returns" will have the opportunity to try Direct File. This will in turn "allow the IRS to evaluate the costs, benefits and operational challenges associated with providing a voluntary Direct File option to taxpayers." In software terms, we'd probably call this an alpha.

An anonymous Slashdot reader shared this report from Business Insider: Two men from the Fort Lauderdale, Florida area scammed Uber Eats out of more than $1 million over 19 months, local police say.

The suspects carried out the scheme — which began in January 2022 — by creating fake accounts on the Uber Eats app to act as both the customer and courier when placing grocery orders, the Broward County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. This worked because Uber Eats provides couriers with prepaid cards they can use to purchase up to $700 to complete customers' orders.

Police claim the suspects would show up as couriers for their fake grocery orders before canceling them and using the prepaid cards to purchase gift cards at the stores.
According to the sheriff's office, "On January 24, 2023, detectives conducted a surveillance operation and observed Morgan and Blackwood travel to 27 different Walgreens committing fraud that totaled a $5,013.28 loss for Uber that day. "

Is the asteroid Psyche really a hunk of mostly metal? Is the object, which is nearly as wide as Massachusetts, the core of a baby planet whose rocky outer layers were knocked off during a cataclysmic collision in the early days of the solar system? Right now, all that astronomers can say is maybe, maybe not. NASA launched a spacecraft on Friday morning, also named Psyche, on a journey to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter to find out. From a report: "We're really going to see a kind of new object, which means that a lot of our ideas are going to be proven wrong," said Lindy Elkins-Tanton, a professor of earth and space exploration at Arizona State University who serves as the mission's principal investigator.

Being proven wrong, she added, "is, I think, the most exciting thing in science." That voyage in search of answers kicked off Friday at 10:19 a.m. Eastern time. Falcon Heavy, the largest of SpaceX's operational rockets, lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, sending the massive spacecraft on a journey that will last about six years and travel billions of miles. Friday's flight overcame early, unfavorable weather forecasts for a seemingly flawless flight. About eight minutes into the flight, the rocket's upper stage entered a 45-minute coasting period during which it will prepare to deploy the spacecraft on its flight away from Earth. The asteroid named Psyche has long been a curious enigma. Spotted in 1852 by Annibale de Gasparis, an Italian astronomer, it is named for the Greek goddess of the soul, and it was just the 16th asteroid to be discovered. In the early observations, it was, like the other asteroids, a starlike point of light that moved in an orbit around the sun, and not much more.

An anonymous reader shared this report from the Associated Press: A man accused of shooting down a law enforcement drone being used at a business near his Florida home could be sentenced to 10 years in federal prison...

Lake County sheriff's deputies responded to a burglary at a 10-acre industrial property in July 2021 in Mount Dora, northwest of Orlando, according to a plea agreement. As deputies used a $29,000 drone in the outdoor search, gunfire from a neighboring residential property caused it to crash into a metal roof and catch fire, prosecutors said. Deputies went to the property and found Goney, who said he shot down the drone with a .22-caliber rifle because it had been "harassing" him, investigators said.
The man had 29 previous felony convictions — and federal law prohibits most convicted felons from possessing firearms and ammunition...

Amazon has launched its first two satellites for its Project Kuiper, the tech giant's initiative to build a massive constellation of satellites that can provide internet coverage to Earth. From a report: An Atlas V rocket, operated by United Launch Alliance, lofted the pair of satellites en route to orbit from Florida at 2:06 p.m. local time Friday. The mission is still ongoing, and it's unclear when the satellites will be deployed from the rocket.

Project Kuiper's goal is to eventually put 3,326 satellites into low Earth orbit, where they will beam broadband internet service to the ground below, similar to Elon Musk's SpaceX Starlink. The two launched Friday, KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2, are test satellites that will allow Amazon to demonstrate the ability to send and receive broadband signals. This mission has been long delayed. Amazon originally hoped to launch these satellites a year ago on a different, experimental rocket. However, the company wound up switching the launch vehicle for these satellites multiple times, eventually landing on ULA's workhorse Atlas V rocket, in order to get the satellites into space more quickly.

This week America's Department of Energy announced $264 million for 29 projects as part of its Energy Earthshots Initiative "to advance clean energy technologies within the decade."

The funding will support 11 new research centers — along with 18 university research teams — studying things like industrial decarbonization, carbon storage, and offshore wind energy. The ultimate goal is a clean-energy revolution that will "accelerate innovations toward more abundant, affordable, and reliable clean energy solutions."

One ambitious example: The Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been selected to lead an Energy Earthshot Research Center focused on developing chemical processes that use sustainable methods instead of burning fossil fuels to radically reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions to stem climate change and limit the crisis of a rapidly warming planet... The ORNL-led Non-Equilibrium Energy Transfer for Efficient Reactions center, or NEETER, will coordinate a research team from across the nation focused on replacing bulk heating for chemical processes with electrified means, providing a new way to do chemistry, and decarbonizing large-scale processes in the chemical industry. DOE has committed $19 million over four years for the center...

The scientists, in addition to using their own laboratories, will use Department of Energy Office of Science user facilities, including ORNL's Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, Spallation Neutron Source, High Flux Isotope Reactor, and Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences. They will also include the beam line at Stanford's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. NEETER's proposed research is a radical departure from traditional chemistry and holds promise for transformational breakthroughs in energy-related chemical reactions. The NEETER EERC addresses the Department of Energy's Industrial Heat Shot announced in 2022, which aims to develop cost-competitive industrial heat decarbonization technologies with at least 85% lower greenhouse gas emissions by 2035. This EERC will employ new kinds of chemical catalysis as one pathway toward electrifying the delivery of process heat.
The projects include:

• Investigating hydrogen arc plasmas for carbon-free steelmaking

• Using exascale computer simulations and observations to produce more resilient clean energy systems.

• The University of Florida has reportedly teamed with Switzerland-based Synhelion to "research the production of green hydrogen, aiming for a lower cost to produce."

• The Center for Understanding Subsurface Signals and Permeability will attempt research to "advance enhanced geothermal systems with the goal of making them a widely accessible and reliable source of renewable energy"

• Another research center (also lead by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) will research effort to "make floating offshore wind a long-term viable energy source."

"Our Energy Earthshots are game-changing endeavors to unleash the technologies of the clean energy transition and make them accessible, affordable, and abundant," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. "The Energy Earthshot Research Centers and the related work happening on college campuses around the country will be instrumental in developing the clean energy and decarbonization solutions we need to establish a 100% clean grid and beat climate change."

The New York Times reports that a "squadron of young scientists and an army of volunteers" are "waging an all-out war on a creature that threatens the health of more people than any other on earth: the mosquito." They are testing new insecticides and ingenious new ways to deliver them. They are peering in windows at night, watching for the mosquitoes that home in on sleeping people. They are collecting blood — from babies, from moto-taxi drivers, from goat herders and from their goats — to track the parasites the mosquitoes carry. But Eric Ochomo, the entomologist leading this effort on the front lines of global public health, stood recently in the swampy grass, laptop in hand, and acknowledged a grim reality: "It seems as though the mosquitoes are winning."

Less than a decade ago, it was the humans who appeared to have gained the clear edge in the fight — more than a century old — against the mosquito. But over the past few years, that progress has not only stalled, it has reversed. The insecticides used since the 1970s, to spray in houses and on bed nets to protect sleeping children, have become far less effective; mosquitoes have evolved to survive them. After declining to a historic low in 2015, malaria cases and deaths are rising... This past summer, the United States saw its first locally transmitted cases of malaria in 20 years, with nine cases reported, in Texas, Florida and Maryland. "The situation has become challenging in new ways in places that have historically had these mosquitoes, and also at the same time other places are going to face new threats because of climate and environmental factors," Ochomo said...

Malaria has killed more people than any other disease over the course of human history. Until this century, the battle against the parasite was badly one-sided. Then, between 2000 and 2015, malaria cases dropped by one-third worldwide, and mortality decreased by nearly half, because of widespread use of insecticides inside homes, insecticide-coated bed nets and better treatments. Clinical trials showed promise for malaria vaccines that might protect the children who make up the bulk of malaria deaths. That success lured new investment and talk of wiping the disease out altogether.

But malaria deaths, which fell to a historic low of about 575,000 in 2019, rose significantly over the next two years and stood at 620,000 in 2021, the last year for which there is global data.
Thanks to antdude (Slashdot reader #79,039) for sharing the article.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: The Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide whether state laws that seek to regulate Facebook, TikTok, X and other social media platforms violate the Constitution. The justices will review laws enacted by Republican-dominated legislatures and signed by Republican governors in Florida and Texas. While the details vary, both laws aim to prevent the social media companies from censoring users based on their viewpoints. The court's announcement, three days before the start of its new term, comes as the justices continue to grapple with how laws written at the dawn of the digital age, or earlier, apply to the online world.

The justices had already agreed to decide whether public officials can block critics from commenting on their social media accounts [...]. Separately, the high court also could consider a lower-court order limiting executive branch officials' communications with social media companies about controversial online posts. The new social media cases follow conflicting rulings by two appeals courts, one of which upheld the Texas law, while the other struck down Florida's statute. By a 5-4 vote, the justices kept the Texas law on hold while litigation over it continues.

At 11 a.m. Friday in Orlando Florida, a train completed its 240-mile journey from Miami, inaugurating a new line from Brightline that reaches speeds of up to 125 miles per hour and reduces the journey to just under three hours. "This is going to revolutionize transportation not just in the country and the state of Florida but right here in Central Florida and really just make our backyard bigger," Brightline's director of public affairs Katie Mitzner told a local news station.

Ironically, within hours a different Brightline train had struck and killed a pedestrian. "Brightline trains have the highest death rate in the U.S.," reports one local news station, "fatally striking 98 people since Miami-West Palm operations began — about one death for every 32,000 miles its trains travel, according to an ongoing Associated Press analysis." A police spokesperson said the death appeared to be a suicide.

"None of the accidents have been determined to be Brightline's fault," writes The Points Guy, "and the company has spent millions of dollars on safety improvements at grade crossings. It also launched a public-relations push to encourage all residents along its corridor to commit to staying safe. However, it is a very real and ongoing element of this service in Florida. We hope these efforts will continue to further reduce these incidents in communities that see frequent Brightline trains coming through."

The Points Guy also shared photos in their blog post describing what it was like to take a ride on America's only privately owned and operated inter-city passenger railroad: When the train ultimately pulled out of the station, a surreal feeling washed over me. Those of us on the inaugural service were the first passengers to ride the rails along this stretch of Florida's east coast in more than 55 years. Florida East Coast Railway, which still owns the tracks and operates frequent freight trains along them, ceased passenger service on July 31, 1968... Each seat has multiple power outlets, and the Wi-Fi truly was high-speed based on my experience and the test I ran. I was even able to successfully join (and participate in) our morning editorial team call on Zoom...

The scenery along the route was simply spectacular... With no grade crossings and fencing on both sides, we reached 125 mph for the final stretch of the journey. The cars along the highway stood no chance of keeping up as we traversed the 30-plus miles in only 18 minutes as the tower at Orlando International Airport came into view... With plans to expand to Tampa and construction underway on its planned Los Angeles-to-Las Vegas route, we likely haven't heard the last from Brightline as it seeks to transform train service in the United States.
"I think what Brightline has done here has laid the blueprint for how speed rail can be built in America with private dollars versus government funding," investor Ryn Rosberg told a local news site. "It's much more efficient and it gets done a lot quicker."

"There have been colorful station openings, lawsuits, threats of lawsuits, threats of legislation and yes, fatal accidents," writes the Palm Beach Post, "but Brightline train passengers can now take the train from any of its five South Florida stations to visit the Disney World, Universal Studios or Sea World tourist attractions."

SpaceX just extended its Falcon 9 rocket-reuse record. Space.com reports: The Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Tuesday at 11:38 p.m. EDT (0338 GMT Sept. 20), carrying 22 of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites toward low Earth orbit (LEO). The rocket's first stage came back to Earth 8.5 minutes after launch, landing on a SpaceX drone ship stationed at sea. It was the 17th liftoff and landing for this Falcon 9's first stage, according to a SpaceX mission description.

Those figures are unprecedented; the previous mark was 16, held by two different Falcon 9 boosters. The 22 Starlink satellites, meanwhile, deployed from the Falcon 9's upper stage 62.5 minutes after launch as planned. Tuesday night's liftoff extended another record as well: It was SpaceX's 65th orbital mission of the year. The company's previous mark, 61, was set in 2022. You can watch a recorded video of the launch here.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Daily Beast: A Florida marathoner is facing federal charges after the U.S. Coast Guard spotted him 70 nautical miles off Tybee Island, Georgia on Aug. 26, in a homemade Hydro Pod, as Hurricane Franklin bore down on the Eastern Seaboard. Reza Baluchi claimed he was headed to London in the human-powered vessel, a hamster wheel-like contraption which a newly filed criminal complaint describes as being "afloat as a result of wiring and buoys." When Coast Guard officers told Baluchi they were cutting short his "manifestly unsafe" voyage, Baluchi threatened to kill himself with a 12-inch knife if anyone tried to apprehend him, and claimed to have a bomb aboard, which turned out to be fake, according to the complaint. Three days later, Baluchi -- who authorities have intercepted in his Hydro Pod at least three times previously -- finally surrendered, the complaint states. Baluchi made national news for a 2021 attempt to get from Florida to New York in the Hydro Pod, but washed ashore 25 miles later.

CBS News reports: Floridians battered by Hurricane Idalia this week may not have expected another threat — that floodwaters could cause their cars to suddenly burst into flames. Yet that's exactly what happened when two electric vehicles caught fire after being submerged in saltwater churned up by the storm...

"If you own a hybrid or electric vehicle that has come into contact with saltwater due to recent flooding within the last 24 hours, it is crucial to relocate the vehicle from your garage without delay," the fire department said in a Facebook post. "Saltwater exposure can trigger combustion in lithium-ion batteries. If possible, transfer your vehicle to higher ground." The warning also applies to electric golf carts, scooters and bicycles, with lithium-ion batteries potentially sparking a fire when they get wet. More specifically, salt residue remains after the water dries out and can create "bridges" between the battery's cells, potentially creating electrical connections that can spark a fire.
Fire crews were actually towing one of the vehicles when it burst into flames, the article points out. And EV manufacturers want people to take the possibility seriously: Tesla warns car owners about the risks of vehicle submersion and advises against driving a car that has been flooded. "Treat your vehicle as if it has been in an accident and contact your insurance company," the company says in its guidance for handling a submerged vehicle.
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the article.