154922215
submission
Camel Pilot writes:
SpinLaunch is developing a launch system that uses kinetic energy as a cheap method to launch a projectile into orbit. They propose using a vacuum-sealed centrifuge spinning the projectile at near escape velocity speeds and releasing into orbit. A rocket engine would still be used to maneuver and position the satellite. They have built a 1/10th scale prototype in the New Mexican desert and have already launch test objects 10s of thousands of feet.
CEO Jonathan Yaney said in a recent interview "I find that the more audacious and crazy the project is, the better off you are just working on it – rather than being out there talking about it"
141592896
submission
Camel Pilot writes:
Pyston a closed-source but faster and highly-compatible implementation of the Python programming language significantly outperforms Python 3 in a variety of benchmarks.
130078908
submission
Camel Pilot writes:
Leannart Poettering is proposing homed to alter the way Linux system handle user management. All user information will be placed in a cryptographically signed JSON record. That record will contain all user information such as username, group membership, and password hashes. The venerable /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow will be a thing of the past. One of the claimed advantages will be home directory portability.
Because the /home directory will no longer depend on the trifecta of systemd, /etc/passwd, and /etc/shadow, users and admins will then be able to easily migrate directories within /home. Imagine being able to move your /home/USER (where USER is your username) directory to a portable flash drive and use it on any system that works with systemd-homed. You could easily transport your /home/USER directory between home and work, or between systems within your company.
What is not clear is that for portability, systems would have to have identical user_id, group names, group_id, etc.. And what mechanism is going to provide user authorization to login to a system.
95282215
submission
Camel Pilot writes:
And they should be.
The new GOP Tax Plan, which just passed the House, will tax Tuition Waivers as income.
Graduate Students working as Research Assistants on meager stipends would have to declare Tuition Waivers as income on the order of $70K income. This will force many Graduate Students of modest means to quit their career paths and walk away from their research. These are the next generation of scientist, engineers, inventors, educators, medical miracle workers and market makers. As Prof Claus Wilke points out "This would be a disaster for US STEM Ph.D. education"
94377481
submission
Camel Pilot writes:
Geologist have been aware of fresh magma moving in the Yellowstone's super volcano system. Previously this was thought to precede an eruption by thousands of years. Recent evidence by Hannah Shamloo, a graduate student at Arizona State University, demonstrate that perhaps the timeline from the underground basin filling to eruption is more on the scale of decades. A super volcano eruption has the power to alter life's story on this earth and even destroy all life on a continent In light of this, it seems like a good time to invest some effort and resources into finding ways to prepare, delay or deflect the potential threat.
8255786
submission
Camel Pilot writes:
A Lava Tube has been found on the moon that could serve as an ideal structure to host a lunar base or colony. The tube is estimated by a paper in the American Geophysical Union as being over 200 feet wide and close to 300 feet deep. Such a tube provides protection from the severe lunar temperature swings, solar radiation and other hazards of space. What are we waiting for?
