48990799
submission
arisvega writes:
The State of Japan is apparently seeking 'Deter and Respond' military capabilities, perhaps as an artifact from being "embroiled in a bitter row over islands with China" and being "deeply concerned by North Korea's nuclear ambitions", as reported by the BBC.
Since the end of WW II, under Article 9 of its post-war constitution, Japan is blocked from the use of force to resolve conflicts except in the case of self-defence. Now, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is looking to expand the scope of Japanese military activities — potentially a highly controversial move that would anger its neighbours.
The post-war constitution was of course put in place by the then victorious west, who would now have an interest to fully back up this move: though Japanese officials claim that any new upgrades will not be used for preemptive strikes, the result will be arms and battalions installed close to The People's Republic of China, The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and The Russian Federation.
Read more on the source URL. It will be interesting to track how this plays out.
36318375
submission
arisvega writes:
The Slashdot crowd may be aware of VLT, the Very Large Telescope array (a collaboration between several European countries) located at the Atacama desert in Chile, operating at the visible and infrared wavelengths and producing some very detailed images and exciting new science, significally boosting astronomy and astrophysics research for the past couple of years without the hassle and the expenses of orbital observatories. Now, and for the first time in its history, there is a public invitation calling YOU to vote on which of the 16 proposed locations you would like the array to be pointed at, without the need for a scientific proposal. Astronomers are standing by to do your bidding!
34856129
submission
arisvega writes:
In its resolution adopted today, the European Parliament has called on the European Commission and the Member States to make sure that the eCall system is be installed in every new vehicle by 2015.
Vehicles equipped with the eCall system will automatically contact the emergency services in the event of a crash.
Even if no passenger is able to speak, a minimum set of data will be sent through the system, including the exact location of the crash site.
It is expected that the eCall system will reduce the emergency services’ response time and thus save hundreds of lives in the EU every year. eCall will be dormant most of the time (no mentioning on what 'most of the time' is, though) and will not allow vehicle tracking outside emergencies (no elucidation on the nature of 'emergencies' either).
34436075
submission
arisvega writes:
A recent publication (for the math-versed) proposing the deployment of a Solar-powered, space-borne fleet of LASER cannons that would deflect Earth-bound asteroids caught the attention of international news agencies.
Do you think this ambition can in reasonable time turn into a fair-priced, life-saving (or indeed Biosphere-saving!) project, that will be to the benefit of all mankind? How threatened would you feel from the possibility of this proposed array being hijacked by extremely depraved individuals, ones capable or guilty of great crimes? And, are you not glad that now someone has published a paper on it, so Megacorp cannot 'patent' this Earth-saving idea?
33163507
submission
arisvega writes:
At a first level (the lowest court level in the Greek judiciary system) an order has been issued (article in Greek, Google translation is fair enough) for a "plan on behalf of Internet Service Providers regarding he implementation of technological measures to deny access to internet users for webpages through which illegal copies of copyrighted work are being distributed". The order seems to be general and descriptive, and is a manifestation of the implementation process for an even more general and vague larger-scale EU directive, which is the common source that caused the rulings recently posted on slashdot regarding the UK, the Netherlands and Finland. This appears to be one of the reasons that prompted Anonymous to launch defacing attacks on Greek government websites some three months back.
28415819
submission
arisvega writes:
NEOShield is a new international project that will assess the threat posed by Near Earth Objects (NEO) and look at the best possible solutions for dealing with a big asteroid or comet on a collision path with our planet.
The effort is being led from the German space agency's (DLR) Institute of Planetary Research in Berlin, and had its kick-off meeting this week.
It will draw on expertise from across Europe, Russia and the US.
It's a major EU-funded initiative that will pull together all the latest science, initiate a fair few laboratory experiments and new modelling work, and then try to come to some definitive positions.
Industrial partners, which include the German, British and French divisions of the big Astrium space company, will consider the engineering architecture required to deflect one of these bodies out of our path.
24125102
submission
arisvega writes:
An amateur astronomer has recorded images of the out-of-control US satellite as it tumbles back to Earth. Theirry Legault, from Paris, captured the video as the satellite passed over northern France on 15 September. The six-tonne, 20-year-old spacecraft has fallen out of orbit and is expected to crash somewhere on Earth on or around 24 September. The US space agency says the risk to life from the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) is 1 in 3,200. Mr Legault, an engineer, used a specially designed camera to record the tumbling satellite through his 14-inch telescope, posting the footage on his Astrophotography website.
UARS could land anywhere between 57 degrees north and 57 degrees south of the equator — most of the populated world. Nasa says that most of the satellite will break or burn up before reaching Earth. But scientists have identified 26 separate pieces that could survive the fall through the atmosphere. This debris could rain across an area 400-500km (250-310 miles) wide. Robust, spherical satellite components such as fuel tanks are often most likely to survive the fiery plunge to Earth, say space experts. Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite The "productive scientific life" of UARS ended in 2005 when it ran out of fuel. Nasa said scientists would only be able to make more accurate predictions about where the satellite might land two hours before it enters the Earth's atmosphere.
23765204
submission
arisvega writes:
The National Ignition Facility (Nif) in the US is drawing closer to producing a surplus of energy from the idea, buy beefing up the laser power needed for ignition.
The UK company AWE and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory have now joined with Nif to help make laser fusion a viable commercial energy source.
Part of the problem has been that the technical ability to reach "breakeven" — the point at which more energy is produced than is consumed — has always seemed distant. Detractors of the idea have asserted that "fusion energy is 50 years away, no matter what year you ask", said David Willetts, the UK's science minister. "I think that what's going on both in the UK and in the US shows that we are now making significant progress on this technology," he said. "It can't any longer be dismissed as something on the far distant horizon."
22300034
submission
arisvega writes:
It seems like what will comprise the Chinese Space Station's first module has been moved to its final testing location, and will soon be launched into orbit- two manned missions are scheduled to follow after an unmanned mission checks out. The best part? A movie about China in space is already premiering.
22254598
submission
arisvega writes:
Dead battery in Belgrade, Serbia? Head to the city's Obrenovac district, where a group of students has developed the world's first public charging station powered entirely by solar energy. Known as the Strawberry Tree, the structure's 16 ports support a variety of handhelds, allowing pedestrians to juice up their hendhelds in just ten to 15 minutes, at no charge. Its built-in batteries can also store up to a month's worth of back-up energy, enabling the station to hum along at night, or even during Serbia's less sunny seasons. "Energy from the sun is free, and it would be unethical to charge people to use the Strawberry Tree...We are trying to inspire young people to think about the source of the energy they use, and behave and act responsibly.", said the inventor Milos Milisavljevic 9(17 years old when he came up with the idea) and now, at the ripe old age of 22, is looking to plant new stations across other Serbian cities.
21677594
submission
arisvega writes:
Iran plans to send a live monkey into space in the summer, the country's top space official said after the launch of the Rassad-1 satellite, state television reported on its website on Thursday.
"The Kavoshgar-5 rocket will be launched during the month of Mordad (July 23 to August 23) with a 285-kilogramme capsule carrying a monkey to an altitude of 120 kilometres (74 miles)," said Hamid Fazeli, head of Iran's Space Organisation. No mentioning on retrieving the monkey, though.
21565382
submission
arisvega writes:
A group of hackers known as Anonymous has taken down a Turkish government website in a protest against recently introduced Internet filters that many consider to be censorship. They also appear to have published a manifesto.
Turkey has a long history of Internet censorship, with the country's ISPs having blocked YouTube and numerous other sites in the the past couple of years.
“(The Turkish government) has blocked thousands of websites and blogs while abusive legal proceedings against online journalists persist. The government now wants to impose a new filtering system on the 22nd of August that will make it possible to keep records of all the people’s internet activity. Though it remains opaque why and how the system will be put in place, it is clear that the government is taking censorship to the next level.
19074178
submission
arisvega writes:
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has begun his court battle against extradition from the UK to Sweden.
He faces allegations of sexual assault against two women, which he denies.
Mr Assange, 39, argues Swedish prosecutors had no right to issue a warrant for his arrest because he has not yet been charged with any offences.
At the extradition hearing, in London's Belmarsh Magistrates' Court, his lawyers are also challenging the move on human rights grounds.
Mr Assange's legal team, led by Geoffrey Robertson QC, argues that if their client is forced to return to Sweden he could be extradited to the US, or even Guantanamo Bay, to face separate charges relating to the publication of secret documents by Wikileaks.
18478678
submission
arisvega writes:
Some 400 high-tech South African traffic lights are out of action after thieves in Johannesburg stole the mobile phone SIM cards they contain. JRA (Johannesburg Road Agency) said it is investigating the possibility of an "inside job" after only the SIM card-fitted traffic lights were targeted.
The cards were fitted to notify JRA when the traffic lights were faulty.
JRA believes a syndicate "with links on the inside" is behind the thefts.
"We have 2,000 major intersections in Johannesburg and only 600 of those were fitted with the cards," the agency's spokesperson Thulani Makhubela told the BBC.
"No-one apart from JAR and our supplier knows which intersections have that system."
The thieves ran up bills amounting to thousands of dollars by using the stolen cards to make calls.
12165652
submission
arisvega writes:
I lost my backpack some time ago, but was lucky enough to had left my laptop at home that night, and my cell and keys in my pocket. The inevitable habit-change that followed was to start straping my keys on my pants, so at least I would still be able to get home (as long as I kept my pants on); but I realized that they are so many- one for the outer door, two for the inner, three more for my girlfriends place, one for the office, one for the postbox, one for my bicycle, the car, the motorbike and the roof. Plus, I keep a tiny swiss knife on my keychain, that I really wouldn't want to part with; needless to say that this makes a jingly bunch that eats through my pocket. Even though these might not be the kind of keys one would expect to find talking about in slashdot, I ask you, slashdot people, how do you carry/safeguard a hefty, pronouncingly jingly bunch of keys? What are the alternatives? Any suggestions on clothing or technology? Would having 'The One Key' make things better, or worse?
