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Submission + - High-Level NIH Researchers Charged in Smuggling of Monkeypox Into US (newsweek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Justice Department said the men allegedly brought more than 100 vials of virus samples into the country and falsely described the contents to customs officers at a Detroit airport.

The defendants, identified as Dutch national Vincent Munster and Claude Kwe, a Cameroonian national, worked at the NIH’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Montana, a high-containment facility that studies emerging infectious diseases. Their research focused on how viruses cross from animals to humans, work that requires strict adherence to federal biosafety regulations.

According to a criminal complaint, the men returned to the United States in January after traveling to the Republic of Congo, where a monkeypox outbreak was underway. Upon arrival at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Customs and Border Protection officers inspected their luggage and questioned them about a large case.

“These NIH experts apparently broke our laws by smuggling viral pathogens on a packed commercial airplane from an outbreak in the Republic of Congo. Let that sink in,” United States Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon said in a statement.

Submission + - Logan's Run Coming to Canada (sagepub.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: “Canada Modelling Non-Voluntary Euthanasia to Save Trillions?”

A new academic study is calculating how much money the government could save by dramatically expanding euthanasia .. including “non-voluntary” scenarios for vulnerable people.

They’re literally running the numbers on ending lives without consent as a budget solution.

That’s not dystopian fiction that’s a real paper being discussed right now.

The study projects potential savings of up to $1.27 trillion by 2047.

Submission + - Q-day looms. Threatens to kick off the biggest cybersecurity crisis ever (cnn.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: The clock is ticking on Q-Day, the looming yet unknown date when quantum computing will have the capacity to quickly and easily break the encryption keys that keep most internet communication safe.

Experts have known about the hypothetical risk of Q-Day since the 1990s. But Google recently warned that quantum computers may be able to hack some encrypted systems by 2029 — a timeline that drastically narrows the window to safeguard data that many cybersecurity specialists had previously predicted. The new estimate means that governments, companies and other entities may have far less time to prepare.

“It’s the day when people, perhaps adversaries, will have access to a quantum computer that can break cryptographic codes that are in use,” said Michele Mosca, cofounder and CEO of cybersecurity company evolutionQ.

Q-Day marks the moment a quantum computer gains enough resources and stability to crack conventional cryptography. When that happens, every financial transaction, medical file, email, location history and crypto wallet protected by today’s commonly used algorithms could be unlocked by a machine capable of solving the complex math that currently keeps sensitive data secure.

At that game-changing turning point, “everything’s safe — safe, safe — and then suddenly it’s not safe. It’s a very drastic jump,” said Mosca, who is also a professor at the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo in Ontario.

Submission + - Migrant H-1B Lawsuit Alleges Forced Labor by Indian CEO (breitbart.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Many Indian visa workers tell Breitbart that Indian hiring managers fire experienced American professionals so their jobs can be sold to kickback-paying, untrained Indians. The managers demand $5,000 to $10,000 in kickbacks for each job, one Indian H-1B worker told Breitbart News. “There are very few honest Indian managers — maybe one in a million,” he said. Any honest Indian managers cannot stop the kickbacks, he said, because “you can’t survive — you will become a bottleneck in the chain. [so senior managers] will fire you.”

Submission + - RIP: Marcia Lucas, Oscar-Winning Star Wars Editor, Dies at 80 (thewrap.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes:

Marcia served as part of a three-person crew editing both "Star Wars" and "Return of the Jedi." On the first film, she worked alongside Paul Hirsch and Richard Chew and was personally responsible for editing the Battle of Yavin — otherwise known as the iconic "trench run" sequence near the end of the film. For "Return of the Jedi," Marcia shared credit with Sean Barton and Duwayne Dunham, with George citing her as responsible for the "dying and crying" scenes to Time.

That "dying and crying" is pretty significant in "Return of the Jedi," a film that hinges its third act not on a massive battle (though there's plenty of space action, too), but on a father sacrificing himself because his son believes he's not beyond redemption. In general, Marcia has been credited as, in some respects, the heart of the "Star Wars" franchise, working tirelessly to ensure that moments like Han Solo's grand return to the Rebellion at the end of the original film landed with emotional impact for the audience.

Flashback: Marcia Lucas, the 'secret weapon' behind the original Star Wars . And Raiders of the Lost Ark: "'[Marcia] was instrumental in changing the ending of Raiders, in which Indiana delivers the ark to Washington. Marion is nowhere to be seen, presumably stranded on an island with a submarine and a lot of melted Nazis. Marcia watched the rough cut in silence and then levelled the boom. She said there was no emotional resolution to the ending, because the girl disappears. 'Everyone was feeling really good until she said that,' Dunham recalls. 'It was one of those, 'Oh no we lost sight of that.' 'Spielberg reshot the scene in downtown San Francisco, having Marion wait for Indiana on the steps on the government building. Marcia, once again, had come to the rescue.'"

Comment Re:Second biggest (Score 2) 73

by schwit1 (#66166262) Attached to: Blue Origin Rocket Exploded Thursday Night During Hot-Fire Test

Widely accepted estimate for the 1917 Halifax Explosion is ~2.9 kilotons of TNT.

Minor Scale (1985, New Mexico) — the largest non-nuclear manmade explosion ever.
It used 4,744 tons of ammonium nitrate/fuel oil, equivalent to ~3.2 kilotons of TNT. It was a deliberate U.S. Defense Nuclear Agency test to simulate nuclear blast effects.

Submission + - Blue Origin rocket New Glenn 4 explodes during static fire (orlandosentinel.com)

Submitted by symbolset
symbolset writes: Many sources. Including Orlando Sentinel.

All personnel accounted for. The rocket, planned to launch Project Leo internet satellites for Amazon in the coming days is lost. The detonation was significant, likely destroying the launch pad and ground support equipment nearby. Speculation is it could be a year or more before Blue Origin can attempt another launch as this is their only launch facility. Another New Glenn booster was on a hangar nearby that appears damaged. No status on that booster yet.

Just days ago NASA announced the selection of New Glenn for launch of two rapid development rovers later this year.

Submission + - Yale Reinstates Mandatory Standardized Testing Admissions Policy (dailycaller.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Yale University is mandating standardized testing (SAT/ACT) scores for all first-year and transfer students after a 6-year test-optional hiatus, the university announced Wednesday.

Beginning in the fall admissions cycle, all undergraduate applicants must submit standardized testing scores from either the SAT or the ACT.

The office of undergraduate admissions dropped its mandatory requirement of scores in 2020 following the COVID-19 school shutdowns. Over a thousand other American universities did the same. (RELATED: Vast Majority Of Americans Say 4-Year College Just Not Worth It, Poll Shows)

Yale moved to a test-flexible admissions policy in 2024, allowing applicants to submit scores from either the SAT, ACT, Advanced Placement (AP), or International Baccalaureate. The university's reinstated policy marks a return to its pre-2020 requirements.

Submission + - China Is Testing Its State Surveillance Model Abroad (nytimes.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: When a remote Pacific village asked for help with rowdy youth, the Chinese police arrived with a surveillance system. Then came the backlash.

Their solution was to introduce an obscure Mao-era community surveillance system: the Fengqiao Experience.

Named after Fengqiao, a town in eastern China, the system encouraged neighbors to spy and snitch on one another to root out political enemies. The system has been revived under Mr. Xi as part of a push to snuff out any challenges to the Chinese Communist Party.

In China, the system calls for the police to monitor individual households in sprawling apartment complexes, in one example assigning each unit a color code that denoted whether occupants presented a security risk. The police have also visited the homes of minority groups like Tibetans and Uyghurs to promote party policies. Government workers have visited churches to give “anti-cult” lectures. And companies are required to register their employees in police databases.

The idea of introducing such a heavy-handed style of state surveillance in the Solomon Islands alarmed local politicians and observers in nearby countries like Australia, who worried it could give the government the tools to stifle freedoms.

The Fengqiao pilot was suspended after an outcry. And the election this month of Matthew Wale, a prime minister who has historically been skeptical of Beijing, raises questions about China’s foothold in the country, and whether its ideas travel as easily as the party hopes.

Submission + - Two Indicted for Publishing AI Deepfake Porn In Violation of TAKE IT DOWN Act (justice.gov) 1

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, two criminal complaints were unsealed charging Cornelius Shannon and Arturo Hernandez with violations of the TAKE IT DOWN Act, which was enacted one year ago and prohibits the nonconsensual publication of AI-generated digital forgeries (deepfake) pornography. Shannon and Hernandez allegedly posted thousands of images and videos that appeared to depict real people nude and/or engaging in sexual acts. The victims included actresses, singers and political figures. Hernandez also posted hundreds of depictions of non-public figures appearing to engage in sexual acts. Hernandez was arrested today in Bedias, Texas, and will be arraigned in the Eastern District of New York at a later date. Shannon was arrested today in New Jersey and will appear this afternoon in Brooklyn before United States Magistrate Judge Peggy Cross-Goldenberg.

Submission + - SPACEXAI HUGE Build Speed Advantage (substack.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: “XAI AI data center economics are better when you can start a project and finish it in 12 months and get it rented and paid off while competitors are still building. An active AI Gigawatt of data center in the hand is worth $20 billion per year while an under construction Gigawatt data center is bleeding $5-15 billion per year of cash. XAI is building them for about $30-40 billion per gigawatt while competitors need $50 billion and add on another $10 billion or more in extra financing costs for a multi-year project.”

Submission + - Justice Department settles with IBM over alleged DEI practices (washingtonpost.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: IBM’s CEO created hiring policies to fire white men, and keep them from being promoted.

The Justice Department touted the settlement as a major win for the Trump administration’s crackdown on DEI policies, saying it is the first successful use of the False Claims Act under the department’s new Civil Rights Fraud Initiative. Under that act, federal officials investigated whether IBM lied on federal forms to receive government contracts when it certified that the company was in compliance with antidiscrimination laws.

IBM did not admit to wrongdoing as part of the settlement.

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