Non-IT News Thread
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Florida inmate says prison sold him $569 of music, then took it away
Prisoners who paid $1.70 per song lost access when the prison changed vendors.
Florida inmate William Demler says that since 2012, he has spent $569.50 on digital music via a proprietary digital music service sponsored by the Florida prison system. Demler listened to his music on a prison-sponsored music player he purchased for $99.95. Demler, who is serving a life sentence, says ads for the prison-sponsored service promised access to his music for his entire prison term.
But last year, the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) switched music vendors, and as a result, Demler lost access to his music collection. He was told that he'd need to buy the same songs again using the new system if he wanted to continue listening to them.
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Trump demands quick rollout of “6G” wireless tech, which doesn’t exist
Five Gs not enough: Trump urges rollout of 5G—and 6G, because it's one more G
US President Donald Trump today urged wireless carriers to deploy 5G and "6G" networks "as soon as possible," seemingly ignoring the small problem that 6G technology doesn't exist yet.
"I want 5G, and even 6G, technology in the United States as soon as possible," Trump wrote on Twitter this morning. "It is far more powerful, faster, and smarter than the current standard. American companies must step up their efforts, or get left behind."
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@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:
and smarter than the current standard.
How is a piece of technology "smarter" or at all smart?
It's technology it can't think, it just does as it's designed to do. . .
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@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:
Trump demands quick rollout of “6G” wireless tech, which doesn’t exist
Five Gs not enough: Trump urges rollout of 5G—and 6G, because it's one more G
US President Donald Trump today urged wireless carriers to deploy 5G and "6G" networks "as soon as possible," seemingly ignoring the small problem that 6G technology doesn't exist yet.
"I want 5G, and even 6G, technology in the United States as soon as possible," Trump wrote on Twitter this morning. "It is far more powerful, faster, and smarter than the current standard. American companies must step up their efforts, or get left behind."
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@bnrstnr Our president the troll....
pun intended.
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Trump’s mistrust of the intelligence community expands to the climate
Executive order will have the NSC set up an "adversarial" review of science.
On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that it had obtained a document that suggested the Trump administration was thinking about combining two areas where it has consistently dismissed expert conclusions: climate change and intelligence analysis. While the intelligence community has consistently accepted that climate change creates security risks for the United States, the document suggests that Trump will circumvent its advice by setting up an advisory committee in an effort headed by a retired professor noted for not accepting the conclusions of the scientific community.
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Firefly planning a major rocket assembly and launch facility in Florida
The new location will support the production of up to 24 Alpha rockets a year
On Friday, Texas-based rocket company Firefly announced that it has reached an agreement to develop manufacturing facilities and a launch site at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport in Florida. The new facility will support the production of up to 24 Alpha rockets a year, with the ability to scale from there, company officials said.
These are sizable plans. Over an unspecified period of time, the company said it will invest $52 million into the facilities. Florida’s spaceport development authority, Space Florida, will also provide an additional $18.9 million in infrastructure investments.
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Why putting Xbox games on Switch isn’t as ridiculous as it might sound
Rumored Microsoft/Nintendo collaboration wouldn't be totally out of character.
As the current scuttlebutt has it, an Xbox app to be released for the Switch would let players with a Games Pass subscription play a selection of Xbox One games on Nintendo's hardware. High-end games would work on Nintendo's lower-end hardware thanks to streaming via Microsoft's recently announced Project xCloud. Meanwhile, Microsoft would also sell certain low-end first-party Xbox One games, like the Ori series, to the Switch directly, according to the rumors.
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@JaredBusch Updated.
Sorry about that posted from phone while eating lunch.
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Microsoft staff: Do not use HoloLens for war
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-47339774 -
@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:
Microsoft staff: Do not use HoloLens for war
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-47339774Sorry Microsoft, but war and porn drive pretty much every technology.
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@JaredBusch said in Non-IT News Thread:
@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:
Microsoft staff: Do not use HoloLens for war
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-47339774Sorry Microsoft, but war and porn drive pretty much every technology.
Hopefully not combined.
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Australian farmers' long road after mass cattle deaths
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-47274662 -
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Virgin's Unity plane rockets skyward
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-47336617 -
It’s not termites: new study gives fresh take on how “fairy circles” form
Odd circular gaps in grassland growth likely due to resource competition. Or dragons.
Himba bushmen in the Namibian grasslands have passed down legends about the region's mysterious "fairy circles"—bare, reddish-hued circular patches dotted along the 1200-mile long swath of land. They can be as large as several feet in diameter. Dubbed "footprints of the gods," it's often said they are the work of the Himba deity Mukuru, or an underground dragon whose poisonous breath kills anything growing inside those circles.
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This strange “paint disease” is putting Georgia O’Keeffe paintings at risk
Soon conservators will be able to use equivalent of Star Trek tricorder for diagnosis.
The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, houses some 140 oil paintings by the iconic American artist, along with thousands of additional works from O'Keeffe's prolific career. But the oil paintings have been developing tiny pin-sized blisters, almost like acne, for decades. Conservationists and scholars initially assumed they were grains of sand trapped in the paint. But then the protrusions grew, spread, and started flaking off, leading to mounting concern.
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Trump climate advisory panel structured to avoid public records
Scientists with fringe views being recruited to disavow Trump admin's own report.
To begin with, The Washington Post indicates that the motivation for the effort was made clear during the meeting: Trump was upset by the release of the National Climate Assessment. The report is required by law, and its conclusions were solidly within the mainstream of the scientific community's conclusions on the climate, leaving very little room for attack. So, the White House has decided to select a group of government scientists that include members who are skeptical towards its conclusions.
