A successful engine relight demonstration would pave the way for future Starships to ascend into stable, sustainable orbits. It's essential to test the Raptor engine's ability to reignite in space for a deorbit burn to steer Starship out of orbit toward an atmospheric reentry. //

The second change SpaceX will introduce on this test flight involves the vehicle's heat shield. These modifications will allow engineers to gather data before future attempts to return Starship to land at SpaceX's Starbase launch site in South Texas.

Perhaps as soon as next year, SpaceX wants to bring Starship back to Starbase to be caught by mechanical arms on the launch tower, similar to the way the company recovered the rocket's Super Heavy booster for the first time last month. Eventually, SpaceX aims to rapidly reuse Super Heavy boosters and Starships.

"The flight test will assess new secondary thermal protection materials and will have entire sections of heat shield tiles removed on either side of the ship in locations being studied for catch-enabling hardware on future vehicles," SpaceX wrote on its mission overview page.

SpaceX installed catch fittings on the Super Heavy booster to allow it to be captured by the launch tower's catch arms. The ship will need similar fittings jutting out from its heat shield.

"The ship also will intentionally fly at a higher angle of attack in the final phase of descent, purposefully stressing the limits of flap control to gain data on future landing profiles," SpaceX said. //

SpaceX seeks to fly Starships as many as 25 times next year, so cutting down the turnaround time between flights is fundamental to the company's plans. Making Starship capable of sustained orbital operations—something the in-space engine relight should enable—is a prerequisite for launching Starlink satellites or refueling Starships in orbit.

CrossedTheRubicon
3 hours ago
Would we even be arguing this issue if the narrative was whether to give anorexic children liposuction surgery they are asking for because they "felt fat"??

At this point, the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic is unconfirmed, but remains hotly debated.

What Left-Rated Media Does

• Highlight lack of evidence for lab leak theory
• Frame animal-to-human passage as likely pandemic origin
• In some cases, describe lab leak theory as debunked or conspiratorial
• Focuses less on potential misconduct by U.S. government

What Right-Rated Media Does

• Highlight lack of evidence for other theories
• Highlight lack of transparency from Chinese government
• Highlight safety concerns at Wuhan lab
• Focuses more on purported misconduct by U.S. government

Let’s break down the media coverage and dominant opinions around the theory, and highlight the main facts and myths to be aware of.

Tridus Ars Tribunus Militum
17y
2,269
Subscriptor
but are roundly condemned in the cryptosphere as ethically dubious at the least.

... as opposed to what? There is no such thing as "ethical" crypto.

Seems to me like this was working as intended, except the people expecting to scam others got scammed instead and got mad about it. None of these things have any actual value.

As for the idea that this kid is an "entrepreneur" because he did a crypto rug pull... well that's pretty much why American business as a whole is in decline globally. It's not about creating sustainable business models: it's about profit today no matter what, and if the whole thing collapses later it's someone elses problem by then.

Literally everything about this screams "terminal decline of late stage capitalism" and "people are still suckers."

On Tuesday, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation advised Americans to share a secret word or phrase with their family members to protect against AI-powered voice-cloning scams, as criminals increasingly use voice synthesis to impersonate loved ones in crisis.

"Create a secret word or phrase with your family to verify their identity," wrote the FBI in an official public service announcement (I-120324-PSA).

For example, you could tell your parents, children, or spouse to ask for a word or phrase to verify your identity if something seems suspicious, such as "The sparrow flies at midnight," "Greg is the king of burritos," or simply "flibbertigibbet." (As fun as these sound, your password should be secret and not the same as these.)

The bureau also recommends that people listen carefully to the tone and word choices in unexpected calls claiming to be from family members. The FBI reports that criminals use AI-generated audio to create convincing voice clips of relatives pleading for emergency financial help or ransom payments. //

Of course, passwords have been used since ancient times to verify someone's identity, and it seems likely some science fiction story has dealt with the issue of passwords and robot clones in the past. It's interesting that, in this new age of high-tech AI identity fraud, this ancient invention—a special word or phrase known to few—can still prove so useful.

In the fading hours of arguably the worst administration since Herbert Hoover, Joe Biden's Social Security Commissioner, former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley signed a five-year contract with the American Federation of Government Employees guaranteeing continued work-from-home, or telework, for up to four days per week for the agency's workers. //

This points to two major problems in the federal workforce. First, the idea that a union should represent federal employees is ridiculous. The whole thing is a gift. That's a subject for a different day. The second problem is that telework and its abuse are the norm, and there is no doubt it cheats taxpayers out of money and services. //

While the reporter for GovExec claims SSA has a "1.3%" telework rate, in terms of numbers, that would mean only 780 people of SSA's 60,000 employees work from home. If that was the case, then it hardly seems like something that AFGE would make a big deal about. The truth is probably much worse. Ernst's investigation found a space utilization rate of just 7% at the SSA headquarters campus; see page 3. The union claimed that work-from-home was all that was holding back a cascade of resignations and retirements. //

There are several areas of waste, fraud, and abuse at work here. The one most overlooked is the cost of leasing and operating massive buildings that only have, on average, a 12% utilization rate. And then there is the flagrant abuse of a privilege.

LB
@beyondreasdoubt
·
Follow
I'm sorry, but I am finding it hard to believe this is proper. The jury has twice now said they are deadlocked. That's a hung jury on that count.
The judge is effectively dismissing it (but can he?) so they can consider C2.
I can't find a single case supporting this approach.
Nicole
@nicolegelinas
Manslaughter charge against Penny is officially DISMISSED, over defense objection. Dismissed by the court, not the DA. Jury will be told this right now.
3:50 PM · Dec 6, 2024. //

As of now, this entire thing seems to be rigged against Penny, with the judge and prosecution working hand-in-glove, and that's a travesty for him and whatever public trust was left in the justice system. These judges and prosecutors are out of control.

Penny's last hope is that the jury deadlocks on the second charge as well and that justice prevails here despite the machinations of the "justice system." Deliberations will continue on Monday, which means an entire weekend of possible pressure being applied. How convenient for the judge and prosecution, right?

Now, in a revelation that's eggz-traordinary, we learn that the world's oldest known wild bird - yes, a 74-year-old Gooney bird named "Wisdom" - has laid what observers think is its 60th egg, which has to be some kind of a record. //

Wisdom is a veritable Methuselah among birds, but reports are that she is healthy, and therefore not a birden on her new mate, who has clearly fowlen in love with the elderly gooney. And this sp-egg-tacular feat or reproduction will surely land Wisdom and her new tweet-heart in the record books.

Albatrosses are known as a good-luck sign among seafarers, although woe be to any nautical type who harms one. They are impressive fliers, wielding a wingspan that can approach eight feet. They can sleep on the wing, which allows them to stay at sea for extended periods, and they roam the North Pacific from America to Asia, from Hawaii to the Aleutians, seeking the squid, fish, and crustaceans that make up their diet. They are reported to live up to 60 years in the wild, although Wisdom has surpassed not only the typical gooney lifespan but also the traditional human threescore and ten. She seems determined to hang around, and it's good to set gulls for oneself. //

7againstthebes
an hour ago
Here is something for you to think about. An Laysan Albatross flies about 50,000 miles per year. So this particular bird has flown nearly four million miles in her lifetime.

Stc is a command line tool for Syncthing. It can be used to quickly check status of Syncthing from a terminal / command line without need of a Web Browser. For example on a remote machine over ssh, without port forwarding or if you have large number of machines to query. Also run from a script, crontab, scheduled task, etc.

The very idea that a blanket preemptive pardon would be handed out is an anathema to the very idea of justice because it would occur before any charges were made. And it would prevent any charges from ever being leveled. As such, the idea of preemptive clemency simply gives one carte blanche to act in any manner he/she sees fit while in office, provided they have the expectation of pardon. //

I don't see how this leads to anything but a pathway to the abuse of political power. //

If you cannot ever have a trial, then a guy like Mayorkas can treat the entire country like his own little fiefdom and forever change the United States culturally, socially, and legally. All on his own. And with a blanket and preemptive pardon, presidential cabinet members, NGOs, and partisan bureaucrats have the freedom to make policy that we didn't vote for and probably never would.

What the progressives could gain, if Markey were to get his Christmas wish, is a short-term insurance policy against prosecution for guys like Mayorkas, or John Brennan, or Mark Milley, but it will set a precedent for long-term abuse by presidents in the future. Trump could employ the same tactics, and while the progs would scream and shout, there wouldn't be much they could do about it legally, not to mention the fact that they were the ones who started rolling that snowball down the hill in the first place. //

Now, for Trump, if he were to find himself in the position where he could not prosecute certain individuals for treason or malfeasance, perhaps he could at least have them investigated. The products of such interrogatories might not lead to any charges because of the pardons, but at least such "fact-finding endeavors" might illuminate what abuses (if any) actually occurred so that we could avoid more in the future. This information would be made public to the electorate, and from that, what happens happens.

Tearing down institutions and traditions tears apart a society, a country. Sure, things can evolve over time, but to rip stuff out by the roots all at once is very reckless. Issuing preemptive pardons before any charges are even leveled prevents justice because we never have an opportunity to find out if it was ever being served in the first place. Did Mayorkas break the border all of his own volition just because he felt like it? Was he instructed to do it? If so, by whom? Who does he report to? Oh...the president. //

Billy Wallace
20 minutes ago edited
Pardoning everyone in your administration will be the new normal if Biden does it

if Biden does it, Trump most certainly will in January 2029, and why wouldn't he? I would

it will just become standard operating procedure, as will issuing an executive order declaring any and all records and documents in your possession to be declassified personal records

Every major advance in human technology, in human standard of living, has come with increases in energy density. From wood to charcoal to coal to oil to natural gas to fission power, the arc of progress in energy has always been toward greater, not lower, energy density. That is until the green energy types came along with their insistence on low-density sources like solar and wind.

So, with nuclear fission reactors providing the highest energy density available today, the question arises, "Where do we go from here?" What energy source can provide greater energy density than fission power?

The answer is fusion power. But the problem is that it's a few decades away, and has been since the '50s:

Meta believes it will need one to four gigawatts of nuclear power, in additional to the energy it already consumes, to fuel its AI ambitions. As such, it will put out a request for proposals (RFP) to find developers capable of supplying that level of electricity in the United States by early 2030. //

But while Meta plans to continue investing in solar and wind, hyperscalers seem convinced that harnessing the atom is the only practical means of meeting AI's thirst for power while making good on its sustainability commitments.

We've seen a lot of examples of the mainstream media seeming to act like an arm of the Democratic Party.

But a story from Catherine Herridge may tell the tale of how much media has truly abandoned their purported jobs of journalism. Herridge explained on News Nation how she had the opportunity in the fall of 2023 to do a live interview with X owner Elon Musk on X about the revelations in the Twitter files.

That would have been a big interview with a lot of things breaking at the time from the files, revealing a lot about social media censorship and government involvement.

But listen as Herridge explains what happened next. //

She took it to the CBS executives and they told her she "couldn't do it live."

She asked, "What do you mean I can't do it live?"

"Well, we don't know what he's going to say" was their replay according to Herridge.

She said she replied to her bosses, "Isn't that what journalism is all about?"

Herridge explained that CBS then tried to condition the interview with possible alternatives, including having it edited, taped, and only on CBS. She said she felt so ashamed that a news organization would place so many restrictions on an interview like that that she couldn't go back to Elon Musk, the free speech advocate. But it indicates how fearful CBS was that something that they might not want to come out might come out in such an interview. When you think that way, you're no longer operating as a journalistic organization. You should want to report on the truth, whatever it is. //

This story just cements it, but that's one of the reasons why people no longer have any trust in legacy media. They also can't get the viewership that stories can now get on X, as Herridge explained last week. People can find the news on X without having to view it through a legacy media filter.

Legacy media seems to be imploding. This CBS story is a great example of why.

Upload your photo and get a thorough, three-paragraph description of it. //

wanted to develop an alternative service for storing and sharing photos that is open source and end-to-end encrypted. Something “more private, wholesome, and trustworthy,” he says. The paid service he designed, Ente, is profitable and says it has more than 100,000 users, many of whom are already part of the privacy-obsessed crowd. But Mohandas struggled to articulate to wider audiences why they should reconsider relying on Google Photos, despite all the conveniences it offers.

Then one weekend in May, an intern at Ente came up with an idea: Give people a sense of what some of Google’s AI models can learn from studying images. Last month, Ente launched https://Theyseeyourphotos.com, a website and marketing stunt designed to turn Google’s technology against itself. People can upload any photo to the website, which is then sent to a Google Cloud computer vision program that writes a startlingly thorough three-paragraph description of it. (Ente prompts the AI model to document small details in the uploaded images.)

Hacker Uno Ars Centurion
7y
314
Subscriptor++
42Kodiak42 said:
Remember, a big enough privacy violation also constitutes a grave security vulnerability.
Technically, any privacy violation constitutes a grave security vulnerability.

Remember, confidentiality is one of the five fundamental security tenants, and it defends against unauthorized disclosure. When you violate privacy, you are committing an unauthorized disclosure.

For the record, the five fundamental security tenants are:

• Confidentiality, which defends against unauthorized disclosure of a protected asset.
• Integrity, which defends against unauthorized modification of a protected asset.
• Availability, which defends against denial of authorized access to a protected asset.
• Authenticity, which defends against spoofing, forgery, and repudiation of a protected asset.
• Access-Control, which defends against unauthorized access of a protected asset.

Tomas van Houtyryve's striking photographs for National Geographic capture the restoration process.

A US government security official urged Americans to use encrypted messaging as major telecom companies struggle to evict Chinese hackers from their networks. The attack has been attributed to a Chinese hacking group called Salt Typhoon.

There have been reports since early October that Chinese government hackers penetrated the networks of telecoms and may have gained access to systems used for court-authorized wiretaps of communications networks. Impacted telcos reportedly include Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Lumen (also known as CenturyLink).

T-Mobile has said its own network wasn't hacked but that it severed a connection it had to a different provider whose network was hacked. Lumen has said it has no evidence that customer data on its network was accessed. //

Despite recognizing the security benefits of encryption, US officials have for many years sought backdoors that would give the government access to encrypted communications. Supporters of end-to-end encryption have pointed out that backdoors can also be used by criminal hackers and other nation-states.

"For years, the security community has pushed back against these backdoors, pointing out that the technical capability cannot differentiate between good guys and bad guys," cryptographer Bruce Schneier wrote after the Chinese hacking of telecom networks was reported in October.

Noting the apparent hacking of systems for court-ordered wiretap requests, Schneier called it "one more example of a backdoor access mechanism being targeted by the 'wrong' eavesdroppers." //

These telecommunications companies are responsible for their lax cybersecurity and their failure to secure their own systems, but the government shares much of the blame," US Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) wrote in an October 11 letter to the FCC and Justice Department. "The surveillance systems reportedly hacked were mandated by federal law, through the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). CALEA, which was enacted in 1994 at the urging of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), forced phone companies to install wiretapping technology into then-emerging digital phone networks. In 2006, acting on a request from the FBI, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) expanded this backdoor mandate to broadband Internet companies."

But they're missing something very important about the original Snow White. In fact, they're missing what I would consider to be such an important part of femininity overall.

The 1937 Snow White didn't lift a finger to fight. She didn’t have to. Her purity and goodness were worth fighting for and protecting, which is why a group of normally peaceful dwarves picked up their weapons and went to chase after the evil queen at the end.

I don’t know if you recall this moment from the original movie, but it’s still a heart-wrenching, intense, and oddly beautiful moment. When this movie was first released in theaters, people were really overcome here. There were people crying in the theaters when the apple fell from Snow White’s hand, because they truly thought she’d died.

At that moment, the audience was the dwarves. They wanted to bring the evil queen to justice. We wanted to pick up weapons and ride out in the name of punishing evil and preserving that beauty and kindness that had touched our lives. Ultimately, that evil was struck down by God Himself. To this day, the entirety of the pursuit sequence holds up as an incredibly dynamic moment.

But the dwarves served a much deeper purpose here. We were the dwarves. All of us. We were messy, grumpy, dopey, and unrefined, but when true goodness and beauty come into our lives, it changes us for the better.

We relate to the dwarves on a personal level, and defending the beauty in our lives, even if violently, is worth doing.

Even after this sequence, a very interesting phrase pops up on the screen before it cuts to her in her golden coffin, with all creation, including the dwarves, paying homage to this beautiful, kind woman.

"So beautiful, even in death, that the dwarfs could not find it in their hearts to bury her."

She was inspiring them even after she died. That was the effect she had on them. You're going to tell me that this isn't a power of its own? To be so life-changing that the people who knew you didn't want to let you go? Taken spiritually, you really begin to see the importance of what Snow White actually represented.

Snow White enchanted everyone she came across. She caused people to change into better people, not because she forced it or demonstrated some sort of artificial toughness, but because she inspired them to be better.

This is what the writers of this modern rip-off and the actors and actresses that play in it don’t get. To them, Snow White is a character that needs to change because she has no power. They see her as weak and, as such, needs to be injected with strength, not understanding that Snow White’s tenderness and boundless kindness carry with them a strength and power that refines civilizations, crafts and grows humanity, and inspires goodness through kindness, generosity, and tender warmth.

This is the very essence of femininity, and it's a strength that modern feminism — with its hyper-focus on selfish inner power relating to outer power — can't wrap its head around.

This is why the 1937 film was such a masterpiece and appealed to so many people, and why the modern "live-action" film is likely going to bomb and eventually be forgotten. The modern version is a shallow shell of what the original told. It misses the point entirely.

It doesn't understand the power of kindness and warmth.

I’ve been through a lot: combat tours, job changes, divorces and family challenges. (Yes, I love my mom very much, and she loves me.) I have always led with honesty, integrity and passion. Tragically, many veterans never find the purpose for their next chapter and succumb to the bottle, depression or, worst of all, suicide. I understand what they are facing—because I’ve lived it. But by the grace of God, I took another path. My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has renewed and restored my life. I am saved by his grace.

Technically, Donald Trump has 47 days left before he's sworn into office for his second, albeit non-consecutive, presidential term. In reality, however, he's already the president, and Mar-a-Lago is his White House. //

You can find enough proof of Trump's de facto presidency in the daily, post-election meltdowns of corporate media hacks like Joy Reid. //

In short, the media is treating Donald Trump like he's already the president because he's acting like he is. //

If getting results is the measure of a successful presidency, Trump's pre-presidency presidency is yielding some pretty impressive wins. //

And you know how heads of state are invited to big international events? Well, Donald Trump is heading to Paris this weekend to join other dignitaries for the reopening of the Notre-Dame Cathedral, where he's bound to meet with other international players. You know, the stuff competent presidents do.

That is a jaw-dropping statement. Aspects of "gender-affirming care" range from sterilization through the use of drugs to outright mutilation with surgeries. There is no comparison between the physical and mental risks associated with those things and popping an aspirin. For a justice to make that comparison shows not only their supreme politicization of the issue but a level of disregard for children that strikes me as simply evil.

If you thought that was stupid, though, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson decided to enter the competition. //

How is banning medical treatments that don't treat children and instead permanently damage their bodies while setting them up for grave emotional harm short and long-term the same thing as banning interracial marriage? What an insulting and disgusting comparison to make. //

Leor Sapir
@LeorSapir
·
Follow
Ketanji Brown Jackson with a hypothetical that supposedly helps SG Prelogar show discrimination: a boy who identifies as a boy but takes puberty blockers because he wants to lower his voice (rather than change gender).

A good reminder that Justice Jackson is "not a biologist."
11:12 AM · Dec 4, 2024 //

The U.S. government readily admits that "gender-affirming care" does nothing to reduce suicide rates among "transgender" children, but claims it reduces the rate of "suicidality." So it supposedly lowers the risk of suicide but doesn't lower the actual number of suicides? I don't think I need to explain how little sense that makes. //

Ben Gnarson
an hour ago
We need to start being very clear on this point; if a child is being “transitioned” they don’t suffer from gender dysphoria, they are suffering from munchausen by proxy.