Turkey Unveils First Fully Homemade Car in $3.7 Billion Bet on Electric
December 27th, 2019Via: Reuters:
Turkey unveiled its first fully domestically-produced car on Friday, saying it aimed to eventually produce up to 175,000 a year of the electric vehicle in a project expected to cost 22 billion lira ($3.7 billion) over 13 years.
New Russian Weapon Can Travel 27 Times the Speed of Sound
December 27th, 2019Via: ABC:
A new intercontinental weapon that can fly 27 times the speed of sound became operational Friday, Russia’s defense minister reported to President Vladimir Putin, bolstering the country’s nuclear strike capability.
Putin has described the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle as a technological breakthrough comparable to the 1957 Soviet launch of the first satellite. The new Russian weapon and a similar system being developed by China have troubled the United States, which has pondered defense strategies.
The Avangard is launched atop an intercontinental ballistic missile, but unlike a regular missile warhead that follows a predictable path after separation it can make sharp maneuvers in the atmosphere en route to target, making it much harder to intercept.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed Putin that the first missile unit equipped with the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle entered combat duty.
Drones Need Tracking Network for Expanded Flights, FAA Says
December 27th, 2019Via: Bloomberg:
All but the smallest civilian drones would have to broadcast radio tracking data to ensure greater safety and prevent terrorism under a sweeping proposal unveiled by U.S. regulators Thursday.
The long-awaited draft rules call for a massive new tracking network for everything from toys to larger commercial drones so that law enforcement can spot the devices flying anywhere, from congested urban areas to the most rural zones.
…
With only limited exceptions for groups such as model-airplane operators, all drones weighing more than 0.55 pounds (0.25 kilograms) would have to broadcast their position and operator’s identity at all times under the FAA proposal.
Russia Raids Offices of Kremlin Critic Over Refusal to Take Down Video About Medvedev
December 27th, 2019Via: AFP:
Russian security officials searched the offices of leading Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation on Thursday, with his team calling the raid a new bid to disrupt their work.
Navalny linked the searches to his refusal to take down a 2017 video report that accused Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev of massive corruption and has racked up nearly 33 million views on YouTube.
“What’s happening is part of the coordinated campaign against the anti-corruption foundation,” Navalny, 43, told reporters, but vowed that his organisation would not be intimidated.
“This complicates our work but we will not halt it,” said Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most outspoken critic, adding it was the fifth such raid on the foundation.
Hepatitis C Kills More Americans Than All Other Reportable Infectious Diseases Combined [???]
December 26th, 2019Via: Stanford:
The hepatitis C virus now kills more Americans than all other reportable infectious diseases combined — including HIV. Acute cases of HCV have increased 3.5-fold over the last decade, particularly among young, white, injection drug users.
Women aged 15 to 44 have also been hit hard by the virus that is spread through contaminated blood, and the prevalence of HCV infection among women giving birth has nearly doubled.
Those staggering details were revealed earlier this week when the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued a draft recommendation that calls on clinicians to screen all adults 18 to 79 years old for the virus, even those with no symptoms or known liver disease.
The opioid epidemic has fueled what is now the most common chronic bloodborne pathogen, said Stanford Health Policy’s Douglas Owens, MD, chair of the independent, voluntary panel of national experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine.
The Task Force, which makes recommendations followed by primary care clinicians nationwide, has until now recommended hepatitis C testing for people who are at high risk, as well as baby boomers born between 1945 and 1965.
“Unfortunately, HCV now affects a broader age range than previously with three times as many new infections per year,” said Owens.
88% of Americans Use a Second Screen While Watching TV. Why?
December 26th, 2019Via: Ars Technica:
According to data from Nielsen, the TV metrics company, 88 percent of Americans “use a second digital device while watching TV.” Seventy-one percent of Americans “look up content related to content they are watching,” while 41 percent of Americans are busy messaging “friends/family about content they are watching.”
Can this possibly be true? And can it be good for us?
…
In my darker moments, I suspect that mental clutter is the point of it all, as we seek to be “distracted from distraction by distraction.” We are “filled with fancies and empty of meaning” in order to keep ourselves from the terror of our own deeper thoughts, our own loneliness and boredom, our own existential despair. Those inner voices can terrify—so the lengths we go to blot them out are remarkable. “Not here,” we tell ourselves. “Not here the darkness, in this twittering world!”
Kevin Spacey Accuser Ari Behn Dead At 47
December 26th, 2019Kill them with kindness:
Via: E Online:
Ari Behn, who accused disgraced actor Kevin Spacey of groping him, has passed away at the age of 47. The author and ex husband of Norway’s Princess Martha Louise died by suicide on Christmas Day, his manager Geir Håkonsund told the Norwegian media. “It’s with great sorrow in our hearts that we, those closest to Ari Behn, must report that he took his down life today,” the statement said. “We ask for respect for our privates lives in the time to come.”
Japan’s Births Decline To Lowest Number On Record
December 25th, 2019Japan has been trying to increase its birth rate for years, hoping that a youthful boost could offset an otherwise rapidly aging population. It’s not working.
The country’s health ministry announced Tuesday that the number of babies born in 2019 fell by an estimated 5.9% this year, to 864,000. It’s the first time since 1899, when the government began tracking the data, that the number has dipped below 900,000, according to The Asahi Shimbun.
Mysterious Drones Flying Nighttime Patterns Over Northeast Colorado Leave Local Law Enforcement Stumped
December 25th, 2019Via: Denver Post:
A band of large drones appears to be flying nighttime search patterns over northeast Colorado — and local authorities say they don’t know who’s behind the mysterious aircraft.
The drones, estimated to have six-foot wingspans, have been flying over Phillips and Yuma counties every night for about the last week, Phillips County Sheriff Thomas Elliott said Monday.
The drones stay about 200 feet to 300 feet in the air and fly steadily in squares of about 25 miles, he said. There are at least 17 drones; they emerge each night around 7 p.m. and disappear around 10 p.m., he said.
“They’ve been doing a grid search, a grid pattern,” he said. “They fly one square and then they fly another square.”
The sheriff’s office can’t explain where the drones are coming from or who is flying them. The estimated size and number of drones makes it unlikely that they’re being flown by hobbyists, Undersheriff William Myers said.
The Federal Aviation Administration told the sheriff’s office that it had no information on the drones, and the U.S. Air Force said the aircraft aren’t theirs, Elliott said.
A spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration told The Denver Post on Monday that the drones aren’t operated by the agency. A spokesman for the FAA said that agency likely has no information on them. Drone pilots aren’t required to file flight plans, unless they’re flying in controlled airspace, like near an airport.
Patent: Rivian’s New ‘Guardian Mode’ Will Safely Move Passengers Without Any Driver Present
December 24th, 2019Here’s the end point of this technology, should it ever come to exist:
Night City Police Department Autonomous Vehicle Override System
Make a selection and click Next to continue:
Disable vehicle and lock occupants inside
Geofence vehicle
Deliver occupants to nearest re-education center
Deliver occupants to nearest vaccination center
Etc.
Via: Teslarati:
A new patent submitted by electric car maker Rivian aims to create a safe traveling experience without anyone actually operating the vehicle. This would allow the vehicle to transport individuals who are not fully-competent to operate a vehicle to a destination without having a driver present.
Rivian named the patent “Systems and Methods for Operating an Autonomous Vehicle in a Guardian Mode,” and filed it to the United States Patent Office on June 11, 2019. The patent would create a new mode that could allow a physical driver to not actually be present for the duration of a trip. It would instead give the vehicle’s owner the option to request a ride for someone who is not capable of legally or safely operating the vehicle, like a child or a senior citizen. The company calls this capability “Guardian Mode.”
Using examples like a child needing a ride home from school, Rivian mentions that the development of autonomous vehicles are allowing for safe travel without someone having to be in direct control of the vehicle. However, there is the possibility for someone who is not fully competent to still control the car and make use of the vehicle’s autonomous features to travel, even if they are not legally able to.
Rivian explains this point further in the following section:
“Modem autonomous vehicle technology allows an autonomous vehicle to transport passengers between destinations without being directly controlled by a human driver. Consequently, it is now possible for an autonomous vehicle to transport a user who is not fully competent (e.g., a child user, a senior citizen user, or a mentally challenged user) without a fully competent user being present. However, in such a situation, a user who is not fully competent may misuse the capabilities of the autonomous vehicle while in transit. Such misuse may lead to undesirable situations (e.g., a child requesting to go to a wrong location), or even dangerous situations (e.g., a child opening a door while the car is still in motion, or a child unbuckling a seat belt). Consequently, what is needed is an autonomous vehicle with a mode of operation that is appropriate for transporting users who are not fully competent.”
Related: GM Pushes Feds To Approve Chevy Bolts With No Steering Wheel
