Planet Aardvark

May 28, 2020

• DragonflyBSD Blog BSD Now 352: Introducing Randomness

  This week’s BSD Now links to a bunch of what I call ‘resource’ articles, things that tell you how to do things and use stuff.  It’s good reading if you have the time.

• Oshpark Learn more about Flexible PCBs

  We are very excited to that more and more of our customers are discovering our flexible PCB service and how it can benefit their projects.

  We offer 2 layer Flex PCBs for $10 per square inch including 3 copies of your design.

  Find out more on our Flex documentation page: https://t.co/vHqhmUH0Dz pic.twitter.com/5fZHFaTyec

  — OSH Park (@oshpark) May 28, 2020

  Insulectro’s Chris Hunrath joined Royal Circuits in a recent webinar that dives into the details of Flexible PCBs:
• Krebs on Security UK Ad Campaign Seeks to Deter Cybercrime

  The United Kingdom’s anti-cybercrime agency is running online ads aimed at young people who search the Web for services that enable computer crimes, specifically trojan horse programs and DDoS-for-hire services. The ad campaign follows a similar initiative launched in late 2017 that academics say measurably dampened demand for such services by explaining that their use to harm others is illegal and can land potential customers in jail.

  For example, search in Google for the terms “booter” or “stresser” from a U.K. Internet address, and there’s a good chance you’ll see a paid ad show up on the first page of results warning that using such services to attack others online is illegal. The ads are being paid for by the U.K.’s National Crime Agency, which saw success with a related campaign for six months starting in December 2017.

  

  A Google ad campaign paid for by the U.K.’s National Crime Agency.

  NCA Senior Manager David Cox said the agency is targeting its ads to U.K. males age 13 to 22 who are searching for booter services or different types of remote access trojans (RATs), as part of an ongoing effort to help steer young men away from cybercrime and toward using their curiosity and skills for good. The ads link to advertorials and to the U.K.’s Cybersecurity Challenge, which tries gamify computer security concepts and highlight potential careers in cybersecurity roles.

  “The fact is, those standing in front of a classroom teaching children have less information about cybercrime than those they’re trying to teach,” Cox said, noting that the campaign is designed to support so-called “knock-and-talk” visits, where investigators visit the homes of young people who’ve downloaded malware or purchased DDoS-for-hire services to warn them away from such activity. “This is all about showing people there are other paths they can take.”

  While it may seem obvious to the casual reader that deploying some malware-as-a-service or using a booter to knock someone or something offline can land one in legal hot water, the typical profile of those who frequent these services is young, male, impressionable and participating in online communities of like-minded people in which everyone else is already doing it.

  In 2017, the NCA published “Pathways into Cyber Crime,” a report that drew upon interviews conducted with a number of young men who were visited by U.K. law enforcement agents in connection with various cybercrime investigations.

  Those findings, which the NCA said came about through knock-and-talk interviews with a number of suspected offenders, found that 61 percent of suspects began engaging in criminal hacking before the age of 16, and that the average age of suspects and arrests of those involved in hacking cases was 17 years old.

  The majority of those engaged in, or on the periphery of, cyber crime, told the NCA they became involved via an interest in computer gaming.

  A large proportion of offenders began to participate in gaming cheat websites and “modding” forums, and later progressed to criminal hacking forums.

  The NCA learned the individuals visited had just a handful of primary motivations in mind, including curiosity, overcoming a challenge, or proving oneself to a larger group of peers. According to the report, a typical offender faces a perfect storm of ill-boding circumstances, including a perceived low risk of getting caught, and a perception that their offenses in general amounted to victimless crimes.

  “Law enforcement activity does not act as a deterrent, as individuals consider cyber crime to be low risk,” the NCA report found. “Debrief subjects have stated that they did not consider law enforcement until someone they knew or had heard of was arrested. For deterrence to work, there must be a closing of the gap between offender (or potential offender) with law enforcement agencies functioning as a visible presence for these individuals.”

  Cox said the NCA will continue to run the ads indefinitely, and that it is seeking funding from outside sources — including major companies in online gaming industry, whose platforms are perhaps the most targeted by DDoS-for-hire services. He called the program a “great success,” noting that in the past 30 days (13 of which the ads weren’t running for funding reasons), the ads generated some 5.32 million impressions, and more than 57,000 clicks.

  FLATTENING THE CURVE

  Richard Clayton is director of the University of Cambridge Cybercrime Centre, which has been monitoring DDoS attacks for several years using a variety of sensors across the Internet that pretend to be the types of systems which are typically commandeered and abused to help launch such assaults.

  Last year, Clayton and fellow Cambridge researchers published a paper showing that law enforcement interventions — including the NCA’s anti-DDoS ad campaign between 2017 and 2018 — demonstrably slowed the growth in demand for DDoS-for-hire services.

  “Our data shows that by running that ad campaign, the NCA managed to flatten out demand for booter services over that period,” Clayton said. “In other words, the demand for these services didn’t grow over the period as we would normally see, and we didn’t see more people doing it at the end of the period than at the beginning. When we showed this to the NCA, they were ever so pleased, because that campaign cost them less than ten thousand [pounds sterling] and it stopped this type of cybercrime from growing for six months.”

  

  The Cambridge study found various interventions by law enforcement officials had measurable effects on the demand for and damage caused by booter and stresser services. Source: Booting the Booters, 2019.

  Clayton said part of the problem is that many booter/stresser providers claim they’re offering lawful services, and many of their would-be customers are all too eager to believe this is true. Also, the price point is affordable: A typical booter service will allow customers to launch fairly high-powered DDoS attacks for just a few dollars per month.

  “There are legitimate companies that provide these types of services in a legal manner, but there are all types of agreements that have to be in place before this can happen,” Clayton said. “And you don’t get that for ten bucks a month.”

  DON’T BE EVIL

  The NCA’s ad campaign is competing directly with Google ads taken out by many of the same people running these DDoS-for-hire services. It may surprise some readers to learn that cybercrime services often advertise on Google and other search sites much like any legitimate business would — paying for leads that might attract new customers.

  Several weeks back, KrebsOnSecurity noticed that searching for “booter” or “stresser” in Google turned up paid ads for booter services prominently on the first page of results. But as I noted in a tweet about the finding, this is hardly a new phenomenon.

  

  A booter ad I reported to Google that the company subsequently took offline.

  Cambridge’s Clayton pointed me to a blog post he wrote in 2018 about the prevalence of such ads, which violate Google’s policies on acceptable advertisements via its platform. Google says it doesn’t allow ads for services that “cause damage, harm or injury,” and that they don’t allow adverts for services that “are designed to enable dishonest behavior.”

  Clayton said Google eventually took down the offending ads. But as my few seconds of Googling revealed, the company appears to have decided to play wack-a-mole when people complain, instead of expressly prohibiting the placement of (and payment for) ads with these terms.

  Google told KrebsOnSecurity that it relies on a combination of technology and people to enforce its policies.

  “We have strict ad policies designed to protect users on our platforms,” Google said in a written statement. “We prohibit ads that enable dishonest behavior, including services that look to take advantage of or cause harm to users. When we find an ad that violates our policies we take action. In this case, we quickly removed the ads.”

  Google pointed to a recent blog post detailing its enforcement efforts in this regard, which said in 2019 the company took down more than 2.7 billion ads that violated its policies — or more than 10 million ads per day — and that it removed a million advertiser accounts for the same reason.

  The ad pictured above ceased to appear shortly after my outreach to them. Unfortunately, an ad for a different booter service (shown below) soon replaced the one they took down.

  

  An ad for a DDoS-for-hire service that appeared shortly after Google took down the ones KrebsOnSecurity reported to them.

• Planethunters Blog Lightcurve of the week: reflection effect EB

  

  This week we have an exotic EB, explained to us by Dr. Cole Johnston, where the primary star is a subdwarf which is the stripped helium-burning core of a star. The temperature of this star is so high that it illuminates the much cooler secondary star, causing the surface of the secondary star that is facing the primary to heat up and appear much brighter than the side that is facing away. This causes a dramatic increase in brightness approaching and receding from the secondary eclipse (the small dip at the top of the ‘wave’ in the above lightcurve). The two stars are so close together that they complete one orbit in just a few hours!  The above light curve is phase folded to emphasise the brightening which is known as the ‘reflection effect’.

  Studying these systems is important because these primary stars are thought to be the tracers of a very strange evolutionary path, whereby the entire hydrogen envelope of an evolving star is stripped away by some mechanism (probably by a binary or high mass planetary companion), just at the point were helium burning starts in the core of the star.

   

• Centauri Dreams Modeling Hot Jupiter Clouds

  Studying the atmospheres of exoplanets is a process that is fairly well along, especially when it comes to hot Jupiters. Here we have a massive target so close to its star that, when a transit occurs, we can look at the star’s light filtering through the atmosphere of the planet. Even so, clouds are a problem because they prevent accurate readings of atmospheric composition below the upper cloud layers. Aerosols — suspended solid particles or droplets in a gas — are common, range widely in composition, and make studying a planet’s atmosphere harder.

  We’d like to learn more about which aerosols are where and in what kind of conditions, for we have a useful database of planets to work with. Over 70 exoplanets currently have transmission spectra available. A wide range of cloud types, many of them exotic indeed, have been proposed by astronomers to explain what they are seeing.

  Imagine clouds of sapphire, or rubies, which is essentially what we get with aerosols of aluminum oxides like corundum. Potassium chloride can produce a molten salt. Sulfides of manganese or zinc can be components, as well as organic hydrocarbon compounds. Which of these are most likely to form and affect our observations? And what about silicates?

  A new model, produced by an international team of astronomers, bodes well for future work. The model predicts that the most common type of hot Jupiter cloud consists not of the most exotic of these ingredients but of liquid or solid droplets of silicon and oxygen — think melted quartz.

  But much depends on the temperature, with the cooler hot Jupiters (below about 950 Kelvin) marked by hydrocarbon hazes. Peter Gao (UC-Berkeley) is first author of a paper describing the model that pulls all these and more possibilities together:

  “The kinds of clouds that can exist in these hot atmospheres are things that we don’t really think of as clouds in the solar system. There have been models that predict various compositions, but the point of this study was to assess which of these compositions actually matter and compare the model to the available data that we have… The idea is that the same physical principles guide the formation of all types of clouds. What I have done is to take this model and bring it out to the rest of the galaxy, making it able to simulate silicate clouds and iron clouds and salt clouds.”

  Some planets have clear atmospheres, making spectroscopy easier, but all too frequently high clouds block observations of the gases below them. Gao considers such clouds a kind of contamination in the data, making it hard to trace atmospheric elements like water and methane. The new model examines how gases of various atoms or molecules condense into cloud droplets, their patterns of growth or evaporation, and their transport by local winds.

  

  Image: Predicted cloud altitudes and compositions for a range of temperatures common on hot Jupiter planets. The range, in Kelvin, corresponds to about 800-3,500 degrees Fahrenheit, or 427-1,927 degrees Celsius. Credit: UC Berkeley. Image by Peter Gao.

  The team worked with computer models of Earth’s clouds and extended them to planets like Jupiter, where we find ammonia and methane clouds, before moving on to hot Jupiter temperatures up to 2,800 K (2,500 degrees Celsius) and the kind of elements that could condense into clouds under these conditions. The scientists simulated the distribution of aerosol particles, studying cloud formation through thermochemical reactions and haze formation through methane photochemistry. This is intricate stuff, modeling condensation from one gas to another, so that we can simulate the emergence of unusual clouds, but it draws on 30 of the exoplanets with recorded transmission spectra as a check on the model’s accuracy.

  Using the model, we can move through layers of atmosphere as mediated by temperature, with the hottest atmospheres showing condensation of aluminum oxides and titanium oxides, producing high-level clouds, while lowering the temperature allows such clouds to form deeper in the planet’s atmosphere, leaving them obscured by bands of higher silicate clouds. Lower the temperatures further and the upper atmosphere becomes clear as the silicate clouds form further down. High-level hazes can form at lower temperatures still.

  Looking for a clear sky to study the atmosphere without hindrance? Planets in the range of 950 to 1,400 K are the most likely to produce a cloudless sky, but planets hotter than 2,200 K also fit the bill, says Gao. Hannah Wakeford (University of Bristol, UK) is a co-author on the paper:

  “The presence of clouds has been measured in a number of exoplanet atmospheres before, but it is when we look collectively at a large sample that we can pick apart the physics and chemistry in the atmospheres of these worlds. The dominant cloud species is as common as sand — it is essentially sand — and it will be really exciting to be able to measure the spectral signatures of the clouds themselves for the first time with the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).”

  The key finding here is that only one type of cloud made of silicates dominates cloud opacity over a wide range of temperatures, and thus has the greatest implications for observation. Silicates dominate above planetary equilibrium temperatures of 950 K and extend out to 2,000 K, while hydrocarbon hazes dominate below 950 K. Many of the most exotic cloud types proposed in the literature simply require too much energy to condense.

  Too bad. I liked the idea of sapphire clouds. But as the paper notes: “The observed trends in warm giant exoplanet cloudiness is a natural consequence of the dominance of only two types of aerosol.” And it continues:

  Even though we do not consider the day- and nightside cloud opacity of warm giant exoplanets explicitly in our modelling, our finding that only one type of cloud—silicates—dominates exoplanet cloud opacity over a wide range of temperatures has important implications for exoplanet emission and reflected light observations. For example, the brightness temperature of an atmosphere with an optically thick silicate cloud deck would be fixed to a value slightly below the condensation temperature of silicates where the cloud deck becomes optically thin, resulting in minimal variations in the atmospheric brightness temperature for 950 K < T_eq < 2,100 K. This is indeed what is observed for the nightsides of warm giant exoplanets, which all have brightness temperatures of ~1,100 K… Meanwhile, the relatively high albedo of certain warm giant exoplanets such as Kepler-7b could also be explained by the dominance of silicate clouds, which are highly reflective at optical wavelengths.

  The paper is Gao et al., “Aerosol composition of hot giant exoplanets dominated by silicates and hydrocarbon hazes,” Nature Astronomy 25 May 2020 (abstract).

  

  

  
• Quanta Magazine Black Hole Paradoxes Reveal a Fundamental Link Between Energy and Order

  “Physicists like to probe the extreme,” said Garrett Goon, a physicist at Carnegie Mellon University. “The fact that you can’t go further, that something is changing, something is blocking you — something interesting is happening there.”

  For decades, black holes have played the headlining role in the thought experiments that physicists use to probe nature’s extremes. These invisible spheres form when matter becomes so concentrated that everything within a certain distance, even light, gets trapped by its gravity. Albert Einstein equated the force of gravity with curves in the space-time continuum, but the curvature grows so extreme near a black hole’s center that Einstein’s equations break. Thus generations of physicists have looked to black holes for clues about the true, quantum origin of gravity, which must fully reveal itself in their hearts and match Einstein’s approximate picture everywhere else.

  Plumbing black holes for knowledge of quantum gravity originated with Stephen Hawking. In 1974, the British physicist calculated that quantum jitter at the surfaces of black holes cause them to evaporate, slowly shrinking as they radiate heat. Black hole evaporation has informed quantum gravity research ever since.

  More recently, physicists have considered the extreme of the extreme — entities called extremal black holes — and found a fruitful new problem.

  Black holes become electrically charged when charged stuff falls into them. Physicists calculate that black holes have an “extremal limit,” a saturation point where they store as much electric charge as possible for their size. When a charged black hole evaporates and shrinks in the manner described by Hawking, it will eventually reach this extremal limit. It’s then as small as it can get, given how charged it is. It can’t evaporate further.

  But the idea that an extremal black hole “stops radiating and just sits there” is implausible, said Grant Remmen, a physicist at the University of California, Berkeley. In that case, the universe of the far future will be littered with tiny, indestructible black hole remnants — the remains of any black holes that carry even a touch of charge, since they’ll all become extremal after evaporating enough. There’s no fundamental principle protecting these black holes, so physicists don’t think they should last forever.

  So “there is a question,” said Sera Cremonini of Lehigh University: “What happens to all these extremal black holes?”

  Physicists strongly suspect that extremal black holes must decay, resolving the paradox, but by some other route than Hawking evaporation. Investigating the possibilities has led researchers in recent years to major clues about quantum gravity.

  Four physicists realized in 2006 that if extremal black holes can decay, this implies that gravity must be the weakest force in any possible universe, a powerful statement about quantum gravity’s relationship to the other quantum forces. This conclusion brought greater scrutiny to extremal black holes’ fates.

  Then, two years ago, Remmen and collaborators Clifford Cheung and Junyu Liu of the California Institute of Technology discovered that whether extremal black holes can decay depends directly on another key property of black holes: their entropy — a measure of how many different ways an object’s constituent parts can be rearranged. Entropy is one of the most studied features of black holes, but it wasn’t thought to have anything to do with their extremal limit. “It’s like, wow, OK, two very cool things are connected,” Cheung said.

  In the latest surprise, that link turns out to exemplify a general fact about nature. In a paper published in March in Physical Review Letters, Goon and Riccardo Penco broadened the lessons of the earlier work by proving a simple, universal formula relating energy and entropy. The newfound formula applies to a system such as a gas as well as a black hole.

  With the recent calculations, “you really are learning about quantum gravity,” Goon said. “But maybe even more interesting, you’re learning something about more everyday stuff.”

  Black Holes at the Extreme

  Physicists see very easily that charged black holes reach an extremal limit. When they combine Einstein’s gravity equations and the equations of electromagnetism, they calculate that a black hole’s charge, Q, can never surpass its mass, M, when both are converted into the same fundamental units. Together, the black hole’s mass and charge determine its size — the radius of the event horizon. Meanwhile, the black hole’s charge also creates a second, “inner” horizon, hidden behind the event horizon. As Q increases, the black hole’s inner horizon expands while the event horizon contracts until, at Q = M, the two horizons coincide.

  If Q increased further, the radius of the event horizon would become a complex number (involving the square root of a negative number), rather than a real one. This is unphysical. So, according to a simple mashup of James Clerk Maxwell’s 19th-century theory of electromagnetism and Einsteinian gravity, Q = M must be the limit.

  When a black hole hits this point, a simple option for further decay would be to split into two smaller black holes. Yet in order for such splitting to happen, the laws of conservation of energy and conservation of charge require that one of the daughter objects must end up with more charge than mass. This, according to Einstein-Maxwell, is impossible.

  But there might be a way for extremal black holes to split in two after all, as Nima Arkani-Hamed, Lubos Motl, Alberto Nicolis and Cumrun Vafa pointed out in 2006. They noted that the combined equations of Einstein and Maxwell don’t work well for small, strongly curved black holes. At smaller scales, additional details related to the quantum mechanical properties of gravity become more important. These details contribute corrections to the Einstein-Maxwell equations, changing the prediction of the extremal limit. The four physicists showed that the smaller the black hole, the more important the corrections become, causing the extremal limit to move farther and farther away from Q = M.

  The researchers also pointed out that if the corrections have the right sign — positive rather than negative — then small black holes can pack more charge than mass. For them, Q > M, which is exactly what’s needed for big extremal black holes to decay.

  If this is the case, then not only can black holes decay, but Arkani-Hamed, Motl, Nicolis and Vafa showed that another fact about nature also follows: Gravity must be the weakest force. An object’s charge, Q, is its sensitivity to any force other than gravity. Its mass, M, is its sensitivity to gravity. So Q > M means gravity is the weaker of the two.

  From their assumption that black holes ought to be able to decay, the four physicists made a more sweeping conjecture that gravity must be the weakest force in any viable universe. In other words, objects with Q > M will always exist, for any kind of charge Q, whether the objects are particles like electrons (which, indeed, have far more electric charge than mass) or small black holes.

  This “weak gravity conjecture” has become hugely influential, lending support to a number of other ideas about quantum gravity. But Arkani-Hamed, Motl, Nicolis and Vafa didn’t prove that Q > M, or that extremal black holes can decay. The quantum gravity corrections to the extremal limit might be negative, in which case small black holes can carry even less charge per unit mass than large ones. Extremal black holes wouldn’t decay, and the weak gravity conjecture wouldn’t hold.

  This all meant that researchers needed to figure out what the sign of the quantum gravity corrections actually is.

  Disorder Everywhere

  The issue of quantum gravity corrections has come up before, in another, seemingly unrelated line of black hole study.

  Almost 50 years ago, the late physicists Jacob Bekenstein and Stephen Hawking independently discovered that a black hole’s entropy is directly proportional to its surface area. Entropy, commonly thought of as a measure of disorder, counts the number of ways an object’s internal parts can be rearranged without any change to its overall state. (If a room is messy, or high entropy, for instance, you can move objects around at random and it will stay messy; by contrast, if a room is tidy, or low entropy, moving things around will make it less tidy.) By building a bridge between a black hole’s entropy, which concerns its inner microscopic ingredients, and its geometric surface area, Bekenstein and Hawking’s entropy area law has become one of physicists’ strongest footholds for studying black holes and quantum gravity.

  Bekenstein and Hawking deduced their law by applying Einstein’s gravity equations (together with the laws of thermodynamics) to the black hole’s surface. They treated this surface as smooth and ignored any structure that exists over short distances.

  In 1993, the physicist Robert Wald of the University of Chicago showed that it’s possible to do better. Wald found clever tricks for inferring the small effects that emanate from more microscopic levels of reality, without knowing what the complete description of that deeper level of reality is. His tactic, pioneered in a different context by the condensed matter physicist Kenneth Wilson, was to write down every possible physical effect. To Einstein’s equations, Wald showed how to add a series of extra terms — any terms that have the right dimensions and units, constructed of all physically relevant variables — that might describe the unknown short-distance properties of a black hole’s surface. “You can write down the most general set of terms that you could have in principle that describe curvatures of a certain size,” said Cremonini.

  Fortunately, the series can be truncated after the first several terms, since increasingly complicated composites of many variables contribute little to the final answer. Even many of the leading terms in the series can be crossed out because they have the wrong symmetries or violate consistency conditions. This leaves just a few terms of any significance that modify Einstein’s gravity equations. Solving these new, more complicated equations yields more exact black hole properties.

  Wald went through these steps in 1993, calculating how short-distance quantum gravitational effects correct the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy area law. These corrections shift a black hole’s entropy so that it’s not exactly proportional to area. And while it’s not possible to calculate the entropy shift outright — variables with unknown values are involved — what’s clear is that the corrections grow more significant the smaller the black hole, and therefore so does the entropy shift.

  Three years ago, Cheung, Liu and Remmen applied Wald’s same basic approach to the study of charged black holes and the extremal limit. They modified the Einstein-Maxwell equations with a series of extra terms coming from short-distance effects, and they solved the new equations to calculate the new, corrected extremal limit. To their surprise, they recognized the answer: The corrections to the extremal limit of a charged black hole exactly match the corrections to its entropy, as calculated from Wald’s formula; quantum gravity unexpectedly shifts both quantities in the same way.

  Remmen remembers the date when they completed the calculation — November 30, 2017 — “because it was that exciting,” he said. “That’s a very deep and exciting thing that we proved, that these terms give a shift in entropy and extremality that are equal to each other.”

  But do the matching shifts go in the right direction? Both corrections depend on undetermined variables, so they could in principle be either positive or negative. In their 2018 paper, Cheung and company calculated that the entropy shift is positive in a large class of scenarios and models of quantum gravity. They argue that it also makes intuitive sense that the entropy shift should be positive. Recall that entropy measures all the different possible internal states of a black hole. It seems reasonable that accounting for more microscopic details of a black hole’s surface would reveal new possible states and thus lead to more entropy rather than less. “The truer theory will have more microstates,” Remmen said.

  If so, then the shift in the extremal limit is also positive, allowing smaller black holes to store more charge per mass. In that case, “black holes can always decay to lighter ones,” Cheung said, and “the weak gravity conjecture is true.”

  But other researchers stress that these findings do not constitute an outright proof of the weak gravity conjecture. Gary Shiu, a theoretical physicist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, said the belief that entropy should always increase when you take quantum gravity into account is “an intuition that some might have, but it’s not always true.”

  Shiu has identified counterexamples: unrealistic models of quantum gravity in which, through cancellations, short-distance effects decrease black holes’ entropy. These models violate causality or other principles, but the point, according to Shiu, is that the newfound connection to entropy doesn’t prove all by itself that extremal black holes can always decay, or that gravity is always the weakest force.

  “To be able to prove would be fantastic,” Shiu said. “That’s a lot of why we’re still thinking about this problem.”

  The Forbidden Swampland

  Gravity is the weakest of the four fundamental forces in our universe. The weak gravity conjecture says it couldn’t have been otherwise. Aside from our universe, the conjecture also appears to hold in all possible theoretical universes derived from string theory. A candidate for the quantum theory of gravity, string theory posits that particles aren’t points but rather extended objects (nicknamed strings), and that space-time, close-up, also has extra dimensions. When string theorists write down different sets of strings that might define a universe, they invariably find that gravity — which arises from a type of string — is the weakest force in these model universes. “Seeing how this ends up panning out in case after case after case after case is very striking,” said Jorge Santos, a physicist at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and the University of Cambridge.

  The weak gravity conjecture is one of the most important in a network of “swampland conjectures” posed by physicists in the last two decades — speculative statements, based on thought experiments and examples, about what kinds of universes are and are not possible. By ruling out possibilities (putting impossible universes in a no-go “swampland”), swampland theorists aim to clarify why our universe is the way it is.

  If researchers could prove that gravity is inevitably weakest (and that black holes can always decay), the most important implication, according to Santos, is that it means quantum gravity “has to be a theory of unification.” That is, if Q and M must have a fixed ratio, their associated forces must be part of the same unified mathematical framework. Santos noted that “the only theory out there” that unifies the fundamental forces in a single framework is string theory. Rival approaches such as loop quantum gravity attempt to quantize gravity by dividing space-time into pieces, without connecting gravity with the other forces. “If the weak gravity conjecture is correct, things like loop quantum gravity are dead,” said Santos.

  Jorge Pullin, a loop quantum gravity theorist at Louisiana State University, sees “dead” as far too strong a word. The approach could itself be part of a larger unified theory, he said: “Loop quantum gravity doesn’t rule out a unification structure, but we haven’t pursued it yet.”

  The weak gravity conjecture also mutually reinforces several other swampland conjectures, including statements about the roles of symmetry and distance in quantum gravity. According to Shiu, the logical connection between these conjectures “gives us some confidence that even though these statements are made on a conjectural sense, there may be universal truth behind them.”

  Shiu compared our current, conjectural understanding of quantum gravity to the early days of quantum mechanics. “There were a lot of conjectures, a lot of leaps of faith about what is the right theory of the subatomic world,” he said. “Eventually many of these guesses turned out to be part of this much bigger picture.”

  Universal Energy and Disorder

  The recent research might have implications beyond black holes and quantum gravity.

  In their March paper, Goon and Penco redid the calculation of the black hole entropy and extremality corrections. Rather than using the language of gravity and black hole surface geometry, they calculated the corrections purely in terms of universal thermodynamic quantities like energy and temperature. This allowed them to discover a thermodynamic relation between energy and entropy that applies generally in nature.

  “It’s a beautiful relation,” said Santos.

  In the case of black holes, the duo’s formula says what Cheung, Remmen and Liu already proved: that quantum gravity shifts the extremal limit of black holes (allowing them to store more charge per mass), and it shifts their entropy by a proportional amount. Another way of describing the extra storage capacity coming from quantum gravity is that a black hole of fixed charge can have less mass. Mass is a form of energy, and so this drop in mass can be thought of more generally as a shift in energy — one that is inversely proportional to a shift in entropy.

  Whereas for a black hole, the equal and opposite shifts in energy and entropy come from unknown details of quantum gravity, an equivalent situation exists for any physical system near its extremal limit.

  A gas, for instance, becomes extremal when cooled to absolute zero. Goon and Penco’s thermodynamic formula says that any changes to the microscopic physics of the gas, such as the type of atoms that comprise it, produce equal and opposite shifts in its energy and entropy. Goon speculated that the relation between energy and entropy might be useful in studies of ultracold gases and other cryogenic experiments, “because sometimes one is easier to calculate than the other.”

  Whether this entropy-energy relation ever proves useful in earthly domains of physics, researchers still have plenty more work to do to explore the newfound link in the context of black holes and what it means for the nature of gravity.

  “Being able to answer, ‘Why is gravity weak?’” Cheung said. “The fact that that question is even on the board, the fact that that’s a question that one can legitimately answer outside the realm of philosophy, and the fact that it’s connected through this long path to entropy, which is like the tried-and-true, most fascinating thing about black holes, … seems crazy.”

• Bruce Schneier Thermal Imaging as Security Theater

  Seems like thermal imaging is the security theater technology of today.

  These features are so tempting that thermal cameras are being installed at an increasing pace. They're used in airports and other public transportation centers to screen travelers, increasingly used by companies to screen employees and by businesses to screen customers, and even used in health care facilities to screen patients. Despite their prevalence, thermal cameras have many fatal limitations when used to screen for the coronavirus.

  • They are not intended for medical purposes.
  • Their accuracy can be reduced by their distance from the people being inspected.
  • They are "an imprecise method for scanning crowds" now put into a context where precision is critical.
  • They will create false positives, leaving people stigmatized, harassed, unfairly quarantined, and denied rightful opportunities to work, travel, shop, or seek medical help.
  • They will create false negatives, which, perhaps most significantly for public health purposes, "could miss many of the up to one-quarter or more people infected with the virus who do not exhibit symptoms," as the New York Times recently put it. Thus they will abjectly fail at the core task of slowing or preventing the further spread of the virus.

• DragonflyBSD Blog xargs update in DragonFly

  Updates to third-party utilities happen often in DragonFly, and I don’t often link because they may not affect users much – but I’m noting a change to xargs(1) cause given what xargs does, any mistake you make will be repeated many times.

May 27, 2020

• Space and stuff idk gusgrissom: Space geeks rn (Incredible photo of the storm clouds...
  
  
  

  gusgrissom:

  Space geeks rn

  (Incredible photo of the storm clouds at KSC via Ryan Bale)

• Avazea (Philly-based data science corp) This Month We Learned — April 2020

  This month we learned about the PostgreSQL citext extension, safe fuel and air mixture adjustment at altitude while flying airplanes, fast time-series visualization with vector tiles, and pushing refinement types into the database.

  The post This Month We Learned — April 2020 appeared first on Azavea.

• Loren Grush SpaceX delays first historic crewed launch to space due to weather
  Image: SpaceX

  Just 17 minutes before its planned launch, SpaceX postponed its first crewed flight to space on Wednesday afternoon due to bad weather over the launch site in Florida. The two passengers on board SpaceX’s capsule — NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley — will try again on Saturday, May 30th.

  “Not quite going to make it for this,” one person said over the mission control audio leading up to the flight.

  The biggest concern for SpaceX was electrified clouds in the area around Cape Canaveral, Florida, where the company’s Falcon 9 rocket is meant to take off. Electrified clouds are particularly dangerous for a launch. If a rocket flies close enough, lightning could strike the vehicle,...

  Continue reading…

• Astro Bob Watch The Crew Dragon Launch Live, Then Track It In Tonight’s Sky

  

  On July 8, 2011 the last space shuttle, Atlantis, launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for the International Space Station (ISS). Not only was it the last shuttle liftoff but also the last time a spacecraft launched astronauts into orbit from American soil. Since that time NASA has been paying Russia to ferry astronauts to and from the ISS. Like everything else prices have gone up. In 2006 it costs $25 million for a single round-trip “ticket”. This fall the agency will pay $90 million for that same seat in what it hopes will be its last Soyuz capsule flight.

  

  In the meantime NASA granted contracts to SpaceX and Boeing to develop a commercial, U.S-based spacecraft. SpaceX took the lead with its Falcon-9 rocket and Flash Gordon-like space capsule called Dragon. And as long as the weather cooperates, the Crew Dragon mission will launch today (May 27) at 3:33 p.m. CDT from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center, the same pad Apollo 11 used to rocket to the moon in July 1969. When it flies, SpaceX will become the first private company to launch humans into orbit.

  I’m as excited as you are about today’s launch and can’t think of a better way to blow away the COVID-19 blues. Virus or not here we go!

  You can watch the historic event live at these streaming sites:

  NASA Live (countdown begins at 11:15 a.m. CDT)
  NASA Youtube channel
  SpaceX Youtube channel
  Envivo LIVE (for Spanish-speaking viewers)
  SpaceX Twitter for updates

  As of this writing there’s only a 50 percent chance of good weather for the launch due to turbulent cumulus clouds and possible rain showers. Should weather force a cancellation the next launch dates are Saturday May 30 at 2:22 p.m. and Sunday May 31 at 2 p.m. **** UPDATE: Due to bad weather the launch was scrubbed about 17 minutes before the planned liftoff. NASA will try again Saturday at 2:22 p.m.

  

  Veteran NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley have been training for this day since 2018. Their gumdrop-shaped spacecraft sits atop a Falcon 9 rocket. 12 minutes after liftoff Crew Dragon will enter low Earth orbit. The rocket will return and land on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. For the next 19 hours the astronauts will orbit the planet as the Dragon capsule catches up to the space station where it will dock at 10:29 a.m. CDT on May 28.

  Due to COVID-19 concerns has closed the usual viewing spots. Like many of you I’ll be watching it live online. Many of us will also have the opportunity to see Crew Dragon pass overhead sky tonight before it docks tomorrow. From the Central Time Zone it will follow the space station by around 40 minutes tonight. I’ve listed several cities and times below to watch. For a list of passes for your city go to Heavens Above, add your city (upper right) and then return to the home page and click on the blue Crew Dragon link on the left side of the page. That will take you to a list of passes. Click on a pass for a map and details. Like the space station, Crew Dragon moves from west to east across the sky.

  

  Not visible from the southern states — northern locations are favored. All times are local and for tonight (Weds.) May 27:

  Duluth, Minn. — 9:53 to 9:57 p.m. across the lower third of the northern sky. Magnitude 1.5 (Bright)
  Grand Marais, Minn. — 9:54 to 9:57 p.m. halfway up in the northern sky. Magnitude 0.8 (Bright!)
  Minneapolis — 9:54 to 9:57 p.m. very low across the northern sky. Magnitude 2.3 (modestly bright, equal to the Big Dipper stars)
  Chicago — 9:56 to 9:58 p.m. very low across in the northern sky. Magnitude 2.8 (somewhat dim)
  Boston — 9:24 to 9:27 p.m. very low across the northern sky. Magnitude 3.0 (dim)
  Cleveland — 10:56 to 10:57 p.m. very low across the northern sky. Magnitude 2.5
  Denver — 10:27 to 10:28 p.m. very low across the northern sky. Magnitude 3.1
  Fargo, ND — 9:53 to 9:57 p.m. low across the northern sky. Magnitude 1.8
  Portland, OR — 9:23 to 9:26 p.m. low in the northern sky. Magnitude 2.5
  Seattle — 10:56 to 10:58 p.m. in the western sky and disappearing into Earth’s shadow halfway up. Magnitude 0.3 (Very bright!)

• BCCLA Rights Groups Conclude Solitary Confinement Cases at Supreme Court of Canada

  (le français suit)

  For Immediate Release

  Vancouver and Toronto: Today, the BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA), the John Howard Society of Canada (JHSC), and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) announced they are ending their cross appeals at the Supreme Court of Canada in their respective solitary confinement cases, bringing the litigation to a conclusion. These rights groups have been challenging the use of solitary confinement in federal prisons for years. In 2019, the groups secured significant victories when the top courts of British Columbia and Ontario ruled that federal laws authorizing prolonged, indefinite solitary confinement were inhumane and unconstitutional. Last month, the federal government finally abandoned its attempt to overturn these historic decisions at the Supreme Court of Canada.

  The rights groups are pleased their litigation achieved tremendous progress toward ending prolonged solitary confinement. Indeed, the challenged legislation has now been repealed, and the BC and Ontario Courts of Appeal decisions have been relied on in successful class actions brought by prisoners held in isolation. At the same time, the groups recognize that much work remains to be done to end prolonged solitary confinement in Canada. They remain concerned that the government’s new law, Bill C-83 enacted in 2019, will continue to allow prolonged, indefinite solitary confinement in federal prisons under a different name. Additionally, a recent report from the Office of the Correctional Investigator indicates that the Correctional Service of Canada is placing prisoners in solitary confinement to limit the risk of transmission of COVID-19. Further, prolonged solitary confinement continues to be used in provincial jails.

  Joe Arvay, QC, OC, OBC (Counsel for the BCCLA and the JHSC) states: “Prolonged, indefinite solitary confinement is cruel and inhumane. This psychologically destructive practice places prisoners at an increased risk of self-harm and suicide. It also exacerbates inequality, as Indigenous and mentally ill prisoners are more likely to be placed in solitary confinement. The BC and Ontario Court of Appeal decisions are clear: prolonged, indefinite solitary confinement has no place in our constitutional democracy.”

  Alison Latimer (Counsel for the BCCLA and the JHSC) states: “These cases have shown that Canada must change the way it uses solitary confinement in its prisons. Time limits and independent external oversight are constitutionally required. In the wake of these decisions, solitary confinement should no longer be used to warehouse prisoners with mental health issues and greater care must be taken to ensure conditions of confinement do not exacerbate inequality for indigenous inmates. While these cases challenged federal laws, the reasoning should pave the way for significant change in both federal and provincial institutions across the country.

  Jonathan Lisus, Lax O’Sullivan Lisus Gottlieb LLP (Counsel for CCLA) states: “In striking down the solitary confinement regime of the Correctional Services Act because it imposed cruel and unusual treatment, Chief Justice Strathy and Justices Benotto and Roberts brought the rule of law into our penitentiaries and closed a dark chapter in Canadian penal history. This bold decision will spare many of society’s most vulnerable from the gruesome effects of indefinite isolation and bring our prisons into line with international standards.”

  Michael Rosenberg, McCarthy Tétrault LLP (Counsel for CCLA) states: “When we started this case there was a law on the books that saw people locked away in tiny, sometimes windowless cells, for twenty-three hours a day or more, every day, indefinitely.  Too often they stayed locked away long after they were broken, and tragically, too many took their own lives to escape.  The courts have unanimously condemned the practice of prolonged solitary confinement as cruel and unusual treatment that has no place in this country.  Because the CCLA, BCCLA, and JHS took a stand, there is now a 15-day hard cap with no exceptions.  In abandoning its appeal to the Supreme Court, Canada has finally acknowledged this outside limit on human suffering.  We will be watching closely to ensure that our government lives up to its promise to do better.”

  Catherine Latimer (Executive Director of the JHSC) states: “The John Howard Society of Canada is enormously pleased by the important decisions from the BC courts establishing the need for independent, external decision-makers for the isolated confinement of prisoners and recognizing the need for safeguards to protect the mental and physical health of those subjected to such damaging confinement.  Important Charter rights of prisoners have been recognized and protected.  It is our hope that the principles from these decisions will inform all carceral confinement that meets the UN definition of solitary confinement.”

  Michael Bryant (Executive Director, CCLA) states: “The Canadian Civil Liberties Association, BC Civil Liberties Association, and John Howard Society are separate organizations that banded together to coordinate a powerful change to Canadian law, fought tooth and nail by both Harper and Trudeau governments, until this 11^th hour withdrawal by the feds.  The new legal changes wrought through public interest litigation required heroic and brilliant pro bono lawyering by our counsel.  Canada is the better for it.”

  Noa Mendelsohn Aviv (Equality Program Director, CCLA) states: “After years of fighting – in the courts, at the Ashley Smith Inquest, before Parliament – we still have a long way to go. These legal victories will hopefully send a signal to every person who has been or will be held in inhumane conditions, that there is room for hope, and a reason to continue fighting for justice and fundamental rights.”

  Grace Pastine (Litigation Director for the BCCLA) states:  “This litigation was made possible by the current and former prisoners who bravely stepped forward to provide crucial evidence. They described spending up to 22 hours a day locked in a cell about the size of a parking spot, their only human contact through the meal slot in the door. The cases are victories for prisoners and everyone who objects to the barbaric practice of prolonged solitary confinement, used by the Correctional Service of Canada as a routine form of prison management. We hope that the government will commit itself to upholding the fundamental rights of prisoners and basic human decency by abolishing this abhorrent practice once and for all.”

  Jessica Magonet (Staff Counsel at the BCCLA) states: “We will continue to monitor the implementation of Bill C-83 to ensure the federal government is not circumventing the strong rulings from the BC and Ontario Courts of Appeal. We are also monitoring the use of prolonged solitary confinement in provincial institutions. We will fight to ensure that prisoners are no longer subjected to this cruel and unconstitutional practice. We are extremely disturbed by the numerous reports that the Correctional Service of Canada is using lengthy solitary confinement to isolate prisoners during the COVID-19 pandemic. The health of inmates can and must be protected without resorting to this cruel practice.”

  The BCCLA and JHSC are represented by Joe Arvay, OC, OBC, QC of Arvay Finlay LLP and Alison Latimer of Alison Latimer LLP. The CCLA is represented by Jonathan Lisus and Larissa Moscu of Lax O’Sullivan Lisus Gottlieb and Michael Rosenberg, Charlotte-Anne Malischewski, and Jacob Klugsberg of McCarthy Tétrault.

  Media Contacts:

  • Catherine Latimer, Executive Director at the John Howard Society of Canada, at 613-219-6471, or clatimer@johnhoward.ca
  • Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, Equality Program Director at CCLA, at 647-780-9802, or mendelsohnaviv@ccla.org or media@ccla.org
  • Grace Pastine, Litigation Director at the BCCLA, at 778-918-0250 or grace@bccla.org
  • Jessica Magonet, Staff Counsel at the BCCLA, at 514-910-4769 or jessica@bccla.org (available for comment in English or French)

  —

  Des groupes de défense des droits concluent des affaires d’isolement cellulaire devant la Cour suprême du Canada

  Pour diffusion immédiate
  Mercredi 27 mai 2020

  Vancouver et Toronto : Aujourd’hui, l’Association des libertés civiles de la Colombie-Britannique (ALCCB), la Société John Howard du Canada (SJHC) et l’Association canadienne des libertés civiles (ACLC) ont annoncé qu’elles mettaient fin à leurs appels incidents devant la Cour suprême du Canada dans leurs affaires respectives d’isolement cellulaire, mettant ainsi un terme au litige. Ces groupes de défense des droits contestent le recours à l’isolement cellulaire dans les prisons fédérales depuis des années. En 2019, les groupes ont remporté d’importantes victoires lorsque les tribunaux de dernier ressort de la Colombie Britannique et de l’Ontario ont statué que les lois fédérales autorisant l’isolement cellulaire prolongé et indéfini étaient inhumaines et inconstitutionnelles. Le mois dernier, le gouvernement fédéral a finalement abandonné sa tentative d’annuler ces décisions historiques devant la Cour suprême du Canada.

  Les groupes de défense des droits sont heureux que leur action en justice ait permis d’accomplir des progrès considérables vers la fin de l’isolement cellulaire prolongé. En effet, la législation contestée a maintenant été abrogée, et les décisions des cours d’appel de la Colombie-Britannique et de l’Ontario ont été invoquées dans le cadre de recours collectifs fructueux intentés par des prisonniers détenus en isolement. Dans le même temps, les groupes reconnaissent qu’il reste beaucoup à faire pour mettre fin à l’isolement cellulaire prolongé au Canada. Ils restent préoccupés par le fait que la nouvelle loi du gouvernement, le projet de loi C-83 promulgué en 2019, continuera à autoriser l’isolement cellulaire prolongé et indéfini dans les prisons fédérales sous un autre nom. En outre, un rapport récent du Bureau de l’enquêteur correctionnel indique que le Service correctionnel du Canada place les prisonniers en isolement cellulaire pour limiter le risque de transmission de COVID-19. De plus, l’isolement cellulaire prolongé continue d’être utilisé dans les prisons provinciales.

  Joe Arvay, QC, OC, OBC (avocat de l’ALCCB et de la SJHC) déclare « L’isolement cellulaire prolongé et indéfini est cruel et inhumain. Cette pratique psychologiquement destructrice expose les prisonniers à un risque accru d’automutilation et de suicide. Elle exacerbe également l’inégalité, car les prisonniers autochtones et les prisonniers atteints d’une maladie mentale sont plus susceptibles d’être placés en isolement. Les décisions des cours d’appel de la Colombie-Britannique et de l’Ontario sont claires : l’isolement cellulaire prolongé et indéfini n’a pas sa place dans notre démocratie constitutionnelle ».

  Alison Latimer (avocate de l’ALCCB et de la SJHC) déclare « Ces affaires ont montré que le Canada doit changer la façon dont il utilise l’isolement cellulaire dans ses prisons. Des limites de temps et un contrôle externe indépendant sont exigés par la constitution. Suite à ces décisions, l’isolement cellulaire ne doit plus être utilisé pour entreposer les prisonniers ayant des problèmes de santé mentale et il faut veiller davantage à ce que les conditions d’enfermement n’exacerbent pas l’inégalité pour les détenus autochtones. Bien que ces affaires remettent en cause les lois fédérales, le raisonnement devrait ouvrir la voie à des changements significatifs dans les institutions fédérales et provinciales du pays.

  Jonathan Lisus, Lax O’Sullivan Lisus Gottlieb LLP (avocat de l’ACLC) déclare « En invalidant le régime d’isolement cellulaire de la Loi sur les services correctionnels parce qu’il imposait un traitement cruel et inhabituel, le juge en chef Strathy et les juges Benotto et Roberts ont fait entrer l’État de droit dans nos pénitenciers et ont clos un chapitre sombre de l’histoire pénale canadienne. Cette décision audacieuse épargnera à de nombreuses personnes parmi les plus vulnérables de la société les effets horribles de l’isolement indéfini et mettra nos prisons en conformité avec les normes internationales ».

  Michael Rosenberg, McCarthy Tétrault LLP (avocat de l’ACLC) déclare « Lorsque nous avons commencé cette affaire, il existait une loi qui prévoyait d’enfermer les gens dans de minuscules cellules, parfois sans fenêtre, pendant vingt-trois heures par jour ou plus, tous les jours, indéfiniment. Trop souvent, ils restaient enfermés longtemps après avoir été brisés et, tragiquement, trop d’entre eux se suicidaient pour s’échapper. Les tribunaux ont unanimement condamné la pratique de l’isolement cellulaire prolongé comme étant un traitement cruel et inhabituel qui n’a pas sa place dans ce pays. Parce que l’ACLC, l’ALCCB et la SJH ont pris position, il y a maintenant un plafond strict de 15 jours sans exception. En abandonnant son recours devant la Cour suprême, le Canada a finalement reconnu cette limite extérieure en rapport à la souffrance humaine. Nous surveillerons de près la situation pour nous assurer que notre gouvernement tient sa promesse d’améliorer la situation ».

  Catherine Latimer (directrice générale de la SJHC) déclare « La Société John Howard du Canada se réjouit énormément des décisions importantes des tribunaux de la Colombie-Britannique qui établissent la nécessité d’avoir des décideurs indépendants et externes pour l’isolement des prisonniers et reconnaissent la nécessité de garanties pour protéger la santé mentale et physique de ceux qui sont soumis à un confinement aussi préjudiciable.  D’importants droits des prisonniers ont été reconnus et protégés par la Charte. Nous espérons que les principes découlant de ces décisions guideront tous les types d’internement qui répondent à la définition de l’ONU de l’isolement cellulaire ».

  Michael Bryant (directeur général, ACLC) déclare : « L’Association canadienne des libertés civiles, l’Association des libertés civiles de la Colombie-Britannique et la Société John Howard sont des organismes distincts qui se sont regroupés pour coordonner un puissant changement de la loi canadienne, combattu bec et ongles par les gouvernements Harper et Trudeau, jusqu’à ce retrait de dernière minute par les fédéraux. Les nouveaux changements juridiques apportés par le biais de litiges d’intérêt public ont nécessité un travail d’avocat héroïque et brillant, effectué bénévolement par nos avocats. Le Canada en est beaucoup mieux ».

  Noa Mendelsohn Aviv (directrice du programme d’égalité, CCLA) déclare : « Après des années de combat – devant les tribunaux, lors de l’enquête sur Ashley Smith, devant le Parlement – nous avons encore un long chemin à parcourir. Nous espérons que ces victoires juridiques enverront un signal à chaque personne qui a été ou sera détenue dans des conditions inhumaines, qu’il y a de la place pour l’espoir et une raison de continuer à se battre pour la justice et les droits fondamentaux ».

  Grace Pastine (directrice du contentieux pour l’ALCCB) déclare : « Ce litige a été rendu possible par les prisonniers actuels et anciens qui se sont courageusement avancés pour fournir des preuves cruciales. Ils ont décrit avoir passé jusqu’à 22 heures par jour enfermés dans une cellule de la taille d’une place de stationnement, leur seul contact humain par la fente de repas dans la porte. Ces affaires sont des victoires pour les prisonniers et tous ceux qui s’opposent à la pratique barbare de l’isolement cellulaire prolongé, utilisée par le Service correctionnel du Canada comme une forme de gestion courante des prisons. Nous espérons que le gouvernement s’engagera à faire respecter les droits fondamentaux des prisonniers et la décence humaine élémentaire en abolissant cette pratique odieuse une fois pour toutes ».

  Jessica Magonet (avocate-conseil à l’ALCCB) déclare : « Nous continuerons à surveiller la mise en œuvre du projet de loi C-83 pour nous assurer que le gouvernement fédéral ne contourne pas les décisions sévères des cours d’appel de la Colombie-Britannique et de l’Ontario. Nous surveillons également le recours à l’isolement cellulaire prolongé dans les institutions provinciales. Nous nous battrons pour que les prisonniers ne soient plus soumis à cette pratique cruelle et anticonstitutionnelle. Nous sommes extrêmement préoccupés par les nombreux rapports selon lesquels le Service correctionnel du Canada a recours à l’isolement cellulaire prolongé pour isoler les prisonniers pendant la pandémie COVID-19. La santé des détenus peut et doit être protégée sans avoir recours à cette pratique cruelle ».

  L’ALCCB et la SJHC sont représentées par Joe Arvay, OC, OBC, QC d’Arvay Finlay LLP et Alison Latimer d’Alison Latimer LLP. L’ACLC est représentée par Jonathan Lisus et Larissa Moscu de Lax O’Sullivan Lisus Gottlieb et Michael Rosenberg, Charlotte-Anne Malischewski et Jacob Klugsberg de McCarthy Tétrault.

  Contacts pour les médias :

  • Catherine Latimer, directrice générale de la Société John Howard du Canada (613-219-6471 ou clatimer@johnhoward.ca)
  • Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, directrice du programme d’égalité à l’ACLC (647-780-9802 ou mendelsohnaviv@ccla.org ou media@ccla.org)
  • Grace Pastine, directrice du contentieux à l’ALCCB (778-918-0250 ou grace@bccla.org)
  • Jessica Magonet, avocate-conseil à l’ALCCB (514-910-4769 ou jessica@bccla.org) disponible pour commentaires en anglais ou en français

  

  The post Rights Groups Conclude Solitary Confinement Cases at Supreme Court of Canada appeared first on BC Civil Liberties Association.

• Quanta Magazine Spreading the Word on a Possible Alzheimer’s Treatment

  Discoveries that transcend boundaries are among the greatest delights of scientific research, but such leaps are often overlooked because they outstrip conventional thinking. Take, for example, a new discovery for treating dementia that defies received wisdom by combining two formerly unrelated areas of research: brain waves and the brain’s immune cells, called microglia. It’s an important finding, but it still requires the buy-in and understanding of researchers to achieve its true potential. The history of brain waves shows why.

  In 1887, Richard Caton announced his discovery of brain waves at a scientific meeting. “Read my paper on the electrical currents of the brain,” he wrote in his personal diary. “It was well received but not understood by most of the audience.” Even though Caton’s observations of brain waves were correct, his thinking was too unorthodox for others to take seriously. Faced with such a lack of interest, he abandoned his research and the discovery was forgotten for decades.

  Flash forward to October 2019. At a gathering of scientists that I helped organize at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Chicago, I asked if anyone knew of recent research by neuroscientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who had found a new way to treat Alzheimer’s disease by manipulating microglia and brain waves. No one replied.

  I understood: Scientists must specialize to succeed. Biologists studying microglia don’t tend to read papers about brain waves, and brain wave researchers are generally unaware of glial research. A study that bridges these two traditionally separate disciplines may fail to gain traction. But this study needed attention: Incredible as it may sound, the researchers improved the brains of animals with Alzheimer’s simply by using LED lights that flashed 40 times a second. Even sound played at this charmed frequency, 40 hertz, had a similar effect.

  Today, brain waves are a vital part of neuroscience research and medical diagnosis, though doctors have never manipulated them to treat degenerative disease before now. These oscillating electromagnetic fields are produced by neurons in the cerebral cortex firing electrical impulses as they process information. Much as people clapping their hands in synchrony generate thunderous rhythmic applause, the combined activity of thousands of neurons firing together produces brain waves.

  These waves come in various forms and in many different frequencies. Alpha waves, for example, oscillate at frequencies of 8 to 12 hertz. They surge when we close our eyes and shut out external stimulation that energizes higher-frequency brain wave activity. Rapidly oscillating gamma waves, which reverberate at frequencies of 30 to 120 hertz, are of particular interest in Alzheimer’s research, because their period of oscillation is well matched to the hundredth-of-a-second time frame of synaptic signaling in neural circuits. Brain waves are important in information processing because they can influence neuronal firing. Neurons fire an electrical impulse when the voltage difference between the inside and outside of the neuron reaches a certain trigger point. The peaks and troughs of voltage oscillations in brain waves nudge the neuron closer to the trigger point or farther away from it, thereby boosting or inhibiting its tendency to fire. The rhythmic voltage surging also groups neurons together, making them fire in synchrony as they “ride” on different frequencies of brain waves.

  I already knew that much, so to better understand the new work and its origins, I sought out Li-Huei Tsai, a neuroscientist at MIT. She said the idea of using one of these frequencies to treat Alzheimer’s came from a curious observation. “We had noticed in our own data, and in that of other groups, that 40-hertz rhythm power and synchrony are reduced in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease,” she said, as well as in patients with the disease. Apparently, if you have Alzheimer’s, your brain doesn’t produce strong brain waves in that particular frequency. In 2016, her graduate student Hannah Iaccarino reasoned that perhaps boosting the power of these weakened gamma waves would be helpful in treating this severe and irreversible dementia.

  To increase gamma wave power, the team turned to optogenetic stimulation, a novel technique that allows researchers to control how and when individual neurons fire by shining lasers directly into them, via fiber-optic cables implanted in the brain. Tsai’s team stimulated neurons in the visual cortex of mice with Alzheimer’s, making them fire impulses at 40 hertz. The results, published in 2016 in Nature, showed a marked reduction in amyloid plaques, a hallmark of the disease.

  It was a good indication that these brain waves might help, but Tsai’s team knew that an optogenetic approach wasn’t an option for humans with the disease, because of ethical concerns. They began to look for other ways of increasing the brain’s gamma wave activity. Tsai’s MIT colleague Emery Brown pointed her to an older paper showing that you can boost the power of gamma waves in a cat’s brain simply by having it stare at a screen illuminated by a strobe light flickering at certain frequencies, which included 40 hertz. “Hannah and our collaborators built a system to try that sensory stimulation in mice, and it worked,” Tsai told me. The thinking is that the flashing lights whip up gamma waves because the rhythmic sensory input sets neural circuits “rocking” at this frequency, like when people rock a stuck car out of a rut by pushing together in rhythm.

  In fact, the strobe lights had an additional effect on mice: They also cleared out amyloid plaques. But it wasn’t clear exactly how the optogenetic stimulation or the flashing-light therapy could do that.

  Following a clue from Alois Alzheimer himself, the researchers quickly shifted their attention from neurons to microglia. In Alzheimer’s first description of brain tissue taken from patients with “presenile dementia,” which he examined under a microscope near the turn of the 20th century, he noted that the deposits of amyloid plaques were surrounded by these immune cells. Subsequent research confirmed that microglia engulf the plaques pockmarking these patients’ brains.

  Tsai and colleagues decided to check out these immune cells in the animals whose brain waves they’d boosted. They observed that microglia in all the treated animals had bulked up in size, and more of them were digesting amyloid plaques.

  How did these cells know to do this? Unlike immune cells in the bloodstream, which are unaware of neuronal transmissions, the brain’s microglia are tuned in to the rhythms of electrical activity in the brain. While immune cells in the bloodstream and microglia in the brain both have cellular sensors to detect disease and injury, microglia can also detect neurons firing electrical impulses. That’s because they have the same neurotransmitter receptors that neurons use to transmit signals through synapses. This gives microglia the ability to “listen in” on information flowing through neural networks and, when those transmissions are disturbed, to take action to repair the circuitry. Thus, the right brain waves can drive microglia to consume the toxic protein deposits.

  “I find this intersection to be one of the most exciting and intriguing results of our work,” Tsai told me. Her team reported last year in Neuron that prolonging the LED strobe-light flashing for three to six weeks not only cleared out the toxic plaques in mice brains but also prevented neurons from dying and even preserved synapses, which dementia can destroy.

  The team wanted to know if other types of rhythmic sensory input could also rock the neural circuits like a stuck car, producing gamma waves that resulted in fewer amyloid plaques. In an expanded study in Cell, they reported that just as seeing flashes at 40 hertz resulted in fewer plaques in the visual cortex, sound stimulation at 40 hertz reduced amyloid protein in the auditory cortex. Other regions were similarly affected, including the hippocampus — crucial for learning and memory — and the treated mice performed better on memory tests. Exposing the mice to both stimuli, a light show synchronized with pulsating sound, had an even more powerful effect, reducing amyloid plaques in regions throughout the cerebral cortex, including the prefrontal region, which carries out higher-level executive functions that are impaired in Alzheimer’s.

  I was amazed, so just to make sure I wasn’t getting unduly excited about the possibility of using flashing lights and sounds to treat humans, I talked to Hiroaki Wake, a neuroscientist at Kobe University in Japan who was not involved with the work. “It would be fantastic!” he said. “The treatment may also be effective for a number of neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson’s disease and ALS,” where microglia also play a role. He notes, however, that while the link between microglia and brain oscillations is well founded, the biological mechanism by which 40-hertz stimulation prods microglia into removing the plaques and rescuing neurons from destruction remains unknown.

  Tsai said the mystery may be solved soon. A team of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, including Tsai lab veteran Annabelle Singer, laid out a possibility in a February paper. They reported that in normal mice, gamma stimulation with LED lights rapidly induced microglia to generate cytokines, proteins that neurons (and immune cells generally) use to signal one another. They’re one of the main regulators of neuroinflammation in response to brain injury and disease, and the microglia released them surprisingly quickly, within just 15 to 60 minutes of the stimulation. “These effects are faster than you see with many drugs that target immune signaling or inflammation,” Singer said.

  Cytokines come in many forms, and the study found that getting the microglia to produce different kinds required specific frequencies. “Neural stimulation doesn’t just turn immune signaling on,” Singer said. It took a particular rhythm to produce these particular proteins. “Different types of stimulation could be used to tune immune signaling as desired.”

  That means doctors could potentially treat different diseases just by varying the light and sound rhythms they use. The different stimuli would rock the neurons into producing appropriate brain wave frequencies, causing nearby microglia to release specific types of cytokines, which tell microglia in general how to go to work repairing the brain.

  Of course, it may still be a while before such treatments are available for patients. And even then, there may be side effects. “Rhythmic sensory stimulation likely affects many types of cells in brain tissue,” Tsai said. “How each of them senses and responds to gamma oscillations is unknown.” Wake also pointed out that rhythmic stimulation could do more harm than good, because such stimuli could induce seizures, common in many psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders.

  Still, the potential benefits are great. Tsai’s team has just begun assessing their strobe-light method on patients, and they’re sure to be joined by others as more researchers learn of this promising work. (Most experts I talked to were not aware of this research until I asked.)

  Just as new species spring up at the boundaries between ecosystems, new science can flourish at the interface between disciplines. It takes a sharp eye to spot it, but as Richard Caton found, it can also require a bit of persuasion to convince others.

   

• Centauri Dreams A New Class of Astronomical Transients

  Some of the fastest outflows in nature are beginning to turn up in the phenomena known as Fast Blue Optical Transients (FBOTs). These are observed as bursts that quickly fade but leave quite an impression with their spectacular outpouring of energy. The transient AT2018cow was found in 2018, for example, in data from the ATLAS-HKO telescope in Hawaii, an explosion 10 to 100 times as bright as a typical supernova that appeared in the constellation Hercules. It was thought to be produced by the collapse of a star into a neutron star or black hole.

  Now we have a new FBOT that is brighter at radio wavelengths than AT2018cow, the third of these events to be studied at radio wavelengths. The burst occurred in a small galaxy about 500 million light years from Earth and was first detected in 2016. Let’s call it CSS161010 (short for CRTS-CSS161010 J045834-081803), and note that it completely upstages its predecessors in terms of the speed of its outflow. The event launched gas and particles at more than 55 percent of the speed of light. Such FBOTs, astronomers believe, begin with the explosion of a massive star, with differences from supernovae and GRBs only showing up in the aftermath.

  Deanne Coppejans (Northwestern University) led the study:

  “This was unexpected. We know of energetic explosions that can eject material at almost the speed of light, specifically gamma-ray bursts, but they only launch a small amount of mass — about 1 millionth the mass of the sun. CSS161010 launched 1 to 10 percent the mass of the sun at more than half the speed of light — evidence that this is a new class of transient.”

  

  Image: Keck’s view of where the CSS161010 explosion (red circle) occurred in a dwarf galaxy. Credit: Giacomo Terreran/Northwestern University.

  Meanwhile, a second explosion, called ZTF18abvkwla (“The Koala”), has turned up in a galaxy considerably further out at 3.4 billion light years. Caltech’s Anna Ho led the study of this one, with both teams gathering data from the Very Large Array, the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope in India and the Chandra X-ray Observatory. In both cases, it was clear that the type of explosion, bright at radio wavelengths, differed from both supernovae explosions and gamma-ray bursts. “When I reduced the data,” said Ho, “I thought I had made a mistake.”

  FBOTs became recognized as a specific class of object in 2014, but the assumption is that our archives contain other examples of what Coppejans’ co-author Raffaella Margutti calls ‘weird supernovae,’ a concession to the fact that it is hard to gather information on these objects solely in the optical. The location of the CSS161010 explosion is a dwarf galaxy containing roughly 10 million stars in the southern constellation Eridanus.

  Bright FBOTs like CSS161010 and AT2018cow have thus far turned up only in dwarf galaxies, which the authors note is reminiscent of some types of supernovae as well as gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). A transient like this flares up so quickly that it may prove impossible to pin down its origin,, but black holes and neutron stars are prominent in the astronomers’ thinking:

  “The Cow and CSS161010 were very different in how fast they were able to speed up these outflows,” Margutti said. “But they do share one thing — this presence of a black hole or neutron star inside. That’s the key ingredient.”

  Even so, the differences between the three FBOTs thus far studied at multiple wavelengths is notable. In the excerpt below, the authors of the Coppejans paper use the term ‘engine-driven’ to refer to the rotating accretion disk that produces jets in a neutron star or black hole produced by a supernova core-collapse, which can propel narrow jets of material outward in opposite directions. The authors believe that FBOTs produce this kind of engine, but in this case one surrounded by material shed by the star before it exploded. The surrounding shell as it is struck by the blast wave would be the source of the FBOT’s visible light burst and radio emission.

  From the paper:

  The three known FBOTs that are detected at radio wavelengths are among the most luminous and fastest-rising among FBOTs in the optical regime… Intriguingly, all the multi-wavelength FBOTs also have evidence for a compact object powering their emission… We consequently conclude… that at least some luminous FBOTs must be engine-driven and cannot be accounted for by existing FBOT models that do not invoke compact objects to power their emission across the electromagnetic spectrum. Furthermore, even within this sample of three luminous FBOTs with multiwavelength observations, we see a wide diversity of properties of their fastest ejecta. While CSS161010 and ZTF18abvkwla harbored mildly relativistic outflows, AT 2018cow is instead non-relativistic.

  Which is another way of saying that we have a long way to go to understand FBOTs. We see characteristics of supernovae as well as GRBs but distinctive differences. Further observations in radio and X-ray wavelengths are critical for learning more about their physics.

  

  Image: Artist’s conception of the new class of cosmic explosions called Fast Blue Optical Transients. Credit: Bill Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF.

  The first paper is Coppejans, Margutti et al., “A Mildly Relativistic Outflow from the Energetic, Fast-rising Blue Optical Transient CSS161010 in a Dwarf Galaxy,” Astrophysical Journal Letters Vol. 895, No. 1 (26 May 2020). Abstract.

  On the FBOT ZTF18abvkwla, see Ho et al., “The Koala: A Fast Blue Optical Transient with Luminous Radio Emission from a Starburst Dwarf Galaxy at z = 0.27,” Astrophysical Journal Vol. 895, No. 1 (26 May 2020). Abstract.

  

  

  
• Bruce Schneier Websites Conducting Port Scans

  Security researcher Charlie Belmer is reporting that commercial websites such as eBay are conducting port scans of their visitors.

  Looking at the list of ports they are scanning, they are looking for VNC services being run on the host, which is the same thing that was reported for bank sites. I marked out the ports and what they are known for (with a few blanks for ones I am unfamiliar with):

  • 5900: VNC
  • 5901: VNC port 2
  • 5902: VNC port 3
  • 5903: VNC port 4
  • 5279:
  • 3389: Windows remote desktop / RDP
  • 5931: Ammy Admin remote desktop
  • 5939:
  • 5944:
  • 5950: WinVNC
  • 6039: X window system
  • 6040: X window system
  • 63333: TrippLite power alert UPS
  • 7070: RealAudio

  No one seems to know why:

  I could not believe my eyes, but it was quickly reproduced by me (see below for my observation).

  I surfed around to several sites, and found one more that does this (the citibank site, see below for my observation)

  I further see, at least across ebay.com and citibank.com the same ports, in the same sequence getting scanned. That implies there may be a library in use across both sites that is doing this. (I have not debugged into the matter so far.)

  The questions:

  • Is this port scanning "a thing" built into some standard fingerprinting or security library? (if so, which?)
  • Is there a plugin for firefox that can block such behavior? (or can such blocking be added to an existing plugin)?

  I'm curious, too.

• Oshpark Breadboard Buddy by AtomSoftTech

  

  There are a few versions of the breadboard buddy. I started this PCB years ago. To be honest im not sure when. It started off just as a pcb to help power my breadboard and grew into something more. Breadboard Buddy History There are currently about 4 versions of breadboard buddy in the wild.

  via ~Breadboard Buddy~ — AtomSoftTech

• Casey Handmer Building the Mars Industrial Coalition

  Part of my series on countering common misconceptions in space journalism.

  In popular representations of space exploration, space ship models often get a decal logo slapped on as a finishing touch. It could be the NASA worm or meatball, or product placement, or a fictional megacorporation. What these depictions miss is the harsh reality of developing new systems and actually putting them into production.

  Manufacturing is really really hard. JPL is quite good at Mars rovers now, and it still takes thousands of people years to build a single one!

  

  In this series I’ve talked at some length about Moon and Mars exploration architectures, with a particular focus on the merits of the SpaceX Starship for achieving logistic supremacy on the road to self-sufficiency.

  Indeed, my first book on Mars stuff focused on the transportation problem, because cheap transport of large quantities of humans and cargo to and from Mars is a necessary part of the big picture.

  Necessary, but not sufficient. SpaceX has demonstrated a willingness to develop tech and hardware with or without government support. It is a necessary task, it simply must be done. Yet there will come a day when the rockets will need cargo to fill them. Where does this cargo come from?

  It is not impossible that SpaceX could, with sufficient time and money, build everything for the Mars city as well as the rockets. The factories, vehicles, power systems, mining operations, life support, server farms, habs, tents, and everything else needed to replicate the industrial capacity of a large country with just a few people on a frigid, desolate, airless planet.

  Building such a company town would overtax the organization and engineering capacities of a single company. There’s a better way. Our modern world, and the US in particular, overflows with the specialist engineering knowledge needed to build autonomous factories, pack them into rockets, and deploy them at the other end. Why should SpaceX spool up a division to build rugged utility vehicles when companies like Caterpillar, Komatsu, Hitachi, Belaz, and dozens of others already exist?

  I believe that the most expeditious path to a Mars city is to obtain enthusiastic cooperation from the best engineering talent and companies the world over.

  So how would this work? Would the boards of these companies be enticed by the lure of new markets and prosperous mines? I don’t think so. As I’ve written in this series, there are no business models for Mars cities that can pay for themselves in a classical investment sense. Profitable businesses operating on Mars for Martians, yes, but something that justifies billions in investment from Earth-centric firms, no.

  So where does the money come from? In 2017 I wrote a blog on various ideas, missing only the Starlink money machine, by far the most lucrative option. Can contributing industries get a piece of that action? Maybe, but there’s a much better reason to get involved.

  Let’s consider Caterpillar as an example. Caterpillar has about $55b in annual revenue. They invest 3%, or $1.7b/year, on research and development. Their R&D division employs something like 4000 people.

  For companies like Caterpillar, building a series of Mars-friendly robot tele-handlers and earth movers would barely stress their R&D petty cash budget. In return, the companies that form the Mars Industrial Coalition would have branding rights on their gear and, more importantly, their engineers would get access to the most exciting research program in the history of sentient life. Even if they had to provide the equipment for free and pay for the shipping cost, it would be worthwhile.

  This is a pretty big claim, but it’s easy to justify. Five years ago I could have made an argument that the halo effect and PR would be worth it, but in 2020 there’s concrete evidence in favor of the proposition that the best companies are the ones that have the best vision.

  Where do the best engineering graduates all want to work? SpaceX and Tesla. Why? It sure isn’t for the high pay or lax hours. The top engineering companies must compete for the best engineers to make their products work better than everyone else. I have been privileged to work with many people who make up this elite class of “matter wizards”, who can bend the harsh laws of reality to their will. They have the skills and portfolio to work anywhere they want. They can name their price and recruiters will bend over backwards to sign them. But by and large they are idealistic and want to make the world a better place. Given a choice between working on oil rigs, guided bombs, or the electrification of the economy, nearly all choose Tesla. Given a choice between surveillance software, banking software, or rocket landing software, nearly all choose SpaceX. The same goes for other kinds of workers, too!

  Of course, the reader has no way of knowing for sure that my perceptions are accurate. But in defense of my claim, let’s look at the scoreboard. Tesla’s 2012 Model S had performance specs that have yet to be beaten by any competitor, despite dozens of cringeworthily lackluster attempts. When the Model 3 was delivered in 2018, its performance was conservatively six years ahead of the competition, based on historical 5% annual improvement in battery tech. The Model Y, delivered in 2020, is at least four more years ahead, and the competition is still behind the oldest Model S. None of the competitors have rolled out a fast charging network, grid scale batteries, autopilot software, or over-the-air updates. Elon Musk is a smart guy but he couldn’t have crushed basically all the century-old incumbents in a few years on his own. No, the vision he articulated attracted the best of the best of the best, and they built what no-one else could.

  To readers of this blog, the SpaceX story will be more familiar. A different market, a different space, a different technology. Numerous well-funded and well-motivated competitors. And yet none of them have demonstrated booster reflight, or full-flow staged combustion engines, or any of dozens of other crucial innovations. Again, the best rocket scientists, engineers, and techs the world over went there to build the future. They went to the place that articulated a compelling and convincing vision for putting lots of regular humans on another planet.

  I understand it’s a tough sell to convince a corporate board that shunting 5% of the R&D budget towards a philanthropic venture will pay dividends, especially if you can’t write all of it off against tax. Finance and MBA types are trained to regard engineering talent as fungible. “Buy it when you need it, then layoffs to make the quarter.” This view is incomplete.

  The $8.4 billion Tesla short sellers have lost tells another story. Elon Musk understands that money won’t buy the best of the best. Many of my friends have taken pay cuts to work at SpaceX or Tesla, and then never seen their families again. Because Musk understands this, his companies have arbitraged this market irrationality to instantiate his vision for the future.

  The best way for other major companies to regain a slice of the elite talent recruiting pie and retain relevance is to join the Mars Industrial Coalition and to be part of building the next step for humanity.

• XKCD mbmbam
  
• DragonflyBSD Blog wpa_supplicant updated

  Thanks to Daniel Fojt, wpa_supplicant(8) in DragonFly jumped from version 2.1 to 2.9.  There’s a nice changelog for the curious.

• Basic Instructions How to Consider Someone Else's World View

  

  This analogy about how living a life is like passing through the human digestive system is probably the most disgusting thing I ever wrote, more so because it is accurate.

  As always, thanks for using my Amazon Affiliate links (US, UK, Canada).

May 26, 2020

• Krebs on Security Report: ATM Skimmer Gang Had Protection from Mexican Attorney General’s Office

  A group of Romanians operating an ATM company in Mexico and suspected of bribing technicians to install sophisticated Bluetooth-based skimmers in cash machines throughout several top Mexican tourist destinations have enjoyed legal protection from a top anti-corruption official in the Mexican attorney general’s office, according to a new complaint filed with the government’s internal affairs division.

  As detailed this week by the Mexican daily Reforma, several Mexican federal, state and municipal officers filed a complaint saying the attorney general office responsible for combating corruption had initiated formal proceedings against them for investigating Romanians living in Mexico who are thought to be part of the ATM skimming operation.

  

  Florian Tudor (right) and his business associates at a press conference earlier this year. Image: Reforma.

  Reforma said the complaint centers on Camilo Constantino Rivera, who heads the unit in the Mexican Special Prosecutor’s office responsible for fighting corruption. It alleges Rivera has an inherent conflict of interest because his brother has served as a security escort and lawyer for Floridan Tudor, the reputed boss of a Romanian crime syndicate recently targeted by the FBI for running an ATM skimming and human trafficking network that operates throughout Mexico and the United States.

  Tudor, a.k.a. “Rechinu” or “The Shark,” and his ATM company Intacash, were the subject of a three part investigation by KrebsOnSecurity published in September 2015. That series tracked the activities of a crime gang which was rumored to be bribing and otherwise coercing ATM technicians into installing Bluetooth-based skimming devices inside cash machines throughout popular tourist destinations in and around Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula — including Cancun, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen and Tulum.

  In 2018, 44-year-old Romanian national Sorinel Constantin Marcu was found shot dead in his car in Mexico. Marcu’s older brother told KrebsOnSecurity shortly after the murder that his brother was Tudor’s personal bodyguard but at some point had a falling out with Tudor and his associates over money. Marcu the elder said his brother was actually killed in front of a new apartment complex being built and paid for by Mr. Tudor, and that the dead man’s body was moved to make it look like he was slain in his car instead.

  On March 31, 2019, police in Cancun, Mexico arrested 42-year-old Tudor and 37-year-old Adrian Nicholae Cosmin for the possession of an illegal firearm and cash totaling nearly 500,000 pesos (~USD $26,000) in both American and Mexican denominations. Two months later, a judge authorized the search of several of Tudor’s properties.

  The Reforma report says Rivera’s office subsequently initiated proceedings against and removed several agents who investigated the crime ring, alleging those agents abused their authority and conducted illegal searches. The complaint against Rivera charges that the criminal protection racket also included the former chief of police in Cancun.

  In September 2019, prosecutors with the Southern District of New York unsealed indictments and announced arrests against 18 people accused of running an ATM skimming and money laundering operation that netted $20 million. The defendants in that case — nearly all of whom are Romanians living in the United States and Mexico — included Florian Claudio Martin, described by Romanian newspapers as “the brother of Rechinu,” a.k.a. Tudor.

  The news comes on the heels of a public relations campaign launched by Mr. Tudor, who recently denounced harassment from the news media and law enforcement by taking out a full two-page ad in Novedades, the oldest daily newspaper in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo (where Cancun is located). In a news conference with members of the local press, Tudor also reportedly accused this author of having been hired by his enemies to slander him and ruin his legitimate business.

  

  A two-page ad taken out earlier this year in a local newspaper by Florian Tudor, accusing the head of the state police department of spying on businessmen in order to extort and harass them.

  Obviously, there is no truth to Tudor’s accusations, and this would hardly be the first time the reputed head of a transnational crime syndicate has insinuated that I was paid by his enemies to disrupt his operations.

  Next week, KrebsOnSecurity will publish highlights from an upcoming lengthy investigation into Tudor and his company by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a consortium of investigative journalists operating in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Central America.

  Here’s a small teaser: Earlier this year, I was interviewed on camera by reporters with the OCCRP, who at one point in the discussion handed me a transcript of some text messages shared by law enforcement officials that allegedly occurred between Tudor and his associates directly after the publication of my 2015 investigation into Intacash.

  The text messages suggested my story had blown the cover off their entire operation, and that they intended to shut it all down after the series was picked up in the Mexican newspapers. One text exchange seems to indicate the group even briefly contemplated taking out a hit on this author in retribution.

  The Mexican attorney general’s office could not be immediately reached for comment. The “contact us” email link on the office’s homepage leads to a blank email address, and a message sent to the one email address listed there as the main contact for the Mexican government portal (gobmx@funcionpublica.gob.mx) bounced back as an attempt to deliver to a non-existent domain name.

  Further reading:

  Alleged Chief of Romanian ATM Skimming Gang Arrested in Mexico

  Tracking a Bluetooth Skimmer Gang in Mexico

  Tracking a Bluetooth Skimmer Gang in Mexico, Part II

  Who’s Behind Bluetooth Skimming in Mexico?

• The Atlantic: In Focus Socializing in a Pandemic, Protected by Plastic (28 photos)

  As countries and local governments begin cautious steps toward reopening parts of society that have been shut down by the coronavirus outbreak, various types of clear plastic barriers are going up in places where people interact regularly. Schools, restaurants, workplaces, and shops have installed plexiglass shields, plastic curtains, tents, and screens, as measures to prevent the spread of the virus, leading to a new social landscape of clear plastic barriers. Some nursing homes have been using chambers with plastic walls to keep visitors separate, yet allow much-needed contact. Collected below, from recent weeks, some views of our new plastic-separated world.

  

  
• Astro Bob Let The Moon Whisk You To Castor, Pollux And Exoplanet Thestias Tonight

  

  If you look at the crescent moon this evening (May 26) you’ll notice two bright stars to its right. They’re Castor and Pollux the mythical Greek twins. I’ve also read they were half-brothers so it depends on the story. Either way they’re bonded together for eternity in the constellation Gemini the twins. The two were said to get along famously. Castor was a horseman and Pollux an accomplished boxer. Both loved adventure and accompanied Jason and the Argonauts in search of the golden fleece, a gold-haired, winged ram.

  

  Gemini is a prominent winter constellation now slowly sinking in the western sky. Thanks to tonight’s moon we can easily find its two most prominent stars. Stars appear as so many pinpricks of light and would forever be so were it not for astrophysics, the science of determining their nature using chemistry, physics and computer modeling.

  Astrophysics began in the 19th century with the invention of the spectroscope, a device that used a prism to spread apart the colors of a star’s light. Within that rainbow of light called a spectrum were narrow, dark lines that matched the bright lines visible in the spectra of elements and chemicals when they were burned in a hot flame in the laboratory. With the spectroscope astronomers now could determine the composition of a star remotely without having to send a rocket there and wait a hundreds of thousands of years for it to return.

  

  Using the spectroscope and other instruments of the trade we know that despite their similar appearance Pollux and Castor are anything but twins. Pollux is an orange giant star 9-10 times the size of the sun located 34 light years away while Castor is actually six stars in one 51 light years away. Although Pollux is cooler than the sun it radiates 46 times as much energy because it’s so enormous. More noteworthy, Pollux is a the brightest star in the sky orbited by another planet. Named Thestias, the planet is about 3 times as massive as Jupiter and circles the star a little farther than Mars does from our sun with a period of 1.6 years. From Thestias Pollux would appear almost 3° across or nearly six times bigger than the sun does to us.

  

  Astronomers measure the diameter of the large stars like Pollux using a technique called interferometry. Light from two widely separated mirrors aimed at the same star are beamed together through a pair of narrow slits. Each produces a set of fringes overlapping the other. The distance between the mirrors and slits can be varied until the overlapping fringes disappear. Using the known separations between the mirrors and slits, a simple mathematical formula will give the diameter of the star in fractions of a degree. When combined with its distance astronomers then calculate its diameter.

  

  Castor appears single but it’s actually a bright triple star in a small telescope consisting of two white, Vega-like suns a few arc-seconds apart and a fainter red dwarf star orbiting farther away. Each one of these is in turn double again, comprising a “family” of three pairs orbiting about the other. What an amazing sight we’d see from a potential planet in the Castor system. Six sunsof varying size and brightness parading across the sky day and night.

  Castor A and B — the brightest two — make a stunning sight in a small telescope magnifying around 70-100x. Castor A is 2.4 times as massive as the sun; Castor B weighs in a 1.9 solar masses. Why are all the stars we talk about here typically so much bigger and brighter than the sun? They’re bright and easy to see, that’s why. And to be bright you either have to be big or close or both. Modest stars like the sun struggle to be seen from planets around other stars. But to us it’s the brightest thing in the sky and in so many ways the center of our lives.

• Centauri Dreams Star Formation and Galactic Mergers

  Our galaxy is 10,000 times more massive than Sagittarius, a dwarf galaxy discovered in the 1990s. But we’re learning that Sagittarius may have had a profound effect on the far larger galaxy it orbits, colliding with it on at least three occasions in the past six billion years. These interactions would have triggered periods of star formation that we can, for the first time, begin to map with data from the Gaia mission, a challenge tackled in a new study in Nature Astronomy.

  The paper in question, produced by a team led by Tomás Ruiz-Lara (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Tenerife), argues that the influence of Sagittarius was substantial. The data show three periods of increased star formation, with peaks at 5.7 billion years ago, 1.9 billion years ago and 1 billion years ago, corresponding to the passage of Sagittarius through the Milky Way disk.

  The work is built around Gaia Data Release 2, examining the photometry and parallax information combined with modeling of observed color-magnitude diagrams to build a star formation history within a bubble around the Sun with a radius of 2 kiloparsecs (about 6500 light years). The star formation ‘enhancements,’ as the paper calls them, are well-defined, though with decreasing strength, with a possible fourth burst spanning the last 70 million years

  Ruiz-Lara sees the disruption caused by Sagittarius as substantial, a follow-on to an earlier merger:

  “At the beginning you have a galaxy, the Milky Way, which is relatively quiet. After an initial violent epoch of star formation, partly triggered by an earlier merger as we described in a previous study, the Milky Way had reached a balanced state in which stars were forming steadily. Suddenly, you have Sagittarius fall in and disrupt the equilibrium, causing all the previously still gas and dust inside the larger galaxy to slosh around like ripples on the water.”

  

  Image: The Sagittarius dwarf galaxy has been orbiting the Milky Way for billions for years. As its orbit around the 10,000 times more massive Milky Way gradually tightened, it started colliding with our galaxy’s disc. The three known collisions between Sagittarius and the Milky Way have, according to a new study, triggered major star formation episodes, one of which may have given rise to the Solar System. Credit: ESA.

  The idea is that higher concentrations of gas and dust are produced in some areas as others empty, the newly dense material triggering star formation. According to the paper, the 2 kiloparsec local volume is:

  …characterized by an episodic SFH [star formation history], with clear enhancements of star formation ~ 5.7, 1.9 and 1.0 Gyr ago. All evidence seems to suggest that recurrent interactions between the Milky Way and Sgr dwarf galaxy are behind such enhancements. These findings imply that low mass satellites not only affect the Milky Way disk dynamics, but also are able to trigger notable events of star formation throughout its disk. The precise dating of such star forming episodes provided in this work sets useful boundary conditions to properly model the orbit of Sgr and its interaction with the Milky Way. In addition, this work provides important constraints on the modelling of the interstellar medium and star formation within hydrodynamical simulations, manifesting the need of understanding physical processes at subresolution scales and of further analysis to unveil the physical mechanisms behind global and repeated star formation events induced by satellite interaction.

  Could the passage of Sagittarius through the Milky Way be behind the Sun’s formation? That seems a stretch given the length of time between the first disruption and the Sun’s formation some 4.6 billion years ago, but co-author Carme Gallart (IAC) doesn’t rule it out:

  “The Sun formed at the time when stars were forming in the Milky Way because of the first passage of Sagittarius. We don’t know if the particular cloud of gas and dust that turned into the Sun collapsed because of the effects of Sagittarius or not. But it is a possible scenario because the age of the Sun is consistent with a star formed as a result of the Sagittarius effect.”

  What I learned here is that understanding the physical processes behind star formation and incorporating that understanding into workable models is a problematic issue for astronomers today, because ongoing work is challenging earlier views of what happens when galaxies merge. The paper points out that while we have a number of colliding galaxies to examine, there is little theoretical work on the impact of a single satellite galaxy on a spiral galaxy.

  And a key point: “…although we can easily link the reported enhancements with possible perientric passages of Sgr, we cannot pinpoint what exact physical mechanisms are triggering such events.” Plenty of opportunity ahead for researchers looking into the Milky Way’s history.

  The paper is Ruiz-Lara et al., “The recurrent impact of the Sagittarius dwarf on the star formation history of the Milky Way,” published in Nature Astronomy 25 May 2020 (abstract).

  

  

  
• Quanta Magazine Growing Anomalies at the Large Hadron Collider Raise Hopes

  Amid the chaotic chains of events that ensue when protons smash together at the Large Hadron Collider in Europe, one particle has popped up that appears to go to pieces in a peculiar way.

  All eyes are on the B meson, a yoked pair of quark particles. Having caught whiffs of unexpected B meson behavior before, researchers with the Large Hadron Collider beauty experiment (LHCb) have spent years documenting rare collision events featuring the particles, in hopes of conclusively proving that some novel fundamental particle or effect is meddling with them.

  In their latest analysis, first presented at a seminar in March, the LHCb physicists found that several measurements involving the decay of B mesons conflict slightly with the predictions of the Standard Model of particle physics — the reigning set of equations describing the subatomic world. Taken alone, each oddity looks like a statistical fluctuation, and they may all evaporate with additional data, as has happened before. But their collective drift suggests that the aberrations may be breadcrumbs leading beyond the Standard Model to a more complete theory.

  “For the first time in certainly my working life, there are a confluence of different decays that are showing anomalies that match up,” said Mitesh Patel, a particle physicist at Imperial College London who is part of LHCb.

  The B meson is so named because it contains a bottom quark, one of six fundamental quark particles that account for most of the universe’s visible matter. For unknown reasons, the quarks break down into three generations: heavy, medium and light, each with quarks of opposite electric charge. Heavier quarks decay into their lighter variations, almost always switching their charge, too. For instance, when the negatively charged heavy bottom quark in a B meson drops a generation, it usually becomes a middleweight, positively charged “charm” quark.

  The LHCb collaboration scours the wreckage of particle pileups for exceptions to this rule. For every million B meson decays they see, one fringe event showcases a rebellious bottom quark metamorphosing into a “strange” quark instead, dropping a generation but keeping its negative charge. The Standard Model predicts the exceedingly low rate of these events and how they will play out. But because they are so rare, any tweaks coming from undiscovered particles or effects should be obvious.

  LHCb’s new analysis covered about 4,500 rare B meson decays, roughly doubling the data from their previous study in 2015. Each transformation ends with four outbound particles hitting a ring-shaped detector. When experimentalists compared the various angles between the particles with the angles predicted by the Standard Model, they found a deviation from the expected pattern. The collective significance of the anomalous angles grew slightly since the last analysis, and researchers say the new measurements also tell a more unified story. “Suddenly the consistency between the different angular observables got much better,” said Felix Kress, an LHCb researcher who helped crunch the numbers.

  Statistically, the deviation in the angular pattern is equivalent to flipping a coin 100 times and getting 66 heads, rather than the usual 50 or so. For a fair coin, the odds of such a deviation are about 1 in 1,000.

  But amid oodles of particle collisions, statistical fluctuations are bound to arise, so a 1-in-1,000 deviation doesn’t count as hard proof of a break with the Standard Model. For that, the physicists will need to accumulate enough B meson decays to demonstrate a deviation of 1 in 1.7 million, akin to flipping 75 heads. “If this is new physics,” Jure Zupan, a theoretical physicist at the University of Cincinnati, said of the current update, “it’s not significant enough.”

  Still, the observed pattern hints that something is off with B meson decay products in the lepton family, the other category of matter particles aside from quarks. Like quarks, leptons come in heavy, medium and light generations (called tau particles, muons and electrons, respectively); the Standard Model says they’re all identical except for their mass. Each B meson decay ends by shooting off a twin pair of any of the three types of leptons. LHCb’s latest update focused on the anomalous angular pattern produced by muon events, which are easiest to detect.

  The experiment also logs a smaller number of B meson decays ending with electrons. The Standard Model demands that both types of decays should play out in exactly the same way, but a 2014 analysis by the LHCb team uncovered a possible difference between the muon events and the electron events. Taken together, the anomalies could mean that the novelty may lie not only with muons, but with electrons as well.

  Patel’s group is currently working on an update to the electron-versus-muon measurement, which he said makes for a much “cleaner,” unambiguous observation than the muon angle measurements alone. “This is a Standard Model killer,” he said.

  If the B meson anomalies are real, physicists have two leading theories to explain them.

  A new, hypothetical force-carrying particle called the Zʹ boson would resemble the standard weak force that turns one matter particle into another, except that it would influence electrons and muons differently. As a bonus, the Zʹ boson would also imply the existence of an additional massive particle that could make up the universe’s missing dark matter. “We are moving to the next step, which is trying not just to explain the anomaly, but to connect the anomaly to other problems,” said Joaquim Matias, a theoretical physicist at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

  The more exotic possibility is that LHCb researchers are detecting hints of a fabled particle — the leptoquark — that can turn a quark into a lepton and vice versa. Theorists have long contemplated the possibility of leptoquarks, but the idea has grown less popular as experiments have ruled out the simplest kinds. Still, the three-generation quark family tree looks suspiciously like the lepton family tree, and neither pattern is well understood.  Decaying B mesons may be revealing a leptoquark link between them. “That’s the dream,” said Zupan.

  As theorists consider these possibilities, the LHCb team will have to see if they can flip enough heads to prove that their coin is definitely not standard — an endeavor that may take the rest of the decade.

  Ultimately, however, the particle physics community will hold out for confirmation from a different apparatus, such as the Belle II experiment in Japan, or one of the LHC’s two main detectors. Either proving or eliminating the B meson anomalies will be a herculean endeavor, but researchers have all the tools they need. “With four experiments that can chip in,” Zupan said, “the future is bright.”

• Loren Grush SpaceX’s first crewed launch: all the updates on the company’s historic mission for NASA
  SpaceX

  It’s been a long road to get here

  Continue reading…

• Loren Grush Here’s what to expect as SpaceX launches its first human crew to space
  Photo by Kim Shiflett / NASA

  Takeoff is scheduled for 3:22PM ET on May 30th

  Continue reading…

• Bruce Schneier Bluetooth Vulnerability: BIAS

  This is new research on a Bluetooth vulnerability (called BIAS) that allows someone to impersonate a trusted device:

  Abstract: Bluetooth (BR/EDR) is a pervasive technology for wireless communication used by billions of devices. The Bluetooth standard includes a legacy authentication procedure and a secure authentication procedure, allowing devices to authenticate to each other using a long term key. Those procedures are used during pairing and secure connection establishment to prevent impersonation attacks. In this paper, we show that the Bluetooth specification contains vulnerabilities enabling to perform impersonation attacks during secure connection establishment. Such vulnerabilities include the lack of mandatory mutual authentication, overly permissive role switching, and an authentication procedure downgrade. We describe each vulnerability in detail, and we exploit them to design, implement, and evaluate master and slave impersonation attacks on both the legacy authentication procedure and the secure authentication procedure. We refer to our attacks as Bluetooth Impersonation AttackS (BIAS).

  Our attacks are standard compliant, and are therefore effective against any standard compliant Bluetooth device regardless the Bluetooth version, the security mode (e.g., Secure Connections), the device manufacturer, and the implementation details. Our attacks are stealthy because the Bluetooth standard does not require to notify end users about the outcome of an authentication procedure, or the lack of mutual authentication. To confirm that the BIAS attacks are practical, we successfully conduct them against 31 Bluetooth devices (28 unique Bluetooth chips) from major hardware and software vendors, implementing all the major Bluetooth versions, including Apple, Qualcomm, Intel, Cypress, Broadcom, Samsung, and CSR.

  News articles.

• Oshpark Hackaday Prize Hack Chat With Majenta Strongheart on May 27

  Coming up this Wednesday, May 27th:

  

  Hackaday Prize Hack Chat With Majenta Strongheart

  Join us on Wednesday, May 27 at noon Pacific for the 2020 Hackaday Prize Hack Chat with Majenta Strongheart!

  It hardly seems possible, but the Hackaday Prize, the world’s greatest hardware design contest, is once more at hand. But the world of 2020 is vastly different than it was last year, and the challenges we all suddenly face have become both more numerous and more acute as a result. We’ve seen hackers rise to the challenges presented by the events of the last few months in unexpected ways, coming up with imaginative solutions and pressing the limits of what’s possible. What this community can do when it is faced with a real challenge is inspiring.

  Now it’s time to take that momentum and apply it to some of the other problems the world is facing. For the 2020 Hackaday Prize, we’re asking you to throw your creativity at challenges in conservation, disaster response, assistive technology, and renewable resources. We’ve teamed up with leading non-profits in those areas, each of which has specific challenges they need you to address.

  With $200,000 in prize money at stake, we’re sure you’re going to want to step up to the challenge. To help get you started, Majenta Strongheart, Head of Design and Partnerships at Supplyframe, will drop by the Hack Chat with all the details on the 2020 Hackaday Prize. Come prepared to pick her brain on what needs doing and how best to tackle the problems that the Prize is trying to address. And find out about all the extras, like the “Dream Team” microgrants, the wild card prize, and the community picks.

  Our Hack Chats are live community events in the Hackaday.io Hack Chat group messaging. This week we’ll be sitting down on Wednesday, May 27 at 12:00 PM Pacific time. If time zones have got you down, we have a handy time zone converter.

• Edditive Blog (3D Printing) 3D Printed Oahu, Hawaii

  

  Sometimes you see a design online and just have to 3D print it!

  This is an amazing 3D topographic map of the Hawaiian island Oahu, and for anyone that’s been there you should be able to make out the airport, Pearl Harbour and Waikiki areas. Thanks to Eric Pavey who created this model and detailed the process of using a tool called Terrain2STL on his blog. It’s also available on Thingiverse. The detail is amazing!

  For something a bit different, I wanted to do a two-tone print to separate the water and land. Using the Pause at Height feature in Cura, I was able to swap out filament after the first handful of layers, going from eSun white PLA, to eSun bamboo filament. I must admit, the pause feature didn’t quite work how I’d like it to on my Wanhao Duplicator i3 Plus, not actually pausing the print and allowing me to resume it again when I was ready, but I was able to time my prints and catch the feature in time to quickly do a swap during the 30 seconds or so that the Pause at Height feature ran. All it did was move the extruder to the home position and extruded a bunch of material, and then resumed automatically. I might need to create some better G-code for this next time.

  

  However, I’m very pleased with the effect, especially when you move a light around the model!

  – Posted by James Novak

May 25, 2020

• Eli I died

  No I didn’t.

  Hey how’s it going. It’s everyone’s favourite blogger person. Not really because only like 3 people look at my website. But, that doesn’t matter now because it just doesn’t. However, it would help out if you shared this. Today, I did school. I also am going to eat dinner. My mom is making ginger snap cookies and they smell really good. The quality of this website is slowly declining and rising at the same time. How, you may ask? I don’t know. I am super bored and I don’t know what to write. I am abou t to fall aslepp . So b,ye.

  

  Bruh squirrel

• Eli Hello there
  2050-10-31T15:34:00

    days

    hours  minutes  seconds

  until

  I regain my sanity

• Arlo 21 Film Review 4/10

  This movie has been recommended to me many times, and now after watching it I honestly don’t get the hype. The overall idea is cool and card counting is interesting to me but the movie really drags on and the pacing often felt all over the place. I thought that there should have been more scenes that established the relationship between Ben and Miles. It often felt like he had no purpose to the story and was thrown in just to mess up Ben’s moral compass at the end of the second act. I also found that the casino montages were annoying, obnoxious, and much to plentiful. It often felt like those specific scenes were copying the style of Edgar Wright, but if that was the case then it was done quite badly. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone unless I knew they had an idea of what they were in for

• Arlo Pitch Perfect 3 Review 4/10

  This was disappointing. The first two Pitch Perfects were fun and heartfelt and over all enjoyable, but this one was just kind of lifeless and dry. The whole plot point with Fat Amy’s dad felt so predictable and over used. It was entertainment, but not great entertainment.

  This was originally published a while ago but I just reposted it as a blog post.

• Arlo May 25, 2020
  2020-06-11T15:09:00

    days

    hours  minutes  seconds

  until

  Fantastic Mr. Fox Delivery

  What’s up world, this is everyone’s favorite talk show host. Today I am achy. I woke up hurting, and it hasn’t gone away yet. The pain, that is. It’s not that bad though. Yesterday my family and I went on a hike at Burnaby Mountain. Then I did a lot of skateboarding and fell a bunch. that is probably why I am achy. I just got done with school for the day, and it was boring as ever. I had to do algebra and it is definitely not my favorite kind of math. But oh well. Today some packages came, but they were not my movie which is kind of sad. They were from Indigo but I don’t know who they were for. Ok I guess this isn’t that big of an announcement but I just wanted to say that I will be getting rid of the “Reviews” page on the site. But I will be adding the current reviews as blog posts and any further reviews will be blog posts as well. Ok well that is all I wanted to say so I guess this is then end now. Bye for now!

• Loren Grush Small satellite launcher Virgin Orbit fails to launch rocket to space during first test flight
  Virgin Orbit’s 747 Cosmic Girl and rocket LauncherOne | Image: Virgin Orbit

  Update May 25th, 5:20PM ET: Virgin Orbit’s test flight ended in failure shortly after LauncherOne dropped from under the company’s carrier 747 airplane. Virgin Orbit confirmed that the drop was successful and that the rocket’s main engine ignited. But then it quickly suffered some kind of anomaly at the beginning of the flight. The company says no one was hurt during the test and the team will be digging into the data to learn what went wrong.

  I’ll go to bed tonight smarter than I was when I woke up. I’m grateful for that, and proud of the team. Today, we tackled the biggest technical risk of the program. There’s a lot more to learn, but that is huge!!! pic.twitter.com/5keyW4r8Lr

  — William Pomerantz (@Pomerantz) May 26, 2020

  O...

  Continue reading…

• WB4SON BlueDV Running with DV 3K Dongle

  Taking full advantage of a reduced workload these past few days, I found myself thinking of DMR again after stumbling across the Zumspot AMBE Server.  That seemed like an excellent non-radio means of bringing up DMR, DSTAR or Fusion on any Windows box here at the house.  So I placed an order and hopefully will be able to play around with it in a week or so.

  Meanwhile, it seems like PA7LIM’s BlueDV is the software that many people are using with the AMBE Server or various USB Dongles, so I downloaded a copy in hopes of getting it to work with my old DV3K Dongle, something I had only used for DSTAR using DVTool.  Since that used a AMBE3000R chip, I felt there was a small chance it might work with BlueDV, which would make it usable on DMR, Fusion, and DSTAR as well.

  I was pleasantly surprised to find out it worked quite well, and within about 30 minutes of trying a few options, BlueDV was up and running.

  

  Chatting with Walter K5WH via the DMR 98006 AMSAT Talk Group

  The setup was pretty simple.  I guessed that the slower baud rate was used for the old device (located on COM6 on my PC), and assumed all the DMR ID settings would be mine (3144032).  (Just a FYI, it appears the SETUP menu can’t be selected if any of the SERIAL, DMR, DSTAR, or FUSION switches are Active along the left side of the screen.)

  

  The only non-obvious thing to me was a need to setup the AMBE tab (along the top), as it was completely blank when I started things going.  However, when I pulled down the choices I saw my mic and speaker selections which made perfect sense.

  

  Finally I guessed that I needed to use the other AMBE tab to the right to select a talk group, and I set that to AMSAT 98006 (BrandMeister).

  My last two stumbling blocks were forgetting that nothing would happen on DMR until I pressed “PTT” to get the Talk Group set.  Now where is that PTT button????  That took a tad bit of exploring and I found a YouTube video from TechMinds that revealed the magic solution — use the bottom right “AMBE3000” slider by clicking on it to turn TX on, and clicking again to turn TX off!

  

  The “PTT” in AMBE3000 mode is the slider in the lower right corner. Click for PTT

  I look forward to trying this with the AMBE Server — that will make this a solution I can run from pretty much everywhere.

• Jason T. Wright Is SETI dangerous?
  Interdisciplinarity in science can be wonderful: combining expertise across disciplines leads to new insights and progress because it’s only when people from those disciplines communicate about a particular problem that progress is made, and that happens much more rarely than communications among members of a single discipline. It’s important, though, when working across disciplines to actually […]
• BCCLA PRESS RELEASE: BCCLA raises serious concerns about privacy rights and civil liberties at B.C.’s public inquiry into money laundering

  For Immediate Release

  VANCOUVER – COAST SALISH TERRITORIES – Today, the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (“BCCLA”) will fight to ensure that the rights and civil liberties of all are taken into account at the first round of hearings of the Cullen Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in British Columbia.

  These initial hearings will provide an overview of the money laundering topic and regulatory models. Due to the global pandemic, these hearings will be held via videoconferencing.

  Megan Tweedie, Staff Counsel:  “The BCCLA is supportive of efforts to combat money laundering in the province. However, the recommendations proposed to date call for significant expansions of police and regulatory powers and the over-collection, retention, and sharing of private information, without evidence demonstrating that these changes would be effective in combatting money laundering.”

  At these hearings, the BCCLA will advocate for the protection of the rights and liberties of ordinary citizens in developing appropriate responses to money‑laundering in British Columbia. The BCCLA will argue that there must be checks and balances in place for all measures recommended by the Commission to ensure that they operate in a manner that does not unduly infringe on the rights and liberties of Canadians.

  Megan Tweedie continued, “The risk to the privacy rights and civil liberties of British Columbians is profound. Developing an effective anti-money laundering regime cannot simply reflect calls for more invasive powers, broader disclosures of sensitive, highly prejudicial information, and more resources for policing and FINTRAC. The implications for the rights and liberties of Canadians must form a part of the analysis.”

  The BCCLA will bring its expertise in criminal law reform, police accountability, access to justice, due process, and privacy rights to its role as a participant in the Inquiry in order to provide a much‑needed civil liberties‑based perspective. This perspective is crucial; the BCCLA intends to place the civil liberties and human rights of all at the forefront of this Inquiry.

  The BCCLA is represented by staff counsel, Megan Tweedie, Emily Lapper, and Latoya Farrell of the BCCLA.

  The BCCLA’s written opening statement delivered to the Commission in February 2020 is available here.

  Media Contacts:

  • Megan Tweedie, staff counsel for the BCCLA, available for comment at 604-359-2416 or megan@bccla.org

  

  The post PRESS RELEASE: BCCLA raises serious concerns about privacy rights and civil liberties at B.C.’s public inquiry into money laundering appeared first on BC Civil Liberties Association.

• Oshpark Apertus Open Source Cinema: AXIOM Beta Power Board

  

  The Apertus AXIOM Open Source cinema camera projects is one of our favorites and we are excited to see that are making progress on the Beta Power Board:

  

  The AXIOM Beta Power Board sits between the Beta Main Board and the MicroZed in the camera’s PCB stack. It generates all the different supply voltages for the chips and logic on the other PCB’s inside the camera. It also monitors currents so that it can estimate remaining power based on the recorded consumption. Version 1 of the Beta Power Board has the 8 different voltage rails calibrated at factory. In case of a future hardware upgrade that require any power rail to have a different reference voltage this calibration needs to be redone.

• XKCD Confidence Interval
  
• VE7SAR (Surrey Amateur Radio Club) Antenna Modelling... A Follow-up
  
  

  VA7NF Helps Explain What is Going On Here… 

  In the last post, I described my experience with modeling and construction of a quarter wave 80 m inverted L antenna.  I stated that, while the model reliably predicted the real-life behaviour of the antenna, there were also some puzzling results beyond my understanding with the use of various antenna analyzers,  so I asked Stan VA7NF to apply his technical expertise to interpretation.   Other readers’ comments are also invited. 
  
  

  Part 1 – Measurements Made at the Antenna

  Here is a summary of my questions and Stan’s explanations:
  Because the feedpoint of the antenna is at ground level, I was able to make one set of measurements without the feedline present then a second set at the station location with the feedline present.  
  
  

  

  
  

  
  An AIM 4170 analyzer was connected to the antenna at the feedpoint by a 1 m long RG8X jumper.  I first adjusted the series capacitor at the feedpoint to bring series reactance (Xs) to zero at 3750 KHz.  Initially, each scan and re-scan produced the SWR curves below, showing a large number of random spikes, with each re-scan producing another set of spikes at different frequencies.  The first scan [below] is in red; the re-scan is in orange.
  
  Could the noisy behaviour be the result of strong signals being pickup up by the antenna and interfering with the reflected wave or electronics of the instrument?  To check for the presence of out-of-band signals, I used the AIM 4170 band sweep function from 0.500 MHz (the low end of the broadcast band) to 5 MHz (above the 80 m band) as shown in the graph on the next page. This illustrates two strong, off-scale signals in the AM band (CKST at 1040 and CFTE at 1410 KHz) plus another unidentified signal at 2.0 MHz.  
  
  As I continued with my measurements, the odd behavior shown in the first graph abruptly ceased and I was unable to reproduce it again.  I believe that the improvement came about after all the connections were thoroughly tightened, but it was also coincidentally about the time the weather changed from a prolonged cold, dry spell to very wet.  From that time on, the curves looked “smoother”.
  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  Stan’s comments: 
  Your assumptions above are well founded.  Antenna analyzers will send short bursts of RF into the test device (antenna) while monitoring the strength of the return signal.  For short antennae this will normally only be the reflection of its signal; when longer (80M or 160M or our FD antenna 320m) there will be many other strong signals especially the broadcast stations as you noted.
  
  This is where analyzers differ.  Newer ones have Rx filtering that follow the transmit frequency; older ones take a voltage reading of everything on the antenna.  That means the readings are significantly affected by “stray” signals, making them useless in strong fields anywhere in the spectrum.
  
  Your comment about the “noise” changing appears to be directly related to tightening the connectors.  Those two AM stations will mix with themselves, other lesser strength signals, and noise presenting the peaks you saw.  By making a better connection the diode effect of the poor junction has been removed eliminating the mixing products you saw.  Aside from analyzers, any diode (rusty tower bolts, wire fence supports, etc) will mix these strong stations with noise that becomes several S unit Rx background noise.  Doing the math, the 4 large spikes (3620 -3760) appear to be the sum of (1040 + 1410) mixing with 4 other local broadcast stations; also a 3rd peak exists at 2450 being 1040 + 1410.
  Incidentally, our 80M antenna at the OTC is producing such images and should also be investigated.
  
  Once the noisy data quietened down, and again scanning with the AIM 4170, the graph [below] showed an SWR close to 1.0, reactance near 0 and R not far off 50 Ω at 3750 KHz.  It doesn’t ever get much better than this, but could I believe it?  I decided to check with another instrument.
  
  Measurements were again made at the antenna, but now using the AA-600 analyzer – results were somewhat different.
  
  As seen in the graphs below, the minimum SWR was now higher at 1.5 but also shifted lower in frequency from 3750 KHz.  Note that at 3750 KHz, the reactance was still showing zero but Rs was around 80 Ω, thereby accounting for the higher SWR.   These results were more in line with my expectations but why did two high-quality instruments show such different results?
  
  

  

  
  
  Stan’s Comments:
  A major part of your low SWR is by design; you have tuned out Xs by adjusting the series capacitor; at 3750 your Xs went from -ve to +ve (tuned resonance) and the Rx value at that frequency as reported by the AIM was 50 ohms.  The RigExpert agrees with AIM that Xs crosses over at 3750 but it says Rs is around 80 ohms and drops as the frequency drops.  The >50 ohm Rx and -ve Xs combine below 3750 for the lower SWR.  It is unknown why there a difference in Rs from 50 to 80 ohms.
  
  Conclusion:  Because they develop different Rs values the SWR curves are different.  By observation there is significant noise still on the wire and that may be the basis of the differences.
  
  Continuing at the antenna, measurements were now made with an MFJ 269 analyzer. 
  
  

  

  At 3750 MHz regardless of frequency, the SWR was off-scale (∞) consistent with an unchanging Rs=0 and, in addition, Xs varying erratically, i.e. it was not possible to get a meaningful measurement (note it was confirmed that the analyzer returned appropriate readings when tested with a 50 ohm dummy load and at 20 m on the author’s beam, so the meter seemed to be “working”).   Was this possibly another strong-AM signal interference problem?
  
  Stan’s Comments: 
  Agree.  Too much broadband noise for this meter to function.  Not usable on a real antenna with a long length of copper.
  
  

  Part 2—Measurements Made at Station

  Next, a length of new LMR-400 coax plus a short jumper were attached to the feed point along with a second common mode choke close to the station end, but otherwise conditions were unchanged from earlier.  All the following measurements were made at the station end of the transmission line and jumper.
  
  

  

  
  The AIM 4170 produced SWR, Rs and Xs curves across the band. [left]  Zero reactance occurred now at a higher frequency than previously, and instead of rising into positive (inductive reactance) territory at frequencies above 3750 MHz, Xs decreased, showing a net capacitive reactance. How can this be explained?
  
  Stan’s Comments:
  Coaxial cable when connected to a matching impedance (50 ohms) will not affect the apparent impedance regardless of length;  however:
  1) When connected to a non-matching impedance there will be returning currents with a +/- Xs.
  2) As the current flows back it will be a “normal” sine wave changing phase until at 1 wavelength it again matches the phase of the forward wave.
  3) RF on a coax cable does not travel the same speed as RF in free space.  Specifications show this as a velocity factor (VF) which is .85 for LMR-400; this means the RF will cycle its phase over less length (1/VF wavelength).  As the test frequency changes this means that the length for a full sine wave will vary being longer at 3.5 MHz and shorter at 4.0 MHz.  Viewing it from a single point (like the feed point) the phase of the reflected signal will vary with frequency.
  
  Putting this together, a reflected signal starting at the antenna connection will be out-of-phase with the forward signal (The +/- Xs as you measured at the antenna).  As that reflected signal moves down the cable its relationship to the forward signal will change, starting at (for example) a +ve phase that will shift to in-phase, then -ve phase, to in-phase, then back to the +ve.
  
  Depending how long your cable is (in wavelengths times VF) the reflected signal will appear + or - phase (Xs) and at places exactly in phase with the signal going the other way.  This combination is what your analyzer will see.  In your image the transformer effect of the length of LMR-400 modifies what is seen.
  
  Another effect of coax transformer effect will be, when the antenna has a high SWR, artificial dips in APPARENT SWR appear; these artificial SWR dips appear when the forward signal is cancelled out by the reverse signal with a resulting Xs=0.  This cancellation effect is frequency dependent so a long coax may show several artificial dips typically 5-10Mhz apart.
  
  Accepted practice is to have feed lines that are ½ wavelength (after applying the VF) but only when attempting to measure at-antenna SWR.  They will NOT appear if the antenna is low SWR as there is no reflected signal to mix with the transmitted one.  This will not eliminate the artificial dips as the length will not be a ½ wavelength across all those frequencies.  This also explains why an antenna that will not tune, may tune if a short length of coax is added between  tuner/transmitter and the antenna.
  Continuing with measurements at the station end of the transmission line using the RigExpert AA-600, both the SWR and Rs-Xs graphs now agreed fairly closely with the results for the AIM 4170. [below]
  
  

  

  
  

  
  Next using the MFJ 269, the behaviour was once again erratic, with no minimum SWR discernable at any frequency and no meaningful SWR measurable.
  
  

  

  I took one further step when I noted that with the AIM 4170 instrument, conditions at the antenna can be measured from the far end of the feedline, if its length, velocity factor and matched loss are known.   As per the Times Microwave specs for LMR-400 giving a velocity factor of 0.84 and matched loss of 0.1 dB/100 ft. (at 1 MHz),  the total length of the cable was known to be 112 ft.  Under these conditions, a “refer to antenna” set of curves measured from the transmitter end of the coax looked like the following.  It was reassuring to note that these curves were virtually identical to those obtained when the measurements were made right at the antenna. 
  
  

  

  
  
  Stan’s Comments:
  The AIM is calculating the coax length effect and applying it to the reflected signal.  Smart!
  
  

  Conclusions:

  On the assumption that strong signals in the AM band (not sufficiently filtered out by the instrument) were the cause of anomalous results, the MFJ 269 readings were rendered useless.
  
  The AIM 4170 analyzer appeared to be influenced by the strong off-band signals, but considerably less so than the MFJ.  
  
  Only the RigExpert AA-600 appeared to be immune to the strong AM signals, and give relatively consistent results at both locations of measurement.
  
  When adjusting for resonance of the antenna/feedline combination, conditions at the station end of the feedline would appear to be the place that counts, as presence of the feedline will influence the resultant impedance seen by the transmitter.  
  
  ~ John Brodie VA7XB
    18-02
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
• Basic Instructions How to Listen to Other People's Medical Problems

  

  In retrospect, I don’t know how well the Han Solo joke works. Of course, my first impulse when making a joke about having someone fire a laser at someone would be to make a Goldfinger joke, but it’s usually a good idea to ignore the first instinct as too predictable. Also, Goldfinger’s getting to be a really dated reference.

  It’ll be interesting to see how long it takes before they stop bothering to make up new stories for James Bond movies and start remaking the classics. One might assume that they never will because they won’t think they can ever live up to the original classics. To anyone who thinks that, I suggest you re-watch the classics with a critical eye, rather than letting nostalgia color it for you.

  A surprising amount of time in both the book and movie Goldfinger is spent cheating at either cards or golf.

  As always, thanks for using my Amazon Affiliate links (US, UK, Canada).

• Selenian Boondocks A human tribe is a Von Neumann probe

  After thinking a while about why self-replicating robots do not exist (thanks, Casey: https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2019/09/02/self-replicating-robots-do-not-exist/ ), we’re reminded that living things do this regularly. I’m tempted to write “a human is a von Neumann probe,” but that wouldn’t be accurate. A single human cannot reproduce, and even a pair would quickly run into survival problems unless they got lucky (and there’s some amount of genetic variety needed, with the minimum number of individuals being somewhere between 50 and 5,000 to ensure enough genetic diversity). The human is by default in society, usually a band or tribe in the past and now in cities. Our survival depends on it. This has enabled us to span from pole to pole with a vast array of lifestyles.

  Even a band (10-50 people) enables specialization and folklore. A full tribe (made of several bands, enough for genetic diversity) is a self-contained unit of humanity. Enough to replicate and perpetuate neolithic technology, which includes domesticated animals, plants, spoken language, and perhaps even written language. An individual or family would have difficulty maintaining this, but a tribe should be capable of it. And with the tools of written technology, could maintain knowledge and learn between generations.

  What’s interesting about neolithic technology versus later developments is that this is before humanity became dependent on vast trade routes and city-state social structures (although those did develop in that time). Still small enough to be self-contained within a tribe and replicated most places on Earth (with adaption). Other than biological materials (seeds, animals… which are reproducible and not a fundamentally limited geological resource), it is still really easy to bootstrap neolithic technology and could be done by a small group of people. The Bronze Age requires tin and bronze, which are very limited in geologic availability (requiring vast trade networks) and require more sophisticated processing.

  My favorite exploration of Neolithic technology is the Primitive Technology Youtube channel. He bootstraps from nothing (no knives, etc, just himself in shorts) and has gotten extremely far in technology development. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P73REgj-3UE

  No doubt his efforts rely on a lot of free time enabled by modern food distribution systems, but they all could be replicated by a tribe. He has made some interesting advances, such as a sort of centrifugal blower and the beginnings of a bootstrapping of iron technology using iron bacteria (found all over) instead of geographically limited iron ore. He also makes use of domesticated yams.

  Now I’ve been thinking a lot about potatoes. They’re remarkably easy to grow and extremely efficient in area, store reasonably well, easy to propagate, etc. It really is a good choice if you had to pick one staple to survive on Mars with (hello, Matt Damon). But they were not introduced into the New World until the 1500s. Same with corn (maize), and a bunch of other things. Corn is a particularly efficient way of growing calories. A similar thing is true of other domesticated crops. …and animals, such as donkeys, horse, oxen, etc. Any neolithic tribe could’ve utilized these resources, but these resources weren’t all available until the modern era (i.e. starting in the 1500s). There’s some evidence that domestication of, say, potatoes, helped speed the industrial revolution due to their efficiency. You could say that it was these domestic plants and animals that enabled the industrial revolution as much as any other particular scientific, economic, etc advance.

  Any of these could’ve been introduced to neolithic tribes 10,000 years ago or even earlier. Maybe 100,000 years ago. One could have taught them writing. A single tribe had enough resources to bootstrap these “technologies,” and their productivity would’ve been vastly improved. Unlike our heavy industry today, they do not require a vast, globe-spanning economy to replicate. They can be planted and replicated by a single, neolithic tribe to their great benefit. Self-contained, self-replicating… (or requiring just some assistance from people to replicate).

  Domestic plants and animals are remarkable technologies. Seeds in particular… little, unassuming von Neumann machines. Iron bacteria could’ve bootstrapped the Iron Age 100,000 years earlier. Give a tractor to a neolithic tribe, and it would stop as soon as it ran out of gas. A steam tractor maybe could’ve lasted longer and maybe animal grease could serve as oil, but the industrial toolchain in order to maintain any such engine would be beyond a single tribe’s ability. But oxen or other beasts of burden? Easy to maintain and replicate in comparison. Even with some amount of semi-autonomous intelligence. There are your self-replicating robots!

  This is the potential of biology in simplifying the technology bootstrap process. It’s unfortunate that biological processes tend to be so inefficient. Their relevance to bootstrapping a Mars civilization may be difficult to gauge relative to the more energy-efficient heavy machinery approach… Also, not only is it inefficient, it’s also only viable in a relatively narrow temperature and pressure range which mostly makes it irrelevant to space settlement…

  …but perhaps this is worth another look. I think the fact that biology can play a part in bootstrapping is one of the most important arguments for (at least partial) terrraforming… if you can make Mars Earth-like enough for at least SOMETHING to grow, maybe we can use biology to help bootstrap human civilization there. If Mars is terraformed, then the basic human unit, the tribe, would be sufficient to replicate civilization given a continuity of knowledge of written language.

  …but maybe something smaller than full terraforming is sufficient? Humans, even with just neolithic technology, are remarkably adaptable (if we can find an energy source). We can live indefinitely in the Arctic by harvesting animals (including fish, etc) using neolithic technology. Some humans live nearly their whole lives on the water using pre-modern tech. Perhaps with some clever new inventions that could be bootstrapped with neolithic-level-tech, there may be some future domesticated plants or animals (or other?) that enable humans to live on a partially terraformed Mars with something as small as a tribe. After all, we used animal intestines to produce the impermeable gas bags of the mighty zeppelins. What new domesticated life form might enable us to live on Mars with a much simpler bootstrap chain?

  Can we harden living things for the Martian environment? I’m reminded that the Armstrong Limit of pressure is dictated by the boiling point of water at the human body temperature. Other living things, such as lizards (not to mention hardy plants), can still live and move with body temperatures low enough that Mars’ pressure at Hellas Basin would be high that water would not boil. There’s also the possibility of some sort of toughened skin designed to maintain internal pressure and temperature. Lichen or similar lifeforms may even be able to photosynthesize under Martian conditions: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20402583/

  …so what is the REAL Martian potato? Could some domesticated lichen produce food and important chemicals for a growing Martian civilization? Maybe some sort of domesticated lichen that produces hydrogen peroxide? Could some sort of genetically modified reptile beasts of burden serve as our self-replicating robots? Could we grow tough membranes (with built-in molecular pressure pumps powered by photosynthesis) to make our pressurized cities? How can we simplify the industrial tool-chain so self-sufficiency becomes tractable?

May 24, 2020

• VE3CLQ Portable Ops...
  It was a great day here today.  I managed to get out and play portable radio in the local park.  First time out playing radio this year, other than Winter Field Day.  There were not too many people at Lake Ontario Park, and nobody near me, so it was safe enough.  In fact it might be safe enough to start operating there on a semi-regular basis...unless the city regulations change again
  
  Not many contacts made it into the logbook as the bands were not in the best condition.  The QSB on 20m was particularly bad, stations went from an S9 to S0 in seconds.   The propagation numbers were:  SFI=68, SN=0, A Index=4, and the K Index=1 at 1730 UTC.
  
  

  

  Radio in use today was my KX3 which performed flawlessly as usual.  The antenna today was the Packtenna Mini, cut to 41.5 feet.
  
  Supposedly you do not need radials with this antenna, but I find it works better with them.  I use a large alligator clip and attach it to the outer ring of the BNC connector as you can see in this picture.
  
  While I normally homebrew my antennas, this one was certainly worth the money I paid for it.
  
  Don, VE3MNE, came with me and worked on a new antenna project he has in the works for Chillycon this year.  So far it looks very promising, a few more tweaks and it will definitely give Eric, VA3AMX, a good run for his money if we can run the event this year. 😆
  
  Once in a while I mention LIDS, and today we had a doozy, a G3 station (I have his full call) from Birmingham, England, called for over 20 minutes on top of a YL net.  The G3 knew the YL's were on frequency as he told them to go away while he tried to work DX.  I guess he must be special and own his own frequency.  Good on the YL's for ignoring him and continuing, and I hope they send a recording of his behaviour to OFCOM.
  
  

  
  

  VE3MNE working on his new portable antenna.

  
  

  Today's operating position

• Astro Bob Simple Tool May Help You Spot The Crescent Venus By Eye Alone

  

  Well, not the last chance in your lifetime. But you have less than a week left in Venus’s current run as “evening star” for one of visual astronomy’s greatest challenges — to see the crescent Venus with nothing more than your eyes. No binoculars. No telescope. To aid you in your quest I want to share a new technique briefly mentioned by Sky & Telescope columnist Fred Schaaf in the magazine’s May issue.

  I stared at Venus a week ago trying to eke out a crescent but couldn’t. It looked spiky to me, a little like a porcupine. I squinted but that didn’t help either. Binoculars show the phase beautifully but my eyes were hopeless. Then I heard that if you look at the planet through a pinhole device it reduces the glare and porcupine spines. So I tried it on May 21. I have small metal eyepiece barrel with a neat 1/16-inch (1.6 mm) hole drilled through it. I held this up to my eye and peered at Venus through the tiny aperture and lo and behold the planet appeared much sharper.

  

  The same principle applies when you want to get more of a scene in focus with your camera. If you decrease the size of the aperture the light passes through it will increase the camera’s depth of field, making both foreground and background sharp.

  

  Now that Venus appeared sharper could I see the crescent? The planet spanned 53.5 arc-seconds at the time or 6.5 arc-seconds shy of the theoretical naked-eye limit of 60 arc-seconds. Close enough. A word about terminology. One degree (1°) equals 60 arc-minutes, and one arc-minute equals 60 arc-seconds. The full moon is 0.5° or 30 arc-minutes wide so Venus is about 1/30th the apparent size of the full moon right now.

  I peered through the hole on and off for 10 minutes, and this is what I discovered. While I couldn’t convince myself of seeing the crescent I did notice that Venus wasn’t round. Instead of a dot it appeared like a bar or short streak of light tilted on its side like this: /  … only a little shorter.

  

  Occasionally, I thought I saw the crescent with its horns pointing in the right direction (up) but a few moments later they looked pointed down in the wrong direction. So while I couldn’t see a precise shape, at the very least discern I could tell that Venus was elongated and tilted in the right direction. I’ve looked at Venus for over 50 years, and this was the first time I’ve ever seen a whiff of crescent.

  

  I encourage you to try the same technique. Drill a 1/16-inch (1.6 mm) hole in a bottle cap and make sure you remove any excess plastic for a completely unobstructed view. For the best results try to find Venus as close to sunset as possible and then follow it down. A bright sky will temper the planet’s glare and make the shape easier to see. Although Venus is quite low it’s also a little bigger compared to when I saw it — almost 55 arc-seconds across.

  I would love to hear about your attempt to see the crescent. Use the comments area here or send me an e-mail at nightsky55@gmail.com

  Good luck!

• The Atlantic: In Focus Idaho: Images of the Gem State (34 photos)

  Idaho is one of the most sparsely populated states in the union, with fewer than 1.8 million residents living on about 83,500 square miles, or about 21 people per square mile. Much of the land is protected protected wilderness area, or held by the U.S. Forest Service. Here are a few glimpses of the landscape of Idaho and some of the wildlife and people calling it home.

  This photo story is part of Fifty, a collection of images from each of the United States.

  

  
• WB4SON AMSAT Sexagesimal Award

  

  AMSAT has a Sexagesimal Award for satellite operators who have confirmed contacts with 60 different Canadian call areas, US States, or DX Countries.

  I figured I would check on my progress.  Turns out I’ve worked VE1, VE2, VE3, VE9, VO2 qand VY2 in Canada, plus 37 states, and 9 DXCC Countries, for a total of 52.  Gonna take a bit of work to get those final eight!

  Maybe that explains why only 187 awards have been issued in 45 years (congratulations to KS1G who just got his a few days ago)!

• WB4SON DXCC 275 Reached with 160-meter Guyana QSO

  A pleasant surprise awaited me today, a LotW confirmation from 8R1/AG6UT in Guyana.  This was confirming a QSO from last November on the 160-meter band, so it was a double bonus, leaving me with 12 more countries to complete my ninth DXCC (I already have 9 band WAS).  Thanks Heye!

  

• Oshpark Flexible PCB Earrings Put the Art in Art Deco

  Exciting flex PCB project from the Hackaday blog:

  

  Earrings have been a hackers’ target for electronic attachment for quite a while, but combining the needed components into a package small enough to wear in that finicky location is quite a challenge. If [Sawaiz Syed]’s Art Deco Earrings are anything to go by, ear computers have a bright future ahead of them!

  This is a project unusually well described by its name. It is in fact an earring, with art deco styling. But that sells it way too short. This sliver of a flex circuit board is double sided to host an ATtiny, accelerometer, LDO, and eight 2020 formfactor controller-integrated LEDs. Of course it’s motion sensitive, reacting to the wearer’s movement via LED pattern. [Sawaiz] makes reference to wearing it while dancing, and we can’t help but imagine an entire ballroom all aglow with tiny points of LED light.

  

  Read more on Hackaday…

• DragonflyBSD Blog Lazy Reading for 2020/05/24

  It’s rare, but I was able to collect most of these links more than 24 hours before you are reading them.

  • Some views on having your system timezone set to UTC.
  • The Era of Fragmentation, Part 3: The Statists.  Minitel!
  • The Internet’s Many Branches.
  • Roguelike Celebration is going to happen! (virtually)  Plus there’s a call for papers.
  • PRINTING PRESSES ARE GIANT GPUS.  (via)
  • New book: “Cash Flow for Creators”.  If you are working anything but a corporate job ever, this will have value for you.
  • The Deprecated *nix API.  (via)
  • When SimCity got serious: the story of Maxis Business Simulations and SimRefinery.  (via)
  • Announcing the Second Edition of Learning Markdown.
  • Dungeons & Dragons at a Distance: Early Play-by-Mail D&D.  (via)
  • Hagoromo chalks, progress & Vim.  (via I lost it, sorry)
  • Desperate Pleas for Nothing.  I get at least one of these every week.
  • C&C open sourced.  (via)
• WB4SON Success with RS-44

  I had a chance to get my Satellite rig on the air and added in information for HuskySat-1 and RS-44.  Never heard HuskySat, but during a pass around 23:45Z, I worked KS1G on CW, and N3CAL, W4ZXT + W5CBF on SSB.  Heard a bunch of European stations as well.

  This satellite seems to have amazingly fast and deep fades, so the antenna must be occluded frequently (I’m using CP antennas).  I would often hear only part of a callsign before it would swing from S9 to in the noise.  That made for a challenge.

  Funny coincidence; this is the first satellite that my Uplink didn’t have to be calibrated.  The default Uplink and Downlink values that I put into Doppler.sqf were spot on for my IC-9700.

  (ED: 3 of the 4 have already confirmed in LotW – Thanks!)

May 23, 2020

• WV0H Spiderebeam Pole Extension
  Here is a quick way to get an additional 2.5 feet more out of your 40ft Spiderebeam pole.

  

  If you have a Shakesphere Wonderpole laying around, remove the tip-top section and stick it in your Spiderebeam pole to create an additional section. 

  

  
  

  It will slide up the center of the stock top section and give you about 2.5 additional feet.

  It won't be very sturdy but if you are hoisting light vertical wires, this will do nicely.

  I can now get dead-on 10.110 MHz with my 30m EFHW Stick-Up!

  
  

  73,

  Myron WVØH

  
  
• Eli Qui-Gon Jinn

  I don’t know, you figure it out. How’s it going? Ok. I am doing not bad, except VERY TIRED. I am just going to have a nap on the keyboard. Uefjfjcj gyuceue Dudu End-user dudcncjej Ed ddii dodo COD,d disks keep Siemens . Ah! I am awake. Ooh, that’s a big gibberish. Yup, also a big fish. Fish go “lemon lemon omelette” mm hmm. Yup. Fish make noise. What am Doing I doing with my life? I don’t know. Just trying to bring people “quality content”.I am so tired my brain is melting into ice cream.mmmm, ice cream. Yum. Now I want ice cream but I already had a donut so I can’t. But it was a mini donut. Very mini small. 1.5 inch tall donut. In case you can’t tell, I am out of things to write about. So I might post again later. Bye.

  This is diamond sword to Major Steve, your gonna find diamonds

  – Minecraft Awesome Parodys Steve

• Arlo May 23, 2020

  What’s up fam, this is the internet’s favorite theater actor. Today I am feeling xtra tired. I fell asleep at like 2:00 A.M. yesterday and woke up at like 11:30. Last night me and Eli stayed up and watched Back to the Future. It was super cool and is probably one of my favorite films of all time. I used to like the second one better than the first and third, but I since then I have come to my senses and formed a solid opinion that the first movie is the best, then the third, and finally the second. Don’t get me wrong, the second is still a really good movie but it just feels really messy with how much they are jumping around the timeline. Still very enjoyable though. This morning, after I had pancakes for breakfast, me and Eli went out for a walk. It was ok but we were both very tired and therefore very irritable and therefore very irritating. But it was nice to get outside. After we got home we played some go fish and I had a piece of peanut-butter toast for lunch. Yum. Yesterday I went with Eli and my mom to go get some mini donuts from the PNE. I won’t say too much because we made a vlog about it. You can find the video here:

  It was really fun and the donuts were really tasty. We got 12 each and I have 3 left.

  I have decided to start a countdown until my Fantastic Mr. Fox Blu Ray is supposed to be delivered.

  2020-06-11T15:48:00

    days

    hours  minutes  seconds

  until

  Fantastic Mr. Fox Delivery

  So yeah that’s pretty cool that you can add that with WordPress. Ok well that’s basically all that I wanted to talk about for today. I hope everyone reading this has a good day, and see you next time. Bye for now!

  *Obnoxious jazz outro music plays*

• Astro Bob Corvus Will Give You Something To Crow About

  

  Crows and ravens get a bad rap. In movies they’re often associated with doom, death and evil. Is it the raucous”caw-caw” that sets people on edge or do we associate their black plumage with darkness and death? I like crows and ravens. They’re clever and intelligent birds. Some use twigs and branches to tease out insects from under tree bark and car traffic to crack open hard-shelled nuts. Remember Uncle Billy’s raven in It’s a Wonderful Life and the crow that landed on the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz?  Jimmy the raven played both parts and had hundreds of other roles in Hollywood movies from the 1930s through the 1950s.

  

  While no dog or cat constellation graces the sky our ancestors happily bequeathed us a crow in the form of Corvus. If you’ve never seen Corvus direct your eyes to the southern sky as soon as darkness falls. Corvus isn’t a bright constellation but its compact form makes it easy to find.  Four third magnitude stars outline a small trapezoid to the lower right of the bright star Spica around 10-10:30 p.m. at the end evening twilight.

  Spica, Virgo’s brightest star, is located about three balled fists above the southern horizon. It’s the only bright star in the lower half of the southern sky. Corvus perches a fist and a half to the lower right of Spica. The crow got its permanent celestial roost when Apollo, the Greek god of the sun, decided one day to offer a sacrifice to his father Zeus. He gave a crow a cup and sent it to fetch water from a spring.

  

  En route, the crow spotted a fig tree with unripe fruit. Instead of proceeding to the task at hand, the bird waited several days for the fruit to ripen into a tasty meal, forcing Apollo to get the water himself. When the crow finally returned he needed an excuse for his tardiness, so he snatched a water-snake from the spring and explained to Apollo that the snake had prevented him from filling the cup. Apollo smelled a lie and condemned the crow to a life of thirst. Further, he placed the snake, cup and bird in the sky as a lesson to all future crows lest they get cocky, too. Huh, maybe that’s how the bad news about crows got started.

  

  Corvus is a small constellation, ranking 70th out of 88 in size. It’s home to the pretty double star Algorab also know as Delta Corvi. Your eyes will see a single star here but a small telescope will reveal that Algorab has a 9th magnitude companion close by to the southwest.

  

  I always associate Corvus with the Southern Cross. That constellation never clears the horizon from my northerly location in Duluth, but if you happen to be in Key West, it stands just above southern horizon at nightfall. To find it, locate Corvus and look a little more than three fists directly beneath.

• WB3GCK Delving into D-Star

  I mentioned in a previous post that I was going to venture into the digital voice modes. Well, I did. I was successful in getting a hotspot up and running, although I did hit a snag along the way.

  Yeah, I know; as usual, I’m late to the party on this stuff. Up until now, I’ve had only limited experience with D-Star. Years ago, I used a borrowed Icom ID-1 for 1.2GHz data during a couple of ARES-RACES exercises. I hadn’t used D-Star again until I bought a Kenwood TH-D74A six months ago. Even then, I had only used D-Star to check into a local ARES-RACES net over a nearby D-Star repeater.

  My local ARES-RACES group here in Chester County, PA, held one of our monthly Tech Rallies using Zoom. Jim WA3NOA gave an interesting talk on digital voice hotspots. Inspired by Jim’s talk, I went ahead and ordered an MMDVM hotspot from Amazon.

  While waiting for the hotspot to arrive, I started studying up. I found lots of great articles and videos out there. W6GPS’s videos on the TH-D74 and D-Star were particularly helpful. Following one of his videos, I picked a hotspot frequency and programmed it into my radio.

  The hotspot arrived a few days later. I was immediately struck how tiny this thing is. The instructions that came with it were sparse but clear enough to get started. I was able to successfully connect my laptop to the hotspot’s internal WiFi hotspot and access the Pi-Star configuration screens.

  

  Long story short… Before too long, I had the hotspot connected to my home WiFi network and had the D-Star section configured. I keyed up my radio and received the expected D-Star response from the hotspot. Then, I tried to connect to some reflectors. No matter which one I tried, I got a “reflector is busy” message on my radio. Hmmm…

  I sent screenshots of my hotspot configuration screens to Jim, but he didn’t see anything out of wack. I next focused on my WiFi router. I tried connecting the hotspot to other WiFi networks. No joy.

  Finally, I went out and checked the status of my D-Star registration. That showed that my registration from way-back-when was missing a Terminal ID. An email exchange with WA3NOA confirmed that was likely my issue. My D-Star registration password no longer worked, so I reached out to Jim W3BIF, the admin for the W3EOC D-Star repeater.

  

  The next morning I had an email from W3BIF saying he had straightened out my incomplete D-Star registration. Within minutes, I was connected to a reflector and having a QSO with a ham in Georgia. He reported that my audio sounded great. 

  I used to be one of those guys who thought this stuff isn’t real ham radio. I guess I’ve come around a bit. I won’t be giving up CW any time soon, but I will admit it has been fun playing around with this new (to me)mode over the past week. 

  Over time, I might branch out to try some other digital voice modes. In the meantime, you can often find me monitoring D-Star reflector, REF20A or REF30C. 

  73, Craig WB3GCK

• Oshpark 2020 Hackaday Prize Reveals Four Open Challenges and New Dream Team Program

  
   

  The 2020 Hackaday Prize begins right now. Our global engineering challenge seeks solutions to real-world problems. If you like to come up with creative solutions to tough problems, four non-profits can use your help. We need hackers, designers, and engineers throughout the world to work on designs for conservation, disaster relief, renewable resources, and assistive devices.

  via 2020 Hackaday Prize Reveals Four Open Challenges and New Dream Team Program — Hackaday

• Concreted0g Living Hinge Hipster PDA
  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  
  For more years than I care to remember I've been a fan of carrying a stack of index cards. As a freelancer trainer I used to pride myself in being able to whip up an interactive training experience if needed short notice with nothing more than index cards and a marker. I first came across the fact that there were others like me when I saw the Hipster PDA discussion over at 43folders  probably around 2007. I then had a brief peak of use with fans of the GTD productivity methods. Many people got into printing custom cards, calendar cards and more, but for me a plain old stack of cards and a binder clip was the classic. With one fault, after a few weeks of a deck of cards being in pocket they would look decidedly scruffy and dog eared. As such over the years a plethora of ideas to stop that have been deployed. The current one is this living hinge cover I drew up in inkscape and laser cut a few months back at the Ffiws Makerspace in Porthmadog. Cut from 3.125mm ply the hinge won't survive being sat on but is surprisingly robust, the clips work as well as they ever did and I use 4 clips so that some can be used as bookmarks for a current card over multiple projects. Finished with a small bit of elastic its easily pocketable and a good conversation piece when people notice the hinge section. :)
  
  If you have access to a laser during these times (lucky you!) then I've posted the file on thingiverse for anyone to use.