Fed2 Star - July 22, 2018 - page 2 (of 2)
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Fiona Craig
Jul 22, 2018, 6:32:31 AM7/22/18
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Fed2 Star
Earthdate July 22, 2018
[This is a subscription mailing list. Details about how to stop
receiving it are at the foot of the email.]
For a fancy formatted version go the Fed2 Star website:
http://www.ibgames.net/fednews/current/index.html
Official News part two
ROBOT OF THE WEEK: TARS FROM INTERSTELLAR COMES TO LIFE
by Hazed
One of the fun things about the film Interstellar was the design of the
robot, TARS, which was like no other robot seen before. It wasn’t a
humanoid, or shaped like a trashcan, but consisted of four metal beams
which hinged to allow it to “walk”.
In the film, of course, the robot was created using puppetry and CGI,
but now some students are working on a real-life version that will move
around on its own.
These robot-builders are students at Chalmers University of Technology
in Gothenburg, Sweden. They have used clever control systems to keep
their robot on its “feet”.
Watch a video of this version of TARS here:
https://io9.gizmodo.com/interstellars-wisecracking-robot-tars-is-one-wobbly-s-1826448444
PICTURE OF THE WEEK: SUPERSHARP NEPTUNE SNAPPED FROM EARTH
by Hazed
A very clear and sharp image of Neptune has been released, but the
exciting thing about it is that it’s not been taken from space, but from
a telescope on Earth. The Very Large Telescope has some new technology
called laser tomography which corrects for turbulence in the atmosphere,
which allows images to be captured from the ground which are sharper
than those from the Hubble Space Telescope.
See the picture of Neptune, and get all the technical details, here:
https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1824/
WINDING DOWN
An idiosyncratic look at, and comment on, the week’s net, technology and
science news
by Alan Lenton
This week is the second of our ‘catch up’ versions, but we start with
some current news. Google has been fined billions for breaking the EU
regulations on monopolies. Moving on we look at space governance,
scientists, volcanoes, the EU and Asimov’s laws of robotics, the Pioneer
10 and 11 spacecraft, and the year 2038 bug. In the pictures section we
have some videos of rocket launch explosions (BANG!), while Scanner
contains pointers to material on a PDP-11 revival, an important
inventor, people leaving the video game business in droves, printer
paper jams, paperback books and the troops, the US Declaration of
Independence v. Facebook’s AI, Etak, cryptocurrency’s criminal
revolution, and Californian wine. Our quote for the week is from the
British judge, Lord Scarman.
Shorts:
Well Google is starting to find out that thumbing its nose at
governments can be expensive – the EU has just fined it 4.3 billion
Euros (just over US$5 billion) for breaking the regulations. Not only
that, but they’ve got 90 days to stop breaking the regulations, or there
will be further fines.
The EU objected to three things in particular:
1) The requirement for android phones to have Google Search and the
Chrome browser pre-installed by phone makers.
2) Payments to phone makers to make Google Search the Default
3) Restrictions on creating ‘forks’ of Android.
So Google have three months – 90 days to fix these problems or hand over
more cash...
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/07/18/european_commission_fines_google_over_android/
Homework:
The question of who governs in space is starting to rear its head with
rise of commercial firms planning to colonise the various bodies, in
particular the Moon and Mars. At the moment there are only a handful of
humans in space, and those all in Earth orbit, and put there by their
nation states. Science Fiction has over the years had a lot to say about
the governance of the solar system – most of it suggesting conflict
between rugged, self-reliant, pioneers in space and an Earth bureaucracy
determined to hold them in check. I doubt if it’s going to be like that,
if only because the chances of a single hegemonic Earth bureaucracy
range from exceedingly slim to non-existent.
So what will it look like? The Space Review recently published a piece
looking at the possibilities, and what is currently in place. It’s worth
taking a look, because as the technical barriers fall, sorting out these
questions will become increasingly important.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3498/1
While we are talking serious matters, I thought that I’d draw your
attention to an interesting article entitled ‘Society is not a science
problem (but science’s problems are social)’. It’s about scientists’
attitudes to society, and it’s short, sweet and to the point. See what
you think!
https://mailchi.mp/martingeddes/society-is-not-a-science-problem?e=eab3a9dc66
There are a lot of myths out there about volcanoes, such as the idea
that volcanoes and earthquakes in the so-called ‘Ring of Fire’ around
the Pacific Ocean are connected. With all the stuff in the news about
Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano, the myths are multiplying rapidly. Thus it’s
perhaps just as well that Science Alert has taken it upon itself to
debunk a few of the more common myths. See for yourself and see how many
of them you thought were true when, in fact, they were just myths...
https://www.sciencealert.com/five-myths-about-volcanoes
Geek Stuff:
The European Union’s ruling bureaucracy have something of a deserved
reputation for being dour and humourless. I was therefore delighted to
find out that it is being suggested that Isaac Asimov’s Laws of Robotics
are recommended in their entirety for inclusion in the EU’s health and
safety laws! Spotted in ‘Ansible’ #371.
https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/29232 [see section 5.3.2.6]
https://news.ansible.uk/a371.html
Hackaday.com has a fascinating look at how the Pioneer 10 and 11
spacecraft were put together and launched in the early 1970s. An
interesting look at what went into the first spacecraft to visit the
outer planets.
https://hackaday.com/2018/05/25/hacking-when-it-counts-the-pioneer-missions/
Year 2000 bug? Pah! What are you doing about the year 2038 problem?
https://lwn.net/Articles/757042/
Pictures:
Here is a rather spectacular video, taken from various angles, of a
rocket crash at take off. I especially liked the pic of the control room
crew putting their hands over their ears as the thing came down!
https://www.sciencealert.com/japanese-rocket-launch-momo-2-lasted-literally-seconds-before-crashing-to-earth-massive-fireball-interstellar-technologies
And for those of you into such things, here’s a YouTube video of no less
than ten launch explosions!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rciEwuagKXA
Scanner:
Das blinkenlights are back thanks to RPi revival of the PDP-11
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/05/21/raspberry_pi_pdp_11_revival/
The most important inventor you’ve never heard of
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/the-most-important-inventor-youve-never-heard-of/
The great video game exodus
https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/318588/The_great_video_game_exodus.php
Why paper jams persist
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/12/why-paper-jams-persist
How specially printed paperbacks won over American troops in World War II
https://99percentinvisible.org/article/pulp-faction-how-specially-printed-paperbacks-won-over-american-troops-in-wwii/
US Declaration of Independence labelled hate speech by Facebook bots
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/07/05/us_declaration_of_independence_labeled_hate_speech_by_facebook_bots/
How Etak paved the way to personal navigation
https://hackaday.com/2018/06/29/how-etak-paved-the-way-to-personal-navigation/
Cryptocurrency’s criminal revolution
https://medium.com/s/story/cryptocurrencys-criminal-revolution-6dae3cdf630f
Fukushima reactors lend exotic nuclear finish to California’s wines
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/07/19/fukushima_cesium_wine/
Quote for the week:
The quote this week is from the British judge, Lord Scarman, who said,
“A government above the law is a menace to be defeated.”
(Oxford Dictionary of Quotations)
Coda:
Well, that’s it for this week. Hopefully, by next week I’ll be up to
producing something a little more like the regular edition, although
there are still quite a lot of backlog items to catch up with. In the
meantime, have fun.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to readers Barb and Fi for drawing my attention to material for
Winding Down.
Please send suggestions for stories to al...@ibgames.com and include the
words Winding Down in the subject line, unless you want your deathless
prose gobbled up by my voracious Thunderbird spam filter...
Alan Lenton
al...@ibgames.com
22 July 2018
Alan Lenton is an on-line games designer, programmer and sociologist,
the order of which depends on what he is currently working on! His web
site is at http://www.ibgames.net/alan.
Past issues of Winding Down can be found at
http://www.ibgames.net/alan/winding/index.html.
Earthdate July 22, 2018
[This is a subscription mailing list. Details about how to stop
receiving it are at the foot of the email.]
For a fancy formatted version go the Fed2 Star website:
http://www.ibgames.net/fednews/current/index.html
Official News part two
ROBOT OF THE WEEK: TARS FROM INTERSTELLAR COMES TO LIFE
by Hazed
One of the fun things about the film Interstellar was the design of the
robot, TARS, which was like no other robot seen before. It wasn’t a
humanoid, or shaped like a trashcan, but consisted of four metal beams
which hinged to allow it to “walk”.
In the film, of course, the robot was created using puppetry and CGI,
but now some students are working on a real-life version that will move
around on its own.
These robot-builders are students at Chalmers University of Technology
in Gothenburg, Sweden. They have used clever control systems to keep
their robot on its “feet”.
Watch a video of this version of TARS here:
https://io9.gizmodo.com/interstellars-wisecracking-robot-tars-is-one-wobbly-s-1826448444
PICTURE OF THE WEEK: SUPERSHARP NEPTUNE SNAPPED FROM EARTH
by Hazed
A very clear and sharp image of Neptune has been released, but the
exciting thing about it is that it’s not been taken from space, but from
a telescope on Earth. The Very Large Telescope has some new technology
called laser tomography which corrects for turbulence in the atmosphere,
which allows images to be captured from the ground which are sharper
than those from the Hubble Space Telescope.
See the picture of Neptune, and get all the technical details, here:
https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1824/
WINDING DOWN
An idiosyncratic look at, and comment on, the week’s net, technology and
science news
by Alan Lenton
This week is the second of our ‘catch up’ versions, but we start with
some current news. Google has been fined billions for breaking the EU
regulations on monopolies. Moving on we look at space governance,
scientists, volcanoes, the EU and Asimov’s laws of robotics, the Pioneer
10 and 11 spacecraft, and the year 2038 bug. In the pictures section we
have some videos of rocket launch explosions (BANG!), while Scanner
contains pointers to material on a PDP-11 revival, an important
inventor, people leaving the video game business in droves, printer
paper jams, paperback books and the troops, the US Declaration of
Independence v. Facebook’s AI, Etak, cryptocurrency’s criminal
revolution, and Californian wine. Our quote for the week is from the
British judge, Lord Scarman.
Shorts:
Well Google is starting to find out that thumbing its nose at
governments can be expensive – the EU has just fined it 4.3 billion
Euros (just over US$5 billion) for breaking the regulations. Not only
that, but they’ve got 90 days to stop breaking the regulations, or there
will be further fines.
The EU objected to three things in particular:
1) The requirement for android phones to have Google Search and the
Chrome browser pre-installed by phone makers.
2) Payments to phone makers to make Google Search the Default
3) Restrictions on creating ‘forks’ of Android.
So Google have three months – 90 days to fix these problems or hand over
more cash...
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/07/18/european_commission_fines_google_over_android/
Homework:
The question of who governs in space is starting to rear its head with
rise of commercial firms planning to colonise the various bodies, in
particular the Moon and Mars. At the moment there are only a handful of
humans in space, and those all in Earth orbit, and put there by their
nation states. Science Fiction has over the years had a lot to say about
the governance of the solar system – most of it suggesting conflict
between rugged, self-reliant, pioneers in space and an Earth bureaucracy
determined to hold them in check. I doubt if it’s going to be like that,
if only because the chances of a single hegemonic Earth bureaucracy
range from exceedingly slim to non-existent.
So what will it look like? The Space Review recently published a piece
looking at the possibilities, and what is currently in place. It’s worth
taking a look, because as the technical barriers fall, sorting out these
questions will become increasingly important.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3498/1
While we are talking serious matters, I thought that I’d draw your
attention to an interesting article entitled ‘Society is not a science
problem (but science’s problems are social)’. It’s about scientists’
attitudes to society, and it’s short, sweet and to the point. See what
you think!
https://mailchi.mp/martingeddes/society-is-not-a-science-problem?e=eab3a9dc66
There are a lot of myths out there about volcanoes, such as the idea
that volcanoes and earthquakes in the so-called ‘Ring of Fire’ around
the Pacific Ocean are connected. With all the stuff in the news about
Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano, the myths are multiplying rapidly. Thus it’s
perhaps just as well that Science Alert has taken it upon itself to
debunk a few of the more common myths. See for yourself and see how many
of them you thought were true when, in fact, they were just myths...
https://www.sciencealert.com/five-myths-about-volcanoes
Geek Stuff:
The European Union’s ruling bureaucracy have something of a deserved
reputation for being dour and humourless. I was therefore delighted to
find out that it is being suggested that Isaac Asimov’s Laws of Robotics
are recommended in their entirety for inclusion in the EU’s health and
safety laws! Spotted in ‘Ansible’ #371.
https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/29232 [see section 5.3.2.6]
https://news.ansible.uk/a371.html
Hackaday.com has a fascinating look at how the Pioneer 10 and 11
spacecraft were put together and launched in the early 1970s. An
interesting look at what went into the first spacecraft to visit the
outer planets.
https://hackaday.com/2018/05/25/hacking-when-it-counts-the-pioneer-missions/
Year 2000 bug? Pah! What are you doing about the year 2038 problem?
https://lwn.net/Articles/757042/
Pictures:
Here is a rather spectacular video, taken from various angles, of a
rocket crash at take off. I especially liked the pic of the control room
crew putting their hands over their ears as the thing came down!
https://www.sciencealert.com/japanese-rocket-launch-momo-2-lasted-literally-seconds-before-crashing-to-earth-massive-fireball-interstellar-technologies
And for those of you into such things, here’s a YouTube video of no less
than ten launch explosions!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rciEwuagKXA
Scanner:
Das blinkenlights are back thanks to RPi revival of the PDP-11
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/05/21/raspberry_pi_pdp_11_revival/
The most important inventor you’ve never heard of
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/the-most-important-inventor-youve-never-heard-of/
The great video game exodus
https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/318588/The_great_video_game_exodus.php
Why paper jams persist
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/12/why-paper-jams-persist
How specially printed paperbacks won over American troops in World War II
https://99percentinvisible.org/article/pulp-faction-how-specially-printed-paperbacks-won-over-american-troops-in-wwii/
US Declaration of Independence labelled hate speech by Facebook bots
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/07/05/us_declaration_of_independence_labeled_hate_speech_by_facebook_bots/
How Etak paved the way to personal navigation
https://hackaday.com/2018/06/29/how-etak-paved-the-way-to-personal-navigation/
Cryptocurrency’s criminal revolution
https://medium.com/s/story/cryptocurrencys-criminal-revolution-6dae3cdf630f
Fukushima reactors lend exotic nuclear finish to California’s wines
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/07/19/fukushima_cesium_wine/
Quote for the week:
The quote this week is from the British judge, Lord Scarman, who said,
“A government above the law is a menace to be defeated.”
(Oxford Dictionary of Quotations)
Coda:
Well, that’s it for this week. Hopefully, by next week I’ll be up to
producing something a little more like the regular edition, although
there are still quite a lot of backlog items to catch up with. In the
meantime, have fun.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to readers Barb and Fi for drawing my attention to material for
Winding Down.
Please send suggestions for stories to al...@ibgames.com and include the
words Winding Down in the subject line, unless you want your deathless
prose gobbled up by my voracious Thunderbird spam filter...
Alan Lenton
al...@ibgames.com
22 July 2018
Alan Lenton is an on-line games designer, programmer and sociologist,
the order of which depends on what he is currently working on! His web
site is at http://www.ibgames.net/alan.
Past issues of Winding Down can be found at
http://www.ibgames.net/alan/winding/index.html.
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