Fed2 Star - August 19, 2018 - page 1 (of 2)
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Fiona Craig
Aug 19, 2018, 5:25:25 AM8/19/18
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Fed2 Star
Earthdate August 19, 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
In this week’s Fed2 Star: the Star takes another break, the US
government plans to set up a space force, moderate drinking is better
for you than no drinking at all, tracking device on bird misused to make
expensive phone calls, a company offers job candidates an interview
inside the Fortnite game, new portable fingerprint scan will let London
cops identify crooks immediately, crazy golf gorilla statue upsets
locals, a robot that can build things out of Lego, and a picture of the
Parker space probe taking off. Plus Winding Down, the tech newsletter
from Alan.
Official News part one
NO FED2 STAR NEXT WEEK
by Hazed
I wasn’t kidding when I moaned about there being a dearth of news last
week. We are fully in the midst of the summer slowdown and it was a
struggle to find enough stories to fill this edition.
Which makes it just as well that we’re not publishing next week. It’s a
holiday weekend in the UK – the August bank holiday which is the last
public holiday until Christmas. Traditionally, it rains all weekend, but
although the unexpected hot spell has abated for now it is due to return
so it looks like we may actually get sunshine for the holiday weekend,
for a change.
We’d better fire up our BBQs!
The Star will be back on Sunday September 2.
REAL LIFE IMITATES FED: PLANS FOR A US SPACE FORCE ANNOUNCED
by Hazed
US Vice President Mike Pence announced last week that the government is
moving ahead with plans for a Space Force.
Many science fiction fans would have imagined soldiers in spacesuits,
firing rayguns at each other; or maybe spaceships equipped with lasers
engaged in battles.
I immediately though of Fed’s own Imperial Navy, which keeps the
spaceways clear of pirates and defends against interlopers to our galaxy
– in particular watching out for attempts at infiltration by Martian
spaceships from the edges of known space – although I based the idea of
the Imperial Navy on the British Air Force as seen in WWII war films,
rather than the American Top Gun-style force.
But the reality isn’t going to be anything like as exciting as that, as
space scientists commented. Todd Harrison, director of the Aerospace
Security Project and the director of Defense Budget Analysis at the
Center for Strategic and International Studies, explained: “While it’s
fun to joke about Star Wars and fighting aliens, the reality is that a
space ‘warfighter’ sits in a windowless control room staring at computer
monitors all day.”
Laura Grego, senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists’
Global Security Program, said: “We just don’t have dedicated weapons,
and we’re not shooting at each other.”
The purpose of the proposed Space Force will be to protect American
interests in orbit: satellites for GPS, weather forecasting,
communication and reconnaissance. President Trump wants the US to
dominate space; other countries are pushing ahead with space programs,
including satellite and missile programmes, and while it’s unlikely any
of them will catch up to the US efforts soon, clearly Trump wants to
make sure that the US military is the dominant force.
Right now, the country’s military space-related activities are split
between the Air Force, Navy, Army and intelligence agencies. Adding a
new branch to the military, the Space Force, would consolidate these
activities, which currently suffer from poor coordination amongst the
separate space programs.
A new civilian position, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space
(what a great job title), will oversee the work of consolidating the
various space programs and setting up the Space Force.
But none of this is going to happen soon – Pence’s report said the
legislative proposal for the Space Force will be put before Congress in
2020.
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-45171311
REAL LIFE NEWS: SEE, I TOLD YOU DRINKING (IN MODERATION) WAS GOOD FOR YOU!
by Hazed
Another study has come out which confirms previous findings, that
moderate drinking has benefits – more so than not drinking at all.
A study shows that the risk of dementia increases for middle-aged people
if they drink too much (more than 14 units a week), as you would expect,
but it also increases if they abstain altogether.
Researchers followed over 9,000 British civil servants who were aged
between 35 and 55 in 1985. They had all signed up to a long-term
investigation into how work, stress and lifestyle affected their health.
One of the diseases the scientists were interested in was dementia.
The participants had their alcohol consumption tracked over the course
of the 17 years that the study ran, by answering regular questionnaires.
At the end of the study, the health of the participants was followed up
and over a mean period of 23 years there were 397 cases of dementia,
diagnosed at an average age of 76.
Those that did not drink at all had a higher chance of getting dementia
than those who drank between 1 and 14 units a week – but only if the
booze the moderate drinkers drank was wine. To make things more
confusing, beer-drinkers didn’t see the same effect.
So the moral is: if you want to stave of dementia, drink a little, and
make it wine not beer.
Source: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/02/uk_booze_study/
REAL LIFE NEWS: BIRD TRACKING SIM STOLEN THEN USED TO RACK UP BIG BILL
by Hazed
A charity in Poland has been landed with a big telephone bill, after a
tracking device on a white stork was stolen and the sim card used to
make lots of expensive calls.
Grupa EkoLogiczna attached the tracking device, which contained a sim
card and a GPS unit, to the back of the bird in April 2017 while it was
spending the spring in Poland. The intention was to track the progress
of the stork, which was given the name Kajtka by the scientists, as it
migrated south to Africa.
Kajtka made the trip safely and then in February this year it started to
head north to spend time in Europe once again. After ten days, the stork
had reached the Blue Nile valley in Sudan. The tracker shows the bird
stopped there and did not move again. Presumably something unpleasant
had happened to Kajtka, and the bird had died.
Then things got odd. After ten days the signal showed the tracker moving
again. It took a 16 mile trip on a rather circuitous route, and then
went dead.
Then in June, the charity got a shock when their mobile phone company
sent them a bill for Kajtka’s tracker, which showed it had been used for
20 hours of expensive phone calls.
The assumption is that after the stork died, someone found the tracker,
took it apart, and then started to use the sim to make free phone calls.
The bill came to 10,000 zloty (£2,010, $2,648).
Source: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/07/03/stork_mobile_theft/
REAL LIFE NEWS: JOB INTERVIEW CONDUCTED IN VIDEO GAME
by Hazed
It’s not often that skill in playing computer games is a factor when
being interviewed for a job, but a French marketing agency wants
applicants for an internship to have an interview while playing Fortnite.
The company, Dare.Win, says that the game-play fits with its
entertainment-focused brand, so it is asking those who are interested in
the position to log onto the game and play with the company, meanwhile
discussing the opportunity.
Anyone interested in the job who doesn’t want to play Fortnite can apply
in the traditional way via email.
Well, back when Fed had paid members of staff, we recruited from the
players and interviewed them in Fed, so I guess we were way ahead of the
time!
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-45184151
REAL LIFE NEWS: LONDON POLICE DEVELOP PORTABLE FINGERPRINT SCANNER
by Hazed
The Metropolitan Police Service in London has developed its own mobile
fingerprint device. Using an Android phone connected to a fingerprint
scanner and using software developed in-house, the device will check
police and immigration databases and confirm the identity of suspects
within 60 seconds – assuming they are known to the police. The force
plans to roll out 600 new devices to its officers.
The Met’s press release (see link below) touts the benefits of this
technology as something that will save the time of officers, who won’t
have to take suspects back to the police station to get their prints
checked. This will also save money.
It says the technology will only be used where there is legal cause, and
gives the example of police stopping a driver for a traffic offence who
has no documents on him. If they can confirm his identity he can be
issued a summons right away rather than being arrested and taken to a
police station. Of course, that depends on his prints being in the database.
This all sounds very positive. But police forces in general are
notorious for “mission creep” where they find new uses for a technology
that push the boundaries of what they are allowed to do by law. How’s
this for a scenario: police stop somebody for whatever reason
(legitimate or not) and the person does have ID on them. Nevertheless,
the police take their fingerprints, and run their checks. No matches are
found – but now those prints are in the police database, linked to the
person’s identity. I am sure the authorities would be delighted to see
the database extended to include prints of all citizens – just for our
protection, you understand. After all, if you’ve done nothing wrong,
you’ve got nothing to fear!
Source:
http://news.met.police.uk/news/met-develops-mobile-fingerprint-device-to-save-time-and-public-money-317200
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/15/met_police_mobile_fingerprint_scanners_600_by_2019/
Earthdate August 19, 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
In this week’s Fed2 Star: the Star takes another break, the US
government plans to set up a space force, moderate drinking is better
for you than no drinking at all, tracking device on bird misused to make
expensive phone calls, a company offers job candidates an interview
inside the Fortnite game, new portable fingerprint scan will let London
cops identify crooks immediately, crazy golf gorilla statue upsets
locals, a robot that can build things out of Lego, and a picture of the
Parker space probe taking off. Plus Winding Down, the tech newsletter
from Alan.
Official News part one
NO FED2 STAR NEXT WEEK
by Hazed
I wasn’t kidding when I moaned about there being a dearth of news last
week. We are fully in the midst of the summer slowdown and it was a
struggle to find enough stories to fill this edition.
Which makes it just as well that we’re not publishing next week. It’s a
holiday weekend in the UK – the August bank holiday which is the last
public holiday until Christmas. Traditionally, it rains all weekend, but
although the unexpected hot spell has abated for now it is due to return
so it looks like we may actually get sunshine for the holiday weekend,
for a change.
We’d better fire up our BBQs!
The Star will be back on Sunday September 2.
REAL LIFE IMITATES FED: PLANS FOR A US SPACE FORCE ANNOUNCED
by Hazed
US Vice President Mike Pence announced last week that the government is
moving ahead with plans for a Space Force.
Many science fiction fans would have imagined soldiers in spacesuits,
firing rayguns at each other; or maybe spaceships equipped with lasers
engaged in battles.
I immediately though of Fed’s own Imperial Navy, which keeps the
spaceways clear of pirates and defends against interlopers to our galaxy
– in particular watching out for attempts at infiltration by Martian
spaceships from the edges of known space – although I based the idea of
the Imperial Navy on the British Air Force as seen in WWII war films,
rather than the American Top Gun-style force.
But the reality isn’t going to be anything like as exciting as that, as
space scientists commented. Todd Harrison, director of the Aerospace
Security Project and the director of Defense Budget Analysis at the
Center for Strategic and International Studies, explained: “While it’s
fun to joke about Star Wars and fighting aliens, the reality is that a
space ‘warfighter’ sits in a windowless control room staring at computer
monitors all day.”
Laura Grego, senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists’
Global Security Program, said: “We just don’t have dedicated weapons,
and we’re not shooting at each other.”
The purpose of the proposed Space Force will be to protect American
interests in orbit: satellites for GPS, weather forecasting,
communication and reconnaissance. President Trump wants the US to
dominate space; other countries are pushing ahead with space programs,
including satellite and missile programmes, and while it’s unlikely any
of them will catch up to the US efforts soon, clearly Trump wants to
make sure that the US military is the dominant force.
Right now, the country’s military space-related activities are split
between the Air Force, Navy, Army and intelligence agencies. Adding a
new branch to the military, the Space Force, would consolidate these
activities, which currently suffer from poor coordination amongst the
separate space programs.
A new civilian position, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space
(what a great job title), will oversee the work of consolidating the
various space programs and setting up the Space Force.
But none of this is going to happen soon – Pence’s report said the
legislative proposal for the Space Force will be put before Congress in
2020.
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-45171311
REAL LIFE NEWS: SEE, I TOLD YOU DRINKING (IN MODERATION) WAS GOOD FOR YOU!
by Hazed
Another study has come out which confirms previous findings, that
moderate drinking has benefits – more so than not drinking at all.
A study shows that the risk of dementia increases for middle-aged people
if they drink too much (more than 14 units a week), as you would expect,
but it also increases if they abstain altogether.
Researchers followed over 9,000 British civil servants who were aged
between 35 and 55 in 1985. They had all signed up to a long-term
investigation into how work, stress and lifestyle affected their health.
One of the diseases the scientists were interested in was dementia.
The participants had their alcohol consumption tracked over the course
of the 17 years that the study ran, by answering regular questionnaires.
At the end of the study, the health of the participants was followed up
and over a mean period of 23 years there were 397 cases of dementia,
diagnosed at an average age of 76.
Those that did not drink at all had a higher chance of getting dementia
than those who drank between 1 and 14 units a week – but only if the
booze the moderate drinkers drank was wine. To make things more
confusing, beer-drinkers didn’t see the same effect.
So the moral is: if you want to stave of dementia, drink a little, and
make it wine not beer.
Source: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/02/uk_booze_study/
REAL LIFE NEWS: BIRD TRACKING SIM STOLEN THEN USED TO RACK UP BIG BILL
by Hazed
A charity in Poland has been landed with a big telephone bill, after a
tracking device on a white stork was stolen and the sim card used to
make lots of expensive calls.
Grupa EkoLogiczna attached the tracking device, which contained a sim
card and a GPS unit, to the back of the bird in April 2017 while it was
spending the spring in Poland. The intention was to track the progress
of the stork, which was given the name Kajtka by the scientists, as it
migrated south to Africa.
Kajtka made the trip safely and then in February this year it started to
head north to spend time in Europe once again. After ten days, the stork
had reached the Blue Nile valley in Sudan. The tracker shows the bird
stopped there and did not move again. Presumably something unpleasant
had happened to Kajtka, and the bird had died.
Then things got odd. After ten days the signal showed the tracker moving
again. It took a 16 mile trip on a rather circuitous route, and then
went dead.
Then in June, the charity got a shock when their mobile phone company
sent them a bill for Kajtka’s tracker, which showed it had been used for
20 hours of expensive phone calls.
The assumption is that after the stork died, someone found the tracker,
took it apart, and then started to use the sim to make free phone calls.
The bill came to 10,000 zloty (£2,010, $2,648).
Source: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/07/03/stork_mobile_theft/
REAL LIFE NEWS: JOB INTERVIEW CONDUCTED IN VIDEO GAME
by Hazed
It’s not often that skill in playing computer games is a factor when
being interviewed for a job, but a French marketing agency wants
applicants for an internship to have an interview while playing Fortnite.
The company, Dare.Win, says that the game-play fits with its
entertainment-focused brand, so it is asking those who are interested in
the position to log onto the game and play with the company, meanwhile
discussing the opportunity.
Anyone interested in the job who doesn’t want to play Fortnite can apply
in the traditional way via email.
Well, back when Fed had paid members of staff, we recruited from the
players and interviewed them in Fed, so I guess we were way ahead of the
time!
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-45184151
REAL LIFE NEWS: LONDON POLICE DEVELOP PORTABLE FINGERPRINT SCANNER
by Hazed
The Metropolitan Police Service in London has developed its own mobile
fingerprint device. Using an Android phone connected to a fingerprint
scanner and using software developed in-house, the device will check
police and immigration databases and confirm the identity of suspects
within 60 seconds – assuming they are known to the police. The force
plans to roll out 600 new devices to its officers.
The Met’s press release (see link below) touts the benefits of this
technology as something that will save the time of officers, who won’t
have to take suspects back to the police station to get their prints
checked. This will also save money.
It says the technology will only be used where there is legal cause, and
gives the example of police stopping a driver for a traffic offence who
has no documents on him. If they can confirm his identity he can be
issued a summons right away rather than being arrested and taken to a
police station. Of course, that depends on his prints being in the database.
This all sounds very positive. But police forces in general are
notorious for “mission creep” where they find new uses for a technology
that push the boundaries of what they are allowed to do by law. How’s
this for a scenario: police stop somebody for whatever reason
(legitimate or not) and the person does have ID on them. Nevertheless,
the police take their fingerprints, and run their checks. No matches are
found – but now those prints are in the police database, linked to the
person’s identity. I am sure the authorities would be delighted to see
the database extended to include prints of all citizens – just for our
protection, you understand. After all, if you’ve done nothing wrong,
you’ve got nothing to fear!
Source:
http://news.met.police.uk/news/met-develops-mobile-fingerprint-device-to-save-time-and-public-money-317200
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/15/met_police_mobile_fingerprint_scanners_600_by_2019/
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