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Hayabusa 2 had landed. And is hopping.
The story of an asteroid, one space probe, and two robot rovers. About 200 million miles from Earth the JAXA space probe Hayabusa2 (Japanese language site; English language site; Wikipedia) has landed two tiny rovers on top of a very small asteroid, 162173 Ryugu. The rovers (named 1A and 1B) are now hopping on Ryugu's surface, taking photos, and sending them back to Earth via Hayabusa2 in orbit.
Because I still see the boy.
Survivors of Vermont orphanage abuse come forward. Christine Kenneally investigates horrific stories of child abuse by nuns at a Burlington orphanage and the subsequent legal struggles.
Content warning: violence against, torture, rape, murder of children. (SLBuzzfeed)
"it will be a very cold day in hell"
The statue of Baphomet... is seated and accompanied by two smiling children. The Satanic Temple (previously) has deployed a statue of "a goat-headed, winged creature" in Little Rock, Arkansas, right near the Capitol building. The idea is to challenge the government for recently erecting a Ten Commandments statue.
One hundred years ago the tide finally turned
The Allies started the final offensive on the Western Front. On August 8, 1918 began what history would call the Hundred Days Offensive; it would end WWI's terrible Western Front before the year was out. In front of Amiens a Canadian, Australian, British, American, and French attack used tanks and air power to drive deeply into German lines, winning surprise, causing panic, and capturing many prisoners. Shortly afterward the German command realized the war was over.
AI nationalism or AI without borders?
New Manhattan Projects. Ian Hogarth (Twitter) explores how increasingly important AI can play a role in a new geopolitics.
He asked me to leave him on, because otherwise he would be scared
"Eight participants felt sorry for the robot, because it told them about its fears of the darkness." Scientists asked subjects to interact with a robot, then turn it off. Some of the robots protested, and people responded in different ways.
The west isn't necessarily the best
What are higher education deserts? The Chronicle of Higher Education explores where and which Americans are the farthest away from colleges and universities.
The Urban Institute offered a somewhat different approach, combining geography and broadband.
The American Council on Education focused on geography, but used a different model to yield different results.
The Urban Institute offered a somewhat different approach, combining geography and broadband.
The American Council on Education focused on geography, but used a different model to yield different results.
This week in space
New images of the universe. Beyond our solar system, one team of astronomers imaged the first ever photo of a planet being formed (study). Citizen scientists created this image of Jupiter's northern hemisphere, based on the Juno spacecraft's raw image feed. Meanwhile, the Dawn probe offered a new set of closeups of Ceres.
"Retreat? Hell, we just got here!"
The battle of the "Bois de la Brigade de Marine". One hundred years ago United States Marines fought the brutal Battle of Belleau Wood. As the Allies struggled to contain the German spring offensive (previously), a Marine force and a French unit turned back a German attack, then drove them out of a dense, small forest, suffering nearly ten thousand casualties. Ever since Belleau Wood has been legendary in American military culture.
CAPTURED THE TOWN OF CANTIGNY ON MAY 28 1918 AND HELD IT
100 years ago today the United States launched its first offensive in World War One. In the Battle of Cantigny the First Division attacked a ruined French town, then held it against a German counterattack. France provided direction, advice, air cover, and more hardware. Although a minor action, it was an American victory, so Cantigny proved to the Allies, the Central Powers, and the rest of the world that American forces could actually fight well in modern war.
Much larger and more terrible battles would lie ahead in the coming months.
En-route to Trincomalee. Approximately 14018 miles to go
Taking the long war round Starting in late 1941 Pan Am flight 18602, the California Clipper, flew to New York via an unusual route.
(part 2, part 3)
a startling gesture, a toast to unsuicide
Now the fate of trees, and of the whole world forest, is squarely in our machine-amplified hands. A new interview with novelist Richard Powers touches on the uses of fiction, the importance of awe, the relationship between technology and nature, and the resistance to Trump, among others. (via)
Kaiserschlacht
The beginning of the end of World War I. One hundred years ago today the German empire launched Operation Michael, a vast offensive aimed at cracking the Allied armies in France and winning the First World War.
German forces, bolstered by armies freed up from the defeat of Russia's empire in the east, fought to win as much ground as possible before American armies arrived in strength. "Paris guns" lobbed giant shells into that city from 75 miles away. It was possibly the largest military attack in human history by that point.
The ultimate digital detox
"A totally true account of a time I went off-line." Vann R. Newkirk II decides to outdo Farhad Manjoo.
The pieces are all there to create an entirely different world history.
"Those same pioneering humans who colonised much of the planet also experimented with an enormous variety of social arrangements." In a new article Davids Graeber and Wengrow argue that popularly accepted models of human history are now outmoded by archaeological findings.
I call it the Higgs boson of the social brain
“Would you like to share a hug?” "Are we living through a crisis of touch?" asks novelist Paula Cocozza. Along the way she touches on nerve endings, legal concerns, cuddle centers (previously), cuddlebots, wire mothers, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, hypervigilance, loneliness, and yoga.
May it be a refuge and a mirror.
A Silent Place launches. The new project by Jonathan Harris consists of slightly animated, slightly interactive images, displayed slowly and with a meditative soundtrack. The images are drawings of and inspired by Utah-area pictographs.
For such arrangements and covenants we are willing to fight
100 years ago today, Woodrow Wilson publishes the Fourteen Points. In a speech to Congress, the president laid the groundwork for ending the First World War and establishing a new world order. The points range from secret treaties to national details to a call for what will become the League of Nations. (Yale Law, WikiSource)
Did the boomerang theory boomerang?
"the best evidence against our paper is that it keeps getting rejected." Daniel Engber explores the post-fact research and finds some significant opposition.
Previously (SLSlate)
Patriotic trolling
What Happens When the Government Uses Facebook as a Weapon? In Bloomberg News Lauren Etter dives deeply into how trolls, targeted abuse, fake news, fake accounts, and Facebook help strengthen Philippine president Duterte and go after his enemies.
although my voice was very unlike the soft music of their tones
Coditany of Timeness Two technologists trained a neural network to produce a black metal album.
They started with a pre-existing recording, cut it into tiny tracks, then taught the software to arrange the clips into convincing music. Here's their paper.
They started with a pre-existing recording, cut it into tiny tracks, then taught the software to arrange the clips into convincing music. Here's their paper.
His iron-clad fleet flowed forward
One hundred years ago today began the Battle of Cambrai. On November 20th, 1917, the British army launched the first massed tank attack in history. Nearly five hundred vehicles, accompanied by air power, poison gas, and swarms of infantry, slammed into German lines before the northern French city of Cambrai.
RAR in the classroom
The rise and decline of one college's student movement. Chris Bodenner chronicles the career of Reedies Against Racism.
(Reed College previously)
and I have one last nightmare about my last dream.
Telling Halloween stories with an AI. Shelley.ai is an MIT project training software to help write scary stories for Halloween inspired by r/NoSleep.
"that tremendous cataclysm which almost ruined Italy"
"It was a Caporetto." On this day 100 years ago, an Italian byword for disaster was born. Advancing through mist, a combined German/Austria-Hungarian attack surprised and shattered the Italian 2nd army, driving deeply into the Veneto Plain. Italian suffered almost 300,000 casualties, retreated nearly one hundred miles, and almost lost Venice.
Some days you are the dog and others you are the fire-plug.
"the silhouette of an RV in motion, with the corporation’s 'smile' logo"
The story of Amazon's CamperForce. Jessica Bruder describes a cadre of workers who are older, nomadic, and coping with financial disaster.
Prepare to add a very heartfelt dot, everyone
Rocket is fine?
How Not to Land an Orbital Rocket Booster SpaceX shares bad launching and landing experiences, with a soundtrack. (SLY) (via)
Closing down Chaos Manor
Jerry Pournelle, 1933-2017. Jerry Pournelle (Wikipedia) has died. He was an influential science fiction writer and editor, technology columnist, blogger, and political activist.
“People are so afraid of Google now.”
Did Google discipline a think tank it helps fund? A New America researcher praised the EU for scoring a massive judgement against Google, then NA's leader threatened to boot his job and team, according to Kenneth Vogel. As New America (previously) CEO Anne-Marie Slaughter (previously) put it, “just THINK about how you are imperiling funding for others.”
Those doomed, conscripted, unvictorious ones
The Battle of Passchendaele begins One hundred years ago today British imperial forces opened the Battle of Passchendaele, attacking German positions in an effort to win Channel ports and take pressure off of the mutiny-weakened French. Attacks would go on through November over sodden, hideous terrain, involving tanks, air power, artillery, and mustard gas. Fighting nearly exhausted both sides, costing hundreds of thousands of casualties for each, and yielding several miles of territory.
"Apparently there is not enough fake news for the US government"
"The Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs wants to start a fake Twitter feud." A Stanford law professor received an unusual request. A representative of a United States State Department office invited him to help stage a pretend spat via Twitter.
When Chinese and American AI rule the world
A new geopolitics based on emerging tech. After sharing some commonplaces about AI, Kai-Fu Lee (Carnegie Mellon, Microsoft, Google China, now venture capital) offers an intriguing idea. Maybe China and the United States will evolve into new forms of planetary hegemons thanks to their AI supremacy.
Mayors can’t start nuclear wars.
Red versus blue. Richard Florida calls for devolving American federal power to the cities, so that progressive and conservative urban areas can do their own thing.
There exists a music of the visual world.
Today's web toy. Google celebrates animator and filmmaker Oskar Wilhelm Fischinger (1900-1967) with a front page doodle.
AIB roasts, messaging, esports, on-demand bike sharing, USA Inc.
Mary Meeker releases her latest internet trends report. Using ad revenue as her lens, Meeker looks into technology trends for mobile, gaming, media, and health care. There are sections devoted to China, India, and the United States.
The U.S. Air Force began preparing for war on May 23, 1967
On this day, another atomic war scare. "a colossal solar radio burst" (McMath Plage Region 8818) hit important high-altitude sensors, and was interpreted as Soviet radio jamming, which could have been part of an unfolding attack. Space weather forecasters, aided by Pioneer 7, saved the day. (Abstract)
It's almost ok to grow or hold a little bit in Vermont.
Marijuana legalization takes a big step forward in a little state. Vermont's House passed a bill legalizing the growing and possession of small amounts of marijuana. The law also establishes a commission to study regulation and taxation of the plant. It's a compromise on many levels, including with the state's Senate's recently passed version.
Now it's up to state governor Phil Scott to sign or not.
Now it's up to state governor Phil Scott to sign or not.
"I did your job once. I was good at it."
A major economist has died
William Baumol, R.I.P. Best known for Baumol's cost disease, "one of the greatest of living economists" William Jack Baumol died at 95.
He did not, after all, have the formula.
One hundred years ago the Nivelle Offensive fails. In April 1917 the Allies launched an enormous attack on German forces designed to crack enemy lines in 48 hours and send them reeling back to the Rhine. General of French forces on the Western Front Robert Nivelle, a hero for his role in Verdun the previous year (previously), deployed a mix of tanks, artillery, air power, and multiple assaults across hundreds of miles. While some gained ground, the offensive, marred by leaks, a lack of leadership support, and bad tactical decisions, failed to break the Germans. Nivelle was fired and the offensive petered out. The human costs on both sides, including French, Germans, British, and Canadians, were very high.
Over there
100 years ago today the United States entered World War I Majorities in the House and Senate supported president Wilson's call to declare war on Germany.
Climate change is happening, but not to me
American attitudes towards climate change, mapped. The latest Yale Climate Opinion Map is out, mapping attitudes on a number of questions onto states, Congressional districts, metro areas, and counties.
Who gets what degree where?
Educational Attainment in America. Kyle Walker used US Census data, OpenStreetMap, and some programming to produce the visualization.
"WE have considered it right and proper to give up the Throne"
100 years ago today Russian tsar Nicholas II abdicated. The emperor, last Romanov ruler, beset by military catastrophes and social unrest, stepped down. He tried to offer the throne to his son, who was too fragile, then his brother, who demurred, paving the way for a provisional government. Within a year Russia would experience revolution and civil war, the Soviet state would be born, and Nicholas and his family all killed.
AT&T dismissed the idea that providers would redline
The Digital Redlining Of Cleveland A new report from the National Digital Inclusion Alliance finds that AT&T systematically deployed high speed technology to wealthier homes, while relegating poorer neighborhoods to the slowest connections.
Let the teaching begin!
Speech, protest, and violence at Middlebury College. On March 2nd, Charles Murray, American Enterprise Institute fellow and author of The Bell Curve (1994), visited Middlebury College to give a talk on Coming Apart (2012).
"it's a rather astonishing message which might do the trick"
100 years ago this week, the Zimmermann telegram went public. In January 1917 the German government invited Mexico to attack the United States, and suggested Japan play a role. While Mexico demurred, Britain's signals intelligence office caught and decrypted the coded message, then gave it to American diplomats, who soon published it in newspapers. Several weeks later Arthur Zimmermann, Germany's State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, publicly confirmed the telegram's authorship and contents.
In a few months, based on the telegram and other issues, president Wilson took America into World War One.
TECHIE AMONG THREE BURNT ALIVE IN GARUDA BUS MISHAP
"In one occupational boogeyman, Bangaloreans can see their future and their fears." IT worker as hated yet envied figure in India. Is this about class divides, cultural gaps, ecological stress, spousal abuse, or something else? (SLBloomberg)
A president's words. A supervillain's mouth.
Behold the Red Skull-Donald Trump mashup. D.M. Higgins replaces a classic Marvel villain's dialogue with choice president Trump quotes.