On Monday, a federal appeals court sided against a former Philadelphia police officer who has been in jail 17 months because he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against compelled self-incrimination. He had refused to comply with a court order commanding him to unlock two hard drives the authorities say contain child porn.
Francis Rawls
The 3-0 decision (PDF) by the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals means that the suspect, Francis Rawls, likely will remain jailed indefinitely or until the order (PDF) finding him in contempt of court is lifted or overturned. However, he still can comply with the order and unlock two FileVault encrypted drives connected to his Apple Mac Pro. Using a warrant, authorities seized those drives from his residence in 2015. While Rawls could get out from under the contempt order by unlocking those drives, doing so might expose him to other legal troubles.
In deciding against Rawls, the court of appeals found that the constitutional rights against being compelled to testify against oneself were not being breached. That's because the appeals court, like the police, said that the presence of child porn on his drives was a "foregone conclusion." The Fifth Amendment, at its most basic level, protects suspects from being forced to disclose incriminating evidence. In this instance, however, the authorities said they already know there's child porn on the drives, so Rawls' constitutional rights aren't compromised.
NASA has an extraordinarily popular Twitter account. With 22.4 million followers, it ranks among the top 60 accounts on all of Twitter. It is the only US government agency to come remotely close to the top 100, which mostly consists of celebrities. It is, therefore, a bastion of science, space, and reason in a sea of reality TV, late night television, and sports stars.
During the last several years, one of the NASA Twitter feed's most common hashtags has been #JourneyToMars, representative of the agency's stated goal of sending humans to Mars in the 2030s. The "Journey to Mars" had been a frequent talking point for Administrator Charles Bolden and other agency leaders. They talked about the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft as key components of this mission.
But on the day Donald Trump became president and Bolden left his post as administrator, NASA has essentially stopped tweeting about the Journey to Mars. In the half-dozen months prior to President Trump's inauguration, the @NASA account used the #JourneyToMars hashtag, on average, about six times a month. However, NASA's main account has used it on Twitter just once since the new POTUS took office.
Reflections on the epic intergalactic sexcapades of Mass Effect titles past.
Enlarge/ Spoiler alert: there's no Shepard without Vakarian. (credit: Bioware / EA)
I’m writing this story somewhat under duress, since we’ve just spent the last 20 minutes in the Ars Slack debating the wrongness of Polygon’s rank of the “most bangable aliens in Mass Effect." That list posits (spoiler alert) that the drell are the most sexually desirable race in the Mass Effect universe, which is so wrong as to be a literal offense to God. Everyone knows that the only correct choice for making the Rigellian laborbeast with two backs in Mass Effect is a turian—specifically, one special top-shelf turian named Garrus “Archangel” Vakarian—and the only reason you can’t bang Garrus as a dude Shepard is because the resulting bromance-romance would shake the pillars of heaven, and then the game would be over because what kind of finale could top that?
After I’d typed all that out, there was a momentary digital silence in the channel. Then Ars editor Nate Anderson told me that I’d just volunteered myself to write a response, based on the fact that I seem to have the most experience with what Mass Effect aficionados refer to as “banging" (NSFW). I've played the original trilogy more times than the average bear, with at least 300 hours in each of the three games. So pull up a chair, friend, and let’s talk about sex. Nasty, alien sex.
Boy or girl, there’s only one choice in Mass Effect, and that’s Liara, the blue-hued monogendered omnisexual scientist with a love for all things Prothean and a thirst for all things Commander Shepard. Yeah, sure, if you’re timid, you could have picked Kaiden or Ashley, but who wants to date Carth Onasi II or Ashley the Space Racist?
Archaeologists find evidence that humans cooked and ate humans in an ancient cave.
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology
The Mesolithic period in Europe, roughly 10,000 years ago, was a tumultuous time. Small groups of hunter-gatherers were undergoing a dramatic cultural transformation, making increasingly sophisticated stone tools with wooden components. They were on the cusp of the agricultural revolution, which would grant them a broader range of nutrition sources and greater food security. The environment was changing, too: the Ice Age was over, but the mid-Pleistocene warming period had not yet begun. And in a cave near the coast of Alicante, Spain, 120km south of Valencia, groups of humans began to engage in occasional acts of cannibalism.
In a recent paper for Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, University of Valencia anthropologist Juan V. Morales-Pérez and colleagues describe their discovery of human bones covered in marks that suggest what they delicately refer to as "anthropophagic practices." Carbon dating suggests we're looking at meals from at least two different events between 10,000 and 9,000 years ago. Though 30 different human bones are buried in the cave, the researchers write that there are skull remains from only three individuals: a heavyset person, a more diminutive one, and an infant (the infant skull shows no sign of cannibalism). At at minimum, then, two people were eaten, and possibly several more. There are no signs of violence, so these people were probably eaten after death.
Google has released a new beta of Android 7.1.2 for a handful of devices, and while this is a bug fix update for the most part, there’s good news for folks still using 2015-era Nexus 6P smartphones. Android 7.1.2 beta 2 build NPG47I brings fingerprint gesture support to that phone. It’s a feature that first […]
Google has released a new beta of Android 7.1.2 for a handful of devices, and while this is a bug fix update for the most part, there’s good news for folks still using 2015-era Nexus 6P smartphones. Android 7.1.2 beta 2 build NPG47I brings fingerprint gesture support to that phone. It’s a feature that first […]
On Monday, IBM announced a new version of its enterprise-grade deployment of IBM Blockchain (Blockchain offers companies the ability to create, run, and monitor distributed ledgers on IBM’s cloud). The company also announced several commercial applications of IBM Blockchain that are either already in existence or will soon be deployed by a wide range of companies, including authentication provider SecureKey, financial-services company Northern Trust, and a Chinese carbon-allowance trading company.
The blockchain concept was popularized by Bitcoin, the virtual currency that uses a distributed ledger to track transactions, which can be verified by any member of the group. In the wake of Bitcoin’s popularity, IBM and other large companies across various industries started molding blockchain software to apply to purposes beyond exchanging money. These purposes could include tracking shipments across the globe, providing transparency to credit default swaps, or verifying identities across multiple banks.
Could a historical speeding conviction see Kim Dotcom kicked out of New Zealand if the case to extradite him to the United States fails? That’s the situation faced by the Megaupload founder, as an investigation into how he became a resident in the country after not declaring a traffic offense turns two-and-a-half years old.
Anyone who knows Kim Dotcom knows that he loves his family, he loves money, he loves the Internet, and he loves cars.
Many of the Megaupload founder’s online videos feature a combination of these things but the latter could yet prove a serious problem for the entrepreneur.
It began on September 10, 2009 when a police radar gun logged Dotcom doing 149km/h (92mph) in a 50km/h (30mph) zone in New Zealand. Dotcom, who was reportedly driving a 3.6-liter AMG Mercedes, was chased by police who eventually caught him about a mile later near to the Coatesville mansion he used to call home.
Dotcom described his driving as a “stupid mistake” and pleaded guilty four days later by letter. He said that he had been testing a new car and had got a bit carried away.
“When spoken to by police the defendant stated he had seen an 80km/h sign. He further stated that he stepped on the gas for 3-4 seconds and then braked and reduced his speed to the speed limit. He also stated he wanted to test the acceleration of the vehicle,” police records state.
Dotcom was fined $500 plus $130 costs and banned from driving for six months but there were to be greater complications. Dotcom failed to declare the motoring conviction on his New Zealand residency application, which he completed eight months after the offense.
In the blurred image below previously released under the Official Information Act, item three shows a ‘No’ response to the question “Have you or any of your family members included in your application, ever been: Convicted of an offense including traffic offenses committed within the last five years, involving dangerous driving [or] driving having consumed excessive alcohol.”
Back in 2015, it was reported that the Immigration Minister would decide within a month whether Dotcom would be allowed to remain in New Zealand or be kicked out of the country – with his family – for failing to make the declaration.
Somewhat bizarrely, however, more than two years later and the case is still ongoing. According to the NZHerald, the case is now in its 29th month and is set to be the “longest, most drawn out investigation of its type.”
As always in matters involving Dotcom, the entrepreneur believes there is a conspiracy bubbling away in the background. He’s describing the inquiry into his non-disclosure as “Plan B” to get him out of the country, a simple deportation if the attempted extradition to the United States (Plan A) fails.
“It is a back and forth with [Immigration New Zealand]. They ask questions, we answer. We asked them what their determination is and they came back with more questions,” Dotcom says.
“I guess they are slow playing this so that they can time their decision according to the final appeal decision in the extradition matter.”
Of course, Dotcom says he’s preparing for a fight if things get out of hand. He’s promising “years of court battles” if a decision is taken to deport him, adding that his team is “confident” it will prevail. At this stage, no one would expect anything less.
The drama over this speeding conviction represents another episode in an amazing few years for Dotcom, a wild story that isn’t over yet. His life to date will soon be available on the silver screen in the movie Kim Dotcom: Caught in the Web, but it’s clear that this will have to be a two-parter, if it’s to recount the full tale.
Solid State Drives are faster, quieter, sturdier, and more energy efficient than spinning hard drives. But they’re also more expensive, which is why most reasonably priced laptops with SSDs have just 128GB or 256GB of storage, while laptops with HDDs often have 500GB or 1TB. Willing to trade some of the benefits of an […]
Solid State Drives are faster, quieter, sturdier, and more energy efficient than spinning hard drives. But they’re also more expensive, which is why most reasonably priced laptops with SSDs have just 128GB or 256GB of storage, while laptops with HDDs often have 500GB or 1TB. Willing to trade some of the benefits of an […]
The littlest SUV has quirky charm and coped like a champ in the snow.
Although we usually cover our own travel costs, in this case that was not an option; flights and two nights' accommodation on this trip to Portland were paid for by Mini.
Mini: an adjective "denoting a miniature version of something." When you think of the word in conjunction with cars, the small city car springs to mind. Perhaps it's not quite a description one associates with the crossover or SUV, but those are the vehicles that consumers are demanding, which is why we traveled to Portland, Oregon, to try out the all-new 2017 Mini Cooper Countryman. It's the biggest Mini ever—more of a Maxi, really—but it's also the most practical car in Mini's range. What's more, it's fun to drive, something that can't be said of most of the breed, and a plug-in hybrid version is even on the way, although we won't see that until June.
In Gewerbegebieten gibt es eine Förderung des Bundes für den Ausbau von Fiber To The Home. Diese wird gut angenommen, dennoch gibt es ein Problem. (Glasfaser, Internet)
In Gewerbegebieten gibt es eine Förderung des Bundes für den Ausbau von Fiber To The Home. Diese wird gut angenommen, dennoch gibt es ein Problem. (Glasfaser, Internet)
In Gewerbegebieten gibt es eine Förderung des Bundes für den Ausbau von Fiber To The Home. Diese wird gut angenommen, dennoch gibt es ein Problem. (
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