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Zusammen mit einem Kurierdienst wollen japanische Autohersteller ein System für den Akkutausch entwickeln. (Elektroauto, Technologie)
Zusammen mit einem Kurierdienst wollen japanische Autohersteller ein System für den Akkutausch entwickeln. (Elektroauto, Technologie) Scientists are closer than ever to understanding the phenomenon.
Enlarge / The boat trip went through an area of milky sea south of the lights of an island. (credit: Steven Miller, Leon Schommer, and Naomi McKinnon)
On some moonless nights, enormous patches of the Northwest Indian Ocean and seas around Indonesia begin to glow. This event has been witnessed by hundreds of sailors, but only one research vessel has ever, by pure chance, come across this bioluminescent phenomenon, known as milky seas. Thanks to that vessel, samples showed that the source of the light was a bacteria called V. harveyi, which had colonized a microalgae called Phaocystis. But that was back in 1988, and researchers have yet to be in the right place and the right time to catch one of these events again.
Both the bacteria and algae are common to those waters, so it’s not clear what triggers these rare events. To help understand why milky seas form, researchers have gotten much better at spotting these swaths of bioluminescence from the skies. With the help of satellites, Stephen Miller, a professor of atmospheric science, has been collecting both images and eyewitness accounts of milky seas for nearly 20 years. Thanks to improvements in the imaging capabilities over the past decades, Miller published a compilation last year of probable milky seas in the time frame of 2012 to 2021, including one occurrence south of Java, Indonesia, in summer 2019.
But these satellite observations lacked surface confirmation—that is, until the crew of the yacht Ganesha reached out to Miller with their first-hand account of what they had experienced during their trip through the seas around Java that August, which was recently published in PNAS. Their eyewitness corroboration—along with the first photographs of a milky sea—show that these satellites are indeed a powerful tool for spotting these events.
Werden wir künftig in Kartenhäusern wohnen? Eher nicht, aus Beton werden sie schon noch sein. Aber klimaschonender gebaut und vielleicht auch per 3D-Druck. Ein Bericht von Werner Pluta (Nachhaltigkeit, Technologie)
Werden wir künftig in Kartenhäusern wohnen? Eher nicht, aus Beton werden sie schon noch sein. Aber klimaschonender gebaut und vielleicht auch per 3D-Druck. Ein Bericht von Werner Pluta (Nachhaltigkeit, Technologie) Ein neuer Dokumentarfilm stellt die These auf, dass ohne Revolution und Umsturz des kapitalistischen Systems die Klimakrise nicht überwunden werden kann. Der Film zeigt auch, wie das gelingen könnte.
Der dritte Teil der Warcraft-Saga feiert 20. Geburtstag – und hat uns beim Wiederspielen orkisch viel Spaß gemacht. Von Andreas Altenheimer (Warcraft, Blizzard)
Der dritte Teil der Warcraft-Saga feiert 20. Geburtstag – und hat uns beim Wiederspielen orkisch viel Spaß gemacht. Von Andreas Altenheimer (Warcraft, Blizzard)
Reiner Schwalb über die Perspektiven nach fünf Monaten Krieg in der Ukraine, den Sinn von Waffenlieferungen und warum wir das Ende des Krieges nicht untätig abwarten sollten.
NuScale will get the final approval nearly six years after starting the process.
Enlarge / NuScale's reactor-in-a-can. (credit: NuScale)
On Friday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced that it would be issuing a certification to a new nuclear reactor design, making it just the seventh that has been approved for use in the US. But in some ways, it's a first: the design, from a company called NuScale, is a small modular reactor that can be constructed at a central facility and then moved to the site where it will be operated.
The move was expected after the design received an okay during its final safety evaluation in 2020.
Small modular reactors have been promoted as avoiding many of the problems that have made large nuclear plants exceedingly expensive to build. They're small enough that they can be assembled on a factory floor and then shipped to the site where they will operate, eliminating many of the challenges of custom, on-site construction. In addition, they're structured in a way to allow passive safety, where no operator actions are necessary to shut the reactor down if problems occur.
Der Finanzminister will der Mitte helfen und die kalte Progression neu justieren. Was ist mit den Rändern? Die Reichen und die Übergewinne sollen von der Steuer verschont bleiben. Und die Niedriglöhner?
Piracy lawsuits should be pretty straightforward. Rightsholders must provide solid evidence that someone shared a copy of their content without permission. However, in a piracy case filed by adult entertainment company Strike 3 the purported “Hollywood style quality” of the porn videos is now a topic of contention.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
Over the past several years, adult entertainment company Strike 3 Holdings has filed thousands of cases in US federal courts.
These lawsuits target people whose Internet connections were allegedly used to download and share copyright-infringing content via BitTorrent.
Many of these cases result in private settlements and are never heard of again. On occasion, however, a defendant decides to push back and a case filed against a “John Doe” at a Florida federal court is now on track to go to trial.
It’s quite unique for a ‘copyright troll’ case to be so heavily litigated. The prospect of a potential jury trial is even rarer but before the case gets that far there are some issues to resolve.
A few days ago, Strike 3 filed a motion asking the court to exclude an expert report from Mr. David Dickson, one of the defense witnesses. Mr. Dickson is a film director and producer who produced an expert report commenting on several claims made by Strike 3.
The report has little to do with copyright infringement. Instead, it relates to the purported quality of the adult movies, including a quote from the complaint which claims that the films are “produced with a Hollywood style budget and quality.”
Mr. Dickson counters this claim by pointing out that the budgets of Strike 3’s adult films range between $2,000 and $6,000. This is in line with other adult industry productions, but a far cry from the multi-million budgets of mainstream Hollywood productions. The films overall are on a different level too.
“It is fair to say that there is nothing ‘…high-end, artistic, and performer-inspiring…’ about Strike 3 movies or that the Strike 3 movies are ‘…produced with a Hollywood style budget and quality…’,” Dickson says.
The report goes on to cite the average wages of porn actors, the size of the film crew, and the originality of the scripts. Mr. Dickson even went as far as creating a table to show how the same location was used to shoot multiple films, which suggests factory line production.
“Unlike movies produced by the same director or the same studio, in these films I found that the same location shot was used in multiple movies. Shooting out of sequence is an industry standard technique but at this scale it suggests a factory line of production,” the report reads.
Mr. Dickson also points out that there is little originality in the productions and doubts that the actions of the actors and actresses in these films are actually copyrightable.
“There is no originality in pornographic movies because the producers have landed on a formula that requires no original and creative input but can be pressed out for the same effect every time,” Mr. Dickson writes.
The overall theme of the expert report is that Strike 3’s films are not to be compared with Hollywood productions, as the original complaint suggests.
It’s not clear how the defendant plans to use this testimony but it could help to show that Strike 3’s “Hollywood style” claims are overblown. In addition, it could help mitigate potential damages, if these are awarded.
Needless to say, Strike 3 isn’t pleased with this expert report. In a filing submitted a few days ago, the company asks the Florida federal court to exclude the opinions and testimony from the evidence.
The adult entertainment company argues that Mr. Dickson has zero experience in the industry and that this is evident from the opinions and conclusions in the report. As such, he is not qualified to be an expert.
According to Strike 3, the conclusions are wrong as well. For example, a statement referring to “Hollywood industry standards” would merely refer to the picture quality, which is 4K MP4 UHD.
That budgets are not comparable to Hollywood blockbusters is not disputed by Strike 3. However, the company points out that this is in part due to the length, the total number of all cast members, and the number of locations, that drive up the costs of Hollywood productions.
According to the adult entertainment company its content is top of the bill in the industry, as shown by the many XBIZ and AVN awards it has won.
The expert report also noted that, unlike Hollywood productions, Strike 3 never attempts to get an MPA rating for its films. However, Strike 3 notes that this would make no sense, as its films clearly aren’t intended for children.
“It is nonsensical for Strike 3 to seek ratings from the MPA, since all its works are universally geared towards adults. If anything, this criticism highlights again Mr. Dickson’s lack of knowledge of the adult motion picture industry,” Strike 3 notes.
The above is just a brief summary of the arguments from both sides and the defendant has yet to respond to Strike 3’s motion. However, it is clear that seemingly simple copyright cases can become quite complex.
In addition to the motion to exclude the expert report, both sides have also submitted motions for summary judgment in their favor. The court has yet to rule on these motions.
If either side is granted summary judgment there is no longer any need for a trial. At the same time, that would also end the discussion on the Hollywood-type characteristics of Strike 3’s films.
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A copy of Strike 3’s Motion to exclude the opinions and testimony of Mr. Dickson is available here (pdf)
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
Der dritte Teil der Warcraft-Saga feiert 20. Geburtstag - und hat uns beim Wiederspielen orkisch viel Spaß gemacht. Von Andreas Altenheimer (
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