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aristarchus writes:Not breaking news, but a bit of intellectual history is always a pleasant distraction: the BBC on the House of Wisdom, and the introduction of Arabic numberals to Europe.How modern mathematics emerged from a lost Islamic library:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for aristarchus_:Bees Paint Animal Poo on Their Homes to Repel Giant Hornets:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:Roman subjects paid emperor piles of silver to leave them alone, inscription reveals:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:Russian 'doomsday' plane's radio equipment stolen by thieves:

MostCynical writes:The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the biggest overhaul of Australia's national security laws in four decades will see ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organisation — the nation's domestic intelligence agency) given powers to spy on Australians when they return from overseas and who had been working for a foreign power.Intelligence review recommends biggest overhaul of national security laws since 1980s:

Freeman writes:Cyberpunk 2077 could trigger seizures in photosensitive players [Updated]:

2020-12-09 23:23:24 UTC: Launch went smoothly as did ascent to altitude and leanover to "bellyflop" orientation. Was able to right itself back to vertical but had too much speed at time of reaching earth. Got big boom on impact. SN9 has been waiting patiently in the wings (as well as SN10 through SN15, in different degrees of completion). Which one will be next and how soon will it be? Can't wait to find out! --martyb2020-12-09 21:25:12 UTC: Tentative T-0 now at 4:40 PM CST / 2240 UTC.2020-12-09 21:03:13 UTC at T-02:06: "Clock paused. Standing by for new T-0."2020-12-09 20:44:45 UTC: SpaceX has put up a new live feed for their SN8 (Serial Number 8) Starship test flight. The feed is currently active; launch is expected in the next few minutes. --martybOriginal story follows.Read more of this story at SoylentNews.

Freeman writes:Tesla plans to raise another $5 billion as value soars above $600 billion:

Freeman writes:Grand theft GPU: $340,000 worth of RTX 3090s "fell off a truck" in China:

An Anonymous Coward writes:CentOS Linux 8 will end in 2021 and shifts focus to CentOS Stream:

Freeman writes:Cloudflare, Apple, and others back a new way to make the Internet more private:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Let's Encrypt Will Stop Working For Older Android Devices:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:How do we separate the factual from the possible? New research shows how our brain responds to both:

Uber Sells Off Self-Driving and Flying Taxi Unitstakyon writes:Uber sells its self-driving unit to Aurora

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:Ransomware operators have adopted a dastardly new strategy:

takyon writes:Armed police raid home of Florida scientist fired over Covid-19 data

takyon writes:New report reveals Apple's roadmap for when each Mac will move to Apple Silicon

takyon writes:Christopher Nolan Rips HBO Max as "Worst Streaming Service," Denounces Warner Bros.' Plan

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Famed pilot Chuck Yeager dies at age 97:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:Why Covid may mean more facial recognition tech:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Wormable, Zero-Click Vulnerability in Microsoft Teams:

looorg writes:WOZX. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is starting — okay he apparently started it over a year ago but it sort of didn't do anything — a new green company. The company has created its own cryptocurrency tokens to fund green tech.Steve Wozniak is starting another company, 45 years after co-founding Apple with Steve Jobs:

radical dreamer writes:In its weekly feature, This Week in History, the World Socialist Web Site, published by the ICFI and Socialist Equality Parties, reviewed the historic Galileo mission to Jupiter. This week in history: December 7-13,

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Quantum device performs 2.6 billion years of computation in 4 minutes:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Rise of the underdog: A neglected mechanism in antiferromagnets may be key to spintronics:

Freeman writes:https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/12/nsa-says-russian-state-hackers-are-using-a-vmware-flaw-to-ransack-networks/

Freeman writes:https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/12/fbi-used-patriot-act-to-gather-website-visitor-logs-in-2019-report-finds/

Freeman writes:https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/12/spacex-gets-886-million-from-fcc-to-subsidize-starlink-i

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:Scientists Say They've Identified The Best Place For Life to Have Existed on Mars:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:Hidden structure found in essential metabolic machinery:

canopic jug writes:[Ed note: this is a quite old story, but might lead to interesting discussion. What kind of simulators have you operated and how well did the prepare you for the real-life activity? Which ones were successful? Which ones were not?]Back in 2013, TopGear brought in simulation champion Greger Huttu from Vaasa, Finland to drive a real racing car to investigate how well simulator skills transfer to physical racing. In a nutshell the answer is quite well, aside from the motion sickness.

takyon writes:Vendors Finally Pair Ryzen CPUs and High-End GPUs In Laptops

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Meet the new generation of puzzle-makers bringing mystery to your door:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:How do archaeologists know where to dig?:

Several Soylentils, including aristarchus_, Runaway1956, c0lo, and an Anonymous Coward have submitted news about the departure of AI ethicist Timnit Gebru from Google.Timnit claims that she was fired while Google claims that she made certain demands and that, if they were not met, she would resign at a later date. Google accepted that resignation and made the date effective immediately.Timnit Gebru's actual paper may explain why Google ejected her:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:The Supreme Court will finally rule on controversial US hacking law:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Google illegally spied on workers before firing them, US labor board alleges:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:Physicists capture the sound of a "perfect" fluid:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for aristarchus_:Chang'e-5 ascender docks with orbital module in lunar orbit:

takyon writes:Asteroid capsule 'found' in Australian desert

takyon writes:China conducting biological tests to create super soldiers, US spy chief says

An Anonymous User wrote in with a story submission; it became this story.After analyzing 15 billion passwords, these are the most common phrases people use:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Baby's first breath triggers life-saving changes in the brain:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Psychology research shows 'water cooler talk' can have big benefits: A newly described behavior shows how small talk brings balance to collaborative conversations:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Lidar startup goes public, makes founder a billionaire:

An Anonymous Coward writes:Onion-Location

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:China announces expansion to weather modification program, artificial rain to cover area bigger than size of India - ABC News:

upstart writes:Researchers discover life in deep ocean sediments at or above water's boiling point:

Tokolosh writes:Blogger Daniel Lange takes a look at the Linux Foundation's 2020 annual report, and concludes that it was produced with Adobe, which is not available on Linux. Further sleuthing by a commentator reveals that the original was created on Microsoft Word. Stock images used for illustration mostly show Apple MacBooks. This is what you get for a $148 million annual budget.No dog food today - the Linux Foundation annual report.Original SubmissionRead more of this story at SoylentNews.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:The same vision for all primates: The world's smallest primate reveals the incredible preservation of our visual system through millions of years of evolution: