Daily Archives: June 25, 2017

US Supreme Court Case First Amendment Battle: Separation of Church and State Vs. Free Exercise of Religion – Newsweek

Posted: June 25, 2017 at 1:52 pm

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to rule on Monday in a closely watched religious rights case involving limits on public funding for churches and other religious entities as the justices issue the final rulings of their current term.

The nine justices are due to rule in six cases, not including their decision expected in the coming days on whether to take up President Donald Trump's bid to revive his ban on travelers from six predominantly Muslim countries in which an emergency appeal is pending.

Of the remaining cases argued during the court's current term, which began in October, the most eagerly awaited one concerns a Missouri church backed by a conservative Christian legal group. The ruling potentially could narrow the separation of church and state.

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A decision in favor of Trinity Lutheran Church, located in Columbia, Missouri, set the stage for more public money to go to religious entities. The church sued after being denied state taxpayer funds for a playground improvement project because of a Missouri constitutional provision barring state funding for religious entities.

Trinity Lutheran could be headed for a lopsided win, with two liberal justices joining their conservative colleagues in signaling support during the April oral argument. It was one of the first in which Trump's conservative appointee to the court, Neil Gorsuch, participated.

The dispute pits two provisions of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment against each other: the guarantee of the free exercise of religion and the Establishment Clause requiring the separation of church and state.

A broad ruling backing the church could hearten religious conservatives who favor weakening the wall between church and state, including using taxpayer money to pay for children to attend private religious schools rather than public schools. President Donald Trump's education secretary, Betsy DeVos, is a leading supporter of such "school choice" plans.

FILE PHOTO: Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts (R) stands with associate Justice Neil Gorsuch during his investiture ceremony at the Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., June 15, 2017. Reuters

The most notable of three immigration-related cases in which rulings are due on Monday is a dispute over whether immigrants detained by the U.S. government for more than six months while deportation proceedings unfold should be able to request their release. The case takes on additional significance with Trump ratcheting up immigration enforcement, placing more people in detention awaiting deportation.

The court also is set to decide a case that could clarify the criminal acts for which legal immigrants may be deported. Another involves whether the family of a Mexican teenager shot dead while standing on Mexican soil by a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Texas can sue for civil rights violations.

As the justices look to finish work before their summer break, they must decide what to do with Trump's travel ban, which was blocked by lower courts. His administration has made an emergency request asking for the ban to go into effect while the litigation continues.

The March 6 executive order called for a 90-day ban on travelers from Libya, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen and a 120-day ban on all refugees entering the United States to let the government implement stronger vetting. Trump has said the order is needed urgently to prevent terrorism in the United States.

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FAQ | Jitsi

Posted: at 1:51 pm

Featured questions (hide)

How do I get the latest Jitsi source code?

You could either clone the Git repository from GitHub (see Retrieving and Building the Sources for details) or use one of the nightly source snapshots (check the Download page).

Ive discovered a bug, what can I do?

Please, report it to the developers! Take a look at the Reporting bugs guidelines page describing the steps to report bugs effectively.

Where is the user profile directory?

Jitsis user profile directory is where Jitsi keeps its configuration, logs, etc. Its location depends on the operating system.

Where do I find the log files?

The easiest way to get hold of the log files is to save them to a location of your choice using Jitsis GUI. You can do so by clicking on ToolsOptions (JitsiPreferences on OS X), then selecting the Advanced tab and opening the Logging form. Youll see the Archive Logs button in there.

Check out the screenshot for an even better description.

Important Note: When asked for logs, please make sure that you provide the full set of logs, or better yet, the zip that Jitsi generates when following the above instructions. Please do not send separate files or file snippets as those are likely to be insufficient. If you need to provide the logs for a GitHub issue, send them to Dev Mailing List and link to the thread in the archive or create a Gist and link to it. Please DO NOT paste the log as a comment.

Otherwise, if you really want to know, the log files are located in:

Where is the configuration file?

Jitsis main configuration file is called sip-communicator.properties and is in the user profile directory.

How do you spell Jitsi and what does it mean?

The correct spelling of the application name is Jitsi (jitsi also works). The origin of the name is Bulgarian (spelled ). It means wires and the point is that the application allow you to connect to many network and people just as wires do. Of course no one other than Bulgarians is supposed to know what this means and we picked the name mainly because it was short and sounded good.

Id like to see a new feature in Jitsi, can you do that for me?

Yes, developers take feature requests into account. Send an email to the development list with a detailed description of the requested feature. After we examine its feasibility and decide whether it can be included in the Jitsi distributions you would likely be asked to open a ticket in our issue tracker. It is worth mentioning though, that handling feature requests is highly dependent of the developers availability and there is no guarantee that all requests will be satisfied.

How do I subscribe to mailing lists?

Please visit the Mailing Lists page to learn more about Jitsis mailing lists.

How do I contact the project developers?

You can ask questions concerning usage of the Jitsi on the dev mailing list (Note that the mailing lists are moderated, so, unless you subscribe to them, there may be a delay before your post shows up). For all urgent queries you could also use IRC at irc.freenode.net, channel #jitsi.

How do I send a patch?

Mail patches to the dev mailing list, with a subject line that contains the word PATCH in all uppercase, for example

A patch submission should contain one logical change; please dont mix N unrelated changes in one submission, send N separate emails instead.

The patch itself should be generated from within the project root directory using unified diff format. The following example shows one way to generate it:

You should give your patch files meaningful names. For instance if you fix a socket bug in the foo class do not call your patch file patchfile.txt but instead call it foo-socket.patch.

If the patch implements a new feature, make sure to describe the feature completely in your mail; if the patch fixes a bug, describe the bug in detail and give a reproduction recipe. An exception to these guidelines is when the patch addresses a specific issue in the issues database in that case, just make sure to refer to the issue number in your log message.

Note that unless you are describing a change rather than posting one, we would probably need you to sign our contributor agreement as either an individual or a corporation

I would like to update this wiki - what can I do?

Currently, only project developers are permitted to update the wiki. Please send your suggested changes to the dev mailing list.

A wiki page can be updated by appending the string ?action=edit to the current url and refreshing the page. The page will then be displayed with an extra menu line that includes a Page Edit item.

If you click on the Page Edit item, you will be redirected to a logon page. Enter your developer username and password and you should be redirected back to the original page. Click on Page Edit again to access the source content of the page (a quick reference to wiki markup syntax is also displayed).

How do I reset my XMPP or jit.si password?

You can reset your jit.si password from within Jitsi. You can do the same for any XMPP account that allows it.

In the case of jit.si, you can also change your password via the web

Why cant I connect to ekiga.net?

NB: the problems described in this section also apply to other providers such as 1und1.de

Short Answer: The ekiga.net SIP servers are configured in a way that prevent Jitsi (and many other SIP user agents for that matter) to register with the service. Please use iptel.org or ippi.com instead.

Slightly Longer Answer: The service at ekiga.net is configured to only accept SIP REGISTER requests that contain a public IP address in their Contact header. This means that registration from Jitsi would fail unless you actually have a public IP address. The Ekiga client circumvents this by using STUN to learn the address and port that have been allocated for the current session. It then uses the pair in the SIP Contact header. This kind of use was common for the first version of the STUN protocol defined in RFC 3489 which was sometimes referred to as classic STUN.

The IETF has since significantly reviewed the way STUN should be used. The new version of the protocol is now defined in RFC 5389 which, among other things, advises against the use of STUN as a standalone NAT traversal utility:

Today STUN represents one of the tools used by complete traversal mechanisms such as SIP OUTBOUND (RFC 5626) or ICE (RFC 5245). Neither of these includes sending a STUN obtained address in a Contact header.

So, where does Jitsi currently stand on all this? At the time of writing, we support the ICE protocol but only use it with XMPP. Use with SIP is likely to come in the near future. The reason we havent implemented it yet is that most SIP servers currently open to use over the Internet, use a technique called latching. When such servers detect you are connecting from behind a NAT, they would start acting as a relay, receiving media from your peers and then forwarding it to you (and vice versa). While this is by far the most reliably way of traversing NATs, it does indeed imply some scalability constraints.

ICE on the other hand would only fall back to relaying if no other way was found to connect the two participants. This is why it is considered as a more optimal solution and why its also on our roadmap.

Note however that the constraints on ekiga.net would continue preventing Jitsi from connecting even when we do implement support for ICE.

Why do I see ICE failed errors when trying to make calls.

Jitsi implements a number of NAT traversal methods as described here. In many situations we will be able to setup a call directly between you and other users but in order to be able to reliably establish calls, your XMPP or SIP provider has to provide relaying capabilities such as TURN, Jingle Nodes or . If looking for services that support these you can try jit.si or ippi. Also note that both you and your partner need to have unhindered outgoing UDP access to the Internet or at least to your VoIP service provider. You DO NOT however need to map any port numbers on your home router. At best this is going to have no effect.

Does Jitsi support STUN? (and how about TURN, UPnP and Jingle Nodes?)

STUN, together with TURN, Jingle Nodes, IPv6 and UPnP, is one of the techniques that Jitsi uses as part of the Interactive Connectivity Establishment (ICE) protocol to handle NAT traversal for calls made over XMPP.

For its SIP calls, Jitsi currently relies on servers to relay media (a technique also known as Hosted NAT Traversal or latching, which would be the case of the majority of the SIP servers used on the Internet today. Note that in terms of reliability Hosted NAT Traversal gives the same results as use of ICE. It even works better in some ways because the connection is setup immediately and no time is waisted for gathering candidates and making connectivity checks. The only downside of HNT is that it may put a strain on SIP providers requiring more bandwidth. This could become a problem especially in environments with a high number of all IP high quality video calls.

It is likely that ICE support for SIP calls would also be added to Jitsi in 2014 especially since this would also help with WebRTC compatibility.

Standalone support for STUN is NOT going to be part of Jitsi. Check out the ekiga entry for more information on the shortcomings of STUN as a standalone NAT traversal utility.

I have a few questions regarding ZRTP, SRTP and VoIP security in general. Where can I find some answers?

Check out our ZRTP FAQ.

Why does my call stay in the Initiating Call status and I can never connect?

A common reason for providers not to respond to calls is that they simply dont get the INVITE request Jitsi sends to them. This can happen if you are using UDP. The Jitsi INVITE requests may often exceed the maximum allowed packet size (MTU) for your network or that of your server. In such cases packets may be fragmented by your IP stack and fragmentation for UDP does not always work well in certain networks. This is what happens when a client supports multiple features ;). To resolve the issue you can do one of the following:

How does on-line provisioning work?

On-line provisioning is the feature that allows Jitsi to connect to an http URI every time it starts and retrieve part or all of its configuration there. On-line provisioning is often used by providers to remotely configure the clients they maintain. It can be used to set any property in Jitsi such as the codecs used, the features that users can manually configure and even protocol accounts.

When requesting its provisioning information Jitsi can transmit any of a number of parameters to the server, like for example: the OS it is running on, user credentials, a unique ID and others. This way the provisioning server can fine-tune the parameters it sends to Jitsi.

For more information, please check our on-line provisioning manual

Are my chat sessions protected and if so, how?

Jitsi supports the OTR encryption protocol. OTR stands for Off-the-Record Messaging and once youve set it up (i.e. clicked on that padlock icon in a chat window and verified the identity of your contact) it allows you to make sure that no one other than you two can read your messages, not even your service provider. You can find more on the OTR mechanisms here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Off-the-Record_Messaging

Should logging be disabled by default when using OTR?

By default Jitsi stores all chats so that if you need any information from them it would always be available. If you would like to disable this behavior you can currently do so by opening Jitsis Options/Preferences, selecting the General pane and then unchecking the Log chat history option near the top. It is also possible to disable chats for specific contacts, to erase their history. An indicator in the chat window makes it aware at all times whether history is on or off while chatting with someone.

OTR protected chats follow the same pattern and some users have expressed concerns that this might be incompatible with their security expectations. Our position on this is that Jitsis role is to protect your communication. We also strive to offer usability. The current defaults represent these objectives: most people would prefer for their private communication not to be readable by third parties and most of the time people use Jitsi from personal devices where they are in control of the access policy.

In some cases users may wish for their communications not to be stored locally. This can be the case when using Jitsi on devices that others may also have access to. In such cases users need to be able to easily see whether history is being logged. They would also need to easily turn this off and potentially even erase previous history.

Note however that this subject is entirely different from the encryption one. They are separate measures meant to protect you against separate attacks or problems. We dont believe that the need for one would necessarily imply the need for the other. We are hence committed to also keeping that separation in the user interface.

Force SIP Message support.

Some SIP servers (Asterisk in particular) do not announce the MESSAGE support, despite supporting it. If you enable the account property FORCE_MESSAGING, Jitsi will attempt to use MESSAGE for chats, despite your configured SIP server not explicitly announcing this support to connected clients. For example, if your SIP account is john.smith@example.com, go to property editor type that in the search field and look for something like

net.java.sip.communicator.impl.protocol.sip.acc0123456789.ACCOUNT_UID with the value SIP:john.smith@example.com

The property to add in that case would be:

net.java.sip.communicator.impl.protocol.sip.acc0123456789.FORCE_MESSAGING with the value true.

How to add/edit configuration properties.

You can do so by clicking on ToolsOptions (JitsiPreferences on OS X), then selecting the Advanced tab and opening the Property Editor form. There you can search edit/delete or create new properties.

Is there an an Android version of Jitsi?

Yes, but it is still in an early alpha stage and further development has been put on hold until further notice. A lot of the user interface is not yet implemented. You can find the apk on the Download page.

Is there an iPhone/iPad version of Jitsi?

No. Due to the restrictions imposed by the platform it is highly unlikely this answer is going to change.

The cc-buildloop target of ant fails with the following error message: Could not create task or type of type: junitreport.

On some Linux distributions such as Debian, the ant package is actualy subdivided into multiple packages. So when you chose to install junit and ant with the distribution specific package system, dont forget to install ant-optional too.

The cc-buildloop target of ant fails with the following error message: No test with id=IcqProtocolProviderSlick.

Have you created your own accounts.properties file in the lib directory? Youll need to define two ICQ test accounts at least, and preferably some test accounts for the other supported protocols.

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Cryptocurrency exchange to credit traders for ethereum ‘flash crash’ – CNBC

Posted: at 1:50 pm

Some traders who lost money in this week's ethereum "flash crash" are going to be credited for their losses, the GDAX cryptocurrency exchange announced on Friday.

The price of ethereum, the alternative digital currency to bitcoin, crashed as low as 10 cents from around $319 in about a second in trading on the GDAX on Wednesday. The exchange blamed the move on a "multimillion dollar market sell" order.

In a blog post on Friday, vice president Adam White said the exchange was "confident all trades this week were executed properly, however, some customers did not receive the quality of service we strive to provide and we want to do better."

Therefore, the GDAX will create a process to credit customer accounts which experienced a margin call or stop loss order as a result of that crash, he said.

Those affected customers will have their ETH-USD account restored to the equivalent of the account at the moment prior to the rapid price drop.

Some traders apparently lost a lot of money during the crash. On the social forum Reddit, users complained of losing large sums of money from $3,000 to $9,000.

Others saw it as an opportunity to make money. However, White noted that the exchange will honor all buy orders filled during that time.

"We view this as an opportunity to demonstrate our long-term commitment to our customers and belief in the future of this industry," White said.

CNBC's Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report.

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Cryptocurrency exchange to credit traders for ethereum 'flash crash' - CNBC

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Illicit Cryptocurrency Use Targeted in Proposed 2018 FBI Budget … – CoinDesk

Posted: at 1:50 pm

The FBI is requesting $21m and 80 new employees in abid to investigate emerging tech that could help the agency combat cybercrime.

In a budget request for fiscal year 2018, sent on 21st June, Andrew McCabe, acting director of the FBI, testified to the White House that the agencyis facing what it believes aresignificant challenges in gaining access to digital information even when it has the legal authority to do so. This notably includes cases that involve "drug traffickers using virtual currencies to obscure their transactions".

It is also the same narrative that the FBI's former DirectorJames Comey put forth last monthbefore theSenate Judiciary Committee.

The challenge, the agency has said,is that the FBI now requires more financial resources to investigate technologies and decipher information transmitted on the darknet. Elsewhere, it is also engaging in dialogues with companies that provide suchtechnology to educate them on the "corrosive effects" that information inaccessibility has on "public safety and the rule of law".

Earlier this year, the privacy-encrypted digital currency Monero (XMR), for example, drew attention from FBI for similar reasons.

A special agent working at the FBI's Cyber Division in New York City said at an event that the agency has concerns such technology will set roadblocks for criminal investigations.

"Developing alternative technical methods is typically a time-consuming, expensive and uncertain process," the agency said.

FBI image via Shutterstock

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is an independent media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. Have breaking news or a story tip to send to our journalists? Contact us at [emailprotected].

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D*Hub | news, interviews, articles about design

Posted: at 1:49 pm

Recent news and articles

Recently announced at the Good Design Australia Awards by Dr Brandon Gien, the city of Sydney is under consideration for the World Design Capital 2020 (WDC 2020) bythe World Design Organization (WDO). We are one of 5 entries from Asia, Continue reading

Our collective appetite for control is growing. Smart phones have made us self important. Technology has given us direct input and social media has let us share our voice on all sort of issues, products and services. But these days Continue reading

On 27 May, the V&A opened Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion, exploring the most creative work of fashion designer Cristbal Balenciaga. Its the latest in a series of fashion exhibitions at the V&A and follows the exhibitions; Undressed: A Brief History of Continue reading

Well known Architectural firm Tzannes with projects across Sydney; including a residential and hotel project at Circular Quay, Bennelong Point, the Irving Street Breweryand the Dangrove Art Storage Facility for the collection of arts philanthropist Judith Neilson (currently in progress); Continue reading

With Mercedes-Benz 2017 Fashion Week upon us, insiders will no doubt be contemplating whats new, exciting, and inspiring in the fashion world. The Australian designers set to feature this week are just a small sample of the local talent that Continue reading

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Last week we were enthralled by the Metropolitan Museum of Arts Costume Institute Benefit, the Met Gala. Celebrities came out in their finest designer garments tocelebrate the Mets exhibition Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garons: Art of the In-Between; the Metropolitan Museums Continue reading

Each year 300 stands are erected for design schools, young designers and studios at the rear of halls 22-24 at Salone del Mobile. While its a long march from Hall One of the main entrance to the fairgrounds, its always Continue reading

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There are two types of period drama watchers: the pedant and the swooner. The pedant cant look at an historically inspired costume without scrutinising its every detail, their remarks would that type of embroidery really have been used in Continue reading

David Thomas: Colouring Impermanencebrings together more than 100 works from over four decades to RMIT Design Hub. This major exhibition brings together works from the 1970s to the present day. David Thomas explores ideas that are deeply human the Continue reading

After thesuccess of Radiant Pavilion in 2015,it will again return for 2017 withover 200 leading and emerging Australian and international artists. It will be set across 62 venues, and will feature astunning array of 80 events around the city of Continue reading

From the simple to the stunning,Love is: Australian Wedding Fashion features more than 50 wedding outfits plus accessories covering nearly 200 years of Australian weddings. The exhibition includes Australias first surviving wedding dress from 1822, gold rush fashions, elegant 1920s Continue reading

Hear from C(Co-Director, Design Museum, London) about her extensive and successful career in Museums. Most recently, Alice was responsible for undertaking the major project of moving the Design Museum, London to its new home in Kensington. Relocating one of the Continue reading

The Invisible will include works of artists including: Khadim Ali, Abdul Karim Hekmat, Rushdi Anwar and Elyas Alwai. With practices spanning photography, textiles, painting and sculpture, these artists will draw on their own refugee backgrounds to reflect on the ongoing Continue reading

Sounding the Future is an exhibition curated by Gail Priest that speculates about what art in the future will sound like. The exhibition will present sonic possibles and potentials ranging from almost-here transhuman mediations, to far-future post-anthropocene aftermaths, with some Continue reading

Density and sparsity, height and depth, hot and cold, centre and periphery, wet and dry, war and conflict: People the world over have adapted their living practices, architectures, and landscapes to extreme conditions. In our globalised era, local conceptions of Continue reading

Million Dollar Mermaid: Annette Kellerman, an exhibition featuring stunning costumes, memorabilia and movie footage relating to Australian celebrity swimmer Annette Kellerman (18861975)is now open. Born in Sydney, Kellerman first attracted attention with a series of epic, long-distance swims, and later Continue reading

Out of Hand: Materialising the Digitalexplores the increasingly important role of digital manufacture in contemporary art, science, design, fashion and architecture. This exhibition was originally developed and shown in 2013 at the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), New York. Continue reading

Good Design Awards: MAAS Selectiondisplays finalist products from the annualGood Design Awardsprogram for excellence in product design and innovation. Each year a panel of design experts assesses hundreds of new products or services designed in Australia or overseas. The judges Continue reading

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Lightning and ‘Probably Satellites’ Seen from Space …

Posted: at 1:49 pm

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Lightning and 'Probably Satellites' Seen from Space ...

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SpaceX Dragon and Falcon 9 Rocket Photobomb Each Other’s Selfies in Space – Space.com

Posted: at 1:49 pm

A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft (lower right) photobombs a "selfie" image from the company's Falcon 9 rocket second stage during a June 3, 2017, launch of NASA cargo to the International Space Station.

It's official: SpaceX's rockets and spaceships have caught the selfie bug in the final frontier.

When SpaceX launched a Dragon cargo ship to the International Space Station this month, the spacecraft popped up in a "selfie" taken by the upper stage of the Falcon 9 rocket that launched the ship into orbit.

"Dragon photobombs stage 2 before heading to @Space_Station earlier this month," SpaceX representatives wrote in a Twitter post late Monday (June 19). In the photo, the Dragon spacecraft appears as a distant interloper in an otherwise picturesque scene of the Earth and Falcon 9 second stage engine on June 3.

In this photo, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket second stage (upper right) returns the photobomb favor to its Dragon spacecraft. One of the Dragon's solar arrays is seen deployed in this image taken by an onboard camera on June 3, 2017.

But the photo fun doesn't stop there. The Falcon 9 booster also made its own photobomb in a photo taken from the Dragon spacecraft. [Launch Photos: SpaceX's 1st Reused Dragon Spacecraft]

"Stage 2 returns the favor," SpaceX tweeted with the image, which shows the Falcon 9 second stage backlit by a dazzling blue Earth as seen by a camera on Dragon. One of the space capsule's solar arrays is also visible.

The first stage of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets can return to Earth and land, but the second stages currently cannot at least, not yet. Earlier this year, on March 30, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk hinted that the company was studying ways to make Falcon 9 completely reusable.

SpaceX is pursuing reusable rocket technology to lower the costs of spaceflight. The company has already reused one Falcon 9 rocket booster this year, and has said it hopes to reuse another on Friday (June 23) when SpaceX will launch a Bulgarian communications satellite into orbit from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

In fact, even the Dragon used in the June 3 launch was reused. It first flew to the International Space Station in 2014. After launch, the spacecraft rendezvoused with the station to deliver about 6,000 lbs. (2,700 kilograms) of fresh NASA supplies for the orbiting lab's crew.

Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him@tariqjmalikandGoogle+.Follow us@Spacedotcom,FacebookandGoogle+. Original article onSpace.com.

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Tons of Water Ice Found on the Moon’s North Pole

Posted: at 1:48 pm

This story was updated at 6:39 p.m. ET.

Vast pockets of water ice numbering in the millions of tons have been discovered at the north pole of the moon, opening up another region of the lunar surface for potential exploration by astronauts and unmanned probes, NASA announced Monday.

A NASA radar instrument on an Indian moon probe found evidence of at least 600 million metric tons of water ice spread out on the bottom of craters at the lunar north pole. It is yet another supply of lunar water ice, a vital resource that could be mined to produce oxygen or rocket fuel to support a future moon base, NASA officials said.

More than 40 craters ranging from 1 mile (2 km) to 9 miles (15 km) wide were found harboring the water ice, which was detected using NASA?s Mini-SAR radar instrument on India?s Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter. The instrument is also known as Mini-RF in NASA parlance.

"After analyzing the data, our science team determined a strong indication of water ice, a finding which will give future missions a new target to further explore and exploit," said Jason Crusan, program executive for the Mini-RF Program for NASA's space operations program in Washington, D.C., in a statement.

Water, water everywhere

The ice was discovered in permanently shadowed craters at the moon?s north pole. Similar conditions of perpetual night exist at the moon?s south pole as well, where water ice was also confirmed to be present last year. Because these regions never see sunlight, water can stay in its frozen form indefinitely.

Last September, NASA and other scientists confirmed without a doubt the existence of water ice at the moon?s south pole, as well as signals of water molecules across large areas of the lunar surface. Several spacecraft, including India?s Chandrayaan-1 probe that carried the radar instrument used for the new findings, found hard evidence of water on the moon.

In October, NASA crashed two impactor probes into the lunar south pole in an attempt to kick up clouds of water ice and measure it from an orbiting spacecraft and other space and ground-based observatories. The subsequent analysis turned up significant amounts of water and water vapor in the debris cloud, NASA scientists said.

"The emerging picture from the multiple measurements and resulting data of the instruments on lunar missions indicates that water creation, migration, deposition and retention are occurring on the moon," said Paul Spudis, principal investigator of the Mini-SAR experiment at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, in a statement. "The new discoveries show the moon is an even more interesting and attractive scientific, exploration and operational destination than people had previously thought."

The research will be detailed in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Will astronauts go?

Water ice is a tantalizing find anywhere on the moon because it can serve as a natural resource for astronauts on future lunar landing missions. The ice could be melted into drinking water or be separated into its component oxygen and hydrogen to provide breathing air and rocket fuel, NASA officials have said in the past.

NASA had planned to send astronauts on new lunar landing missions by 2020 as part of its Constellation program. The program was building the new Altair moon landers, as well as the Orion spacecraft and Ares rockets needed to launch ferry them to lunar surface, but experts said it was extremely underfunded and behind schedule.

Last month, President Barack Obama ordered NASA to cancel the Constellation program and focus on using commercial spacecraft to launch American astronauts to orbit instead. The move is aimed at freeing up NASA to concentrate on more lofty exploration missions, such as returning to the moon or sending astronauts to visit an asteroid, stable regions in space called Lagrange points or the moons of Mars.

NASA chief Charles Bolden told members of the U.S. Senate and Congress last week that Mars is expected to be the ultimate destination for astronauts. But the moon, he said, is still a good interim target to serve as a stepping stone for more distant space exploration goals.

Chandrayaan-1?s Mini-SAR radar was one of two instruments involving NASA on India?s Chandrayan-1 spacecraft. The probe also carried the Moon Mineralogy Mapper for NASA. A version of Mini-SAR, called Mini-RF, is riding on NASA?s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

India launched Chandrayaan-1 probe in October 2008 and carried 11 instruments to observe the moon from lunar orbit. It was India?s first moon probe and carried an impactor probe that it unleashed in November 2008. The spacecraft went offline in late August 2009 after an abrupt malfunction cut off communications with Earth.

India is planning a successor to Chandrayaan-1, dubbed Chandrayaan-2. The name Chandrayaan means ?moon craft? in Sanskrit.

The new Chandrayaan-2 mission is slated to launch in 2013, according to Indian news reports.

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Hawking urges Moon landing to ‘elevate humanity’ – BBC News

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BBC News
Hawking urges Moon landing to 'elevate humanity'
BBC News
Prof Stephen Hawking has called for leading nations to send astronauts to the Moon by 2020. They should also aim to build a lunar base in 30 years' time and send people to Mars by 2025. Prof Hawking said that the goal would re-ignite the space ...
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Pennsylvania Legislature eyes wider DNA sampling of convicts – Newsworks.org

Posted: at 1:47 pm

Pennsylvania lawmakers moved closer this week to mandating that DNA samples be collected from people who have been convicted of crimes, something supporters predict will help solve serious crimes.

The state House voted 157-32 for a bill that would require cheek swabs from those convicted of any first-degree misdemeanor and a list of 15 second-degree misdemeanors. Current law requires testing for those convicted of felonies and certain other offenses. Pennsylvania classifies as first-degree misdemeanors many crimes that are felonies in other states.

It was sent to the state Senate, where a nearly identical proposal is pending. A Senate Republican aide said Friday one of the bills could get a final vote before lawmakers adjourn for the summer.

"Not only will some crimes be solved, serial offenders would be stopped before they could reoffend, and innocent people would be ruled out of suspicion in cases where their DNA does not match what's found at the scene," said Tom Dymek, an aide to House Judiciary Chairman Ron Marsico, R-Dauphin, the bill's prime sponsor.

Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, opposes the bill in its current form, saying it would test for too many minor offenses, and its costs are not funded. A fiscal note for the House bill estimated the additional testing would eventually cost more than $3 million annually, based on an estimate of 40,000 offenders.

"Gov. Wolf believes we should expand DNA collection to combat violent crime," said his press secretary, J.J. Abbott. "However, this bill expands the law to include more than 100 misdemeanors, including many offenses that are non-violent in nature such as retail theft and littering."

The Senate will likely consider amending the proposal to remove a few of the less serious misdemeanors, said Mike Stoll, chief of staff to Sen. Tom Killion, R-Delaware, sponsor of the Senate bill .

"The list can't be reduced that much, or you defeat the purpose of it," Stoll said.

Previous efforts in recent years to expand DNA sampling in Pennsylvania have failed, partly because of opposition to collecting the genetic material upon arrest. The current proposal is limited to those who have been convicted. The House bill also would not authorize testing of prisoners already in jail, only the newly convicted.

Marsico "just wanted to make sure that the due process and the civil liberties rights of people, he thought they were best preserved by doing it post-conviction, where there's been a finding of guilt," Dymek said.

The expanded testing would go into effect in December 2019, which means the financial impact won't be felt by the state police and local crime labs for more than two years.

"This is a proven way of solving crimes and protecting victims," said Greg Rowe, legislative director for the state association of district attorneys. "When it comes to protecting victims, and when it comes to apprehending violent criminals, there's no price tag."

A spokeswoman for the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union said the organization was opposed, calling the expanded list of offenses excessive.

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