N. Korea: ICBM test used new launch vehicle, warhead able to re-enter Earth's atmosphere

People watch a news report on the North Korea missile launch in Seoul, South Korea, November 29, 2017 © Kim Hong-Ji / Reuters.

North Korea says the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) it launched on Wednesday was fired from a newly-developed vehicle, and claims its warhead could withstand the pressure of re-entering the Earth's atmosphere. 

State media reported on Wednesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un personally oversaw the missile test and referred to the new launcher as "impeccable" and a "breakthrough."

North Korea fired a ballistic missile which splashed down in the Sea of Japan early Wednesday, according to South Korean, Japanese, and US militaries. The Pentagon's initial assessment indicated it was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

Pyongyang said the missile reached an altitude of around 4,475 kilometers (2,780 miles), more than 10 times the height of the International Space Station. It said it flew 950 kilometers (690 miles) during its flight, which lasted 53 minutes. Similar altitude and distance figures were previously cited by the South Korean military. It was named Hwasong-15.

North Korea's latest statement on the launch came after US Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) said the US is willing to go to war with Pyongyang "if things don't change." He stated that President Donald Trump is choosing America over regional stability, and acknowledged that "a lot of people would get hurt and killed" in the event of any war.


Hwasong-15 carrying super-heavy warheads capable of re-enter the earth atmosphere and tolerate the high temperature caused by warheads' re-entry, that can hit anywhere in the world.











  















North Korean EMP Attack Could Kill Millions And Turn America Into A Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland

This is why North Korea’s test of an intercontinental ballistic missile is so important.
North Korea had test fired a total of 22 missiles so far this year, but this latest one showed that nobody on the globe is out of their reach. In fact, General Mattis is now admitting that “North Korea can basically threaten everywhere in the world”, and that includes the entire continental United States. In addition to hitting individual cities with nukes, there is also the possibility that someday North Korea could try to take down the entire country with an EMP attack. If the North Koreans detonated a single nuclear warhead several hundred miles above the center of the country, it would destroy the power grid and fry electronics from coast to coast.

I would like you to think about what that would mean for a few moments. Suddenly there would be no power at home, at work or at school. Since nearly all of our vehicles rely on computerized systems, you wouldn’t be able to go anywhere and nobody would be able to get to you. And you wouldn’t be able to contact anyone because all phones would be dead. Basically, pretty much everything electronic would be dead. I am talking about computers, televisions, GPS devices, ATMs, heating and cooling systems, refrigerators, credit card readers, gas pumps, cash registers, hospital equipment, traffic lights, etc.

For the first couple of days life would continue somewhat normally, but then people would soon start to realize that the power isn’t coming back on and panic would begin to erupt.
The intercontinental ballistic missile that North Korea just launched traveled almost 1,000 kilometers and reached a maximum altitude of 4,500 kilometers. We have been told for decades that this would never be allowed to happen, but now it has happened…

This is concerning for one big reason: according to General Mattis, the North Korean ICBM “went higher, frankly, than any previous” and “North Korea can basically threaten everywhere in the world.” This was confirmed by North Korea missile analyst, Shea Cotton, who cited Allthingsnuclear author David Wright, and who told the BBC that the initial estimates of the ICBM test mean that North Korea can now reach New York and Washington DC.
If we had been working hard to develop our anti-missile technology all these years, this wouldn’t be a problem.

But at this point we are way behind the Russians in this regard, and there is a very real possibility that a missile launched by the North Koreans could make it through the very limited anti-missile defenses that we do have.
Once upon a time, discussions about a North Korean EMP threat were mostly hypothetical, but now that has completely changed. North Korea has clearly demonstrated that they are able to deliver such an attack, and last September Kim Jong Un publicly admitted that North Korea intended to develop this capability…

But most reporters missed a key threat that appeared at the bottom of Kim’s public statement, when he bragged that North Korea had harnessed “a multi-functional thermonuclear nuke with great destructive power which can be detonated at high altitudes for super-powerful EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack according to strategic goals.”

So now we know. Launching an electromagnetic pulse attacks against its enemies is one of North Korea’s strategic goals. And for North Korea, the United States is the top enemy.
And like I said earlier, all it would take would be a single well placed nuclear detonation to fry electronics from coast to coast. The following comes from the Daily Mail…

Theoretically, a sufficiently powerful bomb detonated at an altitude of 249 miles would wipe out all electronics in the US, save the southernmost top of Florida and the easternmost states – as well as affecting Canada and Mexico.
Without power, nothing would get distributed. That means that very rapidly there would be no food, no water and no medicine available in your community. An article posted by Fox News this week used the term “post-apocalyptic” to describe what we would be facing…
It all starts to sound very post-apocalyptic when you realize this means no lights or other electric-powered devices in homes and businesses, no water filtration, no regional food hubs, no transportation grid – none of the things we take for granted in modern civilization.

Like I stated earlier, things would be relatively fine for a few days, but then once everyone realizes that the power isn’t coming back on there would be chaos on a scale unlike anything we have ever seen before. The following comes from an article by Mac Slavo…
The first 24 – 48 hours after such an occurrence will lead to confusion among the general population as traditional news acquisition sources like television, radio and cell phone networks will be non-functional.

Within a matter of days, once people realize the power might not be coming back on and grocery store shelves start emptying, the entire system will begin to delve into chaos.
Within 30 days a mass die off will have begun as food supplies dwindle, looters and gangs turn to violent extremes, medicine can’t be restocked and water pump stations fail.
So what kind of a “mass die off” would we be talking about?
Well, some of the top experts in the field believe that “up to 90 percent of all Americans” could end up dead if the power outage lasted long enough…

William Graham, chairman of the former EMP commission and its former chief of staff, Peter Vincent Pry, warned the hearing that such an attack could “shut down the US electric power grid for an indefinite period, leading to the death within a year of up to 90 percent of all Americans.“

Others believe that the figure would be lower, but pretty much everyone agrees that the death toll would be in the millions.

This is one of our greatest strategic vulnerabilities, and our power grid could be hardened against an EMP attack for just a few billion dollars. This is something that I am pushing very hard for, but right now it is just not a priority for our leaders in Washington.
In fact, they have actually pulled funding from the commission that was looking into the EMP threat…

On Sept. 30, the Congressional Commission to Assess the Threat of Electromagnetic Pulse to the United States of America shut its doors after a failure to secure funding from Congress.
Sometimes I find it difficult to come up with the words to describe how incredibly foolish Congress is being.

An EMP attack is a greater threat than ever before, and yet Congress didn’t even want to come up with a little bit of funding for the commission that was working on a plan to protect us.
This is yet another example that shows that we need new leadership on Capitol Hill, because right now the people that we have “representing” us in Washington seem to be completely and utterly clueless about almost everything.

Pacific Rim Uprising Trailer

Pacific Rim 2 – Uprising will be out March 23, 2018.
Jake Pentecost, son of Stacker Pentecost, reunites with Mako Mori to lead a new generation of Jaeger pilots, including rival Lambert and 15-year-old hacker Amara, against a new Kaiju threat.
But basically it is more giant robots fighting more giant alien monsters.

Independent Internet?

Internet giants block opposing views, threaten open web – US watchdog chief

Internet giants are deciding what content users see and routinely block or discriminate against content they don’t like, which makes them a threat to an open internet, the head of the US communications watchdog says.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) head Ajit Pai argued on Wednesday against critics who said the White House’s move to reverse the Obama administration’s net neutrality rules would spell the demise of the web.

Referring to so-called ‘edge providers’ – companies such as Google and Amazon that provide online services such as websites or streaming – Pai said: “They might cloak their advocacy in the public interest, but the real interest of these internet giants is in using the regulatory process to cement their dominance in the internet economy.”

He was speaking at a panel on the future of internet freedom hosted by libertarian think tank R Street Institute.
Edge providers, that also include companies such as Netflix and Facebook, normally use the customer's internet service provider (ISP) to deliver content.

Chairman Pai sets the record straight on his Restoring Internet Freedom Order, rebutting myths with facts here: https://t.co/vjEWfDAV2M

— The FCC (@FCC) November 28, 2017

Taking aim at social media platforms, the FCC chief said Silicon Valley companies are already doing this by promoting some viewpoints while suppressing others. “I love Twitter,” said Pai.

“But when it comes to a free and open internet, Twitter is part of the problem. The company has a viewpoint and it uses that viewpoint to discriminate.”
The microblogging service “appears to have a double standard when it comes to suspending or de-verifying conservative users’ accounts as opposed to those of liberal users,” he went on, before adding: “Indeed, despite all the talk about the fear that broadband providers could decide what internet content consumers can see, recent experience shows that so-called edge providers are in fact deciding what content they see. These providers routinely block or discriminate against content they don’t like,” he reiterated.



As an example, Pai noted Twitter’s decision to prevent Republican Senate hopeful Marsha Blackburn from advertising a campaign video with controversial remarks about abortion, in which the congresswoman said she had fought Planned Parenthood and helped “stop the sale of baby body parts.”

Pai said “the examples from the past year alone are legion,” adding that they range from “app stores barring the doors to apps from even cigar aficionados because they are perceived to promote tobacco use” to streaming services “restricting videos from the likes of conservative commentator Dennis Prager on subjects he considers ‘important to understanding American values.’”

He also took aim at “algorithms that decide what content you see (or don’t), but aren’t disclosed themselves,” and online platforms “secretly editing certain users’ comments.” Earlier in October, investigative group Project Veritas secretly filmed Earnest Pettie, the Brand and Diversity Curation Lead at YouTube, who said he works “on a team that does provide some human inputs into a lot of the machinery of YouTube.”



In November, Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google’s parent company Alphabet, admitted that the company will “engineer” specific algorithms for RT and Sputnik to make their stories less prominent on the search engine’s news services. “We are working on detecting and de-ranking those kinds of sites – it’s basically RT and Sputnik,” Schmidt said at the Halifax International Security Forum in Canada.

Pai distinguished between edge and broadband providers. Many of the latter – including AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon – favored the repeal of Obama’s net neutrality rules which they say will allow the internet to return to the free market environment.

On the other hand, services such as Twitter, Google, and Facebook have favored the existing rules. “Edge providers,” Pal asserted, “are a much bigger actual threat to an open internet than broadband providers, especially when it comes to discrimination on the basis of viewpoint.”

The FCC chairman vowed to lift net neutrality protections adopted by the watchdog under the Obama administration. According to these rules, broadband service providers like AT&T and Verizon are prohibited from cornering segments of the internet and charging extra fees. For example, instead of standard broadband speed, ISPs could soon offer variations on quality, and charge customers accordingly.
The FCC position is that current legislation limits the freedom of internet companies, arguing that red tape is hampering investment in online service.

You can't just put fact next to your opinion and make it do. This is all bull and you know it. https://t.co/qegRedlmzc

— Austin Fern (@fern0830) November 28, 2017

Chairman @AjitPaiFCC’s Restore Internet Freedom proposal is publicly available but myths still surround it. Learn more: https://t.co/41dJiz0RVN pic.twitter.com/GAFC18rxOu

— The FCC (@FCC) November 29, 2017

Independent Internet?
The Russian Security Council has asked the country’s government to develop an independent internet infrastructure for BRICS nations, which would continue to work in the event of global internet malfunctions.

The initiative was discussed at the October meeting of the Security Council, which is Russia’s top consultative body on national security. President Vladimir Putin personally set a deadline of August 1, 2018 for the completion of the task, the RBC news agency reported.

While discussing the issue, members of the council noted that “the increased capabilities of western nations to conduct offensive operations in the informational space as well as the increased readiness to exercise these capabilities pose a serious threat to Russia’s security.”

They decided that the problem should be addressed by creating a separate backup system of Domain Name Servers (DNS), which would not be subject to control by international organizations. This system would be used by countries of the BRICS bloc – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.



The issue of excessive dependency on global DNS has previously been addressed by Russia. In 2014, the Russian Communications Ministry conducted a major exercise in which it simulated the “switching off” of global internet services and used a Russian backup system to successfully support web operations inside the country.

However, when reporters asked Vladimir Putin’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov if the country’s authorities had been considering disconnecting from the global internet in 2014, Peskov dismissed these allegations as false.

“Russia’s disconnection from the global internet is of course out of the question,” Peskov told the Interfax news agency. However, the official also emphasized that “recently, a fair share of unpredictability is present in the actions of our partners both in the US and the EU, and we [Russia] must be prepared for any turn of events.”

“We all know who the chief administrator of the global internet is. And due to its volatility, we have to think about how to ensure our national security,” said Peskov. It’s not about disconnecting Russia from the World Wide Web, he added, but about “protecting it from possible external influence.”

Type 095 submarine

CCTV-4. a 27-min program with Eng-sub

Type 095 nuclear submarine is (or will pretty soon be) using the shaftless drive technology in conjunction with the IPS (integrated electric propulsion) technology.

According to Ma Weiming during the Congress meeting interview, Type-095/096 SSN/SSBN's propulsion system will be a generation ahead of the next gen US SSN/SSBN.

The research and development of this nuclear submarine took five years, and used shaftless drive technology, which is believed to be the Type 095 nuclear submarine. Military experts have said that shaftless drive technology stopped using traditional mechanical propulsion shafts, and instead used an IPS (integrated electric propulsion). Traditional mechanical propulsion shafts occupy at least 50% of the length of a submarine and will produce large amounts of noise.

Shaftless drive technology is a revolutionary technology that saves a great deal of space in submarines and reduces up to 10% of noise. This has also led to the level of quietness in China's submarines surpassing the US and Russia.

The key is that the IPS can reduce noise. If this system is completely simplified, then whether they are submarines or surface vessels, their sonar signal underwater will be reduced to a very low level. If the enemies carry out a torpedo attack on all sorts of anti-submarine targets, they might not be able to acquire a target as easily as before, so if you analyze it from these perspectives, the IPS has a very large difference from systems of the past.

Noise level.
The noise of a submarine usually comes from the submarine's engine compartment and the mechanical structure of the submarine, including noise emitted by nuclear reactors, motors and conventional propulsion devices. One of the world's mainstream nuclear submarines such as Ohio, Seawolf, Borey class, Akula class noise level is generally 110 dB to 100 db.

noise level there is a common saying in the world, is the submarine static noise coefficient is reduced by 6 dB per can let the submarine detection distance is shortened to half. That is to say, the submarine's noise level is just like the stealth performance between the nuclear submarine and the nuclear submarine. If the noise coefficient is low enough to match the background noise of the sea, the submarine will become a "ghost" in the passive sonar system. 

in order to improve the submarine mute coefficient, generally adopted a "cut", which is installed in the active silencer and change the internal structure and the replacement of quieter equipment. This method is also adopted by countries in the study of a new generation of submarines. 

The third-generation nuclear submarines headed by 095 and 096. The improvement of the nuclear submarine in mute system mainly includes these aspects: the new reactor system, the shaftless pump propulsion system, the IPS ship integrated power system and the IEP electric propulsion system.

On the reactor, the third generation nuclear submarine uses the fourth generation cold nuclear reactor. This cold nuclear reactor has a lower operating temperature than the previous reactor, which can effectively reduce the loss of heat and the consumption of the cooling system. On this basis, the fourth generation cold nuclear reactors are smaller, more power, and are designed independently and safer. 

The previous ship is used by the host of the spindle drive the propeller system, it will make the submarine vibration noise in the process of moving, and the use of a large number of host power in the process of using, the submarine during use while facing two different structures. IPS integrated power system is all the energy into the internal system of whole ship electric system, both the radar and sonar system or use electric propulsion system. At the same time the reactor produces all power into electricity, the power utilization circuit system assigned to the ship, reduce mechanical failure and improves the mute capability of the submarine. 

IEP system is to use the IPS power system, the traditional host drive shaft into a host power driven tail motor, reduce the overall energy loss but also can increase the output power of the motor. This also facilitates the breakthroughs of the submarine's maximum underwater speed.
shaft free pump system is a more "science fiction" design. The pump system refers to the use of a conventional propeller system to wrap it up and push forward with the pressure of the blade.

The annular duct can effectively reduce the noise generated by the propeller rotation and improve the diversion effect, but it is still a motor axis propeller on the whole. The shaftless pump propulsion system improves the motor shaft propulsion to pure blade propulsion, and spreads the blades to the inside of the pipe. It uses the motor inside the pipe to drive the inner blades of the whole pipe to rotate, reducing the natural vibration of the shaft system, and further reducing the noise coefficient.





CCTV

Big Generator: Lightning Revealed to Create Nuclear Reactions Via Antimatter

Japanese scientists have for the first time documented that lightning can spark nuclear reactions in the earth’s atmosphere, an event that happens via the release of antimatter.

Lightning is awesome — in the old-fashioned sense of ‘awesome,' as in that which inspires real awe. Lightning anywhere is a spectacular, incredibly powerful, burst of electricity that can set houses aflame, cause power widespread outages and generally terrify people, alongside its unshakeable pal, thunder. 

Little do we know, though, that lighting, by its nature, is a natural particle accelerator that can force electrons to move at near-light speed. Electrons, moving at such speeds collide with atoms in the atmosphere, which, in theory, causes a tiny nuclear reaction — a reaction that scientists have long speculated, even prior to the discovery of the neutron, according to The Conversation.

The theory existed, and after humanity went into space, satellites repeatedly registered x-rays and gamma-rays traveling up from Earth into outer space during violent thunderstorms. In 2015, however, a team of US and Japanese researchers unexpectedly stumbled upon lightning that pushed the gamma radiation flow downward, not upward. The particles were registered by several radiation detectors set up by the team near the Japanese town of Uchinada.

"The total fluence of gamma-rays at the ground was calculated to be approximately ~100,000 photons/cm2, much larger than the total combined fluence of all TGFs observed by satellites since 1994," the researchers later wrote. "This is one of the brightest gamma-ray flashes ever seen on the ground," said Joseph Dwyer, the author of the 2015 research, according to Gizmodo.

An amount of gamma energy that immense is assumed to do something nuclear by researchers. But no one has observed proof of atmospheric naturally-occurring nuclear reactions, particularly as scientists looked for the kind of rogue neutrons usually created during nuclear reactions, and found none. 

 

On February 2017, however, a group led by Teruaki Enoto from Kyoto University in Japan observed a thunderstorm while hunting for radiation and anything nuclear. During their observations, they witnessed a flash which lasted less than one millisecond and caused a similar powerful flash of gamma radiation registered between 0.5 and 1.7 kilometers away, according to Enoto's study abstract, published in Nature.com.

After that, the radiation level subsided sharply during a span of some 40 milliseconds, and remained extant — in what scientists describe as an "afterglow" — for some 30 seconds, which was long compared to previous findings.

Why would the radiation linger for such a long period? As Chemistry World explained, when atmospheric oxygen-16 and nitrogen-14 is hit by high-energy particles, unstable radioactive isotopes of these two gases form; gradually decaying into stable carbon-13 or nitrogen-15, and that decay is accompanied by an emission of positrons, the antimatter analog of electrons.

Yes, that antimatter, the one which annihilates in contact with normal matter. This mutual annihilation has a specific energy signature — of 0.511 megaelectronvolts — and that was precisely what the Japanese scientists registered.

"This line [on the graph] is a conclusive indication of electron-positron annihilation, and represents unequivocal evidence that photonuclear reactions can be triggered by thunderstorms," explained experimental physicist Leonid Babich from the Russian Federal Nuclear Centre, in a commentary on the research in Nature.

What this indicates is that the scientists have now discovered the second only known natural source of radioactive isotopes on Earth, the first being cosmic rays, discovered in 1912 by Austrian scientist Victor Hess.

But while it appears to now have been proven — that there is a working nuclear reactor up in our sky that spits antimatter from time to time — there is no need to panic. The amount of radiation humans receive is barely higher than your average dental x-ray, or so we are told. Besides, we as a species have lived within this atmospheric reactor for a very long time and appear to be multiplying speedily nonetheless.

"Since the radioactive isotopes are short-lived, spatially restricted, and [comprise a] relatively small amount compared to usual background radiative environments, I think there is no health risk from this phenomena," Enoto told Science Alert.

"This is not my highest concern if I ended up inside a thunderstorm," Dwyer says. "There are a half-dozen ways a thunderstorm can kill you if you're inside."

Would you pay $25,000 for this RoboDog?

Laikago – named after Laika, a Soviet dog who was the first living creature to orbit the Earth – weighs 22kg, a bit less than a common Labrador. It’s some 60cm tall.

“It is a kind of medium automatic robot, a robot-dog in short,” Wang Xingxing the man who copied the robot. “We have popularized Laikago among science and technology companies, and science fans. So Laikago is a scientific toy.”

Would you pay $25,000 for this RoboDog? https://t.co/qKUjW8OFrv

— Collected News (@CollectedN) November 23, 2017

The four-legged mechanical pet is able to run on grass and can assimilate canine-like movements, just like a flesh-and-blood pooch. The initial price for Laikago will be around US$25,000, but may drop in the future.



No doggy-doo, vet visits or bones – now everyone can buy a robot canine online and enjoy spending time with their new four-legged friend, feeding it only with electricity.
The following Chiense robot is a copy of Boston Dynamics Big Dog and Spot.

Release the hounds! Chinese firm ready to put $25,000 RoboDog on the market pic.twitter.com/9CJff1bDuF

— Ruptly (@Ruptly) November 23, 2017

Life on Earth may already exist on alien planets, say scientists

Other planets may have life from earth after dust carries plants, bacteria and micro-animals, scientists in Edinburgh have claimed © NASA / AFP

Life forms on Earth may also exist on other planets, according to a theory on micro-organisms from our solar system. Scientists studying interplanetary dust have posited that the powdery matter is capable of transporting tiny organisms across the cosmos.

Edinburgh-based scientists claim bacteria and micro-animals called tardigrades can survive the hazardous journey, suggesting that alien bugs may have arrived on Earth in the same way. Even some plants can survive the ordeal of space travel.

Powerful streams of space dust can travel at up to 43.75 miles per second (70km/s). The two-way traffic would be able to send bio-particles spiralling out of Earth’s gravitational pull and beyond the atmosphere, according to the researchers.



“The proposition that space dust collisions could propel organisms over enormous distances between planets raises some exciting prospects of how life and the atmospheres of planets originated,” said study leader Professor Arjun Berera of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Physics and Astronomy.

“The streaming of fast space dust is found throughout planetary systems and could be a common factor in proliferating life.”

European Space Agency (ESA) scientists found traces of interstellar dust in one of Saturn’s ice rings, made of material that originated from its moon, Enceladus. The team examined 36 interstellar dust grains, which is more than five times the number previously detected. The grains were mainly made of calcium, iron, magnesium, silicon and oxygen.

Previously, scientists have concluded that impacting asteroids and comets could import new life to earth, while researchers from Columbia University say life on Earth may have been transported from Mars.
Giovanni Cassini was the first astronomer to recognize this dust in interplanetary space, and its presence around the Sun, through telescopic observations in the 17th century.

The possibility of importing life, or the raw ingredients of life, to Earth has been considered in the past. The Panspermia theory, as it is known, was first proposed in 1871. Space enthusiasts have long debated the possibility.

“We can find pieces of Mars here on Earth and we suspect that there are pieces of Earth on Mars,” Columbia University’s Caleb Scharf told Business Insider.
“If that material can carry living organisms on it, it’s possible that we are Martian.”
The new research was part-funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council and published in the journal Astrobiology.

Life on Earth may already exist on alien planets, say scientists https://t.co/exXwdCKmYO

— TopNewsNow (@TOP_NEWSNOW) November 21, 2017

Life on Earth may already exist on alien planets, say scientists https://t.co/1G3JiRJqzj pic.twitter.com/cp4s5CbDVQ

— LORDSWATCHMAN (@isaiah216) November 21, 2017

J-20 stealth jet fighter new picture

The hangar in the background of the above photo has also piqued intense interest: It appears that J-20s can be parked in an ordinary hangar rather than one with constant temperature and humidity, while the US Air Force’s multirole F-35 Lightning II fighters are very expensive to maintain as they must be kept in a highly regulated environment to protect their ultra-delicate stealth coatings.

This means J-20s are more economical and easier to manage and can respond to emergencies more quickly than F-35s, noted an observer.

It has been reported that the US and British militaries have decided to reduce the F-35’s airborne time, rather than splurging money on an aircraft that is mocked by Chinese media as “eye candy.”

Beijing-based military magazine Ordnance Industry Science and Technology has also revealed that J-20 appear to be 20.77 meters in length, featuring a long and slim fuselage, with a wingspan of 12.99 meters and merely 15 tons in empty operating weight, after analyzing photos of the fighters. Judging from these specs, the fighter will be more nimble in real combat than foreign estimates.

With its compact dimensions and airframe, the J-20 may have no limits on takeoff from or landing on the next generation of aircraft carriers, Chinese news portal Sina reports, citing a source with the Dalian Shipyard, where the construction of China’s first nuclear-powered carrier is said to have commenced.

J-20 stealth fighter during an airshow in Zhuhai last year. Photo: Reuters.

Disable location access? Google collects data from Android users anyway – report

Android phone users may turn off their location services settings, take out their SIM card or restore their device to factory settings, but Google still collects their location data, according to a new report.

For the past 11 months, devices running on Android software have been sending “Cell ID codes,” which contain data on the addresses of nearby cellular towers, to Google, according to a report from Quartz.

After Quartz discovered the devices were collecting data, Google admitted to the practice.
“In January of this year, we began looking into using Cell ID codes as an additional signal to further improve the speed and performance of message delivery,” a Google spokesperson told Quartz.

The latest Archetype in Action #Jungian! https://t.co/hegCsuc8oX Thanks to @LisaMarchiano @JillianPage1 @elanvahe

— Skip_Conover (@skip_conover) November 22, 2017

Every time a device with a cellular data or WiFi connection came within range of a new cell tower, it would broadcast the addresses of nearby cellular towers and send the data to Google. However, the company said the data is “distinctly separate” from Location Services, which sends a device’s location to the applications.

Cell ID data only provides an approximate location of a mobile device, not a precise GPS location. However, a hacker could use other nearby cell towers to triangulate a user’s location to within a quarter-mile radius. A more narrow radius could be obtained for users in urban areas, where cell towers are much closer together.

There are more than 200,000 cell phone towers in the US, with a maximum range of less than 22 miles, according to Statistic Brain.
Google noted that the Cell ID data sent to their servers was encrypted, but Quartz noted that a hacker could divert the data to be collected by a third party through the use of spyware or other means.

Quartz found that the location-sharing was occurring on all modern Android devices. The report states that Android devices were sharing their location even when there was no SIM card installed and the user disabled location services.
Google’s privacy policy states that users may have their location data collected through “various technologies,” including “IP address, GPS, and other sensors that may, for example, provide Google with information on nearby devices, Wi-Fi access points and cell towers.”
Google began using the Cell ID codes to boost their push notifications and messaging management system called Firebase Cloud Messaging, a source familiar with the matter told Quartz.
A source told Fox News that the Cell ID was used to ensure the devices “remain connected and that people get their messages.”

“In order for Android users to receive notifications and messages quickly, an Android device needs to maintain a persistent connection to Google servers using Firebase Cloud Messaging,” the source said. “To maintain this connection, devices need to ping the server at a regular interval.”

The Cell ID was never incorporated into Google’s network sync system and all the data was “immediately discarded,” the company said. The tech giant promised to roll out an update that removes the cell ID collecting feature by the end of this month.

Well, well, it seems that if you have an #Android phone, you can't stop #Google from secretly #TRACKING your #location even if you want to. https://t.co/96Ea4lF3RP

— Qwickster (@Qwickfone) November 21, 2017

Google collects location data even when location services is off and battery removed from phone. #google https://t.co/tfGYEKb4qc

— Sean De Paor (@s_depaor) November 21, 2017

Smartphone apps track Android users with 'clandestine surveillance software'

 Smartphone apps such as Tinder and Snapchat are being used to secretly monitor the activities of Android phone users, according to new research. 

 

The joint study from Yale Privacy Lab, an initiative linked to Yale Law School, and French non-profit research group Exodus Privacy, looked into 25 trackers found hidden in popular Google Play apps such as Uber, Tinder, Skype, Twitter, Spotify and Snapchat. The samples were taken from a total of 44 suspected smartphone trackers identified by Exodus Privacy.
 

The apps Tinder, Spotify, Uber and Amazon Echo in particular were identified as using Crashlytics, a Google-owned service designed to monitor app crash reports but which was later found to be providing firms with insights into users’ activities.

“Publication of this information is in the public interest, as it reveals clandestine surveillance software that is unknown to Android users at the time of app installation,” Privacy Lab said in a blog posted to its website. “These trackers vary in their features and purpose, but are primarily utilized for targeted advertising, behavioral analytics, and location tracking.”
Exodus says more than 75 percent of the apps analyzed contained signatures of trackers – and the group fears that apps classed as “clean” simply contain trackers they have not learned to identify yet.The groups are now calling for “increased transparency” over the number of trackers found in Google Play apps.

“The Exodus platform identifies trackers via signatures, like an anti-virus or spyware scanner, and thus can only detect trackers previously identified by researchers at the time of the scan,” the Privacy Lab statement read.

1990: Pentagon Believed Superhero Soviets Could Shoot Lightning From Their Hands

In the twilight years of the Soviet Union, Pentagon staff were convinced Russian scientists had mastered "superhuman" capabilities, that allowed subjects to shoot lightning from their hands.

Recently declassified documents relating to the US military's StarGate project show Pentagon officials believed Soviet spies were able to manifest "ball lightning" by using the brain as a "superconductor" as late as 1990.

According to the documents, that year, a member of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) took interest in an article from the Chinese Journal of Somatic Science, itself a translation and summary of an article from the Soviet Science and Life magazine. The staffer then retranslated the Chinese translation for the Pentagon's files, and incorporation into the StarGate program.

The article focused on "super-sensitives" — alleged masters of "super-perception" with "amazing abilities" that let them diagnose and treat illnesses "with results better than doctors" using only their hands. Super-sensitives would, according to the article, "feel the biological field with his hands" a few centimeters away from a patient. Moreover, their abilities were said to improve over time, to the point they had "super human abilities to cure ailments."

The translation also describes a conversation with the "Deputy Director of the Soviet Academy of Sciences Radio Technology and Electronics Institute and director of the Radio Electronics Remote Sensing Methods Graduate Body Laboratory" — over the course of the chat, the director allegedly said he had discovered a plant "which can detect evidence of a crime" and transmit it to a super-sensitive.

"When a super-sensitive is concentrating his thoughts, he can cause his biological field to intensify six-fold. For example, 200 years ago all of Europe was astounded by the discoveries of [Franz] Mesmer. He was the primary super-sensitive of that time. He was able to receive a special kind of magnetism from the Earth and because of this he was able to cure peoples' ailments," the article reads.

Mesmer — from whose name the term "mesmerized" is derived — was a German physician with an interest in astronomy, who believed that there was a natural energetic transference that occurred between all animated and inanimate objects (which he dubbed animal magnetism). His hypothesis was resoundingly discredited in the 1800s and he was driven into exile.

Brain Conduction

How Precognition Works with Edwin C. May PhD, #Research Director of the #USA #military #intelligence #psychic #spying program, #StarGate Project. He shares a model of #precognition based on #physics, #neurophysiology, and #psychology. #psi #parapsychology https://t.co/1nuKmUxkt6

— TheScoleExperiment (@The_Scole_Expt) November 5, 2017

The article asserts the brain can have act as a "superconductor," which allowed super-sensitives to create "ball lightning" within a "channel" of energy, which they would "only have to concentrate."

According to discussions with a lab researcher, physicist, and mathematician, the Soviets had, while researching control of body temperature, discovered the electrical power source "is on the skin." So-called "super-sensitives" are even allegedly able to bring dead plants back to life.

"This is what that person does — he stretches out both hands to within 15 to 20 centimeters of shrivelled green leaves, and it looks like he is going to inject new life into dead cells. After several minutes, the leaves begin to shine, and have been restored to life," the article continues.
In closing, the article's author says anyone who doubts the veracity of these apparent superhuman capabilities are "stupid" and "arrogant."

"What does quantum mechanics count for? Do you think all animals in the world are as simple as you? We have entered another realm. The skin is a very complex biological living machine. It is a primary object of our long-term research. The body's electric power source results from friction generated [static] electricity," the article concludes.

The StarGate project was established in 1978 at Fort Meade, Maryland, by the DUA and SRI International (a California contractor) to investigate the potential for psychic phenomena in military and domestic intelligence applications.

Ingo Douglas Swann was the man behind the project. He was a claimed psychic, artist, and author known for being the co-creator, along with Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff, of "remote viewing" —  a process in which viewers were allegedly able to view a location given nothing but its geographical coordinates.
In one such session detailed in the StarGate files, Swann reportedly transferred his consciousness to the planet Jupiter.

Derrick Broze explores the tv show "Stranger Things" and how it relates to real government programs that explored... https://t.co/JFuLMvHnLl

— SomeNextLevelShit (@SomeNext) November 20, 2017

NOVEMBER of 1995, the CIA officially shut down The Stargate Project. #Military
Have you heard about this story?~https://t.co/gRBAPo7cFV pic.twitter.com/4iPxEfgmVP

— L. SYDNEY FISHER (@LSydneyFisher) November 7, 2017

Beautiful horse-riding postwoman

A Russian postwoman who delivers mail to villages around Moscow on horseback has become the face of online trading platform AliExpress. She gained two million fans in China after a documentary about her job aired on a Chinese channel.

Maria Rubtsova from Moscow relocated to the capital’s suburbs to work for the Russian Post in 2015. Now, the 24-year-old is delivering mail to eight villages in her area. Unlike other carriers, she doesn’t walk on foot or ride a bicycle but rides a black horse named Cosmos to make her deliveries.

New article (Beautiful horse-riding Russian postwoman becomes AliExpress face in China) has been published on The Daily Digest - https://t.co/gzSR6IeeZg pic.twitter.com/PRtC7yTqDl

— The Editor (@TheDailyDigest) November 17, 2017

“The young woman impressed the officials from the Chinese company [AliExpress] … After the documentary about the amazing postwoman was released in China, she gained almost two million fans,” Russian Post said in a statement.

A report about the horse-riding postwoman filmed by China’s CGTN TV channel was aired in October. The channel reported that 90 percent of all packages delivered by Maria come from Chinese online stores. The horsewoman was even a guest at the Global Shopping Festival event held in Shanghai last weekend.

“I’m sure that I won’t only get pleasant impressions of China, but also receive new tips about how the online trade is organized,” Rubtsova said ahead of her trip.
Apart from her job, Maria takes care of two horses, a calf, goats, ducks, hens and three dogs.

AliExpress, owned by Chinese online retailer Alibaba, is the most popular shopping website in Russia with a monthly customer base estimated at 15 million people. The company has attracted more than 100 million international shoppers since it started in 2010, according to the president of Alibaba’s business-to-business unit Dai Shan.

The world's first virtual reality theme park

The world’s first virtual reality theme park will finally open its doors to the public in southwest China this December, the company behind the project has announced – and footage of the facility does not disappoint.

The ‘East Valley of Science and Fantasy’ park is part of a more than $1.3 billion project being developed by the animation unit of Oriental Times Media in Guiyang, Guizhou. Set on a sprawling 320-acre site, the project will also house a VR movie-making studio as well as a media research and development center.

World’s first Virtual Reality theme park is now open in China – and wildly successful https://t.co/JpVcg8Y6Xe pic.twitter.com/nwNX3WDXiv

— Inside the Magic (@InsideTheMagic) April 26, 2017

One particularly eye-catching feature is the 175ft Transformer statue towering over the facility. The robot, which is built from 750 tons of steel, the equivalent of two Boeing 747 jets, cost around $15 million to build. The park, which will open on a phased basis starting first with its Alien Base area, will also be home to China’s first virtual reality rollercoaster.
 The cost of the park could prove quite cheap when factored against the potential of VR in the future. In 2016, the VR market was worth around $2.7 billion, a figure that’s expected to climb to $22 billion by 2020.



Including augmented reality, the total market could be worth around $108 billion by 2021, according to analysis by Digi-Capital. A study from CitiGroup, meanwhile, projects the total value of the AR market alone at $1.3trillion by 2035.

The world's first virtual reality theme park due to open next month on the Gold Coast. @ShaneDoherty9 #9News https://t.co/BxxtprMpe6

— Nine News Queensland (@9NewsQueensland) April 28, 2016

The world's first virtual reality theme-park opens on the Gold Coast. @HayleyWebb_9 #9News https://t.co/mAPpQUJCqM

— Nine News Queensland (@9NewsQueensland) May 29, 2016

The world's first virtual reality theme park due to open next month on the Gold Coast. Shane Doherty 9News https://t.co/gBATDnoC1C

— Brisbane Now (@TopBrisbaneNow) April 28, 2016

Next generation ‘robot dog’ moves just like real life pooch

It may move like a cheery family dog, but as a first look at the latest creation from Boston Dynamic reveals, the SpotMini is anything but.

The robotics firm posted a sneak preview of the newest version of its SpotMini robot to YouTube Monday. The robot appears a sleeker and more agile upgrade on the rather less sure-footed prototype unveiled in June last year.

The new teaser video finishes on the caption ‘coming soon,’ but it’s unclear whether Boston Dynamics is referring to the release of a retail version or simply a longer video of its robot dog scampering about on the lawn.



Boston Dynamics / YouTube


Once owned by Google’s Alphabet Inc, Boston Dynamics was sold to Japanese telecoms and technology firm SoftBank earlier this year. In February, Boston Dynamics showed off its parkour robot Handle, demonstrating some impressive jumps and also showing it could be put to practical use moving boxes.

The development of the firm’s humanoid Atlas robot has also caused further alarm among those already deeply troubled by the rate at which robots are getting better at human tasks. A study from Oxford and Yale University, based on responses from more than 300 AI experts, said AI could automate all human tasks by 2053.

New Firefox quantum browser uses 30% less memory than other browsers

Firefox is releasing its new quantum browser which uses 30% less memory than other browsers.
Firefox Quantum is over twice as fast as Firefox from 6 months ago, built on a completely overhauled core engine with brand new technology stolen from our advanced research group, and graced with a beautiful new look designed to get out of the way and let you do what you do best: surf a ton of pages, open a zillion tabs, all guilt free because Firefox Quantum uses less memory than the competition.



It has a new User Interface (UI) that is called Photon, and its goal is to modernize and unify anything that we call Firefox while taking advantage of the speedy new engine. You guessed it: the Photon UI itself is incredibly fast and smooth.
As part of our focus on user experience and performance in Firefox Quantum, Google will also become their new default search provider in the United States and Canada.

It can be downloaded here

‘A lost world below the surface’: Russian explorers film in world’s biggest cave with drone (VIDEO)

A group of Russian travelers explored one of the most spectacular yet least visited natural landmarks in the world - the Son Doong Cave located in the jungles of inland Vietnam.

The world’s biggest known cave, formed as a result of a cave in caused by a mountain river at least two million years ago, was stumbled upon by a local logger in 1991, who then lost its location before finding it again in 2009. At at its widest, it measures 150 by 200 meters, stretches for over 5 kilometers, and has a volume of 38,5 million cubic meters, about twice the size of the next largest underground hollow.

‘A lost world below the surface’: Russian explorers film in world’s biggest cave with drone (VIDEO) https://t.co/ThqHqV3Zvh

— Enquiring Mind (@EnquiringM1nd) November 12, 2017

© cameraptor 

Son Doong was entirely closed to visitors until 2013, and the Russian team of six spent a year arranging permits for the trip.

Their journey through the cave took four days of arduous climbs interspersed with spectacular sights, such as some of the world’s most imposing stalagmites, fast-running streams, and an underground forest.

© cameraptor 

“It’s peaceful here, you feel completely detached and free. This is what you call a reset,” said one of the travelers, Ernest Rudyak, in a video diary of the journey. “It is a sanctuary, a lost world below the surface - a unique ecosystem.”

© cameraptor 

 

Only about 2,000 outsiders are thought to have traveled to the remote location, and fewer than a dozen have filmed inside with a drone. Only limited tours costing several thousand dollars are made available each year, and those sell out in hours.

© cameraptor 

But the government wants to capitalize on what has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2003, and has proposed a cable car route through the cave. A spate of protests delayed construction in 2014, but the $200 million plan that would allow hundreds to visit the cave each day, remains on the table.

© cameraptor

Here's A Drone's Eve View of the World's Biggest Cave https://t.co/NfMY4m3drZ via @PopMech pic.twitter.com/nZyUwbhdAk

— Charbel V. Issa (@GalileeShico) September 7, 2017

Saya suka video @YouTube https://t.co/LhtP2GxCcI World s biggest cave discovered in Vietnam Hang Son Doong HD Quality

— Fitri Larasati (@betilars) August 18, 2017

JF-12 Hypersonic Wind Tunnel

Built in 2012, the JF-12, dubbed ‘Hyper Dragon,' has been a carefully kept secret. The 2.5 meter wide, 265 meter long installation reportedly cost almost $7 million to construct and is capable of creating wind speeds up to 10 times the speed of sound, or about 7,680 mph. At those speeds, the air temperature in the tunnel can reach 5400 degrees Fahrenheit, testing the impact of hypersonic travel on structural materials.

The JF-12 Hypersonic Wind Tunnel began operations in March 2014. It is the world's largest hypersonic wind tunnel, capable of achieving speeds of Mach 5 to Mach 9.
JF-12 tunnel conducts its tests every two days, and each test lasts only one-tenth of a second.

The JF-12 can produce speeds of up to Mach 9 (NASA's hypersonic wind tunnel reaches to only Mach 7). The JF-12 would provide Chinese scientists with a convenient way to observe supersonic airflow of different scramjet configurations, in addition to directly testing material durability in laboratory conditions, rather than having to make difficult and expensive high-altitude engine test flights.