The constellation Auriga the Charioteer also has several easy-to-find and very famous star clusters that you can spot with binoculars. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/celestial-chariot-high-overhead-around-midnight…
Tag: Pentagon
Pentagon in U-turn over secretive UFO program
The US government has completely changed its story over the purpose of its now-cancelled UFO program. Known as the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identific… Source: https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/332788/pentagon-in-u-turn-over-secretive-ufo-program…
Amazon Appeals Pentagon’s Choice of Microsoft For $10 Billion Cloud Contract
Amazon is going into battle with the Pentagon over a massive military tech contract awarded to Microsoft. Amazon cited “unmistakable bias” as it prepares to protest the selection in federal court. NPR reports: This begins a new chapter in the protracted and contentious battle over the biggest cloud-computing contract in U.S. history — called JEDI, for Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure –…
Pentagon Awaits Possible Amazon Challenge Over Cloud Deal
Amazon must decide soon if it will protest the Pentagon’s awarding of a $10 billion cloud computing contract to rival Microsoft, with one possible grievance being the unusual attention given the project by President Donald Trump. From a report: Amazon was long thought to be the front-runner in the competition for the huge military contract. Its Amazon Web Services division is…
Defense Innovation Board Unveils AI Ethics Principles For the Pentagon
The Defense Innovation Board, a panel of 16 prominent technologists advising the Pentagon, today voted to approve AI ethics principles for the Department of Defense. From a news article: The report includes 12 recommendations for how the U.S. military can apply ethics in the future for both combat and non-combat AI systems. The principles are broken into five main principles: responsible,…
US Military Could Collapse Within 20 Years Due To Climate Change, Report Commissioned By Pentagon Says
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: According to a new U.S. Army report, Americans could face a horrifically grim future from climate change involving blackouts, disease, thirst, starvation and war. The study found that the U.S. military itself might also collapse. This could all happen over the next two decades, the report notes. The senior U.S. government officials who…
Does The Military Need Agile Programming?
OneHundredAndTen writes: According to this Forbes article, the Pentagon is worried that many in the USA’s military nerve center claim to use Agile methods, when in fact, they aren’t. Those responsible for these things at the Pentagon have therefore come up with a Detecting Agile BS document, so people can tell when they are doing Agile vs. when they are doing…
The Air Force Is Deploying Its First Drone-Killing Microwave Weapon
An anonymous reader writes: Drone attacks, including the recent swarm strike in Saudi Arabia, are increasing, and so is the Pentagon’s interest in killing them. This week, the Pentagon notified Congress of its purchase of a microwave weapon system designed to knock down swarms of enemy drones with pulses of energy. The purchase comes with an intent to deploy the PHASER…
COBOL Turns 60. Why It Will Outlive Us All
ZDNet remembers when the only programming languages “were machine and assembler,” until Burroughs Corporation programmer Mary Hawes proposed a vendor-neutral language with an English-like vocabulary. (Grace Hopper suggested they approach the Department of Defense, leading to a summit of 41 computer users and manufacturers at the Pentagon in 1959.) But ZDNet argues that 60 years later, COBOL isn’t done yet. In…
The Plan To Use Fitbit Data To Stop Mass Shootings Is One of the Scariest Proposals Yet
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Last week, the Washington Post reported that the White House had been briefed on a plan to create an agency called HARPA, a healthcare counterpart to the Pentagon’s research and development arm DARPA. Among other initiatives, this new agency would reportedly collect volunteer data from a suite of smart devices, including Apple Watches,…