Lifeboat Foundation

The sad truth is that our electricity markets currently lack the ability to accept the vast amounts of renewable energy capacity to meet state targets and corporate commitments to procure clean energy. A study by Princeton University found that high-voltage transmission capacity would need to expand by 60% to meet clean energy targets, representing billions of dollars in needed utility upgrades.

However, we can avoid much of this need by siting renewable resources closer to where they are needed – at the distribution level of the grid. In order to do so, we will need to take several key steps to solve major system barriers to expanding renewable energy on the grid. The good news is that with some policy improvements – some major and some minor – renewable energy capacity at the distribution level can meet needs without the long lead time required for larger, utility-scale resources.

In recent years, more vehicles include partially autonomous driving features, such as blind spot detectors, automatic braking and lane sensing, which are said to increase safety. However, a recent study by researchers from The University of Texas at Austin finds that some of that safety benefit may be offset by people driving more, thereby clogging up roads and exposing themselves to more potential crashes.

The study, published recently in Transportation Research Part A—Policy and Practice, found that drivers with one or more of these autonomous features reported higher miles traveled than those of similar profiles who didn’t have them. This is important, because miles traveled is one of the most—if not the most—significant predictor of crashes. The more you drive, the more likely you are to crash.

“What we showed, without any ambiguity in our results, is that after embracing autonomous features, people tend to drive more,” said Chandra Bhat, one of the authors on the project and professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering’s Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering. “There are certainly engineering benefits to these safety features, but they are offset to a good extent because people are driving more and exposed more.”

- IMAGINARY
ANTHEM: “Anthem of the Human empire“
same tune as “The Flag Parade” by John Williams from Star Wars Episode I

- MODERATION POLICY
1) Keep comments civil.
2) Ideological and political comments are not allowed.
3) Comment section under explicit political videos will be deactivated. Same with old toxic comment sections.
4) Comments under video with mild political implications will be reviewed first.
5) SPAM = BAN
6) Warning at first infraction, recidivists will be blocked.
7) Serious offenders will be blocked with no warning.
8) Insult me and you will be blocked with no warning.
9) “Satire” is not an excuse made using Flag 3D screensaver, available here:
http://www.3planesoft.com/holidays-screensavers/flag-3d-screensaver/

Continue reading “Flag and anthem of Human empire” »

While the University of Hawai’i has until 2028 to officially hand off its management duties to the group, locals like native activist Noe Noe Wong-Wilson are optimistic about the change. She and others note that it feels like policy makers are finally listening to Native Hawaiians’ voices regarding the stewardship and care of their own community.

“This is the first time with the new authority that cultural practitioners and community members will actually have seats in the governing organization,” says Wong-Wilson, who is the executive director of the Lālākea Foundation, a nonprofit Native Hawaiian cultural organization. Wong-Wilson, who is a member of the working group that helped develop the bill proposal, says that the choice to bring in people and ideas from all over the community is what helped make the new law a reality.

She adds that the law’s mutual stewardship model takes into account all human activities on the mountain, and is designed to help “protect Mauna Kea for future generations,” as Native Hawaiians believe the mountain is a sacred place—a part of their spirituality as well as their culture. But years of mismanagement has created a mistrust in the state’s stakeholders, which included the University and Hawaiian government officials, and deepened a rift between Indigenous culture and western science.

Microsoft has chosen to add specific security measures against brute force attacks against RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol). These security improvements have been introduced in the most recent builds of Windows 11. Given the evolution of this type of attack abusing RDP, Microsoft decided to add the security measure in the latest Insider Preview22528.1000. This system automatically locks accounts for 10 minutes after 10 invalid login attempts. The news was broken by David Weston (VP of OS & Enterprise Security) on Twitter last week.

These kinds of attacks against RDP are quite common in human operated ransomware. With this relatively simple measure, it is possible to complicate brute force attacks, being quite effective in discouraging them. However, it was already possible to activate this measure in Windows 10, so the novelty is really enabling it by default.

Continue reading “Windows enables default account lockout policy for RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) to reduce ransomware attacks based on brute forcing RDP” »

Microsoft is now taking steps to prevent Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) brute-force attacks as part of the latest builds for the Windows 11 operating system in an attempt to raise the security baseline to meet the evolving threat landscape.

To that end, the default policy for Windows 11 builds – particularly, Insider Preview builds 22528.1000 and newer – will automatically lock accounts for 10 minutes after 10 invalid sign-in attempts.

“Win11 builds now have a DEFAULT account lockout policy to mitigate RDP and other brute-force password vectors,” David Weston, Microsoft’s vice president for OS security and enterprise, said in a series of tweets last week. “This technique is very commonly used in Human Operated Ransomware and other attacks — this control will make brute forcing much harder which is awesome!”

Intel ((INTC) — Get Intel Corporation Report ) is the bearer of additional bad news.

The chip giant will give an extra blow to consumers and businesses concerned about the health of the economy. For several weeks in fact, consumers have seen their bills for groceries and other products increase. The price of gasoline at the pump has jumped when they go to fill up their car.

And the situation is not getting any better since inflation remains at its highest for forty years, which should push the Federal Reserve to be even more aggressive in raising rates. However, economists have already warned that this monetary policy would plunge the economy into recession.

Any control of the Moon would be temporary and localized.

In an op/ed space policy experts explain why China is unlikely to try exert power over the Moon.

White House asks the public for ideas on what to do when we return to the Moon and cislunar space.

The U.S. has plans to return to the moon by the middle of this decade through NASA’s Artemis Program. But going back to the lunar surface and cislunar space isn’t just about putting boots on the ground. That’s why the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy on behalf of the Cislunar Science and Technology Subcommittee of the National Science and Technology Council has issued a request for ideas (RFI) with a deadline of Wednesday, July 20, 2022, for interested parties to make submissions.

The U.S. government has defined cislunar space as the entire region beyond Earth’s geostationary orbit subject to the gravity of both our planet and the Moon. The RFI covers both orbiting and lunar surface activities.

Continue reading “U.S. Government’s Office of Science and Technology Issues Call for Cislunar Strategies” »