Jessi Combs, the 'Fastest Woman On Four Wheels,' Killed In Land-Speed Record Crash Slashdotby BeauHD on transportation at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at August 28, 2019, 11:38 pm)

McGruber shares a report from Popular Mechanics: Jessi Combs -- vehicle builder, racer, fabricator, TV personality, and all-around automotive legend -- was killed on Tuesday in a crash while attempting to break her own land-speed record in southeast Oregon. She was 36. The crash occurred as Combs was piloting her jet-powered land-speed car on the Alvord Desert, a dry lake bed where several land-speed records have been set. According to local reports, the crash happened shortly after 4pm local time. Combs held the title of "fastest woman on four wheels" after setting a record of 398 mph in her jet-powered North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger in 2013. More recently, she had piloted that same car to 483.227 mph in a single shakedown run in October 2018, though that run ended prematurely with mechanical troubles. (Governing bodies require two back-to-back runs in opposite directions to set an official speed record.) Combs was also a host, builder, and technical expert on shows like Xtreme 4x4, Overhaulin', Truck U, and Two Guys Garage. She brought about Velocity channel's All Girls Garage, and was a host and builder on a season of Discovery Channel's Mythbusters.

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Xbox Live Is Down, Bringing Some Apps and Games Offline Slashdotby BeauHD on xbox at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at August 28, 2019, 11:09 pm)

Unless your Xbox is set as your "Home Console," you won't be able to play any apps or games until Microsoft's Xbox Live service gets fixed. According to The Verge, the service is experience issues today, preventing a large number of users from signing into their Xbox consoles. From the report: The issues appear to have started around 3PM ET today, and many Xbox users report that they're unable to sign in to Xbox One consoles and access some apps and games. Apps like Spotify, Plex, or Amazon Video require you to be signed into an Xbox One console, and The Verge has been unable to access these apps during this Xbox Live outage. Netflix continues to work, but games like Fortnite and Destiny 2 won't work correctly without being signed into Xbox Live. "We've seen reports that users are having trouble signing in," says Microsoft's Xbox support team on Twitter. "We have teams working on it now! We'll update you with additional details as soon as we can."

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Greta Thunberg: Why are young climate activists facing so much hate? BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition(cached at August 28, 2019, 11:02 pm)

In the fractious climate debate, criticism of young activists has sometimes spiralled into abuse.
James Webb Space Telescope comes together BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition(cached at August 28, 2019, 11:01 pm)

The successor to the famous Hubble Space Telescope reaches a key milestone in its construction.
US won't release Middle East peace plan before Israeli election AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 28, 2019, 11:01 pm)

White House envoy confirms details of the peace plan will not be release until after Israel's September 17 election.
Netflix-like Pirate Sites Offered More Video Than the Real Netflix, Feds Say Slashdotby msmash on crime at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at August 28, 2019, 10:12 pm)

A federal grand jury yesterday indicted eight people who allegedly ran two pirate streaming services that "offered more television programs and movies than legitimate streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, and Amazon Prime Video," the Department of Justice said. From a report: Jetflicks, which operated from 2007 to 2017, obtained its video from torrent sites and Usenet sites "using automated programs and databases such as SickRage, Sick Beard, SABnzbd, and TheTVDB," the indictment said. Jetflicks made "those episodes available on servers in the United States and Canada to Jetflicks subscribers for streaming and/or downloading," the indictment said. Torrent sites that Jetflicks operators relied on allegedly included the Pirate Bay, RARBG, and Torrentz. With this method, defendants often "provid[ed] episodes to subscribers the day after the shows originally aired on television," a DOJ announcement yesterday said. Jetflicks charged subscription fees as low as $9.99 per month, letting subscribers "watch an unlimited number of commercial-free television programs," the indictment said. The service claimed to have more than 37,000 subscribers. One of the eight defendants, 36-year-old Darryl Julius Polo, left Jetflicks to create another site called iStreamItAll, which was still online today. iStreamItAll likely won't stay online long, though, as the indictment said the site's domain names are subject to forfeiture. The Jetflicks domain names were also subject to forfeiture orders, and the website is offline. Jetflicks "claimed to have more than 183,200 different television episodes," while iStreamItAll "at one point claimed to have 115,849 different television episodes and 10,511 individual movies," the DOJ said. iStreamItAll "publicly asserted that it had more content than Netflix, Hulu, Vudu and Amazon Prime," the DOJ said. (Netflix offered 4,010 movies and 1,569 TV shows as of 2018, according to Netflix search engine Fixable.)

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Italy's Conte secures backing to form new coalition government AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 28, 2019, 10:01 pm)

Five Star Movement and Democratic Party forge coalition deal following far-right party's failed bid to seize power.
How will Brazil's Amazon fires drive climate change? AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 28, 2019, 10:01 pm)

There were about 80,000 fires this year, more than an 80 percent increase compared with the same period last year.
Lebanese army fires at Israeli drones near border AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 28, 2019, 10:01 pm)

Incident comes days after alleged Israeli drone crashed in a southern Beirut suburb while another exploded nearby.
Can our cities survive climate change? AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 28, 2019, 10:01 pm)

Indonesia to move capital city to Borneo to replace sinking Jakarta.
Half of India police feel Muslims more likely to commit crimes AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 28, 2019, 10:01 pm)

Study finds 'significant' anti-Muslim bias among police, with 1 in 3 also condoning mob attacks in cow-slaughter cases.
Dorian hits US Virgin Islands as Category 1 hurricane AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 28, 2019, 10:01 pm)

Flooding and power outages expected in Puerto Rico as storm due to strengthen before heading for US mainland.
YouTube's CEO Explains Why It Leaves Up 'Controversial or Even Offensive' Videos Slashdotby msmash on youtube at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at August 28, 2019, 9:39 pm)

YouTube must leave up some videos that are "controversial or even offensive" in order to remain an open platform, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said this week. From a report: In her quarterly letter to creators, Wojcicki addressed YouTube's perpetual struggle with troubling content and how to moderate it, saying that it's worthwhile for the platform to allow videos the company disagrees with. "A commitment to openness is not easy," Wojcicki wrote. She says that "hearing a broad range of perspectives ultimately makes us a stronger and more informed society." YouTube has long struggled with how to police and limit the spread of troubling videos, from containing conspiracy theories to stopping radicalization to limiting harassment and bullying. Most recently, YouTube was widely criticized for its handling of a situation in which a conservative YouTube commenter repeatedly made homophobic comments about a Vox host. YouTube ultimately decided that the homophobic language was acceptable because it was framed as commentary, and it took considerable backlash from the LGBTQ community both on the platform and within the company in response.

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Whole Foods CEO Says Eating Plant-Based 'Meats' is Unhealthy Slashdotby msmash on business at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at August 28, 2019, 9:10 pm)

The CEO and cofounder of Whole Foods has some concerns about the plant-based "meat" craze. John Mackey told CNBC on Wednesday that plant-based meat substitutes are good for the environment but not for your health, echoing concerns that have been raised by dieticians and nutritionists in recent weeks. From a report: "If you look at the ingredients, they are super-highly processed foods," Mackey told CNBC. "I don't think eating highly processed foods is healthy. I think people thrive on eating whole foods." He added: "As for health, I will not endorse that, and that is about as big a criticism that I will do in public." Mackey also said plant-based meats were a better for the environment than traditional meat, which usually consumes large amounts of water for production.

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Trump to visit Poland for World War II anniversary AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at August 28, 2019, 9:01 pm)

Trump's visit is a sign of an alliance between Washington and Warsaw at a time when both are at loggerheads with the EU.