Huge number of sirens near my house in the country earlier this afternoon. Really frightening and weird. Later on my daily ride, I figured out what it was. There were signs on the road about a birthday celebration. Obviously all the emergency vehicles were wishing the person a happy birthday. It was a huge demonstration, I speak from having lived in midtown Manhattan, how surprising to hear something so loud, like that in the country. When I was trying to figure out what it was earlier the only thing I could think of was that there had been a terrorist attack, a very large one. But here? In the middle of nowhere? It's not a good thing to disturb the peace like that.

Also on my ride today I came across a lot of walkers and riders, I was the only one wearing a mask. That's not a good feeling, gotta say -- I did my part to protect them, but they didn't reciprocate. Not one person wearing a mask.

"The makers of the widely used JavaScript server-side runtime, Node.js, have released Deno 1.0, a new runtime for JavaScript and TypeScript that addresses 'design mistakes' in Node.js," reports ZDNet: Just like Node.js or Node, the Deno runtime is for executing JavaScript outside a web browser. However, unlike Node.js, Deno offers first-class support for Microsoft's increasingly popular Typescript, a superset of JavaScript designed for large projects... "With the changing JavaScript language, and new additions like TypeScript, building Node projects can become an arduous endeavor, involving managing build systems and other heavy-handed tooling that takes away from the fun of dynamic language scripting," writes Node.js creator Ryan Dahl in a blogpost co-authored by fellow Deno developers Bert Belder and Bartek Iwanczuk... Deno is based on Google's Chromium V8 JavaScript engine. While its standard modules are all written in TypeScript, Infoworld points out that Deno "can be a replacement for utility scripts that may have been written in Python or Bash... Deno was designed as a series of Rust crates to allow integration at different layers." (A blog post by its developers notes Deno "makes it easy to bind Rust future-based APIs into JavaScript promises.") But "Like a web browser, it knows how to fetch external code," the developers wrote, calling Deno "a web browser for command-line scripts" while arguing that with Node, "the mechanism for linking to external libraries is fundamentally centralized through the NPM repository, which is not inline with the ideals of the web... Also like browsers, [Deno] code is executed in a secure sandbox by default. Scripts cannot access the hard drive, open network connections, or make any other potentially malicious actions without permission." In an interview Dahl tells JAXenter they're already keeping an index of third party modules that work on Deno at https://deno.land/x/. "It's important to understand that Deno is not a fork of Node," the developers' blog post explains. "It's a completely new implementation..." "One last thing," the blog post concludes. "Consider supporting this open source software work by pre-ordering a Deno v1.0 hoodie."

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Long-time Slashdot reader sandbagger writes: Science fiction and fantasy can help readers make sense of the world. Rather than limiting readers' capacity to deal with reality, exposure to outside-the-box creative stories may expand their ability to engage reality based on science according to an article by an assistant professor of English at Clark University. "Let them read science fiction," the article concludes. "In it, young people can see themselves — coping, surviving and learning lessons — that may enable them to create their own strategies for resilience." But it'd be interesting to hear what Slashdot's readers think. Do you think your mental resiliency is greater because of the science fiction you read when you were young?

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Long-time Slashdot reader theodp writes: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year's AP Exams — a passing score on which earns high school students college credit — are open book/open note and taken from home. So it's no surprise that Google Trends registered a spike in searches for 'Java' during Friday afternoon's AP CS A exam (more detailed exam day chart) as students scrambled to solve the two Java programming questions that made up this year's abbreviated 45-minute AP Computer Science A exam. Looking up answers online isn't banned, but a College Board video recommends against it, saying "the information won't be helpful." Similar spikes in exam content-related searches during testing times have also been observed for other AP subjects. The end-of-year AP exam for the "more approachable" AP Computer Science Principles course was canceled for 2020, although it was to have counted for 60% of AP CSP students' scores.

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"High school students who took Advanced Placement exams online this week may have to do it again next month because of a technical glitch," writes CNN, sharing some of the students' horror stories. With 45 seconds left in her exam, 11th-grader Maggie McLauchlin of Jacksonville, Florida, took a video of what appears to be a black screen as she tried to upload her exam answers as instructed by The College Board. "I'm trying to take the picture but there's just black and I only have 45 seconds left," Maggie says tearfully. "It's not working..." Jamye Smith is an AP US History teacher at Fort Zumwalt North High School in O'Fallon, Missouri. She told CNN 27 of her students signed up to take the test. So far she's heard from three students who were unable to submit their exams due to a variety of errors, none of which they caused, she said. Smith said her colleagues teaching other subjects also said their students struggled to do the same. Because of time zone differences, one American student in Japan had to take his four tests at 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. — only to discover that two of them weren't submitted, CNN reports. "Unfortunately, there isn't another way to submit," the College Board admitted on Twitter, saying they believed the primary cause was outdated web browsers. They told CNN Friday that "After the first few days of testing, our data show the vast majority of students successfully completed their exams, with less than 1 percent [of 1.64 million students] unable to submit their responses..." "We share the deep disappointment of students who were unable to complete their exam — whether for technical issues or other reasons."

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I've heard it said that the lockdown in NYC hasn't been very complete, but look at this snapshot of a Times Square webcam at 1:40PM on a sunny warm Saturday in May. First question I'd ask is how did they do it?

Slashdot reader Iwastheone quotes MIT News: To closely observe an interstellar object (ISO) hurtling through space, time is of the essence. Richard Linares, an assistant professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT, developed a concept for a "dynamic orbital slingshot for rendezvous with interstellar objects." He outlined his idea in a research proposal that was recently selected as a Phase 1 study in the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program, which "funds innovative aerospace concepts that could enable and transform future missions...." Linares envisions deploying a constellation of statites, or "static satellites" enabled by a solar sail constructed with just the right mass-to-area ratio to act as interstellar watchdogs along the edges of our solar system, lying in wait until roused by an ISO crossing our threshold. Once detected, the solar sail then enables the statite to switch gears quickly and spring into action. Since the statite has a velocity of zero, it is already in position for efficient trajectory. Once released, the stored energy in the solar sail would leverage the gravitational pull of the sun to slingshot the statite in a freefall trajectory towards the ISO, allowing it to catch up. If the timing is right, the statite could tag the ISO with a CubeSat armed with onboard sensors to orbit the ISO over an extended period of time, gathering important scientific data.

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The chick is part of a programme to reintroduce breeding pairs of the birds in the south of England.

Long-time Slashdot reader bbsguru shares a story from the alternative newsweekly the Arkansas Times. "A computer programmer applying for unemployment on Arkansas's Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program discovered a vulnerability in the system that exposed the Social Security numbers, bank account and routing numbers and other sensitive information of some 30,000 applicants. "Anyone with basic computer knowledge could have accessed personal information for malicious purposes." Alarmed, the computer programmer called the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services Friday morning and was told by an operator that there was no one available who could talk to him. He then tried someone at the Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division, who told the programmer he would find the person he needed to talk with to fix the situation. The programmer later called the Arkansas Times for advice on whom to call. The Times alerted the Division of Workforce Services to the issue at 4:30 p.m. Soon after a message appeared on the website that said, "The site is currently under maintenance...." In exploring the website, the computer programmer determined that by simply removing part of the site's URL, he could access the administrative portal of the site, where he had the option of editing the personal information of applicants, including bank account numbers. From the admin portal, he viewed the page's source code and saw that the site was using an API (application programming interface) to connect with a database. That API was also left unencrypted, and he could access all of the applicants' raw data, included Social Security numbers and banking information... The computer programmer said he thought he could have programmed a script that would gather all of the information from the API in under an hour.

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Manchester is spearheading a new effort to create space for walking and cycling.

An anonymous reader quotes Reuters: A California state panel on Friday rejected a request from Elon Musk's SpaceX for $655,500 in state job and training funds, citing the chief executive's recent threats to move Tesla, the electric carmaker that he also runs, out of the state... Five members of California's Employment Training Panel voted to reject the proposal and two voted for it, with one member absent, after discussing Musk's tweets on Tesla's reopening and media reports of layoffs at SpaceX's Hawthorne, California headquarters in recent years. "In my opinion, given the recent threats of the CEO to leave the state of California, and everything else we've discussed today, this proposal does not rise to the level for me to feel secure in supporting it," said Gretchen Newsom, a panel member and the political director of an IBEW electrical workers union local... Though a small amount of money, the funding was opposed by organized labor groups. Tesla and SpaceX are both nonunion shops... SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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New submitter AleRunner writes: Considering Vietnam's proximity to China, where coronavirus was first reported, it might be expected that the Southeast Asian country would be affected by Covid-19 in a similar manner," reports inews.co.uk. "China has more than 84,000 cases of coronavirus and more than 4,600 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Painting a strikingly different picture, Vietnam, which sits below its southern border, has just over 300 cases among its 97 million citizens and not a single death, according to reports." The article points to a key willingness to "sacrifice short-term economic benefits for the health of the people" which is now paying back in that they plan to "partially resume international flights from June 1." The article then goes on to boost the value of Vietnam's "authoritarian leadership" and "socialist ethos," not mentioning the success of democratic and politically diverse countries like New Zealand, Slovenia, Taiwan and the Czech Republic. Still an interesting thought-provoking read. The report notes that Vietnam suspended flights to and from Wuhan after the first cases were detected. About a week later, the country closed its 870-mile border with China except for essential trade and travel. "Vietnam quickly ramped up its testing and contact tracing capacity after the virus was initially detected in China, and has been expanding it since," the report adds. "Everyone entering from China was subject to testing and contact tracing." Interestingly, a nationwide lockdown was never implemented. Instead, it relied on testing labs, mass, centralized quarantine programs, and social distancing measures to contain the virus.

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This piece in the New Yorker is a model for how post-Covid journalism should work. Instead of writing the first draft of history, tell me how to save my life. In a vacuum of leadership, that is killing your readers, you could fill it.

Poll: "Was the lockdown necessary or is this "reopening" stuff a massive delusion that's going to result in Pandemic 2.0?"

"We have met with Tesla representatives and have confirmed that Tesla is not engaged in full operations, contrary to media reports" this week, read an announcement Wednesday from Alameda County's office of emergency services in its health care services agency. ("Tesla has confirmed that its operations require a substantial lead time to become fully operational, and their current operations are only slightly above Minimum Business Operations.") But some Tesla workers are still concerned, reports CNN: "I don't feel Elon has those Tesla workers' best interest in his heart. That's my opinion," said Branton Phillips, a material handler for Tesla's production control in the Freemont factory. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment... To keep factory workers safe, Tesla said it will take employees' temperatures, reduce the number of people working particular shifts, distribute protective equipment, regularly clean the factory and enforce social distancing. Phillips said he's concerned the company's safety protocols will be insufficient. "This is going to be a monumental undertaking," the material handler said. "And I'm sure they're trying their best. It's just not going to be completely possible to completely social distance. That is just going to be a fact." Phillips believes that many other employees share his concerns. However, Phillips plans to return to work Monday when the factory reopens. He said he needs to make a living. "Just wanted to send you a note of appreciation for working hard to make Tesla successful," Musk said in an email to employees. "It is so cool seeing the factory come back to life and you are making it happen!!" Business Insider quotes him as saying. "Workers who spoke to Business Insider's Linette Lopez and Mark Matousek ahead of Tesla re-opening the Fremont factory said they feared for their jobs if they didn't report for work." One employee said they were told by the company they wouldn't receive benefits if they didn't come back to work, and would be unable to apply for unemployment. Another said they were told their furlough status would change. "Many of the workers are older men with pre-existing health conditions," points out an announcement from the county's office of emergency services in its health care services agency, "and many are African American and Latinx... these groups are at higher risk in terms of impact/deaths..."

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