Cleaner skies over South Asia that resulted from pandemic lockdowns last year likely affected the timing of snowmelt in the Indus River basin of Pakistan and India, researchers reported on Monday. From a report: The lockdowns cut emissions of soot and other pollutants, as people drove less and the generation of electricity, largely from coal, was reduced. That meant less soot was deposited on snow, where it absorbs sunlight, emits heat and causes faster melting. The cleaner snow in 2020 reflected more sunlight and did not melt as fast, the researchers said. In all, that delayed runoff into the Indus River of more than than one and a half cubic miles of melt water, they calculated, similar to the volume of some of the largest reservoirs in the United States. More than 300 million people depend on the Indus for water, much of which starts as snow in the high peaks of the Karakoram and other mountain ranges. Timing of melt water runoff in the spring and summer can be crucial for managing water supplies over time. In many parts of the world, climate change has affected this timing, with warmer temperatures and a shift to more rain and less snow causing more snow to melt sooner. Slower runoff can thus be beneficial, helping managers of reservoirs store more water and maintain a steady flow over the year. Ned Bair, a snow hydrologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the lead researcher, said that while they could not prove conclusively that the pandemic was the reason for the timing delay, "it seems unlikely that anything else would have led to that." India imposed a nationwide lockdown in late March last year that continued through early May. Several studies showed rapid improvements in air quality in that period, particularly in and around Delhi, which is notorious for having some of the most unhealthy air in the world.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader writes: A ransomware gang is threatening to leak sensitive police files that may expose police investigations and informants unless the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia agrees to pay a ransom demand. A group that emerged this year called Babuk claimed responsibility for the leak. Babuk is known for ransomware attacks, which hold victims' data hostage until they pay a ransom, often in Bitcoin. The group also hit the Houston Rockets N.B.A. team this month. In their post to the dark web, Babuk's cybercriminals claimed they had downloaded 250 gigabytes of data and threatened to leak it if their ransom demands were not met in three days. They also threatened to release information about police informants to criminal gangs, and to continue attacking "the state sector," including the F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The information already released appeared to include chief's reports, lists of arrests and lists of persons of interest.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A viral internet joke becomes a real-life, good-natured 'battle' for a lot of people with the same first name. Behind the scenes of the 'JoshFight.' From a report: It began as a joke, Josh Swain emphasized. Spring, a year ago. As a pandemic surged, and millions idled at home, Swain, an engineering student at the University of Arizona, was very bored online. He noted that every time he tried to create a social media account, the name Josh Swain was already taken. An amused Swain logged onto Facebook, gathered every "Josh Swain" he could find into a group message, and offered a brash challenge, which was basically this: On April 24, 2021, everyone named Josh Swain should meet at these select coordinates -- 40.8223286, -96.79820002; it turned out to be farmland in Nebraska -- and duel for the right to be The One and Only Josh Swain. "We fight, whoever wins gets to keep the name, everyone else has to change their name, you have a year to prepare, good luck," Swain wrote. Over time, Swain's terse, off-the-cuff, throw-down to all Josh Swains became a viral internet meme, leaping the curb from a bored joke into something quite real. The battle would broaden from Josh Swains to anyone named Josh, with Joshes from all over suggesting they, too, would come to Nebraska for a fight to be the The Only Josh. Terms of engagement were offered: they'd fight with foam pool noodles. Last Josh Standing wins. A public location was settled upon. (The original one turned out to be a private farm.) There was even a charitable angle: Supporters were asked to make contributions to the Nebraska Children's Hospital and Medical Center Foundation, and bring an item for the local food bank. On Friday, Joshua Swain, 22, got on a plane for Nebraska. And this past Saturday, on a grassy field in Lincoln, it actually happened. Josh vs. Josh vs. Josh vs. Josh vs. Josh, in the JoshFight of the Century. "It was insane," Swain said. "I can't describe it. It's so heartwarming, so incredible. It was a beautiful day."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The two top senators on the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust sent a letter to Google Tuesday asking about an alleged call to Tinder-maker Match Group the day before its top lawyer was set to testify about treatment on the Google Play app store. From a report: Match's chief legal officer Jared Sine told senators during last week's hearing that employees at Google called Match after Sine's opening testimony became public. Sine said they asked why his testimony differed from Match's comments on its last earnings call, where executives said they believed they were having productive conversations about Google's 30% fee for in-app payments through its app store. In the testimony, Sine complained Google had made "false pretenses of an open platform." Asked about the call at the hearing, Google's senior director of public policy and government relations Wilson White said it seemed like Google's business development team reached out to ask an "honest question." He added that he didn't view the question as a threat and that Google relies on app developers using its app store to be successful. In the letter addressed to White, subcommittee chair Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and ranking member Mike Lee, R-Utah, asked for details of the alleged call, including the names of those on the call and what they said. "We are deeply troubled by Match Group's claims that Google may have attempted to influence another witness's testimony,â they wrote. "Any efforts to retaliate against those who speak up about public policy issues or possible legal violations are unacceptable, especially by dominant companies that have the power to destroy the business of a whistle-blower."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

ADT, a home security company in the United States with over 6 million customers, is suing Amazon's Ring, alleging that the DIY home security company is copying ADT's logo and profiting from customer trust associated with it. From a report: ADT has asked a federal judge in Florida to order Ring to stop using its blue, octagonal signs and to pay unspecified compensation to the security company. In the complaint, ADT said it asked Ring to stop copying its blue octagon logo in 2016, after which the Amazon-owned company removed the blue color from its sign, but kept the octagon shape. In late March, upon releasing a new outdoor siren, Ring added the blue back to its advertising materials. ADT also said in the complaint that it owns 12 trademarks for the shape, color and look of its blue, octagonal sign.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

I propose that the Democrats publish what they think would be fair districting for every state, including ones that Republicans control. That way we can see how they deviate from fairness. Give journalism a means to compare. Help people understand gerrymandering. Another possibility -- maybe someone like Nate Silver could put together fair redistricting maps for all the states. It'd be an interesting idea to approach it as a non-partisan thing, using the best information and data tools we have.

Marketing startup Iterable dismissed its chief executive officer over violations of company policy, Iterable said in a note to employees on Monday. From a report: The fired CEO, Justin Zhu, said the board's chief reason for ousting him was that he took LSD, an illegal drug in the U.S., before a meeting in 2019. Zhu told Bloomberg he was experimenting by taking a limited amount of the drug, or microdosing, in an effort to boost his focus.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Americans who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can safely do many outdoor activities without wearing a mask, according to updated guidance Tuesday from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, health officials said vaccinated people should continue to wear a mask indoors and at crowded outdoor events, such as concerts, parades and sports events. From a report: "There are many situations where fully vaccinated people do not need to wear a mask, particularly if they are outdoors," said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky during a press briefing. "If you are fully vaccinated and want to attend a small outdoor gathering with people who are vaccinated and unvaccinated or dine at an outdoor restaurant with friends form multiple households, the science shows -- if you're vaccinated -- you can do so safely unmasked." The CDC released a graphic to help people make decisions about when to wear a mask both outdoors and indoors. For fully vaccinated people, the CDC says these outdoor activities are safe without a mask: Walk, run or bike outdoors with members of your household. Attend a small, outdoor gathering with fully vaccinated family and friends. Attend a small, outdoor gathering with fully vaccinated and unvaccinated people. Dine at an outdoor restaurant with friends from multiple households.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

On the last day of March, DroidScript, a popular Android app for writing JavaScript code, had its Google advertising account suspended and a week later was removed from the Google Play Store for alleged ad fraud. From a report: David Hurren, founder of the non-profit DroidScript.org and of SoftCogs Ltd, a UK-based software firm, is baffled by the charge and asked Google to explain how it came to that conclusion and to reconsider its suspension of DroidScript. But his appeals have been answered by form letters and now the app, used by more than 100,000 developers, including students, teachers and professionals, is losing premium subscribers as well as ad revenue with no further explanation from Google. The app had only a single banner, added "reluctantly added to cover our development and hosting costs," Hurren explained in a DroidScript forum post about the crisis. Denied access to ad revenue and details about the supposed infraction, Hurren set about creating a new version without the AdMob banner ad shortly after the AdMob account suspension, knowing this might also prevent DroidScript users from implementing AdMob in their own apps. But Google, on April 7, suspended the app on Google Play, preventing any new version from being released. Hurren said that means the app loses all the user-ratings, download statistics, and premium subscribers accrued over the past seven years.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

This is a favorite story from 1996 about bees.

SpaceX scored a regulatory victory at the Federal Communications Commission Tuesday, overcoming opposition from Amazon and other satellite companies on a key change to its plans for a satellite network that will beam internet access across the globe. From a report: SpaceX needed FCC approval to move forward with its plan to provide internet access in hard-to-reach areas. SpaceX asked the FCC for permission to lower the orbit of its future Starlink satellites.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The idea of online users trying to get people fired, for me, goes back to the early 90s when UserLand was starting up. I was very active on Applelink, which was kind of an early version of Facebook. Everyone who was anyone, even if they weren't an Apple user or developer, was there. Online systems were still a new thing.

One day we got a call at the office, back then companies, even mostly virtual ones, still had offices, demanding that they fire Dave Winer. The person who answered the phone tried to explain that Dave is the founder and majority owner of the company, and no one here can fire him, but the caller persisted. Even then I had too many opinions for some.

Reading the letter from Jason Fried, the founder of Basecamp, about changes at his company, I was impressed with how far this has gone. It's an incredible document. You can skip the preamble, head to the numbered parts where he describes the changes they're making. The infection of people feeling empowered to get people fired now has made it all the way into companies. Back then, no employee of my company would consider the possibility that I, the founder, could be controlled. But now, that's not true. Clearly.

Yesterday I wrote about how I don't trust the NYT on almost anything these days, because of what happened to Donald McNeil. But I think, from reading tea leaves, that I can see that something like what happened at Basecamp, has happened there. A committee of employees has formed, and they will decide who can stay at the company. A lot of it will have to do with age, gender and race. Someone who is young, a person of color, and not male will be able to express stronger ideas than one who doesn't check those boxes.

Did anyone consider what this does to the integrity of a news organization? And, what it does to the integrity of a software development company?

Our companies, organizations of all kinds, have jobs to do, and fighting for your cause, unless that's what the organization was formed to do, is not what they're about. You may think a company can take on every cause you believe in, knowing that tomorrow they will be different causes. You should start a company to test your belief. A company like Basecamp was formed (I'm guessing) to serve Basecamp users, to make them happier with Basecamp than competitive products, to generate a profit so it can grow, and to make the shareholders rich for being smart enough to bet on the company. And that's pretty much it. Maybe they had other goals, but it seems from the letter they're letting go of those now.

I know this has been said by many startup founders, Coinbase went through something like this. You can shake your head all you want, but in the end your only recourse, as an employee, is to accept what the leadership of your company wants, or leave and find something better elsewhere, if it exists.

It's especially troubling in a time when there are so many looming crises, that journalism is being subjected to this opaque idiocracy. If this is really how the Times is going to operate going forward, they have an obligation to explain it, until the readers understand that the words of the Times are being controlled by an invisible hand. We need the NYT to have courage, to not flinch at the possibility that something they cover might offend their employees. And the best outcome imho is if the management of the Times fires the would-be controllers and lets them start the publication of their dreams which I predict approximately no one will subscribe to.

PS: You can't get me fired, I don't have a job.

For a second year, the nation's surveillance court has pointed with concern to "widespread violations" by the F.B.I. of rules intended to protect Americans' privacy when analysts search emails gathered without a warrant -- but still signed off on another year of the program, a newly declassified ruling shows. From a report: In a 67-page ruling issued in November and made public on Monday, James E. Boasberg, the presiding judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, recounted several episodes uncovered by an F.B.I. audit where the bureau's analysts improperly searched for Americans' information in emails that the National Security Agency collected without warrants. Rather than a new problem, however, those instances appeared largely to be additional examples of an issue that was already brought to light in a December 2019 ruling by Judge Boasberg. The government made it public in September. The F.B.I. has already sought to address the problem by rolling out new system safeguards and additional training, although the coronavirus pandemic has hindered the bureau's ability to assess how well they are working. Still, Judge Boasberg said he was willing to issue a legally required certification for the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program to operate for another year.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The next generation of Mac processors designed by Apple entered mass production this month, Nikkei Asia reported Tuesday, citing sources, bringing the U.S. tech giant one step closer to its goal of replacing Intel-designed central processing units with its own. From the report: Shipments of the new chipset -- tentatively known as the M2, after Apple's current M1 processor -- could begin as early as July for use in MacBooks that are scheduled to go on sale in the second half of this year, the people said. The new chipset is produced by key Apple supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's largest contract chipmaker, using the latest semiconductor production technology, known as 5-nanometer plus, or N5P. Producing such advanced chipsets takes at least three months. The start of mass production came as Apple introduced new iMac and iPad Pro models using the M1. The company said the M1 offers CPU performance up to 85% faster than an iMac using an Intel chipset, and graphics performance that is twice as fast.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Margrethe Vestager, the EU's competition chief, will late this week publicly issue charges against Apple over concerns that the rules it sets for developers on its App store break EU law, Financial Times reported Tuesday, citing several people with direct knowledge of the announcement. From the report: The case started two years ago after music streaming app Spotify brought a complaint alleging that Apple took a hefty 30 per cent subscription fee in exchange for featuring it on its App Store, but refused to let users know of cheaper ways of accessing it outside the Apple ecosystem. The case is among a number against Apple and is one of the most high profile antitrust cases in Europe against a US tech group. The people warned that the timing could still slip.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.