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Disney will soon unveil a Netflix-style streaming service to deliver its shows and movies straight to viewers.
At the Disney meeting, shareholders voted on one item. Disney’s final offer was made up of equal parts cash and stock — $35.7 billion in cash, 343 million shares — and Disney investors had to approve the issuing of those shares.
WASHINGTON — After months of delays, NASA’s International Space Station-based Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM) last week completed the first of six simulated satellite-servicing tasks scheduled for this year, the project’s lead said.
NASA began work on the RRM project in 2009. Engineers at Goddard built a custom set of satellite servicing tools and a mock-up spacecraft that includes valves, wires, thermal blankets and seals commonly found on commercial satellites. The Goddard-built tools are affixed to the space station’s Canadian-built robotic arm...
Cepollina estimated that from start to finish, the first RRM demonstration, performed on March 6, took just over 28 hours to complete. Most of this time was spent ensuring that the servicing tools were ready for use, he said. The goal of the demonstration was to cut two safety wires. The first wire took about an hour a...
A full report on the first RRM technology demonstration is in the works and will be presented at Goddard in the final week of May during the second International Workshop on On-Orbit Satellite Servicing.
Five more RRM technology demonstrations are scheduled for 2012. The next will take place in May, when the RRM operator will attempt to remotely remove a valve assembly from the mock-up satellite. One of the higher-profile demonstrations is penciled in for July, when RRM operators will attempt to demonstrate robot-contr...
Those dates, however, could slip, Cepollina said.
The International Space Station this year is expecting to play host to the widest variety of vehicles ever to visit the orbital outpost.
Besides Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicle and Japan’s H-2 Transfer Vehicle, spacecraft built by the two U.S. companies NASA has engaged for space station cargo deliveries are scheduled to fly long-delayed demonstration missions later this year.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp.’s Dragon cargo capsule is scheduled to launch no earlier than late April, and Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Cygnus freighter is to follow this summer.
Both of these vehicles, as well as the Japanese vehicle, need assistance from the space station’s robotic arm to berth with the outpost. That precludes using the arm for other activities, like RRM.
“A lot depends on visiting vehicles,” Cepollina said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House vote that elected Republican John Boehner to succeed Nancy Pelosi as House speaker saw Pelosi lose the support of 19 fellow Democrats. That included two Democrats who voted for each other.
Under House rules, each party puts up a candidate to be the next speaker. All 241 in the new Republican majority voted for Boehner on Wednesday, except for Boehner himself, who did not vote, while 173 Democrats backed Pelosi.
Eleven Democrats voted for Heath Shuler, D-N.C., while civil rights leader John Lewis, D-Ga., received two votes and five others received single votes. Two of those single votes came from California Democrats Jim Costa and Dennis Cardoza, who voted for each other. One person voted "present."
Still, the support for Pelosi, the face of the Democrats as they suffered one of their worst election defeats in years, was better than on Nov. 17, when 43 Democrats backed Shuler over Pelosi for House minority leader. Pelosi won that contest 150-43.
The lone Democrat not voting was Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon, who led an unsuccessful effort after the election to postpone a vote on the party leader until Democrats had a chance to assess the causes of the election losses. DeFazio's office said he was back in his district attending a meeting on a VA medical facility...
Others receiving single votes were Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, who joined DeFazio in seeking to postpone the leadership vote, outgoing Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland and Jim Cooper of Tennessee.
The course is designed for professionals who are or will be involved in developing architectures consistent with the DoD Architecture Framework for or in support of DOD organizations. It is also for professionals responsible for such architectures because, through the interactive and work sessions, it helps them gain a...
Frederick S. Lane is a professor in the School of Public Affairs at Bernard M. Baruch College of the City University of New York. In the mid-seventies, he served as staff director of the Governor’s Task Force on Higher Education in New York.
The politics of America's largest urban university have entered a restless, disordered, tumultuous period, a violent whirlpool from which it seems unable to extricate itself.
What is the Muslim Association of Britain?
Oppose slave labour scheme for asylum-seekers!
At the end of the tunnel?
Socialists and Muslims: Holier than thou?
For freedom of the press - in Israel!
Labour Party leadership contest - it can, it should be done!
TUC preview: for workers' rights - in words or deeds?
Since September 2002, Stop the War Coalition protests have been co-sponsored by an organisation called the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB). More recently, the SWP-sponsored Respect electoral coalition has worked closely with the MAB, with former MAB President Anas Altikriti heading Respect’s Yorkshire and Humbersid...
Join Workers' Liberty and No Sweat activities and meetings at the ESF. Tel 020 7207 3997 for Workers' Liberty details. Tel 07719 283132 for No Sweat details.
Back in June, and at the last moment, David Blunkett inserted a clause into the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc) Act.
The clause makes accommodation for a failed asylum seeker conditional on she or he undertaking "community service".
There are many "failed asylum seekers" in the system — many of them have indeed come from dangerous countries, but still have not got asylum, because they have fallen foul of bureaucratic regulations.
Steel construction workers on the Wembley Stadium project picketed the site on Monday 23 August after they were sacked. 200 of them, members of unions GMB and Amicus, were sacked on Friday 20 August by their employers Hollandia-Fast Track. The companies say they sacked the workers for taking unofficial action in a disp...
This is the second part of an obituary article of James Patrick Cannon, one of the founders of the international Trotskyist movement.
Annie O’Keefe’s review of Darcus Howe’s depressing programme on growing hostility between non-white people in Britain (Solidarity, 13 August) fails to indicate a factor that has helped to exacerbate hostility both between white and non-white people and amongst non-white groups.
My letter is inspired by Cathy Nugent’s review (Solidarity 3/56) of the novel Maps for Lost Lovers by Nadeem Aslam.
Republicans in the U.S. Congress Wednesday will introduce legislation to get tough on public pensions as worries grow that chronic underfunding will drive states, cities and counties to demand help from the federal government and drag it into a financial mess.
Republican Representatives Paul Ryan, Darrell Issa and Devin Nunes, along with Senators Richard Burr and John Thune, plan to unveil a bill for "enhanced transparency for state and local pensions," and prohibit the federal government "on any future public pension bailouts."
Ryan, Issa and Nunes introduced similar legislation in the last session of Congress, but that was before Republicans took control of the House of Representatives.
Issa now chairs the powerful Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Ryan chairs the House Budget Committee, easing the way for the bill to pass.
Of the longer-term problems in state and local governments' budgets, none currently looms as large as underfunded pensions for public-sector employees. Estimates for state pension underfunding range from $700 billion to $3 trillion because of disparities in calculating future returns on investments.
The funds' investments took a bad turn during the financial crisis, and many struggling states cut their contributions to pensions during the economic recession to save money and avoided cutting vital programs when their tax revenue collapsed.
As they seek to reduce a projected $1.5 trillion federal budget deficit, congressional lawmakers are concerned that states will turn to them for help in keeping pension promises.
Some conservative leaders are going so far as to suggest states be allowed to declare bankruptcy — which they cannot do currently because the U.S. Constitution recognizes them as sovereign governments — so they can renege on pension agreements.
The solvency position of public pensions deteriorated last year, according to financial research and management services company Greenwich Associates, in Connecticut.
Average levels of cash contributions from public employers dropped, as did the funds corporations put into their pensions, "probably reflecting the difficult and uncertain economic conditions faced by companies, states and municipalities," Greenwich Associates said.
To try to boost their returns and wipe out budget gaps, public pension funds are shifting funds to risky investments over the next three years, according to the study.
But states say they have already funded the majority of future pension costs and, according to two leading government groups, states and local governments have more than $2.7 trillion in assets held in trust for current and future retirees.
"State and local government retirement systems do not require, nor are they seeking, federal financial assistance," said the National Governors Association and the National Conference of State Legislatures in a joint statement on Tuesday.
"One-size-fits-all federal regulation is neither needed nor warranted and would only inhibit recovery efforts already underway at the state and local levels."
In the legislation the three Representatives introduced last December, the federal government could charge pension funds penalties for not reporting problems and would provide a check on the funds' gaps.
The state and local groups that opposed that bill said it would set a precedent for federal intervention into areas that are the domains of state and local governments.
FILE - Apple CEO Tim Cook announces the new iPhone 7 during an event to announce new products, in San Francisco.
Many people have long believed Apple intentionally slows down performance of iPhones in an effort to get users to buy new ones.
For the first time, Apple has admitted to slowing some iPhones down. But the company explained it only took the action last year to prevent battery-related shutdowns.
Apple’s action – and the company’s decision to keep it secret - led to widespread criticism from industry analysts and iPhone owners.
Owners of iPhones in several states are suing Apple. They accuse Apple of violating fraud laws by purposely limiting performance without informing iPhone owners that the problems might have been fixed by replacing the device battery. This, they argue, forced them to spend more money to buy new iPhones.
The issue of iPhone slowdowns in certain phones was recently noted in an online post by the founder of software maker Primate Labs. In his post, John Poole cited test results suggesting repeated reductions in iPhone performance over time.
The tests included the iPhone 6s and iPhone 7, with several different operating system versions. Results of the tests blamed aging batteries for causing the reduced device performance.
Poole said his company’s software that measures processor performance found that some users who replaced their iPhone batteries reported much improved results.
But he was not convinced that old batteries were the whole problem. He came up with a theory. He believed Apple must have made changes to the iOS software to limit iPhone performance when battery capacity reached a certain point.
A few days later, Apple released a statement admitting it made the software change. It said the action was needed to prevent certain devices from suddenly shutting down.
The problem, Apple said, was connected to lithium-ion batteries inside the iPhone. The batteries can fail in certain conditions – such as hot or cold - or as they age over time. This can sometimes cause older iPhones to shut down, Apple said.
Apple said it released the new feature last year for the iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE. It later added the iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2 and plans “to add support for other products” in the future.
“Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices,” the Apple statement said.
In his reporting of the latest developments, Wired magazine’s Jordan McMahon pointed out several ways Apple could have handled the situation before deciding to secretly slow the phones.
He suggested Apple could have informed iPhone owners about the lithium-ion issues beforehand and given them a chance to get the batteries replaced. Or the company could have even launched a program to sell owners battery replacement kits.
Apple has always strongly resisted having owners buy and replace their own iPhone batteries. There are many companies that sell do-it-yourself kits or will do the service for you.
Apple has its own battery replacement service – either in Apple stores or through the mail - and charges $79 for any iPhone model that is no longer under warranty.
But based on the huge negative reaction to Apple’s change, it seems many people are not aware of that possibility. They have complained about being forced to either buy a new, expensive iPhone, or switch brands to fix the problem.
Several economic analysts have lowered predictions for 2018 shipments of the iPhone X as some news reports also suggested there will be much lower demand. Taiwan’s Economic Daily reported Monday that Apple could cut its sales targets for the iPhone X in the first quarter from 50 million to 30 million.
Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from Reuters, Agence France-Presse and other sources. Hai Do was the editor.
A Face Can Unlock iPhone X, But Can It Be Fooled?
During my 33-year career I was involved in more drug busts than I can count, but my most memorable bust will always be my first.
When I climbed in I discovered that in place of the back seat there was an old couch cushion. I had to nudge a large suitcase over to make room. As I slammed the door the driver squealed away to the music of The Doors’ “Love Her Madly,” which seemed appropriate as both the passenger and the driver were Jim Morrison loo...
As soon as the car slid into traffic on I-90 the driver and passenger, undeterred by my presence, each lit up a doobie. The passenger turned, leaned over to the back seat and popped open the suitcase next to me.
“The grass is free, but you will have to pay for anything else. We got it all…ludes, uppers, downers, acid, smack. What’s your poison?” he asked.
“Dude! That’s so sad,” was the response.
I was riding in a car that had no working muffler with a driver who did not feel compelled to respect either speed limits or lane markers. If the car was stopped I doubted any police officer on the planet would believe I was just hitchhiking.
The drug-filled suitcase next to me had the capacity to not only kill my dream of becoming a police officer, but also land me in prison.
The passenger turned, looked at me and slowly turned back. “Portage,” he declared, clearly suspicious. I was thankful when one more hit of THC changed his focus.
I counted the miles, while dripping with dread, until the ever-careening-drug-dealer-carrying-car pulled off the interstate and dropped me on the Portage ramp. I climbed out of the car, thanking them for the ride. Shouldering my pack, I leisurely walked to the back of the car, waving as I mentally noted the tag number.
I looked for cover, but there was none.
I was relieved as the driver accelerated, causing the back tire to spit gravel loudly. Standing alone on the ramp I watched the car’s single tail light disappear into the line of traffic on the interstate.
Without a second thought I walked to the pay phone at the nearest diner/gas station. I had little money on me so I dialed zero and asked to be connected to the Wisconsin State Patrol Dispatcher. The operator connected me for free.
The dispatcher was a pro. He kept me on the line and took down the description of the vehicle and plates, the description of the drugs I saw, as well as the description of Jim Morrison one and two. I heard the call go out and the trooper acknowledge he was in position to intercept the vehicle. The dispatcher told me to...
“Do you need me for anything else?” I asked.
I longed for the day when I would not just be hearing those words, but saying them. I wanted to be a police officer and catch the bad guys before they killed innocent people with their bad deeds, bad driving and bad drugs.
While coming down from the rush I realized I was standing in the middle of nowhere with a buck twenty five in my pocket without a ride. But that didn’t matter because the suspects were in custody!
I shuffled over to the counter of the diner and ordered a Mountain Dew on ice knowing that in order to get home, I would need to initiate Plan D.
Sick of dealing with body shaming comments from guys on online dating sites, Laura Delarato decided to take their cruel words and turn it into conversation-sparking art.
But Delarato, the video operations coordinator and producer at Refinery29, didn’t let their comments get to her.
That idea turned into what Delarato calls The Comments Project, and she’s posted about ten images so far. She now finds the process of putting them together “cathartic,” but admits that it was tough to do at first.
And Delarato is getting praise for her work, though it worries her how many people hear similarly cruel comments.
Doing that, and improving the overall body image conversation, is what Delarato hopes people take away from her project.
YANGON (Reuters) - At least 100 Myanmar youth activists and journalists called for the release of two jailed Reuters journalists on Sunday, warning that the seven-year prison terms handed to the pair this month threaten the public's right to information.
Demonstrators including high-school students gathered peacefully in the heart of Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, held signs and chanted slogans denouncing the guilty verdict against the two journalists. A small contingent of police looked on as the protesters released black balloons printed with the words "Free Wa Lone...
Thar Lun Zaung Htet, a journalist involved in organising the protest, said the verdict against reporters who were "just doing their job" would stifle reporting in Myanmar.

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