Semi-retired professor Carolyn Marvin became a local celebrity facing down Philadelphia’s growing robot delivery army: ‘It’s my first amendment right to protest’
“One of you needs to be on the lookout for cops, while I block the robot, OK?”
It is a crisp fall morning in Philadelphia. Tucked away in a dingy alley, opposite a garage called Patriot Parking, 78-year-old Carolyn Marvin is laying out some ground rules for a robot-disrupting expedition. Once a suitable target is identified, we will follow it to a busy sidewalk and Marvin will stand in front of the robot, blocking its way. The photographer and I will take turns ensuring we’re not all carted off by the police.
Continue reading...
Tech companies like the idea, as they largely eliminate community opposition, and could cut down on utility costs
While Elon Musk has often touted putting datacenters in space, reports suggest that another geographic area may soon become a widespread target: our lakes and oceans.
Two underwater datacenters are already in operation off the coast of China, and recent reports suggest that the Trump administration is considering plans for four proposed underwater, sealed-pod datacenters to be built off the shores of Maine and Alaska.
Continue reading...The ‘secretary of war’ and his shameful history are facing bipartisan scrutiny
Can you smell the schadenfreude in the air?
Watching some of the worst people in the world get their comeuppance this week has been deeply satisfying. And the show isn’t over yet. While the midterms have wrapped up, the blame game is only just getting started, with Republicans desperate to find scapegoats for their shellacking.
Arwa Mahadwi is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...President spent weeks praising his favored candidates’ physiques, from their jawlines to their shoulders – but most of his hot guys lost
It was either a last-ditch considered strategy to win votes, or the ramblings of an increasingly unhinged and increasingly amorous party leader.
Either way, it didn’t work.
Continue reading...Architect of Trump’s far-right immigration agenda is now most powerful unelected figure in government – it suggests White House is moving to a war footing
Donald Trump just gave the middle finger to millions of American voters.
Any other president who suffered the kind of drubbing at the polls that Trump did this week might have felt at least a sliver of humility – and perhaps even an obligation to work with the new opposition in Congress.
Continue reading...The UK is 14th most light-polluted country, but in south-west England the veil is lifted at the dark skies festival
“It’s just mind-blowing,” says the astronomer and teacher Jo Richardson. She is standing in Exmoor national park talking about Saturn, the first planet she ever saw through a telescope.
But it is not the cosmic colour of the planet that Richardson is drawn to, nor its mysteries – it is the vastness. “Saturn, on average, is 800m miles away,” she says, the equivalent to travelling the circumference of the Earth 32,000 times. “You can see it through a telescope here. That’s just nuts.”
Continue reading...Escalating hacks affecting blood labs and grocery stores show the very real risks to critical infrastructure that come from basic security lapses involving internet-connected devices.
Fans trying to access latest releases are being priced out in a cut-throat market driven by crypto-like hype
The runaway demand for Pokemon cards is because they are being hyped “like crypto”, according to one young fan who had spent the night queueing outside a London store to make sure he did not miss out on the latest card release.
Before its 10am opening on Friday, the line outside the pop culture store Forbidden Planet in central London snaked past five others and, despite its strict sales policy, was probably “50/50” fans and resellers, said Kai, who had been there since 3am.
Continue reading...