Twenty-eight arrests after Venezuela looting, violence

December 26, 2017

"PUERTO ORDAZ, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan authorities said on Tuesday they had arrested 28 people in southern Bolivar state for looting and disorder over Christmas in the latest unrest during a severe economic crisis.

There have been scattered protests and roadblocks around the South American OPEC nation in recent days over food shortages, power-cuts, high prices and fuel rationing.

Local chamber of commerce head Florenzo Schettino told Reuters 10 businesses - mostly liquor stores - were looted as dark fell on Christmas Day in Bolivar, which has seen unrest at various points over the last four years of brutal recession.

In the western Andean states, police and soldiers were guarding gas stations, where there were large lines and customers were only allowed to fill up 35 litres per vehicle.

"We're wasting so much time … The government is testing people's patience," said bus driver Pedro Pina, waiting for hours to buy fuel in Barinas state.

Critics blame President Nicolas Maduro and the ruling Socialist Party for Venezuela's economic mess, saying they have persisted with failed statist policies for too long, while turning a blind eye to rampant corruption and inefficiency.

The government says it is the victim of an "economic war" by political opponents and right-wing foreign powers, intent on bringing down Maduro in a coup.

"This can only be reversed with deep economic reforms," said opposition legislator and economist Angel Alvarado.

In western Zulia state, several hundred thousand people were plunged into darkness on Christmas Eve, sparking fury among those who had scraped together money and hunted for products throughout the day to prepare a traditional family dinner.

"I spent the whole day stressed out - and then the lights went off. What a pathetic Christmas," said Lilibeth Rodriguez, 40, whose family gathering was ruined."

In the comments:

"The daughter of Hugo Chavez is the richest woman in Venezuela. Bernie Sanders owns three homes, including beachfront property. Elizabeth Warren is worth over $15 million, mostly made by flipping properties."

https://www.yahoo.com/ news/twenty-eight-arrests-venezuela-looting-violence-203546562.html

US Library of Congress backtracks on complete Twitter archive

December 27, 2017

"The US Library of Congress has scaled back plans to archive every message ever sent on Twitter, sparking debate on the importance of social media in historical records.

The library, which is believed to be the largest in the world with a mission of preserving important national and global cultural records, announced this week it would stop collecting the entire Twittersphere's tweets from January 2018.

"Effective January 1, 2018, the Library will acquire tweets on a selective basis—similar to our collections of web sites," the library's communications director Gayle Osterberg said in a blog post.

"The Library regularly reviews its collections practices to account for environmental shifts, diversity of collections and topics, cost effectiveness, use of collections and other factors. This change results from such a review."

Officials cited several reasons for the decision: the volume of the tweet database is much bigger than it was a few years ago and the library lacks the capacity to deal with images and items other than text.

The library in 2010 began its tweet archive after receiving a "gift" from Twitter of the full database of public tweets dating from the first tweet in 2006, but has not determined when or how to make this public.

The archive "will remain embargoed until access issues can be resolved in a cost-effective and sustainable manner," Osterberg said.

A statement said the library from 2018 "will continue to acquire tweets but will do so on a very selective basis" adding that the collection will likely be "thematic and event- based, including events such as elections, or themes of ongoing national interest, e.g. public policy."

Still, it added that the 12-year archive of tweets already collected "may prove to be one of this generation's most significant legacies to future generations."

The move prompted considerable reaction—including on Twitter.

"Not good," tweeted CNBC news associate Mariam Amin.

"I want every tweet to be archived. In 40 years, I want to take my granddaughter to the Library of Congress and show her the madness I dealt with as a journalist…make every tweet count."

How to choose?

Others questioned how the institution would determine which tweets are historically important.

The library "now needs to decide which of all our tweets are a valuable record of events in public life," tweeted the consumer activist group Public Knowledge.

But the news site PoliticusUSA appeared to welcome the decision, tweeting that the library "would be no longer be wasting its resources by trying to archive every single public post published on Twitter."

Some Twitter users lamented the quality of the messaging platform and the impact of prolific tweeter Donald Trump.

"Trump has managed to lower the value of Twitter," one user wrote.

"Now the Library of Congress won't archive every Tweet. #sorrytwitter. That must be because most of his tweets are embarrassing to the rest of the nation."

Jennifer Grygiel, communications professor at Syracuse University, said the move was disappointing from an institution "which is perceived to be the greatest library and archive in our country."

"This could lead to increased rhetoric about how there is too much user-generated social media content for companies to effectively manage or moderate," Grygiel told AFP

"Social media is not 'too big to moderate;' it takes time, money, and resources to effectively manage social media content.""

https://phys.org/ news/2017-12-library-congress-backtracks-twitter-archive.html#nRlv

Dig Deep: DARPA Contest Aims to Take People Underground

December 27, 2017

"From the seas to mountain peaks, humans have colonized almost every inch of Earth's surface.

Now, humans may soon be able to routinely venture below the planet's surface, at least if the military has any say in the matter.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has announced its latest challenge, called the Subterranean or "SubT" Challenge. The global competition asks entrants to develop systems that can help humans navigate, map and search in underground locations that are normally too perilous to visit.

"One of the main limitations facing war fighters and emergency responders in subterranean environments is a lack of situational awareness; we often don't know what lies beneath us," Timothy Chung, program manager in DARPA's Tactical Technology Office (TTO), said in a statement. "The DARPA Subterranean Challenge aims to provide previously unimaginable situational awareness capabilities for operations underground."

Groups all around the world will compete to solve problems that help people navigate in unknown, treacherous subterranean conditions, where time is of the essence, according to the statement.

Teams can compete in one of two tracks: a Systems track, to develop hardware-based solutions for a physical course, or a Virtual track, to develop software to test on a simulated course, DARPA said.

The final competition, which will take place in 2021, will include three challenges that involve navigating in one of three environments: a network of human-made tunnels, a subterranean municipal-transit system and a network of underground natural caves. The final event will challenge teams to navigate networks that include elements of all three environments. The grand-prize winners will take home $2 million. The deadline to apply is Jan. 18, 2018.

The development of robotics, biological and autonomous systems has reached a crucial juncture, with such systems now conceivable, said TTO Director Fred Kennedy.

"Instead of avoiding caves and tunnels, we can use surrogates to map and assess their suitability for use. Through the DARPA Subterranean Challenge, we are inviting the scientific and engineering communities — as well as the public — to use their creativity and resourcefulness to come up with new technologies and concepts to make the inaccessible accessible," Kennedy said in the statement."

https://www.livescience.com/ 61278-darpa-wants-humans-to-navigate-underground.html

1 dead, 2 injured in Ireland stabbing attack - police

01/03

At least one person has been killed and two more injured in a stabbing attack in the Irish town of Dundalk. A suspect has been detained. The motives of the suspected attacker remain unknown.

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

https:// www.rt.com/news/414902-ireland-fatal-stabbing-dundalk