A U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-Class Destroyer Passed Through the Taiwan Strait

The U.S. guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin (DDG-89) certainly lived up to its motto Tourours L’Audace (“Always Be Bold”) this week. After completing an exercise with the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Forces, the warship transited the Taiwan Strait and it certainly attracted the notice of both Beijing and Taipei, each of which deployed warships to monitor the transit.

The U.S. guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin (DDG-89) certainly lived up to its motto Tourours L’Audace (“Always Be Bold”) this week. After completing an exercise with the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Forces, the warship transited the Taiwan Strait and it certainly attracted the notice of both Beijing and Taipei, each of which deployed warships to monitor the transit.

The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer was operating as part of the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group while the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) continued its operations in the South China Sea. The carrier, along with Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, USS Antietam (CG 54), USS Mustin (DDG 89) and USS Rafael Peralta (DDG 115), entered the region on August 14 and conducted maritime air defense operations earlier this week.

The U.S. Seventh Fleet’s press office said that the Mustin conducted the routine transit from the East China Sea to the South China Sea in accordance with international law. U.S. Navy warships regularly transit the strait and there have been ten such transits made through the straits this year. This latest transit was meant to demonstrate the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, and it came just days after the U.S. warship conducted integrated helicopter operations, multi-domain tactical training and communication and formation drills with the Japanese Maritime Defense Force’s Akizuki-class guided-missile destroyer JS Suzutsuki (DD-117) in the East China Sea.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/us-navy-arleigh-burke-class-destroyer-passed-through-taiwan-strait-167281

Army Investigating Reservists Who Appeared in Uniform at Democratic National Convention

The U.S. Army is launching an investigation to find out why two uniformed soldiers stood at attention behind Democratic delegates from American Samoa on Tuesday evening during the Democratic National Convention's virtual roll call.

The two Army specialists, who were dressed in the Operational Camouflage Pattern uniform, are assigned to Army Reserve Command.

"The Army is investigating two soldiers from the 9th Mission Support Command who appeared in uniform during the Democratic National Convention on Aug.18," Lt. Col. Emanuel Ortiz, an Army spokesman, said in a prepared statement. "Wearing a uniform to a partisan political event like this is prohibited. The Army follows the Department of Defense's longstanding and well-defined policy regarding political campaigns and elections to avoid the perception of DoD sponsorship, approval or endorsement of any political candidate, campaign or cause."

https://news.yahoo.com/army-investigating-reservists-appeared-uniform-181701767.html

Army researchers develop breakthrough sensors for small drones

Pretty sure this is old tech

ADELPHI, Md. – Imagine a small aerial drone navigating a field with electrical power lines. How will it see them? More importantly how will it avoid this significant obstacle in its flight path?

At the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Army Research Laboratory, researchers developed a novel sensor and software application to detect and avoid energized power lines in the vicinity of unmanned aerial system, or UAS. The goal is to provide autonomous systems sufficient time and distance to react, avoid wires and navigate follow-on maneuvers.

Army researcher David Hull developed the innovative approach using a unique configuration of field and 3-D sensors, in conjunction with low-power processing methods. This resulted in detecting power lines and informing the device’s autopilot to prevent collision with the wires.

This method allows UAS equipped with these to use smaller, lower power and lower cost sensors to detect the location and Poynting vector (i.e. the directional energy flux density) of nearby power lines. This allows the UAS to autonomously avoid or navigate alongside the detected power lines.

While existing wire-detection and wire-avoidance technologies that use radar and/or optical sensors have had commercial success, they are known to be expensive, bulky, and power-intensive with technical limitations. The detection algorithm developed at the lab will result in size, weight, power and cost reduction.

https://www.army.mil/article/238268/army_researchers_develop_breakthrough_sensors_for_small_drones

Earliest art in the British Isles discovered on Jersey

Paul Rincon - Science editor, BBC News website

August 20, 2020, 3:48 AM EDT·4 mins read

Some of the lines appear to be abstract in nature, but some may represent faces and even animals

Some of the lines appear to be abstract in nature, but some may represent faces and even animals

Fragments of stone engraved with abstract designs are the earliest known art in the British Isles, researchers say.

They were made by hunter-gatherers who lived between 23,000 and 14,000 years ago on what is now Jersey.

The designs were scratched into small ornamental tablets known as plaquettes; similar examples have been found in France, Spain and Portugal.

The 10 plaquettes were unearthed at Les Varines, Jersey, between 2014 and 2018.

Since the discoveries in the south-east of the island, scientists from London's Natural History Museum, the University of Newcastle and University of York have been analysing the prehistoric markings.

The researchers, who have published their findings in the journal Plos One, now believe they represent the earliest evidence of artistic expression in the British Isles.

The plaquettes were made by the Magdalenians, a hunter-gatherer culture thought to have expanded out of Iberia (modern Spain and Portugal) and southern France after the peak of the last Ice Age.

The designs consist of straight lines more or less in parallel and longer, curved incisions. The two types of mark were probably produced by the same tools, in short succession - perhaps by the same engraver.

https://news.yahoo.com/earliest-art-british-isles-discovered-180610537.html

Researchers improve perception of robots with new hearing capabilities

Skynet here we come😃

Robots are slowly becoming more ubiquitous as costs decrease and skills are expanded. Retail locations now use robots for a variety of in-store functions and they have become even more useful in the struggle against the coronavirus pandemic.

Most robots are equipped with some combination of cameras and sensors to give them the power of "sight." But researchers with Carnegie Mellon University questioned whether sound would be helpful as well, organizing what they said was the first large-scale study of the interactions between sound and robotic action.

Lerrel Pinto, a robotic scientist who just finished his Ph.D. at Carnegie Mellon University, said in an interview that this was some of the first work exploring how sound would help robots better understand the world around them.

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/researchers-improve-perception-of-robots-with-new-hearing-capabilities/

>>10357451

I'm sorry are you a reporter? do you have you're own news source?..Then STFU fag

Judge throws out Trump challenge to Manhattan DA subpoena for tax records

KEY POINTS

President Trump’s effort to fight a subpoena for his tax records issued by the Manhattan district attorney was rejected on Thursday by a federal judge in New York.

The move is another loss to the president in a high-profile case that has already made its way to the Supreme Court.

U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero said Trump failed to show that the subpoena would pose an unfair burden.

He sided in favor of Manhattan D.A. Cy Vance, who has said his office is pursuing an investigation of potential violations of state law.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/20/judge-throws-out-trump-challenge-to-manhattan-da-subpoena-for-tax-records.html

>>10357491

>we are all faggots

okay rabbi, keep up your shitposting you'reglowing

Thousands evacuated as floods threatens a massive dam and a treasured Buddha in China

Beijing — Heavy rainfall has swelled China's Yangtze River, threatening UNESCO World Heritage Sites and forcing officials to reassure nervous citizens that the world's largest hydroelectric dam isn't about to breach.

The Three Gorges Dam and the reservoir it holds back saw the highest flood levels since it was finished in 2003, with an inflow peaking Thursday at almost 99,000 cubic yards of water per second for nine hours. The upper reaches of the Yangtze have been swollen by what the national Ministry for Water Resources said was the worst flooding since 1981.

About 100,000 people in Sichuan, along the upper Yangtze's banks, were evacuated this week as the province activated its highest-level flood control response for the first time on record.

While the threat to the 1.4-mile-long dam was serious, the Three Gorges Corp said the reservoir had prepared for the inundation by coordinating with other dams upstream to slow the flow.

It's the monsoon season across much of Asia, but rainfall totals this year have broken records across China. Still, experts have sounded confident about Three Gorges Dam's ability to handle the deluge.

Zhang Boting, deputy secretary general at the China Society for Hydropower Engineering, said this year's rainfall could exceed that seen in 1998, when China was hammered by deadly flooding, but these days, "we are better at controlling it with the Three Gorges Project."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/three-gorges-dam-china-floods-evacuations-deaths-leshan-giant-buddha-unesco-site/

Border Police release video of laser shooting down Gaza arson balloons

‘Blade of Light’ system dispatches 90% of balloon-borne devices within its range, officials say, as onslaught continues to spark wildfires in southern Israel

Israel’s Border Police released a video on Thursday showing a laser system intercepting balloon clusters carrying incendiary objects toward Israel from the Gaza Strip.

The “Lahav Or” (Blade of Light) system on Wednesday shot down 32 balloon-borne incendiary objects, and effectively stops 90 percent of the clusters in its range, the Border Police said in a statement.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/border-police-release-video-of-laser-shooting-down-gaza-arson-balloons/

Chinese navy may launch eighth Type 055 stealth destroyer later this year

Vessel is being painted at a shipyard in Dalian, indicating it is close to being launched, according to reports

But experts say it could take up to five years for all the destroyers designed for China’s aircraft carrier strike groups to be combat-ready

China is expected to launch an eighth guided-missile destroyer designed for the navy’s aircraft carrier strike groups later this year, according to reports on mainland social media sites.

The vessel will complete the first group of Type 055 destroyers, but naval experts said it could take up to five years for all the warships to be combat-ready – normally a few years after they enter service – because of their advanced design.

The destroyer is being painted at a shipyard in Dalian where a contractor carries out much of China’s naval shipbuilding, indicating it is close to being launched, according to the reports posted on Weibo and WeChat.

The Chinese navy just received the seventh Type 055 destroyer in May. And with the first, the Nanchang, formally entering service in January – 2½ years after its launch – naval experts said it could take another three years before all eight are in service following their sea trials. The second is still undergoing trials after it was launched two years ago.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3098205/chinese-navy-may-launch-eighth-type-055-stealth-destroyer-later