Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Sean Eddy stood awkwardly next to fossil exhibits at a 2015 wine reception at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. He was new to the University and didn’t know a soul. Then up strolled a smiling Rob Lue, who “started telling me about his new work on data-driven urban planning in Paris, and we immediately hit it off,” Eddy recalls.

The Ellmore C. Patterson Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology and department chair would eventually come to learn that Lue was a highly regarded researcher, an energetic leader in innovative teaching, and roundly cherished for his warm and generous spirit. “Rob was an optimist with a passion that would draw you in and get you talking with him about the good things in the world — art and books and education — and how we could make the world an even better place together,” Eddy said. “He saw the best in people.”

Lue, who died Wednesday at 56 from cancer, had an impact felt deeply among undergraduates on campus and beyond. He was professor of the practice in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, founding faculty director of HarvardX, faculty director of the Harvard Ed Portal, Richard L. Menschel Faculty Director of the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, UNESCO Chair on Life Sciences and Social Innovation, and faculty director and principal investigator of LabXchange.

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This was the second drone flash mob event this year, aimed at invigorating and encouraging the public to overcome the economic difficulties and COVID-19 challenges.

More than 120 of new cases were reported on Friday in densely populated Seoul metropolitan area, where officials have struggled to stem transmissions tied to various places, including hospitals, nursing homes, churches, schools, restaurants and offices.

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With each new crew launch from the U.S. comes the inevitable questions: Why all the weather rules? What are the vehicle’s abort modes and how will it perform a launch abort and aim itself to a predetermined location in the Atlantic Ocean stretching from the Kennedy Space Center across to the western Irish coast?

The Crew-1 mission of SpaceX’s Dragon 2 capsule is contending with these questions, with its launch already delayed from Saturday because of weather. The mission is currently set to launch at 19:27 EST (00:27 UTC) on Sunday, 15 November (Monday, 16 November UTC) from LC-39A in Florida to bring Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, and Soichi Noguchi to the International Space Station.

Why do NASA, the 45th Space Wing of the Space Force, their safety officers, and all launch providers make such a big deal about the weather? Who cares if it’s raining 18 km from the pad when the safety rules say rain cannot be closer than 18.5 km? Isn’t that close enough?

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The gang behind the Ragnar Locker ransomware posted an ad on Facebook in an attempt to publicly shame a victim so it would pay a ransom. Security experts say the innovative tactic is indicative of things to come.

See Also: Palo Alto Networks Ignite 20: Discover the Future of Cybersecurity, Today

Earlier this week, the cyber gang hacked into a random company’s Facebook advertising account and then used it to buy an ad containing a press release stating Ragnar Locker had breached the Italian liquor company Campari and demanded it pay the ransom or see its data released. The security firm Emsisoft provided an image of the ad to Information Security Media Group.

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Circa 2018

They say, “We’re putting accurate vision tests directly into the hands of people around the world. Our patented technology makes self-administered eye tests available to billions of people– many of whom may not have had the ability to test their eyes and correct their vision without access to low cost, convenient solutions.”

EyeQue VisionCheck is a refractometer that measures your refractive error, i.e. your nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism.

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Buying a pair of prescription glasses is cumbersome process. Retail stores often charge hundreds of dollars—not including add-ons like UV coating—and require customers to return days or weeks later to pick up their spectacles.

Japanese eyewear maker JINS wants to change this. An unknown brand in the US, the Tokyo-based company is getting ready to expand outside of Asia and open its first US store this week. The outlet on San Francisco’s Powell Street—the heart of the city’s shopping district—will sell glasses ranging in price from $60 to $120 that take 30 minutes to make. (The price covers the frames, lenses, UV coating, and case; progressive, bifocal, colored, or polarized lenses will cost an additional $60 to $80.)

JINS is hoping Americans will start seeing glasses as an impulse buy—maybe something they might pick up to match an outfit.

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Federal regulators have fined the nation’s largest public utility more than $900,000 for violating procedures during the startup of a Tennessee nuclear reactor and subsequently misleading investigators. Two managers and a plant operator who worked at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Barr Nuclear Plant in Spring City were also issued violations by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Howard Hall, director of the University of Tennessee’s Institute for Nuclear Security, said the notice of violation to TVA points to “a systemic problem in management.”

“As someone who has worked in this field essentially my entire life, I would have been appalled to receive such a letter,” Hall said.

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