Near Ivanpah, in the Mojave Desert, California, the largest solar thermal power plant in the world has been activated. It can generate at least a power of 392 MW of electricity thanks to its 173,500 mirrors that focus sunlight on three towers (photo © Sbharris). This project has cost $2.2 billion and received a loan of $1.6 billion from the U.S. Department of Energy.
In recent days the Chinese lunar rover Yutu, which means Jade Rabbit, had been given up for dead after what had been defined a mechanical abnormality announced on January 25, 2014. A part of Yutu was protected from the cold of the lunar night by the solar panels that were folded at the end of the day on the rover as protection. At the end of January this operation failed, leaving it exposed to the cold, but in the last hours it gave new signs of life.
CloudFlare, a company that provides various web services, including security-related, reported to have been the victim of an online attack that affected the company’s data centers in Europe and the USA. The DDoS attack has exceeded 400 Gbps, making it the most massive ever recorded in the history of the Internet.
Edward Snowden’s revelations confirmed fears that in the past might have seemed paranoid about the surveillance even ordinary people are subjected to. Under the guise of protecting the people, in particular the American NSA started spying even on American citizens and allies such as the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Today the initiative “The day we fight back” intends to allow the people to have their voices heard in favor of privacy and freedom.
The novel “The Black Corridor” by Michael Moorcock was published for the first time in 1969.
At the end of the 20th century, the world situation is becoming more and more chaotic. Even in the most advanced nations the society is disintegrating and in England a fascist faction rises to power, leading to an increasing xenophobia. Ryan is a businessman who tries to go on as long as he can but it comes time to make a radical choice to save his family.
