Mind Blowing Sex
Transient Global Amnesia is defined as “a sudden, temporary episode of memory loss that can’t be attributed to a more common neurological condition, such as epilepsy or stroke.” It’s now giving men everywhere the excuse to forget her name in the morning simply by claiming the sex was mind blowing. Medical experts acknowledge that truly fantastic sex may actually induce the condition but still disagree as to the reason. Some hypothesize it’s just the right amount of blood flow transference for just the right amount of time to cause an amnesia effect from the encounter lasting upwards of 24 hours.
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Last year, Stuxnet unveiled itself as one of the most sophisticated and targeted pieces of malware with its penchant for Iranian nuclear centrifuges. It was only a matter of time before variants came out, whether from the original authors or from criminals harvesting techniques. Symantec identified a variation using components of Stuxnet’s code and techniques running around Europe they’ve dubbed Duqu, based on a string of DQ characters found within. Duqu seems to be an information gathering tool allowing interactive remote access, keylogging and other data snarfing abilities while embedding itself as a driver using stolen certificates. This particular one differs from Stuxnet in that it seems to have no code specific to SCADA systems nor does it self-replicate.
1% of America
As the Occupy Wall Street folks beat their drum about representing 99% of America … there is a definite 1% of America that doesn’t match any other group. What will this spell for the future of politics 20 years from now? In decades leading up to now, there has always been a decent representation amongst politicians that had prior military service. It’s increasingly unlikely that civilian leadership of the country will have any idea what military service means.
Color Coded School Performance
California’s Kennedy High School recently killed off a controversial program of academic performance segregation. The program was intended to offer incentives and rewards to students scoring above and significantly above baseline test standards. These students were given gold and platinum cards and were allowed to use special fast-access lines in places like the cafeteria. Meanwhile, all the regular and under-achieving students were given white cards and used slower lines, etc. Naturally, the not-haves were complaining about being called out, identified and segregated.
Quantum Locking Demonstration
Physicists are always creating the darndest things. In the past few days, a video created at the Tel Aviv University demonstrates the flux pinning effect that’s now being called quantum locking. This differs from typical demonstrations in that it’s not simply magnetic levitation. As can be seen in the video, the suspended object is locked into place regardless of it’s orientation or the orientation of it’s reference point. It works similar to the Meissner-Ochsenfeld effect but differs in that the suspended object is intentionally super thin to allow magnetic flux-tubes through the object instead of repelling them. The superconducting material then “locks” into place within the magnetic field.
Possible Cuts to VA Benefits
It would appear that lawmakers just find the military easy to push around. As yet another source for recouping the $1.2 trillion in budget cuts, VA benefits have been proposed for the chopping block. In the bipartisan words of congressional veterans’ committees, “We believe no constituency better understands the challenge America faces, and no constituency is better suited to, again, lead by example by putting country first.” Currently, no specific cuts have been proposed but the committee supported themselves by citing prior cuts to the VA from previous budget showdowns.
Passing of Two Tech Legends
Two legends of the computing age have passed recently. Shortly after Apple’s Steve Jobs passed away, the legendary Dennis Ritchie has died as well. Ritchie created the C language, which essentially is at the core of everything today, and was the co-developer of the first UNIX operating system which in some permutation exists in nearly all operating systems today.
iOS 5 Problems
Anybody having issues with the upgrade to iOS 5 and the Apple iCloud?
Thus far, I’ve noticed most of my music files no longer play properly in the renamed Music app. The player just sits at 0:00 while indicating that it’s playing or it just skips through tracks before hanging like that. I’ve noticed it seems to have no problem with iTunes purchased, DRM-crippled music. In various Google searches, this problem has been reported by others in addition to various issues regarding cloud syncing causing duplications and other problems with contacts, the calendar, etc.
Iranian Plot to Assassinate Saudi Ambassador
So the USA, Saudi Arabia and Iran walk into a bar …
The latest international scuff between these countries involves the FBI’s discovery of an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador in Washington DC. At the center of it all is a 56 year old Iranian-American named Manssor Arbabsiar and Gholam Shakuri, a Quds Force member. Supposedly, Arbabsiar was to solicit a Mexican drug cartel to carry out the plot. He just happened to make contact with an informant to the DEA. The United States has begun engaging the international community for increased sanctions and political isolation with 100 diplomats invited to the State Department for a full briefing on the details along with briefings to the United Nations from the State Department, Justice Department and CIA. However, many pundits and experts are already declaring the whole situation laughably absurd as Iran denies the entire incident. Analysts can’t fathom Arbabsiar, a used car salesmen from Texas, as a probable agent nor do they believe Mexican drug cartels want to get involved with heat from the Global War on Terror.
Virus Infecting US Drone Fleet GCS
The unmanned Predator drones flying over Afghanistan have proven themselves to be formidable weapons and intelligence gathering platforms. Recently, it’s come to light that the UAV ground control stations (GCS) seem to be infected with a key logger. Some believe the virus made its way onto the GCSs via removable flash drives despite a DoD ban on the practice. Despite following removal instructions from the Russian anti-virus firm Kaspersky, the key logging software keeps reappearing on the GCS. It hasn’t yet been traced to a point of origin and a damage assessment is allegedly underway. To add insult to injury, the 24th Air Force, responsible for network security, learned about the infection by reading the story on the Internet as opposed to internal reporting channels.
Software Bloat
Modern operating systems have really packed on the fat. Depending on your hardware, it’s pretty easy to see a fresh install of Windows consuming not just a lot of disk space but a good chunk of available RAM as well. Even Linux, which is notorious for running lean, has some hefty requirements if it’s not pared down. Microsoft is definitely thinking hard about the Windows fat bulge in a recent MSDN blog discussing how Windows 8 has a fundamental requirement to not exceed the needs of Windows 7 hardware, and preferably come in even lighter. Of course, while Windows 8 is aiming to just “not grow fatter”, enterprising Linux enthusiasts have managed yet another lean port where the OS can execute entirely in javascript.
Controversy Over Faster Than Light Neutrinos
Not too long ago, researchers at Cern were puzzled over measurements showing neutrinos traveling faster than light speed. In a nutshell, the team was measuring the time it took for neutrinos to traverse 732km from Cern to Gran Sasso through solid rock using OPERA. They were perplexed to find the neutrinos arriving 60 nanoseconds too early and repeated experimentation continued to produce the same result. Not being able to figure out the anomaly, the community at large was queried looking for fault with the experiment to which many physicists have already responded. The prevailing debate now rests with clock synchronization and whether relativity itself was affecting their ability to time the neutrinos properly.
Mind Reading with Video
Researchers at the University of California Berkeley are improving the science behind mind-reading. Much like reverse engineering an encryption algorithm using both the cipher and plaintext, their machine begins with a known library of images and attempts to map brain activity to them. Subjects were shown video from YouTube movie trailers (roughly 18 million seconds known to the machine) while an fMRI mapped their brain activity. Their algorithm then attempts to correlate those activities to particular shapes, colors and movements to recreate video of what a subject is thinking about. “You’re reconstructing a movie that they saw using other movies that they didn’t actually see,” says neuroscientist Jack Gallant, to which he caveats, “We’re trying to understand how the brain works … We’re not trying to build a brain-decoding device.” [Be sure to watch the embedded video]
Home Warranty Companies?
I’ve been a homeowner for nearly a year and have a question for all the other homeowners out there. If you use an appliance warranty company – who do you have and do you recommend them?
When we bought our house, the seller included a year of basic coverage with First American which has been … okay. I’ve got about a month to either renew with them, pick a new coverage company or go at it solo. I’m inclined to have coverage as several things have already gone wrong with the house and its definitely saved a ton of money thus far. I found a website that offered reviews on these companies and wasn’t impressed to find that nobody scores well. First American scored a dismal 1.5 stars but nobody really scored any better than 3 unless they had a mere handful of reviews (probably fake). Perhaps its just the nature of the business that customers only complain.
Occupy Wall Street
Wall Street has seen a different kind of activity over the past two weeks. A social movement called Occupy Wall Street has been massing around the financial sector protesting the destruction of America through poor decision making activities by the free market. Protesters have been lurching around with white painted faces and suits mocking corporate zombie behavior. Inspired by Arab Spring’s ability to motivate the general public, Occupy Wall Street is aiming to get as many folks involved to show their distaste for how the finance industry has gotten away scot-free with its damage to America. Speaking for the group, Patrick Bruner states, “Our main concern is the way that democracy is hijacked through wealth inequality.” Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, producer of Capitalism: A Love Story, is no friend to the industry either and commented in an interview, “The rich are getting away with a huge crime. Nobody’s been arrested on Wall Street for the crash of 2008. They’re not paying their fair share of the taxes.” While the movement thus far has been relatively quiet, it has produced scuffles with the NYPD after an arrest of 700 protesters blocking the Brooklyn Bridge to include many reports of pepper spraying.
