Press Release: Oh, oh, oh! Sabayon 14.01

Sabayon 14.01 is a modern and easy to use Linux distribution based on Gentoo, following an extreme, yet reliable, rolling release model.
This is a monthly release generated, tested and published to mirrors by our build servers containing the latest and greatest collection of software available in the Entropy repositories.
The ChangeLog files related to this release are available on our mirrors.

Linux Kernel 3.12.5 with BFQ iosched, updated external ZFS filesystem support, GNOME 3.10.3, KDE 4.11.4, Xfce 4.10,LibreOffice 4.1.3, UEFI SecureBoot support for 64 bit images (with bundled UEFI shell), systemd as default init system, a greatly improved version of the Entropy package manager supporting concurrent activities (like parallel installation of applications) and PackageKit 0.8.x support with backend parallelization enabled. Last but not really least, the integration of Steam and a new install profile called Steam Big Picture mode (also improperly known as SteamBox on my blog) that turns your computer into a powerful Linux gaming machine.
These are just some of the awesome things you will find inside the box.

Read more: http://www.sabayon.org/latest

Comet ISON, SECCHI images

SOURCE: http://secchi.nrl.navy.mil/sccimages/

Comet ISON: Your Half-time Report

I sit writing this at 38,000 feet as I head out to Kitt Peak to join my fellow CIOC-ers Matthew and Casey for perihelion observations of Comet ISON, and I find myself having an early moment of reflection.
When I first heard about comet ISON and its sungrazing orbit in September 2012, I though, "this sounds promising, but there's a long time between now and perihelion, and anything could happen. I'm not going to get excited over this one just yet." In January 2013 I found myself at a meeting in Washington DC in which ISON was discussed and the representative from NASA Headquarters recommended that maybe the science community orchestrate an observing campaign centered on the comet. Having lived through a similar event before with the observing campaign to support the NASA Deep Impact mission, Dr. Casey Lisse volunteered to lead the effort and immediately tapped a couple of attendees on the shoulder, myself included, to join the Campaign team.
I've never been involved in something like this, so I really wasn't certain what to expect of the Campaign or of the comet. What has unfolded is simply beyond any expectation I could ever have had.

SOURCE: http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/2013/1126-comet-ison-your-half-time-report.html

UPDATE: http://www.space.com/23591-comet-ison-visibility-naked-eye.html

ThreeJS: Particle System and Raycaster

Selecting particle in ParticleSystem [wikipedia] using Raycaster [wikipedia].
Using ThreeJS.r58.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/42803030/threejs_sample/webgl_particlesystem_raycaster.html
(Credit: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/42803030)

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4253186/three/examples/webgl_interactive_particles.html
(Credit: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4253186)

Nazca Lines, And Mountain Top Removed

Read More: http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread878494/pg1

Read more: http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread878494/pg3

Government must take over Fukushima nuclear cleanup

Recent weeks have seen increasingly concerned calls, from within and without Japan, for the Japanese government to take a direct role in managing the multifaceted crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The most recent opinion poll shows 91 percent of the Japanese public wants the government to intervene.

The Economist calls Fukushima a “nightmare,” and the editors of Bloomberg deem it “ground zero” for the Abe government. Tepco’s handling of the stricken plant continues to be a litany of negligence and error, raising grave doubts over whether the company is up to the incredibly difficult and important task of decommissioning the plant. While it may be politically inconvenient for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to accept, it is time to intervene and take over the plant before it is too late.

Government must take over Fukushima nuclear cleanup | The Japan Times

Researcher controls colleague’s motions in 1st human brain-to-brain interface

University of Washington researchers have performed what they believe is the first noninvasive human-to-human brain interface, with one researcher able to send a brain signal via the Internet to control the hand motions of a fellow researcher.

University of Washington

University of Washington researcher Rajesh Rao, left, plays a computer game with his mind. Across campus, researcher Andrea Stocco, right, wears a magnetic stimulation coil over the left motor cortex region of his brain. Stocco’s right index finger moved involuntarily to hit the “fire” button as part of the first human brain-to-brain interface demonstration.

Using electrical brain recordings and a form of magnetic stimulation, Rajesh Rao sent a brain signal to Andrea Stocco on the other side of the UW campus, causing Stocco’s finger to move on a keyboard.

While researchers at Duke University have demonstrated brain-to-brain communication between two rats, and Harvard researchers have demonstrated it between a human and a rat, Rao and Stocco believe this is the first demonstration of human-to-human brain interfacing.

“The Internet was a way to connect computers, and now it can be a way to connect brains,” Stocco said. “We want to take the knowledge of a brain and transmit it directly from brain to brain.”

Source and Read more: http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/08/27/researcher-controls-colleagues-motions-in-1st-human-brain-to-brain-interface/

Don’t Fly During Ramadan

A couple of weeks ago, I was scheduled to take a trip from New York (JFK) to Los Angeles on JetBlue. Every year, my family goes on a one-week pilgrimage, where we put our work on hold and spend time visiting temples, praying, and spending time with family and friends. To my Jewish friends, I often explain this trip as vaguely similar to the Sabbath, except we take one week of rest per year, rather than one day per week.
Our family is not Muslim, but by coincidence, this year, our trip happened to be during the last week of Ramadan.
By further coincidence, this was also the same week that I was moving out of my employer-provided temporary housing (at NYU) and moving into my new apartment. The night before my trip, I enlisted the help of two friends and we took most of my belongings, in a couple of suitcases, to my new apartment. The apartment was almost completely unfurnished - I planned on getting new furniture upon my return - so I dropped my few bags (one containing an air mattress) in the corner. Even though I hadn’t decorated the apartment yet, in accordance with Hindu custom, I taped a single photograph to the wall in my bedroom — a long-haired saint with his hands outstretched in pronam (a sign of reverence and respect).

Read more full article here: http://varnull.adityamukerjee.net/post/59021412512/dont-fly-during-ramadan

Understanding Radiation: Becquerels and Sieverts

We now know about radiation, half lives, and radiation types. Next, let’s take a look at the units used to talk about radiation levels. The units we hear most often in the news at the moment are becquerels and sieverts.Radiation can damage our bodies by breaking the chemical bonds in our cells. The amount of damage done depends on how much radiation we are exposed to. This in turn depends on how much radioactive material is present in our environment, our food and so on. So it is important to have some way to talk about amounts of radiation. This is what the unit becquerel is for.

Full Article: http://tsukubascience.com/en/understanding-radiation-becquerels-and-sieverts/ 

Computer scientists develop 'mathematical jigsaw puzzles' to encrypt software

Concept illustration of mathematical jigsaw puzzle

UCLA computer science professor Amit Sahai and a team of researchers have designed a system to encrypt software so that it only allows someone to use a program as intended while preventing any deciphering of the code behind it. This is known in computer science as "software obfuscation," and it is the first time it has been accomplished. 

 

Sahai, who specializes in cryptography at UCLA's Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, collaborated with Sanjam Garg, who recently earned his doctorate at UCLA and is now at IBM Research; Craig Gentry, Shai Halevi and Mariana Raykova of IBM Research; and Brent Waters, an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Texas at Austin. Garg worked with Sahai as a student when the research was done.

Read more: http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/ucla-computer-scientists-develop-247527.aspx

Apple developer site targeted in security attack, still down

Apple's site for developers was attacked by an intruder last week, the company said Sunday.

In a note to developers, the company said that an "intruder" tried to gain access to developer information, prompting the company to take the service down. Sensitive information on that site was encrypted, Apple said, however it's keeping the site down while security is being hardened. No estimate was provided for when it will be back up.

Apple sent the following to developers on Sunday, detailing some of what happened:

Last Thursday, an intruder attempted to secure personal information of our registered developers from our developer website. Sensitive personal information was encrypted and cannot be accessed, however, we have not been able to rule out the possibility that some developers' names, mailing addresses, and/or email addresses may have been accessed. In the spirit of transparency, we want to inform you of the issue. We took the site down immediately on Thursday and have been working around the clock since then.

In order to prevent a security threat like this from happening again, we're completely overhauling our developer systems, updating our server software, and rebuilding our entire database. We apologize for the significant inconvenience that our downtime has caused you and we expect to have the developer website up again soon.

An Apple spokesman told CNET that the company's developer Web site is "not associated with any customer information" and that "customer information is securely encrypted."

Apple's developer site is home to software downloads, documentation and forums for third-party software developers. The site became inaccessible to registered developers last Thursday, causing angst for users who could not access those features. On Friday the company noted that it would be extending membership periods to cover the outage, and that any published software would not be removed.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57594770-37/apple-developer-site-targeted-in-security-attack-still-down

SIM Cards Have Finally Been Hacked, And The Flaw Could Affect Millions Of Phones

Smartphones are susceptible to malware and carriers have enabled NSA snooping, but the prevailing wisdom has it there’s still one part of your mobile phone that remains safe and un-hackable: your SIM card.
Yet after three years of research, German cryptographer Karsten Nohl claims to have finally found encryption and software flaws that could affect millions of SIM cards, and open up another route on mobile phones for surveillance and fraud.

Read more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2013/07/21/sim-cards-have-finally-been-hacked-and-the-flaw-could-affect-millions-of-phones/

RELATED SOURCE

SIM cards are the de facto trust anchor of mobile devices worldwide. The cards protect the mobile identity of subscribers, associate devices with phone numbers, and increasingly store payment credentials, for example in NFC-enabled phones with mobile wallets.
With over seven billion cards in active use, SIMs may well be the most widely used security token in the world. Through over-the-air (OTA) updates deployed via SMS, the cards are even extensible through custom Java software. While this extensibility is rarely used so far, its existence already poses a critical hacking risk.
Cracking SIM update keys. OTA commands, such as software updates, are cryptographically-secured SMS messages, which are delivered directly to the SIM. While the option exists to use state-of-the-art AES or the somewhat outdated 3DES algorithm for OTA, many (if not most) SIM cards still rely on the 70s-era DES cipher. DES keys were shown to be crackable within days using FPGA clusters, but they can also be recovered much faster by leveraging rainbow tables similar to those that made GSM’s A5/1 cipher breakable by anyone.

Read more: https://srlabs.de/rooting-sim-cards/

Aireal: Interactive Tactile Experiences in Free Air

AIREAL is a new low cost, highly scalable haptic technology that delivers expressive tactile sensations in mid air. AIREAL enables users to feel virtual objects, experience dynamically varying textures and receive feedback on full body gestures, all without requiring the user to wear a physical device. AIREAL is designed to use a vortex, a ring of air that can travel large distances while keeping its shape and speed. When the vortex hits a user’s skin, the low pressure system inside a vortex collapses and imparts a force the user can feel. The AIREAL technology is almost entirely 3D printed using a 3D printed enclosure, flexible nozzle and a pan and tilt gimbal structure capable of a 75-degree targeting field. Five actuators are mounted around the enclosure which displaces air from the enclosed volume, through the flexible nozzle and into the physical environment. The actuated flexible nozzle allows a vortex to be precisely delivered to any location in 3D space.

AIREAL is part of our long term vision for creating large-scale computer augmented environments which can deliver compelling interactive experiences seamlessly, everywhere and at anytime. Free air tactile feedback technology is a key element of these future interactive spaces with a wide range of applications including gaming and story telling, mobile interfaces, and gesture control among many others.

Read more: http://www.disneyresearch.com/project/aireal/

qooxdoo 3.0 released

We are happy to announce a new major release of the framework, qooxdoo 3.0.
Many thanks go to the entire community for making this happen: the team of core developers,1&1 as the supporting company, all contributors, and last but not least the users and enthusiasts who brought in questions, comments and suggestions.

The release of qooxdoo 2.0 about a year ago was a landmark in the framework’s ongoing evolution to become a universal JavaScript framework. Now with the release of qooxdoo 3.0 each of the three major application domains, i.e. Desktop, Mobile and Website, ship with substantial if not radical improvements.

Read more: http://news.qooxdoo.org/qooxdoo-3-0-released

Ubuntuforums.org Hacked!

Ubuntu Forums is down for maintenance

There has been a security breach on the Ubuntu Forums. The Canonical IS team is working hard as we speak to restore normal operations. This page will be updated with progress reports.

Read more: http://ubuntuforums.org/announce.html

PRISM Break!

Opt out of PRISM, the NSA’s global data surveillance program. Stop the American government from spying on you by encrypting your communications and ending your reliance on proprietary services.
Please go and see: https://prism-break.org/.

Direct3D 9 Support Released For Linux Via Gallium3D, Running Games

Linux desktop systems can now have working support for Microsoft's Direct3D 9 API via a new Gallium3D state tracker. Unlike the earlier Direct3D 10/11 state tracker for Gallium3D on Linux, this new code actually can run D3D9 games and at better performance than what's offered by Wine. 
Back in 2010, Direct3D 10/11 was natively implemented for Linux in the form of a Gallium3D state tracker. While Gallium3D is most often associated with OpenGL, its API agnostic and handles OpenGL ES, OpenVG, and even OpenCL for compute support, among other interfaces. Gallium3D can work just as well with Direct3D, but there has traditionally been not much developer interest in such a state tracker. This isn't to be confused with a translation layer whereby Direct3D commands are mapped into OpenGL.

Read more: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTQxMjk

Why mobile web apps are slow

I’ve had an unusual number of interesting conversations spin out of my previous article documenting that mobile web apps are slow.  This has sparked some discussion, both online and IRL.  But sadly, the discussion has not been as… fact-based as I would like.So what I’m going to do in this post is try to bring some actual evidence to bear on the problem, instead of just doing the shouting match thing.  You’ll see benchmarks, you’ll hear from experts, you’ll even read honest-to-God journal papers on point.  There are–and this is not a joke–over 100 citations in this blog post. I’m not going to guarantee that this article will convince you, nor even that absolutely everything in here is totally correct–it’s impossible to do in an article this size–but I can guarantee this is the most complete and comprehensive treatment of the idea that many iOS developers have–that mobile web apps are slow and will continue to be slow for the forseeable future.Now I am going to warn you–this is a very freaking long article, weighing in at very nearly 10k words.  That is by design.  I have recently come out in favor of articles that are good over articles that are popular. This is my attempt at the former, and my attempt to practice what I have previously preached: that we should incentivize good, evidence-based, interesting discussion and discourage writing witty comments.I write in part because this topic has been discussed–endlessly–in soundbyte form.  This is not Yet Another Bikeshed Article, so if you are looking for that 30-second buzz of “no really, web apps suck!” vs “No they don’t!” this is not the article for you.  (Go read one ofthese oh no make it stop can’t breathe not HN too I can’t do this anymore please just stop so many opinions so few facts I can go on).  On the other hand, as best as I can tell, there is no comprehensive, informed, reasonable discussion of this topic happening anywhere. It may prove to be a very stupid idea, but this article is my attempt to talk reasonably about a topic that has so far spawned 100% unreasonable flamewar-filled bikeshed discussions. In my defense, I have chosen to believe the problem has more to do with people who can discuss better and simply don’t, than anything to do with the subject matter. I suppose we’ll find out.So if you are trying to figure out exactly what brand of crazy all your native developer friends are on for continuing to write the evil native applications on the cusp of the open web revolution, or whatever, then bookmark this page, make yourself a cup of coffee, clear an afternoon, find a comfy chair, and then we’ll both be ready.

Source and Read more: http://sealedabstract.com/rants/why-mobile-web-apps-are-slow/

A Year of the Linux Desktop

Around a year ago, a school in the southeast of England, Westcliff High School for Girls Academy (WHSG), began switching its student-facing computers to Linux, with KDE providing the desktop software. The school's Network Manager, Malcolm Moore, contacted us at the time. Now, a year on, he got in touch again to let us know how he and the students find life in a world without Windows.

A room full of Linux at WHSG (image by WHSG) 

One of WHSG's desktops (image by WHSG)

[Source] Full Article here: http://dot.kde.org/2013/07/04/year-linux-desktop

The Time Magazine: Totally IGNORANT, Totally DISAPPOINTING

WITHDRAW YOUR ACCUSATION, TIME MAGAZINE.

PLEASE CHANGE THE COVER PAGE AND REMOVE THE ARTICLE.

DON'T WRITE SUCH A HATE SPEECH ARTICLE IN FUTURE.

The TIME magazine is so very IGNORANT and totally DISAPPOINTING. They have totally RESPONSIBLE for this. They are firing up the TROUBLES. 

I totally DENOUNCE the TIME magazine and journalist Hannah Beech. 

SOURCE: http://lightbox.time.com/2013/06/20/when-buddhists-go-bad-photographs-by-adam-dean/

What is the meaning of 969: Are Buddhists Terrorist?

Are Buddhists Terrorist? 

No, you are wrong. Completely wrong. We have no teaching to kill other people. We have no teaching to marry children(age between 1 to under 18). We have no teaching to cut throat. We have no teaching to cut hands. We have no teaching to eat Human. We have no teaching to wear women like Ninjas. We have no teaching to destroy other Religion. All the people of the World knows. But, sadly, Time magazine and Journalist don't.

What is the meaning of 969? (A Myanmar infidel Wai Lin Aung writes)

'969' is non violent movement of Myanmar (Burma) Buddhist people against Islamization in Myanmar.

Myanmar shares the border with Bangladesh, one of the densely populated muslim nation. While Myanmar is more than 10 times bigger than Bangladesh in size, its population is merely 50 millon and a lot lesser than Bangladesh's over 100 million muslims. Myanmar is a predominant Buddhist Nation whose social culture is tolerance and harmony.

Bangladesh has been trying to Islamize Myanmar demographically by letting its people to illegally enter Myanmar through loosely controlled border. Myanmar citizens who are muslims ( actually traitors) also help/ support that demographically Islamization plot. It is funded financially by local muslim business and also by other Muslim Nations. While most of Myanmar locals practise monogamy relationship and birth control due to poor economic situation, muslims takes at least four wives and unlimited children. Most of the time, they take poor myanmar girls as their junior wives and forcibly convert them to Islam against their free will.

Due to decades of Military Junta's corrupt governance in Myanmar, the threat of Islamization was ignored by authorities.

It has been become a threat to National Security. 2 million Bangalis illegally occupy in Myanmar's western state and another 10 millions muslims in other parts of Myanmar. As usual, once the muslim population has reach significant level, they start to show their true colour. Rape, Rob, Kill, Riot and commit all kinds of crimes against local people to scare them off to grab the land. Yet they cry foul that they are victims and local people bully them.

The irony is all of the Western media, UN and Western Governments buy their stories and obviously bias in favor of those muslim thugs.

That's why local Buddhists has started non violent the '969' movement to boycott all muslim owned/linked business and socially and economically isolate muslims.

By the way, 969 means; 9 attributes of Lord Buddha's holy personality, 6 attributes of his teaching and 9 attributes of his disciples holy order of Monks.

The true purpose of 969 movement is non aggressive, non violent, but focus on unity and discipline to defend against Islamization.

The Infidels of the West have also taken the noble cause, 969.. As a symbol of strength, faith, unity and solidarity in our own fight against Muslim Imperialism.. And we are all truly.. 969. 

SOURCE: http://lightbox.time.com/2013/06/20/when-buddhists-go-bad-photographs-by-adam-dean/#ixzz2WpgPrj8q

CREDIT: Special thanks to Wai Lin Aung who wrote "What is the meaning of 969?".

2013 North India floods

In June 2013, North India experienced heavy rainfall which triggered devastating floods and landslides in the states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Other states affected include Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. The floods caused widespread loss of property and life and left many people trapped. As of 19 June 2013 at least 130 people were killed, hundreds missing and thousands homeless. Damage to bridges and roads left almost 73,000 people trapped in various places. Many people are missing.

Of all the states, the state of Uttarakhand, often called the "Land of the Gods," suffered most. As of 18 June 2013, the death toll in the state was reported to be 58 and more than 60,000 tourists and pilgrims stranded.

[SOURCE] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_North_India_floods

Secret backdoor conspiracy theory: Criticism of MS Windows

Secret backdoor conspiracy theory

In 1999 Andrew Fernandez, chief scientist with Cryptonym of Morrisville, North Carolina found a cryptographic public key stored in the variable _KEY and a second key labeled NSAKEY. The discovery lead to a flurry of speculation and conspiracy theories; such as the second key could be owned by the United States National Security Agency (the NSA), and that it could allow the intelligence agency to subvert any Windows user's security. Also researcher Dr. Nicko van Someren discovered these cryptographic keys and a third key in the ADVAPI.DLL file which, at that time, existed in Windows 2000 before its release. Concerns were raised about CPUs with encrypted instruction sets which, if they existed during that time, would have made it impossible to discover the cryptographic keys.

Microsoft denied the allegations — Microsoft attributes the naming of the key was due to a technical review by the NSA pointing out a backup key was required to conform to regulations.

No evidence other than the name of the key has ever been presented that the key enabled a backdoor.

Cryptographer and computer security specialist Bruce Schneier has also argued against the conspiracy theory pointing out that if the NSA wanted a back door into Windows with Microsoft's consent, they would not need their own cryptographic key to do so.

The cryptographic keys have been included in all versions of Windows from Windows 95 OSR2 onwards.

[SOURCE] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Microsoft_Windows#Secret_backdoor_conspiracy_theory

[RELATED] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSAKEY

PRISM (surveillance program): WE ARE WATCHED!

PRISM is a clandestine national security electronic surveillance program operated by the United States National Security Agency (NSA) since 2007.^[1][2][3] PRISM is a government codename for a data collection effort known officially as US-984XN.^[4][5]

Edward Snowden
Born	Edward Joseph Snowden June 21, 1983 (age 29)[1] Elizabeth City, North Carolina, United States
Status	In hiding, last known whereabouts: Hong Kong[2]
Nationality	United States
Occupation	System administrator
Known for	PRISM whistleblower

Documents leaked by Edward Snowden^[6] in June 2013 describe the PRISM program as enabling in-depth surveillance on live communications and stored information. It provides for the targeting of any customers of participating corporations who live outside the United States, or American citizens whose communications include web content of people outside the United States. Data which the NSA is able to obtain with the PRISM program includes email, video and voice chat, videos, photos, voice over IP conversations, file transfers, login notifications and social networking details.^[3]

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden

UK Police Launch Campaign to Shut Down Torrent Sites

City of London Police inform TorrentFreak that they have begun targeting sites that provide access to unauthorized content for “criminal gain.” The initiative is part of a collaboration with Hollywood studios represented by FACT and the major recording labels of the BPI. In letters being sent out now, police accuse site operators of committing offenses under the Serious Crime Act. The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau further warns that the crimes carry a jail sentence of 10 years.

Authorities and entertainment industry companies in the UK are working together on a new initiative which targets sites said to be offering copyrighted material without permission, TorrentFreak has learned.

The first signs came last week when a major torrent site received a letter from the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB), a unit set up following the Government’s National Fraud Review. The unit has a mission to identify serial offenders and organized crime gangs in order to disrupt their activities.

The letter (copy below), sent to “The owners and/or operators of the website known as ‘XXXXX’,” states that the NFIB has become particularly concerned by websites causing harm to the UK’s creative economy.

SOURCES: http://torrentfreak.com/uk-police-launch-campaign-to-shut-down-torrent-sites-130604/

Facebook Removes Downloads of Your Posts

This post isn't exactly about math, but it is technical in nature, so I figured I'd get it out there. As part of my regular data-backup process, I routinely download my information archives from whatever online presences I can, such as Facebook (which I've been on since early 2010), Google Blogger (this blog you're reading right now), etc. Obviously on Facebook the thing that I'm most interested in is what I actually write, which are usually called "wall posts" (as opposed to photos or media, which I retain locally anyway). Once in a while I've found it very useful to pull up the downloaded posts file and search it for some particular bit of info, contact, or date. What I seem to have discovered is that sometime in the last few months, Facebook silently and completely removed our ability to download that "wall posts" information.

ORIGINAL LINK AND POST: http://www.angrymath.com/2013/06/facebook-removes-downloads-of-your-posts.html

Take action for free JavaScript

Choosing to run free software on your computer is a powerful statement. Unfortunately, regardless of what you have installed on your desktop or laptop, you are almost certainly running hundreds of nonfree programs as you surf the Web. Web sites often use programs written in JavaScript to expand the capabilities of HTML, adding menus, buttons, text editors, music players, and many other features. Browsers come configured to download and run the JavaScript without ever making the user aware of it. Contrary to popular perception, almost no JavaScript runs "on the Web site" -- it runs locally on users' computers when they visit a site.

Source: 
https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/take-action-for-free-javascript
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/05/29/2232224/taking-action-for-free-javascript

Related:
Group:Free Javascript Action Team
Javascript Trap by Richard Stallman

Sabayon 13.04 release

Sabayon 13.04 is a modern and easy to use Linux distribution based on Gentoo, following an extreme, yet reliable, rolling release model.
This is a monthly release generated, tested and published to mirrors by our build servers containing the latest and greatest collection of software available in the Entropy repositories.
The ChangeLog files related to this release are available on our mirrors.

Linux Kernel 3.8.8 (3.8.10 available through updates, 3.9 available in hours) with BFQ iosched and ZFS, GNOME 3.6.3, KDE 4.10.2, MATE 1.6 (thanks to infirit), Xfce 4.10, LibreOffice 4.0, production ready UEFI (and SecureBoot) support and experimental systemd support (including openrc boot speed improvements) are just some of the things you will find inside the box.

Please read on to know where to find the images and their torrent files on our mirrors. Pay attention that there were unreleased 13.04 ISO images previously on our mirrors. Make sure to download images with the correct MD5 checksum though (or just re-download the ISO images).

Source: http://sabayon.org/release/press-release-sabayon-1304

Comet to Make Close Flyby of Red Planet in October 2014

Comet 2013 A1 (Siding Spring) will make a very close approach to Mars in October 2014.

The latest trajectory of comet 2013 A1 (Siding Spring) generated by the Near-Earth Object Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., indicates the comet will pass within 186,000 miles (300,000 kilometers) of Mars and there is a strong possibility that it might pass much closer. The NEO Program Office's current estimate based on observations through March 1, 2013, has it passing about 31,000 miles (50,000 kilometers) from the Red Planet's surface. That distance is about two-and-a-half times that of the orbit of outermost moon, Deimos.

Source and Read more: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/asteroids/news/comet20130305.html

Raspberry Pi at Southampton

SOURCE AND ORIGINAL: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~sjc/raspberrypi/index.htm

Comet C/2013 A1 and Mars in 2014

Discovery News

A recently discovered comet will make an uncomfortably close planetary flyby next year — but this time it’s not Earth that’s in the crosshairs.

According to preliminary orbital prediction models, comet C/2013 A1 will buzz by Mars on Oct. 19, 2014. The icy interloper is thought to originate from the Oort Cloud — a hypothetical region surrounding the solar system containing countless billions of cometary nuclei that were outcast from the primordial solar system billions of years ago.

We know that comets have hit the planets before (re: the massive Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9that crashed into Jupiter in 1994), Mars in particular. It’s also believed that Earth’s oceans were created by water delivered by comets — cometary impacts are an inevitable part of living in this cosmic ecosystem.

SOURCE: http://news.discovery.com/space/astronomy/could-a-comet-hit-mars-in-2014-130225.htm

Raw Story

Astronomers say that a comet will make an close flyby next year, not of Earth, but of our neighbor planet, Mars. According to a Monday report on Discovery.com, the recently discovered comet, named C/2013 A1 will fly close to Mars on Oct. 19 of 2014.

Comets are balls of ice and debris flung off in the process of forming planets and stars. Comet c/2013 is believed, like many others that pass through our solar system, to have originated in what is known as the Oort Cloud. The Oort Cloud is a massive field of many billions of comets that surrounds our solar system. The cloud was theorized by astronomer Jan Oort in 1950, but it has never been seen and scientists, while mostly accepting that it exists, argue about its size and where the comet nuclei floating in it came from.

SOURCE: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/26/comet-could-collide-with-mars-in-2014/

Meteor Strikes 2013-02-15 [ALERT]

source: www.eumetsat.int

In this photo taken with a mobile phone, a meteor contrail is seen in Chelyabinsk region of Russia, Feb. 15, 2013.

/ AP

[CBS News]

A meteor streaked across the sky above Russia's Ural Mountains on Friday morning, causing sharp explosions and injuring more than 500 people, many of them hurt by broken glass.

Fragments of the meteor fell in a thinly populated area of the Chelyabinsk region, the Emergency Ministry said in a statement. About 6,000 square feet of a roof at a zinc factory collapsed, but it was unclear whether that was caused by meteor fragments impacting the building, or by a shock wave from a nearby impact.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57569551/meteorites-slam-into-russia-as-meteor-seen-streaking-through-morning-sky/


[Wikipedia]

The 2013 Russian meteor event occurred on the morning of 15 February 2013 over South Ural, Russia, at approximately 09:15 local time (03:15UTC).^[1][2] At least one object streaked across the early morning sky at a speed of at least 54,000 km/h^[3] and shattered over the city ofChelyabinsk. The main object seems to have hit Lake Chebarkul.^[4] The Russian news agency RIA Novosti said officials detected a mid-air blast at an approximate altitude of approximately 10,000 metres.^[5] The Russian Academy of Sciences estimated that the meteor weighed 10 tons.^[6]

Location of the meteor event

Local residents said they witnessed extremely bright burning objects in the sky of the Chelyabinsk, Sverdlovsk, and Orenburg regions and neighbouring regions in Kazakhstan.^[7][8] Amateur videos showed what appears to be a fireball streaking across the sky and a loud sonic boom^[9]afterward. At times the object was so bright that it cast shadows.^[10][11] At least 20 children were injured when the windows of a school and kindergarden burst at 09:20.^[12] The Associated Press quoted an interior ministry spokesman as saying that approximately 600 m² of a roof at a zincfactory collapsed during the event.^[13]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelyabinsk_Meteor_shower

[2012 DA14]
2012 DA₁₄ is a near-Earth asteroid with an estimated diameter of 50 meters (160 ft) and an estimated mass of 190,000 metric tons.^[4] It was discovered on February 23, 2012, by the Observatorio Astronómico de La Sagra, Granada in Spain (J75)^[1] seven days after passing 0.0174 AU(2,600,000 km; 1,620,000 mi) from Earth.^[3] Calculations show that on February 15, 2013, the distance between the asteroid and the center-point of Earth will be 0.0002276 AU (34,050 km; 21,160 mi).^[3] The asteroid will pass 27,700 km (17,200 mi) from the surface of Earth.^[2] This is a record close approach for a known object of this size.^[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_DA14

[the guardian Live Updates]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/feb/15/meteorite-explodes-over-russian-urals-live-updates