Sunday, 1. September 2013

Hallo NSA, können Sie meine E-Mail wiederherstellen?


Sie haben eine wichtige E-Mail unwiederbringlich gelöscht? Da könnten doch US-Geheimdienste helfen. Ein niederländischer Journalist ruft einfach die NSA-Zentrale an, bittet um ein Backup - und bekommt Tipps von erstaunlich hilfsbereiten Menschen.

Die NSA ist leicht zu erreichen: Die Telefonnummer der Zentrale für Öffentlichkeitsarbeit steht im Netz. Als der niederländische Journalist Bahram Sadeghi anruft, dabei gefilmt von seiner Freundin, nimmt in der NSA-Zentrale in Fort Meade auch gleich jemand ab.

spiegel.de

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Saturday, 31. August 2013

David Miranda was carrying password for secret files on piece of paper


In a written statement handed to the High Court in London, a senior Cabinet Office security adviser said it showed “very poor judgment” by David Miranda and other people associated with him.

Senior judges agreed to issue a court order which allows Scotland Yard to continue to examine data from nine electronic devices seized from Mr Miranda on August 18.

telegraph.co.uk

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UK Asked New York Times To Destroy Edward Snowden Documents; NY Times Ignored Request


There's been some back and forth concerning the David Miranda legal fight today and it's getting fairly ridiculous. The UK government is making some extraordinary claims about Miranda and the encrypted information he was carrying. They claim that some of the information was potentially incredibly damaging to UK national security interests (the same rhetoric we always hear, but is rarely shown to be true) and they also claim that they found a piece of paper on Miranda that allowed them to "decrypt one file on his seized hard drive." Furthermore, they claim that Miranda (and Greenwald and Poitras) "demonstrated very poor judgment in their security arrangements with respect to the material," in order to suggest that it might easily fall into dangerous hands.

techdirt.com

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2-tone lobster, orange and brown, shown in Maine


Maine has seen its share of blue lobsters, orange lobsters, albino lobsters and calico lobsters. But one on display at a Portland research facility has all of those turning green with envy.

The lobster at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute is half orange and half brown.

The lobster was caught by lobsterman Jeff Edwards and was donated by Ship to Shore Lobster Co. in Owl's Head.

2-tone lobster

modbee.com

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Friday, 30. August 2013

Happy 50th birthday, Compact Cassette: How it struck a chord for millions


On 30 August, 1963, a new bit of sound recording tech that was to change the lifestyle of millions was revealed at the Berlin Radio Show.

The adoption of the standard that followed led to a huge swath of related technological applications that had not been envisaged by its maker; for Philips, the unveiling of its new Compact Cassette tape and accompanying recorder was about enticing people to buy a fuss-free portable recording system.

theregister.co.uk

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These States Are Most Likely To Legalize Pot Next


Attorney General Eric Holder gave a green light on Thursday to two states whose efforts to legalize marijuana had been locked in by legal uncertainty for more than nine months. With that announcement, Colorado and Washington -- both of which passed pro-pot initiatives at the polls last November -- can now proceed with establishing a framework for the taxation and regulation of legal weed.

The administration's decision holds clear and immediate implications for the two states, both of which had been hesitant to act too quickly over concerns that the government might decide to enforce federal law, which still considers marijuana an illegal substance. But the new precedent also opens the door for other states to pursue similar pot legalization efforts, so long as they include "strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems." Experts on both sides of the issue have already said they expect to see movement come quickly.

Below, the states that are most likely to take the next steps toward legalizing marijuana:

Alaska Arizona California Nevada Oregon Maine Massachusetts Montana Rhode Island Vermont

huffingtonpost.com

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Nach Entdeckung des Higgs-Teilchens: Cern-Forscher laden zur Comedy-Nacht


Das Forscher keine humorlosen Eigenbrödler sind, sondern auch witzig und spontan sein können - diesen Beweis wollen Mitglieder des Kernforschungszentrums Cern am Freitagabend wagen. Bei SPIEGEL ONLINE können Sie das Experiment verfolgen.

Genf - Was machen die Wissenschaftler des Kernforschungszentrums Cern in der Nacht? Ein schlechter Witz wäre die Antwort, die Physiker suchten weiter nach dem Higgs-Boson, jenem Teilchen, dass eine Schlüsselrolle für das Verständnis der Welt trägt. Tatsächlich haben die Forscher nach eigenen Angaben dieses Teilchen bereits im Juli 2012 entdeckt - die Erfolgsmeldung sorgte weltweit für Schlagzeilen und war auch nicht unumstritten.

Und anscheinend haben die Forscher abends anderes vor. Dass sie auch lustig sein können, dass Wissenschaft nicht nur trockene Materie, sondern auch faszinierend und lustig sein kann, das wollen sie an diesem Freitag Abend unter Beweis stellen. Um 18 Uhr beginnt in der Kernforschungsanlage die erste Stand up-Comedy-Nacht.

spiegel.de webcast The event will start the 30th Aug 2013 at 20:00 Europe/Zurich

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MESS in a browser!


The JAVASCRIPT MESS project is a porting of the MESS emulator, a program that emulates hundreds of machine types, into the Javascript language. The MESS program can emulate (or begin to emulate) a majority of home computers, and continues to be improved frequently. By porting this program into the standardized and cross-platform Javascript language, it will be possible to turn computer history and experience into the same embeddable object as movies, documents, and audio enjoy.

jsmess.textfiles.com

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Bicycle-Powered Treehouse Elevator


Ethan Schlussler built this clever bicycle-powered treehouse elevator to make it easier to reach his nearly 30-foot-high treehouse.

“I got tired of climbing a ladder six and a half million times a day, so I made a bicycle powered elevator to solve this problem,” he writes.

“It was originally a 20-something speed bicycle, but first gear wasn’t slow enough, so I cut the large sprocket off the front, and welded it on the rear to get a lower gear. I also had to do away with the de-railers and make a new chain tensioner.”

makezine.com

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Tokyo's Toilet Cleaning Social Club


A group of adults and children assemble at a public toilet near a station in Tokyo on a Sunday morning at 6am.

They're here to scrub it clean - from top to bottom.

Urinals and toilets are the first targets, then it's the turn of the walls, the sinks and the floor.

By 7:30am, they are gone, leaving behind them a gleaming public toilet, looking as good as the day it was installed.

wtvy.com

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WTF? Super-Expensive Designer Toilet Paper?


When I first read about the $13 a roll Japanese toilet paper, I thought it had to be a joke. Seriously, who wipes their rear with something that should be hung on the wall as art? Alas, no. Japan has long been the bastion of products many Americans consider weird and wacky. Why would high “end” toilet paper be the exception?

shithappens

inventorspot.com justtoiletpaper.com

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Washington duldet Cannabis-Legalisierung


"Legalize it"- die alte Forderung Marihuana-rauchender Hippies wird zumindest in Teilen der USA Wirklichkeit. Washington gibt den Bundesstaaten bei der Legalisierung von Cannabis freie Hand.

Das Justizministerium in Washington erklärte, es werde entsprechende gesetzliche Regelungen in den US-Bundesstaaten nicht anzufechten. Damit können Colorado und Washington (der Bundesstaat im Nordosten, nicht die Hauptstadtregion) den Konsum der Droge für alle Bürger über 21 Jahren freigeben, ohne Probleme mit Bundesbehörden befürchten zu müssen.

dw.de heise.de

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