WINDING DOWN
An idiosyncratic look at, and comment on, the week’s net, technology and science news
by Alan Lenton
This week, we have an interesting collection of items for your reading pleasure: a non-blocking ad blocker, twisty spy logic at the UK’s GCHQ, spy blunders, how to use an empty Walmart building, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, a tree dome, a Man Ray chess set, a NASA photo auction, some crazy ethernet cable, and a piece about Edwardian geocaching. URLs direct your browser to hackers and war, silicene, the ALASA space launch system, a mega tax dodge, a new ultra strong steel, Apple and Microsoft take on more debt, and a space photo of fortifications on the Iraq/Iran border. Not a bad little haul for the week.
There won’t be an issue next week, but I will be back with more snippets to entertain and inform you the following week – Sunday 1 March. in the meantime, have fun...
Shorts:
I guess that like me, a lot of you use an advert blocker with your browser. The most popular one seems to be AdBlock Plus, which virtually everyone I know (including me) seems to use. Thus it was with some consternation that I discovered that you can pay money over to AdBlock Plus to not be blocked!
It works by putting the company that’s paying onto a ‘white list’, so that their ads aren’t blocked. I am given to understand you can disable the white listing if you so wish, but how many people will get round to that?
I recently became aware that something going on, because adverts seemed to be getting through, though I originally thought that perhaps this was because of advances in advertising technology, and that AdBlock Plus would shortly catch up. However, just recently the news broke that no lesser behemoths than Google, Amazon and Microsoft had availed themselves of the white listing capability. To misquote the postal service, ‘The adverts must get through!’
If you don’t want the adverts, and you can’t be bothered with digging into the depths of the settings for AdBlock Plus, then I suggest you have a look at AdBlock Edge. It’s exactly the same code as AdBlock Plus (what we in the programming trade call a ‘fork’ of the source code), but without the white listing. The URLs include the download page for the Mozilla browser; if you use different browser, just do a search.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/02/google_amazon_taboola_microsoft_adplock_plus_unblock/
[Editor's note: since this was published AdBlock Edge has been discontinued for Firefox. You can try looking at this list for an alternate version: https://dgtl.link/Firefox-Addons
A bit like in the US, we in the UK have an oversight committee to, at least in theory, keep an eye on the spies, and reign them in if they go too far. It’s called the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, and it’s never ruled against the spies in its whole history. Until now, when it found that that GCHQ’s access to information intercepted by the NSA, and revealed in documents made public by Edward Snowden, breached human rights law. However, in a classic twist worthy of a spy thriller, the court also said that it was now legal!
And why is it now legal? Because, previously, there was no public knowledge of the spying, but now, of course everyone knows that they are spying, so it’s alright to spy on people’s digital communications. You’ve got to hand it to these guys for their ingenuity, if nothing else!
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/gchq-spying-on-british-citizens-was-unlawful-secret-court-rules-in-shock-decision-10028306.html
And while we are on the subject of spies...
Why not take a look at io9’s piece on the ten biggest blunders in the history of espionage? Number eight in its list was the one that made me snurf my coffee when I first read it. Makes you wonder why we are dishing out so much money to these people.
http://io9.com/the-10-biggest-blunders-in-the-history-of-espionage-1681933896
What do you do with an abandoned Walmart Building? Two and a half football fields worth of empty space? The people of McAllen, Texas, know exactly what to do, since they recently had one of these monsters to play with. And what did they do? They turned it into the largest single-floor public library in the USA! Sheer genius, if you ask me.
Apart from the books part of the library, there are 16 public meeting spaces, 14 public study rooms, 64 computer labs, 10 children’s computer labs, 2 genealogy computer labs, a cafe, a used book store, an auditorium, and a farmers market. About the only thing they missed out on was a partridge in a pear tree...
Take a look at the pictures of it – it’s stunning.
http://growfood-notlawns.com/city-abandoned-walmart-absolutely-brilliant-youll-love/
Homework:
NASA just put out an incredible time lapse video of the sun – five years condensed into three minutes. It’s an amazing sight, basically a frame every eight hours for five years. The frames are part of the take from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which was launched in February 2010, and has been taking pictures of the sun at different wavelengths ever since.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/nasas-incredible-timelapse-video-shows-five-years-of-the-sun-condensed-into-three-minutes-10041550.html
Here’s a different take on a tree house. I guess you’d call it a tree dome! It’s really difficult to describe in words, you need to take a look at the pictures. It does look rather neat, though.
http://www.gizmag.com/domup-camping-tress/35986/
Geek Stuff:
I know quite a number of you geeks out there play chess, and some of you even write programs to play against, but I have to say there is nothing like a real chess set to play chess with. So, if you don’t mind coughing up eye wateringly large amounts of money, then take a look at this beautiful chess set designed by the surrealist Man Ray, my personal favourite among the surrealists. So simple but so gorgeous. Sigh...
http://www.momastore.org/museum/moma/ProductDisplay_Man%20Ray%20
Chess%20Set_10451_10001_164738_-1_26698_26698_161407
If a chess set isn’t your thing, how about 692 vintage NASA photographs? They are being auctioned off later this month, in smaller lots, which are expected to each fetch between US$450 and US$15,000. Have a look at the pictures for yourself and see what you think.
http://www.techienews.co.uk/9723506/692-vintage-nasa-photos-going-hammer-soon/
http://www.dreweatts.com/cms/pages/auction/36162
If you are really determined to splash out in a way that shows you have more money than you know what to do with, then all I can do is to point you to some ethernet cable for crazed audiophiles. Costing US$10,000 it is claimed that the cable will improve the quality of your MP3 listening. Good grief!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/09/perfect_your_mp3_listening_pleasure_with_
this_bonkers_ethernet_cable/
London:
Are you a fan of geocaching? If you are (and even if you aren’t) you will be fascinated by this tale of treasure hunting riots in Edwardian London and England. It seems that in 1904 the first edition of the newspaper ‘The Weekly Dispatch’ hit on the idea of increasing its circulation by burying 177 medallions in various places around the country.
Each subsequent issue of the paper would carry more clues about the hiding places, and anyone presenting a medal at the newspaper’s London office would receive the sum of £50 sterling for it. £50 was a lot of money at the turn of the last century, (equivalent to about US$7,000 in today’s currency) and the resulting hunt for the medallions rapidly turned into a frenzy.
In London there were riots as people dug up gardens, parks, pavements and roads, while owners and the authorities tried to stop them. Eventually the chaos was such that The Weekly Dispatch was forced to call off the treasure hunt, though not all the medallions had been discovered, and indeed some of them are still being dug up at intervals. An amazing, and true story – take a look for yourself!
http://www.planetslade.com/treasure-hunt-riots1.html
Scanner:
When can a hacker start a war?
http://www.psmag.com/nature-and-technology/when-cyber-attack-constitutes-act-of-war
Silicene takes on graphene as next transistor wonder-stuff
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/05/silicene_takes_on_graphene_as_next_transistor_wonderstuff/
DARPA’s ALASA space launch system would turn airports into spaceports
http://www.gizmag.com/alasa-darpa-satellite-launch-aircraft/35956/
World’s mega-rich tax dodge exposed: Meet the HSBC IT guy at the heart of damning leak
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/10/hsbc_allegations_falciani/
New low-cost steel is as strong as titanium
http://www.33rdsquare.com/2015/02/new-low-cost-steel-is-as-strong-as.html
Gleeful Apple and Microsoft bathe in bathtubs of debt
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/11/apple_microsoft_debt_deals/
Fortification patterns on the Iraq-Iran border
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=85196&src=eoa-iotd
Acknowledgements
Thanks to readers Barb and Fi for drawing my attention to material for Winding Down.
Please send suggestions for stories to alan@ibgames.com and include the words Winding Down in the subject line, unless you want your deathless prose gobbled up by my voracious Thunderbird spam filter...
Alan Lenton
alan@ibgames.com
15 February 2015
Alan Lenton is an on-line games designer, programmer and sociologist, the order of which depends on what he is currently working on! His web site is at http://www.ibgames.net/alan/index.html.
Past issues of Winding Down can be found at http://www.ibgames.net/alan/winding/index.html.
