spear-phishing

Whilst the then Indiana governor and the current US vice-president was technically following state statute regarding mixing private and official email accounts and those individuals who hacked into his America Online account—despite having prised their way into a cache of correspondence that has been deemed unsuitable for public-release for its sensitivity—apparently did not know and appreciate who this figure was, it’s really ironic given his deportment shown towards the opposition for showing the same degree of sloppiness handling her official missives.
Notwithstanding the undisclosed material, it seems no harm came of this transgression save that those who had commandeered his email account had full control and made entreaties to all those in his contact list that he and his wife were in dire straits, stranded in the Philippines and having lost their credit cards and mobile phones. I wonder how their friends and family responded. Of course this take-over was part of a much wider campaign and anyone who has ever held an AOL or Yahoo! account or a security-clearance in the past and present is arguably similarly compromised and equally poses a liability insofar as the account-holder might be susceptible to extortion, but I wonder what dirty-laundry might be left to fester.  Despite one’s self-styled skills at dickering about, these arrangements seem quite asymmetric and fraught with weaknesses.

7x7

nine lives: wild turkeys ritually encircle a dead cat on Boston street

terra-forming: NASA suggests that by recharging the Martian magnetic field, the planet would become more amenable to colonisation

gakubuchi: commemorating when the burlesque show came to Japan through vintage advertising

ditto: Norwegian media site is experimenting with a reading comprehension quiz that commentators must pass before they’re allowed to chime in—maybe this should apply to sharing as well

best in show: highlights from the Smithsonian’s annual photography competition, via the always inspiring Nag on the Lake

all-star: surreal Disney sports-themed resort

dance, magic dance: Firey plush figure from Labyrinth, whose performance was choreographed by Dr Crusher

silver surfers

The eighty-one year old life-long learner Masako Wakamiya is not only constantly improving her own computer literacy and encouraging other senior citizens to embrace technology rather than shun it, she also managed to teach herself how to write code and produced an application that instructs on the arrangement of the traditional dolls that represent the emperor and his court displayed during Hinamatsuri (雛祭り, Girls’ Day) celebrations. These elaborate displays consist of multiple figures in a hierarchy of seven tiers according to very specific protocol—like the royal court itself, and the programme teaches the order and orientation with a game. I’d like to hope I could retain my savvy like that in the future.

beanstalk

At a fraction of the cost and effort of defending the southern border of the United States, America and the rest of the world could invest in a very different large-scale infrastructure and materials science project and construct a space-elevator—a tethered counter-balance that’s anchored to the surface of the Earth by a cable and held aloft by centrifugal force above the boundary of geostationary orbit. Dispensing with the needs for conventional rockets to escape Earth’s gravity and in the absence of a teleportation device to save on production costs, a space-elevator would confer an enormous economic advantage to the first country to develop it and make space-faring a reality. As a planet, we ought to ask ourselves where our priorities and our aspirations lie.

heimat und homestuck

The leadership of the US Democrat party admonished its members to retain their composure during Dear Leader’s first joint address to the legislature to avoid giving the opposition more ammunition that could be lobbed back at them, but one announcement did elicit sighs, groans and moans I can imagine from individuals of all political stripes and was a stark reminder that even if you persuade a dictator to use his “inside voice” the agenda remains unchanged.
Dear Leader, seemingly despite his determination to shrink a bloated bureaucracy, directed the Department of Homeland Security to create an agency to advocate for the American victims of foreign-perpetrated crime. “The office is called VOICE: Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement,” Dear Leader announced, adding, “We are providing a voice to those who have been ignored by our media and silenced by special interests.” As chilling and divisive as that already is, the proposed implementation strips any non-citizen, a visitor or immigrant of all privacy protections and any data collected could be shared freely across all law enforcement agencies without the need for permission or disclosure. Moreover, such drastic law that would necessitate that all immigration officials, customs agents and border guards know the citizenship status of all people at all times could mean that the European Union and others might withdraw from their information-sharing arrangements with the US—since the US would no longer be able to claim it would be a good steward of the private details of those travelling to America, for business or pleasure.

moonshot

According to an announcement by SpaceX CEO and visionary Elon Musk, a manned-mission to the Moon will take place next year. The craft will not land but rather loop around the dark side of the Moon and make several passes, skimming close to the surface—close enough to fill the entire cockpit’s view with the lunar landscape. Two space “tourists” who’ll have much more than a passive role as astronauts are in training already and are fully committed. As exciting as this mission will be in its own right, it more importantly paves the way for future missions and significantly brings down the cost and cruises in space may in a few years be within all our aspirations.