power of primes

Doodling in Math Class: Infinity Elephants (youtube upload by Vihart)

2010-12-07T23:01:00.001-07:00

Doodling in Math Class: Snakes + Graphs

2010-12-07T22:07:00.001-07:00

Who are Alice & Bob? - Bruce Schneier

2010-11-12T15:10:00.001-07:00

Light Blue Touchpaper: "Resumption of the crypto wars?" by Ross Anderson

2010-10-21T19:00:00.001-07:00

Resumption of the crypto wars?

October 21st, 2010 at 09:20 UTC by Ross Anderson

The Telegraph and Guardian reported yesterday that the government plans to install deep packet inspection kit at ISPs, a move considered and then apparently rejected by the previous government (our Database State report last year found their Interception Modernisation Programme to be almost certainly illegal). An article in the New York Times on comparable FBI/NSA proposals makes you wonder whether policy is being coordinated between Britain and America.

In each case, the police and spooks argue that they used to have easy access to traffic data — records of who called whom and when — so now people communicate using facebook, gmail and second life rather than with phones, they should be allowed to harvest data about who wrote on your wall, what emails appeared on your gmail inbox page, and who stood next to you in second life. This data will be collected on everybody and will be available to investigators who want to map suspects’ social networks. A lot of people opposed this, including the Lib Dems, who promised to “end the storage of internet and email records without good reason” and wrote this into the Coalition Agreement. The Coalition seems set to reinterpret this now that the media are distracted by the spending review.

We were round this track before with the debate over key escrow in the 1990s. Back then, colleagues and I wrote of the risks and costs of insisting that communications services be wiretap-ready. One lesson from the period was that the agencies clung to their old business model rather than embracing all the new opportunities; they tried to remain Bletchley Park in the age of Google. Yet GCHQ people I’ve heard recently are still stuck in the pre-computer age, having learned nothing and forgotten nothing. As for the police, they can’t really cope with the forensics for the PCs, phones and other devices that fall into their hands anyway. This doesn’t bode well, either for civil liberties or for national security.

Entry filed under: Internet censorship, Legal issues, News coverage, Politics

via lightbluetouchpaper.org

Luke Skywalker Has OCD (youtube upload by OneMinuteGalactica)

2010-09-21T18:00:00.001-07:00

Creating Hell in a Pop Bottle (youtube upload by Thunderf00t)

2010-08-30T00:44:00.001-07:00

"SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE MATRIX" (youtube upload by AEmovieguy)

2010-08-23T19:06:00.001-07:00

BBC News - Fate of Universe revealed by galactic lens

2010-08-22T23:08:00.001-07:00

19 August 2010 Last updated at 14:33 ET
Fate of Universe revealed by galactic lens
By Howard Falcon-Lang Science reporter
The huge galactic cluster known as Abell 1689 acted as a cosmic magnifying glass

A "galactic lens" has revealed that the Universe will probably expand forever.

Astronomers used the way that light from distant stars was distorted by a huge galactic cluster known as Abell 1689 to work out the amount of dark energy in the cosmos.

Dark energy is a mysterious force that speeds up the expansion of the Universe.

Understanding the distribution of this force revealed that the likely fate of the Universe was to keep on expanding.

It will eventually become a cold, dead wasteland, researchers say.

The study, conducted by an international team led by Professor Eric Jullo of Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, is published in the journal Science.

Dark energy makes up three-quarters of our Universe but is totally invisible. We only know it exists because of its effect on the expansion of the Universe.

To work out how dark energy is spread through space, astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope to observe the way that light from distant stars was distorted around Abell 1689, a nearby cluster of galaxies.

Light bends around massive galaxy clusters, allowing distant objects to be seen

Abell 1689, found in the constellation of Virgo, is one of the biggest galactic clusters known to science.

Because of its huge mass, the cluster acts as a cosmic magnifying glass, causing light to bend around it.

The way in which light is distorted by this cosmic lens depends on three factors: how far away the distant object is; the mass of Abell 1689; and the distribution of dark energy.

The astronomers were able to measure the first two variables using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, enabling them to calculate this crucial third factor.
Cold comfort
Knowing the distribution of dark energy tells astronomers that the Universe will continue to get bigger indefinitely.

Eventually it will become a cold, dead wasteland with a temperature approaching what scientists term "absolute zero".

Professor Priyamvada Natarajan of Yale University, a leading cosmologist and co-author of this study, said that the findings finally proved "exactly what the fate of the Universe will be".

via bbc.co.uk

Origami Tesseract (youtube upload by firstfold)

2010-08-22T11:00:00.003-07:00

FFFFOUND! | Image:8-cell-simple.gif - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2010-08-22T11:00:00.001-07:00

via ffffound.com

meanwhile, 65 millions years ago... on facebook...

2010-08-18T22:08:00.001-07:00

via tumblr.ubinunc.com

Finding 'Beautiful' Symmetry Near Absolute Zero : NPR

2010-08-12T18:09:00.003-07:00

xkcd: I Know You're Listening

2010-08-12T18:09:00.001-07:00

via xkcd.com

Erika DeBenedictis wins $100K from 2010 Intel Science Talent Search (and has a great time doing it)

2010-08-12T14:55:00.001-07:00

Comadre Fulozinha - vários (2009) (Humaitá pra Peixe) (youtube upload by humaitaprapeixe)

2010-06-26T01:00:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from sic itur ad astra

Bleep Bloop: Star Wars Force Trainer - CollegeHumor video

2010-06-02T01:22:00.001-07:00

via collegehumor.com

Everybody Dies in 90 Seconds (Vimeo vid by Michael Rianda)

2010-06-02T00:59:00.001-07:00

via vimeo.com

Work (Vimeo vid by Michael Rianda)

2010-06-02T00:58:00.001-07:00

via vimeo.com

♫ Karina Buhr - "Eu Menti Pra Você" (Ao Vivo) (youtube upload by MIRCMIRC14)

2010-05-29T23:47:00.001-07:00

Second Wind (Vimeo upload by Ian Worrel)

2010-04-06T01:18:00.001-07:00

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Brasilia - Rodoviário (2008) (flickr upload by cmgomes)

2010-04-03T22:10:00.001-07:00

via flickr.com

ZADI DIAZ, The philosophy of What. http://bit.ly/ch4x3P

2010-03-24T18:56:00.001-07:00

via blog.zadidiaz.com

xkcd: I Know You're Listening

2010-03-22T00:46:00.001-07:00

via xkcd.com

YouTube vid from space (via Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi stationed on the ISS) (vid by astrosoichi)

2010-03-19T17:09:00.001-07:00

- he's also tweeting http://twitter.com/Astro_Soichi

Iguasu Falls in the mist. Brazil and Argentina. (Twitpic from NASA astronaut @Astor_Soichi)

2010-03-19T17:04:00.001-07:00

via twitpic.com

Want a new Best Friend Forever? Rescue a scared puppy from a shelter (Mar 10 2010) (youtube vid by eldad75)

2010-03-16T19:07:00.001-07:00

♫ Ladytron - Ghosts (Modwheel Mood Remix) (youtube vid by JaCzyliKto)

2010-03-15T21:31:00.001-07:00

Video Games and the Uncanny Valley (youtube vid by kirithem)

2010-03-05T19:20:00.001-07:00

♫ José González - "Cycling Trivialities" (Live Rosa Bandet-galan, Sweden 08)

2010-02-26T01:47:00.001-07:00

♫ Florence and The Machine - Girl With One Eye (live 2007) (youtube vid by nightrocker)

2010-02-19T17:19:00.001-07:00

- great song and great performer. see 02:39-03:02.

International Space Station Feb 9 2010 from Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-130 (flickr photo by NASA:2Explore)

2010-02-12T21:38:00.001-07:00

via flickr.com

Privacy in Context: Technology, Policy, and the Integrity of Social Life - Helen Nissenbaum

2010-02-12T21:08:00.001-07:00

via sup.org