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20 Feb 01:19

SIM card makers hacked by NSA and GCHQ leaving cell networks wide open

by Megan Geuss

In a new report on some of the confidential documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, The Intercept wrote that operatives from both the National Security Agency (NSA) and the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) joined forces in April 2010 to crack mobile phone encryption. The Mobile Handset Exploitation Team (MHET) succeeded in stealing untold numbers of encryption keys from SIM card makers and mobile networks, specifically Dutch SIM card maker Gemalto, one of the largest SIM manufacturers in the world. Gemalto produces 2 billion SIM cards a year, which are used all over the world.

Although the SIM card in a cell phone was originally used to verify billing to mobile phone users, today a SIM also stores the encryption keys that protect a user's voice, text, and data-based communications and make them difficult for spies to listen in on. The mobile carrier holds the corresponding key that allows the phone to connect to the mobile carrier's network. Each SIM card is manufactured with an encryption key (called a “Ki”) that is physically burned into the chip. When you go to use the phone, it “conducts a secret 'handshake' that validates that the Ki on the SIM matches the Ki held by the mobile company,” The Intercept explains. “Once that happens, the communications between the phone and the network are encrypted.”

Using a fake cell tower and holding SIM encryption keys, spies are able to listen into conversations over mobile networks without asking the courts for permission for a wiretap. The method is also difficult to trace, so risk of discovery is low.

Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments

20 Feb 00:54

lokiwtf:gallizfrey:anneriawings:siphersaysstuff:honey-andrevoluti...

Courtney shared this story from Super Opinionated.





lokiwtf:

gallizfrey:

anneriawings:

siphersaysstuff:

honey-andrevolution:

sashayed:

silvermoon424:

poppypicklesticks:

billybatsonandjameshowlettsbro:

cosmicallycosmopolitan:

billybatsonandjameshowlettsbro:

james-winston:

The Titanoboa, is a 48ft long snake dating from around 60-58million years ago. It had a rib cage 2ft wide, allowing it to eat whole crocodiles, and surrounding the ribcage were muscles so powerful that it could crush a rhino. Titanoboa was so big it couldn’t even spend long amounts of time on land, because the force of gravity acting on it would cause it to suffocate under its own weight.

I’m so glad they aren’t around

omg me too. I’m scared enough of 26 ft long anacondas. I’m so happy Megalodons, those giant sharks, aren’t alive either

Praise natural selection

I remember watching Walking with Beasts or something similar, or some British tv show about evolution

The subject was something like a 12 foot long water scorpion

I was so startled by its sudden appearance and narration that I yelped: “12 fucking feet?!?!  I’m fucking glad it’s extinct!” 

Dude, prehistory was home to some fucking TERRIFYING creatures. For some reason, everything back then was enormous and scary. Extinction doesn’t always have to be a bad thing!

And Poppy, what you saw was an arthropod known as Pterygotus (it was actually featured in Walking With Monsters). Not only was it as big (or maybe even bigger) than your average human, it had a stinger the size of a lightbulb. REALLY glad that bugger isn’t around anymore.

Also, Megalodon deserves to be mention again, because just hearing its name makes me want to never be submerged in water ever again.

GOD, I HATE THIS POST. HOW DO WE EVEN KNOW THAT SHIT ISN’T STILL AROUND? LURKING? EVOLVING? WE DON’T. WE DON’T KNOW SHIT ABOUT SHIT DOWN THERE. THE OCEAN IS A PRIMEVAL HELLSCAPE NIGHTMARE AND WE ALL JUST DIP OUR STUPID FRAGILE UNPROTECTED FETUS BODIES AROUND THE EDGES OF IT LIKE THAT’S NORMAL. FUCK THE OCEAN.

this is so relevant to my interests 

It wasn’t just the predators. North Carolina was once home to giant ground sloths…

THAT IS A GODDAMNED LEAF-EATING SLOTH.

We’ve got a skeleton of one of these fuckers at the museum downtown, and man, just being NEAR it is unsettling.

DON’T FORGET PREHISTORIC WHALES, SOME OF THOSE FUCKERS WERE TERRIFYING

AMBULOCETUS WAS AMPHIBIOUS AND PRETTY BADASS

BASILOSAURUS WAS THIS GIANT REPTILIAN CETACEAN THAT PROBABLY SWAM LIKE A DUMB EEL BECAUSE OF ITS TINY FLUKES BUT THIS FUCKER WAS 60 FEET LONG AND AT THE TOP OF THE MARINE FOOD CHAIN

AND THEN THERE’S MY FAVORITE, ZYGOPHYSETER, WHICH WAS THIS HUGE EARLY SPERM WHALE THAT ATE SHARKS AND OTHER WHALES

IT WAS NOTHING BUT TEETH

The reason why the animals in the prehistoric times were so big was because there was much more oxygen in the atmosphere if I recall correctly. Because there was so much oxygen and so few carbon gasses, life on earth was able tog row to terrifying lengths and heights, don’t forget how giant the bugs were.

imageimageimage

I have never seen so much prime nope in a single post

20 Feb 00:53

zohbugg: just-a-skinny-boy: I can’t decide what’s funnier, the...

firehose

dogs with hands autoreshare



zohbugg:

just-a-skinny-boy:

I can’t decide what’s funnier, the dog, or the guy that’s dying of laughter in the background

this video is over 2 and a half minutes long and every second is gold

20 Feb 00:52

Just Kitten Around: A Trip to Portland's First-Ever Cat Cafe!

by Megan Burbank
firehose

MWIP

Fact: Purringtons Cat Lounge, Portland's first-ever CAT CAFE, was impossible to get into on its opening weekend last month. Believe me, I tried in vain to get a reservation, but occupancy is limited, for, you know, SAFETY. But I finally got my act together, and am happy to report that all of my cat-related wishes came true, and yours probably will too. Frequent Mercury contributor Suzette Smith joined me in this very important reporting. Together, we ranked Purringtons Cat Lounge—scoring out of a possible five cats—in three key categories: ease of use, health and safety, and, most critical of all, quality of cats. Here, at last, are our findings:

EASE OF USE: 3 OUT OF 5 CATS

SUZETTE SMITH: When I arrived, the staff at Purringtons thought they'd lost my reservations, and that there have been some bugs with their online reservation system. I’m in agreement. The staff are all wearing shirts with cats on them or something about cats on them. I have choices between tea, coffee, Mexican Coke, Meowmosas (yep) or just regular old non-cat-themed beer. Health department rules demand that cats not be permitted into the food prep area, but once you have your crackers plate you can take it into the lounge with you. Throughout our visit a lone man perched in the entry area, and watched the people inside the cafe.

MEGAN BURBANK: Admission into the cat cafe is $8 for an hour, or in our case, $6 each for 45 minutes thanks to our reservation weirdness. $8 seems steep, especially if you get a snack, too. But I guess that's about equivalent to seeing a movie, and probably a better guarantee for mood-boosting, because YOU GET TO HANG OUT WITH CATS!

More adorableness and hard-hitting reporting after the jump.

HEALTH AND SAFETY: 5 OUT OF 5 CATS

SS: Inside the cafe there’s a staff person amenable to being called a cat whisperer or a cat wrangler (I made those names up because I’m no good) who keeps an eye on the sitch. She makes sure the cats aren’t picked up or cuddled with too much severity.

MB: I want to call them cattendants.

SS: The cattendant told me that there haven’t been any issues and generally aren’t unless smaller children visit.
The industrial design is cold, but Megan thinks that it seems very clean and sanitary.

MB: I love cats, but I don't love smelling like cats, and I'm also faintly allergic to them (a predicament I have tried in the past to overcome through sheer force of will, with limited success), so, yes, I'm very happy that the floor at Purringtons is easy-to-clean concrete. There is no "cat smell." It is, as the Yelpers love to say, super clean. If you're allergic to cats but love them anyway, this is the place to be. Pop a prophylactic Allegra and throw on your best cat sweatshirt!

QUALITY OF CATS: 4 OUT OF 5 CATS

SS: If I had to rate the cats I would rate them as such:
1. Mystery
2. all the other cats

I would describe Mystery as a softtuxedosoftlittlewhitepawbabysoftbabycat. She’s a reallygoodlittlewalkingwithtinylittlewhitefeetandsoftblackfursoftcat. I can say all these things with total objectivity. During our visit, Mystery decided to take a nap in a cat cocoon under a wooden bench. I lay on the floor and waited for her to be done. After a moment, I realized this could be unseemly so I stood up, but my spirit remained (remains!) on the floor with Mystery. For purposes (PURRposes?!) of journalism, I tried to rub my face on all the cats. Suzie was not feeling me. After cuddling with a couple, Pollie retired to a cozy exclusive catnap area. Gracie endured my touch but did not go as far as to acknowledge my presence. Boo chased a feather thing for someone else.

MB: Okay, so there weren't that many cats when we visited. There are supposed to be 8-10 cats hanging around at any given time; we documented a mere five. One of the cattendants told us that they'd already completed several adoptions, through their partnership with Cat Adoption Team. While we were there, a gorgeous, fluffy gray kitty who just sat next to the window while I patted her beautiful soft gray fur was adopted. Her name was Gracie. Good-bye, Gracie! Oh man, but I'd have to be a real asshole to get indignant at the cat cafe for allowing its cats to be adopted. Mazel tov, new kitty-owners! Be glad you're not faintly allergic!

Purringtons Cat Lounge, at 3529 NE MLK, is open Tues-Sun noon-8 pm, $8. Make your reservations ahead of time at here.

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20 Feb 00:52

YouTube Makes A Move Against Brand-Sponsored Videos

YouTube is putting down the clamps on video creators who work directly with brands, nudging them instead to rely on Google’s sales team for deals.
20 Feb 00:52

What Are 30 Years Worth?

firehose

Glenn Ford

'Yes, prosecutors argue, Ford now is considered innocent of the murder for which he spent those three decades on death row but he cannot prove that he is innocent of any connection to that murder because he was an accessory to the armed robbery that eventually took Rozeman’s life. Having failed to try or convict Ford of that “accessory” crime 30 years ago, state lawyers now seek to use the claim against Ford to avoid having to pay the money it owes.'

In the case of this wrongfully convicted man, Louisiana says $0.00.
20 Feb 00:39

Apple offers free repairs for MacBook Pros with video problems

by Rich McCormick
firehose

~it just works~

Apple announced today that it would offer free repairs for MacBook Pros that have been affected by widely publicized video problems and system failures. Customers who purchased one of the offending machines, sold between 2011 and 2013, can check whether their device is covered using Apple's dedicated tool, and apply for a repair from February 20th in North America.


Apple is arranging reimbursements if your MacBook was already repaired

The technical issues — which include distorted video and unexpected restarts — have affected 15 and 17-inch MacBook Pros manufactured in 2011, and 15-inch MacBook Pros with Retina screens, built in 2012 and 2013. An Apple spokesperson said the company "found that a small percentage of MacBook Pro models sold between February 2011 and December 2013 may exhibit video issues," and confirmed that the machines would be repaired free of charge. The spokesperson said that Apple will contact customers who had previously paid for a repair through Apple or an Apple authorized service provider to arrange for a reimbursement.

The company was the target of a class action lawsuit late last year, raised by residents of California and Florida who purchased MacBook Pros between February 2011 and May 2012. Court documents suggested that the technical problems were caused by the lead-free solder used in the machines, which would cause short circuiting. Apple suffered similar problems with its 2008 MacBook Pros, but where those machines were eventually recalled, the company first attempted to fix its 2011 model with a software patch.

20 Feb 00:39

Football dog I want him

firehose

via Osiasjota
good-ass dog

20 Feb 00:25

'Archie' To End With #666, Has The Devil Conquered Riverdale At Last?

by Chris Sims

Archie #666, cover by Dan Parent

When Archie Comics announced a while back that it was relaunching its flagship character with a new series by Mark Waid and Fiona Staples, we all knew that the current series was going to come to an end, and today, Archie let us know exactly when that’s happening. This June will mark the final issue for Archie, ending at… #666!

Could this mean that Archie’s universe gets rebooted due to some kind of sinister pact with the Devil himself?! Has the Author of All Lies finally wreaked his hellish revenge on Archie and his crew for all those weird religious comics they appeared in back in the ’70s?Is Reggie actually Satan, as I have so long suspected?

Well, no. I think it’s just a coincidence.

With 664 issues published as of this writing, Archie is, to my knowledge, the longest running American comic book that has never been rebooted or renumbered (although there was a slight title change from “Archie Comics” in 1952), a title that it won when Action Comics was relaunched for the New 52 shortly after hitting its 900th issue.

The title now goes, I believe, to Archie’s own Betty & Veronica (currently at 275), followed by Sonic the Hedgehog, which has weathered the comics industry’s love of new #1s for 269 issues. Of course, as readers were quick to point out when I asked, Walt Disney’s Comics And Stories is returning from a hiatus at #721, but considering it’s bounced around from different publishers, I think that takes them out of the running, at least on this side of the Atlantic.

Either way, Archie #666 promises to be a look back at the history of Archie and his pals, and it’s worth noting that Dan Parent’s roughs for the covers show that each of the main cast (Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead, Kevin Keller and Reggie) are featured on their own, along with supporting characters like Wendy Weatherbee, fashionista Ginger Lopez, Veronica’s sci-fi loving cousin Marcy, and my favorite supporting character ever, Cricket O’Dell, who can smell money.

Archie #666, cover by Dan Parent

Archie #666, cover by Dan Parent

Archie #666, cover by Dan Parent

Archie #666, cover by Dan Parent

Archie #666, cover by Dan Parent

19 Feb 23:56

Newswire: Kingsman director Matthew Vaughn says the film’s final scene is not offensive

by Sam Barsanti
firehose

spoilers for this worthless thing

Vaughn 'says the intention was to subvert the old James Bond cliché of the hero receiving sex as a reward by having the girl offer it on her own. He says it’s actually “empowering,” but he adds that “some bloody feminists” keep accusing him of being a misogynist—presumably while an alarm goes off in his head telling him to eject before he keeps referring to his movie’s critics as “some bloody feminists.”

He argues that the scene is supposed to be “tongue-in-cheek and crazy,” and that only “20 percent” of audiences are offended by it—all of whom “just need to lighten up a little bit.” Finally, he says, “It’s not meant to be offensive, and it’s definitely not misogynist or any attack on women. That’s for sure.” Well, that settles that. Case closed!'

We’re not going to bother warning spoiler-phobes to stay away from this article, because the headline mentions “final scene,” so we’re obviously going to talk about the final scene of Kingsman. We will, however, warn people who are reading this with any moms hovering nearby. That’s because we’re going to be talking about Kingsman, and how it ends with one character offering up anal sex to the protagonist as a reward for saving the world.

For anyone who hasn’t seen the movie, here’s how our reviewer—Ignatiy Vishnevetsky—described the ending in his Spoiler Space: “Kingsman: The Secret Service ends with newly minted Kingsman agent Eggsy having anal sex with a princess after blowing Barack Obama’s head off.” Everybody seems cool with the Obama thing, but the sex part has generated a bit of controversy from moviegoers who see it as misogynistic. Speaking ...

19 Feb 23:49

Early Impressions: Offworld Trading Company

by Alec Meer
firehose

'Offworld Trading Company starts off seeming fairly simple, and low-conflict, but escalates into something smart, complicated and tense. It might have no combat, but this is a true arms race. As the corporations tussle for prize tiles or sabotage key buildings at the worst/best moment, constantly leapfrogging each other for the highest stock value, that there are no guns matters not a bit: this might even be a more competitive strategy game than most anything with bullets in it. There are other complexities I haven’t mentioned too, such as manipulating the market to get a better price for anything you have an excess of, a limited pool of patents with major financial buffs, or choosing from a variety of Corporations with different resource requirements for their buildings. I suppose that’s the Civ IV heritage peeking through: a great deal of thoughtfulness, depth and nuance packed into something which feels entirely approachable.'

By Alec Meer on February 19th, 2015 at 3:00 pm.

Offworld Trading Company is a combat-free, sci-fi real-time strategy game from the lead designer of the sumptuous Civilization IV.

A great concept with a great pedigree – can it possibly be as good as it sounds? But enough about Snickers More Nuts, let’s talk about Soren Johnson’s new game, an Early Access version of which was released this week.

You’re in charge of a newly-founded corporate spacebase on Mars, which must expand, harvest, buy and sell resources in order to expand further – so far, so familiar. The key difference from the build’n’bash norm is that you don’t create any units. The only moving entities in the game are automated craft which shuttle resources from their various mines and generators back to your headquarters. Your primary job is to watch the numbers (which show the various types of resources you have, and more important their in- and outgoings), and place new buildings on the tiles which will speed up the acquisition of said numbers.

Rival corporations are doing the same, and in the earlier stages of the game you’re trying to place structures on the most resource-rich areas of the planet before they’re snatched by the others. New buildings, building permits and upgrades are bought with certain and varying types of resources, but you can always buy in a resource you don’t have with spare cash. Essentially what you’re doing is making sure you’re obtaining more of most resources than you need to spend, and building is a reaction to monitoring that rather than the key activity. Monitoring the likes of how much carbon you’re mining, how much water you’re using, how much power you’re selling is your primary focus.

The problem with this is that, well, I am spending a huge amount of my time with the game watching the numbers, which are concentrated into a vertical strip down the left hand side of the screen. The remaining 7/8ths or so of the screen, where all the pretty building is happening, barely gets a look in. I go over to it when I have to place a new building, but that takes a second, after which my head snaps back to that left hand bar and stares unblinkingly at it, waiting to see the effects on whatever resource I’ve just allocated a new construction to or worrying about how to make another one increase.

That’s not inherently a bad thing, as so far I’m finding Offworld Trading Co to be an extremely compulsive and tense spreadsheet-balancing game, but partitioning the UI this way can make the ‘main’ screen feel like a bit of a waste. I can see that there’s lots of cute detail in there, as constructions construct and shuttles shuttle, but there’s no cause to actually watch this stuff other than for its own sake, and not even much opportunity to as I need to keep such a weather eye on my own personal stock market. When I do look at the main screen, I don’t look at it as an exciting space colony – I just look for the coloured icons which denote the specific type of resource I need more of, or that I want to temporarily subvert my opponents’ supply of, then I switch back to my numbers. (I should also mention that maximum zoom out is the only logical way to play OTC, but in the current build that murders my frame rate. Early Access is early access, though).

Things change somewhat in the late game. To start with, you’re trying to build up, to ensure a steady supply of every resource/number, or if there’s a few you can’t get or don’t need, such an excess of the remaining numbers that you can afford to buy in that which you don’t have. Your long term goal, however, is to buy out rival corporations who are also busily ripping every mineral they can out of this alien world. For that, you need a) lots and lots of money and b) to keep a steady eye on another set of numbers over on the far right of the screen, where you can see the share price of your rivals.

You need to match that before you can buy a chunk of their stock, but the longer you take there more the price will rise, as just like you the other corps are steadily building more and mining more, and becoming more valuable as a result. Except – and this is the stuff I’ll only get a true handle on after putting many more hours into OFC – there’s a bunch of stuff you can do to screw up everyone else’s share price. Put them in debt and their stock market value takes a hit. To put them in debt – well, now the main screen takes on a far more significant role. The black market menu (bottom right) allows me, at a high cost, to blow up or temporarily disable enemy tiles, briefly make them earn resources for me, disrupt shipments, and assorted skulduggery all designed to create a resource deficit.

Of course, the enemy has access to this too, and my carefully-built network of oxygen generators, carbon mines, glass factories and solar panels increasingly ends up being frozen, exploded, commandeered and otherwise disrupted on an increasingly regular, and often disastrous basis. It can be devastating to see (and hear) those effects, to see your bucket of profits rapidly turn to a deficit, to have to abandon your plans to build this or buy out a particular target’s stock. Just as devastating as fleet of tanks rolling up to your headquarters or a nuke dropped on your capital city.

For me, playing strictly against lower-level AI while I learn the ropes, the black market is something I don’t think about until fairly late in the game, but I can see that a more practiced player is going to be dabbling in this stuff as soon as possible, in order to stop their opponents drawing ahead of them or even from grabbing all the most resource-rich tiles. In other words, in time maybe I won’t be looking at that list of numbers on the left quite as much as I do now. Right now, I tend to have only a vague sense of what the enemy’s built and where, but to be skilled at this my head’s going to have to snap back and forth all over the map, building a regularly-updated mental map of exactly what’s going on with my foes, not just myself.

What I’m saying is that Offworld Trading Company starts off seeming fairly simple, and low-conflict, but escalates into something smart, complicated and tense. It might have no combat, but this is a true arms race. As the corporations tussle for prize tiles or sabotage key buildings at the worst/best moment, constantly leapfrogging each other for the highest stock value, that there are no guns matters not a bit: this might even be a more competitive strategy game than most anything with bullets in it. There are other complexities I haven’t mentioned too, such as manipulating the market to get a better price for anything you have an excess of, a limited pool of patents with major financial buffs, or choosing from a variety of Corporations with different resource requirements for their buildings. I suppose that’s the Civ IV heritage peeking through: a great deal of thoughtfulness, depth and nuance packed into something which feels entirely approachable.

It’s not without issues – performance is all over the shop on my system (GTX970 / Core i7 980x FYI), what I pray are placeholder voices are cringey, and while I know this is backseat driving I do wonder if the key list of numbers would be better presented in a way that didn’t involve quite so much staring at the left-hand eighth of my screen. At this stage of my learning I’d also benefit from being more easily/quickly able to tell exactly what each building is, as many aren’t hugely distinctive. In time that’ll be a less of an issue, but it’s probably not ideal to spend three minutes going ‘er, um, where.. what’ every time I want to cause a mutiny in a key enemy structure.

Early access. Not a review. Things will change. Looking good already. Under the surface of a game ostensibly about endless harvesting, there’s a hell of a lot going on, and the infrastructure for truly ‘fierce’ battles. Space might be the theme, but boardroom warfare is the heart of Offworld Trading Company. There’s a long way to go, but I think this is going to be something pretty special.

19 Feb 23:47

Why you should boycott the Dominican Republic

by Judy Lubin
firehose

'An estimated 250,000 people will likely be stripped of their citizenship and rendered stateless in the next few months if the nation continues with its plan to implement Law 169/14, a racially discriminatory ruling that targets Dominicans of Haitian descent. All of this is happening against a backdrop of anti-black racism that has often characterized the Dominican Republic’s treatment of its neighbor, with which it shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.'

Untitled

The lure of sunny weather and beautiful beaches has made the Dominican Republic a popular vacation destination for many Americans. But beneath the promise of an island paradise, with “warm and hospitable people,” is an ugly reality. Thousands of Dominican citizens of Haitian descent are no longer welcome in a country they have called home since birth.

An estimated 250,000 people will likely be stripped of their citizenship and rendered stateless in the next few months if the nation continues with its plan to implement Law 169/14, a racially discriminatory ruling that targets Dominicans of Haitian descent. All of this is happening against a backdrop of anti-black racism that has often characterized the Dominican Republic’s treatment of its neighbor, with which it shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.

Passed in May 2014, Law 169/14 requires those born to undocumented parents to apply for a residency permit in order to remain in the country and to be considered for citizenship. Although the Dominican Republic has long recognized individuals born in-country as citizens, the new law retroactively withdraws citizenship from people born after 1929, mostly those of Haitian descent, who have lived and worked in the country all their lives. As a result of the law, anti-Haitian sentiment is rising; and access to jobs, health care and other social services are becoming increasingly difficult for Dominicans of Haitian descent to procure.

Last week, a group of Dominican youths publicly set fire to a Haitian flag. A day later, a Haitian man was lynched in a public square in the Dominican city of Santiago.  Although it is not clear who committed this heinous act, it is a gruesome reminder of the history of racial oppression, division, and violence in the Americas.

Several Caribbean nations and human-rights organizations, including Amnesty International, have criticized the law amidst concerns about the humanitarian crisis that will likely unfold if a quarter million Dominican citizens are forced to leave the country. According to Amnesty International, many have no ties to Haiti and are the children and grandchildren of Haitian migrants who have been steadily arriving in the republic since the 1940s through agreements between the two nations—exchanges that provided a cheap, Haitian labor force for Dominican and foreign-owned sugarcane plantations. Historically, the children of these migrant workers were recognized as Dominican citizens and granted birth certificates and identification cards. Law 169/14 aims to erase their Dominican nationality, stripping them of their rights and dignity.

Red tape and other barriers have made it difficult for many affected by the law to register in time to meet the February 1, 2015 deadline for residency permits. Regardless, several deportations were processed ahead of the deadline, and only a small fraction of people entitled to register had done so. International pressure forced Dominican lawmakers to extend the registration period to June. But the deeper problem lies not with bureaucracy, but with the law itself, and the extent to which the nation is willing to go to skirt human rights conventions in order render some of its own citizens stateless.

Last year the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, an autonomous body of the of the Organization of American States (OAS), ruled that Law 169/14 violated the American Convention of Human Rights, of which the Dominican Republic is a signatory state. In response, the Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic declared unconstitutional the nation’s previous 15-year acceptance of the court’s jurisdiction. The Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR), also part of the human rights protection system of the OAS, has noted that “the Constitutional Court’s judgment has no basis whatsoever in international law, and therefore it can have no effect.”

The same statement, issued by the IACHR in November, includes important background on the systematic mistreatment of Haitians in the Dominican Republic. According to the IACHR, the rejection of the court ruling “took place in a context in which the Dominican Republic has failed to comply with several of the inter-American system’s decisions, especially those related to human-rights violations that result from structural discrimination against persons of Haitian descent who live in the country.”

One example of this systemic discrimination is the practice of denying Dominican citizens of Haitian descent copies of their birth certificate. In a case dating back to 2005, in which two mothers fought back against not being able to obtain birth certificates so that their children could attend school, the Inter-American Court determined that the practice was racially discriminatory.

In response to the law, many are calling for a boycott of the Dominican Republic. I fully support this effort. Being of Haitian descent, and someone who cares deeply about human rights and racial justice, I cannot in good conscience spend my dollars in a country, or purchase its goods, when it is woefully violating principles that I hold dear. Many of my friends and colleagues have made the same the decision.

If the Dominican Republic is not willing to adhere to international standards of human rights, the international community should respond accordingly. This response cannot be left solely to human rights organizations, but is a responsibility of people who have a voice, through their wallets and other mechanisms, to stand up to the injustices that are being inflicted against Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent. Years ago, when the international community decided that apartheid was no longer tolerable, economic boycotts—including decisions not to travel to South Africa—had a tremendous impact, and served as a catalyst to end state-sanctioned racial discrimination. Today, South Africa is better for it—arguably maintaining Africa’s most vibrant economy and ethnically diverse society.

Both the Dominican Republic and Haiti are striving for sustainability and economic growth. So it is not without these considerations that many of us have decided to boycott the Dominican Republic. Martin Luther King Jr’s. 1963 “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” provides important wisdom that should inform the current debate: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”

In this global community, in which we are all increasingly interconnected, no longer can we travel as “tourists” who turn a blind eye to reality as we rush to private beaches and gated resorts that separate us from the living conditions of “the locals.” We are all connected, not only in a global economic system, but by our humanity. If more people begin to register their objections toward the Dominican Republic’s racially discriminatory, anti-Haitian policies on social media, by not traveling to the country, and by being discerning when purchasing its goods, perhaps a wave of dissent may change the tide.

You can follow Judy on Twitter at @JudyLubin. We welcome your comments at ideas@qz.com.

19 Feb 23:47

Hipstler Youth

by Anonymous

We all hate hearing the word 'hipster' yes, ok, point taken. But seriously hipsters, what's with all the fascist haircuts, Gestapo mustaches, and Heinrich Himmler glasses? I understood the throwback to the 1950's with the rockabilly greasers and the preppy Leave it to Beaver sweaters. But now Portland's become overwhelmed with a bunch of assholes that look like they are gearing up to invade Poland. Not impressed.

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19 Feb 23:42

celestialreconnaissance: Other places in the Solar System and...

firehose

WE DID THIS


Venus


Most landers only survive about an hour on Venus, if they survive at all


Mars


Sunrise on Mars, by Curiosity Rover


Titan, one of Saturn's moons


The surface, by the Huygen's Probe


Luna, Earth's moon


There's the moon, clearly not made of cheese


Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko


Comet lander Philae

celestialreconnaissance:

Other places in the Solar System and their surfaces.

19 Feb 23:37

tashabilities:2damnfeisty: donrickles: Eddie Murphy at the...

Courtney shared this story from Super Opinionated.





















tashabilities:

2damnfeisty:

donrickles:

Eddie Murphy at the 60th Academy Awards in 1988

I had to cut this speech down to be able to fit it into a gifset so I uploaded the full thing to youtube and recommend checking it out for yourself.

I never knew this happened. Thank you for doing this.

I didn’t know he did this!

Whoopi won for Ghost in 91, and Halle won for Monster’s Ball in 03, so that’s accurate.

19 Feb 23:36

Brad Pitt in Rolling Stone 1999

Courtney shared this story from Super Opinionated.



















Brad Pitt in Rolling Stone, 1999

19 Feb 23:35

Sculptures Built From Skateboards And Made Like Japan's Buddha Statues

by Vincze Miklós
firehose

yo, is it

Japanese artist Haroshi combines his fascination with skateboarding with a traditional method of wooden mosaic common in Japan's Buddha statues. He recycles old skateboards, cuts, shaves, and polishes them to form colorful three-dimensional sculptures.

Read more...








19 Feb 23:33

John Legere claims T-Mobile US is now bigger than Sprint

by Chris Welch
firehose

all carriers suck forever

It's not mentioned anywhere in T-Mobile's impressive Q4 earnings report, but during the carrier's live earnings call happening right now, CEO John Legere has officially declared victory over Sprint. He says T-Mobile is now larger than Sprint, a claim that — if true — would move the Uncarrier into third place in the US mobile industry. Last year, Legere boldly promised that his company would overtake Sprint by the end of 2014. The new year began without a victory lap, so some doubted whether T-Mobile was able to clear the bar. But Legere is now saying that it happened. "I’ve been very gracious on this as the year ended and people were saying, "Hey, he predicted he was going to pass Sprint and he didn’t." Well, we did. That’s the gig."


If he's right, T-Mobile is now the third-place US carrier

Offering "a little history lesson on this," Legere highlighted Sprint's stagnant growth in recent years. "Going into 2013, Sprint had 55 million customers. Going into ’14, they had 55 million customers. Going into this year, they have 55 million customers. In that period, they lost 3.3 million postpaid customers as well." T-Mobile, by contrast, has seen dramatic growth spurred by its Uncarrier initiatives and acquisition of MetroPCS. "T-Mobile had 33 million customers. We merged with MetroPCS and went to 42 million customers and we’ve since added 13 million customers to get up to, guess what, 55 million customers."

That makes it sound like the two are tied, but Legere hinted that Sprint is using some questionable tactics so that it can continue including inactive MVNO customers when reporting its customer base. The two are in a dead heat right now, but Legere claims that "by the next quarter or two," T-Mobile's leapfrogging of Sprint will be even more clear. We've reached out to Sprint for comment on Legere's statement.

19 Feb 23:32

RC MARS Rover #3DPrinting

by Noe Ruiz
firehose

oh my GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Josef vladik shared an awesome project on Thingiverse

mars-rover-4

RC vehicle inspired by Mars rover Curiosity. Parts are printed on 3D printed. Main Processing Unit is Ardunio Mega. For moving used 6 9g servos with metal gear and edited for 360 rotating, for steering used 6 standart 9g servos.
Control is standard 4 channels. Power by 2S or 3S lipo battery – 6V SBEC.

Download on Thingiverse

mars-rover-3

mars-rover-2

mars-rover-1


649-1
Every Thursday is #3dthursday here at Adafruit! The DIY 3D printing community has passion and dedication for making solid objects from digital models. Recently, we have noticed electronics projects integrated with 3D printed enclosures, brackets, and sculptures, so each Thursday we celebrate and highlight these bold pioneers!

Have you considered building a 3D project around an Arduino or other microcontroller? How about printing a bracket to mount your Raspberry Pi to the back of your HD monitor? And don’t forget the countless LED projects that are possible when you are modeling your projects in 3D!

The Adafruit Learning System has dozens of great tools to get you well on your way to creating incredible works of engineering, interactive art, and design with your 3D printer! If you’ve made a cool project that combines 3D printing and electronics, be sure to let us know, and we’ll feature it here!

19 Feb 23:32

Split Screen

firehose

I love all the tools coming out of the woodwork to do this shit on OS X

Split Screen:

Split Screen allows you to effortlessly resize windows to exactly half your desktop at the touch of a simple keystroke. Gone are the days of trying to resize windows to fit nicely next to each other, with Split Screen it is as easy as pressing a button.

Supported Actions:

  • Resize window left
  • Resize window right
  • Resize window to full screen

App Store

NB: Split Screen doesn’t have a website, so the main link goes to the App Store too.

19 Feb 23:31

Delivery Drones: More Feasible If They Come By Truck

by timothy
firehose

nice new spin on the term "aircraft carrier"

malachiorion writes Amazon's drone delivery service was never going to work. It was too autonomous, and simply too risky to be approved by the FAA in the timeframe that Jeff Bezos specified (as early as this year). And yet, the media is still hung up on Amazon, and much of the coverage of the FAA's newly released drone rules center around Prime Air, a program that was essentially a PR stunt. Meanwhile, a Cincinnati-based company that makes electric delivery trucks has an idea that's been largely ignored, but that's much more feasible. The Horsefly launches from and returns to a delivery truck once it reaches a given neighborhood, with a mix of autonomous flight to destination, driver-specified drop-off locations, and remote-piloted landings. The company will still need to secure exemptions from the FAA, but unlike Amazon, they at least have a chance. There's more detail about Amp's technically impressive (and seemingly damn tough) drone in my story for Popular Science.

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19 Feb 23:30

Time Warner Cable calls customer “C**t” after she reports cable box problem

by Jon Brodkin
firehose

all carriers suck forever

Time Warner Cable (TWC) isn't yet a part of Comcast, but it's taking after its potential parent company in one very unfortunate way.

Comcast customers have complained about their billing account names being changed to insults like "asshole," "whore," "dummy," and "super bitch." Now, the same thing has happened to a Time Warner Cable customer named Esperanza Martinez.

Martinez, of Orange County, California, provided Ars a copy of this letter she just got from Time Warner Cable:

Read 8 remaining paragraphs | Comments

19 Feb 23:30

Comcast agent tells customer that data caps are “mandated by law”

by Jon Brodkin
firehose

all carriers suck forever

Why does Comcast impose data caps on its customers?

According to one spectacularly ill-informed customer service representative, the company does this because it's "mandated by the law."

A Comcast customer who is in one of the trial areas where Comcast charges overage fees when customers exceed data allotments called to cancel his service and received the bizarre explanation. In a reddit post, the now former Comcast customer wrote that he had been charged $120 in overage fees.

Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments

19 Feb 23:28

Lenovo's security breakdown shows the danger of invisible systems

by Russell Brandom
firehose

so I guess... back to Toshiba? Asus?

Lenovo is having a very bad day. Last night, the company was called out for implanting adware that cut through user security. This morning, researchers uncovered a crucial password in the system, exposing Lenovo users to all manner of malicious attack. It's a major, embarrassing security failure — but unlike breaches like Heartbleed or Shellshock, Superfish isn't a flaw in a protocol or a programming mistake. It's a deliberate program, deliberately installed on Lenovo computers with corporate permission but without user consent.


A deliberate program, installed with corporate permission

At its heart, Superfish is just an unusually mean piece of crapware, the kind of program that has been cluttering up cheap PCs for decades now. Manufacturers pre-install the programs onto low-end machines in exchange for a small fee from the software company. Traditionally, all those programs would do is bug you about paying for an upgrade or throw a pop-up ad onto your desktop. But Superfish goes farther, circumventing web encryption to insert ads into HTTPS-protected sites for secure services like webmail and online banking. It's a major breach of protocol, but it's also a wakeup call for many researchers. The mild annoyance of crapware has turned into a serious security flaw — and this bug may only be the beginning.

The problem isn't just that users don't choose to install the software (although that's a problem too.) For the most part, we don't even know it's there. We see ads pop onto the desktop or into browsers, but we don't see the structure behind them. For web inserts, we don't know if the ads are being served by the original site or a browser site. Even if you know it's coming from adware on your computer, it's rare that you'll know the name of the program. The structure is designed to be invisible, outside of the user's control.

Invisibility leads to some strange incentives

Invisibility leads to some strange incentives. If crapware vendors want to try out a new way of targeting ads, for instance, most users will have no idea. Vendors have to justify the new features to the hardware manufacturer, but that can be as simple as paying a little more money. Without a public check, there's nothing to stop the software from growing more and more invasive, until it spills out into a public embarrassment like Superfish.

Hardware manufacturing tends to be invisible too, which makes it easy for adware to slip in. It's very hard to tell if a manufacturer has included something malicious on a given device — something the NSA has ruthlessly exploited over the years. Researchers can look, but the average consumer has to judge by signals. We can't run a security audit alone, so we flatten complex privacy issues into the simpler question of whether or not we trust a given brand. Do you trust Lenovo? Huawei? Apple? It's a crude measure, but it's all we have. Once that trust is gone, it's very hard to replace.

SSL is invisible too

Superfish crossed the line because it targeted SSL, the web's most basic security protection. In the politically charged world of encryption, SSL is the one thing everyone agrees on — the little green lock that protects passwords and credit card data as it moves across the web. Nearly everyone who makes money on the internet relies on consumers trusting SSL, so any move that threatens it is an existential threat. If Superfish became the industry norm, it's not just users that would be in danger. Everyone from Amazon to Google would have to scramble to keep their data secure.

Superfish's attack is particularly dangerous because SSL is invisible too. We see the little green lock and we have the option to sniff out the certificate behind it, but we almost never do. We trust that someone else has checked it out for us. When there is a certificate hack — like the one that got GoGo in trouble earlier this year — it often lays undiscovered for months. This isn't self-vetted encryption like PGP or its open-source sisters. You don't have to work for SSL; it does the work for you. We want web security to be as painless as possible, so painless that it becomes invisible.

The vulnerabilities of Superfish won't last long. Lenovo has already released instructions for uninstalling the software, and users are beginning to address the trickier certificate problem. The damage will last longer, as attackers make use of the stolen passwords and infected machines, but even that may pale in comparison to system-wide hacks like Heartbleed or Shellshock. The bigger danger may be the invisible systems themselves. To the average consumer, manufacturing will always be invisible and SSL will never be more than a 20-pixel padlock icon. And for anyone trying to break through, in the name of profit or national security, that invisibility will be a powerful tool.

19 Feb 23:27

How to remove the Superfish malware: What Lenovo doesn’t tell you

by Peter Bright
firehose

doesn't seem to affect mine

If you have a Lenovo system that includes the Superfish malware, you'll want to remove it. Blowing away your system and reinstalling Windows is one way to do this, but while it's a relatively straightforward process, it's a time-consuming one. Using Lenovo's own restore image won't work, because that will probably reinstate Superfish anyway. Performing a clean install from Windows media will work, but you'll have to reinstall all your software and restore all your data from backup to do the job fully.

An alternative is to remove the malware itself. Lenovo has published instructions, but at the time of writing, they're woefully inadequate. Lenovo's instructions describe how to remove the advertising software, but unfortunately, it doesn't address the important bit: the gaping security vulnerability. Update: Lenovo's instructions are now much better, including all the steps we listed here, describing clean-up of both the Superfish software and the security flaw it creates. The company is going to be releasing an automated clean-up tool, too, for those uncomfortable with making the changes manually.

The Superfish root certificate can be used to create certificates for any domain, and those certificates will be implicitly trusted by the browser on any Superfish-infected system, leaving victims vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks. To fix this, the certificate itself needs to be removed.

Read 16 remaining paragraphs | Comments

19 Feb 23:23

The White Devil Kingpin

firehose

John Willis Jr. and oxycodone

How did a homeless kid from Boston transform himself into a major overlord in Chinatown's criminal underworld?
19 Feb 23:19

Cartoon Network Will Reboot The Powerpuff Girls

by Meredith Woerner

Everyone's favorite adorable, bug-eyed, butt kickers are back. The Powerpuff Girls shall be returning to Cartoon Network, in a rebooted series. Plus, more of Marceline's backstory on Adventure Time will be revealed!

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19 Feb 23:17

Settlers Of Catan Possibly Being Turned Into A TV Show Or Movie

by Meredith Woerner

Settlers of Catan was just gobbled up by a production company that wants to turn it into *shrugs* who knows? But we can only hope that this, too, will be turned into another needless police procedural featuring streetwise detectives Wool and Lumber.

Read more...








19 Feb 23:16

Newswire: Psych and The West Wing’s Dulé Hill joins CBS legal drama pilot Doubt

by Matt Wayt
firehose

huh

Dulé Hill will return to the dramatic arena from whence he came to co-star in CBS’s pilot Doubt. Fans probably know Hill as the co-star of the USA comedy Psych, but his breakout role was Charlie Young, personal aide to the president, on The West Wing. And even though Aaron Sorkin’s White House drama could be as playful as anything on TV at times, it seemed like Hill was always the vehicle of anguish—his character’s backstory included a police officer mother who was killed in the line of duty, and his courting of the president’s daughter triggered a violent plot from white supremacists. But all that was made okay by President Bartlett occasionally clapping Charlie on the back or giving him absurd gifts like Paul Revere’s carving knife.

It sounds like Hill will be afforded more levity in Doubt, as Deadline reports that he ...

19 Feb 23:04

'Turtles and colors and stuff': Fun play call cards making it hard for NFL to evaluate QBs

by Dan Kadar
firehose

lol

What has become a must for many college football teams is making life difficult for pro coaches and general managers.

From Auburn to Oregon to NC State and all points in between, more and more college football teams are holding up cards with memorable pictures to call plays.

You’ve seen them before. They might have Kenny Powers and Rick Ross, an obscure Simpsons character or any other seemingly random image. If you’re Dana Holgerson, your play call sign might be an ode to your love for Red Bull.

These signs are unique to college football. They’re used to help teams run their offenses faster. It eases the mental workload on a quarterback because players can look to the sidelines instead of going into a huddle. They're also used in a lot of concepts that don't require the quarterback to change the call or decipher the complexities of a defense.

The proliferation of the sign is becoming bothersome to some in the NFL. Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider said it’s making it harder to evaluate quarterbacks.

"It’s hard to evaluate those players at the college level when they look over to the sidelines," Schneider said at the NFL Scouting Combine on Thursday. "The cards look like turtles and colors and stuff and you have no idea what they’re doing, as compared to watching a guy under center, reading a defense, checking a play."

Coaches and general managers at the combine seemed more concerned about quarterbacks who relied on cards than those who often run with the ball. Simply looking over at a card eliminates many of the key traits an NFL quarterback has to possess. Houston Texans general manager Rick Smith stressed that card quarterbacks involve much more guesswork.

"I don’t know that they can’t play in our league, but it becomes more of a projection when you’re trying to determine if a guy can go in a huddle, call a play, go to the line of scrimmage, make an adjustment, take a snap, read a coverage and deliver the ball," Smith said.

It can be a touchy subject for quarterbacks because they’re simply operating out of the offense that’s in place at the school. At Baylor, for instance, Bryce Petty rarely had to run through a call or work under center. That changed at the Senior Bowl, where the Tennessee Titans coaching staff made him play from under center and call plays from a huddle.

"You don’t know things until you live it out. You can hear about it as much as you want, but until you’re actually in there and doing it, you have no idea," Petty said. "It’s a learning curve a little bit, going from what we were doing at Baylor to what we’re doing now, but it’s all part of the process."

Petty may have been the benefactor of participating in the Senior Bowl. It was an opportunity some quarterbacks, like Marcus Mariota of Oregon, turned down despite playing in offenses that rely heavily on cards.

"It’s getting harder and harder in my opinion. It’s so unique, then seeing those guys go to the Senior Bowl and go under center and see people move around — how they’re moving the pocket and how they adjust," Schneider said. "It’s harder now because you see a lot of these guys look over to the sidelines. I know, me personally, you make several mistakes in that regard. You may question the guy’s decision making. You may value it higher just because of his intellectual level or what a good football guy he is. But then you don’t truly know because he’s looking over at the sidelines looking at cards."

In head coach Mike Leach's offense at Washington State, quarterback Connor Halliday said he had to look over to the sidelines for about half of his plays. At the combine, he said it's up to him to prove his football aptitude during interview sessions with teams.

"You have to show how well and how quickly you can draw up a front, draw up linebacker fronts and safety rotations," Halliday said.

When he spoke at the combine, Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians seemed frustrated by the use of cards in college football.

"So many times you’re evaluating a quarterback who has never called a play in the huddle and never used a snap count," Arians said. "They hold up a card on the sideline, he kicks his foot and throws the ball. That ain’t playing quarterback. There is no leadership involved there. Now there may be leadership on the bench, but when you get in there … they’re light years behind."