MY WRITING JOURNAL

Saturday, August 14

Jack Wallen addresses the challenging question of which browser is best to use for transmitting encrypted data.

The most secure browser for encrypted data is Tor. But there's a catch, and it's a big one.

You might work within a company LAN that doesn't allow for the Tor browser to function. And unless you can get your IT department to open up the network to allow Tor to function, you're out of luck.

But for everyone else, Tor is definitely the browser to beat when it comes to encrypted transmitted data.

Let me offer up a simple example.

Once upon a time, I was hired by a new client. Now, this client didn't exactly engender much in the way of trust in me, but they were willing to pay a premium for me to generate content for them.

But lodged in the back of my mind was this sense I couldn't trust them 100%. So, what did I do? I created a virtual network, detached from my primary network and then deployed a virtual machine attached to that network.

On that virtual machine (running Ubuntu Desktop), I installed the Tor browser.

With that setup, I felt absolutely confident nothing untoward could happen... unless I was dealing with serious hackers. READ MORE

Large and Small

George Harrison on Life

It is perhaps the biggest question of them all: What is the purpose of life?

It led Fyodor Dostoyevsky to proclaim that it is about “finding something to live for,” it prompted Kurt Vonnegut to say, “I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don’t let anybody tell you different,” and it called for Karl Pilkington to posit, “There isn’t a meaning of life, or if there is don’t worry about it, you’re here now, get on with it! It does my head in!”

All of which are valid, but the more opinions you can get on this sort of thing, the better.

With that in mind, what exactly did the ‘Quiet One’ have to say about it all? George Harrison’s spiritual journey began, at least in earnest, in very peculiar circumstances.

As it turned out, it started while filming the oddball movie Help! back in 1965.

The band spent most of their time on set smoking copious marijuana and gorging on cheeseburgers; however, there was one profound moment foisted upon Harrison by the universe’s fateful happenstance division in amongst it. READ MORE

Out of Control Tool

Rather Disturbing

A photo showing a little girl playing while a group of latex-clad men interact behind her has won a top prize at a Pride competition in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam media AT5 reports the photo, titled, “Imagine What Will Hopefully Stay Taken for granted,” taken by Jan van Breda, won “Most aesthetic photo” out of more than 13,000 entries.

A photo showing a little girl playing while a group of latex-clad men interact behind her has won a top prize at a Pride competition in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam media AT5 reports the photo, titled, “Imagine What Will Hopefully Stay Taken for granted,” taken by Jan van Breda, won “Most aesthetic photo” out of more than 13,000 entries.

The photo shows a little girl smiling at someone off-camera as she plays by a swing on a front porch patio. All the while, nine men behind her outfitted in latex kink-wear appear to be getting ready for a pride parade, with one of the men eerily smiling at the camera.

According to Pride Amsterdam, the contest called for “the most iconic, meaningful and aesthetic photos.”

The three top prize winners each received 2,500 euros. READ MORE

Is She Sick or Something?

Friday, August 13

Momma's Gotta Squeeze Box... Daddy Doesm't Sleep At Night...

Government Involvement

Evidence

Populist Press

Skywatchers

The bright Perseids are perhaps the most popular meteor shower of the year, and they've just begun! With clear skies, you could see what some consider the most spectacular cosmic light show.

Spectators can expect to see the greatest number of meteors during the shower's peak between Aug. 11-13 this year, according to Earthsky.org.

Every year, Earth passes through the path of Comet Swift-Tuttle from July 17 to Aug. 24, with the shower's peak — when Earth passes through the densest, dustiest area — occurring Aug. 11-13.

That means you'll see the most meteors in the shortest amount of time near that time. Years without moonlight see higher rates of meteors per hour, and in outburst years (such as in 2016) the rate can be between 150-200 meteors an hour.

This year, you can expect to see up to 60 meteors per hour at the shower's peak, according to Earthsky.org.

Last year, the bright moonlight didn't obscure the view of the meteor shower too badly, but the moon's glow is a continuing concern for skywatchers looking for a clear view. Even though the Perseids are especially bright, moonlight can make viewing a bit tricky.

You can see the Perseid meteor shower best in the Northern Hemisphere and down to the mid-southern latitudes, and all you need to catch the show is darkness, somewhere comfortable to sit and a bit of patience. READ MORE

It's 5 O'clock Somewhere... right?

Music

TIme Crystals

Lately, it has been in the news that Google quantum computing researchers (and numerous university researchers) have created the first true time crystal in a quantum computer.

While it sounds like something out of a Marvel movie, time crystals are a real phenomenon.

The crystals flip back and forth between two states periodically in time which mimics the regularity of the spacing of molecules in a crystal.

There have been a lot of misconceptions thrown about whether time crystals violate the laws of thermodynamics: conservation of energy or the tendency for entropy to increase.

Some have even suggested that they achieve the dream of perpetual motion.

This is false and shows an ignorance of the fine print attached to the laws of thermodynamics as well as the real requirements for achieving a time crystal.

First off, time crystals are not perpetual motion machines in that (a) they cannot do mechanical work and (b) they do not exist in a ground or equilibrium state.

Rather, they are quantum systems that do no work and cannot reach a ground state. READ MORE

A Few GIFs

Fish With Human Teeth

Last week (Aug 3), anglers at Jennette's Pier in North Carolina pulled up something unexpected — and uncanny — from the Atlantic: a fish with human teeth.

Yes, this fish — and its teeth — are real. But fortunately, there's nothing human about it.

It's called a sheepshead fish (Archosargus probatocephalus) — also known as a convict fish for the dark stripes running down its gray body, reminiscent of a stereotypical prison jumpsuit, according to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

The fish is commonly found swimming along the Atlantic coast, from New York to Brazil, and gave Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, its name.

They can grow up to 3 feet (91 centimeters) long and dine on a variety of oysters, clams, crustaceans and the odd bit of plant matter. Hence, the teeth. READ MORE

Disturbed Dog

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Gut Health

SCIENTISTS DISCOVER A “MIND-BLOWING” LINK BETWEEN GUT HEALTH AND AGE REVERSAL

“By restoring health in the microbiome we’re able to reverse age-related cognitive deficits,” scientists say about their new study in mice.

TO STAVE OFF THE EFFECTS OF AGING, ONE MIGHT USE RETINOL CREAMS OR PLAY SUDOKU.

But maybe we should be focusing on something different altogether.

Scientists have known for the past two decades that the metropolis home to trillions of bacteria in your belly — the gut microbiome — is also central to mental health, the immune system, and more.

One of the latest studies in gut health scrutinizes how our microbiome affects aging in mice, using a surprising transplant.

The research, published Monday in the journal Nature Aging, reveals that older mice who have received gut microbiota transplants from young mice show improved brain function and behavior.

This mouse model offers powerful insight into how diet and what populates our stomachs affect what our brains look like in old age. READ MORE

WHAT’S NEW — Researchers have found that when they transplant microbiota of young mice into the intestines of older mice, the older mice display improved cognitive function. This is the first study that shows the correlation between transplantation of a gut microbiome from a younger mouse into an older one with improved brain abilities in the older mice.

Watch Out Buster

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