Ten Plotlines You’ll Find in Science Fiction — Over and Over Again
December 28th, 2011This topic needs a far weirder treatment than the khaki-clad nine-to-fivers at io9 are capable of providing. Maybe Brainsturbator will do this properly someday. For an unabridged version, see Secret Sun.
Via: io9:
Science fiction is a genre of limitless possibilities, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few ideas writers keep coming back to as trusty old standbys. Here are ten of science fiction’s most common tropes…and how they’ve evolved.
Obviously, no list like this can ever be considered comprehensive, and we could probably do dozens of sequels to this post. But what we want to examine here are some of the most common building blocks of science fiction stories. For each trope, we explain where it came from, what cemented it as an iconic part of science fiction, and some of the things modern storytellers are doing to keep it and interesting. So, let’s take a look…
Trading Update / Disclosure: Closed Out DBA
December 28th, 2011Warning: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument.
I closed out my DBA long position today. It could easily keep going, but I sold for multiple reasons:
1. Overhead resistance is looming.
2. Price is rising on declining volume.
3. I had a nice profit on the trade and bearish reversals on dead cat bounces can be particularly violent. (In other words, fear of loss of profit outweighed greed.)
I felt the arguments for dumping the whole position into strength were more compelling than trying to pare it down to let it ride.
Finally, I wanted to free up capital for another trade that’s setting up. (Get the clothes peg ready for your nose when I disclose this next one.)
Sears Holdings Will Close One Hundred Sears and KMart Stores
December 27th, 2011Via: AP:
After a disastrous holiday shopping season, the parent company of Sears and Kmart will close at least 100 stores to raise cash — a move that sparked speculation about whether the 125-year-old retailer can avoid a death spiral fed by declining sales and deteriorating stores.
Sears Holdings Corp., a pillar of American retailing that famously began with a mail-order catalog in the 1880s, declared Tuesday that it would no longer prop up “marginally performing” locations. The company pledged to refocus its efforts on stores that make money.
Sears’ stock quickly plunged, dropping 27 percent.
Reminder: Comex is a Fractional Reserve Gold Market
December 27th, 2011Actually, all physical commodity futures and options markets are like this, but this short video is a good reminder to those of you who own paper gold for the long haul and think that you own the real thing. You could be in the the shock of your life.
Note: Audio level is very low.
Via: YouTube:
Research Credit: RT
Exploit Allows Attackers to Take Remote Control of Any GSM Phone
December 27th, 2011Via: Domain B:
A widely used wireless technology could allow hackers to gain remote control of any GSM mobile phone because of outdated mobile network security, says German mobile phone security researcher Karsten Nohl.
According to a study to be presented today by Nohl, mobile users on GSM networks that are used by billions of people around he world may be vulnerable to having their personal voice mail hacked because of the way in which they handle commands.
This vulnerability gives hackers remote control of phones, instructing them to send text messages or make calls, says Nohl, who will present his results at a convention of the Chaos Computer Club, a hackers’ group, in Berlin.
After conducting a study of 31 mobile operators in Europe, Morocco and Thailand, Nohl, found that many operators provided poor or weak defences to protect consumers from illegal surveillance and identity theft.
New Video Surveillance System Tags, Tracks and Follows
December 27th, 2011Via: Reuters:
Software developed for closed-circuit television systems can identify individuals and track them across entire networks of cameras. Joel Flynn reports.
Related: Coming Soon: Retroactive Surveillance on Anyone
Power Over Ethernet
December 27th, 2011I’m testing a sort of Gilligan’s Island mobile broadband antenna system here at our place. For whatever reason, the Telecom XT signal here has decreased in recent months. I’ve long known that all I need for a solid signal is more altitude, which I could attain by building a transceiver up on a hill that’s on our property and covering the last leg down to the house over wi-fi. While that solution would definitely work, it would require doing a solar panel/battery rig mounted up and away from the cows, mounting antennas, etc. It’s about 200 yards away from the house.
I thought I’d try something much cheaper to see what kind of results I could get closer to home. I bought a used 3g router for NZ$50. I popped in my mobile broadband modem and got it configured. That router needs 12v DC. I went with the TP-LINK TL-POE200, Power over Ethernet kit which comes with everything necessary to send juice and data over a single length of ethernet cable. I selected 12v output, plugged it all in and it worked perfectly the first time.
Next, I put the router, modem and PoE splitter in a small cardboard box and tied it to thin end of the bamboo stem. I tilted the bamboo up (about 40 feet) into the air and tie strapped the base of it to the clothesline post. I popped the ethernet cable into my switch and (lol) the signal strength doubled, and that was without using my very expensive high gain antenna!
The experiment was a success. Obviously, though, a cardboard box won’t work as an enclosure. I’m trying to think of the lightweight (and cheap) weatherproof enclosure in which to bundle the router, modem and PoE splitter. I’ve seen some Tupperware-type things at the supermarket that seem perfect, but I don’t know if those would actually keep the moisture out. The thing would have to be air tight or condensation will kill the gear.
The American Fascist Sandwich: Indefinite Detention and Internment Camps
December 27th, 2011Via: Activist Post:
It’s time to dispense with semantic subtleties meant to placate and avoid offense. Diplomacy is reserved for those who are worthy. No more time to waste on pandering to, analyzing, intellectualizing or sugar-coating treachery. The State is the enemy of the people. Those responsible for instilling fear, subjugation, humiliation, imprisonment, torture and murder are our own government terrorists–the U.S. Congress, the President of the United States and their minions.
They have betrayed the American citizenry, as they have the rest of the world. They have defiled and destroyed the Constitution. They have committed treason. They are grinding the 99% into the ground with every stroke of the pen; every vote cast in the name of enriching their corporate umbilical cords and bank accounts. They do not deserve respect. They are thieves who have hijacked their positions of power. They deserve exactly what the National Defense Authorization Act will now so freely foist upon the rest of us — to be tossed into a hole to rot somewhere without benefit of charges, trial, or protection from torture and murder, for the rest of their miserable, worthless existences.
One owes no civility to barbarians. No benevolence to fascists. Capitol Hill and the White House have declared war on the American people. Their intent is crystal clear for all paying attention. Conspiracy theory ‘lunatics’ are having the last laugh as their warnings are now bearing fruit. It is no longer outrageous conjecture to believe our own government is intent on our demise.
Cryptogon Readers Send Contributions
December 26th, 2011Thank You.
Oracle Broadcasting $100
CB $25
MW $20
Who Is Behind Mystery Spy Devices Dropped Over Syria?
December 26th, 2011Via: intelnews.org:
On December 14, residents of a small town in northern Syria reported seeing unidentified aircraft circling overhead, and dropping several small items attached to mini-parachutes. Two days ago, one local resident, Adnan Mustafa, posted on Facebook several photographs of some of these items, which were found scattered around the area. The gadgets, pictured here, look suspiciously like surreptitious listening devices. Residents say the question is: who dropped them, and why?
The devices were found in the hills around Afrin, a predominantly ethnic-Kurdish town 20 miles south of the Syrian-Turkish border. Local townsfolk said the flight patterns of the planes observed on December 14 resembled those of previous sightings of Turkish aircraft, which routinely invade Syrian airspace before returning to the Turkish air base in Incirlik, about 100 miles north of Afrin.
Syrian newspaper Al-Hakikah (The Truth), which supports the opposition Syrian National Council, said the suspected spy gadgets weigh about 90 grams each and bear “Made in Germany” labels, as well as “GRAW DFM-06” inscriptions. Graw is a Nuremberg-based German company that produces radiosondes, small radio transmitters used in weather balloons, that measure various atmospheric parameters and transmit them to fixed receivers. But Al-Hakikah reports that the devices found in Afrin seem to transmit GPS coordinates, and appear to have been modified to intercept radio communications.
