Chomsky BRILLIANTLY Dissects Trump, Democrats & RussiaGate
▻https://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/chomsky-brilliantly-dissects-trump-democrats-and-russiagate
Once again, Noam Chomsky sums up US politics with laser precision.
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Building a Business on #slack — $80k/mo with a Slack-first App
▻https://hackernoon.com/building-a-business-on-slack-80k-mo-with-a-slack-first-app-80eb79ab6cfb?Building a Business on Slack — $80k/mo with a Slack-first AppSlack is more than just a chat app; it’s an ecosystem to build a solid business on.While Slack prepares for the IPO, its App Ecosystem keeps evolving becoming a place to build a business on. Standuply, a Slack-first App, reached $80k in revenue in February 2019.I’m Alex Kistenev, CEO and co-founder of Standuply and in charge of marketing. This post is about my experience of growing a Slack App to $80k per month.The product competitionIf you search for ‘standup’ in the Slack App Directory, you’ll find Standuply at the 1st place with 30 other competing apps left behind. Here’s how we did that.Laser focusThere are Slack apps made by web development studios. They felt the pain, had resources and eventually built the initial product. But it (...)
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Nouveau système de positionnement dynamique (et de détection…)
Wärtsilä Tests World’s First ‘Targetless’ DP Laser Sensor – gCaptain
▻https://gcaptain.com/wartsila-tests-worlds-first-targetless-dp-laser-sensor
courtesy Wärtsilä / TopazFinnish technology group Wärtsilä says it has successfully tested what it says is the world’s first ‘targetless’ dynamic positioning (DP) laser sensor on board an offshore support vessel in the Caspian Sea.
Unlike traditional DP systems, the state-of-the-art technology, known as the SceneScan system, requires no reflector target to be deployed, thereby increasing both safety and operational uptime, according to Wärtsilä. The technology has been developed by Guidance Marine, a Wärtsilä company.
The sea trials were carried out onboard the Topaz Citadel, a vessel owned by Topaz Energy and Marine, a leading international offshore support vessel company. The SceneScan was connected to a Wärtsilä DP system, with which the vessel was already fitted.
Here’s how Wärtsilä describes the SceneScan system:
The SceneScan system is a high accuracy rotating laser sensor that provides positional information to allow automated approach and/or station keeping relative to a structure or vessel. It is designed to be straightforward to operate, and it provides tracking information relative to natural or man-made structures within the sensor field of view. It tracks by matching its current observation of the scene against a map generated from previous observations of the scene.Wärtsilä says that following a 90-day test period, Topaz has now indicated that it will keep the system as installed on the Topaz Citadel, and that it will begin a phased roll-out to additional vessels. The initial order includes upgrading existing DP sensor systems onboard four of the company’s vessels.
“The testing and evaluation was carried out and proven under actual DP operations with offshore platforms in the Caspian Sea. The positive feedback provides further evidence of the efficiency and accuracy of the SceneScan system. This is fully in line with Wärtsilä’s Smart Marine vision, for which enhanced vessel safety is a key pillar,” says Andrew Stead, Head of Business Development, Guidance Marine.
“The installation onboard the Topaz Citadel was seamless, and the technical support that was provided by Wärtsilä throughout the testing period successfully determined the system’s overall effectiveness. We have no doubt that the SceneScan system will add considerable value to the DP operations of our versatile and digitised fleet.” says Paul Jarkiewicz, Operations Director at Topaz Energy and Marine.
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Rammstein Deutschland video : We got an Oxford University professor to explain what on earth is going on | Louder
▻https://www.loudersound.com/features/we-got-an-oxford-university-professor-to-explain-what-the-fcks-going-onPoised to release their first album in a decade and about to embark on a European tour, Rammstein have returned with a new song: Deutschland. Clocking in at nine minutes and 22 seconds, the video is a mini-epic spanning Germany history. Directed by Specter Berlin, it’s a cinematic and controversial clip that’s confusing if you’re not up on your history. We asked Dr Alexandra Lloyd, lecturer in German at the University of Oxford, to explain what the fuck is happening.
By Dr Alexandra Lloyd (Metal Hammer) 2 days ago Metal Hammer
Rammstein have just released a jaw-dropping video for new single Deutschland – but what exactly is it all about?Rammstein’s Deutschland takes us on a thrilling, violent, and moving journey through German history. At over nine minutes, it gives us a panorama of events and historical and mythical figures, and there are so many references and Easter eggs that fans and commentators will be poring over it for some time to come.
The video opens in AD 16, on the ‘barbarian’ side of the limes, the border of the Roman Empire. Roman soldiers creep through the woods in the aftermath of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. The Romans were ambushed by an alliance of Germanic Tribes, led by a chieftain called Arminius (the original Hermann the German). Three legionary standards were captured, a loss symbolic and moral, as well as physical, and decades were spent trying to recover them. Rome never again attempted to take the lands east of the River Rhine, known as Germania.
‘Germania’ refers not just to a place, somewhere partly defined by where it isn’t (Rome) as well as where it is, but also to a national figurehead, traditionally representing the German people. Germania is a strong woman, usually armour-clad and battle-ready. Various symbols appear with her, among them a breastplate with an eagle, a black, red, and gold flag, and a crown. Look out for these in the video – they come up again and again – and the colours of the contemporary flag are there in every scene.
We get our first glimpse of Germania here (played by Ruby Commey), who stands holding Till Lindemann’s severed head. Next, astronauts appear carrying a metal and glass box shaped like a coffin. In the background we see a U-boat – a German submarine, used in World Wars I and II. Then we move to a scene set at a boxing match which takes us to Weimar Germany (1918-1933), a period known for its political instability but also greater cultural liberalism. Here, Germania appears in the cabaret costume of a flapper girl, and the boxers fight with knuckle-dusters as a crowd cheers them on.
We see the former East Germany, complete with busts of Marx and Lenin, the national emblem of East Germany, and a lookalike of the long-serving, insular, and repressive GDR leader Erich Honecker. There’s another astronaut, or rather a cosmonaut: Sigmund Jähn, the first German in space, who flew with the USSR’s space program (and who’s also a character in the 2003 film, Good Bye Lenin!). Medieval monks feast grotesquely on the supine Germania, tearing sauerkraut and sausage from Ruby Commey’s body, prison inmates are beaten by guards dressed in police and military uniforms from different historical periods.
The most obviously shocking scene references the Holocaust and the Nazi period. Four members of the band, in the striped uniforms of camp inmates, wait at the gallows, about to be hanged. They wear the cloth emblems used to identify their ‘crimes’: a pink triangle for homosexual prisoners, a yellow star for Jewish prisoners, a red and yellow star for Jewish political prisoners.
This sequence, teased in an earlier promo video, has already caused controversy. Have Rammstein the right to do this? Do they trivialise the suffering of Holocaust victims? How can they justify using Holocaust imagery to promote their new video? These are important questions that are part of a much bigger debate about the ethics of using the Holocaust in art and media.
Other scenes include the band walking away from a flaming airship, referring to the 1937 Hindenburg Disaster, in which 36 people died. Rats scuttle across the floor when the monks first appear, suggesting the Pied Piper of Hamelin, a legend with origins in the 13th century.
Germania walks towards the camera in a leather jacket, gold jewellery and a string of bullets across her chest, resembling the chariot drawn by four horses (the ‘Quadriga’) on top of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. The band members’ heads are shown as white marble busts, taking us to the 19th century Walhalla memorial in Bavaria, built as German Hall of Fame, its sculpted heads of German worthies on display to this day.
In the prison, hundreds of banknotes fall from above, suggesting the devastating hyperinflation Germany suffered in the 1920s. Nazis burn books, intercut with religious fanatics burning witches. We recognise members of the Red Army Faction (also known as the Baader-Meinhof group), a militant organisation active in the 1970s in West Germany. And in a blink-or-you-miss-it exchange, we are reminded of the much-criticised relationship between the churches and the state during the Third Reich.
Each scene captures in a moment the icons of an era, and the video cuts between them more and more frenetically as it goes on. Events bleed into each other, linked by the presence of the band members and the red laser beam that appears throughout the video, a ‘roter Faden’ (red thread or central theme), connecting each event.
Germany engages with its history in a very particular way. Try to imagine the video about Britain, with Britannia played by Ruby Commey. What would the equivalent events be? Quite a few of the tableaux might be similar – Romans, Crusaders, monks, 18th-century soldiers, collarless shirts and bareknuckle boxing – but would it have the same impact?
There’s no affection, and perhaps not much hope: its pessimistic tone seems to be quite an off-brand message for post-1989 Germany, which wants to acknowledge its past critically, while also looking to its future as a state at the heart of Europe. And actually, while we get a lot of medieval and twentieth-century history, the video’s tour through the past seems to stop in the late 1980s, before the fall of the Berlin Wall and Reunification of East and West Germany. Instead, we jump into the future, where the space-suited band take Germania into the unknown, travelling in that coffin-shaped glass box.
There’s an echo of the video for Sonne, where Snow White is trapped in a glass coffin. In fact, a piano version of Sonne plays over the end credits of Deutschland. This is a useful link for understanding something of what Rammstein is doing here. In Sonne, where the band’s characters free themselves of Snow White (naturally, they’ve been her sex-slaves), only to realise that they have made a mistake and long for her return, the overwhelming feeling of Deutschland seems to be that when it comes to Germania (or Germany): you can’t love her, and you can’t live without her.
Alex Lloyd | Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages
▻https://www.mod-langs.ox.ac.uk/people/alexandra-lloydAlexandra Lloyd, MA, PGCE, DPhil, FHEA
Stipendiary Lecturer in German, Magdalen College & St Edmund Hall
Research
Alex Lloyd’s main research interests are in twentieth-century literature and film, particularly cultural memory, depictions of children and childhood, and visual culture. Her AHRC-funded doctoral thesis (Wadham College, 2012) examined post-1989 representations of childhood and youth under Nazism. She is currently running a project on the White Rose resistance movement, working with undergraduates on a new translation of the group’s pamphlets which will be published in June 2019.Rammstein - Engel (Official Video)
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=265&v=x2rQzv8OWEYRammstein - Deutschland (Official Video)
►https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeQM1c-XCDcRammstein – DEUTSCHLAND Lyrics
▻https://genius.com/Rammstein-deutschland-lyrics[Songtext zu „DEUTSCHLAND“]
[Strophe 1]
Du (du hast, du hast, du hast, du hast)
Hast viel geweint (geweint, geweint, geweint, geweint)
Im Geist getrennt (getrennt, getrennt, getrennt, getrennt)
Im Herz vereint (vereint, vereint, vereint, vereint)
Wir (wir sind, wir sind, wir sind, wir sind)
Sind schon sehr lang zusammen (ihr seid, ihr seid, ihr seid, ihr seid)
Dein Atem kalt (so kalt, so kalt, so kalt, so kalt)
Das Herz in Flammen (so heiß, so heiß, so heiß, so heiß)
Du (du kannst, du kannst, du kannst, du kannst)
Ich (ich weiß, ich weiß, ich weiß, ich weiß)
Wir (wir sind, wir sind, wir sind, wir sind)
Ihr (ihr bleibt, ihr bleibt, ihr bleibt, ihr bleibt)[Refrain]
Deutschland – mein Herz in Flammen
Will dich lieben und verdammen
Deutschland – dein Atem kalt
So jung – und doch so alt
Deutschland![Strophe 2]
Ich (du hast, du hast, du hast, du hast)
Ich will dich nie verlassen (du weinst, du weinst, du weinst, du weinst)
Man kann dich lieben (du liebst, du liebst, du liebst, du liebst)
Und will dich hassen (du hasst, du hasst, du hasst, du hasst)
Überheblich, überlegen
Übernehmen, übergeben
Überraschen, überfallen
Deutschland, Deutschland über allen[Refrain]
Deutschland – mein Herz in Flammen
Will dich lieben und verdammen
Deutschland – dein Atem kalt
So jung – und doch so alt
Deutschland – deine Liebe
Ist Fluch und Segen
Deutschland – meine Liebe
Kann ich dir nicht geben
Deutschland!
Deutschland![Bridge]
Du
Ich
Wir
Ihr
Du (übermächtig, überflüssig)
Ich (Übermenschen, überdrüssig)
Wir (wer hoch steigt, der wird tief fallen)
Ihr (Deutschland, Deutschland über allen)[Refrain]
Deutschland – dein Herz in Flammen
Will dich lieben und verdammen
Deutschland – mein Atem kalt
So jung – und doch so alt
Deutschland – deine Liebe
Ist Fluch und Segen
Deutschland – meine Liebe
Kann ich dir nicht geben
Deutschland! -
6 Superpowers of a Technology Architect
▻https://hackernoon.com/6-superpowers-of-a-technology-architect-fd7adaa0f35?source=rss----3a8144Every profession requires special skills which make an individual best or mediocre in that field. If you are a superhero, flying without engines, seeing behind the walls or firing laser beams off your eyes would certainly make you a favourite amongst the others.Having spent close to two decades in technology #architecture, I tried imagining the superpowers of a super architect. I focused on the character skills instead of domain, technology, or methodology knowledge and experience.I believe an architect who has these skills would pull off any complex design problems even they are new in the field or don’t have a shiny architecture badge.None of these would be considered a superpower unless it comes with a flashy name. The outcome is not as striking as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, but I (...)
#superheroes #tech-superpowers #tech-superheros #technology-architect
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Why A Seamless #onboarding Experience For Your #product Is So Important
▻https://hackernoon.com/why-a-seamless-onboarding-experience-for-your-product-is-so-important-97This year, I decided to take advantage of Black Friday and did some shopping for smart home devices — a thermostat and doorbell.I’m not exactly Mr. DIY, but I decided to attempt to set the devices up myself.As I began installing them, it immediately became clear just how much time the companies had invested in making their onboarding experience as seamless as possible. Everything from the packaging to the setup instructions was laser-focused on ensuring I could get these products up and running myself.The attention to detail that the companies had put into the onboarding process was very remarkable. They had included extra wires, screws and even the drill bit I needed to create holes for the screws.It made me think of one of my main responsibilities right now — onboarding our company’s (...)
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Nintendo bets heavily on the holidays
▻https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-11-30-nintendo-bets-heavily-on-the-holidaysWhile Sony and Microsoft have spread sales over the year, Nintendo is laser-focused on the holiday season - and this year it needs every Switch sale it can get
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How the War in Yemen Became a Bloody Stalemate — and the Worst Humanitarian Crisis in the World - The New York Times
▻https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/31/magazine/yemen-war-saudi-arabia.html
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/11/04/world/04mag-yemen-newpromo2/04mag-yemen-newpromo2-facebookJumbo-v4.jpg 
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/11/04/magazine/04mag-yemen-slideshow-slide-Y1J0/04mag-yemen-slideshow-slide-Y1J0-superJumbo.jpg Dahyan, a town in the far northwest of #Yemen, is a farming settlement about two hours’ drive from the Saudi border. On its dusty, unpaved main street, a large crater is still visible near a fruit-and-vegetable stand, marked out by flimsy wooden stakes and red traffic tape. It was here that a laser-guided bomb dropped by a Saudi jet struck a school bus taking students on a field trip on the morning of Aug. 9, killing 44 children and 10 adults. Even for a population that had grown accustomed to tragedy after more than three years of war, the bus bombing was shocking. Shrapnel and tiny limbs were scattered for hundreds of yards around. The bomb that hit the bus, several local people told me, bore markings showing it was made in the United States. The site has now become something of a shrine. On a brick wall a few yards from the crater, large painted letters in both English and Arabic proclaim, “America Kills Yemeni Children.”
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Materiom
Liste & recettes de matériaux à réaliser soi-même à base d’ingrédients naturels, locaux et « life-friendly ».Make materials in your kitchen, Fab Lab or Makerspace. Our recipes use locally abundant natural ingredients and life-friendly chemistry. Plastics and composites you can cook on the stove, mold, laser cut, and 3D print.
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Lasers Reveal 60,000 Ancient Maya Structures in Guatemala - HISTORY
▻https://www.history.com/news/ancient-maya-structures-guatemala-lasersThe largest-ever survey of a region from the Maya civilization has located over 60,000 previously unknown structures in northern Guatemala. The survey, conducted with the help of lasers, challenges long-held assumptions that this area was poorly connected and sparsely populated.
The structures researchers identified include farms, houses and defensive fortifications, as well as 60 miles of causeways, roads and canals connecting large cities across the civilization’s central lowlands. Sarah Parcak, an archaeologist who uses satellite technology, had this reaction on Twitter when preliminary images became public: “This is HOLY [expletive] territory.” (Parcak was not involved with this study).
The ancient Maya civilization stretched from southern Mexico down to Guatemala and Belize, flourishing between 1000 B.C. and 1500 A.D. The recent study focused on 830 square miles of the #Maya Biosphere Reserve in Petén, #Guatemala. Scientists used a laser technology called #lidar, or light detection and ranging, to penetrate the thick tree canopies in the area and discover archaeological remains beneath them.
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This major discovery upends long-held theories about the Maya civilization
▻https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2018/09/27/this-major-discovery-upends-long-held-theories-about-maya-civilizati -
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Vigilante engineer stops Waymo from patenting key lidar technology ...
▻https://diasp.eu/p/7795179Vigilante engineer stops Waymo from patenting key lidar technology
Eric Swildens had no dog in the fight other than intellectual curiosity. Article word count: 1218
HN Discussion: ▻https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18118641 Posted by sonnyblarney (karma: 2141) Post stats: Points: 148 - Comments: 28 - 2018-10-02T03:36:52Z
#HackerNews #engineer #from #key #lidar #patenting #stops #technology #vigilante #waymo
Article content:
[1]Article intro image
A lone engineer has succeeded in doing what Uberʼs top lawyers and expert witnesses could not—overturning most of a foundational patent covering arch-rival Waymoʼs lidar laser ranging devices.
Following a surprise left-field complaint by Eric Swildens, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has [2]rejected all but three of 56 (...)
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Russian fighter jets intercept U.S. F-22 Raptor flying over Syria – Defence Blog
▻https://defence-blog.com/news/russian-fighter-jets-intercept-u-s-f-22-raptor-flying-over-syria.htmlA Su-35S air-superiority fighter jet of Russia’s Aerospace Force has intercepted and visually identified the U.S. F-22 Raptor Raptor combat aircraft flying over Syria.
A photographs posted by unofficial Russia’s military pilot Instagram account on 24 September has confirmed an intercept of the U.S. F-22 Raptor Raptor combat aircraft by the Russian Su-35S fighter jet.
Photographs, made by the infrared search and track fire control system of the Russian Su-35S, shows in infrared spectrum an F-22 Raptor fighter jet flying over Syria.
The Su-35S infrared search and track system called the OLS-35 and includes an infrared sensor, laser rangefinder, target designator and television camera. This system to determine the general position of aircraft within a fifty-kilometer radius—potentially quite useful for detecting stealth aircraft, such as F-22, at shorter ranges.
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Roll7 hands off Laser League to 505 Games
▻https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-08-24-roll7-hands-off-laser-league-to-505-gamesAll future #Development and continued support to be handled by the game’s publisher
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How to Hack Your #summer Movie-going Experience
▻https://hackernoon.com/how-to-hack-your-summer-movie-going-experience-6eb6a72a2a30?source=rss--Going to the #movies is as popular as ever, though the experience itself is changing. Over 1 billion people visit movie theaters in the U.S. each year, and many are looking for a luxury experience they can’t replicate at home.Movie theaters’ luxury upgrades go beyond reclining seats and a full-service bar. Digital and 3D screens are growing in popularity while film-based screens are disappearing. Screens with dual laser projection deliver a picture with more vivid colors and greater contrast ratio, making images appear more dynamic, brighter, and livelier.Surround sound is getting more advanced as well. Many theaters install 64 strategically placed speakers, surrounding the viewers on all sides and from above. Not only are there more speakers, but the technology allows filmmakers to (...)
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Laser du lundi : Le Sénégal, la CEDEAO et le cirque 5 Sahel (Par Babacar Justin Ndiaye)
▻https://www.emouaten.com/Laser-du-lundi-Le-Senegal-la-CEDEAO-et-le-cirque-5-Sahel-Par-Babacar-Justi
#Le_Fil -
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Message to the Democratic Party | The New Yorker
▻https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/alexandria-ocasio-cortezs-message-to-the-democratic-partyAfter winning the Democratic primary in New York’s Fourteenth Congressional District, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is now a national political figure. On Wednesday, she made a series of media appearances, including spots on CNN and MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” Later in the day, Stephen Colbert hailed her win, joking that when he was twenty-eight he got his first can opener. On Thursday, she appeared on Colbert’s show, and an article in the Times described her as “an instant political rock star.”
Ocasio-Cortez deserves all the attention she’s getting, but it’s important not to focus only on her personal traits: her age, her gender, her ethnicity, and her inspiring life story. As she pointed out in her post-victory interviews, she ran on a platform that transcended these things. “Our campaign was focussed on just a laser-focussed message of economic, social, and racial dignity for working-class Americans, especially those in Queens and the Bronx,” she told Mika Brzezinski, of “Morning Joe.”
Listen to the speeches of Senator Sherrod Brown, of Ohio; or of Stacey Abrams, who is running for governor in Georgia; or of Beto O’Rourke, who is challenging Ted Cruz in Texas; or of Conor Lamb, who won a special election in western Pennsylvania earlier this year; or of Mikie Sherrill, a former Navy pilot who recently won the Democratic primary in New Jersey’s Republican-held Eleventh Congressional District. To be sure, these Democrats are attacking Trump and talking about immigration and the Supreme Court. But their main focus is on promoting social and economic empowerment for people living in their districts.
That is the traditional Democratic Party message, and it is one that never grows old. Every so often, however, it needs to be renewed and adapted to new circumstances. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just demonstrated how to do this.
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The interactive map that was way ahead of its time - BBC
▻https://www.bbc.com/ideas/videos/the-interactive-map-that-was-way-ahead-of-its-time/p063z2t2
The interactive map that was way ahead of its time
Twenty years before the launch of Google Maps, the BBC launched an interactive map distributed by laser disc. Alas it never caught on...
Published on 11 April 2018 -
Smashing Smart Contracts for Fun and Real Profit
▻https://hackernoon.com/hitb2018ams-smashing-smart-contracts-for-fun-and-real-profit-720f5e3ac77During my first year in university, I discovered Phrack magazine and the 1,746 infamous lines of ASCII text titled “Smashing the Stack for Fun and Profit” . Exploring distributed ledgers and the #ethereum world computer reminded me of those early days. The Ethereum blockchain supports smart contracts, quasi-Turing-complete programs that run in a stack-based virtual machine. And because we haven’t learned much since 1996, most of these contracts are developed in a programming language that allows the introduction of a variety of bugs.This pop-scientific conference paper introduces Mythril, a #security analysis tool for Ethereum smart contracts, and its symbolic execution backend LASER-Ethereum. The first part of the paper explains symbolic execution of Ethereum bytecode in a largely formal (...)
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Battlefront 2 : moins de saccades en DirectX 12 avec l’update 2.0
▻http://www.tomshardware.fr/articles/battlefront-2-jeux-video-carte-graphique,1-67134.html#xtor=RSS-100À vos sabres laser...
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Photo of an atom: A scientist captured an incredible photograph — Quartz
▻https://qz.com/1205279/photo-of-an-atom-a-scientist-captured-an-incredible-photograph
▻https://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/single-atom-in-ion-overall-winner-and-1st-equipment-and-faciUsing long exposure, PhD candidate David Nadlinger took a photo of a glowing atom in an intricate web of laboratory machinery. In it, the single strontium atom is illuminated by a laser while suspended in the air by two electrodes. For a sense of scale, those two electrodes on each side of the tiny dot are only two millimeters apart.
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Traces of war and laser scanning.
▻http://www.greatwar.ugent.be/en/case-studies/tracesThe Belgian front zone, from Newport at the coast to the French border at Comines-Warneton, is actually one large, continuous archaeological site, with thousands of war features preserved in the ground. At the surface today, we see only graveyards, commemoration monuments and pillboxes. At first sight, that is, because the landscape is literally covered with scars of the war: remains of trenches, mine craters, and vast areas that still remind of the massive destruction caused by four years of intense artillery shelling, where millions of explosions converted the woods, fields and pastures of Flanders into a lunar landscape by the end of the war. Many of these shell holes and craters are still preserved today; you only have to know how and where to look. Next to this preserverd landscape of destruction, there are numerous remains of Great War trenches, narrow-gauge railways, practice fields and campments, all over Flanders.
These sometimes subtle traces form a large part of the war heritage in Flanders, although they are mostly unknown. The recent Digital Elevation Models of Flanders (DHMV II, AGIV) and of Wallonia (MNT 2013-1024), made by Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS or LiDAR) can be used to trace all these remains: the detailed elevation models show all subtle relief differences in the forested areas (as it can filter out tree cover and other vegetation), but also in pastures and arable lands. Different visualisation techniques help to highlight even the smallest features preserved in the microtopography. Our team is now analysing the entire study area, and a first estimation is that about 14% of the area still has these surface features, much more than previously known.Applied Geography | Scratching the surface with Lidar.
▻http://www.greatwar.ugent.be/applied-geography-scratching-the-surface-with-lidar -
Iraq’s bursting plastic surgery world dangerously unregulated
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/12/Iraqis-seek-beauty-in-barbers-parlors.htmlIn Iraq, however, those who perform unlicensed cosmetic operations will find it difficult to give stem cell injections and laser treatments in the future. The Ministry of Health is shutting down unlicensed beauty salons and massage parlors in Baghdad, according to a report by Al-Hurrah News. The report said that more than 52 salons in Baghdad were closed on Nov. 17, when the Ministry of Health began the operation.
The unauthorized salons are a response to the growing demand from Iraqis of all social classes, not just the rich, for cosmetic surgery.
The editor of the All Beauty Guide website, which evaluates Baghdad’s beauty salons, told Al-Monitor, “Hundreds of beauty salons have spread in Baghdad and other provinces over the past couple of years.” The editor, who asked not to be named, also pointed out, “Iraq has become a cheap and convenient destination for plastic surgery, with many patients coming from neighboring countries.”
According to the Tajmeeli website, which provides information on cosmetic procedures, tummy tucks are very common in Iraq and carried out by qualified specialists starting at $750 per operation, a price affordable for middle-class families.
But Iraqis still prefer to travel abroad for plastic surgery if they can afford it, according to Dr. Qassim Hussein Salih, the head and founder of the Iraqi Psychological Association. “Iraqis are still steadily traveling abroad for cosmetic surgery despite the rising numbers of beauty salons and clinics in Baghdad and the provinces,” Salih told Al-Monitor, explaining that confidence in Iraqi beauty clinics is still low.
One of the main reasons for cosmetic surgery among women is the desire to increase prospects for a good marriage, he said. But he finds the line blurred between utilitarian and psychological motivations, explaining, “Some men and women have certain facial and physical features that make them feel less confident and push them to seek social acceptance and self-approval [through cosmetic surgery].” Salih also cited other psychological issues, such as the obsession with beauty that is boosted by celebrities and other role models as well as depression and dissatisfaction with other aspects of daily life.
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#Robot Wages War on the Homeless, the Homeless Fight Back
▻http://www.newsweek.com/robots-wage-war-homeless-homeless-fight-back-746762The fleet of laser-equipped robots patrolling parking lots and company campuses in San Francisco has met resistance from the city’s homeless population, after one machine was deployed to prevent tent encampments from forming.
According to the San Francisco Business Times, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals began using one of the robots in its parking lots and along the sidewalks around its premises in early November to prevent homeless people from settling there.
But within a week, people attempting to set up a camp took offense at the robot and attacked it. SPCA President Jennifer Scarlett told the publication that the people “put a tarp over [the robot], knocked it over and put barbecue sauce on all the sensors.”
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Robots are being used to deter homeless people from setting up camp in San Francisco
▻http://www.businessinsider.de/security-robots-are-monitoring-the-homeless-in-san-francisco-2017-12A security robot has been put to work in San Francisco in an attempt to deter homeless people from forming tent cities.
The robot uses lasers and sensors to monitor an area for criminal activity. Rather than intervene during a crime, it alerts human authorities.
The robot’s owner, the San Francisco SPCA, said it has seen fewer tents and car break-ins since it deployed the robot in the city’s Mission neighborhood.In San Francisco, autonomous crime-fighting robots that are used to patrol parking lots, sports arenas, and tech company campuses are now being deployed to keep away homeless people.
The San Francisco Business Times reported last week that the San Francisco SPCA, an animal advocacy and pet adoption group, put a security robot to work outside its facilities in the gentrifying Mission neighborhood. The robot’s presence is meant to deter homeless people from setting up camps along the sidewalks.
Last week, the City of San Francisco ordered the SF SPCA to keep its robot off the streets or be fined up to $1,000 per day for operating on sidewalks without a permit, according to the Business Times.
Krista Maloney, media relations manager for the SF SPCA, told Business Insider that staff wasn’t able to safely use the sidewalks at times because of the encampments. Maloney added that since the SPCA started guarding its facilities with the robot — known as K9 — a month ago, the homeless encampments have dwindled and there have been fewer car break-ins.
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Ultrafast 3D Printing Alternative Makes Complete 3D Objects in Seconds
▻https://singularityhub.com/2017/12/08/ultrafast-3d-printing-alternative-makes-complete-3d-objects-in-secon
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00H-hXufpQEA new technique can now fabricate entire 3D shapes in seconds using holographic light fields.
