Venezuelan journalists fight censorship by delivering news personally – Fox News

Posted on by

CARACAS Journalist Laura Castillo and a group of six writers and artists in Venezuela are fighting censorship here by delivering the news personally to their compatriots.

Last month they started riding public buses around the capital city and reading three-minute news broadcasts from behind a square cardboard frame meant to evoke a television set. El Bus TV updates its viewers on the countrys economic and social crisis in a way other news sources dont under President Nicols Maduro a former bus driver, incidentally.

We want to hit at that wall of government censorship and we thought the bus is a medium that brings together the diverse population we want to inform, Ms. Castillo said.

She and her colleagues launched volunteer-run El Bus TV in part to mark a troubling anniversary. Ten years ago last month, Venezuelas late strongman Hugo Chvez shut down what was then the countrys most popular private media outlet, Radio Caracas Televisin. RCTV was overtly critical of Mr. Chvez, who blasted the media as an enemy of the people.

Read more at The Wall Street Journal.

Read the original post:

Venezuelan journalists fight censorship by delivering news personally - Fox News

Myanmar Journalists Take Fight for Freedom of Speech to Court – Voice of America

Posted on by

YANGON, MYANMAR

More than 100 reporters in Myanmar are preparing to protest against laws seen as curbing free speech when two senior journalists go on trial on Thursday, after the military sued them for defamation over an article in a satirical journal.

The rare campaign, in which journalists will wear armbands reading "Freedom of the Press," underscores growing public unease at the laws, after the courts recently took up a raft of similar cases.

Despite pressure from human rights bodies and Western diplomats, the government of Aung San Suu Kyi has retained a broadly worded law that prohibits use of the telecom networks to "extort, threaten, obstruct, defame, disturb, inappropriately influence or intimidate."

The law was adopted by the semi-civilian administration of former generals led by former president Thein Sein which navigated Myanmar's opening to the outside world from 2011 to 2016.

Arrests of social media users whose posts are deemed distasteful have continued under the administration of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

These include the case that sparked the protest, after the chief editor and a columnist of the Voice, one of Myanmar's largest dailies, were arrested for publishing its take on a film on the army's fight with ethnic rebels.

Myanmar journalists have urged authorities to release the reporters and have set up a Protection Committee for Myanmar Journalists.

"The 66 (d) law should be terminated, because the government and the military have used it to cause trouble for the media and the people," said Thar Lon Zaung Htet, a former editor of the domestic Irrawaddy journal who organized the meeting, referring to a controversial clause in the telecoms law.

He said the journalists would gather in front of the court and march to the Voice office wearing the armbands. The panel will also gather signatures for a petition to abolish the law, to be sent to Aung San Suu Kyi's office, the army chief and parliament.

Other recent cases include last weekend's arrest of a man publicly accusing an assistant of Yangon's chief minister, Phyo Min Thein, of corruption, and charges against several people over a student play critical of the military.

Phyo Min Thein's assistant has rejected the accusations in a subsequent media interview.

Besides repressive laws, journalists often face threats and intimidation in Myanmar. One recently received threats after speaking out against nationalist Buddhists. In December, a reporter covering illegal logging and crime in the rugged northwest was beaten to death.

"This law is totally against human rights," said Tun Tun Oo, a land rights activists who was charged for live-streaming the student play via his Facebook account. "The government should think about terminating it as it restores democracy and we will fight until the law is abolished.

Here is the original post:

Myanmar Journalists Take Fight for Freedom of Speech to Court - Voice of America

What Is the Future of NATO? – The National Interest Online

Posted on by

What is the future of NATO? How significant is the debate over Article V? What policy should Washington adopt towards Ukraine? Will the German Bundeswehr play an increasingly important role in coming years? Does the American nuclear force need to be modernized or is the cost simply prohibitive?

Philip M. Breedlove, a retired four-star General in the United States Air Force and former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, visited the National Interest to discuss some of the most pressing questions facing America and its allies. Currently, Breedlove is Distinguished Professor at the Sam Nunn school at Georgia Tech. A forceful and cogent speaker, Breedlove is intimately familiar with Russia and Europe. He is keenly attuned to the threat of cyberwarfare and was himself the victim of a successful hack that posted a number of his emails, some of which discussed Obama administration policy, on a site called DC Leaks.

In February 2016, Breedlove told the House Armed Services Committee that the U.S. military must rebuild in Europe to face a more aggressive Russia, which has chosen to be an adversary and poses a long-term existential threat to the United States. In this interview, Breedlove makes it clear that he is bullish on the future of NATO and is very familiar with the German defense establishment, including officials such as defense minister Ursula van der Leyen. Above all, he is emphatic about the need to modernize America's nuclear forces, noting that other countries such as Russia are moving ahead in improving their arsenals.

Jacob Heilbrunn is editor of the National Interest.

Image: U.S. Department of Defense.

See the article here:

What Is the Future of NATO? - The National Interest Online

Ukraine Restores NATO Membership as Key Foreign Policy Goal – Bloomberg

Posted on by

Petro Poroshenko, president of Ukraine, speaks in Tokyo on April 6, 2016.

Ukraines parliament set NATO membership as a key foreign-policy goal, replacing the non-aligned status adopted by ousted Kremlin-backed President Viktor Yanukovych in a move thats likely to further sour relations with Russia.

A bill submitted by the ruling coalition was backed by 276 lawmakers in the 450-seat legislature Thursday in Kiev, the capital. President Petro Poroshenko wants to meet NATO entry requirements by 2020 and has promised to hold a referendum on joining.

The former Soviet republic sees NATO as a security guarantee after a second pro-European revolution in a decade poisoned ties with Russia, which later annexed Crimea and backed an insurgency across its neighbors border. Ukraine has also signed an Association Agreement with the European Union, though has no formal path to joining the worlds biggest trading bloc. Russia has opposed the two organizations eastward expansion.

Russian aggression against Ukraine and the annexation of Ukrainian territory have set an urgent task for Ukraine to ensure real national security, the authors of the legislation said. The most effective tool for the security, territorial integrity and sovereignty is collective security, the most effective of which is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

In response to NATO expansion toward its borders, Russia is taking steps to re-balance the situation and defend its security, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call. Ukraine is a country in civil war and decisions on its membership are taken in Brussels and other capitals, he said.

Get the latest on global politics in your inbox, every day.

Get our newsletter daily.

Thursdays move formalizes Ukraines efforts to join NATO after having a fast-track application rejected in 2008. The alliance has already absorbed 13 ex-communist nations, most recently Montenegro, which became its 29th member on June 5. Historic affinity to Russia soured its accession, with the Kremlin denying allegations it backed a failed coup attempt in October to overthrow the former Yugoslav republics pro-Western leadership.

NATO itself has faced questions about its future after the election of Donald Trump. The U.S. president has criticized some members for investing too little in their armies and failed during a recent trip to Europe to clearly state his commitment to the alliancescollective-defense pledge, known as Article 5.

See the rest here:

Ukraine Restores NATO Membership as Key Foreign Policy Goal - Bloomberg

Congressman proposes bill to strengthen US and NATO cyber abilities against Russia – SC Magazine

Posted on by

Rep. Lou Correa introduced bill to protect U.S. and NATO allies from Russian cyberattacks.

Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., introduced a bill that seeks to improve America and its NATO allies' abilities to defend against Russian cyberattacks.

The "Enhanced Partner Cyber Capabilities Act" would direct the President to specifically develop offensive cyber capability strategies and information and method sharing with our NATO allies.

The act calls for the Department of Defense to update its cyberstrategy, draft strategy for offensive cyber capabilities, and authorize international cooperation by helping NATO partners improve their cyber capabilities.

The bill states the Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime is actively working to erode democratic systems of NATO member states including the U.S.

"World War III is raging right now in cyber space, Rep. Correa said. With the increased frequency of cyber-attacks executed by foreign advisories we must increase our investments into securing our networks.

Rep. Correa said his bill will help prevent advisories from engaging in the types of cyber-espionage we saw during the past election and that protecting our networks is vital to privacy and the health of our democracy.

If passed the bill calls for action no later than 180 days after the bill is enacted.

Read the rest here:

Congressman proposes bill to strengthen US and NATO cyber abilities against Russia - SC Magazine

Rosie O’Donnell Gives Large Sum Of Money To NSA Leaker – The Daily Caller

Posted on by

Rosie ODonnell donated a $1,000 to Reality Winner, the woman who has been charged with stealing and leaking Top Secret documents from the NSA.

On Thursday, the 55-year-old comedian shared on Twitter that she had made the donation on a crowd sourcing site set up for Winner, who was indicted on Monday after she allegedly stole classified documents from her employer about Russians trying to interfere into the 2016 election and gave them to The Intercept.(RELATED:Rosie ODonnell Calls For Trump To Be Arrested)

Rosie ODonnell speaks at a protest rally organized by activists against U.S. President Donald Trump outside the White House in Washington February 28, 2017. REUTERS/James Lawler Duggan

gofundme.com/2d9rnm64 i support reality winner speak truth to power #resist #womenUNITE https://twitter.com/JohnEdwardsAJC/status/872768212190076929 , ODonnell tweeted Thursday along with a link to the GoFundMe page.(RELATED:Rosie ODonnell Shifts From Calling Trump An Orange Anus To Serious Prayer)

She also confirmed that the large donation on the site that read from Rosie ODonnell was in fact from her.

@JohnEdwardsAJC it is accurate i would love to talk to the mother and offer any help, she added.

In one post she even referred to Winner as a brave young patriot.

According to the information on the page, contributions are to help Winner deal with the loss of employment and counseling she will need due to this traumatic experience.

These funds will be able to assist with loss of wages, counseling from this traumatic experience and tobe able to recover from this as Reality & her family rebuilds theirlives, a statement on the site read. Possible expenses for travel for the family and anything they might need to help them through these troubled times.

See more here:

Rosie O'Donnell Gives Large Sum Of Money To NSA Leaker - The Daily Caller

Posted in NSA

Brushing up on landmark Fourth Amendment cases | Tandem … – Land Line Magazine

Posted on by

June 8, 2017

The law dictates when enforcement officers need a warrant for searches and when they dont. Where do the protections of the Fourth Amendment apply and where do they not.

Technologys rapidly changing capabilities present a constant need for constitutional protections to be guided by updated rule of law.

In June 2014, the Supreme Court expanded the law to address privacy concerns in the digital age. In Riley v. California, the justices decided a warrant is needed to search cellphones seized from someone who has been arrested. They knew when they ruled that they werent just talking about a flip phone with a few photos and a contact list. It was a landmark ruling.

In that 2014 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote: The term cell phone is itself misleading shorthand; many of these devices are in fact minicomputers that also happen to have the capacity to be used as a telephone. They could just as easily be called cameras, video players, rolodexes, calendars, tape recorders, libraries, diaries, albums, televisions, maps or newspapers.

Roberts likened it to ransacking a persons home. Indeed, a cellphone search would typically expose to the government far more than the most exhaustive search of a house: A phone not only contains in digital form many sensitive records previously found in the home; it also contains a broad array of private information never found in a home in any form.

An example he gave: past location information, now a standard feature.

The court will decide whether law enforcement authorities need a warrant to gather cellphone data from cellphone companies.

The case, Carpenter v. U.S., involves a convicted robber named Timothy Carpenter, who was found guilty partly on the basis of months of cellphone location records turned over without a warrant.

The justices know that technology now gives government the ability to rummage through more than cars, closets, bedroom drawers and smartphone photos. Technology gives enforcement the ability to look at a persons entire life, personal and otherwise, under an amazingly invasive digital microscope. Where and when do you need a warrant for that?

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court conferences on 159 petitions for review and OOIDAs ELD mandate case is one of them. How does OOIDAs ELD case relate? Youve probably already put the dots together. The issues differ fromthose in OOIDAs ELD case. But the courts interest in the gathering of data from electronic devices is significant.

View original post here:

Brushing up on landmark Fourth Amendment cases | Tandem ... - Land Line Magazine

INSIDE THE FIRST AMENDMENT: Trump’s use of Twitter puts him in constitutional hot water – Meridian Star

Posted on by

Twitter was an invaluable tool for candidate Donald Trump, allowing him to bypass traditional media channels and connect with a passionate base of followers. But as president, Trump's frequent use of Twitter is turning out to be a major liability for him.

President Trump's tweets earlier this week about his controversial "travel ban" executive order may end up undermining that executive order in court. To recap: Back in January, the president signed the original version, which banned travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States, but gave priority to refugee claims made by individuals whose religion "is a minority religion in the individual's country of nationality." This meant that the executive order effectively favored non-Muslim refugees over Muslim refugees, which many legal experts saw as a violation of the First Amendment. Freedom of religion specifically the Establishment Clause prohibits the government from favoring some religious groups over others.

On February 9, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit temporarily blocked the Trump administration from carrying out the order. The Trump administration decided to go back to the drawing board and revise it. Among other things, the administration removed the provision giving priority to refugees from minority religious groups in fact, it scrubbed the order of all references to religion. Nevertheless, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled on May 25 that the revised executive order still violates the Establishment Clause. The Supreme Court will likely be deciding if the order is constitutional this fall.

As is his custom, President Trump took to Twitter to vent his frustration: "The Justice Dept. should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correct version they submitted to S.C." This statement hurts the argument that the government will likely make in front of the Supreme Court that the revised executive order is sufficiently different in motive and operation from the original to pass constitutional muster.

It might seem strange that President Trump's social media habits could have an impact on the constitutionality of the travel ban. But that's because when it comes to the Establishment Clause, courts not only consider the letter of the law, but also the spirit of it. A law, or an executive order, cannot be constitutional if its primary purpose is to discriminate on the basis of religion. When judges are determining a law's primary purpose, they're not just limited to looking at the text. They can also look at the "historical context" of the law and the specific sequence of events leading to its passage. The Fourth Circuit considered President Trump's campaign tweets to be a vital part of the executive order's historical context, citing his campaign promises to ban Muslims from the United States as "creating a compelling case that [the revised executive order's] primary purpose is religious." By suggesting that the second order was merely a "watered down" version of the first, with the same purpose, President Trump's recent tweets are only adding to a record that may be used against the executive order when its fate is in the hands of the Supreme Court.

On less serious matters, President Trump is also facing a potential legal challenge from two users on Twitter that the president had recently blocked. These two, with the aid of the Knight First Amendment Institute, sent the White House a letter on June 6 stating that the president had violated their First Amendment rights when he blocked them, purportedly because they were critical of his policies. It seems bizarre that blocking someone on Twitter could potentially violate the Constitution, but this stems from President Trump's role as a government official and his use of Twitter to discuss domestic and foreign policy. One could argue, as the two angry tweeters might, that President Trump has turned his Twitter account into a limited public forum a place where people can express themselves. A similar thing happens when the government allows people to use its meeting spaces, or enables people to leave comments on an online forum. The government can place reasonable regulations on this sort of activity for example, by blocking users who make threats, or censoring profane comments but it can't discriminate against users based on their point of view.

It's unclear whether the challenge to the president's Twitter blocking practices will end up in court. But it's worth watching and interesting to note that Twitter has gotten President Trump embroiled in two different First Amendment legal matters.

Lata Nott is executive director of the First Amendment Center of the Newseum Institute. Contact her via email at lnott@newseum.org, or follow her on Twitter at @LataNott

Read the original:

INSIDE THE FIRST AMENDMENT: Trump's use of Twitter puts him in constitutional hot water - Meridian Star

Former employees claim Muncie Community Schools violated First Amendment rights – WISH-TV

Posted on by

WISH-TV
Former employees claim Muncie Community Schools violated First Amendment rights
WISH-TV
MUNCIE, Ind. (WISH) Former employees of the Muncie Community Schools claim the district violated their first amendment rights. They have filed a lawsuit against the district, school board and superintendent. A former teacher and administrator claim ...

More here:

Former employees claim Muncie Community Schools violated First Amendment rights - WISH-TV

Actually, hate speech is protected speech – LA Times – Los Angeles Times

Posted on by

Free speech and its limitations are on Americans minds. In the past year weve seen Nazis and white supremacists rally in our cities, angry protesters chase provocateurs off of college campuses, a comedian wield a bloody effigy of the presidents severed head, and slurs and overt racial animus made a staple of political discourse. Controversial speech has people talking about what restrictions, if any, society can enforce on words we despise.

That inquiry isnt inherently bad. Its good for citizens to want to learn more about the contours of our constitutional rights. The dilemma is that the public debate about free speech relies on useless cliches, not on accurate information about the law.

Here are some of the most popular misleading slogans:

This slogan is true, but rarely helpful. The Supreme Court has called the few exceptions to the 1st Amendment well-defined and narrowly limited. They include obscenity, defamation, fraud, incitement, true threats and speech integral to already criminal conduct. First Amendment exceptions are not an open-ended category, and the Supreme Court has repeatedly declined to add to them, especially in the last generation. Merely observing that some exceptions exist does not help anyone determine whether particular speech falls into one of those exceptions. Its a non sequitur.

Imagine youre bitten by a snake on a hike, and you want to know rather urgently whether the snake is venomous. You describe the snake to your doctor. Well, not all snakes are venomous, your doctor responds. Not very helpful, it is?

Almost 100 years ago, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendel Holmes, Jr. coined a version of this now-familiar metaphor. Holmes used it to explain why the Supreme Court was upholding the criminal conviction of Charles Shenck, who was jailed merely for distributing materials urging peaceful resistance to the draft in World War I. Fortunately, the Supreme Court often led by Holmes himself retreated from this terrible precedent, eventually ruling that speech cant be punished as incitement unless it is intended and likely to provoke imminent lawless action. In other words, this favorite rhetorical apologia for censorship was used in the course of a decision now universally recognized as bad law.

Holmes usually misquoted slogan (he said that the law allows us to punish someone for falsely shouting fire in a crowded theater) is really just another way to observe that not all speech is protected and there are limits to 1st Amendment protections. As I said before thats not in dispute, but invoking the truism does nothing to resolve whether any particular speech falls within the well-defined and narrow exceptions to the 1st Amendment.

This popular saying reflects our contempt for bigotry, but its not a correct statement of law. There is no general 1st Amendment exception allowing the government to punish hate speech that denigrates people based on their identity. Things we call hate speech might occasionally fall into an existing 1st Amendment exception: a racist speech might seek to incite imminent violence against a group, or might be reasonably interpreted as an immediate threat to do harm. But hate speech, like other ugly types of speech we despise, is broadly protected.

Censorship advocates often tell us we need to balance the freedom of speak with the harm that speech does. This is arguable philosophically, but it is wrong legally. American courts dont decide whether to protect speech by balancing its harm against its benefit; they ask only if it falls into a specific 1st Amendment exception. As the Supreme Court recently put it, [t]he First Amendments guarantee of free speech does not extend only to categories of speech that survive an ad hoc balancing of relative social costs and benefits. The First Amendment itself reflects a judgment by the American people that the benefits of its restrictions on the Government outweigh the costs.

Years ago the Supreme Court recognized a very narrow 1st Amendment exception for fighting words. If the exception still survives, its limited to in-person face-to-face insults directed at a particular person and likely to provoke a violent response from that person. It doesnt apply broadly to offensive speech, even though its often invoked to justify censoring such speech.

The Supreme Courts approach to constitutional rights can change very quickly. For instance, it took less than a generation for the court to reverse course on whether the government could punish gay sex. But for decades the court has been moving towards more vigorous protection of free speech, not less. Some of the most controversial and unpopular speech to come before the court like videos of animals being tortured, or incendiary Westboro Baptist Church protests at funerals have yielded solid 8-to-1 majorities in favor of protecting speech. Theres no sign of a growing appetite for censorship on the court.

Even as a free speech advocate and critic of censorship, Im happy to see a public debate about the limits of free speech. Any debate that raises consciousness about our rights can be productive. But the free speech debate should proceed based on facts and well-established law, not empty rhetoric. Familiarity with our rights and how they work is a civic obligation.

Ken White is a 1st Amendment litigator and criminal defense attorney at Brown White & Osborn LLP in Los Angeles.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook

Continue reading here:

Actually, hate speech is protected speech - LA Times - Los Angeles Times

Tor Browser 7.0 works harder to protect your anonymity on its own – Engadget

Posted on by

The college philosophy class you barely remember aside, what the sandbox does is hides your files, your real IP address and your MAC address from the browser. Therefore, "the amount of information Tor Browser will learn about your computer, and thereby you, will be limited," Angel said.

At the time of that interview last October, the sandbox was still unstable and very much in testing, but the recent update has brought the digital safe-zone online for Linux and macOS, and by default. Next up? Sandbox protection for Windows users.

The update also imposes a few new requirements for users on Windows and macOS: Tor apparently won't work on non-SSE2-capable Windows hardware and you need to be running OSX 10.9 or higher on Apple machines.

Considering that last year a federal judge said that the FBI no longer needs warrants to hack a computer connected to the internet, this is an important update. "Even an internet user who employs the Tor network in an attempt to mask his or her IP address lacks a reasonable expectation of privacy in his or her IP address," judge Henry Coke Morgan, Jr commented at the time. For the full rundown of what's changed with the browser, hit the source links below.

Follow this link:

Tor Browser 7.0 works harder to protect your anonymity on its own - Engadget

Cryptocurrency 2.0 and Smart Contracts News – CoinDesk

Posted on by

Ethereum's Big Switch: The New Roadmap to Proof-of-Stake

May 5, 2017 at 13:00 | Alyssa Hertig

Ethereum's developers are offering more clarity on how the network is preparing for its biggest change yet.

May 5, 2017 at 10:00 | Corin Faife

A new project is seeking to combine ethereum's smart contract capabilities with the privacy afforded to the zcash blockchain.

May 2, 2017 at 22:55 | Charles Bovaird

Five things you should know about ether, a cryptocurrency that surged in value during the first quarter of 2017.

Apr 28, 2017 at 13:35 | Michael del Castillo

Differences between EEA members at a public debate reveal how the group is growing and progressing.

Apr 27, 2017 at 14:20 | Stan Higgins

The price of ether, ethereum's native token, has hit a new all-time high, exceeding $60 for the first time ever.

Apr 26, 2017 at 21:20 | Stan Higgins

A former software engineer for digital currency startup Coinbase has launched a new search engine for ethereum.

Apr 25, 2017 at 15:07 | Charles Bovaird

Ether classic's price reached an all-time high this week, amid robust transaction volume. We ask the experts why...

Apr 25, 2017 at 00:55 | Alyssa Hertig

Ethereum prediction market project Gnosis sparked broad debate today following an initial coin offering that didn't exactly go as planned.

Apr 24, 2017 at 14:00 | Michael del Castillo

The UN is preparing to kick off an epic ethereum pilot, but the future could also include actually accepting cryptocurrencies.

Apr 23, 2017 at 11:26 | Alyssa Hertig

A look at what's still to do for ethereum developers working on the Metropolis upgrade the platform's third of four planned stages.

Visit link:

Cryptocurrency 2.0 and Smart Contracts News - CoinDesk

Workshops | E.P. Chan & Associates

Posted on by

Dr. Chan currently offers the online course Mean Reversion Strategies to a select number of traders and portfolio managers. This is an online workshop conducted in real-time through Adobe Connect. This workshop focuses on the theories and practical implementation of mean reversion strategies. (Free MATLAB trial licenses and pre-recorded MATLAB programming tutorials are included.) The math requirement assumed is basic college-level statistics.

Course outline can be downloaded here.

___________

We are offering the pre-recorded online course Cryptocurrency Trading with Python. This course was conducted by Nick Kirk, an expert in algorithmic crypto trading and a quantitative developer, and was moderated by Dr. Ernest Chan.Participants will receive Python source code and data for backtesting. Gemini Exchanges Sandbox environment will be used, which offers full exchange functionality using test funds, for testing API connectivity and the execution of strategies.

Course outline can be downloaded here.

About Nick Kirk

Nick is an active algorithmic crypto trader and quantitative developer. He has more than 10 years worth of experience in developing, automating and integrating trading systems for Investment Banks and Asset Management firms. Prior to working in Finance, he worked at IBM Labs and Siemens Research. He has previously taught algorithmic crypto trading at the CQF Institute to wide acclaim.

Praise for this workshop

Excellent class. Particularly liked the technical aspects of building a trading system in python.

-Anonymous participant review

Nick is a very passionate advocate of cryptocurrencies. I was very pleased to have attended one of his cryptocurrency trading workshops in the past. His blunt enthusiasm along with his in-depth knowledge on the field result in a very positive and value added experience on cryptocurrency trading with actual hands-on implementation. In combination with Ernie Chan, the guru of algo trading, the mix is going to be explosive! Cant wait!

Konstantinos Moutsioulis Portfolio Analyst, Dutch Development Bank, The Hague Area

I have been very impressed with Ernies past workshops and have enjoyed discussing cryptocurrency trading ideas with Nick on many occasions. I look forward to their unique partnership in the upcoming Bitcoin workshop.

Stephen Hope Former Head of Fixed Income Quantitative Trading Strategies, BNP Paribas ___________

The pre-recorded online course Backtestingis nowavailable. This consists of recorded Adobe Connect sessions. Thefocus is on discovering and avoiding various pitfalls during the backtesting process that may degrade performance forecasting. Illustrative exercises are drawn from a futures strategy and a stock portfolio trading strategy using MATLAB.Free MATLAB trial licenses will be arranged for extensive in-class exercises. No prior knowledge of MATLAB is needed, but some experience with programming is necessary. The math requirement is basic college-level statistics.

Course outline can be downloadedhere.

___________

Ernie also offers in-person workshops in London, September 11-15, 2017.These workshops may qualify for CFA Institute continuing education credits.

___________

Praise for ourworkshops:

An excellent course by a great teacher. Ernie clearly explained and applied the different areas of Artificial Intelligence, provided invaluable insights as to their relative merits, and gave me the confidence to implement them in my own trading. Dr Nikhil Shenai (Ph.D., Imperial College, BA, Cambridge University), Founder of E K Technologies (Quantitative Trading & Development)

thank you again for the Momentum Strategies training course this week. It was very beneficial. I found your explanations of the concepts very clear and the examples well developed. I like the rigorous approach that you take to strategy evaluation. Andrew B.

Ernies workshop offers particularly helpful insights in implementing profitable trading strategies and thats beyond hisbooks content. And he is one of the most patient and giving instructors I ever metK.W. Fung, CQF, Founder of Quants Investment

These workshops have provided me with enough familiarity and confidence to tackle the latest research. Justthe segment on intermarket sweep orders in the MFT course was worth the price of admission to all three workshops I went to. Cedric Yau

Dr. Chan is a phenomenal instructorAnonymous student evaluation

See the rest here:

Workshops | E.P. Chan & Associates

New Cryptocurrency Mining Malware Targets Raspberry Pi Devices – The Merkle

Posted on by

Cryptocurrency mining malware has come a very long way over the past few years. Whereas Bitcoin used to be the center of attention in the beginning, this type of mining malware has expanded to include Dogecoin, Monero, Ethereum, and ZCash as well. However, the latest iteration of mining malware uses Raspberry Pi devices to mine coins. Not the most efficient approach, but it is still an interesting development.

A lot of people have shown great interest in the Raspberry Pi devices. These pocket-sized computers are quite powerful and very affordable. Although they will not replace traditional desktops or laptops anytime soon, they make for appealing home theater devices, among other things. Every Raspberry Pi usually runs some form of the Linux operating system, although there is a slimmed down Windows 10 IoT version in the works as well.

Up until now, the Linux operating system has been relatively safe when it comes to malware. Criminals often only develop nefarious tools to harm Windows computers, with a few exceptions going after Apple users as well. This new variant of cryptocurrency mining malware is a Linux Trojan, which goes by the lackluster name of Linux.MuLDrop.14. It is also purposefully designed to attack Raspberry Pi devices and use the machines resources to mine cryptocurrencies.

As most people are well aware of, the Raspberry Pi is not the most powerful device by any means. It doesnt have a powerful CPU or integrated graphics chip by any means. In fact, the device is entirely unsuited to mine cryptocurrency whatsoever. However, if you control a few thousand of these devices without having to pay for their electricity, things can start to look a lot better from now on.

It appears this new cryptocurrency mining malware has been around since May of 2017. It appears the Raspberry Pi devices are infected through the SSH protocol, assuming the device owner leaves this port open to external connections. That is the case more often than not, though, as a lot of people connect to their Pi over SSH. If the mining malware is installed successfully, it also changes the password of the standard account to a long string of characters.

It is quite interesting to see developers go out of their way to only target these smaller devices, though. Cryptocurrency mining on a cluster of Raspberry Pis will still not generate much income by any means. It is unclear which cryptocurrencies are mined exactly using this malware, though. It would take millions of enslaved devices to make even a dollar per day, which makes this entire effort not exactly worthwhile by any means.

The bigger problem is how this could signal an era of Linux-oriented malware. Considering many people feel Linux is the safest operating system, it is certainly possible criminals will try to prove them wrong. In the case of this mining malware, however, it appears victims can get rid of the malware by flashing the operating system again. There is no ransom demand to regain control over the device whatsoever. Still, it is quite a troublesome development, to say the least.

If you liked this article, follow us on Twitter @themerklenews and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and technology news.

More here:

New Cryptocurrency Mining Malware Targets Raspberry Pi Devices - The Merkle

Bitcoin Will Make Many More Millionaires Before Diving – Forbes

Posted on by

Forbes
Bitcoin Will Make Many More Millionaires Before Diving
Forbes
Bitcoin has been flying high lately, making many investors overnight millionairesinvestors who poured money into the digital currency when it was trading at a tiny fraction of its current price. And it will make more millionaires, as it could reach ...
You can't hold a bitcoin, but the web currency's value has skyrocketed. Why?Phys.Org
3 Reasons Volatility Is Still a Serious Concern for Bitcoin InvestornewsBTC

all 6 news articles »

Originally posted here:

Bitcoin Will Make Many More Millionaires Before Diving - Forbes

Science megablast: Comets may have brought xenon to Earth – The Register

Posted on by

Scientists working on the European Space Agencys Rosetta probe mission have found xenon on Comet 67P a discovery that introduces a link between the cosmic rock and Earth for the first time.

The Rosetta spacecraft was launched in 2004, and its companion lander unit, Philae, arrived at the comet a decade later. Both were tasked with finding signs of how comets could uncover the origins of the solar system and life on Earth.

The latest findings have found a connection that might answer the question of how material may have been delivered to our planet, when Earth was beginning to take shape about 4.6 billion years ago.

Its all to do with xenon; a colourless, odourless noble gas that makes up less than a billionth of the volume of Earths atmosphere.

Seven different isotopes of xenon and traces of krypton were identified by the Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis. The spacecraft had to fly very close - about 5 km to 9 km from the surface of the comets nucleus - to pick up the xenon signatures, which are spread thinly.

The unique blend of the gas might match the concentrations found in the Earths early atmosphere, according to the results published in Science.

"Xenon is the heaviest stable noble gas and perhaps the most important because of its many isotopes that originate in different stellar processes: Each one provides an additional piece of information about our cosmic origins," said Bernard Marty, lead author of the study and a researcher at the Universit de Lorraine, France.

It can be formed in different ways such as the swelling of low- and intermediate-mass stars and supernova explosions, which lead to nuclear fusion reactions. Each method leads to a different isotope of xenon, allowing researchers to work out where the samples come from.

One of the hypotheses is that the xenon in the solar system comes from the protosolar cloud, a ball of gas and dust out of which the Sun and the planets were formed. The xenon on Earth, however, is thought to have been delivered at a later stage by comets.

The relative abundances of the various isotopes vary in the atmospheres of Earth and Mars, in meteorites, and the solar wind. It is believed that Earth once contained a higher abundance of lighter xenon isotopes, a primordial mixture known as U-xenon. But present concentrations have heavier isotopes, as the lighter ones have escaped Earths gravitational pull and floated off into space.

Bernard has called the discovery a potential candidate for U-xenon, which would indicate that the noble gas was indeed delivered by impacting asteroids and comets like Comet 67P.

It is estimated that comets may have brought up to 22 per cent of the xenon once present in Earths atmosphere.

The results also support the idea that comets could also have been carriers of pre-biotic molecules such as phosphorus and glycine, an amino acid, necessary components for life on Earth.

Originally posted here:

Science megablast: Comets may have brought xenon to Earth - The Register

High school softball: Comets begin drive for state title with Bishop-Kearney matchup Saturday – WatertownDailyTimes.com

Posted on by

SANDY CREEK Jasmyn Williams and Carley Stoker watched the Sandy Creek softball team play for a state championship four years ago but on Saturday, that veteran battery and the rest of the Comets are aiming to etch their own names in the annuls of the programs storied history.

Section 3 champion Sandy Creek (18-2 overall) will play Section 5s Bishop-Kearney (22-2) at 9 a.m. Saturday in the NYSPHSAA Class C semifinals at Moreau Park in South Glens Falls in pursuit of the programs third state crown.

If the Comets win, they would advance to the state championship game later that day at 1:30 p.m. in the same location against the winner of the other semifinal game between Section 2-Greenville (17-3) and Section 9-Pine Plains (17-3).

Williams, Sandy Creeks starting catcher and only senior, played for the 2013 team that reached the state final as a reserve call-up from junior varsity when she was in eighth grade. Williams said she has spoken frequently about that experience to her younger teammates throughout the season and wants to ensure they appreciate the opportunity in front of them.

We actually just had the talk about how, even though we talk about what we did in the past and what other teams did, this is our year, Williams said. This is us. Were making our mark on Sandy Creek softball and we need to understand and appreciate that.

Stoker, who was in seventh grade when the Comets reached the 2013 state final, attended to watch the event as a spectator. Her father, Jonn Stoker, was an assistant coach on that team and still holds that position.

I remember wanting to play in that and it became one of my first goals, Stoker said. I wanted to play in the state tournament just like that group was. Were all young and really just excited to go play. Every single person on this team wants it just as much as the next.

The Comets won state titles in 1997 and 2004, and coach Kate Soluri (maiden name, Hovey) played for the programs first state title team 20 years ago. Sandy Creek also reached the finals in 2007 and 2013.

This years squad is unique in that it is significantly younger than Sandy Creeks recent state final four teams. This years group has just one senior, compared to five in 2013, and six players are at the sophomore grade level or younger, compared to just one in 2013.

The 2017 Comets are also thriving without the programs usual wealth of depth, playing most of the season with 10 players compared to 15 on the 2013 roster.

The teams from previous years had girls who all played together since they were young, but thats not the case with us, Williams said. It could have been a disadvantage but we made it an advantage. These girls are young and theyre hungry for new information, theyre ready to learn and theyre eager to learn and me being a senior, Im still learning new things every day, too. That drive really carried us through this season.

Sandy Creek won its 16th sectional title in a 23-year span during this postseason, and came of age in the state quarterfinals last Friday by beating defending state champion and previously-unbeaten Elmira-Notre Dame, 6-3, in a 10-inning thriller.

Junior third baseman Savannah Brown delivered a pair of clutch hits tying the game with two outs in the seventh inning and driving in the go-ahead run in the 10th to send the Comets to the semifinals.

The mindset this weekend needs to be positive and we need to respect all and fear none, Brown said. Thats the mindset weve had all season and thats what we need to stick to.

Hannah Dasno, the sophomore starting shortstop, added: Were playing confident, but we have to know that these other teams made it there for a reason, so obviously its going to be good competition that were playing. We cant underestimate anyone by any means.

Continued here:

High school softball: Comets begin drive for state title with Bishop-Kearney matchup Saturday - WatertownDailyTimes.com

Aliens, Comets or Crap? What’s Going On With The Wow! Signal … – Discover Magazine (blog)

Posted on by

Ohio State Universitys Big Ear Observatory caught one of the most promising SETI signals ever back in 1977. Astronomers are still debating if it came from aliens, or something closer to home. (Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF)

In 1977, Ohio State University math professor Jerry Ehman walked into the Big Ear Observatory and looked over the past few nights observations. At the time, the radio telescope was the only observatory exclusively devoted to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).

It also was underfunded and had no full-time staff. That means no one was listening for aliens the night SETI had its closest call with the big one. On the night of Aug. 15, 1977, a 72-second signal arrived from deep space just at the right frequency astronomers believe aliens would use. Since no staff members were around, no one could alert other telescopes to listen in.

Without tying the radio signal to an object in the night sky, they couldnt tell how far away it originated, Ehman told me last fall.

All Ehman could do was scribble Wow! on the data printout and hope the signal from Sagittarius would repeat.

It never did. But Antonio Paris, an astronomy professor at St. Petersburg College in Florida, thinks he has the solution. Two comets passed by that region of the sky in 1977, according to his hypothesis. And this year, those comets passed by again. That created a chance to test his theory. His research was accepted for publication in the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences. (A preprint is available on Paris site.)

The comet 266/P Christensen is the onein question. Its orbit roughly aligns with Jupiter at its farthest distance and Mars at its closest to the Sun. According to Paris research, the comet transmitted at the 1420.25 MHz radio band. Thats near where the Wow! signal came from.

We did everything we could to try to debunk our results but we kept getting a signal from the comet, Paris told Discover. That was when we said, Eureka!

Paris, who along with his teaching duties runs the Center for Planetary Science and the UFO-hunting Aerial Phenomena Institute, proposed the hypothesis last year. Ehman scrutinized that original proposal, and didnt believe it was likely to be comets.

I received a copy of their article from the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences and I studied it carefully, Ehman said in an interview at the time. I have concluded that neither of the two comets could explain the Wow! signal, and colleagues of mine at the observatory have also concluded the same thing.

Indeed, peer reviewers on Paris paper remarked on the need to coordinate with Ohio State and others on the research, seeing that as one of the flaws in the paper.

The only response from the peer review that we were concerned about was that no one, including Ohio State University, had previous research on detecting a signal from a comet, Paris says. We had to explain to the peer reviewers that we were the first to do so thus no previous data was available.

Chris Lintott, a professor of astrophysics at Oxford University, isnt buying any of the explanation.

If real, this comet is detectable in the radio, Lintott says. But the signal isnt bright enough or rapid enough to be a good fit to the Wow! signal.

The methodology itself is flawed, according to Lintott. While staring at this region of the sky, he says there should have been about five minutes worth of signals if it were comets, but it only comes in intermittent bursts. And if it were comets, Lintott says we could expect to see Wow! signals all the time, rather than once in 1977 and once in 2017. Then theres the choice of journal in his words, its not somewhere astronomers publish.

Lintott has another problem with Paris research: He crowdfunded it.

Bad papers get written and published all the time, he says. But this author asked people for money to fund his research, and if you do that you should hold yourself to the highest standards.

Lintott isnt sure what it is. But comets it aint.

I dont know what the Wow! signal was its very hard to study something youve only seen once, he says. Lintott suggests the study authors submit their research to one of the larger astronomy journals so they can get constructive feedback.

This is just science by press release, and its depressing its picked up (by the press), Lintott says.

Paris is aware of the criticism hes receiving and believes his paper still stands up to scrutiny.

I see one or two astronomers are skeptical. They emailed me, too, he says. But they cant answer my question: Show me the evidence to refute my data. They might need to do some soul searching.

For his part, Ehman remains (relatively) agnostic on the original signal, while wanting to believe the extraterrestrial cause. He acknowledges that limited equipment of the time led to a sort of dead end to the mystery.

Its an intriguing possibility that its a signal from extraterrestrial intelligence, but its also one that Ive had to declare that I cant prove that it is, or prove that it isnt, Ehman says.

So I guess that makes two things now that some people think are aliens and others think are comets. Theres now a possibly plausible explanation for the Wow! signal, but that wont stop SETI researchers from continuing to look for something just like it, hoping for that needle in the haystack that proves were not alone.

Excerpt from:

Aliens, Comets or Crap? What's Going On With The Wow! Signal ... - Discover Magazine (blog)

SPORTS SHORTS: Comets chase away GR in 3 innings – Marshalltown Times Republican

Posted on by

CONRAD Easton Swansons three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning set the tone as the BCLUW softball team blasted Gladbrook-Reinbeck 13-0 in three innings in Thursdays NICL West Division contest.

The Comets (10-4, 4-0) followed it up by scoring 10 times in the home half of the second.

Samantha Ubben, who was hit by a pitch and scored ahead of Swanson in the first, allowed one hit and struck out five in the win.

Jenna Willett and Swanson both finished 2-for-2 at the plate. Willett stole two bases and scored twice. Leah Yantis had an RBI single and walked twice. Lauren Anderson and Kaylee Goecke also had singles in the lopsided win.

The Comets continue their homestand with the BCLUW Comet Softball Invitational Tournament today and Saturday, coinciding with Conrads Black Dirt Days festival. BCLUW meets Marshalltown at 7 p.m. tonight before squaring off with Cedar Falls and Union on Saturday.

Late triple lifts BCLUW baseball to win

IOWA FALLS Logan Manns two-run, two-out triple in the top of the seventh elevated the BCLUW baseball team to its sixth consecutive win, a 7-5 triumph over Iowa Falls-Alden here Thursday night.

The Comets (7-3) led 5-0 after the first inning, but the host Cadets (3-9) came back to tie the score with three runs in the fourth, one in the fifth and another in the sixth. BCLUWs response came two outs into the seventh, when Mann drove in Ian Showers and Brad Barkema, who both reached on walks.

Logan Mann finished with two hits and three RBIs, while Blake Mann had two singles. Caleb Engle added a double while Showers, Barkema and Clay Silver each contributed a single in the win.

BCLUW hosts Gladbrook-Reinbeck tonight in an NICL West Division battle.

DES MOINES Scott McCarron broke through on the PGA Tour Champions circuit last season, rallying to win his ...

IOWA CITY University of Iowa junior Jake Adams was selected as a Baseball America third-team All-American, it ...

Excerpt from:

SPORTS SHORTS: Comets chase away GR in 3 innings - Marshalltown Times Republican

What Is Psoriasis? Kim Kardashian, Britney Spears And Other Celebrities Suffering From The Skin Disease – International Business Times

Posted on by

Psoriasis is a chronic skin disease which results in the person developing red, scaly patches all over their body. Some of the common areas of the body affected the most by the disease are scalp, knees and elbows.

It is a noncontagious disease that has become fairly common among people of all ages and is triggered by inflammatory chemicals produced by white blood cells called lymphocytes, Medicine Netreported.

Although its symptoms may range from small rashes to the entire body covered with thick, red plagues, depending on the level of the disease, it is the incurable nature of the disease that makes it one of the most intimidating skin diseases.

Read: Drug For Psoriasis Shows Results After 4 Weeks: Study

While it cannot be passed from one person to the next via direct contact or transfer of body fluids, it has been known to affect more than one member of the same family, indicating the hereditary nature of the disease, Web MD reported.

Many eminent personalities have previously opened up about suffering from the disease, eroding the social stigma attached to it.

Kim Kardashian

Kim Kardashian West attends the NBCUniversal 2017 Upfront in New York City, May 15, 2017. Photo: Getty Images/Angela Weiss

Reality star and fashionista Kim Kardashian has been perhaps the most vocal when it comes to addressing the struggles of psoriasis. She repeatedly spread awareness regarding the problem on her family reality show, Keeping Up With The Kardashians. However, Kardashian wasnt always as accepting of her chronic skin disease initially, according toHealthline.

She first realized she had psoriasis at the age of 30, incidentally the same age her motherKris Jenner discovered she suffered from the same skin disease. The socialite had almost given up on her career at that point.

Read:Biocon Launches Psoriasis Drug In India; To File IND Application With US FDA This Fiscal

"People don't understand the pressure on me to look perfect," she lamented on the show, Everyday Health reported. "When I gain a pound, it's in the headlines. Imagine what the tabloids would do to me if they saw all these spots?"

But all of that is in the past as the reality star, married to Kanye West, has now embraced her skin abnormality and is even seen advising step-sisterKylie Jenneron how best to tackle the problem as she too has inherited psoriasis.

Kardashian also posts pictures of her skin spots on Twitter.

Art Garfunkel

Grammy Award-winning American singer Art Garfunkel performs on stage at the Bloomfield Stadium in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, Israel, June 10, 2015. Photo: Getty Images/Gil Cohen Magen

The singer who was one half of Simon & Garfunkel, bringing to the world 60s classics such as "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and "Sound of Silence,"Art Grfunkel also famously suffered from psoriasis and left no stones unturned when it came to treating the same. He had incorrectly learned water from the Dead Sea could help heal the disease. So he decided to try it out, but to no avail.

Ive been told that if you float in the salty, buoyant water, its very good for the skin. Its not so much therapeutic as beautiful, he wrote onhis website.

Britney Spears

Singer Britney Spears performs onstage at the iHeartRadio Music Festival at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Sept. 24, 2016. Photo: Getty Images/Kevin Winter

Although the former teenage popstar secretly suffered from psoriasis for a long time, it was only in 2012 the skin condition of the Toxic singer hit the public eye.

Spears was booked as a judge on X Factor, a job which came with unprecedented stress, causing her skin to breakout in angry red rashes, which were clearly visible when she stepped out on the red carpet at the X Factor premiere party in Los Angeles.

"Britney has had the skin condition for a long time, but it only flares up when she's under extreme pressure, a source told National Enquirer, News reported. Now she can't seem to stop scratching and picking at the sores. She has a psoriasis skin cream, but she says it burns, so she stopped using it."

Dara Torres

Olympian Dara Torres waits for the start of the practice session for the 42nd Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Press Day in Long Beach, California, on April 5, 2016. Photo: Getty Images/Frederick M. Brown

Swimmer Dara Torres is one of the very few people who braved the chlorine-filled waters of the swimming pools while most others would remain wary of the same if they were diagnosed with psoriasis. The 12-time Olympic winner instead claimed the water actually soothedthe red spots on her skin, according to Health.

Torres has also been vocal against the stigma attached to the disease, saying athletes who suffer from psoriasis should not be self-conscious of their skin condition, especially when they are out in front of the world, competing to win.

"Psoriasis isn't contagious and it isn't just cosmetic," she says in a public service announcement. "It's a serious disease."

Jon Lovitz

Comedian/actor Jon Lovitz performs during the kickoff of his 20-show residency 'Reunited' with Dana Carvey at The Foundry at SLS Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada, Jan. 6, 2017. Photo: Getty Images/Ethan Miller

Comedian Jon Lovitz is another celebrity who battled psoriasis for years now. The body of the Saturday Night Live and Rat Race star had 75 percentof his body covered in psoriasis spots at one point. However, he refused to give up and worked with a number of dermatologists to find a cure for his condition.

"Don't be embarrassed," he said in an interview with the National Psoriasis Foundation, according to the Health report. "See a dermatologist. A lot of people with psoriasis give up, but don't. Find out what works best for you.

LeAnn Rimes

LeAnn Rimes attends Luli Fama fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim 2015 at Cabana Grande at The Raleigh in Miami, Florida, July 20, 2014. Photo: Getty Images/Aaron Davidson

LeAnn Rimes, the country singer, was diagnosed with psoriasis at the age of two, and she proceeded to hide the condition from the world most of her life. At the age of six, 80 percent of her body was covered in red spots, and people around her started referring her as the scaly girl.

She would refrain from wearing short dresses which showed skin on red carpets. However, healthy lifestyle choices and medication prescribed by her dermatologist helped her recover from the problem.

By finally getting control over it instead of it having control over me, I wanted to speak out and let people know that there is hope, Rimes told Shape.

See the original post here:

What Is Psoriasis? Kim Kardashian, Britney Spears And Other Celebrities Suffering From The Skin Disease - International Business Times