Daily Archives: August 14, 2015

Download Tor – Tor Project: Anonymity Online

Posted: August 14, 2015 at 8:46 pm

Want Tor to really work?

You need to change some of your habits, as some things won't work exactly as you are used to. Please read the full list of warnings for details.

Microsoft Windows

Everything you need to safely browse the Internet. Learn more

Contains just Tor and nothing else. You'll need to configure Tor and all of your applications manually. This installer must be run as Administrator.

Apple OS X

Everything you need to safely browse the Internet. This package requires no installation. Just extract it and run. Learn more

GNU/Linux, BSD, and Unix

Everything you need to safely browse the Internet. This package requires no installation. Just extract it and run. Learn more

Install the Tor components yourself, run a relay, create custom configurations. All an apt-get or yum install away.

Tor for Smartphones

Source Code

Configure with: ./configure && make && src/or/tor

The current stable version of Tor is 0.2.6.10. Its release notes are available.

The current unstable/alpha version of Tor is 0.2.7.2-alpha. Its Changelog is available.

You need to change some of your habits, as some things won't work exactly as you are used to.

Tor does not protect all of your computer's Internet traffic when you run it. Tor only protects your applications that are properly configured to send their Internet traffic through Tor. To avoid problems with Tor configuration, we strongly recommend you use the Tor Browser. It is pre-configured to protect your privacy and anonymity on the web as long as you're browsing with the Tor Browser itself. Almost any other web browser configuration is likely to be unsafe to use with Tor.

Torrent file-sharing applications have been observed to ignore proxy settings and make direct connections even when they are told to use Tor. Even if your torrent application connects only through Tor, you will often send out your real IP address in the tracker GET request, because that's how torrents work. Not only do you deanonymize your torrent traffic and your other simultaneous Tor web traffic this way, you also slow down the entire Tor network for everyone else.

The Tor Browser will block browser plugins such as Flash, RealPlayer, Quicktime, and others: they can be manipulated into revealing your IP address. Similarly, we do not recommend installing additional addons or plugins into the Tor Browser, as these may bypass Tor or otherwise harm your anonymity and privacy.

Tor will encrypt your traffic to and within the Tor network, but the encryption of your traffic to the final destination website depends upon on that website. To help ensure private encryption to websites, the Tor Browser includes HTTPS Everywhere to force the use of HTTPS encryption with major websites that support it. However, you should still watch the browser URL bar to ensure that websites you provide sensitive information to display a blue or green URL bar button, include https:// in the URL, and display the proper expected name for the website. Also see EFF's interactive page explaining how Tor and HTTPS relate.

The Tor Browser will warn you before automatically opening documents that are handled by external applications. DO NOT IGNORE THIS WARNING. You should be very careful when downloading documents via Tor (especially DOC and PDF files) as these documents can contain Internet resources that will be downloaded outside of Tor by the application that opens them. This will reveal your non-Tor IP address. If you must work with DOC and/or PDF files, we strongly recommend either using a disconnected computer, downloading the free VirtualBox and using it with a virtual machine image with networking disabled, or using Tails. Under no circumstances is it safe to use BitTorrent and Tor together, however.

Tor tries to prevent attackers from learning what destination websites you connect to. However, by default, it does not prevent somebody watching your Internet traffic from learning that you're using Tor. If this matters to you, you can reduce this risk by configuring Tor to use a Tor bridge relay rather than connecting directly to the public Tor network. Ultimately the best protection is a social approach: the more Tor users there are near you and the more diverse their interests, the less dangerous it will be that you are one of them. Convince other people to use Tor, too!

Be smart and learn more. Understand what Tor does and does not offer. This list of pitfalls isn't complete, and we need your help identifying and documenting all the issues.

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BTC Guild – Bitcoin Mining Pool

Posted: at 8:45 pm

BTC Guild will be shutting down its mining servers on June 30th, 2015 at 23:59 UTC. Users will still be able to log in and retrieve their history (CSV exports on the settings page) and request withdrawals until September 30, 2015. Why is BTC Guild Shutting Down? This is the second time BTC Guild has announced closure, but this time the decision will not be reversed. The reasons have not changed much since the original announcement.

As mining has become more centralized, BTC Guild has continuously shrunk in proportion to the network, now being less than 3% of the network hash rate. The costs of running the pool have not changed, and the amount of funds at risk in the event of a compromise is significantly higher than what the pool could ever recover from. When the pool was 20-30% of the network, the amount of funds at risk was slightly higher, but the ability for the pool to recover from that loss was present. At 3% of the network, the pool would not be able to recover from such a loss.

Additionally, the NYDFS BitLicense regulations have now become finalized, and the final regulations have enough gray area that BTC Guild is at risk. The fact that BTC Guild is not in New York does not matter, since it would be doing business with New York residents while they are physically in New York. This fact makes it possible for New York to attempt to claim jurisdiction to enforce regulations. Whether or not BTC Guild could win in defense of such an attempt is irrelevant, since the cost of defending the pool would be greater than any income the pool is expected to generate going forward.

Finally, I have been growing concerned for some time now about attempts to defraud pools. The pool's luck has been on a decline for over a year. The luck on a few other pools has also shown a negative trend. While it is not impossible that it's a coincidence, this is something I have been constantly made aware of and am helpless against. There is no way to know whether it's just bad luck, a small bug in older miners (BTC Guild probably has the highest percentage of first/second generation ASICs) resulting in a few % of block-solving shares to disappear, or a large pool trying to hurt the competition (many of the largest pools have large private mining operations now). It would only take a fraction (1 PH/s or less could do it) to cause significant harm to a competing pool, and that activity could be masked by proxies and multiple accounts to be impossible to catch.

The PPLNS shift length will be steadily reduced starting June 16th. This means that more shifts will likely end with 0 blocks, but shifts that find blocks will receive a larger amount than they would have previously. It is not recommended that users wait until the last minute to change pools.

The minimum balance for a manual withdrawal is reduced to 0.0001, and will not require a transaction fee to be paid in order to request the withdrawal.

Users will have until September 30, 2015 to issue the request for their final withdrawals.

The risk of users being cheated or stolen from as a result of transferring pool ownership is not something I am willing to accept. This is part of the reason the pool is closing in the first place: Risk of users losing funds because the pool would not be able to cover losses in the event of compromise.

I will not be entertaining offers on purchasing the pool this time around. There is no (reasonable) price the pool would be sold for.

Thank you to all the users and the Bitcoin community for making BTC Guild a success for the last four years. It has been hard to finally make this call a second time with the determination to not reverse the decision. You will still be able to find me around the Bitcoin Talk forums (outside of the Pools subsection for once), and on IRC in #btcguild (and probably #bitcoin once the pool winds down).

June 15, 2015

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Genetic Engineering – HowStuffWorks

Posted: at 8:45 pm

Genetic Engineering, the process of extracting DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid, which makes up the genes of all living things) from one organism and combining it with the DNA of another organism, thus introducing new hereditary traits into the recipient organism. The nature and characteristics of every living creature is determined by the special combinations of genes carried by its cells. The slightest alteration in these combinations can bring about significant changes in an organism and also its progeny. The science of devising techniques of modifying or controlling genes and genetic combinations is referred to as genetic engineering. It was practiced in one form or another in the past by farmers and agriculturists trying to create economically viable species of plants and animals through various breeding techniques Genetic engineering, as a science, was developed in the mid-1970's primarily to create new strains of microorganisms that produce certain chemicals useful in manufacturing or as drugs. Genetic engineering is now also applied to improving plants and creating transgenic animals (animals containing foreign genetic material).

Some persons oppose genetic engineering on religious, ethical, or social grounds. Among the religious questions is whether humans have the right to transfer traits from one organism to another. A social concern is the possibility of creating harmful organisms that, if accidentally released into the environment, could cause epidemics.The creation of human clones, for example, is facing serious opposition especially on moral grounds. Organizations, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), are seeking to control the harmful effects of genetic engineering by imposing guidelines and safety measures for genetic experimentation. Treatment of hereditary defects through gene transplantation and controlled interchange of genes between specified species was approved in 1985 and 1987 respectively by the NIH and the National Academy of Sciences. The USDA has framed regulations for the genetic alteration of plants by plant breeders.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1980 that genetically engineered microorganisms could be patented. In 1988 the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued its first patent for a higher form of life, a transgenic mouse that is highly susceptible to certain cancers that appear frequently in humans. This mouse is used in cancer research.

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The Big Story: Politically Incorrect

Posted: at 8:44 pm

photo by Vince Bucci/Getty Images

Politically Incorrect: A Eulogy Maher was one of the few with enough guts to dissent

by Chris Raphael

When ABC moved to cancel Nightline and replace it with Letterman, a furor arose in the public and press. Where was the furor when ABC censored then canceled Politically Incorrect?

In yet another effort to appeal to younger viewers and bring in more advertising dollars, ABC recently canned Politically Incorrect and host Bill Maher in favor of a new "variety" show with Jimmy Kimmel, host of Comedy Central's The Man Show. Politically Incorrect, with about 2.5 million viewers, never took off the way ABC expected, always trailing Letterman (approximately 4 million viewers) and Leno (6 million viewers) for market share. It was just a matter of time before ABC buried the show, which it also brought over from Comedy Central in 1997.

But the final kiss on Politically Incorrect's casket may have been Maher's "coward" comments, and the subsequent rebuke from the White House. Maher became an example of what can happen during those unusual periods in American history when the national discourse is so unified that the public, armed with a twisted truth, moves to stifle speech and the media and government comply.

Let us pause to remember.

In the weeks after September 11, critics wondered how late-night talk shows would change. Predictably, Leno and Letterman told fewer and safer jokes, mostly at the expense of easy targets like the Taliban and Osama bin Laden. The Daily Show's Jon Stewart was so shaken he cried. But Politically Incorrect, true to form, crashed the somber late-night party. Appearing on Sept. 17 for the first show since the attacks, Maher made it starkly clear his show would live up to its name.

"I do not relinquish - nor should any of you - the right to criticize, even as we support, our government," Maher said. "This is still a democracy and they're still politicians, so we need to let our government know that we can't afford a lot of things that we used to be able to afford. Like a missile shield that will never work for an enemy that doesn't exist. We can't afford to be fighting wrong and silly wars. The cold war. The drug war. The culture war."

What Maher said later in the show, however, is what made headlines. Panelist Dinesh D'Souza mentioned that he didn't think the terrorists were "cowards," as George Bush had described them. Maher replied: "We have been the cowards. Lobbing cruise missiles from two thousand miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building. Say what you want about it. Not cowardly. You're right."

A few last words from Bill Maher

Appearing on Larry King in January and February to defend his show, Bill Maher let loose a tirade:

"If the theory is that terrorists get some of their money from drugs, well, let's go to where they get their real money from, oil instead of putting a flag on your SUV, which is just going to put more money in the pockets of people who fund terrorism, change the car, not the flag."

"I certainly worry about naming something the Patriot Act, because that's a form of intimidation...who could vote against the Patriot Act, you know, really? You can legalize crack if you had Patriot Act on top of it."

"We do have this sort of arrogance that [American] lives are worth more than yours. And human life - we're supposed to be a religious country - is human life. It's not an American life. And whenever there is an accident overseas, you always hear, you know, 150 people were killed, two were Americans. Two were Americans! That's what gets us interested in [it."

"You know, the Congressman who said that this was a bank robbery and Enron robbed the bank, and Andersen, the accounting company drove the getaway car? He left out that Congress and the president are the cops paid to look the other way."

"There are 11 dating shows opposite me. You could watch any one of them."

Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse University's Center for the Study of Popular Television, says Maher's commentary was alone in its criticism of the U.S. government. "He was the only dissenting voice out there that week," said Thompson. And for that dissent, Maher paid a heavy price.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the comment went unnoticed at ABC until a conservative talk show host in Houston hosted byDan Patrick urged listeners to complain to two of the show's advertisers, Sears and Federal Express, who subsequently dropped their ads. Several ABC affiliates temporarily dropped Maher, including what one would think a key market for the show - WJLA in Washington, D.C.

Maher's "coward" comments, misinterpreted as saying the U.S. military was "cowardly," also found its way to the ears of the White House. U.S. Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, responding to a question about the comments, said he had not read the show's transcript. He nevertheless urged Americans "to watch what they say."

"This is not a time for remarks like that," Fleischer said, adding, "There never is."

By admonishing Maher, said media critic Thompson, Fleischer tried to solidify the national consensus and control the press. "Bill Maher becomes this perfect example of what happens if you step outside that consensus," Thompson said. In at least one instance, that strategy paid off: WJLA dropped the show again after Fleischer's remarks, and hasn't brought it back since.

Politicians have long realized the power of late-night television, talk shows and sitcoms as a public relations tool. Dana Carvey's impersonation of President Bush on Saturday Night Live made "points of light" a household phrase, though few viewers actually saw the speech in which George Bush the elder uttered the phrase. Dan Quayle had a running feud over single motherhood with Murphy Brown. Bill Clinton appeared on The Arsenio Hall Show; George Bush and Al Gore have chatted with Oprah.

Maher's show, however, stood out for its hybrid blend of politics and comedy and its ability, in a time of war, to alter the national discourse and step out of line when other shows played follow-the-leader. ABC News noted that a "vein" of Maher's criticism may have been reiterated when President Bush warned Congress that the war on terrorism would be different than Kosovo: ground troops would be used. In other words, America is not a cruise missile-firing coward.

That Maher was able to rankle the political process is a testament to his individuality, intelligence and brash style. A self-described libertarian, Maher defies the two-party punditry system in government on newspaper op-ed pages and on television talk shows - George Wills on one side, Paul Begalas on the other. Maher supported the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, but he's also cracked jokes about the Bush administration's misguided environmental policies and its crooked energy deals.

It is no wonder that those who rushed to the show's defense include both civil liberties groups and the likes of Rush Limbaugh. Maher never fit neatly into a black-and-white world of with-us or against-us, and probably couldn't fit in at all after September 11.

Like all shows, Politically Incorrect had its weaknesses. On one hand, it can be "entertaining to hear the opinions of people who know nothing about a subject," Thompson noted. On the other hand, "why would I care what Fred Savage thinks about something like the war in Iraq?"

"What bothered me was that there was this eagerness to stifle dissension," Thompson said, "that we needed to silence Maher."

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From Cyborgs to Nanobots: 5 Ways Scientists Hope to …

Posted: at 8:43 pm

Via Outerplaces.com

Is immortality within our reach? Maybe not yet, but we are definitely trying. While the new film Self/Lessfeatures an interesting science fiction take on achieving immortality, various advances have been taking place in the very real scientific community. We may have a long way to go before we can transfer our consciousness into Ryan Reynolds body, butscience is working pretty hard on some fascinating alternatives to the notion of immortality:

Anti-Aging Genetic Engineering Maybe someday anti-aging will really reverse aging and keep us young forever, but until that day current anti-aging discoveriesare atleast helping to slow down specific aspects of the aging process. This spring, scientists at UC Berkeley discovered a drug called the Alk5 kinase inhibitor that helps restore brain and muscle tissues to youthful levels through stem cells used in tests on mice. The Alk5 kinase inhibitor limits the release of TGF-beta1, a chemical that restricts astem cells ability to repair the body. This chemical tends to become over-produced as people age, but in restricting its release, it is hoped thatthe Alk5 kinase inhibitorcan keep people healthier in old age by lessening the onset of aging related diseases, such asAlzheimers, increasing the quality of life and cutting down medical costs.

The inhibitor is currently in trials as an anticancer agent, and the hope is that one day death will not be the result a prolonged, painful disease, but through a quicker, more natural means like cardiac arrest or stroke. Heres what Irina Conboy, one of the scientists at UC Berkeley, said about the motivations behind the teams efforts.

The goals of my colleagues and I are not to live forever. Instead of becoming old and becoming a burden on society, we can age ourselves more with integrity.

Regenerative Medicine One of the main goals of regenerative medicine has been developing the ability to produce hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) suitable for blood cell transplants, or bone marrow transplants. These transplants are limited by the challengeof finding a good match and the rarity of naturally occurring HSCs, but in 2014 researchers at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute programmed mature blood cells in mice into reprogrammed HSCs by reversing the process of stem cells, to progenitors, to mature effector cells.

Tests have not yet been performed on human subjects, but the progress seen so far is enough to makeStuart Orkin of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, feel very confident about the future.

This discovery could have a radical effect on transplantation You could have gene-matched donors, you could use a patients own cells to create iHSCs. Its a long way off, but this is a good step in the right direction.

But thats not the only advance in stem cell research. This year, scientists at the Salk Institute discovered a type of stem cell whose identity is tied to their location in a developing embryo, and not their time-related stage of development. These region-selective pluripotent stem cells (rsPSCs) are easier to grow in the laboratory, offer advantages for gene editing, and, unlike conventional stem cells, have the ability to integrate into modified mouse embryos.

As Jun Wu, a postdoctoral researcher describes; understanding the spatial characteristics of the stem cells could be crucial to generate functional and mature cell types for regenerative medicine. It could well be that in the near future, parts of the body that have degenerated due to age, could be regenerated at will by the introduction of these fascinating stem cells.

Nanomedicine We have previously featured nanobots in medicine, but there are many more theoretical uses of nanomedicine that could someday affect our lifespan. According to Frank Boehm, author of Nanomedical Device and Systems Design: Challenges, Possibilities, Visions,a conceptual Vascular Cartographic Scanning Nanodevice could scan the entire human vasculature down to the capillary level and transfer the image to a Pixel Matrix display, holograph, or virtual reality system, allowing for a detailed inspection of the system to find aneurysm risks, especially in the brain.

Ananodevice imbued with data on toxins and pathogens could be used to enhance the human immune system by recognizing and destroying an invasive agent. Nanotechnology could also be used to remove lipofuscin, a product that accumulates in lysosomes negatively impacting cell function and manifesting in age related conditions. All of these technologies are speculative, but nanobots are already lengthening our lives in tests to fight cancer, and many believe such technologies are truly the future of the medical industry.

Digital Immortality At Transhuman Vision 2014, Randal Koene, a neuroscientist and neuro-engineer described his plan to upload his brain to a computer by mapping the brain, reducing its activity to computations, and reproducing these computations in code. While it sounds remarkably like that awful Johnny Depp movie, Transcendence, Koene and many neuroscientists believes that our memories, emotions, consciousness, and more are just the sum of signals from electrochemical signal jumps from synapse to synapse.

Computer programmers have already created artificial neural networks that can form associations and learn through pattern-recognition, but they dont possess the complexity of the human brain. However, if our consciousness is just based on brain activity and if technology can record and analyze them, they could possibly be reduced to computations. Advances have already been made with animal tests, and in 2011 a team from the University of Southern California and Wake Forest University created the first artificial neural implant, a device that produces electrical activity that causes a rat to react as thoughthe signal came from its own brain.

Cyborgization While it may sound the most sci-fi of all these scenarios, cyborg technology is already a part of our lives. We have artificial retinas, cochlear implants, pacemakers, and even deep-brain implants to alleviate the symptoms of Parkinsons. In fact, the list of real world cyborg technologies is seemingly endless, so much so that weve had to reduce it to bullet form. Below youll find a few ways that humans and electronics have merged in beautiful harmony:

Current advances in anti-aging, regenerative medicine, nanomedicine, digital immortality, and cyborgization may only be focusing on prolonging life at the moment. But these technologies have already improved our lives, and as the possibility of immortality is played out on the movie screen, we can see the world of fiction slowly melding with our own reality.

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AI, Immortality and the Future of Selves | SXSW 2015 Event …

Posted: at 8:43 pm

Lisa Miller is a Contributing Editor at New York magazine. She has won the Wilbur Award for religion writing (2008, 2009), the New York Newswomen's Award for feature writing (2014), and last year w...

Lisa Miller is a Contributing Editor at New York magazine. She has won the Wilbur Award for religion writing (2008, 2009), the New York Newswomen's Award for feature writing (2014), and last year was a finalist for a National Magazine Award in the features and profiles category for her story about Newtown, Ct., one year after the shooting there. Author of "Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination with the Afterlife," Miller was formerly on the staffs of Newsweek magazine, the Wall Street Journal and the New Yorker. Her articles have also appeared in the Washington Post, Redbook magazine, Self magazine, and the New York Times. She is a frequent guest commentator on radio and television, including appearances on Morning Joe and the Colbert Report. A graduate of Oberlin College, Miller lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband and daughter.

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GNU/Linux Distribution Timeline

Posted: at 8:42 pm

After a short essay on methodology were curious to find out whether there are any master-snoops among our audience. We present exhibit M, a rare specimen we know nothing about but for the fact that it was compiled from bits of Gentoo. Hence we call publicly for any hints or leads regarding this elusive distribution!

Meanwhile, a gentle reader has drawn to our attention the fact that Damn Vulnerable Linux is currently listed as a Slax derivate by the major pundit places, while it certainly boasted a Damn Small Linux pedigree in its very beginnings. The switch has happened, but everyone claims not to have seen when it did! Have you?

And just in case anyone needs more material, heres our current ToDo buffer.

Greenie. An Ubuntu-based distribution that seems to be pretty popular in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, and thus probably a good addition to the GLDT. Quick googling leads us to the official page and to DistroWatch. The latter hints at a game oriented Xubuntu fork in early 2008, rebasing to Ubuntu in mid-2008. The official page doesnt seem to sport any change logs or release announcements (while my Slovak is very poor, this isnt much of a problem thanks to Google Translate). The oldest downloads (mirror) seem to have been purged. The forums also only hold comparatively recent posts. Googling a bit further reveals that Greenie was known in 2007. Time to power up the Wayback Machine: voil. Since my Slovak hasnt improved much in the meantime, lets feed again the earliest archive link to the translator The beginning of the project [...] 14th September 2007 and Greenie Linux 1.0 is based directly on Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn. (on a second look, that page was available in English anyway!) Job done.

While checking out the page DW links to Greenie, Newtoos catches the eye. The Slovakian Wikipedia says something about it forking off of Ubuntu in Nov 2008. Researching further, we see that the download ISOs share a common folder. Extracting the URL from the link address, we quickly reveal Newtoos release date: 2008.11.13.

If only project sites had a nicely visible change log / history section Two distributions for the GLDT 11.7 are done, eight still to go!

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