Measuring Cup Math

"The Mathematics Of Measuring Cups"

Martian Law

"What NASA’s simulated missions tell us about the need for Martian law"

Fibonacci Numbers Hidden In Mandelbrot Set

Video: "Fibonacci Numbers hidden in the Mandelbrot Set"

Butt Plug Hack

Newsweek: "Hacked Butt Plug Can Be Controlled 'From Anywhere'"

Researchers have discovered a serious security flaw with a Bluetooth-enabled butt plug that allows hackers to remotely take control of the vibrating sex toy.

Italian security researcher Giovanni Mellini published his findings in a blogpost on Tuesday, October 18, describing how he was able to send a vibrate command to a Hush butt plug from his laptop.

The Hush device, manufactured by Lovense, is designed to be a “long-distance love toy” and is described by the sex toy startup as “the world’s first teledildonic butt plug” that can be "controlled from anywhere."

In other words, a literal "back door" security hole.

Paperclips Game

"Get Sucked Into The Black Hole Of 'Paperclips,' A Hopelessly Addicting Browser Game"

Thin LEDs

"Researchers craft an LED just two atoms thick". (Via H.R.)

Beware The Cute Robots

"Super cute home robots are coming, but think twice before you trust them"

Japanese Elevator Etiquette

"Elevator etiquette in Japan".

Rule #1: If you are the first to enter an empty elevator, you are the new elevator captain.

Creepy Book Covers

"40 of the Creepiest Book Covers of All Time"

AIs Taught To Program More AIs

"Google Taught AI How to Program More AI":

The company’s A.I. project, AutoML, has successfully taught machine-learning software how to program machine-learning software. In some cases, the machines programmed better A.I. software than even the Google researchers could design... 

RSA Crypto Library Flaw

"Millions of high-security crypto keys crippled by newly discovered flaw":

A crippling flaw in a widely used code library has fatally undermined the security of millions of encryption keys used in some of the highest-stakes settings, including national identity cards, software- and application-signing, and trusted platform modules protecting government and corporate computers.

The weakness allows attackers to calculate the private portion of any vulnerable key using nothing more than the corresponding public portion. Hackers can then use the private key to impersonate key owners, decrypt sensitive data, sneak malicious code into digitally signed software, and bypass protections that prevent accessing or tampering with stolen PCs. The five-year-old flaw is also troubling because it's located in code that complies with two internationally recognized security certification standards that are binding on many governments, contractors, and companies around the world. The code library was developed by German chipmaker Infineon and has been generating weak keys since 2012 at the latest...

A Bit Too Lucky

"Officials Sniffing Into How So Many People Win State Lotteries So Many Times".

Related: "The nation's 'luckiest' lottery players may not be as lucky as they seem", and "Ohio Lottery's frequent winners grab top prizes amid improbable odds".

Casino Hacked Via Fish Tank

Casino hacked via its fish tank:

Internet-enabled devices are so common, and so vulnerable, that hackers recently broke into a casino through its fish tank. The tank had internet-connected sensors measuring its temperature and cleanliness. The hackers got into the fish tank’s sensors and then to the computer used to control them, and from there to other parts of the casino’s network. The intruders were able to copy 10 gigabytes of data to somewhere in Finland.

(Via Gus Van Horn.)

Three-Body Orbit Solutions

"Scientists discover more than 600 new periodic orbits of the famous three-body problem":

In 1890, Poincare determined that trajectories of three-body systems are commonly non-periodic, i.e. not repeating. This can explain why it is so hard to obtain the periodic orbits of three-body systems. In the 300 years since the three-body problem was first recognized, only three families of periodic orbits had been found. In 2013, Suvakov and Dmitrasinovic [Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 114301 (2013)] made a breakthrough, finding 13 new distinct periodic orbits belonging to 11 new families of the Newtonian planar three-body problem with equal mass and zero angular momentum.

Now, two scientists, XiaoMing Li and ShiJun Liao at Shanghai Jiaotong University, China, have successfully determined 695 families of periodic orbits of the same Newtonian planar three-body system using the TH-2 supercomputer at Guangzhou, China. Their results have been published in SCIENCE CHINA-Physics Mechanics & Astronomy...

These 695 periodic orbits include the well-known figure-eight family found by Moore in 1993, the 11 families found by Suvakov and Dmitrasinovic in 2013, and more than 600 new families reported for the first time.

UBI And Tyranny

"Universal Basic Income and the Threat of Tyranny"

Princess Bride Sword Fight

"How The Princess Bride Built Film's Most Beloved Sword Fight"

Hottest Chip

"We ate the world's spiciest chip, cried for 45 minutes, then wrote this article about it" (via R.S.):

[T]he Austin, Texas based tortilla chip company Paqui (rhymes with hockey) has what can only be described as a delicious form of torture in store for you. Their Carolina Reaper Madness Tortilla Chip is a savory mix of not one, but two of the world’s hottest peppers. It combines the aforementioned ghost pepper with the even hotter variety for which the chip gets its name; the Carolina Reaper. Chipotle pepper powder (which is essentially a dried and aged jalapeno pepper) is added for additional flavor. So for that very brief moment before the heat actually kicks in, your torture tortilla chip is pretty tasty. The company claims that it is the hottest tortilla chip in the world.

Names Of Things

"How it smells after it rains, the cardboard sleeve around your coffee cup and other things you didn’t know had names."

Software Apocalypse

"The Coming Software Apocalypse"

Online Dating And Society

"First Evidence That Online Dating Is Changing the Nature of Society".

Specifically, it could be increasing the rates of inter-racial marriage. And possibly increasing the strength of marriages.

AI Magic Tricks

"How Artificial Intelligence Is Improving Magic Tricks"

Learn AI With Google Teachable Machine

"Google's new browser experiment lets you learn about basic AI"

Missing Matter Found

"Half the universe's missing matter has just been finally found".

It was hiding between the seat cushions.

Last Jedi Trailer

The new trailer for "The Last Jedi"!

Glue For Wounds

"Injectable glue heals wounds in seconds". (Via H.R.)

Robo-Dentist Update

"Chinese robot dentist is first to fit implants in patient’s mouth without any human involvement"

Life As An Extra

"The Curious Life of an Extra"

Very Round Rocks

"How Nature Creates Uncannily Spherical Boulders"