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Monday, November 19, 2018

Lost Dell Recovery Disc, YouTube Musicians, and More

- recently came across a Dell with a with a likely pirated version of Windows. Since Windows is effectively free (if you know where to look) I decided to see whether I could find a copy online. Technically, this was supposedly allowed since the license sticker was on the laptop and the SLIC table was already updated correctly. The irony was that the online Dell database wasn't updated/consistent though...
- I had to go fossicking for alternative service tags. Given Google's history of censorship (if you think about it you'll realise that it can stretch things a bit sometimes) it makes sense that I couldn't find too many examples off the bat. Moreover, there doesn't seem to be too many options online with regards to existing databases (by the way, programs such as Serials2K were great back in the day. Pity they aren't as prevalent or as useful in the age of activation services now (especially for legitimate cases such as this))
dell service tag generator
My Dell is a: Latitude C600/C500 modle PP01L
Computer system: # 5ZWJP01-595B
Service Tag #: 5ZWJP01
Express Service Code: 13054894417
dell service tag database
- the trouble with Torrent sites is that you don't know what you're getting. That said, it's always a useful means of getting metadata/information regarding legitimate files. Ultimately, I found a few legitimate/relevant service tags online and was able to successfully update the Dell laptop in question
G13K9_PW4KGA00_W7SP1PRO64_ROW(DL).iso - 7.06GB
MVGG5A00_W10x64ROW_pro.iso - 4.22GB
2DF4FA00_W10x64ROW_pro(DL)_v3.iso - 6.38GB
MVGG5A01_W10x64ROW_pro.iso - 4.25 GB
torrent dell windows 7 iso
5KR9DC2 - Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit
7GXLCS1 - Windows 7 Pro 32 Bit
9CGM72S - Windows 7 Pro COA
dell service tag list
- if you don't already know a lot of Windows machines have a SLIC table modification allowing for installation of Windows without requiring manual input of the keycode? Somtimes, you can alter it but it can be difficult
alter slic table bios
How to Beat OEM Licensing
- if you look at the Dell setup they're using temporary download links to keep an eye on things
creating temp download links
- they obviously use Akamai. Direct access to IP addresses not allowed with multi IP address systems in round robin type system. Information about the architecture is pretty limited...


./d
Resolving downloads.dell.com (downloads.dell.com)... 104.67.225.111, 2600:1415:11:395::1c, 2600:1415:11:380::1c
Connecting to downloads.dell.com (downloads.dell.com)|104.67.225.111|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 7581837312 (7.1G) [application/octet-stream]
Saving to: ‘G13K9_PW4KGA00_W7SP1PRO64_ROW(DL).iso?authkey=LtZLRsDXjDgLGEn0GXDErrO5Oku020pE3SlGnAqZdbdWtyHUeSbNDWdhpHBNosxCPKGiJe5mOXeqwb7kwvhnTA==&__gda__=1540614602_467f9a753d82cc423bc1dbf220b382f0&uid=b3a708fd-2236-4749-ac7f-ea8967e70a16’

sDXjDgLGEn0GXDErrO5Oku020pE3SlGnA   0%[                                                           ]   4.10M   293KB/s    eta 7h 51m ^

Resolving downloads.dell.com (downloads.dell.com)... 104.67.225.111, 2600:1415:11:380::1c, 2600:1415:11:395::1c
Connecting to downloads.dell.com (downloads.dell.com)|104.67.225.111|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 403 Forbidden
2018-10-27 10:55:12 ERROR 403: Forbidden.

works if single character of last altered
Resolving downloads.dell.com (downloads.dell.com)... 104.67.225.111, 2600:1415:11:380::1c, 2600:1415:11:395::1c
Connecting to downloads.dell.com (downloads.dell.com)|104.67.225.111|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 7581837312 (7.1G) [application/octet-stream]
Saving to: ‘G13K9_PW4KGA00_W7SP1PRO64_ROW(DL).iso?authkey=LtZLRsDXjDgLGEn0GXDErrO5Oku020pE3SlGnAqZdbdWtyHUeSbNDWdhpHBNosxCPKGiJe5mOXeqwb7kwvhnTA==&__gda__=1540614602_467f9a753d82cc423bc1dbf220b382f0&uid=b3a708fd-2236-4749-ac7f-ea8967e70a1f’

              G13K9_PW4KGA00_W7SP   0%[                                                           ] 146.00K   170KB/s 

won't work if authkey is changed though
Resolving downloads.dell.com (downloads.dell.com)... 104.67.225.111, 2600:1415:11:395::1c, 2600:1415:11:380::1c
Connecting to downloads.dell.com (downloads.dell.com)|104.67.225.111|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 302 Moved Temporarily
Location: http://www.dell.com/support/home/Drivers/DriversDetails/SecureDownloadError?err=104&filePath=/Restricted/FOLDER03656623M/1/G13K9_PW4KGA00_W7SP1PRO64_ROW(DL).iso [following]
Resolving www.dell.com (www.dell.com)... 184.24.240.57
Connecting to www.dell.com (www.dell.com)|184.24.240.57|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 301 Moved Permanently
Connecting to www.dell.com (www.dell.com)|184.24.240.57|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 302 Moved Temporarily
Location: https://www.dell.com/support/home/au/en/audhs1/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=&id=104 [following]
--2018-10-27 11:07:38--  https://www.dell.com/support/home/au/en/audhs1/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=&id=104
Reusing existing connection to www.dell.com:443.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 404 Not Found
2018-10-27 11:07:39 ERROR 404: Not Found.

./d 
Resolving downloads.dell.com (downloads.dell.com)... 23.213.186.28, 2001:8006:3510:1390::1c, 2001:8006:3510:13ae::1c
Connecting to downloads.dell.com (downloads.dell.com)|23.213.186.28|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 7581837312 (7.1G) [application/octet-stream]
Reusing existing connection to downloads.dell.com:443.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 7581837312 (7.1G) [application/octet-stream]
Saving to: ‘G13K9_PW4KGA00_W7SP1PRO64_ROW(DL).iso?authkey=LtZLRsDXjDgLGEn0GXDErrO5Oku020pE3SlGnAqZdbepXT76WFXqW9BPfOkQJy56c2WXtah4KDOlASc+Hq6h8A==&__gda__=1540623381_1e0961f368a1396a57a53b8b82e12c8f&uid=de1c7105-07b0-4853-83c1-ac8df99a7611’

ROW(DL).iso?authkey=LtZLRsDXjDgLG  10%[====>                                                      ] 732.35M  2.00MB/s    eta 56m 53s^

Connecting to 23.213.186.28:443... connected.
The certificate's owner does not match hostname ‘23.213.186.28’
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 400 Bad Request
2018-10-27 13:17:03 ERROR 400: Bad Request.

works

checksums match up
md5sum *
5ef18b69f93d17216166d9f9925dad40  d
e5720c082660d0a148ea85b718589e28  G13K9_PW4KGA00_W7SP1PRO64_ROW(DL).iso?authkey=LtZLRsDXjDgLGEn0GXDErrO5Oku020pE3SlGnAqZdbdWtyHUeSbNDWdhpHBNosxCPKGiJe5mOXeqwb7kwvhnTA==&__gda__=1540614602_467f9a753d82cc423bc1dbf220b382f0&uid=b3a708fd-2236-4749-ac7f-ea8967e70a16
231fea6a16c4b8e2e2333dd0c8ec6976  G13K9_PW4KGA00_W7SP1PRO64_ROW(DL).iso?authkey=LtZLRsDXjDgLGEn0GXDErrO5Oku020pE3SlGnAqZdbdWtyHUeSbNDWdhpHBNosxCPKGiJe5mOXeqwb7kwvhnTA==&__gda__=1540614602_467f9a753d82cc423bc1dbf220b382f0&uid=b3a708fd-2236-4749-ac7f-ea8967e70a1f
d363f535afae79139fe8632702613ffb  G13K9_PW4KGA00_W7SP1PRO64_ROW(DL).iso?authkey=LtZLRsDXjDgLGEn0GXDErrO5Oku020pE3SlGnAqZdbepXT76WFXqW9BPfOkQJy56c2WXtah4KDOlASc+Hq6h8A==&__gda__=1540623381_1e0961f368a1396a57a53b8b82e12c8f&uid=de1c7105-07b0-4853-83c1-ac8df99a7611
----
akamai ghost
The content delivery process begins with a user submitting a request to a browser. When a user enters a URL, a DNS request is triggered and an IP address is retrieved. With the IP address, the browser can then contact a web server directly for subsequent requests.[16] In a content delivery network structure, the domain name of the URL is translated by the mapping system into the IP address of an edge server to serve the content to the user.[15]

Akamai delivers web content over its Intelligent Platform by transparently mirroring elements such as HTML, CSS, software downloads, and media objects from customers' servers. The Akamai server is automatically picked depending on the type of content and the user's network location. Receiving content from an Akamai server close to the user allows for faster download times and less vulnerability to network congestion. Akamai claims to provide better scalability by delivering the content over the last-mile from servers close to end-users, avoiding the middle-mile bottleneck of the Internet.[17] The Download Delivery product line includes HTTP downloads for large downloadable objects, a customizable application for consumers, and analytics tools with metrics that monitor and report on the download process. [18]
toshiba download iso
- dual layer DVDR discs are kind of pricey and rare so try to use a USB flash drive to install things
- the good thing is that even if the token/link in question seems to expire it will attempt to seek the nearest viable server for download within the network? As opposed to a direct IP grouping of addresses from which you are bounced there are a series of redirects until you get to what you need or want? It's not a bad setup but a little unclean?
- I tried to write a script to see whether I could crack/fuzz the Dell service tag pattern. Ironically, in the initial test phase I discovered that this was highly unrealistic. It took 5-6 hours for me to produce ~50M service tags (using BASH. It will likely be significantly faster using a multi-threaded program in a compiled language. Something that I may leave for another time). The obvious problem is that you need to crack the CAPTCHA system every once in a while when you get a series of misses though. The other problem is the problem of pure speed. Ideally, you need a botnet or access to multiple servers in the cloud with updated databases which parallelises the attack against Dell servers
- below is the base code if you're interested:
- description is as follows:
# After finding out that Dell servers were out of whack and needing
# to recover my operating system  I wanted to see whether there was a
# pattern to Dell service tags so decided to see whether I could fuzz
# service tags. Not that easy because it requires speed at the network
# and processing level as well as time to deal with the CAPTCHA system
# that is in place. This script can produce ~50M service tags in roughly
# 5-6 hours on my local machine.
# https://www.dell.com/support/home/au/en/aubsd1/product-support/servicetag/9cgm72s/diagnose
# https://anti-captcha.com/mainpage
# As such, I've left this program AS IS for the time being until I
# have time to build a higher performance option.
#
# As this is the very first version of the program it may be VERY buggy.
# Please test prior to deployment in a production environment.
- if none of the above works you can often obtain recovery discs cheaply from computers markets, eBay, Op Shops, etc... as well:
http://www.technologymarkets.com.au/
https://caribbeangardens.com.au/market/
https://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com/2018/04/dealing-with-legacy-applications-random.html
- I've obviously had experience in this area. Just think it through a bit. Most Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) don't really create overly complex extensions/software to facilitate recovery. You can often reverse engineer and work your way through through whatever tools are available:
http://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com/2011/03/eeepc-recovery-without-recovery.html
https://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com/2019/03/writing-bootable-isoimg-files-to-usb.html

- if you don't already know there are a lot of great YouTube artists doing remixes and covers on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/DesmondDennis/videos
Kevin Ross
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHfMwUyMj2t1_-kHoeqJb0A/videos
Leray Rømain
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAqa3xnIPC2ShDKrrJoCl6w/videos
bassicionado
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPHe7__2AdLxv-E3LqKwoBg/videos
BJ THE CHICAGO KID
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQfYvnxjucGHJ2QZoNgPd8A/videos
L.Young
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf5LwNoXCTSdmPgJ8X2rRxA/videos
Daniel de Bourg
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnm9lUO_TSbmZkeLQmtsVqQ/videos
Candace Price
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQcIERvK0NQhBdJhOn2jBfg/videos
OscarEntCompany
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjRbzKRt5-0oSmaaCiXObPg/videos
TLongz
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTNGpxBOL6QfOfZYyT8w6SQ/videos
Sergio Selim
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCrO9hr4IaNBr_NoSUlR9HA/videos
Dane
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCymYXEVE7F1OqVkaIfcsOJg/videos
Joshua Williams
https://www.youtube.com/user/MrJShowtime/videos
LoVel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMovtMA_MfCgGrygqnEO_Ng/videos
SoMo
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChJciK7-JLeC0-uPRmFy5BQ/videos
Kamali Kasumu
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCJTmjLNZOIuQqvLKM1wsxw/videos
Throwback Stereo
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCXomZVXIREm8T4MqoICkYQ/videos
ACMusic7
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz-MZYX2qrhFBKK8B71ukQQ/videos
only1noah
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC10EcWjwbU79-6dc4WO-bDQ/videos
BTal2006
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRYNWAqzTAEQ7IfXFVoGK1Q/videos
Next Town Down
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8vjMAViD5Hv0Uxwl5w2oTQ/videos
FJK
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxqkOxQYocXRtSqlotgXh7w/videos
Madison Ryann Ward
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfqNUoJTci-tE6gfXVwwwXg/videos
seanrumsey
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDZwNdT9yq9ClSDqVoBJxrA/videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/JayNotesAinsley/videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/mssandrabae/videos
WiLLRnB
Fidatrix Music
jsolworld
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx8dks0uP7i1q--ugWLJo1A/videos
http://hardermusicgroup.com/
carlawehbe
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDEGCCVsObOxe0h4haXyJIA/videos
Official Ruhi
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSnoyauPLK0lRhz0mSX9zbQ/videos
StanWalkerVEVO
https://www.youtube.com/user/StanWalkerVEVO/videos
The Chad Session
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMsi1_rvXeCqCBVpoVjgpNQ/videos
Ro James XIX
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPUzgS3-YFngnUFMBTMC6mg/videos
thernbnetwork
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaCkPM2yLlystLgW_VssaHA/videos
THE REAL JOE THOMAS
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGE1iiCz6H3wRqT7euK6R9Q/videos
njmarc g
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzJR0d1Ow0vcEfljrr-nITw/videos
HumphreyRiviera
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0WTemD-iyQhn5U908h3H3Q/videos
R&B Covers Plus
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBTxNCuDCYnPbfc_0jYHwDw/videos
passionsf
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu-TTFBIA1Pp9zDo3xiKoUw/videos
Junior Maile
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuAboqepRIpOI6l6fk6r1nA/videos
https://www.last.fm/music/Junior+Maile/+wiki
https://mormonmusic.org/mormon-artists/junior-maile
Yahosh
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrTYokZRtmrZ6UTvAg34zvQ/videos
Terence Kelley
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC72lVAruUEWqpG5kHAEXOJA/videos
Caleb Hacker
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvpmNAd6SVjzAPy2Orqafww/videos
DaehoTV
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEQp0zz456VBZBinX834C_Q/videos
Jaw The Official
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzcZpxFaAOdd7yLz5OYRWjA/videos
MPrynt
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnnsuPABnUJ_kobC4yRreIw/videos
KevOnStage
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5Zc0EUB-km6in-55cK7k2g/videos
VanJess
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO6wKXwsbeMAfzrdskXTcgw/videos
Matt Bloyd
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt68-Ugzv8CVwn90lVv5Muw/videos
Director AMartin
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxt4NDSWu4B2yh76VanXLGQ/videos
AHMIR
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCznVM0EC0LnGxBZLwTqRIhg/videos
Melody Angel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbqD0Mr3p8V77H6WzHJilpQ/videos
Jeremy Power
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHErYf5aIW71tfZ5Wugy_WQ/videos
J Powe
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCglmNtHaer8zPFQHHk3WHug/videos
thediysessions
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnAUkRw4F951nRfoQD7uhKw/videos
J Rand
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCekcW-5A7tClLV8Qt-Z5zgg/videos
Johann Garcia
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEaZYvUyalWv3kstpckNsvw/videos
UniversalRecPH
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_916zXkHew_kwh_pZv8B4w/videos
The Shadowboxers
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXQdO2RUUv3oyj9RRpPvj4Q/videos
Soul Lotta Funk
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHIRS87iit0V-ZJnIfbIo9g/videos
Apartment Sessions
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpU_PAsVFl2fO649QF6Zj0Q/videos
VedoTheSinger
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzovgO_F7DMfAE_1Bc9WQoQ/videos
J.X.U.N
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHbl2W4P9G7A7IotbogF-5w/videos
Cover Nation
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtwQvkMG2Ksbe2HhB1WJlOg/videos
Robin Reyes
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4fl14HV83F0KNTxIjMV0zw/videos
David Toth
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoK46ZYbk6R_Y7R5v31oVjA/videos
Leroy Sanchez
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWACD_NdQo00BhutSXMKa-w/videos
Joseph Vincent
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyJEAZW-4U9wK30v-OqG59g/videos
MVTCHES
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6O19HhN_pAxzLTGWCZtisg/videos
Mark Mejia
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf93Lc8xlqt5AszU5H2h7wQ/videos
DaehoTV
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEQp0zz456VBZBinX834C_Q/videos
Jaw The Official
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzcZpxFaAOdd7yLz5OYRWjA/videos
Ni/Co
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcleioHuL0TP47LU1BrVR6A/videos
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Ross_(musical_artist)
http://watercoolerconvos.com/2014/11/19/kevin-ross-the-vocal-beast-you-havent-heard-of-yet/
https://soundcloud.com/shawnbutlermusic
https://soundbetter.com/
https://soundbetter.com/jobs
https://soundbetter.com/profiles/126718-shawn-butler
https://ourstage.com/profile/kevinrossmusic
https://soundcloud.com/iamrnbfanatic/
https://soundcloud.com/rnb-tha-legal-drug
https://soundcloud.com/algeesmith
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/best-artists-discovered-on-youtube
- one thing to watch for for all of these singers is the use of effects (including AutoTune). Their natural tone sometimes drastically differs from their singing tone which suggests shenanigans
- many of them have backgrounds in reality television and teaching. Watch for radical changes in tone quality or pitch before and after they've appeared on television or in live performance which is likely caused by massive amounts of coaching and/or use of effects especially where use of post-production filtering is less effective
effects william singe
Jamie Avecilla
- watch for lip-synching, miming, etc... The sound often don't come in sync with vocals and/or instrumental fingering. It suggests a form of shenanigans either way
- you'll often notice that there's something special/different about some cover/amateur artists. They're often much more reliant on pure vocals and/or their instrumental ability to 'stand out' from the crowd from manufactured/pop artists
- as an aside there's a lot of interesting Asian pop music (and other languages/cultures as well) out there (J-Pop is often more "rocky", K-Pop often has a strong Western influence/sound to it, C-Pop is generally "softer" with a traditional feel to it, V-Pop has a Chinese and Western influence to it with a historical/traditional undertone to it):
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jpop
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cpop
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kpop
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=vpop
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=tpop
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=arabic+rnb

Random Stuff:
- as usual thanks to all of the individuals and groups who purchase and use my goods and services
- apparently, Tor is time sensitive. I've been fiddling around with other proxy and VPN solutions but this seems like the easiest to use?
tor [WARN] Failed to find node for hop #1 of our path. Discarding this circuit.
https://tor.stackexchange.com/questions/15201/warn-failed-to-find-node-for-hop-0-of-our-path-discarding-this-circuit
sudo ntpdate -v pool.ntp.org
w32tm /config /syncfromflags:manual /manualpeerlist:pool.ntp.org  
w32tm /config /update
- latest in science and technology
huawei music player reduce volume for no reason
blacklist check ip address linux cli
make video dvd from linux cli
bypass cloudfare
cookie manager chromium
face database
clean out apt database
rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
apt-get update
force apt install version
gupta sql
'The food supplement that ruined my liver'
launch pad nick ellsmore
nick ellsmore security
Google Top Contributor Program Candidate Community
“Top Contributor Program Candidate” G+ Community 
what does google use to obscure javascript
https://www.quora.com/How-does-Google-obfuscate-its-Javascript-code-Is-there-any-existing-tool-to-do-it-Google-way-or-is-it-done-internally-with-an-internal-tool
google news old styles
sample mbox
"no credit card" cloud
info@intalock.com.au
- latest in finance and politics
- latest in defense and intelligence
- latest in animal news
- latest in music and entertainment
https://www.instagram.com/embassycat/?hl=en
http://www.sbs.com.au/food/cuisine/turkish
http://allrecipes.com.au/recipes/turkish-recipes.aspx?rum=us
http://ozlemsturkishtable.com/recipes/
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/turkish
http://www.food.com/topic/turkish
http://www.turkishfoodandrecipes.com/
https://au.pinterest.com/turkeysforlife/favourite-turkish-food-recipes/
http://www.turkeysforlife.com/turkish-recipes-index.html
https://www.justonecookbook.com/okonomiyaki/
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/okonomiyaki-japanese-pancakes/40bb992a-ff62-4d21-87b1-5d7bd44eadc3
http://everydaygourmet.tv/recipe/okonomiyaki/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okonomiyaki
https://www.recipetineats.com/chinese-fried-rice-with-shrimp-prawns/
https://www.foodinaminute.co.nz/Recipes/Spicy-Prawn-Fried-Rice

Random Quotes:
- Jewish law always encourages integrating the latest scientific knowledge into our lives and has no problem with the newest developments in treating infertility, flying a spacecraft, and using technical devices to make it easier to observe Shabbat. Yet, when it comes to the writing of a Sefer Torah, no technological improvements are appreciated. They are basically rejected (*).

Ours is a future-orientated religion. We are not afraid of the latest technologies because they allow us to fulfill, in ways unimagined by our forefathers, the divine mandate to cure diseases, create more pleasant ways to live our lives, and make the world a better place. All this is beautifully expressed by our Sages, who direct us to become partners with God in the work of creation. But the very text that demands this does not allow for any changes in its content and bars us from making use of the latest technological devices when it comes down to the physical preparation and writing of this same text!

What is the message conveyed by this paradox?

While living in a world that is constantly in a state of flux and where matters can change overnight, there must be a place of stability where we can take refuge. We need unshakeable foundations that won’t shift like quicksand. Without such footing we would be lost and dangerously overwhelmed by the very technology we have created. While we benefit from all these new inventions, we also pay a heavy price and become the victims of great confusion. Technology and science often create moral problems that overwhelm us. We then begin to wonder whether it would be better to reject our moral standards in order to accommodate all the new possibilities that have opened up. Though many of us know this will only lead to more problems, others are calling for such radical steps, thinking it will bring improvement.

We need certainty but can no longer find it. The situation has become so critical that we realize we have reached a place where our human identity is at stake, unlike our forefathers who had to deal primarily with problems related to ideology.

Looking at and taking notice of a Sefer Torah is therefore of great value. Here is an item that has not changed an iota. Its physical nature attests to its stability. It is the only thing in the world that would not give in to innovation. Its text informs us that while things indeed need to evolve and become more sophisticated, the basic moral positions in the Torah are not to be altered, and its physical representation as an “old-fashioned scroll” sends us that message. It does not want to accommodate everything, nor does it even want to accommodate itself. It is beyond time and space and hence disconnects itself from the so-called new developments that the passage of time always demands. It wants to remain itself, on its own terms, and therefore offers us a haven of stability and genuine identity in a stormy world. In that way, it reminds us of eternity, of another world in which enduring standards prevail and where there is tranquility, something we all long for.

A Sefer Torah teaches us that not everything old is necessarily old-fashioned. Making use of the word processor has in many ways led to depersonalization in our lives; running our world by remote control has not been good for our souls; and walking on the moon has not helped us to know our next-door neighbor any better. On the contrary, technological progress has robbed us of our own humanness.

It is therefore most meaningful that one item has maintained its constancy. It carries a text that has had greater influence in the world than any other we know of. It has changed the universe as nothing else has; it encourages people to move, to discover, and to develop. But it is written on parchment, by the hand of a person, holding a quill, as if to say: Be yourself. Don’t get run over by the need for progress.
- Three US researchers have pulled off a sophisticated hoax by publishing fake research with ridiculous conclusions in sociology journals to expose what they see as ideological bias and a lack of rigorous vetting at these publications.

Seven of the 20 fake articles written by the trio were accepted by journals after being approved by peer-review committees tasked with checking the authors' research.

A faux study claiming that "Dog parks are Petri dishes for canine 'rape culture'" by one "Helen Wilson" was published in May in the journal Gender, Place and Culture.

The article suggests that training men like dogs could reduce cases of sexual abuse.

Faux research articles are not new: one of the most notable examples is physicist Alan Sokal, who in a 1996 article for a cultural studies journal wrote about cultural and philosophical issues concerning aspects of physics and math.

This time the fake research aims at mocking weak vetting of articles on hot-button social issues such as gender, race and sexuality.

The authors, writing under pseudonyms, intended to prove that academics in these fields are ready to embrace any thesis, no matter how outrageous, so long as it contributes to denouncing domination by white men.

"Making absurd and horrible ideas sufficiently politically fashionable can get them validated at the highest level of academic grievance studies," said one of the authors, James Lindsay, in a video revealing the project.
- With the U.S. government continuing to funnel money to Lockheed for the development of weapons and defense systems deemed critical to U.S. “national security,” it again appears that the U.S. corporate welfare, which is so characteristic of the country’s military-industrial complex, is in fact driving the U.S. military’s decline in competitiveness and ironically helping accelerate the U.S.’ loss of its former global hegemony.
- A letter in which Albert Einstein explicitly rejected God and religion will be auctioned in December for the second time since the famous physicist wrote it a year before his death.

Einstein wrote the letter to a Jewish philosopher in 1954, and it caused a sensation when it first went public at an auction sale in 2008 — complete with Einstein’s unambiguous declaration, “The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. ”

For decades, people had been debating the theorist’s concept of religion, in large part because they kept misunderstanding it.

When Einstein was a child, Denis Brian wrote in his book “Einstein: A Life,” he was for a time so devoutly Jewish that he wrote “songs in praise of God, which he belted out as he walked to and from his high school.”

That changed at age 13, when Einstein became interested in higher mathematics and philosophy and “abandoned his uncritical religious fervor, feeling he had been deceived into believing lies,” Brian wrote.

But he did not become an atheist. As Eugene Mallove wrote for The Post in 1985, Einstein believed in what he called a “cosmic religion” — less a religion than what Einstein called a “rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection. "

For Einstein, the mystery in the architecture of the physical universe — an architecture he helped reveal with his breakthroughs in relativity and the nature of space and time — was more profound than any wonder he read about in the Talmud or the Bible.

“I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes its creatures, or has a will of the kind we experience in ourselves,” he wrote in an essay in 1931.

Einstein did speak often of “God” and was sometimes confused with a theist because of it. But he used the word as metaphor. “Einstein’s God was the Universe itself, not an external ‘grand puppeteer,' ” Mallove wrote.

And for Einstein, the deepest secrets of the universe were as unknowable as the mind of God was to a theologian.
- Curiously, the authors of the new chimp genome paper said very little about the overall DNA similarity between humans and chimpanzees. However, the University of London’s specialist in evolutionary genomics, Dr. Richard Buggs, evaluated the results of an analysis that compared this new chimp version to the human genome and discovered some shocking anti-evolutionary findings.

Dr. Buggs reported on his website that “the percentage of nucleotides in the human genome that had one-to-one exact matches in the chimpanzee genome was 84.38%” and “4.06% had no alignment to the chimp assembly.” 4 Assuming the chimpanzee and human genomes are about the same size, this translates to an overall similarity of only about 80%! This outcome is way outside the nearly identical level of 98 to 99% similarity required for human evolution to seem plausible.

Not only do these results refute the evolutionary story and confirm my previous research, but they also support human uniqueness as recorded in the book of Genesis.5 We did not descend from ape-like ancestors—we were created in God’s image to be in special relationship with Him, just as the Bible says.
- When a leader can hold power only by dividing his country, stoking its anxieties and hostilities, ridiculing his opponents and disrespecting every norm of decency, the result is a broken democracy and a demoralized nation.

The fight over Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to a seat on the Supreme Court has caused predictable handwringing about partisan division, tribalism and incivility. We hear often that both parties are behaving like toddlers who need to be brought to heel by responsible “adults” who know better.

But the narrative of equivalence is worse than inaccurate. It is destructive. It points us to the wrong diagnosis and thus the wrong cure. At this moment in our history, there is only one party being led by President Donald Trump and only one that rushes to his defense over and over.

Trump regularly and unashamedly reminds us of his vileness and thus single-handedly demolishes the everybody-does-it narrative.

Trump’s lying, mocking, despicable verbal mugging of Christine Blasey Ford during a Mississippi rally Tuesday night may not be a new low for him because there have been so many other lows. But his willingness to suggest that Ford is one of the “evil people” and his twisted account of her testimony about Kavanaugh before the Senate Judiciary Committee ripped the mask of respectability off the campaign to confirm Trump’s appointee.

Fixing Cheap Hurricane Gen850 and Scorpion ET950L Power Generators, Microwave Rice, and More

Fixing Cheap Hurricane Gen850 and Scorpion ET950L Power Generators: - I've obviously been playing around with small ICE engines of late....