Binh Nguyen's Blog

Thursday, April 12, 2018

APT Change Request Check Script, Random Stuff, and More

- I don't work in the Russian aerospace/fighter industry, but my feeling is that (in particular) engine life has not historically been of huge concern to them. If you look back at the Soviet era, they pumped out thousands upon thousands of relatively cheap, technologically inferior jets to arm the whole of the Warsaw Pact/satellite nations. They expected to win through numerical superiority, a strategy that has been well documented, and one that might well have worked had the figurative balloon ever gone up (at least before the nukes ended everything for the whole world a few hours later). Obviously some of that went away with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, but I'd be willing to bet that the mindset hasn't changed that much. Clearly they are producing more capable aircraft, and have been since the early 1980's when the USSR still stood, but I also think that due to economic necessity, they continue to find a cost compromise in their designs, even with higher end fighters such as the Flanker family. What is an easy way to shave a little bit off development costs? Throw away engines after a few thousand hours, and they can not only be cheaper up front, but also force international buyers/foreign sales to continue to need engines/create revenue. Just my thought, could be right, could be wrong. If it were me, and I saw the need to 1) present a credible threat to the world, and 2) do it within the bounds of a pretty chronically failed national economy, this sort of design philosophy is actually pretty smart IMO.

http://www.f-16.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=53798

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Network Mapping Tool, Random Stuff, and More

- had to build a network mapping/auditing tool recently. You can download it here:

network_mapper-1.03.zip

- details are as follows:

# Ever entered a new network and you didn't quite know what was available,

# wanted to do an inventory check/audit, or you want to run a set of

# simple tests to see what sort of security profile your network is

# currently at? That's the purpose of this script.

# I had intended for it to be more customised but found that nmap

# contained much of the functionality that I wanted so I basically stuck

# with that. It can be slowish but it's still much faster then

# a lot of network auditing, mapping, and vulnerability checkers out there.

# Obviously, it can be used for attack as well as defense purposes.

# Read through for a better understanding. Ideally, you'll be running

# this against your own network. Turn off security detection systems

# prior to running this so as not to set off spurious alerts.

# Integration of this into your existing network will give you

# micro-SIEM capability (use in combination with something like fail2ban

# and/or RRD type databases. This will give you better data on where

# attacks are coming from).

# https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RRDtool

# https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fail2ban

# https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_information_and_event_management

# Usage is as follows. You can just fill in the network variable in

# this script with what you want and then run it, you can fill in

# target hosts in the 'scan_hosts.txt' and then run it, or you can

# run it in combination with hosts from the command line itself.

# Usage Examples:

# ./network_mapper.sh

# ./network_mapper.sh 127.0.0.1/32

# ./network_mapper.sh 192.168.0.1/32

# ./network_mapper.sh 192.168.0.0/24

# ./network_mapper.sh www.microsoft.com

# ./network_mapper.sh www.car.com www.dog.com

# Go through the following if you want to add more functionality...

# detect common vulnerabilities nmap

# https://blah.cloud/security/scanning-for-network-vulnerabilities-using-nmap/

# https://nmap.org/nsedoc/index.html

# https://nmap.org/nsedoc/categories/discovery.html

# https://askubuntu.com/questions/723172/what-tool-can-i-use-to-scan-a-network-and-test-wake-on-lan

# Note, if you aren't great with CIDR format there are plenty of tools

# out there to help you with this:

# network range to cidr format converter

# https://ip2cidr.com/

# https://www.ipaddressguide.com/cidr

# https://mxtoolbox.com/subnetcalculator.aspx

# As this is the very first version of the program it may be VERY buggy.

# Please test prior to deployment in a production environment.

Random Stuff:

- as usual thanks to all of the individuals and groups who purchase and use my goods and services

http://sites.google.com/site/dtbnguyen/

http://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com.au/

- latest in science and technology

https://github.com/surg0r

https://github.com/cucumber

https://www.itwire.com/strategy/82289-cloudflare-launches-fastest-,-privacy-focused-public-dns.html

https://www.itwire.com/open-source/82288-republicans-seek-information-on-open-source-security,-stability.html

https://www.itwire.com/security/82307-windows-festi-rootkit-reappears-five-years-after-owner-jailed.html

http://advocator.ca/science/nasa-is-considering-robo-bees-to-explore-the-red-planet/1234

https://thenextweb.com/apple/2018/04/03/apple-reportedly-plans-ditch-intels-processors-entirely-2020/

http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Android_tutorial

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/read-e-mail-google-ceo-001234169.html

https://www.space.com/40171-cosmic-alignment-reveals-most-distant-star-yet.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/04/03/this-star-is-the-farthest-ever-seen-its-9-billion-light-years-away/

http://www.wesh.com/article/new-plane-could-revolutionize-air-travel/19678295

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/nightmare-bacteria-are-trying-spread-u-s-cdc-says-n862436

https://jenkins.io/user-handbook.pdf

https://www.tutorialspoint.com/jenkins/jenkins_tutorial.pdf

http://www.bogotobogo.com/DevOps/Jenkins/images/Intro_install/jenkins-the-definitive-guide.pdf

https://www.cs.colorado.edu/~kena/classes/5828/s12/presentation-materials/bowesjesse.pdf

https://koansys.com/tech/jenkins/jenkins-ci-pdf

http://www.fit.vutbr.cz/~ijirak/data/jenkins.pdf

https://events.static.linuxfound.org/sites/events/files/slides/ci_docker_jenkins-linuxcon-presentation.pdf

https://www.cloudbees.com/sites/default/files/completelyautomaticjenkins.pdf

http://osgp88fat.bkt.clouddn.com/books/The%20Docker%20Book.pdf

https://www.tutorialspoint.com/docker/docker_tutorial.pdf

https://resources.sei.cmu.edu/asset_files/Presentation/2017_017_001_497378.pdf

http://pepa.holla.cz/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Using-Docker.pdf

http://wiki.zenoss.org/download/core/drich_slides/DockerSlides.pdf

https://d0.awsstatic.com/whitepapers/docker-on-aws.pdf

https://www.itwire.com/open-source/82261-drupal-fixes-highly-critical-flaw-but-offers-no-details.html

https://www.itwire.com/security/82263-image-board-admins,-mods-doxxed-by-ex-wapo-man-on-coinhive-hunt.html

https://www.space.com/40072-nasa-no-permanent-leader-does-it-matter.html

http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/technology/is-our-great-mobile-ripoff-about-to-end/news-story/3a993d174effe6093fe4721853e92d58

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/slug-tragedy-teenager-left-severely-disabled-after-dare-opens-up-his-world-to-viewers/news-story/90362fa1cb10ccf60133cf8917d7249b

https://www.itwire.com/home-it/82277-facebook-to-shut-down-within-30-days,-cites-inability-to-protect-user-information.html

http://indianexpress.com/article/world/us-air-force-releases-video-of-its-conceptual-future-sixth-generation-fighter-jet-5114102/

http://www.dw.com/en/world-renowned-physicist-stephen-hawking-is-remembered-at-funeral-in-cambridge/a-43208024

https://www.itwire.com/government-tech-policy/82275-more-than-300,000-eu-domains-to-be-cancelled-due-to-brexit.html

https://www.itwire.com/entertainment/82276-apple-music-now-offers-one-of-the-most-extensive-music-video-catalogues-available.html

https://www.itwire.com/security/82296-australian-government-launches-real-time-national-security-app.html

https://www.itwire.com/security/82283-microsoft-announces-the-mission-critical-cloud-for-australia.html

https://960weli.iheart.com/content/2018-03-30-google-is-literally-writing-the-book-on-all-of-us/

http://www.ibtimes.com/google-replacing-googl-url-shortening-service-fdl-2667732

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/commonwealth-games-2018/australia-diver-retires-days-out-from-games-after-being-told-of-quadriplegia-risk-20180403-p4z7j6.html

https://www.itwire.com/strategy/82274-do-we-need-a-virtual-australia.html

https://www.itwire.com/hardware-and-storage/82273-gpu-a-key-enabler-for-science.html

http://www.news.com.au/world/breaking-news/asian-shares-buckle-tech-firms-scrutised/news-story/7fc288ae17d14bf5ec2bed7aa6c3ced6

https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/the-red-flags-of-dating-20180329-p4z6u9.html

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/223680/20180326/air-breathing-thruster-may-provide-unlimited-power-for-mars-mission.htm

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/222558/20180307/esa-builds-ion-thruster-fueled-by-air-molecules-for-future-mars-mission.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_Framework

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenkins_(software)

powershell for linux

https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell

powershell i386 linux

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/feisty/i386/powershell/0.9-8

puppet recipes

https://www.puppetcookbook.com/

https://github.com/OpenSourceOrg/puppet

https://www.example42.com/tutorials/PuppetTutorial/

https://puppet.com/docs

linux chef recipes

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-create-simple-chef-cookbooks-to-manage-infrastructure-on-ubuntu

https://www.chef.io/chef/

https://docs.chef.io/recipes.html

https://github.com/chef/chef-web-docs/blob/master/chef_master/source/recipes.rst

South Korea to shut off computers to stop people working late

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43497017

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/21/why-have-we-given-up-our-privacy-to-facebook-and-other-sites-so-willingly?CMP=share_btn_tw

http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/zuckerbergs-megalomaniac-style-has-made-facebook-the-behemoth-it-is/news-story/a406c0a8581da33ba482f909331709aa

https://www.itwire.com/technology-regulation/82225-eu-competition-czar-holds-out-threat-of-breaking-up-google.html

http://www.dw.com/en/facebook-to-change-privacy-controls-amid-data-scandal-outcry/a-43172294

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/26/health/lose-weight-where-does-it-go-partner/index.html

https://www.itwire.com/training/82227-microsoft-launches-cloud-initiative-to-help-upskill-public-sector.html

https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/39643547/fifty-years-on-yuri-gagarins-death-still-shrouded-in-mystery/

https://www.itwire.com/open-sauce/82213-after-facebook-leak,-why-should-pollies-have-privacy-exemptions.html

https://www.smh.com.au/business/careers/worker-sacked-by-text-message-after-taking-one-day-of-sick-leave-20180327-p4z6go.html

https://www.smh.com.au/healthcare/brain-bank-is-a-big-boost-to-making-everyone-aware-of-concussion-20180326-p4z6d9.html

https://www.itwire.com/open-source/82206-suse-focus-will-be-on-containers-for-a-while-lees.html

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/18211/exclusive-lockheed-skunk-works-x-44a-flying-wing-drone-revealed

https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/measles-virus-spreads-through-melbourne-airport-arrivals-20180326-p4z6ca.html

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-26/qanda:-dark-side-of-social-media-threatening-privacy:-professor/9589004

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/israel-to-launch-big-data-health-project/ar-BBKFSUL

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-27/donald-trump-orders-expulsion-of-60-russian-diplomats/9589922

http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/how-facebooks-addictive-design-stops-you-quitting-by-giving-you-the-same-rush-you-get-from-drugs/news-story/9422e74a8011290c874324ea9b1820bc

https://www.domain.com.au/living/how-to-know-if-your-natural-cleaning-products-are-the-real-deal-20180326-h0xpfm/?utm_campaign=strap-masthead&utm_source=smh&utm_medium=link&ref=pos1

https://www.itwire.com/telecoms-and-nbn/82249-good-nbn-experience-you-are-needed-by-a-pr-flack.html

http://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/inventions/i-think-its-gonna-be-a-long-long-time-before-this-guy-gets-to-space/news-story/4b1faa812f8a0849d624dee2b12a7019

https://cryptodaily.co.uk/2018/03/google-will-create-blockchain/

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-22/facebook-cambridge-analytica-digital-surveillance-data-privacy/9575160

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-21/coffee-loving-worms-munch-through-old-grinds-for-pastures/9562628

https://www.smh.com.au/technology/pr-skills-of-kim-jong-un-time-for-tech-giants-to-dump-their-egos-20180324-p4z60s.html

https://www.itwire.com/security/82197-uk-yet-to-obtain-warrant-to-raid-cambridge-analytica.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spina_bifida

https://www.itwire.com/security/82178-former-facebook-exec-says-data-harvesting-a-regular-occurrence.html

http://www.dw.com/en/atacama-mummy-mystery-solved-alien-like-skeleton-was-a-human/a-43101263

https://www.itwire.com/open-sauce/82194-facebook-and-google-are-drunk-on-data-they-won-t-give-it-up.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/17/us/politics/cambridge-analytica-trump-campaign.html

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/department-of-home-affairs-plans-new-tax-on-parcels-being-posted-to-australia-20180321-p4z5gw.html

https://www.itwire.com/government-tech-policy/82179-eu-unveils-proposals-for-taxing-big-digital-firms.html

https://www.itwire.com/fuzzy-logic/82175-can-facebook-face-up-to-its-question-of-trust.html

https://www.f1technical.net/development/21366/pirelli-escapes-trouble-with-standing-waves-in-tyres?sid=dc4d910540b755bcd45605d7e3174b30

https://www.itwire.com/development/82174-online-lotto-wagers-to-more-than-double,-reaching-$76-billion-by-2022.html

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/it-will-hit-consumers-hard-ebay-hits-back-at-5-parcel-tax-proposal-20180322-p4z5o4.html

https://www.smh.com.au/technology/i-m-not-going-to-be-bullied-by-facebook-cambridge-analytica-whistleblower-tells-his-story-20180322-p4z5sa.html

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-22/future-of-work-not-robots-we-need-to-fear/9567112

http://www.watoday.com.au/environment/great-pacific-garbage-patch-now-contains-1-8-trillion-pieces-of-plastic-study-20180322-p4z5te.html

https://www.itwire.com/government-tech-policy/82204-new-us-law-gives-govt-access-to-data-stored-abroad.html

https://www.itwire.com/security/82201-nearly-6000-to-get-nbn-speed-compensation-from-vocus-group.html

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/04/02/557151/China-Space-Station-Orbit

https://www.itwire.com/telecoms-and-nbn/82249-good-nbn-experience-you-are-needed-by-a-pr-flack.html

https://www.itwire.com/strategy/82247-ai-startup-daisee-raises-$8-8-million-in-funding.html

https://www.itwire.com/internet-of-things/82242-arm-to-use-nvidia-s-deep-learning-platform.html

https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2017/05/six-ways-to-get-a-cheaper-deal-at-jb-hi-fi/

https://www.itwire.com/hardware-and-storage/82240-nvidia-accelerates-deep-learning.html

http://www.dw.com/en/bundeswehr-cybersecurity-center-trains-elite-counterhackers/a-43210036

https://www.itwire.com/hardware-and-storage/82239-nvidia-brings-real-time-ray-tracing-to-desktops.html

https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/silicon-valley-elite-s-latest-discovery-chicken-tv-20180403-p4z7j3.html

- latest in finance and politics

https://www.corbettreport.com/interview-1350-daniel-mcadams-on-the-state-departments-troll-farm/

https://www.corbettreport.com/interview-1351-derrick-broze-on-crypto-anarchy-and-holistic-self-assessment/

https://www.corbettreport.com/flnwo41/

https://www.corbettreport.com/interview-1352-dr-paul-connett-on-the-case-against-fluoride/

https://www.corbettreport.com/privacies/

https://www.corbettreport.com/the-petroyuan-was-born-this-week-heres-what-it-means/

https://www.corbettreport.com/deletetwitter/

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-22/online-shopping-tax-being-considered-by-government/9574920

https://www.smartcompany.com.au/startupsmart/news-analysis/australian-startups-currencyvue-and-assembly-payments-selected-to-develop-global-fintech-solutions-in-singapore-competition/

https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/westpac-to-offer-cheaper-tap-and-go-payments-for-retailers-20180403-p4z7l9.html

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/inequality-in-australian-schools-costs-the-country-20-billion-report-20180402-p4z7d6.html

https://www.domain.com.au/money-markets/financial-freedom-priced-at-830k-for-aussies-keen-to-pay-off-debt-save-20180402-h0y89b/

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-malaysia-politics/malaysia-proposes-up-to-10-years-jail-fines-for-publishers-of-fake-news-idUSKBN1H20FM

https://littlepay.com/

https://www.rt.com/politics/422941-communist-declares-farm-magnate/

https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-10-billion-battle-for-nations-stationery-cupboards-20170921-gylzc1.html

http://www.dw.com/en/the-death-of-stalin-the-film-that-dares-viewers-to-laugh-about-the-russian-dictator/a-43172737

http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2018/03/28/croatia-buy-israeli-fighter-jets-500-million-deal/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatian_Air_Force_and_Air_Defence

http://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/protesters-pack-streets-of-washington-for-biggest-march-in-decades/news-story/522d464ee6bd727b891a5dc98be26293

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-25/japan-shinzo-abe-apologizes-amid-cronyism-scandal/9585158

https://www.rt.com/business/423002-dow-drops-china-tariffs/

http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/coles-and-woolworths-reluctant-1-roast-chicken-price-hike-an-industrychanging-event/news-story/242277e0c49d8823af655bbf50c82163

https://www.msn.com/en-ae/news/other/is-it-time-now-for-the-e2-80-98arab-mandate-e2-80-99-for-palestine/ar-BBKGl3p

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-25/austin-bomb-suspect-called-self-a-psychopath/9585040

https://www.domain.com.au/money-markets/banking-royal-commission-could-trigger-a-credit-crunch-ubs-20180326-h0xyv3/

https://www.9news.com.au/world/2018/03/27/07/19/kim-jong-un-reportedly-makes-secretive-china-visit-on-armoured-train

https://www.domain.com.au/news/if-sydney-were-a-monopoly-game-whod-go-straight-to-jail-and-where-is-old-kent-road-20180321-h0xrgx/

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-25/australian-stars-join-movement-to-stop-workplace-sexual-harass/9585210

https://www.msn.com/en-za/news/other/somalias-parliament-and-presidential-palace-rocked-by-nearby-car-bomb-blast/ar-BBKG0Hm

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/japan-is-facing-a-death-by-overwork-problem-e2-80-94-heres-how-companies-are-combatting-it/ar-BBKFQHv

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/turnbull-had-his-chance-to-be-a-moral-force-now-he-s-just-a-spent-one-20180330-p4z75s.html

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/hanson-and-abbott-s-strange-collision-of-self-interest-20180329-p4z70m.html

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-25/grattan-urges-consumers-to-be-compensation-for-energy-grid-22g/9585284

http://www.afr.com/news/economy/trade/us-president-donald-trump-targets-china-with-us60b-of-tariffs-20180322-h0xuq0

https://www.smh.com.au/business/no-free-lunches-so-why-are-we-feeding-foreign-multinationals-profits-20180323-h0xv5b.html

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-20/how-the-kimberley-almost-became-australias-israel/9566214

https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/15-cents-per-km-indonesian-gig-economy-drivers-fed-up-with-low-wages-20180330-p4z75c.html

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-22/europe-has-a-problem-in-russia-s-old-stomping-ground

https://www.smh.com.au/money/saving/charging-for-fake-repairs-makes-hire-car-firms-more-money-than-rentals-20180320-p4z56v.html

http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-north-korea-kim-clues-20180321-story.html

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southkorea-politics-constitution/south-korea-presidential-office-proposes-two-term-presidency-lower-voting-age-idUSKBN1GY094

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/03/19/555996/Sharing-Nowruz-joy-with-thousands-of-homeless

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/04/02/557147/China-tariffs-US-products

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/best-job-odds-since-the-mining-boom-10-unemployed-for-each-3-vacancies-20180329-p4z6vc.html

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/stricter-regulation-and-financial-penalties-on-the-cards-for-social-media-platforms-20180329-p4z6vp.html

https://www.jewishnews.net.au/uk-jews-to-corbyn-enough-is-enough/75264

- latest in defense and intelligence

http://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/military/us-patriot-ballistic-missile-defence-system-may-have-failed-over-saudi-arabia/news-story/c2cb4990ae494f5723db3169694e429a

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/russian-ambassador-australian-press-deny-freedom-of-speech-over-skripal-20180403-p4z7k8.html

http://www.dw.com/en/the-death-of-stalin-the-film-that-dares-viewers-to-laugh-about-the-russian-dictator/a-43172737

http://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/military/chinas-j20-stealth-fighter-designer-promises-his-aircraft-will-be-a-battlefield-trump-card/news-story/88a65a9e151f26825eb472a6fad753d3

http://aviationweek.com/defense/road-new-bomber#slide-0-field_images-1370381

https://fightersweep.com/10013/two-israeli-air-force-f-35-adir-stealth-fighter-jets-enter-iranian-airspace/

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/04/01/557120/Yemeni-forces-allies-hit-Saudi-military-base-with-ballistic-missile

https://www.rt.com/usa/423081-anti-russian-hysteria-us-kislyak/

https://www.siliconrepublic.com/machines/lockheed-martin-nuclear-fusion-jet-fighter

https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/russia-apos-defences-could-shut-111033401.html

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/03/29/556796/USAF-F35-Pentagon-costs-Lockheed

http://www.sheppnews.com.au/national/2018/03/28/137791/from-russia-with-laughter

http://nationalinterest.org/feature/why-the-us-government-no-longer-capable-ensuring-national-25160

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/the-us-navys-greatest-mistake-ever-they-only-built-3-these-25183

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/why-war-between-america-china-very-possible-here-how-it-25180

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/the-navy-wants-more-ford-class-aircraft-carriers-we-dont-25179

http://www.dw.com/en/opinion-vladimir-putins-diplomatic-catastrophe/a-43153974

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5879607/saudi-arabia-yemen-civil-war-f-15-fighter-houthi-rebels/

http://airheadsfly.com/tag/croatian-air-force/

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/we-will-all-end-up-paying-for-this-russians-resent-cold-war-redux-20180329-p4z6td.html

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/we-re-fed-up-with-years-of-russian-vexation-and-provocation-johnson-20180329-p4z6t0.html

https://www.defensenews.com/air/2018/03/22/saab-ready-to-offer-radar-tech-for-new-seoul-fighter-if-it-lands-maritime-patrol-aircraft-deal/

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/china-has-super-slick-plan-crush-the-us-air-force-war-25177

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/terrifying-video-shows-what-happens-if-washington-dc-was-25175

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/the-army-navy-have-plan-fire-ground-artillery-navy-ships-25174

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/25/us/us-veteran-deported-to-mexico/index.html

https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/news/israel-fires-iron-dome-in-error/vi-BBKIvqS

https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/saudi-arabia-apos-missile-defences-205706160.html

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/video-houthi-r-27t-russia-missile-attacking-saudi-fighter-jet-2018-3?r=US&IR=T

https://www.msn.com/en-ph/news/world/turkey-still-in-talks-to-buy-us-patriot-missiles/ar-BBKE4Si

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/03/24/turkeys-president-refers-to-anti-war-students-as-terrorists.html

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2018/03/21/Coalition-fighter-jet-targeted-by-surface-to-air-missile-over-Saada.html

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/turkish-fighter-jet-crashes-in-nevsehir-province/

https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/america-apos-most-expensive-weapons-204300730.html

http://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australianoutlook/end-japans-peace-clause/

https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2018/03/mil-180321-presstv01.htm

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-dorfman-gina-haspel-nomination-20180325-story.html

http://www.firstpost.com/world/united-states-imposes-sanctions-on-seven-pakistani-companies-over-links-to-nuclear-trade-4405849.html

https://www.defensenews.com/air/2018/03/22/the-omnibus-spending-bill-would-add-an-extra-143-aircraft-for-the-military/

https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/us-pilots-syria-fight-huge-054906928.html

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/the-story-the-real-f-52-fighter-24972

http://callofduty.wikia.com/wiki/F-52

https://iranian.com/2018/04/01/russia-denies-israeli-fighter-jets-reached-iran-airspace-undetected/

https://www.bloombergquint.com/onweb/2018/04/02/why-america-s-two-top-fighter-jets-can-t-talk-to-each-other

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/why-americas-two-best-fighter-jets-cant-talk-to-each-other/articleshow/63579176.cms

- latest in animal news

http://www.ktva.com/story/37796894/hes-feeding-the-moose-man-attacked-in-muldoon

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/home/pets/urgent-recall-of-advance-dermocare-dog-food-after-deaths-from-incurable-illness/news-story/6787028f0074bcb7af2005a1bb0d3a12

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/half-body-camel/

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/an-easter-miracle-boy-3-asked-roo-for-a-ride-during-night-wandering-the-bush-20180401-p4z7bw.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-5547915/Camel-power-turns-sesame-precious-oil-Afghanistan.html

https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/food/5520488/health-benefits-camel-milk-autism-asda/

https://www.msn.com/en-ie/news/offbeat/elephant-caught-smoking-on-camera-leaves-scientists-baffled/ar-BBKHHKH

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/state/qld/2018/03/27/python-snacks-slipper-undergoes-surgery-remove/

https://cottagelife.com/general/norwegian-man-films-grumpy-moose-getting-revenge-on-car-windshield/

https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/comedy/cheeky-elephant-knocks-over-posing-tourist/vi-BBKG35A

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2018/03/23/Agitated-moose-shatters-drivers-windshield/8091521832122/

https://sputniknews.com/viral/201803261062889298-moose-smashes-car-window-norway/

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/03/us-chimp-retirement-gains-momentum-famed-pair-enters-sanctuary

http://www.dw.com/en/spain-elephants-roam-highway-after-one-killed-in-truck-crash/a-43229023

http://www.dw.com/en/camels-escape-german-circus-for-fast-food-dinner-date/a-43226374

http://www.afr.com/lifestyle/asias-rich-giving-their-status-symbol-fish-cosmetic-surgery-20180328-h0y2xb

https://pjmedia.com/faith/push-make-human-chimp-hybrids/

http://socawlege.com/chimp-spent-18-years-alone-refuses-separated-new-best-friend/

https://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/world/2018/03/01/rescued-chimp-helps-out-flight-over-africa/110970428/

- latest in music and entertainment

http://lividinstruments.com/products/guitar-wing/

http://wiki.lividinstruments.com/wiki/Guitar_Wing_Editor

http://lividinstruments.com/integration/guitar-wing-integration-guide/

http://doublej.net.au/news/features/robert-plant-reveals-his-surprisingly-simple-songwriting-tips

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rivals-not-far-behind-mercedes-20180323-p4z5zs.html

http://www.whimn.com.au/love/intimacy/i-tried-the-coregasm-workout-to-see-if-i-could-orgasm-through-exercise/news-story/79baab28f402a020d9ac04fec1334de9

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/marriage/my-husbands-porn-addiction-destroyed-our-marriage/news-story/801b949e024cbb86ea2ee6fe6a2c07f4

http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/other-industries/pornhubs-premium-places-targeting-towns-with-risque-names-for-porn-giveaway/news-story/b9b79729c2d5af2d6ef965c3b00f49a7

http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/space/disappearance-of-alienobsessed-man-from-canada-to-be-made-into-documentary/news-story/11563f5dbeb62aad8f9d5ebac99d2d74

http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/other-industries/residents-outraged-after-australia-post-fails-to-deliver-mail-from-victorian-post-box-for-five-months/news-story/e8aedfbab8de537dddf1a467455da2ce

Random Quotes:

- The head of the Defense Department's F-35 program office worries that quality lapses at Lockheed Martin's production line could lead to delayed aircraft deliveries. On March 5, Jeff Babione, Lockheed's vice president of F-35 programs, said half of all quality escapes involve low observability systems. (Airman 1st Class Caleb Worpel/U.S. Air Force)

WASHINGTON — As the production rate of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 joint strike fighter goes up, the company is wrestling with quality escapes involving the jet’s low observability features, which now amount to about half of all defects on the aircraft, the company’s vice president of the program revealed Monday.

Last week, Vice Adm. Mat Winter, the head of the government’s F-35 Joint Program Office, slammed Lockheed for what he sees as its too-slow progress on eliminating so-called “quality escapes”— errors made by Lockheed’s workforce that could include drilling holes that are too big or installing a dinged part.

While those errors are minor, the rework done to bring the plane up to requirements is driving up the amount of money and time spent producing an airplane, Winter said.

https://www.defensenews.com/air/2018/03/06/stealth-features-responsible-for-half-of-f-35-defects-lockheed-program-head-states/

- There are two fundamental political-economy questions posed by the imminent arrival of LEV. One question is: If millions, and eventually billions of people live for hundreds of years, how will a population explosion be averted?

The answer to that is that the rate of child-bearing will have to go way down in compensation, in order to ensure a stable global population. If LEV becomes a reality, then as a percentage of the population, children will become rare.

The other question is: Is human civilization going to accept the emergence of a caste of immortal super-rich aristocrats? Or will humanity impose an upper limit on the aggregation and hoarding of personal wealth and ownership titles?

If LEV proves technologically feasible, these two basic questions will need to be addressed within the next few decades. We live in interesting times.

http://www.dw.com/en/what-if-billionaires-could-live-forever/a-42840013

- “Marriage is a process of tolerating each other, and it’s impossible that everything goes your way,” the article read.

“Change your attitude, return to the reality. Maybe there’ll be some imperfection, but your life will be full for it.”

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/marriage/china-tells-women-they-should-settle-for-mr-ok-instead-of-mr-right/news-story/5cad27dbd38ae74e994dfd32ac578b67

- In addition, Medcraft noted that in 2016 and 2017, there had been around 900 ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings), nearly half of which had failed; giving some weight to the risks outlined above.

He also observed that there is still a “wild west” mentality in much of the Blockchain environment and there is a need for the “rule of law” to come to play in order to permit monetary applications to become more main stream.

https://www.itwire.com/technology-regulation/82106-greg-medcraft-bitcoin-doesn%E2%80%99t-have-a-future.html

- The problem for Musk is what the industry lacks in innovation, it will make up for in execution. And if the past few months is any indication, execution isn't Musk's strong suit.

https://www.tweeddailynews.com.au/news/tesla-about-to-come-under-pressure-as-car-industry/3355402/

- "Facebook and Google will have to ask users a lot more permission to track them," Carroll said. "Most people are going to say no, so I think it's going to have a huge impact on these companies."

Carroll has filed a legal action in Britain calling on Cambridge Analytica to disclose what data was gathered and used on him.

An undercover investigation of Cambridge Analytica by Britain's Channel 4 said executives boasted they could entrap politicians in compromising situations with bribes and Ukrainian sex workers, and spread misinformation online.

The executives claimed to have worked in more 200 elections across the world, including Argentina, the Czech Republic, India, Kenya and Nigeria.

The British firm said it "strongly denies" the claims from Channel 4 as well as reports on misuse of Facebook data.

"Facebook data was not used by Cambridge Analytica as part of the services it provided to the Donald Trump presidential campaign," a statement read.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/39561992/facebook-rocked-by-new-data-breach-scandal/

- "The reality is we are fighting two wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the F-22 has not performed a single mission in either theater."

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/xwvqka/air-force-using-stealth-fighters-to-blow-up-afghan-drug-labs

Friday, March 23, 2018

Midi Fighter Pro Firmware Flashing Issues, Random Stuff, and More

- if you don't already know I play around with firmware modifications often and regularly and also repair electronic equipment everyone in a while. Recently got a MidiFighter Beatmasher in a swap. Obvious thing to do is to update firmware when you begin to use it (I stopped doing this a while back after I had some problems but started to do it semi-regularly when the firmware was well tested). Tried it. Ended up bricking the thing. Nothing was responsive and everything online was giving me nothing. This is basically the story of how I de-bricked it

http://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com/2015/08/apple-icloud-device-locking-and-general.html

http://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com/2015/07/ableton-and-ableton-push-hacking.html

http://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com/2012/09/windows-and-android-arent-that_5901.html

http://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com/2012/08/funky-firmware.html

http://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com/2012/07/if-only-reading-were-easier.html

http://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com/2011/11/playing-with-android.html

- looked at the following document. Felt like I was doing the right thing but it didn't seem to be doing anything. Nothing online seemed to provide me with any direction on what to do next...

https://s3.amazonaws.com/CGSupport/Bricked+Midi+Fighter+Reset+Guide.pdf

midi fighter not recognised usb

Midifighter Classic Bricked?

http://forum.djtechtools.com/showthread.php?t=55924

- all online instructions indicated that there was basically a key thing/set of sequences that needed to be done to get the thing into bootloader mode which would get it ready for the firmware to be flashed. Instructions online often make things some simple but I've experienced much strangeness over the years:

# flash chips that would no longer be writable because they had been written to too many times

# incompatible firmware despite evidence to the contrary
# power outages while in the middle of a firmware flash update (this problem has been alleviated a lot by programs which refuse to update without a proper, clean, isolated power supply)
# improperly tested firmware from vendors which led to other complications
# changes to firmware which was made impossible due to some weird intermediate problem
# firmware loads which were impossible due to some strange electronic fault which had to be rectified first (for telecommunications equipment that I've come across clean/sanitary conditions seem to be core to their optimal function)
# flash updates that were only possible through the use of an off board programming device (think about Flash EEPROM programmers)
# firmware updates that were only possible via a minimum version of Operating System (completely different to the old days when things were done via DOS and a bootable disk though safeguards were obviously minimal)

# bricked hardware because I loaded incompatible firmware (I sometimes did this knowingly as an experiment on something that I thought may be cross-compatible). Thankfully, a lot of hardware offers DFU modes that allow you to get to firmware re-write stages. Main issue is lack of documentation. Often you have to short two pins on a 'core chip', start the thing in some sort of sequence, etc... If all else, fails look up the chip and manufacturer documentation (for lower end devices which don't have an adequate support structure)

http://djtechtools.com/midi-map/

http://djtechtools.com/midi-fighter-setup/

https://www.theiphonewiki.com/wiki/DFU_Mode
- if you can't figure out how to hit DFU mode try the traditional 'technology Jedi master' trick as follows... My book on 'Cloud and Internet Security' via Google or Amazon online stores provides further details on bypassing (and defending) chip based security for those who are interested...

http://sites.google.com/site/dtbnguyen/

http://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com.au/

- none of the solutions online seemed to work so I had to do what every other 'technology Jedi master' does. Randomly bash buttons until I found one that seemed to work. LOL If I recall correctly it's something similar to buttons 1/2 simultaneously and then button 1 which sort of resembles what's outlined/documented but not... The strange thing with my circumstance was that it got to the final stage before it sent a signal for a device reset and it had two errors prior to the reset finally doing through and allowing me to conduct a firmware re-flash. Distressing...

- note that in order to get to the buttons to do the reset you have to open up the device which requires hex screws. Beware damaging the screws themselves. They're in pretty tight so ensure you find the right hex screwdriver to remove them (consider using a screw removal liquid/degreaser if you think there is enough of a gap to make it possible). If you do damage it consider using epoxy glue to attach something on it and removing it (really strong quality glues allow you to do this), drilling it out (need quality drill attachments though), using a screw removal extractor system (this still requires quality gear though. On some hardware it's very difficult to skimp and get away with it), etc...

https://www.lowes.com/projects/woodworking-and-crafts/remove-a-stripped-or-broken-screw/project

- consider using an older version of the Midifighter Utility if need be (I prefer 2.6.3 to 2.7.0) if you have problems with the latest download

- there seem to be 'odd modes' in the device that are undocumented. Press the correct sequence and combination of buttons and you can have very strange light sequences. I'm assuming these are for production and diagnostic purposes

- out of curiosity I looked at the Github to see the difficulty in loading a new layout to the hardware (for when MIDI remapping isn't offered in the DAW in question). It would take a bit of work getting the toolchain setup correctly but it seems very possible (uses an Amtel chip at it's core which requires a special utility tool to flash/load new software). Else, you can use something like Bome's MIDI Translator to act as an intermediary mechanism

https://www.bome.com/products/miditranslator

https://www.bome.com/products/mtclassic

http://loopcommunity.com/blocks/software/other/free-alternative-to-bomes-midi-translator

https://www.reddit.com/r/vjing/comments/3sy4zs/bomes_midi_translator_alternative_to_it/

http://www.microchip.com/developmenttools/productdetails.aspx?partno=flip

http://domoticx.com/firmware-atmel-flip/

How To Flash the Midifighter with New Firmware - DJ TechTools Forums

http://forum.djtechtools.com/showthread.php?t=11511

midi fighter github

midi fighter site:github.com

https://github.com/DJ-TechTools

// This table maps key numbers to midi note offsets, to match

// up the notes with Ableton Live drum racks, e.g. key 5 will initially

// send NoteOn G#3 = 44, with the rest of the keypad sending:

// C4 C#4 D4 D#4

// G#3 A3 A#3 B3

// E3 F3 F#3 G3

// C3 C#3 D3 D#3

// The table is coded as note offsets so we can re-base the pad at another

// MIDI note, with the default offset being C3 = 36. The "PROGMEM" setting

// forces the table into program memory so it won't take up precious RAM.

const uint8_t kNoteMap[16] PROGMEM = {

12, 13, 14, 15,

8, 9, 10, 11,

4, 5, 6, 7,

0, 1, 2, 3,

};

https://github.com/DJ-TechTools/Midi_Fighter_Pro/blob/master/midi.c

- a few things about Midi Fighter devices. They can be 'awkward'. The parts may be quality but the older devices in particular look like they've been designed for pure function and don't really consider aesthetics, the software usability of the device is questionable for people who are brand new to the electronic music scene (I've had to deal with conflicts before. Diagnostic messages could have been 'more useful'), etc...

- found these programs while undergoing my search... Really neat. Some people have figured out how to use MIDI devices to control lighting and graphics software. Others have even figured out how to build DIY devices using Arduino and Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) hardware and electronics

https://www.hackster.io/BlitzCityDIY/arduino-midi-fighter-8e8a5a

https://github.com/BlitzCityDIY/diyMidiFighter

https://github.com/BlitzCityDIY/

http://midi2lr.mathieu.photography/

https://petapixel.com/2015/08/12/midi2lr-an-open-source-app-that-lets-you-use-any-midi-controller-in-lightroom/

https://github.com/rsjaffe/MIDI2LR

Random Stuff:

- as usual thanks to all of the individuals and groups who purchase and use my goods and services

http://sites.google.com/site/dtbnguyen/

http://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com.au/

- latest in science and technology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infusionsoft

https://help.infusionsoft.com/grosocial-discontinuation-faq

http://contestdomination.com/

http://contestdomination.com/pricing/

https://github.com/Crypto-Loot/cryptoloot-cli

https://wordpress.org/plugins/crypto-loot-miner/

https://crypto-loot.com/minerui.php

https://crypto-loot.com/documentation

http://thebot.net/threads/be-careful-mining-at-crypto-loot-they-changed-my-xmr-wallet-address.401434/

monero mining linux cli

https://www.monero.how/tutorial-how-to-mine-monero

https://steemit.com/monero/@virtualcoin/how-to-mine-monero-using-linux-cpu

https://steemit.com/mining/@joshmocek/how-to-cpu-mine-monero-on-linux

litecoin linux cli miner

https://www.coindesk.com/information/how-to-mine-litecoin/

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-19/bitcoin-is-not-the-only-bubble-beware-of-property-and-shares/9343422

litecoin linux mining

http://ubuntuhak.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/litecoin-basics-and-ubuntu.html

https://www.coindesk.com/information/how-to-mine-litecoin/

cryptomining-blog.com/664-dedicated-linux-based-litecoin-mining-distributions/

https://www.itwire.com/security/81439-unpatched-oracle-servers-hit-by-cryptocurrency-miners.html

https://www.centobot.com/

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/04/technology/early-facebook-google-employees-fight-tech.html

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/diet/the-key-to-speeding-up-your-metabolism-and-losing-weight/news-story/1205603da90c5a0c01c6622bd83e0c23

http://www.news.com.au/finance/money/investing/bitcoin-could-become-illegal-after-its-blockchain-was-discovered-containing-child-abuse/news-story/bf486e6e8de453fd7ad2abba019952dd

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-12/melanoma-self-testing-could-save-your-life-in-just-90-seconds/9538052

https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2017/04/headless-chrome

http://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/inventions/scientists-are-now-using-eeg-to-reconstruct-images-of-objects-we-see/news-story/f7feba52ca9d4d486f0c3a8e62e78e4d

http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/dumb-fks-the-two-words-coming-back-to-bite-mark-zuckerberg-amid-latest-data-scandal/news-story/e29b6327d9e46ee98db9f9da5649fc36

http://www.traveller.com.au/thai-airways-ban-fat-passengers-and-young-parents-from-business-class-seats-on-their-new-boeing-dreamliner-7879-h0xpsg

https://www.itwire.com/security/82165-slingshot-malware,-found-by-kaspersky,-is-us-creation-claim.html

https://www.itwire.com/security/82170-email-fraud-continues-to-be-achilles-heel-for-business.html

https://gizmodo.com/a-visiting-star-jostled-our-solar-system-70-000-years-a-1823954398?IR=T

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-22/future-of-work-not-robots-we-need-to-fear/9567112

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-21/facebook-how-to-delete-its-not-as-hard-as-you-think/9570332?section=technology

https://www.itwire.com/security/82181-zuckerberg-addresses-data-breach-but-offers-no-apology.html

https://www.itwire.com/security/82178-former-facebook-exec-says-data-harvesting-a-regular-occurrence.html

https://www.itwire.com/security/82176-kaspersky-to-open-swiss-lab-to-avoid-spying-allegations.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_Kafka

- latest in finance and politics

https://www.corbettreport.com/interview-1349-the-ripple-effect-on-ets-ufos-and-other-unknowns/

https://www.corbettreport.com/interview-1350-daniel-mcadams-on-the-state-departments-troll-farm/

https://www.corbettreport.com/interview-1351-derrick-broze-on-crypto-anarchy-and-holistic-self-assessment/

https://www.corbettreport.com/flnwo41/

https://www.corbettreport.com/the-russia-poison-story-is-wmd-2-0/

https://www.corbettreport.com/china-banning-people-from-transit-for-bad-social-credit-scores/

business sales directory

https://www.bsale.com.au/businessbrokers

https://www.commercialrealestate.com.au/business/

https://australia.businessesforsale.com/

http://businesssales.com.au/

https://www.smh.com.au/money/saving/charging-for-fake-repairs-makes-hire-car-firms-more-money-than-rentals-20180320-p4z56v.html

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-lloyds-bank-uk-bitcoin/lloyds-bank-to-ban-credit-card-owners-from-buying-cryptocurrencies-idUKKBN1FO0UM

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-02/bofa-to-decline-all-cryptocurrency-transactions-on-credit-cards

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/you-can-now-buy-a-home-in-italy-for-just-1-2018-02-01

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/02/02/martin-luther-king-profile/1081249001/

https://www.mintpressnews.com/palestine-faces-genocide-israel-deserves-its-pariah-status/238971/

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-22/future-of-work-not-robots-we-need-to-fear/9567112

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-21/justine-damond-mohamed-noor-police-officer-charges/9573122

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180320-malaysias-unwavering-support-for-palestine/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2018/03/06/the-dark-roots-of-aipac-americas-pro-israel-lobby/

http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/victorian-private-school-fees-edge-towards-40-000-20180203-p4yzc8.html

http://www.news.com.au/finance/work/careers/former-linkedin-hr-boss-shares-her-job-application-secrets/news-story/0b55ff340a459da7ef0d5616d5655c98

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/trump-handed-memo-with-instructions-on-what-not-to-say-to-putin/news-story/85c9aced580f0496d437d62759299e5e

http://www.latimes.com/world/global-development/la-fg-global-garry-kasparov-qa-20180319-story.html

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/drawingroom/capitalism-works-for-me/9568240

- latest in defense and intelligence

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2018/03/19/navy-plans-new-f-35c-stealth-fighter-deployment-on-uss-carl-vinson.html

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/19325/this-could-be-your-only-chance-to-buy-a-flyable-phantom-fighter-jet

https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/39561947/may-points-finger-at-russia-over-poisoning/

http://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/empowered-xi-says-china-ready-to-fight-bloody-battle/news-story/d839c38b9d85481cbb2368f1c3465e0b

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/03/20/chinas-xi-takes-swipe-at-trumps-new-doomed-to-failure-taiwan-policy-in-nationalistic-speech.html

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/19169/india-wants-to-link-its-rebooted-fighter-jet-tender-to-future-stealth-fighter-development

- latest in animal news

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2018/03/19/Kansas-farmer-uses-cow-art-to-say-hi-to-SpaceX-rocket/4361521478008/

https://www.outdoorhub.com/news/2018/03/19/video-courageous-moose-stands-ground-oncoming-train/

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2018/03/09/Curious-quokka-licks-cyclists-pedals-in-Western-Australia/9511520625697/

http://petslady.com/article/quokka-massaging-pub-patron-could-face-hefty-fine

https://cottagelife.com/general/moose-who-traditionally-live-in-the-forest-are-now-moving-to-the-prairies/

- latest in music and entertainment

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/food/eat/the-reason-for-these-mysterious-maccas-tents-at-circular-quay-in-sydney/news-story/e00f46379e61f8a7b3e39563916dc07c

https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/while-viewers-abandon-sunrise-and-today-abc-bucks-the-trend-20180322-p4z5ms.html

http://www.news.com.au/sport/motorsport/formula-one/michael-schumachers-medical-condition-still-a-mystery-his-status-as-an-f1-legend-is-undoubted/news-story/e1a81b6eb377a6f357d6728428ac5552

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/food/drink/aldi-brings-back-15l-bottle-of-french-ros/news-story/c328f17104880256d4b5d92455e36c12

Random Quotes:

- And that is the actual case. Executing a successful ICO is difficult. A lot of things have to fall in place. This is why the majority of these ideas will fail and you will never see an actual working product or service on the market.

According to a recent article in Fortune magazine “Nearly Half of 2017’s Cryptocurrency ‘ICO’ Projects Have Already Died“. And Bitcoin.com found another 113 projects that it calls “semi-failed,” because their teams have gone off the radar or their community has withered away. Add those to the mix and the failure rate jumps to 59%. Nervous yet?

As investors grow wary and scared the flow of funds will begin to shrink.

People are getting smarter, earlier. They’re doing more research, sharing information, getting the facts and exposing the schemes, scams and con artists behind these projects. Regulators are getting more involved in cryptocurrencies and they are starting to prosecute scammers. This will make it more difficult for new ICO projects to achieve PRE-ICO and ICO success.

https://medium.com/@normbond/7-deadly-ico-sins-that-will-scare-away-your-investors-e7ae48d0ecc3

- Why do these journalists and many others keep quiet and try to stay in the good books of politicians? The answer is simple: though the jobs of journalists and public relations people are diametric opposites, journalists have no qualms about crossing the divide because the money in PR is much more.

Salaries are much higher if a journalist gets onto the PR team of a senior politician. And with jobs in journalism disappearing at a rate of knots year after year, journalists like Murphy, Maley and Baird hedge their bets in order to stay in politicians’ good books. Remember Mark Simkin, a competent news reporter at the ABC? He joined the staff of — hold your breath — Tony Abbott when the man was prime minister. Simkin is rarely seen in public these days.

Nobody calls journalists on this deception and fraud. It emboldens them to continue to pose as people who act in the public interest when in reality they are no different from the average worker. Yet they climb on pulpits week after week and pontificate to the masses.

It has been said that journalists are like prostitutes: first, they do it for the fun of it, then they do it for a few friends, and finally they end up doing it for money. You won’t find too many arguments from me about that characterisation.

https://sams-blog.com/?p=4307#more-4307

- The price of bitcoin sank late Wednesday after a report by the Wall Street Journal that the Securities and Exchange Commission is ramping up pressure on the initial-coin-offerings industry, issuing scores of subpoenas and information requests to companies. The Journal reported the SEC is seeking information about the structure of ICO sales and pre-sales. Bitcoin BTCUSD, +2.10% immediately fell about 2% after the report, and was last trading at $10,346, according to Coindesk. The SEC has previously suggested that many ICOs may be violating securities laws. In December, a new SEC cyber unit took its first action, halting an allegedly fraudulent ICO. An ICO is a fund-raising method in which a company issues its own cryptocurrency, typically in exchange for bitcoin. The process has significantly fewer regulatory hoops to jump through than an IPO, and the ICO market has been booming, with $6.5 billion raised last year. They're also highly risky -- according to a new survey, 46% of new ICOs in 2017 either flopped out of the gate or have since gone out of business.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/bitcoin-price-falls-after-report-that-sec-is-launching-ico-probe-2018-02-28

- "Why would the US Government fund a tool that limited its own power? The answer, as I discovered, was that Tor didn't threaten American power. It enhanced it."

Levine said the documents showed "Tor employees taking orders from their handlers in the federal government, including plans to deploy their anonymity tool in countries that the US was working to destabilise: China, Iran, Vietnam, Russia".

"They showed strategy sessions, discussions about the need to influence news coverage, and control bad press. They featured monthly updates that described meetings and training with the CIA, NSA, FBI, DoJ and State Department.

"They revealed plans to funnel government funding to run Tor 'independent' nodes. Most shockingly, the FOIA documents put under question Tor's pledge that it would never put in any backdoors that gave the government secret privileged access to Tor's network under question."

https://www.itwire.com/security/81945-privacy-project-tor-claimed-to-be-in-us-government-s-pocket.html

- And if that’s not enough, they may have detected mysterious dark matter at work, too.

The glimpse consisted of a faint radio signal from deep space, picked up by an antenna that is slightly bigger than a refrigerator and costs less than $5 million but in certain ways can go back much farther in time and distance than the celebrated, multibillion-dollar Hubble Space Telescope.

Judd Bowman of Arizona State University, lead author of a study in Wednesday’s journal Nature, said the signal came from the very first objects in the universe as it was emerging out of darkness 180 million years after the Big Bang.

Seeing the universe just lighting up, even though it was only a faint signal, is even more important than the Big Bang because “we are made of star stuff, and so we are glimpsing at our origin,” said astronomer Richard Ellis, who was not involved in the project.

The signal showed unexpectedly cold temperatures and an unusually pronounced wave. When astronomers tried to figure out why, the best explanation was that elusive dark matter may have been at work.

If verified, that would be the first confirmation of its kind of dark matter, which is a substantial part of the universe that scientists have been searching for over decades.

http://savannahnow.com/news/2018-03-01/astronomers-glimpse-cosmic-dawn-when-stars-switched

- SEAN PARKER: If the thought process that went into building these applications–Facebook being the first of them to really understand it–that thought process was all about “How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?” And that means that we need to sort of give you a little dopamine hit every once in a while because someone liked or commented on a photo or a post or whatever, and that’s gonna get you to contribute more content and that’s gonna get you more likes and comments. So it’s a social validation feedback loop. I mean it’s exactly the kind of thing that a that a hacker like myself would come up with, because you’re exploiting a vulnerability in in human psychology. And I just think that we–the inventors/creators, you know, and it’s me, it’s Mark, it’s Kevin Systrom at Instagram, it’s all of these people–understood this consciously and we did it anyway.

https://www.corbettreport.com/socialmedia/

- “In the past, when elephants were sick, they were often released back into the forest. The sick elephants would seek leaves and herbs to treat themselves. But now forests have been largely destroyed; there are few medicinal plants left,” Long added.

Long said elephants were big animals that were generally in good health. Most of their diseases are caused by working too hard and carrying loads that are far too big.

“In recent years, elephants tend to have more tumours in their bodies. The tumours stem from polluted food and water, which leads to lack of nutrition and resistance in their bodies,” he added.

Long often uses the bark of lộc vừng (fish poison tree or barringtonia), and leaves of trâm (Jamblon or syzygium cumini) and some salt boiled to rinse off the injured areas. After sterilising the injury, Long uses soil taken from the nest of termites or fermented rice to cover the open injury.

“Both substances have antibiotic functions and kill parasites and work very well for elephants with tumours,” Long said.

http://vietnamnews.vn/english-through-the-news/423549/elephant-struggle-to-stay-healthy.html

- Australians are loyal to their mobile phone operators, staying with them through thick and thin, with a newly published report finding that switching is in the too-hard-basket for many mobile users, and others find comparing their options too confusing.

According to comparison website finder.com.au, 10% of mobile users say it’s too much hassle to change providers and a further 6% find comparing their options too confusing.

But, according to finder many mobile users stick with the same mobile phone provider when they could be switching and getting a better deal – or even a better deal with their current provider.

Finder says that the average Aussie has been with the same telco for 6.5 years, with only one-third (38%) switching providers in the last 3 years, while a further 14% have been with their telco for 4-5 years and 26% haven’t switched for 6-10 years.

https://www.itwire.com/telecoms-and-nbn/81968-good-deal,-better-deal-no-matter-what,-aussies-stick-with-their-mobile-phone-providers-survey.html

- Huawei's global chief executive Ken Hu told the AFR last week that the US and Australian concerns were based on "groundless suspicions".

"We welcome discussions and even debate if it is based on facts," he said. "We are very happy to conduct open and transparent discussions with the Australian Government and telecom operators."

The US has been increasing the pressure on Huawei from the start of this year. A deal for AT&T to sell the Chinese firm's phones on plans was cancelled by the American company at the last minute in January.

Not long after, Verizon was reported to have yielded to pressure from the US Government to stop selling Huawei devices.

In February, US intelligence chiefs warned against the use of Huawei equipment.

FBI chief Christopher Wray told a US Senate hearing: “We’re deeply concerned about the risks of allowing any company or entity that is beholden to foreign governments that don’t share our values to gain positions of power inside our telecommunications networks."

But the UK works with Huawei and recently said it would continue to do so.

Australia denied Huawei any role in supplying equipment to the country's national broadband network project about six years ago, following advice by ASIS, one of its spy agencies.

And last year, Australia put pressure on the Solomon Islands to drop Huawei as the main contractor for an undersea cable project. The project was later awarded to the Vocus Group.

https://www.itwire.com/government-tech-policy/81959-us-claims-huawei-would-endanger-ties-with-australia.html

Binh Nguyen's Blog

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Thursday, April 12, 2018

APT Change Request Check Script, Random Stuff, and More

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Network Mapping Tool, Random Stuff, and More

Friday, March 23, 2018

Midi Fighter Pro Firmware Flashing Issues, Random Stuff, and More

Ender 3v2 and Ender 3vSE 3D Printer Maintenance, Klipper Firmware Upgrade, and More