steve2470
steve2470's JournalVPNs are so insecure you might as well wear a KICK ME sign
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/06/30/worlds_best_vpns_fall_flat_in_security_tests/(yes the actual headline from the website)
A team of five researchers from universities in London and Rome have identified that 14 of the top commercial virtual private networks in the world leak IP data.
Vasile C. Perta, Marco V. Barbera, and Alessandro Mei of Sapienza University of Rome, together with Gareth Tyson, and Hamed Haddadi of the Queen Mary University of London say vendor promises of user privacy and security are often lies that put users at risk.
"Despite being a known issue, our experimental study reveals that the majority of VPN services suffer from IPv6 traffic leakage," the authors wrote in the paper A Glance through the VPN Looking Glass: IPv6 Leakage and DNS Hijacking in Commercial VPN clients [PDF].
"Our findings confirm the criticality of the current situation: many of these [14] providers leak all, or a critical part of the user traffic in mildly adversarial environments.
more at link
The Definitive and Final Ranking of All 50 States (not to be taken seriously)
https://www.yahoo.com/travel/the-definitive-and-final-ranking-of-all-50-states-122796477147.htmlFlorida gets the worst ranking, 50th. Color me surprised!
Michigan gets number one for the best (hear that, MrScorpio ?)
Enjoy!
ICYMI: DU is upgrading, eventually
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1259&pid=81621. I'll ask Elad to check it out. Because that is way over my head.
FWIW, We are working with our ISP to scrap our antiquated server setup and move into something new. It's a big job and it will take a while. But we are working on it!
The Urban Heat Island and Local Temperature Variations in Orlando, Florida
https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/southeastern_geographer/summary/v046/46.2yow.htmlCities artificially alter local climates affecting economic and biological processes. This study examined air temperatures in Orlando's urban canopy layer using a network of twenty-nine fixed-point stations from September 1999 to December 2001. Urban Heat Island (UHI) statistics were calculated using two stations that were representative of an urban and rural setting. Orlando's UHI develops best on calm, clear nights during dry months: its maximum magnitude exceeds 8°C. Orlando's UHI, however, is predominantly a nocturnal phenomenon with intense heat islands sometimes occurring during warm afternoons. These events are most likely attributable to isolated thundershowers. Local temperature variations between urban and rural extremes were examined by calculating environmental indices for all stations. The range in monthly cooling degreeday totals exceeded 100 degree days in six months of the thirty-six month study period. Heating degree totals and number of freezing hours were also highly variable.
question about deficit spending
Any time I read or listen to RW'ers, inevitably at some point they rail against deficit spending, along with the household budget comparison (which is totally off, of course). My understanding is that deficit spending is not an issue, unless it reaches very high proportions of GDP. I know it was very high during WW2 but I'm guessing no one dared to make it an issue back then ?
Am I correct here ? I'm not an economist, hence the sincere question. Thanks in advance!
Steve
Best non-family human you've ever met (in person) ?
My now-deceased therapist. I said non-family because my parents were, overall, pretty awesome. I always love to hear about wonderful people, it's uplifting to me.
Poll: priority for increasing public mental health funding
I'm curious to see how DU feels. I think it's in the top 5 of priorities, definitely. There are so many pressing priorities, but yes, I do feel it ranks very high for all Americans to have adequate public mental health facilities.
vignette
Today I want to pay tribute to all in the helping professions: therapists, counselors, social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, nurses, and others I'm forgetting. One of you saved my life, I'm convinced, when I was much younger.
I'd go into detail, but because of the sociopaths on the internet and some nasty people here on DU, I will not. Anyway, thank you again to all who labor so tirelessly for not enough pay and benefits and with people's most intimate struggles. Thank you, all of you, from the bottom of my heart.
Steve
Rats dream about the places they wish to go
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27788-rats-dream-about-the-places-they-wish-to-go.html#.VY9VrjdoJ7I
Do you dream of where you'd like to go tomorrow? It looks like rats do.
When the animals are shown a food treat at the end of a path they cannot access and then take a nap, the neurons representing that route in their brains fire as they sleep – as if they are dreaming about running down the corridor to grab the grub.
"It's like looking at a holiday brochure for Greece the day before you go – that night you might dream about the pictures," says Hugo Spiers of University College London.
Like people, rats store mental maps of the world in their hippocampi, two curved structures on either side of the brain. Putting electrodes into rats' brains as they explore their environment has shown that different places are recorded and remembered by different combinations of hippocampal neurons firing together.
Dear Skinner, Elad and EarlG, please read this thread and post and comment
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1095&pid=14771Thank you kindly, gentlemen! Keep up the good work.
Steve
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Gender: Do not displayMember since: Sat Oct 16, 2004, 01:04 PM
Number of posts: 37,457