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Showing posts from December 19, 2018

Astronomy Picture of the Day: Red Nebula, Green Comet, Blue Stars

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Red Nebula, Green Comet, Blue Stars This festively colored skyscape was captured in the early morning hours of December 17, following Comet Wirtanen's closest approach to planet Earth . The comet was just visible to the eye. The lovely green color of its fluorescing cometary atmosphere or coma is brought out here only by adding digital exposures registered on the comet's position below the Pleiades star cluster. The exposures also bring out blue starlight reflected by the dust clouds surrounding the young Pleiades stars. Gaze (toward the left) across dusty dark nebulae along the edge of the Perseus molecular cloud and you'll travel to emission nebula NGC 1499, also known as the California nebula. Too faint for the eye, the cosmic cloud's pronounced redd ish glow is from electrons recombining with ionized hydrogen atoms. Around December 23rd, Comet Wirtanen should be

Team Fortress 2 Update Released

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An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include: Happy Smissmas 2018! All players who play TF2 during the event will receive a Stuffed Stocking as a gift! Stockings contain goodies for good little Mercenaries. Event runs through January 7th, 2019 Added the Winter 2018 Cosmetic Case Contains 18 new community-contributed items The Festivizer can be found as a bonus drop when opening the case Mann Co. Store winter sale! General Fixed func_rotating entity not working properly in maps like 2Fort and Gravelpit Fixed Strange Filter: Brimstone not displaying the prefix in the weapon name Fixed a Mann vs. Machine bug with giant robots reported by Justin G. (sigsegv) Added LAN Downunder 2018 tournament medals Added ETF2L 6v6 Season 31 and Highlander Season 17 tournament medals Added Brazil Fortress Season 3 tournament medals Added Russian Highlander Season 1 tournament m

This is why rocket launches always get delayed

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Space Weather, weather, and sometimes boats. Four different rocket launches were scheduled to take off on Tuesday, and exactly none of those rockets actually took off. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2QKpiFx"

9 jaw-dropping facts about naked mole rats to celebrate the bloody ascent of their new queen

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Animals Long may she reign. Naked mole rats are a real freaky bunch, as it turns out. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2EEIwGq"

We’re creeping back up to mid ‘90s-level gun death rates

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Health Nearly 40,000 people died in 2017 from firearms. The 21st century has been fairly smooth sailing as far as gun deaths go, but in the last few years we’ve begun to ruin our track record. Data from the Centers for… via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2LrwkZT"

Daily Deal - Sundered, 75% Off

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Today's Deal: Save 75% on Sundered !* Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are! *Offer ends Friday at 10AM Pacific Time via Steam RSS News Feed "https://ift.tt/2ChxiFl"

Meet Farout, the new most distant member of our solar system

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Space It's the farthest object we've ever spotted in our neighborhood. Say hello to 2018 VG18, the most distant solar system object ever spotted. Nicknamed “Farout,” it’s about 120 to 130 astronomical units (AU) from the sun. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2EFxb8W"

IT security Predictions for 2019 – Verifying Trust

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Making predictions in the information security space is always an interesting yet challenging task. The very nature of cybersecurity, with the velocity of vulnerabilities and new threat actor coalitions along with the shifting regulatory environment, requires organisations to stay vigilant and informed. Although we are at a point where new technologies such as AI and ML are grabbing a lot of the attention, a major change for 2019 onwards is focused on the bigger picture issue of trust. Although the concept of Zero Trust and its becoming the de-facto model for security controls has gained acceptance, the next 24 months will see it accelerate into architectural best practices.  Zero Trust moves away from the traditional perimeter-based architecture that assumed that anybody inside or getting remote access to the internal corporate network was trusted. With the rise of hybrid IT and the dynamic nature of provisioning apps, resources and users, the risks of unauthorized and insecure a

Vote for Blockchain [Voting]

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While the internet has been around for nearly two decades, our society has failed to devise a reliable, fraud-proof way to implement a digital voting system. As it stands, our current election process is not particularly conducive to the act of casting a vote. Many people refuse to take the time off on a weekday in order to make it to their polling centers. Furthermore, finding a polling place can be difficult, and mailing in a ballot can often slip someone’s mind. Inconvenience aside, as voter fraud becomes increasingly common, officialshave been working tirelessly to strengthen the defenses of state election infrastructure. Although progress has been made, we've still got a ways to go before ensuring all systems are well-secured. Nowhere has the cry for digital voting been louder than in the United States, and as voting rates for citizens continue to stagnate, using blockchain to preserve the integrity of digital votes can help meet the needs of our digitized society.. A blo

Vote for Blockchain [Voting]

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While the internet has been around for nearly two decades, our society has failed to devise a reliable, fraud-proof way to implement a digital voting system. As it stands, our current election process is not particularly conducive to the act of casting a vote. Many people refuse to take the time off on a weekday in order to make it to their polling centers. Furthermore, finding a polling place can be difficult, and mailing in a ballot can often slip someone's mind. Inconvenience aside, as voter fraud becomes increasingly common, officialshave been working tirelessly to strengthen the defenses of state election infrastructure. Although progress has been made, we've still got a ways to go before ensuring all systems are well-secured. Nowhere has the cry for digital voting been louder than in the United States, and as voting rates for citizens continue to stagnate, using

This microscope could look for life on Jupiter's moon

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Space Shamu dreams of Europa. This rugged field instrument can make real-time 3D movies even in harsh conditions. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2rLQAwh"

Too impatient to meditate? A mild shock to the scalp could help.

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Health The benefits of being mindful take time, but there might be a way to speed them up. Despite its seeming simplicity (just empty your mind and focus on your breathing) and potential benefits, meditation is much easier said than done. A small cadre of… via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2EuOHM8"