Tag: var-scpt

Watch this timelapse of a guy single-handedly building a log cabin the woods

Well, this is damn impressive. Outdoorsman Shawn James built a log cabin in the Canadian woods all by himself — without power tools — and created this timelapse video to prove it. He writes : At the beginning of the video, I show a winter drone photo of the cabin in the snow in December. Then I flashback to the first balsam fir tree I cut down with a saw and axe near the cabin. I drag the trees into place and clear the cabin site. All summer, I cut the notches in the logs as I built the cabin up, offsite. Once I was finished notching the logs with a log scribe, saw, axe, adze and wood carving gouge, I loaded up the entire cabin of logs and moved them to my land near Algonquin Park, Ontario Canada… Because the cabin is offgrid, I have used handtools for most of the build and without power, I have no options on site regardless. The tiny house will continue to be operated with power, not even renewable energy for now, so I’m heating the cabin with a woodstove fire place, which I also cook on. ( digg )

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Watch this timelapse of a guy single-handedly building a log cabin the woods

How do you play this boardgame from 375 C.E.

This board game was found in Poprad, Slovakia inside a German prince’s tomb that dates to 375 C.E. Now, researchers at Switzerland’s Museum of Games are trying to figure out how to play it. From Smithsonian: It’s likely the board is designed to play Latrunculi or Ludus latrunculorum, which translates as “Mercenaries” or the “Game of Brigands” or some variant. That game was originally derived from an ancient Greek game called petteia which is referenced in the works of Homer. There are a handful of vague descriptions of how the game was played in ancient sources, but researchers have not successfully figured out the complete set of rules so far, though many gamers have come up with their own guesses. “There were plenty of board games in ancient times with many variants, but reconstructing the playing technique is a very complicated process that only top experts can solve,” Karol Pieta, the archaeologist in charge of the dig, tells the Spectator. ” Researchers Are Trying to Figure Out How to Play This Ancient Roman Board Game ” (Smithsonian)

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How do you play this boardgame from 375 C.E.

Ocean waves can hurl boulders 2.5X the weight of the Statue of Liberty

That rock you see above? It’s 620 tons, over 2.5 times the weight of the Statue of Liberty. Yet some powerful wave in the North Atlantic was mighty enough to lift it out of the sea and plop it onto land. Everyday ocean waves are way more powerful than we ever thought: This is the conclusion of a fascinating paper by geoscientist Ronadh Cox and her research group . Scientists long knew there were unusually huge rocks hurled ashore around the world, but generally they assumed they’d been tossed up by tsunamis, rare tectonic events. Nope. It looks like regular ‘ol storm-waves can manage these sorts of feats. Cox and her group took a bunch of before-and-after photos of the northwest coast of Ireland around the time of a 2013-2014 storm cluster, and identified several boulders that the storms had thrown ashore. They were huuuuuuuge! No wonder Homer called Poseidon the “earth-shaker” . The paper is here online in full , and is both layperson-parsable and seriously gripping. Given that global warming is pouring evermore energy into the oceans, we’re going to need to reassess just how powerful coastal waves can get, as Cox points out in this story about her work: “Why bother with this study?” Cox knew members of the audience might be asking. If these deposits are formed by storms, then we can better understand storm dynamics and coastal processes. This information will be important as global climate changes cause storms to become more frequent and intense. The research could also help to constrain tsunami models elsewhere. “But from my perspective, it’s just cool. It’s just fun,” added Cox.

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Ocean waves can hurl boulders 2.5X the weight of the Statue of Liberty

Federal prosecutors say that Ohio man used MacOS malware that covertly operated cameras and mics and exfiltrated porn searches for 13 years

An indictment in the US District Court for the Northern District of Ohio’s Eastern Division alleges that Phillip R Durachinsky created a strain of MacOS “creepware” called Fruitfly, which was able to covertly operate the cameras and microphones of infected computers as well as capturing and sharing porn searches from the infected machines; the indictment alleges that Durachinsky used the software for 13 years, targeting individuals, schools, and federal agencies including the Department of Energy. (more…)

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Federal prosecutors say that Ohio man used MacOS malware that covertly operated cameras and mics and exfiltrated porn searches for 13 years

40 common tourist scams to look out for

Here’s an infographic with 40 scams you should be aware of when you travel. Grifting creeps have tried pulling scams like this on me on various trips but luckily they weren’t good enough at their trade to stop me from figuring out what was happening before I lost any money. The Broken Camera Someone will ask you to take a photo of them and their group of friends. The camera won’t work, and when you go to hand it back, they will drop it can cause it to smash. The entire group will then demand money for repairs, or pickpocket you during the commotion. The Fake Takeaway Menu Scam artists will slide fake takeaway menus under your hotel door, in the hope that you order from them on an evening where you don’t feel like going out. You won’t receive any food though, just a frightening bank statement after they have used your card details to make their own copy. The Getaway Taxi Driver When you arrive at your hotel from the airport, the taxi driver will kindly take your bags out of the trunk for you. He’ll seem in a rush though, and quickly hop back into his car and drive off as soon as possible. This is because he’s actually left one of your smaller and less memorable bags in his taxi.

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40 common tourist scams to look out for

Microsoft releases Q#, a language for writing quantum algorithms

Is your New Years’ resolution to start writing quantum-computing algorithms as a side hustle? Hey, me too! So I’m going to spend this weekend playing around with Microsoft’s newly-released “Quantum Development Kit” . It includes their language Q# – designed for writing quantum-computing algorithms – as well as a little “universal quantum simulator” to test your code. Their “Hello, World” quickstart here has you entangle two qubits . Another demo, outlined in the video below , includes teleporting a message via entangled qubits. This is going to be a super weird weekend. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7b4J2INq9c (Image via Wikimedia )

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Microsoft releases Q#, a language for writing quantum algorithms

Opera browser now includes cryptojacking protection

“Cryptojacking” is the latest trend in malware; by some estimates, there are at least 2,500 sites that illicitly run Javascript in your browser to secretly mine cryptocurrency . So the browser pushback has begun. Opera just announced its latest release includes anti-mining measures : Bitcoins are really hot right now, but did you know that they might actually be making your computer hotter? Your CPU suddenly working at 100 percent capacity, the fan is going crazy for seemingly no reason and your battery quickly depleting might all be signs that someone is using your computer to mine for cryptocurrency. Brave, Brendan Eich’s new startup browser, also implemented this type of blocking earlier this year . I hope this trend continues; there are lots of plugins that block cryptocurrency mining , but it’ll only become mainstream if it’s built as a default into mainstream browsers.

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Opera browser now includes cryptojacking protection

Print of "lost" britcom discovered in Nigerian basement and restored with X-rays and laser-cutters

In the early days of TV, it was routine to tape over the recording medium after the initial air-date, which means that no video record exists of many of the pioneering moments in television. (more…)

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Print of "lost" britcom discovered in Nigerian basement and restored with X-rays and laser-cutters

A fully-functional Rubik’s Cube made of ice

Starting in 1980, spurred by popularity of the Rubik’s Cube, UK-based Tony Fisher started passionately collecting “twisty puzzles.” Over the years, he’s become quite the collector and inventor. All his ” transformations ” are really impressive. In fact, in 2016, he became a Guinness World Record holder for ” World’s Largest Rubik’s Cube .” Well, now he has fashioned a fully-functional Rubik’s Cube out of ice. He explains : This is my Rubik’s Cube made from 95% ice and it is fully functional. All 8 corners and 12 edges are solid ice. The 6 centres are 50% ice and the core is plastic. The screws and springs are regular metal ones. The puzzle shown is a first attempt and works surprising well. I am thinking about making others with full ice centres and also fully coloured ones. This video doesn’t show how he made it and you’ll see that the video footage is reversed in the beginning, making the melting ice seemingly “build” the toy. He does, however, write that he’ll be posting the construction video soon. ( Daily Mail ) Previously: WATCH: World record smallest 7x7x7 Rubik’s Cube

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A fully-functional Rubik’s Cube made of ice