The Programmers’ Credo

What’s encrypting your internet surfing? An algorithm created by a supercomputer? Well, if the site you’re visiting is encrypted by the cyber security firm Cloudflare, your activity may be protected by a wall of lava lamps.

Cloudflare covers websites for Uber, OKCupid, & FitBit, for instance. The wall of  lamps in the San Francisco headquarters generates a random code. Over 100  lamps, in a variety of colors, and their patterns deter hackers from accessing data.  

As the lava lamps bubble and swirl, a video camera on the ceiling monitors their unpredictable changes and connects the footage to a computer, which converts the randomness into a virtually unhackable code.

Codes created by machines have relatively predictable patterns, so it’s possible for hackers to guess their algorithms, posing a security risk. Lava lamps, add to the equation the sheer randomness of the physical world, making it nearly impossible for hackers to break through.

You might think that this would be kept secret, but it’s not. Simply go in and ask to see the lava lamp display. By allowing people to affect the video footage, human movement, static, and changes in lighting from the windows work together to make the random code even harder to predict.

So, by standing in front of the display, you add an additional variable to the code, making it even harder to hack. Isn’t that interesting? 

via atlasobscura.com

What the fuck.

Halloween is upon us!

Destroy the idea that you have to be constantly working or grinding in order to be successful. Embrace the concept that rest, recovery, and reflection are essential parts of the progress towards a successful and ultimately happy life.

When your October style is SUPER(natural). 👻🎃

Statue of a Seated Scribe

This painted limestone statue from Saqqara shows a cross-legged scribe with a papyrus scroll over his knees, his hands ready to write. He wears a wig with a central parting as was fashionable in the Old Kingdom, and his eyes are inlaid to express his wisdom and the depth of his psyche.

His gaze gives one the impression that he is meditating and thinking about what he will write so that he appears to be at the very moment of the inspiration and creation of an intellectual work. The level of his gaze is high, probably because the artist wanted to show that he was looking far away, pondering what he was about to write.

Old Kingdom, 5th Dynasty, ca. 2494-2345 BC. Now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. JE 30272; CG 36

NASA Spotlight: Christina Hernandez, NASA Mars 2020 Rover Instrument Engineer

“I was in love with the beauty of space. It was my introduction to appreciating the beauty of complex, chaotic things—black holes, giant gas planets, or killer asteroids—that got my imagination riled up.“ -Christina Hernandez

Christina Hernandez, a space enthusiast and self-proclaimed nerd, is an aerospace engineer at our Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California where she works as an instrument engineer on our newest rover mission – Mars2020. The Mars2020 rover is a robotic scientist that is launching to the Red Planet next year. If you would like to launch to the Red Planet as well, you can Send Your Name to Mars along with millions of other people! Christina’s job is to make sure that the instruments we send to the Martian surface are designed, built, tested and operated correctly so we can retrieve allll the science. When she isn’t building space robots, she loves exploring new hiking trails, reading science fiction and experimenting in the kitchen. Christina took a break from building our next Martian scientist to answer some questions about her life and her career: 

If you could go to Mars, would you? And what are three things you’d bring with you?

Only if I had a round trip ticket! I like the tacos and beach here on Earth too much. If I could go, I would bring a bag of Hot Cheetos, a Metallica album, and the book On the Shoulders of Giants.

If you could name the Mars2020 rover, what would you name it and why?

Pilas, a reference to a phrase my family says a lot, ponte las pilas. It literally means put your batteries on or in other words, get to work, look alive or put some energy into it. Our rover is going to need to have her batteries up and running for all the science she is going to be doing! Luckily, the rover has a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) to help keep the batteries charged!

What’s been your most memorable day at NASA?

It’s been seeing three of the instruments I worked on getting bolted and connected to the flight rover. I’ll never forget seeing the first 1’s and 0’s being exchanged between the rover compute element (RCE), the rover’s on-board brain, and the instruments’ electronics boxes (their brains). I am sure it was a wonderful conversation between the two!

It’s a long journey to get from Earth to Mars. What would be on your ultimate road trip playlist?

Metallica, The Cure, Queen, Echo and the Bunnymen, Frank Sinatra, Ramon Ayala, AC/DC, Selena, Los Angeles Azules, ughhhh – I think I just need a Spotify subscription to Mars.

What is one piece of advice you wish someone would’ve told you?

Take your ego out of the solution space when problem solving.

Do you have any secret skills, talents, or hobbies?

I love reading. Each year I read a minimum of 20 books, with my goal this year being 30 books. It’s funny I increased my goal during what has definitely been my busiest year at work. I recently got into watercolor painting. After spending so much time connected at work, I started looking for more analog hobbies. I am a terrible painter right now, but I painted my first painting the other day. It was of two nebulas! It’s not too bad! I am hoping watercolor can help connect me more to the color complexities of nature…and it’s fun!

What’s a project or problem that you would love the ability to tackle/work on?

I would love to work on designs for planetary human explorers. So far, I have focused on robotic explore, but when you throw a “loveable, warm, squishy thing” into the loop, its creates a different dimension to design – both with respect to operability and risk.

Thanks so much Christina! The Mars2020 rover is planned to launch on July 17, 2020, and touch down in Jezero crater on Mars on February 18, 2021.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

TIL Megalovania has been used in actual published scientific research

Read the paper here

I’m losing my shit over this

YEAH

I think “arousal” here means emotional activation in general so excitement counts too. Basically they’ve proven that megalovania fucking slaps

The aforementioned scream isn't even a song or anything. It's just a straight-up scream from some person.

This funky fellow was used to assess responses, the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM):

(They’re coming to get ya!)

The top row is Valence, whether the elicited emotion is positive or negative, 2nd is Arousal, how much the elicited emotion is “activating”, 3rd is Dominance, if the participant feels “in control” of the emotion.

Megalovania scored 70.02, 72.89, and 54.05 respectively which is science talk for SHIT SLAPS BRO

today I learned that an estimated 20% of genetics papers may have errors because Excel automatically converted the names of genes into calendar dates

Big Data Diseases

hmmm

Einstein of Programming

Platonic Solids and its nets.

Why have I convinced myself that buying a new planner will solve all of my life problems.

new york freakin university baby

Doxxing is illegal -_-

so is child trafficking so i guess no ones perfect

“The dataset was compiled by New York-based activist Sam Lavigne, who trawled the professional profile website LinkedIn to identify some 1,600 people working for ICE. The database included public information like job titles or profile pictures of the officers.” all public infos so not illegal lmfao