Art

Geometric Pattern: Leaf: Seasons / Red Wolf

— by Red Wolf

Art

Geometric Pattern: Nested Cubes / Red Wolf

— by Red Wolf

Art, Entertainment

Overlook Hotel Carpet from The Shining / Red Wolf

— by Red Wolf

Craft

Tiny Trebuchet / One Car Workshop

Build a tiny trebuchet for less than $10 using no tools! In this video, Bill Livolsi of One Car Workshop shows you how to build the world’s cutest siege weapon using popsicle sticks, a pair of scissors, and super glue — via Youtube

Technology

In fight for free speech, researchers test anti-censorship tool built into the internet’s core

When the Chinese government wanted to keep its users off Facebook and Google, it blocked the entire country’s access to the US companies’ apps and sites. And when citizens started using third-party workarounds — like Tor, proxies and VPNs — to get around those blocks, it moved to quash those, too.

So a handful of researchers came up with a crazy idea: What if circumventing censorship didn’t rely on some app or service provider that would eventually get blocked but was built into the very core of the internet itself? What if the routers and servers that underpin the internet — infrastructure so important that it would be impractical to block — could also double as one big anti-censorship tool?

It turns out, the idea isn’t as crazy as it might seem. After six years in development, three research groups have joined forces to conduct real-world tests of an experimental new technique called refraction networking. They call their particular implementation TapDance, and it’s designed to sit within the internet’s core.

In partnership with two medium-sized US internet providers and the popular app Psiphon, they deployed TapDance for over a week this past spring to help more than 50,000 users around the world access the free and open internet — the first time such a test has been done outside the lab, and at such a large scale.

The researchers announced the test in a paper presented at the annual USENIX Security conference earlier this week.

In the long run, we absolutely do want to see refraction networking deployed at as many ISPs that are as deep in the network as possible, said David Robinson, one of the paper’s authors, and co-founder of the Washington-based tech policy consulting firm Upturn. We would love to be so deeply embedded in the core of the network that to block this tool of free communication would be cost-prohibitive for censors  — via CBC

Wildlife

Eastern Black Rhino Calves / Chester Zoo

Two incredibly rare Eastern black rhino calves have been born in a week at Chester Zoo, boosting global numbers of the critically endangered species.

Both calves were delivered safely onto soft sand following pregnancies lasting around 15 months — via Youtube

Art

Free Bird Seed / E Lee

Politics

Chap behind Godwin’s law suspends his own rule for Charlottesville fascists: ‘By all means, compare them to Nazis’

Mike Godwin, creator of Godwin’s law, has rescinded his own rule for those outraged by vile fascists marching the streets of Virginia, USA, at the weekend.

In other words, it’s OK to call these un-American white supremacists exactly what they are: By all means, compare these shitheads to Nazis. Again and again. I’m with you, Godwin said on Sunday evening.

Godwin’s law states that as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one. The unofficial extension of this is that the first person to bring up Hitler automatically loses the argument.

Godwin created the aphorism in the early 1990s, when he was the first in-house lawyer for the EFF. It was created partly as a humorous aside on bulletin board behaviour and partly as an exercise in mimetics and to encourage people to read more history. More than 20 years later it’s still cited online.

In the wake of white supremacist rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend, which left one protestor dead and 30 injured, Godwin has, at least in this case, suspended his own law – or, rather, granted permission to break it. This comes after a plea from a fan online for him to respond to the scenes of fascists in America’s streets — via The Register (UK)

Wildlife

Five Cheetah Cubs Fluff It Up / Monarto Zoo

Five fluffy Cheetah cubs made their public debut this week at Australia’s Monarto Zoo.

Born in March to mother Kesho, the cubs immediately began exploring their new environment after bonding with Kesho in a private den for about three months.

One of the cubs is a male, and the other four are females — via ZooBorns

Entertainment

Martin Scorsese on Framing / Blank on Blank

Sometimes when it all comes together … you become the film you’re making — Martin Scorsese in 1990, as told to TJ English.

In this new episode we have a previously unheard conversation with legendary director, Martin Scorsese, on how he’s framed his movies and his life. The early foray into making a movie as a kid, toying with becoming a priest, and where his parents fit into all this. And wouldn’t you like to see a Scorsese Western? Enjoy! — via Youtube