Author Archives: Andrea

Ads that use inaudible sound

If this is true, I’m going to knit myself a tinfoil hat. And one for my laptop, and one for my tablet, and one for my cellphone.

Ars Technica: Beware of ads that use inaudible sound to link your phone, TV, tablet, and PC. “Privacy advocates warn feds about surreptitious cross-device tracking.” By Dan Goodin.

“The ultrasonic pitches are embedded into TV commercials or are played when a user encounters an ad displayed in a computer browser. While the sound can’t be heard by the human ear, nearby tablets and smartphones can detect it. When they do, browser cookies can now pair a single user to multiple devices and keep track of what TV commercials the person sees, how long the person watches the ads, and whether the person acts on the ads by doing a Web search or buying a product. Dan Goodin reports for Ars Technica on cross-device tracking software already in use today.”

Link via and discussion over at MetaFilter.

Undisclosed

In the past few days I got sucked into the Undisclosed podcast by Rabia Chaudry, Colin Miller and Susan Simpson, three lawyers. Chaudry is a friend of the Syed family.

“The Undisclosed Podcast is a listening experience that reframes, enhances or otherwise shifts everything you’ve come to know about the State of Maryland’s case against Adnan Syed, especially as you’ve come to know it through listening to Serial. […] Not only will we look at the evidence that was presented in Serial, but we will also provide new evidence that we’ve uncovered in our investigation. We have combed through police and court records that the Serial team did not possess during the podcast, and done much, much more to get to the truth. Accordingly, we aspire to present the best possible version of the events as we believe those events to be.”

I’ve finished the first seven episodes and addenda so far and am curious to hear what comes next.

Tonight I stumbled upon two videos of “The Docket” on MSNBC:

The Science Of ‘Serial’ Part I: Crime Scene, Part II: Autopsy. There is a prior episode as well, ‘Serial’ Podcast Breakdown: The Cellphone Mystery

For previous postings, see here.

Hole-Punch Cloud

Fallstreak Holes

“A fallstreak hole, also known as a hole punch cloud, punch hole cloud, skypunch, canal cloud or cloud hole, is a large circular or elliptical gap that can appear in cirrocumulus or altocumulus clouds. Such holes are formed when the water temperature in the clouds is below freezing but the water has not frozen yet due to the lack of ice nucleation (see supercooled water). When ice crystals do form it will set off a domino effect, due to the Bergeron process, causing the water droplets around the crystals to evaporate: this leaves a large, often circular, hole in the cloud.”

Deutsch: Hole-Punch Cloud.

I first stumbled upon this hole punch cloud, which was photographed in Korumburra, Australia, a few days ago. It has a sort of “rainbow” inside, which is explained in this National Geographic article from last year: Explaining Rare ‘Hole Punch’ Cloud With Rainbow in the Middle.

Here’s another great example, a sundog inside a hole-punch cloud (bigger version of the photo).

A Google image search finds lots of other great photos.

Speechless – sprachlos

New York Times: Paris Attacks Were an ‘Act of War’ by ISIS, Hollande Says.

“President François Hollande on Saturday blamed the Islamic State for the terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday, as the death toll rose to 127 victims, with 300 others hospitalized, 80 of them in critical condition. He declared three days of national mourning, and said that military troops would patrol the capital. France remained under a nationwide state of emergency.”

The Attacks in Paris: What Happened at Each Location.

Die Zeit: Live Blog zu den Pariser Anschlägen. Anschläge in Paris: Terror in Frankreich – Übersicht über alle Artikel zum Thema.

MetaFilter: In Paris, something terrible is happening.

Sein Traum, Astronaut zu werden, wurde wahr

Spiegel online: 166 Tage im Weltall: Mit Alexander Gerst auf der ISS.
In der 43 Minuten lange Dokumentation berichtet Gerst über seine Mission, angefangen vom der Vorbereitung über den Start und die Zeit an Bord der ISS, über seinen Space Walk und schließlich den Rückflug und die Landung auf der Erde.

Alexander Gerst war an der Blue Dot Mission auf der ISS beteiligt, die vom 28.05.2014 bis zum 10.11.2014 dauerte. Er landete also vor einem Jahr und 3 Tagen wieder auf der Erde. Von unterwegs veröffentlichte er hunderte von beeindruckenden Fotos auf Flickr.

In English: Alexander Gerst was the third German astronaut aboard the ISS and participated in Expedition 40/41

ESA: Gerst-Biographie der ESA, Gerst’s personal ESA page and his Blue Dot Blog, and the Blue Dot Mission

He posted hundreds of amazing photos on his Flickr account during his mission.

ESA Blue Dot mission / Alexander Gerst playlist on YouTube