Day Hikes Near Denver lets you choose day hikes near Denver by difficulty, by map, by drive time, by distance or by beauty. I found a recommendation somewhere a few days ago that linked to their tips for hikes in Castlewood Canyon State Park, which looks like a place we’d like to check out next time we’re in or near Denver.
Category Archives: Around the World
Ransomware
The first ransomware for Mac OS X has been found.
MetaFilter: OS X Ransomware. “First OS X ransomware detected in the wild, will maliciously encrypt hard drives on infected Macs.”
“OS X users have today been hit with the first known case of Mac ‘ransomware’ malware, found in the Transmission BitTorrent client released last week. Infected versions of the app include ‘KeyRanger’ malware that will maliciously encrypt the user’s hard drive after three days of being installed. The malware then asks for payment to allow the user to decrypt the disk and access their data — the ‘ransom’.”
Ransomware has been around for several years in one form or another, but seems to have become much more popular in the past few months. One of my favorite podcasts reported on this problem back in the fall:
Radiolab on September 21, 2016: Darkode.
“It would seem that hackers today can do just about anything they want – from turning on the cellphone in your pocket to holding your life’s work hostage. Cyber criminals today have more sophisticated tools, have learned to work collaboratively around the world and have found innovative ways to remain deep undercover in the internet’s shadows. This episode, we shine a light into those shadows to see the world from the perspectives of both cybercrime victims and perpetrators.”
You can listen to, stream or download the episode for free.
Deutsche Welle on February 25, 2016: Hackers hold German hospital data hostage.
“Several hospitals in Germany have come under attack by ransomware, a type of virus that locks files and demands cash to free data it maliciously encrypted. It will take weeks until all systems are up and running again.”
Die Zeit: Wir haben Eure Daten! “Eine neue Form der Erpressung hat sich etabliert. Cyberkriminelle legen Computer lahm und verlangen Lösegeld. Was passiert, wenn es ein Krankenhaus trifft – eine Rekonstruktion.” Von Karen Grass.
Space Flight
Victoria University of Wellington: Alexander Gerst – Why We Fly To Space. (YouTube, 1:18:15)
“Victoria University of Wellington alum, geophysicist, and astronaut Dr Alexander Gerst speaks about his six-month mission as part of the International Space Station crew from May to November 2014, and why we go to space.”
The movie Zero Gravity – Mission in Space (YouTube channel with trailers in English and German, behind-the-scenes) about “[t]he space adventure of ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst and NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman” was released on March 3.
Bonus-Link: Alexander Gerst lässt Papierflieger und Propeller in der ISS fliegen.
Naturfilm 2
ARD Mediathek: Amerikas Naturwunder (2): Die Saguarowüste.
“In Arizona liegt die wohl ungewöhnlichste Wüste Nordamerikas. Extreme Temperaturen, scheinbar endlose Dürren, teuflische Winde und gefräßige Raubtiere stellen die Wüstenbewohner vor eine nicht enden wollende Probe. Doch trotz all dieser widrigen Umstände ist der Saguaro Nationalpark eine der artenreichsten Wüsten der Welt. Inmitten der kargen Landschaft stehen stille Wächter, wahre Giganten. Das Symbol für den Wilden Westen: die gewaltigen Saguaro Kakteen verleihen dem Nationalpark seinen Namen und bieten vielen Tieren einen gut geschützten Lebensraum.”
(Einen Link zu Teil 1 hatte ich vor kurzem.)
View from the ISS
Boston Globe The Big Picture: Scott Kelly’s year in space.
“NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is scheduled to return to Earth tonight after a 340-day mission aboard the International Space Station, where he participated in research on how the human body reacts and adapts to long-duration spaceflight. He also captured views of our planet that unify science and art, sharing them on social media for the earthbound to follow. Even President Barack Obama kept an eye on Kelly’s accounts, asking him on Twitter, “Do you ever look out the window and just freak out?“ to which Kelly replied, “I don’t freak out about anything, Mr. President. Except getting a Twitter question from you.“ Abstract and out of this world, here’s Earth from an astronaut’s perspective.”