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π The Cuckoo's Egg
The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage is a 1989 book written by Clifford Stoll. It is his first-person account of the hunt for a computer hacker who broke into a computer at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL).
Stoll's use of the term extended the metaphor Cuckoo's egg from brood parasitism in birds to malware.
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- "The Cuckoo's Egg" | 2023-02-20 | 10 Upvotes 1 Comments
π Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (Russian: ΠΠΎΠ½ΡΡΠ°Π½ΡΠΈΜΠ½ ΠΠ΄ΡΠ°ΜΡΠ΄ΠΎΠ²ΠΈΡ Π¦ΠΈΠΎΠ»ΠΊΠΎΜΠ²ΡΠΊΠΈΠΉ; 17 SeptemberΒ [O.S. 5 September]Β 1857 β 19 September 1935) was a Russian and Soviet rocket scientist who pioneered astronautics. Along with the Frenchman Robert Esnault-Pelterie, the Germans Hermann Oberth and Fritz von Opel, and the American Robert H. Goddard, he is one of the founding fathers of modern rocketry and astronautics. His works later inspired leading Soviet rocket-engineers Sergei Korolev and Valentin Glushko, who contributed to the success of the Soviet space program.
Tsiolkovsky spent most of his life in a log house on the outskirts of Kaluga, about 200Β km (120Β mi) southwest of Moscow. A recluse by nature, his unusual habits made him seem bizarre to his fellow townsfolk.
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- "Konstantin Tsiolkovsky" | 2023-02-22 | 180 Upvotes 97 Comments
π Thousandth of an Inch
A thousandth of an inch is a derived unit of length in a system of units using inches. Equal to 1β1000 of an inch, a thousandth is commonly called a thou (used for both singular and plural) or particularly in North America a mil (plural mils).
The words are shortened forms of the English and Latin words for "thousand" (mille in Latin). In international engineering contexts, confusion can arise because mil is a formal unit name in North America but mil or mill is also a common colloquial clipped form of millimetre. The units are considerably different: a millimetre is approximately 39 mils.
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- "Thousandth of an Inch" | 2023-02-21 | 35 Upvotes 65 Comments
π Feb 22 marks death anniversary of Sophie Scholl (9 May 1921β22 February 1943)
Sophia Magdalena Scholl (9 May 1921 β 22 February 1943) was a German student and anti-Nazi political activist, active within the White Rose non-violent resistance group in Nazi Germany.
She was convicted of high treason after having been found distributing anti-war leaflets at the University of Munich (LMU) with her brother, Hans. For her actions, she was executed by guillotine. Since the 1970s, Scholl has been extensively commemorated for her anti-Nazi resistance work.
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- "Feb 22 marks death anniversary of Sophie Scholl (9 May 1921β22 February 1943)" | 2023-02-22 | 48 Upvotes 11 Comments
π Cummingtonite
Cummingtonite ( KUM-ing-tΙ-nyte) is a metamorphic amphibole with the chemical composition (Mg,Fe2+
)
2(Mg,Fe2+
)
5Si
8O
22(OH)
2, magnesium iron silicate hydroxide.
Monoclinic cummingtonite is compositionally similar and polymorphic with orthorhombic anthophyllite, which is a much more common form of magnesium-rich amphibole, the latter being metastable.
Cummingtonite shares few compositional similarities with alkali amphiboles such as arfvedsonite, glaucophane-riebeckite. There is little solubility between these minerals due to different crystal habit and inability of substitution between alkali elements and ferro-magnesian elements within the amphibole structure.
Discussed on
- "Cummingtonite" | 2023-02-21 | 23 Upvotes 5 Comments
π OODA Loop
The OODA loop is the cycle observeβorientβdecideβact, developed by military strategist and United States Air Force Colonel John Boyd. Boyd applied the concept to the combat operations process, often at the operational level during military campaigns. It is now also often applied to understand commercial operations and learning processes. The approach explains how agility can overcome raw power in dealing with human opponents. It is especially applicable to cyber security and cyberwarfare.
The OODA loop has become an important concept in litigation, business, law enforcement, management education, and military strategy. According to Boyd, decision-making occurs in a recurring cycle of observeβorientβdecideβact. An entity (whether an individual or an organization) that can process this cycle quickly, observing and reacting to unfolding events more rapidly than an opponent, can thereby "get inside" the opponent's decision cycle and gain the advantage.
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- "OODA Loop" | 2023-02-21 | 155 Upvotes 63 Comments
π Pyrrhonism
Pyrrhonism is an Ancient Greek school of philosophical skepticism which rejects dogma and advocates the suspension of judgement over the truth of all beliefs. It was founded by Aenesidemus in the first century BCE, and said to have been inspired by the teachings of Pyrrho and Timon of Phlius in the fourth century BCE. Pyrrhonism is best known today through the surviving works of Sextus Empiricus, writing in the late second century or early third century CE. The publication of Sextus' works in the Renaissance ignited a revival of interest in Skepticism and played a major role in Reformation thought and the development of early modern philosophy.
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- "Pyrrhonism" | 2023-02-21 | 58 Upvotes 27 Comments
π Adani manipulated Wikipedia entries using sock puppet accounts and paid editors
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- "Adani manipulated Wikipedia entries using sock puppet accounts and paid editors" | 2023-02-20 | 25 Upvotes 1 Comments
π Physics Envy
The term physics envy is used to criticize modern writing and research of academics working in areas such as "softer sciences", liberal arts, business studies, and humanities. The term argues that writing and working practices in these disciplines have overused confusing jargon and complicated mathematics to seem more 'rigorous' and like mathematics-based subjects like physics.
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- "Physics Envy" | 2023-02-20 | 32 Upvotes 23 Comments
π Norton's Dome
Norton's dome is a thought experiment that exhibits a non-deterministic system within the bounds of Newtonian mechanics. It was devised by John D. Norton in 2003. It is a special limiting case of a more general class of examples from 1997 due to Sanjay Bhat and Dennis Bernstein. The Norton's dome problem can be regarded as a problem in physics, mathematics, or philosophy.
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- "Norton's Dome" | 2023-02-13 | 113 Upvotes 36 Comments