I seem to have come across a lot of science- and technology-related stuff this week, which will at least keep a certain orang-utan happy 
Happy invoicing!
- Your Candy Wrappers are Listening - Very cool, if rather unnerving, technique for carrying out audio surveillance: "The first time Abe Davis coaxed intelligible speech from a silent video of a bag of crab chips (an impassioned recitation of “Mary Had a Little Lamb”) he could hardly believe it was possible. Davis is a Ph.D. candidate at MIT, and his group’s image processing algorithm can turn everyday objects into visual microphones—deciphering the tiny vibrations they undergo as captured on video."
- Weaponising the Search Box, with James Bond and Friends - "Your tweets from the sofa are dividing the western world. But it’s not your fault." Nick Walker explains how lazy journalists invent outrage, usually blamed on "millennials" for no good reason. Related: this tweet by myself a few weeks ago (TW for Mumsnet): "If you read it carefully, you’ll realise that this “Marks & Spencer under fire” story is really just six comments from a Mumsnet thread. https://twitter.com/Independent/stat...28542419718145"
- The Magnetic Field Is Shifting. The Poles May Flip. This Could Get Bad. - Alanna Mitchell summarises her forthcoming book The Spinning Magnet: "We know that the poles have changed places hundreds of times, most recently 780,000 years ago. We also know that when they flip next time, the consequences for the electrical and electronic infrastructure that runs modern civilization will be dire. The question is when that will happen."
- Why We Forget Most of the Books We Read - Julie Beck on the reasons we so easily forget things we've read or films we've watched: "Surely some people can read a book or watch a movie once and retain the plot perfectly. But for many, the experience of consuming culture is like filling up a bathtub, soaking in it, and then watching the water run down the drain. It might leave a film in the tub, but the rest is gone."
- Dutch agencies provide crucial intel about Russia's interference in US-elections - "Hackers from the Dutch intelligence service AIVD have provided the FBI with crucial information about Russian interference with the American elections. For years, AIVD had access to the infamous Russian hacker group Cozy Bear." Particularly cool is the way the Dutch spies (who knew there were any?) got into the security camera at the entrance to Cozy Bear's offices, so they could see who was coming and going
- Fossil Discoveries Challenge Ideas About Earth’s Start - Without form and void? Not so much: "A series of fossil finds suggests that life on Earth started earlier than anyone thought, calling into question a widely held theory of the solar system’s beginnings."
- The Inside Story of SQL Slammer - "On Jan. 25, 2003, a new worm took the Internet by storm, infecting thousands of servers running Microsoft’s SQL Server software every minute. The worm, which became known as SQL Slammer, eventually became the fastest-spreading worm ever and helped change the way Microsoft approached security and reshaped the way many researchers handled advisories and exploit code. This is the inside story of SQL Slammer, told by the researcher who found the bug and wrote the exploit code that was later taken by Slammer’s authors and used as part of the worm." Infections still crop up to this day on elderly, unpatched systems.
- The truth about Easter Island: a sustainable society has been falsely blamed for its own demise - Catrine Jarman argues that Jared Diamond's theories about the decline of the remote society are wrong: "More than 60 years of archaeological research actually paints a very different picture – and now new genetic data sheds further light on the island’s fate. It is time to demystify Rapa Nui."
- When Georgia Invited 10,000 English Teachers Over and Carnage Ensued - What happens when a remote, comparatively underdeveloped, socially conservative culture imports 10,000 young adults from the Western world? "Georgia accepted nearly everyone who signed up to the TLG program, regardless of their qualifications, experience or motivations for doing so… the orientation subjected us to the most random lessons, such as how not to be mistaken for a prostitute and how to cross the street, as well as the most inane questions by fellow participants, including 'what is the returns policy in Georgian street markets?' and 'what are my rights if my image is used without my consent?'"
- Containerization - "Attempting to capture the beauty, mystery and intrigue of shipping containers." If you're interested in pictures of shipping containers, this site will make your day
Happy invoicing!
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