Daily Archives: December 14, 2016

KUKA Robotics | KUKA AG

Posted: December 14, 2016 at 11:59 pm

KUKA industrial robots are the key factor in achieving higher productivity and greater profitability. They improve the quality of the products and reduce the requirement for costly materials and limited energy resources.

At KUKA Robotics, our vision is to establish the industrial robot as an intelligent assistant to humans during manufacturing: humans and robots work hand in hand, ideally complementing each other with their respective skills. This also makes it possible for small and medium-sized companies to deploy robots cost-effectively.

KUKA Robotics supplies industrial robots which are perfectly tailored to your application. From the actual robot itself and the controller all the way to the appropriate software: customers from a diverse range of industries benefit from innovative technologies and sophisticated engineering.

KUKA Robotics can offer you the following product spectrum:

We also supply controllers, software and a broad range of services, for example customer support, training courses at KUKA College or engineering.Our solutions are implemented in the following industries in particular:

Find out about the other divisions of KUKA: KUKA Systems, KUKA Industries and Swisslog.

KUKA Robotics is the North American headquarters of KUKA Roboter GmbH. The Shelby Township, MI location is home to KUKA Robotics USA-based sales, applications, project engineering, service, parts, training and administrative staff, plus North American business leadership personnel.

Half of the building is dedicated to hands-on experiences with the latest robotics technologies, products, and training. Stocks of robots and parts are also on-hand to meet ever increasing pressure for fast delivery.

KUKA Robotics core competencies include the development, production, and sale of industrial robots, controllers, software, linear units, and omniMove omni-directional motion platforms.

KUKA robots are utilized in a diverse range of industries including the appliance, automotive, aerospace, consumer goods, logistics, food, pharmaceutical, medical, foundry and plastics industries as well as multiple applications including material handling, machine loading, assembly, packaging, palletizing, welding, bending, joining, and surface finishing.

Our industrial robots can be used in a wide variety of applications. Find out about our extensive range of products and solutions now.

KUKA Robotics | KUKA AG

Posted in Robotics | Comments Off

Robotics Academy

Posted: at 11:59 pm

Carnegie Mellons Robotics Academystudies how teachers use robots in classrooms to teach Computer Science, Science, Technology Engineering, and Mathematics (CS-STEM). Our mission is to use the motivational effects of robotics to excite students about science and technology. The Robotics Academy fulfills it mission by developing research based solution for teachers that foreground CS-STEM and are classroom tested. Robotics Academy inspired papers and publications can be found here:

http://education.rec.ri.cmu.edu/educators/research/

Carnegie Mellons Robotic Academy staff and development team are housed in the National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC), where robots for business, government, and industry are designed, prototyped, and tested just outside our office doors.

http://cs2n.org/teachers/ccrc

The CCRC projects goal is to integrate more computational thinking into robotics classrooms. CMRA has seen that many schools robotic classrooms started because the school became involved with a robotics competition. Many robotic competitions consist of a set of mechanically challenging activities and dont require sophisticated programming solutions for teams to be successful. This project builds on the existing robotics competition infrastructure and then extends these activities in ways that foreground computational thinking.

http://cs2n.org/teachers/cer

Robotics provide a great opportunity to introduce students to computer science. Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh develops, tests, and refines a Theory of Robotic Programming Badges that can be applied to Computer Science Education. This project builds on lessons learned as CMRA built the Computer Science Student Network and integrates a complete badge system in Robot Virtual Worlds. The project measures the ability of badges to motivate student learning, to be accurate indicators of student performance, and if the badges are easily understood by students.

For years we have heard that teachers are using robotics to teach mathematics. This project studied existing (2008) robotics education pedagogy and then developed multiple strategies that foregrounded proportional reasoning, a big idea in mathematics, that can be taught using robots. CMRA developed multiple tools that can help teachers foreground mathematics using robots:

Abstraction Bridges Link

Robots in Motion Link

Expedition Atlantis Game Link

Expedition Atlantis Teachers Guide PDF Content

Robot Virtual World Measurement Toolkit MP4 Video

and many written papers Link

Mathematics is an enabler of all future innovation and CMRA continues to look for innovative ways to foreground mathematics in all of its activities.

http://www.cs2n.org

The Computer Science Student Network (CS2N) started as a collaborative research project between Carnegie Mellon University and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) designed to increase the number of students pursuing advanced Computer Science and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (CS-STEM) degrees. CS2N has morphed into an online portal where students and teachers can find activities, competitions, and training designed to help them learn basic programming.

http://www.education.rec.ri.cmu.edu/robots/corridor/index.htm

The Robotics Corridor Project was a collaboration between Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, Butler County Community College, California University of Pennsylvania, Robert Morris University, Westmoreland County Community College, the Community College of Beaver County, the Community College of Allegheny College, and regional industry partners designed to determine the skill sets that a highly qualified technician would need to work in the robotics and automation industries. This partnership helped establish training, certifications, and associate degrees at the partner schools.

The Robotics Academy is a world leader in robotics education and trains teacher internationally. To learn more about our online, face to face, or onsite training please select this link:

http://education.rec.ri.cmu.edu/educators/professional-development/

The Robotics Academys qualified trainers can come to your site and offer classes for groups of teachers. The cost is $4000 plus expenses for up to 12 students for three days of classes. More than 12 students require a second trainer and increase the cost to $2000/day plus expenses. Total expenses are calculated prior to confirming the teaching dates.

You supply the training room, computers and robots (or robot kits) for the students as well as necessary utilities. In planning for necessary computers and robots, note that students are generally grouped in twos. Call412 681-7160for more information.

The Robotics Academy is pleased to share the following new curricular tools with you.

Introduction to Programming VEX IQ

The Introduction to Programming the VEX IQ Curriculum features lesson for the VEX IQ Microcontroller; the curriculums focus is to teach beginning programmers how to program using ROBOTCs graphical programming environment. All of the challenges in the curriculum have are available in the Robot Virtual World simulation environment.

More Information

VEX Cortex Video Trainer w/ ROBOTC

The VEX Cortex Video Trainer is a multimedia-rich curriculum featuring lessons for the VEX Cortex Microcontroller; the curriculums focus is to teach how to program, but it also includes multi-faceted engineering challenges, step-by-step videos, and robotics engineering teacher support materials. Themajority of the challenge found in the Cortex Video trainer have been simulated in the Robot Virtual World Curriculum Companion.

More Information

ROBOTC Graphical Introduction to Programming LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3

The Introduction to Programming the EV3 Curriculum is a curriculum module designed to teachcore computer programming logic and reasoning skills using a robotics context. The curriculumconsists of three chapters (Basic Movement, Sensors, and Program Flow) and each chapteris broken into units that teach key robotics and programming concepts. Additionally, there isa huge amount of support for teachers competing in Robotics Competitions for the first timeincluded in the teachers guide!

More Information

Introduction to Programming LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3

The Introduction to Programming EV3 Curriculum is a curriculum module designedto teach core computer programming logic and reasoning skills using a roboticsengineering context. It contains a sequence of 10 projects (plus one capstonechallenge) organized around key robotics and programming concepts.

More Information

Robot Virtual Worlds enable students to program virtual robots using the same code that they use on the physical classroom robots.

Robot Virtual Worlds

No Robot, No Problem! Robot Virtual Worlds is a high-end simulation environment that enables students, without robots, to learn programming. Research has shown that learning to program in RVW is more efficient than learning to program using physical robots. RVW simulates popular real world LEGO robots in 3D environments and allows you to program them using the same languages as physical robots. The RVW environment is perfect for home, classroom, and competition environments!

More Information:www.RobotVirtualWorlds.comwww.robomatter.com

Expedition Atlantis

Its the year 2023 and Atlantis has been discovered deep in the ocean, off of the coast of Africa. A team of elite scientists and engineers have been sent to investigate the underwater ruins, and youre one of them! Use your skills to to maneuver the teams underwater vehicles in this expedition to Atlantis!

This is a great GAME that will teach kids the math behind robot movement.

Learn More

Virtual Brick

GEA offers summer camps, weekend, and after school programs rooted in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), including the Lego WeDo Robotics, Programming with Scratch, Video Game Design, Lego EV3 Robotics, and Coding with RobotC. Find out more at:

http://www.greeneacademy.net/

Sarah Heinz House is an organization, aimed to provide children and teens with powerful role models and a safe, fun place to go after school, on weekends and during the summer. Find out more at:

http://www.sarahheinzhouse.org/summer-camps/

Original post:

Robotics Academy

Posted in Robotics | Comments Off

Singularitarianism Wikipedia – euvolution.com

Posted: at 11:54 pm

Singularitarianism is a movement[1] defined by the belief that a technological singularitythe creation of superintelligencewill likely happen in the medium future, and that deliberate action ought to be taken to ensure that the Singularity benefits humans.

Singularitarians are distinguished from other futurists who speculate on a technological singularity by their belief that the Singularity is not only possible, but desirable if guided prudently. Accordingly, they might sometimes dedicate their lives to acting in ways they believe will contribute to its rapid yet safe realization.[2]

Time magazine describes the worldview of Singularitarians by saying that they think in terms of deep time, they believe in the power of technology to shape history, they have little interest in the conventional wisdom about anything, and they cannot believe youre walking around living your life and watching TV as if the artificial-intelligence revolution were not about to erupt and change absolutely everything.[1]

Inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil, author of the 2005 book The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology, defines a Singularitarian as someone who understands the Singularity and who has reflected on its implications for his or her own life; he estimates the Singularity will occur around 2045.[2]

Singularitarianism coalesced into a coherent ideology in 2000 when artificial intelligence (AI) researcher Eliezer Yudkowsky wrote The Singularitarian Principles,[2][3] in which he stated that a Singularitarian believes that the singularity is a secular, non-mystical event which is possible and beneficial to the world and is worked towards by its adherents.[3]

In June 2000 Yudkowsky, with the support of Internet entrepreneurs Brian Atkins and Sabine Atkins, founded the Machine Intelligence Research Institute to work towards the creation of self-improving Friendly AI. MIRIs writings argue for the idea that an AI with the ability to improve upon its own design (Seed AI) would rapidly lead to superintelligence. These Singularitarians believe that reaching the Singularity swiftly and safely is the best possible way to minimize net existential risk.

Many people believe a technological singularity is possible without adopting Singularitarianism as a moral philosophy. Although the exact numbers are hard to quantify, Singularitarianism is a small movement, which includes transhumanist philosopher Nick Bostrom. Inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil, who predicts that the Singularity will occur circa 2045, greatly contributed to popularizing Singularitarianism with his 2005 book The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology .[2]

What, then, is the Singularity? Its a future period during which the pace of technological change will be so rapid, its impact so deep, that human life will be irreversibly transformed. Although neither utopian or dystopian, this epoch will transform the concepts we rely on to give meaning to our lives, from our business models to the cycle of human life, including death itself. Understanding the Singularity will alter our perspective on the significance of our past and the ramifications for our future. To truly understand it inherently changes ones view of life in general and ones particular life. I regard someone who understands the Singularity and who has reflected on its implications for his or her own life as a singularitarian.[2]

With the support of NASA, Google and a broad range of technology forecasters and technocapitalists, the Singularity University opened in June 2009 at the NASA Research Park in Silicon Valley with the goal of preparing the next generation of leaders to address the challenges of accelerating change.

In July 2009, many prominent Singularitarians participated in a conference organized by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) to discuss the potential impact of robots and computers and the impact of the hypothetical possibility that they could become self-sufficient and able to make their own decisions. They discussed the possibility and the extent to which computers and robots might be able to acquire any level of autonomy, and to what degree they could use such abilities to possibly pose any threat or hazard (i.e., cybernetic revolt). They noted that some machines have acquired various forms of semi-autonomy, including being able to find power sources on their own and being able to independently choose targets to attack with weapons. They warned that some computer viruses can evade elimination and have achieved cockroach intelligence. They asserted that self-awareness as depicted in science fiction is probably unlikely, but that there were other potential hazards and pitfalls.[4] Some experts and academics have questioned the use of robots for military combat, especially when such robots are given some degree of autonomous functions.[5] The President of the AAAI has commissioned a study to look at this issue.[6]

Science journalist John Horgan has likened singularitarianism to a religion:

Lets face it. The singularity is a religious rather than a scientific vision. The science-fiction writer Ken MacLeod has dubbed it the rapture for nerds, an allusion to the end-time, when Jesus whisks the faithful to heaven and leaves us sinners behind. Such yearning for transcendence, whether spiritual or technological, is all too understandable. Both as individuals and as a species, we face deadly serious problems, including terrorism, nuclear proliferation, overpopulation, poverty, famine, environmental degradation, climate change, resource depletion, and AIDS. Engineers and scientists should be helping us face the worlds problems and find solutions to them, rather than indulging in escapist, pseudoscientific fantasies like the singularity.[7]

Kurzweil rejects this categorization, stating that his predictions about the singularity are driven by the data that increases in computational technology have been exponential in the past.[8]

See original here:

Singularitarianism Wikipedia

. Bookmark the

Continued here:

Singularitarianism Wikipedia - euvolution.com

Posted in Singularitarianism | Comments Off

Dog Genome Project | Broad Institute

Posted: at 11:45 pm

The genome of the domesticated dog, a close evolutionary relation to human, is a powerful new tool for understanding the human genome. Comparison of the dog with human and other mammals reveals key information about the structure and evolution of genes and genomes. The unique breeding history of dogs, with their extraordinary behavioral and physical diversity, offers the opportunity to find important genes underlying diseases shared between dogs and humans, such as cancer, diabetes, and epilepsy.

The Canine Genome Sequencing Project produced a high-quality draft sequence of a female boxer named Tasha. By comparing Tasha with many other breeds, the project also compiled a comprehensive set of SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) useful in all dog breeds. These closely spaced genomic landmarks are critical for disease mapping. By comparing the dog, rodent, and human lineages, researchers at the Broad Institute uncovered exciting new information about human genes, their evolution, and the regulatory mechanisms governing their expression. Using SNPs, researchers describe the strikingly different haplotype structure in dog breeds compared with the entire dog population. In addition, they show that by understanding the patterns of variation in dog breeds, scientists can design powerful gene mapping experiments for complex diseases that are difficult to map in human populations.

Questions or comments, please email dog-info@broadinstitute.org .

Read more here:
Dog Genome Project | Broad Institute

Posted in Genome | Comments Off

[Release] GTA:O Ultimatum Hack – unknowncheats.me

Posted: at 3:59 am

Here's my latest hack of GTA:O. The hack is internal so you'll need any injector to inject into the game the hack, I use Xtreme Injector WITH manual mapping.

I heard R* is checking the module list so probably that's the problem and some people is using manual map already that's why they aren't banned, if you didn't use the hack and you'll use it, use manual map instead.

The features are the following: Main Stuff: -GUI made from the scratch in DX11. -YAML settings file to save all the data of the hack. -5 differents tabs in the GUI which each one contains specific features.

Main Tab Features: -Full God Mode: This is the classic godmode, totally invincible. -ASM God Mode: This godmode is "safest" while R* doesn't add any integrity checks. Only invincible against bullets. -Invisible Player: This works more or less since R* patched it online. You'll flash for milliseconds. Also hides you from the map. -Fast Swim and Sprint: Changes your velocity of sprinting and swimming. -Never Wanted: Never wanted by the police. Watch out with this if you are on the military base since the game will add you stars and the hack removes it so you'll start to earn fast RP. -Always Wanted: You'll get always 5 stars. -Super Jump -Explosive Melee -Fire Ammo -Explosive Ammo -Damage Modifier: From 0.72 to 10, this factor will modify the damage you do to peds and players. -Button to refill HP and armor to the max values -Vehicle Impulse: Aka SET_VEHICLE_FORWARD_SPEED, from -100 to 100 you can press a key and impulse your vehicle. (*) -Melee Damage: Mostly for funny stuff, when you hit a vehicle it'll fly away depending on what value you have in this option. -Ped Amount / Density: Putting this in 0 will result in 0 peds around you except when someone else is in your zone. You have to be the only one streamer in the zone. -Vehicle Amount / Density: Same as Ped Amount. -Vehicle Deformation: Do you want realistic deformation? Here you are. Only clientside.

Weapons Tab Features: -Fast Reload: Almost no animation of reloading. -Super Impulse: Apply impulse to peds and vehicles. Usually with vehicles you have to hit them in the front part. -Ultra Penetration: Change the penetration of the bullet to huge value so you can kill more than 1 ped / player with the same bullet. -No Spread -No Recoil -Aiming FOV: This is applied to every weapon and as it's name says you can change the FOV when aiming. -This Tab also includes a function to give ANY weapons to ANY player, just choose the weapon in the drop down menu, the player and press "Give" button. Also there is a "Give all" button to give all weapons to specified player (if there's no player specified, you'll receive the weapons).

Teleport Tab Features: -Simple Teleporting: Teleport to any of the places predefined in the hack or add your own teleport in the YAML file. -Teleport to any player: Choose the player and click the "GO!" button. -Teleport to waypoint

ESP Tab Features: -Enable / Disable ESP -3D Boxes -Show Peds: This shows animals too. -Show Players -ESP Max Distance

Customization Tab Features: Here can edit the keys of the following features -Vehicle Impulse Key -Vehicle Instant Stop Key -Menu Key -Kill All Peds: Only working when you are alone in a zone with peds. This works perfectly in survival missions. -Customizable Menu Color

To open the menu press "END" button which is under the "HOME" one. Press F8 to close the hack.

YAML Settings File

Code:

Use F11 to copy into the clipboard your actual position so you can save it your teleport bookmark in the yaml file.

Known Issues: -The drop down menus sometimes don't close/open completely so they start bugging. If this happens and it's totally needed close the hack and inject it again. -Some features are missing and I'll add them soon. -If you have problems or crashes AND YOU DID READ THE WHOLE THREAD, then post the problem here.

Tested in W7 and W10 64 bits.

IMPORTANT NOTES (*): -Open GTA:V as administrator. -When you inject the hack you should press the key "END" to enable the hack. -Game should be fullscreen windowed or windowed. -ONLY WORKING FOR SOCIAL CLUB VERSION FOR NOW. -Watch out with vehicle impulse key, it can crashes your game if you keep the key pressed and don't use it with air vehicles. -Some features are missing and I'll add them soon. -THIS IS NOT A FREAKING MENU, IT'S A HACK. THERE IS A HUGE DIFFERENCE. You ALMOST can't be banned using this UNLESS you rage with it OR if R* adds a new detection method and I doubt it... And I say "almost" because no one knows when R* will add a server side check for godmode or any features of the hack. If you really get banned post in this thread everything about your ban.

Credits: - @DarkLinuxz, @Janck7 and @JackD to post several offset and pointer which are very useful. - @Extropian very helpful guy which helped me mostly with sigs etc. - @kickbar for posting the NPC list. - @stevemk14ebr because I'm using his PolyHook library which I highly recommend. - @evolution536 for his great thread about Universal DX11 Hooking. - Others GTA Community members to help me.

Change Log (21/06/2016) -RP Multiplier: Change the RP Multiplier between 1 and 2. -Steam compatible now

DOWNLOAD Social Club Version (20/06/2016): CLICK DOWNLOAD Social Club Version (21/06/2016): CLICK DOWNLOAD Steam Version (21/06/2016): CLICK DOWNLOAD Steam and Social Club Version (16/07/2016): CLICK DOWNLOAD Social Club Version for 1.36 (06/10/2016): CLICK DOWNLOAD Steam Version for 1.36 (07/10/2016): CLICK

Link:

[Release] GTA:O Ultimatum Hack - unknowncheats.me

Posted in Extropian | Comments Off

What is Slavery?: The Abolition of Slavery Project

Posted: at 3:50 am

Slavery refers to a condition in which individuals are owned by others, who control where they live and at what they work. Slavery had previously existed throughout history, in many times and most places. The ancient Greeks, the Romans, Incas and Aztecs all had slaves.

Whatdoes it mean to be aslave or enslaved person?

To be a slave is to be owned by another person. A slave is a human being classed as property and who is forced to work for nothing. An enslaved person is a human being who is made to be a slave. This language is often used instead of the word slave, to refer to the person and their experiences and to avoid the use of dehumanising language.

What doesit mean to be a Chattel Slave?

A chattel slave is an enslaved person who is owned for ever and whose children and children's children are automatically enslaved. Chattel slaves are individuals treated as complete property, to be bought and sold.

Chattel slavery was supported and made legal by European governments and monarchs. This type of enslavement was practised in European colonies, from the sixteenth century onwards.

Back

See the rest here:

What is Slavery?: The Abolition of Slavery Project

Posted in Abolition Of Work | Comments Off

Unfortunately, Congress Needs to Pass This Fourth Amendment …

Posted: at 3:45 am

Our Constitutions Fourth Amendment reads as follows: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

As with nigh all the rest of our Constitution, the federal government has long been ignoring the Fourth. Likely the most notorious example is the National Security Administration (NSA)s bulk data collection. Which is the Feds: (S)toring the online metadata of millions of internet users for up to a year, regardless of whether or not they are persons of interest to the agency.

The NSA has been amassing so much data on persons notof interest that it built a $1.2 billion data center thats seven times larger than the Pentagon. (If youre questioning whether the Fourth Amendments papers protection applies to digital data imagine hitting Print.)

Let me guess what youre wondering now: How could the NSA possibly be issued this sort of mass, blanket warrant, under the auspices of the Fourth Amendment if millions of these persons are notof interest? I.e. totally devoid of any probable cause? A very reasonable question.

The NSA laid claim to the authority to do this under the auspices of the Patriot Act. Which is not how things are supposed to work. Congress cant pass laws that eviscerate Constitutional protections they must amend the Constitution to eviscerate said protection. So, of course, the poorly written Patriot Act is trumped (no pun intended) by the Constitution.

The Senate has long been ignoring another Constitutional charge to properly vet federal judges prior to confirmation. So our judiciary is addled throughout by men and women in black gowns who shouldnt be. Because they impose their personal policy preferences rather than rule within the confines of the Constitution.

Even under these conditions, we do occasionally get good legal decisions. In May 2015, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the NSAs build data collection is unconstitutional. In response, President Barack Obamas Attorney General Loretta Lynch said: she was unaware of privacy violations under its existing program.

Madame Attorney Generals blissful ignorance is emblematic of the Washington, D.C.-wide problem. (As, too, was her being confirmed AG by a yet-again-too-compliant Senate.)

And, of course, the Feds arent just massively overreaching on domestic data they are overreaching overseas as well.

Under the auspices of the now-woefully-outdated 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), the Feds obtained a warrant against tech giant Microsoft. With which they tried to collect data stored on servers Microsoft has outside of the United States (in this instance, in Dublin, Ireland).

This would be horrendously bad precedent as tin horn dictators the world over could and would start looking to get at data contained within our borders. To allow the Feds to do this to Microsoft would be to allow one of the worst genies ever out of its bottle.

Thankfully, the very same Second Court of Appeals that dumped the NSAs bulk data collection agreed and unanimously told the Feds they couldnt have access to Microsofts overseas servers. (God bless them.)

The very same Attorney General Lynch still bathing in her blissful ignorance has filed to reopen the case. Which brings us to Congress Fourth Amendment reminder we mentioned at the outset. Which would stop Madame Attorney Generals abuse here and a whole lot of abuses elsewhere.

The (Senate) bill is called the International Communications Privacy Act (ICPA). It is, amongst other things, a DC unicorn it is bipartisan. And bi-cameral as members of the House have joined in its crafting.

And it will rein in an overreaching federal government that is forcing companies to violate the laws of other countries in which they operate to give the U.S. government data to which it really shouldnt have access.

Because the Fourth Amendment (and the rest of the Constitution) is limited to our territorial bounds. Else wed better start invading a whole lot of places in which all sorts of our Constitutional rights are being routinely violated in their jurisdictions.

Obviously, the Feds need a reminder of this fact. ICPA is that reminder. It is pathetic that you need a Congressional backstop to a Constitutional right but were dealing with DC here, so we are oft dealing in things pathetic.

I am on the record as being nigh always against lame duck Congressional action. I dont like officials We the People just said should no longer be voting on legislation voting on legislation. But ICPA is a perfectly reasonable exception that proves this rule.

You can almost certainly pass ICPA just with people who will again be here in the next Congress. And ICPA has been languishing for more than two years all the while (and going back years and years before) the Feds have been vastly exceeding their Constitutional bounds. And in the Microsoft case are looking to do so yet again.

So the overreaches must be ended. ICPA ends them. So lets pass ICPA.

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

More here:
Unfortunately, Congress Needs to Pass This Fourth Amendment ...

Posted in Fourth Amendment | Comments Off

Monero (cryptocurrency) – Wikipedia

Posted: at 3:44 am

Monero

Monero Logo

Monero (XMR) is an open source cryptocurrency created in April 2014 that focuses on privacy, decentralisation and scalability. Unlike many cryptocurrencies that are derivatives of Bitcoin, Monero is based on the CryptoNote protocol and possesses significant algorithmic differences relating to blockchain obfuscation.[1] Monero has ongoing support from the community,[2] and its modular code architecture has been praised by Wladimir J. van der Laan, a Bitcoin Core maintainer.[3] Monero's market capitalization was multiplied by 30 during the year 2016,[4] going from $3.7 million on 3 December 2015 to $111 million on 3 December 2016, partly due to adoption by major darknet market AlphaBay at the end of summer 2016.

Monero was launched on 18 April 2014 originally under the name BitMonero, which is a compound of Bit (as in Bitcoin) and Monero (literally meaning coin in Esperanto). Five days later the community opted for the name to be shortened just to Monero. It was launched as the first fork of CryptoNote-based currency Bytecoin, however was released with two major differences. Firstly, the target block time was decreased from 120 to 60 seconds, and secondly, the emission speed was decelerated by 50% (later Monero reverted to 120 seconds block time while keeping the emission schedule by doubling the block reward per new block). In addition, the Monero developers found numerous incidents of poor quality code that was subsequently cleaned and re-constituted.[citation needed]

A few weeks after launch, an optimized GPU miner for CryptoNight proof-of-work function was developed.[5]

On 4 September 2014, Monero recovered from an unusual and novel attack executed against the cryptocurrency network.[6]

Monero is an open-source pure proof-of-work cryptocurrency. It runs on Windows, Mac, Linux and FreeBSD.[7]

Its main emission curve will issue about 18.4 Million coins to be mined in approximately 8 years.[8][9] (more precisely 18.132 Million coins by ca. end of May 2022[10][11]) After that, a constant "tail emission" of 0.6 XMR per 2-minutes block (modified from initially equivalent 0.3 XMR per 1-minute block) will create a sub-1% perpetual inflation (more precisely [see ref. above] starting with 0.87% yearly inflation around May 2022) to prevent the lack of incentives for miners once a currency is not mineable anymore.[12] The emission uses a smoothly decreasing reward with no block halving (any block generates a bit less monero than the previous one, formula: Emission per 2-minutes block = max(0.6,floor((MA)219)1012) XMR, with M=2641 and A=1012 times the amount of XMR already emitted). The smallest resolvable currency unit is 1012 XMR. The proof-of-work algorithm, CryptoNight, is AES-intensive and "memory heavy", which significantly reduces the advantage of GPU over CPU.

Monero daemon uses the original CryptoNote protocol except for the initial changes (as the block time and emission speed). The protocol itself is based on "one-time ring signatures"[13] and stealth addresses. Underlying cryptography is essentially Daniel J. Bernstein's library for Ed25519, which is Schnorr signatures on the Twisted Edwards curve. The end result is passive, decentralised mixing based on heavily-tested algorithms.[14]

However, several improvements were suggested by Monero Research Labs (a group of people, including core developers team), which covered the proper use of ring signatures for better privacy.[15] Specifically, the proposals included "a protocol-level network-wide minimum mix-in policy of n = 2 foreign outputs per ring signature", "a nonuniform transaction output selection method for ring generation" and "a torrent-style method of sending Monero output".[16] These changes, which were implemented in version 0.9.0 "Hydrogen Helix",[17] can help protect user's privacy in a CryptoNote-based currency according to the authors.

As a consequence, Monero features an opaque blockchain (with an explicit allowance system called the viewkey), in sharp contrast with transparent blockchain used by any other cryptocurrency not based on CryptoNote. Thus, Monero is said to be "private, optionally transparent". On top of very strong privacy by default, such a system permits net neutrality on the blockchain (miners cannot become censors, since they do not know where the transaction goes or what it contains) while still permitting auditing when desired (for instance, tax audit or public display of the finances of an NGO).[18] Furthermore, Monero is considered by many to offer truly fungible coins.[19][20][21]

Monero developers are also working on implementing a C++ I2P router straight in the code. This would complete the privacy chain by also hiding the IP addresses.[22]

"Monero is powered strictly by Proof of Work, but specifically, it employs a mining algorithm that has the potential to be efficiently tasked to billions of existing devices (any modern x86 CPU)."[23] Monero uses the CryptoNight Proof of Work (PoW) algorithm, which is designed for use in ordinary CPUs.[24]

The smart mining forthcoming feature will allow transparent CPU mining on the user's computer, far from the de facto centralization of mining farms and pool mining, pursuing Satoshi Nakamoto's original vision of a true P2P currency.[25]

Monero has no hardcoded limit, which means it doesn't have a 1 MB block size limitation preventing scalability. However, a block reward penalty mechanism is built into the protocol to avoid a too excessive block size increase: The new block's size NBS is compared to the median size M100 of the last 100 blocks. If NBS>M100, the block reward gets reduced in quadratic dependency of how much NBS exceeds M100. E.g. if NBS is [10%, 50%, 80%, 100%] greater than M100, the nominal block reward gets reduced by [1%, 25%, 64%, 100%]. Generally, blocks greater than 2*M100 are not allowed, and blocks <= 60kB are always free of any block reward penalties.

The Monero Core Team also released a standard called OpenAlias,[26] which permits much more human-readable addresses and "squares" the Zooko's triangle. OpenAlias can be used for any cryptocurrency and is already implemented in Monero, Bitcoin (in latest Electrum versions) and HyperStake.

XMR.TO allows to make payments to any Bitcoin address with the strong privacy provided by Monero.[27]

Since it is not based on Bitcoin, Monero cannot take advantage of the Bitcoin technological ecosystem, like GUI wallet or payment processors. As a consequence, everything has to be written from scratch.[28] Presently (as of March 2015), Monero doesn't have feature parity with Bitcoin. Notably, there is no support to multisignature and no Monero payment processor (but in April 2015 it was announced on bitcointalk.org one is in the works by a member of The Monero Core Team).

Monero transactions take up more space on the blockchain than Bitcoin transactions, and transactions will be even larger with RingCT added.[29] This makes it more expensive to run a full node.

Without RingCT implemented, it is still possible to deanonymize Monero transactions in some situations by analyzing the transaction amounts.[30]

CryptoKingdom is a MMORPG that uses Monero for entry into its economy.[37]

MoneroDice is a dice gambling game that uses cryptography for provably fair randomness.[38]

Read more here:
Monero (cryptocurrency) - Wikipedia

Posted in Cryptocurrency | Comments Off

Our evidence | Cochrane

Posted: at 3:42 am

Prescribing roles for health professionals other than doctors

New

Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold

Early skin-to-skin contact for mothers and their healthy newborn infants

Updated

Vaccines to prevent influenza in healthy adults

Gabapentin for chronic neuropathic pain and fibromyalgia in adults

Bronchodilators for bronchiolitis for infants with first-time wheezing

Vitamin E supplementation in pregnancy

Corticosteroids for bacterial meningitis

Weaning from mechanical ventilation using pressure support or a T-tube for a spontaneous breathing trial

Intravenous infusion of lidocaine starting at the time of surgery for reduction of pain and improvement of recovery after surgery

Magnesium sulfate for treating exacerbations of acute asthma in the emergency department

Amitriptyline for neuropathic pain in adults

Loop diuretics for patients receiving blood transfusions

Treatments for delusional disorder

Acupuncture for preventing migraine attacks

Two different laparoscopic techniques for repairing a hernia in the groin

T-tube drainage versus no T-tube drainage after open common bile duct exploration

Oral dextrose gel for treatment of newborn infants with low blood glucose levels

Routine abdominal drainage versus no drainage for patients undergoing uncomplicated laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Oral misoprostol for induction of labour

Daily Archives: December 14, 2016

KUKA Robotics | KUKA AG

Robotics Academy

Singularitarianism Wikipedia – euvolution.com

Dog Genome Project | Broad Institute

[Release] GTA:O Ultimatum Hack – unknowncheats.me

What is Slavery?: The Abolition of Slavery Project

Unfortunately, Congress Needs to Pass This Fourth Amendment …

Monero (cryptocurrency) – Wikipedia

Our evidence | Cochrane

The Prometheus League

Breaking News and Updates

Prometheism

Forbidden Fruit

The Evolutionary Perspective

Transtopia Menu

Library Updates

Library Books

Future Euvolution

Lucid Dreams from Childhood

Genetic Revolution

Speciation + Self-Directed Evolution