What the Ashley Madison Hack Reveals About all Social Networks

When recently revealed that only 1,492 female users on Ashley Madison even checked their messages, it became clear that faking social activity is a phenomenon many people are susceptible to. Although despicable, the Ashley Madison site does teach us some lessons about social media participation. With Facebook, users are undoubtedly real for the most part though the company admits having found a multitude of fake profiles. The same cannot be said about every social network. Moreover, all social networks are greatly susceptible to a particular scam that goes something like this:

A user makes believe he or she has interest in your posts by following your blog, Google+ page, etc. Flattered, you either follow that user back or at least try to give that person a few +1s or "likes". After reciprocating, the user that followed you originally either unfollows you or mysteriously stops paying attention to your posts though you continue to see their posts. This scam is especially prevalent with attractive women that use the trick to create a large following. For all we know, these girls may not even be real.

Although Google does warn people about following strangers, it's human nature to be social. Fortunately, being somewhat antisocial, I don't have that problem much. Nonetheless, it is nice when someone actually reads my posts for a change.

Beware of Lump Sum Payments

Everyone dreams about winning the lottery and how they would spend the money. Would you take the jackpot in one lump sum payment or opt for structured monthly payments? What most people don't realize is that many lottery winners actually go bankrupt in a few years because it is human nature to overspend. The situation becomes more critical when money is awarded from a malpractice or similar lawsuit. To protect recipients who have medical conditions resulting from another party's actions, the concept of structured settlements was born.

Structured settlements pay the settlement over time usually in fixed monthly payments. While the system works for many, some prefer a single upfront or lump sum payment even if that payment is less than the original amount paid over time. For people in severe debt, sometimes this appears to be the only viable option. Sounds fair right? Buyer beware, where money is involved, predators will always find a way to steal what you have coming.

When a settlement is made with an insurance company, that settlement can be purchased by a third party to supply all the money upfront in a single payment. In return, the investor will typically offer less for the settlement to reduce risk in case the person dies and the payments stop. This seems reasonable until you find out just how much less some companies offer and the deceptive practices used to lure in victims.

In cases of lead poisoning for example, an alarming trend targets people considered "competent" enough by law to sign away their structured settlements in favor of lump sum payments. The word "competent" is murky at best as some individuals even with minor brain damage find themselves caught by legal loopholes where just having a drivers license can work against the person. Proponents argue that if the individual managed to make it through high school and has a drivers license, learning disabilities are insufficient grounds for incompetence. With legal agreements often hard to decipher even by people without disabilities, foul play cannot be ruled out. Moreover, in many cases, the lump sum payment often works out to paying only a tiny fraction of the original structured settlement. Suspiciously, minorities with less education are often targeted the most. Although one cannot assume every company that offers such services is shady, being aware of this practice is the best defense against those that prey on unsuspecting victims.

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Hong Kong - Your Taxpayer Dollars Hard at Work

The China Project: American Taxpayer Dollars Hard at Work!

I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure this one out. Our uneven trade agreements more often than not seem to benefit other countries more than us. Hedge fund managers of course don't mind because they have the money and means to manipulate foreign markets. That's great for them! I hope they all get rich at our expense.

Is NASA Making a Historic Blunder with Europa?

"After walking away from a previously planned joint mission to Jupiter, NASA has asked the European Space Agency if it can furnish a lander or ice-penetrating probe for a rejuvenated U.S.-led robotic spacecraft to visit Jupiter’s moon Europa."

source: http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/04/10/nasa-invites-esa-to-build-europa-piggyback-probe/

Translation: Once again, we'll put up most of the money and build the rocket to get them there so Europe can steal the glory again just as they did with Titan. Most of the time when you hear about the Huygens probe, it's a great achievement for the ESA (European Space Agency) and if NASA's involvement with Cassini is even mentioned, we're lucky to get a footnote. When the ESA discovers life on Europa, that will be a great moment for them. Why don't we just put a Russian rocket on the mission to make our humility complete?

Not only could NASA have easily built the Europa landing/ice-penetrating probes but private enterprise here would have greatly benefited too! But I guess that would make too much sense after spending countless billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars and decades searching for life!

See Also: http://roberthaskell.blogspot.com/2015/07/americas-contributions-to-space-race.html

Frivolous Lawsuits Making Lawyers Richer at the Country's Expense

Life without parole plus fourteen years, no David Sweat. Having already cost the state of NY an estimated $58.6 million in overtime costs in a 23 day epic manhunt, we now get to enjoy the next phase of his folly - racking up legal fees! Is there any point to dragging this on further than it needs to be? Sure the Constitution guarantees the right to a fair trial but how much clearer does it need to be? Do we really need to go through the whole long drawn out process when it's already clear they're going to lock the door and throw away the key?

At best, maybe he could cooperate and spend less time in solitary confinement. Cases like these should be expedited to keep costs down. It may not pay for every lawyer's house in the Hamptons but tough times demand sacrifices on us all. Read more at:

http://pix11.com/2015/08/15/new-york-manhunt-cost-state-nearly-1-million-a-day-in-overtime/

Lice Where you Least Expect it

As reported by CNN, a lice infestation kept reoccurring in a household because of a general failure many of us are susceptible to - we don't always read the directions! Lice can be difficult to control but a simple over-the-counter lice shampoo will often work provided the instructions are at least followed. In the case study, the family looked everywhere but the mother's hair. Regardless of whether a person is the queen or just the queen bee, lice do not care! No one is impervious to parasites and even a good hygiene regimen is not always enough.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/18/health/mutant-lice/index.html

9-1-1 Faces Tough Dilemma

By law, disregarded mobile phones must still provide 9-1-1 assistance. The twenty year old rule was designed to ensure that all people regardless of financial circumstances have access to emergency assistance. The theory is good until 9-1-1 operators find themselves overwhelmed by crank calls that inhibit emergency responses. Although 9-1-1 has the ability to track calls to a certain degree, it is simply impossible to pinpoint every call particularly if that individual does not want to be tracked. With phone carriers reluctant to help narrow the field, federal regulators are left with no choice but to consider changing the regulation.

Law officials argue the change is necessary to free emergency response teams despite the need to help people with disabilities. Regardless of how an individual feels about the issue, the bottom line is that these crank calls cost billions of dollars annually. If 9-1-1 is to continue at the same level of operation, ultimately the benefits we gain from providing greater accessibility may be too high of a cost for the program to remain solvent.

The Future of Warfare

For several decades, missiles were the cutting edge of technology that no modern military could do without. Despite this, missile defense systems do have some serious drawbacks. First, the Tomahawk and Harpoon missiles the U.S. Navy deploys costs millions of dollars. Moreover, once fired, the ship is highly vulnerable with little remaining defense. To counter this threat, the U.S. military is currently testing a new laser system that only costs pennies to fire and is virtually inexhaustible.

The USS Ponce carries an arsenal of laser weapons. Stationed in the Middle East, the ship may also address another threat often employed by Iran - fast, small attack vessels that attempt to overwhelm slower, larger ships. If proven as reliable as missiles, eventually lasers may replace other more conventional weapons and save billions of dollars annually.

Read more at http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/americas-master-plan-crush-iranian-warships-13602

Why do Mutations Occur in our DNA?

We always here about cell mutations that can lead to various ailments but how do these mutations actually occur when DNA is a perfect blueprint that is nearly impossible to circumvent? DNA like anything else is not impervious to damage. When a fragment of a gene becomes damaged through UV radiation, chemical disturbance or other means, the cell is usually able to repair itself correctly because nucleotides have complimentary base pairs that only fit together a certain way. The system is failsafe for the most part until a section of the double helix in your DNA breaks off completely on both ends. Now instead of being nearly impossible to fit a square peg in a round hole, the impossible becomes very possible as there is nothing to pair up to. The result, nucleotides will still only fit together a certain way but the order that the nucleotides appear may be changed. Since the sequence of nucleotides is critical for the blueprint of each species, the slightest mistake can have grave consequences. Usually this is bad for the individual but in extremely rare cases, that mutation will actually be beneficial leading to a survival advantage and a new species is born.

How Duct Tape Helped End World War II

It is often said duct tape has a thousand uses. Add one more to the list - atomic bombs! During the Trinity Test, they couldn't solder the bomb because the plutonium core was wrapped in plastic explosives. Needless to say, this wouldn't be very wise. Instead, duct tape came to the rescue once again. Make that 1,001 uses for duct tape!

Where the Edge Browser Fails

Microsoft took a big step forward with Windows 10 but there are some issues the company has failed to address. In an attempt to deliver speed, the Edge browser defaults to not retrieving graphics on a page every time even if that graphic has changed. The results, many captcha routines fail leaving people unable to sign up and even log in to some sites. Once again, Microsoft missed the point. So determined to impress people with fancy features like browser annotation and reading view that they sidestepped key issues. What users need most is a secure browser that gets the job done - not over the top features that get in the way of usability.

In my tests, I found links at the bottom of the page in the left hand margin hard to click on because tool tips get in the way. Even worse, the Back button does not always bring you back to the point where you were at on the previous page. This extremely annoying quirk means the user has no choice but to constantly scroll down after clicking Back! How Microsoft could have missed such basics is beyond me. However, the one thing they did actually get right is backwards compatibility regarding the way Edge handles file paths with the HTML input type=file option. Although Microsoft addresses some issues correctly, overall the Edge browser is still somewhat awkward and needs to be rethought.

Robert Haskell writes technical reviews for OfficeSalesUSA.com and has over 20 years experience programming, writing and consulting.

Changing Skin Cells to Neurons

A major breakthrough that could help people with an assortment of cognitive dysfunctions and other conditions has been achieved by two research teams in China. Both groups independently discovered a new mechanism for converting ordinary skin cells into neurons using groups of small molecules that can pass right through the nucleus of a cell, deactivate the molecular code that causes the cell to become a skin cell and stimulate the gene required for neuron development. After a few weeks, the transformation was complete and skin cells in petri dishes began to look and behave like fully functional neurons.

In the past, gene insertion has been used to transform cells also but this technique is tedious, time consuming and risky as the introduction of another gene could potentially have unintended side effects such as an increased risk of cancer. The new technique is safer, easier and can utilize the subject's own cells to reduce the risk of rejection by the immune system. The ability to convert cells this way may also prove to be invaluable for non-cognitive ailments such as diabetes, paralysis, visual impairment, etc.

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Is Donald Trump Really so Bad?

He comes across like a bull in a china shop. He's brash and quite often an embarrassment to his own party yet there are some redeeming qualities about Donald Trump. Unlike other presidential candidates, Trump is an outsider and comes with a unique perspective that despite his uncouth demeanor, many find refreshing. Likewise, because he also has money, he is not afraid of nor controlled by powerful lobbying forces like the Koch brothers. As an independent, I can support anyone. To me, the top issues are:

• Reducing Federal Deficit: The projected 19 trillion dollar deficit is alarming and if we don't get this under control, there may not even be a country in the future. At minimum, the rate we borrow at will increase as the national deficit spirals out of control to the point where we simply cannot repay our debt.
• Healthcare: Most republicans talk big but fail to state any specifics about how they would replace Obamacare. Although I actually supported the healthcare law because of my family history, I don't have a problem with replacing the legislation provided the new law addresses key healthcare issues. Trump clearly states his support for a single-payer system like Great Britain has despite great opposition from his party. 
• National Security: The image we project around the world must never appear weak and the notion of leading from behind is disturbing to say the least.
• Preserve Social Safety Net: Just because we have to cut costs does't mean we should throw out the baby with the bath water. Social Security and Medicare should be preserved but I'm willing to make compromises if necessary to preserve these institutions for future generations.

Although Trump comes across strong overall on key issues, he still faces an uphill battle winning especially in the general election. He may win the battle being bold but lose the war. However, who would have even thought he would have defied as many expectations as he has so far?