Month: April 2014 | Page 2

April 11, 2014

NSA Knew And Used It Against All of Us

Who’s Worst Hacker?

Most would agree that unknown shadowy figures intent on malicious attacks in cyber space would be first on the list of worst hackers, meaning those the rest of us likely want closed down. But who knew that the US National Security Agency should be near the top of the list?

Why, one may ask? NSA knew from the beginning of the OpenSSL encryption vulnerability now called ‘Heartbleed,’ and instead of alerting at least the citizens of its own nation it kept the weakness secret to exploit for its own illegal surveillance agenda. https://www.yahoo.com/tech/report-the-nsa-knew-about-heartbleed-vulnerability-for-82407088205.html and http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/04/11/heartbleed-cisco-juniper/7589759/

HFS analysts point out that NSA’s mission does not include looking out for ordinary American citizens. Yet, still NSA says in its mission statement that NSA “…enables Computer Network Operations (CNO) in order to gain a decision advantage for the Nation ….” So shouldn’t that mission include network operations of the citizens? Maybe a change to the NSA charter should include a mission or policy to disclose known cyber threats to the public, making NSA a service organization in a fuller sense.

Some in the HFS stable openly support everything NSA does in the name of national security. In contrast, most argue that the concept of a nation, any nation, must include its citizens. So when action by a government agency – particularly in a government of, for, and by the people, as in a democracy – jeopardizes the economic, political, and social stability of that nation, then the agency must either be re-tooled in some major way or it must be shut down. In the case of the heartbleed flaw, apparently NSA depended heavily on it to carry out its mission. So to HFS generally, NSA needs serious re-tooling for the purpose of maintaining national security and at the same time doing nothing that harms the society of the nation. While a minority of voices yells loudly how national security demands the sacrifice of some historic freedoms, the majority insist that any grand sacrifice of freedom must be the product of open, democratic decisions, at least in the USA where democracy should remain the foundation. What do you think?

April 10, 2014

Papyrus Vaguely Mentions Jesus’ Wife

Papyrus Suggests Gospel of Jesus’ Wife

According to the Harvard Theological Review, scientists testing an allegedly ancient Egyptian papyrus have reported that no evidence can be found by them to conclude that the document is forged. http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/04/10/new-tests-show-evidence-forgery-gospel-jesus-wife/IusII8b4eI86HgDTKipLhN/story.html

To HFS analysts, that’s a convoluted way to say: Looks real to us. When discovery of the papyrus was first reported, the Vatican promptly opined that is was fake. So today’s Harvard announcement flies in the face of Vatican opinions. http://harvardmagazine.com/2014/04/jesus-wife-fragment-appears-real

Why does it matter? The passionate crowd urging Catholic and Mormon priesthood for women want the document to prove that Jesus had a wife and considered her a disciple, meaning in today’s terms, He considered her a worthy holder of the priesthood. http://gospelofjesusswife.hds.harvard.edu

Not so fast, say theological academics looking closely at the text. First, the text came from a time at least several hundred years after the life of Jesus of Nazareth. The document offers no insight directly into times contemporaneous with teaching and service of Jesus. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/10/science/scrap-of-papyrus-referring-to-jesus-wife-is-likely-to-be-ancient-scientists-say.html?hpw&rref=science&_r=0

Also, and more significantly, in the time when the document appears to have been written, somewhere between the sixth and ninth centuries of the common era, many arguments about marriage, sex, and the status of women were presented in thousands of records. The translated text of this particular document includes Jesus’ reported use of the phrase, “My wife…” and it also says “…she will be able to be my disciple….” No context for these expressions comes out, leaving open obvious alternative meanings. http://www.theverge.com/2014/4/10/5600450/papyrus-gospel-of-jesus-wife-likely-wasnt-forged-scientists-claim

Distilling the big news down to street level, HFS analysts conclude that no one knows what the document means even if it really is what it appears to be, a sixth/seventh/eighth/ninth century letter arguing about some of the same things people argue about today. So your guess is as good as ours. What do you think?

April 10, 2014

Water Play

Bid Twelve: Water Play

This 18-inch-by-24-inch oil painting on canvas entitled Water Play by Jerome Hamilton provides a glimpse into Jerome’s own boyhood in southern Wisconsin. He painted it in 1971 just before enlisting in the US Marine Corps, where he became an analyst and additionally a drug & alcohol addiction counselor. During the time of its painting, Jerome made a living by hustling pool at the local pool halls in Madison, Wisconsin, and he learned for the first time in his young life how susceptible he was to major bouts of depression. He recorded in his journal in 1971 that he used painting as a way to escape his surroundings as he seriously contemplated taking his own life, and he broke into uncontrollable crying spells as he painted this painting, partly out of realization that he might never again play with such a carefree spirit. When he volunteered to become a US Marine in late 1971, he fully expected to die in the Viet Nam conflict, and he was surprised to have survived that war by the time his tour of duty ended in 1975. He placed this and 23 other paintings from his Wisconsin Nostalgia into storage while in the Marine Corps, thinking that perhaps his days of painting were behind him. With GI Bill money, he returned to college to finish several degrees by 1981, when he returned to military service as a US Air Force judge advocate. Fortunately, in the Air Force he found time to paint again. His depression grew steadily more intense nonetheless. As with all of the Wisconsin Nostalgia collection in Jerome’s control by 2003, he donated it as one in a group of 10 to a private collector in Illinois. At the time of the donation he mentioned that his nostalgia never brought him joy, wealth or fame. Nonetheless, Jerome retained all rights to produce and sell archival quality prints.

The minimum opening bid: 2.0000 Bitcoins per giclee print of any size. The largest print is roughly 24-inches-by-36-inches, and smaller sizes can be ordered although the price remains the same.

An overview of the bid process is provided on the page named Art of Jerome Hamilton.

Instructions to bid:

1) Submit bids as micro increments of Bitcoin or equivalent other currencies based on the exchange rate at the time of bid. Bitcoin will serve as the base currency for all transactions.

2) Bids submitted implicitly carry a guarantee to remain a firm offer to purchase until the close of bidding, which shall be 10 days after submission of the first qualifying bid.

3) Submission of a bid shall be accomplished by a registered member with a valid email address listed in his or her profile who posts the bid as a comment on the http://HamiltonFinanceServices.com page associated with the particular art work.

4) Bids may be increased or withdrawn by similar posting.

5) A qualifying bid shall remain a legal offer until withdrawn, and that offer shall be conditionally accepted if after the bidding closes it is the highest bid price. ‘Conditional acceptance’ includes verification by Jerome Hamilton or his agent that the bidder is a registered HFS user with a valid email who personally represents his or her financial ability to cover the bid and who has returned a signed conditional contract. Usually this involves email correspondence directly between Jerome and the bidder.

6) The winning bid will be obvious to the world based on bid-comments published at the http://HamiltonFinanceServices.com page associated with the art work. Also, the conditional contract will be counter-signed by Jerome Hamilton and a copy sent via email promptly after closing of the bid period. At the specific date and time of that email with the attached, signed contract, the bid will become a binding contract and the transaction will proceed privately.

7) If a bidder fails to return the signed conditional contract, his or her bid shall be removed and disqualified.

8) If a bidder fails to honor his or her contractual obligations, arbitration under the contract will be pursued. The standard arbitration clause will be published and revised from time to time to let the world know how arbitration works for a transaction at http://HamiltonFinanceServices.com. The most recent revision of the arbitration clause is found at http://hamiltonfinanceservices.com/?p=2265.

9) If a bid is disqualified or a contract dishonored, the status of that bid or contract will be published in relation to the auction of the piece of art contemplated in that transaction with the user name, not the personal name (unless those names are the same), of the defaulting bidder/buyer.

April 9, 2014

Heartbleed Busts Into 500+ servers worldwide

“Heartbleed” Wounds 500 Servers

The latest serious Internet threat named ‘Heartbleed’ has hit over 500 servers, all using OpenSSL web encryption tech. The chief research officer, Mikko Hypponen, at software security maker F-Secure located in Helsinki, Finland, says users can do virtually nothing about it. Instead, server administrators must fix the problem that spreads through cookies. So anyone who has used Yahoo over the past several days, for example, has probably had their passwords and perhaps their credit card and banking information, scrapped into the coffers of some hacks in cyber space. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/09/us-cybersecurity-internet-bug-idUSBREA3804U20140409

What should you do? According to CNET security experts, several steps are required to ensure password and financial security, in light of Heartbleed attacks worldwide. First, don’t log in to any service that has been attacked. http://www.cnet.com/news/how-to-protect-yourself-from-the-heartbleed-bug/

HFS analysts ask: So, who or what has been attacked? HFS answer: No one really knows for sure, although some services like Yahoo admit they were infested and have taken steps to fix the problem. Yahoo apparently is still fixing things, so log in today might need to be reconsidered. But how about all those other services? Google insists it was ahead of the Heartbleed problem from the start. Along with Facebook and Twitter. Do you believe them?

Other steps can be taken once the server of your email or social net has made some changes known mostly by IT administrators. For example, create new passwords for important accounts like banks and highly used email. Also, when unsure of what precautions your local IT administrator might have take, make inquiries through their customer complaint process. http://www.businessinsider.com/heartbleed-bug-explainer-2014-4

Maybe Heartbleed will be put down soon enough. HFS wonders about the larger issue: Can Internet activity ever be truly safe? Should all of us rethink the worldwide dependency on digital reality? Is the primitive lifestyle returning for more than a few? What do you think?

April 9, 2014

New Noses For Sale?

New Nose, Tear Duct or Ears, Anyone?

According to scientist Alexander Seifalian of the University College London, fabricating new noses, tear ducts or ears resembles the process of making a cake but using a different sort of oven to bake it. It takes only a little salt and sugar, then, viola, the patient’s new nose is ready for attachment. That’s just what they did last year for a patient who had lost his nose to cancer. With a polymer mix, salt, sugar…any vanilla with that?..the scientists baked it up after adding their secret ingredient. That ingredient? Stem cells. https://in.news.yahoo.com/scientists-growing-human-body-parts-lab-using-stem-062138783.html

To most of us now, the procedure sounds revolutionary! Of course, ears are harder than noses, so perhaps there’s an extra charge for more cartilage. One must harvest that cartilage from the patient’s own ribs, says Dr. Michelle Griffin, a plastic surgeon on Seifalian’s team. http://www.medicaldaily.com/scientists-use-stem-cells-grow-body-parts-their-lab-including-noses-ears-and-tear-ducts-275122

At HFS, the ramifications for economic impacts on general organ harvesting seem unclear, but organ manufacturing appears set to launch a disruptive technology in the medical field. What do you think?

April 8, 2014

Is US Posturing Again Over Ukraine Unrest?

Is Kerry Posturing Over Ukraine Unrest?

Today US Secretary of State John Kerry claimed that Russian secret agents and special forces have caused the unrest in several Ukraine areas. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/08/us-ukraine-crisis-idUSBREA370RU20140408 Kerry provided no evidence in support of his claims.

In Luhansk, Ukraine, separatists took temporary control of a government building and raided its armory of rifles and ammunition. Western politicians allege that those separatists also took 60 hostages and secreted bombs throughout the building. Several separatists have denied those Western claims. No proof of the politicians’ claims has been provided any reporters. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-ukraine-crisis-20140408,0,4945134.story

Russian politicians have voiced concerns over Russian-speaking people in eastern Ukraine and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement expressing fear over potential civil war. http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2014/04/08/Russia-Civil-war-in-Ukraine-possible/4831396962909/

To HFS, the obvious issue concerns what Russia might do next. The US and other western politicians appear to be drumming up their domestic support for possible intervention, although to HFS that alternative should be the very last on any list of options. The Russian politicians appear to be waiting anxiously to see how the Russian speakers in Ukraine fare, fearing violence and civil war, but willing if necessary to consider additional action if necessary. None of it sounds good to HFS analysts. What do you think?

April 7, 2014

Seawater Will Fuel US Navy Planes and Ships

The US Navy announced today it has mastered the science of using seawater to fuel ships and planes. To Dr. Heather Wilhauer, a research scientist who has specialized on this problem, the success of test runs with the new tech amounts to “game-changing” advantages to the US war machine. http://news.yahoo.com/us-navy-game-changer-converting-seawater-fuel-150544958.html

Development of liquid hydrocarbon fuel from seawater has occupied the attention of scientists worldwide for decades. What is it: A gas-to-liquids process begins by separating carbon dioxide from hydrogen in sea water and then a catalytic converter generates liquid fuel from those products. http://www.afp.com/en/node/2262804 and http://www.industrytap.com/seawater-fuel-another-breakthrough-for-alternative-fuel-sources/492

Gas-to-liquids technology has been used for years in the refinery process. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_to_liquids To some tech news watchers, even the Navy announcement is old news leaked more than 6 months ago, and since those leaks they have ‘played’ with the gas-to-liquids fuels in remote-control airplanes. http://gizmodo.com/an-rc-plane-that-flies-on-seawater-fuel-1559941971

HFS analysts note that most Americans, as well as virtually everyone else in the world, considers the Navy’s news both amazing and troublesome. Granted, war machines like the USA’s Department of Defense have historically invented and tested a majority of new technologies, so there’s no surprise about the US Navy coming up with something game-changing, such as gas-to-liquids technology. Nonetheless, many world citizens, even many Americans, prefer to apply new science to peaceful endeavors, not better killing and breaking systems. At least, that’s the HFS view. What do you think?

April 6, 2014

LDS Women Seek Church Doctrine Change On Priesthood

Ushers at the Salt Lake Tabernacle turned away several hundred women and their few male supporters who sought admittance to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meeting for its male members, called the annual Priesthood Meeting, last evening. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/06/us-usa-mormon-women-idUSBREA340O720140406 and http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-04-05/news/sns-rt-us-usa-mormon-women-20140405_1_mormon-women-mormon-church-temple-square

One report of the incident described how an usher hugged a distraught young woman who was denied entrance, advising her sympathetically to watch the live Priesthood Meeting online. The Church, a worldwide organization with more than half its membership outside the USA, broadcasts via Internet, satellite, television, and radio all of its annual and semi-annual meetings as of this April’s conference. http://www.mormonnewsroom.org

Last weekend, the General Women’s Conference of the Church was held for the first time in the same location that the General Conference was held this week. The Priesthood Meeting occurred as it has for decades on the Saturday evening in the third of five 2-hour sessions associated with the annual and semi-annual General Conferences. http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/first-presidency-announces-new-general-womens-meeting

HFS analysts note that in the General Women’s Conference, male priesthood leaders presided over and spoke along with women leaders of the Church. Those same male leaders presided over and some spoke at the General Conference, and a few women have or will speak there too. The difference is partly symbolic, that is, who sits in the seats of honor to lead the meetings. However, the difference goes much further based on what latter-day saints proclaim is direct revelation through their prophets. Specifically, LDS prophets declare that Jesus Christ heads the church, not any mortal man or woman, and He directs that only male members should be given His authority, called Priesthood authority in the Church today. Women members of the Church pressing to enter the male-only Priesthood meeting seek to pressure the presiding prophet, Thomas S. Monson, to change the doctrine that limits priesthood ordination to males, believing less in divine revelation and more in woman-made change. To HFS analysts, the implicit clash between the Church’s leaders and a few of its women seems like a Wile E. Coyote butting its head against a large desert mountain. What do you think?

April 4, 2014

Israel Approves Controversial Jerusalem Building Permits

Israel’s Interior Ministry announced approval of building permits today for a visitor center to be built in the predominately Arab subdivision of Silwan. Currently the approved construction site has been used as a parking lot across from Dung Gate just outside Jerusalem’s Old City walls. The ministry’s primary reason given for deciding contrary to strong Palestinian objections in last week’s public permit hearing was published as supporting city development to show archaeological discoveries from the region. http://www.afp.com/en/node/2252857 and http://www.ntd.tv/en/news/world/middle-east-/-africa/20140404/122394-israel-approves-archaeological-project-in-east-jerusalem.html and http://news.yahoo.com/israel-okays-disputed-e-jerusalem-archaeology-project-092655792.html

Analysts at HFS argue that Israel’s approval of the archaeological construction project responds directly to Palestinian applications for inclusion in 15 international treaties despite strong opposition from Israel. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=47490&Cr=palestin&Cr1=#.Uz78gLKwXrg

Those Palestinian applications arose when Israel declined to release convicted Palestinians held in prison, which Israel had earlier promised if and when ongoing peace talks succeeded. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/04/world/middleeast/mideast-peace-talks.html?_r=0

The peace talks appear to be prematurely concluded. http://www.ntd.tv/en/news/world/middle-east-/-africa/20140331/120385-palestinians-said-israel39s-talks-proposal-is-a-39blackmail39.html

To HFS’s way of thinking, the talks never had a real chance of success, and US Secretary of Kerry simply wasted time and money attempting to push those talks into existence. What do you think?

April 4, 2014

Global Cooling Most Dependable for Serious Investors

Are Global Warming Advocates Just Full of Hot Air? Is Global Cooling a More Accurate Characterization?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released Part 5 of its global warming warning in January 2014 to let the world know how perilous continuation on the present industrialization path should be perceived in the context of climate change. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1/

At just about the time that report was coming out, snow covered Cairo for the first time in 112 years. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/13/cairo-snow_n_4441049.html

In the United States, 2013 showed the largest one-year temperature drop ever recorded, and that year now stands as one of the coldest in history. http://iceagenow.info/2013/12/2013-ten-coldest-years-history/

The volume of Antarctic ice has reached record high levels this year. http://www.reportingclimatescience.com/news-stories/article/latest-data-shows-arctic-ice-volume-has-increased.html And new data about the level of the Antarctic land mass shows how wrong past judgments have been due to faulty data. http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-21692423

From HFS analysis, investors closely watching weather for signals on when to buy and sell stocks related directly to temperature changes, no one should depend on any IPCC reports. What can investors depend on?

One answer has been offered by http://www.accesswire.com in a three-part series of analyses based on less popular yet reliable weather data. In a recent publication of the first part, ‘global cooling’ most accurately describes how weather is now changing and how it will most likely continue to change over the next two decades. Here at HFS, we call that a trend. The trend appears to be measured almost exclusively on the basis of sun activity, not human activity on earth. Such a new and perhaps radical view of climate change, from an investor’s standpoint, deserves close watching. What do you think?