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John Oliver breaks down the San Bernardino iPhone case

John Oliver has earned himself a reputation for explaining politically complex topics in a way that anyone can understand during his Last Week Tonight talk show. After tackling net neutrality and Donald Trump, the comedian has turned his attention to the San Bernardino iPhone case. The legal tussle between Apple and the FBI has been all over the news recently, but the various arguments and counterarguments can be difficult to describe to someone that rarely reads about encryption, backdoors and government warrants. If you have friends or family that fall into this camp, Oliver’s new 18-minute breakdown is a good place for them to start.

The TV host delivers the recap with his usual wit and charm, packing in plenty of gags that should keep even the least tech-savvy viewer engaged. In the video, Oliver covers the general purpose of encryption, the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone, exactly what the FBI has asked Apple to build and its justifications for such an order. He then summarises Apple’s counterarguments and the potential issues — technical and political — with building such a controversial workaround. It’s not the deepest of dives, but if you know someone that wants to quickly catch up with the whole affair this is an accessible, humorous and fairly comprehensive take.

Source: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (YouTube)

via Engadget
John Oliver breaks down the San Bernardino iPhone case

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Listen To An Astronomer Lose His Mind Watching An Eclipse From A Plane

Listen To An Astronomer Lose His Mind Watching An Eclipse From A Plane
GIF via YouTube

Over a dozen “eclipse chasers” hopped onboard Alaska Airlines Flight 870 from Anchorage to Honolulu not to pick up spam musubi for dinner, but rather, to intersect the path of a solar eclipse. Astronomer Joe Rao captured the action from seat 32F, and I’ve never heard a man so excited about anything in my life.

According to Alaska Airlines, Rao is associate astronomer at the American Museum of Natural History’s Hayden Planetarium, so this sort of thing is his life’s calling. His excitement for the natural occurrence is beyond contagious as he delivers a breathless play-by-play of everything that’s happening with the eclipse.

Per the airline, Rao discovered a year ago that Flight 870’s path would intersect the eclipse’s path of totality on March 8, where the moon creates the darkest shadow on the Earth. Only problem: the flight would be 25 minutes early to catch the eclipse in all its darkest glory.

After Rao called to let the airline know about the eclipse, Alaska bumped the flight back and adjusted its flight path so that Rao and other astronomers could watch from onboard. What better in-flight show than one provided by Mother Nature? Fellow eclipse chaser Dan McGlaun even brought special glasses for the entire plane so that passengers could safely watch the sun.

One semi-retired astronomer on the plane, Craig Small, caught his thirty-first eclipse on the Flight 870. He explained the appeal to Alaska Airlines:

I’m not one for hyperbole, but you don’t just see an eclipse, you experience it with every fiber of your being. It is the most spectacular naturally occurring event that anyone could witness in their lifetime.

Rao’s narration was pretty spectacular, too.

According to Alaska Airlines, the plane was flying at 500 mph at an altitude of 35,000 feet when it intercepted the eclipse’s path 695 miles north of Honolulu. The eclipse lasted for almost two minutes.

Contact the author at stef.schrader@jalopnik.com.

via Gizmodo
Listen To An Astronomer Lose His Mind Watching An Eclipse From A Plane

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Magnetic Darts Are Scary Powerful

Magnetic Darts Are Scary Powerful

Need a weapon? Grab some magnets and some nails and you got yourself a hell of an arrow launcher. The magnets push out the nail darts so fast that it’s basically a mini crossbow mixed with a nailgun, no batteries necessary. Magnetic Games said that in order to get this powerful shot, the arrow and the launcher have to have the same polarity.

Digg recently found the video and it’s actually pretty crazy to see how powerful the little weapon is.

SPLOID is delicious brain candy. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Contact the author at cchan@gizmodo.com.

via Gizmodo
Magnetic Darts Are Scary Powerful

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Furniture Design Reference: Diagrams of 18th Century Furniture Broken Down Into Its Components

Before the internet, we had encyclopedias. One of the oldest is France’s Encyclopédie from the 18th Century, where editors Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert gamely tried to cram the world’s knowledge into a comprehensive series of volumes. But the funny thing about French people is that they tend to write in French, so for years the University of Michigan has been translating this massive work into English and posting entries on their website as they become available.

The 18th Century was a bit before the time of industrial designers, but we sifted through the Encyclopédie to find the closest related field and came up with furniture design. Within the Menuisier en meubles ("Art of the cabinetmaker") entry are some twenty plates cataloguing the various parts of fine furniture of the era. Detailed descriptions are nonexistent, but we get to see the components, the joinery, the templates, the weaving patterns of the wicker and even how some of the parts are meant to be cut from the timber:

Plate I: Art of the Cabinet Maker, Seats
Plate II: Art of the Cabinet Maker, Seats and Benches. [Conversion of timber sections from a beechwood plank, together with assembly details.]
Plate III: Art of the Cabinet Maker, Seats. [Constructional and decorative details of different types of ornamental legs.]
Plate IV: Art of the Cabinet Maker, Chairs. [Chair construction.]
Plate V: Art of the Cabinet Maker, Armchairs
Plate VI: Art of the Cabinet Maker, Armchairs and easy chairs
Plate VII: Art of the Cabinet Maker, Easy chair and smal couch.
Plate VIII: Art of the Cabinet Maker, Couch
Plate IX: Art of the Cabinet Maker, Sofa
Plate X: Art of the Cabinet Maker, Duchesse [day-bed or reclining sofa].
Plate XI: Furniture Carpenter Veilleuse [day-bed or reclining sofa].
Plate XII: Art of the Cabinet Maker, Day-bed or reclining sofa [with a circular frame].
Plate XIII: Art of the Cabinet Maker, Sideboard [with cabinet].
Plate XIV: Art of the Cabinet Maker, Wardrobe.
Plate XV: Art of the Cabinet Maker, Polish Bed
Plate XVI: Art of the Cabinet Maker, French Bed
Plate XVII: Art of the Cabinet Maker, Italian Bed
Plate XVIII: Art of the Cabinet Maker, Templates
Plate XIX: Art of the Cabinet Maker, Templates
Plate XX: Art of the Cabinet Maker, Templates

Thanks to the University of Michigan for undertaking this project, and keeping it Creative Commons!


via Core77
Furniture Design Reference: Diagrams of 18th Century Furniture Broken Down Into Its Components