The Best Browser Extensions that Protect Your Privacy

[Some good info here. -egg]

There are a ton of browser extensions that promise to protect your privacy, which leads to some natural questions: Which is the best? Do they all do the same thing? What should I really download? In this guide, we’re going to look at the most popular browser extensions that promise to protect your privacy online, and give you our recommendations.

We’ve talked about why you should care about your privacy several times here, so whether you choose to do something to protect yourself is up to you—we’re not going to rehash it. Instead, we’re going to dive into the tools available to keep your data safe. Most of them fall into three groups: add-ons that prevent third parties from tracking your movements, add-ons that block ads and scripts, and passive security tools that enforce good habits. Don’t worry, though. You don’t need to download a ton of apps to keep yourself safe and your data close to pocket. Here are the best in each group.

The Best Browser Extensions that Protect Your Privacy.

Volcano Dust – made from ghost chili peppers – Boing Boing

Volcano Dust is a brand of powdered bhut jolokia chili peppers. Also known as ghost chills, bhut jolokias are mind-bendingly hot. For example, an average jalapeño pepper measures about 5,000 on the Scoville heat scale; a bhut jolokia measures 1,000,000 Scovilles.

The manufacturer of Volcano Dust sent me a box of samples, and I carefully tried them out. They are certainly the hottest powdered chili peppers I’ve ever tasted, but I like them. A slight dusting of theHot Italian Blend on my easy-over eggs or chicken soup turns them into an exciting culinary experience. Here’s to blown-out capsaicin receptors!

Volcano Dust – made from ghost chili peppers – Boing Boing.

Conservation ain’t what it used to be (WE NEED TO BE BIGGER)

[Some interesting thoughts from grinding.be. Worth a read. -egg]

I’m increasingly resistant to the notion of Sustainability… because what are we sustaining but the slow motion death of the life on Earth that has supported us? WE NEED TO ACCELERATE FORWARDS INTO THE FUTURE, DRAGGING ALL OF HISTORY AND ITS LESSONS WITH US.

Okay, that’s a tad hyperbolic… but there are a lot of legacy civilizational myths that need to be exploded. For starters, the crux of the Environmental Mythology, that the Amazon is some untouched Gaian Paradise, when the evidence points to it being a pre-Columbian garden that’s since ReWilded:

grinding.be » Blog Archive » Conservation ain’t what it used to be (WE NEED TO BE BIGGER).

Genome Compiler

Home – Genome Compiler Corporation.

Were you needing software for designing new genes? Looks like this is the place to go.

 Powerful Search Capability

With lightening fast access to NCBI, iGem, plasmids and more, Genome Compiler allows you to easily find and import genetic information at any scale. Nature’s design is at your fingertips!

 Intuitive User Interface

The Drag and Drop utility provides users with an agile mechanism for engineering DNA. Genome Compiler’s intuitive “lego” construction allows you to move your genetic “bricks” within and between new projects.

 Easy Ordering

The simplest way to order your synthetic DNA designs. Get quotes from multiple providers and choose the one that meets your needs.

 Cloud Storage

Genome Compiler’s Cloud Storage enables seamless collaboration. Simply drag and drop your content to the Cloud and access your project from any machine!

 Built-in Library

Your built-in constructs library includes an extensive list of genetic parts, plasmid vectors, complete genomes, and more

 Undo/Redo Changes

At Genome Compiler, we fully encourage fearless innovation – undo/redo your changes with a single click. Leave the worrying to us.

Subtly Animated GIFs of London Street Scenes Focus on One Person

Oh, I really like these. Thanks Dean. -egg

“One” is a photo series of London street scenes in which a single person in each photo is subtly animated. The animated photos, or “cinemagraphs,” were created by photographer Nicolas Ritter.

The project » one « focuses on the individual in a crowd. It particularly imitates the way in which the human eye observes: not viewing a crowd as a crowd, but observing little micro-scenes inside of it.

Animated street photography by Nicolas Ritter

Animated street photography by Nicolas Ritter

Abstract Expressionism was a CIA plot – Boing Boing

Abstract Expressionism was a CIA plot – Boing Boing.

The decision to include culture and art in the US Cold War arsenal was taken as soon as the CIA was founded in 1947. Dismayed at the appeal communism still had for many intellectuals and artists in the West, the new agency set up a division, the Propaganda Assets Inventory, which at its peak could influence more than 800 newspapers, magazines and public information organisations. They joked that it was like a Wurlitzer jukebox: when the CIA pushed a button it could hear whatever tune it wanted playing across the world.

The next key step came in 1950, when the International Organisations Division (IOD) was set up under Tom Braden. It was this office which subsidised the animated version of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, which sponsored American jazz artists, opera recitals, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s international touring programme. Its agents were placed in the film industry, in publishing houses, even as travel writers for the celebrated Fodor guides. And, we now know, it promoted America’s anarchic avant-garde movement, Abstract Expressionism…