Things Noticeable this week

[Devius]

The Weinstein Company is in talks over a possible sale to a private equity firm.

The company said it had entered a preliminary agreement with Colony Capital over the potential sale of all or a significant portion of its assets.

The Weinstein Company was co-founded by Harvey Weinstein, the Oscar-winning film producer accused of sexually harassing female employees.

Harvey Weinstein was fired by the board of his company earlier this month.

Colony Capital has already agreed to make an "immediate capital infusion" into the Weinstein Company.

Details:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41641419

[gedly]

Originally Posted by Devius

[i]The organisation behind the Oscars has voted to expel Harvey Weinstein following numerous allegations of sexual assault made against the film producer.

I was watching BBC News the other night and in the same bulletin as they broke the Harvey Weinstein story they also covered the enquiry into Cyril Smith. I had this weird thought about what could be worse? Being a grown woman being groped by Harvey Weinstein or being a vulnerable ten year old being molested by Cyril Smith? The coincidence made me really want to put things in context.

[vinceprince]

Originally Posted by gedly

I was watching BBC News the other night and in the same bulletin as they broke the Harvey Weinstein story they also covered the enquiry into Cyril Smith. I had this weird thought about what could be worse? Being a grown woman being groped by Harvey Weinstein or being a vulnerable ten year old being molested by Cyril Smith? The coincidence made me really want to put things in context.

Yes, but which movie would be the biggest box office hit?

That's what it basically boils down to, plus the fact fat Cyril is long dead.

[tsunamiSD]

This first item is a book review; the book itself is the important thing.

‘The Future Is History’ review: Journalist Masha Gessen looks at life for ordinary Russians under Putin

Something about the story of Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election muddles the brain — it’s diffuse, creepy and hard to understand. And the probes into Russian contacts with several of Donald Trump’s advisers have a whack-a-mole quality. Who’s complicit? Who’s guilty? And what is Russia’s game?
Readers of “The Future Is History,” Masha Gessen’s brilliant and sobering new book about totalitarianism’s takeover of contemporary Russia, will get some scary perspective on these questions — her immersion into Russia’s three decades of decline since perestroika is a plunge into the deep end of a very cold pool. A Russian journalist now living in America, Gessen builds the case that Vladimir Putin, Russia’s de facto dictator, regards America as Russia’s mortal enemy, and most Russians go along with him. Buffeted by old animosities, new propaganda and timeless envy, Russians see the United States as “the country that Russia had failed to become. . . . attractive and threatening at the same time, worth emulating and eminently hateable,” Gessen writes.

Putin’s assaults against a free society are shocking, in part because most Russians tolerate and support him. He has almost completely eliminated directly elected posts in the vast governmental empire. He controls judicial appointments. He directs sham elections for the few such positions that remain. He has seized control of major businesses and industries, and business leaders who opposed him have been stripped of their wealth, sometimes jailed and in select cases murdered.
More troubling is the emergence of a fierce Russian nationalist vision, with broad public enthusiasm for plans to retake any country with a major population of ethnic Russians. Most disturbing: the sanctioned harassment and visceral hate of those who are different, especially Russian gays, who have been harassed, beaten, tortured and murdered.
Gessen fears that Russian society is dying under Putin — even life expectancy is shorter than in many developing countries. It’s hard to imagine how any creativity, originality or innovation can survive such a societal straitjacket.

*****

The World Once Laughed at North Korean Cyberpower. No More.

When North Korean hackers tried to steal $1 billion from the New York Federal Reserve last year, only a spelling error stopped them. They were digitally looting an account of the Bangladesh Central Bank, when bankers grew suspicious about a withdrawal request that had misspelled “foundation” as “fandation.”
Even so, Kim Jong-un’s minions still got away with $81 million in that heist.
Then only sheer luck enabled a 22-year-old British hacker to defuse the biggest North Korean cyberattack to date, a ransomware attack last May that failed to generate much cash but brought down hundreds of thousands of computers across dozens of countries — and briefly crippled Britain’s National Health Service.
Their track record is mixed, but North Korea’s army of more than 6,000 hackers is undeniably persistent, and undeniably improving, according to American and British security officials who have traced these attacks and others back to the North.

Unlike its weapons tests, which have led to international sanctions, the North’s cyberstrikes have faced almost no pushback or punishment, even as the regime is already using its hacking capabilities for actual attacks against its adversaries in the West.
And just as Western analysts once scoffed at the potential of the North’s nuclear program, so did experts dismiss its cyberpotential — only to now acknowledge that hacking is an almost perfect weapon for a Pyongyang that is isolated and has little to lose.
The country’s primitive infrastructure is far less vulnerable to cyberretaliation, and North Korean hackers operate outside the country, anyway. Sanctions offer no useful response, since a raft of sanctions are already imposed. And Mr. Kim’s advisers are betting that no one will respond to a cyberattack with a military attack, for fear of a catastrophic escalation between North and South Korea.
“Cyber is a tailor-made instrument of power for them,” said Chris Inglis, a former deputy director of the National Security Agency, who now teaches about security at the United States Naval Academy. “There’s a low cost of entry, it’s largely asymmetrical, there’s some degree of anonymity and stealth in its use. It can hold large swaths of nation state infrastructure and private-sector infrastructure at risk. It’s a source of income.”
Mr. Inglis, speaking at the Cambridge Cyber Summit this month, added: “You could argue that they have one of the most successful cyberprograms on the planet, not because it’s technically sophisticated, but because it has achieved all of their aims at very low cost.”

[Rogerbh]

These two kids never had a chance.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/10/16...rant-says.html

19 year old burned alive. http://www.msnewsnow.com/story/27575...nttype=generic

[Nobody1]

Originally Posted by tsunamiSD

This first item is a book review; the book itself is the important thing.

Perhaps it is about time the British Navy stops using XP.

https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...e-cyber-attack

Btw, WannaCry used an NSA exploit that was 'stolen'.

[rupertramjet]

Originally Posted by Nobody1

Perhaps it is about time the British Navy stops using XP.

https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...e-cyber-attack

Btw, WannaCry used an NSA exploit that was 'stolen'.

Perhaps they will upgrade the software about the same time they get some bloody aircraft to fly off the bloody thing!

[Devius]

In case anyone on this side of the pond wondered about yesterday's reddish skies....

An "unusual" reddish sky and red-looking sun have been reported across many parts of England.

The phenomenon was initially seen in the west of England and Wales before spreading to other areas.

BBC weather presenter Simon King said it was due to the remnants of Hurricane Ophelia dragging in tropical air and dust from the Sahara.

He added that debris from forest fires in Portugal and Spain was also playing a part.

The dust has caused shorter wavelength blue light to be scattered, making it appear red.

Details:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-41635906

[Puhbear69]

Originally Posted by Devius

In case anyone on this side of the pond wondered about yesterday's reddish skies....

[...i]

That's being an old hat !

That's nothing else than dirt/dust in the sky, that the sky appears red and not blue in some regions.

A plausible reason could be the huge forest fires around Portugal and Spain.

EDIT: As a kid and in my youth I was living near the Ruhr area. Appending of the wind direction in summer or the weather was fine in all other seasons we was having a red sky always in the evening sun. So it's nothing remarkable to me.

[Devius]

Originally Posted by Puhbear69

That's being an old hat !

That's nothing else than dirt/dust in the sky, that the sky appears red and not blue in some regions.

A plausible reason could be the huge forest fires around Portugal and Spain.

...all the above was stated in my post...

But I digress:

Crimewatch, one of the BBC's longest-running shows, is being axed after 33 years.

The programme, which asks viewers for help to track down criminals, is hosted by Jeremy Vine and Tina Daheley.

The BBC said in a statement: "We are incredibly proud of Crimewatch and the great work it has done over the years.

"This move will also allow us to create room for new innovative programmes in peak time on BBC One." Daytime series Crimewatch Roadshow will continue.

The Sun, which first broke the story, said ratings had suffered as it was scheduled against Cold Feet and Broadchurch.

Three episodes have aired this year - in February and March - watched by an average of almost three million viewers. That is down from 14 million who watched at its peak.

Full details:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41648972
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41649334
https://www.theguardian.com/media/20...after-33-years


Methinks Crimewatch's place in TV history is secure, since the show helped solve various murders, including the tragic case of toddler James Bulger.