Mirror Neurons Open New Vistas

The discovery of mirror neurons has been hailed as the greatest since the discovery of DNA.
Not only can it explain autism, but it could be the basis of empathy, imitation learning, language evolution, mind reading, and social understanding. It could also be a biological foundation for memes.

It must be said here that some of the above are on firm scientific grounds, but many others are only very interesting speculations at the moment.

Mirror neurons were discovered in the 1980s and 1990s, by Giacomo Rizzolatti working with Leonardo Fogassi and Vittorio Gallese at the university in Parma, Italy.

Briefly stated, mirror neurons ( e.g. Wikipedia and Mirror-Neurons: a primer ) in primates fire when we do something, but also when we watch other do the same actions. This way we can understand the body language of someone. When we are in pain, e.g. we bleed for a cut, we know how it feels. Later when we see someone bleeding from a cut, we understand his or her pain, thus forming the basis of empathy. Of course the pain that we feel, and the pain that someone feels may not be the same, pain is still subjective.

The mirror neurons have sometimes also been called Dalai Lama neurons, providing a biological basis for compassion and loving kindness.

The neurologist Ramachandran puts it this way: "The discovery of mirror neurons in the frontal lobes of monkeys, and their potential relevance to human brain evolution is the single most important "unreported" (or at least, unpublicized) story of the decade. I predict that mirror neurons will do for psychology what DNA did for biology: they will provide a unifying framework and help explain a host of mental abilities that have hitherto remained mysterious and inaccessible to experiments."
( see MIRROR NEURONS and imitation learning as the driving force behind "the great leap forward" in human evolution )


A flood of research activities have developed since the discovery of mirror neurons. One of the first, was the connection to autism. (see "Autism; Autism Linked To Mirror Neuron Dysfunction")


Mind reading.
More speculative are the connections to mind reading, imitation learning and language evolution.
Giacomo Rizzolatti says that the neurons could help explain how and why we "read" other people's minds and feel empathy for them. If watching an action and performing that action can activate the same parts of the brain in monkeys--down to a single neuron--then it makes sense that watching an action and performing an action could also elicit the same feelings in people.
See also "Scientists Say Everyone Can Read Minds"
and "Grasping the Intentions of Others with One's Own Mirror Neuron System"

Mindsight.
Dr Siegel, author of the book "The Developing Mind", coined the phrase "Mindsight" to denote the mechanism of detecting other's intentions, imitation and learning.
"The mirror neuron hypothesis is at the core of this research. This system of neurons allows the brains in humans (and primates) to perform its highest tasks including learning, imitating and empathizing. The mirror neuron system allows for the ability to create an image of the internal state of another’s mind. For example, one study had subjects watch a hand move forward to caress someone else and then saw another hand push it away rudely. The brains of the subjects registered the pain of social rejection as if it was happening to them. Mirror neurons are involved in social/emotion intentions as the brain simulates these actions providing a template for anticipating what will happen next. Mirror neurons reveal that the brain is able to detect the intention of another person, a possible mechanism not just for imitation and learning but for what Siegel calls mindsight." (see "The Mirror Neuron Mindfulness Hypothesis By Shelley Norton, Ph.D." )

Dr Siegel also planned a joint two day seminar with Dr Jack Kornfield on "The Wise Heart and the Mindful Brain, Buddha Meets Neurobiology"

Topics include:
* Buddhist psychology’s core principles of mental health and well being
* The structure of the mind and how understanding consciousness and mental patterns can lead to freedom
* How to incorporate compassion and forgiveness into our work and our life
* The powerful effects of mindfulness trainings on body and mind
* The practices and principles of transforming difficult emotions at their root
* How intention and motivation (and the practical understanding of karma) become essential tools for change in with ourselves and others
* The wisdom of positive psychology, and the art of healing
* The nature of attention and the power and practices of the mind to cultivate mindful awareness
* How mindful awareness can be considered a form of “intrapersonal attunement” that catalyzes mental, interpersonal, and physiological well-being
* The overlap among secure parent-child attachment, mindfulness, and the integrative function of the brain, especially in the prefrontal cortex
* The role of a “resonance circuit” in mindfulness practice that enables an individual to attune to others and oneself
* The nature of a sense of self beneath personality and adaptation that is nurtured to blossom with mindfulness
* The power of psychotherapy to utilize mindful practice in direct and indirect ways that help reduce suffering and promote resilience

Imitation.
It has been increasingly recognized that imitation has a very important role in learning, thinking, and decision making. It is probably more important than logical inference including deduction and induction, and intuition. Imitation is said to be the most important difference between humans and other animals. Notwithstanding the saying about aping monkeys, our ability to imitate has much surpassed the apes.

The article MIRROR NEURONS and imitation leaning as the driving force behind "the great leap forward" in human evolution, by V.S. Ramachandran asks the question why hominids have the current brain size since 250,000 years ago, but only recently developed language, art and culture. It seems that there was a great leap forward in human evolution linked to mirror neurons, imitation and language evolution.

Neuro-cognitive science.
More speculations involve linking memes, the notion of self, consciousness, and even out of body experience (OBE) to mirror neurons. Mirror neurons provide the biological basis for modeling the self, others and the world. These models are probably brain software, and the mirror neurons are the hardware for the models. All these are very exciting vistas opened by the discovery of mirror neurons. Neuro-cognitive science will as the Dalai Lama said, one day confirmed many of the Buddhist notions about the self and mindfulness.

Gmail, MSN and Yahoo Passwords Published on Public Website!

From Softpedia:

Three of the most popular e-mail providers on the Internet recorded a massive hit into their security system after it was reported that hundreds of their accounts were published on a Los Angeles website. All the victims were publishing online interviews and articles on several Internet pages owned by Splash Magazines Worldwide, lifestyle and entertainment magazines publisher. Although there is no official statement made by the e-mail providers, it seems like all the accounts were indexed by Google and available through the search engine.

The main reason for this security flaw? It seems like the crawlers of the companies were connecting to the websites when the webmaster removed the passwords to edit the pages. Although the three companies are not involved in this problem, it reveals that the security of the Internet, including mail accounts, is threatened by more and more aspects.

In the past, Gmail had a lot of problems but all of them were concerning the internal security of the service and not the interoperability with other websites on the Internet. As you might remember, certain Gmail accounts were hacked after the owners clicked on a malicious link, allowing the attacker to view the subject of the mail messages as well as some of the content inside the inbox.

IE attack code published online

A known flaw in Internet Explorer could be exploited by software published on the web late yesterday.

The code, posted yesterday to the Milw0rm.com website, exploits a recently patched flaw in Microsoft's browser.
It could be used to run unauthorised software on a PC that wasn't updated with the latest Microsoft patches, security experts warn.

The vulnerability was first discovered by security researcher HD Moore who posted code last July that could be used to crash the browser. Microsoft patched the flaw in February, but some researchers say it will get more attention from criminals because of this latest exploit code.
Robert McMillan

Google's expansion is coming at a price: it's losing its popularity

As the world's biggest search engine starts to compete with old media it risks becoming the 'Microsoft of the internet'. Richard Wachman reports

Is Google becoming the new Microsoft? On one level, the question is preposterous, as the two companies do different things. Google is the most widely used internet search engine and dominates online advertising. Microsoft rules the world of computer operating systems: its ubiquitous Windows powers most of the world's personal computers. In addition, Microsoft has a commanding position in basic office software, such as word-processing and spreadsheets.

But increasingly, the two technology giants are treading on each other's toes. For instance, Microsoft is building a search engine business, while Google is launching products that allow users to tap into Google-branded word processing and other web services.

But as Google expands into new areas across the media landscape, threatening companies far beyond Microsoft, it is also attracting some of the fear and loathing with which Gates is all too familiar.
Take Google's strategy of marrying search with content that saw Brin and Page splash out $1.65bn for YouTube, sending shock waves around the global media industry. 'A search engine that can show films and pretty much anything else for free looks like it can turn the world of entertainment on its head,' says one analyst.

Google was floated in the US in 2004 with a price tag of $23bn but today it is worth $150bn after generating revenue of $11bn in 2006. The company is known for its relaxed corporate culture and works on the basis of a number of informal principles, including: 'You can make money without doing evil'; 'You can be serious without a suit'; 'Work should be challenging and the challenge should be fun'.

Most of Google's revenue is derived from its online advertising programmes. Google AdWords allows advertisers to display ads in Google's search results. In 2006, Forbes said that founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page were the 12th and 13th richest people in the US, worth $14.1bn and $14bn.

Microsoft details network hack in Windows

Microsoft Corp. is warning of an attack that could be used to divert someone's Web traffic through a malicious proxy server.

Applications such as Internet Explorer use the Web Proxy Automatic Discovery (WPAD) protocol to find a file that enables a browser to configure its proxy settings. However, it's possible to plant a configuration file that would route traffic through a malicious proxy, the company said.

Microsoft details on its support site how administrators can configure DNS and WINS on their servers to help prevent what it calls "malicious registrations" of WPAD files. The fix is for Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000 Service Pack 4.

Research from ShmooCon: JavaScript flaws peril Web

JavaScript coding errors and Web developers who are inexperienced at working with emerging programming techniques represent serious threats to the security of many Internet sites and the people who visit them, according to malware researchers.
Speaking at the ongoing ShmooCon hacker convention on March 24, Billy Hoffman, lead research engineer at Atlanta-based software maker SPI Dynamics, detailed what he views as an epidemic problem in today's online world. SPI markets penetration testing tools used by businesses to ferret out security issues from their online sites and applications.

The proposed threat is centered on the prevalence of JavaScript errors and insecure use of so-called Web services programming languages such as AJAX -- which combines asynchronous JavaScript with XML -- in many popular Web sites and applications.

PayPal and MySpace.com are among the major Web properties that have been targeted by major JavaScript-based XSS attacks in recent months.

Global Warming to Shrink Brains?

In news that is sure to set the mind of climate change denialist Sen. James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) a spinnin', two head shrinkers at the University at Albany will soon publish research that suggests the human brain grew dramatically as our ancestors adapted to colder temperatures.

Jessica Ash and Gordon Gallup studied 109 fossilized skulls from different latitudes to determine that "climate may have been an important selective force behind the evolution of human cranial capacity," according to Gallup, who theorized that changes in global temperature could account for as much as 50 percent of the variation in headmeat. "Specifically, we found that as the distance from the equator increased, north or south, so did brain size," he said. The researchers will publish their study in the spring edition of Human Nature.

This kind of talk hearkens back to social Darwinism and is sure to kick up skirmishes over race, IQ, inherited intelligence, etc., etc. More important, though, is what it will do to Inhofe's brain. If the planet continues to heat up, will the Tulsa man's hemispheres reduce further? Can they?

Malware spreading via Skype

Experts are warning of a new piece of malware spreading via the Skype VoIP application.

The Trojan is a variant of the Warezov/Stration code which arrived at the end of last month.

Skype users receive a message from a contact suggesting they check out a URL. When the page is visited they are asked to download and install a file containing the Trojan.

"Once the Trojan is installed in a system, it tries to connect to a Yahoo mail server to send an SMTP message," said web monitoring firm Websense.

Newsweek: Exercise Is a State of Mind

Researchers are learning more about how physical activity affects our moods. Is sweat the hot new antidepressant?

By Michael Craig Miller, M.D.

A sound mind in a sound body is a short, but full description of a happy state in this world," wrote the British philosopher John Locke. Three hundred years later, research shows that we should begin thinking of body and mind health as conceptually identical. The two are linked at the deepest levels.

You may have concluded that you are one of those people with I-don't-feel-much-like-exercising genes. But if you find the science convincing, begin to picture healthy nerve cells plumping and sprouting. Does that motivate you? If not, let's hope that scientists will soon find that gentle nudge—new information, a form of psychotherapy or a medication—that will help you feel like it and keep you moving. Whoever finds the starter motor, the genetic wellspring of motivation, will have found a key to good health.

US leads in malware

For the first time, Symantec identified the countries with the highest amount of malicious activity originating from their networks. The United States had the highest proportion of overall malicious activity, with 31 percent; China was second, with 10 percent; and Germany was third, with 7 percent.

The full Internet Security Threat Report includes additional statistics and detail and is available for download at www.symantec.com/threatreport/. Broadcast media can download multimedia at www.thenewsmarket.com/symantec.

Microsoft: “Vista Is A Disaster,” ThinkEquity Says

When it comes to Microsoft Windows Vista, ThinkEquity’s Eric Ross does not mince words.

“We believe Vista is a disaster,” he wrote in a research note today on the state of the PC and microprocessor business. “No one seems to want it - no corporation wants to be the first to use it, and no consumer (save a few early adopters) wants to spend a dime to get anything other than future-proofing; no one in the supply chain believe sit could provider anything of a driver for PCs. We believe Vista will be a non-driver, but Vista-premium features could be a real driver in [the second half].

Buddhism Meets Big Business

From an article in NewsVine by Jon Nagelmakers:

It seems that Buddhism is making it's way into big business, with monks helping run the show. When one thinks of Buddhist monks, the images of meditation, tranquility, and nature seem to come to mind first and foremost. But now, the teachers of Buddhism are starting to come back in a big way with technology.

Take the Jade Buddha Temple in Shanghai, a temple which has been around for 120 years and now, thanks to recent pushes into the business world, owns a restaurant, a four-star hotel, a food factory, and a seven-story office building. The Jade Buddha has grown to the extent where it is putting a group of its monks through courses at the Shanghai International Studies University for the study of foreign languages, and another group is just starting at Jiaotong's business school to get, of course, their MBAs.

The Jade Buddha is not the only temple which has made good use of the recent surge of interest in Buddhism and the orient, the Shaolin Temple in Henan province owns both a martial arts school and a company which produces vegetarian snacks and Zen tea, Shaolin Development. Shaolin also has been promoting its reputation as a birth place of the martial arts by holding international events.

If you are able to read Chinese, you can visit the official Jade Buddha Temple homepage. If not, find more information on it at Wikipedia.

You can visit the official Shaolin Temple homepage in English

Mindfulness without Buddhism by Kabat-Zinn

From an article in http://buddhistchannel.tv:

Back in 1979, a biologist at the University of Massachusetts named Jon Kabat-Zinn had an idea. He was trained in the Vipassana tradition of Buddhist meditation, and he had a hunch that if he pared-down the technique, it could help patients at the university's medical center.

"The idea was to actually... train these medical patients in Buddhist meditative practices, but without the Buddhism," says Kabat-Zinn.

The idea of mind-body health wasn't well explored at the time, so Kabat-Zinn approached physicians and pain specialists at the university. He asked them to refer their patients to his new clinic, which happened to be set up in a windowless, underground office in a medical building.

"I wasn't objecting," says Kabat-Zinn. "Even with no air and no light and my wife saying, 'How can you work in these conditions?'" it didn't deter patients from seeking out the mindfulness training, either."

"The heart of Buddhist meditation is actually called mindfulness, and our operational definition of it is really paying attention in the only moment we're ever alive — which is the present moment," Kabat-Zinn says.

At the end of the article there is a:
A Crash Course in Body Scan Meditation by Vikki Valentine
Practice a seated body scan meditation with Trish Magyari. Follow along as she guides a class through the process.

Related Video:
An Intro to Meditation for Healing and Stress Reduction with Bob Stahl, Ph.D

Two YouTube videos on Web 2.0

Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us is a video response by Michael Wesch, associate professor of cultural anthropology to the earlier video Web 2.0. a basic introduction to Web 2.0.

It discusses digital versus linear text, how blogs are born every second (because it is so easy to make one), wikis, flickr, youtube, social tagging, etc.
In fact, it went through the steps of making a blogger blog.

Wesch summarizes that the web is us, the new web connects not text aka hypertext, not information, but the web connects people through social networking.

Worth watching.

Not recommended for slow connections.

Terrorism on the Internet?

From Ed Dickson's Blog:
SITE (The Search for International Terrorist Entities) has published an analysis of a new "how to beat Internet security" magazine sent out to password protected "jihadist forums."

SITE reports:

The first issue of what is indicated to be a periodic magazine, Technical Mujahid [Al-Mujahid al-Teqany], published by al-Fajr Information Center, was electronically distributed to password-protected jihadist forums today, Tuesday, November 28, 2006. This edition, 64-pages in length, contains articles that primarily deal with computer and Internet security, in addition to other pieces explaining Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites and video types, editing, and encoding into different formats. The editors of the publication state that it was written to heed the directives of the Emir of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, and his call for technical support. Material such as this, regarding anonymity on the Internet, concealing of personal files locally on a computer, and utilizing all schemes of encryption, is to serve as electronic jihad, and a virtual means of supporting the Mujahideen.

Full analysis, here.

Thich Nhat Hanh's second trip to Vietnam in four decades

On a hillside temple in southern Vietnam, one of the country's most renowned Buddhist teachers is giving a talk.
Around 5,000 people, including hundreds of monks and lay followers from overseas, sit listening in a newly-built meditation hall.

Thich Nhat Hanh, a Zen master, peace activist and bestselling author, has spent the last four decades living mostly in France.

On Friday he will hold a public requiem in Ho Chi Minh City for the souls of those who died in the Vietnam War, including those who fought for US-backed South Vietnam.

The idea is to heal the wounds and divisions of the past. The three-day chanting ceremony is open to all faiths, and even to non-believers.

Official figures put the number of Buddhist followers in Vietnam at 10 million in a nation of 84 million.

But that number only refers to registered members of official temples, so nobody knows exactly how many Vietnamese practice Buddhism, which is sometimes diluted by ancestor worship and Daoism.

"Today, people's minds are on stocks and news headlines. They no longer have time to take care of themselves or their loved ones. And even though they have lots of money, they aren't happy," he said.

"I've met many millionaires. They're not happy people."

It is a message that resonates with younger members of the audience who were born after the war ended in 1975.

Some have taken time off work to join a five-day retreat at this hillside temple, 140km (80 miles) north of Ho Chi Minh City.

Many are curious about Buddhism and how to apply its creed to modern life, as Vietnam's dynamic economy continues to grow and reshape society. They are richer than their parents, but also more open to ideas.

His books, which were previously banned in Vietnam, are now sold in stores here.

Thich Nhat Hanh is trying to plant the seeds of his brand of faith, known as "socially engaged" Buddhism, among young Vietnamese.

It differs from mainstream Buddhism by putting more emphasis on self-development and group discussions of moral and spiritual dilemmas.

20 must-have Firefox extensions

(Computerworld) A freshly installed copy of Firefox is a great software package, but what makes this open-source browser so special is the ability to customize it via extensions and themes to really make it yours. The problem is, there are so many available add-ins, it's tough to know what's worth installing and what's just going to junk up your system.

That's where we come in. We've ferreted out 20 of the best extensions and add-ins used and recommended by hardcore Web surfers, developers and IT pros. Whether you're looking for more streamlined surfing, improved look and feel, cool design tools or serious Web development help, there's something (and more than likely several things) here for you.

Scientists shun Web 2.0

Science publishers' efforts to have the research community sup the Web 2.0 Kool-Aid have failed, and scientists have given a resounding thumbs down to a gamut of crowd-tapping initiatives, showgoers at SXSW heard on Saturday.

A panel of science web publishers said scientists had consistently shunned wikis, tagging, and social networks, and have even proven reticent to leave comments on web pages.

The refusnik stance presents a puzzle in light of arguments in favour of Web 2.0 services which are more compelling for science than for trivia - the biggest web 2.0 market to date. The science game gave the world peer review after all, and scientists have often lauded and contributed to Wikipedia, despite its well-documented eccentricities and flaws.

Tracking the Password Thieves

Brian Krebs on Computer Security:

The Washington Post today ran a story I wrote about an epidemic of data theft being fueled by password-stealing viruses and phishing attacks. In some ways, the story behind the reporting that went into the piece is just as interesting, so I'd like to share a few of those details.

I based the story in part on a cache of stolen data I found online (more on how I obtained it in a bit). The data was being compiled by a password-stealing virus that had infected many thousands of computers worldwide; the particular text file that I found included personal information on 3,221 victims scattered across all 50 U.S. states.

Using a custom-built application that makes use of the Google Maps API, I was able to chart the approximate locations of the victims. This was possible because at the beginning of each record was the virus's best guess of the longitude and latitude of the infected computer's Internet address. This so-called "geo-IP" process is far from perfect: Sometimes these automated guesses are disturbingly accurate, and other times they are miles wide or completely wrong.

Battle looms between WiMax, Wi-Fi and 3G

Wi-Fi, WiMax and cellular 3G will coexist and compete to offer wireless broadband services, but experts have predicted that no single technology will dominate.

"Each technology comes with its own strengths and weaknesses," said In-Stat analyst Daryl Schoolar. "In-Stat sees the technologies co-existing and competing."

Schoolar pointed out that Wi-Fi has been widely deployed in developed regions of the world, such as the US and Europe, as a hot-spot and wide-area mesh system by local governments, colleges and others.

WiMax, on the other hand, is being set up to be a fixed wireless and mobile access solution that will compete with cellular 3G.

The first new feature of Internet Explorer 8?

That looks to be the case for Web Assistant, a browser enhancement which applies a sense of context to content in order to make searching for related information faster and more accurate.

In its simplest form, the Web Assistant processes the page you're currently viewing and recognises key words and phrases in the story.

Users can also create specialised sets of 'Web Assistant bookmarks' to aggregate any links related to a particular story.

Tonglen Practice When Things Fall Apart

"When Things Fall Apart" is the title of a wonderful book by Pema Chödrön, a Western Buddhist nun and one of the most respected and loved teachers of Buddhism in the West today.
We all have difficult situations at one time or another, I think what she has to say is important and profound. It comes from the Lojong and Tonglen tradition of Buddhism.



If you don't have access to the book, there is an online excerpt "When Things Fall Apart, Heart Advice for Difficult Times, Widening the Circle of Compassion"

In difficult times, we must start with openness towards a space where we do not cling to self-righteousness, blame others, caught in our own version of reality.
"When it hurts so bad, it's because I am hanging on so tight. What it implies is that pain comes from holding so tightly to having it our own way and that one of the main exits we take when we find ourselves uncomfortable, when we find ourselves in an unwanted situation or an unwanted place, is to blame."

Instead accepting our hatred and aversion for others as our own, "..... what we reject out there is what we reject in ourselves, and what we reject in ourselves is what we are going to reject out there. But that, in a nutshell, is how it works. If we find ourselves unworkable and give up on ourselves, then we'll find others unworkable and give up on them. What we hate in ourselves, we'll hate in others. To the degree that we have compassion for ourselves, we will also have compassion for others. Having compassion starts and ends with having compassion for all those unwanted parts of ourselves, all those imperfections that we don't even want to look at."

This is the result of our Interbeing , our interconnectedness with others. If we hate or are angry with someone, it means hating or being angry with ourselves, and vice versa.

"We start with ourselves. We make ourselves right or we make ourselves wrong, every day, every week, every month and year of our lives. We feel that we have to be right so that we can feel good. We don't want to be wrong because then we'll feel bad. But we could be more compassionate toward all these parts of ourselves. When we feel right, we can look at that. Feeling right can feel good; we can be completely sure of how right we are and have a lot of people agreeing with us about how right we are. But suppose someone does not agree with us?

On the other hand, when we find ourselves feeling wrong, convinced that we're wrong, getting solid about being wrong, we could also look at that. The whole right and wrong business closes us down and makes our world smaller."

Tonglen is "the art of taking and giving by breathing". It is at first, not at all intuitive, usually practice recommends breathing in prana, qi and all the good things, and getting rid of our bad things.
Tonglen is the opposite. Breathing in all the sufferings of the world, including ours, and absorb them in our hearts. Does it not make us sick? Yes, if it stops there. All the suffering we absorb must be "processed" in our hearts to become joy and bliss, which is then radiated when breathing out. We breathe in dark, heavy and hot poison and breathe out white, light and cool compassion. It works wonders.

Some points of the practice of Tonglen:

As you breathe in, take in and accept all the sadness, pain, and negativity of the whole world, including yourself, and absorb it into your heart.
As you breathe out, pour out all your joy and bliss; bless the whole of existence.
Understand your attachments, your aversions, and your indifference, and love them all.
When practicing unconditional acceptance, start with yourself.

Details of the practice can be found in: The Seven Points of Mind Training, Exchanging Self for Others , where you can find commentaries by Osho, Chogyam Trungpa, Pema Chödrön, Jamgon Kongtrul, Alan Wallace, Geshes Rabten and Dhargyey, and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Further references:
Wiki entry on Pema Chödrön
Shambhala

New Encryption Technique Discovered

Microsoft today announced the creation of a new super-secure encryption technique, doubling previous techniques. Dubbed "ROT-26," the new technique applies a complex mathematical algorithm recently created in Microsoft Research. The previous technique (ROT-13) was only capable of half the complexity.

"This technique heralds a new day for customer privacy," said John Montgomery, Person Who Has Nothing To Do With The Invention. "By doubling the complexity of time-honored encryption algorithm, Microsoft has enabled a new generation of software to be created."

Upon hearing of the invention, Bruce Schneier giggled and refused comment.

The 50 Most Important People on the Web

From PCWorld:

Despite what Time magazine would have you believe, you are not the most powerful or influential person on the Web. At PC World we love online personals, social networks, and videos of people falling on their keisters as much as the next person, but without the folks who create the Craigslists, MySpaces, and YouTubes of the world, much of the Web's potential would be lost among spam sites and other online detritus.

Top five people:

1. Eric Schmidt, Larry Page, and Sergey Brin, Executives, Google
2. Steve Jobs, CEO, Apple
3. Bram Cohen,Cofounder, BitTorrent
4. Mike Morhaime, President, Blizzard Entertainment
5. Jimmy Wales, Founder, Wikipedia

A civilized debate on Faith

When atheist Sam Harris met pro religion Andrew Sullivan in their blogs, the result is a very interesting blogalogueTM (a dialogue of some sorts). They debated God, faith and fundamentalism.
We have met Sam Harris before in one of my postings on The Case against Faith, the Bush Case.

A very brief summary of the debate is as follows.

Both agreed on the evil of fundamentalism, "We agree that Islamic fundamentalism is by far the gravest threat in this respect (because of its comfort with violence); and that the core feature of what occurred on 9/11 was not cultural, political, or economic - but religious," but disagrees on whether there is a significant difference between fundamentalists and moderates: "many religious moderates imagine, as you do, that there is some clear line of separation between extremist and moderate religion. But there isn't. Scripture itself remains a perpetual engine of extremism: because, while He may be many things, the God of the Bible and the Qur'an is not a moderate."

Sam Harris went further saying "Given my view of faith, I think that religious "moderation" is basically an elaborate exercise in self-deception, while you seem to think it is a legitimate and intellectually defensible alternative to fundamentalism" and "I think that faith is, in principle, in conflict with reason (and, therefore, that religion is necessarily in conflict with science), while you do not".

But Sam later qualifies what he means by faith is not confidence "I am not criticizing faith as a positive attitude in the face of uncertainty, of the sort indicated by phrases like, "have faith in yourself." There's nothing wrong with that type of "faith."

Note: This incidentally is the same faith used in one of the five Faculties to be developed in Buddhism (Faith, Effort, Concentration, Mindfulness and Discernment).

Andrew Sullivan, on the other hand believed in "that there are many important differences between religious moderation and religious fundamentalism", himself confessing being a religious moderate.
"I disagree with many of fundamentalism's theological assumptions; when fundamentalism enters politics, I will resist it mightily as an enemy of political and social freedom; when it distorts what I believe to be the central message of Jesus - love and forgiveness - I will criticize and expose it. But when I see it in the eyes and face of a believer, and when she glows with the power of her faith, and when that faith translates into love, I am unafraid and uncritical."

It is a very civilized blogalogue, one of the statements expressing religious tolerance, was a quote from Mencken, "We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart."

Selflessness - a key to peace

“I am convinced that man’s fundamental problem is his human egocentricity,” wrote historian Arnold Toynbee.

Toynbee went on to define egocentricity in this manner: “A living creature is a bit of the universe that has set itself up as a kind of separate counter-universe. It tries to make the rest of the universe serve the creature’s purposes and center on the creature. That is egocentricity.”

This is a surprising statement from a man who, in his massive 10-volume work, “A Study of History,” traced the development of the 21 civilizations of the world. As a historian of such breadth, he should realize that self-interest is what motivates humankind. Egocentricity — the desire to make the rest of the universe serve our purposes — is a major driving force in history.

We all act to promote our own interests and well-being. Even the most selfless act is often done because it makes us feel better or helps us to avoid guilt.

Controversial lama releases rap CD

A handsome but controversial young Tibetan lama has emerged on Taiwan's music scene by releasing his first CD -- a collection of rap and hip-hop songs which he claims can help promote Buddhism.
Singa Rinpoche, 30, who is barred from entering Taiwan due to his flamboyant behavior on a visit to the island last year, released the CD -- Wish You Well -- on February 10 through Taiwan's Forward Music company.

Since then, several Taiwan TV channels have been airing the MTV spots promoting Singa's album -- showing Singa recording songs in the studio, running in a forest and releasing a bird into freedom.

Hearing sutra helps crocodile

It is widely believed that listening to a Buddhist sutra regularly helps mold a person's temperament. Sometimes it also works on a crocodile.

According to its owner in Taiwan, surnamed Qiu, the crocodile, weighing more than 700 kilograms, was extremely fierce just after it was brought to his new residence.

To help reduce its ferocity, Qiu kept broadcasting one of the Buddhist sutras while the crocodile was sunbathing.

As time passed, the crocodile gradually became tamer. It would bare its claws only slightly when curious visitors swarmed in and touched it.

Adobe Photoshop as Free Download

According to reports, Adobe will soon make its popular imaging software, Photoshop, available as a free download on the Web.

The company said that online Photoshop would be available to all Internet users as an entry-level form of the product. And, that the service would offer high quality tools in comparison with other free alternatives.
Adobe, however, warns that the bandwidth and network latency might be an issue for some users.

Apparently, this is not the first time Adobe has made its products available online. Adobe Remix, a Web-based video-editing tool, and a simplified version of Adobe Premiere Elements, is offered as a free download through the PhotoBucket.com site.
It is learnt that even Google is planning to create an online version of Picasa, which is currently distributed as desktop software for free.

Berners-Lee's Talk Goes Back to the Web's Future

Opinion:Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web and director of the World Wide Web Consortium, presents a good argument for net neutrality.

Also, I've always thought that if some major ISP decided to start limiting or slowing down access to popular Web sites, customers would revolt and head to ISPs that were keeping the Internet open and non-discriminatory.

But now that I think about it, who would they run to? Here in Massachusetts, I really have only two options for high-speed Internet access: Comcast and Verizon. Since both are against net neutrality, there's little doubt that both would be limiting Web sites.

What if the Internet wasn't designed the way it was? What if it worked more like cell phone or satellite TV networks do here in the United States?

Hey, I hear there's this great search engine called Google that supposedly works really well and offers all kinds of cool online apps. Problem is, you have to be a Verizon customer to get it. And if I leave Verizon, I won't be able to access the eBay auction site anymore, because that's a Comcast-only site.