Journal-June 22,2017

Spearfishing: Make a note of this word. This is methodology by which the hackers send fake emails looking very similar to the legitimate and gain access to your system and data. Why are we talking about his now? This is how Russia seems to have hacked VR systems one of the electoral vendors chosen for the US election and gained access to the electoral information. This currently being investigated by the FBI.

Otto Warmbier: Really a heart-wrenching story if you google this name. A Young US College grad on his visit to North Korea inadvertently steals election propaganda from his hotel room. He gets detained along with 3 of his colleagues and after a year in hard detention in N. Korea was released earlier this week. He went into Comma during the first month of his detention period and received treatment for his condition for over a year. According to medical reports, it was due to lack of oxygen which triggered his condition. He passed away earlier this week.  May his soul RIP.  

The US doesn’t have an embassy in N.Korea and he was brought back to the US through negotiations with Swedish embassy in N.Korea. The plight of the other 3 colleagues detained in N.Korea is unknown.

Qatar V Saudi: We all know Saudi is an oil-rich US ally. Recently there was a blockade/ban proclaimed by Saudi’s on all Qatari nationals accusing them of supporting terrorism. Do we know why? Saudi is the world’s largest producer of Oil / Crude from 1950 and Qatar used to be a younger brother playing second fiddle when it came to the Oil export. During the 70’s, natural gas was discovered in Qatari shores and that changed the fortune of this country. From then on Qatar became the largest exporter of the Natural Gas in the world. Slowly they wanted to involve themselves in the regional politics supporting Syria, Iran and Egypt. The US maintains equal diplomacy with both Saudi and Qatar. However, with Trump Administration, this might very well change as he had started siding with the Saudis. Not sure how this will pan out in the end.

Biological vs Mechanical Systems: Humans are very good in creating mechanical systems based out of biological systems. Let’s give it a try one more time. The case in point is “Mantis Shrimp”. At the outset, it looks like any other Shrimp. On the close observation, we come to know that the Shrimp feeds on Snails. What is so interesting about that? In order to crack the Snail’s shells, the Shrimp uses a small hammer like structure. Just google Mantis Shrimp you will be amazed to see this. This hammer is propelled at the speed of a bullet fired from gun under water. The impact of the hammer is 300 pounds per SQ cm. The hammer is so small but it creates shock waves when the snails are hit using the hammer. This creates a physical phenomenon called Cavitation. Researchers are struggling to mimic this system and millions of dollars are currently being spent to study this funny looking Shrimp!