17 New Planets Discovered by Michelle Kunimoto – A UBC Student

Michelle Kunimoto, a student of the University of British Columbia has discovered 17 new planets including a potentially habitable Earth-like planet by going through the data from NASA’s Kepler mission. The Kepler satellite looked for planets over its four year mission especially those that lie in the habitable zones of their stars where liquid water could exist on the plant’s surface. The findings that were published in The Astronomical Journal included one particularly rare planet. This planet is just 1 ½ times the size of Earth and is in the habitable zone of its star.

“This planet is about a thousand light-years away, so we’re not getting there anytime soon!” said Kunimoto, a Ph.D. candidate in the department of physics and astronomy. “But this is a really exciting find, since there have only been 15 small, confirmed planets in the Habitable Zone found in Kepler data so far.”

The planet has a 142 ½ day year and is orbiting its star at 0.444 Astronomical Units (AU), just bigger than Mercury’s orbit in our solar system and gets about a third of the light that our Earth gets from the Sun.

Out of the 16 newly discovered planets, the smallest is two-thirds the size of Earth, making it one of the smallest planets to be found with Kepler.

Kunimoto has previously discovered four planets during her undergraduate degree at UBC. She’s now working on her Ph.D at UBC using the “transit method” to look for planets among the 200,000 stars observed by the Kepler mission.

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How to plan a vacation in Brazil to fully explore the food and culture

If you want to explore Brazilian cuisine, you must travel across the country as each region has its favorite cuisine. 

Southern Brazil 

Southern Brazil’s cuisine usually revolves around a barbecue, called churrasco in the country. This is often beef seasoned with rock salt and cooked over an open fire. When you travel to Brazil, consider trying the three types of ribs found at smokehouses in Porto Alegre. 

Rio Grande do Sul

If you find yourself traveling to Rio Grande do Sul, then you will want to try the arroz de carreteiro. This favorite dish is usually made with charque, dried beef, and rice. Then, the chef seasons it with onion, garlic, and parsley. There is no way to rush good arroz de carreteriro as the charque needs to soak overnight. You may want to go to Porto Alegre, Brazil, where the arroz de carreteiro, music and dancing are superb. This is not the cheapest city to dine in, however, so you may need to easily transfer money to Brazil before continuing your travel. 

Parana 

As you continue your travels through Southern Brazil, you will enter the state of Parana, where residents have a love for barreado. An exceptional 300-year-old ritual is carried out to prepare this dish that has beef, duck, and a special sauce. The mixture is then slow-cooked in a unique clay pot that is sealed with flour. It is usually served with rice and plantain leaves. In order to try barreado, head to Antonina, Brazil. When heading here, try for an early lunch as the restaurant can get very crowded later in the day. 

Santa Catarina

Once you reach Santa Catarina, you will want to eat the delicious seafood, including scrumptious oysters. Make your way to Florianópolis and dine at one of the restaurants located along the pier. After enjoying your meal, stroll along the glass-covered pier. Since many Germans settled here in the 18th and 19th centuries, you may want to consider getting a piece of their iconic apple pie. 

Midwest Brazil

As you move towards the middle of Brazil, you will find more African and European influences in the cuisine. There is also a heavy Indian influence. Bakeries are a popular dining option in the middle of Brazil. Since this region is near the center of the country, it is also a great place to try a variety of fruit grown in Brazil, including jabuticaba that resembles a grape, atemoia which has a sweet and sour natural taste, açaí which tastes great in a bowl of cereal, and bananas.

MatoGrosso

You will feel the influence of people who have moved from Paraguay and Bolivia or who have ancestors that did when you taste the food of this region where chicken is a very popular dish. Frango com gabiroba is found on many dinner tables. Similar to grilled chicken, its secret lies in the sauce made with peri-peri and paprika. You can find it served at many different restaurants, which are often called chicken joints. 

São Paulo

Many Japanese people settled in the southeastern Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, and you can find their influences in many dishes served there. You can also find Italian influences and African influences. If you are running short on money and you have no one to wire more to Brazil, then heading to this region is an excellent choice because of its vast diversity. If you want to see a great show head to Olympia, Palace, or Tom Brasil and order the traditional tutu a mineira, which is mashed beans served with roasted pork loin, cabbage, and rice. You may also want to consider ordering the fried shrimp pie, which is called acaraje. 

Minas Gerais

Many family farms cover Minas Gerais. You will find several traditional cooking methods used in this state. Many call this the food capital of Brazil, and there are several foods that you will want to try. Their soft white cheese called queijo Minas is often consumed as breakfast or an afternoon snack. It is firmer in this state than in other parts of Brazil. Fried cassava flour is usually eaten with beans and rice in this state. Most importantly, however, Minas Gerais is where farofa de andu is served alongside almost every meal.

Non-packaged sweets must display manufacturing and expiry date: FSSAI

A new order issued by the food regulator of India, Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI), has now made it mandatory for Food Business Operators (FBOs) to display ‘best before dates’ on the sweets that are not packaged. Starting June 1, 2020, the new mandate will become effective. In the last few months, FSSAI has received multiple complaints regarding the poor quality of food, especially sweets.

Currently, best before date or manufacturing date are displayed only on the packaged food items made by sweet shops and other similar businesses. With the new norm – that requires the display of expiry or manufacturing date on the loose and non-packaged sweets – people can now feel safe while consuming the non-packaged sweets. Food Business Operators (FBOs) are advised to take into consideration the nature of ingredients and their condition before labeling the best before date. A list containing the possible shelf life of different types of commonly available sweets in the market has also been issued by the Food regulator to assist the FBOs in complying with the new norms. RasMalai, Rajbhog, Rasgullas and Badam Milk are some of the items that are to be consumed within two days of manufacturing.

To ensure 100 percent compliance, the FSSAI has asked the help of the food regulators in all the states. Business owners, on the other hand, have shown skepticism to the order by FSSAI.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella shares his vision for the future of technology

Microsoft's CEO Indian-born Satya Nadella visited Mumbai, Bengaluru, and New Delhi from 24-26th February to share his vision on the future of technology and how Microsoft is driving the transformation of technology in India during his three-day trip. He delivered his keynote in Mumbai and Bengaluru at the 'Future Decoded CEO Summits'. The summit included Microsoft leaders and other industry stalwarts who spoke about the future of various technologies in India.

Nadella met a group of students, developers, and entrepreneurs and discussed the transformation in the current generation digital technology which is transforming education and other sectors like AI, gamification, personalization, and simplifying STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics). "India remains a top market for Microsoft, and Satya Nadella does visit almost annually. This year their president Brad Smith is also visiting, in April. Government engagement is a major focus for Microsoft top management in India for the past two decades, and all the more now with expanding digital plans, and also rising nationalist resistance to global digital and tech companies," says Prasanto K Roy, tech and policy consultant.Combined with its Cloud and AI services Microsoft is looking forward to accelerating the digital transformation across Indian start-ups and businesses as well as the government organizations. Nadella's visit will buttress this further. This will increase the global market capitalization of Microsoft among the most valuable companies in the world.

Why you need a VPN Protection for Windows 10?

The internet has become a center for all kinds of activities from communication to financial transactions. The amount of data that flows over and is stored on the internet is enormous. This provides a host of opportunities for all kinds of elements both positive and negative. In recent years, cybersecurity has grown into one of the biggest threats these days with annual losses going above $5 trillion in 2019. This and other factors make it imperative to use a VPN.

So, let’s discuss what a VPN is, how it works and what are the reasons that they’ve become essential these days.

What is a VPN?

 A Virtual Private Network or VPN is a program which makes data traffic anonymous while masking user’s IP address. This is done by rerouting the internet traffic to go through a secure server instead of being handled by the local internet service provider (ISP). A VPN is one of the most effective tools to plug the biggest loophole in cybersecurity and that is the fact that IP addresses in general are public. This means that anyone on the internet can access them.

How does a VPN for Windows work?

A VPN acts as a barrier between the local ISP and the server of the website. ISPs have been given a free hand in regulating the internet ever since net neutrality ended in 2018. This allows them to store and even sell data on what users are doing on the internet because that matters to a lot of entities. With a VPN, the role of the ISP is minimized or even eliminated completely.

Common threats on the internet today

There is a wide range of threats on the internet these days. From businesses and organizations to cybercriminals, all prove a variable level of risk to users around the world. The type of breaches that are caused as a result include both financial losses and psychological distress. Although the challenges are evolving, there are some that are prevalent worldwide. Here are a few:

Malware

These include a wide variety of viruses. Hackers and other cybercriminals use a number of ways like email attachments or random links to plant malware into user systems. Malware can include but is not limited to ransomware, adware, Trojans, spyware, bots, bugs and a lot more besides. Based on the type, malware can hide in a device and harm personal data stored on it in any way that the attacker wants.

Phishing

Another one of the most common ways for hackers is to use phishing schemes. These can be executed through phone, text, email or any other digital medium. All it takes is for the cybercriminal to design a form or page that looks legitimate and asks the user for some private information. The hacker can act as a bank representative or government official to retrieve data that they are looking for.

Social engineering

This is one of the newest methods that are rising quickly around the globe. Hackers and other elements study a person that they want to target. They research about their colleagues, friends and even family members to pick someone who they can impersonate. All this information is easily available through social media so it is no problem for any element to get a hold of all this data.

DDoS

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) or Denial of Service (DoS) attacks are common to disable and cause damages to the servers of the victim. These types of attacks are common in gaming and for websites like e-commerce stores etc. The load of irrelevant data causes the server to crash taking the player or business off-line which ultimately cause huge damages to the organization or person.

How a VPN protects against cybersecurity threats

A VPN is a program designed to mask IP addresses. This means that the biggest source of all cybercrimes in dealt with. The level of protection available will depend on the type of VPN that you are using. There are a number of features that VPNs offer to make a comprehensive cybersecurity cover for users whether they are individuals or businesses. Here are a few:

Encryption

The leading VPN services like Ivacy provide an end-to-end 256-bit encryption at minimum because that is the highest level commercially available. It is used by government departments to protect their data so it is bound to be effective. Encryption protects data while it is being transferred from one server to another. This is the time when data is the most vulnerable so protecting it at this point is crucial.

Advanced protection

Good VPN services offer additional protocols for users. These can be added over the already available encryption to form military grade cybersecurity coverage for users.  VPN customers can pick what protocols they need to customize how they want their cybersecurity profiles to look. Each protocol has its own benefits.

Servers

The basic function of a VPN is to mask IP addresses. This is done through rerouting data traffic to the secure servers of the program. These servers have to offer elaborate protection against cybercriminals and also they have to be spread out across the world. They should also be abundant because that will determine the options available for users. The reliability of the servers offered by a VPN can easily be gauged by customer reviews.

Additional features 

Other features that are provided by a VPN for Windows include internet kill switches, split tunneling, public Wi-Fi security, unlimited bandwidth, a strict zero logging policy, secure DNS, IPv6 leak protection and a lot more besides. All these features come together to ensure that users are secured from all kinds of threats at all times.

Conclusion

A VPN for Windows has become vital in light of the way network connections are being regulated nowadays. From cybercriminals to businesses, everyone is in search of private user data for various purposes. What’s troubling is that these entities can go to any length in order to acquire what they are looking for. In times like these, VPNs are the most affordable and effective solutions against these threats.

Author Bio:

Scott is a cyber-security professional. He's been writing in the internet privacy niche for a while now and has churned variety of informational pieces to educate his audience. Connect with him on Twitter.

Top Reasons Why You're Struggling To Scale Your Business

Business growth is essential to remain relevant and profitable, and according to some business experts, a business should grow between 15% and 45% year-on-year. While there are exceptions depending on the industry, there are certain parameters that are shared across the board, in terms of what makes a business successful. If you’re not achieving your goals, you may want to consider a review of the various sections in the business to determine where there are inefficiencies.  

Inefficient Workflow Practices 

There are a number of things that can slow down business growth. At the top of the list is the time it takes for service or product delivery.  Workflow automation can have a positive impact on the business as well as creating proper, more efficient processes. Start with the first point of contact with the customer, and work through each touchpoint in the business to find out where the delays take place, or whether there are smarter or faster ways to do things. For instance, manual forms and processes could be replaced with software that helps speed up the process.  

Your Personal Position Is Affecting Growth

Cash flow is an important part of growth for a business, and this means keeping drawings as low as possible. When a business owner’s needs expand beyond what is available in the business, it can drain the cash reserves of the business. According to experts atMicrocredit Summit Campaign, one option is to look at consolidation loans. Simplifying personal finances in order to take some of the pressure of the business can have a positive effect on the cash flow. It’s also important for business owners to take care of their personal financial position and keep it squeaky clean, as financial institutions and investors often do their due diligence on the owners and the business. They want to know that the people behind the business won’t drain the finances to better their personal position or repeat personal financial mistakes in the business. In order for your business to grow, you need to grow along with it.  

Your Business Isn’t An Obvious First Choice 

While it might sting to know this, your customers might prefer your competitor over you. Whether you’re the best-priced, offer the best after-sales service, or even just have a better-looking product, it’s time to take an honest look at your offering. 

• If you’re not the best in the market, why would consumers choose you over the best in the market? 

• If you’re the cheapest in the market, can your product compete? 

• If you’re not the best nor the cheapest, but somewhere in the middle, why are you still an option? 

You need to start looking for reasons why you would be a first choice, which includes all the important markers for good sales, including convenience, price point, and total sales experience. 

Business growth is not only a nice-to-have, but it’s also essential to ensure the longevity of the business. Certain factors directly affect the growth of a business, such as unidentifiable product or service offering, personal position, and inefficient workflow.

Beard Straightener: Little Known Grooming Tips for Awesome-Looking Beards

At last, you have the beards. You have worked hard to grow them. Congratulations. You are joining the beard elite group. It’s a milestone. You have waited for all this time. But wait. Did you know that grooming can make or break your beards? It’s a fact. So, don’t ignore to groom your beards. If you want an awesome look, follow the following beards grooming tips.

Use Beard Oil

It’s always an incredible idea to maintain your awesome look through proper beard grooming. It’s like owning a really classic car. Once you’ve purchased it, do you neglect its condition through poor maintenance?  Or do you forget to clean it for months? Of course, you don’t.

So, why not get yourself some beard oil? This type of oil helps your beard to stay hydrated. Washing regularly removes dirt, but it also strips away some of the beard’s natural oil. And that’s exactly why beard oil was developed to act as a leave-in conditioning product for balancing the natural oils in your beard and those on your skin.

But be careful not to purchase beard oils containing silicones, parabens, or sulfates. Silicones aren’t inherently harmful, but the coat your beard hairs, preventing them from receiving the nutrients they need.

Go For Utility Balm

Beard care is constantly evolving. More advanced products are appearing which have never been seen before, and these include beard balm. Though it’s still pretty new, this product is already being used by many. It’s a perfect option for conditioning and styling your facial hair.

Comb Your Beard with a Beard Straightener

Perhaps every man knows how to comb their beard. After all, it doesn’t involve employing specific techniques to get the most out of your grooming experience. Just make sure that your comb features both wide as well as narrow teeth arrangements.

For your beard, use the wide teeth and for your mustache to utilize the narrow teeth. Start by holding your beard comb in such a way that the teeth are pointed upward. To maintain the needed amount of control while combing, consider using a relaxed grip- just like you normally use your toothbrush. Next, comb it out with an upward motion to “fuzz” it away from your face. Make sure that the hairs are fully separated so that you can effectively get rid of the bed-beard look. Use a heated beard comb to straighten your beards.

Just a heads up – you’re more likely to run into some snags during the combing process. Essentially, snags occur as a result of individual hair strands growing in opposite directions and crossing over each other. When you get into a snag, don’t try forcing it out. Instead, gently pull it out using your comb. Once you’re doing that, comb your hair back down into the desired shape.

The Bottom-Line

It’s time to take your beard grooming to the next level. And the best way to go about it is to use the above top beard grooming tips. From using beard oil to combing your beards—these grooming tips are from experts and are bound to make your beards even better.