Beware of Angelina Jolie Amusing tidbit from a computer security newsletter I read, attributed to TechWorld.
Experts warn, the spammer community loves her too
No one will deny the global celebrity of Angelina Jolie. She's on the cover of magazines, stars in blockbuster movies and is a ratings bonanza each time she appears on TV. Now that she's had twins, she's got triple the appeal for some fans.
But unfortunately the spammer community loves her too. On average, about 2.28 percent of the total global daily email volume contains subjects like "Angelina Jolie naked," "Angelina Jolie nude movie," and "Angelina Jolie naked video," according to Secure Computing's latest TrustedSource.org spam report. "Angelina Jolie, for example, is unknowingly luring many to eagerly install Trojans onto their PCs," notes the Secure Computing report. So with Jolie occupying the number one spot, the rest of the top ten is made up of the following celebrities:
2. Barack Obama 3. Paris Hilton 4. Britney Spears 5. Hillary Clinton 6. George Bush 7. Jessica Simpson 8. Osama Bin Laden 9. Brad Pitt 10. Michael Jackson
No surprise that Barack Obama is a celebrity, and more popular than anyone other than Jolie. Funny that Osama bin Laden is considered a celebrity (well, and Hillary and GB, too.) On the political side, the part that I find most amusing is that John McCain isn't even on the top ten. I guess nobody wants to see naked videos of McCain. Can't say I blame them.
So, time to play around with another Internet meme. Why? Why not. Just in that sort of mood. This is another one of those ones where you're supposed to set your music player on shuffle, take the songs as they come up and apply them to a list of categories. The theme of this one apparently being "The Story of Your Life." Now, me being me, I'm going to break (or bend, or rewrite, if you like) a couple of the (implied) rules. First, I'm going to have to ignore a bunch of songs just because they're instrumental or not English and too difficult to find English translations for (do you know any sites online that'll translate Tuvan to English?) Second, I find it more entertaining to apply a certain degree of selectivity to the songs I include. (Hence the subject of this post.) The songs I've used are all ones that came up in my random playlist, and (except for switching two around so that I could begin and end with Queen songs (I like symmetry)) are in the order that they appeared. I'm also including a snippet of the lyrics from each song - whichever part seems to be most appropriate.
So, with all of that out of the way, it's time for a
It's HORRIBLE!!!!11!ONE!! But you know, in a good way.
Seriously, if you haven't seen Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog yet, go there now. No, really, right now. Don't finish reading this post. C'mon, it's got Neil Patrick Harris (from Doogie Howser, M. D. to the Psychic Nazi of Doom to an Evil Scientist, oh where will it all end?) Nathan Fillion (Malcom Reynolds in Firefly and... umm... he's an actor, I'm sure he's done other stuff) and Felicia Day (who was apparently in BtVS, thus how she got roped into the whole thing) SINGING! (Actually, they're not half bad.) Needless to say (well, not really, since if it was needless I wouldn't be saying it but give me a break, it's a figure of speech!) it was conceived of and directed (and presumably, to some degree written by) Joss Whedon. It's all quite clever and right up my alley and I'm enjoying the heck out of it and quite cheerfully mangling dozens of rules of grammar (well... maybe not dozens. Five, at a minimum. Bonus points for people who can spot more!)
We now return you to your regularly scheduled lives, already in progress.
And now for smtnioheg cmepetloey dfrefnint I don't recall who it was anymore, though I'm pretty sure it was somebody on my LJ friends list, but someone had pointed me to an article suggesting that as long as the first and last letters of a word were correct, the remainder could be in any order and we could still read the text with no difficulty. The article of course gave lots of sample text that was indeed not significantly more difficult to read scrambled than it was in clear text. I of course pointed out that there were rather somewhat more examples of words that were difficult if not next to impossible to descramble (not to mention, as any Scrabble player knows, there are huge numbers of words that use the same set of letters.)
That said, I was reminded of this when I ran across this Firefox add-on. (While searching for something that would give me email notification of RSS feeds.*)
Basically it adds a scramble option to your right-click menu for selected text. Amaze your friends! Confound your enemies! Produce even more unreadable text by combining this with any of the myriad ipsum lorem generators!
*: The only thing I've found so far - beyond a few blog-specific services, is RSS FWD. Not, you'll notice, a Firefox add-on. Okay, there was also something involving a bunch of perl scripting that I really don't feel like messing with right now. If anybody's interested, I'll follow this up with any further findings, as well as news of how RSS FWD works out.
I'll say it again: Never trust user input Cross-Site-Scripting with Morse code
Online translator site can be redirected with Morse encoded URL-s
Nowadays, who understands this Morse code sequence ... --- ... (S.O.S., Save Our Souls)? Few people do, but your web browser just might. In his blog[http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=1071], security expert Nathan McFeters has reported the discovery of a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability on an Italian website that allows attackers to inject malicious JavaScript encoded in Morse code in your address bar.
The website in question takes user input as Morse code and translates it into plain text using PHP script. Unfortunately, the programmers forgot to check the script's input and output, allowing JavaScript to be included and executed on the website that displays the results of the translated Morse code.
This vulnerability demonstrates that developers of apparently harmless Web applications, that were never intended to be used as serious tools, have to be just as careful as programmers of local applications when it comes to checks of user input. In this case, simply checking the input with the PHP function html-entities() would have converted the output of the script into harmless encoded HTML.
Hey, kids! What time is it? That's right! It's time for another meme! (What'd you think I was going to say?)
STEP 01 — Load up all your music in your music player and hit shuffle. STEP 02 — Post the first line of the first 30 songs that pop up. STEP 03 — Let everyone take a guess at the artist and song. STEP 04 — ONLY CHEATERS USE GOOGLE!! D:< STEP 05 — READYSET
(Note that the original meme suggested 100 songs, and didn't include such requirements as songs actually *having* lyrics, or said lyrics being in a language that anybody could even recognize, much less understand. So, after making those modifications, I still had to go through around 100 songs just to get 30.)
1. Yo, I'll tell you want, what I really, really want. So tell us what you want, what you really, really want. 2. High vibration, go on to the Sun. Oh let my heart dreaming, past a mortal as me. 3. Mirror, mirror, on the wall, the face you show me scares me so. 4. Jillian was her name, she was sweeter than Aspartame. 5. I'm gonna write a little letter, gonna mail it to my local DJ. 6. It's coming up, It's coming up, It's coming up, It's coming up, It's coming up, It's coming up, It's there. 7. There's an old man on a city bus holding a candy cane, and it isn't even Christmas. 8. What's that in the corner? It's too dark to see. 9. Flying so high trying to remember how many cigarettes did I bring along. 10. The hero is exposed when his crimes are brought to the light of day. 11. Alone in my body, alone in my head. Dreaming of someone, in my bed. 12. With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound, he pulls the spitting high-tension wires down. 13. Bangkok, Oriental city, but the city don't know what the city is getting. 14. Hey baby, I ain't askin' much of you. Naw, naw, naw baby, I ain't askin' much of you. 15. I can sense it, something important. It's coming up, it takes courage to enjoy it. 16. The old home town looks the same as I step down from the train, and there to meet me is my momma and my poppa. 17. What's with these homies dissin' my girl, why do they gotta front? 18. All my friends now seem so thin and frail. Slinky secrets hotter than the sun. 19. Well Gwydion got pigs but I went after chickens. Went down to Dyvyd to do some butt-kickin. 20. Piggie met Baby in a disco bar. She said, "What a cute little piggie you are." 21. Hey Mr. man in the street - excuse me. Do you have a few moments to spare? Oh yeah... 22. Its a matter of time, Its a matter of luck, Its a factor of chance, 'til I self-destruct. 23. We had the experience but missed the meaning. And approach to the meaning restores the experience in a different form, beyond any meaning we can assign to happiness. 24. Cloud upon cloud cries poison rain. Slate, hair, roads glisten again. 25. I'm not above drinking alone but no good ever comes of it, unless you count me talking to you now. 26. I stand on the brink of your mind, living inside a nightmare from which I just cannot awaken . 27. I've never had much cause for worry, and I've not got a lot to say. 28. The brain - it's between your ears, finally here, cold fact what you suckas fear. 29. Silent hell on the marble slab. The best trip that I've ever had. 30. The wind is the whisper of our mother the earth.
At last, my arm is complete again! Ah, much better than the first musical reference that suggested itself. And almost topical, with the recent release of Sweeney Todd on the big screen (yes, there's a lot of blood, and yes, it's about cannibalism, but really, you should see the movie unless you're easily traumatized by the above.)
Anyway, this is just a quick post to let the... what, five or six of you who read this... that I'm back online again. Yeah, sure, I've been online all along, but only in fits and starts. What I mean to say, of course, in my usual roundabout way, is that I have internet access at home finally. So now you can expect to see me post here oh... at least once a year. ;-P
Veri-what? Verisimilitude. "The quality of seeming to be true." A rather elusive quality that is a necessary ingredient in any fiction for the willing suspension of disbelief. Those little things that make the story seem more real: the soot on the ceiling above the torch, the dirty dishes in the sink, the guy who says "umm" when he talks, the airplane storage space that the terrorist can't fit inside.
I say elusive because, well, people are different. Something that seems true to one person might not to someone else. Not everyone is going to say "Hey, that's an M14! The US Army was still using the M1 Garand during the Korean War!" I would hope that most people would say, "Okay, even if a MacBook could communicate with an alien computer, there's no way a human-designed computer virus would do anything to it." But I've been proven wrong on this sort of thing before. Some people will say, "Dragons are okay, elves are fine too, even wizards I can handle, but there's no way that government system would survive forty years, much less four hundred." The more familiar you are with a subject, the higher your standards for verisimilitude are.
This is all lead-in to say, sometimes you can take it too far. Partly, it's a blatant excuse to link to some Phil Foglio artwork. Partly it's pointing a finger at myself, reminding me that I should say to myself "It's just a show, I should really just relax." And partly, it's a way to distract myself from things that I feel like I need distracting from right now. Because I'm Vulcan, and have to have three reasons for doing anything. Wait, no I don't. Was that even a Vulcan thing? Anybody know where I got that idea from?
Getting in touch with your inner Daemon Interesting. The movie sort of reminds me of a cross between Mirrormask; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; and Tomb Raider. Probably a few others, but those were the first that came to mind.
Sleep is for the weak! Interesting article on the New Scientist website about the current state of sleep architecture management. It's a year old, but they just moved it into the public archive. Various treatments (pharmaceutical and otherwise) to reduce the need for sleep, improve the quality of wakefulness and sleep, etc. Fun stuff. I've always been a big fan of not sleeping, which is probably why I like Nancy Kress' Beggars series so much. Admittedly, she did it with genetic engineering, which still seems to be going nowhere fast in the real world, but I still like exploring the implications of people not needing to sleep. What would you do with an extra eight hours a day? Would employers want people to work 80-hour weeks? Many businesses would have to move to a 24-hour model.
It's probably safe to assume that the Sleepless would be more productive than Sleepers, so what effect would that have on the economy? Could employers require that their workers be sleepless? Will universities assume that their students are Sleepless and adjust schedules accordingly? Would there be a Sleepless subculture? And yeah, I'm ignoring the questions like "what are the long-term effects of being Sleepless," because as the article indicates those are already being asked. That and they aren't as interesting, IMHO, to speculate on. Anybody have thoughts or questions of their own on the subject?
Words fail me. Apparently, the also failed the author of the Eye of Argon. This is incredibly bad. I couldn't even finish the second chapter. This is another one of those "don't click on this if you value your sanity" links. It's Fanfic of Gor bad. At least it's text, so you don't have to worry about searing your eyes at a single glance, like Man-Faye would. (Even I'm not sadistic enough to provide a link to Man-Faye.)
We're off to outer space! No, this doesn't have anything to do with Virgin Galactic, the Spaceship Company, Blue Origin or anything else related to the Bransons and Rutans of the world. This is the much more important 1/350 scale Space Cruiser Yamato. A bargain at only $485 (plus a piddling $107 shipping and handling.) It can do just about everything but actually fly. Lights, sound effects, separately rotating gun turrets, and a suspiciously familiar remote control to guide it all. Check out the 2:40 minute commercial.
The Attack of the Killer... Rice So NewScientist has an article about a company inserting human proteins into rice. Or, as the article mentions headlines are screaming, human DNA. Not quite as bad a screwup as the article bat_chevamentions mixing up virus and bacterium, but still enough to annoy me. The article does a pretty good job of dispelling FUD, which unfortunately creeps right back in as soon as you read the comments. We don't know the long-term effects or environmental impact? True. And while one would hope that since they have FDA approval, that means they've put forth a reasonable effort to test for just those concerns, this is not always the case, and laboratory conditions are not real world conditions. So is there reason for concern? Possibly. However, I don't think anybody benefits from knee-jerk reactions. But what do I know? I'm a computer geek, not a botanist or biochemist. Oh, wait. I am somebody who has reading comprehension skills somewhat in advance of your average grade schooler, and tries to apply reasoning and logic rather than automatically assume something is good or bad depending on whether or not it agrees with my prejudices.
The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the opp Seemed appropriate to lead in with a Karl Marx quote, since this quiz seems to think I'm 100% Socialist. As is frequently the case, and as several people have already commented about this quiz, the methodology is more than a little flawed. I mentioned a few of my problems with the quiz in the comments section when I submitted it. Wonder if I'll get a response. Pity these never have a "I refuse to answer because the phrasing of the question is too simplistic and biased" option. There's a hell of a difference between "all property and wealth should be owned by the government and distributed equally to the people" and "there are some services that are better regulated by a government than by a free market." I'll finish my comment with another Karl Marx quote. "All I know is I'm not a Marxist."
The Everything Test
There are many different types of tests on the internet today. Personality tests, purity tests, stereotype tests, political tests. But now, there is one test to rule them all.
Traditionally, online tests would ask certain questions about your musical tastes or clothing for a stereotype, your experiences for a purity test, or deep questions for a personality test.We're turning that upside down - all the questions affect all the results, and we've got some innovative results too! Enjoy :-)
Personality
You are more logical than emotional, more concerned about self than concerned about others, more religious than atheist, more loner than dependent, more lazy than workaholic, more rebel than traditional, more engineering mind than artistic mind, more cynical than idealist, more leader than follower, and more introverted than extroverted.
As for specific personality traits, you are adventurious (100%), intellectual (87%).
Stereotypes
College Student
88%
Punk Rock
73%
Old Geezer
67%
Life Experience
Sex
27%
Substances
0%
Travel
18%
Politics Your political views would best be described as Socialist, whom you agree with around 100% of the time.
Socioeconomic Your attitude toward life best associates you with Working Class. You make more than -0% of those who have taken this test, and 100% less than the U.S. average.
If your life was a movie, it would be rated PG. By the way, your hottness rank is 57%, hotter than 82% of other test takers.
A Christmas Carol Because it's apparently that time of year, I thought I'd remind people of just how much I love this season. And what better way than by song?
Christmas time is here, by golly, Disapproval would be folly, Deck the halls with hunks of holly, Fill the cup and don't say when. Kill the turkeys, ducks and chickens, Mix the punch, drag out the Dickens, Even though the prospect sickens, Brother, here we go again.
On Christmas day you can't get sore, Your fellow man you must adore, There's time to rob him all the more The other three hundred and sixty-four.
Relations, sparing no expense'll Send some useless old utensil, Or a matching pen and pencil. Just the thing I need! How nice! It doesn't matter how sincere it Is, nor how heartfelt the spirit, Sentiment will not endear it, What's important is the price.
Hark the herald tribune sings, Advertising wondrous things. God rest ye merry, merchants, May you make the yuletide pay. Angels we have heard on high Tell us to go out and buy!
So let the raucous sleigh bells jingle, Hail our dear old friend Kris Kringle, Driving his reindeer across the sky. Don't stand underneath when they fly by.
Prosopagnosia Pattern recognition skill wins again. For the record, prosopagnosia is the inability to recognize a face. The article links to an online test... well, two tests. The first is recognizing famous faces (works best for Westerners who are immersed in pop culture) and the second is recognizing unfamiliar faces (yes, sounds like an oxymoron. They show some faces, then show a larger group and you have to identify whether each was part of the earlier group.) Average for both is 85%. I got 90% on the first, 88% on the second. (On the first, there was only one person whose face didn't at least trigger recognition. The other failures were Hollywood-types that I don't care enough about to be able to easily distinguish. "Was that Brad Pitt or Ben Affleck?" "Who cares?") Did a lot better on the politicians.
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. Interface-free computer
Now first off, I think what these guys are doing is brilliant. I suspect that it will be more of "another arrow in the quiver" than completely replacing how we interact with computers today, but that's just based on my own observations of human nature. I'm just irked by the constant repetition of "interface-free" and "getting rid of the interface." Interface, in this context, is just the point of interaction between the user and the computer. The only way to get rid of that is if the user becomes the computer, or vice versa. Because even if the connection is so transparent that all you have to do is think at the computer, that's still an interface. Most SF doesn't even go that far, except a bit of the trans/post-human stuff. But hey, baby steps. The big problem I still have with cybernetic implant computers is "wait, I have to go in for major surgery every time I want a hardware upgrade?" Other than "sufficiently advanced" nanotechnology, I've yet to see a good solution for that one.
Edit: Funny. Firefox's spell checker recognizes cybernetic but not nanotechnology.
silly
irritated![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}