triviageek

For Blog Day, here's five bloggers that I'd like to recommend to you:

My Boyfriend is a Twat is written by Zoe about her boyfriend and children from her home in Belgium. It won the Bloggies 2005 award for Best European Blog.

Amygdala is is a blog well known in some circles. Written by Gary Farber, this blog features posts about assorted subjects of interest to him, including Sci-Fi, interesting links he's encountered, some politics, etc.

A View from A Broad is a blog written by Ginmar who is a FEMALE solder just back from Iraq where she was often the one manning (staffing) the machine gun thingie on a convoy. And her blog entries of just a few months ago were covering that period. Ginmar is also a feminist who demands that others respect her rights and her right to have her own opinions.

The Daily Pfennig is an unusual blog. Maybe it isn't even considered to be a blog? Anyway it's written by a BANKER who comments on the financial situation of the USA versus other countries as he comments on world currencies (which he sells, ie. that's his job).

Nancy's Blog is unusual because it's a political blog from an astrological point of view.

What's Blog Day?

In one long moment In August 31st 2005, bloggers from all over the world will post a recommendation of 5 new blogs (at the same time) - preferably blogs different from their own in culture, point of view and attitude. On this day, all blog surfers will find themselves leaping and discovering new, unknown blogs, celebrating the discovery of new people and new bloggers.

via Clicked, Sugar-n-Spicy, BlogDay2005 and BlogDay

Another news story that really is not funny.

At first it looked like New Orleans had dodged the worst of Katrina when the hurricane veered slightly to the right (although doing so made the situation worse for Mississippi and Alabama).

Then the levee broke!

Now 80% of New Orleans is underwater. And it's not just a few inches of water either. Homes and businesses are under several FEET of water. And the water is still rising because the levee breaks haven't been repaired yet.

(Note for the clueless, a levee is essentially a dam so when one breaks you get a huge flood.)

A quote by the actor, Martin Sheen, from this news story:

"At least you've got the acting president of the United States" ...

It's really not a funny situation.

Two people responsible for the worm that got my computer last week, have been arrested. HURRAH!!!!!!

Now lets see if they really are prosecuted and punished.

Personally, I think computer criminals who maliciously break into others computers or who unleash viruses that destroy files on others computers should receive SERIOUS prison time.

I've had just enough difficulty dealing with computer criminals and their devastation to have NO SYMPATHY for their attitude and actions.

I personally know of one who feels that if he CAN do something that there is no reason WHY HE SHOULD NOT.

In other words, if he can walk into a bank and rob it, then there is NO REASON why he should not.

Computer criminals are CRIMINALS!!!!!

One stumbles upon the weirdest and most unexpected things while searching for something else on the Internet.

For example, I was just searching for another Flickr photo suitable for a magazine cover when I stumbled upon some Greenbelt Festival pix.

So here's a link to the Greenbelt 2005 Festival in the UK which is not to be confused with THIS annual Greenbelt Labor Day Festival in Maryland.

Hmmm, I wonder if this clever idea for hamster generated electricity could lower my electric bill?

The teenage inventor was given a C for his project and has been awarded a D overall for the course.

The inventor received a D for his coursework!!!! Whatever was his teacher thinking????

Via Boingboing

I mentioned earlier that Mythbusters is one of the few TV-shows that I currently watch faithfully. Here's a link to an interview with Adam Savage, one of the stars of that show.

This link of a text to binary translator strikes me as so unneeded. I have one or more charts that I can easily use to translate the odd ASCII or EBCDIC characters whenever I need. AND I know of one or more pieces of software that will do it as well as doing it far more quickly than a web page would manage to translate it.

(Not to mention of course that I once wrote a subroutine that also did this translation.)

via Clicked

  

Here's a link to a site with photos of cats in sinks. If you don't understand why most of them seem so contented in the photos, it's due to a quirk of cat psychology.

Cats feel comfortable in an open box because they're protected on several sides. Cats like that feeling that no one can attack them without warning from the side. And if they keep their eyes open, they can see any adversaries coming.

Remember cats are predators, so maybe they're aware that they COULD be something bigger's prey themselves.

In my opinion, the small sinks are like a box where the cat feels protected. So long, that is, as no one turns on the tap; since cats are notorious for NOT liking water.

(Yes, if you can't already guess, I'm an adoptive cat-mother.) You've already seen a photo of Faux-Leo (what a baby pix of Leo would have resembled). The Cats in Sinks web site has a photo which looks like Py that I've stol...er... "borrowed".

This blogger's post reminds me of the HORRIBLE time I had at a Holiday Inn Express.

Everytime I see their commercials on TV with a stupid guest of theirs impersonating someone of consequence (nuclear power station operator, rodeo clown, etc.), I think of JUST HOW STUPID someone would have to be -- in order to actually stay at a Holiday Inn Express.

(In my case, I literally fled at 2AM in search of a better motel!!!!)

via Clicked

Well I can dream anyway...


  

This is a FAKE magazine cover generated by a Flickr application. *giggle*

Comment from the blogger at Clicked:

Dear Entire population of Virginia,
Thanks for all the mail. It is abundantly clear that I have not spent enough time in the costal areas of your state.
Look for me to drop by any day now,
Will

Maybe the penalty for having a widely read blog is that AN ENTIRE STATE writes to correct your errors. *rofl*

A variety of that #%$#'ing worm got my computer. ARGH! Double ARGH!!!!

Blogging will be light for the next several days ... as I try frantically to correct all the damage.

This seems like a totally unique theft to me! I guess it just goes to show that anything can be the target of thieves and no matter how ridiculous it looks -- someone will figure out how to steal it...

Via Boingboing

In case you're wondering HOW I examine the RAW HTML to detect the phishers, I thought I'd provide an explanation.

First I use Eudora for my email both at home and at work. I dunno how to do this with Outlook or Outlook Express (or even whether it CAN be done with a Microsoft product). *shrug*

Eudora has this neat little button shown below which transforms the email message into the RAW HTML so that I can examine it.

Email message as displayed normally:

For your protection, we have limited access to your account until you will update your account with the correct information, and a new password.
Click here to update your account

You can also fill in the verification information by logging into your PayPal account at http://www.paypal.com/row/. Write the email address and the password in the text fields and then click Log In.

then all I have to do is press this little button (at the top of each message).


  

And then I get this RAW HTML:

<p>For your protection, we have limited access to your account until you will update your account with the correct information, and a new password. </p>
<table align="center" bgcolor="#ffe65c" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="320"><tbody><tr><td><table align="center" bgcolor="#fffecd" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="sansSerif" align="center">
<a href="http://www.paypal-acounts.com">Click here to update your account</a></td>
</tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>You can also fill in the verification information by logging into your PayPal account at <a href="http://www.paypal-acounts.com">http://www.paypal.com/row/</a>. Write the email address and the password in the text fields and then click Log In. <br>

Note the <a href="http://www.paypal-acounts.com">sometexthere</a> in the midst of all that gobblygook. That is the REAL ADDRESS that clicking on the link sometexthere would take you to if you were silly enough to click on it.

Tonight's phisher is a little smarter; but not a LOT smarter. The REAL address in the url isn't a number this time; they ARE using a domain address. It's just the WRONG DOMAIN ADDRESS - www.paypal-acounts.com for this phisher.

The domain address of paypal is paypal.com (making their web address www.paypal.com).

Paypal's domain is NOT paypal-accounts.com as the phisher would have you believe (ie www.paypal-accounts.com is NOT the web address of paypal; it's the web address of a phisher).

However, in this case the phisher made one mistake. In the raw HTML of the message, I found this line:

Return-Path: <julie@nocturne.dreaming.org>

Hmmmmm, did someone named julie send me this phishing message? I do see the domain dreaming.org within the message below. Uhhhh maybe I'll forward the phisher's email to abuse@dreaming.org and see if I can stir up some trouble for "julie".

Subject: Notification of Limited PayPal Account Access
From: "support@paypal.com"
Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 13:37:21 -0400 (EDT)
X-Virus-Scanned: by amavisd-new at dreaming.org
X-UID: 16

PayPal
Protect Your Account Info

Make sure you never provide your password to fraudulent websites.

To safely and securely access the PayPal website or your account, you can click in the yellow box, or open a new web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer or Netscape) and type in the PayPal URL.

PayPal will never ask you to enter your password in an email.

For more information on protecting yourself from fraud, please review our Security Tips at https://www.paypal.com/row/securitytips

Protect Your Password
You should never give your PayPal password to anyone, including PayPal employees.

Notification of Limited Account Access

During our regularly scheduled account maintenance and verification procedures, we have detected a slight error in your billing information.

This might be due to either of the following reasons:

1. A recent change in your personal information ( i.e.change of address).
2. Submiting invalid information during the initial sign up process.
3. An inability to accurately verify your selected option of payment due to an internal error within our processors.

For your protection, we have limited access to your account until you will update your account with the correct information, and a new password.
Click here to update your account

You can also fill in the verification information by logging into your PayPal account at http://www.paypal.com/row/. Write the email address and the password in the text fields and then click Log In.

Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team

--
Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you will not receive a response. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and choose the Help link located in the top right corner of any PayPal page.

To receive email notifications in plain text instead of HTML, update your preferences here.

PayPal Email ID PP059

This looks awfully real. Of course I KNOW that I don't have a paypal account.

And I also know how to look at the raw HTML within the email message to see the REAL address where they want me to enter my personal info.

Clicking on their link "http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/accounts-outside" would REALLY take me to THEIR SITE at "http://221.148.206.119/usage/www.paypal.com/index.php" where the phishing crooks would no doubt use the info for neferius purposes. (A real business would NEVER, NEVER use the computer address of 221.148.206.119 in their URL -- they would ALWAYS use just a DOMAIN NAME instead.)

Subject: Notification of Limited Account Access (Routing Code: C840-L001-Q190-T1812)
From: "service@paypal.com"
Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 18:11:08 -0500
X-AntiAbuse: This header was added to track abuse, please include it with any abuse report

Dear Sir,

PayPal is committed to maintaining a safe environment for its community of
buyers and sellers. To protect the security of your account, PayPal employs
some of the most advanced security systems in the world and our anti-fraud
teams regularly screen the PayPal system for unusual activity.

Recently, our Account Review Team identified some unusual activity in your
account. In accordance with PayPal's User Agreement and to ensure that your
account has not been compromised, access to your account was limited. Your
account access will remain limited until this issue has been resolved. This
is a fraud prevention measure meant to ensure that your account is not
compromised.

In order to secure your account and quickly restore full access, we may
require some specific information from you for the following reason:

We would like to ensure that your account was not accessed by an
unauthorized third party. Because protecting the security of your account
is our primary concern, we have limited access to sensitive PayPal account
features. We understand that this may be an inconvenience but please
understand that this temporary limitation is for your protection.

Case ID Number: PP-046-631-789
We encourage you to log in and restore full access as soon as possible.
Should access to your account remain limited for an extended period of
time, it may result in further limitations on the use of your account or
may result in eventual account closure.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please understand that
this is a security measure meant to help protect you and your account. We
apologize for any inconvenience.


To keep your account active, click here:
http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/accounts-outside


Sincerely,
PayPal Account Review Department

PayPal Email ID PP576

Here's one less crime victim. :)

This guy is so clever. I remember trying to furnish an apartment with hand-me-downs and cast-offs but I never tried making furniture from free shipping boxes. *giggle*

via clicked

This is so weird; except it's not. I've played in online games myself. Yes, even me! At my age.

The one that I've played combines "Real Life" with events occurring within the game itself in ways that are not easily explained to outsiders.

I know I've tried. Frequently.

Or at least whenever I've had to explain to my boss just why I knew I'd be distracted by "virtual activities" for the next few weeks.

Last time it happened my boss (more experienced by now, I guess) just told me to submit an official request for two weeks of the vacation days due me. *giggle*

Love these business cards for Star Wars and Star Trek characters!

via boingboing

I wanted to look up the dates that one of our former presidents held office so I went to an authoritative source to get the info. Unfortunately the web page with the list of official presidential terms was in TWO COLUMNS that did not lend itself easily to saving into a text file. ARGH!!!

More than an hour later, I finally got the info into just one column of text and after going thru all the trouble of weeding out HTML commands such as script, font, table, etc. I wanna preserve just the "plain facts" for anyone else looking for the list. So here it is:

Washington, George
1789-97
Adams, John
1797-1801
Jefferson, Thomas
1801-09
Madison, James
1809-17
Monroe, James
1817-25
Adams, John
1825-29
Jackson, Andrew
1829-37
Van Buren, Martin
1837-41
Harrison, William Henry
1841
Tyler, John
1841-45
Polk, James
1845-49
Taylor, Zachary
1849-50
Fillmore, Millard
1850-53
Pierce, Franklin
1853-57
Buchanan, James
1857-61
Lincoln, Abraham
1861-65
Johnson, Andrew
1865-69
Grant, Ulysses S.
1869-77
Hayes, Rutherford B.
1877-81
Garfield, James
1881
Arthur, Chester
1881-85
Cleveland, Grover
1885-89
Harrison, Benjamin
1889-93
Cleveland, Grover
1893-97
McKinley, William
1897-1901
Roosevelt, Theodore
1901-09
Taft, William H.
1909-13
Wilson, Woodrow
1913-21
Harding, Warren
1921-23
Coolidge, Calvin
1923-29
Hoover, Herbert
1929-33
Roosevelt, Franklin D.
1933-45
Truman, Harry
1945-53
Eisenhower, Dwight
1953-61
Kennedy, John F.
1961-63
Johnson, Lyndon
1963-69
Nixon, Richard
1969-74
Ford, Gerald
1974-77
Carter, Jimmy
1977-81
Reagan, Ronald
1981-89
Bush, George H.W.
1989-93
Clinton, William J.
1993-2001
Bush, George W.
2001-present

Note - If any of the recent dates look odd to you, it's because the president is elected in November of one year but doesn't take office until January of the following year.

This story has had the caption "bit of 'splaining to do" on at least one other news website.

I keep wondering if I were his wife, would I just file for divorce NOW and get it over with or wait 'til he'd done something even worse?

And what would "even worse" be?

Hmmmm.

J.K.Rowling dealing with a difficult fan. *giggle* (It's a joke.)

via Amygdala

  

This photo reminds me so much of my cat Leo. He could also sit upright like this although Leo didn't need a radiator to prop him up. And he certainly never SLEPT in this sitting position.

Btw just like this cat, Leo was a silver and grey tabby - only he had "a bit of a weight problem" which might account for his sitting upright abilities.

via thegreenhead

It's been 60 years since Hiroshima. (And, yeah, that was BEFORE I was born.) Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended the war which Pearl Harbor had pulled the USA into.

This article on annoying buzzwords is FUNNY! And true. (Although I dunno how long that link will work since it's from one of those business magazines that like to charge for content.)

The top annoyance word is VISION as in that thing that the current owner of TV_Guide magazine used to destroy a decades old periodical (as I wrote about previously).

At least I can see that I'm not the only one annoyed by big organizations using buzz words to propagate idiocy.

And we have another Thursday with no new terrorist bombings in the London subway. Yay!!!!

Although this time, one of Osama's Al Qaeda buddies released a videotape which usually seems to be a signal for more groups to perform terrorist acts. *sigh*

Somehow with this, this, this, this, and soon this, I just don't feel like flying on a USA airline anymore.

And I sincerely hope that nothing comes up that forces me to travel via plane at any point in the foreseeable future. (I do come from a family of non-flyers but previously I'd been one of the exceptions).

Normally I don't go around flaming people but I just flamed another blogger. Honestly, I was provoked. She just pushed all my buttons.

Politically of the nut variety anyway, she first spouted off calling herself fat in a pix (where she clearly was of a normal weight) AND then went on to write how disgusted she was by a severely obese individual; snarking about how disgusted she was that he didn't lose it all etc.

I called her an asshole and went on to point out that people who naturally are of a normal weight simply do NOT understand the problems that people with medical conditions have when they must fight their bodies to lose weight. To show how idiotic and unsympathetic that blogger and her readers are one of them suggested concentration camps as a diet aid.

The really funny thing was that someone else commenting after me, indicated how unintelligent I was for disagreeing with her at a time when my link pointed to the previous article where I was commenting on Einstein's General Theory of Relativity versus his Special Theory of Relativity -- thus showing how STUPID the other commenter was. *rofl*

This website provides an explanation of the General Theory of Relativity using ONLY words that are 4 letters or less in length.

Really!

You should read it all the way thru and you'll see.

Previously I had posted this link to a site that gives a good explanation of the Special Theory of Relativity (ie. Special Theory is the "dumbed down" or easy version of the General Theory).

*giggle* I only attended classes that covered the Special Theory myself, so it was interesting to read an explanation of the General Theory.

Interesting note, while I knew who big Al was immediately; it took quite some time to figure out who Izzy was; and I was never postitive about Ari even though it turned out my guess was right. Herb completely baffled me though. Even given his real name at the end of the story, I *still* don't know who he is/was.