Emergent Chaos

xkcd on the Debian issue

Delightful!

Brightening up the day from an unexpected place

I would estimate that 2/3 of the calls I get are from people trying to sell me things I neither need nor want. Of those, over half are outsourcing services. Of the remainder, recruiters are over half.

There are also people who call me for their services once a week. There's one particular outsourcing firm whose name is burned into my brain because of the number of times I've been subjected to it. I don't know how to spell their name, but I can sure pronounce it. There's also a recruiting firm that I know well, too. Each of these people I have asked to take me off their list, asked to talk to supervisors, talked to supervisors, yelled at them, ranted at them, and finally sworn at them, and yet I still get my weekly call.

As I was doing office stuff a few moments ago, I played a voicemail, and it was from my friends at Hadron Infotech, letting me know about their services just in case I have (a) developed a need I didn't have last week and (b) forgot their name. (One of my rants included telling them that when I do need such services, they will be the last people I call and sadly for them, I have no trouble remembering their name.)

Since I was doing office stuff, I let the message drone on, and got the litany of things they can do for me including, Java, Jay-mumble-E, Dot-Net, Pee-Haitch-Pee, AJAX, Perl, Ruby on Trains, updating your web site, ....

Wait a minute. Did he say what I thought he said? Ruby on what? I ran over to my computer, backed up the player, and ... Yes! Ruby on Trains! How delightful!

I'm still laughing. I hope you are, too. Maybe I'll get another laugh next week.

Photo "Ruby on Train" by theresa_l_reed.

Good problems to have

You don't have much credibility looking for a publisher for a book on rum when you're sailing in the Caribbean drinking the best rums you can find in the name of research. Most people just didn't take me seriously that there was even a need for a book on rum. It took quite a while to get things rolling.

See the Ministry of Rum FAQ.

Point Break, Live

The starring role of Johnny Utah is selected from the audience each night, and reads their entire script off of cue-cards. This method manages to capture the rawness of a Keanu Reeves performance even from those who generally think themselves incapable of acting. The fun starts immediately with the "screen test" wherein the volunteer Keanus (usually 5-15 men and women vie for the role) go through a grueling audition process. The part is then cast via applaus-o-meter.

Point Break Live. So very attitudinally mis-adjusted.. Via JWZ.

Reality imitates the Onion

I'm somewhat sure this is a real AP story, "Al-Qaida No. 2 says 9/11 theory propagated by Iran." The Onion scooped them, with "9/11 Conspiracy Theories 'Ridiculous,' Al Qaeda Says."

Unfortunately, no progress on the "fake tape" issue:

The authenticity of the two-hour audio recording posted on an Islamic Web site could not be independently confirmed. But the voice sounded like past audiotapes from the terror leader, and the posting where it was found bore the logo of Al-Sahab, al-Qaida's official media arm.

(Via Orin Kerr at Volokh.)

Bot construction kit for non-programmers

We all know that ID theft and extortion bots are ubiquitous. Perhaps it is some consolation that a modicum of technical skill is needed to construct such things. That has changed.

I (a complete non-programmer) have just built not one but two "bots" using materials available here and here! With these templates, any 8 year-old can do the same!!!

Evil Genius University

Taken while in San Francisco:

What more needs to be said?

Attrition ends Dataloss -- NOT!

UPDATE: This was a belated April Fools' from the Attrition people, which clearly suckered me in.

Attrition.org's Lyger has announced the end of Attrition's Dataloss project (presumably including both the DLDOS and Dataloss mailing list).

In the past few weeks, it has come to our attention that too many people are more concerned with making a profit off of our work without any offer of acknowledgement or compensation. For those who aren't familiar with Attrition, we're a non-profit hobby site that takes on "projects" as we see fit, when we want to, and when we have time. For those who *are* familiar with Attrition, you probably know that we don't take kindly to being dealt with unfairly. Commercial entities, including "identity-theft prevention" upstarts and book authors, will gladly contact us, ask for information and advice, and then not even offer us the equivalent of a reach-around when selling their materials. We don't pimp our resources to others; they come to us. Unfortunately, more often than not, they won't even send us a "thank you". We've mentioned it in the past, but we're not going to mention it in the future. This is the last mention.

It's too bad that leeches have spelled the end of this resource. Hopefully, others will step into the breach (pun intended), and offer something similar. Ideally, this would be done by an organization with the inclination and legal muscle to enforce a license requiring proper attribution from those using the material.

Nuke plant evacuated as misheard new employee remark is reported to authorities as credible threat

Schneier is probably busy at RSA, so I'll handle this one, which comes courtesy of the Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter of April 9:

About 450 employees of Point Beach Nuclear Plant were evacuated Tuesday morning after a convenience store clerk reported a man had asked for directions to Nuclear Road, where the plant is located, and then said he "came to blow up the place," according to a press release from Capt. Robert Kappelman of the Two Rivers Police Department.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Point Beach Nuclear Plant, the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department and the Two Rivers Police Department conducted a joint investigation.

Information from the surveillance video at the gas station led authorities to a vehicle parked at the nuclear plant. A 23-year-old man from Hull, Mass., working as a contractor at the plant, had rented the car in Milwaukee.

In an interview with the FBI, the man admitted the conversation took place but said he had stated he "hoped he wouldn't blow up the place" as it was his first day working at the facility. He said he told the clerk "they don't allow (him) to push any buttons, anyway."

His vehicle was searched and no threats were found. No charges are being pursued, according to TR [Two Rivers, Wisconsin] police.

Not as good as the "going to LA to shoot a pilot" non-story, but not bad. Notice the Massachusetts connection. Good thing the guy wasn't working at Pilgrim, 'cause I am sure there were potentially lethal LEDs in that car :^).

Science in Action

The New Scientist reports in, "Have peacock tails lost their sexual allure?"

A controversial study has found no evidence for the traditional view – practically enshrined in evolutionary lore – that peahens choose their partners depending on the quality of the peacocks' tails.

Obviously, traditionalists have many things to say about the quality of the study. Because, of course, everyone knows it's true.

Ain't Nobody's Business But My Own

A year ago, I discussed stupid email disclaimers in, "If I Screw Up, It's Your Fault!" This week, Brian Krebs of the Washington Post comes over the same issue, indirectly, in his "They Told You Not To Reply."

Krebs tells the story of Chet Faliszek, who owns the domain donotreply.com, which he bought in 2000 as a lark. The interesting situation is that many otherwise sane people will send broadcast messages with a return address that has donotreply.com in it. And of course, people reply. When they reply, he gets the mail.

He gets customer service mail from Charbroil grills; financial service from Capital One and Merrill Lynch; network diagrams and vulnerabity data from Yardville National Bank; faxes from Iraq contractor and former subsidiary of Halliburton, Kellog Brown & Root; and of late very interesting mail from the Department of Homeland Security.

Krebs quotes Faliszek:

"I've had people yell at me, saying these e-mails are marked private and that I shouldn't read them."

"They get all frantic like I've done something to them, particularly when you talk to the non-technical people at these companies."

The most delicious emails end up on his blog. He will remove them if you show proof of a donation to an animal protection league or humane society.

Note that if you send your email to Mr Faliszek, it becomes his email. No one suggests that there is anything untoward in owning donotreply.com. No one suggests that the disclaimer has any standing. No one suggests that there is anything wrong with his letting you ransom those emails through good works.

Certainly, it's stupid to use a domain like donotreply.com. It's a legal domain. There are some reserved domain names, and they are documented in RFC 2606. For Heaven's sake, use donotreply@yourdomain! However, it's worse to have the disclaimer. Non-expert, non-technical people might think that it has standing. Note what Mr Faliszek said, that people think that because they're marked private, he shouldn't read what's delivered to his domain. I have every sympathy with these people. They think they're protected, and they're not. Fortunately for us all, Mr Faliszek is a nice guy who loves animals. Take it away, bandleader.

Photo "its just sad" by Quiz....

Userfriendly and Privacy on the Internet

I got a rockin' pneumonia, I need a jolt of arrythmic blues!

By now, you've probably seen the news that "A Heart Device Is Found Vulnerable to Hacker Attacks." Bruce Schneier has some good analysis, "Hacking Medical Devices." I just wanted to shock Jerry Lee Lewis fans.

Friday Pogues Blogging

I saw the Pogues' show at Chicago's Riviera Theatre last night, exactly 22 years minus one day since the last time I saw them.

Spider Stacy seems to have fared a tad better than Shane :^). The show was good, but of course nothing can compare to nostalgia. A particularly enjoyable feature for me was the ecstatic reaction of a nearby woman who was a devoted fan -- she was loving every millisecond. I was bemused thinking that last time I stood 15 feet from Shane and company she was probably not even toilet-trained.

There were plenty of grey hairs in the audience, even up front. I was polite and let a shorter person in front of me, and as the band got into things I wound up a few feet back from the stage, where the crowd was younger and ethanol-fueled. Luckily my quads are as strong, and my elbows as sharp, as they were back in the day.

Photo courtesy of www.undergroundbee.com, who have many more great shots

Unclear On The Concept

[via DocBug]

"You have searched me for the last time"

Explanation and more pictures here.

Wanted

Via Michael Froomkin.

Social Engineering?

Parking Meters are Reverse Slot Machines

Raymond Chen has an amusing blog post, "When computer programmers dabble in economics: Paying parking tickets." This is further dabbling in economics, and I hope you find it amusing.

I believe that parking meters--the old fashioned kind where you put coins in and hope to not get a ticket--are precisely the opposite of slot machines. With a slot machine, you put money in, and you hope, money comes out. I like not putting money in parking meters, and hoping none comes out of my pocket.

Photo: "Downtown Phillipsburg, NJ," by Peachhead.

Veracode solves the code metrics problem

Password Fatigue

The Macquarie Dictionary of Australia has an annual contest for Word of the Year. The People's Choice Award goes to the term that is the title of this post:

password fatigue
noun a level of frustration reached by having too many different passwords to remember, resulting in an inability to remember even those most commonly used.

Macquarie notes:

Password fatigue was the most popular word in the online voting, clearly registering a widespread dilemma of the online world.

No kidding.

The selection committee, who no doubt spend less time on their own web site than their readers do, selected:

pod slurping
noun the downloading of large quantities of data to an MP3 player or memory stick from a computer.

The committee notes:

In this increasingly tech-savvy world we live in, it seems pod slurping really is the new memory bank for us busy bees. Why carry around vast reams of documents, or CDs or anything for that matter, when you can download absolutely everything!

Pod slurping has an inventive and sensuous appeal. The committee felt that the most important criterion for word of the year should be linguistic creativity and evocativeness, rather than simple worthiness or usefulness. Pod slurping also dips its lid to pod, a potent little word of our times.

Perhaps the committee slurps from places that don't need passwords.

Photo "pod slurp" courtesy of :: Meg ::.