Type in the URL, Dummy!

In this Knowledge Base Article, Microsoft suggests how one can protect oneself from spoofed websites.

One of the touted suggestions? Type in the URL instead of clicking on the link! So to protect yourself from the above URL to the Knowledge Base Article, type in http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;%5Bln%5D;833786!

Spacehug of Slashdot has better advice: "I have a suggestion that's not in the Knowledge Base: don't use IE!"

Piracy Can Hurt Pornographers Too

Wired article on the above subject.

♫ Fun With Musical Notation

♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫

Hee-hee! I'm madddddddddd with power!

Aftermath of MyDoom/Novarg

I went into work yesterday expecting to finish off some transition tasks for my departing boss and preparing to be the technology department. I ended up fighting a stupid virus the entire day. And it only infected one of my computers because she had opened up the attachment on Monday night before a fix was posted to my antivirus server.

Novarg or MyDoom, as it has lovingly been called in the mass media, is slowly going away. Yesterday, my server was spammed with about 50 messages/minute and today that has trickled down to about 5 per hour. But the ramifications are all too apparent.

This brings up two topics of particular interest. First, the nature of Internet security and how it exploits gullible users and, secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the reason why the virus was written in the first place.

John Dvorak suggested it before and I balked at the notion. But now, it's starting to seem like a better idea, at least in that funny theoretical Galois theory kind of way. Can't wa license computer users? Or, at the very least, in a work environment like here — can't I force people to take a computer driving test much in the same way one needs to get a drivers license at the DMV before one can operate machinery?

It will never happen in the all-too PC (that doesn't stand for personal computer, btb — think the other abbreviation) world of my work place. After all, wouldn't want to hurt other people's feelings by telling them that they're stupid and incompetent. But think about it. They're using my network. (Okay, they're using work's network — but I run it so it's mine — all mine!) Any stupid thing they do from downloading attachments, visiting porn sites, downloading crappy screen savers and freeware potentially could wreck havoc to my network. So why shouldn't they be forced to take a knowledge exam and be tested on that knowledge periodically? Kids in schools have to take an acceptable use policy and computer skills test before they can use the Internet. Why shouldn't my stupid mouse-trigger happy coworkers have to?

The second issue is SCO. If you haven't heard, SCO is a small Utah based company that basically went from $1 billion dollars in the early 90's to about $100 million now. In a last ditch effort to raise money, they began to analyze their owned code and found that they owned some UNIX code that was written at AT&T in the early 60's. As a result, they linked this code to code in Linux and decided that they wanted a piece of that open source pie. Being rebuffed at this they did the next best thing. They sued IBM for using this source code in Linux distributions and are now on the hunt (much like the RIAA) against Linux users. If the suit against IBM prevails, look for them going against end users.

Of course, the above has not gone above the ire of open source supporters. It's a weird day when IBM and HP are representing the rights of open source. (Although, as this Dvorak article suggests, it may actually behoove IBM to develop a Linux desktop if they want to compete in future years with Big M.)

First of all, from what I've read — the SCO thing seems really frivolous. I'm more inclined to believed Linus Torvalis then some failing company in Utah that is about to go under and has a chip on their shoulder against IBM to begin with. Further discrediting SCO is the fact that they will not reveal what code is proprietary. The Linux community has repeatedly said that they will remove whatever code is in question. SCO wants none of this. And of course they don't. They want the money that a sudden influx of Linux "licenses" would give them. Google itself runs 10,000 Linux machines in a cluster. I think it will easily be proved in court that SCO claims are worthless and, at least in this case, my eyes are glowing at the prospect of IBM's lawyers ripping SCO a new one in court.

But my main concern is the virus. The writer of MyDoom's goal was to take down SCO's web site with a massive denial of service attack that would (and still might) run from February 1 - 12th. This article in Wired describes the virus' intent.

The attack was stupid. Yes, SCO is engaging in chicanery — but why stoop to their level? As a Slashdot writer succinctly puts it:

"This is someone who just wants to feel important and who thinks that by DDoS'ing SCO everyone will call him a hero. Well, you stupid ignorant bastard, if you're reading this -- and you probably are since you expect that the Slashdot hordes will applaud your bravery in damaging thousands of people's computers -- no one admires you.

Anyone who wants to see SCO suffer for the wrongs they have done should unequivocally condemn such acts of terrorism. SCO will be broken by the weight of justice and right, not by mindless thugware."

It looks like the battle ground of this century will be in the imaginary digital world. With the sensitive nature of electronic missives and transmissions, hacking a network will soon become more popular (and let's face it more lucrative) then cracking a safe in a bank. Advocacy groups could easily use virus technology to annoy the heck out of users. Imagine PETA putting a picture of a bovine with a brain disease on your desktop. (And don't think they won't.) It can all be done thanks to the lack of security in modern operating systems (I'm looking at you, Bill). Let's hope that the people running these causes advocate in traditional forums rather than engaging in the stupid actions of this open source nut.

I'm Still Alive

No, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth. Just seems like it.

By the way. Although I appreciate the geeks who are trying to destroy SCO and their frivilous lawsuite — STOP SPAMMING MY E-MAIL SERVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

This is What Happens, Larry, When it Snows in Portland

For Midwest readers of this web log who don't understand why a city would shut down for a week because of 10 inches of snow, Blog has just published a fantastic photo article about it.

Read and find out why you should actually be thankful for the El.

Time Machine on the Web

Want to know what your favorite web site looked like in the past?

A project to archive the web is up and running and has sites since 1996. Check it out.

The Whiners!!!!!!!

The Whiners!!!!!!!!!!!

You have been warned.

NPCs Part Deux

Orange Medicine Woman Although Hyrule is populated with beaucoup de old women, Link always makes a bee line for the house of the one who will replenish his magical powers. How does he know that she's different from the other "there's a secret in this town" ladies? Simple! She wears bright orange! Duh!

Red Dressed Lady Link has never heard that 80's song Lady in Red although chances are that if he did, he'd hate it. He doesn't, however, hate the red dressed lady who looks conspicuously like the other ladies in town except hat she refills his life each time he visits her. Such an unstinting lady! What really goes on behind those closed doors when Link's life refills, though? Hey, even elven super heroes deserve nookie now and then.

Wise Man Each town (surprisingly, even the one overrun with invisible Moas) in Hyrule has an old man. Being the wisest and most powerful person in town, the wise man is naturally sequestered in the basement of some dingy old house in town. One old man even lives in a hole in the wall.

Link tries to find the wise man right away but is always flustered to discover that he must recover a stupid belt or do a good deed in order for the wise man to reveal his secrets. Sadly, like the other villagers, this old man is completely impervious to any damage and anger that Link has to dole out. Which brings to mind the question: If these villagers are invincible, why do they need Link to save them?

Zelda II: The Adventures of Link

Long known throughout Nintendo circles as the "ugly-stepchild" of the Zelda series is the side scroller known as Zelda II: The Adventures of Link.

Is the name deserved? Hell, yes! This little pisser took Phooeyhoo the better part of playing on and off for three years to finally put to bed. And two of those years were spent in the Grand Palace a.k.a. Bitchslap Link Palace.

You know how in most games the levels get progressively harder? However, they do it to you in increments. Take Zelda I, for example. Level 8 is a bitch of a level but Level 9 is only a step above it. Once you've beat down level 8, you know that you've got a chance of surviving Level 9.

In The Adventures of Link this works well through palaces 1 - 6. Then you hit the Grand Palace. This is like going into a class on Algebraic Topology armed with nothing but the knowledge gleaned from third grade math. The "bird-men" are more difficult to beat down than most of the palace bosses. Yes, it's that hard.

With that said, in the next day or so I will be posting in depth articles about parts of the game that I think are interesting. First, we start off with some of the NPC's (that's non player character for you who actually have lives) that inhabit the world of Hyrule which, for some bizarre reason, looks nothing like the Hyrule from The Legend of Zelda although only a few years have passed if we are to believe the manual.

An Analysis of Selected NPC's in Zelda II: The Adventures of Link with Specific Applications of the Barycenter Method in Geometry

Unlike the original The Legend of Zelda which was populated only by old men, medicinal women entrepreneurs, money giving goblins, and a few eccentric fat merchants, Zelda II has a plethora of towns to explore. That's right, towns. In the few years that have passed since Zelda's rescue, the denizens of Hyrule somehow gathered enough nookie power to make towns. With houses. And mailboxes.

At first glance it seems like these towns exist only to cater to our young elven hero. On second glance, however, these are bustling towns with burgeoning economies and centers of political and philosophical thoughts and ideas. On third glance, we realize that our second glance was bullshit and conclude that our first glance was, in fact, correct. Without further dilatory circumlocution, here are a select few NPCs chosen from the wide spectrum of citizens that Hyrule has to offer. To conclude this introduction, we must point out that every fifth person in Hyrule is related to themselves in that they are twins of themselves. Ponder this well.

Fat Guy Not only has Hyrule been saved, but it is prosperous enough that a number of fat men now populate it. Fat men are good signs that one's country is producing enough food to make some men fat. Sadly for Link, most of the fat men that saunter by offer nothing but a, "I know nothing." Link finds this odd as he was only saying hello. He wasn't actually asking anything. Link finds this mildly disturbing.

Fat Lady Enormous women also occupy the goodly land of Hyrule. Unlike most of the fat guys, Link is relieved that some of the fat ladies actually know something useful. Sadly, like most of the citizens of Hyrule, they are limited to three lines of text and so their clues are cryptic at best. "There's a secret in this town." Oh, really?!? Care to expound, honey?

To be continued . . .

What's New in 2.66?

Not much from what I can tell. The bug with Internet Explorer where some comments are not fully displayed until you do a "Ctrl+A" is still there. But hey, I love Movable Type so what can I say? It's fantasteriffic!

What's In a Name

Jimmy: What do you think Jennifer should name her baby?

Kenny: How about Pedro Brutus McCrumblecake McNguyen Junior?

Alice: Kenny, that's the most terrible name I ever heard! That kid 'el be harrassed to death in school!

Marriage in Danger: How You Can Help

Britney Spears's marriage to some unknown guy has rocked the world of marriage. For it is now official: marriage is in danger! If something isn't done soon, people will go naked into the streets fucking barnyard animals in celebration of their Pagan god Dagon. Have we not learned the lessons of Samson? Won't someone please think of the children?!?

Thankfully our glorious administration is proposing a $1.5 billion dollar drive to save marriage! Especially in those small rural black communities where the people have turned away from marriage. God bless America!

Hopefully, with the new training that will help develop interpersonal skills in couples, marriage will ride it out for another century and our country will keep those viscous Pagan gods at bay.

And may we never have to wake up and read how our favorite songstress or starlet got knocked up and married in a Vegas ceremony. No more hearts broken! Why did you do it Britney? We loooooooooved you! Oh Bush Administration — why did ye not have the hindsight to put on your training seminars sooner?!? May your divine omnipotence protect the likes of Christina Aguilera and Mandy Moore.

This Pete's For You

Talk last week of the latest Hall of Fame inductees was diluted somewhat when Pete Rose rolled on into town with his new book where he admits that he betted on baseball — but says that he will continue to legally gamble until the bitter end. Well, maybe not in those words — but that's the synopsis. Only Bud "The Commissioner" Selig has the puissance to activate Rose from the disabled list that is the lifetime ban list. This would enable him to go to the baseball writer's association for consideration into the Hall of Fame.

All of this, naturally, set off a flurry of articles. Among my favorites are those that deemed Rose, "sinned against baseball." I'm sorry. But you can sin against baseball? Before I start my rant, let me say that I love baseball. It's a game that I grew up playing. I cheered and worshipped my favorite players as a kid. Grown up now, I don't love it any less. I've developed keen eye sight in regards to it, however. I regard it as a friend. As such, I won't hesitate to slap it in the face when needed and I don't believe that it's this perfect establishment of all-American goodness that some people think it is. I don't think it saved us after 9-11 and I don't feel any particular way about it surviving and expounding American virtues into the next century. It is a game. Nothing more, nothing less. Hence, I am very leery of such a statement as "sinning against baseball."

Here's the deal. Pete Rose was a great player. He was a nasty person (from the accounts I've read). He cheated on baseball. But he was a great player and he should be in the Hall of Fame. I've thought and wavered on this decision a great deal. I think at least five minutes of my evening repast was disturbed, in fact. But that's it. End of story. Deal with it.

To those pundits that argue about the integrity of the game and how only characters of high moral values should be in the Hall of Fame I have to do nothing but say Ty Cobb and 1947.

Ty Cobb was a mean, boorish, racist man until the very end. Even as baseball was integrating and he was becoming an old geezer — he was mean, boorish, and racist until the very end. Numerous times he slid nonplussed into opponents with the object of splitting open their body parts. He once beat up an elevator operator who simply wanted to say hello. Oh, incidentally, he's in the Hall of Fame. So there goes your argument about only characters of high morals in the Hall of Fame.

1947 was, of course, the year that Branch Ricky signed a kid named Jackie Robinson to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Not so because he was the best player in the Negro Leagues (that honor went to either Satchel Paige or Josh Gibson) but because he had the toughest skin and Mr. Ricky thought that he could take the plethora of insults that would be cast his way. 1947. That's less than 60 years ago. Before 1947 baseball was bound by a gentlemen's agreement by the baseball owners and general managers to not hire any players of black ancestry to play the game. Many of the people involved in this agreement and who upheld it until the bitter end including Ban Johnson, founder of the American League, and Kenesaw Mountain Landis, this first commissioner of Major League Baseball, are in the Hall of Fame. Gambling is a small sin in comparison to all the back dealing that has endured with baseball in its history.

Yes, not everyone in the Hall of Fame was a Christy Matthewson as we would all like to believe. And let's not forget that in the future the Hall will be filled with steroid pumping athletes who are as inflated as their statistics.

Get over yourself baseball. You are a great game. But you have to acknowledge the blemishes as well as the victories. Put Rose in the Hall of Fame. And then leave him alone and let him die an old and embittered man.

This Eck's For You

Dennis Eckersley, dominate closer for my beloved Oakland A's teams of the late 80's and early 90's, was inducted into the Hall of Fame along with Paul Molitor earlier this week. Congratulations to them both.

This vindicates the 10 year old kid in me. Game 1 of the 1988 World Series was against the Oakland A's and the Los Angeles Dodgers and for no other reason except for the fact that he liked the Dodgers — I became an A's fan that day. Although I barely understood the game, I was distraught with tears when Kirk Gibson hit that game winning home run off of the Eck. As my friend celebrated, the only thing I could muster was the prediction that Oakland would win that year and next year and that Gibson would fail to make the Hall of Fame but Eckersley would.

Well, Oakland lost in 5 games that year but swept the Giants in 1989. And now Eck is in and Gibson's not. So I say to you Kyle: burn! (Not that I'm being immature or anything :-) )

Frothing

This would have made me quite happy back in the day:

Multnomah Co. Schools:
Centennial - Closed Thursday
Corbett - Closed Thursday
David Douglas - Closed Thursday
East Mult Co. Head Start - Closed Thursday
Gresham/Barlow - Closed Thursday
Multnomah ESD - Closed
Parkrose - Closed Thursday
Portland - Schools & offices closed Thursday. PHC maintenance staff report. By 2 pm Thursday a decision will be made on whether a hearing on the Westside Boundary issues will take place in the evening. Please monitor the PPS website.
Reynolds - Closed Thursday
Riverdale - Schools closed Thursday, January 8 UPDATE

Sigh, no longer. Back to work!

Lego My Lego

Everybody else is doing it, so why can't I?

Go here to make your own!

What a Difference 2000 Miles Makes

I have been informed by cohorts in the Pacific Northwest that the entire region has shut down due to snow and ice. Portland State University (and, presumably, all the other schools in the area) has been closed since Monday. Travelers are stuck at airports and drivers are stuck in their garages. Ah, winter paradise.

2000 miles in the Midwest, on the other hand, all is fine and peachy. It may have snowed 10 inches but before you could even start enjoying it, they were plowing it off the streets. Here? No school cancellations, no chance to miss work, no nothing. Instead, nothing but the impeding dread of having to walk over ice (on the sidewalks that were forgotten by time) and enduring "black snow". That is, the snow near corners that have been adulterated by the exhaust systems on our fine motor vehicles. Slushy, oily, and nasty stuff.

The Legend of Zelda

Back when Phooeyhoo was a wee lad at Hayhurst Elementary School there were few things that kept him entertained. (Sadly, Mrs. Hoyt just didn't do it.) Unequipped with the weapons of wit and outright insult, he wandered through that cesspool trying to find meaning. Thankfully, there were two things that mildly amused him. Wall-ball and The Legend of Zelda. Come to think of it, wall-ball was pretty damn stupid. So thank God for the Legend of Zelda.

During a time when discussing political philosophy or Galois Theory would have earned you a royal beating on the playground, discussing Zelda was at least permitted in semi-geek circles (we didn't have cliques yet). Phooeyhoo still fondly remembers the time when he killed all of the stupid blue darknuts (it's a good thing Phooeyhoo didn't have a dirty mind back in those days — just think of the pure comedy gold that could have been put into play with the word "darknuts") to claim the legendary whistle which allowed him to beat the Level 5 boss that turned out to be nothing but a tool. The next day on the playground he ran enthusiastically to his friend Blog with fists a-pumping. Good times.

Digdogger, the ultimate tool

Well, one of Phooeyhoo's friends recently sold his soul to the devil for a Gamecube which came with not one but 4 classic Zelda games including the venerable classic that started it all. It took Phooeyhoo more than a year to beat the first quest of the original Legend of Zelda. Fighting the previously mentioned stupid darknuts took at least a couple of months. It took another couple of months to find out what the stupid old man meant by "the secret's at the tip of the nose." I mean, what kind of a stupid hint is that. Look under the couch. Now that's a hint. What the fuck is the tip of the nose? It's amazing how many things that one can remember as it took Phooeyhoo only 2.5 hours to beat it this time around. The second quest will be a different matter, but it too will get the beat down and Phooeyhoo will be here reporting all the gory details. There are few things that terrify Phooeyhoo. Cats in hats is one of those. Red bubbles from the second quest in the Legend of Zelda is the other.

First Post of 2004

It had to happen some time. But I'm tired. And I'm going to sleep.