Internet Safety: Vigelente justice: Hacker bites Judge

Note: this is an older draft post that was never put on the blog before... This one was from:
2/26/07

The reg says it best: Ex-judge jailed for child abuse

The basic plot:

A hacker called "Omni-Potent" planted (a) Trojan *, which posed as images of child abuse on newsgroups frequented by paedophiles, in 1999.

...(my comment) The trojan then infected the pc's of whoever downloaded the pictures....


The Hacker, or vigilante, then began obsessively monitoring the activities of the 3,000 suspected perverts whose PCs he had infected, focusing on those he suspected were planning to molest children, such as Kline.

The hacker then discovered explicit images of young boys on Kline's PC and, even more seriously, a diary detailing his fantasies about abusing young boys.

These (admitedly) illegal results, were passed to the police in 2000, who executed search warrants, recovering evidence from Kline's home PC and his court computer.

These in turn led to federal charges against Kline of possessing child porn and child molestation charges in state court.

The ex-judge fainted after receiving his sentence of 23 months after pleading guilty!


* Not a RUBBER silly, a trojan, as in a WORM/VIRUS!!


****What does this teach You and me?

Surfing inappropriate places (even just CHILD Porn) can cause GREAT pain...
Even if the evidence is obtained illegally

TriviA: Rating time

In checking out my fellow blogger, Froth Slosh B'Gosh

He showed his BLOG rating, (and was disappointed that he was rated "G")

I, got the following results!



This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:

* death (5x)
* porn (3x)
* dead (2x)
* scat (1x)

TecH: Porn Kings vs. Newspapers

Heh Heh. I like this. InfoWorld discusses an article in the NY-Times comparing "Traditional" XXX DVD movie producers and how they are being hurt by the internet, just like Newspapers.

Alexander Wolfe in infoweek says:

What do purveyors of dirty pictures have in common with journalists? Answer: They're both getting screwed by the Internet.

In a nutshell, he says

At fault is the same effect the Times cites as operative in the porn industry: The abundant availability of free content online.

NewS: A stalker! I have a Stalker..

Geee. Now I know I have a life. After readership in the low tens, I always figured that I write this blog Just for myself

But I've just discovered I've been diss'ed as a jerk on someone else's blog by someone who said they;ve seen and dismissed my blog.

That's nice.

But... If you happen to be reading this I have THREE different BLOGS.

1. This original one (An Eclectic's view of life)
2. My main poetry blog where I've committed to writing a poem a day for at least a year.
3. The Automated Poetry Machine where I invite people to help me write a poem, by supplying a name, a topic, and a feeling and I will write a poem for them.

So, gee I have a stalker... Be still my heart...
just kidding.

If I ever thought I wrote a word in these blogs for anyone else, I'd need to have my head examined.
But I don't mind sharing with others.

Racing: or is is PERSONALITIES? DEJ leaves DEI

OK. I am NOT a sports guy, who listens/watches football/baseball
AND ESPECIALLY NOT NASCAR.

But
Interesting story hit the wire, and I went WTF???

Earnhardt to Leave DEI After Season was the headline

So I said, WTF is DEI???

And I found the most SORRID, horrid, personal scandal in DAYs and DAYS..

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is leave DEI (Dale Earnhardt Inc), his (late) FATHER's company,
now run by his STEP-Mother


Why is he leaving? To quote him: Dale Earnhardt Jr., winning is everything. That's what his daddy taught him.

And by ditching his namesake company to find a more competitive ride, Junior gave his own lesson in life: Not even blood is thicker than winning.

NASCAR's most popular driver ended months of contentious contract negotiations with his stepmother Thursday, announcing he will leave Dale Earnhardt Inc. at the end of the season because he and Teresa Earnhardt can't agree on a common vision for the family business.

And it goes on...

"It is time for me to continue his legacy in the only way I know I can - by taking the life lessons that he told me: Be a man, race hard and contend for championships," Junior said. "That's what I intend to do, and I feel strongly that I would have my father's blessing."

Earnhardt had tried to reach a new deal with his stepmother. But the bargaining turned tense after she publicly questioned his commitment, and Junior later said their relationship "ain't a bed of roses."

So he'll move on, starting what should be a frenzied free agency period that could shake the sport by causing long-term ripple effects in driver salary and sponsor deals.

Earnhardt strongly believes his father's vision for DEI has been lost, and it's why he demanded 51 percent of the company during contract negotiations that started before the season began. His sister, Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, had set a deadline to get the deal done by the end of the month.

"We never even got close," he said. "It's not the guy who gives me the biggest paycheck. There's some things you can't get with money - peace of mind and satisfaction in what you do everyday.

Hmm. kind of makes Britanny and Kevin look like chump-change!

TecH: Do You back up YOUR work regularly?

Ok, so EVERYONE tells you to do BACKUPS, right?

Do you?

Guess what? The June (2007) Issue Of Business 2.0 was Deleted Before Going To Print

(to quote my daughter...) Heh. Heh.


TechCrunch reports that somebody goofed, and deleted the issue fromtheir servers...

Oh hell, Here's ONE Source:

A 2003 article (in Business 2.0) likened backups to flossing - everyone knows it's important, but few devote enough thought or energy to it.

According to an article in the International Herald Tribune (a NY Times company),
says:

Last week, Business 2.0 got caught forgetting to floss.

On the night of Monday, April 23, the magazine's editorial system crashed, wiping out all the work that had been done for its June issue. The backup server failed to back up.

Good thing the magazine, based in San Francisco, is a monthly. "If it had happened a week later, we would have been in trouble," said Josh Quittner, the editor.

Until the night of the crash, the magazine had never had to rely on its backup server, Quittner said, so no one had noticed that its programming was either obsolete or dysfunctional, or both. Just last November, the magazine had listed off-site backup as being among "the usual precautions."

So they lucked out, they DID have a backup of the DATA, even though they needed to RE-DO the entire Layout of the June issue.

Do YOU have backups???

I admit, I've been caught in the past! (not recently though!)

Stupid IS: Airport to Charge for Electricity! (& free alternatives)

What a pile of Bull-dung! Tech evangalelist says
The Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport is now charging for access to electricity

This is Unfair and inane. Unbelievable

This is the WORST idea I've seen in a while. Cities should not allow their airports to penalize business travelers by forcing them to pay for power. It's insane!

Over time, It will surely become more difficult to find open outlets in airports with Smarte Carte power outlets installed since that would cut into the vendor's profits. Contractually, the airport will probably have to waste money putting caps on non-Smarte Carte publicly accessible outlets. Ever seen a FREE luggage cart in an airport with Smart Cartes installed?


UPDATE: The ULTIMATE list of free/for pay AIRPORT WIRELESS.. HERE

TecH: GetHUMAN

This is much better then my normal reaction... normally just SCREAM "HUMAN" into the phone at the top of my lungs! Hee hee.

Courtesy of LifeHacker from the source,
GETHUMAN.com

Mind you, if you use Firefox OR IE, type Control and F (CNTRL-F) to bring up a SEARCH window. type the name of the company you want, and zip. You're done.

Trivia: 5 bar tricks

OK. Thanks to wisebread via Lifehacker for these 5 sure-fire bar bets. And I send my voice to wisebread here:

All of these hustles are called a proposition Bet. Basically, a proposition bet is a challenge which looks like it only has one outcome...and it does...it always favors the person placing the wager.

That's because you know something the other folks don't. You know the 'challenge' is always going to go your way.
Always.
A show in Britain called "The Real Hustle' does these bets often as a way to show you how much fun they can be, and also how to avoid getting caught out by them. So, here we go. My Top 5 free drink hustles, in no particular order.

One: - The Magic Whiskey Trick

Two: - Keep It Under Your Hat

Three" - Carbon Copy

Four: - Measuring Up

This one is Tough. Watch first!

Just remember that MATH is a four letter word!

Five- One Shot, Two Coins

Ready 2 VeggiE (3): Getting ready to say GOODBYE

In A Previous post, I talk about Bird Flu again! And I just wanted to add the following links to update it.

INTERESTING. Worldwide BIRD migratory routes

Now note, this does not look like it has 2006 data, and so far we've heard of reports from FRANCE, Israel, AFRICA, ASIA and Australia.
Just waiting for the Americas to start to check in!


Again, My feeling is that the US IS NOT immune from it.
This article says that a rumor that Bird Flu Closer to US is denied by the Mexican Government.
The GOOD news is that according to this article,the current bird flu strain does NOT seem to be transmitting itself to HUMANS.. (unless I guess you use the chicken head like a ball, like 2 kids who died in Africa did)..

Cheers (??)
MarkBnj

Ready 2 VeggiE: Get Ready to say bye to Eggs, Chicken!

In the News: Bird Flu Hits Poultry Stocks at French Farm

Hey Folks:

See my predictions at end of this piece!

Bird Flu Has now hit the largest commercial Turkey Farm in France.

It's Getting Closer!
We will:
A) Lose ALL (commercial & small farm) Poultry farming in the USA.
B) For a limited amount of time, EGGS will be available.
However, Organic (Free-Range) eggs will become unavailable by this summer
C) There will no be more CHICKEN in this country by November 2006
D) We will have a full fledged FLU PANDEMIC by December 2006
Mark
(and it won't affect me unless I catch the flu from a Human... I've been a vegetarian for over 30 years now!

RanDom: Flus, Viruses and Pandemics

Interesting Site: Bird-Flu news.

Bird Flu
News
This brings up my first book review/recommendation:
Flu:
The story of the great influenza pandemic of 1918; and the search for the virus that caused it: By Gina Kolata, first published (wow, is it SO long ago? 1999)

Having READ this book years ago,(and always loaning it out of my personal library) I was very ready when the Avian Flew first came out last year.

" Scientists have recently discovered shards of the flu virus in human remains frozen in the Arctic tundra and in scraps of tissue preserved in a government warehouse."

She goes thru a great deal of the background in a very non-technical way.