see more Epic Fails
I'm absolutely certain this is "completely legit"
Monday, December 14, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
More Fun With Telemarketers
"Hi, this is Marcy from Comcast Cable. I'm calling with a great new offer. . ."
"Um, is Comcast still evil?"
"I'm sorry sir, I didn't catch that - is Comcast still . . ."
"Evil. Is Comcast still evil? Or did they give that up?"
"Um, I, um . . . I'm not sure what . . ."
"That doesn't sound like a no, Marcy. Sorry, unless they decide to be 'not evil' I won't subscribe. Goodbye, have a great night."
"Um, is Comcast still evil?"
"I'm sorry sir, I didn't catch that - is Comcast still . . ."
"Evil. Is Comcast still evil? Or did they give that up?"
"Um, I, um . . . I'm not sure what . . ."
"That doesn't sound like a no, Marcy. Sorry, unless they decide to be 'not evil' I won't subscribe. Goodbye, have a great night."
Saturday, October 10, 2009
How much does a conscience cost?
Sometimes I'm not too proud to be a Philadelphian. CIGNA CEO Edward Hanway made $78,000,000 - yes, that's 78 million dollars - in salary and bonus over the last 5 years. What did he do to earn all that dough? Let people die. Deny coverage to people like Nataline Sarkisyan, a 17 year old in need of a liver transplant. To top it off, when the Sarkisyan's traveled from California to Philadelphia to confront Hanway, a CIGNA employee on a balcony of their posh offices flipped them the bird.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yOtKWipG-o
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yOtKWipG-o
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
Pascal Redux - I feel 20 years younger!
I read an article on The Lazarus IDE in this months Linux Journal and I'm now transported back 20 years. Pascal! I can't remember the last time I looked at or wrote Pascal.
I don't have anything particularly burning that I feel like writing, especially GUI-wise, but I've been fiddling with it here on the couch and it's a nice warm fuzzy nostalgic feeling.
I don't have anything particularly burning that I feel like writing, especially GUI-wise, but I've been fiddling with it here on the couch and it's a nice warm fuzzy nostalgic feeling.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
24 Meets 1984?
This article about Lancaster, PA is absolutely frightening. I was just in Lancaster last weekend with the Family Unit visiting the Strasburg Railroad and riding Thomas the Tank Engine. Traffic around the outlet malls notwithstanding, it's a quiet, bucolic place, and we spent some time wandering around, even attended church on Sunday.
And now I know that someone was watching me do this. Some freak was staring at his row of screens Pre-Criming me, or taping me doing an emergency diaper change in the car.
They're not even cops. They're a "not-for-profit citizen coalition". They're the worst kind of nosy neighbors, in other words. Jenn even told me she would like to investigate moving to Lancaster, she liked it so much.
That's out now.
And now I know that someone was watching me do this. Some freak was staring at his row of screens Pre-Criming me, or taping me doing an emergency diaper change in the car.
They're not even cops. They're a "not-for-profit citizen coalition". They're the worst kind of nosy neighbors, in other words. Jenn even told me she would like to investigate moving to Lancaster, she liked it so much.
That's out now.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Telemarketer Fun
My three year old loves to talk on the phone. Every time the phone rings, I get peppered with requests from her to "Say Hi." So when a telemarketer called, and "Mr. Jenkins, a Government Loan Specialist" asked in a recorded disembodied voice if I would like to talk to someone about an FHA loan, I figured what the heck.
My daughter immediately started: "I wanna say Hi, Daddy. Wanna say Hi!"
Three minutes of "enjoying the music" (yes, they really said that) later, with a sidetrip to the main voicemail system for The Money Store, Chaz answered the phone.
"FHA" (pause) "FHA Department"
Wow, they're really going out of their way to make people think they're with the FHA and are offering "Government Loans."
I asked Chaz to hold a second so he could speak to the Lady of the House.
Evie: "Hi"
Chaz: "Uh, hello"
Evie: "I got Dora shoes. They're pink."
Chaz: "Uh, what?"
Evie: "I GOT DORA SHOES."
(pause)
Evie: "THEY'RE PINK!"
I thanked Chaz for his time and hung up the phone before he let loose with any anger-fueled obscenities.
Next time I'm going to surf the voice mail until I find someone that left a "in an emergency, call my cell number" message and call their cell phone.
My daughter immediately started: "I wanna say Hi, Daddy. Wanna say Hi!"
Three minutes of "enjoying the music" (yes, they really said that) later, with a sidetrip to the main voicemail system for The Money Store, Chaz answered the phone.
"FHA" (pause) "FHA Department"
Wow, they're really going out of their way to make people think they're with the FHA and are offering "Government Loans."
I asked Chaz to hold a second so he could speak to the Lady of the House.
Evie: "Hi"
Chaz: "Uh, hello"
Evie: "I got Dora shoes. They're pink."
Chaz: "Uh, what?"
Evie: "I GOT DORA SHOES."
(pause)
Evie: "THEY'RE PINK!"
I thanked Chaz for his time and hung up the phone before he let loose with any anger-fueled obscenities.
Next time I'm going to surf the voice mail until I find someone that left a "in an emergency, call my cell number" message and call their cell phone.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Time to get your GPG on
I just saw this article in the New York Times detailing how the NSA is reading thousands upon thousands of emails by "Average Joe" American Citizens. Collecting and reading your email without warrant or cause, in an effort to "combat terrorism". As if terrorists suddenly started sending viral video links with the subject of "FW:FW:FW: You've Got to check this OUT! TOO fUNNY"
And if they are intercepting your email, what's to say they aren't changing it, too? I can imagine a bored NSA operative intercepting an apologetic email from some poor schlub to his girlfriend after he forgot her birthday. An email pleading for her to join him at a five-star restaurant at 7 PM as a make-up olive branch.
Said bored "analyst" does a quick Facebook check on the chick, finds out she's cute, local, and loves to read spy thrillers.
So he changes the email to read an 8 o'clock reservation at a different restaurant, sets up a block on her cell phone so the unluckily forgetful boyfriend can't call her to confirm, shines himself up and heads out for an evening meal alone. With an 8:30 reservation. At the restaurant he put in the email. Where he can "happen" to bump into the poor woman just as she realizes her jerk boyfriend stood her up. Again. And he can pretend his date did the same, and wouldn't she like to have dinner with him, no sense in wasting the reservation.
Couldn't happen, right? Next time someone says "I could have sworn I told you 7 in the email" think about it.
So what's the solution? At a minimum sign all your messaegs with GPG so at least if the Snoops are reading the latest mundane details of Uncle Mortimer's Gout Attack they can't change it without the party on the other end knowing.
Even better would be establishing a Web of Trust amongst all the folks you know and/or regularly communicate, so that you can send all correspondence encrypted, only readable by the intended party. So when the NSA intercepts your email, they can't read the contents and only know the sender and recipient. Think of it as a really really secure envelope sent via the mail. Regular email is a postcard. The postman, and any other person that handles it along the way, can flip it over and read that you are having a great time at Camp Wannadewme. Digitally signing your email is akin to a postcard that let's you know if anyone has changed it during transit, so no one can forge a "funny" p.s. at the end that will get you grounded for the rest of the summer when you return from camp.
GPG encryption is along the lines of a super-duty regular envelope, in that the postman and others know the delivery address and the return address, i.e. the sender and recipient, but can't read the contents without tearing the envelope, a feat that is incredibly difficult to do so long as you keep your private key private.
Of course, there are ways to anonymize the sender and recipient in email, much like leaving the return address off a snail-mail envelope, depositing it in an out-of-town mailbox, and sending it to a drop box instead of a home address.
Easy, simple, and it keeps the NSA and anyone else from snooping on you for no good reason, right? I've done nothing wrong, I'm a normal, tax-paying citizen of the United States, I have a right to privacy and just don't want the government reading my personal correspondence without a warrant.
Except there's a catch or two.
First, if you follow the links I posted you will see this technology is freely and easily available to anyone. Including the bad guys. So it's safe to assume the Bad Guys, at least the ones with half a brain, are already using it. The NSA is only intercepting readable email from the inept and the innocent.
Secondly, overzealous collection aside, getting your email actually read, and your email address on a watchlist, at the NSA most likely requires a trigger. A keyword in your email, or an anomaly, something to make it stand out from the hundreds of thousands of other grocery lists and chain letters.
Like encryption.
lets say there are a half dozen friends in your Web of Trust with whom you routinely correspond. One lives near you on the East Coast of the U.S., NY or DC, another in the Pacific NW, Los Angeles, Chicago, New Orleans, and Dallas. And the NSA suddenly notices that all of the email between these seven is encrypted.
And they'll probably notice. To crib some from Little Brother think of looking for a needle in a haystack. First you identify hay. The majority, and what you aren't looking for. In this case, routine email. From normal citizens. Which by and large isn't encrypted, it's plain text, or (ugh) HTML.
If you worked for an intelligence agency and noticed a group of seven people located in disparate major metropolitan areas had suddenly started exclusively sending encrypted email back and forth, and doing so in relatively high volume, what would that look like?
The needle.
So what's the answer? Got me. Care to comment?
And if they are intercepting your email, what's to say they aren't changing it, too? I can imagine a bored NSA operative intercepting an apologetic email from some poor schlub to his girlfriend after he forgot her birthday. An email pleading for her to join him at a five-star restaurant at 7 PM as a make-up olive branch.
Said bored "analyst" does a quick Facebook check on the chick, finds out she's cute, local, and loves to read spy thrillers.
So he changes the email to read an 8 o'clock reservation at a different restaurant, sets up a block on her cell phone so the unluckily forgetful boyfriend can't call her to confirm, shines himself up and heads out for an evening meal alone. With an 8:30 reservation. At the restaurant he put in the email. Where he can "happen" to bump into the poor woman just as she realizes her jerk boyfriend stood her up. Again. And he can pretend his date did the same, and wouldn't she like to have dinner with him, no sense in wasting the reservation.
Couldn't happen, right? Next time someone says "I could have sworn I told you 7 in the email" think about it.
So what's the solution? At a minimum sign all your messaegs with GPG so at least if the Snoops are reading the latest mundane details of Uncle Mortimer's Gout Attack they can't change it without the party on the other end knowing.
Even better would be establishing a Web of Trust amongst all the folks you know and/or regularly communicate, so that you can send all correspondence encrypted, only readable by the intended party. So when the NSA intercepts your email, they can't read the contents and only know the sender and recipient. Think of it as a really really secure envelope sent via the mail. Regular email is a postcard. The postman, and any other person that handles it along the way, can flip it over and read that you are having a great time at Camp Wannadewme. Digitally signing your email is akin to a postcard that let's you know if anyone has changed it during transit, so no one can forge a "funny" p.s. at the end that will get you grounded for the rest of the summer when you return from camp.
GPG encryption is along the lines of a super-duty regular envelope, in that the postman and others know the delivery address and the return address, i.e. the sender and recipient, but can't read the contents without tearing the envelope, a feat that is incredibly difficult to do so long as you keep your private key private.
Of course, there are ways to anonymize the sender and recipient in email, much like leaving the return address off a snail-mail envelope, depositing it in an out-of-town mailbox, and sending it to a drop box instead of a home address.
Easy, simple, and it keeps the NSA and anyone else from snooping on you for no good reason, right? I've done nothing wrong, I'm a normal, tax-paying citizen of the United States, I have a right to privacy and just don't want the government reading my personal correspondence without a warrant.
Except there's a catch or two.
First, if you follow the links I posted you will see this technology is freely and easily available to anyone. Including the bad guys. So it's safe to assume the Bad Guys, at least the ones with half a brain, are already using it. The NSA is only intercepting readable email from the inept and the innocent.
Secondly, overzealous collection aside, getting your email actually read, and your email address on a watchlist, at the NSA most likely requires a trigger. A keyword in your email, or an anomaly, something to make it stand out from the hundreds of thousands of other grocery lists and chain letters.
Like encryption.
lets say there are a half dozen friends in your Web of Trust with whom you routinely correspond. One lives near you on the East Coast of the U.S., NY or DC, another in the Pacific NW, Los Angeles, Chicago, New Orleans, and Dallas. And the NSA suddenly notices that all of the email between these seven is encrypted.
And they'll probably notice. To crib some from Little Brother think of looking for a needle in a haystack. First you identify hay. The majority, and what you aren't looking for. In this case, routine email. From normal citizens. Which by and large isn't encrypted, it's plain text, or (ugh) HTML.
If you worked for an intelligence agency and noticed a group of seven people located in disparate major metropolitan areas had suddenly started exclusively sending encrypted email back and forth, and doing so in relatively high volume, what would that look like?
The needle.
So what's the answer? Got me. Care to comment?
Summer Reading
I just finished reading Cory Doctorow's Little Brother and it's the first book, film, television show, stage play, anything really I've read, seen or heard in recent memory, that manages to not only live up to it's hype-induced expectations but far exceed them.
The book, in case you're not familiar, is a novel that in essence re-imagines George Orwell's 1984 in our current and near-present, with a teen-aged protagonist.
Except the dire end-game of a totalitarian state happens as we read, and we get to follow Marcus (W1n5t0n) as he and his friends attempt to fight the power.
If you're a geek like me, you'll find yourself enthralled with the nifty tricks and technology Marcus and company use during the quest. If you're not, all the bits and bytes are explained during the course of the book in a way even the most ardent luddite can grasp and appreciate.
Besides, technology isn't the point, it's the tool. The point is freedom, liberty, and the power of an individual, no matter how seemingly ordinary or powerless, to affect positive change. Little Brother is a powerful reminder to all of us that one man or woman doesn't constitute a movement, but they damn well can start one.
So head on over to Cory Doctorow's web site and give it a read. It's available for free download, or for purchase. Personally, I've already given away one hard copy of the book to my "tween" niece, have plans for birthdays and Xmas buying of more, and I'm going to make sure I have a hardback copy in the house to give to my daughter when she is old enough. Yes, I think the book is that important.
Go forth and read.
The book, in case you're not familiar, is a novel that in essence re-imagines George Orwell's 1984 in our current and near-present, with a teen-aged protagonist.
Except the dire end-game of a totalitarian state happens as we read, and we get to follow Marcus (W1n5t0n) as he and his friends attempt to fight the power.
If you're a geek like me, you'll find yourself enthralled with the nifty tricks and technology Marcus and company use during the quest. If you're not, all the bits and bytes are explained during the course of the book in a way even the most ardent luddite can grasp and appreciate.
Besides, technology isn't the point, it's the tool. The point is freedom, liberty, and the power of an individual, no matter how seemingly ordinary or powerless, to affect positive change. Little Brother is a powerful reminder to all of us that one man or woman doesn't constitute a movement, but they damn well can start one.
So head on over to Cory Doctorow's web site and give it a read. It's available for free download, or for purchase. Personally, I've already given away one hard copy of the book to my "tween" niece, have plans for birthdays and Xmas buying of more, and I'm going to make sure I have a hardback copy in the house to give to my daughter when she is old enough. Yes, I think the book is that important.
Go forth and read.
Friday, June 05, 2009
New Turntable
Well, it's new to me, anyway. It's a Sansui PL-45 Linear Tracking Turntable and it sounds just fantastic.
I scored it on e-bay, took a chance on the buy it now of 50 bucks being worth it if it matched up to the "it's just like new" description.
Turns out it was just as advertised. Bully.
I scored it on e-bay, took a chance on the buy it now of 50 bucks being worth it if it matched up to the "it's just like new" description.
Turns out it was just as advertised. Bully.
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
WaWa Hoagiefest
Wawa is in the middle of Hoagiefest and they are holding a contest for best song or video dedicated to the humble Hoagie. I'm working on an entry with some folks at work, so if it gets done, I'll post it for all to enjoy/mock/ignore.
Friday, January 02, 2009
Journalspace no more
Journalspace, an online blog hosting site, is down for the count. It appears they had a mirrored drive setup, but no backups to tape. I can tell you from experience that simply mirroring drives is not a valid backup solution. It's great having redundancy, and mirroring/RAID can ensure uptime. But simply keeping a real-time mirror of your data isn't enough, as it seems the folks that ran journalspace.com just found out in the most painful way possible.
The one obvious gotcha is what happened to them - your data gets corrupt. If you have a real-time or near real-time mirror of that data, then guess what? Your backup is also corrupt. Point-in-time, whether to tape or disk, is essential for any critical data, and a valid retention plan is a must as well. Just overwriting the previous backup isn't good enough - what if your backup fails to complete one early AM and the disk or server fails before you can re-run?
Sure, losing a day of changes or data if last nights backup fails sucks, but at least you had a valid backup from the day before to use as a restore point. If you are just re-writing over the previous backup, you wouldn't have had anything to restore from and that is the same result as not backing up at all.
Bottom line? Tape sucks, sure. Tape drives and autoloaders can be cranky beasts. Changing tapes sucks, too. But losing your data and potentially putting your company out of business sucks more.
The one obvious gotcha is what happened to them - your data gets corrupt. If you have a real-time or near real-time mirror of that data, then guess what? Your backup is also corrupt. Point-in-time, whether to tape or disk, is essential for any critical data, and a valid retention plan is a must as well. Just overwriting the previous backup isn't good enough - what if your backup fails to complete one early AM and the disk or server fails before you can re-run?
Sure, losing a day of changes or data if last nights backup fails sucks, but at least you had a valid backup from the day before to use as a restore point. If you are just re-writing over the previous backup, you wouldn't have had anything to restore from and that is the same result as not backing up at all.
Bottom line? Tape sucks, sure. Tape drives and autoloaders can be cranky beasts. Changing tapes sucks, too. But losing your data and potentially putting your company out of business sucks more.
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