Shatner Quake

Bizarro Central

A book about nothing but Shatner!

Talking Gadget Theater II: The Kindle 2 and iPod Shuffle perform Wrath of Khan

Talking Gadget Theater II: The Kindle 2 and iPod Shuffle perform Wrath of Khan | DVICE

Hilarious geek humor! Listen and laugh.

Bacon sandwich really does cure a hangover

Bacon sandwich really does cure a hangover - Telegraph

Important research about a bacon sandwich truly helping with your hangover. This is funny, interesting, and actually useful.

I always knew there was a special reason my grandfather's bacon and biscuits were so fracking good on all those Saturday and Sunday mornings ...

APOD: 2009 April 20 - Flowing Barchan Sand Dunes on Mars

APOD: 2009 April 20 - Flowing Barchan Sand Dunes on Mars

An intriguing picture of the dunes on Mars appear like liquid running downwind.

More Reports Related to Cyber-Warfare

As I've mentioned before, there have been recent reports about network or cyber warfare being conducted against the US.

And more recently, articles covering some related topics have caught my eye. There have been articles discussing foreign/military-based attacks, and there have been articles about physical network damage and extortion. And more in the potentially related area of huge botnets.

As someone interested in network security in both professional and fictional manners, I have followed some of the stories. I find it curious and interesting that after years of almost complete silence about the various dangers to our technology infrastructure, suddenly there seems to be news everywhere.

I think there are three non-exclusive possibilities:

1. There is a significant increase in real threats and risks.
2. Different groups are struggling to increase the amount of government funding and attention and likely angling to increase their share of that growing pie.
3. People (and the press) have come to realize just how much of our lives have come to depend on these fragile things called computers and networks.

While I'm willing to believe things are generally becoming worse, I do not think there has been any dramatic increase in actual threats. However, the potential threats of the past may be the realized threats of the present.

Whatever other facts are in evidence, I feel confident there are groups positioning themselves to best gain from any increased attention, focus, and funding for protecting our networks. This is simply a no-brainer. Whether anything is "really" going on or not, people are greedy and power hungry.

But I think we would be foolish to completely discount the (slowly) evolving realization that we all depend of this network infrastructure for our daily and emergency needs. What if you could not access your bank account for a week? Two weeks? What if the hospital cannot access records or control the various pieces of high-tech gear? How about phones? 911?

Where it was once easy to joke about the geeks and their computers, or crack funny about the computer virus going around and disrupting productivity, it has become more serious business. A real villain might see our network infrastructure as a soft underbelly begging for attack, and I don't think it takes an imagination fed on cyberpunk science fiction to see things could go very badly.

Cyber Warfare and Cyber Security

• No quick cybersecurity fix seen
• White House may take cybersecurity role from Homeland Security
• New Military Command to Focus on Cybersecurity
• RSA 2009: NSA denies turf war over US cyber security
• Cyber Spies Breach Pentagon's Fighter Jet Project
• The Cold War Moves To Cyberspace
• Time for an Internet A-Team?

Physical Network Damage and Extortion

• Morgan Hill, CA - April 9, 2009
• AT&T increases bounty on fiber vandals to $250K
• Sabotage Suspected in Silicon Valley Cable Cut
• Cut fiber line knocks out state courts' communications
• Man cut phone and data lines demanding $10000 per month to stop

Botnets

• Conficker/Downadup Info for Scanning and Removal
• One bot-infected PC = 600000 spam messages a day
• Finjan - PC World - Recent 1.9 Million Machine Botnet
• On Macs And Malware - Security Fix - World's First Mac Botnet? Not Quite.

TUAW @SXSW: The "comics on handhelds" panel

TUAW @SXSW: The "comics on handhelds" panel

I'm not so sure that all these different formats can successfully be squeezed into the small form factors. I just don't know if it would still be a comic book, if it it squished and modified to fit on a tiny screen. It might be interesting and entertaining, but would it be a comic book? Or something new?

Does everything really need to be squeezed down to fit on these small screens? I understand the convenience of a device small enough and designed to carried with you at virtually all times. But the design choices appropriate for a device like that are not necessarily optimal for everything.

Thoughts on the State of Computer User Interfaces and Metaphors

stevenf.com - WARNING: A long, rambly exploration of the state...

I have felt the same thing. When the hardware struggled to do much of anything, the desktop metaphor was an appropriate goal for the user interface. But now, the hardware is not the limiting factor. Inertia is. People are comfortable with what has come before.

But even the desktop metaphor is strained. Does anyone work on a physical desktop that is only 15 inches in size? Most desks are much larger, but there has not been much improvement in screen size to match the physical model of the desktop metaphor.

As a geek, I look forward to real improvements and hopefully a revolutionary change in user interface.

Netbook Chips Create a Low-Power Cloud

Technology Review: Netbook Chips Create a Low-Power Cloud

I really think this is where things are headed. Rather than run a single or even a few cores at a high speed with fast mechanical disk storage, it makes more sense to have numerous processors or cores consuming very little power each along with a higher reliance on flash memory for intermediate or all long term storage.

NASA's early lunar images, in a new light

NASA's early lunar images, in a new light - Los Angeles Times

This is a great story in-and-of itself. These individuals worked hard, when the relevant institutions did not care, and protected something of historic value. The famous "Earthrise" photo alone is of great value. Who knows what is on the other tapes?

And this brings up another important concern: how much valuable, important data do we have stored on media that we may not be able to read? These old tapes required work old tape drives to read them. How long before CD's and DVD's face the same problem?

And what do you use to backup your files?

Geeks Rejoice! The bright side of bad economic times via Dilbert.

Dilbert comic strip for 04/10/2009 from the official Dilbert comic strips archive.

Dilbert comic strip for 04/11/2009 from the official Dilbert comic strips archive.

Another funny series from Dilbert. An upside for geeks in these uncertain economic times.

Dogbert's Hedge Fund (explaining the financial industry)

Dilbert comic strip for 04/12/2009 from the official Dilbert comic strips archive.

Did you know Dilbert was an investigative journalist? Well, here is a clear explanation of how our economy got run into the ditch. :-)

Irregular Webcomic! #2268

Irregular Webcomic! #2268

Here's a little touch of D&D geek humor. (Or is that repetitive?)

Early Reviews of J. J. Abrams' New Star Trek Reboot

As a big fan of the original Star Trek series (TOS - the original series), I am very excited to see J. J. Abrams "reboot" the franchise in hopes to clear out all the cruft and get a new start.

A few days ago, the folks behind the movie pulled a nice one. They got a group of fans in Austin excited to see a "special" version of Wrath of Khan (probably the best of the Star Trek movies, so far) and also promised to show about 10 minutes of the new Star Trek film. Once Wrath started, however, the film appeared to melt and tear, and the crowd reacted as expected.

The script writers who also worked on Lost came down to the stage and tried to quiet the fans by asking if folks wanted to know about the "black smoke monster" and generally stalling, until a man wearing a trench coat and hat comes up on stage carrying a film canister. It was Spock ... I mean Leonard Nimoy.

Of course, the crowd goes wild. He proceeds to increase the excitement by telling folks the new movie is too good to watch just ten minutes of it: they are going to see the whole movie. I wish I was there.

I'm excited because the early reviews appear to be unanimously good. It looks like Abrams pulled off a great movie while still respecting the franchise. (see reviews included below)

This new movie is a "reboot" of the Star Trek franchise or universe, so they will be using the characters we all know and love, but they will not be restricted by the canonical Star Trek history and timeline. To set the stage, they open the movie with a time-traveling enemy causing changes to the timeline. This allows them to change everything as needed while still using the same characters.

Personally, I like what I hear about how they handled the timeline, need for a reboot, and still respected the existing history. In many movie adaptations (e.g. X-Men, Spider-Man) and most reboots (e.g. the new Batman movie series, Battlestar Galatica), they new creators simply ignore the previous work and history. That is certainly easy, but I don't find it optimal.

This way allows them to use the same characters and basic universe while allowing them to take stories in their own direction and increases tension, because the characters we "know" are alive in the future are no longer guaranteed to still be there.

In any case, I have high hopes this will be a worthy beginning to a whole new series of content in the Star Trek universe as created by Gene Roddenberry.

Star Trek Information

• Star Trek -- Wikipedia
• Star Trek (2009) -- IMDB

Star Trek Reviews

• Quint has seen JJ Abrams' STAR TREK! -- Ain't It Cool News
• Star Trek Makes Surprise World Premiere in Austin! -- Film School Rejects
• Early Review Of JJ Abrams' Star Trek!
• Early 'Star Trek' Reviews Seem Very Positive - Cinematical
• Star Trek Has Premiered & The Buzz Is… AWESOME! -- Screen Rant
• 'Star Trek' Reboot Garners Positive Reviews, Excitement From Actors -- MTV Movie News

Phenomenal Trailer for Duncan Jones' Moon!

Must Watch: Phenomenal Trailer for Duncan Jones' Moon! � FirstShowing.net

This movie really does look good. I'm looking forward to a nice independent sci-fi movie with an apparent twist.

Watch the trailer:

Electricity Grid in U.S. Penetrated By Spies

Electricity Grid in U.S. Penetrated By Spies - WSJ.com

Fairy scary stuff. If black hat hackers, possibly with foreign government assistance, can disrupt even a small portion of our electrical grid, it would probably be the biggest catastrophe yet. We are completely dependent on electrical power for a functioning society.

Updates

• The Chinese deny any involvement saying the story is fiction.
• And some experts are suspicious too, so the story may have been planted by certain people in an effort to increase their share of money and control for cyber-security.

Conficker/Downadup Info for Scanning and Removal

With all the attention the Conficker worm (aka Downadup) has garnered with it's deep penetration of the Windows ecosystem, we're including links and information to help folks scan their Windows-based computers, virtual machines, or entire networks for infected devices along with some help on removing any infections found.

In-depth Conficker/DownadupReference

Here is a resource by Symantec explaining Conficker. They include a nice piece by 60 Minutes explaining Conficker in non-technical terms. We've included additional reference links below.

Quick Machine Test for Conficker Infection

The Conficker Working Group has created a simple web page to help you determine if your machine is infected. Since Conficker blocks access to various security sites, this simple attempt to load logos can quickly tell you if you are infected. If some of the logos do not load, you might be infected. Click here to visit their quick and easy test.

Quick Scan for Your Network for Conficker Infections or Vulnerabilities

If you want to quickly scan your entire network for Conficker infections or Conficker vulnerabilities, use nmap. I found a great example of how to do this at OS X Daily. As noted in the original article, be sure to change the IP address range to match your network, and the relevant code is here:

nmap -PN -T4 -p139,445 -n -v --script=smb-check-vulns --script-args safe=1 192.168.0.1-254

The scan will tell you if any Windows machines are actually infected or lack the patch to prevent infection and are vulnerable.

Other Conficker/Downadup References

• Cisco Conficker Analysis
• Trend Micro's Conficker Page
• McAfee's Conficker Page
• Conficker Infection Distribution Maps from the Conficker Working Group

Merlin's Outgoing Message

kung fu grippe

Hilarious and absolutely necessary.

I need to record a message this for our home phone. I feel old to have a home phone line, even if it is VoIP.

Beware the perils of caffeine withdrawal

Beware the perils of caffeine withdrawal - CNN.com

I ran into this problem, when I decided to drop soft drinks. At first, I wasn't able to stay away from soft drinks due to the fairly severe headaches and general distress. Later, I tried again and started with caffeine water to begin with sugar and move on to caffeine reduction. Once I weened myself from the sugar, I started moving from caffeine water to tea.

This was the most difficult part, because I had always maintained a relatively high caffeine level. I dealt with headaches and generally felt bad for while until I found a good balance of tea intake.

I did some research and quite a bit of tasting, and I gradually settled on one 16 ounce cup of green or white that I made each morning. Most days, that is all the caffeine I drink. On some days, I will drink more, but I all I need is one cup to avoid "withdrawal".

I found I have a real liking for a few teas, and you should give them a try too. I list them below:

Ancient Tree Snow Sprout (Green Tea)

• Rishi can
• Rishi bags
• David's Tea (more recently, when Rishi was out)

Silver Needle (White Tea)

• Adagio Teas White Tea, Silver Needle, Tea Bags, 15-Count Package (Pack of 3)
• Silver Needle White Tea

Mini Payments Are the Future

I believe the future of digital media purchases lies in numerous small cash payments as opposed to a few large scale purchases or token purchases. As examples of future and past, I offer iTunes and Microsoft Office.

iTunes Music, Movies, TV Shows, and Applications

Where iTunes excels is in making things easy to find and easy to purchase. By keeping the unit price low, Apple prevents each purchase from becoming a serious decision. $1 or $2 or even $3 are readily made impulse decisions. The downside is so low, there is almost never a reason to argue against any individual purchase once you have considered it.

If you want something bad enough to actually complete a search for it, you will most likely buy it. There is no commitment associated with such a small purchase. If you find a better app, or another song, there is no regret at that $1-2.

Microsoft Office and Other Expensive Suites

As a contrast, the major investment in Microsoft Office or other large suites forces careful consideration due to the commitment involved. After spending hundreds of dollars on a software package, almost anyone would regret being forced to replace it with another expensive suite performing the same function.

In the past, Office, in particular, has relied on bundling, large enterprise purchases, and proprietary file formats. Bundling becomes more difficult with the average PC price coming down precipitously, and included software and OS licensing becomes a larger fraction of the total cost. Large enterprise purchases have become more difficult due to the lack of new, interesting, and competitive features. And proprietary file formats will eventually go out of style in favor of open standards and previous de-facto standards.

Other expensive suites may be slower to feel these pressures as many, such Adobe's Creative Suite, are used by professionals directly charging for their time. Those suites tend to add additional useful features and functionality, but I believe even they will be vulnerable to numerous smaller packages as integration improves.

Quantum setback for warp drives

Technology Review: Blogs: arXiv blog: Quantum setback for warp drives

Damn! It looks like warp drives will be difficult! :-) I had my hopes up since it seemed relativity would not preclude actual warp drive. But I guess it will be even more difficult.

Who would have guessed: Star Trek may be (science) fictional, after all.

Google uncloaks once-secret server

Google uncloaks once-secret server | Business Tech - CNET News

A nice article on Google's custom servers and datacanters. It is fascinating how they work with scale and innovate beyond current "best" practices. They do what makes sense and improve things where they can. Their scale makes every fraction of a percent a big deal.

I wonder if any of the traditional server vendors will begin to offer 12v battery options. I'm sure companies like APC don;t like to read hard numbers about per-server batteries being more efficient than external UPS's.

APOD: 2009 March 29 - Signals of a Strange Universe

APOD: 2009 March 29 - Signals of a Strange Universe

Another awesome photo from "Astronomy Picture of the Day". I can only imagine actually seeing sights like this with my own eyes. Majestic.

Can fractals make sense of the quantum world?

Can fractals make sense of the quantum world? - physics-math - 30 March 2009 - New Scientist

This would be very cool, if it pans out. If fractal math can consolidate quantum physics and relativity and take out some of the frustrating paradoxes or near paradoxes in our understanding of the underlying meaning of the math and theories, it would be nice for those of us who are uncomfortable with some of the existing explanations.

Personally, I've always found it both interesting and frustrating that some things may not be determined until measured or observed according to quantum physics. This raised (intelligent?) observation to the ultimate importance. On the other hand, this new theory could mean we live in a deterministic, if extremely complex and chaotic, universe, and I'm not sure where that would leave free will. If the universe if truly deterministic, all of our fates may have been written.

Slashdot discussion here.